Hi-Ho Cherry-O

I've been waiting for Tyler to be old enough to play games with and he finally IS!
A few weeks ago, we played Candy Land the way its meant to be played and got through a full two or three games before he got tired of it. Today I taught him how to play Hi-Ho Cherry-O and he caught on so fast. I was amazed. We played a few games of that in which he won every game. He has hard time with the spinner and it always seemed to end up on 4 cherries where mine always ended up on me putting back cherries. I got mad and said I wasn't going to play anymore...just kidding, what kind of role model would that be?
We also bought him a game for Christmas called Animal Scramble and that is actually a fun one. It has different levels of play and you can play hide and seek with it which is our favorite. That boy is actually pretty good at hiding those animals so they are hard to find.

On Thursday, Kari invited me to attend a seminar on saving money on groceries using coupons. I have to admit that I didn't think it would be that good. That anything the presented would be too time consuming for me to pursue. I went because I wanted to spend time with my good friend, Kari, but I ended up getting a lot more in the bargain. I cannot wait to try this system out. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Tyler and Deacon

I love watching these two play. As Deacon gets older, they play together more and more. I had them both in my lap today and Deacon kept attacking Tyler. That's the best way to describe it. He would open his mouth and lean towards Tyler like he was going to bite him. Tyler thought it was hiliarous and would gently push him back. I think Deke realized that we all thought it was funny because he would keep doing it and then look to see if we were laughing.

How can you not love this grin! Bathtime is a favorite around this house. Deacon just loves splashing around in the tub.

We just started feeding Deacon solids this past week. Here is with carrots all over his face. He really loved the carrots. He of course, also had to let Java have some too. After all it is important to share, right?

Did you guess that this was Tyler the first time we fed him? They really do look a lot like at least to me.

Ty hasn't been feeling well these past few days. It started Friday morning. Joel was taking the boys to daycare or "work" as Tyler likes to call it. And Tyler was upset and told Joel that he didn't want to go, he was sick. Joel didn't believe him and told him that he was not sick. This apparently really upset Tyler as he really started crying. Joel asked him what the problem was and he replied:

"Daddy says I'm not sick, and I am!"

Joel called to tell me all about this and I trusted his judgement. After all, I had seen Tyler before I left for work and he seemed fine then. I could hear crying in the background though so I had made up my mind that I would give it 30 minutes and then call. If he was still upset, I would go get him and bring him home. I know, I know I am such a sucker for the tears and it won't take him long to figure that out. So after 30 minutes I called and his teacher Jacquelien told me that she had her hand on the phone about to call me. Tyler was running a temp of 101 degrees. Needless to say I went to get him. Joel felt pretty bad about not believing him that morning. He was just curled up in Jacquelien's lap when I picked him up. He was super happy to see me though and when I got him home, he just curled up on the couch and watched some Thomas the train videos that I have for him. After the Tylenol I gave him took effect he started acting more like the Tyler I know. As soon as it would wear off though you could tell he was just miserable. I'm hoping he gets better soon.

On a happier note, Deke slept for 5 straight hours last night!! YIPPEEE! I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high that our sleep strike is over, but I was pretty ecstatic to get 5 straight hours myself. Here's hoping for more nights like that!

Can I get some Sleep?

See the happy baby in the picture above? He's not like that at 10:00 at night. By that time he is super fussy because he is soooo tired. I will never understand why babies fight sleep the way they do (especially mine!) We can't seem to do anything to make this kid happy.

We lay him down in the crib...he screams...we pick him up...he screams...we rock him...he screams...we walk with him...he...calms...down...wait....no....he screams...we take him to bed with us...he screams. Did I mention that by this time, I'm screaming too.

Not only is he screaming (which I really think I could handle at this point) he is arching his back and fighting us holding him, but if you set him down that does not make him happy either. This has been going on now for the past week. The most he'll sleep at a time is 2 hours (and get this, I'm estatic if he makes it two hours at a stretch) We are up and down all night long. And then around 3:00 in the morning when I'm ready to pull my hair out. I lay him down in the crib and he gives me the most beautiful grin. How can you not help but love a kid that can smile like that? That smile can take my breath away and remind me why I'm up at 3:00am with him. Because I love him, even if he won't let me sleep.

Maybe tonight will be better....in my dreams (wait, I have to sleep to dream)

Aquarium

Today, Joel and I took Tyler and Deacon to the Aquarium in the cities. Our good friends, the Loos' joined us. It was supposed to be the whole Loos family, but Jenna got sick. I really missed seeing her, but she'll be here this weekend. At least Mike and Kaia got to come. Tyler was so excited to see Kaia. He went and got his boots and coat on without having to be told and he was rushing us out the door this morning. He was so excited to see his good friend Kaia. He also couldn't wait to go see the Sharks. As soon as he finished his lunch, he was asking to go see the sharks. When we first arrived at the aquarium, he didn't want to look at anything but the sharks and was a bit impatient until we got there. I love watching those two play together. Kaia is such a sweetheart. After the aquarium, Mike took us to look at their new house. It is going to be super nice and I can't wait to see what Jenna will do with the place. I sat in the car with kids while Mike took Joel through it first and Kaia was so good at sharing. She found a toy and she played with it for a minute and then she passed it to Tyler. Tyler would play with it and then pass it back to her. She also tried to share with Deacon. All the bottles and stuff for Deacon, she thought was Halle's (her baby sister, who is two days younger than Deke) She would point it at and say "Halle's".
It was a great day!

True Colors

My brother used to always tease me and tell me I should have been born blonde since I'm known for doing really stupid (ditzy) things. Here's a good one for him, that I hope he gets a chance to read.
On Weds. I was supposed to go to Eau Claire for work with my boss. It was my job to get the Fastenal van and I was supposed to pick her up at 6:45 in Centerville, WI. It's freezing up here. The temps were in the negative's that morning and the van had been sitting for a while so there was probably a foot of snow on the windshield. I got there early so I could start digging the van out, but when I went to open the door it wouldn't budge. I was so mad, I was cursing at the door. I just knew that it was frozen shut and I was freezing my butt off trying to open the door. I was putting all my weight behind it, pulling and tugging and cussing the whole time. (I'm not that big of cusser, but I was cold and mad) Door wasn't opening so I went back to my nice warm car to warm up and called my boss to let her know what was going on. I then decided to try the passenger side to see if maybe it would open. No luck there either so again I went back to my warm car and sat there trying to figure out what to do. Then it dawned on me...I never UNLOCKED the van. I am such an idiot! The door wasn't frozen it was just locked. The only thing I could think of is my brother was right...I should have been born blonde.

Christmas 2008

I know, I know...I'm a bad blogger. Life's been very busy in the New Year and this was the first time I had to post these. Our Christmas was wonderful. Just the four of us and I loved it. We didn't have to worry about rushing anywhere. Tyler really loved it. He was so excited about his gifts. Deacon was just his usual happy self.
I really get a kick out of watching Tyler and Deacon interact. Tyler is always giving him hugs and kisses and telling him that he loves him. It's all I can do not to pick Tyler up and give him a squeeze. Okay, who am I kidding, I can't help myself, he's just so adorable that he's constantly getting those squeezes from me. Deacon gets those squeezes everytime he gives me his special grin which is often. All you have to do is look at Deke and he'll give you his grin and if you make a funny face, there's a good chance you'll get a giggle as well. He really is one of the happiest babies I've ever come across. Tyler is also really good at sharing his toys with Deacon. If Deke starts playing with one of his toys, he'll tell me about it and then tell me that "that's okay, Deke can play with it."