Hello to all our friends and family!  It’s been a year since our last blog entry and as much as we love remembering all that we went through to finally bring Tommy into our life, I think it’s time to finally write some updates on what’s been going on since May of 2008.  Most of the summer last year was a blur.  As any parents can attest, during the first six months, parents spend most of their time feeding a noisy northern end while cleaning the southern.  And whether you intend to or not, parenthood forces you to give up much of the luxuries in life – luxuries like sleep and independence.  Tommy was a pretty good baby when it came to sleeping at night though, after just a couple of months he was already sleeping all the way through the night.

There were a couple of times when we had some uncomfortable moments.  When he was about 5 months or so he started vomiting up everything he ate.  One night Olivia found some blood next to the pillow in his basinet and we got pretty scared that something serious was going on.  After a couple of trips to the hospital, some X-rays and a lot of anxiety it was finally determined that he had acid reflux and he was prescribed liquid Zantac to help relieve it.  Tommy to this day still struggles with this ailment.   The reflux causes phlegm to build up in his throat which gives him coughing fits (especially in the mornings when he first wakes up).  What’s worse is that his symptoms get exacerbated whenever he contracts anything such as the flu or the common cold.  During times like this he refuses to eat which makes us very frustrated because he stops gaining weight.  The doctors tell us he will most likely just grow out of it and in the meantime it’s just something we have to deal with.

Tommy’s first Thanksgiving and Christmas came and was spent with Mom, Dad, his big sister Alanna, aunt Nancy and grandmother.  Wherever he goes, Tommy is always the center of attention.  He’s the apple of his granddad’s eye and already breaking the hearts of females around the world.  In January we travelled to the Philippines so that Tommy’s maternal grandparents could take a gander at their brand new American grandson.

As I’m sure you can all appreciate, travelling in an airplane with an infant is a nightmare to begin with.  But try travelling for 22 hours in three separate planes with two  stopovers and three security checks.  Then on top of that have an extra hour delay inside the second plane while on the tarmac due to icing conditions.  Believe me when I tell you that travelling to the other side of the planet in a 747 with a baby in tow is about as much fun as having a root canal without anesthetic.  We had to constantly switch positions, trade-off holding the baby, manipulate carry-on bags to get to the baby supplies, mix baby formula, and change his diapers…all while crammed into a space the size of a Smartcar.

Upon arrival in Manila, it was our original intention to travel to Aklan so we could experience the famous Ati-Atihan Festival.  From there, we were going to make the short hop by boat to the resort island of Boracay for a couple of days.  But after all we went through just getting to the Philippines…I found myself grateful that we decided to forgo this plan for next time.  Instead, we spent the first week in the Manila suburb of Fairview with Olivia’s sister Nalie and family.  We finally travelled to Olivia’s home town of Lingayen on or about the second week. 

During Tommy’s visit to see his grandparents, he started showing signs of fever and outward pain in the evening of his first night.  We found out that due to the rapid air change from hot to cold in the tropical climate, he had contracted what’s called “atypical pneumonia” also known as “walking pneumonia”.   When a someone has this, the person shows no outward signs of distress except short and occasional bouts of fever and cough.  We were so concerned that we actually had him seen by a couple of Filipino pediatricians while he was there and they had prescribed him a couple of different anti-biotics to take before we came back to the United States.

Aside from his brief moments of illness, Tommy seemed to have really enjoyed meeting his Lolo and Lola (grandad and grandma) his Titos and Titas (uncles and aunts) and all his Filipino cousins and family.  He especially loved his cousin Nicole who was born just two days after he was.  These two were always seen together.  In the house, in the yard or even during the family trip to Baguio, Tommy and Nicole were inseparable.  With the fact that they are born only days apart…I’m sure this is a bond that will keep them close as they grow up despite their distance from one another.

Despite the occasional hardships and inconveniences, our trip to the Philippines was a great success.  Not only did Olivia’s mom and dad get to see their grandson, but we were also able to take some side trips to Corregidor, Baguio and Mount Samat.  Olivia was also able to reunite with some past friends and schoolmates.  But even so, after the end of the 3 weeks,  Olivia and I were ready to come back and reunite ourselves with the comforts and conveniences of home.

One of the coolest things of being a parent is watching your child experience things for the very first time and almost immediately when we got back from the Philippines Tommy was welcomed with his first snow!  It wasn’t long though before warmer days were upon us and Tommy got to to meet Mr. Peter Cottontail for Easter weekend at the local mall.  He has grown so much in the past six months that he doesn’t resemble much of what he was during the first six months of his life.  He has recently begun to take steps with the help of his grocery cart toy and never stops babbling from morning to night.

Finally, it’s now been one year since our little miracle was born and he is becoming more and more like a unique person with his own personality and mannerisms.  We can now tell that he really enjoys music because his favorite TV programs involve singing and dancing.  Whenever we play the music segments on the internet from his favorite TV show “Yo Gabba Gabba!” he becomes mesmerized, excited and starts giggling and laughing.  His favorite TV channel “Noggin” has this singing group called “The Jump Arounds”, and whenver they come on he stops everything to watch them sing and dance.

We had quite a big weekend celebrating his birthday.  He had his first party at the day care center.  He was surrounded by his classmates, teachers and friends Friday with cupcakes, pizza and punch.  The following night Tommy went to his very first major league baseball game at Nationals Park in Washington DC.  Tommy loved all the bright lights and colors during the game, but he didn’t appreciate the fireworks and crowd noise too much.  But he looked so cute in his little Nats gear that he was filmed by the TV station between innings.  So there was our son on television, a one-year-old TV star!

On Sunday we had his actual birthday party with friends and family.  We rented a picnic area at Occoquan Regional Park near our house and invited everyone to join in celebrating Tommy’s special day.  We ate barbecue from Famous Dave’s and Pizza from Papa John’s…along with some veggies, fruit and of course a great big yummy birthday cake! 

We were concerned at first that it would rain on us, but the clouds opened up and the sun came out just in time for the guests to arrive and everybody ended up having a good time, especially Thomas.  When it was time to blow out the candles and everybody was singing around him…he was looking around and you could tell that he understood that this was all for him – that he was special on this day and he smiled from ear to ear.

Watching our little guy grow up has been a joy and we are so thankful to God for how he has blessed us this year.  We can’t wait for the next…