Random Things

I took a couple of videos of the boys this week; just doing random things. Sean is really into Star Wars action figures. They make smaller ones for toddlers and he plays with them all day long. I think I mentioned in a prior post that he knows the name of every figure (just like daddy!). When we drive in the car, the conversation often seems to turn to the Star Wars action figures. Sean likes to ask lots of questions. Sean has also learned how to use the mouse on the computer and is actually pretty good at it. He enjoys going to the Playhouse Disney website to play games. It amazes me how good he is at it already at such a young age. However, I can see how I will need to limit his playing time. He already wants to play all of the time.

At school today, Sean had team day in preparation for the Super Bowl. He wore his Chicago Bears jersey and football pants and they get to play games outside and have pizza for a snack. He was so excited. We're already preparing for the Super Bowl this weekend and plan on relaxing and eating, eating, and eating. Did I say eating? :-) Go Cardinals!

In the video of Sean, he shows and names some of his favorite figures and sings the "good guy" and "bad guy" songs from Star Wars. Sorry that the video is shaky at times, but I was trying to record while Ryan was grabbing at the camera and almost fell down a couple of times!

Ryan is sitting up pretty well on his own and loves playing with toys. He wants to be held all of the time and will let you know that he's not happy if he's not being held, especially by mommy. I don't know how much longer we can hold him off from eating the foods that mommy, daddy, and Sean do because he gets so excited when he sees us eating. I started giving him small pieces of those baby puffs that dissolve in their mouth and that seems to have pleased him for now. He's also very excited to use a sippy cup with water. The video of Ryan is nothing special, just him playing and staring at the camera. Some good news is that the past 3 nights, Ryan has slept better. One night he even slept for nearly 6 hours! I'll keep praying that this becomes a habit, but I'm not too hopeful yet until he has this sleeping pattern for a couple of weeks! I invested in some special eye cream to try and lighten those dark circles under the eyes; 7 months of limited sleep makes for very dark eye circles! :-)

Picture Day

This week, we took the boys to have professional pictures taken and boy was it an experience. I wanted to get a couple of pictures of the boys together, but most of the pictures were going to be of Ryan for his 6 month pictures. I had taken the boys to have pictures taken back in September when Sean had his 3 year old pictures, but wasn't able to get one of the boys together because Ryan was sleeping and wouldn't cooperate. Ryan was all smiles until I set him down on the picture platform - then it was all crying. He was scared of the photographer, the flash, the click the camera made, etc. We managed to get one of Ryan (no smiles, just that "deer in the headlights" stare that he always has in every picture!) and one of the boys together. I was so bummed because I was so excited about getting some good pictures of Ryan. I guess I was just used to Sean who , as a baby, loved having his picture taken. He would take so many great pictures, we would have trouble deciding which ones we wanted to buy. As soon as the photographer held up a stuffed animal or tickled his nose with the duster, he was all smiles and laughs. He actually still falls for the tickle; the lady tried it on the boys and Sean starting cracking up and Ryan started crying! I guess it just shows me even more how different the boys are and that I can't expect Ryan to respond the same way as Sean did as a baby to different things. For now, Sean appears to be more social whereas Ryan is more shy and sensitive and can't bear to be away from mommy! We'll try again in 3-6 months! :-)

The Boys

Just wanted to provide an update and some pictures of the boys... Hope you enjoy the pictures of the boys. I don't have many of Sean, because it is so hard to get a picture of him - he moves too much and doesn't want to smile for the camera. When you go to take Ryan's picture, he stares at the flash and has that "deer in headlights" look. I do my best!

The weather this past week has been absolutely beautiful, reaching near 60 degrees everyday. The boys and I have enjoyed spending time outside and going for walks. Ryan was able to play in the sand for the first time. Sometimes you get a little stir crazy during the winter. It was starting to feel like Spring was around the corner, but it's only January, and we probably have like 8 weeks of cold weather left. Hopefully, we will have some more warm days so we can get outside even if for a day.

Derek started his MBA program this week which makes for some long days at work and lots of homework, but I know he can do it and I've been trying to be an encouragement. Derek also had a tough week at work. His company "re-organized" and laid off about 22 positions. His office has also been reorganized, although Derek's job hasn't changed too drastically other than taking on more work. We are so thankful that Derek still has a job. Things will be different at first as they move forward with changes, but I know he will do great. He also hopes to teach another class in the spring. He's busy, busy, busy!

Ryan had his 6 month appointment last week and everything went well. The doctor said he is developing perfectly (his words, not mine!). His weight gain has slowed down, but the doctor wasn't too concerned and said he is proportioned well. He weighed 15.9 pounds (19th percentile) and was 26.5 inches (60th percentile) long. I looked back in Sean's baby book and he was actually bigger than Ryan when he was 6 months old. He was 16.9 pounds and 27 inches. We thought Ryan was our big boy, but I guess we didn't remember correctly! He can sit by himself pretty well now, but seems to fall over whenever I turn around. He also started talking to us; it's really cute. He also feels the need to scream to get our attention. That gets annoying. We are pretty sure that he said "dada" and we were able to get him to repeat it back to us. We had him on the floor this morning for some tummy time and he was watching his brother and trying to figure out how he could get over to him. Maybe that will motivate him to crawl soon. However, I'm not sure we want that! He'll be into everything. He was getting better for a couple of weeks with sleeping at night and recently has fallen into bad habits again feeling the need to wake every hour. Derek and I are sleep deprived. :-)

Sean is doing very well. He really enjoys playing with action figures, particularly Star Wars ones. They make some called "Galactic Heroes" which are a smaller version of the action figures for younger kids to play with. He talks about them all day long. He knows all of their names and he sets them up on a table to play. In pre-school, he is learning to recognize the letters in his name. We pre-register him this week for the fall school year already. He attends a Christian pre-school and I've heard from the other mothers that getting into some of the classes is pretty competitive so either we are planning to arrive for registration pretty early. I've also been a bit overwhelmed with schooling in general. Sean will not attend Kindergarten until fall of 2011, but there are already waiting lists at some of the schools (primarily charter schools) here. I couldn't believe it! I'm just learning about all of the school options and we aren't sure what school is best for him, but we went ahead and put his name on one waiting list so far.

A Visit with Papa

Last weekend, the boy's Papa (my dad) came into town from Arizona for the weekend to vist with the boys. We really enjoyed the visit and Sean had a blast. From the moment he woke up until bedtime, Sean wanted Papa to play with him. They played action figures, building blocks, trains, and even had a sword fight. I think he really wore Papa out. The visit was short, but we had a great time. The weather couldn't have been better for January. It was near 60 degrees all weekend and we even were able to sneak in some time to play outside. We ate at our favorite local pizza place Fargo's (pretty good pizza and very inexpensive too - great family place!) and Sean was even treated with a strawberry sundae. Grandparents are so much fun!!!

What will it be?

For Christmas, Aunt Monica & Uncle Ryan got Sean an egg that you put in water for a couple of days until it hatches. The egg could contain several different animals including an alligator, turtle, or dinosaur (there were others, I just can't remember). It was fun for Sean to wait for his egg to hatch and he got so excited each day as the egg started to crack more and more. It was also a good exercise in teaching him patience. His egg hatched after a couple of days and it was an alligator!

Ryan is getting so big; it seems like yesterday that he was just a little baby. He can sit up on his own for a few minutes and then starts to lose balance. He loves playing with toys and he loves things with buttons. He gets really excited when he sees the remote control or the telephone. We've moved him into the highchair to eat and play now because he kept trying to get out of the Bumbo chair. He's moved onto stage 2 foods and enjoys trying new foods. I don't think we'll be able to keep him away from other foods for long because he just stares at whatever we are eating and gets excited. He goes to the doctor in a couple of weeks for his 6 month appointment so I will be sure to post his stats. Oh, and for his sleeping habits... he has adjusted to taking naps in his crib and does good on most days. However, he still isn't a great sleeper at night! I pray he will just start sleeping through the night very soon!

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures from Christmas - enjoy! I forgot to mention that daddy's favorite present were the "Hulk" hands that Sean was given from Aunt Monica and Uncle Ryan. They fight each other with them everyday and I'm not sure who has more fun, Sean or Derek!

New Car

At the end of October, we bought a used, 2006 Honda Odyssey mini-van. We had been praying for the past year that God would provide for us to buy a new car because our other car wasn't very reliable and pretty dangerous to drive during the winter. We paid a lot for that car and it wasn't worth much at all when we got rid of it so we were glad that we got rid of it when we did so we at least got something out of it. I didn't post about the car sooner because we were waiting to surprise Derek's family in person when they visited at Christmas and we didn't want them to find out when reading the blog. It was very hard to keep it a secret and I almost posted a couple pictures of Sean playing in the snow outside with the van visible in the background!

We absolutely love the car and it is a very practical family car. Years ago, Derek said that he would never drive a mini-van, but after having the boys we decided it was the best vehicle for our family. We are ready for a road trip! We're hoping to hit the road in May to visit our friends and family in Arizona (and our new baby nephew Anthony) and also travel to Illinois in July.