Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
My First Summer Off
I've been out on maternity leave for a little over 6 weeks now, which means I'm almost to my half way mark (I go back to work August 29). Since this is my first summer off since I was in high school (12 years ago), we're trying to spend as much time together as a family since I probably won't have the opportunity to do this again until I'm retired and by that time I could have grandchildren...So, what have we done so far? Mainly hang around the house and go for walks with the kids, but we've also gone to the beach a couple times too! We took them to Barnegat Lighthouse, Mike and Ella went paddlesurfing on the bay in Harvey Cedars, and we went to Island Beach State Park this past weekend! Ella really enjoys going to the beach which is a good thing since we'll be going down to Carolina Beach in a couple of weeks to spend time with the family! Then, as long as our trip to NC goes pretty well, we're going up to the area near Bar Harbor, Maine!
An update on Rhylan. He is getting bigger and bigger every day! He's 6 weeks old now and I had him at the doctor's last week where he weighed 12 pounds and was 23.5" (and the doctor was concerned about weight gain)! He's starting to stay awake a bit more during the day and he lets me get anywhere from 5-6 hours of sleep each night! Mike and I are very blessed to have had two wonderful children who let us get our sleep at night! He is more alert now to. He'll move his head to see where we go and smiles a lot too! Other than that, he doesn't do much else yet, but that will change in the months ahead! Oh - he does try to roll over too and tries crawling up my stomach!
An update on Ella. We moved her into her toddler bed on June 17! Her first night in the bed, she laid right down and fell fast asleep. Then about an hour and a half later, Mike and I were sitting in the living room and heard a thump. We turned on the video monitor and realized she fell out of bed. Mike went up to check on her and she was passed out on the floor. He picked her up, put her back to bed and she didn't even make a peep. She would sleep until she normally woke up (around 8) until this past weekend - she's been waking up around 6:30. Most of the time she runs to the door screaming, but the past couple of days, she's hung out in her bed and read some of her favorite books (Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See; The Very Hungry Caterpillar; Good Night New Jersey; and Good Night Beach). The only issue we've been running in to is with naptime. She is very tired, and once her head hits the bed, she's wide awake running to the door screaming. We tried the cry-it-out method the other day, which kind of worked. She cried for about 10 minutes, jumped in to bed, laid down and read her books for about 30 minutes, but never fell asleep. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get her down for her nap, please let me know!
Another first Ella had was her first haircut. We went to Snip-Its in Princeton on June 23rd. She really enjoyed the place, but when we put her in the chair, she didn't cry, but instead just kept saying "done"...I think we kept her happy with the animal crackers they gave her!
There's our update. I'll try to keep the blog updated - it's very difficult when you have a newborn and a toddler to take care of!
An update on Rhylan. He is getting bigger and bigger every day! He's 6 weeks old now and I had him at the doctor's last week where he weighed 12 pounds and was 23.5" (and the doctor was concerned about weight gain)! He's starting to stay awake a bit more during the day and he lets me get anywhere from 5-6 hours of sleep each night! Mike and I are very blessed to have had two wonderful children who let us get our sleep at night! He is more alert now to. He'll move his head to see where we go and smiles a lot too! Other than that, he doesn't do much else yet, but that will change in the months ahead! Oh - he does try to roll over too and tries crawling up my stomach!
An update on Ella. We moved her into her toddler bed on June 17! Her first night in the bed, she laid right down and fell fast asleep. Then about an hour and a half later, Mike and I were sitting in the living room and heard a thump. We turned on the video monitor and realized she fell out of bed. Mike went up to check on her and she was passed out on the floor. He picked her up, put her back to bed and she didn't even make a peep. She would sleep until she normally woke up (around 8) until this past weekend - she's been waking up around 6:30. Most of the time she runs to the door screaming, but the past couple of days, she's hung out in her bed and read some of her favorite books (Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See; The Very Hungry Caterpillar; Good Night New Jersey; and Good Night Beach). The only issue we've been running in to is with naptime. She is very tired, and once her head hits the bed, she's wide awake running to the door screaming. We tried the cry-it-out method the other day, which kind of worked. She cried for about 10 minutes, jumped in to bed, laid down and read her books for about 30 minutes, but never fell asleep. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get her down for her nap, please let me know!
Another first Ella had was her first haircut. We went to Snip-Its in Princeton on June 23rd. She really enjoyed the place, but when we put her in the chair, she didn't cry, but instead just kept saying "done"...I think we kept her happy with the animal crackers they gave her!
There's our update. I'll try to keep the blog updated - it's very difficult when you have a newborn and a toddler to take care of!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Ella and Rhylan
Since it's been a while since we last posted something, here's what's new. Rhylan Lewis James was born on May 16, 2011 at 9:30am via C-Section. He was 9lbs 12oz and 21" long.
Ella met her baby brother in the afternoon that day and although she was nervous at first, she has grown to be a loving and caring big sister. She's helped me with getting a new diaper and bringing the wipes and changing pad over and loves touching his hair and giving him kisses! :) Since Rhylan was born, the only issue we've had is his weight gain. He lost 1 pound while in the hospital and although he gained about 4oz after we brought him home, we've had to bring him back to the doctor's twice for weight checks. At his last visit on Tuesday, he gained 6oz. So currently he weighs 9lbs 6oz. We have to go back again this Tuesday for yet another weight check, but hopefully after that we'll be good to go until his 2 month appointment in July.
As for Ella, she is 20 months old today (crazy that she'll be 2 years old in 4 months). She's talking and "singing" a whole lot and loves being independent - especially when we go out for walks! We're going to try moving her in to a toddler bed this summer, so we'll see how that works out for us! :) After that, we'll start the potty training!
Other than that, I'm out of work until August 29 and Mike will be starting his summer vacation in 2 weeks!!! We're going to NC mid-July and are hoping to go to Maine the 2nd week in August! Definitely looking forward to our vacations and time off together!
Anyway, enjoy the pictures and videos!
Love,
Vickie, Mike, Ella and Rhylan
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