Ryden is 2!

Two years ago Ryden was born.  So much has happened in our lives in those two years, but he is the highlight of most of my days.




The kid LOVES trains.  He can play for hours - HOURS - with a good train set.

He still loves nursing.  He is always ready to go to bed when he knows that he'll get milk.  Who knows when we'll be done with that.  Speaking of bedtime he still has his pacifier at night - another highlight of bedtime.  I know that he shouldn't anymore, but I really don't want to mess with bedtime because 15 minutes of book and nursing, give him his paci and he's in bed for the night (unless of course he loses his paci).

Harper is pretty much awesome.  Unless she's not.  Usually he wants to do everything Harper is doing, but there are times when she drives him nuts!  Like her obsession with giving him a hug and kiss before bed.  It's cute, but he hates it.


Language is still coming.  He's gaining new words and he says a lot more than I (or anyone else) understands.  He definitely has trouble putting sounds together.  He is able to communicate most of what he wants without words.  I have to keep telling myself that words will come.

I can always count on snuggles when I wake him up at 6:00 in the morning.  This time is getting harder because he wants to pick his own clothes and there isn't a train shirt for him to wear everyday :)

It's hard to think that he is officially out of the baby stage and into toddler stage.  He is happy, easy-going, and loving.  I can't imagine what my life would be like without him.

My vacation

Harper and Ryden survived an entire week without me, I survived too.  I had a little too much fun in California and I'm still tired even though the week with Grandma and Grandpa somehow got Ryden to sleep much better at night (I say somehow because when I called after the first night I was informed that he slept in bed with them)  Calling was another issue all together since I forgot my phone, thanks to everyone who let me borrow their phone to call home.

Ryden got pumped milk at bedtime and was just fine.  I, on the other hand, didn't fair quite as fantastically.  Sunday was the drive from Avoca to Lawrence and then the flight to Sacramento.  I managed to get a clogged duct and couldn't get it resolved.  As the days went on it got worse and worse.  I spent most of Tuesday uncomfortable and stressing out about getting mastitis in California.  Thankfully, Tuesday night it cleared out and the rest of the trip was just annoying pumping.  I think I'm almost done with pumping . . .

Harper's best quote that I missed:  After searching for and finding a toy that Ryden had relocated, Harper said 'We solved that mystery!'

I got back late Thursday night and drove up early Friday morning to see them.  Then we went to the fair on Friday.  Both of the kids LOVED the animals and Harper had so much fun watching the hog show and the horse show.  I stayed in Avoca two more days (after being there five days and in California for 5 days)  I'm really glad to be home.

Now to get ready for a garage sale Saturday and pack to move in almost two weeks.  Yay.

Ryden's 1

A year ago today, Ryden made his entrance into the world.  I don't know how I could ever forget the details of his birth, but if I'm anything like my mom (and I know I am) I better record the event.


Friday April 15, 2011 I woke up and got ready to go to work like every other day.  I was getting impatient for Ryden to be born (he was due the 11th), but had decided that he liked tight spaces so much that he would probably stay in there for another week or so.  While I got Harper ready though, I started having contractions. When we got in the car to leave, I told Nate I didn't think I would probably make it through the whole day of work.


My labor with Harper had lasted forever so going to work while in labor didn't seem like a crazy idea.  So, I dropped Harper off at daycare and went to work.  Things started progressing rapidly once I got to work and by 10:00 I decided to work with one more student and leave.  I clocked out at 10:45.  At 2:44 Ryden was born.

In those 4 hours I picked up the house, did some laundry and picked up Nate from work.  Nate convinced me that I needed to go to the hospital when we did (I think we pulled into the parking lot at 12:30).  They got me checked in and hooked up with some penicillin (for Group B strep) and things went very fast.  They were waiting for a round of penicillin to be done before they broke my water or let me push and I definitely wasn't getting 2 rounds in like you're supposed to.  So, they broke my water when I started pushing and he was born shortly after.  It was an amazing drug free labor and delivery that was a lot easier on me than Harper's (I will post that story someday soon before I forget what happened :) )


Ryden Paul (it took us a long time to figure out the middle name) was 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 1/4 inches long.  He began nursing and was an expert from the beginning.

3 months

In the first weeks and months he got FAT.  Ryden was a chunky baby gaining weight like crazy.  Even as a baby he was pretty happy and willing to go to anyone.


In the last year, he has gotten so big and has shown us his amazing personality.  He is easy to smile and laugh and pretty laid back for the most part.  Sometimes he gets shy, but isn't as dependent on me as Harper was, definitely a people person.

I can't wait to see how he continues to develop and reach new and exciting milestones (like walking - I'm ready kid lets do it already).  

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.

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.

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!

"He's still kuping"

The kids and I spent our 4 day weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Saturday night, I went to investigate a baby noise and heard Ryden vomiting.  When I entered the room he was crawling around in a vomit covered bed, in vomit covered pajamas, with vomit soaked hair . . . still vomiting.  Babies should not be allowed to get sick.  I don't know what age children should be able to get sick, but they need to understand that if they're vomiting a bowl or toilet or some type of container is the way to go.


After he got a bath and new pajamas, he continued to vomit until he fell asleep.  Harper was all concerned, mainly that I couldn't hold her because I was busy taking care of Ryden.  "He's still kuping" - close but not quite - puking is the word you're looking for.  


We hung out in the living room for awhile while Ryden slept, I sort of slept and Harper watched TV.  Being the smart mommy that I am, I decided to nurse him when he woke up.  Fifteen minutes later he was throwing up milk.  3 AM rolls around and he wakes up again.  I was NOT going to risk feeding the kid anything, but he was pretty persistent and ended up getting what he wanted and how much he wanted (my plan was to let him nurse a little).  He knew he could handle it though because we were good after that.

Everyone survived Ryden's first flu/food/whatever it was.  Thanks to Grandma for helping clean up all the vomit mess.  Hopefully no one will be 'kuping' for a long time.