6 Months!

Happy Half Birthday, Thomas!  I didn't have half a birthday hat or anything to put on him so instead I took a picture of him with a diaper hat on.  Thanks daddy for inventing such a great hat :)

Holy cow.  I can't believe the baby I just had is six months old.  Really, people tell you all the time that time flies.  I've heard that my whole life, but I didn't realize how true that was until now.  It's so crazy to think that I've been a mom for half a year now.  Anyway, enough ranting about how Thomas is growing up too fast.

Having a six month old is so fun!  Thomas has turned into quite the funny, happy boy and I love it!  He's an awesome eater now and has loved every kind of food we've given him... oatmeal cereal, sweet potatoes, pears, peaches, carrots, peas, mixed veggies, bananas, mango, and on and on.  I thought for sure that there would be something that he wouldn't like, but he's liked everything.  Kinda fun.

Around four months Thomas was a pretty great sleeper and was sleeping from 7:30 at night until about 5:00 AM when he'd wake up to eat and then sleep again until 8:00 AM, but since December was pretty filled with vacations and odd schedules, he had regressed a little bit and was waking up at least once a night.  So... we decided to let him cry it out a little bit a couple weeks ago.  Luckily it worked great and now he usually sleeps from 7:30 PM - 8:00 AM which is awesome.  Waking up once at night wasn't a big deal to me, but not getting out of bed at all?  Glorious!  I'm so grateful that is becoming a great sleeper at night and during the day.  I'm one proud momma!

Thomas is really close to being able to sit up by himself now and loves splashing in the big bathtub.  He's FINALLY starting to like tummy time a little more too.  With the start of the new year, I've been going to a bi-stake exercise class in the mornings and Thomas works out (tummy time) while I work out.  We definitely both feel the burn, but he usually gives up before I do.  He's gotten a lot better though. Now on a really good day he can do a fifteen minute stretch without freaking out!  I know that's probably not that great of an accomplishment, but for us it is.  I HATED watching him scream everyday when I put him down for tummy time.  At least now he enjoys it for the first few minutes.  Baby steps right?

He's almost able to sit up now, loves baths in the big bathtub, and

And his favorite things right now are playing with his tongue ALL THE TIME and...

his toes! One of my friends called them tater tot toes.. how cute!  And no wonder babies think they're so delicious!

 See?  They're always in his mouth.  It makes changing him and giving baths a little on the difficult side sometimes

Well, things are so great.  We are incredibly happy and can't get enough of this little boy.  One of my very favorite things in the whole world is watching Matt and Thomas play together.  They both end up laughing really hard and it's pretty adorable.  I am so grateful that I'm so blessed to have such a sweet little family.

Family Pictures Dec 2014

Family pictures are always fun and crazy.  It's funny how a lot happens during the hour of the photo shoot that doesn't usually end up in the printed photo on your wall.  This year my family had Brittney Gurr take our pictures and I love that her pictures totally show our personalities and our relationships with each other.  Basically she's amazing and I love pretty much everything she ever posts.  Someday maybe my pictures will turn out like hers... doubtful, but maybe!  I better start practicing.

I call this lovely little number... where do I put my hands?

And something funky.  I don't remember what we were doing here haha

The two that started it all.  I am so grateful for my wonderful parents. 

And my sister.  Love her!

Here's all the different families from oldest to youngest...

Mike's (top left), Paul's (top right), Tim's (bottom left), and Nate's (bottom right)

Matt (top left), Becca (top right), Dave (bottom left), and Sarah

 And here's the random chicken fight my brothers broke into.  After these pictures they took a cute one with Matt.  I'm glad he was able to avoid all the crazy.  I'm actually kinda surprised no one got hurt :)

And the girls.  I'm so grateful that my brothers all married great women.  I "put up" with six brothers for a long time with only one cute sister.  I'm glad I have more now.  My sisters are the best. 

Someday, Sis.

I'm so grateful for my family... crazy and all.  

Christmas 2014 & Baby's First Christmas!

Christmas was so fun this year.  We drove down to Mesa and spent the first week with the Schmidt fam and the second week with the Caltons.  It was pretty crazy with everyone all together, but we had a blast.  Here are some pics of our adventures...

Merry Christmas from this chummy little boy!

Thomas got to meet Santa this year at my family's ward Christmas party.  

At least he didn't cry!

Thomas and Grandpa Calton... oh and Sophie who we love

Mesa Temple Lights!

We helped him open one present but I think I was more excited about all of his presents this year than he was :).  He did love the paper though!  And he loves his toys... he just didn't know it at the time.

This year my family had a big fiesta on Christmas.  We had a talent show, a pinata, and a delicious dinner complete with papusas and tamales.  After that we had a white elephant gift exchange that turned out to be hilarious.  Dave had the funniest present of all... a model pic of himself.  He'll probably get mad at me for posting this someday, but I think it's hilarious so everyone needs to see the ridiculousness of the Schmidt family.

Sorry about the awful border.  I didn't want to edit it :)

While we were with Matt's family we also went to an acquarium.  It was a lot of fun.  Thomas was totally fascinated by all the fish.  I know he doesn't look that happy but he was definitely in a staring phase at this point of the day.  Inside I'm sure he was happy haha

The last thing that happened over the holidays was not a fun part.  We were hanging out with Matt's family, waiting for midnight on new year's when someone heard Thomas' crying.  I went by the door to listen in on him and freaked out when I heard him having trouble breathing.  I whipped the door open, flipped the lights on, and held him for a second before I got nervous and called Matt in.  Thomas had been sick for the past few days with all the family and colds everywhere, but this was different.  We skyped with Matt's brother-in-law who is a pediatrician and he helped us figure out that the little man had croup.  We took him outside and helped him for a while, but ended up having my brother who is a PA call in a steroid for us so that we could take care of it that night.  Luckily for us we were blessed with wonderful, caring people who were able to help us right away.  We gave Thomas the medicine around 1AM and in the morning he sounded tons better.  I am so grateful for medicine.  I know I'm just a worried new mom, but it was scary for me.  I'm so glad it was a short-term thing.  

Anyway, the holidays were a ton of fun.  We loved being with our family, but at the end of the trip we were definitely ready to go home and spend time as our own little family again.  

Thomas at 5 Months!

I know this is a month late, but happy five months to my little man!

Thomas is such a joy to have in our home.  He makes me happy everyday.  I thought four months was wonderful because he turned into such a happy boy all of a sudden, but it keeps getting better and better.  He giggles all the time, LOVES to play, and he's as noisy as ever.  Recently when we've gone to institute and church he makes the loudest moaning noises.  It's pretty hilarious, but I never know what to do because he's happy... just noisy.  Luckily people are pretty understanding and most people love babies which is definitely a perk :).

This month has been a little rough with sleeping since we've been on vacation so much, but whenever we're home he sleeps pretty well so I shouldn't complain.  We just started him on solids and it's a little tricky, but he's doing pretty good.  We've only tried oatmeal cereal so far (and it's basically like feeding him milk on a spoon) but he seems to like it so far.  We've done it for a couple days now and he's getting better and better.  He's so fun... everything is such an adventure as a mom.

Anyway, we're all doing great.  Thomas still can't turn over and he still kinda hates tummy time, but he's getting better about it.  I figure that if that's all I have to complain about then things are pretty great.  He sleeps on his side all the time so I'm pretty sure that if he wanted to turn over bad enough he could... maybe haha.  Anyway, life is great and we couldn't be happier.  This past month has been so fun and I can't wait to see how this little boy grows up.  Happy 5 months, Thomas.  We love you!

Ready with his game face on

 Giant, sloppy mess!

Our MAGICAL Cruise: December 2014

Back in the day, my parents came up with this fun plan to take all of their kids on cruises as they graduated high school.  They took my brothers in sets of two and then got stuck when we hit the boy, girl, boy, girl kids.  Anyway, it was a few year late, but we finally took our cruise trip and it was AWESOME.  Sarah had just finished her mission so it was a great chance to meet up together and head out to the Caribbean before her new semester started.  On Thanksgiving Day, Matt and I went and had a delicious Thanksgiving meal with his sister Stephanie and her family and then we surprised Sarah at the Salt Lake City Airport.  It was so fun!  She finally got to meet Thomas and I got to see my long lost sister!

That night we stayed in Farmington with my aunt and uncle and then we left bright and early the next morning for Orlando.  I was so grateful that my parents and sister were there to help me on the flight with Thomas.  Thomas is a really good little boy, but traveling with a baby is hard regardless of angelic your child is (especially when you're lugging around a carseat, a stroller, a checked bag, a diaper bag, and a cute little guy) :).  Anyway, I was very grateful to have my family with me on my trek with baby T. 

Saturday was the beginning of our Disney marathon.  First up was Disney World!  It just happened to be my birthday that day so I got to fulfill my life-long dream of wearing a Disney birthday pin :).  AND... not only did I get to spend the day at the happiest place on earth in matching shirts, but I got to spend it with people I love and eat TWO churros all by myself!  I really missed Matt and would've loved to have him with us, but we still had a great time.  Lucky for me, I still got to talk on the phone and skype with my handsome husband for my birthday.  Oh and if that wasn't good enough, Matt took me out for a special birthday date to the Cheesecake Factory and the movies before I left Utah.  So needless to say, I definitely felt the love on my big day.  

Overlooking the bay at Epcot

Experiencing England in Epcot Center

Waiting for us outside the roller coaster at Hollywood Studios.  Thanks Dad!

The firework show at Magical Kingdom

My birthday treat...s

The next day we left from a port in Florida and headed out to sea.  The boat was incredible!  Not only did it have a big theater for live shows, a big movie theater, two water slides, all you can eat everything, and a bunch of outdoor sports, but everyone on the boat was incredibly kind and everything was really clean.  I was so impressed by friendly all of the "cast members" were to me (especially since I had a baby who wasn't ALWAYS happy).  It made me so happy to see all the waiters and waitresses walk by and make faces at Thomas.  Some of them would even stop for a few minutes and ask me all about him.  We got to know a lot of people from countries all over the world including: the Philipines, Portugal, Indonesia, and Jamaica.  It was so neat to talk to them about their families and learn about where they were from.  Our main waiter was named Alvin and he was from the Philipines.  He looks really young, but he actually has four (or five?) kids and is a grandpa! Our assistant waiter (probably not the real term) was named Anto.  Anto was my favorite.  He was so smiley and happy all the time.  He has a little girl that is at home with his wife in Indonesia.  I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to work on a cruise ship away from your family for most of your life.  Alvin has been doing it for over twenty years and only gets to see his family for about six weeks at a time and then he leaves again for four months.  I'm sure they're getting a lot of blessings for working so hard for their families.  

 Leaving Florida.  It was gorgeous!

Thomas' first time meeting Mickey.  We'll stick with this picture because the other ones are a little disappointing.  Thomas was a little sleepy.

The favorite baby on board and the king of the ship :)

Alvin on top & Anto on the bottom.

While we were on the boat we got to watch Broadway-style shows every night.  The shows were so much fun!  We also got to play games and participate in activities all over the ship.  One of my faves was the potato/carrot car races they held one day.  We won "best name" with Vegimation, but our car lost in the derby during the semi-finals.  I guess you can't win them all haha.  I also loved watching the "Diaper Dash" where they had crawling babies race to the finish line.  I was tempted to put Thomas in the race just for fun, but I figured him laying on his belly while probably crying wouldn't be the most exciting thing in the world.  

Our first port was Cozumel, Mexico.  It turned out to be a fun, rainy day so we shopped at the little stores along the streets, ate some authentic tacos, and ate delicious ice cream and popsicles.  The rain was coming down really hard for a while and the people were really nice and gave me a big piece of plastic to cover the part of the stroller with so Thomas wouldn't get drenched.  I love that there are kind people all over the world.   

Us with Julian.  His dad was painting postcards to sell and he kept talking to us.  He was obsessed with Thomas' bald head.  To Thomas' credit he's not BALD... he just has a little bit of red hair where you can't see in pictures haha

SOOO good.  Aw man... now I'm craving it.  Maybe I'll go on a hunt in Provo.

The second port on our cruise was at The Grand Cayman.  It was neat to learn a little bit about the history of this island while we were there.  I didn't know this before, but The Grand Cayman is an island that was settled by the English and is now a popular destination for rich people because the residents don't have to pay taxes.  There were people from all over the world that lived there, but it definitely felt more like the U.S. than the other countries we traveled to.  

While at The Grand Cayman, Sarah, my dad, and I went on an excursion to Sting Ray Island.  Basically, we took a boat to the middle of the ocean where it's pretty shallow (the water was about waste level).  It was so crazy, but in the middle of nowhere basically there were hundreds of sting rays.  We got our snorkel gear on and jumped into the water and got to swim around with the rays.  AND we even got to hold them.  They were huge and so cool!  I'm so grateful that my mom volunteered to watch Thomas so that I could do that.  It was such a crazy experience to have them move past my legs and body while we were swimming :)  

See!  They're huge!

The next port was my very favorite.  We went to Fallmouth Jamaica and it was so cool!  We hired a travel agent type of man to drive us around part of the island and show us what Jamaica was really like.  He drove us all over and we met some fishermen, ate Jamaican jerk chicken at a place that all the locals go, ate mango and sweet sop at a fruit stand, went to the ocean for a few minutes, and met a bunch of neat people.  Everyone we met was really friendly, but it was sad to see some of the situations that people live in.  It makes me wish that I could help more people.  

Dad, the fishermen, and their weird sea cucumbers

Not sure how he feels about this whole ocean thing

Sweet sop.  Tons of weird seeds, but not too shabby.

With our main man and awesome tour guide, Gregory

Our last port was Castaway Cay which is Disney's private island.  We hit it off with a bang and "ran" (mostly walked) the Disney 5k.  After that it was a total bum it at the beach day, but it was exactly what I wanted.  We snorkeled a little bit, ate some yummy food and way too much soft serve ice cream, and laid on the beach.  My goal was to come back at least two shades darker, but I don't think that happened.  Maybe I got to one mini shade haha.  Anyway, the other fun thing about being on this island was that Thomas got to experience the ocean :).  The water here was actually a little colder than it was in other places on our trip so Thomas wasn't a huge fan when I tried to get him to go in up by his belly and chest, but he liked putting his feet in.  Over all it was so fun.  Waterslides?  Check.  Relaxing day on the beach?  Check.  

Pit stop on our "run"

 Thomas missed the big finish

When everything was all said and done it was sad to go home and put an end to this magical trip, but I was ready.  A week away from Matt was too long.  I know I'm a wimp, but a week was too long to be away from Matt.  Thomas and I both missed him and even though we had fun people to hang out with and help with the little guy, we missed Daddy.  I think he missed us too :)  

Anyway, I really wanted to document this for myself so that I don't ever forget the fun adventure we went on, but if for some reason you have extra money lying around and you want to take a cool trip... this is the one.  It was awesome.  I love the magic that Disney brings.