Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Happy 1st Birthday, Tyler!

I can't believe my little guy turned one last week already - where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday when we were bringing him home from the hospital. Over the past year he has brought such joy into our lives. His laughs, his kisses and all of the random expressions he makes just warms our hearts. But nothing compares to his smiles and expressions he makes when he is around our daughter, Emily. He adores her and you can tell the feeling is mutual when you see how she interacts with Tyler. She goes out of her way to bring toys to him, give him hug and kisses and help him practice walking. We love you, Tyler!

Some of the milestones Ty accomplished over the past year:
First smile – 6 Weeks
Rolling Belly to Back – 3 Months
Rolling Both Ways – 4 Months
First Food: Cereal – 4 Months
1st Tooth (bottom right) – 6 Months
Sitting – 6 Months
2nd Tooth (bottom left) – 7 Months
Crawling – 7 Months
Pulling Himself Up – 7 Months
First Word: Mama – 8 Months
3rd & 4th Teeth (front teeth) – 9 Months
5th & 6th Teeth (upper later incisors) – 10 Months
First Steps – 11 Months


Thursday, December 18, 2008

Theme Thursday: Favorite Holiday Memories

I've had so many wonderful Christmas memories over the years. I just love this time of year! But out of all of them, I'd have to say that last year was one of the most memorable because Tyler was born just before Christmas, on the 22nd. I ended up having a C-section in the late afternoon so they were pretty set on only releasing me from the hospital on Christmas day sometime after lunch. I was determined to get home before Christmas so I started walking around my room and sat up in th chair a couple hours after surgery. I even would make trips out into the hall to get som ice (mostly to show them I was doing well). After much hesitation, the doctor finally agreed that I could go home the morning of Christmas Eve. He was probably just sick of me asking all of the time. After all, Emily had been geared up for Christmas and Santa for months. I had to make it home to share that with her and see the look on her face Christmas morning when she saw all of the presents under the tree.

As soon as I got settled in my room after the C-Section, we called my mom to tell her the news. Emily, who was 3 at the time, was spending the night up with my mom. My mom told her that she had a new baby brother and I heard her start to cry. I was afraid of that happening since for the past nine months Emily had been ademate that she was going to have a little sister. I would say, "But Emily, we could be having a little boy baby." She'd get a bit huffy and say, "No. It's a girl." Then I would ask her why she thought it was definitely a girl and she would say, "Because I want a baby sister...so we match." We actually only picked out Tyler's name on the way to the hospital. I had been hearing Emily talk about having a girl so often that I think Stu and I were also convinced that it was going to be a girl. Well anyway, Emily came to visit her baby brother the next day and you could see her eyes light up from the moment she saw him. She just kept staring at him and would let out little giggles, saying "He's so tiny!" You can tell from the pictures below how much she loves her new baby brother, Tyler.







Go visit
The Land of K. A. for more togetherness shots

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Wordless Wednesday...Almost

Here are a couple pics of Tyler blowing kisses and hanging out in front of the tree.




See more pics over at Wordless Wednesday here and here

Monday, December 15, 2008

Best Shot Monday: Christmas Tree

For this week's Best Shot Monday, I decided to share a couple of pictures I took of some Christmas trees. I really enjoyed Momology's bokeh shots the other day so I decided to take my camera out and take a couple of shots myself.

The first picture is of our Christmas tree. It's alright, but I don't think I like the bokeh effect on the white lights as much as colored lights. The remaining pics I shot over the weekend of my parent's Christmas tree while I was visiting. The first ones I was going for the bokeh effect again, but the last one was my favorite. After my hectic morning this past Friday, I decided to put the kids to bed that night and unwind by messing around with my camera settings, taking a couple of Christmas tree shots and playing in Photoshop to design our 2008 Christmas card.








For more Best Shot Monday pics, visit Mother May I

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Christmas Card 2008...Finally!

Boy, I am really running behind this year! I managed to take a photo of the kids a couple weeks ago and only got around to making the card this weekend. I started browsing Snapfish, Shutterfly, etc. to try to find the photo card I liked best. Then I thought about how much I liked Stacy's card and got to thinking that I should make my own template. I have a collection of backgrounds, fonts, you name it that I've collected over the years to make different projects. Anyway, here is the final product for this year's Christmas card. I have also saved a blank template in .psd format so you can add your own picture and text. Anyone who is interested, just email me at stushellyreeve@gmail.com and I'll email you the file. I'm all about sharing. Also, feel free to give me any constructive feedback. This was my first digital card template. I'm used to the more manual crafting methods like cutting, pasting, stitching, stamping or chalking when I make my cards or scrapbook pages. I haven't forged into the world of digital scrapbooking too much.

Friday, December 12, 2008

What a morning...and the day isn't over yet!

Oh my - what a morning I've had! Where should I start? I usually wake up around 5:30am, mostly so I can wake my husband up so he can get ready and be out the door by 6:20am. He rarely ever hears the alarm. Then I usually grab a quick shower so I can be ready when Ty and Em wake up.

Well, let's just say that's not how it started today. Our alarm clock this morning was Tyler's little cries coming from the next room. I looked at the clock, said a few choice words, kicked Stu out of bed and went over to Tyler's room. He was kneeling with his face pressed against the rails looking up at me with sad eyes, as if in baby jail.

I got Tyler changed and dressed in less than a minute and was off to wake up Emily. She of course picked this morning to take her good old time and didn't want to get out of bed. I hurried her along, asking her to brush her teeth, start getting dressed, etc. so I could grab a quick shower. Slow as molasses, she did manage to get her favorite tights on by the time I was finished...but that was it. The tights are another story. She wants to wear skirts and her crazy stripey, flowery, or polka dot tights every day, regardless of the freezing weather. I don't know where this little 4 year-old of mine developed such a strong opinion about what she wears over the past year. She says, "But mommy, it's fashion." Oh my - what am I in for?

Anyway, so Emily was distraught because she couldn't find a skirt so I had to stop throwing the lunches together and run downstairs to get a skirt out of the dryer for her. I threw the skirt on her bed and asked her to finish getting dressed so I could do her hair and tie her shoes after packing the lunches. In the meantime, I went to check on Tyler and saw a brown wet patch on the back of his shirt that had obviously seeped up from his diaper. He was now looking at me with a smile on his face. What else could slow down the process of getting out of the front door?

Emily put on her coat while I was changing Tyler for the second time and was heading to the car when I was packing up to leave. We got Tyler settled at daycare and Emily took off her coat in his classroom. I looked over at her and stopped in my tracks. She wasn't wearing a skirt! She was wearing her shirt and her favorite tights, of course, but had forgotten to put on the skirt. The whole time I saw her before we left she had her pink winter coat on so I didn't notice! Luckily no one saw but me, so I told her to quickly put on her coat. We found a spare set of clothing in her classroom that I had put there "just in case" ages ago, but she didn't want anything to do with the spare jeans. She kept insisting that they weren't her jeans. I showed her the bag with "Emily R." written on it and said, "See? This is your name. Your clothing, Em." She proceeded, "That doesn't spell my name. I am E-M-I-L-Y; not R too." Oh, she was testing my patience. Then she had a fit, saying that they were "Baby Jeans" because they were a little short and had an elastic waist - not the cool sparkly button jeans she has now. And plus, she wanted her skirt, not jeans!! After much discussion, and a little bribery, I managed to calm her down. By the time I left daycare she was smiling again and said, "Wait until we tell Daddy you forgot my skirt." Always my fault! I guess I better get used to it. Well, that was my morning and what a morning it was! Hopefully the rest of my day will go better.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Wordless Wednesday

Emily showing some concern when Tyler kept trying to eat the leaves

See more expressions over at Wordless Wednesday here and here.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Best Shot Monday

Tyler was a few days shy of 9 months in this picture and he just loved looking at himself in the mirror. He would push his face up against the mirror like he was trying to see the person who was inside. He would also sit on the very edge and play peek-a-boo with himself and give a little laugh. It was so adorable to watch.


Thursday, December 4, 2008

Theme Thursday: Togetherness

As soon as I saw the theme of "togetherness" this week, I thought of this picture. Before Tyler was born last December, Emily was the only child and was by herself in almost all of the pictures that I took of her. I am really enjoying seeing the interaction between the two of them and being able to capture that. I still make sure to take plenty of pictures of him solo as well so he doesn't develop the "2nd child syndrome" and complain later on that I never took any pictures of "just him." Haha

In this picture, Emily was showing Tyler how to decorate the tree. They had such a fun time together. Emily was busy putting all of the little hooks on her Spongebob, Carebear and Dora ornament sets and taking Tyler's hand so he could help her put them on the tree. She did get a little frustrated though when Tyler kept taking off all of the ornaments they had just hung and would put them in his mouth. She would say, "No, Tyler. You don't eat ornaments." I was busy snapping away, hoping to salvage a couple shots for the annual Christmas card.


Go visit The Land of K. A. for more togetherness shots.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Wordless Wednesday: Expression

I think by her expression, Emily was sick of me always taking pictures of her....even at only 1 month old! Haha!


See more expressions over at Wordless Wednesday here and here.

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