Ryan: Eight

Happy 8th Birthday Ryan!!

At 8 years old you seem to be half sweet little boy and half teenager! On the one hand, you still call me "Mommy" and love when I crawl on top of your bunk bed to snuggle with you. On the other hand, you have the attitude of a 14-year-old and throw up your hands in anger at me nearly every day.

I have noticed your voice deepening this year and it makes me so sad. You have always had such a cute voice, and all of a sudden you just sound so mature. You have recently become very interested in your hair. You put gel in your hair and are constantly checking to make sure it is just right. You are also very particular about your clothes! Your favorite outfit is a pair of sweatpants and one of your San Jose Sharks shirts/jerseys. You will even dig through your dirty laundry for it and try to convince me your outfit is clean.

You adore spending time with your Daddy, watching hockey or working in the garage together.

Ryan, you have such an air of indifference about you. You often seem as if you just don't care about things. I ask you about school and your answer is "eh" and a shrug. I think with certain things (like school!), you really just don't care. But with other things, you come across as not caring because you aren't one to show a lot of emotion. You don't get overly excited about things, even if they are things you enjoy. That's definitely the Prausa/Lewis genes coming through!

Those eyelashes!

The way to your heart is with tacos and playing catch. You adore foods like tacos, pizza, burgers, nachos, chips, and chocolate. And you love playing catch. You are constantly asking me to go outside and throw the ball with you. And I feel so bad when I can't because I'm preoccupied with your little siblings.

It is so nice to see you enjoying baseball this year! You really do love playing. Just recently you have been getting yourself ready for your games, sometimes up to an hour ahead of time. This is HUGE. For your entire life I have been nagging you to put on your socks, your shoes, brush your teeth, get your water.....but you are often in "Ryan land" when it is time to go somewhere. Now, all of a sudden you are motivated to get yourself ready without even being asked!

Ryan you are such a good big brother. It is nice having you around to watch Andrew for a few minutes at a time. And I can always count on you to play gently and nicely with Jenna. (You've got a soft spot for her!). Unfortunately, you know how to push Lucas' buttons, and you two are always at odds. Maybe someday you will be best friends, living in an apartment together?

Other special things to note about you: You always compliment me when I wear something new. You love talking anything bathroom-related. You hate playing by yourself. You get frustrated REALLY easily. I call you "Ry-Ry" or even just "Ry" a lot now.

Oh and one more thing Ryan. I know this was the year you finally started staying in your bed all night. But I honestly wouldn't mind if you decided to climb into our bed every once in a while.

Happy Birthday Ryan James Nullmeyer!! We love you!!

Ryan's 8 Year Checkup

I took Ryan in to his pediatrician this week for his 8-year well check. Here are his growth stats!

Height: 47.85 inches (14%)
Weight: 54 lbs 5 oz (40%)

The first thing we did was look at Ryan's growth chart. He has consistently been between the 10th and 15th percentile for height his entire life. His doctor said that based on his parents' heights, he should grow up to be of average height (5'9" or so). Even though he has never been of average height, his doctor thinks he will have a growth spurt in his teens to catch up. 

Next we looked at his weight in proportion to his height, and the doctor said something interesting. He commented that Ryan is "getting a little heavy for his height", and that we need to be more careful with his diet. At first I was really taken aback. Ryan heavy?? We have been encouraging him to eat more for pretty much his entire life. He has never had a big appetite. I have noticed a jump in the amount of food he eats in the last half year or so, and we have encouraged it. I mean, he's a growing boy! So when his doctor called him heavy, I asked him to explain further. I think doctors like to see percentiles remain consistent from year to year. Last year Ryan's weight was in the 30th percentile, and the year before that it was 20th. So his weight is increasing but his height is not. We ended up discussing Ryan's diet and how much food an 8-year old needs. According to his doctor, it isn't much at all.

Here are my thoughts: We absolutely will not limit how much Ryan eats. If he is hungry, we will feed him. By no means do I think he is getting "heavy". What we are doing is encouraging more healthy foods and fewer junky foods. Ryan adores foods like pizza, nachos, burgers, tacos, and sweets. We don't want to call him out and tell him he's a "bad eater" or turn this into some weird food complex. So together as a family we will try to fill up on more produce and healthy snacks before we fill up on the empty calories. That way it's just a message about making better food choices, and not a "you are bad" or "this food is bad" message.

The only other issue we talked about is Ryan's skin. Have I ever mentioned how rough it is? He has had eczema his whole life, and the skin on his arms and legs is so bumpy and dry. It goes hand in hand with the awful seasonal allergies he has. Before trying Singulair (his doctor's suggestion for his allergies), we are going to bump up his Flonase and slather his arms with hydrocortisone. 

So overall a pretty good checkup. But next time I take one of my kids to the doctor please remind me to check and make sure they are wearing underwear. Ha! At least his doctor made me feel better by sharing that he sent his daughter to Sunday School last month wearing just a dress and no undies. Ha!

Out Of Food

Let's talk about food and cooking and grocery shopping, shall we?

I went to Costco yesterday and spent $200 on food. And as I look over my meal plan for the week and think about school lunches and snacks.....I realize I will have to go back to the store before the end of the week.

(This was my freezer years ago....not today!!)

The most common phrase I hear towards the end of the week is "There's nothing to eat!" or "We're out of food!". Now that Andrew is eating mostly table food it seems like we go through so much food!

It's not like my kids even eat that much. They really don't. But they do eat a LOT of CERTAIN types of foods (ground beef, chips, cheese, apples, yogurt tubes, cereal, granola bars, etc). Yes, we go through a ton of snacks....and I would rather my kids eat less at snacktime and more at mealtime. But with baseball season upon us, that makes it hard.

 No matter how much food I buy, it just seems to vanish.

I bought a 12-pack of fig bars on Friday and it was gone by Sunday. A pound of ground beef is no longer enough to feed us all for dinner. A bag of chips or crackers will be opened and emptied in one after-school snack session. I made 24 mini-muffins yesterday and today there are only 5 left.

Keeping our house stocked with food is just one more thing that I'm starting to feel perpetually "behind" on. Back in the days of 1 or 2 kids, I was the freezer meal queen. I loved keeping our freezer stocked with delicious meals. See blog posts here:
http://nullybabyblog.blogspot.com/search?q=freezer

But here's the thing about freezer cooking. Yes, it saves time on the night when you eat the meal. But you still have to spend time up front cooking the food! And I am struggling to find the time for big-batch cooking. I'm thinking that doing smaller sessions of cooking may work for me. Like cooking up a bunch of taco meat and then freezing it into dinner-sized portions. I don't know.....the fact of the matter is that I have 6 people to feed multiple times a day, and it just takes a lot of time and money.

Speaking of money.....what is your food budget? I am always curious about how other people budget for groceries. My budget each month for a family of 6 is $800. But oh man, it is so hard to stay under that! And that number doesn't include household items like toiletries or diapers. Just food eaten at home.

Once a month I go to Costco and stock up on our favorite bulk items. It is rare that I get out of there for less than $200. Then once a week I go to either Safeway or Trader Joe's. I also go to Grocery Outlet maybe once a month. And then there is the occasional walking trip to Savemart for random fill-in items (it is literally around the corner from us). It all adds up really quickly!

So I guess my point is this. Food costs a lot of money. My family eats a lot. Its hard to keep our house stocked with food.

What is your grocery budget and how do you keep your kitchen stocked? Does your family complain there is nothing to eat? Do you do batch-cooking? Please share!

Andrew's First Haircut

Today was the day for Andrew's first haircut!

I think every Mom has mixed emotions about getting their baby's hair cut. People (Hi Dad!) had been saying Andrew needed a haircut for quite a while now. But I didn't agree.

Then all of a sudden this week I decided his hair looked really scraggly. And of course there were the "girl" comments from strangers. So I took him in.

 He was NOT happy.

 He screamed and cried and wiggled.

 Nothing I did calmed him down.

Then the woman cutting his hair got out the razor and the sound or vibration seemed to calm him down.

 He kind of nestled into me and quieted down while she finished his hair.

 And all of a sudden my baby was a little boy!

 Oh my goodness I think he looks adorable.

 So blond!

 And so handsome.

 The only thing I'm sad about is that now his curls are gone. Maybe they'll come back?

Just for fun, here are Ryan and Lucas when they got their first haircuts!

Make Ahead Breakfast Ideas

I don't know about you all, but early mornings can be a little rushed around here. The boys have to leave for school by 7:40, and Adam often has to be at work by 7am.

Then of course Jenna and Andrew are hungry. And oh yea, me too. Sometimes we are so rushed that I send Adam off to work without any breakfast. And I feel so bad for him!

There are a few make-ahead breakfasts that I make regularly, but those are more for the kids. Like a big batch of waffles I make on the weekend and then pop in the toaster on school mornings. 

Recently I decided to step up my breakfast game a little bit. I got to work making breakfasts ahead of time. And it has been great! Adam needs energy for his job, and I want to make sure I send him off to work with a full stomach.

Here are a few ideas:

Over the weekend I diced up some russet potatoes, tossed with seasonings and olive oil, and roasted in the oven at 400 until crispy. I also scrambled a big batch of eggs (plus I threw in some spinach!). I kept them in the fridge for the next 3 days, and they made for easy breakfast skillets in the morning. We just topped the potatoes and eggs with some salsa and cheese. Add some fruit on the side and it's an awesome breakfast.

This next idea is for me, rather than Adam. Overnight oats!

I typically use 1/3 cup oats and 1/2 cup milk. You can also add a couple tablespoons of yogurt. For this batch I also included cinnamon, flax seed, and a little chia seed. Place in the fridge overnight for up to 4 days! You can get really creative with your toppings and mix-ins. I especially love adding frozen blueberries and then topping with peanut butter in the morning. Oh, and you can always heat up your overnight oats in the morning if you prefer your oatmeal warm.

Yum my mouth is watering just thinking about this next idea! Breakfast sandwiches take a little bit of time to prepare, but they are so nice to have in the freezer for a busy morning. Last weekend I made 8 of these. And they are half gone now!

 I started with a bunch of whole wheat and sourdough English muffins. I topped each side with a small slice of cheese, a slice of bacon broken in half, and then a baked egg. I use my small ramekins, grease liberally, and crack in 1-2 eggs per ramekin. I mix them up with a little salt and pepper and bake in the oven for around 20 minutes. I just keep an eye on them until they look done. Once they are cool, I add them to the breakfast sandwiches. Wrap in foil and freeze. When you're ready to eat them just microwave for around 2 minutes. So delicious!

And finally, homemade instant pancake mix! I used this recipe and the pancakes turned out so light and fluffy! I like that you can make just small batches at a time, but not go through all the trouble of measuring out the dry ingredients. And most importantly, you know exactly what is in your mix! No weird chemicals added to make it shelf-stable. I will say, these pancakes are not sweet at all. So if you and your kids like eating pancakes plain, like we do, consider adding a little sugar when you mix it up. Otherwise top with syrup and enjoy. 2 out of 4 of my kids like pancakes, so this is a winner for us!

 Do you ever make your breakfasts ahead of time?

Extended Weekend Recap

Our weekend unofficially began on Friday, when I was woken up by a cranky baby. Andrew had been super fussy and clingy all week. He also had a yucky cold, so I decided to get his ears checked. My Mommy suspicions were correct. Second ear infection for this guy.

Friday night Ryan's baseball team was invited to a Rivercats game in one of their suites. Adam and Ryan went and had a fun night.

 Ryan had a blast! He said the best part was all the free food.

 Meanwhile, the 3 little kids and I watched Monsters Inc at home and binged on cheerios.

Saturday morning I got up and made waffles for the kids. When Adam got up I passed the baby off to him and went out for a run. When Adam is home to watch the kids, I like to try and run further distances. My plan was to run 4 miles, but then I changed it to 3.5, since my 5k the previous weekend was the longest distance I had run. But then literally right when I reached 3.1 miles I looked down at my phone and it died. Soooo I decided running a 5k distance was good enough and I called it quits at 3.1 miles. My time was 36 minutes and 20 seconds....literally the same as the previous weekend's 5k.

The rest of Saturday was a day full of baseball. Lucas played first. He keeps asking me "Mommy why did you sign me up for baseball? I don't really like it." Oh well, he seems to be having fun when he's out there.

We had a 30 minute break in between games during which I stood in line for a couple of overpriced hot dogs.

Then we watched Ryan play. And Ryan is loving baseball this year!

 

Jenna was such a trooper. Unfortunately she was starting to catch Andrew's cold, so by around 4pm she was begging to go home. She did get a free cookie from another Mom!

We ate chicken fajitas for dinner and went to bed early.

Sunday morning we had good intentions to go to church, but with 2 sick kids and a to-do list a mile long, we chose to stay home and watch the sermon online. Our Pastor is currently teaching from the book of Habakkuk. I don't think I have ever read this book in the Bible before, so it is quite interesting.

We ate an early lunch and headed out to Lowe's for some new plants. Next we went to Trader Joe's because we had NO food in the house. (At least according to Adam and the kids). When we got home the kids immediately ate about $50 worth of groceries. (I know, I know, I need to save now for when they are teenagers!)

It was starting to get cold and cloudy, so we decided to squeeze in a few more minutes outside. We loaded everyone up for a bike ride. Unfortunately we only rode for 15 minutes or so before it got too cold!

I suggested the kids play a game while I cook dinner. They tried to play Life but a couple kids were in a "mood" so that got cut short.

Instead they built this big pillow bed/fort thing in the living room.

How many boys can you spot?

I see 4 of them!

Adam didn't have any work on Monday so he helped me tackle the giant mess in the house. Busy weekends are fun but they sure leave a lot of work for Monday. We planted out new plants out front before the rain began.

And then we spent almost the entire day cleaning. Anyone else feeling the Spring cleaning itch? I want to organize and donate everything.

Later in the day I had to run to Lowe's for a new doorknob. Adam had the 3 big kids at home and when I got back, they had built this epic fort. It may not look like much but it is amazing! It has 3 separate rooms for each of the kids, and the only way to access the fort is to crawl through our bench tunnel.

 And that was our extended weekend!