Shed Makeover

Yay, we finally got rid of that ugly brown colour we had on our shed! This weekend Steve and I painted the shed a nice light gray colour. It looks more updated now and it goes so much better with the colour of our house. Steve used the roller and I painted the cracks in between, while Tyler played in his play pen.

Garvan Gardens

Tyler and I are now back from our trip to Arkansas, however our last full day there we drove to Hot Springs, where we experienced one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Kristin took us to Garvan Gardens, a botanical garden. The gardens consist of a series of trails nestled in an abundance of beautiful flowers and other pretty plants.
At the trail head was a huge crystal rock. My brother used to collect crystal rocks as kid, but I have never seen one this big before. It was beautiful and really accented its surroundings.
The flowers in the gardens were absolutely amazing! Everywhere we looked, there was natural beauty. Even though there were quite a few people viewing the gardens that day, we still felt a sense of peace.
Kristin phoned the gardens before we left the house to see if the trails were wheelchair friendly and the lady assured us that they were. They were at the beginning of the gardens where they was a brick path, however as we got further along in the trails and out into the woods, the trails were very rough and not suitable for wheelchairs. My mom and I took turns pushing Kristin, while Kristin also used her arms to help push. Some of the trails were quite bumpy and I'm sure this probably bothered her leg, though Kristin assured me she was fine. I was amazed at her determination and strength.
Kristin really wanted us to experience the magic of the gardens and get the most of our visit. There were a lot of places she could not go because of the rough terrain. She pointed the places out and assured my mom and I that we just had to go and check them out.
One of the places she highly recommended was the waterfalls and pond. There was an area that had three waterfalls all in one place and these huge goldfish. I showed Tyler the fish and he really liked them.
Soon it was time to leave and get back on the road again. Thank you so much for taking us to this "heaven on earth", Kristin. My mom, Tyler and I really had a lovely afternoon with you. You really showed us Arkansas's beauty. Thank you also for a really nice week. Tyler and I had a great time and to be able to spend it with my mom was such a nice added bonus. Looking forward to seeing you, Joey and the boys soon!

Answered Prayers for Kristin

As most of you know my sister in law, Kristin, had been involved in a serious scooter accident in Mexico on March 28th. She suffered major injury to her leg where she had to undergo surgery. The doctors placed a steel plate in her leg. A few days before Tyler and I arrived here, they took stapes out her leg. Her lip is also injured. She doesn't have feeling in one side of it and she had to have it fixed because it had been stitched for so long. Kristin said that other than the fact that she is having the general aches and pains associated with her injuries, she is doing alright. She does have her bad days every so often, where she has no choice but to take her pain medicine. She is currently getting around with the use of a wheelchair and walker. The doctors say that she may have long time arthiritis in her leg. I think she is doing great, despite the ordeal she has gone through, not only with the surgery but also with getting home from Mexico and her few days she had to stay in the nightmare place they called a hospital. She always remains positive and remains strong. Kristin says thank you for everyone who has said a prayer for her well being. She truly appreciates everyone's kindness. I gave her a card with all of your messages in it and she cried.

Hello from Arkansas!

Tyler and I are now in Arkansas. We flew into Little Rock Saturday afternoon and we have been enjoying ourselves ever since. My mom is also here looking after Kristin. Kristin, my sister in law, had been involved in a scooter accident in Mexico. She is doing fine and gets around with use of a wheelchair and walker. I will do another posting just on her condition later on.

Yesterday Tyler, Mom, Kristin, and I piled up in the van we rented and headed out to see the Wal-Mart museum. Unfortunately, we never made it to the museum because it was a lot further than we thought it was and there was tornado warnings issued for that area. We ended up turning around and we headed towards Oklahoma instead. We crossed the border into the state so that we could do a couple of caches and add another state to our state cache list.

The trip took about 8 hours, but it was a lot of fun! I even got my very first speeding ticket ever. LOL I will try and add a photo later on, if I am able.

Trains, Trains and more Trains

We have never seen so many trains in our life as we have seen today! We drove up to meet Walt in York, PA. Twice a year they get together and have the largest train show in the world. Walt has been collecting and selling trains for most of his life and he has been attending this train show since '86, and only missed one show so far. He showed us around all the buildings and then we met up again later for dinner. It was great being able to spend the afternoon with him.

We are currently staying nearby at a hotel. The only room they had left was a suite. It is really nice and Tyler is having a great time exploring.

Tomorrow we have to get up early so that Steve can drive Tyler and I to the airport. We are going to visit Joey and Kristin in AR and also my mom who is looking after Kristin since her accident in Mexico. Will try to write soon.

Walked for the Very First Time Today

Wow! I think I am still in shock. This morning Tyler walked for the very first time. He has taken one step several times, but this morning when I stood him between me and "Pony" I never expected to see him take about 5 steps!!! He walked towards his toy chest on the floor in the living room. As soon as he went down on the floor again, I swooped him up and gave him the biggest hug. I was so proud of him!!! He did such a good job too! It was like he had been walking for awhile. (maybe he was behind my back..LOL) Anyway, in the midst of my excitement, I was also sad that Steve couldn't be here to share in this wonderful event. We tried so hard for it to happen while he was home. Oh well, there will be many more "firsts" that Steve will share with Tyler all through his life.

We tried walking again and at first he wasn't even interested in standing, he just wanted to play with his toys. So I let him play a little and then went back and we tried again. This time he took 2 steps before going back on the floor. Then we walked around the house with him holding on to my finger. This got his courage back again and so when we tried the third time, he took 3 steps.

I tried to get a photo of him, but it was impossible because everything happened so fast and I was just too excited. Steve said when he gets home we will try to get some photos and maybe even some video, so you can live in our excitement too!

My 7th Tooth

Tooth #7 came in! I noticed it yesterday as I was feeding him his lunch. We had suspected he was teething as a result of his fussiness during the past couple weeks. He also woke up much earlier than his usual time yesterday morning; that may have when the tooth finally broke its' way through the gum. The same happened the last time he got a new tooth. This new tooth is the right lateral incisor.

Sailor of the Week...AGAIN!!!

Yesterday Steve was recognized for his dedication to his command by becoming "Sailor of the Week". This is the second time he received this recognition in just a few weeks. What an accomplishment!!! He told me not to put this on the blog because he thought it was silly, but I totally don't think it is as I'm sure you don't either. You know, Steve, I am so proud of you and I ALWAYS will be!!!

Steve is the LPO (Leading Petty Officer) for his department. You can check out all the cool news stories they are currently working on by scrolling down and clicking 'Navy NewsStand' ,under the title 'Web Sites', and then clicking on 'Daily News Update' on the right.

Sorry there won't be any post today about Tyler. I am just too upset with the recent happenings at Virginia Tech. It saddens me so much to know that so many innocent lives were taken. These victims were only trying to get an education and make the most of their future, and now all that has been selfishly taken away from them forever. My heart goes out to the families and friends who still have to go on with the pain. God bless the students and faculty of VA Tech. God will prevail!

Time for Teletubies, Time for Teletubies

Before having a child of my own, I always thought Teletubies was strange, however I heard babies just love the show for some reason. Well, I decided to put this to the test with Tyler a couple of weeks ago by looking it up in the program guide and what I found amazed me. During the 30 minute show, Tyler only took his eyes away from the screen a few times. The colourful characters and repetitious actions really draw his attention. I like how the show uses repetition to teach kids because that's how they learn.

Every week day at 12:30, it's "Time for Teletubies, Time for Teletubies" at our house. I turn on the television, which by the way I do not have on during any other time of the day while he is awake, because I really don't like him becoming addicted to TV. As soon as I say "Teletubies is on, Tyler." He stops whatever he is doing and his eyes go toward the screen. He usually wants me to put him on "Pony" and he sits there and watches the entire show. Sometimes he gets off his pony and actually starts dancing if they are singing and dancing themselves. It is so funny to watch and it gives Mommy a chance to prepare her own lunch and eat in peace. I really must get some of these on DVD. LOL

Building Confidence

Yesterday Tyler made some major improvements in his ability to stand by himself. For some time now, we have caught him standing on his own, without holding on to anything, for a short few seconds. However during our "practice walking holding on to Mommy's hands" session, we tried standing on our own for awhile. He absolutely loved it and once he got balance with both arms, he started smiling and laughing. He knew we were so proud of him and you could tell he was proud of himself. You can see in the photo, that Steve took, the look he would get over and over again as he finally held his balance. It was just priceless!!! There was a few times last night that he stood for close to a minute without holding on to anything. He even pointed at a few things.

Steve couldn't believe how much taller he looked standing there all by himself. We are treating this "standing by myself" like a new game now to make it more fun for him and it shows, he is just loving it. There was even one time last night we were trying to coax him to walk to Mommy and we could tell he was thinking about it, but just couldn't get that confidence to do it alone yet; it won't be long though!

"I am an alien from the planet, Cherrios."

Peek-a-Boo, Mommy

While I was on the computer this morning in the kitchen, I just happened to notice from the corner of my eye two little eyes looking at me from behind the high chair. I turned my head and here was Tyler with his head peaking out just enough as to pretend he was hiding from me. Then he noticed me looking at him and he hid behind the chair. I looked around the other side and here he was looking from the back side of the chair. We went back and forth for a few minutes, with each time we would make eye contact he would laugh so hard. He is such a fun little guy!

Our Easter Weekend

Easter Sunday, when Tyler woke up and I went in to get him out of his crib, he noticed some news things on his dresser. He was so excited and kept pointing for me to take him over to see. Turns out the Easter Bunny came and left him some goodies. I sat him on the floor and he had such a fun time going through his "Dino-basket". He got a book about the real meaning of Easter, which he just loved looking through. The Easter Bunny also brought him a very special new friend named "Fred Fred Burger". Fred Fred Burger is a friendly monster that actually talks to Tyler.
Then we noticed that there was a package from the Easter Bunny in Cape Breton. Tyler opened up the wrapped gifts and inside were beautiful clothes that he can wear when it gets warmer, a cool hat, 2 DVDs, and a neat book called 'I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track'. We can't wait to read that one! Thank you so much Cape Breton Easter Bunny!!!
We had planned on going for brunch at this really nice restaurant nearby that we found when Walt was here, but Steve had a better idea. We had signed up to do the CAM 2007, a geocaching challenge in which you have to find a bunch of caches across the state in a certain amount of time. Since we have a limit amount of time because of our schedule this month, Steve decided that we get a start on them that day since he had Monday off instead of Friday that he was suppose get off, so he said for me to pack an overnight bag in the event we needed to stay over night somewhere. We ended up staying up in the northern part of Maryland and seeing a lot of the state. We never knew how diverse the state was in its land. The caches brought us to some really pretty sites. We had a great time! I'm sure I'll be doing another post about CAM 2007 because we're not finished yet. We're really excited about it! Over all, we had a fantastic Easter weekend!

Easter Bunny Visit

Just the other day, Daddy and Mommy realized that this weekend was Easter. So that being said, today was the day to get Tyler dressed up and take him to the mall and visit the Easter Bunny. We put one of the cute outfits that Grandma Forst gave him for his birthday. It was perfect because we woke up to snow on the ground this morning! As I was putting the sweater vest on Tyler, I showed him the puppy on it and then asked him "Where's the puppy on the sweater?" (I added the "on the sweater part because I didn't want to to be confused with "Puppy", the sock dog, that Auntie Erika made him. Anyway, all day we would ask him this question and he would look down and point to the puppy on his sweater. Boy, he catches on quick!

Anyway, as we arrived at the mall we noticed there were hardly any cars in the parking lot. We just assumed that it being the day before Easter that it would be jammed packed. This wasn't the case for today. I guess we lucked out.

There was one little girl in front of Tyler and she screamed and cried as they placed her on Easter Bunny's knee. We were quite certain the concerned look on Tyler's face meant that he would do the same. Nope, our Tyler proved us wrong yet again. Once he saw Easter Bunny, he smiled and couldn't wait to get a closer look. Steve took a few shots and off we went. I'm quite sure that the Easter Bunny is going to leave some things for this good boy tomorrow!

Good Friday

This Little Piggy...

Tyler has fun playing with Steve's toes. Well, it's not really Steve's toes, it is actually the toes that belong to Steve's fake leg. Yes, Steve has a fake leg, doesn't everyone? His mom gave him the fake leg one year for Halloween and we have fun playing gags with it around the house. Actually I shouldn't exactly say "we", I mean Steve. He used to always hide it under the bed and have it sticking out just enough so that I would notice it when I would make the bed and think it was someone under the bed and I would scream. He got me so many times! The leg looks so real. Anyway, Tyler noticed it underneath the bed and now he has a new toy.

Tyler, Where Are You?

So this morning I was getting Tyler's bath ready and I noticed that he was no where to be found. I searched every room and called his name and still no sign of my little munchkin. I decided to check again in our bedroom, since I know that is one of his favourite places to hang out in whenever he sees the door is opened. This time when I went in and called his name, I heard some giggling and what sounded like papers being shuffled around. The noise was coming from underneath our bed! Sure enough when I looked underneath, there he was having a good time going through all of our stuff.

Self Serve

"So this is where they keep this stuff. Might as well have a little breakfast."

"Hmm...I think I know that girl!"

"Well, I'm full now. How about some entertainment?"

Father /Son Teamwork

Walt and Wanda need to live closer to us! Yesterday Walt helped Steve do a lot of little projects around the house that needed to be done and since Walt used to fix major appliances for living, most of the projects took no time at all. He fixed the dishwasher, stove and fridge to make them level. Both Steve and Walt fixed the bottom of our front door that came loose last week. They put in a new lock for the shed. And the big project they did was fix the bathroom where Steve had cut through the wall so that the dryer to face outward instead of facing toward the washing machine like the previous owners of the house had it.

Thank you so much again, Walt, for all your help! It was wonderful seeing you again and we had a really nice time. We wish you could have stayed longer! Walt left this morning to go drive back home. We hope to see Walt and Wanda soon!