This has been a FUN month for us! Ryan has really started to come alive, just in time for the beautiful weather! We see his eyes significantly more than we did the first month, and while he is still pretty stoic a lot of the time, he smiles at us a lot, which he was only doing while sleeping, likely due to gas that first month.
Highlights this month as a family include:
- Painting Cashel's new room.
- Getting our new mini van (2014 Red Town and Country) on April 22nd!
- A special visit from one of my besties from NWC, Steff, and her hubby Kent on May 7.
- Starting planting season for Mark.
- Spending SO MUCH TIME outside in the BEAUTIFUL weather.
- A day trip to Humboldt to see the Ropte and Vinsand family there.
- Lots of walks to run errands with Mr. Ryan.
- Surviving a week of sickness (strep throat and ear infections) for Daddy and the big boys the first week of May.
- Meeting friends in Sibley, Iowa (Becky and Joseph), LeSueur, Minnesota (Kirsten and Levi) and Mankato, Minnesota (Angie, Emma and Sara).
- Celebrating the birthdays of two special Grandma's: Great Grandma Vi at the end of April and Grandma Pam at the beginning of May.
- A couple fun trips to the farm to ride the tractor an 4-wheeler.
- Celebrating Mother's Day.
- Getting the new backsplash up in the kitchen.
I certainly haven't gotten around to updating the old family blog with most of these updates, since I've been in project mode these first couple months, but I'll update there once I get those all done...maybe.
We've had our ups and downs this month for sure. Big brothers have really started to fight a lot more both with each other, and just overall being defiant, so we're struggling to not be end up screaming at them the vast majority of the days. They're really trying to test our patience (and every.single.rule.), which is extremely frustrating. I think I tell them every single evening, "I WANT to do fun things with you guys, but you HAVE GOT TO LISTEN!!!" or "YOU'RE RUINING THE FUN TIMES!" or "WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU?" (which Kendrick then takes great joy in repeating lol) You know - things I'm positive no other parent has ever said in the history of parenthood. ;)
Ryan is SUCH sweet little compliant baby. He is quietly alert a good chunk of the days now, and he loves to flash smiles and is starting to "talk" to us in "goo"s and "coo"s :) He usually has a rough period from 7-9:30/10pm each night, where he's fussy off and on. We flat out KNOW it's because he's tired, but we've yet to get him to actually stay asleep during that time period when trying to put him down by 7 each night, so for now, he ends up fussing from 7-10 (while we get supper put away, put big brothers to bed and then I get a shower and get ready for bed).
Ryan is now in size 2 diapers (he has been since the day after the 1 month update) and very solidly into 3-6 month clothes. We don't have his 2 month well child check until next week, but if my scale is right at home, he's up to 16lbs 12oz and although my measuring skills leave something to be desired, he's approximately 24 inches long. I don't even want to talk about how fast he's growing right now. ::sigh::
He's just beginning to stay awake more during the days, and I'd say overall he's probably awake for a good 5 hours a day overall, just in short 30-45 minute chunks. He usually sleeps from 10:30/11pm until around 9am, waking to feed sometimes at 2:30am, but not that often. He always wakes at 4am, and then again around 6:30/7am to eat again. I almost always have a 5 hour chunk of sleep at the beginning of the night, followed by another couple 2-3 hour chunks. Most days I get up when Mark and the boys are heading out the door around 6:30 right after Ryan eats.
I started a couple weeks ago actually letting him start the night in the rock 'n play sleeper, which has been going well! If you recall from his first few week updates, he did NOT like it at all, so we had been going the whole night just co-sleeping. It has been nice to get that first chunk of sleep at night being able to sleep without worrying about him being in bed, and I've found that we both seem to sleep pretty good that way. I'm hoping eventually he'll continue to stretch out that time until around 5:30, and then I'll be able to just have that one 6ish (or more) hour stretch of sleep and call it a night and get some things done around the house before work.
He is
just beginning to have some cradle cap, but nothing even remotely severe right now. His baby acne completely cleared up shortly after the last post, thanks to using that Mustela toner type stuff.
When Ryan is awake, we try to do things like read books, play with his toys (which involves me making excited, high-pitched squeal noises and him staring at them blankly) and singing songs. He especially likes pat-a-cake, piggies, and the itsy bitsy spider.
When he's hungry, his cry sounds like he's saying "nah!", and when he's tired, it sounds like he's just yelling at you, like "eh". When he's bored, he sort of makes these babbly noises that don't sound like anything else, but I can't really think of how to write them in text form.
Ryan likes to nap a lot in the mornings, and then the afternoons just depend. Sometimes I can get things done, and sometimes I don't at all, but I like to be holding him when he's awake for the most part. I do try to set him down a few times during the day so that he can get used to entertaining himself a bit, as I know next month when he starts at the daycare, it's not feasible to expect her to hold him all day. He likes to lay on his little mat and check out the animals above, and he's also in love with ceiling fans, just like his brothers were.
I'm really trying to soak in these last few weeks of maternity leave. It is crazy to think that my next update here will be after a full week back at work.
I'm feeling 100% back to my normal self again, which feels good. I need to seriously work on toning up again, however, as I'm finding myself feeling like a weakling when holding and carrying these brutes around all day. I'm anxiously awaiting the day when Ryan is sturdy enough to sit up in a shopping cart so that I can stop carrying the carseat around, as it is getting VERY heavy for me.
I'm thoroughly enjoying these days of maternity leave, both bonding with sweet little Ryan as well as getting lots of things checked off my "to-do" list. I managed to get Cashel's new room painted and decorated and the new backsplash up in the kitchen. My last 3 weeks I will hopefully be able to re-finish the kitchen table top, get some quarter round stained for the kitchen, and the beds all switched around downstairs and the toy room situated down there. Thank goodness I've got such a sweet little content, sleepy little guy to allow me to get so much done while I'm on maternity leave!
Really, though, I'd say probably the vast majority of maternity leave has consisted of me snuggling Ryan, and I know I'm going to miss that like crazy when the time comes to go back to work :( Our mornings are so precious together, snuggling, "talking", watching a little HGTV, drinking coffee, reading, playing with toys, and giving SOOOO many kisses on those adorable little chubby cheeks. I wish there was a way to adequately bottle up these days and feelings and memories, but no picture or video would ever do it justice.
We've been getting out for lots and lots of walks this month too, with the weather finally warming up significantly and the wind not being too much of an issue.
As far as physically and psychologically, having three boys really gives me a run for my money most days. I'm eager for planting to finish up so that we have Mark back to help out on Saturdays, as it's difficult to do much of anything too fun when it's just me and three little boys. I adore them all, but the older two don't listen very well 100% of the time (more like 10% of the time), so it's an actual safety hazard for us to really go anywhere of consequence that is any fun. We need to have at least one person to watch the baby so the other can run after big brothers. Three kids is hard. We're certainly making it, but many, many nights, it feels like we're just hanging by a thread. By the time our heads hit the pillow at the end of the night, we're out like a lightbulb for sure. The two days that I had all three boys by myself during the week after weekend of having them mostly by myself, let's just say I drank a lot of coffee, and there were probably too many tears and too much yelling. I thank the Lord that this isn't the norm, and that the boys aren't usually sick, and that I'm not usually doing this parenting thing on my own.
Oddly enough, I feel like I'm still waiting for the worst of it. I've made it through three weekends mostly on my own during planting season with two extremely poorly behaved boys (which isn't the norm, actually) and haven't pulled a single hair out, hurt anyone, lost anyone or locked myself in the bathroom and broken down crying. I mean, it can't be *that* bad, right? I feel like there will come a day soon where I'll be singing, "Mama said there'd be days like this, there'd be days like this my Mama said..." while downing a whole sleeve of Klondike bars and crying in the corner while the boys run around naked throwing marshmallows all over the living room and using permanent markers all over the walls and furniture.
As far as getting back down to pre-pregnancy size, I've been below that for a while now, but certainly not anywhere near where I was before becoming a Mom for the first time. My goal is really just to be healthy. I have no grand delusions about fitting into the clothes I wore in high school or anything like that. I just want to feel comfortable and it'd be nice if my belly flab from all these babies wouldn't hang over the top of my yoga pants. Ideally, I'd like to lose about 20 more pounds, but I've had that goal for the past 5 years, and I'm not entirely sure I see that changing anytime soon.
This month, I'm looking forward to finishing up all my projects, spending significant amounts of time snuggling, catching up on my digital scrapbooks, and hopefully squeezing in a few more coffee or lunch dates with friends. I'm also hoping to channel more energy somehow to keep up with these guys. We went for a walk to Island Park together last week, and the boys absolutely lit up like I haven't seen them do in a while when I played tag with them. I think I need play tag more and sit on the bench less.
Mark had a really rough bout of strep throat this month, which was certainly a "low"light for him. Beyond that, he has just been busy, busy, busy. Between work during the week and farming on the weekends, we don't see him a ton, but enough anyways :)
He loves spending time with Ryan, but he still doesn't get to do that nearly as much, since I'm the milk source, and we have a lot of cluster feeding in the evenings. He likes to sit Ryan like a little Buddha on his chest and make lots of faces and noises with him.
He usually gets a good 45 minutes of time with him right after work on Mondays when I take the big boys with me grocery shopping to have a little "Mommy and big boys" time. Ryan certainly feels extremely comfortable with Daddy, though, and Daddy gets LOTS of smiles and baby sounds out of Ryan in the time he does spend with him. It's really sweet seeing them together :)
He spent a good part of the beginning of this month researching mini vans, and we were so happy to have finally brought one home so that he could stop that search. He's busy now getting the Tahoe ready to sell (anyone in the market for a 2004 Tahoe?), having a few minor dents and scratches fixed and then detailing it. Between that and the normal upkeep on the house and outside, he stays pretty busy.
He still mostly gets the boys ready and off to daycare in the morning, so his mornings are always more hectic, and he is still working full time. He will start getting significantly more busy at work in the coming months with more of his products starting up again, which will be right about the time I start back to work.
I love my boys dearly, but this month has been EXTREMELY trying for me with Cashel and Kendrick. As I mentioned at the beginning, they are pressing their limits to the max these days, and I'm so tired of trying so hard to keep the peace. Cashel has begun to be extremely sensitive about everything and anything: If the wind doesn't blow the right way, it's an all out tantrum. And Kendrick is really trying to assert his independence and runs around saying, "I'm the boss" in a growly voice all the time. He has also been hitting for no apparent reason just over the last couple weeks, which is extremely frustrating. He'll just walk up to someone and whack them - especially Cashel. And Cashel seems to have picked up on it as well, so neither of them are innocent in that regard. I'm not really sure what happened to flip this switch with the boys, but it's getting really old. I mean...I was seriously taking this picture of the boys running around having fun at the park in Brewster, and as I was taking it, Cashel does this. ::sigh::
Kendrick had strep a couple weeks ago, and I'm pretty sure Cashel did too. Cashel, however, was treated for an ear infection, not strep, even if it was the same antibiotic. Regardless, between the infections of whatever type and the behavior issues this month, it has been a doozy. Thank goodness for sweet moments like this in the midst of the crazy to reassure me that maybe (maybe?) it was a good idea to have three kids. ;)
Still, they adore Ryan. We have to keep a pretty close eye on him these days, actually, as Cashel has this tendency to walk over and pick him up out of the swing or rock 'n play and carry him around. Also, if I let Cashel hold Ryan, he likes to roll around with him, pull him on top of himself, and lean him back in his arms like we do when we're talking to him.
*knock on wood* He hasn't dropped him yet, but I'm terrified it's going to happen.
Ryan absolutely adores his big brothers too: Cashel especially! Cashel and Daddy always get tons of smiles and "talking" from Ryan.
However, oddly enough (since they love him so much), both boys at one point or another this month have actually expressed their disdain for Ryan. I think maybe part of the behavioral stuff has to do with them adjusting to having a new member in our family and realizing he's not going away. Cashel has needed a LOT of reassurance and snuggle hugs and kisses and cuddles lately, and Kendrick has too (although not nearly as in-your-face).
I think they are enjoying this more awake little Ryan as opposed to the super sleepy, super fragile version from last month. I'm excited to see them interact more when I don't feel the need to shield Ryan from them all the time. I'm exhausted, but these boys really are kinda fun a lot of the time :)
