Hair and Pacis

Rylan is still working on losing the last of his dark hair. He currently has a strip at the base of his skull that doesn't want to rub off.

Carter pointing out the baby's hair to me ...


At least from the front Rylan doesn't look as silly anymore!

He has light colored peach fuzz all over his head now. The hair looks blonde but Carter was the same way when he was a newborn so we'll see what color it is when it starts growing out.

Rylan hasn't been a big fan of the paci so far. We haven't even tried to give it to him for 2 or 3 weeks. When we would give it to him, he would scream harder for a few minutes but would eventually start sucking on it and calm down. But he couldn't keep it in on his own and would lose it after a minute or two if we didn't hold it in.

We've pretty much decided to try to avoid giving Rylan a paci at all anymore. Carter is still using his for naps, at night, and in the car. We'd love for him to not use it at all, but I'm not ready to force him to give it up right now. I need the sleep I'm getting and know Carter would be up a lot for a few nights at least if we were to take the paci away. And I like my few minutes of peace that I get while driving. Rylan usually sleeps while I'm driving and Carter will be content with his paci.

I'm going to set a goal of having Carter give up his paci by his second birthday. Hopefully I'll be strong enough to stick to my goal!

Creative Discovery Museum

We drove down to Chattanooga today to go to the Creative Discovery Museum. It's a children's museum that is located downtown near the riverfront. We got out of the house at 9:20 am and it took about an hour and a half to get to the museum. We all went running this morning which gave us the later start. I've run 4 of the last 5 days. I've run the same 2.15 mile route each morning and have improved my time each day (I was almost 2 minutes faster today than I was on Tuesday).

I was really impressed by the museum. Most of the children's or science museums we've taken Carter to are either old and run down or geared toward older kids. This one had plenty of stuff for Carter to play with. The only negative was that they had a little too much squished into a relatively small building. Luckily, even though it was crowded since it was Saturday, it wasn't as bad as I expected and Carter didn't get run down too many times. He was generally able to play with what he wanted when he wanted.

When we got to the museum, a firetruck had just arrived at the entrance for kids to look at. Even though Carter loves firetrucks, he did not want to sit in the truck. He wanted Brian to get him back out right away. He had just gotten up from a nap so I'm going to blame his behavior on that.


Carter was very happy about the Chattanooga Fire Department sticker that he got. He kept pointing to it all day.


"Ooooooo, water ..."


There was a cool multilevel play area to explore ...



Going fishing ...



After getting a little damp while playing with the water again, Carter got to wear one of the cool smocks ...


"I know I need a haircut, but Mom thought this would be more fun. I'll get one next Saturday!"


There was a giant sandbox where you can dig for dinosaur fossils. Carter found an unoccupied corner ...



Carter liked the musical instruments ...


Especially this player piano that also included several other instruments connected to it ...

And of course he loved the trains ...


And the "go-go" (or car) ...


But what could make Carter stand like this for minutes with a look of awe on his face?


This guy!


The Grossology exhibit was at the museum right now. It was interesting. And gross. Especially the smells exhibit.

Cute kid in a tree ...


Carter loved counting this dinosaur's toes over and over again. (He can't really count yet but he'll point to each thing he's counting and say "two" over and over again.)


We spent about 3 1/2 hours at the museum. We had a small lunch (more of a snack) in the cafe (which was very reasonably priced). But after the museum, Brian and I were really hungry so we ordered lunch to go from Cheeburger Cheeburger. They have the best hamburgers and onion rings. You can choose from 50 different toppings for your burgers (including weird things like peanut butter). Even though it was 3 pm, there was still a wait for a table. Because it was Carter's nap time and we didn't think both kids would make it through a meal in a restaurant, we ate in the car while Rylan slept and Carter had a snack.

After our lunch, we drove back to Knoxville. We had a lot of fun today and I'm glad Carter got a day out of the house. I've been struggling to find new things to do since it's still so hot and there aren't a whole lot of indoor activities for Carter around here.

And congratulations to Amy and Chad who welcomed baby Alek this morning (and Caitlyn who is now a big sister)! He arrived a little earlier than expected but we've heard he and Amy are healthy and doing well. We can't wait to meet him!

Brothers

Fashion Police

This guy thinks he is the fashion police.


He does not like if there is a string hanging from a seam on his or other people's clothes. He does not like it if Brian has a shirt unbuttoned over his undershirt (don't worry, Brian doesn't go out like that or anything - it's just when he's getting dressed or undressed and Carter freaks out if he doesn't button it quick enough). He really doesn't like it if my bra strap is showing. He makes sure everyone's shirt is pulled down completely and not showing any skin (he didn't like when he could see some of my belly when I was pregnant - he was the only one short enough though to see under my shirt!).

Carter also HATES it when his face or hands are dirty. If he gets any food on his hands while eating, they have to be wiped clean IMMEDIATELY. He's almost as adamant about his face being clean. Today when we were playing outside, Carter's hands were wet from the pool. We started playing with chalk and he got very upset that his hands changed colors and had to get them cleaned off right away (there was a lot of screaming!).

Sometimes I think Carter is a little OCD. But he can also make a mess and love it. He's very good at dumping a box full of toys and just leaving them on the floor. He will sometimes line up his trucks or other toys but that's about as much order as he has in him.

Overall, I think he's just silly.

Baby Rylan

Don't be fooled - this was about the only 10 minutes that Rylan was happy today!

Exercise

I had my 6 week postpartum appointment yesterday and have been cleared to exercise. Woohoo!

So I took the boys running this morning. We did 2.15 miles (which is 2 loops in the back section of our neighborhood). I only walked the last bit of 2 big hills and finished in 25 minutes and 19 seconds. It wasn't fast but it was the first time I've run in a very long time, I was pushing two kids, and I'm carrying a lot of extra weight.

I'm at 142 lbs right now. I was 119 lbs when I got pregnant with Rylan so that's 23 lbs to go (though I'd love to get to 115). I think I was 164 lbs the day Rylan was born so I'm down 22 lbs. I haven't done anything though these past 6 weeks. No exercise and I've been eating a ton.

Hopefully exercise and watching what I eat a little bit will jumpstart my weight loss. Though I'm pretty sure the skin on my belly isn't going to recover. My doctor seemed to agree with me when I jokingly said I am going to need a tummy tuck. I just got too big with Rylan and have so much extra skin.

After Carter was born, I signed up for a half-marathon to keep me motivated to exercise. This time I think I'm going to sign up for the Cross Knox 10 Miler which is in 2 months (on 10-10-10). The race is almost entirely on greenways through and around downtown Knoxville. I've always wanted to do this race (I think this is the 4th year they are having the race) but have always had something else going on (or been too pregnant).

Rylan's First Bottle

Brian tried to give Rylan his first bottle (other than the little bit of supplementing we did when he was a few days old) last night. Brian was able to get him sucking on it after a few minutes, but he wasn't really pulling anything out of it. After about 15 minutes, he'd eaten less than half an ounce.


Rylan may have been tired so Brian will probably try another bottle with him this weekend earlier in the day. Hopefully we'll be more successful!

Jan's Visit

My dad's wife, Jan, was able to squeeze in a short visit with us last night. She was teaching a class in western North Carolina that ended Sunday afternoon so she drove to Knoxville after the class and stayed with us last night.

She didn't get to come up here when Rylan was born so this was the first time she's met him.

Carter had lots of fun having another person around that would give him their complete attention. He didn't give Jan a chance to even hold Rylan once he was up from his nap!

Play-doh & Other Stuff

Yesterday I got out the Play-doh toy we got at the Target toy clearance. This was the first time Carter has ever played with Play-doh. Carter wasn't really sure what to do with it at first, but he seemed to like it eventually.

I had to put the Play-doh away once he decided he was really hungry and wanted to eat it (he'd fallen asleep in the car right before lunch and didn't want anything to eat when he got up a few hours later).



This morning we worked in the yard (cut the grass, trimmed bushes, etc) and got new brakes for my car. We had nothing else planned for the day but it was really hot outside (as usual) and we didn't want to have Rylan outside for too long (we're really looking forward to fall right now so we can start hiking again).

We needed to get Charlotte a new tag so we decided to take a trip to Petco. Carter had so much fun looking at all the animals. They have ferrets, parakeets, tons of fish, frogs, lizards, hamsters, and more.


I felt a little lame using the pet store as Carter's fun outing for the day, but we just couldn't think of anything else.

We went to dinner at a sit-down restaurant for the first time tonight with both boys. Granted, it was just a Mexican restaurant so it was fast, but we were still nervous about both boys making it through dinner (especially since Carter refused to take an afternoon nap).

Luckily, both boys did great and we got to enjoy our dinner (as much as we could while rocking Rylan in his carseat and feeding Carter his dinner the whole time).

On the way home, we had to go by Rocky Hill Elementary School so we decided to check out their playground.

I tried to keep Rylan in the shade while Brian played with Carter. The playground was actually really nice and worked out well even for Carter (a lot of playgrounds are still just too big for him).

Brian put Carter on a regular swing for the first time and Carter did great. He even instinctively pumped his legs correctly to try to move more. I told Brian it was because he's seen the episode of Special Agent Oso (a cartoon on Playhouse Disney) that teaches you how to swing! (I'm just trying to make myself feel better for letting Carter watch a little more TV now that we have Rylan.)









While Brian gave Carter his bath tonight, I gave Rylan a bath. He did much better during this bath - no crying, peeing, or pooping!

Look at the belly and arms on this kid!


Rylan still has his dimples!

Rylan Update

Rylan really likes the mobile in his crib. Carter was never that interested in it, but I can put Rylan down in his crib and he'll happily watch it for 20 minutes (most of the time).

Rylan has also started making noises other than crying and grunting. Sort of the beginnings of cooing.

Rylan is sort of starting to smile (as you can see in the video). Since he was born, he'd often smile right after falling asleep. He's not smiling at us or in response to something we do for him yet, but he's randomly smiling more often when awake.

Rylan has some crazy gas. You can hear him upstairs when he's downstairs it's so forceful and loud. It gets him so upset too! Poor guy!

Rylan is losing more of his dark hair. It's mainly just on the back of his head now. He definitely doesn't look as silly anymore. He still has a little of it on the top of his ears but that's starting to fall out too (thank goodness!).