Decorating Fun

We do things a little late in this family. Everyone seems to have their Christmas decorations up, their shopping done, and cards sent out, but not us. I have yet to do any shopping, and we just barely got our tree up a couple days ago. We are planning to have a family picture taken this weekend, but I don't think we will be getting any cards sent out before Christmas. That's okay, we like to be slow.
This year Ty was really excited about the Christmas tree, although he wasn't much help. He scattered decorations everywhere, held on to the lights while we tried to put them on the tree, and took things off the tree after we put them on. He was pretty funny to watch. As of today, all the decorations that were on the lower half of the tree, are now scattered throughout the living room. I don't even try to keep up with him. He is having fun with it. He loves it when we turn off the lights in the house, and just leave the Christmas tree lights on. Ryan did a really good job putting lights on the tree, even with Ty "helping". We had a lot of fun, and our house smells so good! I love this time of year!


Notice the decorations all over the floor.
Here is our finished product. We got these decorations the first year we were married. They are not my favorite, but I think our tree turned out pretty nice. If you can't tell from all the red in our tree, Ryan picked out all of the decorations.

Bubbles

Ty has not been very cooperative in the bath lately. He gets really excited when I tell him it is time to take one, but when he actually gets in he isn't as excited. Then when I try to wash his hair or his body the excitement is completely gone. He just screams. If I would let him stand in the tub and play with his toys he would be happy with taking a bath but that is not very safe. So today I tried something new. He loves blowing bubbles with his Grandpa so I thought he might like bubbles in the tub. Unfortunately that is not the case. At first he thought they were pretty neat. As long as they weren't anywhere near him.
This picture is deceiving because he looks happy, but that is because he doesn't know the bubbles are on his head.
I added a few more, and he got some on his hands and he wasn't so sure he liked that. It was the having them on his hands that bothered him the most. I kept trying to show him that if he put his hands in the water they would wash away.

He just wanted the bubbles to go away. He kept giving me the sign for all gone. So I moved all the bubbles to one end of the tub, and that worked for a minute. But then he just wanted to get out, and we ended yet another bath time with Ty screaming. I don't understand. I thought kids love bubble baths. They sure sale a lot of different kinds of bubble baths at the store, giving me the impression that that is a fun thing for kids. Not Ty. Maybe he will come around some day.

Thanksgiving

I am so bad at taking pictures. I am making progress though. I used to forget the camera altogether, everywhere we went. Now I at least remember to bring it, I just forget to take pictures with it. I hope I can get better at that before Ty gets too old. So my point is that we had two wonderful Thanksgiving celebrations, and I have 1 picture to show for it.
Our first Thanksgiving dinner was with the Thompson family. We all got together Wednesday night. It was so much fun to have everyone there, and to eat such yummy food! Thank you to the Thompson family for such a fun night.
Next we headed up to Altamont, Utah to stay at a huge lodge and have Thanksgiving with my family. My brother Matt got married on the 22nd, so we had everyone in town this year, except for my cute little brother David who is on a mission in Atlanta, Georgia. We missed him! It is tradition in my family to have our big dinner on Friday, instead of Thursday. We used to go down to Kanab to visit my Grandma Crosby for Thanksgiving, and in order for everyone to have time to get down there, we would hold dinner off until Friday. So Ryan, Ty and I had two Thanksgiving dinners, and neither of them were on Thanksgiving day. We thought that was funny.
My 1 picture is of Ryan, Ty, my brother Marc and his son Sam, playing on one of the ponds outside the lodge. Sam and Ty got to be good buddies on that trip. It was fun to watch them play together! We had such a good time over the Thanksgiving holiday. (Well except for the BYU vs. Utah game, but that is another story.) We love to spend time with family and are so thankful that so many are close by!

Halloween

I know this is a little late, but I had to post some pictures of Ty in his halloween costume. We had a fun night. Ryan took Ty trick-or-treating, (to two whole houses) and I helped my mom and dad with their traditional scones. Ty was such a cute little monkey. We got the idea from Sam, because that is what he was last year. I thought he was so cute I asked Tricia where she got the costume. They had one left at Old Navy when I went and it just happened to be Ty's size. All night Ty was saying "EE-EE" which is his impression of a monkey. What a cutie!

Monkey Ty and his pen of course

Grandpa and Ty. Ty got a ring pop while trick-or-treating, and he thought it was a binky. He would not take it out of his mouth. He loved it!

Allergic Reaction

Can you believe that we are still battling Ty's illness. He was put on amoxicillin to help clear up his strep throat, and after 6 days of being on it, he woke up looking like one big red dot. When I first called the doctor, they told me it was probably chicken pox! Ryan was the one who told me to ask them again because of the amoxicillin he was taking. It is a long story, but we finally figured it out, and Ty is very allergic to amoxicillin. He has never had to take it before, but this will definitely be the last time. He is completely covered with a rash. The palms of his hands, the bottoms of his feet, his ears, everywhere. So if you ever wondered what it might look like to be allergic to amoxicillin, here are some pictures. I know they look horrible, but Ty is actually not bothered by the rash at all. He acts like nothing is wrong.

In Search of the Perfect Pumpkin

Over the weekend, we took Ty to find a pumpkin, and to get a cute picture of him in a pumpkin patch. I've seen lots of pictures of kids sitting with a whole bunch of pumpkins, and I think they are cute, so I wanted one of Ty. It was a lot harder then I thought. We first started at Wheeler Farm. They had a lot of fun stuff going on, but unfortunately, because we had procrastinated, their pumpkin patch didn't look like much of a pumpkin patch anymore. They only had one or two pumpkins left, and they were green. So that wasn't going to work. Ty had fun watching the ducks though.

So already, we were out of ideas. We decided to drive around to the grocery stores and see what kind of selection they had. The background of our picture wasn't going to be as cute, but at least we would have a pumpkin. Ty loved sitting in the pumpkins, but he would not look at the camera. We decided to drive around some more, and see if we could find a better spot.

We found a cute place on 33rd South with all sorts of halloween decorations, and hooray, a pumkin patch. We got a few pictures, and then Ty picked out a pumpkin. It was a really fun place, and I don't know why I have never noticed it before.

Now it was time to carve the pumpkin. We tried to have Ty help scoop the seeds out, but he didn't want anything to do with it. He was more content to sit by, chewing on his pen, of course, and watch dad do it. It wasn't until we finished carving, lit the candle, and turned all the lights off that Ty became fascinated with his pumpkin. Maybe next year Ty will be more excited about this whole process. Ryan and I had a blast!

Snow!!!!

I just wanted to do a quick blog on the first snow fall of this winter season. Last night it snowed here in Salt Lake. It was crazy! I don't remember it snowing this early. Halloween night is usually when we get snow. I guess that is not so far away, maybe I am just not ready for the snow. I am doing an elementary school crossing all week, so it is not fun standing outside when it is freezing cold. Ryan took Ty out to play in the snow for a few minutes. Every time he would bring him in Ty would sign please, please, more! He loved it! Ryan took some really cute pictures too, so I thought I would share.

Ty's Favorite Things

Wow, what a week! Ty is still sick, so much for a short illness this time! His fever hit 104 over the weekend and I took him to the doctor. They called me yesterday to let me know he has strep throat. Poor little guy. I'm told it won't last too much longer. When he is sick, he becomes a binky boy. He knows he can only have the binky when he is laying down, and when he doesn't feel good, he will just lay around all day sucking on his binky. He loves that binky. I have planned to take it away many times, but I just can't bring myself to do it. We have so many trips planned, and I think if he has his binky it will make things a little easier for him. Eventually I will have to do it, but it is going to be so hard on both of us. I thought if I found something else he really likes, maybe I could trade him that for the binky. The two things other than his binky that he can't live without are his books, and pens. His first words in the morning are mama, dada, book, and pen.

I don't know what it is about pens that he loves so much, but if I give him one, his face lights up and he carries it around with him everywhere. Obviously I can't put him to bed with a handful of pens, that would be dangerous, so that leaves me with his books. He loves to be read to, and I often find him sitting looking through his books all by himself. Although, un-supervised he is a danger to his books. We have already replaced a few. So I don't know if putting him to bed with his books is a good idea either, because all we would be left with in the morning is pieces of books. I guess there is just no easy way to do it. I am not going to buy any of the 18 month pacifiers though, they are huge, so next month, whether we like it or not, the binky has to go. It is going to be a sad day!

Sick Ty

As I mentioned in the last post, Ty is 16 months old. He was relatively healthy from birth until 12 months, but something happened when he turned 1. Something bad! He cannot go more then a month without getting sick. He has had RSV, Influenza, Roseola, Asthma attacks, and the list goes on. I don't understand what I am doing wrong. I promise I keep him clean. I bathe him regularly, I wash his hands multiple times a day, I keep him away from kids that I know have illnesses. I do everything I know to keep him healthy, but it doesn't work. The day after I left to Alaska, he got sick, and was sick the whole time I was gone, and a few days after I got back. That was when he got Roseola. So that was around September 25. Over the weekend I was thinking uh oh, it has almost been a month, time for Ty's monthly illness. I checked him a few times a day to make sure he didn't have a fever. I could feel it was coming. Sure enough, yesterday afternoon, while eating dinner at Grandma's and Grandpa's, Ty threw up. Right after, he got a fever of 101.9. We took him home and gave him Tylenol, and that worked for an hour, until his fever climbed again, this time to 103.3! It was pretty scary, but with the help of otter pops, and ib profen, we got the fever under control. Today he is a little Grumpy, but feeling pretty good. Hopefully we got a short one this time. When will it ever end? Although he doesn't feel his best, he will still smile for the camera.

Well, I did it!! I have had so much fun looking at other people's blogs, thinking how cute and creative they are, and I didn't have a lot of hope for myself. I have always longed to be creative, to be able to make cute scrapbooks for my family. To decorate my house cute, changing decorations with each season, but I just don't have it in me. However, I have been convinced by many bloggers that this is fool proof. So here I go. We'll see if it can even handle creativity impaired Becca.
I thought I would start with an update of the Thompson family. Ryan and I have just returned from a fishing trip to Alaska. I don't know if I can call it a fishing trip, because there were no fish this time. But it was fun anyway. The trip meant leaving Ty for the first time with Grandma and Grandpa. Ty is 16 months old now, and this is the first time we were away from him for more then a few hours. It was tough, but Grandma and Grandpa did a good job. Now Ryan is back to work. He is getting used to a new office and new co-workers after his transfer to Ogden. Ty and I are getting re-aquainted, since he apparently forgot me while I was gone. He cried when I took him from his Grandma. It took him a few days to realize he did in fact know me. Other then that, life is good at the Thompson home

Ty at 16 months

That is the only fish we could catch, a shark!!!!

No fish, but we saw lots of whales. This humpback came within 50 yards of our boat! It was cool, but a little nerve racking.

I tried to find a picture of Ryan, but apparently we left him out of every picture. I'll get him next time. Finally, I finished my first blog. I am not going to lie, that was really hard!