The artist...

I loved these paint with water books when I was a kid.  I found some at the craft store the other day and thought Ryden would enjoy them too!

I'm waiting....

My boys.

Morning dance party!!!

Window coloring

We have been pretty homebound these days.  Even more so with my fear of this widespread flu being brought into our house.  I got R these window crayons for his stocking this Christmas.  Decided to bring them out yesterday for a fun activity!  We both had a blast and will for surely be using them more on these indoor days to come!

What a difference a couple weeks make.

Look how that face and legs have filled out in mere weeks!

Newbie not even a month.

One month!

4 weeks

Despite all this lil guy spits up he is packing on the lbs like a champ!  His last weigh-in at our breast feeding class he weighed in at 9 lbs 15 oz! 

Look at those cute cheeks!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...

...from our newly expanded family of FOUR!

What up?!

This 2 1/2 year old boy is getting so much older each day before my eyes.  Ever since he turned two his level of communication has exploded.  I'm shocked on a daily basis on his choice of words at times.  A couple of weeks ago his face was pretty chapped from the dry weather.  I was wiping up his face after dinner and he was vocally in discomfort.  He exclaimed, " My lips are burning"!  I was impressed that we already knew the dual meaning of the word burning!

Other dual meanings he hasn't quite learned yet; which is so understandable in a culture that uses so much slang in their language.  I often feel so bad for the ESL students I work with.  So I have a story that goes along with this.  R was driving with me the other day and we drove past this shop that builds wakeboard towers for boats.  There was one boat out front and Ryden says, "That boat is sick".  I was utterly confused why he was saying this so I asked, "What do you mean" and he replied, "It doesn't feel well".  Still confused I told myself I need to tell B this when I get home.  Later that night B told me I have to tell you what R said when we drove past that boat shop.  Then I told him what happened earlier that day.  We were both laughing because B and R had driven past it too a day earlier.  B was the one who saw a boat and said, "That boat is SICK".  Lil man not yet knowing what he meant by "sick" came to the conclusion the boat was not feeling well!

R is definitely having his two year old moments these days.  He tests his limits and boundaries which often get him put in a time-out.  He is often asserting his "likes" and "dislikes".  The "whiney" voice is used often and sounds like nails on a chalkboard to us.  

He is also compassionate to others and extremely gentle with his newborn baby brother. He loves to play with all his cars, trucks and trains.  His favorite cartoon is Mickey Mouse Club.  He still is a good eater and loves his veggies, meat, and milk!  Bedtime has been tricky lately at times and he tries every excuse to get out of bed at night.  We also had to get a special alarm clock for mornings that tells him when he can get out of bed and amazingly enough it has worked!

I can't believe he is already halfway between two and three!  

Snow fun for R!

B has thankfully been home for 3 weeks and has one more week of paternity leave.  He has been wanting to take R to the mountain to play in the snow and really wanted me to go.  I was pretty adamant that I was not going to go but finally going for a drive in the mountains and getting out of the house sounded nice.  So we packed our family of 4 up and drove to Mt. Hood on a beautiful sunny day.  We went to a nice snow park called White River right near Mt. Hood Meadows.  I bundled our very new boo boo in a sherpa outfit and had him snuggled close to me in the Ergo carrier.  It ended up working very nicely. 

R at first did not want to walk in the snow and wanted B to carry him which was surprising because he usually loves the snow.  After taking a couple trips on the sled he really started having fun.  He loved the "way deep snow".  After about an hour of play; we packed back in the car for the drive home.  

It was a nice, quick trip!

Baby B @ 2 weeks

At two weeks it is what to be expected with our boo boo.  Sleeping a lot during the day and NOT a lot at night.  We have had some good nights and some really BAD nights too.  A bad night consists of this cute lil one crying and from around 11 pm to 4 am in the morning.  Not the most fun evening for anyone involved in this process. Luckily this time around I know it is short time period (hopefully) and I will sleep again SOMEDAY!

He is a good eater and when I got to our lactation class for our weekly weigh-ins he is putting on weight like a champ.  

From what I have learned thus far Baby B does not mind a ride in the car and usually falls asleep.  He is a very consistent spitter and I have to make sure he is wearing a bib at all times and I have a burp cloth within arms reach.  He does not care at all for a wet diaper and will let you know when it is time to be changed.  It has been known to change it 3 times within 30 minutes.  He is unsure of a pacifier but it does help calm him at night.  He loves to be cuddled and rocked.  

We all love him so much and feel so blessed he chose us as his family.

Statistics at 2 weeks

- Weight:  8 lbs 4.6 oz= 38 percentile

-Height:  20 3/4 inches=  56 percentile

-Head Circumference:  35 1/2 cm=  21 percentile

Sleeping

What up homie?!

First bath at home!

Wasn't the biggest fan.

2 week weigh in...8 lbs 4.6 oz

Da boyz!