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Erin's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 12/11/00 -------------------- 11/29/00 11/14/00 11/7/00 10/25/00 10/17/00 10/4/00 9/26/00 9/19/00 9/6/00 9/1/00 8/18/00 8/11/00 8/6/00 7/27/00 7/17/00 7/4/00 6/26/00 6/21/00 6/13/00 6/7/00 5/22/00 5/15/00 5/8/00 5/1/00 4/26/00 4/23/00 4/17/00 4/10/00 4/5/00 -------------------- Erin's Introduction

November 29, 2000

Let's begin the countdown! Exactly two weeks and counting until Tyler officially turns ONE!! WOOHOO!! I have suddenly become overly excited about this, not that I wasn't excited in the first place -- it just seems so much bigger now that it is only two short weeks away. All of the sudden Tyler has taken off into new directions, too. He seems like he is really becoming a toddler. Whoa, hold on -- did I say TODDLER???? I guess I did and I guess that my son will officially BE one in two weeks. He stands more often now and will even balance himself on his OWN. He can find his head, his nose and sometimes knows where his belly is. Tyler is constantly babbling to himself or to anyone who will listen, which most of the time is ME. So, I think I've become very fluent in baby babble. Think it will do me any good in some foreign country? Doubt it! AND, here's the biggie, today is the official cut off for bottles!!! Yep, bottles are soon to be no more in this household. I guess Tyler is OK with it, but this drinking milk thing is a little odd for him. Plus, I'm not used to him taking his time to just sip it out from a cup, I'm used to him downing a bottle in about 10 minutes. But, he'll learn and so will I. It's just another chapter in the parenting book, isn't it?

So, I'm guessing that you all probably want to know more specifics about the plans for Tyler's very FIRST birthday party!! It really isn't going to be big, people-wise, but I am planning on doing a lot! Really there will only be one little friend of Tyler's there and I'm sure they'll have a great time together. As for food, I think I already told you all that I plan on cooking beef barbecue (yes, I'll be cooking it!) and making these really great veggie pizzas for snacks. I think I'm also going to have a few dips or something, we'll see. As for the cake, I just got the tin delivered yesterday and it looks like it will be so much fun to make!! I just have to go get all the supplies because I have NEVER made a cake like this before! I was thinking of doing yellow and chocolate marble cake, because, well it's MY favorite! And really Tyler doesn't have a favorite yet, so he'll just have to see if he likes this kind. If not, we'll make a different one next year!! Oh, I think I forgot to mention that the cake is a Winnie the Pooh tin. It's Winnie the Pooh holding the number one, very cute!! On the instructions they gave the idea to write your child's name on the big number one, so I think I'm going to try that. I am going to do a practice cake later this week, so we'll see how it turns out! I also ordered some Pooh Happy Birthday streamers, tons of balloons (red and purple), and plates and napkins. I plan on hanging balloons and streamers all over the place!! I was thinking that after his birthday I am going to use the napkins and his birthday cards as background for some scrapbook pages. I thought it would be an interesting idea. That way I won't lose any of his very first birthday cards. All in all I think it is going to be a GREAT day (I hope)!!!

I think that Tyler has lost most of his "baby" look. Every time I look at him I think that he looks so much more like a toddler. His hair is finally starting to grow in more, he actually has FOUR teeth and loves to crunch up his food with them (I think he loves the sound), and he is actually starting to mimic our words. Sometimes he'll say "hi" if I say "Hi Tyler" to him, although it sounds more like "eye." He says it with such enthusiasm, too. Sometimes he'll try and say book which really just sounds like "buh" and he'll do the same when he tries to say brush. At least he's getting the sounds right and associating them with something. And now that I'm taking away the bottle, there's no more time of just us two sitting on the couch while he contently drinks his "ba." As much as I LOVED that time, I've realized that it is time to give up the "ba" and say GOODBYE TO FORMULA!!!!!!!!! YEAHH!!!!! I'm sure that somewhere in the future my son will cuddle with me for no reason other than that he loves me. Actually, I think that I've received more hugs in the past two days than I normally do! I guess he's making up for it that way. I am so glad that the bottles are soon to be permanently gone though. I do not want him to still be attached to a bottle when he's 2 years old. That is definitely not a habit that I want him to have. So, we just jumped right in and took them away now. Hopefully in a week or two he'll get used to the new routine ... as I talk about all this stuff, I do realize that I am going to miss everything that we did while he was a baby, but I am SOOO looking forward to all that we are going to do in the future. That's the good thing here -- we may be closing the book on the first year of Tyler's life, but there's TONS more ahead of us and all of those new experiences will just create more amazing memories to share as we grow older.

OK, I've had some things on my mind lately. After our Pittsburgh trip over Thanksgiving, which was WONDERFUL, Steve and I have kind of been talking about moving there. If we did, it wouldn't be for at least another year, but we are discussing it. I know that Steve would love to be in his hometown again and near all his family and friends again. He's been gone from there for six years. Plus, I LOVE that city. I love everything about Pittsburgh and everything in all the outlying areas, except for the bad parts, but every city has those. I also LOVE Steve's family to death and we all have such a great time together. But, there is another side to it. I don't know how I would handle being away from my family like that. I love my family and I have never been away from them, but I'm wondering if it's time that I ventured out just a little and moved to something new. You do know that I'm only 22, Belleville is the only place I've ever lived! I just keep thinking about how they would react and how much they would probably miss Steve, Tyler and I and when I think of that it really just makes my heart actually ache. Like right now I can feel it as I type this. Sometimes I'm afraid that they would be mad at me for moving and taking Tyler away from them, but I guess I should know better than that. My parents have ALWAYS been supportive of me, thank God for that. But, Steve and I were talking about it and said that really, Tyler and I could go visit whenever we want. They have those e-saver tickets and Tyler and I could fly out maybe once a month or every other month. Plus, Steve won't take a job that gives any less than three weeks of vacation to start, so two weeks out of the year we could go visit. I guess I'm just rattling stuff off here, we're only in the talking stage of this whole thing, but I tend to make more of things than what they really are. Guess it's just my red-headedness that gives me a lot of passion and a HOT temper!!!

I have yet another subject on my mind. I've been thinking about having more kids AGAIN!! But this time, my thoughts have changed. Yes, I do want another child, but I think that I want to wait longer than what I was thinking. I really want my body back and if I get pregnant again in five months, that just won't happen. I've just started getting back in to an exercise routine and I'm starting to feel really good about it. So, I guess we'll just see what happens and when the time is right for another, we'll go for it! We also talked about how many more we want and I told Steve that I think my body can only handle ONE other pregnancy! I just don't think that I can go through three PGs. I guess I'm being selfish here, but it is MY body. Steve was totally understanding about it too, which is one of the things I TOTALLY LOVE about him. I think that I have the most understanding husband in the entire world. That's good because I did tell Steve that I wasn't sure that I even wanted to have another child. I don't know where it came from, but I just really want to have a lot of time with just us three, but I'm sure the time will come when my urge for another will grow again and that's when we'll have another. I really hope that you all don't think less of me for this, it's just something that I've really been thinking about lately.

Now, let's get off the serious note and I have to share just a little bit with you about our Thanksgiving. First let me say that Steve's mom's side of the family are big drinkers. Not that they're alcoholics or anything, they just like to have good alcohol when they all get together. And there are a lot that get together, there were 27 of us on Thanksgiving!!! Tyler was a little overwhelmed to say the least!! Anyways, can you all guess what happened to me? Yep, I got drunk, on THANKSGIVING!!! How bad is that? I guess I was just sucked in to it and ended up drinking more than I thought I was. But, I still had TONS of fun and Tyler had a great day. Sad thing though, I don't even remember tasting my food. I just remember pouring the wine for myself and my sister-in-law and both of us cracking up at each other and everyone else!! Thank God Steve is the level-headed one!!!!

I have to apologize to all of you for not keeping up with my diary all that well lately. And PLEASE forgive me for not keeping up with the posts on my boards, I will catch up soon, I promise!! It has been so hectic around here and whenever Tyler naps I end up finding 50 different things that I need to do. I had to take a break from doing my scrapbook again because so much is going on. Maybe it's because we took two trips in a little over a month's time and it's just adding up I guess. I've even been debating on whether or not I am going to continue on to Toddlers Today. I have the e-mail in my in-box about the agreement, but I haven't done anything with it yet. I'm just wondering if I'm going to be able to find the time to do it. Especially now that Tyler is all over the place and seems to be getting closer to walking everyday. I haven't decided yet, so it's not a definite no. I just have to decide soon! I would hate to leave you all, even though I am sure that I would pop in on the boards at LEAST once or twice a week.

Well, I better end this here. I have some things to do while Tyler is napping and then we have to go over to my grandparents' for my grandfather's 80th birthday. And after that Steve and my dad are going to hook up our new dishwasher, the old one was leaking. So, I'll leave you with two more of the black and whites from September. I hope everyone that celebrates Thanksgiving had a great day and wonderful food!! Give extra squeezes to all your little ones!!

Erin