happy birthday to lucas

We celebrated Lucas's (in hat below) first birthday at his legendary party today. Complete with moon bounce, balloons and very yummy cake. Tyler tried out the moon bounce while the older kids took a break for cake, but by far Tyler's favorite activity was playing with the race cars!

indian cheer

Do you remember pretending to be an American Indian when you were a kid? The noises you'd make? The cheer that would come out of your mouth as you tapped your hand against your mouth. Well, Alex has taught Tyler to make this noise. Except that Tyler doesn't use the palm of his hand, he uses the back of his wrist. But the noise comes out the same!

florida v. tennessee

Die hard Gators fans (the Campbells) and die hard Vols fans (the Redmons) met up last weekend to tailgate and watch the football game. Tyler and Audrey Kate, four months his junior, dressed accordingly. Go gators!! (I think Audrey Kate was stunned by Tennessee's big loss.)

teething update

Tyler's two lateral incisors are almost in. One is only covered by a thin layer of gum, so much so that it looks like it is already in. The other is getting closer. Teething hasn't affected Tyler's sleep habits at all, but he keeps two fingers hooked in his mouth during the daytime whenever he's not playing or getting into something.

hurtin'

Poor little buddy. He's had a low-grade fever for most of today. He's slept most of the day away and while he's awake he whimpers a lot. Same thing happened last Sunday and then I noticed a big tooth had popped through the gum. I won't be surprised if the same happens again.

fifth tooth

Tyler sprouted a new one! His left lateral incisor (just left of the center teeth) popped in within the past few days. I noticed the new tooth last night when I could actually get a good look in his mouth while he was sleeping in my lap.

10 months

Tyler's tenth month is marked by a huge increase in mobility. In just the past three days, he's begun crawl on all fours (rather than his usual military crawl), climb stairs, insist on walking most places (with assistance), and move very quickly!

Who's that pressed against the glass door?

fishy face

Was it seeing all those fish last week? Tyler just whipped out a new facial expression: a fishy face. He sucked in his cheeks and puckered those lips for the cutest look.

trouble

This is not how the swing was intended to be used!

Tyler is into EVERYTHING! He loves to use his two swings while kneeling or standing. He loves to climb into the bottom of his exersaucer and then spin himself around. He loves to seek and try to destroy anything electronic. Remotes, stereos, cell phones, laptops included!

wave

On our way out of town, we took the long route home so that we could experience the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Lots of tunnel, lots of bridge and definitely lots of water.

On the Eastern shore, while stopped for a gas fill up, Daddy waved at Tyler and Tyler waved back! He had a look on his face like he still didn't understand the concept, but he followed Alex's lead anyhow.

love lea

On our last evening in town, we arranged a dinner with my cousin Lea and her fiancé Rob at the Lynnhaven Fish House. Despite Tyler being on his best behavior and adorably cute, I'm sure Lea and Rob have ultimately delayed their plans for children by several years!

waterboy

Thursday we took Tyler to the beach again. Same result: he didn't like the pounding waves and scratchy sand. But some sun-worshiping grandmas took a liking to Tyler and suggested we try out a pool of beach water that was stranded midshore as the tide went out. Tyler loved the still water and digging his toes in the more mud-like bottom sand. He splashed and splashed and then giggled nonstop!

We also spent some time in the pool in the afternoon and then went back to the beach for some sunset photos that evening.

boardwalk

Today we headed to the VA Beach boardwalk. We took some photos with the shore as our backdrop and then hit the shops. We ended up having to pick up some suntan lotion mid-day because Tyler and his friend Audrey Kate were getting direct sun. But we were thankful for yet another beautiful sunny day during our vacation!

fishy

Tyler visited his first aquarium - the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center. He loved the fish! He'd get really excited, pant like a dog and pat the glass trying to get to the fish. We also saw turtles, birds, otters, and sharks! Oh my!

on the shore

Yesterday was Tyler's first time at the beach. Unfortunately, he didn't get a nap in before we walked across the street to the shore. He didn't want to have much to do with the water when we dipped his toes in. Tyler ended up napping under a beach umbrella enjoying the nice breezy weather. When we woke up he spent most of his time watching the beach babes and cuddling with mama. We did encourage him to play in the sand, but after the first sand-in-the-mouth experience, we decided to call it a day!

VA Beach

A bunch of us rented out a 9-bedroom house right off the beach and have been enjoying our Labor Day weekend here. Most of us are staying the entire week, which is a nice treat. On our first day here, Tyler tested out the water in our private pool. Boy did he have fun! He loved splashing and cruising around in his floatie. Did I mention that he also liked trying to drink the water? We'll have to break that habit. Chlorinated water is no Evian!

mama's boy

Tyler is hyper alert of where his parents are at all times, especially mommy. This new-found awareness caused him to bring on the tears as I left him at Meg's house on Wednesday morning. Ouch, it's tough to see that pathetically beautiful and sad face and those big blue eyes bubbling over with tear drops. Thankfully, the scene didn't last long since he had best bud Audrey Kate to distract him.

daddy you make me sick

This morning Tyler played in bed with Mommy while Daddy napped. Once Daddy was awake we all got up together to make breakfast. As Mommy held Tyler, Daddy leaned over to give him a kiss - just then Tyler spit up which shot out of his mouth onto Daddy's chin. So funny! Oh, I'm sorry, I mean, it was awful and very unfunny. Daddy was just thankful his mouth was closed!

singer

Tyler was so cute tonight. His favorite song has always been Old MacDonald. But tonight when he pressed the button on his exersaucer so that it played the music, Tyler sang a few of the notes along with the music. We thought it was just coincidence at first, but then he repeated it later in the song.

pre-walker

Tyler is thrilled with the idea of standing and walking. He's not ready to do the latter without some assistance, but he sure loves to pull himself up to a standing position. He's never really loved crawling but he still does it when he wants to get into something. As a little baby Tyler was really early to hold his head up on his own. He was always so curious and nosy. Things haven't changed much there and I figure the strong desire to stand up is just a natural extension of that curiosity and his personality.

Earlier this week he was seated next to his exersaucer. He moved up to his knees, then reached up, put his fingers around the lip edge of the exersaucer and pulled himself to his feet. He stood holding it with one hand and banging the attached toys with the other. Tyler was having such a good time that he started rocking the whole thing and it nearly tipped over on top of him except that Mommy was able to avert danger with some fast hands.

But by far Tyler's most favorite activity is to pull himself up onto his swings and then bounce up and down as it sways from side to side.