Feeling thankful

At the risk of sounding sappy, I just had to post some thoughts about how thankful I am for my children and their good health. Twice this past week, I spoke with friends who had lost young children in the past year. Then last night, we learned that my 2-year old nephew JR had to be rushed to the hospital after he had a seizure. (It turned out that he just had a febrile seizure after being dehydrated from mono and a GI bug. He was rehydrated with an IV and is thankfully doing better today.)
Sometimes the responsibilities of parenthood are exhausting and overwhelming and the terrible twos leave me with tears of frustration, but I can't even imagine the heartache of losing a child or the fear of having one sick in the hospital. Rylan and Caroline have gotten a few extra hugs this week and this perspective has given me a little more patience for those tantrums. At least this week, and hopefully for a long time, I won't be taking these precious gifts for granted.

A two year old compliments his mom

Rylan and I were having some "cuddle time" and chatting the other night before work. He was playing with my hair and this is what he said: "Mommy, you have beautiful hair!" "Thanks, sweetie," I thought, feeling so loved. Then he continued, "and mommy, your teeth are not yucky and your eyes are not popping out." Wow! I have no idea where all that came from, but I am glad my son doesn't think his mom looks like a monster.

Caroline wants to be heard

A funny place for a nap..

Caroline loves her new jumperoo and not just for jumping! We were busy dealing with a Rylan tantrum and I didn't realize she was getting so tired. I looked over and saw her completely conked out! Bless her heart, she is just so good and uncomplaining most of the time. She is starting to get the idea of jumping now and is quite pleased with herself. I also noticed know that when I hold her on my lap standing up, she starts to bounce. I remember Rylan doing the same thing at her age.

Blizzard 2009 and Disney on Ice

Our first spring "blizzard" hit on Thursday afternoon. They were predicting 10-20" of snow, but I think we only got about 5-6". It was hard to tell exactly because there was so much wind, we had a lot of drifting. Charlton built a snow cave in one of the deeper drifts and he could actually curl up inside. Once the sun came out on Friday afternoon, everything started melting. I think I lost the tulips on the side of the house. The wind blew all the snow away from them and the temperatures dropped to 6 deg. on Thursday night. We had tickets for Disney on Ice and amazingly it was not cancelled, although it seemed like everything else in the city was cancelled that night. We didn't feel like the roads were safe enough for travel, and the ticket agency offered to exchanged them for another show that weekend. We went Saturday night and had a wonderful time. Rylan loved seeing the Incredibles and Buzz Lightyear and was really good about sitting in his seat. Caroline fussed for the first half and I had to take her outside, but she finally fell asleep in the Moby wrap and slept for the rest of the show.

Another view of our backyard after the "blizzard."

Rylan showing off his boots.

Rylan wearing his Lightning McQueen boots that Aunt Bethany gave him for his birthday. Since we don't have much rain in Colorado, we had to wait for some snow to break them out. Rylan still must have a lot of Florida blood in him because he absolutely refused to play in the snow. I got him all dressed up and sent him outside with Daddy and he just stood in one spot and cried. It was pretty cold, and I wasn't even brave enough to go out, so I can't be too hard on him. He did love splashing in the melting snow on Friday afternoon, though. There was a river running down the street and he had a great time playing in it, until he lost his balance, fell, got his feet soaked, and I had to carry him home. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

A sprained ankle and Caroline turns 4 months old..

Happy 4 months, Caroline! We celebrated with a brand-new gently used jumperoo mom found on Craigslist. Rylan loved his when he was about her age, but we sold it before we moved west. I had been wanting to get one for Caroline when she was old enough. She hasn't figured out the jumping part yet, although Rylan is more than willing to bounce it for her. She does enjoy looking at all the gadgets and sitting up so she can look around. I think she rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time tonight, but I am not completely convinced she didn't have a push from Rylan, so I won't give her credit yet. Plus, I guess I am not ready to admit she is growing up so fast. Caroline is very wiggly though, and can easily twist onto her side from her back and belly, so I think the complete roll is coming soon. She is also a wild fish in the bathtub, splashing and trying to flop all the way down into the water. I am afraid we are going to have to move to the big bathtub soon. I think she weighs about 17 lbs. but we won't know officially till her doctor's appt. April 1. She wears size 6-9 months clothes and just switched to #3 diapers. Amazingly, though, she still about 3 lbs smaller than Rylan at this age, so my arms and back are thankful for that. Caroline just learned this week how to make a very loud high-pitched noise something of a cross between a squeal and a shriek. She makes it when she is happy, tired, hungry, or just wants to hear herself make an interesting noise! It is pretty funny especially when we try to mimic her and get a little conversation going. Most of the time she is an easygoing baby, but when she is mad, watch out! She can turn bright red, wave her arms around, and scream to split your eardrums. Sometimes I can't even rock her to soothe her and just have to put her in her crib with her music on and let her find her thumb. Thankfully her laughs are much more common than tears and she brings so much joy into our lives.

Okay, here is another picture of my "baby doll." I am having so much fun dressing up Caroline and if the weather is at least 50 degrees than I have to break out one of her spring dresses. I am glad I took this picture before church, because Caroline puked at least 4 times all over her dress and me by the time we got home from church!

Here is the latest installment in the monthly pictures. I heard about a neat idea of taking a picture of your baby with the same object or stuffed animal each month, so you could have something to compare their size with as they grew. I heard about it too late to do it with Rylan, but just in time for Caroline. Here she is using her bear as an armrest. (Actually this bear was a gift for Rylan from Grammy, but he doesn't mind sharing.)

Rylan occasionally asks me if he can nurse baby Caroline. I tell him that only mommies can nurse babies, but he can hold her on the boppy. Thankfully that seems to satisfy his interest. Except for getting jealous for attention when I am nursing, he is the best big brother. He will give Caroline kisses and hugs and will even share his toys with her. Caroline seems to adore him, too, and will reward him with big smiles and laughs whenever he talks to her. The only problem I have had lately is that Rylan wants to bounce her, very hard, in her infant seat. Her head flops back and forth like crazy which can't be good for her, but she smiles the whole time, so that just encourages Rylan. I have had to put the seat up high again when she is in it so she doesn't get "shaken baby" syndrome.

My poor boy fell down the last two steps last night and twisted his ankle. He cried afterwords, but when he sat on the couch and didn't move or make a peep for almost a half an hour (with no TV on), I knew something was really wrong. He did get a bruise on the outside of his foot and he refused to walk on it last night. Of course, he also didn't want anything to do with an ice pack, but somehow didn't mind soaking his feet in a tub of cold water. This morning, Charlton held him down while I wrapped it in an ace bandage and we put a Nemo sticker on the bandage. Amazingly he kept it on all day and by the evening was happily running and playing.

We got tickets this Thursday night for "Disney on Ice" and Rylan is super excited to see Woody, Buzz, and the Incredibles. We may be in for a crazy evening considering the show doesn't even start until Rylan's bedtime and he is going to have to sit still for a while, something he rarely does. I have been reminding him all week about how he is going to have to sit in his chair or with mom and dad like a big boy. So we'll see if this teaching idea actually works, but I really hope he has a great time seeing his favorite super heroes anyway.

A little of this and that....

We are definitely getting our money's worth out of our annual zoo pass. I think we have been three times in two months. Last visit we saw the darling new baby orangatan and this time was a beautiful female giraffe calf, born Feb. 19. She still had her umbilical cord stump attached. Charlton had the whole day off from work and we enjoyed a great family day together.

Yummy fingers.

When Caroline is sleepy, she sucks her thumb and runs her fingers through her hair with her other hand.

Rylan does love to read the Sunday morning paper with his breakfast, especially looking for deals on toys!

My attempt to take a picture of myself and my boy, just holding the camera out in front of us. Didn't turn out too bad!

All bundled up enjoying some fresh air outside while Mom and Rylan played soccer.

I woke up from sleeping after work on Monday and found Caroline lounging in her bouncy seat with no clothes on and happy as a clam. She loves being naked! Evidently she had one of her enormous poopy blow-outs and Charlton hadn't bothered to put clothes back on her.

My sweet girl

Caroline and I had been posing like this in the mirror because she loves to look at herself. I thought it would be fun to get a picture of mom and daughter, so I had Charlton snap this shot of us.

Brother and sister

I snapped this picture after church two weeks ago. It is so rare to get a good picture of both kids because Rylan is always on the move. Rylan had already shed his button-down shirt, but Caroline is still wearing her dress. I feel like I have real live baby doll getting to dress her in such adorable dresses.

My first attempt at blogging, here goes...

Okay, this is kind of a test post, since I don't have anything terribly interesting to share. I am excited to start blogging on this site, sharing my thoughts and adventures and those of my family. Since we live in Colorado and most of our extended family lives in Kentucky and eastward, this will be a good way to keep everyone updated. So check back soon, because I hope to post pictures, videos, and stories in the future.