The Dress Files

We had a boys/girls weekend this weekend at our house - the boys went to the lake and Lauren and I stayed home. With the boys gone all weekend, Lauren and I planned to attend a fashion show, tilted "The Dress Files" at St. Kates. Ashley was going to be modeling in the show so mom, Lauren, and I decided to go and cheer her on. Mom came up to our place and the three of us (mom, Lauren, and myself) went out to eat before heading up to the show. Lauren was great through the meal, slept all the way to the college, but then got a bit fussy while we were sitting and waiting for the show. I was starting to get nervous she wouldn't make it through the entire thing, but then all my fears disappeared when the show started and Lauren went crazy! I was standing up in the back holding her when the lights dimmed and the music started. I could feel her starteing to kick her legs and flail her arms and was sure a screaming fit was coming on, but to my surprise, she was kicking and squealing with delight! She had the biggest smile on her face and gave out some squeals of joy as the models came out - she absolutely loved it! You know those sayings, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree", and "like mother, like daughter" - yeah, they don't apply in this situation! As most you of know, my idea of high fashion is a pair of jeans, a nice shirt, and any shoes but tennis shoes or flip flops - what more could you possibly need? The show lasted about an hour and a half and Lauren enjoyed every minute of it (especially when auntie came out). Is it possible that me of all people, will end up with a little fashion diva - what will I do? Luckily Auntie has assured me she will help with Lauren - she has already offered to be her stylist, her make-up person, and all around role model - I'm not so sure that's a good idea! I'm just hoping this love of fashion is a short lived thing - we'll have to wait and see

All dressed up for the show

Ash, the designer, and another model

The four of us after the show

After the show we headed home and went to bed. With Trav out of town, mom slept in my bed with me - is it weird to sleep with your mom when you're almost 30? I figured with Mother's Day coming up the next day, what better gift then to roll over and wake up with your mother/daughter laying in bed next to you - right?

We spent Mother's Day baking, shopping, and just hanging out. Ashley came to our place so it was just the four girls and we had a great time. The boys got home around 5 and it was back to our normal routine - eat, bath, play, bed - just like that our girl's weekend was over. Until next Mother's Day . . .

A boy's best friend

Ryan's best bud, Henry is starting to show his age - almost 3 years old! Let me give you a little background on Henry. I received a stuffed hippo during a baby shower when I was pregnant with Ryan. At first, the hippo just sat in the corner of Ryan's crib - he fit in wonderfully with the animal theme in the nursery. Once Ryan was old enough to notice things, he took a liking to this particular hippo. I figured the hippo should have a name, so I started racking my brain and came up with Henry. I choose Henry because this was the name Trav actually wanted to name Ryan, but I wasn't really sold on the idea. So, in an act of good faith towards my husband, I branded the hippo, "Henry." What a bonus that the name starts with the same letter as the animal. There is the background, now onto the issue. Henry has been put through his fair share of wash cycles during the past three years, and always comes out looking fresh and new. Well, his latest wash proved to be a costly one - he received a small tear on his inner thigh. Of course once Ryan saw it, he constantly kept putting his finger in it and the small tear has become a large hole. Because of this, I'm pressured to step up and be the #1 Mom and fix this guy up. Having very little experience with sewing, I was a bit nervous, but in the end, I think I did a fine job. The hole is closed and the boys are back together again - mission accomplished!

Because Ryan loved his stuffed animal so much, Auntie decided to buy one for Lauren as well. Hers is a rabbit we have named "Ruby" - hopefully these two become friends just like Ryan and Henry - we'll have to wait and see.

Tough as nails - not our kid

I should first start out by telling everyone this blog pertains to Ryan, not Lauren (at least not yet). Ryan drops toys on Lauren - no crying, heck, half the time she just smiles at him. But when Lauren is playing around and swinging her arms and accidentally hits Ryan - instant tears and screams because Lauren hit him. I had no idea a 5 month old could inflict such harm!

Anyway, onto Ryan's troubles this past week. Everything started one day this weekend when he somehow managed to get his foot under the bathroom door and came away with a small cut. There weren't instant tears, but once the red (that's what Ryan calls blood) started coming, the tears, screams, and even body shakes started - you would have thought the kid was dying. I rinsed the blood off and offered a band aid, but Ryan wanted nothing to do with it. Then I offered to put on socks to cover up the cut and he liked this idea so it was off to the bedroom to find the perfect pair. Little did I know this was just the start of a week full of bumps, bruises, and tears, lots of tears. On Monday, we spent most of the day outside enjoying the weather. Ryan had just finished riding his trike when all of a sudden he tips over and starts screaming. I'm still not sure how he tipped considering he was just sitting there, but he of course he did, and the whole neighborhood got to hear his death screams. When I picked him up, he had a scrape on his knee - nothing too serious. We went in and cleaned everything up and got out some pants to cover his new injury. To this day, he still wears socks and pants, or shorts long enough to cover his knee - what a weird kid. Once he got his pants on, we went into the kitchen to have some pizza. The pizza was sitting on the cutting board which had been pulled out for about a half an hour before Ryan was talking and ran his head straight into it - accident number 2 for the day. Tuesday brought a few more head injuries and yet another foot injury. We went to the store to pick up some odds and ends like we have done tons of times before. Whenever we are in the parking lot, I make Ryan stand right next to the passenger door while I am unloading Lauren, (this system has worked for almost 5 months) but today he decided to change things up and stand right next to me and wouldn't you know it, I hit him in the head with the bottom of Lauren's car seat, not once, but twice - once on the way in, and once on the way out of the store - sorry bud but I can't see you when you are basically standing on me. When we got home from the store, Ryan opened up a new truck we had bought (not because I felt bad about hitting him, just because it was on sale and he was being a good kid). As Ryan was pushing the truck on the bathroom counter, he pushed it too far and it fell on his foot - I think we all know what happened next. Luckily it was a small truck so the tears were pretty minimal. Onto today . . . what would the day be without another injury? We were heading out for a walk this morning - I had both girls (Lauren and Marley) in the stroller and Ryan was going to ride his motorcycle. It had been plugged in and charging from the night before so I unplugged it from the charger and got it all set when I look up to see Ryan climbing into his wagon and reaching for the plug in the wall. I looked just in time to see the wagon start to roll back and Ryan go down head first. It sounds worse than it really was as it kind of happened in slow-mo so the fall wasn't a hard impact. I picked him up, took him inside and assessed the damages - a decent size bruise in the middle of his forehead - not pretty, but manageable. I figured this had to be the end of the accidents, but there was one left just to top off the day. Marley's mom, Emily, had just come over to pick up Marley for the day. Ryan was jumping around, excited to show Emily his new bruise when he smacked his hand on the tv stand - poor kid can't even show off an old injury before he gets a new one.

The one thing that makes all of these injuries kind of funny is that whenever Ryan gets hurt by something, he calls it "stupid." So far this week we have a stupid door, thing (this is what he says when he doesn't know what an object is called, in this case, the cutting board) trike, car seat, truck, wagon, and thing again (tv stand) - overall I would say we have a lot of stupid stuff!

As I was telling Trav tonight that I think Ryan is going through a clumsy stage, I lost the grip on a steak knife I was loading into the dishwasher and cut the palm of my hand - Trav just smiled and said, "or he is just clumsy like his mom" - thanks Trav!

In order to prevent any further injuries, I was thinking about making the kids wear these during their awake hours - what do you think?

Same day - different weather

Today started out with sunshine and beautiful weather, and ended up storms, rain, and lots of wind - I'll take the first part of the day anytime. Even with the crazy weather, we were able to get out and enjoy the day while it lasted. We went to the "big" park this morning and let Ryan run around. We usually just go to the neighborhood park so going to a different park is always a special treat. Ryan ended up playing with a couple of grills (he for some reason can't say girl, it always comes out as grill) for most of the time we were there - what a ladies man. Lauren stayed awake as long as she could watching kids run everywhere, but about fifteen minutes into the trip, she was out cold. I just enjoyed sitting back and relaxing, one of the benefits of going to the big park - there are always other kids around so Ryan keeps himself busy. At the smaller neighborhood park, we are usually the only ones there so I am his playmate - I get to run, jump, and crawl through tunnels, fun, but tiring. Once Ryan was tired out, we headed home for lunch. We were sitting at the table for about 20 minutes and the rain started. I was glad we got our outdoor play done early because the rest of the day was a loss.
When the kids finished lunch, it was off to bed for naps. Both of them slept for almost 3 hours - a little fresh air does wonders. Of course with long naps, comes very energetic kids. So to burn off some energy and have a little fun, we had a dance party. Actually, I did most of the dancing and even a little singing for the kids - I don't want to brag, but they really liked it. Some of my moves may have been a bit questionable (it kind of reminded me of that episode of Friends where Ross and Rachel sing and dance to Baby Got Back to get their baby to smile), but whatever it takes to get a laugh. Maybe the kids and I will start a new business venture - Dirty Dancing for the stay-at-home mom - what do you think? Here are some pictures of the kids - Ryan is cheering me on, Lauren's not sure what to think.

Handy Manny

I'm going to be "that" parent who talks about how wonderful their child is because he is the best at reading or sports, or whatever, but when I say it, it is really the truth, Ryan is the most imaginative kid ever! Now everyone who has kids can say, no my kid is, but I'm standing by my word, I'm just amazed at the stuff Ryan comes up with.

Right now he is big on the Disney show "Handy Manny." So one day he says to me, "let's go to Kelly's store." I'm trying to think of a store named Kellys, but am having no luck. So Ryan tells me we have to get some screws and bolts and then things start to make sense to me. Kelly's is a hardware store on the show so I figure out we are pretending to be Handy Manny, or I should say Ryan is, he calls me Mrs. Portia (another character on the show - not really happy about the fact that she is an old woman, but I'll deal with it). We spend the next half hour or so going to Kelly's and making repairs on various things in the house. As you can see below, the door knob in his room needed a little hammering, luckily he was able to get everything fixed up. The more we play Handy Manny, the more Ryan gets into it. He even has an outfit he likes to wear, he calls it his working outfit . . . he has the flannel shirt, the carpenter jeans, and most importantly, his working boots. He'd wear that everyday if I let him. The best is when he pulls out a "vaminos" or "Hola Kelly" (Manny speaks both English and Spanish on the show) when we are playing. He even uses to words in the right context - it is amazing what he picks up on.

Besides the Handy Manny thing, Ryan has come up with all sorts of things to keep us busy during the day. We hunt bears in the basement, making sure never to shoot the baby bears, we pick them up and put them in our pockets. We row on our boat (the couch) and catch sharks with our fishing pools (a little baseball bat and a pole for his piano). We also drive to the grocery store in his car (the recliner) and shop for groceries to cook later on in his kitchen. I am just amazed how he comes up with these things - I'm not sure where he got his imagination, but I hope he has it forever.

I also had to throw in the pictures above. Ryan has always been big on talking on the phone, but lately he has been pretty funny when doing it. The other day he was talking to Grandma and telling her about the tractors in his book. He kept pointing and saying look at the green tractor, right here, do you see it? Or, grabs his new bike helmet and holds it up when he is talking and says look at it. He doesn't get that people can't see what he is looking at. He has also picked up on some stuff I do on the phone. The other day he was reading his book over the phone again and pulled the bottom of the phone away from his mouth and covered it and whispered to me to turn the page for him, once I did, he took his hand of the phone and started talking again - I was entertained. He has also started walking around while talking, and has told me more than once to "please shush", or "be quiet" - apparently he is on some very important calls.

Video time

I thought I would try out this video thing tonight as both kiddies are in bed and Trav is at the lake. As I mentioned in the previous post, Lauren thinks Ryan is just a hoot. Here is the video to prove it . . . enjoy!

A tip for the non-computer savvy (you know I'm talking about you mom). You have to pause the music in order to hear the video. In order to do this, scroll down on the right side until you see the music box. Click on the pause button and then press the play button on the video.

All about Lauren

I figured I should take some time and write about Lauren since it seems that most of the past posts have been about Ryan, so here goes . . .

Lauren is now 5 months and she is just the happiest baby ever. Trav and I were talking about this the other day and we both agree that she spends at least half of her day laughing or smiling - it is so fun to see. When we get her out of her crib in the morning, she is smiling so big that her little eyes get all scrunched up and you can hardly see them. Then she starts to kick and wiggle her body - it is a great way to start a day. Trav loves to hold Lauren up and have me talk to her. Once I start talking, she kind of does this thing were she smiles, bobs her head, then turns and buries herself into his shoulder - he thinks it is the funniest thing ever. And she could do this for hours if we let her. If we really want to get her giggling, there are usually two things that always work . . . get her naked and play peek-a-boo or tickle her, or have Ryan perform some dance moves, or jumping, or pretty much anything - she just thinks he is a hoot (she doesn't have to be naked to laugh for Ryan, just for us). Ryan of course loves the attention and keeps on going.

Tooth number two is coming in. I started to notice her sucking on her lips a lot more this week, and there's been some additional drooling so I figured something must be happening and sure enough, when I ran my finger on her bottom gum, I felt another little guy starting to pop out - let's just say I'm very happy that I decided to quit nursing at the end of May - those little suckers are sharp!

Lauren is really working on rolling over, but just can't seem to get it down. She gets all the way onto her side, but her arm gets in the way, and she just can't figure out what to do with it - no big deal though, it will happen soon enough. She is also working on sitting up more. We have our neighbor's Bumbo chair (or bumblebee chair as my mom says) - she is getting more and more used to it each day. We set her in the middle of the table when we are eating - she loves being able to see everything that is going on.

Lauren continues to eat like a champ. So far she has eaten everything we've given her - not like her brother who has a diet that consists of probably 15 things he'll eat. I wasn't too sure when I gave her peas and green beans, but she just licked the spoon a little and opened wide - it is so nice to have someone who eats what you give them.

That about does it. We have her 6 month check-up later this month so I'll have some stats to list then. For now, I'll leave you with a couple of Lauren pictures. Notice how flexible she is - she certainly does not get that from me, I think I would snap if I tried to suck on my toes - not that I would ever want to, but it wouldn't be pretty.

Getting her daily exercise - did you see the size of those cheeks?!?