Successful First Turkey Day...

We headed to Virginia for Tyler's first Thanksgiving. The drive to Virginia was a bust. We were on the road (with about every other person in America) for about 6 1/2 hours of what we expected to be a 4 hour trip. Tyler did really well though, considering the circumstances! To calm him towards the end of the trip, I tried to give him a bottle but he hasn't had a bottle in the car before and he was not feeling it. I'll tell you what he was in the mood for...cheerios! Thank goodness for those little round gems, they kept him entertained while we moved 1 mph down 95S.

When we got to Virginia, Tyler was tired and overhwhelmed by all of the people in the house. My parents were there, as well as my grandmother, sister, brother-in-law and nephew. It was a bit too much for him, but by the time he woke up the next morning, he was ready to play.

We had a great time in Virginia spending time with our family! Here is a glimpse of Tyler's four night stay....

Tyler was fed by others:





He dined with someone his own age:







He cried with his cousin:





He watched tv with his cousin:




He played:











He took a "real" bath out of his "Whale of a Tub":





He ate his first Thanksgiving meal (green beans, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce):





He was held and loved:











We have so much to be thankful for!

8 Month Photo Shoot...

8 months old?! How is that even possible?!

Dear time,
Please slow down.
Love,
Tyler's mom

In all seriousness though, we are loving our time with this little cheeser! :)

Double the Doctor...

We are entering into several weeks of various illnesses. It started off with a bad cold, turned into a stomach virus, turned into a throat infection, turned into an ear infection and now back into another cold.

Tyler had been on anti-biotics (Amoxicilian) for his ear infection, which has caused him to break out all over his body (including his face) with a rash. I took him to the doctor yesterday morning to have them make sure his ears and throat were clear, given this new bad cold. I also wanted them to take a look at his rash. After looking him over, the doctor said all was well so we packed up and went home.

Around 3:00pm yesterday, Tyler started wheezing with every breath out. When Matt got home from work, we decided to call the on call doctor. The on call nurse listened to Tyler over the phone and pointed us in the direction of urgent care (as they were open until 8:00pm and could potentially help us avoid an ER visit).

We got to urgent care around 7:20pm or so. The doctor listened to Tyler and felt that nebulizer treatments were necessary. Tyler got one treatment while we were there. The treatment was approximately 5 minutes long, but hearing him scream with the mask on the entire time felt like 30 minutes. Towards the last minute or so, he calmed down.



Yes, yes I do have a death grip on his hands...but if you saw the fight he put up against this thing, you would see that I had no other option!

Unfortunately, the urgent care center did not have any more machines to send us home with, so they had to call the home health company and have them deliver it to our house. We ended up getting the nebulizer deliver around 10:00pm. Oh, what a night.

Talk about a sad scene:

Artwork for Tyler...

Almost every day when I drop off or pick up Tyler from day-care, I'm always greeted by one of the little girls, Sydney. She always says, "Tyler's mom, here. I drew this for Tyler." For a while, we had been putting them on the fridge, however they have now taken over. I would like to give them honorable mention, however must re-claim the refrigerator:

I'm guessing this should read...

To: Tyler
Love: Sydney

Spikey...

Matt must have done this spikey piece of work. It just doesn't look like something I would do...and it looks like a smile that he would give to only his daddy:

On the Prowl for Puffs...

Matt was home with Tyler on Friday afternoon because Tyler's day-care closed early. When I got home from work, Matt couldn't wait to show me what he and Tyler had been practicing.

Well, folks, here it is:

Over the next few mornings, Tyler showed us how he can move for puffs...

Smiles for Daddy...

I don't get it. Matt can make Tyler smile All.Of.The.Time. I have often studied Matt's "Make Tyler Laugh" moves. When I try to replicate them, Tyler just looks at me like, "Really, Mom?"



I love these moments!

Cheerio Love...

Tyler has been a big fan of cheerios lately. It is so adorable. He tries to grab onto the cheerios, however they end up sticking to his fingers, attaching to his face, ending up in his bib, falling into the high chair or hitting the ground.

I seriously can't get enough of seeing the cheerios actually make it into his mouth!

Here is a little peak of T in action!

Don't forget to check out the yawn at the end. Eating cheerios is hard work!

Just Me and Monkey...

Tyler has a look that we like to refer to as "mean mugging." Here is he in action. Unfortunately, his monkey took the brunt of it:

Illness Strikes...

Our house has been plagued by illness recently. It started a couple of weeks ago, when all of us got the stomach bug at the same time. Shortly after we recovered, Tyler came down with a cold. Shortly after that, Tyler had a throat infection. Shortly after that, Tyler was diagnosed with an ear infection and we were told he should be cutting his first tooth in the next day or two. Poor guy! After three doctor's visits, we are hoping he is on the mend. We're working on a 10 day antibiotic, numbing drops for his ears and ibuprofin:

This sums up how we have spent many moments lately:




Despite his illness, he has been such a good little guy. He has spent most of his time sleeping and/or wanting to be held. He has a hard time in the evenings and can be hard to console. Here's to hoping for some illness-free days in the near future! :)