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?!?

Ryan's new "friends"

Ryan has been very interested in bugs lately. Luckily, we have a family of ladybugs that live in the window in our laundry room so Ryan has plenty of time to poke and prod at them. When he first saw them, he wanted nothing to do with them. Trav finally convinced him to hold one in his hand, and since then, he can't get enough of them. He actually wants to go in that room just to "play" with the ladybugs. Unfortunately for one of the ladybugs, the play got a little physical one day. For some reason, Ryan decided to step on one and boy was he made when he lifted up his foot and the ladybug was no where to be found. I told him to look on the bottom of his shoe and once he saw it smashed to the sole, he started to cry. He told me to take it off, so I did. When the bug didn't start moving, he looked at me with a look of complete horror and said, "Mommy, it's dead?" When I said yes, he cried even harder. He wanted me to make it move again so bad, but I told him that just wouldn't happen again. After he finished crying, we made a rule that there would be no more stepping on ladybugs. So, if you happen to be around Ryan and a ladybug in the near future - do NOT step on it or he'll let you have it. Here are some pictures of Ryan and the bugs. Ryan has also taken a liking to some outside bugs - worms actually. With all the rain, there are always plenty in the driveway - I'd say he's touched about half of them so far. Here is one of the lucky ones who got to ride in his car with him - lucky little fella.
In other news, Ryan and I have been checking out preschools for next year. We visited two in the past week and both were great. Ryan had a chance to participate in each class for about a half hour while I observed. All the teachers were great and Ryan had a blast at both. The final choice was made based on the school size and "cirriculum." One of the schools was actually in an old middle school and there were tons of different classes going all the time. This preschool was run more like an acutal school - they stuck to a strict schedule, had a recess time, snack time, and sessions each day that focused on science, math, and reading - to me it seemed a bit much for a 3 year old. So I opted for the other preschool that was a smaller group located in a local church. There are only two classes in the building at a time, and the teachers really seemed to know a lot about the kids, and not just "school" stuff about them - they knew about their families, the child's likes and dislikes, etc. This school also stuck to a schedule, but were more flxible if things didn't get done exactly on time. I also liked that this preschool focused on a new subject every week, but weren't so focused on getting the math, science, and reading part in everyday. I figure if he learns all that stuff in preschool, what will he have left to learn in kindergarten? After all the visits were done, Ryan of course wanted to start going right away - I have to keep reminding him that school doesn't start for a while yet. I'm glad he is so excited though.

Wedding weekend

We attended the wedding of Stefanie and Stephen this weekend back home. It was great to see everyone again and have some adult time. The kids skipped the wedding in order to take naps, but we made sure to get Ryan up in time to get to the reception with us. When we got home from the church, he was out cold, but the minute I said, "do you want to come dancing with us?" he was up in a flash. He literally jumped out of bed and started walking around signing - it was pretty cute. We took a couple of pictures of the family since we were for the most part all dressed up (with the exception of Lauren). Ryan had a great time dancing the night away. He can hardly wait for the next wedding!

Grandpa and Grandma Loken, Uncle Aaron and the family

I also thought I would throw in some pictures from the bachelorette party from two weeks ago. One of our friend's grandpas drove us around in a large school bus - talk about good times!

He is so helpful

Ryan has been asking to help me a lot lately with Lauren so I started thinking about all the ways Ryan has "helped" me since Lauren has been born - I thought I would list them out for your pleasure. Things started out really basic. When Lauren cried, Ryan would say "Mom, Lauren is crying." After a few days, he started taking a more hands on approach and would rub Lauren face and say "it's okay, it's okay, it's okay" (always 3 times) when she would cry. During these times, he was also very helpful in getting burp rags when Lauren spit, and handing me diapers when I was changing her. Unfortunately Ryan's helpfulness came with a price for him as he would usually start gagging at the sight of her puke or dirty diapers - what a trooper. As Lauren got older, he realized he wasn't getting the results he wanted so he started giving her toys to comfort her - what a good big brother. After that got old, he got a bit more creative and started feeding her invisible candy when she cried. I have no idea where he got this, but let's just say Lauren didn't really like the idea. By this time, I think Ryan was running out of ideas so one day while we were taking a walk Lauren started screaming. Ryan tried the old candy bit with no success so he took things into his own hands literally and covered her mouth. He was so proud he finally got her to stop crying that he told me to look. I of course laughed like any good mother and told him that was not a nice thing to do and it has never happened again (so far). The last example of Ryan's help came as we were driving. Lauren was screaming again (I promise she doesn't cry all the time) and Ryan had had just about enough. He gave her a toy, some fake candy, even broke out the "it's okay", but nothing worked. He finally asked me, "Mom, can I hit her?" What a sweet little boy. I guess I should just be happy he asked before he did anything. I obviously said no and he said okay and left it at that. To date, there hasn't been any hitting - let's hope it stays that way.On a sad note, my parents had to put down the family dog, Bailey, yesterday. She was getting old and having some health issues so it was time. Ashley went home to spend the day with her and then they took her to the vet - Ash said it was the worst thing in the world to see, but at least Bailey had someone with her as she passed. I'm sure she is in dog heaven having a blast right now - may she rest in peace. Here are some pictures Ash took on her last day.