Where do I even begin...first trip!!

I've been delaying this post trying to figure out how I was going to squeeze it all on here...so many "big" moments, so many important people that saw Tommy for the first time, so much fun packed into the week!! But I had to get it going, so here are some highlights and I'm including a link at the end with the rest of the pictures.

Wednesday we flew into Portland and we were there for just one night before heading into WA for my friend Allyssa's wedding. Tommy, of course, is a natural at air travel-slept pretty much the whole time. Some passengers around us commented on what a good traveler he was...luckily we had our own row on both legs-we flew Southwest and who wants to sit near an infant?!

We stayed Thursday night in Tacoma with my cousin Janet, her husband Drew and their two daughters, Olivia and Claire. It was the greatest-we had pizza with my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Ben, then as is customary to the Lowen household, we had smores in the backyard!! It's their second home,and their second home with a fire pit or wood burning stove in the back for smores-their little girls are going to be very suprised when they figure out that not everyone has it this good. Then we woke up to the biggest breakfast I've ever seen and we were treated to a show by the girls. They're such a close nit family with good values it's refreshing...here's a picture of them at their house with Tommy. (Oh and they're all georgeous too)!!

The next morning we drove over the Tacoma narrows bridge onto Bainbridge Island-wish I would have taken pictures of the bridge...huge!! I was glad we had Friday to help Allyssa set up for the reception at her parent's house-it's a beautiful home on beautiful land, unfortunately it rained...but the dancing went on. We were so grateful to have my parents there, for their company and help with Tommy (the music was a little too loud for him in the tent, so Grandpa Wink decided they better head back to the hotel). Here's a picture of us at the reception-check out my eye lashes-fake!! All the girls in the wedding had them put on by the makeup artist-it was my first time wearing them, we only had two on each corner, but wow are they effective!! Funny stuff!
We left Sunday morning, to head back to Portland to meet Grandpa Martin, Tommy's namesake and Marla (Michael says Marla is Tommy's Nene???). What a moment that was...Tommy just started talking to him right away, it was so sweet. Grandpa Martin held him almost the entire time...here they are below when Tommy was talking to him:
Monday, we hung out at my parents almost the whole day and the cousins came over to visit. Wyatt, on the right and Jackson on the left are both three (separated by one month) and love hanging out together. They were both excited to meet "baby cousin Tommy," but Jackson was much more into Tommy-he wanted to hold him the whole time and was so interested in what he was all about (he's going to be a great big brother to his brother or sister arriving in October). Wyatt on the other hand was very busy asking "why" about everything over and over-hilarious!! Tommy pretty much slept through it all...
I love this shot at dinner Monday, Grandma with her grandsons....blue eyed beauties!!Three generations of Callaghans
And finally, at the airport (very early) waiting to head home...with T in his favorite hat!

Please check out the rest of the pictures....great trip, but kinda glad to be done traveling for a little bit. Really wish we didn't have to travel to see family and friends :)

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If you put lipstick on Ike...it's still Ike

The "locals" say that part of living in this southern Texas paradise is dealing with hurricanes...I'm still waiting on the paradise part. So Wednesday, for the first time since we've lived here, we had our first real hurricane scare. I knew it was serious when our realtor (also neighbor) and our neighbors on both sides (who all have lived here their entire lives), let us know that they were boarding up and planning on evacuating-some for the first time ever! Luckily Dolly had pushed us to do some of the preparations, so we were a little ahead of the game. But we had never looked at the boards for our windows, didn't know what order they went in and weren't sure how this was all going to play out. So...many many hours later and with the help of several friends, our boards were up at around 9:30 pm Wednesday night. Thanks Jake, Chadd & Jill for all your help!! Here's what it looks like :

A lot of people have the metal kind that the screws are in place and you slide the pieces in...
Also on Wednesday, Michael made a run to the store for us while I got Tommy his last vaccination. I told him that we needed food for the car for our drive to San Antonio where we were going to evacuate. It's usually a two hour drive, but I've heard horror stories of it taking 6-8 hours when everyone is evacuating. I suggested pb&j, granola bars, fruit, things that didn't need to be refrigerated...below is what he found...so funny! He forgot fruit but picked up sour patch kids and also one of my favorite cookies instead! I guess next time we'll make a list.
Tommy was not scared at all...or maybe he was and just deals with adversity by sleeping. Note the headlines..."Seek high ground or leave!"
Luckily, we were not affected by Ike at all and didn't end up leaving. We didn't see a drop of rain and there was barely any winds. Saturday morning I went for a walk and the weather was so nice, Michael took the boards down, which was much easier and the Ducks won! We were also very lucky that Michael didn't have to fly a plane out, as they evacuated all of their aircraft and once again he was on "standby" when everyone else flew out.

Is it November yet?? Ready for hurricane season to be over!!

Weighing in at 13.7 lbs......!!!!!

First bottle, first bloom, first overnight trip!!

Big, big, day yesterday for us-we attempted the first bottle...here's the progression:

Michael sets bottle in mouth, Tommy is not so happy about it.

Tommy starts to taste something, so he's thinking about it...
And finally...he likes it. But the 2.5ozs was not enough!! It feels great to have the first one out of the way. I feel empowered now to be able to get back to the gym, head out the door for some runs (haven't attempted running yet, but soon!), or even run errands and know that Michael can be home with him and have all the tools he needs :)
I can't believe it, but as of this wednesday we've lived in Texas one year!! It's really gone by fast and it's been one of those years that so much has happened we're living an entirely different life!! This bird of paradise took a full year for it's first bloom-we've been waiting, watching, adding plant food and FINALLY!! So pretty!! We really took them for granted living in San Diego, I guess one year is how long it usually takes for a young plant to have it's first bloom. It's no suprise b/c they're so unique and beautiful! We'll see how long it lasts in this 100 degree heat!
Over the weekend we took Tommy on his first overnight road trip to San Antonio. It's a two hour drive and he slept the whole way there! We went to escape Corpus, for a change of scene and to do some serious shopping!! I should have taken a picture of the metal cage/crib the hotel gave us for him-it was horrible! It was so deep thatMichael had to get him in and out of it all night long and bring him to me-I felt spoiled, but poor Michael was up every two hours too! Here he is taking a nap after day one of shopping. At 7 1/2 weeks, Tommy has learned to read and loves the new personalized picture book from Mimi and Ma. He really likes reading it!

I had to share this one...he slept all day monday and this is after we changed his outfit and put a hat on him before heading out to walk over to our friends house. Nothing would wake him up or keep him up-so funny!!

T.J.'s become so vocal in the past few days it's amazing! Our next blog will hopefully have some video on it so you all can hear him-it's really cool!!
He has his 8 week appointment on friday-excited about seeing what his weight is, not excited about his shots!!