Creeping and Crawling

Tyler just recently figured out how to military crawl and he's getting pretty darn good at it. He had his eyes set on a sheet of paper so I caught him on video "crawling" to it. Enjoy!

Happy First Father's Day Mike!

For Mike's first Father's Day, I swallowed my Cubs pride and took the boys over to the portrait studio for father/son pictures in their White Sox outfits. They turned out really cute!

I want to thank Mike for being such a wonderful father to Tyler. He takes a major role in feeding him, dressing him, and changing him. More importantly, he is there every night to read him stories, tuck him into bed and sing him bedtime songs. He joins us for walks nearly everyday and he makes Tyler laugh everyday. I couldn't do it without him and I want to thank him today for everyday he does so much!

Happy Eight-Month Birthday Tyler!

Happy eight-month birthday to you
Happy eight-month birthday to you
Happy eight-month birthday dear Tyler
Happy eight-month birthday to you!

Many more birthdays to you
Many more birthdays to you
Many more birthdays dear Tyler
Many more birthdays to you!

WOW! Eight months! I am pleased to announce that this is the first month that Tyler has completely dodged an illness (thank goodness for the warmer weather)! However we’ve discovered in all our time spent doing fun stuff outside that Tyler has inherited hay fever from his mommy. So despite being bug-free, he is still suffering from watery eyes and very snotty sneezes. Poor baby! Tyler has been growing like a weed this month—he now weighs over 20 lbs, and it shows in all the changes in his development. We started giving him fruit and veggie puffs. Not only is he learning fine motor control by “fisting” the puffs to his mouth, he is also learning to mash more solid foods with his gums and tongue (still no teeth though)! He is really enjoying being able to join us at the dinner table! He now rolls over onto his tummy constantly (making diaper changes very difficult) and is trying so hard to start crawling. He’s been able to move around in a circle all month but just recently started getting some forward movement by “army crawling”. He isn’t quite able to lift his tummy off the ground yet to really crawl but it won't be long from the looks of it. Tyler is starting to reach up to grab for our hands and is helping to pull himself up to standing. He can take a few very wobbly steps forward with us holding his arms up. Tyler has been vocalizing TONS and has been babbling “ma-ma” and “da-da”, although we know it’s not meaningful yet. We are excited to see all the changes to come in this next month!

Hanging out in the backyard!

Great News!

Update on my mom--she had the tumor removed last Thursday and tolerated the surgery very well. She was out of the hospital less than 24-hours post-op and returned home with a catheter. Although we were relieved that part of it was over, we still had to wait for the pathology report to determine what stage of cancer she had. She found out today when she went to have the catheter removed that the tumor was in the early stages so she won't need chemotherapy or radiation. She will need to go have check-ups every 3 months for the next 2 years in the event that the cancer recurs. We are all so relieved it wasn't worse and feel so blessed! Thank you all for your support and prayers!

Get Well Soon Grandma Breclaw

My mom just recently found out that she has bladder cancer and she is scheduled to have the tumor removed surgically on Thursday. The doctors won't know until they see it but they believe it is a low-grade tumor, meaning that it can be removed with just surgery (no chemotherapy or radiation). I will be taking time off work Thursday and Friday to be there with her. Tyler on the other hand is going to stay home and keep Daddy company while I'm gone so he helped me make Grandma B. this "get well" sign....

"I love you Grandma B.!"

Please keep my mom and our family in your thoughts and prayers! We are hoping for a speedy and full recovery!

First Time Swimming

Mike had another weekend act of spontaneity (maybe not so uncommon afterall), this time with a suggestion to go to the pool. So we got Tyler all dressed in his swim gear and headed off. It was a perfect day for it but the baby pool was too cold (even for us). Tyler started shivering so we got out for a while and then headed over to the big pool, which was MUCH warmer. We were only there for probably an hour or so but it was a good time overall. Here are some pictures to enjoy!

All ready to go!

Tyler and Daddy getting ready to go in

Tyler and Mommy (too bad my eyes are closed)
Tyler in his cool Lightning McQueen Cars boat! He seemed to enjoy it!

A Day at the Zoo

We started off our Saturday morning like we usually do....with a long walk to Miller Park. Then Mike surprised me with an unusual act of spontaneity....a trip to Miller Park's little but still impressive zoo. Unfortunately we didn't bring the camera along but Tyler was awake the whole time we walked around (about an hour and half) and he seemed to be interested in some of the animals (although there were times when he was more interested in the girls at the zoo). We got there early in the morning after the animals just ate so most of them were awake and active. Tyler really enjoyed watching a leopard pace back and forth. There were these two sun bears that came right up to the front of their cages that Mike and I thought were really cool but that was one of the instances when Tyler just wanted to flirt with the other spectators! We also saw some jumping sea lions which got me (and hopefully Tyler) in the mood to start our Mommy/Baby swimming class in a couple of weeks!