Sporadic Sleep

Ryan's sleep has been so sporadic lately. He was napping better last week (1 hour per day!!), but sleeping horribly at night. Then he randomly slept 8 hours straight one night. Then the next day he didn't nap at all, and woke up every hour at night. I can't figure this boy out! Then this happened the other night. He passed out around 7pm and didn't even wake up when we stripped him and changed his diaper. Of course it backfired and he was up an hour later ready to play the night away.....Love those lashes!

All Boy

I have never had a baby girl. Someday I would love to have a daughter. But for now, I only know what it's like to raise a little boy. And so far what I believe is that they are very different from little girls. I do believe that God makes men and women differently. There are obvious stereotypes about boys liking all things dirty and dangerous, and girls being a little calmer when they are young. I don't think this is an accident.....God knows what he is doing when he knits us together! And God sure is creative when creating little boys.
Here are two recent examples of how Ryan is definitely "All Boy".
~He is attracted to all things gross and dirty. When in the backyard he seems to be drawn to the dog poop. We're pretty diligent about picking it up and keeping Ryan away from it, but he somehow managed to grab one the other day. Luckily I stopped him before he put it in his mouth.

~He ate a dead mosquito this week. I had noticed it laying dead on our couch but didn't get a chance to throw it away. A few minutes later I hear Ryan spitting and I see little legs coming out of his mouth. Major yuck.

Bad Ending

On Saturday Ryan and I went with my Dad to spend a few hours with my sister and her family. Ryan slept most of the way up and back...a total of about 4.5 hours spent in the car! I was so proud of my little guy. Today we attended a birthday party for our friend's son who turned 4. They had a huge waterslide, as well as a kiddie pool, where Ryan happily splashed around for a while. Unfortunately Ryan's weekend ended badly, with him projectile vomiting. It happened about 10 minutes after dinner, and his entire dinner ended up on the family room floor. I really hope it was a one-time thing and that he's not getting sick!

Squish!

A cute thing happened last night while I was trying to get Ryan to sleep. (Which by the way has been better lately!! He has napped consistently all week and even slept 8 hours straight one night!) When I nurse Ryan at night and put him in his crib, he no longer screams. Instead he whines and fusses and lays down, then stands up, then sits down, then stands up......it's progress people! I've been trying the method of staying in his room with him until he falls asleep, but not always picking him up when he fusses. Kind of a tamer version of crying it out.

Last night after he stood up I gently made him lay back down for about the 100th time. He wiggled to get up, so I applied some pressure to his legs to pin them down so that he couldn't stand up. He immediately burst out laughing!
I realized Ryan probably thought I was trying to "squish" him. He loves to get into tight spots and be "squished" by me. For example, if I'm standing in front of the sink in the kitchen he will squeeze in between my legs and the cabinets. I will then push him up against the cabinets and say "squish!!". He giggles uncontrollably for some reason whenever I do this. So last night he thought I was doing the same thing. Makes it hard to get frustrated at him for not falling asleep when he's giggling at me!

Dinner Tonight

I am really looking forward to dinner tonight! Here is why: Orzo-Stuffed Bell Peppers! This is absolutely the best stuffed pepper recipe I have ever had. I have probably made it 10 times and it never fails to be delicious. Today I am giving half away to a friend in need because the recipe makes a lot!
Recipe is here. Here are my substitutions: Instead of zucchini I usually use carrots (because I always have them on hand) or half zucchini, half carrot. I also add ground turkey, chicken or beef to make it a complete meal with protein.

I would love to bring back some form of "Foodie Friday" because I love sharing food and recipes with other people. I'm just not sure if anyone out there cares about my recipes or food/cooking tips. What do you think?

One of the Guys

We've got great neighbors on either side of us....they are both families with Dads who love cars. Adam fits right in! Most evenings after dinner Adam goes outside to play with his RC cars or work on something in the garage. Our neighbors inevitably come over and end up talking with Adam. I don't usually mind this, and I often bring Ryan outside to run around and play with "the guys". But he can be difficult to keep an eye on, and sometimes I just want to sit down! So Adam figured out a solution.

A Sense of Accomplishment

One of the aspects of being a Stay At Home Mom (SAHM) that I am finding difficult is the inability to complete projects. Sure, it would be easy to sit around all day playing with Ryan....and believe me, we do our fair share of that. But there are certain things that must get done. Things like laundry, cooking, cleaning, errands, etc. And for the most part, I can get these things done. But that's it. Anything beyond the basic feeding and cleaning just doesn't get accomplished. And it's really frustrating at times.
Back when I worked in an office, I had tasks each day that I accomplished. I ended the day with a feeling of accomplishment. I am struggling to obtain that same feeling as a Mom. I know that the work I am doing now is VERY important. I am raising a human being!!
But often times (ok all the time) I do not see the fruits of my labor. I may go through an entire day and all I get done is changing diapers and feeding a baby. I see no results. And it feels like I've done nothing.

There are all sorts of tasks I would like to accomplish. Grow a bountiful vegetable garden. Keep my house cleaner. Organize my photos. Decorate the guest room. Organize my recipe collection.

I need to remember that this is a season of life. Ryan will not be young forever, and someday I will have more time to do these things. And by then I will probably wish he was young again!So what do you do when you feel this way? Is there any secret to getting things done and completing projects with a little one underfoot?One of my favorite bloggers talked about this exact same thing here. You should read it.

Father's Day 2011

Here is how Adam spent most of his Father's Day weekend:

He is getting the house ready for a new furnace. And eventually air conditioning!

Here is Adam and Ryan today:

And one year ago:

Now if that doesn't make a mother's heart melt, I don't know what does.

What Friends Are For.....

Shoveling dirt. Yes, that is what we make our friends do when they come over to visit. Makes you think twice about visiting the Nullmeyer household, doesn't it? Our friends Chris and Amber came over last Saturday. Adam and Chris were busy shoveling dirt most of the day to prepare my corner of the yard for my vegetable garden. (I'm so excited about it! I will post pictures soon). Meanwhile Amber and I played with the kiddos.
Their daughter, Joselyn, is 9 months old. I posted here about her before, when she was just an itty-bitty baby. Isn't she adorable?Thank you for the help Chris and Amber! If any of my vegetables actually grow I will give you some.

Swimming

Ryan and I went swimming today! (First time for him!)Sorry for the horrible photo of me. At least Ryan looks cute! Here he is trying to put sunblock on himself.Oh my, he has crazy hair in this picture! We had fun splashing around in my friend's pool for a little while. Ryan quickly lost interest in the water, though. He preferred to climb out and run around. The best part is that he wore himself out and took a 1-hour nap afterwards!!

Firsts

Ryan has experienced a lot of fun firsts lately.

First chicken nugget (He liked the ketchup I put on it. The nugget, not so much)
First dip in the hot tub (Don't worry, we kept the temp below 98, and he was only in for about 5 minutes)

And his first taste of chocolate (LOVED it)

It's so fun watching him experience all these fun firsts of life!

Little Booger

It was 6:30am this morning.

I had gotten about 5 hours of sleep.

Ryan woke up and stood up in bed.

I checked his nose, but it didn't seem to be running.

Ryan started pointing to the kleenex box on the nightstand, saying "Dis!" "Dis!"

I pulled out a kleenex for him and held it up to his nose.

He blew really hard and out came a giant trail of snot.

Ryan smiled a huge smile of relief.

And just like that, I didn't mind getting up early with my little booger.

Croup Be Gone!

Apparently I've been slacking off on my duty of wiping Ryan's snotty nose.
He keeps grabbing toilet paper and kleenex, putting it up to his nose, and trying to blow.Poor guy! His voice is so hoarse he sounds like an older boy when he talks.The croupy cough has gotten better, though. Hopefully we're over the worst of it!

The Other "C" Word

Back when Ryan was an infant I posted about the dreaded "C" word....colic. Now here we are a year later and we are experiencing a new C word.....the croup.

Yes, Ryan is sick again!! Darn those germs. He has been averaging one cold every 2 months. This only started yesterday with a very runny nose all day. He didn't seem too bothered by it until the evening, when he wouldn't fall asleep. I eventually sang him to sleep in bed with us, but then he woke up a couple hours later with the most horrible sounding cough. It's the barking seal cough. You may remember it from your childhood. At least I do. I instantly knew that's what Ryan was experiencing.

What I didn't remember was the way it sounds when you takes a breath in with the croup. His windpipe is constricted by the croup infection, so he isn't able to get as much air. It sounds like he's gasping for air when he breathes in (called "stridor"), which is one of the scariest noises I've ever heard come out of my baby. I got up, turned on the shower, and called Kaiser. They gave me some advice, and said it was very important to keep him calm, because not getting enough air can cause him to panic and cry, thus making it worse. They said to keep an eye on his breathing, and to watch for signs of lack of oxygen, which would necessitate an ER visit.

I was able to nurse Ryan back to sleep throughout the night after each coughing episode. But I was a mess. I was so worried about my baby that I lay awake all night listening to his breathing. When I first got up to turn on the shower to create steam for him, I almost threw up. I had such an immediate reaction of anxiety and panic to Ryan's condition that my body reacted physically. It was scary. And I'm dreading going to sleep tonight and repeating last night.

This part of motherhood absolutely stinks. I don't want my son to experience pain and discomfort, especially when it is potentially dangerous to him. I want to take the pain away from him and endure it myself, rather than watch him feel so miserable. God please watch over my baby tonight.

Climbing Monkey

I don't have a little boy anymore, I have a monkey!He has learned how to climb. Yikes!

Newark MOPS

I have talked about how much I love MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) on here before. Now I love it even more because this mom's group is coming to Newark! A brand new group is starting up in September and it's meeting at Newark Community Church! (my church).

I was asked by the leadership team to be the Finance Coordinator for this new group, and I have happily accepted the position. This means I am in charge of the budget for the year, as well as registering new Moms to the group. I am really excited to put my degree in Finance to good use. Since becoming a Mom and quitting my job, I have missed using that part of my brain.

So now I want to share details of how to get involved with MOPS, because I want all my Mom friends to have a chance to join! Meetings will start in September. They will be every other Monday morning, from 9 until 11:30. From September through June there are a total of 15 meetings. 5 of them are playdate-style, while the other 10 are just for the moms. (childcare is provided). These meetings will include brunch, speakers, discussion, crafts, and much more. The total cost is $122 for the year. E-mail me if you are interested in registering or just getting more information.

MOPS has been a real blessing for me since becoming a Mom. It has provided me with a support group of other moms who are going through the same joys and trials that I am. I have met some great friends this past year and I want every Mom to be able to experience the same thing. Let me know if you want to join MOPS!

Just Cruisin

In Daddy's Mustang.