Ryan's 30th Birthday

Wow, last time I checked we were two wide eyed "kids" just graduating High School looking wishfully into the great blue yonder that was to be our far off distant future together

Well, fast forward 11 years and pheeeew!!! Where did the time go? A wonderful wedding, a dog (our first born), two beautiful kids, a little piece of land, wonderful jobs, loving friends, and poof, we're here, our far off distant future is the present.! It's just mind blowing and wonderful to see how far we've grown and how far we have to go!!! So many things to look forward to and so many blessings to be grateful for. Still, I just never thought we would turn 30!!! It just sounds so grown up yet, I feel the exact same.


Well, luckily for me, I don't have to reach this milestone for another year and a half!!! For Ryan however, it came and went. I was intending to do a surprise birthday for him and that quickly got quenched when I realized with friends and baby schedule's, this would be much too difficult. So when I asked the birthday boy what he would like to do, he expressed that he would love to just have a birthday party. Whens the last time I had a birthday party was actually what he said. So, done and done, a birthday party it was. After figuring out the details and our friends the Coli's graciously allowing us to terrorize their house, it was on. 21 of our friends and a bunch of kiddos, taco's, and last but certainly not least, yummy, yummy margarita's! We had a wonderful time laughing, talking, eating and drinking! The Coli's did a marvelous job at sprucing up their newly purchased home's back yard for the party and the setting couldn't have been better, 75 degree's, sunny, warm and gorgeous!!! Here are some photo's for you to enjoy the day with us;



















Oh, by the way, the birthday boy conveniently noticed just days before the event that our BBQ was on it's last leg's and sadly, finally quit working!!! Lucky for him, he got a brand new one the day before the party, just in time to pre-cook all the food!! Here he is dirtying it for the first time the day before;

Update on my Peanut

So, after talking to the lactation consultant on Mon. morning, she wanted a weight check to see how we should proceed after all this "building". After a headache and a half we finally got him weighed Mon. afternoon. Who would have thought it would be so hard to get a baby weighed!! Anyway, he gained 2oz. That might not sound like much, but in 3 months he gained a little under a pound so, 2oz. for a week is pretty good! Another call into Pat Ross, who promptly called me back later that afternoon, confimed that all my hard work had been good and I should probably keep it up to the best of my ability! What!!! Keep this up!!!! I was doing "okay" thinking that this was going to be a temporary thing for a week, now I have to keep this up!!!! Oh boy!! So she asked me, key word, asked, which I thought was just great, how I felt if Dr. Kotin wanted to supplement with formula. Thank you, I said, what I feel about that is; I feed him every 2hours and pump for 10-15minuets afterwards, solids in between and now you want me to supplement!!!! Where is the little guy going to put it? So, to answer your question, I feel like N-O!!!! Is the boy malnutritioned? No. Is he unhappy and seemingly hungry all the time? No. Is he growing and healthy? Yes. So back the f$%& off!!! Excuse my rage but really? A busy Mommy can only take so much! So after a talk with the pediatrician, I agreed to see a nutritionist. I will track what Ryder will eat for 2 days prior to the appointment and she will be able to analyze his calorie intake and how appropriate all this "over-eating" is. The one thing I like about this and probably why I agreed to it is that if she see's that he is doing the best he can and still not gaining, this is probably just his body type and that's that!! Really, I don't need a degree to tell you that. Well maybe a degree in Mommy 101! Anyway, stay tuned for that appointment, Apr. 8th I believe. For now, pump, pump and pump!!

My Peanut

Ryder had his 9 month Dr. appointment on Monday March 15, Auntie Amanda's Birthday!!!! Anyway, much to my assumption, he is a tiny little tot! While for his age in height he is average (32%) and his noggin circumference (44%), his weight is not matching up (.59%)! So, per Doc's requests, we are working on building my milk supply!!! What does this entail do you wonder?
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Well even if you don't here it goes;

• Get up, feed Ryder, pump,
• Feed Ryder 2 hours later, pump,
• Put Ryder down for nappy time,
• Feed Ryder upon awakening, pump,
• Feed Ryder 2 hours later, pump,
• Put Ryder down for second nappy time,
• Feed Ryder upon awakening, pump,
• Feed Ryder 2 hours later, pump,
• Pump one more time before drifting off to sleep until about 1:30a.m. when I feed Ryder
• Around 6:30ish, wake to feed Ryder yet one more time and start all over!

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This is just on the days when I'm home with him and I failed to mention all the other things I need to get done in between all that!!!! Things like grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, e-mails, breakfast, lunch and dinner for all 4 of us, etc. Sometimes I'm so thankful for work cause' it gives me a break from my "real" job!!!!! Pheeeewwwwww!!!!!
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I'm exhausted just writing this, oh boy!!! The good news is that it's only for a week and then we will have him weighed at the 10 day mark (March 25) and see if all that effort did anything to bulk my peanut up! If not, we will have to resort to supplementing with formula, which don't get me wrong is not a big deal, just more time, money and effort, that I don't' have! Anywho, for now this is my life and what can you do but love it. I love spending so much quality time with my baby who despite what the Dr. says, is growing like a weed. I just love cherishing our time together as Mommy and Son, for I know these days of "baby" Ryder are soon coming to an end.

Building Character Qualities

I try to work on building character qualities in my kiddos, not only is it important for them to learn them, but I get joy in teaching my kids to some day be able to "fend" for themselves. One we get to work on on a weekly basis at the grocery store is thriftiness. Constantly walking around the store I hear, "aw Mom, can we get this? Is it on sale?" Now sometimes I feel that I take this a bit far and worry sometimes what type of "character" I'm building.
As you know we are stretching our budget and trying to really pinch pennies, while I think it's important for Gracie to know this, sometimes I think it rubs off a bit much. Last night I came home late from work and accidentally "woke her up". (I think she wasn't really asleep, even though everyone else in the house was!) Anyway, she came out and I graciously let her come downstairs while I ate dinner, pumped and took care of house type things. We then snuggled up on the couch for a bit and watched one of our favorite shows, the Duggers, with their 19 kids and counting!! Anywho, I was not skipping through commercials for some crazy reason and a Kohl's commercial came on. They were advertising this weekends MEGA sale and continued on to advertise that EVERYTHING was on SALE!!!! My little frugal frog who is watching intently says to me "Everything is on sale?" (in one of those cute voices that goes up at the end as if to say, can we go, it's all on sale!!) Well, looks like were on to another character building quality, discernment!!! I of course explained to my 3 1/2 year old that this is a propaganda gimmick and that while everything might be "on sale", it's just a tactic they use because they just want you to buy stuff!! "Oh"! is all I got!

The American Cancer Society - Relay For Life of Oakdale:

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/MicheleReed

Please help out to donate or just pray for resources, efforts, and a CURE!!!!!

If you decide to donate, can you please click on My Team Page and donate to anyone on my team who needs help with fundraising. Thanks so much!!!

Little Accomplishments

With a 3 year age gap between my chitlin's it's hard for me to remember a lot about the first year and even the second. Going through it all a second time has opened my eyes to how wonderful the first year can be. We've already been through some great milestones such as the first smile, the first laugh/coo, sitting up, first meal, all that good stuff. However, now were getting into the "real" awesome milestones. While Ryder's been "scooting" all over the family room honing the nick name "Scooter" for a while now, today I officially saw a real crawl!!!!! This is especially neat to see because Gracie never "crawled". She defiantly got around but she did this half attempt at a real crawl where she would keep one foot out in the event she would need to get back on her bum, because she never quite figured out how to do that from her tummy, she than quickly walked and that was that. Ryder though, has mastered getting on to his bum from virtually any position. It defiantly hasn't been all that helpful with his new sleeping situation, but were trying to figure it out.

Anyway, seeing him wave, crawl, figure out the snack trap and eat Cheerios' from it, turning the pages in a book, saying some real words (we are all Dada these days) it is just amazing to me that these completely helpless creatures turn so quickly into the children they are growing to be! It is truly amazing and I love to watch his transformation almost everyday! While it is a bit bittersweet, watching him grow makes me happy and fulfilled that I hopefully will raise a great little human being. Especially in that first year, when there is not a whole lot of discipline, not a whole lot of "parenting" just love and fun and enjoyment of seeing them grow so rapidly! I hate that he's growing up so fast but for now, it's so much fun to watch his accomplishments and marvel at his incredibleness!!!!