Happy Turkey Day!

What a good day it is today. Kevin woke me up this morning asking me to make him pancakes before he left to go play football. "Do not tell me you woke me up to make you breakfast" was my reply. Last night he told me he'd let me sleep until the kids (yes kids, plural. I'm still shocked I'm a mother of two!) woke me up. And then he wakes me up to make him breakfast? He left the room and I laid in bed feeling guilty. I mean, it was 7:45 and it's Thanksgiving. How could I possibly be crabby today? I get to spend the day with my family eating loads of delicious food. So I jumped out of bed and hurried downstairs to make the man I love a pancake (or two or more).
With that said I want to mention how wonderful my husband is. I am so incredibly thankful for him. He makes me happy every single day. The least I could do is make him pancakes on Thanksgiving! I'm thankful that with him we are blessed with two beautiful little boys who are the sunshine in my life. I'm thankful for my sweet Rylan who has brought continual happiness into my life since the day he was born. For his shy and laid back demeanor. For all his hugs and kisses. For his ways of making me laugh. I'm thankful for my little Asher who brings a tear of joy to my eyes in the middle of the night when I am able to nurse him and rock him. I'm thankful to be a mother.
And my family. How lucky am I to have my parents a 7 minute walk away? And to have the rest of my family so close that we can get together so often (often to the dismay of the in-laws!!). I love talking to my sisters daily...multiple times a day, in fact. I'm thankful to have such a good relationship with my family that I can cry in front of them and know that I'll be comforted. And I'm super excited to get together with them on this very day to feast on too much food and delicious pies. To play games and talk and just be together.

I'm just thankful for such a good life.

Three Weeks

This little love of mine is three weeks old and cute as a button. Here he is freshly bathed, hence the fuzzy hair. He still sleeps a lot but when he IS awake, he's starting to be awake for longer periods of time. He certainly receives his share of kisses each and every day...and not just from me! Rylan has stopped giving me kisses and gives them all to Asher. I keep thinking that once the novelty of the new baby wares off, then maybe Rylan will equally split those kisses and give me a few.

I got into a brief bad habit of giving Asher his pacifier when he'd cry (and really, he doesn't cry often). He is constantly looking for something to suck on, and what else is a pacifier for? Well, then he really wanted that pacifier and wouldn't sleep without it. For two nights in a row I basically held the pacifier in his mouth all night long. It didn't take me any longer than that to change my ways. Now I let him cry...a little. I've tried getting him to suck on his thumb or hand (because hey, he found his thumb on his own just after being born) but he doesn't seem to be satisfied with that. Oh, what to do?

I recently bought a new sling..."Sleepy Wrap". I love it, and so does Asher (well, from what I can tell he really likes it. As mothers we are given the right to determine what our babies like and what they dislike. At this time I would like to make the decision that yes indeed, he likes the wrap). I just wear Asher around while making dinner or chasing Rylan. Of course in the "Babywise" book they say that allowing babies to fall asleep in the sling and always being near mommy in that manner is not teaching them to fall asleep on their own. I can see that. And with all the hassle we've gone through putting Rylan to bed, I certainly want this little one to learn to put himself to sleep. But I just Love having him with me!

I told Rylan to sit by the baby and I'd take his picture. This is the pose he chose. I tried getting him to look at the camera but he just wanted to look at the baby...I know how he feels!

Howdy Partner

I know, I know, I should have already posted about Halloween. But I was a little pre-occupied so I'm just now doing it. And I couldn't just let it pass because I think Rylan makes the cutest cowboy I've ever seen!

Go on, admit it, you know they don't come cuter than this little cowboy!

Kevin took Rylan to the church for a multi-ward trunk-or-treat. We had a hard time getting Rylan to wear his costume. He missed his nap because that was the day I came home from the hospital. He was crabby and tired and didn't realize he was going out to get candy! I bribed him with a sucker and then we quickly strapped him in his car seat. Kevin said Ry was still unsure when they first got to the church but it didn't take him long to catch onto things.

Then they met up with my bro and his two girls for some trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Of course Rylan ended up with too much candy, most of which we recycled by handing out to trick-or-treaters who came by our house. The rest I greedily consumed, to the shock of Kevin. I'm not much of a candy eater, but you've just got to eat it on Halloween (and the few days after)!

I sent Kevin over to my friend Jana's house so Rylan could see his little buddy...too cute!!

My mom and dad came to my house to hand out candy so I could just sit and rest on the couch. Plus my mom made us dinner--nice! So even though I missed out on Rylan trick-or-treating, I still had a great Halloween!

Hospital Photos

I thought I'd post some hospital pictures because my wee one is so cute! And let's face it, everyone looks absolutely lovely after just giving birth to a baby :) Actually, I don't even have a picture of me looking at the camera so you can't even see just how wonderful/relieved I really look! But what an emotional time, holding your baby for the first time. And isn't it amazing how all through your pregnancy you wonder what your babe will look like, but the instant you meet him you wonder how you never knew? I saw him and instantly knew he was my baby (as if it wasn't obvious enough considering where he just came from!!) Of course, all I needed to do was look at pictures of Rylan as a baby and voila there's my little Asher as well!

This little boy practically came out sucking his thumb. Needless to say, he's been easy to nurse!

Proud Papa

The big Doyle toe (Rylan has been blessed with it as well!)

Unfortunately we don't have a picture showing his weight in pounds. To save you the math, he was 6 lbs. 12 oz.

Who Needs a Name?

So my little babe is one week old...well, one week and one day, but who's counting? We left the hospital without naming him and it's constantly been on my mind. The hospital warned me that we had to have a name by Thursday (today) which is the day they send the info over to the state birth certificate office. All week I've been contemplating, worrying, stressing, and crying over naming this sweet little boy. Why has it been so hard? I've probably been over-thinking it all because really, he'll grow into whatever name we give him, right? We went to the hospital with two names--Asher and Tyce. I like both names and we've received mixed reviews from family/friends on both names. When I was pregnant with Rylan we were debating between Rylan and Andrew. When I saw him I knew he was a Rylan...and I still think that name fits him perfectly. I was hoping the same thing would happen with this baby. But it didn't. I saw him and thought "Yes, he looks like Asher, but he also looks like Tyce". I tried calling him by both names and both felt right but felt wrong at the same time. We tried going through baby names again online but that didn't help. We were adding names to the list instead of narrowing down. So it's been a week of me calling him "baby". If you ask Rylan he says "name is Tyce"...I think Kevin was working with Rylan in secret, coaching him.
Last night Kevin got home from work (his first day back at work...I desperately missed having him around) and we sat on the couch and discussed the names--again. He bribbed Rylan (by agreeing to run in circles around the couch with Ry, his favorite thing to do with daddy) into calling the baby "Asher" which Rylan did immediately and he says it so cute! But today Rylan was back to saying the baby's name is Tyce.
Anyway, after tossing a coin, drawing a name out of a hat, and doing eenie meenie miney mo, as well as confirming the name with Kevin, I called the hospital with the name. So it's official folks. I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family:

Asher Dennis Doyle