Brody Thomas is 1!!

Happy Birthday Brody!!! We love you so much! You are such a happy baby and we can't imagine life without you! You are such a blessing! Here are a few things to remember about our 1 year old:

-You are VERY active and not only walk, but are starting to almost run in order to get where you want to be

-You have 6 teeth and love brushing them

-You sleep from about 7:30 or 8 pm to about 7 or 7:30am, and take 2 naps a day for about an hour each

-Loves to eat!! Favorite foods are bananas, cake and chocolate (although you don't get them often), blueberries, grapes, peanut butter, cheerios, yogurt snacks, cheese - this list could go on and on!

-You babble all of the time, but the words you actually say are snack (nack), cake, banana (nana), and mama and dada (although these aren't consistant!); you are starting to try to repeat words and they sound pretty good - some examples are bike, sock, and Pop

-You love to be outside doing anything! You love pushing things, playing with tractors and trucks, and throwing and kicking balls; you also still love the jogging stroller, which is great for us! You also love to get dirty, push buttons, and make messes! We love you so much!

You have come a long way since we brought you home from the hospital...

And figured out what to do with you!



You are a load of energy all of the time and so much fun!

Pushing the new toy popper from Aunt Christie!

Road trip to Erie, PA

We recently took a long road trip all the way to Erie, PA! It was a total of 16 hours of driving each way, but we made lots of stops along the way. Brody did really well in the car, and we had a great time - we were sooooo ready to get home though!

We stopped at Pop and Gram's on the way to borrow their Suburban, which made the trip a lot nicer! Uncle Matt drove all 3 boys on the 4-wheeler around the farm.

Brody and Austin really loved it!

We stayed at ML and Fred's house most of the time in Erie, and with Mike and Elena one night. We had a great time seeing friends, but I didn't even take pictures! I do have some of Brody playing though...the weather was amazing! We had a great time playing outside at ML and Fred's.

Riding on Fred's lawn mower!

We went to Hamot one day to see everyone, and I did get to eat lunch with the girls from Hamot! Jay got to see all the residents, and we even made it to a softball game for our old team.

Playing with ML and Fred - Brody LOVED them and had the best time!

We stayed in lots of hotels - Brody found the Kleenex box!

We stopped at the Jim Bean distillary for a tour...

Brody was checking out the history of the place!

We stopped in Nashville on the way home so Jay could go to a course for 2 days.

Hanging out in more hotels!

Brody is so mobile and wild now - we both have our hands on him so he won't jump off the bed!

Happy baby! He did so well on the whole trip!

Brody's 1st birthday! We were still in Nashville for his birthday, so we celebrated some, and are having a party this weekend for him. I will do a 1-year update soon!

Brody and I went to the Children's Science Museum while Jay was in class.



He loved playing with these cushion shapes!

So interested in the planets...

We even got to see what it would be like to do surgery on broken bones! This was a pretty neat exhibit, so Jay would be proud that Brody is learning about it so early!

Another lesson on bones!

Having some lunch

We spent a lot of time driving the car!

About to go out for a birthday dinner!

We met Brad and Tye (one of Jay's friends from college) for dinner, and I brought cupcakes to celebrate Brody's bday!

He had fun and of course loved the cupcake...more cake to come this week!

The next day we went shopping and played at the mall while Jay finished up his class, and then headed home. We had a great time visiting with great friends!

Arriving in Arkansas!

We have arrived in Arkansas! Home Sweet Home! We stayed in our new house a couple of nights without furniture until the movers got there on Monday. Brody loved exploring the new place!



Shopping at Lowe's...

And Best Buy!

Kara and her sweet girls - Heidi and Harlow - came over to play and have pizza before the furniture came. We are so excited to live so close to one of my best friends ever and look forward to lots more playdates and fun!

Checking things out...



Having some lunch with Grandma while we unpack boxes

Brody is such a ham these days! He is so happy and has a great personality. He loves smiling for the camera!



Ginger and Ley came to help us decorate and get organized...Ginger did a great job and I'll post pictures of the house next week.

Ley entertained Brody while we did more shopping for furniture

We went to Kansas city the next weekend to visit one of Jay's best friends from college - Dan and Jenny. Brody had fun playing with Noah and Kennedy.

Playing in the fountain!

Leaving Birmingham...

Our last week or so in Birmingham was very eventful!

More packing and boxes...

The good things about the last week were seeing great friends! Brody will definitely miss Cara!

We cooked out at Cara and Marshall's to say good bye to them and Andrea and Brad - even though we plan on seeing them often, especially at meetings!

We will miss you guys!


We did find a little time to have some fun with chocolate pudding!

My friend Lisa had get together for our Mommy and Baby friends, complete with edible finger painting and cake! Brody and I were lucky to find such great friends to hang out with this year!

Lisa and Isla "painting"


Brody saying "cheese" while playing with the other babies

Now comes to the not so great parts of our last week...our air conditioning broke on Sunday, and we were without air until Thursday night! We stayed at a hotel one night and at Cara and Marshall's the rest of the time. During the day, we tried our best to pack what we could and stay cool, while waiting on the air to get fixed. We were able to finish up things on Thursday night for our big move on Friday.

Playing in the hotel

We ate out all week because it was too hot to cook or even stay at home!

We stayed in Wynne on Friday night...

Then headed to our new house in Conway on Saturday!