Happy Birthday, Tyler!!!

Today at 6:52 pm, Tyler will be one year old. As this date got closer and closer, I found myself looking back over the past year. And I’ve been absolutely amazed at how much he has changed, and how much he has changed us – for the better. He started out so small and so helpless. Little things like him being able to hold his own head up, or watching his first smile, were monumental events in our house. Now we’re watching him learn new words, take his first steps, and learn how the world works around him. These are the new monumental events, and are no less (or more) significant. In those first few months, everything was so crazy and hectic. We felt like we didn’t know what we were doing (hey, we STILL feel that way sometimes!). I felt like all I did was nurse him. I thought he only saw me as a food source. Now that I’ve hung the pump up for good (yay!), and he’s transitioning to whole milk, I find myself treasuring those rare nursing sessions now, and know that he sees me as a source of comfort. And it comforts me as well, as I know that no one else can give him what I have in his first year. And I have had some amazing, quality bonding time with my son.

Tyler has really changed us too. For me, I know that I no longer think of myself first, but of him. I want to make sure that the decisions that I make in everyday life will be to his benefit, whether it be short-term or long-term. Tyler has brought Travis & I closer together as well. Though we’ve definitely had some trying times in this first year, and many adjustments have been made to our daily life, I love Travis more than ever before, because he helped bring this little man into my life. And I know that he feels the same way about me.

I am amazed at everything that Tyler learns and does. He so easily brings a smile to my face everyday. And we can’t wait to watch him continue to grow and learn. So, Happy Birthday, my little man. Mommy and Daddy love you so very much.

We’ll be heading to Lynchburg tomorrow for Tyler’s big party at Grandpa’s house on Saturday. We’re really looking forward to seeing everyone and celebrating! The woman that made our wedding cake is making the birthday cake, and we can’t wait to see it. It’s going to be a big and hectic weekend, but it should be a lot of fun! Tyler will have lots of opportunities to show off his new tricks – walking, stacking blocks, throwing balls, saying “bye” and waving, and so much more. Let the festivities begin!!!!

Look at me, I'm walkin' & talkin'!!!!

Saying "ball":

Time's just a-flyin'

The first weekend of this month brought our friends, the Clarkes from South Carolina, to visit for the weekend. Madison and Tyler were reunited early Saturday morning, and it was so much fun to watch them interact again. It had been about 3 months since their last visit, and much had changed since then. Madison was now walking, and Tyler was keeping up on his hands and knees this time. They had a lot of fun playing peek-a-boo, sharing toys (or not sharing them, whichever the case may be), and watching Backyardigans. We all loaded into the Highlander that morning for a trip up to Arlington for our friend Julia’s little girl’s birthday. Claire turned one on February 1. Oh and yes, you read that right. All 6 of us loaded into the Highlander. I really wish we had taken a picture of this feat. Travis and Stephen in the front seat, the kids in the second row seat (I think they had more room than anyone else in the car!), and Maggie and I in the 3rd row seat. This was the first time that the 3rd row had been used. Not all that uncomfortable, but definitely made for shorter people.

Anyway, we got to Claire’s for the party, and had a great time. We even saw another of our friends, Jamie, and her little girl Lily, who turned 1 in January. These girls are all part of the group that got together in Fredericksburg in October. The kids did a great job, and Mad & Tyler even managed to take naps that afternoon! We all went out to dinner together that night, and while the parents enjoyed themselves, it became quickly apparent that our smaller guests were unhappy with their surroundings. Very unhappy. The long day had finally taken its toll. So we headed back to Richmond, wishing we all had earplugs. Tyler decided to cry (loudly) for the majority of the trip home, while Mad sat next to him and yelled back. I’d never been so happy to get out of the car. But all in all, it was a wonderful visit, and we can’t wait to see everyone again. Claire and Lily may be in attendance at Tyler’s Richmond birthday party, and then we’ll see Madison at Maggie & Stephen’s wedding in SC in May. Tyler is actually the ring bearer!

Since playing with all of his little friends, Tyler has gotten really good at “cruising” – walking while holding onto everything, the couch, the table, the wall, your hands. He’s not far from taking those first steps, I believe, but I’m in no hurry for it. He’s growing up too fast as it is! I still can’t believe that he’ll be one in a matter of weeks. Feels like just yesterday I was on the couch on bedrest, watching TLC’s Baby Story. It’s crazy how being a parent affects time.

He’s also picked up some adorable new tricks. His newest is putting “phones” to his ear and saying something that’s really close to “Hello”. I put the word phones in quotes because, well, most anything can be a phone to him – remote controls, many of his toys, doesn’t really matter. But it’s absolutely adorable, and we love watching him “talk” to whoever is on the other line. He will often give us the phone to talk to the person. His fascination with balls has been revived as well. He loves to sit and throw the ball with you. And he’s gotten VERY good at it! On the flip side, he’s just as good at catching too. He still loves to read his books, and will let us get through a few pages of a book with him before he decides that he could read it faster himself and loses interest.

He has favorite new snacks, the #1 being Yoplait Kids yogurt smoothies. He loves to one-hand that sippy cup and will just down the thing as quickly as possible. He also has become a fan of Quaker Rice Cakes, thanks to Madison. He likes to shove them in his mouth and cruise around with it sticking halfway out of his mouth. Travis laughed when he saw the pictures of this. He said that the rice cake made him look like he had fake Redneck Bubba teeth or something. You decide.

He’s now fully transitioned into the Beginning Walker room at school, and seems to be doing better. I think that he really does have more fun in there. There’s more to do, and kids more his size and age to play with. We’ll start transitioning him to whole milk within the next few weeks, if I’m lucky. I do plan to continue to nurse him in the morning and at night (if he wants), but hope to be able to make the daytime switch to whole milk around his first birthday. I’ll be honest. After 9+ months of pumping 4 times a day, 5 days a week (and once a day on weekends), I’m ready to retire. I wouldn’t trade my decision to breastfeed Tyler for anything in the world, but I think that I am growing more and more annoyed at the pump simply because I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now, let’s keep our fingers crossed that he transitions well to this. We’re also planning on switching him to sippy cups only at the same time. Right now, he takes 3 bottles at daycare each day, and has a sippy of juice/water throughout the day. The goal in the Beginning Walker room is to help wean from the bottle at one year. Lots of change coming for our little man, but we know he’ll do fine! (Or so we hope!)

More busy times ahead. This Sunday, Aunt Jenn & Uncle Brian are coming over to watch Tyler so that Travis & I can finally get out to eat on our own! We’re going to The Melting Pot for my birthday dinner, which we were supposed to do last year, but bedrest didn’t allow it. Then we have our friend Evan’s 1st birthday party the next weekend, followed by two weekends of parties for Tyler! Gonna be busy!!!

Getting the itch

At Christmas, Tyler was given 2 push toys that are supposed to help him to learn how to walk. He wasn’t really interested in the walking portion of the toys, but loved to play with them while sitting still. Well, while we were at Grandpa’s house a few weekends ago, Tyler got the itch. The itch to try to walk. He discovered that Grandpa’s ottoman would slide on the hardwood floor if he pushed on it. So he would stand up and start pushing his way across the room. Once he hit the fridge (or anything else), he’d get mad until someone came and turned him around so he could push his way across the room again. He was happy as a clam as he walked. We got home and decided to see if he would be interested in pushing his walker toys. Boy, was he ever! However, I think we’ve created a monster. Our house doesn’t really have any long halls or anything, so we’re constantly having to come and help him turn to keep him moving. We just do laps around the 1st floor of the house with him – start in the living room, through the kitchen, through the dining room, through the foyer, and back into the living room again. It’s kind of funny, but kind of tiring. He has a great time with his “walking” though. The smile on his face says it all. He’s not a big fan of holding onto your hands to try and walk. He just kind of stands there is you try to help him. But it won’t be long before he takes off on his own!

He’s been standing unassisted a lot more too. He’ll be playing and all of a sudden he’ll just let go and stand there for a while. Once he realizes what he’s doing, he’s usually quick to sit down or grab hold of something. He also looks like he’s trying to stand from a crawling position. He hasn’t quite mastered that yet, or really gotten the courage to just go for it, but you can see the wheels turning in his head. All in good time, all in good time.

With this increased mobility and newfound tricks comes a big change. He’s being transitioned to the Beginning Walker room at daycare. His transition period has lasted a little longer than most because he’s “very attached to the Infant teachers” (exact words from the daycare director). Her exact words are a bit of an understatement though. The kid LOVES his teachers in the infant room. It’s nice to see that he loves them so much and that they have been an important part of his life, but it’s making the move difficult. The daycare works very hard to transition them with little disruption, so they will have one of the infant teachers go with him to the Beginning Walker room for an hour or so at a time. But after a while, he’s ready to get back to the room that he “knows”. We’re hoping that the more time that he spends in the next room will help him realize that it’s more fun in there. He’ll learn to like the teachers in there too. But for now, he’s having a bit of a hard time. He NEEDS to move to the next room though. He’s, by far, the biggest kid in the Infant room now, and he’s getting noticeably bored in there. There’s not a lot in there for a baby with his “skills” to do, so he ends up pulling up on the littler kids, and trying to play with them. We know that once he gets in the other room, and sees all of his old “friends” again, he’ll be fine. And a lot more stimulated. They read books over there and learn Baby Sign Language, sing songs and do more group play. So the hope is that he will be fully transitioned within the next week or two. Keep those fingers crossed.

We also have a new favorite in the house – The Backyardigans. Ever heard of them? Well, if you haven’t, the best way to describe them is as Crack for Small People (as my friend Maggie says). It’s a cartoon show on Nick Jr. There’s 5 little friends that play in their back yards (get it? Back-yardigans?) and use their imaginations to go on all sorts of little adventures. Well, Tyler doesn’t quite get what the Backyardigans are doing just yet, but he sure knows when they come on. It doesn’t matter what’s going on or what he’s doing. As soon as he hears the opening of “Hi, I’m Pablo”, he drops whatever it is that he’s holding, he stops crying or yelling, he’s immediately distracted and turns to the TV and just stares. As the theme music continues, he starts to squeal with joy and the biggest smile creeps across his face. It’s amazing. No other show has this kind of effect on him. (Well, maybe NASCAR races when he was really little.) And TiVo is a wonderful thing. We keep a few episodes on there so that we can start one up when he’s being inconsolable or we need to distract him for a second. Now, before you start to lecture, it’s not like he sits in front of the TV for hours on end watching this show. In fact, he rarely makes it past the theme song. But sometimes you have to have a secret weapon in your parenting arsenal. This is ours. And of all the kids’ shows out there, I have to say that Backyardigans is the least annoying. It’s a cute show with catchy little tunes. There are a lot worse shows he could like (i.e.: Barney).

Travis had his week-long business trip last week, and we all made it out alive. Tyler & I certainly missed him, and he certainly missed us. And the first day or two was a little hard to get used to for me. I’m not used to having the run the whole Tyler Show on my own. But Tyler & I got into a little routine, and I took the day off on Friday so that we could just play. You could definitely tell that he was missing his Daddy by the end of the week. Daddy is the person who wakes him up in the mornings, gives him his breakfast, gives the baths, among MANY other things. Mommy does an OK job at all of those things, but I think he prefers Daddy. So when Daddy came into his bedroom on Saturday morning, Tyler greeted him with a huge smile. Excitement all around. Travis has to travel again next week for 3 days, but at least we’ve got the big trip under our belts now and know a little more of what to expect. We’ll still miss him. And he’ll definitely miss us.

Oh and how could I forget??? Tyler FINALLY cut his first tooth! The little booger broke through on the 16th. It's the lower middle right tooth. And the left one is just about to break. I really miss that gummy smile but it is exciting to finally see some toofers in there! *knock on wood* He hasn't started biting with that one tooth, but the sucker is sharp! I made the mistake of putting my finger in his mouth to feel around.

One last thing in this long update: I found out that a dear friend of mine from college had her 1st baby on January 24th – a little girl named Sasha Adelaide, weighing in at 9 lbs. 2 oz.!!! Congratulations Carrie & Bob!!! Can’t wait to meet her!!!!

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: