Thirteen Weeks

I tried my hardest to get Ryder's three month pictures taken this weekend - Addisen and Brody were the only ones that wanted to cooperate at first!

Addisen's silly face!

I got a few pictures of Ryder on his actual 3 month day - but not too many before he started to lose it!

I had just given up when Addisen asked to hold him.  Sure enough she gets him in her lap and it is all smiles!  He really does love his big sister!



I tried again this weekend for some pictures - it has finally stopped raining here so we got to enjoy some time outside!

Not too many smiles when I have the lens in his face - but these are some of my favorites.

Big brother Brody with his cheesy smile!

Daddy came to the rescue and got a few smiles from the little guy!

This has to be one of my favorites - he reminds me a lot of Addisen in this picture - the smiles are pretty similar!

I had a few pictures left over from the baptism that I didn't post last week - we decided to get a cake that matched Brody's baptism cake.  It's funny I didn't remember until I looked back at the blog that Brody's cake was actually suppose to say "on his christening day"...now they both are missing it because I copied what Brody's had said!  Guess it was meant to be!

Aunt Jenny had the magic touch with Ryder...and of course Addisen couldn't miss out on sitting with her and playing on her phone!

Finally a picture of Bobo and Ryder (I don't get too many of these!)

 

And here's our first day to work / daycare photo!  We don't look quite as sad as we did in the one Jim took when I headed back in after I had Addisen! 

My posts don't tend to come as frequently as I was hoping!  Working with three kids is leaving me exhausted by the time everyone makes it to bed!  Hopefully as Ryder gets older our nighttime routine will get a little quicker!

12 Weeks - Baptism, Mom's Birthday and Back to Work!

 

 On Sunday Ryder was baptized!  It was a great day (and it just happened to be my birthday too!).  Jim's brother Marty was Ryder's Godfather and we were so excited to have both him and Jordyn here to celebrate the day!  Following the service we had a brunch at my mom and dad's.  We were so blessed that about 30-40 people were there to witness his baptism and/or stop by for brunch to celebrate our little guy!

Ryder's baptism seemed to hit me a lot harder than Addisen's or Brody's.  I found my eyes filling with tears as I watch Brody watching so intently as Ryder was baptized - it was a pretty awesome site to see as I listened to the Pastor.  Maybe it is because I am getting older, maybe it is because this is my last baby, or maybe it is because I realize that this is the end to a chapter in my life.  It has hit me a lot harder, realizing I'm getting older...that the baby days are over - that I'm not going to experience this ever again.  At times I am sad and other times I am so happy to know that the 2 hour feedings during the middle of the night are over.  Ryder has definitely tested me...and I really think "test" is a good word - his continuous crying made me look at myself, have to trust in myself as a mother (even when I felt that for some reason I just wasn't good enough for him) and in the end it has made me come out stronger.  I now know that I can do it (although having the crutch of my parents in the basement when Jim traveled was nice!).  Ryder is truly a blessing - his attitude and response to my care did not come as expected, but I do know that he is this precious gift from God and I don't know what I would do without him.

Ryder did pretty well during the service, he really didn't cry until Pastor Jim took him down the aisle.  At the same time Addisen started saying "Don't take my Ryder!"

Brody fell in LOVE with his cousin Jordyn while he was here.  Although Jordyn is more than twice the age of Brody - he was so kind to him and played so much with him.  Brody just admired Jordyn and everything he did while he was here.  I didn't get to witness a lot of it because the boys were often out doing their own thing, but I got to see the aftermath when Jordyn left on Sunday night.  Brody was heartbroken - my first look into what it will be like when someone breaks his heart in the days ahead of him.  He still talks about how much he misses his Jordio with tears in his eyes - and 5 days is a pretty long time for a 5 year old to hold on to something!

 

On Thursday the dreaded day came....I started back to work.  On Wednesday I wasn't doing very well thinking about the idea of leaving Ryder at daycare.  But on Thursday morning it became a whirlwind trying to get everything ready for the day, make sure everyone was fed and that we arrived to daycare safely (it was storming and had rained about 4 inches the night before on top of all the rain we have gotten in the past few weeks).  Of course the scheduling of things did not work out as I had planned - Ryder was up at 1am and then again at 4:30, meaning he would want to be eating while we were on our way to daycare....but it all worked out.  Jim unknowingly added some humor to the morning.  As he was packing up the car for me he put an umbrella on the front seat for me.  I got to daycare, opened my door, pushed the button to open the umbrella and there it flew across the parking lot! The top was not connected to the bottom!  So instead of having time to reflect on the walk into daycare, I was running Addisen to the door and then back to get Ryder! 

 

Daycare was so sweet, they sent us pictures of Ryder's first day.

He was a happy guy while he was there.  Miss Terri said he seldom cried and that he went to sleep pretty well (although he only slept for a total of about an hour).  Of course by the time I got there to pick him up he was crying, but fell right to sleep as soon as the car started moving.  The only benefit with him sleeping so little while he was there was that he slept from 8pm to 3am last night!  And I was even smart enough to go to bed early, so I got 5 consecutive hours of sleep...I don't think that has happened for probably about 20 weeks!

Addisen loves to be there with her Ryder.  This is a picture of her peering over the changing table to check on him.  I am sure she keeps her teacher busy asking about him all the time - the good and the bad of having the Toddler classroom right next to the infants.

 

This morning went a little easier - I wasn't quite as frantic dropping them off.  I also got Ryder's new swaddle in the mail yesterday.  Daycare cannot let them sleep in anything that isn't zipped - so they couldn't use the swaddles I had been using at home.  The director told me about something called a Wombie that she saw in a magazine, it's basically a tight sleepsack without arm holes - so they could use it since it had a zipper.  I got online and found it on Monday night and it was to our house yesterday.  He wore it to bed last night and seemed to like it, so I was hopeful for them today.  I sent and email to check on Ryder, and sure enough it worked - he slept from 9:30-12:30 for them!  This daycare thing is going to work out okay for him (and me)!

 

Eleven Weeks

Ryder has become quite an expressive little guy in the last week.  It is a lot of fun to sit and have conversations with him and watch how he lights up and even starts to giggle a little.  He has started to notice Brody and Addisen a lot more this week, and they love to try to get him to smile.

I have a few pictures that I forgot to post from our trip to Pennsylvania last week.  I think one of the highlights of the trip was getting to eat pizza in bed while we were at the hotel!  We got adjoining rooms so the kids wouldn't wake up when Ryder was crying, it was crazy to see how small Brody and Addisen looked sleeping in Queen size beds!

Addisen had an eventful week at daycare this week...which meant I had an eventful week too.  On Tuesday Jim picked her up to find out that she had been hit in the head by another kid with a wooden block.  Of course the center doesn't share names, but we knew before Addisen told us who had hit her.  About the time Ryder was born a child started at the center that left me with a worried feeling every time I had to leave Addisen in the room with him.  He is 3 years old, but about the size of a 4 or 5 year old and has an aggressive attitude.  Jim and I both witnessed him pushing Addisen and other kids down without a reason.  And now my fears had come true -he took his unprovoked aggression out on my sweet little girl - leaving a large bump and bruise in the center of her forehead (you can see it in the pictures below).  Before Jim and Addisen even got home, I knew I had to do something...I suddenly felt that  my child wasn't save at her daycare.  So after a few emotional days and discussions with the teachers and daycare director - it was decided that we would be staying there, but the child that hurt Addisen would be asked to leave.  What an awful situation, I really don't like to be a complainer (or confrontation)....but you have to do what is best for your kids!

It was so funny to watch Addisen as she was "watching" Ryder.  It started out well and she continued to watch TV but quickly evolved into Ryder screaming.  I love her facial expressions (probably pretty similar to what mommy looks like when he won't calm down).

Ryder finally started to take a Pacifier more frequently this week - which is good and bad.  Good because he tends to be able to soothe himself during the times he is upset...but bad because now we have to hover over his crib at night while he falls asleep to make sure he doesn't lose the pacifier!

Some more pictures from the trip...he was all smiles in the hotel!

Addisen showing off her new shades

Happy boy (one of the few moments while we were there!)

Wow - look at that outfit!

This weekend we will be busy.  Uncle Marty and Jordan are coming on Friday afternoon for the weekend.  We are so excited to have them come and visit us and for Uncle Marty to be Ryder's Godfather.  On Sunday I will be celebrating my birthday by witnessing Ryder's baptism - it should be a great day!

Ten Weeks - Pennsylvania Trip

This post is a bit late because of all the excitement we have had for the last couple weeks.  It all started on March 27th when we headed out for our trip to Pennsylvania!  We headed to my parents to spend the night on Wednesday and then left first thing in the morning on our road trip.  The kids did excellent!  There was very little complaining and Ryder slept for the majority of the trip.  We drove halfway on Thursday and stayed in a hotel and then got up on Friday to finish up the trip.

The best moments of the trip were seeing the kids with all of our family!  For Addisen it was the first trip where she was really old enough to play with the "big" kids and show off her personality.  She loved her Aunt Ellen, Uncle Steve, Aunt Krista, Aunt Chrissy, Amber, Nanny, Aunt Sue, Aunt Genni, Sydney, Dylan and Poppy - but she wasn't too sure about Uncle Dave, Uncle Ben, Uncle Marty, Jordyn and Nathan (most be a guy thing!).  Brody was so excited for his cousins to show up on Friday night, but unfortunately they were fast asleep by the time they got to Nanny's - Brody still had a good time staying up WAY past his bedtime and hanging out with Aunt Krista.  For Ryder it was his first time meeting most of the family - including Poppy!  While Ryder cried a lot of the time we were there...Poppy seemed to have the magic touch.

The kids had a lot of fun on Easter morning! I am so glad we were there to experience it with so many Aunts, Uncles and cousins.

 

Addisen with her Aunt Krista!

Aunt Krista and Aunt Chrissy put together a scavenger hunt for the kids.  They had so much fun running around to find clues and LOTS of presents!  Addisen was pretty clueless to what was going on...but would say "take me to my next surprise".

Nanny had an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids on Sunday morning.  Brody was the star finding 18 out of the 50 eggs.  Addisen and Brody were excited to find the money inside the eggs!

Nanny spending some time with the kids before we left on Tuesday  morning.

Ryder was still in his colicky stage while we were there.  It was nice to hear from my Sister-In-Law Genni that she went through it with her kids too.  You start to feel crazy after awhile...wondering why he just won't stop crying.  The doctor had said it should calm down at 10 weeks...well on the Wednesday we were heading home...I thought she had told us a lie...but I have to say - it is amazing what a difference a week can make!  While he still has his fussy times, he is no longer screaming at us during those times.  I am so excited to say that he has finally decided that he likes a pacifier too! 

Even though he gave me a run for my money...I could never trade him in - how can you resist those eyes and cheeks!

 

 On Tuesday night we stopped at a hotel and the kids enjoyed the pool with Jim.  On the way to Pennsylvania they swam in the hotel pool but Addisen was too scared to get in and Brody wouldn't jump in off the side.  For some reason on the way back everything was different - Addisen loved swimming with Daddy and Brody was jumping in and going underwater without crying!  It was a lot of fun to watch them become so brave.

I had made the decision before we left for Pennsylvania that no matter what, Ryder was going to start sleeping in his room when we got back.  So although we got back a little later in the day than expected, I got his room all ready and we did it.  I was sad getting everything set up, but by the end of the night it was kind of a relief to have made the jump and have moved him out of our room.  It kind of helped that he had outgrown the bassinet part of the pack n play - so it would have been difficult to have him in our room still.  To our amazement he has slept so much better in his room.  The same thing happened with Addisen - I'm not sure if it is the move or just the age.  He pretty much goes to bed between 8-9pm and wakes up about 1 time in the middle of the night.  The second wake up ranges from 5-8am.  He always goes back to sleep until about 8:30 though - he won't get that luxury for too much longer...we are down to just 10 days before I return to work!