Mine, His and Now...OURS!

Tyler 10.5 Months

This kid cracks me up!  He learned how to shake his head "no", and started clapping food off a spoon if he's tired of it. It is SO freakin' funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k1hE5rr3dc

Here's another!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWQd-nN4MT8

Such a Big Boy!

Little T-Diddy was not feeling well, AND he had a well-child visit yesterday.  Good timing, I guess!  Anyway, Tyler's well on his way to healthfulness, and well on his way to steak and potatoes.  He weighed 22 pounds, 1 ounce, and was 29 inches tall!! Both of those stats are above the charts, which surprised me just a little.  Damon was always fatter than he was tall (but he wasn't short by any means!), so Tyler being so tall surprised me a bit.  He has grown almost 10 inches and gained 15 1/2 pounds+ since he was born!! Key-ray-zee.  (picture: Damon, and me, flanking an adorable Tyler in his $70 Ralph Lauren pram...which I "stole" at Macy's for $12 when I was barely pregnant! Yay me for the great deal!)

Here are some more fun tidbits:

*Ty-Ty is the height and weight of an average 11-month-old boy (Pic: poor, undernourished preemie boy!)

*Samantha (now 10) was 26" and 16 1/2 pounds at 6 months.  Tiny in comparison! She's now pretty tall.

*Damon (now 6) was 28" and 23 1/2 pounds at 6 months.  Neither he, nor Tyler had necks at 6 months!

*My brother (now 37) was even fatter!! He was over 25 pounds at 6 months!  I think he was the same height as Tyler though. I need to check with my mom.

*Despite being under the weather and full of immunizations, little T-man's sunny disposition has not clouded over one bit!  He's such a sweetie-peetie! 

Or...is he a SUGAR DADDY!!  Isn't he so freakin' cute?! 

Hey, if you want a similar item, let me know and I'll introduce you to a very talented lady who made this for Ty-Jo!  Stay tuned for more...

Happy Half-Birthday, Ty-Ty!

Yesterday Tyler (affectionately known as "Ty-Ty" to his siblings) turned 1/2!  Yes, I'm one of those who likes celebrating, or at least acknowledging 1/2 birthdays.  Dumb? Yes.  But, the kids love it!  Anyway, with a baby it's a little different anyway, since you tend to celebrate each month during their first year, at least verbally.  And, of course, with each passing month comes fun, new milestones! 

Yesterday, for example, Tyler started two new things!! 1) blowing raspberries.  This in itself was VERY cute.  Except for when he was eating his cereal. And prunes. And squash.  Let's just say, I'm going to invest in safety goggles if this behavior continues during meal times.  But, it is cute when he does it when Kevin is feeding him.  Naturally.

2) Tyler rolled from back to belly!  With his mobility, we suspect he's been doing this for a while, but we have never seen it!  The little sneak tried to pretend like he wasn't doing it again last night, but I caught him just before his bath, as he attacked his bath towel. 

Poor baby woke up with a cold, too.  His first "real" illness, though I'd love it if the extent of his illness remained at the sniffles.  So far no fever, no cough, no nothin' other than a runny/stuffy nose--and maybe pink eye again.  He still has his sunny disposition too! Here's hoping it passes soon and doesn't get any worse. 

Tyler goes for his well-baby check tomorrow, and I'm really not looking forward to it.  I hate immunizations. Period.  I mean, I'm glad he won't get polio and all, but geesh he is always out of sorts for about a full WEEK after getting his shots.  And, I won't have Kevin to share duties with on Thursday night, as he'll be out of town.  *sigh* It's gonna be brutal. 

Yesterday I found my new favorite store, especially when it comes to baby clothes, I've decided.  H&M!  Oh. My. Gosh.  Their clothes are SO dang cute (I would say I like them even better than GAP!), high quality like GAP (from what I can tell) and C-H-E-A-P.  Better yet, they are a Swedish company, so I feel like I give back to the mother land!  I got THE cutest long-sleeved shirt for him for $6.90.  Not even on sale. That's just the price.  At GAP the same shirt would have easily been $20 or $30!  No lie. 

They have men's, women's and other kid's clothes too, so get thee to an H&M, stat!  If you live around here I know they have one at the MoA, and apparently one in Woodbury too.  They aren't in every state though, but I think it would be worth a trip!

Anyway, tonight we have Ty-Ty's 6 month pictures (if he's feeling well enough), and I can't wait to see how cute his new H&M clothes look on him! 

Happy Halloween (Belated!)

Okay, sorry I'm so lacking in my posting for Tyler.  I can't weigh him anymore (he outgrew the cake pan), so stats will be fewer and farther between.  As it looks, he is about 21 1/2 pounds (based on the regular scale), and if we're measuring properly, about 27 3/4" tall.  We'll be taking him to his well-baby check-up on Thursday, so I'll have more official stats then.  It looks, however, like Tyler is very much taking after brother Damon, in that he is a little fatter than he is tall.  Quite frankly, he is deliciously fat! 

Tyler is really moving around a lot, and is sitting fairly well for his age, though he still tips over a lot.  Though we often wonder if he wouldn't sit as well if he didn't have his belly holding him up in front!  His favorite toy of all time is his exersaucer.  He has a blast in it!  Sometimes he just kind of spazzes out when he's in it, jumping, spinning, and playing with the toys.  It's hilarious!  We also introduced his Johnny Jump-up, or whatever it's called.  He just kind of hangs in it, playing with the toys on it and spinning.  So dang cute. 

We had some family pictures taken a couple weeks ago by the same guy who took the pics when Tyler was a newborn.  We liked them so much, that we had him take these others as well. He spent a lot of time with us, and got some good shots!  No, Tyler's head isn't that crooked.  It's just that his hair sticks up everywhere other than that one spot. I have no idea why.  It does make his head look kinda funny, but that's okay!  Anyway, the album is in the left column, but here's the link.

You also must see these funny pictures of Tyler in his Halloween costume.  Isn't it hilarious?!  See more in the Halloween album to the left as well.

Hope you have a great week!

Oh, How Cute is HE?!

This morning, Tyler was playing in his Exersaucer, as usual, and Kevin decided to play peek-a-boo with him.  Up until now, a game of peek-a-boo was not exactly fun for Tyler.  He would either just stare at the weird person trying to peek, or cry because he got scared.  Today it was funny, because obviously Tyler could SEE Kevin, or at least the majority of Kevin.  However, each time Kevin would pop out from the tiny toy fishy thing to say, "Peek!", Tyler would jump and giggle and squeal with delight! 

Of course I was having so much fun watching this happen over and over again, that I didn't even think to take a video until Tyler was just about petered out.  Oh well, it is still cute, and you still get the gist!  I love videos!!

Toofers!!!

I'm actually pretty surprised that Mr. T JUST sprouted a brand new pearly white!  A month ago, at his 4 month appointment, the doctor noted that there was nothing on the horizon tooth-wise.  No swelling or anything.  Last week, amidst much drooling and chewing, I ran my finger across the bottom row once again. Nothing.  Yesterday, just for fun, I decided to check again.  Not only did I feel some major swelling going on at the two bottom front teeth spot, but I felt the tell-tale sharp edge of tooth #1 which must have *barely* just erupted from T's gum that very day.  How cute is that?  The one on the right is very close behind. I'll keep ya posted!

Damon was also a very early tooth-getter (2 bottom ones at 4 1/2 months), but Samantha, my oldest, was 10 months before a single tooth emerged.  So, one never knows about those things.  Once we figured out the tooth thing, we realized that the little guy's eating and sleeping issues (he was getting less of both) was for this very reason.  *Whew*  Case solved!  After a dose of Tylenol yesterday afternoon, he ate better.  After another dose before bed, he slept better (8 full hours again).  *Whew* indeed!

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In other Tyler news, he is thisclose to rolling over the OTHER way now, from back to tummy.  He has the other mastered, of course.  Also, he *seems* to be figuring out how to wave.  Kevin was working with him on it last night, and it does look like he is waving his arm in response to Kevin.  Either that, or he just gets so excited by Kevin's actions that he just waves like crazy in pure glee.  Only time will tell.  As Kevin would like to believe, he is just unbelievably smart (which I'm sure he is, but...) and was practically waving straight out of the womb. 

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Since Tyler is about 21 pounds, and his infant carrier only goes to 22 pounds, we've started looking into convertible car seats.  Now *that* is fun to research.  Not so much.  I mean, you want the best, but the best is ridiculously expensive.  So, you go to the next best.  Less money, but not as user-friendly.  Oh, what to do?  I think we have it figured out, but ugh.  Car seats.  What a pain!! The hope will be to obviously not get in a wreck, so any seat *should* do.  That being said, we're going to hit BabiesRUs this week to check them out first hand.  If you have any recommendations, feel free to give them to me!

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We had family photos taken last weekend by our favorite photog who did those early black and whites of Tyler and me.  I hope at least one turned out.  Tyler was NOT in the mood, Damon was being a stinker, and Kierstyn was in fake-smile-mode. Fingers crossed that at least one has 4 or 5 of us looking decent at a minimum.  (This pic I took at Severs Corn Maze later that day, but you see here what I'm talking about!! Ha ha!)

When Does it End?

The growth spurts, that is.  I swear at the rate Tyler is growing, he will be a GIANT by Christmas!  Last week he had about 8 pairs of jammies that fit him.  Now he has like 2, and it isn't because of weight, it is because he has grown in height so much!  He can't fit into any 6-9 month stuff anymore.  He is in 12-18.  The kid is 5 months old!!! Sheesh!

I know it sounds like I may be bragging, but I honestly wish he would slow down a bit.  We are spending an arm and a leg just trying to keep him outfitted, and now he even needs a new car seat, because his head and feet both stick out either end of the infant seat.  It wouldn't be so bad if we were having more children, but we most certainly won't be, and have all this barely-worn, brand-new stuff that we would have liked to get more use out of.

Last night we were at the mall in Rochester, hanging out with Kierstyn (we meet there during the weeks that we don't have her on the weekend since we miss her so), and saw an 8-month-old who was smaller than Tyler and another 5-month-old who looked like a teeny pretend doll next to Tyler.  I think he must take after my brother, who was like 32" tall at a year.  That is ridiculously large, but Tyler is well on his way to that size!

Anyway, even though he isn't 6 months yet, I attempted to try to give him sweet potatoes (gross!) last Thursday evening.  I thought he might like them, since he is always licking his lips and drooling when he sees me eating "regular" food.  Or, maybe he just drools anyway.  Needless to say, the kid did NOT like sweet potatoes.  I might try again this Thursday, but based on the reaction he had to said veggies (see pic), he might just always feel the same way about sweet potatoes that his mother has for the past 35 years.  No, not even with marshmallow (double blech).

I decided, even after writing my blurb about the Packers vs Vikings, that it would be fairly awful of me  to bear Kevin a son and then expect him to be a Vikings fan.  I mean, we have Packers season tickets, and K is die-hard.  I would be the worst wife in the world to start trying to force my husband's most hated team onto the newest Turzinski boy.  The way I figure it, if Tyler ends up being even half as intelligent as I think he is, he will make the wisest choice when he's old enough anyway.  Go Vikes!

"Maybe it's because you can't even move that toy from your face!"

So, Tyler still lives at home, per the shirt he is wearing.  When he bugs us about moving out, all we have to do is show him this picture, which clearly depicts his dependence.  I mean, when you're done playing with a toy, put it away!  It doesn't belong just sitting on your face, son. 

He's also being brainwashed already by his father, who is the consummate Green Bay Packers fan.  One plus, he has not yet received any Green Bay garb to wear on game day (or any other day).  If this happens, I will have to retaliate by stopping by our neighborhood Target store and grab a Vikings jersey for the little tyke.  I have the feeling by the time I get around to it, they will be picked over.  *sigh*  It's not like I don't make at least 3 trips to Target throughout the week.  I am just waiting to buy anything Vikings (since they outgrow it so fast) until we get a Packers thing to counteract.  I'm sure you understand. 

I have to laugh a little bit.  This past weekend was so bloody hot that we had to crank the air 24/7.  I think it was like 100 with the heat index and all (the humidity was that "I can't breathe the air is so thick" kind).  Well, as you can imagine, our little "noodle" no longer fits into ANY of his summer stuff.  Being the planning, thoughtful, bright, pretty, amazingly sparkling (whoops, I'm going a little far) mom that I am, I had gotten Tyler a few summer outfits on sale for NEXT summer, in full anticipation of a big, but not "huge" toddler at that point.  We had to break them out, and hope and pray that he wouldn't swim in them this weekend. 

1) I'm glad that he had a couple things to wear!

2) Um...they may not fit next summer.

3) See picture for an example as to why.

4) With those things in mind, I'm glad we had such hot days, so he could get at least ONE use out of those outfits!

Don't you just love fat, naked babies?  It is always sweet to feel that baby-soft skin, and squish those chubby-soft cheeks! 

Tyler is 5 Months OLD!!!

It's hard to believe that as of Saturday, our little preemie peanut was 5 months old!  Even harder to believe is that he is 20 pounds!  Such a little porker now.  He seems chubby, but not like FAT, like Damon was at the same age.  Of course, Tyler is 2 pounds lighter than Damon was at this age, and at least an inch taller, so that makes a difference.  Thankfully, all of Tyler's preemie-ness is a thing of the past.  He is almost sitting already, and he is ROLLING!  He started doing that last week, but he kept doing it while he was in his crib, and we would miss seeing him do it.  Finally, we captured it on video.  Check it out!

Belly Laughs

Okay, who doesn't just adore the genuine gleeful giggles of babies?  I know that I, for one, cannot resist laughing myself any time I hear one.  Tyler has been laughing a bit for a month or so now, but today was the first time we really had him going for quite a while.  Here's a sample!

P.S. This morning Tyler was 18# 9.5oz, and is closing in on 27 inches!