Weeks in Review

It's been a while. We've been busy. I've been tired. By the time I'm ready to write a post I'm asleep on the couch by 9pm. Gotta write fast tonight because I'll be sleeping in 10 minutes :)

I've been debating what to write about PSU. What do I want to tell our kids on here (since ultimately this is for them). Our kids aren't old enough to even know what's happening, but in time I'm sure it will come up and we'll talk to them about it then. We pray to God for the victims and their families that were affected by this lame excuse for a man. This is by no means what PSU is all about. We continue to sport our Blue and White, remembering that one mans actions doesn't make up this wonderful place.

Now, on to happier things...

Now that it's getting dark earlier, we are totally missing our outside time after work. So, we still go outside, but we're armed with flashlights and we go "hunting". Tyler hunts in the bushes for rabbits and frogs (and lions, cheetahs and bears)! He usually finds all of the above :)




We had our first real play date last weekend with some of Tyler's friends from school. We got a call from Kavi's Mom asking if we wanted to meet up at this great cafe that's a playhouse too. So we met up with Kavi, Shane and their Moms and had a fun morning. Can't wait to do it again!


When we got home from our play date, Erica, Nichole and the kids came to visit. I love when we get to hang out. We made two trips to the park, the girls played in the basement, little guys played upstairs, we got in some great chit chatting and we had a really fun day. Owen and Tyler were wild together. They practiced their shooting on the counter tops, danced and jumped off coffee tables, and when it got dark they all went hunting for rabbits and frogs.







We also went big boy bed shopping this past weekend. We plan on moving Tyler's bedroom stuff in to the baby's room and giving Tyler the double bed from our spare room (soon to be baby room). We're going to let him pick out what he wants to decorate his room with and our guess is it'll be Toy Story and Spiderman stuff (and ski stuff)! Uncle Ryan got Tyler another cool ski poster this time signed by Cody Townsend, he's a professional skier. Thanks Ry! He also got one for the little bean! We went shopping for bed frames at Ikea...we think he found one he likes!



Grammy and Sydney came to stay with us for 2 nights this week because Dave and I took a CPR class on Tuesday night. They got to join us yesterday at school for Thanksgiving lunch. No pictures from that b/c our child wouldn't sit down to eat :) We also fit in some swimming at the Y, pizza night and a trip to the pet store. Dave said Tyler was crying on his way home from school today when he found out Sydney wasn't here anymore :( They'll be back next week for Thanksgiving!


And, remember the smooth transition to the new blankie. Well, it actually ended up not being so smooth. He's older and smarter this time around when it came to the switcheroo. He went to bed and slept thru the night just fine, but he wouldn't suck on the new blankie so it resulted in some really early mornings around here. After several mornings of waking up at 5am or even before that (and figuring out it wasn't the time change causing the crazy wake up time), we decided that it's not worth it and gave back the old one. Might be a parenting fail for us, but we're back to sleeping until 7-7:30 on the weekends and life is good for all of us :) We'll be waking up at crazy times soon enough with the next little bean. So I just did some extra scrubbing of the smelly blankie and for all I care he can take it to college with him if it makes him happy. After all, I'm 31 and my Mom gave me my blankie back about a year ago. Yep, you bet I'll save his blankies so I can give it to him 30 years from now too :)

Tyler has also been introduced to matchbox cars. Our neighborhood has lots of kids in it. Every once in a while, we get a knock on the door and the neighbor kids are handing down some of their toys to Tyler. So sweet of them (I'm sure their parents are more than happy to clear things out) and this time we got a bin of cars! Jackpot!


We also got a new maid. He's pretty good except he's using our mop as a bat/sword and when he's not doing that he's riding it like a horse.

It's all about...

Hiding and helping these days :) One of Tyler's favorite games these days is hide and go seek. We play it inside and outside, he gets his friends next door to join in and he could play for hours! He's getting really creative with his hiding spots and is starting to actually get the hide part. But, last night when he hid this is how we found him. Hysterical...hiding behind Dad's ski helmet!



He's also really in to helping especially when it comes to things in the garage and helping fix Dad's Jeep. He loves to play with tools and Dad and Tyler sometimes escape to the garage and "fix" stuff...this is heaven to him!



Last night we made the old switcheroo to Blankie #3. Blankie #2 was getting super smelly and washing it every other day wasn't helping anymore. Once again, he took to the new blankie easily, but this time he made the comment that it's "fluffy". He's totally right and it's much fluffier than his old one since it's brand new, we just have no idea where he pulls these words from, he cracks us up! This time we were smart about it and ordered 2, so we have the backup handy when it's time to make the next switch!

Dave was gone from Sunday until Friday last week and I never like to write that he's gone until he's actually home. He missed Halloween this year :( Of course I ended up having to go to triage a half hour before he had to leave to get his flight so Aunt Juli came to the rescue - thanks Juli! Halloween night our neighbors got the nice spectacle of the pregnant lady running down the street, chasing her kid while pulling a wagon (I did have help from our neighbors who we were trick or treating with - thank goodness!). Did I mention that Tyler actually runs now...and he's really fast. Full speed ahead is an understatement with this kid!

Here's the bump watch at 23 weeks 2 days, which is today. A few hours after this picture we took yet another trip to triage. I have to document all of our triage trips so this little bean knows all about his path to get here. This is trip #4. Everything turned out to be fine with both of us once again :)

Halloween weekend

The festivities kicked off with a visit from Dave's Aunt Ruth and Uncle Mike. They stayed at our house Thurs. and Friday night and it was so great getting to see them! They live in Texas, so we don't see them very often and it was really nice getting to spend time with them. Tyler was best buds with Uncle Mike and had Aunt Ruth chasing him around the house (a favorite game of his) about an hour after they got here.



Saturday, as I'm sure you all know, we had a nice Halloween snow storm come through. Saturday morning we headed out to get Tyler some new snow gear (didn't plan on needing to do that for another few weeks) and he had his fisrt "real" adventure in the snow. I say "real" because last year most of the time the snow was too high for him to walk in and he didn't really get it yet. This time, he was watching it snow out the back door and when it was time to go out and play he liked it and like eating it too! Some boys from down the street were sleigh riding in the yard next door so Tyler got to join in a snowball fight (that Dad initiated) and got to watch some football in the snow (Dad initiated that game also). We can't wait for Winter to arrive!



The snow threw a little wrench in our plans for this weekend because we had tickets to Sesame Place (courtesy of Uncle Paul - thanks!) and of course it was closed on Saturday. So, on Sunday, after little bean and I's 3rd trip to triage to get checked out for the same issues I've been having we headed off to Sesame Place to enjoy the last day they were open for the season. Side note: Baby is doing just fine and the diagnosis is the same as before with a friable cervix. So, we keep pluggin on and by time this dude arrives they're going to have my name in flashing lights on one of the triage rooms. I like to consider myself VIP there ;) Sesame Place was really cool and our neighbors went along with us. Right when we got there the parade was beginning so we got to see a bunch of Tyler's favorite characters. We went through some mazes, rode the carousel and saw Abby Cadabby's Halloween show where they sang the Transylvania Polka (yes, only in PA do the sesame street characters polka!). It was very cute!




On to Halloween...this year was a bit of a struggle with Tyler's costume. We got Tyler a cookie monster outfit about a month or so ago and by time he actually tried it on, which was a week ago, I realized it was too small for him and that he was not so thrilled about putting a furry blue outfit on. Last year, we could have put anything on him and he wouldn't have cared, but one year later oh how things have changed. So, back the drawing board and a trip to Target later I come home with: Elmo, Superman and Spiderman. I raided the store of all 2T costumes they had left knowing he'll have to agree to one of them. He went for Superman! Now, we're left with the cookie monster outfit because I didn't get to return it on time. Note to our next little bean...you will be cookie monster in about a year or 2 whether you like it or not :) Halloween morning Tyler had his parade at school followed by his school party. He enjoyed the day!




Halloween night, Tyler trick or treated with the neighbors and once he figured out that you get candy by knocking on someone's door this kid was in it full force! We visited about 10 houses and Katherine and Joseph (our neighbors) helped Tyler by showing him the ropes. Every piece of candy he got he wanted opened immediately (and he even offered some people his candy) and he ended up eating candy for dinner last night. I had to ask my neighbor Michelle if she thought he was going to puke from all the candy and she reassured me that it's Halloween and he's a kid! So, I let him be just that...a kid who ate too much chocolate on Halloween, enjoyed himself tons with running to different houses and zonked out when we got home as if he had just ran a marathon! He woke up this morning and asked me for candy ha ha ha...it's now hidden my sweet boy, we will eat it in moderation :)

First time eating candy corn...I think I'm the only person who doesn't like candy corn!

Checking out the candy he got Trick or Treating at school







Here's a quick video of Superman for your enjoyment :)

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Yep, it's that time of year. This morning my car door was frozen shut and window scraping was inevitable. It's the time when one day it's 48 and sunny and the next day they're calling for snow! On Halloween night we never knew if we'd be running around freezing our butts off or running around on a seemingly warm night - gotta love it!

Anniversary on the Farm

Dave and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary last Thursday by going on a field trip with Tyler's class to a local farm. It was a crisp Fall day and we enjoyed a hay ride, some story telling, pumpkin picking and a trip through the corn maze. Tyler's favorite part of the trip was the corn maze (we're suprised he wasn't scared) and he ended up getting lost while we were in it. Dave and I thought the one path had no where for him to go but around in a circle and apparently we were wrong. After a major panic attack from me and Dave running though the maze asking people if they saw "a kid in a Penn State hoodie" we found him running around, smiling and laughing, not missing us one bit! He's not allowed in another corn maze until he's 18!

Friday night, Aunt Amy and Uncle Ryan watched Tyler and Dave and I got to go out to dinner for our anniversary. We had a nice long dinner and enjoyed our time out - thanks Guys! I continued the fun last night by getting to hang out with my friends Karyn and Shannon, who I've been friends with since Kindergarden, and enjoyed a night out with the girls. And today it's Smokin Sunday! Dave and Ben started smokin the meat at 8am along with drinking some bloody Mary's - yummy dinner tonight!





This is Harley, the biggest pig we've ever seen!


Who says that coozies are only for beer. The guys always make sure to take care of Tyler :)

Fall hiking and camping

This past weekend, we went to Rickett’s Glen to do some hiking and get in some last of the season camping before it starts getting super cold. It was also a bday celebration of Fall babies and I think there were 5 of them (counting back 9 months we’re right in the heart of Winter, which I think can explain all of these Fall babies!). We’ve been going to Rickett’s Glen since we were kids and I was really excited to take Tyler and let him run around, but the weather wasn’t the best so we decided to leave him with Grammy and Pop-Pop (and Alex stayed behind with Tyler too). So, Jill, Kevin, Sydney and I went and did a nice 4 mile hike along the water falls (Dave went earlier that morning to do a longer hike with some other friends). It was beautiful, even though it was damp and things were a little soggy from the rain we’ve been having. Sydney was a trooper and hiked pretty much the entire way and we had a great fall afternoon. That evening a bunch of us we camped in some pretty chilly weather (I’m thinking it was high 30’s low 40’s at night) and had a really fun last camp for the season!







On a not-so-fun note, I spent Sunday evening in Triage again for the same issues that I was having a few weeks ago. Everything looked awesome with the baby, but the friable cervix is to blame again. :( We have no clue if this will continue throughout the rest of my pregnancy, but they say pregnancy is the culprit as to why it’s happening (it’s nothing that I’m doing like lifting or over exerting myself, which is hard to avoid anyway with a toddler running around). They’ve reassured me this is “normal” in the pregnancy world and everything is going to be just fine so I just have to go with what they tell me and keep on keeping on :) We’re half way there, I’m feeling great, the little dude is starting to let me know he’s in there with his kicks and jabs and we’re counting down the days until we could see his sweet face! I know it may sound crazy to some, but I really like being pregnant. Here’s a look at the bump at 20 weeks 4 days :)


We were over our friends Shannon and Raf's house the other day and Tyler was totally loving being in the crate with their dog Arthur. Arthur was a very good sport and didn't mind sharing the crate with him. This might come in handy when I need to corral him once the new baby is born...I might have to make a trip to the pet store ;)



Arthur is getting pretty big...I'm not sure if they'll both fit next time we visit!


Shan sent me this picture of when he was a little smaller and for a split second it made me think we totally need a dog! So cute! Then I came back to reality and realized we need to see if we can handle 2 kids first. We might be ready for a dog when they go to college :)