Just what I always wanted

My kiddos were briefly interacting positively, so I had to capture the moment.

Here, they were taking the animals on a boat ride.

I taught Ryan to high five today. It amazes me how quickly he's able to learn stuff. I have told several people recently that with Addison, I watched her every move and could see the long process of her mind developing and learning as I taught her animal sounds, how to play with toys, how to wave bye bye, etc. With Ryan, I am so busy that he constantly surprises me with how much he can do! He puts food on his fork and tries to feed himself. He brushes his hair with the doll brush and tries to put hats on. He will try to feed me Cheerios, and covers up his toys with the blanket so he can pull it off and laugh. A funny thing he does is crawl with the top of his head on the floor, so he can look under and between his legs as he goes. He laughs the whole time and frequently runs into things because he can't see where he's going.


I put shoes on him for the first time about 4 days ago. He hated them and clunked around, falling every step and getting angry, but after just a few minutes, he was able to move fairly well. I have some heavy, wide tennies that were hand me downs, and that's what he's been wearing, so I don't know if it would be better or worse to get some thinner, more flexible shoes for him.


Addie was invited to our friend's daughter's 4th birthday party yesterday. It began at 4:30, and our small group was meeting at our house at that time too, but there were going to be pony rides, so I just had to take her. I was planning on staying for just 30 minutes and then heading home (it's in our neighborhood). Well, the ponies weren't quite set up when we got there, and as it was nearing time to leave, I mentioned to my friend that we were going to head out, but she said I should just leave Addie there and they'd bring her home later. There were kids of all ages and lots of adults, and pizza, juice, snacks, an amazing pony cake, games outside, and the ponies, who came complete with little unicorn horn attachments on their halters. Another friends agreed with Amber and said to leave Addie and they'd all keep an eye on her. I've never left her in a big group like that, and a million things were running through my head - what if she has to potty - will she know who to tell? What if a bigger kid goes outside and Addie sneaks out - who is going to really be watching? What if she doesn't get food? Will someone be sure she gets a plate? If she wanders upstairs, who would notice? But I know Amber very well and she's a great person, and her friend Laura is awesome too, so I swallowed some of my mommy fears (like I did the first time I left Addie at MOPS for 3 hours last year - her first time alone in a classroom for that long with other random kids and adults she didn't know), and came back for our Bible study. At about 7:30, Laura brought Addie home (she has extra carseats in the car) and told me all about the fun things Addie did at the party, including multiple pony rides! Addie was all hyped up on sugar and fun, but I was thrilled she had a good time and was still alive. This is another one of those mommy milestones that you never quite know if you or your baby are ready for - you just do it, because everyone else is doing it and their kids are all fine, so yours will be too. And she was. So this is her first official birthday party without Mommy hovering.

I missed seeing her on the pony, but I'm so glad she got to do it!

Milestones

Just a marker for memory - yesterday Addie and Ryan were playing with a treehouse toy and part of it had come apart from being pulled too hard. I came in and said, "Addie, did you take that off?" and she immediately looked up and said, "No, Mama, Baby did it. Baby Ryan did it." Actually I'm pretty sure Baby Ryan did do it - I just had to marvel at the fact that this was the very first time I heard her blame her brother for something. How many more times will there be over the years?

Another big milestone in our lives is that we moved Ryan to the big carseat, forward facing. He is an extremely chunky child, well over the 20 pound rule, and close enough to a year to count, for me. So this means goodbye forever to the infant carrier that came with our stroller. Matt and I are both very pleased with the fact that we don't have to put away and save all the baby stuff this time around - it is going out the door, permanently. (Well, we're actually going to keep the carrier because it goes with the stroller, which we still use, and we'll sell/give away all of it together, but all the other baby paraphernalia is going). For those of you who were curious, which I know you all were, Matt's vasectomy followup came back clear, and I've resumed my own birth control, so, barring a miracle, we feel safe to pass along our baby gear forever.

My major feeling of Ryan being almost a year and moving to the big boy carseat is elation. Although I was fascinated with Addie from the moment she was born (and still am, probably more than I should be), I still could not wait for her to walk, talk, and play with me. I am just not a baby person, even when it was my own. While pregnant with Ryan, I actually went through a mini-depression and was not looking forward to him being a baby for an entire year. I just wanted to fast-forward. I knew that it would fly by, but I was still dreading it. I think I had some crazy-pregnant hormonal work going on there too. It also didn't help matters that Ryan was an irritable baby who didn't sleep and wanted to be held 24/7. He also had (has) a horrendous time cutting teeth and terrible allergies, which increased the whining and fussing factor. So now that he is almost 1, and walking, and eating real food and drinking from real cups and is on some sort of sleep schedule (nothing like Addie's 3 hour naps, though), I am thrilled. I feel like NOW I can finally start doing all the things that I envisioned for my family. Ryan is still little though. I have told myself before that when my kids are 2 and 4 is when things will just be a blast from then on, in terms of family fun. We'll see - I"ll be sure to check in next fall and let you all know if everyone is living up to my random expectations.

Back to normal already?

It's weird - we had Caiti and Camryn with us for two full months, but now it seems like they were never here. Not in a bad or good way - I just though that we'd feel a huge difference once they left. Caiti was always ready to watch the baby or play with him while I got coffee, and Cammie always kept Addison occupied (for better or for worse) instead of Addie talking to me constantly. The house IS noticeably quieter. And also Addie has apparently gotten back into her late sleeping habit. Cammie would always wake up fairly early (usually be 7) and would either go into Caiti's room or come downstairs. And since Addie is a light sleeper, she would get up too and would follow Cammie. Before, Addie would never get up out of bed by herself. She'd lay there and call for us, or play or something. But while Cammie was here, she'd climb out of the bunk bed (she sleeps up top now) and wander around, somtimes coming into our room. I guess that's ok, but I sure didn't like it when she was up even before the baby. Yesterday was her first morning to wake up alone, and at 6:58 I heard a door shut and heard, "Mama?" in the hall. Ryan was still asleep, so I got up and picked up Addison, thinking I'd put her in bed with us (she never, ever goes back to sleep, she mostly just kicks and squirms for ten minutes and then wants to get up), but instead I told her it wasn't time to get up yet and I put her back in her bed. She was wide awake, and I told her I'd come back in a little bit. Of course, there was no way I could go back to sleep at this point, so I waited about 20 minutes and then Ryan woke up. After feeding him his bottle, I went back upstairs to check on Addie. Sound asleep. The poor child slept till TEN OCLOCK!!! I knew she was overtired and exhausted. She also went down at 2 pm for a 2.5 hour nap, then went to bed at 8:30 last night and as of now (8:21 a.m.) is still asleep. Now this is the Addison I'm used to!! Lots of sleep and much more pleasant disposition. I really think that part of the girls' problems this summer was Addie's overall tiredness, but you know how it is - when they get overtired, they tend to sleep less, not more, and the lack of consistency wore her down.
I'm just glad to have more time alone with Ryan in the morning (although I'd give it up willingly if HE would sleep later!!), and hopeful that some of the absolutely ridiculous meltdowns we've had lately will cease and desist now that Addie is well-rested.

Random Picture Post

The bunk beds - on the left end is a computer desk with drawers, and on the right end are bookshelves.




Splashing after one of the very few big storms we had this summer



Ryan LOVES his Aunt Caiti



Camryn at the Fancy Nancy party at Barnes and Noble

The poor dog - "Princess Casey" won a $10 gift card at the Fancy Nancy Posh Puppy contest (note: My sister and niece did this to the dog, not me!)

These are a few of shots from the cruise:



At the docks in Progreso, next to the Ecstasy that we were on last year

Formal Night

This picture is for Thomas and Jamie

In Cozumel at the all-inclusive resort we spent the day at

My 2nd (or 3rd?) Bahama Mama

The snorkeling was fairly decent for being right by the docks

Matt beat this guy in arm wrestling and won a trophy

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Me at the game show in the theater - I kicked their tails! And won my own trophy.

September Already?

Caiti and Cammie are leaving tomorrow - I can't believe they've been here for two full months, since July first. I have more pictures to share, and a cruise report and all, but we've been super busy this week trying to round up toys, clothes, etc, getting things packed, referee ingthe girls (repeat ad naseum), and dealing with the baby. Speaking of the baby, he is now for real officially walking. I think Thursday is the first day where he did about 70% walking instead of crawling, but he'd already been doing 15-20 step trips, so since he turned 11 months on Tuesday, I'll use that as my marker for when the real walking started. He is extremely pleased with himself and walks with his legs very far apart. I'll have to go dig through the big bag of hand-me-down shoes from my sis-in-law to see what will fit him. Also, he is a fatty. He ate an entire pork chop, plus potatoes and a million peas, and then his bottle of milk too. All at once. Matt and I were just now getting to the point where we buy Addie her own food when we go out to eat, or fix her a chicken breast or potato instead of just giving her bites of ours. And now Chunky Monkey is coming right along wanting tons of food too. My grocery bill is going to double soon!

What else? We are itching to get Addie's "big girl" room set up, with new bedding and all, but I'm sort of waiting till Cammie is gone and we rearrange the bunk beds and furniture. Also, my neighbor's daughter is turning 10 and is getting a new room, so they are getting rid of her old stuff and wanted to know if I want it. It's all Disney Princess (I haven't seen it), which is definitely not my favorite theme (I don't like character themes at all), BUT, my neighbor tends to buy pricier items in terms of clothes and toys, so there is a possibility that it might be more...tasteful? Not so cartoonish? You know how Disney is into home decor now that isn't just Mickey Mouse, so maybe this set of bedding isn't just big cartoon princesses, because that would be too much to take. Although I must admit Addie, like most little girls, is all about princesses right now. She still doesn't really understand a whole lot about them, but she knows they are pretty and wear dresses and are on a lot of her stuff. And free stuff is free stuff, so we'll see. If it's horrendous then I'll start looking at some other stuff/colors/etc.

- Addie ran into the playroom and said, "Mama, I gotta go potty!", so I said, "Ok, go, run run run!", and she stopped and said, shocked, "Mama! That's not nice! You need to say it nice!" So I asked her to please go to the potty and she said, "Thank you for saying it nice Mama" and calmly walked to the potty.

- She was jumping off a big thing at the mall playplace, and called out across the whole area, "Mama, did you see? I took a big jump!!" Except keep in mind her two-year-old pronunciation, and replace the J with a D sound. Everyone was quiet while I quickly called out, "Yes, a JUMP, you JUMPED so big!"