Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Why I love me!
Monday, November 03, 2008
Behold the power of bacon
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Halloween was fun
Here are a few photos.
Our little cowboy.
Daddy helping Ryan get ready.
Ryan knocking on a neighbor's door.
Ryan showing off his truck that he got as a treat from Nana and Papa.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
My week
I tried packing earlier, but the task seems too big right now. Adam promised help later since he's really good at packing and I am not. We're staying at a place in Wells that is like an apartment because there's no room here to have the parents stay. Adam will be working and staying with us just two nights. I'm excited because it's like a mini-vacation.
Ryan is doing well with the potty still. He had a bit of regression this week where he just didn't want to go on the potty. Today, however, he is wearing real underpants and doing really well at keeping Mater and McQueen dry.
Timothy is still my little eater. He is loving most foods. We discovered he hates peas and carrots. He was teething pretty bad this week and was up every hour on the half hour on Wednesday night. I really like the sleeping through the night stage.... and we're back there again.
At work this week we are now required to ask for credit cards for signature comparison AND for ID. To show you how stupid people think we are because we work at WM, I must share these stories. The first is of a lady who had not signed her card. When I said I also needed her ID, she said she didn't have it with her, so I said she would have to pay another way. She tells me she can sign the card in front of me. Um, hello, a thief can do that too.
The second is of an 18 year old and his girlfriend who hand me their card and their ID. So as not to get in trouble I will make up some names. The CC says David E. Jones and the license says Brent D. Jones. And the kid tells me his middle name is David. Yeah, okay and the E on the CC stands for Brent? No, I don't think so. Similarly, a lady tried to use a card that said Lucas on it and refused to show her ID... I wonder why?
For the most part, people who come through my line want to know why, if their card is already signed, that we are asking for ID. When we say that there's a huge scam going on that involves people using other's cards because no one bothers to check signatures anymore (now that world is so electronic) they willingly give their ID and are glad we care.
I really enjoy what I do two days a week at WM. I enjoy the break from the kids, I enjoy that I feel like I am contributing to our finances and I enjoy the people that are regulars and my co-workers (at least 99% of them). I just wish there was some program that allowed kids to see what service jobs like mine are like. I think they'd be nicer to the cashier, nicer to their waitress... and the list goes on. Not that I think any of you reading this would do this, but there's no need to yell or curse or throw a fit at those serving you. If they are rude first (which I have seen) it pays to ask to see their manager.
And so that was my week and I'm looking forward to the next one.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Ten random thoughts
- It's okay for kids to scream in delight...sometimes.
- Too many rules confuses kids... and makes life really boring.
- Yelling at kids gets you nowhere. It's best to speak in a calm voice and explain briefly.
- Making a mess while having fun is good, but it sure stinks to clean stuff up.
- When kids sing it is really cute.
- A walk outside in autumn is really refreshing.
- Playing in a huge pile of leaves is fun for everyone.
- Being with family and friends who love you no matter what is comforting.
- Flannel sheets are warm and cozy.
- Everyone laughing at the same time is melodious.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The potty train
So the process began on Saturday morning with the changing from the nighttime diaper to a visit at the potty and a Pull-Up (I have since decided White Cloud disposable underwear are just as good and cheaper and that Pull-Up overnights are also good, but regular Pull-Ups aren't worth the cost). He went pee on the potty right away, but protested when it came time to put on the Pull-Up. We went down stairs and showed him that there were no more diapers for him, just for Tim. (This was part of the plan because we knew if he saw even one of his diapers he'd cry for it all day).
Ryan holding his "Diego Prize" in front of his road of potty training poster.
On our trip to Vince and Kris' house, Ryan did really well, though he wanted Vince to help with the potty stuff and not mom and dad. Vince wasn't so sure about this, but did a great job with Ryan. So far, Ryan has managed lots of colored stickers, one set of silver stickers (if we would have had the chart in Manch he would have two more of the silver ones) and zero gold ones. He hasn't asked for a diaper since that first day.
While the disposable underwear are more expensive, we go through them more slowly because he wears maybe two in a day versus six or eight diapers in a day. He's learned the steps to going potty fairly well... pull down pants, go potty, put on pants, wash hands, get sticker. We're happy with Ryan's progress so far. We've only had one accident in which he refused to sit on the potty and then peed all over the floor. He cried, but we assured him that everyone has accidents and if he had just sat down a little faster there would never have been an accident.
The potty training continues!
Pumpkin Face
While visiting Vince and Kris, Ryan was introduced to their "pumpkin face" aka Jack-o-lantern on their porch and he's wanted to make one ever since.
On Wednesday night we got out the pumpkin carver and scoop and went to work. Below are our photos. We had a great time. Ryan kept saying "pumpkin face has eyes, nose and mouth." He proudly put it on the front stoop this morning.





I might mention that this was my first ever pumpkin carving experience and now understand why the "experts" suggest your first pumpkin carving experience happen with a large gourd. The small ones aren't so easy to work with. I might also mention that we generally don't allow Ryan to sit on top of the table, but we made an exception so he could really see what was going on.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Vacation was great
Our vacation last week was great. I was so looking forward to Adam having a full week with me and the kids and then it was over all too fast.
Ryan reading with memere Jan
The hair
On Wednesday we packed a picnic lunch and made the journey to Boston. On the way, Kris and I picked up or pottery. We can't wait to go again.


Our trip to Boston was nice because Vince, Kris, Adam and I split the cost of renting a mini-van (they work for Enterprise so this was extreemly cheap and worked out to $15 for both families) so we all got to drive together. We walked through Little Italy to get to the New England Aquarium. We really had a blast (minus the fact that I had a super headache). We saw penguins, jellyfish, a HUGE turtle, seahorses, star fish, electric eels and much more! Ryan loved it, though I think we were all tired at the end. We had gelato and cannoli in Little Italy on the way back and bought a loaf of yummy bread, which we made into garlic cheese bread to eat with our spaghetti that we had for dinner.
Ryan looking at the penguins
A male penguin
The turtle
On Friday, we drove back from Manch, Adam got a massage (I'd purchased him the gift certificate for our 6th anniversary) and I went to work.
Alas, vacation is over and we are back to our normal routine.
I have lots of upcoming posts. They include: pumpkin carving, a potty training update and more photos of the boys playing in the leaves.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
In which we eat fire and survive
Fire wings
To truely understand, you must know that for breakfast everyone in our party had toast. We were HUNGRY. On top of that, Ryan kept saying "eat now" while we waited for the wings and an order of fries for him.
My very hungry Ryan with an almost empty plate.
The wings came but were missing the blue cheese dip. Ryan wanted a wing, but wanted dip. I was so hungry I couldn't wait for the waitress to come back so I grabbed a wing, took a bit and imediately realized I'd made a BIG mistake. I felt like I had eaten fire. My eyes were watering, my ears felt hot and my mouth was overcome by the spiciness of the wing.
"Guys, I think ordering hot was a bad idea. These things are wicked hot," I say.
Wiping my tears.
Adam attempting to get rid of the fire in his mouth using a pickle.
Needless to say, the dip realy didn't help. After two wings, both Adam and I decided there was no way we could finish those buffalo wings and poor Vince took one bite and announced he hated me. Ryan, meanwhile is begging for a wing and we are saying," sorry buddy, these wings wouldn't be good for you."
As we are wiping away our tears, our meal comes and we all quickly eat as much bread, fries and onion rings as we can, not to mention, we needed refills on the drinks. So, we're trying to taste our food and out comes the owner.
"Guys I really need to apologize. The wings you had weren't "hot" they were "Habanero Blast" (just the hottest on the menu). Somehow, the lables got mixed up and you got the wrong sauce on your wings. We'll give you the wings free and get you the ones you originally ordered."
We asked our order be amended to be just "mild."
We ate fire and survived.
The rest of our super hot wings went to the guys behind us, who also downed lots of soda and then decided to order just "hot."
I will probably never forget this experience. I'm still not sure what my nacho crusted chicken tasted like, but we did have a great time. Ryan was the one to eat the mild wings. The rest of us decided not to even try.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Timothy is four months old
Timothy can roll over from back to front and then usually bursts into tears because he hates being on his belly. Ryan seemed to do both at the same time, but Timothy is taking his time in terms of developmental milestones and that's okay with us. We fully understand that he was born almost a month early and may be behind a little because of that.
Here's Timothy with Pooh for his fourth month with Pooh photos. He's a very happy baby and is almost always smiling. He's started eating solids and so far hates most fruits (we'll keep trying) and LOVES veggies. Rice cereal is just okay, but I can't imagine that stuff tasting very good anyway.
Ryan tries to include Timothy in most everything he does lately. That's been cute too watch. Timothy gets a car when Ryan is playing with his huge stash of matchbox cars. When we go out Ryan makes sure Timothy is going with us. If Timothy cries, Ryan will run to get me or Adam to tell us that "Tim crying, tummy hurts, hungry." (Ryan thinks that your tummy hurts when you are hungry).
I'm looking forward to the boys being able to actually play together. I think Ryan is a great big brother and will do a great job of teaching Timothy all he needs to know.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Great Friends = Great Fun
On Wednesday morning, Kris made us a very yummy breakfast just like she always does. Ryan mostly enjoyed his Apple Jacks, but the rest of us enjoyed the fresh baked bread, eggs and sausages.
While feeding Timothy, Kris did my makeup for me. It was like a little makeover... one of the nice ones, not like what you'd get at the mall. It was nice to be pampered when I didn't even ask!
We packed up a picnic lunch and made plans to see the elephants that were coming for the Ringling Brothers Circus in Manchester. Kris packed an awesome picnic. We had pasta salad, tuna sandwiches, fruit and veggies. When we left the house it started to rain, so we weren't sure how this event would work out.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Self
Ryan would like not to be picked up and carried up the stairs. He'd like to do it himself. So, yesterday when I was trying to get us out of the house for a little bit, I picked him up and walked up the stairs with him yelling "self!" When we got upstairs, he walked back down and then walked up. Self.
To get into the truck isn't so easy for a two-year-old, yet Ryan wanted to do it "self." I let him. I let him when we were leaving Target and while he did that I was putting Timothy into the truck on the other side. Ryan was sitting so nicely in his car seat that I forgot I hadn't buckled him in. Lucky for me, we didn't even get out of the parking lot when he said, "Mom buckle."
It was time for a bath and Timothy gets his bath first. Ryan wanted to go in and I told him he'd need to have his clothes off before getting in. Of course he said he wanted to do it himself. Off came his pants, then the socks, then the diaper, but mom had to help with his shirt.
It's been "self" for eating anything from rice to yoghurt. It's been "self "during diaper changes (we're so glad potty training is just a few more diapers away. We told Ryan when his current stash of diapers run out he gets to wear big-boy pants... aka Pull-Ups.) where Ryan wants to wipe his own butt, pull the diaper tabs and pull off and on his own pants. It's been "self" for helping with Timothy (which is cute), "self" for putting on shoes and "self" for putting toast in the toaster oven. It's been "self, self, self."
My baby boy is not such a baby anymore. Really I realized this when we came home from the hospital with Timothy and Ryan seemed so big. Now, he really seems like a big boy. In some ways it's sad because mom likes doing some of these things (and I can get them done faster), but I know he needs to be able to do these things as he grows.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Ryan and Madison played together yesterday. I was so tired by the end of this visit that I really didn't want to do grocery shopping, but it had to be done.
We went apple picking again on Wednesday. Here is Ryan washing some apples for eating.
I really wish Timothy would use a pacifier. You can take a pacifier away, but thumb and finger sucking will be hard to break. He's sneaky too. He'll start by sucking on the pacifier, spit it out and then put in his fingers or thumb. We were laughing about this photo. He put himself to sleep with two fingers in the mouth and one in the nose.
Also a funny photo to us. We have these cup warmers that you put on the bottom of a cup. We asked Ryan if he wanted one since he said his milk was really cold. When we gave it to him he asked for two and put them on like mittens.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
For lack of something more interesting to do today, we went outside and took fall photos during playtime. The majority are of Timothy since Ryan didn't really want his photo taken.
This is his bubble making face. I love it! It reminds me of my dad.
Monday, September 22, 2008
I haven't been very bloggy lately, so I thought I'd write about things I'm looking forward in the next few weeks.
The first thing is that we are going apple picking again on Wednesday, this time it's with the mom's group at church. I'm really excited for this. Ryan loved apple picking and it's just so nice to be with other moms and outdoors with the kids.
October 4th is the beginning of Adam's fall vacation. We aren't going lots of places or doing lots of things, but we do plan on attempting to potty train Ryan. We'll see how that goes. He goes on the potty once or twice a day, so we think he might be interested in the potty in general, but I do need help with those first few days. Also during that week, we plan to go to the New England Aquarium in Boston with Ryan's Godparents. We've planned this trip since before Tim was born and are now just getting around to it.
Most exciting of all is that my parents are coming to visit at the end of October. I was a bit diasappointed at the thought of us not seeing them until sometime next year. Then they decided to make this trip and I am really looking forward to the time with them. Ryan also believes he will be going swimming with Papa....too bad it will be too cold. We'll have to figure out something else fun to do with Papa. Maybe they can talk about planes... Ryan keeps saying, "Nana, Papa come on plane high in the sky."
I do have photos to post..I've mostly put them on Facebook these days along with two silly videos of Ryan.... so get Facebook if you don't have it. =-)
Saturday, September 13, 2008


Timothy really likes to sit up. He doesn't use his little gym much any more because he hates being on the floor. He'd much rather sit in Ryan's chair and smile at us.

Our friends Kyle and Sarah got Timothy this cute onesie that says, "New in the Neighborhood." I can't believe he already fits into it. Timothy also loves this toy. He is also getting his lower left tooth... it's almost out. We can feel it and he drools everywhere while biting on his little fingers.

And this is a silly, but happy Ryan playing on the Boppy. Sadly, I know this was one of the throw-up days by the shirt he is wearing.
Ryan is doing much better today and is almost back to being himself.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Ryan had a fever for eight days. Eight days!
It all started with the bee sting. The night of the bee sting Ryan had a fever of 102.6. We gave him Tylenol and hoped he be better in the morning. The next morning I called our doc to make sure this was normal and she said most kids can get a fever after a bee sting and that he should be okay, but to call if things didn't get better.
To make a long story short, Ryan had a fever, which kept getting higher and higher for eight days, accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea. He kept saying his stomach hurt and we figured that had something to do with it being upset.
On Wednesday night, when we put Ryan to bed he was a little warm, but it seemed the fever might actually go away. At 2 a.m. we packed our stuff and headed to the ER because Ryan had been talking to the wall and had a fever of 103.7.
The doc at the ER pretty much made us feel like we wasted her time. She said all kids get fevers, but that Ryan probably had a virus. We should go home and let him rest. When we persisted that he'd had this fever for eight days, she said he was fine.
The next morning I made a call to our doc and was squeezed into a very busy day. I was so thankful to see her and have someone REALLY listen to me. While waiting to be seen a wonderful lady came by to entertain Timothy while I held a very hot Ryan who cried and slept off and on.
Doc checked a lot of things, but also took a culture of some pretty white spots on his throat. She called the ER, told them we'd be coming for blood work, a urine sample, chest and stomach x-ray and IV fluids. In addition, she wanted us not to leave until we saw a pediatrician.
We had a bad experience with the triage nurse who shouldn't be in medical care at all. The hospital will be recieving a letter from me detailing her horrible bedside manner with my child and how rude she was to both Adam and me.
The nurse who spent the night with us was wonderful. The hospital will recieve a letter from me about his wonderful way with children and their scared/worried parents.
The ER doc again tried to tell us this was viral and that kids get fevers all the time, but I was firm with him and told him we weren't leaving until the tests our doctor order were done and the pediatrician had seen us.
Against our better judgement, Ryan had a catheter put in to collect urine to be sure he didn't have a bladder infection. It was the most painful and frightening thing my son has ever experienced and will never trust another doctor or nurse to look at his penis again.
When they came to take a blood sample, which Ryan is really good at, he freaked out and put his hands over his penis and screamed over and over, "please, no!" I'm sure it didn't help that both Adam and I were emotional wrecks by this point, yet we were trying to offer comfort.
The pediatrician showed up, took a look in Ry's mouth and said he thought he had tonsillitis. He looked a second time and said that was for sure what he had and that why no one else had determined this, he wasn't sure.
While Adam feels this guy was so old he could fart dust, at least he found out what was wrong with my precious two year old. Apparently while I took Ryan to examine pictures on the wall this doc scratched together a prescription for Ryan then decided that he'd written too high a dose, did some calculations on the back of the pad and then wrote a new one. Then Adam was told how to count by the pharmacist..."1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, mls of this medicine." Thanks bucky, we're not stupid. Sigh.
Ryan is a bit better today. Has managed to actually eat, but still complains his stomach and penis hurt.
Mum knows best! I KNEW my kid didn't have a virus and I hate that they blew us off thinking we were parinoid parents. At least Ryan will be okay.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Little Timothy slept through the night for the second time last night. It's almost 7 a.m. and he's still sleeping! The first time Timothy slept through the night was when Kyle and Sarah were visiting. We joked that little Katy wore him out.
Ryan slept through the night once at three months while we were visiting my grandparents in Ohio and then he finally started sleeping through the night on a regular basis at five and a half months which was also the same time he started eating solids and crawling.
I was rather thankful both nights that Timothy has slept through the night. The first time, we'd stayed up late playing Dutch Blitz with Kyle and Sarah and I wasn't looking forward to getting up in two hours to feed a little boy, but I would have done it anyway.
This time, I have some sort of cold and went to bed at 9 p.m. and really wanted some rest. I got it!
Now to see if this will be a regular thing or if it was just a beautiful act of God to let me get some much needed rest.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
If I bumble bee lands on your eye, you probably shouldn't hit it. It WILL sting you. We know this becasue that is what happened to Ryan today. His eye was swollen shut and he was miserable until after our doctor visit (it was actually a visit for me). His eye is now open and his face looks lots better. I'm so glad he didn't have an allergic reaction.
Right now Ryan is sleepy from the Benadryl and watching some Dora. Timothy is sleeping, Adam is working and this mum is taking a break.