ice skating

On Sunday, after seeing countless children (and parents) ice skating, I finally felt confident that it was safe enough to bring Tyler out on the ice. He didn't have skates, but I figured he'd have fun sliding around on the ice. I was right, he had a ball, but he was a bit jealous of the kids on skates playing hockey. It was a fun experience though.









The next day my brother did some searching and found his girlfriend's son's outgrown skates and came over to lend them to Tyler. After school, while my mom stayed home with a napping Jason, Tyler and I set off to do some skating. Tyler did better than I expected...meaning he didn't fall once and then announce that he's never skating again. He kept getting up and trying again, and eventually sorta got the hang of it. While we were there some high school boys came by to play hockey after school. They were really cute about encouraging Tyler on the skates. And, as always, hot chocolate was served after the event!

same stuff, different year

2010 got around to a rocky start. Tyler's cough was getting worse and then Jason started running a fever and developed a cough as well. Fun, fun.

We never got around to the gingerbread house making BEFORE Christmas, but this task couldn't be ignored. Luckily my mom had a kick-butt gingerbread house kit that was preassembled and just needed the decorating. She and Tyler worked on it on (I believe) New Year's Day (our traditional New Year's Day celebration at my aunt's house had been cancelled due to illness in their family). Tyler refused to copy the image on the box, opting for his own "design" instead.




Meanwhile Jason, still sick, wanted nothing other than being held and watching youtube videos.

On Saturday I ended up bringing both boys to the ped. The doctor said they were both just suffering from bad colds. Tyler's was "on it's way out" and Jason's was "just getting started". Unfortunately I could do nothing for Tyler other than using a humidifier, nose sunctioning thing, fluids, and Tylenol for the fever. Fun, fun.

My brother Chris was able to get a day pass to come home and visit for a few hours. We had my grandparents over for dinner, and otherwise just hung out.




Jason learned how to push things to the ottoman to assist him in climbing up. As you can tell, he was quite proud of himself!

Monday, finally Monday, had arrived, and Tyler was back at school. I could breathe a sigh of relief, as it had been a LONG and cold holiday break, mixed in with some pretty rotten behavior.

That afternoon Jason had his early intervention evaluation. The evaluation was completed by an occupational therapist and a teacher, which I found quite interesting to watch. After they evaluated him they went into the kitchen to write up the report and tally his scores. I was shocked to learn that I would have an answer right then as to whether he would qualify for services. Although I'm not surprised (I was the one who pushed for the evaluation) I was a little disappointed to see how delayed he was. He did in fact qualify for services based on his speech delays (his expressive speech tested at only 7 months of age) and was close to qualifying in other areas. I'm thrilled that I trusted my gut in this situation and know that he'll hopefully get the head start he needs to catch up.

On Tuesday Tyler finally had his appointment with the counselor. I was relieved (and mortified) that Tyler displayed exactly the types of behaviors I was worried about. He literally was bouncing on the couch, interrupting me, being rude, defiant, etc. They basically took a history and we'll be working on a plan in 2 weeks. Hopefully they can do something to help him before I lose it. He can be such a sweet boy, and then a switch goes off and he turns into a nutball.

On Wednesday Tyler had a library program, so Jason stayed with my parents while I brought Tyler there.

On friday I finally tested the ice and let Tyler "skate" with his shoes on our pond. Initially excited, he decided it wasn't that fun. Not surprising, being that it is about 2 by 3 feet. LOL.


Meanwhile Jason learned that he could bring people lotion bottles, sign "please", and he's get massages.

Saturday rolled around and Tyler was complaining quite a bit about missing his daddy. I found some old, likely to be unused, scrapbooking supplies and then had some pictures printed at Walgreens. I couldn't handle the indoors any longer, so we set off for the library for some books and movies and then went to pick up the pictures. Tyler had a ball making a "Tyler and Daddy" scrapbook. Oh, and our movie selection, Air Buds, was a hit with both boys.

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve day we had plans with some friends to attend a program at the library for the kids. Unfortunately an unexpected mini snow storm hit, leaving us with a couple of inches of snow and causing the program to be cancelled. We made the best of it though and decided to head out to enjoy the snowfall. This snow proved to be better snowman-making material, so we made the dirtiest snowman ever...even taller than Tyler though!



In perfect timing for the new year, we discovered that "Hermie", Tyler's hermit crab, had crawled out of his shell and upgraded to his larger Superman shell.


That evening we had plans to go to a friends, but the roads were messy. Tyler had a cough and Jason was pretty cranky and had a mild fever, so we decided to stay home. Instead we created a party. In fact, to create a party in Tyler's eyes, you just need food and need to eat it in the living room.

We donned the official New Year's Eve head gear, and of course used our party makers. Nothing says party like a little unwanted noise!


Then we really got the party started with some music and dancing. The boys are easily amused.




Finally, at approximately 8:15pm, the official New Year's Eve celebration and fireworks occured in the Eline/Murray household, via the ever-helpful YouTube. Tyler knew no different and had a ball.

Followed by a "midnight" toast of Shirley Temples.

And, last but not least, the required pot banging outside to signal the new year!


Boys were both in bed by 8:45ish, and I was free to update my blog and try to wish away the rest of 2009. I was in bed before the official ball drop in my own time zone. Here's to hoping for a better 2010!

last few days of 2009

On the day after Christmas Jason woke up with a HUGE welt and raised hot reaction on his leg, in fact it went from his knee to his hip. Thankfully the Benedryl was fast-acting or else I had presumed we might have ended up in the ER. Scary stuff. Al stopped by shortly to stay goodbye to the kids before heading back to NC. Luckily we had a birthday party to attend around lunchtime (a rescheduled one from our big snow storm a short while ago). Tyler had a ball at Vivienne's birthday party at Pump it Up. Only a few people there, but he was able to have tons of room and no crowds. Jason had fun as well, even sharing a snack with Olivia.
Jason was quite tired out from the party and then the Benadryl really did him in. He was so tired I was actually able to walk in to check on him without him waking (totally rare).

Tyler spent a night in Atlantic City with my parents, eating at the buffet and playing board games. Meanwhile I got a little break and some quality time with the littlest man in my life. Jason cracked me up with his newest thing...toddling over to my ipod dock and signing "more" so that I could play more music for him while holding him to dance. Too cute!

We had a little playdate at Chick-fil-A with Mackenzie and her family.

On the 30th Jason had his 15 month doctor's appointment. He weighed 23lbs 15.5oz (probably what Ty weighed at 7 months! LOL) and was 30.5 inches. He got 4 vaccines (including his 2nd H1N1) and was quite a trooper. I did question his verbal skills, and although the pediatrician wasn't too concerned she did give me the information for Early Intervention. After picking up Tyler at his friend Mackenzie's I made a phone call, and within a few hours, Jason's evaluation was scheduled for after the new year on Monday. Talk about efficient.

Later that afternoon Jason tried to use his new crayons. Not too interested!

Christmas Day, 2009

Christmas day started pretty early with Jason waking up. I was hoping he might fall back to sleep in my arms, but he heard his daddy who had arrived just a few minutes earlier, so that was not happening. Santa had brought Jason a cute little slide (thank you freecycle) so he warmed up to that pretty quickly. It only took him maybe 5 minutes to figure out how to independently climb up, swing his legs around, sit, and push off. He soon was landing on his feet and quickly turning around to do it again. Tyler was up maybe 45 minutes later, bounding out of his room to see if Santa had come. He quickly bypassed his brand new bike when he spotted his stuffed Eeyore. That's my Tyler. Both boys opened their stockings first. Tyler was happy with all his stuff, Jason focused on his fruit puffs in there. LOL. Tyler then tore through his presents, pretty excited about each one. He later said that his Eeyore and his checkers were his favorites. Jason seemed pretty uninterested in opening anything, but was content with wrapping paper and stuff. Then they had almost as many toys to open from my parents!







After present-opening my dad and mom prepared the traditional Christmas breakfast for the fam. My grandparents ended up not showing because my grandmother was sick. Chris was unable to get permission to leave and visit for the holiday, so it was just Jim and Cara with us, but we had a nice brunch and a good time. Meanwhile Jason entertained us with his sliding.

We spent our afternoon at the boys Grandmom and Pop-pop John's place. The boys got spoiled with too many gifts, including a ball popper thing that Jason loves and a scooter for Tyler. We had a nice time with the family.



From there it was on to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mike's for the traditional Christmas gathering. We had a nice dinner, Jason had fun pracincing around the house and trying to find the dogs, and Tyler enjoyed playing with some extended family. Oh, and again, more gifts. It was neat to get the following pictures. One is Al's grandmother with all of her grandchildren. The other is all of the grandchildren as well as the great-grandchildren (minus Carli).


Another late night and then home to bed. A very nice, busy, Christmas.