Videos from the zoo

Thomas watching a laughing hyena walk back and forth in front of the glass...he liked him alot!

Thomas playing some drums at the zoo. Boy was it loud!

First trip to the Zoo

Grandma and grandmpa Berghoff invited us to the Fort Wayne's Children Zoo with them on Saturday. It was Thomas' first time to a zoo and he absolutely loved it. We were there for almost 4 hours and I don't think he blinked once! He especially loved the laughing hyena and all the under water animals like the sharks and sea lions. Aunt Tara, cousin Erica and the Esslinger's joined us as well and everyone had a great time. We have an adorable video of Thomas laughing at the laughing hyena. It's at home so I'll try to remember to post it tonight. It's adorable!

Midweek playdate

Wednesday night we decided to have a baby swim and playdate! So Ella, Eli and their parents all came over after work for some play time. The babies ate, swam and played. We BBQ'd by the pool and had a great time.

Thomas is starting to like swimming in the pool and especially enjoys it when he has other kids to share it with!! His favorite pool toy is the big blue and white ball, of course! He loves it when daddy lifts him into the air so he can try and make baskets just like the big boys!!

Chocolate milk

Here's a picture of Thomas drinking chocolate milk for the first time. He loved it!!...Look at how hard he is sucking on that straw!!

A good father's day weekend

We had a good Father's day weekend. Grandma and aunt Sabrina came down Saturday and we all swam and played in the pool. Thomas stayed home with grandma and aunt Sabrina while mommy and daddy went out to dinner with friends Saturday night. Grandma said Thomas was a perfect angel and he helped mommy and daddy by sleeping throught the night too...thanks Bubs!! Now we just have to work on the getting up at 6:30am thing:)

Sunday we celebrated Father's Day by hanging out by the pool. Chris, Dara and Ella came over to swim and we BBQ'd. (Don't they look adorable in their little swimmers swim diapers?!!) Thomas loved playing with Ella and after watching her walk around the living room a bit, took a try walking behind his firetruck. He even let me hold his hands while he walked around the living room! I think seeing Ella walking was just the little nudge that he needed!

First Indianapolis Indians game of the season

I was just looking through Bubbies' pictures on Flickr and found a few from the Indians game we went to a couple weeks ago. I thought you all might like to see how much fun he had. He loved all the people and made friends with everyone. He was even flirting with girls on the blanket in front of us...

Chemistry and other stuff...

Thought you all might enjoy a little info on the new stuff Thomas is doing. One of the cutest things I've seen him do lately is help dad with the pool chlorine and PH. He takes the little vials out of the container, dunks them in the water and then "puts the drops" in the vials. It's adorable. He started doing this after watching Travis and I do it maybe twice. It's amazing how fast he picks stuff up!

He's also trying to figure out how stuff works now. Yesterday he spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get the lid back on the crystal light container. He helped me make his dinner too yesterday by stirring the noodles. Too cute! Of course it was a little messier with his help but he enjoyed it. He has also recently become more interested in the toilet...this is a new development I am not as thrilled about as you can guess. His sitter said him and Michael (her son) accidently got to the toilet one day this week. She freaked out and wiped them all down head to toe... I just said Oh well at least the toilet was flushed!!!

He continues to love to play ball and we now have a vast assortment of different kinds of balls spread around the house. His favorite is his blue ball that bounces when he throws it. Just in the past week he has become more interested in playing in the basement too. His ball pit, teepee and other toys are down there and I think he's just figured this out so now when we pass the basement door he'll point to it. He still likes to play with his firetruck and likes to watch Wheel of Fortune. Family Fued is becoming a new favorite as well. He still loves peek-a-boo and "where's thomas?" which we play on a daily basis.

The biggest news is Thomas can stand for a few seconds on his own. Still not walking, actually still NO interest in walking but standing is a good first step anyway! Like I said, I'm really in no rush so he can take as long as he wants to walk!

Tooth #7

Thomas is getting his 7th tooth! I'm actually glad to find this out because our trip to Fort Wayne on Saturday was a little rough... at least now I know why! Poor thing. I can tell it hurts alot and the only thing I can do is give him tylenol/mortrin and love him alot (which of course I always do!)

Home with his aunts

Thomas is home today with aunt Tara and aunt Tanya. What a fun day!

Antibiotics please

Well both Mommy and Thomas saw the doctor today. Thomas has a sinus infection and I've got laryngitis so now we're both on antibiotics.

Hopefully we'll be back to new in no time!!

Thomas had his 1 year check up today

Okay so technically it was his 13 .5 month check up...but hey close enough, right?!! Anyway, Thomas now weighs 22lbs 12oz and is 30.5 inches tall. His head is 48cm which puts him in the 80th percentile for head circumference - soooo smart!!!. He did have to have 2 shots but he took them like a champ.

The doctor said everything looked great and was glad he is doing so well since his ear tubes. She did say we should start working on walking more with him (I didn't tell her that I wasn't ready for that!) and try to get him to drink more milk. Unfortunately, I think he got his non love of milk from his mother. I mean I know he needs it but I can't fault the kid for not wanting to drink something that I won't drink!...Bad mommy:)

We got our invite to Ella's first birthday party on Saturday. I really can't believe how fast all the little ones are growing! Our babies are getting so big!! BTW at what age do I have to stop calling Thomas my baby???

Mama y Papa a Mexico

Thomas had a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa Berghoff and aunt Tanya while mommy and daddy took a short trip to Cancun last week. They planted flowers - Thomas got to show grandma how good he is at "gardening" - took a bike ride and swam in the pool. I'm guessing grandma and grandpa had a good time too but are now back at home enjoying a little rest:)

--Travis and I had a great time in Mexico...We basically spent a week eating, drinking and laying by the pool doing nothing...it was fantastic! We're both very happy though to be back home with our baby boy. We missed him terribly!!!

Guess who won the Indy 500 bet?

Thomas Paul did, of course! We all drew names from a hat and Thomas got the 3 names that were left and Helio Castronevez was one of them. Baby boy's savings account just keeps a growing!

Well besides betting...we spent the holiday weekend enjoying some time with family and friends in the pool.  A whole weekend of fun in the sun!!  Here's a couple pictures enjoy!  

We were in the pool!!

Today was the first day we were able to get in our pool!  The water was still a little cold so Thomas wasn't really sure he liked being all the way in but enjoyed splashing with his feet and hands.  Dad and I went for a swim after Thomas went to bed and it was wonderful!  We have been waiting all winter to be able to use the pool and now we finally can... yee haa!!!  

And don't worry we've got the heater on now so by later this weekend it should be warm enough for Thomas to enjoy too!!!  I'll try and get some pics up ASAP, I promise!

Making friends

When I picked Thomas up from Amy's yesterday to take him to his Dr.'s appt one of the newer little boys came up to me and said "Thomas is one of my favorites here!" It was cute. He's probably about 4 years old. What can I say everybody loves Thomas!!

Tubes follow up

Thomas had his 4 week follow up for his tubes this afternoon and the nurse practitioner said that everything looked great! Now we just see the ENT every 6 months for as long as the tubes stay in place.

More gardening!

We enjoyed being outside again this weekend with the nicer weather. Thomas loved helping dad outdoors and spent some more time gardening... such a hard worker!!

I think he looks like such a big boy in this picture with his jeans and hat! What happened to my baby??

Gardening

While enjoying some time out back on the patio last night Thomas decided it was time to work on the flower planters. He crawled over to one of the big blue planters, pulled himself up to it and started working. His "work" consisted of moving the soil from the planter to the patio, of course! It was cute. He is a really hard worker...he must have worked on it for at least 5 minutes straight without even looking up at daddy or I:) Travis took a video of him with his phone so I'll see if we can get it up on here. The cutest part of the whole thing was when he decided to put a handful in his hair!! He was filthy!!

Monkeying Around!

Check out Thomas and dad's new "boys' bathroom".  Thomas and I saw this set while out shopping while daddy was working late.  Once we saw it we had to have it!  Thomas loves all the monkeys and I think it is much more appropriate for the boys' bathroom than the previous purple flower decor :) 

Familymobile!

As of last week we are the proud owners of a minivan. Looking forward to the future we decided to take advantage of the current interest rates and trade in the Murano for a Honda Odyssey. The new van is big and roomy and Thomas loves it. Mom and dad are enjoying the extra storage space as well as the automatic sliding doors (which come in real handy when your hands of full with Thomas and all his stuff!)

Thomas' First Artwork

When I picked Thomas up from Amy's on Friday he had this present for me for Mother's Day. It says:

I give my hands
To you this day.
Remember me now
As I grow and play.


Love, Thomas

It has his handprints on it and I love it!! It's adorable and its his first artwork making it even more special!!


Happy Mother's Day!!

graduation party

Grandma and Grandpa Berghoff,
Daddy and Thomas all went to cousin Nick's college graduation party today while mommy was at a baby shower. From the stories, it appears Thomas enjoyed himself thoroughly. He had some traditional party fare of potato salad and macaroni and cheese and also stole some of dad's pulled pork sandwhich. He joined in on some soccer...well sort of:)... and crawled around with Grandma in the grass. Overall, I think the party was a success! Congratulations Nick!

Yay!

Thomas has learned how to clap! It's adorable. He holds his left had real still and then claps his right hand up against. Sometimes when he does it he gets so excited that misses his hands all together!!

Pop quiz...

Question:  Do you know what Thomas' favorite TV show is??

Answer:  Wheel of Fortune of course!!!  

Did we get a dog?

We're not sure where he got this from but Thomas for some reason has decided that he likes to pick up and carry his ball around with his teeth.  You would think from seeing him that we would have a dog he was trying to immitate, but nope!  All we've got is a VERY silly baby!!  Check out the video below and you'll see what I mean!!

P.S. There are a couple more videos of Thomas doing this on Flickr if you're interested... Travis and I find it very entertaining!

A Derby win for Thomas!

Saturday was Kentucky Derby day and we had Dave, Kim and Ben over for some Derby fun. Well we decided it would be fun to have a couple of friendly wagers on the races. All the adults picked our top 3 choices for the big race and then at the last minute Thomas woke up from his nap and we decided he should join in the fun too. Travis and I put in $5 for him to get the last 3 horses that nobody picked and wouldn't you know it...one of his horses won!!

Congrats Thomas Paul on your win!! (Sorry Bubs it's going straight into your savings account!)

Look what Thomas can do!

Thomas' new big boy carseat

Here's a little video of Thomas enjoying his new big boy carseat...

Yuck!

Thomas now has brown goopey stuff coming out of his right ear... I'm hoping this is okay and its just the tubes working but I've got a call into the doctor just to make sure. Anyway, it's pretty gross so I thought I'd share so you all can join in on the fun!

You can leave comments easily now...I hope!

A couple of people have mentioned having trouble leaving comments on here. So to make things easier I have adjusted the settings so that anyone can now leave comments under any of the posts without having to register or sign in. Hopefully this will make it quick and easy for anyone to leave a little message!!!

I hope to eventually have this blog printed out for Thomas so he can see all the wonderful things that happened during his early years and all the people that loved and cared about him. So please feel free to comment as much as you would like so thomas knows how much you care!!


P.S. If someone wants to try and leave a comment I would really appreciate it to make sure the changes are working!

Thomas got tubes in his ears...

Friday morning Thomas got tubes put in his ears.  We had to get him up at 5:45am and be at the surgery center by 6:30am. (That's really early!) Thomas did great with this but kept looking at us like "mom, dad...where are we going it's early???" Once at the surgery center he found another little boy to play with while I filled out paperwork.  They called our name about 6:45 and then took us to preop.  Thomas was flirting with the all the nurses and everyone commented on how much they liked his jammies:)  

At about 7:20 I put on the gown and cap and followed the nurse to the operating room.  I layed Thomas down on the table and the nurse played peek-a-boo with him with a warm blanket she had to keep him comfy.  Once the anesthesiologist was ready he put a small mask over Thomas' mouth and nose and started the "sleepy" gas.  Thomas tried once to take the mask off and whined a little while looking at me like "mom what are they doing?"  It probably only took about 30 seconds until the gas took effect and baby boy was sleeping but it seemed like forever to me.  All the OR staff were really surprised with how well he did going under, apparently most kids cry.  After Thomas was aleep I was escorted to the consult room where dad was waiting.  We only had to wait about 15 minutes before the doctor came in to tell us everything went great and Thomas was doing well.  He said when he put the tubes in there was thick fluid behind both membranes so doing the tubes at this time was probably a good idea.  

After getting postop instructions from the doctor we were then taken to see Thomas in recovery.  He was laying on a bed with a blanket over top of him and he was still out.  The nurse said he would wake up on his own in a few minutes and prepared us for him to cry while coming out of the anesthesia.  After about 10 minutes Travis said I don't think he's going to wake up...  His sleeping had changed and now it looked like he was just taking a nap!  After a few more minutes the nurse finally went over and woke him up.  Again she said he would probably cry a bit and then as soon as she touched him he flipped himself over and was awake.  The nurse handed him immediately to me and he whined just a little and then within a couple minutes was completely fine.  Even the nurse was surprised with how well he did and about 5 mintues after he woke up we were discharged.  Thomas was acting like nothing even happened!  He did cry a bit on the way home I think becuase he was hungry and tired (remember we got up at 5:45!) but other than that he has been doing great.  We gave him tylenol and motrin for the first day for the pain and one dose of tylenol the second day but now he's doing just fine on his own.

So far since the surgery we have noticed him talking a lot more and eating better than he has in a long time.  His left ear is still draining a bit and I think at times he can feel that but otherwise he seems to be unaffected by the whole thing.  Overall, I think going ahead with the tubes at this time was a good idea and I am glad we did it.  Now I'm just hoping they stay in a while so we won't have to do it again anytime soon!

The picture above is of Thomas in the car the morning of his surgery...what a cutie pie!!

Thomas' new hat

Daddy had to buy Thomas this hat when we came across it in Target. Now Thomas and daddy have matching hats.  Too cute.  This is a picture of Thomas from daddy's phone.  He was playing on the our bed and when he came up his hat was turned to the side like this.  It was adorable!

Birthday fun!

I think Thomas REALLY enjoyed his first birthday.  Thank you to everyone who made the trip for his party.  We were very happy to see everyone and share our fun day.  Hopefully you all enjoyed yourselves as well.  Here are some of my favorite pics from the party.  If you want to see all the birthday pictures we took feel free to visit our Flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/travisberghoff 

Also, I know that a lot of people had cameras and were taking pictures at the party.  If you have any good ones I would love to see them!!!  You can can e-mail them to me at angieberghoff@yahoo.com.  Thanks!!

Thank you!!

Thomas' first birthday party was a BIG success!  Stay tuned for details and pics...

Good Morning Birthday Boy!

I can't believe it but Thomas is officially 1 year old!  The last year has been one of the fastest years ever!  Travis and I feel so lucky and blessed to have such a wonderful little boy.  We have loved every minute of this first year (yes, even the sleepless nights!) and can't wait to see what the future holds for us!!  

House Guests!

Thomas was super excited to find the Esslingers at our house when he woke up this morning! What an exciting day already! He had an audience for breakfast and then played with Mason until it was time to go to Amy's. We were all surprised by how big little 3 month old Reid is getting! Too cute. Well I'm sure there will be more Thomas and Mason playtime tonight and tomorrow so I will try to post some pictures later.

P.S. Don't forget we've got a big birthday coming up tomorrow with the party on Saturday at 1pm for anyone who would like to join in the festivities!! I can't believe my baby is turning 1!!!!!

Thomas, snuggling?

Thomas had a good morning today. First he slept from 11pm - 7:15 am! (Yay, sleep again! ) When I heard he was awake I went and got him and put him in the bed with Travis and I. Well for those of you that know Thomas you know he is NOT a snuggler. But this morning he actually laid down in between Travis and I and snuggled just a little! It was soo sweet.

Thomas is getting tubes

Thomas is scheduled to get tubes in his ears next Friday, April 24th. I was reluctant before to do this but now I feel like this is in his best interest. Poor little guy has been through so much and I just want him to be better and feel good. So hopefully once we get the tubes he will finally be ear infection free for a while!!

On a happy note, the doctor said Thomas' ears looked pretty good when she saw him today. That means no more shots! We're just going to keep him on oral antibiotics until he gets his tubes and then hopefully we won't need to do anything for a long time!

Playing catch with dad

Check out this video of Thomas and Travis playing catch.  It is sooo cute!!!

Happy Easter!

Well even though Thomas was sick and had to have another antibiotic shot on his first Easter we still tried to have a little fun. Here's a couple pictures of his first Easter basket and egg hunt:)

Thomas has another ear infection..

Thomas started running a low grade fever on Friday but we thought it was just from teething.  Then Friday night his fever spiked.  We took him to the Immediate Care Saturday morning and got one of the antibiotic shots he had before.  Then we took him back today (Sunday) for a second one.  He seems to be doing better but definitely still isn't himself.  Tomorrow I'm going to call his pediatrician and the ENT.  I'm assuming we'll be setting up a time to get tubes in his ears so I will keep you all posted.  Hopefully the shots work fast.  We've only got a week to get him better before his big birthday!!

Night before last Thomas stood for a second on his own! He is really just getting too big. He can now pull himself up to anything pretty easily and is starting to cruise around the furniture. Hopefully we still have a bit until those first steps as I am no hurry for him to walk. I'm still getting use to the crawling!!

Guess Who's Turning One??

THOMAS PAUL!!

Yep, believe it or not it's time for Thomas' first birthday!!  So please mark your calenders and plan to join us for the celebration!

What: Thomas' first birthday party

Where: Thomas' house

When: Saturday April 18th @ 1pm  

We hope to see you all there!!

Weekend playdate

Here's a couple pics from Thomas' playdate with Ella and Eli on Saturday.  As you can see all three little ones seemed to have a great time.  Ella even took her first steps!!  What a fun day!

What is that black stuff????

So morning before last Thomas woke up with a bunch of black flecks all over his face...At first Travis and I were both horrified thinking he had somehow got his hand in his diaper and then...well you can guess... Anyway, we were relieved albeit bewildered to find out that Thomas had chewed the paint right off of his crib!!! Right on the side you can see an area that he chewed right through the paint down to the wood. Who knew our little baby could turn into a beaver over night!!

Steak-N-Shake time!

Thomas had his first visit to Steak N Shake this past week and he loved it! As you can see by the pictures he thought his "hat" was great and loved all the bright colors and neon lights! Daddy even shared a little bit of whip cream from his milkshake with him...Mmmm!!!

ENT doctor's appt

Thomas finally had his appt with the ear, nose and throat doctor Friday. The good news is that there is no infection, just some fluid in his left ear. The doctor suggested holding off on tubes for now and giving it a couple more weeks to drain on its own. So for now, he's doing good and we'll just return for a recheck in May.

Thomas' first kicks

I took Thomas to Walmart on Thursday and he got his first pair of sneakers! I let him pick between these and some camo crocs. He chose the bright blue and green sneakers and he loves them! Anytime he has them on he can't stop looking at his feet and swinging them around! Hmmm...I hope he doesn't end up with mommies shoe addiction:)

Where did the warm weather go?

Well even though we missed the nice weather of last weekend this weekend was still a lot of fun. We had Grandma and aunt Sabrina stay Friday night and then Grandma and Grandpa Berghoff Saturday night. Saturday was aunt Tanya's 28th birthday so the whole family went out to dinner to celebrate. Happy Birthday aunt Tanya, we hope you had a most excellent birthday!

On Sunday Grandpa Berghoff and daddy worked on getting the pool filter up and running. We had spent the past week draining and refilling the pool in hopes we would be able to open it ourselves this summer. Of course we didn't anticipate have to work on it in the snow, but its finally full and filtering! (The picture of Thomas above is him getting ready to work on the pool on Thursday...and yep, that's a snowsuit, it was cold!) Can you tell we are ready for summer??

We loved the nice weather this weekend! Thomas got to spend some time outdoors with mom and dad while we cleaned out the flower beds and picked up the yard. He also got to spend some quality time with uncle Gavin and aunt Carrie who stayed the night Saturday. We were very happy to see uncle Gavin before he heads off to Pensacola next week...good luck uncle Gav!!

Also, thomas got some new pajama's. What a cutie pie!!