34 Months Old

Another month older and wiser too!  Boy does this boy keep us on our toes.  Tyke is 34 months old today and changing so much.  Some of the things he says and does just blow me away.  I can't believe how fast he is growing and learning and doing.  He's a stubborn, sassy little sweetheart and we love him so much!

Tyke is getting to be quite the story teller lately.  He's always telling us about things he sees and does but we know they're made up.  It's comical to hear and watch him tell us.  He gets so animated and excited about it all.  He has a great imagination for sure!  There are two stories that stick out in my mind right now that I need to write down before I forget.  After the first snowfall, while at Grandma Cheryl's house one day, he must have overheard the kids talking about a snow monster outside.  He is convinced that there is a snow monster that hides behind the trees to the east of Grandma's house.  He acts a little freaked out about and has to show me every day.  He says, as soon as we walk in the door and he runs over to the window facing east, "Mom, tome here I show you!" He points out the window and you would swear he could really see something, and says, "Tee right dere?! Dere a no-monster hide in da trees!"  I tell him there's no such thing as a snow monster and he gets frustrated with me and says, "I show you! Right dere mom!"  Silly boy.  His other big stories have to do with hunting.  He swears he always sees and shoots deer, bears and rabbits.  The other morning while taking the boys to Grandma Cheryl's, before we even left our garage, he exclaimed, "Mom, I tee two deer today!"  I said, "Oh you did?!" And he replied, "Uh-huh! Two deer and one a buck! Big horns, I soot it, pa-koo!" (Pa-koo is his way of making a shotgun sound).  What a kid!

Tyke has started to get a bit of an attitude, or an anger issue.  He has started screaming at us at the top of his lungs.  Just a quick, high pitched chirp to let us know that he's not OK with what we're doing or asking of him.  It's kind of funny to watch him get so mad but at the same time frustrating for us all.  We don't like the attitude and have told him so.  He doesn't do it often but when he does he gets a time out so that he can chill out.  He also hits us from time to time when he's having these little moments.  I think he just gets so frustrated with us that it's his only way of letting us know.  We'll work through it though.

Tyke loves to sing!  He sings in the shower a lot (when he showers, lately it's been baths with little brother and boy do they have a good time and make big wet messes!).  Tyke sings "Tell everybody I'm on my way" repeatedly, just that phrase, from the Disney movie Brother Bear.  It's adorable and he really gets into and belts it out.  He also knows and sings the theme songs from "TMNT" and "Paw Patrol."  It amazes me to hear him sing those!  I sing "You Are My Sunshine" to Tyke and Luke a lot and Tyke has picked up on that song as well.  We sing duets often and it's SO cute!!  He sings with a great big smile on his face.  He can't say his S's and pronounces them with a "T"  It's too cute and I really need to get all of this recorded before it's too late!  If I'm having a bad day or in a bad mood he starts singing "You Are My Tunshine" to me and it instantly makes everything OK.  I love him for that.  He's my sweetheart!

A few of the new things Tyke has been saying lately are:

• "I tee me!" ("I see me!" as he's looking in the mirror at himself)
• "You hear dat tound?!" ("You hear that sound?!) as he cuffs his ear.  I asked what it was and he replied, "Ding dong!" (He had heard the doorbell)
• "Two minute mom!" (He wants an extra two minutes for every thing now a days)
• "Way doe mom!" ("Way to go mom!")
• "I Kykie Roni!" ("I'm Tykie Roni" he corrects us anytime we call him baby or by one of his nicknames.  He acts annoyed and tells us "I Kykie Roni!")
• "Oh no, my pee no work!" (He says this anytime he sits on the toilet to go potty but can't.)
• "I tay no!" ("I say no!")
• "Dat tickles me!" (He is very ticklish and has finally started voicing the fact to us, it's pretty cute how he says it.)
• "What dat tound?!" ("What's that sound?!"  He cuffs his ear as he says this and looks totally confused.  He does this when he hears something new that he hasn't heard before.  So cute!)

Tyke loves playing with his brother Luke.  Those two get along so great about 99% of the time.  They butt heads here and there and will hit each other but for the most part they play and giggle all of the time.  They have the best time making messes, running around the house after each other, playing peek-a-boo, and just laughing at each other.  They think they are hilarious!  They love bath time and make the biggest messes!  They splish and splash and play with their tub toys.  They giggle and try to see who can splash the biggest.  They have such a good time together!  I hope it always stays this way, the friendship and love that they have.

Tyke has still been doing chores with Bampa Terry every chance he gets, weather permitting.  He loves it!  He loves helping feed the cows and tagging along with Bampa.  I haven't watched him personally do it but Chad says he knows just what to do to help Bampa feed the cows.  It makes me proud!  He's a hard little worker and loves to help anyone out if he can!

Tyke is growing like crazy lately!  He's still in his usual sizes: 3t-4t shirts, 3t pants although the length no longer works for him and his long legs, size 10 shoes and size 5 diapers.  We're really hoping to be done with diapers soon.  He's getting more and more heavy for me to pick him up which makes me so sad.  It makes me tear up to think that I won't be able to carry him to bed much longer.  He's my big boy and I love his happy little self.

Happy 34 months big guy!!  Two more months and you'll be three!  I can hardly believe it.  We love you Kykie Roni, so much!

Potty Training!

Oh boy!  I knew this was going to be hard and exhausting and I wasn't looking forward to it but we decided to finally just dive in and get Tyke potty trained.  Friday night we were talking about when we should start and decided that since we had no plans for the weekend (that's rare around here) we would go ahead and give it a good honest try and see where it goes.

Saturday morning as soon as Tyke woke up we explained to him that today was going to be different for him and that he was going to be wearing big boy underwear and using the potty instead of his diaper.  We also told him that if would use the potty all weekend like a big boy that we would take him shopping and let him pick out a prize (he REALLY wants a "blue one" Paw Patrol toy, so we're using that thought as leverage).  He seemed on board and to understand.  We let him pick out his undies for the day (Ninja Turtle of course) and the fun began.  I only dressed him in his underwear so that he would be just slightly uncomfortable and so that there wouldn't be too much laundry at the end of the day.  Within the first hour we had our first accident accident.  I kept asking him if he needed to go pee or poop and he kept telling me no.  While sitting at the dinner table eating breakfast he climbed down from his chair and told me, "Mom, I told," (told=cold).  I asked him to hop back up to the table but he wouldn't.  I looked at his chair and there was great big puddle.  I asked if he had peed and he replied, "No, I pill my water." (spilled my water).  Funny thing is he didn't have any water to spill.  So I let him know that it was bad that he had peed on the chair and that next time he needed to let me or Daddy know so we could help him make it to the bathroom.  He agreed and the rest of the day went great!  I kept right on his case all day long, asking nearly every five minutes if he needed to go.  Most of the time he would tell me "no."  Occasionally he would say yes and run to the bathroom.  But for the most part I had to make a game of it (he likes competition) and tell him that I was going to beat him to the bathroom and win.  He would drop what he was doing and run as fast as he could to the bathroom.  By the end of the day he had things figured out pretty well and was even able to pull his underwear on and off all by himself (he still needs help pulling them up).  I put a pull-up on him for nap time (and to give my voice a break from asking so frequently if he needed to go).  He came running out of his room and exclaimed, "MOM! I need doe poop!" So we ran quickly to the bathroom.  There was a little bit of poop in his pull-up and he said sadly, "I poop my pants."  I told him, "No,  you did good!  You were able to stop and run to the bathroom now lets finish it on the potty."  And he did!  He was so proud of himself and so was I!  By the time bedtime rolled around I was feeling pretty good about how day one had gone.   Tyke did so good and had only peed his pants once all day (first thing in the morning, at breakfast) and had only had the one little mess in his pull-up.  He did great!!

Today was a different story.  This morning started off good but quickly went bad.  He had FIVE accidents within two hours, even with me constantly on his case asking if he needed to go potty.  Even with all of the accidents he was still trying to go to the potty.  When I would take him and make him go potty even if he didn't need to he would look down then up at me and say, "Mom, my pee no work!"  I was just glad that he was willing to go and try without a fight.  Around nap time this afternoon he acted like he needed to go poop so I hurried him to the bathroom.  He peed but no poop.  I asked him to hang out for a minute and see if anything happened.  Still nothing so we put a pull-up on for nap time and got him layed down.  Luke wasn't too thrilled about nap time so I took him out to the living room for a minute.  When I went back into the boys' room to grab his binky I could smell that Tyke had had an accident.  I was both sad and mad at the same time because it hadn't been five minutes since he'd been on the toilet, and because I knew he knew to come get me for help (after yesterday's poop episode).  I was exhausted in every way, frustrated and sad and mad and couldn't control the tears.  I told him how upset it made me and that upset him too.  We put him in a diaper and I made him take his nap.  When he woke up from his nap he was still upset.  I hugged him and apologized for earlier and had a good little talk with him.  I told him it was his choice if we continue this journey right now or wait until later.  I asked him if he wanted to go back to diapers or keep potty training?  He sadly but surely replied, "I keep potty training mom!"  And so we will (even though I already feel like throwing in the towel haha).  Here's hoping that things go smoothly this week and that Tyke really catches on!  This has got to be the hardest job ever!  I feel pretty clueless and unprepared for it but we're going to push through.  We've got this Tyke!

Chiro Update

Luke had his second chiropractor visit today.  Once again he wasn't too happy to have Dr. Carroll adjust his neck.  He put up a real fight but we got the job done.  Luke doesn't have to be seen again until December, unless we decide otherwise.

Luke has done great since his first visit.  He's calm and content to play by himself.  He doesn't seem as needy or as whiny or as high maintenance.  He seems much happier and we're loving it!  He has slept through the night at least four times in the past week which is a new record for him.  I hope that after this adjustment today that things will just continue to get better for our little man!  It's been so nice catching up on some z's!

First Chiro

Yesterday Luke had his first visit with the chiropractor!  I had read and heard stories about how chiropractors could help children with ear infections (Luke hasn't had any recently but he has had three in the past year), sleep problems, and irritability (and a whole lot more but those are the three we have been dealing with with Luke).  When I heard that my cousin had started taking his kids to the chiropractor and that they were sleeping better through the night I got excited and we decided that maybe we should check into it for Luke.  I had an appointment with Dr. Carroll yesterday and Luke tagged along with me.  After my adjustments I asked Dr. Carroll if he would check Luke out.  I told him how cranky this boy can be sometimes, that he relaxes best for us after he's had some Motrin (which I really hate giving it to him all of the time but I feel like maybe he is in pain somewhere and it does help) and that at 13 months old he still wasn't sleeping through the night (up 2-3 times per night).  Dr. Carroll insisted that he has colic.  I don't really agree with that because aren't colic babies super miserable?  Luke has his moments but for the most part he's happy as long as he has our undivided attention.  Anyway, Dr. Carroll felt Luke's neck, Luke got shy and tried to get away, and commented that his little neck was a mess!  He said it's no wonder Luke is miserable, he's probably been having a lot of headaches from his neck problem.  Dr. Carroll suggested it was probably from birth trauma that caused it.  We layed Luke down on the table and I held his arms while Dr. Carroll made an adjustment.  Boy did Luke scream!  He did not like it at all and I'm not really sure how Dr. Carroll was able to make the adjustment with how tense Luke was.  He sure put up a fight.  He had his neck popped twice, once to each side, and was done.  It didn't take long to calm him down afterwards but he was not impressed with either one of us.  Luke will go back a couple of more times and then be good to go.  I don't know if it's all in my head or not but I swear Luke was a completely different kid last night.  He never once threw a fit, which is just strange!  He ate his dinner really well (which is normal, but he just ate without really throwing his food at us...which isn't normal).  Luke enjoyed his bath, he enjoyed getting out and dressed (that NEVER happens!) and he fell right to sleep comfortably around 8 p.m.  It's the easiest night we've had with him in a looooong time!  He fell asleep quickly (odd) and I was able to lay him down in his crib with no fuss (odd).  AND he slept the entire night!!  I checked on him multiple times and he hadn't squirmed very much at all.  He is usually allover the bed, flipping back and forth trying to get comfortable.  I hope that last night wasn't a fluke.  I hope that his adjustment really did help and that his next couple of appointments will help even more!  It makes Chad and I sad to think that Luke may have been suffering from yucky headaches and a sore neck all this time.  Poor boy!  Here's hoping that this helps big time!  

13 Months Old

Mr. Luke is 13 months old today and boy is he trouble!  The kid is into everything and always getting his big brother in trouble.

Luke has started walking!  He's still not 100% but he loves practicing every day and is getting more and more brave about where he'll walk and how far.  His balance is getting better too!  He started taking his first steps around October 10th.  He was very wobbly and could only go about 3-4 steps before falling.  Within a week he was taking up to ten steps.  And now,  he will walk the length of the living room with minimal trouble!  We work with him a lot, because he thinks it's so fun, and have him walk back and forth between Chad and I until he's had enough.  Tyke likes to get in on the action too and will hold his arms as wide open as he can to have Luke walk to him.  When he does, Tyke wraps his arms around him with a great big hug and exclaims, "Woohoo Louie-Pooey!" and tries to jump up and down with him.  This makes Luke mad and he squirms, nearly knocking them both over.  Tyke sometimes likes to be treated like he's just learning to walk too.  As soon as Luke has walked from Daddy to me, then Tyke will back up to Chad and tell him, "It my turn now" and walk wobbly to me.  He's a little jealous of all of the attention I suppose.  We love watching these boys learn and do new things!  Luke runs along the couches now.  If he can walk along something he gets excited and his momentum gets going and he runs!  He likes to explore the house from this new found height.  He will literally walk along anything he can get his hands on to make laps around the kitchen and living room.  He pulls himself up to the french doors and then walks along them to his highchair, his highchair to the bar stools, the bar stools to the cabinets and then he circles around the kitchen to the fridge, walks along the pantry doors to the fire place, carefully walks around the fireplace to the wall and then runs back to the couches.  He's starting to be more brave about walking on the tile.  He's cautious and so far has had no accidents.  Just last night (11-4-15) he stood himself up from sitting position for the first time!  And he was even standing on the tile when he did!  Way to go Luke!!!

Luke loves climbing all over his Daddy, just like Tyke used to do when he was a baby.  Chad can't ever lay on the floor without being used as an obstacle course.  Luke will pull himself up to his dad and crawl over the top of him and dive into the floor.  He thinks it's so much fun!  He's been doing it for quite a while now but now that he's walking some he really gets the momentum going.  It's fun to watch!

Speaking of climbing Luke almost has climbing the stairs mastered.  He has had lots of lesson from Daddy and Bampa Terry showing him how to safely go up and down the stairs (luckily we don't have any at our house so we don't need to worry about it).  Luke is really good at going up the stairs but struggles and gets nervous going down them.  Luke also likes to climb on to the couches at Grandma's house.  I haven't personally witnessed this but it sounds like he does it almost daily now and that once he's up he whines until she puts him down because he doesn't know how to get off by himself.

Other than walking Luke doesn't have many new tricks to report of.  He started waving bye-bye a month ago.  He's kind of stubborn to get him waving now but we know that he can do it.  He has started giving us kisses: big, wet, slobbery kisses (ahhh-wahh's!).  When I ask for a kiss he'll pull his binky out and open his mouth as big as possible and kiss my cheek.  I get scared most of the time that he's going to bite me but so far I've been lucky.  Luke has a mind of his own.  He really is stubborn and will only do things if he wants to.  There is no convincing him!

Luke loves playing with his big brother.  He thinks Tyke is hilarious and I catch them laughing at each other a lot.  They feed off of each other big time.  If one of them starts laughing the other will.  They laugh at me a lot.  I pull silly faces at one of them and then it gets them both rolling with laughter, and usually at the dinner table.  Silly boys!  These cute brothers love to play and get along well for the most part.  At least a few times a day they get mad at each other.  Tyke gets a little too rough for Luke or does something Luke doesn't agree with and the screaming and tears start.  Tyke is in trouble a lot!  Luke is a big tattle tale!  He can throw a fit like no one can!

Luke is an awesome eater!  We're trying to convince Tyke to follow Luke's lead in the eating department.  He hardly eats anything (only a couple of certain foods) and Luke will eat everything!  He hasn't disliked one thing we have thrown his way.  He LOVES watermelon and gets so mad at us if he runs out.  He could seriously eat two slices worth in no time at all if we'd let him.  He is completely done with baby food.  I have a few baby food pouches leftover that I'm keeping a hold of for a backup plan but I'm thinking I may as well give them away because there's no way Luke will eat them anymore.  He loves the applesauce pouches and will suck them dry but he will only eat like half of a baby food pouch.  He loves treats, especially the Gerber Cheetos and M&M's.  Those are his two most favorite things!  We have quite the variety of Gerber Cheetos in the pantry and he seems to like them all.  Luke likes chocolate milk and apple juice.  He still takes a bottle but it has to be warmed.  He will NOT drink cold milk unless it has chocolate in it and even then he just plays with it and makes messes.  I've never known a kid to make such a mess with spill-proof sippy cups like Luke does.  I don't know how he does it but he does.  He drinks and eats until he's done and without skipping a beat he chucks his food and cups on the floor with a lot of force.  He broke a bottle the other day by doing so.  He likes to throw his binkies on the floor too (when given a bottle or being sassy) and he throws them so quick that we don't have time to react to catch them, even though we know it's going to happen.  He's a little stinker!

Luke hasn't seemed to be affected by the time change last week at all.  He has stayed right on his schedule and gets super fussy and grumpy when he's ready for bed.  He was going to bed around 9 p.m. and with the time change it's now around 8 p.m.  That has been nice!  He will play and giggle and get into mischief right up to the minute of 8 p.m. and then like a switch he grabs his binky and comes crawling or walking to me and gets fussy.  We grab his minky blanket and warm him a bottle before turning off the lights and rocking him to sleep.  It's about a 20 minute process but I sometimes drag it out a little more because I love the extra snuggles.  When he's done being snuggled though he starts to squirm and whimper.  If I don't get him to his bed fast enough (I literally have to run while cradling him in my arms) then he's awake and mad and we have to start the entire process over but it's a lot harder the second time around.  Luckily we have caught onto this silly routine of his and can get him into bed quick enough.  It's the funniest thing to think about.  He's high maintenance for sure!

Luke is growing, growing, growing!  He's in size 18 month to 2t shirts, 12-18 month pants (we're about to phase out the 12 month sizes), and size 4 diapers.  He still doesn't really wear shoes so we're not sure on his foot size but his socks are getting small and Tyke's socks seem to fit him better now.  He's a big boy!  He doesn't look chubby at all, just tall and solid.

We love this sweet Bubba-Lu of ours so much!  He is seriously such a fun, goofy kid and we love watching him learn and do new things.  We can't wait to see what he comes up with next!  We love you Louie-Pooey!

By the way, it's getting more and more hard to get this stubborn, strong willed boy to cooperate for these pictures!!  The kid has got a mind of his own and hates sitting still for longer than 1.2 seconds!

Halloween 2015

I think it's safe to say that this years Halloween was the best one yet!  The boys were so much fun to dress up and watch!  Tyke was the blue ninja turtle, "Leonardo" and Luke was Scooby "Lu"!  We had a bit of a crisis with the costumes.  A few days ago I had Tyke try his on and it was way too little!  I returned it and thought I would for sure be out luck finding another one in his size this late in the game.  Luckily (and costly) I was able to find one at the Halloween store near Sam's Club.  I bought him the smallest they had, 5t, thinking it would be way to big but better than nothing.  The thing fits perfectly and won't get much more use out of it that what he wore it this weekend.  The face mask was a little tight and he didn't care too much to wear it down around  his eyes like it was supposed to be worn but I was able to convince him to wear it on his head.  Luke was going to be a minion but while we were shopping we found this cute Scooby Doo costume on sale at Costco and had to get it.  It was the last one in his size (12-18 month) with all of the pieces.  The actual costume part ended up being too small for him length wise and pretty much stayed up around his knees instead of his ankles like it should have.  The head piece was way too big and if we fastened it so it would stay on it would droop and completely cover his face.  He hated wearing it but survived.  We survived though and had a great weekend!

We started things off Friday afternoon as soon as I got off work.  Nephi businesses on main street put on a trick-or-treat the kids from 3-5 p.m.  We caught the last twenty minutes of it by the time I got home and we got the boys loaded.  We hit the main area and got ten or so pieces of candy for the boys.  Luke wasn't too amused but Tyke loved the freedom of being able run and swing his sword.  We snapped a few photos in front of the city office building.  The boys didn't cooperate too well.  Tyke had a hard time staying focused and we couldn't get Luke's attention at all.  He was too interested in the grass and in pulling Tyke's face mask off and smacking him with it.  Silly boys!

Saturday at noon we had a fun Halloween party to attend at Aunt Jenny and Uncle Cody's house.  Both boys were fairly grumpy and stubborn.  I'm not sure what their problems were but it was a tad bit annoying.  Tyke refused to eat his cute lunch: mummy hot dogs and macaroni & cheese.  He was whiny and throwing a fit and kept yelling at me: "I wanna doe nigh nigh!" so I made him lay on the couch and rest while the rest of us ate.  Luke enjoyed his meal and ate pretty good.  The adults enjoyed sweet potatoes topped with pulled pork and BBQ sauce (sounds weird but it was so good!) and salad.  Luke got pretty fussy halfway through lunch so I went and snuggled on him and he fell right to sleep and slept the entire party.

All of the kids showed up in their Halloween costumes.  We snapped a few pictures of them all together before lunch.  After lunch the kids played outside with Aunt Jenny and played a round or two of bingo.  Luke was asleep and Tyke was busy chasing the new puppies to play.  After bingo was over we all moved into the garage.  The kids played a game of pin the spider on the web.  Tyke was so shy, clingy and whiny that he wouldn't do it.  He wouldn't do anything.  He finally got brave enough to pin it up with his Daddy's help, after all of the other kids had had their turn and without a blind fold.  Silly Tyke!  After that game we had the kids all eat donuts hanging from strings.  Tyke got super excited for that game and man was he hilarious to watch!  They all were but especially him!  I was really surprised at how well he did, keeping his hands away from the donut and trying to catch it with his mouth.  He thought it was the coolest thing ever and was sad and pouted once his donut was gone.  Luckily Aunt Jenny had a lot more and shared two more donuts with him.  That's a good lunch right?  After the games we all gathered to decorate/carve pumpkins.  All of the kids had brought their own pumpkins and Jenny & Cody supplied the supplies needed to decorate.  Tyke started painting his pumpkin green and when I asked him what he was making he replied, "ninja turtle power blue one!"  I decorated Luke's pumpkin as a Frankenstein.  It turned out pretty cute considering I only used paper towel and my fingers to paint it (there weren't enough brushes for everyone so I improvised).  I tried to help Tyke paint his pumpkin but he completely took over and I was amazed watching him work so good.  He asked for help for only two things: more paint and to turn the pumpkin so he could get all of the sides.  It was adorable watching him!  After pumpkins and pictures we were treated to root beer floats and glazed donuts stuffed with vampire teeth.  The kids all had a blast and thought it was all so great!  It was a fun party for sure!

On the way home both boys fell asleep so we let them get a good nap in before venturing out to trick or treat.  The napped good and once they were awake we hurried and fed them grilled cheese sandwiches and got them dressed up again.  Luke hated getting dressed up each and every time! We finally left the house around 6:30 p.m.  We headed for Nebo Heights because we knew it would be easy trick or treating for the little guys and us.  We only did two rows and zig-zagged back and forth across the streets to make sure we hit all of the houses.  Tyke was hilarious to watch!  He had his sword and flash light (a gift from Cody & Jenny that he unfortunately lost while out and about) in one hand and his bucket of treats in the other.  He followed the groups of kids and ran right up to the doors to get his treats.  He refused to walk on the lawns and always used the sidewalks.  Sometimes he was very shy and sometimes he wasn't.  He had a smile on his face the entire time and near the end he started to get exhausted, which is rare for him.  One house in particular had a lot of steps to climb to get to the door.  After climbing nearly twenty, and having about five more to go, he stopped and turned around and handed his bucked to his Daddy and said, "You do it Dad!" and started coming back down.  We got him to finish his trek though and he tripped on the last step.  I think that's where he lost his flash light.  Luke didn't do much trick or treating.  We took turns carrying him.  He was perfectly content to watch all of the action.  He was talkative but didn't smile much.  He's kind of a serious little man.  Anyway, we were more than happy when we got back to the truck to rest.  We made a quick stop at cousin Taylee's house (Great Grandma Jean was hanging out there gave each boy $2!) and we trick or treated at the Bryan's house before calling it a night.  The boys got lots of goodies!  We're glad to have Halloween 2015 in the books!  We can't wait to see what fun these two wild boys of ours will be next year!  Happy Halloween Tyke and Luke!!

M&M Blues

Poor Luke.  While at Costco tonight they were sampling Halloween fun sized candy.  I grabbed both Luke and Tyke a bag of m&m's.  Tyke immediately got busy eating his.  Luke enjoyed chewing on the package until I finally opened it and fed him his m&m's, one at a time.  I couldn't feed him fast enough!  He loves m&m's and had no patience for me and how slow I was giving them to him!  Well, he beat Tyke done.  As soon as his m&m's were gone he started getting mad at me.  I told him they were all gone and that there no more for him to have.  He arched his back and kicked and screamed.  Not a tantrum scream though, more of a heart broken scream.  It was both sad and funny.  We were walking about five steps in front of Tyke and Daddy (we're a two cart family now) when Tyke yelled at me, "Mom! Turn round me!"  I turned around and he handed me his package of m&m's and said sweetly, "Lu have mine mom!"  I took the package of m&m's and there were two left.  It was the sweetest thing ever and it brought tears to my eyes.  Both Chad and I thanked Tyke for being so sweet and he smiled proudly!  Luke immediately gobbled up those two m&m's and then went right back to throwing a fit, haha.  Poor kiddo!  Seriously though, it was a very sweet gesture Tyke and we are so proud of you and your thoughtfulness!!  We love our sweet boys!!!

Messy Lu

Boy does this boy love food!  And boy can he make a mess!  He sure enjoyed his mashed potatoes tonight for dinner.  He will eat pretty much anything we put in front of him and he loves it all!  Wish we could say the same for his picky brother.  (Pics taken 10-25-15)

Red Barn 2015

We finally took the boys to the pumpkin patch!  We waited until the last week, until the warm weather was pretty well gone, before going.  I don't know why other than it has been a busy month with lots of hunting going on.  Anyway, we looked at the weather schedule for the week and decided that tonight would be our best bet of going and not freezing to death.  Tyke didn't want to go and whined about it for quite a while.  Even when it came time to load up onto the hay ride wagon he refused.  Once we got loaded though he thought it was pretty cool.  Luke enjoyed the wagon ride.  Every bump we hit, and there were a lot of them, he would giggle so hard!  He had a great big smile on his face pretty much the entire rides in and out.

When we got to our destination Tyke got really excited and took off in every direction he could, yelling back at us, "I rum mom!" (rum=run).  He never slowed down the entire time.  We went down the slides first.  Tyke wouldn't go down by himself so I went with him while Daddy and Lu waited at the bottom.  We first went on the small one two or three times and then I was able to convince Tyke to go down the big one.  Once we got to the top I could understand why he didn't want to do it.  That sucker was tall!  We went down it anyway and had a good time.

We snapped lots of pictures.  I tried to get a picture of the boys in front of the little replica red barn but before I could get Luke's attention Tyke pushed him off of the straw bale and onto the ground and said, "Louie no want to!" and off he ran to the big bikes that he had been eyeballing. And that was that.  Little stinker!  Luckily it didn't even phase Luke that he had been tossed aside like that.  It took me a good five minutes to get him brushed off: dirt and straw, ugh!

All four of us were able to ride the bikes.  Chad rode around the track with Luke and I rode around the track with Tyke.  Talk about a workout carrying those kids, steering, pedalling, and just trying to stay in control.  Everything lately is a race with Tyke and he really wanted to "wim" (win) his Daddy and Luke so we pedaled as fast as we could.  It was a good time but I was more than happy to give up our bike to a waiting kid after about ten minutes.  Tyke wasn't too impressed with that but I needed a break and that kid needed a turn too.

After riding the bikes we went and shot apples out of the apple canons.  That was fun!  Tyke was a little scared of it and didn't want anything to do with it but he shot his apple the farthest, on accident.  He shot way too soon, hitting the trigger button before we even had the barrel pointed down towards our target.  Oh well, he thought it was awesome!  But not as awesome as the bikes and the sand box.  That's where he ran to immediately after his shot was done.  He was such a busy body!  And poor Luke, he wanted to be but we wouldn't put him down, we're mean like that.

We convinced Tyke to run through a maze of boxes.  It was a bunch of old large apple boxes stacked to resemble a corn maze (we stayed out of the corn maze, this maze was perfect for our little guys this year).  Tyke had so much fun running through and jumping out and scaring us.  We quickly made our way through the maze and then headed over to the pumpkin patch, where we let the boys pick out their pumpkins for Saturday's pumpkin carving party at Aunt Jenny's house.  Tyke couldn't make up his mind.  In fact Tyke couldn't hold still long enough to even look at them.  He was having so much fun running free in this big playground!  We finally got two pumpkins picked out.  Chad and I were exhausted by the end of our excursion.  Between carrying Luke, a diaper bag, two pumpkins, and chasing Tyke, it was a big workout for us both.  We headed back to wait for a wagon ride back to the big red barn.  We had to wait probably twenty minutes or so.  In that time Tyke and Chad went and did a few more rounds on the track with the bikes and played in the sandbox.  The ride back to the barn wasn't near as bumpy but Luke enjoyed it just the same.  We were glad to get back to the car and get warmed up.

After paying for our pumpkins and getting the boys changed into clean clothes and loaded in their car seats, we headed to the nearest gas station and got some hot chocolate.  We then headed home but not before stopping to grab a pizza for the boys and a taco for me.  It was a perfect night and we're so glad we were able to go, get out, and have some fun!

First Sucker

Luke enjoyed his very first sucker today courtesy of our neighbor Rachelle.  He loved it!  He was a big sticky, happy mess by the time he was done!  Look at the pure joy on his little face!!  What a kid!  We love you Lu!

Deer Hunt 2015

Well the deer hunt has come and gone and unfortunately we didn't end up with a single one.  Both Chad and I had general season Oak Creek deer tags.  With our tags we were able to hunt around the Oak Creek mountains, where the HUGE bucks live, but only on BLM property.  It was kind of a pain to keep track of where we were and if we could or couldn't shoot.  Most everything was private and if it wasn't then it was the "limited" area and we couldn't hunt there anyway.

We (us and Uncle Chris and fam) camped over the weekend, from Friday morning to Monday afternoon, down near the Cove Fort area.  It was so dry and dusty that our vehicles and trailers were completely brown by the time we set up camp. We never saw a single sign of deer in the area the entire time we were there!  It rained on us like crazy on Saturday and Sunday and we had fun time staying in the trailers watching movies and listening to the rain hit the roof.  We played in the mud but not too much.  The boys loved riding the rhino, what little bit they got to do.  It was a cold weekend but a fun one too!

On Tuesday morning we dropped the boys off at Grandma Cheryl's early and Chad and I headed south to hunt.  We drove all morning and afternoon and still never saw a sign of deer.  It was depressing!  We decided then that there was no point in wasting our time and money to hunt on our unit so we quit.  Chad spent the rest of the week tagging along with Bampa and Aunt Tiffy on their Nebo unit.  They too had no luck this year.

We all went hunting with Bampa and Aunt Tiffy on Saturday night and the boys loved it!  Tyke brought along his toy rifle and was shooting deer left and right (he has a great imagination!).  We saw two coyotes and tried to get them but missed.  Luke loved riding the "viking" and was all smiles and wiggles the entire time.  We finished off the night with dinner at Subway.

And that folks, was our 2015 deer hunt!  Here's hoping that next year will be more successful, if we even draw any tags that is.

12 Month Well Check

Poor Luke!  He had his 12 month well check today and he got picked on big time!  We knew that he would be getting shots but we had no idea just how many, five in total.  Poor guy had to have his finger poked to check his iron levels too, so six pokes in all today.  That didn't bother him at all, the band-aid, however, did and he worked like a mad man to get it off.  It worked out great for us because it kept his mind occupied while we waited for Dr. Fullmer to show up.  

Dr. Fullmer looked Luke over really well and gave him a clean bill of health!  He said that he looks great and is doing great and is hitting all of the milestones that he needs to be.  Way to go Luke!!  Luke got the go ahead to eat and drink anything he wants now.  He's officially a big boy now!  Our little guy has been so good lately that we didn't have any concerns to really talk about, other than him STILL NOT sleeping through the night!  Dr. Fullmer once again suggested that we water down his bottles in the middle of the night until they are just water.  We'll try it out again.  I'm hoping that now that Luke can/is eating "big people" foods that his little belly will fill up and stay full longer.  It sure would be nice to get a full night of sleep in our house.

We opted to get us all the flu shot while we were there today.  Tyke is old enough now that he was able to have the nasal mist instead of a poke.  We picked on him first.  I had to hold his arms down and wrestle with him while the nurse hurried and shot the nasal mist up each nose.  Tyke was ticked off but as soon as we were done he calmed right down and looked at us like, "that was it?!"  It seriously lasted 5 seconds but felt much longer with that stubborn boy of ours.  Chad and I then had our flu shots done so that we could be done and ready to comfort Louie when it was his turn.  Once we were done it was finally Luke's turn to get picked on, our poor boy!  I sat him at the on the edge of the table and held his little hands while the two nurses attacked, I mean, poked him.  One shot in his left leg and two shots in his right leg.  He got super mad!  Before I could calm him down they each poked him in each of his arms too.  He was one sore, sad little man.  It took about five minutes to calm him down.  Once the shots were done so were we.  We got Lu dressed, gave him a dose of Motrin, and left the building.  He did great the rest of the night and didn't seem too bothered by all of his sore spots.  He's tough little guy!

Luke's 12 month stats:

Weight: 25 pounds (92%)

Height: 31.5 inches (93%) 

Head: 18.1 inches (43%)

As you can see, our little Lu is a big boy and is growing great!  His head size is "average" and the rest of him is big, haha.  We love our Bubba-Lu!  He's so much fun and has the cutest, sweetest yet grumpiest personality.  He's a fun little feller and we love him so very much!

33 Months Old

This little boy of ours is getting to be not so little anymore.  I can hardly believe how much Tyke has changed in the last month!  Every day he is changing and learning and becoming more of a little boy and less of a toddler.  It makes me smile to think of all of the fun and silly things he does.  He's a joy in our home and we love our little man so much!

Tyke is the cutest big brother!  He and Luke get along great 97% of the time.  The rest of the time Tyke is picking on his brother until he gets in trouble.  They love to wrestle, play with balls, and giggle at each other.  It's pretty much the cutest thing ever and makes Chad and I smile.  We adore their friendship and hope that they will always be best buds.

Tyke has become quite obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons.  He runs around the house throwing out karate moves and yelling, "hi-ya!" while hitting and kicking anyone and anything in his way.  The kid has got some moves!  He has a couple of toys of Michelangelo but he's always telling us he wants "blue one!"  He can identify a few of the characters, even though he can't say their long names very well.  Tyke is becoming more and more comfortable (aka, daring) with knocking his brother over, which is a huge no-no!  He gets in trouble every time but he just can't help himself!  Luckily Luke doesn't seem to mind too bad and can hold his own.  Those two love to wrestle and it's fun to watch, as long as no one is crying.  They both seem to enjoy rough housing together.  

Tyke is still being a very picky little eater.  At this point Luke has experienced a wider variety of foods in his one year of life than Tyke has in his almost three!  Tyke won't even consider giving new foods a try.  I'm starting to get a little frustrated and concerned by this.  I know our pediatrician told us it was just a stage and a typical toddler diet for Tyke to only be eating pizza, corn dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches but it's starting to get old real fast.  I'm getting tired of making two "meals" every time we eat.  I try to negotiate with him that if he will try even just one bite of what we've made for dinner then he can have his pizza/corn dog.  He refuses every time!  We have tried force feeding him but it always ends in tears, for both of us.  He cries and spits the food out on me pretty much every time.  I have even sent Tyke to bed twice without dinner or chocolate milk, and guess what?  He doesn't care!  He's stubborn, like his mamma!  Tyke eats best at breakfast time, as long as there are plenty of pancakes and sausage.  Boy does this boy love sausage!  I've never seen anyone chow it down like he does!

Tyke has been loving this fall season and getting to go with Daddy and Bampa hunting.  He has had so much fun riding the "viking" with them and finding deer.  He always steals Daddy's binoculars so can "tee da deer."

Tyke's health has been great!  We have had no problems with hives or the eye swelling since doing the antibiotic (for bronchitis).  We are relieved!  We're still watching him closely for any more weird symptoms and especially for eye swelling.  We canceled the MRI for now and will just go with the flow and see where things take us.

A few of Tyke's new phrases and words this past month that we are enjoying hearing:

• "You otay mom?! Tiss and hug!" ("You okay mom? Kiss and hug" followed by a big kiss and hug, I love it!)
• "It otay mom"
• "Happy Birfday Louie Pooey!" (this phrase was repeated A LOT, for days and days and days)
• "I a bunny! Hop, hop, hop!" (He turns into a bunny and hops towards me pretty much every time I tell him to hurry up.  As frustrating as it is I can't help but just smile at his silly self)
• "I doe gammas house!" (Every morning he tells me this, which luckily, he gets to go to Grandma Cheryl's house M-F)
• "Dat my home!" (He can spot our house from a block or two away! He's always excited to go home! It's funny, everyone else's houses are their "how" (house) but Tyke's house is his "home!" Smart boy!)
• "What you tay mom/dad?!" ("What you say mom/dad? This phrase gets used a lot!  The kid is either deaf or just doesn't like listening to us the first time, already haha.)
• "Tome-ear!" ("Come here!")
• "Turn round me!" ("Turn around and look at me!")
• "Tome tee!" ("Come see!")
• "Mom, tome tee! Dat Dee-Dee's elt!" ("Mom, come see! That's Tiffany's elk!" I hear this every morning when I drop him off at Grandma Cheryl's house.  Aunt Tiffy's, er Aunt Dee-Dee's, elk horns are sitting under the carport there.  Tyke gets so excited about them!)
• "I a tao-boy! Daddy a tao-boy! Bowdee a tao-boy! You a tao-boy! Huh?!" (tao-boy equals cowboy and he tells me this entire story every time we put his cowboy boots on!  When he gets to the part of telling me that I'm a cowboy he questions it every time with a "huh?!" because I'm not a boy, then he laughs hysterically.  He's such a tease!)
• "I helpa my DAD!" ("I'm helping my Dad!"  He's such a good helper and always wants in on the action.)
• "What da hell?!" ("What the hell?!" We're not really sure where he picked this phrase up?  We admit to having potty mouths but we don't use that phrase so we're clueless.  As naughty as it is it's pretty cute and funny to watch and hear him say it.  We try not to laugh and tell him each time that it's not nice to say that but he thinks it's hilarious.  He uses this phrase to question things that don't make sense to him.  Silly Roni!)

Tyke is getting so tall and heavy too!  It makes me sad to think that my days are getting numbered with being able to carry him and pick him up.  He loves to be held and when picking him up I am noticing that he's getting heavier and heavier.  My baby is growing up too fast!  Tyke's clothing/shoe/diaper sizes haven't changed much.  He's wearing anywhere from 3t to 4t shirts, 3t jeans (although they are starting to look like floods on him even though they fit his waist perfectly) and size 10 shoes!  The shoes are starting to feel a little tight on him so I'm sure we'll be moving up in size soon.  He's a big, cute, sweet boy!  Tyke is still in size 5 diapers and absolutely refuses to potty train at this point.  We have convinced him (more like caught him and dragged him to the toilet kicking and screaming) to use the toilet a couple of times.  Each time he's successful at it he gets so excited and we do little victory dances and find treats or toys, but it still isn't enough to convince him to just go.  He usually cries and tells me that he's scared to.  It's sad.  I sit right with him and hold his hand to help calm him down but he still hates it and won't go.  Usually, about 5-10 minutes after giving up and putting his diaper back on, he runs to me exclaiming that he's pooped and to "change my bum mom!"  Little stinker!  We know he's smart enough to do this!  We just need to do some more convincing I guess.

We love our silly little Roni-man so much!  There's never a dull moment when he's around.  He's the best big brother and the funnest little Tyke ever!  Happy 33 months little man!  We love you lots!

Huntin'

Friday night after work I headed out to Mona to pick up the boys.  To my surprise Tyke had tagged along with his Daddy and Bampa Terry to go elk hunting (Chad has a spike tag).  They went up Mona Pole and Tyke had the time of his life!!  He loves every second he gets to hang out with his Daddy and Bampa!  Chad said Tyke had an absolute blast, and he must have because Tyke has told me his hunting story at least a half dozen times.

While glassing the hillside for elk, a doe and her two fawns snuck up on the boys.  Tyke spotted them first and let his Daddy and Bampa know that he could "tee deer!"  They thought he was just telling stories and asked him where the deer were and he exclaimed, "white der!" and pointed to them.  They let Tyke get out of the rhino and he ran right up to the deer, well not too close, but pretty dang close!  He thought it was so awesome!  He was brave but scared all at the same time.  Mamma deer was keeping a close eye on Tyke.

After the fun deer adventure, and no sign of a spike elk, they loaded up and headed back down the hill.  They were lucky enough to come upon a grouse and were able to shoot and kill it.  Tyke thought it was awesome!  He didn't hesitate at all to pick that bird up and pose for the camera, grinning ear to ear!  He's a mighty hunter and he's being taught well by his Daddy and Bampa!

I really need to try and get Tyke's account of his hunt recorded.  It's adorable to watch and listen to him tell his story with such excitement.  I'm so glad he gets to go and be a part of these adventures with the big boys.  Here is Tyke's story, in his own words: (Imagine him talking excitedly and moving his hands along for emphasis...) "I doe up, up, up da moun with my Daddy and my bampa!  I wide da whino!  I dee deer!  I dee mamma deer, I dee baby deer and otter baby deer! I shoot a bir!  Daddy shoot bear!" (Translation: I go up, up, up the mountain with my Daddy and my Bampa! I ride the rhino! I see deer! I see mamma deer, I see baby deer and another baby deer! I shoot a bird! (he always takes credit for the kills) Daddy shoot a bear! (not true haha))

I'm so glad Tyke got to go and have a fun night out with the guys doing what they love!

Tyke's 2 1/2 Year Pics

Tyke turned 2 1/2 way back in July.  I had good intentions to snap a few pictures of him for memories sake but I'm a slacker.  I almost didn't get any of him at this stage but while Luke was throwing his mega fit at his photo shoot I had our photographer snap a few of Tyke, who was in an unusually happy mood for a photo shoot.  He almost never cooperates with our photographers so I was really surprised at how much he hammed it up.  He was giggling and kicking and pulling up his shirt and just being Tyke, a big goofball!  I am in LOVE with how his pictures turned out!!  He's so handsome and our photographer was able to really capture his sweet personality and his amazing golden eyes.  Thanks for the great pictures Tykie!  We love you bud! (Of course I couldn't choose just a few, I love them all!)