Settlers Park! (Week 131)

Hey everyone!  Let's see, what's been going on this week.  Tyler has been a really good listener lately, and even had a half-poop in the potty today. :)  He's good at knowing he has to stop playing when my iPhone timer goes off.  He'll always say "5 minutes mama?" Even more exciting, he's been eating all his meat and veggies for dinner.  I am one happy mommy!  Some not so great moments though - Tyler waking up at night here and there and crying for me.  We haven't had this happen in a while and it's really exhausting me.  I used to lay with him until he fell asleep and then sneak out but I'm determined to break this habit before the baby comes.  We've made some progress this week!  I'll lay with him for about 5 minutes while we listen to the lullabies on his old crib toy and I tell him that Mama only lays down with him while there is music.  Then when the music stops - mama is out of there!  We're making baby steps!  He's not happy about it but he knows he has to do it.  Baby baby steps... the last thing I want is to spring this on him when the baby comes and have him resenting her...

This week was one of Tyler's school teachers - Kris - last day.  We were pretty bummed - we really liked her!  She was telling Will that last week Tyler was super sweet with her - giving her lots of hugs and kisses!  Here's Tyler with Kris.  We'll miss her!

Friday we got our carpets cleaned by ZeroreZ.  Whoohoo!  I've been wanting to get my carpets cleaned since we moved into the house back in 2007 - but seeing that we were 1-2 months out from having Tyler, there just wasn't time.  I was SO excited to be able to do this before the new baby comes!  Anyway, carpets turned out great!  It worked out great because we had later dinner plans and it kept Tyler out of the house while the carpets finished drying.  It was nice being out and about on a Friday night - reminded of our life before we had kids. :)  We had dinner with friends at the District's Guppy House - Tyler was all about the tofu and mushroom side dishes! (Blech!).  Then he was stoked about the huge cup of fresh cut strawberries he got for dessert.

I don't even remember what we did on Saturday... errands?  Seems like there are always so many errands to do now - Will says I'm in crazy nesting mode right now - and I can't disagree!  It seems like there are always more things I come up with for us to do... poor Will!  Sunday we headed to a new park in Irvine - Settler's Park - that I had read about online.  It has been quite a while since we've taken Tyler to a park - mostly because of the cold weather and the busy holidays.  Tyler was really excited!

There was this interesting spinning thing at the playground - seemed kind of dangerous to me but Tyler (thrill seeker that he is) thought it was hilarious.  Good thing Will has fast reflexes to catch Tyler when he lets go!

Tyler is quite the climber too!  I need to stop worrying about him.  There were two different playground at the park - one for 2-5 year olds and one for 5-12 year olds.  Guess which one Tyler insisted on playing on...

Here's Tyler climbing up the rope stairs.  No problem at all!

Head first down the slide.  He loves it! 

Tyler was very interested in playing catch by himself. :)  He would just throw it up and run after it.  Totally playing all by himself!  Here's a picture of him looking up at the ball as it comes down.  Luckily he never got smacked by it!

Heehee, funny video of Tyler cracking up while playing catch with himself.  If only he could always keep himself so happily entertained! :)

The park had a bike track that I was excited to try out.  The website made it seem that the track was separate from the playground, but it turned out that the track went around the playground with a little roundabout behind it.  There were cute little traffic signs for the kids to follow though - Tyler liked stopping at the Stop sign!

Tyler liked to go on the path, through the playground, past the picnic tables and even on to the field.  I still like the bike park at Woodbridge better - they have the little center dividers for the roads, bridges, tunnels and even a gas station!  Can't wait to head back there next time. :)

Soon our friends the Garners joined us at the park.  Not sure how it happened, but Tyler ended up in a swing!  GASP!  Tyler has NEVER ever liked swings - ever ever ever ever ever... so it was quite a surprise to see him actually enjoying himself!  He was pretty tempermental on it though - if Will pushed him too hard he would say "I don't want to go fast! All done!!"  He likes it just a little swinging. :)

Here's a video of Tyler swinging on the swing.  Yay Tyler!  This is the kid who loves to go fast sledding down a mountain but is freaked out by a fairy tale boat ride.  I don't get it..

Here's Tyler pushing baby Kylee on the swing - how very helpful of him huh!?

Here's another shot of Will and Tyler on the swing.  Tyler actually wanted to try out the real swings too!  In the background was this dad teaching his kid how to ride a bike - with training wheels.  It was kind of hard to watch - the kid looked too small to be riding a bike and kept falling over and running into the bushes.  Poor Kid!

Not sure what happened that caused Tyler to run off from the swing area angrily.  He stood there sulking and glaring at us - and then one second later was cracking up at something Kylee did.  It's amazing how easily they can flip a switch from angry to happy!

Here are some more shots of Tyler with his bike.  He looks like such a big boy on the picture on the right!  OMG.  I suppose I should stop being so surprised - he's growing up - duh!  It's just such a shock sometimes to see.  Hopefully he's also maturing and will handle having a baby sister nicely. :)

Here's Tyler with Kaden and baby Kylee.  How sweet are they!  Kylee looks a little concerned though, doesn't she...I have hope that Tyler will be a great big brother because he is SO gentle with baby Kylee!

Another shot of the kids.  Awwwwww.

Sunday we had dim sum brunch! Yum!  Tyler was very well behaved - mostly because he was sitting next to his beloved Auntie Trina!  It still amazes me how crazy he is about her and will do anything she asks!  Love it!!

Group picture after Dim Sum.  Wei/Nancy and Trina are perfect Dim sum partners - they don't eat anything scary and funky!  Love it!  After this, when I told Tyler that Auntie Trina had to leave, he got really upset and cried. :( 

Here's the weekly girls picture.  We tried out happy hour at Opah - half off!  I like discounts. :)  By the way, Mariam closed on her house this past week - CONGRATS Mariam!  YAY!  We got to see it on Friday and Tyler made himself right at home - rolling around on the carpet and playing with their Wii guitars. :)

And lastly, the Garners gave us a ton of baby girl clothes and this play yard thing in the picture below.  I may not need to buy ANY clothes now. :)  The play thing below is so cute - I like that it has the enclosed sides so she won't roll out.  I think this will replay the Play Gym that we have.  The first thing Tyler did?  Jump into it and pretend to be sleeping like a baby.  Silly. :)

Hope you guys have a great week! The first week back to work has been tough - I swear I could sleep all day! I had a doctor appointment on Tuesday - nothing much to share, and another one next week. Can you believe I'm already at 33 weeks?