Life With 2 (+ 1) Redheads

4 weeks: Smiling
5 1/2 weeks: holding head up

Josh, that is. 

Every time we do a behavioral chart, he comes up with the idea.  Problem is that we eventually stop doing it.  Well, the time has come to begin again!  It should have started months ago!

See the face?  He knows it.

School has an apple tree.  So, Josh came up with the idea of having an orange tree at home.  It will work the same way as it does at school.  A warning brings the apple halfway down.  Next time, it falls to the basket. 

Daddy’s on a mission…

For each day he keeps the orange in the tree, he takes a quarter and puts it in the piggy bank.  I had a hard time buying into this at first.  “You mean we are paying our child to be good?”  But, Josh’s rationale is that after collecting $5, he can cash it in at the dollar store for a prize.  So, that’s 20 days worth of quarters.  Did I do that math right? 

So, today’s behavior is what brought on the change.   So, there is no money for today.  Hopefully, good things are on the way! 

What a good daddy!

Today was Ryan's 1 month doctor visit. As I suspected, he had gained weight! Here are the stats:

Weight: 9 lbs 5 oz (45 %)
Length: 21 2/3 in (50%)
Head: 37 cm (25%)

That's a 2 lb gain in the past two weeks! I knew those were killer growth spurts! Ryan was alert and didn't cry once while we were there. Everything looked great. Unfortunately, he will start the vaccinations next visit. I think there are like 4 or 5! He goes back at 2 months (June 24).

We had Tyler with us, so the conversations were brief. Tyler has grown a mole on his scalp that was not there at birth, so we have to start tracking its growth. That's why we brought him with us.

Ryan has started (knock on wood) to go 3 1/2 to 4 hrs at night. He gets one stretch of that and then follows it with 3 hr stretches. We start him off in the swing around 8ish or whenever he falls asleep after his 7ish feeding. When he wakes up around 10ish, he is fed and then comes in our room into the pack and play. He usually ends up in our bed after his early morning (6am -ish) feeding until Tyler wakes up. He still has not slept in his crib, but we aren't in a hurry.

Beginning July 6, he will be going to Tyler's preschool. I am so excited that they expanded to open an infant/toddler class! I've been hinting since I was pregnant that they needed to! There will be five infants in there, in which Ryan will be one of them. We had no definite plans of child care before this. I was just praying something would work out! I had no intentions of taking Ryan to the daycare where Tyler went the first 2 years. And before now, Tyler's preschool only started at age 2. While we will be paying a lot more a week, we know it's worth it to go somewhere that we trust. And Ms. Cathy, Tyler's favorite teacher, will be transferring to the infant room to "rock and hold babies all day."

I will be returning to work Wed, June 30. This gives me 10 weeks of maternity leave. I originally planned to take 11 weeks, however because Ryan came early my leave didn't cover the dates of our family beach trip. So, now I'm going back a week earlier, will work a week and a half, and then will go on vacation for a week! I also have to be at work by July 1 in order for my promotion to be effective in July. Considering we have more expenses, we need it to go through so the money comes through. :) While it will be hard to go back at 10 weeks, at least it's longer than the 6 weeks I had with Tyler! I know he will be in great hands while I'm at work. That's definitely comforting!

Tomorrow is Ryan’s 1 month visit.  I’ve noticed in the past few days how much he has “chunked up!”  I went back to see how much Tyler weighed at 1 month, and he weighed 8 lbs 10 oz.  I definitely think Ryan is there if not more!  He feels heavy all of a sudden!  I’ve been calling him my little chunk!  We’ll see tomorrow!

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.

Marc Brown

Several months ago, a fellow blogger and friend, Jennifer, recommended an alternative to an external flash for my camera called a LightScoop.  The timing of when I got it was bad, and I never really learned how to use it.  To use it meant to actually learn to put my camera in manual mode!  I’ve relied on automatic modes since I got my camera a couple of years ago!  So, about two months ago I finally sat down and learned to use it .  I’m so glad that I did! 

The purpose is to redirect the light from the camera’s pop up flash and create a better lit photo.  It does what external flashes do at a fraction of the cost.  In fact, I got it off amazon.com for next to nothing!  It slips on over the pop-up flash.  This is only for indoor photography since it relies on walls and ceilings to bounce the light off of.

To learn more, visit this website:  http://www.lightscoop.com/index.html

Ryan is one month old!  In some ways it feels like it’s flied by.  And, in other ways it seems like it’s been a long month.  He has somewhat put himself on a schedule since the early weeks.  His last feeding before bed is around 10pm, and then we (Ryan and I) head to bed.  He is waking around every 3 hrs, however last night he surprised me with 4 1/2!  I’m not getting my hopes high though!  I’m sure it was a fluke! I can tell he is gaining weight, so I’ll be interested to see how much he has gained at his appointment on Tuesday.  He hates getting his diaper changed, still hates baths, is sleeping less during the day and having more alert time, and still loves to be held. 

I’m pretty sure I can document that Ryan’s first smile was at 4 weeks.  Though it’s hard to tell since he has his fair share of gas as well!  But he clearly loved this dragon pillow that his Aunt Taylor gave him!

He is beginning to “talk” and make sounds.   His little personality is starting to develop.  I look forward to seeing how it compares to his big brother!

You are right.  At least lately.  It’s been a rough week around here.  And until I can learn to type fast with one hand while holding or nursing Ryan, I just can’t find time until evening to do just about anything let alone blog.  And blogging is therapeutic to me, so that well….sucks. 

Poor Ryan has hit a very fussy stage where his tummy is all messed up.  I went through this with Tyler, so I’m all too familiar with it.  It’s so awful to watch them in pain. No amount of Gripe Water or Mylicon drops are making a difference.  I’ve evaluated the need to change my diet thinking that something I’m eating is upsetting his tummy.  And, that alone has caused major stress to me.  What to eat?  What not to eat? 

That. is. the. question.

Then there is Josh’s crazy work schedule.  I have to say that I give props to any single mother out there.  While I’m not a single mother (far from it), I do operate on my own a lot.  It was always hard for me with just one child.  Add in another one, and it’s super hard.  At least right now when I’m trying to figure all of it out.  I have days lately where I just hate his profession and his hours.  But in Josh’s defense, he has really stepped up and helped out where he can.  He gets up with Tyler in the mornings that he doesn’t work and takes him to school so that I can try and get a little extra rest or feed Ryan.  That’s another hard thing.  With no schedule yet, I often find that Ryan is due to eat right when we need to be leaving to take Tyler to school or pick him up. 

It’s a learning game.  And an adjustment.

Ryan is not loving sleeping lately due to the pains.  It was around this time that we had Tyler sleep full time in a papasan swing.  THIS BACKFIRED SO BADLY IT’S NOT EVEN FUNNY.  Trying to lug around a huge swing everywhere we went because it was the only thing he would sleep in was not fun!  So, I’m not going there this time.  We are working on getting Ryan used to having to sleep in a pack and play and eventually his crib.  He is still in our room, and he will likely be there for a while until we can get some kind of schedule down.  It’s just easier right now. 

It’s definitely an adjustment trying to get used to taking care of two kids.  For instance, Ryan was screaming his head off while I had to make dinner for Tyler.  Finally, Tyler’s eating and I sit down to nurse Ryan and Tyler is out of ketchup.  Um…  I’m just not coordinated enough to maneuver that one yet.  And of course, Josh is at work.

And then yesterday, I came home from the store to our fridge leaking on our kitchen floor.  And then I locked Ryan and I out of the house with no spare.   Josh was 50 mins away, and I had to go get Tyler. 

Well, I should go fold laundry.  Or…eat today.   Little man will be waking soon.  And he’s like a man on a mission when he’s hungry!

:)

About a week ago, Josh visited Tyler’s preschool class to talk to them about police officers.  I have to say, it was humorous to see the attention spans of 3 and 4 year olds!  And it was HOT that day!  The WFPD gave Josh a lot of giveaways for the kids, so they were happy!  And Tyler was proud of his daddy!

 

Today was Ryan’s actual due date.  Though we never would have made it to this date since my c-section was scheduled for May 6, it’s still hard to believe that he decided to come three weeks early! 

Here’s a video of him last night on his activity mat for the first time:

Today has just been one of those days.  The easiness of Ryan has started to get more complicated.  He has been really gassy and none of us are sleeping at  night.  Poor guy! 

I feed around the clock.  When will this growth spurt end again?

I can’t get anything done during the day because Ryan wants to be held.  My wrap that I have just isn’t working out to carry him in. 

Josh has been working a lot lately.

The reality of how much it’s going to cost for two in daycare has hit.

Trying to get Tyler to school in the morning is insanely challenging after no sleep all night and working around feeding Ryan. 

The birth announcements I ordered from Vistaprint are awful.  I’m so upset about it.  They printed them on the wrong paper, so the quality is bad.  I could have just printed them on my printer if I wanted that result.  I’m trying to figure out if I just missed this detail when I ordered it or not.  But regardless, I’m really peeved. 

There are other things that have me quite annoyed, but I’ll leave it at that. 

Tomorrow is another day!

Tyler

 

 

Ryan

 

Clearly I’m not still pregnant, but this project was finished just in the nick of time!  And I’m talking the day before I went into labor!

Preggo Projects Completed.   Thank God!

At one week old…

Momma had fun :)

We took Ryan back today for a weight check, and he is up to 7 lbs 3 oz!  That’s above birth weight, so they are very happy with that!  And so am I!  He has been very hungry the past few days, so I was hoping that it was a good sign that he was eating/needing more! 

Tyler’s adjustment to having a baby brother has been really good.  He is very interested in Ryan and always wants to hold him, give him his paci, or help watch when we change his diaper.  We do have to remind him to be gentle, but for the most part he is doing really well.  He loves to sing to him and tell him how he will teach him things when he gets older.  I’m definitely liking this age difference so far (though it’s early to make that statement!). 

I had hoped that with delivery all the random health related issues would end, but of course that is just not the case!  I developed PUPPS towards the very end of my pregnancy.  Typically, this goes away with delivery.  Not in my case.  In the past week, it has literally spread all over my body.  And the itching.  Oh the itching.  It’s just horrid.  When I first went to the doctor, they refused to admit what it was and told me it was an allergic reaction.  I knew they were wrong, but I used the topical steroid for a week to please them only to have the rash spread all over my body even worse.  Today, I went in completely armored with tears if needed.  I saw a different doctor who admitted it did look like PUPPS.  However, she had never treated anyone with it after delivery.  I had done enough research online to know that while rare, it IS possible!  So, I’m moving on to an oral steroid.  I pray it works!

On a good note, my c-section recovery has been great!  Really, the first week was a little tough, but now I’m doing pretty much everything normally.  This is SO much easier than my first recovery!