Time just seems to fly past.
Ryker is four weeks old today, and starting to get chubby. I'm pretty sure he weighs about ten pounds now. I'll put some new pictures up in the next couple of days.
Having two kids is... different.
The first two weeks were the hardest. Especially because the day that Adam went back to work Anicka got sick and spent two days throwing up. That was... not fun. But we've kind of started to settle into a routine now and things are getting easier. My least favorite part of having a newborn is spending most of my day covered in some sort of bodily fluid. I feel like I'm constantly changing mine and Ryker's clothes and I can't wait to hop in the shower at the end of the day. But he's really a pretty easy baby. He basically only fusses when he's hungry, and he sleeps okay at night. I mean, you know. For a newborn.
Anicka is having a great time. She just loves her little brother and is anxious to help. But that can also be a bad thing. She likes to be as close as possible to him, and often wakes him up because she wants to play with him. She thinks it's funny to see him startle. It drives me crazy. But most of the time she's just so sweet with him. I'm sure they'll have a great time together when he gets a little older. He's just starting to coo and gurgle, and is awake and alert more often. I'm guessing that in another few weeks he's going to be constantly laughing at his big sister.
The good thing about being up at all hours of the night nursing a baby is that I finally have time to read. Books that I've read in the last four weeks include:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - one of my all time favorite books. Adam gave me the 50th anniversary special edition for our anniversary last month.
I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak - Apart from a rather disappointing ending, this book was pretty good, but I still prefer Zusak's newest work, The Book Thief.
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Anne Burns - I enjoyed this book much more now than I did when I read it for my high school English class. I'm going to see if I can find the sequel the next time I go to the library.
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings - This was the first book in a fantasy series called The Belgariad recommended to me by an acquaintance. It was formulaic and predictable and I'm not sure I'll bother reading the rest of the series.
I also read the first two books in a series called The Hearts of the Children by Dean Hughes - This series is about an lds family in the 60s. It's really not bad, as far as Mormon fiction goes. The writing is a bit clumsy and heavy handed in the beginning chapters of the first book, but it gets better.
And right now I'm reading a book called Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brian Sanderson - I picked this book up because the cover art was pretty and a quote on the front said "Highly recommended to anyone hungry for a good read" or something to that effect. I'm always nervous when I pick up a new fantasy series because so many of them are exactly the same, but so far Mistborn has a been a pleasant surprise. Sanderson has invented a form of magic called 'Allomancy' in which some people are born with the ability to ingest various metals and use them to do things such as:
soothe another person's emotions or influence their behavior
make metal objects fly through the air toward them
enhance their physical strength
Enhance senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell)
and possibly other things as well. I'm not very far into the book and the subject of Allomancy has just recently been introduced.
Anyway. I kind of went off there, but I love it when I find such a new idea in a book. love it.
And if anyone wants to recommend more books to me I would be very grateful. I need some ideas. The last time I went to the library I just sort of wandered around and randomly pulled things off of the shelves... Which can be a good way to find new things, but only if you have time to wander. I usually only have a few minutes. Anyway. I'm open to just about any type, genre or style.
Well, the baby is waking up, so that's all the time that I have.
Ciao everybody.
P.s. The title of this post has nothing to do with the subject matter, it's just the lyric of a song that I was listening to at the time I wrote this.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Pictures
Ryker Toone Melville was born at 7:02 p.m. on August 12th. He weighed 8lbs. 1oz. and was 21 inches long. We're all very glad that our baby boy is finally here!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Still Waiting
So I'm somewhere between 7 and 11 days past my due date now, depending on whether you're asking my doctor or the ultrasound technician. Either way, I'm way beyond ready for this pregnancy to be over. Adam was worried that the baby would be born on our Anniversary (August 5th) but no worries. This kid has decided that he wants to stay in there forever.
I'm scheduled for an induction this Tuesday, but I'm really not excited to be induced. I was hoping that this time labor would sort of progress naturally, and I'd get to experience a normal childbirth. I'm afraid that being induced will mean that labor will take way too long. It was 22 hours when I was induced with Anicka... then again, she was a month early, so my body wasn't quite ready for it. I was hoping to go without an epidural this time, but no way am I going to be able to handle 20 hours of labor pains.
Anyway.
Yesterday we went swimming for what might very well be the last time this summer. I was afraid the pool would be packed because it was the last Saturday before school starts, but surprisingly we had the place all to ourselves for two hours. We had a lot of fun. I like it better when we're the only ones at the pool. Anicka did really great yesterday. She's usually not very confident in the water, and most of the time she needs arm floaties, her pink lifesaver and mom or dad's hand to clutch on to before she'll venture out into the middle of the pool. She mostly likes to ride on Adam's back or stay on the stairs where she can touch the bottom. But yesterday she was so brave! We've been having her practice kicking and paddling while we hold on to her bottom and her tummy and navigate her around the pool, and yesterday she decided that she was ready to take off on her own. She even ditched her little pink inner tube and started swimming back and forth between me and Adam with only the arm floaties on. She had a blast. There was one moment where she panicked and her face went under the water for a second, but after sitting on the steps and crying for a couple of minutes she was good to go again.
And that's probably enough of my blabbering for today.
Ciao.
I'm scheduled for an induction this Tuesday, but I'm really not excited to be induced. I was hoping that this time labor would sort of progress naturally, and I'd get to experience a normal childbirth. I'm afraid that being induced will mean that labor will take way too long. It was 22 hours when I was induced with Anicka... then again, she was a month early, so my body wasn't quite ready for it. I was hoping to go without an epidural this time, but no way am I going to be able to handle 20 hours of labor pains.
Anyway.
Yesterday we went swimming for what might very well be the last time this summer. I was afraid the pool would be packed because it was the last Saturday before school starts, but surprisingly we had the place all to ourselves for two hours. We had a lot of fun. I like it better when we're the only ones at the pool. Anicka did really great yesterday. She's usually not very confident in the water, and most of the time she needs arm floaties, her pink lifesaver and mom or dad's hand to clutch on to before she'll venture out into the middle of the pool. She mostly likes to ride on Adam's back or stay on the stairs where she can touch the bottom. But yesterday she was so brave! We've been having her practice kicking and paddling while we hold on to her bottom and her tummy and navigate her around the pool, and yesterday she decided that she was ready to take off on her own. She even ditched her little pink inner tube and started swimming back and forth between me and Adam with only the arm floaties on. She had a blast. There was one moment where she panicked and her face went under the water for a second, but after sitting on the steps and crying for a couple of minutes she was good to go again.
And that's probably enough of my blabbering for today.
Ciao.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Rambling
Well, today is my due date, and no baby yet. *sigh* Hopefully it will be any day now.
Also, this Friday is the first day of August, which means that we officially go on month-to-month rent, which is more expensive, and we still haven't found a house. We've looked at almost two dozen houses now, and nothing is looking particularly promising. We were close to putting on offer on one place, but when we had some family members help us look at it a little closer it turned out that it had a lot of problems. There are a three places that we're considering at the moment, but none of them are really ideal. Maybe I'm just too picky.
Option A: Home built in the 50's. Has a great yard, but the house feels really small, only 600 s.f. on each floor. Not a big deal for me, but Adam says he feels like a giant in it. There are only two actual bedrooms, the option for the third bedroom is sort of a large closet with a tiny window in one corner. It's also a bit out of our price range, so we'd have to hope that they'd accept a lower offer.
Option B: Newer home, built 2003, just under our maximum price. Tiny tiny backyard, which I can deal with. But it's way out in Hurricane, and it's a Short Sale. Which means that we could put in an offer, and not hear back from the bank for two or three months. I'm not really willing to sit around and wait for that long.
Option C: Townhome in the Dixie Downs area. Really nice. Didn't really want to stay living in this area, but we'll consider it for the price. No yard, but there is a very large deck off of the master suite (on the roof of the carport) that we can turn into a garden area using planter boxes and such. The big problem with this place is that there are three floors. The master suite is on the top floor, and the other two bedrooms are on the bottom floor. I don't think I could deal with Anicka being that far away. And even if I could, I don't think she would be too keen on sleeping down there all by herself. Also, the bedrooms on the bottom floor have a strange layout, you have to walk through one bedroom to get to the other. I don't think they were originally supposed to be separate rooms.
Anyway. I'm just rambling. This seemed as good a place as any to try and get my thoughts organized. We're going to look at a few more townhomes tonight, maybe we'll come across another option. Wish me luck!
Also, this Friday is the first day of August, which means that we officially go on month-to-month rent, which is more expensive, and we still haven't found a house. We've looked at almost two dozen houses now, and nothing is looking particularly promising. We were close to putting on offer on one place, but when we had some family members help us look at it a little closer it turned out that it had a lot of problems. There are a three places that we're considering at the moment, but none of them are really ideal. Maybe I'm just too picky.
Option A: Home built in the 50's. Has a great yard, but the house feels really small, only 600 s.f. on each floor. Not a big deal for me, but Adam says he feels like a giant in it. There are only two actual bedrooms, the option for the third bedroom is sort of a large closet with a tiny window in one corner. It's also a bit out of our price range, so we'd have to hope that they'd accept a lower offer.
Option B: Newer home, built 2003, just under our maximum price. Tiny tiny backyard, which I can deal with. But it's way out in Hurricane, and it's a Short Sale. Which means that we could put in an offer, and not hear back from the bank for two or three months. I'm not really willing to sit around and wait for that long.
Option C: Townhome in the Dixie Downs area. Really nice. Didn't really want to stay living in this area, but we'll consider it for the price. No yard, but there is a very large deck off of the master suite (on the roof of the carport) that we can turn into a garden area using planter boxes and such. The big problem with this place is that there are three floors. The master suite is on the top floor, and the other two bedrooms are on the bottom floor. I don't think I could deal with Anicka being that far away. And even if I could, I don't think she would be too keen on sleeping down there all by herself. Also, the bedrooms on the bottom floor have a strange layout, you have to walk through one bedroom to get to the other. I don't think they were originally supposed to be separate rooms.
Anyway. I'm just rambling. This seemed as good a place as any to try and get my thoughts organized. We're going to look at a few more townhomes tonight, maybe we'll come across another option. Wish me luck!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Catching up
Because I've been slacking with the updates lately, here's a bunch of random stuff that has happened in the last month.
About a month ago I took Anicka out and tried to get some pictures to send to the grandparents and such, but all I ended up getting was silliness. Still cute, though.
A couple of weeks ago my sisters came out and spent the day at my apartment. We spent most of our time at the pool. Here's a cute picture of Sienna, Kaycee and Anicka rowing their "pirate ship"
Yesterday Anicka came running out of her bedroom wearing underpants on her head. "look mom, it's a hat!" She was tremendously excited to find that there was more than one use for her My little Pony underwear.
Also yesterday we went out to an awesome new park in Bloomington Hills that has a huge playground a splash pad. Anicka had tons of fun playing with her cousin Ben (Alias: George).
George ( I mean Ben ) is Dusty's youngest. He and Anicka have a very funny love-hate relationship. I tried to upload a cute video of them playing together in the water, but I can't get it to load. So sad.
About a month ago I took Anicka out and tried to get some pictures to send to the grandparents and such, but all I ended up getting was silliness. Still cute, though.
A couple of weeks ago my sisters came out and spent the day at my apartment. We spent most of our time at the pool. Here's a cute picture of Sienna, Kaycee and Anicka rowing their "pirate ship"
Yesterday Anicka came running out of her bedroom wearing underpants on her head. "look mom, it's a hat!" She was tremendously excited to find that there was more than one use for her My little Pony underwear.
Also yesterday we went out to an awesome new park in Bloomington Hills that has a huge playground a splash pad. Anicka had tons of fun playing with her cousin Ben (Alias: George).George ( I mean Ben ) is Dusty's youngest. He and Anicka have a very funny love-hate relationship. I tried to upload a cute video of them playing together in the water, but I can't get it to load. So sad.
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