Standing Up

Last week, Tyler decided to let go of whatever it was he was holding on to. Now he can stand. (It looks like he's playing air guitar. That's awesome.)



He usually only stands for about 5 seconds, but I've seen him do it for about 15 seconds. He also took 2 steps on Wednesday! Walking is just around the corner.

Scroggy got a balloon for his birthday, and Tyler was obsessed. He was saying "boe-woe" all day. Does that count as his second word?





Tyler is still getting into everything and I think starting to realize when he's doing something wrong. He will actually run (crawl) away from us when we're attemping to take something away from him. His new favorite activity is pulling all the baskets down from the cubbies in his changing table, and pulling out whatever is inside.



I've also found lots of things in his hamper recently. Diapers, toys, pacifiers, remote controls, digital cameras, etc.




I drove down to my grandma's house with Tyler on Tuesday night. My parents and my aunt and uncle were there. We had a great time. Tyler finally recognized his grandparents and he LOVES them. He smiles so big and laughs every time he sees them. It's the sweetest thing.








We headed back to Tallahassee on Thursday morning for Tyler's first Thanksgiving. We all went over to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner and it was delicious! Quite a few family members were in town so we had a great time. Tyler actually took a nap at their house too...He's such a good sleeper! We tried to feed him Thanksgiving dinner but he wasn't having it.




Here is a picture of the young mommies. Me (and Tyler), my cousin's wife Jenny (and Gracie), and my cousin Colleen (and baby in belly). We were just missing Jenn Meyers!



My best girlfriends from college were all in town for the FSU/UF game (By the way, what a great game! Finally, a win after a six year losing streak!), so on Friday night I got to spend some time with them. On Sunday, Christy and Vicky came over to meet Ty before they left town.




I miss them!

So, now that Thanksgiving is over, we should get ready for Christmas. We just got out the Christmas jammies, but we have lots more decorating and preparing to do.



But before I can think of that, Tyler's birthday is on Friday! We are having a few family members over for a party on Saturday. Tyler is only a baby for 4 more days! Unbelieveable.

One Year

I don't think anyone will be surprised by the thing I'm most thankful for this Thanksgiving. Here's a hint: This was me last Thanksgiving.



Do I look miserable? It was 3 days before my due date, and one week before the most amazing experience of my entire life: The day I would meet my son and be forever changed.



Has it really been a year since Matt and I sat in our apartment for hours with no electricity, timing my contractions with my cell phone? Since we made the silent drive to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, feeling anxious about what waited for us there? Since I looked up at my husband thinking, "This is it. It's happening. Nothing will ever be the same." as my nurse told us it was time to push? Since I saw my baby and heard him cry for the first time? Since I stared into his sweet face, realizing that he looked like me, as I held him for the first time? It was so incredible.

So much has happened this past year, yet it has flown by. I've always found it strange that reality never feels quite real. Every single day I look at my son and I am blown away by the reality that he's here, he exists, and he's ours. This year has been the most significant and most challenging year of my life so far. What a serious honor and responsibility it is to be a mother; It's hardest thing I've ever done, but I certainly wouldn't change it. It moves me to tears when I reflect on this past year and on how much I love that little boy. Tyler is amazing. He's smart, adorable, strong-willed, clumsy, independent, wreckless, silly, curious, hilarious and has the most beautiful blue eyes and the sweetest smile that I have ever seen. Not to mention, his laugh is the most amazing sound I've ever heard. Matt has always told me that he'd do anything to make me laugh; I now understand this because I would do anything to hear my sweet baby boy's laughter. I'm so glad Tyler is exactly who he is.

"For what it's worth, it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."
--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Daylight Savings Time

I have been dreading the time change for weeks. "Falling back" used to be a favorite "holiday" of mine because it meant getting an extra hour of sleep. Not this year, my friends. Tyler usually wakes up around 6am, so on Sunday we was up at 5am. Taking Matt's advice, I made sure he took naps at his usual times. Tyler was back on schedule by Tuesday! We were hoping it would only take a week, so I was very pleased.

Tyler does the sweetest thing with his dad. Matt makes a clicking sound with his tongue, and then Tyler does it too. So sweet. He's starting to mimic us. The other day he yelled, "ball!", so I whispered, "ball", and he whispered it back.

I think Tyler might be standing soon. The past few days he has started to balance better and he will stand on his own for up to 5 seconds (Exciting, right?).

Ty dances now when he hears music!

This little bug loves to read! I love hearing him talking in his room, peeking in, and seeing him pointing at things in books.





The boy is a genious, I tell you.

Matt cut Ty's hair the other day for the first time. He took just a little bit off the back and from behind the ears. The hair was really bothering Matt...I can't imagine why he didn't want his kid sporting a mullet! Tyler handled it much better than we expected, although there was a little bit of crying involved.






Tyler tried spaghetti last night. He really liked it, although half of it ended up on the floor. I had to bathe him immediately following dinner. He was such a mess, but it was fun!








We are enjoying the cooler weather very much. I loved a bundled up baby boy!












After our day at the North Florida Fair (Matt won a stuffed bear for him. It was soon discarded after we realized it had glitter all over it.):




What a great day! Tyler loved the petting zoo, but he doesn't know how to be gentile with animals yet. The one goat he actually got to pet did not appreciate it very much.

Halloween

It's hard to believe that Tyler's first Halloween has come and gone. We had a great October filled with pumpkin patches, costumes and a much needed family reunion.

The family reunion was held at two houses on St. George Island. All the Carmichaels gathered for the Running for the Bay marathon in Apalachicola. We stayed for three nights and had such a great time with family. Matt wasn't able to come because he got strep throat and had to stay home to recover, so that was very disappointing. Tyler was getting his sixth tooth that week so he was quite cranky for much of the weekend. In the days leading up to the reunion, he had a fever for about three days (his first fever ever). One day his fever reached 101.5. He didn't really have any symptoms other than drooling and crying so I figured it was probably teething, but that didn't stop me from worrying and calling my pediatric nurse practitioner cousin, Lindsay, about 5 times a day. She's the best! Anyway, the tooth has come through and Tyler is doing much better.

Tyler LOVED the beach (He didn't like the water at all):




With his second cousin, Owen (My cousin, Andy's son). It was so cute seeing them together. Tyler would chase him around and laugh at him:



On the balcony with cousin, Kaitrin:


With Grandma:


On the balcony with Grandpa:


And for Halloween, our little dinosaur:


For Halloween, we went to a party with people from church. There were so many people and kids were running everywhere. They looked so cute in their costumes. Matt was able to get off of work early and come over for the last bit of dinner. Then we all went Trick or Treating, which was really fun. Tyler enjoyed being outside, watching everybody run around in costume, and sitting on his dad's shoulders. Next year, we might venture up to some doorsteps.

Playing with his friend, Harper:


We wanted to get a group shot of the kids before Trick or Treating. So, I ran across the front of the group right before the cameras started flashing and dropped Tyler down. He immediately began crawling away from the group. Then he looked up and laughed at everyone. Then he just sat there for a minute looking around:




In the wagon with his friend, Daniel:


Tyler loves his dad:



A few things:

I'm going to be an aunt to twin girls!
Tyler now has 4 teeth on the bottom and 2 on the top.
Ty is obsessed with balls. He says "ball" constantly, he plays ball all the time, and he reads books about balls. The other day he was in his room repeating "ball" for about 20 minutes so I peeked in and he was reading an Elmo book called "Balls!" If he's looking at a picture and sees that there is a ball somewhere in it, he will point it out and excitedly proclaim "ball!".
He's still getting into everything...Emptying out trash cans, throwing toys in the toilet, taking all the books off of the shelves, pulling all the DVD's out of the TV stand, etc. Every night I straighten up the apartment and he destroys the place within about 10 minutes of waking up.
We're getting family pictures soon. We meant to take them the other night at Maclay Gardens, but we got rained out. We will hopefully reschedule in a week or so.
Tyler is 11 months old!