Watch Ty and Lucas Grow

HIWASSEE CHASE PROTOTYPE CLEVELAND TV30 DEC2010.mov

2010-11-29T15:07:00.000-08:00

Lots of Fall fun!!!!

2008-12-02T23:07:00.000-08:00

Mommy took the boys and met our family friends, Sarah, Beau, Liam and Dillon at a pumkin patch!! The boys had a ball!! Running around in the beautiful sunshine and chasing each other. Liam is about 3 weeks younger than Tyson, so they have been buddies since birth. Mommy showed the boys all the pumkins and different gourds and all the colors they provide. What a great day.

We went up to Michigan again!! (4th trip this year). We took our friends Scotty and Catherine again this year for Sabrina's Fall break. They went with us last year and are great friends. Back to the Best Western in Holland and to "Crazy Bounce", the indoor pool, and to the beach for all the familiar things we did this summer, but love to do again and again. A couple sunsets and lots of pictures and it was a trip too short, like most of them.

The first leaves of Autumn fell and we were actually one of the first ones to have a tree totally bare! It was weird this year. I don't ever remember this one being the first on our block, but it was this year. So the boys helped us build a pile and they loved jumping into it and wrestling. Tyson was very good to be gentle even though Lucas still has NO concept of that at all. It was a great afternoon with lots of pictures and video.

End of Summer, Painting the Pool, Tyson's first black eye

2008-12-02T22:54:00.000-08:00

It's needed it for a couple of years now, but this year, with the help of our neighbor Eric!!!!, was the year to paint the pool. Ugh. But Eric took the reigns, basically prepped it all by himself while we were away on vacation! And then it was time. We had fun with the power washer, let the boys do their part in helping, and got it all painted. It was a three week adventure, but it looks great. Hopefully it's going to last for 10 years or so. Man, I hope so.

During our pool painting fun, Tyson was on the losing end of Lucas throwing a cast metal plane his way. Ouch. Ty was a pretty good sport and we are still working on Lucas understanding what he can toss (soft balls), vs. what he can't throw (everthing else that's not a soft ball!!!).

First time Putt Putt, First time Kings Island!!

2008-12-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

I am pretty sure that the day we picked to go play Putt Putt for the first time with the boys was also the hottest day of 2008!! It had to be 90* or above...sunny, no one else on the course. (That was nice though!!) My boys play a strange version of golf...no logical order to the hole selections. (IE...hole 1, hole 2, hole 3, etc....) No, this was more like "how about the big Elephant one now", or "no it's my turn to pick", one. Also, there's not really an "honor" system yet about counting strokes. But it was basically a blast getting out and trying something. Ty has a whole year on Lucas, so a little bit more of a grasp on things, but Lucas held his own.

We ended up skipping about 10 holes, but I didn't know how bad it could get until the 18th hole swallowed up Tyson's ball and he couldn't get it back. Lucas was smart enough to see that since Tyson's wasn't returning, he wasn't going to make his go down the hole now. So we literally had to remove him, with force, off the putt putt grounds. (Nap time and very hot=bad mix with 2 year olds!!)

We went with our neighbors, Eric, his son Jarrett, and our other neighbor Clint, along with Sabrina's parents, Victoria and Bill to Kings Island late in the summer. I have never stayed at the "Inn", but it was nice...and CLOSE!!! Two important things. The boys had a surprising number of rides they could go on and they made the most of it. Even some that Tyson was not "technically" tall enough to get on, he did. The Frog thing comes to mind right now, but I think there was another...maybe a roller coaster by Scooby Doo....Hmmm. But we were blessed with two great days weather wise. Not too hot and not too sunny. The boys lasted the whole first day and LOVED the fireworks at the end. We could see them from our hotel very well.

I have to tell you...the real highlight of the trip for Tyson and Lucas was probably jumping from bed to bed in Eric's hotel room. They did it for close to two hours and they had a ball. Even Mr. Eric got into the act almost wiping out the whole room in the process. Mamaw and Papaw had a good time riding lots of rides and helping out Sabrina and I to be able to ride a couple of rides all by ourselves!! That was fun. Eric drove the whole way there and back and I got to relax in the back!! Sweet.

2008-11-12T00:05:00.000-08:00

Tyson turns 3

2008-11-11T23:53:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable how fast three years has come and gone. Tyson's birthday on July 22nd just snuck up on us. He weighed in at 44 pounds and 44 inches!! LOL...he's a quare root!! But he is also a wonderful, sensitive, loving, kind, (a little ornry), little boy. He's really taken to being called a "big boy". He knows what that means, and loves it when we call him that. He has always wanted to hang with the bigger kids in our court, wherever he runs into one, so this new moniker comes at just the right time for his taste. Mama and Papa got the mother of all gifts for him this year though with his very own motorized bumper boat that, get this, shoots water up to 30 feet!!! No one is safe in the pool (or out for that matter) now. I believe both him and Lucas would rather just shoot the water gun than drive around in our pool!! But what they don't know is that daddy found an adult sized motorized bumper boat for next year at a clearance sale at Meijer. (Hope it works!!) So it's on with bumper wars next year!! It's great that we were able to celebrate GG's b-day and Ty's together as we spent the day in GG's practically brand new home.

Indiana Beach, Uncle Raul passes away, and Tyson learn to ride a bike!!!

2008-11-11T23:34:00.000-08:00

We try and get up to Indiana Beach at least once a summer. This time it was the McGill employee picnic again. Bill and Vicki, Jeremey, Steph and Zeke along with the Barker's all headed up to Monticello. It was a great day, but like usual, the boys were good for as long as they could be, then, post-naptime....look out. But Daddy had to work anyway, so we just packed it in and cranked up the a/c and the boys were out before we got out of the parking lot. It was a great day.

My Cuban Uncle, Raul Cabeza passed away this summer and I went to Dallas for the funeral. It was so great to be out there for it. The memorial was so beautiful and personal. I asked my aunt Phyl if I could play at the begining as people were finding their seats. I just wanted to try and add a little bit more of a personal touch. But the stories that were told were so moving. I guess I didn't realize Uncle Raul was only the fourth pilot ever hired by a brand new airline "Southwest"!! Right out of Purdue, still a Cuban national, he defected and became an American. Too many stories to try and type them all now, but he will forever be missed.

I guess when I got home I was more than just a little shocked to see my (almost) three year old, Tyson, riding a bike like a champ!!! When I left for the funeral, he had literally no concept of forward propulsion. No idea how to push his feet in a circle and make the bike go. And in a span of less than 3 days he was cruising....FEARLESS!!! I was so proud. Took about an hour of the most boring video, but it was so great seeing him on that thing. He would take a fall here and there, but nowhere near as much as I would have guessed him to. Must have had a great teacher.....Mommy!!

Fourth of July and lots of Summer things happening!!

2008-11-11T23:25:00.001-08:00

It was our 5th annual Fourth of July party and this year we didn't have any rain, even though the threat was there!! Pretty hot, but the pool was a little cool for my thin-blooded South Carolina brother, Keith, and his brood. LOL. But nothing got broke, no one got hurt and the beer didn't run out. So I guess you might call it a success. It's so great having the South Carolina Barker's come back and let the cousins play together. Although Anika has an Indiana best friend in Kennedy Younker. They might as well be cousins!! All are getting so big and wonderful personalities. Just too short of a visit, like usual. One big difference this year was that I didn't break my wrist this time around!! Sweet.

SO MANY NEW THINGS AND CHANGES!!

2008-11-11T22:46:00.000-08:00

Spring, Summer and now it's fall. We've even seen our first snowflakes....translation.....bad dad for not blogging more often.

Where do I start? Well, back in May it finally started to warm up and they boys did some fishing at GG's (Great Grandma's) house. Tyson did a really good job pulling them in mostly by himself and Lucas held his own, not wanting to be out done.

You might know that we love the Saugatuck/Holland area of Michigan. We have made three trips up there since we last blogged and they were all wonderful. Beautiful weather. Lots of family and friends came with us. Our first trip was just our family and the boys had a ball. It was still a bit chilly and we found some indoor entertainment in the form of a massive facility called "Crazy Bounce". It has three story inflatable slides in the shapes of sharks, alligators, sabre tooth tigers and various other things. Tyson just calls it the "bouncy place". Talk about two hours just flying by. A really neat part of this is that mom's and dad's can have just as much fun going down all the slides. We loved it. We got to see our friends, Joe and Lynda Petty again. They are kind of like adopted grandparents for the boys while we are up there. They even came down here to our pool party on the Fourth of July. Great people. So we had lots of sand, playing and "bouncy place" during our first trip this summer.

Tyson's first stitches!! If you know our little guy, you know he is quite the helper. Forever he's picked up our purple dustbuster and cleaned up his own messes. Well on June 14th, he dropped it on his foot and he needed stitches. It took off about 1/3 of his big toenail and split the skin requiring 3 or 4 stitches. He was a trooper and tried to be brave as the needle to numb the pain was administered. He was very proud that the dr. called him "a lot braver than most of my adult patients". We were proud too. He did pretty good keeping medicine on it to help the healing, but there were moments when it was not in the cards. To be expected, I guess.

Our second trip to Michigan involved Sabrina's cousin Jody, her husband Chad and their daughter Arieli. It was great to see the cousins interact and since Arieli is a 4 and Tyson was almost 3, they were able to play together really well. Lucas was always in the thick of things too!! It was a lot warmer this trip and we had lots of time at the beach and "bouncy place" again. It was Jody and Chad's first trip to our little hidden gem and we think they loved it. We swam a lot in the pool at the hotel and had a ball.

2008-05-15T00:06:00.000-07:00

Spring acts like it wants to come, then leaves again....my mom gets married...and the boys are both getting sick. (pictures are Mother's Day kite flying with Mommy, Tyson with Papa B, and Lucas' first haircut from neighbor Melody)

These are the things that have been happening in our neighborhood lately. On May 3rd, my mom, Carol, was married to Bill. It was a really cool/laid back wedding with 99% family there. My best friend Bea and her husband Todd were among the only non-family members present. It was great...Bea sang and I played. Both of my sons got to see "mama B" get married and then they were off to honeymoon in Myrtle Beach. My brother Keith was able to get back for the wedding and it's always great to see him.

Our crazy weather just won't warm up. The "hellicopter seeds" are just now starting to fall...they usually are already down now and we are opening the pool. Looks like we are 10 days or so from doing that. But I don't think this weather is helping the boys stay healthy. They get a warm day or two and get to play outside, then it's cold for three or four and they feel couped up inside. If they do go out and play, they end up getting all wet and it's still cold, so I think it's catching up to them and making them sick. Lucas is just a magnet for water, mud, anything he should not be in or on, he loves. He gets around really well though. My brother commented while he was up here for the wedding that he is really agile for as old as he is. (19 months) His son, Brett, who is 3 weeks older than Lucas apparently is not as mobile as Lucas. I pointed out that Brett also has 6 or 7 pounds on him and that might be the reason!! LOL.

Mother's Day was this past Sunday, May11th. I have been kind of sick for four or five weeks and it just so happens that this day was the day I felt the worst out of all that time. Bad luck, but I spent 99% of the day laying down and napping. Sabrina got the boys up for church and then her family had a cookout. I felt like a pile of crap for not making it, but I just couldn't. Really sore throat, no voice and zero energy. Bad combination. Bre was very forgiving and we ended up flying a kite late afternoon with the boys. She said that was the highlight of her day. Made me feel bad, but I was glad she had some fun on her special day. The boys enjoyed the kite a lot. Ty was his usual neurotic because he was sure it was going to fly away like Daddies balloons did leaving Sam's Club on his b-day. (He has that image completely burned in his brain vividly to this day and it happened mid February) So Ty was reluctant to hold the kite string. He eventually did and liked it. Only liked it though, Lucas LOVED it!! He's just a little more adventerous than Tyson is right now. Lucas is just as guarded as Ty around strangers, but when he's comfortable, he'll do or eat just about anything. Lucas now can put on his "Crocs" by himself most of the time. He tries to say "shoe"...it comes out "sssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh", but it's cute and it's close. Tyson still learned more sign language than Lucas, but Lucas knows his fair share.

Mommy took the boys to her school this week. They loved it!!!!! They played really hard and the sat down for snack and didn't act up. Tyson poured his own drink at snack...that was a first!! We are going to enroll Ty at Purdue lab school in January, and Lucas a year later. Ty will be 3, and he really likes to play with older kids. Even in the neighborhood it's the older ones he likes to hang with. So a little more time with Taha, and then it's off to pre-school. Time is just flying by.

Oh...almost forgot, Sabrina's brother, Jeremey and his girlfriend, Steph, had a baby boy, Zeke a couple weeks ago. Sorry, I don't know the exact date, but he's got a story!!! At 4:30 AM, Steph thinks it might be time...so Jeremey grabs the suitcase, says he's going to start the truck and takes off. Steph says she's going to go pee before they leave so she goes to the bathroom only to have little Zeke's head come out and she catches it before it hits the toilet!!!! The the legs follow and in 2 minutes he's here....only one problem...they are still at home and no one knows what to do!!!!!! Jeremey comes back in after a few moments wondering what happened to her only to find her there kind of with her hands full. A quick 911 call and in 3 minutes 12 emergency personel are taking care of the situation. Baby Zeke is fine, mommy is fine and daddy can breathe now...it's all good that ends good, right? Wow. He's adorable and is eating everytime I see him. Hard to believe the boys were once that size!!

This summer we are going to try and get up to Michigan to our usual spot. It's going to happen, we just haven't figured out when. Sabrina and I are trying to find a quick trip to Vegas, but that's low on the totem pole of importance. And I would like to get out to Myrtle Beach so we can actually use out condo we are paying for. And to let the cousins all play together. That would be Heaven.

Hope this post finds you all well. A little side note, my other best friend Sid's mom, Barb was diagnosed with breast cancer and she's had surgery. A complete mastectomy. They think they got it all, so let's hope so. She has been in my prayers since I found out, so let's keep the good news coming. I have known them for 31 years and they have always been like second parents to me. Have a great weekend and to all the Mothers out there, happy late Mothers Day to you.

2008-04-23T00:06:00.000-07:00

Spring looks like it's finally coming!!

This week so far has been beautiful. The temps have been in the mid to upper 70's and it's been sunny all three days. Tyson and Lucas are getting ready to have mommy home all day starting May 1st. Purdue lets out and Sabrina doesn't have to go back till mid August. We don't have any major travel plans, but we are pretty flexible and can go on short notice. One thing that's really neat....my mom, Carol, is getting married. She met a dentist named Bill and they hit it off and are getting married on May 3rd. He's very nice, treats her great and they have fun together. What more could you ask for really?!!? I am going to play for the wedding, the only "non-family" member (although she really is like a daughter to mom), BeAnn is going to sing and it's going to be a wonderful celebration. Keith is coming home, but it's going to be quick...just Friday to Sunday, and then mom and Bill are going to basically follow Keith back home to Myrtle Beach for their honeymoon. So happy for mom.

Tyson sang the ENTIRE "ABC song" last week (April 14th, 2008), and hasn't stopped singing it yet!! It's so great, but if you ask him to do it on command you get a resounding, "NO". But if you are patient, you will hear it very soon. It's so great and he's really on pitch most of the time. Sabrina and I talked about that and wondered if they would get daddy's gift of singing. Lucas seems to be a little bit more interested in playing music, but Ty does too, to be fair.

Ty had a bout of excema. He's had it since birth, but this was a pretty bad episode. We have a dermitologist appt. set up for early May, so I hope they have some answers. If you look on the internet, there doesn't seem to be a lot of things you can do. It's not curable, only treatable, but most postings say kids grow out of it most of the time by adulthood.

Lucas has all of his teeth in and loves to tease. Today we were playing and he kept calling me "ma ma", I would correct him and say "da da" and act like I was getting mad...he would just get tickled and belly laugh and bury his head into my chest. We did that for 30 minutes, easy. Lucas still likes to hit too much and we are working on that, but today I got bit for the first time with him. Ty wasn't much of a biter, and he's a quick learner of what not to do, but Lucas gets his feelings hurt so easily. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to being told "no, that is hurting me" a lot.

We have a lot of pictures that we downloaded. I will try and get as many as I can on here for you to see. Hope all is well and I plan on posting as often as I can...summer is almost here!! Get excited. Bruce

(Pictures...Mom and Bill, Tyson and Lucas cracking each other up, Lucas in his crib after reading a cloth book, (reading does that to me too by the way!!), and "early morning hair", painting with mommy's close supervision)

2008-03-26T23:14:00.000-07:00

I think this is Lucas with his best "Blue Steel" Zoolander impression. And so far, this is my favorite picture of the boys together. It was a Wednesday in the Dr.'s office, waiting to get my cast off last summer. Ty just put his arm around Lucas and I was lucky enough to have my cell phone camera right there. No goofy smiles...no closed eyes...just a look like "this is my brother man and I love him". There may never be a better moment in my heart.

2008-03-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

Super Mommy entertaining the troops. Lucas is not quite awake yet. MC Tyson..."Party people in da house"!! And Tyson riding around with daddy on his 40th b-day surprise party at the skating rink.

2008-03-26T23:05:00.000-07:00

Mama with Lucas, Papa with Tyson and Grand dad with the boys.

2008-03-26T23:01:00.000-07:00

Crazy how they can change in just 10 months!! This is in order (both times) Cousin Anika, Tyson, Cousin Brett and Lucas.

2008-03-26T22:57:00.000-07:00

"GG" (Great Grandma) and some quiet time with Lucas. And Tyson with his new sled. We got to use that a lot this winter with all the snow we had!!! Merry Christmas!!

2008-03-26T22:52:00.001-07:00

Snowman building with "Papa" and taste testing Santa's cookies before we set them out for him.

Lucas just too cute and the boys' Christmas card this year.

2008-03-26T22:46:00.000-07:00

Chillin' with my bro'...havin' some 2%. Lucas trying to figure out this "spoon" thing. And thank you Mr. Potato Head for being at the right place at the right time!!

2008-03-26T22:42:00.001-07:00

Elvis with a halo? Did you notice the "Superman" jammies on underneath? Lucas on his 1st b-day!! Finally digging into the cake. We had a Halloween costume dress up for all the neighborhood kids who came over for the party. Grown ups too!!! It was lots of fun.

2008-03-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

Lucas' first steps at 11 months!! So proud. And maybe a new "Family Cirque du Soleil" show in Vegas? Anybody?

2008-03-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

Yes...Tyson can sleep standing up...a feat that will serve him well for his future on an assembly line cranking out Fords. Here's Lucas with "Mama B" wanting to walk instead of crawl, as ususal.

2008-03-26T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here's "Smiley" Lucas and his gumball machine as Tyson wanted to have a big "bandaid" like Daddy's after daddy broke his wrist.

2008-03-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

I am back, but mad b/c I just wrote for an hour catching you all up on the boys, but b/c I am bad with computers, it's all gone. So I am going to cool down, upload some picutres and write more when I feel like it. I am so upset right now. Sorry it's been so long, bad dad, but I promise to do better. Here's some of the last 11 months or so in pictures with the boys. Hope you enjoy.

Bruce

2007-04-18T12:08:00.001-07:00

Future Rock Star????

2007-04-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

2007-04-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

Never lose faith in our Cubbies!!

2007-04-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

Lucas get his first tooth!!

2007-04-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

Hello there folks,
Last week Lucas had a little surprise for us...at 5 1/2 months his first tooth came in!! Tyson didn't get his first tooth until he was 7 months old. He's not really crying about it, but his drool has increased exponentially!! Lucas is still bald as the day he was born, but what little "peach fuzz" there is consists of blonde/strawberry blonde. He started on cereal last week and is warming up to the concept. Lucas keeps getting stronger and sits up fairly well for short periods of time.

Now Tyson is talking so much better. He got his second haircut the day before Easter by "Margaret" (Lyndsay). He sat there like a good little boy. Mostly because he gets to shoot the water sprayer on his face, and everything else for that matter.

Ty can say "Money"..."Blue"..."Dr"..."Please"..."no"..."yeah"..."love"...and many more that I am forgetting. But he loves all the neighbor kids and now that it's getting warmer he goes down the street to play with them. He's one of the smallest, but likes to try and hang with all the big kids.

Our Easter was very busy...Mommy went to "Papa's and Mama's" Saturday night, and her and the boys went to sunrise service. Daddy arrived for the regular service. It was cold, but a beautiful day. Ty went Easter egg hunting with Lucas had a bottle with daddy in the pew. (inside where it was warm!!) Then when we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, we noticed the Easter bunny had dropped by sometime. The boys got a wagon for and some candy. Ty is starting to develop a good sized sweet tooth. Easter dinner was with Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Jeremey Grandma, Grandpa, Great Grandma and Great Grampa Eddy and Great Grandma Suzy.

Hope you are all well and enjoying the warmer weather.

2007-02-25T23:28:00.001-08:00

2007-02-25T23:27:00.000-08:00

Pre-Spring trip to Myrtle Beach

2007-02-25T23:12:00.000-08:00

Hey guys...
Hope you had a great weekend. Last week we went to see Uncle Keith and Aunt Liesel and cousins Anika and Brett out in Myrtle Beach!! Brett and Lucas are the two new arrivals and so it was great to see the new baby boys. Brett is a load of baby at almost 5 months he weighs 24 pounds!! Lucas comes in at 18, which is no slouch, but baby boy Brett dwarfs him!! In the picture it's oldest to youngest with Anika, Tyson, Brett and Lucas. It was only mild chaos in the Barker house when we would get together at night, but it was so much fun.

Anika is such a pretty little girl. Strong willed and likes to take charge. But she had a little shadow in Tyson. He followed her into every room and wanted to do everything she did. It was so great to see them interacting like they did. Anika speaks two languages and is working on starting a third (Spanish). Ty is really starting to try and form words and mimics syllables we say very well. While we were out there Lucas turned 4 months on the 19th and Tyson turned 19 months on the 22nd.

For the first time we rented a vehicle while we were there. It was a lot of fun being a little bit more mobile and hopefully less of a burden on Keith and Liesel during the day while they are at work. For the most part the weather was pleasant. It was more than just a little chilly there for the first couple of days with a low the first night of 29, but by Wednesday it had warmed up into the mid 60's which is about all you can ask for in February.

Ty loved the pools and the lazy river at the condo. He chased birds on the beach and did accidentally put his feet into the 50* ocean while chasing one of those birds. He had a pretty bad chest cold and coughed a lot at night which didn't allow him to sleep as well as we would have hoped. Lucas did great in the pack-n-play. Slept pretty much on the same schedule he does here at home.

Well...have a great week and hope to write more later on.

2007-02-14T02:20:00.000-08:00

2007-02-14T02:11:00.000-08:00

2007-02-14T02:05:00.000-08:00

Do we have some news for you?

2007-02-14T02:03:00.000-08:00

Hey guys...sorry for the delay, but here's baby boy number two....Lucas James....8 1/2 pounds, 21 1/2 inches long. More to come later...again for not hearing from us for so long.

2006-04-17T23:53:00.000-07:00

And this was him tonight as, just like his mother, decided to sleep sideways. I had never seen it quite this dramatic however!! And you'll be glad to know that he got himself out of this predicament without any help from mommy of daddy.

2006-04-17T23:50:00.000-07:00

The picture below is Ty's cousin in Myrtle Beach, Anika. The next picture is Ty in the cockpit of our flight home from there. He was all smiles while wearing the captain's hat!! If you look close...you can see the directions for how to get home on the steering wheel!! LOL.

So sorry!!

2006-04-17T23:27:00.000-07:00

Hey Gang,
I know it's been a while since I last blogged...and a TON of new things have happened!! Where do I start? Well...for those of you who don't know..."pianobaby" #2 is on the way!! We are due Oct. 11th. Now...Ty was due on the 11th and he decided to wait until the 22nd, so who knows?!! But we are very happy and feel quite blessed.

Now...two weeks ago, April 1st, Ty decided that just laying there wasn't good enough. So he played his own "April Fools Joke" on us by crawling for the first time!! It was sooooo fantastic to see all the gears going and his little gross motor skills taking shape on the carpet. I was smiling from ear to ear. It was just a couple of shuffles at first, but by Sunday night he was crawling the entire "Great Room" which is over 35 feet!! He would take just a couple of breaks and get right back at it. What a surprise that Monday at babysitter Taha's house when she got to see it first hand.

Needless to say, all the "babyproofing" and gates for stairs had to be moved up on the "to do" list. Ty is just so curious...like all infants, I am sure. But when he started to gnaw on the poisonous plant...daddy got a little worried and sent that to Grandpa Bills!! We still can't get him to keep his hands out of the rubber tree plant pot, but all in all I think the house is fairly baby proof. Wish us luck.

Shortly after the crawling came Ty pulling himself up onto things. Boxes...giant toilet paper rolls from Sam's. The coffee table. Almost exclusively on his own. I have heard that some baby's take to walking very shortly after crawling, and Ty may be one of those...I don't know. Mommy's brother, Uncle Jeremy walked at nine months...so Ty had better get a move on quick if he's going to beat that. He turns 9 months on the 22nd of April!! It's gone by so fast.

We hope everyone had a great Easter. I am going to try and be better at updating this blog. It's fun...but it's really just for Ty when he grows up, hopefully he can have a decent diary of the times he could never remember. Take care and try to take care of each other.

Ty got his first tooth but.....

2006-02-21T23:52:00.000-08:00

Hey there folks!!

Well...it finally happened. Actually a couple of things finally happened...overnight on Feb.21st, 2006, one day before his 7 month birthday, his first tooth pushed through his bottom jaw. We saw it first earlier on the 20th, but it waited till he went to bed to come out. We are very excited because a lot of kids have quite a few teeth by this age, but we knew they would start coming.

Another first which happily coincided with the first tooth was his first ear infection as well as baby bronchitis!! What a week!! So after a week of a pretty bad cough we went to the doc on Monday and found out all that good news. So now we are on a nebulizer (sp?) and Amoxicillin in addition to baby Tylenol for his tooth ache. And if this wasn't enough...Dad has a full blown head/chest cold just to make the whole house a mess. Tonight Mommy came home and said she thought she might be getting a cold too. Wouldn't that be the best!!!?!!!

But first and foremost is to try and get our little guy back on the road to recovery. He's got a big trip in a couple of weeks to Myrtly Beach and his cousin/aunt/uncle's house. It's going to be Purdue's spring break then and the whole family will be out there for 5 days. I think he sounds better after just one day on all the medicine, so hopefully we won't take this junk out there with us.

Just thought we would share this milestone of our baby with the world. Yeah...our first tooth!! Have a great week and continued good health.

2006-02-14T21:54:00.000-08:00

2006-02-14T21:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!!
I want to wish you all a great day with your significant other and hope that this mild winter keeps up. Two completely different thoughts, but it's very late at night!!

Ty has been wonderful. Going on 7 months Feb. 22. He's 23 pounds and 29 inches long!! Really trying hard to crawl, but just comes up a bit short. I would say that his drooling/teething has increased, but it's been like this since month two or three. I do think he is close to cutting his first tooth though.

On Dad's birthday, Feb. 12, Ty tried "real food" for the first time. Squash...yummy!! (Just the smell of it brings me close to puking)...but Mommy says for Daddy not to act like it's yucky, because Ty will pick up on that. Ok...but it will take all of my acting skills. He starts out like he likes it, and then after about 4 bites kind of backs off. We don't force it on him, so it's his choice to continue or to stop eating.

He likes his babysitters. Dad's best friend Sid's sister, Taha looks after Ty in the mornings while Dad sleeps in. It's all good out in the country!!

The kitchen is done and all of Ty's stuff is in it's rightfull place. Makes it a lot more easy to make bottles and be quicker late at night when he wakes up. Plus...the "test track" is open. That's the lap we do when Ty is really bored around the entire house in a stroller. One lap is about 110 steps. Probably close to 50+ yards. Sometimes we have been known to do more than 10 of those laps in a row!! Gotta love that.

Warmer weather is just around the corner. Ty and Dad went to Burton Pools to check on the opening of the pool...mid April. We have been pretty blessed so far with a comfortable winter. Hope Spring makes an early appearance. Have a great month of February.

2006-01-25T00:51:00.000-08:00

2006-01-25T00:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been a while

2006-01-25T00:26:00.000-08:00

Hey there people,
We hope that the holidays were wonderful for you and that you are still holding onto your New Years resolutions!! I know that I never make any because they are just too hard to keep!!

Now onto Tyson. Where do I start? First of all...last Sunday he turned 6 months!! Not too sure how long he is, but according to our scale at home, he weighs 24 pounds!! He goes to the doc on Friday and we should have more accurate measurements then. He has made leaps and bounds since I last blogged.

He now eats cereal as much as three times a day and usually 6 ounces of milk at a setting. About 3 weeks ago he really "mastered" rolling over at will. Sometimes a complete 360* roll and a shocked look on his face when he sees he's exactly where he started. On a trip to Marco Island in Florida he picked up on blowing his tongue and making spitting sounds. "Aunt" Jane taught him that. While we were there he had so many first time experiences. First flight...did wonderful. Slept most of the way there and back. First ocean experience. Didn't really like the sound of the waves...kind of scared him. But loved the water. It was a little cold though. The water at the condo was 81*, so he was really digging that. Saw ocean fish and watched while we cleaned the days catch and all the Pellican's coming in for the scraps. He was just great for his first flying vacation. Lots of help with babysitting duties between Nicole, Alaina and Jane. Even Mark was more than happy to help out in any way. What a family...thank you Wastl's for inviting us.

Now Tyson is really discovering his tongue. Lots of attempts at words, but no luck yet. Really watches your mouth as you try to sound out starter words like "Mommy" and "Daddy". He is doing a lot of spinning around on the floor to help him get where he needs to go. Kind of more "fidgity" and we strap him in a lot more often now for fear of him slipping out of seats. No big deal to do, but times are changing with him. All strangers are greeted with a smile as soon as he feels that mom and dad approve. It's funny...he almost always looks at us to see what we think of the new people. Kind of cute.

Sitting up and really in control of his head now. Super attentive and also likes to try and hold the bottle and feed himself as much as possible. Yeah...all the help to Mommy and Daddy is very welcome.

Hoping the New Year has started off well for you all. I will try and be more on the ball with the blogging. Thanks for your patience.

Bruce

2005-12-09T01:55:00.000-08:00

2005-12-09T01:54:00.000-08:00

Pre-Christmas catch up

2005-12-09T01:26:00.000-08:00

Hey there guys,
I hope you are all enjoying the season. We have been busy with Ty and all the new things that have happened to him. He has been sick for over a month. Not super sick, but just can't get rid of the stuff. Even amoxicillin didn't get rid of it totally. But he's being a trouper and I think we are on the end of it.

But I was away from him and Sabrina for the first time since he was born. I went to Vegas and it was 4 days that I have to tell you was very hard. I was more than ready to get home. While I was gone he did discover his toes and now grabs them and tries to get them in his mouth. We got some video of it and in the middle of the video he vomits up his milk. But it was cute dispite the spit up.

Yesterday we had the biggest snow in over almost two years....7 plus inches and now it's windy. Ty was looking through the window as daddy plowed the drive with the lawn mower. Sounds crazy, I know, but it's pretty fun and works pretty well. The house looks like Christmas thanks to mommy...she's so creative. Where would we be without mommy? She took care of Ty all by herself while daddy was in Vegas. What a girl.

Ty is so cute and has many Christmas pictures that we will try and get on here. Hope you are all well and have a wonderful Christmas season. Let us know what you think of the baby website.

First Thanksgiving with Ty

2005-11-26T17:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
I hope that you all are well and enjoying lots of wonderful family time. It was a really good thankgiving with Ty, but Grandma B was too sick to come over, so that was a downer. But we had Becky over so that was a pleasant surprise. Ty was such a good boy sitting on Grandpa Lake's lap most of dinner...chewing on about 8 of his 10 fingers!!

Mommy cooked her first turkey and it was awesome! Really good, but that's expected because mommy can really cook well. Grandma Lake watched Ty as after dinner fun started with pool and poker in the basement. Uncle Jeremy and G'pa Lake were on teams and Mommy and Daddy were a team and the home field advantage proved fatal as they won 2 out of 3 games. But G'pa Lake won the poker tournament taking out mommy and daddy with a King/3 offsuit. Oh well...can't win them all!!

Uncle Gary came by too for Thanksgiving. He was funny because when he lifted Ty up Ty's eyes got real wide because Uncle Gary is so tall. Poor Uncle Gary had to wear sweats because his room mate washed his jeans in warm water....that's funny because there aren't too many clothes for an Uncle who's 6' 9"!!!

Ty is finally getting over his first cold. It's been over 4 weeks, but we have him on Amoxicillin. At first he was not going to take it and spit it out all over himself. That was not too fun, but now we are tricking him by putting it in his milk and he downs it like it's candy!! He is getting it out of his chest and can't wait till he can sleep back in his crib. He's had to sleep in his swing because with the drainage he chokes a lot.

Daddy is a big softy now because since Ty has come into his life, everytime he sees a baby born, he cries. Can't watch an Oprah episode that has a story about a baby without getting emotional. At night when it's Daddy's time to take care of him, when he wakes up he finds himself talking to him and making him smile, which just wakes him up more and makes it harder for him to get back to sleep. Which is way more important. But he is sleeping better and longer. One of these days he'll make it all the way through the night.

He did turn four months this past Tuesday. He's 18 1/2 pounds and 27 inches long. All smiles and loves EVERYBODY. Besides Mommy, he's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and we'll talk to you soon.

Mommy's Birthday today!!!!

2005-11-17T04:11:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
Hope you are having a great week. It's Thursday, November 17th, 2005 and mommy turned 28 today!! But we really celebrated on Wednesday when we spent the day in Indy shopping at Keystone and Castleton Malls. Also, we visited Kittles and The Tile Shop before dinner at the Mongolian Grill. Ty slept most of the day, but when he was awake he was such a good little boy. We met Carter at Keystone who's parents had to MAYBE be 19. He was cute though and Ty was almost as big!!

This week has been pretty mild. Ty still has a little bit of his cold, but it's almost gone and we have our 4 month doctor visit coming up on Monday. A little bit of TMI...but we ran out of the 308 bags of frozen milk yesterday!! It's now all formula from here on out. Can we talk poop? Damn...scrape the bottom of Lake Freeman and all that silt....oh yeah...it's in his diaper man. Wow...

But not too much really new. He's really grabbing well and we have discovered a few tickle spots on him now. Armpits, under the chin and the old standard....belly. He loves to be held upside down for some reason. He must not have acid reflux yet. Chewing on his "Moo Chew" is a favorite. A bit over 18 pounds and not much hair. Nichole babysat for him on Tuesday while mommy was teaching dance and daddy was carrying his bowling team to victory over the number 1 team in our league. Oh yeah baby.

Stay tuned for future updates and have a great weekend...go boilers and make up for an awful season...stomp the hoosiers this Saturday.

First cold last week

2005-11-09T02:06:00.000-08:00

Hey gang
This is going to be short because I just screwed up and erased the post I have been doing for about an hour. Oh well. Anyway...the short of it is Ty got his first cold last Wednesday and in a panic attack when I thought he couldn't breathe we rushed him to the emergency room at 2 AM. It was a long night, but he passed all the tests and just the peace of mind was great. He's doing a lot better and still has some battles with the sniffles, but I hope by the weekend he'll be 100%.

He did help mom and dad out with some tree removal over the weekend. Grandma Lake supervised and Grandpa Lake, Uncle Jeremey, Mom and Dad all tried to tear up the front yard. It looks so much better now though.

Grandma B came over Monday night and helped out with the bath and actually put Ty down for bed, giving him his bottle and rocking him into dreamland. We are blessed with wonderful grandparents and great grandparents.

Ty's 3 month pictures came in and despite his enormous cuteness, we were able to resist buying another $800 worth of pictures...thank you mommy for being the voice of reason!! We love you!! Target photo lab...here we come.

Ok...hopefully I don't screw this up and you are able to read this. Have a great week and we'll let you know what's new in Ty's life soon.

2005-10-31T00:56:00.000-08:00

2005-10-31T00:55:00.000-08:00

2005-10-31T00:52:00.000-08:00

What a weekend

2005-10-31T00:36:00.000-08:00

Hello out there...
Well...it's going to be Halloween later today and Ty will be a skunk, but I don't think we are going anywhere, but if people stop by, we will have a little trick-or-treater waiting for them. He had a good weekend. Thursday night mommy went out to the Cactus for the 2nd time since having Ty to visit with our friends Joe and Lynda who drove down from Michigan. (Picture already of them)

Then Friday we went to dinner at Mt. Fuji with the Wastl's. Saturday was another Boiler loss to Penn St. and Binko's wedding. It was Ty's first wedding and he was such a good little boy. I don't think he liked the pipe organ too well...but who really likes pipe organs anyway? They are really loud and they don't rock like most instruments. But Ty was a hit at the Church and then daddy went to work, while mommy took care of him.

Sunday was Pastor Don's last day as the Churchs' minister and mommy and Ty went to hear his last sermon. After a day at Church, grandparents and great grandparents, Mommy and Ty came home to daddy. I was in the middle of a poker game and watching NFL....very relaxing for daddy.

So...not really a whole lot of activity, but still a lot of fun and new people meeting Ty. He's really starting to grab and hold things now. Sitting up on his own a lot better and rolling to his side at will practically. Still a lot of things to work on though. We need to learn how to break up a double play and look the runner back before delivering the pitch...but other than those, he is right on schedule. Hope you all had a great weekend.

PS...the pictures are mommy and Ty with grandpa and great grandma...four generations. The other one is Ty looking at the water duck toy...it's one of his favorites.

2005-10-26T03:00:00.000-07:00

2005-10-26T02:59:00.000-07:00

2005-10-26T02:57:00.000-07:00

Three months old and counting

2005-10-22T03:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Oct. 22, Ty turned 3 months old. I had to work, of course, but that's a given for it was a weekend night. We started out playing all by ourselves while mommy slept. I went to bed about 7 AM and mommy took over. Ty was all smiles like he usually is, so you don't even realize that you are beyond tired. It was such a great morning with just the boys hanging out and watching sportscenter. Ty loves tv...much like daddy, so we caught up on college football and the baseball playoffs. What a dude...happy birthday baby boy. We love you.

What a week in Michigan!!

2005-10-22T01:20:00.000-07:00

Hey there guys,
We took off for Michigan last Sunday and we were unsure how Ty would do on a pretty long trip. It was almost 3 hours of driving, but he slept the whole time! What a great surprise. The only thing was that kind of messed up his sleep pattern for the week. Maybe he just wasn't used to the change or maybe it was all the sleep he got on Sunday at the start, but he had several restless nights. But all in all, he was great and a hit with total strangers who passes us by.

We had dinner with our friends up there Sunday night. They are Joe and Lynda, the owners of the place we stayed at in Saugatuck, MI. They have known us since Sabrina and I started dating and we love there cottage on the Kalamazoo river. If you like what you see in the pictures, let us know and we will give you the info on how you can stay there too. Saugatuck is a really cute little artsy town, but we lucked out and it was peak fall colors up there, so that was an added bonus.

I did sneak in a little golf with our other friend Jeff Wells, a local asst. pro. He has set me up with some really good golf courses and the prices have been right on with what I like!!!.....of course, free!!! Best kind of golf.

But most of the time it was just family time, driving, shopping, eating and just relaxing. Bre and I were in the hot tub the last night and a momma deer and her yearling came into view from the valley below our cottage and we just watched them for 30 minutes. That was really cool. Bre did a little homework for dance and I tried how to figure out the satalite tv which I think I did correctly, but still couldn't get ESPN. That was my only gripe...no Sunday night football and no Main Event Poker...damn. But the weather was Heavenly and the colors were fantastic. Oh...and I did take Bre and Ty to a bowling alley during a half hour rain storm where we bowled three games and I got an all-time high score of 224!! My old high was 204 so I was really bringing it. I may never see that number again, but at least I did it once!!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures and we'll try to post more soon.
Thanks,
Bruce

PS...the pictures are Joe and Lynda, the owners of our cottage, the view one morning with fog burning away, and the last one is us at Oval Beach in Saugatuck, MI.

little scare

2005-10-14T02:57:00.000-07:00

I got a voicemail from Bre saying she thought Ty was getting sick for the first time and that made me rush home from work and try to help out. He was better than when she called and I was relieved. He's resting pretty good, just a little restless. What a guy. It's great to just watch him and check on him, but it's nerve racking. You just never want to let him out of your sight. It's always in the back of your mind. The "what if" factor. Luckily, Sabrina and I have an opportunity to take care of our Angel in shifts. Most people don't have that luxury. We are truly blessed.

We are taking him to Michigan on Sunday for his first out of state trip. 3 hours in the truck should be interesting. I think all will go well though. Can't wait for a little alone time with Mommy and baby....doing nothing if we want. Should be very relaxing. Might not be a blog for a while though with the trip and all. God Speed and Ami...I am thinking of you and all that's on your shoulders right now. You are great and doing a wonderful think for those two kids.

Now I am trying to catch up

2005-10-13T02:58:00.000-07:00

Since he's already almost 3 months old, I have a lot of catching up to do. I hope that I do this right. I have some big news. I saw him roll over this past Tuesday (Oct.11th) That was pretty cool. We were all at my best friend Bea's house just chilling. It happened at 7:25 PM, and it was the first time for me seeing it. Sabrina had seen him do it twice before. Then the very next night, Oct. 12th, he did it again. What a strong little boy.

First Day Ever Blogging

2005-10-13T02:46:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks,
I don't know much about this, but I thought I would try. Just wanted to have something to show the world my baby boy and how much he means the world to his mom and dad. I hope I can post pictures and stuff, but I really don't know anything about this stuff.

Well...with me luck.

Bruce

PS...this is Sabrina on our due date...Ty arrived 11 days later!!