I just had (well, a few weeks ago) one of the best Spring Breaks ever. I got to spend TEN days in a row with Tyler. And Eric took some days off too, giving us some excellent quality time.
We went to Vail for two nights and saw lots of friends.
Tyler loves Melissa, especially when we can hang out on the sunny deck at Garfs.
We went to Basalt for two nights for the First Annual Babyfest.
Weston, Tyler, Burke, & HadleySo much pretty.You can always tell a Euchre deck…Floods, Holles, Taylors in downtown Basalt.
And best of all, Nana & Grandpa drove in from Ohio to spend the week with us Tyler! We dined out at Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar on the rooftop deck–the Colorado sunshine was a welcome change from a Cleveland winter and the burgers were OUTSTANDING.
Awake with Grandpa.Asleep with Grandpa.
We visited brewery numbers 31 and 32 for Tyler (Finkel & Garf and Sanitas).
Cool little dude.
We golfed, shopped, walked, and took Tyler to the park. We finally tried the raved-about Pizzeria Locale (delicious).
Lilly gets jealous and sits on benches.
We celebrated Easter.
Spring is finally here!Hadley-bunny.Egg-stra cute, indeed.One of my all-time fave photos of my babies.
And we got very used to having two nannies available to tend to Tyler’s every move all week long! Tyler says he loves his Nana & Grandpa very much and can’t wait to see them again!
Growing by leaps and bounds: personality. Not growing by leaps and bounds: gross motor skills. Tyler is happy (ecstatic!) about life from the living room floor. This kid makes virtually no attempts to crawl although he loves to stand with Daddy. In his crib we find him exactly as we left him. No evidence of rolling around or attempted escapes, although he does love to flop around wearing his sleep sack like a fish out of water.
Here are a few charming moments from this week:
Falling asleep watching golf on TV. But it’s the Masters!Monday morning yawns.I sure do love putting my finger in this little hole.Yup. It fits perfectly. And it makes my Beef and Chickpeas taste better.I STILL love my pink bathtub on the kitchen counter.
sleep for more than 4 hours at a time, fingers crossed and hold your breath
As far as eating, Tyler fought us on the homemade baby food scene. He would tolerate it in his mouth but didn’t seem to be swallowing much of anything. So we decided to skip baby food and give him tiny bits of food. Still not much swallowing (the proof is in the pudding diaper). So last week we went against our Boulder County brainwashing and bought some baby food. Jars and pouches. Organic and non-organic. Premium and store brand. And he LOVES THEM ALL. He loves them most when Nana or Miss Val at daycare feeds him. And he still loves to nurse. He officially weighed 16.8 lbs last Tuesday, but I think he’s gained another two pounds in the last week. And to everyone who said he’d sleep through the night when he began eating more…you were either saying that to placate me or you’re just a liar.
These are some of the cutest “basket photos” we’ve taken so far. So there’s quite a few, just to warn you. Eight months–we can hardly believe it! Hoppy Easter!
Now that the evenings are getting longer, the daffodils are pushing up, and we are on the brink of Spring Break…here’s a long post about Tyler’s first holiday season. In case you were missing all things red velour.
Fourth Annual Happy Holledays Party! Thanks to a hand-me-down bag for Tyler’s awesome Ugly Jumpsuit with Matching Hat.Because the party was on December 6th, our tree was pretty sad by the time actual Christmas rolled around. Here are our gifts in front of the undecorated, half-lighted, dying pile of needles.
We traveled to Nana & Grandpa’s house in Ohio, where my brother David, his wife Heidi, and their two sweet boys met us from Chicago. Talk about a full house…but we had a blast! Here are the grandkids attempting to fulfill Nana’s dream of a holiday photo of her three boys. Lots of credit is now given to the kind people at portrait studios who can actually make babies and toddlers cooperate/sit up/look at the camera.
Judd (3 mos), Everett (28 mos), & Tyler (4 mos)
We opened gifts on Christmas morning in front of the impeccably decorated tree. Nana & Grandpa went overboard for their grandbabies, as was to be expected.
Tyler’s new school bus.Everett’s new weed wacker…he thought this was hysterical.
We enjoyed hanging out at home and gorging on treats and Great Lakes brews. We also got out and about, including a snow-less, muddy field trip to the Metroparks.
Eric and I get cabin fever pretty quickly, so we made an excursion down to Huntington Beach on a gloriously sunny day.
Cleveland skyline in the distance.Daddy’s gift to Tyler is his matching cool CO hat (with ears!)Beer on tap at THE GROCERY STORE? What is this place, heaven?! No…just Heinen’s.
Tyler also got to see his twin buddies, Audrey & Brody.
And no trip to Ohio is complete without breakfast at Bob Evans!
I still love sugar for breakfast…that didn’t go away post-pregnancy!
But the best part of being in Ohio for Christmas was spending time with family. Tyler and Judd are a mere 5 weeks apart in age…this will only get more fun as they get older!
Thanks, Nana, for the matching outfits!
Holding hands in diapers…does it get any cuter?
At age two and some change, Everett is the star of the show. He is such a fun kid–he remembers everything (the magnifying glass in Grandpa’s office!), loves books, and chats up a storm. He always uses your name when he talks to you (“Will you play with me, Aunt Amy?) AND he’s potty-trained. Everett, you’ve set the bar rather high for Tyler and Judd!
And we can’t forget dear old Macie, who will be FIFTEEN in June. She loves the boys, too.
This kid just keeps getting better. He is just so HAPPY, almost all of the time! Thanks, Nana, for the sweater unitard. It’s currently his most hansomest button-up outfit.
Incidentally, photos in front of a gas fireplace with no hearth aren’t as endearing as our wood-burning fireplace-and-brick hearth photos of my childhood.
Tyler eats rice cereal and sweet potatoes with gusto but is undecided on carrots and green beans. He is starting to sit up. No crawling yet. Our baby yogi has an excellent baby cobra as well as boat pose. Killer abs on this kid, but he remains stationary. He still prefers not to nap, and he still doesn’t sleep through the night.
Daddy taught him to clap, clap, clap. We’ll try to catch it on video!
Well, now he’s closer to seven months old, but these photos are darn cute. Also particularly nostalgic for me because of the outfit he is wearing. It is the lone outfit I purchased when I was pregnant with Tyler, and very early on, maybe in my first trimester. We knew we weren’t going to find out if the baby was a boy or a girl, so that made it easier to refrain from purchasing baby items. But I also didn’t want to get things ready for a baby because I was afraid that something might happen. Not cause-and-effect, as I knew that buying things for our baby wouldn’t actually make something (bad) happen. I wasn’t comfortable making preparations because it wasn’t easy for us to conceive and I just couldn’t get into nesting…just in case. Eric always remained positive to counteract my (very out-of-character) negativity, but it was still there.
There were many times during pregnancy I would comment that I couldn’t believe I was pregnant, or that it just didn’t feel real. Even when my belly grew, and grew, and grew….it just never felt real to me. Until our baby was born, and it was a boy…it was Tyler. THEN I was as happy and joyful and crying like crazy as a person could be.
So this little outfit, in gender-neutral aqua and navy, reminds me of how happy/scared I was when I was pregnant with Tyler. An outfit that I bought probably over a year ago for this baby we wanted to love so badly. The ONLY outfit I’ve ever purchased for him (thanks to hand-me-downs and gifts and of course Nana.)
I can’t believe it finally fits.
He fell over on his own. But he didn’t cry, so we took a picture. He’s even giving us a thumbs up if you look closely.
This photo is from November when Tyler was 3 1/2 months old. Mom and Dad were visiting us in Colorado. Eric just discovered a whole batch of pictures taken during their visit!
We went to Tyler’s well-baby checkup on Monday, and the doctor asked if he was babbling yet. Nope, we said, he screeches and squeals and is otherwise very vocal, but no real babbling. Two days later, he’s chatting us up over rice cereal.
However, there are days when he’s not so enthused. He’s still darn cute though.
If you have friends in Colorado, and you participate in social media, then you already know it was 75 and blue skies today, February 7th. Thank goodness for that because Tyler and I spent the majority of our day frolicking in the sunshine, trying to tire ourselves out.
It is now almost 4:00. Tyler awoke at 6:45 this morning. He has not slept, not even for a minute, all day. Five mile run? Fully awake. Two more walks? A tad drowsy but not even close to sleep. Reading books? Nope. Nursing? Nada. Cry it out? Twice, twenty minutes each, with no sleep. Why doesn’t this kid nap?
Some theories:
FOMO. (fear of missing out)
He’s sick. (unlikely, perfectly happy)
He’s teething. (maybe?)
He loves me so much he can’t stand to sleep and miss me for one second.
He hates me.
Now that he’s six months old, he’s given up his twice-daily 20 minute naps.
I’m pretending to doze off, but I’m just kidding.
He’s currently right beside me, playing with a toy, and laughing.
