New and Improved! 3x bigger than the average baby...

So, for those of you that remembered Thomas as a little sickly baby (early January) I am pleased to announce our new and improved baby. Stronger! Happier! 3 x larger!

Yes. Thomas is what is now being referred to within the family circle as "the monster baby". He wears 12 month shirts and 6-9 month pants. He has a melon head so I call him sputnik. The kid is growing by leaps and bounds! I just bought 9 month ones for him about 2 weeks ago, and they are so last week.

We even broke down and bought the next car seat...the Britax marathon. It is supposed to last until he reached 4 ft. or 65 pounds. Which, at this rate, might take him to the age of two.

He was been rolling over, but isn't "on a roll" yet. He hates tummy time (he whimpers and sucks his hand).

At his 3 month pictures in early Feb he was 15 pounds. So I am guesstimating his weight is now between 16 and 17 pounds. He is 27 1/2 inches long.

He is not yet 4 months old.

I am all for another baby as Thomas already looks like a toddler to me. Eugene wants to hold off as he is fearful we might have another boy and then when they are teenagers, we will have to declare bankruptcy just to feed them.

Thomas kicked of a trend in our family (well, extended family, some of whom I prefer not to be around) There was Thomas (10/29) Joseph (12/29), a cousin's little girl (1/29) my cousin Tommy's little boy (1-30) another cousin had a girl (2-19) and her younger sister who is still in high school is due in July. 6 babies 9 months....

Here are some pictures of Thomas playing undercover detective...

Uncle Adam! Look! I got a fatcap just like you! You know....Gene Hackman was in a movie called "The Package..."

And then, I kid you not, I found the burnt monkey right next to the fire extinguisher.... OR "So you saw the dead deer on the side of the road and felt it needed loving? Is that correct sir? What led you to make that assumption?

I find it out that neither of my parents look like Adam, yet I do...perhaps they really aren't my parents....I need to conceal my identity.

Thomas likes to suck his thumb and wave...he's a multitakser....

Time for another drink! Hey Lily, how can you resist this face? (he does have my "eyebrow" thing still) What say, me, you and a bottle of milk-free formula? Know what I'm sayin?

New Job

So, things are going SOOO MUCH better! I am excited to go to work again, and I haven't felt that way in oh, about 4 years. My last day at the old job was...whats the word... "ehh". I had to get up super early so we could go to breakfast at 8am (did anyone remember I had a baby?) My $4 breakfast was generously paid for, and then i was given a gift of office supplies (and when I say that, I mean they went to the storeroom and got extra office supplies.) Paperclips, rubberbands, a ruler, some liefsavers (PEPPERMINT!!!), a pack of post-its. It was a "Director's Bag".

I did not get an exit interview as I wanted, but I still have to fill out my "exit interview questions. So I will be answering thoroughly.

Anyways, the new job. There is lots to be done, but I'm loving it. I have been cleaning and organizing, getting a feel for things, and meeting the patrons. Which is actually quite easy as about 75% were at the family reunion this summer :)

I find it odd that Nekoosa has 2500 people, yet they have a library director, who is paid decently (not as well as my job at the other place, but still pretty well). We also have a new library. The other place had 5 times the population, a library about 1/3 the size, and less staff. Go figure.

The Library Board director is just an amazing wonderful woman. She's been so a joy to work with. In fact the whole library Board is younger people who want to get things done. It's just so much fun to go into work!

Stretch Armstrong, Superhero

Thomas is the stretchiest baby I have even seen. I knew when I was pregnant that he was stretchy, but no one believed me. Finally, I have proof!

Sinners! I absolve you!

We tried to get a picture of him smiling. As soon as he sees the camera, he stops. Just like his father....
See? The stretching? I swear, he was doing this the entire last month of the pregnancy!!!
His beefcake photo

Here is is again, eating the hand sandwich....

Thomas with his 2nd cousin Nathaniel. Nathaniel weighs 9 pound 1 oz in the picture and is 21 inches long, so he is the exact size Thomas was at birth, jsut for a reference point...

Nathaniel is crying and Thomas is going to his happy place. Thomas almost never cries now. He's one of the happiest babies I know. When Meredith and I went to Madison, Joseph would cry, but Thomas is a mellow little fellow...

Bad Bad Bad

All right, I know already! Yes, I haven't blogged in a long while (I'm sorry Syren).

At year's end, Thomas was sick. He got down to 9 pounds 4 oz, but then I started to give him some formula and he started to do better weight wise. But he still couldn't breathe well. Long story short, he was put in the hospital for two days in isolation becasue he had Influenza A. Which is the normal flu, which is not a big deal unless you are a baby. Then it's a very big deal.

I went back to work on the 7th of Jan and Thomas was put in the hospital that evening. I called my boss and asked if it was necessary that I come in as the baby was in the hospital. Of course, it was extremely important that I be there. So important that he didn't even bother to come out or email me or anything. Note my sarcasm.

Anywho, on Jan 23, I put in my two weeks notice and now have a new job. I am the Nekoosa Library Director. I have more staff, a huge new building and free rein. The Library Board president is about my age and has two kids, so she has been fantastic. Thomas gets to come first (which is how it should be) and then the job. I cna leave to take him to appointments, I can go home for lunch, I don't have to work nights or weekends. I get vision, dental, and health insurance. Eugene gets all of those and life insurance too. My other job only gave me health insurance.

Here are the reasons you all read this thing anyways....here are pictures from the time Thomas went into the hospital up to this weekend. Since the last posting, Thomas has a new cousin, Joseph, born on 12-29, and second cousin, Nathaniel Thomas, born on 1-29. So there are three boys who are only three months apart in age!

My mom was talking to Thomas, and he was hanging on every word...

Here is Thomas acting like a goon. He gets that from me....poor kid

Thomas and his favorite pal, Albert. He has just discovered (2-11-08) that he can pick Albert up and chew on his ear.

Yes, I know what this looks like " 'ere"....but really, he just likes eating his hand.

But then he looks all happy and mellow. I call this the "Adam" smile....

He likes him his hand sandwich....

This was the day the packers lost to the Giants. We were rooting for Eli...he won it for younger siblings everywhere!!!

He can hold his rattle and shake it. But he always freaks himself out.

Me and Silas at Joseph's baptism. Silas is my brother's fourth kid, 3rd boy.

More pictures to come....