Thankful

Everyone made their "thankful" list this month, so I wanted to join in.  When I was little we actually said our list around the table during the Thanksgiving meal, but that hasn't happened in awhile.  I always have things to be thankful for, but this year especially has brought us MUCH joy.

1) My David.  Seriously couldn't have found better, and so spoiled to have him as the best husband and father to Tyson.  It still feels like a dream sometimes to have him as my best friend.

2) My Tyson.  The cutest kiddo ever.  He brightens our day so much.  Last year we were just finding out we were pregnant at this time.  The best news ever.  And now he's here, in our home, and going to grow up with us.  I love him and so glad to be his mom.

3) My family - small and large - mine and the in-laws.   My parents have always been so supportive, and my siblings too.  And then now to be part of a large Clark clan - different as it was at first - I'm so happy to have them and see how they love and care for us too.  And now having Tyson has seemed to make family just that much more important and grateful for them.

4) The gospel/eternal plan.  I'm so glad there is a bigger picture than us just living and dying and that's it.  There's a way to be a family forever, to be forgiven from mistakes, and to be with God again with full joy.  It sounds great, and I'm grateful to know this truth and know the way to get there.

5) Friends who are there through it all.  Those near and far, it is just a comfort to pick up where we left off and not be judged but just be me.  I need friends and so glad for them, you know who you are!

6) Where we live.  Honestly we love our new home, the good people we are meeting, and all the space we have.  And it may sound silly, but David mentioned it this week and I agree - we love our bed.  Now, don't judge!  We don't get enough sleep, but when we do, we have the memory foam top that just makes it like heaven :)

7) Good weather.  Silly as it seems, the sun out, and not too cold or hot = perfect.  Makes me happy.

8) Music.  It also makes me happy.

9) Chocolate, specifically Take 5 candy bars.  Just ate one right now.  They are SOO good.  I'm not exaggerating, buy one if you haven't tried them!

10) Lastly for now, my and my families health and safety.  I don't do well sick, and also feel sorry when others are sick.  And I also worry about safety a lot, so I am very grateful that we are all home and in bed safely each night.

And with that, I should head to bed here myself soon.  Thanksgiving is over, on to Christmas, but lots of work to do before that.  Until next time.  Goodnight.

And of course, needed to throw in a picture of at least one of my thankfuls...

Tyson: 3 Months

As of November 9, 2013 Ty reached the 3 month mark!  Getting bigger and fun to watch all that he's learning and exploring!  Here's what he's been up to since the 2 month mark:

• Tyson was blessed by Dad on 10/13 and had all of his grandparents in attendance, how lucky
• Oct 13 Ty started wanting to lift his body up to sitting, if we'd hold his arms.  He could have wanted to do this earlier, but we didn't think to really help him do this till Nana was doing while she was visiting.  By end of October he's wanting to be pulled up all the time.
• At his 2 month appointment (11/15) Tyson weighed 9lbs, 11 oz; 15 1/2 cm head; 23 1/2 inches long
• And also shots!  After Ty had a fever for 2 days and it really messed up his night sleeping
• Tyson slept 9 hours straight on October 17
• Tyson's coos have turned into real talking back and forth, as of October 18 he loves when we imitate him and then we each take turns making noises
• Drooling like crazy!
• First pumpkin patch, Halloween, school carnival
• Loves candlelights or pumpkins lit up
• Coped with Mom starting to work from home part-time as of 10/14 - doing pretty well to entertain himself sometimes or nap during phone calls and such
• Loves to hear us talk nonsense with lots of inflections
• Changing diapers have become difficult with straightening of legs
• First time taking a bottle (formula) successfully was November 3rd
• Also watched first snowfall on 11/3
• Mastered how to hold his head up!! Took almost till 3 months to get this
• Talking up a storm now not just to us but to swing balls, when in the car, and even away from home if others are talking
• He's working on his HANDS - putting them in his mouth and sucking, putting his blankets in his mouth and starting to try and move hands towards toys and want them in his mouth
• Dad and Tyson play a lot!
• Dad throws the spit up rag on Tyson's face and he jumps/sucks in air as a surprise and then smiles when we pull it off
• Dad and him play a noise game - Dad breathes in and won't exhale till Tyson makes a sound :)
• Both of them howl a ton back and forth
• We think he likes the color ORANGE, likes to watch it if someone is wearing it or if it's the lights on the house outside
• Has started sometimes playing with his ear while eating
• Eats about 8x a day, sleeps 6-7 hour stretch at night
• And of course.... sleeping - Tyson wasn't getting much day naps in, and we were trying to put him down every 1-2 hours to get him in the routine but he wasn't sleeping even with LOTS of rocking anymore.  I started to let him "cry it out" once a day for his morning naps around Oct 21.  This really didn't solve it.  By November 7 we started a full sleep routine - for day and night - and let him cry it out each night.  He cried through every nap except one.  (But don't worry, soon after 11/9 he got this whole nap thing down!)  It was a difficult sleeping month and we lost a little of the happy boy we knew

Below are pictures from 2 months to 3 months at the end.

 oh the shots! Ty is sad, he must have known it was coming :(

And here are some from 11/9/13 (3 month mark)

October Events

General Conference
I remember six months ago we were watching conference, me with a belly growing, thinking it was our last with just us.  Well, it happened, we have a little one watching with us - or would you say distracting us :)  It was definitely a different 2 days, but really a good weekend.  David took off of studying from Friday to Sunday so it was a mini fall break I guess.  We loved it - ran errands Friday then just relaxed and were spiritually fed Saturday and Sunday.  Only stinky part was that Tyson and I were getting a cold so we weren't the most pleasant to be around (David already had it earlier).  These were the only days we let Tyson watch TV extra long, usually its just for a couple minutes a day or something.  Great talks and I feel spiritually ready to take on another six months, I tried to pay special attention to the talks for parents since I'm always needing inspiration now as it's all just a new adventure.

Family park trip
One Sunday we took a trip to Murray park before we hit the true fall weather.  It was nice to get out all three of us, and just walk around and take a few pictures here and there.  Tyson is so quiet when he gets outside and likes to just check everything out, especially trees if we walk by them.  I'm a little afraid of winter with a baby, but we will stay inside mostly right?  So, good to be outside while we still can.

Pumpkin Patch
First pumpkin patch with Tyson!  Man, we had no idea all it takes to have an infant at a patch, we are in for a lot of eye openings like this one I'm sure!  We usually walk around scouring for the best pumpkin face, but this time we were passing Ty back and forth between us two, he didn't sleep so was tired and a little fussy, so I just grabbed whatever pumpkin didn't look moldy.  And then we brought juice for the Clark clan after and just running back and forth with one hold him, or grabbing the 2 cameras we had, pumpkins, sanitizer, blankets, etc.  Crazy, I'd have a stroller but it was way muddy so that didn't happen either.  But I guess that will help us on other outings right?  All you experienced parents would have laughed or are laughing now at my lack of really knowing how to handle events with a baby.  Always impressed with parents, but each day, I get more and more impressed with those of you with several kids - how do you do it?!

 All these not so happy faces, poor guy wasn't too happy

Pumpkin Carving
Again, we don't have a real napping boy yet, so during one of his cat naps we started cleaning our pumpkins and then at a later break each of us carved ours separately.  We did this Sunday so we had lots of time with David.  When we finally lit them, we had Tyson check them out and he was mesmerized at the glow - he seems to love orange and candles, so this was perfect.

Halloween
First real holiday for Tyson, so fun, D & I love this one!  We had a busy day and night!  David was stuck at school from 8-6, so Ty and I hung out and headed to my work party from 11-4.  We dressed up together to match my team of Circus people, and I was an Organ Grinder and Ty was my monkey.  He was asleep when we got there so I was harder to figure out, but once he was awake it was great.  Well, here again, being at work, for a party and also getting a little work done - exhausting with a baby!  I fed him 2x, walked around with him to get him to sleep for 20 min, then just passed him around a bit and such too.  I got home and was physically worn out!  But our team won the costume contest, and I happened to win a raffle prize too so it was worth it.  Just was way exhausted and sore from all that carrying.

That night D got home and we headed to the Clark's for the normal party, but we didn't go out with the kids this time.  Instead we showed off Tyson's second outfit, which matched Dad - Angry Birds.  Tyson was the perfect little guy, after eating, and he showed off his chatterbox skills and head holding skills too.  We were so excited he wanted to show all he's been up to.  We rushed home to get him to bed a little late, but not bad.  And have eaten LOTS of candy this week - gotta stop that one soon!