OBVIOUSLY.......a Tyler-ism

Tyler was sitting on me this afternoon as I laid on the couch reading a book.  He appeared to have small toy or something he was turning over and over in his mouth.

"What's in your mouth? do you have a toy in there?" I said.

He looked at me blankly.

"TYLER.  WHAT is in your mouth?"

He opens his mouth, sticks his scrawny little finger up there, points and says, "TEEF!"

Videos, Videos, Videos....

The other day you got a bunch of picture tidbits...so today here's some video tidbits.

Last night the kindergartners and 1st graders at Owen's school had a little performance revolving around Dr. Suess.
Here they are singing Dr. Suess We Love You. In case you don't recognize Owen, he's the cutest one. Right by the boy in the wheelchair.




Here's another song...I think it's called Open Me...or something like that anyway.




And the last song they sang, The Tutti Ta Song....it's the weirdest song ever. But I guess the kids like it. They surprised a couple of the teachers and made them come up on stage and sing it with them. It's funny only because you look like a total moron while you sing the song and do the motions.



Speaking of music, here's Tyler as I attempt to catch him in the act of dancing. He's really funny, because when a fast-tempo song comes on he breaks it down and dances like a wild man. But if you try to video tape him, or take pictures...he looks at you out of the corner of his eye and slows everything down to a little booty-shake. LOL


Here he is again - this is just to show family far away how big he's getting. His vocabulary is expanding every day. He's sitting on daddy's lap here, looking at the laptop - trying to get dad to turn on The Wiggles on Youtube.


And just because you haven't seen or heard from AJ in awhile...here he is after Owen's performance last night. We stopped at Sonic on the way home to get the boys dinner and he was goofing around. As always.



Here he is on the first warm day of spring, outside hitting balls with Steve. I think he only hit one in this video, but give him a break. He's only 4. And he's a little rusty. :)
And yes, he's wearing pajamas.
and giraffe galoshes.
And steve would like to point out that he's a swing hitter.



Have a great weekend!

Some Tidbits For Ya....

A few random things about #1 and #3 for you today.....
AJ is out of town with Steve-o...and has been for two days - so that's why there's no pictures of him from today.

This picture of tyler makes me smile because it's just very....Tyler. With that doofy look on his face and his mouth hanging open. I'm surprised bugs don't fly in there.

couple weeks back, Owen lost his first tooth. Scary pic, yes - but this is what he gave me when i asked him to show me the hole.

Here he is, looking gorgeous and very Ralph Lauren.

Birdhouses that we painted over the weekend.

My favorite from today....

Happy St. Patrick's Day. :)

Boys

My friend Melissa sent me this blog post that she read somewhere the other day and I thought I'd share it here.
Please note that I DID NOT WRITE THIS. AND NO, I AM NOT PREGNANT WITH A 4TH BOY.
Just wanting to clear that up for the skimmers who won't read the whole thing and think that I wrote this.

----------------------------

When our first baby was born a boy…I was very happy knowing that any other children we would have in the future would be under the protection of an older brother.

When our second baby was born a boy…I was glad our oldest son now had a brother to play with.

When our third baby was born a boy…I decided that God must have something special in mind for our family. THREE boys?

When I was pregnant with our fourth baby…you can just guess what everyone around me was saying.

“Going for a girl this time?” “Finally going to have a sister for all those boys?” “You’re having a girl, right?” “I bet you’re sure hoping for a girl this time!”

With each of my pregnancies…we waited to find out whether the baby was a boy or a girl. We loved the surprise…though no one around us did. ESPECIALLY when I was pregnant with our fourth! Everyone was dying to know if we were finally going to have a girl!

When our fourth baby was born a boy…they laid him on my chest…and all my husband and I could do was laugh for joy that God had given us yet another son!

Boys are so sweet. Boys love their Mamas like crazy. Boys think their Daddys are the best. Boys….ah boys. Boys bring such joy.

Whoever said that only little girl clothes are cute…and that you can never find any cute little boy clothes…never saw all the adorable outfits at my blue baby showers.

And I dare say…there’s a little something to be said for being able to run a comb through their hair real quick before dashing out the door. No bows or braids or hair doo-dads to keep track of.

I love how boys play (now that I’m used to it!). Our house is usually noisy, rough and fast…there’s not a lot of tip-toeing or sitting down quietly to color pictures at the table.

Generally…I find that the male greeting (between my boys and all of their friends who come over to play) has little to do with words…and a lot to do with grabbing onto and pulling one another down to the floor into an immediate wrestling match.

I’ve learned to look the other way…smile…and shake my head about so many things that I used to fear would turn into a trip to the Emergency Room. Boys play rough…they can’t help it. They make noise…it oozes out of their pores.

Rolls of wrapping paper become swords or light sabers. Toast and grilled cheese sandwiches are chewed into the shape of little guns. Math books become drums. Little pink erasers become race cars.

Everything (everything) becomes a competition…who can finish their milk first…who can put their jammies on the fastest…who can get from the kitchen to the living room without touching the floor.

It’s one big, loud, ball game at our house all day long…and I wouldn’t trade it for all tea parties in Boston.

I consider it a huge honor to be the mama of boys. Boys who we pray will grow up and be Godly leaders some day. Boys who we pray will be Godly husbands and daddys some day.

Oh…and some day…I’ll have daughters. Some day…four of your daughters will grow into godly young ladies who will marry my sons. I’ll take them shopping and we’ll cook and do hair together.

Until then…I’ll just continue to feed mountains of mashed potatoes and huge stacks of pancakes to all these boys while they make all the noises with their armpits that they are so good at making and while they laugh at all the things boys can’t help but think are funny.

They are…boys.

Boys who have completely and totally won my heart.

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Cool, huh? Echos my thoughts exactly. Except that part about doing hair with my future daughter in laws. Cuz that's weird.

I will definitely NOT being doing hair with grown women anytime soon.

I love our boys and I've said before that I hope to have (at least) one more child in the future....and it would be just fine with me if it was yet another...boy.

Ty

Looks like we've got another train lover in the making......

Loved this one:

Evolution of a laugh

Big Boy Bed

Over the weekend, Mr. T moved into his big boy bed. The first night he slept in it, as I crept from the room I looked back and felt a lump in my throat. No more crib, baby's gone....and this little toddler has taken his place. :( We all know that it makes me want another.....but that's just not gonna happen anytime soon.

I just used some bedding that we had tucked away in the linen closet - the headboard is the back of his crib. I've still got a couple of design elements that I want to add to that wall next to the window, but I'm still looking around for just the right thing. Part of me wants to buy him new bedding, but that part of me is struggling with the part of me that is content with what we have.
At the foot of the bed is the rocking chair, but we'll probably move that out soon as the days of rocking him are becoming fewer and fewer. His room is WAY to tiny to waste space with a bulky piece of furniture that we don't use.

He's done really well sleeping in there. Things aren't quite as good as they used to be, since we have to sit in there and wait for him to fall asleep, but at least he's not needing us to actually lay in the bed WITH him to fall asleep. I just tell him goodnight, give him a kiss and hand him his extra binky. He must have at least one binky in his hand to fiddle with as he falls asleep. He's also partial to his Kung Fu Panda blanket that my parents got him for Christmas. My mom and dad seem to have a knack for blankets - Owen's blankie that he STILL sleeps with to this day was a baby gift to him when he was born.

The cat was a total fluke...she's completely terrified of Tyler, but the allure of a soft warm spot to sleep in the sun was too much for her to handle and she hopped right up there for a nap.


Have a great Tuesday!

#3

He drives me bonkers sometimes....but I love this little terd. :)

I always marvel at how skinny he is (especially considering how much he eats!). Owen and AJ were fatties...always in the 95th percentile in height and weight. But Ty is just so.....little. :) I kinda like it.

Happy weekend!

Time for a Big Boy Bed

Please tell me that you have some fantastical advice for how to keep your toddler in bed at night.

For about a week now, Ty has been crawling out of his crib. It's made naptime, and bedtime a bit of a .....er....challenge. And by "challenge" I mean a total FREAKING NIGHTMARE.
Well, earlier this week, he cut his eye open on one of his Houdini escape antics, so we're thinking that in the next week or so (whenever we get the time) it'll be time to tear down the crib and move to a big kid bed.
The other day I did our usual regular nighttime routine, put him in his crib, and stood outside his door. He climbed out, opened his door and without saying a word, I picked him up and put him back in bed. I was determined to outlast him.
Well....after we did this little routine TWENTY TIMES (not joking), HE outlasted me. I was about to pull my hair out. And this has become the thing that we do before every nap, and before bed every night. I KNOW he's tired. I KNOW he should go to bed...(it's not like I'm putting him down prematurely) but he will NOT stay in that bed. He's been our best sleeper so far - say goodnight, lay him down and he goes to sleep and stays asleep for 12 hours, so now I'm flustered to say the least.

And it gets worse: The past 3 nights, he's also got in the habit of waking up around midnight, or 1 am and he'll be UP FOR 2 HOURS!!! What can we do??? I put him in bed, over and over and over and over, and he repeatedly climbs out. I don't want to lock him in there (yet) because he can't climb BACK INTO the crib when he finally gets tired, but he won't settle back down. I was even so desperate that I tried to just let him sleep with us (which I was LOATHE to do, but so tired at the moment that I didn't care) and he wouldn't even settle in and lay with us. And it makes for two very tired, cranky parents when we're messing with our 1 year old for 2 hours in the middle of the night. *sigh*

I considered getting one of those net-crib cover thingies to contain him in the crib and night, but I'm not sure how well they work. Right now, we're planning on switching to a big bed in the next week or so, and getting a childproof lock for the door (so he can't open it at night) and then, if he wakes up and climbs out of bed, he'll be awake, but at least contained to his (baby-safe) room.

This is a first time for me.....Owen was in a big boy bed (and staying in it all night) by 15 months, and AJ hardly ever used a crib, so I'm at a total loss as to what to do about this situation.

So if anyone out there has any ideas or suggestions, I'm all ears!!
Right after I go take a nap.

Terrible Two's Got Nothin' on Tyler

Boy, is THIS a fun age. *rolling my eyes*

Baby Curse Words

This is what Tyler does when you REALLY make him angry (like not letting him have ice cubes from your glass, for example) he breaks out in what we call baby profanity - which you can witness for yourself in the following video. I know that if he could form the words into something coherently English-sounding he would be saying .....well, you can imagine for yourself because I don't want to offend my parents just 3 days before Christmas.

A First: Tyler-ism

This morning Tyler opens the top drawer of my dresser, stands up on his tippy toes and reaches his arm down in there and starts digging around.
After a minute or two, he pulls out a bra - examines it closely and then pops it up on his head like a yarmulke and announces: "HAT!"
He turns, balancing it carefully, and toddles from the room saying "hat. hat. hat" as he walks away.

LOL :)

Eating Apples

Tyler is my wild man.
I've said before that "he's awful" or "he drives me bonkers" because well....a lot of times he does. And is.
Just this morning we had to pay plumbers to come out to the house and unclog the toilet because Tyler threw something down there. It was a rubber bathtoy/snail. The plumbers had a good chuckle from that one - I wiped away a tear as I wrote out the check. *sigh*

He requires most of my energy during the day and leaves me weary by bedtime. He is belligerent, stubborn, cheeky, demanding, fun, comedic, high energy, and into everything all the time. He demands 100% of my attention all the time - he rarely plays alone or quietly and requires constant attention and entertainment. He want to sit in my lap, or have me carry him, or tickle him, or read him books, or play with him ALL DAY LONG WITHOUT EVER STOPPING. For these reasons I simultaneously can't stand him and love him so much that I want to eat his little face. There's honesty for ya.

In many ways, he reminds me of myself, and of what I imagine that I was like as a child.

Today we had a good day.
He demanded, as always - but today I gave him all I had and it was amazing how happy we both were.
Just being together.

He worked on an apple the entire time I was taking these pictures

This one isn't in focus, BUT:
1) Tyler is hard to photograph because he NEVER holds still
2) I like it anyway. So there.

A total accident when he moved from the dark into the light of the window and I didn't have time to change my settings.
I think it was a happy accident.

He looks so big in this one, with his long lean legs and his mouth full of apple.

The wings...I'm mildly obsessed with the wings.....

This is one of Tyler's favorite tricks. He does this to his brothers and it totally infuriates them (and it annoys daddy too). He goes up to the tv armoire and pushes the button to turn off the television. Then he turns around and grins at whoever was watching tv and runs away.

His Wings

After Tyler gets a bath, or after he wakes from a nap, his hair flips up around his ears. It's one of my favorite things about him - his little wings. :)

Videos for Your Viewing Pleasure

Here's some semi-recent videos for the fam up north (and anyone else who cares to watch):

Dinner and A Nap: Starring: Tyler Nowack as....Himself



And Tyler Again, In Dinner and some Music:


This one is titled: Thank you Uncle Rob and Aunt Manda and CREW for my Early Birthday Present....Starring Owen Nowack. With guest appearance by AJ Nowack.


Here we have initial sword fighting with daddy:


And finally, The Triumph of Obi-Wan-Kanobi:


Enjoy. :)

Tyler....Via Another Photographer

A couple weeks ago my friend (and fellow photographer) Greta took pictures of Tyler for me. Technically, they're his 1 yr pics (3 months late).

It's so....WEIRD to see another photographer's "vision" on MY kid! Go check it out and leave her some blog love! :)

Snapshots of Tyler

I realized it's been awhile since I've taken any pictures of Tyler so I snapped a few this afternoon. And then I realized he's at the stage where he ignores me when I call his name. *sigh*
Snapshots for sure.

I was laying on the floor looking up at him in this one

I love this face he makes:

Tropical Storm Fay = Big Puddles

Yesterday we got hammered with rain all day (as local readers already know-duh) but it let up and was a pleasant deluge every now and then. Here's AJ whoop'n it up in the puddle between our house and the neighbor's house - there's a low spot there and it always FILLS with water and washes into the street every time it rains. Makes for lovely splashing. :)

{as always, click to enlarge}

I think he looks like such a big kid in this photo...

Cooper got in on the action as well

One of the things I love about rainy days is the excuse to stay in. I've come to realize that, over the last few years, (and especially with kids) I've become more of a homebody. Not that I like to SIT around my house and do nothing...because I like to stay busy - but that I like to be home. And rainy days are cozy, and warm, and give me good excuse to just stay in our house and read books, or watch t.v., or bake. And it's even better when it's a weekend and Steve-o is home too.

Here's a snapshot I stole this morning of Steve-o and Tyler on the couch.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Georgia Aquarium

We went to the Georgia Aquarium last week, which I was totally stoked about because I've been waiting to go there ever since it opened. Because I like fish and animals and stuff.
So there.

So anyway, our mistake was in going around noon....they only let in 100 people an hour, but by noon, there are about 300+ people in there, and the place was PACKED. We had to wait to get up to the glass at every single exhibit.
Was it worth the money? Sure, but only if you go at the first time slot available so you don't have to fight through the rude, pushy, and non-deodorant wearing crowd just to get a glimpse.

Consequently, my pictures are less than stellar because I was trying to take photos, hold onto the stroller, keep an eye on the 3 kids among the throngs of potential kidnappers, and enjoy the animals as well. :)

Here's Steve and the boys coming out the tank/tunnel thing. The GA Aquarium boasts the largest saltwater tank in the United States, maybe even the world - I'm not sure, I'll have to check on that.


Here's a tip when taking photos at a zoo or aquarium:
Place your camera's lens directly on the glass. It eliminates the glare and will give you a great picture.
That said, I didn't do that with any of these pictures because there were too many people.
But anyway, now you know.


Here's a picture of Owen who was really transfixed by the sea lion exhibit. They were his favorite and I had a hard time getting him to leave.
This picture is also for DanO so that he can grunt and be disdainful over the length of Owen's hair.

Loved this pattern on this fish....

Not a seahorse, but a seaDRAGON. Cool, huh?

These aren't very good pictures (yes, I take crappy pictures sometimes) but I thought they were so cool I had to show them to you. They're called Garden Eels, and they live in sandy burrows, which they construct. When feeding, the Spotted Garden Eel rises out of its burrow, exposing up to two-thirds of its body. It feeds on zooplankton taken from the passing current.
I just wrote all of that from the vast knowledge in my head.

Actually, I had to look it up on the internet.


This was one of my favorite exhibits, they had this really peaceful instrumental music playing that gave the room an eerie, yet hauntingly beautiful aura.
Tyler liked 'em too.
He kept pointing his little finger in every exhibit and saying, "oh wow"


One of my favorite pics of the day....
I have other pics, but they're nothing impressive. GA Aquarium also has a whale shark, which was gorgeous, and beluga whales, and a lot of other cool stuff. Check it out if you're ever in ATL with time to kill...just make sure you get in at the first time slot of the day!

More posts tomorrow!