Ty & Wes Time: Camping, German Shepherd Love, Nova Scotia 2012, Ladder+Bed Jumping, Purses, 2nd Ear Infection

21 Months & 2, 3 Weeks / 22 Months

So as promised... here I am after about 3-4 weeks. No day-by-day recaps here... but just an overall summary.

The weekend before we left for Nova Scotia (the last weekend of July) we went camping with the Edwards in Freeport, Maine. We tried a new campground and it was really nice. It was right on the ocean and it had a farm, so we could go and look at all the animals (all of which Ty was scared of). They accepted dogs, which is a must... so we had a good time. Ty did great and slept pretty well. We shared the Edwards ginormous tent with Keith & Sonia (Adam slept in his own) and was even able to set up Ty's pack ‘n’ play. The dogs didn't bark as much as I thought they would, so that was good. Ty just wouldn't take a nap on Sabbath afternoon in the tent, so Heath & I drove him around, which did the trick immediately. There was threat of rain all weekend, but despite a little rain on Saturday night, it really didn't start until Sunday afternoon after we had packed up and left. Thank goodness it was cool enough with the rain, so we did a bit of shopping and we were able to leave the dogs in the car... giving them many breaks of course. We went out to eat at my favorite, the Macaroni Grill, and then headed home. It was a nice weekend.

Relaxing at the campground

Scared to death of the animals

Snickers wasn't though!

Getting a crazy ride from Grampy!

Taking Reese for a walk around camp

The week before we left for Nova Scotia was pretty busy. Ty & I met up with my friend, Ann Marie, who had rented a house on Winnipesaukee for the week. We went and swam and hung out. Ty didn't love the water, since there wasn't a beach or anything, just a dock... but he DID love Ann Marie's dog, Bruno. I was scared about this, because Ty has been pretty scared of any dogs but our own. Bruno is a huge German Shepherd and I have no idea why this would be... but immediately Ty loved him. I would think of any type of dog to be scared of - this would be the dog... but he just giggled and smiled at him non-stop. I tried desperately to get a picture of them together, but it never did come out well. So we had a good time at the lake with Ann Marie and Elizabeth (another friend from CMC). The rest of the week... I worked on Wednesday and Noni watched Ty. On Thursday, my parents and grandparents left for Nova Scotia and Ty, Sonia & I had a day in Manchester. We went to Lots for Tots, since I was looking for some maternity pants and they have a great selection. Ty has so many clothes right now, I didn't even look for him. We went to Taco Bell for lunch and then to my OB appointment. I had gained 9 pounds since my last appointment (almost 2 months ago, I hardly have any appointments since I am low risk). So that was good. His heartbeat was 140's and I am measuring well. My blood pressure is still 90/50, so no trouble there. Everything was good. Sonia got to hear the heartbeat for the first time, so that was fun for her. We went to Goodwill and then met up with Heath & Adam at the OG for supper.

Lake Winnipesaukee

He was more happy on the dock!

My best pic of Ty & Bruno )=

Playing with Grammy at my OB appointment

This is what Ty did while I was packing for Nova Scotia (filled our laundry basket with an entire drawer full of stuff)

And then he got into our laundry hamper!

We left for Nova Scotia at 3:45 AM on Friday night/Saturday AM and headed out! We had a really good trip actually. Ty slept until nearly 8 AM and then took another 2 hour nap, so he slept half the trip! The dogs did well too. We arrived at 4:30 PM (5:30 PM Canada time) and only had stopped twice. We had listened to some great audio books and that passes the time like nothing.

We had really good weather overall this year, thank goodness. Nothing like the continuous rain last year. We did have 2-3 days of rain, but it was overall pretty hot and humid. Usually we freeze at night in our cabins and have to use a little heater that we leave up there, but we ran the fan most nights. We swam a lot and that was fun. The lake was the warmest I can ever remember. It was truly like bath water. The lake is hard with little ones, though... since we don't really have a beach and we swim out to the raft. But Ty finally figured out that he loved to hang out on the raft ladder and jump into our arms! He couldn’t get enough of that! He would even jump off the raft right into Heath’s arms – with no fear whatsoever. He would just leap! Not that Ty does not have fear. He can be afraid of the smallest things! Some of the kids were playing with this giant beach ball that you hook up to a hose and it sprays a little water so the kids can run through it. Ty was scared to death of it and would run into my arms if he got the slightest bit wet from it. It was so funny, though. As soon as they turned it off and the water was no longer spraying, he walked right over to the ball and turned it over and examined every inch of it… trying to figure out how it worked! He’s totally going to be an engineer.

Great weather for the lake!

Bode had just driven up from the lake!

Ty running away from the spraying beach ball! (Acadia in the background)

I’m trying to think of some crazy things that Ty did while we were there. First of all, Ty was in shoe heaven. He loves trying on everyone’s shoes. But Aubree’s shoes were his favorite. They are just about 1-2 sizes bigger than his and he would put them on every chance he would get. His favorites were her pink crocs and her green frog galoshes! He also liked to carry around one of the girl’s pink purses. Now should I be worried at this point?

Ty with the purse

Every morning, Tyson started doing this. He would climb up on the headboard of our bed (it’s not high), straddle it and then “freefall” back onto the bed. Oh, he loved this so much! He would just giggle and giggle every time he would do it. Towards the end, he upped the ante and stood up and freefell onto the bed! But I stopped that right away.

Chillin' with Dad after a freefall

One thing that was very apparent to people who know Ty well is that Ty shuts down when he is in a big crowd. He is very quiet and very shy. Not like “Home Ty” at all. When Ty is home, in his own element… he is a completely different kid. I can’t tell you how many times Shannon remarked to me of how quiet Ty was. He never fully opened up either… but what do you expect with 40 people around? One true downside of having 40+ people together is that someone is bound to be sick. Well, a few people came up with colds and before you knew it… it had spread to everyone like wildfire! Poor Ty got it pretty bad and he has been sick for almost 2 weeks now. After a night of screaming in horrible pain (I had never seen him so uncomfortable), I took him to a clinic because he was digging at his ears. It was interesting, I went to the urgent care clinic first but they told me that I would have to go to the local doctor’s office in town. You wouldn’t think that you could waltz into any doctor’s office, but that is how they do things. The clinic is for labs, Xrays only. It only cost us $30, which I was surprised at. The doctor saw Ty and said that both his ears and throat were red and inflamed, but there was not any pus, so she would not advise him to get antibiotics. But they wanted to see him back on Monday (this was a Friday). His fever broke and he was a new guy by the time Monday came around, so I cancelled the appointment. But we came home on Tuesday and by Wednesday the fever was back and he was digging at his ears again. I took him to our pediatrician and what do you know? Both of his ears are infected and he is on an antibiotic. Finley also came back to have a double ear infection too and is on antibiotics as well. Our poor little ones.

You can tell he does not feel well

Cuddling with Noni

Holding Dad's hand during the drive home

Since we came back, we are back to business as usual! On Thursday we hung out with Shannon & Fin and went out to eat with the Frosts to Thai food. We have to get our fill of the Frosts, because they are moving 40 minutes away at the end of the month. )= Sad for us, but great for them. They are renting a 3 bedroom house, which will seem like the Taj Mahal compared to the 1 bedroom apartment that they are in now. But we will miss them!