Cuteness level: Off the charts...

Obviously, I am biased. Everyone should think their kids are the cutest.

I am no exception.

Sorry for NEVER being on here anymore, if you were, in fact missing me and my randomness :) I'm busy staring at this sweet, little, chubby, yummy, tasty, snuggly, hunk of a little man and I'm loving it!

LUH UV ING it!

I mean, look at that face!

And those lips!!!

With this facing staring at me everyday, NO, I don't get anything done...at all.

I personally love how chubby his wrist/forearm juncture is! OOOOOH!

Don't worry, I didn't take these today on the coldest day of the winter!

My big sis, however, sent me an email today reminding me, the second child, that the second, third, fourth, etc, kid always gets the raw end of the deal on pictures...It's not that I haven't been taking them, it's that I'm so busy snuggling him that I'm rarely on the computer anymore...and that's okay!

I just figured since Ryan is already 5 months old, I should probably share some pics so you could see how big he's getting.

My favorite things in no particular order:

• He talks to himself in the mornings in his bed while waiting for me to go get him.
• He smiles and brings his hands together.
• He laughs when I change his onesie b/c he thinks I'm trying to tickle him.
• He found his knee the other day and started cracking up, thinking it was hilarious.
• He is a slobber puss.
• He talks to us in his own sweet language.
• He is in the 95%tile for his height and 45%tile for weight.
• He is eating veggies like a champ.
• He "holds" his own bottle.
• He likes to smile at me in the mirror while grabbing my face.
• He looks like Noah, which sucked at first, but Noah wasn't ugly, so it's not so bad :)
• He, he, he...

Anyway, sorry, enough bragging. I'm in love. I can't help it. Em loves being a big sis and Jason's the best baby daddy in the whole wide world!

My heart is full...

(pictures of him eating veggies to come...)

Smitten

I know I've been MIA...I can't help it. I'm totally smitten and loving it, but dreading it at the same time...Love is complicated. I'm also exhausted getting only 2 and a half hour sleep cycles in each night, but I know that won't last forever. Here are things I love:

• I love Ryan's peach fuzz...it's dreamy and soft and all over his sweet shoulders, his back and his sweet cheeks. I just can't explain how much I love his fuzz...
• I love that God designed him to fit perfectly with his soft, fuzzy head cupped in my hands, arms together, with his buns resting perfectly at the fold at my elbows...in this position I can smooch his face all over.
• I love that my lips fit perfectly between his fuzzy shoulder and his sweet little ear.
• I love when I stick my pinky in his hand he actually holds it...his brother never held my hand...ever...
• I love that he throws punches like a sailor in a bar brawl when he's hungry...and when he burps and toots, he could easily beat out college boys in a competition.
• I love that he smiles and puckers and smirks and pouts when he's dreaming dreams of who knows what.
• I love a lot of other things, too, like how much his daddy loves him and wanted to remember his life long friend every day for the rest of his life so blessed him with a great name like Ryan, which means "Joyous King" and a middle name like Everett which means "Brave & Strong".
• I love that his big sister is so proud of him and wants to hold him and change his buns and snuggle him...even though it's been a big transition for her.

I'm not going to lie. I could make a list of what I hate, too. It's been hard as hell. I've been on an emotional roller coaster, much like the Corkscrew at Cedar Point in Ohio. As much as I love being Ryan's mommy, (I tell him that multiple times throughout the day, "I'm your mommy! I'm your mommy! I'm your mommy!") I'm riding the fence of loving every single little thing he does and staring at every single little thing he does, hoping and praying that he's not like his big brother...

The stress of little sleep and staring to make sure Ryan is okay every other minute have added up a bit and yesterday, as a result, I pumped a whopping 1/8 of an inch of milk, which equals about a half an ounce. Stress and nursing do not go hand in hand, though ironically, they go hand in hand, so I am trying to consciously chill out.

How's that workin' for me?

Well, I'm just taking one day at a time. I'm enjoying the peach fuzz. I'm trying to sneak in snuggle time with my girl as we all adjust to a new schedule. He and I are reading the Psalms and will head into Proverbs soon. I am taking deep breaths, allowing myself to cry and laugh...and just trusting that the love in my heart for my husband, daughter and son is enough to span a lifetime, but meant to be spent one day at a time.

That, I believe, is the most difficult part of being a mommy...the "one day at a time" part...

Em came into the delivery room very shortly after her brother was born. She held him right after Daddy did.

Exhibit A: Peach Fuzz

Em decorated the house and put up streamers that she wanted me to cut, like at the Chamber of Commerce. Pretty darn cute, I'd say!

He is literally just that sweet!

Em and I were cracking up, commentating what we thought Ryan was thinking...we're going to make a video and post it...stay tuned.

My friend wrapped him up like little bunny foo foo.

The sweetest big sister eh-ver.

Em bought that little monkey for her brother when I first told her I was pregnant. She is pretty much the best big sister in the whole wide world. It's been quite an adjustment for her, but she has been very gracious. I am really, really proud of her. I think she's proud of him, too.

A little tired...

Ryan Everett
6 lbs 5oz
20 in
Born at 4:41pm on August 28th, 2010
A blessing from God
We just got home today and Adrienne will post more later ~ Jason

(Adrienne here...just got a text from my friend...if you happened to check in a little earlier, we are obviously tired. No, we did not name our son "Noah Everett" as Jason had posted. His name is "Ryan Everett" and he totally stinking ROCKS! I'm excited to share the journey, but as I said earlier, I'm busy staring at our new guy, working on the kink in my neck, and loving every minute of it...I will post later, but just wanted to confirm that we are tired, not crazy, and did not name our son after his big brother...we named him after a different hero...)

Sperm and Hard-boiled eggs

So, this morning I made Em hard-boiled eggs for breakfast. The following conversation ensued:

Em: Look, Mom! A perfect yolk...I didn't break it while I was opening my egg. Maybe I should take it to Show and Tell...

Me: As soon as we put it in a bag it may break...

Em: Mom, was this a boy or a girl chick?

Me: Neither. It wasn't fertilized so it was just an egg.

Em: Yeah, but there's a yolk. I killed a baby chick.

Me: No, Sweetie, you didn't kill a baby chick. All eggs have yolks, they are the sac that holds the baby chick if it were a fertilized egg.

Em: (Thinking...)

Me: Em, do you remember when we talked about eggs and fertilization? Well, an egg needs to be fertilized by a rooster in order to become a chick.

Em: How does it become a boy or a girl?

Me: Well, some sperm are male and some are female, so when the male fertilizes the egg with his sperm, depending on which one gets there first, that's what kind of chick it is. It's like a race, the first sperm there wins and gets to decide if it's a boy or a girl.

Em: (Thinking...) So, Daddy knows what kind of baby is in your belly?

Me: No. Nope...huh uh...when a male fertilizes an egg there are literally millions of little sperm that swim really fast to try to get to the egg first, and that's just too many to count to know which is which...(Help me out here, people! Losing it, here!)

Em: (Thinking...) So, wow. Huh. (Inquisitive look spreads across face) So, it took a really long time for daddy's sperm to make the baby in your belly now...I mean from when Noah was born until now...

Me: (Heading toward bathroom, looking for my out...) What? Huh? Oh...uh, yeah...uh huh, yeah...um, run and get your coat on, kid, Mommy's going to go potty really fast...meet you in the car...

Seriously?! All I did was boil up some eggs...Dear God, help me, please, when this conversation introduces the whole concept that eggs and sperm aren't always given the opportunity to "make contact".

Rodents and stuff like that...

So, I know it's been a while. I am Adrienne. I am the author of this blog. Just reintroducing myself, you know, in case...

The last month plus has been a whirlwind. January 12th came and went, as it does every year, but it was special, as it has been since 2007. Our friend Gina apparently launched a stealth operation prior to the holidays and the collaborative effort is beautiful! She and some other friends, and many of you, sent in pictures of ways God has impacted your lives through the story of Noah on posters or pieces of paper. They set it to music and soon, after a little editing, I will post it here. It was a true surprise and an encouragement to our hearts of the ripple effects that happen when we truthfully and candidly share our stories. Thank you all who joined in by sending pictures and your love. Jason and I were speechless...

January 12th was such an emotionally draining day, not because it was the anniversary of when Noah died, but because Jason had an interview at Compassion International on that very day. For the last year and a half Jason had launched out with a friend to start a software company. It's doing well, but anyone who works for themselves knows that the boss gets paid last or not at all. It's been a difficult time for us in many ways, but the final outcome was Jason's pursuit of another career. Well, after several call back interviews and meetings with many a team member, while we were in Arizona visiting my Gramps and my parents,

"Louie" my Gramps who is creeping up on 93 in a month.

Jason received the call from Compassion that has truly humbled us and given us a new excitement for what God has in store...

He is the new Director of the Child Survival Program which means his job is to essentially lower the infant mortality rate in 3rd world countries by working with their local communities to get clean water, medicine, micro-lending, health care, etc, to pregnant mothers and their babies. I am so proud of him I could burst! Did you know that 25,000 babies die each day around the world from preventable causes! It's mind-boggling and I'm going to help as well by contributing funds from my jewelry business, bebe & boo, to the Child Survival Program. Details to come on that...

So, anyway, back to the title of this post...

Jason and I were out on a date in January because Em was having a sleepover at her friend's house. Well, we called her to say goodnight and tell her we loved her and how much we missed her (I missed her...she was having the time of her life...). I talked to her first and she gave me the rundown of all the excitement and the fun things they had done already. Then she wanted to talk to daddy. Squeals and higher volumes came through the phone at this point and I heard Jason say, "We'll see...maybe...we'll talk about it..." Jason was smiling when he got off and said, "Sunny's hamster had babies and Em wants one...I think we should consider it."

WELL, I hate rodents. I'm not a fan. They do not get a "like" from me on Facebook or anywhere else. Come to find out, my sweet friend, Em's friend's mommy, was mortified when only after two weeks from purchasing a hamster for her daughter, out popped 8 tiny rodents. She's sweeter than I am and doesn't refer to them as rodents, but you get the gist here. She so sweetly told Em that she was more than welcome to have one once it was able to be separated from its mommy. How sweet of her to offer. (Wink. Wink. Love you, babe!)

So get this...Em gets off the phone and tells my friend that she asked her daddy because his 'maybes' mean yes but her mommy's 'maybes' take too long and usually mean no. The kid is workin' it, fo shizz.

Back to the rodent/hamster/thingy...The next day when we picked Em up from her friend's house, she lovingly convinced her "Daaaaaaaadddddddyyyyyyy" to take her to the pet shop to look at cages and supplies...you know, she wanted to be prepared just in case daddy's 'maybe' was a yes. Baby, it was looking more like a yes and all I could imagine was wafts of urine saturated cedar wood chips filling the air...ummm, freaking awesome...

Sorry, I get distracted. So, Em and Jason came home from not only the local pet shop but the library with many books about "How to Care for your Hamster" and "Your Hamster and You" and "Caring for your Rodent"...or something like that. We all hunkered down on the couch and started flipping through the books, learning all there is to know about their origin, how they became domestic pets, how they don't like broccoli, and if the babies were with their mommies too long they would become dinner, so it's important to separate them...which, incidentally, happened with Em's friend's hamster and by the time they were ready to be given away, there were 6 babies. I just don't think I'd ever be that hungry...

Now, understand, the last 3.5 years have changed my life in many ways. I am now a disease research hobbyist and am intrigued by contagious disease and its spread...In fact, did you know that the Mayo Clinic released a statement that upwards of 98% of all diseases are a result of a bacterial infection? Uh, yeah! This is why I therefore went directly to the "Diseases Hamsters Carry" section of one of the books. I was grateful they didn't candy coat what these little buggers can catch, carry or spread...

...And there it was...MY TICKET TO FREEDOM! MY OUT! MY SURE FIRE SIGN THAT OUR HOUSEHOLD WOULD INDEED NOT BE GETTING A RODENT...

After a list of some pretty grody stuff, it read:

"Note: Pregnant women should avoid any contact with hamsters."

She bawled, I'm not going to lie. She wanted a hamster not a sibling...but now she's elated and can't wait to meet her little brother or sister mid to late August. She kisses my belly every night and says "Hi!" to my belly every day. She also thinks she gets to name it, but that's another story...

So now you know...which is why I've chucked my blog for a while now because I'm not a good liar and didn't want to come out with the news until I was ready...and I knew I'd blow my own cover because I'm just that excited!