5 years - WRM

Ryan turned 5 this past week, which means we have been parents for five years now! Ryan is just about as good as it gets for a kid. I know it sounds cliche, but there isn't much I would change at all about this little one. I feel like it is okay to say that because I know not all of our kids will be this easy! He is the most kind, respectful, well-behaved, inquisitive, fun-loving kid there is. He loves life and loves to learn. He's a people-pleaser by nature, and does not like to get in trouble. He prides himself in the fact that he has never had his name on the board at school. He is always interested in learning new things and figuring out how the world works. One day on the way home from school, he asked me if he could go to a school where he could learn Spanish and that after that, he would like to learn French.

Taken before heading to Kinder Orientation

His favorite things to do these days include: building Legos upon Legos upon more Legos; playing with Superheroes and Ninja Turtles, playing pretend (mainly that he is either a superhero or Ninja Turtle) playing at the park with our neighbor friends, riding his bike on the trail when we jog, playing t-ball and basketball in the backyard, and putting together puzzles. We were doing a good job with sight words and reading books, but have kind of backed off some as we have just been so busy. At one point, he could recognize about 25-30 sight words. We need to get back to working on them before he starts school in the fall, ahhhh!!!

He has definitely started forming his own opinions lately. For instance, he does not like country music. I listen to just about all kinds of music, and one day it was on a country station and I hear him in the back say 'Mom, change the station. I don't like cowboy music." This was during the time of the rodeo, so I think it was on his mind, but he clearly prefers pop and rock music. 

He's also really big on doing things himself and helping out as much as he can. He loves to do chores, he even got a chore chart for Christmas. We have started allowance on a weekly basis and he is really into it. He is getting $4 a week and after about 4 or 5 weeks, he wants to go to Target to pick out a toy. It's pretty funny watching him walk up and down the aisles contemplating what he should get. He even mentioned how it was going to take him a while to check everything out before he made his decision. There have been times when we didn't know what something cost, so we had to go scan it for a price check. He's so cute asking if he has enough money to buy it. If I forget to give him his money for the week, he'll hound me for it. Most days, I feel like I am parenting an adult. He asks so many questions and wants to understand everything.

I'm pretty sure he has his first crush. Lo and behold, it's his teacher. In his defense, she is very pretty and so sweet and nurturing, so I don't blame him. One day she told him that she really liked one of his shirts and guess what, he only wants to wear that shirt now. At least once every week. He prays for her and apparently his other teacher said that this is a pretty big crush. Haha!!

He's turned into a pretty good eater over the past year as well. He is never going to prefer veggies over sweets, but at least now I can force him into eating them. We've implemented timers, dinner charts, you name it to get him to eat faster. He is the world's slowest eater. No doubt. It's painful to watch, but he'll eventually get it done, just sometimes an hour and a half later.

He is a wonderful big brother. I couldn't draw up a better older brother if I tried. He is always willing to watch over the boys, go get me something, actually loves to play with them even when not asked, and I can tell he will be a great role model. He and Bradley are forming a pretty sweet bond, and I just love to watch them grow close to one another.

We went to the doctor this week and his stats were:

Height - 45.25 in. (90%)

Weight - 45.5 lb. (79%)

BMI - 56%

For his birthday week, we had a lot of fun things planned. I made him some coffee cake for breakfast, where B and I sang to him Thursday morning before school.

They celebrated at school on his actual birthday where he was treated like a king and he was pretty excited to wear the crown all day! On Friday, Wes had off, so we had Yami come over to watch the little ones so we could spend some one on one time with Ryan. We started off at breakfast at a new, yummy place in Katy called Dish Society. Nutella French Toast for the win!

We then headed over to Main Event for a day of fun with our big boy. Apparently, I got the times wrong and they weren't quite open yet. Ooops. They were nice enough to let us in and play pool before they opened.

 We headed over to the arcades next. Ryan loves air hockey, so that was a must.

 We had the entire place to ourselves, so we hit up just about every single game they had!

We then went and played a few games at the bowling alley. We all had a blast and Wes and I had some friendly competition going with each other as well.

 Ryan was very concerned with trying to get spares, not strikes. Spares. And he did get quite a few.

One of the workers there heard it was his birthday and as we were leaving, let him grab a huge stuffed animal out of the giant crane game. He was pretty pumped.

It was such a fun day, and I was so thankful for our time together with just him. The next morning was Ryan's first t-ball game. Doesn't he look adorable in his uniform?!?!

He is playing with the YMCA and has a buddy from school and a buddy from our neighborhood on the team, so it's been a lot of fun so far. They don't keep score or outs, so everyone gets to hit and run the bases. Ryan had a blast. The boys pow-wowing before the game.

I could hear Ryan and Grant discussing his birthday party that was later that day.

 His first at bat!

He had two good hits and had two good "catches" as he called it - meaning he retrieved the ball out of the dog pile twice. He even got upset when someone took the ball from him which is very unlike him. Here is Ryan and B both taking a seat along the sideline while his team was batting. B just helped himself to a bucket to sit on.

On the way home he said that he had more fun playing t-ball than the other sports he has tried. I was very surprised, so we will see how the season goes.

We are so lucky to be Ryan's parents and can not wait to see what this next year brings when he heads into Kindergarten :)

8 months - CJM

It's crazy to think 2/3 of a year has passed, but here we are, 8 months in as a family of five!

This lil stud has my heart! He's such a sweet boy and just full of energy.

It's been a good month for Charlie. He's definitely settled into his schedule which has made life a bit easier and more predictable. His two favorite things to occupy his time are still the walker and the jumperoo. He really gets that walker going and hauls back and forth from the kitchen to the living room, running over lots and lots of toes in his path,

This is about as close as this lil chunk will get to sitting on his own. He's definitely taking life at his own pace as demonstrated by his lack of crawling, sitting up, pulling up, even just laying on his stomach. Usually in the evenings, before bath, we let him relax/play/have some alone time in his crib for 20-30 minutes. He inevitably, almost every evening, will at some point flip to his tummy and "get stuck." He clearly knows how to roll both ways, but for whatever reason, when he is on his stomach in his crib, he loses it. I've never seen him get so upset except for when this happens.

Don't let looks deceive you - but he did sit up for all of 2 seconds, one time, and I just happened to catch it on my camera!

He does appear to have nice posture, maybe one day!

Charlie tried out the swings for the first time this past month and loved it! Of course, big brother insisted on pushing him, and was very proud of himself!

This kid loves his baths. You would never know, but he had just thrown up ALL over me about 2 minutes prior to this pic. This was one of those 2 pm baths because he was covered in ickiness.

As far as his sleeping schedule goes, he usually gets up in the morning around 8, goes down for a nap around 10 for about an hour, takes a long nap from about 1-3, and then a short nap around 4:30 or 5. He takes his last bottle around 8/8:15 and then goes to bed. He still sleeps in his magic sleep suit and we need to transition him out of it here pretty soon because he has almost outgrown it. I fear that once he is out, he will inadvertently flip onto his tummy and wake not only himself, but the rest of the house up! He tends to sleep on his side and usually sideways in his crib. He will usually wake up anywhere from 6-7 am and I feed him and put him back to bed. Hopefully that will go away soon, but I can't complain too much! He has started taking to the lovey a little bit more and will definitely cuddle with it when he wakes up. And I think we can officially say, we finally have a kid that doesn't take a pacifier. At this point, we have not pushed it and don't plan on it!

When it comes to food, Charlie is doing pretty well. This month, we introduced avocados, ground beef, tomato, beans, yogurt, pears, and I think that's it. He is willing to try new things, but can be very particular. I need to be better about switching things up so he doesn't get too comfortable with his favorites ( ah hem, sweet potatoes and bananas!). He is an extremely vocal child. He has pretty much mastered "da da" and we are thinking he actually says it at the appropriate time (not all the time, but occasionally). Or if I say it to him, he just lights up. He truly adores Wes! Along with that, he just mumbles and spits like no other. I've been calling him Joe Camel lately because he is INSANE with the spitting. He also sprouted his two middle teeth at the beginning of the month

B trying to take a picture of him while Charlie was getting his nails clipped.

Poor kid doesn't stand a chance with this big brother of his. Although B loves him to pieces, he is constantly patting him very aggressively, trying to feed him Cheez-its and other things that he can't have, or tickling him a little too hard.

Charlie just lights up at the sight of his brothers. Most mornings, they love to come in his room with me when I get Charlie out of bed. They both sit in the rocker, while I change Charlie. Charlie literally almost breaks his neck trying to get a good look at them, all while he has a HUGE grin across his face. He gets really giddy and does his shrill scream that only dogs should be able to hear. I just have a feeling, he's going to be a little firecracker. I am not sure of his weight, although I would assume he is well over 20 lbs. He's in 12 months clothes and size 3 diapers. I love his big brown eyes and rosy red cheeks. He still has the cutest dimples and loves to smack his lips.

Oh, and I have mentioned before how much he loves his hands? Because he does. A LOT!

He either has them in his mouth or he is just staring at them, watching his fingers move.

I can't tell if he is trying to tell me a secret, or pick his nose...

There's one dimple, and that chubby smile I love.

I love how he does this with his bottom lip. It's a new look of his.

Showing off his flexibility

Love our lil chunk :)

What's new with Ryan (and B, too!)

Poor Ryan.He doesn't get the monthly updates like he used to, so he's been neglected somewhat from the blog (unless of course, he gets lumped in with the rest of his brothers). So, I figured I should post a few pics and stories of the past few months.

Ryan practicing his selfie taking skills. He looks like he's twelve.

 Clearly in need of a haircut.....

 Mommy/son date after school one Wednesday when I didn't have the rest of the crew.

Jill and I took the boys to Marvel Universe Live! a few weeks ago. Ryan loved it. The show was really done well and all of the stunts and fight scenes were pretty neat. Ryan knew just about all twenty-something characters' names and it kept his attention the entire two hours.

The Hulk was just about everyone's favorite and of course, he didn't come out until the last 10 minutes of the show.

 Poor Braden didn't care too much for all of the loud noises, but they had fun together anyway!

Ryan's been to quite a few of his friends' birthday parties over the past few weeks and has had quite a good time celebrating. He is now counting down the days until his party.

His buddy, Elijah, had a super fun Construction party at his house and the new playhouse that they built. 

These two cuties have celebrated each other's birthdays the past 4 years together. The first pic is from Alex's 2nd birthday part in 2012....so cute!

And here they are today, at Chuck E Cheese, no less. Ryan's new favorite place. He was in Heaven!

Ryan finished off his basketball season this past week and he ended the last game with a great shot.

They ended the season 8-0 again, although the last game was by far the closest.

Coach Wes presenting Ryan with his certificate and trophy. Not less than 5 minutes of being home, Ryan dropped and broke the trophy. We're 0 for 2 in the trophy department. Luckily, Wes was able to superglue it back together.

Brothers swinging like big boys after school one day. They love playing on the playground there.

They truly do love being near one another, even though they fight like cats and dogs most of the time.

B has been pretty funny these past few months. He loves lounging on our new deck.

He's learning a lot of new words as of late. It seems to be maybe 3-5 a week which is a HUGE improvement from when he turned two. I think a few of his recent words include Nami (Yami, our nanny), Coppee (coffee - one day he just pointed to Wes' mug and said it), cup, hot, hurt, high, blue, lellow, bowl, cold, boo (boots), yee-haw, help, and home. Clearly, certain consonants are easier for him than others. He refuses to say things that start with R, S, or G. He's also added chicken tenders, FINALLY, to his repertoire of food choices. He really enjoys hanging on the bars at gymnastics and that's about all he wants to do while there.

He got his second haircut earlier this year, and to my surprise, no tears at all. He was such a big boy. Just ate his sucker like it was no big deal.

My big boy! He looks so old with his hair so short.

This kid is such a ham. I know I say it all the time, but he really is just full of personality. It's so hard to get mad or stay mad at him even though he is probably the most stubborn individual I have ever come across. I just can't help myself (as most people close to him can't either), when he does something ridiculous, I cave more often than not. Don't get me wrong, he still gets in plenty of trouble!

He recently had pajama day at school. Although he looks like a superhero here, he was really just reaching for his lovey that I was holding hostage trying to get him to smile for a picture.

 B's sweet teachers always have the best ideas for photo crafts at school. Seriously love this pic!

 And here he is being sneaky, getting into Ryan's winter gear.

Love both of these big boys so much!