Saw a show about avian flu yesterday. It portrayed a “worst-case” scenario. It was really scary – it is definitely a blind killer. It reinforced for me the fact that Mother Nature is in control and she can rid herself of us or a good bit of us rather easily. She doesn’t care if you are an environmentalist or if you cut down forests – it is just the cycle of life in nature. Just like forest fires – as much as we try to prevent and fight them – they serve a purpose.

The idea that I cannot control what happens should an avian flu pandemic break out hit home. It ocurred to me that I really have to enjoy each day I have and live it to the fullest extent that I can…..

was up at 5:45am this morning……ug….

I was boobing him hoping he would go back to sleep. He was crawling all around us in bed and Chris and I lay there wanting to ignore the reality that no more sleep would be had by either of us. Chris got up with him first and went to take his shower. Normally, Tyler would play in the bathroom while we showered. No more…he has figured out that he can’t get to us while we are in the shower and doesn’t like that very much. So I had to drag myself our of bed to entertain our child…

Such a silly little boy. Oh, and we had him in bed without clothes. So while we were still in bed in the darkness, we hear our child take his diaper off….so now we have a naked baby crawling all over the bed…..

Silly child.

Tyler didn’t get the memo about the time change. Today was a wierd day and that is the only reason I can think of to explain it. He never got in a good nap. Had maybe a 30 minute nap at home and then a 45 minute nap in my arms at a friends house. I got him down for a nap at 4:45pm and he woke up at 5:3pm. Now this is 6:45pm if you don’t consider daylight savings.

Well, Tyler was on my boob in and out of sleep for the next hour and a half. I put him in his crib and he woke up shortly after. I just told Chris we were putting him down for the night. So we got him in his nighttime diaper and I put him to sleep in our bed. He has been sleeping soundly every since.

We will see what happens in the coming nights…..

Tyler seems to methodical to me. He seems to consider everything he does before he acts. He definitely got that from his Daddy..his Mommy is much more impulsive. When he wants to touch something, he will hold his hand up by his head doing a little dance with his fingers and then after some consideration will extend his arm and grab the object. It is so fun to watch. We have a sunken living room. While crawling up the step prroved to be a simple skill for Tyler, crawling down it has been a challenge. He will sit there and pat the edge several times and reach down and touch the bottom before he makes an attempt. Watching him explore his world is so fascinating!!

He is also pointing at objects and saying “words”. It is so cool!! And when he finds stuff that he thinks is cool, he will hold it out and show it to you. He is just so fun and interactive. He still wears us out, but at the same time is so absolutely cute. One laugh and smile and we are wrapped right around his little fingers.

I’m pregnant!!!! Holy crap!! I seriously thought it would take an act of God for that to happen. I am totally thrilled as I wanted to be pregnant by Christmas. Of course, as the reality sinks in – there are several questions that need to be answered. Here we go stirring the pot again. I know that this change will be an even bigger one for Chris and I, but I also have all the faith in the world that we are strong and will find our way through.

Tyler sleeps…
Well, for one night anyway. He slept from 9pm to 5am and then until 7:30am. Was a good night for him and he was in spectacular mood the next morning. Now that we are through the latest teething round, I think he will be sleeping a bit more soundly.

Cute, Cute, Cute…
Our little man is talking up a storm! He is also pulling up on everything that he can. His favorite game these days is “open, close”. He will play this game endlessly with any door or drawer he can find. He is also imitating a ton more these days. That has been so fun! He is swaying to music with us in his high chair and learning to blow kisses with his hands over his mouth. He is saying “cat”, “dog”, and “dada”. The skills are coming so fast these days – we are just trying to keep up!

Well, I need to get some work done. That is latest….have a great day!

I did not get to the store last night. In-laws were over to see the new floors and have dinner. Tyler was fighting sleep, but we managed to get him into bed about 9:15am. Poor kid is having not so great a time at daycare right now. I don’t know if it is because he was with us all last week or it is just a stage, but he is pretty clingy right now. Also, his nose is running like crazy and he abhors having it wipes. Poor little nose is getting red from all the wiping. I don’t know if it is an endless cold or more of the same from last year. When he was a baby (before he was ever in dayare) he always suffered with a runny/stuffy nose. I can’t wait to pick him up every day and spend time with him.

I love to hear him talk – his voice is so sweet. Oh, he crawled all the way up the stairs last night with Daddy right behind him. Scares the heck out of me. It will be a long time before he will learn to crawl down, so I think we will keep the stairs blocked off for now.

Well, we are back from Cloudcroft and made it in one piece. Tyler did great the entire trip considering that he was cutting two teeth at the same time. I was really glad my parents were there – I think the trip would have been a lot more tiring without the breaks they could provide us. It is tiring enough caring for a child, but add several miles of hiking every day and you are even more tired. It was great to get out though! The weather was amazing and so were the leaves.

We came home to beautiful new floors! I L-O-V-E my house and my floors now. It is amazing! I have a few quick project I want to do in the living room – dye our couch cover and make slip covers for the love seat and I think I can comfortably call the room done for a while.

Tyler’s FIRST word!
It is confirmed by my husband. We came home frome our trip Saturday night and let the cats out. When Tyler saw them he said “Cat!” and continued to do so the entire night as he crawled after them from room to room. It was so funny! He is pulling up on everything these days so we really have to watch him. We lowered his crib to the lowest level. As I mentioned, he cut two teeth at the same time and actually got three teeth all within two weeks. Thank God for Advil…he was in some pain. He now has five teeth and loves to grind them which freaks me out. It has that whole “nails on chalkboard” sound to me and gives me the shivers. Hopefully that is just a phase. We are still working on the hand feeding. He is getting better with Cheerios and LOVES cheese it seems. He has had it twice, but seems to get really excited about it.

A Great Traveler!
Tyler was really a good traveler. We left at 5am and he slept the first 3 hours. We would then stop at a breakfast place and get something to eat giving Tyler cheerios and/or pancake. I nursed him and changed him and then we found a park. We would take him for a walk and if the grass was dry let him play for a while. Once we were back in the car, he has been up for 2 hours. Usually, he would play for 45 min and konk our for another 2 hours. By then we had three hours to go and could take it leisurely stopping for a quick or long stop if we thought Tyler needed a break. All in all it took us 12 hours each way with stops with 9 driving hours which I thought was pretty good.

Tyler did great it the Kelty backpack as well. He would fall asleep in it if he was tired and would let us know if he needed a break or wanted to touch a tree. He even did one four-hour hike with us!

Now that we are back in town and the weather is good, we are trying to spend a great deal of time outdoors. Monday we were off unpacking the house and took Tyler on a one-hour bike ride in his Chariot around his nap time. I think that I am going to try to get out with him at least two days a week – I could take him hiking, biking or running in his stroller. I think the getting out would be good for both of us. On the weekends we are going to do some hikes that are farther out. We had talked about doing some camping – although we don’t have a tent just yet. Since we just spent all this $$ on floors, we may wait til the Spring on that.

All in all things are going well. I have been up and down the last couple of weeks, but today am feeling fairly sane. A few wierd things have happened that have me thinking I should take another preg test – although two previous ones have resulted negative. I have been tired and moody and craving foods – I have to have Sonic today and I have only eaten there once before in my life! Dunno – I need to go to the store, so I may pick one up…

Well, need to go get Tyler. Take care….