Current favorite activity

Here is a minute and a half video of Ryder's favorite Fall activity. He LOVES to go into the backyard and pull leaves off of the trees. Unfortunately the leaves are all gone officially now and we have to find new activities. My favorite part of him doing this? When he tries to put the ripped leaves back into the tree....doesn't work very well ;)





I am also very excited because we officially ordered the dresser, which will be here in a couple weeks. And we picked out a crib and are going this weekend to buy it. And the PINK and WHITE bedding is also bought (yep, all girlie girl...all the way!) The nursery will be done over the Holiday season/winter break by Jenna's two older sisters and when it's done, you can be sure I'll be posting pictures!

Also, a shout out to my brother-in-law, Logan Haskins---> Happy 30th birthday this week!!!

Ryder's 18 month appt

Today we had Ryder's 18 month doctors appointment. We just love our pediatrition because she's so soft-spoken and gentle, which makes Ryder really calm. He let her listen to his lungs and heart and look in his ears and eyes without any peep. I can tell he really likes her and is comfortable with her, which in turn makes Joe and I comfortable too of course. The only time he got a slightly panicked look on his face is when she un-fastened his diaper and checked his balls :) He kinda looked at her and then looked at me like, "Hey, this lady has her hands you-know-where, Mom!!" Anyways, he only cried less than 30 seconds with his shots and I'm happy to say we don't have to go back until he's 2! I told our pediatrition that we'll probably just combine his two year appointment with the new baby's newborn appointment. Kill two birds with one stone, I guess!

So his stats are as follows:

Height: 32.5 inches-->55% (at 15 months he was 60% for height)

Weight: 30lbs-->90% (at 15 months he was 28 lbs and was 92nd percentile for weight)

Head: 50cm-->95% (at 15 months he was 48 cm and was 90% for head)

Let me also remind you that my head only measures 54 cm....he's got the big Haskins' head for sure!! But I love his big head...part of his charm I'd say ;) So the pediatrition said he's a big boy and there was nothing to be concerned about and that he looks great! Oh, and she also said that he has the "most perfect cheeks"---and she's right!

Yesterday Ryder had another ECFE class, and I tell you, he gets better every time we go there. He never once tried to lead me out the door this week, and during the second half of the class where the moms all sit together and chat and the kids are supposed to play...I'm happy to report that my child never once sat in my lap! He was off playing with the other kids or sometimes by himself, but either way it was without me by his side. Of course, he would come check in with me every five or so minutes---just a quick tap on the shoulder, a smile and off he'd go again.

And then we had my grandparents come down Monday morning and they stayed through Tuesday morning. He was in SUCH a good mood all day Monday, I was so happy that he was good for them and playful with them. It usually takes him quite a long time to warm up to people that aren't in the "safe six" (mom/dad, and both sets of grandparents), but within 20 minutes of them being here, he was playing and interacting with them. I was happy about that. He even had some snuggle time with Great Grandma on Monday afternoon after his nap, and with Great Grandpa Tuesday morning when he woke up!

I'm sad to see this week come to an end because this weekend is my weekend to work, and the start of my longer stretch on (boo!!) But, I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween weekend!

Hodge podge

Lately, we have not seen a lot of this:

I'm not kidding, it has been the loooongest three, almost four weeks of our lives. Sorry to throw the Johnson family under the bus, but after a family function on my mom's side we all picked up a nice little cold---which was the culprit of the "disasterous month". After about a week of a no sleep and crabby, sick-with-a-cold-baby...we found out Ryder's cold turned into an ear infection. Awesome, but at least there was an end in sight after we got some antibiotics (or so we thought). After battling the never ending cold (which I have learned with a children who can't blow their nose,s colds seriously last f.o.r.e.v.e.r.--->right all you moms out there??), his ear tugging stopped and he slept somewhat better for a few days. Less waking up in the middle of the night etc. That was until this last weekend after we finished all ten days of the amoxicillin, Ryder busts out in hives. Yep, allergic to the antibiotic. Great. If anyone has had hives, you know how much fun those are. And to top it off, I am 99% sure Ryder is now cutting his 2 year molars on the bottom. More good times. The hives were pretty much gone today and we are looking forward to a better week.

One of Ryder's favorite activities outside lately has been "helping" mom sweep out the garage. I'm getting nervous as the weather gets colder, because I start thinking "what the H-E-double-hockey-sticks are we going to do all winter???" Suggestions appreciated!! I know it's going to be nice this weekend so we'll be doing as much outdoors stuff as we possibly can! And I know this next picture looks like he's crapping his pants, but really he's screetching and yelling with excitement over the garage doors opening and closing. I never knew how entertaining that could be....

Happy baby! Have a good rest of the week everyone!!

16 week belly pictures

Yep, like I said before, your body more than remembers what to do the second time around. Below is a belly picture from when I was 4 months along with Ryder. And the second picture is of my belly at 4 months in round #2. Now, I'm not saying I'm overly ginormous or anything, but there is a definite difference. But I've been told that it eventually evens out and you don't look overly huge later on...we'll see if they're right!

Anyways, I'm excited for the week and weekend ahead (minus Thursday night, when I work....). Tomorrow is Ryder's ECFE class. Third times the charm?? Hopefully he'll do even better than last week; he gets better every time! Wednesday I'm going shopping for some maternity clothes. I'm banned to basically sweats (I suppose I'm mostly in those anyways...so what's the difference??) but for the rare event I'm in regular clothes, I will be needing some pants that I can actually button/fit into :) And then Friday after I get off work we're heading up North to the Haskins' cabin. It really is pretty up there in the Fall and Joe gets to do some hunting with his dad and Nick, his mom's cousin, who is in from California. So it should be a nice, relaxing and fun weekend. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week and their weekend as well!

16 week appointment

Nothing too exciting to share, but I thought I'd share anyways since family/friends keep track of the Haskins happenings on this blog.

I had my 16 week appointment today, and all is well. I'm gaining weight nicely (if there is such a thing), but not too much weight or anything, so that's good. My blood pressure is great. I was a bit annoyed because when we listened to the heart rate, the OB "guessed" the heart rate was in the 140's--but she was doing it by ear and not really calculating it since she "forgot her watch" today and the baby was moving around so much you couldn't hear it very well anyways. Either way, I know it's just an old wives tale, but we must be having a little boy! Our 20 week ultrasound appointment is on November 1st., so only time will tell.

I was thankful that Joe was able to jet out of work briefly to attend the drs appt so he could entertain Ryder while I was busy with the doctor. And it was a good thing that he was able to come because about 30 seconds before the lady called my name to come to the back room, Ryder so conveniently took a big, stinky dump....I was happy to leave Daddy to clean that one up :)

Baby movement

I'm sure most mommas out there agree that your first pregnancy is waaay different than your second one. It's because you are so focused on taking care of your busy toddler that you don't have a chance to really think about being pregnant. In fact, since I've been feeling better in my second trimester and am no longer sick, I seriously sometimes forget that I'm even pregnant! (except for that growing fupa gut I have going on...)

But I now have something special to remind me that I am indeed pregnant and not just having this crazy expanding body: baby movement! I felt movement with Ryder sometime between 16 and 17 weeks last time, but this baby I felt at 15 weeks. It's always at the same time every night when I finally sit down and kick my feet up after Ryder goes to bed. It makes it seem more real and brings a smile to my face every time :)

Today we had Ryder's 18 month photos taken with our favorite photographer: Paula Charchenko of Paulie Marie Creative photography. She's done all of Ryder's pictures since his newborn photos...and she's AWESOME. We went to this adorable little farm in Eden Prairie for a mini photo session (who can get an 18 month old to do pictures for longer than a half hour anyways, right?). Here's just one sneak peak photo that Paula posted on my facebook wall--a teaser if you will. I can't wait to see how the rest look! I will post them as soon as I get them back.

Doesn't he look like SUCH a big boy?? Crazy how time flies. Speaking of time flying, tomorrow I have my 16 week appointment. And that means that I will schedule our 20 week ultrasound there tomorrow---which is when we find out if we're having a boy or girl!! Woo hoo!

Our weekend fell flat on it's face

Joe and I were very excited coming into this weekend. We originally were going to head up North so Joe could do some hunting, but plans changed and we decided to stay home---so we had NO plans (and were very excited about it). We decided were going to bum around all weekend since it was supposed to be so nice out. Friday we were going to do nothing. Saturday night we were going out for our 3 year anniversary that is coming up on Tuesday. And Sunday the new plan was to head to the apple orchard. But alas...I have found out that I should never look forward to weekends like these, because something always happens where we can't enjoy it like we planned. (Or maybe this is what I've learned: you can't plan crap when you have a kid because it never works out--yes, that sounds more accurate)

Anyways, the story goes like this...Joe and I have a cold all week. Ryder seems to magically miss out on it during the week. Friday we head to our favorite place to eat that we can bring Ryder to (Ruby Tuesdays--we go here a lot). He was in such a good mood all day, the weather was gorgeous, he was great at Ruby Tuesdays, and he went to bed like a perfect angel. Since I worked the night before and we were both feeling like we needed a good night's sleep from being sick all week, we were in bed at (don't laugh!) 9pm on Friday. And you know what?? I was SOOO freaking thrilled! Until Ryder woke up screaming bloody murder at 10pm and was snotty, congested, feverish, and inconsolable (for almost two hours, no joke). He fell back asleep after midnight and then was up doing the same thing again from 4am to 630. Fell back asleep...aaaaand....awake for the day at 730. YAY! So saturday is pretty much shot because we were all sleepless and Ryder was miserable and fussy and clingy.

Because we had a babysitter lined up (Thank you Paul and Amy!) and it was to celebrate our anniversary and honestly, we needed a little break from a crying baby--we went out to eat/to a movie. It was nice, but it was hard to enjoy knowing Ryder was at home feeling so bad. Anyways, Saturday night Ryder would randomly wake up and whine/cry but nothing like the night before. He was pulling on his ears and was running a temp, so we took him to urgent care after a much needed morning nap today. We got an antibiotic for his ears and we thought, since he seemed to be feeling better, that we would still attempt to go to the orchard to take his mind off of him feeling so crappy. This is how it went:

Here is a picture of the happiest he was the whole time we were there. (And that would not be very happy...)

In fact, he prefered me to get out of his face....see below....

So Joe and I pretended like we were having a blast instead. Can't you tell? :)

So we just chalked this weekend up as a loss and decided we will no longer plan any fun weekends anymore because every time we do, something like this happens! haha. Oh well. I'm glad Ryder is feeling a little bit better, that's all that matters. Oooooh, one more funny story. When the pediatrition came in at urgent care and was talking to us and trying to assess Ryder, she kept laughing at him because he was giving her the biggest stank eye you have ever seen. She actually said, and I quote, "I see a LOT of stubborn children, but no one as stubborn as him in a long time!" Welcome to our world, lady ;)