Kiddy update and blah blah blah...

Ryan is 10weeks and 1 day old today... he had his two month checkup earlier this week. He was 12lbs 1oz and 22.5 inches long - which is actually not nearly as high in the percentile charts as he was when born, but I never went searching for the breastfed baby charts, which are supposed to be more accurate than the "normal" charts based on formula-fed babies. He is starting to roll a bit - manages to get up on his side sometimes. He smiles a lot more - I love that huge toothless grin! He is constantly "bothered" by his brothers who just can't love on him enough. I guess you could say he's attacked by me, too - I just can't stop kissing his sweet soft cheeks!

Levi is a little conversationalist - and very opinionated. He has a love/hate relationship with the car wash - wants to go so badly, but is scared when going through it. LOL! He went to his first movie theater showing yesterday - Oz: The Great and Powerful - and slept through most of it, which was for the better anyway... he was having trouble sitting still and being quiet. He has been sleeping in his own bed since probably June of last year. He has trouble falling asleep on his own still, so Mommy or Daddy have to lay with him until he falls asleep. It has been mostly Daddy doing the duty since I'm usually busy with Ryan at night. Over the past week, Levi will wake up and come into our room and ask Daddy to come lay with him. Not sure how to stop that, but maybe he'll just start sleeping all night and essentially grow out of it.

Tyler started kindergarten this past fall. He already decided that he doesn't like school. (He's really not going to like going everyday next year.) It could mean a very long 12 years until HS graduation... ugh! He is learning to read this year and I think he is doing quite well. I am amazed at listening to him read books to me. His handwriting is also improving - when he concentrates on it. He frequently comes home with his writing "books" only partially filled out, so we spend far too much time finishing them at home... all because he just stares at the pages or doodles on them instead of doing the work. He has improved on that "flaw" somewhat, but we have more improvement to make. He doesn't have any trouble concentrating on other things, so it is just a matter of making him realize that he is wasting time sitting there instead of just getting his work done so he can go off and play.

Tyler and Levi play together pretty well most of the time - they like pretending they are transformers. There are also lots of times they don't play well together, but luckily those moments are becoming less and less - but still more than I'd like. The playtime has been much improved since I've taken away most of their toys and only left out a few things. I enjoy not having the room covered in a layer of toys all the time, and I think they are actually playing with the toys left out instead of going from one thing to another so quickly. It has made for some more imaginative play and they aren't quite as overwhelmed at the task of "cleaning up".

I have unbunked the twin beds in their room - mostly because Levi was in the process of destroying the ceiling fan. I started taking the ladder down so he couldn't get up on the top bunk (that he was forbidden from), but being the monkey that he is, he was able to scale the side to get up there... something his big brother can't do. So I was forced to unbunk the beds or end up getting a new fan and repairing the ceiling. I picked the lesser of two evils. The room lost some floor space, but at least now I have more wall-space to hang things up and the beds are WAY easier to make.

The "nursery" has been de-nursery-fied when I moved Levi out of the crib. I took down all the nursery decorations and disassembled the crib - the back of the crib became the headboard for our double bed. I also took down the wallpaper border in there and began trying to figure out how I wanted to paint in there... before i had the chance to completely make it over into the guest room, I found out I was pregnant with Ryan. So, I decided that I should go ahead and turn it back into a nursery somewhat. I put the changing table back in there, and hung back up some of the nursery decor. I have since figured out what color I want to paint in there, so when the weather breaks for good, I'm going to get started on that. I certainly want to have it painted and give it plenty of time to fume off before I have anyone sleeping in there. I haven't completely decided how I want to do the sleeping arrangements when Ryan is out of our room, and I'm sure that I'll never fully have it figured out. I can't tell you how many times I've moved the beds and furniture around... within the rooms and between the rooms. At least with the paint color I picked out, it doesn't matter what beds go in there because it'll match either way. I'm always rearranging the living room furniture in search of the "perfect" arrangement, but I haven't really found one that is completely ideal. There's always something I'm not super-pleased with. Either, I don't like where the TV is because either the sound travels too well up the stairs to our room or the channels don't come in well through the antennea. The ideal place for the TV makes the couch be in a non-ideal location. And so on and so forth... needless to say, I stay busy rearranging furniture when I'm bored. It's a pretty cheap way to "redecorate". I always enjoy the freshness of a new arrangement... almost like I'm on vacation. :-) Ha!

Maybe I've started a new thing to keep me from being bored... renewing my interest in keeping this blog updated! And maybe trying to become the paparazzi for my kids - because I certainly do not take as many pictures and video of them as I would like. I also need to catch up on making our photo books and several sewing projects that I have in the works. So, maybe this blog will continue to be ignored. Or maybe I'll want to share all the things that have kept me from boredom by posting about them here... only time will tell!!!!