Celebrating Again!

Yesterday we celebrated Wesley's birthday at Grandma and Grandpa P.'s. We had a great cookout and such a nice time together. The evening was perfect for sitting outside and enjoying each other's company!

Maggie was pretty excited to meet Ryan. She made sure that his feet and ears were nice and clean.

Birthdays are SO exciting!

Wesley's dinosaur cake.

Blowing out the candle with a little help from Daddy.

Grandpa P. and Ryan enjoy a moment of quiet.











Wesley is really scared of bugs - even ants. In this picture he and Grandpa are watching a daddy longlegs cross the patio. Grandpa is protecting Wesley.










Uncle Kirk and Grandpa cooked dinner on the grill.








Ryan sure was interested in everything going on.

Wesley got a dinosaur from Grandma and Grandpa for his birthday. Seriously. This is no ordinary dinosaur, it's probably the closest thing you can get to a real, live dinosaur. It's a robot. It walks. It responds to you. It makes noises. You can download different personalities for it. You have to feed it. It's like a Webkinz on steroids. Wesley is totally in love with it. He named it Peeve and treats it like a baby. I have never seen anything like Peeve.

Peeve is really amazing, although I am glad he comes with an
off switch. The last thing we need is a dinosaur that wants fed at 3:00 in the morning! Peeve is going to be a house dinosaur that does not travel with us (much to Wesley's chagrin) and he's going to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's room so we can keep track of when he's played with. A dinosaur. How will we ever compete with that?

Three Years Old!

Yesterday was Wesley's third birthday! I can't believe he's three already! We had a very very busy day. Thank goodness Duane took the day off work and was around to help me. I'm not sure how I would have managed on my own.

The day started off with the whole family getting up around 6:00. UGH! Trust me, it wasn't planned. Wesley ate a great breakfast and even asked for seconds, which is unheard of. And all of us being up early was probably a good thing since Wesley had a doctor appointment at 10:00.

Wesley was pretty good at the doctor, especially when you consider he was being a puppy. He actually cooperated with the nurse when it was time to step on the scale (32.5 pounds), be measured (37.5 inches) and get his blood pressure taken. Of course, then they gave the poor little guy a pop quiz! He had to tell the nurse what his name was (he wouldn't say it, but he spelled it), say if he was a boy or a girl (I'm just glad he didn't say "puppy"), jump up and down and stand on one foot. Those were the things he did well on. He refused to draw a circle for the nurse and when she asked if he dressed himself, we had to answer "no." Guess we know what we need to work on. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health - and a shot and a flu mist. Happy Birthday, huh?

Since he was generally good at the doctor's (there was a small fit) we decided to take a trip to the pet store to see the puppies and kitties. Wesley had a great time looking at all the animals. We played with a puggle, held a kitten and saw lizards, birds, fish, chinchillas and a big ol' turtle. WOW! We continued the treat with lunch at McDonalds. Wesley ate REALLY well, which was nothing short of a birthday miracle.

We spent the afternoon at home. Wesley and I sat in the backyard and fed a squirrel that had ventured close. The poor little guy had a broken paw, so we made sure to give him lots of nuts and bread. Wesley insisted we feed the birds too. I guess the animals in our neighborhood will quickly learn who the suckers are!

Wesley had his first birthday party of the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa H.'s yesterday evening. We had a pizza party with them, Uncle Kirk and Aunt Susan, Aunt Melissa and Cousin Mark, Aunt Judy, Grandma W., Cathy and Sho and Kei. It was a wild time! Wesley had a major fit before everyone arrived, but that's starting to turn into a birthday tradition, so we weren't too surprised. He refused to eat a single bite of pizza, but Duane and I weren't surprised because he had already eaten two good meals for the day.

For the most part, Wesley just wanted to cut his cake and open his presents. He's never really been into presents before, but he was very excited this time. Of course, the first thing he opened was a dinosaur pop-up book and he was instantly in love. It was really hard to get him to open anything else.

The four boys tore all around the house and yard, while everyone else played "Pass the Baby" in the air conditioning. Sho and Mark really hit it off. Perhaps there will be a play date in the future.

Duane made sure I wasn't left out on Wesley's special day. After all, it is a "birth" day and I was the one who gave birth. My birth day gift was a dozen yellow roses. Sigh. I hope Wesley grows up just like his dad.

A Much Calmer Afternoon

This afternoon has been much better than this morning. Wesley quit whining, Ryan quit crying and Mommy quit wanting to rip all her hair out. What have we been doing? Well, we've passed the afternoon with a variety of things, including art time at the easel. I got out Wesley's finger paints, but he didn't like them. He said they make his hands feel "icky and disgusting," so we just used crayons.

After lunch (Wesley ate great, I scarfed a sandwich while standing at the counter) we joined Ryan for some time on the play gym. Wesley saw me playing with Ryan with the toys and kissing the little boy's belly, and he wanted to join in.

Once that excitement was done, Wesley spent some time on the computer while Ryan and I stretched out on the couch. Wesley got "Jumpstart Preschool" yesterday and is so good at it!! He typed his name into the right space and has mastered every activity at the hardest level. Guess we'll have to go buy the Kindergarten one. I have to admit, that makes me really happy since I had to call the preschool today and let them know that Wesley will not be attending when the fall session starts. The darn kid won't potty train! Oh well, I circled some fun stuff going on at the Metro Parks, Zoo and the local rec. centers. He won't be bored.

Right now, Wesley is playing with some play-dough at his little table. That's much better than a few minutes ago when he was playing with his little dinosaurs - on top of his baby brother. Apparently Ryan was acting out the part of the hill the dinosaurs were climbing. I kept telling Wesley to leave his brother alone, that he was sleeping. As soon as I said that a dinosaur ran over Ryan's face. Wesley innocently said, "No, Mom. He's awake." Go figure.

Sarah, Don't Read This!

This is another mommy on the edge post. I am home with both boys with no plans today and I can't guarantee that all three of us will survive. It's not even 8:30 and I have already made Wesley cry by yelling at him and I don't even have sleep deprivation as an excuse since Ryan only woke up once in the night and Duane took care of that feeding.

Deep breath. OK. Ryan got up at 6:00 and has pretty much just quit crying. Wesley woke up too early (just before 7:00 - about an hour earlier than usual) and started crying out for me. I put a crying Ryan in his cradle and went upstairs to check on Wesley. He had a bad dream and wanted me to sleep with him, but of course I couldn't since Ryan was downstairs crying. So I scooped Wesley up and brought him downstairs with me. And ever since that moment, he's been whining and Ryan's been crying. It's really hard to feed a baby when your three-year-old (tomorrow) had his entire body pressed up against you and is whining in your ear.

Wesley finally asked for some yogurt and a bar for breakfast, so I put Ryan down to go get it. He took one bite of the yogurt, looked at the bar and announced, "I'm not hungry." That's when Mommy lost it completely and yelled at him and he burst into tears. I'm not proud of that moment, but that's what happened.

Things have calmed a little. Ryan is asleep on my lap and Wesley is doing a puzzle on the floor. They are good boys, I really do know this. Wesley sang Rock-a-Bye Baby to Ryan last night while I was fixing a bottle, which is super sweet. And I love to watch Ryan's eyes focus on me when I talk to him and the silly baby faces he makes. He's a sweetie. It's just so hard sometimes.

If I am completely honest, I'll admit that I miss work. Yes, I miss Wesley terribly while I'm there and I know I'll miss Ryan just as much, but it's so nice to be someplace where I'm "Heather" instead of "Mommy." Where I am respected for my professional knowledge instead of feeling incompetent. I miss my co-workers. I miss my desk. I miss having an hour for lunch where I can read a book uninterrupted. I miss having to dress in something other than jeans, or elastic waist pants. The truth is, I really love my job and it's hard to be away from it, especially on days like today. Is that a bad thing?

Interesting Factoid

Did you know there is a direct correlation between how loud the baby cries and how fast Grandma drives? I'm just sayin'. BTW - this pictures was not taken in the car, so no one needs to freak out that Ryan isn't buckled in.

Road Trip

The boys and I took a road trip with Grandma and Grandpa H. today. We all loaded up in the new van and headed an hour north to visit Great Aunt Carol and Al. Carol has been very busy and hadn't met Ryan yet, and you know what they say - If you can't get Carol to the baby, take the baby to Carol! We had such a nice visit. Ryan was on his best behavior, meaning he was awake and not crying! Wesley played really well and the van drove beautifully!

Not Hungry

Wesley has been on a mini hunger strike since Ryan was born. He just doesn't eat and when he does it isn't at any sort of regular time. It's fairly common for him to not want breakfast until 10:00 or later and then eat something little, lunch is the same story and if we can get him to eat dinner at all, it's nothing short of a miracle. Take today for instance. Wesley did eat breakfast at a decent time, but all he'd eat was a little dish of mandarin oranges. Lunch was also at a good time, but all he ate was a piece of turkey bologna and a slice of American cheese. He did snack on a few animal crackers around 3:00 but that's all he's had all day. When I give him his choices for dinner, he answers, "I'm not hungry right now. I had some of Fluffy's tuna." You may remember that Fluffy is his imaginary cat - so apparently my oldest son is filling up on imaginary tuna.

Ryan's One Month Check Up

Ryan had his one month appointment. I know you all want to know what the doctor said about the pacifier, but I'm going to give the vitals first.

Weight: Ryan weighs 9 pounds and 12 ounces. That's a little more than a 2 pound gain from his one week appointment and it puts him in roughly the 50th percentile for his age.

Length: Ryan's 22 and 1/2 inches long. That puts him in roughly the 80th percentile for his age.

I asked the doctor about the stink factor of the little boy, and as long as he is growing, the doctor isn't concerned. Guess Ryan's just stinky.

And now the pacifier news....well, let's just say Ryan is contentedly sucking away on one right now. Our doctor said he sees no problem at all with them for 6-9 months. If Ryan seems to want to suck, it's fine to give him one as long as we don't make it part of our nightly bedtime routine and that we get rid of it between 6-9 months (his opinion is that after that it's not a need, but a habit that turns into binky addiction). So, we're having our first peaceful dinner with Ryan awake since he came home. Guess we'll see how it goes!

Hardy Har Har

Wesley has learned his first joke.

What does a nose do on it's birthday?

It "blows" out it's candles and "picks" out it's presents.

Oh, the humor of an almost three-year-old.

How Did That Happen?

Somehow we've become a family of four with a mini-van. Just bought it this morning. I never thought I'd own a mini-van!

Hypothetical Question

Wesley had a special day out with Aunt Susan, Uncle Kirk and their niece Janna yesterday. All did not go as planned. Exactly how bad does your child have to be behaving for 1) two of his favorite people on the planet call to tell you how bad he is acting, 2) a four-year-old starts saying "Wesley is not making good choices," and 3) for Susan to say "I have a whole new respect for what you do," when she dropped Wesley off. I don't want to know all the details. I'm embarrassed enough.

Mommy's Day with the Boys

I think I've mentioned before that I'm just not cut out stay home, even when I'm on maternity leave. I HAVE to get out of the every day - even if it's just to the store - and being home with two kids isn't slowing me down too much.

Today we ventured to the park. Wesley didn't want to go anywhere today, but like I said, I needed to get out. We met up with Aunt Sam, Greg, Geoffrey and Grandma and Grandpa H. then headed to a park near their house. Wesley was not excited at all about the trip. He was tired, cranky and kind of anti-social, despite the fact that his cousins were having fun. Check out the third picture, cousin Geoffrey knows how to have fun at a park.

I think part of it was also jealously of sharing his grandparents with his cousins and Ryan. I just can't come up with any other explanation for Wesley crawling into Ryan's car seat.

His spirits lifted considerably when Grandma handed me Ryan and she went to play with Wesley though. Ryan wasn't so sure about the park, but he'll grow to love it.

After the park, Wesley, Ryan and I went to one of the libraries to try and visit some friends, but everyone was at a conference or a meeting (Wendy!) so we went to get ice cream instead. What can I say, you have to make the best of a disappointing situation and ice cream sure cheers us up!

Busy Bees

This week has been really active for us. Seriously, we've been pretty busy here, but I like it that way. I would go nuts if I didn't get out of the house each day. Here's a run down on the busy W. family.

Monday: Aunt Paula came over on her lunch hour. She brought lunch for us and gifts for the boys. It was a great way to spend an hour or two. That evening, we took Wesley for an overnight at Grandma and Grandpa P.'s. When I called to check on Wesley, he was hyped up on M&M's from Uncle Stacey, then got nipped by one of the dogs (but got over it quickly).

Tuesday: I met Grandma W. in the afternoon for a little bit of shopping, then picked Wesley and Grandpa P. up. Wesley, Ryan and I dropped Grandpa off to pick up his car. Aunt Susan dropped by in the evening to drop off an outfit for Ryan, some cake for Mommy and Daddy and helped put a screaming Ryan to bed. I didn't have the heart to tell her he woke up 5 minutes after she left.

Wednesday: I took the boys to COSI with Kate and Colin. Wesley was in rare form. He wasn't exactly throwing a fit, but he wasn't listening to me worth diddly squat. Normally this wouldn't be too much of a problem as I am still bigger and stronger than him (for now), but I stopped pumping this week and - TMI coming - my chest is SO SORE!!!! Moving hurts and chasing an almost three year old is out of the question! Luckily, Kate was more than willing to keep her eye on Wesley and Colin while I hung out with Ryan.

Of course, that could be because she got a sense of Ryan's true nature. I haven't posted about this, but Ryan is a stinky stinky boy. He passes gas A LOT and it's always loud and rather toxic smelling. I think Kate summed it up best when she said "Kid, you smell like a skunk crawled inside another skunk and died!" Rude, but pretty accurate! I pray he out grows that!

After dinner, the W. family headed to Grandma and Grandpa H.'s house for a visit. My step-sister Sam, her husband and their two boys are visiting from Seattle and we wanted to be sure to see them. It took a little while for Wesley to warm up to Geoffrey and Greg, but once he did they had a great time. Especially when the three of them ran around the backyard tackling each other. I was a little worried about the rough play at first, but then I realized, this is my life with boys.

We stayed until a little after Wesley's bedtime, then put him in jammies and headed home. We figured Wesley would fall asleep on the way home and we could just plunk him in bed. WRONG!! Ryan was busy throwing a fit and Wesley had no chance of sleeping. Of course, Ryan cried himself out part way home. We figured it would only be an hour or two until he wanted fed, so we decided to just leave him in his car seat and put him in his room until he woke up. Imagine our surprise when he woke up SIX HOURS LATER!!!! Seriously, he slept for SIX HOURS IN A ROW!! I know it was a fluke, but wow was it nice. I was up with him from 3:30 - 4:30. At 4:30, I woke Duane up and told him that I needed to get a little more sleep if I was going to have both boys today, and could he please take Mr. Bright Eyes for a little bit. Duane was up with him for a while, but he did manage to get more sleep too. Mind you, Ryan's been up since 6:45, but that's a small price to pay.

And what of the rest of the week? Well, we may do something with the cousins today. Wesley has a play date with Uncle Kirk, Aunt Susan and their niece Janna tomorrow. Ryan and I will need to return the pump tomorrow. Plus tomorrow night we are switching cable/internet/phone providers. Saturday will be the family trip to the grocery store and possibly the park or big library. Sunday will be church and possibly a craft show with a kids play area. Monday is Ryan's one month(!) doctor's appointment. Think we're cramming enough in?

To B(inky) or Not to B(inky)

I am asking my readers to please weigh in on the great pacifier debate that is taking place in the W. household. We have been pretty anti-pacifier in our house. We broke down once or twice with Wesley, but he had no interest in them and would spit the thing right out. Yes, he lips the tag on his Stinky Bear, but I think I prefer that to a pacifier.

Then along came Ryan. He's never had a pacifier, but this kid loves to suck! When he finishes a bottle, he often acts hungry, but if we give him a "chaser" he usually just chews contentedly on the nipple and doesn't eat. This morning I stopped a crying fit and lulled him to sleep by letting him suck on my pinky finger. Duane and I are pretty sure a pacifier would work wonders for Ryan, but we are trying to be strong and not introduce one.

Some of you may be asking why we have an aversion to pacifiers. Well, it's for a number of reasons.

• We've heard horror stories of having to have a dozen "binkies" in the house at all times, of searching the crib in the middle of the night for a binky that has fallen out, of going to the store at midnight because you can't find one of the dozen binkies.


• We've heard horror stories of breaking the child from the pacifier.


• We've both seen children we think are WAY too old for a pacifier who are totally dependant on them.

Ryan has his one month appointment coming up on Monday and I am going to talk to our pediatrician about it, but I want to hear from you all. PLEASE let me know if you used a pacifier with your child or not, why you made the decision you did, tricks that worked with you and yes, share those horror stories too. I need some mommy advice.

Too Much Olympics?

Perhaps we've been watching a bit too much of the Olympics at our house. Wesley had Ritz crackers with his lunch yesterday. He picked one up off the plate, held it in his hand and announced, "Cat wins the gold medal!"

Little Boy Blue

Kicking Myself

Wesley has a new phrase he uses to express his frustration with me. When he's annoyed at Mommy he says, "Oh Mom, go kick yourself over." What?!? I have no idea where this little phrase came from. But what kills me is the tone of voice he uses when he says it - exactly like a disgusted teenager! You can almost hear the eye-roll. Oh well, it's a lot better than many other phrases I've heard kids his age use and he does need a way to express what he's feeling.

This morning I was told to go kick myself over when I told Wesley he could not have computer time until after breakfast. I am learning the power of computer time. Wesley won't eat? No computer time until he does. Wesley won't get dressed? No computer time until he does. Wesley throws a fit about something? Lose computer time. I'm thinking about really testing the power of the computer tonight - no computer time until he takes a bite of something new. I doubt it will work, but I have to try it! The worst that can happen is I'll hear "Oh Mom, go kick yourself over!"

Rub a Dub Dub

Ryan had his first bath in the baby tub last night. The pictures below show an infant who is less than impressed, but dealing with it. The pictures are a lie. When he started screaming like mad, I stopped taking pictures and started helping Duane. Aunt Susan was there and captured the whole range of emotions (impassive to fury) and I'll post the true pictures later. In the meantime, here are the pictures I took.

BTW - I need to do another shout out to Uncle Kirk and Aunt Susan. I have a feeling there will be many of these in the future. They were over last night so Kirk could install some RAM in our computer, which we are very grateful for. Of course, we're even more grateful for the day-glo cupcakes, the laughs and the patience and love they show our children - especially our attention starved nearly three-year-old. Kirk has the patience of a saint with Wesley. I never thought I'd see the day!

Say What?

We got a book at the library for Ryan, but Wesley has claimed it. It's a very simple picture book, but just a bright picture of an object and the name of the object underneath. Wesley busied himself by telling Duane and I what each object said - you know, the train says "choo-choo," the shoes say "stomp stomp." It was pretty basic stuff until he got to the picture of the potty seat, when Wesley announced that "The potty says poop poop poop." Oh, how I wish it did at our house!

Pictures of the Boys

Aunt Susan sent me these pictures from Sunday. Aren't they great!? I think Ryan looks like his cousin Mark in these pics.