Our kiddos!

Egg Hunt

Here are a couple of pictures from the Easter egg hunt this morning. A big thank you to Stacy Barry for putting it on. Carter had so much fun looking for eggs and he is in love with the Easter Bunny. I swear he would have followed that guy around all day if we let him!

And now he's 2!

Yep, that's right. Carter is officially 2 years old! Thank you to all our friends and family for helping us celebrate. Carter had a fantastic (Mickey Mouse themed) birthday. The weather was nice so he played with his cousins and friends in the backyard the entire time. He was lovin' every second of it! Happy Birthday, Carter Evan! We love you!!

P.S. Happy 6 weeks, Ryan Michele! We love you too!!

Birth Story

I know a couple of weeks ago I promised to share details of Ryan's birth. Well, I guess I've been busy because I'm just now getting to that post. I considered not writing about it now because of how much time has past. But since Ryan doesn't have a baby book yet I thought I should get the details written (typed) down before my sleep deprived memory forgets them.

As many of you know we were to have a Super Bowl party on Sunday Feb. 7th. We were to spend the end of the week cleaning the house and finish running errands. Kyle friends were coming into town on Saturday and everything need to be ready for Sunday before they got here.

My water broke Friday (2:30am) during the first big snow storm. This was 2 and a half weeks early so we weren't ready. Needless to say the Super Bowl party was put on hold. Also her early arrival meant there as no bag packed for the hospital and I had no clean clothes to pack anyway. Kyle plowed the driveway, we did a quick load of laundry, I took a shower and we waited for Nonna to come over to babysit Carter. We arrived at the hospital around 5am. The contractions were manageable until noon, that's when I asked for the epidural (6cm). Around 2:00pm the doctor said we should have a baby within the hour. I was shocked because we fully expected to be in the delivery room for several more hours. I was in labor with Carter for 20 hours. At 2:45pm the doctor told us we're ready to push. I pushed twice and the baby was out! Under 13 hours of labor, Ryan Michele was born at 2:56pm.

Some people have asked about her name. We didn't find out the sex when we were pregnant with Carter. We had a short list of names for both boys and girls. Carter could have been Brady (if Dad got his way) or he could have been Jillian or Ryan if he was a girl. Looking back I can't imagine Carter being anything other then, well, Carter. When we found out our second baby was to be a girl we reevaluated the short list. Jillian (a name Kyle and I liked for years) lost popularity and Ryan became the front runner. We were concerned about using a boys name for a girl so we thought we were being smart by spelling it "Ryann". Her future teachers would know she was a girl. It didn't occur to us how many people would pronounce her name Ry-Ann. We decided to drop the second "n" before heading home from the hospital and her official birth certificate is spelled Ryan. Her middle name, Michele, is also the middle name of her Aunt Robin. Note, Michele is spelled with one "l", not 2. I've been told Robin was named after our late uncle, Robert Michael, and that's why they spelled her middle name with one "l" (more like Michael). Ryan Michele is now 5 weeks old and we feel her name fits her perfectly. She also goes by peanut because of her small head (measuring in at the 17th percentile). FYI...there's no unique spelling of Peanut.

Latest Pics

A couple of pictures from this week....

Earl Morning (about 7:30am): Carter, Ryan and Mommy playing with play dough and watching a cartoon.Nap Time: Ryan and Daddy sleeping.

Bath time: Ryan loves the bath. She doesn't squirm or cry at all.

Carter always wants them to take baths together. He sits in the "big" tub and Ryan in the baby tub. He thinks it's his job to rinse her off with water (i.e. dump a cup full of water over her head or slap her with a washcloth!) Luckily little sister doesn't mind.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y

Would you like to know what we did on our Saturday?

Aunt Colleen, Uncle Rick and their boys (Yacob and Al) came to visit little Ryan. We can't get over how big the boys are (5th grade and 6th grade)! They almost as tall as me. Carter liked having new people to play trains and the drums with. Ryan slept the entire time they were here, but I imagine she enjoyed being pampered and held as much as she was.

It was a sunny afternoon in Indiana so we took full advantage and spent time outside. We pulled all the patio furniture and toys outside. Ryan took a short nap in the jogging stroller. Carter explored the backyard and played with the toys he hadn't seen since fall. We are a family ready for spring!

2 weeks old

Our early bird had her two week check-up yesterday (on my actual due date nonetheless). The doctor gave her a glowing report. Ryan is a little peanut compared to her big brother. Carter has always been above average in size. Ryan, although long, is still a tiny baby. Here are her stats:
Weight 8 lbs. (34%)
Height 21 1/4 in. (77%)
Head (23%)

Ryan has been a little angel since the day we brought her home. She is a good eater and sleeper. Of course we could all use more hours of sleep a night, but whose complaining. She is not very fussy and only cries if she needs something like a new diaper or to eat.

Carter is a good big brother. Most of the time he is indifferent to her, but he does like to rock her in her car seat and always wants to lay with her on the activity mat. He like to tell me if she's sleeping or not and he doesn't like it when she cries. He says YUCK when we change her diaper which makes him laugh.

Carter will be two in a couple of weeks and he is already testing us with his terrible two's behavior. He is perfecting the temper tantrum and he is capable of having a complete melt down within a blink of an eye. Let's hope this stage doesn't last very long.