Flash Me Friday: the front of your house!

This week's Flash Me Friday is the front of your house. If you want to join in on the fun---head over to Jen's blog to see what it's all about!



(I'm posting a day early because we are heading up North for the 4th...so I guess it's "flash me thursday" today!)

Ryder's 2nd PT appointment

This morning we had Ryder's second physical therapy appointment. The therapist re-measured head tilt angles, the degree he can turn his head to each side, the degree he can hold his head up when tilted to each side etc. I am happy to report that the therapist was super impressed with his progress! She said she couldn't believe how much he had improved over the last two weeks (we didn't go last week because we couldn't get in on such short notice). She said she could tell we have been doing our "homework" with him---which, if anyone knows me well, you know I was doing it ;)

She also thought he was pretty strong in his legs and arms already too when she was testing his development---she thinks he's going to be a big, strong boy! She also may have mentioned how cute he was a time or two as well...I couldn't agree more!!

A little bumbo chair time. He LOVES staring at his orange monkey!

Such chubby cheeks! Such a big bottom boo boo lip! So cute :)

Bachelorette

I'll admit it. I'm a bachelorette junkie. It's so fakey and set up, but I can't help it. I.am.addicted. And, I will also tell you all, JOE is also a lover of the cheesy reality show. At first, he pretended not to be, but it was inevitable. He saw the light. At the gym tonight, I said to Joe that I would be ready to head home in 15 minutes. He came over to me and said that we should just leave now in order to get home to watch the Bachelorette. bahahah. I love it.

I also love that I can bring Ryder to the gym. Not Lifetime (which we still pay up the wazoo for in monthly dues, but rarely go). We bring Ryder to the Snap Fitness in Waconia. We time it so he's sleeping the whole time we're there, which works out nicely. I just jump on the tred (and walk, not run people---I'm having a tough time motivating myself to do anything really physical these days!) and put Ryder next to me on the ground in his car seat. No one says anything to us when we bring him there, but even if they did complain...who cares. We know the owner! (That would be Logan Haskins, Joe's brother and Ryder's Godfather. I'm thinking he'll let it slide....).

Naked baby butts

I changed Ryder's diaper because he had a massive blowout. Then he peed all over me while I was trying to get his diaper on....so since he was empty for a brief while, I let him air out his tushy and read a book! He loved it :) (and so did mom)

I hope everyone had as wonderful of a weekend as I did. Lots of relaxing and some good family time with the three of us! What a beautiful Sunday :) Have a good week all!

Flash me Friday: your bathroom

This week's Flash Me Friday is the bathroom I use most in the house. If you want to join in on the fun---head over to Jen's blog to see what it's all about!

This is coming into our bathroom.

This is the view to the right. Those pictures on the wall are pictures of when Joe and I were little in the bathtub. You'll see the whirlpool tub that I have used ONCE. yes ONCE when I was preggo. Kinda a waste of space if you ask me. I'd rather have a bigger closet or something. Whatever.

This is a vew to the left. You'll see my crap all over the counter.

Another update on working last night: I didn't. Something got all screwed up with scheduling and me being technically still on my maternity leave. So anyways, long story short: I didnt have to work last night. Today involved trying to figure out my health insurance and what's going to happen now that MNA (our nurse's union) decided to go on strike July 6th--which is before I'm due back to work on July 8th. Poopy. I'll keep you updated on the situation.

First night away :(

My technical time to return to work from my maternity leave is not until July 8th. BUT....in order to keep my health insurance and not pay COBRA for the month of July, I had to work one day before the end of this month. I asked around and found someone to let me pick up a shift for them...and it happens to be tonight :( I'm so not looking forward to working tonight for a few reasons. First and foremost: I have to leave my baby!! It will be the longest time away from him yet for me, so that is sad. Second, I did not sleep well last night because Ryder decided to wake up and cry because he lost his paci (and realized it, normally he doesnt care) at 1:20am, 3am (I fed him at this time), 4:30am, and 6am (I fed him again here to get him back to sleep). Ahhhh, it's like he knew that I was leaving him tonight and was punishing me by not letting me get a good night's sleep (all relative in the sense of "good" of course). Obviously he has no clue, but that's just what I like to think. Lastly, I am not nervous at all for Joe in the sense that he won't be able to handle Ryder at night. Joe is AWESOME with Ryder. But I'm worried he won't wake up and hear him! :) He sleeps like a rock and sometimes doesn't wake up when Ryder does. We'll just have to crank the monitor really loud for him I guess!

I'm grateful for my mother-in-law, Amy. She's coming down this afternoon/evening so I can get a nap in hopefully before working tonight. And I am also grateful for my own mom because she's coming down tomorrow morning early so that I can sleep tomorrow during the day for a little bit after I get off work. I am a lucky girl! Also exciting: Friday night we are going to watch Joe's cousin Jake and his band play at the Maple Tavern in Maple Grove. Should be a good time!!

how do you train a baby?

A few posts back, I mentioned trying to move Ryder's last big meal before bed a little earlier every few days with the hopes of eventually eliminating the need for that feeding and hoping he would sleep longer. It is NOT working. He wakes up without fail after about 5 hours (from the start of the last feeding) no matter what time I do the last feeding before putting him down for the night. So if I start feeding him at 9pm, then he's up by 130-2am (and subsequently again at 5 or 6). If I feed him at 11pm, he's up by 330-4am, etc. I've even bumped him up to 6oz for that last feeding thinking he maybe needed more to sustain him. Nope, no difference. Then I thought, maybe it's an internal clock and he's really not hungry but waking himself up because that's what time he always eats. But after listening to him cry for what seems like eternity (and a giant waste of time when I could have already fed him and then been back to bed...) I go to feed him and he eats as though he hasn't had a meal for days. What the heck!? I get frustrated because so many people tell me that their kid slept through the night at 4 weeks...at 6 weeks...or, "for sure by 3 months he'll be sleeping through the night"...I've even had someone tell me that their baby slept through the night from day one. Yes, day one. WHATEVER. Well, he's 2 1/2 months so something drastic better happen in the next 2 weeks in order to make it to that "magical three month sleeping through the night thing" haha. I know all babies are different, but seriously. I'm going back to work shortly (well, maybe....this whole strike thing may just give me a very extended maternity leave....) and I really would like to be on a better night schedule with him. Some people say you have to "train" your baby to sleep through the night. Well my question is: how do you train a baby to stop waking up and eating at night? Please do inform me. I am open to any and all suggestions ;)

Flash Me Fridays: something new to blog about!

I wanted a fun idea to blog about that wasn't always about Ryder's sleeping and eating (that gets old for all you readers out there I'm sure!). My friend Molly does this thing called "Flash Me Fridays" where you get a sneak peak into what their lives are like in their home/car/fridge, etc. Molly actually got the idea from someone else's blog---here's a little exerpt of why she started it:

Want to take a peek into someone else's life? Get nosy without being impolite?
Ever wonder...What does their laundry room/family room/garage look like?
Do they make their bed every morning?
What kind of food do they have inside their fridge?
Is my house cleaner or messier than theirs?

Want to join in on the fun? Head on over to Jen's Blog

Anywho, so this weeks Flash Me Friday is "What's in my fridge??"

Front of fridge:

Inside of fridge: meat, fruit, juice, milk, breastmilk!, yogurt...not much else

Inside of freezer: veggies, fish, lots of breastmilk up top, smoothies, waffles

PT update

Well, Ryder's appt went alright today. The therapist said that his neck wasn't as bad as he originally thought it would be when he saw that a 2 month old was coming in for PT. He said it's a really common problem for babies, especially now that "back to sleep" is so big these days. He said this problem never used to be a big deal back in the day because babies slept on their stomachs, which stretched out the sternoclidomastoid muscle (it's the muscle that runs on either side of your trachea that goes from your collar bone to behind your ear) because their heads were turned all the way to the side when they were on their stomachs. Ryder's issue is that his right side neck muscle is shorter and tight, and that same muscle on his left side is weak. This is why when you see some pictures of Ryder, his head is tilted to the side. The therapist said normally people wait until their baby is a little older till they decide it is a big problem, and then they bring them in and it's harder to correct the problem. So I guess I'm glad we're getting him in now. The therapist showed us different stretches and "holds" to put ryder in a few times each day to work on the problem. Besides doing this at home, he will go once a week for a month to the clinic for PT and then after that he will go every other week for a few months. Hopefully this helps.

Before today, I really felt stressed about his neck and working on it and doing the physical therapy. But when we were sitting in the clinic lobby today waiting for Ryder's appt, I realized just how lucky we are that Ryder is healthy. The clinic we are going to is Gillette Children's clinic, and is known for its amazing pediatric work in physical therapy and rehabilitation. There were two kids in the lobby that had major health issues: in wheelchairs, on oxygen, etc. One appeared to cerebal palsy and the other I'm thinking had spina bifida. I actually felt guilty making such a big deal out of something as small as a tight neck muscle with decreased range of motion! Sometimes, it's good to see things like that so you remember to count the blessings in your life. I couldn't imagine having a child with a disease or major disability and having to deal with those kind of stressors. My thoughts are with all those tough moms (and dads!) out there who deal with that daily.

Yay for decent weather!

It's amazing how much the weather can affect your energy levels. Yesterday was FINALLY nice (today is not too shabby either!) Joe and I took Ryder on a walk around the neighborhood and were sweating! Surprising considering the whole entire month of June we have been below average for the temperature--according to Fox 9 news, that is.

Anyways, today is Ryder's first physical therapy consult at 2pm. We will find out whether or not we can just do stuff at home or if they want him to come into the clinic to do PT (physical therapy) with the therapist. I'll post later and give you the updates. Enjoy the weather!

It's getting better all the time

For about 5 days now, Ryder has been on a better night schedule. Yay for Joe and me! So his typical "schedule" now is that he eats his last meal before going in his crib for the night around 1030 or 11. He usually takes 4oz when we do give him a bottle during the day, but then the last feeding before bed we give him a bigger bottle with 5 to 5 1/2 ounces in it. He then falls asleep right away and doesnt wake up again until around 4-430am. Again, he eats and then falls back asleep usually within 15 minutes or so. He then sleeps until about 8am. So that's not bad AT ALL compared to a few weeks ago. And if you look at it compared to the first month, we have eliminated 3 (yes, three!) night feedings: the 12am, 2am, and 6am feedings. And now today, after Ryder's 8am feeding he fell back asleep again at about 845 and is still sleeping right now at 1050!! So what I'm going to try tonight (since he obviously is still tired in the morning) is to switch his bigger bottle for his last meal from the 1030/11pm time slot to a little earlier time, like around 8 or 9pm. Then I will put him in his crib after that one and maybe joe and I can get to sleep earlier.........................

Or not...If any of you really know Joe, it's that he's a night owl and seriously has issues with getting to bed early (and by early, I mean like 10-1030). No matter how hard I try, I just cannot get him to not be a putz at night and get things done earlier in the evening. It will be 1030 at night (or like last night, 1115pm) and he'll be upstairs doing some "last minute" stuff on his work computer. Then it's the bedtime routine that takes forever....with the shower, the flossing...mix a little tv watching in there while he's brushing his teeth...maybe he forgot and now he needs a piece of toast as a bedtime snack because now he's hungry....can you see this kills me!?!? hahahaha. This never got to me before a baby, but Lordy does a baby change the way you look at how fast one can get in bed at night and therefore, how fast we can fall asleep. Oh, Joe.....I guess we balance each other out considering he's a procrastinator and I'm a scheduler. You gotta love him! ;) And hopefully Ryder will just start sleeping through the night soon so that this is no longer such a big deal (to me). I guess if that is our only stress with the baby, then we're doing alright :)

Date night for mom and dad

Joe and I went out on Saturday evening for an overdue date night. My parents came down and got in some good grandma and grandpa time with Ryder, so it was a win-win for everyone :) It was funny---Joe and I were almost giddy we were so excited to be out and about. We were laughing and having a good time. After an awesome Redstone dinner (we were going to go to a new Greek place, but at the last minute decided we wanted to go for a sure thing since we don't get out often!), we headed over to Best Buy (I know, we're WILD) and bought some new dvds. Alas, we could not be out much longer than the 3 to 3 1/2 hours we were gone because of having to pump (yay, for nursing) but it was so much fun and I'm glad Joe and I got to "reconnect" I guess I would call it.

Speaking of nursing....

If you remember from the first few weeks after Ryder was born, I HATED HATED HATED every minute of breastfeeding. Some people say it comes naturally and that it's easy. I would like to find those people, and I would like to pinch those people. Hard. No, I'm kidding totally. But let's just say that it did NOT come easy for me and I wanted to quit each and every time I nursed Ryder for the first month, especially the first two weeks which were brutally painful. That means that I spent about half of the day wishing I could quit, considering Ryder fed 12 times a day for almost an hour a pop!! Anyways, enough complaining. I am super glad I stuck it out because around week 4 it finally stopped hurting so incredibly bad and burning, but was still uncomfortable. And by week 7 (yes, almost 2 months) it finally stopped being irritated/uncomfortable. It's now easy, and I don't mind nursing anymore. In fact, I actually enjoy that time being so close with Ryder. Especially now that he's getting so big so fast!! Unless he's nursing or really really tired, he no longer likes to be held like a baby :( He is too curious and likes to look around. I guess I will try even harder to enjoy each and every day.

PS: I think that last paragraph was TMI (too much information). It's a good thing that kinda thing doesn't bother me ;)

2 month well baby check

We had Ryder's 2 month well baby check today. My poor little buddy got his first shots :( I thought I'd be the strong one between Joe and myself, but it affected me more than I thought. When the two nurses said "one, two, three" and jabbed ridiculously long needles into his little chunk thighs, he did the momentary pause as he assessed the situation and then his faced turned a shade of red I have never seen before. He proceeded to cry so hard he did the whole not breathing thing/not making a sound. I felt so sosososososo bad! It absolutely broke my heart. I didn't drop any tears, but I did get tears in my eyes and I had to fight to keep them from dropping :(

But he did alright other than that. I put him quickly to the boob afterwards, which is the best way to calm a super upset baby! He fell asleep almost immediately once he settled down and slept for an hour and a half. He woke up to feed and then took another hour long nap. He had been a bit fussy before dinner, but nothing too bad. But right now, he's sitting on Daddy's lap playing and smiling. Poor buddy is such a trooper!!

As for his stats:

2 week 2 months
20.5inches (50 percentile) 23 3/8 inches (70th percentile)
8lbs (25 percentile) 12 lbs 5.5 oz (70th percentile)


So as you can see, he's doing a LOT of growing and growing well. Our pediatrition (who we LOVE) said she's very impressed by how much he has gained/grown, which we feel pretty good about. She also was impressed by how strong his neck was too. And speaking of his neck....if you remember from back at his 2 week appointment the pediatrition noticed that his head always tipped to the one side from how he was sitting in the womb. Well, we had worked on stretching his neck and turning it and working on physical therapy stuff at home. She said she could tell that we had been working hard on it, and she said that he was much better....BUT still not good. So we have an appointment at the Gillette Children's Clinic next Thursday for a consult appointment for physical therapy. She thinks we'll just need to start him on a little physical therapy to really get his neck straightened out so that more problems don't occur down the road as he continues to grow. My poor little crooked necked baby!

Ryder Rolls Over!!

Yesterday I noticed Ryder rolled over from his tummy to his back when I was doing tummy time. I thought it was by accident, but he did it once more later that day. So when I was doing tummy time tonight he kept doing it over and over! So Joe ran and got the camera and we caught the last roll over before he was tired of doing it (he had already been playing under his floor gym for a half hour at this point and was ready for some sleep) But at least we caught it on camera!

Baptism

Ryder's Baptism was yesterday...he's now a pure and sin free as he'll ever be ;) Now, of course, being a planner as I am---I worked it out perfectly with his feedings and sleep time that he would be able to make it through the 1030 Mass and then the Baptism afterwards without needing to eat (and therefore, without being fussy). So Ryder sleeps like an angel through the whole Mass...BUT, by whole Mass I mean the whole entire hour and 20 minutes the Mass was!!! Of course the day we pick for the Baptism happens to be the same day that a long winded guest priest comes to talk about his missionary work and blah blah blah blah blah for an extra 20 minutes (am I going to H-E-double hockey sticks for saying that?) Anyways, so that throws off the schedule. THEN the Deacon who was doing the Baptism after Mass---which he did an awesome job, I reallylike him, but he likes to hear himself talk (also, going to H-E-double hockey sticks) and yapped for a good 15-20 minutes about random things before even starting the Baptism. At this point, Ryder was awake for the whole time the Deacon was talked and was happy as a clam, but I knew the crying would come soon because we were almost 3.5 hours from the last time he ate and he would be starving. So not long after we got to the Baptismal font did he start to fuss. I tried slyly putting his hands in his mouth to entertain him, but it only worked for about a minute or two before he started fussing. So my mom handed me the back up plan bottle that we SHOULDNT HAVE HAD TO USE...and we fed him during his Baptism. We would just take it out of his mouth briefly so they could put oil on his head etc. Oh, and he also filled his pants and was a stinky boy too!! :) So anyways, I guess the best laid plans rarely work when it comes to babies. But seriously, I was so annoyed with that priest (again, H-E-double hockey sticks) because Ryder would have been perfectly content if that extra 20 minutes wouldn't have been added on and the other 15 minutes of the Deacon talked....oh well. Other than that, he was as cute as can be in his little tux (i'll post pictures later) and the day ended up being nice after a brief rain, and the food and company was great! We all had a good time :)

On to the next topic I often blab about: sleep.

I thought his sleep was going to be horrendous last night because he was so over stimulated during the day from being passed around to all the family members and his sleep was so interrupted. Especially because right after people left, he was really fussy for awhile before I got him to sleep. I just let him bomb out for 2 1/2 hours even though he had gone a long time without eating then. But once he woke up, he ate, then slept another 2 plus hours. I think that really helped him recover from his lack of sleep earlier in the day because we fed him at 1030. had him sleeping by 1115 and we were sleeping by 1130. I was having these weird dreams about trying to pump, but I couldnt get to my pump and I woke up at 330 and Ryder was STILL sleeping. So I went downstairs and pumped (after I checked to make sure he was still breathing) and finally Ryder woke up at 4am to feed. which means he went 5 1/2 hours between feedings last night. After quickly feeding him a bottle, he was back sleeping by 4:45 and slept till 8am. So lets just say...YAY! I know it won't be like that from now on; I'm sure he was so tired from the busy day. Anyways, like I said, I will post pictures of the tux later.

A better night :)

So last night, we put ryder in his crib again. As usual, he slept great after his 11pm feeding and slept soundly till 245. After that feeding is when things usually get bad and I'm up till dawn because I can't sleep through the noises he makes and him being awake on and off. Well last night, I left his bedroom door open and ours and I shut off the monitor. That way I just heard him when he grunted really loudly or when he cried. I actually got an extra 1.5 hours of sleep that I normally dont get at that time interval. THEN, after his 545 feeding, I put him in his little travel swing we keep in our room and by a little after 7am he fell back asleep, which then I fell back asleep and we didnt get up till 9am!!!! I am telling you it is unbelievable the difference a little sleep will do for a girl. I can tell I'm more upbeat and happy and energetic today--good for both mommy and ryder...and daddy too!! I think i'll continue the whole disregarding the monitor and instead do the "old fashion" method of just keeping the doors open :)

The next two days are just us getting ready for Ryder's Baptism that is on Sunday. I'll post pictures later! Have a good weekend.

I love the 2/3am feeding...not.

I can't complain about sleeping at night compared to a month ago. Ryder used to eat at 10, 12, 2, 4, 6.....yes, yes he did. But I still have trouble thinking this is "good"-our nights now. He is in a schedule of eating sometime between 1030 and 11pm. then he falls asleep almost right after and I am sleeping usually by 12am. He sleeps really soundly until usually between 2 and 3. After that feeding/changing/burping session I lay him down to go back to sleep but he lays awake making little cooing noises or grunting for about an hour. Then, when he does happen to fall asleep sometime usually by 4, then he sleeps restless sleep for 20 min intervals at a time and then wakes up and grunts more again. We do this till about 5 or 6 am. then after he eats again, he usually bombs out for another two hours of sleep (give or take) around 7 or 8 am. So I'm really frustrated because by 7 or 8 I am up for the day and can't fall back asleep nine times out of ten for whatever reason. It's like my body knows that it's daytime or something. So like I said, I'm really frustrated because I have no idea how to flip flop the middle of the night awakeness for that 7/8am longer nap. I would LOVE if he went back to sleep at 4am for another two hours (or more, but I'll take what I can get right now). And of course, I can't sleep through him cooing/grunting etc, so I'm up through the whole thing..yay! Last night I tried him in his crib again to see if I would like that better, but I still can hear everything through his monitor. I wish I could just throw the monitor out the window. But that would be a bad thing for a mom to do I suppose.

Anyways, I've kind told myself that I have to wait until cereal or other solids are introduced into his diet in order to make progress towards sleeping more during the night. I have gotten a few books recently and I"m going to do a little research on "how to get your baby to sleep through the night". I'll keep you updated. Keep your fingers crossed and pray for us before you drift off to your 8 hours of sleep at night. ;)

Memorial weekend

I hope everyone had a good weekend and enjoyed the awesome weather! We were up at the Haskins' cabin in Park Rapids, MN. We had a good time, and once again, it was nice to have the extra help from Grandma and Grandpa. It was so nice to be able to bring Ryder upstairs and hand him off at 5am so Joe and I could go back to sleep for a few hours! Check out the sweet plaid shorts. (don't look at the scary cabin-clad, disheveled mom holding him though, please)

Kit ran into a stick running in the woods and suffered a giant puncture wound. She wouldn't stop licking it, so she had to wear Amy's tshirt all weekend :)