Happy Anniversary Bradley!

Happy 2nd Anniversary to my husband! And yes, I'm back dating this post... we're one of four couples of our friends that have anniversaries within a week of one another... and well, even with some of them having new babies (also within weeks of each other!!) they all found time to fit in a sweet anniversary post.. so here's mine, just a week late!!!

In some ways I can't believe it's already been two years and in many other ways it seems so much longer than two years (in a good way of course!). My how things have changed for us, our responsibilities have certainly become more substantial, even just over the past year we've added a new house (a new kitchen for the house), a new car for me (I think every one's grateful for this!), a new job for Brad and of course of brand new Baby! I love our life and wouldn't want to be on this crazy journey with anyone else!

I love you Brad - thanks for being an amazing husband and incredible dad to Tyler!!!

Happy One Month Baby Boy!

Tyler's one month old today! I can't believe it, my sweet newborn will soon officially be called an "infant" - where does the time go?!

Since I've been bad at posting the past couple of weeks here's a recap of some of the things Tyler has enjoyed doing this past month:

My Daddy Rocks...

Brad literally "rocks" when it comes to calming Tyler down and putting him to sleep! We were extremely fortunate to have received the wonderful gift of the "5 S's" from my girlfriend and fellow Mother Kim, before Tyler was born. Even in the hospital Brad was already perfecting the side lying position and the bouncing ("S" is really for shaking, but I'm not a fan of that word when it comes to babies!!). To this day our little buddy still sleeps all swaddled up, we're BIG believers he sleeps better and longer when he's in his "straight jacket" as his Grandma calls it! Here's some pictures of Daddy working his magic during some of Tyler's fussier times!

Sleepy, sleepy baby...

These past four weeks Tyler's done lots of sleeping, unfortunately I feel like it's mostly during the day, but I'll take what I can get! He's officially 8 lbs, 9 ounces, up 1 1/2 pounds from his birth weight - that growing can really take it out of a little guy!

Tummy time...

I know, I know, he's only 4 weeks old, but come on, what mom isn't always worrying about the development and stimulation of their babies! So to help my little man out, we try to spend a little time each day on our tummy to develop those neck muscles. It's key that this activity take place during Tyler's happy alert time of the day, usually in the mornings - it's really best for all of us this way, trust me!

My favorite toy...

I thought for sure Tyler was a bit too young for any of the toys he has, but when I started thinking about how he likes to stare at the wall next to his changing table or look up at the lights in the kitchen, I thought it might be time for the Fisher Price Aquarium. Boy does this kiddo love that thing! The first time I put it in his crib with him his legs started going crazy and he was mesmerized by it! I certainly do love those little fishy friends of his too - it usually buys me a quick 5 minute shower some mornings, ah the memories of life before baby!

Have I mentioned, he's also perfected the Heisman Pose?!

Who am I???

During this past month Tyler has also been compiling quite the list of nicknames! Not sure which ones will officially stick, but here's our little list just so we don't forget someday: Ty, Biscuit (of course), Ty Ty, Booger (affectionately given by his father - what's funny about this is that this what my sister called me for years when we were growing up!), Monkey, Stinky and our favorite Mr. T! Regardless of what we call him, he's certainly the king of this castle! I love these pictures of our tiny baby in our king size bed!





Of course I'm his momma... but I swear that's a smile!

Working on a bottle...

We've been working on introducing Tyler to a bottle for the past week. The first couple of attempts were made by Brad and little man was curious, biting and checking it out, but it always ended with him realizing what we were trying to pull over on him he wanted nothing to do with it! A couple days ago I had Grammy give it a shot and much to my surprise, my sweet baby boy downed the entire thing! Now we're only talking half an ounce here, but it was like a miracle to me, giving me a little glimmer of freedom in my future (I seriously need a pedicure and wouldn't mind a quick meal out with my husband for our anniversary)! I thought were were good to go, so his Dad gave him a bottle later that night - he took a few sips and then things went downhill pretty quickly! So needless to say we've got some more work to do, but we're getting there!


Hmmm, what is this, I taste something familiar...


















Did you seriously think I wasn't going to know the difference?

















Well maybe this isn't so bad after all...

















Going, going... GONE!!!















That was exhausting...

We love the fall!

What are we going to do once the cold weather sets in? Tyler and I try to get out everday for a walk, of course if it's a morning, afternoon or evening walk with Daddy, all depends on the schedule the little man chooses to be on that day. At this point (4 weeks today - Happy Birthday Buddy!), I'm convinced we're still a long way from being on a schedule of any type! When I think about Tyler's sleeping schedule from a rational point of view it's not so bad, but when waking up in the middle of the night it sure feels like a totally different story! He tends to wake up every 2 to 3 hours to eat - which takes an hour in itself (have I mentioned I have a lazy and sleepy eater?!) during which Mommy falls asleep multiple times, but we're managing through! I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for that long awaited 4, 5 maybe even 6 hour strech I've been told is in the future... but we'll just keep hoping at this point!

Thanks again for my stroller Uncle Tim - I (usually) love it!!!

Just chillin' - would somebody please get this thing moving?

Put the camera down lady, let's go!

I told you to put that camera down. You didn't start moving soon enough, now you've lost your chance!

Hurricanes in Ohio?!

Sorry about the break in action on the blog, but we were without power for 3 days and I finally have a chance to get things back to some sort of order around here (as if that's possible with a 3 week old)! Hurricane Ike made it's way to Ohio and certainly packed quite the punch even after traveling all the way here - those poor folks in Texas, I can't imagine! (Amy, I've been thinking about you and hope you and the family are doing all right!) I've never seen anything like it, incredible winds that lasted for hours and trees and power lines kept coming down. We were lucky - some very large branches came down in the yard, but they missed the house. Here's some pictures of the disaster - these really don't do it justice. But at least we've got power back, some folks only a block over are still without it and may be until Sunday - that's an entire week!

I'll get back to posting about little Tyler hopefully tomorrow - he's really growing, in fact on Wednesday I went to weigh him and he had gained 9 ounces since a week ago! But for now it's off to empty out the fridge since it's all spoiled... yuck!

Rub-a-dub-dub

Last night was Tyler's first bath, see the photos for a play-by-play!

Our unsuspecting awake and happy baby boy...


A little uncertain, what exactly is this you're doing to me???

Ah, this is the life, just hanging out!

Help me, somebody make this stop... people keep removing me from warm cozy places lately!

Whew, I'm pooped after that traumatic experience!

Shhhhhh...

After getting the reassuring news that Tyler is gaining weight, we decided it was time to introduce the pacifier to our little man. He's always sucking on his hands, blanket or anything else that gets near his mouth, even after being fed well! Needless to say I was hopeful something else could calm my baby other than me, I need to get some sleep around here at some point! Well we're still working on it and sometimes he likes it, other times he shakes his head at it, most of the time he drops it, but here's some sweet baby pics of when he actually allowed himself to fall asleep with it - ah the peacefulness!

Our growing boy

Yesterday was Tyler's first pediatrician visit with Dr. Jeff. He was such a good boy until we had to get him undressed and measure and weigh him - but he weighed in at 7 lbs 2 oz, 1 oz over his birth weight - Mommy was so relieved! Every thing else looked great too - we have a perfect, healthy, growing boy! We also officially have been given the clear to have our first real bath, stay tuned for pictures from that adventure...

Busy busy weekend!

Tyler had quite the weekend, which was filled with many "firsts". To begin with he got to meet and spend some time with his Uncle Tim this past weekend, which he thought was great. (Thanks for my stuffed lab Uncle Tim, I love it!) Here he is hanging out with his Uncle watching some football - his daddy's so proud!

He also lost his umbilical cord - my boy's getting so big already! And finally, he initiated mom and dad by peeing on them, himself, his bed, his clothes and any thing else he was near more times than one could imagine in a 24 hour period! I've always heard it's incredible the amount of laundry with a baby at home, but I certainly wasn't anticipating 5 different outfits and pajamas in one day! Whew, if that weekend doesn't ware out a one and a half week old I don't know what will!

New guy in charge...

Thursday was a big day for us, we decided to take Tyler to the baby weigh station at the hospital to ensure he's a healthy growing boy. As a new mom I was very anxious about this trip in the car, especially since my baby boy is barley big enough to fit what seems to be a huge car seat right now! So needless to say we carefully planned to get Tyler dressed, diapered, cool down the car and successfully get him in his car seat without fussing and then guess what happened.... that's right, our little guy decided to fill his pants! Brad and I looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh... we know who's the boss in our house now!!! Looks like our little man will be dictating our schedule going forward, no matter what we try to do! Here's some pictures once we got re-diapered and were on our way in the car. I have to say he did a wonderful job, he didn't fuss once during his first trip out of the house!

One week old!

Tyler is one week old today - where the time has gone I have no idea! Daddy's been able to take the week off of work and we've enjoyed this past week with our little buddy getting to know him and becoming acquainted with his eating habits (every 2 hours like clockwork... I'm ready and waiting for 3 hours of blissful sleep one of these nights) and sleeping patterns (I'd say schedule, but we all know that's not realistic with a newborn). As a side note on eating every two hours - I never realized that every 2 hours means one hour of sleep for mom who has to get baby up and be sure he's awake enough to feed and then actually feed, burp, change, feed, burp and put back to sleep - whew, it seriously might be the toughest workout of my life! But every time I get out of bed and see him, it's definitely all worth it!

We've had lots of visitors and well wishes over the past week - thank you everyone, we're so lucky to have you all. Thank you to The Dodge's, The Lynch's, The VanZwieten's and Grammy & Pop-Pop for keeping us fed this past week and also, a special thanks to cousin Ali & Will who made a special welcome home sign for Baby Tyler - he loved it!

Tyler's met lots of people who love him over the past week, here's some pictures of him with some of his favorite people. Tyler's also excited to meet Uncle Tim who arrives tomorrow from Chicago just to meet his new nephew!

Tyler meets Grammy for the first time.

Cousin Will can't wait for Tyler to get big so he can play.

Grandma & Grandpa's second trip down to visit with Tyler, he can't wait to see them again on Saturday!

Miss AnnMarie's visit with Tyler once he was home, thanks for the beautiful flowers!

Pop-Pop and Tyler finally get a chance to hang out for awhile!