A Little About Tyler Cole

Tyler turned 6 months old yesterday. What a big boy! In four short days, Tyler will be the same age that Zachary was when we picked him up in Vietnam. Tyler is doing very well these days. Since the day he turned 5 months old, he has been a different baby. He is happy most of the time. Full of smiles, laughs and many different sounds. He doesn't seem as strong as Zachary was at this age but I think that is because he was held for the first 5 months of his life. We had to do something to keep him happy :0) Tyler is just starting to sit on his own, although he usually falls forward. He has never been a big fan of being on his tummy, so he only gets short tummy times throughout the day. He does love to play with his toys. And he puts everything in his mouth! He rolls over from his back to his belly but not from his belly to his back yet. Tyler's most favorite person in the world is his big brother! Tyler can watch Zachary run around and play all day. He smiles and laughs at Zach all the time. He also pulls Zach in close to him and tries to eat various parts of his face. Of course, Zach enjoys every second of it! Tyler has never been a great sleeper, although he is getting much better. He spent the first 5 and a half months of his life sleeping either in the bouncy seat or the swing in our bedroom. Now, he is in his room in the crib and I am working on sleep training him. He sleeps flat on his back and barely moves for hours. He will do 6 to 7 hours, eat, then 3 or 4 more hours. MUCH better than the every two hours he was doing! And he takes two 2 to 3 hour naps each day. His sleep seems to change a lot so hopefully this nap schedule will stick around for a while! Tyler probably weighs close to 16 pounds. He's not huge, which I like because neither is Zachary. He fits in 6-12 month clothes and is now wearing hand me downs from his big brother. It is so cute seeing Tyler in some of Zachary's old clothes! Tyler it still breastfeeding. He does get one bottle of hypoallergenic formula before bed at night. Mostly because he is so sensitive to what I eat and if he has too much gas, it wakes him up. We also recently started solids. I made him quinoa cereal which he really likes and it is super healthy for him. He has also tried avocado and sweet potato. I am adding a new food every three days or so. I am going to try to make all of his baby food. He has such a sensitive stomach, so I think it will be better for him. I make a bunch and freeze it in ice cube trays. It works out well. It's so much healthier, less processed and less expensive. Zach usually tries it all, too :)

Well, that's our little man in a nutshell. Here are some recent shots...

Sitting up...Hanging with Zach...With Mommy, wearing a hand me down outfit...Playing in the crib with Zach...

Daddy's first time feeding Tyler...Cute, avocado face baby...

Zachary is THREE!!

Zach turned three on Saturday. He had a weekend filled with birthday fun. We decorated the house for him Friday night while he was sleeping. He was thrilled to wake up to a house filled with birthday cheer. Zach went to a friend's birthday party on Saturday. He had a great time. On Sunday, we had a big party for Zach at our house. He had 15 friends and their parents over to celebrate his big day. We had a show from a company called Curious Creatures. It was awesome! He brought many creatures for the kids to touch, learn about and even hold. The creatures included a bunny, a skunk (deskunked of course), a chinchilla, a frog, a lizard, a baby alligator, a really big snake and a taranchula. The kids (and adults) all had a blast. Zachary really enjoyed all of the creatures until the lizard jumped off the man and landed on Zachary's chest. I screamed, which didn't help the situation. After that, Zach didn't want to touch anymore creatures. He just looked :) After the creature show, we had pizza for lunch and cupcakes for dessert. Zach was in all his glory. I think he had a fun time at his party.

The bunny...Checking out the skunk...Zach really liked the chinchilla...Holding the frog...Lisa and Quan with the dreaded lizard...
Cupcake time...Blowing out the candle...Just because he's cute...

Brotherly Love

Zach has always loved Tyler but their love is growing stronger these days. I think it's because Tyler is getting bigger and Zach can actually touch him without us telling him to back away or be careful. Also, Tyler now smiles and laughs at Zach all the time which Zach thinks it is so cool. They are both very cute together. The down side to all of this love is that Tyler had his first cold, thanks to his big brother. It's been over a week and Tyler is still coughing. So sad. I guess it comes with the territory of having a big brother in preschool.

In the hospital...September...October...November...December...January...February...Today...

My BIG Boys

It's official...Zachary is toilet trained. He now wears underwear all day, except for when he is sleeping. We are SO proud of our big guy!

In other news, Tyler found his feet...

Quick Update

If I was a pretty bad blogger before, I might just be the worst now! Who has time or energy to blog with an active almost three year old and a baby who doesn't sleep very well? Not me! But I do want to try to continue to document a little about our cute boys. So, here's a quick update...Both boys are doing well. We just got through our first holiday season as a family of four and it was great. Chad was home for over a week which was a huge treat for all of us. Zach was not happy this morning when he expected to see his daddy, that's for sure! We had a great Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year. Zachary was really into the holidays this year. He loved opening presents, singing songs, lighting the candles and looking at the decorations around the house. He talked a lot about Christmas and Santa. Now, he is ready to go back to school. He was so happy today when I told him that he goes back tomorrow.

Tyler is also doing well. He cries a lot less and smiles all the time. He's starting to get a little personality and even laughs. He's not the best sleeper but that's fine. I'll sleep again someday. There's no rush :) Tyler is getting big. He has the chunk roles to prove it. He fits into 3 to 6 month clothing nicely. He'll be 4 months old soon. I'm curious to know how much he weighs!

We still pretty much just hang out at home on days when Zach does not have school. Little Tyler is not a fan of the carseat and it stresses me out when he screams the whole time. It's easier to stay home. We just make people come to us :) We were able to get out more while Chad was home. I think Zach was happy about that! He went swimming at the Y, played at an indoor playspace, went to MyGym, played in the snow, saw some friends, saw some family and we all even ate a few meals out. A week filled of fun. Now back to reality.

Here are some recent pictures...

Lighting the candles...BIG smile...

Out for dinner on New Year's Eve...
Tyler partying hard on New Year's Eve...Playing in a box...Another big smile...

CUTENESS!

Playing with tape. Gotta keep busy somehow...Tummy Time...Painting...One of Tyler's favorite places. His changing table...Doing puzzles (and making a mess)...Crying boy (but still quite cute)...Brothers...

Happy (belated) Halloween!!

Better late than never, right?

We had a great Halloween. Zachary is at such an awesome age. He really got into it this year. A couple of weeks before Halloween, we put up decorations and began making spooky pictures and hanging them around the house. This, along with reading spooky Halloween books, got Zach in the spirit of Halloween. By the time Saturday came, he was ready to go-saying "Happy Halloween" to anyone and everyone. Quan and his family joined us for a fun evening of Chinese food and trick or treating. Both boys were so cute! The weather was so warm that even baby Tyler was able to come out :) And Mimi stopped by to see the boys all dressed up. Zach got a lolipop at the first house and he eagerly held on to it the whole evening. He finally got to eat it when we got home. That was the only candy he ate. Silly little boy!

BFF...

Spooky Tyler...
Trick or Treating...
Walking with Daddy...
With Mommy....Other than the excitement of Halloween, we are pretty chill these days. We are hermits on the days that Zach does not go to school. It's just so scary out there with all of the flu germs. Our pediatrician made it very clear that anyone who is even a little sick should not be around the baby. Also, she said that anyone who has not had their flu shots can not hold or come in "close contact" with Tyler. It would be really dangerous for him to get sick at this point. He is only 7 weeks old and still such a little peanut.

Looking cute...Tyler is doing ok these days. He cries a lot, that's for sure! He likes to be held and moving at all times. Demanding little man. He also has some acid reflux that makes him quite uncomfortable at times. We are working through it and enjoying him, even when he cries :) Zachary is THE BEST big brother. He is so laid back and just loves the little guy so much. He doesn't even care when Tyler is crying his little head off. Such an amazing two year old boy!

Brotherly love...