Ryan

Its been a while. There's no excuse. I wanted to remember today forever, so I'm breaking my blog hiatus.

Ryan is at an adorable age and stage of life. He is small enough to still be my baby boy, but big enough to have lots of dreams, imagination and ambition. Ryan dreams about getting big, getting married, having kids and driving the white car (our Toyota Corolla) to work (he wants to be a fireman, trash truck driver, dentist, police officer, doctor...depending on the week) and live out his adult life just like his dad. He mimics Sean and follows in his every footstep. 

This morning we had some friends over to play and I overheard him saying to his sister about his little friend from his Sunbeams class, "I'm taking my wife and two kids on a walk. Come on dear!" I chuckled and kept on tidying up. Then a little while later they came walking out like this

I just wish I could bottle this up. But every time I tell him to please stop growing he tells me "no mom, I want to get big like dad!"

I wish he could be 4 forever. He is going to be an amazing husband and make some girl extremely happy someday. 

He is starting preschool on Monday. I will miss him. 

Ryan loves:

His baby brother 

Cuddling, and affection. He is such a softy and I love it! 

Learning and reading

Friends, especially his best bud Luke

Ryan's favorite:

Toys: Trucks, motorcycles, basically anything on wheels and dressing up as a police officer or fireman

Color: Red, green, yellow, black and brown (he couldn't pick just one)

Book: Little Blue Truck

Food: Banana bread and bananas 

Movie: Cars/planes 

Place: The beach

Treat: Chocolate ice cream

I love you Ry guy! I'm a lucky girl to be your mom!

ps Anyone else excited for school to start?! 

Halloween 2011

Nana and Grandpa Neilson came to visit us over Halloween. We LOVED their company and their visit was too short. Grandpa replace the flooring in our master bathroom and worked hard in between the Halloween festivities. Nana sewed her heart out. The kids and I soaked up our time alone with them. This year was fun because both of my kids were really into their costumes and they understood what Halloween is all about, CANDY!
I made (pieced together) Ryan a Gus costume to go with Paige as Cinderella, but by the time Halloween rolled around he wanted nothing to do with it. It was a tad small and I think it choked him a little. I found a lion costume that someone gave me the previous year that worked great.
There was a lot going on this Halloween.
Friday was Seans Dress up Halloween party. All the employees dressed up and had a contest for the best costume. The families were invited to come in the afternoon for the contest and then to trick or treat and have appetizers and treats. Seans co worker Jonathan won for dressing as a red lego. He glued plastic cups to a square cardboard box and spray painted it all red. He wore red tights so I agree he should have won!
Saturday was our ward trunk or treat and it was awesome. They had face painting, cupcake decorating, a hay ride (which was Paiges favorite), costume parade, and hot dogs and mac and cheese which the kids loved. I helped my parents pass out treats while Sean took the kids from trunk to trunk.
Monday we went trick or treating and then to a fun party at a friends house.
We didn't take a lot of pictures but here are some from trick or treating...

 Paige is NOT a shy girl, but when she has to talk to a stranger, she clams up. We have been working on her saying thank you to strangers who give her stickers or help her in any way for over a year. She still won't tell the lady at the library writing the name tags her name. She is going to Kindergarten in a little less than a year and there is a lot for her to learn before she goes. That is why I was SO proud of her for saying trick or treat and thank you at every door. She was so cute! Ryan mostly just wanted to take the candy from them so he could put the candy in his own bag and get as much candy as possible.

 He was a pretty darn cute lion!

 There was this guy at the end of our block that dressed up as this glow in the dark robot-nerf-gun thing. He was up on blocks and had a whistle robot sounding thing in his mouth so that he sounded like a robot. Paige stood by him to take a picture but somehow this is all we got.

Happy Halloween!

Paige started her second year of Busy Bees Pre-School today. She was very excited and had lots of fun. It's fun to hear what she learns and retains. We have 8 kids and a more challenging curriculum this year. I am excited to see them progress. For pictures and updates go to our class blog here

Confessions of a housewife: Mothering is not for the weak

If you have a weak stomach just stop reading. The last two weeks have been rough for me when it comes to mothering. It all started when Ryan got sick. It was the weekend of Paige's 4th birthday party. My sister and mom drove out from Arizona to celebrate with us and drive us back to Arizona with them. We stopped in Southern California to go to Disneyland for a day and then the beach for a day. The day we left, Ryan had a runny nose and was acting like he was achy or just not feeling good. By the next morning he was coughing but it sounded like a seal barking. I was going to keep him home from Disneyland, but my mom convinced me that he could sleep in the sroller just as easily as he could sleep in his pack and play. So I drugged him with a baby dose of benadryl and off we went. She was right, he slept most of the morning and part of the afternoon. The next day was similar. The day we left was ...THE WORST MOTHERING DAY OF MY LIFE! Ryan woke up at 3:00 am crying and I discovered that he had a really messy diaper. Of course all the wipes were down stairs and Ryan was screaming at the top of his lungs because his tooshie was on fire. So I got the wipes changed him and gave him a dose of medicine and a drink of water. We went back to bed until 6:00 when the same thing happened and then 7:00, and then 8:00. At one point my mom was trying to help me and there was runny poop all over the floor. Thank goodness that my in-laws have wood floors and clorox wipes! I had to sanitize surfaces and just as I would finish the whole ordeal would start all over again. IT GETS WORSE. At 9:00 We were just about packed up. I had showered and changed, Paige and Ryan were dressed, drinks and snacks were packed, bags were loaded...you get the idea. I hear Ryan explode, so I go to change him, but the poor boy has had it! His bumb was raw. He was arching his back and my mom was trying to keep him still enough for a diaper change and he is just hysterical. I finished changing him and picked him up to comfort him. He was gasping for breath when all of a sudden, he threw up down the front of my shirt. I couldn't think of a solution to the problem so I just started bawling. I went to the kitchen sink and my mom took him from me and told me to go get clean. I got in the shower fully clothed and had a good cry, until my sister came in and told me to get it together because I was scaring Paige! I showered and got dressed. My mom and sister cleaned up the disaster down stairs and my saint of a sister in law called her pediatrician to see what the best treatment for baby diarhea was. He didn't throw up again but continued to need lots of desitin and probiotics for a few days.
Fast forward to yesterday. We were all packed up for our play date at Folsom lake. We went to our friends house who we were carpooling with. We were a few minutes early so we went in to play for a few minutes. Paige and Ryan were playing in the playroom which is a sun room with a sliding glass door. Ryan was going in and out of the playroom easily. He had come out to see their dog and was sitting by the door trying to pivot his body around to crawl backwards over the door bracket and down the small step on the other side. Somehow his torsoe bent over his legs and his head kept going right into the sliding door bracket. I saw his head hit and he started crying. I went over to comfort him thinking he had a goose egg on his forhead and when I picked him up and hugged him, I noticed that he needed a diaper change.I headed towards the front door to go get a diaper out of the car. Before I got to the front door I felt a drop on my arm and looked down to see blood all over Ryans shirt and dripping on my arm. My friend grabbed a washcloth and I called Sean to come help. My sweet friends took Paige while Sean and I went to Urgent Care to fix Ryans gash. Ryan was extremely calm and cuddly. The bleeding stopped and he didn't show any signs of pain other than he wanted me to hold him at all times. The PA came in and examined his forehead and recomended stitches because the skin didn't want to close naturally and she didn't think anything else would hold. They put numbing cream on him and then let it sit for 20 minutes or so. The PA and nurse came in and stood Ryan on the table to wrap a gown around his shoulders with his arms straight against his body. They laid him down and gave him 2 or 3 small shots directly in the gash. They cleaned it really well and gave him 6 stitches. He was miserable the entire time (understanably) He was hot and sweaty and could feel someone tugging at the skin above his eye although there was no pain he must have felt helpless and frustrated. He survived though and was back to normal immediately. He woke up last night crying and I wondered if it was baby post tramatic syndrome. What a couple of weeks he have had.
Like I said mothering is not for the weak. But even after all of that, it is so worth it! Ryan is doing so much better. phew!
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Freak Hail Storm

Yesterday was June 1st. It started thundering and then this happened...

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that was fun but can summer start now please? I let Paige put on her rain boots and jacket and go play in it. When she came inside she said "mommy I made snow soup!" She doesn't mind the weather one bit!

Mmm! Watermelon

Ryans first BIG slice of watermelon. He loved it!

Can you tell I can't get enough of him? I miss his curls. Cutie pie!

Life as of late

The cutest of the 10 we tried to take. wiggly kids+slow camera=blurry pictures. :(

Paige trying hard to smile. I hate fake smiles but I couldn't get a more natural one out of her.

Another cheesy grin

Ryan will not look at a camera and smile.

He LOVES the vacuum. Paige hated it.

So there's not much to update you all on. My kids keep me busy. Paige LOVED pre-school this year and I think she is going to have major socialization withdrawals this summer. She keeps me laughing. She loves to play mommy with Ryan. It drives me crazy because she treats him like a doll, but she loves her brother. They really like playing together.
Ryan is a softy. He has sensitive feelings, loves to cuddle and loves everything silky or soft. His favorite thing is his blanket and kiwi silky. He doesn't talk much but I know he is thinking it all because he always points to everything I'm talking about. He says mom, dad, hi, dog, ball, Nana and I'm sure there are more but mostly he just uses sounds. He LOVES bananas. He could eat them every day and never get sick of them. I don't think they come cuter than this kid. His favorite toys are cars and balls. He loves to get dirty and play hard. He is all boy.

We are good. Life is GOOD!