Monty's B-Day

Monty celebrated his 4th birthday on August 5th! So exciting. I treat Monty like a true child so I only want the best for him. Some may call me crazy, but I just call it love. I was not sure what to get him this time. Most of the time, I get him toys for gifts, but if any of you know him, you know the last thing he needs is more toys. I decided to go this doggie boutique that I have gone to before because they sell special treats. I got him this cute doggie bone with Happy Birthday written on it. It was made with all natural ingredients so it is good for pets. He loved it! I gave him pieces of it over time (days) because it was huge. He really liked it. I now know what an excellent gift that he will like is. Here are pics of him enjoying his treat.

Angelic Face

I love taking close-ups of Tyler because he has just the most adorable face! His eyes and lashes are either going to get him into trouble, get him out of trouble, or both. I am guessing both =)...

What Can I Get Into?

So since Tyler is almost completely full force mobile (walking is on its way), he pretty much gets where he wants to go fast. Almost faster than I can get there, so besides putting away anything I know he can get to and will get to, I also have to watch for things that even I don't forsee. That kid is smart and fast! Things he definitely heads for are the stairs, places with doors he can open if it is slightly cracked and then go into, potted plants we have in our entryway, and Monty's dog food and water.

For now in regards to the stairs, we just have to make sure he does not go in that area. We have not bought the gates yet like we should have already, because heaven forbid we make our lives a little easier. That would just be crazy! I actually did buy a gate to put on the stairs, so hopefully we can get it up asap so we don't have to keep making sure he is not on his way to climb Mt. Everest. As for the doors, we constantly have to make sure we are closing all the doors. If there is somewhere we do not want him going and he sees that door open, you can bet he is heading straight there. One in particular is the bathroom door. I really have to train myself to close that door. If we are in the bedroom and I head to our closet to put something away, he will usually follow me in there and if I do not have the bathroom door closed, he is there by the time I am halfway in the closet realizing I forgot to close it. I am chasing after him in hopes that he has not pulled up on the toilet or something else gross to stand up on yet. Usually I can get to him before he touches anything nasty, but it is always a close call.

We are at a loss for the potted plants besides getting rid of them until he gets older. Anywhere we put them downstairs, he will get to them, and I really don't want to put them upstairs. Since they are fake plants with real soil, they don't really belong outside either. So I have not idea what to do with that one. With Monty's food and water, we usually leave it out all the time but with Tyler going after it now, we put it up if Monty is not using it. It is hard because he likes to graze and eat when he wants, but if we have to put it up, that makes it more of a challenge to remember to put it back down. He always tells us when he needs it, but still...

Here are some pictures I took when Tyler was "exploring his environment."

Tyler using one of his toys to get higher and try and reach objects on the coffee table...so resourceful!

Who Me?

Getting Under Mommy's Sink (We have locks on it now!)

What Looks Good?

Still Lookin'

More Fun at the Pool

Here are some more summer pool pictures. Tyler enjoys the water so much that who knows...he could be the next Michael Phelps. He is probably going to be just as big, that's for sure!

Tyler with his cousin Sarah Kate, Grandma, and his cousin Rachel

Tyler with his cousin Sarah Kate again and Grandma

Tyler floating in the water with daddy

Tyler playing in the water with his cousin Megan

First Time at the Zoo

My friend Pam and I decided to take our kids to the zoo. It might not have been the greatest idea though because it was steaming hot! We decided the next time we went, we would go when it was much cooler. We had fun though. I don't think Tyler had a clue of where we were or what he was supposed to be looking at, but at least he did get to see the different animals when I pointed them out to him. I am sure he did learn something but it will definitely be better when he can at least talk. Even though, it was a fun experience, we will do something cooler for the summer next time.

Tyler looking at the giraffe

The giraffe

Mommy and Tyler with Mommy and Baby Elephant

Tyler and One of His Girlfriends Brooke =)

Reese, Brooke, and Tyler

Tyler enjoyed cooling off with the fan shooting out water

Pam with Brooke and Reese cooling off in the water

Me and Tyler cooling off

Standing on my Own

This week was the first week we noticed Tyler standing on his own. The first time I noticed, we were all hanging out in bed and Tyler was leaning on me and then all of the sudden he let go and he was just standing there. I was so proud of him! From then on, he has been doing it every now and then and will stand up for a few seconds. Now, he can even go from squating to standing. He is really able to use his muscles. He continues to show how strong he is.

Eating More Foods

I have not been very consistent on having Tyler eat baby food. He seems to be doing fine with his formula and what is left of the milk I can give him. Even though I do not give him the baby food all the time, I give him the Gerber solid foods that helps the ones who are learning to eat the "real foods." He really enjoys those. He even loves to share them with Monty. It is pretty funny. I try to prevent Monty from taking it from him, but even in the highchair, Tyler is still letting Monty get some. Tyler likes to eat the toast ones and the ones that looks like big Honeycomb cereal pieces. Tyler also likes to drink the juices. I started that recently as well (within the past three weeks). I started with pear and apple juice. He is still in the 85% percentile on weight, so he is nice and healthy.

First Time Away

So...Steve and I's five year anniversary was July 19th. Unfortunately, the new iPhone was coming out at the same time so there was a block on people at AT&T going on vacation when it came out. Because of this, it meant if we wanted to get away, we either had to celebrate before hand or way afterward. I decided last minute to plan a quick trip for us. It meant that we had to figure out who would watch Tyler and it also meant deciding if I was ready for that. I was really torn in knowing at what age it would be ok to leave your children for the first time. I actually did a lot of research on it and realized Tyler would be ok and it would be good for our marriage to spend some time alone. Since Tyler had already been with my parents all week, I thought it would be good if he went home with them. So instead of coming home with me from Florida, Tyler stayed in Florida a couple more days and went back with them to Austin while Steve and I took a short trip. I was nervous of coarse, but it all turned out fine. I think leaving Tyler for a few days was more traumatic for me than it was for Tyler.

I did not tell Steve where we were going. It was not until we were getting on the plane that Steve found out we were going to NEW YORK! I have only been once, but Steve had not been at all before. We were both really excited about going. We were not there for long (3 days, 2 nights) so we had alot to get in. I had booked us tickets for one of the sightseeing doubledecker tour buses. It was fun and we got to see all the major parts of New York. We did the Today show where Steve got to be on tv because he is so tall. I was so mad because I am the one that wanted to go and we woke up early for it. We had a front row spot but apparently it was the wrong spot, because they camera hit every spot except where we were. The only reason Steve got on was because he moved to a spot where they were filming and he could been seen in the back. Oh well! We also saw the Statue of Liberty and we went to Top of the Rock to see a view of the city. We ate in Little Italy for lunch and had a wonderful dinner in Times Square our last night. We did several other exciting things too. We only wish we had had more time but hopefully we will go back again and get to spend more time at places. All the while, Tyler did great while at Mimi and Abuelito's house. I had nothing to worry about!

We got back on Tuesday, the 8th, and I went to pick up Tyler on Wednesday. I was so excited to see him. Four days seemed like forever! We drove back from Austin the same day and Steve finally got to see Tyler after two weeks. That was much longer than I could ever go. It was nice to get back into our regular routine.

More of the Florida Vacation

The rest of the vacation was spent going to the beach, going to eat at the places in San Destin, and relaxing. The first few days it actually rained, but that was just the first few days so it was not too bad. My brother, Tyler's Uncle Brian, since he is in Alabama in Army training right now, actually drove up the same day we did because it was the weekend and he is not that far. He took us to a fun place to eat on Sunday. He drove back that day and he was to be back with my dad later on that week. The week went pretty well. My dad and brother came on Wednesday night. We had fun at the beach and hanging out as a family. For Tyler's first Fourth of July we watched fireworks at one of the places around San Destin that was doing them. Tyler looked like he was enjoying them. He just stared up at them the whole time. He was not scared by the loud noises they made which was good. Here are more photos from the trip...

Here Come More Teeth

While we were on vacation, Tyler's top two teeth started coming in. I was surprised at how long it took his top teeth to start coming in considering his bottom ones came in early. Once again he was not really fussy about them so that is nice. He was slightly fussier than when his bottom ones came in but still nothing compared to stories I have heard of other babies teeth coming in. I took pictures of them coming in...

First Time at the Beach

Tyler had so much fun for his first time at the beach. The moment I put him down on the sand he was in amazement at the sand running through his fingers and how it felt. It was so exciting to watch him explore his new surroundings. Mimi took him into the water but he did not enjoy it at first. I knew he was probably just hungry, so we feed him some formula and after that he loved going in the water. He was splashing around while I held him and he could not get enough of it. He also enjoyed the waves and going up and down. He was so adorable!