Ryan 3 Month Pictures

I finally took Ryan for his 3 month pictures on Friday.  I was determined to get it done before he turns 4 months old later this week!  He was in a great mood so it went pretty quickly.  Andy doesn't like the staged pictures in the basket and the suitcase with hat and I agree they are pretty corny, but I do love his smile in the basket picture! 

Drew had a flag football game yesterday morning.  He gets a little better with each game and received an award for best defensive player of the game (they give out a lot of awards throughout the season!), but I think he still prefers baseball.  All he wants to do on the weekends is play catch and hit balls.  He and Andy play catch with a tennis ball in the basement all the time.  This makes Drew think he can throw the ball anywhere in the house.  The other night when Andy and I were sitting at the kitchen table Drew was talking to us and had a tennis ball and glove in his hand and threw the ball at the wall between our upper cabinets and the counter.  There were several glasses that he just happened to miss.  I was stunned and Andy laughed.  We quickly informed Drew that we do not throw the ball in the house unless he is in the basement with Andy.  How did Andy's mom do it with 4 boys?! 

Yesterday afternoon I took Drew with me to Sam's Club and on the way in he asked what happens if you steal something and I told him you go to jail.  As we were walking out, he asked me very loudly and in front of a lot of people, "Mom, did you steal anything today?"  Everyone turned and looked at me and I am sure my face turned red.  I told him no, of course not, and started walking faster, which probably made me look guilty!  I am not sure what his sudden curiosity with stealing is, but it was not the best time (or store) to ask someone that!  When we got to the car I asked him why he asked me that and he said that I had told him you go to jail if you steal and he didn't want me to go to jail.  Ha! 

Andy went to Chicago early this morning for the Ryder Cup so the kids and I slept in and played outside most of the day.  Ryan has been a super baby...until this weekend!  He has been pretty crabby and not sleeping well all weekend starting Friday afternoon.  Maybe he just missed his Grandma.  We'll see if he is back to his normal self tomorrow. 

 

I don't know how this happened

Last night when I put Kayley to bed, she was in a great mood and not acting very tired.  She tends to get up several times (drink, potty, need another stuffed animal in bed, or any other excuse she can think of) right after you put her to bed before she settles in for the night and I thought last night would be no different since she didn't seem tired at all. 

After she had been upstairs for 10-15 minutes and we hadn't heard from her at all, I was kind of surprised when she yelled down to tell me I forgot to pick out her clothes for tomorrow.  During the week, we always pick out her clothes the night before so we don't have to fight with her about what she is wearing to preschool in the morning.  We don't typically pick out her clothes the night before on the weekend, but that seemed to be her excuse last night to not go to bed.  Andy told her she was going to wear a green shirt and he'd come up and get it later.  She said ok and got in bed.  Ten minutes later she yelled down again asking when he was going to go up and pick out her shirt.  He went up there and grabbed a shirt for her while she laid in bed with the covers up to her chin, which is funny in hindsight because she rarely sleeps with covers on.  He came back down to the living room.

My Mom took Drew up to bed right after that.  She peeked into Kayley's room and partially saw what Kayley had done because Kayley was no longer covered up.  Mom asked her what was on her arm and Kayley stood up with her arms outstretched and simply told Grandma, "I don't know how this happened."  Really, Kayley?!

Mom called down to Andy to see if he saw Kayley and he said no.  He went up there and Kayley also told him that she didn't know how it happened.  He asked her if she colored on herself and she said she accidently laid on a marker in her bed.  Nice try!  Yes, she colored ALL OVER HERSELF with a marker when she was supposed to be in bed.  This picture really doesn't do it justice.  Arms, hands, thighs, shins, tops of her feet, etc.  I think we need to search her every night before bed. 

Kayley's Developmental Screening

Drew's school sent home a flyer a few weeks ago encouraging parents to sign up our preschool children for a developmental screening.  We have been struggling with the decision of whether to send Kayley to Kindergarten next year or have her wait until 2014.  She is eligible for Kindergarten next year only because she was premature, which caused her to be born before the deadline.  If she had been full term, she would have missed the deadline.  We thought the screening would be a great opportunity to see where she is developmentally. 

Andy took her to the screening earlier this week.  We weren't sure what to expect, but they assessed her for an hour so it ended up being very thorough. 

She was able to identify simple objects and clearly tell the screener what they were.  She talks in full, long sentences.  She was easy to understand.  She correctly uses pronouns and contractions.  She doesn't always pronounces her "R's" correctly, but the screener said that is normal for her age.  They did notice that Kayley pushes her tongue forward a lot.  They said they wouldn't be concerned about it unless she is still doing it in second grade.  I had to laugh when Andy told me about it because, unfortunately, I would say that is an inherited trait from me rather than any sort of issue related to being premature.  I had the same thing and mine didn't get better by second grade so I ended up in speech therapy during 3rd grade so we'll see how she does.

She knew her colors and shapes.  She was able to copy shapes.  She was able to copy numbers 1 - 5 except for number 4.  When she got to that one, she just said: "Umm...I don't know how to do that one."  She was asked to count as high as she could.  She got to 23 and then said that was it.  The screener laughed and thought Kayley was just bored with it, but could count higher.  And she is right.  Kayley is able to count higher than 23.  Classic Kayley right there!

They had her draw a picture of someone and she drew a picture of Andy with "a little bit of hair."  :-)  She was given 3 minutes to complete a task.  The task was finding the images that were on five flashcards in a picture that had a lot of detail.  Kayley was done in 1 minute and 16 seconds.  That was considered the best she could do, which puts her at age 6-7 for that skill. 

They also assessed her motor skills.  She was able to do everything they asked with no problems.  She stacked 8 blocks without them falling.  She was able to throw a ball to the screener and "hit the target" and she was able to catch the ball.  She bounced the ball in the correct direction.  She was able to walk and run smoothly and without issues.  She walked up a steep staircase like she should...alternating feet, not using the handrail for main support, not stepping on each step with both feet. 

They said that she was definitely age appropriate in everything and there were no concerns.  Overall, they said we had "such a sweet, fun little girl."  I questioned their screening abilities after hearing we have a sweet girl!  Just kidding!  Kind of.  :-)  She is sweet as can be...when she wants to be! 

This week also brought my birthday.  33.  Yikes!  The kids made me cards and helped Grandma bake a birthday cake.  I also got adorable homemade cards from our niece and nephew.  Homemade cake and homemade cards are definitely what I love!

We also watched some football this weekend.  Drew had a flag football game Saturday morning and we watched UNI at Iowa Saturday afternoon.  I never know who to root for when UNI and Iowa play.  I received my college degree from UNI and my law degree from Iowa so I love them both!  I honestly thought UNI was going to win so I was a little disappointed, but I also was glad Iowa didn't get beat by another in state rival!  The kids were split on their allegiances as well - Drew and Kayley were for Iowa and Ryan was for UNI! 

After the game, Andy and Drew were playing catch and Kayley wanted to join in:

 

And I have to add this picture.  Kayley asked Andy to get her a carrot from the garden so he did.  She thought she was pretty cool walking around eating her carrot!

3 Months Old and Flag Football!

This little guy turned 3 months old this week!  Where does the time go?!

Ryan has turned into a very happy baby now that we appear to have his reflux under control.  His reflux started at about 4-5 weeks old.  Kayley also had reflux so we weren't shocked.  Ryan started out on Zantac, which was a joke.  It did nothing for him and he was pretty fussy and not a great sleeper during this time.  We thicken his formula and breastmilk now and his GI doctor put him on Prevacid.  He is much happier, sleeps much better and that makes life much easier and happier for the rest of us! 

At his 2 month check up during the beginning of August, he was 11 pounds 5 ounces.  He was 20th - 25th percentile across the board.  Pretty little guy considering he started out at 8 pounds!  But, in one month he moved up to the 50th percentile in weight and is 13 pounds 7 ounces.  I think he is 24 inches now too.  He went from 3 month clothes to 6 month clothes overnight it seemed.

Ryan loves to "talk" and his smiles melt my heart!  I love cuddling with newborns, but I really love when they start to interact with you!

This week also brought Drew's first flag football game.  Kindergarten seems a little young to start, but it is amazing how quickly the kids catch on.  Drew was his usual shy self when we got to the game and didn't really want to play.  In fact, we wondered if we would be going home without him going in at all because he just didn't want to be there.  It is frustrating as a parent because we knew he would love it once he got out there, but it is difficult to get him to make that first step sometimes.  Once he played a few downs, he had a great time.  He even scored a touchdown! 

Warming up before the game

First time in on defense

More defense



He was very proud to win Offensive
Player of the Game

Here is his touchdown run.  Excuse the screaming from me and Grandma!  We were a little excited!

Drew was so proud when he got home that he left his uniform on all day and wore his medal all day too!  He also wanted to play catch all afternoon yesterday.  Hopefully, getting him onto the field will be a little easier next weekend! 

Angela, Amelia and Mel came yesterday afternoon for a visit too.  Ang, Mel and I had a great time catching up and the kids had a great time playing with Amelia.  Amelia is getting ready to become a big sister and she is going to do great!  She loved holding Ryan and she even helped change his diaper, which is more than I can say for my kids.  They never want to "help" change diapers!



Ryan with Amelia and Kayley



Mel, Ryan and Kayley

Labor Day Weekend

Drew's second week of Kindergarten was a huge success!  He is used to riding the bus, loves his teacher, loves recess (don't we all) and is starting to make friends.  He has a lunch friend, a recess friend and a tennis friend he plays with during the after school program.  He still misses his best buddy, Sam, but he gets to see him outside of school so that helps.  We have started working on reading and he is doing a great job and he really enjoys it.  I hope that continues, but I did notice when Andy put him to bed the other night he asked if they could play catch in his room rather than read!  And from what I could hear up there, they played catch. 

I took Drew and Kayley to Davenport last weekend to go swimming with Amelia.  Kayley came home with some new cowgirl boots that Amelia outgrew and gave to her.  And oh how Kayley loved them!  She wore them all day on Sunday and even wore them to preschool.

She even slept in them.  Apparently, she got up after I put her to bed and put them on.  She slept all night like this on Saturday:

I have been trying to get a good picture of all three kids together, but it hasn't been easy.  Drew asked if he could hold Ryan in the picture and I said yes.  And that was all it took to set Kayley off.  She wanted to hold him.  I don't think I even need captions.  The progression of pictures tells the story.

We spent Labor Day weekend in Iowa with my family and everyone had a great time.  Andy, Matt and I went golfing.  My first time out since last August!  It was fun, but I golfed like it had been a year.  Yikes!  The kids played with all of our old toys, helped Grandma in the garden, rode the golf cart, went for rides on the trailer behind the lawnmower, and got tons of candy at the Labor Day parade.

Look at me, I am FINALLY sleeping through the night!!

Yes, Kayley is in Ryan's car seat.

Kayley playing on our old horse.  She named the
horse, Ella Kella Wozella.  She has quite
the imagination!

Drew shot baskets until he made 20. 
It took awhile because he is still
pretty short, but he did it!

Kayley climbed up into a tire and struck a pose.

Waiting for candy.

Hands are full.

Kayley knows you have to wave to get some candy.

I had to take a picture of the Cat equipment!