Ick!

We caught the dreaded flu bug at our house over the holiday weekend.  Our Oregon girls had been sick and we just knew that we were bound to catch it.  Christmas morning when I got Tyke out of bed I thought he smelled a little like vomit.  I checked his bed, his blanket, and his clothing and found nothing.  He grinned at me and then started dry heaving!  I immediately ran him into our bathroom and held him over the sink.  He heaved a few times but never threw up and was fine after that.  After opening gifts and getting ready for the day, Tyke spit up a little bit, just baby spit though so I thought nothing of it.

Thursday the bug hit Chad and I.  Chad was at work when it hit him and he headed straight home.  As soon as he told me he was sick I started feeling not too great too.  Tyke was perfectly fine.  Chad spent the day in bed, well between bed and bathroom, and I spent the day on the couch.  Tyke was so good to entertain himself!  I turned on his cartoons, gathered his new Christmas toys from the front room into the living room, and got him some treats.  He played and ate and watched his shows.  He was seriously such a good boy!

After a few hours both Chad and I were feeling better but still not 100%.  Tyke threw up once that night but I really think it was from eating a mini M&M and not the flu.  He gagged pretty hard on it, he's still pretty new to the little chocolate candies.

It took a couple days to completely bounce back from the flu bug but we are finally back to normal at our place!

Charlie Update

Charlie kind of slacked off with things as we got closer and closer to Christmas.  Tyke enjoyed finding him each day, even if he stayed in the same spot a couple of days in a row.  Charlie brought a few more goodies before packing up (he took all of the Christmas books with him!) and leaving Christmas Eve.  Tyke misses his elf friend and looks for him on the elk, the last place he was spotted, constantly.  Until next year Charlie!

1st Christmas

Our Christmas this year was great!  I think it's safe to say that we finally topped the Christmas of '09 (when Chad and I got engaged).  Tyke was so much fun this holiday season, we couldn't have asked for more!

Christmas Eve was spent with my side of the family, as always.  We started out the evening with our annual Christmas party at Grams and Gramps house with the entire Kay fam (or at least those who show up).  We had a great dinner of turkey, ham, yummy potatoes, veggies and lots of desserts!  After eating and visiting for a while our favorite guest, Santa Claus, showed up!

The kids were so excited and the party went wild! (as if it wasn't wild enough!)  The kids gathered around Santa and he had a good long talk with them about what needed to be done that night: be good, set out my cookies and milk, and go to bed early.  After his annual lecture it was time to get down to business.  One at a time the kiddos were called up to sit on Santa's lap and have a visit with him.  As soon as they were done, and the photo ops were over, Santa would give them their gift and move onto the next kid.  The rule has always been that you can't open your gift until Santa says so, usually after all the kids have their gift and they've sung a carol or two and Santa leaves.

I'm not sure how far down the line Tyke was, there were a lot of kids, but everyone got so excited when it was his turn to sit on the big guys lap!  Chad snapped pictures, my cousin Dayna recorded, while I took Tyke up for his special visit.  Chad and I were really curious if Tyke would be a good boy or not.  His first visit with Santa at the first of the month went really well.  As the weeks have passed by Tyke has gotten more and more shy around people and will get upset.  I placed him on Santa's lap and he looked at me confused.  He looked at Santa, closed his eyes tight and turned toward the crowd, opened them up again hoping that this was all a dream I'm sure, turned back to see that Santa was still there and he squirmed and tried to push away.  It was great!  He never actually cried but he was definitely uncomfortable with the whole thing.  He whined a little and squirmed a lot, but the whole squinting his eyes was hilarious and had everyone laughing!  (Squinting is something that his Great Uncle Drew taught him!)

Tyke took his gift and I took him and we went and sat down.  Of course our little guy tried his hardest to open his gift and we tried our hardest to stop him.  We agreed at 50/50, it was half opened when he finally stopped.  The rest of the kids did great visiting with Santa.  Afterwards they all sang a song and then Santa went on his way.  At the count of three the kids were allowed to open their gifts.  It was total craziness!  Tyke got the cutest little teddy bear that recites "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and he absolutely loved it!  He would give it hugs and then shake his shoulders, as if dancing, while it talked.  (As it talks it's head moves back and forth, giving Tyke the impression that it's dancing)  We visited for a while longer and then decided to be on our way.

After leaving the hill we headed back to town and stopped for about an hour to visit Grandma Jean.  It was awkwardly quiet at her house.  Usually she has quite the crowd too but with all of the sickness going around, the family had opted to stay away to spare her.  We had a good visit.  Tyke could not and would not sit still.  He was climbing through the piano legs, flipping the lever on the recliner, and playing with the decorations on the tree.  He also did his usual share of teasing Grandma Jean.  Tyke loves teasing her and Grandma Jean loves teasing him back!  We finally decided to call it a night and we headed home.

I'm so thankful that Tyke gets to know his great grandparents!!!

Once home we were able to quickly get Tyke ready for, and into, bed.  He was one exhausted little boy after the long, fun filled, exciting day he had just had!  Chad and I took care of his job of putting out the cookies and milk since he had fallen asleep sooner than expected.  For the record, Tyke, Chad and I had baked sugar cookies with red and green sprinkles the night before, they were so good that Santa was lucky he even got any!  We got things situated and then we headed off for bed ourselves.

Christmas morning was so great!  I woke up way too early (I always have and I probably always will!  I love Christmas!) and bugged Chad until he woke up too.  I hurried out to get a bottle made for Tyke before waking him up and exclaiming that it was FINALLY Christmas!!!  We fed him, changed him, had a scare that maybe he had caught the flu (he started dry heaving but never threw up, weird) and then headed out to see what we could find around 7 a.m.

Santa definitely made it to our house!  There were presents galore and the milk and cookies were gone.  I beat Chad and Tyke into the family room so that I could record Tyke's reaction.  It was so cute and everything we had hoped for!  The pitter patter of Tyke's little hands as he came crawling down the hallway is something I will always remember!  As soon as he rounded the corner he stopped and his mouth fell open, he gasped "wow!"  He totally made our Christmas with his excitement!  He crawled so fast over to all of the gifts.  He found two containers of treats and he was done for the day with just that.  We showed him his new truck and he thought that was pretty cool too.  It wasn't until Chad put Tyke into his new truck that he realized just how awesome it was!  He loved pulling the steering wheel back and forth and honking the horn.  It was great fun for all of us!  He slowly but surely opened his gifts.  Our little guy got spoiled!  After a while he lost interest, leaving three gifts still wrapped for later.  Chad and I opened our gifts in between all of the fun.  We got spoiled too!

Around 10:00 a.m. we started working on getting ready for the day.  We had plans for a brunch at Nana's house at 11:00 am.  We got our gifts for our families loaded and we were on our way.  We had a yummy brunch of pancakes, crocpot breakfast casserole (eggs, ham, hash browns and cheese), bagels and juice.  We visited, cleaned up and got busy exchanging gifts.  Once again Tyke, Chad and I got spoiled rotten.  Tyke got new clothes from Nana, a tractor from his cousin, and Chad and I got new camp gear...an outdoor kitchen!  Along with slippers, a hoodie and gift cards to our favorite restaurants.  We visited some more and finally around 3 p.m. we headed up the hill to Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Terry's house for Christmas party number 3!

We had all debated on partying at Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Terry's house because the flu bug had already knocked down the Robertson clan.  We decided that we had all been exposed anyway so we went ahead and partied.  We had leftovers from the night before for our dinner.  The cousins opened their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa and exchanged their cousin gifts.  Tyke got a fun little spinning top that sings songs and talks about sea animals from Mac.  He got clothes and a humongous Tonka dump truck with a hard hat and sand toys from Grandma and Grandpa.  Once we took out the sand tools that's all he would play with, he could care less about anything else.  For the adults, we usually draw names, but this year decided to switch things up a little bit.  Us girls each brought three $5 gifts and the guys brought one $20 gift.  We piled everything into the center of the room and played it almost like a white elephant gift exchange.  There wasn't much stealing going on but there was a whole lot of threatening happening.  Heather Jo had chosen a box with two bags of Reese's peanut butter Christmas trees, my favorite!  When I attempted to steal it I got threatened so I backed down and chose an envelope with a Costa Vida gift card in it, score!  I hid that sucker so no one could steal it from me.  We had so much fun visiting and watching the kids play together.  Our Kay family has grown so much that it's unbelievable!  There are now 27 of us!

Chad and I decided to head home around 7:30 p.m.  We packed up our little family and all of our loot and were on our way.  We got home and Tyke finished opening his last three presents.  He played with all of his new toys until he couldn't any longer.  We got him ready for bed and away we went.  It was a perfect day spent with the ones we love!  We are really, truly, blessed to have such great families!

Merry Christmas 2013!!!  And Merry 1st Christmas Tyke!!!

Walking

Our little guy is getting more and more brave with the whole walking thing.  He's now up to taking about 10 steps per try!  He practically runs along the couches!  You can see the bravery in his eyes when he lets go of one piece of furniture to step to the next.  We are loving this new stage in life and are so proud and excited for Tyke!

1st Haircut

The moment we have all been waiting for finally happened...Tyke got his very first haircut today!  He has been needing a cut for a long time now but I was determined to wait until Heather Jo was home for Christmas so she could do it.  Tyke has been very sober around Aunt Jo.  He refuses to smile and just stares and studies her.  When we put him in his chair and put the cape over him he started to get concerned.  When Aunt Jo started up the clippers he looked at me and his Daddy with a scared little look on his face.  I held his hands and told him it was ok, he didn't believe.  He was terrified and broke down into tears!  It was sad but so cute.  Chad hurried and found some treats, cheetos, and started feeding them to Tyke continuously.  This helped a lot!

For the most part Tyke did really well at holding still, as long as I had a hold of his face and Chad was feeding him.  His new little do looks so good on him!  I'm a little sad that the baby locks are gone but our little Tyke-man is so handsome with his new spikies!  Thanks Aunt JoJo for being Tyke's first hair dresser!

And a before and after picture.  I can't believe how long his hair had gotten!  We have such a handsome little man!!!

Stairs

Tonight we had a Long family Christmas party at Aunt Jenny's.  We had dinner and then played games.  We did the white elephant gift exchange and played Mad Libs.  The kids had fun playing with each other and Tyke enjoyed all of the commotion.  Towards the end of the party Tyke ventured over to the stairs and looked at them pretty determined.  Chad and I stood back to see what he would do.  Tyke didn't know what to do so we gave him a quick little lesson and off he went, with us following closely behind!  He crawled a little more than half way to the top and wanted to quit but we urged him to finish what he had started.  He had a small crowd of cute cousins and his Daddy at the top of the stairs cheering him on.  It was too cute!  Our little Tyke can do stairs now!  Crazy!!

Festival of Lights

Tyke has been a huge fan of the Christmas lights!  Every time he sees them on the house, at the Old Mill Park, or on the trees he gets so excited and growls, "wow!!"  It almost makes him speechless!  The other night he was having one of his epic fits for me and I couldn't calm him down no matter what I tried.  As soon as I opened the door to see the lights he gasped, his breath taken away, and growled/whispered "wow!"  And then looked at me and smiled.  The cure to his fits!  What are we going to do when Christmas time is over and the lights get taken down? 

Chad and I have a little family tradition of going to the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork every year.  We were so excited to take Tyke for the first time!  We always wait until there is snow on the ground before we go, it's our rule!  Tyke and I picked up Daddy from work and headed to Spanish Fork.  We did a little shopping (nothing major, just needed some baby formula), grabbed a quick dinner at Sonic (for me) and Costco (for Chad) and then headed to the park.  

Tyke was really confused when I got him out of his car seat to drive around the park.  He loves sitting in the front of any vehicle because there are so many fun knobs and buttons to play with.  Unfortunately for him, he almost never gets to sit up front, only when the vehicles are parked and even then it's very rarely.  Tyke LOVED the lights and growled "wow!" through more than half of the ride.  Towards the end he started getting restless and cranky because we wanted him to watch the lights, not he knobs and buttons.  He got super irritated with us when we strapped him back in his seat before heading out.  

We love this little family tradition and hope to continue it for many, many years!

Schmokin'

Turns out that maybe Tyke's cough is a good thing...

Yesterday was a near cough-less day for our little man!  He hardly coughed at all and he had no runny nose, yay!  The antibiotic seems to be working great and Tyke takes it really well (I almost don't have to push on the syringe to administer the meds, he sucks it dry by himself).  Tyke has stayed in our room the last few nights so we could close the doors and really get the humidifier going for him (if he's in his room the door is open and that makes it pretty much ineffective).  Last night, or early this morning, whichever way you look at it, around 2 am Tyke started coughing fairly hard.  I woke up enough to sit him up and give him a sip of water and re-positioned him.  He kept coughing and I finally noticed a strong smell of smoke.  I woke Chad up and told him it smelled like smoke!  He was a bit stuffy so he couldn't really tell.  Tyke and I fell back to sleep while Chad left the room to go and investigate.  Chad said there was so much smoke coming from the fireplace that it was like walking through fog.  For some reason instead of it going out the chimney it filled the house instead, and our smoke detectors failed to go off! (We know they work because we set them off often when small puffs of smoke escape, so I am at a loss as to why they didn't work when the house was full of smoke??)  Chad opened all of the windows, turned on fans and went through two cans of air freshener trying to get rid of the smell.  This morning when we woke up and left the bedroom (it doesn't stink too bad because the door was closed the whole time) the house stunk like a camp fire!  It still does!  I'm really thankful that Tyke coughed enough to wake us up otherwise who knows what would have happened.

11 Months Old

Eleven months old already (deep breath!).  I can hardly believe it!  This has definitely been the fastest year of my entire life and it makes me a little heart sick (I'm sure Chad can say the same).  Tyke is seriously the best little guy and we love him so much more than he will ever know!  He gets more and more fun every day.  His little personality is the best and brings a smile to our faces.  He's perfect!  He's so fun and lovable and sassy and we just can't get enough of him!

Tyke is loving the holiday season and so are we!  It's so much more fun with our little guy!  For the most part he has been really good at leaving the Christmas tree alone.  Occasionally he will stand up next to it (we have it sitting on a small box for safety reasons) and smack the ornaments around.  He doesn't bother the presents under the tree, which is good considering we let him open up one a night but we can say for sure that he doesn't like bows on the gifts.  He ripped them off of all of the presents just as fast as I had put them on!  He's fun to watch open his gifts!  He tears the paper off a piece at a time and hands it to his Daddy.  He tears into the gifts pretty quick for an 11 month old (I think).  Christmas morning is going to be so great!

Tyke is definitely a busy body now that he is so mobile.  He crawls so fast when he's after something.  When he hits the tile he still crawls funny, dragging his right leg to the side.  Tyke almost daily stands on his hands and feet and sticks his bum up in the air and watches the wall between his legs.  He's silly!  Tyke pulls himself up to anything he dares to try.  It nearly gives us a heart attack but we've seen him stand up to: the walls, cabinets, entertainment center, bathtub and the gate around the fireplace.  All dangerous things because of the hard surfaces and slick tile.  He also pulls himself up to the couches, his toys and us.  He walks along the couches with no problem now.  It won't be long, I'm sure, until he's walking everywhere.  He walks like a champ in his walker and uses it to get into trouble.  It helps him to open up the kitchen drawers and cabinets without having to worry about his balance.  And lately we've noticed Tyke standing up to his walker and pushing it around while walking behind.  I'm fine with it as long as he's on the carpet but once he hits the tile, which we have lots of, I panic!  He's really good to gently, slowly, carefully sit himself down.  He hardly ever falls hard on his bum but Tyke has had a few spills complete with bumps and bruises, he's fearless!  He's a tough kid!  If he bonks his head he looks to us for a reaction.  If we tell him to be tough he puckers up and then stops just as fast and continues to play.  If we go after him to love him better he will cry in pain.  It's funny that we are the deciding factor!  Sometimes though, being told to be tough, just isn't enough and we have to love and kiss the ouches away!  I hate to see him hurt!  And it's somewhat hard for this momma bear to see new bruises popping up all the time on Tyke's cute little head!  He's a toughy for sure!

 Mr. Tyke loves his bath time now more than he ever has!  He scares us a lot because he refuses to sit still and loves to move around, stand up (a BIG NO NO!), roll around, and splash in the tub.  As soon as the water starts that boy can't get undressed fast enough!  If we would let him he would dive right in fully clothed.  He crawls into the bathroom and stands right up to the tub and reaches over to run his little hands in the water.  It's adorable but it can be frustrating at times (only because he does it while we're still adjusting the water temperature).  When we pull Tyke away to get him stripped down for bath time he throws the biggest fit!  Not just an upset fit but an absolutely ticked off, tears/snot/slobber flowing fit!  Yes he can get it all going with the snap of a finger!  Little stinker!  Tyke still makes the biggest messes splashing that water all over the place!  Messes that we gladly mop up!  In Tyke's tub he has his bath soaps (a regular one and the night time lavender one) which he loves to knock over into the tub while the water is still running, spilling it everywhere to make a bubble bath (I really need to learn to keep the lids shut on them).  He also has his rubber ducky and a blue cup.  The cup is to help rinse Tyke off but he uses it to scoop up water and throw it over the side at us!  Tyke has quite a few bath toys but he refuses to play with any of them except for the rubber ducky covered in leopard spots.  It's his favorite and he likes to fill it up with water and spray himself in the face.  He sprays it at us too!  He's such a tease about trying to get us wet.  When we finally let the water out he crawls right over to the trip lever and tries his hardest to pull it back up.  He doesn't like when bath time ends.

Tyke is learning more and more everyday!  His new words lately are: Nana, Mom, Dad, dis (this), he gets so excited and growls "wow!" when he sees Christmas lights, and sometimes he jibber jabbers something that sounds a lot like "I love you!" (after we tell him I love you first, I am not exaggerating here!).  Tyke has learned to use his pointer finger and points at a few things we have worked on recognizing.  He knows Santa and will point to him on his books.  He's obsessed with the deer and the elk hanging in our living room.  He knows the difference and he knows that the deer is Daddy's and the elk is momma.  When we ask "where's the elk?" he'll think for a second and then look at and point at the elk while saying mommy.  When we ask "where's the deer?"  he usually takes a bit longer than the elk question but he looks at the deer, points and says Dada.  After he's done he turns back to us with a proud little grin and gives us a hug.  We love it!

Tyke is developing the cutest little personality!  He's sweet and sassy!  He's so funny to watch and so much fun to play with.  He holds his own with the big guys (Trayson, Mac and Bowdee) and sometimes goes into bully mode to stand his ground.  He knows what he wants and he almost always gets it!  He also knows when he's doing something wrong (like getting into cupboards and drawers he shouldn't).  He'll look to us first to see if we're watching and if we are he will smile and crawl away.  If we're not he'll continue doing what he's doing.

Tyke can stack his stacking rings on the stick with no problem at all now.  He likes to thumb threw the pages of his books and he does really well opening and sliding the tabs on books with hidden pictures.  Tyke has started throwing balls around (he has a few tennis balls in his living room toy collection) and we are really surprises/impressed with how well he can throw.  He does awesome with both hands but he can throw harder and farther with his right.  He will toss the ball and then crawl as fast as he can towards it and throw it again.

Tyke loves music and dances anytime a tune comes on.  He wiggles and shakes and head bangs.  He's started to wiggle his shoulders too!  He likes to play with the piano keys on his toys and sometimes I swear I can hear him playing a rhythm with them.

Tyke gets into these goofy moods where he likes to tease us.  When he's teasing me it almost always turns into being mean and he pulls my hair and laughs.  I tell him it's not nice and he smiles and yanks on my hair again.  He thinks it's funny, I don't.  You can see the mischievousness in his eyes when he gets into these moods.  It's cute, but so naughty!

Tyke is super ticklish on the back of his neck.  He giggles uncontrollably when you touch it just right or give him a kiss.  He just cringes and giggles and I love it, so of course I do it a lot!

Tyke cannot stand to have socks on!  I swear we put his socks on a dozen times a day, sometimes more.  Every time he gets put in the car seat the socks have to come off immediately.  It's the funniest thing, frustrating as well.  While we shop we have to keep tabs on his socks because he's always pulling them off and tossing them on the floor as we walk down the hallways.  He's a little stinker!  I've noticed that he's starting to notice the lint left between his toes and he sometimes tries to clean it out (reminds me so much of his cousin Brooke when she was a baby).  And with the socks, Tyke is a little obsessed with shoes.  He gets mesmerized watching his daddy lace up his boots, he loves playing with the Velcro on his own shoes, and if there are shoes lying around he would rather study them than play with his toys.

Roni pinches me on the back of my arms when I'm holding.  It's almost like a comfort thing I think.  He doesn't do it to anyone else.  It's painful sometimes because he gets the teeny tiniest little piece of skin between his fingers and pinches and pulls.  With his Daddy he digs at his fingernails.  He only does it with his Daddy.  Another comfort thing we think.  He will dig at his daddy's fingernails, trying really hard to get under them.  He's started to dig at Chad's cuticles too.  Silly little Tyke!

Tyke loves his food and treats and drinks!  He still eats baby food like a champ but he's done really well with the big boy foods we've given him.  He's loves his mac and cheese!  He's tried taco meat (he ended up with a rash around his mouth from it), wafer cookies (loves!), broccoli (equaled a very sore bottom, boo!), noodles (loves), pizza and bread sticks (loves), taters and gravy (loves and growls for more) and chicken nuggets (loves).  We are officially done nursing as of almost four weeks ago!  I miss it but I'm loving my new found freedom.  For milk now Tyke is 100% on Similac formula.  He drinks anywhere from 6 to 8 ounces per servings and once in a while he ends up downing 10 ounces at bedtime before he can sleep well!  We always only make 6 ounces but occasionally he wants more and protests until we make another 2-4 ounces.

Tyke has abandoned his binkies.  We kept trying to give them to him when he would get so fussy we couldn't fix the problem, but he absolutely refused!  I can't remember the last time he took a binky but I'm guessing it's been close to a month now.  Yay for not having to fight that habit!

Tyke is still wearing size 3 diapers but Chad and I have discussed and decided that when we run out of 3's we'll be buying size 4's next, unless we need to sooner.  The 3's still fit great but they're starting to get a little snug.  Tyke's clothing size is mostly 12 month with a few 9 month items mixed in.  He has a bunch of Carter's brand t-shirts, size 6 month, that still fit great!  They were definitely a good purchase to make and we've for sure gotten our moneys worth out of them.  Tyke's in a size 4 shoe with room to grow.  He doesn't wear shoes a whole lot because we only have the one pair of Tom's that I have the hardest time getting on.  The little stinker curls his toes and fights us!  He will leave his snow boots on a little longer than he does his shoes, but we have a hard time deciding if they're really on or not so we haven't used them much.

Tyke has 4 teeth now!  And he bites!  Hard!  They all came in at about ten and a half months old, within about ten days!  His toothy grin is to die for!  He knows how to use his chompers to bite, watch out!  I don't trust him with kisses anymore.  Another naughty trick he's learned with his new teeth is to rub them back and forth together making a popping/snapping sound.  It makes me cringe and I get after him every time.  He smiles and continues on.  He knows that he's being a stinker!

We love our little guy to the moon and back!  He just keeps getting cuter and cuter AND more and more fun!

Today we ended up taking Tyke to the pediatricians office concerning his cough again.  Today marked twelve days since we had last visited the pediatricians office and had test ran, and nearly FIVE weeks since the cough first started!  We got to see Dr. Fullmer today and boy did Tyke not enjoy his visit.  We think he's a bit traumatized from the nasal swab he had done almost two weeks ago.  He's always loved the crinkly paper on the table and loves to play with it.  This time though, as soon as he even heard it crinkle he puckered up and broke out into the biggest heartbroken cry ever!  Tears were streaming immediately!  Chad comforted him and calmed him down.  As soon as the nurse tried to touch him he broke down again.  It was so sad but so cute (and kind of funny too!).  Dr. Fullmer didn't get cried at but he definitely got the stink eye from Tyke the entire visit.  Dr. Fullmer assured us that everything looks and sounds great with Tyke!  But, he was concerned with Tyke's cough since it's gone on so long.  He told us that Tyke is one week away from being diagnosed with chronic cough, and that he must have an infection somewhere, we don't where, but somewhere so we are starting him on antibiotics.  (Can I just say how proud of us three I am that Tyke is nearly a year old and has had perfect health and this is his first medicine, besides Tylenol, that he has had to take, ever!)  Tyke has to take amoxicillin twice a day for ten days.  We have to call and report to Dr. Fullmer next Monday.  If Tyke's cough isn't a lot better (or gone would be ideal) then we will have to go back.  After Tyke's first dose though, and some pedialite, he was sounding and looking much better!  Here's hoping that this medicine works for our little guy!

Daddy's Helper

Tyke is the best little helper ever!  He loves to be in on the action of just about everything.  If I'm cooking, he's right at my feet whining until I pick him up so he can see what's going on.  I've finally learned that it's easier if I put him in either his high chair or  his walker and give him a measuring cup so he can supervise and help.

On Saturday we ventured to Home Depot (we sure spend a lot of time there lately...) and picked out a new kitchen faucet.  Ours had started to leak really bad plus it was old so we were more than happy to get a new one, although the timing could have been a little better considering it's Christmas season which equals spending lots of money.  When we got home Chad got right to work pulling out the old and putting in the new.  Tyke was his best little buddy and had to be right in the way!  It was cute!  I kept pulling him away and he kept going right back.  Tyke would crawl over Chad's legs to get to the tools, grab one and then look at his Daddy for instructions.  It was too cute!  Chad eventually got things put back together with the help of our little guy.

Tyke LOVES watching his Daddy and learning new things!  Chad is going to teach him so much!!  He's such a handy man and Tyke and I are grateful for that!  I'm so glad that Tyke and his Daddy are best buddies!!!

Christmas Card 2013

Silly Charlie

We have been having so much fun with our elf friend Charlie.  He's been a pretty nice elf and pops up in the most silly places.  Tyke just loves him!  He knows who Charlie is and when we ask where he is Tyke will look toward Charlie and point and smile.  If Tyke can get his hands on Charlie he snuggles him up under his cheek and loves on him.  It's adorable!  We're halfway to Christmas (already!!) and here's what Charlie has been up to so far:

Day 1: He showed up under our tree with a pile of gifts for Tyke.  The gifts were Christmas books!  Tyke has been opening one daily and is loving getting practiced up for the big day.
Day 2: Charlie was found hanging on Tyke shelf with Tyke's hats and hoodies.
Day 3: Charlie showed up with a Christmas countdown and snuggled in one of our Christmas stockings!
Day 4: Charlie needed a snuggle from our snowman friend.
Day 5: Charlie mistook Chad's deer for one of Santa's reindeer or something.  He was found sitting on top.
Day 6: Charlie couldn't make his way down off of the deer so he spent the day hanging out.

Day 7: Charlie had a fun night playing with Tyke's truck and blocks
Day 8: Charlie showed up wearing a new pair of snow boots, for Tyke!
Day 9: Charlie hung out with the Christmas cards (which we don't have many of hint, hint!)
Day 10: Charlie made his way to the table and planted himself on top of the centerpiece.
Day 11: Charlie moved a gift out from under the tree for Tyke to open.  It was a gift from Chad and I to Tyke for Christmas.  Charlie thought it best that Tyke open it now... (Side note: after Tyke opened his gift, a truck, I took Charlie and placed him in the windowsill.  When Brooke and Callie Jo found out I had touched Charlie they freaked out and told me I had ruined him.  Apparently touching our Christmas Elf makes his magic go away??  I didn't know!)
Day 12: Charlie picked out which gift Tyke would open today.  It was a Naughty or Nice Report book with a little report card reporting what a good boy Tyke has been!

Charlie also got the mail and there was a letter from the North Pole!  Tyke mostly listened while his Daddy read it to him, both the letter and the book.  Yay for Christmas!!

Happy Holidays

Sometimes I swear that Tyke is smarter than he should be for a 10 1/2 month old!  He has been so much fun to watch this holiday season and keeps us entertained daily!  It has definitely been the most "Happy Holiday"  season for Chad and I by far!

He's loving the stack of gifts that Charlie the Elf brought him, all Christmas books to read nightly!  He gets to choose one present (book) each night to open.  He's a hoot to watch!  He digs through the pile until one catches his eye and then he sits back and starts tearing into it.  He is a lot better at it than we thought he would be.  He tears off strips at a time and hands them to his Daddy, not me.  He won't continue until Chad pays attention and takes the paper.  I've tried offering to take it but it has to be his Daddy.  Last night after opening his book he grabbed another one and dragged it to the side of the tree while we weren't watching.  We heard a loud rip and looked over to find Tyke tearing into another book.  He looked at us without a care in the world.  We just laughed and let him continue on.  He is going to be so much fun Christmas morning!  Our families are really going to be surprised at how well he opens his gifts!

This holiday season we have been watching a few movies.  We took Tyke to the theater a week ago to watch Frozen and he did so good!  We were happily surprised about it, but what really surprised us was how focused he was on the movie and how he would giggle at the funny parts, on his own!  Chad and I always look at each other in amazement when Tyke laughs at funny things.  He definitely gets the humor thing!  Aunt Jenny took Tyke to another theater movie (not sure on the title) last Thursday while she was babysitting.  She said he did really good!  Friday night we watched The Grinch on TV but Tyke wasn't very interested in it.  Last night we put in Rudolph to watch.  It was perfect!  We had a cozy fire going and we all snuggled up on the couch.  Tyke snuggled right up under Chad's arm.  It was adorable!  He watched the movie and would look at us and smile and giggle here and there.  When the abominable snowman came into view I thought he might get a little scared, but he didn't.  When the monster would growl Tyke growled back!  Every time!  We laughed and growled and had a good time watching that movie.  It's always been my favorite movie to watch around Christmas time but I can guarantee this year watching it with Tyke made it the best ever!

We love our sassy, spunky, growly little guy so much!!!

A Trip To The Doctor

Almost three weeks ago Tyke and I caught a small cold.  He struggled with a stuffy, runny nose and a small cough, I struggled with a sore throat and headaches.  Things eventually cleared up but Tyke's cough stayed.  He doesn't cough constantly but he coughs enough that Chad and I discussed it yesterday morning and decided to call the pediatricians office to see if he should be seen.

Our poor little guy will cough a dry cough in the middle of the night until he wakes us all up.  In the mornings, about every second or third morning, he has a barking cough.  And throughout the day his cough sounds like he's coughing up some flem.  We have been concerned all along but didn't want to be the over reacting parents that we sometimes are, so we waited.  He is perfectly fine other than his cough.

I called the pediatricians office and spoke with one of the nurses.  I told her how Tyke has been coughing nearly 2 1/2 weeks now and how he has three different coughs depending on the hour of the day.  I explained that he's no longer got the runny/stuffy nose, and that we run the humidifier throughout the night.  She told me that because it has been so long and his cough varies so much (she was especially concerned about the barking cough even though I told her it was every other day in between) that he should be seen.  She got him scheduled right away with Dr. Lauritzen (Fullmer wasn't in).  Can I just say, we LOVE Utah Valley Pediatrics so much!!!

I left work a little early, and Jenny dropped Tyke off at the house just after 4 p.m.  We loaded up and headed to Payson to get Chad.  Tyke was scheduled to see the doctor at 4:50 p.m. but we didn't get called back for a while, which meant we spent a lot of time in the waiting room surrounded by sick kiddos.  After meeting with Dr. Lauritzen and being assured that Tyke's chest sounded great and his ears looked good, he suggested that we have a nasal swab done and check for pertussis and walking pneumonia.  And for the record our little guy weighed in at 20 pounds 11 ounces!

We were sent over to the hospital and had to check in through the emergency room because it was after hours.  After getting that all squared away we headed upstairs to the respiratory center.  We had to wait about fifteen minutes before someone showed up to help us.  The procedure itself was really quick.  Tyke didn't like it and threw the biggest fit which we don't blame him.  The lab guy had to put saline drops in each of Tyke's nostrils and then one at a time stuck a tube about an inch and a half up his nose to suck out the snot.  Poor Tyke was not happy!  Luckily he calmed right down as soon as it was over and his Daddy loved him better.  (He did however turn and give the lab guy a dirty look.)

We were told that the test results would take 24 hours to get back so we expected to get them tonight or in the morning.  Chad was called this morning and told that everything came back negative, yay!!  So, we just have a boy with a cough, but healthy as can be!  We have been so blessed this year with good health for our little guy!  We're super glad that his labs came back negative!

Plowing Snow

We FINALLY got a good snow storm today!  It has been so weird having fifty degree weather when it should be cold and there should be snow on the ground.  We got a few inches at our place.  After picking up Tyke and slowly driving home I hurried and shoveled the driveway (Tyke was snoozing when we got home otherwise I wouldn't have).

Chad was glad I didn't get too much shoveling done because he was excited to try out our new snowplow on the rhino.  While he was out plowing I got Tyke bundled up good (picture Ralphy) and took him out to help his Daddy.  He loved it, though you wouldn't know it by the look on his concerned little face!  He kept looking at his Pa like he was crazy and refused to smile.  After one push through I took Tyke and we went in the house where it was warm.  Tyke wasn't very happy about that.  He could have stayed outside and watched his Daddy the whole time!

x4

Wow I can't believe how fast Tyke got a mouthful of teeth!  OK so it's not a mouthful and it probably wasn't fast, but four teeth popping through in a week and half's time?  That's a lot!  Tooth #4 broke threw today!  Our little guy officially has his four front teeth in!  He really has been a champ with this whole teething process.  He has been grumpy and fussy at times but took his Tylenol well and would cheer right up.  It's so fun to see those little chicklets in his mouth.  Now if he would just stop grinding them together.  Oh how that makes me cringe!!  The popping sound of four new little teeth rubbing together and making a snapping noise is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.  The little stinker thinks it's funny too!  We get after him, he smiles or laughs and does it again just to show us!

A Great Weekend

We just finished up one of the best weekends ever!  Chad and I both took Friday off, giving us a four day weekend thanks to Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  We packed so much into those four days and we kept busy, for the most part.

Thanksgiving was, of course, great and perfect in every way!  After filling our bellies and debating on whether to go shopping with my crazy mom and sisters or not, I took the plunge and went.  Chad, Tyke and I went home quick while the rest of my shopping group headed north.  I had to grab a few things and change into comfy shoes.  It was nearly 9 p.m. when I left Chad and Tyke to go meet up with my fam for an all nighter and join in the craziness that is Black Friday!  Our group consisted of me, my mom, Stephanie & Tiffany, and Stephanie's mother and sister in law.

Our first stop was Walmart.  I was able to get the few things I was after, which I was really surprised since they had been on the six o'clock sale.  I was also surprised at how dead the store was.  I'm used to huge crowds of crazy people but everywhere we went we missed the rush!  It was nice but a little boring.  We were quick to get our things at Walmart and get out of there.  Our next stop was Shopko where we met up with Harley and she spent the rest of the night with us. (She's my sisters future step-daughter)  We had so much fun spending time with her and getting to know her better.  We shopped at Shopko, Kmart, the Provo Towne Centre, stopped at McDonald's at 2 a.m. for a bite to eat, Target, the Traverse Outlets (I swear we were the only 5 there!) and Gordman's.  After Gordman's Harley and I called it quits and headed home.  The rest are crazy and kept shopping a couple of more hours (they would have lasted longer but Stephanie had trouble with her contacts and had to go home).

I got home right as Chad and Tyke were getting up for the day.  I was so tired!  Chad and Tyke had plans to go to Mt. Pleasant and visit Uncle Chris and Aunt Danielle and the kids.  I helped get Tyke ready for the day and I crashed!  I slept until 3 p.m.!  Which is about the time Chad and Tyke got back home.  Tyke had had a good time at his cousins house.  He got to play on a tractor and little kids four wheeler.  He got to see the farm animals too.  We made a quick, light lunch out of leftovers from Thanksgiving and as we were eating, got invited to Grandma Cheryl's for dinner at 6 p.m.  We of course went!

Saturday we slept in until 8 a.m.  We made a quick breakfast, got ready for the day (Tyke wore his cute Christmas shirt!) and headed north to do more shopping and find Santa!  Between Black Friday and Saturday we got nearly all of our Christmas shopping done, yay!!!

While we were at the mall we went and tracked down Santa!  The visit was free but pictures were not.  Their picture pricing was ridiculous, and we weren't allowed to take our own, but I couldn't help myself and snapped a couple with my iPhone.  It was Tyke's first time with Santa and I wasn't about to miss that photo op!  Tyke did so good on Santa's lap!  He didn't fuss at all.  He held very still and looked at Santa with a very concerned little face.  Santa gave Tyke a little coloring book after we were done visiting.  He LOVED it and kept a hold of it the entire time we were at the mall.  After leaving the mall we headed across the street to McDonald's for a quick lunch.  Tyke got his first happy meal, complete with chicken nuggets, fries, apple wedges and an apple juice.  He thought it was pretty cool and did really well eating it.  We had to break the chicken and fries into small pieces otherwise he would stuff them in his mouth whole.  We loved watching our little guy eat so well (even if it's not so healthy).  We made a couple of more stops on the way home and shopped until our wallets were nearly empty.

(Tyke loves the giant stuffed Mickey at Costco!  He also can't stand to sit right in the shopping carts, looks comfy huh?  Silly boy!!)

When we got to town we decided to go to Main Street instead of home and watch the light parade.  We were lucky enough to find a spot where we could watch from the warmth of the car, however, the parade started late and we were impatient, tired and hungry so we left and went home.  We got dinner started and invited Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Terry to come eat with us.  We had a good visit!  We had plans to put up our tree that night but by the time we were done with dishes and cleaning up we were absolutely exhausted and called it a night!

Sunday we slept in again (so weird, we hardly ever sleep in anymore thanks to Tyke).  Chad got a few things done outside while I got a few of our Christmas decor unboxed and ready to go.  We got the tree decorated, the shelves, the entertainment center, and the kitchen got decorated too!  Tyke was so excited about the tree he came crawling at super speed and plowed right into it, scratching his cheek.  He was mad for a second and then tried grabbing the decorations.  By the time we were done and got the boxes put away, Chris, Danielle and the kiddos showed up.  We had made plans to go to the movie Frozen.  Tyke's first theater movie.  We had so much fun.  The kids giggled, including Tyke!  Tyke was so good it was unbelievable!  He was in awe.  He got to eat some popcorn and would grunt at us if we didn't feed it to him fast enough.  About thirty minutes into the movie he got fussy so we made him a bottle and he fell fast asleep.  He woke up for the last half hour of the show and was good as can be.  After the movie we all drove down to the Old Mill Park to check out the lights.  The kids thought they were awesome and so did we!  Tyke is like his Daddy and loves the colored lights!  We walked around for twenty or so minutes and then went our separate ways.

When we got home we found that our Christmas Elf Charlie had arrived (Thanks Nana!) with a big stack of presents under the tree.  One for Tyke for each day of the month.  His first gift was a book and two pair of new Christmas jammies.  Tyke thought it was cool ripping the paper off and then ripping into confetti like pieces.  We're so excited to see how well he does on Christmas Day that we can't hardly wait!

It was a great, long weekend and we're so glad we were able to pack so much fun stuff into it!  Yay for Christmas season!!!

1st Thanksgiving

Tyke really enjoyed his first Thanksgiving!  He got all of the stuffing, mashed potatoes and yummy yams his little belly could hold.  He was in heaven with all of the good food that was just the right texture for him!

We had a hectic morning, we all slept in until 8 a.m. (wow!)  and figured we had plenty of time to get our food assignments done.  I was in charge of making gluten free stuffing, Chad was in charge of making the sweet potatoes...for two dinners!  We chopped and cooked and baked and soon realized that we were running out of time.  Tyke, luckily, kept himself well entertained running around the house in his walker.  It was one less thing to stress about.  Our food got done in time, we got ready for the day, and we headed to Mona for our two Thanksgiving feasts!

Our first stop was at Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Terry's house to borrow the little kiddo tables (for dinner at Nanna's house).  We were quick to load them up and were quick to get on the road too.  A little too quick.  The heavy duty lifetime table flew out of the back of the truck and slid a good hundred yards across the pavement until it came to a stop in the weeds.  We backed up to get it and realized we'd unintentionally cleaned off all of the crayon on the table for Grandma Cheryl.  That poor table top was scratched up bad!  We hurried to Nanna's house and dropped the tables off at her doorstep and hurried to Mark and Jamie's house for dinner number one.  Dinner was at 1 p.m. at Mark and Jamie's.  A good portion of the Kay family was able to get together this year.  It was so fun getting to visit with everyone and snap a few pictures.  It's not often that we have a gathering that huge anymore.  I'd dare say there were close to 50 of us there!

After pictures we had a blessing and then dished up our food and headed to the garage,  yes the garage.  The garage works perfect for our huge family functions!  It may sound weird but it's surprisingly cozy and this year at Mark and Jamie's, Brandon had decorated.  He went above and beyond, you almost couldn't tell it was a garage you were gathering in.  We had a good visit the family and took our time, yet hurried, eating our meals.  We hated to eat and run but our second dinner was starting at 2 p.m. (it had gotten bumped up an hour earlier, which cut our time with the Kay fam short).

Dinner number two was at Nanna's house.  Everyone was able to come and we had a good time there as well.  We snapped a few family pictures outside before dinner time (it was nearly 50 degree weather!) and then headed in to work on the final touches of the meal.  The kids ate in the kitchen and the adults ate in the living room.  We had a good visiting and Tyke had a good time eating some more!  We watched a football game afterwards and visited for a long time.  It was almost 6 p.m. when we left and headed to Grandma Cheryl's.

We had to return the tables and I needed to figure out what our (my mom, my sisters and myself) game plan was for Black Friday!  The sales had already started (I think it's silly that they start them on Thanksgiving when it's called Black Friday and should stay on Friday!) but we sat around looking at the ads.  There wasn't much to be excited about but we decided to go anyway.

My mom and sisters headed north, and Chad, Tyke and I headed home.  I needed to gather a few things before going on a major shopping spree.  We had such a great day and it couldn't have been any better in any way, especially considering it was Tyke's first Thanksgiving!  We got to spend so much time with so much family and that's really what it's all about!!  We're so blessed to have such great families, and to have them all so close to us!  Happy 1st Thanksgiving Tyke!!!

x3

Tooth number #3 popped through today!  Three teeth in a weeks time and our little guy has done so good!  His third tooth is his top left front tooth.  The tooth right next to it is so close to breaking through, I'll bet we can feel it within a day or two!  I love our little guys toothy grin!!

First Shiner

OK so it's not exactly a black eye, but close enough!  Our little guy bruised himself good today at Grandma Cheryl's house.  Grandma called to tell me what he had done and she felt so bad.  Tyke had pulled himself up to the toy box and let go to stand by himself (he's getting more and more brave at this).  Grandma Cheryl had no idea he could do this new little trick and was caught off guard.  She said she just stared at him for a second before she realized what he was doing and before she could get over to him to make sure he didn't fall and get hurt.  He fell and got hurt.  He smacked his cheek right on the edge of the toy box.  The first of many more bumps and bruises to come I'm afraid.  Such a tough little guy!

x2!

Another tooth has officially popped through, today!  Tyke now has his two bottom teeth (central incisors)!  They are super sharp and jagged and cute!  He refuses to let me see and gets really angry when I try to feel them.

His two top teeth are getting more and more swollen and looking like they might be ready to break through in the next week or so!  Also, if I'm not mistaken, it looks like his mouth is getting swollen and sore in the bottom cuspid areas.
I'm sure I'm just speculating, but our little guy is going to go from no teeth to a mouthful fast!

It's so crazy, and a little sad for me, to see teeth in my sweet baby boy's mouth.  He is growing too fast and as much as I love watching him grow and learn and develop, I wish time would slow down just a little!

First Tooth!

Our little guys bottom left front tooth finally poked through!  Yay!!  The one right next to it is close to coming through too.  It looks like they're both through but I can only feel the left one.  Rachelle noticed it first and called me while I was at work.  I was excited to get home and check it out!  Chad and I tried, unsuccessfully, to get a good picture of this awesome news but Tyke did NOT like being picked on.  I finally had to turn the camera on my phone so he could see himself and he just giggled at the sight of Tyke.  This is the best we could come up with!  Yay Tykee!!  We're excited for this new toothy grin!  

What's a Sippy?

Seriously, have you ever seen a 10 month old drink from a cup by himself without spilling?  Me either, until now!  Tyke prefers cups to sippys, and so do we!  He makes a mess with his sippy cup but with a regular little cup of water he doesn't.  He knows just what to do and gulps his drink down.  He's so cute to watch!  He sticks his face into his cup and gulp, gulp, gulps, comes up for air and smiles and goes right back to gulping it down.  He's amazing!

A Rough Day

Our poor little Tyke is one miserable guy.  He has FOUR teeth coming in at the same time!  His bottom teeth (central incisors) are so close to breaking through, it should be any day now.  His top teeth (central incisors again) are getting really close to the surface too.  For the most part Tyke has been a trooper!  He doesn't care much for the teething toys but he chomps down on our fingers no problem.  He's been chewing on his thumb a lot lately too.  And even his tongue, which is usually white or bloody looking from being gnawed on.  I'm not sure if it's a teething symptom or not but his nose and cheeks get red and itchy and he rubs his face back and forth on our shoulders to scratch it.  When he starts doing that I give him a dose of Tylenol and almost immediately he stops.  Speaking of Tylenol, I'm not sure if this is bad or not, but our little guy gets happy/excited when he sees us getting his dose ready.  He takes it so good and sucks up every last little drop.  I know that he knows it will make him feel better.  For the record we are currently giving him less than half of what the pediatrician says he can have now, so 1.25mL (he's allowed around 3 mL, I can't remember the exact dosage) .  He does really well on it so we figure there's no need for more at this time.

Over the weekend Tyke started coughing and sneezing and having yucky goopy eyes.  Another little cold is hitting our place, boo!  Time to get the  humidifier back out!

To top things off (or so I thought) today we had to take Tyke back to the pediatricians office for his flu booster shot.  It's been a month since his first round, already!  While we were waiting for the nurse to gather the shot needle and band aid up we weighed our little guy and guesstimated that he now weighs 20.855 pounds!  He's growing so big too fast for my liking!  Our little guy was happy as can be until he saw the nurse come back in, she's the same one that always gives him his shots.  We took off his pants and Chad held him in sitting position on the table, tying back his busy little hands.  He looked at the nurse very concerned, sighed a deep breath, puckered his bottom lip and busted out crying his sad little heartbreak cry.  He remembered her!  He knows that she equals pain!  It was so sad, and she felt really bad (she is one of the sweetest nurses we've ever dealt with!  Tyke doesn't think so though) but on the bright side he was pretty much done crying by the time he got poked.  He cried more at the sight of her than he did of the actual shot.  It was a super quick visit, in and out, and we won't be visiting again until Tyke is a year old! (Unless, of course, something else comes up, like if this dang new cold gets out of control).

After dropping Chad off back at work we decided that Tyke and I should take the car to get it super duper cleaned and detailed.  It was looking pretty rough!  The headlights needed to be restored because they were so cloudy and the car itself needed a good wash, clay bar, and wax thanks to me not thinking and accidentally getting a fine mist of cream colored spray paint all over the outside, oops!  We went to the Wiggy Wash in Spanish Fork.  It took way longer to get done than any of us anticipated.  The headlights were worse than we thought and the clay bar deal took a while too (we can still feel the roughness of the spray paint in spots but we can no longer see it so I guess that works??).  Tyke and I sat in the waiting room for nearly 4 hours!  We entertained ourselves with books, games, Disney Jr shows on the iPhone, playing on the slides in the kiddie corner, and eating treats.  Tyke did great and was good entertainment to everyone as they came and went and we waited.  Towards the end he was super restless and so was I.  I finally put him on the ground and let him move around a little bit because he was getting restless with being stuck on a chair or in my arms.  Of course he tried to pull himself up to one of the chairs first thing, on slick floor, and fell before I could stop him.  He smacked his right eyebrow on the chair so hard that it immediately turned white and swelled up.  He cried/scrame for a good five minutes and then was back to his giggly self.  His eyebrow bruised a little but not near as bad as I feared it would.  We finally got to leave that joint around seven pm!

It was a long day, and our poor little guy sure did good with all that he had to deal with!  He's such a good baby and makes us so happy!!

10 Months Old

Another month has come and gone.  Seriously?!  Our little guys continues to grow and amaze us!  He's 10 months old now and getting more and more sassy, smart, stubborn and cute!  We love this little boy more than anything in this world!  He's always on the go and always keeping a smile on our faces.  He's a little mush and loves giving loves to us.  He's just the cutest little thing ever!!!

We seriously lucked out and got the best baby ever!  Tyke for the most part is a very happy, loveable, easily entertained kid.  He entertains himself really well.  We keep a small box of toys in the living room for him and he likes to dump them out and play.  He goes from one toy to another, giving them each a little bit of his time.  He loves banging on his little piano.  He loves tossing his bouncy balls.  He really likes to push his trucks around.  We get a kick out of watching him do so.  He'll crawl around while pushing his trucks, blowing raspberries to make truck noises (he started this cute play on 10/25/13).  He is definitely all boy!  It makes his Daddy proud to hear his truck noises (and me too!).

Our little man is still obsessed with the Jake and the Neverland Pirates cartoon.  He can be anywhere in the house or in a dead sleep and as soon as that theme song comes on he comes a crawling to watch!  Tyke has even started to dance (rock back and forth) to the tune of the show!  It's cute but it's starting to be a small pain.  When we finally have Tyke asleep and that show comes on we panic to hurry and get it turned off before he notices and jumps up to see.  One morning, just joking around, Chad brought up the theme music on his iPhone while Tyke was still sound asleep.  He immediately rolled over onto his belly, pushed up into sitting position and looked around for the source until he saw the phone and then he just grinned.  Well good morning Tyke!!!  If you put anything Jake related in front of Tyke his whole face just lights up.  I love it!

Tyke is getting more and more fun each day with his new tricks!  On 10/18/13 I noticed him clicking his tongue for the first time.  He doesn't do it a whole lot but I adore it!  That same week his clicking tongue evolved into smacking his lips, like he was trying to make kisses.  We show him how to make the kisses lips and smack, and he studies every bit of it, but he doesn't have it down.  He mostly just blows raspberries and occasionally does these other tricks.

Tyke's other new tricks are fun but get him into trouble quite frequently.  Mostly we just get after him because we're worried about him hurting himself, but sometimes it's because he's going to break something.  Tyke loves walking in his walker right over to the french doors by the dining table to play in the blinds.  He knows they're off limits!  He's been told multiple times and he's even had his little hands smacked (which by the way doesn't phase him!).  At this point if we haven't move bar stools around to block him away he'll quietly sneak up to them.  In fact, even with bar stools in his way he still manages to get through most of the time.  He loves pushing them around while in his walker.  When he's quiet we know he's up to no good.  We look towards the door and there he is looking at us, waiting to get caught.  Before we can get to him he smiles a mischievous little smile and hurries to grab a hold of the blinds and starts jerking them around.  He laughs and laughs as we yell "no" to him.  He's such a little character!

Tyke is getting really good at pulling himself up to the furniture now.  He is getting fearless at it.  He started out just using the cup holders on the couch but now he pulls himself up to anything he can get a grip on.  He likes the couch and is just starting to walk along it a few steps at a time but it's no fun compared to the entertainment center.  There are lights and buttons and knobs there for him to play with.  He likes opening the dvd player, turning the volume up, and turning off the cable box.  He even went as far as to snap one of the cabinet doors right in half one day!  He loves banging them, open and slam! open and slam!  One day he just decided it would be fun to hang on the door after opening it and crack it snapped right in half.  He looked at us and laughed!  He is always getting in trouble for these things but it just doesn't phase him.  He laughs and Chad and I laugh but we try not to let him see us.  How can you not laugh and smile at all the cute trouble our little man gets into??

Our little guy is starting to sit on his knees a lot lately.  It's pretty darn cute.  He occasionally, when crawling, will stop and stick his bum in the air and stand on his hands and toes almost like he's trying to stand up.  His balance keeps getting better by the day and he can stand by himself for a good five or so seconds.

Tyke LOVES to see himself in the mirror!  Anytime we walk into the bathroom or our bedroom he looks for the mirror, spots himself, smiles and waves excitedly while saying "aaaaawwhhh."  It happens everytime without fail.

With all of the trouble comes the discipline.  We try our hardest to just talk to him about why it's not OK to do certain things.  I know that at this age it really doesn't make a difference what we do but we explain everything to him!  He does on occasion get his hands smacked and it's pretty well pointless.  He usually smacks us back just as fast which totally catches us off guard!  We don't like that he hits, but it is what we've unintentionally taught him.  Tyke knows what the words yes and no are.  If we say yes he shakes his head no.  If we say no he'll usually stop what he's doing and mind but for the most part he'll just smile and continue on.

Speaking of knowing his words, our little guy understands quite a few!  Like I said, he understands no.  He also knows: drink, treat, baba (bottle), hi, bye, come here, where, what and I don't know, aaaaawwhhh, and kisses!  If he's fussing and we ask if he needs a drink he stops and reaches for the cup.  If we ask if he needs a treat he heads right for the pantry door and begs.  If we ask if he needs a baba he gets super excited and fussy and yanks it right out of our hands as soon as we make one.  Tyke has two different ways of waving to people.  One is for Hi and the other is for Bye.  For Hi he bends his chubby little fingers in and out, for Bye he waves his whole arm and hand at you.  It's too adorable!  If we tell Tyke to come here, he'll crawl or walk (in walker) to us.  If I ask him questions like where is dadda, or what is it, or say I don't know he always sticks his hands up in the air and shrugs his little shoulders.  When we say "aaaawwhhh"  he tilts his head to the left and repeats us in a loving, mushy way (see first nine month picture for visual).  And my favorite, whenever I ask for kisses he opens his mouth and slobbers on my cheek saying aaahwaahh!  It is thee best thing EVER!!!!

His vocabulary is still really simple.  He mostly just says dadda and momma.  He says mom more than momma.  He has started to say baba (bottle) but I don't think he knows what it means yet.  Grandma Cheryl and I also over heard him say what sounded a lot like bampa the other day!  He's only made that noise twice so far.

Tyke likes hanging out in the kitchen.  He plays under the table a lot lately and enjoys pushing the barstools around.  He even tries to stand up against them which nearly gives me a heart attack!  If Tyke is in his walker he has fun running as fast as he can and banging into the cabinets and bouncing off.  He loves pushing the barstools around with it too.  He's a little terror!  He likes to be tucked up into the dishwasher when it's opened.  He can walk right up to and easily reach the plates and silverware.  He can't stand for dish towels to be hanging on the oven door.  He's constantly pulling them off and dragging them around behind him.  His walker fits perfectly in the pantry.  If it's open he's there even though he can't reach or touch anything.  Tyke has an obsession with the garbage can and tries so hard to get a hold of it and tip it over.  We leave it in the laundry room most of the time now because of this, which is a little inconvenient.  If the fridge door opens Tyke comes running in his walker and starts grabbing bottles of sauces out of the door.  He is always flipping them with his busy little hands.  Chad and I are never fast enough and it's a constant battle/workout to get things done in the kitchen with our little helper!  One fun thing though, Tyke will walk up to us, banging into our ankles with his walker, and growl or throw a fit until we pick him up so he can see what we're cooking.  He loves to watch and thinks it's so cool.  It's a bit of a handful holding him and cooking at the same time.  He's such a snoop but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Tyke is getting pretty good at being a copy cat.  If you talk baby talk to him he'll repeat it right back and giggle.  He watches us as we talk on the phone and when we let him get a hold of it and tell him to say hello he'll put it up to his ear.  I don't know if it's too early or not, and maybe it's never too early, but I've been practicing with him where his eyes, ears, nose, etc are.  We've been practicing animal sounds too.  He mostly just thinks I'm crazy.  It will be worth it in the long run though.  I'm also working with him on how to blow kisses.  I'll show him, he studies intently, and then he flips his lips with his fingers and makes noises instead.  It's the cutest thing ever!  Also, if I put my finger to my lips and say shhh,  he thinks he's imitating me and flips his lips for that too!  Another thing with the phones that is so funny to watch is, as soon as he gets a hold of one he turns it the right way and starts swiping his little pointer finger trying to move things.  He's getting really good with using his pointer finger.  He's starting to point at things and people.  He also uses his pointer finger and thumb now to pick up foods, and other things he shouldn't, instead of the entire hand.  It's amazing watching Tyke and all the new things he does.

At ten months old we are giving Tyke and more and more solid foods.  I am still nursing but no longer pumping so during the day if he has a bottle it's formula (we are trying to stop the nursing without success, on my part not his).  He's averaging about six ounces with the bottles and we are using Similac brand.  Tyke LOVES food and he always eats like a champ!  He loves the food pouches and sucks them dry, still.  We bought  applesauce pouches to try out and he really likes them for a treat!  He loves the Gerber Cheetos, and regular Cheetos too although we haven't given him too many of them yet.  A few more big people foods he's tried are (and I'm sure I'm repeating myself from past posts but...): mashed potatoes (loves and grunts for more!), olives (he can't get enough!), french fries (likes), rice (loves), stuffing (likes), roll (gags at the texture but he likes it, we have to feed it to him though, he won't pick up the pieces himself), corn tortilla with cheese (gags at the texture), he really dislikes syrup and nearly throws up every time we give him a taste, grilled cheese (LOVES it!!!) and carrots (he loves baby food carrots but hates the real deal).  Tyke has been eating wheat products for a month now with no signs of celiac, yay!!!  I hope and pray it continues to go so well!  Tyke is very vocal(?) about what he will and will not eat.  If he likes it he grunts and reaches for more.  If he doesn't like it, or if his belly is full,  he'll shake his head no and turn away from us.  He really does communicate so good with us!

Tyke is still wearing size 3 diapers.  His size 3 shoes have been retired because they were getting too tight.  His size 4 shoes are still a little bit too big so he's been going without lately, which works out fine for now.  Tyke is wearing 9-12 month clothes and a few shirts that are the 6 month size but fit perfectly right now.  We have so much fun playing dress up with him with all of his cute, cute clothes.  He shows his appreciation to that by having major blowouts every 3 or 4 days.  It always seems like he does that when he's wearing something new and so cute and I panic if I'll be able to get the stains out.  Tyke still doesn't have any teeth but his bottom front teeth are getting so close to breaking through!  His top two teeth are starting to move in too.  His poor little mouth looks so sore but he's being a trooper with it.  We can wait to see his toothy grins!

The rosy cheeks and nose are thanks to a small cold Tyke is catching.  He didn't feel very good but still cooperated for his photoshoot, until the end, when he picked up his teddy bear and chucked it at us!

Our little guy is the best and brings so much joy into our house and anywhere we go!  He is so loved by so many but especially his mommy and daddy!  We love you Tyke and are so proud of all that you are doing and learning and saying!!