Vacation Pictures - Fenwick Island Part 3

And finally the 3rd post for our vacation pictures... From July!
Here is Part 1 and Part 2 in case you missed it.
I realized when writing up this post that I take so many pictures of my daughter and not enough of my son. Why? Because she stays in one place for more than 2 seconds!

The only way to get to the beach ... by water! 

Love this girl! 

Siblings playing together in the sand

Our kids love the beach 

Best day ever... 

Love Tyler's little hat

This might be one of my favorite pictures ever of Julianna! 

Julianna loves the sand

Water fight 

I forget the name of this ride but I think Julianna went on 3 times! She's under the "Ruby" seat. 

Look at the happiness on these kid's faces! 

Tyler is THE man! 

Tyler is One Year Old!

I really can not believe my little boy is One year old. It doesn't seem possible we have been through an entire year since he was born. It's been a year of random ups and downs, happiness & emotional times. Overall it's been a great year to look back on. My little beautiful baby boy is ONE. We are blessed by the happiness he brings into our lives. It is so true what they say about Moms and their baby boys. Little boys are so special with their mamas!

Here are some of Tyler's milestones at one year old.

Walking
Sooo close. Not there just yet. He furniture surfs and can stand on his own briefly. Soon he will be walking/running/climbing. (Oh wait he already climbed up on Julianna's chair!)


Crawling
He's been crawling for 3 or 4 months ... he's an expert. Fast little bugger too.

Eating & his routine
Since he only has 3 teeth, he's not eating much more than pureed foods, puffs, and a few mushy finger foods, like small diced bananas. Breakfast is oatmeal with a mixed pureed fruit. Lunch is 2 pouches of mixed veggies/fruits. Dinner usually consists of oatmeal, veggie mix and fruit. Now he is able to eat diced up mushy fruit, we're doing that too. I'll try veggies next. He has a small snack around 11am and then at 3:30 with his milk. The idea of pureed meat in a pouch kind makes me cringe, so we have been staying away from it. Tyler eats some kind of bean every day, so he still gets plenty of protein. The pediatrician said she would like to see him have some meat though, so I am going to start giving him some mushy white fish or chicken. I think he will like it, even with his 3 teeth! We eat meat, so I am not against it, I was just not into giving him pureed meat (yuck!).


What brands of food & milk do we feed Tyler? 
His pureed baby food has been either Ella's or Plum Organics. His puffs are Plum Organics also and his crackers are Baby Mum-mums. Those are the best crackers for babies without a lot of teeth that are more than able to eat snacks. His milk is organic whole milk. Pretty much anything I put into him is organic, along with my daughter too!


Formula/Milk
No more formula. Yay! Tyler drinks whole milk now and had no issue moving to milk. He has an 8 oz bottle when he wakes up. Then some milk with lunch. He has 6oz of milk at 3:30 with a snack, and then 4-6 oz of milk before bedtime.  I am working on weaning him over to the sippy cup for milk. He loves water in a sippy cup - and has it with dinner and lunch and morning snack.


Naps & Bedtime
Tyler takes 2 pretty solid naps a day. One in the mid-morning around 9:45-11ish, and the other mid-afternoon around 1:30-3ish. He goes to bed at 8pm and doesn't make a peep until 7am. He is a great night time sleeper just like Julianna. Not as good as a napper but almost.


Teeth
He has 3. That's it. More are coming really soon!


Speaking
Not much. He has his own baby talk. Lot's of it. He babbles on and on and tells us a bunch of stuff in his own language. He does say Mama and dada. He has his own communication with Julianna - baby talk that I think she understands more than we do.

Can you tell he likes his life-jacket? HA! (We will be getting him a new one that is not so stiff)

Weight
Tyler weighs 20 lbs 8 oz. He is about 20th percentile in weight & height. (What's crazy is, I have lost 30 pounds since January - that is one of him plus 10 lbs!)


Other things
He loves to play Peek-a-boo (Where's the baby?!) and laughs hysterically. He likes when someone claps, but he is not clapping yet. He is not waving bye-bye yet - but likes when someone waves to him. He likes pat-a-cake but is still learning how to play it. He is able to figure out shape-sorting toys - he gets the ball in the hole, and is so proud of himself. He also likes to push any toy with wheels; his trucks, school bus, train, dump truck, wheel loader, etc.


The Scar
Tyler's scar from his Open Heart Surgery (from 8 days old) is healing up beautifully. It will never go away, but it won't be as noticeable. (Click here for his story)


Party Time
We threw a combo birthday party for the kids this past weekend, since their birthdays are a week apart. We had a small party at our favorite local pizza place - just family and some close friends. It was fun, the food was great and the kids had a nice time.

Me and my baby boy! This was Mother's Day weekend. 

10 things I've learned in the first year of raising a baby with a Congenital Heart Defect

1.
Life throws curve balls when you least expect it. No kidding.

2.
I have slowed down and truly enjoyed the precious moments with my kids. I sincerely enjoy every hug, smile and nuzzle with Tyler. He is a blessing and I thank God every day that he is with us.

3.
I see other parents of children with special needs differently now. I am now part of their club and understand the emotion of having a child with a major medical issue or special needs. (Click here to read Tyler's story) I have compassion and understanding of what those parents have gone through, especially since we have been there. I have learned what 'love unconditionally' means.

4.
I have grown so much in the last year, as a parent, a human and a wife because of Tyler.

5.
I have learned not to judge people so quickly, especially since you never know what is on their plate. I have an absolutely different perspective now.

6.
I have learned not to care about petty things and don't get annoyed as easily (with exception to the couple of months when I thought I was losing my mind when pre-menopause was kicking in! Go here for that story.)

7.
I have learned that being happy & healthy for my family and with my family comes first.

8.
I am grateful for the doctors and hospitals that Tyler has been to in the last year for his Heart Defect and open heart surgery. The doctors were incredible, and we had the best outcome for Tyler's scenario.

9.
I have also learned that the reality of Congenital Heart defect can be death (there, I said it) and I say a heartfelt prayer when a parent in one of my online groups loses their baby to CHD. It breaks my heart in ways that I can't even put into words. I hold my Tyler even closer & say a prayer to thank God for him.

10.
I know my baby boy is on this planet for a greater good. God put Tyler here to do big things.

Waiting for Spring...

Just like most of the Northeast; we are waiting... and waiting... and waiting... for Spring.
I've been limiting my photography this Winter due to the simple fact, I really don't love shooting indoors. I like warm, nature, and outdoor location shots! There is only so much I can do in our tiny little house all winter for photos of the kids over and over. Since it was so cold this past Sunday, and we spent yet another weekend indoors, I decided to get my camera out and spend a couple hours letting the kids play and taking some shots of them.
Here's what we've been up to while Spring is taking it's sweet old time to arrive.

Tyler has mastered standing and loves looking out of the top of his crib at the world! 

Waiting for teeth ... at 10 months! My gummy boy! 

Pondering the world. 

Squinchy face... he loves making this face. 

Tyler loves to be near his big sister any time he can! 

She loves to ham in up for the camera (on her terms). I didn't even have to bribe her. 

Julianna and her cheesy toothy smile. She is precious and so happy. 

Another toothy smile. I love this girls presence - she can light up a room! 

They play well together (most times) and Julianna shares with Tyler now. I love seeing them interact. 

Snack time & a quick Mickey Mouse cartoon. 

Back to running around like a maniac and entertaining her brother. 

She was running & diving on the sofa while he stood there laughing hysterical at her! 

And finally, we are waiting for spring so we can get this in the water... 

Soon ... soon! 

#RockYourScar <> Congenital Heart Defect Awareness <>

This past week was National Congenital Heart Awareness week.
I decided to take a few pictures of Tyler to enter in the Rock Your Scar contest. #RockYourScar
I like to make as many people possible aware of Tyler's CHD called TAPVR. Roughly 1 in 100 babies are born with a CHD. Of those 100, about 25% need open heart surgery. Tyler was one of those 25%.

Please take a few seconds to vote for Tyler or share my entry on your facebook page or blog. We need to get awareness out there if we hope to make progress on Congenital Heart Defect cause, treatment and/or prevention.

Please vote for Tyler's #RockYourScar entry HERE 


Here are the photos that I took of Tyler and narrowed down to the 2nd one for the contest.

Just playing... 

10 things about Tyler lately

In accordance with being back to blogging - here's an update on Tyler. My little boy is getting so big! Tyler is almost 9 months old, and so many things are changing daily for us and him.

• Tyler has a Congenital Heart Defect and had Open Heart Surgery when he was 8 days old on May 24th, 2013. Before May 23rd of last year, I never knew anything about Congenital Heart Defects. By May 24th, we got a crash course in Pediatric Congenital Heart Defects, more specifically, Infra-diaphragmatic TAPVR (Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return). Please GO HERE for Tyler's CHD story. As of Monday 2/3/2014, he is off of his Digoxin heart medication, which was regulating his heart beat and helped it to heal. His cardiologist wanted him off Digoxin for a week before his appointment next week, where he will have an echocardiogram and EKG along with a full checkup; and then return home for 24 hours with a halter monitor which will record all heart activity. If all goes well, he will be off of heart medication (praying forever!!!). There isn't a crystal ball for what the future will hold and we can only pray he never has any other complications from his Heart Defect. The rest of his updates will be less critical the #1

• Tyler is doing great on solid foods. He loves all vegetables & fruits so far, with the exception of peas. Can't say I blame him. He has cereal and a jar of fruit in the morning, then cereal and a jar of vegetables for lunch. Dinner time (6:30) we just moved up to cereal, a full jar of veggies and half jar of fruit. He has a bottle 4x a day - 7am, 11am, 3pm and right before bedtime around 7:30. He is taking less formula to about 20-24 ounces a day now since he's increasing his solid food intake, which is normal.

• Tyler is sleeping 11 hours at night. He goes to sleep at 8pm - the same time as Julianna. They both wake up around 7am... and sleep in the same room. What a pain in the you know what that has been, but they are finally OK sleeping together where one doesn't wake the other up. I'm writing a post about kids sharing their room. It's been challenging.

• Tyler is in 12 month clothes and size 4 diapers. He's so much wider & chunkier than my daughter was at this age. I know they say not to compare, but I love comparing the 2 at each stage of their life to see who was wearing what and what they are doing. He takes 2 naps a day, one around 9:30 to 11am, and the second one around 1:30 to 3pm. He has a slight witching hour some nights around dinner time but not nearly as bad as when he was an infant. 

• He's not crawling yet, but wants to stand up ALL of the time! He is not happy unless he is standing with us holding him. He sits on the floor and plays nicely with his toys, but he really needs attention. He is not like Julianna, where we could leave her on the floor with a toy and she would entertain herself. Tyler will play but then whine for someone to come play with him or hold him. He is sooo very needy. He likes playing on his belly and is just about pushing himself up on his knees and can push himself backwards. He'll be crawling soon.

• He just has his first Gerber Puff and first sip of water out of a sippy cup this week.

• Tyler has become a bigtime belly sleeper. About a month ago, he decided to roll onto his belly in his crib to sleep and hasn't gone back since. I put him on his back, and he can't flip fast enough to his belly. He loves sleeping on his belly! Since he's almost 9 months old, the SIDS risk is almost none or zero. It's fine - and besides, good luck trying to get him not to sleep on his belly all night! He slept on his back through 8 months old. That is still very good.

• He loves playing with light-up toys and toys tat make noise- he also likes turning the toys over to see the underneath, as if he's inspecting it. He also loves peek-a-boo and loves when big sister plays with him. He loves her and watches her every move when she's in the room. She often tries to comfort him with a toy or talking softly to him when he's crying or upset.

• When me or Brian hold Tyler, he often tries to twist and roll off our laps, and then whines & complains. He only wants to stand or play on the floor. I can not wait for him to walk so he can go do his own thing haha! He won't be so needy then! He also gets his hands on everything and anything he can. My hair, my earrings, my glasses, paper, stuff on the fridge, my laptop or phone, anything on the table, my coffee.... etc! I can't drink coffee or eat while holding him because he lunges at everything. It's a 2-handed job holding him. Multi-tasking is not an option.

• Tyler says Mama and Dada. That's about it for talking so far. He does a ton of talking in his own language and it's hysterical. Julianna often says he talks too much, although she talks an awful lot too! Little does she realize! Tyler does know his name and laughs at the dog. He laughs at everything now- it's great!

I just love my little boy so much. It's so very true what they say about mama's and their little boys! I love holding him and nuzzling his fuzzy head. When he looks at me and says "Mama Mama Mama" and gives me a big smile, it melts my heart! Oh how this little boy owns me!
There is a part of me that never wants him to get bigger, but then there is a part of me that wants him to get bigger & more independent. Since I came off of a few bad months, I have been trying to take in each day, almost as if I need to make up the time I blew when I was going through my 'crazy' stage. Go HERE to read about why I was MIA for a while. 

Tyler's health at 4 months old (19 weeks)

Our little boy Tyler is 4 months and a week old (I think he's 19 weeks?)
When I hold him and snuggle with his little fuzzy perfect head, I just can't believe he had open heart surgery 18 weeks ago. Six days in the hospital with all kinds of tubes sticking out of him, breathing machines, feeding tube, C-Pap machine, wires & other horrible things. Six very long days. Sometimes I close my eyes and and imagine that never happened... but then I am reminded of the harsh reality of his condition when I change his diaper or shirt, and see his scar. His scar is part of him and it's a beautifully healed scar at that. But it's a reminder every day how much this little beautiful baby boy has been through in his short life already. It's a reminder of how blessed we are to have our little by in our life and that he is meant for big things in this world. It's a reminder that we have a lifetime of worry ahead of us.... worry about his future and 'what' could go wrong, or maybe nothing will ever go wrong with his repair and heart growth. Worry about the unknown.

Fear sometimes consumes me so much that I feel paralyzed. Fear takes over and looms over me like a dark cloud some days. The fear of losing Tyler. The fear of losing him to a CHD related sickness. The fear of never seeing his beautiful little perfect face again.

All parents have fears. This I know. When your child has a lifelong condition, it makes the fear that much worse. I hope over time it subsides, but maybe it won't. It's not the kind of fear that stops me from leaving the house or doing what I want to do, but it sure consumes my thoughts and keeps me up some nights needlessly. It makes me never want to let him out of my sight EVER.

This feeling is always in the back of my mind every day. So if you take other 'normal daily' stress and then combine it with the "Tyler" aspect, it makes my mind overload with anxiety some days. Some days I feel like the littlest thing is going to put me over the top and I am going to snap so easily. I guess there is only so much a person can handle at once, then something has to give. Sometimes it's in the form of me snapping at my daughter or my husband, crying, over-eating, or just not talking at all... and waiting for it to pass. On an ironic note, I don't let small things bother me (like I used to) since Tyler's surgery. I also feel like I'm more compassionate to other people's needs and try to put myself in their shoes now before being so quick to judge. I try not to be negative or try to stay away from that when I have control over it.

I am off (again) from work until October 3rd, and he will then start full time daycare on Monday 10/7. Tyler will be almost 5 months old when he starts daycare... and I am truly going to be devastated to let go of him and send him away from Mama & Daddy. Luckily he will be going to the same woman that watches Julianna right now at her house, whom we love & trust completely. In the meantime, I'll enjoy these last few days off with him.

In other news...
Tyler had his 4 month 'well visit' to the pediatrician last week and did very well. He took all of his vaccines like a pro with just a little crying. He is 14.4 lbs and 24.5 inches tall. He is about 20% in weight and 12% in height. A little on the small side but making good progress overall - the doctor is thrilled with how much weight he has gained since his last appointment!

Some milestones Tyler has reached at 4 months
(My reason for milestones - I am so happy I kept track of Julianna's milestones in my blog because I truly enjoy looking back now to see what she was doing at this point in her life, and I do plan on printing out her first year and also his) 

• Self-entertaining himself. I can lay him down and he keeps busy by holding a toy, looking at his mobile or eating his hands. 
• Sleeps 10 hours at night
• Takes about 6 oz of formula every 3.5 hours. Not in a hurry to try solids - maybe in the next week or so. 
• Takes 3 solid naps of about 1.5-2 hours each. 
• He has full on conversations and laughing - He talks A LOT! 
• Does good with tummy time but doesn't love it. Rolls from front to back (but gets very confused! why it happened!) 
• Holds his head up very strong and looks around all over the place. 
• Likes peekaboo and laughs at me - he just loves his mama and daddy! He is the happiest being in our arms. 
• Faces forward in the Beco carrier (Love that thing!!) 
• Loves sitting on our lap and looking around - the best thing ever for him! 

Here are some random iPhone pictures from the last few weeks ....

Wagon ride that Julianna loved going on! (She's in the back) 

I feel that I need to mention Daddy picked out her 'matching' socks. 

One last plug for our CHD Coalition Walk - We are walking for Tyler and all the Congenital Heart Defect babies just like him this coming up Sunday... We are walking for CHD research. One in every 120 children are born with some form of CHD and yet there is no early detection for this or known cause yet. This needs to change. Please help us by donating IF you can. For those of you who already did, thank you from the bottom of Tyler's heart! No donation is too small. God bless! (Click below for details)

day in my life

A couple weeks ago, I had Julianna home with me and Tyler... It was a rainy & cruddy day, so I decided to do a "Day in the life" thing for my blog. I kept my camera out on the table and took pictures all day. I don't think I got anything amazing out of it - but it was fun and I got to snap away all day and use my mind for something other than calculating formula ounces.

Here's a day in my life...

It rained. 

She made squinchy face. 

I made French Toast. 

She ate French Toast and watched Octonauts. (Don't judge!) 

I snuck a quicky photo shoot in and they posed for me! 

She gave me crazy eyes. 

She said Baby Giraffe HAD to have his picture taken because he likes posing. 

She got really tired. Modeling is tough. 

He smiled all day - except when I picked up my camera. No go on the smily shots.  

Daddy came home and took over so I could get a break. 

That's about it - not too exciting!
Here are a few that I liked but didn't get a chance to watermark & resize.

Checking on her brother to see if he needs his "Pinky" (that's what she calls his pacifier)

So serious. 

So serious too. 

She is really starting to love her little brother. It warms my heart so much!