Thad is 7 Months Old

What a big month it was! At 7 months Thad, you had lots of firsts including trying solid foods, celebrating Christmas, and sprouting your first tooth!

 

 

 

 

Here you are trying your first bite of solid food - carrots.  You did great! 

 

 

 



Picking out the perfect Christmas tree.

Playing on the playground after church.

McCord (2010), Wade (2012), and Thad (2014)

PJs with Santa - I think your brothers are sugar-crazed, but you were quite a smiley little elf!

Oh Thad!  You are such a trooper!  This was your first bath with the Bigs and they jumped on you like a new bath toy, and bless your easy-natured soul, you just smiled through the whole experience.

Sitting at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning waiting to see what Santa brought (2014)

After your bath, we sing, "Jesus Loves Me" before I nurse you to sleep.

One of my favorite pictures of you at 7 months - just nibbling on your toes. I just adore every pudgy fold and can hardly believe how many dimples fit into the frame of the camera.

Here you are waking up from a nap and I noticed you sprouted your first tooth - your bottom right.  You acted as if it was no big deal, but I could tell that you were proud of it - smiling a lot and playing with your lips and tongue.  When the second one emerged less that a week later, it brought some discomfort with it.

Thad is 6 Months Old

 

This post is a little bit difficult for me to write, because 6 months old is both a wonderful and a sad thing at the same time.  What an absolute blessing it is to have had 6 amazing, healthy, wonderful months with you, Thad Campbell - but at the same time, it is a milestone that reminds me how quickly time passes.  I feel as though I was holding you in my arms for the very first time just yesterday, but in reality, that moment was half a year ago.  It has been an absolute gift for me to give birth to 3 healthy little boys, each so unique and special. As babies, I had the privilege to hold each of you in my arms, comforting you in the middle of the night. And now I look upon this picture, above, and am so thankful that you three have each other to hold on to.  It is my prayer that you will always be close.

As I go back through these pictures of you at 6 months old, I am amazed by how much you grew in one month.  Here you are as a young 6 month old....

 

...and here you are as an almost-7-month-old wearing the same outfit as above.  My! How you have grown!

 

At 6 months, you sat in the high chair for the first time.  Before you were quite content to lay on your belly on the floor and watch all of the activity around you, but now in the high chair, you seem to enjoy the change of perspective.  Many times, I will put you in the high chair while I'm cooking dinner, and you love to sit and watch.

Enjoying some time with Poppie and GeeGee

And here you are in the jumper-roo for the first time.  Bubba was quite excited for you to try this out!

Happy Thanksgiving, Thad!

Thad is 5 Months Old

Dear Thad, I'm a few months late to write this post, but it's important to me to document these precious months of your first year, because you are so special to us. And anyone who knows you, Thad, knows that you are pretty special just because you are you. 

 

Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for you - an absolute gift!  You are happy, easy to please, easy to entertain, and generous with your smile and engaging eyes.  And speaking of that smile - it's sort of your signature thing.  You willingly share your one dimple and crooked smile with everyone, and I treasure every single smile you throw my way.

 



Here are a few highlights of your fifth month of life.

Our church offers a Kindermusik class for babies, and here you are at your first class.  You were the youngest, and one of the only boys, but you loved hearing all of the noises and exploring the rain stick and drums. Most of the other babies were crawling around, and you loved laying on your belly and watching them. I think you were actually 4 months old when you started the class. 



There's no doubt that your brothers adore you....



....and you've gotten quite used to being smushed in the name of love.

Here we are a the local nursery picking out a tree to plant in our yard in your honor.  Each of your brothers have a tree and we've documented their growth along with the trees, and we plan to do the same with you.  Bo picked out a beautiful Cherry tree for you and we can't wait to see it bloom in the spring.

 

At 5 months, you enjoyed your first Halloween

We carved our pumpkin on the back deck.  You and I are sitting here enjoying each other's company, while your brothers are exploring the ooey gooey insides of our pumpkin.

Happy Halloween, Thad!  Here we are at a neighbor's house right before trick or treating.  You wore the same dinosaur costume I made for Wade when he was your age.  Your tail, however, never seemed to stay attached.  McCord was a cowboy and Wade was Maxx from Where the Wild Things Are

A day or so before Halloween, we went to visit Daddy at work in costume, and you got a lot of laughs as a tiny Georgia football player.


 

This picture is so special to me.  At five months, you and I loved to swing together.  Here we are swinging in the hammock in the back yard.  You loved to lay on my chest and take in all of the sights and sounds.  I love the wonder in your eyes here, and right after I took this picture, I discovered how much I love to kiss your chin.  It's quite possibly the most kissable spot, but hard for me to get to, unless of course we're on the hammock.

I love this picture of you - your calm, sweet smile - this pretty much sums up how you are all the time.  This picture was taken on your first election day.  You came to the polls with me.

Welcome Home Daddy

Bo has been doing some volunteer work for the church and had to travel one weekend in October - he rarely ever travels for work, and the boys thought flying on a plane was a big deal.  So in Bo's absence, we planned a little surprise.... 

Working on a sign for Daddy

And here we are riding the shuttle to the airport.

 It was a bit embarrassing when the shuttle driver pulled over and asked where I was going pushing a Double Bob stroller, carrying a baby on my chest and a gigantic "Welcome Home Daddy" sign.
Me: We're walking to the airport. {duh}
Shuttle Lady: Oh no you're not!!!
Me: {ahem} what do you mean?
Shuttle Lady: You see all these orange cones?!!!  You see all these construction signs?!!!  You ain't walking nowhere!!! Hop on the bus!!!
Me: I, um, have a huge ass stroller.
Shuttle Lady: Hop on the bus!!!
Thank you God for the two strangers who immediately popped out of the shuttle to help me. Absolute angels, I tell you.  One guy looks at the Double Beast, I mean Bob, and says, "we used to have one of these things" and like riding a bike it all comes back to him, collapsing it into it's smaller beast size.  It takes a bit of grunting and shuffling, but they cram it in the handicap storage area.  I grab the boys; we squeeze past a couple of sweaty snickering passengers, and like that the bus takes off for the airport. 

I went dark with Bo's phone calls as he was boarding for his return flight, because you know, if a little surprise is good, a huge surprise is even better.  At the time, it seemed like a genius idea....

"What's that you say?  Daddy's flight was delayed 1 1/2 hours!!!?"

Oh crap.
I only brought two packs of fruit snacks.

So here we are, all four of us stuffed in the family bathroom while I nurse the baby. 
This was the tipping point of the whole trip.  I completely expected the Bigs who have forfeited a nap, to have a major meltdown. In public. Simultaneously. But instead something crazy happens for the very first time in the history of ever:
they go with the flow.
Even Wade has decided that he's willing to play the ipad with the image upside down. Amazing. 

Bribing with Cheetos paid dividends.

We walked around every single baggage claim at least 4 times and rode the elevator at least twice.

But this was worth it.

 

 

And this.

 

Thad is 4 Months Old!

 

Oh, Thad!  We love you so!  Happy 4 month birthday little one.  We celebrated your big day by going to Tweetsie Railroad.  We had a blast riding the train, but it was C-O-L-D! I held you close in the bjorn the whole time, and you were such a trooper.  We are so thankful for an adaptable and easy going third child!

 

 

 

 

Here you are with Aiya doing a bit of equestrian research.  You love to be on your belly and will simply hang out and watch what everyone else is doing around you.

Sometimes we get lucky and have a nice quiet bath, but usually we have a bit of help.  Bath time is truly your favorite part of the day, and as soon as you figure out that I'm undressing you for your bath, you start shrieking with joy! We do a little chant: "It's bath time BABY!" And I dance your naked little body to the sink while you kick your legs and squeal.  It's my favorite part of the day too.  As you can tell from this picture, you're ecstatic.

 

Your brothers can't keep their hands off of you.

And SURPRISE! You rolled over on 10.10.14 for the first time - belly to back!