Cousins

One of the main reasons we decided to move back to Utah was so that our kids could grow up knowing their cousins.  What a great move!  Ryker and Ruby have awesome cousins and I'm sure they'll grow up being great friends.

Sofia Elise Partridge was born last Tuesday, December 9th.  She and Ruby are only 2 months apart in age.  I'm so happy that Ruby will have a cousin so close in age to go through life with.  You'd never guess by looking at them that they are so close in age.  As Josh put it, "Ruby looks like a monster who wants to eat little Sofia!".  Yes...my girl does enjoy her food. :)

Sofia Elise

Three happy cousins eating lunch together on a play date.

One of the best things about having cousins is having access to their toys.  Ryker found this "baby" at Hanna's house and he immediately became very attached to it.  This is a picture of me trying to take his baby away so he can get in the bath.

Madi is a great helper.  She loves to entertain Ryker for me.  Here they are doing pudding finger painting a few weeks back.

 

Seriously...how often do you get a picture this good?!  All three looking at the camera and smiling?  It's a small miracle.  Ryker loved going to the zoo with Madi and Carter.

Halloween

I know it's a bit late to post about Halloween, but we had such a great day I just have to share.

Ruby was a little lady bug.  The costume was basically just a swaddling blanket and hat and she looked so cute!  Here she is all snuggled up with her Grandpa Partridge on Halloween night.

Ruby Roo and her proud mommy.

Ryker was Yoda again this year.  He got to go trick-or-treating with his cousins, which he loved.  I tried to teach him to say "trick or treat" but his best effort came out as "tuka-tuka".  He hasn't gotten much candy thus far in his little life, so he didn't really know what it was.  He was much more interested in finding rocks to put in his bag. Now that he's had a chance to taste his candy I'm sure next year will be a different story.

My little man at Gardner village.

Ryker and Daddy carved a pumpkin.  We really thought he'd love playing in the pumpkin goop, but he wanted nothing to do with it.  He's at a stage where he really doesn't like to get his hands dirty.

He did enjoy putting the lid on and off of his pumpkin.  He was very proud of the finished product.

Ryker, Daddy, and his pumpkin.  Notice the rings on his ankles.  Those are his "special shoes" which are toy rings that he loves to wear on his ankles.  Funny kid wouldn't take them off for anything.

Almost two months old

Little Ruby Roo is growing so fast.  She will be 2 months old in just a couple of days.  She has already changed so much.  Having two kids under two years old has been tough, but I can honestly say I'm enjoying every minute of it.  Ruby is already sleeping through the night most nights, and she is such a good, sweet baby.  She's smiling all the time which makes every sleepless night totally worth the trouble.  I just can't get enough of this girl!  Here are a few recent pictures of what we've been up to.  

Ryker has been adjusting well.  He pretty much ignores Ruby most of the time.  Here he is giving her a kiss when she was only a few days old.  At first he was really nervous around her and didn't want to get close.  This is the first picture of the two of them together.  He scooted away right after this was taken. 

This is Ruby's Great Grandpa Harris.  He has a great tradition of giving each of his grandchildren and great grandchildren a stuffed animal when they're born.  Here is Ruby with her kitty from Grandpa Great.  I'm sure she'll grow up loving her kitty, just like I grew up loving the kitty he gave me when I was a baby.

Ruby June's Great Grandma Harris.  We gave her the middle name June after Grandma.  

Here is Ryker's attempt at being helpful.  I asked him to help me put Ruby's hat on her head.  He did exactly as I asked I guess. 

Just too cute. 

This is Ruby at 1 month old.  She has already grown so much - mainly in her cheeks.

Sweet daddy-daughter moment.

Ruby's sweet smile melts my heart every time I see it!  Here is one of the first smiles caught on camera.

Such a smiley girl!

Sweet smiles for Mommy. 

Ruby's birth story

WARNING!! This post has all the gory details of childbirth!

My due date was October 6th, and I planned to be a week late, just like I was with Ryker. I planned to work through the end of September.

On Monday (9/28) I had some mild contractions during the work day. They just felt like strong braxton hicks so I didn’t think much about it. Around 7 pm we started timing them, not because they were strong, only because we wanted to test my Josh's cool new iPhone contraction timing application. They were 15-30 min apart at that point.

At 9:30 I started to wonder if this might really be it. Contractions were still 15-30 min apart, but some were up to 2 min long and very intense. I can honestly say my initial thought was “oh crap…I still have so much to do at work before I go on maternity leave!” So I decided to work for a while (I work from home). I worked until 11:00 trying to close things out.

I got in the tub at 11:00 thinking it would slow things down so I could go to bed, but things only picked up. Contractions started to be 3-5 min apart and intense enough that I had to really focus on the hypnosis I had been practicing to get through them. I was still in denial that this was the real thing, and then I felt a big gush and knew my water had broken.

Josh started getting our things together (I hadn’t packed, the car seat lining was in the wash, we were so caught off guard). He also called his mom to come watch Ryker, and my mom and the midwife to meet us at the birth center.

We left for the birth center around 1:00 a.m.. The drive was about 15 minutes.
When we arrived I immediately got in the tub. We listened to her heartbeat and my midwife checked her position. She also confirmed my water had broken. Josh turned on my Hypnobabies script, but it annoyed me and I had him turn it off. I did use self-hypnosis and Josh used the queues we had learned which helped me relax.

After about 30 minutes in the tub I started feeling the urge to push. My midwife said to go ahead and give it a try. I was lying on my left side and moaning deeply with every contraction. I could feel her moving down. Pushing felt so good!

I put my hand down and could feel her head covered in hair. The contractions were very intense, but I was able to recover and smile and talk in between them. I never felt out of control. I never felt like I couldn’t handle it any more.

My midwife had me put my hand down to help stretch the perineum. She had me hoot like an owl to slow down on pushing so I wouldn’t tear. Then suddenly her head was out. I had a small break before the next contraction and I felt her head. Then, one more big push and she was out! She swam up to me and I pulled her up onto my chest. She was beautiful and perfect. It was 2:16 a.m. and less than an hour after we got to the birth center.

It took her a minute to start breathing, but that was fine since the cord was still attached and pulsating. We sat and cuddled and massaged her for a minute and then she let out a little shriek. Once she was breathing well and the cord stopped pulsating my mom cut the cord. My midwife had me move to the bed to monitor my bleeding while I nursed Ruby and birthed the placenta. She latched right on and nursed for 45 minutes or so.

Ten minutes later I felt amazing and told everyone I could do it all again right then! I had a very very small superficial tear that didn’t require stitching.

We measured and weighed her (8 lbs, 5 oz an 20 ¾ “ long). She got her vitamin K shot, and then we tucked her into the co-sleeper. Josh and I got in bed and went to sleep, my mom wet home, and my midwfe went to the next room to sleep.

At 10:00 a.m. Ruby and I had checkups and passed with flying colors, so we left and went home to begin life as a new family.

Ruby June is here!

On September 29, 2009 at 2:16 a.m. Ruby June joined our family.  She weighs 8 lbs 5 oz and is 20 3/4" long.  She is beautiful and we are thrilled to have her.

My big helper

Ryker loves to help. Anything that he can do to be "big" he thinks is great. A few days ago I asked him if he could help me make dinner by getting a pan out. Just then my phone rang in the basement. I ran downstairs to get the phone, and when I came back up I couldn't believe what I saw. My little over-achiever.

Ryker - 18 months old!

It's been way too long since my last post! Ryker is now 18 months old. He had his 18 month old checkup this week. He weighed 30 pounds (around 85 percentile) and he was 35 1/2 inches tall (waaay off the charts). I think he's going to be a tall boy! He had to get three shots, but he handled things pretty well after the Dr. gave him a sucker.

His favorite things to do these days include coloring with sidewalk chalk, helping Daddy mow the lawn, vacuuming, sweeping, and taking out the trash. He's such a little helper! His favorite event of the week is when the garbage man comes each Monday morning. We sit on the front porch and wait for him, and when he comes around the corner Ryker starts clapping and waving. The garbage man is always very nice and rolls down his window to wave back. For the rest of the day he repeats, "Dada, ckkkk, vrrrrmmmm!!" which in Ryker language means, "Daddy and I took out the garbage, and then the garbage man came!!"

Here are some cute recent pictures to show you what we've been up to this summer.

Here is my little Beethoven.

Here we are at the top of the ferris wheel at the state fair. It was raining so not the best picture, but we had a great time at the fair.

No trip to the fair is complete without funnell cake. Josh got a foot-long corn dog, but I didn't get a picture.

Inspecting the prize pumpkins...

Riding the merry-go-round with Daddy.

There was a big tracktor on display right at the entrance. I think this was the highlight of the day for Ryker.
Learning to feed himself... I think he's got a ways to go.

Enjoying the cool summer morning on our back deck.

Picking up rocks from the stream up in the mountains.

Rock-climbing....

Mowing the lawn with Daddy.

Rockin' out! I love this picture.

Getting ready...

Our baby girl is coming soon! We're hurrying to get ready for her arrival. This pregnancy has gone by so much faster than my first! Last time I felt so prepared...I had all the clothes folded and put away, the nursery was perfectly set up, and the car seat was in the car weeks before. This time we don't even know yet where she's going to sleep, and she could come any minute. A few weeks ago we bought Ryker a big-boy bed to try to vacate the crib. Things are not going so well. He loves to jump on his big-boy bed, but sleeping there is a work in progress. Here we are reading books in his new big-boy bed.

So I can't believe I'm showing this, but here is my 8 month pregnant belly. Obviously the angle is bad. There's no way I'm this big.

As of today I'm 37 weeks, 3 days. So I'm a walking time-bomb and could go into labor at any time! I'm so excited to meet my baby girl! Josh and I just finished our birthing classes yesterday. We took a Hypnobabies course, which teaches hypnosis for un-medicated childbirth. I loved the class, and I'm really excited now to go into labor and put the technique to work. I'm giving birth at a birth center rather than a hospital, which I'm very excited about. I'm planning to have an un-medicated waterbirth...we'll see how it goes!

Shadow Complex

I'm happy to announce that I'm no longer a single mom. The game Josh has been working on - Shadow Complex - is finally finished! Josh has been putting in some pretty killer overtime hours to finish up the game, but it looks like his efforts were worth it based on the previews that have recently been published on popular game review sites:

http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/100/1005179p1.html

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/five-pretty-neat-things-about-shadow-complex/1566/

Shadow Complex will be available on Xbox Live for $15 (what a steal!) on August 19th. Release party anyone?

Great job sweetie!

My crack addiction confession

So, as many of you know, I have struggled with crack addiction for many years. It started when I was about 17. I've had a few gaps of sobriety over the years, but overall my addiction has gotten progressively worse.

When I got pregnant with Ryker I knew I had to quit. I talked to my Dr. about it, and she agreed. With my baby as my motivation I was able to quit cold-turkey. I am proud to say I didn't use crack during my entire pregnancy. I thought I had kicked the habit for good.

But, when I stopped nursing I quickly fell into my old ways. When I fell, I fell hard. I found myself not only using socially, but I actually began purchasing it myself and using at home alone. I felt terrible, but I thought I wasn't hurting anyone other than myself.

It doesn't help that so many of my friends and family are also addicted. They're always flaunting it in my face! I always give in.

When I found out I was pregnant again, I thought I'd be able to just stop cold-turkey again. I did, for about three months, but I'm embarrassed to say that I've slipped a few times since. The last time I used crack was this week. I told myself it would be the last time ever, but I'm scared that I won't have the strength to be strong.

By the way...my crack is Diet Coke.

Zombie baby strikes again

Just when I thought my zombie baby days were in the past, my new little zombie baby started feasting on my brain cells.

I just went to get something to eat out of the pantry and realized that after breakfast this morning I put my half-gallon of expensive organic milk away in the pantry instead of the fridge. Nice.

Father's Day 2009 - The Daddy Switch

Before Ryker was born I was a little unsure about how Josh would be as a dad. He has never been the type of guy who loves kids. I should have known better.

The day Ryker was born, a switch turned on in Josh's brain that had been off his whole life until that point: the Daddy Switch. In the flip of a switch Josh turned into a different person. A better person. He turned into a Daddy.

After Ryker was born, Josh refused to leave his side. Literally. He sat on a chair next to him in the nursery for hours and hours as Ryker warmed up under the lamps. He yelled at any nurse who he thought mis-treated his son. I'm sure they still remember Josh as the most paranoid and protective father ever.

I don't think Josh had ever held a newborn up until that point. But, once the switch in his brain turned on, he just knew how to do it. He was a natural. He perfected the art of the "daddy bounce" that was the only thing that would calm Ryker down in the early days.

The first time I left Ryker alone with his daddy was when he was a week old. I just ran to the bank, but I was worried how things would go. I came home to see Josh playing Guitar Hero with Ryker in the Baby Bjorn.

Whenever we go anywhere as a family Josh sits in the back with Ryker. He's not worried about him, he just likes to spend time with him. I sometimes feel like a chauffer, but I don't mind.

Ryker said Da-Da as his first word. I don't think that's a coincidence. He adores his daddy.

Once the Daddy Switch turned on, it was on for good. Josh is a hands-on dad. He is my partner in parenting 100%. I am so lucky to have him. He says he's worried about having a baby girl next. He says he doesn't know what to do with a little girl. I'm sure the second he sees her a switch will turn on in his head again, and he'll be playing My Little Pony like a pro with her in no time. I'm not worried.