Merry Christmas!

Around 8:30am we heard some talking over the baby monitors. Instead of mild crying like he normally does, Vaughn was talking happily in his crib. Dave and I slowly woke up, grabbed the video camera (of course), and went into Vaughn's room on his second Christmas morning. He was so excited even though he had no idea what was going on. He must have felt our excitement.

As soon as we brought him out into the tree room, his eyes lit up when he saw the roller coaster and new tricycle. He was very intrigued as to what it was. There were many presents under the tree thanks to his grandparents and us.

Instead of it just being us opening gifts in the morning, we were joined by the Caleffie's thanks to Skype. Nunny and Aunt CC were the first to see Vaughn as Pappy was at the store buying milk. Later he and Uncle Grayson joined in the call. They basically sat in their office in Pennsylvania and watched us have our Christmas morning. It lasted for some time. Vaughn would open a gift then instead of moving on to the next thing, he'd want to keep it and play with it. The moving onto the next gift was a very hard concept for little fourteen month old Vaughn to understand. He got the whole "tearing the paper to find something cool inside" though.

After all the presents were opened, we had Christmas breakfast together then took a nap before going to our Pastor's house for dinner.

The day ended wonderfully with an amazing dinner and great fellowship with friends and church family. Since we didn't have any family in Arizona with us this year, Pastor Lee and Sandy had us over along with their family and our new Youth Pastor and his wife. Vaughn even got a new train and played with it for quite some time in between eating an entire plate of corn casserole, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and rolls. The guys watched football and talked about guy stuff and the girls played with Vaughn and talked about girl stuff. We all enjoyed each others' company and embraced what Christmas is all about.

"Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:13-14

Christmas Eve Traditions

Christmas Eve was full of excitement. Vaughn was in the best mood. After Christmas Eve services, we got together in our "tree room" and talked about what we were thankful for this Christmas season. Vaughn kept looking out the window as he was looking for something or someone.

Then it was pajama time. We all get to open one present which has our new Christmas jammies to be worn Christmas Eve and morning. Vaughn loved opening all three of our presents.

 Vaughn got cool new monkey Christmas jammies, Dave got plaid, and mommy got pink sock monkey Christmas theme jammies. Christmas Eve was the best this year. Vaughn went right down for the night awaiting for an exciting morning.

Early Christmas

Last year, we had three Christmases, one with the Caleffie's, one with the Edward's and Thompson's (Uncle Dusty and Aunt Jamie), and one with our family, the Thompson's. This year, we are going to have two. Our first was held last night at our house. We had a Christmas sleepover with Grammy, Uncle Dusty, Aunt Jamie and Molly! It was such a special night. Before opening presents, we had a ham dinner. Our centerpiece was the beautiful, Molly! We ate so much, we could barely move.

Then, we went into the "tree room" (I think it's supposed to be a dining room, but for now, it has a couch, coffee table and our Christmas tree), to open presents. The babies sat in the middle. Vaughn opened presents while Molly rolled over and cooed and smiled in the bumbo. The adults all sat around on the outside of the room enjoying each other. 

Vaughn got lots of new clothes for his next stages in life, 18 months and 24 months. His big presents from grammy were a car garage thing, a big Thomas the Train fleece blanket (he's as obsessed with fleece as I am as he couldn't stop laying on it) and a big super soft cheetah and baby. He loved all of his gifts, especially the cheetah. It was so priceless when he gave it a big hug then kiss on the face. Molly got lots of fun clothes and toys, too. Grammy must have had a great time shopping for the babies this year.

Once Vaughn and Molly went to sleep, we all stayed up and talked and watched Dave absolute favorite movie of all time, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Even though it wasn't quite December 25, it sure felt like it. Laughter, family, presents, celebration of Jesus, babies and lots of love.

Picture Perfect

Grammy flew to Arizona a little before Christmas since we couldn't fly back to Pennsylvania this year. We had such an amazing time with her. Vaughn and Molly are so lucky to have such an amazing person to be their Grammy!

Merry Christmas

This year, we set up the good ol' tripod to take some family pictures. With the help of Vaughn's jingle bell we got from Santa, we are able to wish you a very merry Christmas, from our family to yours!

 

 

Addi turns TWO!

Vaughn loves birthday parties. He was invited to his friend, Addi's, second birthday party at a cool little place called Imagination Avenue. It was full of little playhouses, cars, dress up clothes, and fun things to do for toddlers. All the kids had a great time riding around the town and dressing up. The party ended with pizza and Dora cupcakes. Vaughn just got over  being sick where he didn't eat much, so he ate two and a half peices of pizza. The boy can eat!

Vaughn had such a great time celebrating Addi's second birthday with her family and friends.

Baby Steps *13 Months*

Thirteen months OR one year and one month. Vaughn is growing up and outward. He's getting so chubby, we love it! After he starts running around, I'm sure he may start slimming back down. I predict the running will start at the end of the month, as Vaughn often says, "woah..."


11/19/10: First (multiple) steps! Vaughn was taking six to nine steps at a time.
11/19/10: Learned how to move his walker toy all by himself.
11/15/10: First visit to an aquarium. We met up with one of my friends from middle school and high school! We had a great time with her whole family. Vaughn LOVED all the fish and big fish tanks.
11/28/10: Went to the North Pole on the Polar Express!
12/6/10: Stood up without pulling up on anything. Vaughn put his hands on the floor, lifted his butt and stood up! Such a big boy :)

confusing dialect

Yesterday, Vaughn was babbling a ton as he does every day, but it sounded just a little different than usual. Instead of his typical sounds and words of da, ma, ba, aaah, ooh, hi, and whatever else his mouth creates, he started to sound a little Asian. Well, that's what Dave thinks it sounds like. I almost feel like it sounds Swedish. Whatever it is, it is not a Pittsburgh nor Arizona dialect. It's Jap-chine-edish, or something like that. I need to try to record his new language because it is quite difficult to spell out. It involves a lot of oy, oy, yoy, doy, oyoyoy. He does something weird with his tongue though to create the sounds that just makes us giggle.

When I picked him up from daycare today, as soon as I walked in, I could hear Vaughn before seeing him sitting on the floor. The two teachers were laughing at him. Miss Joyce looked up at me from behind the little girl she was holding, and said, "Ummm, what are you teaching him at home?" I gave her a puzzled look when she continued, "because Vaughn sounds like he's speaking a whole other language. He hasn't stopped talking all day."

Hopefully, I can record and remember this new language of his because it makes Dave and I (and his teachers) laugh every time we hear him open his mouth.


oy oi doy woy... (until next time)

All Aboard the Polar Express

Taking Vaughn up to Williams, AZ for the Polar Express helped us create so many great memories this Christmas season. We went with two other families, the Gibbs' and the Rayburn's. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. On Sunday on our drive up, it started to snow and didnt stop until later that night. They got 6-8 inches within just a few hours. It really made it feel like winter and Christmas.

We got to Flagstaff late afternoon and went to lunch/dinner before going back to the hotel to get ready for our fun train ride. After we ate, we met up with Michelle, Mark and Christine, then drove to Williams.

The snow was really coming down so hard on I-40 that we didn't know if we would need to turn around or not. Even with all the snow, we made it to Williams early. It was FREEZING outside. Vaughn didn't seem to mind the cold, but he was a little irritated with his puffy coat.

 While we waited to board, we played in the gift shop/train station and in a room with Mrs. Claus, crafts and a toy train. The excitement was buzzing with all the kids and parents running around with their pajamas on. We boarded the train around 6:20pm and went to the North Pole. Vaughn didn't really know what was going on, but we could tell he was very excited from his screaming and laughter. When we got to the North Pole, we saw Santa and an elf waiving. Then, when we started heading back to Williams, Santa was gone because he got on the train. The best part was when Santa gave Vaughn his very own jingle bell. He couldn't stop shaking it after Santa left.

After the train ride, we were exhausted and hungry. We went to a pizza place with the Gibbs family then drove back to Flagstaff. Vaughn fell asleep before we got to the hotel.

In the morning we had a huge yummy breakfast with the Rayburn's at our hotel.

The entire trip was so much fun. We had one more stop at a beautiful rest stop off the highway on the way home. By the time we got home, we were filled with the Christmas spirit and enjoyed spending every minute with each other.

Vaughn meets Mrs. Claus

Vaughn met the Mrs. when we went on the Polar Express this weekend! More to come about the Polar Express, but I had to post this picture!

What is going through his head? Priceless!

Precious. Moment on our way to daycare

This morning, I was carrying Vaughn to school. As we were turning the corner, I whispered to him, "Hey Vaughn..." His face got really close to mine, he looked right into my eyes, and whispered back, "What?" At least it sounded like he said, what. Regardless of what he said, he whispered a response to me. It was a moment. 

Ryder turns Two!

I had to work, but Vaughn got to go to Ryder's 2nd birthday party with daddy. It was at a really neat train park in Scottsdale. Dave did a great job at taking pictures in my absence. It looks like everyone had a great time celebrating with Ryder.

Preparation

On Thanksgiving morning, we decorated the Christmas tree! In the Christmas boxes, we found a bib he got last year. He wore it all day long with his Santa hat, Thanksgiving plaid shirt (we all wore plaid!), and striped socks. We had so much fun decorating the tree. Vaughn hung about two ornaments, and emptied all the boxes for me. Dave and I have decided he's been a very good boy this year!

Giving Thanks!

Our Thanksgiving morning was spent decorating the tree and basting the turkey! Vaughn was such a big help this year putting ornaments on (and taking them off).

When discussing what we would do for Thanksgiving this year, we thought we would have some turkey for just our family - Dave, Vaughn and me. But instead, we had some "Arizona" family join us for an amazing evening of good food and conversations. Our friends, Liz, Abe and Isabella and Regina, Brian and Jayce all have family in different states like us so they came to our house for Thanksgiving. Dave made a 20 pound turkey while everyone brought side dishes. It was so nice to spend a family-oriented holiday with great friends.

The other side of Vaughn

Yes, Vaughn is super sweet, but I was reminded last night and today that he is also extremely social. He loves people. His vocabulary consists of six words, dada, mama, daw-g (dog), hello (only when he thinks he's talking on the phone), woah, and hi...actually, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, to be exact! Ever since he figured out if he waves and says hi to people and they reciprocate attention, he has found his favorite word and gesture.

Last night we went grocery shopping at Sprouts and Fry's. My ears grew numb from hearing the word, hi. Every man, woman, kid, baby we came in contact with, Vaughn had to waive and yell, "HI!" to them. He would continue saying the word until that person acknowledged him. He had a perplexed look on his face when he kept saying hi to Kendra Wilkinson, Suri Cruise, Shiloh Pitt, and the Kardashian girls on the celebrity magazines and they didn't say hi back. I think he kept waiving to the salsa jars in the Mexican aisle, too.

This morning, we went to the mall with our friends, Michelle and Christine. Vaughn loved saying hi to both of them over and over and over again. While we were there, we visited Santa Claus! There were two toddler boys preparing to visit him but were extremely scared. Christine was behind Vaughn and she, too, was very weary of the bearded old man. Vaughn, however, tensed up a tiny bit, then he totally sat on Santa's lap intrigued. And what did he do while on his lap? He looked up at him and said, "hi". When we left, Vaughn kept waiving at Santa.

Every day, Vaughn's personality becomes more apparent to how God made him...sweet and most definitely, social. 

"I'm a big deal" milestone

From Daddy to all our friends and family: "Vaughn realized tonight that he can take more than 3 steps without sitting down.  It excited him and he ended up taking 9 steps in a row!  We’ll be working on his running this weekend.   He is also constantly blowing kisses now and just tonight learned how to self-steer his gator walking toy.  He’s a pretty “big deal” and I think he knows it."

Last night, we had pizza in the oven for pizza night, and I was down on the floor playing with Vaughn. As he has been doing for the past TWO months, he was standing alone playing with a toy. I put my hands out and said, Vaughn, come to mommy. And he took five steps until he fell into my arms! Soon after, Dave pulled out his phone to capture this momentous occasion...the first time Vaughn started to walk.

The first thing that comes to mind

*picture taken by Stephanie Smith

When I'm asked to describe my little boy, the first thing that comes to mind is that he has a sweet spirit. His heart is already so big for the people around him - us, his family, his teachers, and above all, his friends. Since Vaughn was three months old, I have had him around many other babies. I have become great friends with many of those babies' mommies so Vaughn is often surrounded by friends. He has always been a little gentler than the typical baby by wanting to rub his friends' faces or just touch them softly.

All this time, though, he has acted like a baby, by not really playing with other babies, but instead, playing alongside them. Recently, he has really embraced the little ones around him especially at daycare. One mom whose little boy isn't adjusting to being away from her very well, said that every time she goes to pick up her son, Vaughn is always bringing toys over to him to help him stop crying. She said it is the most precious thing ever and I have to admit, I agree! He shares his heart and love for others by trying to either share toys with them or just by staring at them with his huge blue eyes.

A little over a month ago, Vaughn's best friend entered his life. Due to confidentiality, I won't mention his real name as he is a foster child so I'll call him, John. His temporary mommy is a co-worker of mine as she works in the daycare's office. I don't know all the details but when we first met him, he had a tube coming out of his head to drain the fluid that was on his brain from being beaten so badly. Despite all the horrible things he had endured the first year of his life, his heart wasn't tarnished. He, too, has a sweet spirit about him.Vaughn and John have this crazy connection. I honestly have never seen anything like it. Anytime I take Vaughn in and John is there, Vaughn lights up and crawls right over to him. The teachers tell us the boys play together all day long. That's over nine hours! They sit next to each other when they eat snack, lunch, and snack again. The boys also ride in the buggy side by side. I love looking out Pastor Lee's window to see them playing together.

One of the sweetest moments I got to witness was when Vaughn was taking a break from daycare by having Grammy watch him. We took Grammy to see the daycare where John was that day. John was being rocked and getting ready for a nap when Vaughn reached over to grab his hand. Super. Sweet.

As Vaughn gets older every day, I find him sweeter and sweeter. He does have his whining moments and minuscule tantrums, but for the most part he is just sweet. Love him!

*Baby Steps* 12 Months

New format for Baby steps: the working mom version!

I will publish the posts as they happen and will just list what he did. If it's something I feel like I should expand on, I'll write a separate blog. Deal? Deal!

Vaughn turning one was so great. He is getting more and more independent and turning into quite adorable young man. I am embracing every bit of his independence. That's my job! 

These are all the fun firsts Vaughn experienced all the while turning one!

11/9/10: New obsession - brushing his teeth! He loves his tooth brush so much, he won't let it go. He even tries brushing my teeth. Also, tonight was the first time he sat in "criss-cross-applesauce" style.
11/8/10: During a play date at the park, Vaughn got to explore a fire truck.

11/7/10: Has been carrying all of his toys in his mouth, then crawling over to me with them. HILARIOUS! Think he has been with Dixie too much this weekend.
11/7/10: Said "flower" this morning (according to Grandpa Mark and Grammy after showing Vaughn a flower)
11/6/10: First sleep-over at Uncle Dusty and Aunt Jamie's with Grammy
11/5/10: New word alert: "Daw" or Daw-G" (dog)

10/31/10: Was a sock monkey for Halloween - celebrated at Radiant's Halloween Tailgate

10/28/10: Blows kisses...a lot
10/27/10: Just this week - devoured: Chicken with peanut sauce, Chicken Alfredo, black beans with sour cream and cheese, veggie stir fry.
10/27/10: At the gym daycare, he crawled to the middle of the room and just stood up. The "teacher" was confused because she didn't think he walked.
10/23/10: Dedication
10/20/10: No more bottles!
10/18/10: Started using spoon...doesn't quite get it
10/16/10: Flipped out of tub

10/14/10: Met Mickey Mouse!
10/12/10: First Birthday...had sugar for the first time

Precious. Moment in the bath tub

Oh my goodness. Bath time tonight was the BEST! Vaughn and I had fun counting and singing our ABC's. Vaughn found dumping water on me hysterical. He kept handing me his bucket then laughing. Then it turned into me putting the bucket on his head. While putting the bucket on his head, Vaughn would just stand there with his hands only on the bucket, not on the side of the tub to hold himself up. His balance is great, he just doesn't quite know how to bend his knees and move his feet forward yet.

After we played that game for a while, I began to sing the rubber duckie song in a funny voice into the bucket. Dave stopped by the bathroom so Vaughn started to show off by grabbing the bucket from me and finishing the song...also in the bucket. It was so funny! I would sing, he would take the bucket, put it up to his mouth (sometimes his face would be inside the bucket, other times his mouth would be on the bottomside of the bucket) and yell. 

Such a precious moment watching him mimic me. I was sucking up every bit of it to remember it always.

Pictures!

Lots and lots of new pictures uploaded! Enjoy :)
www.flickr.com/azthompsons

*there's more to come soon

First Halloween Par-tay

To kick off the costume season, Vaughn was invited to his first Halloween party at his friend, Christine's house. There were fifteen toddlers and two newborns at the party. Can we say managed chaos? Vaughn loved eating the peanut butter and jelly pumpkin shaped sandwiches, pumpkin shaped mac and cheese and pumpkin shaped jello jigglers. Everything pumpkin!

For Vaughn's second Halloween (first year he got to dress up), he was a sock monkey. I found the costume on target.com's daily deal a few months ago. In addition to the daily discount, I had an online coupon code. Score! Most people knew what he was. More importantly, it was super comfortable and he kept the monkey hat on the whole time. Oh, and my favorite part of the costume was the little tail that attached to his bottom.

Happy Halloween, my little sock monkey!

Balls Galore

One year Well Baby

Vaughn had his one year appointment today. The theme lately is that he is just growing so fast. Not only is he getting heavier and (a little) taller, he is changing in other ways like how he screamed his head off when getting measured. Going to the doctor never bothered him...until now.

Here are his current stats:
Weight: 21.14 lbs. = 36.0% Woah!
Height: 29 1/4 inches = 33%
Head: 18 1/2 inches

He had no problem getting his shots. In fact, he cried less from them did he did with the whole measuring thing and having the stethoscope on his back. I did well, too, because daddy was there. Every time the Medical Assistant would leave the room and come back, Vaughn would just glare at her. Such a drastic difference from how he used to act.

Everything else went well. He is right on track. He's not walking quite yet, but he is taking one step here and there and standing on his own a lot. The only question I really asked her was about how much he eats. I mean, he went from 17 pounds in July and is 21 pounds now. That's a lot of weight gain in just a few months. She said to let him eat as much as he wants, but to maybe slow him down so he can feel full. The boy will just eat and eat and eat. Thankfully, he likes fruit and vegetables and eats and eats them. His new favorites are edamame and black beans! Mmmm, protein.

The beach

We took Vaughn (and my dad) to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time. We went to Newport Beach after checking out of our hotel. We ate at a super yummy breakfast spot, Cappy's Cafe. Vaughn ate an entire HUGE pancake. After we ate, we found THE BEACH.

MIC - KEY - M O U S E!

Earlier this year, I got free tickets to DISNEYLAND (from "Give a day, Get a day" promotion) for my parents, Dave and me. Since my parents came out for Vaughn's birthday, we decided it would be a perfect time to head to California and meet the one and only, Mickey Mouse.

Dave and I were a little concerned about driving six hours to Anaheim with a baby who typically cries after only being in the car for twenty or more minutes, but...

Vaughn did amazing!

We got his new car seat that faces forward since he's over twenty pounds and it did wonders. As long as he had snacks and his drum sticks, he was content. He played with lots of other toys, too, that he got for his birthday. It was comical to hear Nunny speaking with a Mexican accent saying, "We can doo it," from Vaughn's Handy Manny tool box. Hilarious. In addition to playing and eating, Vaughn took very long naps on the way to and from California. He slept much longer (two to three hours) than he ever has in the car.

The first day we got in, we got checked in and went to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack where Vaughn got to eat from the kid's menu, his new favorite thing because he gets crayons to play with. Vaughn loved all the lights and dancing. The second day is when we went to the park and the third day, we went to Newport Beach then six hours back to Arizona. I don't think Vaughn realized what happened to him by the time we got back home. It was a lot of stimulation, sights, sounds, smells to experience in just a few days.

Joe's Crab Shack coloring fun with daddy.

 Right off the parking bus. We are in Disney!!! For the most part, this is the face Vaughn had all day. He wasn't upset, but he sure looked like it. Every once in a while, he would smile (which I would snap a picture right away to prove that he had a semi-good time at the happiest place on earth, or whatever that saying is).

Vaughn has the map, we are ready to go. He held this map most of the morning. I lost about four at night so we probably should've kept Vaughn as the map-keeper.

Happy First Birthday, Vaughn Steven Thompson!

Pappy bought Vaughn a Tigger hat as soon as we got in the park. He wore it almost all day and looked super cute.

Dumbo! In the morning, we only rode the tea cups and Dumbo. Vaughn had a very serious look on his face but didn't throw up or cry so I think he enjoyed the rides.

The main reason for the trip, Mickey Mouse! Vaughn didn't cry at all. Instead, he wanted Mickey to pick him up. Mickey Mouse got down on the floor and sat right next to Vaughn. It was kind of awkward (well, for me), but Vaughn enjoyed his company.

 Yay for Mickey!

Right after meeting Mickey, Vaughn fell asleep in his stroller. He didn't even wake up when we took him out and rode back to the parking lot. He was worn out! When we got back to the hotel, he ate lunch then slept for over two hours in his pack n' play.

This is on the way back to the park. Vaughn is in different clothes, in a great mood and ready for more Disney.

Buzz Lightyear was a success. Vaughn liked using the gun, but pappy was hogging it :)

 Vaughn was much happier at night in Disney. Dave thinks he enjoyed all the lights. This is the last stop of the day before heading out of the park (it was around 9:45pm, 2 1/2 hours after Vaughn's typically bedtime).

 I look scared, but Vaughn sure looks happy. Bye, Disneyland. Until next time.

Leaving Disney.

 

Before heading to the hotel, we stopped by Mimi's for dinner. We thought Vaughn was going to be a zombie, but instead, he was a crazy baby! I was actually falling asleep while Vaughn was singing and yelling. It was hilarious. 

I had to include these videos to show how Vaughn was acting at 11:30pm when we got back to the hotel. Right after his bath, though, he went right to sleep and didn't wake until 9am the next morning. 

Bye, Bye, Hotel Pepper Tree!

My baby is no longer a skinny teeny little pooping machine....

I apologize for the longest title ever, but it's true! Vaughn is no longer this tiny little baby with a tiny little cry who doesn't know how to get anywhere or communicate. Instead, he is one. He is one year old!

Because of our tight budget and unfinished backyard, we decided to just have a few of Vaughn's friends over along with family - my parents from Pennsylvania, Uncle Dusty and Aunt Jamie (and Molly) from Scottsdale, and Aunt Nay Nay from down the road. It was definitely a lot of people for an indoor party! We were going to throw Vaughn a big themed birthday party when Grammy was here and that way, we could invite all of his friends, but decided to save that for when he turns two. He got overwhelmed with just a small party and next year, we'll be able to reserve somewhere to have it. But all in all, Vaughn had a fun birthday party with lots of presents especially because his Nunny, Pappy and Grammy like to spoil him! Without singling any of his gifts out, I do have to say his favorite gift was a pair of drum sticks. He got a drum with it which he kind of played with, but the drum sticks were used for hours. He sure loves to bang on things! ha.

Here are a few pictures from his big day.

 The Thompson boys and their kiddos :)

 LOVE this picture...cracks me up. Jayce wasn't being rough at all. I just caught it at this exact moment.
Looks like they're ready for UFC. Look at the wrist hold.

 Loving the balloons in his bounce house.

 Snack break.

 Vaughn loves his Aunt Nay Nay!

  Vaughn's first birthday cake; My first cake I ever baked. I need to get better
at this if Vaughn is going to continue to have birthdays!

 First time eating sugar. I don't think he has enough in his mouth.

 Group picture...third attempt.

 Drum sticks!

 Thompsons...one birthday down, a gazillion to go.

 Getting help from his friends to open presents.

We are so blessed to have a healthy baby boy who is now officially a toddler.