Breakfast with Santa

On Friday, we had breakfast with Santa. Well, we had two donut holes and an ounce of juice with Santa. Of course, we were running late, but made it on time, luckily. Ryan was stuck to his chair, being scared of both Santa and the people dressed up like Rudolf, Frosty, a penguin and a mouse. He sat and stared the entire time. He wouldn't sit on Santa's lap, only mine next to him and you can see the stress in his face. Emma did fine, no problems with her. She was happy the entire time to chew on her shoe sitting on the floor. Overall, it was worth the $10 to go and not have to pay the people at the mall!

Ryan had another snow day yesterday. Actually, the decided on early dismissal and just cancelled the afternoon preschool classes. We HAD to go to the post office to get our package off to PA. The trip is 5 minutes from my house, but because of an accident in the snow it took us over an hour. Plus I was waiting for something to be delivered that they had called me on, so I was just praying that they hadn't come while I was gone (they didn't luckily).

And after I started writing this post, I got a call from Ryan's school saying he was throwing up and to come get him. Of course, this is right after I got Emma down for a nap. So she's had a 10 minute nap in the car and a 15 minute nap in her bed - she's going to be tired. Ryan feel 'not good' from what he says. He is up in my bed watching a Curious George dvd. And I'm going to try to have him nap when its over (hopefully I'll get Emma down at the same time and get some packing done.

Emma is standing on everything. That is all she wants to do, which is making naps very hard. So I'm basically back to nursing her to sleep. Its the only way she seems to nap at all. Ok. I better go check on Ryan.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Well around here, we're almost ready for Christmas. I love the build up. I am probably one of the only people who loves shopping at the mall in the week before Christmas. Not that I have much to buy by then, but I love the atmosphere. The decorations, the music, the fullness of the space. At this moment, I have only a handful of gifts left to get and am looking forward to shopping this weekend. I am currently working on my christmas cards, which came in the mail yesterday. I wrapped all the gifts I had today while watching the Muppets Christmas Carol. In my choice of movies, this was the one I thought would least hold Ryan's attention. My other two, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street and Elmo Saves Christmas, should entertain him. I also have Rudolf and one about Belle from Beauty and the Beast, but I was going to just watch Rudolf on tv (if I can figure out when it's on!).

In the other news.... We bought our minivan right before Thanksgiving. Kris outfitted it with car seats last weekend and we plan to drive it for our Christmas trip to MI. Emma loves being in the convertable seat instead of the infant carrier, she really was getting too big for it, especially with a coat on.

Last weekend, we had a bunch of our friends over to celebrate St. Nicholas Day. We had a great dinner and lots of desserts including homemade ice cream by Kris. The kids got candy in their shoes as per St. Nick tradition. And everyone got to ice and decorate the cookies that Ryan and I had made earlier in the week. We had a great time.

Ryan is still loving school. Today was pajama day in accordance with the Christmas buildup there. He really didn't want to wear them, but finally let me put them on. He is talking so much, although I wish 'Mama play' wasn't still his favorite phrase. He had an evaluation for occupational therapy this week that was referred by his speech therapist. The therapist at OT said he was on the border line due to poor muscle tone. So he could use help, but we could just do exercises at home, which is what we chose to do. I really didn't need to have another appointment to go to (which just jogged my memory of the ob/gyn appt I missed this morning, whoops). Ryan has finally decided to start dressing himself. This week, after I had already dressed him, he added a zip up sweater and another sweater on top. Since our house is so cold, I'm sure it was nice to be so toasty!

Emma is standing up on everything she can. She thinks this is one of the greates things. She still isn't fully crawling, just a fast army crawl. The butt rocking on her knees is so cute. She cut her top two teeth in the last week. The second is pretty inflammed and was bleeding yesterday. But as opposed to Ryan, who relied on Orajel every night, she does better without it. I guess her pain tolerance is higher (which might explain why I'm constantly kissing boo boos of his). Yet, as you can see in the picture she is just such a happy baby.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We spent the weekend travelling to PA and visiting with Kris's family. We had a great time with everyone, with one exception. Evidently we are passing around some sort of stomach bug. Ryan had it the Friday before Thanksgiving, then I came down with it on Wednesday (thinking I had food poisoning). Kris then got it on Saturday. I'm actually thinking it was some sort of rotovirus and that Emma hasn't come down with it because she had the vaccine for it. Luckily it was only a 12 hour bug, but it wasn't pretty.

We were able to enjoy ourselves at Kris's mom's house on Friday, after Kelli and I went shopping. Saturday we had our Thanksgiving meal at Aunt Sharon's house (Kris skipped it), and then another at Kris's dad's house on Sunday after church. A lot of family time. Ryan had a ball, it didn't matter where he was, he wanted to play there. He did great with the travelling and sleeping away from home. Emma did ok with all the people. She was getting up once a night and a few times was up at 6:30 am for the day. That made her extremely tired by the end of the night. We left early Thursday morning for our drive, hoping she would sleep for a while, but she stared at Ryan for 2 hours, before falling asleep just as we were about to stop for breakfast. So our early morning adventures are no longer very helpful. We debated on coming home Sunday or Monday due to the storm coming through and ended up returning on Monday. It usually takes us 8 hours exactly to get there, but on the way home it was more like 9 1/2, not that the stop at Costco and the weather didn't help!

On a side note, if you're keeping track. I've given up on potty training yet again. After 3 months, Ryan was still fighting every single time of having to go to the bathroom. It gets tiring after a while. I kept it up for as long as I can and have decided now that I will not be embarrassed by a kid who doesn't want to do it. It will only embarrass him when he's 8 and he's the only one in a diaper. This is not a fight I can win and I've tried for so long hoping he'll just get used the fact of going. But I haven't won and am too tired. I figure at the end of school, when he is no longer on a bus for a 1.5 hour bus ride, I can put him in underwear and he'll get it, but until then he will have to be the one who initiates it. I'm tired!

Back to Normal

Everything here is back to normal. Nothing too exciting. Well we sold our Explorer and are in the process of buying a minivan. I know, I didn't want one but they are so useful! We put up our Christmas lights yesterday and are starting to decorate the house. I'm inundated with laundry to get us ready to leave for PA for Thanksgiving this week. Ryan was sick on Friday (all over me), so we've been bumming a little here. We actually thought we brought home a different kid from church yesterday because while we were making lunch, he cleaned up his toys in the living room and went and played in the basement by himself! He wasn't even asked to do any of it! So we were pretty impressed. But I'm glad to get him back in school for two days this week.

We got a little snow last week, so here is a picture I took of Ryan outside (not that you can tell it's snowing). I also taught him to cheer 'Go Blue', which corresponds nicely to both Michigan and Penn State. Kris had brought home some pom-poms from the game he went to and Ryan loves playing with them. Ryan would prefer to say 'Go Green', but I told Ryan that if he said that during this past weeks PSU game, that Daddy would be mad. So anytime he said it, he would stop and say 'No, Daddy mad'. Too cute.



Yesterday, I dressed Emma up in a Christmas dress I received from a friend of mine in her hand me downs. I put her in it for church, but was too lazy to change her. So later on, I found the santa hat I bought Ryan that said My First Christmas and put it on her to take some pictures like I had of Ryan. The funniest one is of her posing. Seriously, she did this all on her own!!

Pots and Pans Day

Today, I let the kids play with pots and pans in the kitchen. Although Ryan didn't consider it 'playing', he did have fun.

Boston and Back

Last week, our family, along with my parents flew to Boston for Kris to attend the MIT LFM Alumni Conference. We went to this last year in Seattle and look forward to having an excuse to travel next year. Kris seemed to enjoy himself, especially the tour he took of Legal Sea Foods. The rest of us kept ourselves busy by going to the aquarium and on a trolley tour. Ryan got to touch a jelly fish, but overall, he is not really a fan of the aquarium as I've realized out here. He liked riding on the trolley and chasing the birds when we stopped. Emma spent these two days sleeping in the stroller and wrap, eating whenever we would feed her and generally just tagging along.

On Saturday, we all went to the Children's museum. We met a friend of Kris's from school and her son, but they weren't able to stay long. Ryan had a blast climbing to the top of this climber (we were sure hoping he would come out on his own because there is no way an adult would fit in there). Ryan and Daddy played bubbles and played in the digger machines. Emma finally got a place to play at the museum and loved the water bed that they had to lay on and discovering her own Bubba Jane (her reflection - we called Ryan's Bubba Joe).

We came home on Sunday, completing Emma's first flight(s). She did really well on the flights but can't say she's gotten any better about sleeping in a pack n play. By the last night, she was up every hour and a half because she rolled over and was uncomfortable. It's taking almost a week to get her back to where she was before we left, getting up only once between 8pm and 8am. Both Kris and my mom came home with the flu and the kids and I came home with colds, mine which has since turned into a sinus infection. Lucky us!

Before our trip, we took the kids out hiking by the creek and 4 wheeler paths behind our house. The colors back there are beautiful. I took some great pictures of Ryan. Here are two of them.

Emma has been doing good in her growing up. She's starting to like water a little more now and enjoys chewing on her cup. She is army crawling all over and has started to venture a little farther each day. Because she is doing so good sitting up, I decided to let her sit in the big bath tub, which she is really enjoying. Today, she discovered she could splash and loved it! She's eating really well now. She'll take almost everything you give her and is a pro at chewing the fruit puff and Cheerios (just not a pro at getting them in her mouth yet). And after a week of no pooping, she's finally gotten a little more regular. Amazingly, that corresponded with her taking more food. But she's growing up so fast. Although she hasn't outgrown her infant seat yet, we plan to move her to the convertible before our trip to PA for Thanksgiving to give her a little more room. She's getting better at sitting in a shopping cart, but tends to lean to the side! At least she has fun.

Congrats!

Congrats to President-Elect Barack Obama! Ryan and I are happy for the person we voted for (Ryan got to do the kids vote thing by picture and picked Obama). Not that my vote really made a difference since Kentucky went to McCain, but I'm proud of the other states that chose him. I was going to say chose well, but I like McCain too. This was a tough election for me because I've read both candidates books and liked them both personally. But I liked Obama's change message and I like his VP better (sorry not a Palin fan).

That's it. We're off to Boston for the MIT conference this weekend. Should be fun.

Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween has just come to a close (although we are still hoping for some kids to come take the rest of our candy!). Ryan had a great time tonight. He loved running from house to house and trying to determine if people were home or not (no home!). He would ring the door bell and immediately knock - at the first house he opened the door! Ryan couldn't say trick or treat or even thank you, but he would leave saying 'no more' and 'bye'. We now have more suckers than we will ever eat. Emma dressed up as Ryan's cow and rode in the wagon until she got too cold and made me carry her. She seemed to enjoy the ride. So here are some pictures.

Over the past week, we've had so much to do. Last Friday, we picked Kris's cousin Doug up from the Dayton airport. The round trip took 5 hours! That included lunch, but we were gone for an awfully long time. He came in to go to the Penn State-Ohio State football game. They had a great time, amplified by the fact that Penn State won. While they were out, the kids and I attended Jackson McDonalds' first birthday party at Benton Farms. The kids got to pet some animals, go for a hayride and pick out pumpkins. They had a great time, which would have been better if Emma hadn't pooped out of her clothes during the 10 minute drive there. I usually have a extra set of clothes in the car, but had just reminded myself that morning that I need to change to winter clothes. So all I had was an extra onsie, she would have froze!

Monday, we drove Doug back to the airport and started our very busy week. We had to go shopping to get Ryan a heavier coat, we played outside in the wagon. Emma loved having Ryan pull her around. On Monday, I had my second photography class. Emma was not having a good day and fell asleep on her toy, as you can see!

Emma also had her 6 month doctors appointment this week. She did great considering she's been battling a cold, we found out she had an ear infection, she fell off the exam table (the nurse mostly caught her and she fell on her butt) and she got 3 shots. It was a tough day. But she's growing wonderfully and they weren't too worried about her.

Halloween Season

Last weekend, Kris had his 15 year high school reunion. I didn't really want to travel the 8 hours on Friday night and then turn around and do it again on Sunday with the kids. So instead of being home alone (again) I took them to Michigan (only 5 hours and we could leave on Thursday). The kids did pretty good on the trip. Emma only cried for 45 minutes straight after her bedtime, but all was well. One of the reasons we decided to go was because a friend of mine was having a charity event, raising money for the American Cancer Society. With a donation, you would receive a 15 minute photo session with her. So I took the kids in their Halloween costumes. Above and below are the pictures that Beth posted on her website (bethmerritt.com). The pictures turned out so cute!

While at my parents, we took the kids to the apple orchard for some cider and donuts. Ryan loved both and had a great time feeding the goats and walking through the orchard. Emma was lunging after any and all food. My dad had brought us some hamburgers because we missed lunch and Emma was all over the bun. It was very funny.

Since then its been a busy week. I took a two part class on photography this Monday (and next), which was great to finally learn what some of the things on my camera are for. Kris got to put both kids to bed and said that Emma cried for about an hour until bedtime and cried through her bottle. But she went to bed. For a few days she was getting up only once, but the last two nights has been up at least twice. So much for getting better.

I started giving Emma apples in the mesh bag feeder. She thought it was pretty good yesterday. Today, I tried pears, but she didn't like them as much. She is loving being able to sit at her toy and play. She's still doing the army crawl, but she gets where she needs to go.

Ryan has his first field trip today. They went to Benton Farms. We weren't exactly sure what they would do. But he brought home a pumpkin that he says he picked. He also said he petted goats and sheep, but no cows. He did say he had fun though. I would have went, but siblings aren't allowed, not to mention we are going this weekend to the same place for a birthday party. He's been doing great lately at home. Not so much whining, but more playing nicely. On a good note, he did poop in the potty when we got home on Sunday, but hasn't done it since. He'll pee but isn't good about telling us or wanting to stop what he's doing to go.

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One more note about me. I accomplished my goal. I lost all the baby weight I gained with Emma before she hit 6 months old. She will be 6 months on Monday and this past Monday I was 1 lb below where I was when I found out I was pregnant with her.

Oh what a time!

Ryan has been on fall break from school since last Wednesday. I'm already starting to be one of those parents who can't stand holidays and summer break. He's only been in school for a few weeks, but I really don't know how I got anything done when he was home. Of course, at that time, he wasn't screaming 'play' at me every second of the day. In fact he is calling it to me right now, 20 minutes after I put him to bed!

So here is what we've been up to. Kris bought a new lawn mower. It was his first (and he hopes his last) since we were using the one we confiscated from the trailer when we sold it. My grandmother says our old one was about 30 years old.

Ryan has been busy playing in the pile of rocks near our house that is there for the house they are building. He loves to try to scale it (the helmet is because he was riding his bike first). He has been enjoying riding his bike and in general making me 'play' with whatever floats his boat at the moment. We went swimming at the gym yesterday (even though we were there an hour before they allow kids in). He went back to school today and I was thankful.

Emma has been working on her sitting. She's doing very well at it and is enjoying the ability to play with toys at a different angle. She's starting to enjoy eating baby food as well. She's trying to get those fruit puffs in her mouth, but can't quite get it yet (of course once she gets it there she is unsure of what to do with it). She's working on sorting out her nap schedule. Today, she fell asleep in the middle of the living room while I was getting dinner ready. I had put her down to play and went to get her and found her asleep. Too cute. Mostly, she's good at going with the flow.

Here are two other pictures. One is Emma in the bath seat my mom let our borrow. She likes splashing in the water. The other is Ryan wearing my heels. We were getting ready to go to a pregnancy & infant loss service at church.