Ty & Wes Time: "Mama Cita", Asking to Pee, "Mama Said", "Bubbbb", Done Nursing, Crawling, Opened Car Door, Ty Scared of His Room & Praying

Wes: 8 Months; 8 Months & 1 Week Old

Ty: 2 Years, 9 Months Old; 2 Years, 9 Months & 1 Week Old

This is going to be a long one – 2 weeks in 1 long entry, so I’m all caught up! But what is so depressing is that we leave for Nova Scotia this week and I will be 2 weeks behind when I get back again! Dang you, summer! We are too busy!

Monday, July 15, I unpacked from our weekend in Conway and did laundry. Ty was helping me sort the laundry when we came across my bathing suit top. I wondered if he knew what it was, so I asked him, “Ty, what is this?” To that he replied, “Mama’s booby stuff.” That cracked me up! You can always tell when Ty has had a busy weekend because he always takes a super long nap on Mondays! This Monday was no exception and he slept for 3 hours and 15 minutes! Tyson said something so cute in the afternoon. He was playing with his toys and I don’t remember what happened, but he said, “Mama cita” all by himself! It is definitely a phrase that I use all the time but he said it all on his own this time! I had hope with his potty-training on this day. Out of nowhere, he asked to go pee three times. He NEVER does this! I always have to drag him to the bathroom (when I see signs he needs to go, or if it has been an hour & a half or so) and force him because otherwise he never asks to go – he only asks to go poop. I was very encouraged by this! It has seemed to gotten better, so we can only hope! Westin had a new experience on Monday. He had tofu for the first time! He is old enough to have some protein, so I mixed the tofu with some fruit and he loved it! He is unbelievable with his solid food now – he can’t get enough! On Monday night, we bit the bullet and put one of our old air conditioners into Tyson’s room, with a fan blowing into Westin’s room. The heat wave would just not break and it was literally 95 degrees upstairs in the boy’s rooms. We figured we had to put it in Ty’s room, since Tyson absolutely, positively will NOT be without his blanket and insists on cuddling up and being tucked in with his blanket, despite it being 90 degrees in his room. I can’t tell you the difference that unit has made! Westin’s room is still pretty hot, but it takes the edge off and I just put him to bed naked in his diaper, since he doesn’t have a blanket!

He even made a bed for himself across two chairs & still cuddled up in a blanket!

On Tuesday Tyson upped the ante with the sweet thing he had said to me the week before. He said, “Ty love Mama. Mama pretty.” Can’t hear enough of that! I went to work in the afternoon and Sonia came to watch the kids. I don’t remember if I have written about this yet, but Ty has been a bit manipulative to get what he wants and says, “Mama said…or Daddy said…or Grammy said...” whenever he is told “no” about something. Sonia was trying to get Ty dressed after his nap and Ty did not want to wear his shorts. Sonia was insisting and Tyson said, “No shorts. Mama said.” She knew that wasn’t true and it wasn’t! I hope my son isn’t turning into a little liar! On Tuesday night, I had the craziest case I have ever encountered in the ER yet. I can’t discuss it too much because of confidentiality, but I will say that it was a young guy, early 40’s, that came in for a chief complaint of constipation. I gave him an enema and he ended up coding. He needed to be shocked three times. Long story short, he was having a heart attack with no symptoms of a heart attack. If he hadn’t come in to the ER because of his constipation, he might have died at home (since he was also having a lethal arrhythmia called V. Tach). Because of this difficult case, I couldn’t leave work until after 4 AM and I didn’t get to bed until 5:30 AM. Thank goodness the boys slept until 9:30!

Playing play-do with Grammy

Look at how much he is concentrating!

Wednesday morning, out of the blue, during breakfast Tyson said, “miss camping!” We haven’t camped in about 3 weeks, so it is so interesting that he would say that! While playing in the AM, Tyson just happened to notice that the puppy's blanket was half on the floor and half on the couch. Tyson to the rescue! He came right over, saying, "Blanket messed up. Ty fix it." Westin took a great 3 hour nap that day and Ty did his usual 2 hour nap. When I went to get Ty up from his nap, I opened his door and said, "You're awake!" Tyson grinned at me and said, "You awake too!" When Ty eats lunch, I always sit Westin in his highchair because he loves to watch Ty. During lunch on Wednesday, Ty had looked over at Wes and noticed for the first time Westin's 2 bottom teeth. Ty went crazy! "Mama, Mama, Westy teeth! Westy teeth!" It was very cute but I was also concerned. Ty always wants to share food with Westin and I keep telling him that Wes can not eat Ty's food because he is a baby, he doesn't have any teeth, and he could choke. I knew that when Tyson saw Westin's teeth that he would automatically think that he could give him food. So I reiterated that Ty can never give Wes any food etc... but sure enough, later that day I caught Ty trying to share a snack with Westin. I scolded him again about it and he gave me a look, all exasperated and said, "Westy teeth, Mama." Great. What was actually great was our family night on Wednesday. Heath called on his way home from work with a good idea. We went down to our town beach, brought Heath's backpacking stove, cooked hot dogs, went swimming (again, just Heath & Ty, while Wes & I waded), and then went for ice-cream on the way home. What a nice night! We did get attacked by black flies, but what are you going to do? We live in New England. Anything fun you do outside in the summer is tainted with insects. That is just the bottom line.

On Thursday I swear Westin said, "bubba." I was getting his bottle ready, he looked right at it, and started, "bubbbbbbbb" - all excited. He has said it many times since, so I really think he is saying it! Tyson did his cute manipulating again. Right before his nap, he had gone poop on the potty. Since I was going to be putting him right down, I didn't want to load him up on sugar. I told him, "you can have a treat, but it will be a little treat." Tyson was not too happy with this. He tried his, "Grammy said. Grammy said, 'big treat!'" Yeah right, Tyson! Nice try! Thursday morning and early afternoon, Snickers had a lot of diarrhea. She kept going in the same place – in our hallway by our downstairs bathroom. Thank goodness it was on the hardwood floor and not the carpet! What the heck? Reeses had her bout with diarrhea 3 weeks ago and now Snickers seemed to have the same thing! There was differences, though. Reeses was the most foul-smelling poop I have ever smelled, while Snickers did not smell much at all. Reeses did not have any blood in her poop while Snickers was full of blood. I wasn't messing around and called the vet and got an appointment for that afternoon. I was dreading taking both boys and the dogs to the vet because my dogs are the most nervous creatures you have ever seen at the vet and they need me to hold them, or they will not move (I will literally have to drag them on the floor with their leash). I left Reeses at home and just brought Snickers. I kept Wes in the car seat carrier (I debated the Baby Bjorn, but then Wes would have been pulling and grabbing at Snickers when I would be holding her), lugged Snickers under my other arm and had Ty walk RIGHT BESIDE ME. I was so proud of myself to make it through the door with the three of them UNTIL the receptionist asked me, "Do you have the specimen?" I realized in horror that I had left it in the truck (yes, I was driving the truck because Heath was redoing my brakes). She took one look at me and told me that she would go grab it for me. What an angel! Just when you think you have it all together...you don't!!!! The rest of the time went fine. Ty was pretty good. Wes didn't cry at all, but Snickers sure did. She was a shaking, withering pile of anxiety. We got out of there as fast as we could. They put Snickers on the same miracle drug that Reeses was on and, after 1 dose (just like Reeses) Snickers was cured. Of course she had to take it for 10 days (so she didn't relapse) and had to be on a special diet for about 3 days, but anything to stop the constant diarrhea! She had gone 9 times before we got to the vet! Poor thing. Thursday night we went to the OG with Norma, Sonia, and my dad (my mom was in Conway with Shannon & the kids). My dad noticed the change in Westin (because he told my mom this). He was a complete animal at the OG. He grabbed everything in sight, put his hands in my ravioli, and knocked things over! He is the most active, squirmy, little boy right now! So cute though!

My active boy!

Friday was a fun day. Before I start with that we did, Ty coined a new word on this day. “Sky Hopper.” Can anyone guess what the word actually is? It is actually “helicopter!” This really shows his growth, since “helicopter” used to be just “copter.” Wait, is that really better? Friday afternoon Heath got home really early at about 2 PM! It was awesome! His company is very into community service and they are required to do so many hours a year. So he had done community service this day and had gotten out very early! His group was clearing a walking trail that had become overgrown and building new bridges for the trail! In 98 (literally) degree weather! He was exhausted! After Heath had gotten home, he had called for Tyson to come into the kitchen to show him something. To that Tyson replied, “Wait, Daddy. Ty on phone.” He even had his play phone to his ear! While Westy napped (and I stayed at home with him), Heath & Ty went and got Heath’s haircut and then they went to the grocery store. As they were leaving for the hairdresser, Ty was saying, “pop, pop, pop.” Leave it my son to remember the lollipops at the hairdresser we go to! After they got back, we booked it over to the Fairway to have supper with my parents, Shannon & the kids (Sean was still on his business trip and was coming home that night). After supper, we went swimming at the pool (everyone but Shan & baby Griffin). It was very good to see everyone, especially Griffin. He is getting so big so fast!

Playing around with the boys before we went swimming (I didn't take any pictures there)

On Sabbath I worked 7a-7p and the boys stayed home. Since we had been out late the night before, the boys slept in until after 9:30 AM. They were not going to make Sabbath School. Heath told me that Ty kept saying that he was sick again, so Heath looked in his throat with a flashlight and it looked OK. Well, that prompted Tyson to decide that he was “Dr. Tyson” and was on a mission to look into Westin’s throat with the flashlight! He did. And the sad part is that Westin was OK with it. On Saturday night, Westin and I reached an understanding. We are done nursing. As I write this, I am welling up in tears because I am still not over it. You would think I would be happy, since there are plenty of things that I couldn’t have while nursing (my iced teas, ice-cream, my favorite nasal spray etc…), but I would give all those things up if my son just would nurse normally until 12 months!!!! We had been working up to this point for awhile. He would only nurse first thing in the morning and before bed. Lately, he had been not wanting to nurse even at those times, but I kind-of forced him and kept working at it. He would just get frustrated that it was so much work, since the bottles are much easier. But Saturday was the 3^rd day in a row that he refused to nurse AT ALL at either one of the sessions. Just so Heath would see what I was talking about, I gave him a demonstration. I would get Westin to take a taste of the breast milk, and he would come off, literally, make a horrible face, and then freak-out screaming if I tried to get him back on the breast. That was the extent of it. Heath agreed that it was over. It became a matter of taste – he didn’t like the taste of it anymore – since going to formula. I still have about 30 bags of frozen breast milk left so I am using that to mix his cereal with, so he will still get some of the good effects of breast milk. At least we made it 8 months! (Ty made it 9 months, I’m disappointed we couldn’t make it as long as Ty) No matter how you cut it, once you go to formula…it is just a matter of time until you are done nursing. Either they like how fast the bottles are, or they prefer the taste. So we are done and I am just having a hard time with it. Wes & I are completely bonded, and I still feel just as close to him when I give him the bottle, but…I can’t help but think…is this my last nursing experience? Will I nurse another baby? If I have anything to say about it…YES! But my husband is still not 100% onboard. We’ll see…

Dr. Tyson

Success!

At least there is 1 person who is happy I am done nursing

Sunday I worked 3p-3a and we all had a nice morning together before I left. I left about an hour early so I could hit up the pharmacies before work. Anytime I can get to the stores without the munchkins, I jump on it! It is just so much more efficient! When I called to check in on the boys, Heath informed me (again) that Westin was crawling. Since the last time was a false alarm. I didn’t really believe him. But then he said, “Westin is just how Tyson was at this age, but ON CRACK!” I definitely believed that statement! Westin is non-stop action right now. There is just no other way to put it.

The one "person" to stop Westin in his tracks...is Reeses! With her kisses!

On Monday, the boys were tired out from playing with Daddy and they slept until 9:30 AM! Thank you boys! Mama needed that sleep! First thing in the AM, I saw that Heath was telling the truth! Westin is crawling! It is an “army crawl” but he is wicked fast – he just flies all around the room non-stop! So Westin crawled at 8 months and Ty crawled at 9 months. Wait, is it directly proportionate to them stopping nursing? In the AM, I had showed Ty how to step on the bubble packaging that comes in boxes. I stomped my foot and the ground and Ty did it too! Unfortunately, Ty then went over to Westy and stomped on his poor little leg. I lost my mind on that one. Why would he do that? I completely lost my temper. Anyways, Ty got a spanking and a time-out and after his time-out, I went to him and asked him, “Why were you in time-out?” His response: “Mean Mama.” WHAT A LITTLE…..For his nap, Ty had a really hard time falling asleep (he never does) but then took a 3 ½ hour nap!!! He might of slept longer, but I woke him up! He was never going to sleep that night! In the afternoon, Poppy stopped by for a visit and that was a good time. Monday night, Ty was in heaven because he helped his daddy redo my brakes! It was so cute – I kept looking out the window at them and Ty would be handing Daddy this tool and that tool. I really hope he is handy like Heath! Monday was our 12 year anniversary! Man, time flies!

Helping Daddy water the garden before doing the brakes

Tuesday was another busy day. We went up with my mom to Conway to meet my friend, Jessie, her husband, Brian, and their 4 month-old daughter, Aida for lunch. They are the ones that live in Ethiopia and work at an International School there. We had a nice lunch, UNTIL Ty had a major French-Fry Fit! Ty had a grilled cheese & fries, but hadn’t eaten it in about 20 minutes or so. I gave the french fries to Brian to eat and Ty had a cow. He made such a scene and wouldn’t let it go (even after we put more french fries on a plate for Ty) that I finally took him outside. It was not a short time-out either. He was just sobbing uncontrollably (it was nap-time for him and he hadn’t napped in the car) and kept saying, “my french fries…my french fries” over and over again. I told him that if I heard him say, “french fry” one more time, I was going to spank him. Where I would have done that I’m not sure, since I was right in public…but at least he didn’t call my bluff! We finally made it back to the table and I came to a conclusion about Westin at restaurants. I thought that it would be better and I was being a good mother if I bring a bunch of toys for Westin to play with at the table in his highchair. WRONG. All he does is throw the toys on the floor and then cry when they are all gone! If I just left the toys on the floor and he had nothing…he did SO much better! I’m going to try it again, we’ll see if it was a fluke or not. Aida was an angel and slept for part of the meal and then was a very happy and laid-back baby! On the way home, we didn’t have the disaster that we had on the way there. I totally forgot to mention, Tyson opened his car door while we were on the highway! I couldn’t believe it. Talk about freaky! That night, my mom stayed with the boys and baby-sat so Heath & I could go out for our anniversary. We went to dinner and then went to the drive-in that is near our house. I messed up and forgot that the 8 movies playing are actually playing on 4 screens and they are double features. The movie we really wanted to see, “The Heat” was the second movie, so we saw “Grown-Ups 2” instead. It was terrible. But there was no way, I was asking my mom to stay until 1 AM! I had realized that we hadn’t gone out for a date night in a year! The last time was for my birthday, last August. Ridiculous.

Pictures courtesy of Jessie

This is what happens when you try to get a good picture with kids. One kid is looking away, one has something in his mouth, and someone has a crazy look on his face!

Touchdown?

Ty wouldn't sit closer!

On Wednesday I worked 3p-3a, but Sonia came early so I could get some errands done. I took both dogs for their annual exams and they did fine, but they were so anxious I could barely stand it! Before I left, I tried to quickly put Ty down for his nap. He usually goes right down without a peep, but today started a new problem with Tyson. He was scared of the phone jack in his room. Scared to the point of trying to climb into my arms and shaking all over. I’m talking petrified. Why? I didn’t have time to fight with him, so I brought him to Westin’s crib and put him down there. He did go to sleep, but he wouldn’t sleep in his crib that night either. He had come to bed with us in the middle of the night the night before, after what appeared to be a bad dream. Was this all from a dream? Not sure. Speaking of dreams, while I was driving home from work at about 3:30 AM…the car right in front of me, the driver fell asleep at the wheel. There is no other explanation for it. The car took a sudden, nearly 90 degree turn to the right and was heading off the road. The car hit the rumble strip and it woke him up. He corrected and was fine! That rumble strip save his life! Sonia told me such a funny story about Tyson. They were playing on the floor when Sonia started messing around with Ty, tickling him etc. She said, “I’m going to get you, Ty. I’m going to eat up your toes!” She would pretend to eat his toes and he would laugh and laugh. And then, he wasn’t laughing anymore and got all serious. He brought Sonia into the kitchen, opened the fridge and said, “Grammy no eat Ty. Grammy eat food” and he pointed out all the great food she could eat! (=

Grammy brought the boys a Bible song book with a microphone!

On Thursday AM, Ty was in bed with us again. How long is this going to last? Tyson said his first big prayer all by himself for breakfast on Thursday morning. He usually repeats what we say, but this is exactly the prayer he prayed. “Dear Jesus, thank you day. Mama safe. Daddy working. Safe. Thank you yogurt, waffle, cereal. Love you Jesus. Amen.” I just about melted. It was so sweet. Later on that morning, things were not so sweet in the Edwards’ household. Ty had been messing around, and had fallen onto Westin, rolled over Wes, and landed face-first onto toys (including a sharp one that scraped his face). Ty was a basket-case, but Wes didn’t even cry at all. Then Ty & I got into a big brawl over pants. Ty did not want to wear pants, but it was actually very cold that morning and I insisted. Well, Tyson agreed to this point later on when he asked to put the pants back on (after his nap) because they were “cozy!” Westin was his active, crazy self! Because he is crawling so well now, he literally chases Ty all around the room (usually trying to get the iPad when Ty is on it)! Ty keeps scooting away from Wes and Wes just keeps coming! He is persistent! We went to Mexican that night with Adam and had a nice meal. Westin woke himself up at 2:30 AM (very unlike him) because he was all the way rolled up on his side against the crib and he wanted to keep rolling! He could have just rolled the other way!