Mr. Ty

Mr. Ty. Everything that baby does just endears me to him more and more.  It is such a delightful child - happy, copies everything Bridger does, a cuddler, and adores his mama.  I love having two boys close in age.  They are buddies and everything that comes with that; they play together, chase the other around the apartment, hit and bite each other, scream, yell, hug, and drive me crazy.  While Bridger reminds me a lot of myself (maybe my dad even more), Ty is all Tim - sweetness and playfulness combined.  Some of Ty's favorite things right now: doing anything that Bridger does, cherry yogurt, Popsicles, pretending to be a puppy or a lion, walking outside, reading tons of books, making messes, and sitting in mom's lap.  Ty is very bashful, even with his dad sometimes.  He rubs one eye with his hand whenever he is feeling shy.  He's got the cutest dimples on the planet, and the funniest walk/toddle.  He is pretty good about entertaining himself.  Sometimes, he will just throw a ball around the house and run after it, giggling with pride when he catches it.  He loves the little basketball hoop in the front room and plays with that on his own.  I think he will be a very sporty boy.  He still doesn't say much, but I'm not too worried yet.  Ty is my favorite 18 mo. old, and I love watching him play, learn, and grow.   I thank Tim all the time for giving this baby to me - I owe Ty's darling personality all to my husband. We are beyond blessed to have him in our little family.

Bridger O.

I love my Bridger O.  He is in such a fun/funny stage right now.  Yesterday, he asked me the date of his birthday (August 7fh) and then told me what he wanted: "A red cake with red cream on top, with sprinkles.  Oh, and bawoons."  He is really looking forward to his birthday.  I want to throw him a little party, but we don't know many people in our ward, so maybe next year.  Bridger is becoming more and more observant everyday.  Its a little bit frightening actually - I need to be more careful around him.  He is and has always been ultra-sensitive to my different moods, but now he is picking up on Ty's as well.  The other day, Ty was crying, and Bridger said, "Mom, Ty is tired.  You better put him down, and I'll watch a movie."

He is still a very intense little guy, and I wonder if, as his body grows, the intensity will have more room to spread out, letting him relax a little, or will it grow right along with him?  I hope the former, because I still see him struggling to  contain all of the energy inside.  Everything is very dramatic for him.  If he falls and scrapes his knee, someone nearby might think his leg was being chewed off by a monster scorpion - Bridger cries and cries and screams and cries some more.  If Ty even tries to bite him, Bridger yells as if hes already been bitten, and is bleeding.

He still wakes up every night, and if its a good night, he will quietly come into our room, and fall asleep on the spare bed.  Other nights, he screams and screams until I come and get him.  Right now, he has a bizarre fear of manikins.  He passionately hates all bugs, except roly polys.

Bridger is a very happy boy and loves to be busy.  He talks to everyone.  We looked at a rental house the other day.  When Bridger saw the land lord (first meeting), he took her hand and said, "Well, lets see the vacuumyard."  He loves to go to Church each week, and especially loves primary.  He loves the little kids in his class, but too much noise during singing time makes him nervous.  He will say to me and Tim throughout the day, "Mom/dad?  Do you know how much I love you?"  We do know and I hope he knows how much we love him.

We hiked Emerald Pools in Zion a month ago - Bridger kept going and going.  He never wanted to stop.

Bridger does a States'puzzle everyday and is learning (mostly by himself) all the names of the states.

He gets dressed all by himself now.  This picture shows his first attempt.  He was so proud.

Bridger made pancakes for us a few days ago - very serious business.

18 Weeks Pregnant

That is right.  I am pregnant....again.  Even before we conceived, I was absolutely positive this baby was going to be a girl.  We had all the girl names picked out - Hazel if she was blond, and Bonnie if she was a redhead (and of course, Faye for both middle names).  I shopped for darling dresses, and already started worrying about how she would deal with nystagmus.  At 16 weeks, I picked Tim up from work and we headed to the ultrasound with the boys.

 

As we were looking at the moving baby on the screen, I spotted it even before the technician gave the verdict:

A boy.  Another wild, rambunctious, energetic boy.  I wish I had handled the news a little better.  I cried off and on most of the day, and was still somewhat despondent the next day.  Tim, who has wanted a little girl from the get-go, was actually excited about a third boy.  He now has his basketball team, father&sons will be a party, and he gave me a bunch of other plus' that I can't remember.  I am slowly getting more comfortable with the idea of another boy.  I just keep saying over and over to myself "I can handle it.  I can handle it.  Please let me be able to handle it."  I think what helps the most is knowing that Tim was the third boy in his family, and he is a winner through and through.

Disneyland 2016

We had always planned on taking Bridger to Disneyland when he was five.  However, when Paige and  Bryce told us they were going, my parents decided to join in the fun and offered to take us with them.  Tim, of course, had to work and I absolutely did NOT want to take Mr. Ty -  so on a whim, Tim asked his mom to fly from Texas to watch Ty a few days so that Bridger and I could go.  Guess what, she said YES.  I was shocked, to say the least.  What kind of person drops everything to pay for a horrible flight to babysit a very energetic baby?!  Only someone celestial - my mother-in-law.

So Bridger and I got to go to Disneyland two years early.  We had the best time.  Bridger absolutely adores his cousins, and was in heaven.  My parents took such good care of us.  My mom let me ride shot-gun the entire way there and back (pregnancy nausea is no joke).  My dad took Bridger swimming, waited in the longest, shoot-me-now, lines, and spoiled everyone.  Bridger was completely worn out at the end of each day, which only Disneyland could accomplish. 

It was a fun few days, and Bridger has not stopped talking about it since we got home (a month ago).  Next time, Tim will definitely come with us.  Next time, we will try to go on a low-crowd day (NOT during Spring break for half the country).  Next time, we will have tons of money and be able to stay at the Grand California, right in the park.  Next time, we will still be taking parents and cousins, because they were the highlight of our trip.