The Month of July

Well as you all know, I have't updated in quite a while. Turns out to be whole month! So I'm sorry to everyone for not getting to this. But even without the posts, Tommy has continued to grow and flourish. We finished our 4th of July vacation in Ohio with a trip out to the Lakehouse for a few days. Tommy made some really strong crawing milestones. Got his belly up off the floor for a few moves. He experienced his first fireworks show. Woke up right before the first one went off, saw, it, opened his eyes even bigger than normal, and then went back to sleep for the rest of it. Food-wise we continued with the people food after the crazy bad case of diaper rash cleared up. And he spent the week making it absolutely impossible to feed him with a spoon as he had to help every spoonful into his mouth...spoon side not handle side! The next weekend (July 11-13) we went to Bloomington to see the men's USA volleyball team take on Spain. This was their last US appearance before flying off to Beijing for the Olympics. For volleyball it was pretty cool. Then on Saturday morning before breakfast with John and Lindsey, we went to meet Trent and Amy's brand new twins. Brayden Andrew and Ashlyn Nicole were born on July 9. Brayden weighed in at 5 pounds, 9 ounces and Ashlyn was a wopping 6 pounds, 3 ounces. It is hard to believe that Tommy was ever even close to that size. Then we had pancakes at IHOP. Tommy ate a whole one himself. Then we went to Troy and Amy's wedding reception. They had everyody over to their house for some fun-filled party time. We had a blast. And were still feeling it the next day! Tommy pretty much just hung out the whole time. He watched some bean bag toss action and had a good time playing with Vetty.

The next weekend (July 18-20), Tom went to Chicago for a volleyball tournament and Tommy and I hit the town for the day. We went to the Farmer's Market in the morning and Tommy made a footprint stepping stone. He did way better than a the big kids did. Then we headed over to have lunch at the Flatop Grill where we had chicken and he flirted with the women at the next table. Then off to Old Navy to get some new duds. He got a new pair of jeans, a new polo, and some kickin' shoes. He dresses better than either Tom or me. Then we went over to visit Amy so Tommy could meet the babies. But he was more interested in their toys than them. He spent quite a few trips back and forth getting Ashlyn's pacifier and shoving it in his mouth! We did get some time on the boat the next day. Our friend Jason got some amazing shots of Tommy just doing his thing. I've posted a few of these and some other ones he's taken throughout the blog. We had a nice day although it was a little hot for me. And I was definately ready to get home and out of the sun.

Last weekend (July 25-27) was a little slower paced. We went to Trent and Amy's for a cookout on Saturday and Tommy jumped on the trampoline. And then joined in with the twins' crying when it was time for bed. Although we were lucky and only ever had two out of the three crying at once. Thank goodness. We were supposed to go boating with Troy on Sunday, but the wickets broke at the dam sout of us, so the river was ridiculously low. This last week Tommy started swimming lessons. He is pretty into it. Pretty much just splash the crap out of the water. But he did go under a few times and didn't seem to mind at all. But he sure was tired when we got out of the water. And I don't know about you, but I haven't quite perfected the art of how to hold an active 8 month old still and change out of a wet swimsuit at the same time. I'm pretty sure it isn't humanly possible. Finally this weekend, we went up to Chicago with Trent to visit John and Lindsey. Oh and more of that volleyball stuff. By now Tommy can crawl at the speed of light. He had a blast playing with Alaska and Behr. And they had a blast kissing him all over. Of course a kiss from them isn't nearly as consuming as a kiss from Dunkin or Gracie. We had dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse and Tommy had his first steak. Of course it was cut so small it might as well have been really good hamburger, but technically some good ribeye. On Sunday we went to Gameworks and played for an hour or so. And here is what we wasted our last 100 points on. Well that was it this month. Pretty full, even for us. I'm going to try to keep this more up-to-date and not get so behind on it. Thanks for reading.