Reading

Today I was chilling on the couch when I looked over the edge and saw Tyler reading by himself. He was surrounded by books and talking to himself while turning the pages. ♥

I grabbed the camera and he looked up at me giving me a gorgeous/precious/perfect/heart-melting smile. ♥♥

Happy 3rd Birthday Dexter!

That's right, Dex is 3 years old today! This morning he got scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, and he'll have some chicken or a hot dog with dinner tonight. (I'm pretty sure he likes his birthday)

Here's my puppy back when he was still teeny tiny. ♥

And here he is now, with a bone filled with peanut butter, on the blanket-with his name on it- that Tory's parents got him for his birthday. (I like this picture, because it shows his size compared to a twin bed!)

♥ Happy Birthday Oaf!! ♥

Continuing the "First Fruits" + other cute things

Tyler had his first whole banana the other day. Like the apple, he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do with this.

First he tried to put it back into the peel. lol

Then he tried a bite...

He decided he liked the whole banana (he loves them cut into pieces), but rather than eating it like a normal person, he took little bites down the side. Gotta love him!


On September 23rd, we went out to Sterling for the day to visit some family. We first headed over to Meagan's house. (Tory's aunt. Tyler's great-aunt)
While there, we played some foosball:

We messed up our hair:

We laughed at the wind chimes:

And we had a very serious discussion on the phone:


We left Meagan's for the mall. We had no reason for going there, other than killing time since both our mom's worked til 5 and it was only 2! We got some ice cream at Ben & Jerry's. Tyler approved. Mmmmmmm...

Then Tory took Tyler on the carousel!! Tyler giggled and talked the whooooole time. He loved it!
Tyler then played at the mall play-place thingie for a while. We finally left the mall around 4 to head to Tory's parents house for dinner. (Pizza! And that's actually where the banana pictures took place) We played there for a while, before going to my parent's house for a very short while- it had been a looong napless day, and we had a long drive ahead of us.

Everyone was out in the garage when we got there, so Tyler got some practice in on one of his grandpa's motorcycles:

Days like this are so much fun for all three of us! We were all tired when we got home. :)

Tyler's First Apple.

Ok, he's had apples before, but this was his first whole apple. :)

Not sure what to do with this thing...

Those teeth sure come in handy!

But like just about everything else, apples are much better on forks!

Apparently this was pretty amusing.

He's a Tooth-Brushin' Maniac!

We started Tyler brushing his teeth way back when he was 9 or 10 months old. It's a good thing too, because now that he has 12 going on 16 teeth, he's gonna need it!

He's concentrating on reaching every single one of his twelve teeth.


Here's his evil look because I took the toothbrush away. (He's really really good at glaring...)

15 Month Check-up

Tyler had his 15 month check-up today. He is a very healthy little... er... big boy.

He weighs 29.9lbs. (My back and arms already knew that.)

He's 33in long. Tall? That is not surprising considering his daddy's height.

He's in the 98th percentile based on his height, and his weight is right on track with that.

He got two shots today, and didn't cry even a little bit! He flinched once, and then he was fine. When I picked him up after them, he actually reached out for the nurse to hold him! I don't think that had ever happened to her before. She's usually the bad guy! ;)

All in all my big boy is a very healthy guy. ♥

Fitted sheets

Tyler likes to play with the edge of his fitted sheet in his sleep. He's "lost" his bottle between the sheet and the mattress countless times.

Well, this morning he woke Tory and I up because he started his freak-out crying. Tory went to get him, and found TYLER between the fitted sheet and the mattress!!! I have no idea how he managed that. ..

Teething again. Still. Whatever it is.

All four of Tyler's First Molars are in... all in less than two weeks! The 4th one cut through yesterday.

So today I was checking them out, and I saw that he's getting four more teeth!!! (4 canines)

This poor kid can't get a break! Based on the diagrams I found, he should have a small break once these four are finished. I hope so!

I personalized a diagram that I found online so I can print it eventually and add it to his baby book. :)

{All of his teeth came in twos and fours, so there was no need for me to label individual teeth. ;)}

Four Years Ago Today...

... Tory and I were on the beach, getting married.



A lot has changed since then. A whole lot.

We've added this:

And we've added this:

Who has changed into this:

We have our perfect son, our perfect dog, our not-so-perfect house. We've moved a few times. We've changed jobs, and transferred in our jobs, or in my case quit jobs. We've been on vacations (though I would have to say not enough of them!). We've argued and we've struggled. We've been through the devastating losses of our two unborn children.
We've taken care of each other through all those times... well, he's taken care of me anyway. ;)


We've experienced life together, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Birthday Tory/Dada!

Today is Tory's 24th birthday. I like his birthday now. He used to tease me about being younger (by just 12 days!)... like when he turned 18 and I was still just 17. Or when he turned 21 and I was still a baby at 20. But now, my dear husband is afraid of age, and I will always be 12 days younger. HA. He will hit the (to him) dreaded 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, and so on before I do. hahahahaha

Anyway... here's a picture of Tory's (and Tyler's... or so he thought) birthday cake. Which we had on Sunday, and which no, I did not make nor did I purchase. Let's just say I slacked off in the cake department. His mom got it for him. :)


But I did get him a present. And yes, I wrapped it in kiddie paper. To help ease the pain of getting old. Tyler got his Daddy a season of Family Guy on DVD... because they like to watch it together. ;)

~It must be fun to be a toddler, because no matter who a present is for or what the occasion is, he gets to open it. lol

Another Popcorn Post

Tyler loves his popcorn! We get it sometimes (most of the time) when we go to Target. This time we were just running in for some bread for feeding ducks, but we picked up some popcorn for the ride.

He's pretty good at keeping it neat and in the bag...

Or not.

Feeding the Ducks- Take 2

We took Tyler to feed the ducks again today. This time we got some pretty good pictures!
(It was definitely easier to get pictures with both of us there)

Like yesterday, he was very unsure at first. He sat on his Daddy's lap for a while. "Don't let them get me Daddy!!"

Then we got him to stand by the water.
"Hmmm... maybe this isn't so scary after all"

And finally, he was throwing bread like an old pro.
"Check me out guys! I can do this!"

We fed those ducks a whole entire loaf of bread!
"More bread Ma! Keep it comin'!"

My two favorite guys. ♥
Tyler was having fun with the branch in his face. :P

My Poor Poor Teething Boy

Last week I felt that Tyler was growing his two bottom molars. The bottom left one was just breaking through the gums, and the bottom right was a little behind, but definitely on it's way too. Silly me, I didn't think to feel for the top ones.

Well, this evening I stuck my finger in there again to check the progress. I was very pleased and surprised to find that he has three molars all the way in and one molar almost broken through. No wonder the poor guy has been fussy lately! So both top ones are here and the bottom left is here. The bottom right should be through any minute now.

It was pretty funny: Tory and I were talking about them the other day, and he mentioned that it's great that Tyler is getting the molars, because now he can eat anything with no trouble. I told him that he already eats anything with no issues! Those molars won't make a difference in his diet. :)

Feeding the Ducks

This afternoon while I was taking a nap, Tory took Tyler out to feed some ducks! (Actual ducks this time... not fish. ;) -see one of the previous posts-) He didn't get really great pictures, because of course, the camera battery died. But here's what he got:

Apparently Tyler is afraid of ducks, and the first time one came
up to him, he hid in Daddy's legs. ♥

He then got interested in the water and started pointing to some fish.
Tory said that Tyler has quite an arm on him, and he very much
enjoyed throwing the bread in the water.

He then gathered up some courage to try hand feeding a goose (YIKES) and the mean ol' goose stole a whole piece of bread right out of the kiddo's hand! All the ducks then proceeded to chase the goose.

This picture made me laugh:

We're actually going to go back tomorrow after picking up some camera batteries and cheap bread from Target. Hopefully with one person to man the camera and one person to man the toddler, we'll end up with some excellent pictures!

Mmmmm... Chocolate Donuts!

This morning, Tory took Tyler to the post office with him. When they got home, Tyler had a big ol' grin on his face... and a big ol' chocolate donut in his hand! Apparently Daddy thought the kiddo needed a trip to Dunkin' Donuts. Tyler didn't object. ;) We put him in his high chair to finish up:

"Leave me alone and let me eat!"

"OK fine. ONE smile."

Dexter wanted some too, but
Tyler was reluctant to share this particular treat.

Washington D.C.

Today we took Tyler to D.C. for the first time. It was such a gorgeous day for it! We really couldn't have chosen a better day to go.

It took us almost 2 hours to get there (yikes!) and once we did, there was typical weekend tourist traffic (which reminded me exactly why I don't go there on weekends) PLUS there were protesters everywhere. To be honest, I don't know, nor do I care, what they were protesting. :P We were just there for fun. ;)

Once we finally found a garage to park in, we met up with Abby, Kels, and Mike. We had some lunch on the Mall, where Tyler thoroughly enjoyed a live band who was playing nearby. He was all smiles and dancing, and making all of us laugh.

We started walking toward the Washington Monument, because that's the main thing I wanted pictures of Tyler with. Tyler was not much a fan of the stroller today. He preferred to walk like the big boy he is. ♥ We humored him for most of the day, so we didn't make very good time. ;)

The slowness was worth it... look how happy it made him!

All that walking makes for one thirsty little boy!

"Look Ma! I found the Washington Monument!"

Me and my favorite boys.

Those boys just love to try and give me a heart attack!
{It made for a pretty awesome picture though!}

We walked down to the Lincoln Memorial where Tyler again spent lots of time out of his stroller. He climbed the steps and ate M&Ms. (pics to come later if Abby got any good ones... those are on her camera and I don't have them yet.) We stayed there for a while, and then headed back toward the Washington Memorial and the garage. We didn't do any of the war memorials or museums, because I didn't think the kiddo was going to make it and stay in a good mood. He was a very sleepy boy who hadn't napped yet. ;) It had taken us over 3 hours to have lunch and see just two of the many memorials/monuments that D.C. has to offer. I am very happy with Tyler first visit to our capital. I think he had a pretty good time too. If nothing else, it pretty much wore him out! He was asleep before we even got out of the parking garage!

Play-Doh!

Tyler got his first taste of Play-Doh today. Literally, of course. ;)

"Hmmmm... maybe Dex would like a bite too!"

(He did.)

He wasn't sure what to make of the Play-Doh-Snowman.

Once he got the hang of squeezing it to death, he wanted all the colors and the containers on his tray.