A Big Fat NO!!

In case you were wondering...

The other night Chad and I were having a discussion on how much money we want to take out for the cafeteria plan in 2014 because paper work is due in the next few days at Chad's company.  2013 worked out great for us because he maxed his out and I took out quite a bit too at my company, we knew Baby Long's arrival would not be cheap thanks to high deductibles.  We decided to not do so much for the upcoming year.  While discussing the pros and cons and what ifs, trying to decide just how much money to take out, we toyed with the thought of what if we get preggo again?!  We both decided that we're perfectly content with just Tyke, for now, and have no immediate plans to grow our family (even though we know we're not getting any younger).  While talking all of this over Tyke was playing with his toys and occasionally looking at us like we were boring for talking adult talk and not playing with him.  Chad picked him up, and jokingly asked if he would like a baby brother or sister?  It was a family discussion after all and we wanted his input.  Tyke looked at us both like we had gone mad and then got an angry look on his face and violently shook his head NO!  We laughed, he kept shaking, and eventually stopped and smiled.  We asked again, you know, just to make sure, and got the same reaction from our little Tykers.  So there you have it, people that keep asking when we're going to have another one!  =)

Sleep

We are at a loss of what to do to get our little Tyke-man sleeping through the night!  He used to sleep like a champ, up until we went to Oregon on vacation back in June.  Ever since then he has hardly made it an entire night.  I'm exhausted, we're exhausted.  Tyke averages getting up 1-3 times a night!  If it's after 3 a.m. we just put him in bed with us.  He sleeps really good there, yay but nay!  He sleeps good, we don't.  I swore we would never start this habit but I have given in because I just want some sleep!  He usually will fall right to sleep once he's in bed with us.  The last few nights though he cannot get comfortable and toss and turns and squirms and headbutts us.  He's asleep and restless but can't get comfortable.  I imagine this all has something to do with his teeth trying to come in.

Dr. Fullmer once told us: put Tyke in his own room, he'll sleep better and so will you.  I disagree!  He slept better when he was in our room by our bedside!  Dr. Fullmer also told us: feed him lots before bed, stuff him!  He won't/can't over eat.  He'll sleep better.  I disagree!  We feed that boy so much food to the point where his tummy tight and he's shaking his head no.  After dinner time we get him bathed and ready for bed and quietly play for an hour or so.  He starts to get fussy so we make him a bottle and out he goes.  He sleeps so sound in our arms, or on the living room floor.  The minute we try to lay him down in his crib he pops right up and cries to be held.  I'm not complaining!  It's the best cuddling ever!  He'll snuggle for a good five minutes and then it's safe to lay him down.  This is the routine every night!  

Last night Tyke woke up just before two and was so wide awake there was no getting him back to sleep!  Chad and I both tried and nothing worked.  We fed him a 6 ounce bottle, I ended up nursing him some too, and within 20 minutes we changed THREE diapers!  Tyke was so restless and whiny that I finally told Chad to get some sleep and Tyke and I went out into the living room and turned on the cartoons.  Even there he couldn't relax.  I gave him a small dose of Tylenol thinking it must be his mouth bothering him and he seemed to calm down a little.  We threw a blanket out on the floor and layed and cuddled while watching cartoons.  Tyke finally crashed around 3:30 am and I was really hesitant to move him to his bed.  I didn't want to wake the beast!  I was able to though and he slept until 6 am and then was up and crying.

I, we, don't know what to do to help Tyke sleep better??  We could all use a good nights sleep, that's for sure.  I'm really hoping our little guy grows out of this stage soon, but I fear he won't.  Heck, it's been 5 months of this now already.  Any advice??

A Crappy Deal

I woke up this morning to Chad crying for help!  He was attempting to change Tyke's morning diaper and got poop on his hand.  There's nothing Chad hates more than a poopy diaper, so getting it on him really upset him!  Before he was even able to get the diaper opened up he had a mess to clean up.  I woke up and picked up Tyke thinking no big deal.  Well, it was a big deal.  As I started to take his jammies off so I could change  his bum I realized we had a blowout to clean up, and I got poop on me too.  We decided that this mess called for the utility sink in the laundry room so away we went.

I held Tyke over the sink while Chad peeled off the jammies.  Tyke looked at me annoyed while Chad and I giggled and gagged.  It was awful!  The mess was smeared clear up Tyke's back, down one leg and pooled into the foot of his brand new jammies!  While Chad was freaking out trying to figure out what to do with the messy jammies he was holding, (I told him to just drop them on the floor for now) Tyke freaked out and wanted to be held close instead of dangling in the air nearly naked.  He kicked his little feet and tried climbing up my belly to snuggle in, leaving little poopy footprints up my shirt and mess smeared on my arms.  Now I was the one screaming for help!

We wrestled to get Tyke away from me, tore off the disgusting diaper, and stuck him in the sink for a "shower".  I held onto him while Chad hosed him down.  After getting every last bit of poo off our little guy, and getting him soaped up and washed down, we let Tyke sit under the warm running water for a few minutes.  He loves watching the water come out of the tap and attempts to grab it, it frustrates him that he can't.  After getting him bathed for the day, dressed, and cartoons on to entertain him, Chad and I went our separate ways to go and clean ourselves up.  What a morning!

Little Helper

Tyke is obsessed with an open dishwasher!  I swear that as soon as the dishwasher opens the boy comes a running from the other side of the house in his walker.  He gets tucked right up into it and starts grabbing silverware, banging plates and trying to knock over the glasses.  He has too much fun and thinks it's funny when we push him away.  He immediately drops his feet down, skids to a stop, and runs right back into position Fred Flintstones style!  Loading the dishwasher takes about twice the time now that it used to but we wouldn't have it any other way!  We love our little helper!

Another Cousin

On Saturday night (11-2-13) our little family of three headed out to the hospital to meet the newest member of the Long family, baby McKenna!  She was born on Tuesday, October 29th.  With Chad out of town and Tyke having a yucky nose (which I thought was a cold but now I'm really thinking it's teeth...I may go mad with this guessing game!) I decided we should wait a few days to visit.

Chad got home from his hunting trip early Saturday afternoon.  Tyke and I had gone shopping with Grandma Cheryl (oh boy does she ever spoil her grandkids!) and didn't get home until around 6 pm.  After getting things unloaded, and freshened up we headed out to visit.

McKenna is so teeny tiny.  Her birth weight was exactly one pound less than what Tyke's was.  I can't remember Tyke ever being that small.  When it was my turn to hold McKenna Tyke just stared and giggled non stop and tried to get his hands on that baby.  He had the biggest smile on his face and kept grabbing at her.  When Chad took a turn Tyke turned jealous and wanted his Daddy back!  He lost his smile and quit grabbing at McKenna and started grabbing for his Daddy.  Chad's turn got cut short!  It was fun watching Tyke's reaction to the new baby.

McKenna got to go home the next day (she had an extended stay because of her weight and a few other little things).  For us, after holding such a tiny little body, our boy feels like he's gained an extra ten pounds over night!  Yay for new cousins!

1st Halloween

Our little guy had a successful first Halloween!  It was just he and I that went door to door trick or treating because his Pa was down south hunting with Grandpa Terry.  We missed him lots!  

For Tyke's first Halloween we dressed him up as a cute little minion (off of the Despicable Me movies).  He pulled it off great!  Cutest little minion ever!

I picked Tyke up from Aunt Jenny's house and got him dressed up and ready to go.  Aunt Jenny snapped some pictures of Tyke, Quade and Teagen before we left.  The older boys creeped me out, especially Quade, but Tyke thought they were pretty cool and just grinned and reached for them.  Silly boy!  Nothing phases him, I swear.  We didn't go trick or treating to too many places because our little minion had worn himself out.  He was asleep by the time we made it to our first stop!  And he fell asleep between the next two stops too.  Sleepy head!  We went to Nanna's, Grandma Cheryl's and Grandma Gaye's.  Tyke got spoiled with lots of goodies, a rice krispie treat (his favorite, because of the noise the wrapper makes), socks, a new sippy cup and a two dollar bill!  

We ordered a pizza from Lotsa Motsa (yay they have yummy gluten free now, and it's GOOD!) and went home to spend the rest of the night handing out candy to cousins and other trick or treaters.  Tyke had a blast digging his hands through our bucket of Halloween candy!  He at one point had it scattered all over the entry way!  Grandma Cheryl hung out with us for a while.  We watched Ghost Busters on the TV and ate pizza.

To finish off Halloween 2013 we made a cute little piece of art (thanks pinterest!)  It only took two canvases to get it right.  Painting Tyke's hand black was a chore in itself, trying to get him to lay his black little hand flat on the canvas, um yeah right.  He did not like being painted and he did not like being controlled.  Round two was a success for the most part (round one of the foot print turned out better, oh well).  I'm super proud of our artwork and I'm excited to be able use it for Halloween decor for years to come.  It's priceless to me!

Happy Halloween 2013!

Foods

Today marks two weeks since we introduced Tyke to wheat.  So far so good!  I'll admit it has been nice not having to read his food labels or watch things as closely as I have to for myself, plus the variety of foods got a whole lot bigger.  I am still a nervous wreck about feeding him gluten containing foods though.  I panic a little every time he cries differently, gets restless, or his diapers look different.  In the back of my mind I always wonder "what if this is a sign?!"  I feel like a nervous wreck when dinner time is over.

I worry so much about Tyke having Celiac like his Momma.  I really, really, really don't want him to have to ever suffer with the belly aches and other side effects that Celiac causes.  I have prayed so much for Tyke to be healthy in every way possible and so far my prayers have been answered.  Tyke is definitely a miracle baby in my eyes!  With all that Chad and I have wrong medical wise (which seems like a lot, but it's not) it's amazing that Tyke has none of it (that we know of).  I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my prayers going up that things continue to go good for our little guy!

Trouble On Wheels!

Tyke LOVES his walker!  He is a totally different kid since we bought that toy on wheels.  He's always been such a good, good baby (we are super lucky!) but now that he can run around the house, literally, he is so much happier.

The walker is definitely his favorite toy right now.  He'll crawl up to it and usually try and pull himself up.  We put him in and off he goes, banging off of the cupboards and the walls and playing bumper cars with the bar stools!  He literally shoves them around with his bumper!

He has so much more freedom!  He loves exploring up and down the hallway, peeking into each and every room.  The only place he can't make it in his wide walker is into the laundry room.  We like it, but it frustrates him.  Tyke likes trying to run us over and gets a good giggle out of it when we yell ouch!  Those little wheels running over toes and ankles are NOT fun!  He can't stand for there to be kitchen towels hanging on the oven door.  The first thing he does when he gets on his wheels is run over to the oven and yank those towels off and hang them over the side.  He leans over and watches as he carefully backs up over them and then he takes off on a dead run, dragging my poor clean kitchen towels under him.

Tonight he wanted in the walker so I gladly put him in.  He was allover the house and soon was at the back of my ankles wanting a treat.  I gave him his cup of little banana rice puffs and then went into the living room.  Usually he gets super upset when we are out of view but tonight he didn't care.  I told him where I was going, and once I was in the living room I showed him where I was.  He smiled and went to digging into his cup for treats.  I sat in the living room for a good ten minutes working on some craft stuff.  Tyke was unusually quiet.  I couldn't even hear his wheels moving around.  I stood up to see what was going on and found a great big mess!  Tyke had managed to dump out all of his treats, from a cup that's supposedly spill proof, and was slowly rolling over them.  He was leaned over the side and moving back and forth making sure to squish each one.  I just laughed!  Seriously kid!  He's too much fun for me to handle sometimes.  I love my Tykers!

9 Month Pics

Yesterday afternoon we had some free time so we hurried and dressed Tyke up and grabbed a few props out of the yard and went and snapped a few pics for his 9 month pictures!  I had been planning on hiring someone to do them but Chad talked me out of that.  I'm glad he did.  I LOVE the way these turned out!  

Our little guy is a natural in front of the camera.  He was so much fun to photograph.  We took his 9 month pictures and then changed him into his Halloween outfit.  After that we stripped him down to his diaper and stuck him in a pumpkin that Chad had carved just for the occasion.  He wasn't too sure about it but was a pretty good sport until the end.  I have to admit, it was pretty cruel to stick our nearly naked baby into a cold, wet, stinky pumpkin in the cool fall afternoon but I couldn't be more happy with how the pictures turned out.  

We have the most handsome little guy around and we love him to the moon and back and back again!

Halloween Party!

Tonight we had a little Kay family Halloween party!  It was Rachelle's idea and with the help of all of us it turned out so much fun!  We had yummy taco soup and rolls for dinner.  There were cupcakes, cookies and even pumpkin pie (the pie was to celebrate Hagen's 7th birthday).  

Chad, Tyke and I showed up early and started raking up leaves.  There were tons and the kids, and Grandpa Terry, thought they were piled up for them.  The kids helped rake, pile them up, jump in them and then we loaded them up on a tarp for Grandpa Terry and Chad to haul off.

While we were waiting for everyone to show up we spotted a small herd of deer.  It just so happened that today was the last day of the 2013 deer hunt and Tiffany had a tag to fill.  We spotted a small buck and she got set up, on the back porch, and shot it!  The kids were so excited for her, they jumped up and down and scrame.  Tyke just looked at me with a confused face as if to ask what the heck was going on.  Grandma Cheryl watched Tyke so that I could hike out to the deer with Grandpa Terry, Chad, Dave & Tiffany.  It was a small buck but Tiff and Dave were excited.

After we got back to the house the kids played a few games that Rachelle had put together.  They bowled over a stack of toilet paper rolls with a pumpkin and played a "ring toss" game with some pumpkin buckets.  After each kid had their turn it was time for dinner.  Everyone had shown up except for Stephanie and Seth because they were still hunting.  We all ate and ate and ate.  The food was yummy!  After eating and visiting we started carving pumpkins.  I'm not sure Grandma Cheryl had planned on us carving pumpkins in her kitchen but by the time we got around to it it was too dark and cold outside to play.  The kids really got into it and had a good time choosing their designs and helping carve.  They were proud of their handy work.  While we played inside the guys played outside taking care of Tiffany's deer.

Tyke was so good the entire night.  I think he got a little overwhelmed with all of the commotion of so many people.  It was a mad house full of squealing happy kiddos.  We had the World Series game playing, pumpkins being carved, and little boys (Bowdee, Mac and Treyson) running around with cookies and cupcakes in hand.  Tyke and I tried our best to stay out of the way and just watched our surroundings.  It was a fun night and we hope to make this an annual family tradition!

Discipline, Yeah Right!

And so it begins.  Our boy is out of control!  He does whatever he wants and for the most part gets away with it.  Tonight he was pulling himself up to the entertainment center to play with the surround sound system, like he's done before.  We always get after him and we almost always smack his little hands or bum but it never works.  Tonight Chad smacked his bum and very seriously told him no!  He looked at him and smiled and turned back to getting himself in trouble.  Chad kept getting after him and patting his bottom and Tyke kept smiling and going about his business.  Finally Chad got his attention with a loud "NO!" and another smack to bum.  Tyke looked at him, sat down and crawled over to me whining, "mama, mama, mama!" the entire way.  He wasn't upset, he wasn't crying, he was tattling on his Pa!  I picked him up, not to love him better because we all know that that does no good when trying to teach a lesson...  I picked him up and sat him on lap.  Tyke turned and looked at his Daddy, smiled a guilty grin and waved at him like "haha".  Little stinker!  I tried to explain to him why he can't climb up against the entertainment center and play with our toys.  It's for his own safety.  His response?  He wiggled his way off of my lap and played with his toys.  We have our work cut out for us for sure!

Lil Sleeper

Believe it or not this boy is out!  He fell asleep in his high chair while eating his dinner.  He kept talking, whining, stuffing cheetos snacks in his mouth and eating his baby food all while sleeping and trying to not drop his head.  It was so funny to watch!  This is the second time he has done so.  These days our little guy is so busy, crawling and walking (in his walker) everywhere that he wears himself right out!  As exhausted as he is he still isn't sleeping through the night though, sigh!  We love our funny little guy!

Good Entertainment

Today our little guy finally managed to pull himself up to the couch!  I watched him do it but it took a few seconds to sink in that he was actually standing up by himself!  He stood there for about a minute, really well, which surprised me because he's always so wobbly and too active to be still.  He eventually slowly sat himself down and went after his toys.  I was impressed with that too, no falling down for our little guy.  He has stood up against the couch about four times now today and he even tried walking while holding on.  He made it about 3 steps and then lunged for me.  I can't believe it!

He's also doing really well with his walker now.  He still goes in reverse better but he can actually move forward if he wants to.  He is gaining more and more control over his new toy.  Chad and I had a good laugh this afternoon when we heard him coming our way.  We had left him in the kitchen and we were sitting in the living room, just to see how long it would take him to notice we were missing.  He was practically running and zoomed right past us before stopping to look at us to see what was so funny.

Tyke has "pat a cake" down really good now.  He and Chad played it for probably a good hour.  Another game they were playing was a hunting game on Chad's iPhone.  Chad and Tyke were both lying on their bellies watching the screen.  Tyke gets right in on the action and his head was practically blocking Chad's view.  They watched the screen really close looking for animals.  Every time Chad would "shoot" one Tyke would curl up giggling and then get serious again and watch for the next animal.  Cutest thing ever!!!

Tyke is seriously the best entertainment we've ever had!

Oh Boy!

We have a crawler!!!  Tyke has been army crawling for weeks now but as of yesterday (10/19/13) he is officially crawling on his hands and knees!  Yay!!!  He thinks he's so cool, and so do we, moving around the house so quickly now.  Our boy is mobile and a snoop which equals one big handful!  He still mostly sticks to the living room (for now) but it's fun to have him follow us down the hallway and into bedrooms.  And I love it when he shows up in the kitchen while we're cooking!  Poor little guy slipped on the slick tile last night and landed right on his face.  He cried for a minute and then went back for more.  He's tough, brave and fearless and we love this new stage in life!  Way to go Tyke!

9 Month Well Check

Yesterday Tyke had his 9 month well check with Dr. Fullmer.  Our appointment was at 3:00 pm and we had a really good visit with Dr. Fullmer.  We were given a survey to fill out on milestones Tyke has done or hasn't done.  When Dr. Fullmer went over it with us he informed us it was in fact a 10 month survey and that Tyke is doing awesome with his motor skills, problem solving and communication.  We're proud as can be! 

The nurse took all of Tyke's measurements and we're happy to say our little guy is growing perfectly!

Tyke's 9 month stats:

Weight: 19 pounds 4 ounces (45%)

Height: 29.8 inches (95%)

Head: 18.7 inches (98%)

Dr. Fullmer checked Tyke over and Tyke was none too happy about it this time.  He usually does so good but he kept looking at his doctor like it was the first time he had seen him and then he would try to dive into his Daddy's arms for safety.  He kept a concerned look on his face the entire time he and the doctor studied each other.  We also had a hard time wrestling Tyke to get his measurement and his check up.  He was not his usual cheery self and I think that that was because he was hungry.   

We discussed food allergies with the doctor.  We told him about Tyke's break out after eating food with spinach in it.  He said that was normal and that with that allergy he would probably grow out of it by 3 or 4 years of age.  We also talked about introducing big people food to our little guy.  He told us we could as soon as we were ready to be done with baby food because once Tyke tastes the good stuff he won't go back to baby food.  I think we'll probably ease into that one.  While we were discussing what he could and couldn't have we decided that there's no need to wait to introduce Tyke to wheat.  It made me feel better about things but I'm still so nervous that our little guy is going to have celiac like his momma.  Dr. Fullmer told us to slowly introduce and to give it about 2 weeks.  He told us signs to watch for: gassy, bloated stomach, diarrhea, etc.  Sounds fun right?  (After leaving the doctors office we made a stop at Walmart for a few groceries and Chad gave Tyke his first bites of food with wheat in them: popcorn chicken!  Tyke did really well to chew it up good before swallowing.  He did gag a little bit but I'm sure it was just because it's probably the driest food he's had so far and we had no drink to wash it down.  Back to the doctors visit...)  Dr. Fullmer assured us that Tyke is growing right on track.  He's perfect in every way!  There are no signs of teeth coming in (which is weird to us because we were sure of it!).  His hips are perfect.  His heart and lungs sound perfect.  His ears are perfect.  He's just perfect!!! 

Tyke didn't need any immunizations this time and we had happily told him so before the visit that this one would be a painless visit.  Unfortunately for him we were given the choice of Tyke having a flu shot and we decided to go for it.  We have to take Tyke back in a month for a second flu shot, the booster shot, and we're not really looking forward to that.  Tyke got super mad when he got poked in the leg and it took a few seconds to calm him down.  Poor guy!

We're so proud of Tyke and all of his accomplishments so far.  He's growing like a weed but he's healthy and happy and so are we!  Love you buddy!