Videos

One of our days in Bend, Dave and Tyler went to the funplex to play miniature golf and bowling. The golf was hot because it was outside and Tyler was probably a bit young. He much prefers to hit the golf ball as hard and as far as possible. The driving range is ideal. Here is a picture of the golf and a video of the bowling.

Not to exclude Hailey, I am attaching a video of her dancing. She has one song that she wants repeated over and over and over and over (you get the picture). Once it starts playing she starts dancing. Her dancing is typically a lot of spinning. This is where she gets her "Spinny Minny" nickname. Please only watch about the first 30 seconds (though there is a cute little body wave around 1:02). The remaining 1 1/2 minutes is me trying to get Dave to tell me how to stop recording :)......so maybe I should have asked how to take video on the camera before I started.

Can't get the video to load....will work on this.

Swimming Lessons

Tyler started swimming lessons today! It's a two week, everyday class and the first one he has taken (without a parent). We are going to a wonderful outdoor pool in the Mackey's neighborhood. The water is warm and the teacher's seem great!

Ready for class

Tyler is actually in the same class as Lindsay Mackey. I am attaching a few pictures below. Tyler has always been very timid about getting his head wet. I think our goal over the next two weeks is to get him to dunk his head. You'll notice in the group circle picture (at the beginning of class) there is only one dry head :). It was pretty much the same at the end of class. It should be noted that meanwhile, Hailey was over in the toddler wading pool dunking her face and throwing mini-fits that she couldn't be in the big pool.

Ring around the rosie....the head dunking version

Miss Kaila the teacher...pretty sure he's supposed to getting his face wet here

No fair....I'm stuck in this pool

Expedition

I still have a couple of Bend blogs I want to do even though we are now back at home but I need to insert today's expedition first. Tyler brought one of the trikes home from Grammy's house. Santa actually brought Tyler a big bike last Christmas, but Tyler is far more interested in the trikes. Watching Tyler trike is funny because he spins his feet around so fast and does get going quite fast but it is such an effort. We needed to go to the grocery store today and Tyler decided he wanted to ride his trike. So....we said ok, we'll give it a try. You'll note on one of the pictures below we still brought the double stroller, expecting that he'd throw in the towel part way through the trip. When we started out Tyler had one of his favorite "bars" in his trike dumper "just in case". Just after the first block Tyler suddenly stopped and said, "I need energy. I better eat a bar".

Boy on trike....with energy bar

After that initial stop he pedaled the rest of the way to Safeway. We stopped once to let bikers go by and Tyler waved hello, obviously feeling a connection with the other "bikers". When we got to Safeway there was the issue of what to do with the trike. So after asking permission from the Safeway staff, he rode through Safeway's produce section on his trike. This felt wrong through the entire experience and I imagine Safeway was happy to get rid of us as we walked out the door. Empowered by the groceries he carried in his trike dumper (a box of breakfast bars) he sped home with endless energy. We had dinner and he was ready to go down to the park and run around. He was quite proud of his successful expedition....and so were we.

Fully energized....we're off

Stopping to wave hello

Pilot Butte - Bend, OR

Yesterday we went to Pilot Butte. This happens to be one of Tyler’s favorite places. Outside of being a tall butte with a fantastic view of Bend there is not much for kids. But Tyler loves to go to the top and run around in circles….down the ramp and up the stairs. He goes round and round until his cheeks are so red it looks like he might pass out. We’ve always driven to the top. The last couple of days Tyler has been running like crazy. He ran from the street all the way down to Grammy’s house which is almost a half mile. Today was a cooler (but still nice) day and we decided we would try walking up to the top of the Butte. Tyler ran/walked almost the whole way. He took a short stroller ride in the middle for about 100 yards but he walked the rest of the way. Once we got to the top he still ran around like a crazy man. After our walk up the Butte we had a picnic at the Old Mill area in Bend and did more running. Of course Tyler fell asleep in complete exhaustion on the way home.

Running up a mountain

Ha Ha! Made it to the top! King of the mountain

Worn out
A Hailey note…she has a couple of new words. She has started calling her binky’s Meme’s (as in the word me). It’s sort of funny since Tyler used to call them dede’s until he was able to say binky. She has also started saying Ty which is fun. Both Dave and I (on separate occasions) also heard her say something that honestly sounds like “Bye, it’s nice to see you” though it’s a bit early for her to be speaking sentences.

Hailey’s feeling better and eating more though still not sleeping so good. I held her from 2am-5am last night and she woke up every 5 minutes. At 5am she went into crazy madness screams and eventually just decided to start her day. Dave took over at that point so I could get some sleep. We are hoping for a better night tonight!

A Tender Moment

Our Little Trooper

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Hailey had a fever for the first couple of days we were here in Bend. Her fever broke around lunch time on Saturday. Saturday evening she started to get a rash on her belly. By Sunday morning her rash covered her whole front and back. We figured it was heat rash. But her appetite still hasn't picked up (from her days of fever) and she has been sleeping horribly. Last night she woke up every 15-30 minutes crying, even when she was sleeping on me. So all of us except Tyler are officially exhausted. The poor little girl has been super needy....she goes nuts when I leave the room and she is so tired. We finally went to the doctor today and the rash is not heat rash. She either has/had a virus or is having a reaction to the vaccinations she received a couple of weeks ago. Her rash seems a little better tonight so we are hoping she sleeps better too. We all need it!

We are still having a great time. Outside of sleep and the occasional need to be held, Hailey is happy. Tyler is still having a blast riding bikes. We are planning on going to the pool again tomorrow.

Summer Vacation - Bend, Oregon

We are down in Bend, Oregon for our summer vacation. This has been a yearly event since we’ve had kids and one income. It is really quite convenient since we have a free house, my mom fixes us all our meals, and it’s fully equipped with crib and toys. It’s a laid back relaxing time on the farm. We usually spend quite a bit of time at the pool in Bend that has a twisty water slide, baby water slide, and outdoor water park. This year Tyler has really been enjoying riding his tricycle on Grammy’s large flat cement drive in front of the Garage. It is complete with chalk roads and to stand in Ty’s lane of travel is to risk your toes! Hailey is having fun with all things water :). They both enjoy running down the really long driveway which burns lots of energy.

Grandpa John, Grammy, & Tyler

Riding bikes
Running through the sprinkler Tricycle City

Hailey's water station

Our first couple of days here, Hailey really wasn’t feeling well. Teething we think. She had a fever and wouldn’t eat (so unlike her). All she really wanted to do was have me carry her around and snuggle her blanket. The snuggling was really nice even though we felt so bad for her. She actually fell asleep on me after her books which has never happened before….ever (except maybe those first few weeks of life). Today she seems back to her old self.

Heaven

Snuggling Mommy
One funny thing is that Hailey is sleeping in what in previous years has been “Tyler’s room”, the room with the twin bed and crib. Tyler has chosen to sleep in the pack-n-play in our room. He loves sleeping in confined spaces and this really is confined. When he stretches out his toes hit one end and his head the other.

Here’s a couple pics of the guys and the girls.

The Guys

The Girls

What we hear all day

We are actually down in Bend OR this week with slow internet access. I will try to get some pics up in the next few days but for now a couple of pictureless blogs.

Tyler is a great talker. He talks nonstop all day long and for the most part has very interesting things to say. I have to document somewhere the sentence that most often comes out of his mouth....."What for?" We hear this literally 50 times a day. It is his version of "why" and will ask it about absolutely everything. He will even continue to ask what for? in response to the answer you give him for his original what for? If Tyler is talking to us and we ask him "What for?" He says "just cause". Tyler also wants to be a part of every conversation. Dave and I have not been able to finish a couple of sentences to each other without interuption in a very long time. Tyler listens to everything. Once we start a conversation Tyler comes over and asks "What are you talking about?" We give him his answer and he says "Tell me about it". He'll come up and sit in our laps and have an indepth conversation about it. I love that Tyler is so interested in all that is said and I think that curiosity is wonderful but I also look forward to the day that Dave and I can start and finish a conversation!

Hailey is becoming more and more verbal as well. For a while now she has been babbling in her own language. She will walk up to us or over to a toy and say 3 or 4 sentences of complete gibberish. She has a handful of signs she does that makes our lives a lot easier....more, all done, eat, airplane, and bird are a few. But she also has quite a few words....ball, up, shoes, mama, dada, baby, done, wow, uh oh, no, no, hi, eat, stuck. Her most common word by far is uh-oh. She uses it properly though the uh oh's aren't always as problematic as she makes them sound. Thanks to her brother's influence she is also quite good at saying "big jet" and "chugga, chugga (for trains). We swear she is also saying "what's that" (she says this all the time) though an outsider might struggle to actually interpret that. She is such a character. She is contantly giving us dramatic facial expressions, just to get us to laugh. Unfortunately she has also recently started screaming whenever she doesn't get her way....which apparently is often. It's a painful noise. She keeps us laughing though and can get Tyler doubled over in laughter when they are both in the right mood.

One of my biggest challenges right now is balancing their mother snuggle needs. Tyler has always been a snuggler. He likes to get his blanket and have me carry him around or we'll sit on the ground and he just curls up in my arms (I love this). When he is really tired his need for being held increases. He has recently stopped napping but is really tired by about 4 in the afternoon. So from about 4 to 6:30 (when their bath times start) he is very needy. Hailey has never been a snuggler. If it's time for sleep she wants in her bed. If she wants to snuggle she snuggles her blanket. But she loves hugs and will run across the room to hug Dave or my legs or run into our arms for a big hug. Even though she's not a snuggler, she wants me to hold her all the time. This need has been more intense lately. So, in the afternoon when they are both tired (Hailey is also in a period of adjustment moving from 2 to 1 nap) and Hailey wants up and Tyler wants to snuggle, you'll often find me melting to the floor. It's my way of giving in. I'm holding Hailey and Tyler can find a place to snuggle in. And there we sit until one of them sees something else they want to do.