Shopping for baby

Having a baby girl is going to do some damage to the pocketbook. The clothes for girls are SOOOOO CUTE and there is so much more of it. Larissa and I went to the Galleria today to wander around a bit. We hit two baby stores and got sucked into the pink sections!! I know my mom and aunt are both already stockpiling the pink as well. This girl is gonna be the best dressed around apparently!!

In the meantime, my little boy is still my cuddlebug. I couldn't ask for a better kid!!! He is so easy going and sweet! They say the second is opposite of the first....if that is the case we are in BIG trouble.

Larissa, Craig and Eli head back home tomorrow and Mom and Dad are gonna head home on Friday I think. Things around here are going to get very quiet very quickly. I LOVE having family around and sometimes wish we were all in the same place. Guess we could all move out to CO!!!! :)

Aaahhh.....the spa

Larissa and I took a little break from motherhood to enjoy some time at the spa. We got manicures and pedicures which were fantastic. Now a little wine with that would have topped it off....but clearly that isn't in my current cards! :) I will say that I will be booking a pregnancy massage one of these days as well!!! AAahhhh!!

The guys took care of the kids....Ty is so easy so Chad had it good but Eli gave Craig a little more of a challenge! By the time we walked in the door Eli was screaming. Needless to say I think Craig needed a stiff drink by then!

(Yet another pic of the matching jammies!!!)

Twas the Day After Xmas...

and we spent it recovering!! The boys played with their toys...including Chad and Craig with the new videos games!! Jim & Bren brought the kids over for dinner and Eva and Ty had a BLAST in the bouncy house. Talk about being the cool house on the block...hee hee....I would have LOVED one of those as a kid!! I think Tyler is enjoying having his cousin around too. Here's a good pic of them playing!!!

Merry Xmas

Merry Xmas everyone!!! We had a fabulous day filled with family, food, gifts, love and of course chaos!!! Nothing like opening presents with a 2 1/2 year old and a 16 month old. Santa brought Tyler a bouncy house (which is so cool!!!) and plenty of other FUN things (including a new tricycle)!! Eli got some Elmo stuff and trucks. All in all the boys received a successful haul!!!

Notice the cousins have matching jammies...these are from Great-Aunt Val and Grandma just bought a bunch of matching clothes for Xmas. Stylin' guys!!! :)

Xmas Pic

So this is the picture I put on our Xmas cards. I love this sweater but it cracks me up cause Ty thinks its like a jacket and keeps taking it off whenever we arrive somewhere. Somehow I have to convince him that you wear it like a shirt!!!!

Old Pics

I was looking through some old pics today of Tyler and thought I would throw some on here!!

Delinquent for a good reason

I know it has been awhile since I posted...all for a good reason. I am happy to announce that we are now 19 weeks pregnant!!! And after a bit of a scare, we found out that SHE is HEALTHY!!! (We have our 20 week ultrasound soon to verify the heart is all healthy too but other than that she has been given the bill of health so far!!!) Chad and I are thrilled, of course. We never thought we'd have a daughter and so now we are changing direction and coming up with girl names and thoughts on room decorations!!!! YEAH!!!! I will post some ultrasound pics up here soon as well as put some Tyler updates since he is hilarious as always!!!

Last night he gave grandma a run for her money decorating her tree!!! She was ready to quit after a few ornaments and he was raring to go!!! Needless to say the tree is a bit bottom heavy since that's as high as he can reach!!!!!

Snow in October???

This was the scene today....Oct 12....this is WAY too early!!!!

Poor Tyler

We took Tyler to the Dr yesterday after a week of coughing. Turns out he has an ear infection in both ears as well as WALKING PNEUMONIA. I feel SOOOO bad for the little guy. So he is on 5 days of antibiotics and 6 days of the nebulizer. The first time we did the nebulizer you would have thought we were torturing him...and I bet that's what he thought we were doing. Now he will hold the mask himself....at least for a little while.

I'm Back

I know, I know....I've been gone for awhile but I'm back. I loaded enough pics tonight to keep me blogging for AWHILE!!! :) I will start with a few from Collin's visit.

Collin's Trip

We have had a GREAT 2 weeks while Collin was here visiting. Chad took him home today and both Ty & I had tears in our eyes when he left. We tried to make sure he had a good time while he was here. Two nights ago we went to the Carver County Fair - what a BLAST!!!! They had THE BEST petting zoo with kangaroos, baby camels, baby zebras, deer, monkeys, etc. Tyler even was bold enough to pet all the animals and feed the deer. Then we were on to the rides. Somehow Chad got talked into doing a couple with Collin. WOW the look on his face...he HATES rides....and I was laughing my ASS off!!!! Ty pointed at a kiddie ride he wanted to go on, so I paid the tickets, put him on, and watched. The guy turned the ride on and Ty cried the WHOLE time. It was a kiddie 4-wheeler that went around in a circle and each time he came around, I asked if he was having fun and he would cry, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO" the rest of the way around. LOL Needless to say we had a fantastic time!!!!

We'll have to plan some new fun stuff to do next time he is here!!!!

Collin & Tyler

Collin has been here for the past week and a half. We have tried to do as much as possible while he is here. So here is a quick run down of the activities....swimming, Science Museum to see the Titanic exhibit, mini golf, Dave & Busters, Chuck E Cheese, dinners out, Canterbury Park to see the horses race, neighborhood party, movies, etc.

Elmo Explosion

I have NO idea how a little red muppet monster became crack for kids but WOW!!!!!! He is everywhere in the stores, on TV, and apparently in our house!!! To be honest, I don't think I have bought a single Elmo toy....some have come from my aunt...some from Nan....and some must magically appear!!!! Needless to say....here is what our living room looks like.

Great Weekend

Ty decided the advertisement on the table functioned better as a HAT!!!!

Driving the "Little Monsters" truck.....so true!!!

We had a great weekend!! We managed to put a ton of miles on Chad's truck driving all over the cities from Stillwater to Maple Grove, Rogers to EP...even hitting the outlet mall (yeah!!). Had a fantastic dinner out with Nance and Jay on Friday night....adults only! Then took Ty over to Jim & Bren's place for a great dinner/picnic at their place Saturday night....let Ty & Eva wear each other out!!! One of their favorite things to do is put rocks in the tow pipe of Chad's truck. Little buggers.....they also like to stand in the raspberry bushes and help themselves!! We left with a gallon bag and barely scratched the surface. May have to look up a recipe for raspberry wine!!! :)

4th of July Weekend

We had a fabulous 4th of July weekend. Larissa and Craig came up from Chicago with their little guy, Eli...whom Tyler called "Baby" all weekend. "No, Baby", "come here Baby", "hi Baby", etc. He wasn't all that thrilled with having to share all his stuff with "Baby" but I think overall they had a good time. Ty kept asking when "Baby" was going home and once they did he kept asking for "Baby" to come back and play.

We had a great fireworks show....seemed to compete with one other house in the neighborhood...they had more but we had BETTER!!!! Unfortunately the part I didn't realize is that the huge ones that blow up in the sky...leave a crapload of debris on the lawn!!!! So the other day I was out pooper scooping and decided I might as well pick up the cardboard pieces as well. Halfway though I realized that people driving by probably thought I was picking up poop by HAND!!!! UUGGHHHH!!!!!!!

Eli had a blast playing with Ty's toys and I think made Larissa & Craig realize he needs some more older kid toys at home. Plus he seemed to think Tyler was the funniest thing around. He giggled at anything Ty did....it was a riot!!!

My Birthday

Well I'm finally 29.....again!!!! I've decided this is a great age to repeat over and over!! I had a fantastic birthday party Sat night!! Good friends, good eats, and plenty of wine! Chad even set a few fireworks off in my honor but I wouldn't let him do too many since we are saving them for the 4th!! (And yes we did drive to Wisconsin again this year to get the big ones!!! Don't pre-warn the cops...they managed to drive by a couple times on their own last year anyway!!) Back to my birthday though...Chad took me to dinner on Monday to a new place in town. It was fantastic!!! Definitely a great find with tons of great options. We'll be heading there again sometime!!! Nan took Tyler out to run some errands and when they returned he walked into the house holding balloons and a card he had picked out himself (it had horses on it....that's MY son!!!) He handed both over and gave me a big hug. Instant heart meltage!!!! What a wonderful way to spend my special day(s)....surrounded by friends, family, and love!!!!

Dog Party

Last night we attended a dog bday party for some friends of ours. Apparently they do this every year with the underlying reason being a good excuse to get people together for a couple cocktails and let the kids & dogs burn some energy off. We were skeptical at first but wound up having a great time!! We took Zoe (since she is the most well behaved) and Ty (of course) and let them have at it! Tyler was hesitant at first with 30 dogs running around like crazy but warmed up eventually. By the time we were ready to leave he was petting any dog that wandered his way. Zoe made sure there were NO birds hiding in any trees or bushes and got slobbered on by who knows how many other dogs. All in all we had a fantastic time....glass of wine, nice evening outside, good company, and two tired "kids"!!

Mirror

When Tyler begins a meltdown I have recently been asking him to look me in the eye so we can focus and discuss things out. When he won't look at me, I gently put my hands on his face and move it towards mine so we can be eye to eye. At the same time, we are also teaching him to say "Excuse me" when adults are talking and he wants to interrupt.

The other day I was holding him and talking to Nan when he begins saying "excuse me" and when he didn't get my attention he put his hands on my neck and gently pulled me towards his face. Nan pointed out that he was doing the same thing to me that I do to him when he begins his meltdown. I about fell on the floor laughing. He had been doing that for a week or so and I had no idea where it came from until she recognized that he was mirroring my actions to him. Amazing what kids pick up and how hard it can be for us to see our own actions.

The Blankie

I'm not sure we have discussed the "blankie" yet. This is Tyler's blue blankie. The one I bought to use as a prototype when making blankets for my friends' kids. The one he took to, out of all the other blankets. And now the one he CANNOT live without. UGH!!!! The only time he sucks his thumb is when he is carrying his blankie...and for some reason the thumb sometimes isn't enough so he sucks on the corners of the blanket...which in turn makes it wet and stinky and highly in need of multiple washings. Thus, we try to limit blankie time to when he is in his bed. However, every mom knows that good intentions sometime go undone. So our little "Linus" gets to drag his blankie around with his thumb in his mouth when he is tired, cranky, sad, frustrated, not getting his way........The other day we thought we had lost the blankie. Chad thought maybe it was a good time to ween him off it...part of me knew that wasn't a bad idea....and part of me felt panicked at losing the "baby boy" who still needed his blankie. I think I was more relieved than Ty was when we found it. As much as Ty wants that blue, stinky thing....I know there is a part of me that wants him to have it just a little more.

So for now....Tyler can remain "Linus" until he is at least a little older!!!!

Women Drivers

Apparently when you are kids you can stick two butts into a one seat car....even if you have to lean out the door a little!! Ty and Eva decided they both wanted to take a spin in the car so being the sharing kinda kids they are, they decided to squeeze in. What a great guy...Ty let Eva drive. We all know that will change in about 15 years!!! By then I'm sure he'll be telling blond, crazy women driver jokes and we'll have to pull out the proof that at one time he enjoyed letting her "Drive Mr. Daisy"......

Tess

Have you ever seen that commercial for carpet cleaning..."Hey Mom...Rover learned a new trick!!" and the dog is rubbing his ASS across the carpet? It makes me laugh every time...damn dog. Well needless to say its not so funny when its in your own backyard. Tess got into the trash and ate a whole chicken carcass. UGH!! All dog owners know that is a recipe for DISASTER!! She had BLOW OUT diarrea for two days and then started barfing. A trip to the vet with x-rays indicated she had passed most of the bones out by then (lucky us) and only needed some antibiotics to make sure she didn't get a bacterial infection. Here she is back home trying to rub her sore ass in the cool grass. DAMN DOG!!

Ty's Recliner

It must be an inherent male characteristic to climb into a recliner, kick back and zone out. We found this new chair for Ty at a garage sale for $15 and he loves it. This morning we were watching the Smurfs (yes....Cartoon Network plays "old school" cartoons on Sunday morning) and there was Ty....kicking back in his chair, zoning out on the TV. I have seen first hand now how the boob tube rots young minds!!!!

First Time Fishin'

Ty got to go fishing with his daddy for the first time last week. At first he refused to hold the rod himself but after a little coaxing he changed his mind. I was just waiting for him to throw it into the lake. After about 3 minutes his 2 yr old patience level kicked in and it was time to head to the park instead!!! Sad to say BOTH he and daddy got skunked...0 - Ty & Chad, 1 - fish....guess they'll have to head back again one of these days to even the score!!

So many updates

It's amazing all the events that happen between blogs. We had a PERFECT Memorial Day weekend...perfect weather....perfect friends...perfect family....it can't get much better than that. My parents were here and then headed back to CO for the summer...so sad to see them go...and Ty asked for "Papa" and "Nana" for DAYS!!! On Friday before the weekend we took the morning off and headed to the zoo. Papa came with us!!! We saw all kinds of fun animals but the best was the new Africa exhibit where you can feed the giraffes....WOW!!!! Then we BBQed both Sun & Mon and had a great time even though the Grandparents were outta here on Sunday.

Momma's lilac bushes look great this year too!! YEAH!!! And of course they smell so good as well!!!! Yummmm....

Ty and Zoey have been having fun too....as you can see!!!! Best buds!!!

The Preakness and more....

It's that time of year again....the track is officially open and summer has begun!!! It never ceases to amaze me how much I enjoy watching the horses run. It's one thing to sit in Vegas and play the ponies from multiple different tracks but there is no comparison to being there live, seeing them getting saddled in the paddock, placing your wager, and screaming at your lucky pick as they thunder down the final stretch. It gives me goosebumps every single time. Mind you, my bets are only $2 so it's not about the gambling, it's about those horses running their hearts out cause its what they LOVE to do. Some people will argue horse racing is cruel...and it can be in the hands of the wrong people. But growing up with horses I also know...there are those out there that just want to run!!!

With that said, I did manage to win $17.50 on the Preakness Stakes this past weekend. I HAD to go with the filly (of course!!) but I also threw in Mine That Bird for sentimental Triple Crown hopeful reasons. Well another year without the Triple Crown but at least Rachel Alexandra beat an 85 year old dry spell for the girls!!!!

Here's to a FUN season in front of us!!!

Monkey See

I caught this picture of Chad and Tyler sharing ice cream the other night. Originally Chad was giving Ty bites but soon Ty caught on that he could move twice as fast with his own spoon. Nothing like jacking your toddler up on sugar before bedtime!!!!!

Half Marathon

Well I had perfect weather for my half marathon yesterday and I finished within my goal time. Looking back at the race and picking out the parts I could have changed a bit, I could have shaved a good 10-15 min off my time which really wows me. So needless to say I'm pretty happy with how my training has gone. Now I am trying to decide.....do I sign up for another one to improve on what I just accomplised...or do I continue training the way I have been but just for fun. SSShhhh....don't tell Chad I leaked this...but he mentioned that watching me cross the finish line made him almost want to run a race WITH me. Maybe I'll get him out for a 3K or 5K run one of these days!!!! Otherwise, we'll continue our training with him on the bike pulling Ty in his trailer and me chasing them down on foot.

BOOM

The Dr. made it official...Tyler is a "typical 2 yr old boy". I was afraid she was going to call social services on us at his 2 yr appointment from the sight of his forehead. The previous week he had fallen off a toy and cut his forehead open on a wood corner...that was our first urgent care experience. He didn't need stiches but did manage to get three butterfly strips across it. Then 5 days later he fell down a couple stairs and bumped the other side of his head against the wooden part on the staircase railing. WOW....maybe my mom is right and I SHOULD get him a helmut!!!!! :) I can only imagine this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship with the urgent care/emergency room.

Easy Rider

Now that the weather has been nice, Ty figured he would go for a ride on Daddy's motorcycle. Nevermind the fact that he can't reach the handlebars or the pedals. There's just something about spring weather that brings out the easy rider in him!!!

Bo Duke

More pictures of our little "Bo Duke".

Easter

This was the first year we colored easter eggs with Tyler. At first he wanted to drink the solution but after licking it off his fingers and shivering from the vinegar taste, I think he changed his mind.

We took him on an easter egg hunt in Victoria with Jim, Bren & Eva. It was a little chilly at 9 am but he managed to fight off a few other kids to gather three eggs. Next year I think he will really understand the whole thing.

Zoo

Today was Ty's first trip to the zoo. We went to see the farm babies and I will have to admit that going to the State Fair is WAY better than the zoo for this. Each little barn had three thousand people trying to cram into it...ok maybe not THAT many but still. We did get to see baby goats, piggies, cows, and camels. The best part was the grizzly bear exhibit. The younger of the three bears was jumping into the water, swimming around, and then running up to the older ones and shoving them over to play fight. Ty thought that was hilarious (of course it helped that all the other kids were screaming and cheering for the younger bear.) It was definitely a fun time but next year we won't go on Good Friday when everyone else is there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April 4 - Happy Birthday Tyler

So Tyler officially turned 2 on April 4!!! YEAH!! And what a birthday it was....we threw a party with more adults than kids of course...but did manage to sugar up the kids with cake and ice cream!! Nothing like 8 kids jacked on sugar running around the house!!! This year he enjoyed the cake, blew out the candles, and opened all his presents by himself. So needless to say our "baby" is now a big boy. His favorite present is the new "car" from his aunt Larissa and uncle Craig. In the beginning he would open the door, get in, say bye, and drive around. Now as he is more comfortable with it, suddenly we have Bo Duke in the house, jumpin' in OVER the door and hauling ass around the house!!!