Second Birthday Party!

We had a fun birthday celebration yesterday for Tyler at our house with our family and closest friends. It was very similar to his party last year, but it was about half the size (37 people), which made it so much more manageable and allowed us to visit with everyone more. :-)

Tyler was VERY excited about having a party this year and having some of his "fends" over to play with. We all had a great time! Thank you to everyone that came and shared in another special moment with us!

And like last year, here are a ton of pictures (and would you believe that I feel like I didn't take enough pictures? I was too busy visiting and missed a lot of the action)!

~Travis grilled hamburgers and turkey dogs. We had pasta, potato salad, chips, several dips, a yummy cake, cake balls and chocolate covered strawberries. Too much food and it was all so good!












The kids having some fun in the bounce house~
















A few of the partygoers that made it into pictures~


































Here's my attempt at a group picture of Tyler and his friends. We missed a few kiddos, but I was still impressed that I got these!





Some pinata fun! I managed to find an indestructible one! :-)


































No cake smashing for us this year~



















I thought Tyler would be excited to open up his gifts, but he didn't have a lot of patience for it. He was more interested in socializing with his friends that were there. Just like last year, I ended up opening almost all of the gifts. He got some great things this year: a playhouse and grill, a lawnmower, a picnic table, a bouncy horse, a soccer set, cars, bubbles, summer water toys, some great books and puzzles, a homemade super hero cape and cute summer clothes. He's such a lucky little boy!

Here are a few pictures of him attempting to open/help with some of his gifts.















This is what happens when you party too hard! :-)



However, Tyler was ready to get the party started again after his nap!

Happy Second Birthday, Baby!

Two!!! I have such a hard time believing that it has already been two years since you were born. I often find myself missing the little baby that you used to be, but I wouldn’t trade where we are now for anything in the world. I love watching you grow, learn and experience everything. You bring so much excitement and happiness to our lives and I’m loving and appreciating every minute of it. I have also come to realize that no matter how old and big you get, you will always, always be my baby boy...

This past year has flown by and you have changed so much in that time. You are such a handsome boy and you are always receiving compliments. It makes me feel so proud and lucky. You have turned into this little independent person, determined and decisive, sweet and generous. You are innocent, full of mischief and love. You surprise us everyday by doing or saying something new. You have mastered running, jumping, dancing, talking, singing, feeding yourself, brushing your teeth, sorting shapes, naming colors, throwing and kicking a ball, and everything else in between. You have done all of this effortlessly- almost like you had a list of things to accomplish and you crossed them off one by one. Daddy and I couldn’t be more proud of you and your accomplishments.

You have become quite a good helper! You love helping me cook, unload the dishwasher, set the table, fold clothes, vacuum, sweep and water plants. You love helping Daddy make coffee, mow the yard, feed Cooper and wash and brush Cooper. I think we all make a great team and I definitely hope that you are as eager to help with these chores as you get older!

I love that you and I still have snuggle time in the mornings. I love when you run up to me and give me a big hug or kiss on your own- my heart melts every time. I love that you love your lovey- I think it shows a sweet and sensitive nature about you. I love that you have a contagious laugh and smile just like your Daddy. I love when you put your boogers on Daddy- haha. I love when we all play hide-n-seek. I love tickling you. I love that you have taught me to enjoy the simple things like taking a walk, playing in the dirt, blowing bubbles and eating popsicles. I love that you are a messy boy. My list of things that I love about you could go on and on, but in short, I adore absolutely everything about you. You have blessed me with happiness beyond what I could have ever imagined.

We have made some wonderful memories this past year and I am looking forward to another year of watching you grow and making many more beautiful memories as a family.

I wish you another year of love and happiness. Happy Birthday, Baby. I love you always.

Mommy

2 years old!

TWO.YEARS.OLD!! Our Little Dude isn’t so little anymore and I just can't believe it. This year was different than last year. Tyler was very aware that today was HIS special day and kept saying “My happy” or “Happy Day.” So cute! I took the day off from work and Travis took off half a day so that we could spend it with our birthday boy. We went to Chuck-e-Cheese for the first time to play games and then we went to Trudy’s for lunch and dessert! After Tyler’s nap, we showed him his big birthday present- a playhouse in the backyard- that he absolutely loved! I don’t remember getting such cool things when I was little. Haha. We had to practically drag him in crying after it got dark because he still wanted to play in his house and ring his ‘be-bell.’ :-) I spent a lot of time reminiscing today and Travis and I would tell Tyler what we were doing at various times throughout the day on the day he was born (ex, at 3:30pm, just 2 hours before he was born, I was STILL searching through baby books for the perfect name- haha). It was such a great day and I’m so glad that we were able to celebrate... just us.

On to some updates... the biggest improvement with Tyler continues to be how well he is talking. He’s putting more and more words together now and is really making a lot of sense. He has this little pause in between words... “Daddy.......truck” ... “Coopie.......sit.” It’s cute. Almost like he’s really trying to think of what the next word is supposed to be. He’s also working on creating a whole new language by combining two words together for a shortened version- like “opit” for “open it.” :-) He’s starting to vocalize his independence now. He’s always telling me, “I do it”... “I get it”... “I coming” or “I help.” He surprises me every day by saying something new and I just think he’s doing a great job!

His favorite meal right now is baked chicken, mashed potatoes and corn. He's definitely a Texan- he loves ranch dressing on anything! And of course, he loves any type of dessert. Afterall, he is my child! His new favorite show is Max and Ruby and his favorite color is green. He loves picking his nose- seriously, I think there is a magnet on his finger and in his nose- haha. I also noticed a new mole on his leg this month. That makes three total- one on each of his legs and one close to his ear.

Child proofing didn’t seem to last long in our house. Tyler has mastered opening the cabinet locks and if he has a 30 second head start on me to the bathroom, he’ll grab whatever hair product of mine that he can get to and start spraying the walls, bathtub or himself with it. I don’t know why he finds our bathroom so fascinating, but that’s where he gravitates to do a lot of his mischief.

Most know that I literally caught my kitchen on fire when I was 14 while cooking french fries (dumb!) and I didn’t realize that I would have to worry about Tyler causing some big accident at this age, but he gave me a pretty good scare recently. While I was cooking breakfast, he snuck off to my bathroom (mischief center!) and took my hair straightener out of the cabinet and left it plugged in, laying on the carpet in our bedroom. He came in to the kitchen to tell me that he had a ‘boo-boo’ on his thumb, but I just dismissed it after not noticing anything. We ate our breakfast and were about to walk out to run errands when I decided to change his diaper before we left... in our bedroom... where I smelt something burning... and then saw the straightener...laying on the carpet! I realized then that he got his boo-boo from touching the hot iron after he plugged it in! He was okay and I’m surprised that the carpet didn’t burn a little, but I can’t believe that if I didn’t need to change his diaper, we would have left and possibly came back to a bad situation. It scared the bee-geezes out of me. Now I’m on a mission to find different child proof cabinet locks.

Oh, and he's also just tall enough to reach the ice/water dispenser on the refrigerator and well, I usually have a puddle of water to clean up every few days. I didn't think about purchasing a refrigerator that had a locking system on it eight years ago. uggg.

There’s no change in potty training, although I did buy some pull-ups the other day to help get the ball rolling. He already seems to prefer them over regular diapers. I just need to be more consistent with taking him to use the bathroom and then I think he’ll do really well with the transition.

It looks like we're ending the second year with Tyler still sleeping in our bed. I never thought he’d be in our bed this long, but as I’ve said before, I actually enjoy having him next to me all night. I know he can’t sleep with us forever so I do have a plan... we're just not implementing it quite yet. :-) I’m thinking within the next six months or so, we’ll turn the guest bedroom into his room and I’m hoping that he’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on by that time so that we can make it a fun thing. You know, let him help pick out furniture, a bed, bedding, paint, etc. I’m actually excited about it (not kicking him out of my bed, but working on his room together!). And for those inquiring minds regarding his current room situation- we’re planning to keep it as the nursery for baby #2 and hopefully, that baby will get a little more use out of it than Tyler did. And for those inquiring minds regarding baby #2- yes, we are talking about it! Maybe we'll be welcoming a new addition to our family sometime next year! ;-)

So, that’s that. I still can’t believe my baby is two years old!!!!