Time flies when you're a Momma!

 Time DOES fly when you're a mom and this little guy is keeping me pretty busy!  He is mobile and has been for several months now.  However, recently he is FASTER and it is AMAZING how much he keeps me on my toes. I am having to and have been rearranging things because my home certainly hasn't been baby proof and I had NO CLUE!  It's amazing what a baby can teach you!  The good thing is that I'm getting rid of clutter.  The bad thing is I'm probably getting rid of more than just clutter (but I have no room for anything anyway) Oh well!  Lets see, since the last time I posted Tyler has learned so many new things.  Thankfully I wrote them down but guess what?/?  I can't remember where I wrote them down.. so lets see.

Tyler can: (in no particular month order)

*eat just about everything and does a good job eating with his hands

*crawl and fast!

*walk on furniture

*fall into his toy box (funny!!)

*pull faces (I showed one of his faces that he has since stopped doing in the 7th month picture)

*wave goodbye

*say momma and dada

*he gives the BEST kisses!

*open and shut drawers

*I think he understands when we sign more to him.  He gets excited when we do...

*He is still the jumping king.  He will jump any where he goes, he LOVES it!

*He smiles ALL THE TIME!  Rarely does this boy cry, honestly it is RARE!  (except when he is tired or hungry but that doesn't really count in my book)

*He is just a VERY. VERY. happy baby and I'm so lucky!!

*He loves everyone and is really good at going to anyone.

*He is really good about being attacked by cousins!  He just lets them love all over him but when he is done he has this look in his eyes that says, "PLEASE, HELP!!"

*Tyler not only gets compliments from women but men too.  REALLY??  So the other day this guy walks past and tells me how cute Tyler is.  A few seconds later he comes back (into the food place) just to tell me that, "he really is the most handsome baby I have ever seen."  and then walks out.  Tyler is pretty cute :)  But I am partial so of course I am going to think that.

*Tyler is still little.  15.5 oz last month when we took him because I thought he might have an ear infection.... LITTLE!!  But he eats, ALL. THE. TIME so the doctor isn't worried.

*Tyler STILL has a hard time sleeping unless he is attached to the boob.  He pretty much sleeps through the night so that is good but I do think it is because my boob is ready and waiting for him when he wakes up. I used to let him cry for a bit before I picked him up but now now he will sit up and crawl all over me so I can't really let him do that any more.  But he will fall right back to sleep when he is attached so I'm happy, he is happy, we are all happy in the morning and rested which is really important!!!  

I don't mind letting him sooth on me except for the fact that I can't put him into his crib or he wakes up!  FRUSTRATING!!  I tried the cried it out thing and it didn't work.  NOT AT ALL and Yes, I did it right.  All it did was broke my heart!  So, I'm not doing it again.  I'm not ragging on people who do it, it is your right!  I'm glad and slightly jealous that it worked for you but not for Tyler!  HOURS of crying is not worth it to me.  SO, I will have to find another solution!  BUT at least he is doing better than he used to.  AND if sleep is the only thing he struggles with doing on his own then I am pretty lucky because I have an extremely happy baby!

*I love this boy, he has completely changed me and my life and I'm so grateful!  I can't believe how fast time is flying!!

Ok, that's all for now.

Not a good blogger!

You'd think with all that I have to blog about these days, and I have a ton, I'd be better at blogging.  However, I can't seem to find a minute to sit down and write everything down.  Tyler, while an extremely good and happy baby, is also a little demanding on my time.  He likes to be held A LOT!  I don't mind, I love to hold him but sometimes it would be nice to put him down and get things done.  All of his milestones seem to be running into each other and I can' remember what happened when any more.  AHHh I'm so bad!  I've found so many cute ideas on pinterest to mark each milestone and I was determined to do a different idea each time there was something new to "mark" but I never get to it.  OR my camera is dead and I can't find the cord OR I miss whatever he is doing (with a camera) OR... you get the picture.  I didn't even post his 6 month picture even though I took them on the EXACT day he turned 6 months, like I promised I would but then, I never got around to blogging about it.   I suck.
Tyler is growing so fast.  While his little face looks the same as when he was born (well I think he still looks the same) his little body is growing... HAHAHA also slowly.  I took him to the doctor for his 6 month visit and he was once again a champ!  He got shots :(  His poor little face looked at me and I could tell he was wondering why I would let these women hurt him.  BUT as soon as they were done I picked him up and he started bouncing around again like it was no big deal.  He is fantastic!  He (a month  ago) only weighed 14.2 lbs, which put him in the 7.5% and was 25.5 inches tall, 15%.  So you can imagine, he is small.  However, his head which was 17.5 inches around was in the 90%.  Yes, you read that correct... he has a big head!  But I LOVE it!
Tyler has been sitting up on his own for a couple of months now but he is so good at it.  I don't ever need to put him in his bumbo or put pillows around him in case he falls and haven't for some time now.  He is an awesome sitter.  He has been trying for months to turn over back to front and front to back and has been successful at it for awhile now but for some reason decided he didn't want to keep doing it so he stopped for a bit.... then one day decided that not only did he want to start rolling over again but he wanted to roll over and all around...  So, we have a mover on our hands... not a crawler but a roller.  I can tell he wants to crawl and I wouldn't be surprised if he started to soon.  If he doesn't that's ok... I don't want to rush anything but we are encouraging him.  It doesn't hurt to help him learn :)  Tyler laughs so hard and it is so funny.  He pulls faces like crazy and loves to make noise. He also said momma!  I'm serious!!!  He doesn't say it often but he definitely said it.  If you don't believe me ask Chad or my sister in law Chelsea, they heard it too!  Tyler gives kisses and uses my chin as a chew toy.  He is teething for sure!  He gets so excited that he shakes (very cute)  he smiles none stop and LOVES getting attention.  He really likes to be outside and if Utah would only make up its mind about being warm, cold, rainy, windy, snowy, cloudy or sunny that would be great!  I can't WAIT to be able to take Tyler outside more often!! Lets see... I've been feeding Ty solids for 2 months now but I've only just gotten more serious about it.  I don't know why ... I wanted to feed him solids a long time ago but because the doctor said he still needed to get 98% of his food from milk I didn't feel the need to give him very much food.  He likes everything we have given him so far :  green beans, peas, broccoli, sweet potatoes, bananas, cantaloupe, and rice cereal.  This week I'm going to give him asparagus and zucchini next week will be cauliflower and I don't know yet.  Tyler STILL spits up like crazy.  His acid reflux is still going strong but it IS thankfully getting better.  In the meantime Tyler has spit up on everyone that holds him... SORRY EVERYONE!!
Being a mom is hard work!  I realize I only have one but it is still hard!  and I LOVE it!  Tyler is the greatest blessing in the world and might I so humbly add the cutest!
I won't make any promises about my next blog time.  Clearly I haven't been very good at updating anything but I will try.  At least I have to post his 6 and 7 month pictures and soon we will be getting his pictures taken so I will post those too.

OOOOHHHH I was going to ask if anyone out there in blog land who might read this  knows anything about the nanny nap and if you think it would still be worth getting.  Tyler still has acid reflux and it is supposed to help him sleep better.  It is a little late in the game but if I ever have another kid I want one any way and if I don't I will sell it or give it to someone else who can use it.  Anyway, does anyone know anything about it??? It is a little expensive so I just wanted to know if it is worth the money.  I've wanted one for Tyler for MONTHS now and should have gotten it before but whatever, what are your thoughts?

5 months!!!!!!!

Tyler is 5 months and I DID take pictures on the exact day he turned 5 months and meant to post but.... didn't. So I did improve a little bit.  Here are some pictures.

This is Tyler talking to us... he is very very vocal these days

 Tyler's favorite thing to do these days is eat his foot.  Very cute but it makes it harder to change his diaper :)

 And of course, he is a laugher and smiler. I LOVE IT!

 It doesn't look like it but he is sitting up on his own.  He does very well with that now.  I don't leave him by himself when he is sitting up. I know he will fall over so I try to put pillows around but he usually stays up!  Good job, baby boy!

 Again, he is talking...

 I just thought this was cute... he fell over. haha

 This is a picture of Tyler's hair when he was born.  I am posting this because you can see how much hair my little man lost... nearly all of it.  I won't lie and say it's ok... it's not!  I'm sad about it all the time. I miss his hair.  AND not only do I miss his hair, I miss his dark hair.  It makes me want to cry.  WHY?????  Seriously, I don't know.  I just LOVED it and now it is gone.  Sad, very sad!!!  

Tyler update!

 I was reading a friends blog today, she just had a baby not even a month ago and she already has a couple posts about her cutie!!  She is good!!   My baby is creeping up on 5 months now and I have what, 4 posts???  I suck!  I decided to be better and follow my friend's example. I know that I am going to look back and wish that I wrote down everything that Tyler started doing during the first bit of his life but stupid me just thought I would remember.  Guess what?!?!?!  I FORGOT!  AHHH, I'm mad at myself.  "All things Tyler" are running into themselves.  I can't remember what happened during what months.  I'm just going to post the 3 and 4 month pictures of my cutie pie and then just get better from here on out!  Here he is at 3 months.  I LOVE these pictures.  First, I just think he is the cutest!!  Second, I will never forget how much I LOVE the way he focuses on something and THIRD,  I need to remember that he puts up with a lot from me and my "picture taking."  I'm not good at it but I'm trying to learn and he is who I'm learning on.  I am hoping to be worthy of a professional camera purchase someday so I HAVE to practice practice practice.  I'm SURE he does not love it! (Hence the crying baby in the last picture - I waited one picture too long to take the Santa hat!)

Here is what I remember (not all of these things are done at 4 months.  Probably 3/4 were done at 3 months.)  Onto the 4 month pictures! First, his pictures don't look much different than his 3 month pictures. Thank goodness I take a million pictures EVERYDAY of this little man ... at least I have some proof as to what happened for some of his milestones! hahaha  Can I tell you how much I love these pictures too?  Tyler is such a day to day baby.  Meaning, one day he is happy and the next he is REALLY happy!  He struggles with sleep (yes, still, during the day he has a hard time sleeping) and it makes it hard sometimes but he still smiles.  Unfortunately, for me, he just smiles a little less on the days he is having a hard time.  I hate to say my baby is a hard one. Tyler is my first so I don't really have anyone to compare him to.  With that being said,  on the days he struggles with sleep he is a little less happy.  Never the less, I LOVE this little boy!  He makes me the happiest!!    Tyler's smile in the second picture makes me tear up!  Is that crazy or what?!?!?!  I just love how happy he is!  This is how he is most of the time... unless you catch him when he is hungry or sleepy (which is also a lot of the time. haha)

  At 4 months we took Ty to the doctor and he weighed a whole 

12 lbs 10 oz.   25%

 24.5 inches long   25%

 Head:  17.2   

I don't know the % for this but the doctor did mention that I shouldn't worry that his head is bigger than his body because it's normal. HAHAHAHA  I never thought Tyler's head was big, but I guess it is??

 The doctor was impressed that Ty jumped into the 25% for height and I thought, jumped??  I thought he always was in the 25%.... but NOPE!  He was in the 15% and NOW he is in the 25% . So my post for his 2 month visit was wrong.  Oh well!!  (maybe I should go fix it??)  

Facts about Tyler:

HE LOVES TO JUMP!!! And thanks to Chad's cousin, Candace, he has some place to do it!  It is the BEST!!!  Now he jumps everywhere, even if he isn't in the jumper.  I LOVE IT!

He LOVES to kick!

He loves to hold my face like this:  

Usually he is eating my face and/or pulling my hair when he does this, however this is the only picture to show what I'm talking about so please excuse my face!

 Tyler can sit up all by himself.  He is bent over and can only stay up for a half minute but he can still do it.  

He can roll over from front to back and back to front.  He doesn't do it often but he can still do it and it is so fun to see.

He can laugh so well.  OH MY GOSH it is so cute!

He can really cry too.  OH my GOSH it is not fun to hear!  I don't know what happened!!! One night he decided to use his diaphragm and WOW it was loud! (don't worry we took the monkeys off the straps!)

Tyler is also eating rice cereal.  (NOT everyday - mostly because I'm lazy!)  BUT this week I will feed it to him everyday and then when I get back from NJ it will be onto Green beans!  He is going to LOVE green beans! :) 

Tyler found his toes and he LOVES them! I love how he is cross eyed, in this picture, looking at them.  Usually they are in this mouth!

 He loves to look at himself in the mirror. He smiles at himself every time.

He is good at holding onto things.  In fact, while at the doctor, Tyler grabbed hold of the his stethoscope and the doctor said he was impressed at how well he was able to do that! He can even hold his bottle, for a second at least.

He is getting really good at standing.  I think it is because of his jumper.... again Thank you,  Candace!

While I don't have a picture and really need to get one,  here is one of my favorite things Tyler does....  I have been encouraging binkies, why you ask???  Well because I come from a long line of thumb suckers (well, maybe not a long line.... just some of my siblings)  but my youngest brother and I sucked our thumbs until we were..... older.  I didn't want Tyler to get stuck on the thumb.  It is easy, if you have to, to cut a binkie.  It is NOT possible to do that to a thumb.  So, binkie is is.  However, my little man has been sucking his thumb since he was in the womb.... (see second picture) 

Anyway, back to my favorite-ish thing....now that Tyler is able to hold onto things he will grab the binkie out of his mouth, hold onto it and then put his thumb in his mouth...  OOOH I really wish I had a picture of him doing this, next time I will get one.  It is pretty darn cute and funny.  

One of Tyler's favorite things, besides me of course :), is his dad!

Chad is the best dad in the WORLD and my baby lights up when he sees his dad come home at night.  I am telling you, Tyler LOVES his dad!  Chad can get Tyler to smile and laugh better than anyone else!!  And while I might ... maybe just a little... take for granted how awesome of a dad Chad is to Tyler I LOVE LOVE LOVE to see these two together.  I LOVE how both of them just love each other so much.  They are equally happy to see each other when Chad comes home at the end of a very long day.  I swear Tyler just knows that Chad is coming home and wakes up.... he wants to see his dad.  I can't say it enough, Tyler LOVES his daddy!  and It is AMAZING what having a baby can do to a man.  I must say, I am really liking the change!  (Not that Chad needed to change; regarless, it is awesome!) 

 These two!!  AHHH I just love them!

On a more difficult note, Tyler is still struggling with sleep. (he is doing better in his crib though, he will sleep there for more than 15 minutes.  It is GREAT!!) I talked with the doctor about it and am getting help. Don't get me wrong, I sleep... when I am tired, I sleep.  I sleep at night and wake in the morning rested.  I do not feel deprived. Tyler sleeps.  He might put up a fuss and he might be a very light sleeper (like his mother)  and he might wake up more times than I would like (at night) BUT he sleeps.  It is just during the day that Tyler really struggles.   I know that our trip to NJ isn't going to help the situation.  It isn't going to be easy and his sleeping pattern is going to be SO off.  After NJ it is going to be a HARD transition.  There will be a lot of crying in this home.... from Tyler and ME.  I am going to really be working with him to get him to sleep.  UGH I'm not looking forward to it.  I hate to see my baby cry!  I HATE IT!  Anyway, the doctor gave me some information and ideas and tricks that I am hoping will work.   Wish me luck!

My little man is growing up!  When I look at his newborn pictures I miss him.  I miss his hair!  I miss that it used to be really dark!  OOH MY GOSH I MISS IT!  Isn't that a silly thing to miss???... hair????  but then I hold my sweet baby boy and he smiles and laughs and the missing goes away!  He is growing up way too fast and before I know it he will be changing the world... in the meantime, I'm just going to love him and soak up all the smiles and cries and just be thankful I'm finally a mom and that I have a beautiful family!!

 Oh by the way, as of today, Tyler weights 13.7 lbs.  LOVE IT!  LOVE HIM!!

Merry Christmas!!

 My intentions are great... but I lack some serious follow through skills.  I spent HOURS upon HOURS :)  putting this card together.  I shouldn't admit that it took that long but I'm secure enough to do so....  AND I STILL haven't sent anything out.  Don't worry, I still plan on sending them... tomorrow.  BUT just in case I don't I thought I would post my families very FIRST Christmas card and letter!  So, when you actually get the card (and maybe letter) it will be the same as what you see now :) Yes, I'm that awesome (or lame, whatever you prefer)

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been the best year of our lives, so far.  2011 started with the exciting news that, after a long lesson in patients, our prayers were answered and we were going to have a baby!  There is no better way to start the year!  Of course, like any pregnant couples we just wanted the nine months to be up and have this little baby in our arms.  BUT we had to wait and it seemed like the LONGEST 9 months of our lives.  Now that the nine months are up I look back and to be honest it is all now a blur. Here is what I can remember:

Chad - After a long stretch of being under employed got a job with a company call Stantec and is working full time and sometimes more. Along with the job change came better insurance.  Blessing??  Yes!! and for many reasons!  Along with work Chad is still going to school full time.  This year, however, he is attending Salt Lake community instead of University of Utah because SLCC has more night classes available to him.  Also a blessing because SLCC is a lot less expensive!  Chad just finished with the semester and did really well!  I'm so proud of him.  This upcoming semester he gets to start working on his major classes which means he has a little over 2 years left.  Of course I will be so happy when he is done but for now I'm thankful he is finally taking classes he enjoys and doing so well.  I'm so proud of him.

Tyler-  Well, he is growing so fast.  He is now 3 months old, can you believe it??  Time really does fly!  He went from 6 lb 2 oz down to 5 lb 15 oz and now he is a whooping 12 lbs 2 oz.  He is nearly double his birth weight!!  Tyler is able to hold his head up really well and even has pretty strong legs.  When we stand him up he is able to hold himself up for awhile (yes, I am still holding him up but he is using his cute little legs to stand.).  He doesn't sleep as much as he used to, cries with real tears (very sad), is now laughing and cooing and it is so extremely cute.  He LOVES to kick.  When he gets excited his legs just go and it is so fun to watch.  He smiles a lot (for mom and dad, he is NOT a performer.) He LOVES lights.  He will look at them for hours if I let him.  He rolls to his left side and loves to watch TV.  (please don't misunderstand though, I do NOT put him in front of the TV often.  I just think he likes the lights and color that come from the TV. Remember, he loves lights!!) Tyler is a momma's boy already and I would not be telling the truth if I said I didn't love it.  I take my baby boy everywhere and I just can't get enough of him.  He is such a good little man and VERY VERY cute.  We are so thankful for him!

Margie-  well, I'm a new mom and loving every single second of it.  Yes, it is sometimes hard and I'm not ashamed or afraid to admit that being a mother is sometimes overwhelming but I love my little man to death.  He is worth every single overwhelming moment!  I am so thankful to everyone who showers my baby with so much love.  Thank you for all the sweet thing you say to me about him.  I'm so blessed to have so many people love him so much!!!  I don't know what to say.  I LOVE my family, I'm so grateful for them.  They are the reason I feel so blessed and happy in my life.  I have a beautiful baby boy and and an amazing husband who is patient and so extremely kind to me.  I'm blessed beyond words and I'm grateful to know that life only gets better from here.  My cup runneth over!

Well, that is us in 2011... we are looking forward to 2012!  

Merry Christmas and a very happy new year!  

Love, 

Chad, Margie and Tyler 

Tyler, meet Santa!

Some might find me silly BUT!!!  I wanted to get Ty's picture with Santa.  Chad, on the other hand, did not.  Bless Chad's heart and I love him even more for this but he didn't want Santa, who holds tons of little kids on his lap and thought would have too many germs to share with Tyler, to hold him.  However, after much convincing :)  well, you can see who won.  hehehehe

Merry Christmas!

Wind storm

I initially woke up because of a bad dream.  I'm shocked, however, after hearing the wind that I didn't wake up to that crazy noise because I'm such a light sleeper.  Anyway, Chad was sleeping on one side of me and Tyler was on the other but because the wind was so crazy loud I asked Chad if we could switch directions so that if the window broke Tyler wouldn't be the first to get hit.... so we all switched positions and went back to sleep.  How???  I don't know!  I'm not surprised Chad fell asleep, he can fall asleep to anything and I mean ANYTHING but I.... well, if I can hear my father in law snoring through the floor (and it isn't ever very loud when I do)  I can't fall asleep unless I turn the TV on to drowned him out.  :)  I'm a VERY light sleeper.  Anyway, we woke up (again) that morning and Chad went outside to check things out.  He came back in to tell me the fence was down, shingles were every where, trees were down and a couple of our neighbour's windows broke.  It was crazy windy until about 11:30 then it calmed down and picked back up again for a bit.  We drove around the neighbourhood to find this:

You can see the shingles coming off the two houses at the end of the street.

 These two trees were on both sides of my friends house.  They were so lucky the trees fell the way they did.  Everyone was lucky for that matter.  No one was hurt.

 This is our next door neighbour's house.  You can see the window broken, tree down and the mailbox broken.

 This is my in law's house.  Shingles are all over the yard....  Fence is down in front and back and well, you can see...

 This isn't the greatest picture depicting the torture this green house endured.  Let's just say the green house has seen better days. (also my in law's house)

 My in law's back yard...  the fence is down.  Broken.  That's not good...

 This is my favorite picture....  A trampoline in the tree.  Can you believe it?  Seriously it was windy!

 This house has a whole in the roof, can you see it??

 trees down everywhere!

 The trees even lifted the side walk.

I think it is safe to say the golf course has seen better days as well

Isn't it amazing was nature can do??  Chad and I were lucky for sure, we are walking away with scratches on our car from the shingles but nothing else.  I know that is only because we don't have a house but a lot more could have happened to our cars but nothing did so I consider myself blessed.  At my in laws (where I live)  the shingles blew off (not all but enough), the green house got tossed around, the fence fell and some things they had in the yard got thrown around as well.  What with all the trees that fell I think we are all blessed no one got hurt.  

I'm grateful for today.  Yes, that sounds silly but I am.  It was an experience and I was impressed.  In the very short time I was outside I saw several people walking around the neighbourhood trying to help out and make sure no more damage would be done.  We live in an phenomenal area and if I hadn't noticed it before I definitely noticed it today.  Well, that is all!  I hope everyone else got through today unscathed!  Oh crazy wind!