Little Squirt. :)

I mentioned this in the last post, but failed to post it.  Here it is!

9 Month Check up

Don't worry everyone: Ty is totally healthy.  The pediatrician said that she loves little patients who are growing so well.  In other words, Ty is a big hunk o' baby!  Here are his stats:
  -Weight: 23lbs. (92%)
  -Height: 30.5 inches (99%!)
  -Head: 18.25 inches (86%)
We were a visit behind on shots, so he got a few of those, too which he wasn't a fan of.  I don't blame him. .  He is a good eater--never refuses a spoon full of food, but sometimes will get a bit distracted.  (Oh, good, I guess he did inherit something from me!)  He doesn't crawl and as the doctor put it, "That's a lot to move around!" but he does roll a lot and can scoot a bit. He LOVES walking (while being assisted, of course) and will try and take off when he's standing.  It's adorable.  Also, we discovered a new favorite way to drink: squirt bottle to the face!  I'm sure that will come in handy during the summertime heat.  It's fun to watch him learn new things and interact with us in new ways.  He likes to feel/grab our faces and play.  He is definitely babbling!  So far, he's said, "bababa, dadada, lalala," and still gurgles like our resident pigeon/garbage disposal.  When he wakes up in the morning, he talks to himself for about 20 minutes, which is a much nicer wake-up call than crying.  I'm glad he's a fun baby and that we get to kick it daily. Next week we'll be in California with my sisters and their kiddles--even more fun!

"Hey mom--look what I can do!"  By scooting and rolling, he was able to get over to Russell's games...and thus is begins.

 Ty was having SO much fun playing with the Easter candy--and it wasn't even open!  (I love this picture.)

 I'm not sure it's captured so well, but Ty smeared banana in his hair, on his face, and all over his tray.  Now that he can pick food up to feed himself, we can almost eat as a family!

 That's right--we ditched the baby tub!  Obviously, Ty doesn't mind.

 Below you will see a purple-faced, goofy-smiling, hunched-over little boy.  This is the way he do his bizness nowadays.  It cracks me up.

 Toy stuck on his foot, but he doesn't mind!

 Ty and Addie playing together.  It's exciting that he can actually play with other babies now!

 Sweet baby Ty guy.

Counting with Carolyn

1- Person in my audience.  Apparently, I do some really funny stuff.  Today Ty enjoyed the Goat Herder's Song from "Sound of Music" and, no, I don't know all of the words...I'm pretty sure he doesn't notice.  
2- People in our family who think it's funny that Ty has recently discovered the magnetic force between his hand and his man parts. (I am not one of them.)
3- My current favorite number of teeth in a baby's mouth.  This will probably increase by 1 soon, or so the whining indicates.
4- Poopy diapers changed between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. today.  Isn't this number supposed to decrease as a baby's age increases?
5- Times I repeat the same baby sign language sign in a row (usually at meal time).  Also the same number of blank stares from Ty.  He's just letting it sink in, I'm sure.
6- The month I'm still on in Ty's baby book. Oopsies.
7- Average number of pictures I take of something cute Ty is doing.  Thank you, digital cameras.
8- Generally the time I wake up in the morning.  Sorry, Russell. We do appreciate your getting up at the cracker of dawn and going to school, though! 
9- Times my eye was almost intentionally poked out today.  I wish Ty would find a less-painful fascination. 
10- Usual number of kisses before putting Ty down for a nap.  It's so hard not to always kiss that face!

Who-da-ho?!

Ty and I took a jolly little jaunt to Idaho last weekend to help Isa (my sister, Annelise) graduate.  I don't think we were much help, but I did take lots of pictures to document the event for her!  We met up with my parents, Kai, Julia, and G'parents and stayed with cousins Jonner, Angie, and 3.5 kids (clarification: Jonner is my blood cousin, Angie is his wife--no cousin marriage; the .5 child is coming to the fam in June and is still a-cooking in Angie's tummy).  If I were to do the trip over, I think I'd plan a little better ahead of time what we were actually going to do and not just think that buying plane tickets meant having a full trip.  Unfortunately, Russell was not able to go on account of having to go to school.  We missed him, but I have a strange suspicion that there will be more "Mommy and Ty" trips in the future.  Sometimes there are perks to not having a life!  Anyway, here are some highlights from our trip:

 We ate at Big Jud's (not Big Jug's like I initially heard) which featured some HUGE burgers.  This was a 1-pounder that was shared between my parents and myself with some brought home.  Ty helped too by eating some of the bun. :)

Here she is...about to come up on the stand (the one in the black, of course!) and get her diploma cover!

Hooray for Isa!  I think this was one of her fave professor guys.  My camera really didn't take the clearest picture, but you get the idea. 

This was the "help-you-graduate" gang minus my mom taking the picture. [L to R] Matt (Isa's husband), Dad, Isa (little sister), Julia (littler sister), G'ma, G'pa, Ty, myself, and Kai (bro).

This reminds me of a wedding picture. :)

This is the "younger" crew of the siblings.  Back in the day we played Castle, Army, School, Melt-Freeze, Shelby Woo (a made-up game in which Kai chased the 2 younger girls and I fought him off) and any other activity in which I would be the dictator.  Good times.  Oh--check it: [L to R] Just started college, in the middle of college, just graduated from college, and been graduated from college.  It was probably from playing school....

Far-Far gave Ty a suck of the lime in his cherry-limeade.  Not so sure Ty was a big fan...

We celebrated at Texas Roadhouse after graduation.  It was a pretty good meal!

Jonner, Angie, and their 3 kids came, too.  (Oh, Olivia, you silly girl!)

Our table.  Please notice Ty's fabulous bib.  He was getting pretty messy (especially when we gave him a rib bone to chew on), so why would we dirty up our own bib?!

Ty had lots of fun with Ella!  She was so cute and kept telling me when Ty was "asking for his mommy."

Me: "Olivia, give me your BEST pose ever."  Olivia: See below.

Makeshift bathtub and bath soap in Isa and Matt's kitchen...at least Ty was de-greased!

Awww, Auntie Julia love.

Awww, silly Uncle Kai-Kai!

This poor boy had some sporadic naps, so he got to crash usually whenever he could.  This time, it was on Matt and Isa's bed.  Cute sleepyhead...

Ty playing with Auntie Isa at Costa Vida, a former favorite eatery of mine.  In the lower left-hand corner you see what looks like an appetizing sweet pork salad with all the fixin's including cilantro-lime vinaigrette, but be not fooled, my friends.  It tasted good going in, but... let's just say I'm not going to Costa Vida anytime soon. 

Ty had quite a few opportunities to hang out in a restaurant and we found a few fun "toys" such as a plastic spoon (closely watched, naturally, so we could pull it out if he choked himself).  He had the privilege of eating a few bites of the beans/rice from my salad, which later would prove to be a tragic mistake on my part. 

Okay, so here's what happened after we went to Costa Vida: after a couple of stops, we made an emergency stop back at Jonner and Angie's place because Ty exploded out of his pants all over his car seat.  We had to stick our faces out of the car window on the way home due to the pungent stench.  The bathtub was necessarily started, the poo washed out of his clothes, seat, and toes (yes, toes), and we still had enough time to finish packing before leaving for the airport!  Talk about a close call, right?  Can you imagine what that would have been like if it had happened while ON the plane?!  I can.  Why?  Because lightning struck twice.  I was sitting next to a nice grandma of lots, so she was helpful by holding Ty while I grabbed extra clothes, diaper stuff, and a plastic bag for his soiled garments.  Since I was in the 2nd row of seats, I went to the bathroom at the front of the plane, but seeing as how it was not equipped with a baby changing table, I wafted my son aaaalllll the way down to the back of the plane, which was familiar because I had changed his diaper on the flight up.  Anyway, I checked twice in each of the bathrooms, but no matter how much I looked and hoped, there was not a changing table to be found.  For those of you who are unaware of how small and counter top-free an airplane bathroom is, please let me just say that the task of changing this baby guy without getting poop all over me seemed insurmountable.  Do you have any idea what it's like to clean up a wiggly, poopy, grabby, stinky man of a baby on your lap during a bit of turbulence in an airplane bathroom?  I hope not, because it was rough.  The good news was that we landed and Ty was quite happy during the whole ordeal.  The next night found me awake and writhing in a similar situation only to a much higher degree with added dry heaving.  Come to find out, Annelise and Matt were also sick, hence the hex on Costa Vida.  Let's be honest, I'll probably go there again.

All together, we did enjoy visiting Rexburg and seeing Isa grad-jee-ate.  Maybe next time will be a bit smoother of a trip!

Funky...

...But not the good kind of funky.  I'm in a funk and it's irritating.  More like, I am bothered when I don't feel productive and everything is irritating to me.  I don't have tons of motivation to clean, but get frustrated when things aren't cleaned.  Whatever--I'm sure it'll pass as soon as I put a little Ace of Base on to clean to and make a "doable" to-do list.  Maybe it's kind of like that "too many choices leads us to choose nothing" principle...  Anyway, I'll start now by working on catching this baby up!  Good luck to me.