"Wide Orse"

I am trying to decide on Noah's next birthday party theme - horses or bugs and snakes. Ever since Halloween Noah has not stopped talking about riding a horse again. We seriously heard "wide orse" (ride horse) 20 times a day! My mom has a mini horse so we decided to take Noah over to ride it one afternoon. He literally rode it about 30 feet and wanted off to go pick up sticks and rocks. (Looks like bugs and snakes it is!) He is beyond obsessed with picking up sticks and rocks. He would rather do that than anything else! We will take him to the park, or get his bike or jeep out and he bails off of them at the first chance and gathers up every stick he can find! We finally just started taking him outside to play with sticks and gave up on everything else! We have explored every square inch of our yard and parts of the neighbors yard! I love that he is so curious and loves the outdoors! Here are some pictures of our latest adventures:

Ryan Maelynn is 2 months!

I knew time flew with Noah, but it seems even faster the second time around! Ryan is already 2 months old! Here are her highlights:

* She weighs around 10.5 pounds and is 22.5 inches long! She is still nursing when she is with me and takes 4 oz. bottles every 3 hours with her sitter.

* She is a really good sleeper! She is now sleeping 7-8 hours in a row at night! Now, some nights she isn't going to sleep until almost midnight, but it is workable for now! The grunting and choking in her sleep has slowed way down too - thank goodness!
* She is too long for most of her newborn clothes, so she is into 0-3 month now. Some of them are a little big, but not too much.
* She is now in size one diapers.

* She smiles and coos all the time - especially right after she wakes up!

* Noah is still in love with her! He sings to her when she cries and helps me give her a bath and change her diapers. I was really expecting him to be more jealous, but he has amazed me with how good he is to her.

Yay! I am 2 months old!

Broke In...

Noah definitely broke us in as parents. We didn't want to go anywhere or do anything without making sure he was full and asleep. We would feed him and drive around until he fell asleep before going into a restaurant. I rarely took him to the grocery store, and never by myself. I felt like people would look at me annoyingly if he ever was crying in public. Nathan was very uncomfortable at first. He freaked if Noah was crying. I would have Noah at work all day and then all night. So, I would ask Nathan to watch him (you know because Heaven forbid we let him sit and cry for a minute) while I got ready for bed or did the dishes and he would literally follow me around holding Noah, Noah is screaming and he is saying "he just likes you better, hurry up!" It drove me nuts, but he didn't have much baby experience and he was right, Noah was more comfortable with me at that time - we spent alot of time together. Nathan volunteers to hold and take care of Ryan all the time - I will be holding her and he will ask me to bring her to him. It is amazing how much different and more comfortable we are with her.

Thankfully it didn't take me long, a few months or so, until I was less worried about Noah crying or feeling the need to constantly watch him. I remember I would take Noah and put him in a baby seat in the bathroom while I showered and got ready because I was afraid to leave him alone in our room - and now, for the life of me I cannot figure out what I was so worried about. I leave Ryan in our room every day while i shower and get ready - and even better, when/if she wakes us crying, Nathan will get her and take care of her until I am ready. I love it.  We rarely cook, so Ryan has been to restaurants almost daily. Noah is now at the age where he is doing fairly well at restaurants and Ryan is sleeping alot or is content with me holding her so it is working good for now. We all seem calm and happy when we go to eat or to a store together (seem to me, other people may look at us as chaotic).

As far as sleeping goes, Ryan and Noah are different sleepers. Noah was very consistent (best I remember) and he was up every 3 hours, then extended it about 30 minutes to an hour at a time until he was four months old and he would sleep 8 hours a night consistently. Ryan was sleeping 6-7 hours in a row at 5 days old - not every night, but often. She is now sleeping 5 hours and eating then sleeping 4 more, eating again, and sleeping anywhere from 3-4 more hours. So, she is an amazing sleeper (minus the fact that she grunts and chokes in her sleep every night)! However, this is not always the case -some nights I have trouble getting her to sleep the first time, it make take a few hours, but usually by midnight she is out. I know if flies by and before I know it she will be sleeping good like Noah. I know this is just a season of life and it will change. I have to pay my dues as a mom and not get a full nights sleep for awhile. With Noah, Nathan and I were used to sleeping alot more - even to noon on the weekends! For the past two years we have been up by 8:00 a.m. at the latest so we are up before Ryan! Our bodies are not used to sleeping in and sleeping all the time so it just seems easier this time.

So, I don't know if either kid is getting better or worse treatment from us - one more worried over and the other less fuss about - but it seems to be working for us! Who knows what we will do if we have a third child!

Thank you Noah for breaking us in!

Thank you Ryan for going with the flow!

Halloween 2012

Holidays are so much more fun with kids - and Halloween is one of the best! Neither of my kids even really understand yet and I get so excited to get to do stuff with them. I can't wait until they can fully understand! First Nathan's parents came over and saw the kids, then we went to my mom's for our annual Halloween homemade chicken and dumplings. Noah is not a big candy eater so we didn't go door to door, we went to the community Safe Treat at the fairgrounds. Noah got to ride two horses and instead of getting in the candy lines he wanted to run and play with sticks and rocks - fine by me! So that is what we did until the fireworks finale! It was a great night full of memories made :)

Hungry Monkey :)

This is how Noah watched the fireworks :)

Annual Fall Drive & Pumpkin Carving

Nathan and I have went on a drive to look at all the pretty fall leaves for years now. I was excited because this was Ryan's first year to get to go. After church and lunch we headed out. We went to our usual spot and took pictures as a family of four (of course we had to do that in shifts so we were not all in the same picture - but you get the idea). The spot was beautiful as always and Noah had so much fun playing with sticks and weeds - he is easy to please :)

Our Spot :)

We then went home and carved pumpkins. This was Noah's first year to really get into it. He wanted to be right there with Nathan as he gutted them and me as I carved the faces. He just kept saying "Whoah" - it was so cute. I had bought the bigger pumpkin to put Ryan in like I did Noah when he was younger but she is too little - she can't hold her head up and the pumpkin was too low so it just didn't work :(

The before picture...

Hey - what is going on in there?!

Kisses for his pumpkin ;)

After!

Fall is by far my favorite season and we had a great fall weekend!

14 years ago today...

14 years ago today there was this blue eyes blond haired boy that I caught driving by my house - (he was a total stalker) :) - and ended up going out to eat with him - (apparently I like stalkers) :) He was so sweet and somewhat shy and I was hooked. At the time I couldn't imagine that 14 years later we would me married, have two kids, and still be in love and so happy! We laugh every day, fight every few days, and love every second! I am lucky to have found someone so early in life - we have almost spent half our lives together at age 30 - that is crazy!

We will probably celebrate our anniversary with take out (eaten at home) while we carve pumpkins with our kids - sounds pretty perfect to me! Our official anniversary time is 10:26 p.m. (yes, we know the time) and we will probably celebrate it asleep - because that is what 30 year olds with two kids do, go to sleep before 10:00 :) Here's to the next 14 years and beyond!

Here are some oldies but goodies from the last 14 years:

Dating

Junior Prom

Senior Prom

Senior pictures

2000 (Snell Wedding)

  

Engagement picture :)

2008

2011

2011

2012

Gerber Mother to Be Day!

When I was pregnant with Noah I had a friend sign me up for Gerber Mother to Be Day. I had no idea what it was, but it sounded like fun! I was a little hesitant to go because it was an hour away and I had to go by myself and I was 9 months pregnant and very swollen. But, I went and I am so glad I did! The Gerber employees were so nice and helpful and help carry things for you and bring you things - they spoil you! So, I was so excited to register to go again this year. It is such a popular event that you have to register and depending on how many registrants there are they have to draw names to see who can go due to limited space. This time there was 192 expecting and new moms! I was excited that I got to take Ryan with me this year and show her off :)

Ready for Gerber Day with Momma!

As soon as you pull in the driveway they give you a door prize - a box of Nestle and Gerber products! Then you go in and you walk around and judge the door prizes put together by the Gerber employees (the winning employees get a prize). Thankfully, both times I have found people there that I know to sit with so I didn't have to sit with strangers. They first give away random prizes - like who has the most kids (got a bottle of aspirin), who most recently gave birth (got a bouquet of flowers), who has the most boys (got a first aid kit) - funny stuff like that. Then there are presenters on carseat safety and a pediatric nurse with lots of helpful information. Then we get to see a history on Gerber products and how they are made. Then you get to taste test the baby food - yummy! - and they serve lunch. Then it is time for the good stuff - door prizes! They have everything from cribs to strollers to carseats to cash! I won a bouncer and a bag full of bottles and Gerber food!

It is a very generous thing for Gerber to do - Noah loves his Gerber food and at 2 1/2 years old he eats it everyday! I had a great time there with Ryan - our first official Girls Day out! :)