Jam-Packed Weekend

It's been a helluva few days here in Cincinnati. We had a huge weekend! My mother-in-law got married on Saturday to a wonderful man, Dave, who's been in our lives for a few years now. We are very lucky Marcia has found a companion and someone we really enjoy being around. It was a lovely affair, quite a success. Our family got to walk down the aisle together and I (brace yourself) sang at the wedding. It went pretty well and, as nervous as I was considering I hadn't sung in front of anyone in 12 years, I got lots of compliments. Needless to say I was so happy when it was over and needed a stiff drink when I got into the limo.

In other big news in the Scherman household...Tyler is walking! He decided a couple days before his 1st birthday that he was done with the whole crawling thing and he was ready to get to steppin'. He's been getting better ever since and was a big hit this weekend just cruising around the rehearsal, wedding, reception and his birthday party. Unfortunately...when he saw everyone staring at him down the aisle on the day of the wedding...he wanted nothing to do with walking down so I carried him...but that's okay! Unfortunately my camera was dead as a door-nail and we couldn't find the charger in the hysteria of the morning activities so I have no pictures to speak of...but I know Grandparents, friends and relatives took pictures, and we have the professional shots too so I'll post a few when I get them. Ty looked adorable in his khakis, brown shoes and green polo :)

On Sunday after the wedding festivities, (what was I thinking!) we had Tyler's fish-themed 1st birthday party. We had 50 of our closest friends and family over to BBQ, throw some water balloons, dive into some cake, and enjoy each other's company. It was truly a success and...although my stress level could not have been higher (due to the wedding, singing, and the party looming) it was completely worth it (although I could do without the zits left behind because of it!). I really loved all the decorations, the cake was adorable and everyone that RSVP'ed attended. Although our home looks like a plastic tornado hit it...we can not believe how truly blessed we are and what wonderful and generous friends and family we have. Tyler is one lucky boy to have all that love surrounding him. Happy 1st Birthday Tyler! Welcome to year #2!

Brace yourself...lots of pictures for those of you who couldn't make the trip!

Decorations

His cute cake from my new favorite bakery...Servattis :)My attempt at fish-shaped sugar cookiesFish straws for the drinks and next to that are the cups with fish stickers on them on the fish net Centerpieces...my original idea was to buy live fish but my hubby brought me down to reality and I ended up getting these puffy stickers and it worked out great!Got these great wooden fish and sea creatures from hobby lobby and stuck them on everything (thanks Carol for the idea!)I drapped fish nets all over our deck and my mom cut out paper fish to stick in them Ty with his ridiculous number of gifts...to me this pile meant plastic hell for someone who is a minimalist at home...I just kept thinking...where am I going to put all this?!Tyler's personal cake he got to dive into...the bakery made a small version of the original cake...so cute!Everyone singing happy birthday diving into his cake
This was one of Ty's gifts from us and he and the boys loved itSome of the older boys partaking in a water balloon fightOpening gifts...Ty lasted about 3 gifts then the older kids helped me open the rest...they loved it! Ty helping Mommy clean up after the party with one of his new toys...a vacuumA gift from the Horn family...we love it and can't wait to push Ty around the neighborhood!

Our baby is One!

Happy 1st Birthday Tyler James! Holy moly...I can't believe I'm already posting this...Tyler turns 1 today! I seriously can't believe it's been a year since I was laid up in the hospital in labor, awaiting the arrival of Tyler James. Here's what I looked like a year ago today...yikes! After 22 hours of labor, Tyler arrived at 8:42pm on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 9lbs and 21", and it was the happiest day of our lives! Today we headed to the doctor for his one year check up and here are his current stats: 21lbs 2.5oz & 30". He's still a bit on the "tall" side and pretty average on his weight...just a healthy, happy little boy! The dr gave us the go-ahead to start milk, turn around our car seat and sent him away with 4...yes 4...shots! Here are a few shots of Ty during his first few days...

And here he is now!!

already texting on his cell phone

Water Tots

We are on week 2 of swim lessons with Tyler. Water tots is a half hour class of parents and toddlers from 6-18 months. We swim the lazy river, work on kicking and floating on the back and tummy, blow bubbles (but in Tyler's case it's drink the water), do the hokey-pokey (Mike loves this part) and go through a hula hoop underwater. Ty is definitely a water baby. He is the only baby splashing around and freely putting his face in the water (so much that we can't get much else done during the lesson). Although we have both been so busy in the water experiencing the lesson with Ty unable to take any pictures...I did take a picture right before the lesson began. The pix shows part of the indoor pool we go to and Ty with Daddy testing out the water. The facility is quite amazing. It has a huge pool with slides, a water feature, a small lazy river, huge hot tub and a few waterfalls. It's amazing and really fun. We aren't members of the community center (yet!) but it is really a pleasure to get to use it once a week.

Lions & Tigers & Rides(?)...Oh My!

This past weekend was a very busy one. On Saturday we took our first trip to the Cincinnati Zoo, and became season pass holders :) It was hotter than anything here and that zoo is hilly so there was lots of sweat and plenty of water...but it was so worth it! We had a great time checking out the zoo and plan to get great usage out of our zoo passes this season.

Feeding the goats
In front of the brown bears...we loved the brown and polar bears!Checkin' out the zebras with DaddyMommy & Ty by the gorilla houseThen on Father's Day...we headed to Kings Island (for you Illinois folk...it's our Great America equivalent) for the late afternoon and evening to get some use out of our season passes (thanks to a xmas gift from my mother-in-law!) Believe it or not...I've never been to Kings Island, even after going to college here 4 years and now living so close for the past 3 that we can see the fireworks every night from our deck. Needless to say...it was a long overdue trip! We had a great time checking out all the new "big kid" rides and hope to go back another time with the grandparents so we can ride some rides. We spent the majority of our time in Nickelodeon Land on kiddie rides. We rode a helicopter ride, the carousel and the Scooby Doo haunted house ride with Ty. He was confused, excited and a bit freaked out...but it was fun to watch his reaction! With our season pass, we have the ability to go back around dinnertime on week days when it's a bit quieter there...we only live 10 minutes away at best...so we are going to start to get dessert and some nighttime walking done at Kings Island this summer. Overall, it was a jam-packed weekend of Tyler-friendly activities...and we had a blast!

On the helicopter ride (claustrophobia hell right here! I just tried not to think about it but man...my heart was pounding!)
Riding the carouselIn the front of the park at the Eiffel tower and fountains

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you seasoned fathers, new fathers and fathers-to-be. I am grateful my son has one of the best fathers around. I am also grateful to have the best dad myself. I love you both!

How I plan to spend my summer vacation

It doesn't get much better than this does it? Monday was my last day of work till August...and it was just the most perfect day with Tyler. It was the first time that we took his lion outside and it was like discovering a whole new world for him. He was truckin'! Oh...and note the visor...how cute is that!? Makes him look even more like his Daddy (if that's even possible considering they're already clones!) Thank God summer is here. I tell my students all the time that the teachers need the break just as much as they do...there would be no teachers otherwise...no one would come back for another year:)

Having a blast flying down the street (well the sidewalk at least...you can breath a sigh of relief now Grandmas!)

Hurry up Cincy...you're holding me back!

See ya later Mom...I've got places to go and things to see!

Let me see that one, two step...

Here are a couple of videos of Tyler's first steps today. We found it quite hard to capture a good video while still being able to adequately catch him when he toppled over...here's what we have so far... more to come as the walking progresses!

Stride Rite is right!

So we caved in and bought our first pair of Stride Rite shoes (yikes...those puppies are expensive!). My friend Kimmy, who has a daughter around Tyler's age, raved about these shoes making a huge difference in Ella's ability to walk and stand on her own. So...........we (that means me AND MIKE!) took Ty for his first Stride Rite fitting. He has two different sized feet (one measures 3.5 and one 4.5...go figure!) Mommy and Daddy couldn't agree on a pair, he wanted tennis shoes and I felt they were too hot for Cincinnati weather and was leaning towards sandals...but we finally found a pair we could both be happy with...in a 4 to fit both of his feet :) It was a big to-do at Stride Rite...they even took our picture after we bought the shoes and gave us a little reminder card on when Ty should come back for a re-fitting. All in all...we were glad we did it and it seems to already had an affect on his confidence in his ability to stand and walk, taking a few steps on his own THAT DAY! We're waiting for him to just let go and walk away...it's oh-so close now! Two thumbs up to Stride Rite!!!

Ty trying out the shoes by doing his favorite activity...pushing his lion

Tyler prefers to push his lion the non-traditional way and it drives me crazy on our new wooden floors (I fear scratches!)I'm a rock-in-roll stud mommy!