Ry's 3 Year Update

We have a 3 year old, how did this happen so fast?  It still boggles my mind how intelligent kids can be and how quickly they grow.  At Ryland's 3 year check-up he measured 38 1/2 inches (70%, finally broke average!) and weighed 31 lbs (50%) with a BMI of 14.7 (yeah...the Dr actually wrote down his BMI, not something I thought about as a kid myself).  He is hitting and succeeding all his milestones; uses 5+ words in a sentence, talks constantly, plays make believe and loves to build with blocks, puzzles, etc.  All though he's not too keen on drawing, he does like play dough and daddy's tools.

This boy is super active as well.  He's always on the go and can run like the wind.  He loves rough housing with daddy and can throw a ball fairly straight with either his left or right hand.  We still aren't sure if he'll be right or left handed; sometimes he eats with his left, sometimes with his right, he's constantly going back and forth, however he will usually kick a ball with his right foot.  We've signed him up for playball at daycare, each week they'll learn a different sport/skill, so maybe his dominate hand will surface.

Our little guy is fully potty trained!  Yup that's right, a week or so before he turned 3 it was official.  99.5% of the time he wakes up dry from the night, so no more night time pull-ups!  He still has an occasional accident here and there but it's minimal.  He's been wearing underwear for a good 5+ months now.  It's so nice to be down to only one child in diapers (baby Carsyn your days in diapers are numbered, even if you are only 7 months old)!

Ry loves his trains and train tracks, planes (usually the ones in the sky, not toys), construction vehicles and trucks, dinosaurs, snakes, sharks, puzzles, tools (ex: drills) and various stuffed animals.  He'll take his dinos into the bath tub with him and his snake and giraffe or teddy to bed.  Anytime he goes to visit someone or out to eat he packs a bag that usually consists of his favorite front-end loader and dinos.  The sweet thing about Ry is that he's great with sharing.  The majority of the time he'll offer up his toys to other kids and show them how they work.  He's also good with sharing his food, as long as you don't try to take it first, if you ask he usually gives you a piece of what he's eating.

Ryland is quite the chatter box, some mornings he just DOES NOT STOP TALKING!  Some of his favorite phrases are (not all of them good):

• Five more minutes!
• Look, there's a hairplane - Apparently planes have hair?
• I'm sorry, you OK?  I get you a band-aid.
• I kiss it? (when you have a boo boo)
• I like this!
• I have some of mommy's drink?
• Can I have some chocolate, please?
• I put on my 'jamas now?  - This kid loves his pajamas!
• Jesus Ch****  - Yeah, this is new...we are trying to put a stop to this one.
• I don't want to go to bed.
• Purrr (put) her down (meaning baby Carsyn) or Purrr me down.
• I play with friends.
• I don't want to go to school
• I put on ____ (animated movie) OK?  On the big TV.
• Fast forward mommy - He's as impatient with commercials as we are thanks to DVR!

Did I mention he also loves to sing?  And he will cycle through all of these one after another!

• ABCs
• twinkle twinkle little star
• the wheels on the bus go round and round
• the itsy bitsy spider
• bringing home a baby bumble bee

I stole mommy's drink 5/11/2014

at the dentist 5/14/2014

checkup 5/9/2014

Daycare pics 4/11/2014

My love bugs - in their 'jamas  ;) 5/28/2014

Random Ry Pics

Random pictures of Ryland so far this year.

Haircut to start the year off right! 1/2/2014

Holding baby sissy 1/7/2014

Icemen 1/24/2014

braving the ice storm 1/24/2014

Fun with the paper shredder 1/26/2014

Eating with chopsticks! 2/11/2014

Yay!  All the kids are asleep! A rare moment.  2/23/2014

Ry's new fav nap spot 2/25/2014

Like father like son 3/1/2014

That's right, Ry is in underwear in that picture.  We are SOOOOO close to being fully potty trained.  He's great about #1,  even tells us now that he needs to go.  But he still has mishaps here and there with #2.  He's been wearing underwear during the day for the past 1-2 weeks, and a nighttime diaper or pull up at night only.  99% of the time he wakes up dry! 

Potty Training (IP)

We've been working on potty training Ryland now for a few months.  He's come a long way since we started.  Most of the time he's in pull-ups, but on the weekends when we are at home he'll wear his undies.  We started off by rewarding him with an M&M everytime he went on the potty, now we don't have to give him any sweets.  In just the past 2 weeks he's made vast improvements!  He loves making bubbles, going #1 while standing which causes bubbles to form in the potty.  He'll also get super exited when he makes nuggets (#2) in the potty; running out of the bathroom, yelling excitedly and giving you a high 5.  Hey man, whatever works, right!?!  He's started telling us that he needs to use the potty versus us telling him to go every hour (yes, EVERY hour!).  He's also started waking up dry, not a single drop in his overnight diaper, which is AWESOME!  He's so so close to being fully trained.  Occasionally he does have his accidents, and of course when he's in a pull-up we aren't as dedicated about making him go every hour.  But progress is progress and we're super proud of our little guy.  Heck, he even went to the bathroom all by himself at Chili's, locking me out of the stall no less.  I had to climb on the toilet in the stall next to him just to peer over the wall and see how he was doing.  He had made a huge nugget in the toilet!  I was so excited I almost took a picture, then realized what I was doing and had to reel myself in.  ;)  :proudmommymoment:

Back to Work

I'm back at work now, this past Friday was my last day of leave (1/10).  It's amazing how quickly 11 weeks flies by, especially during the holidays.  My maternity leave managed to encompass Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years!  Perfect timing actually.  :)  As of Monday Carsyn has been going to my parents house, they will watch her until she's 6 months and then she'll attend daycare full time. It's nice having relatives live so close.

Her first day at Opa and Juju's went OK.  She slept fine and wasn't too fussy, however she refused to finish her bottles.  Apparently she'd only eat 1.5 out of 4.5 oz every 4 hours!  Carsy just needs to get used to being around other people.  I picked her up at 5pm and she finished her bottle no problem with me.  Mommy makes it all better.  :D

Smile! 1/2/2014

You so crazy!

cutie 1/11/2014

More babies!

I can't believe I forgot to blog about my cousin's 2nd baby!  

On July 26th 2013 my cousin Amy gave birth to her second child, Nathan Robert.  He was 8lbs 7oz and 20.5 inches long.  If I have my relationships correct (because let's face it, it gets confusing), then Nathan and his sister April are my 1st cousins once removed.  Ryland & Carsyn and April
& Nathan are 2nd cousins.

Congrats to the proud parents Amy and Rob!  

New cousin, our 1st nephew!

Congrats to my little brother & SIL Stephen and Christina on their brand new baby boy!  They are proud to announce the newest member of their family - Mason Wilhelm Freund.  Ryland and Carsyn have their first male cousin, and mommy and daddy have our first nephew!  :)

Mason was born on Thursday, November 21st at 9:02 am and weighted 7 lbs and 4.6 oz and measured 20 inches long.  Welcome to the family and happy Thanksgiving!

31 weeks

9/5/2013 - 31 weeks and 5 days 

How I Look -  The same.  This week I had several people tell me I looked too small to be in my 8th month.  Love it!  

Weight :  +18.5 lbs.  Same as last week.

How I Feel -  My hands are numb ALL the time now.  The pain in my right arm still wakes me up 2-3 times a night, and sometimes I end up staying awake for a couple hours.  Sleep deprivation is taking its toll on me.  Today I felt really off, tired, low energy and just blah.

Symptoms -  Tingling/numbness/pain in my hands and swelling.  I think my feet are starting to swell as well now!

Cravings - Pretty much the same.  Corn on the cob, sweets...

Exercise - Only managed to fit in one workout this week due to the holiday weekend and busy work schedule.

What I'm Looking Forward To -   Week 39.  I'm ready for my body to return to normal.

What I'm Not Looking Forward To - I think the "How I Feel" section captures it all.

Odds & Ends -  It's been a busy week.  Over labor day weekend we celebrated a friends birthday, went to the pool, tailgated (in 106 degree heat!) and partied with neighbors.  Whew!  We were so busy I totally forgot to blog about our maternity photos!  I also registered us online for the hospital and had my first prenatal massage.  The massage was nice but didn't help with my hand pain. 

From here on out I'm taking every Friday off work until baby girl is born.  So tomorrow I will pamper myself with a haircut, pedi and hopefully an uninterrupted nap.  

Tailgating in Trees 8/31/2013

Ry's Big Boy Room

Ry now has big boy furniture in his room!  A couple weeks ago we found some furniture on Craigslist that we just couldn't pass up.  It was in excellent condition for being 12 years old, plus the blue was perfect for his room.  I can't believe how quickly my little boy is growing up.  His room no longer looks like a nursery.  Ry loves all his new furniture.  I'm constantly finding stuff he's hidden in all his new drawers.  I do think he misses the rocking chair, but alas there's not enough space in his room for the rocker with all his new furniture.

Ry's reading corner

mini library plus more drawers for storage/clothes

The TV stand is the perfect place for all his stuffed animals and various other toys

Now he has 5 drawers for clothes!

And the night stand

New cousin/niece in the family

Congrats to my SIL & BIL Sara and Dana on their brand new baby girl!  They are proud to announce the newest member of their family - Decker Michelle Barney.  Blake is now a big sister.  :)

She was born on Monday, June 10th at 8:25 am and weighs 6 pounds 9 ounces. Mom and baby are doing great!

We visited them at the hospital later that day and she's adorable!  

Please excuse the quality of my camera phone, it was dark in the room.

kisses for cousin Decker 6/10/2013

Watch out - here I come!

Top dog 11/15/2011

Ry is constantly on the go.  As soon as we put him down he's pulling himself up or creeping.  Today we caught him cuddling with Josie.  She just plopped down in front of Ry and he started pulling up on her, now that's a patient dog!

Up on all 4's - 11/15/2011

Look who's rocking!  For the past week or so Ry's been getting up on all fours and rocking.  We're pretty sure he'll be crawling very soon.  I think he picked it up from the older babies at daycare.  His teachers have been taking him over to the older classroom for play dates where all the kids are crawling.  They said he watches the other kids zoom around, I'm guessing he's determined to join them!

Sweet sleepy embrace 11/15/2011

A tender moment with my little guy.  He fell asleep on me tonight and laid his hand on top of mine.  To my husbands chagrin, I made him take a couple pictures.  Ah the memories!

Guilt

Wow, I had no idea how intense my feelings of guilt would be weaning off nursing/pumping.  This weekend was a busy one and I knew I wouldn't have much time to pump, which made it convenient to start the weaning process.  Pumping is very time consuming and in order to maintain an adequate supply you have to pump every 3-4 hrs...no matter where you are, what you're doing or who you're with!  I was a-okay over the weekend, pumping only once in the morning and once at night...then Monday hit.  I went through my normal routine in the morning, except for the fact that I didn't pack up my pump for work.  The minute my body/mind noticed this change, I became completely racked with guilt!  I sat in the kitchen for a good 10 mins trying to convince myself it was OK not to pump.
 

Once at work I talked to my friend A about it and if she experience any guilt when she had stopped.  Yup!  Apparently she had read in a nursing book that when you stop nursing/pumping your body releases a chemical that makes you feel horribly guilty.  Good to know! 

Now I just need to try and replace those feelings of guilt with pride in what I have accomplished:  I breastfed my baby for 5 months and helped build up his immune system!  :)  He's happy and healthy and has no problems taking formula.  He will be starting solids soon and will receive plenty of nutrients that way as well.  Plus it will be nice to no longer be a slave to the pump!  :)

Got Milk?

I'm definitely running on empty.  It all started about a month ago when I came down with a nasty infectious virus that took me down hard.  My entire body ached, had a fever, loss of appetite, was dehydrated and generally felt like death for 2.5 weeks.  This perfect storm of a sickness reduced my milk production from 20 ounces a day down to 8-10 ounces a day!  I have not been able to increase production since returning to full health, not to mention all the work of pumping with little to no return is a bit defeating.  :(  My original goal was to nurse/pump for 6 months.  I'll be lucky now to make it another week, by then Ry will be 5 months.  I had a good run, but pumping is fast coming to a end.  I must admit it will be nice to be free of the pumping bag at work!

Holding my own bottle! 8/29/2011

Jackpot at MamaCents!

Tonight was the MamaCents VIP consignment presale for First Year Mamas and I hit the jackpot!  Below are some of the big ticket items I snagged.  Most of these items are for my parent house since they are moving here from MI to be closer to their grandson.  :)  I also picked up several cute 6-9 month outfits and pants/jeans.  My favorite find was an awesome navy blue Polo pea coat/sailor jacket for Ry to wear during the winter.  It was like Christmas in Jul...errr August!  :Þ

Walker



Jumper for the parents - although the hubby really liked it.





Stroller for the parents

Pack n Play for the 'rents



Cute outfits, the Polo Jacket is on the right :)