summertime colds

Isn’t “summer cold” an oxymoron? I’ve never understood colds in the summer, but I have had my share. And now, Sweet Babyheart has one. Poor baby! He had a little fever and his nose has been running like crazy! One secret I’ve learned is that if your kid won’t take cherry-flavored Tylenol, try grape. It worked like a charm for us! Also, I’m not sure what happened but last night when we tried to suction his nose (this is kind of a gross thing) he screamed and kicked and fought us so much that he kicked over the lamp on his changing table! Today, however, he has decided that it is hysterical, and he cracks up laughing during the process! (I’m thankful for the change of heart!)

I forgot to mention this, but Ty is quite a dancer! He doesn’t just bop to music. He sways his hips back and forth and really gets into it–whenever he hears music! It’s awesome!

Last thing…Ty is getting more and more confident walking! In fact, we went for a walk today and he actually started running! Uh oh! And, nothing is too big for him. Stairs, a big hill…no problem (in his mind!) He’s growing up so fast!

Turning One...and Other Fun Things

Well, it’s official! Ty is one year old! (I can’t believe it!!!) We celebrated his big day with all the grandparents, friends, and lots of cupcakes! Ty had a chocolate frosted cupcake–his first time having sugar! It was fun to watch him poke it and eventually lick his fingers to discover that he actually liked that brown stuff! And, he ended up eating about three fourths of it! I think Ty’s favorite part of the day, however, was the balloons! He smiled and laughed, and he kept trying to grab them even though they slipped out of his hands almost every time! Here are just a few pictures from his BIG DAY!


We are waiting any day for Ty’s first word. He says, “da da” but not really to or about Corey. He is still babbling a lot and now he has started imitating sneezes and coughs. He thinks it’s hilarious! And, he can say “more” in sign language, which he uses when he wants more Cheerios. He also uses it at the grocery store, while he’s eating other food, and when he already has more Cheerios on his tray! We’ve been working on signing “All done,” since he was four months old. He hasn’t gotten it yet. When I move his hands to make him do the sign, he just smiles at me. Oh well. Maybe he will talk soon and then we won’t need sign language!

We just recently started brushing Ty’s teeth. I had no idea I was supposed to be doing that starting with his first tooth. He’s got seven teeth now, and we just started brushing them. It was TERRIBLE at first! He closed his mouth tightly and turned his head away. I tried to shove the toothbrush in anyway, but I didn’t want to scar him and make him hate brushing his teeth. (This was especially important to me as I am one who brushes my teeth about 10 times a day! I really like clean teeth!) Anyway, a friend clued me into the secret of brushing kid’s teeth–yummy tasting toothpaste that they can swallow! Voila! It worked like a charm. Ty actually likes brushing now and even opens his mouth for me!

A few new fun things Ty loves: the pool, water in general, playing hide-and-seek/peekaboo, and fruit! He LOVES watermelon, grapes, strawberries, and cantaloupe. Oh, and he loves to put his head on the floor and look upside down between his legs. It’s really cute! Although, I’ve tried capturing this pose in a photo, but my camera isn’t fast enough. By the time I snap the picture, he’s moved on! (I tried about five times the other night!)

Corey and I are doing well too! He is plugging along learning Hebrew, and he’s doing great! (I’m really proud of him!) We like living in St. Louis because it’s a fun city with lots of things to do! We recently went to see “Much Ado About Nothing”–a play in the park, and “The Lion King” at the Fox Theatre. The Lion King was incredible; breathtaking, really. We absolutely loved it! Other than that, we have just been hanging out with friends and doing lots of grilling (that’s Corey’s job…and he loves it!) Hope you all are doing well!

HE'S WALKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This update is a little late, but Ty started walking about two weeks ago (and he hasn’t stopped since!) He LOVES walking around everywhere…inside, outside, back and forth, and even in circles sometimes! We clap our hands and say, “Yeah, Ty!” and he claps his hands and walks at the same time! He is getting better everyday, although he still likes to hold my fingers with one hand. (I think it brings some security!) He likes the other hand to be free to grab things along the way! And, he is such a boy! He loves sticks, dirt, and ants! We spent about 2o minutes outside playing with rocks the other day! One sad thing…Ty had his first (of many, I’m sure) fall outside! He leaned over (maybe to grab something) but kept going. His little nose and the area above his top lip were scraped and bleeding! (I think it was worse for me than it was for him though!) He got over it pretty quickly, and Corey was proud of him and said it would make him tougher! (That’s why God made dads!)

Some other random things:

*Sunday’s are always hard for Ty because he misses his morning nap completely in order to go to church. We always knew he was tired by the time we got home, but we’ve never seen him this tired! Today, he actually fell asleep in his highchair while he was eating lunch! (I sooooo wish that I had taken a picture of him!) Poor little guy! Somehow, he amazingly continued to open his mouth for more food even with his eyes closed! We put him straight to bed and he never missed a beat!

*This morning, Corey gave Ty his first haircut! We realized it was time when OTHER people started talking about his mullet! He is still pretty bald on top but had lots of hair growing in the back, so Corey put the longest guard on the clippers and buzzed Ty’s little head! He looks so handsome! He’s all ready for his BIG DAY on Thursday! (Again, I wish I had taken "before" and "after" pictures! What kind of mom am I?)

Here are some pictures of Ty walking (we're so proud of him!):

practicing with Mimi and Grandpa

and a few shots of my busy little one:

into everything

up to something

Animals

Ty is at a really sweet age. He LOVES animals and always points and waves at them (especially dogs and cats, but he loves the animals at the zoo too!). We loved taking him to Grant's Farm, and he loved seeing the animals up close! (So much for looking at the camera!) Here he is looking at the Clydesdale's with daddy and REALLY close to a camel (who was eyeballing us) with mommy!

Some Fun Things

Sorry to anyone out there who has been missing my updates! I sometimes wonder if anyone reads this thing besides our moms and their friends! I know that it’s kind of a one dimensional blog–I typically only write about Ty! But he’s my love! Maybe I’ll branch out and write about life, my addiction to LOST, or random things like my new haircut or recent pet peaves (the girl who tried to charge me too much for my burrito, for instance). But for now, I want to share some new fun things about my litte one (who is getting to be not so little anymore!)

Well, the newest, funnest (I know that’s not a word, but I really like to say it!) thing is that Ty is on the verge of walking! He took his first steps last week! He let go of the kitchen cabinet he was holding onto and walked about three steps to me! It was awesome! I was soooooooo proud of him. And I think he was proud of himself too! Since then, he’s gotten braver and he frequently lets go of things that he is holding onto in order to go for something else. We created an “island” in the middle of our living room with the ottoman so he would have a shorter distance between his favorite spots (the couch, chair, armoire, and book shelf), and it worked! He used the ottoman as his midway point and took off! He takes several steps on his own lots of times each day now, so I think it will be any day now that he starts walking! Some other fun (but maybe not AS exciting) things that Ty is doing now include clapping (he LOVES to clap his hands!), waving (this is still very selective), and dancing (bopping) to music (he’s your kind of guy, Casey!)

One other fun thing is that I planted petunias! They are pink and beautiful, and they make me happy every time I look at them! The only other thing I have ever planted was tulips, which I love, but they only bloom once and then they’re gone. My petunias (that is such a funny word) are going to bloom for a while! I love that! You can see my petunias in the above picture, taken on Mother's Day (my second Mother's Day if you count, like I do, last year when Ty was in my tummy!) What a wonderful day!

These Days

On a personal note, I just finished my first ever diet! It only lasted for two weeks, and I say “finished” because I officially ended it today with a half of bag of Hershey’s milk chocolate chips! I’m so weak! (But I didn’t eat the whole bag…that’s gotta count for something!)

We are all doing well! Corey is wrapping up his first year of seminary! He is busy reading, writing papers, reading, studying, reading, working, and did I mention reading? I’ve never seen so many “required” books to read! Ty and I have been enjoying this beautiful weather! He loves to be outside and I love to show him new things! This week, we went to the zoo together. I wanted to show him the giraffes because he has a toy giraffe that he just loves! He seemed interested in the long-necked animals, but he didn’t seem as excited about the other animals as I thought he would be. Then again, he was sitting in his stroller and I think most of his view was of the fence!

Ty has been busy walking around the house with his little push toy! He can’t walk without holding on, but when he is pushing that toy, he zooms around everywhere! Although, he hasn’t quite learned how to turn around so he gets stuck at dead ends a lot, and we have to redirect him!

Ty also felt grass on his feet for the first time! It was hilarious to watch him…I held his arms thinking he would ”walk” on the grass, but he held his legs up at first, trying not to touch the ground. He wasn’t so sure about that green, scratchy stuff! He finally put his feet down, but didn’t let go of mommy!

Ty loves to look in drawers and take everything out to get a closer look and even a taste, he likes to take books off the shelf, and he absolutely LOVES the toilet paper roll (and I’m afraid he is going to love the toilet just as much!) Therefore, the bathroom door stays closed now!

Randomness

discovering his tongue

reading by osmosis

(notice the book--I love that it's upside down!)

daddy's little Cardinal's fan

for our friends going to the Orlando Project (OP) this summer...We thought this picture could be used for recruitment :)

we're so cool!