Big Brother Love

Everyone always asks how Ryder does with his baby sister, so here’s a little glimpse:

I think he’s doing great!  He requires supervision because he gets a little too close and is a little too rough, but it’s all with good intentions.  He’s very sweet to her and always concerned with what she’s doing.  I definitely think he will be protective of her and a great brother & friend to her as they grow up.  I worried so much about this transition for him, but just like everything else, he has handled it with ease.  I’m sure like the rest of us, he doesn’t know what he ever did without her!

An Interview With Ryder – 2 Years Old

I saw this on Nicki’s blog and thought it was the cutest idea, so I tried it out on Ryder.  I wasn’t sure if he’d understand the whole Q&A thing, but I actually got answers out of him for every question!  Here is our interview:

What is your name?  Ryder Marsh

How old are you?  Two

What is your favorite color?  Green

Who is your best friend?  Maisy

What is your favorite animal? Cow…MOOOOO

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Ryder

What is your favorite show on TV?  Team Umi Zoomi

What makes you happy? Snacks

What makes you sad? Crying and bumping Ryder’s head

What is your favorite food to eat?  Hot pocket

What is your favorite song to sing? I got you in da strangle hold bay-bay and if your house gets in my way bay-bay you know I burn it down (I was really hoping Jesus Loves the Little Children was going to win this one…not so much!)

What is your favorite game to play?  Magic tricks

Here is Ryder at the time of this interview:

It will be cute to see how his answers change as he gets older.  Ever since I did this interview I can’t stop asking him questions, the way he answers always makes me laugh.  Everything this child does makes me laugh these days!

Meeting Callie

I was so anxious to get to the hospital yesterday to see Angela after she had her baby.  Normally it would have been because I couldn’t wait to see the baby, but this was so different, I just wanted to see my friend and know that she was okay!  We’re always so concerned with the babies and making sure they’re healthy and that the delivery goes okay, but we never really talk about the risks that the Moms face during delivery.  So finding out that Angela had a seizure during her c-section was so shocking and gut wrenching!  I feel horrible that CJ had to witness that and that Angela had to experience that.  I still don’t understand why that happened, but knowing that her and the baby are okay is what matters.  Once I finally got to see her and talk to her THEN I wanted to give Callie some lovin! 

 

She’s SO sweet and tiny!  She has the perfect little features and her skin is so smooth.  Seeing Maisy when I got home made me feel like she was so old already!

Awww looking at her pictures makes me excited to see her again.  It was fun being pregnant with one of my very best friends, this is definitely an experience we’ll always look back on…and no matter how rocky the road was getting there, in the end we have two healthy baby girls which makes it all worth it!

All Smiles

Besides all of her funny faces Maisy has been making these days, she has been really alert! 

Staring at Aunt B when she came to visit:

Watching her brother build legos:

And staring contently at the mobile on her swing:

From the Mouth of Ryder

I wish I could follow Ryder around with a video camera so that I can remember all the crazy stuff he says at this age.  He knows way too many words, sometimes they come out so intelligent, and other times they leave you like…HUH?!  Both ways are just hilarious so today I decided to keep this post open and jot down some of the things he said as the day went on.

Ryder’s gonna twirl that rug up Mom. And Captain Hooks gonna take it away.  And you’re gonna say Oh NO!  And then Ryder’s gonna get some soap in Ryder’s mouth.

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Me: Ryder you need to turn off Maisy’s chair since you’re not sitting in it anymore.

Ryder: NOOOOO!

Me: Mommy asked you to do something, you need to listen.

Ryder: Okayyyyy

Ryder: The chair’s gonna say “Noooo don’t turn the chair off Ryder!”

Me: The chair cannot say that to you, now turn it OFF!

Ryder: Okay, momma do you want a kiss?

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Ryder: Momma, Ryder’s room is exactly like yours!

Me: How do you even know what that means?

Ryder: Because Mom, Ryder knows the magic words!

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Can you draw Ryder a map?  With a clubhouse and a bridge and a funky old troll and some grass?

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Wanna build blocks?  We could build Handy Manny’s workshop!  OK now we need tools: a hammer, a saw, and a drill.  Now we need to find Handy Manny (I hate when he insists on finding one tiny little toy in his whole room…but the search began).

Don’t worry Handy Manny, Momma will find you.

(Still searching…)

You can do it Mom.

(Stiiiiiill searching…)

Don’t give up Momma!

Me: I FOUND HIM RYDER!!

Good job momma!  I knew you could do it!

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Daddy: Ryder come give me a bear hug.

Ryder: Noooo!

Mommy: Ryder, that made Daddy sad!  What do you think you could do to make him feel better?

Ryder: Oh I know, a Mousketool could help us!  Everyone say “Oh Toooooodles”.  Here he comes from the light.  Now Daddy’s not sad anymore!

 

His thoughts are all over the place these days, his imagination is in full gear and all of his new favorite shows have really taken his conversations to a whole other level!  This was just a glimpse of what goes on all day long, he literally never stops talking!

All About Ryder

There has been so much talk about Maisy on here lately, I’m going to make this post all about Ryder!

Ryder can be found these days laid back relaxing in his thinking chair…

He has added some new TV shows finally to his list that previously only included Blue’s Clue’s.  Now he likes Diego, Jake & the Neverland Pirates, the Mickey Mouse Club, and Ni Hao Kai Lan (thanks Kim!).  This has made it really hard to figure out what he’s talking about half the time because he’s referring to these shows that all have their different lingo and made up words and even different languages.  But it’s hilarious to see his little imagination at work when he tells us that he’s about to put on a parade…or that Jake & Cubby are coming over to play…or that he’s “Mouskersizing!” 

Ryder is the sweetest little guy, always giving out hugs and kisses to Mommy, Daddy, and Baby Sis…but boy did this 2 year old find his emotional side.  He will have a little episode and then go right back to being sweet in the snap of a finger.  He goes from 0 to frustrated in about 2 seconds now which has resulted in lots of little pep talks and a few trips to timeout to think about why he got so frustrated.  This is not good news for Lefty because he just doesn’t have the patience right now to try things like he used to.  We’re hoping this is just a 2 yr old thing and not a personality trait developing.  We’re doing our best to stay on top of it though so that he knows that getting frustrated and upset are not the best way to react when something doesn’t work the way you want it to. 

His absolute favorite thing to do right now is rough house with Daddy.  He loves to tackle Daddy and wrestle on the floor, use Daddy as his jungle gym, and let Daddy flip him onto his bed.  (Erin you’d be amazed at how “unstable” he is during this playtime and he loves it!)  He has been doing great in Occupational Therapy and overcome something that he has always had a HUGE issue with!   Abby has been trying to get him on a swing for a while now and he finally gave in!  He won’t get on alone, but he will swing with her now :)

And I thought this was neat, she smushed a bunch of beads into his therapy putty and he had to pick them out, using lefty to hold the putty down.

This child has so much energy, I feel like he puts on one big show that starts when he wakes up and ends when he lays down in bed at night.  He runs a circle around the open space in our living/dining room singing songs, dancing, and shaking his little hands in front of him (which I think is his version of strumming a guitar), just being so silly. 

 

It’s hard to even get a picture of him anymore because he’s constantly on the move.  He has become so independent since the baby was born.  Probably because I’m not able to do everything for him anymore but it has made me realize how fast he is growing up!  He can follow any of my instructions now, which has made him a great helper to Mommy, which makes him so proud!  He always says “Mommy I take good cares of you!” and he really does. 

His vocabulary continues to grow and his little mouth never stops moving.  You just never know what will come out of it next!  He finally added a word that we never thought we would hear from him, 3 simple letters, Y-E-S!  Yes, he is finally saying YES.  It has always either been “okay” or “ryder does” or “mmmhmm” But finally Daddy has taught the boy how to say yes.  It actually comes out “mmmhmm JES” but whatever, it’s a yes!

He makes us laugh and melts our hearts every single day.  He also tests our patience and gets in trouble on a daily basis now too!  But we are so lucky to have him as our son and I think Maisy is going to grow to love and appreciate him as much as we do.  She has no clue how lucky she is to have Ryder as her big brother, but she will one day! 

1 Month Dr. Appt

Maisy had her 1 month check-up today.  The Doctor said she looks great and is growing just like she should.  She weighed 10 pounds 1 ounce and was 22.5 inches long.  She has started to break out in little bumps all over her face and he said it’s just baby acne and could stick around for 2 months but it’s nothing to be concerned about.  I also told him about her fussy period in the evenings and he said it sounds like she has colic.  I thought maybe it was reflux like Ryder had, but he said since it’s only in the evenings and not all day long that it’s colic.  There’s not much you can do to make it better but he said most babies out grow it by 2 months of age.  She is content all day long but just has a hard time in the evenings, which isn’t always a bad thing since she gets a lot of energy out and then sleeps great through the night, only waking up to eat. 

So overall our girl is doing great!  We have to bring her back at 2 months for her first shots :(

She always looks at me like I’m crazy or something!  This was the look I got the whole time we were waiting in the Doctors office.  Silly girl.