"I think I can"

Tyler has a shape-sorter that has stumped him so far. He usually tries to put the circle in the square or some such thing, thus getting very upset with himself and giving up. (what can I say? I passed my "impatient gene" on to my son. Sorry Tyler!) Tonight he was playing with it, and got frustrated when he couldn't figure it out but he kept at it and finally did it! Like everything else, it was documented on camera. :)

How does this thing work?? I don't think I like the star...

I'll try this one. Maybe if I poke it with my finger? Nope, not really!

Hooray for me!! I did it! (He likes to clap for himself when he does something good. ♥)

I think my little man is gonna understand this toy soon. We'll keep working on it. ;)

PoPcOrN!

I realized this afternoon that Tyler has never ever experienced popcorn before! What a shame! We decided to remedy that today. :)
(And no, we weren't worried about him choking on it... the kid can handle anything.)

This was when he understood that I was allowing him to help himself. LOL We got some big silly grins when he figured that out!

"Ok, if you say so!" And he went for it.

Now that you mention it, this stuff is gooood!

After his first bite, he "more'd" and climbed into my lap. I pulled him up, and this is where we sat through a good portion of the movie "Troy".

(Yes, my 13 month old actually watched the movie. He waved "bye-bye" at one point after a guy was killed. No joke. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. LOL)

Such a Cute Smile!

Tyler was in such a smiley mood last night!

Here he's showing his "chillin" skills... with some kitchen tongs. Crazy kid.

At bath time he continued his giggly mood. Here's he's showing off his 8 teeth (still "just" 8)

And showing off his cute baby bum... AND his toothy grin. =)
How did we ever get such a happy boy?? He's [almost] always smiling! ♥

Me and my baby

I have no good stories to tell or anything, but Tory took a few cute pictures of me and Tyler. It's crazy how much and how fast he's grown!

Watching everything going on outside... which, at the time, was nothing. So we were pointing at my car and the tree. lol

He will stop playing suddenly to come over and give me a hug. He got my leg this time. Hey, it works. :)

Reading on his couch- it's a tight fit, but we managed!

Bonjour!

Tyler's favorite Disney Sing Along DVD is The Circle of Life... it has a few Lion King songs, as well as songs from some other movies. He'll sit and watch it over and over again if I let him! It's weird, I don't know what it is about that particular one. The other 8 Sing Alongs we have don't catch his attention at all. Hmmmm...

Anyway, the song "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast is on it- you know, the one where Belle goes around town saying "Bonjour" to all the people? Well, as soon as that song starts (actually, when the song before it ends!) Tyler starts waving "hi" and giggling. Every single time! It's adorable! Who knew my son would learn a French word so early? lol

July 4th

I woke up and my first thought was something about it being Tyler's first 4th of July. That lasted about a second, when I remembered that he's over a year old and therefore will not have any more "first holidays". What a strange thought!

We spent the day out in Sterling, as we usually do on any type of holiday. We went to my family's house and got all the siblings together once more, since Zach was on leave and back home.

Me and my baby. ♥

We then went to see Tory's family and visited with some of their friends for a while. We didn't stay out late at all, and got home right at Tyler's bedtime. No fireworks for us this year!

Measles! (sorta...)

Tyler woke up on a couple days ago covered in red spots! I took him in to make sure it was nothing horrible, and it turns out that it was a reaction to his Measles vaccine. The doctor said that a small percentage of kids react to it, and it really shouldn't bother him, even though technically it's a mild case of the Measles. He doesn't have any other symptoms, just lots of polka dots! I've tried to get a picture that shows them, but no such luck. Here's the best I got:

Tyler at the doctor's office- he wasn't interested in taking pictures, but he sure
wanted the camera!

Maybe if you look close enough you'll see all the red spots... let me assure you, they are everywhere and they look so horribly itchy. :(

Another miscarriage

It happened again. I had my 12 week appointment today and found that the baby is gone. The doctor couldn't find a heartbeat, so she took me in for an ultrasound and confirmed it. He/she stopped growing around 10 weeks. We won't find out what happened or what's going on until/unless I have 3 miscarriages, because insurance won't cover the tests until then.

12 Month "Milestones", or just cute things...

~ He still has 8 teeth
~ He can walk, but is too lazy to most of the time. He'd rather push his toy walker around than do it himself.
~ He waves and says "Hi" (AH!) and "ByeBye" (Dye-Dye), when leaving the house, or even just leaving a room! He always waves "Dye-Dye" to Dexter when we leave. ♥
~ He says "Mama" and "Dada"
~ He signs "more" for more food, more drink, or if he wants to read a book again, or if he just likes something.
~ He can drink through a straw! He learned that with Sprite, and has since done his "more" sign anytime he sees someone with a drink and a straw. Oops!
~ His favorite toy is his push-walker that he got for his birthday. He also loves his toy remote controls... and our regular TV remote controls!
~ He will eat anything. He loves M&Ms, Goldfish, and animal crackers, but is just as enthusiastic about green beans, cinnamon toast, apples, and really anything else we put in front of him!
~ He talks and laughs at Dexter.
~ When I raise my voice at him (which I admit to doing at times) he thinks it's the funniest thing ever, and laughs hysterically. Uh-oh!
~ His favorite book is called Polar Pals, and he will sit still for as long as we keep reading it to him- over and over and over... I've memorized the story and where all the pictures are so now I "read" it to him and point out the pictures while compiling a grocery list in my head or some other such thing!
~ He loves Scooby Doo!
~ He gives hugs and kisses to me all the time. ♥
~ He is no longer on any formula- just plain old whole milk!
~ He can climb the stairs faster than I can!
~ He shakes his head yes and no- especially no!
~ He loves being outside, and points at everything. Especially birds and cars.
~ He likes to push buttons.
~ He think dog food tastes really good, and probably wonders why he doesn't get it as a meal sometime.
~ He thinks bellybuttons are funny. He lifts my shirt to find mine, and I lift his shirt and tickle him- this game can go on forever.
~ He kisses my tattoos.
~ Earrings are tug-toys to him. Ouch!
~ He will hold a cell phone to his ear with one hand and wave "Hi" with the other.
~ He likes to wash his hands with me after a diaper change.
~ He still likes to dance.
~ He still looks bald in pictures, but actually he has long white-blond hair.
~ When I ask him where his tongue is, he sticks it out and laughs.
~ He recognizes his aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

ONE Year Old?!?!

Where in the world does the time go? I always thought time started going faster as I got older, but apparently having a kid kicks it into real high speed. In some ways it feels like Tyler was born yesterday, while in other ways I feel like I've had him forever. What a crazy thing, celebrating you're first kid's first birthday... it makes me feel like a real adult. ;)

We woke up and had monkey bread for breakfast- which is something I remember from being a kid myself. My mom always let the birthday kid choose all the meals of the day, and we all always chose monkey bread. So I decided to introduce Tyler to it on his birthday.

After breakfast, the three of us headed out to Sterling for the day. Our first stop was Tory's family. We visited with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Sam, and Great-Aunt Meagan for a while, then got down to business opening presents! Tyler got a set of bongos that play lots of different sounds, which was a big hit, and a couch/futon which he loves too. (As I write this he's watching his new Veggie Tales movie while laying back on the futon.)
He (well, me and Tory!) also got some diapers- which are still one of my favorite things to get! Along with some money to redecorate Tyler's room. We're going to go to Ikea soon to hopefully find some good frog things for it!

After presents, we ate pizza, and then cake! His birthday cake wasn't really a cake, but a giant cookie. He didn't mind though. He had a nice piece of cookie and lots of ice cream.

We left their house to go see my family. We played for a while- meaning Nick threw Tyler around like it was nothing, and Tyler laughed like it was the best amusement park ride ever!
After almost puking up his "cake" and ice cream, we got down to business once more, opening presents! He got lots of fun stuff here too- a drum filled with other loud musical instruments, a talking remote control, stackable cups and some balls which, by the way, are his new favorite thing! He loves putting balls into cups that are a little too small for them and getting them stuck.
He also got a... thing. I don't know what to call it- a walker? On wheels? That has toys on it and he can push and walk behind. He loves it! He walked back and forth across the living room, and fussed every time he hit something and had to be turned around. I guess we need a really long hallway for him!
All in all it was a good day. We had fun, took lots of pictures, got lots of cool new toys and clothes, and wore ourselves out! When we got home, Tyler went straight to bed. I think it was am excellent first birthday for him. :)