Tyler, the cheese

Tyler's latest fascination is saying "cheese" and smiling ridiculously cute until you snap a picture and then saying "again!" a million times. Which is why, I have a million cute pictures of him. :) Took these yesterday after church. He was running around with this red ribbon around his neck.

Spring is Coming!

After the tornado weather last night and the start of these flowers I took a couple days ago, I feel like I can finally say with confidence, that spring is coming!!! :)

Little snow crocus...

What will be beautiful daffodils by my front door

we turn our clocks forward in 2 weeks with the first official day of spring right around the corner...sigh...I can make it...

She's been called a spring flower before too :)

Our little athlete

Ok, I know, its WAY too early to be giving Tyler such a title, but, seriously, this boys ability to catch balls and shoot hoops (and make it!) is ridiculous! At least I think. But then again, he is the first born child, so everything is amazing. :) Poor Megan...

Anyway, for the most part, Tyler is just obsessed with basketball. It doesn't matter if you hand him a football, soccer ball, koosh ball, big bouncy ball, he is going to shoot it. Well, a couple days ago, I was given these ridiculously small and even more ridiculously cute shin guards. Do they let kids play soccer this little??? Anyway, of course, we had to try them on Tyler.Look at that form!!! :)Much to Tim's dismay though, this boy's love is basketball

That was after he picked up the soccer ball and shot it and said "score!!!" :)
Check out his wrist!!! He already snaps it, looking like he actually knows what he is doing. :) He will even sit and watch basketball games on TV. I know kids go through a lot of phases where they like things and then they don't. But I sure hope Tyler's love for basketball, and sports in general, sticks around. It will be fun to watch him play.

You know what I wanted to title this post? "A Boy and His Balls"...Tim wouldn't let me. :)

60 in February

Just last week, we had some super warm days (for February in Ohio!). It was 60 for a day or so! Tim, unfortunately, had to work each day, but when he got home in the evenings, he was making the best of his time trying to get some yard work done. He cut down two trees and cleaned up a lot of the branches in our yard. Since the ground is so soft right now, he was also trying to use his truck to clear out some of the brush from the side of our house. Of course, Tyler loved helping. He actually proved that he is quite the budding little worker! He loved helping his Daddy. Although, he really just loved being outside! I am not sure which one of us is looking forward to spring more! Here are a few pics

Still a little baby face... :_)

just a few short months ago...my how he has grown...

Binky Free

Tim and I made the decision a week ago that Saturday night, 2/19 would be Tyler's last night to have his Binky (pacifier). Sunday afternoon was his last time to have it during nap time. After Tyler woke up from his nap on Sunday, we brought Tyler out of his room and told him to throw his Binky in the trash. We even made him get into his backpack (diaper bag) and pull out his secret stash. He threw all 3 of them away without a fuss at all. Later on when he was playing, he did run back to the trash to check on them, but other than that, he didn't give it a second thought. That night, I was expecting disaster. I had actually secretly pulled them back out of the trash and put them in my own secret stash. But we talked to Tyler and kept telling him that he was a big boy and that he didn't need his Binky anymore. He whimpered for about 15 seconds, and we didn't hear from him again until morning. He never cried, slept great, and other than just asking for them, didn't make a fuss about it at all. At nap time today, he asked for Binky but didn't cry or fuss or even whimper. Then, he proceeded to sleep over 2 1/2 hours. I will maintain my theory that Tyler is a horrible first born. He is far too easy. (Not that I am complaining!!!!) Megan is the difficult second born that had she been born first, there wouldn't have been a second... :P

Tyler's last picture with his best friend of 21 months, BinkyThrowing it away...notice the clean trash bag so that I could rescue them. :)

Pretty sure I am sadder about it than Tyler is...I will miss this little baby boy :_(

Old dresses

I used to be sad that my mom didn't have any of my old dresses from when I was a baby and little girl. I think it would be so neat to be able to see my daughter dressed up in those same dresses. But after 27 years and at least 3 other little girls wearing them, they are no where to be found. Plus, now that I look back through pictures, Megan would kill me later in life if she were caught dead in some of these now. :)I used to call them "stick out dresses" and I hated them. :) I was no where near being a girly girl and quite honestly, if Megan is, I will be lost. Having Tyler as her older brother though, I am seeing more pictures of bruises on her knees and mud on her face.

Megan's first hairbow!!!

Megan's hair is officially long enough to wear a hair bow in her hair and actually keep it in longer than just for a picture. :) She literally only has hair on top, but hey, I'll take it. It took a bad case of bedhead today to officially decide to try to get the bow to stay, and it was actually easier than I thought. Beware, this will be Megan's new look for awhile. :) Now to get more hair bows...

I won't be offended if you have to click on the picture to see it larger. :)
And yes, she is wearing short sleeves in February...its 60 out there today!!!! :)

Making Her Smile

Megan is difficult. Difficult to get her to eat, difficult to keep asleep, extra difficult when she is sick, she is particular about little details...but one thing that has never been hard with Megan, is making her smile. She smiles when she is sick, smiles when she is tired, smiles when she is hurt...and her smile lights up a room. I will never tire of this chubby faced, toothy little grin by my precious sweet baby girl.

Her newest grin? Adding a crinkled little nose...

LOVE

Monkey Boy

Tyler has very few fears. Actually, his latest and biggest fear is talking stuffed animals. :) Tim will make Tyler's big stuffed bear talk and he usually ends up running out of the room crying and saying "Nooo!!" However, when it comes to water, climbing, heights, roller coaster type stuff, Tyler has zero fear. He LOVES jumping off the couch and when he gets hurt, or bumps something the wrong way, he just comes running to me saying "arm," "toes," "hand" or whatever body part he hurt and asks for a "tiss" to which I of course willfully give, and he goes right back to what he was doing. He is quite the little monkey and surprises me what he can get himself into sometimes. He will be out climbing trees before I know it! :)

Love These Two

A daily occurrence in the Schramm household. And something I will never tire of. The love between these two is priceless. But believe me, its not all a bed of roses. Megan is frequently caught laughing at Tyler when he cries or is getting in trouble. :) We figure it all works itself out in the end when its Tyler on top of Megan all the time. I wonder how long it will be until the tables turn?

I distinctly remember shortly after Megan was born that I was holding Tyler and crying because I felt like I had destroyed his life by bringing another baby into his babyhood. Boy was I wrong. Terribly, terribly, wonderfully wrong.

Tyler's love for books

I know its just a developmental phase, but I LOVE Tyler's new found love for books and being read to. Its a plea I can't refuse when he comes up to me and says "Mommy read?" Melts my heart every time. He even asks for his books when we are in the car and especially loves his Vegetales books. He doesn't know any of his letters by memory yet, but he loves to pick out letters and if you have them on your shirt, he will probably tell you. :) He does know the difference between numbers and letters though. My baby boy is growing up fast.

Forgive Me

Forgive me for my previous post...I have learned a lesson. Never update the blog when my emotions are out of whack. I was irrational and posted solely on what I was feeling and not what was real. Its a big reason why I no longer update my status on facebook. Because I caught myself always writing a fleeting feeling instead of anything profitable or worthwhile. I don't want my blog to be flooded with negative things like that. So, for those of you who do actually read my updates, I'm sorry. Interestingly enough, I flipped to today's date on my little desktop calendar and it says:

God's perfect love always says, "I have in mind your ultimate good, not just your present comfort."

Sickening in how well it applies to my life right now. But oh so very true.

Baby Things

I packed away all of my baby gear and clothes today. And, I'm not one bit sad. Call me heartless, but seriously, Megan has been working hard to secure her position as baby of the family. I love her to pieces but she is so stubborn and strong willed already. Not to mention, I have yet to sleep through the night since way before she was born. She hasn't eaten through the night since she was 5 weeks old, but I have to get up sometimes as many as 15 times a night to give her her pacifier. So far, all of 2011 has had her on antibiotics or just dealing with something out of the norm. She had a double ear infection in the middle of January and now has one in her left ear. Antibiotics aren't nice on her which means, she is not nice to Mommy. She has had and is still trying to get better from the flu and has a horrible cough which kept her up from 1:30-4:30 last night. Tim had the flu, Tyler and I both had strep, Tyler had the flu...Needless to say, I am tired. I feel like I walk around like a zombie. I can't function. I literally go through the motions of life. I am blessed and I know that I have so much to be thankful for. But I'm not perfect. I would love a break. A chance to sleep through the night. A chance to be able to enjoy cleaning my house again because I am rested enough to do it. A chance to truly work on being transformed like I so desire. Tyler deserves a Mommy that can play and be happy. I know happiness is a choice, and believe me, I do my best to make that decision every day. But living on a mere 2-3 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night for 9+ months now would wear on anyone. Megan deserves a Mom who can be slow tempered and more selfless, more patient. I am human, I require sleep in order to operate at my best potential. I am just tired. I am selfish, I know. I know that years down the road I may miss this phase. I know that years down the road I will realize that these moments are quick and such a short time through Megan's life. I know that there are many who can't have children or who have lost babies that would love to be able to have these sleepless nights for months on end. I have been there too. Believe me, every day I feel guilty for the way I feel. I have a baby I never held too...that I was never able to feel this way about. But today, I am tired. I am selfish. I want normalcy again. I want sleep. I want to be done with these baby things.

Who does she look like??

I have heard it again and again that Megan looks like me. However, from day 1, I have disagreed. I know others may not see it, but Megan has her Daddy's eyes and nose to a 'T'. I can't really argue about her mouth, because I do think she has that from me. But those chubby cheeks, eyes, and nose are all her Daddy!

Daddy

Mommy

What do you think?

My Valentine's

9 years ago, I met Timothy Paul Schramm. Almost 6 years ago, I became Shannon Alysia Schramm. 3 years ago, we lost our first baby. The same month that we lost our first baby, we bought our first house. Almost 2 years ago, we had our first baby boy, Tyler Wayne. 7 months ago, we had our first baby girl, Megan JoLynn. I look forward to the years to come and what else God has in store for us. Happy Valentine's Day to my dear sweet family.