Thomas.

I don't have the right words for this.

I'm in awe of my red baby.

He thrills me and delights me and sometimes I still can't believe he's mine.

He is kind. He locks eyes with me, studies my smile, then offers a gentle and deeply intuitive smile back. I can see that it comes from his heart, and not from some giddy impulse.

When I was pregnant with him, two different, unrelated medical professionals told me that he was, and would be, a VERY nice boy. How could they know?

One was a high-risk doctor who carefully studied Thomas via ultrasound. He said "This is a very good boy. I'm telling you now - he's a very good boy inside the womb and he'll be a very good boy outside, too." The other was my chiropractor, who always reads or feels the energy from my body. As she was adjusting me and seeing how my body was responding, she placed her hands on my belly and blurted "Oh, he is such a NICE BOY!! He's a VERY nice boy!"

I don't know. They're just people. But my Thomas is all that they said.

Granted, he's 8 months old. Not a teenager. But he's not fussy. He's not moody. He loves all of us, but particularly​ me. He's happy to play by himself or with my other children - though if he catches sight of me, he'll ask me to come get him. He's big, so I can't hold him as much as he wants, so I often hold him in bed after he's fallen asleep, letting the pillows do the hard work of lifting him up.

I try to take him everywhere I go. We have a great time together almost every time. Once, he got hungry and fussed in Costco. Another time I had to cut a thrifting run short because he got hungry. But that's it. We go places, me and my toy.

He loves food! He still nurses regularly and I had been feeding him a variety of solid foods until March 26, when he had a bad day and blood began appearing in his diapers. Since then we've figured out that he's allergic to something I/we had been eating. I'm on a very restricted diet now - no dairy, soy, wheat, peanuts, tomatoes, citrus or strawberries. He eats only oats, rice, and apple juice. His diapers are a lot better. Still a little green and slimy, but much less blood. I'll wait until he's 1 before testing dairy in his diet or mine.

We truly hope his hair stays red. ❤️ His hair is such a bright orange-red. It's rare, and it feels like everything about this baby is rare. What a blessing. It feels like we won the lottery.

I can't put it into the best words, but I can say:
He's such a gift.
He dazzles me.
He makes my heart squeeze with the sensation of being over-full.
I am so grateful!