8 MONTHS!!!

How fun has this month been? This past month has by far been my most favorite month to date! (I also said this every month before this one...) But I have truly been beside myself with excitement with all of Ty's new developments and his budding personality!

Ty is turning out to be quite the little ham... constantly squealing and babbling and making his daddy and I roll with laughter. In fact, I don't think I've ever laughed as often and as hard as I have within this past month! 

Ty is becoming quite the busy-body and spending the days coming up with new ways to capture his attention has become quite a fun challenge. He is becoming a master climber and has begun pulling up on anything and everything he can get his hands on, whether that be the sofa, a toy, or another baby. He's become closer and closer to crawling and I'm finding myself constantly removing items I hadn't previously thought of as unsafe from our home. Ty is quickly showing us that we still have a lot of baby-proofing to do.  

Ty's Close to Crawling! from Katie Sillivan on Vimeo.

It also seems that our little stud has discovered his voice and he spends many hours a day just screaming at the top of his lungs. This is not to be confused with crying... this is actual screaming (imagine you're on a rollercoaster with a 12 year old girl). His screams are shrill and loud and even after my ears are ringing, I still can't help but laugh at every one. 

If I thought taking his monthly pictures were hard before... I was wrong. I could not get the kid to sit still, as you will see below. These pictures were actually taken the day after he turned 8 months, on August 21st, but I just haven't had the opportunity to upload them and complete this post. 

Age: 8 months old! 

Weight: 18 pounds 7 ounces

Height: ***

Eating: Ty is still breastfeeding and we're now at 3 feedings of baby food a day! Our typical day, as far as food is concerned, is a breakfast of rice cereal or oatmeal mixed with fruit for breakfast. Pureed veggies for lunch. And a high protein baby food for dinner (think sweet potatoes and turkey or chicken, veggies, and rice.) He's also doing small finger foods of fruits, veggies, and even bread every now and then. It's amazing how far he's come in the past 3 months! We're still breastfeeding 4-5 times a day... mainly before naptimes and at night. Other than that, he drinks water out of a bottle. 

Tyson likes: Pulling up on anything and everything, swinging, taking baths, balls, trying new foods, chewing on drink straws, being outside, cuddling, watching Lola, his wubbanub, being in water... any water.  

Tyson dislikes: His carseat, long rides, not being able to stand up, having his dad or I walk out of his sight (even if just for a moment). 

Best moment of the month: I love watching Ty begin to crawl and blossom into the rambunctious little ham that he is. His laughs and huge grins make my heart so full.  

Milestones: Ty has begun to "crawl", eat solid finger foods, and pull up on his own! 

My Dearest,

My Dearest Tyson Lee, 

Before you were born I used to write you letters dreaming of the day we would meet and you would be ours. You'll have to forgive me for the lack of them since you've arrived because every time I sit down to start one, you'll call for my attention and frankly, spending time with you always wins over writing you a love-note. 

But today you are 8 months old and napping so peacefully next to me and I can't help but get a knot in my throat thinking about how quickly the time is flying by. I'd give anything just to make the days go by slower and to keep you little like this just a while longer. 

I hope you know that you are just so very, very precious to me. Your laughter and smile brings so much joy to my heart and brightens even the gloomiest of days. Lately you have been very busy, but recently you learned how to kiss and your 'sugars' are the best, complete with buckets of slobber. You offer them to your daddy and I freely and will occasionally wrap your little arms around our necks or squeeze our cheeks to get in a really good smooch. I hope and pray that you will always love to kiss your Momma. 

You are growing every day and I can't believe how big you've gotten in just 8 short months. My once preemie baby boy is now so strong and fearless and looking to get into everything. Even when you aren't feeling 100%, you'll still be flashing that million dollar smile that completely consumes your face and my heart feels as though it might burst with all of the love and adoration I have for you. 

Everyone that meets you can't help but tell us how good you are, or how happy you are, or how beautiful you are and, naturally, I agree with them. You make your Daddy and I very proud to call you ours. 

You look more and more like your daddy every day. Every time your daddy is holding you or letting you climb all over him, I can't help but voice the fact that you are becoming the spitting image of the amazing man playing with you or holding you so sweetly in his arms. He loves you so very, very much and I knew I loved your Father before I even married him, but seeing him in the role as your Daddy makes me fall in love with him all over every, single day. 

Each new day with you brings something to remember and I'm so thankful for your happy spirit. 

My heart is so full with your constant hilarities. You complete me in a way I never thought possible and every night before I fall asleep I make a point to thank God for you. I simply adore and love you to pieces, precious little boy of mine. 

Love, 

Mommy

Birthday party fun!

Yesterday, Ty got to attend his second birthday! Brandon's former business partner's daughter and nephew, Addison and Gage, turned 2! The party was Mickey Mouse themed and so much fun! I was a little worried that most of the stuff they had for the kids wouldn't be age appropriate for Ty but, aside from the bouncy jungle-gym thingy, he was able to participate in pretty much all of it. However, we spent most of the time in the ball pit. Ty was in ball heaven!

At first, Ty wasn't quite sure what to make of it and spent quite a bit watching the big kids (if you can even call 2 year olds "big kids").

But after a little encouragement from Daddy, he began to warm up to the ball pit!

We were also so very excited that we finally got to meet Cadence! Cadence lives in Arkansas but his mommy and I have bonded over the fact that Cadence and Ty were born exactly a month apart and both a teensy bit premature. They also both have the same easy-going, playful attitudes! Poor Cadence was recovering from a ear infection, though, and so he wasn't his normal self but he was still a trooper with all of the pictures his mommy and I took of the two boys playing together. 

And naturally, Ty was being a little ham. 

After the two birthday babes opened their presents and blew out their candles...

...Ty and Cadence went inside to play and have a little "downtime" from the rambunctiousness of the big kids. 

 

Ty absolutely loved playing with Cadence! Whatever toy Cadence picked up, Ty was instantly interested in and he kept leaning in and giving Cadence "kisses and hugs". 

That is, until Ty decided he was done with Cadence and tried to pull up on him and tackling poor Cadence to the ground...

 

And, lastly, how can you not end a Mickey Mouse themed party without putting on a pair of the ears??

I've never met an August rainstorm I didn't like.

The title of this post is so true. 

I mean, can I get an amen? 

Usually, August here in Louisiana brings 100+ degree weather which means that unless Ty and I can sneak our outdoor time in before 8 a.m. (which most mornings, we do) then we get to spend 95% of the day indoors. Sweat, heat, and mosquitos are just not on the agenda, knowwhatImean?

But this past Sunday, it had rained most of the afternoon and was quite overcast for most of the day and around 5 p.m. we stepped outside to let little Miss Lola out to potty and it was a crisp low-80's degrees. 

To say that I sprinted to the closet to put on my tennis shoes is an understatement. From the moment of the heat index discovery to the moment of our arrival at the Goodwood City Park was probably a total of 5 minutes. I was ready to enjoy and bask in the cold-for-August-in-Louisiana summer air. 

Since the playground was littered with children when we first arrived, I decided to whip out the stroller and get in a little cardio. After, walking briskly for, like, 20 miles 3 miles, we finally headed over to the swingsets. 

I'm not going to lie here and this is going to sound pretty cheesy, but when I was pregnant, I used to drive by that Park and imagine pushing my little baby on those swings. It was surreal to actually walk up to them holding my little Tyson Lee and put him in them and his reaction to them was even better than I could have ever imagined. 

We had so much fun. 

With the weather being slightly cooler I got a small little case of butterflies because it made me so excited for Autumn and colder weather all that fun stuff like scarves and tall riding boots and big red wool coats and pecan pie and halloween and warm cider and the colorful leaves and etc etc etc. I'm getting a little ahead of myself for sure here, and I do this every year, but can you really blame me? How is Autumn not everyone's favorite season?

Back to our swinging... 

Toward the end, Ty got tired and began chewing on the swing. 

Lately he's been chewing on everything and being extra clingy... not particularly fussy, just won't let me out of his sight. So much so that I had to create a play-space in the kitchen so he could watch me cook and do the dishes. 

Little did I know it was because little Mr. Tyson Lee was cutting his first tooth! 

Yep, my favorite little guy has his first tooth! It's bittersweet because I sure am going to miss that little gummy grin. 

Ty's 1st trip to the Aquarium of the Americas!

Brandon and I decided that we are going to do our best to start the tradition of doing one family outing a week - no cellphones, no distractions, just us and our little Tyson Lee. 

To start this tradition, we decided to visit the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. Brandon was worried that Ty wouldn't be able to enjoy it, but after we made a quick visit to Bass Pro Shop in Denham Springs last week and Ty was completely enamored by the small and dingy fish in their little aquarium, I knew that Ty would love seeing the bright and colorful fish at the Aquarium of the Americas! And he did! He was able to follow where we were pointing and would even strain his neck to watch the fish as we walked away. Overall, I would say that for the age he is, we actually had a great time and the trip exceeded our expectations greatly! Even though we know Ty will never be able to recall this trip, it's definitely one that Brandon and I will remember forever!

Brandon was the cutest pointing out all of the fish for Ty. And then waiting patiently for another big, bright fish to swim by so that Ty could see it. 

Tell me these two boys aren't the cutest? I'm a pretty lucky lady. 

First family photo of the trip! Before I asked the random stranger, Brandon muttered under his breath, "So it's going to be one of those trips, huh?" My poor husband haaates taking tons of pictures. But aside from that comment and a stray roll of the eyes here or there, he was a good sport throughout the entire outing (and the insane amount of pictures I requested)!

This was probably one of my favorite parts of our visit to the Aquarium... fighting the pack of 3-5 year olds to the front of the penguin exhibit was challenge enough, and I was certain that we wouldn't actually be able to get even semi-close to actually seeing a penguin up close enough where Ty would be able to see it, but just as Brandon sat down with Ty, the cutest little penguin came up and just swam up and down for a full 5 minutes. Ty loved it!

 It's funny... when Brandon and I stopped to take a family photo in this giant shark jaw, Brandon pointed out that the last time we had come to the aquarium and posed in that jaw, Brandon and I had only been dating for a couple of months. If only we had known that the next time we'd be posing in that thing, we'd be with our first born... :)

Tyson loooved this seahorse! Haha!

Do you think this kid is going to love to drive, or what? Geez... 

And since Brandon missed getting the whole turtle in the first picture....

Look what my boys caught me for dinner! Haha!

"No, daddy, I'm not done looking..." 

We found Nemo!