Halloween 2010

Well, it's a good thing that I decided to put Ricky in his costume early and snap a picture of him since he slept through the whole thing when it came time for the real deal.  He hadn't been napping very well on Sunday, so I wasn't about to wake him up when it came time to get in costume to go trick-or-treating.  So instead, Rick and I took turns taking Mia trick-or-treating and staying home to hand out candy while Ricky slept soundly in his room.  Mia had an absolute ball this year and I know Ricky will have plenty years to come for fun with his sister on Halloween.  Plus, it was a great opportunity for some fun “alone time” with Mia for each of us.

Beautiful Snow White ready to go...

Loving every minute...





































And introducing Ricky the Hot Dog!  : )

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Halloween Eve Fun

While Rick was riding and Ricky was taking a nap, I decided that it would be a great idea to make cookies with Mia on Saturday.  Like she wasn't going to get enough sugar the following day, right?  Regardless, we had fun making them and once again I got some great pictures out of the deal.  : )









































































Decorating cookies is serious business!

Do you think there are enough sprinkles?  ; )

Later that night we carved our pumpkin.  Wait, let me rephrase that...I carved our pumpkin.  Rick was pretty uninterested and Mia was too grossed out by the guts.  Truthfully, I had a lot of fun carving but it did take a little longer than I expected. 

Our pumpkin before...

Our pumpkin after...

I have to add that although I love the way it turned out, it was by far the unscariest pumpkin I've ever carved.  Mia didn't want anything scary and when choosing a template, she wanted this friendly kitty cat.  : )

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Pumpkin Patch Pictures

Last week we visited a pumpkin patch to pick out our prize pumpkin to carve.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen since the patch was pretty pitiful.  However, we did get some great pictures - so it was all worth it in the end.  : )



Don't ask me why we didn't get in the middle of the prop like the other pictures...but hey, we did manage to get a decent family picture - which we all know is a big feat to conquer!  

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3 Months!

As usual, time has flown by at warped speed and all of a sudden my little man is 3 months already.  I’m not sure how it’s possible, but Ricky just gets cuter and cuter by the day.

He has been a drooly mess lately – so much so that he soaks through bibs and I end up having to change his outfit twice sometimes 3x a day.   He still thinks his hands are the bomb and are in his mouth whenever possible.  Could this be a sign that teething is in our near future?  I sure hope not - but I don't ever remember Mia being this drooly and being so obsessed with gnawing on her hands at 3 months old.

  

He “talks” up a storm (when his hands aren't in his mouth), smiles constantly and is laughing a lot more as well.  His little laugh is infectious and I can’t get enough of it.

He loves his new freedom in the bath now that we’ve gotten rid of the newborn hammock.  He splashes and kicks like crazy.  However, he gets very angry when bath time is over and screams to high heaven as soon as he’s out.

I’m beginning to think that my prenatal vitamins had steroids in them because I swear he has He-Man strength.  He has a death grip like no other and rips chunks of my hair out.  He loves to straighten out his legs and “stand” for extended periods of time.  And his ninja-like kicks really hurt when he’s sitting on your lap!  He also has amazing head control and am assuming he doesn’t hate tummy time as much anymore because of it.

Notice the constant drool streaming down his chin...

I’ve already had to retire all of his newborn outfits and some of his 0-3 outfits which made me a little sad.  He went to the Dr.’s office a little over two weeks ago since we spread out his first set of shots.  It wasn't that much of a surprise to find out that he weighed a whopping 13lbs 12oz!  So he's probably hit the 14lb mark by now - mummy's milk is obviously doing the boy good.  :)  Although our monster baby weighs as much as he does, he's still up (on average) twice a night to eat...I'm sorry but I don't count 5am as the start of my day!  I've been really tempted to pump and give him a bottle with rice cereal before bed - I usually discuss this with myself at 2am while nursing - but then I somehow talk myself out of it by morning the next day. 

Mia is truly an amazing big sister.  She loves to be the first one to greet him after he wakes up from a nap.  She loves to help me bathe him and then soothe him while I’m getting him in his pj’s (remember he hates getting out of the bath).  She loves talking to him and teaching him how to play.  Watching them together and seeing Ricky smile at her just melts my heart and really makes me realize that this is what life is all about!

 

  

Please excuse Mia's bed head in this picture.  It was taken at 8am this morning.  Also note how Ricky doesn't look so tiny anymore next to his big sister!

Seriously, how can you resist this face?  We love you baby boy!

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My Sweet Girl

The theme at Mia's pre-school from last week was about "favorites".  She brought home this project and my heart melted a little when I read the bottom of the page. 

Seriously, how sweet is that? 

Mia had two birthday parties to go to last weekend - I swear she has a better social life than me!  Anyway, one of the parties had pony rides.  It was a huge hit...especially since horses are her favorite thing in the universe right now (see toy category above).

I'm not sure she could be any happier...

 



































Check out her long legs...she certainly doesn't get them from me!  ; ) 

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Fun Comparison

I came across a picture of Mia during bathtime at 6wks old and thought it would be fun to compare it side by side to a picture of Ricky at 6 wks old...(Mia is on the left)

Sooooooo, what do you think?  Am I SOL again?  Or do you think I have a chance that one of my kiddos will look even remotely like me?  And be honest...I can take it.  ; )

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2 Months!

This month has flown by compared to the first.  Maybe it’s because we’ve fallen into some kind of a routine.  It’s definitely not perfected…but it’s better than the sporadic eating and sleeping schedule from the first month.  Although, up until last week, Ricky was still eating every 2 hours during the day and taking 30 minute cat naps in between – I was seriously beginning to lose it!  Then, just like that, he started stretching his feeds to every 3 hours and taking marathon naps compared to the little cat naps he was giving us before.  Wow, wow, WOW - what a difference this has made!!!  I can actually get some things done around the house now and even have some extra time for me afterwards while he naps.  I can’t begin to express how incredibly nice this has been and I thank my little man profusely for giving mummy a much needed break!  ; )

I was trying very hard not to complain about his rigorous eating/sleeping schedule before since he’d been giving us a decent stretch of sleep the first part of the night - usually going 6 hrs between feedings.  Last night we had a huge hiccup though because the little man got his first batch of shots.  Can we say, “NOT FUN”.  Surprisingly, I held it together while he was lying on the table, beat red and crying so hard that no noise was coming out of his mouth.  L.  The handout we got at the Dr’s office noted this statement, “these immunizations can cause your baby to have a fever, decreased appetite, act fussy or change his/her normal sleep patterns”.  That explained Ricky to a “T” yesterday.  I’m hoping that these symptoms only last 24hrs and he’ll be back to his happy go lucky self today. 

Now for his stats…he weighs a whopping 12lbs 5.5oz (75^th percentile) & measures 23 7/8” (90^th percentile).  So yeah, I’d say he’s doing pretty awesome!  The pediatrician did say that this is a typical pattern that breastfed babies follow.  They spike at the top of the charts at their 2 & 4 month appts and then level back out around their 6 month appt. 

His favorite pastimes are still staring intently at the fan and chewing on his hands.  It’s actually quite hysterical to watch him try so very hard to shove both fists in his mouth at the same time.  He's smiling a ton now.  I just love when I get greeted with that gummy grin when I walk into his room to get him.  Watching his face light up with a huge smile makes my day every time!  I remember how fast the infant stage went with Mia and so I’m making a conscious effort to not take a second for granted and soak everything up.  I love you baby boy!

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