Big Brother!!!

Yes, you read that right. I was going to try to wait until next Monday to post, but I just can't. Tegan is going to be a big brother sometime around March 10, 2009! YAY! (If you're trying to do the math in your head, that puts me at about 3 months along.) We are so very excited! That will put the kiddos just over 2 years apart AND I won't have to go back to work until the fall after my maternity leave. Woohoo! I haven't decided if I'm going to start a separate blog to "journal" about the new pregnancy or combine the two... what do you think???

Eating cereal like a big boy.

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of my system, on to the reason you logged on. :) The past week has been a bit tough on me since it's the last week before I go back to work for the school year. I also think T is sensing my anxiety and sadness as he's been VERY cuddly. We have been able to do a few extra fun things, though, to make the end of the summer be extra special. (And it's also the last summer T will have me all to himself.)
On Saturday we decided we were sick of being home so we called up Grandpa Eastwood and decided to meet up at the Como Zoo in St. Paul. I think T was more interested in all the people and things around him rather than the animals. However, we did get to go into the butterfly exhibit they have and T seemed to really enjoy seeing the butterflies that landed on Mommy and 'Papa. One even landed on T's hat. It was cute, too, because other kids were pointing out the b'fly on T, even though he couldn't see it.

Sunday was especially nice, in my opinion, because we had NOTHING planned. No bike races, no trips, NOTHING. Just church and a beautiful afternoon for Mommy, Daddy and T to spend together. We ended up cutting down some branches and vines that were hanging quite low in the backyard, as well as a little bit of weeding and a lot of just play relaxing and fun. Tegan did learn how to knock on the windows and doors... that's how we woke Daddy up from his super long nap :) Hehehe!

Grandma Eastwood came to get her dose of T-time on Wed and Thurs this week, so T really enjoyed that as he hasn't seen her in a few weeks. Thursday was extra special because we got out of the house again and went for a walk around the Galleria in Edina to window-shop. As always, T loved seeing and saying "hi" to all the people there. We even let G'ma go into a plate store (or dishes or tableware or whatever you wanna call it) but T and I didn't stay long as 1) it's not our thing and 2) the last thing I wanted was for T to reach out and grab something only to have it and several other things come crashing to the ground. :)

Safety First!

Thursday night we went to visit some of my friends from High School. One of them even brought her little boy, Braden, who is 2 and both he and Tegan had a wonderful time. It was SO cute watching them play together... even though T basically just copied everything Braden did. HAHA!

Today I decided that T and I should have one last special breakfast together, so we went to Panera and split a strawberry smoothie and a spinach and artichoke souffle/quiche. We both enjoyed it, and even though T probably won't remember the experience, I will. He was SO excited to sit in a regular chair, drink the smoothie from the super fat straw it came with and eat the same thing as mommy... all without wearing a bib.

"Hi-eeeee!"

To finish the week, we went to St. Paul to have lunch with my sis, Amanda. T slept most of the way there, which has made this afternoon's nap very difficult, but he TRULY enjoyed all the attention he got from his Auntie Amanda and all her coworkers.

Never thought you'd see one of these, did you?! HA!

How's that for a week's recap? Hope you are all doing well and your summer is wrapping up nicely, too... even if you don't have the summers off :)

Love to all!

~jenn

18 Months Old!

Well, Tegan is now officially 18 months old, yup 1 1/2 years! I cannot believe how fast the time is flying. Geez! T had his 18mo check-up last week and here are the latest stats:

Weight: 29 lbs 2 oz = 87%tile

Height: 33.2in = 81%tile

Head Circum: 18.7in = 44%tile

I always find it funny that T's head measures smaller than average because it seems so normal to me... maybe it's because it's just not huge like a lot of kids' heads. Who knows. Regardless, I think his head is perfect. Here's a pic of how perfect his head fits in his new helmet... which he wears everywhere!

The past several days have been a bit rough on us, again, though this time we are pretty darn sure it's because of teething. Tegan now has a VERY runny nose and it constantly chewing on his fingers. I'm trying to remember to give him Tylenol, but I also don't want to give it to him if he doesn't seem like he needs it. Tylenol or not, the poor guy is having a heck of a time sleeping at night since he gets all plugged up and just has to have that darn paci in his mouth. It's tough to breathe and suck on a pacifier at the same time. I finally gave up on rocking him the other night and we came out and slept on the couch together for a while so that I could keep his head elevated and I could sleep too. That helped a bit and he did sleep all night last night w/o waking up even one time. What a big boy! I also think it's because he's given up on the paci when he just can't breathe with it in.

Last week I found a garage sale gem... a Little Tikes jungle gym for only $20! Even better was the fact that the sale was just down our street so my dad and I put it up on the top of my car and drove it home. T loves it, despite the tears in the pics (we tried to take the paci away). I also found a Little Tikes Cozy Coup at another garage sale (2 doors down) and they gave it to us for free since it was staying in the neighborhood. It's definitely seen a lot of love, but it still rolls, so that's all that T cares about; that and the door opens and closes and the steering wheel spins! :)

I'm trying to think of what else has been happening in our little world, but I really can't think of much... I guess no news is good news, right? I know there's something I've been meaning to put in here, but I can't remember right now. Sorry.

Love to all!

~j

I know, I know...

It's been a long time since I last blogged, sorry. I'll make sure to post several pics this time to make up for last week's lack of pictures.

Trying on Daddy's new t-shirt.

The last week has been rather busy for us, even though we haven't really gone anywhere. Last week T and I had our first picnic together in the backyard. I sat on the blanket and ate and Tegan ran all over the yard and came back for bites as needed. HA! I swear, the kid burned more calories exploring the yard than he ate for lunch. Silly boy!

Where's Tegan???

Peek-A-Boo! There he is! :)

He did, though, show me that he can swing on the big-boy swing all by himself!!! WHOA Tegan!


This was a tiring week for me. Tegan had a really rough few nights where he just didn't want to sleep. I don't know if the poor guy has bad dreams, or has been sleeping extra lightly, or if it's teething or what, but Tuesday night was especially rough with me basically being up from 3 on with Mr. Cranky-pants. I don't know what it was, but it went from wanting the pacifier (which had fallen out of the crib) to "needing" to be rocked, to wanting Daddy but not wanting to lay in bed with Daddy to finally, at 5a.m. being "up" for the day. UGH! Thankfully T took a nice long nap from 8-11:30 that morning... and so did I. Unfortunately there was no afternoon nap that day, so we had a cranky afternoon. Wednesday night wasn't as bad, though T did end up in bed with us after an hour or so of rocking, pacing, singing, comforting, crying, etc. Last night was SO much better, with him only waking once and just for the paci (on the floor).


New developments over the past week or so include an EXTREME obsession/fascination with the train set that G'ma Moore is gradually building for T. For Christmas and B'day T got a some tracks, bridges and trains for the BRIO train set. Now, all I hear throughout the day is "nains?" Yes, that's how he says trains and he LOVES to play trains and make them crash off the tracks. It is cute to watch, though T really wants you to play WITH him. After about 20 rounds of trains it gets a little old for Mommy and Daddy... to say the least. "Mama" Moore, be ready to play LOTS of trains next time you come visit! :) Oh, and the blocks "Mama" Moore got him are now a favorite to stuff down his shirt! T just loves it when they all fall out. Hahaha!

Another new interest for Tegan is books! Yes, Tegan will now sit in your lap and read books with you. His favorites are the 2 that, again, G'ma Moore got him. They are peek-a-boo or lift-the-flap books, and thank goodness the flaps are strong! Tegan isn't the most gentle person with books, but he sure loves to find what's hiding.

Last Saturday Daddy, Tegan and I played in the back yard for a good long while with the garden hose... though I think Mommy and Daddy had more fun getting Tegan wet than anything. It was just too cute to hear him squeal and giggle when we squirted him, he loved it! (sorry, no pics of the water part)

Last are a few pics from our weekend at G'ma and G'pa Eastwood's...

Trying out Lady's kennel. :)

I know there's more to tell but my mind is running blank... so, that will be all for now.

Love to all!
~jenn

You'd Think the Camera Was Broken...

but it's not. I feel horrible. I haven't taken any pics of T (on our cameras) in the past week! Crazy, I know! I did take a lot at my parents house last weekend while Brendan was outta town, but forgot to email them to myself before I left.

This past week has been a busy one. From Thurs through this Monday Tegan and I were at my parents' place since Brendan/Daddy was out in VT for some biking. For me it was a welcomed rest from full-time motherhood. For Tegan it was a fabulous 4 1/2 days of bonding with "mama" and "bapa" Eastwood.

Most of you know that my dad is very much "into" NHRA drag racing, and if you didn't know, you do now. Well, I nearly shed a few tears watching Tegan curl up in my dad's arms and listen to him explain the races one evening when it just wasn't time for "ni-night" yet. It makes me smile just thinking about it! The two of them also went for a bike ride together for 10+ miles each day we were there, Tegan in tow in the Burley d'Lite, of course. Aunt Amanda even joined them for the ride on Saturday morning.

Tegan also made a wonderful new friend at mama and bapa's house... their dog, Lady. I tried to get a pic of the two of them sitting on the couch watching TV; Tegan with his hand on Lady's back... but as soon as I got the camera out the moment ended. Tegan is becoming an enthusiastic photographer, though he doesn't know how to take pictures yet. Lately he'd prefer to be on the opposite side of the lens, much to my dismay :(

New learnings for Tegan include: locating his ears and occasionally his eyes, a few new words (bapa/papa and mama --> now exclusively used for g'ma). I'm now "mom", though still, occasionally, daddy :) Tegan also has his own version of Cheerios (I think I mentioned that before) as well as juice, water and milk. His favorite foods are cheese, yogurt, crackers/cookies and any sort of berry.

Ok, I know this is short, but with the lack of photos I don't want to take too much of your time :) I'll to get those asap and will post them with more info/news when I do. As always, take care and...
Love to all!
~jenn

Annual Moore Family Vaca

Hello Friends and Family. So sorry it's been nearly 2 weeks since my last post. We were out of town for 6 days and then due to some storms last week, we lost access to our internet as they "fried" our modem. Regardless, I'm back online and have a few short minutes before Tegan wakes up from his nap to updated on the latest and greatest in his little world.

For the 4th we went to a little town near Manitowac, WI called Mishicot. I thought it was very cute and we all had a wonderful time. Brendan's parents, siblings, brother-in-law and niece all made it, so it was fun to get everyone together in one place. Although they still "parallel play" Tegan and his cousin Aubrey seemed to really have a good time and, maybe, even start to learn about sharing... ok, I'm only kidding myself. They are still too young to understand that concept, but regardless, it was fun watching them together.

As I've mentioned in the more recent posts, Tegan is really starting to talk a lot more and it's SO exicting for us to see him trying to form words that he hears us say. His newest words are: bubbles, Josh (family friend), Aubrey (cousin), ouch, crackers/cookies, Cheerios, hot (have I mentioned that one before?), ice (for ice cream)... and that's all I can think of. Funny story with the ice cream one is that every time I ask T if it's time to eat (like around meal times, don't think I feed him ALL the time. HA!) he answers, with a big smile, "Ice!" HA! That's one of the few words he does not say like it's a question. Is that supposed to be telling me something? Hm...

OH, SUPER big news is that Tegan is OBSESSED with using the toilet! We weren't sure if he even understands what we do when we go into the bathroom. Well, he does. Apparently he's seen Brendan go enough that he knows how boys go pee. Ok, sit down, it's story-time :) Tegan and Brendan were up together (well, thanks to Tegan's 5:30am wake-up call) hanging out. Brendan went into the kitchen and when he came back out Tegan had disappeared but there was a diaper laying on the floor. Brendan just thought Tegan had gone into his room and gotten a clean diaper to play with, like he often does... but upon further investigation Brendan found Tegan, diaperless standing in-front of the toilet with the seat up staring at it. HA! He did the same thing to me this morning, though he couldn't get his diaper off; I guess I put them on more securly than Brendan. Well, anyways, after lunch Tegan began his [normal] grunting. I asked him if he'd like to go potty and he started nodding his head and stopped grunting. Sure enough, I took off hid diaper, sat him down and sure enough, he started pushing again and went poop in the potty! BIG BOY!!! We're thinking we might need to go get ourselves a training potty. Isn't 17 months early, though???

OK, T's been asleep for way too long (over 3 hours) so I need to go get him up so that he's not awake all night.

Love to all!

~j

Well, we made it nearly 17 months...

until it happened. "What, what WHAT???" you are asking? Well, as I'm bathing Tegan tonight (oh... you are starting to get an idea aren't you) I hear a little grunt... and see a little bubble... and ........................................................Tegan keeps playing so I think to myself, "Oh, he must have just needed to fart. Thank GOD!" OH, but NO! A minute later Tegan stands up and................... wait for it............................... there they are... 2 little ovular (is that a word?) turds, in the bathtub. (One floater and one sinker, if you were wondering.) UGH! I guess it could have been worse, like the squirts or something, but STILL! I quickly took Tegan out of the tub, wrapped him up in his bath towel and proceeded to call for Brendan. I knew I married a winner, but tonight was definitely one for the books. Yes, Brendan reached right in and grabbed those poop balls out with his bare hand! HAHAHA! I sit here laughing while I type this. :) No worries, though, the tub and toys are soaking in Lysol right now and we all washed off good, again, with soap and water. I'm sure you're upset, but I did not take a picture of this little adventure we went on.

What else has been going on in the Moore household you guess? Well, Tegan continues to talk more and more each week. His "favorite" words right now are uppie, oh-eee (Roli), and hot. Tegan also has a new favorite appliance, if you want to call it that, in the house.
Last week was my 28th b'day. Tegan got me a photo editing program for me to be able to do more with my pictures... I forgot to change the shipping address to our new address, so it ended up getting returned to Amazon.com, so I reordered it this week and saved $15 by getting it from a different vendor. SWEET! Now I'm waiting for it to arrive, again. Once it comes, though, I hope to do lots of fun things with the pics I've taken and will continue to take. FUN FUN! Thanks, Tegan! I love you!

On Saturday we met Jen and Chris at Joe Sensor's for dinner. Tegan was getting restless after he and the guys finished their meal, so they went and found more fun things to do while Jen and I finished our food... let's just say it was truly a challenge to leave as Tegan had a VERY firm grip on the steering wheel of this game and was VERY upset when we finally were able to pry his fingers off it.

Sunday was spent at Daddy's MNSCS bike race at Mt. Kato in Mankato, MN. Brendan took 3rd over all, but would have won if it weren't for a crash that cost him several minutes in repairing a flat tire. Big bummer for him, but I'm just glad that he (or God forbid the bike) didn't get hurt. Here's how Tegan spent the race :) OH, and Tegan now helps me cheer the guys along. I taught him how to say "Go, Daddy!" and "Go, Guys!" I wasn't sure if he could pull off the 2-word phrases, but he has surprised me again. I need to get those on video for sure! The cuter one, though, is "go, guys" as it comes out as "go, guy!" since T doesn't says 's' so great yet. HAHAHA!

Here's Tegan carrying his camping chair like I carry my purse... in the crook of his elbow. :)

Waiting for Daddy to finish

Ok... that it for this post.
Love to all!
~j

Eating Like a Big Boy

At breakfast this morning Tegan decided he was a big boy and didn't need my help to eat his yogurt anymore. Here's what happened:

For lunch I/Mommy decided that Tegan wasn't really using his picnic table down on the back yard patio, so Daddy helped me put it up on the deck and Tegan ate his lunch at his picnic table like a big boy!

He was SO excited!

Well, all for today... off to enjoy this beautiful weather and Savage's Dan Patch Days. :)

Love to all!

~jenn

Father's Day Weekend in Pictures

I'll keep the "talk" in this one brief. We had a wonderful Father's Day weekend in Rochester with Brendan's parents and youngest brother. We watched Tegan play outside much of the time with his new favorite thing: WATER. We also went for a lovely bike ride with Tegan in tow behind Daddy.

The next few are a sequence... you can imagine what he tried to do with the bucket... gulp gulp!





I mentioned in the last post how Tegan loves buckles... he's starting to "outgrow" that phase, but here's a pic.
Pretending to drink coffee with Grandma (she had been sitting with him).
Saying "cheese" for the camera!
Driving the tractor with Grandpa.

More new words are "appearing" every day: uppie (up), out, please (more often), bless you (though only I can understand it), hot, ow, cheese, bye & bye-bye... that's all I can think of. We were at the park today and Tegan blew a kiss goodbye to another mom as she and her children were leaving (she blew him one first) but it was TOO precious and he had the biggest grin on his face.

Lovin' from Grandma.

That's really all the "news" for now. Hope you enjoyed the photos :)

Love to all!

~jenn