Can he build it?

Yes he can!
Ryan is into building towers lately. He'll build them with anything. Today he tried to make a tower of shoes at the shoe store:-)Here are a couple of towers he has built recently. He started out building on top of the elephant and he got all 4 blocks up there, but by the time I got the camera he had knocked that one down and started building next to it. In the second picture he is using his shape sorting blocks. It gets a little dicey when he starts with the semi-circle, but if she starts with a wide base of the circle or star he does pretty well.
Tower building

Wow, that's tall! 

Feeling Wanted

Jay got up with Ryan this morning so I could sleep in. Isn't he a sweetheart?! :-) I didn't get to sleep too much longer because Ryan missed me. He came and pounded on my door saying "mama! mama!" It's so nice to feel wanted! I'm almost not sad that I didn't really get to sleep in.

Uncle Ben

Uncle Ben came to visit yesterday. The boys had lots of fun with him. He sang fun songs about a goat and some other crazy songs with Zach. He had both boys on his shoulders at one point or another. They both loved that. Check out Ryan's huge smile! Of course Daisy(our dog) was beside herself with joy at Uncle Ben's visit. I think he is her favorite person in the world. He pays lots of attention to her and plays with her whenever he comes over. Jay and I enjoyed him as well. They did some computer stuff and then we all watched Alias.
Ben is leaving for Guatemala this weekend to help build shelters. He has such a big heart! Then he goes back to school and we won't see him again until summer :-(
Fun with Uncle Ben


On a side note: Alias was awesome last night!

Sweet Dreams

Aren't they so sweet when they are sleeping?! I think we are both feeling a bit sleepy today. Maybe we'll squeeze in an extra nap :-) Somehow I doubt Ryan will agree to that. Oh well.
Sleepy baby

And I Did it My Way...

[Gotta love 'Old Blue Eyes'! For those of my generation who don't know Frank Sinatra- You are really missing out!]
I'm beginning to realize that everyone has their own routine for everything. Each person's own routine makes the most sense to them. There have been times that watching someone do something a different way has driven me crazy. For instance last week when Ryan had a diaper rash one of us would change him and the other would hold him still and try to comfort him. When Jay was changing his diaper I was forced to watch him do everything differently than I would. I had to turn my head and fight the urge to tell him he was doing it all wrong. Really I think it comes down to priorities. My priority is for Ryan to be uncovered and uncomfortable for the shortest amount of time possible. My way includes having a diaper, wipes and diaper cream open and ready to go before I even make the baby lie down. After he is all cleaned up and schmeared with cream his diaper goes on immediately. If he is upset or antzy I pick him up before I even put his pants back on. Cleaning up is secondary and will happen when Ryan is happy again. Now I know that Jay doesn't want Ryan to suffer any longer than necessary either, but he just doesn't do things the same way. I think he is more task oriented in his diaper changing technique. 1)Baby needs to be changed, take off his pants and diaper. 2)Dirty bottom->clean. 3)Old diaper is dirty, wrap it up. 4)Baby is naked, put on cream and new diaper. 5)Pants are off, put pants on. 6)Baby is high, put baby down on floor or hand him to mommy if he is crying. 7) Changing table is a mess, throw away diaper and put cream away. 8)Hands came within millimeters of poopy, wash hands! See the difference?

Another hallmark of "my way" is efficiency. For example if Ryan has a dirty diaper and it's close to bed time I will change him into his jammies since I already have his pants off. This goes the other way too, of course I will change his diaper when I am putting his jammies on. This makes complete sense to me. It's hard for me to believe that it's not something others would automatically do. Why doesn't everyone think like me? Life would be so much easier if they did!

If having a baby has taught me anything about other people it is this- People do things differently; Not necessarily better or worse, just different. Recognizing this appears to be the easy part. Accepting that my way is not the only (or at least the best) way is proving more difficult;-)