My crazy child (and husband) singing Rocketeer by Far East Movement. I think this has become one of our favorite videos of her.

I’m a little late on this but here is Ryder’s 4 month update

We got a roller! It’s still a little hard for him to roll around in the crib, but I’m glad he doesn’t freak out anymore when he finds himself sleeping on his tummy. He’s a pro when I put him on the living room floor. Take a look!

He also found his foot! This means he loves putting his little toe into his mouth.

He is a drooling machine. He probably goes through 4 bibs a day.

He responds back to his sister now. There was one time when they were laughing back and forth and it was the cutest thing. I can tell he’s always interested in whatever she’s doing. Here is Rylie playing doctor with Ryder.

He loves standing and bouncing up and down.

Wears 6-12 month clothing.

We’re going in for his check up next month, so I’ll have his weight and height then. So far, I can tell he’s long, but not as chubby as Rylie used to be.

I am so tired these days. Ryder has been waking up at 5am every morning this week. I try to put him back down after I feed him, be he is wide awake… like smiling ear to ear, cooing, and looking at me as if I’m crazy to put him back down to sleep. He is going through a developmental spurt which could explain his ‘off’ sleeping patterns and cranky moods. Here’s how one mom describes it. Here are some of Ryder’s developments theses days: he learned how to roll to his tummy and back, trying to stand whenever he can, learning how to sit, trying to hold his bottle, and showing interest in food. The hardest part of Ryder waking up early is to trying to keep quiet while his sister is still sleeping… oh and the fact that I love (uninterrupted) sleep. Rylie is an early riser too (6-6:30am), but I would hate to have her start waking up earlier than that.

All last week, whenever I put Ryder down for the night, I had to put him down at the foot of the crib. In a couple of hours, I would find him at the head of the crib. I moved him down a few times during the night because once his head hits the top, he would wake up in frustration. He doesn’t move up anymore, but now he moves in circles… haha.

Here’s a clip of daddy and Rylie trying to make Ryder laugh

Ryder rolling to his tummy

Rylie cracks me up these days.  She is really into making her sentences into songs. Whether she is playing with play doh, painting, coloring… everything becomes a song. Today, while I was cutting Ryder’s nails, he was not having it. Since he was crying Rylie busted out singing, “Dont cry~~~ it’s okay~~~.” lol. This is a song she made up when he was first born. The funny thing is, whenever she sings it, he stops crying. She then continued singing, “Mommy’s gonna be done soon~~~ When you grow up, it’s not gonna hurt anymore~~~.” haha. I didn’t wanna laugh in front of her face, but it was just way too cute.

Poor Ryder got his head hurt two days in a row by his noona. Yesterday, she jumped on the couch and head butted him. Today, she kneed his head while he was laying down. Of course he cried both times and Rylie felt so bad. Whenever he stopped crying, he would look at me for a moment, bury his face into my shoulder and cry some more.

Here’s a picture of how Ryder fell asleep today.

Although hubs is a photographer, it seems so hard for us to take nice family pictures. So when his 2nd shooter offered to do our family session, we jumped at the opportunity. Thanks Cindee ! Here are some of my favorites.

ing this moment…

 

In my previous post, I mentioned that Ryder wakes up once during the night to feed. Guess what??? He slept 12 hrs straight last night. I couldn’t believe it either! I woke up at 5am and realized that he skipped his 3am feeding. I was half asleep, but jumping for joy inside. He finally woke up at 6:40am when he heard his sister calling for me to pick her up. I hope this is the beginning for sleeping through the night

Ryder is growing up so fast! He’s only 3.5 months, but he’s now wearing 9-12 month clothing. I feel bad for trying to squeeze him into the 3-6 month size, so into storage they go! He currently loves his teething toys. Every time I put one in front of him, he grabs it and puts it directly into his mouth. He’s also drooling like crazy. I saved Rylie’s bibs, so he wears them at home. We have a few boy ones for him when we go out… lol. He’s also aware of his feet now. When he’s laying down I see him lifting up both legs and looking at his feet. Stranger anxiety is in full force. When Ryder saw our family on Christmas day, he was totally fine. He saw our sisters again a few days later and he cried with them both! He makes his pouting face first and the explosion follows soon after. He is definitely a sensitive one.

I can’t believe it’s already been 100 days since Ryder was born. I’m enjoying every second I have with this lil guy and I’ve already forgotten the terrible morning sickness I had for 7 whole months! So far, little man smiles a whole lot and laughs mostly when he’s scared. Another way he laughs is when we tickle his sweet spot on his neck. He can turn from tummy time position to his back (sometimes) and is trying really hard to turn from his back to tummy time position. So far he can only get to his side, but with his strength, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s able to turn w/i the next few weeks. Like his older sis, he cries whenever an older person comes near him… including his grandparents. My grandmother told me that it’s cause old people are ugly and babies like to see and be held by pretty people… lol. I was afraid that the second would be a difficult baby since Rylie was so chill, but Ryder is such an easy baby (so far). He currently sleeps at 6:30pm and wakes up around 3:30am for his feeding. He sleeps for another 2 hours and he’s up by 5:30am. When sleeping, he prefers to sleep on his left side. He drinks about 4-5oz every 2-3 hrs, but can down up to 8oz before bedtime. The most he’s drank is 10oz in one sitting. I think I refilled his bottles 3 times that night and I was in shock that he could drink so much. Afterwards, he had a Santa Claus belly.

Rylie has been testing our patience these days. Although she’s an angel when we’re out, she is very defiant at home. I can tell she is testing her boundaries with us… esp when I see her looking at us from the corner of her eye while she’s doing something she’s not supposed to. She also talks back now! We have no idea where she picked this up from. We still do time-outs, but taking away her toys don’t work anymore. When I tell her that I have to take away her toy for her actions, she replies, “that’s okay.” Someone recently told me that you have to change up the discipline once the child gets to used to one. In any case, I hope this “stage” passes sooner than later.

Rylie is still awesome with her little brother and loves holding (more like smothering) him and giving his kisses. Whenever she goes somewhere, she always brings home something for Ryder. She recently went to a birthday party and came home with a card she made for him.

Here’s a picture of Ryder from his baek-il dinner we had with family.

Ryder is a pouter! We finally got a picture of him in the action. This happened when he heard his sister crying. It’s cute now, but I hope he doesn’t use this later to get out of trouble

Rylie has been asking me a lot of questions about God and Heaven. She asks me questions like, “How come I can’t see God if he is in my heart?,” “Where is Heaven?,” and “How do I get to Heaven and see God?” She doesn’t ask much about Jesus… maybe because she sees pictures of him in her Bible? I do my best to answer her questions, but I’m always wondering if I can explain it any better. I would love to hear how you guys explain God and Heaven to your child(ren).

Ending with a picture of my curious child : )

 

Ryder laughing at 9 weeks. Today was his first time laughing and I’m so glad I was able to capture it on video.

I do the bedtime routine which goes something like this. Read 2-3 books, sing 3 songs, pray, hugs & kisses, and say our ‘good nights.’ This should only take about 15 min, but sometimes it can take up to 30 minutes. This is what usually happens. After I leave her room, I can hear her saying, “Mommy!” I go in and she’ll ask me to plug in her night light. I leave only to be called in again. This time she wants to know why she has a fire alarm in her room. Explanation can take up to 5 min. I leave hoping she won’t call me, but she does. She says she has to go pee, but she just went 10 min ago! My patience runs thin and I tell her that she cannot call me anymore and to go night night. She agrees. A few minutes later, she calls me again only to have me straighten out the corner of her blanket. I tell her this is my last time and not to call me anymore. She calls me again, I ignore her, and she falls asleep eventually. This happened every night and was seriously getting out of control.

So this is what I came up with. She has three babies she sleeps with. Her stuffed elephant, Annabelle (her baby), and Alex (another baby). I decided to tell her that I have to take away one of her babies if she calls me in after she’s supposed to go night night. She loves her babies, so I knew she would try her best. And guess what? It worked like a charm! She fell asleep like an angel without calling me once!

This is how our conversation went tonight.

R: Mom, can I have 5 jelly beans if I sleep really well and to the morning?
me: Yes, I will give you 5 jelly beans if you don’t call me in and if you sleep till the morning.
R: Ok mom. I will do my best. I’m gonna yawn RIGHT NOW! good night mom.

She fell asleep w/i minutes! Now, I just have to figure out how to help her sleep in a little bit longer. She’s been waking up at 5am every morning since the time change!!!!