The BIG 3!

My 'baby' is three. THREE. There, I said it. Time needs to slow down. It's going way to fast. You know when people say they can't remember life before (___fill in the blank__)? Well, it's true. I can't remember my heart before Ryan was born. God could not have blessed us with a more perfect child, and I know everyone says that about their children. He is the most affectionate child I know. He wears his heart on his sleeve just like I do. And he experiences life. He helps me notice things that I should normally notice myself. He "stops and smells the roses" at every chance he gets. He sees the moon, he sees the sunset, he sees people's emotions before I do, even my own. He teaches me daily. I can't say enough good things about him.

Last night I overheard him and Brett while they were in the bathroom. Brett was giving Ryan a bath and Ryan asked, "What's that, Daddy?" and pointed to his wedding band. Brett answered with "Mommy gave me that when we got married." Ryan's response?... "I want to get married. I want one of those."

The innocence and simplicity of his words make my heart melt.

After his bath he and I were chatting. I said to him that tomorrow he will be 3! He said, "yes Mama, I'm 3. I'm a big boy. I'm like Daddy."

I have said it before and I told Ryan last night: I want my boys to grow up to be strong, capable, loving, confident, respectful men. He's well on his way to my wish.

Happy Birthday my sweet Bubbas!

3 Thrilling Months

My Monster is 3 months old today! I'm not sure where the time went, but I'm sad that it's gone. Tomorrow morning we will go to the doc's for a shot and to be weighed. My guess is he's about 15 lbs. 3 weeks ago he was 13.5.

Fun Facts:

Diaper size: He's just graduated out of his size 1's into 1-2's. I'm not sure he will be in those very long! I have a huge stash of them, so I may be returning diapers for a bigger size.
Clothing size: 3-6 months or just plain 6 months. He's just huge. Ha!
Feedings: 7 oz every 3-4 hours with cereal for his reflux.
Sleeping: I'm happy and so lucky to say that he followed in his brother's footsteps and started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks. At school he cat naps all day and goes down for the night between 8 and 9. He'll sleep straight through until about 6:30 and then I put him in our bed and he'll sleep until around 8:30 or 9.
Eye color: still blue!!! There is hope that I'll have a blue-eyed blondie! :)
Playtime: He loves his swing, his lovey, and his baby gym. We have all sorts of toys hanging from his gym. He kicks them, reaches and swats at them and has just in the last couple days started to grab them. We tested out the jumperoo last week. His legs are still too short to reach the floor. He enjoys watching all the action in our house. He's a big fan of Ryan and the dogs. I can see it in his eyes... if he could get up and run after them, he would!
Likes: his loveys (his favorite is a monkey that is soft on one side and silky on the other. It has his name on it), watching the action, swinging, the baby gym, eating (the child can down 7 oz in less than 3 minutes, it's insane), cuddling... oh how he loves to cuddle! Oh, and he likes baths now! Thank God!
Dislikes: Zantac... I'm not sure he'll ever get used to the taste of that stuff. Tummy time. He used to sleep on his belly all the time, but we stopped that when he started at daycare because they can't put him on his stomach to sleep. Now he hates to be on his belly.

Monkey pics...

Christmas card photo shoot... take 1

I attempted taking the boys' pictures this evening for our Christmas cards. I got some cute shots, but nothing that I am happy enough with for our Christmas cards. I saw this really cute idea with the tree lights, however, it was done with one very curious baby who could sit up on her own. Not to mention, it was the work of a pro. I'm no pro, Liam can't sit up by himself, the only interest he really has in the lights is to put them him his mouth and believe it or not, Ryan wasn't too interested in a photo shoot. Nonetheless, here are some fun out takes...

If I had the settings right on my camera, this first one would have been great... but oh well.

Gone ghost

Truth be told, there are not enough hours in the day. I'm sure I'm stating the obvious. For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting an updated post from me, I apologize. I am quite envious of you mommies out there who juggle kid(s), a husband, a job and the house and still find the time to blog. I am not giving up, but still searching for a somewhat structured (and I use the term "structured" ver loosely) evening schedule that allows me some me time... I have a feeling that I'll be searching for such a schedule until Ryan and Liam are married.

My house is no longer the immaculate home it was when I was on maternity leave. With the exception of a few toys scattered throughout the house, my bathrooms were clean, my laundry room never had more than half a load in the hamper, dirty dishes were always in the dishwasher and my floors were spotless. GONE ARE THE DAYS. Gone. Forever. So long clean house! I will miss you! I will learn to live in a "lived in" home. "Lived in" defined as toys scattered from the front door to the back door, dust on my mantle, dirty dishes in my sink, laundry overflowing out of the hamper, coats, hats and bags thrown on the chair beside the door, and towels on the bathroom floor. Yes, my friends... that is what my house looks like right now. No matter how much I pick up and clean, my 3 boys come behind me and dirty it... yes, even the baby! So the way I see it, I can spend each night cleaning up after them, or I can do what is necessary to keep the bugs and DSS away and spend my evening playing and enjoying my family. However, please call prior to visiting so that I can return to my OCD self and really clean my house! :)

In 10 days Ryan will be 3. T-H-R-E-E! In 2 days, Liam will be 3 months. Craziness. Tonight, while giving Ryan a bath we were talking about his birthday party, which will be at Brett's gym in the Kid Zone. It's so exciting to see his excitement about having his friends come play, having cake and opening presents. He now says "Happy Birthday to me! I'm three!!" His theme for his party is the movie Cars. I made his invitations and when I showed them to him he said, "Wow! Thank you, Mommy!" I am so blessed to have a polite child.

Since my last post, Brett has moved onto his golf instruction business full time. He's doing so well and I'm so proud of him! He's had 2 great articles written about him locally; one in a local magazine and the other in the Saturday newspaper. He has thrown himself into this effort and it's paying off. If you can spare them, please say some prayers that he continues doing well. And while you're at it, pray for me as I am alone with the boys most evenings until about 8pm. It's the price we pay for success, I guess. It makes me appreciate even more nights like tonight when he's home to eat dinner with us. It doesn't happen very often anymore.

There are also some changes in the works for me. Unfortunately, I have to be vague at the moment, but I would appreciate some prayers too! :) I will update when I'm able!

Who's Who?

I was playing around with pictures tonight and I thought I'd share these too adorable pictures of my lovelies...

2 months of awesomeness

My sweet little Monster is 2 months old today! Like his brother, he has a knack for vomiting. Beautiful, yeah, I know. Seems that he also enjoys mocking a geyser each time he's stripped of his diaper. That's ok though. It keeps us on our toes during feedings and changes and improves our reflexes.

Tomorrow morning Liam goes to the doctor for his 2 month well-baby. And so it begins again. My fight between me, the pediatrician and the CDC. I alter the recommended vaccine schedule for my boys. I don't agree with the amount of chemicals they inject all at once. I think it is absolutely absurd to shoot up a 12 pound infant with 8 different vaccines within a matter of 90 seconds only to let them all attack his developing brain. So, without going further up on my soapbox, I'll just say that Liam will be getting 2 shots tomorrow.

As far as development, he's doing great. He's just a smiley baby. He's very intrigued by Ryan and the dogs. He loves to snuggle and he's such an awesome sleeper. He's already sleeping through the night!

A few fun 2 month stats:

Diaper size: 1
Clothing size: 3 months, but can wear several 3-6 month outfits too. Porker!
Feedings: 6oz every 4 hours
Sleeping: 2-3 hour naps during the day when he's at home, cat naps at daycare, 8-12 hours at night, sometimes waking up once to eat.
Eye color: still blue... I've started calling him "Big Blue" or just "Blue"
Hair color: dirty blonde
Playtime: He's alert and makes eye contact very well. He follows sounds and gets excited over rattles and lights.
Likes: eating, his bink, hanging out and watching big brother, watching football & spongebob on tv (yes, my baby watches tv... I'm bad, I know.), Jack Johnson, car rides, being in his Ergo and/or Mai tei, and sleeping with mommy.
Dislikes: diaper changes, baths, lotion, and zantac.

Here are some of is 2 month pictures with his monkey...

My life

I was cleaning up diarrhea from Ryan (I know, not a pleasant thought) and Brett randomly asked me if I had thought 10 years ago that I'd be doing this now. My answer? Yes. I was made to be a mommy. I love everything about it. I love the hugs and the kisses. I love baby snuggles. I love when Ryan asked me, it his sweetest most innocent voice, to lay with him at night... even though half the time I refuse because I feel like he needs to learn to lay by himself to go to sleep. I love when Liam buries his head in my chest when he's so tired that he can't hold his eyes open anymore. I love baby smiles. I love picking Ryan up from school and he yells "MOMMY!" and comes running. I even love it when Liam wakes up at 3:30 in the morning to eat and will only go back to sleep if he is laying snuggled up next to me. I love when Ryan helps me cook dinner. I love that we have taught Ryan about compassion towards others and to be mindful of their feelings and I love when people notice it and comment on it. I love taking them places to experience new things; the museums, the park, the pumpkin patch, etc. There are so many things that I love about my children... you'd be here for days reading them all.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much my life has changed over the past 6 years and how amazingly it has all sort of fallen into place. 6 years ago I met Brett when he interviewed me for a job at his golf course. At that moment I knew I had met the man I was going to marry. I even called my mama and told her. From then until now has been a whirlwind that has been spinning so fast that it's hard to grasp it all. 5 moves, 4 cities, 2 dogs, 1 house, 8 jobs (combined) 6 cars (combined), 2 kids and 1 new business later, here we are. It amazes me. We've had at least 2 life-changing events for each year we've known each other. There were times that I just threw my hands up in anger and frustration and others when cried happy tears. After Ryan was born, I told Brett and myself that I wanted to have a year just to "be". Well, that certainly wasn't the case. I would have never been able to write my life out the way it has been written for me. I have figured out that "just being" isn't in my cards. Change is inevitable. You either embrace it or run from it only to be overwhelmed by it later. I love my life and all it's craziness. I love being a mommy and a wife with a "real job" on the side. This is what I was made to do.