Ahoy! It's a Boy!

I need to take some time to brag about my hard work.  My visiting teaching companion, Wendy, and I threw a baby shower for Michaella, a friend we visit, with the theme: "Ahoy! It's a boy!"  No, it's not an original idea. Michaella's husband likes boats, so I searched for some type of boat theme and found this cute, relevant theme!  We served scones and a yogurt/fruit/granola bar. I think it turned out so cute!

Notice the lighthouse I painted and the cute plates!

I got these boat ideas from Pinterest, a new hobby since Ty has been born.

"Docks" made from wood patterned paper

Boat fruit bowl!

Dressing up the utensils added a nice touch

Yay for "how to" youtube videos!

Licorice "ropes"

Thank you Pinterest for this cute idea of "Advice for Michaella"

Ahoy flags made by Wendy

The cute mother-to-be!

 

Me, Michalla, and Wendy-Dressed in our theme colors!

 

Lisa Rice let us use her very nice "party house" for the occasion.

I'd say the party was a success!

4 Months

Thanks for taking this cute picture, G-ma Diney!

This little chubbers turned 4 months old last week!  He is one cute boy. Knock on wood, but he has slept at least 8 hours a night for the past 8 weeks (minus two nights in Utah when he was off schedule). He is always smiley and often talkative. He loves to grab at things and pull them to his mouth. Ty's favorite toy is the Tigger my dad got him because of the combination of the bright color, ease to hold, and texture to chew on.  He drools a LOT, yet is spitting up less. We still can't determine his eye color, but they are a combination of grey-blue on the outside and green-brown on the inside.  Ty is in the great stage of hair growth that his baby hair is kind of long, but also starting to fall out, and his real hair is growing underneath; plus he has a fun bald area on the back of his head from sleeping on it. 

We took the naked picture to compare to past pics, but also planned on a picture with clothes on and never got around to it.

Mommy's Favorite Things about Ty at 4 Months:

1. His smile

2. When he talks

3. His cute kissable cheeks (he likes getting kisses)

4. His chubby thighs

5. He's a good sleeper

Daddy Loves:

1. How he looks around when we go on walks

2. His smile

3. How he puts his elbow on my shoulder when I hold him (we'll have to get a picture of this)

4. When he sings (listens) with Mom

5. How he tries to bite everything

"I'm so excited I can't hold still!"

4 Month Stats:

 Weight: 15lbs, 6oz; 50th %

Length: 24 5/8"; 45th %

 Head 16 3/8"; 50th %

 We were so excited to have Grandma Diney come visit last week while Tim took his big prelim tests.  Her birthday is coming up, so we took some time to celebrate. Happy Birthday Grandma!

 Ty had so much fun with her

Such a cute picture of Ty and Grandma

He is mostly a good sleeper. His favorite place to take naps is on the couch. He ALWAYS sleeps with his hands either straight out or straight overhead.

Mommy Time!

We had a fun lunch on Pearl Street in Boulder

 We also went up just for the evening part of our ward campout.

And Ty finally went to his first Rockies game!

Take me out to the ball game!

He really enjoyed the 7th inning stretch.

Uncle Scott is here visiting to meet his one and only nephew. More pictures to come!

This Week

Yummy fingers!

Ty got a jumper from craigslist! Being upright on his feet is a new concept for him, but he seems to like it.

Look Alike?

Now days, a lot of people say Ty looks like Tim, but he claims Ty has a lot of "Lotz" characteristics. I was curious, so I went back to Kristen's blog when Jonas was Ty's age and this is what I found (I hope that's okay, Kristen). What do you think?

 

And a few more of Jonas to compare with past Ty pics:

Growing

  Ty doesn't really like to be laying down, so we borrowed this Bumbo for him to learn to sit up. Apparently, he's okay with it.

 I told Tim I don't get enough pictures with Ty because I'm usually the one taking them, so this is what we got...we were dog-sitting and I was pretty happy with a baby and a pup.

 Ty is what they call a "textbook baby." He is coming right along with his development (but he is definitely above expectations in cuteness). He started grabbing at toys the week he turned 3 months and he is already studying baseball (Thanks for the Braves book, Aunt Aubrey)

 He loves blowing bubbles and now everything comes to his mouth:

 He is also trying really hard to turn over; he's getting pretty close!

We'll see how the quality of this video is, but Ty is just so much fun!  He loves to talk and "tell jokes." Don't mind the gross sounds I was making-I was trying to gargle in the back of my throat.  Listen carefully for Ty's cute sounds, though.

Hangin' out with Dad

Can you believe this guy is 3 months old?

Wearing Tigger to honor Grandma Janean

  Ty didn't have a doctor's appointment this month, but we weighed him a week or so ago and he was 14 lbs! He sleeps from about 10pm to 6 or 7am (and I, sadly, wouldn't know if he doesn't because our window fan is so loud) and rarely even puts up a fuss when we lay him down for bed. Tim and I were starting to worry that he is so much better with his feet than his hands (he kicks and grabs like crazy with his feet), but just yesterday he started grabbing at his toys. By far, our favorite thing is that Ty has started to "tell jokes" by making sounds and then smiling and giggling like it's the funniest thing in the world. He just gets cuter and cuter!

"That's right, my jammies have tools on them."

Loving the play mat

I started back at work 20 hours a week and so Ty has been spending a lot more time with Tim.  Ty likes his "Daddy Time" 

(don't judge us by where we put his bouncer)

Making food

Taking naps

And my favorite...

Daddy's study buddy

Road Trips are Awesome

Notice Ty's Shirt:

 We took a road trip to Utah to visit family before I started back at work.

Unsure what lies ahead...such as a LOT of driving.

 We started out in Northern Utah to visit grandparents. First stop: Great Grandma and Grandpa Lotz, Cousin Todd, and Aunt Marge. Ty enjoyed meeting them for the first time. We also invited Tim's Grandma Bywater and we all had a nice dinner at the Sizzler.

 The next day was spent with Grandma and Grandpa Larsen in Sandy where we drove up the canyon to Snowbird and took a cable tram to the top of the mountain.

Going up. The starting view from the tram.

View on the way up.

 

The next day we spent some time in Santaquin with TJ's family then drove down to St. George for Ty to meet his Lotz cousins for the first time! Mindy's family drove up from Phoenix and TJ took his kids solo to come join the fun. I took the kids on a treasure hunt (they now ask for one several every time I see them), and the prizes were these sheriff badges for the boys and flower hair clips for the girls. I planned to learn more crafts and such on my 12 weeks at home, but this is the extent of my creativity since having a baby.

 Ty also met his closest cousin in age, Katherine. She was born Jan. 5th!

Fun with kids:

Dad recently bought a boat, so we spent some time at the lake.

This kid's life jacket was so big he couldn't even sit up in it.  He liked the boat when it was moving, but fussed if we were ever just sitting in the water.

 Tim was able to get up on the wake board for a little bit, but I was holding Ty and couldn't get a picture. The second time we went, it was just before a storm and too windy and cold for me to try anything. Instead, I learned to drive the boat.

Tim and I also took advantage of free babysitting and rode up to the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City to see the Merry Wives of Windsor.

The theater was built just for these plays. Before it started, they did dancing and sold food from the time period. We ate some delicious tarts!

We had a great time and loved being able to visit everyone.

Ty was sad to leave: