Fun-Filled Week!

All I can say is that I LOVE summer. I love being able to go and do things with Nate and Ty during the day. It is the best feeling waking up and knowing I get the whole day with them.

Tuesday wasn't the nicest weather so we decided to try Deanna's Playhouse in Holland. Ty was running everywhere! In the cars, to the basketball hoop, back to the cars, to the blocks, dancing on the stage, running into the rocket, back to the cars.... (get the picture :)) It was a great way to get out of the house! By the time we left to go back home, the rain had stopped, and the sun was just peeking out of the clouds!

We finally decided to take Ty to, what I think is the best playground around, Timbertown. He seemed to like the wooden playground, but it still seemed a little big for him. He had fun climbing around for a little bit. We walked around the lake, and of course fed the ducks! He LOVED the ducks (as long as he was being held). He kept says "gucks! gucks!" (which is funny because that's the same way he pronounces trucks...)

Saturday, we were able to spend some time pool-side! Ty loved being in the pool and loved hanging out with his Uncle Matt & Aunt Sarah!

Today was Father's Day so I had to include some pictures of Nate and Ty playing together!! Nate is such a great dad and is so involved in every aspect of taking care of Ty. Ty and I are so lucky to have him in our lives!! Happy Father's Day!

1st Summer Beach Day!

We were so excited that we were able to go to the beach today. After Ty's afternoon nap, we headed over to my parent's house for a little R&R on the beach. We had taken Ty to the beach a few weeks ago when it was a little cooler out and he HATED the sand. He refused to let us set him down on the sand so we were hoping that he'd be a little more "into" it. We had him wear shoes this time and when we got down the beach, again, he wouldn't let us set him down. SO we went on a walk carrying him the whole way (actually Nate carried him the whole way - he is getting so heavy!). We tried to make it fun by swinging him between us but he would barely walk. When we got back from our walk, we tried getting him interested in the Tonka trucks. He wasn't too into it, until I put him in the dump-truck and pushed him around... he started opening up to the idea of touching sand and this is what the rest of the afternoon looked like.......

There is a little stream and he spent forever going back and forth over the logs and checking out the little "waterfall". Here is a video of him, he falls a few times, and we originally started saying yay and clapping to keep him from crying (since at first he cried every time he had sand on his hands) and it stuck.



We were THRILLED that he finally became a beach boy. We are awaiting our parents to move back full time, which means no renters, so we can really spend the summers at the beach!

I can already tell what an awesome summer it will be. I am so excited to spend some time with my two favorite boys!

Memorial Weekend

I was so excited for Memorial Day this year. Well, I'm usually always a little bit excited for memorial weekend since it's my birthday, but this year we had lots to look forward to! Saturday, Nate had his Team State track meet, so he was gone all day. It wasn't the best weather so I was set on cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. In fact, Ty was such a good boy, I did 2 hours of errands, and then he played in the living room and in the garage (since it was raining) while I cleaned for 2 hours. At that point I put him down for a nap and cleaned an additional 2.5 hours! I was on a cleaning rampage!

Here is Ty playing in the garage, since it was raining out, and he just kept pounding and pounding on the door to go out side... He was happy with this option though!
After it stopped raining, Ty went to one of the kitchen drawers, got out the tongs that Nate always uses when he grills, and ran straight for the grill!! Nate has taught him well already! Ty just stood there hitting the grill with them, it was so cute!On Sunday, Nate and I were off to Traverse City for a friend's wedding. Both Nate and I have spent nights away from Ty separately, but we have both never been gone at the same time, so this was a first! Nate's parents watched Ty at our house and we were off! We went to the wedding, which was beautiful, and then went to one of the wineries in-between the wedding at the reception. The winery was on top of this hill overlooking the vineyards and the Lake. I hadn't been feeling the best, and we didn't stay long at the winery. I ended up getting sick multiple times throughout the rest of the day. I was pretty sure that I had gotten some type of food poisoning. We tried going to the reception, but were only able to stay for about 45 minutes. We were back to the hotel at 7:30 and I was out by 8 and slept till 8:30. We woke up the next morning and we headed back home. I was feeling better, and I was SO excited to see Ty.
Monday, was my birthday, and my cousin and her son (who is 3 days younger than Ty) came over to relax and play in the beautiful weather. The boys had lots of fun running around, playing in the water, and pushing around all the wagons and cars.

Overall, it was a fun weekend, and the beautiful weather got me anxious for summer to be here. 7 days and counting!!!!!!

We Can't Wait For Summer!

The VandeGuchte family is ready for the summer months! It has been quite the rainy season in Michigan this Spring and we are ready to be outdoors. Ty has found his love for the outdoors, and to say he loves it is an understatement.... Below is him pounding at the door to go outside....

and here he is now throwing a tantrum because it happened to be raining and I said No to going outside.....I'm such a mean mommy!

Last Friday Ty and I spend Friday evening with one of my best friends, Amy, and her daughter, Ryley, who is 4 months younger than Ty. They enjoyed going on the swingset, even though it was a little buggy...

Ryley is loving to give kisses, and she'll pucker her lips and give a big smooch. All we had to say was Ryley give Ty a kiss and then she did! haha :)

Ty then had to give a slobbery kiss back (Ryley looks a little scared haha)!

Ty has finally gotten his few days of "summer" weather. He has loved playing in his truck, wagon, and water table. It is going to be a fun but busy summer chasing him around! BRING ON SUMMER!!

April and May

I apologize for the long post!

Catch up time!
So it's been awhile since I last blogged. I thought I'd be better at being consistent, but hey I'm trying! I'll quickly update everyone on our lives over the last month. :)


We had a rough last two months with Ty being sick. He was just not himself and was throwing up almost every day for two months straight and we were trying to figure out what was causing it. After Spring Break we went back into the doctor and discussed some possibilities. We first thought that maybe he had developed a food allergy so we got some blood work done, which came back all normal. The next route we were going to take was to get an upper GI, but after he had gotten his blood drawn that was the last day he threw up! We were scheduled to get the upper GI that next week, and decided against it as the throwing up had stopped. Bizarre! Of course it always happens that way, he was sick for two months straight and right when you start investigating it is done. Obviously, we are VERY happy that this was just a weird 2 month phase, but we hope it doesn't come back. I can't begin to tell you how many loads of laundry, changing of sheets, cleaning of carpets, and scrubbing car seat covers I did in that two months!

Easter
This year we decided we'd do a little Easter egg hunt with Ty. He loves putting things in baskets so we figured he'd be "into" it. I have always grown up using real eggs, but we decided to put that off for one more year as a 14 month old probably doesn't know how to gently put the eggs in the bucket :) He loved finding the eggs! I couldn't believe how much he understood the concept of looking for the colored eggs and bringing them to his bucket!!
He loved his final little basket full of puffs (his favorite!), bubbles, chalk (which he has loved since it's been warm out), and 2 new toy trucks. Tulip Time
I love Tulip Time. I love seeing all the beautiful flowers BUT maybe more than the flowers, I love the food :) Also, I never thought that I would dress my kids up in dutch outfits, but after finding a deal on craigslist, I gave in and got one for Ty!

Here is a family picture from Tulip Time 2010

Here is a family picture this year. Ty has grown into a little boy!

Here is Ty in a his dutch boy outfit! I couldn't believe he actually kept the hat on! He was so cute!

Ty and his friend Ryley :) They loved riding around in the wagon together!

Ty and Ryley got the balcony seating while watching the dutch dancers :)

We got to go downtown twice for Tulip Time this year which has satisfied us until May 2012 :)

Arizona - Part II

Spring Break - Arizona
PART II

Finally, mid-way through the week Ty was back to his normal self! Wednesday was a little cloudy/cold (yes 70 degrees was too cold) so we decided to head to the children's museum in Phoenix. It was quite small but there was so much for Ty to do! There was a noodle forest with an entire room of noodles hanging from the ceiling. He loved it only when Nate was doing karate chops at the noodles as they went through....

They had cars for him to drive, legos to build, mini car races, tubes that blew koosh balls at you (which was his favorite!), music to play, bridges to cross, slides to go down, tunnels to crawl through, and so much for. We were exhausted after only an hour!On Thursday we decided to go to the Phoenix Zoo. Compared to John Ball Zoo it was HUGE! There were so many animals to look at. My all time favorite was the giraffes, I just LOVE giraffes. If you paid $4 you could feed the giraffe, and there was no hesitation for me to pay the 4 bucks..haha. Ty wasn't too sure about the giraffe and smacked it (oops)! I have to say feeding the giraffe was one my top highlights of the trip!

Ty was interested in looking at all the animals and it took us about three hours to walk around the zoo. By that point, Ty was completely exhausted and was ready to go home. Within 2 minutes of leaving the parking lot, Ty had fallen right asleep.

Of course, we had to take a few more pictures around the lake. It's 1.2 miles around the lake and we probably walked around it at least 4-5 times per day. The fountain goes off every hour and shoots 300-500 feet in the air. Ty loved watching the fountain go off as we walked around the lake. Another favorite thing of his was to "chase" the ducks. His squeal was priceless and made it all worth some of those 5:30am walks :)

We were more nervous about the plane ride home, considering how the first one went. So, we went to Target and Ty got to pick out a few new toys to play with just when we were on the airplane. The two toys he couldn't get enough of in Target were a truck that played "Play This Funky Music" and a little laptop. So they were tucked away and not taken out until we desperately needed them. Originally, Nate and I were not even sitting next to each other on the plane, and it was a full flight. Thankfully the wonderful counter lady called up some people and arranged it so we could be by each other (and 20 rows up!). Take off....bottle and asleep for over an hour... cereal bar...lunch...books...puffs...Baby Einstein...puffs...laptop...puffs (thank goodness for puffs!)...more books...we are descending...getting fussy....Play that Funky Music truck....Funky Music truck....Funky Music truck (sorry old man sitting next to us!).... Funky Music truck (get the picture).... and we land! No tantrums, no puke, no blowups :)

We were so happy that we decided to take this last minute trip. It was great to see family and relax together. It was truly a well needed getaway!

Arizona Part I

Spring Break - Arizona
PART I

Well, 2 weeks before Spring Break we decided we wanted to go somewhere warm. We found some good airline deals and booked tickets to go visit my parents, brother, and sister-in-law in Arizona. Of course, Ty gets sick right before we leave. He had a bad cold and was throwing up often. We went to the doctor before we left, and sinus infection. He was having so much drainage though that it was upsetting his stomach which caused him to throw up (and I mean projectile throw-up) at least 4 times per day. The one thing we were very nervous about was the plane rides.... Our plane left about an hour after he was suppose to be in bed, so we were hoping that he'd sleep the whole way. Take off - okay... 2 minutes after take off... puke everywhere (and all over me).....awesome....change Ty's clothes... wipe off my clothes.... distract Ty with Baby Einstein... crying.... finally falls asleep for 1 1/2 hours... huge blowup (on me)... wipe off my clothes.... change Ty clothes...and we make it (I'm alive still.. hallelujah!). We take a huge breath knowing we survived.

We crashed when we got to my parents house (about midnight) and Ty was ready to go at 4:30am again. Ty being our first child, we had never realized the challenges of a THREE hour time change. Thankfully it was beautiful weather and Nate, Ty, and I were out on a walk around Fountain Lake at 5:30am. This became our routine every morning. We could not get Ty to adjust to the time change and finally just kept him on MI time, which meant bedtime at 5:30 AZ time, and waking up at 4:30am AZ time. Nate and I took turns getting up in the mornings thankfully. The unfortunate part was that Ty's antibiotics did not kick in till about 4 days into the trip so he was still throwing up all the time. He was a little fussier than usual but the throwing up didn't seem to really affect him. Wednesday afternoon he was back to his normal self. Even though we were waking up early and he was kind of sick we were still able to enjoy the beautiful weather in AZ.

This is a hike that goes around my parents house and over looks Fountain Hills. Ty loved hanging out in the hiking backpack!

Fountain Park - They had a great playground for Ty to play on! Ty and Nate playing catch!

Saguaro Lake - We were going to rent a pontoon boat, but decided against because of how busy Ty is. Hopefully next trip out to AZ we'll feel like we can handle a few hours on a boat! Beautiful!

Sunrise Hike - This was a hike that overlooked Scottsdale. It was probably about 85-90 degrees and it was about a 2 - 2.5 mile hike up.

Ty was so hot and exhausted by the time we got to the top of the hike that this was him the entire way back down.... which I don't know how he could sleep through that...

Stay tuned for Part II........ It gets much more exciting :)