Scary Monsters

Tyler seems to be obsessed with "scary monsters" lately. He thinks they're everywhere. We were driving home from work/daycare the other day and he said there were scary monsters behind every tree! I asked him if he knew how to make them go away, and he told me that we had to give them "big hugs" to make them go away. He thinks they're outside the house, in the trees, and this evening he told me they were in his bedroom! I try to brush the idea away quickly and distract him with reading books, but he wasn't deterred. He doesn't seem frightened or scared when he tells me that there are "scary monsters" everywhere. He sort of says it matter-0f-factly. Like, if he were to tell me there's grass in our yard. But, I think we're on the verge of being scared of something...

Memorial Day Swimming Lessons

Well, not really, but some friends invited us over to hang out with them at their community pool for Memorial Day. It was nice out, but the water was still freezing! Regardless, Tyler had a great time and really enjoyed playing in the water (a big change from last year!). I'm hoping he learns to love the water as much as Mike does :)

Chillin'

Like Mother Like...Son?

Mike was studying in our computer room, and I fell asleep on the futon behind him. At around 1 or 2 am, Tyler woke up and found us both in there, Mike was still studying. Tyler climbed onto the futon next to me and fell back asleep. Mike took this picture a few minutes later:

Daddy gets an ego boost

This weekend, we went to Pennsylvania for my great aunt's surprise birthday party. We stayed in a hotel near the event, but our bathroom only had a shower stall (no bathtub). Mike and I tried desperately for half an hour to convince Tyler to take a shower in the shower stall. He finally said he would, so I got him undressed and started the shower. Tyler took one look at the dark stall and refused again. Mike asked him if he wanted to take a shower with Daddy. Tyler agreed, but while Mike was in the shower, Tyler pitched another fit. Mike asked him if he wanted to sit in "Time Out" and calm down. Tyler said okay. We put a towel on the toilet seat and Tyler sat on the toilet (still naked) while Mike showered. After a minute or two, I went in the bathroom and asked Tyler if he was ready to take a shower with Daddy. He said,"No, Mommy, I'm still crying."

After a few more minutes, Tyler finally allowed me to guide him into the shower with his daddy. Mike calls Tyler's "stage" awkward, mainly because of Tyler's height, relative to Mike. I think Mike may have changed his mind, though. This is the conversation that ensued:

Mike: Okay, let's clean up Tyler!

Tyler: Daddy! Daddy has a BIG penis!

Mike: Well...yes, yes I do. (imagine Mike puffing out his chest, shoulders back, superhero pose)

Tyler: (Looking down and playing with his own privates) Tyler has a little penis.

Mike: Well, yeah...but, it will get bigger one day!

Tyler: Oh, okay, Daddy!

My sweet Tyler

Last night, Mike and I were putting Tyler to bed. We had just read him a few books and Mike turned out the light and turned on Tyler's nightlight. Tyler wanted Mike to stay and rub his back so that he could fall asleep. But then he sat up and said,"I miss you, Mommy." I was surprised, but I just said to him,"Oh, sweetie, I'll just be in the other room."

Then Tyler said, again, "I miss you, Mommy," and his face scrunched up and his eyes welled up with tears. He just sat there in his bed on the verge of crying. I opened my arms up and told him I loved him and he gave me a big hug and said it again, "I miss you, Mommy." Geez, I'm about to cry writing this.

Anyway, Mike saw the whole thing and was just speechless at how cute the whole exchange was. He wanted in on the cuteness, and I think he was trying to cheer Tyler up, so he asked Tyler for a big hug, too. When Tyler hugged him, he said, "I miss you, Daddy." Well, we just couldn't leave Tyler's room after that. So, we both stayed, with Mike rubbing Ty's back until he fell asleep.

I don't know what brought up the "I miss you"s, I haven't been away from home at all, we've actually all spent a lot of time together lately, since Mike's spring classes are over and we've had some breaks in our volleyball season. It might have been a fleeting thought for Tyler, because he didn't say "I miss you" when we put him to bed tonight. Regardless, I've filed that evening exchange away in my memory, with hopes that I'll be able to recall it again one day when Ty's older...and not missing me anymore.

Big Thomas! (Lots of pictures)

Last weekend, we went to Baltimore to take Tyler to a Day Out With Thomas. For anyone who isn't familiar with Thomas the Train, they're a bunch of different train engine characters with faces on the front. (Tyler knows a ton of them by name and can tell them apart!) Anyway, we went with a couple-friend of ours who have a 3-1/2 year old son and a 4-month-old daughter. Can I just say that we had the best weekend, ever!? Our boys got along so well and had so much fun together! We explored every part of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, on foot, and packed in so much in 3 days, we'll never have to go back...because we've seen it all. We went to the National Aquarium on Friday, to see Thomas (and ride "big Thomas," as Tyler calls him) and to the Maryland Science Center on Saturday, then to the Baltimore Zoo on Sunday! It was exhaustingly awesome. And being with our friends made us see how easily we could handle a second child, especially since our kids will have almost the same age difference as theirs.

Here are some pictures of our weekend. I'm not posting any showing our friends or their kids, because I haven't gotten their permission to do so. But I swear, we went with another family!

Tyler and Daddy at the entrance to the National Aquarium:

Me and Tyler in the aquarium:
Tyler playing with the bubble columns (I think we could have stayed there all day and he would have been just as happy):
Early Saturday morning, getting a picture with "big Thomas":
Me and Tyler on the train platform, on our way to board Thomas the Train:
Tyler and Daddy in front of an old-fashioned steam engine:

Tyler was riding a kiddie train and didn't smile at Mike the whole ride (he must have gone around the track 10 or 12 times). Mike had been trying to get his attention and get Tyler to smile the whole time, and finally, Ty looks back at his daddy and gives him this face:

Tyler shows off his tattoo of Rosie, the steam engine:

Mike and Tyler in the Roundhouse:
Tyler was so excited he got to see Thomas!

After lunch and a nap (for the kids and adults, too), we all headed to the Maryland Science Center:

Tyler liked the dinosaur exhibit they had...he fits perfectly in a dinosaur footprint:

Upstairs, they had a bunch of cool hands-on exhibits about gravity. Mike enjoyed it as much as (or more than?) Tyler:

Arrggh, mateys!

Sunday, we wrapped up our weekend with a trip to the zoo. Tyler loved the turtles!

8 Weeks

Only 8 weeks along and I am showing about as much as I did at 17 weeks with Tyler. Other moms I've talked to have said that your body already knows what to do, so out goes the tummy! I was trying to hide it from my co-workers until I had my first ultrasound...and I still might be able to, because sometimes I just look fat and not pregnant. It's probably not the baby as much as it is bloating and gas, anyway. As much as I really did and do enjoy being pregnant, this is not the beautiful part.

Anyway, for anyone who is curious how much I'm showing now (and any other second-time or more mothers who want to compare and maybe feel better about themselves), here is my first baby bump picture:

And here's what our baby is up to this week:

I've gained about 3 pounds, (no throwing up for me!) my boobs are always sore, and I've been breaking out like a teenager. Like I said, not the beautiful part of pregnancy. But, our baby is the size of a kidney bean, and he or she has fingers and toes!!

7 Weeks

Good news, everyone! My digestive system and my hormones are finally working in harmony (the stool softener in my vitamins probably help a little, too). What a relief...haha. Now, the morning sickness is in full swing...at least I hope this is it in full swing and that it doesn't get worse! I started feeling a little bit last week, but those bouts were easily quelled with a small snack. Yesterday was pretty bad, although the spaghetti I had for lunch helped out more than I thought it would! Today, around lunch, I really started feeling sick, almost gagging, but I just hate throwing up, so I held it in. Mike mentioned getting Five Guys last night, but we had eaten out every meal over the weekend, I just wanted to stay home and have something even somewhat homemade, so we had kebabs and mashed potatoes. But, guess what I had for lunch today. Yup. A Five Guys burger. And it was so freaking awesome. Sorry Mike, but you suggested food to a pregnant lady, that's your own fault. We can get you Five Guys for dinner tonight, if you want ;)

So, I read that the baby is the size of a blueberry! Our little person is getting big! So are my boobs. Another thing I read was that your boobs can grow a full cup size larger in just the first 6 weeks of pregnancy! That's a "benefit" that my husband enjoys. Mike said to me yesterday morning, "Pregnancy boobs are so much fun!" Anyway, I guess I'd better go and find my maternity bras because the ones I'm using are becoming too small.

T-Y-L-E-R!

Tyler learned how to spell his name!

This just about sums it up

I must say, it hasn't quite set in that we're going to actually have another baby in the house soon. Another small, helpless, wondrous creature in the house to take care of and lose sleep over. Okay, maybe it's setting in now. Tyler's going to be a big brother. Mike and I will have kids...that's plural. With an "s." Can I freak out yet?

In some ways I'm completely confident. We've done this before, we've raised a sweet and freakin' awesome 2-year-old already. I know we can at least get that far with a second one. And Mike has really stepped up recently, he has taken on more around the house and is a really great Daddy. But in so many other ways I'm scared and nervous. How will we afford daycare? Will we need a bigger car? How will Tyler react when his little sibling is actually home with us, and he won't ever have Mommy and Daddy all to himself again? Can I love another child as much as I love Tyler? Soon, I know, these doubts will be calmed, but I still have 33 weeks of worrying ahead of me.

Another fellow mom introduced me to a wonderful weblog, All & Sundry. And the author, Linda, made a post that I was bawling over, because she put into words so much of what moms are. Some days I wonder if I can bear the weight, but most days are filled with the realization that I can handle so much more.

Big brother already

I'm 7 weeks along tomorrow and Tyler's pretty excited...the other day, we were in a store and the woman who owned it started chatting him up. She eventually asked him if he had any brothers or sisters, and without missing a beat, he said, "In my mommy's belly." So cute! The storeowner was kind of surprised at first, and then I think it registered what he meant, so then she congratulated me.

6 Weeks

So, I'm 6 weeks along today and am all stopped up again. Not sinuses, but way down at the other end. I remember this happening when I was pregnant with Tyler, but I don't remember how long it lasted. I think that my system eventually got back to "normal" during my pregnancy. The prenatal vitamins I'm taking now even have a stool softener! I don't remember that from last time...but who would have thought that a stool softener incorporated into my vitamins would be something that I would ever think was a wonderful idea? Other than the semi-bloated feeling and sore (but larger!) breasts, I haven't been feeling much different. Well, I take that back, I have been exhausted lately. Mike and I were playing Rock Band the other night, and we stopped so Mike could download more songs, and I zonked out while he was doing that. Needless to say, we had to put our world tour on hold for the evening.

Sometimes, with all the stuff going on and with it being so early in the pregnancy, I forget that I'm pregnant! It's not like I forget and eat sushi or anything, but it's more like I'll be thinking about our summer plans and then realize, "Oh yeah, I might need to get a maternity suit by then."

I'm so excited to tell Tyler more about the baby. He knows there's a baby inside my belly and that he'll be a big brother. Tyler kisses the little baby good night every night and every time we ask him if he'll help us take care of his new little brother or sister, he answers with an enthusiastic, "Yes!"

Here's a picture of me with my sisters-in-law, right before our big "girls night out" last weekend:

We had a really good time, and didn't have to worry about the kids! The dads got together and kept the 10 kids we have between us for the evening. We had a nice dinner where we laughed and drank wine (well, I had a sip), then we talked and talked and talked. It was a rare event, but I think we're hoping to make it a tradition.

Genius?

Last night, Mike opened up his laptop in the living room. Tyler LOVES computers and always wants to look at pictures of trains or himself on any computer we have. So he wants to see what his Daddy is doing on the laptop. Our Internet Explorer homepage is the Google homepage. Immediately, Tyler starts spelling the word "Google", but that was to be expected, since he spells everything (he used to just say whatever letters he saw, in any order, but we've been teaching him how to "read" letters of a word in the correct order). Anyway, last night he said,"G-O-O-G-I-E...google." Mike and I both stopped what we were doing. I don't know that I've ever even SAID the word "google" to Tyler, and it's weird because he thought the lower-case L in the word "google" was an i, but he still said "google." So, we asked Tyler to spell it again, and he repeated the same thing. We got all excited that we had a genius in our midst! So, Mike pulls up Microsoft Word and types out several other words (cat, dog, duck, boat). Tyler spells each one correctly, but can't tell us what they say. Well, actually, he told us they all said "google." A fleeting genius, at least.

What did that say?

Mike and I took Tyler to the mall over the weekend. As we're walking, I hear Tyler say,"Wow!" And I repeat it back to him absentmindedly, thinking he saw a toy car or something that made him exclaim. However, Mike stops and looks at me and asks,"Did he just read that?" I look around and realize we're walking by Baby Gap and there are three large window stickers on their store window that say,"WOW!" ,"POW!" and "BAM!" (comicbook-style). I crouch down and look at Tyler (who is now looking around at the people walking by) and I ask him, "Where's 'wow'?" He turned around, looked for a second, and ran over to the Baby Gap window and pointed to the window sticker that said,"WOW!"

I look at Mike and we both high-five Tyler :)

Big Brother

To our sweet Tyler,

You are almost 2 years and 3 months old, and we recently told you that you are going to be a big brother! Mommy and Daddy asked you if you wanted a little brother or sister, and you gave us an enthusiastic, "Yes!!" You told us that you wanted to help take care of the baby and that you were excited. Tonight, Daddy asked you where the baby is growing and you pointed to Mommy's tummy (because you know that's where you came from). Then you bent over and kissed the baby and hugged Mommy. Daddy and Mommy know that you are going to be a wonderful big brother, you are so sweet and loving and affectionate! But we know you'll also help teach your little sibling about trains and jumping and to love books. We can't wait to see you with your new little brother or sister!

You are a joy to Mommy and Daddy, we are so blessed to have you and are so happy to give you a sibling!

Love and BIG hugs,
Mommy and Daddy

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a helicopter!

The other night, while we were having dinner, we heard an airplane go by, and I said,"Tyler, do you hear the airplane?"

Tyler: Kekocter! (Helicopter)

Me: No, it's an airplane!

Tyler: No, Mommy, kekocter!

Me: Tyler, say "hel-i-cop-ter"

Tyler: Kekocter

Me: Say "heli"

Tyler: Heli

Me: Cop

Tyler: Cop

Me: Ter

Tyler: Tew

Me: Heli-cop-ter!

Tyler: (silence)

Me: Heli-cop-ter!

Tyler: Aiwplane, Mommy!

Picture Post

Okay, it's time to play catch up, but I'm tired, so this post will be pictures and captions!

Here are pictures from Dave's deployment party in NC:

Tyler and Reese, I think they were watching Little Einsteins :)

Tyler, not quite getting the proper use of a soccer ball...

And here's a cute one of the little boys following Lauren around, all carrying orange cones. What were they up to?

The following weekend, I took Tyler up to visit his other cousins (my sister's kids).

Tyler and Hannah loved cruisin' in Hannah's Dale Jr. racecar:

Tyler's Tita Chark & Uncle David gave him his birthday present while we were there. Hannah helped Tyler try it out:

Finally, we had to get a shot of Tyler and the girls:

A few weeks later, Chark and her kids came to visit us!

He knows what he wants!

To get Tyler to clean up a bunch of puzzle pieces the other night, I was sweetly talking to him and trying to entice him to help me clean. So, in a soft whisper, I said in Tyler's ear, "Tyler, can you please help Mommy pick up the puzzle pieces?" He looked up at me, smiling, and then very sweetly whispered, "No."

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Tyler was in the bathtub and I was sitting on the bathroom floor next to the tub. He had several cups stacked up along the tub and I was pretending to push them over the side and into the water. I would slowly start pushing a stack of cups and he would hold out his hand to stop them and smile and say, "Noooooo!" Then I would move on to another stack of cups and do the same thing. After a few more times, Tyler finally held up his and to me and said, sternly, "Mommy, stop it."

I guess Mommy's playtime was over :)

Ace of Cakes

Can I just say how much I rock at making cakes? I had so much fun making Tyler's birthday cakes this year! Since our house is so small, we had to have 2 birthday parties for Tyler, so we could invite everyone we wanted to invite. Granted, looking back, two birthday parties for a 2-year-old seems excessive, we all had a good time and got to spend time with some friends and family we hadn't seen in a while. Next year will be very low key!

Anyway, since we had two parties, I had to make two cakes. The first party theme was trains, so I made a train cake:






I had so much fun! I would love to try and figure out how to make different things with cake :) I used 2 boxes of cake mix and baked a large 9x13 sheet cake with one and 4 small loaf cakes with the other (chocolate and yellow, respectively). I let the cakes cool and then froze them overnight. They were really easy to cut/carve when they were frozen. The smokestack is made up of 4 or 5 Oreo cookies that I stuck together with buttercream icing and then iced all over.
For my next trick...er, party, we had a racecar theme for Tyler. So, I made a Lightning McQueen cake! I just bought a Lightning McQueen cake pan, so that was easy. Decorating it was hard. Well, I should say that mixing all the 18 different colors of icing was difficult! It took me longer to mix the icing and attempt to get the right colors. Anyway, in the end I think it came out well:

Is it too late to switch my career from engineering to pastries??

Conversations with a two-year-old

Driving to daycare in the morning, I intended to ask Tyler if he wanted to see his friends at Miss Bonnie's house:

Me: Tyler, do you want to see...

Tyler: Tanta!!

Me: Santa?

Tyler: Okay!
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Although Tyler knows all the letters, we're trying to teach him that words are made up of letters, and therefore each word begins with a certain letter. So we'll say, "Daddy's name begins with D, Daddy'sletter is D," and so forth. So, Tyler and I were talking (again, in the car on the way to daycare), when I asked him: "What's Daddy's letter?"

Tyler: D!

Me: What's Mommy's letter?

Tyler: M!

Me: What's Dylan's letter? (Dylan is his friend at daycare)

Tyler: (silence)

Me: Tyler, Dylan's name begins with D, just like Daddy.

Tyler: No, Daddy D! Daddy D!

Me: Can you share Daddy's "D" with Dylan?

Tyler: NO! Daddy D!

Me: All right.

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We passed the windmill bank on the way to work this morning and Tyler pointed to it, saying "A owse!" (A house!)

Me: That looks like a house, doesn't it? It's actually a windmill, just like Toby's windmill in your train show.

Tyler: Toby owse!

Me: (laughing) Yes, Toby's house.

Tyler: Weh Toby go?

Me: Toby's at our house, too.

Tyler: At Ty owse?

Me: Yes.

Tyler: At Daddy owse? At Mommy owse?

Me: Yes. We all live in the same house.

Tyler: Okay.

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When Tyler sees Nemo (the fish from the Disney movie "Finding Nemo") he exclaims,"Meemo!"
We thought it was cute, so we let him say it that way without correcting him for a day or so.
Finally, we told him, "Tyler, it's Nemo. Neh-neh-Nemo."
Tyler: Ne-ne-na-Meemo!!

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Mike has been trying to teach Tyler (of course) how to say, "boobies."

Mike: Tyler, say "boo"

Tyler: Boo!

Mike: Say "bees"

Tyler: Bees!

Mike: Boobies!

Tyler: Doobies!!

Tyler is 2!

Dear Tyler,

Happy second birthday to our favorite little guy! You are an amazing little boy, not a baby anymore, but a full-blown little boy! You run, jump, hop, tackle, hug, kiss, pat, grab and climb all over the place nowadays. You're a bundle of energy, always rearranging whatever furniture you can (right now just chairs, stools, and small tables), sometimes to climb on top of to reach something, but mostly to play with. Your imagination is coming through: you arrange chairs one in front of another and then board your "train"; you feed your Pat Pat Rocket that Daddy gave you for your birthday some milk because you think he's thirsty; you catch invisible bubbles in the air and eat them, or offer them to us so we can eat them...it's so engrossing watching you play!

You talk so much now, too! You can communicate with us and tell us how you feel and what you want so easily...it's hard to remember the time you couldn't talk, not that it was so long ago. I love hearing your voice each time you say a new word. Your vocabulary seems to grow every day (today you just learned "apple tree"). Daddy and I are so proud that you already know and recognize all the letters of the alphabet (in upper and lower case!), and many of the numbers from 1 - 10. You also know your colors and basic shapes! We brag about you all the time...What will there be left to teach you in pre-school?


You remember things that you did during the day and often tell me about them during our drive home after I pick you up from day care. You know the names of all the children you play with and you obviously have ones that you consider your friends, because we hear you say their names more often. You are obsessed with cars and trains, and even more currently, the Pat Pat Rocket toy from The Little Einsteins show. As we drive in the car, you make "vaROOOM" sounds every time we pass another car going in the opposite direction, making your "varoom" louder as the car approaches and softer after we pass (you're 2 and you understand the Doppler effect?). Every red car is a Ferrari to you, though :) You love playing with your train sets and looking at pictures of trains. When we can, we take you to see model trains or real trains, and you thoroughly enjoy that!

You are quick to apologize if you think you hurt someone, always by patting their head and saying, "Tahwee (sorry)." If someone looks sad, you will put your hand on them and ask if they're okay ("Okay, Mommy?"). And you have recently began hugging and kissing on your own. I especially love when you hug me around my legs and squeeze as tight as you can!

You're starting to show some leadership qualities, always asking (rather, telling) Mommy or Daddy to follow you, read you a book, copy you, or play with you. We gladly oblige whenever we can, but on the occasions we aren't able to play, you can easily amuse yourself for a short time.

You are in a big-boy bed now, which you can easily climb in and out of, and you do. Sometimes you will get up 5 or 6 times after we have put you to bed, but I think it's only because you want to be carried back and tucked in again by Mommy or Daddy. We also gladly oblige, because it's another chance to hug and kiss you before you go to sleep. You usually send us off with, "Night night, of you (love you)." Then, some time around 3 or 4 in the morning, you wake up and climb into Mommy & Daddy's bed, where you proceed to toss and turn until you get comfortable. The other morning, I woke up to find you and Daddy like this:

Tyler, you are growing up to be a sweet, stubborn, and funny little boy. I can't believe it's only been 2 years, but then again, I can't believe you're already 2 years old. Daddy and I love you so very much and are excited to see how much you will grow and learn in the next year!

All my love,

Mommy

Merry Christmas!

We have countless blessings to be thankful for and hope that everyone was able to take time out from the hustle and bustle of the season to be able to appreciate what this holiday is really about. Merry Christmas!!

Our Christmas was a busy one, chock full of family and friends, though! Mike, Tyler and I celebrated a private Christmas at home on the 22nd, enjoying a fire, cinnamon rolls, and hot chocolate while we opened presents. Our big gift to Tyler was a train table that Mike built and a wooden train set. He loved it instantly and I was so proud of Mike for building it!