Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Lakeshore Park

Carter, Rylan, and I continued our tour of new playgrounds today. We went to Lakeshore Park.

I've walked there with Sarah and with Brian before. There is a nice 2.25 mile loop around the park. There are a few short but extremely steep hills though that aren't much fun.

The playset at Lakeshore is very similar to the one at West Hills so a lot of things are too big for Carter. He still had fun. Unfortunately we went at 1 pm though so it was HOT. The slides were way too hot to use and Carter was dripping sweat almost immediately.



It didn't seem too hot for Rylan under a tree with his fan on him.


Carter was mainly interested in playing with the rocks and his soccer ball. At least we got out though for a little while.

This afternoon I gave Rylan a bath. After his bath, I put him down for a little tummy time.


I was trying to interact with Rylan and get him to lift his head but Carter also wanted attention. When I turned my attention back to Rylan, he was asleep, on his tummy. Ever since he got his shots yesterday, Rylan has been super sleepy and passes out anywhere!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Random Stuff

We took the boys to the pool on Sunday night. We went after dinner and even though it was still in the upper 80s, the water was COLD! Carter didn't seem to notice. We saw a sign at the pool that said it isn't closing until September 22nd so we still have a few more weeks to enjoy it. We probably just need to go earlier in the day though so we don't freeze again.

Rylan fell asleep again while we were there on Sunday so both Brian and I got to get in with Carter again.


Carter still sits in his booster seat for meals and usually uses the tray that connects to it. I decided this week though to not use the tray and let Carter use the table like us. It's been a little messier doing this but Carter seems to like it.


Carter loves to sit at the computer in the office and hit keys on the keyboard and use the mouse. I decided today to look for some games for him to play on the computer. Amy had mentioned that Caitlyn likes the Sesame Street games so we started there. Carter liked the Old McDonald game. Actually, it's not really a game. As the song is sung, the animal that is being sung about pops up on the screen each time that the keyboard is hit.


2 Month Checkup

Rylan had his 2 month appointment today. He's healthy and huge!

Here are his measurements from today, last appointment, and some of Carter's measurements for comparison ...

Rylan's 2 month stats:
  • Weight: 15 lbs, 12.5 oz (98th percentile)
  • Length: 23.5 inches (66th percentile)
  • Head Circumference: 41.5 cm (81st percentile)
Rylan's 3 week stats:
  • Weight: 10 lbs, 2.5 oz (81st percentile)
  • Length: 21.25 inches (64th percentile)
  • Head Circumference: 37.75 cm (59th percentile)
Carter's 2 month stats:
  • Weight: 11 lbs, 6 oz (45th percentile)
  • Length: 22 inches (22nd percentile)
  • Head Circumference: 40 cm
Carter's 6 month stats:
  • Weight: 15 lbs, 6 oz (16th percentile) - LESS THAN RYLAN NOW!
  • Length: 26 inches (36th percentile)
  • Head Circumference: 44.5 cm (72nd percentile)
The pediatrician wasn't concerned at all about his size. He said Rylan would probably thin down once he started transitioning to solids (that's when Carter really started to drop in the weight percentiles).

It's just weird to us that our boys are such different sizes. Rylan still acts and had the needs of a 2 month old, but he looks so much older (until you realize he's still lacking complete head control). The hardest part for us is that Rylan still needs us to hold him a lot and rock and bounce him around when he's fussy but he's HEAVY! By the end of the day my back and arms are so worn out!

Rylan got 3 shots and an oral vaccine today. He did good getting most of the oral vaccine down. He wasn't as happy about the shots. As soon as the nurse stuck him, he turned purple and started howling. He settled down about 10 seconds after I got to hold him but still had a mad expression on his face. Rylan then passed out about 5 minutes later for a good hour and a half.

A picture of Rylan's wounded legs ...


Overall, Rylan did great at his appointment. No fussing at all (other than when he got his shots). I took him by myself because Carter has a cold. Brian stayed home with Carter because we didn't want to spread any cold germs.

While we waited for the pediatrician, Rylan chilled out on the exam table and just smiled at me. It was nice to spend a little time alone with him with no distractions.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Strollers

Our garage is starting to resemble the stroller parking area outside of rides at Disney World ...

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Ball Pit

Carter hasn't had his ball pit all summer. The pool we had used for it has been his outdoor pool this summer. I finally got a new baby pool on sale at Target the other day and blew it up yesterday.

Carter LOVED having this toy back! He's been playing with it all day today too.






Touch a Truck

We went to the Knoxville Zoo today because they were having their "Touch a Truck" event. There were several emergency vehicles, construction vehicles, and a few other random trucks spread through out the zoo today.

The first truck we saw was a fire rescue truck. Carter got to try on a hat and had a very serious expression the entire time. He wasn't sure what was going on.


We thought Carter would love all the trucks but he was generally scared of all of them. He was in the stroller when we got to a fire truck and we both asked him if he wanted to get out to see the truck and he adamantly shook his head "no" both times.

The only trucks Carter was remotely interested in were the construction vehicles, and he still didn't care that much. He did do a good job of pointing out the wheels to us though!




Carter remembered the kids play area when he saw the building and wouldn't give up wanting to go in so we hung out there for a little while.


Pointing out a toucan ...


Posing with the hot turtle ...


Carter rode an alligator on the carousel. Brian taught him to say "gator" while they were on carousel and Carter repeated it for me when they got off.


And Rylan did go with us but he slept the entire time so I didn't get any pictures of him. I was hoping to put him in the Bjorn and show him some animals. Maybe next time.

2 Months Old

Rylan is 2 months old today.

He's growing like a weed still. I still feed him almost every 2 hours during the day but I am usually able to get one (sometimes two) times when it's 3 hours between feedings. Recently (for the last week), I usually get 4 or 5 hours between feedings after going to bed and then it's back to every 2 hours. That wasn't how it went last night though and now that I'm writing about it, I bet tonight is also going to be bad!

Rylan is definitely chubby, but we don't think he looks ridiculously fat with tons of rolls like some babies. His 2 month checkup is on Tuesday so we'll see how big he really is then.

Rylan is mostly in 6 month sized clothes now. He can wear some of his 3 month sized stuff still, but the 6-month sized clothes look more comfortable. Rylan is wearing size 2 Swaddlers but he's going to be in the size 3 Cruisers really soon, which are the size of diapers Carter wears!

Rylan is usually great when we're out. He usually sleeps the entire time we're in the car. The car did nothing to soothe Carter and I used to sing the entire time we were driving when he was this age just to keep the crying at a level I could handle. Rylan is generally good when we go out to eat (as long as we've timed it right between his feedings) and when running errands or doing fun stuff for Carter.

When at home, Rylan has both fussy times and times when we can just put him down on the playmat and he'll be content with no interaction from us. Sometimes it takes a lot of bouncing and swaying when he's fussy, but Rylan's usually never inconsolable. His worst time is still after Carter goes to bed and before he does. We usually put Rylan to bed between 9:30 and 10:30 pm depending on his feeding schedule. I usually go to bed at the same time because I feed him in our bedroom where it's dark and it makes me really sleepy too!

I'm really looking forward to when we put Rylan to bed at the same time as Carter so we have a little free time in the evening (or at least time to catch up on stuff around the house). I don't want to force that now though because I don't want to be awake through half of Rylan's long sleep and then not get more than an hour or two of consecutive sleep myself.

Rylan still doesn't have perfect head control, but he's getting stronger. I still need to be prepared for him to flop his head back, but he doesn't do it too often. He's a strong baby though. He can bear quite a bit of his weight on his legs already too.

This last 2 months have flown by. I remember that those first few months with Carter crept by. It helps that it's summer and I have friends with their own kids this time around!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Tyson Park

We met Brian for lunch today so on the way home, we stopped by Tyson Park to play for a bit. The park is downtown adjacent to one of my favorite greenways (Third Creek Greenway). I've never taken Carter there before because the park can be a little sketchy sometimes. I scoped it out before we got out of the car and thought it looked safe. There were a few other moms there with their kids and no one that looked too scary.

The playground is huge (at least compared to all the other playgrounds we've been to in Knoxville).


Carter was very excited to explore when we got there ...


Scooting to get down a big step ...


"Are you still there, Mom?" ...


Carter ran back and forth across this bridge for awhile ...



"Hi!" ...


"I see you!" ...



I kept moving Rylan around to be in the shade near where Carter wanted to play. I tried leaving him under a tree at first, but the playground was so big that I couldn't always see both Carter and Rylan at the same time. So I ended up dragging the stroller through the pebbles and using the playground for shade.



Carter loved playing with the pebbles. He even had to take some home with him.


Carter wanted to play with these balls but wouldn't put down the pebbles which made it a little more difficult ...


Carter had lots of fun today. He's getting a lot better about staying back from open spots that are high up. I still follow him around most of the time but I trust him enough now to not be right next to him all the time.

It's been really difficult to get Carter to leave places lately when he's having fun but he surprised me by being willing to go and walking to the car by himself without any screaming or refusal to move!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Happy Rylan

Here's a video of Rylan loving the lights on his playmat.



I love his smile!

Playdate with Caitlyn & Alek

We went over to Amy's house today for a playdate. Today was Chad's first day back to work since Alek was born so it was Amy's first day with both kids by herself.

Alek is adorable (and so small compared to Rylan)! Rylan is 6 weeks and 5 days older than Alek. I couldn't believe how light Alek is when I held him. Alek is still a couple of pounds lighter than Rylan was when he was born so we didn't get to experience Rylan at this size.


Our 4 kids - Carter (21 months), Rylan (2 months), Alek (2 weeks), and Caitlyn (23.5 months). We're looking forward to lots of playdates in the future since the kids' ages match up so well!


Carter really liked Caitlyn's big girl bed. I think Carter would like having a big bed but I'm going to keep him in a crib as long as I can. It's nice to know that he's safe in his crib and not wandering around the house at night.


Taking a break from playing in the pool and sharing a snack ...


We had lots of fun and hopefully helped Amy some instead of making it harder for her. Carter did a good job of pulling out most of Caitlyn's toys but we tried to put them all back before we left. Hopefully we didn't end up hiding any of Caitlyn's favorites by putting them in the wrong spots!