party like a rock star

this was the theme of talan's 2nd birthday party because, well, he's a rock star. talan LOVES music, especially rock. many times with him, the harder the better. and he loves the drums and guitar.
so we sent out concert ticket invitations and invited everyone to the big bash that took place on talan's birthday, thursday, april 9th.
mom and dad, jenn and rainah, tina, melanie, chadd, ashton and lorelei, and jack and caroline skiver all came to celebrate talan with us that evening. jessica and justin are out on the road touring again so they weren't able to make it. jenn did try for quite awhile to get her on the computer but it just didn't work out.
we had a table set up where people could get tattoos and hayden decided he wanted to provide that service to his customers. hayden isn't the biggest "outside of the box" thinker at times, so when melanie asked him for a skull tattoo on her neck he said "noooo....you can't do that!" we finally convinced him it was really ok. tattoos don't always just have to be put on your hands and arms! the first one he gave melanie didn't work out so well and as he peeled it off and was asked how it looked he said "it's not good." so he moved to her other side and that time it worked out much better!
i made 3 cakes for talan this year. a flying v guitar, an electric guitar and a small drum set. they turned out alright, but i am no duff goldman from ace of cakes. we also had a snack table, some pop and punch.
after everyone was tattooed and had some food talan was more then ready to get the ball rolling and open some presents. he kept grabbing one and running off to try to open it so we finally decided it was time to just let him go at it. he did require some help from dave, but he did pretty well.
he kept getting sidetracked after he opened his new guitar and keyboard. he just wanted to play with those instead of opening more presents. but he eventually got through them all. aside from his guitar and keyboard he also got 3 new pigeon books, a little einstein submarine bath toy, a new skull sweatshirt, a yo gabba gabba dance mat, some yo gabba gabba bath toys and cd, a set of scholastic books, money, a diego camera, some new puzzles and an elmo live. hayden also spent a couple of hours making him a bunch of presents. he drew him a bunch of pictures and then he also wrapped up a little scooter toy of his that he said talan could have and also a lunchbox that was filled with blocks. i'm still not sure if he gave them to him for good, or just for the day. hayden got a red light at school that day and was very concerned he wasn't going to get any cake and ice cream that evening, so he was doing all he could to be a good boy so that he could earn some! but either way, it was very sweet of him.
elmo live was a HUGE hit with talan AND hayden. hayden has actually probably played with it even more than talan has so far.
after talan opened his presents we moved on to the singing and the eating of cake and ice cream. talan was able to blow out the candles all by himself pretty much on his first try. he then sat in dave's arms telling dave what kind of cake he actually wanted. i'm still confused by which one he really chose as i think he picked them all, but he ended up eating chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream. something he got from dave and not me!
once everyone was about done with their cake, i sent mom upstairs with talan so that we could bring out talan's main gift that dave and i got for him.....a new drum set. i had decided we would need to do everything first before giving him the drum set because once he got it, i knew he wouldn't break away from it. so instead of letting him open it during presents, i chose to do cake first so we actually could sing to him and have him blow out the candles. it never would have happened otherwise!
so dave set up the drum set and we called him down. at first he didn't notice it as i believe he was headed back over to the snack table to pick up some more chips (something he and rainah had gotten very good at that evening). but mom turned him around and we pointed it out. he ran right over, got behind it, sat on the stool and started playing. he didn't stop playing for quite a long time. all of the other kids were so good and patient as i know they were all dying to play but talan would have none of that. anytime someone else even touched it he would yell "no!" at the end of the evening, he did end up moving on to other things and allowing the other kids to play it.
the next morning as soon as i got him out of his crib and started changing him he just kept telling me "downstairs" and "drums." he went right down and played for a bit. he doesn't play for long extended periods of time, but he does go back to it over and over through the entire day. i know that it is something we will definitely get our moneys worth.
people gradually started leaving but we were able to hang out with tina, melanie, ashton and lorelei for awhile. talan didn't get to bed until after 10pm but was still up just after 7 the next morning!
he had a great time at his rock star birthday party and so did we! thank you to everyone that came and to everyone that sent presents. you helped make talan's 2nd birthday so special.

he could not wait to get his hands on the balloons. especially the guitar balloons:




the future of rock is right:

the tattoo station:


present time!:



talan opening hayden's gift of blocks that hayden wrapped all by himself:
talan LOVES his cat keyboard from jessica and justin!:

rainah just loved hayden's kisses:

yo gabba gabba dance mat:

talan was not happy that tina was trying to take elmo away from him:
talan liked the plain potato chips and rainah liked the chex mix:


the electric (i know i could have done some touch-ups but i was so over it):
the drums:
the flying v:




talan picking out what kind of cake he wanted:

let them eat cake!:

the kids table: talan, rainah, ashton and lorelei:



the final act of the evening:






talan finally let the other kids have a try at the end of the evening:

2 years

2 years ago on this very day, talan cash skiver entered the world. he was a calm and quiet baby. and two years later, he is high energy and loud. and i wouldn't change a thing (today at least!).
two years goes by in a flash when you have a baby. yet on the other hand, it seems as though he's been with us forever.
this month talan is talking more then ever. he tries to say pretty much everything you say and you can almost always even understand it. well, at least i can.
as much as talan likes the show, yo gabba gabba, his most favorite show right now is probably the imagination movers. he just got a new video which has them just basically playing their songs and he can watch that all day long.
he is in love with going "outside" as we had several really nice days recently. but doesn't understand why we suddenly had to stop going outside because it started snowing again. one day he'll realize it's not like this in most other states, and then he'll wonder why his parents never picked up and left this crazy place. but anyway, he probably asks to go outside at least once a day....if not every time he passes by the side door.
the other week dave was outside talking to someone while hayden and talan were on the porch. from what i hear, dave says he starts hearing hayden yell "no talan! stop talan! stop!" and talan has very quickly gotten himself off of the porch, runs straight for the street and then starts running as fast as he can down the middle of the street. this is why the front yard will not be an option for a very long time.
now that our basement is back in order, talan is having a blast running around the big wide open area. he'll just run in circles yelling "running! running!" as much as hayden loved to run, i think talan might love it just a little bit more. and he is fast. very fast.
talan also loves to be a "helper." which usually comes in the form of handing you something you really don't want. especially cell phones. if he sees my cell phone laying around he'll pick it up and run over to me "mama. mama." until i take it, say thank you, and set it right back down where he picked it up from in the first place. but he's always so proud of himself for delivering the correct cell phone to it's rightful owner.
he also loves to point to an object and tell you what it is. but he will keep repeating that word until you say it back to him. it's ok some of the time, but when you're on the phone it's especially annoying. probably mostly to the person on the other end. they are suddenly interrupted by me saying "yes. blanket." "cup, yes." if you don't repeat it, he will literally say it over and over, louder and louder until you finally say it back to him. i believe i've tried simply saying "yes" and that doesn't work. you MUST say the word he is saying.
along with that, he also loves to walk around the house pointing at objects and telling you who they belong to. the other day, he was downstairs and pointed to the vacuum and said "mama" and then pointed to the carpet cleaner that dave borrowed from work and said "dada." some things are quite odd that he dubs a certain persons. like a lamp in the basement was "dada's" and a candle was "mama's." i guess that's because it's dave that usually turns that lamp on and me that lights the candle.
talan LOVES to give hugs. and real ones most of the time. not just the "lean my head onto you and call it a hug" hug (which hayden still does). he'll just run up to me many times during the day, arms wide open, and throw them around my legs and just give me a hug. he also loves to hug other kids. he'll go up to hayden all day long and give him hugs. he also doesn't mind giving kisses most of the time, but he's a lip kisser. hayden will always turn his head so that talan will just kiss his cheek, but talan will just circle around until he can finally reach hayden's lips to give him a kiss.
talan hasn't been the best eater lately. sometimes he'll only take a bite or two and then start saying "all done" and he'll say "all done" over and over, louder and louder, until you get him out of his chair. dinner's can be very annoying. when he's done eating dinner he'll also say "dada" because he loves to go sit in dave's lap...which is really just an excuse to get down, but it works most nites. he still loves tomatoes, cucumbers and....lettuce. yes, dry lettuce. he loves the stuff. he's usually really good about eating chicken (i did say USUALLY) but doesn't take to ground beef very well. probably his most favorite treat are suckers which are "huhers"
talan remains on the same schedule that he has been on for months now. up at around 7am, nap from about 1-3:30ish, bedtime between 7 and 8 depending on when he gets up from nap. he usually goes down pretty easily but has been waking up SOAKED through his diaper. i think i need to go up to a size 5...hopefully that will help. he doesn't eat much for breakfast and almost never sits for it. he pretty much wears a size 18-24 month pant and a 2t shirt, although he is starting to wear 24 month/2t pants as long as they have an adjustable waist.
he loves to sit at his easel and play with all of the letter magnets. he will many times sit there and start singing what is the abc's. he gets some of the letters in there at least. he continues to love bath time. he usually likes to get his nails clipped. he loves oatmeal and yogurt. he loves running. he loves going outside. he loves football. he still loves to make a mess, but he does clean up really well too. he loves music but is very picky about what songs he wants to hear. he loves to jump and dance. he loves to read books. he is starting to really enjoy puzzles and has become quite good at them. when told to do something, if he doesn't do it, we can actually count to 3 and then he'll do it. he loves elmo. he loves rubber ducks. he loves the letters i, m, w, x and l. he loves his new friend isaac and will say his name whenever we go to church or when he sees the extra booster chair we have in our house because isaac sat in it once. he loves to color, but usually he really just likes to take all of the crayons out of the box and then say all done once he's scribbled a few scribbles. he loves to say "hot" to things that actually are hot and to things that he just isn't supposed to touch. he can now open pretty much every door or cabinet in the house even if it has a childproof lock on it. he'll pick up a microphone and yell "ROCK" into it. when he wants to watch fireflight on tv he used to ask for justin...the other day he picked up his drumsticks and asked for phee. he is a rockstar.
he hates to sit. he still hates wipes. he hates sharing. he has become quite sassy when someone first comes to the house or when he sees the family at church. he won't look at them or talk to them and will run to his room and yell if talked to (this even happened with justin!). but other times he's more then happy to welcome a guest. he hates being put in and out of his car seat one too many times. how many is that? you'll know. he hates being told no but loves saying it himself. he is a rockstar.
talan has added so much to our family and we love him so much. he is such a funny kid with a great personality. when he's serious, he's very serious and focused and it's hard to get him to crack a smile....but he knows what funny is and laughs and makes others laugh often. these two years have gone by too quickly but i have tried to savor each moment with him. we'll just pray this year slows down a bit! with all of his energy and tantrums, he really is a VERY sweet little boy. i can see past the terrible two's and see that baby that we brought home from the hospital is still there.
we love you so much, baby talan. happy 2nd birthday!!!!

battle wounds

talan continues to do great after his surgeries. he hasn't seemed to be affected by any of it. the only thing he doesn't like is having ear drops put in his ears and being held down to do so. it takes 2 of us to hold him down, and we could probably use a third most days!
the plastic surgeon gave us a prescription for tylenol with codeine but told us not to fill it until we saw if regular tylenol would work. i haven't had to give him anything for pain....which means the codeine is mine, all mine!
on thursday morning (day 2), talan woke up and his eye had swelled almost completely shut. even then he didn't try touching it or anything. he just went on with his normal day. mom came over that morning to watch the boys so i could go to mops, and by the time she got there, his eye was already a little less swollen. and by the afternoon it was even better.
yesterday (day 3) it didn't look too swollen anymore and the color started changing.
and today the swelling is pretty much gone and we've got some new colors added to the mix including yellow.
talan goes in to see the plastic surgeon on tuesday morning and then will go to see the ear dr. on monday the 13th. i'm guessing everything will be just fine. he's a champ. we did have to rename him thom yorke, however.
here's some pictures from days 2 through 4.

day 2:







day 3:


day 4:

no april fools here, this was the real deal

this morning we took talan in for his long awaited surgeries. he finally had tubes put in his ears and he had the cyst removed that was on his nose close to his eye.
we had to be to the hospital at 6:30am and the surgery was to start at 7:30. mom game over bright and early to see hayden off to school and we took off around 6:15.
talan only asked for milk a couple of times on the way to the hospital and a few times while we were in the waiting room. i figured he'd be screaming for it, but he did great.
they called us in, put us in the prep area and got him all ready for surgery. both of the doctors came by and talked to us for a few minutes and then a nurse carried a screaming talan away from us.
i was most afraid of the anesthesiologist listening to him and telling us he was wheezing too much and that they wouldn't be able to do the surgeries on him. but even though he's been rattling and coughing away for weeks now, the dr. listened and said he didn't hear any wheezing. so that was a great relief!
at just about 8am dr. stone, the ear dr., came out and told us the tubes were in and he did great during that procedure. he explained everything we needed to know and told us to set up an appointment to see him in a week or two.
then just before 9am dr. forte, the plastic surgeon, came out and told us his part of the surgery was done and he was headed to recovery. he explained that there were no surprises with the cyst and that it all went well. they did send the cyst to pathology just to be safe. he let us know the stitches would fall out on their own and that he wants to see him in the office next tuesday. he told us his eye is swollen a bit and could swell all the way shut and turn black and blue.
we went back to the recovery room where a nurse was trying to hold a screaming, flailing, talan down. i took him and tried to calm him down but he was pretty out of it. after a bit he eventually calmed down and fell asleep. from there he kept waking up every several minutes and would start crying and wiggling around again but would eventually calm back down.
they offered him crushed ice, apple juice with a straw and a popsicle but he wanted none of it. we sat in recovery with him from about 9am until about 10:45 and then we were able to head home. at that point he was pretty happy to get out of that place!
he was a little out of it when we got home but not too long after, he was asking to eat and was watching movies and playing like normal. by the time nap time rolled around he didn't even really seem very tired. he did go down right away, however, and slept several hours.
he woke up and was in a great mood and still is. he's sitting behind me playing with his magnet letters and numbers right now. his eye is more swollen and red but he hasn't even tried to touch it so far and hasn't ever acted like it, or his ears, are causing him any pain.
so the surgeries went well and he didn't even come home with a pig nose and elf ears like i thought he would seeing as though it's april fools day! just a little punch in the eye, i guess!
here's some pictures from our day. if it gets any worse, you know i'll be there with the camera!


getting dressed for surgery. he did not want us to put this on him:

watching some curious george:
he thought his bracelet was cool...for a few minutes at least:

right after surgery. he didn't want anything but mama.:




on the way home:
home at last:

he decided once he got home that he actually DID want a popsicle!:


after nap at about 5pm:

23 months

today talan turned 23 months. that's right, in exactly one month my baby will be 2 years old. that's insanity. i'm hoping this month drags on for awhile.
even though talan is not quite two, he most defiantly has hit the terrible two's. his favorite word is "no" and often times it's not enough to say it just once. it's more like "no, no, no, no, no no" said extremely fast. his favorite activities include screaming and throwing things. and he has picked up the nasty habit of swinging his arms so as to smack you in the face. that's a fun one.
so, yes. talan has learned all about "time outs."
despite all of that, talan still continues to be a hilarious kid with a huge personality that we love to death and would never trade in.
talan was due in for surgery back on february 27th to put tubes in his ears and to remove the cyst on his nose. about 2 weeks before the surgery, the ear dr. called to say there was some miscommunication between them and the plastic surgeon (who was taking care of the cyst) and we would not be having our surgery on the 27th. because the plastic surgeon hadn't seen us since december of 2007, they wanted to see talan again before scheduling the surgery. we went in to see the dr. last tuesday for one of the most pointless appointments ever. the dr. simply felt the cyst and then told me he would have to pull up the old ct scan to see if it was attached to anything so he could determine how he would be removing it. i told him it wasn't attached and almost told him....don't you think you should have done that BEFORE we came in?! but i managed to keep my mouth shut. see, i'm growing! i still have not heard from the dr., so i will be calling them today to figure out what in the world is going on. i would guess he should have the surgeries later this month or next.
talan's old man cough had taken a little break these past several months but is now back in full force. we took him to the dr. because it had gotten so bad that he ended up throwing up in his crib one evening. turned out he had an ear infection on top of the cough. we made it almost the entire winter without one!!! and just days before his almost tube surgery. the whole surgery cancellation worked out for the best as they never would have preformed it with him wheezing and coughing the way he was.
the dr. put him on amox. for the ear infection, 2 different kinds of medicine for breathing treatments and a steroid to open up his lungs. later that evening he had a fever so we also put some tylenol in him and then some nite time cough medicine to help him sleep. even with all of that, he was as active as ever.
the cough has cleared up a bit, but yesterday started getting a bit worse again. i think it's because he's coming down with a cold though. shockingly, his nose will start dripping and he'll tell me "nose, nose" so that i wipe it. and he actually lets me!!
talan has done quite well with his breathing treatments. he loves to sit and watch the they might be giants here come the abc's dvd and look for the letter i. last month his favorite letters were m and w. he still likes them, but they can't touch the letter i. he runs around looking for words that he can point the letter i out in. there is a part in the dvd where the recite the whole alphabet and he says each letter after the robot does. he says almost every letter next to perfectly. he's quite the good talker.
a few weeks back talan and i were driving to church for mops. we drove past mcdonalds and i heard talan yelling something from the backseat. i listened a little closer and realized he was yelling "yeahhhh! fries!"
i was down here in the office one day doing something on the computer when i noticed talan pulling on his pants and saying something. i couldn't figure it out, even though it sounded very close to what he was actually saying, because i never in a million years thought he'd fess up to it. he was standing there pulling on his pants saying "i tink. i tink" (i stink, i stink).
he now also says "chair" "door"...which he kept saying while in the dr.'s office hoping we would leave..."dude" "outside" and he knows a lot of the thomas trains names. thomas is just a noise he makes that comes from his throat...it actually sounds a lot like justin. percy is "fifi." james is "dames." emily is "emmy." henry is "henny." and he doesn't just say their names, he can point them out to you as well. oh...and track is "cack." every day we have to build a wooden train track in the living room. several times a day actually because he likes to destroy it and then want it built again.
for whatever reason, talan has grown a huge love for basketball. or so he thinks. whenever we pull up to the house, he sees the basketball hoop sitting in the driveway and has a fit when we go inside instead of going back to play. he is ready for spring!
he continues to LOVE music and wants to "rock" often. he has gotten quite good at holding his guitar and showing off his rock moves. he loves to spin it in the air and sometimes he'll even play it behind his head. his favorite time to play it is when he's watching fireflight on tivo. he'll point out justin and say his name and now will also saw dawn's name. but every time phee comes up he will simply say "dum dum." don't worry, he's not calling phee dumb, just pointing out that phee is playing the drums. at least i think....
he still is enjoying reading books and will come over, hand me a book and crawl up in my lap to have me read to him. i try to do it as often as possible. to have him sitting still for that long is a rare thing.
he loves to take as many things with him when we leave the house as possible. he goes around collecting things like a rubber duck, his drum sticks, blanket, pooh bear. whatever he finds that he thinks he might need while we are out. you know, the essentials.
he loves running around shooting guns with hayden. he loves baths but not so much when bubbles get all over his hands. he loves music. he loves watching movies. he loves chicka chicka boom boom. he loves papa. he still loves making as big of a mess as possible. he loves the toy aquarium he has in his crib. he loves seeing train tracks. he loves isaac gregg. he loves suckers. he loves fruit snacks. he loves his blanket and pooh bear. he loves to dust bust. he loves it when his daddy comes home. he loves to dance. he loves to jump on beds. he loves to show off. he loves a big crowd.
he still hates sitting still or being changed. he typically hates being put to bed, but usually quiets down after just a minute or two. he hates being told no. he hates having crumbs or really anything on his hands. he hates to sit to eat. he really doesn't like eating breakfast at all. he hates that he can't play with the train track in hayden's room.
we have great hope that talan will quickly grow out of his terrible two's. at least when he throws a fit, they don't really last that long. as much of a challenge as he has become, he's still a great baby. i love spending every day with him. not necessarily every minute, but every day! he is hilarious. he is smart. he is crafty. he is sweet. he is active and busy and determined. he is a huge part of our hearts and family.
we love you so much, baby talan. we will do all we can to enjoy this last month with you as a 1 year old! happy 23 months!!!!