super dad

Ray stayed home with the boys this week...he rocks! Library run, enterrainment junction, grocery runs, laundry and vacuuming.

Christmas Week

Just look at all the fun things we got into this week...

Merry Christmas

Having Christmas at our house was great, Grandma Pat, Grammie and Papa all came to celebrate with us!
Connor was adorable with presents. He only opened his and was so excitted with every single thing. He did a good job of saying thank you for his toys (except the clothes).

nice weather

It has been so nice out we have gotten use out of our double stroller

Time to Ferberize

Wish us luck tonight as my perfect child Ryan the last 2-3 weeks has been getting up twice a night for some chow down time.
People who haven't read Dr. Ferber's book often think he's mean for his "cry it out" technique but in the preface of the book he even says, "Simply leaving a child in a crib to cry for long periods alone until he falls sleep, no matter how long it takes, is not an approach I approve of. On the contrary, many of the approaches I recommend are designed specifically to avoid unnecessary crying."

NIGHT TIME SLEEP
Put your child to bed in his crib awake. When your child starts to cry or calls for you whether it be right when you put him to bed or some other time during the night, allow him to cry for gradually longer periods of time starting at the minimum waiting time for the night with each new awakening.

Three to five minutes is a good starting point but if you can't handle that you can start with something as short as 1 minute. The key is to progressively increase the time between visits up to a desired max amount of time each night as shown in the chart.

WISH US LUCK! Mommy is ready to sleep again.

Sick

Well we made it all the way until December 19th with out Connor getting sick this season. Last night he kept us up most of the night and then didn't take a nap today on dad's watch and then took us an hour to get him to sleep tonight. Hope tonight is better!!!!

Morning smiles

I had to grab the camera as I was about to head out the door to take the boys to daycare....seriously how cute is this kid!

Stats

Ryan weighed in on Wednesay at 14lbs 13oz (50%) for weight and 25 3/4inches long (75%) for height. His pediatrician said we can start feeding him baby cereal (basically it is oatmeal) when we think he is ready. When we get a peaceful moment this week I want to give it a try. This week Ray did some volunteer work at an orphanage in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky reminds us yet again how lucky we are to have our health and beautiful boys.

Maive

Andy, Alya and Maive came all the way from Chicago to visit this weekend!

Ryan 4 months

My little guy is already 4 months old, crazy! Ryan is THE best baby ever. I knew he would be as Connor was a tough little guy....never slept for me. Ryan sleeps through the night probably 4 nights a week and the other 3 gets up once. He goes to bed the same time as Connor (8pm) and when he's awake he smiles and smiles and smiles. The other day when I arrived at daycare I saw that his hat had gone all the way over his face, I peeled it back and was just smiling away. Love you Ryan John, thanks for coming into this world.
**Dr Appt Wednesday, I'll post stats then.

Playing in the basement

NEW double stroller

As you might know from a summer post we have a double stroller from a thrift store. It doesn't have the bells and whistles we were wanting. Grams and Papa got the whole family a Schwinn Double Stroller and we LOVE it! We took it last night to the horse carriage parade in Lebanon.

Christmas has arrived...early

This weekend at my work we had a resident party and wouldn't you know it Santa came! Connor did soo much better this year. Not friends with Santa but a high five and a quick second on his lap. Ryan slept through the whole thing.

Chicken Tostados

This is my interpretation of Casey Nickels Tostados...they are more in shape like enchiladas and have replaced my tried and true Kris Pons enchiladas receipe. Enjoy! Would also be delicious for vegetarians (just don't add the chicken).

8 oz Cream Cheese
soften in microwave safe bowl
Add
1/2 C Green Salsa (picture)
2 T Lime juice (I use a real lime squeezed)
1 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
Stir
Add
4 T green onion (chopped)
cooked chicken cut up small
2 C Pepper Jack Cheese.
The picture shows what it looks like before adding onions, chicken and cheese.

Heat 2 tortilla shells at a time in the microwave with a wet paper towel in between them. Dump some of the mixture on one end of the shell and roll up.
Bake at 425 for 15-20 mintues

Yummy by its self or with salsa and sour cream.
Makes 10 (works well for 4 adults)
ENJOY!

Yikes

This morning at approximatly 8am Connor, Ryan, Boji and I were down in the basement. I let Boji out of the walk out basement and she took off so I opened the door and went out after her. I heard Connor shut the door....and LOCK IT. Problem. I stood there for about 5 minutes trying to explain to him how to unlock the door. When that didn't work I had to call neighbor Stef to rescue us (she has a spare key) she didn't asnwer the phone (did I mention it was 8am)I started to debate if I should call Ray who works 30 minutes away or the police who would have to break something to get in. Luckily Stef was home and did get my message and did come to the rescue. Soooo glad I gave Stef that spare key!
Spent the rest of the day doing drills on how to unlock the door :)

good morning

This morning we were disorganized and trying to get out the door to go to daycare when Connor said he wanted Ryan to sit on his lap. I had to just stop and live in the moment...get the camera...return to find Connor no longer wanting Ryan on his lap.

Lemon Feta Garlic Dressing

One of Ray and my favorites....great light meal after a big Thanksgiving meal.
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
5 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 Tbsp Sour Cream
1 Clove Garlic
3 Ounces of Feta Cheese
1/4 tsp Garlic Salt
Mix and pour of salad greens
We like to put grilled chicken marinated in Italian dressing on top. This dressing is also a great dip for bread.
*I was drinking milk so I moved my glass out of the picture and used Rays :)

Give Thanks

We made the 5 hour trip to Peoria with no problems or traffic! We continue to have many blessings this year. We got to stay at a gorgeous house (uncle bryans) and hang out with all the Clark's. We ate fabulous foods and just got to relax while the family played with Connor and held Ryan.
*the picture with the food is: "wrapped pickles" warm up cream cheese spread over ham slices and roll up a pickle. Set in fridge for 45 minutes then slice.

lights

I walked into the living room and found the most adorable sight. Connor had gotten a pillow off the couch and was sitting right next to the tree looking at the lights.

Spicher's Visit

Our good friends the Spicher's were in town for Thanksgiving and we got to see them on Tuesday night.

old looking photos

On the stocking lady's blog she had a link to this Asian website where you can make your photos look old. Pretty neat.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas

This week our very own embroidered stockings came in the mail. I ordered them from Etsy. The lady that made them did a beautiful job and afterwards I learned that she too blogs. She has a lot more creative juices than me that's for sure. Her blog is www.monaleisa.blogspot.com if interested in quilts burp rags or your own set of stockings.

bath's

Just like everything else he does, Ryan smiles all bath long. He is such an easy, happy, content baby. I have been having a hard time leaving him at daycare because he is so "good" that I watch him on the cameras and he never gets held.

Cozie's

Connor's newest bracelets

Sloppy Joes

Who needs a cook book when you have Casey Nickels to come up with new and EASY dinners? Here is my take on one of her recent posts...sloppy joes (but kind of healthy with turkey).
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
2 celery stalks, chopped thin, I left mine too chunky
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (8oz) tomato sauce
1/2 C. chicken broth
1/4 C. hot sauce
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. red wine vinegar
1/2 T. worcestershire sauce

3 months

Oh how different it is the second time around. We took 2 pictures of Ryan by himself for his "3 month pose" and called it good enough. Connor wanted in on the action. Sorry Ry.

Ryan is 3 months!

smile for the camera

Considering how often I pull out the camera I'm surprised that Connor is 9 times out of 10 a good sport about it. Look Ryan is sitting...well according to me and now Ray he is :).

Which kid wore it best?

You know in those gossip magazines how they always say which celeb wore it best? Ryan or Connor?

beef stroganoff

If you can be organized and want to preplan dinners for the week or month I strongly recommend www.onceamonthmom.com in October one of her receipes was Beef Stroganoff. Ray was upstairs with the flu so Connor sat in Dad's chair and ate dinner with me, it was heart melting.
*The meal was super easy and the only thing I didn't already have in my pantry was beef broth.

what I like least about babies

The bottle washing! This is two days worth of bottles for daycare, yuck!!

I love videos

sitting?

not really but I can pretend at 2 months old Ryan sat.

Trick or Treat

Connor was hilarious this year for Halloween. He would point at scary people and yell "NO!" he went to approx 20 houses and I think would have gone all night if we would have let him. It was a little too cold for Ryan so Ray and I had to do the juggling act...still trying to figure out this two kids thing.