My Two Sons

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T00:44:00.007Z

I was having a difficult time trying to figure out what the boys could be for Halloween this year. Ryan couldn't really decide and Cayden just kept telling me he wanted to be "Lightning McQueen." As much as I am all for allowing my children to express themselves, I wanted them to be something that 'matched' again, this year.

Last year, they were Buzz Lightyear and Woody.

Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of the costumes that have the child splitting the costume, like a race car or something. I prefer their costumes to *be* someone/something.

As I was sitting at my mom's looking at the ads on a Sunday, the lightbulb immediately went on! I've got it! I know what they're going to be and it's perfect! I suggested the idea to Ryan and he immediately loved it. I talked to Cayden about it and he was all excited, too. It was settled. We had their costumes picked out. We just had to find them. The week leading up to Halloween was pretty hectic. Trying to find the costume Ryan wanted in his size was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. After searching all the stores in our area, we called a store in Perry, UT (about 40 minutes north) and found one! A friend of mine picked up the costume for me and we were set. Just in time! Ryan needed his for Thursday morning's parade at school. Thursday went over great! Come Friday morning, Cayden's turn to dress up for day care came. He was *NOT* a happy camper. He hated part of the costume. We finally got him to at least smile in some pictures, and took advantage of it before we went Trick-or-Treating on Saturday evening.

Introducing: The Mario Brothers!

Funny story about Trick-or-Treating. While at a house, someone asked Ryan what the "L" stood for on hat (I guess the guy didn't know who Luigi was, or at least he said he didn't because he doesn't play video games.). Ryan replied, "Luigi!" The guy looks at me and I said, "Mario's brother." Cayden decided to reply, too. "NO!" he exclaimed, "He's not Luigi. He's Ryan; my brother." haha!

Lookie mommy, a horse!

2010-04-26T20:30:00.002+01:00

When we were walking into a building this morning, a man with a very large great dane was walking out. He was instructing the dog, using language like "heal left," etc. so I'm assuming the dog was in training of some kind. He was a BIG dog. Cayden stops and gasps, "lookie mommy, a horse!" The guy walking behind us just started laughing and I said, "that's not a horse, honey, that's a dog." Cayden kinda looks at me and says "BIG doggie." It was rather cute.

If looks could kill...

2010-04-25T05:31:00.003+01:00

My mom got one of *the* most intense, "I'm pissed off" looks from Cayden tonight; I just happened to witness it.

We were sitting on the couch at my mom's house when Cayden was wanting his pacifier (dodie). My mom tells him that it's in a plastic sack that she'd packed to take there while she watched them. He picks up the sack and pulls a pair of underwear out; throws it on the floor. She takes the sack and holds it open for him as if she were going to say "trick-or-treat." He looks inside and pulls out a shirt; throws it on the floor. He keeps looking inside and pulling clothing out and throwing it onto the floor. He gets to the bottom of the bag and pulls out a toy, drops it on the floor, pouts with his bottom lip sticking out and then gets this evil, Chuckie look on his face. Nose scrunched, lips in a pout, eyebrows furrowed... He looks up at my mom with this evil glare as if to say "you said it was in there and it's not!" My mom looked at me and I couldn't contain my laughter. I started chuckling and she had to hide her face so that Cayden didn't know what he'd done had affected her that way.

It was rather hilarious.

In other news, Ryan got a compliment from Mrs. Diane the other day. She is amazed, daily, with his ability to see a car one time and retain who it belongs to as well as make and model. She said that there have been a few times that he has said, "look, Mrs. Diane! A Mazda!" and she had no idea what it was just by looking at the side. He should be a mechanic when he grows up. :)

A lot has happened in 10 months.

2010-04-22T04:13:00.008+01:00

Ten months. Did I just type that? I can see how a few months could go by without me updating, but really?! Ten?! Whoa.

A lot has happened in that 10 months. I went back to school to get the degree I've wanted since I was 17. I'm only a few years late. I'm typically late for everything, thanks mom, so I guess I shouldn't expect anything less. Heh. Even got a 4.0 first semester back! Second semester didn't fare quite as well, but still satisfactory, nonetheless. I have just about one full year left at WSU and the PCAT to take, and hopefully then, it'll be off to pharmacy school!

Boys. My boys are growing! They are huge now! Ryan is a full-on little man. He is fully capable of being the man of the house. He's still afraid to help mom kill spiders, though. I need to work on that; I'm pretty scared of them myself! (shh. Don't tell Ryan.) Cayden, the little mister, is full of words and little brother syndrome. You know, when he wants to do EVERYTHING brother can do, just because brother can do it? For about a month leading up to his second birthday, anytime someone would ask Cayden how old he was going to be, his answer was *always* "Five." Heh. "Sorry, little bro, Ryan is going to be five; you are going to be TWO!" He would stick his bottom lip out and pout, "No! Five!" I digress.

Cayden is doing extraordinarily well with potty training. That has to be one of the huge pluses of him wanting to be (read: act) older than he is. Ryan wasn't potty trained until after Cayden was born, which means he was three. This potty training at two business is entirely new to me! I'm not complaining, though! The sooner I can stop buying diapers, the better off I'll be!

The boys and I moved out of my mom's house in February. I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to spread my wings and fly and just live my life the way I need to. Being independent and being able to have my own space has been beneficial for everyone, including my parents. My apartment isn't anything huge, but it's enough for me and the kids to have our own space and privacy. I am loving life and know it was the right choice I made to move out when we did.

I took the kids to get their photos taken a couple weeks ago. I cannot believe that they're my kids in the pictures. They are growing up so fast. I love every second that I get to spend with them. They truly are my inspiration to better myself. I attached some photos to show how much they've grown.

Ryan will be playing soccer here soon. He's super excited. I can't believe I'm going to be a soccer mom! Heh. I always knew he would play, given he's half British -and it's not just a sport in England; it's a religion. I just can't believe the time is already here! I think it will benefit him so much, though. Get him ready for school to start in the fall, too. Man, I'm gonna have a kindergartener! Where has my baby gone?! Before I know it he'll be graduating high school... I *can* wait for that, but I know it's just around the corner.

Something funny from Cayden the other day: I was asking him typical questions to get him to answer and just tell me about his little world that day. I asked, "what's your name?" He answers, "Caynez." I said, "Cayden, how old are you?" He looks around and says, "Mmm. Two." I said, "Two! Wow! What's your favorite color?" He looks at me and smiles, "PINK!" I said, "Pink, huh?" He replies, immediately, "Yep." I said, "That's such a nice color. Who's your favorite person?" He says "LIGHTNING McQUEEN!" Joy. Going on 4 years of this stinkin' movie. BOTH my boys now love it. What is it about that red car that gets the motors in their hearts going? I can think of a million things that would be worse than a Disney Pixar movie, but man, 4 years. I think I have every line memorized, as do they!

Now that school is out for a while, I'm hoping to be able to update more often. I should have more things to update about: soccer practice, games, fun things we do, trips we take. ... I'll close by leaving some pics of the kids from recently.

Balloons, Chaos and... Muffcakes?

2009-06-17T07:22:00.004+01:00

Has anyone else ever wondered why we, as mothers, put ourselves through so much stress just to put on a 'show' for our child? The party is no longer for the child, rather a challenge for the mother to get the best cake in town, serve the most high-quality food and make sure there is enough to do so that the chlidren attending aren't so bored that they are attempting to use you as the ransom figure in a game of cops and robbers.

Ryan turned four this past week and we had some festivities. We took him to Applebee's for his birthday. He was chuffed when they came out to sing to him. I made cupcakes for him to take to his pre-school and he was all sorts of excited! The morning of his birthday he saw me frosting the cupcakes and asked "momma, are those muffcakes for me to take to Miss Diane's?" I replied, "Yes, buddy, these cupcakes are for you to take to your friends at school for your birthday." He corrected me. "No, mom! They're muffcakes." Okay, guess he told me!

We had a party on Sunday. My boss, Summer, is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. She was determined to let Ryan have the 'best birthday ever,' and took him and Cayden to Chuck E Cheese's Sunday afternoon. After a few hours of playing, we packed up and headed home so I could finish the last minute preparations for the party that night. We had planned to have the party at a park. It's June. Weather should be immaculate and shouldn't cause a problem, right? WRONG. The party would have been held under a pavillion, so if there was rain that wouldn't be a huge issue. The problem was the wind! The wind came and picked up almost immediately after I started setting up for the party. The balloons I had gotten that afternoon were tied to the table and came loose. I look over and there are 13 balloons stranded in a tree. My brother, Josh, was ever so kind to go and retrieve them for me. Anyway, back to my boss. She noticed the wind and everyone standing around wishing they had a warm place to go and offered her house to hold the party. We had 20 people attending this party and she offers her house like it's no big deal! We accept, sheepishly, and pack up and follow her and her husband to their house. Their house is beautiful. The kind of home I intend to own one day. The kind of home I was afraid to stick tape to the walls in, because i was afraid of damaging something. Summer and her husband opened their home to us all and we had a great night. Ryan got lots of presents and thoroughly enjoyed himself. I guess all the fretting and stressing paid off in the end. I leave you with a picture of my most recent masterpiece:

Lightning McQueen.

p.s. Please disregard the horrible focus on the picture, I took this with my phone camera and forgot to take one with my 'real' camera. More pictures of the birthday party and birthday boy to come later! Stay tuned.

The Broken Duck and Allergies

2009-06-05T04:43:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I had to take Cayden to the doctor. When I got to ShopKo to fill the prescription I had gotten for him, I ran into my dad. He asked me if I had heard from my mother about the "broken duck." I told him I hadn't. He then told me that Ryan had gotten super excited when he was outside and ran in to tell my mom that there was a "broken duck" in the back yard. She could not figure out what he was going on about so she decided to go outside and investigate. He led her outside and took her over to a dead starling in the yard. "Look, Grandma! A broken duck!" My mom said to my dad that she just had to chuckle to herself. I thought that story was pretty cute.

And... Back to the doctor visit. Cayden has had a profuse rash in his diaper area for about two weeks. I had some leftover ointment from a previous yeast infection treatment and since I *thought* it looked like thrush I started using it again. The rash didn't get any better, in fact, it got worse! So, I took Cayden to the doctor and found out he's allergic to Pamper's diapers! I know allergies can form at any time, but I used Pampers on him until he was about 5 months old and never had any problems. I switch one time now, because of the 'type' of diaper they are and he's allergic to something in them. Poor guy. He looks a ton better today after only one day, so it's nice to know I got it taken care of.

"Grandma, You Help Me?"

2009-05-16T05:57:00.002+01:00

I had to work late tonight so my mom picked the boys up from daycare for me. When I got home we were talking about how the night went with the boys. She tells me that Ryan wanted to go outside; she told him to eat his dinner and then they could go out to play. He's looking out the window and eating and all of a sudden says "At Diane's, Savannah has to clean her room before she goes outside. Grandma, you help me?" My mom said she looked at him and said, "Help you what?" He says, "clean my room so I can go outside." My mom chuckled (as did I when she told me) and told him if he could let her finish her dinner she wouldn't have a problem helping him. He looked at her and said "okay." When he was finished he got down and headed straight into his bedroom and started cleaning. My mom said she finished her dinner and was getting ready to go in there and he comes out saying "all done, Grandma," so my mom goes in to look and sure enough, he'd cleaned. "I got my jammies on my bed, too." By this point my mom is thinking "did I pick the right child up from daycare?" Heh. He is such an angel sometimes. I have to document these times for the times he's not so angelic. :)

RSV, Croup, Ear infection, Sinus infection

2009-05-09T04:56:00.003+01:00

Anything else you'd like to add to the list? My boys, more specifically Cayden, have been sick SO much this winter. Cayden has had a stuffy/runny nose, horrible sounding productive cough, etc. pretty much since December. I took him for his 12 month check-up on Monday and he only got over RSV two weeks ago and now has an ear infection. The doctor said it is common for the child to develop an ear infection after having RSV so it's nothing to be too alarmed about. Ryan has stayed relatively well, health-wise, only he must have been totally run down because when we were at the doctor on Monday he was barking like a seal so I had the doctor take a look at him, too, only to find he had a sinus infection AND croup! He was given his VERY first course of antibiotics and an oral steroid to help open up his lungs a bit to stop the coughing. My poor boys, I hope they start getting well soon!!!!

Cayden, though is a CHUNK. He weighs 23lbs 13oz and is 31 inches long! He's TALL! He's been trying to run now that he can walk fairly well, he copies movements and, unfortunately, he slaps everyone in the face and thinks it's funny. We're trying to rectify that- but it's slow going.

I am going to be updating the photos on the sidebar very soon - I think they need it, don't you? And here are a few pics to update you on my two sweeties. These are professional pics I had taken in April for Easter.

Can't Leave Ryan Out.

2009-04-24T04:48:00.003+01:00

Ryan is going to get his own post. He has been misbehaving a little bit lately and I'm pretty sure that I know the reason behind it. Doesn't make dealing with the behavior any easier, but understanding it is a good step in knowing how to take care of it. I've been listening to a man/therapist on the radio recently and will probably end up buying his book. He has so many great ideas on how to parent in an effective way and also to give you tips on how to be your child's friend but also the person in charge. .
Anyway apart from the behavior, Ryan is coming on in leaps and bounds. His vocabulary has increased tri-fold since we've moved and he is becoming more efficient in his shapes, colors, letters and numbers. I definitely have to give props to my childcare provider for a lot of it. She seems to have this effect on him where he wants to go to her house on MY days off, too! Haha! I love that he likes her so much though.

Ryan's recent feats:
Alphabet
Counting 1-15
Spelling his name
knowing his birthday, age and brother's age.
He can color mostly in the lines now
And he can pretty much have a full telephone conversation now. :)
We're working on his address and phone number and shapes and colors. He's so stinkin' cute! He's getting better at understanding things too. ... When I talk to him about something he is starting to understand more of what i say. He amazes me. :)

Cayden is ONE

2009-04-24T04:40:00.003+01:00

So, Cayden turned ONE on the 14th. I cannot believe that time has gone so quickly. He's walking fully now and even stood up in the middle of the room all by himself the other day. I will post photos of his party soon.
The party went well. He enjoyed all the company and loved the attention. He had some little friends as well as 'big' (adult) friends that came to his party. He loved his cake and was so cute when he was eating it.

Just a small recap of Cayden's accomplishments in the last month:
Walking
Standing up from sitting down without the help of an object/person
blowing kisses
clapping

He's getting so big!

So Here's an Invite

2009-04-09T04:40:00.002+01:00

Cayden is turning 1!!! I haven't had a chance to update this in so long- because taking care of two boys keeps me busy~!!!

Anyone that reads this: This is an open invitation. We would love to see you! You're all invited to Cayden's birthday party (Tuesday, April 14 at 5pm)! If you would *like* to come - let me know, either here or at 801.388.3365 and I'll give you the address.

An Entire Month?

2008-12-27T05:58:00.002Z

Wow. Time flies when you're having fun. I can't believe an entire month has passed since I updated this. Lots has happened.
The boys are enjoying daycare. Although, they brought home some kind of stomach virus that has made its' rounds in the family. That wasn't fun. Ryan got it first, then Cayden, then ME, then I gave it to Josh, my dad got it, mom got it and Chris got it. We've also all been fighting some kind of viral infection that has affected us all differently. We're still battling with that part. :\
i'm working quite a few hours, which means the boys are at daycare more than I wish they had to be. Another thing, Cayden got his first ear infection. Poor little guy.

Let's see. Cayden got his first TWO teeth a day apart from one another. His first popped through on Dec 2. His bottom left. And his bottom right popped through on Dec 3. He also started crawling right around my birthday (16th). He's thinning out now, but he was a little chunk for a while.
Ryan is doing really well with everything now. He only doesn't behave when he's getting tired, otherwise, he seems to be doing a lot better with listening. Thank you, Miss Diane! haha!

Ryan and Cayden made me gifts at school. Cayden "made" me a plate with his hand print and the year on it. And, Ryan painted a little ceramic snowman. They were adorable. They were wrapped for me and everthing, it was totally sweet opening them up on Christmas morning.

Both boys had an enjoyable Christmas. Cayden was sick, but still seemed to enjoy everything when he wasn't feeling sick. It was nice waking up to Ryan saying "Merry Christmas, Momma", since last year all he could say was "mayee kimmups" haha. I can't believe that another year is almost over. Once this year is over, I'll have a baby that will be ONE in 3 months! I cannot believe how fast this year has gone. Time flies when you're having fun

Twilight the Movie

2008-11-22T05:11:00.003Z

So, Rachael and I went to see Twilight last night at midnight, along with a bunch of other screaming women. The movie was good, yet a let down at the same time. The movie was obviously very low budget and the special effects weren't that great. It followed the book pretty closely, yet there were things added and things changed to fit the story of the movie. The CGI was okay. The baseball scene and the fight scene were the best two scenes of the whole movie. And the "glistening" in the sun? Yeah, just a bunch of glitter on his body.

Who would have thought that showing up to a movie an hour and a half before the movie starts would make you late for seating? Yeah, we showed up at 10:30 for a 12:03 showing and our theater had already been seated! We sat in the second row because there weren't any other seats left! I will probably go see it again, just to see it at a good angle.

So, all in all. I was pretty disappointed, maybe if I see it again, I may feel differently.

We are Back!

2008-11-03T18:55:00.008Z

I'm so sorry I haven't posted in nearly a month! Things have been a bit hectic. The trip across the pond was fairly uneventful. The boys were fabulous on the plane, I had so many comments on how well behaved they were for me being on my own with them. I had lots of help. A friend of mine met me in Manchester to help me through the airport and get my bags checked in (If you're reading this, Sue, thank you so much for your help!). Once I got past security there were people that would help carry things for me if they saw me and thought i was struggling. They were all so nice.

I got to Utah at about 8pm. I had a welcoming committee waiting for me! Mom, Dad, Chris, Josh, Rachael, Corban and Isabelle. It was a nice warm welcome home.

Once we got here we kept pretty busy for quite some time. Went to Idaho to visit family and have been doing what I need to to make sure the kids are taken care of, etc. I will start working here shortly, which will give me a little bit more freedom. I am wanting to take a weekend and just do what I want. Get away, without the kids if I can, and just go out and let my hair down. I'm feeling pretty wonderful right now but it would still be nice to just go out and have a good time and do what I want. That's not too much to ask, is it?

Thank you all so much for your continued support. I wouldn't be where I am today without all of you behind me.

I will leave you with some photos of our endeavors since we arrived.

Fun at the Park

2008-10-05T21:46:00.005+01:00

We're trying to make the most of our last 10 days here, so we went to the park with my best friend, Kaye.

Why Does it Hurt?

2008-10-01T22:59:00.003+01:00

Why does it physically hurt when you have a broken heart? Why is it that when you feel pain emotionally, your whole body ~feels~ it, too? Why do I feel like I'm being torn apart from the inside and yet feel the hurt on the outside? I have said this is a blog about my children but I need to vent for a few moments. I hope you readers don't mind.

When my heart was initially broken I cried all the time. In front of my kids, when I was alone, all the time. The last time I cried (apart from today) was a week ago, and I made sure that my children were in bed so they didn't have to see it. I guess time really is what it takes to heal all wounds as it is getting easier to not cry all the time. I feel weak for crying in front of my children. I am the person they are to look up to. What will they think if they see their mom crying and sad all the time?

I've been told wounds heal. Even emotional ones. A friend of mine (you know who you are, and I love you!) and I were talking and she told me that "Nietzsche says- "What does not destroy me, makes me stronger."" We then talked about how the tribulations we go through damage us in a way that makes us stronger. Why is it that the deepest scars are invisible on the outside? What will it take for my heart to feel whole again? The hurt is so strong that it makes me start questioning my own self-worth. I suffer from low self esteem at the best of times and this has only added to it.

I am looking forward to our move. My sons and I will be moving to the United States in just under two weeks. It is something that has been planned for a long time; only now, it's for a complete new start. Once I get "home" I'm hoping it will be easier for my heart to heal. I have never ever in my life felt pain and sadness the way I have lately, and speaking of pain I've had two children so I've had some intense physical pain. That pain doesn't even scratch the surface of how much I'm hurting. People I know say I've been so strong through all of this. I don't feel strong. I feel weaker than weak and my strong front is just that, a facade. They say I'm strong because of how I've handled things. I see room for improvement in the way I've handled things. Again, it goes back to self-worth. I just feel so low. The only reason I am important is because I am a mother two my two beautiful boys. They have been my rocks and they are the reason I have been the way I have been through all of this.

Those of you who know what is going on, thank you for your continued support. I think I would be even more lost than I am now if it weren't for you. Those of you that don't know, I'm sure you will very soon. It's no secret, it's just something that I don't feel comfortable typing out for all to see.
Thank you for reading this far and thank you all for your prayers and support. I hope that some day soon the pain will start to fade and I can feel whole again.

2008-09-30T20:45:00.002+01:00

I was in the kitchen changing laundry over (yes, I live in England and unless you're a wealthy person your "laundry room" is also your kitchen) and I hear *tap tap tap* "Grandpa!" *tap tap tap* "Graaaaaaandpa!" *click click click* "hi Grandpa." I look over and see Ryan in the computer chair and trying to look on the screen to see if my mom and dad are on webcam! I thought it was sweet!

To Be Subtle

2008-09-23T21:30:00.003+01:00

~*The Start of Our New Life!*~

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I Made an Attempt

2008-09-16T19:01:00.004+01:00

This is my wonderful attempt at being a "professional" photographer. I wanted to get some photos of Mike and Cayden because we have photos of Mike and Ryan that were done professionally. Since we've been trying to save money to move I figured I would at least try myself and see how they come out. They're not *too* bad.

Cayden's DMSA & Ryan Funny

2008-09-10T06:46:00.004+01:00

Today was Cayden's appointment at the hospital for his final test in the reflux testing he's had to have due to a UTI in June. The test is called DMSA.

We went in at 10am to have a cannula put in. I was expecting them to put it in the back of his hand or the crease in his elbow. The last time he had a cannula put in, it was put in the back of his hand. It took them three tries but they eventually got it. This time, they looked at the back of his hands. They looked at the creases of both elbows. They didn't see ONE vein that they thought would work. They immediately started looking at his feet. He ended up getting a cannula (IV) in one of the veins on the top of his foot near his ankle. Poor boy screamed the whole time it was getting put in. :(

Once the cannula was in we were sent down to the medical physics department. We went down and waited in the waiting room while two members of staff (unsure if they had a proper title so I'll call them nurses) went into a room with a ton of yellow "warning, hazardous" stickers all over the door. They emerged, one gesturing us to come with them and the other was carrying a small white metal box. It looked like a tiny toolbox.

We got into the room and they unwrapped Cayden's foot (it was wrapped up to keep the cannula in place) and rinsed the cannula out with a tiny bit of saline. Then one nurse was holding Cayden's foot, I was holding Cayden, and the other nurse was opening the metal box. Inside laid a small metal syringe. Something totally out of a horror movie or even Breaking Dawn. Had I not seen it with my own eyes I would never have thought something like that would happen in real life. The nurse dealing with the syringe saw the look on my face and said "this syrum we're using is mildly radioactive. It isn't enough to make Cayden sick or anything, but it needs to be this way so that our camera can pick up the images it needs to." That explains the metal syringe and box. She injected the syrum into Cayden and rinsed the cannula through again with saline. Once she was done they worked on taking the cannula out. It was maybe 20 minutes since he had the thing put in and they were putting him through more pain again to take it out. :( Once it was out, it bled quite a bit but they did what they could to stop it and then put a plaster (band-aid) on it.

That was easy. We then had two hours to do what we wanted. We fed Cayden his lunch (porridge with apple and pear. Yum) and then decided to get something to eat ourselves. Ryan was being so funny he was just talking away and the woman sitting next to us loved every minute of it. We went back up to the room we were given for the day and sat and talked while Cayden slept.

Once our two hours was up we went back down to the medical physics department and I went into a room with a gigantic table with two flat pieces connected together to form a 90* angle and a huge hole at the end. The hole and table reminded me of what I always imagined a CAT scan or MRI machine would look like (I've never seen either of these). This is what it looked like.

The two flat pieces were angled so that one was directly beneath him and the other side was perpendicular to his body. They took a "scan", the nurse kept calling them pictures, for 2 minutes and then the nurse went to look at the images taken. She said that one turned out fine but she had to do another one. This time she angled the camera under Cayden so that the crease of the angle of the two slabs was directly beneath his spine. She took another "scan" for another 2 minutes and then we were done! She said because of the syrum used it would be best that any nappies (diapers) changed in the next 24 hours should be disposed of directly outside. This has been sort of difficult since I am on my own at home right now, I live on the first floor (a flight of stairs) of a building and have a little boy that likes to follow me everywhere. If this happened with Ryan it wouldn't take 2 seconds to do - but with Ryan following me all the time I have allocated a special bin that can be thrown away and will throw all the nappies away inside the bin when the 24 hours is up. We will get the results of this test more than likely when we see the pediatrician on October 14. The test is to see if there is any scarring on his kidneys because of the reflux. Fingers crossed there isn't.

Now for a Ryan funny. He needed to go to the bathroom so I took him to the "parent's bathroom" on the ward we were on. I got him in there and helped him with his pants and helped him get on the toilet. When he was finished he turned around so I could help him with his pants and as he was reaching to flush the toilet he shrieks "CAPTAIN'S HAT!!" "CAPTAIN'S HAT!!" I look around thinking, what?! So I look around and I see some of those cardboard bed pan things that are used in hospitals for urine collection for tests... He wanted to put one one. He got one and put it on his head and he looked like a cowboy. It was hilarious!

Keep a Look out

2008-09-09T19:39:00.002+01:00

Those of you who stalk this blog either by Google reader/other form of mass reading software or by clicking on the link on the side of your blog, please be informed that the URL of this blog will soon be changing. I want to give those of you who like to read this enough time to know it will change so you can make the appropriate changes on your end.

It will be changing to mytwocrazysons.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading and I will update again soon - probably under the new URL

Silly Boy

2008-09-03T22:29:00.003+01:00

Ryan got into my scrapbook stickers and asked me to "decorate [his] face".

It's TiGgEr TiMe!

2008-09-03T22:23:00.003+01:00

I can't believe how big Cayden is getting now! He is loving his "Tigger Time"

I've Been Tagged!

2008-08-29T19:17:00.003+01:00

Alright, this is a first...
I have been tagged. I have been tagged by Ashley.

Here are the rules:
1. Link the person who tagged you.

2. Mention the rules on your blog.

3. Tell 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.

4. Tag fellow bloggers by linking them. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blog letting them know they have been tagged.

Six quirks about me..

1. I always wanted to be able to test out my ability to be a "good kisser" because I was told by numerous people that when you play an instrument you would be a better kisser than those who don't play.. I never really got to test that theory. :(

2. I am a huge blog stalker. I love to read about people's lives and what they're up to... Even if they're people that I wasn't great friends with in the past. There have been people who I would never in a million years thought I would be friends with, whom I have really come to respect by reading their blogs and getting to know them that way.

3. I am an avid people watcher. When I am out and about I always try to make my nosiness nonchalant, but I get caught occasionally. I constantly wonder what is going through the minds of people when they're doing things. When we're eating and playing at the park and I see someone sitting down talking to someone else I watch their body language and try to work out what they're talking about. Not that great, but I can't help it sometimes.

4. I am not crafty in any way. I have tried to start projects but they never turn out the way I envision them. I have a black thumb in the craft area.

5. I can't get my hair to stay in a style for longer than 2 hours. No matter what I try - unless I keep it curly (natural + loads of hairspray to keep it in place) it never stays nice. Especially on really humid days here in England. I have gone to work thinking I look nice because I did my hair and all and once I show up to work and look in the mirror it looks like I didn't even try. I'm constantly embarrassed by it.

6. Whenever I feel bad about something that has happened in my life (ie. birth experience, etc.) I always feel guilty for feeling that way because there are people out there that won't ever be able to have those experiences. I have a hard time being thankful in the present for what I have. It's always in hindsight -- I need to work on that.

There you have it. Six very uninteresting facts about me. . . Now it is your turn! I tag April, Tiffannie, Melissa and Shellie ... Let's hear all your weird stuff that makes you, you!

New Posts Coming Soon

2008-08-25T20:17:00.002+01:00

Sorry folks, I've had some stuff I need to sort out in my personal life and it seems to be taking it's toll on me. I will be posting new stuff very soon to get you back up to date with what's going on with us! Stay Tuned.

Fun Times

2008-08-12T11:59:00.002+01:00

I was thinking this morning as I was holding Cayden about a time when Mike and I didn't have children. We were an aunt and an uncle before we were parents. My niece was kinda fussy one night and Mike asked if he could hold her. My sister said "she likes to be on your shoulder" meaning held up so that she could nuzzle into your neck (you know like when you burp a baby?). So, we all start talking and my sister-in-law starts laughing so hard. I look at her and she's looking through her laughter induced tear filled eyes at Mike. He's sitting there with Mia ~sitting~ on his shoulder (you know how you would hold a kid up on your shoulders with your head in between their legs? Well, put the kid on one side of your shoulder). I started laughing and Mike looks at us and says "what?" My sister-in-law says "up to your shoulder, not on it." Mia had to be maybe three months old so she was slouched over and didn't look comfortable at all. Poor girl. Needless to say, Mike learned 'how to hold a baby' before we had our baby just six months later.

Breaking Dawn

2008-08-11T08:34:00.004+01:00

I am going crazy reading everyone's reviews of Breaking Dawn. I feel I need to tell my own views in order to feel understood when I say "I liked the book." I cheated and looked at some of the amazon.com reviews before I actually got my book (released August 4, here). I have to say that I think I did myself a service by doing this. I did my best to avoid the spoilers, but found that most of the reviews were riddled with them. I remember SM saying that she didn't want anything of the book to be leaked before the publication date because it was supposed to be "experienced the way Bella experienced it herself." I did myself a service by reading the main things that people are up in arms over. I got over the element of surprise before I read the book; therefore I could read it and enjoy it as the story was meant to be written. I will admit, although I'm not on the fence about whether to like or dislike (I like it) Breaking Dawn, there are things I didn't like. I will make my list below and you can add to anything or retract anything you feel necessary to voice your opinion of my views.

Positives:
1. The humour. That is number one on my list. The dialogue (Emmett is fabulous! And then there’s Jacob, too) and descriptions (IE. When Rosalie bent the mixing bowl to look like a dog dish and wrote Fido on the side -- hilarious!) Are just down right funny in a lot of parts. Laugh out loud worthy.
2. The fact that Jacob came back for the wedding.
3. When Edward told Bella how beautiful she was at their reception and made her look into the glass to see her self. (awww moment)
4. The wedding and honeymoon (and the general mention of -erm- "adult situations"… Hello - newlyweds have lots of "adult situations"!)
5. Believe it or not - Bella’s pregnancy (there were a lot of things SM hit right on the head when it came to pregnancy related things and it made it more realistic, even if what she was carrying is make believe).
6. Edward’s reaction to the pregnancy. To see how much it affected him. To see him go as far as asking Jacob to have children with her so that she could live through the experiences and then be changed
7. Bella’s delivery experience. It surprised me, but in a good way. I have such horrid memories of my own births (both c-sections) that reading the way it was described wasn’t all that bad. Again - made it more realistic based on the make believe if that makes sense.
8. Jacob’s point of view (Book 2). Let’s face it, had we gotten the birth scene through Bella’s eyes we would have gotten a lot less (some of you may think that’s a good thing, but again, I enjoyed the scene).
9. I enjoyed reading about Bella’s transformation
10. Seeing the way the world felt after Bella’s transformation. No more clumsy Bella. She’s now graceful.
11. Her first hunt (again just a humour factor really). I got a kick out of imagining her sitting on the ground with her legs sprawled out in front of her, her delicate dress ripped to shreds, a mountain lion in her hands its’ head on her lap and taking her first drink - and then to picture how mess y she was because she had no practice on how to be “graceful” at that.
12. Bella’s relationship with Renesmee. What a wonderful show of a relationship between a mother and her child. Even seeing that Bella would go through death to make sure the child lived. And the fact that Bella's love for Renesmee allowed Renesmee to break through Bella's mind and show her the thoughts she was showing others.
13. The touching moments throughout the story (the “goodbye” section, etc.) Even reading about Edward and Bella casually holding hands or sitting next to one another. Made the love feel more real.
14. Finding out Bella’s power.
15. Seeing all Carlisle’s friends come together to help them.
16. The happily ever after
17. Bella opening her mind to Edward so he could finally see himself through her thoughts. (I cried).
18. Last but definitely not least. One word. Seth.

Negatives:
1. What was the point of alluding to an “after car” if it was only going to get a mention in a brief second of the book? No grand unveiling?
2. All the grammatical errors. I am no editor, but the mistakes were pretty bad. (IE Bella decided to make pancakes the morning of the wedding, however, a few lines down Charlie scowls in his cereal bowl?”
3. The honeymoon fade-to-black. That was kind of annoying. She could have alluded to it nicely. She did the leg over the hip thing in Eclipse and then for their honeymoon they just “walked deeper into the ocean”?
4. Not knowing the full extent of what the cleaning lady was so upset about (I figured it had to do with her ‘knowing’ what Edward was, but once she saw Bella was alive - what was the point of that?)
5. Finding out that all along the “werewolves” were actually shape-shifters. Me thinks SM was liking a bit of the TV show Supernatural while she was writing that part…
6. No epic battle. I was pretty upset at first when I read (didn’t read the spoiler - so was surprised!) that Alice had left the Cullen’s in the lurch. I didn’t think she had it in her to abandon her family like that. And then after all of that - to see the Volturi just back down and retreat like that was a bit anticlimactic.
7. Jazz and Em? WTH?
8. SM’s description of Jasper through Bella’s new eyes. I thought all her vampires were supposed to be so good looking? Why describe him (one of the best characters in the book) so disturbingly? YES he has loads of scars, but the way she made it sound was as if his jaw was completely mutilated by bite marks.
9. Finally finding out why the Volturi’s skin looks the way it does. I was a bit disappointed. It could have been something spectacular (creep-tacular, lol!) but no, it’s because they let power go to their heads… Wonderful (rolls eyes).
10. Renesmee. Not my favourite. I kind of wish the baby WAS the boy Bella had been dreaming about. I like the name Edward Jacob, better than Renesmee. ;)
11. Nessie… WHY nickname the child that if Bella herself would fly off the handle?
12. Bella lying and getting away with it. (Telling that she didn’t feel the burn of the transformation because of the morphine) There should have been a time in the book where she did in fact tell Carlisle that his attempt failed.
13. I am upset that Bella's transformation couldn't have been a bit more romantic... The whole needle straight into the heart and biting all over is very effective, but I was hoping for something different. Plus, when Edward is holding the syringe and Jacob asks what it is and he responds with "my venom" I couldn't help but think Edward had, um, done the "naughty" and saved what came out. (**blush**) heh.

As you can see, I have more positives than negatives, but at least I do have negatives. Some of my thoughts may make sense to you and not to me. If they do, please feel free to explain so I can get a better grasp on the story. Overall I did like the book. I was sort of left wanting more, though. I want to know what happens to Nessie as she grows older. I want to know if the Volturi ever come back. I want to know lots of things that I’m just not going to get to know now that the saga is over. Thank you for taking the time to read this! None of my friends, here, are as enthused over the saga as I have been, so I have felt a need to just let it all out. Feel free to discuss. ;)

Daily Musings

2008-08-08T23:00:00.002+01:00

Ryan has started to use phrases we would prefer him not to. "That stupid boy. ", "I want him to shut-up.", etc. Not very nice things to say, especially for a three year old. So we were playing around the other day and Ryan comes out with "Mamma! You silly buggar (booger?)!" To *me* five years ago, the word wouldn't have bothered me. But knowing now that most British people use it as an offensive term makes me not want Ryan to say it. SO. I tell him "Ryan. That's not a very nice thing to call mammy." He kind of looks at me and says "silly cow!" I tell him that the word cow used in that way is a derogatory (okay, I used the word "mean") word to say and not nice. He looks at me and then at Cayden. He decides upon "silly monkey!" I tell him "that's better! you're a silly monkey!" and we began playing again.

I know he was only playing but it is so hard to try to teach them right from wrong when they're being cute about it.

Finally!~

2008-08-07T19:43:00.001+01:00

Ryan finally spent the night somewhere other than home! He stayed at my sister-in-law's house last night and she said he did super well! That's a great thing as Mike and I are off to London with the baby in a little over a week and Ryan will be staying there again.

Fun Day!

2008-08-04T19:50:00.006+01:00

I met my sister-in-law, Kerry, in town today and we went to the park with the kids. They had a blast!

We went to a play area at the park, first. The toys were crap, but that didn't stop them playing!

Cayden getting tired.

Ryan enjoying a Kinder egg.

Then we decided to go to the playground portion of the park.

They had a blast! Although, mammy put sunscreen on the kids and forgot to put it on herself and now she has red, sore shoulders. oops.

Test Results

2008-08-04T19:49:00.000+01:00

I got a letter in the mail today giving me the results of micturating cystogram that Cayden had in July, because of the UTI he had in June. The result shows that he does infact have this bilateral vesico-ureteric reflux. All this means for now is that he stays on his prophylactic antibiotics until we get the DMSA test done, and see the pedi in Oct. We'll get further instruction then.

Better Day

2008-08-04T19:47:00.002+01:00

Cayden started breastfeeding again last night at about 2am. He's had nothing but breastmilk all day until bedtime (when he has his usual bottle of 'top-up' to keep his weight gain consistent. I was much more relaxed today knowing that he was breastfeeding again, so maybe my stress had something to do with it yesterday.

Sad

2008-08-03T20:52:00.003+01:00

I think breastfeeding may be coming to an end. I am pretty upset about this as I have tried and tried to breastfeed and even still had to supplement with formula. I'm not eating anything differently and today Cayden flat out ~refused~ to feed off me, even though it was obvious there was milk there. I'll see how things go tomorrow and the net day and go from there.

I Think Cayden has Cradle Cap

2008-08-03T14:02:00.002+01:00

He has these small patches of orangish looking flaky skin on his head under his hair. I hope it's not cradle cap, that can start to look horrendous. Have to keep an eye on it.

He's not been sleeping the greatest these last few days. And during the night when he wakes up, he's refusing to eat off me. It's making me sad. I *know* I have to give him formula to keep his weight up, but I don't want him to get to liking it more than my milk. Let's hope I can make it at least six months. If I can do that and he wants to wean, that's fine. I won't be as upset then, but he's only nearly four months old I don't want to wean him from the breast just yet!

A Walk Down Memory Lane

2008-08-02T16:32:00.001+01:00

I've seen this on many a blog and figured it was time I added it to mine.

Here's how you do it-

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Child for sale

2008-07-31T21:21:00.000+01:00

For the last three and a half months Ryan has refused to go to bed without a fight. It's tiring and it's getting old. The last three nights he has torn his room apart while he's in there. I go to check on him before I go to bed and it looks like an atomic bomb and a tornado went through there. What do I do? I've taken things away (privileges), I've tried sticker charts, I've tried a few other things and I am at a loss. I ~need~ some me time before I go to bed, because Cayden is getting up at the crack of dawn and I also need to pump before I go to bed. He's been getting up (to which my only action is put him back in bed without saying anything) and playing and crying and screaming for almost 1.5 hours now. Ugh. I think I want to cry, myself.

Sick boy.

2008-07-28T12:49:00.003+01:00

I'm glad that Ryan can now speak well enough to tell me what is wrong when he's hurt, not feeling well, etc.. It makes parenting so much easier. For the last two days Ryan has had a fever. It's easily broken with Tylenol but soon creeps back up again once the medicine starts to wear off. He just kept saying "I'm tired mammy, I'm tired" the first day. Yesterday he was bouncing. Literally, bouncing. Today he wakes up and he's so warm! 101.5. Nothing to panic at, but not something to ignore either. I give him some Tylenol and he lays on the sofa. He looks and me and says "Mamma, my tummy hurts. And my mouth (nouf - haha) hurts, and my eyes hurt. I don't feel well." It was so sweet and yet heartbreaking because I don't want him to be unwell. I hope he starts feeling himself soon. I also hope Cayden doesn't get whatever it is that Ryan seems to have. Cayden has been warm today, but nothing too bad. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

I Feel Awful

2008-07-25T22:13:00.005+01:00

Ryan fell today.

We were walking home from being in town and he wanted to see the big crocodile (a person dressed as one, anyway). I told him that the crocodile would be there tomorrow too, so we'd go see him then as we needed to get home so I could feed Cayden. We continue walking, he's holding my hand. We get to a large hill that is just before a tunnel we frequently go through, and he says "I want to see the cockolyle" I told him "you can tomorrow, mammy will take you up to see him tomorrow". He gets in a huff and pulls his hand to try to get it out of my hand. Just as he does this his hand slips out of my hand (it was hot here today so our hands were sweaty), he slips on some loose gravel and falls straight forward nearly hitting his face on the ground. Poor little guy. He scraped his knee and the back of one of his forearms. He's never actually fallen and gotten a scrape before, so this is a first. He is babying his "owwees" tonight. He wouldn't even crawl into bed; he had to have me put him in there. haha! I told him once he went to sleep, he should feel better in the morning. I hope he does. I feel awful that his hand slipping out of mine (fair enough he was trying to pull it out) caused him to get hurt.

For Rachael

2008-07-21T21:18:00.003+01:00

Please excuse the naked chest

2008-07-19T20:56:00.000+01:00

Ryan went to a birthday party for one of his friends today. The place is called Funky Monkies

And a cute one of Cayden.

2008-07-18T20:41:00.003+01:00

Some photos of our day.

Ryan put his sunglasses on Cayden. haha

Not too bad for first thing in the morning.

Ryan and "Auntie" Kaye

Some Recent Photos

2008-07-16T22:12:00.004+01:00

The Wonderful Sound of a Baby Chuckle

2008-07-14T15:33:00.002+01:00

Cayden chuckled for the first time this morning! I was tickling him and he chuckled, it was so cute!
My heart melted though, when Ryan was being silly and Cayden started smiling and chuckled at him. :) So sweet.

"I'm Happy Now"

2008-07-14T09:37:00.003+01:00

When Ryan gets into trouble, we've been putting him in time out in his bedroom. He is told once he calms down that he is allowed to come out, but until he's happy he has to stay there. This is becoming slightly ineffective. He's decided that when we're taking him to his room he says "I'm happy now" and thinks that he'll not get sent to his room. He still has to go, and it breaks my heart to discipline him that way and when he says that it makes it really hard to resist.
He's been saying "I'm happy now" for other reasons too, which surprises me a little. He says "I'm getting tired, mammy" and I'll tell him he can go lay down and he'll start going, turn around and say "I'm happy now" to which I tell him he's not in trouble, but if he's tired he needs to lay down. He said it this morning while watching cartoons and I told him he could lay on the couch and rest. He looks at me and says "I'm happy now". I told him I knew he was happy, but he could still lay down for a bit. Needless to say he's chasing Mike around the house just now, so he must be "happy now" and not tired anymore.

I'm Exhausted

2008-07-13T21:07:00.003+01:00

My boys have decided that getting up between 5 and 6am is FUN! If Cayden is the only one awake, I will doze on the couch a bit while he's playing with one of his kick or tummy toys. Once Cayden gets tired I will attempt to take him back to bed, if Ryan isn't awake yet. This is proving difficult, as most of the time, Ryan is awake by the time Cayden wants to go back to sleep. Ugh. I'm a zombie. I suppose it doesn't help that I've been addicted to a book series and have been staying up WAY later than I should. I'm working on trying to rectify that.

Another Rough Week, But He's Taking it Like a Champ.

2008-07-08T20:54:00.003+01:00

So, Cayden has another rough week this week. Yesterday, he had his three month shots. I wanted to slap the woman that did them. It was a different lady this time than who usually does them. The one that does them normally (she did Ryan's and the first set of Cayden's) puts the shots up on the diaper line of his leg, near his bum. She also does them quickly. She has me hold his leg and arm, gives the injection, then has me switch him quickly and does the same thing to the other side so that he can be on my shoulder in as little as a minute! So quick! This lady took FOREVER and put them right in the center of his thigh! The poor little man has huge red lumps on his legs now. He was a trooper though. He only cried while she was doing them (which, again took forever) and once he was on my shoulder, he was fine. He had a rough night last night, but I think it's the tail end of a growth spurt as well as a comfort thing from yesterday.

Today, Cayden had to go for his micturation cystogram. We had to be at the hospital at 9:30 this morning. I was quite surprised because Cayden was in the BEST mood! He was smiling and everything. I was getting ready to feed him in the waiting room, when the nurse came in ready to do what needed to be done to prepare him for the cystogram. She asked if she could just put some gel on his private bits to numb them for when the catheter was going to be put in. I said sure. We went in, she cleaned him off and put the gel in his foreskin and 'filled it up'. He didn't even cry! Just laid there looking around. She put the nappy back on him and said she'd come for me in 20 minutes to give that time to numb him. She found me a room so I could feed him. I fed him, one of the best feeding sessions I've had in a while I might add, and then she came for us. She had what looked like Seran wrap as an apron on, and we went back into the same room that we were in when she put the gel on him. She cleaned him off with some antibacterial solution, then started putting the catheter in. It was LONG! Like a foot or so, and in the end, there was only about 3 inches sticking out. When she was putting it in, she was talking to him in that 'baby talk' kind of voice and he actually laughed (not a belly laugh but the laughs they have before they really laugh). She then told me to go down to the x-ray department as they would be waiting for us. I went down and sure enough there were two x-ray techs waiting for us. We went into the room and took his clothes up to his chest so they wouldn't show up on the x-ray. The doctor came in, we all got lead vests on and the procedure started. They started by filling him up with dye. It was clear, but it shows up on x-ray, so that's why they call it dye. The doctor put in 60mls of dye and was waiting for Cayden to pee it back out, but he wouldn't so the doctor started adding more. I think he got to 85mls before Cayden started peeing. He was taking x-ray photos all the while doing this. Cayden started to get pretty distressed, and it made me wonder if that's why he's so upset all the time, but they didn't seem worried by him being upset at all. He ended up peeing only about half of the liquid out, but they seemed happy enough to leave it at that. I got him dressed again and took the lead vest off while being told that the doctor was going to write up the procedure and results and send them to the consultant we see in October. All in all, he did brilliantly! I can only hope the next procedure is as easy, which I highly doubt it will be as it will consist of putting another cannula in his hand to inject dye into his veins and monitor his kidneys that way.

I've never been more proud of him though, the way he's been the last two days even though he's been through quite a bit.

Ryan + Strangers = No Danger. :-S

2008-07-08T20:47:00.003+01:00

So, trying to teach Ryan that he can't go up and talk to just anyone is proving to be difficult. He is such a friendly child. When we got out for meals he is always talking to the people at the tables around us. When we are at the park he starts following kids around until they go to their parents and he starts ~~blabbing~~ talking his little head off to them about things they don't have a clue about. Everyone we see says he's a little chatterbox. Yes, I know, thank you. I just wish he could understand that sometimes people don't want to be bothered. I only hope that once he's older and we try to instill in him that you don't talk to strangers that he understands. It hurts my heart to think that he is just so innocent and friendly, but not everyone out there is like him.

Band Wagon

2008-07-04T12:07:00.002+01:00

So, I've been sucked into the Twilight craze. I borrowed the first book from the library after reading about it on so many other blogs. I read through it as fast as I could only being able to read for a few hours a night (took me about 3 days or so) and I went to the library to see if I could get the sequel and it wasn't available and I would be put on a waiting list for about a month or so... I don't want to wait that long so i went to a bookstore website and bought all three books for the price of two! The best part about it, is that I should get them tomorrow! Yeah! I'm already looking forward to the movie, even though I'm a 'newbie' Twilight lover.

Two Aww Moments

2008-07-01T20:23:00.002+01:00

Last night as I was feeding Cayden before bed, he stopped eating and looked up at me so innocently. I smiled to him and said "I love you sweet boy" and he smiled from ear to ear still looking at me intently with his eyes. Nearly made me cry it was such a sweet and tender moment. Aww.

This morning when Ryan came in the living room after waking up, he looked down at Cayden who was wrapped up in a blanket sleeping in the bouncy chair and said "That's my baby brother Cayden, Mamma. I love him." It was too sweet. He then came over to me and gave me a hug and said "I love you too." Aww.

His Name is CAYDEN

2008-06-27T22:01:00.004+01:00

I get asked all the time "what do you call him?" when seeing someone that hasn't seen Cayden before. When I tell them "Cayden", they say "Kieron?"(which by the way, sounds like Keya-den) I say "Cayden" they say "Kieron?" I say "CAYDEN, C.A.Y.D.E.N" they finally get it and say "that's an unusual name, isn't it." My reply... "Not where I'm from". LOL

*****

I get asked all the time if I'm Irish, because I've picked up some of the English 'twang'.. I've been thinking the last couple of days about when I first moved here. I met (my now friend) Kaye and we got to talking. She would have to repeat things sometimes because I couldn't understand her very well if she spoke fast. She used to just repeat things I said if she thought the way I said them was funny. For instance, we were getting a sandwich one day and I asked for tuna. She looks and me and says "tuna." I kinda looked at her funny and she says "it's chewna" in her cumbrian accent. To this day when I say "tuna" I hear "chewna" in my head.

First Night Home

2008-06-24T14:59:00.002+01:00

Cayden did fantastic last night. He sure needed the sleep. He slept from 8:30 till 4, so that was wonderful. He's sleeping again now - and I was a little worried because he normally doesn't sleep much through the day, but the doctor reassured me that his little body is trying to get rid of an infection so to allow him to sleep as much as he needs to.

I forgot to write in the last post that God certainly was looking out for us. Cayden has been such a fussy baby since he was born that I wouldn't know when he was fussy because he didn't feel well. God certainly was looking out for us to let me see the dishcharge I saw so I could take him to be seen so he didn't get any worse. I am so grateful to Him.

What a Weekend

2008-06-23T21:47:00.003+01:00

So, Cayden had his first "illness". Thursday he seemed okay, a bit fussy, but okay. Thursday night he just would NOT settle. He seemed to be in pain with gas or something, but just would not sleep. I think we both (Cayden and I) got about 2 hours sleep that night. Friday morning, Cayden felt like he was burning up, so I took his temperature. 101*F. He continued to be pretty fussy. Acting like he wanted to feed, but everytime I latched him on he would fall right to sleep. I went ahead and went to my breastfeeding support group on Friday. I figured since there was a health visitor there, I could ask her about his behavior and see if I could give some paracetamol (acetaminophen). She told me it was okay. He slept through the entire thing! Woah. That's unlike Cayden to sleep that long. I figured it was because he didn't get much sleep the night before. I came home and prodded along. Feeding him when he wanted fed, trying to cuddle him when he cried, trying to figure out what was wrong. 6:30pm comes around and I change his diaper. Alarm bells ring in my head, red flags waving in front of my eyes. A green, pus-like discharge sitting in his diaper and coming off his privates. I immediately called cuedoc (emergency doc services for out of hours clinics). They called back and said to bring him in. So, I called Sue (mother-in-law) told her the story and asked if she could take us through to the hospital.
We get to the hospital and we're seen pretty much straight away. This is unheard of! I was shocked. I get in the room. Tell the doctor what's happened and she wants to look him over. So I undress him and get him on the table and she starts looking around. She sees a little bit of this discharge and asks me about it. I tell her it's the first time I've ever seen anything like that. She asks me some family history questions and then starts checking Cayden over more. He didn't want to settle so she asked me if I wanted to (and felt comfortable) latching him on for a breastfeed while she finished checking him over. I agreed. She wanted a pee sample off him. That was fun. While I was feeding him she got a silver foil bowl ready to catch the urine in. She turned her back for two seconds and there he pees right on the table. She caught a teeny tiny bit, and tested it. Full (4+)positive for blood and half (2+) positive for leukocytes. She wasn't happy with that. She said to continue feeding him and hopefully he would have another wee soon. We got another tiny sample off him. She tested it again and the same results on the dipstick. She tells me because he's so little she wouldn't feel comfortable sending me home with antibiotics without getting him checked out first. She called pediatrics and they told us to go right up.
We got up to the ward and I talk to the pediatrician. He tells me he wants another wee sample so we continue trying to get one, while he's talking to me. He tells me that the plan is for him to be admitted to the ward and stay at least overnight. I was okay with overnight. He then proceeds to tell me that they take UTIs very seriously in young children as they could be the result of something a bit more serious and his ideal choice of treatment would be IV antibiotics for 48 hours, so he would have to be in the hospital for at least 48 hours. I wasn't happy cause I wanted to take my baby home, but I understood that that was what needed to happen. The doctor left the nurse and I to catch a 'clean' sample in the dish. One time of him peeing all over me and a teeny tiny sample later and I got to take the sample to the desk. They told me we would have the results Monday.
Friday night, the nurses just checked his vitals really and kept an eye on his temperature. I was wondering why they hadn't started antibiotics but they didn't really tell me why. We got up saturday morning and Cayden vomited after a feed. It wasn't like normal spit up, because he was boaking and his stomach was contracting, it was awful to watch. He was also very pale. The nurses came in and said it was time to start his antibiotics and they needed to put a cannula in his hand to do so. They assured me that the people that do this are very good at what they do and they have done it many times, and asked if I wanted to be there or if I wanted to stay behind. As much as I knew it would kill me, I wanted to go. So we went into this small room which was the side room to the pediatric O.R.. The nurse practitioner started looking at his hands and said he wasn't blessed with good veins (thanks to his mother), but pricked him with the needle and started trying to get the cannula in. He SCREAMED. It broke my heart so much to see that, that I started bawling. One of the nurses handed me a tissue and the nurse practitioner continued trying. She couldn't get it in his left hand, so she tried his right. After trying for 15 minutes, getting it in well enough to get some blood for the blood tests and Cayden screaming, she gave up and said she would have the pediatrician do it. So, we wait. The nurse comes and tells me it won't be too long, the staff had just been called away for a cesarean so they'd be back after that. A while later, it was time. The pediatrician said that I should try to feed cayden while she was doing it to try and calm him. That didn't work. He didn't want anything to do with me once they started poking him with needles. The pediatrician wasn't too nice about that. She said "Mum, I gave baby to you to feed him. He's supposed to be feeding. Get him to feed". She was foreign so it was hard to understand her at the best of times but getting scolded while your baby is screaming his head off isn't a great feeling. She finally got the cannula in and flushed it out to make sure it was working properly, then gave him the antibiotic. He pretty much fell asleep after that. When he woke up he was grumpy, and wanted to eat. He did fine for a while. Then I started putting him to bed at 8, got him to sleep and in bed at 9 and at 10 the nurse comes in to wake him up and put his antibiotics in his IV. Because he's a baby, they had to wrap his arm to assure the cannula stayed in and there wasn't a chance of it being pulled out. So, they had to unwrap him (he's swaddled when he sleeps) unwrap his arm and give him meds. He didn't like that - so I had to do the whole put him to bed process all over again. I got him to sleep and went to sleep myself. I must have been super sleepy because the nurses came in every two hours and I didn't hear them at all. The only time I woke up was when I could hear Cayden ratching for something to eat. I got him laid back down and asleep and I went back to sleep only to wake again a few hours later to the sound of him ratching for food once again. The nurses were deathly quiet, cause I didn't hear them once.
Sunday morning is here and Cayden is pretty grumpy. The doctor comes in and says he's pleased with the progress Cayden is making and tells me the rest of the plan. The plan is to continue IV antibiotics until Monday when they can get the urine culture and blood test results back. He will go for a renal ultrasound on Monday and if it comes back clear he will be discharged with oral antibiotics. He is super fussy on Sunday, but every time he acted like he wanted to eat he would fall asleep in my arms. I didn't get him to sleep and in bed until after 11 on Sunday, and he woke at 3am and again at 5:30am. Wasn't too bad. Not like I was sleeping very well on the rock hard bed they gave me to sleep on anyway.
This morning is here and first thing the head nurse comes in and tells me they're ready for Cayden down at the ultrasound room. I take him down there, undo his onsie and pull it up so the sonographer can get to his tummy. The sonographer puts some gel on the tinyest wand I've ever seen, puts it on Cayden's right side, clicks a button, puts the wand on Cayden's left side, clicks a button and then puts the wand on Cayden's tummy just below his belly button and clicks a button. he looks at me and says "everything looks normal there". In a matter of five minutes I had walked to the ultrasound room, had the ultrasound done and was back in the room on the ward. It was quick! The doctor came in and said that the tests came back conclusive of a UTI so we would give oral antibiotics twice a day for seven days, and then start a prophylactic course of antibiotics (once at night) until he's seen at a later date as an out-patient for more tests. He tells me the two tests he would be doing would be injecting dye into Cayden's veins and then looking on ultrasound to see how his kidneys function then, and the other was to put a catheter in, inject dye into his bladder and make sure that none of the fluid was retracting up the ureters (urinary reflux). He told me that we would continue the prophylactic antibiotic until Cayden has these tests done and if the tests come back all clear we could then stop the prophylaxis, if they came back positive then we would get further instructions. They took the cannula out of his hand and he screamed while this was happening. But was fine once it stopped bleeding.
We got to come home at lunch time, and I can tell Cayden was happy to come home. He wasn't nearly as fussy (still a bit - but its to be expected) and he went to sleep at 8:30 and hasn't woke yet (and won't get woke by a nurse trying to take his temp or give him meds). I hope he has a good night sleep tonight (I know I need one!)

Doctor Update

2008-06-19T22:03:00.003+01:00

The doctor was pretty helpful today. She told me to just keep an eye on my pain and if it starts getting severe like it did last time to go back in and they'll run some more tests to see what it is. She said the pain sort of follows a rheumatoid pain. The only thing missing is inflammation that you can see. The inflammation count in my last blood test I had done for this was pretty high, but I had no visible inflammation. I took some ibuprofen today and that helped a little bit so I'm hoping that maybe my body was just tired these last couple days and needed something to boost it and take the pain away. After the dose this morning, I've been fine. Last time - ibuprofen didn't even touch the pain so this is a plus. She has been talking me through my 'demons'. She's been a big help, and I go back next week. She was pleased to see that I'm feeling better in myself and tells me to come back anytime I feel I need to. How nice is that? Considering I see her and don't pay a co-pay or anything.

Oh - and I can walk today! LOL! Sounds kinda funny, but I have actually been able to walk without limping or walking funny. That's a huge step considering a few days ago I could hardly walk at all. The only thing I found was that my leg/knee felt a bit weak so I didn't overdo it by trying to walk too fast or anything. Small steps. . . I'll get there again.

Back to the Doctor

2008-06-18T21:08:00.004+01:00

So, we're going for our weekly check-up tomorrow. I'm hoping to discuss a few things with the doc and since she's been willing to look into things for me, I'm hoping I can get some good answers. I will also be asking her (again) about my knee/leg. The pain in my knee started as fluid on it after I had Ryan. Once that cleared up, I started having flair ups of what the doctor thinks is rheumatoid arthritis. Those flair ups would get so bad sometimes, it would take me ten minutes just to get out of bed. Those pains started to get better, and I got pregnant. The pains completely went away during my pregnancy. After I had Cayden, I started to get a funny pain in my foot. It only lasted for a day or two the first time it happened, and then it happened again last week. The day that it was hurting I ended up having to run after Ryan because he decided to take off. That is when I believe I injured my knee. Probably by putting too much pressure on my knee to take the pressure away from my foot because it was hurting. This past week I have been in a lot of pain. My knee swelled up to over the size of a grapefruit, and my hip and ankle joints are also hurting (I'm afraid it might be another flare up) my whole leg just aches all the time. It's really hard chasing after a three year old when you can hardly walk. I hope the doctor can give me some insight into how long this is going to last, and whether my other pains are a flare up or not. I sure hope not.

On a good note. Ryan's imagination has been running wild lately. He is just so funny. He found a football (soccer ball) in the closet and decided to get it out and try to kick it. When we're outside he has a really good kick on him, but because we were inside I think he knew not to kick it hard, and when he kicked it, it only rolled about a foot in front of him and all of a sudden he shouts "GOAL! BARCELONA!" LOL! He has never watched a Barcelona match in his life. So I get Mike to come and watch, and Mike asks "Ryan, what team do you play for?" To which he replies "Nited" (Manchester United - Mike's favorite team). We just had to laugh cause although Mike loves Utd. He doesn't really push Ryan to LOVE them like he does. And - Ryan got some CARS cars for his birthday, and he's been playing with them. The commentary that comes out of his mouth when he plays with them is absolutely hysterical. He will be driving them around and say "OH NO! Chick hicks went the wrong way!" or "Lightning McQueen will fix it". haha. So cute. I love that his little imagination allows him to play like that now. It saves mommy *always* having to do it for him. :)

Ignorant People and Dirty Laundry

2008-06-14T21:32:00.002+01:00

Ignorant people:
So, we planned Ryan's birthday party for today. We invited quite a few people and asked for RSVPs. I had 12 adults and 7 kids RSVP (including family). How many actually showed? Three children and six adults (including family). So we went and bought barbeque food for 22 people (including Mike, Ryan and I) and we ended up serving 11. When I text the people that were missing all they said was "oh sorry, I forgot". That's it. Okay... I don't know about you, but when I RSVP for something I write it down where I'll see it so that I don't miss it. Most of the time an RSVP is so people don't waste money on food that won't be eaten. I guess the people that missed the party today don't think that way.

Dirty Laundry:
I don't usually like to 'air' our dirty laundry like this, but I am pretty deeply hurt tonight and want to make sure I'm justified for feeling the way I do. I have been having problems with my knee for a while now, and on Monday, I must have really hurt it because on Tuesday it started to swell a little and by Wednesday I couldn't bend my knee more than at a 90 degree angle. My knee and the lower segment of my thigh (where my quadricep muscles meet my knee) is swollen to the size of a grapefruit and is rock hard and very hot (not to mention VERY painful to the point where it radiates up and down my leg, not just where the injury is). Mike decided he wanted to 'help' me and has been googling a bunch of stuff. He comes to me and says "it says that the number one cause of injuries like this is from lack of exercise. Which makes sense, cause let's be honest, you're not the fittest of people". Um, thanks - I think... He lives in the gym and thinks that if you don't, you're not fit or in shape and that you don't exercise. I told him that just because I don't live in the gym doesn't mean that I don't exercise. I also mentioned that he had forgotten that I walked three miles a day up until I was 38 weeks pregnant, and that only eight weeks ago I had a baby. Not only did I just have a baby, but I had major abdominal surgery too. So please excuse me if I'm not the most active person right now. And he has the nerve to say it's because I am out of shape and don't exercise? Would you be upset?

Two Months Old and Weight Gain

2008-06-13T22:57:00.002+01:00

Cayden is two months old tomorrow and he is finally ONE pound over his birth weight. I was given ~~the horrid talk~~ the green flag to start giving formula on a regular basis. He needs it to gain more weight faster.
Stats:
Birth; 9lb 3oz (91st centile) and 20.5 inches
Two months; 10lb 4oz (below 25th centile) and 21.65 inches

Potty Trained!

2008-06-12T21:37:00.003+01:00

This is a bit late because Ryan turned three yesterday, but we DID get potty trained before he was three. And that is even with a new baby in the house and dealing with a bit of regression (thank goodness the regression was in other areas and not potty training). He's been dry day and night for 10 days now. I set up a little stool in the bathroom so he could get on the potty himself. Once he gained confidence (only took a day) he got up the next morning and went to the bathroom first thing. So, he's been in underwear all day for about a week now. Yay Ryan! I'm so proud he got potty trained before he was three, I was certain he'd be going to kindergarten in pull-ups. lol.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

2008-06-11T22:22:00.002+01:00

Cute boy is THREE today! I can't believe he's three already. Time really does slip through your fingers when you're not expecting it to.

A note to Ryan:
Sweet boy Ryan,
Happy third birthday. Mammy and daddy hope you have had a great day and that you enjoy the time that you're three. We're so very proud of you and are so happy that you're our son. We love you always.
Love,
Mammy and Daddy

8 Weeks Old and First Shots

2008-06-09T17:23:00.003+01:00

Cayden is 8 weeks old today! He's done really well today, fussyness wise. I got some good photos this morning.

He got his first shots today and did so well. He only cried when she pricked him with the needle. Once he was on my shoulder, he was fine. I have to have him weighed on Friday, and if he still hasn't gained a ton I have to start giving him some formula on top of my milk. This saddens me, as it makes me feel like a failure.

My New Favorite Photo

2008-06-05T14:29:00.003+01:00

I absolutely love the looks on my boys faces in this photo. So sweet.

I love being a mammy!

These Guys Are Awesome!!

2008-06-02T08:52:00.002+01:00

More Sleep... And Hair Loss?

2008-05-31T22:05:00.004+01:00

So, Cayden is doing really well (knock on wood) with his sleeping at night. He's sleeping 'through night' for about three days. Sleeping 'through night' means sleeping 6 straight hours, not necessarily from when you put them to bed till morning. I'm feeling good now that I'm getting some sleep. He's sleeping from 9 till about 4:30. Life is good.

*****

Had anyone told me before I got pregnant about all the negative side effects AFTER the baby is actually here, I may have not panicked when things happened. Everyone tells you when you're pregnant that your hair grows and gets thicker, your nails grow and that you'll just have this 'glow'. Sounds fantastic. No one told me that once the baby is here those wonderful things fade and sometimes very quickly. When in the shower and you're washing your hair and you end up pulling a fist full of hair with it, you'll probably panic. When you brush your hair and it's full of your hair and you still have a fist full of hair when fingering through it, you'll probably panic. When you wake up in the morning with hair all over your pillow, you'll start to wonder what in the world is going on. Yes, its that wonderful thickness of your hair going away. Why can't we just keep it that way? When you're giving your baby a bath and you notice that you have a nail that needs clipped once you're done. You try to wait but your nail has other plans. You start drying baby off and off rips your nail with the towel. Ouch. Not necessarily a thing to panic about, but still not nice. And finally, the 'glow'. What I always like to refer to as the 'I've been sick all morning' glow. Yeah, that fades quickly too.. For me it fades to the wonderful world of teenage acne once again. Ew. I hope this all fades as quickly as my wonderful hair, nails and glow faded.

Water... It's Feel Good Juice

2008-05-31T22:04:00.002+01:00

I wish drinking water would make me feel this good!

England v. USA

2008-05-28T20:57:00.003+01:00

You know, the hardest thing about living in a foreign country and being married to someone that is a different nationality is times like tonight. England is playing the USA in football. I have Mike routing for England and getting Ryan to route for England, and then there is me. I have observed a Euro quarter/semi/final and the World Cup final. The atmosphere here makes it very easy to route for England. So, that's what I've done. I will be completely honest. Football was a sport I used to ~loathe~ until I moved here. I have since gotten really into it, and enjoy supporting England. Tonight, I'm having a little bit of an inner battle. I love supporting England, yet I feel an obligation to support the US because that's where I'm from. Oh what to do. What. To. Do.

Okay I made up my mind. England it is. GO ENGLAND!

6 weeks old!

2008-05-26T20:43:00.004+01:00

Where has the time gone? Even though this has been a roller coaster ride of screaming and wanting to feed constantly and the days seeming to drag at the time, the time really has flown by. I can't believe my baby is only two weeks away from his first innoculations. He's only two weeks away from being two months old. He's only two weeks away from some new major milestones. Even though he's only been a part of our family for six weeks. It feels like he's been a part of our family forever, and I'm so happy he is our son. :)

You know those people who hold babies and say they're glad to hand them back? Well, I'm glad I don't have to hand my babies back. :)

Mundane

2008-05-25T21:05:00.003+01:00

I feel really bad when life is just passing me by and I'm not doing anything to document it. To be honest, the last few days have had things that happened but they weren't anything to write down to try to remember. I feel life is exciting yet so mundane sometimes. During my pregnancies I documented everytime I felt something or knew something new. After I had Ryan I even documented how I was feeling and how things went with his weight issues and all. With Cayden, it's been different. I ~want~ to document about those things, I just haven't had the time. 70% of the day is full of Cayden crying. Even when he's trying to eat. It's awful. Another 10% is when he is quiet, yet Ryan doesn't know any different since Cayden has cried non-stop since he was born, and goes over to do something to him to make him cry since he thinks that's what baby's are supposed to do. 15% is when Cayden is sleeping. And the other 5% is when I can do something with both the boys because they're both being quiet enough that I can. I'm lucky if I get an hour at night to myself to update my family on what's happening and going on, let alone update my own records. I really need to though, before I forget what happened and when. I have them jotted down on paper, but the minor details (everyone knows I like to be detailed in what I write) might slip away and be forgotten. All the stuff I document is going to be printed out and put into a book for part of my boys graduation gifts. To show them all they have accomplished and acheived over their lives. I really need to get cracking, wouldn't you say?

Santa Ryan!

2008-05-20T20:46:00.006+01:00

So tonight in the bath Ryan kept saying "beard, mammy, santa!" he had his back turned when he was saying it, so I said for him to turn around and this is what he looked like! He kept telling me he was Santa because he had a beard. Silly boy.

Ryan Brought Me "Flowers"

2008-05-20T20:39:00.006+01:00

Ryan and Mike went to play football on the market tonight. When they came home, Ryan came running into the bathroom, where I was giving Cayden a bath, and said "here you are, mammy". I looked at him and his face was just so proud. I took them, said thank you and gave him a hug and a kiss. He ran off to tell daddy that mammy loved her flowers. Here is a photo of my "flowers".

Now they may look like just ~weeds~ to anybody else, but to a three year old they are flowers for mammy. And mammy loved them. :)

Go Super Dan!

2008-05-18T20:43:00.002+01:00

One of Mike's gym acquaintances, Dan Sowerby is going to be on the TV show Gladiators tonight! I was pretty surprised someone from such a small town made it on a TV show like that. I remember watching it as a kid thinking the people were amazing athletes, but never in a million years did I think I would know (or anyone that I know would know) anyone going on the show! Good luck 'Super Dan'!

**Update**
Dan came in second. It was so close. He was ahead by points throughout the entire show, and once they got to the final competition he got an 11 second head start because he was so ahead on points. He lost his footing stepping onto the platform after using the arm bike and because he fell, he was given a 15 second penalty which is when his opponent took the lead. Dan got a second chance to catch up once his opponent fell back down the inclined conveyor belt, but again, he lost his footing and fell too. His opponent got back up the incline with no problems while Dan was waiting his turn after getting another time penalty. It's a shame he didn't win, but he gave it his best!

Too funny

2008-05-17T20:52:00.005+01:00

I was taking pictures of the boys today and took three in a row of Cayden. They were probably 2 minutes apart, but when looking at the photos one after the other, I couldn't help but laugh at how they turned out.

Please excuse the red-eye. I'm too lazy to fix it just now.

It's haircut day!

2008-05-17T20:44:00.004+01:00

Ryan Before:

Ryan After:

For some reason he wanted to keep tilting his head backwards, but you can still tell he got a hair cut. I'll update when he will let me take a decent photo.

Tonight has been the easiest by far

2008-05-16T20:54:00.007+01:00

So tonight when putting the boys to bed, I found it substantially easier than it has been over the last four, nearly five, weeks. No having to put Ryan back in bed every five minutes. No hearing "mammy!" being shouted from his bedroom. Cayden has also stayed down for longer than 15 minutes before waking. I have no way of knowing ~why~ it was easier, I just found it to be that way. I will keep my fingers crossed that this happens more often and that this is the start of me finally finding my routine with the boys. Only took me 4.6 weeks... That's long enough I think.

Walk a Little Slower Mammy

2008-05-14T22:22:00.003+01:00

When Ryan was a baby, I attended a breastfeeding support group. They gave all the women attending this group the poem below, along with a stamp of their child's footprints.

Footprints
Walk a little slower mammy," said a child so small.
"I'm following in your footsteps and I don't want to fall.
Sometimes your steps are very fast,
Sometimes they're hard to see;
So walk a little slower, Mammy,
For you are leading me.
Someday when I'm all grown up,
You're what I want to be;
Then I will have a little child
Who'll want to follow me.
And I would want to lead just right,
And know that I was true;
So, walk a little slower, Mammy,
For I must follow you."
- Author Unknown

4 weeks 1 day old

2008-05-13T11:20:00.005+01:00

We got our first smile from Cayden today! He's just over four weeks old and he'll be a month old tomorrow. It is so crazy how fast time goes, even when you're exhausted and frustrated at times. Even though he's only been here for a month, I couldn't imagine our lives without him.

On another note. Ryan is absolutely smitten with his baby brother. Every time he gets to hold him or sit by him or sit with me an 'play' with him his face just lights up. Even though Cayden wasn't smiling yet in this photo (taken a few days ago) you can see the excitement and joy in Ryan's face. I can't wait until Cayden is older and they can play together.

October 15 is the date...

2008-05-13T09:03:00.003+01:00

We now have flights to the US for when we move!

This move is getting more and more expensive by the day. I'll just be glad when the entire process is over and we can relax and start enjoying life again.

The Style and Fashion Sense of a Three Year Old.

2008-05-12T22:22:00.005+01:00

As a parent, you pick and choose your battles. If your child wants to watch tv wearing sunglasses, you let them, simply because you want to avoid a meltdown. We have numerous meltdowns a day over tiny things - so I chose to pick my battles when it came to Ryan coming out of his bedroom wearing this. Thank goodness we didn't need to go anywhere, so I let him wear it to avoid yet another tantrum. When I told him it didn't match he said "yes, it does. Fishies and water match". Okay then, sunshine.

Then there is this... He kept nudging me when I was reading an article, calling himself "Shrek". I looked at him and this is what I saw. He loves to have his picture taken so that's why he has such a silly proud grin.

Cars, Cars, Cars and more Cars!

2008-05-08T08:11:00.004+01:00

Ryan's birthday is coming up next month. He is getting really excited about it, which in turn makes me excited because it's the first year that he really *knows* what is going on. He keeps asking for a Disney Pixar CARS themed birthday, and I'm happy to oblige. The only bad thing, is that he goes on and on about it ALL day long! "Mammy, I want Lightning McQueen cake for my birthday", "Mammy, I want Dinoco blue Mcqueen for my birthday", "Mammy, I want Mater AT my birthday".... Well, I can do the first two but not so sure about the third. Any suggestions? LOL! It's going to be a great day but its also going to be a little sad, as its going to be his last birthday celebrated while we live here. We'll more than likely come to visit on his birthday in a few years but we won't live here. Nice, fun, exciting and a little sad all rolled into one.

Cinco De Mayo is a Holiday in England?

2008-05-05T22:02:00.000+01:00

It is this year. The first Monday of every May is considered a "bank holiday" in this country. All the shops are shut, all the banks are shut, pretty much the entire country closes down (especially if you live in a small town like we do). We're pretty lucky here, we get at least 8 days a year that most businesses are closed. And, if you work for a big corporation like Mike does, you get 2 weeks off at Christmas too. I wish the US would adopt some of the 'ways of life' from England. Wouldn't that be nice.

Brotherly love.

2008-05-04T22:29:00.002+01:00

Aww.

Ryan is SO much fun!

2008-05-03T23:22:00.001+01:00

Everyone that comes across Ryan absolutely loves him. We went to the wedding of some close friends of ours today, and at the reception, Ryan was pretty close the star of the party. He was dancing, and blowing bubbles and just having a great time. Everyone was all smiles when they were watching him. We had three people offer to take him home for the night because they think he is that much fun!

Mike's friend, Gary, told me tonight that he feels for me when Cayden gets older. I asked him why, and he said "look at Ryan... Having TWO of them to run after? You'll be knackered!" ha! Very nicely put, thanks Gary. You can look after Ryan ANYTIME!

Our Family Has Grown By Two Feet!

2008-05-03T23:12:00.001+01:00

Cayden Rhys Fullerton was born on April 14, 2008 at 4:26pm, weighing a whopping 9lb 3oz and was 21.5 inches long!

Ryan absolutely *LOVES* his baby brother. He is wanting to be such a great help too. He helps me get diapers, wipes, blankets, toys, etc. Anything I need he wants to get it for me.

My birth stories are posted here(Ryan) and here(Cayden) for anyone interested. They are very detailed, so if you're not into that type of thing - you may want to give it a miss.

"Mammy, I fall"

2008-02-03T20:34:00.003Z

Ryan was being SO cute the other morning. We recently put his bed into the proper position of a toddler bed. I put Ryan in his bed and was starting to feel a bit uneasy about him being in there; what if he falls etc. I figured just to leave him since I would be able to hear the thud if he fell anyway. So morning comes and I am laying in bed waiting for my alarm to go off and I hear the pitter-patter of little feet coming down the hall. He stops right outside my door and says "Mammy" I said "Hey sweetheart, come here" he started to enter the room and says "Mammy, I fall" (fall sounds like FaW) I said "did you fall?" He says "yeah, I fall, I fall my bed" I said "did you fall out of bed?" He says "yeah, I fall my bed, on my head" I just had to laugh because I was awake and would have heard if he fell so I know he didn't. I just played along. I said "where does it hurt" and he showed me the side of his head. I kissed it better and he says "Thanks mam, all better". He must have just wanted some mammy love.

Having a Child that Doesn't Sleep is Hard.

2008-01-26T21:10:00.001Z

My husband has always said he doesn't need a lot of sleep. I knew this from when we first got married and he would stay up until 3 am playing games. He would then come to bed only to be up about four or five hours later. That is until the last two years or so. Now when he comes to bed and its three in the morning he wants to sleep until noon.
I think my son has inherited my husband's sleeping patterns as a child/young adult. My son does not need a lot of sleep and it's making it very hard on me lately. I am 30+ weeks pregnant, I work full time (9hours a day) and come home to play with my son and get dinner done and out of the way, and then its time for bed. Well, I'm ready for bed at that point, but Ryan hasn't seemed to be. It's been 11 o'clock or later when he's been going to sleep only to be up at 6:30 or 7 the next morning. ~I~ need more sleep than that, surely a toddler at the age of 2.5 needs more sleep than that. I have been super tired lately because of this. I even had a breakdown one night and started crying because I was so tired but Ryan wouldn't go to bed.
After about a month of this happening every night, I finally changed things around completely. Sure, we'd changed little things here and there during that month but it didn't seem to help at all. Finally, I decided to change our bedtime routine a bit, and then I go in and sit with Ryan until he's asleep. I know I'm making a rod for my own back here, but I think I can deal with that part later - as long as he's sleeping now, that's what counts for me. I have been watching Ryan over the past few days and have noticed him being clingy(er) when I get home, than he has been in the past. When we eat dinner (we eat on the floor. House too small for a table) he is practically sitting on my lap to eat his dinner. He is sitting right next to me, so much that when I go to use my fork I sometimes bump his head with my elbow. He will sit right next to me the entire time, and once I get up he follows me. I think I have sussed why he hasn't wanted to go to bed on his own. My conclusion is: seperation anxiety. He sees that I go to work every morning, am gone all day (I used to come home at lunch time but have been too tired to walk the half mile home and back to work in an hour and then continue to be on my feet), and then finally I come home. How do you "fix" seperation anxiety? I don't have a clue. I am working on it though.

My Friends Tigger and Pooh

2007-12-02T19:25:00.000Z

Who would have thought that an adult would actually like a children's cartoon? Especially a new one? This isn't the old Pooh bear that we all know and love. He's new, and has a new friend instead of Christopher Robin. Her name is Darby. Ryan absolutely LOVES this show, so we put it in our cable box to save for him. He watches it probably 4 times a day, and doesn't get tired of it. Unfortunately, I have been getting tired of the same episode over and over. I decided to record the Christmas movie of this Pooh bear cartoon, and Ryan watched it for the first time tonight. I have to say, he's never been one to just sit and watch cartoons, he'll be up milling around doing things, but watching at the same time. He watched this "movie" tonight, and didn't move once. It was an hour long movie. I was shocked! But he's beginning to love Santa, and Santa was a part of this movie so I think that helped. Christmas this year is going to be ~so~ exciting!

Ryan is just so sweet.

2007-11-24T20:39:00.003Z

When he wants to be. He can go from being the sweetest most loving child that you could ever meet, to being the biggest terror of all. It's really quite scary to see how fast he can change. We notice that he gets to be a "terror" when he gets tired, but sometimes he doesn't want to go to sleep which makes it harder on us.

He's always excited to go on a walk, but when we want to take the stroller because its going to be a while that we'll be out, he throws the biggest fit! BUT He surprised us the other day. He got right in his stroller and sat down and said "LETS GO!" Who was I to argue when he was being so placid?

He knows what we're going to call this next baby, and he uses the name frequently which just makes my heart melt. I can't wait to see how he is with his baby sibling. I really hope they grow up to be really close.

I'm having an elephant.

2007-10-29T22:34:00.002Z

We're expecting our second child in early April, 2008. We have done everything we can to keep Ryan as involved with this pregnancy as he can understand to be. He likes to pat my tummy and say "hi baby, love you" and kisses my tummy too. He is just so sweet!

We like to ask him questions about the baby and tell him things about how he's going to be a big brother to a little brother or sister. I asked him one day "Is mammy gonna have a little brother for you?" He says "No". I said "A little sister?". He says"No". I said "Is mammy going to have a baby giraffe?" He says "No." I said "Is mammy going to have a baby elephant?" He replies "YEAH, EPHANT!" Oh my. The mind of a two year old.

Having a two-year old is so much fun!

2007-10-29T22:28:00.001Z

I am literally in awe when I watch Ryan, daily. The things he does to teach himself new things, the things he does to play, the things he does when he wants attention and the things he does when he's not behaving all have me bewildered at his innocence. He just brings a smile to my face each and every day and when he is being naughty I still have to turn away 90% of the time because I just can't resist laughing at the things he does.

His vocabulary has sky-rocketed! He is bringing up new words and phrases every day and even mulitple times a day! He can now (almost) count to 10. Which really surprises me. He counts "one, two, three, four, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" (said like: one, two, free, four, thixth, evnan, eight, nine, TEN!) He sings to me now. I love it. He doesn't even know half the words but he still sings and makes me smile. And one of the newest things is telling things that they're bad if they hurt someone. Mike was playing with Ryan the other day and had a car that has a mouth that moves near his foot. Mike says to Ryan "Oh no Ryan! The car is biting daddy's foot!" To which Ryan replies (by moving the car) "BAD CAR! No Bite daddy!" Too cute in my opinion.

What's the point of a blog?

2007-10-29T22:27:00.000Z

What's the point of a blog when you don't use it? I had every intention of keeping this up to date with news and such, but with working and wanting to spend as much time as possible with Ryan when I get home I just haven't had the time to write. I will do better. I promise.

30th Birthday Party and 20 month old is the star of the show!

2007-02-11T21:23:00.002Z

We all went to a 30th birthday party last night, for one of Mike's cousins. The party was fun. We got to see family that we haven't seen in a little while, and got to catch up with all the "gossip". The best part of the party was our little man, Ryan. From the moment we walked in the door till it was time to leave, he was on the dance floor dancing his little heart out.
The DJ gave Ryan two "shout-outs". The first one was about halfway through the evening.
"Please give it up for this little fella who has been absolutely superb, and has been dancing his heart out". The second one was at the very end of the night, and it actually made me cry. "before we go, give the la'al fella in the middle a BIG round of applause. He has been dancing all night!" EVERYONE clapped and cheered, and it just filled my heart with joy to know that it was MY boy that was getting all those cheers!

What a great night it was!
See our little rave-cat here: www.freewebs.com/fullertonfamily/videos.htm