Harlee Jo @ 3 months

Rykers

I realized today that I do an awful lot of bragging about my oldest and youngest but what about my middle child? Is it because he's in the middle? Is it because he's my most frustrating? Maybe it's because most of my day is consumed and focused on him that I don't feel the need to write about him. It's quiet, where is Ryker? What is he getting into? He's moving a kitchen chair-what is he reaching for? Is that crayon or playdough in his mouth? He's hungry-again-what should I feed him? He's crying/screaming/yelling-what happened? Jaxon is crying/screaming/yelling-what did Ryker do to him? You can imagine how exhausted I am not by the end of the day but by the middle of it. He's not a bad kid, he's just ridiculously active. Well, he does love to hit and pinch people but at least we're passed the biting stage. I think it's a way to release some of his energy. He doesn't want to cause people pain but it's like a need for him to squeeze things. I loved it the other day when he was running around and ran by Brian, pinched him in the arm and kept going. He gets along best with my brother's because they wrestle with him and encourage this kind of behavior but he is seriously the happiest when he's with them. Maybe I have a future wrestler on my hands-sigh! On the upside, he has the biggest and sweetest personality of any kid you'll ever meet. It's like anything, it seems like the best comes out of the worst (if that makes sense). Here are some of his lines. Some make me laugh and others melt my heart:

"I love you too much"
"You're my best friend" (picked that one up from Jaxon)
"Just a few more couples"
"You're my good boy" (yes, he says that to me)
"I'm just nothing!!!" (when he is caught doing something)
I tell him to share so he hands over the toy and immediately says "he's not sharing!"
He calls Jaxon Jaxonian and tells others to call him that
He refers to himself as little tyke
He has refused since the day he turned 2 to say he's 2. He'll correct you and say he's 3
If Jaxon yells at him he tells me "Jaxon talked to me like that!" Because I always say "don't talk to me like that".
His positive responses go a little like this and not always in this order "Sure. Probably. Yes!!"

I'm sure I'm forgetting some but that's my boy. I do love him dearly. He brings a lot of laughter to our home and he just adores Jaxon and Harlee (most of the time). :) I look forward to the day where he will hopefully be less work but I do try to enjoy these moments because even as tiring as it can be, I know I'm going to miss this like crazy! I love you too much Ryker!

Jaxon's "Almost" Surgery

My little Jaxon has a hernia. He's had it since birth (we didn't realize it till a year ago). We've finally gotten around to getting it repaired. Our morning started dark and early. I was up at 4am to get kids ready and to my sister in-laws house (Liz watched Ryker and Harlee for me since Brian wasn't off work yet) by 5:30. Jax needed to be at the hospital by 6. His procedure wasn't until 7:30. As you can see, it was already a crazy start with a decent amount of waiting around. At 7:30 the nurse called the doctor who was supposedly running late and wouldn't be there until 8. Okay, whatever. We can handle 30 more minutes. So he finally gets there and I was a little annoyed that he didn't even seem sorry for making us wait but again, whatever. He says it shouldn't be too much longer. 15 minutes later he tells me we should have done the procedure yesterday because doing it today doesn't work with his schedule. Information that might have been useful when I scheduled the appointment and he said I could do it today. He said he needed to have been reminded that we were coming (supposedly his staffs fault, not his) at 7:30. Sooo, he hadn't planned on coming in before 8 all along. He then throws in, we can't do it until 9:30. But he was certain he could do it in 15 minutes so no big deal (he's still not sorry for being a jerk). Here are two kicker's for you. I think he's somewhere between 70 and 80 something years old so I was already a little weary of him cutting Jaxon open but then as he's telling me he could do it in 15 minutes, I said "see ya!" because the nurses all said it would take an hour. I don't need his old hands rushing the surgery. I told him "forget it, we're not waiting that long. We've waited too long as it is. We are leaving". At first I was FURIOUS!! I still am but then as the sweet and apologetic nurses came in to talk to me, I realized how all of it happened for a really good reason. He was absolutely the wrong doctor for the job and the gals recommended some other great ones to me. Again, we were being watched over. Even though it stinks I have to visit yet another doctor and reschedule this appointment and go through it all over again, it was so for the best. Only A++ doctors for my babies. The good news is, Jaxon got a doggy he named "Ruffy" and a cool decorated face mask. Oh, and his first ride in a wagon. He was so good and so sweet. When the nurses asked him his name, he always answered "Jaxonian". They thought it was hilarious. And when we were in his room getting ready to leave he could tell I was upset and didn't understand why we weren't leaving right away (we were waiting for them to get paperwork ready). When the nurses came in to help, he told them I didn't know how to get out. Ha ha!

SNOWWWWW!

We were so excited that it snowed! Although, we really didn't have snow attire so we drove about 3 hours total to play for 30 minutes. That's okay. The kids did great in the car and we had some fun family time. This was the best picture we could get with most of us in it. The boys were insistent on trying to make a snowman and had no interest in pictures. I gave up on the snowman and gave them the carrots for a snack.

Christmas Eve and Day!

Soooooooooo, 2010 was one of my favorite years! It was also my most stressful. Got to take in the good with the bad. We moved, rented out our house, had a baby, and evicted our tenants. Yes, they were HORRIBLE to us! Such a long story but we kicked their butts out 3 days before Christmas. Ha ha ha ha! Sweet sweet victory. They left the house a mess (of course) but we were so blessed to get some amazing people in there for January! God was very good to us this last year and I'm so thankful for everything we experienced. Even though the rental situation put a slight damper on our holiday, we still had a great one! And I was once again reminded that as long as we make right choices, we will be blessed. FOR SURE!!
Grandma Bonnie got the boys this sea life light thing. All the boys were memorized-just a smidgen.
Aren't these so freak'n cute? I like to do gingerbread houses every year and Target came up with this awesome idea of selling a kit with a bunch of miniature different houses-same price as a normal kit. These were so fun! I just need to get more people involved with this tradition I am desperately trying to start/continue.
After one or two pictures, Jaxon asked me to stop taking pictures. I guess I was interfering with his "opening his presents" time.
Jaxon helping Ryker open one of his gifts. They were so sweet. We learned this year to do stockings last. Once my kids see candy, who cares about anything else.


Harlee in her Santa outfit.
Harlee and Nana!
My Aunt Alta getting her baby fix.
This is "uncle". For Christmas my family got us a trampoline. Uncle brought it to the house and helped assemble. The kids LOVE it! We were heading to my parents house and I told them they needed to thank Nana and Poppy for the trampoline. Jaxon said "nana didn't get it for us. Uncle Scotty did". Ha! Love him!

These boys had quite the time wrestling and riding their poppy and uncles.
Brian's sister Amanda made them these way cute hats. We sooooo love them!