Adjusting

So, I know I haven't posted in forever and a day, but I wanted to write some fun things down somewhere.

Yes, we have a new little baby in our home!
Jaylee Rae Rowley is now one month old. She is pretty much the cutest thing ever. She likes to have her hands by her face, and likes to be held. She's definitely a fan of being outside! But the poor thing has really struggled feeling well in her stomach, so much of her awake time is struggling not to throw up. But she is ALWAYS moving and very alert and strong--lifting her head up from the very beginning. When she's feeling ok, she gives the cutest smiles. We love her to pieces!
My mom and two sisters have come to stay at my house at various times to help me with the whole adjustment to two kids. It has been a HUGE help. But one of the great perks of having a photographer of kids for a sister is that I get great newborn shots :)

Tyson is getting used to the big brother idea. He likes to hold her hand, push her swing, and reassure her whenever he feels she might need it. A total boy, he also wants to try experiments on her, often asking me things like "Can I poke her eye with this hanger?" or "I want to jump over her", etc. This picture makes me smile. Whenever we do tummy with the little one, I put him in front of her because she seems to want to look up at him more than me :) He cheers her on, yelling "Good job Jaylee!" or "Use your arms!"

 

Here's our fun day at the splash park with Daddy

 

 

 

And the reptile man came at the library!

 

 
 

Lately he is talking like crazy. Here are some of the funny things he is saying:

To his crying sister, "Just a minute Jaylee, I'm trying to make you happy!"

During harvest I told him to make sure and give Daddy or Grandpa a kiss when we visited for lunch because they are under a lot of stress. He answered "Yeah, everybody needs a kiss sometimes."

His favorite treat is Popsicles. I can't blame him for being addicted because I am too. But he calls them Kosiples. And if he asks me and I say no, he asks nice and slow "Ko-si-ple!"

He likes jumping off everything lately. When he's trying a new jump he asks, "Wanna see something scary?"

He likes to make up songs, mostly with nonsense words. But he will ask "How bout a ___ song" (insert word of something he can see around the room). Then he will sing lots of crazy things and insert that word periodically, and his song always ends on a loud high note with his face straining to make it emphatic. Cracks me up every time.

We have pretty fun kids, I think. If only we could get some sleep though!

Look Who's 2!

This little man is growing up too fast. I finally finished his scrapbook for his first year, and it's crazy how fast the time went by. He's a little boy now!  But here are some things about him now that make us smile...

He'll make deals to get what he wants. To get him to go to bed, you will often hear, "OK, ONE more book, but then we have to lay down in bed. Deal?" and he will say "DEAL!" and hold out his hand to shake on it. But he is figuring out that he shouldn't make deals when he doesn't like the options. That makes it harder.

This pic is one of his favorite games. We go around the house with our guns (he prefers the ball pump) and some hat on so we can hunt for wild animals. We make the animal sound and then start shooting and eventually run to the fort under the ping pong table. Great stuff.

 

He definitely knows all his shapes and colors, says prayers, and recognizes most letters. He associates most with a name, like "T" for Tyson. So it's good that he has a lot of aunts, uncles and cousins so that we can find one for almost all the letters :) His counting is more comical. For some reason he doesn't like 5. He generally skips it, and then I remind him. So now, he consistently counts "1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 5, ..." Not sure why but 12 is pronounced "twee-ol-wee-ol-wee-olve". And it stops at fourteen. Not fifteen--because, again, he doesn't like 5's. So he may not be a math wiz for a while, but he's got the idea.

He is very determined to learn words that he hears. I try to help him by having him look at my mouth, or saying it slowly when needed. But bless his heart, he just can't quite wrap his tongue around "asparagus". He says it over and over, and listens to me say it, but "asupugus" is just how it always comes out for him...which I don't mind. It makes me smile every time we pass the "asupugus" field.

Somehow he ended up as a slight germaphobe/clean freak. I take him to see baby lambs or baby cows and unlike all the other kids he doesn't want to pet them because they are "all dirty". He makes me clean his hands halfway through a meal if they get "too sticky" or "too salty!"  It's kinda ridiculous.

He likes to play imaginary games like saying "Bibbity boppity boo--COW" and then you are obviously turned into a cow so you have to "MOO". If he says "Abracadabra" that means you are dead. But don't worry, he will promptly kiss you and yell "Hooray! You're ALIVE!"

 

He found this hat and kept it on for the next few hours.
Loves it. Pillsbury doughboy? Or is it just me?

He's becoming a little bossy, I won't lie. You will often hear "Moon it!" which means to MOVE it. Or he will shake his finger at you and say "Don't do that!" (He is actually getting much better to say "Please don't".) My favorite saying lately is from Frozen. I busted up in the theater when the big old Scandinavian man says "woohoo! Big summer blowout." So we joke around saying it at our house a lot, and say "Woohoo" in that voice to get each other's attention. Recently I have heard him calling from his room when he has woken up in the morning "Woohoo. Big nunner blowout." Ha, it kills me. He also often calls "Come heeeere", or if he wants your attention while you are holding him and talking to someone else, he turns your face and says "look at me". Last of all he loves his slides and horsies. He rocks so far it often falls over and yells "Go horsie, Go! Yeehaw!"

I might have to avoid Winco for a while...

This is why I dread grocery shopping. And why you shouldn't judge those moms in the store who do anything they can think of to keep their kids passive and riding in the cart...
As with any trip to town, Ty and I had a million errands to run. Groceries of course come last so that the ice cream can make it home without melting. The poor little guy, by that time, was so sick of hours in carts and carseats that I let him run alongside the cart as long as he didn't try to take things off the shelves. And he was doing great. It was evident that he needed to expend some energy though, because he sprinted off down each aisle and came back just long enough for me to point him in a new direction. But he wasn't darting in front of other carts, so I figured it didn't hurt anything. Most people give smiles and knowing looks, but some just don't seem to understand a 2-year-old's need to move sometimes. I got some interesting looks, especially from one woman. Finally I put him in the cart until I got to an aisle that was empty. Bad decision, because as soon as I let him down he picked up a bottle of teriyaki sauce and broke it, saying "uh oh Mommy" as it trickled its contents on the floor. That same disapproving lady of course came into the aisle at about that point and gave me another look. I told him that was why we needed to stay in the cart and he agreed at this point, ha.

After looking for what seemed like FOREVER for an employee, we moved to the next aisle. I reached up to grab a bag of noodles. Apparently there was a huge slash in the bag, because as I swung it down to my cart, noodles went flying--EVERYWHERE. The two people in the aisle with me kinda laughed, one saying "They must have cut it when they shelved them," and the other "yeah, that was totally not your fault."   "Right?!" I said. But of course it wasn't until then, when all you might notice is an aisle covered in noodles and the same ridiculous girl and toddler in the middle of it, that the disapproving lady enters the scene. Just in time to let me know that she noticed. So helpful.

We finally made it to the checkout counter. Ty flirted with the checker and made a fast friend. So she just laughed as he kicked off his shoes and yelled "Mommy, I'm done! I'm done, Mama" the whole time I had to bag my groceries. The funny thing is, I wasn't really rattled by the experience this time. Usually I would have been at the end of my rope by then, but this time I just laughed and tried to finish quickly. I can't blame the poor kid. I was done too.

Like Music to the Ears

It's sad that I have only written recently so that I can document somewhere the funny things my son is doing. I will try and do an update on the whole family soon, but this one is about the little guy. He's the most entertaining anyways, right?!

Lately he is all about singing. This might mean sitting at a piano and playing a few notes while yelling at the top of his lungs, or walking around singing in a rosy voice. But my favorite--he has to be holding a piece of paper to be his "music" (Usually it's my junk mail, but whatever). And then he has to be standing amidst a pile of laundry. While I fold, he will go stand there and start belting random notes. After a few, he stops and says "Song. Song mama." and then goes on singing. This repeats for almost 20 minutes. It cracks me up.

He has an obsession with tall things, or being tall himself. He almost never builds things. He's more of a destroyer. But he will put together legos so that they are "Tall!" Or he stands on the island in the kitchen and insists that Mama and Daddy have to stand up there too so we can all be "Tall!" It brings him a lot of joy, so I can't help but play along.

He does sit-ups and push-ups with Daddy. Since it happened before showers the first time, he now thinks that they are necessary before any shower. But his sit-ups consist of laying on the ground and lifting the legs to a 90 degree angle and back down. His push-ups are great. He gets on hands and feet, and then pushes his little bum up and down, with slightly bent legs. Not bad, I must admit. But also so cute.

Hats are becoming more exciting. I often turn around to find him with his cowboy hat, riding his horsie, or going down his slide with a Viking hat on. Nothing's cuter than a 20-month-old Viking.

He also LOVES his "horsy". It moves its' mouth when it sings and he likes to stick his hand in it and say "ouch" like it's biting him, ha.






His vocabulary has been growing exponentially, it's crazy. I love it when he says "cheese" for the camera, and then that makes him hungry, ha. He mumbles a lot, which I now realize are full sentences that I just couldn't make out before.

                                                                                             

We think it's probably a good sign that he is obsessed with babies lately. Over Christmas, he just loved following his two younger cousins around because he can't get enough of the babies. Now he has to settle for a doll he found at Grandma's until his little sibling comes along, but it is definitely one of his favorite toys.

Lately he will try and read his books to himself out loud. Go Dogs Go! gets especially loud and vibrant. Daddy had not yet experienced this when he decided to give it to him during sacrament meeting to keep his attention...

I'm pretty sure he has mastered all of the animal sounds we can think of. We made sure to teach him a cougar--which he does surprisingly well. He also knows actions for fish and bunnies, since they don't say much, and of course there is the turtle that says "Righteous!"

He is at such a fun age, it's always entertaining!

18 months

Photo by Tami

We just passed a huge milestone in this family...our boy is old enough for nursery! It's true, he's now 18 months. And cuter than ever. Some of his recent past-times include mastering the actions to the itsy-bitsy-spider and other such songs, climbing on EVERYTHING, and dancing to his heart's content. Here are a couple fun things that he's done lately to crack us up!

He has taken to making any small object into a gun as he runs behind you yelling "piew, piew" or "boom boom" to shoot.

Yesterday he figured out how to turn on a tricky lamp, and as he did each time would shout "Ta-dah!"

He loves trying to throw and catch with a mit. He has to hold it with two hands...

We didn't show him any TV or movies until a few weeks ago. He saw himself on Grandma's ipad, and now he constantly wants to watch himself. So if he asks you for a "moo-me" (movie), it's possible that he is referring to a DVD but more likely that he wants to watch one of himself on your phone.

He has learned a new trick at bathtime--soaking the parents. He's still working on the form and skill of it, but he uses his toys to try and dump water on us. Every time he tried to get me, he covered Daddy. He thinks it's hilarious. So if you ever babysit and have to give him a bath--watch out.

He finally caught onto pillow fights and LOVES it. His little giggle the whole time makes me laugh.

His favorite time of day is when "Dada" is home. Just hearing the truck pull up, he runs to the door smiling, which makes me happy too.

 

 Thanks to his cousin, he was Woody for Halloween. Pretty stinkin cute little sherriff.

 

Of course I had to teach him how to properly organize his candy for trading purposes. He doesn't have anyone to trade with, but he'll be ready when siblings come along.

 

He can often be found with his "Be-be" lately. He's become pretty attached.

 

Happy 18 months!

Chillaxin'

So we have had some time lately to catch up on life a little bit. We got to take a few days of vacation at the Rowley's cabin, which was really fun. I got some massive bruises on my arm from archery. I thought it was because I had bad form, but Brent and Kaden also had that problem, and I was hitting the target fine (before I got so scared of it getting me that I couldn't hold my arm still long enough, ha). So now I just think that's not my favorite sport. We tried out the zipline again, as you can see on the left. I jumped off a little early and made my knee into hamburger, but it was still fun. We also rode the 4-wheeler back and forth a lot, which is Ty's new favorite thing. He got spoiled for those few days, and now that we are home, I have to take him on rides around the orchards now and then or he is completely crestfallen. He is learning though. Once you put him on the seat he reaches to move the keys, and then puts his hand on the ignition button. And then he gets the biggest grin and just looks up at you like the world couldn't be happier.

He has also taken lately to talking on the "phone". The phone can be a remote, a play phone, a block, or even the power block for the computer. He will sit and have great conversations, but when you give him a real phone with a real relative on the other end, he freezes. Like a deer in the headlights. We're working on it.

The little guy and I also enjoy our popsicle dates. He runs to the freezer and says "popo" and we sit together on the kitchen floor to eat it. It seems he must be sitting in my lap before he can take a bite, so that's what we do--every day after watering the garden or playing outside.

This last week we went into town to the county fair. I love the fair. The rodeo is my favorite, but the food--though completely unhealthy and overpriced--is delicious. And you would never eat it otherwise. We got a good ol' funnel cake for good measure. Landon's little brother came with us. He wasn't too excited about most of the rides, but we talked him into the Spider with Landon. But he wouldn't let them spin much, ha. Our little guy went on the ferris wheel (which is probably the scariest ride in my opinion), and Goliath's slide. And he was pretty interested in seeing all the animals.

 I got a hole-in-one to enter a golf sweepstakes, just sayin'. And we hit up the buckin' broncos at the rodeo. We were there when one of the rodeo girls fell off her horse and got dragged around the ring because her foot was stuck. It was pretty crazy. Luckily she was ok. Whitney even watched Ty so we could go on the ride that drops you out of the sky. Wooh! I have a video but haven't changed the format, so I can't post it yet. Sorry. Let's just say I might have screamed.

 We finally finished our garage. It's all painted and organized and we can even fit the car and truck! I really was skeptical that huge truck would make it in. We have to really squeeze it in, you know, butter the sides even, but we can fit them both :) And, I painted the front door. Unbeknownst to me, it's really hard to get normal paint to stick on doors. So you may not fully appreciate this task unless you've tried it, but I was pretty proud of myself after putting 4 coats on to get it to look good.

And Ty got to go swimming for the first time. He clung to me pretty tight at first, but once we gave him a ball to chase around, he actually tried to paddle and loved it. Good times. I love summer when we actually have time to take advantage. Now we just have to roast some more mallows and watch a meteor shower and my summer is complete :)

I know these are blurry but it's all we have.  Landon says he was shaking because he was cold ;)

Though I must say. This is the first year where school has started and my life hasn't changed a bit. We have no one in school anymore. WEIRD, but AWESOME!

Sunday duds, as Anita calls them :) He likes to look just like Daddy

Aunt Angie came to visit. It was fun to see her and show her the new house! Thanks for making the drive!!

His new way of looking at the world lately. Not sure why, but he does it all the time.

Someone asked me to make their son's brithday cake a few weeks ago. I was really rushed for time the day I did it because Tyson was really not cooperating, so I'm not sure it was quite what I planned. But I made a big angry birds cake, and then these cupcakes, with the blue bird cupcakes as well. Had to pipe feathers on all of them! I think it turned out looking good, but I am definitely learning a lot. It was my first experience making marshmallow fondant, and it turned out pretty great! And they had a delicious raspberry cream cheese filling.

Our little wrangler says "hope your summer has been fun too!"

The little man at 14 months

I haven't really been on the ball lately with our move, but I thought that I would give an update for family who are far away. I also don't have my camera, so I only have a few pics from my phone. As lame as that is, I might not have time to blog for a while again, so I thought something is better than nothing, right?

So that you all can get to know our little guy better--here is his life, in a nutshell, at 14 months. 

He is definitely the child of a fruit farmer. He loves all fruit, but especially watermelon. He would make his aunt Whitney proud.

Aside from running all day long, he can often be found climbing into things.He doesn't just "get into the cupboards" (which we have finally got child-locks for), but he has to get IN the cupboard, or the bowl, or the drawers... which is usually followed by a yell of  "AH! AH!" to tell me he doesn't know how to get out.

He also really likes to see the lights go on and off. It keeps him distracted so that he'll eat more at mealtimes if Mommy turns the lights on and off. He also is a fan of carrying long stick, curtain rods, and the like. Probably not safe for anyone in a close radius, but he loves it.

He is pretty proficient at stairs these days--both up and down. If there is just one stair it's even better. He feels like it's a chair just for him and he'll go up and down on it for 20 minutes at a time.

He's all about putting things on other people, like sunglasses. Not so much on himself, just on others. Except shoes, because that means he can go outside. So he is always putting on Mommy or Daddy's shoes, or his own. 

He is learning lots of words, like "shoes" or "da" which means dog. He knows they say "woof woof", but doesn't seem to remember any other animals. They often like to woof too. "Ba" can mean bird, or book, or bubbles, or ball, depending on the context. "This one" for when he's showing you something. He seems to copy more words every day.

The kid is a singing and dancing machine. Put on some music and he will be bouncing or doing hotfeet or running in a circle and often singing along. He's got great moves--I tell him it's from his mommy ;)

When he gets excited he YELLS some babbling while standing up on his tippy toes and pushing his chest out. Cracks me up every time!  Also, while in big groups, he assumes any laughing is because of him, so he will go to the middle of the group and bend his knees to bounce while people laugh. I'm not sure why, but it's hilarious.

He is now a fan of fireworks. He did the above stance while trying to yell "So Cool" like everyone else. He also got to see them at our beach family reunion and loved them. 

He was also in his first parade and rode the motorcycle with Daddy. So cool.  

He has learned to maneuver his arms so that he can't be picked up. He has found it very useful when he's in trouble. 

And he's famous!! At least to the people who get this coupon magazine in Richland, ha. They used our kids for the cover of the ad magazine along with the Fresh Picks coupons. I thought it was pretty cute.

Growing up

This is a little delayed, but for those who haven't had the pleasure of seeing the drunken sailor walk, here is a video of our little guy walking. He's all over the place now, usually babbling or clapping as he goes.

 

 

The bedroom we are staying in at the Rowley's has a small drumset in it. Grandpa was so proud when we visited. Tyson was excited to show off his new skills. Here's our little drummer boy.

Poor little guy had his shots this week. He slept for days, and was fussier than ever before he broke out with this rash all over his torso and face. They say it's from the measles shot--basically a mild form of it as a reaction is what they told us. The little guy is so miserable it just makes me sad for him. But after 5 days, he is starting to make progress. They say it could be 8 more days. 

Tyson's One!

Tyson turned One!  I decided to try and make a cool cake since I spent so much money to take a cake decorating class, ha. Whitney and Megan helped me so I could finish in time, but I think it turned out awesome.

 

Tyson was a little sad we wouldn't let him touch it for so long.

But when we gave him a chance to dig into his own cupcake, he took a while--didn't seem to want to get dirty, ha. He's already neurotic, we're in trouble.  Whitney showed him how a few times, and he finally tried grabbing it, but he never really wanted to bite into it.

We even got the Elmo balloons :) And the Rowleys provided him with lots of presents--which he got to play with on the long drive to Washington. They worked great though; he was enthralled almost the whole drive.

We had a fun barbeque and rushed over to Landon's graduation. It was a full day!

 

As an update, Tyson has learned to WALK! He started a couple of days before his birthday when we went to Grandma Christensen's house. She was telling us how my cousin walked to her for the first time, and then he started walking to her too. Landon and I were freaking out, as he walked 6 or 7 steps at a time. Awesome. He still looks a little drunk, but is walking like a champ.

He also gives kisses, waves, and is just plain fun at this age. Thanks to all those who sent cards and presents--he has loved them all! 

 

9 months

Since I never kept up on regular updates of our little guy, I figured now is as good as ever to tell you a little about him, so the grandparents and everyone won't miss out on this fun stage. Because of computer issues, I can't really post pictures, so you might have to wait until April for all the backlog of photos. But you can imagine, I'm sure.
 
He's now over 9 months old! Crazy. His favorite time of day is bath time. Usually when you change his clothes he puts up a fight. He hates it. But at bath time, he will "help" you, because he just can't get there fast enough. We have a good time with the splashing and the toys, and mommy and daddy usually end up about as wet as he does. It may have something to do with his splashing, and some more to do with the cool squirting toys that mommy and daddy tend to test out on each other. It's a good time. And it always ends up with a good round of that one song "Splish, Splash, I was taking a bath..."

He likes to chatter all day long, usually saying "aDuh" or some other fun babble. But he does say Dada and Mama, and we like to think the "aDuh" is him mimicking "All Done", but I kinda doubt it. He's starting to learn some sign language too.

He loves to eat. Mommy is glad he is pretty good about eating whatever we give him--though he might make some faces for things like beans or pureed meats. By the smell of them, I can't blame him. He has figured out the chewing motion, (which we taught him so that he would wait to swallow long enough for things to dissolve, like Puffs). He does it pretty dramatically when he wants us to tell him how good he's eating. And he is getting pretty good at grabbing with his fingers to feed himself. Progress!

We went through a week or two of some rough falls. Try as I might, I have a hard time being there for every time he tries something. Usually he cries more because he's so mad that it didn't work than because he's hurt. But now he is very good at pulling up to stand at things and is starting to walk along the furniture, so the falling has decreased.

In church, we have kept to sitting at the back with the rest of the pre-nursery club. I think it's a good thing though, because Tyson always has at least three girls that he is flirting with in the chairs behind us. A bit of a distraction to those we sit around--so we rotate where we sit to give them a Sunday of peace. I watch the other babies his age, and one is always just sitting passively, the other will quietly play with a book or toy. Meanwhile, Tyson has played with three toys, gone through several books, bounced up and down while looking at people over the back of the pew, chewed on mommy's necklace or daddy's watch, and "sang" along to the hymns. He's an active little guy.

He loves to play hide-and-seek and chase, and always has some toy in hand that he is figuring out. He's growing up fast!

Christmas

I'm still playing catch-up from Christmas. But here are some fun pics of our break. 

Grandma Rowley made him a super cute hat

He's always so excited when Daddy comes home!

Meeting Santa

Most little kids seem to be terrified of Santa. At least a lot of those at our ward Christmas party were. Not Tyson. He was "Santa's Little Helper", or so it said on his shirt. Santa named him his little "Beard Stealer"...

Now all of our ward knows if Santa's beard was real. He checked twice to make sure. Once when he first got on his lap, and once while we took the picture above, ha. From the minute he got on Santa's lap, he was just looking for things to pull or play with. The tree caught his attention next.

He had this thing with posing for a while.

He loves the bubbles!

Our tree. The top was too flimsy, so the star went in the middle, ha. And the tree was dead in two weeks. We even cut it ourselves and still--dead as a doornail. Good thing we weren't here until Christmas.  If you look you can see our elf Sparticus too.

Just makes me smile.

At the Basin City Ward party.

Grandpa Draney said he needs to start young. So we let him try out the drums.

I was pretty proud of our gingerbread houses this year. Makenna and I made the one on the left.

His first Christmas!

Landon and I were in charge of leaving a plate for Santa. Landon is all for bribery. 

Baking rolls, you gotta have a stylin flamenco apron.

Ty wanted to play too.

My new snow clothes

Landon made me get him some Christmas socks last year, since I  have so many.  He was pretty proud of them.