Happy 1st Birthday Tyler!

My baby boy is the big numero uno today!
This was Tyler one year ago today.


This morning I made Tyler a birthday breakfast. He had scrambled egg yolks, a blueberry muffin and a banana...yummo! Tyler didn't really know what to think of the candle...so daddy helped him blow it out.
(Warning: if you put a wax candle in a very hot muffin straight out of the oven, the candle will melt inside the muffin....just fyi.)

Then we had some play time with his new birthday present. I saw this toy at a friends house and had to get it for Tyler. I'm not sure who has more fun playing with it, me or Tyler! You push a button, music comes on, and balls fly out the top of the toy. What is more fun that that?




Aunt Mande and Uncle Ty are on their way over and we can't wait! This is going to be a fun-filled weekend full of family, friends, and a birthday party at Rudy's. You better believe more pictures will be coming soon....so stay tuned!

The Day Before Tyler Was Born!

January 30th, 2007.....I was enjoying my last day as a pregnant woman.


1 year ago today....this was my boy.....only a tiny little (ok huge) baby bump!


You may be wondering, "Why are you making such a big deal about this?" Well the way I see it....you only have your first year with your first child, ONCE! It will never come around again.

One year ago today I was still imagining what it would be like to be an actual "mom". I was thinking about how hard it was going to be put someone else (besides my husband) before myself. I was terrified that I wouldn't know what to do with a child. I was scared to be put in charge of another life and thought I was incapable of doing such a thing. Well, I worried for nothing! Isn't it amazing how God totally equips you for every new stage in your life?! Isn't it incredible that the phrase you hear so many times, "You'll just know!", is so true! As soon as they hand you that precious baby for the first time, all your "mommy" instincts start coming out. And even better, all the "daddy" instincts come out slowly but surely in your husband too.

I feel so blessed knowing that God is NEVER going to leave me or forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5) He will NEVER throw me into a new challenge without equipping me first! (2 Timothy 3:16) He will NEVER make me do it on my own (Isaiah 41:10) and He will NEVER give me anything I can't handle (Philippians 4:6-7; 4:13). Not because I am strong or not because I am tough enough, (because we know that can't be the case) but because HE gives me what I need to handle everything that's coming my way. HE equips me! I truly believe this and my heart aches for the people who haven't come to this realization yet. I mean seriously, how the heck can anyone be a parent, without knowing that GOD is right there with them every second of the day?!

Praise God for all he has done in my life...the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. It has made me the woman, the friend, the wife, the sister, the daughter and the MOM I am today!

Exodus 15:2 "The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him."

1 Year Ago Today!

It goes by way too fast!

Contendors Ready? Gladiators Ready?

Have you been watching American Gladiators lately? I used to love this show when I was younger, and now it is back....how fun!
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then check out this website to get an idea.
http://www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators/index.shtml
I really want to be on American Gladiator but Lamar said I am too scrawny...(I will kick his you know what later for saying that)....so I decided that Tyler will be on it instead. We have started his training schedule and he is progressing very nicley. Here he is working on the cargo net. This will come in handy for the Final "Eliminator" challenge.



Here Tyler is practicing for "Hang Tough". He LOVES to hang! We literally have to pry his fingers off to get him to let go. I have no doubt that he could hang for the full 60 seconds and beat the Gladiator!




Here Tyler is training for "The Wall". Rock walls are no challenge for my boy...he sets his eye on the prize and climbs his way to the top.




Okay, so I'm not sure what event the slide will help him conquer, but he sure has fun practicing. Maybe it will just help him be the cutest and happiest contendor on the show. I think so!

Tyler Sing-Along!

Tyler is learning new things every day. It amazes me to no end how much he has learned just in the past couple of weeks. For example...he has started saying a few words. He says "dada", "dodt" for dog, "nana" for banana and some wierd sound "aa ch" that we couldn't figure out...UNTIL TODAY!

We have this amazing book called "ABC Sing-Along" that we love to sing from every day! It has a cute song for every letter of the alphabet with popular kids song tunes. I always start from the beginning but I don't always get to the end, because Tyler gets distracted. Here are the words and tune for the letter "A":

(To the tune of "Down by the Station")
A is for Alice,
who met an alligator,
swishing down the alleyway
on Apple Avenue.
"Shoo!" said Alice.
"I'm allergic to all gators:
Ah-choo! Ah-choo!
Off she flew.

Well we were singing it today and figured out very quickly what Tyler's new word was. We actually got it on video....check it out!

Happy New Year!

Our wonderful friends, Jared and Jill, came in town to spend New Years with us. How fun is that! We decided to spend the day downtown, eating lunch and just hanging out. We went to Jo's Cafe, an amazing eating establishment, to have a good meal with a fun atmosphere. Let me tell you...it did not let us down. Just FYI: Not only do they have amazing burgers, but for those of you who like tortilla soup and grilled cheese, this is the place to go!
We decided to walk around and check out the happenings downtown, and to our surprise, First Night was going on. This is apparently an Austin tradition that we were unaware of. It is a family event full of programs (music, dancing, juggling, etc.), crafts for the kids (kite making, web making, hat making, drawing on walls with chalk, etc.), yummy food, and all sorts of fun things to do while walking around and seeing the sights. Tyler really enjoyed all the music. He has been dancing for a while now, but just recently he has learned how to raise one arm up in the air, bounce up and down, and nod his head. It is really cute and he gets lots of attention for it, therefore, making him do it even more.

And it made for a nice (and cheesey) family photo opportunity. Smile for the camera!

While we were walking across the bridge over Lady Bird Lake we saw a huge jack rabbit. People were sitting on it and taking pictures, so naturally, I wanted to join in. Somehow, I managed to talk Lamar into hopping up there with me and Tyler to take some pictures. Then we notice the news cameras right in our faces. They also, were taking pictures of our sweet little family on this huge animal. Once we got off the jack rabbit, they asked if they could interview us. Oh boy....you know what happened next....yep....we made huge fools of ourselves. This is a little run down of how it went.....

News lady: "So, how did you guys find out about First Night? Is this something you do every year?
Lamar: "Actually, we just came down town for lunch and well....here we are."
News lady: "Well are you all enjoying yourselves?"
Lamar: "Ya."
Tyler: "fuss fuss waaa"
Lamar: "See, he loves it."
News lady: "So what do you think about Austin having this fun family event?"
Jill: "We love it. It's fun, safe and, ya know, it's fun." (Intelligent I know)

This all being followed by Jared and Jill C. laughing hysterically at us for being such blubbering idiots. It's amazing how dumb you can be when you get a camera in your face.
Luckily for us, they did not put our wonderful conversation on the news. (I wonder why?) But they did put our cute family on the news getting our picture taken. Here is one of the pictures that we took.


Thanks to Lamar's mom, we got to have an entire evening out with friends, and no baby. Now don't get me wrong, I love my little booger, but it is nice to have an adult evening for a change. We started the night with a tasty dinner at Z-Tejas. They have incredible food, and even better margaritas!



After dinner and drinks, we went down town to MoMo's for some good music. We got to listen to some band first and then Band of Heathens. They were so good. I had never heard them before and I'm not usually a big concert person, but I was very impressed!

Jill and I had the most fun finding cute hats and noise makers.

Lamar and I really enjoyed our night out. We listened to good music, hung out with friends and we even got to slow dance together.


What a wonderful evening! Thanks Grambee for babysitting. We owe you!

A sick Christmas with Grambee.

These are my FINAL Christmas posts and pics....I promise!
Tyler was little under the weather when we got home from East Texas. He must have gotten a little cold or just bad allergies, either way, he was not feeling well when we got back. You can tell he is sick because of the bright red cheeks in all the pictures. But never fear...Grambee was here. She cuddled with him and took good care of our little boy. She even got up with him EARLY in the morning and let us sleep in. (She also babysat for us New Year's Eve! But I will post some pics of that later.) We love when Grambee comes to visit.
Grambee brought some great presents for Tyler. She brought him his first table and chairs (which he uses as a drum set and a cave).



A cool new beanie.

And some great books. ("Go Dogs Go" by Dr. Seuss was Lamars favorite when he was a little boy...and now it's becoming one of Tyler's favorites too. He has even learned how to say Dog. Ok, so it sounds a little more like "dodt". But when he sees a dog, he says it none the less.)


Opening presents was exhausting for our sick boy, so he hung out on Grambee's lap and took a few cat naps. He doesn't usually sit still in our laps for very long, so we ALL ate this precious time up!

Haircut for the Mullet Man.

Tyler's hair was getting quite long, but mostly over his ears and in the back...therefore...he looked like he had a mullet. Not a pretty sight on my (usually) cute little boy. So we went to visit Mrs. Charlotte at Chelle Salon for a little hair cut. This was very special because Chelle Salon is where my mom used to work. Charlotte cut my hair for years after my mom passed away and she became like a second mom to me when I lived with her and her wonderful family. Thanks so much Charlotte! Love ya!

Question: How many people does it take to cut an 11 month olds hair?


Answer: 5....one to hold the 11 month old still, one to feed him gold fish to keep him from grabbing the scissors, one to make faces and shake keys to keep him entertained, one to actually do the cutting, and one to take pictures! Thanks everyone for the help!




My favorite picture of all.....Tyler showing off his "new do" with his Uncle Ty!

Random Christmas pictures.

These are more of my favorite pictures from the Christmas holiday that I just had to share with you.
Lots of love from mommy and daddy.....he smashed my nose.....just a little!

Bathtime in the BIG tub at Mawmaw and Pawpaws house was so much fun.

Now that Tyler has teeth, Jill Carter stressed the importance of brushing them every day. We use bathtime as teeth brushing time too.

The Italian Christmas!

We spent the evening of Christmas Day and the next two days with the Italian side of my family, my moms side. We really had a blast but it was CRAZY! Let me give you a quick run-down.....
Almost everyone was there: Aunt Jennie, Uncle Karny, and their dogs Nicky, Mikey, two more dogs, their 3 horses, chickens and roosters, my cousin Jeff and Lydia and their dog Fritz, my cousin Karrie, Calvin, their three kiddos, Moira, Matthew and Maxwell and their dog Sadie, my cousin Jocelyn, Memaw and Pepaw, Mande and Ty and Lamar, me, Tyler and our dog Simon. Needless to say....there was never a dull moment! It was really great to see my family again and enjoy some Italian festivities.
Christmas dinner was AMAZING! Tyler got to eat his first Italian meal, (which he loved), all homemade by my incredible family. My cousin Karrie made homemade manicotti (cheese and spinach), Memaw and Mande made two homemade lasagnas and my Aunt Jennie made 12 pounds of meatballs. I am not kidding...12 freakin' pounds. I forgot to mention that we ate all this AFTER the relish tray, chips and dip, crackers and spinach artichoke dip, ham rolls, pigs in a blanket, much much more and any dessert you could ever want! We Italians sure know how to eat.
Then we had a really fun Chinese gift exchange. We set a limit of $50 a gift, so everything you had to choose from was awesome. Here is a little picture of Lamar and Tyler, waiting for their turn to pick a gift. So exciting!

While we were preparing food, Lamar and Tyler were playing with Aunt Jennie's food scale.

Tyler got a TON of clothes for Christmas. One of our favorite things was a Mavs jersey. He's a true baller.

It was really neat to see Tyler with his second cousins, Moira, Matthew and the newest addition, Maxwell. Mo and Matthew loved playing with Tyler, helping me feed Tyler and sitting and watching movies with me and Lamar. It was very sweet to watch. I'm not sure if Tyler recognized that Max was a baby like he is, if if he just wanted to pull on his clothes. But it was cute either way.


Lamar and I had so much fun with Mande and Ty. We do alot of laughing when the 4 of us get together! I love when Tyler gets to spend time with his Aunt Mande and Uncle Ty too. They have so much fun and Tyler gets a lot of attention. What else could he possibly need?

I think sometimes he got confused as to who was mommy and who was Aunt Mande.

Tyler loves his Memaw and Pepaw. We got to go to their house for breakfast one morning and spend some quality time with them. We laughed harder than we did the whole week there. They are so funny and quick witted. We didn't have a high chair for Tyler, so Memaw put him in her wicker chair and strapped him in with one of Pepaws belts. It worked wonderfully! He enjoyed his pancakes, ham and egg yolks right along with the rest of us.