2 months

The terrible two's are official at the Tyler home! We had three days of birthday fun this past week and Grace got spoiled so much!

To start the festivities we had a family dinner at Grandma Kates for Patch's 19th (on the 15th), Bracken's 9th (on the 17th) and Grace's 2nd (on the 18th.) We had yummy meatball subs and shared the evening with family.

Saturday we had a Finding Nemo party with Mikes family and my sister Cassie. Grace loves Nemo - so we had a Nemo cake, I colored a Nemo picture - (for 4 hours the night before.....it was huge....).


We had pizza, opened presents and had cake and ice cream. Grace had such a fun time - She got some dang cute dresses, some ice cream for her kitchen, a puppy that barks and walks (but does not pee or poop... :) and a bouncy, spinning horse.




Grace must have spun for hours on the horse, everyone else was sick watching her, but she loves it!









The cake turned Grace's lips, chin, and tongue blue. And let me just say this, we had Girl scout ice cream with it, and it was yummy!




I'm so thankful for the last two years. I can't believe how fast they have gone! Even when Grace is sick, and drives me crazy - I love her!







I had to throw this picture in for good measure - it looks like she is trying to guess the present through osmosis...





Notice my nephew Tylor at the very end of the video... helping....



And finally - Grace's official birthday arrives and Grandma & Grandpa McBride, Patch and Cassie came for lunch at Red Robin, and spoiled Grace some more. She got some very darling outfits and a princess tea set - which her and Max love....

Oh - and I almost forgot the 2 months thing.... She I've been trying to teach Grace for the past week that she is two, well now when we ask her how old she is she tells everyone "2 months...." so cute!

Thanks everyone for sharing our special week! And Happy Birthday my little love -

Goodbye Dear Friend

We have said good-bye to a very dear friend this past week. This friend has been there for the past two years, through good times and bad. It (or perhaps I should say they) has/have comforted, soothed and entertained. But, it/they have become somewhat of an addiction - and I had to do it.

I remember a nurse remarking on the fact that Grace could suck her binky, and keep it in from the day she was born - By five months Grace would not fall asleep without one binky in her mouth and one in her hand. I will freely admit that I abused the binky - and I loved that it could quiet her so quickly. By a year old we upped the binky count to three at all times - one for each hand, one for the mouth and there was usually a fourth floating close by. Shortly after Grace's first birthday she started calling "it" a "Binka".

I started to fear the binka - it started to overtake our lives. Dropping one in the grocery store, long car rides, misplacing one at Grandma Kates - all brought more tears than one person could handle!

But recently it has gotten worse. Dear, sweet Grace has developed an obsession for other babies binka's. At first it was just Max's - "Bubba's binka" then she had to have cousin "Daisy's binka", at night she would cry and cry for Daisy's - I had an old green hospital one I got when Max was born and I made the mistake of giving this to her to "soothe" her in the middle of the night. The next day she walked around with the green one, Daisy's, Max's and her own. She had her own possey of binka's - and they were ruling our lives!

So - my last post was about illness - Grace got put on antibiotics that she wouldn't take - so I decided not to give her a binka one day until she took her medicine, a nice little bargining chip. This worked the first and second time, but the third time she got all the medicine in her mouth and spit it right at me. I was so mad! I told her she didn't get her binka until she took her medicine. Well she cried for two straight hours the first day. (This broke my heart!) But we did it, she even napped without it. That night getting ready for bed she cried and cried and cried. (I had tears running down my face while we said family prayers that night, I felt so bad for her.) But she did it - and she has not taken anymore of her medicine either.

On one hand I'm crazy, my kids were already sick and I chose to take away the "Binka" - what was I thinking, on the other hand, if she was sick anyways - why not kill two birds with one stone? I'm a mean mommy! Actually, I feel like this is the first grown up "I did it for your own good" decision I have made...

Fast forward 5 days, Grace still asks for her binka, today she cried the entire way up to Hyrum (60 straight minutes of crying.....) But she has stopped crying during the day (except in the car), she still wants it at night and nap time - but I'm hoping that she stops asking for her dear friend eventually.

Sickly Sickies.

Can I just say that I hate being sick. I hate my kids being sick! And I'm really ready to be healthy?

So Monday I took Max to the doctor. Well, I made Max an appointment, but the weather was so bad that Ruth and Todd had to meet me there, and we were all still late. (But so was the dr. so no worries there....It took an hour to get from the Mall in Ogden, to the hospital in Layton....) Max had been coughing, had a fever, a runny nose like you wouldn't believe, and was not being a nice little boy to say the least. Round three of ear infections for the boy child (since Thanksgiving....) and croup. I had him look at red dots on his tummy and they were not too worried, but I said Grace's were even worse. So we lifted up her shirt and the grand ole dr. said she needed an antibiotics, but since she wasn't checked in there was nothing he could do. Don't we just love medical people?

So - I went back out, checked Grace in (paid another co-pay). To be fair, they didn't make us wait too long and there were other people complaining that they had been there over an hour. So when I took Grace back the doctor actually took a few minutes and said a bunch of stuff - and then he said she could have chicken pox, she could have mersa, she could have a viral infection or it might not be any of those things. Well, all I know is that Grace had red bump like things on her shoulders, that spread to her lower back, her arm pits and her tummy. The girl child will not take her medicine, even if it's hidden in some thing else, and the dot's (even the infected ones have started to go away.) So she's had them for about a week - and I really don't know what they actually are.

Que Tuesday - sick and ornery, Max's cough gets worse

Wednesday - sick, a little happier for Max - Grace now has the perma drip runny nose.

Usher in Thursday - Max still has a cough, it's a bit better, Grace will not take her medicine - I can't bribe her, I can't force her, I can't trick her - I just don't know what to do!

Friday - Grace wakes at 3:11 am, and does not go back to sleep. Max sleeps through the night for the first night in weeks, and I'm sitting with Grace for 2 1/2 hours in the middle of the night - and did I mention she is grumpy as all get out? And, now my voice is limited - to say the least, my chest and my throat are tight. I don't feel too bad, but I can tell it's coming!

I just want us all to be well - is that too much to ask?

Happy Birthday Mike

***I just realized that I didn't re-post this after editing..... Happy Belated B-Day!!!

I got a migraine for Mikes birthday, so I wasn't much into the parting mood, but I think he had a great day. We went to lunch with my parents, Patch, Jordan, Shaun, Ty and Nayvie, and then had dinner at Mikes parents house. I think he is most excited about his new exercise bike! (Me too.....)

We don't have any furniture in our living room for a few days, so the kids used Mike as their chair.

Mike is hoping this year will be a very long year! My child of the 80's husband will be 30 next year - 6 months after me. I believe that it is just one more year older, but he seems to think 30 is when all your goals should be accomplished by. I love him!

And they sleep...

This is how I found Grace and Mike at 7:58 pm tonight. It's Friday, and we had big plans. (Yeah, right.) So, I got Max a bottle, moved Grace to her bed and by 8:10, I was the only one stirring. I'm sure I could do something useful with my time before my ultimate exhaustion sets in - but after doing the dishes, the laundry, scrubbing Max's car seat in the snow with a toothbrush and plastic fork well, I'm going to play online now.....

Oh my sweet boy! I love Max so much. He is so full of smiles. He says "Mama" (debuting on Christmas morning.... :) He says "Bubba" (which is what Grace always calls him) and he says "Bye". Max has a very low rumble laugh, and he growls - do all boys do this?





He also loves to play with toys, he is a mad man in a walker and is so close to crawling - I just want to jump in and help him every time, he just can't figure out where his right leg goes! So you may be asking yourself, what is person - a seemingly normal person doing scrubbing out a car seat with a toothbrush and plastic fork in the cold and falling snow? Max christened his car seat today. His brand new car seat. I could not believe it, it's in the buckles, the crevices, Oh my gosh - can you just say that this morning was not my favorite!!!!!! I was late to work, which I hate - Max had two baths before 8 am, and I had to call Grandma to come and pick the kids up this morning. I'm pretty sure all the poop is gone. I hope.

Grace is still as rambunctious as ever. She loves, loves her kitchen and baby dolls and plays with them nonstop. This morning when I was getting her dressed she kept asking me if the outfit was cute -

"It's so cute?" I know she is a girl - but are they really suppose to care this early? I'm in so much trouble -

Mother of the year strikes again.

I caught my darling daughter in the bathroom again today. Again! When will I learn to shut the door? Actually I do about 90% of the time. Mike does about 1% of the time, but she never goes in when he leaves it open. She was back in the drawer. She had her brand new stuffed puppy "Jake" (Jr.) and I told her to get out. About an hour later I noticed puppy Jake had red on his light brown fur. I asked her if she did it. (making them admit it is the first step right?) She said yes, so, I told her to go to time out. Time out at our house is the stairs - which she did. I was so proud that I didn't yell. I was thinking what am I going to say to her? Should I take puppy Jake away? Will she understand that it's a result of what she did? How am I going to stop her?

Well - I go and sit by her on the stairs and I told her she made mommy very sad. (guilt always works for me) Then I noticed my wall - it had red all over it, so did her shirt, and her pants and her hands, how did I miss this? Then I thought, that's not chapstick, crayon or marker, it's blood! She had cut her finger, sliced it right open and I put her in time out! What a good little mommy I am!

Could someone please get that child a hair cut? Oh, Hi. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

My mom has this little bench in her living room that all the grandchildren love. I think we have pictures of every grandchild on this bench. It's adorable, and just their size. Well, after exactly 46 pictures I got one of Grace and Max looking at the camera, and it's not too shabby. I love their little holiday sweaters.... (Hey they are cute when they are young... :)

Nayvie and Ty are never one's to miss a photo op! We were at Grandma Kate's for Christmas Eve. We spent time eating, decorating Ginger bread houses, trains, condemned buildings and castles. We talked, ate some more and called it an evening.

Patch getting some loves from Jake.

Grace really did not understand the concept of Santa this year. I told her all month long that we have presents because the wise men brought baby Jesus presents - and she stared at me like, "Yeah, I'm not two yet - ..... duh!" And we had such a wonderful meeting with Santa earlier in the year I wasn't sure how she was going to react when we told her he had visited during the night.



She came into the living room, and stood there for a few minutes, then she saw the baby doll.. (Her first CPK....Mommy might have told Santa specifically which one...) And the stroller, and the crib and the swing and she was in heaven! We had to lug the baby and the carrier and the stroller every where we have went for the past three days...

Grace also got a kitchen from her Grandma, she has played with her dollies, and the kitchen non stop. I love it! She is just so cute.

Max got a car seat for Christmas, since his feet hung way over the edge, and it was like lifting a 30lbs bowling ball in his carrier. Mike says it's a baby lazy boy, and I admit it's pretty plush. He also got a basketball hoop, which he has learned really fast where the balls go and some other fun toys.

Christmas day we had breakfast at Mike's mom and dads and then headed up to Hyrum for Christmas lunch. We expected snow. We should have planned better. We ended up spending the night in Hyrum, both of us missed work on Friday because of the snow. Hyrum got at least a foot, but with the drifts the snow was up to the middle of my car door. It had rained before it had snowed, so all of the car doors were frozen shut, and it took Mike and my brothers 2 1/2 hours to shovel us out. Thanks boys! Then after a two hour drive home, on the worst roads I had ever been on - we made it home, to clean up Christmas. What a fun week we had! Lot's of Love to all our families and friends! (Only 362 days to go til Christmas 09!)