Twenty Two and Twenty Three Weeks - Fourth of July

I only worked Monday and Tuesday this week so we could enjoy some Summer!  On Tuesday night I headed to Grandma and Bobo's with the kids.  As you can tell from the picture Addisen has complete trust in Bobo to catch her!

Addisen loved jumping in the water but wasn't a fan of swimming.  She doesn't seem to be big enough to stay upright when wearing her life jacket.

Brody is starting to get more comfortable with the water.  He can now jump in and go under without running to get a towel for his face.

On Wednesday afternoon my mom came with us to the Lake.  Ryder cried for the last 30 minutes of the ride and Addisen and Brody were yelling about something.  My mom was amazed at what it was like to ride in the car with three kids.  At one point I just started honking the horn to add to the noise - it was a good laugh for everyone!  Addisen asked what I was honking at, I told her ants in the road...of course that was confusing!

We got to participate in the 4th of July boat parade this year!  There were about 25 boats that went around the lake.  The kids had fun waving to the other boats.

 

The neighbors are great with the kids - they had some bubble guns that they shared with the kids the weekend before.  Addisen and Brody were able to take the guns on the boat and shoot bubbles during the parade!

 

I didn't get any pictures - but Jim and my Dad spent their fourth of July putting up a new shed by the water.  Jim and I laughed at the end of last year because the neighbors asked us if we were planning on painting our shed this year.  It was pretty sad looking, but was the last thing on my list of things to get done.  We decided it would be better to buy a new one vs spending a day repainted the rusty shed - I think Jim is regretting that decision!

Twenty One Weeks - Summer Fun!

Finally swimming weather!

Brody and Addisen were finally able to get in the water!  They have been waiting patiently for the weather to finally warm up!

Ryder is still happy to wait patiently in the stroller!

Gotta love those rolls!  I just love my big guy!  He has truly become one of the happiest babies I know.  It was a long road, but so worth all the smiles!  He is getting his first tooth on the bottom and even through that he is pretty content!

I gotta remember all these little things - this will be the last set of little feet!

I can see some Uncle Neal is this picture (and some sleepy eyes!)

I see you!  I sometimes sit and wonder who this little guy will grow up to be.  It is so hard for me to think about him being 2 or 3 years old...what will his personality be like.  Will he be timid like his big Brother or the life of the party like his Sister?  Probably something in the middle! 

Addisen was pretty brave walking out in the water at the boat launch.

Doing what he does best...chewing!

 

Brody had to go to the bathroom while we were down by the water.  I told him to just walk out deep in the water and go.  He said "in my pants?"  I hadn't thought about how wrong this would sound to a child that had been told for years to not pee in their pants!  I said "yeah in your pants, but only in the lake water, not the pool water"...oh so many rules!

 

Daddy's girl!

Addisen was being so brave in the water.  She lost her footing a little bit and then actually started to try to swim.  Unfortunately it quickly turned to panic and she was rolling around in the water unable to get her footing.  Mom to the rescue...but not before the poor thing had gotten scared!

Brody really wanted to go out and swim in the deep part of the lake.  So Jim braved the water with them!  I was happy to stay on the boat with Ryder!

It took a little bit of coaxing, but the kids finally realized that their life jackets would keep them above water.  Shortly after this picture Brody was out swimming all by himself!  It is going to be a great summer!

Happy to stay dry and warm with mommy on the boat!

Ryder has finally started to like sleeping at the cottage!  He went to bed at 9pm on Saturday night, woke up at 5 for his pacifier and was back out until 9am!  We had been outside on Saturday for most of the day, I think the fresh air wore him out!

I couldn't love these kids more!  We are so blessed with our family!

 

Twenty Weeks - Happy Father's Day!

I've been trying hard to find some time to get some 4 month pictures of Ryder.  It really does make a difference going from two to three kids.  I keep saying to Jim that I'm not sure when we are going to ever catch up with our lives again.  I am lucky enough to have another little model when I get out my camera - CHEESE!

Not too many ways to pose this little guy - one thing is always the same in his pictures - BIG EYES!  He always looks like he is surprised!  He certainly does love to roll over!  He has gone from hating his stomach to sleeping all night on his stomach.  Ryder has rolled from his stomach to his back one or two times, but just doesn't seem too interested in doing it himself.

I decided this week that we should start offering Ryder his cereal on a spoon vs. through a bottle.  The cereal has made such a huge difference.  He is officially sleeping through the night...well he isn't eating at night :)  He does wake up around 4am crying, but it only takes his pacifier to go back to bed.

He wasn't the biggest fan!  Maybe we will try again in a few days!

On Thursday night I worked with the kids on Jim's Father's Day present.  I bought some coozies at JoAnns and some foam stickers for them to decorate them with.  Brody did a nice job with his pirate theme and Addisen put 15 birds on the inside, outside and bottom of her coozie.  They couldn't wait to show him so we headed to give him his present a few days early!

My little doughnut girl!

My parents, brother and Jenny were all with us at the cottage to celebrate Father's Day.  Addisen spent the night with them at the cottage on Saturday night, her first time staying away from us alone.  She had a great time and got up really early with Miss Jenny!  Jim went with Brody and one of his friends to watch the local hockey team in the playoffs on Saturday night.  On Sunday morning we got up and headed to the cottage to meet everyone.

We got bobo all new fishing gear!  He will be spending a lot of time fishing with Brody!

Jim got a few homemade gifts from the kids and a new speaker for his iphone.

Mr. Ryder posed for a few more pictures! 

 

I just love those cheeks and big eyes!  He seems to be a combination between Addisen and Brody.

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day!  We certainly had a great time celebrating two dads, although we wished we could have celebrated with Poppy too!

Nineteen Weeks - Last Day of School!

This week was bittersweet for us - it was Brody's last week of DK. So many emotions around the end of Brody's first year of school and the idea that he would be leaving his beloved Mrs. Zimmerman!  On the last day of school it was "Beach Day", so of course Miss Addisen had to find some sunglasses too!

That first teacher in your life makes such an impact.  I am so thankful for Mrs. Zimmerman and all of the love and life lessons she showed Brody.  We really could not have asked for a better teacher!

One of Brody's best buds, Aaron.  Hopefully they will meet again in Kindergarten!

We celebrated the start of summer by taking Brody out to the local Putt Putt and Go Cart place.  He was so excited to find out that it would be just us going, no Addisen!  We had a great afternoon and then headed up to the Cottage for our first "Summer Weekend".

I took Brody and Addisen out for a walk Saturday morning, it was my first chance in a while to get some new pictures of them!

I often sit and reflect on Sundays as we head home....I am just so thankful that we have had the opportunity to get the cottage.  It was one of my dreams for a few years, and I am just amazed that it all worked out so early in our lives.  We have been so lucky for the location and the great neighbors we have.  One of Brody and Addisen's favorite things to do is to take a walk down the road and toss rocks at the boat launch.

As we were walking down the road we found A LOT of ants...so the kids had a stomping party!

I thought this picture would be so cute...then I got it on my computer and just had to laugh.  Look at their expressions and then the sign...yep these are my slow children!

Maybe this sign was a little better choice!

Silly kids!

I hope these two always find each other as cool and fun to be with as they do now.

Of course we had to head off to the petting zoo - finally the bird house was open! 

Poor Mr. Ryder had a rough week.  He ended up having an allergic reaction to one of his vaccines.  On Thursday morning he woke up and I found hives on his arms and face.  I sent some pictures to our doctor and she had me give him benadryl.  I took him in to the office and luckily by the time we got there they had started to go away.  We watched him for the next few days and finally by Sunday it seemed like the reaction was starting to stop....poor guy!  It's probably a good thing that he is our last baby....not sure what else could go wrong with my kids!

 

 

Eighteen Weeks - Memorial Day

Of course this week has limited pictures because I forgot my camera for the weekend!  It was filled with so much fun and a lot of time out on the water and in the sun!

A picture of little miss Addisen sporting her lifejacket on the pontoon boat.  We were able to get it in the water on Friday and go for our first family ride Friday night.  Then on Saturday my parents, brother and Jenny all came - it was a great time with the kids!  It is so much fun to just go out for a little stroll around the lake!

 

Mr. Ryder sporting his sun hat.  As you can tell by the picture he is really starting to drool more.  He was waking up a lot at night for the last week.  On Monday I took him to the doctor because I was worried about his breathing (so scared he was following in his siblings footsteps).  I also took Addisen because I thought she might have an ear infection.  She got a clear bill of health, but poor Ryder had two ear infections!  No wonder the poor guy had so much trouble sleeping!  He was sounding a little wheezy too - so he got a breathing treatment when we got hom.  I couldn't believe that he had double ear infections - he really didn't complain about eating or even cry much during the day!

The first picture of me and the kids.  Don't we all look great!  Addisen is squinting in the sun and the two boys looked terrified...oh well I will take what I can get! 

 

Ryder had his 4 month well child visit today.  The good news of the appointment is that his breathing is much better and his ears are almost all the way cleared up!  What a relief.  The bad news is that I don't have a reason for him getting up every 3 hours to eat at night!  I am going to give a few more days, but if he doesn't seem to go back to his schedule of getting up once a night, we will probably introduce cereal to see if it helps tide him over!

 

He is our BIG boy!  He weighed in at 16lbs 11oz (up 4oz from the week before) and measured 26.5 inches long!  He had grown 2 inches in 2 months!  I looked back at Brody's blog posts from his 4 month appointment and he was 2lbs less than Ryder - I wonder if he will continue and end up being our little linebacker!  Of coures his head circumference is off the charts - but now we don't worry because all three of the kids have had big heads!

 

When I went to pick Ryder up for his appointment there was a sign on his door that said there was a case of RSV in his room!  My worst nightmare!  I'm glad I didn't see it the week before when he was having breathing issues.  I vowed to nurse Ryder until he was 6 months old trying to save him from the path his brother and sister had gone through - and with this sign and his ability to fight off the virus he had the week before - maybe we did it!

 

Ryder continues to eat about 4.5-5oz every 3-4 hours during the day.  He is wearing some 3-6 month clothes but is definitely starting to move up into the 6-9 month clothes.  His size will actually work out nicely for using some of Brody's clothes.