Picnic

So the 70-80 degree weather is here and we are trying to get outside as often as possible. Tonight we had a picnic with Nana, Busia, Ethan and the Konieczny's.
Tyler is becoming quite the pro at riding his quad now. He was driving it all around the park.

Here's Ethan giving it a try.

Our little monkey in the tree.
Tyler and Ethan just can't get enough of the girls. They just love all of their attention!

Zoo

Spring Break is finally here and we are enjoying every minute of it! Today I took Tyler to the zoo with Nana, Vivian, Ethan, and Brendan. It was such a nice day and we all had a fun time.
Tyler liked to pull on the baby goats ears but they got him back by eating his clothes!

The monkeys had a new 1 month old baby so they were putting on quite the show protecting their little one.

Brendan was brave and touched the sting rays but Tyler pulled his hand away each time they got close to him.

Quad for Tyler

Well we all knew it wouldn't be long before Neal bought a quad for Tyler. I think Neal's been dreaming about this day before Tyler was even born. For now he's going to start off on a battery powered one and hopefully Neal can hold off for a while before he gets Tyler the real deal. It won't be long before the "boys" will be out quading in the desert together.

Here they are putting it together.

It's Official!

We put our house on the market last week! We love our house but now that we've had Tyler, our needs have changed a bit so we are looking for something new. Hopefully our house will sell quickly and the house of our dreams comes our way.

Sickness

We've experienced our fair share of all of these germs that have been floating around this winter. Poor Tyler has been hit the hardest out of all of us as he begins to build up his immune system.

While my parents were visiting, Tyler came down with Brochiolitis. My mom and I took him to the doctor because he was having trouble breathing. While we were there, the doctor told us Tyler needed a breathing treatment and if it didn't help his breathing, then we would have to take him to the hospital...Luckily it worked but only after 15 minutes of holding down a SCREAMING toddler. I never realized quite how difficult that would be.

After a few more miserable treatments, we figured out that Tyler would sit perfectly still as long as we turned on his Baby Einstein movie. You have to love those videos!!!

Grandma & Grandpa Deneen Visit

My parents came to visit the week of January 18. Unfortunately that was the same week it decided to downpour rain all week. So they left snowy Indiana to spend a week in AZ with record rainfall (our schools actually let out early due to flooding one of the days).

Aside from the rain, it was a great week visiting with them. Tyler loved all of the attention he got from Grandma and Pops.

That's one spoiled boy!


We drove around part of the Apache Trail and visited an old mining town.



Tyler was fascinated by this man singing him a song about "butter beans" (not too sure what butter beans are).


We miss you lots, Mom and Dad. Can't wait to see you again soon!

Christmas

Wow, I'm so far behind that I don't even know where to begin. I'm going to do a lot of catching up through photos and then try to stay more on top of the blog...

So we had a great Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Smith, and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill visiting and now the Konieczny's living here. It was so nice to have so much family around for the holidays.

We enjoyed watching Tyler experience Christmas this year. He was able to pull the paper off his presents but it went straight in his mouth once he got it off.

The kids had a fun surprise when Santa "Ian" showed up on Christmas eve. This was Tyler's first sighting of Santa :-)

Tyler helped Grandpa Smith and Daddy put together his car (one of his favorite toys) by reading the directions.

So many presents!

Zoo Lights

On Tyler's birthday, we went to Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo with the Christ's and Grandma and Grandpa Smith. It was a cold wet night but it was worth it. I think they had the best Christmas Lights display I've ever seen.

Tyler's Birthday

4lb 12 oz

17lbs 3oz

Our little Tyler turned one on Dec. 22. This past year with Tyler has been an amazing year. We've waited so long to be parents and have absolutely enjoyed every minute with our little miracle. I never quite realized how much love I could give and get from a child until I had one of my own. This past year, we have experienced some of the greatest, saddest, and scariest moments of our lives. Watching Tyler grow and explore the world around him has brought such joy to our lives, while sitting in the hospital praying for our son to have a safe and successful open heart surgery was the scariest time in our lives. Although we've faced some difficult times, it has only brought us closer and helped our family grow stronger.

Tyler has accomplished so many new skills this year. He can pull himself up to stand now and is beginning to cruise around the furniture. He has been getting physical therapy twice a week for a couple of months and it is really helping him build strength in his legs. Just last week, he began climbing the stairs and climbing on top of his picnic table. He is so proud of his new accomplishments, that he turns around and gives a big smile once he's made it to the top.


With Tyler's new found mobility, he loves crawling all around the house. The minute we put him on the floor, he first checks to see if Blaze's water bowl is on the floor (he loves to play in the water), then he checks to see if we left the laundry room door open (I don't know what's so exciting about that room...maybe all the lint "snacks" on the floor), and finally he goes to press the buttons on Daddy's stereo (just like Daddy, he loves to watch the blue light turn on and off). Once all of these items have been blocked off, he then plays happily with his toys.

Tyler has begun saying a few words now. He learned them in this order: dada, mama, quack, choo...choo, tru (for truck), and pu (for puff-his favorite snack). He loves to clap, wave bye bye, put his arms up for a touch down, and point to everything he finds interesting. Tyler enjoys listening to stories and kicks his legs in excitement each time we pull out books.

We celebrated Tyler's birthday at the Marley Park Heritage Club along with Tyler's cousin Sophie's 6th birthday. We had a "Cowboy" theme because Sophie really likes horses. The kids had fun running through the field. Tyler was a little leery of the grass and kept lifting up his legs so that the grass wouldn't poke his skin. When it came time to the cake, Tyler needed a little help digging in. He wasn't too sure what to do and wasn't all that thrilled about the taste. I'm sure that will all change next year!

It sure was an amazing first year and we look forward to all the new experiences we will encounter with Tyler in the coming years.

Here are some pictures of his first year.

This is why you should never let your husbands buy 4 wheelers with winches!

We planted a tiny palm tree in our backyard 6 years ago and it grew much bigger than we ever expected it to in such a short time. Unfortunately we planted it too close to the wall and the wall is beginning to fall over now. So Neal thought it would be fun to do the demolition himself. As soon as Frank heard what Neal was up to, he was over here within 5 minutes and the boys got to work. You could tell they were hoping for some major destruction but it was a big let down when they couldn't even move the tree an inch. So I guess we'll be leaving this job to the professionals this time.