thankful

I want to try and mention things that I am thankful for each day. Now, I probably won't post every day, but when I do, I want to mention at least one thing that I am thankful for that day. So...

1. getting to sleep in my own bed tonight
2. my husband is no longer sick, but spent the day at home with us anyhow
3. my children
4. having gotten 10 weeks of maternity leave
5. a huge supply of milk in my freezer
6. sweat pants - even though the ones I'm wearing are my husbands
7. my Dyson vacuum - yay for clean carpet!
8. Collin's growing vocabulary - although today he mimicked his father and stated "that sucks"
9. our dishwasher
10. a basement big enough to have one end devoted to toys

smiles and bath time

Doesn't he just have the sweetest face?As time passes I think he looks less and less like his big brother. He loves bath time. He was super smiley.... until the camera came out.

Collin loves bath time too. When the boys bathe together, he likes to pour water on baby. However, he still does not like to smile for the camera.

But he does like to cry when he can't hold the camera with his wet, soapy hands.

Pathetic. I know.

terrific tuesday

It's my last week home with my sweet baby before going back to work. Luckily I then only have 4 weeks until I'm done. I was looking forward to a relaxing day of sleeping in and then doing a little laundry, but now, instead of Collin being sick, Dan is sick. Because Dan caulked the bathtub on Sunday, I was unable to shower yesterday, which meant I wasn't leaving the house this morning to take Collin to daycare, which meant no shower for me again. After about 60 hours of not showering, I started to smell a little funky. Luckily, while both boys took a nap this afternoon I was able to jump in.
Dan spent the entire day hiding in the bedroom to keep from getting anyone else sick. Since he spent the day in our bed, Ronan and I are now camped out downstairs on the air mattress. Dan offered to sleep downstairs, but that would have meant having to wash and change the sheets first, plus, he probably should be closer to the bathroom. Oh well. A little camp out might be fun. I like having my little man snuggled up next to me, though I'll miss having my big man next to me tonight. I'm keeping the faith that eventually my whole family will be well, and that Ronan and I will be able to dodge the sickness.

Amid all the sickness, I would like to point out a few things I am thankful for. I mean, what's the point in dwelling on the negative?

1. a sweet baby boy sleeping next to me
2. watching Playhouse Disney in surround sound
3. Collin using 2 of Ronan's Soothie pacies to make boobies for himself (seriously. he layed on the floor and put 2 of them down his shirt. he stood up and got mad when they fell out. maybe he watches a little too closely as I nurse Ronan?)
4. having only 4 weeks left of work
5. parents and in-laws who live 5 minutes away

wild weekend

It was a good, and eventful weekend. Friday evening Dan grilled steaks, I made cheesey potatoes, devilled eggs, and brownie bottom cheesecake. A delicious dinner as a continued celebration of Dan's birthday. He believes that he gets an entire week to celebrate.

Saturday Ronan helped me fold laundry

and then became bored and fell asleep.
I am amazed that he will lay on the floor an put himself to sleep. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the Tylenol given for his shots.


Dan's brother, Rob, came over that evening to deliver Dan's birthday gift. A surround sound system. Yay for big brothers who love to spend money on others.

I rearranged the basement in preparation for the daycare - though there is still work to be done, and then we headed to my parents house for yet another birthday dinner for Dan. This time we had ribs, cheesey potatoes, macaroni salad and the rest of the devilled eggs.

Collin also got to go swimming.
Ronan put on his suit and looked super cute, but did not get in.Sunday morning we went to church, did some cleaning. Dan re-caulked the bathtub. (the idiots here before us did a horrible job). Went to dinner with Dan's family at Texas Roadhouse for another birthday dinner. Dan and Rob finished setting up the surround sound and rigged some foil and buckets to catch the water spouting into our laundry room. That was a serious amount of rain we got!

chunky monkey

I took Ronan in for his 2 month check up today. Here are his stats

Height: 22 1/2 inches - 40th percentile

Weight: 12.6 pounds - 70th percentile

Head: 15 3/4 inches - 5oth percentile

What a big boy!

Collin at 2 months?

Height: 22 1/4 inches - 27th percentile

Weight: 10.4 pounds - 20th percentile

Head: 16 inches - 60th percentile

2 months and 26 years

Today marks an important day at the Berry house. Our little Ronan is 2 months old today! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. He has changed so much over the last 8 weeks and has brought so much joy to our lives. He's starting to smile more, and "talk" and on Monday, April 20th, he rolled from his stomach to his back for the first time. It's really hard to get pictures of him smiling because, just like his brother, he quits as soon as he sees the camera.
Happy 2 month birthday baby boy! You've made our lives better in so many ways! I love you!



In "older" news. Today is my amazing husband's 26th birthday. I probably don't proclaim his greatness often enough, so I thought I'd take a moment to share some of the reasons I love him so much (which in our house is the most that you can love someone).

1. He's generous
2. He's super handsom
3. He tells me I'm beautiful
4. He's considerate of my feelings
5. He spends time with our boys
6. Though I have never cared for the sport of wrestling, his passion for the sport and the kids he coaches makes me proud to be a coahes wife
7. His sense of humor
8. The way he is determined to do whatever it takes to make me being a stay at home mom a reality
9. He's an amazing father
10. His faithfulness
11. He cooks just as often as I do
12. He makes up silly songs just because
13. He's hard working
14. He's intelligent - sometimes I think he knows way too much. Playing against him in trivial persuit just isn't fun for me
15. He reads to the boys
16. He's still a kid at heart
17. He helps me out around the house when I ask him to, and sometimes without me asking
18. Have I mentioned what an amazing father he is?

There are so many more reasons why I love him. I could go on all day because I don't think there is a single thing that I don't love about him.

Happy Birthday to my amazing hubby. I love you So Much!

watch your mouth

It is officially time, more now than ever, to watch my mouth. I had just finished taking a shower last night, Collin was with me, and I dropped my towel in the bath tub full of water. Without thinking I said "oh crap" to which Collin replied (with a big grin on his face) "crap!" I guess I better be more careful!

In other news... Ronan pooped!
I wouldn't normally be so excited about a poopy diaper, but the poor kid hadn't pooped since last Thursday. He hadn't really been cranky over the whole situation, but I can already tell that he feels better. Yay for active bowels!

should have gone to med school...

Then maybe I would understand why my little guy keeps getting sick and vomitting. Collin got sick the Tuesday before Easter and threw up continually through Friday. We sent in a stool sample and made it all day Saturday with no episodes. Easter Sunday he threw up twice and then was fine. Later that week we got the results saying he had rotovirus. We made it an entire week, and last Sunday he threw up about 5 times between 5am and 11:30am, and then was fine. This time we chalked it up to sour milk. We checked the date on his milk and it was 1 day past the sell by date. Oops. Bad mommy. He was fine the rest of the day Sunday, great on Monday, but in the middle of the night he woke up screaming laying in his own vomit. My initial thought... "seriously?" Which quickly turned into sympathy and concern for my little man. Dan rocked him back to sleep and took post outside his bedroom door to make sure he was okay. This morning? He seems perfectly fine again. Talking, laughing, eating toast, drinking water and watching Handy Manny. I would take him back to the doctor but I know what they will say. It's probably just a virus. Just wait it out. If it gets worse call me back. And I will have paid $30 for a diagnosis that I had already given. So now? We're keeping a journal of everything he eats. Maybe he's developing a food allergy. Who knows. Anybody else want to take a crack at a diagnosis?

20 months

My sweet first born baby boy is 20 months old today. Where did the time go? He never fails to amaze me or bring a smile to my face with the things he does on a daily basis. Not only is he a super cutie, but he's smart (at least we think so), funny, happy, sweet, helpful, lovable, ornery, loud, destructive and perfect in every way. It amazes me how he is almost always in a good mood, and can bring me out of a funk with a kiss. He has the sweetest giggle and loves to make others laugh too. He loves to sing and make "music" and will maybe someday be a musician. I like to think he got his talent from me.

Though maybe not everyone understands what he can say, here is a list of some of the words in his ever growing vocabulary:

mommy

dada

baby

grammy

gramma

papa

Rob

Tim

Manny (Handy Manny)

please

thank you

help

no no

more

puppy

applesauce

cheese

yes

yup

hi

night night

bye

blanky

bear

milk

water

beep beep

He also knows the sounds for: puppy, kitty, monkey, sheep, cow, lion and bear

It's hard to believe that in such a short time he changed from a helpless little baby into an independent toddler, who of course still needs his favorite mommy.

i'm back

It's been a while, but I'm back. Life got busy with a Easter and a sick boy. Collin had a bout with rotovirus, but is finally back to normal. It was a little scary when it first hit as he vomited 20 times in a 24 hour period. The sweet boy was so exhausted that he pretty much slept all day last Wednesday.


We made it to mass Easter morning but had to skip the rest of the festivities. In any case, my kids looked adorable.

In other news, Ronan had his first bottle on the 10th.

Only 2 more weeks until I go back to work. Luckily he took to the bottle with no problems. Going back to work this time around should be much easier for 3 reasons. 1. I only have to go back for 4 weeks, 2. I don't have to go back at all next year as I'll be staying home and running a daycare, and 3. I already have a good supply of milk in the freezer so supplamenting won't be needed. (Having all that milk in the freezer makes me feel good about myself. Weird?) and 4. (did I say 3? I meant 4) The team I work with yhis year is awesome and they don't stress me out like I was last year.

little drummer boy

Collin likes to find any way to make tons of noise...

But he just looked so cute doing it!

photo shoot

We had our pictures taken at Portrait Innovations yesterday. Here are a few of our favorites from our rather lengthy shoot.

It's really difficult to get pictures of the boys together. That's my hand jumping in to keep Ronan's head from slamming into the ground as Collin gets up.

We didn't order this picture, but it makes me laugh because Collin looks like he is getting ready to take off.