Not Again!!!

Rylie is sick...again. She had a fever last night and her nose was running more than usual, so she stayed home from school today. She seems to be doing OK today, but she still has a slight fever and is coughing. My poor little girl. I think her allergies kicked in when it warmed up for a few days and then led to an infection.

Bryce is also more congested than normal. I hope he doesn't get another ear infection!

Hurry up spring!

Wordless Wednesday: Smile!

Good Sleepers

I am so very lucky that my kids are such good sleepers. I feel so sorry for the parents that have babies over 2 or 3 months old that are still waking up during the night. I really do. My heart goes out to you all, because honestly, I don’t know how you do it. I don’t function well if I don’t get sleep.

Rylie started sleeping through the night at a month old. She was going from like 10-6 with no problems. Once she started daycare, she went to bed between 7 and 8 and we had to wake her up around 7 every morning. Bryce took a little longer to get into that routine, but only a couple of weeks. Now they both are in bed by 8 (sometimes Rylie is up a little later), and we wake Bryce up at 6 and Rylie up at 6:30. On the weekends they sleep until 7:30 or so, usually.

Last night was Bryce’s first full night without the swaddle. He has been fighting it lately and usually wakes up with at least one arm out of it. We decided to try him without it last night and he did really well. Apparently (and I say “apparently” since I slept through it) he started fussing around midnight and Brian got up and gave him his paci and he went right back to sleep. So hopefully that is the end of the swaddle. Once we are sure he is done with the swaddle, the paci goes next!

Awesome Weekend!

What a great weekend we had! It was busy busy busy as usual, but we had a lot of fun.

Mama and Papa came over Friday evening for the weekend. On Saturday morning I got my hair done and then met my friend Tiffany for lunch and shopping. Of course I got into trouble in Gymboree with stuff like this...

On my way home I was so excited to find out that my brother had driven over to see us! It was a great surprise. Rylie loves her uncle! We all loaded up and met the Stevenson clan at Funtime. Of course photographer Jen had her camera going...

This is Rylie's BFF Lily.

Playing on the slides! Wheeeeee!

Bryce in the ball pit.

(he still had his bib on from the bottle he just enjoyed)

Bryce and Mama.

Good friends!


Big slide with Uncle Danny!!!

Sunday Rylie had a playdate with Maddox and then we did some running around. Later on we had a birthday party for Mama and Papa. Her birthday was last week and his is this week.

Getting ready for cake!

Happy Birthday Mama and Papa!

Of course nothing around the house got done, but we had fun and that is all that matters, right? The mess isn't going anywhere!

Have a great week!!!

We Have A Roller!

Finally! My lazy little man rolled both ways! Last Saturday (February 13th) he rolled over from his belly to his back. I could tell by the look in his eyes it surprised him as much as it did us. He did it again during the week at school. Yesterday morning when I went to get him out of his crib he was on his belly...in his swaddle...with one arm out. So even though we didn't witness it, he rolled from his back to his belly. So not only did he meet the rolling milestone, it seems we may have to get rid of the swaddle now too. I just hope he continues to sleep as well without it. Yay Bryce!

Rylie's New Song

"Rain, rain, go away
Come back a little bit"

I love when she sings to me!

Little Linebacker

My Grandpa never got to meet Bryce, but whenever he saw a picture of him he always said that he looked like a linebacker. His teacher told me this morning that he looks like a football player. The kid is solid, that is for sure. There is nothing dainty about him.

He started eating cereal a few days before he turned 4 months old. He got sick a few days after that, so solid foods were put on hold for a week or so. He doesn’t love the cereal, but eats it pretty well. He had his first taste of peas last Saturday…

(We didn’t have the high chair out yet, so he had his first meal in the Bumbo. He now sits in the high chair and loves it!)

He did well on the first few bites, but then started gagging. Mama gave him some more on Sunday and he did really well. On Tuesday night we gave him a half of a jar and he scarfed all of that up and wanted more, so he ended up eating the whole jar. Last night we gave him some sweet potatoes, and again, he ate the whole jar. And now all of this food is in addition to the five 8-ounce bottles he has each day. He is quite the piggy!

Last night he weighed 16lbs, 6oz. I figured that was a lot, but when I put it into Baby Center's growth calculator, it says he is still under the 50th percentile. Regardless, I have a feeling he will outweigh his sister by the time he is two if he continues at this rate. Rylie was 15lbs, 6oz at 6 months and only 18lbs, 14oz at a year. And we all know she is still quite the peanut now at under 25 pounds.

I really need this weather to warm up! Bryce is quickly growing out of his 3-6 month clothes and I don’t have any winter clothes in the next size. In fact this morning he went to school with his pants unsnapped. When I got him dressed the pants snapped just fine. He looked super cute so I set him in the glider to take a picture of him. That is when I realized that his belly was just hanging over his pants. Ahhh, my little linebacker.

Wordless Wednesday: Stroller Fun

Little Savers

One of the Christmas presents the kids got from their Grandma and Grandpa B. were checks. Since it wasn’t a small amount of money, we decided to open savings accounts for them. We also set up a weekly transfer of $10 each from our account. We figure this is a small enough amount of money to where we really won’t miss it, but enough that it will add up year by year. And then when the kids need to buy a car or something like that, there will be plenty of money for them to do so.

I know I have annoyed a few people by not giving out the kids’ social security numbers so they can buy them savings bonds, rather than toys, for gifts. I am just paranoid about identity theft, and absolutely refuse to give their social security numbers to anyone. Now I will put any checks they receive directly into their bank accounts.

So now I just need someone to teach the kids how to save money, since I’m no good at it. :-) They have piggy banks too, and Rylie’s already has a decent amount of cash in it. But I figure that the bank accounts are safer. I wouldn’t want them to have an experience like this…

Happy Valentine's Day!

The kids wore their Valentine's Day outfits to school last Friday. Rylie actually stood still and smiled for ONE picture.

Today was a lazy day at home. Mama and Papa came to visit this afternoon. Rylie and Mama made some Valentine's Day treats.

I hope everyone had a great day!

Breakfast With Rylie

Even though I am off work today, I decided to get up at my normal time and get showered, dressed, etc. and take the kids to school. I usually just hang out in my PJs and let Brian take them. But Rylie likes it when I sit with her while she eats breakfast, and I wanted to do that today.

I'm always afraid that when I sit down in those tiny little chairs that it will either fall apart underneath me, or I won't be able to get back up! Luckily there were no embarrassing accidents of the sort.

So as I was sitting there I was thinking that there is no way I could ever work in a daycare. Those teachers deserve a medal sometimes! Kids were running all around and the noise was just a little more than I could handle, especially since I hadn't had my fill of coffee yet. Some of them were crying because their parents left, some were tattling on others that hit them, and then there were the three sitting with me that I had to tickle the whole time. That was actually pretty fun. Well, until they started telling me to tickle their teachers. I figured that might be a little awkward (you think?) so I had to try to explain that the tickle monster only likes little kids. But just sitting there for 15 minutes made me appreciate those ladies that work there even more. I am so thankful to have such wonderful people taking care of my kids all day!

Rylie's class is having their Valentine's Day party today. I signed up for chips because cookies and cupcakes were already taken, and who wants to bring healthy stuff like fruit to a party? ;-) Little did I know that two other parents signed up for chips after me, so there are enough bags of Cheetos there to last for the rest of the year. Next time I'm signing up for the fruit. We took Valentine's Day cards to exchange with her friends. I just find that so funny and can picture the two year olds passing out their cards. When I pick Rylie up tonight I'm sure she'll be on quite the sugar high. At least it is Friday!

Bad Week For Blogging

It has been such a crazy week! I have been super busy at work and I have had to run errands during lunch every day. I had to deal with getting new lenses in my new glasses earlier in the week and today I had to go get Valentine cards for Rylie to exchange with her friends at school tomorrow. (Hilarious, I know.) I hope to be back to my regular daily blogging next week.

Here's a quick update on the sickies. Rylie is great! She has had a good week and has been an absolute doll this week. Bryce is doing so much better. Of course he's just as cute and happy as can be, but he is still a little congested. He is back to sleeping from 8-6, so I imagine his ears are feeling better. I'm also doing better. My sinus infection is pretty much gone and I feel like a human being again.

We can't wait for Mama and Papa to come visit this weekend! It is a 4 day weekend for me, and I am hoping to get a lot accomplished around the house. We'll see how that goes.

Happy Birthday Nate!

Last weekend Rylie was invited to her friend Nate's 2nd birthday party. It was at Fun Time, and that is exactly what it was! Unfortunately we have no pictures of the birthday boy at his party (because my camera was in Brian's pocket most of the time and a certain little princess had him running around the place the entire time), but this is Nate...




The party was so much fun for the kids! Fun Time is a big play area full of bounce houses. I still wasn't feeling well so I pretty much sat with Bryce the whole time and tried to stay away from everyone, but Rylie had a BLAST! Poor Brian. She ran him around there so much he was a sweaty mess by the time we left. We did manage to get a few pictures of Rylie...

Here she is climbing up the ladder on the "small" slide.


Wheeeeeeeeeee!


This is the big slide. At first she would only go with Daddy.




After a couple of rides with Daddy she decided to go alone! She loved it!


And then it was nap time. She barely made it out of the parking lot.


Nate, we hope you had a great birthday! Thanks for inviting us to share your special day!

More Ear Infections!?!?!?!

Bryce’s ears are infected. AGAIN. His congestion has been getting worse the last couple of days and we noticed yesterday that he was pulling at his ears. Brian took him to the pediatrician this morning and along with the ear infections, he is also wheezing. He is on a stronger antibiotic this time, so hopefully it will get rid of the infection for good. This is starting to look like the same thing that happened with Rylie when she was this age, and I really don’t want to go through that twice, nor do I want Bryce to have to go through it.

The poor baby is handling it so well! He is generally happy and is still smiling all of the time. He hasn’t been sleeping all that well, but for as sick as he is, I think he is sleeping a lot better than he probably should be. Thank goodness Brian took the night shift all weekend since I was trying to get over my sickness, but I have been up since 3 AM this morning.

I REALLY hope my little guy gets all better soon!

Rylie seems to be doing great! She still has a little cough, but other than that she is fine. I went to the Minute Clinic on Friday and got some antibiotics for my sinus infection, and I started feeling better yesterday.

I am losing my mind over all of the sickness! I can’t wait until this month is over. It seems like once spring gets here, this stuff isn’t so bad anymore.

A Cookie A Day?

Rylie hurt herself yesterday. We don't even remember what she did, but she started crying and Brian picked her up. She said "cookie feel better". A week ago a kiss made everything better. Now a cookie does the trick. What's next? $1, $20, $50?

Sick Of The Sickies

Now I'm sick. I stayed home today because I had a fever. I can't remember the last time I had a fever. What I don't understand is how Rylie can have a super high fever and still want to run around and act crazy all day, but when I'm sick I just want to curl up in bed and cry. Hopefully I will feel better because I have to go to work tomorrow.

The kids seem to be getting better. They are both still congested, but neither have fevers anymore. We have a birthday party to go to Saturday, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we are all well!

Bryce Is One Tough Little Dude

Just like his shirt says...

From 2010 January

He laughed after his first shot today! I am not even joking. He got this weird look on his face when the needle went in and then he started smiling and laughing. The nurse said "well, he probably won't laugh after this next one, because it stings." And he didn't. Well, at least not right away. He cried for maybe 10 seconds and then was all smiles again. I couldn't believe it!

So here are the updates on my little sick ones...

Bryce's ears are clear! I am so happy about that. Rylie's first ear infection lasted a month, and I sure didn't want a repeat of that. He is still congested, but the doctor wanted to do his shots anyway. She said that if we wait until he's not congested, he'll never get the shots.

The doctor also said we didn't need to switch his formula because of the eczema. She said if he had an allergy to milk protein, it would be all over his body and not just on his face. She said that we could use hydrocortisone on it, but we probably shouldn't just because we could only use it for 3 days and then it would just come back. Right now it isn't too bad, so I'll just keep up with the Baby Eczema Cream (which works very well!!!) and the Aquaphor at school.

Rylie didn't have a fever all day. Until now. When I was putting her in bed she told me that I needed to check her fever. I thought it was an odd request, but I'm glad I did because it was 101.1. She said that since she had a fever she needed to sleep with Mommy. That explains the request to check it. I gave her some Tylenol and she is now sleeping...in HER bed. (As much as I love to comfort her when she is sick, I really don't want to get kicked all night again.) It looks like Daddy and Rylie will be having a fun day at home tomorrow.

Home Sick

I'm home with Rylie today. She has been congested for a few days now and last night she woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. Her fever has gone down some, but is still there. You certainly wouldn't know she is sick, though, by the way she was running around this morning. She is napping now, so hopefully with some rest she can kick this thing.

I have come to hate the months of January and February. It seems like kids are always sick during these months. I went through this last year too. Poor babies.

I have to take Bryce to the pediatrician this afternoon to get his ears re-checked and get his 4 month shots. Keep your fingers crossed that his ears are better!

Copycat

Rylie likes to watch other kids, especially older ones. She will usually follow along too and do whatever they're doing.

My parents got her a Sit & Spin for Christmas. She wouldn't sit on it the right way and learn how to use it, regardless of how many times we tried to get her to. A few days ago, my friend Tiffany posted a picture on her blog of her daughter on her Sit & Spin...



(The funny thing about this picture is that Rylie has the same jacket.)

Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to show Rylie the picture and how Payten was sitting on her toy, thinking she would do the same thing. That didn't quite work out like I planned. Rylie was madder than a hornet that Payten had her jacket on. It was hilarious (to us, not to her). We finally had to go get her jacket for her to show her that Payten did not have her jacket. When all was said and done, though, we did get her to sit on the toy and use it the right way...

From 2010 January

...jacket and all!