Special Moments

My sweet first born little man. I just love him so much, I can't even describe how much. I have been so preoccupied with taking care of his sweet baby brother these last 4 months; it's been so hard for me to find that quality one on one time with the wonderful boy who made me a mother. The adjustment to two children and both of us working full time has been harder than I anticipated. Being a full time working parent team was much easier with just one child. Now, we have to divide and conquer just to make it through the work evenings. Don't even get me started on trying to cook dinner when I get home from work. I literally run around the house like a mad chicken with its head cut off just trying to get everything accomplished so I can have some quality time with my family. It's heartbreaking, frustrating, and has me falling down in a lump of tears at least once a week. It's just plain hard.

So, when a day happens like it did last weekend, I am beyond grateful. We bought Ronan an octopus kite last week and told him we would fly it over the weekend. This was such a little gesture, but had a huge impact. We saw someone flying a kite at the park a couple weekends ago and he was very intrigued so we just ordered the inexpensive kite on Amazon on a whim. So on Sunday we loaded up the boys in the strollers and went to the local elementary school to set up the kite. Rob watched Remy while I got out there with Ro and it was the BEST time. He caught on so quickly and I was just so proud of him. We were both running around the field with the kite like a couple of crazies, and it was a blast. The look of pure happiness on his face was priceless. And I finally felt like I was getting some quality time with my sweet boy, which has been very hard to come by these days.

Ah, if only the weekends didn't go by so fast! And my Ro can't wait to get his kite back out again this weekend!

4 Years Old!

Poor Ronan, I haven't had much time to update his blog since his baby brother was born! I can barely even write a post here and there for baby brother! But, here we are and Ronan is 4 years old! I can't believe I had my baby 4 years ago. Ahhh, I've been reminiscing and looking through old photos and videos of him, especially to compare how he and his brother look at the same age and it makes me so nostalgic...it's very bittersweet. Here I have this new baby and it's been so fun getting to know him and see their differences and similarities. But, at the same time it's so hard to believe that the door closed on Ronan being a baby. He is definitely no longer a little baby - he is such a big boy! A little kid - it's crazy!!

Happy Birthday to this precious boy!! I love him so much!

Last Friday we celebrated Ronan's 4th birthday with our usual that has become a bit of a "tradition". Donuts for the birthday boy when he woke up, then we hung around the house and relaxed, got dressed and then went to Highland Park Pharmacy for some grilled cheese sandwiches, milkshakes and soup. Mind you, I have been going there since I was a very little girl. My ballet dance recitals used to be on the SMU campus when I was 6 years old and every year after the recital, I would be treated to Highland Park Pharmacy's diner yumminess. I always looked forward to it, and I hope Ronan feels the same way! After and early lunch, we went to visit Santa, this time with brother in tow for his first Christmas! We have been to the same Santa since Ronan was 2 weeks old, so this was actually his FIFTH visit to see Santa. That is crazy to me!

Ronan and Remy visit Santa

Saturday we had a little birthday party for Ronan and he had a great time getting his gift from Mom and Dad (his very own mini bounce house!) and having his friends over to play. I was so busy tending to baby brother that I didn't get nearly as many pictures this year which makes me sad! But we had a great time and that's all that matters!

Ro had his 4 year checkup at the pediatrician on Tuesday. It was no surprise to me that his "growth is AWESOME" according to his doc (despite the fact he barely eats anything anymore unless it's crap food, :::sigh:::). Here are the stats:

Weight: 38 pounds (up from 32 lbs 6 oz at his 3 year visit) - 75%
Height: 3 ft 5.5 in (up from 3 ft 2.5 in at his 3 year visit) - 75%
BMI: 15.51 (not much change from 15.36 at his 3 year visit which is a good thing) - 50%

This year they also checked his vision, he is 20/30 in the right eye and 20/25 in the left eye but the nurse indicated this could be inaccurate since he wasn't having much of reading the letters! He also got his hearing checked and got three boosters (OUCH!). Poor kid was so upset I had warned him ahead of time that he would get a little "pinch pinch" and we would take him for ice cream afterwards but it was really more that a "pinch pinch"...it was 3 pinches, one of the thigh of each leg and one right below his bottom behind one leg. Poor kid. He cried so hard and was so upset. I feel bad that I didn't accurately warn him since I thought the shots would be in his arm. Bad Mommy. But he did great and we not only took him for ice cream, but also for "cheese hamburgers" (requested by Ro himself) and fries. He ate every bite of his burger, almost all his fries and a bunch of Mom's tortilla chips. Luckily that filled him up enough that he barely ate any ice cream. We watched some tv when he got home, took a bath and he fell right to sleep at bed time. Actually telling his Daddy that he was "ready to go to sleep". Poor baby! He was worn out.

Ronan is amazing us everyday with how much he knows, and his vocabulary is incredible! I honestly had no idea that 4 year old's "knew" so much. I guess I didn't pay too much attention to ages and development levels of any children I have known over the years, because I always thought kids were so hard to understand for such a long time. Not Ronan! I have no trouble at all understanding him and his sentences are crazy long and involved. It's just so cool to see. He makes up songs, can effectively communicate what he wants and needs, and has the best sense of humor. He is certainly challenging these days as well. He is extremely argumentative and knows everything and the whining can be unbearable. Lo and behold, we got a sheet of paper at the doctor's office that mentions just that - how argumentative 4 year olds are, and how they "know it all". We just still have to make sure he knows that mom and dad are boss. Even though he may seem like he is walking all over us, he is actually still a very sensitive kid and shows empathy and caring for others all the time. We had a "parent teacher conference" at his school a few weeks ago and his teacher made sure to point out how much Ronan listens and cares for others, so I couldn't be more proud!

The last year has definitely proved to be a big challenge for us and for him, but he is the sweetest boy with the best heart. I just adore him and think he is the cat's meow!

Waiting at the doc's office

 Bravely waiting for his "pinch pinch" as Mommy described what the shots would be like

Mommy and Remy and Daddy all came to support Ronan!

Our last weekend as a family of 3!

We've prepared for a long time, people. Nine months to be exact! Now the time is here....our last couple days as a family of 3. The guilt is setting in as we draw closer to changing our (and Ronan's) lives forever. I feel bad that he doesn't truly understand what is about to happen. I know he will be okay, but our sweet boy can be slow to adapt to change, so I know we are in for a challenge for sure. I sure hope he learns to love his baby brother!

I'm trying to remain calm and relaxed this weekend and enjoy this time just the 3 of us, but I am still stressed and have a LOT on my mind. But, we are still making the most of it. Ronan loves ALL things Halloween right now, so we took him to a local pumpkin patch yesterday, played in the bounce houses, ran through the hay maze, rode on a tractor hay ride and picked out (more) pumpkins to bring home. He had a blast (and also wouldn't nap, I might add, ha!). We unfortunately had to deal with our car breaking down yesterday but luckily he also handled that fairly well and we were at least able to jump the car and get it home. Now to get it fixed before I give birth on Tuesday. Timing is never good for something like that!

Today we will likely spend most of the day at home, I need to "nest" and clean the house. I did a pretty darn good top to bottom cleaning last weekend, hoping my baby would have been here by now, and when you live with an almost 4 year old, the house doesn't stay clean long so I guess I will be doing a repeat of last week and cleaning again. Maybe I will treat myself to a manicure and glass of wine. Maybe a funny movie to lighten my mood and thoughts. Life is about to get crazy and change so much! Next round of photos will include a baby! I can't wait to see my sweet boy meet his baby brother. Ahh, I have all the feels.

All About Ro Weekend

I feel terrible!! It's been over 3 months since I last wrote an update on my sweet boy. I've been so focused on writing about my pregnancy so I don't forget anything that I did just that - forgot to keep up with my baby boy (cue Mommy guilt that I already feel on a daily basis as is)! Shame on me!

In an effort to have a weekend and some time that was "all about Ronan", we planned a trip to Great Wolf Lodge with the intent of basically letting him do whatever, eat whatever, have fun and just be "free" before the baby arrives. I feel so bad knowing how much attention I will have to give to the new baby with nursing, feeding, rocking, etc. and I already feel bad for him because he just doesn't know (exactly) what's coming. So, we came up with this plan to do anything/everything for him this weekend before baby comes. Well, we were most definitely successful, and I'm thrilled because of it.

We told him about our little surprise last Saturday afternoon to get him prepared and told him he needed to be on his best behavior all day if he wanted to go to the water park. HA! I feel like we should know better by now that when we say things like that, he is never on his best behavior...it usually always backfires. So, Saturday was challenging and he was upset and whiny a lot of the day (typical 3 yr old) and I became nervous this whole trip could be terrible. Luckily, my sweet boy proved me wrong and he was basically a perfect angel the whole time. He was VERY excited to go once we showed him pictures of the water park. We packed up lots of water and snacks, packed our bags and headed out Sunday morning to stay the night and took Monday off work to have an extra long weekend.

Pulling into the lodge and so excited!

Water park view from the lobby

When we got there he was amazed at all of it. The lobby is huge and has a giant glass window looking over into the gigantic indoor water park. The whole place looks like a big cabin so that was super cool. He immediately wanted to head down to the water, of course, so that's just what we did! We had to wait about an hour before check in so we grabbed our park passes and headed down to change. We wore him down for a couple hours, grabbed a pizza at a little pizza cafe and then headed to our room. He was SO excited for the bunk beds that he actually wanted to take a nap....that's unheard of these days. Luckily, he fell asleep pretty quickly and we got to have some down time to rest as well. At nearly 35 weeks pregnant, the water park wore Mama out also!

Excited for a nap in the bunk bed!

Sound asleep

When he woke up from his nap the fun continued....we went back to the water park, of course, wore ourselves out again then came back to the room to get ready for dinner and a little surprise was waiting for our Ronan. I had purchased the "Storytime package" with our room - every night they gather at 8 p.m. in the lobby for story time for the kids. Wiley the Wolf makes an appearance and there are creepy (yet fun for kids) animated animals that sing before story time - think Chuck E Cheese in the 80s! So, the Story Time package included Wiley the Wolf pajamas, a book, a fun little tote/backpack and a Wiley the Wolf plush animal. He was so excited. We had to go to the gift shop to pick out the jammies to make sure we got the right size where he also picked out a toy train. We got him the train and went to dinner where he decided about 15 minutes later that he didn't like the train and wanted to take it back and get a jet (sigh). At first we said no but the more I thought about it - it was brand new and he hadn't done anything to it, so I told him that after dinner we could go back to the gift shop and he could take it to the register and ask them nicely if he could exchange it. I thought this was a great chance at a learning/life experience for him. It was SO sweet, I wish I could have gotten it on video. He walked up to the too-tall-for-him counter, put the train on top of it and said sweetly "May I please get a jet instead?". Of course I had to "translate" for him since they didn't quite get that he wanted to exchange it, but they were really nice and accommodating and told him that of course he could. He actually ended up going with a 5 pack of Hot Wheels (just what we needed - more Hot Wheels) instead of the toy plane (jet) but he was satisfied and happy this time and it was just all around the cutest thing ever!

So, all in all our trip to GWL was a great success, and we will definitely return at some point. It was all well worth it. He was so well behaved, had a great time and we loved seeing him so happy! The only rough part of the trip was sleeping in the hotel. He napped really well, but when it came time to sleep, poor guy had the sniffles...BAD. He sniffed for TWO HOURS before we were all fed up with it...then he got so frustrated with sniffling that he began to cry - LOUD - and the walls in the hotel seemed pretty thin since we could hear an infant crying across the hall through the night as well. We tried to console him, but it didn't work too well. Finally, we let him sleep in the bed with us (which was the first time he has EVER slept with us at night)....poor Daddy ended up having to sleep on the bunk bed because Mommy and Ronan were snoring once we did fall asleep! I felt so bad for my little bubba. If he hadn't had the little cold, I think he would have been completely fine to sleep in the hotel without a fuss. It was fun to snuggle my buddy. I wish we could do that more often, but I know that is opening up a whole can of worms and we don't want to go there!

Dinner at GWL - making silly faces

Story Time at 8!

Wiley jammies and his GWL backpack

with Daddy

Ro and Wiley

Ro and big Wiley - look at that smile!

Cutie

Was a bit shy meeting Wiley for the first time!

Ro The Ring Bearer

My little bub has had a busy couple of weeks! Two weeks ago he'd been having some trouble sleeping at night....lots of waking up and crying for several days because he couldn't breathe through his nose (and trying to teach a 3 year old to blow his nose is downright impossible) along with a pretty nasty cough. He was also complaining that his throat hurt, which I assumed was from all the drainage. However, there had been a case of strep throat in his daycare class, so I took him into the doctor just in case and I was especially worried that his sleep had been so disrupted for a good week. The docs office is always so busy that getting in to see our specific doctor last minute is hard, so I agreed to see the nurse practitioner. She checked his throat and said it was drainage, gave us a nasal spray RX, told us to give him Zyrtec daily and we were on our way.

That weekend following was Mother's Day. It also included a trip to OKC for a wedding in which Ro was the ring bearer (cue fear on my part) and our niece graduated from college. It's also been a torrential downpour of rain around our area lately, and there have been many tornado's that have touched down from home all the way there, so add that to our list of stresses. The drive was not so fun this time, with construction and rain plus this was the first trip with a potty trained toddler (so it included a lot of stops) and not to mention his nearly 19 week pregnant mama that needs to pee as much, if not more, than he does! We got to OKC just in time for the rehearsal which did not go according to plan. Poor Ronan was tired (thanks, no nap) and there was a lot of delay getting started and by the time it was his turn to rehearse, he was over it. Can't say I blame him one bit, but I was pretty worried about how the wedding would go on Saturday, since there would be no practice round!

Luckily, my little boy did GREAT (thanks to the bribery of "walk down the aisle, pick out a toy at Target"). Then he promptly went back to spend the evening with his Gramma and Papa since he would not have done well at the wedding all night. Poor bub didn't sleep well that night, and he dozed off for quite a while on the drive home, which was nice. My Mother's Day was hectic, but we had the idea to celebrate the week before anyway, and as usual on my 4th Mother's Day, I am so grateful for my son that made me a Mommy!

He still didn't seem to be getting much better once we got back home, and was developing what looked like little pimples on his face and neck. According to his teachers at school, the other kids that had strep had the same spots. Yikes. Tuesday rolls around and I woke up feeling like I had literally been hit by a bus. Body aches, chills, sore throat. It was terrible. I dragged myself to work since I'm trying to save as much time as possible for maternity leave. But after just two hours at work, I couldn't do it anymore and drove myself straight to the doctor to get checked out. A throat culture and flu test later just gave me the reassurance that I didn't have either, but didn't provide any relief. Thanks, pregnancy, for there being so few drugs I can take! Poor Ro was sent home early from school the same day for a 100 temp, the bumps and a sore throat. Off to the doctor we went the next day to confirm that he did, in fact, have strep for the first time. My poor baby!! It made me feel so helpless and he just wasn't being himself. So, guess who got yet ANOTHER toy at Target when we went to pick up his prescription? I am such a sucker. But, he was happy so it made me happy.

We are all back to normal and healthy thanks to rest and antibiotics for Ro. I'm looking forward to the long Memorial Day weekend coming up and hoping to spend some good quality time with my boys.

Mr. Handsome!

 Can't handle the cuteness

There was a collective "awwwww" when he walked in the room

After this he walked back down the aisle, then to the front again, then back down! Oops.

Passed smooth out on the drive home

When you have strep, you get a new toy

Feeling much better at the mall playground (so glad he was on antibiotics...hello germ fest)

Goofing at dinner with Gamma and Papa

Loved looking at pictures of himself as a baby with Mommy

"Those" moments

I am sure I have said it before it recent weeks....3 years old is a ROUGH age. This kiddo continues to challenge us daily, in more ways than one. He challenges our patience, our ability to discipline and parent, challenges our ability to stay sane, and challenges our ability to stay awake long enough to get him to bed - have I mentioned having a 3 year old is exhausting? One thing that he has NEVER had to challenge us for, is our ability to love and adore him!

This kid. Whew. He's tough - so tough. But some moments just take your breath away and make you so grateful...even grateful for the challenges. This morning, as we rushed to get everyone up, dressed and out the door in time just like any other day during the week, Ronan had the sweetest, most adorable moment. Rob and I were standing next to each other and he came over, threw an arm around each of our legs and said "I love you Mommy & Daddy". How sweet and kind is our little fellow? Moments like that make it ALL worth it. He's done this before, but today it just stood out and pulled at my heart strings even more than usual.

He also woke up screaming last night, calling for Mommy. I went into his room and his little arms outstretched to me and said "pick me up!". I asked if he had a bad dream and he said "yesssssss". Who knows if he really did, but I will snuggle him and comfort him all he wants and needs. Sure, I'm tired and a lot of the time I just want him to stop crying so I can go back to sleep without having to get up....but I know one day I will miss these days, so I definitely try to remember that!

I mean, look at this face! Does a kid get any cuter than this? I think not!