Limiting Technology, "Come See Me", Not Being Sorry & Westin's 2 Month Stats

Wes:  9 Weeks Old

Ty:  2 Years, 3 Months & 1 Week Old

2 Fridays ago, Wes started out the day by busting out of his swaddle at 5 AM and then at 6:30 AM.  He hadn’t done that in days, so I hadn’t bought a new one yet.  At least he went right back to sleep, but I think the poor bugger was cold.  I am so lucky to have children that wake up later.  Wes usually wakes up at around 7:30 AM and Tyson is anywhere from 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM.  Wes is going to sleep at about 9:30 PM and then I wake him up to nurse him one last time at around midnight or 1 AM.  He is just doing so well.  On that Friday I officially told Tyson that he was cut off from my iPhone and the iPad unless I was nursing Westin.  He had been glued to one or the other nonstop and I had had enough.  I knew it was bad when I realized that I didn’t need to spend 30-45 minutes picking up his toys before I went to bed.  He has been doing pretty well with this and hasn’t been whining about it, but I admit that I haven’t fought him very hard if he sneaks one of them while I am trying to cook supper.  Our big thing on Friday was going to the grocery store and I was so impressed with something Tyson said when we got to the car.  I had been telling him before we left, “If you are a good boy in the store, then you can have a treat when we get back in the car.”  As I was strapping him into his car seat he said, “Treat, car, boy, store!”  A little out of order, but I was so excited!  That is the first 4 word sentence he has put together before!  So proud of him!  What was very unfortunate was that Ty was so horrific in the grocery store that he didn’t get the treat after all.  He is getting really, really bad in stores.  He screams, pulls everything into the cart or on the floor, tries to stand up in the cart, and tries to reach over and grab Westin in his car seat.  He just has melt-down after melt-down.  You name it, he does it.  I don’t really know what to do at this point.  I have threatened time-outs when we get home, I have offered the treat as a reward, I have yelled, I have whispered in his ear, I have told him that everyone is looking at him…etc.etc.  Any ideas out there? 

This is becoming a weekly picture - the two of them lying down together on the Boppy

The lighting is bad - but this is Ty tucking the Glow-Worm in with Westin

Sabbath we had a busy day.  We decided last minute to go to Conway church.  We killed ourselves to get there for Sabbath School for Ty and we made it!  I fed Westin right after Sabbath School and then we made our appearance in church.  Westin really made himself known by burping twice very loudly and everyone laughed.  We went to the Edwards for lunch and my parents and Norma came too.  We had a nice lunch despite Tyson needing multiple time-outs during lunch.  I did say the time-outs were working, right?  He is really getting defiant and does not want to say that he is sorry after his time-out.  Heath said, “Are you sorry?”  And Tyson said, “No.”  Oh my.  On a positive note, the “Mama…Come…NOW” business has been nixed.  He is at least saying, “Mama…Come…Please.”  At least that is something.  And then he does the cutest things ever and you forget how frustrated you are with his bad behavior.  While we were at the Edwards, he was looking at the gerbils that Sonia has (for the school).  The gerbils had been running around but then they disappeared into one of their tubes.  Tyson got all worked up and cried, “Gerbils, come see me!”  Another 4 word phrase!  It was so cute!  Heath, Keith & Adam went ice-fishing for a few hours in the afternoon while we just relaxed and visited.  Greg, Nicole, and Joel came by in the afternoon too.  Saturday night we went out for pizza and Joel came with us.  I nursed Westin while we were waiting for the food to come and he was an angel.  Tyson was very excited about the jukebox and Heath played a few tunes for him.  Ty was dancing like mad!  We got home pretty late and I was beat from the day.  I fell asleep nursing Wes again and woke up at 3:30 AM.  I thought that I needed to nurse Wes on the side that he was on (like we started but didn’t finish)…but I was wrong.  I woke up on Sunday morning and I thought that my right boob was going to explode.  Wow.  I have never had any problems with engorgement, but that was down-right uncomfortable.

Sonia had bought them these adorable matching outfits for Xmas - I couldn't get a picture of them together...Ty would not cooperate

This is the best picture I could get of Ty. He has just discovered the joys of picking his nose!  Great.

Another cute one of Wes

On Sunday it was game day!  I was so excited about the AFC championship game and was absolutely certain that the Pats were headed back to the Superbowl.  I was sure.  I don’t know what is wrong with me, but I have been so sure of their victories in the past 2 Superbowls, as well.  I guess I can’t trust my feelings when it comes to the Patriots.  We started off our morning by making our usual breakfast.  Pineapple muffins, Prosage, “Crispy Crown” potatoes, and eggs (not for me).  I was actually cooking the breakfast (Heath was downstairs working in the basement…he usually cooks breakfast) when Westin started fussing.  He was upstairs taking a nap.  I decided to dash upstairs to put his binky back in, since Tyson was engrossed in the iPad (I know, I know…I obviously wasn’t nursing).  When I ran back down the stairs, I just about died.  Ty had immediately put the iPad down when I left the room and went over to a bowl of pineapple juice and poured almost a whole pint of half & half (that Heath had left on the counter after making a cup of coffee) in the pineapple juice bowl.  The bowl then overflowed and ran down the dishwasher and onto the bar stool and all over the hardwood floor that I had just washed.  It was such a sticky mess!  That will teach me to leave him for a second.  I should have known then what I was in for at that start of the day.  Another downer was that we had planned to get Thai food take-out for the game, but the restaurant was closed because the family that runs it went on vacation (how dare they)!  My parents and Shannon came over for the game.  My parents had been staying in Conway over the weekend and were headed back there after the game, since my Dad had Monday off too.  I gave them a pretty big guilt trip about coming over to watch the game, since I would be alone for the Superbowl (they will all be on their cruise).  See, again I was convinced the Patriots would be in the Superbowl.  So they caved and came.  Sorry for them.  What a depressing fiasco that was.  And just when I think I am over it… the Superbowl is this weekend and I keep thinking about it!  Well, the only bright spot on the night was Tyson being very cute with the lights.  For some reason, he decided that all the lights were too bright and he would cover his eyes and say, “Oh….sun!”  And he went around the room and turned off all the lamps.  Then he dragged his little chair around and stood on the chair and turned off the ceiling lights too!  I know where he gets that from!  I hate lights in my eyes!

Westin was optimistic about the Pats winning too

On Monday, I picked up the pieces of my Patriots-obsessed life and had to move on.  Ty started off the morning with a time-out when he hit me in the face, when he was upset that I had to change his diaper.  What a way to start the day.  I got hit in the gut by the Pats the night before and then Ty had to finish the job!  But then he turns around and does something really cute and sweet.  We came downstairs for breakfast and Ty points to the iPod player and says, “song.”  So I obliged him and got some tunes going.  Then he started dancing and said, “Mama…dance!”  Who could refuse him?  So after I started dancing, he decided that wasn’t good enough, and he said, “Baby…dance!” to Wes.  Very cute.  Another cute thing was Ty was playing with his train set and deliberately, aggressively knocked the train off the track (which dislodged the tracks) and then turned around and said, “Mama…Help…Please!”  Does he just want attention?  Two things that he did that I thought was smart was… first of all, he came downstairs and went right to the dishwasher and said, “Uh-oh….apple.”  He remembered the mess he made a whole 24 hours before with the pineapple juice all over the dishwasher!  He calls pineapples ‘apples’!  Then he was playing with his oversized legos downstairs when he decided that he needed go upstairs.  We got into his room and he had brought a small lego that had been mixed in with his big set downstairs.  He knew it didn’t belong and he found the small lego set and reunited the long-lost piece!  We went to the pharmacies in the afternoon and got a few things we needed (nothing free unfortunately).  Again, Ty just keeps raising the bar with the antics in the stores.  He had taken off his shoes and thrown them out of the cart in CVS, and since he was being such a pill…I completely forgot about them and left them in the cart at CVS.  I figured it out when I got to my next stop.  How frustrating!  Thank goodness no one had taken the cart back into the store and I was able to grab the shoes without getting both kids out of the car – since I left the cart right outside in the parking lot.  Needless to say, Tyson didn’t get his treat 2 of the 3 pharmacies we went to.  Hopefully this will get better.

Bath night on Monday night

He loves his baths SO much

Tuesday morning Tyson gave me a chuckle to start the day.  I was making Ty breakfast and he was going to have French toast.  He saw the French toast and said, “wapple!”  He always calls French toast and waffles “wapples.”  I tried to help him differentiate for the millioneth time the difference between the two and then I emphasized French toast very exaggeratedly.  Tyson looked at me and appeared to be concentrating SO hard to start to say, “French toast” and then, after a long pause said, “wapple!”  Some day he will get it.  I can’t remember what else we did on Tuesday, but I have to take a minute to brag about Westin.  I can’t believe what a happy, smiley boy I have.  He is just so happy.  He is such a good baby.  He has been cooing and smiling for weeks but he actually laughed!  4 times in a row…right during his diaper change before his bath.  It was so cute – I kept telling Heath to come in to hear him, but then he would stop.  I’m just so thankful to have these two special boys in my life.  (Well, technically 3 boys)  

My happy boy (what a little smirk)

On Wednesday I dodged two choking bullets with Ty.  I found Ty with a penny and a dime in his hand, carrying them around…he could have easily just popped them in his mouth.  And then… I heard him say, “Mmmm…candy.”  I tried to figure out what he had gotten into and then I saw it…a cough drop wrapper on the floor.  Sure enough, I smelled his breath and he had eaten the whole thing.  Talk about a chokable.  I don’t know where he found that, but I am just so thankful that he was OK.  Wednesday at 11:30 AM, Westin had his 2 month appointment.  He weighed in at 10 pounds & 5 ounces (15^th percentile), 22 ¾ inches long (40^th percentile), and his head was 15 ½ inches long (50^th percentile).  Ty was 9 pounds even and 21.5 inches long at his 2 month appointment.  I didn’t write down what percentile he was…but I’m pretty sure that Ty wasn't even on the growth chart yet with his weight.  Even though Westin is still tiny – he is huge compared to where Ty was at.  Wes had to have 3 shots and an oral immunization and he did great overall.  It was terrible – he was so happy and then started screaming bloody murder when he got the shots.  It is just awful, there is no way to prepare them or explain it to them.  It’s a helpless feeling.  But as soon as I picked him up, he stopped crying immediately.  Our doctor even said, “That was a nice recovery.”  He was back to his old self and smiling by the time we left the office.  He did have one crying episode where he seemed uncomfortable that afternoon, but I gave him Tylenol and he was cured.  My mom had come with us to the appointment and we went to Friendly’s on the way home.  Kids eat for $1.99 on Wednesdays and for a drink, meal, and ice-cream…it’s a pretty good deal. Too bad I will never be able to take my kids there normally, since Wednesday is the only day that I work during the week.  Mom had to run to Conway to a church meeting and my dad came over to visit with the boys and me.  He has been hooked on Downton Abbey, so I caved and we watched the first episode together.  I have to admit that I was hooked after one episode as well.  It has an Anne of Green Gables meet Jane Austen feel. It really is good – I highly 

recommend it. 

At the doctor's office before his shots

At Friendly's they gave Ty this craft - making a snowman with marshmellows, pretzels & candy

He couldn't resist for long

Playing catch with Poppy in the afternoon

On Thursday Tyson woke up and these were the first words out of his mouth - “Westy shots.”  Yes, Westy had his shots the day before…was Ty worried about him?  I thought that was cute.  What also was cute was Tyson saying next, “Noni, come see me.”  Well, Ty’s wish came true when Noni came over and we drove together to meet Shannon & Fin at the local thrift stores.  It was a freezing day – hanging around -1 degrees all day.  We scored at one of the places where they had about 8 racks of clothes for $1.  You feel like you hit the megabucks when you find that!  We did pretty well.  After thrift storing it up all morning and early afternoon, I put Ty down for a late nap.  He was exhausted but he wasn’t going down without a fight.  He was standing up, whining and crying, so I talked to Ty through the monitor.  I said, “Ty, the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner Daddy will be home.”  Well, that worked.  You should have seen Tyson fall onto his pillow like a sack of potatoes!  He dropped immediately!  But the funniest part was, through the monitor, I heard him say, “Nap please.”  Like he was saying, “I need to take a nap now please.  Fall asleep please.”  For our weekly night out, we headed to the Mexican restaurant with Mom & Dad & Adam.  We had a nice visit despite Tyson needing multiple walks and Westin being awake the whole time.  I don’t care as long as I don’t have to cook!  Have a great week!

Bubble fun with Shannon & Finley

Ty kissing Westin at the restaurant

Here's some random shots...

Ta-da...he worked hard to get both balls to balance perfectly on the counter

He was proud!

Family Party, Swaddle-Busting, Football Party, Sleeping Drama & "Mama Come Now"

Wes:  8 Weeks Old

Ty:  2 Years & 3 Months Old

2 Fridays ago, I had some 24 hour GI thing that was not pleasant.  I wasn’t flat on my back unable to move or anything, but I did wonder what I would do with the two munchkins if that were to happen.  Of course my mother would have come over, as she offered to when she heard that I didn’t feel great, but what would happen if I got really sick in a couple of weeks when my entire family is going on a cruise?  That would be tricky.  Anyways, we didn’t do much that Friday, except our weekly trip to the grocery store.  Why is it that Ty always acts up when I don’t feel well?  He just had to be a monster.  But we got through it and Wes was so good.  Ty’s 3 word sentences continued when Ty asked, “Mama, more please” at lunch!  It was so exciting!  What wasn’t exciting was Wes being cranky-pants that evening and wouldn’t go down to sleep…which is very unlike him.  I attempted to nurse him early at 10:30 or 11 PM and woke up at 2 AM.  I can not stop falling asleep while nursing him! 

The interesting things we get into when Mom isn't feeling well

And then there's this... what is he doing?

Using a screwdriver to repair his car!

On Sabbath we went to Laconia Sabbath School & church.  Heath took Ty initially to Sabbath School, but then Wes & I came down to join them when Heath texted me that only Jill & Zach Harlow were down there with them.  I haven’t seen Ty in Sabbath School in awhile, since Heath usually takes him.  Ty is much more interactive and doesn’t have a bird when he has to give the “toys” back!  There is improvement!  We were pleasantly surprised when Paula, Ryan, Taylor, Greg, and Greg’s sister – Nicole showed up at Laconia church.  They had no idea that we were going to be there!  So we invited them over for lunch, but I did not have anything prepared.  We were going to have some sandwiches quick and then head over to Danny & Janet’s house (Heath’s aunt & uncle) for a family get-together that afternoon.  So we still had sandwiches, but we made a few different spreads and made it a sandwich bar.  We headed over to the party and had a nice time.  We were supposed to be going ice-skating on their pond and sledding, but it was 45 degrees or so and the snow was melting like mad.  So we just hung out and visited with everyone and they did some 4-wheeling as well.  The boys were a hit as always.  They are the only great-grandkids of the family, so they get a lot of attention. Ty was in heaven since they have a cat and he followed that poor thing around everywhere.  It makes me feel sad that we didn’t get him one for Christmas, but Heath did not want one.  I don’t really know how we do a litter box with a 2 year old right now, though anyway.  I know it is done, but I know Ty would be playing in that box non-stop, so I think it is for the best.  Saturday night Westin busted out of his swaddle and woke himself up at about 5 AM because he was cold.  I had forgotten to write about it, but he has been busting out of it a few times now.  I thought maybe he was being Hercules and is just super strong, but I think it is actually because the swaddles are too old and the Velcro is not strong enough!  I think I’ll have to suck it up and buy some new ones.  That is hard for me because I’m so cheap!

I got this picture through the window at the party - all the boys (minus Wes) chatting it up after a "Vroom vroom ride" (as Ty would call it)

Sunday was a football day!  The Pats were playing the Texans and the boys & I went to the Fairway to watch with my parents and Shannon.  Sean kept Finley at home, so Shannon felt as free as a bird!  Heath was working on his ice house but came and joined us for supper at half-time.  As we were leaving, I had the car running and Westin was already in his car seat, when Ty decided to bolt from me and run into a mud puddle.  He got completely covered -   his shoes, socks, and pants!  I wanted to throttle him!  Thank goodness Heath was outside working on the ice house, so I could just run inside and get new clothing for him.  Ty was upset when he realized we were leaving without Heath.  I told him that Heath would join us soon after he was done working.  To that Ty cried, “Daddy come soon!”  It was sad but cute.  Ty was psyched when Heath got there and even more so when Heath took him swimming at the Fairway’s clubhouse.  Ty was cute during the game and really got into it.  He would yell, “Go, go, go!” at the TV, but would say that when the Texans were running with the ball too!  Then he would slap five to everyone when we would score – it was really cute.  Wes slept most of the time – probably because we were so loud.  He has so much awake time at home, but he is a snooze-fest when we are away!  I remember Ty doing that too.  I think it is normal.  We were all happy when the Pats won, but it is hard for me to remember that joy now…since I am writing this after their horrific AFC championship game performance.  I will get over it. 

  Slapping 5 at the football party (My pictures still come out so fuzzy on my iPhone sometimes)

Trying to slap me 5

Touchdown!

Doing his "freak-out"

Me & my buddy

On Monday Ty was so tired from the busy weekend that he slept until 9:30 AM.  He hasn’t done that in awhile.  Our whole schedule got completely messed up because of it.  For instance, he would not take a nap at all when he normally does at noontime.  And then because of that, he fell asleep on the way back from the pharmacies in the car.  I let him sleep from 5:00 to about 6:15 PM and then he was horrible at bedtime.  He has done really late naps like that before without any problems, but he was just terrible.  He totally is using every excuse in the book why he should not go to bed.  He cried for his binky (even though he has a back-up binky underneath his pillow), he asked for water (even though he has a nubbie in the crib with him), and then he said, “pee” and “diaper.”  He is way too young to be this smart with the excuses!  Just a quick word about the pharmacies, I used the Bjorn for the first time with Wes at the stores.  I feel SO much more comfortable with the Bjorn than the Moby wrap.  He seemed to love it too.  He cuddled right in and slept the whole time!  For the highlights, I got a free Thermacare wrap, free olives, and printer paper (500 sheets) for $2.99 (regularly $7.99)! 

Playing with his train that Danny & Janet gave him

On Tuesday Ty slept in again, but woke up at 9 AM this time.  That 30 minutes made all the difference because he did not have any problems taking his noontime nap and slept 2.5 hours!  At lunch, he said, “More ketchup please.”  He loves ketchup so much!  When Heath got home, Ty got a treat and went to Home Depot with Heath while I finished cooking supper.  Ty just loves to be with his Daddy at all times.  I don’t know what it was but Wes had a difficult time going to sleep all of a sudden for his last two naps of the day.  I finally had it (after running upstairs and putting the binky in about 5 times) and I put him in the swing and he fell right to sleep!  Speaking of sleep, I fell asleep nursing again and woke up at 4 AM.  Two times in 1 week.  Unreal.  Ty had a rough bedtime again as well.  I hope this comes to an end.

He just loves his binky

On Wednesday my day revolved around doing a full cleaning of the house.  I knew that I couldn’t finish it in 1 day with the kids, so I planned on cleaning on Thursday as well.  Ty had done a crazy thing when he woke up that morning.  He said, “Mama, Come, NOW!”  I laughed so hard.  So I tried to get him saying it again on video when he woke up from his noontime nap.  He said it and I got it on my iPhone!  It was so funny (even though so wrong) that I had to post it on Facebook.  Lunchtime provided some comic relief from the cleaning.  First of all, I was cutting up a corn dog for Ty, when he just couldn’t take it anymore.  I told him that it was very hot and that we needed to let it cool down.  But he leaned over me, grabbed a fistful of corn dogs and crammed them into his mouth!  Thank goodness it didn’t burn him!  Another funny thing happened during lunch, he dipped his grapes in his tomato soup!  He loves to dip things, but I thought this was a little much.  What was also a little much, was the 1 hour and 20 minute crying-it-out session that Ty had at bedtime.  I couldn’t believe that we were back to this – after 1 whole year of going immediately to sleep without a peep.  I was back to crying as well because I couldn’t take it.  It is definitely worse this time around, since Ty actually cries for us by name, where he couldn’t do that last time.  “Mama, Mama, Mama, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”  It just rips your heart out.

I finally got a video to work on here...after 2+ years!

On Thursday I finished cleaning the house – which is a great, great feeling!  A couple cute things to mention was…me asking Ty what he wanted to wear for the day?  Pretty much a rhetorical question, but he said, “Jammies!”  Since it was our night out, that wasn’t going to fly…but it was a nice try!  Another cute thing was that I was doing my Pilates video and Ty laid down and started to do all the exercises with me!  It was adorable.  We went to the Longhorn on Thursday night with the Frosts and Adam.  While we were driving down to Concord, I asked Ty, “We are going to see Auntie Shannon and Cousin Finley.”  Then I said, “Who lives with Auntie Shannon and Finley?”  I wanted to see if he could figure it out – but he didn’t skip a beat and said, “Sean!”  Smarty.  Ty didn’t do badly at the restaurant and Wes was awake the whole time.  He started to get a little fussy, but I just held him and he stopped right away.  Wes just loves to be held and he would be held all day long if he got his way!  I got “my way” that night, when Ty only cried for 15 minutes and then went right to sleep.  Thank goodness.  I hope it continues.  Have a great week!    

 Cuddling in their jammies!

Trying Daddy's boots on

Looking for something to drag around in his little wagon

Again...picture came out terrible...but he came up with a stuffed lion and the bathroom rug.  Interesting combination

Near Accident, Copsey Christmas, Lost, "Shut Up", Dog Treats, Hair Trim & Too Much "TB"

Wes:  7 Weeks Old

Ty:  2 Years, 2 Months & 3 Weeks Old  

2 Fridays ago was a frustrating, scary, and fun day all in one.  It was frustrating first and foremost because I was desperately trying to get out of the house at a decent time to go to my parents for Copsey Christmas.  We learned the hard way that for Christmas…bringing presents back and forth, bringing all the stuff for the kids and the dogs – we can never fit in one car.  Anyways, so we decided we were bringing two cars to my parents.  Heath was going to go to Conway directly from Lebanon (and was bringing Sean), so I was able to go up early with the boys.  That is if I could get out of the house.  There are just certain times when no matter what you do, you just can’t get out of the house when you want to.  We got up by 7:30 AM and I fed Westin.  I figured that I could finish packing up, get Ty breakfast, get all of us dressed and then feed Westin early at about 10 AM… then we would be able to go by 11 AM.  Fast-forward to me leaving at nearly 12:30 PM.  Westin had not one, but two complete blow-outs in that span of time – needing me to do 2 complete outfit changes (so three outfits in total, counting the first outfit I had put him in before all the explosions happened).  And I had been asking Ty continuously if he had to poop after breakfast, but he never went.  Of course, as I had the car running, the dogs in the car, and Westin all bundled up in his car seat…that was the moment that Ty chose to load his drawers.  Oh – I was so frustrated!  The scary part of the day came next.  We were just getting into Conway, when we almost had a horrible accident that was completely my fault.  I had taken my eyes off the road to look in the rearview mirror to check on the boys for a split second, when the car in front of us decided suddenly to brake and make a left-hand turn.  We had been going 45 miles an hour.  When my eyes looked back up to the road, we were right on top of the car and we were going to nail them.  Hard.  Instinctively (though it was a completely wrong instinct) I braked hard and swerved to miss the car.  But I swerved into the other lane (on-coming traffic) since there wasn’t a break-down lane or anything to swerve into on the other side because of the snow bank.  Thank goodness there wasn’t another car coming, but just as we were passing the car – he started to turn left RIGHT INTO US!  In that split second I was sure that he was going to hit us, right on Westin’s side…but I don’t know how – he didn’t hit us.  It is only by the grace of God that we are all OK.  It could have been really bad.  God is so good.  The fun part of the day came next when we all got together at my parents (except Leigh, who had to work) for dinner on Friday night.  I was a bit concerned since we were all sleeping in one room for the first time.  We could have split the boys up, but the far end of my parent’s house had been shut-down and was probably 45 degrees – so I passed on that.  I was sure that Wes would wake up Ty, but it didn’t happen and both boys slept like angels.                                                                                                            

This pic was taken at home, but Ty loves to wake Wes up and get him up out of his crib!

On Sabbath we went to Sabbath School and church and stayed for potluck.  Poor Ty had a bit of a scare during potluck.  Ty had been playing with some kids with a kitchen set and Heath was watching him, while talking to some people nearby.  I went up and started getting a food plate for Tyson.  Somehow Ty just wandered away – and must have walked right past Heath.  My Dad found Ty walking towards the stairs of the church and crying, “Daddy…Daddy…Daddy” (of course it wouldn’t be Mama when Daddy is around).  Ty was petrified!  He was lost!  My poor sweetie pie.  It was pretty pitiful and it took some time for him to calm down.  After church we headed home and just hung out.  Now I know that Ty loves Mia – it is very obvious, but his love is now bordering on obsession.  Forget Daddy when Mia is around…all Ty did all weekend long was say, “Mia…Mia…Mia” over and over again.  And he would say this when she was right with him and, of course, he wouldn’t say anything when she would say, “What Tyson?”  One of the cutest things happened on Sabbath.  Ty went up to Sean and said, “Sean…Sean…Sean!”  Sean said, “What Tyson?”  And Tyson said, “Caw-caw…tweet tweet!” and then Ty started giggling non-stop.  Let me explain.  Tyson calls birds “caw-caws” – so Tyson really wanted to show off to his Uncle Sean that he knew that birds say “tweet-tweet!” (=  It was so cute, I laughed so hard.  It’s so funny how things change once you have kids.  Our big Saturday night consisted of watching Ty & Bode run across the family room a million times in a row.  It was really cute.  They would line up against the windows (and actually put their hands on the window sill) and then we would count, “1, 2, 3, GO!”  Then they would run across the room to the couch.  Well, Bode would start every time early at “2” and would only go half-way across the room!  Tyson would count with us and run all the way to the couch yelling, “Go, go, go!” the whole time and then pounce on Mia, who was lying on the couch.  They did this forever.

The boys wore matching outfits that Sonia gave them to church

The three cousins before they started their running-across-the-room thing

Sunday was our Christmas!  We had breakfast first, once the Devin Copseys made it over.  Poor Leigh had worked all night and stayed up to have Christmas with us and didn’t sleep!  Ty was funny and called the prosage on toast (that he has had many times) “wapples” (what he calls waffles).  He couldn’t get enough and kept asking for “more wapples!”  After breakfast we started opening presents.  Ty did fairly well, but did need a time-out in the middle of presents – I don’t remember for what.  He went absolutely berserk for his bubble blower that my parents got him.  He was in a bubble frenzy!  We had a great Christmas and we had a wonderful dinner that afternoon, but we were minus Devin since he had to work that night and was sleeping.  We were all only together for a few hours that morning.  It really stinks for scheduling when you have all nurses!  Sunday night we headed back home and it was too bad that I had my own vehicle to drive home (with both kids no less).  Our trip started slow, when I had to pull over and put the binky back in for Westin before leaving Conway.  Heath is able to do this while driving since he has long arms, but there is no way these short arms can reach!  Wes calmed right down and slept the whole way.  Tyson, on the other hand, did not sleep the entire way.  And we had left at about 7 PM!  I thought for sure he would sleep, but no!  He was cute, though.  He wanted me to sing with him and would say, “Mama…Mama…Bible so” and then “Mama…Mama…beep…beep!”  Let me translate for you!  He wanted to sing Jesus Loves Me and The Wheels on the Bus!  He loves to sing and gets some of the words in there! 

Finley enjoying her breakfast

The bubble blower - I love this picture

Still enjoying the bubbles

Ty put swim diapers on his legs like floaties

Our best attempt at a cousins picture

On Monday we spent the day unpacking from Christmas again and I was up until 2 AM finishing it.  One thing that was pretty funny happened first thing in the morning.  My parents gave Tyson this cool little table set.  It has a table and four chairs.  I do not have any space anywhere at the moment to set it up, but I will put it in Westin’s room (our current bedroom) when we move downstairs.  I will be able to put up a ton more toys/play things since the room is so big.  I was trying to bring two of the chairs downstairs to the basement while Ty was eating his breakfast.  I was really trying to be stealthy and get the chairs downstairs without him seeing them and avoiding a meltdown.  As I was creeping down the stairs, I heard “Mama…chair…back!”  He is really starting to put words together – it is so great!  But it is also harder to get away with things.  I pretended that I didn’t hear him and he didn’t push it, so it was good!  Speaking of putting words together…he has started saying a phrase.  Unfortunately, the phrase is “shut up!”  Of course I am to blame for this, but I have to say this is what happens when you live with Min Pins.  It is kind of funny when Ty runs around saying, “Puppies…shut up!” when they start their barking.  I have now changed my phrase to “Puppies…be quiet!” and have been telling Ty that this is the better way to say it!  Somehow I don’t think he believes me!

Ty trying on my new coat & hat

Westin in his new snuggly car seat cover that Auntie Shannon gave him

On Tuesday we worked on the laundry and ran to Concord in the afternoon to help watch Finley for Shannon while she had an OB appointment.  Long story short, but my parents ended up coming too.  I thought I might not go and they were going to watch Finley, but we all ended up there together.  Ty & Finley were quite a pair tearing up the waiting room and Wes was a good boy and slept the whole time in his car seat.  We did a few errands in Concord and then headed home to finish the laundry.  More crazy things happened with Tyson that night.  First of all, he was emptying out some of the drawers in my kitchen while I was making supper, when he got a dog treat out and popped it in his mouth!  It is a pretty big, so I was afraid he would choke on it.  I managed to get about half of it out, but he finished the rest like it tasted like candy!  Gross!  At bedtime, we were reading a book about dogs and he saw a white poodle in the book and said, “Baa…baa!”  He thought it was a sheep!  Pretty cute!  We had gotten two glow-worms from the Edwards for Westin for Christmas, so I figured that Ty would like one and put it in his crib.  I showed him how it worked…that it lit up and played music.  Ty was scared of it!  He cried and wanted me to take it out of his crib!  What a scaredy cat!  I fell asleep nursing Westin again that night and woke up at about 4:30 AM.  This happens about once a week!  It is so annoying!  But I can’t help that I’m tired.

While I was working on the laundry - they did these adorable pictures.  Ty close to Wes

Even closer to Wes

Closest!

Finley loved Ty's bear backpack

Running in a far corner of the waiting room at Shannon's appointment

On Wednesday Ty did a lot more crazy things.  First of all, after his nap, I asked him “How was your nap?” and he answered me, “Good!”  He answered my question appropriately!  That really hasn’t happened like that before.  For lunch I tried giving him a black bean burger.  I don’t think I had tried to give it to him before.  He devoured it, but he couldn’t help but pick out all the chunks of corn and black beans in the burger!  He still has issues with textures!  In the afternoon, he ate his second dog treat.  I couldn’t believe it!  And he had the gall to say, “Yummy…tummy!”  I finally relocated the treats to the top of the fridge, so he better not get them!  I was also impressed with a couple of things that he did and said.  First of all, I had told him that he would be getting a bath that night (which he loves).  His response to that was to say, “Tubby…Daddy…Gone!”  He was telling me that he didn’t understand how he was going to get a bath since Daddy was at work!  Then earlier in the day I had told Ty to ask Heath for money when he came home from work to put in his new piggy bank that he had gotten for Christmas.  I thought it had gone in one ear and out another, but the first thing that Ty said when Heath came through the door was, “Daddy…money!”  Smarty-pants!  Wednesday night was a big deal for Wes.  He finally got the trim that he desperately needed.  I just couldn’t take it anymore.  So he lost his mini-mullet in the back and got trimmed around his ears.  Thank goodness!  He looks so much better, even with that small amount taken off!  He did great and didn’t even fuss!

Ty with his piggy bank - actually it was supposed to be Westin's, but Ty has adopted it

Not a great picture, but I think this was right after we cut his hair

On Thursday I started my Pilates again.  I’ve got to stick with it and hopefully I’ll see some results!  Ty said another three word phrase on Thursday.  “Daddy...Work…Come!”  He knew that Daddy was gone to work and he wanted him to come home!  Something I have really figured out is that Ty is watching WAY too much TV and it is becoming a problem.  I used to be able to have the TV on and Ty would play with his toys and not really pay any attention.  Now if the TV is on, he sits right down and is glued to it.  So I have been not having the TV on while I’m nursing and just cutting back in general to try to decrease his viewing.  But I’ve figured something else out.  We live in an age where it is very hard to limit TV or entertainment because of technology.  I might have the TV off, but Tyson is glued to my iPhone or my iPad.  He knows exactly how to pull up Youtube and watches videos there and watches trailers over and over on the iTunes store.  So this makes things a lot more difficult.  I knew it was becoming an issue when he started saying, “T.B. (instead of T.V.) on!”  Uh-oh.  Thursday night we went to Mexican with Adam, Sonia, and my parents.  We had a nice time and a great dinner, as always.  Oh yeah – one interesting thing happened with Adam & Ty.  They were playing with a toy and it stopped working.  Tyson said, “Battery!”  Adam realized that he needed a screwdriver to open the battery compartment.  Adam told Ty he needed a screwdriver, so Ty ran and got him one (we keep a few of them in a drawer in the kitchen).  It was too big, so Ty ran and found him a smaller one.  The smaller one was too small, so Adam told Ty that he needed a screwdriver “in the middle!”  Adam & I both thought that this was a concept too difficult for Ty, but he surprised us both when he brought back a 3rd screwdriver…one that fit perfectly!  Good job Ty!  I do realize that the majority of the blog is about Tyson and not as much about Wes…but Ty is just doing so much more right now.  Westin has a great schedule down and is eating, pooping, and sleeping all the time!  He does throw some smiling and cooing in there too!  He is a doll and I can’t wait for him to get older so they can both play together!  Well, that’s all for now.  Have a great week!

Ty with his precious remote control (look at Westin's smile)

About ready to kiss Wes for the millionth time that day

Ty very excited to make cookies with Daddy

I think Wes looks like Keith here