Tobias is such a great guy. He is growing rapidly, both physically as well as emotionally/mentally, or should I just say "as a person". He can really get into things now and sometimes play for almost two hours, just by himself. He can get really happy about a toy, a rag or anything else, really. He can also get really mad at the same thing for no other apparent reason than that whatever it is is not cooperating with him..... Obviously he cries, he has done that ever since he was born, but he can now also whine in all sorts of variations. Fortunaly he also has a great smile that he uses very frequently and more abundantly as he is growing. He now not only smiles an giggles, but het also just laughs. He loves music, being played or sung to him and he also loves dancing (basically one of us rocking him up and down on the beat of the music). As you can see in this picture he also likes reading. He seems to be into the book, but I can assure you, he had a hard time deciding what to do with this book before I took this picture: Should I eat it? Should I throw it? Should I jam it into my head? Should I jam it into daddy's head? Eventually he decided to "read" it....... I guess.....

Lisa is back to working full-time. As I am writing this I am having my "daddy day". That is every thursday. I am liking it and so is Tobias (...... I hope.....). Anyway, Lisa is finishing the school year full-time. The end of the school year is July 2nd I think so that is only 4 more weeks or so. During this time Tobias stays with me one day, my daddy day, one day with my parents and the other three days with a friend of Lisa's, Charlotte, who is taking really good care of him. I told Tobias that, with all those new things going on and his busy schedule as far as care taking is concerned, he should make a start in learning how to take care of himself. He agreed and see how far he has gotten already..... he is feeding himself! Ok, he was not able to finish the bottle entirely by himselft (mainly because he dropped it when he fell asleep drinking it....) but it is a good start, right? The busy schedule is working out well so far. After the summer vacation Lisa is going to work part-time as well, she will be working 3 days a week. Tobias will be with my parents one day and in a day care another.

I have a feeling Tobias is approaching the teething stage..... Grandma Mayhall gave him this biting toy and as you can see he loves it. He can get pretty fanatic about biting it. For Lisa and me it is a good alternative to our finger because his jaw muscles are getting more powerful by the day.....

It has been way too long since the last post, so it is time for an update! Tobias is doing great! He is growing like cabbage, as we would say in the Netherlands. He seems to be having loads of fun as well.... he is laughing and smiling a lot anyway. One day I came home and Lisa and Tobias were on the couch laughing like crazy. I was wondering what was going on..... well, take a look at this picture.... Tobias probably doesn't realize we're making fun of him, but when you pull his ears like that, he sticks his tongue out :-). By the way, it made him laugh too......

I guess I am getting the order all wrong here because this was before the Tobias' check in the hospital, but this is the de Pee family celebrating mommy's and daddy's two year wedding anniversary with a nice weekend away in a hotel in a small town in the Netherlands called Nijkerk. What we know but you cannot see it that this picture is taken as we are sitting at the bar of the hotel drinking a beer. Tobias wanted in on the fun so he is at the bar too.... (not having a beer :-)....) Anyway, we had a great time there. They had a swimming pool and Tobias went swimming with us for the second time in his life. Also, we went touring the surrounding area and we brought the baby monitor so we could leave Tobias in the hotel room while Lisa and I had a romantic candle light dinner in the hotel restaurant, which was fantastic! So, family, touring, swimming and romance all in one weekend... what more could you possibly want?!

An update on Tobias' leg episode: As of today Tobias has been officially released from the hospital. Of course he has been home for a little over two weeks now, but today we had to go back for a check. The doctor looked at and felt his leg and said it was OK. He sent us to get some x-rays taken just to make sure. This took a %^**$&@-ing long time.... (yes, I got quite frustrated by that because they let us wait way too long!) but the results were great. Last time they took x-rays, over two weeks ago, you could see the bone forming, but you could still clearly distinguish the fracture. Now the white "glare" of forming bone of last time is a solid white "lump" around the bone. You can hardly see the fracture line anymore, and the doctor was very pleased with it too. He said that we do not have to be "extra careful" with his leg anymore and treat it just like the other one because it has totally healed. So, that was good news and as you can see both mommy and Tobias are quite happy campers, although Tobias got hungry and tired of waiting..... So, I guess this was the final leg update.... but be sure to keep checking in with Tobias on this site :-). Later!

Hey, that's not Tobias!!!.... Nope, you're right, this is Tobias' first girl-friend, Annalief. She was born on February 2nd 2005. Her proud parents are Kasper and Liesbeth. They have been visiting each other quite regularly since she was born. This is ok because this gives their parents the opportunity to keep in touch as well :-).