The Next Chapter

And now there are two. Two beautiful souls to bless our lives. We are so fortunate and thrilled to welcome the newest member of our family to the world. And fittingly, we are bringing this blog to a close as it will no longer solely document "an epic account of Tyler's baby adventures." Happily we open "The Sheas of Our Lives: Tyler and Tristan Take on the World." We hope you will check it out.

Kickin' it

Hey ma, can you get me a beer?

Summertime's almost here and the living's easy! Aside from going to the beach and running in and out of the waves (being rescued a LOT by mama before a waves crashes on my head), I've been getting out and about. And, when I'm with my posse just chillin' at home, I'm about as relaxed as a fella can get. Check out what I've been up to lately!

This is me and my gal, Siena, nashing on kettle corn at the zoo. We both love the aminals!

Birthday cake! Yummy! I ate my fair share and then ran through the mazes at Casey's birthday party at AdventurePlex.

I am the King of the Sandcastle! Don't even think of smashing my castle, that's my job!
Contemplating my chip and it's place in nature. Hmmmm, synthetic food stuff somehow is derived from real plants...fascinating.
Jack Johnson lookout. There's another swooner in town!

Here I am working on my masterpiece, and I will even tell you so! I favor the abstract pieces so when I tell you it's a tree, just take my word for it.

Mama's got a BIG belly! When is that baby brother of mine going to come out? I'm ready to show him the ropes!

Baby adventures

Surrepticiously squirtin' the neighbors with my firetruck in my monkey p.j.'s. Great way to start the day!


Now that we're about to have another little one, I am marveling at what a transformation Tyler has been through in the past two and a half years. He is such a little boy! I'll still go in to check on him at night and I just stare at him, like we did when he was a baby, and think how beautiful he is and what a delight he is (most of the time!). I love the way he holds my hand a little tighter as we approach the door to preschool, but once we're in he drops it and goes running to the closest teacher or toy. And, when I pick him up he comes running to me shouting, "Mommy! Mommy! I got a stamp/flower/gold coin/sticker!" He is so proud of himself and we are as well. At a birthday party for a 5-year-old over the weekend he was the best behaved child in the room, just sitting nicely, eating his pizza and taking in all the chaos as the kindergardeners whined, cried over spilled punch (literally) and were kind of nasty to eachother. I am thoroughly enjoying the pure joy that radiates from him and the intense analysis he gives to practically everything we do from going to the mall to get frozen yogurt or going to the park to swing and climb on the playground equipment. His memory blows me away, too. How can he pull out the name of the guy who gave us frozen yogurt three months ago when it was just said in passing? He's a genius, I tell you! "You always come back, Mommy" is one of his phrases from preschool and it just melts my heart when he says it. Yes, Tyto, I will always come back because I love you more than words can express!

My "Elton John Goes on a Fire Rescue" impersonation

Taxi cab confessions on the Santa Monica Pier. I confess, I ate too much cotton candy!

Baby Elliott's Visit and Chaotic Clifford

Stick with me, kid. I'll show you the ropes.
At last! A cousin who isn't 20 years older than me! Baby Elliott came down from Northern California to visit us over Easter weekend and we had such a great time (plus, it got me to get my rear in gear and get out all the baby gear!) Tyler was pretty stoked to have Aunt Kristin and Uncle Matthew to play with, and he did think that baby Elliott was pretty interesting, too. He was very empathetic and concerned when Elliott was crying, now let's see if he'll duplicate that with his own baby brother!
So precious! This baby is loved, loved, loved!!!
This child is spoiled, spoiled, spoiled! Being the first born has it's perks, like having no competition for the 50 hidden eggs!
Tyler celebrates his booty with Uncle Matt. He was so jacked up on sugar by this time I'm surprised we even go him to sit down! Nothing like starting the day with a well-balanced meal of jelly beans and PEZ.

And finally, here's a little movie from the Discovery Center where they have a Clifford exhibit going on. We've been there once before and it was chaos and I was thinking that since this week is our spring break, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Wrong!! There were field trip groups all over the place and big kids (we're talking BIG, not just older but third graders weighing in at 100 lbs!). But, Tyler had a ball regardless and really held his own with the older crowd which is good to see because he's been rather timid up until recently. Not that I ever want to see a child get pushed down, but when he's being aggressive with my child or not sharing and I see Tyler pushing back the mama bear inside me just says, "yes!" Here he is in Samuel's cafe (from the Clifford show). He would go to the counter and take everyone's order, make them their food and take their money, all while functioning with some 4th grade alpha females. Go Tyto!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

What Will I Be?

A cwazy wabbit?

We are in such a sweet spot with Tyler right now. He is just a bundle of unbridled energy and, for the most part, joy. He cracks us up in the morning by singing (we hear it on the monitor) or talking to himself. He's been known to belt out "Peter Cottontail" at the top of his lungs, or to recite certain phrases and scenarios from his favorite tv shows, like Clifford. We woke up one morning to him talking about "painting his masterpiece" which made me giggle all morning.

I'm an Irish lad!

The Hermosa MOMS Club (which I am co-president of) was walking in the Hermosa Beach St. Patrick's Parade and I wasn't sure if we were going to have time to participate. We had a make-up MyGym class that morning, then I took T over to Rocketship Park to play for a while and I needed to do an open house that afternoon. Getting us ready and to the parade in time was going to be a chore. But, considering his heritage, I had to do it. We rushed away from the park, I took a sprint of a shower, we slapped a shamrock onto Tyler's buggy and raced down the hill. Our group was number 37 and when we got to the front of the parade, they were at number 54 so we zigged and zagged through the parade as best as a toddler and his very pregnant mother could until I decided this was crazy and then we just stopped and watched (Tyler thought he was in the parade for that first part). But, the stoppinig was the best because everyone kept coming up to our little Irish lad and giving him chocolate gold coins, lollipops, cotton candy and all sorts of other sweets. HE LOVED IT! We had to play "parade" for several days afterwards where I have to pretend to give him sweets and he just sits there and waves - not a bad gig if you can get it. Oh, and we've taught him to say, "I'm an Irish lad" and tried to teach him to do an Irish jig, but he's kind of got a dance style that's more mosh-pit than Lord of the dance.

It's good to be king

When not moshing to Mickey Mouse, he will on occasion don his king outfit and pretend to save people. However, this rapidly turns to him being a firefighter and the cape and hat are quickly discarded.

The naked chef

This front photo of our naked chef was the only one I wanted to put online without attracting the child pornographers. It's quite the cute outfit, especially since it gets so hot in his kitchen! Tyto becomes a chef at least 3 times a day and his specialty is usually soup (robber soup, broccolli soup, you name it, he'll make it). Quite often we play waiter (Jimmy from the Ocean Diner) and the chefs and he'll take my order and then serve all our little guys as they eat al fresco on top of the firehouse until a huge tornado or some other (manmade) disaster ravashes the place and knocks everyone to the floor. After which, of course, he becomes a firefighter, then a doctor, then an ambulance driver and finally a grocery store cashier (not quite sure where that one fits in).

Whipped up goodness

At the end of a busy day of pretending, what's better than a spoon full of whipped cream? This is when he usually goes back into the Tyto character and I get to be Mommy again. Sometimes he pretends to cry and I have to give him kisses and sweets to make him feel better. Usually the sweets are pretend, but on occasion, it's fun to hand out the real deal.

First Day of School!!

Getting your picture taken in front of the flowers with your lunch box, always a tradition for me growing up, now passed along to an uncooperative Tyler.

My sweet baby boy went off to his first day of preschool today! He was very excited because I'd been talking up what great new toys there would be for him to play with and look at. I failed to mention that he'd be looking and playing at them without me (was that mean?). So, when he was distracted I hit the road and tried not to look back (or cry). Luckily, we did not receive a call from the school so he clearly did okay. When I came in the room at the end of the 3 hours, he ran to me and said, "Go home now!!!!" like he'd been in some horrible Thai prison for the past six months instead of making cute Valentine's day bags and playing with choo choos. The teacher said he did great, right as T said, "You were exercizing, Mommy," which is apparently what they told him I was doing. When we got into the car he mentioned that he cried at school because he was sad and that he had had a poopy diaper there. I hope he wasn't crying, that just breaks my heart to think of him crying and sad while I'm just trying to catch up on stuff at home! I think he'll really like it, though, once he gets used to it and realizes that I will always, always, always come back for him. I had asked the teacher if he ate a good lunch (I packed enough for 3 toddlers) and she said yes, but I looked in his sack and it looked like he ate all of 3 raisons. So, during our errands after school he proceeded to eat all of his cheese, crackers, turkey sandwich, more raisins, cheeries, grapes, biscotti, fruit roll-up and cereal bar. Preschool made him hungry!!! He's now sleeping like an angel and I couldn't be more proud of him! Boy, it's hard to think that we're on that very, very first step of letting our little one grow up (especially when we've been able to totally protect him from everything and the preschool wants us to pack an "emergency kit" with water, blanket, non-perishable food items, etc in case something should happen). I can't imagine! My kit was 5 times bigger than it was supposed to be so the teacher sent me home to re-pack it, but I couldn't help it! The thought of Tyler being somewhere in an emergency without us kills me. So the least I could do it put in extra Pop Tarts and a bigger blanket to help console him until we were able to get there to save him, right?. Why do I think I'm going to blink and I'll be sending him off to college? Isn't there some way I can stop him from growing or at least slow it down? Please, someone create a pill that does this!


In the classroom curiosity.

The second day of preschool T's curiosity did not help as he cried for me more than on day one. It was heartbreaking! But, when I went to pick him up he had frosting and sprinkles all around the outside of his mouth and Valentine's Day stickers all over him, plus a big bag of Valentine's to take home so I know he had a good time (once again, first words out of his mouth were, "Go Home Now!!"). We ate our lunch in the car on the way home and finished it up in the front seat with a special "car picnic" that I'm guessing will be our routine from here on out.

Big Valentine smiles with a few remnants of sprinkles and face paint left.

The next week school was cancelled for "Ski Week" so we've been doing some fun stuff around town. I took him to the Clifford exhibit at the Science and Discovery Center (he calls it the "Recovery Center" and I think to myself, oh, not yet, honey) where he was able to play with Clifford, Cleo, T-Bone and do all sorts of things like sort mail, drive boats and cars, fill Clifford's dog dish with bones, etc. We've also been to the mall, the beach, Choo Choo train park, My Gym and hosted a pizza party playdate at our house. I'm dreading next Tuesday when we go back to school without a special holiday, but it's got to be done. He's waking up from his nap now so I've got to run. He wakes up singing a different song every time these days. I think I hear "Zippidy Doo Dah" right now - hilarioius!

It's a dog's life, Tyler Shea!

Brrrrrr! Co co co co cold Colorado!

You paid how much to drag me here?

Snowsuit - $90
Snowboots - $45
New thermal mittens - $25
Flight to Colorado - $550
Rental car - $250
New sled - $15
Tyler's response to his first sledding ride down the hill: "Go home now!" Not exactly priceless. And, of course, my reaction was, "Get your cute little butt back on that sled and we're going down again!" In his defense, there was a lot of fresh powder on the sledding hill and it was all going straight up into the only little 4"X4" space of exposed flesh he had on his entire body (right into the face). John said it was hilarious to see him coming down the mountain trying to block it all out. I guess we should have invested another $10 in a pair of goggles! All was not lost, however. Once we got to the tubling hill and he could sit on my lap and due to my rather heavy backside (or frontside thank you, baby) we would inevitably end up going down backwards which was scary as hell for me but more fun if you didn't want snow flying up in your face. Then, of course, the biggest problem was the fact that we both felt like we were going to have heart attacks walking up the hill!

Can't we just ride it in the lodge?

Our next activity was taking him out on the ice rink in a nice blizzard. Normally I picture keystone ice skating as filled with people all buzzing by happily on the lake. When I looked out towards the middle Christmas tree, I could barely make out the other two figures on the ice as they were bracing themselves against the wind. But, we came to this place to experience winter and goddammit we're going to experience winter! So, into the sled he went. Onto our snowboots went little tread things. Out onto the ice we all trudged. We slung him around for all of 10 minutes before admitting we were soft Californians no longer interested in roughing it and all those movies like "Eight Below" or "Survivorman" that make the snow and the cold look fun and romantic are just a bunch of crap. Back into the lodge we came, defeated by the elements.

Arcade games, now this is more like it!

I think we've gotten the notion that a family snow vacation just isn't for us right now. We honestly felt like the penguins in "Madagascar" who finally arrive in Antarctica and plainly state, "well this sucks!" Perhaps it was because the weather was so drastically cold, snowy and windy. Perhaps we truly are soft, pathetic Californians. Perhaps we should return to the mountains in the summer and try some summer sports when mama isn't pregnant and can't breathe. Perhaps. In the meantime, we were happy to get back to the beach and the 75 degree weather where we could go barefoot and make sledding hills for our "guys" out of the sand!

Best part of sledding? Getting back in the car for a lollipop!

Leggo my Lego!

A Lego elephant that spits real water out of his trunk - cool!

The little man is cracking us up more than usual lately because of his immense conversational skills. Just this morning I went in to get him when he woke up and he said, "Surprise!!! That's Tyto's hiding place," pointing to behind the door (he calls himself Tyto). Good thing he told me where he's going to hide, I don't want to spend all day trying to find the little munchkin and worrying sick that he somehow got out of the house and is standing in traffic somewhere. With his growing communication skills, he's gotten much better at being demanding. For my birthday, we took him to Lego Land down in Orange County (let's see, my birthday = Lego Land, does that mean his birthday = a day at the spa?). He LOVED it and went all day without a nap. Now he frequently demands that we go back there. Here are a few photos, you'll see why:

Lookout Pilot Paula! Tyto is flying your helicopter!
Do the daddy drench dance! (Nice, and without a change of clothes).
Perplexed by the Lego "guys" everywhere, we had to take full stock of them.

The Safari Ride! We saw elephants, lions, pandas, monkeys and alligators - all made of Legos! But the coolest part is that Tyto got to drive!

Tyler sings me the Happy Birthday Song, and doesn't notice the big crater in the middle of the cake (it still tasted awesome!). Happy Birthday to you! I know where there's a zoo! It's a place called Lego Land. You can take me there, too!
Aloha, all you freezing mid-westerners!

Meanwhile, back at home, we've been enjoying some beautiful weather. While the rest of the country is freezing, we've been going to the beach and making castles. You honestly cannot beat L.A. for the weather!

Picture day with Tyler's "guys." Everyone say "cheese!"

Last fall, Tyler was obsessed with these four little "ambulance guys." They were about 2 inches tall, very inconspicuous, didn't move, didn't make noise and could get lost at the drop of a hat. I went crazy trying to keep track of them. We still have two, the other two are buried somewhere under a couch cushion or a pile of sand. He's no longer solely obsessed with the ambulance guys, but has expanded his friends to include astronauts, mice, Little People and a Sigmund Freud action figure. One day he decided he wanted them to pose for "Picture Day," and this is what we got. Afterwards, I had him pose as well.

What happens after Picture Day? A fire and a crash, of course! All the guys were scattered to the far reaches of the playroom.