Week 27

More big news to share from last week. First, Thomas again competed in the US Chess Center Elementary League chess tournament. He won both games, which interestingly were both the longest and shortest games played that day. We are super proud of his efforts.

Andrew managed to sneak in during the long game and captured a few pictures.  Here is the round up article from the US Chess Center: https://chessctr.org/2022/03/06/elementary-team-league-2021-22-round-8-results/

The other big news is that the Army finally released the Lieutenant Colonel promotion board results.  We are all very happy to announce that Andrew will soon (hopefully by the end of the year) no longer be MAJ Giesey but LTC Giesey.

Week 22

Another week complete.  It was a rather busy one.  One car had to go in to the shop for a scary red engine check light.  We got it back in working order at the end of the week.  Thomas started the spring session of chess club after school.  He is really enjoying it.  John got invited to participate in an after school club for the spring as well.  He will get to explore a few different activities with a focus on social and emotional learning during his club.

There is other news but it is not quite official yet.  Papers need to be signed before the ball gets rolling. Maybe next week it can be shared.

Oh lastly, Thomas finally decided to participate in one of the Elementary School Chess League tournaments this weekend.  He was a bit hesitant about it.  

Boy, oh boy, he came home jazzed because he won both games.  He will be playing again during one of the other league meetings.  This picture came from the US Chess Center blog as parents are not allowed in the room while the kids play.  You can read more about it on the US Chess Center blog, Notate.

Almost to the End of the First Quarter

Amazing! The end of this week marks the end of the first quarter of the school year. In the meantime, we completed a bunch of doctors appointments. All good news - Thomas had some sealants on molar teeth done. John saw a pediatric cardiologist and received an all clear for some concerns we had over the summer. I got a night guard which means improved sleep. I am not waking up feeling like I have a massive headache every day.

We also had another round of visitors - Grandma Dee, Grandpa Nick, and Amber. We headed to Cox Farms for some fall festival fun.

Closest I’ll get to Stonehenge - Foamhenge!

We also spent some time getting our house outfitted for the upcoming spooky holiday!

The boys each participated in the school’s big fundraiser - Rock n Run. I volunteered for part of the day so I got to see them in action.

Also, the weather has finally gotten a smidge cooler. That means I get to enjoy more evenings with pugs in this position:

Comparison

With two small children, it is hard to keep myself from comparing them.  They are so close in age that I can remember their infant time easily.

JT at 3 months

Thomas at 3 months

I catch myself saying "wow, Thomas, you are huge!" on a very frequent basis.  I have to keep reminding myself that Thomas was 50 percentile across the board.  He is average while JT had a bunch of hurdles to overcome.

When I think about the first few months of JT's life, I am grateful that we have had very few issues with Thomas.  Those first couple of months were a hellish experience with JT and I am glad I kept my mind open to the option of having a second child.  We are so blessed to have giggly Thomas.  That is not to say that we are not blessed to have JT - just that JT's beginning makes me cherish the "normalcy" of Thomas's entrance into the world.  Little or big things like pumping to help keep JT healthy in the NICU to Thomas eating cool formula from the fridge; waiting for JT to put on enough weight be big enough to sit in the bouncer to Thomas growing out of clothes like it is his job; or how it took nearly 6 months to get JT to sleep through the night whereas Thomas sleeps 9+ hours at 3 months.  I think the pictures below are a better match then their monthly age:

Thomas at 3 months

JT at 6 months

They are totally brothers.  There is no doubt about that.  Also no doubt - that I love them to the ends of the earth!