The Boys lately

Well, I figured i would just start off with what the boys are into and saying these days. it is July, 2012. July 5th to be exact. We had an awesome 4th of July at my parents house complete with swimming, watermelon toss, wiffle ball, three legged race, beer, hot dogs and hamburgers, fireworks of course, and great family and friends!

Nolan is quite the entertainer when he is in his element (which is, if he is not cranky, sleepy, hungry, tired, or having a 2 year old tantrum). This is very special and funny to witness and i feel so lucky to be his Mama. That's what he has been calling me lately out of the blue, "Mama" and I'm not complaining at all. he is adorable if i do say so myself! he wakes up saying the cutest things. this morning the first words out of his mouth were "I pay games?!" I'm guessing he had alot of fun clapping and cheering for all of us crazy adults yesterday. Normally the first word has something to do with a farm or zoo animal. Usually something like " i see monkeys" or " i see lions." now it's beginning to be combinations of animals like today he requested to see "penguins and kitty cats." We definitely see patterns and fazes go by very quickly. right now we are heavy into the animal stage but its been you tube videos/songs, the show 'ridiculousness', flash cards, and matchbox cars to name a few.
He rarely wakes or cries during the night unless he is not feeling well. He has always been a pretty good sleeper. He went to bed late last night because of the July 4th party, exhausted. around midnight i was awoken by his cry. immediately i thought, 'oh no, he must be sick.' i went into his room and plopped down next to him in his cozy 'big boy bed' and asked him what was wrong. he kept replying "i go in there" pointing to his door, "i get out" and i told him that everyone was asleep and that he could get up and play when it was morning time. he said "mm mm mmmm, no Mommy." sometimes the way he talks to me like i am the child is so cute and comical that i have to turn my head and laugh quietly. so then i said "ok baby, time to go na-night" and he looked right at me and said "tickle." i never knew he would fall in love with being tickled when i would do it to him as a baby but i guess he likes it and i am happy to do it. i tickled his back for around 10 minutes and then tried to ease my way out thinking he had fallen asleep but he popped right up and said "Mama, tickle." so, there went twenty more minutes of it until i was able to successfully sneak out and get back into MY bed.

Another faze he has been going thru is looking at pictures. i have been trying to keep up with organizing photo albums but the truth is that i take too many pictures. so, therefore i have the extras stored in a shoe box in a shelf that he can reach. numerous times a day he is knee deep in the pictures going thru and looking at them one by one calling out the name of the person in the picture. i frequently walk by or try to say hello and he usually responds with  wave and a "buh bye Mommy." he obviously prefers to be alone when e does this. if little brother Mason decides to come near him during this time, it can get ugly and usually results in a 'time-out' for Mr. Nolan.

I usually can only stand keeping him in the 'designated time out area' for about five whole minutes. He doesn't mind it so much and only cries or screams if he is tired and its close to nap time. Mason likes to go check him out and when he does they both laugh hysterically at each other. when he is ready to come out and apologize, i always ask him "are you ready to say sorry to your brother?" and he normally screams "SOWWY!" and i remind him of who he is apologizing to and so then he will say "SOWWY TO MASON!" i think he is really catching on to the meaning of 'sorry' because i will catch him playing by himself, and if he falls or drops something he will say "i sowwy, i dint mean it." that just melts my heart!

He likes to find the portable phone, and usually requests that i dial "Gampa" so that he can talk to him about 'animals.'
i recently have started to watch a newborn baby girl named Charlotte part time. Tuesday was her first day here with us and to my surprise, Nolan was very interested in 'checking on her' and making sure she was 'ok.' it was so sweet to see this gentle side of him, because with his brother Mason there is a totally different attitude! If she would cry, he would quietly approach her and whisper "calm down baby" or "don't cry, be quiet." he loves pushing her in the swing and was very helpful with taking care of her needs.

Both boys are in love with music and dancing. I just knew while i was pregnant with Nolan that he would be very much into music, i just had this gut feeling. Mason on the other hand seemed less interested until lately. they love when i put the dance/pop music on for them and it is so entertaining to watch the dance moves. where do they come from and where do kids learn these things?! i like to joke with Sean and tell him that they get the good dance moves from their Mama but the truth is, sometimes they come up with moves i have never seen! Nolan is doing this one dance we call the "belly dance" where he lifts his shirt up to show off his lean little tummy and then slaps it and falls down to the floor laughing at himself.

 its funny , if one of them (particularly Mason because he is most difficult/demanding) is having a hard time, cranky/fussy and needs to be calmed... all i have to do is sing the song "somebody that i used to know" by Gotye and all is right with the world. i CANNOT even begin to imagine how many times i have had to sing it, over and over again. they both will follow and seek out music if it is playing anywhere.
Mason is beginning to show a very quirky personality and its so special to watch it come alive. Nolan and he are so different and i love that about them! Mason loves his room and crib so much that he has no problem going down for frequent naps and in fact most of the time, giggles as i am putting him down into the crib. he has become very attached to his pacifier and blanky, and pretty much has them both "hooked" onto him at all times.

 Nolan has always had a special relationship with his little giraffe lovey that we call "jeffrey" and blue blanket but only needs them when he goes to sleep.

The other day the boys were eating lunch together as i was tending to the laundry and household chores. i heard them laughing at each other which isn't out of the ordinary but i always like to peek and see what they are laughing about. when i snuck around the corner (with my cell phone in hand in case i needed to video a special moment) i found them laughing and hiccuping so loud because Nolan was playing 'peek-a-boo' with Mason and scaring him. it was the most adorable thing for me to see and it lasted long enough for me to get a good video.

 moments like those make all of the hard stuff that comes along with being a parent so fulfilling and worth while. i know i am right where i am supposed to be, being their Mom and enjoying watching them become little people. no better job to me, i feel privileged to say the least.
Nolan and i both like to read gossip magazines. i never used to as a child/teen but as an adult it has become a guilty pleasure of mine. i look forward to once a week getting one in the mail and having some alone time to unwind with it either in the bath or on the couch with a snack :) well, now i have to share. Nolan clearly thinks that they are addressed to him and thoroughly enjoys HIS quiet time reading them. he will carefully go thru each page looking intensely at the pictures and sometimes asking "whats that?" other times he calls out what he sees like "oh, that's a woman" or "oooooooh, a little boy." if i approach when he happens to be reading ad taking his morning poop at the same time, he very sternly tells me, "i don't yike it" meaning, please go away now and give me my privacy!

 i remember before i had kids i would always see young children and there parents interacting. i found it amazing that the moms would almost always know what the young child was saying even though it was clearly not obvious to anyone else. i used to think, i cant wait to be a mom and experience those sweet unrecognizable babbles! now i can, alot of the time nobody else knows what Nolan is saying, but i know immediately.
One of Masons favorite things is to be tossed on our king sized bed in the middle of the pillows. he thinks its the greatest thing and the laugh we get to hear out of doing it makes us continue to throw him over and over again.
Nolan has recently learned the word "mine." he likes to say it to Mason while pointing his little finger in his face, should he be interested in what his big bro is doing.
We got Nolan his first pet in June. it was becoming very clear to us just how much he loved bunny rabbits when he would request an evening walk every single night to try and scope them out in the neighbors yard (his Grampa started this, along with going outside at dark to check out the moon). i thought about it and thought about it and did alot of research on pet bunnies and different types and breeds that would work well with young children. as a child my brother, sister and i always had a family dog of course along with cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, even a rat and an iguana. i along with Sean have never experienced owning a bunny. it was great to talk to Nolan during the week about what we were going to do for him on the weekend. he was excited and when he saw all of the tiny little bunnies he seemed happy, confused and a little apprehensive but we eventually picked "hazel" out, a beautiful white holland lop bunny who is full of personality and a sweet addition to the Gyger household. she has adjusted well and her and Maggie are becoming buddies. Mommy holds and loves on her more than anyone else right now but Daddy and Nolan are catching up.

Nolan is still deeply in love with the MTV show called 'ridiculousness' and it is becoming a little bit of an issue. often times he will wake up saying it and we can hardly watch an adult show anymore without him throwing a tantrum because its not his choice in shows. its pretty cute that he likes an adult show that is based on you tube videos of accidental stunts and tricks but i don't exactly prefer him listening to the language that they use or some of the scary things they show. he enjoys trying to copy and act out what they are doing by throwing himself into the couch or onto the floor while screaming "ohh"  "whoa"  "dude" or "cool." his love for it may come from seeing his daddy, uncle and Grampa get a kick out of the show but who knows?
this concludes my post for now, i have written alot more than i planned to but since its my first one i feel like i had to bundle a whole lot of what our lives are like now so that ever post i do after this will be short and sweet (i hope). back to the motherhood grind, i hear the boys up from their naps and I've got a client coming over that i have to get ready for....