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!"

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family. First we started off at my parent's house for lunch. Mom & Grandma made an amazing feast!

Ty got to eat the same stuff as the "big people"...Mmm...
My beautiful nieces, Layla & Brie...

Ty with my dad, showing off his new "scrunchy nose face"...

Me & my cousin Lyndsay (and Dennis catching up on the newspaper ads)...

The kids wrestling with grandma...

Ty lov'n on his MaMa...

More lov'n for Uncle Greggy...

Brie wanted to "hold" Ty...

Fighting the sleepiness with Aunt Dana...

Playing with Uncle Gary & Terry...

More wrestling...

Awe...aren't they cute (my brother Greg & sister-in-law Dana)

Mom & Uncle Gary

After lunch, wrestling, and a nap...we went to visit my Uncle Steve in the hospital. He's putting up a good fight against cancer again. While we were there, Ty became Lyndsay's buddy because she gave him one of Steve's "lollipops" to chew on. They aren't real lollipops, they are the ones the hospital gives patients to swab their mouth. Obviously the one Ty chewed on was a new/clean one. He went to town on that thing. And Uncle Steve gave him a few fresh ones to take home :)

After visiting Uncle Steve & Auntie Frosty, we headed back to my parent's house for round two (dinner) and to see my grandma who had just gotten off work. She got up extra early this morning to cook some of our feast, then had to work all day! I'm sure she was exhausted, but we were glad to visit with her for awhile. Ty got some more lov'n :)

Our final stop was to Aunt Ronnie & Uncle Tom's house, where Dennis' parents were visiting. Ty helped Nana play Dominos...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

To start off our Thanksgiving, I want to thank God for my beautiful healthy family. And the fact that Ty slept in til 7:30 this morning :)

We decided to make some biscuits and eggs for breakfast. Little did I know that a frozen biscuit could also be a teething ring! LOL

I'm thankful for each and every one of you who read this blog. Because I know you care enough to want to see what's going on in our lives. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Be smart...stay home tomorrow in your PJs all day and put up your Christmas tree like I am. There's going to be some crazy shoppers out there!

More 1sts...

It's been so fun to be able to be home with Ty and watch all his many "1sts" develop. Within the past day or so, he has learned how to open & close his hand to say "hi". I think it confuses him a little that it also means "bye bye". Here's some video I was able to catch. At the end, you'll notice another recent 1st..."the scrunchy nose face"...

press play

I think the "scrunchy nose face" started when my allergies were really bad and I was sniffing all the time. He'd study my face for the longest time trying to figure out what I was doing.

Ty has always loved for someone to hold both his hands and help him try to walk. But recently he has wanted to do this all the time. So as we were practicing our walking yesterday, we ran into his stuffed football a couple times. I started kicking it ahead of us. To my surprise he started trying to kick it as well. As I'm sure you can guess, it's not very coordinated. But he keeps getting better and better at it.

I think now that he's slimming down from being so active, he's seeing his NFL linebacker dreams fading. So he's moved on to a new goal...NFL kicker!

Children's Museum

My friend Aimee Stewart invited us to the Children's Museum with her kids today. It was Ty's first visit and he had a great time.

We started in the dinosaur exhibit. There were loud noises and simulated thunderstorms. Ty didn't seem to mind. He just kept looking around...

Next we stopped to look at the "fishies". Usually Ty would be totally into that, as he will watch the fish on our screensaver at home. However, at this particular time, he was more interested in watching the other kids around him...
Next stop...Fireworks of Glass, the blown glass exhibit. This is an area where the kids can play with plastic pieces that look like the real pieces they see displayed in the glass ceiling...

Then we were off to PlayScape. Ty loved this area and probably would have stayed there all day. There was a special area for babies. It was padded and enclosed, yet lots of room to roam...

...and climb...

...and play peek-a-boo!

Then we played in the sand. Luckily Ty was just barely tall enough to stand up to the table and play with a shovel, but not tall enough to get his hands into the sand...

This is probably the best group shot we got (although Naomi and myself are missing). It's tough to wrangle up four kids when there's so much for them to see. In this picture we are at Music Time. Ty preferred to try to chew on his maraca...

We sang lots of songs including "Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes"...

After lunch, we visited the Science Works area. Ty loved this display where balls navigated their way around the obstacle course...

Aimee helping Naomi walk on the big feet...

Ty playing with the foam rocks in the Construction Area...

And finally the Carousel. Naomi and Miriam were big girls and rode all by themselves...

Ty was in awe as we went around and around...

It was a fun day! Thank you Stewarts!

Random Thoughts

Today is Veteran's Day. I would have liked to have done something special with Ty for those men in our lives who have served our country. But Ty is still battling this cold and teething. So we spent a VERY long day at home together. He's in bed now, so hopefully he'll get some much needed rest. Me too!

On a lighter note, Dennis delivered his first baby at work last night! Our Hero :) We're so proud of him.

1st Cold...Boo :(

Ty developed his first cold over the weekend. What started with a sneeze seemed like allergies at first. But soon the snot began to flow. Poor little guy. He's been miserable. It's hard when they can't blow their nose and I have to suck it all out with a bulb syringe (which he LOVES...NOT!). Although he has used my shirt as a tissue all day. It's mostly just nasal congestion and slight fever right now. Feels like the Amazon in his bedroom with the humidifier cranked up. But I guess it works...well that and Tylenol, because he took some good naps today. We'll see how the night goes.

LEAVES!!!

The weather has been beautiful the past couple of days. So Ty & I have tried to get outside as much as possible. The entertainment of choice...LEAVES!

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

America has elected it's next President, Barack Obama. It's an exciting time. Historical in many aspects. Indiana voted democrat for the first time since 1964. Many other traditionally republican states and traditionally republican voters, this time, chose a democrat. And an African American. It's a monumental step for civil rights. As one man said on the news today, Now I can honestly tell my son that he can be anything.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Change this campaign has promised.