Catching up on all the lack of news

So even from 2,000 miles away my dad can chastise me about slacking in my duties.  I know it’s been a while since the last blog posting but there is a pretty good reason.  All the fun activities we’ve had planned for the last few weeks have all basically fallen through.  In spite of the lack of news, I’ll try to catch you all up and make this post worth reading.

First on the list of fun activities was a trip to the Brandywine Zoo in Wilmington, DE.  After our last trip to the Plumpton Park Zoo we figured this one would have to be better.  Well, it was and it wasn’t.  At least it wasn’t just someone’s farm with a bunch of wild animals but it was microscopic.  We brought a lunch and figured we’d spend a couple hours there then have some lunch so we arrived at 10:00.  After taking our time at each and every exhibit we sat down for lunch at about 11:15…and that was stretching it.  I guess the zoo wanted to really go out of its way to represent Delaware.  And by represent Delaware I mean be extremely small.  I’m sure there’s a smaller zoo out there but people probably just refer to it as the cat lady’s house.

Even though it was a short trip, we at least got to spend some time with some of our friends, the Nairs.  They have two boys, Camden and Dallan, who are both within a year or so of Tyler.  Here are a few pictures of our outing (yes, there are more pictures of us by the river next to the parking lot – seriously it was a freaking small zoo.)

Ok, so the zoo was kind of a bust.  Hey, sometimes that just happens when you’re exploring new places.  So the next weekend we planned to go back to the place where we saw the horse races because they were having an equestrian competition.  Now I don’t know what an equestri is but on the website it looked like a bunch of horses jumpin’ over fences so that seemed like a fun activity.  To our dismay, however, Fall decided to arrive that morning bringing with it really cold and really fast winds.  Once again we packed a lunch and went out exploring and in the time it took us to walk from our car in the general parking to the bus that was to shuttle us to the event we realized this was a crappy idea and we were already sick of freezing our butts off.

So once again our plans fell through so we just went back and had a picnic at Tyler’s table in his bedroom.  In retrospect it’s probably a good thing.  I remember as a kid going to the rodeo for the 24th of July and thinking how cool it would be to get a cowboy hat, some cowboy boots, and be a real cowboy.  Of course, on the east coast you don’t go to a rodeo you go to an equestrian competition.  Had we actually made it to the competition, Tyler probably would have thought how cool it would be to get knee-high black leather boots, a cool black derby, and be a real douche-bag.  Yeah, a nice picnic in his room was probably a blessing in disguise.

Our last failed attempt at having something good to blog about was a Halloween birthday party for Dallan.  Luckily the party was a lot of fun and we got to spend some time with friends.  The only bad thing was that Tyler did not want to cooperate when we dressed him in his costume for a cute picture for the blog.  So here’s the best picture we have of Tyler in his costume.  In case you can’t tell what he is, he’s a 2 year old in an itchy fireman’s costume throwing a tantrum.  

Ahhhh… how cute.  I think he’s trying to honor those fireman who’ve lost the lower half of their legs in the line of duty. 

Those of you looking for a picture of Reagan in her costume have obviously never had to try and find a costume for a 4 month old ‘cause they don’t exist.  Ok, that’s not entirely true.  It’s just hard to find but we probably have something now (thanks to another friend from the ward with older girls who’ve grown out of their baby costumes).  We’ve got a couple more Halloween parties lined up so we’ll try to get a picture (of both the kids) next time.

Reagan joins us at the table

It seems like just yesterday we were bringing little Reagan home from the hospital, but on Sunday she actually turned 4 months old.  In spite of our perception of how long it had really been, it was time to introduce her to the world of solid foods.  Well, as solid as you can call a bowl of mushy rice cereal.

Here’s our little sweetheart so excited to be sitting at the table.  She looked so tiny in that big high chair.

Well, this “food” aint gonna eat itself (and there’s no way I’m gonna eat it) so we strapped on the bib and got started.  Here she goes.

Yeah, I’m not too sure she liked it.  I don’t know why.  Flavorless, colorless, luke-warm mush.  How could it not be delicious?

After a few bites we called it good enough for a first run.  I’m not sure if she’s smiling in this next picture because she was happy to have been such a big girl eating her food or if she was just smiling because we finally took it away. 

Either way it was a big milestone for our little girl (and a good day for Dad as well because we got one step closer to never having to buy baby formula again).

In big brother news, Tyler has definitely entered the parrot stage (repeating everything we say).   I don’t remember what we were doing but the other day I said “This sucks” about something and two seconds later out came “This sucks” from Tyler.  I guess it could have been worse but we’ve definitely had to start watching ourselves a little closer now.

Happy Birthday Tyler

Well, it was a very different scene this birthday compared to Tyler’s 1st birthday.  A year ago we were in the park behind our house in Roy getting ready to say goodbye to everyone.  As we look back over the past year so much has changed. 

We considered having a birthday party for Tyler with all his friends from nursery, but then we decided it would be a fun tradition to just have a party every other year and go somewhere fun as a family in between those years.  Before heading out, however, we set up Tyler’s birthday gifts on the couch so they were there for him as he walked out of his bedroom in the morning.  It was a lot like Christmas, but at least we didn’t have to bother wrapping everything.

Tyler enjoyed the Lego's and farm animals, but he made his preference clear when he went for this gift right off the bat.  Here’s Tyler with his new “oder cycle” (Tyler for motorcycle).

As I sat on the couch putting this together at 11:00  the evening before his birthday, I told Thesha that this thing was so cool that if I could ride it I totally would right now.  For all the dad’s who’ve assembled toys while you’re kids were sleeping, you know how good it feels to see your kids enjoy them as well.  So you can imagine how cool it was when Tyler stopped pushing the blinker and engine noise buttons to give his new motorcycle a hug. 

Best reaction EVER!  The best part about this picture is that it wasn’t even staged.  We actually got the picture in the act.

Here’s another picture of Tyler in his new Sunday clothes.  He looks like such a big kid I just couldn’t help but include this one in the blog.

Yes, he’s pointing to his motorcycle and No, he did not give his new dress clothes a hug. 

For our family outing, we went to the Delaware Children’s Museum.  It was a ton of fun.  Tyler ran and played non-stop for about two hours running from exhibit to exhibit.  By the time we left he was so worn out that he didn’t want to walk to the car and when we went into a restaurant for lunch he just laid his head down on the table.  Here are a few pictures of him taking it all in.  See the rest in the slideshow at the bottom of the blog posting.

 

A really fun exhibit was the simulated NASCAR garage.  In this exhibit you can tune the engine, replace a muffler, and change a tire.  Here’s Tyler changing the tire.  I kept waiting for him to say “Ohhh fuuudddggge” but it never came.  Maybe when he’s a bit older he’ll risk the soap poisoning.  (If you don’t get that reference you’re missing out on an American classic – A Christmas Story.)

I know it’s supposed to be all about Tyler, but I just can’t help but include a cute picture of the ladies.

At the end of the day we finished up the days activities with a special Birthday Cake that Thesha did such a good job putting together.  While I assembled the motorcycle, Thesha assembled the birthday cake.  It really turned out cute.  For all those mom’s out there who toiled in the kitchen for hours trying to make your idea come together in cake and frosting, you know how rewarding it feels to see it all come together.  Then to see your 2 year-old get a huge smile on his face and blow the candles out all by himself…best reaction EVER!

Tyler loves the M&M’s so we figured why not let him indulge – it’s his birthday after all.

It was a really fun day for all of us and even though it was different then last year it was still a very special day and one that will always be remembered.  Happy Birthday, Tyler.

Here is the complete collection of pictures from Tyler’s birthday.  Enjoy.

 

Holy Rollers Batman

Well, it’s official.  Reagan’s rolling over.  She actually rolled over once a week or two ago but we weren’t really sure if she had rolled over or just fallen onto her side and back on accident.  We put her on her stomach last night and she purposefully rolled onto her side then onto her back.  To confirm it wasn’t a fluke, we put her back on her stomach and she rolled over onto her back again – this time with photographic evidence.  Here are the pictures of our little roller.

   

Mama and Tag

Well, Tyler’s starting to come into his true 2-year old spirit (even though he still has a week left as a 1-year old).  As if on cue he suddenly realized that he can say no, so now everything we ask of him prompts an immediate “No.” 

Tyler, do you want breakfast?  NO.  Tyler, will you pick up your toys? NO.  Tyler will you ever stop saying no? NO.  I didn’t realize we had raised Tyler to be such a fan of Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign.

In addition to the perpetual No’s, Tyler has also taken to calling me Tag instead of Dad.  I’ll come home from work and he used to run up to me and say something like “Hi Dad”, or ask Thesha “Where’s Dad?” but now everything is “Hi Tag” and “Where’s Tag?”  My personal favorite is when he calls for me from across the room.  “Tag…Tag…Tag…” We’ve tried to correct him and tell him to say Dad, but it always reverts back to Tag. 

It’s not much better for Thesha, however.  Granted, he still calls her Mom or Mama, but he’s gotten to where he just calls out her name over and over again.  The other day he woke up from his nap early so Thesha tried to just let him settle back down and go back to sleep.  After a little while, however, he started yelling for her… “mama…..Mama……MAMA.”  When she finally broke down and went in to see what was the matter he just looked her straight in the face and said “I fine.”  This is Tyler’s other new favorite saying, “I fine.”  Whenever he falls down… “I fine.”  Whenever he falls and slams his head into the wall… “I fine.”  Whenever he lets one rip while sitting on my lap… “I fine.” 

Well, that’s about it for this time.  Here are some recent pics just for fun.  Next time we should have some pictures from Tyler’s birthday and maybe even some pretty fall pictures (the leaves are starting to turn and it’s looking prettier every day).

These are some from a nearby covered bridge.

These are just some cute pictures of our little “Squishy” (as I like to call her).

Reagan’s Bumbo-rific and a Follow-up to the Picnic Story

Well, there’s not a whole lot to talk about this week.  We’ve just been hanging out around home relaxing lately.  It’s actually been ok because it’s given us a chance to let Reagan start trying out the Bumbo.  She’s still a little wobbly in it so we can’t leave her in it for more than a couple minutes, but it’s a start.

Here’s our little cutie…

Now before you all go get too excited, I’ll have you know I sat like this for hours on Saturday then again on Sunday.  It was exhausting.  How ‘bout an “ahhhh, how cute” for me!

As a follow-up to my post about my work picnic and Tyler hitting on all the girls.  Apparently a coworker of mine got some photographic evidence.

Here’s Tyler hitting on a little girl his own age.

Then, just as she starts thinking she’s got a chance…Boom. He goes after the “cougar.”

I told Tyler I was going to post these pictures and he just said, “Don’t hate the playa’… hate the game.”

Tonight we were “that family”

About 8 years ago Thesha and I wandered into a Chili’s near our apartment in Albuquerque.  We sat down next to a nice young family with a happy-go-lucky Mom and Dad and their two sons.  Shortly in to our meal the younger kid started screaming and about half-way through our meal the older kid totally puked all over.  We felt pretty bad for the young couple but really we spent the rest of our meal mumbling beneath our breath about how bad it would suck to be them right now.  Plus it sucked for us because we were watching it and it’s hard to keep an appetite after something like that.

We gained a whole new perspective on that couple this evening.  We forgot to get the chicken out to thaw for dinner so we figured we’d just run to Chili’s real quick.  Sure, it seemed like a good idea at the time, and it actually started off pretty well.  When the food arrived things took a dramatic turn, however.  I had literally just pulled my fork and knife out of their pre-wrapped napkin roll when Reagan started to cry uncontrollably for no apparent reason.  I tried in vain to calm her down while keeping her in her car seat but quickly realized I was fighting a losing battle.  So with tears streaming down her face and the entire restaurant peering over their chairs to see what all the commotion was about, I pulled her out of the car seat and tried desperately to calm her down by rocking back and forth in my chair.  I couldn’t hear it over the screams, but I’m almost positive I saw a guy lean over to his teenage daughter and point out that this is why he is always reminding her to not have sex until she’s married.

With my meal getting colder by the minute, Thesha quickly ate her chicken sandwich - her mouth burning both from the heat as well as the spicy sauce she usually savored.  In between bites she “encouraged” Tyler (as only a mother can) to eat something besides tortilla chips.  In retrospect, we probably all wish he hadn’t eaten anything at all.  While still chewing and blowing on the last bite of her sandwich (you know what I mean when you’ve eaten something too hot), Thesha relieved me of the still crying Reagan and gave me a chance to eat my luke-warm hamburger. 

Realizing that he had completely lost interest in the quesadilla, we gave Tyler the cinnamon apples that came with his meal and enjoyed a few moments of peace.  Tyler did pretty good with the apples until he had eaten all of the sauce and started into the apple chunks.  That’s when dinner became a spectacle instead of a meal. 

Tyler started choking on one of the apples.  He coughed it back up, but apparently there was some kind of chemical attraction between that apple chunk and the tortilla chips because as soon as the chunk came up so did everything that had proceeded it.  Tyler was sitting next to Thesha who was still trying to keep Reagan quiet so she gave playing catcher a quick try then realized her best alternative was just to get out of its way.  I hopped up but Tyler’s 4:00 snack had already made it to the floor before I got over there to help.  With all the sudden movement, Reagan started crying again while we scrambled for a stack of napkins from the hostess. 

Thankfully by now the teenage girl sitting next to us and her family had left – probably to go tell her boyfriend that she had been converted to the idea of abstinence – so we weren’t having to apologize to them for all the chaos.  I did find it interesting, however, that while I was still trying to clean up Tyler the waitress decided to drop off our check.  To her credit, she still asked us if we wanted to try a brownie sundae.  I don’t know if she was just used to this kind of stuff or if she was so appalled that she just reverted to her training and routine while trying to find a happy place in her mind.

With a dozen or so soaked napkins piled up on the table and Reagan starting to calm back down, I stripped Tyler down to his diaper and sandals and put his stinky, wet clothes in a garbage sack we pulled out of the diaper bag.  I don’t know whether to be grateful or disturbed by the notion that we were actually somewhat prepared for something like this.  I’m not saying we didn’t get a few confused looks from people coming in as we walked out with a kid in his diaper and sandals and a garbage bag of clothes instead of a doggie bag of food, but we did get out of there with our dignity.  Ah, who am I kidding.  At least we got out of there.

As disturbing as it all was, we tried to keep our wits about us and as we got in the car we looked at the lighter side of the situation.  Even with a screaming baby and a puke-soaked kid, we had at least avoided the trinity of all parenthood fiascos by not including a diaper blow out as well.  I think we’ll save that for Applebee’s next weekend.  As for now, we’re just going to sit and watch a few scenes from The Exorcist in order to get something more pleasant going through our minds before going to bed.