So far today.

2am: I hear the girls talking. And talking. And talking some more.

2:05: they're in my room asking me to take the lids off their cups so they can have the last swallow of milk. Seriously. They apparently were thirsty for that last little bit from before bed, which for the record was still cold. Because I want to go back to sleep and them to go back to sleep because Ryan is still asleep (since 11:15 pm) I do this. They go back to their room.

2:10 4am (this is all a bit of a blur since, you know, it was the middle of the night and I should've been asleep) - Emma coughs. The girls go get water out of the bathroom. (I'm thankful for the invention of Dixie Cups.) More coughing. Mac comes in because she peed in her pull-up and wants it off. I tell her to get one and come back in. She can't find them so I have to go to her room. Emma coughs more. (You know that annoying cough because your throat is dry and you just can't make it go away? that's what she had.) Mackenzie comes back as says she wants to lay in our bed. She does. Then gets bored and leaves out bed without saying a thing, I think she thought I was asleep. I wasn't. More talking. More coughing. I lay awake just listening to Emma cough except for the short time I dozed off and dreamt that Emma coughed so hard she threw up so I start yelling at Michael, "Puke! Puke! Puke!" because apparently in my dream world it means "Wake up and come help me clean it up!' At least that's what I was thinking while yelling it in my dream.

4am - Ryan wakes up to eat. I'm excited he slept for almost 5 hours straight; not excited I also didn't sleep for almost five hours straight.

4:15 - Another thing I'm not excited about? When changing his diaper in his dimly lit room I stick my hand in poop. He'd exploded. All over his thigh, clothes, stomach, back, everywhere.

5:15 am - Michael gets up and I tell him about my dream and yell "Puke! Puke! Puke!" at him for full effect of dream-telling.

8am - Ryan's up and hungry. I feed him and change his diaper during which I discover I'm not very good at cleaning up diaper explosions in dim light while tired. turns out I missed some places. Like his whole right side and thigh. Well, I didn't completely miss, I'd gotten most of it but left traces. Sorry kid. So I cleaned him up and we head to my bed.

8:30 -Girls are up and get in bed with us and then I think Ryan and I dozed off and on until about 9:45. It's all a bit hazy.

9:45 - I shower then give Ryan a bath. This is what happens to you when you have two older sisters. Also, because you're the third and already getting shafted. You get pink and purple fairy towels. Again, sorry kid.


When you're a peanut like Ryan, the snaps on 0-3 month onesies will come down to mid-calf at 5 1/2 weeks.


11:00am - After drying my hair I hear Mackenzie talking to Ryan but don't see her by the crib. That's because she was in the crib.


Emma then asked to get in the crib, I said no, so she settled on being in a picture with him.


The end. So far.

one month

Last Tuesday, Ryan was one-month-old. (I'm a week late posting this, so everything in it is from prior to Oct 19th. Anything that's new or has changed since then I'm saving for his 2-month post.) The last month has flown by crazy fast. Which shouldn't surprise me but it does.

Ryan had his check-up that same day. He was 7lbs 8oz and 21 inches. He was up another 7 ounces which is fantastic and had grown 2 inches since birth. Which means no more weight checks. He doesn't go back until his two-month appointment. He's still in newborn diapers and newborn clothes. I tried a size 1 diaper last night just to see, and it was huge. So, more newborn diapers, it is.

I nursed Ryan for the last time the day he turned 3 weeks old. I'm still pumping though, so he's on about half formula, half breastmilk. He doesn't have a preference, so no problem switching back and forth. He's taking anywhere from 2 - 4 ounces every 2 - 3 hours, sometimes stretching it to 4, usually at night. He's up more and more, for longer stretches. A couple times he's been up for 4 hours at a time. He's sleeping well at night, usually at least one 3.5 - 4 hour stretch.



He's still got the "only look to the right" head thing going on. We're trying to force him to look left, both so his head doesn't get any flatter on the right and also to stretch out his neck muscles. As his pediatrician said, it's better to do it now than need physical therapy in the future. And that we do not want.

I took these pictures Tuesday (the 19th) afternoon.









The girls still call Ryan Brother. Plus he gets called Little Guy, Buddy, Little Buddy. Emma will often say, "He's such a little guy, isn't he Mommy?"

If he cries, Mackenzie will still runs to put shove his binky in his mouth, yelling, "He needs his binky, he needs his binky!" If you're doing anything to him, say changing his diaper, and he cries, she'll also yell at you that he doesn't like that. They both ask to hold Ryan everyday, Mackenzie the most.

His blocked tear duct cleared up at 3 weeks and now he's starting to get baby acne.

He likes to lay on the pack-n-play changing table.

I went down to switch laundry the other week and heard this from Emma: "No Mackenzie! He doesn't need his binky! Only I know what he needs and what he needs is a song." Then she began to sing.

Around 2 weeks we moved from the two of us in the recliner to the him in bouncy seat and me on the couch. This was much sooner than with the girls. None of my children will sleep on their back for the first few months, they have to be at an incline. So the bouncy seat, car seat and swing it is. We stayed there until the day after he turned one-month and then moved upstairs. It felt so good to be back in my bed. I just put the bouncy seat in his crib and he slept there. Except he wasn't a fan. It was like he knew I wasn't right next to him and kept waking up the first night.

He's not a cryer. When he's hungry he tends to just whimper, fidget and stick his fist in his mouth. Of course, if you don't feed him soon, he'll progress into a full-fledged freak out. He'll also fuss is he has a really messy diaper and then calm down once it's changed. Otherwise, he's the most content baby. When he's awake, he'll just snuggle and look around. Of course, it's only been a month, so that can all change.

I love his little sleep smiles, the way he holds his binky with his hand, and how he folds his hands up when he's sleeps.

In his first month he's been to a couple of soccer games, lots of doctor's appts, various stores, the grocery store, library, fitness center, a birthday party, church play group, CiCi's, Dairy Queen, and probably more but that's all I can think of.

He does a great job peeing on me, even when I'm prepared. Hopefully the little peanut will fit in them soon. The outfit below is 0-3 months, and so bit I could pull the pants up to his chest.

He still has the full head of hair he was born with. Still dark. Although his eyebrows are so light you can barely see them. His eyes have lightened up quite a bit, you can tell they're blue now, they're gorgeous.

I took these on Sunday when he was four weeks old.

In summary, he's awesome.

Because it amuses me.

I've started taking pictures of Ryan in his car seat when we're out and about. (When I remember to, at least.) Pictures of him with things like my lemonade at Penn Station.

(Taken 10/3)


At Dairy Queen with my caramel sundae. Ok, so my sundae isn't in this one. But it is in the one I took with my cell and sent Michael, so I'm pretending.

(10/1)

With Michael's football at Emma's soccer game. I think this was his first outing at 6 days old. Michael started this whole thing, by the way. Him putting the football ball there is what gave me this idea.

(9/25)

Visiting friends at the fitness center. We're getting him started on a workout routine early on. Side note - is that not the tiniest weight ever? It's one pound.

(10/4)

Also starting him on Target early.

(10/4)

My camera battery died before I could give him something football-related yesterday while we were at Michael's game. But I did get this one of him on the track. Please note he's wearing the cutest hat ever made.


(10/13)

I don't know why I find this so entertaining but I do. I'm sure one day I'll hear, "Really Mom? You did this to me? This is what you did for fun?" And I will just say, "Wait until you have you own kids. It's amazing what will amuse you!"

7lbs, 1oz.

That's how much Ryan weighed as of Monday morning. Significant because he was having a bit of trouble gaining weight. He was born weighing 6lbs 12.3oz. But when we went for his first checkup at nine days, he was only 6lbs 3oz. Nowhere near birth weight. We went back three days later and he was 6.5. Three days after that, 6.6. Not good. Babies are supposed to gain 1/2 ounce to 1 ounce a day but he only gained 1 ounce over three days. I was getting worried.

That was last monday. We had a week to work on getting some weight on him. Between pumping, nursing, bottle feeding and supplementing with formula, he hit his birth weight and then surpassed it on Monday. Ryan gained 11 ounces in one week. I was so happy I almost cried. The tears were in my eyes. I felt relief and joy. I high-fived his doctor. It was such good news. It meant he was okay. There was nothing wrong. He was able to gain weight. To grow. Happy happy news.

But it showed us something. He just isn't getting enough from nursing. I nursed both girls with no problem. But it just isn't working with Ryan. Even with pumping and getting my supply up, it didn't make a difference. He could nurse for 20 minutes, stop and be done, but then eat 2 ounces out of a bottle. Which explains why he wasn't gaining in the beginning because when he stopped then, I assumed he had enough and never gave him anything else. Turns out he needed more. I don't know how long I'll continue, but for now I'm pumping and giving him a bottle and he's eating like a champ. At some point we'll switch to just formula and I'm okay with that. At this point I have to do what's best for him and works for us. And while my first choice is to nurse him, that's just not going to happen. I've made peace with it and we're moving on.

One of the nursing issues with Ryan was for the most part he'd only nurse on the left. Never the right now matter how often or how long we'd try. If he'd nurse on the right once a day we were doing good. Turns out there's a downside to that I hadn't thought of, his poor little head is a little flat on the right, since that side was always pressed against me when he nursed on the left. That and the way I hold him. So we're trying to correct it. I'm holding him more often in the other arm, other positions. And no longer nursing should help, too. It's not bad, I never even noticed it. But when the pediatrician was checking him out he noticed he wouldn't look the other direction, only the right. He was fighting him turning his head, he was so used to leaning it to the right.

He's sleeping great at night. Still not in his bed, since like the girls he doesn't do well flat on his back, but rather in the bouncy seat. But it works. And he sleeps. Something Emma and Mackenzie did not do yet at this age.

He's going through the three-week growth spurt. Eating more frequently. Shorter naps today. As in up from 8:30am until 1:30, when he slept sporadically until finally sleeping for long stretches late this afternoon. I like seeing him up and looking around though. Checking out the bright lights and big dark child-size spots in front of him, in his face, touching and cooing at him. :)

He's such a peanut though. The newborn clothes are still plenty big. He doesn't have the chubby cheek baby look yet. And he makes the funniest faces. He kind of looks like a little old man, always so serious. His eyes have lightened up. They're still a dark blue, but at least we can see his pupils now. He barely cries. Loves to be held. Really really loves to be held. He is just so snuggly. Sometimes he likes his binky, sometimes he won't take it. He's fabulous.

And now a lot of pictures. I've got a couple weeks to catch up on...

Teeny tiny baby.


This is what he has to look forward to.


From yesterday.

Grandma McIntyre with all three.

Grandma Sweeney with all three, too.

His hospital picture, with Mackenzie on the left and Emma on the right. I was impressed with the hospital picture. I wish he would've opened his eyes, though.

On 9/27.

They love him so.

Snuggled up.

Dana came to visit.

I was worried about Mackenzie and how she'd handle the change. But there's been no issue at all She loves him.

So does Emma.

Sleeping with Daddy.

Whew. I think I'm a bit caught up. At least with him. As for the rest of us... Sometime soon I'll get back to blogging regularly!

So, I was at church last Sunday when...

...my water broke. But I didn't realize it for it was no big gush of water like everyone talks about. I know, looking back, really stupid of me. I called my doctor when we got home and he told me to head to the hospital to get checked out. Naively, at this point, I still thought I'd be coming home. I did throw some things in a bag "just in case" but I certainly didn't do a thorough packing job. The girls went across the street to Beth's and we headed to Marymount.

Here's what turned out to be my last picture pregnant with Ryan, taken in the hospital parking lot around 2:30 pm.


I soon found out that yes, my water broke and yes, I was going to be having a c-section that day. This was totally a surprise to me. Emma was 9 days late and Mackenzie made it to her scheduled c-section date 6 days before her due date. I thought there was no way I'd ever go early. I'd thought I had the whole next week to get the last few things done on my to-do list, to have a special day out with the girls, to get some errands done, to just rest. But Ryan didn't want to wait any more and he was coming 11 days early, 9 days before his scheduled c-section. Finding out he was going to be born this day was exciting. Not so exciting was the fact that because I had eaten lunch - since I didn't really think my water had broke - I had to wait 8 hours from when I ate to have the c-section. Which was 9:30 that night. Which meant I got to hang out in that hospital bed for 7 hours.

About 9:30 I walked down to the operating room, got my spinal and shortly after Ryan Michael was born. September 19th, 2010. 10:02 pm. 6lbs, 12.3 oz and 19 inches long. Absolutely beautiful.





Holding him for the first time in recovery, around 11:45 that night.

Monday Michael brought the girls up to meet their brother. Love at first sight for sure. They were fascinated. We took our first picture as a family of five. This, for the record, was not easy.

I stayed until Wednesday night and the girls were so excited to have us home. I've had great help from my mom and mother-in-law both with entertaining the girls and taking Emma to school and other errands since I can't drive yet. Hoping I get the all-clear for that on Friday at my check-up. And now it's time for more snuggling with my cute little ten-day-old. :)

Oh the power

Marie Taylor here-Erin has given me permission to hack her blog to give you some very, very exciting news. Erin's water broke unexpectedly yesterday (despite the fact that she did not have everything done on her list ;) and she had the baby!

Ryan Michael Sweeney
6 lbs. 12 ounces
19 inches

I am SURE she will have tons of pictures for you soon but as I can't leave without leaving you one (showing just how excited I am) Yup-that's what friends are for. CONGRATULATIONS Sweeney family!!

Code Yellow

Did you know Target has something called a Code Yellow? Apparently, it's what happens when a almost 9-month pregnant woman walks up with her 4 1/2 year old and asks for help finding her almost 3-year-old who decided to run away. Oh yes. This is what happened today.

Today we were in Target with my mom. We were in the shoe department, Emma and Mac standing by the cart with Grandma while I was looking. I heard, "Mackenzie, come here. Mackenzie!" Then Emma saying, "She went that way Grandma!" and I see my mom go down the aisle after Mackenzie. But then she comes back without her. See, she's fast. Faster than Grandma and faster than me at this point. So off we go looking and when we don't see her immediately I realize the best thing to do is ask for help before she decides to just walk out of the store. Because she would do that. She has no fear. She would just walk out, with purpose, and with my luck no one would stop her.

I headed to the toy department and when she wasn't there I walked up to the Target security guy and an employee standing in the music department. The conversation went a bit like this:

Me: Hi. Could you help me find my almost three-year-old who decided to run away? She's short. Blonde. Wearing a pink Minnie Mouse shirt and she's fast. Faster than me.

Them: (Concerned look on their faces) Sure, we can help. Where was she last?

Me: (With a crazy smile on my face) In the shoe department. But no one took her. She's okay. She just decided to run away. She's fast. And fearless.

Them: What was she wearing again? Okay, you stay here, we'll go look.

Now I wasn't afraid. I think my mom probably was, but I wasn't. I really wasn't concerned anyone had taken her. I was just annoyed (and yes, amused, hence the crazy smile - a cross between Ican'tbelivethisishappening and ohsheissogoingtobeintroubleforthis and thisisalittlebitembarrassing) that I actually had to ask for help to find her.

I think if she wasn't found quickly then I would start to get nervous and start to panic. And I'm sure the Target employees would do the same, because inevitably, you'd think someone actually did take her. But it wasn't more than a minute before I heard the crackling of the walkie talkie and someone saying they had her in diapers. I walked over and there she comes, walking toward the diaper aisle from the baby clothing, holding the hand of a female employee, and SMILING! Yes, smiling. She saw me, yelled Mommy and jumped in my arms. She then squeezed me as tightly as possible and hid her head in my shoulder. Embarrassed? Aware she was in trouble? Happy to see me? Who knows. All I know is what Code Yellow means at Target, thanks to my very cute and very mischievous almost 3-year-old.

And because every post needs a photo, here are the girls during a better time, AKA, at the mall before Mac ran away in Target.