Busy, busy, busy!

Its that time of year!  I feel like we don't have any time to relax because we are always on the go. 

Drew started basketball a couple of weeks ago.  He loves it!  It is funny to watch 5 year olds try to play basketball though.  Not a lot of passing, but there is a lot of shooting!  Drew is the tallest on his team too.  Yeah, you read that right.  Shocking for anyone that knows Andy's family!  Drew gets all of his height from my side!  :-)

Warming up

Drew is #13

Throwing the ball in

 

Ryan loves going to Drew's games!

Kayley was only happy if she was watching
Disney Junior on my phone

 

We drove to Davenport last weekend for Amelia's 5th birthday party!  The kids had the best time and of course their favorite part was swimming!  I didn't take many other pictures because I was trying to entertain Ryan too.  Three kids by yourself at a swimming birthday party is a lot of work! 

 

We hosted my family for Thanksgiving this year.  Mom went out to Phoenix before Dad this year so she flew in on Monday afternoon.  I picked Ryan and Kayley up early from daycare and they surprised her at the airport.  My dad drove here on Tuesday and Matt arrived on Wednesday.  The kids have been playing nonstop with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Matt.  They are going to be exhausted (and possibly very bored) when everyone leaves later today.  But, just a few weeks until Christmas! 

The kids on Thanksgiving morning

Andy and I went to the Iowa/Nebraska game on Friday.  We got up at 4am and drove to Iowa City to meet his brothers for the game.  The Hawks lost.  While not unexpected, it is still disappointing and especially hard to lose to Nebraska! 

March of Dimes

Awhile ago, we were asked to be the ambassador family for the March of Dimes' Signature Chef's Auction.  We were truly honored to be asked, but I was definitely nervous about sharing our story in front of so many people.  I am used to speaking in front of large groups of people at work, but I was afraid I would get emotional and forget everything I wanted to say.  Thankfully, I kept my composure and it went fine. 

Thank you to our friends who came out and supported us!  We had a great time and enjoyed the entire night.  The event raised $50,000 for the March of Dimes!  The March of Dimes is an amazing organization that is doing wonderful things to help prevent premature births.  As I said in my closing, advances made by research funded by the March of Dimes helped give Kayley the best possible outcome for a 27 weeker and helped me stay pregnant for 37 weeks with Ryan.  While our story has a happy ending, we know more work needs to be done. 

My perinatalogist said it best when he said doctors and nurses do amazing things in the NICU, but we need to do everything we can to avoid a stay there!  No baby should have to start out their life this way:

Happy Halloween!

We had a football player, a princess and a giraffe for Halloween and I didn't spend any money on costumes this year!  My brother gave Drew a Chicago Bears (his favorite team, not ours!) uniform last year for his birthday so Drew wanted to wear that.  I talked Kayley into being a princess again.  It didn't take much convincing because I think she forgot she wore it last year and acted like it was the best costume ever when I pulled it out of her closet!  And, poor Ryan, wasn't going to be anything.  We didn't have a costume small enough for him so I was just going to forget it (we didn't even have a Halloween onesie for him).  My co-worker heard me say he wasn't going to be anything and she brought in a baby giraffe costume that her daughter used when she was a baby so Ryan got to dress up too! 

Andy went to Drew's Halloween party while I went to Kayley's at the daycare.  I picked up Ryan from his room and we went to Kayley's room and watched her class sing some Halloween songs and have their party.  Kayley enjoyed some yummy food at her party while I got soaked by Ryan's spit up.  Nothing says professional quite like spit up stained clothes!

Halloween was a little chilly so I was more than willing to stay home with Ryan and hand out candy while Andy and Sox took Drew and Kayley trick or treating.  They weren't gone long though.  Kayley still tires out pretty quickly and they wanted to come back to help hand out candy.  When Drew answered the door, I would hear him say, "You can take two pieces."  When Kayley answered the door, I would hear, "You can take a handful."  :-) 

Ryan trying on his costume the night before.

Kayley at her parade

Getting ready to go trick or treating!

Ryan isn't so sure about his costume

Excited to hand out candy!

Waiting for trick or treaters

All done!

 

Weekend in Omaha

Drew didn't have school last Thursday and Friday because of parent/teacher conferences so we decided to take a trip to Omaha to see Andy's family.  We left Thursday afternoon and had a relatively easy trip with our 3 young kids so I can't complain.  Ryan slept almost the entire time and when he was awake, he just played with the toys on his toy bar.  All Kayley cared about was that the DVD player was on and she was happy!  Drew had the hardest time with the trip.  I think I was asked no less than 50 times by him how much longer the trip was going to take. 

My parents stopped in Omaha on their way to Phoenix so the kids got to see them before they left too.  My brother, Matt, took Drew, Kayley and JD to Vala's Pumpkin Patch while the rest of us watched the Iowa game (we should have gone to Vala's instead!) on Saturday.  It sounded like they had a great time. 

The kids were exhausted on our trip home on Sunday.  They wore themselves out playing with JD all weekend!

Grandpa Mark and Ryan

Uncle Mitch and Ryan

JD, Drew and Kayley

The kids at Vala's Pumpkin Patch:

We Survived!

Ryan (and I) survived the first few days at daycare!  I took him into his room on Monday morning and tried not to cry.  I talked to the teacher while on the verge of tears and tried to tell her a little about Ryan.  Ryan gave her a smile so I started to relax a little.  Then his lower lip quivered and he burst into tears!  Break. My. Heart.  That was it for me and I completely teared up.  I tried to make a quick exit, but ran into two teachers I know on my way out! 

I thought about Ryan all day.  I was most worried about how he would eat.  He has really bad reflux and he is starting to take after Kayley by refusing his bottle.  If you know anything about our struggles with Kayley, you know this is not fun.  We work with him and usually get him to take a decent amount, but the teachers at daycare just don't have that kind of time.  He has done a little better than I thought he would, but he is definitely taking less right now than when Mom was here.

His teachers said he cried when the other babies cried the first day.  He isn't used to being around other babies!  He'll get used to that.  They said he is a really good baby so that was nice to hear.  The one thing I hope he improves is his sleeping.  He has only been taken cat naps so far.  He is used to long naps at home so the noise in the room is something he needs to get used to.

What does a baby do that doesn't sleep that much during the day?  SLEEPS when he gets home!  He is a tired boy when he gets home!

I am happy to report that there were no tears shed by Ryan (or me) yesterday or today when I dropped him off!

Thank you, Grandma!!

My mom left today after 2 months of watching Ryan.  We are all sad to see her go, but Phoenix is waiting and we can't blame her for wanting out of here before winter hits! 

Andy and I are in for a reality check on Monday morning when we try to get ourselves and our 3 young children out the door on time.  Andy has made several references to wanting a morning nanny to help out.  :-)  Mom also helped us with many most dinners, baths, and bedtime.  And she babysat so Andy and I could get out every now and then.  THANK YOU, Mom!!!!

The kids are sad to see Grandma go too.  She is definitely Drew and Kayley's favorite playmate.  She played with them constantly - playing catch, pitching balls to Drew, board games, card games, writing on the white board, reading books, bike rides, etc.  And of course, she took great care of Ryan and she is the only one of us who can get him to drink his bottle well so we are in for a battle now.

Ryan starts daycare on Monday.  I know he will be just fine, but I am still sad to send him.  We were so lucky to have Mom watch Drew and Kayley when they were babies and the thought of Ryan losing that one on one attention he has had the last 4 months makes me feel bad.  But, we love our daycare and I know they will take great care of him. 

Here are a few pictures from the last week and a video of Ryan showing off his talking skills (and a little more!):

 

4 Months Old

Ryan is 4 months old!  I can't believe it.  Time has flown by.  He has really started packing on the weight.  He was just a little guy at his 2 month appointment and was in the 25th percentile for everything.  He went up to the 60th percentile in weight at today's appointment.  He is 16 pounds 2 oz and is 25.25 inches tall.  Interestingly, his head circumference is only in the 30th percentile.  Both Drew and Kayley were near the top of the chart in head circumference so Ryan clearly doesn't take after them. 

Ryan is a really happy baby now (I couldn't say that about him 2 months ago).  He smiles all the time and is turning into quite the little talker.  He generally likes tummy time.  He is still getting the hang of his jumperoo.  He doesn't quite get it yet, but enjoys sitting in there.  He loves his play gym.  He also loves to sit in his bumbo in front of the door to the backyard!  He even started liking his swing a little bit. 

If I could complain about anything, it would just be that he does not sleep through the night consistently.  Ahhh!!  He is a great napper and goes down with little, if any, fussing.  But, he has started waking up again at night.  At first it was clear he was hungry because he would wake up at random times and would down a 5 oz bottle in no time.  The last few nights we have realized he is waking up at the exact same time (3:50am) and isn't as hungry so we are thinking it has turned into a habit.  One we are trying to break!  I am not opposed to letting a baby cry it out...if his siblings weren't right next door!  It is a delicate balance of not going in and picking him up and doing enough to get him to quiet down so he doesn't wake Drew and Kayley. 

Here are a few pictures of Ryan from this weekend:

This swing isn't as bad as I thought!

The red light on my camera stops his smile every time

Trying to figure out the jumperoo



Look at those cheeks

From Micki - Future Tailgater!!

First time in the highchair - he looks so small!

 

First bite of cereal

We have been enjoying fall sickness at our house too.  Kayley started with it on Monday night.  She had a sore throat and threw up several times.  Drew was lucky enough to get it Friday and was sick all weekend with a sore throat, fever and vomiting.  And, lucky me, I woke up with a sore throat this morning.  I just hope Ryan doesn't get it!

Sick Drew

Kayley enjoying the popsicles we bought for Drew