Month: October 2011

Oh What A Beautiful Morning!

~ growingupgish ~ Leave a comment

If only we could bottle up the weather this morning and unleash it right as June hits.

The picture above is actually the one second I was able to capture these frisky pups at peace.  Don’t you know they are just as happy as can be when it’s so nice and cool.

We woke up a little late this morning (7:00ish) after Mr. T decided he wanted some snuggle time around 4:30 am this morning.  Needless to say when he woke up he was happy as ever and ready to explore outside.  I was also happy to finally break out some comfy new winter clothes.

Airplane!!!!

Tommy’s really diggin his new kicks!

Deep thoughts with Tommy Gish.

This is our neighbor’s BEAUTIFUL German shepard, Fallon.  His dark coloring is even more beautiful in person.  He’s such a sweet pup. We love having him next door!  If anyone wants to mess with two labs and a German shepard, be my guest!

We hope you had a wonderful day today!  Will update you on more adventures in the days ahead.

Petting Zoos & Peacocks

~ growingupgish ~ Leave a comment

Needless to say I’ve been a bit slammed lately with work, hence the lack of posts on my part.  The fall is always my busiest time of year and by the time I get home from work I am absolutely exhausted!  While my work life is certainly keeping me busy, I have also managed to create new projects at home to keep me busy as well (more on that at the end of this post).

The weather these past few weeks has been absolutely beautiful.  We have thoroughly enjoyed the cool weather in the early morning hours, and appreciate it even more when we are outside with Tommy.  He wants nothing to do with anything or anyone inside, he just wants to be outside – rain or shine.  Enough said.

When we grow tired of the backyard, we simply move to the front where we find endless entertainment.  Lots of acorns, cars driving by, the occasional school bus, and the highlight of Tommy’s day – airplanes.  God bless him, he is in love.  I’m in love with the predictability of them and he just loves to look and stare in awe as they fly away.

We are lucky that we live close to the airport, but just far enough out of the flight path that we can enjoy them without having to cover our ears! 🙂  Gotta love endless free entertainment.

Speaking of free, we discovered a wonderful park on Friday that is perfect for little ones. There are two play areas, one for older children and one for ages 2-5.  Everything was on a smaller, more manageable scale for Tommy and he loved it.  He enjoyed ringing the bell, matching the animals, and the slide; and mommy enjoyed the nice long nap you took right when we got home!

On Saturday morning we headed off to celebrate the 2nd birthday of one of our friends and boy were we in for a treat!  They had a fabulous petting zoo situated on the front lawn complete with mini horses, bunnies, chickens, mallard ducks, pigs, goats, and a precious little mini cow that Tommy loved.  The cow just wanted to eat and that was perfectly fine with Tommy because he could just stand and survey the party with his new friend. Meet farmer Gish.

I wasn’t exactly sure of how Tommy would react to all the animals but he blew me away.  Every animal was so clean and so wonderful with all of the small children.  It was the perfect party for this age.

The horse seemed kind of bummed to lose his friend.

As long as we were on an animal kick I thought, why not keep it going, right?  Off we went to the Ft. Sam Houston Quadrangle.  I don’t know how I’ve missed this little gem as long as I have lived in San Antonio; but every member of my family had been there except me.  We couldn’t have picked a more beautiful day.  I wasn’t certain that it was still open to the public, but luckily for this little animal lover – it was.

Funny side note about Rob and the Quadrangle…

Rob’s parents had a precious picture taken of him at the Quadrangle when he was around Tommy’s age.  It’s almost as if all the little animals noticed him in his little lederhosen (mental picture of little Rob in lederhosen) and wanted to see what this cool little Swiss was up to.  This picture is classic.  Imagine Rob in lederhosen in a field of soft waving grass, and little bunnies, dear and peacocks surrounding him.  I’m working hard to recreate this magic…but in the mean time, we just enjoyed the moment.

Here’s Rob sharing a moment…”Remember me old friend?”

“Hey man, getting a little too close for comfort!”

One final note for an exciting update in the days ahead.  I’ve officially grown tired of Tommy’s playroom with it’s white, bare walls and millions of unorganized toys, so I’ve been shopping around for a new color and have found my match.  I’ve painted the first 1/2 of his room and have a few more steps to go until it’s complete; but I absolutely love it and it feels so great to have some order to that room.  I will post pictures of the new pad soon.  Have a wonderful week!  Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do! 🙂

Lots of Firsts

~ growingupgish ~ Leave a comment

There’s a first time for everything and over the past few weeks we have celebrated many firsts.  On Saturday, September 24th, Tommy (15 months) took his first steps…and has yet to slow down. He’s really proud of himself, can you tell?

Mother Earth graced us with the first good rain that we’ve seen in a very, very long time! My sweet, crispy plants…I totally gave up on you.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the device below…this is an umbrella.  I was so excited to use it and decided to take a picture so the memory would last a little longer.

Tommy and his cousin Julia shared their first kiss…it was pretty stinkin cute!  It happened so fast so I apologize for the fuzzy picture. My sister Emily and I were laughing so hard to ourselves and just sitting back enjoying the moment that I will catalog in the black-male department for later use. As you can see, Tommy doesn’t quite have the hang of it yet, and I’m ok with that.

All that kissing and hugging sure can wear a girl out!

Ok, so this technically was not a first…more like our 1,999,991st trip to the Breckenridge Train Depot. Tommy is absolutely, positively obsessed with the train and the ducks.  When we arrive for our usual ride (first train at 9:30 am on Sunday) there’s always about 4 kids on the train, and usually they are around Tommy’s age.  This is especially lovely when we go through “the tunnel” because you don’t have a million 6-10 year old’s screaming at the top of their lungs in excitement, which then leads Tommy to scream at the top of his lungs in fear.  *No offense mom’s and dad’s with 6-10 year old children! 🙂

It seems like overnight, literally as the month changed from September to October we were able to experience another long-time friend…the long-sleeved shirt!  Hip Hip Hooray its cool again! Although I ended up swapping this shirt for another in the late afternoon, it was perfect for him for most of the day.

I am in LOVE with these shirts.  When Tommy was 4-7 months during the “winter” last year we lived in these shirts.  They are very thin so they are great to layer with a fleece. The brand is Rowdy Sprout and they are funky and fabulous! You’ll find everything from The Who to Elvis – so cute for little boys and girls. I will caution you they run small and shrink a bit.  This shirt for Tommy (shown below) is a size 2T and he could totally wear a 3T with the sleeves rolled up after one wash.

We, I mean Rob, were also sad to see Baylor lose their first game this season. 😦

Tommy got to meet his new friend Brooke for the first time on Saturday.  He was very gentle (thank God) and loved snuggling with her.  He’s already trying to win her over.

Our final first of the weekend came on Saturday, October 1st when we celebrated my sweet husband’s 31st birthday. Cake anyone?

I did a lot of thinking this weekend about perspective. When you celebrate a birthday with your child you have to take a moment to laugh as your realize just how much your life has changed.  Your birthday…a day that has been forever embedded into your muscle memory as “your day” is now so far from “your day” its pretty hilarious.  The luxury of not having to change a dirty diaper; or one of Rob’s personal favorites, sleeping in until 7:30 am is one of the best gifts you can get! We have been given the greatest gift of all and it fits just right and we think we’re gonna keep him.

One final note to my darling husband.

I have to take a moment to tell you how very proud I am of you and how proud I am to be your wife.  This year has been a year of challenges (good & bad), change, happiness, love and growth.  We have learned so very much from one another and our journey is just beginning.  We have perfected our negotiation skills with each other as we struggled to get out of bed to tend to a crying baby at 2:00 am.  We have made mistakes as new parents and learned from them.  But most of all, we’ve enjoyed every moment together as a family.  There are so many reasons I am grateful for you in my life. Thank you for making dinner every night so that I can spend every second after work with Tommy.  Thank you for working so hard to do what’s best for our family.  Thank you for loving me each and every day no matter what.  Most importantly, thank you for being an amazing father and husband. I look forward to celebrating many more “firsts” with you.  Happy Birthday Rob, we love you.