santa baby- an optimus prime for me

Tyler has asked Santa for an Optimus Prime transformer for Christmas. We are going to Mike's parents in AZ for Christmas, and we don't want to pack 99 suitcases. So, I thought, "easy, I'll just order it and have it shipped to AZ." No, not easy. Apparantly Optimus Prime is this years Cabbage Patch Kid, and is sold out everywhere. Some scam artists on e-bay are charging twice the price plus 20 bucks to ship it. Um, no thanks. I really don't know what to do. We are just hoping we can locate one before Christmas or Santa will have to leave an IOU under the tree. I'm not usually like this, but this is the first year Tyker really GETS Santa and I don't want to crush all his dreams. We need Tyler to believe in Santa for many more years. All I have to do is start "dialing" the North Pole to get Tyler's behavior to turn around (thanks Mom for using this on us). "No mom, I'll be good, I'm sorry, PLEASE don't call Santa!"

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas

Austin started off the day with his favorite new activity. We are now using 5 times more TP than usual, but it is so cute!



Here is Tyler right before his pre-school Christmas program. He looked very handsome.


Austin was all over the place while we waited for his brother to sing.


Here is Tyler during the program. He actually sang this time and wasn't off in his own world.

Finally here is the "gingerbread" house Tyler made today at pre-school.

Tyler said a funny thing today. He was watching TV and every commercial he saw he would ask for that toy. I said Tyler, "how come you want EVEY toy you see, you can't have that many toys." He responded, "then why does every single toy have to be so cool?" Yes, the advertisers are certainly doing their job this holiday season.

Our Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a quiet affair at our house. Mike told me to purchase the biggest turkey I could find. We baked that, stuffing and mashed potatoes and waited until Austin's naptime. After the monkey was down, we ate. Tyler has been eating turkey sandwiches for a week now.
Tyler and I went to see a movie, while Mike cleaned up the mess . It was a good day. We had been getting all the toy ads and catalogs, so we told Tyler to circle like 4 things he wanted for Christmas so we could send his list to Santa. 4 turned into 400. I took some pictures of him hard at work. Tyler wanted Mike to transcribe a letter to Santa to go along with his circled pictures. It reads:

Dear Santa,

I love you Santa. I want the space man and the silver rock guy and snow-man guy, AND red rock guy with the motor-thing, and the racer, and the green rock guy, and the rocket ship. Please get me everything on this page. I was a good boy. I played with Austin today. I wrestled him too. I want to be a good boy to get a sticker, and I made my bed 5 times. I love you santa!

-Tyler








Here's Austin on Thanksgiving. He's not a greedy toy monster yet!

Happy Birthday Austin

Austin's 1st year has gone by so fast. We were so anxious for him to come. With Tyler I was nervous and didn't mind waiting. With Austin I knew I could be a mom. I had a harder pregnancy with Austin, and maybe that is why I was more anxious for his birth. I was induced on November 20th last year. Austin took his time, and was born 7 minutes into the 21st of November. He had a ton of hair (I was used to a bald baby). It wasn't much of an adjustment to have Austin as part of our family. Luckily, Tyler took to him right away, and loved him fiercly from the start. Right away Austin seemed to be a calmer soul than his brother, but we aren't sure if this is holding true anymore. Mike and I both thought that this baby might not be such a daddy's boy, but he is. Austin loves his dad just as much as Tyler. Austin is happy boy, and can charm anyone with his flirty smile. He is a pretty good sleeper, and an active player. He needs attention. Most days I call him my little cling-on. He's almost always happy while being held. He's a horrible eater, just like his brother (who has gotten so much better by the way). He dances and claps to music, and it is seriously the cutest thing you have ever seen. We love his wet, open mouth kisses, his Einstein hair, his bucky teeth and we can't imagine our lives without him!

2 uncoeperative boys

I was feeling artsy, it was a nice day; let's take pictures. NEVERMIND!

Tyler celebrating the 1st Thanksgiving

I feel guilty... While Austin was getting his tubes, Tyler was celebrating the 1st Thanksgiving with his pre-school class. They had a feast first (complete with some kids as pilgrims & some as Native Americans). Then, they had a presentation for the parents that I missed. I feel bad because I'm sure all the other parents were there. I missed his srumming and singing.

Austin showed some real live jealousy today. Tyler and Austin were both on Mike's lap and Austin was crying and trying to push Tyler off. As soon as Tyler got off Mike's lap Austin was fine. It's funny because Tyler has never been jealous of Austin. Even when he first came home from the hospital Tyler showed patience for him. And now Austin, as #2, is telling Tyler to take a hike. What a terd! (Mike thinks I spell terd wrong)

Tubes

Austin had his ear surgery this morning. We woke him up at 2 in the AM so he could have his "last meal". We took him to the surgery center at 8:00. He was so happy at the surgery center and was playing all over the chair. The pictures above are him in his gown playing around. The Dr. told us he was so happy when they took him back to surgery and put the mask on. He said most kids conk out quick because they start screaming when the mask is put on and take deep breaths. Not Austin, he was all smiles, then he conked out. The surgery was so quick. We were probably apart from Austin 10 minutes or so. The smiles were over when he woke up. He was ANGRY for a while. He is finally asleep in his bed. We hope he is happier when he wakes up. I'm so glad that is over!

The last picture was taken yesterday. Tyler always has to put this goofy smile on his face for pictures now. (Notice Austin playing with his ear?)

Good Morning Sunshine

Tyler gets picked up for pre-school at 8:30, so Austin and I have until 11:15 alone until we have to leave to pick Tyler up. Usually Austin is ready for a nap about 9:00 and sleeps for an hour or so. He is so happy when he wakes up from his morning nap. This is one of my favorite parts of the day because I can just focus on Austin. The last picture is of Austin dressed and brushing his teeth while I do my hair.
He is standing on his own now. I don't think he will be walking by his birthday (next week), but it will be soon. He is getting tubes on Thursday. I guess those can be his birthday present.

Catch-up

It's been a bit since I posted. Mainly because I was so sick for a while, then Austin got sick again. He is getting tubes next week, and I couldn't be happier. He's such a good baby when he feels okay. When he's sick it is a different story! Let's hope the tubes solve the cranky baby situation.

Mike's parents came to visit for a week. We had a good time with them here. Especially Tyler. He loves his granparents, and was so sorry to see them go. Tyler had Mike post a sign on the front door that said, "No friends can come over because my Grandma and Grandpa are here". Grandma and Grandpa played a million board games with Tyler and got to see his cheating ways in action (Like father, like son) Tyler's best cheating is stacking the deck in Candyland. He volunteers to set up and just happens to put the cany on the top that gets you the furthest in the game. Grandpa busted Tyler when he said he wanted to go first this time! Tyler didn't know what to do.

Tyler and Mike are going camping with the scouts tonight. I don't envy them- it is FREEZING!

Halloween

I picked Tyler up from pre-school yesterday, and he told me that Halloween was the best day in the world (his exact words). He got to party all day long. His class had a party and they ate a ton of crap. Then, we picked up Mike's parents from the airport, and Tyler wrestled Granpa until he almost had a heart attack. When it was finally trick-or-treat time Tyler ran the entire time. It was a good day for Tyler.

Poor Austin. He didn't get to dress up for Halloween. We were just staying at home passing out candy, and I didn't want to make him mad by putting a costume on him. The poor kid is already getting 2nd child syndrome.


When I was passing out candy I would just stick the bowl out for the kids to choose. Some kids thought this meant that they should take as much as they could. I had some kids grab like 6 candy bars. I was a little worried I was going to run out of candy (we had plenty). But, come on, how rude. I hope Tyler didn't do that!

Bob Villa does it again!

Every 6 months or so, one of us gets the idea to embark upon a home improvement project. Mike is pretty handy so he does most (okay ALL) of the work, but our entire family suffers.These projects always turn into so much hard work! Our old patio was sinking into the house and was a complete eyesore. It was also too tiny to have a table on. Mike came home one night and said he was bored and would like to start a new patio. Weeks of backbreaking labor ensued for Mike, while Sheri spent her weekends alone tending the kids. We really do like how the patio turned out. The pictures above are the BBQ, finished patio, and Mike working on the patio. The patio is now pretty big (it actually looks kind of small in the pictures, but it's not), and it is not sinking into the house anymore. We say that this is our last project, but we'll probably be singing a different tune in about 6 months.

Just some updates on the kiddos. I'll start with Austie. Austin is no longer a calm, sweet baby. We have a wild little boy on our hands lately. We took him out to lunch today, and I'll just say that we probably won't be doing that for a year or two. He was all over the place. He is crawling, standing up with support, climbing steps, and I think he said "ball" yesterday. He is a great sleeper. He already likes to wrestle with Mike, and he is already a major daddy's boy. He likes to play with Tyler , but Tyler can get a little rough for his tastes. He know he isn't suppoused to go up the stairs so he will start to go up and laugh, then make sure I am watching and go up a few more stairs, turn around and laugh. He likes attention, and just like Tyler is not really great at playing alone. Austin and Tyler are a lot alike.

Tyler is our big 4 1/2 year old. He is learning so much lately. He started doing "real" puzzles and loves them. He is learning to write and recognize his numbers and letters. One funny/challenging thing about Tyler is his constant need for socialization. He will go around knocking on ALL the neighbors doors looking for someone to play with. ANYONE will do. He just wants to play with some kids. He is almost always happy and laughing. He isn't so hard to keep up with anymore. He uses a lot of his energy at pre-school and with friends, so at home he is a little more chill. One thing Tyler needs to work on is table manners. If he ever eats at your home, please remind him not to use his shirt as a napkin, and not to use the entire table as his plate. He is the messiest eater I've ever seen!

We love both boys so much!

Lazy Week

Last Saturday we hosted a couples baby shower for some friends. I didn't do an official, final head count, but there were at least 40 people at our house. Luckily, the weather was perfect and guests could be inside or outside. Mike's porch was all done, complete with tiki torches and the tree lit in white lights. It looked great out there. We had been working really hard to get everything ready for this party that I feel completely justified sitting on my patootie all week long.

Our only big news is we have now have a new addition to our family- a wii. Mike decided that this would be a great toy to play as a "family". It's been fun so far, but Tyler doesn't really get it yet. He needs constant help. I'm sure by next year he'll be just as proficient as all the other lazy american kindergardners.

Tyler can't wait for Grandma and Grandpa to get here. They are arriving on Halloween afternoon. Maybe we'll get Tyler all sugared up and let him have a slumber party with his grandparents that night!