Nearly Nine.

We can't believe this little boy has been in our lives for almost 9 months.

Each day he looks more and more grown up, more and more like a boy and not a baby.

Each day he seems to learn something new, develop in some way, and show more and more of who he is. He is a curious, sensitive, and happy little soul. He will play by himself just fine, but will always look up at me and smile every so often when I am in the same room. It doesn't take much work to make him laugh, and even less to make him smile.

 

Each day he makes us laugh at his silliness and his funny ways. He loves to sleep with his bottom up in the air. He is not very steady sitting up, but he somehow manages to get himself into that position. He still loves his push ups.

Each day we grow more and more in love with him and his sweet little self.

Amanda's wedding — or, the most amazingly planned event I have ever attended.

As I mentioned before, my sister got married over Memorial Day Weekend. She works for a catering company and plans events for a living, so lets just say this was the most organized, gorgeous, and delicious wedding I have ever been to. It kind of made me wish I could do it over again, she did such a good job!

The weather both the day before and after was horrible, but it was perfect the day of her wedding. Since it was so nice out, she had the ceremony outside.

 

 Her colors were sangria and apple green, which made for some really beautiful bouquets...

One dapper little ring-bearer with his purple bowtie and vest...

 

And one especially handsome little baby in his wedding duds.

Some more pictures of the day:
{most pictures above and below taken by keli b photography}

The whole marriage part of the day was nice, but the food, the food was unbelievable. Amanda went to culinary school so she doesn't mess around when it comes to knowing what good food is. Most wedding luncheon buffets have some nice sandwiches, salads, etc. Hers had a mini burger sliders bar with homemade kettle chips, tons of toppings, and hor d'oeuvres. Most receptions have a single buffet table, with a few standard offerings. Hers had four tables, with such deliciousness as artichoke beignets, beef tenderloin, dijon chicken puffs, lobsters ravioli, grilled cheese with tomato soup shots, a bruschetta bar, and every type of cheese and salami known to the Italian man. Yeah, pretty much amazing. And that is only like 1/4 of the things she had. 

And that didn't even include all the desserts either. Those were equally abundant and equally amazing.

Luckily Thompson was so exhausted he slept through the whole reception - loud music and all. That allowed me and Trevor to do something we have never done our whole married lives...

dance! 

We pretty much tore it up on the dance floor. Okay, maybe not, but we did get a few dances in, somewhere in between stuffing our faces. 

Congrats Amanda and Joe, and thanks for letting us be a part of your wonderful day!

A Quick Visit to Chicago

Over memorial day weekend we got to go out to Chicago for my sisters wedding. I was excited to see my family, but less excited about the 3+ hour flight. Thompson isn't really the hold-still-in-your-lap-type of kid. Despite this, he did great for his first plane trip and even fell asleep in my lap as we were taking off. By the end of the day though, he was exhausted and ready for some snuggles from his grandma. 

After a nap on the way home from the airport, he was ready to play with his cousin Ethan and uncle Jonathan.

It was amazing how much fun he seemed to have in a crazy noisy house. He would just sit and watch the other boys play all day. Sorry kid, you won't be getting a sibling anytime soon.

We were only there for the long weekend and it was a little busy with all the wedding stuff going on, but we loved every minute. I even found time for the outlet mall, Steak n' Shake, and Panera (Portillo's - I am coming for you at christmas time). These are the foundations of any good trip back to the Naperville. And of course there was lots of time with the fam. Even though he hasn't spent a lot of time with them, Thompson seems to have a special place in his heart for my family and always warms up to them right away.

We were sad to leave them so soon. The only good part about leaving - an extra seat on the flight home! That was something we were all happy about.

Spiders shouldn't be allowed to exist.

Here's a horrifying story for you.

Yesterday I was taking a shower while Thompson played in the bathroom by me. When I finished, I got out to dry off, and looked down to see what my little boy was up to.

And then I screamed. Because when I looked down, instead of just seeing his cute little smiley self, I saw a GIANT spider crawling across his cute little smiley self. Not some tiny little thing, one of those huge, hairy, nasty guys. The kind I normally make Trevor deal with because they creep me out. Trevor was at work though, and this spider was crawling ON MY BABY. I don't like touching spiders with my bare hands, but I guess my maternal protectiveness outweighed any disgust because without thought I went to get this spider off my child. When I went to flick it off his tummy, the spider ran up his chest, back to his neck, and started crawling down his shirt.

At this point, I was screaming again. I was also dripping water all over my child because I hadn't dried off. The poor boy had a look of terror in his eyes, not from the the spider, but from seeing his mom act all crazy. I thought back to the 5th grade when we learned about brown recluse spiders and how my teacher showed us nasty pictures of people who had been bitten by one and how I was afraid of any spider I saw for like a year after that. What if it was a brown recluse on my baby? What if I angered it by flicking it and it was going to bite him now? Irrational thoughts - maybe. Being a mom makes you irrational sometimes. While I thought all this, I grabbed Thompson and knocked the spider off just before it disappeared under his shirt. Then I smashed it a million times under the rug and calmed down my baby.

I am not afraid of spiders normally, there was just something about one crawling on my little boy that really freaked me out. I made Trevor spray for spiders the second he came home. If spiders have to exist in this world, at least they shouldn't exist in my house. 

All you need to know about U.S. geography.

I stumbled upon this most accurate of maps on pinterest the other day. I am saving it so I can one day teach Thompson all he really needs to know about U.S. geography.

It must be summer...

...because we went swimming...

 

...and the little boy tried to drink all the pool water...

...and because we are loving us some watermelon...

...and because we can finally play outside and enjoy some warm weather...

...which is good because the little boy loves being outside...

...even if nature makes him go a little cross-eyed.