Daddy ate your candy...

Firstly... this is long overdue.  I meant to post it and forgot.  Found it today on my phone and made it a point to post today!

Secondly…I apologize for the obvious mining at the beginning of the video

Thirdly…in NO WAY would I normally let Riley act this way…however, I built up eating the candy and played this awful trick on him, so I let it pass.

Finally…note how Tate reacts to the missing candy :)

Just Being….

I used to have little photo sessions with Riley ALL THE TIME and with Tate SOME OF THE TIME and now I have them with Blakely ONCE IN A BLUE MOON…This particular day I had some down time [translation: I got bored folding clothes]  Blakely was laying on our bed on her back watching the ceiling fan go around…and I thought she looked perfect.  So I grabbed my camera to capture her being…perfect.

CarSeat

You may notice Blakely has a new car seat cover.  When she got her billirubin checked as a newborn, blood got all over the old car seat cover.  A friend sent me a link to a deal on a new cover.  I got the seat cover, heat support, lap blanket, canopy and wind/sun cover for $35 (original $120)  It's super soft minky fabric.  I don't LOVE the color, but there were only select colors on sale…beggars can't be choosers!  She fills out her seat very nicely.  

Compiling Christmas

Thanks to pin boards…collecting ideas for christmas is easier than ever!

click on the pictures to be directed to the website


http://pinterest.com/mlphotos/riley-christmas/

http://pinterest.com/mlphotos/tate-christmas/

http://pinterest.com/mlphotos/blakely-christmas/

Blakely: 4 Months

Normally I would start off these posts with "Blakely is such a happy baby!" or "It's going so good…she hardly ever fusses!"  but guess what folks…those would be lies!  Something happened to this little girl at 8 weeks.  She stopped pooping and it was all downhill from there.  She still slept good at night (which was a blessing)  but whenever I nursed her she just cried and cried and then wouldn't stop crying.  I was spending 1-2 hours trying to feed her and calm her…which is fine and dandy when you are a first time parent with ONE child…but I don't have that luxury.  While she was fussing and I was rocking…patting…shushing…bouncing…Tate was dive bombing off the sub-woofer onto the couch or sacrificing toys to the toilet gods or putting the dog's food in the dog's water bowl and making a fine paste.  By the time Ryan came home at 5:45pm…I was about to LOSE MY MIND!  I felt like I couldn't leave the house because she would cry the whole car ride, and the boys would sit there and cover their ears.  We had taken her to the doctor and he wasn't too concerned and said to keep doing what we were doing but to give her apple juice (thinking she was constipated)  But Ryan and I eventually determined (and I think I secretly knew the whole time)  something in the breast milk was upsetting her tummy…so I tried not eating certain foods, but unfortunately that didn't work.  So I came to the hard decision to switch to sensitive tummy formula last week…and immediately she was a different baby.   We saw more smiles from her in one day than we had her whole 4 months of life!  She is now pooping on her own (I was having to do the old q-tip trick) and she guzzles 8 ounces every feeding.

4 Month Milestones:

15.95 pounds
25 inches long
6-9 month clothing
size 3 diapers
started formula (similac sensative)
sleeps from 8pm-8am with (2-3) 2 hour naps
lost all her hair and is working on a new layer of darkish blonde
rolls over from tummy to back (almost from back to tummy)
holds head up at 90 degrees
pushes chest up with arms
sits up briefly
bears some weight on legs
holds bottle (needs some help still)
starting to grab toes
reaches for objects
recognizes mommy, daddy and riley's voices
blows bubbles, razzes, goos and gaas
likes to be held up above your head and brought down slowly for a kiss (and if your lucky she will drool in your mouth)
likes to be tickled on her belly and her toes blown on
had a couple bites of cereal…she seemed to like it
sucks her thumb all the time (and has since she was born) she sucks it all night
has a BIG BELLY and the waist line on pants are always too tight!
for the majority of this month she was not a very happy baby…hopefully she will be much happier in this next month

……………………………………………………………….

This is what Riley and Tate were like at 4 Months:


Tate:

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

Riley:

Riley is 4 months old!  He is 16.5  pounds (90%)  and 27 inches (95%).  He has excellent head control, eye sight and hearing.  He is stretching his 9 month clothes.  He sleeps from 8 pm-7am. He eats at 7am, 11am, 3pm & 7pm and gets cereal from a bottle at 7pm.   Here are some of his accomplshments:

-Sits without support (new)

-rolls over (new)

-teething

-Laughs out loud

-On stomach, lifts head up 90 degrees

-Squeals in delight

- Brings both hands together

-Smiles in response to anothers smile

-Follows an object

-Holds head steady when upright

-Grasp a rattle

-Bear some weight on legs when held upright

-Reach for an object

-Keeps head level with body when pulled to sitting position

- Turn in the direction of mommy & daddy's voice

-Say aah-goo, geeee, and gah- gah

-Can razz (a wet razzing sound)

-Blows bubbles

-Can carry on a short conversation

Riley is such a sweet baby! We get told he is "easy", so YAY for us! He is always talking to his animal friends and smiling and laughing!  Such a sweet guy!  He loves to talk to you and be read to, his favorite book is Green Eggs & Ham.  We have a schedule in place;  it works well and Riley seems to like the structure. We are still nursing and have added a little rice cereal to a night bottle. We have accomplished rolling over, sitting up and grasping things!  He discovered the loud noises he can make at Thanksgiving.

Baptism

Sunday was Blakely's Baptism.  We had her baptized at the Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines.  This was her invite:

The ceremony was during a separate service after church, along with about 10 other baptisms.  She wore a white dress with white flower details, a white head piece I made for her and my white shoes from when I was a baby.

Ryan held her as the pastor trickled water on her head and placed the oil on her forehead.  She didn't cry, she just looked a little confused.

After the pastor blessed her, he lit a candle and started to hand it off…I reached for it but the pastor handed it to Riley.  Riley's eye's lit up like he was just handed the infinite torch of power!  The pastor told Riley "and you can keep that lit through the rest of the service if you want!"  Ryan leaned over to me and said "BLOW that sucker out!"

Jesse and Jen were our (sponsers) Godparents…they have invested a lot of love in our children and are the most kind and selfless couple I know.  Plus, we have a lot of fun with them!

TATE! Where's the Green Crayon?

Abs of Steal

Yes, that's right…I occasionally pump some iron.  Okay, who am I kidding, I go and walk/run on the treadmill and do the triceps machine.   I do love to run outside…however after 3 kids, my body now creeks when I move and starts to fossilize if I sit too long, making running hard on my joints.  Plus the colder weather makes running on concrete less appealing.  This is why we have a gym membership. I went while I was pregnant…spending most of my time on the elliptical.  Now postpartum, I decided to run on the treadmill to meet a 100 mile goal I set, however, me and the treadmill have a hate/hate relationship.  1 of the 3 things ALWAYS happens to me when I step on the treadmill:

1) THE LARGE overly exuberant sprinter: I will be the only one using a treadmill and out of all the machines this person picks…they pick the treadmill right next to me…S.P.R.I.N.T.I.N.G!  and I SWEAR he watches my TV
2) IN THE ZONE: high speed and up hill and I accidentally hit the emergency stop button.  CRAP!
3) TECHNICAL PROBLEMS:  My tv speakers go out or all of a sudden change volume and blow out my ears drums!

After I have tortured my patience on the treadmill, I move onto the weight machines.  All the machines can be adjusted: seat height, arm length and weight of coarse.  I was very apprehensive at first to use any machines, fearing I would look like I had never used the machines, because I hadn't.  I'm that person that slowly walks by the machines acting cool but is really reading the instructions as I walk by, deciding weather that machine will make look even more like a dumb ass.  At first I stuck with the, what I consider, easy machines.  Chest press, leg press and tricep press.  A couple weeks ago, I decided to be brave and try some new machines.  There weren't too many people in the gym…so it was a good day to try something new.  I did my regular routine on my regular machines and then did my creepy loop to see which machines looked the least embarrassing. The ab crunch machine looked promising…all I had to do is sit and use my elbows to pull down the weight.  I sat down and read the instructions (out of the corner of my eye) and tried the first crunch…the seat was too low.  So searched for the lever to raise the seat, I couldn't find it anywhere.  I read the instructions again…seriously! nothing about seat raising.  So I just started pulling nobs and levers, and I finally found the magic button.  I adjusted my seat, looked around to see if any one witnessed me on my hands and knees trying to find the seat button…and began to sit down to start my ab workout.  However, IF there would have been instructions on the ab machine on how to adjust your seat height, I would have known to move the seat up until I heard a click, because, as I sat down on the seat, it fell right out from under me and me and my fat ass fell with it…and to top it off I screamed ever so gently, which made everyone look at me.  I stood up, brushed myself off and tried to pick up what was left of my pride.  I took a deep breath and thought to myself "don't leave in shame…if fatty McButter Pants can sprint his ass off on the treadmill shaking the entire gym, then you can finish your workout on the evil ab machine"  I once again…adjusted the seat…gave it a heavty kick down to make sure it was locked in place and did my mother trucking ab workout.

Family Pictures

Sunday night we attempted to take family pictures…

I have been planning these pictures for weeks…maybe months.  (Remember the whole chambray shirt dilemma).  Well tonight we decided was the night…cloudy, so we wouldn't be fighting sun spots…not too cold and Ryan's dad was coming to visit, so he could help.  I had planned to go to "my spots"  where I take ALL my family photos…first to Lake Ahquabi:  There are several beautiful spots there, we took last year's photo there.

And I took Dameon and Lindsay there also…it has such beautiful golds and browns, which is what I planned our clothes around.  

But just our luck…it was closed for hunting!!!  Bummer…but I have another spot on the square in Indianola.  It is this great rusty red door step!  It photographs so well, again I took Dameon and Lindsay's pictures there….as you can see it .

So we turn around and head back into town…and guess what...my rustic red door step is under construction!  Seriously!

Well that's it folks, the sun is setting on a cloudy day, I am running out of daylight and patients. So as a last resort we go across the street on a white wall.  We only got a couple pictures, none of the kids wanted to be there and it was getting too cold for Blakely.

As I was scrolling through the pictures on the camera, I saw ONE picture where everyone was smiling and looking at the camera…a blessing maybe.  Maybe I won't have to retake these photos.  BUT I can't see all the details so I will have to make the final judgement on the computer.  I pull up the picture on the computer…oh boy.  Indeed we are all looking at the camera…however, it's a pretty sad site.

Out of all the things I thinking about when putting the outfits together…I didn't think about the boys shoes.  I thought they would be covered up with tall grass.  Poor little Blakely's tights were not as warm as I thought they would be…brrrrr.  Ryan's grey sweater just doesn't blend and Riley is yelling BANANAS!

We are going to attempt this again next weekend…in the morning, hopefully the park will be open again!  Otherwise I am just sending out last years family photo.

Happy Halloween

We started the Halloween festivities last week with a purchase of skeleton pajamas…these were a hit in our house.  A good old fashion game of "MONSTER" with glow in the dark pj's equals lots of LOUD SCREAMING AND LAUGHING!!!!  Also, these skeleton pajamas make any dance party way more fun!  As you can see in the video…All Skeleton Riley wants to do is dance but Skeleton Tater will do everything in his power to prevent this.

Last night was trick or treat here in Indianola.  It was Tate's first year going out and we were excited to see how he would react to it all.  Both boys did really good, Riley led the way and knew exactly what to do…but sometimes got his "lines" mixed up…"Thank you…I mean Trick or Treat"  and one time he said "Trick or Treat...I'm not supposed to say smell my feet"  we carried Tate from house to house and let him loose to walk up the sidewalk to the door…the whole way up to the houses he would say "treeeeet treeeet…." and grab as much candy as he could with his hands and say "Taaaaaannk  KU!" At a couple houses…Tate invited himself in or ignored the candy and attacked their dogs.  Ryan and I thought it would be fun to dress up while taking the kids trick or treating.  I had a witches hat from last year…so logically I was a witch (with the most tamed witch costume I could find)  and we let Riley pick Ryan's costume…it basically came down to a scary skeleton man and a giant hot dog.  So we went with the traumatizing-ly scary skeleton man.  We got a couple weird looks from other {boring} parents taking theirs kids out…but as you have learned in the past, we don't mind being the "Addams family" of the block.

 (incase you are wondering…Ryan is not having a stroke…he is doing the Thriller dance)

Peanut M&M's

friday night football games

mcdonalds {supersized}

cops

loud snoring

"pick up your shoes!"

"opinions are like…"

"GODDAMN IT!"

coach

Tom Clancy

coffee-black-caseys mug

uniform and belt

teal polo and jean shorts

good morning Vietnam

the big chill

wedgies and muffin top pinches

trying really hard not to smile

my favorite...flannel shirt with m&ms in pocket

Stickers...

Last night we went to riley preschool open house.  It was nice to see him in his environment with his friends.  Riley showed us all the projects they do and the toys he plays (hoards) with.  Then he proudly showed us his sticker chart.  Everyones chart had 10 or more stickers...riley only had 3.  Ryan said "buddy why do you have the least amount of stickers...does this mean your naughty?"  Riley responded..."no I'm not, I have 3 stars!"  Ryan  then said " dude, only one other kid has less thEn you...that means your the second worst."  Ryan told me to go look at riley sticker chart.  I went and riley again proudly showed me his 3 stickers  and asked riley the same questions "dude...why does everyone else have 10 and you have 3!?"  Riley said..."yeah...I have 1, 2, 3!"  Needless to say riley got the "Lafrenz finish first speech..."  the same speech I got except it was "Collins kids don't get C's"    I'm not sure if the speech was influential to riley...after all he did have THREE stickers!