Everything from December

Well, we have quite a few things to update everyone on, but first of all, we hope that each of you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2010 bring you all good health, and happiness with your friends and family. We’ll start this update by giving the biggest news of 2010 – Tyler is now wearing big kid underwear!!! (One day, he’s going to look back on this blog and want to strangle me for the things that I share.) His teachers had been telling us that he was doing very well with staying dry throughout the day, and wanted to start him in underwear at the first of the year. We were noticing that he was staying dry as well, and he was even disappearing every once in a while in order to go potty all by himself. It’s quite unnerving to have your almost-3-year-old tell you, “I’ll be right back, Mama. You stay there.” You worry about what he’s getting into, especially when you hear the toilet flush. But then you realize that he went to the potty all by himself, and your little boy is indeed growing up. We started him in underwear for the long weekend over New Years’ and he never had one pee accident. We even ran tons of errands and met up with friends – no accidents. We are so proud of Tyler, and he is VERY excited about wearing his underwear – Diego, Nemo, superheroes, you name it. He had a pretty good day at school with his underwear, and we hope that it continues. He will still wear a pull-up at night, and at nap, but we are definitely on the right track!

Going back to December now, as many of you know we had quite the snow fall about a week before Christmas. We ended up with somewhere between 10 and 12 inches! We were lucky that Tyler’s snowsuit still fit him from last year, and we were able to shove his feet in his old boots for a few minutes of play. It was definitely pretty, but also bitter cold with a steady breeze. We didn’t stay outside long, only about 30 minutes. The snow was hard for Tyler to walk in since there was so much of it, and I think that he was getting frustrated with his mittens and being limited in his movement. But we did build a small snowman, made a few snow angels, and threw a few snowballs. I think the part that Tyler liked best was when we got in the house, and we shared some hot chocolate. And I have to admit, I enjoyed that part of the day too.

We also took advantage of that snow day to make our Christmas cookies. Tyler did all of the decorating. He was really into the process in the beginning. You could tell which cookies were part of that batch, as they are all loaded down with about 3 pounds of sprinkles. Each. As the batches kept coming, the sprinkles got lighter and lighter, until the last batch when there was barely 10 sprinkles on each cookie. We had fun though, and he enjoyed giving the cookies to our neighbors, who we hope enjoyed eating them.

Christmas was a lot of fun this year as well. Tyler really understood what was going on around him and I hope that we helped him understand the importance of giving. We had lots of guests for Christmas this year. Uncle Eddie & (soon-to-be) Aunt Emily came in on the 23rd. We all went to Bass Pro Shops on Christmas Eve for playing & lunch, then we came back home to get ready for the traditional Woody Christmas Eve dinner. As I've mentioned before, this was a dinner that my mom used to make every year, and after her passing, I wanted to keep it going as best as I could. It's a big feast, but it's been scaled back over the years. But it's still wonderful, and hopefully we will be able to continue the tradition as our family becomes "blended". (This is a fun term that's thrown around the Woody family a lot lately, as we have Eddie marrying Emily in 2010, and Dad marrying Cindy this year as well! Lots of new family members and extensions of family! Exciting time for the Woodys!)

Dad & Cindy came to our house on Christmas Eve for the feast. And since Eddie & Emily were heading back to Lynchburg that night, we opened our gifts that night as well. Tyler had a great time unwrapping all of his gifts, and even paused to help hand out a few gifts here and there. We spent the rest of the evening playing Guitar Hero (thanks Eddie & Em!), watching Dad & Tyler climb through Tyler’s new tunnel system, and preparing for Santa’s visit by setting out the milk & cookies. And since you can’t forget the reindeer, Gramme Snead had sent over some magical reindeer food for Tyler to sprinkle on our lawn so that Santa knew how to find us. He had a lot of fun with that, and was very excited to see if Santa would really come to our house.

And boy did he come to our house. Santa outdid himself this year, with a new Leap Frog ClickStart computer, a new chair, lots of books and movies, and a Little People learning zoo for Tyler. He was so excited to see all of the goodies that were left for him, and it was so much fun to watch him absorb it all. We ate breakfast with Grandpa & Cindy, and unloaded our stockings and then it was time for everyone to hit the road. Grandpa & Cindy headed back to Lynchburg, and we headed to Louisa to visit with Gramme & Granddad Snead, Aunt Jenn, Uncle Brian, & baby Landon, as well as Great-Grandma Smith. We had lunch with them and Tyler got even more gifts, which he thought was the best. He did get a moment of greediness that made me a tad upset. As the presents were dwindling in number, he walked over to Gramme and said, “Gramme, where’s more with Tyler’s name on them?” I was appalled. We had to remind him that Christmas was not just about getting stuff. I hope we got through to him.

All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas. The only downfall was that I ended up with a horrific sinus infection that put me out of commission for most of Christmas Day. I spent the majorityof our time at Trav’s grandmother’s house in a recliner, just resting. And this stupid thing has taken its time leaving! Almost 2 weeks later, and I’m still dealing with some stuffiness and pressure. Ugh! We stayed in on New Years Eve this year, and we really enjoyed that as well. We didn’t even make it up to midnight this year. It’s one of the things you must sometimes give up when you have a child that will still get up at his normal time, no matter what time you went to bed.

We are looking forward to 2010 and all that it holds for us. We have a big year ahead, with weddings and beach trips and a certain little man who will be turning THREE in less than two months! It’s so hard to believe that he’s gotten so big. We’ve already started planning the birthday party, which will be here before we know it. Best wishes to you all in 2010 and here’s hoping that we see you all at some point during the year!

Oh and one last note. Tyler got to stay at his Gramme & Granddad's right after Christmas so that I could give Travis his Christmas gift from me - tickets to see his beloved Cowboys play the Redskins in Washington. Though it was a sad game for us Skins fans, Travis had a wonderful time.

Yet another visit to Santa!

We went and saw Santa at Short Pump Towne Center this morning. We have gone to see Santa at Short Pump every year since Tyler was born. He, once again, did very well and told Santa that he wanted a computer and a Backyardigans game. Santa gave him a sucker, and a big hug. So hard to believe that Christmas is almost here!

We also got

our tree this weekend and Tyler had a blast decorating it. Now it's time to wrap the presents and get them under the tree to make it complete!

We also took Tyler to another Home Depot workshop this weekend, where he made a Christmas wagon. But before we went, we made a stop at Starbucks and got Tyler his first kids' hot chocolate from the famous chain. He loved it! I think he felt like quite the big boy with his "coffee", as he called it.

Tyler & I are heading to Lynchburg next weekend, while Travis hunts with his dad. It's been a few months since we've made the trip to Grandpa's and we're excited to go. But we will miss Travis!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It's hard to believe that it has already come and gone. This year has flown by. Anyway, we spent the afternoon with Gramme & Granddad Snead, Aunt Jenn, Uncle Brian, & Cousin Landon, and Great-Grandma Smith. We had a great time visiting with everyone, and Tyler especially enjoyed playing with his little cousin. Landon is just over 5 months old now, and it so much fun. It's going to be a blast having the two boys grow up together.

Today, Tyler &I met up with some good friends of mine from Lynchburg - Larry, Davina, and their daughter Cady. They were up here to visit the Bass Pro Shops so we went to hang out with them. Tyler showed Cady the fish at the store,

and then it was time to visit Santa. Travis & I have been pretty sure that Tyler wasn't going to have much to do with Santa this year. But all of a sudden, he proved us wrong. He took off for Santa's chair, anxious to tell him that he wanted a computer and a Backyardigans game for Christmas. He sat patiently while his picture was taken, then made sure that Santa was paying attention while he detailed exactly what it was that he wanted. We'll have to make another Santa trip when Travis can be there (he was hunting today) and I don't think that Tyler will mind one bit.

We also set up our Elf on the Shelf today. I've been looking for one for months, and Trav's mom found us one at a discount. For those of you not familiar with the Elf on the Shelf, the Elf sits somewhere in your house and watches you all day to see whether you are bad or good. Every night, he leaves his perch and returns to the North Pole to report to Santa about your "goodness". He comes back before you wake up (in a new spot, so you have to find him) and starts his watching all over again. On Christmas Eve, he leaves to report to Santa, and then won't return until next holiday season. You get to name your elf, and Tyler has named his "Buck Deer". (Hey, this is an improvement from "Stinky Butt" which was the first choice.) We've decided that we'll just call the elf "Buck". So far, Buck's presence isn't doing much for us. Tyler peed on the floor for the first time tonight as a way to show that he was annoyed with us and our "rules". What is he??? A puppy????? Ugh. Oh well, he has about 28 days to redeem himself for the Jolly Guy.

Officer Tyler

Holy cow, it’s November. How did that happen?? This year has flown by, and most certainly shows no signs of slowing down for the final two months. We hope that everyone had a Happy Halloween! We definitely did. Tyler decided that he wanted to be a policeman this year, and we found the greatest costume for him, complete with (ear shattering) whistle. As the holiday neared, we worked with him on Trick-or-Treating etiquette. We asked him if was going to say “Trick-or-Treat” to the houses that he visited, and he proudly announced that no, he would not.

He was going to say, “Come back here! The police!” He was going to take his role in law enforcement seriously. But in the end, he did say a very sweet “Trick-or-Treat”, followed by a very sincere “thank you”.

We only hit a few houses in our neighborhood, mainly the houses on our street. We ventured over one street to visit an old college buddy of mine, and that was about it. Tyler had a blast, and asked where we were going next after each house. He then asked, “You think they have candy, Mommy?” Yeah, he understood Halloween big time this year. We then came home and he helped hand out candy to the very few amount of ToTers that we had this year. We had less than 10. Yes, you read that right. Ten.

You know, it’s really sad that ToTing numbers have dwindled as much as they have in the past years. I know that there are still a few good neighborhoods out there that really have a great ToTing turnout, but it’s just not the norm anymore. People are ToTing at churches and malls, and to me, that’s not ToT. No offense to those that participate in those activities, but I really loved ToTing in my neighborhood when I was growing up. I realize that we don’t live in the same world that we did in the 80s, but I hate thinking that my kid may never have a real ToTing experience like Travis & I did. We’ve even heard mutterings of people wanting to move Halloween to the last Saturday of October. That’s not Halloween, people! Anyway, there’s my two cents for what it’s worth, and now I’ll step off of my soapbox.

Tyler had a great time, and he loved wearing his costume, and he loved going door-to-door to show it off. He loved carving pumpkins and watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”. (Many thanks to his Great-Nana Scoggin for introducing him to that while we visited with her last weekend.) He had such a great Halloween that he announced yesterday that he wants to be a dinosaur for Christmas. I guess we have a little more educating to do before Christmas gets here, huh? But I'm sure that he'll "get" Christmas as quickly as he "got" Halloween. I have no doubts that he'll be a pro.

Punkin pickin'

This weekend, we headed to Ashland Berry Farm to get our pumpkins. Or "punkins" as Tyler calls them. The weather was iffy at best, but thankfully the rain stayed away. We had a great time, and Tyler loved the tractor ride to and from the pumpkin patch. He loved looking for the prefect pumpkin for him. He loved riding on the cart from the farm to the car. He had a blast. And we did too. Now, every time we come in the front door, he reminds us that we have pumpkins on the front porch (6 of them) and that we got them at the "punkin patch". Halloween will be here before we know it, and our policeman will rule the streets! Enjoy pics from our day at the Berry Farm! (Oh and the kitchen is FINALLY DONE! Enjoy!)

Festivals & floors

Fall is definitely here, as we can tell from the changing leaves, the cooling weather, and all of the outdoor festivals! We were supposed to head to Lynchburg last weekend to visit, but stayed home instead because it seems that the plague has started running rampant in Lynchburg! Grandpa called on Thursday to say that he hadn’t been feeling well, Eddie hadn’t been feeling well either, and Emily ended up with the flu by the end of the weekend. So while we missed seeing everyone, it’s a good thing that we stayed put! Tyler, Travis, & I all have had flu vaccinations, but I didn’t want to chance getting any kind of sickness. So hopefully we’ll be able to make the trip down there sooner rather than later.

So we were left on our own at home to find things to get us out of the house, as we were having the new kitchen floors installed over the weekend finally (and they look great!). There is this annual kids’ fall festival at the park up the road from us, and we decided to check it out. It’s a free event, and the weather was great, and if possible, it was even a little too warm. They had all sorts of blow up bouncy houses and activities for kids, fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars, tractor rides and tons more. We had a blast and even ran into a little friend of Tyler’s from school.

Tyler was a little hesitant about some of the inflatable houses and such, but once he got in one, we were waiting in line for every single one of them that they had. He loved jumping around and running through the mazes. They also had a petting zoo, which he loved. They had a miniature horse (that reminded him of the horses at Nana Scoggin’s house), a llama (which reminded him of the book “Llama Llama Mad at Mama”), goats, sheep, and a donkey (which he kept asking, “What’s that?”). He got to ride on the tractor that was dressed up to look like a fire truck, complete with siren and bell. And he even got to talk to a real policeman. He was excited to let the policeman know that he was dressing up like him for Halloween this year. When asked if Tyler would say “trick or treat” at Halloween, he replied, “No. I say – Come back here! The police!” We’ll keep working on that one.

We’re still working on potty training here, and hope that we’re nearing the end of our diaper buying days. Travis & I have found our “carrot” to dangle in front of Tyler as the perfect bribe for being trained – a preschooler’s digital camera! Tyler loves pretending to take pictures with our camera, and has been using up the film in an old disposable camera that I found last weekend. We found a kids’ camera over the weekend, and Tyler really likes the idea of it. He knows that he can’t have it until he uses the potty all the time, and is out of diapers and in big boy underwear. Bribery is not only an acceptable form of parenting, it’s the preferred method in this house. And it seems to be working. On Sunday, he wore underwear throughout the whole afternoon and only had two accidents. The first time was his “learning experience”, as he found out what it was like to really be wet. The second time was all about timing. He told us he needed to go, and we were in the bathroom trying to get him situated and we were just a few seconds too late. But we’re working through it and hopefully he’ll just keep getting better and better. His newest form of reward grosses me out a bit, but reassures Travis that he is indeed Tyler’s father – Brach’s Mellowcreme Pumpkins. I hate the things, but Travis treats them as their own food group, he loves them so much. Turns out that Tyler loves them too, so he gets a pumpkin for each successful pee in the potty. Blech. I want to go back to M&Ms or stickers. But whatever works, right???

Let's go Hokies!

Uncle Eddie & Emily came and stayed with us last night on their way to visit a friend in Maryland. We had a great time with them, and can't wait for their next visit! They did bring Tyler a gift - a new VA Tech Hokies football jersey! Eddie gave Tyler his first VT jersey last year, and he's about to outgrow it. So Eddie & Emily bought him a new one that we hope will fit him for another year or so! He wore it today in honor of Tech's first home game against Marshall. The Hokies won!

Tomorrow starts the true NFL season, so Tyler will

probably be wearing his #9 Tony Romo jersey, compliments of his Dallas Cowboy-loving grandparents (and father). It's fall, and football's in the air!!!

A day of birthdays

This week in September is a popular birthday week for people in our lives. Today is Gramme Snead's birthday, as well as Tyler's friend Gracie. Our god-daughter, Emma, turns 4 tomorrow followed by my friend Jen on the 9th & Emma's baby brother Mason on the 10th. Happy birthday to everyone! But today, we had a double dose of birthday events. We went to Gracie's 2nd birthday party this afternoon, and had a birthday dinner with Gramme, Granddad, Aunt Jenn, Uncle Brian, & Baby Landon this evening. We had a great time at both events, and Tyler had a blast playing with the other kids at Gracie's party and playing with his cousin Landon at the other.

Other than the parties, we haven't had much on the schedule for the long holiday weekend. I'v

e been working on some final painting in the kitchen in preparation for the delivery of our new floors later this week. We hope to get them installed ASAP and soon we'll have this whole disaster behind us! We can't wait to have our home back to a more normal state, and can't wait to enjoy our "new" ktichen! Our pool closes tomorrow, and we're hoping to make it up there but so far the weather doesn't look like it will cooperate. If we don't make it up there, I'm sure we'll be spending some time at the playground, where Tyler can fire up his own imaginary concession stand. See this video. It's great. He's even got an imaginary kitchen that he yells the orders to. Enjoy!

It had been a good, long run....

It's been well over a year since Tyler was really sick - as in fever, lethargy, need for a sick visit to the pediatrician. He's had a cold here and there, but nothing that wasn't manageable, and certainly nothing that kept him out of school. We were noting this fact last week sometime (I know, we shouldn't have tempted fate), and were commenting that the words that so many people spoke when Tyler started daycare were true: Send 'em to daycare, and their immune systems will be like fortresses. After a long first year, it seems that Tyler's immune system was finally built up. But something finally broke though. Strep throat.

Poor little guy woke up on Thursday feeling warm, and looking just pathetic. I took his temperature, got a reading of 98.3, shrugged my shoulders, and sent him off to school. I had a feeling that he wasn't going to be there long, but when the phone rang at 8:37 I was shocked at just how short his day was. His temperature had spiked to 101.3, so I left to go get him and got him an appointment at the doctor's shortly thereafter. Normally, for a fever, I wouldn't call the pediatrician, but rather let it run its course unless accompanied by other symptoms. But Tyler's room at school has had a case of flu and a case of strep in the past 2 weeks. And another little girl was sent home the other day with a fever. So I thought it was best to have him examined. And after a flu test & a strep test, the strep test came back positive. Honestly, I'd rather have strep than flu any day of the week, so while I was sad that Tyler's throat hurt, I was glad that he wasn't going to be puking around every corner of the house. He got his standard amoxicillan and we went about our business (and gave him lots of Slurpees and ice cream for that sore throat).

Two days later, and he's feeling much better though we're having to get creative with how we administer the amoxicillan. He's not a fan of the taste or the color, so we've tried lots of things - drinking it straight (no go), mixed with grape juice (not enough grape juice in the world to mask the flavor), and finally mixing with yogurt smoothies. So far, this is the winner, especially when we put it in a ceramic mug that he normally isn't allowed to use. 7 more days of this, and we're back to normal. Hopefully, we'll have a nice & long ILLNESS FREE fall & winter. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Sorry for the lack of updates (and pictures of Tyler) but as you can imagine, we've been busy with our kitchen. With the help of my wonderful mother-in-law, we got the cabinets painted white, and the walls painted a pale yellow. Jenn's father-in-law, Mitch, fixed our walls and will also install our new floors - which we just picked out tonight!!! We're headed back to buy them tomorrow, and we are so excited. Here's hoping that we'll have our total house back within the next few weeks! We're all tired of living in a construction zone. So in the meantime, enjoy some pics from the past few weeks, including pics of the kitchen progress and our trip to Lynchburg for the fishing club social.

I had hoped they'd teach him to hang drywall....

After a few months' hiatus, we took Tyler back to The Home Depot yesterday for a Kids' Workshop. He had a great time, helping Daddy make a message board that has a cork board on one side, and a little dry erase board on the other. He loved hammering and got to use a screwdriver for the first time. He was (and still is) very proud of his project and we have plans to hang it in his bedroom. I was a little disappointed though. With all of the work that we need to have done in our breakfast nook and kitchen because of the mold (that insurance won't pay for), I had hoped they would teach him a skill like hanging drywall, or laying laminate flooring. Oh well. A message board is just as great!

We also had a Snead family reunion yesterday. I was a little concerned, since the lunch was planned an hour away from our house and during Tyler's nap time. But Tyler did really well while we were there, and had a good time playing on the playground, and chasing baseballs from the game that was going on in the adjoining field. We got to see Aunt Jenn, Uncle Brian, and Baby Landon, who is growing like a weed. We also saw Gramme and Granddad, Trav's Grandma and Uncle Wallace & Aunt Brenda, his cousins John, Norman, & Jill, and Jaimie, Kaylen, & Jordan. There were lots of other Sneads that we met while we were there too, which was really nice. We had a good time with good food, but the second that we got in the car, we had a VERY fussy toddler on our hands. He fussed and whined and cried for several minutes before he 100% passed out in the backseat. He slept all the way home, and then for another hour once we got him home and in his bed.

Today, Travis took Tyler to the pool and to the Children's Museum, while I started priming the trim in the kitchen as we prepare for our unexpected renovation. Since we'll have to replace the floors in the breakfast nook and the kitchen, we have decided to take this opportunity to paint all of our trim and cabinets white, as opposed to the knotty pine that we have now. There's still a ton of work to be done, but you can already see a huge difference in the room. I'm looking forward to seeing this project change the way our house looks and feels!

We are heading to Lynchburg next weekend for a visit, and for the annual Fishing Club Social. We had a blast last year, and can't wait to get back to hang out with family and friends. We'll also be picking up my mom's old aquarium that we used for our hermit crabs when Eddie & I were kids. Bob Pants definitely needs a new (read: bigger) home. Should be fun!