Exciting Firsts + Transitions

This past weekend was full of new experiences for Mr. Ryan.  I thought I would wait and include all of this in his 5 month post, but I decided to go ahead and post these cute pictures.  There are a lot of other posts (including fall décor, carving a pumpkin, Katie's first field trip, and of course Halloween) coming soon, but this is what has been happening lately!

 

I finally got the exersaucer out and Brad put it back together!  Katie and Jack both loved it, and I think Ryan will too!  Once he gets a little taller and can jump around in it is likely when that time will come :) For now, when he gets in it, he still looks at everything in awe of it all!  And he gets his right arm caught in the leg hole when he's tired and not weight bearing anymore!  Here he is during his first time playing in it!

Later Sunday night, Ryan had his first baby cereal!  He did wonderfully with it (no one in our family has trouble with eating, for the most part)!  The top left is when I put him in the highchair and the top right is after his first bite. He was a little unsure at first.  And then, as evidenced by the bottom left, he was excited to get more!  And then the bottom right is after he finished it all!  And since he is now eating that, he has also gone down to 5 feedings a day!  WOOWOO! Ha.  I'm so glad he seems to like cereal!  In fact, tonight, when I fed it to him (which is usually around 6:00/6:15), he was so excited to eat it, and he even opened his mouth for bites when he saw the spoon coming!  Amazing!  And he scarfed down a tablespoon of cereal with moo juice mixed in.  I'm thinking I may be able to start giving him a little more! 

And then on Monday morning, Ryan took his first nap in the crib!  That is interesting to attempt when Jack is home, but I am eager to try to establish some form of routine for Ryan (with extreme flexibility of course) now.  If we are home and it is when he naps, I need to do better about it being in the crib and not the swing.  Afterall, he won't be able to hang in the swing too much longer!  A lot of time he also naps on the go with all the things we do and places we go.  With Jack here, I can't leave Jack unsupervised for 20+ minutes while I feed Ryan and lay him down.  So I try to feed Ryan downstairs and then walk him up to his crib - but walking up the stairs usually wakes him up.  This time I put a movie on for Jack and went and rocked Ryan until he fell asleep.  We did try on his back but he wouldn't have that.  Once I put him down on his belly, he slept almost 2 hours and did not budge.

And then Monday night, he slept in his crib for the first time at night!  Woohoo!  He did awesome.  I fed him around 9 and layed him down after that and ended up having to wake him up at 6:45 to feed him so I could get my morning routine going.  He did wake up around 12:45 but just needed his binky.  He has done well ever since!  Last night he was slightly more restless but it still wasn't bad.  I think him waking more when he was in here must have been because he heard us rolling over or something or Sadie jumping off/on the bed or repositioning.  I'm so glad he is doing well in there!

I can't believe we are already to all of these different stages with this sweet little guy!  We are so blessed that he is such a go-with-the-flow kind of baby!  And boy do I hope he continues to sleep well at night! :)

 

Our Morning Routine

In the mornings, it is definitely pretty hectic!  Everyone up and dressed and eating breakfast and practicing sight words and making it to the bus stop before the bus comes.  Whew!  Oh, and me getting ready and eating breakfast and making lunches...forgot that part.  All that after feeding Ryan and pumping.  Sheesh!  No wonder I'm tired before we even leave the house!

 

Lately, after we get Katie on the bus and off to school, we have been walking to the entrance of our neighborhood (not far from our house) to wave at and see the trucks, cars, buses, etc.  Jack is all about transportation and absolutely loves to wave hello to them!  And lately the bus drivers have all waved back to him - and some even honk the horn for him!  It is free entertainment and he absolutely loves it!

 

Once we leave the entrance, we go on a walk so I can get some exercise in.  On days Jack is home, we walk on the trails in the neighborhood.  On days he goes to MDO, we just do the loop of our street.  Regardless, it is great to get fresh air and move around some that early!  We may not do it as often once it gets cold, but for now, it is so fun!  I love seeing the smile on Jack's face as he points out dumptrucks and mixer trucks and yellow school buses and cars and teeny trucks.

 

Here he is waving to the bus!  We also practice colors of the cars and numbers by counting how many of something we see!

Here we are on our walk!  Ryan enjoys the walks too - he always looks around...and eventually falls asleep!

I am loving all the fall colors on the walks lately.  This is one of the paths we walk on...isn't it beautiful!?

And I love the fall colors on the trees up against the blue sky.  Absolutely stunning.

While I can't wait to get back to Tae Bo and running, I love our routine in the mornings!  And it has helped me meet more neighbors (some have stopped to ask why we sit there, while others smile and wave)!

 

 

I'm Here, I Promise!

Man, life is nuts.  I sure do miss blogging.  And I have all these ideas for posts bouncing around in my head.  I think I'm getting close to being able to blog most days.  First, I need to get Ryan on some semblance of a schedule (as much as I can with having two other crazies).  And second, he needs to go to bed at a normal bedtime and in his own room and bed.  We are on our way there - he slept in his crib last night and did wonderfully!  He only got up once needing his pacifier at like 12:30 (much better than the last two weeks in our room).  Sure hope that becomes a trend!

 

Having three kids is certainly no joke.  And very busy.  And oh so fun.  I need to do a recap of August (oops), September, and likely October...as well as several other catch up posts so I can get back to what we are currently up to!  So please keep reading. And check back often.  And if you have any ideas on posts you'd like to see (maybe a "daily grind" kind of post with what a day in my life looks like?), let me know!

 

For now, here are some pictures that I love and haven't had time to show you (all from about a month ago)!

 

 

Pumpkin Patch Time

We finally made it out for our annual adventure to the pumpkin patch!  We have done this every year since Katie was a wee one, and I look forward to it just as much each year!  I know it is going to get more and more difficult to find a time to go with sports, birthday parties, watching our teams play football, church, naptimes, etc, but I hope we make it a point to do this every year!

 

Our typical tradition involves a meal at Puckett's and a trip to Gentry's Farm.  Katie had a soccer game Saturday morning, so the plan was to go to that and then head to Puckett's for lunch and then the farm after that.  Well...there was a 45 minute wait at Puckett's, so we opted for a different restaurant this year.  Copper Kettle was delicious and far less crowded - perfect!

 

Once we got to Gentry's Farm, we had to get the annual "truck picture" -  it was somewhat successful!

 I think all three kiddos looking toward the camera equals success, don't you?

 Then it was time to go to the area where all the activities are!

 Katie couldn't wait to do the tire swing again this year!

 And Jack wanted a turn this year!  But he didn't want Daddy to let go :) 

 Cute boy!  Love his vest - and he did too...he didn't want to take it off!

 Next it was time to jump on the hayride!  Jack loved looking at the water in the pond.

 This is hilarious to me.  The sun must have been in Katie's eyes - that is what she does when I make her look near the sun for a picture.  I sure wish she was looking and smiling!  Oh well.  Real life, folks!

 I love baby cows.  And there were TONS out in the pasture!

 That farm is so beautiful - each year on the hayride I am reminded how blessed I am to live in such an amazing area that is so scenic!

 Another pretty picture - with a barn!

 This picture sums up Jack - always a blur!

And this little guy was so sweet - he slept most of the time we were there.  I know next year he will be right in the middle of it all!

 Dad and Robbin happened to be in town for a few days and came to watch Katie play soccer and ended up going to the farm with us.  Jack is crazy about Papa.  Maybe it is because they share a special goofball bond :)

 Once again.  On the move.  Always.

 Jack kept rearranging all the pumpkins on the porch of the barn.  And picking up rocks from the gravel and making a train with them :)

 Next up was playing with the corn!  I think both kids could have done this for a couple hours!

 Sweet girl looking WAY too old!

 Trying for a sweet picture but Jack was more interested in the corn.  It was also well past when he usually naps, so this was the best I would get!

 Growing like a weed.  She is about 4 feet tall...maybe even 4'1"!

 And I tried to get Jack to do this - he wasn't impressed.  He was ready to slide!

 I'm so glad this one is all mine.  It is so neat to see how she is learning and growing this year!

 I put Jack in this little area where the little guys can play and ride on these tractors.  What did he do?  Lined them up like they had parking places!  And counted them!  And then rode one around, of course!

 There's just something about this picture.  I absolutely love it!

 Finally, it was time to pick out some pumpkins before heading home for some quiet time and football.  Brad is pretty good at picking out pumpkins.  And the kids wanted in on it too!

 I think it was a unanimous decision!

 Love this one :)  They were getting their own little pumpkins!

 Here is Katie with the one she picked out!

 Jack picked one out too, but he really took a liking to the teeny one we picked out for Ryan! Ha!  He thought it was perfect to bang it on the drum and make as much noise as possible!

And then we were homeward bound.  What a great time we had!  I'm already looking forward to next year!

 

Want to see the posts about previous years?  Here ya go!  It is nuts how much the kiddos have grown and changed!

 

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

 

Our Fall Break

Before this weekend is over, I wanted to do a post about our long weekend last weekend!  I'm just barely slipping in there!  Katie had fall break, so she was off the Friday and Monday - and we had a blast! 

 

Thursday night, she had a sleepover with Cee Cee.  They did lots of art and made cookies and all kinds of fun things!  Katie made the mask in the picture all on her own!  And she played school with herself if that is possible :)  When she got home Friday afternoon, Brad informed her of something fun they were going to do the following day (Saturday).  That is the picture on the left.  She was so excited that she was going to her first college football game!  That's right, she and Brad took a day trip to Knoxville for the game - and thankfully saw a win!

Here are some pictures of their fun!  Of course I got a picture of them together before they left.  And Katie with Neyland Stadium behind her when they got there.  And they ate at Gus's before the game! And I love the picture of the two of them together at the game!  She had the best time and was so excited to tell me all about it!

While they were gone, I took the boys to the mall (it was nasty and rainy) and then we came home and relaxed and watched football.  Jack got some new Thomas rainboots and he couldn't wait to use them!  Ryan wore shoes for the first time and Jack was so excited for him :)  I also have to say I have the best neighbors ever!  They brought me homemade potato skins AND dinner - cheeseburger and corn on the cob! YUM!

On Sunday, we got up to head to church!  That afternoon we just relaxed and then of course we hit up Newks for dinner (just like every Sunday)!  Katie got to go up and order a piece of cake for all of us to share all by herself - she was excited to order and pay and get change!

On Monday, I took the kids to meet our neighbors at Monkey Joe's!  They both LOVE that place.  I love that it wears them out :)  Afterwards, we picked up Brad and went to lunch with him!  Apparently Jack LOVES corn on the cob!  I don't think there was a single kernel of corn left on there once he finished!  After quiet time, Katie had soccer practice.  We finished just before bad storms rolled through!  Whew!

And then it was back to the grind!  It was fun to stay here (for the most part) and have some fun rather than packing our life into the car to go somewhere.  Maybe we will do that next year - but for now, this was fun!