Some Firsts

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. Derrik still had baseball one Monday so it was kind of a normal Monday to us, but we're really enjoying him not working at night lately which is kind of a holiday all in itself :)

We had lots of first this weekend...

I had my first workout this weekend. I worked out Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Nothing to strenuous until I get cleared by the doctor on Thursday, but just running and doing some light weights is enough for me! I can feel it in every part of my body... in a good way of course, but wow i'm out of shape. I'm working out at the gym in our apartment complex. I was looking for something a little more intense, but no gym will let me sign up for just a month for less then $70. Just not going to work on our budget. So the apartment gym will work just fine, and I can't wait to join a gym once I get to Florida so I can do some spin classes!!

Landon slept without his swaddle last night! He has slept half the night without it, but then I put it on for really no reason at all. He did great without it so I guess it's a goner. We'll see if it lasts.

Landon had his first fussy evening. It was sad. It lasted about 3ish hours. He wasn't really screaming crying, but was definitely crying and not quickly consoled as soon as we picked him up like usually. It took some rocking, adjusting, loving, a bath, and some more loving to get him to doze off to sleep. We had a two hour marathon of The Bachelorette to watch last night so I let him sleep on me until we went to bed and put him to bed to asleep. This is a big no no to me, but it was a sad night for him. We're allowed to break the rules sometimes :) He seems fine today. I guess we're all allowed bad nights sometimes.

And of course the first everyone really wants to hear about... Derrik's first game!! It went great!! It was kind of a trial run. Let me try to explain it all for everyone interested in a non confusing way. The team Derrik will be pitching for out here right now is considered Extended Spring Training. All the teams have it. It's for all the guys they don't make a team out of camp. Anyhow... They had a camp day on Saturday. That means instead of playing another team they play each other. During camp days they can change the rules up some to get all their work in. They wanted Derrik to throw two sets of twenty at about 90% effort. The first inning he got five outs and the sixth guy hit a home run before his 20 pitches were up. Pretty impressive :) The second inning he got four outs. He had no elbow pain and said he felt like an 8 out of 10 out there. Pretty good for a guy fresh off of back to back surgeries! He will throw in games this week (tenatively Wed and Sat), and next week. The weekend of the 11th-12th they have off while the MLB Draft is taking place. After that extended spring training is over and they form a league called the AZL. At this point it appears Derrik will be at the discretion of the pitching coordinator for the Reds instead of the rehab trainer. He is the guy who will make the decision as to when and where Derrik will go. It will probably be another couple of weeks at that point, but only time will tell.

I'm trying to be patient. Do you know how hard it is to sit here with a 2 1/2 year old and a 1 1/2 month old knowing that a move is coming, but having no idea how or when it will all go down. Derrik will most likely find out a day in advance where he is going... the possibilities range from Ohio, California, and North Carolina. He could possibily end up at them all or just one in the coming months. Me.. well i'm most likely going to Florida, but have to try to somewhat plan how to get our two cars to their respective places, all our stuff and our dog to my parents, travel with the two kids on my own most likely, shut off cable, electric, and water, forward our mail, get all our stuff packed, get things finalized with our apartment, and i'm sure there is a lot more that i'm forgetting. It's hard to plan ahead because I don't know if this will happen in two weeks, a month, or just not happen like last year. For someone like me who likes to plan stuff like this ahead of time... it's when baseball becomes a struggle for me. I'm pretty sure I drive Derrik NUTS talking about it, but I just can't help myself :) Hoping I stay sane in the coming weeks!!

And some pictures....

Yes.. he has on big boy undies

No he doesn't pee in them (just poops.. on purpose and then tells us about it)

No he doesn't go in the potty

Yes.. he goes in his diaper at nap and bed time
No I have no clue why he won't go on the potty

Pretty sure it's just because he gets a kick out of making his Daddy and I crazy!

Ignore poor Landon's double chin... and focus on the cutest baseball t-shirt ever

This team holds such a special place in our hearts

I grew up watching them every summer while on vacation

My grandparents hosted these ball players in their home when my mom was growing up
and I later married one of these ball players that played for this team :)

Bad hair day?

In honor of the upcoming Cars 2 movie

Mater Teeth Lollipop

And that's all folks :)

Some Funny Stories... and of course pictures of my boys :)

We have a very small apartment... like really small... it's nice with Ryder though. It makes getting ready with no one home easy because I can always hear him and know where he is at. Yesterday I had just gotten done blow drying my hair and came out to check on him. I see this...

I kept walking looking for him... and see this.....
And get this look once he sees me....

I could not believe he had gotten the whole tub of ice cream out of the freezer all on his own and put himself into his seat to eat it. It was about 3/4 of the way gone. After laughing really hard and explaining to him what a bad boy he was for doing that I couldn't help but to sit down finish it off with him. He's really keeping me on my toes these days.

Also... it was only a matter of time before this happened. Today Ryder told me Landon (his baby doll) was hungry and lifted his shirt to feed him. I didn't react at all because I had no clue what to do. If it happens again well be discussing how only Mommy's can feed babies this way. I think it might be time to get a designated bottle for his baby Landon.

Yesterday I had my first blow out diaper with Landon out of the house. Just recently when he really goes poop its going out of his diaper and leaking through is clothes. Nice huh? Yesterday we went to Toys 'R Us to get Ryder some cars from the new Cars 2 movie. Which by the way we are beyond excited for!! Have you seen all the new toys in the toy store for the movie? We are in desperate need of a holiday or birthday for this kid because he wants it all! I asked Ryder if he wanted to pick up a pizza on the way home, and he kept saying he wanted McDonald's. I agreed thinking we'd pick it up and head home, but Ryder told me he wanted to eat inside. It was against my better judgment because I hadn't planned on being out that long with Landon, but I knew I had a formula bottle in the diaper bag in case of emergency. Of course Landon woke up just as we were finishing. I started feeding him the bottle and felt the warm wet mess under his outfit. So there I am stuck in McDonald's by myself with both kids with poop all over us. Gross!!! We made it to the bathroom. I cleaned the kid up while Ryder managed to play with the nasty toilet, trash can, and spill his drink on himself in the process. I honestly laughed the whole time... I think in fear of having a nervous breakdown if I didn't.

By the time we got home, I picked up, put Ryder to bed, and finally sat down with Landon I got this sweet look..

I think it was the Hey Mom did you forget about me look :)

Derrik's eight nights of being gone til 10:00ish finally ended last night. This little league he is umping for is horrible! I can't believe little kids are playing that late. Anyhow... he's home with us and has a while off. Not good on the wallet, but glad to have him home for sure. It was a long rough stretch without him around.

On top of not working tonight.. he got home from the field early today!!

Enjoying nap time with the little guy :)

Now that Daddy is around we need pictures of them together :)

Before we have to say good-bye....
BECAUSE... Derrik's 1st game is tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! Say a prayer that all goes well :)
It's only a matter of time now until we are crying at the airport saying bye to him as he heads off with a team to play... bitter sweet for sure.


And... Derrik is currently letting Ryder watch "the dinosaur movie" (other wise known as Jurassic Park)... I told Derrik he's getting up with him when he has night mares tonight.

HAPPY FRIDAY :)

Sunday Morning

Set up every toy we have to play with cars for the big guy

And then Mommy gets bored and snaps more pictures of the little guy

Realizing the driver to his truck is missing...

And after a thorough search he found him

Loading up a truck for the races

Lovin' Sunday mornings with my boys...

Even more excited Daddy should be around this Sunday :)

Wordless Wednesday - From the iPhone once again

Landon Brennan - 1 Month

Wow!! One Month... so much for weekly posts. I'm still taking in the fact that we have two kids to care for. I can't believe you're one month!! I am so sad that in the last week Daddy has come home from work and told me you are definitely getting bigger. Grammy comments daily now on how much you are filling out. It is also becoming quite evident how much you're growing by the amount of stuff I have to store away already that you've outgrown.

Sleep: You are a great sleeper for a one month old. You must know i'm not a very nice person with little sleep and are cutting me some slack since we have no help out here. Thank you for this! Around 8:30, after we get Ryder tucked into bed, we head into our room. I get you jammied up, spend a little time on the bed enjoying some quality one on one uninterrupted time with you, and then feed you a bottle. After about two weeks I started giving you a bottle with pumped milk to make sure you were getting a nice good feeding in to help ensure a long stretch of sleep. Usually around nine I put you into your swaddle, which you love by the way, and tuck you into bed. You currently sleep on your sleep postioner and like a receiving blanket wrapped tightly around that as well. You lay down awake and fall asleep within 10-20 minutes. Some nights you just lay their wide eyed until your eyes get too heavy and you drift off and other nights you need your pacifier replaced two or three times. I seldom pick you up after putting you into your bed and you tend to work things out on your own. If you truly do get upset it's usually a wet diaper which we take care of and put you right back to bed. You wake each night at 1 and 5 or 3 and 7. I like the 3 and 7 because it means we are only up once a night since Ryder and Daddy's work already has us up at 7. 5 isn't much fun because I know we have to get up soon... not fun! No matter when you get up for those feeds you tend to wake up around 9. You stay awake for about an hour to hang out with us and drift back off to sleep until around 11 or 12. You then wake up for about an hour while we get Ryder ready for nap, and then nap on me during Ryder's nap. I love this time with you and enjoy being able to relax and cuddle with you. The afternoons are random depending on our schdule. If you can call it "fussy", then your fussy times tend to come late afternoon/evening but honestly you are pretty simple.
Eating: I'd like to pat myself on the back for doing this breast feeding thing for a month. After not doing it with your brother and not being to excited about it this time no one thought i'd last very long. At one month you have only had two formula bottles. Both were before we had a back up supply in the freezer, and I needed to pump to have bottles while we were out of the house the following day. As I said above you take a bottle of breast milk every night before bed and whenever we are out of the house. You have a couple other ones on rare occasion at home, but other then that you are a boob baby sweet heart. I think you prefer a bottle, as do I, but it's much easier to just breastfeed then to pump and feed. Lazy on my part. People say you feel such a strong bond when you breast feed... um no! It' frustrating, still not all that wonderful feeling, and just not my thing. I will continue to do it becaue I know it's good for both of us and the wallet, but I get so much more out of feeding you a bottle. We are both much happier, and I love the looks you give me while you take a bottle. It's a look of "Thanks Mom... this is so much less frustrating", and then I kiss you tell you I agree :) Daddy has only given you two bottles I believe. Unfortunately he's always gone for work it seems like when we do bottles, but hopefully he'll get some more in soon when he has some time off. Oh yeah.. when you do take a bottle you take 3 oz and when you breastfeed you tend to eat for about ten-ish minutes.

Diapers: Size 1 sweetheart... don't grow too fast. I like the cute little lines on the diapers that change color when you pee. They don't have those on bigger diapers which tells me you're getting to be a big boy... so stop it!

Clothes: Anything with the NB on the label is officially too small. You outgrew the onesies first, then some sleepers, and then the clothes. The 0-3 month stuff fits great and some of the 3 month stuff that runs smaller is fitting you well. 0-3 month onesies are getting snug, but I put a 3 month one on you today that was huge... thank God! Not ready for that big leap yet :)

Not sure what else when it comes to stats... you pretty much eat, sleep, and poop... must be the life. Daddy said the other day he wants to trade spots with you for a day and let you go to work.

I got on the scale yesterday with and without you. According to that you were 10.4 pounds. Not sure how accurate that is, but it's all I got right now. You have definitely grown in length judging by how your clothes fit. You don't go back to the doctor until June 16th so it'll be a while on any stats.

You have become much more alert in the past week. You really look at us and can follow us some with your eyes. I've noticed you opening you mouth when I get the bottle or pacifier near your mouth now. You are no where near holding your head up on your own, but you are getting there. If we hold you just the right way you can hold it for a while before you get too tired. You are great with tummy time. I never did it much with Ryder, and he got a flat head out of it. We weren't home much and the time just wasn't there. Even though you are the second child, we are home all day which gives me a lot of time to focus on stuff like that when I couldn't with Ryder. I make you sleep on your sides, rotating which side each night, and you nap on your tummy. I keep a close eye on you when you sleep like this :) Humm... what else... you are great on the go and sleep most of the time. You do great in the car. If you can't tell... you're a pretty easy baby. Ryder was as well... looks like that means i'm in for it when you are a toddler if you are like him! :)

Happy 1 Month Sweet Heart

We love you :)

Mommy's Baby Photos

My mom managed to find two of my baby photos in their boxes from the move. Here is some proof of where that dark hair came from :) I think Landon definitely has some similarities from me as a baby. I wish I had some of Derrik's baby pictures for comparison, but they are packed away.

iPhone Pictures

I kind of have the guilts when I upload a million pictures of Landon, and Ryder is only in three of them WITH Landon. Please know that he only likes to take pictures with Landon and even then he's not overly thrilled. Landon just doesn't have an option to get his picture taken, and Ryder has just as many at this age :)

Love fluffy hair right out of the bath at bed time :)

Think he's dreaming about how much he loves me what that smile on his face?

Likes I've said a million times already... Ryder just adores him

Thankful

Ugh... what a day!!! I woke up this morning excited to hear my husbands 6:45am alarm clock and not "MOMMMMMMMY" through the baby monitor. Landon has been a great sleeper up once a night so far, but the past two nights he was up twice, and Ryder switched his 6:45-7:00 am wake up to 5:45-6:00ish.... needless to say I was excited he was back to normal this morning, and Landon only woke me up once :) I gave my hubby some kisses good-bye. Wished him good-luck on his first live BP about a million times before he left, and then quickly started getting the boys ready to meet up with Tricia and the kids at the splash pad. Pretty decent day lined up... then I get an awful text from my mom with a picture of my baby sister's body completley covered in road rash. Long story short she was at a friends riding a bike, flipped the handle bars when she hit a speed bump, and fell. She went down hill fast. My parents took her to the doctor with concerns of the road rash and because her ear was hurting, she was then taken by ambulance to the local hospital that has a trauma unit when she started puking and had blood in her ears at the doctors, and was transported up to Tampa with a skull fracture pretty soon after that where they had a pediatric neurosurgeon on call. It was a scary stressful day. I don't think i've ever heard my dad so upset in my entire life. As of right now Hailey is in the ICU up in Tampa. They are managing her pain and monitoring her. There isn't much they can do as long as things don't get worse. Praying she continues to get better and they are home soon.

It's days like today that I am so thankful for our friends and family. I felt so alone in my bedroom on the other side of the country not being able to rush to the hospital to comfort my baby sister. Thanks to facebook and phones I felt so much better with all the sweet message, texts, and phone calls from so many people. Thank you so much to each and every one of you who said a prayer for Hailey and our family today. It means the world to know she is so loved :)

And two pictures of my boys loving on each other... seriously... Ryder is so in love with his Baby Landon. I'm still in awe each and every day at how he is handling all of this!

P.S. - Derrik's live BP went great!!! Two simulated games next week and then the real thing the following Tuesday!! The count down is on :)