Funny Tyler

The other day we discovered that Tyler does the funniest thing. I'll just let the video do the explaining. Enjoy!

Daddy and Tyler

Here are some cute pictures of daddy and Tyler. Mark is so cute with him! And we all thought Mark was bad with babies....haha!

Mark and Tyler like to sleep. Somehow Mark seems more tired than I am, yet I am the one who is up at all hours of the night....hmmm.

More sleeping.

Mark doing Tyler's hair.

Mark and Tyler exercising.

Tyler's One Month Birthday

I can't believe my baby is already a month old! It's bittersweet. Since his one month birthday was only two days after his four week birthday not much changed. He is smiling more and more and just a growing, handsome boy.

I love his little froggy pjs! Look at those feet.

Check me out!

What's you doin' ma?

Check out my dance moves!

Tyler one month old. He smiles and it's so cute and I sing, but you can ignore that part.

Tyler's Fourth Week

The fourth week was so fun! He started to socially smile for the first time! It isn't consistent, but every once in a while if he is focusing on our faces he will smile at us! I LOVE IT!! Some nights when he seems to want to wake up every hour and I've about had it, he'll give me one of his little smiles and I'm all better - no more frustration. He already knows how to manipulate mommy. This week he also rolled to his side for the first time. I have yet to see him do it again, but he did do it, once. He is starting to make some many cute noises and just loves to kick and move. He still stares at his "angel friends" most of the time (or off into space - I like to call them his angel friends because it looks like he is really staring at something or someone when in all reality its just a wall). But he is getting more and more alert and responding more and more. It's so much fun to sing and play with someone when they respond! He is just so cute and sometimes I just want to squeeze him!

Cute baby Tyler.

A little smile for mommy.

More little smiles.

Seriously, could he be any cuter?

Tyler 4 weeks old.

Tyler's Third Week

Tyler's third week was our first week alone together. My mom went back to Oregon and Mark went back to school. I thought I would be scared, or lonely, or bored, or all three, but I was actually just fine. I loved being able to play and spend time with my baby. And bored? HA! The days went by so fast! I always wondered how it was possible that a mother of one little baby could really be that busy. I so didn't know what I was talking about. It's amazing how full your days are with a little baby. Full and fulfilling. This week Tyler and I started playing more games together and he seemed to respond even more. It's incredible how fast they grow up, develop, and get older looking! We started reading books, exercising, playing eye games, patty cake, more singing, more making faces, more everything. We were never bored or lonely. We just had fun together!

My little man. I love the hair!

What is it about sleeping babies? I just love watching him!

Let's be honest, I also love sleeping myself - especially when I can cuddle with Tyler!

Hello, Handsome!

Tyler's 3 week birthday.

Tyler exercising his little legs.

Tummy time.

Tyler's Second Week

The second week of Tyler's life was full of firsts: first Thanksgiving, first real bath, first reflex smile, first faux hawk, first time meeting several aunts, uncles, and cousins, first semi-professional family pictures, mommy put on makeup for the first time, first time in something other than a sleeper or onesie. . . good times.

This week was spent having more fun with Tyler and taking more pictures. He started having more awake time and it was so fun to play, make faces, and sing to my little man. We just love him to pieces!

First real bath. He was not a fan that first time. No worries, now he is just a little fish - loves his baths! Oh such a sad face!

Phew! It's over! Can't a guy get a little peace and quiet around here?

Cute little man outfit and the first time we saw what his hair could really do. Look at the faux hawk. That's how it dried after his bath. He was rocking it!

Just a cute picture of Tyler sleeping. The hands are always up by his face.

Well almost always up by his face. This was his first time out of a sleeper and our first semi-professional family pictures. I'm not a fan of them, because I was barely a week past delivery so I still wasn't looking my finest, but of course Tyler was adorable. This is just a shot Mark took.

Close-up.

I kind of caught one of his reflex smiles! Isn't he so cute?

This was after Thanksgiving dinner. We were all just hanging out on the couch.

Cute little Tyler face.

Mommy loves Tyler!

Another ever so interesting video of Tyler at 2 weeks.

Tyler's First Week

Alright, trying to play catch up here. I've divided my pictures into weeks. This post is his first week, leading up to his one week birthday. This whole week was a blur to me. I was still healing and still needed help getting up and sitting down, but regardless, I just reveled in my new baby. He is such a good baby! So happy and content, hardly ever crying. He is just perfect. That week I held him for hours and hours and just looked at his perfect little everything! One of my favorite things are his hands. He has such big hands for a baby. Mark says so he can palm a basketball. I say so he can play the piano and reach those crazy chords. I was lucky to have my mom here and Mark was off for Thanksgiving, so I was able to spend as much time as I wanted with Tyler. Sure he slept most the time, but it didn't matter. I just loved looking at him. Sometimes I just wanted to squeeze him! He is just so so cute!!

This week we also had his first well baby appointment. The doctor said he was strong and healthy and every single nurse commented on his little handsome face. The funniest part of the whole appointment was the beginning. Up to this point, Tyler had only had little poops and we had been spared any jetstreams of pee, but at the doctor's office, once we had that diaper off he, first, gave us a little fountain show of his own making and then came the world's longest pooping session ever! I swear it lasted a good 5-7 minutes. I would wipe only to have more come out! (I know you really want to hear all this, but it was funny. The nurses were dying). And Tyler was just chill the whole time. Probably felt good to get all that out...

Here is documentation of that moment, plus look at his hands:

However, that doctor's appt. also marked the beginning of my brief, yet poignant baby blues experience. The doctor said he had lost weight, which most babies do, but that she wanted to have him come back for a weigh in. On his one week birthday we brought him in for the weigh-in and he hadn't gained a single oz. A well meaning nurse only made things worse when she "advised" that we supplement and told us that if he kept losing weight he would have brain development problems. As a brand new mom I already felt inadequate and now I felt for sure I was killing my baby! And thus the crying and anxiety began. It only lasted about two or three days, but for those few days I think Mark thought for sure his wife had gone off the deep end. Luckily, all was well and at his next weigh-in two days later he had gained a solid 3 oz!

Anyway, even with all that crying and anxiety, I still enjoyed every second with my baby! Here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Haha, now that outfit hardly fits him and he was drowning in it then.

With big hands comes an uncanny ability to gauge eyes out and thus for this first week he was almost always in little mittens.

He loves sticking out his tongue!

So little!

Mama's boy.

Father and son.

Second family picture the day after we came home from the hospital.

A video of Tyler - one week old. I know he's just laying there, but he does yawn and sneeze and besides, he's just so stinkin' cute!

Tyler John is Here!!

Alright, I am finally updating!! Yay!! Even though Tyler is now almost a month old - WHAT?? Time flies way too fast. Anyhoo, I figure I should start at the beginning...well the beginning of his life outside of me. Here we go (PS its long...if you want you can skip to the bottom for pictures):

You know how in the movies the pregnant woman goes from being totally fine to full on labor in a matter of minutes? Well mine was kind of like that - almost.

I was due November 20th, a Friday. The Tuesday before, I was REALLY tired and sick (did I mention that at this point I had had a cold for 3 weeks, going on 4??) I went home and just laid down and tried to sleep. Suddenly, around 3:30 am, I woke up with pretty bad pain - no building up for me - just BAM. No I did not say, "Honey, it's time." Mostly because I had no idea what the pain was (you see, I was kind of in denial that I was going to have the baby any time soon because all the doctors I saw had said he was small and would most likely be late) plus I didn't know what contractions felt like. So I went out to the couch to wait and see if the pain came back and then if they were actually contractions to time them. By about 4:30 they were coming fairly regularly, about 8-10 minutes apart and they were starting to hurt quite a bit. So I called my mom - yep I called my mom at 4:30 in the morning. She said it sounded pretty real. I was still uncertain. My hospital is an hour away so I didn't want to go all the way down there just to be turned back. I decided that I would just wait it out a bit and see if it kept up and got closer together. I had an appointment that morning down there anyway. My mom on the other hand, with an intuition that can only be motherly, was certain enough that she got out of bed at 4:30 and got ready so she could try and hop a flight down here. I continued to time and breathe and by 7:00 they were 6 minutes apart and eye squinting, catch your breath worthy. I decided to call labor and delivery and see. They told me my voice didn't sound like I was in labor (amazing they can tell just by listening to your voice - sense my sarcasm?) and that I probably wasn't. Plus, I had an appointment down there that morning anyway, so if I really was in labor the doctor could tell me for certain. Since these people were nurses and I believed them, I told Mark to go ahead and go to school as this was apparently false labor. However, I still needed a ride to the doctor. There was no way I was driving for an hour in this kind of pain. Luckily, my awesome friend, Ceri, was willing to drive me down and wait with me. (Ceri, you're the best!) So around 8:45 we left and those dang contractions just kept getting closer together and more and more painful. By the time we got to the doctor's office, they were a good 4-5 minutes apart and I was beginning to wonder how much worse "real" labor was because this false labor stuff was killer. Somehow I managed to waddle into the office, check in, and sit down - all while trying to act like I was totally fine. The nurse called me in and checked my blood pressure - in the midst of a contraction that I tried to sit through nonchalantly. I must have done a pretty good job because she freaked out when she saw how high it was. She asked me if I had a history of high blood pressure and I said, "No, I was just having a contraction. (smile). She gave me a funny look and then went to get the doctor. He came in and asked me how far apart they were. I continued to insist it was false labor since that was what labor and delivery said. He went ahead and checked and said, "Well, how would you feel about being 100% effaced, 5 cm dilated, and on your way into transition?" How would I feel? Are you crazy? You mean this has been real labor the whole time and I kept acting like it was nothing and like I felt fine?? No wonder it hurt! So he ordered a wheel chair and Ceri and I walked/wheeled across the street to the hospital and into labor and delivery, while I called Mark and my mom - who unfortunately was still having a hard time getting a flight. Anyway, they checked me in, got me in bed, IV'd me, and ordered the epidural. I had had enough of the pain...it was time for a little peace. Before the epidural guys came Mark had arrived and both he and Ceri helped me breathe through the contractions as they were now eye squinting, teeth gritting, hand squeezing, slight moaning worthy and coming almost every 2-3 minutes. Where were those dang epidural guys?? Once they got there the nurse ordered Mark and Ceri out and said in 15 or 20 minutes you will come back to find a much more comfortable and happy mommy. Good only 15-20 minutes more of this nonsense. No such luck. 45 minutes later I was still hunched over, trying desperately not to move for fear of paralysis, and wondering how much more I could take! I have a difficult spine apparently and once they finally got the right spot, they couldn't get the catheter in!! OH THE HUMANITY! Finally, after about an hour they were done and the nurse said, "Well lets just check and see if you've progressed at all." (a minute or so later) "Would you believe you are at a 10!?!?" (excuse me for a moment of bragging and self congratulation) Would I believe? You mean I got all the way to a 10 hunched over, without medication? I am one tough mama! Take that all you naysayers who thought I would be screaming in pain! Even the nurse said so. When Mark and Ceri came back in she told them where I was and said, "She is one tough cookie, many women couldn't have done that and been so still and quiet" HAHA!! Victory! (Ok moment of bragging over). So, even though I was at a 10, Tyler still had not progressed very far down and the nurse gave me the option to go ahead and push and probably push for a long long time or, since I wasn't in pain anymore, to "labor down." Where you just keep on laboring and let the body push the baby down further so you don't have to push as long. I chose labor down, plus we were still hoping my mom would make it in time. It was a good choice in the long run, because I wasn't ready to push for an additional 4 hours and I got to take a nap. A little before 5 I told Mark that I maybe felt like pushing, so he and Ceri left to find the nurse. In she came, Ceri and Mark both took their stations at each leg, and away we went. (An aside: My poor mommy barely missed it. Her flight arrived as I was pushing. But I am so grateful to Ceri for staying and helping me out. She was an awesome coach! Mark was great too and held my hand and fed me ice, but Ceri was the coach...they were a good combo!) Then at 5:38, November 18th, out came Tyler - all 7 lb 14 oz and 20 inches of him. (Those doctors and their estimates. They thought he would be small and late and he was actually pretty big and early!) He was healthy and thriving and the cutest little baby I have ever seen! The rest is pretty much normal. My mom and Mark's mom came and oohed and ahhed over their new grandson. Mark and I had our first night alone with our baby - though Mark did most of the work that first night. (Another aside: This event proved to me again how awesome Mark is. I tore pretty bad and was unable to do anything by myself - get up, get down, walk, go to the bathroom, change, pick up the baby, change the baby, etc. Mark was a doting and wonderful husband, helping me at all hours of the night go to the bathroom, change, get the baby for me, change the baby, you get the point. He is amazing!) The next day we went home and its been a learning, growing, absolutely life changing experience ever sense. I knew you could love and I had heard how much you love your baby, but I didn't fully comprehend it at all. Its a bond and a feeling unlike anything I have ever experienced! I don't even have words for it. All you mothers know. I love my son more than anything and I would do absolutely anything and everything for him! . . . and I will leave it at that. The end. And now some pictures.

Me after the epidural...see I'm smiling :)

Tyler John and mommy soon after delivery.

Our little family's first picture. (I'm quite the looker)

Tyler's first day of life. So so CUTE!!