Fort Bragg 2

Here are the pictures of Fort Bragg.

I just love this picture of Eric and Bubba. It was a beautiful sunset.

Momma and Ty. It was getting cold and Ty was getting tired, but he still managed to smile at everyone passing by.

Ty was so content sitting and playing with the rocks and smooth glass.

The glass was really pretty at Glass Beach, especially when it was wet,

Ty loved the open train car where he tried to hang over the side. Thank goodness Daddy was holding on to him.

Fort Bragg

Recently we had a long awaited family vacation. I was ready to pull my eyes out due to our recent move, work, and Eric going through finals. We decided to take a relaxing vacation to Fort Bragg, Ca. It was a place that we had never been before, but we knew there was a beach and that was all we needed. We left the dogs with Eric's parents and spent three days relaxing in this small town. Tyler was such a great little guy. He smiled at everyone he saw and flirted with the girl waitresses. One of the places that we went to was Glass Beach. It was a beach that had all these different colored pieces of glass that had been washed on the shore. The place had at one time been a land fill. Some times you would even find a piece that had a little picture that must have been a piece of china or something. Tyler was so amused. We just left him alone for most of the time and he just played with all the rocks. He did not want to be bothered and sometimes got annoyed at all pictures we were trying to take of him. We just had to make sure his pacifier was in his mouth. If it wasn't, we would find him with a few rocks(6) in his mouth and getting them out was even harder. He has a strong jaw.

We also spent some time at this little beach with cliffs surrounding it. It had this beautiful bridge going from one cliff to another and if you are there during sunset, you had an awesome view. We found out that Tyler is our little fish. He is infatuated with water. We knew he loved to take baths, but he was in heaven when he saw the ocean. He thought it was king of all baths. The water was really cold, but Tyler did not care. He kept trying to run right into it and confronted each wave as it came. When we carried him away from the water he would throw a fit, but his poor little feet were so red and his lips were starting to turn purple. I think we found his favorite place to be.

One of the main reasons that we chose Fort Bragg as our vacation spot was because if the Skunk Train. Eric had ridden this train after he had finished restoring his Studebaker car and went on a two week drive through five states. We wanted Tyler to experience a train ride. It is called the Skunk Train because when it was originally running in the early 1900's, the steam that came out had a foul smell. We had a really great time. We rode in a train car with these really old seats and window that actually slid open. We did not keep them open, though, unless you wanted to risk loosing some fingers if we hit a bump and they came crashing down. Tyler was so excited with the moving scenery and kept trying to stand at the window. There was also a open train car that you could walk out to view the scenery and feel the breeze. We rode through a lot of beautiful trees and by rivers. We stopped at a little camp and ate lunch before we headed back to Fort Bragg. The entire trip was 3.5 hours. Tyler did so well and pooped out on the way back along with some other people on the train.

This was our first real vacation with Tyler and it was probably the most relaxing and best one that we have had so far.

Nap time.

As I was downloading some pictures onto my computer, I came across this funny video that Eric took. We have Tyler on a good bedtime and nap time routine. When he is tired and we take him into the room, he immediately puts his head on our shoulders and knows that it is time to put him down in his bed. Rarely does he fall asleep in our arms. He actually prefers to be in bed. We just lay him in his crib, start his mobile, give him his little doggy blanket, and leave the room. He might attempt to get up or cry a little, but within about 10-15 min, he is asleep. What can I say, Our kid is AWESOME! On a few occasions, we go into his room to check on him and find him in some odd position that makes you think that for adults to sleep like that would make you realize just how old you are getting, but for a little flexible baby it is just another position. Don't fret. He is breathing in this video. I was a little frightened when I saw this video and Eric did reposition him afterwards.

We moved!

After a lot of exhausting work and late nights, we have finally moved. Escrow closed over a week later than we had planned. So we only had 6 days to fix, paint the entire house, and install carpet. Eric worked so hard and stayed up until 3-4am every night. The poor guy just about killed himself. I helped, but could not stay up that late. Tyler spent a lot of time at my brother's house which has to be the best blessing in the world to have family so close by. It was a hectic and at times horrible week, but we endured and now we have a new home that is ours. The next step is to unpack, but we are taking it slow until I have a vacation and Eric is out of school. When I look back on this last month, I am thankful and really blessed for this opportunity to own a home and have all of our wonderful friends and family around us. It makes the pain and trials more bearable and worth it.

The locks are gone.

After complaining for weeks about Tyler's wild hair and how hard it was to manage it, we finally cut off his beautiful locks. He had really pretty curls in the back of his head, but once they started showing up on the sides of his head, it was time to let them go. They were getting too pretty for his boyish look. Tyler did such a great job at the hair salon. He loved to ring the bell at the end of car and he was eating up all the attention we were giving him just to get him to stay still. His hair turned out cute, but mom had to do a little more trimming because the hairstylist made one side longer than the other so the ends curled up and stuck out, but that is all fixed now. In the end, his hair is really cute and he looks like a little stud muffin again.

Here's an example of Tyler's WILD hair!

We went to Cool Cuts 4 Kids. They had this really great set up for kids and put on a movie at each station. Tyler was watching Elmo.

Tah Dah! Look how cute I am !

The cutest laugh.

Tyler's latest thing is laughing when others are not. This started when he was watching our dog, Daisy, eating food and she started to hack and cough. He thought it was the funniest thing and every time she did it, he giggled. Then later when I started to cough, he started laughing again. He must think we are doing it to entertain him, but his laugh is so cute that I just had to share it. Don't pay attention to his dirty mouth or hair that needs to be cut. He is clean most of the time.

Picnic Day

We had a great day today as a family. The UC Davis campus was holding their annual Picnic Day. The day starts off with a huge parade the goes through the campus and the town, then every building or department hosts some kind of demonstration. All the clubs on the campus also put up booths or sell food. The entire campus is just hopping with people having fun. Eric and I always make sure that we attend this day and this year was extra special because we were able to take Tyler with us and he had a blast. He kept waving his hands and screeching with joy at all the people looking at him and so many people just adored him. I am so thankful to have such a happy baby.
Our day consisted of seeing at cows, different breeds of dogs, watching sheep dogs herd sheep, and watching dogs doing Frisbee tricks. There are so many things to see, but it is impossible to see it all in one day so we had to pick what we wanted to see the most. It almost like Disneyland, but with animals and the whole education theme. The best part of the day was when we saw the horse on the treadmill. Eric had a class where he saw this so he was really excited to share this with Ty and I . It was pretty neat and at times intense, especially when the horse was galloping really fast. You just hoped he would not fall, but the horse loves to run and when they slowed down the treadmill, he stomped his feet and snorted because he wanted to go faster. The disappointment for us was when we missed the Dachshund races. This is our favorite event every year because these little weener dogs are so cute, but the campus is so large and we were too slow getting there. I have been getting used to this now that we have a child and everything takes twice as long to accomplish.

Overall, we had a wonderful day and Tyler wore himself out before we reached our car.

Poor Little Ty.

So our Little Tyler has been sick. He had a high fever over the weekend and was a very irritable baby with that little pitiful cry that makes your heart break. Then on Monday, he woke up from his nap with a rash on his head, by the end of that day it was all over his body. I was a little concerned so I sent my mom some pics of it and we got on the internet to determine what kind of a rash. My concern was that it looked a little like Rubella and since he has not been vaccinated for it yet, I wanted to make sure. We came up with the conclusion that it is Roseola, which occurs after having a high fever. By Tuesday, Tyler acted like he was feeling better and it was nice to see the smile and spastic little man that I am used to. The rash is going away now and he is pretty much back to normal except for mom. I now have strep throat. So the sickness in this house continues. Oh, Well.

Now Tyler is feeling much better.

Birthday Do.

So Friday was my birthday. I turned the big 28. Whooo, Hooo! Eric and I celebrated it with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory while Tyler was being babysat by my brother and his family. It was a great day and nice to get out and about without a child. For my birthday, my husband gave me a Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Cake. We have a tradition of getting a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake for our birthday in some little kid's theme. We always get white cake and World Class Chocolate ice cream. The ice cream is really the smoothest ice cream in the WORLD! He also gave me a haircut. He didn't actually cut my hair. He just let me go and get it cut by a professional. I have been whinning about needing one for a month, but we have been so busy. I almost took the scissor to my hair, but all I had were some dull scissors and when I trimmed my bangs, it did not cut so good. This new cut is pretty dramatic. Last time that I had my haircut, it was not as dramatic as I had wanted it. My stylist did a good job, but I wanted my hair cut in more of an A line. This time she really cut it in more of A-line and even more hair came off then she had showed me initially. OH, Well. I asked for it. I like it, but it will just take time getting used to it and not having as much hair in the back.


Me with the cake prior to haircut.

After my hair cut. It does not look too short in this pic.

But the back is pretty short.

Flashback

Today I have been spending a lot of time going through Tyler's baby clothes that he can no longer fit into and I feel quite saddened because in a way I feel that I did not cherish every single moment of his life so far. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore this child to death and I love every moment I am with him, but time has just flown by without me being able to catch up with it. I can't believe all the clothes that he had and how small they are compared to the ones he wears now. He was so cute and helpless. And I look at him now and see how he looks at things and tries to figure them out. In a way it was a little easier when he was smaller. Now I am responsible for helping him learn and that scares me. I am excited to see him grow and learn more and I hope that I can teach him the right things and values.

Tyler was so small at 3 weeks.

Now here at 7 months, he is such a little person.