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.

Original costume idea!

The Mayor

I'd like to introduce you to the Mayor of Lakewood Preschool. We (I) was a bit worried about switching Tucker for one year to a new school before kindergarten because in the past he has been somewhat reserved/slow to warm up. However we continue to get reports that he is crazy outgoing and has gotten to know every teacher, student and parent at his new school. It is really hilarious how many people have told us a story of him going out of his way to make a connection with them and lately I've had two friends say something to the effect of "it's like he's running for office!" So we're not worried anymore.

The picture above is our son, Dr. Ryan, walking in his Halloween parade holding up his pants so everyone would be able to see his Halloween socks.

They paraded and then gathered to sing for us. Below is "Mrs. Parker, The Lovely" (as Tucker calls her.) She is the music teacher and Tucker is in love.

Pumpkin Patch

Dr. Ryan, Yoda (Trace) and the Karate Kid. I'm too lazy to transfer the picture of Mac in his original costume from my phone, but he was VERY unhappy as a lion so we made a last minute costume change to the karate kid and he was thrilled.

Now to trick-or-treating. Growing up in St.Louis I was raised to believe it was called Trick-or-Treat because you had to do a trick (tell a joke) to get your treat. Imagine my surprise a couple years ago when I found out this only happens in St.Louis?!?! Here in Jacksonville, or at least in San Marco where we live, we don't tell jokes at all but there are a fair number of cocktails consumed. Wrong? I don't know. But I'm quite sure it makes it much more enjoyable for the parents.

We went with a very large group but Will, Tucker & Kathryn were going double-time -- running from house to house. They had a blast! Kathryn was Snow White and her cute sister Margaret (pictured above) was the poisoned apple! Precious girls!

Sleeping Arrangements

A few candid shots from the boys' room. Ever since we took the front of Mac's crib off he battles to get up in Tucker's bed. Some nights we give up and let them wrestle and play for one hour plus until they finally fall asleep.

One night they started like this.

...but ended like this.

Love these boys.

So behind

In what has to be deemed the craziest 2 months of our married lives, we have moved and bought cars and Kyle has changed jobs and.. oh yeah, I'm having a baby here in a matter of weeks. It has been insane. And we have been without internet or T.V. for two weeks. I never knew how dependent I was on both! Mostly for my sanity -- but I'm way behind on blogging. So I'll start with our trip to St.Louis in September.

No one in Kirkwood believed me, but Tucker has never seen a parade. We live in the city. A city with no little parades. So they got to go to their first Greentree Parade! Tucker not only got to see his first parade, but ended up being in the parade for the end when Aunt Betsy picked him up to walk with the Rick Stream for MO State Rep Crew!

We finally got to meet 4 month old Taylor. He is PRECIOUS! And Mac, who loves babies so much, was all over him.

So much sweet cousin time...

The "big" cousins went to the zoo on a gorgeous fall day.

Then we went to visit Great Grandma's new place.

Traveling on the plane by myself with the two of them (really just Mac was the problem!) was a nightmare, but it was worth it to have such a great time!

Back to School

First Day at Lakewood Pres!

Tucker is in the "Pound Puppies" this year which is technically PK4, but it is almost all young 5s and a few 4s turning 5 in the next two months. Just as Tucker has been since he started going to school at age 2, he did not even want me to walk him in on the first day so we did the car pool line and he was fine!

On a side note: It should be illegal to start school after Labor Day. Now that I have survived Summer 2010 it already doesn't seem that bad, but it was such a long summer for a boy who needs a lot more stimulation than I can provide!! I know I'll be so pumped when my kids are older and we can spend days at the pool, etc, but we just aren't there yet with Mac and another baby on the way.

As mentioned earlier, we have been playing a lot of doctor around here!! The combination of Kyle starting the new job and Tucker having to do the stitches/shot at his 5 year appointment has led to Tucker giving all of us (and all his stuffed animals) shots all day long. He rips a small square of a wipe as his alcohol swab to clean the area and then pokes us with the sharpest thing he can get away with while telling us "You are just going to feel a pinch." His teacher told me he has already given both of them physicals and is starting on his classmates and "Big Joe," the large dog mascot of the "Pound Puppies."

Injuries

Our calm child, Tucker, has had quite a summer. I'm trying to decide whether to document/blog about it or completely try to block it out!! First... the broken arm. Then, just as we received the urgent care and Wolfson Childrens Hospital bills, he got stitches after a minor fall on the pool deck led to a gaping cut.

The broken arm was a breeze compared to the stitches and his 5 year doctor's appointment today. Tuck likes to know what is coming and getting the stitches was traumatic because he didn't know what to expect and he was totally panicked through the whole process. He had to be held down with a blanket and a very strong male nurse holding his head and it was terrible. The stitches needed to be in for exactly 5 days and that landed on the day we already had a regular appointment set up for his 5 year visit. So... I didn't have to tell him there was an annual visit (he has been dreading this since his 4 year visit because of S-H-O-T-S) and he was really excited to get his stitches out, so I thought we were doing just fine.

WRONG. They took his weight and height and did the eye test and he mentioned to me "This is taking longer than I was expecting if we're just getting my stitches out." By the time she took his blood pressure, it was high. She retook it and it was higher. I whispered to her that he is probably anticipating he might get a shot. But that was the nurse I told and when the doctor finished her part of the exam and loudly proclaimed that all he had left was getting the stitches out and two shots the chaos set in! She is not our regular doctor and not one of the more sensitive doctors, so when I told her it was going to be bad SHE DID NOT BELIEVE ME. Kyle was going to come with me but he had a meeting at 11 - the exact time of the appointment. So they come in to take the stitches out and ask him to lay down and he freaks out -- we're trying to hold him down - trying to talk about the lego set we are going to pick out at Target after we get through this - he is sweating and yelling and thrashing -- and with four of us she can't get close to getting steady enough to get these stitches out. I pull the nurse aside and whisper-mention that we might as well sneak attack with the shot or that is going to be worse. She can't leave because we're trying to get this stitch.

We finally have to take a break because it is NOT happening... and low-and-behold Kyle comes flying in to the office. By divine providence (God loves me so much!) his guy didn't show up for the meeting and he headed toward the doctor's office with a sinking feeling it was bad over there. He got Tucker relatively calmed down to do the stitches while the nurse went and got the shot ready (we decided against the other "elective" shot. Ha!) and she got the shot done while Kyle held him down up top and talked calmly to him. He did freak a little and ask "what is going on down there?!" but overall, the shot went easily. Once he had the shot he calmed down for the stitches. This whole thing took FOREVER. Why can't he be rational??? He just can't.

There were some moments of hilarity in the last few weeks with all these events. For one, last night Tucker told Kyle about getting the original cast on at urgent care back in June. He explained how the first lady "didn't have any idea what she was doing" and cut everything wrong and had to go get the second nurse. He told him "there was all kinds of drama going on." Ha!

And today on our way to Target he was reflecting on his visit today and told me - in all seriousness - "That doctor's visit was brutal."

I couldn't agree more.