"Monies"

Like I mentioned before, we haven't really pushed the potty training subject too hard at our house.  I was always told not to force the issue, that Tyke would have to be ready and willing for it to work.  He has shown some interest but not much.  Occasionally he will pee in the potty before hopping in the shower.  Lately though he finds it more funny to pee in the shower and tease me about it.  Anyway, last Saturday I asked him to us the potty and go pee.  He insisted on using the toilet instead so I let him.  I was surprised that he wanted to because in the past he was freaked out by that thing and would cry big alligator tears!

On Sunday, after breakfast, I tricked him into going on a walk with me.  Our destination was the bathroom to see if we could get him to poop in the potty.  He didn't like this plan once we were in the bathroom and the door was closed.  I asked him to poop in the potty and he refused.  He finally said he would go in the toilet so I sat him on there.  He immediatly started whining that he wanted to get off.  So I bribed him.  He likes money.  I told him if he would sit on the toilet and go poop I would go and get him some "monies".   He got excited about the idea.  So I went and dug out four quarters for him from the change jar.  Before I was finished he yelled that he had pooped.  I dind't believe him because I hadn't been gone long enough.  When I went back in to check, sure enough he had!  I was so excited!  Which made him so excited!  Which made Daddy so excited!  We all made a big deal about it.  I gave him his money and he was super happy about it.  Daddy went and dug out EIGHT more quarters to give to him, so Tyke made $3 for his efforts.  He loved putting them all into his piggy bank.

The next morning me and the boys got up and ready for the day.  I was in the kitchen getting milk for Tyke and a bottle for Luke when Tyke yelled across the house: "Mom! I pooped!  Give me monies!"  I didn't believe him.  Seriously, this kid is on some kind of schedule and he doesn't usually poop before 9 a.m. but Monday he did.  I went into the boys' room and Tyke asked for monies again.  I asked him if he had really pooped and he replied proudly, "Uh-huh!"  I checked his bum and sure enough we had a mess.  I said, "Tyke, I thought we were going to start doing that in the potty now!"  He replied, "No mom! Change my bum, give me monies!"  I think we may have created a monster!!

Good Morning!

I love waking up to happy boys in the mornings!!  It doesn't happen often enough.  Most days they just want to sleep and stay home (me too!)  The past week or so though they have been really good to wake up and play in their room while I scramble like a crazy lady to get things ready to go and get us all dressed and out the door.  I love my baby boys!

"Wim"

We took the boys swimming today after work.  Tyke was so excited he couldn't stop jumping around the house and giving us high fives exclaiming, "I DOE WIM MOM!" (I go swim mom)  We got to the pool around 5 p.m. and we didn't last long at all.  The weather was decent but it was near as hot as it had been earlier in the day, plus the wind had picked up.  We played at the splash pad and the kids had a blast!

Luke loved playing in the water and was so fearless.  He would take off crawling toward the "deep end" and wouldn't stop, even when his face was hitting the waves.  He loved kicking his little feet as fast as he could and exploring the water features.  He lasted about a half an hour before I pulled him out to warm him up.  His poor little lips were turning purple and he was shivering quite a bit.  He didn't want to stop playing in the water but he couldn't help but just lay on my shoulder, exhausted from all of his fun.  It was too cute!

Tyke was fearless as well!  He had a blast running back and forth in the one foot deep water.  It was just the right depth for him (and us) so we didn't have to worry.  One thing I don't like about the Payson pool we visited a few weeks ago was that the water got to be four feet deep and poor Tyke stepped off in it thinking it was ok.  At Nephi pool we didn't need to worry about that at all.  Tyke was very hesitant to go down the little slide and he only did so twice.  He had more fun following the big kids around, trying to take away their water toys.  Tyke refused to get out when it was time to go.  The pool was still open for an hour but Luke was tired and the wind was no fun to be out in.  We finally tricked Tyke to get out of the water with a treat.  I hurried and changed him into some dry warm clothes and we left, without a fight, yay!

Luke fell asleep almost instantly once we put him in the car to leave.  We finished our night off with some pizza and bread sticks for the boys!  It was a fun night out for our little family!  We're sad that we only made it to the pool(s) twice this summer (slacker mom!).  We promise to go a whole lot more next year!

Owie!

Poor Tyke smashed his finger good today while helping Daddy outside.  Poor little guy!  He got a little too ambitious with helping Daddy pull down the ramp on the rhino trailer and got his finger pinched.  It split his fingernail right in half and gave him a sore little cut on the side.  Poor Tyke is going to be losing his fingernail. =(  He's tough and didn't cry for too long.  All it took was handing him the water bottle so he could spray us and those cries turned to giggles!

31 Months Old

This little boy is growing up way too fast!  He's thirty-one months old today and sassy and smart as ever!  

He loves to help around the house.  It makes him feel so big and proud.  He helps cook, do dishes, throw away the trash, pick up toys, and find Luke's binkies (that are always disappearing around here!).  He LOVES helping his Daddy outside and in the shop.  He always uses that as an excuse to get out of bath time or going to the potty (we're slowly easing into potty training).  His answers to most things he doesn't want to do are: "NO! I help my Daddy!" and "I wanna doe nigh nigh!" (I want to go night night).  He's a little goof ball!

In the last month Tyke has learned how to undress himself for bath time.  He always asks for help but I assure him that he can do it himself and show him how.  He always gets so excited when he takes off a sock or his pants.  He gets really excited and proud of himself whenever he's successful (so do we bud!)

Tyke is obsessed with money lately.  He's always like it and it always goes straight to his piggy bank.  He bugs us daily to give him money, "Mom, I want your monies!"  "Dad, I need your monies!"  The best is that we have been using money as bribery to get him to use the potty, which by the way he refuses to use his potty chair now, he wants to use the actual toilet like a big boy.  Anyway, this may backfire but for now it works and it's not like we're out much money.  We could give him a penny for his efforts and he would be happy as can be.  Today I told him I would give him some monies if he would poop in the toilet.  He didn't want to but I sat him on it anyway and left, telling him I was going to dig out some monies from the change jar.  I swear as soon as I left the bathroom he yelled that he had pooped.  I didn't believe but when I got back he sure enough had pooped in the potty.  We were so excited!  He had the biggest, proudest smile on his face and gave me a high five and was hooting and hollering.  Then he stopped, put out his hand and said, "I want my monies mom."  Ha ha, he earned that quarter (or two or three, OK, maybe he got $3 worth because Daddy was super excited too and gave him monies as well).

Tyke has been so funny to watch with his brother lately.  Luke has gotten really mobile the last month or so and is crawling allover the place.  Tyke will usually tattle tale on Luke if he's ventured somewhere he shouldn't.  Sometimes he will grab Luke by one leg and pull him back to the living room, all the while Luke is on his belly trying to grab onto the floor wondering why he's going in reverse.  It's hilarious to watch!  Also, most of the time while Luke is crawling Tyke will go up behind him and sit on him like a horse and yell, "yee-haw!" while throwing his arm in the air.  I think that might be why Luke will only crawly a short short distance now before stopping and sitting down and making sure the coast is clear.  They are such good friends and love each other so much!  They are going to be an adventure for us all that's for sure.

Tyke has been obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lately.  I think he got that from his cousin Bowdee.  He loves them and walks around the house singing his version of the song or else jumping, spinning and moving his hands like he knows karate and saying, "hi-jah!"  He likes to get a little rough with his ninja skills but we can't help but laugh, unless he's unleashing them on Luke.  Ninja Turtles are pretty much the only cartoon Tyke requests now days and he gets super upset when they're not on.

Tyke has starting singing, a lot.  I'm not sure what he sings but he almost always sings/hums a tune while riding in the car or while showering.  In the car he starts out quiet but gets louder and louder and then back to quiet.  It's pretty cute.  He sings the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme song, his version.  It's adorable.  

Tyke LOVES playing in the water and is always asking to "doe wim mom!" I feel like I failed him this summer by not letting him swim as often as we should have.  Tyke is a little fish in the water.  I can't wait until he's old enough for swim lessons.  He's a natural! 

Tyke has started to really show some attitude lately when he gets in trouble.  He will either scream and hit (like a teenager tantrum) or get really whiny and ignore us and repeat "I wanna doe home!"  When we inform him that he IS home he stops and thinks for a second before saying, "I wanna doe gamma's home!" (Grandma's house).  Isn't it funny how fast kids learn that Grandma's house is the place of no rules?  Tyke always wants to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house when he's in trouble or wants something, silly boy!

Tyke's speech just keeps getting better and better.  He is easily saying up to five word sentences now.  He's smart!  It amazes me how he knows to use the words: to, too, my/mine, etc.  Tyke knows his houses (all of the grandma's, Quade's, the pizza house (Little Caesars), the ice cream house (gas station in Mona and so on).  He knows how to work his mommy and daddy.  A few of our favorite phrases right now are:

• "Oh blezz you!" (Bless you, when  we sneeze.  He can't say his "S" sounds very well)
• "I hold da Louie!" (He has shown a lot of interest lately in wanting to hold Luke, whether Luke likes it or not, haha)
• "Helm me!" ("Help me!"  He will climb up on the rocks of the fire place or lay down on the ground like he's fallen and reach for us while dramatically saying help me!)
• "I want pitta!!" (pizza)
• "I hungee mom!" (hungry)
• "I helm my Daddy! ("I help my Daddy!")
• "I doe nigh nigh!" (Night night, which is what he wants to do when he wants to get out of chores or minding)
• "Daddy/Louie my buddy mom!" (This one just melts my heart big time!)
• "Louie my boy!" (This one does too!)
• "I wanna doe home"
• "I doe Grandma's how!" (Grandma's house.  About 90% of the time though he says home instead of house)
• "I want monies! Give me monies!" (He likes putting money in his piggy bank, good boy!)

One Saturday morning we were all laying in bed talking and watching cartoons.  Luke was still asleep and started making noises.  I checked him and he was up.  I said, "Oh you're wide awake Lu!" Tyke immediately, in an offended tone, said, "I a wake too mom!"  We all got a good laugh out of that.

Tyke has started to be more brave around animals of any kind.  We're not sure where this fearlessness came from?  He will play with, tease and give loves to dogs now where before he would cry and be freaked out until we picked him up.  It's just fun watching him grow and mature!

Tyke hasn't grown too much this past month, yay to that!  I feel like these boys of ours grow out of their cute clothes way too fast!  Tyke has definitely put on a pound or two.  He's starting to get a little belly and cheeks have filled out along with his cute little double chin.  We can see deep dimples in his cheeks now!  Before they were just barely there.  Tyke has had a great appetite on and off lately.  One week he will eat non stop and try new foods, the next week he's back to being picky and eating like a bird.  He is still a fan of his corn dogs, sausage, grilled chicken cut into strips (he will NOT eat breaded chicken of any kind), bacon, apple juice, chocolate milk and of course pizza!  His clothes are starting to fit a little tighter.  I had bought a bunch of 4t shirts thinking I could put them away for later but I soon found out that they need to be worn now!  They're a little baggy on him still but length wise they fit a lot better than his 3t shirts, which by the way still fit.  His 3t jeans are going to need the little extender elastics loosened soon!  Tyke needs new socks, all of his are fitting a little on the small size now.  His shoes, size 10's! are still fitting pretty good for now.  I just can't believe how much this boy is growing and changing!  Tyke loves his camo hat from the Bass Pro Shop and his cowboy boots.  He wears them both well and insists on putting them on himself!  We can't leave home without them!

We love this fun energetic little man so much!  He's adorable and sweet and mean and sassy and just plain fun!  Happy 31 months big guy!

Tyke's First 2015 Hunt

The kids helped Bampa Terry take down a coyote by the shop yesterday!  Tyke was so beyond excited!  It's all that he has talked about since it happened and each time his story is the same, "I shoot thai-yote!"  We ask him if he's sure Bampa Terry didn't shoot it and he gets offended and yells, "NO! I shoot thai-yote!!"  What a kid!

Kicked Out!

We move the boys into their own room, finally.  Tyke, for the last year or so has pretty much slept with us in our bed.  We tried to get him to sleep in his own room but he wouldn't.  If we got him to sleep in his bed he would just end up in bed with us by 2 a.m. anyway so we kind of gave up.  Luke has been a terrible little sleeper.  He has probably only slept through the night 4-5 times, ever!  He usually wakes up three times a night: 12:10 a.m., 3:30 a.m., and 5:00 a.m.  It's exhausting.  I'm tired!  Between waking up to feed Luke and having Tyke's feet in my face, or worse, getting karate chopped in the throat, I feel like we haven't slept in months.  Luke was starting to get too big for his "bed" in our room and so we knew it was time to kick both boys out! (He was still sleeping in the play pen)

We were able to purchase a twin size mattress and box for Tyke on Monday.  Tuesday Chad stopped at Walmart on his way home from work and bought a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sheet set (they are Tyke's latest obsession).  Tyke was so excited about the sheets but not the bed.  When we put the crib back together (it had been assembled into the day bed position) we decided that the mattress would be perfect on the second level down.  Wrong!  Luke immediately pulled himself up into standing position and started gnawing on the rail.  We've left it for now and will lower it in a week or so.

They're first night in their own room was okay.  Chad had to lay with Tyke until he fell asleep.  Even then he still came and climbed in bed with us, I'm not sure when.  Luke slept until 3:00 a.m.!  I got him a bottle and he went right back to sleep until around 5:00 a.m.  I crawled back into bed and noticed Tyke sprawled out so I gathered him and his blanket up and moved him back to his bed.  He wasn't too happy about that the next morning!

Wednesday night was about the same.  Tyke woke up around midnight and climbed into bed with us.  I was ready to take him back but Chad insisted we let him stay until he fell asleep.  By the time he did so had we and so he slept with us until around 3:30 a.m. when Luke woke up for his bottle and then I moved him to his bed.  Again, he wasn't happy to wake up in his own room.

Last night Luke went right to sleep and slept until 3:00 a.m. again.  Tyke on the other hand had a restless night full of tears.  Chad and I had to take turns lying down with him.  He would fall asleep and we'd leave and within ten minutes he would come running to us crying.  He had to have been so tired because he had missed his nap time during the day but he was a die hard to get to sleep.  Once he finally fell asleep (around midnight) he slept the entire night in his bed, yay!  Luke only got up once, yay!  And both boys woke up around 7:30 a.m. happy and giggly, yay!  Here's to hoping we'll have more successful nights: that Luke will sleep through the night finally and that Tyke will stay in his own bed!  We love you boys!!

Throwback Thursday: Our Nursery

As I've been cleaning out Tyke and Luke's room, getting ready to move Tyke into a big boy bed and Luke into the crib, it donned on me that I failed to take pictures of just how cute this room turned out!  It's only been like, three years, since it got done.  I was very pregnant with Tyke and anxious to have a nursery.  We didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl so we (I) chose a neutral theme that would go good with our home and our family.  Chad did 99% of the work!  He was awesome!  It took SO many coats of white paint to cover the dark navy blue walls the previous owners had done.  Chad painted it all, spray painted the light so it wasn't the yucky white that it was, and then we went shopping for furniture.  We found our cute crib at Shopko on sale.  The bedding was purchased on line (I can't remember the store name).  I had plans to have Brandon and Tonya come and paint trees on the west wall but Chad objected to that because it was so much work getting painted nice and I would probably change my mind anyway, haha.  I lucked out big time and found the giant vinyl trees and deer on Etsy.  It was pricey but we splurged and did it anyway.  It was like it was all meant to be because it all matched so perfectly!  I LOVE this room!  My boys love this room.  Since we've cleaned it out and rearranged, even though it's only been a couple of days, they have had so much fun playing in here.

These pictures are what it looked like "before" Tyke got so dang many toys and before we moved in another bed.  This is was it looked like three years ago when we finished.  And I had to include a picture of Luke getting in trouble, hanging off of the blinds.  He hadn't been in here five minutes before he got curious about the blinds and tried to tear them down.  He's trouble!  He's so much more mobile, curious, sassy and faster than Tyke ever was! (and Tyke was "D" all of the above!)

Up the Loop

We went for a ride up the canyon tonight.  We only went to the monument and that was plenty for me.  I get car sick easily ever since I was preggo with Tyke.  Tyke gets car sick too but he did really good this ride.  We rolled down the windows and opened the sunroof and enjoyed the canyon air.  Luke fell right to sleep (which is why I have no pictures of him, dang it!) but Tyke had a blast pointing out "deers and moo tows!" (Deer and cows)  He's such a cheeser!  He knows to smile when the camera comes out, unless it's a professional camera then he just cries and throws a fit.  Anyway, we saw a few deer close to the road that Tyke thought was pretty neat.  We also spotted a couple of bucks way up on the mountain side.  They were so far away that we couldn't tell how big they were but we could tell they were bucks so they must have been decent sized.  It was nice getting out of the house and going for a ride.

Chompers

Check out these chompers of Luke's!  He is working on having a mouth full of eight teeth!  Poor little guy has been a trooper.  He doesn't ever seem too hurt by them coming in but he definitely gets restless and uncomfortable by them.  We haven't had to give him much Motrin at all except for when he just can't relax and I know it's from these teeth.  He's got a cute little goofy grin and we love it!!  It will be nice when his right side decides to catch up to his left side.  Silly chompers!

2015 Juab Demolition Derby

We took the boys to the demolition derby.  We've gone every year for the last six years (it was our first date way back in '09).  Luke loved it and was all smiles.  Tyke didn't share the enthusiasm.  We failed and forgot ear plugs for him so he spent his time covering his ears and telling us, "I wanna doe home mom!"  Poor guy.  He did have fun sitting by his buddy Quade and watching the ninja turtles car (they are his current obsession).  We left after the truck race, around 9;15 p.m., and went and grabbed a pizza and came home.  It was a good night and we're glad we got to go!

10 Months Old

Our sweet and sassy bubba Lu is ten months old today!  It's crazy how much he has changed and grown and learned in the last month.  He just keeps getting more and more fun!

Luke has grown a lot in the past month.  He can sit himself up now with no problem at all.  He first started this new trick on 7-19-15.  Luke is completely mobile now!  He army crawls really well and LOVES exploring the house.  Just yesterday (8-4-15) he started really crawling on his hands and knees but he still prefers the army crawl/push up and push crawl.  He pushes himself up like a push up and then pushes forward and drops down.  It almost looks like swimming.  He ventures to the front room and the "dining" room all of the time.  He's obsessed with being on the tile floor which scares us to death but he's been really careful so far and has only had one spill.  He has now discovered the rock hearth around our wood burning stove.  He likes to try and stand up to it and I have caught him twice having a taste of it (he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth!!).  He can put himself into kneeling position easily and then struggles to pull himself up to things.  He hasn't tried the couches yet but he will pull himself up to the hearth, the bathtub, small benches and tables and his Daddy.  He's a goer and we're in trouble!

Other new tricks Luke has mastered the past month are clapping with his feet, which he does all of the time when he's in his car seat or his lying in his bed.  He has started clapping his hands (8-2-15) and will get excited and clap when he "wins" his game on the iPad.  It's a toddler game where an animal pops it's head into the screen and you have to hurry and touch it and get it before it disappears.  To my surprise Luke is fairly good at it and can get three to four in a row, each time proudly clapping and smiling when he's done.  He also likes clapping his hands when we put the little bracelet rattles on his wrists.  I thought he would hate them but he leaves them alone and enjoys the noise that they make.  He likes to shake his head no, a lot!  He communicates really well if he doesn't want to do or eat something.  He's super sassy that way and always does it with a huge grin on his face.  He also likes to shake back and forth and side to side to music.  This boy can dance!  He shakes when he's cold or when he has a big no no for us but on July 20th he actually shook to the the music of his Ele-fun toy.  Since then we have notice he dances a lot to music.  It's adorable to watch, what a kid!

Luke has started rolling over onto his belly in his sleep which makes me nervous.  I don't care so much when he does it while napping but during the night it kind of bugs.  I wish it didn't because I think that if he was able to sleep on his stomach he just might sleep through the night for us.  He still isn't, and it's exhausting!  We have tried everything and nothing has worked.  He is sleeping longer in between waking up but he still insists on waking up at 12:10 every night for a bottle.  Here pretty soon (we're slow and should have done this way sooner) Luke will be moving in to his and Tyke's room in to his crib.  I'm really hoping that that will help him to sleep through the night.  

Luke's two favorite spots to be in the house now are on the tile and in front of the entertainment center.  He loves the tile and refuses to stay on the carpet for long.  We're constantly moving him off of it.  I think he knows that he slides better on the tile and that's why stays there, plus it's cold.  His hands, feet and belly are always cold when we pick him up to move him.  If Luke isn't on the tile then he's in front of the entertainment center slamming doors or hitting them with Tyke's toy hammer.  Of course it's always the glass doors that he's after, little stinker!

Our little Louie LOVES playing with his and Tyke's toys now.  He can entertain himself for quite a while crawling around from toy to toy to toy.  He and Tyke get along pretty good with the toys.  Occasionally they get mad at each other if they're jealous over a toy.  Tyke likes to take things away from Lu a lot and it usually ends up in a melt down, from both boys.  Luke's favorite toys right now are the Elefun ball popper that blows little colored balls out of its trunk, books, rattles, balls of any kind, the iPad (he really gets mad if that gets taken away from him, we try not to get it out too often for either kid), and Tyke's flashcards (which are a HUGE no no!  He always tries to eat them and a few weeks ago actually bit a chunk off of a card and it got stuck in the roof of his mouth.  I threaten Tyke that I will throw them away if he doesn't keep them picked up and away from Luke).  He likes the remote controls a lot and our iPhones and the iPad.  We try not to give into him on the electronics but when Luke throws a major fit, which he tends to do often, they're the go to items to get him to stop.  He's high maintenance for sure!

Luke has learned that he really likes to pull hair!  He thinks it's so funny but I don't.  He always goes for Daddy's hair whenever Daddy gets down on the floor to play with him.  He grabs two hands full and giggles and pulls.  He pulls my hair and it's not so funny, to me anyway.  He smiles his cute little smile to get out of trouble and it usually works.  Having my hair pulled is not my favorite thing and it's a constant battle to keep those chubby little fingers away.  Along with pulling hair Luke likes to slap, not us but Tyke.  Poor Tyke is always getting slapped up side the head by Louie.  They both think it's hilarious, for now, and Tyke is a really good sport and plays along.  Every morning, first thing, while Tyke is still asleep I sit Luke on our bed to start getting him ready for the day.   He sees Tyke and gets so excited and happy and moves right over to him and starts slapping his head.  He never really hits him anywhere else, just the head.  Silly boy!

We are officially done with nursing Luke.  We made it to nine months and that was that.  I couldn't keep up with his demands, I was exhausted, and he had started to refuse and give me weird looks when it was time to eat.  So I quit.  I have felt guilt and relief and freedom from this decision.  It took a good month for my supply to finally dry up!  I had enough of a supply in the freezer that Luke was able to go almost an entire month longer on breast milk, at my moms.  The rest of the time he was on formula.  I'm proud of myself for nursing my boys for so long (Tyke 10 months and Luke 9 months).  It was a full time job itself and I'm glad to be done with it.  It's bittersweet though.  I will never have to/get to do it again.  I won't miss it but I will miss the special bonding time I had with both of my boys.  Luke eats like a champ and is going through a Costco sized container of formula in a about a weeks time!  I'm glad we didn't have to buy that expensive stuff this entire time or we'd be broke!  Luke drinks anywhere from six to TEN ounces at a time!  We make six to seven ounce bottles and that usually does the trick but occasionally he needs more.  For the most part he's a six ounce kid.  He gets super excited when he sees his bottle coming and kicks and grunts and can't take it from our hands fast enough.  Usually he's in such a hurry to shove that thing in his mouth that he misses a time or two and gets milk allover his cute little mug.  Luke also is eating four or more containers of baby food per day.  He hates rice/oatmeal cereal and will turn his nose up to it and shake his head NO!  He has finally started to like the little rice puff treats and Gerber "Cheetos".  He has even started feeding them to himself! (around the end of July he started that!)  He's still not too graceful at it but they eventually make it into his mouth...and then he's lucky if he can keep them in his mouth.  His little tongue works over time and pushes more out than he keeps in.  He's a messy little eater but that's OK.

Luke loves sippy cups, especially Tyke's.  We have been giving him the soft nipple sippy cups and he does pretty good with them but he always has his eyes on Tyke's cups and usually gets a hold of them and goes to town.  We try to watch him close and not let him have Tyke's cups, especially if they have cows milk in them.  Luke will get so mad when we take them away.  It seems like it's always a battle with him and not letting him have what he wants.  He's a stubborn, determined, sassy little fart!  And we wouldn't have it any other way!!  

Probably my favorite new tricks of Luke though are the fact that he gives big, wet, slobbery kisses now and says mama and dadda!  I love his silent "ah-wahs"!  He's sometimes a little stingy with them but it's fairly easy to get him going.  He makes a big slobbery mess on my cheek but it makes my day every time!  He started talking too.  Sometimes he talks jibberish all day long!  He's gotten very vocal lately.  His first "word" was bababa, followed a few days later with mamamama (yay!!) and then dadada.  Sometimes I swear he simply says, "dad!"

The best part about this stage in life right now is watching our boys play together.  Tyke and Luke get along so good!  Luke adores his big brother and watches him closely and laughs at the silly things he does.  Luke thinks Tyke is hilarious and Tyke feeds off Luke's giggles and acts even more goofy when they're playing.  They have so much fun wrestling and picking on each other and playing with each other.  I honestly don't know what they would do without each other.  Tyke is such a good big brother and helps out with anything Luke might need.  Tyke has been obsessed lately with wanting to "hold da Louie!"  He loves holding Luke even though Luke is nearly as big as him.  I told Chad the other day it won't be long until Luke is holding Tyke.

Our big boy has grown lots!  He's pretty much out of size 9 month clothing and we've pulled out the 12-18 month stuff.  Some of it fits him perfectly right now and some of it is still a little too big.  The rate he's going it won't take long until they all fit right.  There is about a ten pound difference between him and Tyke right now, it's so crazy!  Luke is still in size 3 diapers.  For sure this time, once they run out, we will be buying size 4's.  I'm still not sure on shoe size because we still haven't had him in shoes but the one cute pair of Toms that I have that are size 1's,  are snug.  I can't tell if they just don't fit or he just doesn't like shoes because he kicks them off within seconds of putting them on.  Luke has two more new teeth making a grand total of six!  We first noticed his top two teeth (central incisor) pushing through on July 25th.  With them in I realized that Luke is in fact, not a vampire baby.  What I thought was his canine teeth were really his lateral incisors.  I think Luke might have a small mouth for all of the teeth he will be getting, I could be wrong though.  So Luke now has his top four front teeth and his bottom two front teeth in!  Luckily he hasn't learned how to use them on us yet but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.  

It's truly amazing how much Luke has learned this past month.  We can hardly wait to see what month number ten has in store for us all.  We love you so much little man!  Happy 10 months Lu!

Luke was being so silly while I was trying to take his pictures.  I thought these were adorable shots and had to share our silly little goofball.  The first shot he's looking at his teddy bear like, not you again, haha.  I just love his little mug!

First Drive In

We took the boys to their first drive in movie, Minions, at the Basin Drive In in Mt. Pleasant Saturday night (8-1-15).  The boys seemed to have fun!  We made a cozy little bed in the back of the car for them and changed them into their jammies.  Tyke thought it was funny to be watching a movie outside.  Luke only cared to play with a bottled water that he managed to dump half of it on us all.  I couldn't really tell you if the movie was good or not because I was busy making sure no one fell out of the car but we sure had a good time!  It was a much needed family outing! 

Teeth

Luke has been teething this past month, six new teeth in all so far!  I would expect a little biting from him and there has been a time or two when he's given me one of his open mouthed kisses that he tried to.  So imagine my surprise that the biter in the house is Tyke!  He doesn't bite, he hasn't for as long as I can remember but the past few days he has started it up again.  He bit me on the neck a week ago.  He bites my shirts, he bites blankets, and last night he bit Luke, HARD!  I was getting ready for bed when I heard Luke crying hysterically.  Both he and Tyke were lying in our bed.  I asked Tyke what had happened and he just laughed at me and teased me, "nah nah nah nah!"  It took me a minute to get Luke calmed down.  I kept asking Tyke what had happened, thinking maybe they had bonked heads or something.  No answers from him, just a teasing and laughing.  I looked Luke over and couldn't see anything wrong and then I looked at his poor little hand.  Tyke had bit Luke's right hand so hard that I could see perfect deep little indentations in each of his fingers!  I asked Tyke if he had bit his brother and he laughed and said yes.  So, he got his little mouth smacked and sent to bed crying!  Little stinkers!  I'm so not looking forward to the day that Luke starts using his chompers too.  Oh what fun!

Puffy Eye

Poor Tykie, we don't know what happened to his left eye.  Grandma Cheryl dropped the boys off to me at our house around 4:30 p.m. yesterday.  As soon as I saw Tyke I noticed his puffy eye.  My mom hadn't noticed it and she hadn't noticed any accidents or anything that could have caused it either.  Within minutes it doubled in size.  Tyke had a fever as well, which we had been treating for nearly 24 hours at this point.  I sent Chad a text to show him what was going on and he suggested we take Tyke to the doctor, thinking maybe the two were related.  I called the pediatricians office and they wanted to see him.  We were able to see Dr. Miller at 5:40 p.m.  

I loaded the boys up and we headed straight to the doctors office, Chad was able to leave work early and met us there, yay!  Tyke's eye had swollen even more at this point.  Dr. Miller checked Tyke out and Tyke did awesome!  He never cried or whined at all, just sat on the table like a big boy and did everything Dr. Miller asked of him.  We were all impressed!  Dr. Miller said Tyke did really well for a kid his age.  Way to go Tyke!!!  Tyke was still running a slight fever of 99.8 (We had given him Motrin around 4 p.m. so it had come down a little bit) and his throat looked a little red.  That was all that Dr. Miller could find wrong.  No strep, no ear infection, nothing.  He suggested that maybe Tyke's swollen eye was from rubbing it (I don't buy that...).  He said where Tyke's body is trying to fight off "something" (fever and sore throat) that maybe he rubbed his eye and got his body's attention and now it's attacking that area thinking that something is wrong there too.  Dr. Miller suggested a strong antibiotic and simple saline eye drops to get Tyke feeling better.  He said that if his eye wasn't doing better or was worse today then we would need to bring him back in.  (Luckily it is looking better today.  It's still really swollen but not as puffy looking as last night.)

Dr. Miller sent the prescription to Walmart for us.  I ran and got it while Chad and the boys went for some ice cream as a reward for Tyke doing so great at his visit.  We met back up and had to force Tyke to take his medicine.  He had a hard time gagging it down and when I tried a little taste I could see why.  It was awful!  It tastes like ground up aspirin.  I called the pharmacist and asked for advice on getting Tyke to gag this stuff down, otherwise it's going to be a long ten days.  He said I could mix it in with his chocolate milk or whatever I wanted as long as Tyke would quickly drink/eat it and I was sure he got it all.  (It has a stronger taste than usual because it has extra medicine in it making it extra potent)  Otherwise, I can take the medicine back and they can mix flavor shots into it for an extra $2 (why don't they do this to begin with?  I wouldn't be able to gag that stuff down, and you expect a 2 year old to?!)  This morning I mixed Tyke's dose of amoxicillin in with his chocolate milk (extra chocolate!) and he guzzled it right down without hesitating at all, yay!  Now the eye drops, that's another battle that we need to figure out!  I don't know that they're really helping with the swelling but they are definitely bringing relief to Tyke's eye, as he doesn't rub it at all once we get them in and soothed.  It's a struggle to get them in though.  Tyke knows how to put up a fight!  

Top picture on the left was taken when I first realized the problem.  Top right was about ten minutes later.  Bottom left was about an hour after the first picture was taken.  Bottom right was taken when we were done and leaving the doctors office.