Tyler's 3 Year Well Check...

Tyler had his 3 year old well child check up today. Matt took him to this appointment. It was the first time I haven't been to one of Tyler's well check appointments. While I missed going, I loved the adventure that these two had...and the fact that Matt documented some of it for me.

Tyler really liked having his blood pressure checked. It must have something to do with all of the practice that he gets checking all of our blood pressures with his doctor's kit.

After Tyler got his finger pricked (which they also refer to as an "alligator bite," Matt asked him if he could take a picture of him to send it to me. He said, "No, no you can't take a picture of me to send to Mommy." Matt sent this to me anyways. This is such a classic Tyler face!

When Tyler's appointment was over and he was getting ready to leave, the nurse said, "Maybe if you are really good, you can have a milk shake." When Matt was tell me this story, I was thinking..."Ummm, sure, Ms. Nurse. That is easy for you to say!" Anyways, daddy pulled through with a milk shake for Tyler (and himself). Tyler's request: chocolate milk shake. 

Tyler weighs 34 pounds (72%). He is 3 feet, 2 inches (61%). His blood pressure was 80/50. He got a clean bill of health!

Dear Jacob...

Dear Sweet Jacob,

You are five months old. How is this possible? Tell me! You are such a calm baby - until you start feeling hungry. Once you start feeling hungry, there is no pleasing you until you are eating food or drinking a bottle! You have been eating foods for a couple of weeks now. Your favorite food is sweet potatoes but you are willing to eat any of them that I feed you (peaches, green beans, pears, butternut squash, or apples). We will try bananas next. If I take too long putting the spoon in your mouth, you kick your feet back and forth while you sit in your high chair to let me know that speeding things up would make you much happier.

You are so content in all other moments. If you do start to fuss (especially when I am drying you off from your bath), you instantly calm down if I sing Santa Clause is Coming To Town. I don't quite understand it, since Christmas was over 3 months ago, but you like it and I continue to do it. You can now roll from the front to the back. Once you roll over on your stomach, you have trouble rolling back over. Sometimes, you fall asleep on your stomach and other times, you make sure to let us know how much you want to be rolled back over. You love to jump in your bouncy seat. You bounce so much sometimes that it is not uncommon for you to fall asleep or just plain wear yourself out! You also flash smiles to us all like it is the one task that you have been given in your little life. 

Your smile warms my heart...especially when I can see your dimples. Before you were born, I often wondered how I would ever love another child as much as I love your brother, Tyler. All I can tell you is that then you came along and changed my theory - I have enough love to go around! 

You are so, so, so sweet. Thank you for filling my heart in the way that you do.

Love,

Mommy

Our Very Routine Weekend...

Finally! We had a regular, routine, relaxing kind of weekend. We spent the weekend getting some family pictures taken, cleaning the house and entertaining Tyler!

We had this rocking horse stored in a closet. We actually forgot it was there. Tyler spotted it and then of course, wanted to ride it immediately! When it was time to go to bed, he said, "Goodnight, horse!"

Child labor laws don't mean anything if the incident occurs in your own house, right? Listen, the kid likes to vacuum so we just go along with it!

Jake loves his fingers these days and is more comfortable on his stomach lately.

Let's play a game. Where's Tyler? Oh, there he is. It was a pajama kind of day and he spent some time by himself, reading his books!

Don't worry - the room didn't get bombed. Tyler just walked through. It is amazing how many toys we can go through in 10 minutes. Also, look at Jake on the blanket. He spends most of his day watching Tyler.

When Tyler woke up on Saturday, we noticed that his eye seemed to have some drainage. Our pediatrician has weekend hours so Matt took him in. Sure enough, the poor kid had pink eye. This is only the second time he had pink eye but the first time, he wouldn't have remembered it because of his age. We started on the drops right away but Tyler lounged around all weekend.

Like father, like son.

While folding the laundry, Jake fell asleep. Who can blame him? It isn't that interesting!

Jake is finally starting to become more comfortable sleeping on his stomach!

And lastly, a picture that very subtly describes how tired we are sometimes. This is baked asparagus. It would have been very good if we ate it on the evening that we cooked it. Apparently, we got so busy that we forgot that we cooked asparagas for dinner. Ready for hte best part? We didn't realize it...until I turned on the oven to pre-heat it for dinner the next night and opened the oven when I thought I smelled something baking in the oven! Oops :)

March Happenings...

I have been involved in a program called, Explore Transplant. The program is a non-profit organization that travels nationally to provide education to dialysis providers about how to talk with their patients about kidney transplant. It has been a very long interview process. In March, I traveled to Georgia to complete the final interview process. I got the job! :) This is a supplemental job that I will do several times per year.

The day that I was leaving to go to Georgia, we had a bad ice storm. Here is a picture of the plane being "de-iced." There is only one de-icer in the entire airport so you can imagine that this process took a long time! There were alot of flight delays but luckily, my flight made it out!

When Jake is asleep, he is really asleep.

Same thing goes for Tyler. He was sound asleep and didn't even wake up when the flash went off. One thing you can't see in this picture is how many animal "friends" he has. They take up most of his bed! He knows all of the animals in his bed. If he can't find one of them at night, he gets upset and calls out to us, saying, "Mommy, Daddy...I don't have everyone!"

Seriously, how cute is this bald little guy?!

I think Jake's hair looks blonde here. Sometimes, it looks brown...and other times, it has a blonde color to it. The pacifier on the right is just about the greatest pacifier ever! We have not lost one of those pacifiers yet!

Jake and Tyler take baths together. It makes life so much easier. They both manage to entertain eachother, and we get the process over with for both kids in one bath tub session!

Good Luck Charms...

Seriously, these are the two luckiest charms in my life! Jake is 5 months old and Tyler is 3 years old!

Lifelong Friend Gets Married...

See the happy couple? That is one of my "oldest" friends, Kristen. We grew up together at Rushing Creek Court and share so many wonderful memories! She got married this past weekend in Arlington, VA, to Jonny. Matt and I left the boys back in NC for the night with Matt's parents and we headed to Virginia for the wedding! We had such a good time seeing so many friends!

Jump to Sleep...

I put Jake in the jumperoo while I went to get dinner ready. When I returned, I found him like this. Poor guy - jumping around apparently gets very tiring!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Tyler!!

Happy 3rd birthday to Tyler!! I was actually out of town on his birthday (I know, I know. Tell me about it. The internal struggle and times I felt like a bad mom for missing his actual birthday was unreal!) We celebrated Tyler's birthday twice. We celebrated with our little family of four and then we also celebrated at Matt's parents house.

We made Tyler a cake - yellow cake with chocolate frosting :)

We opened presents right before bed. Tyler got this turtle, that he has named "Telly." Actually, Matt and I are in debate about the name. I think the turtles name is "Telly." Matt thinks the turtles name is "Tully." The way that Tyler pronounces it, makes it sound like Matt and I are both correct on the name! The turtle lights up at night and puts stars on the ceiling. Tyler was so excited about this gift!

We also celebrated at Matt's mom and dad's house as well. He got many gifts, including clothes, a Jake and the Neverland Pirates small lunch box and play dough!

Happy Birthday, Tyler! We love you more than words can express! You have brought more joy and love into our lives over the last 3 years than we ever knew possible. We love you to the moon and back!