NicholsSouth

It's 8:45pm...

2012-01-19T18:42:00.000-08:00

And I'm soaking in a hot bath listening to my boys talk to each other...they SHOULD be sleeping but I guess that's hard to do when you share a room. I'm beyond exhausted. I'm going to blame the lack of iron and the fact I have not been taking my supplement. Bad, prego mama. My boys have been really helpful tonight which is nice considering hubs is working. Charley stopped eating his mangoes to help me empty the dishwasher and he empties it well. He knows where silverware goes and pots and pans and cups. They both picked up after themselves when bathtime was done. Very capable boys for being 3 (eeeccckkk) and 18 months old. I'm so thankful. I used to stress when they emptied the dishwasher because I had a routine. Then I realized that I need to let them...it may not be done perfectly but, by golly, they enjoy it and they do it well enough. Now to work on putting toys away when they are done playing...ha! It's a good goal.

Charley turns 3 years old tomorrow. This makes me sad. He is such a joy. I love him to death. He is a great big brother. He tries to keep his younger brother out of trouble. He learns so much everyday and the older he gets, the more he turns into a little man. He has spoiled his parents being the first born. So full of energy. Daddy's boy. Car fanatic. Happy birthday little boy! I love what you are becoming and I'm excited to watch you grow. Muah!

Boring post with no pictures because as you have read...I'm not anywhere near the computer. :) Tomorrow I will upload some. I'm 37 weeks pregnant. Lots of soreness and Braxton hicks. Work is wearing me out quickly these days and I'm a hormonal mess. The guys at work appreciate it, I'm sure. 12 days until we meet our little boy. I am so excited. My mom is flying out and will be here the 31st. So excited to see her and for her to see the boys.

And with that, I bid you goodnight.

2012-01-01T18:32:00.000-08:00

Happy new year! Hooray for 2012! We had a very low key Christmas and New Years. I got a lot of baking done and I tried out a lot of new dishes. Fooooooooood. I look like I've gained 10 pounds. The boys are doing well in the same room. It was a tough couple of days at first but they are getting used to each other. Izyk usually falls asleep before Charley and subsequently you will hear Charley say "Izyk? Are you sleeping? IZYK!!!!"...well, of course if he doesn't respond, he screams for him. Lol! Such nerds. Have no idea where they get that trait.
Christmas was fun. Charley was good at opening presents, Izyk...perhaps next year he will get the concept.
For New Years, Ryan and I watched our tv series and celebrated with junk food and Asti (for Ryan) and sparkling apple juice (for me). We promptly went to bed after midnight. Party hard at the Nichols!

I hit the 34 week mark. Woot! Next week I will be getting an ultrasound. I'm measuring kind of big with this one. I'm sure it has nothing to do with this being my fourth pregnancy.

Ah-hem *sarcasm*

Loose muscles and all. I'm excited to see my little man. This pregnancy went by so fast. That can be good or bad or both. I can't believe we are going to have three little boys. We keep getting asked if we are going to try for a girl. I don't want people to think that's the only reason we keep having children. I love kids and we have been blessed with our boys. I absolutely love our kids and if we are not meant to have a girl, then we aren't going to be having a girl...and I'm good with that.

The video below is Charley thinking he is singing and playing the stylophone. Silly boy. Lol!

Strawberry milk and a chocolate frosted chocolate donut

2011-12-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

This is more of a complaint post than anything. I'm kind of in a whiny mood...you'd know this if you were on Facebook. I always get a cold in my last trimester. Drives me insane. I'm miserable and just in time for Christmas. My c-section is scheduled for the 1st of February assuming I do not go into labor early. There are a lot of babies being born, makes me anxious to have this new little one already.

I have a new nephew!!! Scott and Molly welcomed Owen Gregory into the world on December 19th, 6 lbs 12oz and 19.5 inches long. So excited!!! Of course this just makes me want to be closer to home. Sad.

We have put the boys in the same room. This is the second night. It took them a couple hours before falling asleep. This is going to be interesting. Not really sure how this is suppose to work but we are taking it day by day. They are both lacking in sleep in general...especially Izyk. He's used to going to sleep around 8pm and waking up on his own at 8am. Charley doesn't fall asleep til 9-9:30pm and he wakes up early around 7am. Today's nap lasted 3 hours. I'm hoping this will work itself out in the next couple of days.
New owies...

Nerdo...

The title of this blog is what I happen to be eating the moment...yes, at 9pm.

Bragging Rights and Randomness

2011-11-27T12:23:00.001-08:00

I just have to brag...a tiny, tiny bit. I just LOVE that my boys have woken up at 9-930am for the past 3 days and then go down for a nap. They nap for 2-3 hours. If I was my normal not prego self, I'd be doing housework. It's a holiday for Pete's sake so for 2-3 hours...I do nothing. Literally. Sometimes I watch horrible reality television and sometimes a movie...and sometimes I blog. :)

Oh oh oh, what I forgot to mention in my last post is I made my own laundry soap. Liquid. I have a front loader HE so I was a little nervous about using powder. The liquid didn't take too much effort and I made 2 gallons of the stuff. I absolutely love it. I spent maybe 8 bucks on the ingredients and I used an eighth of it to make this one batch. Here's to saving a bit of money. Woot woot!

I thought ding dongs were wrapped in foil...disappointed prego lady right here.

I have been on a sugar craving the past couple days. I'm pretty sure I know why I have felt yucky those days as well.

I love soap. I feel OCD...but I'm over it knowing that I will return to normal after birth. I go through a bar of soap a week. I don't eat it...I just wash...often...as in every chance I get.

Ready for cold weather.

We bought Christmas lights for our house. This will be our first year decorating the outside of our house. Super excited.

We have found...or someone else has found rather, a larger vehicle for us!! I've been ignoring the fact that we would need a bigger vehicle come february. I wasn't sure how we would afford another car payment. We are certainly blessed to have the people we have looking out for us. One less stress...one less HUGE stress for me. Yay!!

Third trimester

2011-11-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

Hooray! 2.5 months and counting. Being as it I'm having a c-section, my birth will be "planned"...assuming things GO as planned...although NEITHER of my previous births worked out as planned...I'm not bitter, I promise. This pregnancy is flying by. I have no real ailments to complain about except the Braxton hicks sure are prominent this time around and they started earlier AND I get them frequently. Not too bad. If I sit too long, I walk like I'm 80 years old. I'm totally anxious to meet this little one. I'm excited. A little nervous about three little ones but I know it will work out...somehow.

The boys are awesome as usual. Izyk is walking...FINALLY. I love love love that he's such a love bug. He gets bored quickly. He doesn't eat much although he likes bread and mashed potatoes. I can't believe how big Charley is getting. He helps Izyk to walk. They share food really well and we are working on toy sharing. They are good at it until there is a new toy in the mix. Lol! Izyk sleeps til 9am and Charley wakes up at 7 or 8 am. They will be sharing a room come Christmas break.

My brother and his wife will be having heir baby in December! Scott and Molly will be welcoming Owen at the end of December if she lasts that long! I'm excited for our expanding family. I'm really sad that we aren't closer to everyone. When the holidays roll around, it gets difficult having to celebrate it without the extended family. Makes me sad.

Just another day in the life of...

2011-10-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

I'm in my 25th week of pregoness. I'm anxious to meet this new little boy. I've been slacking on getting pictures up every 4 weeks as I had done with my previous pregnancies. I've been taking them, just not sitting down and posting/blogging. At my last appointment I measured in at a whopping 125lbs. I hate getting weighed. I'm fine about my weight as long as I don't know what it is. This picture was taken at 22 weeks. I'll never be caught up...and I'm okay with that.

My boys have been keeping me on my toes. Izyk had his 15 month appointment a couple of weeks ago. He has definitely slowed down on the growing curve. Smack dab in the 50th percentile. This kid is a lover. Always wanting some sort of loving. He has got to be all over someone getting hugs and kisses. He's not walking much on his own. He will walk between me and Ryan but beyond that, I don't think he cares much. He will find a way to climb anything. He loves being perched in the window sill. He loves really, really loud noise. Surprisingly, he's not a huge fan of juice. Weirdo. I am very much enjoying who this kid is turning into. It'll be interesting with the third being born as Izyk loves his attention. He's loud and demanding.

Charley is so patient with his little brother. He loves doing puzzles and playing outside. He loves helping me cook and bake. He talks a lot. He tends to get excited and speaks too quickly which results in an entire string of babble. It's still a challenge to keep him in clothing. We are looking at moving them into the same room together here soon. Makes me a bit nervous as Izyk will still be in a crib which gives Charley something to climb which also means Izyk will learn by watching...we shall see how this goes. We will be getting Izyk into a bed in 6 months or so...*crosses fingers*
Watching dad...

Charley hanging out in the living room...

Izyk's first haircut...

19 weeks and an old picture

2011-09-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

I am behind on picture taking on this baby. Regardless, I am 19 weeks along and feel a whole lot better. Still a couple days here and there but I have my trusty zofran. We ended up finding out the gender of this baby at the last minute. Ryan wanted to know but I didn't really care one way or another but if he found out, I'd have to know. It never works when one knows and the other doesn't.

16.5 week picture...yes a little behind. Maybe on the next post there will be a picture of me at 20 weeks....

Yes...we are having another boy. 3 boys. Hahaha! We are very excited. We have not one single name. We cannot agree on one. This is going to be another last minute naming.

Charley is repeating everything we say. I love it. Cutest thing. He knows that my big belly means there's a baby coming. He was having a couple accidents here and there so we started up with treats again and he hasn't had an accident since. He is a great big brother. He plays well with Izyk. Izyk is still not walking. He will stand in place and push boxes around all day long but refuses to walk.

*stinker*

I think he's doing it on purpose.

He's really good at climbing stairs and going down them as well. We have yet to cut his hair even though he needs it. He has 5 whole teeth finally. He could eat bananas all day long. He says the usual mama, dada, nana (banana)...he climbs EVERYTHING from chairs to rockers, cabinets and window sills. It drives me insane. Luckily, he is really good at falling. That sounds weird but compared to how Charley used to beef it, this kid tucks and rolls. He also likes disassembling my vacuum cleaner.
Ryan has finally passed the marketing class he's been having trouble with. This was his third time taking the class. I'm just glad he passed.

Hello 16th week

2011-08-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

I've hit that second trimester milestone. Woot woot! Still have bouts of nausea but I have my zofran. I've also had a constant headache for a month and my doctor gave me some stuff to take sparingly. My face has never been so broken out...except in high school. Nice. I think this is the first time I've had pimples in YEARS. Hormones. So I'm still at that stage where I'm not big enough for maternity clothes but my normal clothes are kind of tight. It's annoying. Today we were at the park and I was talking to this other mother that was there...she couldn't tell I was pregnant.

*shock*

I feel like a baby hippo but whatever. I've gained 6lbs...all in my abdomen. Charley always points to my belly, "Bay-bay." He knows. Ish.

We are not finding out what we are having...although, I have a feeling it's a boy. Names...oh boy. We had a hard enough time with Izyk's name.

Story:
I came home from work and as always, I had to pee the second I got into the door. I ran to the restroom and Charley followed me. I had just sat down and started to do my business. Charley starts crying and dancing, saying "Poo poo, Mama!" I panic. It's not like there AREN'T other restrooms but he still needs help getting ON the toilet. So, being desperate, I pinch it off. Such a good mother. Get him on the toilet...he farts and slides off the seat and runs off.

Really? Apparently my son still has issues distinguishing between his bodily functions. Oh well...I'm not complaining. He's potty trained...I'm good with that.

Charley wrestles with Izyk all the time

He's in need of a new do

Fetch, anyone?

Just because it's 98 degrees with 90% humidity, you don't have to give up style.

Noggin'

Second born with attitude

2011-08-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

Our second born can throw a decent fit...

What doesn't kill you....

2011-08-27T17:39:00.000-07:00

Makes you stronger...

Ugh...

2011-07-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

This isn't really a fun post so if you don't want to read a downer, don't read any further. First, good news, Izyk had his year appointment. He weighs 22 lbs and is 27.5 inches long. He is in the 50th percentile. He is slowing down on his growth. But he's walking everywhere (while holding on to things) and climbs over just about anything he can. He gives me a heart attack. He climbs upstairs rapidly. He loves hugs. Charley and him play really well together...for now. :)

Complaints: I am sick of being so sick. I know I should be grateful and while I totally am...I'm having a hard time functioning. I'm exhausted all the time. I can't get to work as early as I'm used to which means I have to be there later and I hit a brick wall at like noon. When I eat, I get sick. When I don't eat, I get sicker. While I have a prescription for zofran and phenergan and am using both generously...I'm still feeling yucky ALL THE TIME. I can't remember the last time I touched a dish or did full up laundry on my weekends. I spend my time sleeping as much as I can. I long for the 12-14 week mark hoping and praying this nausea will diminish. I am a basketcase. Useless. I greatly dislike it. With all this sickness and throwing up...I am already showing!!!! BUT maternity clothes are HUGE and BAGGY. So I am in normal clothes with my belly poking out. My other two pregonesses I didn't show until I was 4 or 5 months along. Good grief. I'm sick of being asked how I feel because it hasn't changed and I hate saying I am miserable. I tired of pretending I feel great and I'm ready to take on the day when everyday I just want to crawl into bed and cry my eyes out. I can't even drink water for pete's sake. But whatever, can't really do much about it besides complain so there it is.

So I'm finishing this blog post on July 30th. I'm pretty much 12 weeks along. I've gained a whole 2 pounds and I'm still constantly sick and puking. I worry this may go on for the entire duration of this pregnancy. BUT I got to see the baby 2 extra times. :) I've never had so many ultrasounds in the first 6 weeks! At 9 weeks, I started bleeding...I'd like to say spotting but that was no spotting. I spotted on all of my pregnancies. Anyways, I bled for 3 days and I went in and they wanted to check on the baby. Kind of scared me only because this exact thing happened with my first pregnancy and the fetus had died somewhere between 9 and 12 weeks. So...only slightly panicked. THEN at my 11 week appointment (I'm a week off because I THOUGHT I was 8 weeks and I was actually only 7 weeks...go figure) they couldn't find the heartbeat after exploring everything south of my chest. Again, only slightly panicked because I was by myself and the whole miscarriage thing came pouring into my head. Everything was fine, the baby was just moving I guess a lot...

Plus one makes five...

2011-07-10T15:03:00.001-07:00

We are going to be a five-person family come early February.

I was trying to not say anything but everyone on this side of the continent knows as I've had my head in the toilet 24/7.

Never been so sick in my life (I'll save the details for another post...you're welcome).

So...let's hear it for 2012 babies...Woot woot!

Stinker turns 1!

2011-07-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

Mama's boy.

He's loud and vocal.

Cuddler and a lover.

Loves his big brother.

Walker and a crawler.

Loves his bathes and his naps.

Impatient as all get-out.

Sporadic psycho-ness.

Fearless.

Happy First Year baby boy!!

Long time, no post...

2011-06-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, it has been nearly two months but I have lots of excuses that I'm sure everyone is jumping up and down, impatiently waiting to find out just what the hold up is. The first thing that started the downhill spiral of no-blogging-ness was the tornados. Yes...THE tornados. That, coupled with my mother flying out the day OF the tornados to be here for Ryan's long awaited surgery. We spent 5 days with no electricity and Ryan's surgery was postponed...three times. I didnt go to work for 4 days. The two little ones had no idea what was going on but it all ended up okay. The only damage we sustained was the Rec room has a pump that is electric. So water was not being pumped out; therefore the rec room flooded. Not a big deal. It was fun to have my mom out for a week though!
Work has been crazy...crazy busy. I was running a lot in the afternoon but it got too hot. I started running at 4am which was working out great for a bit.
Ryan dislocated his shoulder playing racquetball. That was fun. He couldn't lift so I had to take a day or two off to take care of the kids.
Ryan had his surgery for his gallbladder this week. So I have taken the rest of the week off while he barely leaves the bedroom.
The little ones are doing great. Charley, Izyk, and Mama got sick for a week. Somehow Ryan avoided the bug. In the process of getting checked for this bug, the doctor heard a murmur in Charley's chest. We proceeded to get xrays and stuff for that.

Boys are stinking expensive...even when they are grown. My goodness.

Izyk is taking his lovely time crawling...which he had just started doing a couple of weeks ago, at the same time he started pulling up. He army crawls everywhere and is fast. We are teaching him how to crawl up and down stairs. He stopped gaining weight at 9 months. He's still about 22lbs but he's getting longer.

Charley loves "Iwa"...greets him in the morning sometimes with kisses. They play well together. Charley loves, loves, loves to read.

My not-so-baby baby and the toddler

2011-04-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Izyk had his nine month appointment last week. He weighed in at 20 lbs and 28 inches long. He has slowed down in his growing. He is now in the 60th percentile. He's not so chunky anymore, he is stretching out. He sits like a champ and rolls at 40mph. He loves finger foods which is way too quick for me but that's okay. So many differences between Charley and Izyk. Some things Izyk did earlier and some things Charley did earlier. Two very different temperments. Izyk is such a Mama's boy. I am soaking it up! Izyk thinks his older brother is hilarious. I love watching them interact.
Charley has been learning a whole lot of words. He says some sentences but not a whole lot. He loves talking on the phone. He can count to three. He still loves fruit. He likes to sing...without words...he just babbles. It's funny.

And they still aren't used to each other crying. If one gets upset, the other starts to cry as well. SOMETIMES it's funny. Like when I have the hubby home so he can grab one child and I can grab the other. Otherwise, I'm double-hipping it. Is that a word?

Ryan has surgery next Thursday for his gallbladder. I'm excited to be having my mom come out for a week to help out some. I'm hoping she will be able to look past the atrocity that I call my house.

Ah-hem.

In my spare time, I do housework...not blog. Right? OOOOOFFFFF course.

A couple of days ago, there was a spider in our house...not just any kind of spider. It was the size of a small dog.

SERIOUSLY THOUGH...bugs in the south are MUTANTS. I have yet to find one NOT the size of my head.

I wish I had a picture of the thing but all that I have is of it in the toilet performing water ballet. And for a good 45 minutes too. I'm not even sure how it got into our house. It's not like it could've SLIPPED through a crack. I mean, it had to break through a window or something to get in. I also start thinking about how long it has been IN my house and where it had been. What if in the middle of the night, I went to get some water and just...you know...ACCIDENTALLY stepped on it...bare foot. It could probably swallow my foot whole.

*heart attack*

My irises have bloomed...this year, Charley hasn't eaten any. He does like to smell EVERYTHING. He'll make you smell it too. He absolutely LOVES reading. Don't let him catch you sitting down, he'll crawl into your lap with a book. He also hates wearing clothing. It's really fun when you have the plumber coming soon and he won't let you put clothes on him. He's been wanting to potty like a big boy. And by big boy, I mean he wants to stand up. Let's just say, we are still working on AIMING. He knows how to go potty by himself (sitting position) so unless we're watching him, it'll be ALL AROUND the potty, not in it.

After about 10pm, the baby monitors start going crazy.

Not because the kids haven't gone to sleep. Both of my children talk in their sleep. It's kind of creepy. How do I know they're asleep? When we first started hearing them, we would check on them. They'd be PASSED OUT and BABBLING.

Just the other day, Charley got into the butter. Not just "got into" but also ATE it. He eats butter. My son eats butter. We do feed our children. I promise.

*sigh*
My eldest...getting so big.

My men.

Brotherly love...

Happy boy!

On Daddy's shoulders

And lining blocks up on brother's bum.

"Sti-ers" (Stickers)

Playing in the dirt...if you were to look in any of his 4 pockets, you'd find lots of rocks. He likes...rocks.

Just because it's spring, doesn't mean that snow boots AREN'T in style.
When I forwarded this to my mom, she responded saying that Charley wearing his snow boots all the time is a sign that we need to move back to the mountains so Charley can live his dream. Haha!

The non-existent plan

2011-03-12T14:43:00.001-08:00

You know those days, where if you had a plan nothing would go to it? Today has been the epitome of one of those days. And I KNOW there are going to be days like this and there have been. Just today is worth documenting (also known as complaining or venting). So, Ryan wasn't feeling well last night. He was up until 6am. The whole pacifier vs. me thing is not working out well but we can get to that in a minute. Charley had two accidents, out of blue. Fine, whatever, it happens. Before I could get breakfast started, he broke the ONLY egg we had left in the house. I had planned pancakes but without that ONE last egg, I couldn't make them. While I was cleaning up the egg, he decided to pick up his potty. The apparently had not been cleaned out...urine...ALL OVER the place and on him. Seriously, had not even got breakfast started. But that's okay...we all ate, I got dinner in the crockpot, I did the dishes, started the laundry, picked up 75% of the house. I'm on a roll. There are a couple of things that happened over the past couple of weeks. Ryan has had a bad string of luck. He ended up in the ER at 7 in the morning on a saturday. He was there all day. He needs to have his gallbladder out. He still has not made an appointment with the surgeon. He was also clearing the vines off the back fence and got poison ivy. He waited two weeks before going to the doctor so he was covered. He got a shot and a couple of prescriptions.

Pacifiers. Now I know most people use pacifiers. I have nothing against pacifiers, I just prefer not to use them. With Charley, he just didn't need one. Izyk didn't need one until we decided to bring one with us to California for the plane ride. Like I said in a previous post, he was having trouble sleeping. We continued with the pacifier but only at bedtime. Since then, he does not sleep continuously through the night anymore. He used to but no longer does. You can tell when he has those nights that he wakes up a lot. 30% of the time, he doesn't wake up at all during the night but the other 70% he does and he does A LOT.

On a happier note, Izyk loves food and is rolling over. That is his preferred method of transportation. He sits up great for minutes at a time. He loves his older brother. Charley is doing great with pottying...minus the two accidents today. Ryan starts coaching soccer this week at the YMCA. He's coaching 5-6 year olds. Should be fun.

Izyk and his food

2011-02-27T20:08:00.000-08:00

This kid cracks me up. This weekend I couldn't help but laugh hysterically each time I went to feed him. He's still getting used to mushed up foods. HAHA!

Randomness #6578.2

2011-02-14T19:40:00.001-08:00

• I am so tired after my run today. It felt good but I am SO tired.
• Happy Valentine's Day!
• we weren't going to do anything but decided to go out. Brave the two year old in underwear. So we packed extra clothing on the chance of an accident. I'm proud to say we didn't need it. I thought for sure after his second cup of half juice and half water, there'd be Lake Michigan under his tush. I continue to underestimate this child. He used the public bathrooms for the first time and honestly I thought he was going to get stage fright. I'm giddy with pride.
• Have I mentioned that my house is a disaster area?
• Love love love my new phone.
• Did I mention I was exhausted?
• After we got back from Cali over Christmas, Izyk had been having major issues sleeping. I do not how working mothers who have children that DO NOT sleep through the night do it. Ridiculous. So I have been barely surviving. Anyways, he's back to his normal sleeping self. I thought it was teething, jet lag, growth spurt...but come on, a month and a half of waking up in the middle of the night? Over it. Glad to be back to my normal six hours...ah-hem.
• We still need to do our taxes.
• I love girl scout cookies.
• Now that I'm back to running I feel justified for eating half a box of Samoas.
• Izyk talks more than his older brother.

No turning back...

2011-02-12T15:08:00.000-08:00

Today, we took the plunge. No more diapers for Charley-man. We were brave enough to leave the house with him in underwear. We brought along the little potty, just in case. We were going to go to the store to pick up a few things for dinner (and by a few things, like $100 worth because we think we are going to starve to death...ah-hem). We were gone for an hour and he used the potty twice. He told us in the car he had to go. The next week or so should be interesting. We know there will be some accidents so we will prepare ourselves as much as possible. Here's to accomplishing a big milestone!!! Woot Woot!!

Giddy

2011-02-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

This is how awesome my hubby is. I've been needing new running shoes but have been putting it off for months and months. Mainly due to the fact that I HATE spending money. Ryan drove me to Fleet Feet and told me to get my shoes. I love these Brooks. I really liked my last Asics and was going to stick to the brand until I tried these on.

I'm a believer.

The last Brooks I owned were in high school and I remember them being heavy with not much support. These Ravenna 2's are very comfortable. I likened them to wearing socks. Weird, but they feel good and they're light. I'm ready to visit my happy running place AND to get some muscles on these bones...gain some weight. I have missed my running greatly and look forward to being toned once again!! Thanks hubs...I sure do love you!! MUAH!

Progress

2011-02-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

Charley has been doing really well using the potty. He runs around naked all day and doesn't have any accidents. He goes when he needs to go and tells us when he's done. Now we need to work on wearing underwear. He put himself in underwear one day and I think he was trying to tell us he needed help. Anyway, he urinated in his pants. He was NOT happy. I'm trying not to push him too hard because I know when they're ready, they're ready. We are getting close. Charley can unlock and open the front door. One day, Ryan and I were downstairs and I stopped hearing him. I ran up to the play room, couldn't find him, opened the front door...there he was, standing in the middle of the yard for the world to see, with nothing but a shirt on. It was 26 degrees outside and he fussed about having to come back inside. He climbs everything from changing tables to our kitchen island. After a messy meal, he picks up after himself. He loves, loves, loves trucks. I pretty sure we are nearing 50 or so cars and trucks in this house.

We started Izyk on a little cereal this past week and have realized he is not quite ready which is okay by me. So we are going to hold off for another couple of weeks. He's rolling all over the place and gnawing on anything he can get into his mouth. His two bottom teeth are breaking through. Charley plays so well with Izyk. Izyk just laughs at Charley when Charley gets all up in his face. It's fun watching these two interact. Ryan tells me, in the morning he'll open both boys' doors and Charley will run into Izyk's room, say "Hi Izyk!" and hold Izyk's hand through the crib. Funny boy.

6 month and 2 year stats...

2011-01-26T18:27:00.000-08:00

Izyk is 27.25 inches long and 20.1 lbs.

Charley is 32.5 inches tall and 26.8 lbs.

Little brother is catching up.

Happy Birthday Charley man!!

2011-01-26T18:07:00.001-08:00

Days like birthdays are when I wish we lived closer to family. Not that his birthday was BAD, it's just that immediate family wasn't there. We had friends over. Played, ate food, cake, and ice cream. My boy is 2 years old. Fastest two years ever and I'm told it only gets worse. So I gear up and prepare myself mentally. :P

Charley man is boy boy boy. Loves his trucks and cars. He's a spaz but super intelligent (as all parents say about their own kids!!!)...some days picky, some days not. He will urinate all day long in the potty...as long as he's naked. He still sleeps like a champ, dotes on his little brother. He talks and walks in his sleep. He's starting to put sentences together but still uses some sign language. He climbs everything and loves to read. He likes to tumble. Some days he looks like my dad and some days he looks like Ryan. He is such a goofy, little boy. He will still choose fruit over candy. <--- so not complaining. He loves "buh-bos." Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated my little man into toddlerhood.

Randomness #5

2011-01-14T16:11:00.000-08:00

Izyk has been waking at 4am...regularly. Not sure what his deal is.

Snow is still here. The mail guy finally decided to come down our street. Trash guy, on the other hand, avoided our street.

I don't like 30.

Interesting point: While I was pumping in the Mother's room at work, I was glancing through this OLD Parenting magazine from like 2007. Saw a tidbit on weight loss and sleep. According to the magazine there was a study done that found that women who got 5 hours or less of sleep were three times more likely to retain the baby weight until the baby's first birthday than those who slept 7 hours or more. And then it said it was like an 11 pound difference. Not sure where that number came from but still. Those 7 hours of sleep doesn't necessarily need to be all at once. It can be from cat naps too. So I guess my weight loss isn't ENTIRELY genetics and breastfeeding. I can now blame it on sleep! Hahahaha!

I'm thinking about starting Izyk on rice cereal. Not sure yet. Dragging my feet.

I have a noticeable increase in my pumped breast milk when I eat oatmeal in the mornings. I had done research while I was breast feeding Charley and remember reading that but never tried it. To keep up my milk supply, I find myself eating when I'm not hungry and drinking when I'm not thirsty. I eat lots of everything...just to keep my calorie intake up. It's kind of a drag having to force myself to remember to eat. That doesn't even sound right but that's what I'm having to do. I know a lot of people hate me because of it too.

Charley turns two next week...sad panda. He's getting so big. He also got a hair cut last night by Dad. That was fun. It included suckers covered in hair and Charley saying "Ew" every 10 seconds. By the end, Mama was covered in sticky sugar and blond hair.

Cold Stone RULES.

Izyk is a pro at exploding through diapers...and not because there is a lot of poop. His crack is ssssoooo high, you can see it at the top of his diaper. I'm only slightly exaggerating, actually I'm not. His crack IS that high.

Izyk is in 12 month clothing. I'm pretty sure that this kid CANNOT get as big as I keep thinking he might. There's no way.

Looking forward to picking up the house...in a sick therapeutic kind of way.

LOVE our new space heater for the rec room...best fifty bucks we've spent in a long time!!

Both of our cars need tires. Just in time with Christmas and a slew of birthdays. *thumbs up*

Snow Day!

2011-01-10T15:18:00.001-08:00

Yes, the whole of Huntsville and Madison are shut down.
Yes, we only got 6 inches of snow.
Darn straight, we all slept in until 10am.
Happy Birthday to me! :)

More random December pics

2011-01-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

Month of December

2011-01-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

December went by awfully quick. We flew to California (Christmas gift - Thank you to my favorite Dad-in-law!) with my two little cherubs. The flight TO Cali went superbly. They both fell asleep on the last 3 hour flight from Houston to Ontario. Charley had a bit of trouble falling asleep but when he did, it was bliss. Izyk fell asleep at the same time. We had great fun in Cali. We left the mountain TWICE. It was nice not to have to leave. There was lots of rain and some snow. Roads were closed due to mudslides and roadways being eroded away. The last night there Charley got to put on his snowsuit and boots. He went sledding with Uncle B, Uncle Scott, Aunt Molly, and Aunt Sarah. Tried some hot chocolate. He wasn't a huge fan but that's okay. Charley got to meet a whole lot of cousins, aunts, and uncles...great aunts, great grandpas, great uncles. Izyk did too. Izyk and Ryan got sick the second day we were in Cali. Izyk developed a double ear infection. He finally finished off his medicine yesterday. Both slept well at both grandparents' place.Charley talks in his sleep A LOT. All those times I thought he woke up and talked to himself were actually him talking in his sleep. He's a big twitcher too. We are back to square one with potty training. We decided it'd be in our best interest to just stick to diapers on this trip. Mama failure - I took like 2 pictures. My battery kept dying and I kept forgetting my camera. So the few that I have are posted below. I will have to get some from my mom and Pam. Traveling with two infants is actually harder than I thought it was going to be. We didn't bring strollers, we wore both kids. That made it easy. The flight back to Huntsville was very STRESSFUL. We have decided that flying after the first nap is the best way to go. Charley fussed the entire trip and he refused to sleep. It was AMAZING. He was so exhausted when we landed as were his parents. The two days following the return to Huntsville, we all slept in until 11am and that's with a normal bedtime. EXHAUSTED. Anyways, see the ONLY pictures I got on this 2 week trip. :) (And I just noticed that the majority of the pictures was when we visited the fire station...haha! Oh well...more to come...eventually.)

Cancer free is the way to be!

2011-01-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

I had a dab of basal cell carcinoma removed on my forehead. It was outpaitent and they did a local. Ugh. I don't want to have to do that again. Feeling them cutting, tugging, and burning...no thank you. My face swelled...my oh-so-sweet hubby called me avatar. Not like I had enough to be self-conscious about anyways, right? But it's gone and done with so yay!

Caramel Apple Spice

2010-11-21T11:07:00.001-08:00

at Starbucks is amazing...waiting for 2pm to roll around for that buy 1, get 1 free thing.

Charley has figured out the door knob child safety thing. We were greeted at 9am this morning with his smiling face and the thumping of his little feet.

Made pumpkin pancakes this morning - not so much. I need to try a different recipe I think.

Charley has also figured out how to get into his high chair, on his own, SOMEHOW. I have no idea how. His high chair is the kind that has wheels on it, so if he's not strapped in, he can fall out.

Started some Christmas shopping. Toys R Us was INSANE at 6pm last night.

There was a spider in the shower this morning...I drowned it.

Apparently I slept talked again...I was searching for a diaper. Oh boy.

Izyk has croup. WTH? Friday was the first night in 3 months that he DID not sleep through the night. Although, I cannot complain. It was only one night. He's sleeping better, just still waking up early-ish...5:30am but going back to bed until 9:30am. Can't wait for him to get over this little obstacle. No one else in the house is sick. *crosses fingers*

I really need to clean the bathroom. I really don't feel like it. I haven't felt like it for 3 weeks.

My mom sent a picture of the snow. I'm sad. I miss the snow and the mountains.

Izyk weighs 19lbs, 2.5oz at 26 inches long. The nurse said "Mama's milk is miracle-grow on steroids." Darn straight!

Calmest night

2010-11-16T17:55:00.000-08:00

Izyk had his 4 month appointment today. He is in the 95th percentile for weight and height. He is in the 90th percentile for his head circumference. He had a moderate reaction to the pertussis immunization so they didn't give him the DTAP vaccine which is just one "cocktail" shot and having to leave out the pertussis made it into 3 more shots. That's 6 total shots, so we are splitting them up. Izyk did really good today compared to last visit. We are keeping him off the zantac since he's better off without it. We are taking it case by case. I think we can get a handle on his projectile vomiting as it is infrequent and when it does happen, we know the signs. Izyk is weighing in at 18lbs 5oz and 26 inches long. He's an extremely happy boy (except for the occasional fussiness preceding the projectile vomiting), sleeps like a champ, rolls from his tummy to his back. He's trying his darnedest to roll from his back to his belly. Charley says "Hi ra ra..." to him every morning and after naps.

The title of this blog...I was going to make this quick but I'm known for rambling. Actually, I'm not. I digress. Tonight, we had to run to the store. We finally broke down and bought pants for Charley. He was running around in a diaper, barefoot on tile in our 60 degree house. Kid HAD to be cold. I was hoping that maybe he'd gain some weight and grow an inch or two so we could just throw him in 24 month/2T pants (he has 1 pair of 18 month pants and they're jeans). But alas, he's still short and skinny. SO...off to Target after a 3 hour nap for everyone (but me because I had just gotten home from work) to buy pants. Long story short and 80 dollars later (because you can't just go to Target for ONLY pants)...we're home trying to get dinner done. Izyk woke up from his 20 minute nap in the car from Target. Charley was having rest time in his room while dinner was cooking and we were putting groceries away...

Like I said we went to Target ONLY for PANTS...ah-hem...

I have dinner after feeding Izyk. Izyk gets fussy. I decide he's going to bed a little early. I give him his bath, get him dressed for bed. We sing and he's in bed...talking to himself. Charley gets done with his dessert of raspberries, bath time (which for once didn't involve practicing his outside voice), and then bedtime. It's 7:35pm. Silence. There was no screaming, crying, or fits to be had (before, after, or during our nighttime rituals). Now, I only have two children and that can be just the tiniest bit chaotic in the evenings when everyone is tired and cranky and we're all just trying to get to bed. But this night is what I shall strive for in the future. It was a beautiful thing. :)

Pictures

2010-11-14T12:11:00.000-08:00

Practicing our pull ups!

Family Picture

He always gives me the same look when I attempt a self-portrait of the two of us...

Charley was mixing the macaroni and cheese and his applesauce together. But he was actually eating it too. Blah.

BEST...BRA...EVER

2010-11-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

It has been a horrible experience for me trying to find nursing bras that are comfortable, supportive, and non-grandma looking. I fell upon this website, Bella Materna, when I went searching for a 32G. I ordered a bra in hopes that it might be a good one. I got it in and just fell in love with it. It wasn't just white, black, or nude...it was plum colored!! I was sooooo excited to have a bra with a COLOR. Not only was it a pretty color but it was extremely supportive and a TRUE 32 inch bra. Amazing. So I've lived in this bra for the past 8 months.

Ah-hem

So, it's like a week later and originally this post was going to be about my AMAZING bra but I have lots on my mind...

Izyk was suppose to have an appointment this week on Thursday. We missed it because I thought it was at 11:45am and it was really at 10:45am. My bad. Really though...my entire week had been like that. So I should've just ASSUMED that was going to happen. I was really looking forward to talking to the doctor. First, about his immunizations...we're not doing that anymore. Well, we are just not the cocktail schedule they normally do. Second, I have taken Izyk off the zantac. He kind of turned into a basket case and he almost developed all the symptoms OF acid reflux and they were worse than before. He was a completely different child. He's back to normal now and I have some discussions I'd like to see happen.

Izyk is in 6/9 month clothing...meaning he is twice the size Charley was at this age. I know I said it before but it still is beyond my comprehension how gynormous this kid is. He's such a butterball. To top it all off...I don't think he really is eating more than Charley was but then again, how would I know? It's a good thing he skipped the 6 month clothes because Charley man did too and we didn't have any. :) *thumbs up*

Charley keeps falling out of his bed. Not a big deal, it just happens...often.

Where are the bed rails, you ask?

Let's just say, he knows how to get his bed off the frame and do things with all the parts that honestly, who would think a 22 month would do. But at least he goes right back to sleep when we get him back in bed.

We're moving Izyk's last feeding back slowly. Working on 9:30pm this week. He seems to be doing fine.

The kids are getting more sleep than Mama. I was late to work EVERY DAY THIS WEEK. Except one morning when Ryan kicked me out of bed at 5am. And by late...we're talking my alarm clock went off an hour and a half before I actually got OUT of bed. Good times.

Work has been chaotic but we'll leave that...at work...where it belongs.

That's all I can think of, OH WAIT. So we bought a standalone freezer...for my BREAST MILK. Yes, that's the only thing we have in that freezer because Ryan was sick of having my stash take up 75% (he claims 95%) of the freezer in the kitchen. Yes, we have that much breast milk saved up...because I RULE.

Going ons

2010-10-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

So Izyk has a little acid reflux. We have him on a small dose of zantac twice a day. That's the only thing they saw on the x-ray. I'm thankful it's not anything worse. Although, I was a little confused that it was reflux because all the research I had done said they spit-up/vomit after every feeding. Also, they are usually really fussy and don't sleep that well. None of this described Izyk. He puked once or twice a month. He slept like a champ...better than Charley did at this age. He's a very happy little boy. Every now and then he'd fuss but it wasn't continual and usually he'd do it right before he burped. Regardless, we'll see how this zantac does. We won't see "results" until after about 2 weeks. The nurse said he may sleep better (boy sleeps from 10 to, at the earliest, 7am <- when I wake him up), or eat more (he eats a lot as it is), or be less fussy. So...we shall see. Izyk is 17lbs, 10oz at 3 months 3 weeks old. (Charley was 15lbs at 6 months) Boy is HEALTHY. He screamed and hollered when they tried to get the barium down him. Was not happy at all. He was choking the stuff down and coughed and spit it up. Ryan and I left the hospital spattered in white. Haha! It took 4 hours to get all the x-rays they needed. He kept falling asleep at small increments because we had to keep getting x-rays. Thank you to our neighbor, Nina, for watching Charley-man. They had fun tromping through the outdoors and getting dirty.

Potty training...we had to abandon our attempt at potty training 2 days earlier than planned due to Izyk's projectile vomiting and the hospital visits. But as it stands now, he tells us he has to go by saying "Sssssss" and climbing up the stairs to the restroom. He's still in a diaper (sometimes running around in the nude) but whenever he makes that sound, we take him. He's gone in the toilet a whole bunch but not consistently. One of these days we'll go straight to underwear and never look back. He will not go in the little potties. Even though that's where we started. He's better at going in the toilet so we'll leave it at that. Also, on a sad note, he broke half of my collectible figurines. He made it past the child-proof locks while Ryan was feeding Izyk. *sigh* Oh well...I should've moved that stuff when I had the chance. My mom is sending me the ones she has...thank you!! Those will stay packaged away FOREVER, or at least until the kids are out of the house. :) Pictures below are from Tate's Farm and other random times.

Monkey for Halloween.

My Charley-man.

My happy little chunk.

Long week...

2010-10-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

And I know everyone has those weeks that feel like they're never going to end but I did preface this blog with my last blog about the whole traveling and having to pump thing. I figured I'd let you all know how it went.

Conclusion: I never want to do that again.

While some people may have NO problem pumping, I do. Now, in familiar places, I have absolutely no problem pumping, in fact, I think I've gotten pretty good at it. Now the whole trip, in general, went well. I didn't get stuck anywhere and my flights were actually running early. The only thing that put this trip in the "never want to do that again" category was the pumping. Now, I'm sure y'all are saying I just got myself worked up and caused myself to stress out.

*Ding ding ding ding*

"What do they win, Johnny?"

Yes. I stress. Yes, I cause myself to stress. No, not on purpose. Let's re-cap on my 36 hour trip.

Morning of...I attempted to time my last nursing with Izyk right before I left so I wouldn't have to pump until I got to the Detroit airport. I just realized that I lied a couple of sentences ago when I said all of my flights were on time. My departing flight was an hour delayed (which was a good thing because I was running late...go figure). I checked my baggage in (yes, I had baggage for a 36 hour trip. This bag was mainly for my cooler...which was for the milk that I had pumped) and the dude said that my flight was delayed. Oh goody. Surprisingly enough, I got my own row! So now you may be thinking "Perfect! I can pump in peace...sort of." Believe it or not, Detroit is in the EASTERN time zone. I hadn't realized this until the captain told us to turn off all electrical devices. I lost my opportunity. I was angry with myself. Next opportunity would be while we were on the ground (we were suppose to stay on the same plane but we know how STATIC flight plans are. They aren't). I had to change planes. Found my next gate, tried to get into the family restroom at the airport but it was LOCKED.

*grumble grumble*

I ended up pumping...on a 29 minute, FULL PASSENGER flight into Erie, PA. Now that means I had about 10 minutes...TEN WHOLE MINUTES...to set myself up and pump as much and as fast as I could. And everyone knows how easy it is to pump when you are under a time constraint and 160 curious onlooking eyes. *ahem*

Okay, okay...they weren't ALL staring at me but it sure felt like it. Only the lady next me was trying her darnedest to ignore whatever contraption I was hooking myself up to.

We landed in Erie...the SMALLEST airport EVER. Six terminals all bunched together in a room. Seriously small. When we landed, the pilot had the throw the engines in reverse because he almost missed the right turn to the terminals.

Fast forward an hour, check in at the hotel. I sat down and relieved the pressure for a good 25 minutes. Morning came...it took me 45 minutes to pump. Ouch. I had to rush out of there to make it to my meeting. Luckily, they had a room set aside for my pumping pleasure. Hooray! Some solitude. So I pumped whenever I could and as often as I could because I could feel myself stressing out and filling up. On our way to the airport, I realized that my ice pack in my pump bag had thawed. I was worried that all my ice packs were going to thaw but everything actually made it home. I had planned on pumping at the Detroit airport, which I did, in a family restroom. Did...not...happen. I mean, I tried but, dear me, I couldn't get anything out. Why? Well, it didn't help that every 5 minutes someone was trying to get in the locked door. It was maybe 30 degrees in that bathroom...I thought it was going to start snowing. So I ended up at home with several clogged ducts and an extremely sore chest that lasted a couple of days.

So that was the trip in a nutshell. I survived, as did the rest of my family. Izyk apparently ate fine while I was gone and I think he made up for some when i got home. The next night he woke up in the middle of the night to eat and then was nursing every two hours the next day. Either a growth spurt or he was making up for lost milk. I'm just really glad it's over with and hope that I won't have to do that again especially with a 3 month old at home.

So...

2010-10-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile. Lots of random little things going on but nothing too exciting. I've had pinkeye three times in a row. I caught it when Izyk and I were at the hospital getting his chest x-ray. Surprisingly enough, no one else in this household has gotten it...*knock on wood*...let's hope it continues that way. There's way too much going on at work right now. I'm slightly (kind of a lot) stressed out and overwhelmed. My milk stash is impressively huge which is a very good thing considering I'm having to travel next week <- one source of stress of which I shall complain about later in this post. We went to Tate's Farm and had a grand time. Charley could've stayed in the corn pools ALL DAY and would've been fine. He didn't care too much for the petting zoo. Like I said...he LOVED the corn pools. All of 5 of them. I will post pictures soon. We bought a 75lb pumpkin.

Why?

Because we can.

It is now sitting out in the corner of our lot with 2 smaller gourds of similar color. Izyk is sleeping 9 hours at night. It's a beautiful thing. Although, he totally knows when it's bedtime because he starts pouting and fussing as we are singing the bedtime song. Charley and him are still doing great together. My house is in total disarray. I apologize to everyone who comes over and has to experience said mess. I made an awesomely delicious caramel apple pie this past weekend using apples from Isom's. Nothing like baking a pie using local produce. I'm thinking I may try making fried pies using the rest of the apples. I have tomorrow and monday off from work. I can't decide if I'm going to relax or freak out and use the time to clean my house. I was involved in an accident. The Nissan now has a dinner plate sized dent in the driver side rear bumper. So much for selling the car. I'm trying to decide if I want a new phone or if I'm going to take Ryan's Droid (and Ryan gets the new phone). I've been helping Ryan a lot lately with this last Research and Statistics class. I despise Statistics. Not my favorite subject but it's nice to know I remember confidence intervals that I learned 8 years ago.

Back to the business trip next week...not looking forward to it. Whilst I've figured out the logistics of pumping during the supplier visit, I have yet to figure out how/where I'm going to pump mid-flight and at airports. I'm EXTREMELY nervous about it as I've never PUMPED in PUBLIC.

The thought of it STRESSES the SNOT out of me.

I've thought about waiting to pump until I get to the hotel room but 6-7 hours is way too long and I'll be engorged before then. I've heard horror stories of the TSA holding up mothers bringing their pumps as carry-ons thinking they were bombs. Really? A pump looks like a bomb??? And do I LOOK like a threat?? I will be gone for pretty much 2 days which really isn't that long but it is. :) I've had to request a freezer/fridge and a microwave for my hotel room. I have to figure out how I'm going to bring the milk back with me. I'll probably buy a bunch of gel packs and a cooler and pray it all makes it back to Huntsville. Hate hate hate hate hate hate having to do this...I can't think of a more precise word...just hate. Talk about an emotional wreck. It's pathetic. One moment I think it's all good and I can handle it...the next moment I'm having a psychotic emotional breakdown in which my husband has no way of consoling me. I'm a walking friggin' disaster.

I'll post pictures tomorrow when I have...time...which means I won't get to it for another week. But does anyone really care? Probably not but it sure is fun to pretend.

2 Month appointment...from last week

2010-09-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

Ha...yes it took me a full week to post the exciting milestones of my dear 2nd child. At his two month appointment, Izyk weighed in at a whopping 15lbs, 2 oz and 25inches long. Both measurements put him in the 97th percentile. All I could say is, DANG. I can't say I'm feeding him any different than Charley but he does take 5 oz the two feedings while I'm at work. My little chunk. He's smiling, laughing, and talking up a storm. Still sleeping 10pm to 6am. I'm not rushing to make that any bigger of a gap but eventually we'll move that 10pm feeding back. He's starting to wake up with a happy disposition, as in he wakes up cooing and smiling, instead of crying. Yay! He had his chest x-ray/ultrasound last sunday and everything came back normal as can be. *thumbs up*

The balance between work and home still is a challenge. I wish it were easier to be a working mom but it gets harder, not easier, as you have 'em. I get to spend a beautiful 3 hours with my Charley before he is off to bed and Izyk a bit more as I have to wake him up in the morning to nurse before I leave.

*sigh*

At least I have the weekends. It's better than nothing. :)

Daddy and Izyk.

A little blurry but he was laughing...

Bulldog Izyk.

Another Daddy and Izyk.

Charley man...

Mama and Izyk.

Oh so happy.

The end.

I LOVE...

2010-09-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

my boys...

A little update

2010-09-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

Okay...so I don't start work until TUESDAY. Monday is, of course, a holiday. I knew that. So Izyk is sleeping through the night...like 10pm to 6am and sometimes longer (like this morning). We started using a bottle a bit later than usual but he is adjusting well. Hopefully it'll get easier for him. I really do hate pumping but I'm grateful I am able to do it and with an awesome pump. Hopefully this time there will be less "pumping" stress.

Potty training with Charley is going fine. We are taking the relaxed road. Doing it when I can. Today was a third day of potty training. It's actually been quite humorous. Yesterday I gave him 3 huge sippy cups of fluid and he usually has a bowel movement in the morning. So I figured it'd be a good time to attempt using the potty. I only had a couple of hours before his nap time so we went for it. He kept trying to put a diaper on himself and kept making the sound for urinating. He also kept grabbing at his crotch (which he does when he has a bowel movement). The second I put a diaper on him, he did both. Lovely. Today was a slightly different story. He held it again but he started dribbling a little. Needless to say, I had to clean up a mess. One of these days he'll get it. :) I think it's a good sign that he can hold it though. Now I just have to convince him to do it in the toilet or potty.

And some pictures...

Charley blowing bubbles...

Playing with Izyk...

Hanging out.

New arrangements and other randomness

2010-08-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first night that Charley slept in his bed. It was also the first night for Izyk to sleep in the crib. To tell you the truth, I think we ALL slept better. Charley still slept until 9am and Izyk "slept" through the night...ish. (He slept from 10:30pm to 6:00am which is going to work out really well when I start work next week.)

Speaking of work...I start back to work on Monday. I'm not ready. I guess I'm never ready. :( Oh well. Pumping this time around is definitely a lot easier and I think I'm less stressed about the whole thing. Plus, whenever I return to work after time off, I feel like I'm starting a new job. Haha! I haven't been there in 2 months and I'm going to have to learn everything all over again!

Housework...totally have fallen behind and I won't ever catch up <- story of my life. Trying to let it go.

Dinners lately have been decided at the last minute and involves running to the store in the evening to buy supplies for that particular dinner. We haven't done a full grocery shopping in awhile...another "Oh well"...

I have two loads of laundry sitting on the couch...unfolded. It bothers me.

Ryan is napping and so is Charley. Izyk will be going down in a half hour. I'm starving but have no motivation to find food.

Excited to get my soap from Goat Milk Stuff which should be arriving in the next couple of days. Their soap is amazing and smells AWESOME. I tried the bath bombs the other night. LOVE THEM.

I have my skin biopsy next friday for the spot on my forehead. Ugh.

Ryan's 30th birthday is this friday and failing as wife, I have NO plans currently for this "milestone" event (I'm sure he's appreciative of that).

Another fail...I don't have pictures for this post because my camera died.

The visit...

2010-08-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

where we had (at one point) 9 more people in our house. :) It was also mid-90's and humid so the greater part of the visit was spent indoors. Although, with the slip 'n slide and the mini-wading pool, they still had fun outdoors. It was a joy having everyone and we had great fun. We really do miss everyone and the two family times we had this past month and a half made us realize how much we missed everyone. Izyk spent most (98%) of his time asleep and Charley spent most of his time playing with the cousins. That's all I'm going to say and the rest is in the pictures.

Unloading all the legos into his shirt!

Jarod and Izyk...

Charley hitching a ride on Brennan down the slip n' slide!

Aunt Brandi and Charley playing in the pool...

Riding cousin Brennan again!

It's a race to the end... who won???

All the grandkids minus Dakota. :-(

Jodi and Izyk...

Playing games and trying not to smile...

Jodi...

Putting more stuff down the shirt...

Jonny holding Izyk..

Izyk passed out...in his cute dinosaur outfit.

The Big Boy Bed

2010-08-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

So we had been shopping around for a bed to get Charley since he is a big boy now and.... we needed the crib for Izyk. We settled on a cubby bed we found online, however, it was about $300 and more than what we had planned on spending. After Shauna did some spying on her usual blog viewing of people she has never met or even know, on one of the blogs they had built their own headboard for their kids bed. It turns out they found the instructions on a website which they so kindly posted the link for others to go and view the possibilities of beds to build yourself. After searching Shauna found the same bed we wanted and if we built it, would cost half as much. So she printed out the instructions and I was to build my first bed. (insert excitement here)

I finally decided to go to Lowe's or Home Depot and get the supplies needed to build the bed............ four hours later I came home with all the wood needed to build the bed. I say four hours because I had to go back and forth between the two. (Keep in mind this should have only been an hour if I had planned better) I first went to Lowe's and after an hour or so figured out the amount of wood to buy with as little scrap as possible. I then proceeded to look through all the wood to find good pieces to use... unfortunately they had one good piece and that was about it. I also found out after looking through all the wood available that the saw was broken and they wouldn't be able to cut anything for me. (I also have to get everything to fit in our Toyota Matrix) So went to Home Depot to see what they had and see if their saw was up and running. It was, so I then started looking for the wood... which there was one... (insert anger) So I had to reevaluate my options and at this time just wanted to get home. I just crabbed the best looking pieces and dealt with what I got.

So I got the wood finally and to make this longer story shorter, had some bad cuts on the wood, premature sanding, and a few other hiccups, but got it all together.

Now I had offers to help with the building of the bed, but decided since both Grandpa's would be visiting I would have each one help out in the building. The reason I wanted this was so there was a bit of history or story with the bed. The bed ended up being built in three sections which worked out perfectly. The staining and clear coat was left for Papa Nichols since he was the last to visit. Everything turned out pretty well considering. Here are the pics with Charley mans AWESOME bedding.

Adjusting

2010-08-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

Izyk = 3 weeks, Charley = 18 months (almost 19 months)...I've been spoiled the last 3 weeks with always having someone here and keeping Charley busy. Come Saturday, I'll be on my own for a whole 5 hours. HA. It's only 2 children, although being outnumbered is still slightly intimidating. My main concern is when I'm nursing Izyk. Charley is into everything and we can't get him to sit through a movie. He'll watch Veggie Tales for 5 minutes before he's off finding something else to do. I've resolved myself to 1) locking ourselves in Charley's room or 2) gating ourselves in the living room with his toys.

ANYWAYS, we have/had 4 days to ourselves before the next round of family comes out to visit. We are very excited to see more family. Charley will get to see more people he is related to!

Izyk is doing a lot of sleeping still and he is a very good eater. He is getting big fast. He is out of newborn clothes already.

*sigh*

He loves being warm and being outside. He has a little bit of reflux but it doesn't bother him. He has a problem with gas and it usually shows itself at night before bedtime. We're hoping he grows out of that really soon but have found gripe water to be a bit helpful in that. He smiles a lot in his sleep along with twitching and snoring. He makes a whole lot of noise when he is awake, asleep, and nursing. Lots of grunting and sighs. It's actually kind of entertaining.

Charley is interested in him when he's around (always wants to give him kisses) but indifferent besides that. Charley does not like it when Izyk is crying. When Izyk cries, so does Charley. Haha! And I have never seen so many diapers in all my life. For the most part we are back in cloth diapers for Charley but my goodness...for those couple of weeks...whoa.

Ryan is building Charley's "big boy" bed. Both grandpas have helped/are helping build it. In 2 weeks or so, Charley will be in a bed and Izyk will be in his crib. Here's hoping for a smooth transition. I'll have pictures when the bed is complete. :)

My parents and my sister left on Tuesday. Sad day. All the pictures from that visit are with my mom. As soon as I get those pictures, I'll get those posted. But for now, here are some pictures from the past couple of days.

Checkups!

2010-07-27T09:48:00.001-07:00

Today we had Izyk's 2 week checkup and Charley's 18 month checkup. Izyk is 8lbs 10oz...he has gained almost 2lbs in 2 weeks and grew 1 inch (21 inches long). He is in the 5oth percentile across the board. Charley is 75th percentile for height (33 inches) and weight (25lbs). His head circumference is in the 50th percentile. Hooray for growth!!

Amendment

2010-07-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

So after my post-0p appointment with MY doctor, we've become enlightened. Things make a little more sense now. First off, Izyk was "OT"...occipito-transverse, meaning that his head was lengthwise, his head was pointing to one side of my pelvis. While I was pushing, the nurse was trying to get him to turn but he didn't. He got stuck. Then he went into distress (tachycardia), which is why when they had started to cut me open and I felt it, they just knocked me out. So he was purple because of his tachycardia and the fact that the anesthesia had gotten to him. My doctor says that when they use anesthesia they have to get the baby out quickly otherwise the drugs get to them, which is what happened. In speculation, all the cuts we have (Izyk and I) are all due in part to doctor trying to move quickly to get the baby out. Not a very good excuse...ha, but whatever. Like I said before, we are ALIVE. That's all I care about. And now...for some pictures.

Charley found a good hiding place.

Meeting little brother.

An attempt at a "family" picture...

Hanging...

Izyk James Nichols

2010-07-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

Warning: There are not a lot of pictures at the moment but there will be more coming. If you don't like to read...I suggest you skip this blog. :) Also, I'm a little bit bitter...actually a whole lot bitter about how this labor went, though I'm thrilled that we all survived it. Enjoy...ish.

First of all, we are getting a lot of grief for his name. I don't care if teachers or people won't be able to pronounce his name when he gets older...you forget...my last name was NORBRYHN. I'd like to think I turned out okay even with a tough name. Secondly, his name isn't hard to pronounce, it's just spelled differently. SOUND IT OUT...eye-zik.

Let us talk about July 10th. I'd like to just say that my body does great pregnant. Pregnancy is grand for me. Labor apparently is my enemy. I've learned this and I've accepted this. July 10th was emotionally and physically traumatizing. I will never again drink raspberry leaf tea in my last trimester of pregnancy. I thought it was coincidence with Charley but 2 out of 2...I'm starting to believe the stuff works. I had a big mug of it at work on Friday afternoon. After getting home from work Ryan and I TALKED about how I should probably pack a bag...just in case. I said I'd do it this weekend sometime. I wasn't in a big hurry. I had 2 weeks left and my mom was planning on flying out here the following week anyway.

1:53 am I had woken up to use the restroom. Out came my mucous plug and amniotic fluid. Lots of it. Really? I sat on the toilet and cursed the red raspberry leaf tea. If you believe it to be coincidence, that's fine. It still gives me something to blame. I will blame tea. It took me a good 3 minutes to wake my hubby from his peaceful slumber to inform him that my water had broken and 1) we had no one to watch Charley 2) my bag wasn't packed 3) I'm trying really hard not to stress at the moment.

2:00am - Ryan spent a good 10 minutes calling people. We did not want to have to bring Charley with us being as it he is very unpleasant when woken up. I mean, who wouldn't be at 2 in the morning?

2:15am - We are on our way to the hospital with Charley coverage.

We get to the hospital and sign in. Two other women showed up at the same time with broken waters. Popular night. We got escorted to our room where I was instructed to remove all clothing. Oh goody. Let's begin my "birth plan"...

Side note: I've given up on birth plans as they clearly have no room in my life. I only become more and more disappointed as each time my birth plan is clobbered by the unexpected.

For the first 2 hours of labor, I didn't mention the internal monitors that my doctor had warned me about hoping that they might be forgotten. But 2 hours is all I got. My nurse came in and told me the doctor on duty said I needed internal monitors and if my doctor had mentioned it. Why, yes she did mention it. (As a laboring VBAC, they closely monitor contractions, the uterus, and the baby's heart rate) She then begins to tell me that she doesn't like putting in these internal monitors without an epidural. I ask why and am convinced that's not the kind of pain I want to feel on top of contracting. I agree to the epidural and am very thankful I did. The downhill path begins. The doctor on call comes in and talks about how everyone NEEDS to have their babies BEFORE 1pm. I ask why...wasn't really thinking about maybe she has some personal thing she needs to get to...at that moment, I really didn't care. I wanted to know why there was a cap on my laboring time. I got some "Well..." and "She needs to be somewhere..." blah blah blah. On top of it all, they would only let me push for 2 hours (due to me being VBAC and that whole uterine rupture chance [insert more blah's]). It came time to push, so I pushed. I pushed for two hours. I could've pushed longer...but I had surpassed the two hour mark. I tried every position in the book. It was kind of fun. I found my favorite positions to give birth in...if...I...ever...yeah, onward.

So, on top of laboring, this dude saunters in to my roomattached to the heels of my nurse. I'm a little confused. Is he lost? Does he not realize he's on the Labor & Delivery floor (there are NO males on this floor except spouses, significant others, family, etc.)? Everyone has left the room and Ryan and I begin to discuss this visitor. Ryan is getting a little uptight that he was in there. I think I was more confused than anything because they usually ask BEFORE new people are introduced into the mix. The doctor on call comes in, Ryan asks about this dude. She says they usually ask if it's okay, we tell her they didn't, she asks if we don't want him in there, Ryan tells her as long as he stands...I say no. I don't want random people in myroom.

So I get wheeled into the surgery room with an audience. They prep me for the c-section. The doctor begins to cut and saw away at my mid-section. Much to my horror, I'm feeling this. I say something and the doctor says that she has stopped. That's nice, I'm in absolute pain. Everyone starts kind of running around in a panic. Ryan is getting rushed out of the room, they're talking about knocking me out, and I'm trying really hard to keep calm. I wake up in Recovery with 2 different alarms going off and the nurse telling me to take deep breaths.

Break: Everything written in this paragraph is what I heard second hand from Ryan. He was watching from outside the operating room. Several things occurred. I shall list them:

1) Doctor "stabbed" herself with the cauterizing knife. She needed a new glove.

2) Doctor cut the side of my son's face while cutting me open giving him what she deemed to be a "superficial" cut.

3) Doctor apparently cut me in several areas not anywhere NEAR my c-section area. *thumbs up*

4) Izyk experienced some respiratory issues. He was under stress and couldn't "catch" his breath leaving him purple.

5) Ryan had to carry our newborn son, not breathing, to NICU.

Needless to say, Ryan got to experience a whole slew of emotions within 20 minutes.

Okay, I wake up in Recovery...wait, wait, wait, I get WOKEN up every 2 minutes because (AGAIN) my heart rate is too low. (Note: I've always had a low heart rate. For one, it runs in my family and two, as a runner I am graced with an incredibly slow pulse. This same thing happened when I had Charley).

The rest of the day is spent talking about the events of the day...oh and stats...

Born 2:19pm via c-section (that I was unconscious for) on July 10th 2010. Izyk weighed in at 6lbs 15 oz and measured at 20 inches long.

Coincidence?

2010-07-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

So last night as Charley was running around naked, he started making his sound for urinating. He went over to his potty and started to put one foot in. Now, I thought he was just wanting to mess with the potty. So I kind of ushered him into his room so we could start getting him dressed and ready for bed. He started urinating on the floor. I actually got excited. I wasn't sure if he was recognizing the fact he had to go potty or if it was coincidence. Regardless, it's a good start in my mind. Everyone keeps telling me boys are hard to potty train and that's been a little discouraging. I'm not stressing about it and we are just doing what we can with what little time we do have to work on potty training. With this little one due in the next couple of weeks, I have other priorities...which at this moment, seems to be everything.

Charley head planted the other day onto the asphalt. It was an awkward fall. One of those where he forgot he had arms. He was dragging around a stick and there was this little uneven area...maybe an inch lower. I don't know what he was trying to do but head met asphalt. Poor kiddo. Doesn't look too bad in pictures though and as of today it's almost completely healed. Nothing a bite of homemade cookies & cream ice cream couldn't fix. :) The day before he was pushing his little rocket around and fell twice in a row on his knees. Didn't cry, but for once it drew some blood.

And me at 37 weeks. I feel like I look big but then again the child has nowhere to go but out. And lately there have been plenty of times I forget I have the belly and knock over things on tables and counters. As requested, a side by side from my first pregnancy and this one. The one on the right is from December 2008 (Charley man) and on the left is today, July 2010. Side note, as of last week I was a centimeter dilated and 50% effaced. Further than I was at this point with Charley. So...maybe earlier!?!

*crosses fingers*

I'm ready to be on maternity leave! Hahaha! AND to know if it's a girl or a boy!!

P.S.

2010-06-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

My son is still being confused for a girl at 17 months old...awesome...

Here's my girly looking son...

34 weeks

2010-06-12T15:08:00.001-07:00

And yes I'm behind. :) So here I am at 34 weeks. Definitely bigger this time around but I have gained the same weight as I did with Charley at this point so I'm not sure what the deal is...besides loose muscles.

My doctor and I have been discussing how we're going to proceed with birth on this one. It pretty much comes down to just winging it. I am aiming for VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) but if I don't go into labor or have this baby by my due date, I will have to be cut open. Oh goody. Needless to say, I'll be trying everything in the book AGAIN to have this baby before July 23rd. I may be able to convince my doctor to wait to section me until the following week depending on how I am looking. (At least that'll give me another two days!) But we will see. I'm anxious for my first cervical check just to see if anything has happened.

Chattanooga Choo Choo and the Aquarium

2010-05-31T10:45:00.000-07:00

We decided to hit up Chattanooga, TN this past weekend as Ryan had a three day weekend (Fri, Sat, and Sun...not Monday...booooo). We visited the Tennessee Aquarium. This was our first actual trip with Charley. The last time we "traveled" he was 3 months old so I don't really count that. We learned a lot about this little man on our overnight trip...such as, he is much more delightful when he's exhausted and passes out in the car. We waited to leave our house until after his afternoon nap (and once I had gotten off of work). He's used to playing a lot so we had to pull over outside of Scottsboro so he could stretch his legs. Once to the hotel, the Chattanooga Choo Choo, we scoured the grounds of this historic hotel. I didn't get ANY pictures while we were there. My bad. The camera was in the car and it was raining. We also kept forgetting to grab the keys so we could get it. Oh well. This is Charley on our way there. The beginning of the trip.

Charley almost towards the end. Reading about the VERY hungry caterpillar.

We brought our bathing suits in hopes of using the pool. We got to after we had eaten dinner and it had stopped raining. It was late but we wanted to get a swim in. The pool was 20deg below zero, I kid you not. This child did not want to leave the pool. His lips had turned purple and he was shivering and yet he fussed when Mama and Dad decided it was too cold. We had been in long enough and it was late. We have since decided to look into swimming lessons for him. We also found out that Charley does not like elevators. I had visited a friend in the hospital a couple of weeks ago (she had a baby) and he cried a little on the elevator going up and back down. I had assumed he was just tired. Apparently, he just doesn't like elevators and our room was on the fifth floor. Lord help us if there was a stop between the ground floor and our floor. It wasn't BAD, he just cried. I'm really bummed I didn't get any pictures but the whole hotel experience was different. Having a crib in the same room as us was different. He's not the sort of kid that's just going to fall asleep especially if there was other things going on. So, we laid him down and we closed ourselves in the bathroom. We showered, got ready for bed. By that time, he had fallen asleep. We didn't sleep all that well, probably because we were afraid to move thinking it was going to wake him up. We all woke up at 7:30am, got ready, went to breakfast where he entertained a couple next to us the ENTIRE time. Played a little in the gardens, went back to the room for a nap where...I had forgotten to hang the "Do Not Disturb" sign and housekeeping in our building were the loudest folks I've ever had the joy of experiencing. Needless to say, we got a 20 minute nap and decided to be on our way to the aquarium. A couple of pictures as we were leaving the premises...

The aquarium adventure begins.

He loved the turtles...

On our way to lunch.

The Tennessee River. Next time, assuming there is a next time, we'll get to do the river journey. Charley wasn't big enough this time and I didn't want to be on a boat for 2 hours with him. :)

He was trying to pet the sting rays but they were at the bottom of the pool so he was having fun just playing in the water.

And the Butterfly garden was AWESOME. I think that was my favorite. We had to continually move because we were worried he'd grab ahold of a butterfly and crush them. He's not the most gentle toddler.

The penguins were fun. One of them just kept swimming back and forth in front of Charley. It was amusing.

The jellyfish were cool.

This is how we spent the ride home. It was a really fun trip and I'm glad we got the chance to go up there.

Somnambulation

2010-05-18T04:40:00.000-07:00

It's the middle of the night and WHERE am I? When I was younger, I would sleepwalk. In fact, Scott (one of my younger brothers) also would sleepwalk. He did it a lot more than I did. I think I might have done it in college once and freaked out my roommates but since then I haven't had an "episode"...until pregnancy. With Charley, I didn't really sleepwalk, it was more of a panicked awakening thinking he was somewhere in bed with us and we were clobbering him. On many occasion I would wake my poor hubby in the middle of the night/morning, FREAKING out. We didn't co-sleep. Charley was always either in the bassinet or his crib. That subsided after...ah-hem...a couple of months.

Currently, I've been waking up somewhere other than my bed searching for Charley. That he's somewhere in our room, in the closet, fallen between the headboard and the mattress...I know what causes it but sometimes I can't help it. And every time it has happened to me, Ryan was not in bed yet. Which, when I think about it, is probably a good thing because I would have clobbered him trying to get out of bed. Now, sleepwalking wouldn't be so bad if it didn't take me 10 minutes to figure out 1) why I'm not in bed, 2) where the heck am I, 3) why the light is on, and 4) why I'm searching for my son. I'm a little concerned when I start finding my way OUT of our room. So far, we are safe. Let's just hope Charley didn't get my genes.

And since posts are so boring without pictures, take a gander of my little helper from the other day. Working hard on that floor. HA!

And playing outside...

Conversation with the check out clerk...

2010-05-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

Him: "How are you doing today?"

Me: "Fine. Just keeping busy."

Him: "Ah, when are you due?"

Me: "July."

Him: "I was born in July."

Me: "Good month."

Him: "How old is he?"

Me: "Sixteen months."

Him: "Whoa. Cutting it kinda close, huh?"

Me: "Sure."

Him: "Have a nice day."

Me: "Thanks. You too."

*Charley waves to no one in particular as we exit grocery store....*

28 weeks ish

2010-05-07T05:18:00.001-07:00

There really hasn't been much going on lately except a lot of work and a lot of chores which are never done. It has been incredibly busy at work for me and Ryan as well. I passed the 28 week milestone...woot woot! The picture you see is 3 or 4 days past the 28 week mark. Definitely bigger than the first time around. This pregnancy has more of the aches and pains but nothing major. I think this baby has dropped already. He/she is a lot lower as of last weekend. I can breathe a lot easier and I don't have heartburn/indigestion. Amazing. I think I've said this before but I don't think this child sleeps...at all. I love that he/she moves all the time. Also, I'm addicted to lather, rinse, repeat. I kid you not. My skin is going to fall off before I give birth. I love soap and lathering soap up and rinsing it off and starting all over again. Needless to say, I shower for a good hour right now to get in enough lathering. I guess it could be worse. Looking forward to the next two and a half months...see how big I get. :)

Charley is nearing the end of his antibiotics. He got an ear infection from some cold we both had. Ryan was really sick for about week. Luckily, he didn't give it to neither myself or Charley. Charley is climbing...everything. He can climb up, he just can't get down. He kept finding himself on the coffee table. We kept showing him how to climb off. He just couldn't get it so we moved the coffee table. Remember my last post about him liking to push carts and strollers and such? We were at the grocery store (quick trip for like 2 things) and it was evening so there wasn't a whole bunch of people there but enough. Ryan and I split up. Ryan ran off to get lunch meat...I went to get milk. Ryan had Charley. Apparently, Ryan had put Charley down on the ground. Charley found a lady's cart...decided he needed to push it. He ran off with another person's cart at the grocery store. I'm sad I missed it. Would've love to had seen the events unfold. Haha! Oh well...we just have to keep a close eye on this little dude around things that are pushable.

And he climbs things...but can't climb down no matter how many times we show him. Oh well, one of these days he'll learn.

We bought these converses forever ago and he finally fits in them. Bugaboo and Mama matched when we ran some errands! Now instead of ripping off the velcro, he chews on his laces. Yes, he's wearing a Queen's shirt. ROCK ON!!!

15 Month Stats

2010-04-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Charley's 15 month checkup. He's cruising along the 25th percentile (except for his enormous noggin' coming in on the 35th percentile). He fussed more when the doctor had to look at his ears, nose, mouth, than when he got his two shots. He is 30.5 inches tall which is more than half of Mama...and he's 23.3 pounds. So far, so good!

And for s and g's, Ryan and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary this past Thursday. It's all gone by sooooo fast. :) We are very happy and excited to be on this journey together.

26 week belly belly belly

2010-04-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm late. Oh well. Belly picture at 26 weeks. We'sa getting there. My next appointment is that glucose test and I'm really, really not looking forward to it. Who does? Last time I was hovering over the toilet for a good 10 minutes and spent another 15 minutes crying because 1) I was miserable and 2) the nurse had told me I had failed the test when I was really just borderline but my doctor considered it passing. I'm hypoglycemic when I'm NOT pregnant and I die as it is being pregnant. So let's just hope this next appointment isn't as traumatic. I feel huge but when I look at pictures I don't look as big as I feel. This child moves ALL DAY LONG. Way more than Charley did. I crave fried pickles and fruit, mainly strawberries. I've been really exhausted lately but I'm blaming that on the chaos at work that hasn't let up for about 3 weeks and is not going to get any better next week so I just kind of have to deal...try to go to bed early type of thing which never works out but is SUCH a nice thought.

While I appreciate everyone noticing my prego-ness, is it really necessary to say "AGAIN?" with such emphasis? And comments such as "Well, that was quick", "Didn't you JUST have one?", and "Y'all need a hobby" are not required. There are MANY people out there that have children closer together than I (my mother, for one, is a PRIME example of that and I'm pretty sure she didn't have to hear about her pregnancy on a daily basis from people she worked with ...). As for a hobby, I have one thankyouverymuch. The end.

Park Play and other such fun

2010-04-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

So we've been hanging out at the park lots on the weekend and a little during week when we get a chance. It gets Bugaboo running around and burning LOTS of energy. He'll usually play on the playground, then spend a half hour pushing the stroller around the field. He'd probably do that for hours if I let him. He does the same thing when we are shopping...he pushes the cart around the store. I have a video but can't get it to load so that will be coming if I ever figure out what the problem is...

And he still eats bark...

Hooray for slides.

Swings are a'ight...

Enormous spider that attacked me whilst I was feeding our dog.

Chubbers.

And he found the flour. Awesome.

I have to keep this kid off our patio. He devours my irises. It's not like one of those he-tries-to-eat-it-but-spits-it-out type eating. He enjoys eating my flowers. I had one of my purple irises finally bloom. He picked it, chewed it, and swallowed the thing. It was my ONLY flower that had finally bloomed and he ATE it. A white one bloomed...guess where he headed first when we went outside? My child eats flowers like it's candy.

Easter

2010-04-06T14:54:00.001-07:00

Easter was all sorts of fun and excitement...ish. Charley wasn't very big on chocolate. *gasp* But he does like peeps. Go figure. After about the 10th egg, he finally figured out what he was suppose to be doing. Though he would have both hands with eggs, he'd find a new one and drop the two he was carrying. I'd show him the basket and he wanted to start taking the eggs out of the basket. Fun times. We only have a few pictures as it's not that interesting with a one year old on an egg hunt. :) He got a lot of fun things in his easter basket though! Highlights: Bumblebee and Optimus Prime cars. Now, all day long alls I hear is the robot transformation going off.

Yay! Found one of like 30 eggs...:S

This was before we mowed the yard. The grass was deep, made good hiding places for eggs. Haha!

Putting eggs in the basket.

Besides Easter, there really isn't a whole lot going on. Ryan is still working full time, going to school full time, and somehow finding time to do yard work. Not quite sure how this is all going to work once Baby #2 comes along but I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. It's been really, really nice lately. Temperatures in the 80's and just darn beautiful outside so Charley has been playing a lot out back. He's happy with the empty plastic pool we bought for Maya last year. He plays with that thing for a good 45 minutes before getting bored. Though I'm constantly fishing bark out of this kid's mouth. Bark CAN'T be that good.

Helping Dad mow the yard.

Helping with the pine needles.

Falling into some mud and wearing white shoes...*thumbs up*

Wanting to push the wheelbarrow.

Hey, this doesn't look like grass.

Side Story

We were having dinner at a friend's house for Easter and they have a dog. She's a very active dog and for the most part just wants to play ALL THE TIME. We've gone over to their house on several occasions and it has been good practice for Molly (the dog) AND Charley. Molly and Charley did really well together all night. THEN, Charley decided to follow Dad to the restroom, Molly thought it was playtime. Charley's face met the tile. I think he forgot to put his hands out. He got some scraps on his nose, no blood, and cried for about a minute. Poor little dude. I guess it didn't help that he was kind of overtired considering he refused to nap during his evening nap. He fell asleep in the car before we even got off their street, which is rare for Charley. He usually doesn't sleep in the car. :) Good times.

Dad did his hair. Look at them chompers...big ole teeth!!

My Incredible Wife!!!

2010-03-10T22:51:00.001-08:00

So I don't ever get on here but needed to brag a little bit about my wife. So here are a few reasons why she is the best and perfect fit for me!

While I go to school and finally get my degree, my wife continues to push me and call me on my bullshit excuses for not doing my homework. She also sits down right next to me and helps keep me focused while doing homework. Most of the time she is more determined and focused for me to keep me going.

Even though she has told me not to work so I can concentrate on school, I still do. She also doesn't like me working because of my odd hours that keep me away from her. Even though I miss her whenever I am away for a second, I need to feel like I am doing something. She understands this and lets me work. Getting to work at my dream job at Gamestop is nice and for those who don't know I was promoted last September or October to Senior Game Advisor/3rd key Manager. Well... today I was told that I have the opportunity to be promoted again if I am willing to take the position as Assistant Manager at another Gamestop. This would give me more hours, or as Shauna would say, takes me away from her more. After a long walk and very good conversation with her today, we have decided that I will take this promotion for the sake of my resume for when I am done with school. She is the best because she knows what this means to me and is willing to deal with the time lost for a couple years. There are several more reasons why she doesn't like this job but we don't need to go there.

So with the couple reasons above, stacked with many more, the thing that amazes me about this woman is: aside from working 8 - 9 hours, she still does the laundry, dishes (when I don't get them done fast enough for her), cleans house, takes care of Charley when I'm working, is pregnant with our second child, and continues to love me endlessly. Now I'm not saying I don't do anything, so don't yell at me, but she goes above and beyond anything I could ever ask for in a wife, companion, and best friend. She still makes baby food people!!! If Charley comes down with something, she will hop straight onto the internet and research the hell out of it and relay everything she can into my head. She cares (or should I say stresses) about everyone and everything. She is near perfection for me or anyone as far as I'm concerned... she would have gotten the perfection title if only she played video games. lol.

I could really go on and on about why she is so incredible, but I will spare everyone all the mushy gooshy stuff, and the private reasons.

I love my wife more than anything in this world and hope to be with her forever. She is my soulmate no doubt about it. She is my everything, even when I am mad at her for the 5 minutes that it may last. I seriously can't imagine life without her and whenever I do I cry. Life without her simply wouldn't make sense.

To Shauna... you are my everything. You are my heart and soul. You are what makes me be the better man I am always trying to be. You are my best friend. You are the one and only for me. You are my rock and foundation for life. I seriously could not do all this without you by my side every step of the way.

I am sorry I couldn't give you the one thing I know you wanted more in life than anything... I am working on that and hope that maybe in a few years your dream and mine will come true. Don't ever give up on me and I will give you that dream.

Love Always,

Ryan aka Your BFF

20 week belly...

2010-03-09T15:04:00.000-08:00

Clothed...

Unclothed...

I've gained 10lbs...exciting but not...however, those are size zero jeans, THAT is exciting. Won't be wearing those in the upcoming weeks. I'm savoring this moment.

Bugaboo is a walker. More so a walker than a crawler although he is still doing both. He loves to push things.

He loves his milk.

I caught them reading books.

Chubbers.

Notice his double chin...genetic. He could be 5 lbs and he'd still have a double chin. Can you hear the resentment in my voice? It's cute on him, I can be thankful for that!

"Smile boys..." Bugaboo tried...Ryan not so much. Gotta be coo'...

And breaking in the roof of the "garage" for his rocket ship radio flyer. He was bouncing, thought it was fun.

And another cheesy smile.

The end. :)

Stumbling

2010-02-27T18:55:00.000-08:00

I finally got Charley "walking" on video (also known as the drunken sailor walk).

Yes, I did it sideways again.

No. I don't know how to fix it.

Yes...I'm too lazy to sit about and figure it out.

I cried because...

2010-02-19T19:07:00.000-08:00

I couldn't get the humidifier back together after filling it with water.
Bugaboo wanted to climb said humidifier whilst I attempted to reconstruct it.
Bugaboo decided to throw a fit right before dinner. I don't know why he felt compelled to cry for 5 minutes straight then crawl into the empty corner of the play room with his head down and sob uncontrollably for another few minutes. Then somehow regaining composure and playing with our recycling bin...normal? Who knows...but I'm trying not to think about it.
Hubs wanted to meet for dinner...after said cry-feast 2010. I agreed to it <- bad mistake.
I can't reach into Bugaboo's crib. I have to throw myself over the side and balance on my ribcage to put him to bed.
I'm tired.
Hormones are not my friend today.
Neither is food.
I still have laundry folded on the couch that has been there for weeks.
I'm sick of the trash guys coming around whenever they feel like it...never on the day they are suppose to thereby causing unneeded stress in this here prego lady.
I yelled undeservingly at Bugaboo twice tonight out of frustration (yet he was more confused by it than anything).

I've had worse days but my fuse today was pretty much non-existent. I just lacked the patience today and instead of stepping back and taking a breath, I let it get to me. Lesson learned. Still...I blame the hormones.

Baby #2 at 17 weeks

2010-02-16T19:07:00.001-08:00

I'm definitely bigger in the belly this time around and I know it's because my stomach muscles are shot. Go figure and now that I'm able to EAT...oh boy do I EAT. LOVE being prego...just wish I looked happier in the pics and I'm half in pj's and half in my daily clothing. Haha! I can feel the baby moving but pretty much only at night. Baby has a FIT (it's rather startling) if I carry Charley above my belly. I have NO cravings yet just the usual if I think about it, I may want it sort of thing.

Side note: Girl Scout cookies came at a VERY good time, or maybe a very BAD time. I don't need help with the weight gain. :S

Random Bugaboo pictures

2010-02-16T19:05:00.001-08:00

He puts his Tigger ball in the cat hut and gets frustrated because he can't get it out.

Climbs EVERYTHING, including this infant vibrating chair that he so gracefully toppled over on to.

Fun times.

Ooohhh, I love HIM.

"Dad, feed me some cheeeesseeeee..."

ONE year old

2010-02-16T18:59:00.001-08:00

Bugaboo had a chill birthday surrounded by friends and of course, his parents. He had cake and ice cream. Loved both, what child doesn't? He got a lot of fun presents including a Tigger ball that he likes to throw down the stairs, some magnetic puzzles (he just wants to chew on), and a radio flyer rocket ship (from Grandma and Grandpa). I've posted the pictures backwards but I'm too lazy to fix them...so deal. :)

Bugaboo is turning into such a character. He loves laughing and balls and cars. He is the epitome of a boy. He is all about bruises, blood, dirt...drives me insane. He scares the snot out of me all the time. This boy is a tank.

Side story:
Bugaboo was playing...I hopped over to the kitchen for something. When I went back to play with Bugaboo, I sat down and started grabbing some of his toys and balls. I noticed blood was all over the balls he was playing with. Took me a minute to find where he was bleeding from. Wasn't his nose, wasn't his face or mouth...arms, legs...ah, fingers...but which one. This entire time he's trying to shoo me away ("Let me play Mama, geez..."). I narrowed it down to his thumb and his forefinger...finally wiped him down enough to see his thumb was sliced. I have not one clue what he cut it on. I scoured the entire room and found NOTHING. Anyways, dragged him up to the bathroom to clean his thumb further and put a bandaid on. He chewed the stupid bandaid off. Figured it'd stop bleeding on its own and let it be. See? Boy...I fear the teenage years...

Random thoughts for a Sunday morning...

2010-02-07T07:42:00.000-08:00

For once, I am up before my one year old son.
Bugaboo has been fighting RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and a double ear infection for the past week. Again, the only reason we were able to tell there was something wrong, he kept waking up at 4am. The drugs are working for his ear infections but we have to ride it out with the RSV. I think we are through the worst of it.
This sounds bad but Bugaboo is the best sick infant I've ever had to deal with. Very rarely has he been fussy and he's still sleeping 12-13 hours each night even with the nasty congestion.
I am waiting for both Ryan and I to get what Bugaboo has (as it is very contagious).
I love that Bugaboo's flexible with nap times and bedtime.
I am to the point I am loving pregnancy again.
I have yet to gain a pound since becoming pregnant and yet somehow I LOOK pregnant. I just "popped" last week.
I'm four months along as of friday.
I've decided that 70 degrees in our house is too warm.
Bugaboo LOVES warm (watered down) apple juice.
The only problem I've had with this whole RSV is getting him to eat as much as he was before he was sick. He's still drinking like a fish. My worst fear was dehydration.
I've never had so many headaches/migraines than I have had in the past week and a half.
Bugaboo is down to one nursing (in the mornings). I should probably decide if I want to wean him off that this weekend considering he's back on his sleeping through the 5am nursing.
I'm going to miss nursing him. :(
I'm excited that we finally went grocery shopping last night considering we haven't been in over 2 weeks.
Bugaboo is walking on his own when he wants to which isn't that often.
I still haven't posted pictures of Bugaboo's birthday <- bad mama.
Bugaboo is very anti-socks lately which coincidentally falls in line with the cold front we are getting.
I really want an egg burrito right now...
Not looking forward to the next two weeks at work as we have 2 audits going on and of course my name is all over BOTH of them.
I really want Firehouse for lunch today and I have no excuse for going there because of said grocery shopping last night.
Experienced poop in the bathtub for the first time last night. Was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
I'm going to end this post as my son has decided to bless me with his presence.

Quick post as I anxiously await dinner

2010-01-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

Few things that I wanted to get down quickly. I have pictures from Charley's birthday. Yes I realize his birthday is in fact TOMORROW however we decided to celebrate this past weekend as weekdays are quite full. Also, we added another word to his vocabulary, juice (which is actually water with a splash of juice). He's taking more and more steps on his own but still not confident enough to take off running. Morning sickness is ALMOST gone. A lame picture of me at 12 weeks (taken almost 2 weeks ago). Looking forward to the end of this week because I am in the middle of a training class at work and it's throwing my whole time thing off. I thrive on structure. Tomorrow I should be getting my new wrap (baby carrier) in and I'm VERY excited. Charley's last day at daycare is....

Drum roll please...

February 5th! Woot woot!

Charley's Second Haircut

2010-01-18T16:02:00.001-08:00

Charley got his second haircut. This time clippers WERE used however the "barber" was again Dad. Shortened the sides and took a little off the top. Charley's bedhead was getting bad. Even after this haircut he was mistaken for a girl.

AGAIN.

Wearing grey sweats and a t-shirt with a guitar on it. 3 days from his official first birthday, he is still getting mistaken for a girl.

"Aaaawwww, she's soooo cute. Look at that mouth full of teeth. What's her name?"

"Charley..."

"Oh, it's a BOY."

Awkward pause.

Yes, apparently we buzz cut our little girl's head and leave it long on top AND top it off by putting her in little boys' attire. Go us.

Christmas post in the middle of January

2010-01-18T15:47:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, it has been like 3 weeks since Christmas BUT I've been exhausted/pukey and that's my excuse. We had a very chill Christmas this year. :) Breakfast consisted of biscuits, gravy, and bacon after opening presents of course. Charley LOVED the box that all the presents came in. It has become a permanent entity in his play area and is constantly being crawled through and sat in on a daily basis. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the noise making toys. We sure do appreciate those.

*Thumbs up*

Here are the pictures.

And the infamous box.

Approaching the one year mark

2010-01-12T18:13:00.000-08:00

Charley turns one year in one week. Time flies when you have kids. I was warned. So does it speed it up when you keep having them? Or does it stay at the same fast pace? He's taking a few steps on his own every now and then...when he feels like it. He said the word "cheese" which we are counting as his first. We haven't really experimented with as much different table foods as I would have liked by now but soon enough and he doesn't seem to be in any hurry. The word cheese came about because I have been eating LOTS of string cheese. I've been sharing with him and I ended up saying "cheese" every time. I wasn't really thinking about it and then he repeated it. Nice. He repeated it for Dad and several others. Now, let's work on the basics, i.e. hi, bye, milk...
He is on his fourth ear infection. Poor little dude can't catch a break. We visited with an ENT. We are opting to hold off as we are pulling him out of daycare in a month and are hiring a nanny/babysitter. Not only will it keep him from having to see the doctor every 2 weeks for antibiotics but we also save a good 60-80 dollars a week (that doesn't include all the co-pays for appointments and drugs) plus he'll still get to interact with another infant who is 4 months old. So we'll see how this works out.
I'm 12 weeks along. I haven't taken a picture because I haven't figured out how by myself and somehow making it decent. SO, that will have to wait a little while longer but it'll be coming. I'll be taking pictures every 4 weeks or so again. I've heard that you start showing sooner with subsequent pregnancies. I feel like I'm showing but have been "reassured" otherwise. Eh, whatever. I'm still getting sick at night which is better than ALL the time as it has been for the past 6 or 8 weeks. I wasn't going to put in pictures, but I'm going to delay posting this until I get my ultrasound uploaded. Yes it's from 4 weeks ago but it's still fun. :) The first picture is 3d which is why it looks blobbish. Apparently, it looks like Serendipity, the purple dragon...

Terrible soon-to-be auntie...

2009-12-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

That I am. I've been meaning to post about my brother, Rob and his wife, Meg. They are expecting their first little one in February!! Yay! I'm totally excited! I'm going to be an aunt on MY side of the family, woot! It is a girl and her name is Avery. We are praying very hard for them as they are going through some tough news as Avery has heterotaxy. But she is being monitored very closely and regularly by specialists. We continue to pray that she grows and thrives. We look forward to having a new addition to the Norbryhn family!

I know, I know, I know...

2009-12-15T07:26:00.001-08:00

the greater of the female population experiences morning sickness. I am not special. I know this. But I find myself frustrated and worn out. My first inkling that I was pregnant, was I was feeling sick. Just ill. Figured I should take a test, just to see. Came out positive. Well, at least I know why I feel so yucky. With Charley, I started getting the morning sickness at 8 weeks. Thought that it's probably the same with this one so I had to be at least 8 weeks. Made my appointment, had my ultrasound. Went a little like this...

"Oh, you are not even 6 weeks along."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, showing just over 5 weeks."

"I've been puking for 2 weeks...."

"Well, you are still very early."

Much to my dismay, I've had morning sickness since the day I CONCEIVED. I mean, seriously? With Charley, I was done with the sickness at 14 weeks. I'm scared with this one. What makes it worse is that I'm limited to what I can take because I'm still breastfeeding. I lost 5lbs in 2 weeks and really, I can't afford to be losing weight. I'll fall below the 100 mark if I lose anymore. This is all while taking Zofran. To top it all off, I only got a 9 day supply because I needed a prior authorization from my insurance which after 3 weeks I still hadn't gotten. I had one pill left and I was going to save it for when I absolutely needed it. I spent 3 days vomiting everything I ate until FINALLY, my doctor must've appealed the rejection because the PA was approved. I downed the last pill just so I could make it out of the house to get my prescription. MISERABLE. I was originally complaining about Zofran not really working. It took away some vomiting but I was still nauseous. But after 3 days of not having it at all...never again will I complain. I feel like a wuss, not being able to take this morning sickness. It really is thrilling at 5am while nursing my son in one arm and puking in a bowl in the other arm. I'll be very, very, very happy if this morning sickness ends...at all. I'd like to eat real food, other than rice, crackers, and toast. Ok, I am now finished complaining about my morning sickness.

So honey....

2009-12-15T07:23:00.000-08:00

"I was trying to get a picture of Charley's smirk. I think I got it."

"Oh yeah? I want to see."

Hands camera over.

Yes, I know I'm not the most creative person on this planet (which I am totally okay with) but it's the only thing I could think of in a six hour time frame. Little Charley will be a big brother in July.

My Mini-rant

2009-11-24T15:15:00.001-08:00

I know I have complained about it, over...and over...and over but stinking daycare. It's not that Charley doesn't enjoy the company of other infants in his age range, it's just that Mama doesn't like the fact he is in another's care. (That and it costs an arm and leg. What am I going to do with two children when the time comes?????) So I can see why working parents stop having children at 1 and 2. As much of a joy they are to have around, to watch grow, and bring us back to reality...how can anyone afford it? Now I'm just being bitter because I'm sure there are lots of families out there with both working parents, with daycare, and somehow making it work. Charley adjusted really well to being dropped off to strangers for 4 or 5 hours a day except the boy won't sleep when things are going on around him. So I pick him up, we go home, I put him to bed, and I won't see him until I wake him for dinner. We play for 45 minutes or so but then it's off to bed. I'm thankful for what little time I DO get to see him but seriously? I knew I'd have to adjust to this when they start going to school but he's 10 months old. Don't want to adjust. Denied. All I can say is boo.

Double boo.

He did get (the start) of his first double ear infection (he weighed a whopping 18lbs at that appointment). He recovered rather quickly and I'm just glad he lets us know when he's not feeling well. When I went to pick up his prescription, the pharmacist asked if I wanted to flavor the medication. I thought, "He's 10 months old, does he really notice these things?" I said no, paid, and went home. This kid thinks it's candy. Smells disgusting but he probably likes the fact he gets to suck on a syringe. I do miss him terribly during the day. I usually cannot leave fast enough to go pick him up. I'll tell you, I don't meander at work when the time comes to leave.

I thought I had more to talk about but apparently I don't. So I'm going to go make more fake hash browns fried in loads of butter and lots of salt because I know it is BAD for me (and it's not like we don't have real potatoes, we do, but I'm just too tired and lazy to peel and grate them...).

End rant

Visit from Papa

2009-11-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

We were blessed with a visit from Papa. He flew out for 4 days to hang with his grandson...oh and a little bit of us (his son and favorite daughter-in-law). We had a grand time although way too short as it always is. I took 2 days off work and now I'm spoiled with spending time with my family. Papa spoiled Charley with attention.

Sigh.

We absolutely love seeing family and spending time with them. It is hard being so far away and only seeing everyone once or twice a year. After having Charley, it makes it all that much more difficult especially when you see other couples and their extended families hanging together. Perhaps in the future, ah-hem, NEAR future we can look at moving closer to the west coast. For now, we will relish in the memories of being with family. We do hope that Papa has a safe and quick trip home. We are SO glad you came and spent time with us.

Halloween

2009-11-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

I realize it has been a week since Halloween. We didn't really do much but we did dress Bugaboo up as Tigger and did a tiny bit of trick or treating at the mall. He didn't mind the costume as I thought he was going to. I wanted to take him to the pumpkin patch but those plans fell through which I suppose is okay being as it he is only 9.5 months old. I'm sure he wouldn't remember it but now I have no pictures of him next to pumpkins...oh well. Bad parents.

Happenings

2009-10-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

For not posting in some time...there really isn't much going on. :) Which perhaps is a good thing. Charley had his 9 month checkup and he's smack dab in the 25th percentile still. He's got 4 teeth, 2 more breaking through. He GRINDS his darned teeth and that drives me UP the WALL. He continuously clicks his tongue after eating and nursing. He's more comfortable standing up now. He is crawling up the stairs like a champ but wants to go down them head first. I've shown him several other acceptable ways but none of which he has grasped. He loves the bath and trying to breath under water. And now for some pictures.

Whatever food this was, he didn't like it. But he certainly will smile for the camera!

Learning to walk. A little tricky especially when you get stuck on a toy and continue to push the stupid thing until you fall head over heels on top of it. Just tonight he was standing up to this walker and fell backwards jamming his bottom teeth into his top gums. Being the awesomely observant mother that I am, didn't notice the blood dribbling out of his mouth until I decided to play with some of the buttons with him. I freaked. But apparently he didn't notice.

Our snake friend. He lives in a hole beside the concrete slab by the front door.

8 months old.

2009-09-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

Charley is usually a pretty clean eater. It only gets messy when he doesn't like the food. Case in point, peas. Every time I'd scoop some up and go to give him some, he would cry and then eat what was on the spoon. I'd get some more, he'd cry and then eat what was on the spoon. Now I thought he was enjoying it because he was eating it. But apparently his crying was his indication of his dislike of said peas AND the mess. More got on the surroundings than in his mouth.

AND loving the watermelon. Good boy.

Better video of the crawler...

2009-09-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

*sigh*

And...he's off!!!

2009-09-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

So first things first...Bugaboo is crawling. I received the following video on my phone TODAY. *sniff sniff*

Secondly, baby kitty has a new home. Yay! Very glad we didn't have to give her to a rescue place. Raisin is back to her abnormally lovable self.

Story time (second hand)...

Ryan was waiting for Bugaboo to awaken in the morning. He was hearing him really close to the monitor. He was making a whole bunch of noise. Ryan walked into the room to get him. Charley had gotten ahold of the monitor and had gotten the cord wrapped around his body SEVERAL times. He had one arm free. I mean, seriously??? We JUST moved it away from him in fear that he would get to it. Now it's sitting on the opposite side of the room. Let's just hope he doesn't figure out how to get out of his crib and crawl to it.

*dramatic pause*

In other news...there is none...oh, child LOVES butternut squash. This weekend we are going to experience some oatmeal, banana, and blueberries. Fun times. Still making my own baby food and loving it. He gives open mouth kisses, stands up holding onto the side of the crib, STILL biting me *ouch*...aaaannnddd laughs like a pterodactyl (<- yeah, I just had my engineering dude friend spell this for me off the top of his head...can I get another "SERIOUSLY???"). We are avoiding having to spend the money on an infant car seat. Eeeck, hate spending that kind of money but oh well, not like we have much of a choice. He's still like 18lbs so we have a tiny bit to go.

Second terrifying story...first hand...

Cracker barrel, love the place, hate the high chairs and ONLY because Charley fell out. I'm still shaky from the experience. Worst Mother of the Year Award? Close. Too close. He reached for something, fell to the ground. Fortunately, Tim's big, fat foot caught his head. He cried for about 3 seconds probably because he saw the look of HORROR in my face. Was hoping he wasn't dying. Went straight back to jumping in my lap. Baby fine, Mama not.

Ugh. Awful.

So we went to Hooters for dinner and to watch a game. Ryan HAD to get a picture of Charley with some of the girls. You see in the picture above there are only 4 girls. There originally was 5 girls but Charley couldn't keep his eyes off one of the girls. So she stood by Ryan so he could snap a picture. Notice he's not staring at the camera. He's not hungry either because he just had dinner.

Recent Developments

2009-09-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

Charley is getting so big. So sad. He can push himself into the sitting up position from his belly/crawling position. Yay! So now we find him sitting in his crib waiting to be picked up. He is eating a whole lot and moving a whole lot. This week we are trying brown rice and chicken. I think he may be getting used to the not-so-smooth texture still. But he's still ALL ABOUT PEACHES.

He got his first haircut...complements of his father and his beard trimmer.

No comment

Regardless, he looks more like a boy. Story leading up to the beard trimmer...Ryan and Charley were at the post office. A lady behind him was admiring our adorable baby boy. She made the comment "Oh, what an adorable little girl..."

Ah-hem

Ryan, upon hearing the comment, refused to acknowledge whatever small talk that was attempted. Please note, Charley was dressed all in blue. His car seat is brown and orange. Nothing about his attire is GIRLY. Now, my son has a buzz cut...at 8 months old.

Maybe, just maybe, we won't be hearing any "cute little girl" comments anymore. :)

A boy and his kitten

2009-08-25T18:05:00.000-07:00

Charley is sitting on his own much more steadier lately. He crawls...ISH...meaning if there's something in front of him he wants, he will get on all fours and move. Kind of crawling, right? He loves to play in the bath and several times he's attempted to breathe under water... (he's trying to suck on the plug in the bath). His hair is filling in and he's eating three meals a day. This boy loves to suck on watermelon. We try to do walks after dinner since it has been cooling off a bit lately. We walk to Dublin Park around 2 of the soccer fields and then head home. Charley takes in the sights...whilst in deep thought. It's amazing what a little fresh air can do for a person.

I've applied for this Electrical Engineering job within Boeing. I'm not too sure if it is what I am looking for. Still delving into that a bit. Regardless, the interview is good practice. :S As much as I DREAD talking to people I DO NOT know. One of these days it will get easier. Or will it? I've been told I'm management material (on several occasions)...HAH. Requirements: communicate...stop there, nothankyou.

Some friends of ours found this kitten. She was hiding under a palate of flagstone. (Friend's husband works as a firefighter but also in landscaping on his days off) Couldn't be more than 5 weeks old. We spent 2 or 3 days trying to get this kitten to eat...anything. We bought that kitten replacement milk, she hardly drank any; we mixed water with cat food, she wouldn't eat it. We knew she was starving. She was skin and bones on top of it. Tim spent a good half hour cleaning her and picking fleas out of her coat. We took her up to Challenger's House up in Toney, for some drugs. While up there, the lady popped open a can of soft food...and I've never seen a cat eat so fast in my entire life. Dur on our part. This kitten can get out of anything. Seriously should have named her Houdini. She climbs baby gates, cardboard, crates, anything that happens to be between her and us. I think we've pretty much given up on trying to keep her confined. We've named her Hardee. Love bug, she is. Raisin is slowly getting used to her. As in, she no longer growls or hisses at her. As I type this, she is sleeping across my thigh. We were going to keep her until we found a home for her. I don't see this happening in the near future though I may be okay with this. She lets Charley manhandle her. No joke. Charley picked her up and sucked on her head. She was okay with this. Whoda thunk it?

7 months and some other things...

2009-08-15T18:59:00.001-07:00

Bugaboo is 7 months old. He hasn't started crawling yet, still rolling. He does get up on all fours and rocks back and forth and launches himself toward whatever it is he may be trying to get at.

He doesn't really like winter squash (he looks like he ate a Warhead) though he will finish what we give him. He's partial on avocado, likes yellow squash and is not too sure about peaches yet.

I'm really enjoying the whole making your own baby food thing. It's easy and I can mix what I want. I am going to try to make my own cereal, not sure how that's going to come out but why not try...

I freeze the baby food in an ice cube tray and then dump them in a bag. It's actually working out quite well. He's so happy...even when Mama makes him eat avocado...

A week ago we found 2 teeth on him much to our surprise. I was waiting for fussiness and midnight awakenings but neither appeared and by no means am I complaining about it. He was just drooling a little more than usual and I thought I should check and BAM! there they were. He's bit me twice, the little bugger, and drew a little blood. He did it a third time tonight so I smacked him on the head...he just looked confused. Still getting them darned clogged ducts. I used to get so worked up about them and so frustrated. I'm over it now. Not really but it sounds nice.

Last Thursday, we noticed Bugaboo touching his left ear. We didn't know if it was coincidence or ear infection. Friday morning while I was nursing him, he was kind of fussing a little while laying on that one side and did another brush of that ear. So we made an appointment with his doctor because I didn't want him to have to suffer if it were an ear infection. Went to the doctor's, there was no ear infection. Thinking it might be the teething. I am very thankful it wasn't an ear infection.

I am VERY glad this past week is over. We had an internal ISO audit. I don't like to be audited, I don't mind being the auditor, but the auditee? Yeah, not so much. It was slightly stressful. I also presented to our VP of Supplier Quality on top of the week long audit. If you know me, you know I DESPISE talking in front of people. As much as my college education attempted to prepare me, it has not gotten any easier. I have a B.S/B.A in Electrical Engineering, that means that not only can I THINK and BE an engineer but I'm suppose to have some sort of writing/presenting skills. I refuse to acknowledge what little writing/presenting skills I may have. The one reason I went technical was so I wouldn't have to speak to people. That's all I do. Regardless, I am thankful I am employed.

And doubly thankful for this overly smiley, hammy, happy little man. *sigh*

6 month stats...

2009-07-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

He is 15 lbs, 9.5 oz and is 25 inches long. We're chugging along! :) Rice cereal starts next week!!! He's been chomping, mimicking our chewing. He's very interested in what we are eating. Yay! Some pictures...

6 months :)

2009-07-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

My little baby is getting big...*sigh* but we are so blessed with such a happy baby boy. His mode of transportation is rolling everywhere. Scary. I figured he'd be crawling before I'd have to worry about him getting into everything. That's what I get...

Chewing on his towel.

Rolling over on the changing table. :S

Squirming around on daddy's lap.

Oh yes, he got caught...and he knew it.

Future drum player perhaps???

So we've been trying out these Gdiaper cloth diapers. You can use disposable inserts (which are biodegradable and can be composted/flushed/or thrown away) or cloth inserts. We have been using the disposable inserts just to try them out. Ryan is not too fond of them but he's willing to use them. We are alternating between disposable diapers and the Gdiapers. We have been trying out the cloth inserts and I really like them. Although, apparently there is a technique that I have yet to catch on to. He only pees through his diaper when I put them on. Ryan is a pro. More practice for me! Anyways, we will be alternating between the three and just trying to use less of the disposable diapers.

5 months and some pics

2009-06-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Second pool attempt went MUCH smoother. It probably helped that the pool was slightly warmer. :)

So he's five months now...my, how time flies. He's growing so fast and changing everyday. He's rolling over and sitting up for 30 seconds at a time. He moves like a caterpillar and he sleeps on his stomach. He talks and talks. He usually lays in bed for a couple of hours in the morning talking to himself before we come get him. 99.8% of the time he's happy! Loves to entertain himself but also loves it when we play with him. Loves bathtime and being naked. :)

4 month appt...

2009-05-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

Even though he is technically 4.5 months old, regardless, the stats from his appointment are as follows: big noggin, 24.5 inches long, and 13lbs 2oz. He is thriving! Go Charley! We were given the option of putting him on solids but we are going to wait a little bit longer, at least until he is 6 months old. :)

Charley's first dip, as in pool, haha!

2009-05-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

So it was KIND OF warm so we decided to introduce Charley to the pool. Being as it that he LOVES his baths and splashing in the water, we thought he would enjoy his first dip in the pool. He didn't...and I'm guessing that is because the water was like 50 degrees. Oops. Maybe when it's warmer? Heehee...

Charley in his cool sunglasses.

Charley was checking out Jessica laying out across the way.

Right before the torturous dip.

Not too sure...

After screaming his head off, fell asleep on Daddy's chest.

This is a random picture from a couple of nights ago. We finally caught his mad face. Haha, way too cute. (slight resemblance to the Stay Puft Marshmallow man from Ghostbusters...)

Happenings

2009-05-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

First off, the trip to California. When I had started to think about flying on a plane with a three month old, all I could think about is how everyone always complains about babies on the plane because apparently they cry a lot. Let me tell you, I was more apprehensive about breastfeeding in public than I was about actually having Charley on the plane. I wasn't worried about him crying or screaming or pitching a fit. Charley is pretty much chill unless he's hungry or overly tired which, as long as you get him down for his nap when you see his sleepy signs, you're totally fine. We bought one of those covers that you throw over yourself so I could accomplish this nursing around large groups of people. I really didn't have much of choice but to get used to this. The first time was kind of awkward because I always had pillows and blankets I could use when I was at home. Away from the comforts of my home, I had to figure out how I was going to hold him and somehow be comfortable at the same time. That was challenging. Regardless, we had a great trip. Charley did excellent with the time change and the shock of meeting a hundred new people. We didn't get much sleep and his naps were short, few, and far between but he did really well. He got back on schedule rather quickly as well. Below are a few pictures of the trip. I wish I had gotten more pictures of him with family. :(

Another topic, Ryan and I had been talking about going to formula due to the fact I'm still getting 2-4 clogged ducts a week, 80% of which are easily remedied while the other 20% leave me ill, sore, and 1 or 2 days out from work. It has become increasingly frustrating as I have and am doing everything I can do to avoid them EXCEPT taking lecithin everyday (blah!) which I have taken up now because I am at my wit's end. I'm in the vicious circle where I have a clogged duct, I get frustrated but the only way I can get rid of it is by nursing and in my frustration want to quit breastfeeding. As soon as I'm unclogged, I'm hunky-dorey and decide...nah, I'm good...I'll just continue breastfeeding. And thus begins the cycle. I was and still am set on at least continuing until Charley's six months old...a year would be great but we shall see.

Charley is getting bigger and developing as every infant should. When he's on his belly, he thrashes around like a fish out of water. He moves like an inch worm. He's a lot more sturdy when he sits in his bumba chair. He laughs and talks A LOT more and is ticklish everywhere. He's teething like no other. He prefers chewing on his fingers and blankets than teething toys. Loves loves loves his baths. I usually end up soaked after a good bathing.

Mr. Mom & stuff!

2009-04-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

So I am writing this blog because Shauna keeps bugging me to do so.

Being Mr. Mom... it was hard for me at first, not because it's actually hard to raise a child, but because it's not exactly what I had planned for my wife and family. When Shauna asked me to quit Lowe's it was really hard and I fought it for weeks before I said yes. She really needed help with Charley at night because while I was working she needed to get ready for work and also take care of Charley. It was tough on her and she just had no time. Due to the fact that I don't have a degree and my beautiful and intelligent wife does, she has a real job and I don't. That will change hopefully by the next kid or shortly thereafter! For those who don't know, I am buckling down and finishing a degree.

Now that I've thrown my one and ONLY complaint about being Mr. Mom out there, it's time to talk about the joys and wonders of having a child. Getting up early is a little rough, since for most of you who know me, I'm not a morning person. The thing that makes it worth it is seeing him smile at me with my one eye open since all the lights are way to bright. I want to say it's tough being at home and raising a child but I have sooooo much fun being with him and watching him that I really can't say anything bad. I can see how some people would go nuts or not be able to handle it but I think some people just don't have the right head screwed on their shoulders.

My bragging time. Charley Ryan has impressed me and amazed me since the day he was born. When I was in the nursery with him and saw the size of his ahem, you know?!!!! After I had gone back again and there were some other newborns I couldn't help but compare. Of course, my sons was the biggest (Like 3, maybe 4 times bigger!) I have no doubt my son will exceed me in that area, GEEESH! Anyhoo, let's seeeeeeee, he was rolling over by 2 months. He really doesn't like tummy time for very long. He has been grabbing things since about 2 months also. Apparently, according to some chart Shauna found on the internet, he is about a little over a month ahead of where he should be!

Well, I could really keep talking on and on about how great my son is but I won't rub it in that much. I will try to put up more blogs of my daily adventures as Mr. Mom, but don't hold your breath. Till next time.

By the way, if you want to see pics of Charley and stuff, send me or contact me somehow with your email and I can send you the pics we have on our Facebook pages. If you are friends with us on Facebook then you already know about the pics. Enjoy!

Videos..

2009-03-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

So apparently I am just...slow. Don't ask me what the issue was before. Anyways, here are the videos I was talking about in the last post. The first one is Charley's happy place (the changing table) and the second is his "rolling" over. I'd like to note that whenever the camera is pointing toward that boy, he stares...and normally avoids anything that makes Mama and Daddy respond.

Charley's appointment and returning to work...

2009-03-26T12:48:00.001-07:00

Charley is 9 weeks this week! Yay for getting older and doing things Mama isn't ready for her baby to be doing! But that's okay, it's out of my hands and I'm totally okay with that.

Ok, so about 3 weeks ago...he rolled over. We totally thought it was a fluke cuz I had layed him down on our bed face down and he somehow ended up on his back. We just thought that our bed was too soft. Second occurence...tummy time mat. We thought the pillow just was too high and he ROLLED off of it. Third occurence was last week when I put him on the floor. He fussed and then pushed himself over. Layed there on his back, content as could be. We thought there was no way he was doing this. We put him back on his tummy...cried/fussed and pushed himself over, contentment again. We have a video of it but have yet to figure out why we can't post it so that will be forthcoming. We have another video of him while on the changing table. Dad does this jackhammer motion with his arms and his reaction is funny. That too will be posted...eventually.

Charley had his 2 month appointment today. He is long and skinny with a big head. 23 inches long (50th percentile) and weighs in at 10 pounds 13 ounces (25th percentile). I can't remember what his head circumference is but it's apparently relatively large (50th percentile).

ON RETURNING BACK TO WORK...

MAD props to all full-time working moms who pump. I never thought this would be so hard. Not only being away from your child for 9 or 10 hours (sometimes more depending on what you do) but pumping itself can be the most stressful thing in the world. Knowing that if you don't get what you need out of this thing your little baby ain't gonna eat is STRESSFUL. (I mean there's always formula but for those of us wanting exclusive breastfeeding...eek!) Now pumping comes easily to some people but for me...you've got to be kidding me. After 3 weeks I'm finally warming up to the mechanical thing that sucks at me four or five times a day. The baby can do it so much better than this pump. I've spent the past two weeks struggling with: 1) getting enough milk, 2) clogged milk ducts - I think I've had 3 days over the past 2 weeks that I did NOT have a clogged milk duct, 3) not STRESSING about pumping. I'm finally kind of getting the hang of things this week but it's still difficult. I'm sure it'll get better but this is my venting so...get over it. I can see why they tell you to EASE into work. I'm still trying to figure out the mornings. I wake him up at 6am right now so I can feed him before I leave for work. He's been sleeping through the night off and on (he's teasing Mama) otherwise he'll sleep for 4 or 5 hours and wake up for a feeding at 3am.

Now I'd post about being home with the baby all day but I can't speak for Ryan. So I will leave that to his discretion. :)

7 weeks

2009-03-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

I guess I could have waited until next week and posted a 2 month blog but...I got bored. There's not much to update except he's growing. I can tell he is heavier. He doesn't like to sleep and he will fight it til he passes out. He HATES being woken up, for food or otherwise. He sometimes "sleeps through the night" (from midnight to 6am) otherwise he wakes up once if he goes to bed at 10:30pm. I'm thankful for that. He loves being outside and read to. :) Yay! Though I have never met a child with ssssooooo much flatulence. On another note, this is my last week on maternity leave. I go back to work next Tuesday. I'm sad but I'm sure I'll get through it. I am very glad that we don't have to pay for child care. Ryan works at night so he will be watching him during the day. A double hooray there! I've finally got the clear to start running/working out again...slowly...ugh.

I'm going to take a moment to brag...guess who fits into their Lucky size 0 jeans...whoop whoop! Barely...but they're on. I'd like to thank breastfeeding for that. On to another moment of complaint...dumb boobies feel like bricks. Though they are smaller than they were toward the end of my pregnancy <- thankful for that. I'm also thankful for a husband that totally helps out with the dirty diapers and burping duties! Kudos to Ryan! (Also for always thinking of me when he gets off work and brings me tea lattes and creamslushies!)

The shirt he is wearing below was Ryan's shirt when he was a baby. As you can see, he was very happy here...probably because seconds after I clicked that bottom picture, he spit up aaalllllll over himself.

A month (and some days) old...

2009-02-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

We said we wouldn't be the parents who would take a million pictures of our kid...bbbuuuttt it happened and I'm going to post them!! Heehee! Here are some fun ones!

Eeeehhh?

Daddy kisses Charley's neck and makes him squirm.

Just ate and content.

Hanging out with Papa.

Papa and Charley...

JJ and Charley...

He actually fit in this premie outfit. Of course after I washed it...who knows?!

Happy and being bounced on Daddy's knee.

Hanging on for dear life aaaannndddd being bounced on Daddy's knee.

2 weeks old...

2009-02-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, so he was two weeks like days ago. I'm a little slow BUT he had his 2 week doctor's appointment on Thursday and he is 7lbs 2 oz and 20 inches long!! Hooray for weight gain (and length is good)!! And some more pictures!

Daddy was changing Charley...didn't get the diaper on fast enough. Projectile poop.

Grandma and Charley...

Grandpa and Charley...

Happy Charley...

Dad and tired Charley...

Charley in his swing...

Charley in Daddy's lap...

Just a couple of pictures...

2009-02-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of fun pictures. This first one was right after his bath. I brushed out his hair. He's got this permanent fro going on.

This second one, compliments of my mom, caught him smiling which he does a lot.

Charley Ryan Nichols

2009-01-26T00:17:00.000-08:00

So I decided to give everyone a little insight as to why we chose Charley Ryan for the name of our son. Some people just like names and they go with it. Some people however put some thought into it. You see... Shauna and I had a list of names for both boys and girls, that we made in California a few years back. The funny thing is, we were so set on the names, and the order in which we would use them, but neither Charley or Ryan were on that list!

To side track for a brief moment... growing up I never really liked my name. (Ryan) Everyone I know said I was a perfect Ryan. I hated that. I only realized in the past couple of years what a name can really mean to someone. Me not liking my name is an insult to my Mom and Dad. They named me Ryan for a reason. They gave me my middle name of James for a reason. No matter their reason, it's the name they gave me. I can honestly say I love my name now and I respect the process of how they might have gotten to my name.

Okay... little bit more side information... For those who read this and do not know, I am the only male to carry on my last name. (Nichols) As I mentioned in the last paragraph, I have only recently learned to love and honor my name. I am proud to be a Nichols and am proud to be able to pass that name on. So moving on...

Charley Ryan is named so for a few reasons... Charley comes from both of his Grandfathers. Both Shaunas and my fathers first name is Charles. Since I was the only male to carry on the name, I wanted to make sure that if I had a son and he ended up being the only boy Shauna and I have, that he had a good strong and honorable name. We also went with Charley because we were wanting to eliminate any confusion as to what to call our son. Now I would understand if we named him Charles and you might ask what we will be calling him, but we thought of all the names that could come from Charles and we really love the name Charley. We chose a sub name or nickname from Charles so that no one would call him anything but Charley. So no: Chuck, Chucky, little Chuck, or any other name you can come up with for Charles will be used.

Ryan for the middle name was not our first pick, after a lot of thought and asking around we decided to choose the name Ryan. Ryan was chosen in part because Charley's first name came from the first name of his Grandfathers. It was also chosen because Shauna was intent on having part of my name a part of our sons name one way or the other, and I recently came to appreciate my name.

So in a short story long, that is why and how Charley Ryan got his name!!!

Our new chapter... cont. again, again

2009-01-24T21:35:00.000-08:00

Our new chapter... cont. again

2009-01-24T20:51:00.000-08:00

Our new chapter... cont.

2009-01-24T20:41:00.001-08:00

Our new chapter...

2009-01-24T19:51:00.000-08:00

Soooooo... to catch everyone up on things, here we go!!!

Tuesday morning at approximately 12:15 AM Shauna's water broke. We went to the hospital and she was in labor (mind you they were barely even phasing her) till a few minutes before 5:00 AM little Charleys heartbeat dropped down betwee

n 40-60 for 6-7 minutes. During those few m

inutes the nurses all charged in and

kept moving Shauna around in different positi

ons trying to get the babys heart rate back up. The

y managed to get his heartbeat back up to around 120 and at 5:00 AM the doctor came in and told us they were going to have to do an emergen

cy c-section. Long story short of what happened next, at 5:15 AM Charley Ryan Nichols was born. He was born at 6 lbs, 8 oz & 19" long. Please enjoy t

he following pictures of our son, our new ch

apter in life!!!

Pictures...

2009-01-13T16:36:00.001-08:00

Monkeys!

And a not-so-flattering picture of me at 39 weeks.