Ryan is 5 months!

Ryan continues to be a challenging sleeper! We tried to sleep train him, but then he got really sick and was hospitalized, and so we put sleep training on hold.  Then at 4.5 months, we thought we'd try again and Luke and I had the worst sleeps of our lives for 2 weeks.  I've decided to let Ryan win for this round.  He's giving me 3 hours stretches, so I'm feeling sane and I can function each day. But, I'm hoping at 6 months, Luke and I are tough enough to get Ryan to sleep 6 hours!

Despite the difficulties in the sleep department, Ryan is so fun! As he gets bigger, I'm getting excited at all the fun things he can do.  He can just barely hold himself up in a tripod position.  He wobbles sitting up, and can sometimes manage to grab a strategically placed toy.  What fun! Ryan laughs, a lot, and is especially in a good mood in the morning.  He still comes to our bed each morning, and I can sense when he is awake in the morning, just staring at me. 

We started him on solid foods right when he turned 5 months.  So far, it's only been bananas and sweet potatoes.  He loves the food!

Clay continues to be the best big brother ever.  I'm so proud of how he's been in sharing his parents' attention.  We got Clay a game for Christmas - Sneaky Squirrels, and Clay has been really into that game.  What fun that we can play something like that as a family! Clay still loves his cars from Christmas, and you can usually find 20 cars throughout the house.

Tripod Ryan

Ryan's first solid food experience - rice cereal.  We quickly moved to sweet potatoes.  Look how ready his was!

Just a Friday night at the Steidlmayers

My mom got me dinosaur cookie cutters for Christmas.  I love them!

Winter in Colusa

Brothers in the bathtub!

My kids may have been too young to bathe together, but I've been looking forward to this moment since I realized I was going to have two kids!  I definitely wasn't disappointed by lack of cuteness.  And, Clay and I both thought the funny hair-do's were hilarious.

The following pictures are all from December - Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years and then around the house.  December flew by!

Ryan had no idea why Clay and I were laughing so hard.

This is pretty much what I see every single morning.  Ryan makes it to our bed each day at 5am, and Luke and I both are pretty exhausted from the interrupted sleep.

We had friends over to make ginger bread houses with our kids.

I got pretty into my house design.  I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I didn't let Clay touch mine, and if he did, I undid every single candy he added...

One night, Ryan learned he could put both hands into his mouth and he was so happy!

Christmas Eve - I'm hoping to start a new tradition! The kids get to open up one family gift (book) and one personal gift to them, from their parents (pjs).

Clay was pretty excited to wake up to this Christmas morning! Santa got him a hot wheels racetrack and some cars!

I think Ryan can sense in this picture that his older brother is stealing his stuff.

Ryan is trying to place with one of Clay's nerf balls.

Luke got Clay a little golf club set.

This is when I wrapped up Luke's old shoes in a huuuuge box.  Here he is opening that huge box and wondering why his shoes are there.  Then, on the underside of the box top, I write that I got him tickets to the Golden State Warriors!

Here is Luke inspecting his shoes - he still doesn't know I got him Warriors tickets, and he is still wondering why I wrapped up his old shoes.

Christmas Day at Cindy and Leo's! All of Luke's siblings were there, and all 13 grandkids.  Clay was in heaven.

A cute picture from the couch.

Happy New Years!!! Luke and I had a special night in at bbq'ed New York steaks with shrimp - surf n turf! The dinner was amazing.

4 months!

We love this big baby boy!  He weighed 17.5 months at his four month appointment.  Ryan is still waking up four times a night to feed - because he loves his mommy!  At least that's what I tell myself.  Ryan LOVES his baths.  We give him one each night before bed, and he always calms down in the warm water.  Ryan is pretty good at flipping over when he is on his stomach for tummy time.  Clay adores his little brother, and Clay wants Ryan to be able to interact more! Clay helps his mom by fetching items around the room I need when I'm nursing his brother.

I ended up going back to work full-time in the beginning of December.  We found an in-house day care around the corner from where we live.  My goal this time around is to only work 8:30 - 3:00 pm.   It's been a bit tough cramming in the workday, and working in breaks to pump! I can't believe Clay was exclusively breastfed until he was 11 months! What a dedicated mother I was!!!

 

Clay is excited about his afternoon graham cracker snacks.  He has started asking me each day to bring the snacks in the car when I pick him up... which isn't going to happen.

Hi Blue Eyes! I have an almost identical picture of Clay in this pose, at this age!

Steidlmayers' First (and only?) Family Thanksgiving Solo

After a wonderful week on Oahu, we got back to our life with a baby who refused to sleep longer than 1.5 - 2 hour increments.  It was brutal! Luke and I both thought we were going crazy.  And then we went to Stinson Beach with my family for my wonderful mom's 60th birthday celebration! What a special weekend with all of my mom's kids.  We had crab and oysters, and walked on the beach.  The weekend was complete with a piñata!  The only thing that stinked, well, was that Ryan continued to wake up in 1.2 - 2 hour increments through the night!

Luke and I were panicking thinking we were going to endure another weekend away (with worse sleep) the following Thanksgiving weekend in Marin.  As parents of a young baby, we definitely make decisions based on sleep. So, we decided to stay home for Thanksgiving.  Cindy and Leo were out of Colusa, and so it was a small Steidlmayer Thanksgiving of 4!

I made a complete Thanksgiving dinner with a roasted turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, roasted Brussel spouts and steamed green beans.  It was fun! We even had a cocktail hour.  I don't think we're ready to spend holidays away from either of our families, but it was fun just this once. 

Oh, and it turns out that Ryan was actually really sick! He had bronchiolitis, and ended up having to spend the night at the hospital in Sacramento.  Ryan was totally fine, but the doctors wanted to monitor his breathing over night. 

The family in Stinson!

The boys at Thanksgiving cocktail hour

Making gravy with a baby on my hip and 3 year old by my side

I broke out the china for the special dinner!

Ryan at the doctors in Davis when they made him take a breathing treatment to help his cough!

This is Ryan at the hospital - Sutter in Sacramento.  It was scary to be told we should stay the night so that they could monitor him over night.  However, the doctors were being very cautious, since the nearest hospital to Colusa now is 30 minutes away.  So, Ryan was actually the healthiest baby by far on our floor, not to mention the fattest.

I slept on a small couch in the hospital room - this was my cute little view.