better

Today was better...

but he's still trouble....and always will be I'm afraid. 

I will never be bored:)

ug.

Today was bad.

...really bad. 

Since Tyson is over the croup and the antibiotics (which are super fun to shoot down his little throat while simultaneously pinning him down) are finally kicking in with that darn ear infection and 1-3 teeth are finally poking through (he doesn't sit still long enough for me to really look), I thought that he would be in a better mood. Turns out I keep blaming his sour disposition on something physiologic...but I fear I may be wrong. 

He was so angry today. Nothing made him happy...nothing. I tried to take him to the library in hopes of a change of scenery (for both of us really), and maybe because I'm getting tired of reading Good Night Moon 45 times a day. I'm still not sure what I was thinking. I had him in his stroller initially. He hates anything that straps him down so I basically carried him on one hip the whole time trying to keep his pacifier in his mouth in hopes of dampening the ear-piercing sound that kept erupting from it while pushing the stroller in the other. 

PS-if you want to make a bunch of people really irritated, take an unhappy, very loud baby into the library where nobody is even allowed to talk at normal volumes and see what kind of chaos ensues. 

The trip ended with both of us crying on the way home....he was just a lot noisier about it. 

A few of my coworkers who also have new babies are constantly talking about how fantastic and easy parent-hood is and how they can't wait for more kids. I've come to a few conclusions about these statements...

1-they are lying.

2-they have more help

3-their babies are more mellow. 

Yesterday I had things under control. Yesterday I felt like Donna Reed.

...today I feel more like Rosanne Barr.

Thank goodness for early bedtimes. 

shoes

So as with most parents (I'm assuming I guess), we were having trouble finding proper footwear for Sir Tyson. Between all of the crazy kicking/scooting/flailing and of course the difficulties of getting things to fit around his fat little ankles, we were having troubles. Normally, I would not worry since he's not running barefoot anywhere but it's cold outside these days. Luckily, I remembered that we had gotten these cowboy boots from Jason's brother Darel and his girlfriend Cassie. Turns out they are darn near impossible for the little guy to finagle them off...yipee! So now Tyson wears cowboy boots with everything...and he's becoming quite the local celebrity since people constantly notice and comment on them. At church last weekend, many many people (or at least all of the other parents hanging out in the entry after failed baby wrangling attempts) asked where we got them. So uncle Darel, you would be proud of the little cowboy you are creating. 

PS-he's too chubby to fit into the wranglers...maybe he will slim down once he starts walking.

boys weekend...

It was my weekend to work so the boys were home all by themselves. I think they had a grand ol' time. I'm sure Tyson is now more educated in the ways of ESPN than I could ever hope to be. They obviously spent some time cuddling...

...and playing with all of his favorite toys. It appears as though Jason still doesn't trust Tyson's ability to stay upright even though he's been pretty stable for over a month now.  

PS-I wonder how Jason got Tyson to drop everything and pose so well??? 

Of course we can't forget about meal times...this is the look we get when we try to feed Tyson something he doesn't want (aka-anything not orange). 

And they ended the weekend with a rhythm lesson (thanks for the maraca Lubinski's-he LOVES it). 

Note the orange hue that is started to emanate from my little nugget....specifically on and/or around his nose. If this orange food phase lasts too much longer I'm afraid we might have to purchase some white overalls so he can be dressed like the rest of the oompa loompas. 

yowza

So there I was, having the usual mealtime struggles with Tyson that occur when trying to feed him non-orange foods. I believe that day I had the audacity to try to mix his peas in with his carrots and he was quickly catching on to my little trick. He casually let out a couple of grunts (which happens a lot at our house...he's not very discreet as of yet) and immediately started screaming bloody murder. His hatred for messy pants is nothing new so I unbuckled the harness in his high chair and scooped him up to head for the changing table while simultaneously thinking "jeez kid, calm down." I soon realized why he was crying so hard when I discovered that we were both now completely covered in poop. Apparently behind those grunts was some fantastic power because the velocity that was created shot clear down to the tips of his toes...literally. And it's not as though credit can be given to gravity as he was seated...not standing. So Tyson got a bath immediately and was changed into his pajamas by 3PM. Of course then I had to call my mom for tips on how to get poop out of clothing...though thinking back I should have just called the laundry department at the hospital. I think with the volume I was dealing with they would have had better tips. I have been a nurse for about 6 years now so I have had to deal with my fair share of yuck and this was astonishing even to me. I realize that not everyone wants to hear about such sticky situations but it was a pretty funny scene so of course I had to write about it. Here's to hoping to a cleaner day.

that's a well fed baby...

So here we are again with the mirror. We were getting ready to bathe Tyson and Jason decided to give him one last look at himself in the vanity. I was sitting on the bathroom floor and decided (once again) that I needed a picture of that belly!

I think had a similar profile going on right before I gave birth...although it wasn't nearly this cute...and instead of parading around in front of the mirror, I would sprint (as well as a pregnant lady can sprint) to the shower in hopes of avoiding the mirror completely.

Croup

Here's a fun new development in our household...croup. Even though Tyson only goes to daycare an average of 2 days a week, he still seems to catch everything that goes through there so we weren't surprised when he had yet another runny nose and cough. We fired up the old humidifier and prayed (usually fruitlessly) to have this bug pass by without everyone in the house getting sick. Last night he woke up after about 3 hours of sleep 'coughing' (I use that term loosely because he sounded like a seal barking) and struggling to breath. It sounded like his airway was shutting everytime he would get upset. Immediately that nurse adrenaline kicked in...however, it was a real kick in the pants to find that when it's your own child, any previous knowledge base on what to do flies out the window. So adrenaline - knowledge = pacing around the house like a crazy cat. I called a couple of friends to see what they would do and ended up calling the pediatrician on call anyway just to be sure. I have a hard time finding the balance between becoming "that mom" who rushes to the emergency room for anything everything and the lady who waits way too long. He asked a few questions and gave us some suggestions on things to try and told us that if those things didn't work we needed to come right in. Luckily a few minutes bundled up outside in the cold night air helped ease the inflammation in his airway (turns out that's not a wives tale) and an industrial strength snot sucking bulb syringe did the job. It was still a rough night but at least everything turned out okay. I hate croup. It's crazy scary listening to your child gasping for air and adding even more sleep deprivation to this household is no fun. Here's to hoping tonight is better. We were both way too tired and Tyson was way too crabby (well maybe we both were) to take any pictures today. However, I hate to disappoint so I attached one that I took a week or so ago that makes me laugh...it's yet another picture of Tyson's poop face. I realize that this may be somewhat offensive and completely embarrassing to him in a few years...yet I continue:)

graduation...

Well...it's official. Tyson has outgrown his infant carseat. Jason and I had a super fun time with the installation of this beast (sarcasm noted). Since we didn't want to have to fork over any more cash than necessary, we bought this behemoth that's good up to 50 pounds. The downside is that it now takes up so much room in my backseat, I can barely fit groceries in there. If anyone wants to carpool, they may have to use the seat themselves. It's a good thing the straps are adjustable. 

Not using his infant seat also means not using his cozy carseat cover which was super handy in the midwest winter. I thought I was planning ahead and bought this nice, fleece "snowsuit" so he could remain toasty during errand running and such. However, I grossly underestimated his size. It's a 12-18month but it doesn't even snap under his crotch which leads me to assume that it's not as warm as I was hoping. 

I believe the main problem is that kids who are his size are usually walking and have slimmed down a bit but since he's only 7 months old and pretty sedentary, remains really rotund. I have to wonder if some of this stuff will fit him again once he starts moving more and slims down a bit...I guess I shouldn't count on it. At least I got a couple of pictures in his fuzzy bear suit before packing it away with  the rest of his too small clothes. 

I heart mullets...

Business in front...

Party in the back.

Narcissus

Tyson is at that developmental stage where he LOVES looking at himself in a mirror. I got tired of holding him upright on the bathroom vanity (and I wanted to entice (sp?) him to do more tummy time) so I broke down and spent a couple of bucks on a handheld mirror. I really could've forgotten about any other gifts this year and just given him the mirror. I've actually got about 4 minutes of video footage of Tyson giggling at his image hysterically..but I'm still working on getting the footage up here. 

I think the story of Narcissus falling in love with his own image was written about a 6 month old. He loves his new toy.

And I love mine:) We used our Christmas money this year to purchase a video camera since we now have more to tape than just Jason and I sitting on the couch looking at each other. Now I just have to figure out how to use the darn thing.