Busy does not begin to describe the last 6 weeks (and more to come) in our house! Our June calendar was slammed with events. In chronological order...We did Ty's one year photo shoot, Ty finally cut his very first tooth, some of our best friends welcomed a new baby boy, we had Ty's 1st birthday party, our 4th wedding anniversary, a trip to Port Aransas, followed by a trip to Galveston, Tyler's 12 month check-up, our first play date, Ty and I both got hand, foot and mouth disease, and we had an early 4th of July celebration with our neighbors. July hasn't let up either! I took Lindsey's belly shots, we spent the 4th in LaGrange, went on a tour at the Blue Bell Creamery, went to Pearland to spend a few days with my Gram, Ty cut 3 more teeth, this past weekend we had two baby showers (more like baby parties), and one this coming weekend too! This promises to be a long post!
Tyler's one year photo shoot went great. We took some pictures in the same park in League City that we took our engagement pictures 5 years ago. Its one of my most favorite locations to shoot.
of course we took the opportunity to snap a new family picture too
Cooter and I in the same spot we took our engagement pictures over 5 years ago!
The same weekend we took Ty's pictures, a tiny tooth on his bottom gum finally made its debut, a mere 8 days before his first birthday! Literally from one day to the next we had a tooth! No signs, no symptoms...nada. It looked as if another one would be showing itself very soon. Even at Ty's 12 month appointment the pediatrician said any day now for not one, but three teeth! The next three teeth took their sweet time though...just over a month. It was a very long month of teething, indeed! We had major drool, teething pain, fussiness, loss of appetite...you name it, we experienced it. In early July Ty cut tooth #2, again on his bottom gum. A week later, two more cut through in what seemed like overnight. So that's four teeth total now! And no, momma isn't breastfeeding anymore (but not because of teeth).
Following Ty's birthday bash, he and I took a week to be a bit lazy. Seriously, no computer time, very little cleaning, a couple pajama days... As much fun as his party was, turns out I stress way too much to be a party planner. My plans for a simple birthday party at home grew bigger and bigger as the day approached. We chose the Very Hungry Caterpillar book as the theme. The house was covered in polka dots and larger-than-life caterpillars donning pictures of Ty taken throughout the past year. I kept adding new DIY projects to complete in record time, and I just about had a coronary when I saw how much the grocery bill was. I put so much time and effort into a party my son will never remember, but I wouldn't have done it any other way. Time spent with friends and family celebrating the much anticipated birth of our son is priceless.
me and my birthday boy
I was so proud of my mantle!
CiCi, Ty and Marcie sharing a snack
opening presents
time for cake!
he was very timid about his cake at first...
but once I offered him a bite, he got busy!
icing beard!
offering momma a bite
checking out his icing stained face
this is immediately following his cake and quicky sponge bath...
A few days after Ty's birthday, we packed up and went on our first (very short) family vacation. Cooter had an opportunity to visit with a customer of his down in Port Aransas, so we loaded up the fam and took off for a long weekend. Cooter had never been, and Port A is a favorite family surf spot for us, so it was nice to show him around. Luckily Cooter's boss has a condo down there, so accommodations were free! We actually got down there on our 4th anniversary, so we took ourselves out to dinner. Ty ate his first crab cake. After dinner we headed to the beach to put Ty's toes in the sand. Unprepared for the impromptu beach run, we ended up stripping Ty down to a diaper to let him splash in the waves. We also took a drive down the beach before heading home. The next day we met up with his customers and hung out for the remainder of the day. Ty enjoyed his first golf cart ride. The next morning we got up bright and early and headed to Galveston, where we were meeting Cooter's family for Justin's 5th birthday celebration at Schlitterbahn. We ended up having a blast! Cooter's mom watched Ty for most of the day so we were able to go on lots of rides and feel a bit carefree! Cooter said he hadn't seen me laugh and be so laid back in a long time. We went back to a condo for the evening and the next day hit the beach again. It was a lot of traveling in just a few days, but we had lots of fun. Can't wait to do it all again!
my dinner date
daddy and Ty on the beach
toes in the water!
momma and Ty
cruising on the beach!
eating cheese and crackers
first ride in a golf cart
from Port A to Galveston...I guess he was hungry?
at Schlitterbahn
Ty and Suzie looking for a snack
playing in the sand with Poppie
playing with Justin
We actually had Tyler's 12 month check-up just over a week past his first birthday. Our pediatrician was on vacation, and although we could see another doctor in the practice, I chose to wait for her to do his well baby visit. All is well with little man! He weighed 20lbs 14oz (40th percentile), he was 28 1/4 inches long (3rd percentile) and his head was 18 1/2 inches around (74th percentile). He is officially short and stocky, but growing like a weed in his own fashion. I totally thought he would've weighed 22lbs or more. He braved three shots like a champ. Two in the legs and for the first time, one in the arm. I had to hold him in my lap this time. Usually he lays on the table and I distract and comfort him from above, but I guess they know better than to expect a one year old to lay still. He cried and gave the fat lip, but before the nurse was out the door he was smiling at her. I asked the doctor about his weight since some days due to what I believe is teething, he seems to hardly eat anything but baby food. She said he's perfect. He actually rose a bit in his weight percentile. Of course his head is of large proportions once again. What can I say...all those brains have to go somewhere! And boy is he smart. He can now stack his cups in the correct order from largest to smallest. He knows that the ball goes on top of the stacking cups and he has enough motor control to carefully place it there. He can also put stack rings on his toy, whereas even a month ago he only took it apart. He received some mega block legos (large legos) for his birthday and he can manipulate them enough to take apart and put back together. He still loves to put things into boxes. He can tell us where his eyes, nose and belly button are. The eyes are his newest find so he likes to show off the fact that he knows where they are as often as possible. He is also finally still enough to read most books. We do bedtime stories now. That is quite possibly my favorite time of the day. We're still not walking independently, but when he has the ability to stand he will. He can stand alone for a long time. He almost runs behind his walking toys now and can also pick them up and turn them as needed, all while standing. Sometimes he only holds on with one hand. He is SO close! He has also learned where the deer are in our office. If you ask him where the deer are, he'll crawl into the hallways and point. Pointing is new this past month. He points his little fat finger and says a mumbled version of "deer." He can also find the ducks mounted on the wall. Back to the doctor at 15 months. Oh my goodness...we have a toddler.
waiting on the doctor
on the way home
As if we hadn't been busy enough over the month of June, Ty and I were invited to join our first play group! As a stay-at-home mom, this excited me lots...a chance for Ty to interact with other babies his age and a chance for me to engage in some adult conversation...yes, please! I went to high school with this group of girls. They all get together about once a month or so. One of the girls lives here in Cypress and everyone was meeting at her house to go to her neighborhood splashpad and pool. They all have kids ranging from 5 down to 6 months. 6 boys and 2 girls. Ty rarely has the chance to interact with kids his age, other than Addi, who is just now old enough for them to play together. He did good though and held his own amongst the older boys who were pretty rough with him. I'm looking forward to more play dates in the future!
Moms don't have time to be sick, much less when you're as busy as we have been lately. Out of the blue one day I got a horrible headache. A headache that lasted for days and was a borderline migraine. I was nauseated and achey. I had a sore throat too. I even ran a 102 fever one night. Cooter so graciously stayed home from work to take care of Ty for me, not knowing if what I had was contagious. Work got busy and he ended up going in to the office...with baby in tow. I was impressed. He had Ty dressed so cute with little shorts on, packed his snacks and his bag and off they went. The next day I started feeling better, but these sore spots started popping up on my hands. It felt like I had a splinter or fiber glass in my hand. The next morning there were more of them and they began appearing on my feet. Felt more like blisters then. Feeling good outside of the sores, we went and picked up Justin and Emily so they could go home with Poppie and Bobbie. That's when we found out Emily had sores on her feet too. I immediately thought of hand, foot and mouth disease. I didn't know much about it except that it was prevalent amongst small children. When I got home I googled, and the first image to pop up looked exactly like Ty's poor face earlier that week. He had fever for a few days and had these blister-like sores on his lips and chin. Everyone around us, myself included thought it was teething, and the sores were from excessive drool under his pacifier. Turns out he had hand, foot and mouth and I obviously got it from him. Daily tasks were horrible for about 3 days. Changing diapers, cooking dinner, etc...there wasn't anything that didn't make my hands hurt. As fast as it came on, it got better. Now everywhere we both had blisters, we keep developing these calluses that eventually peel off. I found out I had way more blisters than I thought, as did Ty. His little toes are peeling. Its viral, runs its course and there's really no medication for it. I don't look forward to hand, foot and mouth disease rearing its ugly head again!
look at his poor face...
We celebrated the 4th of July twice this year! Since it fell in the middle of the week, we decided to have our annual party with the neighbors the weekend before. We cooked hamburgers, drank a few beers and hung out with good friends. The 3rd and 4th we went up to LaGrange to attend the Round Top parade (where Bobbie and Poppie are judges), ate some BBQ, and ended up watching fireworks as we drove down 290 late that evening.
enjoying some watermelon like a true Texan
swimming
Cooter and me at the parade
sleeping before the parade started
little patriotic baby
Daddy and Ty
Momma and Ty
annual 4th of July family photo
In all of my years of living in Texas and eating so much ice cream, I had never visited the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham. It was lots of fun! The best part...at the end of the tour you get free ice cream! Ty wasn't exactly on his best behavior throughout the tour though. Thank goodness for extra hands and entertainment thanks to Alaina and Brayden! Ty is old enough to get bored now, but not old enough to understand what that tour guide was talking about and what we were looking at. All he knew is he didn't want to be in his stroller and he preferred to be crawling around on the ground. In the end, he loved his ice cream just like the rest of us. They gave him his own scoop! Like always, he cried hysterically when it was over. Thanks for inviting us, Horton family!
Ty wasn't thrilled about his paper hat. He wore it all of 3 seconds. And yes, I wore mine the whole time.
no more ice cream
I haven't downloaded the pictures from our visit with Gram just yet. We took some generational pictures with my grandma, my dad, myself and Ty, so I wanted to take the time to edit them and send her a few. As usual, I got some clips of Ty and Addi. Its so funny how they play together now, thinking back just a few months ago how much bigger he seemed. I'll post them when I'm done. I sincerely apologize the long overdue post. If I'd update a little more often it would be easier on all of us! One day...
13 months old and counting...
