While in AZ

The pictures speak for themselves...  We visited everyone.  Our family.  My friends.  And a partridge in a pear tree :)  But really, it was great to see everyone and have them meet little Tyson.  He was the star of course.

The vacation wasn't really relaxing but we made memories and Tyson slept well at night and got a few naps in here and there - and that's all that really mattered to me in the end.  We already had 2 Christmases way before 12/25 too.  Yay for AZ and nice weather and family.  Come visit us next time!

Arizona Roadtrip before Christmas

December 13 we packed up what felt like our whole house (yes we are the stereotypical new parents) and drove to Arizona to spend a week with my family.

12 hour drive each way.  And we did do it in 12 with the stops even!

Most would say we were nuts,
or at least wasting time when we could have flown in an hour.

3 gas and feed stops, one extra food stop, and a huge diaper blowout later,
we made it.
Not to mention the stop for prune juice for the little one too...
And with all that we still absolutely LOVED the drive!

Tyson did great sleeping and chatting on and off.  And maybe driving??  Ha nope.

D & I actually had time to talk, without school or work in the way.
Sometimes the best part of vacations are getting there.

Not to say we didn't love seeing all my family and showing Tyson off...
cuz that's all we did.  And he's a cutie that everyone just loved :)

In case you were curious about the top picture above, yes you did see a new family member, kinda.  Meet Bones.  He and Ty were travel buddies on the way home.

Tyson: 4 months

Tyson turned 4 months on 12/9/13.  Oh how we love him.  This past month has been fun for us all, here's what we've been up to:

• Not liking tummy time really except in the mornings.  Ty usually just holds his head up the whole time without letting his head touch the floor, exhausting even if I were to do that!
• We celebrated Tyson's first Thanksgiving and first Benihana trip.  And tried and got a nap at the Clark's home on Thanksgiving, sweet.
• The BIGGEST thing this month is that we figured out the day & night sleeping!!  Wow, that was work, and sad just a bit as we let him "cry it out".  A few days into the start of the 4th month Tyson got it down and the crying went down as he learned to fall asleep on his own.  He and I figured out the nap routine.  Before he was not sleeping during the day - I'd rock him till he slept, or left him to cry for awhile, or drove around... no sleeping.  He got really over tired after a few weeks and we got down a routine and didn't vary from it for a few weeks till he figured it out.  Now he takes two good naps, about 10-11 and between 2-4, varying in length a bit on each one.  It really was just trial and error.  I'd try putting him down soon after he woke up and it was too early, or I'd wait longer and it'd be too late etc.  But then I logged it all and noticed patterns and BAM, we just got it finally.  I hated the crying and missed the happy boy, so I'm glad to have him back.
• Our nap routine goes like this: we wrap Ty up in a blanket, read, sing, rock and drop him off.  During the reading (and singing with Mom) Tyson loves to chat or sing right along with us.  He gets excited when we pull the Moo Baa La La La book out especially.
• He's lifting his bum up when we change his diaper now, getting control of those hip muscles I guess.
• We can get some BIG full laughs from him if Dad or Mom are silly or sometimes a tickle here or there, but mostly it's whatever sounds or facial expressions we make that he laughs at.  Sometimes it's a fake laugh, but the real hard laugh is just the cutest.
• Grunting a TON.  We don't know what it is.  Worried us a bit at one point, but my opinion is it's easier than talking, and he usually does it right before he gets fussy/crying.  It has started to let off a bit now that we don't grunt back too :)
• By the end of this month Tyson is sleeping about 10 hours straight at night.  Sweet!  Then getting up for a feed and back down for a little cat nap sometimes.
• 4 month shots!  They were rougher for the parents I think, but who knows.  Ty didn't get a fever or too fussy this time so that was great.
• There's lots of grabbing toys, blankets and clothes these days now.  He's really getting his hands down and sucking on them too tons.  And lots of slobbering.
• Tyson is also becoming a social eater, meaning that instead of eating if there's something more entertaining he stops to check it out.  Sometimes he'll even play with me - looking up while he doesn't eat, until we look at each other and he smiles and then jumps back into eating.  It's so cute, hard not to look at him and give him that attention.  But there's a lot of "eat your food" that comes from me and Dad, trying to get him to focus, haha yeah right.
• His smile is just so contagious, the only issue is that he really doesn't smile for a camera anymore.  Mostly he just stares at it like he wants to see it or just ignores it.  Sad!  Hope he grows out of that one soon.

And of course... here are some pictures.  Starting with the beginning of this month till his 4 month mark at the bottom.

Family Christmas Card 2013

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!  Love, David, Andrea & Tyson

Dear Family & Friends,

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!  We hope all is well with you and your family during this season.  We’ve had many changes and blessings this year and we wanted to share them with you.  What have we been up to in 2013?  Here’s our countdown, The 12 Days of Christmas style:

12 months of adventure

11 dissections by David in Anatomy class, yikes!

10 loads of laundry a week now

9 months surviving pregnancy

8 hundred successful diaper changes (out of 812)

7 aches and pains before baby and lots more after

6 years at her HR job for Andrea but just quit to be home

5 finals taken at David’s first year at the U of U dental school’s inaugural year

4 sleepless months from studying or feeding and lots of lost hair

3 men and a pregnant lady moved our home to Murray

2 new parents

And a little baby boy, Tyson, joined our family in August!

(To keep up with us even more, catch us on our family blog at http://crazyandie.blogspot.com)

 

With lots of love and well wishes,

David, Andrea & Tyson

Thanksgiving Pics

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving Day 2013...

We did the tour of the families.  Jan's at 12:30, Clark's at 2.  After 2 meals we busted at the seems.  It was the first time we tried to give Tyson a "nap" at the Clarks (which he did eventually after crying for awhile) and everyone thought we were mean since we put his pack and play in a dark closet, but oh it's good for him and he needed the rest ;).  He also met his cousin Sierra for the first time as well, cute!

The day after we went to Benihana as traditional, but it was Tyson's first time!  He was mesmerized by the chef but mostly was just quiet and fun to have with us as well all added more to our full thanksgiving belly's.

Here are some pictures with Tyson and his Aunts, Uncles and grandparents who adore him.