9 Months Old Already!!!

Ty turned 9 months old yesterday!  I remember thinking last Christmas, "Wow, Ty is going to already be 9 months at this time next year!"  He was only a foot long and 1 pound at this same time last year, and now look at him!  It's crazy how much they grow!

This past month was a BIG one for Ty....he learned to SIT!!!!!  Sitting was his 6-month goal for physical therapy (to do by February), so we have been working and working and working all of the different muscle groups that are required for sitting (there's a lot!)  Well, he had started to sit in his boppy pillow, but when we took him to have his pictures taken, the photographer asked him to sit on a dot on the floor, and he just did it!  It was the first time he had sat by himself.  Now, he can even sit and play with a toy without using his hands for balance (for a short time anyway...he hasn't figured out yet that whipping yourself backward while you're sitting, really doesn't feel good when your head hits the floor...even when he's done it before!)  So that was a huge accomplishment.  We will start working on different muscles for crawling in PT next week.  His PT also told us that they have been approved for the "baby treadmill", so he will be one of the first to try it out!  Basically, the baby is strapped into a harness above the treadmill and their feet move along the track.  It's suppsed to help babies with Down syndrome to walk significanly sooner.  We are really really excited for Ty to be his PT's first guinea pig!!!  He loves to stand, and is actually a really strong stander, so I think he'll do really well with it. 

Santa has been busy getting ready for Ty's first Christmas!!! :)  Have a great Christmas!

8 Months!

Ty turned 8 months this week!  He's growing so quickly!  This month was a busy one.  His ear tubes opened the doors for lots of "talking".  "Da-Da", "Ba-Ba", "Na-Na", and various combinations of letters are always coming out of his mouth!  I'm still waiting for "Ma-Ma"....his babysitter says she's heard it, but until I hear it for myself I won't believe it!  He's quite a talker though....it's amazing what those ear tubes can do!!!  In PT, he's working on sitting, and building various muscle groups for crawling.  He's *almost* there with the whole sitting thing...he can sit when he props himself on his arms...that's progress!  It's amazing how much work goes into something like that.  He's also become mobile by rolling everywhere.  If you turn for a second he's all the way across the room!  He's definitely determined! 

Ty also celebrated his first Halloween.  He was "Ty the Tiger"!  We trick-or-treated at 5 houses, and Ty loved it!  He was a great sport, and liked being outside.  It was a fun first Halloween! 

Ear Tube Update!

Ty got his ear tubes on Thursday!  He did awesome before, during & after the surgery.  He was the youngest baby getting tubes by a few years, and was by far the best behaved in the recovery room!  All of the other kids were screeamminngg, and Ty sat happily sucking on his sugar water.  The nurses loved him! 

It's only been 2 days and already Ty is responding to new sounds & is babbling like crazy.  He's searching for sounds of a rattle or toy, and jumped at the doorbell last night, which he's never responsed to before!  He also just started pushing up on his arms into full extension (like the starting position of a push up), which has nothing to do with his tubes, but it's just great news!!! :)  We'll go get his hearing re-checked next month to see how well the tubes actually worked.  Good start though!

7 Months!

Ty is 7 months old today...10/10/10!  Lucky little guy! 

He's doing great.  He gets his ear tubes put in on Thursday, which we are very very excited for!  All of that fluid is making it hard for him to hear, so we can't wait to see what sounds he is hearing after the procedure!  He's working really hard in physical therapy, too.  He's been working on sitting with Miss Donna (his PT), and is getting pretty close!  It's so much fun to see him achieve all of these little tasks that she gives to him. 

It's been a great month.  Looking forward to Ty's first New England fall!!! :)

Six Months

Six months old!  Ty's doing great, and has come a long way since March!!!  He's happy in New England...I think he's born to be a cold-weather boy!  He's had lots of lovin' from everyone up here, and he loves being the center of attention!  He's become very interested in eating and exploring everything he can get his hands on...(I looked down at him on his belly on the table at the doctor's office today, and he had ripped up all of the paper covering the table in front of him!)  He's a very curious little guy!  He's got a great personality that shows more and more as he gets older! 

Ty started physical therapy this past month, and it's going great.  He's a really quick learner, so whatever she introduces for a new exercise or skill, he picks it right up.  She got him to discover his feet last week, so those are his new fascination!  His "big" goal is to learn to sit on his own...he's working hard!  He prefers to stand instead of sit at this point, but he's getting there!  His overall progress is awesome though...his PT is very impressed! 

Ty has also been going to daycare this fall, and he's loving it!  He has two "teachers" at daycare, and there are 5 other children who he goes with.  He "plays" with another little boy who is his age, goes for walks, and participates in "circle time" (how cute is that?!).  They sing songs, read books, and learn the days of the week.  We hate leaving him, but I know he has fun...he's always happy when we pick him up, and tired from all the excitement!

All in all, it's been a good month!  

5 Months!!!

Ty is 5 months old today!!!  It's been a VERY busy month for all of us!  We finally moved to New Hampshire after our 4 years in Virginia, so we have spent the past month packing, unpacking, driving, finding new doctors, finding daycare, starting new jobs, looking for a house etc.  It's been exhausting, but we're glad we're here!  It's been great to see everyone!

Ty has also had a big month as far as development.  He rolls like a maniac now...it's pretty funny to watch him flip back and forth!  He has also developed his coordination a little more, so he can reach for his toys pretty easily.  He LOVES his "Whoozit" toy (in the pictures), and a ball that he has...he'll reach for those in a second to play with!  We've also been working hard at gaining head and trunk control, which is kind of hard for him because of his tone, but the little bugger works his butt off!  He's doing great with it!  His head control is getting better every day, and he can even sit in his "big boy chair" all by himself.  We're very proud of him!

As always, Ty's health is great!  We even think he's hearing more than he ever did....the littlest thing will make him jump!  We see an ENT in a few weeks, but they think he has fluid in his ears, which caused him to not pass the hearing tests on one side.  It's an easy fix, so it's good news if that's the case!  Other than that, nothing new to report!

Happy August! :-)

4 Months!

Little man turned 4 months today!  He had a big month too!  After many weeks of hard work, Ty finally learned how to roll onto his belly from his back, so now he can go both ways!  He gets the biggest smile on his face when he rolls onto his tummy too, like he knows he accomplished something important!  Our next task is to build that upper body strength to get ready for sitting upright, pushing up, and eventually crawling later on down the road.  Being a baby is sure a lot of work!!!

Ty had a little bit of a rough month with some medical tests and his first ear infection.  His tiny ear canals get fluid easily, so a little cold turned into a miserable little boy!  Other than that, he's doing well!  We are finally done with his meds and doctor's appointments for a while though, so hopefully the rest of the summer will be a little easier!

We are moving to New Hampshire this coming week, so we hope everyone will get to meet our handsome little man this summer!!!

News!

WE'RE MOVING BACK HOOMMEEE!!! :-)  Kerry got a teaching job in New Hampshire this past week, so as of July 18th (we think it'll be that day!) we will be moving to New Hampshire!  We also rented out our house here in Virginia starting August 1st, so everything is falling into place nicely!  We can't wait for everyone to finally meet Ty!!!!! :-)

3 Months Old!!!

Mr. Ty is 3 months old already!!!  Time is flying!!!  His past month was great.  He is an avid "talker" now, and will have full conversations with us...he especially likes to talk when he's being read to!  (His vocabulary consists of ah-goo, la, ooo, and ca at the moment)  He's also got the biggest, happiest smiles on his face all the time, and he's starting to laugh once in a while.  He's a lot of fun to interact with now!!!  One of his new discoveries this month was his thumb.  It took him a while to figure out how to straighten the thumb to suck on it instead of the knuckle, but he can now add "sucking his thumb" to his list of talents! (Probably not a good habit to have as he gets older though!)  He's still getting stronger and stronger, and does well holding up his head on his tummy.  His little legs move in and out like he's ready to crawl, but he's still trying to build up that strength in his arms to push himself up!  Once he figures out the whole crawling thing though, we're never going to be able to keep up with this kid!!!

Medically, Ty is still healthy....we're so lucky!  He did catch his first cold at daycare, which landed him in the hospital for 48 hours of observation for bronchiolitis, but he's just fine now.  He's just building up those immunities!  His heart is still strong and healthy though, and everything else is looking great.  We have his in-depth hearing screen this coming month, so we'll learn a little bit more about his hearing after that (though he hears us talking just fine!)  Overall, little man is doing just great!!!

Ty can't wait to come up to New England and meet everyone this summer!!!! :-)

Two Months Old!

I can't believe two whole months have gone by already since Ty was born!  His second month has been a lot of fun, and he's definitely developing that little personality of his!  He smiles and "talks" a lot, and is constantly moving!  I think he is going to be a very social and active little guy as he gets older!  All of his doctors' appointments continue to go well, also.  He's still a totally healthy guy, and he's growing and developing right on schedule...some skills even ahead of schedule...go figure! Oh, and Ty has been sleeping through the night (8+ hours) since 6 weeks old...SO NICE!!!

We've also had a lot of visitors this month, which has been SUCH a BIG HELP since I started working again!  Ty's Nanny (Kerry's mom, for those of you who don't know!) was here my first week back to babysit, and his LaLa (Eric's mom) was here the second.  His Grandpa Bill and Uncle Dave (Kerry's dad and brother) were also here for a weekend.  He's definitely been getting spoiled, and he's loving every second of it!!! :-)

Month # 3, here we come...

One month old!

Ty turned one month old yesterday (4/10)!  His first month FLEW by!  He's doing wonderfully, and is a very energetic little guy!  He's staying awake most of the day now, and he spends a lot of time looking around and exploring everything.  He loves to stare at his mom & dad, and is starting to notice other toys and objects around the room.  During his tummy time he is able to lift & hold his head up for longer stretches of time...he actually seems to like playing on his tummy!  He is incredibly wiggly, and managed to roll over from his belly to his back all by himself the other day!!  He had been getting really close for about a week, and finally when he got his arm  in the right place, he kicked those legs really hard and flipped right over!  I think he surprised himself! :-)  Can't wait to see what he'll do this upcoming month!

First Doctor's Appointments

Ty had his first follow-up appointment with cardiology this week, as well as his two-week baby check up.  He had an echo/ultrasound of his heart at the cardiologist, and we got the awesome news that his largest (and potentially problematic) hole was CLOSED!  The doctor said that he will most likely never see any problems with his heart in his lifetime, and we only need to follow up with him every few months for the first year now.  That was AWESOME news for us!!!

At the pediatritian, Ty had gained nearly a pound since birth, and has grown half an inch in length.  Everything else looked good with him, and the doctor was pleased that he was able to focus on & follow her face, and turn in the direction of different sounds.  It was really nice to get some good news at a doctor's appointment!!!  We're so grateful that our little guy is so healthy! :)

Welcome to our blog!

I decided to start a blog so everyone could see Ty's current pictures, and get updates on how the little guy is doing!  It's a lot easier than trying to email everyone pictures when I get a spare second!  Hope you like it! :)

Ty's First Month

Ty has been SUCH a good baby!  We got really lucky with him!  He is sleeping good stretches at night, and Eric and I are actually able to sleep a little bit!  During the day, he is becoming more and more alert.  It's a lot of fun watching him explore his new world and recognize his mom and dad!  We are loving being his parents! :-)

A few of his firsts...

First St. Patrick's Day and