School's out for summer!

Yippeeee! I just had my last day of school yesterday and Tommy had his last day of daycare. Now it's time for lots of summer fun & travel for mommy & Tommy. Our daycare situation turned out to be better than we could have dreamed! The woman who takes care of him is outstanding...she loves Tommy & Tommy loves her. Plus I think it has been really good for him to be around other babies. He was the only boy in daycare, with 2 other girls (both named Ava) so he was lovin' it. He never even got sick in the 10 weeks he was there which just goes to show how clean she keeps her place. I thought for sure I would end up with a sick baby as soon as he went to daycare! We plan to take him back to the same home in the fall so Carmen can watch him again. He is only 3 minutes away from my school so that made returning to work much easier.

I can't believe it is summer already! We have 3 trips planned to Nashville, as well as trips to Atlanta and Northern California. We are entertaining the idea of a short cruise to celebrate my 30th birthday but we aren't sure if that will pan out. Our main focus is to make sure Tommy gets lots of time with his cousins and little friends in Nashville, as well as with his grandparents, aunts & uncles who don't get to see him much. Hopefully he will continue to be a great traveler like he has been so far.

Tommy is changing SO much these days. He is almost 6 months now which is so hard to believe. Just in the past couple weeks, he has discovered his feet and can put them in his mouth, he can sit up on his own, he can roll over both ways, hold his own bottle and yes, of course, he has discovered his "special part". As you can see from the pictures, he also had his first trip to the zoo! He is all smiles and charm and has become quite the flirt...the kid draws crowds when we are out in public now. He has finally gotten the hang of the bouncy swing which is providing him with some much needed calorie burning activity! Still no solid foods yet...we plan on starting that right at 6 months. He wasn't really in need of anything extra as far as calories go! But he has slowed down with the growth as you can probably tell from the pics. He is still rocking the double chin but at least he kind of has a neck now. Still no teeth, and still no hair, besides his little layer of peach fuzz. His eyes are still deep blue like both of his grandpa and pops. I am hoping they stay that way but they still could change.

Next weekend will be a big one for me because we are leaving Tommy to go to a family wedding in southern California. My mom is going to come to Jax to stay with the little guy so I know he'll be in good hands but I can't imagine leaving him for 4 days. I hope I can relax enough to enjoy myself!!

I'm sure we'll have pics galore with all our trips this summer so I'll keep them coming! Hope everyone is doing well...we love you!!!

Tommy's first trip to Nashville

Over my spring break at the end of March, Tommy and I went up to Nashville for his first visit. He got to meet his great grandma "Gigi", Uncle Stephen and Uncle Rob and all of his cousins. Catherine was definitely the most excited of anyone to see Tommy. She just could not believe that she had not met him yet! There were a couple times that Tommy was a bit overwhelmed by the chaos but hey, he's a Bauchiero, so he has to get used to it! We had a great time and got to spend lots of time with family. Of course there is never enough time to see everyone but we already have 2 trips back to Nashville planned for this summer. The highlight of the trip for me was seeing him with the other kids, especially watching Catherine give Tommy a bottle (which by the way was all she talked about to me for the 2 months prior to our visit!). She is so incredibly sweet!!

We were blessed to be in Nashville when our newest niece, Corinna Blake was born. She is such a little angel!! Although Tommy didn't get to see her in the hospital, he is excited to have another cousin to play with!

Tommy is still doing great. Daycare is going very well and we are have decided to send him to the same place in the fall. His caretaker, Carmen, is wonderful and Tommy loves her. Plus she speaks in Spanish to him which reinforces the Spanish I have started to speak! Ryan is dreading the day that Tommy mouths off to him and Ryan doesn't understand! I am counting down the days till summer: 25 school days and then exams.

Enjoy the newest pics and we'll keep you posted with any news.

Tommy's first photo shoot

Last Saturday, we took Tommy in for his 4 month pictures. He was such a trooper! We got some great ones and I got them emailed to me so I could download and post them, so here they are! I still need to put up our pics from Nashville so hopefully I'll get to that this weekend.

He had his 4 month check up last week at the doc. 4 more shots...yuck! But he only cried for a few seconds. It made for a rough night or two but he recovered quickly and is back to sleeping through the night for the most part. He weighed in at 16 pounds 9 ounces and he has dropped from the 90th percentile in weight down to the
80th, so he is definitely slowing down but still "not hurting" as the doctor says!

I am counting down the days till summer...30 school days left. Daycare is still going well, Tommy really likes it there so that does wonders for my peace of mind. It is hard only seeing him a couple hours a day but we are all doing well with it.

I'll get the Nashville pictures up soon. He loved meeting his cousins and seeing his aunts and uncles. We are looking forward to more trips up there this summer!! In the meantime, enjoy these pics!

More from March

Below are some pics from lots of different things! We have started to put Tommy in his Bumbo seat to help him to learn to sit up. We think he looks hilarious when he is in it...like a talk show host or something, so I had to include a picture of that. He is also starting to love reading and I got some great pics of him with daddy. The crib pictures are from one day when I came in when he woke up from a nap and he was just pushed up looking at his UT mobile hanging over his crib. He is such a Vol fan already! And then of course there was Easter and I got a great picture of him with his Gram in his cute Easter outfit. We made it to church and he was a little angel, despite all the chaos around him.

I went back to work on March 13 which was much harder on me than Tommy. I cried the entire first morning after dropping him off at daycare. But I got to visit him at lunch and he was quite content and he was still smiling when I picked him up after work. He must know that mommy really needs her sleep now because ever since that Thursday, he has been sleeping through the night. Woo hoo!! Luckily, the next week my mom was here to watch him all week so at least he got to be in his own house. This week we are off to Nashville for spring break to visit all our family and friends and to see Tommy's new cousin who will be born on Friday. I'm hoping the sleeping through the night thing continues even in his new surroundings! I am doing better with working...it helps that I work in an amazing place with such remarkable people and kids. It is so hard to be away from him but I know it will get a little easier and I know that I am working in order to enable him to experience going to school at Bolles!

I'm sure I'll have lots of Nashville pics to post when I get back. He will be going in for his 4 month check up the first week of April...I can hardly believe it! We'll have another weight update then which I'm sure will give us all another laugh (although I do think he is slowing down a little!).

Enjoy!!

Deer Valley

Well our first trip with Tommy was a success!! We flew to Deer Valley Utah on March 4. It was a long day of traveling....2 3 hour flights, a layover and then a 45 minute car ride to Grandnan and Pops' beautiful condo. Tommy was such a trooper. He did great on the flights and had so much fun in Deer Valley. Ryan and I both got to ski quite a bit thanks to Grandnan and Pops taking turns watching Tommy. The time change and unfamiliar surroundings did lead to a few rough nights but overall it was great! Although I think next time we go, we may put Gram in charge of watching Tommy so Ryan and I can fully enjoy a relaxing experience. Below are some pics of Tommy on the airplane and in the condo. The last night we were there we went to the Stein Erickson lodge for some drinks and appetizers and there are a couple pics from there, too. Everywhere we went, Tommy was the center of attention...just like a Bauchiero. One of the highlights of the trip was that Tommy got to meet his great uncle Bob in the Salt Lake airport! Bob & Brigitte were leaving the condo as we were coming so we got to spend a few minutes with them in the airport.

Life is so exciting!

Our little man is doing great! He is really smiling, cooing and interacting now and he tells great stories. He continues to pack on the pounds but I think he is starting to slow down a little. He turned 12 weeks on Thursday and he celebrated by sleeping through the night on Friday and Saturday!! My mom was in town visiting last week and Ryan was at a conference in Amelia Island at the Ritz Carlton so I went up and spent one night there. It was my first night away from Tommy so of course I didn't sleep well because I didn't know what kind of night he was having. And my mom didn't sleep very well because it was her first night alone with him and what happened??? Tommy slept from 7pm till 7:45am! Oh the irony....neither mom nor I slept well and Tommy slept great! He is always full of surprises. Luckily Ryan and I were both home to enjoy him doing it again last night. But Tuesday we leave for Deer Valley to ski with Jim and Nanci and we are bringing Tommy with us, so hopefully we won't mess up his progress too much.

Last week, my best friend Carissa came to town from Northern Cal with her 9 month old Darcy. We had a great time and had lots of successful outings. Tommy had his first dinner out at a restaurant, his first trip to the beach and his first shopping trip, during all of which he was an angel! The pics below are some from his time with Carissa and Darcy, as well as some bath tub pictures that I love. I'm sure he'll really appreciate these some day.

Things are definitely starting to get easier and more fun. I know that more challenges will continue to pop up all the time but for now we are really doing great, just in time for me to go back to work :( I go back on March 13. Luckily I only have one week of work and then I have a week off for spring break, so it should help to ease me into the transition. Then only 8 weeks and it is summer again, so at least I have that to look forward to.

I will definitely post more once we get back from our trip. Hopefully we will discover that Tommy is a good traveller! In the meantime, enjoy the pics!!!

Tommy's favorite things!

Tommy is doing really well. We went to the doctor for his 8 week appointment last week and he is in the 90th percentile for height and weight....shocker, right?! Drumroll please...he weighed in at 13 pounds 15 ounces. He has almost doubled his birth weight and he is only 2 months old! He has cut out one feeding at night so maybe that will slow down the weight gain. He was so brave through his shots, only cried for about 15 seconds but it was a rough weekend. By Sunday he was back to his sweet self after 2 very long nights!

I have been doing too much reading which has been stressing me out more than helping, so Ryan finally took my books away from me last weekend. We still use one, and only one, to help us, but we are trying to rely more on our parental instincts since all the books seem to contradict eachother. There is just too much darn information out there!

Now Tommy has definitely taken an interest in the world around him. As you can see below, he loves his swing, not because it is a swing, but because of the birds and the mirror above it. He also loves to kick on his mat and look all around. He is getting really strong and is doing great holding his head up. He rolled over from his belly to his back today...you can kind of see how that happened below. He is fascinated with mirrors and loves to look at himself. He has also discovered his tongue and loves to stick it out. I tried to capture that, along with his chubby arm rolls in the pic below.

Overall, we are doing well. Still lots of challenges to figure out, but we are getting a little more sleep and he is more fun every day. Enjoy the pics and we'll keep you posted!!