3 months-Ryker

Our big boy turned 3 months yesterday! Time sure is flying fast. I've been really enjoying seeing Ryker's personality develop more over the last month. He is the type of baby that makes sure you know how he's feeling 100% of the time. If he isn't pleased, he shows how strong his lungs are, but when he's happy he's all smiles, coos, and giggles. Rarely is he anything in between. Ryker has been figuring out how to coo and make other fun noises, and he has quite a bit to say. He's also become more coordinated and started grabbing toys and playing under his activity gym. Earlier this month he learned how to roll over (stomach to back) so tummy time has become a very short activity. Ryker has continued to be a great sleeper, usually going to bed around 7:30 or 8 and sleeping until about 8:30 AM, only waking once or twice to nurse. We've recently started having him nap in his crib after becoming too wiggly for his swing and he has done a great job with the transition. He usually naps for about 45 minutes every 2 hours. I'm so glad we have mister Ryker to complete our family!

Ryker likes: being talked to, his activity gym, bath time, sitting in his chair, standing, nursing.

Ryker dislikes: getting out of the bath, his car seat, being too hot, waiting to eat, being ignored.

Ryker weighs: 15 lbs. 3 oz.

15 Months

Miss Ilyana turned 15 months old this past Saturday! I had only been planning on doing blog posts every 6 months after turning a year old, but I feel like she has learned so much recently that I want to be able to remember. Over the last 3 months Ilyana has become a big sister, started walking, talking, and become more of a toddler. She absolutely loves her little brother. She helps fetch his pacifier when he cries, pats his head, and likes to play games like peek-a-boo with him. Recently she's been grabbing his hand and helping him to wave "hi" to us. Ilyana has also started walking recently. The day she turned 14 months she quadrupled the total amount of steps she had ever taken and has been getting better every day since then. I think once she's able to stand without pulling up on anything (which she did for the first time today!) she will be a full-time walker! As she has learned to walk she has become a lot more independent. She no longer wants to be carried and prefers to walk on her own most of the time. I won't complain! Over the past month or so I had been getting slightly concerned about Ilyana's lack of words. She seemed to be stuck at "dada", "hi", and "Lolly Lolly" (any school house rock fans?). But last week she added "mama" (finally!), "dog", barking like a dog, an attempt at "Ryker", and "Ro-Ro" (Cousin Rosie). She also knows a few sign language signs like: all done, more, eat, and help. I can't wait to hear her add even more words to her vocabulary! Sleeping-wise she is still doing great. At night she generally sleeps from about 7:30 pm-7:00ish am. Her naps have gone back and forth between 1-2 naps but generally they total about 3.5-4 hours during the day. Ilyana still loves to eat however she has definitely become more picky over this last week. She would eat only fruit all the time if that were an option! Fruit, especially berries are her favorite food, with chic-fil-a chicken in a close second. After talking to her pediatrician today we plan to try slowly re-introducing dairy into her diet and  hopefully she will do ok with it. This age has been so much fun. Ilyana is learning so much and copies everything we do. I love seeing her spunky personality continue to grow and I can't wait to watch her continue to get smarter!

Ilyana likes: eating, walking, doing everything by herself, reading books, baby brother, animals, super why.

Ilyana dislikes: mom or dad leaving, being tired, being touched by other people.

Weight: 16 lbs. 15.5 oz.

A day in the life - with 2 under 2

In February I wrote this post about what a typical day looked like before Ryker was born with the intent of writing another 'day in the life post' once Ryker joined our family. I had completely forgotten about my intention until a good friend of mine posted a 'day in the life' post on her blog! So here's what a fairly typical Thursday looks like with 2 kids under the age of 2!

7:15- Jake gets out of the shower and wakes me up (he's running a bit behind this morning after staying up a little later than usual playing video games). I go and shower and get dressed while he gets Ilyana up. They play for a little bit in our room and then he takes her downstairs to get started on some breakfast.

8:00- Jake kisses us goodbye and Ilyana eats some breakfast (toast with honey) while I make myself some oatmeal and load the dishwasher.

8:20- Ilyana finishes eating and goes to play for a little bit while I finish eating. She's been completely obsessed with playing with her baby lately!

8:30- Ilyana is a bit grumpy since she took a while to fall asleep last night so I turn on half an episode of Super Why for her to watch while I finish the last few bites of my breakfast. After I finish eating we snuggle on the couch for a bit while she finishes the episode.

8:45- Ryker wakes up so Ilyana plays on her own while I go and get him up, change him, and feed him. He's such a happy baby when he wakes up!

9:05- I get Ilyana dressed and then the 3 of us read a couple of books.

9:10- We're going to a birthday lunch later today so I let Ilyana color a card for our friend. She loves to color!

9:20- Ryker does some tummy time and Ilyana plays with her alphabet train for a little bit.

9:30- It's time for Ryker to nap so I go and put him in his room. Ilyana asks for a snack when I come back downstairs (she uses sign language) so I grab her a nutrigrain bar and then we sit and read books for a while.

9:45- Ilyana is getting really tired so I put her down for a nap a little early (she usually goes down at 10).

9:50- I run the roomba in the living room where Ilyana crumbled a bunch of her snack and then clean the bathrooms. I've been using this cleaning schedule and I really like it! It's a very manageable amount everyday and I like that weekends are free and that it includes monthly and yearly chores.


















10:30- I sit down to get started on this blog post and rest for a bit before getting Ryker up.

11:00- I wake up Ryker so that he can eat and play in his bouncer for a bit while I pack up the diaper bag. (I try to get everything packed up for outings while at least one kid is sleeping to make leaving a bit easier).

11:45- I go and wake up Ilyana and notice she feels warm so I check her temperature real quick (100.2) and give her some motrin. I'm 90% sure it's just from teething so we still leave for our afternoon activities. 

12:00- We get to Newbo and grab lunch to eat outside with friends. Ilyana doesn't much (I'm assuming she's not feeling the best) but has fun walking around and Ryker is napping in the stroller. 

12:50- We leave to go to our weekly Mommy and Me class at the hospital. I fed Ryker once we got there and Ilyana ate a couple of puffs while there. 

2:15- Ilyana is starting to lose it so we leave Mommy and Me a little early and go home. 

2:30- We get home and Ilyana eats a small snack  (carrot mango applesauce and half a fruit cup) and then I put her down for a nap. 

2:50- both kids are sleeping so I relax for a little bit and start reading my Bible study book for small group. 

3:45- I feed Ryker and then play with him for a little bit. 

4:30- Ryker goes down for a nap and I finish reading my book for small group. 

5:15- I wake up Ilyana and we go snuggle on the couch for a little bit.

5:20- daddy is home! Yay!

5:30- Jake and I workout for a bit (we're doing the bikini body mommy workout challenge, it's hard!) While Ilyana watches a little bit of tv.

6- Ryker wakes up to eat and Jake goes to save his brother who's car died. 

6:30- Jake and his brother get back and throw some chicken and asparagus on the grill for dinner and I fry some potatoes. Ilyana ends up just eating some blueberries for dinner (which usually wouldn't fly but she's very obviously not feeling well). 

6:45- Ryker goes to nap. 

7:15- We give Ilyana some more Motrin and Jake gives her a bath and starts putting her to bed. I go and lay down for a bit since I'm pretty exhausted but Ryker wakes up screaming as I shut my eyes (he's good at that). So I go and get him in pajamas and feed him. He goes right to sleep. 

8:00- After feeding Ryker I go downstairs and my small group is already there so Jake heads upstairs to play video games while we meet. 

9:15- We wrap up small group and say goodbye. I head upstairs and finish this post and now I'll go to sleep! 

That's life with 2! Never a dull moment in this house! 

This weekend I'm planning to roll out a blog post on our big 15 month old! 

2 Months - Ryker

Mr. Ryker is 2 months old today! He is such a sweet boy. This month has been spent figuring out his quirks and preferences. Once we figured out that he needs a quiet room to nap in (which our living room is not!) he has started sleeping so much better, both during the day and at night since he's no longer over-tired. His night time sleep has improved drastically over the past few days. He usually goes to bed sometime between 8-9 o'clock and usually wakes to eat sometime between 5-6 and then goes back to sleep until 8:30. It has been wonderful to be able to sleep at night again! Ryker also had his first social smile this month! Jake had been playing with Ryker and Ilyana and he gave Jake a big smile! I'm so glad Jake was able to experience this 'first'. He's been smiling a lot since then. He loves being talked to and sang to. He's such a happy boy!

Ryker loves: Being talked or sang to (especially bubble guppy songs!), his elephant toy, napping in quiet places, eating.

Ryker dislikes: bath time, waiting to eat, being held for too long, being gassy.

Weight: About 14 lbs.

Weetails Spring 2016

Weetails! It's probably one of my top 5 favorite activities in the year. If you don't know, Weetails is a consignment sale that happens twice a year. It is held at the Hawkeye downs expo center and it is filled with all sorts of kid items. It has items like strollers, baby swings, toys galore, and rows and rows of clothes, all at reasonable prices! Knowing that I'm going to get to go shop and everything will be on sale makes me giddy for weeks leading up to the sale, just ask Jake! Being a part of our weekly Mommy and Me class at the hospital allows me to get into the pre-sale on Wednesday night before it opens to the public. It's so nice being able to go to the pre-sale. There are more selection of items and way less people to maneuver around. I generally bring our stroller as a shopping cart which works great! This year I had several things that I was looking for and I was not disappointed! Here are a few of my favorite finds!

Clothes for Ryker: Ryker didn't really need much as far as clothes go, but I couldn't pass up these adorable outfits! For all of these, I spent less than $10

Clothes for Ilyana: Ilyana needed a few more summer outfits, these are some of my favorites! Generally I aim for less than $3 per outfit when I'm buying. However the yellow flower dress was my one "splurge" item. It looks brand new and was still only $7!

Outdoor toys: We finally have a house with a lawn to play in so a few outdoor toys were on my list! Jake recently set up a fire pit in our backyard so I found Ilyana this cute little folding chair. I also got her a fun ride-on toy and a fake lawn mower (not pictured) so she can 'help' Jake mow the grass this summer.

Toys: We probably didn't need more toys, but Ilyana has been really into taking care of her baby doll recently so I found her this fun baby crib/changing table/bath toy and baby doll stroller for only $5. I'm so excited to see what she thinks of it tomorrow!

A few other items that I found at great prices were a diaper genie for $7 and a like-new baby bjorn carrier for only $10. I can't say enough about how much I love Weetails and I'm looking forward to going back in the fall!

St. Lukes Vs. Mercy

While we were expecting Ilyana we toured the two hospitals in town, Mercy and St. Luke's. Based on the tours they both seemed very similar but in the end we decided to go to St. Luke's. While we had an excellent experience at St. Luke's, we decided to go to Mercy for Ryker's birth. To me, there was no clear 'winner' between the hospitals when we toured them. After experiencing both hospitals I felt that one was definitely a step above the other though.

Nursing Staff

The skill level of the nursing staff was probably the most important aspect to me when deciding which hospital I felt was better. It was also the biggest difference between the hospitals. At St. Luke's, every nurse made us feel like the most important patient there. I truly felt like we had become friends with some of them. At Mercy, I don't even remember most of our nurses names. There were several instances at Mercy that I would ask for something (pain reliever, ice packs, water, etc.) and they would forget about it. At Mercy, they also have a "care program" for teaming up with your support person (husband, friend, etc.) so that they can get you water refills or other things you need. To me, I felt like this "program" just came across as laziness, especially since Jake was at home with Ilyana for most of my stay. 

Another big difference in the nursing staff was their concern for me and baby's specific needs. At St. Luke's, I informed them that I have a minor latex allergy and they said "Let's be on the safe side and avoid it". They put signs on the door, informed any new staff that came into the room, and were very careful to avoid latex. At Mercy, I informed them of my latex allergy when I checked in and again when they brought me back to my room. They informed me that the monitor belts they generally use have latex in them and put them on me anyways. Thankfully I didn't have any issues, but it was very concerning that they didn't take my allergy seriously, as minor as it may be! 

At both hospitals they recommended that I wake baby to feed every 3-4 hours, including at night. During both my stays we chose to send baby to the nursery at night so we could get some sleep. At St. Luke's they consistently brought Ilyana back to me at least every 4 hours to eat. At Mercy, although they said they would wake me when it was time for Ryker to eat next, I woke up after 6 hours had passed and had to call down to the nursing station to have them bring him to me.

If the above examples didn't make it clear, St. Luke's won this category hands down.

Food

The food was probably one of the biggest differences between the two hospitals that we knew about from the tour. At St. Luke's they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner at specific times buffet style. Additionally you can get cold sandwiches, salads, and other assorted foods whenever. At Mercy they have a large menu that you are able to call room service to order from at any time. This was one of the big reasons we decided to go to Mercy for Ryker's birth. I knew that Jake would not be there and available to stay in the room with baby every time that I wanted to go and get food, so it would be handy to have room service available. 

In this area I felt that I preferred Mercy. At St. Luke's you got to choose your own portion since it was buffet style, however your options were more limited and you weren't supposed to go back for seconds. At Mercy it was nice to have the freedom to eat what I wanted when I wanted, although the portion sizes tended to be small. One of the nights I ordered french toast, oatmeal, and a sugar cookie at 11 at night! It definitely hit the spot! 

I felt that the taste of the food was fairly equal at both hospitals. Decent, but a little bland.

For us, Mercy won this category.

Comfort

After giving birth you're obviously a bit sore so being comfortable is important. However picking between the two hospitals with this category in mind was difficult, you have to pick your battles.

Both hospitals had chairs in the rooms. St. Luke's has wooden rocking chairs and Mercy has padded glider chairs. As you can imagine, sitting on something padded was quite a bit more comfortable than sitting on hard wood or smooshed up pillows. The beds however were just an uncomfortable hospital bed at Mercy or a real bed at St. Luke's. Not only was the real bed more comfortable, but it was also easier to get into after giving birth. Thankfully I was a lot less sore after Ryker's birth otherwise I don't know if I could have climbed onto the hospital bed!

The rooms at Mercy were bigger which was nice, especially when entertaining visitors. However the set up was a lot better at St. Luke's for things like outlets and places to sit.

This category was quite a toss up so we'll call this one a tie.

Miscellaneous

There were a few other areas that I felt were important to mention while comparing the two hospitals. The first was the accessibility of the birthing centers. At Mercy we had to drive up 3 floors of a parking garage, enter in through a locked door, and then check in at the front desk. When having intense contractions just a few minutes apart, this is not what you want to experience! At St. Luke's Jake was able to park right out front in short term parking, we could walk right in (if it had been at night the door would have been locked), and they quickly got me back to a private room to check in. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to labor in front of visitors in the waiting room. Obviously St. Luke's won for that.

Another thing I felt worth mentioning was the layout of the birthing center. Often when you're trying to help labor progress you can walk the hallways to keep things moving. At St. Luke's there were several different hallways with alcoves throughout them that you could pause and sit in. At Mercy there was just one hallway and a small outdoors area. For me, I preferred the privacy of the hallways at St. Luke's, however I could also see where one might enjoy the outdoors area at Mercy or may just not care about others seeing them labor. This really comes down to preferences, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

The final thing I wanted to mention in this category was cost. I have heard that Mercy is cheaper to birth at, however for us our bill from Mercy was at least $1,000 more expensive than our bill from St. Luke's (this is only the bill for the baby, not for me, as they were billed separately). The only thing that should have effected the price difference was that Ryker was circumcised and Ilyana, obviously, was not. So maybe circumcision is just expensive. Otherwise Mercy was more expensive.

For me at least, St. Luke's was the winner of the miscellaneous category.

Obviously this blog post is completely based on my opinions and personal experiences at each of the hospitals. I have talked to others about their experiences and some have had similar experiences and others have experienced completely the opposite. I'm sure the experience you receive from either of the hospitals just depends on the day, however for us St. Luke's was very clearly the better hospital and the hospital we would choose if we were to have another baby (we're not, sorry. Ha!).

 

1 Month - Ryker

Our little buddy Ryker is one month old today! Boy, did that go fast! Ryker has been such a great fit for our family. Ilyana loves her little brother so much already and Mommy and Daddy love him quite a bit too! So far he is a pretty laid back baby. He enjoys being swaddled but sleeps just as well without it, same with a pacifier. At night he generally sleeps about 3-4.5 hours between feedings, however during the day he likes to be awake. It's definitely a change going from Ilyana who just sleeps when she's tired to Ryker who has to be put to sleep when it's time for him to get some rest. The thing I've been enjoying the most about Ryker has been how happy his awake face seems to look! I look forward to seeing him grow and become as happy as he seems!

Ryker likes: his elephant toy, looking around at the world, eating, sucking on his fingers, laying on his tummy, and being worn in the carrier.

Ryker dislikes: being gassy, baths, diaper changes.

Weight: about 11 pounds