BFFs

Mommy Says:

Before we had Tyson, our time and energy was spent on our Yorkshire terrier-Lola. She's stinkin cute too. See?

Lola had our undivided attention for 4 years. She slept in our bed, wore festive holiday clothes (yep, we're those people), went on daily walks, cuddled with us on the couch-hell, she even had her own room (seriously). Needless to say we were more than a little worried as to how she'd handle her demotion from top dog.

The first night home Lola cried every time Tyson did. That was really cute-at first. But Tyson cried a lot that night. And at 1 AM it was no longer cute. We didn't dress Lola in a festive outfit this Christmas. We rarely spend time cuddling on the couch anymore. Walks these days are few and far between. Sadly, Lola has probably heard, "No Lola!" more in the last 4 months than she had previously in the last 4 years. We joke that Tyson's first word may actually be, "Nolola."

Despite all this, Lola loves Tyson. She can't get enough of him. She's the first one to his room in the morning to wake him up. She's in his face the second we put him down to play. She'll lay outside his door at nap time. She'll even let him pull on her whiskers without so much as a peep.

And you know what? I think Tyson loves Lola too. See?

Oh heeyyy Lola. What's up?

No Lola, I will not make out with you. I'm not that kind of baby.

Eh. What the hell? You are stinkin cute.

Look Mommy-Feet!

Mommy Says:

Tyson finally realized what we've been telling him all along. His feet are stinkin cute. So cute, in fact, that he now wants to play with them all day long. And take off his socks. And attempt to put his toes in his mouth-because they must taste good too, right?

Oh, so these are the little piggies you've been telling me about? Which one went to the market?

Cause that's how we roll....

Mommy Says:

He finally did it! After months of Mommy's gentle encouragement and Daddy's forced exercise time, Tyson finally rolled over! AND we got a picture of him doing it-cause that's how we roll!

If you could have been a fly on the wall at our house, you would have seen Daddy screaming and clapping, mommy tearing up, and a very confused Tyson. We're seriously that lame.

PS: I've been waiting for months to use the line, "cause that's how we roll" in the blog. Again, lame.

Daddy's 30!

Mommy Says:

Today is Daddy's birthday. He's turning the big 3-0. I told him he could probably quit dying his hair now that he's 30. Old people have gray hair.

We took Tyson to his first party on Saturday night to celebrate Daddy's big day. He also came down with his first cold on Saturday. Needless to say the two didn't really mix well. In fact, they were close to a recipe for disaster.

He and Daddy needed all day Sunday to recover.

Tyson-I hope you know how great of a Daddy you have. He loves you more than anything and I can tell that you adore him too. Watching you guys play together is one of my favorite things to do. Especially when Daddy calls it the Tiny Beany Spider instead of the Itsy Bitsy Spider and you look at him like he's a nincom. That's my favorite.

You're Daddy is an amazing and wonderful man. He's the most devoted and thoughtful person I know. He's the perfect balance of hard working and family orientated. He's funny and he's cute. If we can raise you to be anything like him, I'll know we succeeded at this parenting gig.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

PS-If Daddy reads this, he's going to be totally mad about the hair dye comment. And probably about me calling him old too.

PPS-If he reads the hair dye comment and takes my advice, you should probably quit investing in Just For Men Hair Dye-I'm just sayin.

Time flies...

Mommy Says:

When did this:

Hey, look at me. I'm a newborn and I sleep.

Turn into this:

Hey, look at me. I'm NOT a newborn and I sit up.

Before you're a parent, everyone will tell you how quickly your kids will grow up. To remember each moment with them. Until you actually become a parent, you don't realize how true this is. I'm realizing it now-and he's only 4.5 months old. What am I going to do when he turns 1? Or 10? Or 20?

This week Daddy and I looked through pictures of Tyson when he was a newborn. We marveled at his full head of hair and wrinkly face. And he was small! He was so small! With tiny little hands and feet. I'm secretly still surprised we didn't break him. When did his full head of hair disappear? When did his wrinkly face fade away to that amazingly smooth skin? When did he lose the newborn pout and develop his baby grin?

Time is already going too fast.

I'm afraid I won't remember things. Like how he fit so perfectly into the crook of my arm when we slept together that first night. Or how I was so afraid he'd quit breathing that I would watch his chest rise and fall until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Or how the newborn outfits I brought to the hospital were too big for him. Or how we would cuddle on the couch every night before his fussy time. Or how his bottom lip was crooked for the first month. Or how he hated his swing until he was three months old. Or when we used to feed him only two ounces. Or how he used to fit the short way in his crib. Or how he would smile as he drifted off to sleep. Or how I sometimes secretly liked doing the middle of the night feeding so I could see those smiles.

Each stage really is amazing, but I pray that I'm soaking it all in. Soaking him in-because those other parents? They're so right. They grow much too fast.

It's bad if your kid's first word is fv*k right?

Mommy Says:

Prior to Daddy's job as the Candyman, he owned a construction company. And, as it turns out, construction companies really do live up to some of their stereotypes. Lots of junk food was eaten on the job, Mountain Dew was a staple, and foul mouthed men came with the territory.

I blame the construction company for Daddy's love of Nacho Cheese Doritos and for his potty mouth.

The potty mouth didn't really bother me when I first met Daddy. I mean maybe it did at first, but I gradually warmed up to the four letter words. I may have even adopted some into my own vocabulary. I may have even just said one at Daddy while I was writing this blog.

That's probably why the swearing never really bothered me until NOW. Until this.



Tyson's talking. Lots. And he's started to mimic us. (It's an obvious sign of his high IQ.) We stick out our tongue, he does. We blow raspberries, he does. We say fv*k, he does. Well....not yet, but, seriously, SERIOUSLY-this could happen kids. In like seven more months. Which is freakishly soon. And fv*k is really not that difficult to get out. Pretty similar to DaDa, MaMa or Baba-in fact easier as it only has one syllable. Much easier.

Which is why we're working on our pottymouthiness-because, fv*k just isn't as cute as MaMa.

PS-I attempted to take the video of him cooing this morning and got this one instead. What's awesome is I've always wanted a video of Daddy burping and Tyson spitting up. In unison. What more could a girl ask for?

PPS-Why must I sound like a drunk fourth grader in all of the videos we take?

Let's talk about sleep baby.

Mommy Says:

Something strange happened in our house this week. This happened.

Not that I want to brag or anything, but this is Tyson sleeping. At 6 AM. After not waking up once since we put him to bed at 7 PM. 7 PM! I'm sure you don't need me to do the math for you, but that's 11 hours! 11 hours!

I could do cartwheels. Or back flips. But probably more realistically cartwheels. I don't really think I could do a back flip.

Please let this continue, please let this continue, please let this continue.

Third Time's a Charm

Mommy Says:

After much research and debate, we decided to give Tyson rice cereal for the first time on his four month birthday. I spent the afternoon preparing for the big moment-which is equally as pathetic as it is embarrassing.

I read how to mix the cereal and washed his baby spoons for their first use. I debated between feeding him in his bumbo or his high chair-weighing the pros and cons of both. I really did. And finally, I set up the cameras (all 3 of them) so we could capture the moment.

Tyson apparently didn't spend all afternoon preparing and he clearly wasn't aware of the importance of the event. Our first attempt at feeding resulted in a messy and screaming baby, a crying and frustrated Mommy, and absolutely no pictures.

Dejected, I let Daddy take the reigns the next day. And...

He liked it, he really liked it!

Surprisingly, Tyson took the second feeding of rice cereal like a champ. He finished about half of tablespoon and seemed to enjoy every minute of it.

Not one to let Daddy take the glory punch, I decided to attempt the next feeding. And....

He liked it better than when Daddy fed him! Which is really all that matters.

The third time was a charm! Apparently rice cereal is hilarious and tasty. Or mommy is hilarious. Either way, rice cereal appears to be a success.

PS-Nope, rice cereal didn't impact his sleeping habits. Unless you think getting up at midnight and 4 AM is a step in the right direction. We do not.

4 Months

Mommy and Daddy Say:

Dear Tyson,

Today you're 4 months old! Can you believe it? Neither can we. Where has the time gone? It really does seem like just yesterday we were blindly stumbling through life with a newborn-surviving on caffeine and prayers for your sleep-oh wait...that was just yesterday. Seriously, kid, could you figure out this sleep thing soon? Mommy and Daddy need some good rest.

But I digress...what a month it's been! You've been such a busy guy. As you no longer resemble a bobble head, you decided to try out all of your new toys. You LOVE your Excersaucer and your Johnny Jump Up. And, as a result, our house now officially looks like it pukes baby toys.

Look at your concerned face in both of these pictures. Are you worried because our house is sick and puking baby toys?

You talk! Oh, do you talk...You are finding your voice more and more each day. Coos and gees and ahhs and everything else that is equally important to tell us. We think you'll be quite the talker like Daddy, but your voice may (fingers crossed) be quiet like Mommy's.

You laugh! Your sense of humor is very particular these days. Mommy sneezing is hilarious. You die. It's also funny when Daddy throws you in the air (please don't call CPS-I swear you would do it too if you could hear how cute that little laugh is). It's no longer funny when we tickle you OR play peek-a-boo OR blow raspberries on your tummy-no matter how long and hard Mommy tries.

You play with toys! The three month old grabbing has advanced to four month old holding onto and shaking. Again, we're convinced that this is very advanced and a sure sign of your capability to make it as a professional athlete some day.

You roll...from side to side! Still not rolling over all the way yet, but we swear it will be soon. You've perfected the art of rolling from side to side and we're beginning to think you may not follow the norm and roll front to back before rolling back to front.

You survived two different weeks with Mommy as a Single Mommy! The more important part here is Mommy survived two weeks as a Single Mommy. Daddy had to travel for the first time since you were born and he had the nerve to do it two weeks in a row. Thankfully we had lots of help from Grandma.

Dude, if it wasn't for Grandma you totally might not have made it past your 3rd month.

Tyson, with every month that passes we find it harder and harder to remember what our life was like without you in it-and that's a good thing. In fact, it's a GREAT thing. It's impossible to have a bad day when we spend it with you. You make us smile every single day.

Because, really, how could you not smile at that face?

Happy 4 month birthday little guy! We love you lots.

Thinking Positive

Mommy Says:

Remember when Mommy talked about how I took millions of pregnancy tests in the few months we were trying to conceive you? Remember how I sounded like a lunatic? I do.

One year ago today, I happened to take a test that looked different. It had a faint second line.

Very faint.

So I did what any other lunatic would do. I conserved my urine, drove to Target, and purchased 5 other pregnancy tests. And a "Congrats Daddy" card.

I peed on all of them. The tests, not the card.

Afterwards, our bathroom looked something like this:

I say "something like this" because I actually found this picture on the internet. I must have accidently deleted my picture of our positive tests so as to not have proof of my craziness. At least I'm not the only lunatic out there.

Yes, it took ALL of the tests to convince me this was really happening-see above about being a lunatic. I was going to be your Mommy. I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face and, as I sat down to write a card to your Daddy, I couldn't stop the tears from falling.

Happy Positive Day, little guy!