Welcome to our family!
Father and son the second day of his life!
His baby blessing at church!
After one of his earlier baths!
One of his heart-melting smiles (about three months)
I can hardly believe it has been an entire year since Tyson was born! He has changed so much and so quickly and I really have loved it. He surprises me every day with new things he has learned how to do and he really is the best boy I can imagine. Here is a snapshot of the last year: He was born. That first night was sure miserable but Christian slept over in the hospital and made it bearable! Driving home from the hospital I sat in the back and a sad cowboy song came on and I just bawled the whole way home. Christian thought I was nuts! Later my mom, Aunt Laurie, and Christian's mom all came at different times to help out with the little guy! I have never been more grateful for my mother in my entire life! I remember thinking it was crazy that babies didn't have tears for the first couple of weeks (something I had never known!) He fell asleep during his first bath which was crazy since there was three of us holding/bathing him since we didn't know how to keep his umbilical cord dry! I remember changing his diaper and trying to put antiseptic cream on after his circumcision and him peeing right on me (my face was so close since I was trying to be so precise!) I screamed and Christian thought for sure I had dropped him. Later, Christian would change into grubby clothes every day after school and actually strip all the way down to nothing when he would change Tyson's diaper since he hated getting his clothes peed on! I remember him waking up at night and finally getting to the point where that was on a schedule so I could time getting his bottle ready-Hallelujah! His first smiles were always for Christian...which made me so jealous! Here I was trying to make him smile all day and Christian just walks through the door and the baby is all smiles! It's endearing now but it sure made me mad then! Other memories...he would only breathe in when he tried to communicate and made squawking noises instead of grunts! He was a good baby and cooed a lot. Before he could roll over he would just lay on his back and kick with this happy look on his face-like he was doing the greatest thing in the world. It was so cute! His clothes were all swimming on him until one day he kicked and his snap came undone! I was so excited since it meant he was growing-although I do remember looking at him after two weeks and thinking if he could change this much in so little time I really had to cherish every moment. I didn't realize until then that every second is different! You have to live right now and not dream of the time when he can walk or talk or you will completely miss this time that will never come back! I remember reading an article that said when your baby grows up you will no longer have the sleepless nights but you will also no longer have the sweet smelling head of your baby asleep in the crook of your neck. I just know that is so true! Already those moments are fewer and far between when he will just relax in my arms and rest his head on my chest. I miss it. I love love love my little baby! Other memories...He would explode through his diapers every day for a while there and I thought for sure I just didn't know how to put them on right-but I did. He just had really liquidy pooh! He had terrible gas and would scream when it hurt him. Tenille gave me the ingenious idea to put his legs over his head and every time I did there would be a major explosion! It always surprised anyone who ever heard him do it! One day, when I was in California with my sisters, Thomas (Tyson's cousin who is six weeks older than him) got a hold of Tyson's bottle. That night he had the worst gas! Then we all knew it was my fault that Tyson was so gassy-poor kid! Tyson loved the water and would relax in Christian's arms and learned to just float on his back over Christmas break. He loved it! We thought for sure he would be a swimmer then, although I'm still hoping he'll go for soccer! My fears were that he would become a tall man with a really small head and be called pea-brain since his head circumference was so small! I also thought he would never learn to crawl or walk. I was afraid he would never truly believe in God or come to love Jesus Christ, but I know these are all useless fears. He loves books and he loves to open and shut doors and cupboards. He loves to rip off pieces of our wood laminate floor and even knows which pieces will readily come off and race to them! When he was younger, he would point at every little thing with his right pointer finger. I swear he wouldn't know what to do if that finger had been cut off! He would find the smallest knot in the wood and poke at it. Now he points to where he wants to go or to what he wants you to see. He loves ceiling fans. I started to think there must have been ceiling fans in Heaven since it was the one thing (besides his dad) that he has loved since birth. They simply mesmerize him! He used to fall asleep on my chest on the couch :) I loved that! We could sit and read for hours and he didn't mind at all. Now he will crawl out of my lap, sit next to me, and get his own book. He is so funny! He loves glasses, remote controls (don't ask me why because he's never seen us use them!) and cell phones. He absolutely adores the blanket Aunt Laurie brought him from Bethlehem and still loves the bath. He cries every time I put him in his high chair and almost every time I put him down for a nap and he'll look at you with these eyes that say "How could you even think of doing this to me?!?" I usually try to avoid eye contact during those times. He loves to play the piano with his hands and his feet and does this little dance by hunching his back over and over again. He has the cutest smile and the best laugh! My favorite part is that he squints his eyes when he smiles even though he wouldn't naturally. He does it on purpose because I think he thinks that's how you're supposed to smile since my eyes naturally squint closed. If he makes you laugh he will repeat his action again and again and he'll laugh, too. He also loves to climb into small places like the laundry basket or under the table. The other day he bent over and climbed very carefully into a tiny book basket that could barely fit him! Perhaps my very favorite memory of him was when he was learning to crawl and Christian would get on one side of the room and we would set Tyson on the other and they would race to the middle with Tyson belly laughing the whole way! Oh this past year was not without sleepless nights or worries or frustrations. I dare say I have lost my temper with Tyson more than once (the last time I decided it was bed time right then even though it was an hour before his usual bedtime and I paid for it the next morning when he woke up at 5:00 am and wouldn't go back to sleep!) it hasn't been stress-free but Tyson has been perfect. I cannot imagine a better son or a more perfect child. We are so lucky. We are so blessed! On Sunday a couple from our ward talked to us about raising a forever family and they mentioned that we are all children of God and that it is a privilege and a blessing to be given the charge of teaching and loving our children. I find that many times over the course of my marriage I have thought that I loved Christian more than I ever could and then I live a little longer and I do. One of my very favorite things about the church we go to is that it teaches that we can be together forever. That means that our love doesn't have to stop growing. I am so grateful for a family that I want to be with for the rest of my life as well as after death. I love them all so much. I love Christian, I love Tyson, and I love my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the sacrifice He made so that I can return to live with God again--which is the ultimate gift. I am so grateful for this chance I have to be alive and to share it with people I love! Happy First Birthday Tyson! I am so proud you are my son.
Our cute boy is one!
Here is the tractor cake that sort of actually looked like an alligator on wheels...oh well! 
On a side-note...my incredible sister-in-law, Katie is an amazing seamstress! She sewed me this purse for when I don't have to carry that massive diaper bag around and I have never felt more stylish in my life! Thank you so much! Isn't she amazing?
