Five for Friday, Weekend Recaps

Life has been a bit of a whirlwind around here lately!  We've been ridiculously busy, mostly with fun things!

1.  A few weekends ago now there was an impromptu meeting of Shultz' at my parents house!  Bobby and Valeria were in town while Bobby prepares to go back to India for work, Ron stopped by on his way to and from the beach, and Marleen hitched a ride with him and stayed to visit with us for the week.  The one day that they were all there for, we went to the National's game.  I bought the 8 tickets just hours before the game, and ended up with the best seats in the house!  (For someone bringing two kids anyways!)  We actually ended up getting the row of handicap seats, and it was amazing.  Close to the park entrance, with movable chairs and fenced in space for the kids to run around!  I didn't have to tell Tyler not to pull anyone's hair the entire game!  It was amazing.  Timmy finally agreed to take a picture with Uncle Gecko too (It's Joe)!

Tim was out of town for the weekend, visiting his cousin and doing lots of fishing.

2.  My mom and I have been talking about meeting for lunch at Reston Town Center and letting the kids play in the fountain for two years.  With their move imminent, we finally managed to make it happen last week.  The boys loved it.  Tyler spent more time pointing at the shoots of water then playing in it, but they both had a great time.  Timmy is in the neon green shirt, Tyler in the white.

3.  Timmy went to another fun birthday party last weekend, for Henry, at Frying Pan Park.  The kids got to meet a few animals up close before going on a hay ride and playing in the lawn for a while.  They really enjoyed getting to see their preschool friends and all had a blast!

4.  My birthday was last week, as I turned 31 I realized that I had been able to drink legally for 10 years, and looking forward 10 years, that Timmy would be preparing to start high school!  This does not seem proportionate, and I hope that the next decade goes a lot slower then the last!  To celebrate my birthday this year we went on a double date with the Miller's to a concert at a winery, had dinner with my family, and on my actual birthday we went to dinner with the boys where I got to open my beautiful gifts (Tiffany's wrapped in Coach!) and then went swimming for a while before going home for a surprise teeny tiny cake.

5.  Last weekend we had shave ice at a children's event Saturday morning so my parents brought the boys for us.  Timmy is the biggest fan of our shave ice!

Later in the afternoon the boys and I went to see Ice Age with my parents.  Tyler's first movie theater experience was to see Brave, which he slept through 80% of before my arm was so dead that I had to move him, then he happily watched the end.  This time, he was perfectly content, eating popcorn like a big shot, all the way through... the previews.  Then he wanted to climb the stairs, so I took him out of the theater about 10 minutes into the movie!  Luckily they gave me a refund for my ticket, and Tyler and I wandered around the theater until the sun cooled off enough for us to venture outside to another fountain.

Tyler at 13, 14, and 15 Months!

The days went by too quickly the last few months!  I missed posting for Tyler's 13 and 14 month updates and his 15 month post is already a week behind!  We hit some major milestones each month so I am going to try to cover everything I can remember.  The pictures are from their corresponding months, and I should noted that for the 14 month photo shoot, Tyler is wearing my all time favorite pajamas!

The big news from right around 13 months is that we (I) am sleeping through the night now!  At Tyler's 9 month check up, when I told his doctor that he was waking up to eat 2-3 times a night the look on his face clearly depicted shock.  I swear his eyes went right to Tyler's chunky legs, and he said, "this child clearly does not need to be eating 2-3 times a night, what you want to do is completely up to you, but he does. not. need. that."  At his one year appointment he asked how sleeping was coming and I reported that the feedings were down to 1-2 times a night.  The doctor shook his head a little and said, "I know it's hard to hear your baby crying, but he doesn't need to be eating at night, he probably doesn't eat that often during the day."  That was an aha moment for me, and Tim pushed a little for me to not feed Tyler at night any more, he went in a few times when Tyler was crying and just comforted him, with no bottle, and Tyler went right back to sleep without eating.  I was kind of in shock, I figured the only reason for him to wake up would be because he was hungry.  So, I was a mean mommy, and I turned the monitor off for a week.  Every morning I found Tyler to be just fine.  The next week I turned the monitor back on, and he only woke up about half the nights that week.  These days I keep the monitor on, and I hear him crying sometimes, but I have learned that Tyler wakes up at the drop of a hat, at the smallest sound or just when he needs to change position.  This makes him angry so he cries for a moment until he can get comfortable again and then he's right back to sleep.  And I am one happy, much better rested, mommy these days.

Right after 14 months Tyler had his language epiphany.  All of a sudden one day it was clear that he understood everything we said to him.  He started listening to the "No-no" he got whenever he approaches the receiver.  He started following directions, like, "Take your cup to Daddy if you want more water" or, "Go give Timmy kisses night-night."  My favorite mommy phrases of, "not for eating," and, "not for throwing," suddenly work and life is now easier, with much less jumping out of my seat to take things away from him!  Tyler also started shaking his head no at us in response to questions, which surprised Tim and I both the first time.  His head shake is generally coupled with a whine also!  We get a "no" from him for everything from "come here Tyty" to asking for kisses or asking if he wants to go night-night.  Of course, if we ask him about night-night again in five minutes, he will run to the kitchen gate awaiting his bottle, and then happily carry it up the stairs after giving everyone kisses.

Now, at 15 months, Tyler is climbing.  He can get up onto most chairs and other things he probably shouldn't be standing on.  I first discovered this while I was at home with the boys trying to get some stuff done, and Timmy was playing on the laptop.  Tyler kept going over and banging on the corner of the laptop, so I pushed the ottoman up against the couch so Tyler couldn't reach the table.  A few minutes later I walked passed again and Tyler was sitting next to Timmy!  The next day I put Tyler on Mom's dining room chair and walked into the kitchen.  Timmy came over and said, "Uhm, Tyler's doinin something in there." When I checked, he was standing on top of the table, bumping his head against the chandelier!  Now he's climbing up onto everything he can, and only couches seem to be above his current capabilities.

Tyler's hand/eye coordination is also impressive.  He has been able to take the straw in and out of restaurant kiddie cups for a while now and I was especially impressed when he found a tooth pick on the floor and was able to maneuver it in and out of his sippy cup straw repeatedly.

His good aim whenever he is picking up something tiny has caught several people's attention.  And the other morning he caught a cricket:

He has also started making the kiss noise.  We will occasionally hear it as he's walking up to Timmy, letting Timmy know that he wants to give him a kiss!

Tyler has a handful of words now.  His favorite is "mom", this is used to call for me or ask for anything he wants or when something catches his eye, he points and says mom.  He says "Da" sometimes too, and "Ba" or "Baba" every once in a while.  He doesn't have a word for Timmy yet, he just smiles at him and loves on him whenever he has a chance.  Tyler does say "Ka" for cat and "Dah" for dog. He says "Uh-oh," usually after he purposefully throws something onto the floor.  His best word, by far, is "Ta-Da" when he does something he's proud of, or after a trick like a somersault.

Last night, as we were preparing to leave my parents house, I told Timmy, "say byebye to Grandpa" for which they have a routine of two high five's, two fist bumps, and then dad tousles Timmy's hair.  Usually when I tell Timmy to say good bye, I'm already holding Tyler, but last night he was still down.  As soon as I said to say goodbye, Tyler stopped what he was doing and ran over to Grandpa with his hand up for a high five!  I was impressed!  I have truly been blessed with two smart, sweet little boys!

Five for Friday - Recently

I am working hard to catch up on my entries this week!  Five for Friday should be just the thing to get our most current activities caught up, and then I have to try to make up for missing 2 of Tyler's monthly updates! (Ooops!)  Not to mention a preschool post, hopefully before the next school year starts, and a few other drafts that are sitting in my posts list!

1.  Timmy has taken a liking to fishing.  The neighborhood recently built a pier on the pond right by our house and as soon as Timmy saw it he started talking about going fishing.  His Grandad gave him a pole for his birthday but our trip to Rhode Island gave him his first taste of it.  As soon as we got back Tim got him the rest of the accessories he needed.  Timmy is so good at casting that he has a short rod with a regular reel on it instead of a child's version.  They've gone three times in the past two weeks and Timmy asks to go almost every evening!  I'm sure that the fact he has caught 2-3 fish each time out is helping to keep his interest!

Tyler is not willing to be left out!

2.  Timmy has a busier social life then we do!  Last Saturday we went to Nate's birthday party, at their home, where the whole group was entertained by The Great Zucchini!  At the end he had all the kids run up to him to get a Great Zucchini card to give to their parents, Timmy came running over to me asking to have him at his next birthday party!

3.  Caleb's party was last Wednesday at the Nature Center in Reston and it was dinosaur themed.  As soon as we got the invitation Timmy excitedly said he wanted to wear his dinosaur shirt to the party.  The kids had a blast finding and making fossils and going on a walk to look for dinosaurs and their eggs in the woods.  Timmy has another birthday party coming up on the 11th as well!

4.  My boys love each other so much!  Tyler loves to wake Timmy up if he's the first one up in the morning, or from their naps.  It makes me one happy mommy to see them loving on each other like this!

 

5.  Tim is putting in some upgrades in our house for us!  He installed a beautiful back splash in our kitchen and powder room and he's upgrading the rest of the powder room fixtures as well.  Some new kitchen lighting and a fresh coat of paint for the whole house are on the horizon as well.  Because of a bunch of out of town trips the project is taking longer then we had hoped, but it is so going to be worth it when it's done.  Here is a sneak peek!

Rhode Island and Roselyn & Nate's Wedding

The Thursday after I got back from Angie's Wedding, we loaded up the car with the boys, Jenny, and Brayden and headed to Rhode Island for Roselyn and Nate's wedding.  The trip up started smoothly.  We turned Tyler's carseat around finally and had Timmy and Brayden in the back together and they were all enjoying movies for awhile.  They needed a potty break right around dinner time so we stopped at a tiny burger place where they were luckily able to run around like maniacs while we ate.  The milkshake Tyler stole from Tim bought his approval of getting back into the car.  We hit traffic going around New York and the boys' patience wore thin.  Once we finally made it to Rhode Island, our GPS took us to two wrong addresses, half an hour apart from each other, before finally getting us to Jim and Joann's!  The trip ended up being 12 hours, our ride home was only 10!

We had a great time visiting with Elena's side of the family.  Jim and Joann's house was perfect for party hosting and we spent Friday just visiting.  We did venture out for a seafood lunch with the boys, Jenny, and Brayden.  Tim and I split great calamari and each had an amazing lobster roll.  The food was so good that Tim, the boys, and I went back for lunch on Saturday as well!  A few other relatives from Northern Virginia came to Rhode Island for the festivities too, even though we live within half an hour of them, we don't see them very often.  It was really nice to spend an extended amount of time with them, especially while most of us had nothing to do but relax.  Friday evening, after the rehearsal, the dinner was a cookout at Joann's.  It had rained all day but cleared in time for us to enjoy their back yard and view of the lake.  We had talked about going to the beach or aquarium one day, but opted to spend Saturday fishing and visiting instead.  I was especially grateful for the time the boys got to spend with their Great Grandparents.  Ollie, who we used to see weekly, hadn't even met Tyler yet, so I loved watching them rocking together.  Bobby was there as well and he and Timmy spent a little while fishing together.  It was great.

Saturday afternoon we all got ready and headed to Easton Beach, right outside of Newport, for the wedding.  The weather was just perfect for an outside wedding and I loved putting the boys in their coordinating suits and watching them in the sand.  I had been worried that sitting at the beach but not going near the water would be torture for Timmy, but he was perfectly happy to have his hands in the sand.

Roselyn looked beautiful and Nate teared up as she came down the aisle.

The reception was held just up the steps at the Rotunda and it was such a great facility for a wedding reception!  It was just a large circular room with 360 degree views, the head table on one side, DJ set up on the opposite side, and the middle was all dance floor.  There was a large deck outside with a covered carousel too.  The bridal party took pictures on it for a while before opening it up to the guests for an hour.  Timmy rode 4 times in a row and only got off because the hour was up!

Tyler rode once but wasn't really a fan.  I took advantage of the background of the carousel and the setting sun to give him some model training instead.

And the ocean made too nice of a back drop to miss out on.

Roselyn's friend made an incredible cake that celebrated the newly minted family.  There was also a dessert bar with cupcakes, chocolate covered pretzels, and homemade truffles that the bride and her bridesmaids made in the days leading up to the wedding.  The wedding favor was a box for each couple to pick out their own desserts to go!

After dinner Timmy, Tyler, Brayden, and the rest of the kids tore up the dance floor for the rest of the night!  They were so fun to watch.  Tyler started getting sleepy and couldn't decide if he wanted to be held or wanted to be with the big boys, he was up and down repeatedly.

It was truly a great celebration!  I'm so glad we were able to go and we are already planning a trip through New York, back to visit in Rhode Island, and onto Boston, maybe for next Spring.