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.