Thomas' first Clemson game

This past weekend, Thomas made it into his first Clemson game!  Despite the blazing heat, he seemed to have a great time watching the activity on the field and making new friends while walking around in the stadium.  He's a tiger fan!

Beach Vacation

After a great first birthday and first day of school, we all needed another vacation and what better place is there than the beach?  We headed down to Cherry Grove with the Moore's despite the hurricane forecasted to make landfall a mere two days after our arrival.  Thankfully, our South Carolina coast was spared and vacation was enjoyed by all!  We spent several days on the beach where Thomas hunted out the best sea shells and sticks, cooled off in the water, and lounged in holes that Trey dug for him.  On our last night there, we celebrated Chip's birthday with a trip to California Pizza Kitchen Game Zone, a restaurant similar to ChuckeCheese.  Thomas, Chip, and Trey had a great time playing in the arcade, racking up tickets.  When all was said and done, Thomas turned in his tickets for a set of golf clubs and a red race car, not too shabby!   

Thomas' first day of school

Can you believe it?  On August 22, 2011 Thomas had his first day of school.  Ok, well it's not quite "school"... 

Thomas started at Noah's Ark Preschool, going 3 days a week for 3 hours a day.  He is in a class with 6 other younger one year olds, very cute kids!  His school days consist of music classes, spanish classes, playground time, art projects, and snack time - sounds like fun, right?  The jury is still out.  Thomas is slowly adjusting to this new activity but we seem to be making progress.  Most recently, he reduced his crying time from the entire 3 hours to just 1 hour.  I'm sure in the future he'll learn to love his school, we'll keep you updated!  

First day!

Made himself right at home

Playing with his new friends!

Our 1 year old

Oh how fast the year went by - Thomas is 1!  It's so hard to believe, and admit, that Thomas is no longer a baby.  It's also hard to believe the amount of loving, learning, and growing we've all done in the last year.  The love Trey and I both feel for Thomas is so different from any other - it's difficult to describe but I think it's best to say that it is an absolutely pure, unconditional love.  There are every day moments when this love hits me like a ton of bricks - like when Thomas walks out of room, and then peaks around the corner to see who's following him, or stops playing and lays his head on my lap for just a second, or giggles as we dance around the house.  Those are the best!

 Anyways, we celebrated this big birthday with a big birthday party.  We invited family and friends to West Cambridge Park in Greenwood for some fun, food, and play.  I decided to make Thomas' smash cake and the cupcakes for the guests myself, an interesting project.  Starting about 3-4 weeks before the party, I was baking cakes and making icing to try and find the best cake recipe.  Trey found the winner by simply googling "best birthday cake" (for anyone who is interested - http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/best-birthday-cake).  It really was good, I thought!  The day before the party Linda Ann and mom came up to help out with Thomas and preparing the food.  Thank goodness they did - I really don't think I could have finished everything without their help.  The party theme was little blue car, chosen to reflect Thomas' love for playing with cars.  To honor this theme, party favors included car shaped sugar cookies and car shaped crayons (that I made!).  In addition, Trey and I gave Thomas the famous little tykes Cozy Coupe for his birthday.  We had it out at the park and I swear once Thomas saw it, there was no turning back - he just opened the door, climbed in, and waited for a ride.  He spent the majority of the party either being pushed around in the car or pushing his friends around in the car.  It was very entertaining.  So, I think it's safe to say that Thomas and hopefully all of our guests had a great time.  After the party, the family came back to Abbeville, watched Thomas (and Jack) open gifts, and then had a great dinner at Maria's.

birthday cake and cupcakes

 

 

 

 

the party

the cozy coupe!

pushing william

he likes what this bib says

yum

post party pic

 

 

post party opening gifts with Olivia

party favors - car cookies and crayons

Thomas' tricks

Thomas is still up to his old trick of pushing large items around the house.  This heavy container of Tide seems to be a favorite.  It normally sits in the kitchen under his high chair, here it is in the living room!  A few other new things include - feeding himself with a spoon, knocking on doors, and oh, he has 4 teeth now!

But the most exciting of his new tricks is walking!  Yes, Thomas has finally, truly started walking, and has been since the second week in August.  No more "cruising" or "taking steps", he is truly walking!  It's certainly an amazing accomplishment for Thomas and has provided us with much entertainment.  In just a short amount of time, he realized that he can go much faster if he holds hands with Trey or myself, but only one hand, so that he still has a free hand for picking up items along the way.  He will really pull a hand away if you try to grab them both.  He has also learned that he can "put on the brakes" and pull when we are walking with him to guide us in the direction he would like to go in.  He definitely has a mind of his own and is not shy in sharing his ideas.  Additional entertainment is just in watching him walk alone, especially down a hallway.  He appears to be a drunken old man and while we do not laugh at him outwardly, it's quite amusing!  Shortly after walking, came conquering stairs.  I'm pretty sure his love of stairs began at Katie and Martin's house, but is now widespread to any stairs he can find.  Can't take an eye off of him for one second if there are stairs around.   

Notice the toilet paper holder - it's his new favorite toy

New Hampshire vacation

This year our Gorney family vacation was a trip to the beautiful white mountains of New Hampshire.  The Thomas family generously opened up their incredible mountain house to our entire family - we are so thankful to them!  The trip started at the Charlotte airport where Dad recognized and eventually spoke with retired Steeler's football player, Rocky Bleier (this was after we watched him endure a pat down in security).  We flew to Boston and headed towards the mountains by car, guided by Ang's trusty GPS.  Well, that is until Dad demanded the GPS be turned off, then proceeded to take a wrong turn, pointing us straight back to Boston.  The mistake delayed us only about 30 minutes or so, and from there it was smooth sailing.  Thomas luckily slept through most of this ordeal.  I must say, he is overall an excellent traveler!

This trip was actually an exciting time for Thomas.  He had been on the brink of walking for a while but finally managed to take his first steps during the week!  Early one morning, mom and I were sitting in the living room with him when he just stood up, let go of everything, and took 3 steps.  It was amazing, and so hard to believe that he was actually starting to walk.  A few days later he took a few more steps...he still seemed pretty content to crawl and therefore walked sparingly, as he could move around much faster on 4 limbs (and we all know how important speed is to Thomas!). 

We spent the week tubing down the Pemigewasset River, hiking, relaxing in the hot tub, eating, and seeing the local sites.  Our first family hike was up a Loon mountain ski slope.  Thomas rode in his backpack, giving Trey a double workout.  Somehow, the two of them still beat everyone else to the top!  Once we all made it up, we ate lunch at a delicious cafe, checked out the views, and rode a gondola back down. 

On top of Loon Mountain

 The next hike was a biggie - the famous Mt. Washington - a cold, wet, difficult hike straight up a 6288 ft mountain, well beyond the tree-line.  Fortunately, we did not take the babies on this hike, but Mom, Dad, and Ang met us at the top with Thomas, Jack, and Olivia.  Despite the 30 degree temperature and raging winds, Thomas preferred to be outside - he is truly an outdoor kind of kid.  Unfortunately, due to terrible weather conditions, there was no view from the top of the mountain.  This truly saddened me, as everyone, and I mean everyone, should really see that view once in their life.   

Mt Washington...only "1 mile" to go!

Mt Washington...still only 1 mile to go

Mt Washington...really only 1 mile to go!

Our third hike was at the Flume Gorge - a gorgeous park!  We ended the week with a trip to Clark's Trading Post, well known for its bear shows and train rides.  Thomas loved the train ride, even when the crazy "wolf man" appeared ranting about NH politics.  The bear show was not quite as entertaining for him, although Trey and I enjoyed it!  A great time was had by the whole family on this vacation - we'll have to do it again sometime!

Flume Gorge

Train ride, see the wolfman?

The summer continues

On to June!  I think Thomas' personality really started to blossom around this time.  He started clapping, waving bye-bye, and became such a ham in front of the camera, strangers, really anyone and everyone.  Trips to the mexican restaurant in Abbeville were as much to get dinner as they were to amuse Thomas.  The waiters love him there and typically spend the meal doing all of the entertaining for us - what a relief!  From carrying him back to watch the busy kitchen, to tickling, to whistling from across the restaurant...I'm telling you, they really like him!  Speaking of eating, Thomas has finally adjusted to eating baby foods and does pretty well with just about everything except for the green vegetables (who can blame him?).  He's also feeding himself finger foods like cheerios, fresh fruits (banana, blueberries, peach, strawberry, etc), teddy grahams, and goldfish.  Of those finger foods, teddy grahams, blueberries, and goldfish weigh in as heavy favorites.

In addition to all of that, Thomas has really started babbling seriously.  He now says most frequently ba-ba, da-da, and ma-ma, with the occassional ya-ya and other indistinguishable sounds thrown in.  The funniest thing is that Thomas doesn't just talk, he really gets into it with facial expressions and the craziest hand motions as if he is fully engaged in a conversation that everyone understands.  It's hilarious.  Yet another funny phase this month - Thomas collects anything that will move, dog bowls, strollers, laundry detergent, high chair, toys, etc and pushes them around the house until he hits a stopping point.  I guess this is the natural progression from pushing cars around, moving on to bigger items! 

And one last first, Thomas went swimming in a pool for the first time!  He absolutely loved it, floating around in his bumble bee, playing with water soaker balls, and watching college age students wander the area (it's surprising how early on boys are attracted to girls...or maybe it's just the bright bathing suits and smiles?).  Regardless, he really had a good time.  I see swimming lessons in his future!

Saving cheerios for later!

Trying to catch a wave

A phase - collecting everything that moves and pushing it through the house

And finally July.  What a busy month!  Thomas turned 11 months old, wow!  I've been thinking about his upcoming 1 year birthday for months now but still cannot believe that it's almost here.  He's truly not a baby anymore.  Oh well, to update you all on July happenings...

To kick off the month, we celebrated July 4 at the lake with the family.  Thomas was in bed every night before fireworks but we still enjoyed spending the days on the water.  We were even able to take Thomas for his first boat ride on Grandpap's boat.  Chip bought him a great little life jacket perfect for such boating!

Check out that hair!  He's a wild man!

The bumblebee float

On July 11, Thomas hit yet another milestone - his first tooth!  I got a good look at it while he was laying upside-down in my lap playing - his lower right incisor.  His second tooth came through about a week later, the lower left incisor.  Needless to say, I am still trying to get a good picture of these teeth!  The funny thing about this is that now Trey and I can truly say, and believe, that some of Thomas' crankiness is due to teething (we've only been making that comment since he was 4 months old!).  

We spent the last week in July in the white mountains of New Hampshire.  Aunt Elaine and Uncle Larry have a beautiful house in Lincoln and let the whole Gorney crew crash it for a week.  More details and pictures to come!

Summer begins

Moving on to May...  Though we spent much less time traveling, May was still full of activity and milestones.  Thomas started crawling so quickly and with such confidence I thought he might decide to just put off walking forever.  Ever progressing, however, he gradually started cruising around.  He actually became quite the daredevil in not only letting go of his support item, but pushing off of them to stand by himself for a few seconds at a time.  All of this progress has been supported by his great farmyard walker.  Santa brought Thomas this walker for Christmas (a bit early for walking but really if you saw it you would understand just how entertaining it is) and so it's use began with T just sitting in front of it trying to figure out all of the gadgets.  He then started to push it around while crawling, and finally, months later, began walking behind it.  This walker brought about a discussion of the whole circle of life idea, the similarities between the lives of the young and the old, and often led to us calling Thomas "old man"!  Other toy related thoughts...Thomas got his first cars, a little police car and a green recycle car, and just loves them!  He puts one car in each hand and zooms around the house, making the same loop down the hall, through the kitchen and dining room, and back to the living room each time.

Another exciting adventure this month was the start of Kindermusik class.  We began a 5 week program called "Creatures in my Backyard" in which we joined other parents and children in singing, dancing, and playing.  Thomas loved the class - the music, the dancing, and especially hanging out with the other kids.  He developed quite a "thing" for one little blond-haired, blue-eyed girl.  They would follow each other around the room, often gathering in a tent to share musical instruments and babble together.  It was really one of the most amusing and sweetest moments of the class.

It's been a while

Well, like I said, it's been a while since I've updated the blog.  In these last several months, Thomas has accomplished sooo much - crawling, standing, clapping, waving, babbling, even taking a few steps all by himself.  It's hard to believe how quickly time has flown by.  In the blink of any eye, baby Thomas has become quite the little boy with a huge personality.  So, I'm going to try my best now to re-cap the past several months - they were full of fun and travels for our little family!

the little man

Just had to post this picture from March 2011, what an expression!

This April the Gorney family met in Charleston, SC to participate in the Cooper River Bridge Run.  Grandma and Aunt Katie watched Thomas while Trey and I did our best to complete the race (quite a feat for me since the last time I ran seriously was training for the Atlanta half-marathon in 2004).  With the race behind us, we spent the rest of the weekend enjoying our house on the Isle of Palms and the beach.  This was Thomas' first trip to the beach!  Unfortunately it was still a bit cold for swimming but we all enjoyed the warm sand and sun. 

Post race picture!

Shortly after this Charleston trip, Thomas and I, along with Katie, Linda Ann, and my mom, traveled to Cherry Grove for another beach trip.  This time around, Thomas was all over the beach but it was still too cold for swimming.  He played in the sand, picking up fistfuls and letting it fall between his fingers, played with seashells, enjoyed some of the beach toys I had for him, and even admired some of the young spring breakers running around.  Of course, a large amount of time was spent trying to explain to him why it was not a good idea to eat sand.  Hopefully that lesson will stick with him for future beach trips!  Thomas also got to spend some quality time with Pops, hanging out around the house and on the golf cart.  One last memorable event from this trip...  Thomas was attempting to pick up a starfish decoration at the house when Katie stepped in to tell him "no".  Thomas took this particular no very hard - he immediately burst into tears and sat on the floor defeated.  Needless to say, he taught Katie a lesson - she'll probably never say no to him again!  It was a wonderful trip, although we certainly missed Trey!

Our last travel during the month of April was up to the lake for Easter.  Both the Moore's and the Gorney's celebrated together and definitely had a great time.  Thomas celebrated his 8 month birthday the day before Easter - he weighed in around 17 pounds and is still growing like a weed.

 

Ski Trip

This March, Trey, Thomas and I, along with Chip and Linda Ann ventured to Steamboat Springs, Colorado for some springtime skiing.  During this trip, Thomas experienced his first airplane ride and really racked up the miles!  He was an excellent flyer and spent most of his time in the air asleep.  We spent three whole days in Colorado, staying in a resort at the base of the ski slope.  Trey and Chip hit the slopes every morning, Trey snowboarding and Chip skiing.  After a yummy lunch, I joined them on 2 out of the 3 days on skis (well mostly I was on my rear-end).  Having skied only once, this trip was quite a challenge for me and has led me to realize that ski school is a must next time.  Thomas spent these afternoons playing with Linda Ann and touring the slope-side shops.  He became quit well known for his cool style, always wearing a ski hat and sunglasses.  Just a bit bigger and he'll be one of those kids flying fearless down the mountain!  It was a wonderful trip, full of fun and beautiful mountains.