Conversations

Tyler amazes me each day with the conversations he comes up with. Last night he filled up his potty chart (he is doing great!) and gets to go to another baseball game with daddy. I asked him if we all get to go or just he and daddy. Tyler's answer "Just Tyler and daddy go. Mommy and Carter stay and hang out. Carter you play football with mommy ok? Yay football!" He knows Carter doesn't like being left out, so I think he was trying to get Carter excited to be with mommy - to bad it was right before bed time that this conversation took place.

Today on the car ride home from story time Tyler tells me this " I ride a bus one day. When I am bigger I ride a purple bus. Mommy and Carter ride bus too. Daddy ride bus too. Carter ride blue bus, Mommy ride pink bus, Daddy ride red bus, and Tyler ride purple bus. Two buses will chase my bus. Daddy drive the bus. Tyler ride in back, Carter ride in back, Mommy ride in back, Heather ride in back. Steve ride in front. No Steve drive, daddy drive. Steve sit in front with daddy." What??? When did this boy learn to talk in paragraphs?

B-I-B-L-E

That's the book for me. Tyler has become obsessed with reading his Bible (well actually its not really a Bible, its Jesus Wants All of Me, or Utmost for his Highest kids version - I can't find a kids Bible I like anywhere). We read a page out of it every day sometime during the day and then he looks thru it at least 5 other times throughout the day. He thinks all the pictures are Jesus, when in reality they are pictures of kids doing stuff. But I hear all day long - "look mom Jesus has hammer" and "Jesus feed the dog".

Tyler is also starting to ask about Jesus more. Usually its questions like "Jesus make flowers?" or "Jesus makes trucks?". We answer "yes" or "God gave people the minds to make trucks". Its so fun to see the world in his eyes and I am happy to say he knows who created it.

Last night we were having popsicles outside. Justin and I were discussing Young Life and if we will do it again this year. Why we love doing it, we don't think we have the time to give to it what it really needs. Three to four nights a week is a lot! As we were finishing up our conversation Tyler asks for "high-fives for Jesus". Carter then asks for "five for esus". I was happy to see that they knew what Young Life is about. Life is good.

Weekend Wrap-up

On Saturday Justin and I celebrated five years of marriage! Saturday night Oma came over so Justin and I could go out. We enjoyed a nice dinner, nice conversation, and a nice drive around town. Oma wore the boys out! They played outside with every outside toy we have and then went on a long walk. They just love showing everything off for Oma. Needless to day on Sunday they slept in!

On Sunday Tyler earned a special treat of going to the park with just mommy. We skipped church to try to go early enough before everything got to hot. Tyler loved that I got to follow him around and climb and slide on everything along with him. Usually I stick closer to Carter and on the ground so that I can watch both of them. We also kicked the soccer ball around some. The highlight for Tyler tho was sitting in my lap and swinging on the big swings. I must say it was a perfect moment -him leaning back into me giggling his head off.

Sunday afternoon Uncle BJ, Aunt Abbi, Toby, Norah, and Oma came over with lunch to that we could say our good-byes. The boys just love playing together and Tyler is already talking about getting to see Toby at "Kissmiss time". We will miss them that's for sure!

Oma is Here!

Uncle BJ and Aunt Abbi are getting ready to move to Connecticut so Oma is here to help. The boys have been having a great time getting to play with Toby more and of course seeing Oma. Yesterday we went to Mr Biggs were all three boys were worn out by playing in the sandbox, climbing on the fire truck (Tyler spent most of his time there, lining babies up in the seats) and jumping in an inflatable jumper.

Today Oma came over and we did some shopping for the fall for the boys (thanks mom). I think Tyler was still tired from yesterday because while we were walking around he was asking for a nap. Like I said the boys love that Oma is here. Tyler only wants to hold her hand when we walk, and Carter who sit in the stroller also wants to hold her hand. They will get to play with her lots tomorrow night as well and they can't wait!

Date Night and Favorite Things.

Last night Justin and I had a date night. Justin went with Tyler to a Sky Sox game for his date and I stayed home with Carter for my date. Carter and I had a fun time working on sorting, eating ice cream, having tickle fights, and reading books. Carter actually also fell asleep at 7:45, which is nice since in the last week or two its been closer to 9.

Justin and Tyler had a great time. Today I heard all about how Tyler saw the fox and how the fox fell down. From Justin's side I also heard how when they were leaving Tyler stepped off the sidewalk into the grass to walk and then announced "I'm a fox". Also as soon as he got to the game he held up his glove cause he wanted to "catch a ball".

When Tyler got home we went upstairs to the boys room. Tyler immediately went over to Carter's bed and rubbed his head. Since Carter was 4 months old the boys have shared a room and I think this was the first time they didn't fall asleep together. Carter woke up to Tyler rubbing his head and smiled. He then seemed more relaxed in his sleep knowing his brother was there. That my friends is a favorite thing. Life can't get better than that.

Imagination Celebration

I love watching Tyler play right now. He uses his imagination so much and plays like he has never before. He has a ride on toy, that has been anything from a trash truck, to a monster truck, to a fire truck. The other day it was a fire truck and he was asking for his fire hat. I told him he didn't have one of those, but maybe we could get one. He went downstairs and came up wearing his cowboy hat proudly announcing "here is my fire hat". He then proceeded to ride his fire truck so that he "could go help peoples". He went around helping imaginary people for a good 15 minutes, before he threw pillows on the ground and the fire truck became a monster truck once again.

He is also playing with toys in a whole new way. This morning he got out a toy bus and found all the little people he could. He placed them in the bus and told a whole story to himself about driving them to school. They got on the bus, off the bus, back on the bus, etc. Even a toy lion played a part. I love seeing how his mind is working. He hasn't been sleeping nearly as much lately which means he isn't listening as well either. So its nice to see this nice play time between the time outs.

Pictures!

I have finally put some more pictures up on our picture website. The majority of the people who read this blog know the address - if you don't have it and would like to see them email me. There are a few pictures from April and some pictures from July. For some reason it isn't letting me put the rest of April's, May's. or June's up. Hopefully I will figure it out soon, but for now there are some recent ones up!

Chow Hound

This boy can eat. And to think I used to worry that he didn't eat enough. When Carter was a month old he pretty much stopped taking a bottle, which was a problem since that was his only source of nourishment. It would take him a hour to eat one ounce. So off to the pediatrician we went. The only thing the pediatrician could think of was that it was a sucking problem or worse case scenario a sign of cerebral palsy. So off to the occupational therapist we went - two weeks later. Those two weeks were not fun at all:trying every different type of bottle under the sun, taking up to 2 hours just to get a couple ounces in, and praying that it was just a sucking problem.

Diagnosis: reflux. Carter's reflux hurt him so bad that he ate very slowly or not at all to make his throat not hurt. Poor baby! Luckily after a week on some hard core medicine he started eating again. And we haven't looked back since. Now this boy will eat anything and everything. We are having pizza - give him at least 2 slices, and big New York style slices at that. Have some fruit- don't plan on sharing it. Of course since he is Carter and LOVES to be dirty half of the food ends up all over him. He is my little eater and while now we worry that he is eating to much its much better than the alternative. And hey he is still considered average for weight so lets eat!

Sleepover!

The boys are having their first sleepover tonight. Toby is spending the night so that Uncle BJ and Aunt Abbi can run some errands and so the boys can hang out one more time before they move to Connecticut. There have been a few scuffles, but for the most part that have been sharing and playing together pretty well. Really what can you expect between an almost 2 year old, an almost 3 year old and a barley 3 year old?

They boys had a great time wrestling with Justin, doing puzzles together and playing with the Cars. We also played plenty of baseball and running around the back yard. BJ and Abbi brought dinner so it was very nice to spend some time with them as well. After they left we gave all three boys baths (together) and watched a little Cars and put them to bed. We were a little nervous with them being all in the same room, but it's going very smoothly so far.

Tomorrow we plan on hanging out, playing more baseball, going on a walk and just spending time with their cousin. How fun for a first sleepover!

One More

One more favorite thing that just happened tonight. Tyler has been doing so well potty training that he received another special treat from his potty chart - baking cookies with mommy. Justin took Carter to the store so that it wold be just Tyler and I. We were sitting down enjoying our cookie and having a very nice conversation. For some reason I decided that this would be a good time to talk about private parts and how no one should touch them. This is how our conversation went:

me: Tyler do you know what your private parts are?
Tyler: Yes
me: Where are they?
Tyler: ummm upstairs

Favorite Things

Some more of my favorite things - most of these came from our trip to Greeley.

I love watching the boys have conversations together. It is so fun to hear them talk about things now. Usually its Tyler talking and Carter agreeing but its cute none the less. Most of the time they talk about the things they are doing - building towers, playing with er cars, doing puzzles, etc.

On that note I love how Tyler is full filling the bog brother role. He is always watching out for Carter. We were outside packing the car back up from the Stillmans and the boys were suppose to stay on the porch. Carter kept getting off and it was Tyler who got to him and told him "no Carter, we stay on the porch". You will also see Tyler helping Carter with things. He will go get Carter's milk for him, help get a toy, etc. Tyler moved a chair from a kitchen table and Carter needed help moving his. Tyler got down and helped Carter and when he wad done he said "here ya go Carter!". While the do have fights, most of the time they get along very well.

Carter loves to mimic everything Tyler does. If Tyler starts acting like a gorilla, so will Carter. If Tyler goes off walking somewhere around the park, Carter will soon follow. In Carter's world no one can really beat Tyler and its fun to watch.

Carter loves babies. We got to see baby Jade in Greeley who is 3 months old. Carter was so infatuated with her. He kept saying "hi baby" in a high voice and talking to her like we talk to him. He also wanted to keep giving her kisses and hugs. It was very cute to watch.

Both of the boys are becoming such cuddlers. Carter made sure everyone got plenty of hugs when we said our goodbyes. Tyler is a little more particular with who he gives his hugs out to. At Old C's he was obviously very tired. He kept asking to sit in my lap and for me to sing "Sunshine" to him. This is the song that I only sing to him (Carter has his own song as well) and I hadn't done it in a while. It was so sweet that he remembered our song and only wanted me to sing that in the middle of a crowded loud restaurant (he usually wants me to sing Wheels on the Bus or something).

Carter has found ants. We were walking around campus and he was carrying a stick. First he would try to point out the the ant his stick. He would then try to stomp on it. It was very cute and quite humorous.

Greeley Trip

This weekend we had a mini college reunion of sorts when Justin, the boys, Heather, Steve, Melissa, Leah, and Seth all headed up to Greeley. We had such a great time seeing everyone again. We headed out around 2:00 and picked Steve and Justin up from work. I kept the boys up all morning hoping they would nap in the car all the way to Greeley. They woke up when we got to the boys' office. However they did great in the car the rest of the way.

When we got to Greeley we drove around some looking at how the campus has changed, checking out the old places we all have lived (boy do they look run down, but I think they always did), and just reminiscing. We then headed over to Roma's - a favorite place for cheap food and drinks. It was now 6:00 and the boys hadn't eaten since 12:30. Amazingly they did great and even sat nicely eating snacks while we waited for our food (Roma's isn't known for quick service). Even better Tyler was still dry and went potty right away when we got there. At Roma's we were joined by Lindsay, Luke, Ben, Rachel, Kyle, and the Rose's. We all laughed so much and had just a great time hanging out - just like old times.

At around 9:00 we headed over to Steve's parents house to put the boys to bed. They boys went right to sleep with no issues and the Stillmans were nice enough to watch them sleep while we went to Old C's. We hung out some more and then made plans for the next day. Justin and Steve went golfing in the morning and the boys woke up around 6:30. I tried to keep them occupied and quiet in our room til 8 so that everyone else could sleep. They once again did great! We finally went downstairs, played some had some breakfast and then headed over to Lindsay's apartment.

Carter fell asleep on the way over so we let him sleep some and waited for Mike, Alexa, and baby Jade to join us. From there we headed over to the UC center to see if the all the college guys' picture was still on the wall of them painted up at a football game(it was ) and got the boys their own UNC football. We were then headed off to Albertos for some good Mexican food (yes all we did on this trip was eat).

Towards the end of lunch the boys were getting antsy so we headed over to Glenmere park (where Justin proposed) and watched ducks, threw the football around, and just laid in the grass. We then headed off to campus once more to walk around. Tyler took about a 45 minute nap in the stroller at this time (his first one all day) and Carter really seemed to enjoy being out of his stroller and walking around with everyone. We ended the trip with another stop at Old C's for dinner and finally left around 9:30. We could not be more proud of how the boys behaved. The only time we even heard them protest was at the beginning of Old C's, but once their pizza came they were fine again. Considering they were off their schedules, in new places, eating at odd time and not taking naps I was very impressed. And even better Tyler did not have a single accident the entire time!

Potty Chart Update

So I know that posting this will probably make Tyler do the opposite, but I am so proud of him and need to write this down so I can remember it in the coming weeks. We started the Potty Chart and Tyler seemed to like it, but didn't really get it. Until Yesterday.

We were at Church yesterday and he went potty in the potty 4 times and even pooped once. I don't remember the last time he did that so I was very excited. What made me even more excited was that he told me twice when he had to go! Today was the same story. He wasn't in my class so he tried for the other teachers but never went. However as soon as they dropped him off to me he told me he had to go and went. So far he has enjoyed two popsicles and is working on an ice cream cone. I hope this good streak lasts a while, but either way I am enjoying the break of laundry while I can!

Updated to say that he received his ice cream! Way to go Tyler!

Storytime

Today I took the boys to the Library for Story time. The last time I went was when Tyler had just turned one and I was 9 months pregnant with Carter. Tyler was the youngest one there and I felt like everyone was looking at me like why did I bring a little baby to Story time. So today we finally went again. This time Tyler was one of the oldest ones there and Carter was the average age. It went much better this time.

The boys seemed to enjoy it. Tyler did yell out colors when the story teller asked, but he sat quietly with his hands in his mouth during all the songs. Carter enjoyed singing the songs, but got restless towards the end. However she then brought bubbles out and everything was ok again. I think the boys favorite part was getting to pick out a Tractor movie that we will watch tonight. Its all they will talk about. Carter also insisted on getting a Sesame Street movie as well. I think next time Carter will have to be in a stroller, since he didn't feel like holding my hand and just sat down a couple of times. Like I said before he is stubborn. He would rather get to walk around so I am hoping he may make the connection one of these times.

On another note - potty training. I know I haven't really mentioned it much here except for the fact that Tyler stills has accidents. I did that on purpose, hoping that my next post about it would be that he was potty trained. Unfortunately he has decided that he just doesn't want to do it anymore. I know he knows when he has to go and he can do it, he just doesn't want to. So we raised the stakes again. He now has his very own potty chart. On it are fun things like getting popsicles, baking cookies with mom, and going to a game with daddy. Hopefully these will encourage him more. So far today he has received one sticker and has changed his pants once too. I am sticking to my guns tho. Carter is also interested in potty training so while he is still in diapers, he goes when Tyler goes. So far he is getting the hang of it. Maybe that will encourage Tyler somewhat?

Happy 4th of July!

We had a fun filled day yesterday for the Fourth. A bunch of friends came over and we barbecued, played boccie ball, watched the boys play baseball and just hung out. The boys, like always, provided plenty of entertainment.

Everyone was impressed at what a tough kid Carter is. At one point Tyler hit him in the chest with the baseball bat (on accident) and he hardly flinched. It was the same when he got hit in the head with a ball and fell off the deck.Tyler impressed everyone with his problem solving skills. A ball went over the chain link fence that used to be a dog run. Tyler went inside, went downstairs, and then carried back upstairs and outside his stool. He then placed his stool on the ground and tried to climb over the fence to get his ball out. I eventually convinced him that it might be better if I helped.

At around 7:30 (the boys usual bed time) we headed out to go downtown to watch the fireworks. We were a little worried with how the boys would be. For one Tyler didn't nap at all that day (ever since his big boy bed naps have been very tough). Also last year the fireworks didn't go over well at all. Tyler actually got out of my lap and walked over to his stroller yelling "bye bye" and "all done" until Justin walked him out of the park. Needless to say we were hoping this year would be better.

We talked it up a lot and Tyler would tell everyone that fireworks go "boom" and you see pretty lights in the sky. When we first got to the park he was a little anxious, but after a walk with Steve he was just fine. Once the fireworks started he got anxious again, but after a sucker and sitting in dad's lap we really seemed to enjoy them. Carter loved them and would giggle between each set of fireworks. So all in all I would say a success!. And an added bonus they slept in today and did wonderful during naps - which is a good thing since daddy and mommy stayed up til 2:30 hanging out with everyone!

Stubborn

Carter is a great kid. He has wonderful manners, loves to cuddle, and is usually very compliant. I say usually because he can also be very stubborn. If he wants something, say M&M's, and you tell him no because well just because he can't have M&M's then he stats screaming - and he is LOUD. You can ignore him, try to distract him, give him something else to eat, put him into his room to scream, etc and usually he will jusst keep screaming until he decides that he is done. For no reason what so ever he will just stop - but it has to be on his terms.

Speaking of the M&M's, Tyler gets couple after he goes potty in the potty so we give one to Carter as well. Carter will just hold on to his M&M until he feels like eating it. If you ask him to eat it, because say we are going into a store or because its time for bed, he just refuses to eat it. If you tell him he needs to eat it or you will throw it away he will then very slowly eat it. Once again on his terms.

And the latest show of his stubbornness? For the last few days he has decided it would be fun to dump over the bowl of dog food all over the floor. He did it 4 time in 36 hours - 18 of which he was sleeping. So for dumping the food we disciplined him and then he had to help clean it up. He refused to help clean up. He went back in forth to time out at least 7 times before he decided he would finally help. He finally did and I am happy to say he hasn't dumped it over since.

Luckily I know this is just a phase and he is trying to assert his independence. At least that's what I keep telling myself - it's not like he got it from me or anything.