Brotherly Love

I'm happy to say that even 4 months after Ty's birth, the big brothers still very much love him and enjoy having "their" baby around. They really have been good big brothers and I'm so proud of them for doing such a good job.

Trey is always sitting by Ty holding his hand

Sometimes I wonder about Tucker and Trey because lately there has been a lot of "he is bugging me" from both of them, but yesterday they had a good natured "fight" No one got hurt or was complaining about the other. It was nice (as strange as that may sound...) for them to play like that together. Then couple of nights ago the boys were watching tv together in the living room while I was feeding Ty in my room and I came out and they were sitting in the rocking chair together cuddling together. I really wanted to take a picture, but as soon as they saw me and realized that I saw them, Tucker said "Trey is bugging me" and he got up. They just don't like to show how much they really love each other...It makes me very sad that they are already getting embarrassed about things like that....

Spring has sprung!

I have been pleasantly surprised that winter has been much colder and longer than usual, but Spring is finally here! Spring has always been one of of my favorite seasons and I just love the weather here right now! It is very short lived, but we are definitely going to take full advantage of the amazing weather before the dreaded heat and humidity return. My daffodils have bloomed and are tree is sprouting some new leaves. I think the boys and I are going to try out some vegetable gardening this year...we are still in the planning process, but it sounds like fun!

Ty is 4 Months Old

As of yesterday Ty is 4 months old! And like I say all the time, I can't believe he is already 4 months old...he grows so fast! Today he had his check-up and he is doing great. He weighs 15lbs 10.5ozs. and 25.75inches, which puts him right above the 60th percentile. Ty is such a good sleeper..well at night anyways.. sleeping from around 8ish to 7ish, wakes up eats, and doses back off for an hour or so. During the day, not so much, I am lucky if he sleeps for more than 20 minutes at a time. For the last few weeks, he is having trouble staying asleep during the day, and only takes about 2 or 3 20ish minute naps and maybe every once in awhile, he will sleep for about 45 minutes or and hour. It hasn't been fun for me, but I would rather up all day than being up all night. I asked the doctor about his sleeping and she told me that she can tell from his personality that he is just a very alert and active guy and he might not sleep much during the day... Recently he decided that he doesn't care for the pacifier that much..only every once in awhile and he has started sucking his thumb every once in awhile too. It's really cute to see him suck his thumb, but I have one of those (Trey) who is still sucking his thumb..Tucker was a paci baby and it was much easier to control that. So we will see what Ty eventually decided he likes better..but I'm praying for the "pass"!

He is getting such a cute little personality. He laughs and smiles at just about everything, especially if we nibble on his neck and he is very ticklish. It is really funny because he could be crying and I put him front of a mirror and as soon as he sees himself he automatically stops crying and smiles (I really need to get it on the video camera..it is so freaking cute!!!!) When he gets upset, he doesn't like to cry right away, he pouts his little lip first and then he just fusses a bit..well actually a lot before he really gets to crying...but man does he have a set of lungs when he wants to use them.

He is getting to big for his britches literally and figuratively. He is pretty much out of all of his 3-6 month clothes...a few still fit, but not many..mostly he is wearing size 6 month..(I need to go through his closet and get out the next size so he has some more clothes to wear. Recently he has decided he no longer wants to be held laying down or just lay on the floor. He wants to be sitting up...because he is nosy and wants to see what is going on. He love sitting in his exausaucer,the jumper, this new rocking chair thing, and his bumbo. We can't leave him propped up on anything any more because he likes to do baby sit-ups...he pulls up his head and shoulders and can get so far off whatever he is propped up against and fall straight on his face. (Luckily I learned this while sitting on the bed with him...I was trying to take his picture so I was right in front of him and watched to see how far he could pull up..which ended up being all the way)

The doctor gave the go ahead for rice cereal. She said he doesn't heed it yet, but if we want to try it we can, so I bought some the other day and we will try it soon. I think he is going to love it because he has been "food stalking" me lately (when I eat he stares at me and smacks his cute little lips). I can't believe he is old enough for this already....

Here are some pictures of the big 4 month old boy!!!

sitting in the stroller like a big boy

sitting in his rocker

sucking his thumb

Trey's new trick

Well, it's not really a "trick" but it's cool...Today at the park he mastered the "fireman" pole. He has always wanted to try the pole, but has always been afraid, but today he decided to try it. There were a bunch of bigger kids there encouraging him and telling him what to do, so he did it! It was so cute because after he did it for the first time all of the kids clapped for him! So needless to say, he did that fire pole over and over again! I'm proud of my big guy!!!!

Trey's writting!

Trey has actually been writing his name for a few months now, but just recently he has started writing it completely by memory (he doesn't need to see any of the letters to know how to write them). I am so proud! He loves to write his name and also loves to write Ty's name also...pretty easy for him since Ty's name is 2 of the 4 letters in his own name! 'e" is his favorite letter to write for some reason and he does a great job at it! Now we are working on writing the first 3 letters of the alphabet by memory! I know he can write and copy all his letters, but I really want him to know how to do it from memory! (I am also trying to get Tucker to do this, but he really doesn't like to sit down and work on writing for more than a minute or two).

Discovery Tour!!!

The second tour we took was the Discovery Tour. Because there has been so much rain lately, they had to modify the tour a bit because the lowest section of the cavern was filled completely up with water. So we were only able to go down 150 ft. This tour was about 75 minutes long, but only about 30 stairs. The first tour was amazing, but this one was breathtaking. It was so incredible!!! These cavern rooms were HUGE and the formations were beautiful. Bats used to live in these caverns about 5,000 years ago. There is this one passage way("Jane's Passage")is only about 11 inches tall in places. All the men explores were to big to crawl through it, so one of the wives crawled through it for them and she made them name it after her! I don't know I would have done that for Vinny if he had asked :P Ty hung out in the front pack again, but actually fell asleep for awhile, so that was good, but man this little guy is getting big and after over 2 hours of carrying him I was tired!!! It was so fun and I didn't realize that there are actually a bunch of these caverns in the Texas Hill Country, so I think we might explore a couple more, but that is only if Ty doesn't get to heavy first!

Illumination Tour!

The Illumination tour was the first tour we took. It lasted about 70 minutes and we walked down 185 steps then back up those 185 steps...We were approximately 185 ft below the surface. They kept it kind of dark in the cavern and through the passage ways, only lighting up certain areas or formations. They said it was about 70 degrees, but 99.9% humidity, so it wasn't very pleasant and by the time we were done with this tour we were pretty sweaty, (or as Tucker would say "I am a sweat"). When we first got into the first passage way Tucker kept saying "I want to get out, I want to leave" and Trey just stood there holding my hand. We thought it was going to be the other way around...(After we were done with the tour, Tucker kept talking about how Trey was scared and asking to leave...I think he was a little embarrassed about being scared at first, trying to make us confused on who actually was scared..) Ty just hung out in the front pack the whole time and surprised us and stayed awake the entire time. Once we got to the bottom of the cavern, we all sat down and they turned every single light off. It was pitch black...we couldn't see anything, not even your hand in front of your face. It was crazy. I couldn't imagine exploring these caves back in the day with just a small light.

Natural Bridge Caverns!!!!

I have been wanting to go to these caverns ever since we were driving down the highway one time and I saw the bilboard when we first moved here! It took us nearly 4 years to get here, but we finally made it! We all had such a great time and I just loved it! It was absolutely amazing and the pictures don't do it any justice.

Tucker and Trey in front of the Natural Bridge

Vinny and the big boys in the cavern

Me and my boys!

Family shot at the bottom of the cavern 185 ft. down

San Antonio weekend!!!

Vinny was off and we decided to take a mini vacation over to San Antonio. On Friday we headed over to his parents house and spent the night with them, then on Saturday we wanted to try something new. So we headed to the Natural Bridge Caverns..more on that in another post. But anyways Saturday night we headed to a hotel and took the boys swimming! We all had a blast and even brought Ty in the pool for a little bit. He seemed to like it a bit! He looked so cute in his little swim trunks. Good thing he is a "good sized" boy, because those trunks were size 6-12 months. They were a little big, but not so much that it made them unwearable! Vinny was working with Tucker on swimming without a floaty, which Tucker was a bit scared about, but it is something he needs to learn. He worked with Trey a bit too, but Trey likes it even less than Tucker does! After swimming we went back to the room and all got some much needed rest. On Sunday the plan was to visit some family friend who live in San Antonio, but they weren't feeling well, so we decided to drive up to these outlet malls I have heard about, but never actually been to. They were pretty cool and we had fun walking around. After that we drove back home and relaxed from our busy weekend! It was such a good weekend and just the break I needed!

Ty about to get in the pool for the first time

Vinny and the big boys

Trey hanging on to the side

Trying to swim without a floaty

Ty in the pool

New fun thing for Ty

Ty has recently decided that he no longer wants to lay on the floor anymore. He thinks he is bigger than he actually is and wants to sit up, not just be propped up, but sitting all the way up like a big boy. So I put together his little exersaucer thing and he loves it!!! He likes being up and he seems to really enjoy playing with the toys.