45 weeks

I stopped keeping up with how many weeks old Tyler was at about 14. It just got to be too much. At that point, we switched to months and telling his age was much easier. "How old is Tyler now?" He's 10 1/2 months old. However, Pampers believes that he is 45 weeks old. They even sent me an email saying as such. I was floored. 45 weeks??? Travis reminded Tyler that this meant that he would be one year old in just 7 short weeks. WHAT?!?!?! But I'm not ready for all of this yet! Tough, says Father Time. I don't know why, but 45 weeks sounds so different from 10 months. 2 months away from the 1st birthday sounds a lot farther away than 7 weeks away. Living in weeks during pregnancy changes the way that you look at time, I guess. In any event, Tyler is quickly approaching his 1st birthday. And apparently, there's not much I can do to stop (or slow) it.

Lots has been going on since the New Year began. I once again apologize for the lack of posts, but just when we thought life should slow down, it didn't. Travis finally finished hunting season last weekend, but has 2 big trips scheduled for work that will take him away for up to a week each time. One trip to Nashville a week from tomorrow, and a trip to Vegas the first week in February. It'll be hard to be without him for both me and Tyler, but we know it will be harder for him.

Tyler had his recheck with his pediatrician for his ear infection this past week. 21 lbs. 4 oz. Yes, our chunky monkey gained over a pound in 3 weeks. I thought that their weight gain was supposed to slow at this age. Doc said he must've hit a growth spurt. Haha!! But anyway, this time both of his ears were full of fluid and "bulging", as she put it. However, since he didn't have a fever, and he wasn't in pain, she didn't put him on another anitbiotic. She hoped that his ears would clear on their own, as he kicked the latest mini-cold that he had. He has stopped pulling on his ears, and never got a fever, so hopefully we are past it. We discussed the Pulmicort again, but she said that she is not going to discuss it further unless he needs to have a breathing treatment more than twice in one week. And he hasn't had one in over 3 weeks, so hopefully we're good there too. If all goes well, then we will only need to go back to the pediatrician for his 1 year appointment. (Sheesh, there's that "one year" thing again.....)

Tyler is into EVERYTHING now. I repeat, EVERY-THING. He crawls at warp speed and climbs onto anything that he can. The hearth, his chairs, toys, whatever. He's giving the cats a run for their money now too. I think they're starting to get it now, and realize that he can catch them pretty quickly if he wants to. Apparently, he's the class bully at daycare now. Travis was told by the teachers that our sweet, innocent little boy will go up to the less mobile babies and smack them and smile. He doesn't mean any harm, but after the teachers tell him no, he checks to see if they're watching and smacks one more time. And grins. *sigh* Oh well, right now he's a big fish in a little pond. He's still in the infant room - the same room that he started in when he began daycare. He's only a couple of weeks away from moving to the Beginning Walkers room, where he will be a small fish in a big pond. It'll all even out soon. They're just so many little babies in his room now. The teachers call Tyler "The King". He's the big boy in the group, the oldest.

He's also eating the school's food for lunch and snack. The teachers give us a menu at the beginning of the month and we just circle those foods that we approve. And he LOVES it. It's been nice. It was getting harder and harder to come up with foods to pack for him to eat everyday. This way, I know he's getting variety and getting healthy foods. Chicken, carrots, broccoli, peas, fruit. And we don't have to pay extra for this either. It's built into the tuition for whenever he's ready for it. Even better!

He's enjoying all of his new toys that he got for Christmas, especially his Laugh-n-Learn Kitchen that Santa brought him. He's already learning that he can turn the lights on and off with the flip of a switch, that he can put the balls in the sink and they'll travel down the tube, that he can open and close the oven door, and that he can push the toast in the toaster down to make music. It's been so much fun to watch him with this. He also got a few push toys that are teaching him to take baby steps. We just started crawling - we're not ready for walking! But it'll be here before we know it.

We thought we had some free time in the coming weeks, but apparently not. We are headed to Lynchburg next weekend to visit Grandpa, Uncle Eddie, and everyone else. We're meeting with the lady that made our wedding cake that weekend too. She's going to make Tyler's 1st birthday cake for his Lynchburg party. We're so excited! She makes amazing cakes and we're looking forward to seeing what she'll be able to do for Tyler. We also have a few first birthday parties to attend for other little ones celebrating. And of course, we have Travis' out of town business trips so that will keep me on my toes. But hopefully, we'll be able to update more often like we used to!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

This is how we spent the last evening of 2007.....in our PJs and on the couch. Little One went to bed a little later than usual - special treat for NYE! Hope everyone has a wonderful evening and a fantastic 2008!!! We aren't sure how things can get much better than 2007, but we're ready to find out! Much love to you all!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Countdown to Christmas!!!

Well, we've been MIA for a few weeks, and I apologize. Christmas has always been a hectic time of year around here. Add to that a very active 9 month old, a 40 hour work week for each parent, throw in a stomach bug (for all 3 of us), and another case of RSV/bronchiolitis (topped off with a very first ear infection!) and you have sheer and utter chaos. And exhaustion. Don't forget exhaustion. I'll get the illness talk out of the way first. Yep, we all got a nasty stomach bug that Tyler graciously brought home from daycare at the beginning of the month. It's very difficult to care for your ill infant when you yourself are ill, and so is your husband. It was a long weekend in the beginning of the month. And just this week, I took Tyler back to the pediatrician, as daycare thought that he might have an ear infection, and he had been coughing and wheezing a lot again. Another case of RSV/bronchiolitis along with an ear infection. We're doing breathing treatments again, and have started an antibiotic. There is some discussion of starting him on an oral steroid (Pulmicort) to help prevent these recurring respiratory infections. We're not real sure why this is happening so often to our little man, but it could be that he was born a little too early (38 weeks), he could just be overly susceptible (Travis had some severe allergy issues as a child), or he could just need to outgrow it. It's kind of a wait and see. But hopefully he'll be all better for Christmas morning!

And speaking of Christmas, we've had a lot going on to prepare for the big day! We went Christmas tree shopping a few weekends ago, and Tyler seemed to have fun helping us choose his first tree. I grew up with white pines, so it's always a hunt to find a place around here that sells them. They just don't seem to be as popular or as abundant as they were when I was growing up. But we found a little lot right down the street from our house that had them! Tyler wasn't really thrilled with the decorating of the tree, nor was he very interested in the tree after it was decorated. That is, until there were presents under the tree. He immediately high-tailed it over to the tree to mess with presents and ornaments. After a few obligatory photos of the offending behavior, we set up the Superyard so that it enclosed the tree. No problems since, though Tyler does sometimes climb the gate to "get a better look" at the tree. It's really cute.

We went and had Tyler's 9 month pictures taken, along with a few Christmas pictures as well as our very first family portrait. We went to Portrait Innovations again, and though it was VERY crowded and VERY far behind schedule, we came away from there with some great pictures. As we waited for the pics to be printed, we headed over to Short Pump Town Center to see Santa Claus. And what a wonderful Santa he was. And we showed up at a great time - there was no line! There were only a few people in front of us. Tyler did very well and didn't cry at all. He did give Santa "the look", but other than that we think that it went quite smoothly. I'll admit, I cried seeing Tyler on Santa's lap. Something about seeing your child experience the joys and magic of the Christmas season for the first time really brings out the emotion. I get very teary eyed thinking about it now too. I can't wait to watch him grow and learn and experience new things each year.

We also had our annual fondue Christmas dinner with Laura & Matt, Sara, and Jennifer & Bryon. We once again had it at our house, and had Tyler join in the festivities for as long as his little body would let him. He got lots of great gifts - a new toy drum, bath toys, and great clothes (including a VT outfit for him to wear on Orange Bowl day from Aunt Sara!). He didn't really "get" the unwrapping, but I think he had a good time with it nonetheless.

We have a busy weekend getting all of the last minute things taken care of, and preparing the house for the guests that will be here for Christmas. We decided several months ago that it would work best for us to not travel this year. So Grandpa and Uncle Eddie are coming to us on Christmas Eve and I will make our traditional Christmas Eve dinner for us all. They'll spend the night and celebrate Christmas morning with us before having to head back to Lynchburg. Travis' family will then come over for a late lunch that day to celebrate with us. And then, hopefully the three of us will be able to rest and relax for the rest of the evening! We're really looking forward to Christmas this year, though having everyone at our house will most certainly be a (hectic) change. We've gone a little overboard as far as Tyler is concerned. We were going to take a page from some other friends' books and wrap up toys that he already had, since he won't really know what's going on this year, and we're sure he's going to be more interested in the wrapping paper and boxes anyway. But that didn't happen. He hit the motherload this year. We're suckers. OK, I am a sucker. Oh well, it's only his first Christmas once, right?

If I don't get another post in between now and then, MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone! And to our family & friends that we aren't able to be with this year, know that we love you and are thinking of you. We hope to see everyone soon. Have a safe and happy holiday!!!!!

Oh, and one more thing - congratulations to Ben & Chrissy on their marriage on December 8! We weren't able to attend the wedding in NC due to illness, but you were both in our thoughts!!!

We have a crawler!!!

Sorry for the short post, but we battled a pretty mean stomach bug at the end of the week and over the weekend, so there really isn't much to report. But we do have a bona fide crawler now and he's getting into EVERYTHING! He also saw Santa Claus on Sunday - and didn't cry!!! As soon as I can get our scanner to work, I will get the pic up. But in the meantime, enjoy the following video.

Let the insanity begin!

The holidays are here! Thanksgiving was a week long event for us this year. We started out with a pre-Thanksgiving meal at Laura and Matt’s house (Aunt Lala and Uncle JDub) on Saturday. Aunt Lala had quite the feast prepared and had invited Sara, Judy (Matt’s mom), and Jennifer & Bryon. Tyler enjoyed watching Kadence, Aunt Lala’s dog, though I’m not sure Kadence really enjoyed Tyler. Tyler got to sit with all of us at dinner, and had his first taste of turkey. We had a feeling he would like it, considering the way that the child will devour chicken. He also had some potatoes and carrots – his own little Thanksgiving feast! He also did something that we thought we would never see. He fed himself a bottle of breastmilk. Yep, no bottle striking, no fussing, no screaming. We just placed a bottle of breastmilk on the tray of his highchair and he picked it up and went to town. Daycare has told us that he feeds himself there, so we thought we would try and see what would happen so that Mommy could enjoy some wine. It worked VERY well. The kid just likes to do things himself, it seems. But anyway, we had a great time, and are now looking forward to our annual fondue Christmas dinner at our house! It will be a bit different with an infant, but still just as fun.

We had Aunt Jenn & Uncle Brian over for dinner on Sunday for Jenn’s birthday. We had chicken enchiladas and Tyler once again ate at the table with us. (I make this a big deal because usually Trav & I don’t eat dinner until well after Tyler has gone to bed. So he usually eats solo.) He had his own dinner, but tried a spoonful of refried beans. His face said it all – I don’t think he liked them. Maybe he’ll warm up to them later. We know that Chris & Carol’s Emma sure did!!!! But he had a great time that night too, playing with Jenn & Brian. He showed off all his cutest tricks and toys and loved having Jenn chase him around the house. This is his newest game, and I’m not really sure when it started. But one night, Trav was taking Tyler upstairs for his bath, and I followed behind. Tyler was fussy, so I started saying that I was going to get him and next thing you know, I am chasing the two of them around the house. Tyler just giggled and laughed the whole time. Now, whenever you put him so he can look over your shoulder, he smiles and laughs at the person behind you, and that person must promptly chase you around. No exceptions to this rule. None. (OK, ONE exception. When it’s time to go to sleep, there is no chasing – no matter how cute the face. And that’s HARD to resist.)

After a short week of work and daycare (well, for Trav & Tyler…..I had to work on Friday until 1:00), we had Thanksgiving with Gramme and Granddad Snead, as well as Jenn & Brian and Grandma Smith. Tyler did so well here too. He had more turkey, potatoes, green beans, and pasta. He impressed everyone with his self-feeding ability and loved all the attention. He even got to sit in the highchair that Gramme used when she was a little girl – very special! Lunch was wonderful and we had a great time visiting with everyone. Grandma Smith gave Tyler lots of gifts – a new teaching teddy bear, a book, and his first Christmas ornament. As soon as we left there, we headed to Wal-Mart for our annual shopping trip. Yep, I said annual. Travis and I refuse to go to Wal-Mart – ever. So we discovered 2 years ago, that Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving is actually a pleasant place to be. So every year after lunch, we head there and load up on gifts and decorations and whatever else we may need. We were a bit concerned how it would go with no-nap Tyler, but it went very well. Tyler loves to be out in the stores anyway, since he’s so nosy, so it was ideal for him. We had a great time, and were home in time for Travis to catch the beginning of the Cowboys game.

On Friday, we loaded up the car and headed to Grandpa’s house after I got off of work. We had a big weekend there. Mark, Dina, & Erin Hamric came to stay Friday night too. We hadn’t seen them since the beach so I am so glad that we were able to spend some time with them. Dad had lots of people over on Saturday to watch the UVA/VA Tech game (GO HOKIES!!!!). Tyler did very well around everyone and even managed a nap throughout all the noise. He had a great time playing with Erin, Grace, & her cousin Blair. Bridges even came over with Wagner & Waylon, so there were lots of younger ones to entertain him. And on Sunday, we got to visit with both of his great Nanas – Woody & Scoggin! Nana Scoggin was passing through town as she and Eddie had returned from PA for Thanksgiving. What a nice surprise!

Tyler’s got a lot of new tricks up his sleeve now too. He’s decided that he wants to start pulling up now, and attempts to do so on just about anything and everything, including us. He’s getting really good at pulling himself to a sitting position from his tummy, and is still working on forward crawling. He’s gotten pretty good at backwards crawling. So good that I joke that I need to install a beeping alarm on his butt to let others know that he’s backing up. Though he’s a little later than some on the crawling, I have a feeling he’s decided to wait until the holidays to pull out all the stops and go for it all at once. As I start to pull out some of the Christmas decorations, I’ll have to take that into consideration. Ah, life with a little boy!!!!

Holy schnikes - he's becoming a big boy now!

I wanted to kick those people that repeatedly told me when I was pregnant, "Enjoy every minute of it. He's going to grow up so fast." It was just another one of those chiches that I wrote off. Well, here I am today, cursing those people. Why? Because they were right. Tyler's first year is going by so fast. And in the last week, it seems like he has just taken this jump into Little Boyhood. It's scary. And exciting. And scary. (Oh wait, I already said that.) In the matter of one week, it seems that he no longer fits into his 6 - 9 month clothing anymore. He's "graduated" into a big boy winter coat. He's eating more table food and had his first taste of real (not pureed) chicken and beef this week. He has his first pair of shoes. We moved his crib mattress down to the lowest level (not because he's pulling up yet, but because we are preparing - it's coming ANY DAY now). That's a lot of big boy stuff. A lot.

We decided to give Tyler a little taste of our food this week, as I had taken some chicken breasts and cooked them in the crock pot all day. I knew it would be really tender, so I thought that this would be the best trial for him. He made his initial "what-in-the-world-is-this" face, then proceeded to self feed himself several pieces. He has become quite the carnivore, just like his Mommy & Daddy. We sent him to daycare with some of the leftover chicken and carrots, and he devoured them. So we also tried some pot roast. Same result. We have a meat-eater, people! Tyler has decided that he's not real keen on being fed. He'd much rather be a self-feeder. This can be difficult, since he doesn't get 100% of the food into his mouth (and then his tummy). So we still work to get some Stage 3 food into him, and he reluctantly eats it. If he had his way, he'd feed himself all the way. We'll be there before we know it.

This week also brought a new coat and new shoes. We had bought a winter coat (or what we thought would be a winter coat) at Babies R Us back when he was just a newborn (or maybe even before he was even born - I can't remember anymore!). Well, when the weather here dipped into the upper-20s, lower-30s we discovered that the coat we bought wasn't quite what we wanted. So we bought him a nice warm toggle coat - in 12 to 18 months!!!! It's a little big on him now, but he's got several months to grow into it. And growing is something that he does well! He also got his first real pair of shoes this week. With the cold weather and the holidays coming up, we thought it would be best for him to have a pair of shoes. We have a wedding to go to in December, plus 9-month portaits, and family pics coming up. Shoes would look nice. So we bought him a pair of Pedipeds. Ironically, the style we got him are named "Tyler". Must be meant to be. They fit him perfectly and he seems to tolerate them! We'll see how he does as he starts to wear them more often. But they are adorable!

I just don't know if I'm ready for this little boy to become a big boy! His first Thanksgiving and his first Christmas will be here before we know it. And then his first birthday will be soon thereafter. His first birthday???? Enjoy every minute of it. He's growing up so fast.

Bonus Halloween pics

Posing with the pumpkins before heading out:



















First Trick-or-Treat house ever - The Brants:














With Julia:














With Daddy on the porch waiting for Trick-or-Treaters:



















All "Halloween-ed" out:

Happy Halloween!!!!

We took Tyler to pick out our pumpkins last weekend. It was a nice fall day, so we dressed him up in his Halloween costume (and yes, that IS an octopus costume that he is wearing) and took a few pics. Here are just a few of our favorites.

We will be dressing him up again tonight, provided that he is on his best behavior! We will take him to a few of the neighbors’ houses, and then he will “help” us to hand out candy until his bedtime. He seems to really like his costume, and my guess is that he is able to play with the tentacles, so he isn’t even aware that he’s dressed up!

Also, Tyler’s really been working on pulling up and scooting in the last few days. We finally realized that if we would just stop hounding him, he’d probably WANT to do it more. And we were right about that! He’s a man on a mission now! His daycare teachers even told Travis this morning that while he isn’t really crawling, he’s moving around the place somehow! They’ll put him on the floor and before they know it, he’s scooted his way all over the place! The same thing happens at home now too. Just yesterday, I had him on the kitchen floor, playing with a wooden spoon and a bowl. I turned around to clean some bottles and when I turned back to him, he had made his way over to the kitchen cabinets! He’s getting quick!!!!

Babies, pumpkins, & more

What a weekend we had here! A house of visitors, coupled with an exciting day at a pumpkin patch on Saturday, made for a very exciting weekend for us all. Our friends from South Carolina, Maggie and Stephen, came to stay with us for the weekend and brought their little girl, Madison. Mad is only 8 days older than Tyler, so we were really looking forward to watching them interact. Mad is crawling all around and pulling up on everything, and Tyler isn’t doing any of this, so we thought that it would be interesting to see what he would pick up from her during her stay. Tyler definitely took notes, and we encouraged him to try all the new things he saw Madison doing. He got up on all fours and would rock back and forth, but then get frustrated and flop down on his belly and flail like a fish out of water. But we’re still practicing with him. He practiced pulling up on his own yesterday and is very close. Tyler tried to teach Madison some tricks too – namely talking. He really is quite the blabbermouth. Everything is “dadadadada, blahblahblah” with an occasional “mamama” thrown in there when he’s desperate for something (usually milk). Mad’s more of a shrieker. Hopefully, they rubbed off on each other this weekend.

Anyway, we had a great time watching the babies play with each other, but there were more babies to add to this equation. On Saturday, 2 more babies arrived at the house – Evan and David. Evan is the little boy here in Richmond that is 6 days older than Tyler, and David lives in Hampton and is just a few weeks older. Once all the babies and parents were gathered together, we hopped in our cars and headed to Belvedere Plantation, right outside of Fredericksburg. They were having a Fall Harvest and it was a beautiful day to visit there with the little ones. And speaking of little ones, we aren’t done yet. Once we got there, we were greeted by RP and his mom. RP will be one year old this Friday and lives in Culpeper. And soon thereafter, the last two joined our ranks – Claire and Lily from Arlington. Claire is a month older than Tyler, and Lily just a few weeks older than that. Have you been counting? That’s 7 babies, all under the age of 1. Yep, seven. And seven mommies (and one daddy who came along – our photographer!).

So we strapped everyone into strollers and began our journey through the Plantation. Oh wait, what was that? How did all of these mommies and babies from all over the state of Virginia meet up? I must have failed to mention. Um, yeah, I met these women on the internet. All of them. Including the one that stayed at our house. Yep, I said the internet. Long, long, long story short, when I was pregnant, I went to WebMD and found a message board full of other pregnant women and began to go there for support and answers to questions. Fast forward several months, and we are now on a new message board, but are all still together. There are about 65 of us, all over the US, and several people have met in real life. I actually met Lori and Evan this way here in Richmond. So it may be weird to some people, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think it was weird in the beginning, but it worked out for us. It’s absolutely amazing to have so many women going through the same things that you are. And it’s great to have little ones for Tyler to meet and play with.

Back to our journey. It was such a pretty day, warm with a light breeze every now and then. We took the little ones to watch the pig races, walked them by the displays of all the animals (Tyler particularly enjoyed watching the geese), and finally plopped down near a picnic table and threw down a few blankets on the ground and watched the babies go at it. Go at what, you might ask? Go at each other. Madness ensued. It was great. The crawlers were all over the place, and Tyler sat back and just took it all in. We all said beforehand that we would stay until the mass meltdown occurred, and we all kind of agreed that 2:00 would be that time. Well, like clockwork, the meltdowns started around 1:30, and we were on our way to the cars by 2:00. Both Madison and Tyler traveled very well, sleeping both on the way there and on the way home. It was cute to see them in the backseat together, and when they were awake, they would stare each other down. “What are you doing in the backseat? Wow, this is pretty cool!”

Madison and Tyler spent all day Sunday playing and catching up on their sleep from the action-packed day before. I think Tyler was a little sad to see Mad go home. I know that I was sad to see them go! It was a busy weekend, but it was so much fun! We all want to try and get together again in the near future for yet another play date, but with the holidays and colder weather on the horizon, it may be a while before we can get it on the calendar. At any rate, we had a great time! Now, if Tyler would start to pick up on some of those “tricks” that Madison taught him……

The Tyler Tour hits Lynchburg

Yep, I called it the Tyler Tour. My dad has lovingly dubbed our trips home to Lynchburg as this since Tyler was 5 weeks old. We come with so much "stuff" that it's practically like going on tour! Travis joked once that we should get yellow shirts and have "EVENT STAFF" printed on them. In any event, the Tour stopped in Lynchburg this past weekend for a visit with Grandpa, Uncle Eddie, and the rest of the gang. We left home Friday evening after we got Tyler ready for bed, and got to Lynchburg around 9:30. We had a relaxing evening, chatting with Dad and his friend Berkley, and watching Tyler play well past his bedtime. He quite enjoyed showing off and playing with everyone.

Saturday brought a visit to Uncle Eddie's house and lots of visitors at Grandpa's. Oh yeah, and oozing, runny eyes and a gunky nose. Why wouldn't he get a cold? He just got over something else. *sigh* But he was still his happy go-lucky self for the most part, so we didn't worry too much. I kind of figured that it was a side effect of the flu shot that he had gotten on Thursday. But I digress. At Uncle Eddie's, we got to see a very big dog, named Riley. Tyler wasn't too sure about a dog of this size, but the dog really seemed to like him! Tyler was more interested in "reading" Eddie's paper.

Back at Grandpa's, we were visited by Sarah English, a dear old childhood friend, and her husband Steve. This was their first time meeting Tyler and the boy didn't disappoint. He proudly showed off all his tricks, including his newest attempts at crawling. It's more of a backward shuffle, but it looks like he'll be on the move soon! Guess we'll need to start babyproofing! As kind of a side note, it's been pretty difficult for me not to get a little discouraged that Tyler hasn't been a babe on the move yet. I talk to many other mommies with babies around Tyler's age, and most of them are scooting around all over the place. But I try to remind myself that all babies are different. Different milestones, different babes. All in good time. I know in a few short weeks, I'm going to look back on this post and laugh and wish that he was still immobile!!!! But we also had the Radicks and Hamrics over for dinner, as well as Berkley and her daughter, Grace. They brought Tyler an adorable toy, his very own pirate ship! It's a new favorite around the house now. We all had a great night and it was a beautiful evening for a cookout.

Sunday was lunch with Nana and Grandaddy and once again, Tyler worked hard to put a smile on everyone's face, even though you could tell that he was very tired and starting to feel the effects of the newest cold that had set in. He finally caved and took a nice nap on Nana's chest. The ride home wasn't bad at all, as he slept the majority of the way. He most certainly needed it. At home, we noticed that his eyes were really "gooey" (sorry, no better word for it), but he wasn't running a fever, so we didn't do anything about it. We ended up taking him BACK to the pediatrician on Monday though, as it seemed that the "goo" was starting to bother him, and we wanted to rule out pink eye. No pink eye, just a cold or possible bacterial infection. They are running some tests on the "goo" to find out. In the meantime, we have him on Augmentin. If it turns out to be viral, we will take him off the antibiotic. But the doc reassured me that there's nothing wrong with him getting these illnesses so often and that we are doing everything right. He just seems to be a little more susceptible. Oh fun. But he seems to be doing better (again, knock on wood). But we have a couple of busy weeks ahead. Visitors this weekend, visitors next weekend, and Halloween coming up! Can't wait to show you guys the costume!!!!!

Back to his cute self

So now that Tyler is pretty much back to his old self, we're able to get out more and are up for visitors once again. We're also able to work on "new" skills, such as sitting up unassisted (done!), self-feeding (working on it), and sippy cups (kind of get it). Sitting up is no feat for Tyler anymore. We used to keep the Boppy behind him at all times - just in case. Well, no need anymore! We do try to keep a pillow behind wherever his head may land if he flings himself backwards, but those occasions are rare that it's actually needed. It is so nice to be able to sit him down somewhere and know that he can entertain himself for a few without us needing to run in every 2 seconds to pick him up because he fell. He loves to just sit and play with his toys. And he loves it even more when you get in the floor to play WITH him. Grandpa Ed visited this week, and spent a lot of time in the floor with him, and he ate it up!

For self-feeding, we have given Tyler a few things - mainly zwieback toast and some Gerber puffs. He's gotten a pretty good handle on the toast, and will actually consume a good amount of it, instead of it ending up on the floor as a gooey, soggy mess. The puffs are taking a little more getting used to. He doesn't quite have the "pincher" action going on yet, so he pretty much manhandles the puffs and tries to put fistfuls in his mouth, only to have the puffs either stick to his palms or fly onto his lap or the floor. We were at TGI Fridays this past weekend (right before we raided the Carter's outlet in Williamsburg) and packed a sippy cup and some puffs too. He sat in the high chair and sipped a bit on his cup (well, sort of) and played with his puffs. He did get a few in his mouth, but right now it's just all practice. On the subject of food, I thought I would also just add that he has started getting a 3rd meal each day. We are now sending a tub of veggies to daycare with him. As it stands now, he gets oatmeal with fruit in the morning with Trav, a veggie at daycare, and rice cereal with another veggie with me at night. I have been sending him to daycare with the veggies that he won't seem to eat from me - green beans, carrots, garden veggies. Apparently, he'll eat ANYTHING for the ladies at daycare. They comment on how he just "laps up his food"! Funny how he already knows how to play me.....

Tyler also has been perfecting his kissing and hugging skills - lucky for me, I'm the primary recipient of these hugs and kisses. When I pick him up in the afternoon, he get very excited and wraps his little arms around my neck and opens his mouth very wide to give "kisses". The are the wettest, sloppiest, most WONDERFUL kisses in the entire world. If I'm lucky, I'll get hugs and kisses at home too, but they're more frequent at daycare. It is the highlight of my day. It's OK if he doesn't say "mama" yet. I'll take the lovin' from my little boy anytime.


Finally, Tyler got a new toy this week. His Grandma and Granddad Snead bought him a John Deere ride on toy. He's still a little small for it, but not for long! Travis put him on it and pushed him around the house. Tyler held on tight and was pretty interested in what was going on. He seemed to really like it! As you can see in the picture, my husband being the hunter that he is, put Tyler's poor, defenseless Beanie Baby piggie on the back of the ATV as his "kill". It will be fun to watch him grow into this toy though and see what else he can carry around on the back of that thing! Thanks, Grandma & Granddad!

One last note: I take Tyler back to the pediatrician on Thursday (the 4th) to make sure that he really IS back to his old self. It's possible that we will have to go back to the hospital for a follow-up chest x-ray - we're not sure yet. So keep your fingers crossed that all is well!!!!