10 things about Tyler lately

In accordance with being back to blogging - here's an update on Tyler. My little boy is getting so big! Tyler is almost 9 months old, and so many things are changing daily for us and him.

• Tyler has a Congenital Heart Defect and had Open Heart Surgery when he was 8 days old on May 24th, 2013. Before May 23rd of last year, I never knew anything about Congenital Heart Defects. By May 24th, we got a crash course in Pediatric Congenital Heart Defects, more specifically, Infra-diaphragmatic TAPVR (Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return). Please GO HERE for Tyler's CHD story. As of Monday 2/3/2014, he is off of his Digoxin heart medication, which was regulating his heart beat and helped it to heal. His cardiologist wanted him off Digoxin for a week before his appointment next week, where he will have an echocardiogram and EKG along with a full checkup; and then return home for 24 hours with a halter monitor which will record all heart activity. If all goes well, he will be off of heart medication (praying forever!!!). There isn't a crystal ball for what the future will hold and we can only pray he never has any other complications from his Heart Defect. The rest of his updates will be less critical the #1

• Tyler is doing great on solid foods. He loves all vegetables & fruits so far, with the exception of peas. Can't say I blame him. He has cereal and a jar of fruit in the morning, then cereal and a jar of vegetables for lunch. Dinner time (6:30) we just moved up to cereal, a full jar of veggies and half jar of fruit. He has a bottle 4x a day - 7am, 11am, 3pm and right before bedtime around 7:30. He is taking less formula to about 20-24 ounces a day now since he's increasing his solid food intake, which is normal.

• Tyler is sleeping 11 hours at night. He goes to sleep at 8pm - the same time as Julianna. They both wake up around 7am... and sleep in the same room. What a pain in the you know what that has been, but they are finally OK sleeping together where one doesn't wake the other up. I'm writing a post about kids sharing their room. It's been challenging.

• Tyler is in 12 month clothes and size 4 diapers. He's so much wider & chunkier than my daughter was at this age. I know they say not to compare, but I love comparing the 2 at each stage of their life to see who was wearing what and what they are doing. He takes 2 naps a day, one around 9:30 to 11am, and the second one around 1:30 to 3pm. He has a slight witching hour some nights around dinner time but not nearly as bad as when he was an infant. 

• He's not crawling yet, but wants to stand up ALL of the time! He is not happy unless he is standing with us holding him. He sits on the floor and plays nicely with his toys, but he really needs attention. He is not like Julianna, where we could leave her on the floor with a toy and she would entertain herself. Tyler will play but then whine for someone to come play with him or hold him. He is sooo very needy. He likes playing on his belly and is just about pushing himself up on his knees and can push himself backwards. He'll be crawling soon.

• He just has his first Gerber Puff and first sip of water out of a sippy cup this week.

• Tyler has become a bigtime belly sleeper. About a month ago, he decided to roll onto his belly in his crib to sleep and hasn't gone back since. I put him on his back, and he can't flip fast enough to his belly. He loves sleeping on his belly! Since he's almost 9 months old, the SIDS risk is almost none or zero. It's fine - and besides, good luck trying to get him not to sleep on his belly all night! He slept on his back through 8 months old. That is still very good.

• He loves playing with light-up toys and toys tat make noise- he also likes turning the toys over to see the underneath, as if he's inspecting it. He also loves peek-a-boo and loves when big sister plays with him. He loves her and watches her every move when she's in the room. She often tries to comfort him with a toy or talking softly to him when he's crying or upset.

• When me or Brian hold Tyler, he often tries to twist and roll off our laps, and then whines & complains. He only wants to stand or play on the floor. I can not wait for him to walk so he can go do his own thing haha! He won't be so needy then! He also gets his hands on everything and anything he can. My hair, my earrings, my glasses, paper, stuff on the fridge, my laptop or phone, anything on the table, my coffee.... etc! I can't drink coffee or eat while holding him because he lunges at everything. It's a 2-handed job holding him. Multi-tasking is not an option.

• Tyler says Mama and Dada. That's about it for talking so far. He does a ton of talking in his own language and it's hysterical. Julianna often says he talks too much, although she talks an awful lot too! Little does she realize! Tyler does know his name and laughs at the dog. He laughs at everything now- it's great!

I just love my little boy so much. It's so very true what they say about mama's and their little boys! I love holding him and nuzzling his fuzzy head. When he looks at me and says "Mama Mama Mama" and gives me a big smile, it melts my heart! Oh how this little boy owns me!
There is a part of me that never wants him to get bigger, but then there is a part of me that wants him to get bigger & more independent. Since I came off of a few bad months, I have been trying to take in each day, almost as if I need to make up the time I blew when I was going through my 'crazy' stage. Go HERE to read about why I was MIA for a while.