Ear tubes & Road trips & Nanas - Oh my!

As always, life is crazy with two kids, full-time jobs and everyday life :)

Poor Ryan has been sick with non-stop colds and ear infections for the last several months. We took him to the ENT to be evaluated, and they recommended ear tubes like we did for Lily last spring. His surgery was this past Tuesday (on my birthday!) and it went really well. We could tell the difference right away - he was much happier, more comfortable and independent within just a few hours. He didn't even cry when he came out of anesthesia! When we went back to get him after the surgery, he was just sitting there snuggling with one of the nurses. She didn't want to give him up :) We're looking forward to more sleep at night, fewer appointments at the pediatrician and fewer doses of antibiotics!!

In recovery just after the surgery

Ryan has also (finally!) started moving around on his own. He really went from 0 to 60!! In just two weeks, he went from sitting and scooting to crawling, pulling up and cruising on the furniture! He loves trying to keep up with his big sister, and most of the time she is very patient and loves playing with him.



The kids have become veteran travelers in the car too. We took a trip home to Rochester in January to see Mark's sister and her kids while they were visiting. The drive took about 5 hours, and isn't too bad if we make a stop. Otherwise the kids get really antsy! Rochester had lots of snow while we were there, and Lily and Parker got to go sledding at Nana's house. They had a blast!!


Just last weekend, we also took a trip to Michigan to see our close friends Hillary and Quinn and their little boy, Bennett. Lily and Bennett had so much fun playing together, and Ryan tried to keep up with them too! They showed us a great time, kept us entertained and well fed! Their house in Michigan is adorable, and it was so nice to see such great friends again after much too long (2 1/2 years!). Lily keeps asking to go back to the "bounce house" we took the kids to one day. We can't wait for them to come see us in Pittsburgh soon :)










Last, but certainly not least, Nana came to see us this week. The kids were exited to see and spend time with her. It was nice to have an extra set of hands, and Mark and I actually got out of the house and went to a hockey game, which was a lot of fun! Lily stayed home with her a few days this week, and they went shopping and to the Children's Museum. I'm sure they will miss her this week!

Please send good thoughts, prayers and energy to Mark's sister and her kids - both boys are sick with the flu, and the little one has pneumonia as well. We hope they're feeling better soon!!

First Tooth & First Snow

I can't believe it's December already! We're getting ready for Christmas and enjoying the cold weather (for now!). It's been flurrying here all week, but today is our first real, sticky snow that's started to cover the ground! Lily loves watching it and tells me how pretty it is. While we were driving to daycare on Friday morning, Lily looked at me and said, "Mommy, I love the snow." I felt a little better about moving her here from North Carolina after that :)





Mark's company had a Christmas party yesterday for the kids. It was really cute! There were cookies and milk, crafts, fake tattoos and pictures with Santa. It was packed with tons of families! Lily really enjoyed it and had fun meeting Santa and Rudolph :) We actually managed to get both kids on Santa's lap without crying, though we'll have to see what the pictures look like. I think there was one where both kids had fingers in their mouths and the other one with Lily's mouth hanging open...

Ryan and Lily both went to the doctor on Friday - Mark took them all by himself! They are both healthy and doing well. Ryan is all caught up on his shots and Lily has shot up 3 inches in the last 2 months! I knew her pants were looking shorter, but I had no idea she had grown that much!! Ryan got his first tooth on Thanksgiving last week! He is doing better sleeping through the night (most nights), though he seems to like getting up at 4:45am... When he does wake up and doesn't get what he wants, he screams like a banshee - the volume is ridiculous! We're looking forward to the day when the kids get up and start watching cartoons without us so we can sleep in again :)

We put up our Christmas tree today and Lily helped decorate it - she did a great job except for the part where she kept taking ornaments off to play with them :) And only one broken ornament so far... we'll see how long we keep that record with a toddler, infant and two cats, not to mention two accident-prone adults!!




Below are some pictures of Ryan from daycare - his teacher sent home a disc of shots from the last few months. Even the little guys do lots of art projects, and apparently Ryan is a pro at fingerpainting, though only the one where he is eating orange goo was actually edible (cool whip)!

Lots of baby news today! Congrats to my cousin Chrissy and her husband Brian on the arrival of their daughter Isla, and to our friends Maria and Ian on the arrival of their daughter, Ava.

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Happy Turkey Day! Hope all of you are spending time with friends and family, enjoying the holiday. We have spent the last several Thanksgivings at Mark's sister's house in Virginia, and we miss them, but we had a good time with just our little family of four.

Lily and Ryan's cousin Parker celebrated his third birthday last weekend - Lily walked around all last Saturday singing "Happy Birthday" to Parker :)

Here are some videos from the last month or so...

Hello Pittsburgh!

So we've had some pretty big changes in the last few months! For those of you who don't know, we moved to Pittsburgh :) Mark had a great job opportunity here, and I was able to find a wonderful job as well, so we decided to take the plunge and move back into the snow and cold. So far it has been great! We miss our friends in Wilmington (and our house!), but it has been a great move for us. We got here on Labor Day in September, and we have been busy moving, unpacking, getting settled into work and daycare and exploring our new city. Pittsburgh has a lot to offer, and we plan to take advantage of all of the parks, sporting events, museums and kids' activities around!




We've had lots of visitors already and anticipate lots more over the next few months. We're happy to have seasons again and are looking forward to our first snow here, which should happen soon. We're also thrilled to be closer to our friends and family in the Northeast. The kids have been troopers through this whole process, and Nana (Mark's mom) has been a big help getting us settled here.

We found an amazing daycare for the kids, and they are both doing great there. They are both SO big!!! Lily talks constantly, and we are continually surprised by the things that come out of her mouth :) Her favorite phrases right now are "That's awesome!" and "Yummy in my tummy!" She is identifying emotions all the time and enjoys playing with her friends at school. I know I'm biased, but she is super smart :) She is really independent, but still loves to cuddle (on her terms, of course), and she is an amazing big sister. She is very loving towards Ryan and loves to help with every aspect of his care.

Ryan is 6 1/2 months old!!! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. He is sitting up on his own, and I know it won't be long before he starts crawling. It's funny how with Lily, I couldn't wait for all of her "first" things - with Ryan I want the baby phase to last forever (with the exception of the not sleeping thing!). I think if he never crawled, I would be ok with that ;) I have never met such a happy child. He smiles and laughs constantly and is in awe of his big sister. If she's anywhere in sight, his eyes never leave her. Ryan started eating cereal last weekend, and we added some veggies in this week. He seems to be enjoying it and Lily (of course) likes to help feed him. He doesn't have any teeth yet, but we're working on it!

Here are some pictures from the last few months. It's amazing how much they've changed in just a short time. We love and miss all of you and look forward to catching up now that things have settled down a bit. Our doors are always open for visitors!!

milkshake after berry picking this summer

one of our last weekends in Wilmington
just hanging around

reading with Papa

ladybug for halloween

showing ryan how to trick or treat

ryan's favorite activity - bouncing!

big blue eyes and all that blonde hair :)

lily's "turn" feeding ryan

Big week! 1 month old & ear tubes for big sister

It's been a busy week! Ryan was officially a month old on Thursday. The time has absolutely flown by!! He is growing in leaps and bounds - he has dimples and rolls everywhere in addition to his multiple chins :) He is completely fascinated by Lily and watches her intently every time she is close to him. He has been coming with me to daycare to drop off and pick up Lily most days, and he is a big hit there with both the teachers and the kids in Lily's class. When we walk in the room, the kids (ages 13 months to 2 years) all crowd around the carseat saying "baby, baby!" You can tell that Lily is a proud big sister because she is all smiles during these little show and tell sessions, plus it's fun for her that she's the only one who is allowed to touch him while all the other kids just get to look :)



On Ryan's one month birthday, Lily had a procedure to get bilateral ear tubes. We were up bright and early to go to the surgery center (we had to be there at 6:45am). Luckily, Lily's old babysitter, Katherine, was able to come over and watch Ryan for us, so both Mark and I got to be there with her that morning. We spent about an hour in the pre-op area where Lily got changed into a kid-sized, super soft hospital gown and the nurses, doctor and anesthesiologist came and talked to us beforehand. Then a nurse brought her back to the procedure room while we went to the waiting room. Luckily we were only out there for about 20 minutes before they came to take us back to Lily. Even though Lily finished a round of antibiotics less than a week earlier, the doctor said her ears were still completely filled, so it was definitely a good decision to have the tubes put in. The hardest part of the whole morning was seeing her after the surgery - she was crying and confused from coming out of the anesthesia :( After about 10 minutes of cuddling she was ready to eat some cereal and drink some juice, and as soon as we walked outside the building she was back to her normal self. It's amazing how quick the recovery is and how resilient kids are at this age! We're so glad that she'll be able to recover her hearing loss (from the fluid in her ears) and stay healthy moving forward.


We leave for Rochester on Thursday morning and we're looking forward to seeing friends and family while we're there! We should have some great pictures of Lily and Ryan with all of their cousins when we get back :) In the meantime, we're going to enjoy the long weekend and Mark's short work week. Have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend!!