Baby bunnies

Today at daycare, they found a nest of baby rabbits.  When I got there to pick them up, Harper was telling me about them before I could get out of the car.  There are 4 rabbits and no mom to be found (Harper was really concerned about that).  She also thought I should give the rabbits some of Ryden's milk . . . babies of all types drink baby milk :)

When we got home she needed to talk to daddy.  Yelling while she was still in the car 'Daddy I need to talk to you!'  

Anyway, our daycare provider was going to try to get some milk or something to feed them and hopefully keep them alive.  If they stay alive, Harper will have so much fun taking care of them and seeing them grow, but they could die tonight and then we'll have to have a whole different conversation.

A fun day

Remember when I said I just wanted a crappy day to not have to enjoy the nice weather?  Well after a week of rain and not being able to play outside, we were ALL ready for a nice day.


We biked to the park and played for a good chunk of the afternoon.  Ryden took a nap when we got back, we grilled and then the kids played outside for the rest of the night until bathtime.  We're all ready for bed tonight.

Face first on his tummy laughing the whole way.
I love this kid :)

Let's do that again

AHH! A WORM!  Bugs are super scary right now.

I'm a princess cause they're magic.
Ryden can't be a princess because he's a boy.
They have penises and don't wear crowns.
Can't make this stuff up folks.

Model pose.

Harper, pose again . . . :/

He only ate a little dirt today.

McDonalds

McDonald's play place is fun. Ryden climbed up the little slide steps yesterday laughing the whole time.  Still hasn't figured out how to go down the slide, but getting to the top is pretty awesome.

We let Harper go all over, up to the top where ever.  In fact we encourage this.  This morning there was another girl whose grandma wouldn't let her play on the big part which made me wonder if she was overly cautious or I'm just too relaxed ... Probably a little of both.


I can't spend all of my time worrying about bumps, bruises and germs - my kids would never have any fun.

Play time

It is getting so much fun watching Harper play.  Today we went to a new program at the library which was pretty much play time.  She got out the cash register and started ringing up all the things I wanted.  Later, we spent 30 minutes playing outside before it started sprinkling and a few minutes later was a downpour complete with lightning and thunder.  Anyway, while we were outside she was raiding Nate's tools to 'fix' her bike.  Hilarious.  The day was pretty much like this.

She is, however, extremely shy and gets really nervous about playing with other kids.  At the library she wanted to play with the kitchen set but there were other kids there and she was too scared to go play with them.  Reenacting such a moment later, she was going to 'dance class' but told me she couldn't go because there were too many people.  So, we practiced.  She went to these imaginary people and said 'Hi, I'm Harper.'  Ha, we'll see if this pretend experience helps the next time she's in a group of kids.

Separation anxiety

Yay spring break!  Boo separation anxiety.  I thought separation anxiety began sooner than this, but at 11 months, Ryden has begun FREAKING out every time I leave the room.  He's crying at daycare when I leave which he has never done before.  Bedtime has been ridiculous the last couple nights too.  Usually he nurses, and goes to sleep in his crib, whether he falls asleep nursing or not, doesn't matter.  Now, he nurses, falls asleep and when I put him in his crib he wakes up, normal.  After this though, when I walk out of the room and shut the door he gets up and SCREAMS he used to just keep sleeping.  I spent 1 1/2 hours last night getting him to bed.  Hopefully this is a short stage because I'm going to go crazy if I have to spend that much time putting him in bed every night.

A walk

After a super lazy day, I decided I wanted to go on a walk tonight.  So, we ate supper, took baths, I put Ryden to bed and me and Harper went out for a walk.  I wanted it to be a 'for fitness' walk so I was going at a pretty good pace but I was NOT prepared.  I have lost 30 pounds, but I have done nothing to earn it and I am feeling it.


Anyway . . . the walk ended up being 3.2 miles (I came home and checked it out on mapmyrun.com) We had to drop a Redbox off at Hy-Vee when we started and the just continued the walk from there.  Harper was confused about where we were going because we haven't gone on a walk just to go on a walk for a long time.  Since she's been able to play at a park most of our walks are to the park.  So as we're walking she was trying to figure out what was happening.

Where are we going?

On a walk.

But where?

Just around.

To the park?

No, we're not going to the park, just on a walk.

We're not going home though, home is back there.

I don't know that she ever figured out what was going on because she fell asleep around the halfway point.  I think that this may become part of our nightly routine.  Maybe not so long when I've been at school all day and have school the next day, but some sort of walk.


I also ate a bowl of ice cream as a sat here.  I think that might cancel out the walk, but a walk and ice cream is better than no walk and ice cream. Right?

Knees

The weather has been Amazing!  Today is a little cloudy and cool (68° in the middle of March is 'cool') but all week its been around 80°.  At daycare the kids played hard outside all morning and 2 days I arrived to them still napping.  Yesterday, we grilled for supper and the kids played in the back yard.  Ryden is going to need to learn to walk before to long or his knees are going to be destroyed.  He crawled all over the cement patio throwing a ball and then chasing it down (repeat over and over and over).  So after this, his knees were all red and scraped up.  He didn't seem to mind, the joys of being 1 (or almost) I would have given up after the first crawl.



Today is also the first day of my spring break (WOO SPRING BREAK!) so I'm hoping next week is super nice too.  Although its looking like it might be rainy.  The library is open rain or shine though and Harper loves the library.  So let the fun begin.

11 months old

Ryden is 11 months old today.  The last eleven months have flown by.  He is getting to be such a big kid now and really showing his personality.  He laughs all the time and thinks so many things are funny.  He started dancing a couple days ago and LOVES to play catch.  Harper is pretty much the coolest person ever too, if she's there he wants to be there.

Temporary single parent

Nate has been gone for spring break.  Tonight is the third night I have done this parenting thing alone.  Hopefully tonight is more like last night than the first night.  Ryden was up almost every hour that night.  That is usually the point where I send Dad in to rock and/or sleep for a while.


I'm just glad next week is Spring Break and I will be able to catch up on some rest.  Yay for Spring Break!

Shake your bon bon

Harper loves to shake her butt.  Good thing there are plenty of songs that just tell her to shake her booty.  Tonight she was shakin' her bon bon to Ricky Martin.  In her leopard print leggings and no shirt she is looking really classy.

My apologies for the sideways video, I forget that videos don't rotate.

New Phone

I have a new phone.  It's purple just like my last 2 phones.  I don't really like purple that's just how my phone situation is working out.


I am now fancy with a smart phone that does more than make calls and text.


I hate new phones.  There is too much to figure out.  Just answering and making calls is a pain and there is so much more to learn with this one.  I wasn't really ready for a new phone, but Nate thought that I needed to upgrade (he didn't really have my permission to change my phone).


Wish me luck with my new phone.

Mommy milk

Ryden's first birthday is fast approaching (April 15), I can't believe he'll be 1 in just over a month.  However, this puts the pressure on me to decide how I'm going to handle breastfeeding beyond 1.


With Harper, I was home so I was always breastfeeding.  No pumping for that girl, not like she would have taken the bottle anyway.  Even so, I chose to stop nursing during the day because people were questioning my choices, making comments about how other people had breastfed their kids way to long and because I was just tired.  I had started resenting the fact that I couldn't go any where without her for more than a few hours because she would NOT take a bottle.  So, I cut her off from daytime feedings and only nursed at bedtime, in the morning and when she woke up during the night. (People stop making comments when they don't know that you're still breastfeeding an 18 month old)


If I was home now, there wouldn't be a debate.  I would continue breastfeeding until some day when he didn't want to.  But I'm not.  I leave them at daycare for 10 hours a day and pump while I'm at work 3 times.  Pumping is such a drag.


My options are just stop at 1 like I did with Harper.  I would be done pumping, I would send my frozen supply to finish that out and then just let him have cow's milk during the day.  OR I will keep pumping until the school year is over (only about a month) so that I can continue to breastfeed all summer.  I'm leaning towards the second option, maybe cutting out a pumping and if I don't pump enough he can have cow's milk at daycare.  



The big dilemma is the added complication that I'm teaching summer school.  I am NOT going to pump through summer school.  I don't know for sure what the hours are though so it could still work out that he wouldn't need to nurse while I'm gone if it's only a half day or something.  I still have month to decide and then I'll just keep pumping until I decide otherwise.

Yay!

Ryden is doing great for a kid with RSV . . . that was the verdict today anyway.  He gets to keep doing the breathing treatments at least until Monday when he gets to go back to the doctor.  But they checked his oxygen levels and breathing rate and everything was good.


Yay!  That's when Ryden starts clapping, he's so funny.  He really just enjoys clapping and loves that we are all so excited when he does it.  This phase can only last so long, when a 20 year old claps everyone does NOT get excited about it :)  Speaking of clapping, I took a psychology class once where we clapped to reinforce behavior and the T.A. was like 'that was fun and we got to clap, it's not every day you get to clap'.  So, every time clapping happens for a random reason, I think of this (sometimes I say it).  No one knows what I'm talking about so it is just a very inside joke between me and me.


Also, y-a-y is how you spell the I'm excited about something word, y-e-a-h is a slang word for yes.  One of my pet peeves.


That is all.

Poor baby

After a day sick at home, I took Ryden to the doctor this morning.


RSV and ear infections in both ears.  Poor kid.  Breathing treatments for the RSV and amoxicillin for the ear infections.  Hopefully he starts feeling better and I'll just keep staying home from school. 

Knock, knock

Harper - "Knock, knock"
Me - "Who's there?"
Harper - "Banana"
Me - "Banana who?"
Harper - "Banana peel!"


I didn't know she even had a concept of jokes.  Silly girl

Discovery Center

Yesterday, we spent an awesome afternoon at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center with Grandma, Grandpa, Jana and Elsie.  There was so much fun stuff to do.  Harper's favorite part was painting on a window, which she spent a crazy amount of perfecting.  Even the little kids had fun just crawling around, watching big kids, and chewing on new toys.

Ryden grabbing a bite to eat in the background.

Ryden even got a snack while we were there.  Ten and a half months into the second kid, this was done in the middle of the place.  I'm pretty sure that a lady got up and left that area because I was breastfeeding.  She left her things there and came back with her kid after he was done eating.  This is possibly just the crazy I get from my mom, but it seemed like the timing was too perfect.  Lady, you have a young child.  I'm sorry if you're uncomfortable with breastfeeding, but that most likely means that your son didn't reap all the benefits of breastfeeding.  All of the breastfeeding moms I know wouldn't flinch if another mom was feeding their kid in the same vicinity.

Anyways . . . Harper was having so much fun she didn't want to leave.  But alas, they were closing in 15 minutes so there wasn't much of a choice.  We'll have to go back another time.  Also, I'm grateful for the great group of moms I have met because of breastfeeding.

Harper's completed artwork.  Beautiful!

On the origin of species

March 1 = 70°
March 2 = Snow storm


Awesome.  The snow was crazy since it was still pretty warm it was the HUGE wet flakes, but since it was so warm, it didn't stick around long.


Yesterday in the 70° awesomeness of March 1, I took Harper and Ryden to the park.  While we were swinging a flock of birds flew over and Harper was telling me all about them.

They fly, but I can't fly cause I have arms.

What do birds use to fly?

Wings, they're like dinosaurs . . . ROAR!

Yes, my child is a genius who at the age of 2 years, 9 months, 1 week, understands an evolutionary concept scientists have been working on for centuries.  We're so proud :)

"See its a triangle rock!"

Besides the fact that she's a genius, I also became very aware of how fast the girl is growing up.  She was playing with another girl at the park and having real conversations.  I'm sure she does this every day at daycare, but I'm not there to experience it and it was just awesome to see her developing into a person who socializes and interacts with other kids.