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...

 

 

Tyler's 6 months!

Yep, Tyler is already 6 months.  Sniff, sniff.  I'm so blessed that I can be with him at home and see him grow everyday. He's so amazing and is eager to see and learn new things.  At his 6 month appointment he weighed 18 pounds and was 28 inches tall.  I'm like, seriously!  Just for the record, I'm not over feeding him or anything and this kid is super active, so I really have no idea how he is so big.  He's in the 75th percentile for weight and height and is in the 85th for his head circumference.  He wears 12 month clothes and I've already pulled out Hunter's 18 month box of old clothes.  It's actually kinda hard finding clothes that will fit him from Hunter's old stuff because he's so much bigger in the waist and legs.  Hunter was (and still is) so skinny so I'm really just trying to find onesies to fit him because they fit him best. He is just about crawling. He army crawls everywhere and pushes to get up and rocks some but just hasn't quite figured it out yet.  Hunter makes a big gasp every time he gets up to try and crawl because he knows that's what he's trying to do so Hunter will get on all fours and show him how to do it.  It's so cute.  Then I think to myself that Tyler is going to explore all of Hunter's toys and then I'll have another challenge to get through because Hunter really isn't into sharing these days.  Sigh.  

Let's talk about Tyler's sleeping....or how he doesn't sleep!  He sleeps but he wakes several times during the night. It has to be teething.  When I put him down to sleep around 6:30 for his bedtime, he will wake around mid night wanting to eat.  Then another 3 hours the same thing and then another 3 hours later.  Yeah, I'm pretty pooped these days.  Especially, now that I'm working I can't even think about taking a nap.  Also, I weened Tyler.  It wasn't so much me, it was him.  During the day he would only BF in his room because of all the distractions so on the weekends when I would need to take care of both the boys or at night when Sean works, I would have to take him there every time to eat and it got frustrating for all of us.  So it got to the point that I would pump and feed him a bottle and he would drink that bottle anywhere!  I did that for awhile then it was like double-dutying feeding him to have to pump and then feed. He BF at night with no problems and we did that for awhile until I was pretty much dried up so we have been on formula.  He had no problems which I knew he wouldn't and we are all happier now.  My big relief is the whole bedtime routine is much easier with both the boys.  I didn't have to take Tyler in his room to BF him while Hunter would be alone watching Mickey Mouse Club in the living room for a little while or coming in Tyler's room distracting him and then not eat and me convincing Hunter to be quiet and bring books or something in there to do until we were done.  Now Tyler and Hunter drink both their milks at the same time after bath time and I get to have them both right next to me! What a relief!  Seriously.  It got pretty hard.  I part of me does feel a little guilty for not sticking it out longer with the whole BF thing because I BF Hunter until he was 10 months but at least I made it to 6 months with Tyler and he is definitely a healthy boy.  No problems in that area.  LOL.  So back to Tyler's sleeping.....after talking to his pediatrician about how much he should be sleeping at night with him eating 3 meals a day and milk throughout the day, it was time to do the old "cry it out method".  Now I'm not one of those parent's who lets their baby CIO for 2 hours or anything like that so a few days ago, I tried it to see how he would do for one of his nap times (btw, I would just put him in his swing for naps) and he CIO for about 20 minutes so that was nothing.  Then, before, for his whole bedtime routine, I would just put him in the swing and then move him to his crib before I went to bed and that always worked fine.  Now, he is in his crib after the whole routine and he CIO about the same time the other night and slept til about 1 am and then I fed him a big bottle and he didn't wake until 5 am.  So we are making progress already and that's how it's pretty much been for the past few nights.  I'm not complaining that bad because Hunter didn't sleep through the night until he was 8 months old so I'm thinking in a couple more months he won't be making a peep.  Wishful thinking. =) Here's some photos that I took of him one day.  Not the best because he didn't take that great of a nap that day.  We'll take more when I have his brother around to make him laugh. 

"Can I help you?"

"Hey mommy!"

I love his little mannerisms..

"Oh geez, mom..another one!"

Also, remember how I told you that I was doing the whole weight loss thing and gave myself 2 months?   Well, I've only lost 6 pounds and some pre-preggo clothes are starting to fit more but I still have a long way to go.  Plus, now, that I'm not BF anymore, I'm on a strict diet. In fact, Sean is dieting too.  He cut out soda (which is a huge deal for him) and I have literally cut out everything...hahaa...no, my big thing is carbs so I cut that out.  Sean and I eat grilled chicken, salads and vegetables for dinner every night and we have cut out all sugar.  I'm going to extend this weight loss thing for another 2 months because I feel like I can officially try now that I'm not BF anymore so I'll show you the before and after photo 2 months from now.

Hunter's language...

Hunter is just about 2.5 years old and now that he talking more his personality has really started to really show.  He is really starting to crack us up now.  Here are some of the things that he says to us on a daily basis to us:

1).  He used to say "more" very clearly but now that he is in this bilingual school he says "mas" which means more. On top of that he has "more" and "mine" mixed up too for some reason (English form).  So whenever he wants "more" of something he will say, "mine" and then when I correct him and ask, do you mean "more" he will quickly respond and say "Mas"!  Its so funny.  Another Spanish word that he throws out there all the time is "agua" and to him "agua" means milk and water.  So I always have to double check with him for which one he wants and either go to the fridge for the milk or to our water cooler for water because it doesn't just mean "water" to him.  Just an FYI, when our bilingual friends come over and speak to him in Spanish and ask him to do things he knows exactly what they are saying and he goes and does it.  We are very impressed that he knows so much Spanish already!

2).  There's a park right in the beginning of our neighborhood, so every time we leave and enter it, he always screams, "P-a-r-tttt"....so recently, we've been correcting him and telling him that its, "Par-kkk" but when we tell him that we really stress the "kuh-kuh" part so now when he repeats it back to us he says, "Part---ku-ku-ku".  LOL.

3).  At times when we are outside and Millie wants to play, I have Hunter go find her ball so that he can throw it to her.  Well, sometimes Millie just starts running all around Hunter because she's excited and wants him to play with her and Hunter for whatever reason hates it.. So he will yell at her and tell her to "Go away, Meh"...So once Millie goes away, Hunter then goes and finds her ball and will run around her and pretty much tease her with it.  Which I have to tell Hunter that isn't nice.  

4). Hunter is always telling us to sit down.  We've had to correct that one too because it used to come out as, "sh-it down, daddy"..hahaha!  So now its more of a "Seeet down, daddy". Ohhh, my silly boy. 

5). Also, for whatever reason, Hunter doesn't say, "yes" but rather "okay".  One morning, I had brought him to school after him being home from a stomach virus that I thought went away.  Sure enough, when he sat down at his little table to eat breakfast with his buddies, he puked everywhere.  LOL.  So I took him into their bathroom there and cleaned him up before we went home and I told him that, "its okay and asked if he wanted to go home (I was going to bring him back home regardless of his answer)..he replied very loudly with relief that I asked him, "Home? Ohhhkay, Hunter go home".  It was so cute and I'll never forget that. 

These are just a few that I jotted down the other day.  I'm sure there are so many more.  I captured this video (its actually 2 clips, same conversation) of Hunter talking to Sean on the phone while he was at work one day.  Which by the way, he just started having conversations with him and whoever else calls on the house phone. He also gets confused with the house phone versus my cell phone when we call his grandparents because we usually just FaceTime with them so he thinks that the house phone does the same thing when he talks on it.  He will pull the house phone from his ear and hold it up to something that he thinks they can see.  Its so funny.  

He cracks me up.  I'm looking forward to more and more hilarious words and conversations that we will have with him.  He's growing up so fast!