Happy 2 Month Birthday to ME!!

Charlie!

He sleeps well (we had an 8 hour night this week - yay!)

He eats well!

He loves to coo and talk and smile!

He is sweet, sweet, sweet...

Cloned again.

Tucker - 2005

Mac - early 2009

Charlie - early 2011

Real life with 3 children

a.) Watching more TV than they should because I need them to be still while I nurse Charlie.

b.) Laying on a pillow with no pillow case because getting laundry back to where it needs to be seems totally unrealistic.

c.) Mac always climbing in Charlie's baby gear.

d.) Catching a few minutes of sleep while cuddling Mac at 5:30am (thankfully he has miraculously started sleeping later in the last month!)

e.) Hmmm.. watching another show while Charlie sleeps and Mama catches another minute of sleep.

Laughing Cow

Tucker has been begging me for 3 months for Laughing Cow cheese after seeing a commercial. I have seen their commercial and cannot figure out what about this commercial captured him, but this IS Tucker we are talking about. You never know.

So I've searched for this cheese (not that hard... it's not like I've asked a Publix employee to walk me there or anything.) I found it randomly yesterday -- on the end of an aisle?? Because it isn't refridgerated?? Any dairy product that doesn't need to be refridgerated totally freaks me out.

Can someone clue me in to how this can happen? What is Laughing Cow "Creamy Swiss"?? I don't even know if it actually claims to be cheese. Someone help me not be grossed out as my son makes his 10th "Laughing Cow sandwich" (between two crackers) to the right of me!

Awake!

Charlie at 4 weeks in my favorite day gown...

December 25th in no particular order

The Year of Airplanes. It is worthy of an entire post but my child (and thus children) are completely and wildly obsessed with airplanes. Most days at about 4:00 I have to tell Tucker something like "I cannot discuss anything else about an airport or plane today. We'll pick this up tomorrow morning." He wears me out (and anyone else he talks to) every single day playing airplane, wondering about airplanes, watching you tube videos of different planes, asking more questions about air travel in general, ... It is hard to explain how intense it is but it makes the minivan obsession seem like child's play. It is more like the car wash obsession of years' past but just four times more verbal! Above is the assembly of his new airport from Nan & Pop for all his play planes. Santa found specific models of Southwest, Delta & American complete with food trucks, baggage shuttles, etc. Below is the Lego Airport he has wanted since July. He screamed when he opened it and spent the next 8 hours methodically following the directions to put it together. He picked up the airport shortly before going to bed late Christmas night only to drop it in to MANY pieces on the floor. He was so upset! Mimi and Daddio poured some cocktails and got started putting it back together so it was fixed when he woke up the next morning!
Funny hat from Uncle Bill & Aunt Diann!
Checking out "The Motherload" (Tucker's favorite term for a lot of anything) of gifts!
Christmas Eve reading of "Night Before Christmas"

The worst hour of the year??

Ahh, the elusive perfect Christmas card picture. This year I tried to prep Kyle for an extra painful session as there was a wild 2 year old and a 2 week old involved.
These are some of the better shots of the 100 we took. I try to comfort Kyle when he is reaching his patience limit by telling him "some girls I know take 500 pics to get the perfect one" OR "at least you aren't paying for professional pictures" -- amazingly none of this reasoning helps him feel better about my crazy, neurotic behavior that emerges during this hour each year.

This year we had to try two separate sessions because Mac was sliding out of each picture before I could get a good one. And there were lighting issues and sheet issues and Charlie looks weird in this one issues and this shows Tucker's ridiculously bad hair cut issues. It's just so painful.

Shortly after this picture was taken Mac pulled the towel hard and almost sent Charlie to the floor. We decided to try again the next day...


And finally got this one which I picked after deciding perfection wasn't going to happen in 2010!

Announcing!

Mac is 2!!!

If sweet Mac talked, he would probably tell you how hard the last two weeks has been for him. He loves Charlie so much and gives him kisses on his head literally all day long, but most of his other time is spent acting out and wishing he was getting more attention. His birthday was 9 days after Charlie's birth so we had a little family party to celebrate! Nan was in town and Mimi came over and we had one of Mac's faves, pizza... and cupcakes, of course.

Lovin' the birthday song!


We love this kid.

Latest & Greatest

He has slept the entire day and is wide eyed at 9:30pm... hopefully won't be indicative of our night tonight!

He has a name!

CHARLES MICHAEL RYAN

"Charlie"

We had a really hard time deciding a name for this precious boy... Libby & Kyle would not recommend the delivery room naming approach that so many swear by! It did not work for us! But he is named. Charles is my grandfather's middle name and Michael is Kyle's dad's name and Kyle's middle name. He has a birth certificate. Now we are busy doing a lot of this...

... and a lot of keeping Charlie alive. Mac and Tucker love their brother SO much. Tucker asks to hold him every five minutes and Mac gives him a kiss every time he passes. However Mac is wild and it will be my full time job to keep Mac away! He has already thrown his lovie on his head, tried to "show" him his metal airplanes, etc. Very exciting!

The Baby has arrived

We would like to introduce...... ____ ____ Ryan to you. We hope to have a name in the next few weeks.
The video is last


11/30/2010
4.43pm
8lbs 8oz
21in
8,9 APGAR (Google if need be)

Dream Car

We have spent much of this blog on Tucker's quirkiness, but we may have reached a new high point! His LOVE of minivans. It is getting a little out of control right now and we often have to tell him during the day "Tucker, I don't want to hear anything else about minivans for awhile." Yes, that's right.

What?! Your 5 year old doesn't beg you for one?

Proof this obsession is nearing car wash status:

1. He plays minivan out on our chair in the living room with his keys. His pretend play mostly entails him unloading things out of the side sliding doors and back trunk (he waits and ducks slightly while it automatically goes up)

2. He makes statements like "Mama, did you like my singing at school today?" Me: yes. Tucker: "enough to buy a minivan?" OR "I'm going to keep doing that until you buy a minivan!!!" (in his angry, sassy voice.

3. He also makes statements like "Mama, don't you want it to be easier for you? You wouldn't have to open these doors on your own if you got a minivan."

4. Yesterday he makes up a song to the tune of "I'm a little teapot" but it's "I'm a Honda Minivan.

Yes, He prefers Hondas. And he wants a black one.

5. Earlier today he went through his entire preschool directory pointing out as he read each name which moms had minivans. He got to one girl and read her name and then said "she has a minivan, but the side door is broken so they have to open it by hand." WEIRD!!! We asked him how he knew all this info and he just casually said he watches all the cars during carpool line. WEIRD!!! He could also tell me what brand and color of minivan each kid had.

I can only hope this passes faster than the 3-plus year obsession with car washes.

Waiting for baby...

might as well blog about the Thanksgiving Feast!
Here is our awesome pilgrim with his friend Vinnie (above) and his friend Kathryn (below)

He lead the whole school in to the sanctuary... carrying his wheat.. and smiling big (although he tells us he was really embarassed!)

On a side note, we often find Mac up in his chair at the dining room table playing cars or trains or airplanes. He can entertain himself for quite a while if they are at his perfect height.