The Evolution of a Mother

Anyone who has more than one child knows, that the way you parent your second child, isn't always the same as it was with your first child.  I found this journal entry on Riley when he was 5 months and it is very interesting to me how different things are now.   I was most surprised by how large Riley was 19.5 pounds by the end of his 5th month…what a chunk-a-monk!  I gave rice cereal to Riley at 2 months and waited with Tate until around 4 1/2 months.  Can you tell which one is which?  

Here is Riley's Schedule from when he was 5 months olds

Riley is now 5 months old!  This last month was crazy: It was Riley's first Christmas, he met Uncle Jesse and Aunt Jen for the first time, he started solids, he gained 3 pounds and a whole bunch more!    Riley also started  formula......not as happy of a baby.  Ryan and I are offically true believers that breast milk makes a happy baby!  We started solids 1 month before formula and as soon as he stopped getting breast milk he was fussier, harder to put to sleep, spit up more, didn't sleep as well, constipated...the list goes on.  I guess now we know for baby # 2 to nurse longer (it's just rough on mom)  Hopefully he just needs time to adjust. I make Riley homemade baby food, I just bake or steam, puree and freeze in ice cube trays.  When it's time to eat, I get 2 cubes and zap in the microwave for 1 minute!  (Making his food also makes me feel less guilty about giving him formula) Here is a list of this past months accomplishments!

• Sits without support
• Grabs feet - sucks on toes
• Splashes in tub- protests when you take him out
• Pets dog and cat- laughs at bear
• Laughs when tickled
• Rolls over both ways
• Turns when he hears mom and now dad’s voice! ( he will crank his neck to see dad)
• Teething-can hold teethers now
• Too big for car seat and bouncy chair
• Pull up to stand from sitting
• Stand holding on to someone
• 9 month/12 month clothes
• Size 3 & 4 diapers
• Eats breast milk (1/1/2009 started formula) and homemade solids
  -sweet potatoes, pears, bananas, peaches, acorn squash, green beans, apples, & avocado
• Eats from the high chair
• Holds his own bottle for short periods
• 19.5 pounds as of 1/14/2009

Schedule

7 am Breakfast (8 oz bottle & 2.5 oz fruit)

8-10am Nap

-play-

11am Lunch (8 oz bottle & 2.5 oz vegi)

12-2pm Nap

2:30 Snack (8oz bottle)

-play-

4-5:30pm Nap

6pm Supper (8 oz bottle & 2.5 oz vegi)

-bath, read a book, anything relaxing-

8 pm Bedtime

PoTater is 5 MoNths

My Babes are growing TOO fast!

Riley turned 3 yesterday and now my PoTater is 5 months!

Tate is a pretty easy baby

• sleeps from 9pm-6am (or until he wiggles himself over)
• eats cereal at lunch and dinner (not too impressed by it though, some days he loves it and others not so much)
• nurses exclusively 
• rolls and scoots (all the way across the room)
• working on his first tooth
• we started using cloth diapers (and it's really not that bad)
• Riley and Tate finally have a "brotherly" relationship, Riley likes to hold Tate's hand and kiss and hug him
• smiles all the time
• size 9-12 month clothes
• 17 pounds
• size 3 diaper
• grunts and squawks when he wants picked up or fed

I am just in Love with these thighs!

We Loved You…Before We Knew You

It's 8 am, Friday August 15th 2008 and we already had been in the hospital for 36 hours, being pumped with pitocin and pain killers.  I had signed the C-Section papers and was thinking this baby was never coming out!  Finally around 10am the nurse said I was 9cm and could start pushing when I felt contractions.  Well, I couldn't feel any contractions because of the epidural, so I just pushed when it felt appropriate.  2 hours later, I heard the words that would change my life forever "...it's a boy!"We already knew his name…Riley.  I will never forget how his little tushy fit perfectly in my hands as they placed him on my chest.  I kept a journal after I had Riley and this is what I wrote 

I felt complete disbelief when I saw you…It took me a while to realize what had just happened, I was so tired.  As soon as they cut the cord, they slipped you under my gown and placed you on my chest, I couldn't really see you, but the feeling of holding you was incredible!  It was the best feeling!  Holding you for the first time made me feel complete for the first time in my life.  After 9 month of feeling you in me, I actually got to touch you. You felt like a part of me and I loved you immediately.  

I am very emotional today, I can't beleive it has been three years with our quirky and lovable Riley.  Monster, Buddy, Buster, Turd Monkey…whatever you call him, he is our little OCD rainman.  He is our cuddler, our sportsman, our entertainer, our nude enthusiast and our musician.  

Riley, mommy and daddy love you more than pizza, chicken nuggets, mater and lightning mcqueen, mickey mouse, pirates, happy birthday cake, fishing, we love you more than hot air balloons, chocolate milk, puppy and yes….we love you more than dragons!    Because of you we are better people and parents and I so wish I could keep you little, but then I guess I would miss out on all the fun that is to come!

Riley Christopher Lafrenz

8/15/2008 12:38pm

8 pounds 4 ounces

23 inches long

Yo Ho Ho…A Pirate's Life Fer Me!

Today was the day of our big Pirate Party…3 days of cleaning and preparing all for the house to get destroyed in minutes…but it was totally worth it!

Riley wore his Pirate Outfit…accessorized with a new pirate hat and telescope.  He greeted everyone at the door with "ARRR... Matey!"

We started off with a Treasure hunt…
I made a scavenger hunt with simple clues (for Riley's sake)  that led to a treasure chest of goodies.

We served lunch with sandwiches, chips and chocolate covered strawberries

We then opened presents.  Last year Riley didn't want to open presents…so Ryan had to open them.  This year we sat back and let Riley do all the work, it was fun seeing which presents he wanted to open first [the big ones]  He got Dragons, Movies [Rio, Dragon, Elmo] a Backpack, Books, Drums, Bubble Machine and so much more!

Next up was cake, I had a 1/4 sheet cake made at wal mart, decorated to look like water.  I had made a foam pirate ship to go on top as a cake topper.  I also made Riley's own cake [a jolly roger]  

It was such a fun day, and even though ryan and I are exhausted…it was so worth seeing Riley have a ton of fun!  

Thanks to everyone who took the time to come!  Riley talked about this party and everyone who was going to be there all week and now he is going to talk about everyone who came in this coming week!  Tonight at the end of our night time song [Our rendition of Elmo's World song]  we sing Riley loves his blankey and then Riley says everything we loved about that day so Riley sang this….

Pirates…Dragons…Cake….Happy Birthday…Grandma…Papa…Nana…Grandpa…Papa…Marsha…Grandpa…Gandma…JesseJen…Reese and Tally…Hambone…Aunt Brandi…Baby Tate…Jinger…Frogs….TOO!

It's Nigh Night Time!

Needless to say he LOVES you all!

Tate 4 Months

This is a little late because Tate got his first cold and had to be put on antibiotics…he is still taking them and wakes up with his eyes crusted shut and coughs up mucus…Riley and I had the same thing, and we just can't get rid of it.

Here are some things Tate has been doing this last month:

-Rolls over both ways
-Grabs for things he wants
-Very interested in watching people eat, I was eating popcorn the other night and Tate kept grabbing the pieces out of my hand.  I haven't started cereal yet, I have tried a couple times and Tate gets really fussy that night, plus I just can't figure out how to feed him the cereal without interfering with nursing... (any suggestions?)
-sucks his thumb when he is tired and when he sleeps
-grabs his toes ALL.THE.TIME
-sits up, if you can keep his attention away from his toes
-likes the jumper
-sleeps from 10pm-7am, with a 2-3 hour nap in the morning and afternoon
-still nursing exclusively
-like to be "tossed" around and tickled
-developed a birthmark under his left eye
-16 pounds (I'll let you know on Tuesday how long)
-9 month clothing - size 2 diaper (not for long though)
-ticklish on his neck and armpits
-LOVES his big brother…and the feeling is slowly becoming mutual.  Tate will be fussy but when he hears Riley's voice he stops and smiles.

Here are some 4 month pictures

Our Visit With Dr. OZ

Amongst all the exciting changes this year-one is Riley going to preschool!  He had his physical yesterday and I had been preparing him for it in the days prior.  His 2 year check up was HORRIBLE!  We drove to Des Moines, sat in the lobby FOREVER, I couldn't hear-nor understand what the doctor was saying and Riley threw a fit and cried the whole time.  Plus, ever since he was 9 months, Riley has never liked the doctor, he caught on to the whole "needle/shot" thing and having surgery at 17 months really set the stone for his opinion on doctors.  So I was going to "play" up this doctor's visit and talk about it a couple days before, saying how much fun it was going to be…we were going to see how BIG Riley was…that this was for preschool…that he would get ice cream afterwards {if he was good}  his response " Oh! Okay Mommy….I go and see the doctor!"  I had him like putty in my hands *muhahaha*  Tuesday morning we woke up, brushed our teeth, washed our face, ate our breakfast and got dressed…then I reminded Riley that today we get to see the doctor to see how big of a boy he is!  His response... "Oh no mommy, my tummy not hurt…I don't go see Dr. Oz."
Great, this is going to be just great…I foresee the fits and the crying (especially since he is grumpy from being sick with a cold/cough)  I mentally prepare myself and pray to God for patience…

We get to the doctor, check in and wait.  I explain to Riley, that a lady will come out and say his name when the doctor is ready for us.  As we sat and waited Riley told everyone in the waiting room "I see doctor Oz!"
The nurse came out "Riley Lafrenz…?"  "Mommy, That's Me!!!!"  Riley hopped out of his seat and marched his little rear passed the nurse and down the hall…I grabbed my purse and tried to keep up.  The nurse asked him to step on the scale, so Riley kicked off his sandals down the hall (true Riley fashion) and stood on the scale: 37.5 pounds…"WOW, I so BIG!"  Then the nurse asked him to stand against the wall to measure his height: 39 1/2 inches tall… "WOW, I so BIG!"
I was so impressed so far, he was being very independent and complying to all the nurses requests.  She led him back to the exam room, and I thought -this is where it will all fall apart- as soon as he sees that exam table.  Riley walked in, climbed on the table and waited patiently while she took his blood pressure and listened to his heart.

While we waited for the doctor we covered the paper on the exam table with stickers.  Finally the doctor came in
Doc: "Hello Riley, how are you today!?"
Riley: "Hi…I go see Dr. Oz!"
The doctor looked at me and said "what did he just say?"
Mom "ummm, he thinks we are seeing Dr. Oz today"
Doc:  "oh!  No buddy, Dr. Oz has more hair than me, I am Dr. Gable"
Riley: "No, it's Dr. Oz"

Whatever! :)

They tested his
eye sight: 20/30  coordination, speech and cognitive development…perfectly perfect!  The only thing preschool has to look out for is Riley lining all the toys up or bunching all the toys together by colors.

Here are some things Riley is doing these days!

Dressing and undressing himself
going to the potty (without reminder, wiping and flushing on his own)
Brushes his own teeth, washes and dries himself
Has a vast vocabulary-uses nouns, verb & adjectives  
Recognizes and recites the ABC's
Knows what words start with and visa versa: "D is for dog" and "Dog starts with D"
Knows colors and shapes
Draws a circle, vertical and horizontal line
Basically he does everything he should be doing physically and some.
 
Here are things Riley LOVES:

America's Got Talent…he likes all the music
He loves to dance and sing and pretend to play instruments
Dragons
Pirates
Cars
Fishing and Boats
Treasure Hunts
Fire Trucks
Stickers
Cooking
Watering Plants

I can read-sotra

Parade

Tate In Jumper

Fireworks

Riley what are we doing tonight? FISHING!

Last year during the parade Riley wasn't sure what to do…he didn't quite get the concept of fetching the thrown candy and was WAY to tired to care after about 45 minutes and spent the rest of the parade hugging daddy.  

This year he was so excited about the parade, I thought he was going to be a ravenous maniac about the candy, but he cared more about the parade.  

It really was the perfect day…85 degrees, no humidity.  Mom, Steve, Jesse and Shannon did a great job of Hoarding parking spots and reserving Parade seats, to make it easy on the kids! Because apparently the Clear Lake Parade is kind of a big deal?


This year is was Tate who didn't give a lick about the parade and of coarse fell asleep in Daddy's arms, I have a feeling this will happen again next year!  Both boys were so good!

 Chase on Uncle Jesse's shoulders

Snuggling on the couch watching Shrek

Last year during the fireworks it rained and Riley spent the night on uncle Jesse's shoulders under a blanket.

  

This year, Riley was so excited for Fireworks, he kept poking Jamie saying "LOOK JAMIE LOOK LOOK LOOK!"

Ava being a "good mommy"  For only being 3, she is so good with young children.  Except she kept calling Tate a "her".  We kept correcting "her" but then she would say "Baby Tate's a boy and when he grows up he'll be a girl!"  Well, close enough :)

Battle of the sexes…These two would get along great if they weren't total opposites!  Ava is ALL girl and Riley is ALL boy.  Ava would set up the farm animals, name them, feed them…and Riley would come along and stomp on them, run them over, throw them.  Ava would put her crackers down to feed the ants and Riley would crush the ants with his feet.  Riley would sit on Ava's lap nicely, then when Ava would get ready to sit on Riley's lap he would get up at the last minute so she would fall down.  Ahhh, takes me back to when my brother would pick on me.  I found myself saying "do we need to separate you two!!!"

Dancin' In The Streets...

For the 4th of July we went to Clear Lake.  My brother just moved back from Florida and my sister was visiting from Colorado, so it was an EXTRA special holiday!  Here is a video of the monsters shaking it up in the street during the parade!

Like the blog says…

Like the blog title says…."a few of my favorite things…"  One of my favorite things  {person, place or…} is Ava.  Ava was the first grandchild on my side and she has always been a little firecracker!  I took some pictures of our little princess Aurora this weekend, she is looking very chic in her princess skirt and cowgirl boots!  She was a VERY GOOD listener, but a little bit of a diva.  We first went out with no shoes and Ava informed me she doesn't walk in dirt and then claimed she couldn't sit in the grass because there were bugs.  Despite both those obstacles, she was a true professional and did everything I asked of her.  I kept telling her NOT to smile, which made her giggle…it was so cute!