Awesome Shot

I just wanted to take a minute and brag about Matt.

Matt loves guns. Whenever we talk about something that has to do with money - getting rid of cable, for instance (post coming soon!) - Matt thinks in terms of how many guns he would be able to purchase with that much money. He is loving his membership at a local gun range and enjoys spending time reloading his own bullets. Not only does he love shooting, but he is an awesome teacher and will patiently take time to teach anyone how to shoot.

I've recently come to understand just how good Matt is at shooting. I mean, I've always known he is good... whenever I go shooting with him, he almost always hits the target (and would probably hit it just about 100% of the time if he took time to set up for each shot). In fact, I've got some pretty cool video that I will need to post soon of Matt shooting! Anyway, Matt spent some time sighting in his gun at the range a couple weeks ago, and here is some proof of his awesomeness:

Here's an interpretation for those of us who aren't experts or who don't speak "gun". Matt shot three different groups of three bullets each. The way you can tell how good of a shot Matt is is by how "tight" the bullet groupings are. Matt shot 1/2 MOA (minute of angle), which is pretty darn amazing. He's read in a couple shooting magazines and online articles lately of people "bragging" about their 1 MOA. And here Matt is shooting better than that! Nice work! My hubby is a pretty awesome shot.

Surgery Day

Since Tyler was born so little and premature, they wouldn't do his circumcision when he was in the hospital... but once he was out of the hospital, he was too old for the pediatrician to do his circumcision. That meant we needed to see a pediatric urologist and that it would require surgery.

The urologist told us that we needed to wait until Tyler was at least 6 months old to do the surgery because the 45-60 minute operation would require Tyler to go under general anesthesia. They told me that it isn't safe for babies under 6 months to have the anesthesia, but after 6 months, the complications or side effects would be the same as if I were to get anesthesia.

Anyway, after a couple of pre-op appointments, surgery day finally came yesterday. I had been dreading it. Even though I had complete trust in the urologist, and I knew it was a routine operation, I still didn't like knowing my poor baby would be put under and have to undergo surgery at such a young age.

We arrived at the hospital at 6:20 am and used the valet parking (they had called us the day before and told us to use this - it was super nice!) and after checking in we waited for a bit in the surgery waiting room. I was glad that Tyler was the first surgery of the day (8:30 am) because he couldn't eat for several hours before his surgery (no solids 8 hours before, no formula 6 hours before, and no breast milk 4 hours before).

After waiting a little while we were taken back to a room where I got Tyler dressed in his cool hospital gown and then we met with the anesthesiologist and the doctor. By this time, Tyler started getting quite grumpy because he was so hungry, so I was glad I was able to get him to fall asleep. Then before I realized it, a nurse came in and swept him away, and I went back to the waiting room until the surgery was over.

I was taken to Tyler's recovery room just before he woke up. Poor kid had a rough time coming out of the anesthesia. His crying was inconsolable. I tried feeding him and playing the meatball song and walking around with him. I think he cried for the better part of 30 minutes. Poor kid. I felt so helpless.

After they took the IV out, I got him dressed and we called up to the valet to have our car ready. Almost as soon as we left his dim room into the bright hallway, Tyler calmed down (thank goodness!). He didn't make another peep the rest of the way out of the hospital or the entire way home. Tyler has been a little sad, but honestly much better than I expected. He has been better than on his immunization days. We've been giving him medicine every three hours (alternating between Tylenol and Ibuprofen) so I'm sure that is helping. I'm not looking forward to diaper changes and baths the next little while but I know we'll get through it :-)

Tyler has an eye appointment next month, and I think that is the final doctor's appointment as a result of him being a preemie. So glad to have all this behind us!

Dear Tyler - [7 Months]

Dear Tyler,

I feel like the luckiest mom in the world every time I look at your sweet smiley face. I can't help but be happy each time I cuddle you in my arms. You make the sweetest talking sounds - coos, squeals, and jabber. I'm trying to teach you how to say mama, but each time I try you just look at me and smile :-) Speaking of smiling, your sister can make you smile more than anyone else. You light up each time you see her, especially when she gets really close and excitedly says, "Tyler man!" You have started to get a little bit of an attitude, though, when you feel like you've been ignored too long (usually just when you're tired). You will scream and arch your back and cry crocodile tears, but I can usually get you to fall asleep pretty quickly by pulling a blanket up around you and singing you a song (usually the Quartermaster Store song). You still hardly ever take longer than a 30 minute nap, but there have been a handful of nights where you've slept the entire night without waking up - way to go!

You are rolling all over the place these days. You especially like to roll to your right, and if I lay you down, I know you won't stay in one place too long. We call you our little roly poly. You think it's pretty funny to roll from one end of the room to the other but get pretty frustrated when you bump up against a wall! You are also getting so much better at sitting up. You can sit for longer periods of time on your own, but I am always near by for when you decide to lean over.

You absolutely love eating. I love how your whole body shakes with excitement when I put you in the high chair. Over the last month you've tried rice cereal, carrots, green beans, and prunes. You don't like your fruits and vegetables plain (see the first video below), but think they are pretty yummy when mixed with milk or rice cereal (see the second video below filmed literally one minute after the first video).

You've also tried apple juice (mixed with a lot of water!) - you thought that was okay, but you mostly wanted to play with the sippy cup. I stopped pumping milk the end of May and am just about out of the freezer stockpile - I can't believe how fast it has gone, but I guess that's what happens now that you're eating 6-7 ounces of milk each meal. You are growing and growing and are now about 14.5 pounds. We've started putting you in 6-9 month clothes (you are too tall for the 3-6 month clothes!) and you are still in a size 2 diaper.

You still love being outside. When you're feeling sad, I will often take you out front and sit you on the grass. You almost immediately get happy as you play with the grass and watch the cars drive by. You're starting to do better in the stroller, but I think that's because we've transitioned you from being in your carseat to sitting in the actual stroller facing forward. You like this much better - I think you just like looking around at everything.

You had your second haircut this month - that's two haircuts before you were even seven months old! Your hair was already half way down your ear again, so it was definitely needed. I think you're looking as handsome as ever.

Love,
Mom

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! A special thanks to a couple of the best dads I know. I love you guys!

Happy Flag Day!

Matt and I have been putting out our flag almost every day since we bought it. We love it, and we love this beautiful country. We made sure we put the flag out bright and early this morning for Flag Day. Each time I see our flag, I smile.

Speaking of flags and smiling, I also love my new patriotic banner that I made! Beki came over yesterday and we did this little craft project. It was super simple and I love how it turned out. I think I am going to have to make several more for different holidays and occasions :-)

Saturday Project

We planted an entire garden box of strawberries this year, and are excited to see berries starting to ripen. Just one problem. Birds. Those darn birds are eating the berries before we can get to them. Well, problem solved! Here's a picture of my Saturday project. Thanks for the help dad!

Grizzly Cub Clinic

 

Kylee has talked about wanting to be a cheerleader, so we thought it would be fun to sign her up for the Grizzly Cub Clinic - a dance and cheer clinic put on by the dancers and cheerleaders at Rocky Mountain High School. She had a blast! Thinking it's time to get her into a dance class!

We were so proud of our sweet girl. She did awesome!

Library Awesomeness

Can I just tell you how excited I am to take advantage of the library and all its cool programs this summer!? I think it's neat that you can not only check out books at the library, but they also offer other ways for kids to learn.

I took Kylee to the library on Monday - she was pretty excited to get her very own library card!

I let Kylee pick out five books, but I'm thinking I should have let her pick out more! There is a summer reading program where each day you read 20 minutes, you mark it off on the reading sheet. Once you have completed 10 days, you can bring your paper in and redeem it for a prize. I realized that you can get through multiple kids books in 20 minutes :-) Anyway, thinking I'll update our limit to 8 or 10 books going forward. Kylee is also participating in the book bingo (i.e. read a book with a yellow cover, read a book about an animal, etc) and activity bingo (i.e. go geocaching, have a picnic, etc) that the library is offering this summer. For each bingo completed you get a Krispy Kreme donut!

I've also decided Tuesday is our new library day - think we'll try to go almost every week. They have really cool programs Tuesdays at 10am. Here are some of the ones I am looking forward to:

• June 17th - Corbin Maxey, The Reptile Guy! Our local wildlife expert will be featuring some of his favorite reptile friends.
• July 8th - The Planets. Music and Movement. Bounce, slide, dance, and parachute your way through the solar system during this interactive movement program based on Gustav Holst's orchestral suite.
• July 15th - Recycling. Get the inside scoop on what happens to your recyclables once they leave your home from expert, Konrad McDannel. Also, enter your family's "Recycled Creation" in our contest for a chance to win a prize at this event.
• July 29th - The Magic Man! Witness the science of magic - Brad's amazing show offers a wide variety of musical discovery.

Okay, really, I could have listed all the programs because they sound so neat. Happy reading!