The Boys Are Still Sleeping

I love mornings like this.  They don't happen very often.  Usually both of the boys are awake at 7:00 am, give or take 15 minutes.  It's now 7:44 am and I'm awake and alone, enjoying the silence.  I thought I'd steal a minute to post some of the latest.

Ryder is now 2 months old!  Technically 8 1/2 weeks, actually.  He is such a stinkin' cutie I can't stand it.  He is always cooing and smiling and he loves to have all the attention.  He's not content to just sit and cuddle, though.  He likes to be held but he always arches his back so he can get away from your body and see the world.  A little awkward and uncomfortable but funny.  He consistently sleeps from 7 pm to 5 am, but lately has been making it to 6:30 or almost 7.  This morning was one of those mornings.  He woke and I fed him at 6:40 and he fell back asleep.  Will probably wake again around 8:30 or 9.  At about 2 weeks old he started to break out in what looked like baby acne.  I didn't worry too much about it but it progressively got worse.  Two weeks later his poor little face was bright red and had lost it's baby softness.  It didn't seem to bother him but it made me so sad!  I talked to a few nurses but they told me that I shouldn't do anything but wait for it to go away.  I didn't like that answer so decided to try some hydrocortisone cream.  After applying it daily for about a week his face was clear again but the redness/coarseness came back in full force the day I stopped using it.  By then he was only a week away from his 2 month appointment so I decided to leave it alone until the doctor could see it.  He let me know that the rash was actually a type of fungus, similar to dandruff.  The hydrocortisone cream helped with the inflammation but it needed to be treated with something different to actually kill it.  He sent me home with a prescription cream and one week later the rash is gone and my beautiful, soft baby is back!  We'll keep applying it twice daily for one more week just for good measure.

Ryder's first real bath

Just like his brother

With his cousin Auryon.  (They're only 6 days apart)

Smiling for mommy

Teryn is running around full force and hilarious as ever.  We've implemented the sticker-reinforcement and it's helped encourage him to comply with us and make better choices.  He gets SO SO excited when he gets a sticker to add to his chart.  Pretty cute.  He is obsessed with the alphabet and loves to point to letters while we repeat what they are.  He recognizes every letter if you ask where it is, and though he doesn't talk much he says every vowel.  His long and drawn out "oooooooo" is the funniest.  We've had to remind him not to sit in between his legs because his knees are starting to grow in and he's getting pigeon-toed.  The same thing happened to Tyson and he had to wear braces so we're doing what we can to avoid that.  The doc recommended getting him a trike so he can pedal his knees straight.  It's a fun, non-abrasive physical therapy, he just needs to figure out the pedaling part- - all he wants to do is push it =0)  He loves to give Ryder kisses.  He loves to get down on Ryder's level and repeat "baby! baby! baby!"  He's also observed the whole breastfeeding thing and has discovered his own nipples.  He grabs them with both hands and pulls them out, as if to make them bigger.  (Maybe I should wear a nursing cover at home?)  He's figuring out how to run faster and often runs laps back and forth in the kitchen and Ryder's big bedroom.  We're welcoming summer with arms wide open so we can go outside and get our wiggles out.

Always running

With his favorite aunt Breanna

Starting a new trend called the Rohawk (rear mohawk)

Thumbs up dude!

Just relaxin', eating breakfast on his car

Crazy kid

Ryder doesn't know what to think.....

Mini me?

But with the warm weather comes longer hours without daddy.  Tyson gets busier and busier at work as the days warm up.  We savor every minute we get with him. 

My boys

Enjoying some cuddles

And me?  Nothing's new except these spectacles.  I'm seeing in HD!  My thyroid went berserk after my pregnancy with Teryn and then my vision changed during my pregnancy with Ryder.  I've now got astigmatisms in both eyes.  Nice.

Now before I go- -a word about my last post.

I admit, when I first saw my blog stats, I was a little disheartened.  Who isn't a little bit jealous of those bloggers who get hundreds of comments?  I just thought I never had that many viewers and that's why I never had that many comments.  Then come to find out I had posts that were viewed hundreds and hundreds of times with so few comments?  Man.  Talk about a punch to the gut.

But then I thought about it (and also received some insight from a few friends) and realized there are legitimate reasons why readers may not comment on my posts.  I can think of at least 5 because they are reasons I don't comment on other blogs either:

1)  Inability to relate.  I know I talk about mommy stuff a lot and there are many who haven't experienced motherhood quite yet so they have nothing to say.  I'm OK with that.  Hopefully something they read will help them when their time comes.
2)  Fear of exposure.  So we like to keep up on the lives of people we haven't talked to in years, or ever at all.  Do we want them to know about it?  Not always.
3)  Lack of time.  I do my best to leave the computer alone while my boys are awake.  That means my computer time is limited and it's all I can do to read all the latest e-mails, Facebook updates, and blog posts, let alone comment on them.
4)  Slow internet connection.  Coupled with lack of time, the time it takes to navigate between windows is not worth the loss of sanity.  This means that if you ever get a comment from me it was important enough to fight for.
5)  Inability to successfully read word verification.  Seriously.  The other day, I think it took me at least 20 attempts to finally post a comment.  That is not an exaggeration.  I know my eyes have gone bad, but that bad?  I give up.

So really, when it comes down to it, I'm not disheartened about my blog stats anymore.  What you see is what you get and if you want to comment that's great.  If you don't?  Well.  You don't.  And that's OK with me.