Back to work...

Yep, I'm starting back to work on Monday.  I'm going to work on Monday, Wednesday's and Friday's and still working from home on Tuesday and Thursday.  I am ready to get a little independence back but still have the flexibility with the kids and home life.  My boss is super cool anyway =)  I was originally going to put Tyler in daycare up in Palm Beach where I work but decided last minute that I don't think that is going to work for him.  I found him a nanny on Care.com which I was quite surprised that I went on there and found someone that I liked.  The last time I logged on there, was sometime last year to try and find a babysitter and hadn't done it since (never found one by the way, we have Sean's sister to help).  Anyway, me, Sean and Tyler went to go meet Melanie this past week and she is really wonderful!  The cool thing is that she has a 14 month old daughter so Tyler will have a little playmate!  I'm very happy that he will have someone to play with around his age and doing similar things that he does.  I am going to drop Tyler off there in the mornings after I drop Hunter off at his preschool.  Her house is really not that far from me and the Turnpike is right near her so I can just jump on that to get to work.  In a way, I'm a little sad about leaving my little guy but I feel so much better leaving him with her than when I had to leave Hunter when he was 4 months old in daycare.  I hate that I've done things differently with them and I feel guilty a lot because I wish Hunter could've been home with me for a year before determining if daycare or a nanny would be a good fit for him but at least I know right now that both of them are happy.  They're both complete opposites and I really believe that Hunter thrives with daycare and I just think that Tyler wouldn't.  At least not right now he would.   So, we'll see how this first week goes =)

 

The boys' birthday party is just right around the corner and I'm gearing up for around 40 adults and 12 kids to be over!  I've done some checklists and bought all the decorations for their 1st big birthday bash together and at times I wonder what did I get myself into?  Haha but I know that they will be surrounded by friends and family that love them.  I'm really anxious to see Tyler eat cake since he will eat everything!  Hunter didn't even want to touch his cake when he turned 1 so I'm hoping that I can get one of those faces full of cake all over it!  Also, our present to both the boys is a new swing set which I know Hunter is going to LOVE and I've been reminding Sean that it will take at least 2 days to put up and hopefully, he won't procrastinate too much and have it up before the party because we have a lot to do!

 

 

Gonna miss having our cuddles all day =)

 

Here's a few things about each of the boys that I want to share now that they are about to turn 1 and 3.

 

Hunter:

- He just had a big growth spurt and is 33 pounds!  2 months ago he was 29 pounds!  He also wears 4T shirts and 3T shorts, size 11 shoe (almost 11.5)

- He loves dinosaurs! Anything about them he loves.

- He is still attached to his blanky and paci.  He has been warned that when he turns 3 that it has to go "bye bye" just like his diapers did. So he already has been telling me at night that after his, "Mickey party, that there is no more paci". I told him that we will have to sing a "bye bye paci" song while he throws them away.  I'm nervous but I'm sticking to my guns on this one big time!

- He's potty trained and has pretty much been going on his own (other than #2).  I used to constantly remind him but now he doesn't need me to mention it! Ahhhhh, I'm so excited about this.

- He's still a little picky with food but has opened up more to other foods and is trying them. For instance, I made Tyler asparagus the other night (of course Tyler loved them) and Hunter ate one. He didn't like it but he actually tried it.  I think Tyler has a big influence on him now =)

- I just realized that I didn't write this one in his baby book so I'm going to share one of his funny moments:  I was in the kitchen and I saw a big spider in one of my drawers (I'm still totally freaked out by this, btw) and I screamed and slammed the drawer and Hunter came running over and asked, "mommy, what happened?" So I told him and said that I wish daddy was here so he could kill him and that I told him not to worry about it and I'm not going to go back in the drawer until daddy gets home.  Hunter goes and runs and grabs his favorite big dinosaur and tells me to open the drawer because the dinosaur will kill him for me!  LOL.  He was cute. I just kissed him all over when he said that.

 

Mommy's little helper.

 

Tyler:

- He weighs 23 pounds and wears 24 months clothes (some 18 months) and wears a 4.5 Wide shoe (LOL), is still trying to walk - stands frequently on his own without moving for like 5-7 seconds, pushes his toys all around...I'm in no rush with him, I just want to keep him little =)

- Loves books and when I read to him, he has a way of telling me which 3 books that he loves for me to read to him every night and when I grab a different one he hits it and swats it away...haha!

- He loves to dance and has just started saying, "Yay" but hasn't quite mastered the clapping technique yet

- He puts his paci in his toys where they have holes or places to put things all around the house and then when I need one I can't find it so I find them in all those toys

- He has also become silly, well at least in my eyes he is and laughs at the simplest things.  He also LOVES our dog, Millie and Millie seems to love him too, especially because Tyler has learned to throw him food from his highchair at every meal

- He loves his big brother so much and still loves when he runs around the house and comes back to him and gives him a hug =)

 

Silly

Another silly one.

 

Tyler can never leave Hunter alone.....at least Hunter enjoys his company most of the time and wonders where he is if he isn't around =)

 

So much has happened in this past year, I can't imagine what its going to be like this next year with both of them walking and really playing together.  I can't wait!

 

 

Everything...

Dear Blog,

 

I know that you have been feeling a bit abandoned lately and back when we just had Hunter and I worked full time that was when I found the time to write to you. I'm not making excuses but these days with having both boys and working part time seems like I NEVER have time.  I think about you  all the time and feel like I just wanna pick up the phone and talk to you and let you know how my day is going but I know I need to spend a little more one-on-one time with you.  With that being said, I'm sorry and promise to do better (hopefully). 

 

Yours truly,

Laurie

 

Phewwww, glad I got that off my chest.  Okay.  So, here's a quick update:  we went to Marco Island with my mom (Mimi) last month and took her for her 60th birthday (she will kill me for writing how old she is, btw).  It was soooo gorgeous there but I admit it wasn't the best of vacations . The first night we were there, Tyler had a terrible night and I knew the next morning he had an ear infection(s).  So, I called around to pediatric offices and found that I just needed to take him to the Urgent Care there and luckily when we got there, we were the only ones there!  I called ahead too and the nurse told me that she will make me an appointment anyway just in case.  Sure enough, Tyler had double ear infections so we knew he was in a lot of pain.  Got his antibiotics and all the ibuprofen and Tylenol for him.  He was still uncomfortable for the rest of the vacay and we both hardly slept the whole time but when we got home he was so much better.  He is such a great baby so when he acts in any way unusual (ahem, not eating), I definitely know there is something wrong.  Hunter definitely had a blast.  Anywhere there is water, he is a happy camper; especially now that he can swim.  We stayed at the Marriott right there on the beach and so he loved that and also had a special kiddie pool for the kids.  We went with Sean's Firefighting Benevolent Society and they all brought their families so Hunter had plenty of kids to play with.  We also thought that we got a room with a kitchen because of the kids (btw, don't ever let your husband plan the trip and book the rooms without being 100% sure of the room situation) but we managed.  Other than that, we had a great time and Mimi enjoyed her 60th, I mean 21st birthday. =)

This is that the kiddie pool...you see Sean holding Hunter and another kid hanging onto his leg...Sean was definitely worn out this day.

Here's us improvising in the hotel....

Tyler's building sand castles already....I think Hunter was down at the beach at this time. He didn't care so much about sand castles.

This was our beachfront. Ahhhhh!

Here, Hunter is holding his friend, Jayden's hand getting ready to go down a big slide into the pool.

Waiting for our lunch...

They had this guy every night doing the whole fire dancing....it was really cool.

Tyler crawled around this castle once and then bulldozed it down in 5 seconds!

Hunter and his shark.  That was his BFF the whole time. He even slept with him....too bad, we forgot him! We totally forgot to check the bed he was sleeping in that morning when we left.  Ooops!  Daddy ended up going to the store finding him a similar one when we got back.  =)

 

 

Since, then we have all just been getting back into the routine.  Hunter is back in school (he was out for a month between vacations, visits and being sick), I'm back to working from home and managing the house while Sean is studying and working, Tyler is back to his routine and feeling better, and Sean is back to working and studying for the captain's exam which has now been pushed back to next February (instead of December) so he has a couple more months of study time which is awesome for him but not for me...lol.  We manage fine when he is out studying but he makes sure to find the time and spend with us. 

 

I have been gearing up for the boys' first officially birthday together next month! The boys' birthday's are 3 days apart in September.  So we will have it over that weekend.  I feel like I'm starting to go overboard with everything but I'm just so excited and we plan on having around 50 people here at the house.  The boys are getting a surprise swing set (courtesy of their MawMaw and Paw) so we are really excited for them to get to play on it.  I have lots of stuff planned as far as games and pool stuff because we will be having a lot more kids this year.  Sean is even thinking of hiring a lifeguard! Haha.  I'm just excited for them and now Hunter is an official, "Happy Birthday" singer and "candle blower outer", I think he is more than prepared for the big 3.  Tyler is literally growing up so fast that I cried last week.  I guess I got all the tears out of the way because I knew on his actual 1st birthday that I wouldn't have time for the tears.  He's definitely growing into a toddler and has recently been nodding his head, "yes" and "no" for things that he wants or doesn't want.  I'm trying to get him to say the words but babbles just come out.  He is gearing toward walking.  I'm not quite sure when because he started crawling early but didn't seem to even care to do it until around 7.5 months so I have no idea when the real steps are going to happen.  He's definitely strong enough, just not sure enough.

He looks like a little man here.

He loves pushing around toys.

I had him try on a  "1st birthday" hat in the Party store to see if he would even leave it on but sure enough he wanted it off right away.

Hunter is really into dinosaurs and LOVES to sing!  He sings so much! He recently started singing, "Hakuna Matata" from Lion King and was surprised that he knew every single word.  He loves his ABC time (more like "let me play on the iPad with you time") and has recently been drawing his letters and likes for me to write random numbers so he can tell me what they are.  He can currently count to 50, say his ABC's like nothing, write the letters (with my help of course), knows that days of the week and months of the year, and knows the first letters are of objects - such as "H" is for Hunter, "A" is for alligator.  Oh and the best part of him right now is that he is officially potty trained!!!!!! I thought this day would NEVER come.  LOL.  I kept telling him that when he is 3 that he has to be a big boy and no more diapers and that he has to be a big boy and train Tyler to potty train one day so I think that helped him.  I still put a Pull-up on him at night just in case because I'm still in shock that he finally gets it now. So, I don't want to risk any accidents in the middle of the night. =)  Eventually, I'll give that up but for now, I am just soooooo happy about this.  He's another one I shed a tear about the other day after that happened but I think it was more of an "happy cry" for him even though I want him to stay little forever too.  I'm looking forward to this next year with the boys as they are seemingly doing everything together now anyway especially now that Hunter is sharing ALOT more with Tyler than he was before.  At one point, I was taking away every single one of his favorite toys and movies on a daily basis and was left with Tyler's toys or toys he doesn't care so much about.  He is so obsessed with the Land Before Time movies (remember those?) that when I had to go that far and take that movie time away, that's when he straightened up and knew I meant business.  My friend's have all told me that the 3 year old stage is the toughest and that the 2's were a breeze so I'm hoping that the usual tantrums and occasional, "I don't want to share my toys" is all I have to deal with.  I'm holding my breath because I find that to be tough already.  I guess we shall see.....

I didn't allow him to go in the pool this day because he was just getting over double ear infections as well so I let him play with the hose. He gets them from all the swimming he does!

My big guy.  He loves that Simba shirt I got for him at Old Navy on clearance for like $2!  I couldn't believe they had that there!

 

Love these silly boys.  I can't believe they're growing up so fast....

 

Family time!

This past month we've had some of my family come visit which was a lot of fun.  Tyler was baptized over the Memorial Day Weekend and my mom, brother and sister-in-law came down for that.  Matt and Jessica are Tyler's Godparents =) (My brother is also Hunter's Godfather and Sean's sister is his Godmother).  It was a nice private ceremony with my family and Sean's family and the priest was the same priest that baptized Hunter so it made it even more special.  Tyler did great (as usual) and it was a short 30 minute session and later we went back over to Sean's parent's house for some lunch and a much needed nap for Tyler. 

 

 

 

 

We had a pretty eventful time when they were here with lots of dinners (and drinks..lol) and places to go.  I have to admit I went out a lot which is rare these days so lets just say when they all left we were all pretty pooped but we had a blast.  This was also the first night that I had ever left both the boys overnight with my mom.  All 4 of us went casino/bar hopping around Fort Lauderdale.  We checked into a nearby hotel and cabbed it all around town.  We had a blast and was fortunate for my mom for us to make a night out together. 

 

Marnie and Eric were able to meet us out for dinner the night we stayed overnight.

Hunter and Tyler both got a shirt from their Godparents that said "The Godchild" on it.  I am still trying to get them to both wear this shirt at the same time and smile! LOL. Its so hard when Hunter hates getting his photo taken now. =(

 

A few weeks later my dad came into town for business and was able to make a vacation out of it and stay with us for a few days. We had lots of fun with Paw.  He was at a conference all during the week right in downtown Fort Lauderdale so we were able to meet him for lunch one day.

 

 

 

 

When he was all done with his conference, we went to Parrot Jungle Island in Miami Beach.  Sean had to work this day but Paw was a great help with the boys and Hunter loved seeing all the animals!

 

 

Hunter loves feeding ducks!

Rooooaaaar! Hunter loved that the tiger came up so close to us.

Big Turtle!

Behind them is where all the alligators were that you can't see.

 

My dad and Sean spent an entire afternoon one day building this airplane teeter totter for the boys. Then afterwards Sean and Hunter went for a dip in the pool.  Hunter chose to go naked! LOL. . 

 

 

My dad and I even managed to go out on a dinner date!  It felt like old times when we would meet once a week for lunch.  Glad we got to spend some time one-on-one time. 

We managed to get out for an afternoon to Hunter's favorite park where we fed the duckies (we always have to do that) and ride his bike all around the lake. 

 

In the meantime, everyone has been doing well.  Sean has officially started studying for his Captain's exam which he will take in December. Hunter hit a little bit of a growth spurt because all of his 3T stuff is starting to not fit him and his 3 year old molars have officially started to come in.  I feel like I have 2 babies teething because all Hunter wanted to pretty much eat for a week was popsicles, ice cream and yogurt.  LOL.  Tyler has officially started cruising and has recently started using his push toy every now and then around the house.  Hunter has been doing a teeny bit better sharing his toys with Tyler.  A lot of it is Tyler being so curious with his toys too that Hunter isn't used to some baby just reaching for everything that he plays with so its been a struggle at both ends. I've realized that this is always going to be an issue with the both of them, I just have to help them get along and both be happy about it.

Hunter is very much into riding his bike all around and still loves swimming in the pool.  He can swim all the way from the shallow end to the deep end with poking his head up once or twice for air. He's fearless in the water! He's still Mr. Bossy but has at least starting saying Please and Thank you along with his demands....so that helps! LOL.  He's also very into dinosaurs right now too.  Sean popped in that Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs movie for him one day and he is hooked!  I also went on Ebay and ordered The Land Before Time movie and he loves that too! I remember when I was a kid I loved is as well. 

Caught! Playing with my brother's choo choo train.

Tyler's in this Peekaboo stage right now and loves it!

Cool Dude.

Here they are actually playing along. =)

Next up! Marco Island for my mom's 60th birthday! This should be fun!

 

Yeah, I've been pretty much BUSY!

I can't stand when there is something that I need to do and I just don't get to it and this blog has been one of them.  I usually commit to starting to write sometime after the kids go to bed but lately I've been working a lot at night on my computer so working and blog writing just don't mix.  Then during the day there is so much going on that I can't focus to write so I have re-committed myself to make time for this.

 

So, here's a little catch up of what we have been up to:

 

Tyler is 8 months old already!  He's crawling all over the place.  When he started he was so sluggish and didn't mind shuffling a foot away from him to get to something and just sit and play for awhile and then not even think about crawling again..haha!  He has started pulling up on stuff and about 2 days ago actually pulled up on his little table and stood for about a minute and fell.  I'm totally not wanting that to rush because me and Sean just think its going to be so weird with 2 boys walking around everywhere and I feel like he's getting closer to being a toddler when I want to keep him little!  He has officially started table food and loves feeding himself.  He could care less about the pureed food so I'm pretty much feeding him everything that I can feed a baby with 6 (maybe 7 teeth).  He's wearing 18 month clothes (some 12 months) and I'm approximating that he weighs about 20-21 pounds.  I feel like he's still chunky but he's started to thin out a little or his body is just taking more of a shape instead of just chunk.  He is so in love with his brother.  He does not want to go to bed if he knows he is still awake when its his bedtime.  It's so cute.  Oh and Tyler also has been sleeping through the night for about 2 weeks now (Thank God!).  It's funny because this is around the same time that Hunter finally did and since the beginning Tyler has always been a great sleeper.   They're both so cute to watch interact and it's my favorite part of each day.  Here's a video that I took of the boys the other day:

 

 

Hunter these days is "Mr. Bossy". We even call him that and when I say it, I imitate Ellen Degenerous' voice from Nemo when she tells Marlin that he is being, "Mr. Bossy"!  Hunter right away tells me "No mommy" with a little melody when he says it.  Also, this boy is obsessed with singing!  He walks around everywhere singing!  Everything from "Old Macdonald had a farm" to "B-I-N-G-O".  He even makes up his own songs with the melody from them.  Half the time we have no idea what he's saying but Tyler cracks up at him every time he does it.  We are just about fully potty trained with him.  He have had a huge barrier with him when it comes to going "#2" on the potty and just this past week he has finally giving in to doing it and just going and doing it when he has to so I'm soooooooooooooooooo looking forward to him getting out of diapers completely during the day.  Just an FYI - him and Tyler where the same size 4 diaper! I know.  Overall, Hunter is so good to his little brother and we just love this funny stage that he is right now.  I feel like the "terrible 2's" are somewhat gone (or maybe I'm just really used to it) but I feel like his frustration stage is over with and he is working through those times a lot better than usual.  Our pool has finally warmed up and he has been swimming so much and can swim by himself with out us helping him.  He can now stand up in the shallow end so that helps but he swims from the stairs to the other side of the pool all by himself. He can tread water and Sean has just recently taught him to swim by using him arms like a professional swimmer.  I am especially in love with this time because Hunter is back to taking a nap. In the mornings, we go swimming after breakfast and that tires himself out.  We went for weeks where he wouldn't take a nap even though he still had to have "quiet time" in his room so I'm glad that he takes one again.  Here is a video of him swimming by himself in the pool (fyi ,  I am sitting on the sidelines of the pool watching him at all times when he does this):

 

 

 

We went to Disney a few weeks ago and my mom came.  We had a blast!  We were only going for 4 days and the day that we had to drop my mom back off at the airport, Sean and I saw how bad the traffic was getting out of Orlando that we ended up staying 2 more nights at our Timeshare! We just spent the rest time relaxing at their pool and enjoy being on the resort.  I think Hunter enjoyed the pool more than the parks.  He did have a great time at Magic Kingdom and he still talks about the "fireeeworts" at the castle.  We recorded it on our phones so he always wants to see the videos of that before he goes to bed at night.  We also went to Sea World and Hunter loved seeing all the marine life, especially the "tertles" and sea lions but I have to say when you have a 2.5 year old, Magic Kingdom is definitely the way to go.  Also, while we were there, we saw my friend, Shell and her family!  It was so nice to see them and we got to meet their new baby girl, Morgan.  She was so sweet to hold and felt like Tyler just grew so fast and just loved that feeling of holding a newborn (don't even ask if were thinking of having another...lol).  Their son, Parker was born the same day as Hunter but it's funny because he is so much bigger than Hunter and you would think he was so much older but they got along great and we were best buds by the time they needed to leave.  I was so happy that we were able to meet up with them.

This photo was taken on the "It's a small world ride".

This was Hunter's souvenir from Magic Kingdom.  He already had all the stuffed animals from Disney so he wanted this "bloon, bloon".  It costed $12 and lasted 2 and half weeks! Seriously.  I was surprised!

Hunter and the conductor on the choo choo train at Magic Kingdom.  This was probably his favorite ride! LOL.  This kid loves his trains.

Tyler loving the dolphins at Sea World.

Hunter was able to feed the sea lions at Sea World and every piece of fish he tried to throw to them didn't even make it near their mouths! LOL. So the birds got them!

Tyler loving his Mimi.

Enjoying a little pool time at our timeshare.

So glad that we were able to see Shell and meet up with her family.  Baby Morgan was so precious!!

Best Buds.

Work for me has been a little more busier or maybe I should say more consistent. Either way,  I travel to Palm Beach twice a week with Tyler and I work from home during the day and at night.  I really like doing what I'm doing and I'm very fortunate to be able to be at home taking care of Tyler all while making an income. I definitely wouldn't trade this for anything.  Sean still works Overtime but won't be doing it as much here in the next upcoming months as he will be studying for the Captain's exam which he will take in December so he will be spending all of his free time in the books.  It's fine because I know he will do his best and he's doing it for us. He's such a great daddy!

 

We're getting really excited.  Tyler is going to be baptized over the Memorial Day weekend and my family is coming down for it!  This is the same weekend that Hunter was baptized so I'm really happy that it was able to work out like that. 

 

Until next time...