Storytime with Thomas

Thomas has an amazing love for books which makes me so happy since I love them too. Every morning while Mima was here he would scamper into her room and begin his day with several stories. He also has an amazing memory. He likes to "read" many of his books himself. There are many days during nap time that I can hear him in his room "reading" a book to himself (but without the book). I was finally able to capture him reading to Emily. He frequently will go up to where she is sitting and start sharing a story with her ... and she just loves listening and watching him. I love to listen to him too and find some of his pronunciations very cute ... like "delicious looking piglet" and "terrific scrubber". I also think it's great how he tries to use different voices for different characters. A great storyteller in the making for sure. You may have to listen carefully but these are two of his favorite stories.

Emily's First Bath

Emily just loves taking her bath. She doesn't get one as often as Thomas but girls don't get as dirty as boys, right?

Emily's Bathtime

Thomas at The Little Gym

Thomas continues to love his time at The Little Gym. Since we moved to Boston he has been going to class all by himself. No more Mommy! He handled the transition like a big boy. He adores his teachers and has a great time. We're still working on staying with the group but he's a curious three year old so it's to be expected. Mommy gets to sit outside and watch his progress through the glass windows. But these pictures were taken while Mima was taking him to class.

The Little Gym

Visiting Thomas the Train

Thomas the Train came to a town just an hour south of Boston and we just had to go see him. It was at a little theme park that has rides designed for little kids. Thomas had a blast. We met up with some friends in time for the train ride. I think Thomas may have enjoyed flying the planes the most. He kept wanting to go back and ride them again and again.

Thomas the Train

Catching Up

It's been a little while since I was last able to post. So, I'm going to try and catch up a little with the month of September. Mima was still here for a good part of it and we really enjoyed having her around. Enjoy the next several posts to find out what we were up to. Remember if you click on the photos it will take you a web album with all the photos for that post.

Brother & Sister

Here are some recent photographs of Thomas and Emily. The first photo session of many to come! Enjoy!

EAC&TRC

Thomas' 3rd Birthday

I can't believe that Thomas is now 3 years old. The time has gone by so quickly it seems and he is growing into such an independant little man. He likes to do most things by himself (except when he's wanting Mommy's attention) and it frustrates him when it's not working the way HE thinks it should. We have started going to The Little Gym again. I'm afraid at some point he is going to outgrow this but for now he still enjoys it. And I enjoy seeing him bounce off someone else's walls...where it's okay to do so!

Since we just moved to the area, I didn't plan a big party for him this year. We kept the birthday celebration to a quiet, family party. But he still felt very special and was excited about his big day. He really enjoyed opening everyone's gifts. In fact, he wanted to stop after each one and play with it for a while before opening the next gift. This stretched out the gift opening process over several days, but he didn't seem to mind.

I guess he's officially out of toddlerhood because he now has a big boy bike (with training wheels). He absolutely loves that thing. In my mind I can see him a few years from now biking on the trails with Daddy. It didn't take him long to get the hang of peddling it and how to brake. He's a pro now...but not ready for the training wheels to come off.

Sunday we also met up with some friends up here and went to the Aquarium. There son was turning 3 the same weekend so we thought it would be fun to enjoy a day at the aquarium together. Thomas really enjoyed seeing all the fish and other animals. I think his favorite was the penguins.

Here are some more pictures for you to see all his excitement. When you click on the picture it will take you an album with all the pictures.

TRC BDAY

Reflections on the first two weeks...

It's really hard to believe that Emily is two weeks old. The time has really flown by quickly. Of course, when you're not getting much sleep the days do begin to run together. She is the sweetest little girl, and I'm not being biased either. She has the most beautiful blue eyes that just stare back at me. She has a lot of hair just like Thomas did, but I think it's a little bit lighter. Her eyebrows and eyelashes are also lighter so maybe she'll be a blondie after all. We really can't believe how much she looks like Thomas. There will be no mistaken them for brother and sister. Speaking of Thomas, he's over the moon in love with her too. He really likes to hold her, kiss her, hug her, and rub her head. Of course, we have to stick close by because he doesn't understand how fragile she still is. And he loves to ask ton of questions about her.



I knew she was going to have her days and nights mixed up a little because she would get active in utero around 2 a.m. and be quiet as a mouse in the morning. I wasn't sure how long this would last but was hoping for the best. It's still a little hit or miss but most nights she does well. On occasion she will still be alert after feeding in the middle of the night. Thankfully I can catch a nap during the day most of the time. We still haven't ventured out of the house much. Instead, Cindy has been taking Thomas to the park in the mornings and we spend our days hanging out at the house. Although, with the nice weather that's coming I may get some cabin fever and want to get out a little more.



Here are some more pictures of Emily. It seems like she's constantly changing.

Emily Anniston - going home from the hospital.

EAC 2 wks

Emily Anniston Craig Has Arrived!!

Our precious little girl arrived earlier this week. She was born Tuesday, August 11, at 11:56 a.m. She weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces and is 20.75 inches long. Mommy, Daddy and Big Brother Thomas are over the moon in love with her. If you're wondering who she looks like it's definately Thomas. We look at his baby pictures and just marvel at the resemblance. She is as sweet as can be. Unfortunately she does have her days and nights mixed up, but we are working on straightening that out. You can click on the pictures below to see more of our little, precious girl.

Emily Anniston Birth Day

Emily's Room

I've made some really good progress on Emily's Room within the last week. It's still not the finished product but MUCH better. I still need to put things on the walls (some of it is still in boxes and will have to be found). But it is at least mostly ready. I'm really pleased with how it looks so far and can't wait to finish it soon.

Click on the picture and it will take you to the online web album.

Emily's Room

Settling In

So, you've seen few pictures of our place in Boston before we moved in and a few with boxes. Now that we are getting a little more settled I thought I'd share some more pictures where it looks a little more like home. We are still working on getting pictures up on the walls but we will get there. Each week it feels a little more like home. We actually do have a good amount of space. What we lack is closet/storage space that's not in the basement. But at least we have a basement. I already have pieces of furniture picked out from Ikea to help solve this problem. And we decided to lift up our bed to allow for more storage space underneath it. But that means that I need a step stool just to get into bed.

Emily's room isn't ready yet so I haven't taken pictures of it. I am running out of time before she arrives but she will be sleeping in our room for the first few months anyways. And it's gotten harder for me to maneuver with this round belly. LOL. As soon as I feel that it's picture worthy I will share with all of you.



If you'd like to look at the photos individually you can see them at:

Boston House Part 2

Exploring Boston

Well, as many of you know, Boston is a very cool city. After digging ourselves out of boxes for the first week, Thomas and I started exploring things to do in the city.

Here are pictures from our first weekend in Boston. When you click on them you will be taken to another website with more pictures from that album. Enjoy!

Exploring Boston

A few from the Children's Museum.

Boston Children's Museum

Pictures from the Fourth of July down at the Charles River. It was a spectacular show. Thomas was a little unsure at first but once I covered his ears he enjoyed it much more. He did make a new friend that day... a little dog sitting right next to us. We thought it was a puppy but turns out to be quite an old dog. Thomas was also given the last flag one of the military guys was handing out. It was a great way to celebrate the 4th of July and moving to Boston.

Fourth of July

After being here a couple of weeks we were mostly settled in our house. Most of the boxes were unpacked or downstairs in the basement. So, then it was time to make some new friends. John had mentioned that one of the other fellows that started this year also had a son Thomas' age (and another one 7 months old). Well, I knew they were in the same boat we were ~ moved to a new city and didn't know anyone. So, I called his wife up and we decided to get together. It has been such a wonderful blessing to have connected up with them. Thomas and Leo get along great and so do the Mommies. Thomas loves that his name is Leo because that is his favorite character on Little Einsteins (and I know Leo likes Thomas the Train so I wouldn't be surprised if he feels the same way). We have gotten together a couple of times since we first met and it's been great for the boys.

One of our outings was to a water play area and playground across from Mass. General Hospital. John was able to look out his office windows and see us playing in the water.

Boston Water Park

Another time all of us attempted to find a suitable trail to hike in a nearby reserve. I know we will eventually find a good one, this just wasn't the day. We did have a good time exploring, though.

Let's Go for a Hike

A different water play area but no less fun.

July 20, 2009

I think that catches everyone up on what's been going on in our lives over the past month. I thought I'd never get caught up but I'm sure it won't last long. Keep checking in because who knows when Emily is going to decide to make her appearance.

Our Moving Adventure!

Our move to Boston was certainly the biggest adventure I've had in my life up to this point. We really couldn't have done it without all the help we received from family and friends. So many of you gave your time and energy to help pack and clean and even physically move our stuff. May the Lord bless you richly for your generosity.


The trip up was LONG and complicated. I had planned on breaking it up into 3 segments. Spend the first night with Karissa (8 hour drive) spend the next night with Grandmama (8 hour drive) & spend an extra day with her and then another 8 hours to Boston and be in our new home. The plan was to arrive by Wednesday evening. HOWEVER, things never go as planned do they? John & his dad, Michael, were driving the truck and pulling his car and were aiming to get in by Monday night (left early Sunday morning). They were about 3.5 hours outside of Boston when the truck broke down. So, it had to be towed to a place that could check it out. The mechanic determined what was wrong (thankfully not caused by the guys) and set about working on it Tuesday. They fixed the problem but it STILL wouldn't work so now they had to transfer everything to a new truck. So, we (me, Thomas, Latonia and her kids) stayed an extra day with Grandmama. It was certainly a nice blessing to get to spend extra time with her And there was no sense in us getting there ahead of the guys or even at the same time. But I honestly didn't see how they were going to get everything back into one truck. We really had that thing packed and even ended up leaving some things behind because we couldn't get them to fit. Amazingly, though, they were able to get it all back into one truck. I do believe they were professionals, but they were not as careful about how things were packed. So, several pieces of furniture have shown up here with nicks and dings which is a little disheartening. Thankfully, the truck company was generous enough to comp us the car dolly and let them leave it there at the mechanic's. That made it easier getting into Boston and not worrying about dropping it off or maneuvering around with it.




So, that put them getting in Wednesday night and I was planning on arriving Thursday night. But again, things don't always go as planned. Wouldn't you know that my Jeep broke down 4 hours outside of Boston, just a short distance from where they broke down. It started with the battery, but we didn't realize that at first. All my gages were going crazy and I thought it was something electrical. I was working on getting a tow truck when the service station lady came out to give me an unbelievable hard time about moving my vehicle. Like I wanted to be sitting there blocking her pump! We had been fine on the interstate and we didn't have problems until we were finished fueling. We were able to get it jumped and I set out for Walmart to get the battery replaced. But after we got that taken care of the thermostat went haywire! We had passed a Jeep dealer on our way to Walmart so I headed back to it. But I just couldn't make it there, though, without it going up into the red zone. We were 500 feet from them and I had to ask for a shuttle for the kids and a tow truck for the Jeep. But I've got to say, of all the dealers I could have ended up dealing with these guys were the nicest. They brought it in and assessed what was wrong. It was the radiator, of course. And the part wouldn't be there until the morning so we were going to have to spend the night. The guy at the dealer gave us a recommendation for a hotel (had a pool for the kids and a WONDERFUL breakfast included) AND he said they would pay for a rental car. Can you believe that?!? I was floored. They have a rental agency right there at the dealership so we didn't have to go anywhere for that, thankfully.

We got the necessities transferred to the rental car and headed to the hotel. The kids had a great time in the pool, of course, and it wore them out good for bedtime. And I had requested a late check-out for the next day so the kids could play some more in the pool and so we wouldn't be stuck in the waiting room all day. After the kids went to bed, Latonia were going to watch some TV to unwind from the day and it wouldn't work. So, when I check out in the morning I mentioned it to them and they credited my bill 25%. Again, unbelievable, but I'm so thankful. Every little bit helps at this point.

We were finally able to get back on the road late in the afternoon and I was just dying to get to Boston. I just wanted to see John and sleep in my own bed! No more complications, thankfully, and we finally arrived right before sundown Friday night ~ a little more than 2 days later than planned.

Little Gym Big Show

Here are some photos from Thomas' Big Show at The Little Gym. He has loved going here since he was 9 months old. It was really hard to leave our friends and teachers, but I'm sure he will like his new teachers in Boston.

The Beginning of Our Boston Adventure

Okay, so I know it's a little late in coming. But I really have been meaning to share about our trip in May to find a place to live in Boston. And of course some pictures!

John was scheduled to attend a conference in Boston in early May so the timing was perfect for us to go hunting for a place to live. To be honest, I was a little anxious about this adventure. The last time I was in Boston was in academy and we certainly weren't looking at places to live. John felt confident that we wouldn't have a problem finding a place to live (or at least he looked confident). I just knew I'd feel better after we had signed on the dotted line. So, prior to our flight I lined up a few places for us to look at as soon as we arrived. And wouldn't you know, the very first place we looked at was wonderful. The lawn was lucious looking. I really wanted to take my shoes off and just walk around on it. And there was more space than we ever dreamed of getting in Boston. But, since it was the first house we were seeing and we had scheduled two more to look at, we decided to wait on making a decision. However, after seeing those two houses there was no doubt in our minds that we wanted to rent the first house. Turns out finding a place to live wasn't so hard after all ... or so we thought. We did let the agent know we wanted it and weren't planning on looking at anything else, but it took her around 24 hours to let us know that the owner had decided to rent it to a friend. Honestly, it sounded a bit fishy to us.

I can't tell you how disappointed I was. I really didn't think we would find another place that I liked as much as that one AND I had lost a day of looking in the process. We really hustled Thursday night and were able to line up quite a few places to look at on Friday. I think I actually looked at 8-9 places and none of them struck me as the one. I'm sure a couple of them could have been doable and we were seriously considering one but it had a very ackward layout. So we waited.

With the next day being Sabbath we decided to take the much needed rest and attended the church John had gone to while he was in Boston for a summer in college. And for the evening we went on a dinner cruise in the harbor to celebrate our 10 year anniversary (a little early). By Sunday morning we were ready to look at a couple more places that another agent had lined up for us. But, once again we were disappointed. The ones we were supposed to see were cancelled for various reasons. And when I asked about a specific place that her company had listed she said she didn't really want to show it to us because it wasn't deleaded. What?!? Now, to the REAL issue!

Lead paint...had no idea...flabbergasted really. I'm mean, seriously, I'm at a loss for words. But, evidently, it's a huge deal up here. So, once we figured this out we decided to just look at places that were already deleaded. You would think that would be simple enough except that maybe 5-10% of the places up here fall in that category. And I don't mean 5-10% of the ones that are looking for tenants. I mean TOTAL! So, our choices were pretty slim. Add on top of that all the other constraints ~ budget, distance from the hospital, number of bedrooms, need for space ~ and it felt pretty much impossible find a suitable place.

But, with God nothing is impossible. He is so good. He knew all along exactly where we needed to live. And we finally found a place Monday night that met ALL of our needs. And as an added bonus there is a playground less than a five minute walk and public transportation is less than a five minute walk.

So, here are a few pictures of our new place.




Okay, well, evidently not all the pictures want to be uploaded but it gives you a bit of an idea. There will be more to see later.

It's A GIRL!

Here are some pictures of our last ultrasound showing that we will be blessed with a little girl in August. And we've decided to name our favorite little girl Emily. And what will her middle name be? We still have no idea. This is much harder than it seemed to be with Thomas, but we are also a little bit busier this time around. But no worries, we will have a middle name for her by the time she arrives (and I'm certain it will be before that).



We are pretty lucky to get to see her again this next week for another ultrasound. I'm sure she'll look even cuter this time. If her activity level is any indication I don't think she will have any trouble keeping up with her big brother. Although she seems to be a little off on her days and nights (I'm not looking forward to retraining that!). At first I thought she was going to be calmer, but I'm not so sure now. She has some strong muscles already and has kept me up a few nights excercising them.



As soon as we know what her middle name will be we will let you know! Stay tuned.

My Handsome Little Man

Latonia found a great little place to take some photos and of course I had to use my favorite model. These are just a few of the pictures I took. I still need to edit the rest but haven't had the time. They were taken back in January but hopefully I'll get to finish editing them soon (I can dream can't I?). Sometimes it's really tough to get Thomas to smile and interact with me when I'm trying to take his picture. Luckily there were cars passing behind me and I could encourage him to look for trucks like Pop's.

The Little Einsteins

Anyone who has spent time with Thomas in the last 6+ months knows how much of a fan he is of The Little Einsteins. He watches one of their shows almost everyday (except Sabbath) and his Little Einstein toys have gone to many places with us. So, when I found out they were going to be a part of Disney Live in Memphis, I couldn't resist getting tickets for Tom and me. We went with cousins Sam & Maddie and two of our Little Gym friends. At first, Thomas didn't know what was going on since we'd never before been to a show. But he quickly got into it and enjoyed singing and clapping. He hadn't seen some of the characters from other shows but was excited to also see Mickey Mouse and friends.

Here are a few pictures from the fun day. We had really good seats, too.

Catch Up Time!

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. It certainly isn't because I haven't wanted to post, just haven't had much time. Life has been very busy with a toddler running around, working and preparing for the big move in 6 weeks. I'm going to try and catch you up on some of things we have done recently. (And by recently I mean in the last several months.) Somehow the time just seems to fly by so quickly.

Hope you enjoy catching up with us!

Coming in August...

So, this is going to be the year of changes for this Craig family. We will moving from Memphis to Boston after being here for 11 years. But just as exciting...we will be welcoming our second child into this world in August. Yes...WE'RE PREGNANT! We can't tell you how good it feels to share this wonderful news with our family and friends. It's still hard to believe that our family will be expanding. Julie is almost 14 weeks along and we have already had several doctors appointments and they have all been very good. We have been blessed to see our little baby twice now on ultrasound. The first time to confirm the pregnancy and hear that little heartbeat (what a wonderful sound!). The second time the doctor was unable to find the heartbeat with the doppler because it was still a little early. He wasn't worried but he wasn't going to send us away without us KNOWING that everything was great with our little one (what an awesome doctor!).

It was great to see our little one moving around. It looks like it may be just as active as it's big brother. It's arms and legs were just moving all over the place. Of course, it is too early for Julie to feel the baby moving yet or for us to know if Thomas will have a baby brother or sister. We are simply happy at this point to see a healthy baby.

The first trimester was rougher this time but thanks to the wonders of medicine and lots of naps I have survived. In all honesty, the nausea was comforting to a point, but after a while it just got old. Everyday I am feeling better and even though my energy levels aren't through the roof they are better than they were.

We've already started preparing Thomas for the addition. He has so many changes coming up but we know he will handle it well. It's been fun to hear him talk about the baby. And it changes daily as to whether he wants a brother or a sister. I think John is trying to predispose him to wanting a brother but we will take what God has decided to give us. I was amazed when he told me that that baby was going to get his crib. I hadn't talked with him about this yet and neither had John. I assumed at the time that Mima must have mentioned it to him because I just couldn't fathom that a 2.5 year old would come to this conclusion on their own. Well, he did! Mima hadn't mentioned it to him so he must have come up with it on his own.

So, there you have it! It is going to be the year of changes and new experiences for us. But we know that Lord will help us through each task (I'm counting on it having to move 7+ months pregnant). We ask that you continue to keep us and our "Little Acorn" in your prayers. We will keep you updated on our progress with Thomas, the baby and the move.

Baking Cookies

Since we were given a day to stay at home thanks to some snow I thought it would be fun to let Thomas help me make some cookies. He really enjoyed stirring the ingredients together. Although, he may have enjoyed pushing the camera remote more and saying "Cheese!" Either way it was a wonderful way to spend the morning and I look forward to having my little helper in the kitchen more often. I guess he is getting to an age where he would enjoy it

January Snow

We woke up this morning to a snow covered lawn and school being closed. YEAH! It's actually the second snow fall, which is amazing that it has snowed twice within a week. The first one I wasn't able to get pictures of but this time we went out first thing this morning. Thomas really enjoyed it. He may have enjoyed splashing in the puddles more, though. But I think he'll enjoy the snow that we'll see in Boston. Enjoy the pictures!

New York City

Well, I'm finally getting a chance to post about our trip to New York City in November. John had to be there for a conference and a few weeks before his trip it dawned on me where he was going and for how long and I REALLY wanted to go with him. So, I was able to arrange for some time off at work and found a reasonably priced plane ticket and it was settled that I was going too. I am so glad I did. NYC is AWESOME! John arrived a day before I did. My flight got in pretty late and I took a shuttle from the airport to the hotel ~ that was an adventure in itself. First of all there were traffic jams at midnight! This city really doesn't sleep. Secondly, the driver pretty much zig zagged in and out of traffic. I really did have to hang onto my seat. When I had arranged for the shuttle it didn't dawn on me that there would be 8 - 10 other people wanting to be taken to their hotels too. Silly me, thought we'd all be going to the same hotel. So what would have been a 15-20 minute ride turned into over an hour. But I did make it safely there. The hotel was only a few blocks down from Time Square and it was still going strong when I arrived. The next morning I was tempted to sleep in after getting in so late, but I didn't want to miss anything. I was there to see the city and that's exactly what I planned to do. I walked a mile or two (not sure how far it was now) to the Rachel Ray show in hopes of getting in on stand-by. No luck unfortunately, but I did get to see a lot of the city in the process. I went back that afternoon to try again, but still not luck. Oh well, maybe on another trip to the Big Apple. On the way there I came across the Grand Central Station and enjoyed checking it out. It actually took me awhile to find Rachal Ray's studio in the morning because of a few wrong turns, but it was just more that I got to see.
When I went back to the hotel the first order of business was to ditch my cool looking boots for my tennis shoes. I've never had a problem with them before but the streets of NYC require shoes that have cushion. I found Rockefeller Center with the ice rink and the Christmas tree which was in the process of being lit.
After John got out of his meetings that evening we decided to go to a restaurant at Grand Central Station and then check out the Empire State Building. I don't think I've mentioned yet how cold it was while we were there. IT WAS FREEZING! At least compared to what we are used to here in Memphis. It was made worse by the wind that just whips throughout the city. Thankfully I was able to convince John to get a hat for his head (I had already purchased one earlier that day) because I knew it would make a huge difference. Well, once we got to the top of the Empire State Building the wind and the cold went up a few notches. Thankfully there was a little room you could warm yourself up in but then you couldn't really see the city. So, we walked around it a couple of times and got our pictures and decided we were good to go. It really is breath taking, though to be able to see so far in every direction.
The next day I was hoping to get up early and go to The Today Show and see if I catch of glimpse of the crew there. I didn't quite make it out as early as I had hoped. The thought of being so cold again detered me a little. I did see Al Roker out on the plaza and had a close up view into the studio but that was about it. So, from there I headed across the street to a book signing that was about to start. It was Richard Belzar who plays Munch on Law & Order SVU. I got to meet him and his dog and get a free book that he signed for me. Later that afternoon I came back to the NBC studio and took a tour of the place. They wouldn't let us take pictures which was a big disappointment for me, but that's the way it goes. It was really cool to see behind the scenes. We were actually able to see the set of Saturday Night Live while they were rehearsing. It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be. On my way back to the hotel I took a little detour to FAO Schwarz to find a teddy bear for Thomas. That is another amazing place. I don't think I'd want to take a child in there for fear that they'd never want to leave. I know I didn't see the whole place but I almost got lost in the part that I did see. Leave it to NYC to have a toy store that is so grand.
That night there was a reception for the conference attendees at the Rainbow Room (sponsored by one of the device companies) at the top of Rockefeller Center. We had to listen to some presentation (don't ask me what they talked about) by the company and then there was a buffet to enjoy. Most of the time when I go to something like this I know a few more people than I did that night. Despite not knowing many people before hand the ones that I met that night were very friendly (even a current new yorker) and were good conversationalists on topics other than surgery. It was a lot of fun and we ended up staying until there was no one else left.
Unfortunately, the next day I had to fly home. It was such a fast trip but full of fun. If you've made it this far you are quite the trooper. I have rambled on long enough, but I certainly want to go back some day.