ONE MONTH OLD

Today is March 27th, Peanut is one month old! It's crazy to think that ha she come on her due date, April 19th, she would have only been here for 8 days so far, but it's been a month! A whole month with this sweet angel!!!!

BEING TWO

I had no idea that a two year old was so much fun. 
I am a baby person. I love babies, teeny, tiny babies, but that was before I had a two year old. I never really understood how much fun a two year old was until I had one!! Don't get me wrong, I am still a baby person. I love babies, especially mine, but I am no longer worried that when she gets older, she won't be as fun. I see now, that every age, every stage is truly just as fun as the last!
Ryder is turning into a little boy. I know his personality is still developing and will for the next 100 years, but I wanted to write some things down about right now, so that we wont' forget some of his early tendencies.....there are ugly ones, like tantruming sometimes and yelling "no Daddy!" alot, but I prefer to focus on the sweet tendencies he has, like yesterday, at the coffee shop. 
I bought him his own slice of banana bread as a little treat. He sat up at the table and without any prompting or anything (i had my own treat) he broke off a piece of his bread, held his hand out towards me and said, "Mommy, have this peice?" He was sharing!!! After I accepted, he offered my friend and her little boy a piece too. I was so proud of him for being so kind.  
The other day, at the park his little friend's sister wouldn't let James, play, so he sat down and started crying. Ryder stopped playing with the sister, went back to James, hugged him and asked him to, "come, come James!" He's starting to show compassion!  

Peanut doesn't cry too much yet, but when she does, Ryder gets very concerned and wants to put her soother in her mouth. He's actually mastering it and when he manages to get it into her mouth, "gently" he is soo excited that he helped make her feel better. He's great at including Peanut in all our activities, always telling her exactly what we are doing, "going to Walmart, Peanut. Coloring Peanut, having lunch Peanut." Lastnight, he announced that he wanted to "have shower." This was his first solo shower (by solo, I mean without Marty IN the shower with him.) I helped him soap up and washed his hair, but he stood there in the tub with the shower on all by himself. Our shower head doesn't come off the wall, so he truly had his OWN shower!!!  He got out of the tub and I could barely get him wrapped in a towel before he was running to Peanut's room to tell her, "Had shower Peanut! Had shower!!!"  It's actually sruprised me, how willing he is to include Payton in everything, including bed time routine and stories.  He loves having her come in his "car bed" to listen to stories and when the stories are over and we are turning off the light to lie down, he always wants to hold her.  I lay her down on his chest for a minute, or until he says "too heavy," but every night, he requests it.

Ryder loves to play trucks beside Peanut on the floor...it's all good as long has he remembers NOT to drive trucks on her face, he does that from time to time. LOL

These are the moments that make my heart melt, the moments that make the other moments, like the rolling on the floor, crying because he can't have a sucker for breakfast moments, almost fade out of my memory.
I am in awe of how Ryder is becoming less and less my baby and becoming more and more my "big boy," not only because we now have a new baby, but because that is what babies do...they grow into big boys and girls (sniffle, sniffle, heart swelling with memories of the past, and hopes for the future!)

 

Doing big boy things like helping Mommy get Uncle Dirt treats....

 

 ....helping Dad mow lawn (with a shopping cart and helmet, he he, great imagination, I love it!)

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and love those two year olds, tantrums and all!

SICK

Ryder is sick today. Being sick sucks and the only thing that sucks more, is watching your babies be sick!! I suppose part of the reason Ryder is sick is my fault.  We've been a little sunshine deprived the last few months, so the minute I see some sun rays, we all head out to soak them up. Sometimes we don't dress quite warm enough (the appearance of sunshine doesn't always mean HOT weather, no matter how badly we want it to.)  Yesterday, we even busted out the water table though it was not nearly warm enough to have ice cold water splashed all over your coat and pants, though it didn't seem to bother Ryder at the time...today we are paying for it. Poor little man!  

Not to long ago, Ryder got some sidewalk chalk at a birthday party. The other day, the sidewalks were actually void of snow, so Marty took him outside for some chalk drawing.  Here's what boys draw:

School Busses,

 and hockey players.

 The other day, I took Ryder out for chalk drawing. Here's what Mommies (unartisitic ones) draw:

Hearts and...

flowers.  LOL

 

 Ryder and I spend a lot of time in the back yard, now that most of the snow is gone, playing in the sandbox with diggers.  The other day, he insisted on carrying handfuls of sand from the sandbox to the rocks at the back of our yard. I know Marty wouldn'thave been happy to have all that sand out of the sandbox, but hey, in my mind, this was great. All the back and forth was tuckering him out and I find toddlers are like puppies: Tired puppies and tired toddlers are good puppies and toddlers. :) So I let him make a million trips, handful by handful.

Yesterday afternoon was one of the first super sunny days, we've had. It was still chilly, we probably needed mitts, but we opted to tough it out as a protest against the cold.  I am sure it wasn't warm enough for the water table, but we busted it out anyway!  Ryder had a blast!! Last summer he enjoyed it, but this summer he's gonna be old enough to really have some fun with it. I love watching his imagination at work!!

It was a perfect, blue sky day!!

Peanut has been with us on our outdoor adventures. She's usually bundled up in the stroller or in the baby carrier, but she doesn't miss much that goes on here...well unless you count sleeping through everything as "missing it."

 Peanut is not a fan of the traditional swaddle blankets, but she sleeps like a log in this "peanut shell."

 She loves sleeping on her chest and spends hours sleeping on ours!

Currently, Ryder is laying on the couch with his blankie and runny nose. He is watching Dora and Diego. This is the first time in a LONG time that he's sat still long enough to watch two episodes in a row...he must not be feeling that good.....poor little man!  Here's hoping he gets well soon, I hear more, REAL sunshine with heat included is coming our way!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and pray for sunshine!

DUE!

Today is Peanut's Due Date!!  I am so glad I did no have to wait this long to meet her!  Now that she's here and has been for the last three weeks, it's hard to remember life without her!

So far, things honestly havn't been that challenging with two little ones....for one, Ryder is still going to the Day Home three days a week, just for the month of April. For another, Payton seriously sleeps almost 22 hours a day and has since she first arrived. So far, she hasn't been too demanding and Ryder has not had to compete for my attention, so, so far, so good!!

 

Sometimes, only sometimes is she awake and when she is, I can't stop staring into her innocent eyes!

 

Over the last three weeks, Peanut has:

gotten lots of love, hugs and kisses....

 ...some sloppy brother kisses and...

 ..some sloppy puppy kisses!!

She has started taking a soother. Ryder thinks this one is funny because he can see her lips through it..I think it's actually kinda creepy, but Peanut loves it!

 She has started having one bottle a day. I've been pumping breast milk and I  call it "pumping freedom" because as long as she will takes a bottle I can leave the house without her for at least an hour without Marty or her panicking about when I'll be back..not that I have actually left yet, but the point is, I could if I wanted to.....I can also tuck Ryder in and read his stories without rushing because if Peanut needs to eat during story time, Marty can feed her. 

One night, we were in the middle of a story but we could her Payton fussing downstairs. Ryder was concerned. He couldn't focus on the story, he kept saying, "Mommy, Peanut crying. Peanut crying. Don't cry Peanut." I explained that Daddy was downstairs and that he would feed Peanut. To my surprise, Ryder responded with: "Daddy don't have boobs Mommy!!" Ha ha ha!! I laughed and laughed. I had no idea, he knew that, or thought about boobs meaning food for babies!!  I shouldn't have been surprised, he's seen my boobs feeding Peanut plenty of times. 
Ah, from the mouths of babes!! Love it!

 We've taken a few walks after supper with Marty, Ryder and Scout. We are sure to bundle up ofcorse!

Thanks to our decision to keep Ryder in the Day Home three days a week this month, Peanut and I have had time to hang out, just the two of us! :)

She's even come with me to my eyelash appointment. She spent the entire hour sleeping on my chest. :)

 

She's met Uncle Dirt!!!

 She had her first bath at home! Daddy is a the Tubby Time pro!

She's met a few friends...a few of the other Moms from our original Baby group are having their second babies too! We are all looking forward to several play dates on our mat leaves!!

Ryder's had plenty of fun too. Though I appreciate the days when he is at the Day Home, I actually miss him and his energy while he is gone.  He's growing sooo fast and he's talking and talking and making me laugh all the time!! 

He's taken some time to adjust to life as a big brother, this has mostly involved him feeling the need to climb into our bed in the middle of the night. I guess he figures he wants to be where the party is and since the rest of us are in there he should be too. It's hard not to see this as regression, as he was sleeping in his big boy bed all night before Peanut's arrival, but we know this won't last forever....will it?

He's really learned to embrace all the baby paraphanalia, especially the little whale tubby that used to be his. 

 

 I get a real kick out of his need to carry trucks or busses with him wherever he goes.  It drives Marty nuts that he insists on taking his vehicles on our walks. Ryder just doesn't understand how much easier it would be to walk and run without all those cars in his hands. Marty is sure that one of these days he's gonna face plant and end up eating that bus!!! LOL  Walks also take forever as our walks involve a lot of stopping to "park" his bus or "park" his truck.  He's also sure to point out, every single vehicle that is parked along our route. "Car parked right there, Mommy. Truck parked right there, Mommy. Van parked right there, Mommy."  Apparently, he is obsessed with parking.  I find his incessant repetition hilarious and exhausting.  We try to distract him with excited talk about the swings and slides and other fun things at the park, but all he can think about is, where he's gonna "park" his bus while he plays.  Love it!

Last weekend was Aggie Days at the BMO center.  It was a cold, blizzardy day, so we figured we'd head into downtown for some indoor fun!  

There were planes and tractors and big trucks and of corse plenty of animals to look at!

 

 There was even a ginormous sandbox, with lots of tractors to "park!!!"

When the weather is crummy, Ryder and I do lots of baking. He loves baking and is actually a pretty good help...until the "thing" has to go in the oven. He doesn't understand why we can't just eat it when it's all mixed up before it gets baked.  This often leads to a meltdown, that is only temporarily put off by the consolation of licking off the beaters or spatula, but once those are licked clean, the tantrum often starts up again.....thankfully, it's nothing a little time with his blankie and suckie won't fix.

And though there's a new "kid in town," Ryder still adores his first best friend, Scout, whom he's taken to calling, Scouty!

Today, Peanut was supposed to be born, but she's already here and she's beautiful and perfect and we feel truly blessed!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and embrace the big and little surprises!