"I Love it!"

Could he be having any more fun?

These next few pictures are from Sunday's snow

Snow, Snow, Snow! I think we got around 6-8inches of new snow last night and this morning and it's STILL snowing! On Sunday we played in the snow for awhile, Ty wasn't feeling well so we weren't out there that long. Today was a different story. Ty saw it snowing outside and he ran to get his gloves on and didn't hesitate to get all bundled up to go and play in the snow. I made the family pancakes, put Tatum down for a nap and then the three of us went outside and enjoyed the snow. Pat was shoveling the driveway, while Ty and I made a snowman and "snow" castles. Ty just kept saying, "I love it!" and "So much fun mommy." We went for a walk down our street and Ty enjoyed every second of it! It is so fun watching my kid enjoy the snow and the new memories that we will have now.

"A Lifetime Original Story"

Christmas Tree

This is a story written by Mama Swapp

One snowy winter day, a mama put up her beautiful Christmas tree. She sat in her living room gazing at it's beauty. Then her son woke up from his nap and...

"No, Ty, No!" said the mama as her son is pulling an ornament off the tree.

"HeeHee," said the son.

"No Ty, don't touch the ornaments! Just look!" said the mama again.

"Ooh!" said the boy again!

The boy runs away from the mama.

The mama goes about her business taking care of her other sweet baby. She thinks, oh maybe he will only touch the tree once and get it out of his system.

The boy runs to the tree shouting, "Oh, Christmas tree, look mommy, look!"

The mama again tells her son, "Just look Ty, just look."

The mama looks and sees her son holding his toy "Leap" (the leap pad toy) hitting the tree ornaments.
She hears her son say, "No touching Leap, just look."

The mama gives up and realizes her dreams of having a perfect looking tree are over and moves the darn ornaments half-way up the tree where her little boy can't touch them.

To be continued...

"All Aboard"

Today we went on the Whatcom Railway Christmas Train out of Wickersham ( 10 miles north of Sedro Woolley on Hwy 9) with Pat's mom and stepdad. It was a lot fun. We were fighting horrible colds so we weren't sure how Ty was going to do but he ended up having a great time riding a train. When we first got on the train there was a guy with a banjo singing Christmas songs and Ty was crying and screaming, "No singing! No Singing!" Then he rallied and enjoyed the rest of the trip and of course he thought the train was Thomas from "Thomas the Train." We stopped half way and got out and took pictures with Santa and then Santa came inside the train and Ty got to sit on his lap. I was shocked, but Ty LOVED Santa. I was hoping it would snow today so that we would get some pretty pictures up there but it was just bone chilling cold. Tatum of course was perfect as always and enjoyed looking at the people and staying toasty warm. It was also fun seeing The Neyens Family on the train too!

A Big Day

Tater loved Elmo Live at my grandma's house, she's finally "playing" with someone her size.

Tatum's first swing ride

Gas'n up the car.

Wahoo! Going for a ride.

Tatum and her GiGi

Winter jammies from Grandma Maggie

I tried to get a picture of her clapping

Ty told us he was too big for the wagon and then he wanted Tatum in it.

We had a cozy day at home yesterday, Ty wanted me to wrap him up in a blanket.

We had a big day in the Swapp household yesterday. Tatum decided to start clapping, get on her knees and move herself backwards when she is on her tummy. When we say "Yeah Tatum" she starts to clap, it's so dang adorable. I am not sure that I am ready for her to move. I really like the fact that when I leave the room and come back, she is still in the same place!

It's so fun having a girl and being able to dress her up. My mother-in-law got Tatum 5 Christmas outfits, luckily we have at least five Christmas functions to go to. I got Ty and Tatum's pictures taken today so they wore some of their Christmas clothes, they looked so cute, but of course I am biased because I am their mother! I ended up just going to Target to get their pictures taken in Lake Stevens. My grandma went with...thank goodness. The kids were great but when it was time for me to pick the pics I liked, Ty was all done! I was really surprised that they turned out pretty good. Then we went to "Andrew"s Playroom" in Arlington, a play center for young kids. Ty had a great time, he loved the Thomas the Train ride-on toy the most. I think he spent an hour out of the two hours we were there on it. It was so nice to spend the day with my grandma, we don't do that very often. I am usually so worried about getting my kids and their naps and not messing with their routines but for some reason I didn't care today and everything went great. I guess I should break out of the the mold a little more often.

Sibling Love

We bundled up one day and went for a little hike. Tatum loved it!
Because we took a picture of Tatum, Ty had to be included too!
I was trying to capture a cute moment but it didn't quite work. Ty got the helmet for his birthday. So one day he woke up and wanted his helmet on and he was playing with his kitchen. By the time I got my camera he ran into our kitchen and this ended up being the picture that I took.

It's been a pretty busy two weeks, I just realized haven't added any pictures to the blog in awhile. Then I realized that I didn't even take one picture at Thanksgiving. Tatum wasn't feeling well so I held her the whole time so I just didn't get out my camera. Even though Tatum was sick, she sure looked cute! She ended up having an ear infection with a 102.9 temperature...poor baby girl! She is now feeling better and back to her normal happy self. She is just so precious. Ty has been wonderful this week! He is so dang funny and has started to sing lots of songs. His favorite right now is to sing Happy Birthday to himself over and over again. Ty is going to think that every time someone sings Happy Birthday it's directed at him. Ty just loves his baby sister. He brings her toys to play with and when she was sick, he would say, "it's ok Tater Bug." He told his friend Riley, "Be careful of Tatum" when they were playing on the floor. It makes me so happy that he loves her, I just hope he stays that way and protects her when they are growing up. It has been so nice with volleyball over. I forget how much time we have when Pat gets home from work when I don't have volleyball...it's so nice!

Ty's 2 year stats

Ty now weighs 28lbs which is in the 60th percentile and his height is 36 1/4 inches which is the 90th percentile. I am so glad that he is not on the "little" side any more because at his last appt he was in the 25th percentile. Ty's doctor was very impressed with his vocabulary and said he was very healthy! And he got two shots and didn't even flinch, I was impressed because I got my flu shot last week and it hurt!

Ty turns 2!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Well, actually Ty doesn't turn two until next Friday but we had a birthday party for him today since we will be gone next week at my volleyball tournament on his real birthday. I can't believe that my baby is turning 2. He was so excited and LOVED that all of his family came to celebrate his birthday. I made Ty an Elmo birthday cake. While I was making it, he was saying, "Wow, Oh thank you mommy, Oh thank you mommy."

It was so nice this year because he actually understood the concept of his birthday and what it was all about. He liked all of his presents and told everybody thank you after he opened each one. Pat and I got Ty a play kitchen. I know that people tend to get kitchens for little girls but every place we go that has a kitchen, that is what he plays with. He loved it! It makes all sorts of noises and has a light that turns on. I wanted to get him something that would be a toy that he would play with for a long time and that he would play independently...I have my fingers crossed that this toy will keep him occupied during the lovely cold and rainy days of winter. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of Ty because he wouldn't stay still for very long but I did get quite a few of Tater. She was so good and didn't make a peep getting passed around from one family member to another.

This was such a fun day for all of us. Ty genuinely loved everything about his birthday party from the Elmo napkins to his new Kitchen. I just love that little boy!

Jungle Playland

This is Kaeden and Kennadi at the top of the slide. I tried to take a picture of them going down the slide but they went too fast.

Lisa and her little boy Connor.

Ty going down the slide on his tummy.

Kendyl saying, "Cheese Auntie" she loves her picture being taken.

Quinn enjoying going down the slide.

Ty looking at the BIG ALLIGATOR on the wall.

Ty and Kendyl going down the toddler slides over and over again. They had so much fun playing with each other.

Balls, balls and more balls

Kaeden, Kennadi, Kendyl and Ty playing in the balls.

Last week I met my sister, her kids, my friend Lisa and her two kids at Jungle playland in Mount Vernon. Oh my goodness...it should be called Jungle Crazy Land. Luckily we went on a weekday because I couldn't imagine how crazy it would be on a weekend. Ty had a good time, he went down the slide once with me but that was it. The slides there are so fast you fly down them and land hard on your butt, even I was a bit nervous. He enoyed the balls and the toddler area.

Tatum's 6 month stats

Tatum had her 6 month appointment this morning and of course she was wonderful as always. She was grabbing the doctor's stethescope and sucking on it and when she got her 4 shots she cried for about 15 seconds and then she was smiling at the nurse. She is just so precious.

Her stats:
weight: 16 lbs 3oz-60th percentile
height: 28 in- a little bigger than 97th percentile
head size: 43.6cm-80th percentile

So, she is long and lean (she obviously doesn't take after her mama) but you wouldn't know that looking at her rolls on her legs. My favorite outfit on Tatum is when she is just in her onesie and socks and you can see her little leg rolls. I just want her to stay this size and age for a little longer, she is just so cute and fun right now. She really doesn't like to roll over very much, she would rather sit and play with her toys or lay and suck on her toes!