Visiting the 'Burg

We headed to Lynchburg last weekend to see Dad & Eddie, and the rest of the family and friends. We left on Friday night this time, after we fed Tyler and got him dressed for bed. We hoped that he would just go to sleep in the car, and he did. He slept the entire way there, and was very close to being transferred to the crib at Dad’s house when he awoke and decided that he was no longer ready for bed. As far as he was concerned, it was PARTY TIME. So we allowed him to stay up a little later that evening, as he showed off his newest tricks and toys to Dad and his neighbors, Ken & Edie.

Saturday we went to Waylon’s 3rd birthday party out at Bridges & Jay’s house. They had rented the “Stretch Bus”, which is a hollowed out school bus loaded up with all sorts of exercise equipment for young kids. The kids at the party had a great time playing in there, and Tyler even got to join in the fun. Travis took him inside and bounced him on the trampoline and let him go down the slide. I think that Tyler had a great time, especially watching all of the other kids play around him.
There was also a 4-month-old Chihuahua puppy there. We introduced him to Tyler and they both were taken with each other. Well, Tyler was taken with the puppy. The puppy seemed to want Tyler’s brightly colored links toy. But Tyler reached out to pet the puppy and was very gentle with him. This is something that we are working on with him at home with the cats – well, with Gracie. (Beemer still wants nothing to do with him.) Gracie is very tolerant of Tyler, and has even started to rub her face on him when he gets near. He has gotten a few “handfuls” of Gracie, but she never gets angry. She patiently waits for me or Travis to release the fur from his hands and she goes back to rubbing against him. We are very careful not to let their interaction go unsupervised, but for now, we are very proud of both of them. We’re hoping that by teaching Tyler early to play nicely with the kitties, he’ll be a little less harsh when he becomes mobile.

Sunday we had Uncle Eddie and Nana & Grandaddy (Tyler’s great-grandparents) over for lunch. Grandaddy hadn’t seen Tyler since he was 5 weeks old, and it was nice to see him interact with Tyler. He brought a big smile to my grandfather’s face that I haven’t seen in some time. And of course, Nana was just in love with Tyler. She couldn’t believe how big he’d gotten! Neither can I sometimes……

We headed home after lunch and we thought for sure that our traveling wonder would nap on the way home. Boy, were we wrong. The last hour of our trip was seriously the most painful hour ever spent in a car. Tyler screamed and cried and was just inconsolable. I ended up jumping in the backseat with him, making silly faces and pulling all sorts of toys out of the diaper bag. Some of these worked briefly, but there was no permanent solution until we got home, got him fed, and put in his crib for a nice nap. I hope that this was a one-time fluke in the car. He’s usually a pretty good traveler. Man, I better go find some wood, and knock….QUICK.

Sitting and swimming

It's amazing to watch your baby learn new things. It's even more amazing to see how QUICKLY they learn (or master) new things. Just last week, we were marvelling that Tyler was able to sit up for just a few short seconds, before taking a digger into the floor. That was the coolest thing. It didn't matter how long the attempt lasted. Well, all of a sudden, our little man started to sit straighter, longer, and sturdier. I swear it happened overnight. He is becoming more and more confident in his abilities and is now reaching for toys while sitting with moderate success. He does NOT want to be held like a baby anymore, and doesn't even really like leaning up against your body, or anything else for that matter. He wants to sit up. Like a big boy. He really is becoming a big boy. Where is that little tiny baby that we brought home from the hospital????

We've introduced sweet potatoes to his diet now. I tested them, as I mentioned before. Honestly, it didn't taste that much different from the squash. It must be because we are not used to such bland foods. In any event, Tyler devoured his sweet potatoes. The boy loved his sweet potatoes. He now sees the spoon coming towards his mouth and he promptly opens his mouth, just like a little bird. Tomorrow, we embark on the crazy world of carrots. Then we go to fruit. THAT should be interesting. But again, almost overnight, he has become a pro at eating his big boy food.

One last big boy moment this week - we went to the pool for the first time. Our community has a pool right down the street. At the time that we closed on the house and moved in, we didn't choose to pay the one-time membership fee for the pool. We knew we weren't going to use it. But with Tyler here, and with the fear that the one-time fee would increase, we went ahead and paid it and now we're members for as long as we live in this community. They have a swim team here too, which is exciting to me, as one day I hope that Tyler will be a swimmer like his Mommy. And after today's adventure, it looks like we WILL have a swimmer on our hands. He wasn't real thrilled with the baby pool at first, which is where we started out. After several minutes in there though, he started to kick and splash a bit. We decided to make the jump to the big pool. WOW! Our baby was leaning forward, kicking his legs, and just having a GREAT time. We'd swim him around, and he'd just keep on kicking and smiling. He loved it. Makes us wish that we had attempted this a little sooner, as the pool will close for the summer after Labor Day. But that leaves us 2 more weekends to get him some pool time. We're definitely going to take advantage of that.

Next weekend we head back to Lynchburg to visit Grandpa Ed, Uncle Eddie, and everyone else. We haven't been there since Memorial Day, so it'll be nice to see everyone and show everyone how Little One has grown. Bridges & Jay's youngest boy is having his 3rd birthday party that same weekend, so we'll head to that on Saturday. Tyler should enjoy it. He loves watching younger kids play and being around them. Another busy weekend, but we're looking forward to it!!

Meal time!

Well, as you saw in the Bonus Post this past week, we started solids. Like I mentioned, we just felt it was time, even though we had wanted to hold out until Tyler was 6 months old (mainly to help with possible food allergies). But our little boy seemed ready NOW, not 3 weeks from now, and we gave it a go! At his 4 month pediatrician appointment, we were told that we could start solids at 5 months and were given the guidelines on how to do it. Start with rice cereal, move to veggies (preferably oranges and yellows), then fruits (just because some babies will favor the sweetness and start to reject veggies), wait 3-4 days between foods to look for symptoms of allergies. So we started with very runny rice cereal on Tuesday. He slurped it right up! We slowly made it a bit thicker, and the response was hit-or-miss. Sometimes he really seemed to enjoy himself, and others he didn't seem to like it at all. Ah, the joys of trying something new!

But since we had been on just plain rice cereal for a few days and saw no adverse reactions (other than some very smelly gas and some "interesting" looking poop), we decided to embark on the next portion of our journey. We introduced our little man to squash tonight. I started him out with some plain squash, and as he kept eating, I mixed it up with some rice cereal too. He LOVED it!! (And I have to admit, it tasted a lot better than I thought it would, and I don't eat squash. I have made it a habit to taste EVERYTHING that Tyler tastes - Tylenol, rice cereal, gas drops, even breastmilk.) We decided to feed him in just his diaper tonight. Now that we're adding color to the food, it's just as easy to throw his little butt in the tub. Good thing....he had squash EVERYWHERE. Travis had his work cut out for him on bath duty tonight.

So provided that we have no strange reactions to the squash, we'll head to carrots or sweet potatoes later this week. We don't anticipate any issues, as neither Travis nor I have any food allergies. We'll finish up these orange veggies and then we'll start to add bananas or apples to the cereal or oatmeal. Before you know it, our little man will be ordering a steak dinner!!!

Bonus post - 1st cereal!!

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.....details to come this weekend, but the first taste of rice cereal went well tonight! Really well! We decided to start a bit earlier than the actual 6 months for a few reasons.......

1. Tyler didn't seem to be getting satisfied after feedings anymore.
2. He was waking several times a night.
3. Daycare was practically BEGGING us to increase the amount of breastmilk in his bottles.

Looks like we made the right decision. We'll work with a veggie this weekend.......(click the link below to see the video....sorry, haven't figured out how to get a video in here yet....)

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u138/hwsnead/?action=view¤t=100_0886.flv

Busy summer starts winding down

I think that the craziness of the Summer of 2007 is behind us! We had our last big event this past weekend – Jennifer & Brian’s wedding. It was a great time, and everything was beautiful (especially the blushing bride!). And Tyler did really well, considering he was up way past his bedtime both Friday and Saturday.

Friday was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. So I picked Tyler up from daycare a bit early and got him home for a good, long nap. We headed to the rehearsal, and he behaved very well. He had a bit of a fan there in his 4-year-old “cousin” Kaylen. I say “cousin” in quotes because I don’t know what you call kids who are related because their parents are cousins. Is that 2nd cousins? Or 3rd? In any event, they are cousins. And they share a birthday. Kaylen was very excited about this when Tyler was born. And she was thrilled to see “Baby Tyler” this weekend. She wanted to help with him, hold him, dance with him, the whole nine yards. I think Tyler liked all the attention. The dinner went well too, but we decided to leave a bit before it was truly over, as our little man fell asleep on Travis’ shoulder and we felt that with such a big day ahead of him, he needed to get as much quality sleep as possible.

As matron of honor, I left early Saturday morning to be with Jenn and help her prepare for her big day. Travis left early as well to help his parents with last minute preparations. So Tyler was in the hands of his “Aunt” LaLa and “Uncle” JDub (aka Laura & Matt) for the day. We had made the decision before he was even born that he would not be at the ceremony, but would join us later in the day for the reception. We didn’t want to chance Tyler having a bad day or a breakdown in the middle of the ceremony. That wouldn’t have been fair to anyone, especially not to Jenn & Brian. So Tyler spent the better part of the day napping, making Laura & Matt’s job pretty peaceful. And the ceremony was wonderful and went off without a hitch. Congratulations, Brian & Jennifer Bilyeu!!!!

Off to the reception we went. They did such an amazing job with the reception. It was absolutely beautiful inside the clubhouse, and the food was wonderful. Tyler made his grand entrance shortly after it had started and he was a big hit! And he was quite happy to be the center of attention. The boy likes to party, what can we say? Travis took him out on the dance floor and let him stand up and “shake it”. That’s about the best dancing that he can do – shakin’ it. But it’s damn cute, if you ask me. He got to watch all of the other little kids run around the place, and there was a sea of ceiling fans, this making it an entertaining experience. He was once again up way past his bedtime, but he tolerated it well. He was passed around like a hot potato and rarely had any complaints about it.

He did show off one new trick at the reception though. Apparently over the course of the past 5 months he has discovered where his dinner comes from. Not long after he & I were reunited at the reception, did he grab the top of my strapless gown with both hands and try to yank it down and bury his head in my chest. Nice, Tyler. Real subtle. Since this discovery, he has proceeded to do this at almost every feeding, with every shirt that I have had on. I’m gonna have to watch those little hands in public now, it appears.

We spent the better part of Sunday just relaxing around the house. We felt certain that Tyler would eagerly go to bed at his normal 7:00 time. Boy, were we wrong. That boy thought that since he had partied for two nights in a row that there most certainly was a party that he was missing last night. We had to remind him several times that there was no party, just Mommy & Daddy & Tyler and that it was time for bed. He wasn’t buying it. He was determined to either find the party or BE the party. He finally crashed a few hours later. Hopefully, he’ll get the message tonight that there are no parties.

Developmentally, we’ve got a few things going on around here. Tyler’s newest trick is rolling over. Unfortunately for us, the only time he chooses to showcase this trick is in the middle of the night. So he’ll head off to dreamland on his tummy and a few hours later, he’ll roll himself onto his back and not be able to get back on his tummy. So he decides to “talk” about it. The talking wakes us up. Travis goes in and flips him back on his tummy, only to be awakened a few minutes later by him flipping again. We’re going to start leaving him because he’s gotta learn sometime, right? He’s also working on sitting up on his own. He does pretty well when he’s got a little support behind him so I’m sure unsupported sitting isn’t too far off. Also, after several weeks of trying, he has finally gotten his foot in his mouth. And boy is he proud of that! It makes changing his diaper, getting him dressed, laying him down, ANYTHING a more interesting experience. And also, today is his first day out of his infant carrier and into a “big boy” car seat (in my car at least). He seems to fit better in there, and I think that he is much more comfortable. It was a quiet ride home from daycare today.

So now that we're all finished with our summer craziness, we can just start enjoying ourselves. We can't wait to get Tyler to our neighborhood pool, and visit with our friends and their little ones. We'll start solids before the end of the summer, which will be its own adventure. And before you know it, fall will be here, and our little man will be more than half a year old. Time is a flyin'.

Beach baby! (pics below)

“You’ve literally been waiting your WHOLE LIFE for this beach trip!” This was Trav’s comment to Tyler just before we left for the beach. How true, how true. Ever since he was a little cluster of cells inside of me last summer, we have been talking about this “first beach trip with a baby”. And now it has come and gone. Man, that was fast. (I put the pics in separate posts below, because I didn't know when I would get around to writing this. Sorry!!!)

We headed to Emerald Isle with Grandpa Ed, Uncle Eddie, and a bunch of family friends (to include Jim & Angela, and Mark, Dina, & Erin). Let me add here that packing for a week-long beach trip with an infant is a full-time job. Tyler did really well in the car on the way there and on the way back. According to AAA, it should have been a 5 hour 15 minute trip. We were planning for a 7 hour trip, as we weren’t sure how things would go with Tyler. Well, we made it there in 6 hours and made it home in a little less than that. We only stopped to eat and to let me nurse him, and he pretty much slept the rest of the trip. He had a few fussy moments, but all in all it wasn’t bad. (Though for the record, I will say that the 13-minute screamfest that he had on the way home was pretty rough. OK, it was REALLY rough.)

But we got there in one piece and got settled. Tyler got gobs of attention from everyone, which he ate up. Mark & Dina’s 11-year-old daughter, Erin was with us as well, and she was a huge help throughout the week. And Tyler just loved playing with her. When she would come over to say good morning to him or start to play with him, his whole face would just light up. He particularly liked having her in the car with us. He’s not used to having company in the backseat with him, so this was pretty cool as far as he was concerned.

The afternoon that we got there, we lathered the Little One up with sunscreen, got his swim diaper on, swim trunks, hat, the whole nine yards. Got him down to the beach, put his feet in the water, and he screamed bloody murder. No sir, don't like the ocean. But he was a bit intrigued with the sand.

We headed to the NC Aquarium on Tuesday and were greeted with a sign that said that the AC in the building was broken. But even though it was a bit muggy in there, we had a great time and I think that Tyler really enjoyed it. I had him in the Baby Bjorn and carried him around that way for most of the visit. It was so fun to watch him follow the fish or turtles with his eyes and to watch his brain try to figure out just what in the world was going on around him. I can’t wait to take him back next year, and the year after that, and the year after that.

Other than the initial trek down to the beach on Day One, we loaded ourselves up and made it to the beach one day. Yep, one day. We had Tyler's beach tent, his bouncy seat, cooler for us, beach chairs, umbrellas, beach bags, and baby. Tyler wasn't digging the beach. I think it may have been too hot for him. We were there just over an hour and headed back up to the house. We found that Tyler enjoyed sitting on the lower-level deck in his bouncy seat, or sitting on the swing more than anything. He liked the breeze, the sound, and just being outside. So we spent a lot of time there just watching the ocean. It was very relaxing. We did take Tyler on some early morning walks on the beach, which he seemed to enjoy. I'm sure that next year he will be more receptive to the beach. And we'll be picking sand out of all sorts of crevices!!!! Fun fun!

Oh, and a milestone was reached at the beach - he rolled over on his own!!! He was napping on his tummy in his pack-n-play while I was laying on the bed reading. Well, I heard him start to wake up. Travis came in and we looked in on him and there he was, staring up at us. He looked pretty confused, especially when we both started cheering and clapping. But it was the first time that he did this on his own. He's rolled with assistance before, but we just didn't think that he's real interested in rolling over. Having said that, he hasn't rolled over since. Guess he was just testing us. He'll roll when he's ready, though we think he'll walk first! Haha!

We did hit one major snag while we were there - Tyler got yet another cold. And this one is a doozy. All that crap I read in the pregnancy and baby books that said that "breastfeeding babies get sick less, blah blah blah".....yeah, apparently it's not foolproof. We originally thought that he was getting congested due to the humidity in the beach house and what not, but once we got home and the coughing and congestion didn't clear up immediately, we knew he was sick. Travis took him to the pediatrician this past Monday and was told that it just needed to run its course. (Sidenote: Tyler now weighs 16 lbs. 5 oz. meaning that the little chunker gained 11 oz. in 3 short weeks!!!) Now I have a cold, and Travis got a little touch of it too. Ah, germs. But back to the cold at the beach, he handled it really well. He stopped sleeping through the night, but it was OK because he was a happy, fun baby during the day. He wasn't in pain, didn't have a fever, so I knew that he was fine.

We had a wonderful week overall and enjoyed spending so much time with Grandpa Ed & Eddie. Travis & I even got a little bit of a "vacation" here and there. Travis went and played golf with the guys one day, and I escaped with Dina & Erin to go shopping another day. I even found some time to re-read the 6th Harry Potter book, in anticipation of the final book being on my doorstep when we got home. (Note: If you are a Potter fan and haven't read #7 yet, GET TO IT! It's fantastic!!!!)

So we're back home, and trying to recover from our colds. I think that we're almost in the clear. We have a pretty free weekend coming up, but are busy next weekend with Aunt Jenn's wedding. After that though, we are smooth sailing for the rest of the summer! Our plans include joining the neighborhood pool and spending time there with Tyler. Don't worry.....we'll have pics.

More beach

Beach pics!

Oops, I'm a delinquent

Sorry all!!!! This week completely got away from us! We leave for the beach tomorrow, so we have been busy packing stuff up. You know, it's amazing how much you need to pack for a 16 pound child. Unreal. But anyway, we are headed to Emerald Isle, NC with Dad, Eddie, the Radicks, the Hamrics (Mark, Dina, & Erin), and more. It should be a great time. We're really looking forward to taking Tyler to the beach that Mom loved so much. We'll introduce him to the aquarium, the ocean, the sand, the shops, everything. As much as he loves the outdoors, this should be a big treat for him. And Travis keeps telling him that since he loves bathtime so much, that he's gonna love it - it's the biggest "tubby" in the world!!!!

On the 4th of July, we dressed Little Man up in his festive romper and headed over to our friends', the Furrs, house. Tyler did really well, considering he was tired and it was very hot and humid. He did take a little nap, but awoke and loved feeling the grass on his feet!

Other than that, we haven't been up to much. Getting ready for this beach trip has turned into a part-time job! So, be prepared. Once we get back, I'm sure we'll have lots of good stories and pictures for you!!!!

Wow, has it really been 4 months????

Tyler had his 4 month appointment on Friday. He tipped the scales at 15 lbs. 10 oz.!!!! And he measured 25 1/2 inches long. What a big boy we have! He's in the 50 - 75th percentile in weight, the 75th percentile in height, and the 50 - 75th percentile in head circumference. So he's growing right on track! His pediatrician was very happy with his growth and said that he is doing all of the things that she would expect him to be doing - i.e. smiling, cooing, grabbing for toys, turning towards Travis & I when he hears our voices (boy does he ever!!! More on that in a minute.). She was happy to hear about his sleeping habits and gave a good overall report of the exam, except for his cold, which I will also get into in a minute. He got his 2nd round of shots and boy, am I glad that Travis was there again. I had hoped that since he did so well with the 2 month shots, that he would do well this time too. It must be different as they get older and can register pain better and are more active and alert. He most certainly did NOT like his shots. I cowered in the corner of the exam room, with my fingers plugging my ears, as Travis bravely held Tyler as Dr. Phillips administered the shots. He seemed to react much worse this time. However, that may have also been because we were at the doctor's during nap time and he had a cold and didn't really feel 100% to begin with. But he got home and slept from about 5:30 that night until 7:00 the next morning, only waking twice. He was kapooped. But he seems to have recovered well!!! That's our boy!!

OK, now more about the cold......ugh, the cold. What a freakin' nightmare the first cold was. I brought him home from daycare on Thursday and noticed that his little nose was a bit runny, but nothing too bad. He didn't seem like he was feeling bad either. So off to bed he goes at his normal 7:00 time, when we hear strange noises coming from the baby monitor around 8:30. Poor baby's nose was all stuffed up, snot was everywhere, and he couldn't get comfortable and couldn't breathe. Travis & I sprung into action, not 100% sure what we should be doing. We started up the cool mist vaporizer, elevated his mattress, put saline drops in his nose, and tried to gently suction his nose. Despite our best efforts, Travis still ended up sleeping sitting up on the couch with Tyler draped over his shoulder. It was really the only way that Tyler could breathe. It was a long night. As a parent, you feel so exteremely helpless when your little one is sick. He can't tell you what's wrong, you just have to wing it. All I wanted to do was tell him to blow his nose, but you obviously can't tell that to a 4 month old. So you do what you can to help make him comfortable, but in the end, you just have to wait it out. And that is no fun at all. But the pediatrician reassured us that we had done all that we could, and that it would eventually run its course. And it seems to be on its way out now, thank goodness. So the first illness is out of the way, and I'm glad it came now and not while we were headed to the beach. I guess this is one of those things about daycare that you hate and love. You hate that your baby has caught some nasty cold from some other kid, but at the same time, you're glad that he's been exposed to the germs and his body is learning how to fight.

One of the neat things that Tyler has really gotten into is following the sound of mine & Trav's voices. When he hears us, that little head whips around looking for us. Once he lays eyes on us, his face just lights up with this huge, toothless smile. It's the most amazing feeling in the world when it happens. He knows us now, and expects us to be there. It's an awesome responsibility as a parent.

We also had a visitor Friday night - Grandpa Ed. He spent the night with us as he was in town on business. Since we had just had the doctor's appointment, Tyler wasn't in the best of moods, but did flash a few smiles on Saturday before Grandpa left. He was our first overnight visitor since Tyler came into our lives. It went pretty well!

And one last note: Happy (early) birthday to my brother, Eddie (aka Uncle Woody). He'll be 27 on the 3rd so wish him a great one!!! We love you, Uncle Eddie!!!!!

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.