Eight and Nine Months Recap

8 months

Not really interested in taking pictures

Nine month picture with Leonard

It's hard to just sit still when you're nine months!

"......now how do I get Leonard up here with me?"

Man, time is flying and I can barely keep up with the all the things Tytus is learning and things we're doing as a family. I've been wanting to write down some of the funny Tytus moments that have happened recently as he becomes more and more like a little boy and develops his personality. In early November, during his playtime by himself in the morning, I could hear him going on and on about something. I peeked in to see what was so amusing and saw this...

He LOVES music. He loves to dance, bobble his head, squeal, and kick his feet even if it's just a beat, someone humming, or a song on the radio. He would spend a lot of his time right in front of the CD player, but it didn't take long for him to figure out how to open it, take the CD out, and move the volume controls. One day he turned it up so loud that I walked in to find him under the table sucking his thumb and looking at the doorway for me to come save him. Since then, we've moved it where he can see it but can't reach it for now. 

The best way to describe Tytus and his everyday activities right now is to say that he's an explorer. He likes toys, but he LOVES exploring. He'll freely crawl in any room in the house to check out what's in there. Sometimes he likes to be in the same room that I'm working in and figure out what I'm so busy doing (laundry, making the bed, sorting mail, making dinner, cleaning up/organizing things), but then other times he'll just leave the room to find something more interesting. He's learned what the "no no's" are and tends to stay away from them, and most the time when I go check on him he's just hammin' it up. I think if he could take Mia everywhere he plays, his life would be complete. 

One Saturday, we were just taking it slow around the house and Tytus was just cracking up at Mia. She was letting him pet her and pull up on her (which is pretty rare) and he was loving it. I caught some of it on camera...

Two peas in a pod

"petting" Mia

We've let Tytus start disciplining her.....
not really, but it's hilarious what this picture captured

Mia's trying to escape before Tytus grabs a hold again

 Tytus and I got to go to the park together for the first time. He was still only 8 months old but loved swinging, sliding, and playing around the equipment. It just seemed like the perfect day to get out and play even though it was almost Thanksgiving. Funny how Texas weather is.

Waiting under the beautiful tree while mommy unloaded the car.

First time swinging in a real swing. 

Loving it!

One day soon he'll be big enough to climb those steps!

We had a great Thanksgiving with family and spent the month leading up to it reflecting on what we were most thankful for. We decorated a simple Thankful Tree a little each day to share with each other what stood out most to us in the last year. From the smallest things to the big blessings we've experienced this year, we are SO thankful for the way God lovingly leads us, protects us, and shows us himself in all things.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Once we got back into town from celebrating Thanksgiving, we had to unpack and put everything away to get back into our groove at home. Tytus came back from the holiday ready full of good ideas he'd learned from watching his cousins, aunts, and uncles. As I put things away in our bedroom he found a deck of cards that he could open and began imitating how he'd seen the Schwarz side of the family play. He would shuffle through the cards, find one that was just right, then look around (like he was playing with a group) and hold it up in the air and exclaim that he was the winner. Then he would repeat it all over again. He also wanted to act like his cousins Caedmon and Isaac and use his own spoon while he ate. We're not quite there yet, but man would he love to be big like them!

Happy Halloween! (from our little duck)

Our little duck had such a fun Halloween! In several of the pictures you might see him sucking/chewing his fingers because he has about 5 teeth that are right about to make their first appearance. It's been kind of a rough last couple of days due to a painful mouth, but with all of the fun costumes and new people to meet Tytus was sufficiently distracted.

Our two first trick-or-treaters came and Mia got out. Oops!

On the lookout for trick-or-treaters.

Our neighborhood was having a National Night Out event in the field behind our house, so our plan was to go eat outside while they showed ET. Then we'd come back here to hand out candy and play in the driveway. They didn't end up setting up the event until about an hour later than we expected so we improvised by playing outside, eating here, and then handing out candy. We all had a lot of fun, got to talk to a bunch of our neighbors, and Tytus got lots of compliments and some friends to play with on his little blanket. All in all it was a fun night!

Playing with Mommy and ready to go climb on all the chairs outside.

Little duck on the move!

Happy to be with Daddy, but teeth are still hurting.... :(

Handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters

Almost out of candy and ready to clean up

Happy Halloween!

On Hands and Knees (and on the move)

Tytus is officially crawling now! He's been scooting around for several weeks (mainly backward), and he's been perfecting his skills in pulling up without any help. Last Wednesday he took his first two crawls forward at home and then did it again at Ashley and Kelly's apartment before Overflow. Then when Uncle Byron and Aunt Michelle came to visit he traveled much further to reach one of his favorite toys. Now that he can crawl it's fun to put him in the room where I'm working, and he can check things out on his own. He's still figuring out that he can crawl into different rooms in the house and follow noises/voices on his own. I've taken him around the house by putting a toy out in front of him and having him follow it, and it's so interesting to see him stop and take notice of things from a whole new perspective. One thing that we don't ever take notice of are the air conditioner vents near the floor. They're really loud when the air is running, and Tytus will crawl right up to them to look at them and attempt to pull up on one of the rungs to get a better look. Eventually he'll find that it's nearly impossible and move on to something more interesting.....like Mia's food bowls. Yuck! Because they're pink and plastic and look like a toy he might play with, we're in the process of relocating them for a while.

Oh ya know.....Uncle Byron teaching Tytus some new tricks

Crawling has definitely strengthened some new muscles which has allowed Tytus to become much more adventurous in all kinds of ways. Almost every time I put him down for a nap or bedtime he's sitting up before I can even get the blanket over him. I'll normally leave the room and give him some time to explore his bed, but eventually he'll be stuck or frustrated and need some assistance laying back down to go to sleep.

While he should be sleeping.....

Some of his other favorite things to do are pulling up and cruising around his wooden activity cube (thanks Aunt Karen!), crawling to his bookshelf to pull out his favorite books, and pulling up on the little white step stool in his room.

He likes to get a taste of what he's pulling up on. Yum!

About to take off around the cube.

His favorite book! He loves lifting up the flaps and hearing "peekaboo!"

Reading a few books before nap time.

I'll normally give him some play time by himself in his room and set a timer to let him know I'll be back when it goes off. It's a little egg timer from Aunt Amanda's baby shower, so you can hear it ticking and it has a very distinct ring to let him know the time is up. He loves trying to get the timer! One day I peeked in on him playing and saw that he had knocked the timer off of the white step stool and it was just on the other side. He was standing up trying to decide how he would get to it. Rather than cruising around or crawling to get it, he decided that it would be best to reach over the step stool. He was grunting and flailing with all his might and yet his arm was just not long enough to reach it. It was so hard not to laugh or try to help him, but he eventually found a way to scoot forward after much reevaluating. The sweetness of success!

 We went out to the deck today and it took him a while to get used to crawling on the rough surface. He would lean forward, then sit back down, lean forward, then sit back down. He just wasn't sure if he was up for it. Then he realized that he could get over to the chairs and pull himself up to have a better look around. So he went for it! Oh, and it was worth it. He got a kick out of watching Mia run around the yard, cars go by, and all the while he could take himself where he wanted to go.

Cruising around the back deck.

The Changing Of Seasons Is So Refreshing!

7 months old!

Thanks Uncle Byron and Aunt Michelle for the cool converse! They fit perfectly now!

Since Tytus's favorite pastime is pulling up on any and everything, we decided to move his crib down the day before his seven month birthday. He had gotten so used to peeking over the side of his crib just by pushing up on his hands and knees, so when he realized he could no longer do that it was very startling! After his nap that day he woke up not knowing what had happened to his favorite little play gym. So, we took some time to get acquainted with his new bed. It didn't take long, though, for him to realize that moving the crib down definitely had its benefits!

Before the move...

After the move....

As Tytus has gotten older, our Sunday mornings have looked a little different. He's always been pretty entertained and quiet during church, but as of recently he wants to be on the move so bad that's it's hard to sit still. He's visited our nursery (KidsRock) a couple of times, but we've found that when he's in the service with us his greatest fascination is the Bible. We've prayed for our son to know Christ personally and find true satisfaction in Him at an early age, so I guess having an interest in the Bible is a good thing. The only problem is......I think he mainly loves the sound/texture of the pages crinkling and ripping. :) This did give me a great idea at home, though. I got out an old magazine to let him explore with. He absolutely ate it up!

Tytus also got to taste Freebirds for the first time this Sunday. We went to a picnic area near the San Marcos River after church with a few friends and got to watch some dogs playing in the water, hear the birds chirping, and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather! Not to mention we were eating our Freebirds all the while....mmmm mmmm good!

Hats off to a super fun weekend with our family!

Summer Fun!

Summer is almost coming to a close, so we wanted to catch you up with what we've been up to for the past two months. A lot has been happening around here! Even with it in the hundreds almost every day, we've been able to spend some time outside on our new deck! It's amazing what a little shade and some wind can do on a scorching day. Tytus loves to watch the cars zoom by. He'll be in deep thought watching Mia or playing with one of his toys when he hears a car (or ice cream truck) drive by. He'll carefully watch it over the fence until it's out of sight and then squeal with excitement.

Oh, the fascination with Mia.
He wants to be best friends with her and she could care less.

Such a nice day to be outstide!

He's SO big but still SO small. These
are the chairs we usually sit in to watch the cars.

 Since it's been so hot outside, we have also taken advantage of swimming in our small pool in the back yard, our neighborhood pool, and going to Deep Eddy in Austin with Mark, Oliver, and Lindsay.

About to get in at our neighborhood pool

Having so much fun kicking in the water!

The boys loved stomping in the water and splashing around in the shallow parts of the pool.

We've also spent a little time away from home. We took a trip to see Lilly when she was born. She's so precious!  We also got to hang out with Byron some while he was in town for work. We took him to one of our favorite pizza places in Austin and followed it up by having a Hey Cupcake! Yum!