An Entire Month?

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

We are Back!

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.

For Rachael

Please excuse the naked chest

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

Two Aww Moments

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.

Back to the Doctor

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. :)

Potty Trained!

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!

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

My New Favorite Photo

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

I love being a mammy!

6 weeks old!

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

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?

Tonight has been the easiest by far

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.

"Mammy, I fall"

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.

Ryan is just so sweet.

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.

Having a two-year old is so much fun!

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.

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

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