Happy Birthday Marci!!!

Happy Birthday sis! I really wish we were in New York celebrating with you! Your birthday card is probably going to be late, so hopefully this makes up for it! We love you and miss you tons!

Riley's turn!

I think it's time for Riley to get a post since the last two were about Tyler, plus I never posted after his 15 month check-up. His check-up went well, it was his first appointment with Dr. Rodriguez and Riley seemed to like him. Riley weighed in at 23 lbs and was 29 inches long which puts him in the 30th percentile for his height and weight. The nurse was surprised he was so low on the growth chart considering how chubby he is! After listening to his heart for about 5 minutes Dr. Rodriguez asked me if he has always had a heart murmur, to which I said no. Although heart murmurs are common in babies, Riley got to go to the hospital and get an echo cardiogram to make sure it wasn't anything serious. He was a good little patient and laid quiet for the first ten minutes before he got tired of having the gel and sensor on him. The echo showed his heart is fine.

He's my stubborn, independent little man! Here are some fun facts about Riley:

* He makes no effort to talk other than mama, dada, see and this. He understands what we're saying though and follows directions, so I know he'll talk when he decides he wants to. If I try to get Riley to say something Tyler will inform me that babies don't talk!

* He loves being outside, but he hates having anything on his hands. When he falls down he uses his hands to get back up, and he freaks out when he gets dirt on his palms. He'll start whining and want me to wipe his hands off. The first time he took a bubble bath he wanted me to wipe the bubbles off his hands every time he touched them.

He insists on sitting on the dryer whenever I do laundry.

He never sucked his thumb or became attached to pacifiers, but he loves his bottle. When he's done drinking he'll play and walk around with the bottle clenched in his teeth.

"Mom I want my bottle!"

If he can't be outside he'll settle for looking out the window.

He is obsessed with putting shoes on his hands!

Two peas in a pod!

Best buddies!

In front of the big Christmas tree in St. Augustine.

Vanessa and I.

My little song bird!

Tyler has really taken an interest in singing lately. His two favorite songs are 'Families Can Be Together Forever' and 'I Am a Child of God'. He also knows the alphabet song, the snowman song, 'Follow the Prophet' (his version has a third verse, "Follow the prophet he goes away"), 'Popcorn popping', and some of 'Teach Me to Walk'. He is always singing! The other day we were getting groceries and he was walking around the store singing his ABC's. He got lots of smiles from other shoppers! Here is a clip of him singing 'I Am a Child of God' after he got out of the bath the other night. Enjoy a little of what I get to hear everyday!

My quirky kid!

Tyler has recently started to find his sense of humor. His new favorite phrase is, "That was just a joke!" He thinks it's really funny to put his clothes on wrong when I ask him to get dressed. Then with a little laugh he will ask me if his clothes are on right. Here are a few examples:

He also likes to keep things interesting when he watches TV:

Halloween

I'm finally posting Halloween pictures! Tyler was really excited about Halloween this year. He loved picking his costume out, and finally found one he liked after trying on six! He settled on Wolverine even though he's never seen X-Men! One advantage of having two boys is that I got to recycle one of Tyler's old costumes, and Riley was a puppy. The first time Riley saw himself in his costume he was fascinated with his reflection and spent about ten minutes staring and pointing at himself in the mirror. Unfortunately the magic wore off before we took pictures! I think Riley was just annoyed by the costume most of the night and it was off before we were done trick-or-treating. Riley didn't really get the whole trick-or-treating thing and only made it to a couple of houses. Tyler on the other hand remembered last year and wanted to run to every house. Since his bucket was small we brought a larger bag to dump his candy in once the bucket filled up. Tyler thought he had to empty his bucket after every house, so he would come running back to us yelling, "Daddy, Daddy look what I got!" He would show Matt one piece at a time and say who the candy was for. All the suckers were for Tyler, and any chocolate candy pieces were for Daddy! I think Tyler noticed he wasn't getting very many suckers, so after the first couple of houses he started following "trick-or-treat" with "Do you have any suckers?" We went with his friend, Greg, from church and the boys had a really fun night!

My little puppy!

Wolverine showing his claws!

My boys!

Riley was always the last one to the door...

...and Tyler was always the first!

Daddy had to help Riley so he could get to the door before all the kids left!

Haircuts!

You probably noticed in my last two posts that the boys were in desperate need of haircuts! Matt also needed a haircut so the other night my kitchen became a barber shop. Matt cut the boys hair and then convinced me to cut his. He usually cuts his own but figured it would be easier if I did it, and he trusts me enough to let me try! I managed to cut his hair without any major mistakes so I'm pretty proud of myself! I didn't get any pictures of Matt since my hands were covered in hair and he took a shower right after I was done, but here are some pictures of the boys.

Tyler hates getting the loose hair on him, so we made him a cape!

Before...

...and after!

Riley was so happy before his haircut began!

A good look at how shaggy he was!

Still happy, but not for long!

He wasn't a fan of the loose hair on him either!

Look at all that hair!

A much happier boy after he was all cleaned up!