Ryan's 4!!!

Finally getting a chance to blog. Every time I sit down at the computer (99& of the time it's when I'm pumping) I just can't seem to get my thoughts on straight enough to blog. The boys are out of the house for a while and my princess girl is napping so I thought I better do it now or else I will never get the birthday post on.

My little preemie prince turned 4 years old 12 days ago. We had his birthday party two weeks ago on the 16th. He is at the stage now where he understands what having a party is all about..it's all about him! For weeks he was so excited and kept telling me who all was coming to the party..hehe. We took him to party city to pick out his theme and he picked Hot Wheels..imagine that! I was really trying to talk him into Disney Cars (since we still had the decorations from 2 years ago) but he wasn't having it..he wanted Hot Wheels. So, Hot Wheels it was. Preoccupied by work & everything going on at home, I was pretty late getting the invitations out and cake ordered. But it all worked out and Ryan had so much fun that day. You can see in the video below how happy he was to have all the attention on him when we sang Happy Birthday:



Dean ordered him a shirt that had the number 4 on it with his name and a Hot Wheels car (sorry for the blurry pic)

And he loves his scooter that his Auntie & cousin got him

And here's the cake:

You can see more pics on my picasa album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/mom2apreemie/Birthday?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOvm7fa1nrXU4wE&feat=directlink

Updates

For those of you who don't know, Katelyn is now home. She's been home for 3 weeks and it's been wonderful. Even though we are sometimes needing toothpicks to hold our eyelids open because we're so tired, it's worth it. She spent 52 days in the NICU and weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. when she came home. When we twen to the pediatrician the following day after her discharge she had gained 2 oz. Of course, the scale could have been calibrated slightly different but we'll take it. She doesn't go back until her 4 month check in August but we might be taking her in for a weight check in July. Wednesday we go to the surgery for a follow up so he can check the progress of her Omphalocele, so we can get a weight check there. She's been eating every 3 hrs for the most part..sometimes she doesn't make it that long but other times she sleeps right through the 3 hr mark and can make it 4 hrs. (too bad that hasn't been in the middle of the night). I'm anticipating she's 7 lbs. or more by now.

This time having a baby at home that just about made it to full term has definitely been different. Although she does have a birth defect, I'm actually more relaxed this time around. With Ryan being a preemie, I was so worried about germs and sicknesses, stressed about his terrible reflux that caused him to spit up multiple times a day and made him fussy and always concerned about him gaining weight. We also didn't go anywhere for about 6 months except to the doctor & occasionally to my parent's house. While I am still concerned with germs, we've already taken Katelyn out several places..we're just very aware of what we touch and make sure to purell or wash our hands before picking her up.

Ryan is such a wonderful big brother. He LOVES his sister so much. He always wants to be involved in what we are doing with her. Whether it be feeding her, diaper changes, changing her dressing and clothes or just watching her in the swing. It makes my heart melt that he is so willing to help out. He is definitely in the "terrible three's" stage but not when it comes to helping with his little sister.

Ryan has been going to daycare since September and loves it. The center we have him in is actually a Primary School and Daycare so it's much like a pre-preschool. He has learned so much in the past 8 months and has really grown, developmentally. He has learned to count to 39 (can't quite remember 40 yet), knows all of the lower and uppercase letters, tells us all about the weather for the day and what day of the week it is, can dress himself now, sings a multitude of nursery rhymes and is now coloring in the lines rather than just scribbling everywhere. I think the thing that still amazes me is how much he talks now and how much he remembers. Out of the blue he will start talking about something that may have happened several months ago...like my parents taking him to see the Grave Digger monster truck last fall. They will be having many activities for summer at daycare so I know he will have so much fun.

Busy, Busy

We're still alive & kicking just really busy. As most of you know if you follow me on FB or my Caringbridge page for Katelyn, she is still in the NICU. I was really hoping she'd be home by now but she had other ideas. I think she's back on the uphill after downsliding a bit so now I'm hoping by early June she'll be home. I'm still counting my blessings and thanking the good Lord above because I know things could be much worse. So it's been back and forth to the NICU every day, trying to pump every 3 hours (since obviously I can't breastfeed right now) and still trying to keep somewhat of a normal routine with Ryan. Oh yes and doing errands, paying bills, doing laundry, etc etc.

Ryan is loving being a big brother from a distance. He loves seeing pictures & videos. I pump in her room, so he's in there a lot with me and either brings in his toys to play with or starts organizing Katelyn's stuff. Her room is not all that organized yet but I do have her stuffed animals on the bookshelf and Ryan seems to think they need to go in her crib. Also, my mom got her a butterfly that plays music and lights up the starry sky on the ceiling and Ryan wanted to take it out of the box & put it out for her.

Today was an exciting day because we let Ryan go visit his sister for the first time. She will be 6 weeks old tomorrow (wow, really?) and we figured it was time. Also, he's not sick..probably because he just got done with his antibiotic last week that he was taking for his double ear infection. That's really what has prevented us too from taking him. Ryan was sick, then Dean got pneumonia & I was sick for about a week with the cough & congestion. We've seen our share of sicknesses and I'm over it! Back to the visit...Ryan was so excited to see his baby sister. He was smiling from ear to ear, told the receptionist "I'm going to see my baby sister" and when we were walking down the hall towards the Pod he kept saying "I'm so excited". We washed up and then I got her out of her crib so Dean could hold her. Ryan was smiling and telling her Hi and waving to her..hehe.

meeting her for the first time

He was showing Katelyn a picture he colored for her

he was softly touching her head

giving her a goodbye kiss

This morning we went to the store so Ryan could pick out his big boy bedding. We wanted to move him into a twin bed because for one, we wanted to use the crib/toddler mattress for Katelyn's crib and two because he has outgrown his Thomas toddler bed. I thought we might be able to get a few more months out of it, but we saw no point in having to buy another crib mattress and he is just to long for it, he sleeps scrunched up in it and sometimes I go in there and he's turned sideways. Ryan was excited to get into bed tonight. So much so that he didn't even ask for us to read any books to him. Let's hope he stays that excited for bedtime! (probably won't but hey, one can wish)

Of course he picked Cars!

plenty of room to stretch out!

 

Ryan & his balance bike

Since getting his balance bike for Christmas, there hasn't been much opportunity to ride it outside since it's been pretty cold the past few months. Luckily, we're now getting some warmer temps so it's time to head outside amungst all the pollen. Ryan's been riding his bike back and forth from our kitchen to the family room..which is not all that big (we live in a townhouse) but he's gotten so good with his balance and now lifts his feet up off the ground. Dean went outside with him after work today so he got a couple videos, he could hardly keep up with Ryan since he was moving so fast.

Ryan loves his sister

These days most of the talk around the house is about Ryan's new baby sister. We have shown him all the pictures and videos we have taken and he already loves her. He knows she's in the hospital but we have not taken him to see her. He's at the age that he's starting to get afraid of things. A couple months ago he woke up during a thunderstorm crying and would not go back to sleep in his own bed...so now he's afraid of thunderstorms. I know seeing his sister wouldn't be scary in itself but seeing everything else in the NICU, the machines, other babies, all the noises, might so right now we're holding off taking him to see her. My mom helped him write a card for her and we took that in along with the lovie he helped pick out for her and it's watching over her:

If your following the caringbridge webpage you know the latest on Katelyn so I won't repeat that but yesterday we did get to hold her again and of course I had to put another frilly headband on her..hehe One of the nurses said Katelyn could use it as a garter on her wedding day..ha!

 

Katelyn Grace!

Katelyn Grace blessed us with her presence Sunday, April 3rd weighing 5 lbs. 13 oz and was 18" long. I was 36 weeks & 6 days...1 day shy of being full term. I'm so thankful to have made it as far as I did though and Katelyn is just such a blessing and a proving that she too is a miracle.

She was born with an abdominal wall defect called an Omphalocele. Her liver, intestine and some bowel are outside of her body contained in a sac. We knew early on about this defect and had many many worries but all we could really do is pray and knew that God had a plan. So far, all tests that have been done on her such as a heart echo, kidney ultrasound and headscan have all come back normal! They started her on a tiny amount (3cc's or ml's which is comparable to a tsp.) of breast milk tonight and as of a couple hours ago, she kept it all down. Hopefully when I call after I write this, they will say, she still kept it down.

I think I will start a Caringbridge webpage for updates and pictures. It's a private website for anyone going through a health situtation. Apparently, once your done updating the site, you can have it printed into a book. I would love that for memory sake. I will try and work on that this weekend. If you'd like me to include you in on the people who can access that page, email me, comment here or if your reading this on FB, send me a message to my inbox.

36 weeks!

As of today I am 36 weeks 1 day pregnant! I am 8 weeks further along then when I delivered Ryan. That in itself is exciting but what's even more exciting is the fact that next Monday I will be considered Full Term! Of course I want to go THREE more weeks..until 39 weeks when they are planning on delivering by a repeat c-section.

3 weeks ago I started out having what I thought was just allergy symptoms of a sore throat and then a cough. Ryan got pneumonia during this time and my symptoms quickly got worse, to the point that one day I could hardly get out of bed and thought I had the flu. I was put on a 5 day z-pac but that did not help and ended up with bronchitis. My OB was concerned about my symptoms and sent me for a chest x-ray for pneumonia and luckily that was negative so I started on an inhaler. The next evening, I ended up in the ER because I felt like I had a cracked rib because I couldn’t breathe deeply and it was an intense sharp pain. After 8 hours and many tests, it was determined I had Pleurisy which is an inflammation of the lining of the lungs. Unfortunately, because I’m pregnant there is nothing I can take for it other than Tylenol. It’s been almost a week now and I am slowly getting better. My coughing has decreased to the point where I’m only using the inhaler once a day and my pain has lessened as well but I’m still short of breath when I walk only a few blocks. My OB group is still concerned that I could have what’s called Peripartum Cardiomyapathy, a heart condition that shows up in the late stages of pregnancy, therefore I’m having an EKG done next week. I don’t feel like it will show anything but I’m glad they are being proactive. My blood pressure has been elevated the past couple weeks so now they are monitoring me for Pre-Eclampsia which can be life threatening. Again, I only have elevated blood pressure and none of the other symptoms (swelling in the face & hands, protein in my urine) but I'm glad they are being proactive. I really have a good rapport with the Physician's Assistant whom I see every time I go plus the doctors. I have one main doctor but have seen several others in the practice.

As far as Baby Girl Perry is concerned, she is looking great. Today’s ultrasound she was being stubborn and laying on her tummy so they could only get a few measurements. But she was breathing really well and the heart looked good. At my last ultrasound 3 weeks ago, she was growing right on target. Today’s estimated weight was around 6 lbs. but again, that’s just an estimate since they could not get all the measurements. I will have another ultrasound in 2 weeks for growth and probably to get a final position of the baby. If all goes well and Baby Girl stays put, her Birth Day is scheduled for Monday, April 18th!

The office staff at work threw me a delightful baby shower last week and I (well, the baby) got lots of adorable outfits, blankets & basic necessities. The nursery is coming along and Ryan is talking so much about his "baby sister". He was so proud to help Dean out this past weekend, getting the crib put together and furniture moved around.

Hopefully, I can get some pictures posted on here some time soon. I just haven't had the energy or will to take any since being sick. I did take a video of Ryan but I'll update on him in another post later this week..after his speech therapy (I believe he might be released).

The sickies got us!

Has it really been 3 weeks since my last blog post? Grrr..Well, I do have an excuse for the last almost 2 weeks..either Ryan or I have been sick. Ryan started getting sick again almost 2 weeks ago and woke up that Friday and vomited. That evening he developed a rash that went away as quickly as it came. The whole weekend, the rash would come and go. Then on Sunday, he developed goopy eyes and his cough and congestion got worse. My mom kept him on Monday and when I picked him up, he was just laying on the couch and I could tell he was miserable. I called the pedi after hours line and after over an hour, the nurse finally called me back and told me to bring him in since the rash could be strep. Took him in and the pedi, whom I did not care for, passed it off as a virus and gave him an antibiotic for his pink eye. I was pretty mad because this is the same pedi we saw about 3 weeks ago when he the snotty nose and was coughing pretty constantly and she passed it off as a virus that would go away...well it didn't! So, fast forward to Wednesday..2 days later and I'm taking him in the pedi office again! Ryan had been coughing for the past 2 days. Wednesday he woke up without a fever so I thought that was pretty good. But, throughout the morning his coughing would not stop. He just layed in the recliner, while I layed on the couch (at this point, I was starting to get sick). I checked his temp. around lunchtime and it was 103 degrees. I called the pedi and they told me to bring him in and I made sure I got an appt. with another pedi. In fact, it was a nurse practitioner. I told her what had been going on and she saw his records that we had been in 2 days before but to her, something else seemed to wrong, other than a "virus". So, she ordered chest x-rays and blood work. She thought that maybe his bronchitis was coming back even though his lungs sounded okay. That evening, they called and said something I wasn't really expecting, that he had the start of pneumonia! What?? I was pretty livid. Especially since we had been in there twice within 17 days, the most recent, just 2 nights before! Now that he's been on the inhaler and strong antibiotic, he's much better. We've of course kept him out of daycare and not taken him to any of his therapy appointments, which has definitely been hard. Only because I've been sick and my mom has been sick. I could hardly make it out of bed on Friday and swore I had the flu so I had my dad take me to the doctor. Since I had no fever, they passed it off as a flu-like virus that apparently is around (I know at least 6 people who have it or recently had it). It takes 7-10 days to run it's course and boy has it been a longgggg 7-10 days. It's day 7 and I'm just starting to feel better. The coughing is the worst. My stomach feels like it's been punched numerous times by a boxing professional, not to mention I pulled a muscle from coughing so hard & often. I did get to go to my fetal non-stress test this week, so Sweet Pea is doing just fine. I know she's tired from me coughing all the time too...it's messing up her sleep pattern.

Hopefully, this weekend we will be feeling better and I can get some pictures taken. We started cleaning & organizing the future nursery, our bedroom and Ryan's room a couple weekends ago so we need to finish that up so we (Dean) can put the crib together. Can't believe I'll be 35 weeks on Monday!

Update on Ryan

Like I said in the previous post, not too much has been going on lately. Ryan finally got over the flu & bronchitis, only for him to start having another snotty nose and start coughing again last week. Before it got out of hand, I took him in the pedi but they just said it had to run it's course. I was kind of peeved and told the pedi (not his regular pedi), that I really thought he needed an antibiotic to nip it in the bud before the whole house caught it, esp. me since my doc ended up putting me on one last time. All she did was offer alternatives...over the counter crap stuff. So off to Target we went to get some saline and Musinex. Ryan is the type that gets the opposite reaction in medication than most. Benedryl makes him hyper and so does Musinex (i've only given it to him one other time but I thought I would try it again). I could only stand to give him the a couple doses of the Musinex due to his hyperness but it's now Tuesday and so far...his cough has subsided and the saline is working pretty well in getting the gunk out of his nose.

My parents took Ryan and I to a train show this past weekend. Ryan had such a wonderful time and so did my dad. They had aisles and aisles of model trains and accessories and they had several large scale train displays set up. Ryan got to push lots of buttons and his Papa showed him all the train displays. They halso ad a couple Thomas the Train booths so we let him pick out a new train.

I think Ryan has already "Sprung ahead" for daylight savings time. He is waking up at 5:30 am again. In 3 weeks, this should mean that it will really be 6:30 am. Let's see if that actually plays out. Although, he really needs to be up at 6 am on the days he goes to daycare so we might be struggling on those days.

We never did buy the Goodnights underwear. He just had that one week or so of not waking up every night and going pee in his bed but ever since then, he either sleeps through without going or he will wake up and ask to go potty. (I should probably knock on wood)

The next couple weeks, we'll probably be trying to get his room reorganized. Right now, the future nursery is a playroom. We'll have to put some of the things in Ryan's room. He likes to watch dvd's on the tv in the playroom so I'm still debating if I want that in his room. The Leapfrog computer also hooks up to the tv but those are the only 2 things he can use the tv for...as it's not hooked up to cable (and it's an old non-digital tv). I just don't want him turning it on when he's expected to go to sleep. Although, I guess that's where discipline comes into play.

31 weeks

Yikes..it's been a while since I posted last! Luckily for me (since I use this blog as sort of a record of Ryan's life), not much has been going on but regular day to day life.

I'm now 31 weeks along and SweetPea is making her presence known even moreso now. Being this far along is new territory for me although some of the symptoms I have are not new. Two weeks ago my legs started swelling and when I went to my doctor appointment the scale showed I had gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks! Needless to say I was upset. I pretty much knew the weight gain was because of the swelling but it still didn't make me feel good to see that number on the scale. I saw the Physician's Assistant, whom I really really like and both her and the doctor said not to worry myself with the number on the scale. At this point, I just need to keep drinking my water, put up my feet as much as I can (haha, that's a hard one with a 3 1/2 yr old) and watch my sodium intake. When I was pregnant with Ryan, my legs started swellling at 22 weeks and never went back to normal until I delivered, but it was because I got dehydrated at an outdoor fair. At least this time, I know it's just another sign of my progress and that I'm 31 weeks. Another symptom that I have now is sciatic nerve pain. I also had this with Ryan which started at 24 weeks. It got so bad that I would have to hobble to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Right now, it's not that bad. But, it does stop me in my tracks all the sudden. All in all, I'll take whatever symptoms this pregnancy wants to give, because it means I'm still pregnant!

I'm getting fetal non-stress tests twice a week now. This started last Thursday because my ultrasound showed SweetPea was growing a little small, by 2 weeks. A fetal non-stress test is where the baby is hooked up to a monitor and the heart rate is monitored to make sure there are no destats or high accelerations. It also would show if I was having any contractions, which I might not feel. The 2 times I have gone, she has been perfect. The nurses say that she is "beautiful". She likes for me to sit back in the recliner and just relax because she starts kicking and moving like a jitter bug. My gut feeling is that she's just on the smaller side so I'm actually not too worried (about the only thing I'm not worried about). I have an appointment next week so hopefully we will schedule a c-section date.

Ryan & his bike

Today was a pretty great day weather wise...at least for February in Virginia. It was 70 degrees but pretty windy, however by the time we got home from work the wind had died down some so it was time to get Ryan outdoors. Thanks to another preemie mom (Kim), I found out about this great bike last year but we were unable to get it for him for his birthday. So, my parents bought Ryan his Strider Balance Bike for Christmas. Sometimes are winters are pretty mild but this year has been pretty cold so Ryan has only been able to cruise around our small townhouse on it. He was in heaven when we were able to go outside. He already seems pretty good at riding it so I can't wait until the weather stays nice and he can ride it a lot more outside. For those of you who don't know, the Strider Balance Bike has no pedals. It's all about letting the kids ride using their balance and is excellent for core strength. Once they get the hang of it, they can put their feet up on the foot rests & go as fast as they want. Here's a video of Ryan's first time outside with the bike:

28 weeks

Tomorrow (Monday) I'll be 28 weeks. I delivered Ryan at 28 weeks 5 days. Needless to say I've been pretty emotional lately. I've been seeing my high risk doctor every 3 weeks and having ultrasounds then as well and my risk of delivering early seems to be low. My cervix looks good, they've been doing testing & cultures & my fluid looks good too. Basically since the beginning, this pregnancy has been an emotional roller coaster so this week should probably be a cake walk compared to the last few months but I doubt it will be for me. I'm really trying not to stress about things and think positive but it's so very hard.  For reasons I'll share later, we already know sweet pea will be in the NICU so that makes it even harder to be positive. It's even more stressful too since I have no one in real life I can talk to about it. And those that I do, don't really see the big picture or truly what NICU life entails and how stressful it will be this time, especially since we have a 3 1/2 year old to take care of. I guess for right now, I should have small goals to work towards. And for this week, it will be just to make it through the week! Oh yeah, and to pass my 3 hour glucose test on Friday :-)

A Couple Challenges

I love my little boy so much. My preemie prince as I call him. But sometimes he just gives me (and Dean)challenges in which I just throw my hands up and say "I don't know what to do". Now I will say, this is probably a cake walk compared to what other people might go through with their child (or children), for instance children with autism but I wanted to blog about it for the reasons I blog about everything else...so I can look back and see what Ryan (and us) have overcome.

We've had this issue with him not wanting to go to bed for a while now. He could be ready to fall asleep downstairs or just snuggled up with Dean or I in the recliner but as soon as he gets in his room, he's wide awake and ready to play. We'll let him potty, brush his teeth & then read books and then it's lights out. Not 5 minutes after we close the door, he's out of bed, opens the door and the procrastination starts. He needs to potty again. He needs a tissue for his runny nose. OR it's nothing at all.  It all started around November when we fell back an hour for daylight savings time. Luckily for us, this was around the time when Christmas and "Santa" was everywhere. So, eventually every night when we put Ryan to bed, we would tell him that he needed to be a good boy and stay in bed if he wanted Santa to come and bring him presents (yes, I know bribery is probably bad but we were desperate). This worked mostly every night. Now that Christmas is over, he's at it again. Sometimes it's a full hour after we've turned out the lights, that he finally settles down and goes to sleep. We're at the point of starting the bedtime routine at 6:45 if we can, since it takes at least 15 minutes to potty, brush teeth and read 100 books (okay maybe not that many but sometimes it seems like it). Going to sleep prior to 8 pm wasn't an issue before he started daycare since most days my mom would come watch him so he didn't need to be up early but he goes to daycare 3 days a week so he needs to be up by 6..6:15 at the very latest. So when he doesn't go to sleep when it's bedtime, that makes for a very difficult & stressful morning since he doesn't want to get up. If he does get up on time, then it's a slow go. I'm hoping this is just another phase and it ends soon or that other mama's will have suggestions for me..hint hint!

So now that Ryan is potty trained, he refuses to wear pull-ups. Now that makes us so estastic but I thought we'd be able to keep him in them at night since he's not night trained. He doesn't wake up at night..until it's too late. We haven't had to get up every night to change his sheets but it's more nights than not. His teacher suggested GoodNights which are similar to pull-ups in the amount of moisture it holds but is suppose to be closer to underwear in the toddler's eyes. I guess we'll be trying those and hope they work. I'll definitely post once we try them out.

Update

We've all been sick here and I still am. Ryan started to not feel good last Thursday so he didn't go to ST and we kept him out of daycare Friday because of his fever. Over the weekend he would seem like he was fine but his cough sounded croup-like at times and he started saying his left ear hurt. Since I had off Monday because of the holiday, I decided to take him in to the pedi just to get checked out. Turns out he had the flu and a slight case of bronchitis. He got a chest x-ray just to rule out pneumonia. So, we've had to give him puffs of an inhaler all week which has definitely helped. During all this Dean got sick too and Thursday evening I started getting sick. Ours is more of a cold, with the congestion, coughing, achy & sneezing. I pretty much just have to deal with it since there's only so much I can (or really want to) take.

My next doc appt is Monday so if I'm not feeling better by then, hopefully he will give me something to break up the congestion a bit. I have the glucola test then as well which tests for gestational diabetes and I am certainly not looking forward to that, especially since I'm not feeling well. I can't believe as of Monday I will be 27 weeks. I have already been more emotional lately and as I get to the 28 week mark when I had Ryan, I'm becoming even more anxious & emotional. If I could just get to 37 weeks this time, it would be fabulous. It's not going to take off the stress that will certainly come after the baby is born but it will certainly help her outcome.

Since we've been sick and haven't done anything outside the house, I'll post a couple videos I took of Ryan right after the new year. He was still singing Christmas songs and kept asking us if Christmas was over..silly boy. Oh and he picks out his own pj's now and dresses himself, hence the mismatched pj's..hehe

Finally!!!

YES! Ryan is now FULLY potty trained! No more pull ups for this big boy! Well, I say that but in actuality we still make him wear one over his underwear for bedtime. He does wake up dry but it's my clutch I guess. Those darn toddler bed sheets are a pain to change in the middle of the night ya know..hehe. We'll just finish the pack we have and then won't buy anymore.

We started the potty training process last February! Even before that time we would occasionally sit him on the potty. He did pretty well at first and every once in a while would tell us that he needed to go to the bathroom. Then it got to be that he just wanted to either flush the toilet, play with the toilet paper or play with the water in the sink. That went on for a while so we just stopped pushing the PT-ing issue. He's never been fearful of the potty, he just likes to play. Throughout the summer he'd go every now and then. We could have pushed but I just saw no reason too. He didn't have to be potty trained to go into the 3 year old classroom at daycare and I felt that once he was around other kids using the potty that it would probably help him more than us pushing him. I was right. Once he started daycare in September, he started poopin' on the potty and loved to use the potty anywhere outside the house; stores, restaurants & other people's house. At home he was going more and more but would still get preoccupied by playing that he wouldn't go. In November I noticed I didn't have to bring in anymore pull-ups at daycare and by last month, we knew it was time for underwear when he woke up dry in the morning. So I guess you could say that was our Christmas present and it started the new year off pretty well!

Snow & more snow

So as I stated in the last post, we got snow beginning in the evening on Christmas. It lasted the whole next day and we ended up with about 14". What we thought was going to be a productive week off from work, turned out to be a lazy week off. We were going to declutter the closets, especially the one in the spare bedroom/playroom that will be the new baby's room. I was going to take Ryan to daycare so he would still have that structure and get his energy out. Instead, we stayed home and played with all of Ryan's new toys. My sis & BIL did come over in the afternoon and we went outside to play in the snow for a bit. It was really cold outside so we didn't stay out long. Ryan had a fun time since they brought their dog too.

helping me brush the snow off the truck

making a snow angel

playing with Auntie

Then we went out the next afternoon and he got to build a snowman with Daddy

 and eat some snow

 and pose with Daddy

 and then with Mommy

The local theme park that we have season tickets for during the Spring/Summer started "Christmastown" last year in which they open the day after Thanksgiving & open every weekend through New Year's Eve. A couple months ago they offered a fantastic steal on tickets so I got 2 sets of tickets. Now, usually the weather is chilly around here during December but not bone chilling cold. Well, this year was different and it's been pretty darn cold so we never had the opportunity to go until the week after Christmas (still cold but I didn't want the tickets to go to waste). The first night we went , we took Dean's mom. The park only has a few kiddie rides open so it's mostly Christmas type shows & most of the park is open and filled with trees decorated with lights and in two areas of the park they even have "snow" blowing around. Ryan LOVED all the lights & displays and we had a great time.

enjoying some hot chocolate

 Dean, Ryan & Grandma

New Year's Eve we went again. My godson who loves to play those games that just take your money (ha!), decided to play for a huge Frosty the Snowman. Dean and him bought 20 balls and the object was to get it into the middle cup (out of probably 100 cups). Dean and him threw most of the balls but Ryan threw a couple, my friend threw a couple and then when there were 3 left, I got my chance to throw one. And to mine & everyone's disbelief I WON! I got it in the magic cup! Frosty got to ride in the stroller for the remaining time we were there and drew a lot of attention (apparently not many Frosty's had been won and I was only the 1st one that day). We even debated taking bids from people to see if they wanted to buy him but alas, he went home with us and will stay around the house for a while.

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Christmas 2010 was so exciting for us this year. It was so wonderful to experience Christmas through a 3 year old's eyes. He loved every minute of it and all the days leading up to it.

Christmas Eve we usually spend with Dean's Mom & Brother. Before Ryan was born we used to try and visit both my family & Dean's Mom on Christmas Day and would even eat 2 meals! Of course all that changed when Ryan was born. We decided it would be best if we celebrated Christmas Eve with Dean's family & Christmas Day with my family. It's so much easier and less stressful when they come to our house so we don't mind cooking at all. Ryan happened to take an early nap this day so he actually went with Dean to go pick them up and bring them back to our house. Lots of food was eaten and then we opened gifts. Ryan loved all his gifts but especially the Disney Cars car launcher:

and the Nascar playmat his Uncle David & cousins gave him

After playing for a while it was time to get in his Christmas jammies and set milk & cookies for Santa.

He went to bed with no problems since I told him Santa wouldn't come until he was asleep. Santa came soon after & left many toys & filled Ryan's stocking. Christmas morning was just like any other morning at first though. Ryan actually didn't realize it was Christmas day when he woke up and came into our bed. When asked who came last night, he just said Grandma & Uncle Dennis..hehe. Once we went downstairs though, he knew Santa had come! Santa brought me a new camera so there are way too many pictures to post but here are my favorites:

Later on Ryan & I got to lay down for a nap and then it was time to go to my parents house. My sis & brother-in-law had come into town and brought their sweet dog and my brother & his girlfriend brought their 2 dogs so it was a pretty festive house. Ryan sure had a great time! It was time to open presents and Ryan couldn't get enough. Sheer excitement is all I can say.

Monster Truck!

 Monster truck ramp

As I posted before, one of his favorite gifts..A Strider Balance Bike

It was surely a Christmas to remember and it was topped off with SNOW! It started snowing soon before we left my parents house. I don't remember for sure, but I don't think it's ever snowed on Christmas in our city. If so, I doubt it's been more than once. We ended up getting about 14" that night & all of Sunday..the 3rd highest record snowfall! I can only imagine what Christmas next year will bring with a 4 year old (and a baby)!