Monday, January 20, 2014

How Old is My Kid?

I know people say to new parents "Treasure every minute, because they'll be grown up before you know it."  First of all, don't tell new parents that.  I'm sorry, but I don't know that I want to treasure the spit up, nights where he just won't sleep more than an hour at a time, or poop blowouts when we're out in public.  Secondly, you're right.  My kid seriously changes every day!

Meal times have always been difficult for us.  Jason keeps Tyler occupied while I make food, but then he hated being banished to his bouncy chair while we ate.  It's not like he was in another room or we ignored him.  He was right there beside us, and we made a regular point of talking to him, trying to make him laugh, or dancing to his bouncy chair's music.

Well, my fussy-at-mealtimes baby has more or less disappeared every since Jason put together his new highchair (thanks, Grandma and Pa!).  He was a little apprehensive at first...


...but loves that he can play with toys while sitting (He loves sitting... as long as it's not in your lap on the couch.  He still hates that).



The past couple of days, we haven't put his tray on at all.  That way, he has access to his favorite toy -- his feet.  I need to capture some pictures of him grabbing his feet and then extending his legs, but he's keeping himself occupied while we eat, so I usually have other things on my mind.

Other "holy cow, that's cool" things my kiddo can do:
~He is now a tummy-time pro.



~He can roll multiple times in a row, basically until he hits an obstacle.

ta-dah!
~The other day, Jason sent me this picture:


He can now feed himself?!?

~In addition to his normal "talking," he now loves to make raspberry noises with his mouth.  He does this all the time, even as he's falling back to sleep in the middle of the night.
~He grabs everything in sight.  For the most part we let him, all the while teaching him about temperatures and textures (the cold, smooth soda can, the soft blanket that he is allowed to touch but not eat...).  Unfortunately, he also tries to grab the remote, our phones, Jason's glasses, and my hair.  Sometimes when he's eating, he'll bat at my hair like it's one of his dangly toys.  So cute!

~About a million other things, but who's counting? :-D


Friday, January 17, 2014

Christmas 3 -- Selfs in Raleigh

For the second year in a row, Jason's family was kind enough to travel to us for Christmas on December 28th.

They showed up around noon, and munched on goodies like cookies, cheese straws, cheese ball & crackers, and coconut cake (all either store-bought or brought by family members) while we waited for everyone to show up.

After opening presents, which was a ten-minute free-for-all (like I've mentioned before, everyone opens presents at the same time), we ate a late lunch/early dinner of lasagna, garlic knots, and salad.

Confession time: I was the frantic host and spent most of the day fretting about something.  That means I forgot to take pictures!  So, please visit this website to see Jason's pictures from that day and the other two Christmases.


Thus ends the tale of our 3 Christmases...

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Christmas 2 -- Down Time

Things sometimes get a little, um, crazy at my parents' house.  We were all born with the gift of gab and sometimes we all talk at the same time!  We enjoyed a very mellow morning at Kara and Kelly's house on December 27th while some other family members went shopping.

watching Despicable Me 2





I have to admit, I love the last two pictures.  That's what happens when my supertalented husband takes my camera.  That said, I had to crop several of these pictures to capture the magical Mama-and-Tyler moment.  Scroll down to see why...






















Someone was not amused...

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Christmas 2 -- Jamesville, part 2

We stayed at Kara and Kelly's house while in Jamesville.  It's a little less crazy than Mom's house (sorry, Charley, but you always seem to bark loudly at inopportune times) and they already had lots of baby stuff we could borrow.  As an added bonus, Addison and Tyler got some quality cousin time.


playing with the car Cousin Addison gave him

He loved Addison's old jumpy thing so much we're going to borrow it from K&K

Addison getting her puppy dog to strum her new guitar

Everyone ready to watch Despicable Me 2

precious

Monday, January 13, 2014

Christmas 2 -- Jamesville, part 1

Jason, Tyler, and I headed east on December 26th.  Jason wanted to start a new tradition where we eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel on the way each year.  Who am I to argue with that?

Tyler slept through most of our breakfast.  When he woke up, he joined us by eating a breakfast bottle.  As we finished up, our waitress informed us that someone else had picked up our check.  How wonderful!!!  So here's a public thanks to those anonymous people.  Thanks!

At my folks' house, we ate lunch and started to open presents.  Present-opening is the big difference between my family and Jason's family.  My family take turns, oohing and ahhing over each gift.  I like this because I get to see what everyone got each other, including people's reactions to the gifts we gave them.  However, this can often go on for hours.  Jason's family open all their own presents at the same time.  I like this because it's a lot shorter and less of an ordeal, but I hate that I don't get to see what everyone got.  This year, I was handing out gifts, so everyone was done opening before I even got over there to watch!


Pictures from present-opening:





Tyler was soooo good (of course, he's perfect!).  He slept during lunch and was content sitting with different family members during present-opening.


One requested present for him was this mobile from IKEA.  They have it at daycare, and they say it's one of his favorite things to play with.  From what I've seen, they are right.  We put it together that night, and he went straight to "work," reaching for the dangling toys and spinning the side pieces.  Thanks, Aunties J!



kind of a crazy picture of him, but it shows how intense he is with it

Friday, January 10, 2014

Christmas 1 -- Around the House

Assorted decorations, ornaments, and Tyler's stuff from Santa...

snow birds





Tyler's stuff from Santa -- two new outfits, four new sets of pj's, foam car and plane, a football o'ball, and an o'ball with a rain stick inside (the things that look like honeycombs in the picture)
Tyler's stuff from us -- a new onesie and set of socks, stacking cups (the thing that looks like a red and orange ball in the picture)


Stacking cups:


Thursday, January 9, 2014

Christmas 1 -- Our House

It may not happen every year, but Jason and I are pretty determined to block off Christmas Eve and Day for our small family to celebrate at home.  Christmas Eve must have been quite uneventful, because I can't remember any specifics.  We put Tyler in Christmas pj's.  That's about it.  Is that sad?

Christmas morning, Tyler woke up, ate, and then played with us in bed for a while before Jason and I got dressed (because we knew we'd be taking photos) and went downstairs.

Tyler is a morning person just like his Mama.  He laughs and smiles and is so excited in the mornings... except Christmas morning... when we wanted to take photos of him... *sigh*

We showed him his new toys:



All he wanted to do was play with his old toys:



Jason and I opened our presents, ate breakfast, and had a rather leisurely morning.  Aunts Jill and Jodi stopped by on their way to Jamesville for lunch and some Tyler time.




And... that's our Christmas.  I'm sure we did other things.  This is what happens when I blog about events that happened three weeks ago.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Nothing Much

In Sunday School yesterday, our teacher asked us what were we looking forward to in 2014.  Some people said new jobs or family vacations.  Jason's reply?  "Watching our little boy change every day."  Not that this isn't momentous, but we're looking forward to 2014 being pretty uneventful for us.  Looking back on the years we've been together, we've gone through major life changes each year.  Here's hoping 2014 is a little tamer!

2007: Began dating in January, got engaged in September



2008: Got married in June



2009: Jason quit his job and began working at SAS in September.  I also quit my job in September.

bye bye, Enthalpy!
Jason's breakfast on his first day at SAS


2010: I went back to school in January to get my Master's Degree in teaching

sporting my new lab coat from KHB


2011: I graduated grad school in May and began a new career as a teacher in August

graduation day with the fam

2012: bought a new house in June and sold our townhouse in July

closing day

2013: became a family of three in August



2014: Who knows???