Since Ryan's Arrival...

Colten never sat in the bumbo chair as a baby but now he thinks it is fun!

Since Ryan's arrival, life has been remarkable yet a whirlwind where I barely find time to shower on some days! If I wasn't living it myself, I may find that hard to believe, but between playing with Colten, an extremely active 2 1/2 year old, and feeding and changing Ryan, who poops in excess of ten times a day, my days feel like they are over in an instant. It also doesn't help that Ryan has been a high-need baby over the past month as well. When he was born, I thought he had his days and nights mixed up, and he may have, but now he just fusses and cries quite a bit for seemingly no reason. He is not as demanding as Colten was, but considering I have two to care for now, it sure seems like it. Daddy has been a big help at night though. Thankfully, he has been putting Colten to bed every night. And Colten loves it too; they make silly videos on Daddy's iTouch and can be heard throughout the house laughing hysterically. I don't think Colten ever had that much fun before bed with me. Daddy's are the best! I have to admit that I do miss my nights with him though. Hopefully once Ryan settles into more of a routine, I can assume bedtime duties a least a few nights a week. I have to admit that I do feel bad for Colten in some ways. He is the absolute best big brother, but I often find myself abandoning story-time before naps because either I am exhausted from the demands of two kids and need a break myself or because Ryan is crying and needs me. I feel terrible and know how important books are for children. I hope Colten doesn't lose interest in books because he loved them. I just need to find a way to balance everything so Colten doesn't miss out on the things he loves too. He seems perfectly happy right now so I might be making a bigger deal about it than I need to, but I can't help but be hard on myself. I want to be the best mom for both of them, but right now sometimes I don't know how.

Ryan is growing very fast, and he should be since he eats every 1.5 to 2 hours even during the night (so yes, I barely sleep...) At his last doctor's appointment, he weighed 12.7 lbs and measured 23.5 inches (so much for my little peanut that I gave birth to just over 2 months ago...)
I am dreading my return to teaching next month. I love my job, but I don't know how I am going to survive on such little sleep, and I'm going to miss my boys soooooo much. I just keep telling myself that it is only for three months and then I will be off for summer and can hopefully get Ryan into more of a routine. Plus I hope that when we begin solids, he will be content for longer periods. Until then I will rely on every mom's superhero power that allows us to function on fumes!

So let's get caught up before my time is even more limited!!!

Shortly after Ryan's birth, he celebrated his first Thanksgiving! Of course we were excited parents, but it was pretty uneventful as Ryan slept through most of it. Here's a 'family' photo minus Colten since he was still going through a no picture phase.

As everyone knows, when I found out I was pregnant and due around Thanksgiving, I was really bummed about not being able to shop on Black Friday, but since Ryan arrived so early, Grandma and I headed out for a six hour shopping trip - yay!!!! Daddy stayed home with the boys and let me enjoy my favorite day of the year. Here's a photo of Colten already assuming the role of big brother as he feeds Ryan his first and only bottle since I am nursing. What a great helper!! And even though I want to keep the focus on the boys, I have to say that we had such a successful Black Friday shopping day. Everything opened so early and we didn't start until 5am so we missed the crowds and lines but still scored all of the deals we wanted and more! That just might be my strategy every year (as long as I'm not after electronics or hot toys I guess).

That weekend we also started getting the house decorated for Christmas. It was such a magical time because Colten actually understood what we were doing and wanted to help. He was so excited for everything- from Santa figurines to the Christmas tree and outside lights. For me decorating had become routine, but Colten brought the wonder back to every part of the holiday season.

I couldn't help but dress Ryan up for a holiday photo shoot and believe it or not Colten wanted in on the fun! He insisted on wearing his Buzz slippers, ND hat and his gloves too - such a silly boy!

Of course we visited Santa too. Colten could barely wait his turn and then jumped right on Santa's lap to tell him that both he and Ryan wanted "diggers, mowers, tanks, and race cars" for Christmas. Ryan enjoyed the visit too or at least he didn't cry!

Colten also took his job as cookie decorator very seriously. He made this tray especially for Santa!




As part of a reward for being such a great big brother, we treated Colten to an afternoon of Disney on Ice! This was his first time attending a show, and he loved it!!! We may have spent too much on souvenirs, but his joy made it all worth it. Here he is in his Flounder hat!

And then it was Christmas...
We started the celebration on Christmas Eve day by heading over to Grandpa and Grandma's house where we all exchanged gifts. Colten could barely control himself and opened all of his gifts as well as all of Uncle Mike's. I couldn't even keep up with who the gifts were from as he opened them. But I know I am so looking forward to the Christmas's to come. His excitement was priceless. One of his favorite gifts was a car that Uncle Mike and Colten actually built together online. They chose all of the parts from the body to the wheels and motor and even the sound effects and then it was built and mailed to Uncle Mike. Here is Colten checking out their creation...
The family and then the two brothers in matching Christmas jammies!

After a short nap, we headed to church where Ryan was an angel and Colten was a typical 2 year old boy who had just received too many toys. He kept saying, "me no go to church" and loudly I might add, but we made it through the mass even if Colten wouldn't let me stand or sing. And from there we journeyed to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house to visit with Tom's side of the family. We were especially excited to see our newest niece Payton who was just born on December 12th. Congratulations Uncle Marc and Aunt Amanda on your new addition; she is gorgeous. Welcome to the Mommy and Daddy Club! Here is a photo of all of the cousins; it's not the greatest but the best one we managed to capture.
Colten woke up to find that Santa had visited overnight and had really enjoyed those cookies too! Colten tore into his gifts but I think was overwhelmed by it all too. We actually left for lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's and there were still untouched presents. Maybe Santa brought too much this year. One of Colten's favorite things this year was ornaments; he loves taking them out of the boxes and repackaging them. Luckily Santa was clued in and brought some ornaments too!

We don't have many photos of the rest of the day unfortunately. Tom always tells me to relax about taking pictures and just enjoy the moments with our kids, and I guess I finally listened for once! Luckily Aunt Joyce was on the ball and captured a few shots so I still have them for the boys' albums - thanks Aunt Joyce!

After the hustle of the holidays, it was nice to return to our new normal. Here are some photos of daily life with the boys.

Colten enjoying his new leap pad!

Ryan fell asleep in Colten's bed on his Spiderman sheets and among his pillowpets after a diaper change. Too bad it only lasted long enough for me to snap the photo...

Colten enjoyed trying out his old bouncy chair - silly boy!

Ryan gave the bumbo chair a try on his 2-month birthday ~ 12.5 lbs and 23.5 inches! Keep growing big and strong Ryan!


I love this photo of Ryan; Uncle Mike bought him a super cute and cozy outfit that makes him look like a bear and Daddy gave him the nickname boo boo bear!
Everyone loves Grandpa!
We had a super fun time at Hubbard Pool celebrating Christian's 5th birthday! This was Ryan's first time in a pool. I'm not sure he loved it but he didn't cry so that is a start. And as you can tell, Colten was loving it! I can't wait to get the boys in our pool this summer!!!
Here's a photo of Colten after a bath; he has so much fun pretending to be a lion in his towel.
We haven't had much snow this year but we finally got a nice amount last weekend so we decided to introduce Colten to sledding for the first time. He went down the hill at Grandma's twice and was over it, but he LOVED playing in the snow. He helped Daddy build a snowman for a while and then he simply enjoyed diving in the snow, eating it, throwing it, and whatever else he could think of! He had more fun than I ever imagined he would. I can't wait until Ryan can be out there with us too!

And one more thought: My brother sent me this link to a mom's blog. She created a list called "Rules for Mothers of Sons." If you have boys, you have to read it. I promise that it will make you laugh, cry, and simply smile. Enjoy!
http://studerteam.blogspot.com/2011/11/25-rules-for-mothers-of-sons.html?m=1