22 weeks / 5 months - visiting the happiest place on earth

wow what a week! last week nothing much happened and this week was much busier! first things first - Tyler is 22 weeks- and turned 5 months yesterday. 5 months - that's like, almost 6 months! I think we're pretty lucky that he's a pretty good baby - he smiles so much and just generally seems to be in a good mood most of the time. (knock on wood, now that I've typed that I'm sure he'll be fussy tonight!).

Last week started off with a trip to Disneyland. Yup! an Exhausting trip. But my friend Julie was able to get us in for free, and how could I turn that down! Julie has a 9 month old named Vincent - the first time we met I was maybe 2-3 months pregnant, and she was 6-7 months. And here we are with our little ones! Anyway, I haven't been to Disneyland in ages (primarily since it's so expensive now - I wish Will/I had made better use of our season passes a few years ago!) so it was nice to go and just walk around. Wow there are a million strollers there, and I couldn't believe how full it was for a weekday! We met a lot of characters too - I have seriously never waited in line to meet one before this trip!

Ready for a big day, waiting in line in front of the C of California's Adventure. Our first sighting - Pluto! Or was it Goofy... Tyler didn't seem too phased. But then he got really interested in Pluto's whiskers - and grabbed them and wouldn't let go! Ouch! We had lunch at New Orleans square (I had a $15.99 crab salad sandwich - ridiculously expensive but actually quite yummy!) and then waited in line afterwards to meet Winnie the Pooh and his friends in Critter Country. Craziest thing, the family behind us in line was an old coworker from like 3 years ago who had moved to another state. Totally random.

Here's Tyler and Pooh (a sign of things to come? Tyler had a major poop blowout on the train ride!) Here we are with Eeyore - he's always been my favorite Pooh character - he just seems so mopey and bummed out. Tigger was just about to go to jumping practice, so we were lucky to get to see him right before he left! We even went on a ride, a ride that I've never been on either - the Winnie the Pooh ride! Tyler seemed really alert and kept looking around everywhere.
Disneyland was Tyler's first time in a lady's restroom - and in a stall too! I finally appreciate those large stalls - they're not just for handicapped people - they're perfect for mom's with strollers!

PU - Tyler thinks it smells in the stall. I swear it wasn't me! haha. I know, very silly, but I like to document Firsts with Tyler! It was my first time changing him on a changing table in a restroom - little did I know Disneyland has a great Baby Center on Main Street!Last stop was Mickey's house in Toon Town to take pictures with Mickey. They're quite clever - I was wondering why the line was going so fast but turns out they shuttle everyone into different rooms with multiple Mickeys! Of course, the cast members were like - no.. there's only ONE Mickey!, but after waiting in a long slow line for the Pooh characters, I was glad this wait was shorter.

Here we are with my friend Julie and her little one Vincent. Tyler wasn't too interested in the camera Yay! Finally! - both boys looking at the camera!Mommy, Tyler & Mickey Mouse!What a full and fun day! I will most likely never do something to that magnitude without Will, or until I forget how exhausting it was. :) But I totally loved it!Friday it was time for Tyler's 5 month photos! We really are lucky that he likes to smile so much, or pictures would be so tough. The photographer did say they get a lot tougher to shoot as they get older, since they're not so easily entertained. Tyler looked so cute in so many of the pictures, that we got 18 of them... YES! We are crazy huh. But they're cheap (JC Penney's) and I just couldn't not get them! We have a scrapbook that we put all his monthly photos in, and we had anticipated about 3-4/month - not sure how we're going to fit 18 in there!

Here's the star of the photo shoot! The photographer wanted Tyler to sit up even though I told him Tyler couldn't yet, so Will had to hold him from behind. Timberrrrr! We'll need to work on those sitting up skills. This pose kind of reminds me of that poster George Castanza took in Seinfeld in his underwear...And because I wanted to give you guys a sneak peak of a couple of the photos we chose - I took some pictures of the computer screen when we were choosing them! He's really gotten quite good at smiling in pictures! Afterwards we headed back home and packed up our car for the weekend. Man, it is TOUGH fitting all the baby stuff AND the baby seat into Will's G35. Although no way will I be driving a minivan anytime soon - at least not until I'm over 30! We were seriously packed to the brim. We headed over to my parents where Tyler got to his meet his great-3rd uncle and his wife that were visiting from Canada. I've only met my 3rd uncle a handful of times since he's not in the states, this time he seemed to have gotten a lot older. Him and my aunt were having fun playing with Tyler though - they only have one son but they're about to be first time grandparents next year!

Here's my dad, Tyler and my 3rd uncle. Saturday morning, after a long goodbye (man it was tough!) Will and I hit the road for Vegas! Yes! We had contemplated long and hard whether or not to go- but my sis Kareen was already out there for work and her husband was joining her as well.... and it was only going to be one night .... Kareen had mentioned this trip back when Tyler was first born and I couldn't even fathom the idea of leaving him for such a long period of time - at that time the longest I had been away was when I would go get a pedicure or something - and I would miss him dreadfully. I'm really glad we went though - I felt totally comfortable leaving him in the care of my mother and grandmother (actually, there's no one else I would have felt comfortable with except them together) and the night away was really a nice relaxing break for Will and I. That being said, I think it'll be a while until we leave Tyler for a night but I'm glad we did it anyway. And good thing I have a nice refrigerator stash - Tyler was able to have all breastmilk the whole time! :)

Quick Vegas recap - loved it loved it loved it. It's been a long time since I've felt young and free! We gambled lots at blackjack, craps, wheel slots, and poker. By far my favorite was poker since I won the most money - it had been so long since I've last played that I was actually nervous about playing - but after I started it was easypeasy! Saturday night we also saw a show at the Wynn - Spamalot. It was really funny! I had seen Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail so I knew a lot of the jokes. My favorite part was at the way end, you actually can sing along with the cast the theme song, and then the theater has a ridiculously CRAZY amount of circular white/yellow/silver/gold confetti come pouring down - like New Year's Eve crazy. Very fun. :)

Here's me and Kareen - man my hair felt SO flat while we were out there it was so weird. Will and I! Yay Vegas baby Vegas! Saturday night buffet at the Wynn. For some reason I was so sure they had a risotto bar. We did eat our fill of king crab legs though!Outside of Spamalot. Usually we always buy magnets for souvenirs - but they were $10! Normally I would be like yeah, whatever and buy one, but now I seem to be more money conscious (gasp!). I may just look for one on Ebay or something... It was definitely good to get to my parents place tomorrow - I was pressuring Will the whole drive home to go faster (except when I was sleeping - I was exhausted! We were up playing Poker until pass 4am!) so that I could see Tyler sooner. Wouldn't you know, we get home and he's sleeping! Ahhh! It was painful waiting for him to wake up. Even though I think it was great and all for Will/I to get a break (heck, we've been doing this pretty much on our own - besides having my mom or grandmother help out once in a while!), I think it'll be a while before I'm up to leaving Tyler again. Ahhh.. and the snowboarding season is upon us again. sigh. On the drive back, we saw cars with snow on them! I was so jealous, they must have been coming from Mammoth or Big Bear. I realized that 1)last year I didn't get to board, not even once 2) this year I'm 99% sure we won't with Tyler still being too small and 3)next season its very likely I'll be pregnant with #2. double sigh. NOOOooooooOOooo! I miss boarding so much!

So I think Tyler may be teething again. He's been drooling a TON, but then again, he drools all the time now it seems. I remember reading somewhere that babies will grab their ears when they're teething. No idea why. But here he is! Not sure what's planned for this upcoming week - really busy week at work! I'm even going into the office on Friday for the first time on Friday to meet with my manager! Wow! Plus its my group's Christmas party lunch as well - or is it dinner? Regardless, it sure will be weird being back in the office. I think I want to take Tyler to meet Santa sometime ...

Here's Tyler making funny faces at himself in the mirror. Man oh man, he pooped 4x today! Will and I were like no way! Every time after we had washed him and put on a new diaper - splat! Haha, it was still funny though. :) Maybe he just likes getting his booty washed, so he keeps pooping!

And of course, Tyler's 22 week picture!