Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a very nice 4 day weekend celebrating Thanksgiving with our families.  We had our customary three dinners on Thanksgiving day and enjoyed all of them!

We had a good opportunity for some posed pictures at Elena's house.

Timmy and Brayden kept themselves, and the rest of us, amused all day with various, random, activities!

And almost all of the Joneses were able to get together.

We wrapped up the day with dinner at my parents house.

And it was Tyler's first Thanksgiving and that meant he got some extra camera time!

This is Tyler wearing Timmy's 1st Thanksgiving outfit!

sleep, or lack there of

My barely conscious brain decided that this post was necessary around 4:30 am.  4:30 was the 4th time I was awakened after going to sleep last night.  Before I get into all of the reasons I feel like a zombie right now, I will say that this is a common occurrence these days, and I don't really mind, but I do feel the need to document it!  And I honestly don't mind, I am happy to do anything that my babies need me to do, I know how incredibly blessed I am that I have two extremely healthy, happy, content, loving boys.  Timmy is clearly a very smart, social, athletic little guy and Tyler is on track to become the same, right behind him.  I am so blessed and I am acutely aware of that, even after nights like last night.  But still, while I am happy to meet their needs at all hours, I am also very much looking forward to when their needs come mostly during sunlit hours...

Disclaimer over, here come the details of a typical night for me:

Tyler puts himself to sleep anywhere between eight and eleven most nights.  He sucks his thumb to signal for his bottle if he's hungry, otherwise he rubs his eyes and fusses until you put him down in his crib, he prefers it to being cuddled to sleep!  On the rare night that I am ready to go to bed before he is, I simply put him in his crib and he goes to sleep.  He has never "cried it out" he just goes to sleep.  There is no crying... until he wakes up!  He goes from passed out to screaming at the top of his lungs in an instant!  I always try to top him off before he goes to sleep to make sure he's as full as possible.  I have tried cereal right before bed, we have put cereal in the last bottle of the night, it doesn't really do much in keeping him full longer.  On the nights that he goes to bed around 8, I can expect him to be up at 11:30, 2:30 and 5:30.  I change his diaper, feed him, and put him back in his crib, and he's good for the next 3 hours.  No, he does not eat that regularly during the day.

Timmy is more of a wild card.  He is much harder to put to bed, he wants me to lay with him for much longer then I am willing to stay.  Most nights he stays put and just calls for me a couple times after I leave, and I tell him through the monitor to go to sleep.  Recently he has discovered that if he wakes up in the middle of the night he can sneak into our bed.  With all of the other interruptions to my sleep I just don't have it in me to go put him back in his bed.  Which is a mistake, obviously.  It tells him it's okay for him to do it, and it means he is tossing and turning and waking me up the rest of the night anyways!  He probably sleeps through the night 90% of the time though.  I have the biggest problem when they team up on me!

Which brings us to last night.  Tyler went to bed around 10, but was not at all interested in a bottle before bed.  Timmy was a nightmare to put to sleep, he called for me and called for me and as soon as we thought he had given up and gone to sleep, our door opened up.  This happened several times.  He and I were finally asleep before 11.  Tyler woke up to eat at 11:30.  Tim was still awake so he took care of that feeding for me.  Tyler woke up the next time at 2.  Tim was still awake and said he would take care of him, but he also said there was no way Tyler needed to eat again.  So, he was letting him cry.  My blood pressure is going up right now just thinking about his crying last night, not that it was extreme or Tim let it go on that long, it just happens immediately.  

(Side story - I have been aware of my blood pressure since Timmy was born.  I had high blood pressure at the end of his pregnancy that left me on bed rest, luckily it went back to normal as soon as he was born.  But, during one of the routine checks by the nurse it was suddenly high again, when I asked her about it she said, "your baby is crying, of course it's high."  Ever since then I can literally feel when it is raising, whether it's because Timmy is too wound up to listen to directions or when the first ear piercing scream of Tyler's alerts me that he's awake.)

Tim went in to get Tyler, calmed him down, changed his diaper, held him for a few moments, and put him back in his crib.  No bottle.  This really surprised me, I had been assuming that if he was waking up the only reason could be that he was hungry, especially because he doesn't try to play or anything else.  Everyone went back to sleep.  At 3 my door opened, Timmy had the sweetest smile on his face, but I firmly said, "let's go back to your room."  He had a big story for me that didn't register, but I'm pretty sure he was just alerting me that he had just gone pee.  I praised him, pulled the cover over him, and walked out of his room.  I was ecstatic when he quietly went back to sleep.  At 4:30 when Tyler woke up, he was frantically sucking his thumb, I changed him and fed him and put him back to sleep.  I was very happy when Tim's alarm did NOT start going off around 5:30 like usual, even though we were all running a little late this morning since he got up with my alarm at 6:30.  If Timmy hadn't had school today, I might have let us all sleep in!

I guess since I've had two C-Sections these years of sleep deprivation can be my form of mother's guilt!

41 Months

Timmy is 41 months old.  He is growing, and growing up, so quickly!  Timmy is turning our commute into enjoyable time.  In the morning he tells me if he's had any dreams and we count school buses.  Sometimes we count city buses, garbage trucks, and dump trucks too.  He frequently alerts me that we are racing somebody, sometimes it's a car that has caught his eye, and sometimes it's the sun or the moon!

On our ride home we talk about all kinds of things.  Sometimes I can get him to tell me a little bit about school, although the, "What did you do today" question is usually only answered with, "Played outside!"

On November 9th, on our drive home Timmy noticed the huge moon that was already high in the sky and said:

I want to go to the moon.

You do?  I always wanted to go to the moon too! Maybe when you grow up you can be an astronaut, they get to go to the moon.

Okay! Do you want to go to the moon with me next Wednesday?

Yes, I do!

How do we get there?

On a spaceship.

But allthebodies will miss us while we're gone.  Maybe we can take a big spaceship with lots of car seats so allthebodies can come with us.  Then they won't miss us while we're gone.

A few days later the moon caught Timmy's attention again, but during our morning commute!

I see the moon!  Where is the sun...?

Over there, see?

They are both up at the same time?! (pause) That means it is a beautiful day!

And he was right, it was a gorgeous morning.  I love it when he helps me see the World through his eyes.

I also absolutely adore holding his hand.  He still asks for snuggle time too, which I am grateful for.  Frequently it's when I'm trying to clean the kitchen or make a bottle for Tyler, but I'm glad that he is direct about the attention he is looking for, and I'm happy for the little breaks in my day that we share on the couch!

Timmy loves being outside and the weather this fall has given us lots of opportunities to enjoy some outside time!  Last weekend Timmy helped me rake the leaves at my parents house on Saturday, and the next day he played outside with Brayden and Aunt Jenny for at least half the Redskins game.  I'm sure there will be more of the same this weekend!

Family Portraits

Monday we went to Picture People to use a certificate that Dad gave us right after Tyler was born.  I have been dying for a family picture, we went when Timmy was 6 weeks old, but this time around Tim wanted to wait until Tyler was a little older and could support himself a little bit and we could illicit smiles from him.  I think it was worth the wait!

Timmy was SUCH a good boy during the photo session!  He did everything the photographer asked of him and kept smiling through the whole thing.  He was rewarded with a quick trip through the toy store to look for ideas to ask Santa for!  I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner!

To Tyler, at 6 Months

Tyler,

I love you!  Your Dad and I agree that we love this (st)age.  Though your Dad is starting to wish that you would sleep through the night for me almost as much as I do!  He has started making your right-before-bed bottles into rice cereal "smoothies" and it's helping, a little, but you are a growing, hungry boy!  If I needed to wake up at 4 am, I wouldn't need to set an alarm, you are precisely tuned!

You really are a big boy too!  Baba happened to dress you in this outfit today, your brother happened to wear it for his EIGHT month update photo shoot.  I am told you will be my linebacker, but for now you are my cuddle bear.

Your feet get cold when you are sleeping, like freezing cold.  Changing your diaper, while you cried for your bottle, in the middle of the night Tuesday, I finally decided to put socks on you under your pajamas.  As I was putting them on, you strained your neck to sit up a little and looked at your feet; you immediately stopped crying.  I'm not sure if you thought I was crazy or if I solved a problem for you!

You are really strong, especially your little abs!  If you are inclined at all you can get yourself to practically sitting up, and then roll over.  You started rolling over on October 7th, just days after your five month birthday.  You went from back to front, and you did it with no witnesses for days!  We would stare at you for 15 minutes without any action, walk away for 1 minute, and come back to find you on your belly!  It wasn't until October 25th that you went from your belly to your back, and you still don't do that often.  Now, when Timmy decides to help you roll over, you keep complete control of your neck, and it's a little game for you both.  Sitting up unassisted is the next milestone to look forward to!  You and Timmy will really be able to play then!

You love Timmy!  He keeps you entertained.  You watch him all the time and you smile and giggle at his antics when he is entertaining himself.  Once he realizes you are laughing at him, he will repeat the action over and over until you lose interest.  He calls you TyTy a lot when he is talking to you.  He snuggles up to you all the time to tell you he loves you.  Sometimes I worry he is pressing on you too hard and I ask him to stop and be more gentle, he will tell me, "But I need to hug him!" He loves you so much.  He brings you toys, and squishes your cheeks, and when you cry in the car as you try to put yourself to sleep at the start of our commute home, after saying, "Here we go again..." he helps me sing to you.

Daddy loves to cuddle with you.  He will hold you against him, with your head against his, and you will happily leave it there.  Sometimes you push your head against his, he says you are head-butting him.  Daddy is turning into the solid-food-feeder and the tubby-giver.  He gives you a lotion-y massage after your tubby which he says makes you smile and laugh the whole time.

Mommy loves laying down with you to give you your bottles.  It is the perfect chance to feel like I'm being productive while doing nothing but relaxing and loving on you.  I love to lay on the floor by you and watch you play with your toes and take in your surroundings.  You like to grab at my locket or touch my hair.  Your cheeks are perfect for kissing!  You are my sweet, sweet, content baby boy.

Happy 1/2 year Tyler!  I love you!

Mommy

Happy Halloween 2011

Halloween was a lot of fun again this year!  We started our Halloween Festivities on Friday with a party at Timmy's preschool.  The kids wore their costumes to school and paraded into the sanctuary where moms and siblings were anxiously awaiting them.  They were supposed to be leading us in a sing-a-long, but they were all audience-shy!  A few of them did some of the movements or sang along to the choruses, but the teacher repeatedly promised that they are more involved in class!

The little witch kept trying to unmask Timmy, finally I heard her ask, "Are you Timmy or Henry?" (Henry is the other blonde hair, blue eyed boy in class!)

Tyler, anxiously awaiting the performance!

We all went back to their classroom to help them make paper bag pumpkins and eat a special Halloween snack together.  Mom and I made juice box mummies, a little idea I found on pinterest that got rave reviews.  I love having Timmy's school right around the corner from work so I can take advantage of all of these activities!

Earlier in the week we had gone to Timmy's preschool for their Fall Festival.  The highlights there included raking leaves, jumping on hay bales, finger painting, playing in corn, and face painting.

Timmy helped me make a pinterest inspired snack for that too, acorn cookies!  One of the other mom's said, "Oh, you're one of those creative mom's!" when she saw them, I had to confess to my inspiration after that!

But back to Halloween!  Friday evening after work we got Timmy and Tyler into their costumes and met Jenny at her school for their annual Halloween Parade.  It was a great event, the teachers all dressed up and stood at their classroom doors with candy and the students paraded around the school, trick-or-treating!  I took Timmy around several of the hallways before we settled into Jenny's class to play with her smart-board and other activities.  Timmy thoroughly enjoyed it, it's good having an Aunt that teaches Kindergarten!

From there we went to dinner with Elena and Al, but Timmy didn't want to take his costume off!  (Last year, if you remember, we couldn't get him into it!)  He got lots of smiles from the staff and patrons!

Monday I managed to swing by Mom's house for about 5 minutes to take pictures while Timmy and her scooped out a pumpkin and began carving it!  Timmy still doesn't like getting his hands in the goop... I have taught him well!  ;)

Timmy's "mean face" was the inspiration for the pumpkin!

After work I got the boys into their costumes at my parents and Mom helped me pose them for their annual costume photo-op.  Then she and I took them around to a few neighbors houses.

Our next stop was Tim's dad's house, where we met up with Jenny, Brett, and Brayden for dinner and the majority of our trick-or-treating.  Brayden was absolutely adorable in his costume, and when he ran his arms, all four of them, flapped like wings!  It was too cute!  Timmy and Brayden had a blast running from door to door and both did great with saying "Trick-or-treat" at each door and Timmy threw in the occasional, "Happy Halloween!"  Timmy also enjoyed passing candy out to the other kids and took notice of their costumes.  I think Bumble Bee was his favorite, but he did say that Batman could beat Bumble Bee up.

We wrapped up the evening at Elena's house for a few more pictures and a few more neighbors houses.

When we got home Timmy seemed very happy with his haul!