GOOD NEWS!

We got some great news today...my Uncle Steve got his PET scan results and is CANCER FREE! :)

Brianna's 3rd Birthday

My beautiful neice Brianna had her 3rd Birthday party at Bouncer Town today.

Ty got to enjoy his first few bites of pizza (mostly the cheese)...
...and roam around the bouncer area for babies...

...Peak-a-Boo!..

Ty & Daddy doing his favorite thing these days...walking around!

We had a lot of fun and Ty took a good nap afterwards :)

Merry Christmas

Christmas was wonderful this year. It's so much more fun to watch it through your own kid's eyes, although I'm not sure Ty quite knew what was going on. Christmas Eve we had a wonderful dinner at my Grandma's...

Us with my brother's beautiful girls...
Ty wanted to play by the fireplace most of the night. He's fascinated with candles and fire. Hmm...I wonder where he gets that from?

Christmas morning, Santa came to visit Ty...

I think with all the cameras, Ty was a little suspicious about what was going on. We finally had to prop the video camera up behind us (see it on the chair?), and Dennis snuck in a few pictures.

Ty loves it when we say, "The Cow says...Moo". So I thought he'd love this present. It's a cow flashlight that "Moos" when you press the button for the light. But he's actually a little bit scared of it.

But he was sure happy to get the football!

...and the doggy.

After having a big yummy breakfast and a nap, we went to my parent's house next.

Ty got this cool ride on/walk with toy from Aunt Dana. He has a different one at home, but he was so excited about this one.

Ty got lots of other presents and some great new clothes. Needless to say, it was a lot for the little man. So he soaked up some love'n from his grandmas.

Layla & Brianna got their own "childproof" portable DVD players. Poor little Brie was sick Christmas day. She eventually fell asleep watching this movie.

After another nap, it was time for Christmas with the Black's.Ty got this cuddly doggy from Build-a-Bear. We went to register it the next day and decided to name it Woof Woof :)

It was fun to watch all the kids open their gifts. But Dennis & I were particularly giddy waiting to give these Hulk Hands to our nephews. Let's just say it was entertaining.

We had a wonderful Christmas, and hope you all did too. Happy Birthday Jesus!

New Word

Ty has a new word..."Dad-Dad". Yep, "Dad-Dad", not da-da like most babies. If you'll remember he also doesn't say ma-ma like most babies, it's "Mom-Mom". Anyway, it's really cute and he says it all the time. He's become Dad-Dad's little buddy.

Big Boy!

For dinner we went to one of our favorite places, On The Border. They have these cool new high chair seats that fit right into the booth (basically the legs are chopped off, but the top is the exact same). Ty looked like such a big boy sitting with us at the table and munch'n on some tortilla chips :)

Baby Dedication

Today was Ty's Baby Dedication at church.

Spaghetti

Every kid needs a spaghetti picture!

Christmas Playdate

Yesterday we had a playdate at my friend Carissa's house with all my favorite girls I used to work with...

...and the kidsAfter a super yummy breakfast, we did a dirty Santa gift exchange. Except non of us were dirty...except for Bri ;) This is my friend Brianna with her new little baby Tessa. Brianna was Ty's nurse during my delivery, so it's neat now to see her as a mommy too.

We are all picture crazy (and baby crazy), so we had a photo shoot for little Miss Tessa. Look at all of us gushing over her...

She had this adorable hat and outfit on...

Mya got in on the action too.

This is Carissa with her daughter Mya who is 1 month older than Ty.

It was a good time and nice to see everyone. It's amazing out our book club & lunch dates have changed into playdates. Our conversations are a bit more interrupted and fragmented, but we always have a good time.

Ty is 9 Months Old Today!

At Ty's 9 month check up, he passed the milestones with flying colors. No vaccines this time. Yea! He weighs 22 lbs and is 29 in long. We were betting he would weigh more. He doesn't look chunky, but that boy is solid! He's in the 75th percentile for everything. That is less than his usual 90th percentile, but the doc said that is because he's much more active now (that's an understatement!).

We bought the 32 lb car seat, but with the bulky winter coat and the straps as loose as they'll go, he's still too snug. So we got the okay to switch to a convertible car seat, rear-facing of course. We also mentioned to her that Ty is not a fan of baby food. She said it's fine to just feed him whatever he'll eat, within reason and obviously not the big no-no's like nuts & honey. I've heard a few people say that it will be easier now that he's not on baby food. I'm thinking it's easier just to grab a jar and nook it, but I could be wrong.

Ty's favorite pass time these days is holding our hands and walking EVERYWHERE. He's still not too sure about it if we let go of one hand. But just the other night my dad had him standing for a few seconds by himself. It won't be long! That's scary. Crawling is one thing, but walking!? Not to mention that his birthday is only 3 months away. Where does the time go?

These check up appointments are nice though. One thing I never realized as parents is how much I would 2nd guess every decision. I constantly wonder if I'm doing the right thing. At least with these periodic check ups, I can be reassured he's on the right path.

Like Father, Like Son

My boys, playing on their computers :)

Cancun 2008

Ahh...we're home and refreshed from our 4th annual trip to Cancun. Ty did fine. The grandmothers caring for him did fine, although exhausted I'm sure. And Dennis & I did fine without our little man. I won't lie...I missed him. But one thing I've tried to do in recent years is listen to the wisdom of those who "have been there". I've learned from these people that we have to put our marriage first (yep, before our kids even). They will benefit much more from their parents having a strong marriage, not to mention sanity.

As a stay-at-home mom, I never realized how secluding it can be. We grabbed some lunch in the Charlotte, NC airport before our connecting flight. I told Dennis that I felt like I was "let out" into civilization again. It was invigorating to be out with people. I had been out quite a bit since having Ty, but when he was with me, my mind was always in mommy mode. Finally I felt like Amy again!

We stayed at the same resort as last year, The Grand Oasis Cancun. It's all-inclusive and really the way to go.

This is my morning quiet spot. At home I LONG to sleep in, at least until 9am (it's a rare occasion). But on vacation, as soon as I open my eyes, I want to get outside. I woke up around 6am each day, sat in these chairs by the ocean, sipped on some coffee and read. If for nothing else, the trip was worth those mornings...

As I mentioned, this is an annual group trip. Each year the group changes. This year there were 4 of us (Dennis & I, our friend Jim & his brother Randy).

The weather was beautiful. I'll spare you the details because we heard how cold it got here at home. But if you ever get the chance, you have to visit Cancun. I can't ever get over the aqua water.The resort has a bunch of restaurants to choose from. My favorite was the Asian. Of course the guys favorite was the meat place...

There were lots of good times. I won't post every picture because I know how much fun it is to see other people's vacation pictures. But if you want to watch the slide show, come on over! LOL JK. Anyway, I'll leave you with a few more :)

Pizza at the bus stop at 2am. "Only in Cancun..."

The Three Amigos...

Mashed Bananas

Ty wanted to send a shout-out to his friend Carter Clements. He's one of his brother Riley's buddies. "Thanks for letting me borrow this cool outfit!"


I posted a few days back, Ty has recently learned how to wave hi & bye bye. As you can see by that video, his wave is an open and closed hand wave. It's been real cute to watch him do it. Even yesterday I looked back at him in his car seat and he had both hands going. As with any new skill, practice makes perfect! Ty seems to think mealtime is the best time to practice. Which is fine until he does it while holding pieces of banana! Which is fine, I guess. The poor guy doesn't have any teeth yet anyway. There's only so much those gums can do!



As I'm typing this, he is sitting next to me in his high chair eating. The menu: stuffed shells and bananas. Yeah, not very smart. Someone's gonna be backed up tomorrow! Do we become smarter parents with the next kid?



This will probably be my last post before Dennis & I leave for our annual Cancun trip. Yep, we're going without Ty. He'll stay with my parents for 2 1/2 days and then Dennis' parent's for 2 1/2 days. We're sooo thankful for them. I know, I know...all you moms out there are wondering how I could leave for a vacation without my baby. I was very sick to my stomach about it at first. But I know that we have to do these things for not only our marriage, but for our own sanity. I don't want to wake up one day after the kids have moved out and not know the man sleeping next to me. I want to put our marriage first, not only for us, but for our kids. Honestly, once I prayed about it, that sick feeling has passed. He will be fine, and probably a little spoiled while we are gone. So off we go...Thursday morning. You better bet I'll post when I get back :)

Christmas Tree

"Oh Boy! What's this MomMom?"

My Little Helpers
Ty says, "Ha ha, I can still reach the tree!"

The final product. We've been warned by more seasoned parents, that Ty we need to make sure the Christmas Tree is secure enough so that Ty will not pull it over on himself, especially since he is pulling up on everything. So we decided to elevate it, put it as far back in the corner as possible, and block it off with our storage cubes. Although Ty was able to touch the tree in the previous picture, we moved the storage cubes back so now he can't reach the tree. "Ha ha, we're ahead of you Ty!"