Newborn Pictures :)

We had Ryan's newborn pictures taken with the wonderful Heather from Red Barn Photography once again, and once again, we're in love with them :) Enjoy!!

1 Month

It doesn't seem possible that it has been a whole month since our sweet little boy has come to join us. We're still just working on calling him "Ryan" instead of "Baby" around our house even, as we spent so long not knowing who he would be.

Overall...

If Cashel was the baby who never slept and Kendrick was that baby who slept all the time, Ryan is the happy medium. He sleeps enough that I'm not complaining about it, but not so much that we forget we have a newborn in the house. That being said, he's the first of my babies who I've spent entire nights in the recliner with: At first because he just wanted to be held all night, and then during his third week as he caught a cold and was really congested and just slept best that way.

I feel like we haven't skipped a beat since Ryan was born, but part of that has been just being so busy. This past week was the first week that Ryan and I didn't have a calendar full of appointments and meetings, so it was nice to finally have some downtime.

We've watched a lot of HGTV in the nursery, which, of course, gives me all sorts of ideas as to what our next projects should be around the house ;)

This month I focused on healing first, then managed to get the nursery painted and put together, the furniture moved upstairs, and a few odds and ends projects done around the house. With city clean up in just a couple weeks, I'm also trying to put together our pile for the curb, which eats up lots of nap times.

How Baby is Doing

Ryan is now in size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes, although we won't be buying more size 1 diapers when we run out and will be switching to size 2. I've had a hard time emotionally this month watching Ryan grow so quickly physically. Usually I'd say "Oh man, he's getting so big so quickly!" and people would roll their eyes. But this kid has grown a ridiculous amount since birth, and at his THREE WEEK checkup was already at 12lbs 6oz, which means he gained 3lbs within two weeks. I'm already trying to figure out how soon we'll be able to get him sitting upright so I can stop carrying around that heavy carseat and not have to put him in the wrap to "wear" him, since it makes my back sore. He is nearly growing out of his 0-3 month clothes at this point, and I plan to get his 6 month clothes washed this week and determine if we need anything else.

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 has his own little routine during the days that I haven't figured out just yet that we'll have to work with over time.

After his super peely skin, I was looking for baby acne and cradle cap, but it looks like he'll be sporting that for his two month recap, since it's just barely getting started this month.

I can tell he's going to start visiting with us soon, as his noises have changed a bit. He doesn't just cry when he misses me anymore, but usually makes some babbling type noises instead and a few grunts to let me know that nap time is over and he's ready for some company :)

Ryan likes to sleep either on Mommy's chest, on his side or on his tummy in the crib. He has such a strong neck and shoulders that I don't worry too much, but I don't like to put him on his tummy to sleep in his crib just yet. He actually does better in his crib than he does in his rock 'n play, but he does occasionally nap in the rock 'n play or swing. We haven't tried night time sleep in the crib just yet, as we still prefer to co-sleep in the upstairs guestroom for the time being.

We're getting between 2-4 hour stretches of sleep at night, which keeps me sane and Ryan in a good mood most of the time. We've had a couple nights where he has gone 5-6 hour stretches, but that hasn't been the norm. He doesn't go nuts over the swaddle sack, but he doesn't sleep bad in them either. We haven't made it a big point to swaddle him each night, but he tends to sleep alright like that, so we've just let it be.

How Mama is Doing

My heart just explodes, you guys :) Ugh - how is it that I only get another eight weeks with this little sweetheart before heading back to work? I have absolutely been loving maternity leave, and not only for the myriad snuggles and kisses and time spent with my little guy, but for the peace and quiet, and the chance to get so much accomplished around the house.

I literally will sit there and just stare at his adorable little face for what feels like minutes, but turns into hours. I love seeing him begin to wake up, and seeing his little eyes and how they stare up at me. I love the grins, whether they're sleepy, caused from gas or not, I don't care :) He smiles a ton during the day, and I love it! These big, content babies do a number on their Mama's heart, I tell ya!

I did a full 1 Month Postpartum Update on the baby blog for those curious as to how I'm doing on the more physical, etc. level, so I won't go into details here, but overall I'm feeling pretty good at this point! I felt significantly more prepared for the lifestyle changes a newborn brings this time around, so there haven't really been any surprises this time around, thankfully.

I have struggled a little more this time emotionally, knowing that this is our last baby, and realizing how quickly this "little" guy is going to grow up on me. We've had a lot of well-meaning comments about just having another baby then, but Mark and I both know that this is our last one. I'm always going to want a baby in my arms, but that doesn't mean I should have a dozen, nor do I think my body would hold out for even one more - especially when I apparently grow them to 10lbs! The physical effects of the three I've already got are enough, I'd say.

This coming month I'm looking forward to getting outside significantly more than we have this first month. It has just been too dang cold since I've been more able to get out and walk and what not. Starting today, it's supposed to be considerably warmer! I can't wait!! :)

How Daddy is Doing

By baby #3, Mark has finally gotten a lot better at the whole newborn/infant part of the equation. He doesn't see Ryan a ton during the day, since he's working during the days, and then usually entertaining the big boys outside for a good chunk of the night. However, the time he does get to spend just snuggling him, he has the whole thing down. He's good at knowing whether or not Ryan is hungry, tired, lonely or just bored, and if you'd gone back 4 years ago, I couldn't have said the same about Mark and Cashel at this stage.

That's not to say that he has changed Ryan's diaper much, because that's still one area he's a little more nervous about haha :)

They loves to nap together, and Mark likes to lay down on the bed propped up with pillows a bit and sort of stand Ryan up on his (Mark's) belly and make lots of silly noises and faces at him. It's pretty darn cute :) I love it when I'm getting ready for bed at night and listen to them "talking" in the living room together :)

He'll be heading into planting season here in the next week or two, so that will keep him busy in the evenings and a weekend or two, but planting goes significantly faster than harvest, so it won't be long before we'll all be off on our evening walks to the park and such soon.

How Big Brothers are Doing

It seriously has been a practically flawless transition with the two older brothers at home, which has caught me off guard. They have off and on been a little naughtier than they had been previously, but they haven't been aggressive at all with Ryan, nor have they been so drastically naughty that it stands out as it being as a result of bringing home a new baby.

Cashel absolutely adores his little brother, and no matter much he and Kendrick might be at each others' necks some days, when it comes to Ryan, it's like they flip a switch.

Cashel was on cloud 9 being able to finally give his brother the first bottle (even if it was only an ounce haha), and can't wait for more opportunities to do it again. He would probably change his diaper if we let him too lol He loves having responsibilities and feeling important, and feeding his brother was the one thing he had been asking about doing since the end of my pregnancy, so it was really sweet :)

Kendrick loves to put his cheek to Ryan's cheek, which is really sweet :) He absolutely adores baby Ryan. He wants to hold him a lot, loves to swing the baby swing when he's in it and is the first to run to his side the second he makes the slightest sound, screaming at him, "IT'S OKAY, BABY RYAN!!! IT'S OKAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He hates to think of his baby as being uncomfortable or upset in any way, shape or form. It's so, so sweet to watch them interact :)

About the only time there's ever dissension when it comes to baby Ryan and his big brothers, it's over who gets to hold him :)

I'm thoroughly enjoying this short phase in time where they're all just getting along for the most part and no one is attacking anyone and everyone is mostly just getting along. We are just so proud of our little guys, and although I know there are extremely busy days ahead (next winter is going to be LONNNNNGGGGG, I have a feeling), we're loving this season of life right now :)

My Crib...Literally

I finally got the nursery put together for Ryan a couple weeks ago and thought I'd show you how it turned out! I do still have a few finishing touches for once we get his newborn pictures in, and I cannot wait to get those in place as well!

The changes to the room were pretty minimal and mostly involved buying another set of curtains, buying a few decorations, making some wall art (and buying some frames) and putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls, but it's amazing what a change it made for the room!

This has turned into probably my favorite room in the house now, and Ryan and I spend a lot of time in here nursing and watching HGTV together :)

If you're curious, here are my big brothers' nurseries from when they were my age :)

Cashel's Crib

Kendrick's Crib

3 Week Checkup

I took Ryan to his first checkup, and he's doing great! Everything is pretty much textbook, and the kid continues to be off the charts!

This little chunk gained 3lbs in the past 2 weeks, and is now weighing in at 12lbs 6oz and maintains his birth length of 22 inches.

He also had his circumcision, and thankfully that went very smoothly and he's healing perfectly.

We'll be back when he's 2 months old, and at that point he'll have his first round of vaccinations.

Week 3

We started off our third week with a fun-filled day in Humboldt visiting the Ropte farm and introducing little Ryan to a big chunk of our Ropte family there.

We broke him in easy to the Ropte cousins, considering we were missing 8 of them ;)

We got home really late Saturday night, but were up bright and early Sunday morning ready for Easter festivities :)

We had Mark's Dad, Pam and Jess up for lunch and a fun Easter egg hunt for the boys, and the boys were pretty excited about seeing them!

Monday Ryan and I totally crashed. It was a BIG weekend, and we were totally ready for sleepy snuggles and lots of nursing. Even so, we made it out in the afternoon for some grocery shopping and a short walk. We were SO very grateful for our co-worker friend Jodi stopping by with supper for us after such a busy afternoon.

Tuesday was another busy day, with me having a dentist appointment in Worthington at 9:40 and Cashel waking up with an uneasy feeling stomach, so I kept him home from daycare and preschool. We made it home around noon to meet Daddy at home for lunch. Cashel took a nice long afternoon nap while a friend from church stopped over to meet baby Ryan and bring some sweet gifts for our boys :)

I had every intention of going to Mankato on Wednesday, but after the unexpectedly busy week so far, I opted to wait until Thursday instead, which proved to be the right choice for us, especially as Wednesday nights are always a little crazy for us with Mark having basketball at the high school and Cashel going to AWANA. This particular Wednesday night was even busier as we had Cashel's preschool sign up that evening as well.

Thursday started out a little crazy, as I woke up at 6:50am to find Mark wasn't up yet (work starts at 7, and amazingly, he DID make it on time), so I told him to just get to work, and I'd get the boys off to daycare. Ryan and I went to Mankato with a big list of things to pick up after dropping the boys off around 8am. It was a very long day, but we didn't feel too rushed or anything, which was so nice :)

We made it home by 4 just in time for our friends Angie and Emma to swing by to meet Mr. Ryan.

Friday was an extremely productive day for me! I cleaned out two closets, finished 2 months worth of scrap pages in Kendrick's book, discovered (and then decided we should actually USE) a box of Grandma Edith's china we inherited five years ago. I then got that put in the china cupboard and packed up the old dishes we don't often use to donate, moved all our luggage to the shelving in the laundry room, finished prepping 2 walls for paint, and finished painting the nursery. I felt a bit crazed most of the day, but it felt so awesome to get that all done and to not have to worry about it the rest of the weekend! The nursery looks so awesome now :) I'll be doing a post soon on that :)

This particular weekend promises to be pretty low key, thank goodness! We had Mark's Mom over for breakfast this morning and had planned to head to the library, but thought it was open until 2 and it was only open until 1, so we missed it and stopped by the park for a bit.

Tonight we're looking forward to meeting friends for supper in Worthington for a birthday celebration out for Mark's buddy Jed. Other than that, we're just hoping to get some rest and snuggles :)

How is Baby Doing?

Ryan is starting to stay awake a little longer each day, and we're seeing his eyes quite a bit more. Of course, it's exhausting to be awake, so he's still napping the vast majority of the days. I'm beginning to notice patterns, however, and it seems he tends to be awake for 30-45 minutes at a time followed by about an hour long nap during the days.

Ryan tends to cluster feed a lot in the late afternoons and evenings, and he doesn't ever like to be alone in a room, so he's with us all the time, including tucking big brothers in to bed at night. As I mentioned before, he wasn't sleeping well at all at the beginning of the week and through last weekend, but towards the end of the week we were back to those 3 hour stretches at night, which I was grateful for!

He is filling out his 0-3 month clothes very nicely at this point, and he's probably only got another week left in his 0-3 month pjs before he'll be moving up into his roomier 3-6 month ones, as he's starting to kick and stretch out the bottoms of his pjs.

Overall, he continues to be a very mild-mannered baby. He still prefers Mama over everyone else by far, but he's coming around to big brothers more and enjoys his snuggles with Daddy too.

How is Mama Doing?

I absolutely adore this little boy of ours, and I love snuggling with him a good chunk of my days :)

Considering we had such a big, crazy weekend over Easter, Ryan and I's sleep suffered at the beginning of the week, and he was nursing a LOT more during the afternoons and evenings, making getting much accomplished difficult. By the end of the week, we started to get back into a groove of every 3 hours, which was nice. I haven't been up to help get the boys off much as a result of the wonky sleep patterns, so thankfully Mark has been on the ball.

However, I'll be honest: The beginning of this week wiped me out big time! Between the disruptions in sleep and busy schedule, I was pretty shot early on. I so very much welcomed the quieter moments in my days this week, even if they seemed to be few and far between.

I've been struggling to remember to drink my fluids this week too, so that's something I've really got to get on board with. Add to that Ryan going through a growth spurt this week, and most of the week I felt like I was nursing constantly, which was exhausting.

I gained a pound this week, no doubt from all the delicious desserts that have been around the house. I'm still down 5lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight overall, though, so I try to tell myself it's okay. Hoping to focus on eating a little better this week to curtail that :)

How is Daddy Doing?

It's the same old story for Daddy this week: There hasn't been a major change in routine for him. He loves to snuggle with Ryan and make silly noises with him. He usually gets his time with Ryan either right after work if I need some outside time with the older boys, or else after supper or when the boys are off to bed. They like to snuggle together watching TV in the evenings or surfing the internet. They had a nice little nap together late this morning :)

Mark has been in charge of the big brothers in the night, which has proven a little more work lately with Kendrick. Since Ryan has been here, Kendrick has fallen out of bed twice (we just recently pulled his queen size bed away from the wall), has been finishing up those two year molars, and has just generally been up in the night, which isn't normal for him. I know Mark is ready for that to end, but he doesn't dare complain about sleep, considering he still gets to sleep downstairs for the time being ;)

How are Big Brothers Doing?

I know - super cute, right? These boys absolutely adore their baby brother! They are kind and gentle when it comes to him, they love holding him (and his sweet little fingers and toes), are constantly wanting hugs and kisses and all...but...

I think we finally hit the naughty phase of this whole transition towards the end of this week. These two have been into everything and although they tend to not be great at listening to what we ask them to do, lately it has been worse than usual. I found them into the chocolate cake this morning after refusing to eat breakfast (because monkey bread and fruit is apparently not at all toddler friendly).

Kendrick has also been extremely clingy this week, and wants Mama all the time. We're pretty sure it is as a result of teething, considering he has had some pretty acidic diapers lately as well, and he's not quite finished with those darn 2 year molars (although he's VERY close - they're most of the way through). Probably a good chunk of the clinginess is the whole transition as well, though. Both boys have been a little more naughty and whiny as well.

It didn't help that they both had tummy bugs earlier in the week (Cashel even stayed home with me on Tuesday), so that added to their clinginess. We're hoping the transition is short-lived and we're back on track soon!

Overall...

We haven't reached this "what were we THINKING" stage yet with 3, but it's still pretty early yet. I'm sure we'll feel completely in over our heads before long. I know I will be feeling that way before long with planting season coming and having all 3 to myself when the weather is nice and the older boys want to be outside more. If there is anything I've learned from the two kiddos we already have, though, it's that no matter how hard it gets, we'll make it through by God's grace :) We'll get there!

Milestones: First Bottle Feeding

Big brother Cashel was SO proud of himself for getting to feed baby Ryan his first bottle. He had been talking about wanting to feed the baby since I was about 37 weeks pregnant, so he was just giddy :)

Ryan took a good solid ounce his first feeding, and then I topped him off with nursing. He did great! We used the old Medela bottles, and he had no issue with the slow flow nipples on them.

The boys were SUPER excited to feed baby Ryan. Unfortunately, Kendrick passed out for his nap before Ryan got hungry, so only Cashel got to feed him.

Ryan has since taken another 2oz bottle from me as well, but we'll probably let the boys try again sometime soon :)