Adventures in America: Thanksgiving!!

Bear with me; this is late, I know. You've probably just gotten over scrolling through everyone's T-day pictures and updates and then here I come throwing you one more out of left drumstick.

I doubt I need to tell you but just so we're on the same page, this was Ty's very first Thanksgiving.  There was snow on the ground that morning which really puts a body in holiday spirits and makes for a perfect baby's first Thanksgiving (for non-locals, white Christmases are rare enough here, white Thanksgivings...almost unheard of).  I'd considered giving Ty some turkey to try but he was in a "fowl" (get it?) mood and ended up crying through his baby food and retiring to bed without a single taste of Thanksgiving. After bathing and tucking him off to bed I loaded up my plate with room temperature fare and joined everyone late. So that's parenthood.

But it was wonderful to be with family :D I thoroughly enjoyed (and stuffed) myself. Twice. Thursday with Todd's family, Friday with mine. Marriage is a fattening institution.

Ty had the most adorable hand-me-down First Thanksgiving pajamas that I am still in love with, and I had to make him a festive roast turkey hat. Had to. Everyone loved it and him in it and him just by himself. It's good to be home :)

And one more :) (Note: this is the outfit Aunt Coco brought him from very fashionable Italy)

Now that I've got this Thanksgiving post out of the way, I can wish you all a Merry Christmas. Carry on with December ;) 

Tales of *tiny* Ty: Eighth Month Round-Up

Crawling, pulling up (it's happened...), smacking things on tables and floors, we are one active little boy these days! The crawling thing really happened fast. One day he goes from a nervous hands-and-knees position onto his stomach, combat crawling or working his way across the floor in a series of complex tummy swivels. The next day it clicks and he's crawling. He can go from room to room, if he has enough motivation, and we officially have to keep our eyes peeled for any little thing on the floor. I mean, really...he's into sock fuzz and tiny carpet runs.

On that same train of thought, he enjoys playing mostly with things that aren't toys. Keys, paper towel rolls, belts, if it's not a toy, he'll take it! It's not always a bad thing, but someone remind me not to spend a lot of money getting him "nice" or cute toys. It'll be a complete waste at this stage.

Perhaps (and by that I mean, absolutely and indisputably) the biggest change this month is the continent  he calls home. We landed in America yesterday (Tuesday) at about 6am for a good three months visiting family and friends, and working on support raising and maintenance.

We took the direct flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Atlanta. Any guess on how long that is?  I'll tell you. It's 16 hours. Just so we're clear, it's a direct flight. That's code for no stops. By the grace of God, we had three seats together which was a life saver. He slept for about three hours on the floor, three hours on the extra seat (lolling over onto our seats), and maybe 1.5 cumulative hours in my arms at different times.

 He had a few episodes (the kind that provoke a stranger to come up in his face and say, "why are you crying?" to him and, "can I do anything?" to me. Um...no?), and it was an answer to prayer that he slept as much as he did and had only as many melt downs as he did. But if you're thinking of making a 16 hour direct flight with a baby, consider taking me up on my offer of unsolicited experiential advice: don't. Wait until they're like seven and even then think better of it. Not only is the trip itself highly stressful and exhausting, the recovery time is...as yet undetermined. Who knows how long it will take his tiny little body to adjust to this time zone? I'll have to get back to you on that.

So that's the latest. Keep your eyes out for our latest Tales of *tiny* Ty series, Adventures in America :)

And brace yourself...Ty had a bunch of adorable little clothes waiting for him when we got here, and I foresee MANY pictures documenting his stylish self!