4 Months Old!

Time has gone by fast - Ryan is already 4 months old. At his doctor's appointment he weighed 13.9 lbs (29th percentile) and was 24 3/4 inches long (52nd percentile). Most of the time, he is a very happy baby. He is usually smiling; especially at Sean. When Sean is in the room, Ryan just follows his every move. He adores his big brother. Ryan is close to sitting up and we just took out the exersaucer toy and he loves it!

Really the only area that he is not doing so well is his sleep. He's been in his crib for about a month and a half and still struggles to sleep. We had a couple of good nights where he would sleep for 3 hours straight, but the last few nights have been extremely exhausting with Ryan waking 2-3 times per hour! When I saw the doctor, his first question was "Is your baby sleeping for at least 6 hours at a time at night?". I exclaimed "NO!". He gave me some tips and basically said that he felt bad for me! Derek and I definitely long for a full night's sleep. I honestly don't know how I function during the day. God gives me the energy I need each day to make it through.

We also started feeding Ryan solid foods. His first food was rice cereal. He actually was very calm about the whole experience and is pretty good at keeping more of it in his mouth now.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are so thankful to God for how he has blessed and provided for our family this year. Derek's dad, step-mom Diane, and grandma are visiting. We usually take a trip to Pinetop/Lakeside to visit them for Thanksgiving, but since Ryan is still a little guy they made the trip here this year. As usual, we ate way too much!

Derek and I braved the Black Friday after Thanksgiving sales. We took Ryan with us and he was such a good boy sleeping most of the time. We got some really good deals, but the crowds were nuts. The weather was also bad and we woke up to icy roads and snow. The Lord kept us safe, but we saw several cars slipping all over the roads.

Enjoy the video of Ryan eating his first food and some pictures of the boys!

Get That Bird!

Here are some videos of Ryan playing on his toy playmat and really trying to grab a hold of the bird that flies over his head. In the second video, he really grabs a hold of the bird!

How Cute!

Sean's pre-school had a costume party in October and Sean decided that he wanted to dress as a cowboy! I had a very cute "Winnie the Pooh" costume that my sister gave me and he wanted nothing to do with it this year. He told me that he would dress as "Winnie the Pooh" next year. Somehow I don't think he will feel that way come next October!

We made his costume out of some things we already had at home including a cowboy dress-up outfit that Grams gave him. Anyway, I have to say that he was the cutest cowboy I've ever seen.

Ryan was dressed in a warm Halloween pajama outfit picked out by mommy from a clearance rack last year before he was even born!

Daddy and Sean went trick or treating around the block with his friend Grace who lives behind us. Sean wasn't scared a bit and went right up to the houses. He came home with a full pumpkin of candy and now thinks that he is entitled to candy everyday. Thankfully, the candy is almost all gone (with the help of mommy eating it too!).

When he was done, he enjoyed handing out candy to the kids who came to the door. He is so outgoing and reminds me of his daddy.

SOLD

As usual, I'm a bit late in posting this news - after more than a year and a half our house in AZ finally sold! We are so thankful to God for selling our house. Along this tough journey, He strengthened our faith and taught us much about contentment and patience. We also thank all of you who have continually prayed for our family and specficially the sale of our house. The best part of this news is that the house stayed in the family. My sister Michelle and her husband Bryan purchased the house. It's a great house for their growing family as they prepare to welcome a new baby boy (Anthony Michael) in March.

Mommy Video

Here is a cute video of Ryan I took last week. He's not really doing anything, but being cute! He just adores Sean and stares at him and smiles. Please ignore my annoying, high pitched voice heard in the background! I'll work on getting a video of Sean posted too.

Wilson Updates

Derek's 31st birthday was last Thursday (October 23rd). Even though daddy feels like he's getting old, he's still young and handsome to us! He had to work all day and then teach a class at the college at night and didn't get home until 10:30 at night! It was a long day, but we made daddy breakfast in the morning and his class got him pizza for dinner. They also presented him with a book signed by all of the students in the class. As many of you know, our family football team is the Chicago Bears. Sean got daddy a Bears football jersey for his birthday so they could be twins. Aren't they cute?

Here are some recent pictures of the boys and the dog Bubba that we are watching:

Ryan is getting bigger and cuter each day. He's really gained a lot of neck and back strength and is talking all of the time. This weekend, he also started trying to laugh. He also rolled over from his tummy to back and isn't far from rolling over from back to tummy! The only trial we are going through right now is sleeping in our crib. He will sleep nearly anywhere, but the crib! We moved him from the bassinet to crib a couple of weeks ago and he went from sleeping 3-4 hours at a time to only 2 if we're lucky! Mommy and daddy are very tired and in need of some sleep. Ryan will be 4 months old in a few weeks and we plan on feeding him solid food so we are praying that will help!Last week, I went to an open house at Sean's school and the teachers said he is doing well. They said he is good at cleaning up - wish I could say the same for at home! :-) He has a costume party at school this Friday and he is dressing up as a cowboy - I'll be sure to post pictures soon.

As I mentioned in a prior post, we're been watching our friend's (The Nix Family) dog for the past several weeks. He is such a cutie - that's a picture of him above. I tried organizing the pictures in a better order, but Ryan has been crying so I had to work quickly and just get them posted!

A Trip to the Pumpkin Farm

A couple of weeks ago (I know, I'm late in posting!) we took Sean to a local farm for his first school field trip. The weather was a bit cool and very breezy, but we had a good time. Ryan stayed bundled up in the hotsling and he slept the entire time we were there.

Sean got to pet a huge hog and a pony and saw some chickens and piglets. He also got to shuck beans. The best part of the trip was when Sean got to pick his very own pumpkin from the patch. The farm had just one rule: kids must be able to carry their pumpkin by them self. Sean went to the very end of the pumpkin field and found the perfect pumpkin. It was a little big, but he could carry it. To help him out, Daddy carried Sean while he held the pumpkin (that way we didn't break the rule!

After the field trip, we let Sean choose where he wanted to eat lunch and he chose a local pizza place called Fargos. It's an old fashioned restaurant and a fun (and inexpensive place) to take your family.

The weather this weekend was beautiful. I don't think we'll have a day this warm until next year! The weather can change quickly here - it was freezing earlier in the week and now we're outside enjoying the warm sun! The one thing that I've learned about living in Colorado is to dress in layers.