Tasty

If Max could speak full sentances I'm sure he would say "Yes, as a matter of fact, Kit-Kat's are my favorite candy!"

Relief and a bit of Sadness

I'm a little relieved and a little sad.

The Tyler home is now a binka and bottle free zone. Sunday the 13th I decided to take Max off his bottle. I never had to take Grace off the bottle, around 4 months she just decided she didn't want it anymore and ate baby food after that. But not Max, he loved it. He was drinking 5-6 bottles a day, and would hardly eat food. Plus he's such a picky eater - there were nights he didn't eat any dinner and just wanted his bottle. He also didn't want milk out of sippy cup. He would drink water or juice in a cup - but if it was milk he just let it sit there. Well, Monday wasn't too bad, until the afternoon. He cried for about 6 hours straight for his "bababababababa..." + I left his favorite blanket at my moms + he was starting to get a runny nose. I pick the week he's getting a cold to take him off? I must be crazy!

Tuesday he didn't cry for it at all. He was perfectly fine and slept through the night. I started thinking, okay. We're doing pretty good. Wednesday we took the kids to the dentist for the first time. They asked if Grace was a thumb sucker - I said no. Does she still have a pacifier? Um.. yeah... about that...

You may remember last winter when I took Grace's precious binka away. She bawled for it for 5 months. She stole Max's every chance she got. She stole her cousins. She hid in the closet. In the night I'd go in her room and she would have taken Max's and be sucking on it. She is addicted. I hope she never starts smoking or drinking... I finally caved. We gave her a binka for bedtime only. She did good for a while, then it became a nap time/bedtime binka. Then a nap time/bedtime/car ride binka. Then a nap time/bedtime/car ride/ need it "so bad" time binka. I would not let her have it during the day, or when we went places. But she always had it nearby.

Back to the dentist - They said it was pushing her top teeth forward and she had to be done. They suggest Max lose his too and that they had this nasty stuff they could paint on to the binky's and the kids would give them up after a day or two. He said let them have it and let them make the decision to give it up. So we gave that a shot. The kids gagged, slobbered and cried. Grace cried for an hour. Max just kept trying it and gagging. Mike thought it was hilarious, but it broke my heart. But Mike got his - he got some of the sick stuff on his finger without realizing it and put it in his mouth...

Well we barely made it through the fist night. Grace clutched hers in her hand all night long. Thursday morning Max got a hold of his and gagged and threw up in my bed, so I threw it away. later that day I caught Grace with hers in her mouth. I asked if it was gross and she said yes, but kept on sucking it. I told her to get it out of her mouth and she said, "The doctor said I could have it." And she was right, he had. But he also said it was so gross that they wouldn't keep it in their mouths! That night I took it out of her mouth three times, and then I threw it out. She cried Friday and Saturday for that thing. So I found another one and cut the whole nipple off of it. She carries the "broken binka" around with her everywhere. I've caught her trying to suck it more than once.

Sunday my sister tried to tell her that she needed to put the broken bink in an envelope and mail it to Santa for presents. Grace put it in the envelope, and made it a few hours, before nervously saying, "Where's my binka? I don't want presents!"

Yesterday she had a total breakdown at her Grandma's. She cried for over an hour - It was so sad. It's been almost a week now -and I'm just not sure what to do with her.

It's been crazy at the Tyler home. No bottles, no binkas, Max and I have had a bad cold... and secretly wondering... The last week or so I have been so exhausted. I know I had a cold, but it seemed more than that, twice I actually took a nap in the middle of the day, and I'm not a napper. I was nauseous, for days. And my boobs hurt so bad. I am probably the only person in the world that hates my IUD. I have never been so irregular. Slowly I began to wonder.

Grace will be three in January. Max will be 1 1/2 next month. Truly, I didn't want to have another baby right now. I simply don't know what we would do. Max was a surprise and we love him dearly, but I am not ready for another surprise. Little parts of my thoughts started thinking about having another little baby, and a tiny little part of me starting thinking okay. If I am, we will just figure out a way.

But... my back didn't hurt. With Grace my back hurt. With Max, my back hurt for day 1. And so, I didn't really believe I was. But. Well, one does start to wonder- I took a test yesterday. It said No. Very clearly No. Relief. Relief. Relief. and a bit of sadness. One day, maybe in a year or two when my kids are a little more independent. (And not crying over binka's and baba's.) One day. For now I'm just grateful for my two!

A few more trips to the zoo...

We went to the zoo a lot this year, 5 or 6 times... My kids love it and Grace talks about it for days. Backtracking just a little... The circus was suppose to come to the Newgate Mall parking lot the first part of September. They told us we could bring Grace and let her watch the elephants set up the tent. Well, Grace LOVES elephants, so I opened my big mouth and told her. She was so excited! But, then they canceled and mom looked like a big meany. So I told her we'd take her to the zoo instead. She loved it, but now several weeks later she still tells me she's sad she couldn't come to mom's work and see elephants set up a tent.... That will teach me....

The first pictures are when we went with Grandma Ruth, Aunt Beth and Daisy.

I tried so hard to get Grace and Max to look at the camera, this was the best of 10....


Max just stood and stared at the snake, Grace actually touched it. But Max, he wasn't going 1 step closer than that.


Grace keeps picking the dumb things on the carousel. She loves this stupid peacock. If I'm paying to ride I want her to actually ride on something that goes up and down, but at least she's happy, and I'm a sucker for happy.

At the very end of the day we sat down in the little eating area and a peacock was walking around. Grace started walking after it, she followed it for several minutes. Not one bit afraid... and I earn a mother of the year award for letting her chase a peacock...

Last week Mike and I took the kids to the dentist. I told Grace if she was good, and didn't cry that we would take her somewhere fun - so back to the zoo we went to see the baby elephant.

She is just completely enthralled by them. The baby was really cute, and active. She rolled in the mud and played with some toys. I love just seeing how happy the animals make my kids.

This is Grace walking like an elephant - her hands were totally black - but she does elephant very well.

This is the first time I've been able to get Grace to see on the Elephant that sneezes. She's been quite afraid of it, even here she's still not too sure. But afterwards she wanted to go sit on it again, and again, and again....

I love that the zoo isn't so expensive that you can only afford to go sparingly, and that it's close enough not to be a pain!

Grandma's sweet 96th

On Sunday we celebrated my Great-Grandmother's 96th birthday. For the last several years we have met with many extended family members to celebrate every September, and each year someone has noted this will probably be Grandma's last year with us. Well, I didn't hear that once this year - but something was different. Over the past few years her health has deteriorated, and she has talked a lot about my Grandpa who died over 20 years ago. My gut feeling says this was probably the last birthday we are celebrating for her, but my guts have been wrong before.

Some memories I have of my Great-Grandma are.... She had this room off her kitchen that had a sliding glass door, we'd go in there and play on the exercise bike. There was another room off that room and I was always afraid of it... I'm still not sure why. As a kid I remember Grandma always having treats in a little candy dish - lemon heads specifically. I didn't like them, but I always took them. (that sounds like me...) When I was in high school a group of us needed to interview someone who was alive in the 1930's. We picked her - I remember some of the stories she told about growing up, their first TV, dancing at the Elite Hall, and walking everywhere. The first time I took Mike over to meet her she had him read out of the missionary handbook and started asking him questions. I was embarrassed, but he didn't mind. Grandma never missed a chance to share her testimony with her grandchildren.

Here are some pictures....



Me and Max....

Maggie & Libby

Ryan & Mary

My mom -

Nicole & Shuan

Cassie & Libby

Great-Great Grandma Edna & Grace

Kenadi

Max

Mike & I

Max my cheese

Tyler Family

Little things...

1st - you can only say stay out of the water so many times
2nd - what would I give to be so carefree? That little tiny sprinkler made these two kiddos laugh for 1/2 hour!

Joy vs Happy

Warning - this post is all over the place...

So, in an attempt to be a little thought provoking, I would like to discuss joy today. For those of you who did not have the chance to attend the Temple dedication broadcast yesterday there was a talk on joy and being joyful.

Afterwards Mike and I started talking and he says they say the same things over and over. I told him that's because we need to hear the same things over and over and when we start to understand and practice them then we can learn new things. So, I thought to myself "Am I joyful? Certainly there are things that bring me joy. But over all, am I joyful?"

I am happy, but don't think of myself as joyful. So I wondered what is the difference, why do I draw the line in my mind. So I googled and found the following definitions in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

Joy
- the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : delight
- a state of happiness or felicity : bliss
- a source or cause of delight

Happy
- notably fitting, effective, or well adapted : felicitous
- enjoying or characterized by well-being and contentment
- expressing, reflecting, or suggestive of happiness

I know that I fit happy. Characterized by well-being and contentment, well adapted. I believe those things do describe me. I'm happy with my family, I'm happy with my job. But, I have buts. "But, I could be a better mom. But, I could provide for my family better. But, I could be a better friend. But, I wish...."

I guess the reason I don't consider myself joyful is because I always seem to want and worry. To me, a truly joyful person may not be completely carefree - but overall they are satisfied. And I don't think joyful people have buts. But, no where in the dictionary does Joyful say satisfied. So why do I think this?

Don't get me wrong - I love my family, I'm not saying that I'm sad and down on myself at all.
Actually, the part of my favorite parts of the dedication was when they said - just like we want our children to be full of joy, Heavenly Father wants us to be full of joy. Preparing and going to the temple helps us have joy.

So - are you happy, or are you joyful and is there a difference?

Vacation Pics!

We have had so much fun this past week. Every August Mike's family spends a week up in Bear Lake - the kids had a ton of fun this year (not to mention that Mike and I also loved it!). Grace has been asking Grandpa Todd when he's going to take up on the boat for months now - and she was not disappointed. She loved it - he tried to let her steer for a while but she was more interested in sitting in the passenger seat, however her good buddy Mr. Max loved to drive. He was so stinkin cute about it - every time we got on he walked over and climbed up in the seat, when Todd would try to steer he would grunt and push his hand away, the look on his face is priceless!



What would Bear Lake be without a little mini-golf? Mike and me, Tylor and Travis, Grace being obstinate, aunt Caya and Grace, and Grace's hair. (Yes, I did her hair, all by myself! And that is 3 elastics!)

Grace does not like sand. When we go to the park she spends most of the time picking the sand or wood chips out of her shoes. Last year she cried and cried so I wondered how this year would go. It took her a few minutes to warm up to the idea of walking in sand, but soon she was all over it. She played, waded in the water and then Grandpa took her out for a jet ski "water car" ride. She totally loved it!

I wasn't worried about Max liking the sand, he's all boy - He just sat in the sand/rocks/water on the beach for hours. He played with sticks while we attempted to build a beautiful sand castle (mud hill). He let Mike bury his legs and I think he really would have stayed there all day.

Of course we had several hours to spend at the park. Grace would not let me get a picture, I asked her to look at the camera and she shouted "I don't wannta mom!" So it became a big game to get her looking at the camera, when I finally got one after 3 days I laughed and teased her. So what does she do? Looks straight in the camera and says "Cheese!" Like it was her idea - that's my girl! Max loved the slides and climbing up the stairs - he's so much more brave than his sister.

These are just some of my favorite randoms from the week - My niece Daisy, she's so little and sweet, aunt Caya playing with Max, Grace pretending hair life jacket is her tail and dancing on the deck, the chipmunk face, Tylor and Daisy and Grace on the "butt" with grandma's hat.



This was all of the grand kids ((Travis, Tylor, Daisy, Grace and Max)) up at Bear Lake last year - notice how they all sit still and sort of face the camera?

To one year later... it's amazing how much changes in a year! I ran out of space on my memory card after this last picture, or I would have tried harder... Hopefully Aunt Beth got some good ones!

I got a wild hair towards the end of the week that I didn't want my vacation to end. So Mike's family was leaving Friday night/Saturday morning so Mike and I decided to head to Wyoming and visit my friend Stacy. I didn't give her much notice - (So thanks for letting us crash :) We had so much fun. My kids loved it (and trashed her house...) Grace found a friend who would let her dress up and play with strollers and babies. Max loved the boys and the puppies. (We'll try and forget that he didn't want to go to sleep that night..) This picture is Grace and Ally playing in the kitchen under the bar stools... Grace followed Ally everywhere!

Sadly vacations have to end. We have to come home, clean out the car, unpack and go back to work. Wouldn't it be nice to just vacation everyday?