Bad Hair Day

William Turns One!!

This weekend we attended William's first birthday party! Meg and I reminisced about how a year ago we were both very pregnant and anxiously awaiting William's arrival. I can't believe it's been a year. At the party we had a delicious taco bar complete with plenty of chips and dips. The babies ate oranges, cheese and ground beef then visited with all of William's friends and family. Before going down for a nap William dug into some cake and just loved the frosting! Here are some fun pics from the day. Congratulations William!

Busy Days

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly change can come in the life of a baby. These days it's coming fast and furious to Tyler James.
He's perfected his army crawl/drag and can scoot himself across a room in no time. He's quick to get up on his hands and knees now, too, and rock back and forth for a few minutes before dropping to his belly or sitting himself up. He's started pulling himself up to his knees recently and will use anything nearby to haul himself up: toys, chairs, me, tables and even dogs! Since some of these things aren't stationary or can't bear his weight he's had several tumbles, which scare him more than anything else. Sometimes he'll even stick out one leg like he's going to stand up but never does. Another little move he's doing now is leaning over and straightening his legs so his body is in a triangle and his body weight is on his hands. From this he plops over into a sitting position. He's really working on strengthening those little leg muscles!We've discovered some new games that he enjoys immensely. Whenever we're holding both him and Pup or sitting with them both in a chair he'll toss Pup on the floor then immediately reach to get him. We'll then hold him upside down and lower him to the floor while he giggles like crazy to pick up Pup. I swear he could do this for hours! He also loves to knock down blocks that Jim and I stack up. Be it 2 or 15, if he sees you building a tower he's heading your direction determined to knock every last block to the ground.

He's getting better and better about playing by himself too. However, with this new found independence comes fits of frustration if you try and take away a toy or remove him from a situation when he's not ready or even change his diaper. He'll flail his arms and legs and scream in protest. We've discovered the best way to deal with these tantrums is to distract him with a toy. They don't typically last long but that doesn't make them any less frustrating.

The past two days after waking up from a nap Tyler has taken out his pacifier and hurled it to the floor where it has stayed until the next nap or bedtime. This is definitely a new behavior as he usually will put it in his mouth whether he really needs it or not. As a result of this, the past two days have been filled with his babbling. He's not saying mama yet but he's trying. His version sounds like "bwabwa" but it's a start! We met my friend Katie and her new baby boy Joey at the Mall of America yesterday. Tyler was talking away in his stroller and a man stopped me to comment on how cute Tyler is and what a great personality he has. I couldn't agree more!

10 Months Old

Today Tyler turns 10 months old! When you put it in that perspective, it's hard to believe he's been through as many changes as he has in such a short amount of time. To celebrate all that he's become, today for lunch he had his first meal made up entirely of table foods, no purees. Yay!! He ate chicken strips, cheese, carrots, oranges and toast. Here's a video of him at breakfast the other morning. Only 2 more months to go until the big O-N-E!!


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Good Times With Good Friends

This Saturday we spent the snowy day holed up with some of our best friends and their little ones. It was an exciting time watching all three babies in different stages interacting with each other. Anna was such a gracious hostess, sharing her toys with Tyler and Elise. Tyler showed everyone how he can move now and Elise was running around everywhere and smiling up a storm. That evening, the plan was for all 9 (!) of us (6 adults, 3 children) to eat together but the kids decided they couldn't wait and ate an impromptu dinner in the kitchen. They then joined us in the dining room for the adult version. We had such a great day laughing at the kids and at us as parents. At one point all the husbands were involved in a rousing rendition of "The Wheels On The Bus". Ha! It's a wonderful feeling watching your friends parent and seeing them interact with their little one. Thanks for a fun day!

Finger Foods

When Tyler turned 9 months I started trying to get him to eat finger foods. Much to my dismay Tyler wasn't having any of it. Whatever food I put on the tray he would smash with his hands and fling it to the floor but wouldn't put it in his mouth. When I tried to show him how to do it he would make gagging noises and dig the food out with his hands. Okay, I can take a hint. I guess he's not ready for this stage and back to purees we went. In the past week or so that has since changed. Yay! We started small and easy with some toast. Now he's getting to be really good. The foods he eats best by himself are toast, grilled cheese, mandarin oranges, deli meat, cheese and, once, macaroni and cheese. He'll also eat pears if I feed it to him on his spoon. With this new talent come new mannerisms. I have learned that I can only put 1 or 2 pieces of something on his tray at a time because he will try and stuff whatever is available in his mouth at once. His eating also reminds me of my cousin Chad who grew up with the nickname "72 Chew". With purees Tyler could house his whole meal in minutes. Now he takes forever to eat! He'll chew on one bite for 5 minutes before he decides to swallow! Mealtimes are so fun now and with all the new foods he's trying it's always an adventure!