Holiday Surprise

We received quite the holiday surprise last month...Baby Maxwell #2 is on its way, due July 18, 2013!

9weeks, 5days

 13 weeks

We are absolutely thrilled, but I think we are still in shock!  Long story short...  We believed I was pregnant right before we left on the Disney cruise.  I had a positive pregnancy test, but thought it was very early, probably only about 5 weeks along.  While we were on the cruise, I began cramping and bleeding, and thought I was having a miscarriage.  We were devastated, but being on vacation was actually a bit of a blessing that kept us distracted and in good spirits.  I went to the doctor as soon as I got home (1 week after suspected miscarriage).  They did the usual blood work.  A week later, the nurse called me with my blood results and said surprisingly my hormone levels were already at a non-pregnant state.  It typically takes a few weeks to a few months for the body to completely return to normal.  That was the case for me in my past miscarriages.  They believe I had a chemical pregnancy, which means sperm met egg just long enough for me to think I was pregnant, and then nature took its course and basically took care of the pregnancy on its own.  Its fairly common and most women don't even know they are pregnant when this happens.  So as it turns out, the bleeding on the cruise was my next period.  That's exactly when I expected to start, I just thought I was pregnant at the time.  So, by the time we found out that my body was back in working order, we had spent a good 3 weeks not being careful.  Honestly I didn't think anything of it though.  We planned to go back to the fertility doctor and get the ball rolling with some precautionary testing so we would hopefully not have to go through this again.  Both of us decided between deer season, Cooter traveling for work, and the holidays, we would wait until January.

Fast forward a few weeks...  Around mid-November I started feeling bad again.  Sometimes nauseous, sometimes tired, but overall just blah.  I kept telling Cooter I just felt like I was in a funk.  This was all the week before Thanksgiving.  I'd been at my parents eating tamales, then Nicole and I had a girls day full of candy and cokes at the movies.  From there I took off to the deer lease, which is always a feeding frenzy, and then we had Thanksgiving.  I honestly wrote it all off to eating terribly and not exercising...hence, being in a funk.  Well the following week I started truly feeling nauseous on a daily basis, worsening each day.  Although I didn't think it was possible, pregnancy was creeping into the back of my head.  For one, if I was pregnant, I certainly didn't want to find out so early like last time, just to lose it.  So, I waited.  I had no idea of my dates, no idea when this could've happened, so I planned to test around December 9, which would be about 2 months past whatever happened on the cruise.  About a week before that I happened to be at Target and seriously had an overwhelming suspicion that this was it, so I bought 4 tests.  Most tests recommend using them first thing in the morning so your urine is the strongest.  I couldn't stand it.  About 3pm that day, after lots and lots of water, I took a test.  I bought the fancy digital ones, preparing to wait my 3 minutes for results.  Less than 60 seconds later, with watery pee, I had a positively pregnant sign!  Absolute, complete shock.  

I tested over the next 4 days, all the with same outcome.  I called my doctor and left a long and probably confusing message trying to explain the situation.  I was kind of embarrassed, but they acted like it was no big deal and scheduled me for an appointment.  They sent me for blood work the day before my appointment so we would have some numbers to match up with the pending ultrasound so they could date the pregnancy.  At my appointment we were sent to ultrasound first and Cooter and were extremely nervous.  If you remember, 2 of our miscarriages before Ty were discovered via ultrasound.  Part of me wanted to keep my eyes closed the whole time.  The tech said she would try abdominally and if that didn't work, we'd do a vaginal ultrasound.  With Ty, I didn't have an abdominal ultrasound until I was 12wks.  So I prepared myself to not expect much at first.  But oh my!  Right away, there it was...a nice round sac with a little baby blob inside...and most importantly, that amazing little flicker right in the middle!!!  I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped wide open.  Even better...she let us HEAR it!  Here I am, in denial that I'm either not pregnant at all or that this baby won't survive, and we're listening to that little miracle's heart beating away!  The baby measured 7 weeks 1 day (again, completely shocked that I was that far along!), and had a heart rate of 153bpm.  We met with a smiling nurse immediately afterwords, who was happy to report that my blood hormone levels were exactly where they were supposed to be and better!  My hcg (pregnancy hormone) levels were that of an 8wk fetus and my progesterone was topped out (I took medication for 12wks with Ty to sustain my progesterone levels)!  

We left the doctor, heads spinning a bit and were told to return in two weeks for a follow-up dating ultrasound and my first prenatal appointment.  I continued to get more and more sick in the following weeks.  Enough so that it was almost debilitating.  I couldn't get anything done because I felt so horrible all day long.  At our next appointment, we were sent to ultrasound and once again Cooter and became complete wrecks.  Despite feeling sick constantly, and having every pregnancy symptom under the sun, we were still in doubt that everything was okay.  Another abdominal ultrasound...another immediate picture of our baby.  This time it actually looked like a baby, complete with arms and legs moving all around.  Oh my goodness.  This is really happening!  An unbelievably healthy heart rate of 189bpm this time!  Ty's was never that high.  Even better, baby measured 9 weeks, 5 days this time.  Again, blood work to match, everything right where it should be!  The nurse prescribed me zofran for my nausea and for the fact that I lost 2lbs since my first appointment.  Come back in a few weeks for my NT screen.  

We had to do our NT screen through Texas Children's because the sonographer at my OB's office is no longer there.  It was a wonderful experience though.  Since we had to go to a specialist, we didn't feel rushed at all.  In fact, we ended up with a 30 minute long ultrasound due to the fact that the baby wasn't quite cooperating for the measurements they needed to take.  It was so neat watching it move and stretch.  This baby did not stop moving the entire time we were there! Heart beat of 171bpm!  They just called yesterday with the results from the NT screen and all of the blood work to test for genetic abnormalities (downs syndrome and Trisomy 13 & 18) was negative, which is perfect!  They did say that my hcg (pregnancy hormone) levels are very high, in the 95th percentile, which would explain why I have been so sick this time around.  Funny, to get pregnant with Ty, I had to take hcg shots to stimulate egg production.  This time every pregnancy hormone is sky rocketing all on its own.  See what I mean?!?  Its truly a miracle! I followed up with an appointment with my OB today and all was well.  It took longer to drive there and back than the appointment did.  They listened to the baby's heartbeat, which was immediately found in the 160's.  The doctor came in, felt my belly and said see me in 4 weeks.  The only cause for concern so far has been my blood pressure.  Its been in the 130's which is very unusual for me.  Usually mine is easily in the 120's, if not around 115.  Its still early, so no biggie, just hoping that it will go down on its own.  That's one pregnancy issue I'd rather not deal with!  I'll be 18 weeks at my next visit, and although they didn't say anything, that's early enough to find out the sex of the baby.  I'm thinking they will make me wait until 20wks, but I'll probably still get my hopes up.  Next appointment is Valentine's Day!  

This is a huge reason as to why I can't seem to keep up with anything these days!  I haven't hardly uploaded any new pics of Ty in months and my blog posts are few and far between.  I am finally feeling better enough to keep up with a little more than just Ty and the laundry.  Between the nausea and extreme exhaustion (seriously, some days I feel narcoleptic!) I have struggled to get anything done.  At almost 14 weeks my nausea is mostly contained to mornings and evenings.  Unfortunately that means I wake up all night long feeling very sick.  I'm having to eat every few hours to combat it all.  What's been worse this time around too is my headaches.  We've had so many cold, dreary days lately, maybe its just a vitamin deficiency.  I'm SO looking forward to being able to get out and exercise again.  I know Ty and Laila miss it too!  

Here's hoping the rest of this pregnancy is as blessed as it has been!  

17 - 19 months

Alas, months have come and gone with so much as an update, photo...nothing.  I apologize to my loyal readers.  Time spent in my office is a rarity these days.  It is SO not baby proof and despite the piles and boxes of toys I have available for Ty's entertainment, he insists on playing with everything he shouldn't.  The bookshelf of Pampered Chef catalogs, cookbooks, marketing supplies, door prizes, etc is his go-to spot every time.  The bookshelf is now is complete disarray, but at times I let him go if that means I have a few minutes to pay bills or close out a show.  I soon regret this decision as soon as I turn around.  He has emptied drawers in record time, found piles of card stock or photography equipment...and all of this only keeps him occupied for a teeny, tiny amount of time.  As much as I want and need to write, sometimes there just isn't time when you have a toddler!

Ty and I spent most of the month of December getting over a pretty nasty cold.  He has been sick so few times in his life that when he's down, he seems to take us all with him!  His demeanor is so blue, it just breaks my heart to see him sick.  He also contracted his first case of pink eye.  Luckily the morning he woke up with his conjuncti-funk was the same day his 18 month appointment was scheduled, so we have still avoided our first sick baby visit with the pediatrician!  Ty has grown lots in the last 3 months.  Although he didn't gain much weight, 23lbs 14oz this visit (46th percentile), he lengthened out quite a bit.  He is now 31 inches long (9th percentile), which means he grew 1.25 inches in 3 months!  That's huge for our little boy!  Again he has hit all of the 18 month developmental milestones.  Everyday he learns something new and watching him try to be a little person is such an adventure.  He doesn't go back for a check-up until he's TWO.  Oh my goodness...he's going to be TWO.

So, what can  Ty do now?  As usual, he continues to LOVE being read to.  He comments as we read, anticipates page turns and mimics actions that I always do as I read to him.  We seriously read through all of his books everyday...over and over and again.  He makes animals noises on command and when he sees those animals in books or on TV.  He can do the cow, cat, dog, lion, duck, sheep, and sometimes bird.  He doesn't just walk, he runs ALL the time.  He walks backwards very proficiently now too.  He climbs on the couch by himself if you give him a pillow to step on.  He'll get the step stool out of the pantry just to stand up high.  Yeah, there's trips to the ER in our future...  He likes building with his mega blocks and stacking bowls in the kitchen.  I love watching him meticulously stacking his blocks.  Its amazing how much more motor control he has now.  He can sort shapes, with a little help, but the circles and squares he can figure out on his own.  We've been working on colors everyday, and although I'm pretty sure he has no idea which is which, he can say the color blue.  He brings me his coloring book and crayons all the time, but he more or less empties the crayons from the box while I color a picture.  He drives cars and trucks around and makes sounds as he does so.  How does he know to do that?!?  He is so good at playing independently.  His language skills have probably been the biggest improvement the past couple of months.  On his own he still mumbles and babbles the majority of the time, but if prompted or asked to repeat certain words, he can do so!  He probably has 10-15 words in his vocabulary.  He can also say CiCi now (my mom)!  We're still signing everyday too.  That's still a form of communication and I'm happy with that!

For about a month Ty seemed to have become a more picky eater.  That was no fun.  I hate fighting with him to eat.  He loves breakfast, I never have to ask him to eat in the mornings.  Probably because he picks at his dinner, he's starving when he wakes up!  He will eat for Cooter though.  Not without tears most nights, but Daddy must mean business more than Mommy.  He gags when he thinks he done eating, even if its food that doesn't require being chewed.  Its very frustrating.  Most of it gets worse with teething.  He cut two bottom molars in November and when they popped through he started eating again.  Then when he got sick we went back to the whole, "take one more bite, please" bit.  I know this is just the beginning of this phase, but this too shall pass.  After cutting one more tooth (11 total now!), eating is pretty much back to normal.  Ty's newest fun food for him is apples.  I cut the peel off and give him the whole slice.  He thinks its super fun because I eat them too and I think he believes its some kind of chip because it crunches when he eats it.  He always asks for more!

In an effort to actually get this posted, I am once again posted without any new pictures.  I honestly have not unloaded my camera since Thanksgiving (what is wrong with me?!?).  When I finally get some serious work done in my office, I will get to the pics and do a photo dump post of the last few months.  For those who haven't seen our little man recently, he's grown up SO much since his birthday!  He's such the toddler now!

15 & 16 months...

Disclaimer...although I started this post well after Ty's 15 month birthday, I never thought it would still be sitting in my drafts into his 16th month too.  This post has been written in its entirety, just waiting on pictures for almost a month now.  Ridiculous.  We did just get back from a week long vacation...I will attempt an excuse here...

Once again, I'm blogging behind.  Ty's 15 month birthday has come and gone, and the best I could do this month was keep a running tally of his new skills on my phone, scared that by the time I sat down to write, I'd forget half of what I planned to say.  Keeping up with an ever-so-busy toddler doesn't allow for much computer time these days.  Sometimes I wish I'd opted for the mac book, so I could write wherever little man chooses to play, but even then I'm pretty sure he wouldn't allow me the uninterrupted time I wanted to write.  So here we are...15 & 16 month update.

We had a well baby visit back on September 11th.  All went well and I feel pretty certain that I'm doing at least something right in this adventure of raising a little boy.  Ty made some pretty good growth strides over the past few months, getting heavier and a little taller, despite becoming mobile during that time.  Ty weighed 22lbs 13oz (51st percentile).  That's quite a jump for us.  Ty has spent most of his life below average in his weight, but his head circumference was always upwards of 75th percentile.  This visit it was 56th percentile, so we have a well-proportioned baby!  Little man is still quite short for his age...29.75 inches (8th percentile).  Although he has lengthened a bit, if you check back to prior months, he was down to the 1st percentile at one point.  For now, his pants just last a little longer than your average kid!  He got two shots at this appointment and didn't shed a tear.  For the first time they poked him in the same leg to isolate any pain since he's walking now.  The nurse was really good at distracting him and made a silly sound right as she stuck him.  He got real serious and looked at her funny.  Before he could respond she stuck him again.  He turned red and stuck his lip out, but when there weren't tears, we started clapping and made a big deal that he was a big boy.  Never cried a bit!  The pediatrician was happy with his walking, actually he was climbing on her stool as she talked to me.  He's eating right on target and reached every developmental milestone for a 15 month old.

Time to brag on my boy...  I'm sure all parents think this, but my kid is SO smart!  Seriously, sometimes I'm amazed at what he figures out how to do.  He is such a copy cat right now.  He wants to be big and do all that big people do.  #1 on his list...wearing shoes.  My poor child was blessed with fat, chunky, extra wide feet.  Finding shoes has been an issue.  Ty hasn't ever needed to wear shoes until now.  He loves trying on our shoes and stumbling around the room.  Everyone and their mother, including my mother insisted on getting his first pair of shoes at Stride Rite.  I'm the biggest penny pincher and when I saw their prices for such tiny shoes I flipped a little.  After trying on shoes everywhere, I gave in.  Mom and I took Ty to get him fitted for the right shoe.  We found some adorable little man shoes and no-show socks.  I was shocked how easily a well-fitted shoe went on his foot.  There was no removing the shoes after that.  He squealed with delight and raced around the store.  It was also the first time he walked in shoes without falling down repeatedly.  Well done, Stride Rite.  CiCi bought Ty his first pair of big boy shoes.  Luckily, I'm on their email list for coupons and there just happens to be an outlet down the street from me.  We will not be shopping for shoes elsewhere for quite a while.

Sometime ago, Ty developed a fake cough.  It was hysterical and we over played it a bit and he doesn't do it very often anymore.  Plus we were a little nervous we were inadvertently creating a hypochondriac.  About a month ago Ty developed a fake sneeze as well.  Turns out that's funnier than the cough.  Sometimes he just does the head motion without noise.  If you sneeze, give it a second and you'll hear a little one following.  Too cute.  He even wipes his nose.

Ty has his walking skills down now, but that's not good enough any more.  He needs to RUN!  Unfortunately his head thinks faster than his feet, so he falls a lot.  Seriously, we have new bruises daily.  Just two days ago he added a new one to his forehead where he fell face first into the sidewalk.  Live and learn.  He's a tough little booger.  We don't make a big deal about it.  If he needs comforting, he gets it, but most of the time he gets up and takes off again.  His knees are almost always scraped up.  I just keep ointment on them at night.  He is also climbing now.  He can't get up on our furniture yet, but his toy shelf and little chair are always great climbing toys.  He's quick too.  I rarely catch him in the act of climbing.  Usually I turn around and he's up high, laughing his little booty off.  He finally took a spill the other day.  Very minor, but it did bruise his collar bone when he landed on a toy.  No, it hasn't scared him from climbing anymore.  ALL boy.

This doctor's visit we received disciplinary tips on our checklist as well.  Apparently I'm not the only one raising a head-strong toddler!  Pretty simple though, and most I've already been doing.  Praise good behavior, do not overreact, ignore negative behavior.  Discipline at this age is more/less about teaching right from wrong, to teach and protect, not to punish just yet.  Cooter has a hard time grasping all of this.  He thinks Ty is getting big enough for punishment.  Honestly, when he has a tantrum (yes, we already have tantrums), what hurts him worse is to remove him from the situation and ignore the behavior.  Eventually he either quits and goes on to something else, or he calms down enough to come sit with me and we take a chill break.  While I'm on the subject...some days my jaw drops at the tantrums he is already pitching.  Many times if something doesn't go his way, he lets out a MAD scream, furrowed brow and all.  Sometimes he gets so mad he cries and holds his breath.  I'm not going to let him hurt himself, but I try my best to pay very little attention to him when he acts like that.  I know he's young and doesn't understand why he can't have something, why he can't be outside alone, etc. but he's learning.  Oh the patience that goes into parenting...and we've only just begun!

Ty has added lots of new skills to his repertoire.  He LOVES to read and brings me books all day long. We have three books that are part of his bedtime routine.  He's even been known to fall asleep during story time.  His current favorites are The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?, and Goodnight Gorilla (favorites based on the books he brings me most often).  We've been reading lots of books with the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes and animals.  Ty learned his first animal sound...he can moo like a cow!  He loves his Little People too.  He received the farm and airplane for his birthday and plays with them daily.  Our neighbors brought over the zoo and castle to give him recently and now our living room is a Little People village!  He can also sort shapes with help.  If you point to where a shape goes, he can manipulate it enough to get it in the correct spot.  He claps for joy with each successful drop into the bucket.  He doesn't recognize any shapes yet, but I feel like what he can do is awesome!  Ty has the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn puppy that he got for Christmas last year.  Its still a favorite toy almost a year later.  Puppy sings songs, counts, claps, blows kisses...Ty knows the songs now and does the motions for each of them.  He has just started dancing to the songs within the last month.  His favorite songs are If You're Happy and You Know It and Pat A Cake.  He also loves to blow kisses with the puppy.  We've added a few new signs to Ty's sign language this month.  He regularly uses please, thank you, more and milk, and just learned refrigerator.  We are working on shoes and socks.  Why did we teach him refrigerator?  My kid is obsessed with food.  Ty will go into the pantry and pick out food for himself and Laila.  Its legit too.  He knows which box contains milk bones for Laila.  He knows which box is his Apple Cinnamon Cherrios and his granola cereal.  I cannot do anything in the kitchen without him believing its time to eat again.  Cooking dinner tests my patience so much.  Ty is 100% completely done with baby food.  That's great when we're out to eat or going out of town...he'll eat off of my plate.  The downside happens at home while I'm cooking.  He doesn't understand that even though I have food out, its not ready to eat immediately.  If he sees food, he truly believes he is starving.  Most dinners are cooked with a whining, crying baby holding on my legs.  This too shall pass...

Ty has his first favorite song.  Its from the TV show Bubble Guppies.  Ty honestly could care less about TV, but the songs on that show will get him every time.  He doesn't really watch, he just stops to get his groove on to the music.  He likes the color song the best.  In fact, I've saved it on YouTube so when we're at restaurants or places that seem to be taking longer than Ty's patience and/or attention span last, he can listen a time or two.  Whatever works...

Last, but definitely not least on the list of happenings in the past month...Ty stayed overnight with CiCi for the first time!  I was afraid that by not leaving him for more than a few hours it was actually debilitating for both of us.  It wasn't for lack of trying either.  We have had the busiest summer and start to fall.  We are rarely home on the weekends and when we are, the last thing Ty needs is to be shipped off again.  I finally bit the bullet and within a 24hr period I had plans made.  Cooter had to work near my parents' house  one Friday so he dropped us off to play for the day.  When he was done working he picked me up, we left Ty, and had ourselves a wonderful date night.  We just went to dinner and a movie.  I didn't realize how wonderful dinner would be when (1) I didn't have to order something just because Ty will be able to eat off my plate, and (2) I didn't have to tend to someone constantly.  Peacefully wonderful...and I had two glasses of wine!  We enjoyed the quiet time at the movies too.  The last movie we went out to see was 5 days before I had Ty.  We talked about going out for ice cream or maybe a beer after the movie, but we ended up home in bed early, just because.  The downside to overnight plans...to drop Ty off and pick him up requires 4 hours of driving...an hour to my parents, hour home, and back to get him.  To take Ty to his parents would be 6 hours of back and forth.  Not exactly what we want to do for a relaxing couple's night.

We just got back from our Disney cruise, which deserves its own blog altogether.  I will say that it was amazing.  Disney vacation will definitely be in our future.  Pictures to come from the cruise, but for now, just this post...or I fear it will never be done.

Off to bed...

sleeping...or lack thereof

In the beginning Ty was not what I would've called a great sleeper.  He religiously woke up every 3 hours to nurse, 4 if we were lucky.  By the time he finished eating and we did diaper changes, I was only sleeping maybe 2-3 hours in between.  By medical definition, sleeping through the night is considered 5 uninterrupted hours.  He did that the day he turned 12 weeks.  I seriously thought I was a new woman. If you would've told me that I'd have to settle for sleeping in 2-3 hour increments, while still taking care of a baby, keeping the house clean, and cooking dinner, for a solid 3 months, I would've thought you were crazy.  Its amazing how the body adjusts.

By about 4 months, Ty was solidly sleeping through the night.  We would even get 6-7 hour stretches, sometimes even 8!  Then we started solids and that  rocked my poor baby's world.  I should've known that an infant with such a sensitive belly would have digestion issues when we introduced food.  Sure enough, he was waking in the night again, this time with dirty diapers.  Eventually that tapered off and I learned what he could and could not eat, and we were back to sleeping a relatively solid amount of time...or so I thought.  Ty had a rather extended stay in our bedroom, until about 6 months.  Neither of us were ready to have him in another room, so he slept peacefully beside me in his rock-n-play.  When he'd wake up I'd easily place the pacifier in his mouth, shush, and rock him back to sleep.  In fact, I had extras on the night stand for back-up.  It wasn't until we bit the bullet and moved him to his own room that I realized he wasn't really sleeping through the night at all!  Once in his own room, I was getting up repeatedly to replace his pacifier.  At first I didn't mind...he always went right back to sleep, as did I.  Over the next few weeks, he was depending on me a little too much, and I was up probably 6-8 times a night.  One exhausting night, I was getting up for the 6th time before 3am and Cooter stopped me.  That's the first time we let him cry it out.  That night spurred a very difficult couple of nights as we let our son learn to self-soothe...a skill that we would praise ourselves for later.  After that, Ty became a super sleeper, sleeping 10-12 hours a night.  Talk about a new woman!  I was even awake before him in the morning, enjoying a few minutes to myself, and loving that I wasn't awakened with a screaming cry.

Fast forward 5 months.  Around his first birthday, sleep began evading my sweet boy.  For my kid, bad sleep equals more bad sleep.  So if he slept poorly one night, he had horrible naps, etc. until he'd eventually have a marathon sleep to catch himself back up.  He's been like that since day 1.  So, people think I'm the nap nazi with my kid, but I kind of have to be, especially since I'm the one waking up with him in the night.  We blamed this lack of sleep on teething, which he finally was.  Tooth #1 cut and made its debut without any warning at all.  Sweet, I got this, I told myself!  A full month later, Ty cut 4 teeth in just a couple of weeks.  He was up every night, mostly wanting to be held.  I complied because I hated to see my baby in pain.  After it seemed that teething was momentarily done, but he continued to wake each night, we let him cry it out again.  It does not get any easier just because he's older.  In fact, he stands up now and whether he's doing it on purpose or not, he cries right into the monitor.  Breaks my heart.  Again, we praised our toughness, as the couple of weeks to follow were full of blissful sleep!

Now here we are again, waiting for Mr. Sandman to lull our baby back into a better sleeping routine.  What's worse this time...sometimes he wakes 2-3 times a night.  The only thing that keeps him asleep is being held.  He's a big baby now, and its very hard to get comfortable with him, and he squirms throughout trying to get comfy himself, so I know he's not getting quality sleep either.  This round of waking started with ear piercing screams in the middle of the night, like terrifying screams that make you jump out of bed.  Thinking that maybe he was having night terrors, we went to him, comforted him, and put him back to bed, where he usually stayed asleep the rest of the night.  Then teething started again.  We can see the tooth, we can feel the tooth, but it will not cut.  He wakes up, we go get him, comfort him, put him back to bed, and an hour later, do it all again.  Last night he was out by 9, up by 11, I laid with him on the couch for an hour, put him to bed at midnight, and he was up again at 2.  I laid with him again, but every time I tried to move him, he woke up.  So that went off and on until 5:30am, when he thought it was time to wake up.  Oh my.  After we are certain that teething takes a pause (if it ever does), we'll have to let him self-soothe once again.  I hate to do it, but none of us are well-rested.  I just remind myself that the next day he's all smiles, and has no recollection of the night before.

Praying for peaceful dreams for my little guy.

little sponge

Our baby boy is 14 months old.  Pushing further into a state of being as toddler and less as a baby (unless of course its anywhere near nap or bedtime, then he's very much still a baby).  Not sure where my last post and/or update left off and frankly I'm not going to go back and reread at the moment.  So, I'm going to throw out the disclaimer that if I repeat myself, I'm very sorry!  Ty is soundly sleeping, I am caught up on what I needed to do during his nap, and this is the last of my quiet time for today...therefore, I blog.

Want an explanation of this month's random post title?!?  It describes Ty perfectly right now.  The kid is a sponge.  He takes in anything and everything he sees, hears, feels, and experiences around him.  Its really quite amazing to think of how much he has learned in just the last month.  The biggest news to date is that we are officially WALKING!  As many of you probably saw via facebook, Ty took off over the past couple of weeks and he has been perfecting his wobbly walk ever since.  He has gone from a couple of very slow steps with much coaxing from momma and daddy, to walking completely independently by choice most of the time.  He still crawls a lot, especially if he needs to get from point A to point B very quickly.   He still needs a piece of furniture, the wall, Laila, or a random warm body to pull himself up, but I foresee that skill improving in the next few weeks.  I do realize that running is also in the near future, and my exercise level of keeping up with him around the house is about to increase, but for now, I love watching him find his independence.  Ty is so good at keeping himself busy...most of the time.  It never fails as I'm trying to cook dinner or get some work done in the office, he is in desperate need of my attention.  As most parents would agree, when it gets eerily quiet, you start looking for trouble though...but most of the time I find Ty quietly playing in his room when he sneaks off by himself.  He's playing and manipulating toys differently all the time now.  He loves his Little People farm and airplane.  I find little people all over the house.  He likes his shape sorters, although he'd rather take the lid off and empty and refill the box repeatedly than try to actually get the shape in the right hole.  He has recently taken a liking to cars and has figured out how to "drive" them around.  So cute.  One of his favorite things to get into is the kitchen cabinets.  We have the chemicals baby proofed, but the rest of the kitchen is his domain.  He stacks bowls, plays with tupperware, and oddly enough, he is most intrigued by the grilling spatulas and basting brush.  Whatever makes him happy.  He asks to see the deer and ducks all the time.  As soon as Cooter walks through the door Ty drops whatever he's doing to go meet him and ask to pet the deer, pointing towards the office.  This past weekend he started saying fish as well, asking Cici to take him to see the fish all weekend long.  He has mastered several new body parts, including his belly button, head, eyes, nose, teeth and toes.  He is starting to copy facial expressions and movements.  He knows how to reach up high on command.  He LOVES music and dances like no one is watching.  Like I said...little sponge.

helping me dust

trying to put his shoes on himself

riding the big boy toys

using his spoon

obsessed with deer

Laila is quite possibly one of Ty's favorite people in the world (yes, she is a person in our family).  This boy snuggles, cuddles, plays with and beats up on this dog.  She is such a good sport and loves him all the same.  She is rarely far from him.  I often find him in her bed or laid up next to her.  He's learned to "love her" (our words for be gentle) and pat her softly.  She cracks him up.  He gives her treats when we have to leave somewhere.  In fact, he can walk from the kitchen to her kennel in our bedroom, treats in hand, toss them in the crate and close her door.  As I pick him up he waves bye bye to her.  A boy and his dog...  I fully expect her to move into his room once he's out of his crib.

Raising an almost toddler is such a rewarding experience.  Watching your child learn new things just amazes me every day.  Love this little boy.  Although its not without its challenges though.  With new knowledge and kid-like wisdom comes strong wills and more stubbornness.  The daily battle right now is the fact that Ty props his foot up on his high chair tray.  I honestly could care less, but it bugs the bejesus out of Cooter.  He is so worried that will lead him to put his foot on the table one day.  After LOTS of warnings, foot slaps, and short-lived tears, Ty will now smile and promptly remove his foot when asked.  Communication, or lack thereof, is also a major challenge at this age.  Ty is aware enough to know what he wants, but struggles to tell us.  Lots of screaming is involved.  Sometimes there are tears, fake and real, and sometimes its just an outright scream of frustration.  The pediatrician actually warned me that this would be happening.  If an object is near, he will point, which helps a bit.  We are currently working on simple sign language.  Ty can sign please.  Although we have really only worked on and mastered one sign, its pretty neat to know that you just assimilated the first line of communication with your child.  Its so funny because he brings us toys he needs help with, shoes to put on, etc. and immediately signs please.  I'm pretty sure he recognizes the word and sign for more, but he refuses to use it.  Instead if I ask and he does indeed want more of something, he just says please.  We're working on signs for thank you, more, and milk right now.  Everyday we sing the alphabet song, work on colors, and count to 10.  I can't imagine what all I'm going to be able to brag about next month.  Our little boy just blows me away.

I say this all the time, but I am just SO happy to be his momma.

Ty's visit with his Great Gram

As promised, I have pictures from Ty's visit with his Great Gram earlier this month.  With the passing of my Papa when I was 13wks pregnant, and Mimi when Ty was almost 6 months old, I realized how precious our time is with the ones we love.  Ty now has two great grandmothers left.  We try to make sure he sees them as often as possible.  Cooter's Granny lives just 30 minutes away from us, so we fortunately get to see her often.  Gram has rarely had the opportunity to be with the babies without lots of other family members stealing attention and trying to love on them.  She got to spend 3 nights at mom and dad's.  Ty and I came and stayed for a few days so Gram could have some uninterrupted baby love.  Ty and Addi are so fun together now.  They play together (kind of) and have the most fun drinking out of each other's sippy cups and trading pacifiers.  Every time we're together I'm reminded how fast the two of them are growing.

This is my piano that I have yet to move to my own house.  It was originally my aunt's, who gave it to me in high school.  I used to love playing it when I was little.  I love that my son loves it too!

Hanging with Gram

 he has HER cup

 now they have their own cups

 trying to give Addi her paci

Gram wanted to take some generational pictures.  Four generations!  Unfortunately we waited until both babies were almost ready for bed and way too fussy for pictures.  Ty wasn't supposed to be in this first pic...he just saw an opportunity to play on the stairs.

 WAY too tired for pictures!

 Addison and CiCi

 Gram and the babies.  She looks so proud.  Warms my heart...
31 years ago she held babies just like this...my cousin Zac and I were exactly the same age apart as Ty and Addi.

 Pop and the babies

 Ty was slowly losing his patience.

and...he's done.

 Pop and Addison

Ty somehow always cons Pop and CiCi into taking him to see the fish.

 trying to convince Pop to open the top so he can feed the fish

Family time is unmeasurable.  I will forever cherish these memories.

catching up

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!

 caterpillar cupcakes

 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...