Discoveries!

What a week our little guy had! He started with all sorts of new tricks and continued working on some old ones. He's gotten a lot better with his "standing", and prefers to stand instead of sitting on your lap. He doesn't tire of it quickly, which is amazing. I keep expecting him to just collapse after a few seconds, but he hangs in there for quite a while. And smiles the whole time! Travis swears he'll walk before he crawls!!! He's also started to notice his hands. And he's discovered that these hands can grab things. And once these hands grab things, he can put them in his mouth. So now we have to remind ourselves that if you don't want it in his mouth, don't put it in his line of fire. But it's so neat to watch him hold onto his toys now and it's so cute to watch him slobber all over them.

He had his first full week of sleeping in his crib in his own room. He has adjusted very well! He's sleeping longer and longer at night, and rarely needs comforting in the middle of the night. I think that Travis and I are learning to sleep without him in the room with us. It's actually been a big adjustment for me. We leave the monitor on at night, and it's been difficult for me to get used to the baby noises. I was getting used to them IN the room with us, but it's a different kind of sound coming through the monitor. I know I'll get used to it and each night gets a little easier. But the important thing is that Tyler has adjusted well and seems to like being in his own space.

One more "first" - just this morning, as I was getting ready for work and Travis was playing with Tyler, the biggie happened. Yep, he rolled over. He rolled from his tummy to his back. Granted, he had a little help from Daddy but that was just with arm positioning. The act of rolling was all Tyler. Travis propped him up a bit on his elbows and Tyler got some momentum and just rolled. He made it look so easy that we were sure he'd do it again. Alas, no. One show was all we got today. But we clapped and cheered for him and he lit up, so I think he knows that this is something really cool. I think before we know it, he's going to be rolling all over the place.

This weekend, we headed up to Fredericksburg for a few hours. Heidi, a friend of mine from college, had a "deck-warming" party at her house. Her beautiful 2-year-old daughter, Riley, loves babies and was excited to have Tyler at her house. She wanted to "hold" him, and she did so well with him. And Tyler was intrigued by her and the 2 other little girls that were there. They were Jackie & Nick's daughters (more college pals). I think Tyler liked to watch the girls because they were more his size and less intimidating. But he did very well in a new place with new people holding him and passing him around. He even took a nap in Riley's crib, which gives us hope that he will nap and sleep well "on the go".

We have Tyler's 4 month appointment this Friday. I can't wait to see how much he has grown. As I've mentioned before, we think that he's about 15 - 16 pounds. I hopped on our not-so-accurate bathroom scale with him the other day and got a reading of just under 16. We'll see!!!! He'll get more shots at this appointment too, but Travis will be with me again, and we planned the appointment for later in the afternoon, so we are hoping he'll do well and just sleep it off again. We'll be sure to let you know!

I know, I know, I know. I'm a slacker. I missed a week of blogging. I'm sorry. Hey, I mean it! It's definitely turning to summer around here though. The days are full of things to accomplish and time flies even faster than ever. So I apologize to those that needed their "Tyler fix" for last week. I hope that the plethora of pics in this post will help ease you out of withdrawal.

Our little boy is getting stronger and bigger with each passing day. Travis & I had discussed the need to remove the head rest and move the straps up on his car seat because he was looking a little strained. We made the move today. He looks like a big boy now in that carrier. He's not the little boy that we brought home from the hospital in March.

Tyler's new trick is "standing". He loves to stretch those legs out wherever he is and practice his new trick. His legs have gotten really strong and just when you think he's calming down, he'll kick those legs out with such force and lock his knees and just stand there while you hold him. And he gets this very proud look on his face. He'll be running around this house raising hell before we know it.

He also has started using a new toy - his exersaucer (compliments of his future girlfriend, Emma Bowler - Carol & Chris' daughter). I picked him up from daycare and Miss Brenda, one of the teachers, mentioned to me that they put him in a saucer for the first time earlier in the day. She said that he loved it! So I got excited and ran home to have Travis get our saucer out of the attic. We weren't thinking that he'd be ready for it so soon, but we are thrilled. And so is he. He has a blast in there, jumping around, twisting and turning, and looking at all the toys. He's starting to grab for things now (my hair and necklace included - ouch!) so it's really a treat to watch him.

Is he rolling over yet? Nope, not yet. But it's not for a lack of trying. This kid will play on his tummy, with that head held so high, and he'll kick and squirm and move all about. But no rolling. Travis works with him on it and Tyler has a good time playing, but just hasn't mastered the art yet. All in good time, all in good time. We're just happy that he seems to enjoy "tummy time" and has excellent head and neck control. He's come a long way in just a few short weeks.

Tyler has also started to notice the TV. On several occasions, we have noticed him staring at the tube, completely enthralled in whatever is on. And it doesn't matter what it is - Mommy's TiVoed Young and the Restless episodes, the evening news (with Charlie Gibson, of course), NASCAR races. He loves the colors and the movement. We were at Once Upon a Child today and bought him two Baby Einstein DVDs. We figure if he's going to be drawn to the TV, he might as well see something that is somewhat educational. I'm sure Trav & I will have the content of these DVDs memorized very soon.

As I write this, Tyler is sleeping in his crib for the first night. Ever. As I have mentioned before, we have let him nap in his crib, but he has continued to sleep in the bassinet of his pack-n-play in our room at night. As I was dicing onions for dinner tonight, Travis was upstairs with Tyler, getting him ready for bed. Travis comes downstairs and tells me that he has made an "executive decision". Tyler is sleeping in his own crib in his own room starting tonight. I start crying. I blame the onions. Travis knows that I'm lying. But I know it's best. Though I may not be ready for my little baby to start becoming a big boy, it's happening and I need to "cut the cord", you might say. Though I sleep poorly with Tyler in the room with us (because of all of his little baby noises), I have comfort knowing that he is right there at an arm's length from Travis. But he needs to learn to sleep in his own room. And Travis & I need to be able to watch TV at night before we go to sleep, and talk in bed about our days, and not have to worry about tripping over something and waking the babe. Yes, I know that this will be best for all. But it makes me sad because he's not a little baby anymore. We're hoping that this first night (and the nights to come) will go well. He has napped well in his crib up until now, and we have no reason to believe that he won't do well in there at night. Keep those fingers crossed for us.

One more thing that we've started in the past week or so is Baby Massage Time. At night, we have a bedtime ritual. Travis gives him his bath and then brings him to me in the nursery. Using a night time lotion, I gently massage the lotion into his arms, legs, and feet. And he just lights up! He could be the fussiest baby in the world, but as soon as that lotion hits his body, he just grins. I love this extra little time that I have with my son. It's a part of both of our nights now. After massage, I nurse him once more to "top him off", and Trav puts him to bed. And he's still sleeping well, only waking once in the middle of the night to nurse. I expect that this feeding may be eliminated soon, as he never eats for very long and goes back to sleep very quickly. I'm looking forward to having a longer stretch of sleep at night.....when and if it comes.

We've got a fairly busy summer ahead of us. We have our annual beach trip to Emerald Isle with my Dad, Eddie, and friends for a week in July. We're excited for Tyler's first beach vacation. He has so many cute beach outfits that I can't wait to dress him in. And I can't wait to just relax on the beach. I don't care if Tyler fusses all week, at least I'm at the beach. (Note: This does not mean that I want Tyler to fuss all week, so will the powers-that-be please note this?) Also, Trav's sister Jennifer, is getting married August 4th. I am the matron of honor, so we'll be busy with that as well. We also have Tyler's 4-month appointment at the end of this month. We can't wait to see how much our little man has grown since his last appointment in early May. We're "guesstimating" that he's about 15 - 16 pounds by now. We'll see how close we are soon. So much going on, and so little time.......

Oh and one final thing....HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to Travis, my Dad, Trav's Dad, and all the other Dads out there!!!

Busy week! Why is it that a 4-day workweek following a holiday seems so much longer than a typical 5-day workweek?

It appears that the bottle strike is over....for now. Tyler began taking his bottles again at daycare as if nothing had happened. And he's been chugging those bottles. I think we might be getting to a point where we need to increase his bottle intake. He's quite the growing boy!

We had dinner this week with Uncle Kevin, who was working at MCV for a couple of days. It was great to be able to spend some time with him. We also had dinner with Aunt Lala & Uncle J Dub (that's Laura & Matt to the rest of the world) for Laura's birthday. Tyler didn't stay up for much of these two visits. He gets pretty darned cranky if you try to keep him up past his 7:00 bedtime. And speaking of that, we have had two really amazing nights here. Friday night he went to bed at 7:30 and slept until 4:30!!!! I never thought that this would last, but last night he was in bed before 7:00 and slept until 5:30!!!! We were floored! Now the downside of this little feat is that it is Sunday (you know, the day of rest) and the 3 of us were up and about by 6:00. Oh well. I'd rather be up for the day at 5:30 after having an night of uninterrupted sleep then wake up in the middle of the night and have to go back to sleep (which I have a hard time doing after a feeding). We hope that this trend continues!

In more sleep news, we didn't move Tyler to his room this weekend. We realized that we had left our monitor's battery charger at Dad's house last weekend. And Tyler's room is in the back of the house. We weren't quite comfortable with having him sleep in there without the monitor. So Dad will be visiting this week (he's working up here for a few days) and we'll get the charger back then. We hope to try to move him into his room next weekend. But he did nap in his crib for the first time this weekend while we were doing chores upstairs. He napped well in there, for it being the first time. It gives us hope that the move will be an easy one.