I remember my 10th birthday. I had a party at the park and I got Nintendo. The old gray Nintendo where I mastered all the Marios and Contra....up up down down left right left right B A start start. I still have it and sometimes we get it out and play it. Sadly I don't think we own Dr. Mario or Contra. The two best games.
10!! Double digits! Wow!
I say Thom because Tom is taking out a letter in the middle of his name and I think that's weird. But Thomas says Tom. So if he ever decides to go by Thom/Tom, then Tom it will be. As his mother, I'm hanging on to Thomas. I love the name Thomas. I loved the name before I met his father and was so excited to use it and have it be after his dad and his grandpa.
Thomas Jamison really. Jamison after my side. It makes for a long name but it's just right. When I was pregnant with him, we thought he would be a girl (because we knew we had two girls. but that's another story) so we kind of prepared for a girl. But I said often to John, man I just feel like it's a boy in there (but we kept preparing for a girl). He had a blessing dress and I splurged on a blanket from Gymboree because it was my favorite I had ever seen. Katie ended up getting the blessing dress and the blanket was returned to Gymboree. Now I wish I had never returned it but saved it for Leah.
John and Emily were 3 and 2 and they learned the song "Baby Mine" and would sing it to him before he was born and after. That song is still a favorite in our house.
Anyway.....one night I had a dream that 'it was a boy and his name was Thomas J'. So when Thomas popped out a boy, we knew just what his name would be. Funny thing was that we COULD NOT come up with a girl name. For obvious reasons now.
I went in to labor with Thomas. He was overdue and I was so excited. I went to the hospital at 11:00 pm and sat there all night long, wide awake, having contractions every few minutes while John slept in the chair next to me. It was annoying and had I known any better, I would have stayed home to labor. I worked my way to a 6 with little pain by Sunday morning. They gave me an epidural and petocin and Thomas J. was born during General Conference. I said over and over "I can't believe it's a boy. It's a boy!! It's a boy??" It was really fun. The Dr. got annoyed because I kept saying it. Dumb doctor. He didn't live the nine monthe previous with me to understand my excitement. I never went back to him. :)
My pregnancy with Thomas was an interesting one. I had really strong feelings through the entire thing. He never moved and it scared me often. But not only that but I always had a feeling that there was something special about the baby in me.
When he was born, he turned out to be the most cuddly and sweet little baby. For years after his birth, we would get comments on him. People would actually say 'there is something about him". He was angelic and sweet and had a great spirit about him. John and I always feared we would lose him, it was that strong of a feeling.
He saved Jack from his near drowning and at that point, those feelings that we would lose him kind of left. Thomas fulfilled one great purpose he had on earth that day. Saving the life of his brother. And now Thomas is Jack's hero and very best friend. Jack would not want to live without Thomas around. He means everything to him.
Thomas still loves to cuddle and hug. Since he was one, he asks us to hold his hand at night when he goes to sleep. This started when we moved to Bountiful from Provo and he moved from a crib to a toddler bed. He would lay down and I would sit on the floor next to him and we would both close our eyes and hold hands while I sang Baby Mine. I still close my eyes when I sing it to the kids. When he gets sad, he gets the biggest puppy dog eyes and face and big tears and it is heart wrenching. He tries to hold in his sadness but it naturally flows sometimes and a good hug and cuddle will take care of it.
Thomas is our easiest child. He just goes with the flow and does his thing. He gets along the best with every kid in the family and is a peacemaker. When he sees a need, he fills it. It's a very sweet thing to see.
Since he was tiny, he collected things. He was always carying things. Things. Any random thing. He has also always collected rocks. I've hung on to most of them. My favorite are his "5 yellowstones". I can only find four of them but I've got them. I don't know why but his "things" are precious to me.
Thomas is good at sports. We have been surprised at what he can do because he's so quiet about everything he does. He loves basketball, baseball, golf, and now Lacrosse. He is playing Lacrosse this year and so far loves it. We are excited for him to try something new.
Sadly, Thomas gets forgotten in the shuffle sometimes. It is because he is so quiet and keeps to himself. We have our own worries with him but we are grateful for the peaceful attitude he has about life.
Thomas is a good friend. He has good friends and he also picked up that quality that John and John both have. They all make friends easily and they are good friends. Thomas likes to laugh and play and he is fun to be around.
He is a picky eater. Very picky. I put a couple vegetables on his plate every night at dinner and tell him he has to keep trying them until one day he likes them. If he doesn't keep trying he might never know. His favorite food is candy. Holy moly he likes candy. He likes V8 Fusion which has a serving of vegetables and a serving of fruit in every 8 oz. If I can get him to drink that and have a vitamin or an instant breakfast, I feel like a better mother. He loves tacos and he asks me all the time to fry plantains. maria taught me how to do that and Thomas thinks they are great.
Thomas is in every school play. he has fun doing it and it is fun to watch him. He sings well and acts well. He said he always gets the bad guy part. In Charlie Brown, he was a kid on the mean team. In Seussical, he was one of the 5 mean wickersham brothers and this year in Pirates of Penzance Jr., he was the cabin boy on the pirate ship. He gets a pretty good part every year and it's fun.
He plays the piano and doesn't complain. That's nice. He likes school and his teachers and primary. In fact, as I think about it, I can't think of anything that he complains about. He's a pretty well mannered kid.
When Thomas and Jack get together, their mouths go a million miles a minute. Seriously, they talk and talk and talk and talk and talk. They imagine how they would do things. They plan and scheme and laugh and it's awesome. Annoying often. But awesome. John and I look at each other and laugh because it's hillarious that THEY. NEVER. STOP. Sam tries hard to keep up with them. And Leah tries to keep up with Sam. Makes for a lot going on around here with those four.
Thomas has always had extra love for babies. He thinks they are the sweetest thing ever. It's very cute.
How lucky we are to have Thomas in our family. We love you Thomas. Happy birthday.
His birthday was the day before Easter. We took him to Denny's with grandma. He had lacrosse practice and we went to an Easter egg hunt.
P.S.
I LOVE this kids laugh!! It is so cute and full of joy. I always smile when he laughs.
In December, the boy scouts went to an assisted living home to visit with the people who lived there. I was very impressed with these boys and the small conversations they tried to have. They split up in groups of 2 with one leader and visited with 1 or 2 or 3 people at a time. The purpose was to give visitors to the people in the home, and for the boys to learn conversation skills. It went well and was a nice evening. At the end, they sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and I had to take a picture of them. Funny how you can fall in love so quickly with the people you serve.
For pack meeting yesterday, a 'chief' came to talk to the boys. He told a true story about a mother who had just had a baby and she died. There were no other women to nurse the baby so the baby was buried alive with the mother right up on the hill above our house. (There were a few concerns of the boys needing therapy after that story.)
Thomas and Jack fit themselves into one of their uncles shorts at the family yard sale. It was our second yardsale to earn funds for the our second every other year family reunion. 
The boys had fun digging in my garden this summer. I didn't mind since I didn't plant a thing and it kept it weeded. But the other day, they came up with the grand idea to dig a hole. On the other side of the yard. In the grass. No where near my garden. I don't get it. It got put back together just fine and even though I didn't want a hole in my lawn and I wasn't really happy about it, I had to have a picture because this is just one of those things worth documenting.
Jack use to feel so different and feel bad that he was the only one with blue eyes but he now knows that they are our FAVORITE eyes and he is "special" because of them.
Thomas bought this pocket knife gadget at scout camp and decided to clamp his hair. It got stuck and dad had to work on it to get it out. It was pretty funny.
John wears this hat as the dog catcher in Annie. Thomas and I stopped by the theatre Friday night before the show and Thomas tried it on. What a sweet boy.
