More Christmas to come, but here's a cute video

Ryan and Great Grandfather (96) chilling together on Christmas. It was really dark in there, so the video quality isn't super.

So he didn't make the paper but . . .

here's the picture that should have! We were able to order it at least.

Ho Ho Ho!

My boys loved thier trip to see Santa, and we got a few cute shots. The local paper was there and they got a shot of Ryan and asked for his info, so he may get some press! I'll put a link in to the paper if he does.

The Greatest Show on Earth

Yes, that's right, we went to the Greatest Show on Earth today -- Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey! It was great! We loved it! We're going back every year!


Of course, when I say "we" I mean Steve and I. The kids really got in the way of our enjoyment. Actually Ryan was great -- poor kid didn't nap AT ALL (this from a kid that takes two 2-hour naps a day) but thought the circus and everything about it was awesome.

Andrew, however, who was BEYOND excited to go, quickly changed his tune and spent most of the time screaming and crying.

What's that you say? He looks perfectly happy in the picture? Yep. That was one of very few smiles.

So here's the story. A couple of months ago I saw the circus was coming so I checked with ticketmaster about getting tickets. As luck would have it, they had some "Celebrity" seats available, which are front row center, and gives you extra privileges, including riding on a special train in the arena DURING the circus. Pretty cool, eh?

Well, I did have some reservations about taking the kids -- I knew it might be a little overwhelming for them. Their reactions did surprise me -- the intensity of Andrew's bad reaction and Ryan's great reaction.

Anyway, we get there early to participate in the pre-show fun (that is when these pics were taken) -- you get to interact with the performers, etc. Very cool. Andrew was uncharacteristically shy and reserved. Mind you -- he was crazy excited about coming.

But the real hell broke loose when the show started, because they had some little fireworks and the noise just did Andrew in. And he doesn't recover well from that. Most of the rest of the first act was him crying and screaming that he wanted to go home, face buried in Steve's chest, with his horrible mean mommy saying "No way kid!" I wanted to ride that damned train. I knew he would like it too, and he did like that part.

Andrew actually I think loved it, but he just got so spooked. He can't stop talking about it today. We'll let you know how it goes next year. Maybe we'll bring home a souvenir for Andrew.

A moment of silence please

For our dear, departed Bob the Snail. It seems Bob has died. A couple of days ago, I think, but its kind of hard to tell with a snail.

I'm bummed. Bob was cool. I'm taking it harder than Andrew who always preferred Fishy the Fish anyway (he's all flash). Frankly, I'm kind of ambivalent about Fishy -- what I liked about him was related to Bob, and now that he's gone . . .

A Fishy and Bob story: "experts" suggest giving your betta fish some exercise by putting a mirror up to their tank now and then. They see their reflection and want to fight the fish. Except that Fishy is a wuss. We'd put the mirror up and he would immediately go and hide behind Bob. I'm not making this up.

The other thing that Fishy did that amused me was that although he was a wimp when faced with other fish (a small toy fish that Andrew had also had Fishy retreating to Bob's protection); he was a fierce fighter of vegetables. We'd feed Bob the occasional pea or bean and Fishy would attack it. This cracked me up and I had a running commentary, which involved Fishy as a drunken Irishman saying "yeah, bean, put 'em up -- I'll fightcha. Yeah, with one fin tied behind my back, that's right . . ."

So bow your heads for a moment please, and think kind thoughts about Bob the Snail, who has left us for greener waters. Steve and Andrew both asked if I was going to go buy another snail. I told them I needed time to mourn.

Busted!

Yeah, ok, it was all staged, but the pics are pretty cute anyway! More Halloween cuteness to come!

Our life in pictures - -a catch up.

"Camping" for the first time -- in our backyard. But they made it all night (Andrew slept better than Steve).




Here's some pictures that will help tell our tale of late:

Food glorious food .. .

Eating has become a full contact sport here. Ryan's into the whole tactile experience. I'm thinking about moving the highchair into the shower and feeding him naked (both of us) and just hosing us off afterwards.

These pictures don't actually do the scene justice. There is carrot and banana everywhere, including all over MY shirt, pants and sock.

He's eating pretty well now -- doesn't seem to dislike any food, but definately seems to like some better than others. He's fond of blowing rasperries in his food or my water glass too (which makes my water really pretty - not)

Bob the Snail

Ok, this is a post dedicated to my new favorite pet, Bob the Snail. I didn't think I'd care much for the snail (Andrew likes them at the library tank, so wanted one) but Bob is a cool snail.

For one thing, Bob is an active snail -- he's out of his shell all the time. He also seems to have the power of teleporation because I rarely see him actually move anywhere, and I'll pass the tank a few minutes after seeing him on a plant and he's on the other side of the tank, up the wall.

Fishy and Bob get along just fine, in the sense that they ignore each other entirely. Fishy is doing well -- and Andrew likes feeding him (luckily, he abides by the "only with Mommy or Daddy" rule.

Sure, Bob isn't cuddly like Zeke was, but hey -- he doesn't shed either.

I can sit up all by myself!


The Brothers Burke, having fun


First Bath Together!

Enough about my baby brother already . . .

Once again, Mommy is slighting me on this blog so I feel the need to take matters in my own hands.

Andrew here, giving you an update on me. I'm 4, and a very big boy. I can do just about everything now, except for all those fun things that Mommy and Daddy say are "dangerous". Bah. I'm careful. I don't get why they don't want me jumping on the couch, or running fast holding sticks, or bodyslamming Ryan. They just don't get what's fun, that's all.

Speaking of fun, school has started again -- hurrah! I'm in the Snoopy Room this year, with all my old buddies plus a few. We have a great time. My teachers are Mrs. Lilly and Mrs. Spata. I go Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Wednesday afternoons, which is a big deal because I don't have to take a nap that day now!

I don't nap much anyway, but Mommy still makes me go up and try. I would rather play.

I love using my computer now. I particularly like Noggin, and Mommy is ok with that, but prefers when I play a game instead of watching video clips. I have mastered the mouse, and really like typing my name in.

I got lots of games for my birthday, and I like those but I don't like when Mommy try to make them too "educational" if you know what I mean. Geez mom, I'm only 4.

I'm very excited to be a pet owner. Fishy the Fish got a friend the other day, Bob the Snail. He's cool, and pretty active for a snail. Fishy seems to enjoy the company.

I love my brother, and LOVE to make him laugh. No one can make him laugh like I can. I just wish I didn't have to be so gentle with him. I want to wrestle!

I'm also doing well with our new "system" of 1-2-3- Magic. Mommy usually doesn't have to get past 2. This is a big improvement. I'm not too fond of the system, but honestly, its not so bad.

Ok, that's it for me now. I'll be back if Mommy keeps slighting me. I like to think I'm more interesting than Ryan's poop.

Good News (what a change!)

So we took Ryan to the allergist, and I'm so glad we did. He tested for oats, milk, egg, wheat and soy and guess what -- no allergies. At least no IgE allergies. Given his reaction he still may have a cell-mediated allergy, but that's hard to diagnose (basically if he keeps reacting to oats, we'll assume it.) But for now, no oats.

And for mommy, no peanuts, tree-nuts :( , shellfish, fish, or oats until I'm done breastfeeding. I'm thinking that weaning him at a year is going to be less emotional for me than it was with Andrew :)

Sleep has gotten somewhat better too -- giving me hope that yes, one fine day, everyone in this house will sleep through the night. On the same night. A girl can dream, right?

Ok, so all the scoop on Ryan -- there's a lot.

So Ryan's doing great in many ways -- he's pretty much sitting unassisted (still topples, but if he focuses, he stays upright quite well), cute as a button, nursing pretty well. Great!

Ok, so here's the bad stuff.

Where to start? Ok, lets start with food. As I posted here, we started him on cereal (oatmeal) a few weeks ago. He loved it, ate well. For a day. Then the poop hit the fan (sorry, couldn't resist). Actually it could have given the volume and frequency. And the mucous. And the blood. Again. Then there was the full body rash. Dr. thought it was just a stomach bug, told us to hold off on cereal, then try rice cereal.

Ok, his poops get better and we try rice. To say he didn't care for rice would be an understatement. He was literally WIPING IT OUT OF HIS MOUTH in disgust. So we thought maybe he just was still "off". Waited a few days, tried again, same thing. I seriously doubt any of it actually made it into his digestive system.

So I get the go-ahead to try him on oatmeal again, since he at least enjoyed that. Well, not this time. Seems the rice turned him off cereal all together. Sure I got some in his mouth, but I don't think he really swallowed any. Plenty on his cheeks and chin though.

And everywhere it touched, the next day he had wicked eczema. Hmmm. Well, I thought maybe it was the soap I had used didn't get totally rinsed off my boob or something. Ok. But lets wait a day on the oatmeal to see if he likes it better next time.

I did manage to sneak a couple of spoonfulls in him that he did swallow (I gave him a couple of sips of water to wash it down.) I'm sure he got some in him because it later ALL CAME BACK UP. Poor kid was puking everywhere.

Yep. Ryan appears to be allergic to oats. Shit.

Further supporting this theory is the fact that at about 2 months old I put some nice baby sunscreen on him and he totally broke out all over. Just thought it was some chemical that his soft baby skin found to be unpleasant.

Nope. The Aveeno Baby sunscreen has as its first ingredients . . . drum roll please . . . oats. Super.

So now he may be allergic to milk (don't know if it was that or the foremilk/hindmilk imbalance) and oats. What else, I fear?

So we're off to the allergist on Thursday and will see where we go from there. The pediatrician said to just wait a couple of months and try again. Uh, I don't really ever need to see Ryan vomit that much again, thanks awfully.

OK THEN, now on to sleep.

Fact: On the night of September 5, 2007 we replaced Ryan's binky no fewer than 17 times.
Fact: That 17th time was the last time a binky will ever be in his mouth.

I couldn't take it anymore, and it wasn't helping him anymore either, if he kept waking up whenever it fell out. Andrew had figured out to replace it himself by this point, but Ryan never will get the chance. I have no regrets about this.

Well, ok, I do OCCASIONALLY long for the binky. Hell, I occasionally want to pop on in Andrew's mouth. Or mine, for that matter.

He's handled it pretty well, all told, but there are a lot more tears at bedtimes and night wakings. We've been doing a modified Ferber approach, but I think we're about to go more hardline than that. I broke down and nursed him early last night, after he had been screaming for almost an hour, CERTAIN that he must be starving to death (ok, no, not rational. But the middle of the night is not a rational time for me). I'm thinking, growth spurt, the fact we give him no solids, etc.

Well, he nursed for 2 minutes and went back to bed. He just wanted some Mommy time. Which was nice, but Mommy is a much BETTER Mommy when she gets sleep.

More news as it happens . . .

The Birthday Boy

So, here are a couple of pics from Andrew's birthday -- he got a fish (aptly named "Fishy the Fish" from Maeve and Bea, and had a great Bulldozer Party with some friends. Andrew was the "4-man" Ha ha!

THere is so much to update. Some good, some bad. I'm just so tired I don't have the energy or typing skills to get it all down. Stay tuned.

Well, what fun! NOT!

So our fine tale begins on Thursday, when the hurricane hit. Well, I guess technically it was not a hurricane, but there were sustained winds of over 70mph, torrential rains, storms, and tornado warnings specifically mentioning Flossmoor. The boys and I hid in the basement bathroom, which is a spooky place on a nice day (we haven't gotten around to fixing it up) and really not pleasant with the power off and 2 scared boys. We had the dim light of one flashlight with failing batteries, and his Leapfrog drum ("play the drum, everyone, play the drum") which lights a little.

Stupid me forgot to charge my cellphone, so it was running out of battery too, but I kept checking it to see if the storms had passed enough to emerge. Once they did, we got out of there, went to my folks who had power, and then met Steve for dinner at Chilis. Not bad, eh?

Then we went home just in time to face another bad storm, and we were still without power. Andrew was now becoming panicked. So we made the decision to stay the night at a local hotel. After the storm let up enough to emerge from the basement, we packed up (not as easy with two kids) and headed out. Roads were flooded so we had to go long out of our way to get to the hotel, but did and got checked in around 9 (Ryan was back awake after falling asleep in the car, and Andrew was so excited to be there and that they had power!)

Honestly, not a bad night in the hotel. Andrew was out within 5 minutes of laying down, and Ryan went down pretty quickly too, and was only up a couple of times.

In the morning, we had breakfast and Steve ran off to his meeting and we went home. We had power -- hooray! I decided to run downstairs to see if we had gotten any water in the basement fireplace, as we sometimes do. So I bound down the stairs - thump, thump, thump, thump, SPLASH. Our basement is underwater. Explitaves spew from my mouth.

For those of you who don't know, we finished our basement 2.5 years ago.

So, I went to my preschool meeting, then came home and started throwing things away. Steve did the same. We lost quite a bit, but not much that meant anything. We'll just call it a "natural pruning event" much like the cicadas were to the trees. The biggest PIA is the carpet. We finally got a disaster crew over to tear it out on Sunday night.

Of course, during all this, Ryan got sick -- some intestinal virus thing. Fever, diarreha, crabbiness, and finally a full body rash. Oh so fun. Top all of this off with it being CRAZY busy for me, with school stuff, Andrew's upcoming party, etc and you've got a stressed out mama.

I jokingly call it the Zoloft Challenge Week. As I only had one panic attack, that's pretty good.

First Cereal!

Ryan had his first cereal (oatmeal) this evening -- and loved it! You would have never guess this was his first time eating from a spoon. Sure, it was messy, but he just wanted more and more! All in all he had about 2 tbsps -- not bad for a first meal.

We're loving the oh-so-fancy IKEA highchair. You can just tell he feels like such a big boy in it.

Yesterday was his 5 month appointment and he's now 15lbs (double his birthweight) and 25" long. Still a lot smaller than Andrew was at this age -- but that was a pretty big spurt for one month. He's totally a chubbers when you look at him, so you know he's getting the calories!

It was a crazy couple of days here -- and gratefully Steve's mom came to stay the night. Steve and I even went out to dinner for the first time since Ryan was born. Well, we went out to dinner. Didn't get to eat it. No, the boys were fine, Steve had a weird episode and decided he needed to go home and lay down. We were terrified it was seizure related, but he basically felt crappy all night and part of today but has been feeling better this evening so we're pretty sure it was just a short-lived bug of some sort.

Well, here's hoping the cereal has that oft-cited magical side effect of helping Ryan sleep through the night. Ha. I'll believe it when I see it (or more to the point DON'T see him!)

So that was a bust

Months and months ago I purchased my tickets for Thomas the Tank Engine up at the Illinois Railway museum. We've been the last 2 years, and it is a riot. HUGE event -- the museum makes its entire operating budget from Thomas' 2 weekend appearances. Thousands of people (no, I'm not exaggerating) come and ride in a couple of coaches pulled by Thomas, and there are other train related activities going on. There are about 500 seats per train, running every 30 minutes, all weekend. And it sells out.

Anyway, we didn't tell Andrew where we were going, just gave him hints along the way. It was a rainy day, but we didn't let that deter us in any way -- just dressed for it. About an hour into our 90 minute trip up there, he finally guesses and is SO excited. We get to the museum plenty early only to be met with a volunteer telling us it was canceled due to flooding. You can imagine a 4 year old's disappointment. Actually, I admit I was just as bummed -- I like to go to this.

Well, Ryan was cranky and hungry so we had to find someplace to park anyway, so we went to the nearby Wild West Show, which opened a half hour later. They were stunned to find so many people in line on a rainy day -- all Thomas goers! So they gladly took our $14/person to enter, only for us to find that they too were pretty much underwater and the only things open were the giftshops! We got our money back. Well, they did have a paltry petting zoo with a very ornery pot-belly pig who was constantly trying to escape and would have, but for my excellent (and newfound) pig-wrangling skills.

So it was off to IKEA, which is a semi-annual pilgrimage for us anyway. Andrew was big enough for their playroom this year. I'm guessing he had a good time because he came out drenched in sweat! We got tons of stuff (mostly kid stuff) including a new highchair for Ryan. Funny, he and I both like the $20 IKEA highchair better than the fancy dansy cushy Fisher Price one.

The high chair is just in time, because we're about to start Ryan on cereal. He has his 5 month appt. tomorrow, so I'll wait to make sure he doesn't have a reaction to the shots and then we'll start the oh-so-tasty rice cereal.

So I guess we'll see Thomas next year. Oh well!

Tacoma Visit

So, we just got back from a great trip to Tacoma, WA to see our friends the Hunts. A super time was had by all. Andrew and Maeve (who is almost 5) played great -- and Andrew was a willing partner in any dressing up, as you can see below:

"Baby" Bea (she's almost 2!) was a charmer, and played coy with me the whole trip. Silly girl.





The highlight was going to the Bamford's beach house on Puget Sound. John took Andrew out to find starfish and any other marine life he could (see Andrew holding a starfish below).


They also have a bulldozer there, (not just visiting, it lives there!) so Andrew got to play on it, which was a bit of a dream-come-true, as bulldozers are #1 on his list of cool things currently. He's even having a "bulldozer party" in a couple of weeks!

It was Ryan's first trip, and he did a great job. Didn't sleep much but there you go. Sleep is a problem for him right now, and something we will soon be tackling, so you'll get to read our progress (or lack thereof) in this space another time. Pray for us. Or send earplugs.

Kiddieland

Ok, this is a much delayed post, but I wanted to write that Kiddieland rocks. It is a blast from the past. Yes, slightly scary looking (think carnival) upon first arrival, but everything was clean and in very good shape. Lots of rides for the tot-set -- in fact not much for people over 10, which was great. It was a cool, cloudy day when we went, and just perfect. Andrew had a BLAST and Ryan just went with the flow, as always.

Here are some pics:
Andrew went on the log ride twice (first with Mommy, then with Daddy) and loved it. But now claims he didn't. You look at that smile and decide for yourself.

Towards the end, getting a wee bit sleepy . . .

Wrestlemania

The bad news is that Andrew is sometimes too rough with his baby brother. The good news is that Ryan loves it.

My Boys

Just a cute pic to share -- having fun on Mommy and Daddy's bed. We're doing fine, went to Kiddieland and saw family this past weekend, including Steve's cousin Kevin and Jessica, who inspired me to blog, and their daughters. Last we saw Abby she was younger than Ryan and now she's about ready to walk -- time flies!

Exersaucer!

Ryan's first journey into the exersaucer was a success -- he was less overwhelmed than Andrew was the first time. Hasn't figured out he can move in it yet though.
We were lucky enough to get video of it, including a great laugh -- really his first big laugh (he giggles and squeals plenty though).


Here's the video and some pictures:

Sleep

Well, the good news is that Ryan slept much better last night. The bad news is that he slept on his belly. Well, that's not really bad news, just makes us a little nervous, as he's much younger (about a month) than Andrew was when he started doing that. But one thing I do know is that once they decide they like to sleep on their belly, there isn't a thing you can do about it.

Ryan also sleeps LATE. I just woke him at 8. This would be fantastic if his big brother slept late, but he doesn't. Andrew's very good about following the "stay in your room until the number 7" rule - but he is always up before then, playing in his room or clubhouse. This poses a potential problem for us, as we have intended that the boys share a room once Ryan's sleeping through the night. Of course, Ryan may be waking earlier than that then too.

Rollin', rollin', rollin' . . .

Yep, Ryan's rolling. Not with great skill yet, but definatley on purpose. While he has rolled from belly to back for some time now, he seems to have forgotten that. Now he rolls from back to belly. And then gets stuck.

During awake time, no biggie -- he likes being on his tummy. I really think he likes tummy time more than back time. But in the crib, no way. Cries and cries. I was letting him try to "work it out" on his own during a nap yesterday (Mommy wanted to finish her lunch) and I finally went up to see him face down, (and I mean FACE down) sobbing into his mattress. Poor kid.

So my hopes of doing some sleep training this weekend are done, because I am 1) not at all comfortable with the idea of him sleeping on his belly and 2) until he either learns to roll back over again, or learns to LIKE sleeping on his belly (at which point I am defeated anyway) there is no point.

Oh well. Good thing I have my happy pills to get me through this (yesiree, I do believe they're working!)

He's 4 months old -- how'd that happen?

Man time flies. Ryan turned 4 months on Tuesday, and had his checkup yesterday. Not great on the weight front -- only put on 11oz in a month. But with the diaper on it was 3oz more (making a grand total of 14 lbs) and I had just put that on minutes before and he had JUST peed. So that should count, shouldn't it?

Not sure what I can do about it. I offer him food often, he nurses as long as he wants, and stops when he's done. He had been spitting up quite a bit for a few days, so maybe that's why. At least his poops look normal now.

He's also only 10th percentile in height. Sorry kid, bad genes. Andrew was almost a pound and a half heavier and over an inch longer at this point. Doesn't mean that Ryan won't tower over him someday!