How can I not post this?

It would be wrong to NOT post this. Today Tylo finally learned to pose for the camera! For a while now she's been smiling on cue, if you can call her one eye wink, tilted head, showing all her teeth face a smile, but once the camera comes out she just wants to grab at it and push the buttons. Which means we hardly ever take pictures or videos of her an more. Today I tried again and, big surprise, she actually stood still and smiled!





Here's that award-winning smile:





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Awaiting baby #2

That's right - I'm pregnant! 15 weeks to be exact. That means I'm just big enough to look like I put on weight but no one can tell why. And, unlike the first round, my belly didn't nicely pop out into an obvious baby bump. It just kinda turned flabbier, protruded more, and looks more jelly-like. Oh, how fun.

Things are looking up. The worst of the nausea seems to be over, which was way better than last time any way, thanks to some great medication prescribed by my new doctor. (The awful side effects are a different story.) I'm still exhausted all the time but a lot less than before. I actually get up to play with Tylo now, instead of letting her watch endless hours of tv while I sleep on the couch. I'm in no way back to supermom, but there's an inkling of hope that will come back one day.

And Tylo - my how she's grown! The little terror is now 21 months old. She is all over the place with her crooked walk that looks like she's going to fall any second. She's still incredibly cautious, but must be less so because it seems she's falling more than normal. Which also means a lot more tears and boo-boos than I'm used to. A few times a day I'm consoling her. Mostly because she tried to run, falls flat on her face. Or tries to climb into her chair and loses her balance.

Tylo has an incredible, fun, loving personality. She loves to semi-run toward me for a hug with arms outstretched, mouth open, smiling eyes. She picks up objects and pretends they're microphones. She imitates my silly songs, and holds her arms to her sides like a chicken and twists when she dances. She loves pretty shirts but refuses to wear hair clips in her hair (won't let me wear them either). She also has become quite attached to her current pair of shoes and cries when I try other pairs on her. What is up with that?

Sadly, her shyness has taken a turn for the worse. Whereas before she would just stare wearily at strangers, making sure they didn't come too close, now she completely shuts down, freezes her little body, and hide her face against mommy. Or turn away and try her best not to look. If they did come too close, she would burst into tears. Makes it really difficult to be social or to even think about leaving her at a daycare to make new friends while mommy gets some rest. Funny, strangers don't seem to bother her until they are paying attention to her. When we're at the mall she will get within 2 feet of other people walking around.

And the girl knows SOOO much. Things I've taught her maybe once a week ago she actually remembers. Sure, there are lots of times you can't tell what she's saying, but SHE knows. Try to correct her, and it's just the same odd sound you heard before. "Thank you" will forever be "doo-doo". "Milk" will remain "muck".

Tylo's favorite word of the moment? "Stuck". She can apply it to anything. Can't pull the toy out of the box? "Stuck". Can't reach something mommy intentionally put on a high shelf and out of reach? "Stuck". Tired of sitting in her high chair? "Stuck".

Waiting for baby #2 and being completely unprepared is interesting. We are currently looking again for our new and permanent home, hopefully before I'm due in August. I find out if it's a boy or girl April 12th. If you know me, you know I HATE HATE HATE being pregnant. So needless to say, I'm rooting for a boy so I never have to be pregnant ever again. Though it sure would be fun for Tylo to have a little sister. I have no idea yet if I'm going to get a double stroller, turn in the RX for a momvan, or how I'm going to manage two little ones at the same time. Right now I'm too busy making sure I get my rest and not neglect Tylo completely.

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18 months . . . and counting

Happy Holidays!

Peppermint bark, singing snoopy, tap-dancing snowmen, candy cane mylar balloons that Tylo can wrestle with. These are some of my favorite things this season. My husband and I have gone through at least 3 batches of homemade peppermint bark already this month. I'm just glad I'm not paying $20 a box at Williams-Sonoma for it.

After finally (kinda) cleaning out the unpacked boxes in our two spare bedrooms, we came across an old memory chip that contained never before seen videos and pictures of Tylo from early 2009. AMAZING how much a baby can change. Seeing her all baby-faced and chubby almost makes me yearn for those days where she couldn't yet move around and was perfectly content to just lay there and stare at my face. Now she is all over the place, crawling on me, reaching for whatever I have in my hand, pulling at my hair, asking asking for more more more (one of the six or so words she now knows).

Here's a pic we just found. The accompanying video of her with shirt on head is so adorable I must have watched it 10 times since finding it.

Here is a current list of words that I've determined Tylo can say and truly understands the meaning of:

More

Eat

What's That?

Yes

No

Owl

Tylo still isn't an expert walker yet, and we are concerned (her pediatrician recommends seeing a neurologist at this point), but hopefully she will be running around here in no time.

Happy Holidays everyone!

(our would-be holiday card pic if only Tylo looked)

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Geez Mom, what happened???

Sigh.

Tylo will one day read this blog (if she cares) and wonder why I stopped posting. "Did I get uninteresting?" she will wonder. "Did you stop caring?"

Of course not, honey. Mommy just got, well busy. You always wanted to play with me. I stopped staying up until 3 in the morning so I wouldn't sleep on the couch at 8 in the morning while you watched your 3rd episode of Wonder Pets. I wanted to be a good mom.

I realize though that I would have liked to know what the first three years of my life were like, because those are the ones we can't remember. I would like to know what my mom's life was like, brand new to the country, dirt poor, watching three kids under the age of 3.

So I vow to keep this going, no matter how sporadiacly, until Tylo is old enough to have her own memories. I have to keep this one short and somewhat bulleted, because I have lots to do.

With that said, let's see what has been going on with us lately.

We are moving! We found a 4 bed/2 bath house to rent in Foster City, and I am sooo excited. Space, space and more space!!! Storage room! A garage! Tylo gets her own room! An open floor plan that allows me to fence Tylo in the living area while I cook/clean/do laundry in the kitchen! A backyard! The park just 4 houses down! (Can you tell how excited I am?)

Packing has been a long slow process because 1) we have a lot of sh*t (and I must call it that because it really is just that - there is no better name for it); 2) Tylo still needs to eat, go out and get fresh air, nap (which means I can't make too much noise). I can't exactly live off of take-out for the next few weeks because I still need to cook healthy, well-balanced meals for her; 3) Tylo doesn't like it when she can't see me in the room so packing with her in it is out of the question because she likes to climb in boxes and being away from her isn't an option either.

Tylo still isn't walking. When she started standing on her own at about 11 months, everyone predicted it would just be a matter of weeks before she was toddling around. Well, at 14 months she refuses to even practice walking. Oh well.

And really exciting - I won a dinner for two at Morton's! How cool is that? Don't you wish you had the time to read blogs and enter contests? This is perfect because HP and I just celebrated the 7 year anniversary of the day we met.

http://www.foodgal.com/2009/08/food-gal-contest-winner-of-the-mortons-steakhouse-dinner-plus-a-new-dinner-prize-up-for-grabs/#more-4926

And here's a pic of Tylo - with just enough hair to throw a clip in.

Whew - wrote this post in under 10 minutes. Back to work!

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Such sweet pillow talk

Tylo is 13 months now, just learned to stand on her own a week ago, and wants to have conversations now more than ever. Used to be that she would just repeat what I said, maybe point and say a few words on her own. Now she likes to babble back to me when I ask her questions. Yesterday she started saying "yah" whenever I ask her a question. What's cuter than a conversation that goes like this?

Me: So what do you want to do today, Tylo? Want to go to the park?

Tylo: YAH

Me: Ok, let's get ready. Can we go change your diaper?

Tylo: YAH

Me: Oh no, you stinky girl. Did you poo-poo? (She really didn't, I'm just randomly asking questions at this point.)

Tylo: YAH

Me: Are you a poo-poo monster?

Tylo: YAH

Me: Forget it, let's just stay home and take nap. Want to take a nap?

Tylo: YAH

Good thing she doesn't know the word no, huh?

We finally had a chance to take Tylo for her first swim recently. I can't think of much cuter than a baby girl in a bathing suit.

She was really scared at first, and did not want to go in.

She loved it in the end because her daddy glided her back and forth through the water.

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Tylo turns one!

I feel a little like I climbed a mountain (I know, how would I know what climbing a mountain feels like?). My daughter turned 1 last week. It flew by fast and all that (the last few months did anyway) but it was hard. And somehow, she's still alive, breathing, and very happy. I managed to get through the first year without forgetting her at the mall, dropping her on the floor, or leaving her in the bathtub. We even learned long ago how to avoid leaky diapers. I practically forgot all the struggles of the early months and conquered the 12 month mark with flying colors. I'm a pro at packing for our day trips, I know exactly what snacks or what drinks at what moments will avoid melt-downs. I know which shopping center has acceptable changing areas and when to just change her in the backseat of the car. My daughter only got a hint of diaper rash once in the entire 12 months, and that ended within a day. She eats almost anything I put in front of her (too much, if you ask me) and sleeps through the night most nights. Yup, I'm a bonafide pro at this point. Which isn't to say by next week I'll once again be the amateur mother of the 12 1/2 month old.

Before I had Tylo I never understood why parents have these obscenely lavish parties for their 1 year olds that are so obviously oblivious to everything going on around them. Usually they're even afraid of all the unfamiliar faces. But I get it now. The first few months are so hard, especially if it is your first, that having your child survive to age one is truly an accomplishment. It means we parents managed to not screw up royally. After we first brought Tylo home from the hospital, HP kept saying over and over how amazing it is that the hospital actually let us take her home (HP and I have no baby experience whatsoever). Um, hello? Did I not carry her for 9 months, barf every day, several times a day for 8 months, and push her out of MY you-know-what? How could they stop us from taking her home? But I got what he was saying. We had no clue what to do with a baby. Luckily, it really wasn't that hard to figure out what needed to be done and when. Doing it without going crazy is a whole other story . . .

So even though we didn't have a huge bash for Tylo's first birthday (just grandparents, siblings, and cousins), I really wanted to make it special for her. I prepped for the entire week.

Thursday was spent making my first decorated sugar cookies ever. I was so disappointed when they got all fat and ambiguous after baking. I mean, do these look like ducks to you?

Luckily it came together after the frosting was put on. It was time-consuming, but surprisingly easy to paint on the frosting. Before you knew it, I had (both skinny and fat) ducks! I found a heart cutter hidden in my cabinets and played with those too.

Friday was set aside for making the cake and cupcakes. It was so important for me to make my daughter's first cake. I wanted to make a cake that Tylo could actually eat too, and I'm not ready to give her chocolate. So we did a doctored yellow cake and I simply bought frosting to make it easier. It really wasn't smart to buy whipped frosting. Easier to spread, sure, but none of the frosting decorations held their shape. Once out of the fridge it was only a matter of time before it started dripping. It took me weeks to come up with a design that I could easily do that was still appealing to a one year old. I wanted to add flowers and such, but the frosting was not cutting it. Not sure she cared how it looked, but she LOVED eating it.

I've never seen the girl eat so seriously.

Leave me alone Mommy, I'm busy here!

Here's a pic of her playing with her older cousins:

And Tylo, refusing to wear her new hat.

The best (and only) family picture we could get. With all the excitement going on, Tylo did not want to stay seated for pictures.





I couldn't have asked for a better birthday for her. She really did enjoy herself. Hopefully next year we can invite little friends for her too!

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Better find a house before the baby comes . . .

So yesterday I was at Bed Bath & Beyond chatting with the lady at the check-out, telling her we were trying to find a house. She says, "oh yeah - you want to find a house before the baby comes".

I said "I already have a baby - she's almost one!".

The lady proceeds to look at my mid-section and changes the subject because she realized she just called me pregnant.

Damn, I knew the babydoll shirt I was wearing would make me look pregnant, but I didn't have much else clean that didn't need ironing.

You would think that would scare me into getting my butt in shape, but nope, not really.

I deserve it. Almost one year later and I am the same weight I was two weeks after giving birth. Lost five, gained it all back. Sigh.

Once I was in the kitchen with four of HP's friends' wives and I said, "Oh, I'm the only one here not pregnant!"

One of the girls said, "I'm not pregnant."

Duh - I just passed her one-month old baby in the hallway. But she did look 6 months pregnant, to be perfectly honest. But that's also totally allowed. What's not allowed is looking 6 months pregnant one year later.

At least the lady thought I was pregnant and not just fat!

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