October

October was such a fun month! Warning: This post contains LOTS of pictures.

Our weekend in St. George Island with the Carmichael family was wonderful. We used to all fit into one house (with the cousins all sleeping on the living room floor), and now because of our growing family we need FOUR houses. Tyler absolutely LOVED the beach. Every day, he would just run up and down the beach. He would explore, look at fish, chase birds, run with his second cousins and grandparents, play in the sand and look for shells. Even when he was utterly exhausted, he would just stumble around on the beach until I took him in for his nap. He had such a great time with my cousins, my parents, his second cousins, my cousins and everyone else. I've never seen him have more fun in his life.




We arrived on Friday afternoon and went almost directly to the beach. Tyler and Owen were having so much fun chasing birds.


These tide pools were perfect for little ones.




Tyler wouldn't let go of this toy doggie for the entire afternoon. The first thing he said when he woke up the next morning was, "Woof Woof?"






Thanks, Aunt Cheryl, for the nets!


He fell face first into the tide pool and had to strip down to his diaper. He didn't seem to mind even though it was chilly.








All the kids were so interested in the fish bait. Tyler picked one up and when it wiggled, he jumped and dropped it.




The kids on the treasure hunt set up by Uncle Tom and Aunt Marti.




















Uncle Max showing Rocky to Tyler. It was hilarious. Tyler still talks about Rocky and how he "ate nummies" and drank "water". Today, he picked up his raccoon/Daniel Boone hat and said, "Rocky?"


All the Great Grandkids dressed up in their Halloween costumes. Jack: Peter Pan. Gracie: Tinkerbell. Tyler: Yoda. Owen: Ninja. Benny: Cow.


Typical. All the kids are sitting still for pictures and our little monster is fighting to get away.


My little Yoda.




Yoda with his proud, Star Wars-loving dad.


Cousins Kaitrin, Lee, Lauren, Clay, Lindsay and Danny: Half Marathon runners in Running for the Bay in Apalachicola.


Cousin Colleen


Adams', Laubs and Scroggins'


Cousin Sarah and me. Our due dates are two days apart! Thank you so much, everyone, for the baby shower.










Sister Joy and her husband, Chris



In October, we also attended the Fall Festival at my church with cousin Colleen, her little boy, Benny, and Aunt Cheryl. Tyler loved it! He got to pet animals, play in a bounce house, go on a hayride, ride a pony and eat a few candy corns.


Waiting for "Coco", "baby" and "Cha" to arrive before we left for the festival.


He loved riding the pony and couldn't stop laughing.


Benny rode a pony too!


Petting zoo


This was the best picture we could get of us on the hayride.





Matt and I took Ty to the pumpkin patch a few days before Halloween. It was a disaster. He whined the entire time and after about 10 minutes he started throwing pumpkins into other people's wagons.






He found this noodle thing and then it was hard to get a picture of him without it.








The result of the first pumpkin being thrown into someone's wagon.




Carving a pumpkin with dad.


Tyler loved watching Matt carve the pumpkin, but then when we lit up the final product, he got scared and ran away.

Halloween was so much fun. Matt and I had such a great time watching Tyler go Trick-or-Treating. Before we left, Tyler was eating his dinner and Matt walked in with a mask on. Tyler got really nervous and said, "No..." It's so strange that kids just know to be afraid of certain things. Matt took it off and put it up on the mantle above the fireplace. When Tyler was done with dinner, he hid behind his high chair and pointed at the mask across the room. I had to completely remove it from sight. Once we started Trick-or-Treating, he seemed to know exactly what to do. He didn't fuss very much with his costume at all and he loved going up and collecting candy in his "bucket". At one house, there was a skeleton that startled him and I've never seen him jump so high and back up so fast. He kept saying, "No, no no!" Poor little guy. It was SO cute to see him Trick-or-Treat. He was absolutely adorable. We couldn't convince him to say "Thank you" so people, so we told him to give them a "high five thank you". It was so cute seeing him give everyone a high five after he got his candy.



















When Tyler would get back in his stroller between houses, we would give him an M&M. So, he would just run back down the driveways to get in his stroller and say, "More M.M.?"


All done for the night! Notice the chocolate on his face.


My sweet boys

What a great month. Holidays are so much fun with Tyler. Looking forward to the next few months. It will be quite a whirlwind. First we have Matt's parents (Nana and Papa) in town for Thanksgiving, then it's Tyler's second birthday, then my girlfriends are coming to visit, then Christmas will be here, then New Year's, and then Cora will be here! Yikes.

Pregnancy Update: I will be 29 weeks tomorrow. Honestly, I'm not enjoying it very much at all. I keep catching colds and my body is so sore. I can't believe I have 2.5 more months to go! I can't imagine how huge I'm going to be...I'm scared!

Thank you, Aunt Linda, for taking some of the great pictures from the beach!

Sleepy Boy

This has never happened before!



This was minutes after Matt tried explaining to Tyler why we don't hit people (or dogs), and Tyler smiled and put his fingers in his ears so he wouldn't have to listen. It must be exhausting being a silly little monster!

Pregnancy Update: My due date is in exactly three months!

Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde

Remember the last time I posted when I said how sweet and obedient Tyler has been? Well, Dr. Jeckyll has become Mr. Hyde in a matter of days. He has been quite the handfull lately: Our days are full of tantrums, hitting, and whining. Jeckyll is still there, giving the occasional kiss, being sweet and silly, and making us laugh. I wish Hyde would just go away already! Maybe the Terrible Two's are upon us?

Other than that, some new things I can think of:

-His word for raisins is "Abababa". We're really not sure how he came up with this one, but he definitely means "raisins" when he says it.
-When I came out of my room the other day, he got excited and said "Mommy! Baby! Mommy! Baby!" I still don't think he has any idea what it means that mommy is having a baby, but maybe he's getting closer to understanding.
-We are going to be with lots of family this weekend, and the other day Ty kept repeating, "Gigi? Lin Lin? Coco? Baby?" (FYI: That's my grandma Evelyn, my cousin Lindsay, my cousin Colleen, and Colleen's son Benny.) Today I asked who he was going to see this weekend and he listed all of them, plus "Cha" and "Uh Mie"(My Aunt Cheryl and my Uncle Mike).
-Matt's parents recently sent us a picture of them with their dog, Mikey. I put it on Tyler's dresser so he could get more familiar with their picture before they arrive in November. He has only said "Nana" once or twice...He still really struggles with that one. But, every time he sees the picture he says, "Papa!" and "Woof-Woof!"

I can't wait to see him with everyone this weekend as we gather at the beach for our annual Carmichael family reunion. Good luck to all those running for the bay in the Applalachicola Marathon! I will not be running, or even walking, this year. Maybe next time I will attempt the 5K.

We are also planning to go to my church's Fall Festival this week with "Cha", "Coco" and "Baby". So, I plan on having lots of pictures to post soon.

Here are a few pictures from Aubrey's and Daniel's 3rd Birthday party...Tyler had a great time:


Tyler eating his trailmix, ready to go on the hike.


My happy boy as we start off on our hike. He was very excited at first and we were up near the front of the crowd. Soon, we were last and I had to carry him almost the entire way!


This snake was found on the trail. Tyler loved it! When we let it go free, Ty kept saying, "Bye-Bye, Snake!"


The Wolfe and Dasher Families

Catching Up

I realize that it has been over a month since I've blogged. The past month hasn't been super eventful, but with the holidays approaching, there will be lots to talk about and lots of pictures to take.

Tyler has been doing so many new and adorable things. It's impossible to list all of them, but the ones that stand out are:

-He LOVES giving kisses now. He is constantly giving kisses to me, Matt, my belly, Buster, his footballs, his books, etc. When we put him to bed, he'll say, "Bubba kisses? More Bubba kisses?" He loves kissing Buster goodnight.
-He immitates so many things that we say (yikes).
-We were on the porch recently and Matt was hammering in some loose nails. So now Tyler loves being out there with his plastic hammer (The way he says "hammer" is the so cute), hammering in nails and smashing acorns.
-He calls his baths, "Bubble Bada".
-He tries to jump a lot and thinks it's so fun, although he can't get both feet off of the ground at the same time yet.
-He absolutely loves playing at the indoor playground at the mall. While we're there, he totally stands out as the happiest child as he's jumping, laughing, smiling, spinning, and yelling "Weeee!" every time he goes down the slide.
-Tyler looked in the recycling bin yesterday and saw a few beer cans and said, "Daddy nummies!"
-He finally calls Elmo by name: "Melmo".
-He's beginning to obey us sometimes. He responds to Matt's discipline more often than mine, but more and more he even obeys me when I tell him not to do something. This is definitely sporadic but I'm seeing progress.
-He loves bugs. Matt recently bought 2 long nets, so they go on bug adventures together and come back with "bees" to show me (He calls all bugs "bees", including lizards, which I realize are not bugs.):





Tyler just amazes us every day. He really is so smart, happy, silly, funny, fun-loving, and sweet. He has such a wild and vibrant personality and I hope he never loses that spirit.

Last week, my mom had a long weekend off of work and she came up to Tallahassee to spend the weekend with us and help me get Cora's room painted and set up. On Friday, she and Matt started to paint the room with the pink I had picked out. After a few minutes I decided it was too bright, so my mom drove to Home Depot to pick out a lighter color. On her way home she was in a terrible car accident just down the street from our house. It was extremely traumatic, but I'm just so thankful that she survived and doesn't have any serious injuries. When I realized what had happened (after I heard Buster going crazy and saw Matt running down the street), I grabbed Tyler and ran down the street. When Tyler saw his Grandma (covered in paint) and the car, he kept pointing and saying, "uh oh" and he had a very concerned and nervous look on his face. Now, whenever I mention the word "grandma", he says "uh oh!" I guarantee when he sees her in three weeks he will say "uh oh".

So, my dad drove up on Friday morning and I got to spend the weekend with both of my parents. Tyler had the best time with them and didn't stop laughing and playing for except to nap and pass out at night. It was so sweet. Also, my dad and I got the nursery painted!


I love this picture!




I'm definitely arching my back in this picture; My belly doesn't really go that far out yet, but let's face it...I'm huge.


My boys

Ty found a lizard at the playground:










So grown up!








So curious


I just noticed that he kind of looks like a vampire in this picture. I'm not sure why he looks like he has fangs.







The shadows in these next two pictures annoy me, but I love them anyway...My sweet boys together, plus Tyler's face makes me laugh out loud. Of course, his Grandpa is making him laugh:







24 Weeks Pregnant:

Baby Girl

Today, I reached the halfway mark in my pregnancy. We went in to have an ultrasound this morning and we found out that we are having a girl!

For years, Matt and I have loved the name Cora, but we have always argued over the spelling; I liked Cora and he liked Kora. Finally one day, I told him that we needed to just flip a coin because neither of us were ever going to give in. Bad idea...He won the coin toss. Ever since then, I've been trying to accept the "K" and occasionally try to convince him to use the "C", but I could never get him to budge. I had to make my peace with it. Today after our ultrasound, we got into the car and Matt handed me a card. On the front of the card was a little girl. On the inside he had written a note that congratulated me on our little girl and then went on to say: "As a token of my love, I give you a letter - The letter "C". You can use it however you would like." I couldn't help it...The tears started immediately. It was such a selfless, special gift and such an amazing moment that I will never forget. I love him!

We decided on Hutton as a middle name for two reasons:

1. One of my big sisters, who I very sadly was never able to meet, was given the name Julia Hutton.
2. Evelyn Carmichael's - The matriarch of the amazing Carmichael family and my maternal grandmother - maiden name is Hutton.

Cora Hutton will be joining our family in four and a half months.