First Birthday Party

This weekend, we had a party to celebrate Tyler's first birthday. It was a smashing success. He absolutely LOVED being sung to -- his eyes lit up when the guests broke into the "Happy Birthday" chorus. He was skeptical about his cake and ice cream, but finally dived in and gave it the thumbs up, pronouncing it very tasty. He received many generous gifts and all in all, the little guy had a perfect day.







I just can't believe he's one.

Tyler is one year old!

When I was a kid, I could never understand how my parents could say silly things like, "time flies" or "Christmas will be here soon". Time most certainly did not crawl when I was sitting in school wishing I was doing something else, and Christmas and birthdays never arrived quickly enough.

I can barely remember what life was like before our children were born. We could go out whenever we wanted to, we could stay up all night, we could go on trips.....the list is endless. But we've been blessed with these two beautiful boys and each day passes with ever-greater velocity.

Sweet Tyler celebrated his very first birthday yesterday. Since his arrival was a scheduled c-section, I spent all day on Monday thinking where I was a year ago and how I was rushing around to make sure our bags were packed for the hospital, getting Justin settled with grandma and grandpa, etc., and not knowing yet whether the baby in utero was a boy or a girl.

A year later, I can't imagine anything else besides the handsome, happy, perfect boy that we have. He is an amazing gift to us.








Tyler hasn't been feeling well the past few days and woke up on the morning of his birthday with a temperature of 101.4. That's pretty unfair to a guy who's only 365 days old, but he powered through. It was obvious that he wasn't feeling like himself, so we stayed in for dinner. I went to Kroger's and bought a 6-pack of decorated cupcakes to celebrate. We put a candle in the shape of a "1" on top and sang Happy Birthday to him, which he loved. After that, we had a couple of presents for him and he appeared to really enjoy the experience.





But the time came to end the evening when he finally began to disintegrate.



It's safe to say, I think he's going to enjoy being 1.

Going for a ride

Monday was a beautiful day, so I decided to take the boys for a walk in the wagon. There is a little play area next to the pool in our neighborhood and it's the perfect distance for a walk. We packed a little bag with some snacks and some drinks and headed out. They were so cute sitting there in the wagon together!



Tyler did extremely well sitting on the seat in the wagon. I was worried that he would slide off, but he sat there very confidently and did just fine. We got to the park, and headed for the playset with the slides. Justin likes the curly slide. Tyler and I climbed up and sat in the lookout area and watched him. Tyler also tasted a few pebbles of gravel and explored a little bit.





Then it was time to get on the swings. Both of the boys love swinging -- it must be so relaxing to them.





Eventually, Justin tired of swinging and wanted to head home for some lunch. Tyler threw a mini fit when I took him out of the swing -- I think he thought it would be the perfect place to take a nap. After I got them both back in the wagon, Tyler wanted nothing to do with his sippy cup, but he sure thought Justin's looked good.



Check him out, eyeing that cup and then going in for the grab while Justin mugs for the camera! What a great day.

Introduction

This is the tale of two little boys named Justin and Tyler.

Justin is 3 years old now. He was born in August of 2007, which currently ranks as the hottest August in Cincinnati history. According to the National Weather Service, August 2007 set a record for the most days at or above 90 degrees in any month, reaching it 25 times. Five of those days were at or above 100 degrees! It's no wonder the kid is a firecracker, given all these records.

Justin has blond hair and blue eyes that sparkle with mischief every waking moment. His favorite things in life are his stuffed kitty cat, a pack of fruit snacks, a cup of juice and a movie. The movie title itself doesn't really matter, it's the pretty iridescent disc that he's fond of. He's smart as a whip and quick with a joke. He goes to preschool 3 days a week and his teachers tell us what a well-behaved, helpful, smart little boy he is. He loves his little brother and he also likes to pick on him.

Tyler will have his first birthday in September of this year. He has asserted his personality from the moment of his arrival, sporting a temper and an attitude all his own. Tyler counts his mommy among his very favorite things, but he truly thinks the sun rises and sets on his brother's shoulders. The smile on his face when he sees Justin would light up a room. He's currently sporting four teeth, two on top and two on the bottom. He's experimenting with standing up now,and walking certainly can't be very far off in the future. Here are pictures of our little guys.