Life With 2 (+ 1) Redheads

The Fours. What a ride they've already been. I briefly mentioned in my vacation post how we had our fair share of drama with Tyler. It didn't just start there. It's been like this for quite a while and before Ryan was born.

1. Not listening: We are dealing with Tyler just not wanting to listen. We'll tell him to do something, and he either says "no" or he ignores us. It's over every little thing. Brushing teeth, finishing a meal, cleaning his room, putting his clothes on, going to the potty, etc. Everything is a challenge.
   
   
2. Potty Regression: I hesitate to even use the word regression because even as a late trainer, Tyler has always had accidents. I thought for sure that because he trained late that he would have less accidents, but it's not been the case. It's been like this for a year, however in the past 5-6 months, it's been ridiculous. And of course even worse in the past 2 months. I wash his clothes almost every single day because he pees in them. Today, his teacher called and he had already gone through two sets of clothes and it's not even noon. Josh and I have tried every response we can. We've ignored it, we've yelled, we've discussed, we've rewarded, and we've punished. Nothing works. He simply will not take the time to use the potty. And when we know he has to go, he will tell us he doesn't and then later end up having an accident. Several months ago I posted that we switched to underwear at night. That worked for the first couple of weeks, but in the past month it's gone downhill. At the beach, he must have wet the bed at least once a day. That poor mattress! Our poor mattress! So, I've literally had it. I guess I'm putting him back in pull ups. He gets very upset when I mention doing it. I have no idea if tough love is the answer, but I've exhausted every other option.
   

Sure, much of this could be the result of our family change, but it was all happening way before. It's a hard age and some days I just want to ask him where he put my easy going child?! I post all this in anger, but I do know that while he has these challenges, he really is a good kid who probably is wanting more attention than he's getting right now. I understand the not listening phase. From what I hear, it continues from here on out ;) But the accident thing just boggles me. I don't get it. At all.

Ryan Loves his crib mobile!

Going back to diapers and now formula is not cheap, so we are saving everywhere we can. I saw this great deal yesterday and saved over 50% on diapers! It's nice when your transaction looks like this...

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If you are interested, go to http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/07/amazon-com-pampers-for-as-low-as-0-09-per-diaper-2.html

As an aside, on the right hand side of my blog under "Coupon blogs" is a listing of all the blogs I visit. If you ever want to know deals going on, that's a great place to start!

I can’t believe Ryan is already three months old!  I remember this being when things got a little easier with Tyler.  It was four months that I absolutely adored though!  Ryan is growing and changing so much.  I had these milestone (3, 6, 9, 12 month) shirts for Tyler, so I was excited to bring them out for Ryan.  I’ve also been taking pictures each month in the same spot to see how he grows.  I will say that from 1 month to 3 months, it’s been pretty dramatic! :)

Here's what's going on with Ryan:

What's he wearing?

• Wearing a few 3-6 month clothes but definitely moving into 6-9 month clothes (if he doesn't slow down, the seasons aren't going to line up right from Tyler's wardrobe!)
• Wearing size 2 diapers
• Not sure about weight but my guess is close to 14 pounds.

What's he doing?

• Smiling and cooing at anyone who will talk to him!
• Holding his head up very well by himself. He loves to look from side to side and literally whip his head around. It scares us quite a lot :)
• He is a MOVER. He is rolling all over the place and trying to literally sit up. He catapulted himself out of the swing the other night (thank God there were no injuries! Just a scared mommy!)
• He is starting to put him fist in his mouth and gnaw like a mad man. Tyler started teething around 3 months and got his first tooth at 5 months, so I have no doubt that we are on that path soon.
• He has not laughed yet, but he definitely gets excited about things!
• He has currently shown a huge liking to his mobile, and he gets really excited!
• Sleeps a lot. He can't really hang during the day for more than an hour or so. In recent days though, he has started to stay up more.
• He is finally really enjoying his baths!  We removed the sling out of the baby bath and put him directly in the bathtub, which he really likes because he is covered more with water.  He loves kicking the water!
• He is beginning to reach out for objects.

What's he eating?

• Eating every three hours during the day
• Is 100% on formula now--I dealt with guilt on this decision, but my body wasn't producing how it should be with the various rounds of prednisone and honestly, I was just drained with figuring out what I could and couldn't eat. And, pumping at work was just not easy to get anything done. I've learned with raising Tyler that a happy mom makes a happy baby, and in reality it's so true. With the exception of the first week of formula (which happened to be our beach week) when his body had to get used to it, he has not had the stomach issues he had before. I'm fine with this decision and think the only reason I was holding on was due to the fact that I felt I should do it.

Is he sleeping?!

• Ryan WAS in the swing day and night for the most part, having one long 6-7 hr stretch and waking 1 to 2 times at night. However, as my recent post tells, we had to take him out and move him to the crib. So, we are in the beginning stages of "crib training." The first night we were back to waking up every 3-4 hrs. NOT fun! But last night he had a 7 hr stretch!!
• Bedtime varies. It is between 7 and 8pm. 

Is he still fussy?

• Heis a little gassy due to getting used to formula, but it is so much better than before. We don't have to use the medicine anymore since I stopped breastfeeding.
• Nights are definitely his fussy period. He starts to crash around 6-7pm. I'm trying to add a short 30 min cat nap for him around 6 which has worked the past two days.
  

There is not a well-visit appointment for this month. Hopefully, we won't be back before 4 months!

For laughs, here are some “outtakes” when taking the pictures:

Content

Getting Mad

Pissed

And for comparison, here is Tyler’s vs. Ryan’s 3 month picture.  I know everyone thinks they look alike, but I see differences every month…starting with the weight :)  Tyler also had more hair. 

...4 years ago (Tyler was the same age that Ryan is now)

Just a few days after our beach vacation, our precious redhead has decided to catapult himself from this sleeping machine we call the papasan swing. Sunday night, we found him completely OUT of the swing and on the floor. Yes, I about had a heart attack. He was fine, though coming in to see your 2 1/2 month old facing down on the floor does not sit well!!

The following night, we buckled him in tight only to find him half hanging off the side trying to escape. His abdominal exercises are a little too scary for us even buckled in, and he isn't sleeping well either obviously because he's half out of the swing!

So, with a sad heart we have to retire the swing at least at nights. There goes my good sleeper. Back to the crib training... we CAN do it!

It took some planning to get us all there in one piece. 

We left last Saturday during Ryan’s long afternoon nap time and Tyler’s questionable nap time.  The drive down there was pretty uneventful and Ryan slept the entire time waking up just as we walked into the condo. This is leaps and bounds from when we took Tyler to the beach at 3 months old and he screamed.the.entire.drive.there.  Bravo, Ryan!

Tyler told us over and over again he wasn’t tired.

Josh and I had researched beach cabanas for shade options on the beach for Ryan.  We didn’t really want to spend  a lot of money not knowing how well he would adapt to the heat and lack of…well, swing.  For the most part, Ryan did pretty good! 

 

 

He did need a little help sleeping at times…

At night, he slept in the swing and fluctuated between waking up 1 to 2 times at night.  We started our days bright and early at 7am each morning and he hung the best he could with what “schedule adjusting” we had to do on vacation.  We got in a few morning walks.  He had his fussy moments (another post), but all in all, he really did well.  Next time this time of year, he will be walking all over the beach!

On the Tyler front, there was no doubt that he’d love the vacation.  He has talked about going to the condo for 6 months now!  He is truly our little fish and wants to jump in the pool over and over again with or without his swim vest on!  He has never been a huge fan of the beach.  He always wants to be at the pool, but we always tell him we do the ocean first and then the pool. 

There was plenty of cousin time … (did I mention our condo is the kid condo?)

And of course, plenty of Ryan and Tyler-lovin moments

Monday afternoon, Josh and I took Tyler and Garrett to see the NC Battleship.  The boys loved it.  Me?  Not really my cup of tea, but if anything I got my workout with all of the stairs!! OH, how my legs hurt!!  Not to mention it was super hot!

I was super happy, see?

Thursday evening, we ventured to the newly renovated Boardwalk for rides and ice cream.  Let me tell you that Tyler had NO fear for riding rides!  He was devastated when he wasn’t big enough to ride the Ring of Fire!  For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is a huge ride that even I wouldn’t get on that goes upside down in a circle!  He did manage to go on other rides though including the Ferris Wheel and another one that yet again, I would not go on.

Ryan hung with us too…

As great as the vacation was, I was ready to come home this year.  We had our fair share of four year old discipline problems and tacking on a 2 1/2 month old to everything we wanted to do was not easy even though it might have looked that way from the sleeping pictures.  But hey, that’s life with kids.  It’s always been a balancing act! 

On our drive home, it decided to POUR 30 minutes outside of our town, and our luggage was on the outside of our car …not covered.  So, all the laundry I had done prior to packing up now gets to be done again.

My house looked like this coming home:

I can’t say it looks a whole lot better in a day’s time.  I need a vacation from my “vacation!”

Here’s to another beach vacation with an additional redhead!

 

Until next year…

A friend of mine happened to point this out to me, and it was too funny not to post. Check out the half wink smiles of Josh and Tyler...



Someone else inherited it :)

I wrote THIS post.

It was written right before our vacation.

Let's just say, I could write the same one after this week. The kid has impeccable timing! Something about the week before vacation!

Let's hope we all just need some time away! :)

There is no joking in the matter that life with two kids takes way more preparation than with one. I think I've made it out of the house a total of one time with everything I needed for the day. The other days, I've had to drive home to get something I forgot. This is what I have to get done daily despite how many wake ups from Ryan I have in the middle of the night:

6:00 am: wake up call for momma (shower, dress, etc)

7:00-8:00 am: dress, feed, and get two kids out of the house most days on my own

8:00 am: make it out the door with the following:

• 3 bottles for Ryan
  
• pump and accessories
  
• cooler
• gym bag
• laptop bag
• purse
• medicine for Ryan
  
• my lunch
• Tyler's bookbag, which at any time can include his folder, cot sheets, change of clothes, and show and tell item
• 2 kids

8:00-8:45: drop kids off

9:00-3:00: work

10:00: pump

1:00: pump

3:00-3:45: work out

4:00: pump

4:45: drive home to pick up kids

5:30: feed Tyler

6:30: bath for Ryan

7:00-8:00: feed and put Ryan to sleep while Tyler bathes

8:00-8:30: eat a snack of a dinner for myself (if Josh is working)

8:30: Tyler to bed

8:45: wash bottles, pump accessories, pump

9:00: relax, bed


What doesn't fit in this schedule is remembering to write the weekly preschool check (oops, haven't done that this week yet) or put cash for the sitter in an envelope to give to her. It also doesn't include the many times during the week I have to do Tyler's laundry because he had an accident on his cot at school during nap time. So, that means washing his sheets and change of clothes to be done by the morning and in his bookbag.

I will get this down, but for now I have to rely on post-it notes. In the meantime, I'm heading down to my car....where my cooler is sitting because I left it in there.

For the past two nights, I put Ryan in his swing to sleep in. Yes, I know for two months I’ve been avoiding this, but I finally broke down. And, just like his big brother, Ryan is a swing sleeper! Saturday night, he slept from 8pm – 1:30 am, up again at 5:30 am, and then slept till 7:30 am. This was a HUGE difference in sleeping since I only had to get up twice versus the 5-6 times I’ve had to get up in the past weeks either feeding or putting a pacifier in. I was totally fine with two times at night. But then last night, we were off schedule from the holiday, so he went to bed at 9pm and didn’t wake up until 3:30 am! I fed him and then he slept again till around 6:45 am! One feeding at night! We are both like new people this morning!

So, no offense Drs. Karp, Weissbluth, and Ezzo, but we’ve got to do what he have to do! Redheads are a whole different ballgame.

If you need a password for this video, it’s our last name.