Dear Tyler, you're 9 months old!

Dear Baby Tyler, 

You're 9 months old! That seems so old to me, the weeks go by way too fast and I don't have enough days to sit and watch you crawl and discover. You're a cute crawler. You're good at it. You're wiggly and squirmy. In the bath and on the changing table, you are drawn to danger. It's pretty much a two person job to change your naked self, but we manage. I laugh and you give me frowny looks until I make a funny noise or something, then you laugh. I remember loving the changing table for that fun eye contact with your big brothers. 

You nurse a lot, and that's your favorite way to fall asleep. That's the easiest too. You don't like to be put down, so bedtime is tiring for all of us. It is natural to sleep with you by my side, so I still like to "sleep when the baby sleeps." 

When I load the dish washer, you crawl in and either climb on the dish washer or pull up on my calves. It's difficult. 

You can really play with the boys now. You knock over stacks of blocks as one fun game. But you can crawl over almost any obstacle, so they carry you to me and away from their creations. 

 I call you "Teeko Tyky Tyler" or "Tyler T" still.
You love this flat red spinning top.

 You do eat table scraps. 

You pull up on anything and have spilled lots of cups of water and left over plates of food (Isaac). 

You went under water for the first time the day before you turned 9 months old! 

You dance on your knees by bouncing bouncing bouncing and smiling. You do it sitting some too. 

You can open cabinets and doors, but not all the way yet. You run into yourself and repeat the motion. 

You sound like an owl or scary ghost when you're making happy noises. 

You cut a tooth and it's the cutest thing! Yes we brush it:) 

 You like balls too, I want that to be your first word.
We started doing sign language with you, we'll see if any sticks.

Isn't it amazing how you used to fit in Great Grandma Rebeck's dump truck? I had to stuff you in it here. And I like the number 9 on your sleeve.) 

I like you, my little baby buddy, and I love you lots too!

Love, Mommy

6 kids, the preview for summer

Sometimes I look at my 6 kids and want to remember the moment forever, so I take a picture. And sometimes it's so sad/messy/chaotic that I take a picture b/c I hope I'll be able to smile later. 

Homework time. 

After their morning naps, the babies share lunch. Ivy is a picky eater. She can sort foods in her mouth even when coated with other foods. Out pop the polished peas or meat from her chicken and stars soup, for example. And when she's done eating, she'll still open her mouth to take the bite, then will spit the food right back out; all of it. Sometimes it'll just slowly drop down to her bib, but other times she puts some force behind it and it's on me. Gross. Tyler, on the other hand, will purse his lips together and/or will swat me away with his arms and hands. Messy. He'll hold out for the good stuff, like finger foods. I still only feed Tyler about once/day (and nurse the rest.) 

 They can both climb up the couches. (And the stairs, and we need 2 more baby gates, plus at least one for my mom's house.)

 Ivy likes to pet her own hair when she's drinking a bottle, she feels her hair between her fingers, not usually using her thumb. Sometimes she likes to pet Tyler's hair too, his is a softer texture. Other times, she climbs on him and/or pushes him down. He'll climb over her and they both put their hands in the other's faces at times. For the most part, they play well together and are aware of the other and like the company.

 The big kids are getting good at making barricades.

 Neither baby likes to stand alone, but they both like to pull up and walk around things.

 I don't really go outside much b/c the babies crawl all over and put random things in their mouths. I'd like to be in the sun. I'd like to clean the pool, and I get to run only a couple of times/week in the evenings. (I don't like treadmill running and don't like poeple to watch me run, and think it'll wake people up if I do it when they're sleeping. I need something to train for or someone to train with. The good news is that I'm only 4lbs away from my pre-Tyler weight. I guess it really does take 9 months to loose it. (If I ran nightly, I'd be there already, Tyler is almost 9 months old.) My mom said she gained from 20-50 lbs, and after each of her 5 pregnancies, it didn't matter how much or little she gained, it always took the full 9 months.

 Tyler wears "baby legs" a lot, or pants since he's a master crawler. Sometimes he crawls with just his knees and his feet don't touch while in motion. So I put socks on him or pull his baby legs down for him. He still sometimes lets his feet hover behind him.

 Tyler usually likes it when his brothers pick him up from behind in the Heimlich hold to drag him away from danger. He laughs and lifts his legs in the bow legged pike position. Here's a picture of when he's really wanting to play with the big kids' creations though. (And a reminder that it's time to shampoo the carpets again, they're due about once/month.)

 Thank goodness my brother is home from BYU and hasn't started work or left for his mission yet. I put that kid to work. I hope he doesn't feel like I'm taking too much advantage of him. I want a nanny. For another set of hands, then maybe I'd get some sleep. (no, probably not, but maybe the house would be a little cleaner.) Tyler is pulling up on his swing behind Jonathan, I wonder where Isaac is. He's not a fan of big groups like this. His feelings get hurt. He's more of an independant sort of kid.

 Here's a good example of the "before" play room. I LOVE that everything is organized now. I was going nuts with starting to clean one room while there were crazy messes everywhere else happening live, right then!

 See, Tyler's under the chair, licking the cookie cutters that were recently used for play dough. This was Isaac's way of putting the things away.

 Here's a baby gate. It's probably saved their lives because it has prevented them from climbing up those stairs then falling down to the tile.
 I open the door to come in from checking the mail and it's like I have 2 puppies on all fours waiting to nip at my heels, chew my shoes or squeeaky toys, bring me my newspaper (or random trash) in their drooly mouths.

 This was Cuatro de Mayo, because our Cinco day was booked with other festivities.

 Ivy's crazy! But she's so sweet. She will sit still and drink her bottle, or 2/3rds of it, then will cry for a minute in the pack 'n play and will sleep for 2-3 hours. Perfect. But when she wakes up. She's loud! I mean really loud. She has lots of teeth already, and has squishy big Darren thighs like her older siblings and Isaac had. She likes to kick one leg when she's being held, kick kick kick kick. Tyler waves an arm.

 I do love that I get to be home with these cutie sillies so much, but am also so thankful that I have gettaway jobs that I enjoy and a husband who lets me sleep in and does so many chores for us so that I can handle the blessing of not paying for day care. I love that I don't have Tyler on a schedule and I can nurse him in the middle of whatever we're doing. He's such a little baby still, like a ball-up-in-a-rocking-chair sort of sweet little baby.

Saturday. Sheesh!

On Saturday mornings, we don't sleep in. We go to soccer. 

First, Isaac and Noah play. 

 Tyler is tired but there's too much to see so he rarely naps.

 My mom came because the older boys spent the night with her, and she misses being a soccer mom.

 Then Dylan, Malia, and Olivia play. Dylan played goalie then said he was cold. Not a good work out. Then the 2nd half when his coach was going to put him back in goal, he asked if he could switch and she benched him. The poor coach could use some coaching (and gets lots from the dads and grandpa/papaw).

 Malia got kicked in the chin, not hard, but not fun.

On the ride back to the car, Tyler fell asleep. 

Sometimes we call him "Tyler T." 

 We came home to drop off Steven and my mom so Steven could nap and we went to a birthday party for Savannah and Micah who were turning 2 and for DJ who loved his first birthday party.

 There was a bounce house and pool. It's a good thing I went, because, as is becoming a horrible tradition, I saved DJ's nephew. (Yes, his older sister's baby who's actually a little older than him.) I walked onto the pool deck and saw the baby vertical under the water sorta splashing his finger tips above his head. That's so scarry! My phone was already out of my pocket because I anticipated jumping in, but this baby was only like 5" from the edge. I don't know how long he had been under and didn't even know who the baby was. At one point, I scanned the bottom of the pool since I didn't see Dylan. He was wearing his new white rash guard and was sitting on the deep end ladder and blended in. There HAS to be a designated kid watcher when there's water so I stood scanning until the boys were done. I wish there was a local charity that taught free swim lessons and water safety lessons.

 Anyway, there were lots of families there, fun themed foods and decorations, and even a bounce house. The birthday babies were happy the whole time then DJ fell asleep in his pretty mama's arms.

 We went home to the clean play room. I offered my brother $20 to take the kids form me after Tae Kwon Do the evening before. I said he could take them to Ya Ya's or McDonald's or pocket the $ and go to mom's, then to call me when he had other things to do. Instead, my mom called and said she'd keep them over night, so Steven and I had date night w/ Tyler and the soon-to-be-other-Fegers (Andre and Barbie.) Then, I cleaned the play room. It was a WRECK before. The kids have too many toys, but they really do play with them. Well there are some that don't get played with much, so I gave some away and hid the marble race track b/c the marbles scare me. I organized the closet and have a home for everything. There's even an empty tall basket and empty shelf.

 Then, since Steven was rested, he took the kids to Chuck E Cheese's to use up the tokens from Raphael's birthday party. Tyler and I napped, but not for long since Tyler doesn't seem to need to nap as long as I do.

 Tyler said "Ball" twice, so we're claiming. He's not a vocal baby, but we do think he said it.
Then he started blowing kisses! So cute!!

Then I gave Tyler a bath and took him to Abercrombie Park for some 9 month pictures. I have 2 full paid photo shoots this week, so I'm anticipating not having time to blog or do Tyler's photos. 

Here's one comparison. I was planning on having him stand and push the truck at his 9 month photos b/c he can stand when holding onto something, but the truck is too small! He would have to stoop over. So I stuffed him in it. Look how tiny he was!!! 

After getting the kids in bed, I got ready and met some friends out at Push for Jana's birthday. I don't think I had been since Steven's 30th birthday party.

Thanks for inviting me Jolyn! 

The rooftop reminded me of our Miami days and going to Club Space 'til the sunrise.

Then I went to bed. The end of a long Saturday:)

Easter Sunday

On Easter morning, we woke up early to get dressed up and to take our picture in front of our door. I had the tripod ready, but the boys took a little longer to get ready so we were still late to church. I don't even know how that happened. But isn't our doorway beautiful!! 

 I went to a bunch of stores looking for a perfect Easter dress for myself. My mom used to make my sister and me dresses that we couldn't wear until Easter Sunday. I don't have girls, nor do I sew much, but I did get the boys Easter suits, shirts, shoes, and ties. If only I had tucked in Isaac's shirt and buttoned his jacket. Oh well. Back to me, I was discouraged because I did not like the dresses even though I told myself it was okay to splurge. Even with no budget limits, I could not find a dress or a skirt and shirt (nursing accessible) either. Oh well.

Like the year before, Steven made the dinner. I didn't help with anything except at least this year my mom and Don were back in town for dinner. Now that they're empty nesters, they go visit other parts of our family. I picked them up from the air port and dinner was ready! Ham, salad, and grilled corn and sweet potatoes. We actually had another side in the fridge we forgot about so we ate it with the left overs the next day. I think it was potato salad.

After the kids almost had enough of wrestling their granddad, I drove my parents to Grandma's to take her some dinner then home. I like how holidays have traditions and family. And we could talk about the real meaning of Easter at church and with our families.

happy mother's day to me!

I was planning on going to a friend and her daughter's baptisms this morning. But then again, I guess I didn't REALLY plan that well, b/c I didn't wake up 'til 8:35 and it was at 9am, and my hair was still wet from my nightly 2am shower. Good news: the smoke alarm went off once I was downstairs and it wasn't MY cooking this time!  Steven followed a video tutorial on how to make French Toast - his first time! It was delicious.  And I'm glad the smoke alarm went off - because now he knows that it just does it, not really for a good reason.  We just don't have a vent in the kitchen. The breakfast spread was beautiful. He had cut 2 kinds of mango and had sliced strawberries on a large serving plate and had the french toast warming in the oven. We even had orange juice with extra pulp and whipped cream! I missed the baptisms, but we were early to church and I got to hug my friend and give her a little "I Am A Child Of God" board book for her family. (She has a baby who's going to be 1 soon.)

Don helped in the nursery. The kids loved him.

I had a hall bulletin board sorta decorated enough for the Mother's and Father's day months.

Dylan and Isaac gave me cards they had made in their Primary classes. Then we went home. It looked a bit like Father's day b/c Steven got to take a nap with our boys cuddling with him. Steven and I always want to be the ones with a kid to cuddle by us. "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" was on.

 I need to cut and highlight my hair. Sometimes I try different things w/ it since it's so long.

Then we went to Grandma's for linner, or is it lupper.  It's at 3pm and I was full from the egg salad sandwiches Steven had made us. The pork tenderloin was yummy. And Steven purchased a fun colorful "Strawberry and Peach Sensation" Publix cake for desert.

We finished the afternoon "google plussing" (video conference calling) Martin, Hollie, and Kat. I love that I get to live close to these moms.

 I did take a picture of the 25 yr incremental 4 generations. (We each had the baby to our right when we were 25 yrs old.) It stops with Dylan b/c he's a boy, and b/c he's only 6 years old!

 I feel so so so blessed and hope they rub off on me a bit.

And now I'm blogging while Steven's giving the kids a bath and doing laundry. (I'm all caught up on editing and ordering client orders too for once! I scheduled a break b/c I was doing wedding projects for Andre and Barbie and wanted to relax today. I'll be over busy soon and have had to say no too many times lately - that's really hard.) Anyway, happy Mother's Day to me! (Look at Tyler's eye lashes, chubby limbs, and falling cheeks. Steven said the flash could wake him up. I'd be okay with that:)

K, we just watched Avatar (we had DVR'd it). I have thoughts but will organize them perhaps when I'm not tired. And Steven's doing the dishes!! Wow, what a Mother's Day gift!

I'll take some pictures of my boys' Mother's Day cards tomorrow. g'night!