I'd just put Tyler into his highchair to have his breakfast....Pops....(coco
pops).
It's just gone 7:30 and we're still both in our pyjamas.... His are orange
and have big letters and lions on it....mine are pink with funky green
turtles.
He looks at my arm, turns his head to the side and points to the turtle on
my sleeve.

"Turtle" I say

He looks at me....
Grabs my sleeve and moves it closer to his face.

"That's a turtle" I say again, thinking he wants to have a closer look.
Apparently, he didn't want to have a closer look....
He wanted to wipe his nose.....

So he did....... on my sleeve!!!!!
ON.MY.SLEEVE!!

God I love this kid.....

T went for his first hair cut today......and he looks like...snif....well he
doesn't look like my little baby boy.... He's a real boy now...


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Baby Steps.... I know I've been the slackest person on the planet when it comes to updates on T, and now seeing as though he's already 1 and has left behind any resemblance to that fragile, scrawny, tiny person he was, I'm sure you're all thinking "why the hell is she STILL sending these things out?? He’s just an ordinary kid"   

And yes....that he is..... So this is the last mass email I'm going to send out  (a collective cheer rings out) because he is just like any other kid now.  
There’s nothing spectacular or extra ordinary about him any more..... And for that we are so grateful.  

We’ve spent the first year of his life expecting so much from this little fella.

First in the hospital, we willed him to live....then to breath without assistance....then to gain back his birth weight......to get over the jaundice.....to learn how to feed.....then to put on enough weight so he could come home.

Then once we were home, we hoped he would reach those all important milestones on time.  We’d hoped that his early arrival hadn’t delayed any of his fine motor skills.  We willed him to roll..... to crawl.....to be able to pass objects from one hand to the other...... to crawl properly....to say Dad.....and Mum......to clap his hands together.....to wave bye bye.....to pull himself up on furniture....to stand unassisted........

And to walk......

Which he did today.......

It was just 5 little steps...

But he did them all by himself....

Our little boy....

Walked.....

And it made me realize how quickly the last year had gone....
How I’d been willing things to happen too quickly....
For him to catch up.....
For him to be “normal”
To be just an ordinary kid.......

So for now.....
I’m going to stop analyzing everything he does....
I’m going to enjoy this little boy with the wicked laugh
and the mischievous smile.....

I’m going to let him be “ordinary”

Because he’s not going to be little forever.....

And hopefully
He’ll grow.....
Into an extraordinary person.....
Who may even one day......do some extraordinary things.....


Thank you all so much for your love and support during the past year...... It has meant so much to us....

Lots of love
Chan, Chad, and The Ordinary Mr T.

P.S.  I’ll still be updating his website.  http://theamazingmrt.spaces.live.com  
P.S.S.  You might want to check out the November pictures and see the cracker of a bruise he got on his noggin when, at the end of his “5 steps” he promptly fell face first into the corner of the door way.....  What....you thought this email would stop at being all soppy and mushy??Pphhhtttt....

There is an update coming...honest... I promise....
I just didn't want to send one out before the little monkey's party....cause then everyone would know everything and then I'd have nothing to talk about.... pphhttt...me....nothing to talk about....suurrreeee.

     

10 Month Update Hi everyone, I know this is very late, so I'll keep it short and sweet.

It's been a fun filled month for one and all since our last email went out.
Here’s some things we’ve learnt in the last month and a bit.

• Two teeth hurt A LOT more than one tooth when babies bite.
• Sometimes, when mummies return to work after being home with baby for 10 months, delusions of grandeur will occur and conclusions that baby is  suffering from separation anxiety because of persistent waking during the night with paint peeling screams
• sometimes babies don’t show the classic ear pulling and high temp signs when they have ear infections
• Ear infections also make babies scream.....really loudly......
• Mummies who think that baby is really missing her when she goes to work by having separation anxiety are brought crashing down to earth when she finds out he doesn’t really miss her, he just has an ouchy ear.
• When babies learn to pull themselves up on things, your heart is constantly in your throat.
• Babies can reach a lot more things when they can pull themselves up on things.
• Babies fall down....alot.
• Polished floors look pretty, but don’t provide much cushioning for babies heads when they fall down.
• Babies who are too lazy to get up and crawl properly and insist on commando crawling everywhere do a good job at cleaning polished floors.
• Babies should learn to get into the corners to get all the dust so Mummy doesn’t have to sweep the floors.
• Commando crawling babies get VERY dirty.
• Babies with croup aren’t much fun.
• Emergency rooms are full of sick people
• Mummies who sit next to the kid with gastro has a pretty good chance of getting it.
• Mummies with gastro aren’t much fun
• Mummies can pass gastro on to babies
• Babies with gastro are even less fun than babies with croup
• Daddies don’t particularly like the taste of breast milk when it is projectile vomited from a baby.
• Emergency rooms are less crowded at midnight than they are at 9:30pm.
• Emergency rooms are almost empty at 2am
• Daddies get sad when babies replace saying Dad-dad-dad with Mum-mum-mum
• In the blink of an eye, babies turn into little boys......
  

As per last month, I won’t fill peoples boxes with pictures, just pop along to  http://theamazingmrt.spaces.live.com
If you want to see how much our little monkey is growing.

Love and smooches
Chan, Chad and The Always Amazing, Mr T

Hi everyone.... Well as you may have guessed by the title, T is now 9 months
old!
I won't bore you to death with details on all the little
milestones......I'll just give a quick run down.....

- He has his first tooth! FINALLY!! (and it's not where we thought we
could feel one..)
- He's crawling! Well not quite crawling, he's commando crawling, but
trying really hard to get up on his hands and knees and move around.
- He's saying Daddy (and Dadda) GRRRRRR. I've been coaching him for the
last 8 months for his first word to be Mum....but nooooooo. Consolation is
that the dog is also Dad....the plant is Dad, the car is Dad, and
occasionally I am Dad.
He's sitting by himself. Well mostly....until he realizes what he's doing
and then he starts to topple over.
- He's had his first cold/flu (thank you Aunty Boo) He's 100% now.....it's
just Mum and Dad that are having a hard time shaking the last of it.

I think that's about it.... I won't fill your boxes with a million
pictures, instead, here is the link to T's first appearance on Youtube.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHz7TRX1jz0

Don't forget if you want to see regular pics (and occasionally an update) of
the kid, I'm constantly updating his webpage.

http://theamazingmrt.spaces.live.com/

Lots of love and kisses
Chan,Chad and The Spectacular Mr T

Moustache Monthly ...July addition My apologies to Nana Sue.....
but technically this isn't a moustache.........

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And it'll be the last one for a long while......
He was ok during the first quarter, but then he started to get
grizzly.....and then he puked on me.... TWICE!!
I barely watched any of the actual football!
He was so distracting that I miss Jonathon Brown's bare bum on the big
screen when he got dacked in an attempted tackle!
Now THAT'S just not on!
He did really enjoy the bus ride home though......

Update.....7 whole months!! Hi everyone, yes....it's that time again....I'm sure I'll get sick of doing these updates soon, I'm surprised I've persevered for as long as I have to be honest.
Anyway...where was I... Oh that’s right.... T’s update...
So it’s 7 months today.... 30 whole weeks... *sigh * My little boy isn’t so little any more... *snif *

In honor of being 7 months, I thought I’d share with you 7 exciting things that have happened during the last month.

No. 1 Keep rollin’ rollin’ rollin’

Not too seconds after I hit the send button on last months update, the little monkey started rolling again.... Gone are the days that I can just throw him on the ground and expect to find him where I left him. He managed to roll from one end of the lounge room to the other the other day, (which most of you know isn’t all that far, but still....) and reached up, pulled a leaf off the plant (which I’ve heard is only a little bit poisonous) and shove it in his mouth. We’re going to have our hands full with this one aren’t we??

No. 2 Solids!!

Solids!! We’ve started solids! The ECN (not the same stupid cow that told me to feed T every 2 hours the week we got home from the hospital) recommended that we don’t start solids until Tyler is 6 month corrected.....which is technically next month......butttttt.... I just couldn’t handle the looks he would give us while he would watch us eat! He was worse than the dog! All that drooling and making all those smacking noises with his lips....and those eyes....looking at me like he was some poor, starving little boy. It was excruciating! I couldn’t help but throw the poor kid a crust.....even if it was a little early.
He loves toast, especially with vegemite. He doesn’t actually eat it, it’s more like he sucks the living be-jeesus out of it leaving it all soggy & globby and mashes it between his fingers. It’s so feral.

Me, who is CLULESS in all things “baby” realizing I’d probably gone a little over the top giving the kid vegemite to start off with (that stuff is just NASTY, imagine what it was doing to T’s tummy!) thought we should maybe give him a little rice cereal to get his tummy use to “food”.....though I wouldn’t really call it “food”.... I mix the stuff with that much breast milk (I’m paranoid about constipating the poor critter) that it’s almost like broth....bluck! As you can see by the above picture....T wasn’t all that impressed with his boob juice and rice cereal breakfast.

No. 3 Goodbye sweet baby.....

T had always been this sweet, adorable, well behaved little boy. Until.............. He had his 6 month needles. Now I’m not sure if it was just a coincidence or it was a side effect from the needle, but my sweet little boy turned into an evil goblin. Gone where the days when I could just lay him on the couch for his day time naps....now he needs to be rocked to sleep....or fed to sleep. He SCREAMS when we get him undressed for his bath.....is a perfect angel while in the tub........ SCREAMS again while getting him dressed.....*sigh * Little shit.......there’s sooo many other things that I KNOW he does specifically to tick me off.......is this just him being a normal baby or him being a boy??

No. 4 Jumpa jumpa jumperrrrrr

This is the part where I come out of the closet and confess..... I’ve broken one of my cardinal rules. Thou shalt not spend more than $100 at a time on a child (shut up Jenny... I can hear you sniggering from here)
It’s a long story...but the short version kinda goes like this....
Visiting friends.....
T had a “ride” on toy....
T bounced,
T giggled
T had a HOOT
T loved toy....
Daddy thought buying toy for T would do two things,
a) get T out of his crap mood that he’d been in (see No. 3) and
b) give Mummy a bit of time to herself because a certain little person had become so needy and demanding.
Daddy sends Mummy to overpriced toyshop in search of toy. Mummy finds toy. Daddy says buy toy. Mummy hesitates. Daddy insists. Mummy buys toy. Mummy puts toy together. Mummy puts T in toy. T gets upset. Mummy wonders why when T loved toy a few days ago. T tries hard to tell Mummy that it’s different when it’s someone else’s toy. Mummy doesn’t understand babble. T tries to explain again. Mummy still no understandy. T vomits all over toy. Mummy now understands.

No. 5. Chuck Monkey!

There are no pictures for this one....and for that you should be grateful.
He chucks SO much these days! It never use to be like this. Both of us constantly smell like sour milk. It’s revolting! Does anyone know if reflux can kick in at this late a stage?

No. 6. Hair!! (and eyes)

Not much to say here....except it’s growing back..... I don’t know why I chose these photos......you can’t really see his hair, but he’s just so darn adorable!

He’s still got a little “flathead” happening at the back (damn that “always sleep baby on it’s back” *ahem * advice)....but as long as he never wants to join the army when he gets older, it shouldn’t be a problem. Most of the hair that was on his back and shoulders when he was born has now disappeared, though he still has a little bit of “trucker arms” happening....he has a wee bit of hair on his upper arms that is...uummmm.....not so sparse.....or blonde.... Poor little poodle....
We’re still waiting for his eyes to settle on a permanent colour. When he was born, they were almost black....then after we got him home, they went that bluey grey colour that all newborns’ eyes go. Now they seem to be stuck half way between blue and brown. They’re blue around the outer edges, and brown closer to the black bit in the middle ( I have a HUGE grasp of the human anatomy...as you can clearly see by my use of all the proper names for body parts). I’m sure they’ll turn brown eventually though.

No. 7. Because.......

Because it was so funny the first time.........you can’t help but want to go back for seconds......


Well that’s about it from us this month.
Incase anyone was wondering about those all important stats, well, ummm... I’ve been a little slack. The ECN that use to come to the chemist down the road, doesn’t come to the chemist down the road anymore, so T is still yet to have his book filled in for his 6 month check up. We did pop him on the scales and is right on 8kgs (which is 17.63lbs for you older folks).

That’s it from me....it’s WAY past my bedtime.
Take care
Lots of love and kisses
Chan, Chad and the always Amazing Mr T

THIS

is the REAL reason we wanted to have a child........





Lots of love
Chan, Chad and Chopper T

Happy Easter everyone.
I know we're a day late, but come on people....it's ME we're talking about.
We just had to show you all how we teased and tormented our little boy on
his very first Easter......

We hope you all had a safe and happy Easter
Lots of love and kisses
Chan, Chad and Teasel

Update on Mr T 28/3/07

Since the beginning of time (ok...that's a wee bit of an exaggeration) , there's been the great debate about when to stop counting in weeks and start counting in months.

If we were to count in weeks, last week would have been 24 weeks.....or 6 months if you break each month up into 4 weeks.

But if you go by dates, next week, the 2nd of April, will be 6 months..... So I'm splitting it down the middle.....well kinda down the middle... I’m running a little behind this week.

Whether its 25 weeks......or 6 months... It's still hard to believe that it's been so long since our world turned upside down.

It’s also hard to believe that it’s been a full 12 months today that we first knew of T......back then he was just a line on a pee stick, just a tiny cluster of cells.  12 months ago we held our breath, crossed our fingers and hoped and wished, that this time, things would work out.

I should stop reminiscing and get on with the update huh?

Just after I sent out the last update, my Mum called.  After chatting for a bit, she says
“Is Tyler losing his hair?”
“Nooooo, he’s not losing his hair Mum!”
“Are you sure?  It looks like he’s losing his hair”
“I’m positive.  He’s got exactly the same amount of hair as he had when he was born, it’s just that now that his his is bigger, his hair looks....sparser”
“It looks like he’s losing his hair”
“He’s not losing his hair”

Two days later, we were up at the hospital for his monthly playgroup (they have a special playgroup at the hospital for all the babies who go through the nursery. They have a speech therapist, a physiotherapist and an occupational health therapist....yes...it’s all a little extreme.....but back to the story).  The play mats are covered with white hospital sheets. Stark. White. Hospital. Sheets.  When the first therapist makes her way around and checks T’s....what ever she was checking by holding his hands and having him pull himself up, what do you think was laying there on the S.W.H.S????  A MASS of black hair!  Not just a few stray ones.....but CHUNKS of hair! Ok, maybe I’m over exaggerating just a little....but there was HEAPS of hair. My little boy is going BALD!!!  

Onto more exciting things...... GIGGLES!!!!
That’s right kids....we’re getting giggles!  I’ve heard a million kids giggle before, but nothing, nothing has ever sounded as sweet as our little boy’s giggle.  They are like a drug.  I find myself doing some weird arse shit that I SWORE I’d never do, just in the hopes that I might entice the tiniest little giggle from him.  
And babble!  The kid is constantly talking....to me...to Chad....to the dog....to his toys....to the wall...... Remind me in 5 years when I’m being bombarded with “why is the sky blue?” “why is the grass green?” “why?why?why?”  that at one point in time I actually thought his babble was the sweetest thing in the world.

T has given up on rolling as a bad joke.  I think he’s put it in his “I’ll deal with that later” basket and is concentrating on increasing the volume of his babble.  I think he’s maybe rolled once in the last month.......which I know the gaggle of therapists from the hospital will frown upon us, because we’re suppose to be “teaching” him how to roll.  My philosophy is , if he hasn’t learnt how to roll by the time he starts school, THEN I’ll start to worry.  He spends tones of time on his tummy, until he gets frustrated at being unable to crawl, and I’m sure, like before, he’s roll again when he’s good and ready.  

We had our very first trip to Emergency last Saturday night.  After running a temp of 38.3 all day, having had panadol and tepid baths, at 7pm, there was no sign of the fever breaking.  Tyler wasn’t in any way showing signs of distress.....he was his normal, happy self......not grizzling or over sleepy, but the temp thing wigged me out a fare bit, so I rang the Child Health Line and the nurse suggested that we high tail it up to the Childrens’ Emergency Room....so that is what we did.  I called the CER just to find out exactly where they were, because we’d only ever been to the Adults ER.
    “Oh it’s real easy” says the nurse/receptionist “there’s plenty of signage, you couldn’t possibly get lost”
Well get lost we did.........because there was NO BLOODY SIGNAGE!!!  
Anywho....we finally get there, T gets weighed, (7.75kgs!!!) and has his temp taken, which, after sitting in the air conditioning for 20 minutes has gone down to 37.7.  They whipped this snazzy little baggy thing on his willy to get a pee sample, and shoozed us into the waiting room.... And wait we did.  It actually didn’t take long to see the doctor, but we then had to wait for the results of his urine test.....an hour later, it’s almost 10pm, and we’re given the all clear to go.  His temp has been normal ever since....cheeky little monkey.


It’s still hard to believe that this adventure started a whole year ago.........a whole year...... Who would have thought we’d ever get this far........
Our little boy has completed us.......

I’d better be off....
Talk to you all soon
Lots of love and kisses
Chan, Chad and the Amazing Mr T


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Conversation: 21 Today!
Subject: 21 Today!

Well 21 WEEKS........
Can you believe it has gone by sooo quick. Everyone told me they grow up in
the blink of an eye, it's only now I'm starting to believe them.

T has been growing in leaps and bounds. Although we haven't had him
"officially" weighed since his 16 week check up, his unofficial weight is a
little over 7kgs (that's close to 16lb for you old people).

We were made to pull our fingers out and get the kid's room ready for him.
He forced our hand by growing too damn fast and outgrowing the bassinet.
As you may have guessed, I had a wee bit of a freak out.....if I recall
correctly, there was snot, tears, serious amounts of pacing and some crazy
mutterings about there being no mention of "bassinet death" but "cot"
death......... well they have a whole foundation based on THAT!

T has been in his own room for a whole month now, and Mum is dealing with
the extra 3 meters he is now sleeping away from her. At this rate, I
shouldn't have a problem with him going to the shops on his own by the time
he's at least....hmmmm.....23. He's also started sleeping a whole lot
longer at night. He's usually in bed by 7:30 and has started sleeping
through till 2am ish.....well it's only been the last couple of days he's
been doing that, but I'm hoping it's a trend that he'll continue.

He also outgrew his baby bath, so has been kicking back in the big bath.
You can see by the picture of his first bath in the hospital exactly how
much the little monkey has grown.

Uumm.....what else.... He's still occasionally rolling from his belly to his
back, it's not something that he does every day, more so when ever it takes
his fancy. He's also rolled from his back to his side a couple of times (I
got this one on video so I can't be branded as a "Nutty Mummy"), but once
again, it's just one of those random things that he flukes...... I
think....or he could just be THE SMARTEST BABY ON THE PLANET!!!

He's also trying his hardest to shove his entire fist in his mouth. This
along with the amount of dribble that this kid is producing leads us to
believe he may be getting a tooth sooner rather than later (I'll be
regretting I said this when we're still waiting for him to cut his first
tooth in 6 months time won't I??) My gorgeous cousin Mel, shoved her finger
(which she didn't even bother to wash..can you say EWWWWWW?? Hehe, just
kidding Mel) in his mouth the other day and reckons that she could feel
something......so who knows.......

Other than that, we're all doing extremely well....... I could gush on and
on about how wonderful being a mum is and how adorable T is, but I don't
want you all to see my super soft girlie side.......that and I don't want to
bore you all to death by going all gushy and sloppy and waffling on......

So that's about it for this update......
Talk to you all soon.....
Lots of love and kisses
Chan, Chad and the Amazing Mr T

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As you can see by the pics, T certainly is growing! He had his 16 week/4
month check up yesterday and is going great guns! He's right on track for
his corrected age (7 weeks).
He's 6.3kgs (13lb 9oz) and 59 cm long.
We're getting HEAPS more smiles, and even an occasional squeal of delight.
We're falling more and more in love with this little monkey every day....
He was definitely worth the wait.......
Lots of love and kisses
Chantal, Chad, and the Amazing Mr T


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Hi Everyone, obviously my idea of updating you all on Tyler's progress
hasn't exactly gone to plan. It's turning more into a "once in a blue moon"
thing instead of a weekly thing like I had hopped, but then I guess, on the
flip side, you should be grateful I'm not filling your inboxes with a
bazillion photos every other day....
Firstly, I must say, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all, and yes I
know it's late, but then if I'd actually been on time with our season
greetings, you would have thought I'd been abducted by aliens and some
strange being had taken over my body.

Now, on to the good stuff. Monday the 4th of December was T's due date, so
we went and had him weighed. The monster tipped the scales at 4.290kgs
(which is 9lb 4!) All I can say is he would have done more than ripped me a
new one if he'd come at full term!! 9lb 4!!!! "F" me!

We had a pediatrics appointment at the hospital on the 21st of December and
Tyler weighed in at a MASSIVE 4.8kgs and was 53 cm long (he was 43cm at
birth)
The pediatrician also "dismissed" us from further checkups because he was so
impressed by how well T was doing.

Everything seems to be happening at once with the little monkey......I
received my first REAL smile just the other day, he's been following us
intently with his eyes, he rolled from him tummy to his back at least 4
times while I was home alone, and has since refused to do a repeat
performance when someone else is there to witness it, making me look like
one of those crazy mummy's who think their children are "far more advanced
than his peers". But he did roll over......honest.
He's also starting to sleep for longer during the night, which is an
absolute G-D send for me! He was waking ever 2 hours (3 hours if I was
really lucky) for a feed, and has now stretched it out to 4 hours between
feeds most nights. I was going a little nutty.......ok... NUTTIER......with
the lack of sleep, but I'm starting to use whole words and complete
sentences now instead of a series of grunts and clicks that the ever
suffering Chad somehow managed to decipher. Gotta love that boy.....

Anywho....that's about it from us.....
Happy New Year everyone
Lots of love and kisses
Chan, Chad and the Amazing Mr T.

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