Catching Up

I have many excuses for not blogging recently, but I will not make you read through the exhaustive list. I'll just catch you up on life in the Thompson household!

A couple of weeks ago, my parents drove their RV out here from California for a visit. When they arrived, they made a bee-line for Zach :) But they also brought gifts for the dogs (see below):



The bones that the dogs have in the pictures are actually made of peanut butter, and dipped in carob. They thoroughly enjoyed those. They also got a bag of sweet potato chews (I've never seen those before, but the dogs LOVE them) and - get this - "Sauvignon Bark: Fine Wine for the Canine". It's like a gravy to pour on their dog food. You may ask, where does one find this stuff? My parents went to the Three Dog Bakery in Asheville, NC - but I think there are several across the nation. Needless to say, Argos and Freyja love my parents more than ever before, and if the opportunity presented itself, they'd probably pack up and move in with them. :)

About two days before my parents arrived at our house, I mowed our gigantic lawn. The next morning, I woke up with a sore throat and a stuffed nose, but I thought it was probably an allergic reaction to sitting on a riding lawn mower, inhaling little bits of grass and countless bugs for an hour and a half (yes, ya'll, I've become a redneck!). I was wrong. It turned out to be a good 'ol fashioned head cold. So I had a few sleepless nights propped up on two pillows attempting to breathe. Of course Tyler never got it - he has an iron-clad immune system. But I did succeed in giving it to Zach. Luckily, he started getting better just about the time we were getting ready to go to Mississippi. We left for Mississippi on a Thursday afternoon, and came back on Sunday evening. It was a lot of fun! Last year, we had a 10 week old in Mississippi - this year, a 14 month old! What a difference a year makes. Here is a photo comparison:


If you look closely in the first picture, you can see the glossed-over, "where am I" look in my eyes. In the second picture, you can see that 1 year later, I even have the presence of mind to TAKE the picture! :) Anyway, we had a blast catching up with family, spending time out at the camp and we even got to play basketball for the first time in probably 2 years! Surprisingly, Zach's favorite thing to do was ride on the ATV (or Quad, or 4-wheeler, whatever you call them) with his dad or his grandpa! He would hold his hand up in the air to feel the wind, and when they would stop the ATV, he'd sit there and just listen to all the birds. Zach also enjoyed walking back and forth on the small pier by the lake house, but that was a little too stressful for us - so he didn't get much time to do that.

Now that we're home, my parents are spending plenty of quality time with Zach, and he is amazing me every day with the new things he does. Here's a run down of new accomplishments for him:
1. He says "hello". Sounds more like HEY-doh (Tyler says he sounds like a little British boy!).
2. He doesn't say "Uh-Oh", but he hums it - he won't say it, but he has the melody of it.
3. He likes to spin. When he gets dizzy he falls down and hums his "uh-oh".
4. He hates diaper changes - as do I.
5. He gives us high fives when we ask him to.
6. He waves and flirts with almost everyone now.
7. He loves animals. Even when he see them on television, he stops what he's doing and waves at them.
8. His first official word (that we could understand) was "Argos". I hope that dog feels honored!
9. Zach has boy legs now - his shins and knees have their fair share of scrapes and bruises.
10. If it were up to him, he'd stay outside 24/7 - with daddy. :)

I'm sure that's not an exhaustive list, but it's what I can think of right now. On a side note, I am so happy with our scheduling routine with Zach. Even through being sick, Zach still slept so well. When he goes down for his naps or bedtime, he waves at me when I turn out the light, and there is hardly ever a cry out of his mouth. It's great - probably one of the most peaceful parts of my day. There are a few big things that will be coming up soon for Zach: we're going to start introducing him to the potty chair (see item #4 above for reason why), start moving to a single nap during the day, and try to get him ready for a normal bed instead of the crib. I'm excited about all of those! I hope he will be too. :)

If you're still with me and not fast asleep, drooling on your keyboard, then I should let you know that Tyler and I were able to get away to see a movie last weekend. We saw Expelled. Look for a post in the next couple of days with my thoughts on the movie.

Edited - here is the review: Expelled

Oh, and OF COURSE, on April 28th, Tyler celebrated his 28th birthday. Oh geez, as I typed that, I realized the significance. That only happens once - he turned the age of his birthday date! I wish I had realized that earlier! Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Ty got a new shot gun, and we went over to a friend's house to try it out with some skeet shooting. It's pretty awesome. We BBQ'd some steaks for dinner, and had strawberry shortcake for dessert. But more importantly, Tyler is now the same age as I am until January of next year, so he will stop with all the comments about me being OLD. I suffer every year between January and April. I dread my 30th, 40th and 50th birthday because of this. :) But for now, all is well.

OK! Congratulations! You are caught up on our lives, and you didn't die of boredom (or you did, but I just don't know it - ignorance is bliss!). I will leave you with random pictures that don't really fit into the stories above, but are another opportunity for me to shamelessly brag about my family :) Have a wonderful weekend!