Understanding Me, ATV ride, Helping & Hiding

15 Months & 3 Weeks

On Friday, we had a leisurely day at home, best that I can remember.  One thing that was awesome is that I am completely sure now that Tyson can understand me!  I was putting my make-up on in the bathroom and Ty came in, trying to pull all the things out of the drawers (which I had just finished picking up).  So I told him, "Tyson, go play with your books!"  He walked out of the bathroom, went into his room, picked up two books and brought them to me! (=  I mean, we need to work on the actual verb "play with them" instead of handing them to me, but he definitely knew what I meant!  It's so exciting, I can't tell you!  One big thing that I did was set up Tyson's bookcase in the afternoon, not that I could fit all his books in it, but the majority of them (for now).  Mom had given me the bookcase for Christmas, so last week I worked on painting it.  I had to do it at about 10 PM for two nights to get both coats on.  No way that I could paint with Tyson the Tornado around!  So it was great to get the bookcase up!  I had Heath screw it into the wall, because Tyson would have pulled that thing down on him in two seconds flat.  Of course, as soon as I was putting the books in, I realized with horror that Ty would have a blast pulling the books out continuously.  He's done it a bit, but not as much as I had intially feared.  Shannon & Fin came over in the afternoon to visit and then Heath and Sean got home and we had Friday night dinner.  Mom was under the weather, but Dad was supposed to come, but he got called in and couldn't come.  Oh, I forgot to mention, Tyson took his first ATV ride!!!! Heath was getting ready for his big ice-fishing derby and took Tyson around the house on the ATV about 4 or 5 times!  He didn't show too much expression, but he cried when Heath stopped it!  So he must of liked it!

First ATV ride

On Sabbath, Heath left at 4 AM for ice-fishing.  Ty and I went to Laconia church with Shannon, Sean, and Finley.  We made Sabbath school!  Ty, was a bit stand-offish at first, but then he warmed up at the end!  It was a good turn out - with 3 boys about Ty's age and 2 older boys.  Finley was the only gal!  Church was a bit of a handful with Ty.  He just can not sit still to save his life.  I brought a whole bag of toys this time, but he just wanted to run around.  The only thing that saved me was that they hand out a dixie cup full of goldfish for the kids at the end of Sabbath school.  I gave him one at a time, slowly, and it lasted the whole church!  I really do need to start bringing snacks, because that would definitely keep him quiet.  Ty is not much of a snacker at all (at least not yet), but church is definitely a time that I could bring out the snacks!  After church, I had a sinking feeling when I couldn't find my keys.  Well, this happens all the time, so I didn't necessarily panic, but we figured out that I had locked my keys in the car.  I was so mad!  I do the same, exact routine every time I am getting Ty out of his car seat.  I have the keys in my hand, I open Ty's door, push the automatic lock on my keys, put them in my pocket, and work on getting Ty out of his car seat.  Well, I was wearing a different coat than I usually wear and the pockets are very shallow.  The keys fell out of my pocket, just beside the car seat, and I didn't even know it.  So poor Shannon & Sean went to my house, grabbed the dreaded VALET KEY that I had such a horrible time with last week, and Shannon brought it back.  Sean was nice enough to get lunch going while this was all going on.  So I had to keep Ty occupied for another 30 minutes at church.  Of course, the valet key set off the alarm again, but I just grabbed my regular keys when I got the door open.  It was fine and I told Shannon that she saved me two times this past week with key-related issues!  Well, we had a nice lunch with the Frosts and Ty ate well.  Unfortunately, because of locking my keys in my car, and Ty's nap, and eating... we didn't have enough daylight to go visit Heath on the ice.  I was almost relieved because I have a major phobia about falling through the ice - and since it's been so warm...there is not a lot of ice out there.  I really didn't want to take any chances with the Ty Guy.  On Saturday night, I hosted a small "Breaking Dawn" party.  The latest Twilight movie came out on DVD on Saturday.  Heath made it off the ice, the Frosts were still here, and Mom and Dad came over.  Dad enjoys the movies (a bit), and Mom has seen every single one of them, but puts up a stink every time.  She made a point of saying that she wouldn't be watching the movie, but she would read a book.  Well, we had haystacks and then Tyson started going beserk!  He has decided that he loves to sleep in the dog bed.  He went over to the dogs (laying in the dog bed on the floor), pushed them out of their bed, and laid in it himself!!!!  He was a crazy kid, very, very hyper!  He was so cute.  But we couldn't hear anything of the movie... so we had to take a time-out and I put him to sleep (it was his bedtime anyway).  By the time we were starting the movie over, Shannon said, "I can't stay awake.  It's too late for me."  The Frosts headed home and Heath headed to bed himself, since he had been up at 3 AM and was exhausted.  That left Mom & Dad & I.  Dad fell asleep towards the end, so the only 2 people left were my mom and I.  And she was totally into it, as usual.  She will deny it, but she was!  So funny.

Heath's ice-fishing spot

Not a great shot of him in the bed, but you get the idea

On Sunday, Heath headed back to the ice at 4 AM.  Ty and I had the whole day to get out on the ice, but it was all of a sudden frigidly cold.  It was only in the teens and the wind was crazy.  I talked with Heath and he said that it was way too cold for Ty to come out.  So we stayed away, again.  Shannon & Fin came over at lunchtime to finish Breaking Dawn, so I watched it for the 2nd time.  Not complaining at all!  Then Ty and I braved the cold to go out to the pharmacies.  Not great deals to be had, my highlight was getting 5 cans of Campbell's tomato soup for $0.39 each!  While we were out shopping, Heath called and he came home early because of no fish and the freezing weather.  We got Thai take-out, which Ty usually loves.  For some reason, he just didn't feel like it.  He started helping me wipe up his highchair tabletop after he’s done eating!  And then he must have gotten jealous of Finley, for some reason.  I had her bouncer out that she always sits in, and he climbed right in!  One of the times, he stood up in the bouncer and then the other time he tried to lay down on it!  On Sunday night, Heath wanted to watch Breaking Dawn, so I watched it for the 3rd time that weekend.  I don't get tired of it!

So excited that Mama changed the batteries in his remote control car

Having to take a rest while playing so hard

On Monday, Ty and I got ready early in the morning and headed thrift storing with my mother, sister, and Fin.  Unfortunately, we did not realize that the thrift stores in our area are all closed on Monday!  What a let down.  Well, Goodwill is open, so we hit that.  Then we thought that this one consignment shop was open, so we pulled into the parking lot.  Shannon went and looked at the sign.  That's when the owner opened the door and told Shannon that she was closed, she was going through new items she had received, but that if we didn't mind the mess... we could come in!  She's so nice, we talk to her every time we go there.  So we went in and got quite a few things.  Ty is in desperate need of new pajamas.  I hardly have any 12-18 month pj's for him, but I scored and got about 5 of them!  I was so excited.  For some reason, Ty fought going to sleep during his usual nap-time, but fell asleep going home in the last 10 minutes.  Thank goodness he transfers to his crib well!  After his nap and eating lunch, we headed back out and went grocery shopping.  When we got home, Ty was so helpful!  He has always been interested in peering through all the grocery bags, but this was the first time that he actually picked up the items and handed them to me!  He was so cute!  He would hand something to me, I would put it away... and then he would hand the next thing to me!  What a big boy!  On Monday night, Heath and I went out a day early for Valentine's Day!  Yeah!  Date night!  Ty had a great night with Noni & Poppy and was taken to the OG with them.  They said he was very well behaved.  He went right to sleep for Noni, so that was good.  Heath & I watched "The Vow" and we thought it was excellent.  Then we headed to Chili's for supper.  It was a nice time out.  I keep  saying that we should do this once a month, but it never happens!

Having a "Lady & The Tramp" moment with a cookie we got at the grocery store

On Tuesday, it was Valentine's Day!  But it was also laundry day!  Ty continued his helpful ways and handed me the dirty clothes as I was loading the washing machine.  What a guy.  One thing he really started doing is just so cute.  He definitely thinks that “as long as I don’t see them, they can’t see me!”  I will be chasing Ty, when he thinks he’s hiding from me… and he will run into a corner and stand with his back to me and he has no idea I can see him!  He will do the same thing to the puppies too!  Tuesday morning, Mom came over for a quick visit.  She was baby-sitting Finley, since Shannon was working.   Then Ty and I ran and did some errands.  I had a horrible time that day with what I thought was allergies, but I found out later it wasn’t the case. 

It's hard to read but Heath wrote me a Valentine's Day message on our mirror 
(very romantic)

Happy to see Fin for her quick visit

Smiling at Noni

This is what he does over the course of the day

Can you see all the pens all over the floor?

On Wednesday I worked and Mom had some funny stories for me about Ty.  First of all, he stepped it up with teasing Snickers with her favorite toy.  He ran into the kitchen with the toy and he hid it on Snickers!  He stuffed it between the fridge and the wall!  What a smarty.  Another thing he started doing was clapping his hands when my Mom asked him too.  He’s just doing new things everyday!  So…I went to the dumpster for the first time in a month and my nightmare came true.  I cleaned house and got 25 inserts.  But then I was trying to get out, when I heard a car driving by.  I waited, but then the car slowed down, and PULLED INTO MY PARKING LOT!!!  AND…IT WAS A COP!!!  So I knew that my time had come that I would have to tell why the heck I was in a dumpster.  I figured that I should be pro-active and get out of the dumpster and tell him that I was looking for coupons, but I decided to stay put until he called me out.  There was no way he could miss me with my car parked right by the dumpster and my white step-stool right there, too.  Well, he made a big loop in the parking lot, slowed down by my car, and then just drove away!!!!  I was afraid he was going for back-up, so I basically threw myself out of the dumpster (getting a couple more bruises) and got the heck out of dodge.  One of my scariest nights.  My heart was pounding so hard.  Now I am going to be scared to go back there!  But not THAT scared.

Couple shots of him with the puppies & Snicker's favorite toy

On Thursday I realized that my allergies were actually a cold.  I wish I had realized it sooner or I would have toned down the kissing on Tyson.  Some day for fun I am going to count how many times I kiss Ty.  I mean, it has to be in the 100’s.  So, of course, Tyson sneezed about a million times on Thursday and I knew that I had given him the cold.  Poor bugger.  He’s always sick.  It wasn’t a big surprise that he cried for 10 minutes when he went down for his nap, since he was getting sick.  But he hadn’t cried going to sleep probably in about a month!  So that was too bad.  Ty and I puttered around in the AM and then we had a visit from my Jehovah’s Witness, who had hadn’t come around in months.  We had a nice Bible study, but it was an hour and a half.  She brought up some points that I am going to study to try to prove our beliefs – so it is really good for me to do this!  Thursday night, we headed to the Mexican restaurant with my parents.  Tyson was the life of the party again and just wanted to run around to other people’s tables and say hello.  What am I going to do with this boy?

Puttering around consisted of putting a headband on Ty and showing him in the mirror

Then he proceeded to kiss himself in the mirror!!!!

He grabbed a whole chip at the Mexican restaurant - I usually just break off pieces for him!

Poppy was talking to Ty all about basketball at the restaurant

Have a great week!  Here's a couple more random pics!

Paw-Squeezing, Vacuuming, Bad Tantrums & Jailbird

15 Months & 2 Weeks

Last Friday was the start of a very, exciting weekend (at the time).  I was pretty much obsessed.  About the Super Bowl.  I had been watching NFL network non-stop… I mean hours a day (mostly between the hours of 10 PM and 2 AM, because of Ty) and I had worn a Patriots shirt every day that week.  I have about 10 of them, so it wasn’t a problem.  Ty even joined me in his Patriots attire on Friday.  We did some errands, we went back to the fabric store to get more fabric for my next project.  It’s crazy, when I start sewing again, after a long hiatus, I just want to keep going!  And it’s good too, because I have quite a few more projects to go!  Ty was a good boy and still did his usual mischief.  Playing with the dog and getting into everything!  One of my main goals for Friday was to go through Ty’s clothes and get rid of things that are too small, AGAIN!  Corey is right, they grow so fast… you are constantly doing this!  I felt like I just did it!  Ty is in 12-18 months clothes now – sometimes straight up 18 months shirts!  I had to put away his 9 month clothing for good.  Of course, all the clothes that I put into piles, Ty could not resist grabbing handfuls and throwing them down the stairs!  Double the work, but at least it kept him occupied!  Shannon had to work the weekend, so the Frosts headed up to Conway, so we were by ourselves for Friday night supper.  I just love Friday nights.  They are great.  Jesus knew that we needed the Sabbath.  And we do! 

Oh yeah, Ty really noticed the new kitchen rugs that I got... he was admiring them here!

Throwing clothes down the stairs

And some more...

Trying to have Reeses chase him

Getting into Heath's laptop bag

On Sabbath, I had to work.  Heath & Ty stayed at home, as usual.  Nothing too much to report, except Heath noted that Ty “DOES NOT STOP ALL DAY!”  I don’t know if there was a real difference in 2 weeks (since the  last weekend I worked and Heath had him full time), but it was more noticeable to Heath somehow.  Well, I had a unique opportunity that presented itself to me on Saturday night.  I had been trying to get someone to come in early for me, so I could get home to watch the Super Bowl on time (I work until 7 pm, and then have a 40 minute drive)… but it was not working out to find coverage.  Well, they had a call-out on the night shift.  The evening charge nurse asked me, if I wanted to come in at 3 AM and work 3 AM – 3 PM, instead of 7AM-7PM.  I jumped at this chance immediately!!!!  Well, first I called Heath to tell him that I would need to go directly to bed when I got home and that he would be on his own with Ty (for supper and bedtime).  So I got to bed at 8:15 PM on the dot.  I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep right away, since I’m such a night-owl, but I have been a bit sleep deprived and I went right out!

I got up at 1:15 AM on Sunday morning.  The things you do for football!  I went to work and didn’t have any problems staying awake, since I was so amped up.  I completely, whole-heartedly thought that the Pats were going to win.  I just felt it.  Too bad those feelings were completely wrong.  I headed straight home and got the house in order, for our Super Bowl party.  We had my parents, Aunt Sherrie & Uncle Kevin, Shannon, Sean, & Finley over.  I had tried to get Devin & Leigh to come, but they would have gotten home so late… and it being a school night for Mia… they weren’t able to come.  We had a feast of pizza, chips & salsa, and root beer floats.  I was so nerved up that I was barely able to eat anything.  Ty acted shy around everyone at first for some reason, but they turned into the party animal that he is.  When they lost, I think I was in shock, since I really believed they were going to win.  I talked with Corey and said that I thought that I had grown-up as a person, since I hadn’t cried when they lost.  Well, I spoke a little too soon.  I ended up seeing some of the post-conferences with Brady and Welker, and Welker was crying and I just couldn’t help but cry.  Cry for what he is going to have to burden and cry for the bitter disappointment of it all.  OK, enough of it.  I still can’t talk too much about it.  But it is getting better a week out.

I WAS SO ANXIOUS DURING THE GAME THAT I DIDN'T TAKE 1 PICTURE!!!!  

On Monday, Ty and I did our usual pharmacy and grocery store runs.  I can’t remember the deals I got, probably since I was in a post-Super Bowl-emotional-hangover.  The cherry on the top was when I went to the grocery store.  One of the clerks asked me, “Do you think your little boy would like a balloon?  We have so many from the Super Bowl that we are giving them away.”  I looked right at him and said, “Well, I don’t really want to look at the balloon all week and remember… but for my boy, I’ll do it!”  Tyson thought he had won the lottery!  You should have seen the smiles and how he gazed at it, while we were walking out of the store.  When we got home, he still loved it…. but if I batted it and it would get too near him, he would run away, like he was scared!!!  Fine line between loving and being scared, I guess!  One terrible thing happened that afternoon.  I was getting Ty’s lunch ready, when I heard a horrible sound that I had never heard coming from one of the dogs.  I ran into the family room and found Tyson pulling on one of Snicker’s legs and was squeezing her paw very hard.  Snickers was screaming.  To her credit, she did not bite him and he deserved to be bit.  I was so angry.  I spanked him (which he must not feel any pain whatsoever, since he never cries) and put him in “jail.”  Then I grabbed Snickers and loved on her, telling her how proud I was that she didn’t bite him.  I told her that he didn’t know what he was doing and that she should probably run if he comes close to her again.  I think she understood me, because she hid underneath the couch quite a bit the rest of the day.  It was just awful.

Ty's balloon

Loving to play with it

Gazing adoringly at the balloon

On Tuesday we had a busy day.  Mom, Shannon, Finley, Ty & I went shopping all day.  We went to Manchester and hit up a ton of stores and went to Chipotle for lunch.  I have to say that I am really impressed with their kid menu.  It doesn’t give out a lot of information, so I thought it was a rip-off that I was going to have to pay $3.25 for a cheese quesadilla for Ty.  But I was pleasantly surprised when it came with black beans, rice, a bag of home-made tortilla chips, and either milk or juice.  Very nice.  But what isn’t nice is that fact that Chipotle does not have a changing table in their restaurant!  I know that I have said this before, but shouldn’t it be a freaking law that every establishment has a changing table?!!!!  Is this really too much to ask for?  Ty did great in the stores.  I tried a new trick.  I have been so sick of him throwing everything that I give him in the stores to keep him occupied, on the floor.  So I brought a couple of his toys that have clips on them and I clipped them to the shopping cart!  Worked like a charm.  I’m sure other people have come up with this before, but it just came to me, so I felt a tad brilliant.  My big reason for going to Manchester was to find bathroom rugs and a hamper for our room.  I have now been to 17 stores (not joking) and have completely struck out.  I have struck out on-line too, so I’m not sure what I am going to do.  After shopping all day, we and the Frosts went to the OG for supper.  My mom headed home, since my dad was on-call.  We went out on Tuesday, because Sean had a soccer game on Thursday (he is in a league at work).  We had a nice time, but we were tired after the long day of shopping. 

Eating some lemon at the OG

On Wednesday, back to work I went and Ty had a great day with Noni.  My day was fine until I went to drive home.  Long story short, Heath had used my car keys the night before… and I couldn’t find them in the morning when I left for work.  I had grabbed the spare key for our Subaru and drove it down to work with no problem.  When I went to get into my car, the key opened the door, but set off the car alarm, and would not start my car!!!!  It was all of a sudden, not recognizing the key.  I read the manual, which said it was a valet key.  You are supposed to be able to give it to a valet worker, to open your door and start your car…. But it doesn’t unlock the truck or the glove box.  So there was no reason that it wasn’t recognizing the key!!!  Our security guard tried to help me, but nothing worked.  I was so frustrated.  What was worse was I tried to get a hold of Heath, since I knew he would know how to fix it… but I couldn’t get him on his cell phone.  I knew exactly what had happened… he was in the basement working on a project and left his phone upstairs.  Well, I kept trying to call him for an hour.  I ended up calling Shannon to see if Sean had any ideas, but he was already asleep, so bless her heart, she got in her car and drove to my house to tell Heath to call me.  I’ll be forever grateful to her for that.  Of course, within about 10 minutes… Heath had the key working again and I was on my way.  But I was so frustrated and tired.  What an ordeal.  And another week of not going to the dumpster.

Having a blast pushing our bar stool all over the kitchen

Grinning at one of the dogs

On Thursday, Ty and I spent the entire day cleaning the house.  He is just so cute!  He loves the vacuum so much and even grabbed it himself and pushed it forward, like he was actually vacuuming!  One time, though, I was pushing it along – and then I reached back and pulled the canister to me – not knowing that Tyson was holding onto the cord – and I pulled Tyson right to the ground!  Poor thing, but he didn’t even cry!  He’s such a good sport.  But some negative things happened too, during the day.  He grabbed Reeses’ leg, just like he had with Snickers… thank goodness I was right there and caught him immediately, before he could hurt her… but I was so mad that he did it again!  Back to jail he went!  He is also starting to have major temper tantrums.  Ridiculous ones.  During lunch, he set his sights on the remote control to the Ipod player… and wanted to hold it.  Well, he was feeding himself pasta and had sauce all over his hands.  I wasn’t about to have him get the remote all dirty… well, he lost his cool completely.  So much so, that he refused to eat anymore.  It was crazy.  And sometimes, if I tell him, “No” and physically remove him from something… he goes all stiff in my arms, kicks his legs furiously, and screams.  I mean, he is 15 months old.  How does it get worse than this?  On Thursday night, I was getting supper ready, and Heath had left his tupperware that he had brought to work on an end table.  Ty grabbed it, had opened the cover, and was putting his hands all through the dirty tupperware (with spaghetti sauce) and getting it on himself and the carpet.  So I tell him, “No” and took the tupperware away.  Well, he got so angry and reached over me and grabbed the tupperware right back out of my hands!!!  Oh… you could have seen the steam coming out of my ears! I told him, “No, you didn’t just do that!”  Back to jail he went AGAIN.  He is going to be frequenting that place, I’m afraid.

Helping Mama with the vacuuming

After one of his temper tantrums in his high chair

Well, have a great week!

Busy Week: Light Switches, Nose-Pinching, Dog-Torturing, Stair-Throwing, "Dennis The Menace", Trampoline-Climbing, & Dishwasher-Pulling

15 Month & 1 Week

Last Friday was pajama day again!!!  I spent the majority of the day sewing and Tyson played hard.  When I say that, I'm not joking.  The kid does NOT stop.  He constantly is doing something, getting into something...he is so funny to watch.  Thank goodness he does well at entertaining himself now.  A couple of new things that he is doing are turning on and off the lights before naps and bedtime (while I am holding him, of course) and he has seemed to have found his nose.  He walks around, pinching it – like something stinks!  And I think he is trying to pick it sometimes!  Another new thing is that he is getting more interested in feeding himself with a spoon.  Of course that causes a major mess, but I’m trying to have him practice.  Another thing he loves to do is throw whatever he can get his hands on down the stairs!!  This could be candles, books, and clothes.  He is a crazy kid!!  Well, on that Friday, we were going to go to the Edwards that night, but it had been freezing rain all day... and I just didn't want to get out of my jammies!  Actually, I am seriously sick of leaving every weekend and packing everything up.  I just want to stay home for awhile.  So we stayed home and actually Adam came to spend the night again, since the roads weren't great.  We had a good get together with Shannon, Sean & Finley coming over too.  I made a Thai coconut milk soup with tofu.  Everyone seemed to like it a lot, especially Ty!  I was psyched!  Any type of soup he seems to love.  It's great, but I know it's because it is smooth without much texture!!!

Ty's handiwork

On Sabbath morning, we went to Laconia church with Adam.  We hadn't been there in forever and it was good to see Matt & Jill Harlow.  I just like a small church - guess it makes me feel like my home church.  We were rushed to get out of the house (what is new) and I forgot the diaper bag.  Not a big deal on the diaper front, since Ty just had a big poop before we left the house.  But what was a big deal is that we didn't have any toys for Ty during church.  Not a great thing.  Now, I must say that he does not play with many toys for long and pretty much just wants our cell phones and keys.  But you just run out of things faster.  But the pastor's wife (who we were sitting with) took pity on us and found us some books and a puzzle.  Of course that makes me feel like a terrible mother, since I was unprepared.  But what do you do?  After church, we rushed home, packed a sack lunch, loaded up the ATV's and headed to the Edwards' house.  We were delivering Keith's ATV to him.  When we got to the Edwards, the boys went ATVing and Ty and I chilled at the house.  Ty is always happy to see his box of toys at Grammy's house, so that kept him busy.  Sonia got back from a memorial service late in the afternoon.  You should have seen Tyson when she came through the door!  It was so so cute!  Biggest smiles and he does this little excited, hyperventilating giggle!  It is to die for.  He also waved at Grampy when he saw him for the first time, through the window!  Grampy was very happy to see that!  Unfortunately, when they started up the ATV's, Tyson freaked out a little bit and ran over to me with his arms out for a hug!  He's still scared of it!  In the evening, we went out to dinner and tried a new restaurant.  It was OK.  We didn't love it and we didn't hate it.  Tyson got a kid's pizza and nearly ate the entire thing!  It was pretty big too!  He was a big hit, as usual, at the restaurant.  Everyone was oohing and aahing over him.  I have to agree that he is the cutest kid ever.  We headed home after the restaurant and got home at about 10:30 PM.

H really almost ate this entire pizza!  

On Sunday we did projects around the house.  Of course I was still doing my sewing and then Ty & I went to the pharmacies, the grocery store, and Kohl's.  I got a new shower curtain for my upstairs bathroom - so I was very excited about it.  I didn't get much at the pharmacies... but I did score 6 Ragu spaghetti sauces for $.75 each!  Whoo hoo!  I was almost out in my stockpile too!  Then at Hannaford, they had a bunch of bottles of Martinelli's sparkling drink for $0.75 each also!  I think they had way too much over the holidays and had it on clearance.  They were all sparkling apple grape drink.  We had never had it before.  But I took a chance and got 8 bottles of it.  I should have cleaned it out, because it is really good!  Ty was very good during this shopping trip, amazingly so.  But it wasn't like 2 weeks ago when he slept for almost 3 hours!

Very excited about going through all the grocery bags

Ty & Reeses both checking out the goods

Ty desperately trying to grab some food through the child-proof lock - and was very distressed about it!  

On Monday, I had to work.  Someone needed to switch with me at work. I worked 10a-10p and Shannon had double duty with both the kids, since my Mom and Dad were on their vacation out west.  Everything went fine, but Shannon did say, "Alison, Tyson is Dennis the Menace.  He is always getting into mischief!"  And that is a fitting nickname for him, let me tell you.  He has graduated in his games with the dogs to pulling them off the couch while they are still in their bed!  He is kind of torturing them - his version of petting them is pretty spastic hitting.  I've got to keep my eye on all of them at all times!  Anyways, I missed the dumpster for the 3rd week in a row because I had to get right home and get to sleep... because Finley Mae was being dropped off at my house at 6:30 AM!!!

Dennis the Menace in action - putting two balls in my shoe

Tyson pulled the dog's bed off the couch, and dragged it into the kitchen.  He is very impressed with himself!

Tuesday was my D-day.  It was my turn for my double duty kids day with Ty and Fin.  I was kind of worried of how it would go, but it went great!  I can officially say that I am ready for 2 kids now!  I can do it!  Of course I didn't get much done, but Ty and I both got dressed, which was better than I expected. I thought we were just going to hang in our pajamas, but Finley Mae was much better behaved than my last baby-sitting fiasco.  We got into a good routine - thank goodness Finley & Tyson's eating schedule was off-set just enough!  Tyson is getting down-right angry now if he is overdue to eat.  Speaking of eating, I was giving Finley her bottle and Tyson thought that it was his (we have the same breast pump with the same bottles).  I told him, "This is Finley's.  Go get your Nubby."  So he walked right to the middle of the room, grabbed his sippy cup, and brought it to me.  I think that is the first time that I felt that he actually understood me and did what I asked!!!!  Very exciting.  Tyson was trying to be a bit too helpful with Finley, though... helping her put her binky back in her mouth... but was using a bit too much force!  At least it's better than him stealing the binky and putting it in his own mouth! Well, Sean got home at about 5:45 PM and then Finley started her really fussy time.  So that was too bad.  Sean & Fin stayed for supper, then headed home to meet Shannon.  Heath was trying to work on a few things, so I gave Ty his bath.  Heath is always the one who gives Ty his bath usually, while I clean up the kitchen.  Tyson is so stinking cute in the tub.  So it is good for me to do it every once in awhile.  But he loves to stand up now in the tub - which he did and then proceeded to pee a gallon in the tub!  Fun times.

Double duty!

I got some great shots of Fin - while Tyson was sleeping

He stole my napkin, ripped it up into pieces, and then put them through the holes on this toy

It was nice to be home on a Wednesday for a change.  I tried my last fruit with Tyson for awhile.  He just would not eat strawberries.  I would get a piece in his mouth and he would immediately spit it out.  I'm taking a break for awhile.  I'm still giving him his baby food fruit, but it's just ridiculous.  He's a big boy now.  So let's see... Wednesday was my big laundry day.  Shannon & Finley came over for a visit in the afternoon, which was nice and then Ty & I did some errands later in the afternoon.  Tyson did a bunch of new things on this day.  First of all, he has figured out how to climb onto his trampoline and he has been jumping!  It is so cute, but then he tries to get onto the couch from the trampoline and I think he's going to fall.  Also, I'm afraid he's going to pull the bookcase full of movies onto himself, so I've asked Heath to bolt it to the wall.  Then, he pulled the bottom part of the dishwasher onto himself!  I had just told him not to grab at the dishes, when he grabbed the whole thing and pulled.  So he fell onto his back, with the whole thing falling on top of him - dishes flying everywhere!  It was quite a scene.  He wasn't hurt at all, but it scared him.  Let's see if it scares him away from the dishwasher completely.  But I doubt it.

Getting off the trampoline

On Thursday I was in a major push to get Acadia's quilt done.  I think I've been working on it 3 weeks and it finally got done!  It's so nice to finish something!  I don't want to post a picture until I send it to Shawn & Camille - which I'm going to have to wait to do since they are going to New Zealand on Monday!!!!  Shawn got asked to speak last minute at a conference - super exciting for them!  So on Thursday, Mom & Dad got back from their trip and they joined us out at the mexican restaurant.  Tyson ate well, but we had to hold his arms down and force-feed him a bite of my enchiladas first!  It's so annoying.  People must think we are torturing him - but as soon as we give him a taste - he goes right to town!  He's a little funny that way.  We hit up Lowe's and Walmart after that.  I got some new rugs for the kitchen at Lowe's which I had been looking awhile for.  Tyson did a good job in the stores.  Somehow he seems to be better for Daddy than Mama.  Hmmm.

If you look super closely, you will see that Tyson is wearing a sash from fabric I was working on!  He loves to touch everything!

Have a great week!