Surprise Visit from a long lost friend...

Michael - this post is for you!

Today my babies got to meet a very close college friend. I think they really liked her too! It was so nice catching up, and reminiscting about the good ole times. Boy did we have them, and luckily Lauren remembers them all! Hopefully she won't feel the urge to tell the babies when they grow up!

Lauren - we LOVE surprise visits, so feel free to stop by the next time you are in town. We are looking at the calendar to see when we can come visit you. Hope you had a safe drive home.

Hello Mrs. Lauren - I'd like to play with your necklace please.
This one cracks me up. Lauren and the girls.

I think Lauren is saying...wait you want to put another baby on this chair!

I love the way Avery is looking at Lauren...and you are?

Its very difficult to get 4 kids to look at the camera at the same time.

Riggs realizing where he is...

...and he is not happy about it at all!


In order for Aunt B to have time to visit she had to cook Charlotte and Frances' dinner at our house. While I am not a fan of red beans and rice, I might have to cook it more often. Avery LOVED it!! Riggs even enjoyed a few beans.

Always smiling for the camera!

making funny faces to daddy

I think I might like red beans and rice!

LSU fan...I think not!

no "real" LSU fan would drink from a UK cup!!!

(Charlotte - I know you bleed purple and gold)

Afternoon Fun

How classic is this face?!? Just sucking on my peach while watching my Baby Einstein!
Avery: HeHe, I got brothers nunu.
Riggs: I think she might pull me over!

Sweet Baby Girl

One handsome fella

Testing out the new playroom

Dadadadada

Well, I guess I always knew one of them would say Dada first...

Now I have to teach Avery Mama!!

DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT come over to the Ryan House...

Unless you want to get sick! So far we have one baby with an ear infection, another baby with a double ear infection, one mommy with 101.8 fever and one daddy with 101 fever. Thank goodness the in laws are in town and can help take care of the babies. Not sure how we would have gotten through the day - did I mention Dearie is sick too!

Lunch at Blue Dog with Nana and PopPop

Nana and PopPop finally made it after a few delays and rescheduling! Daddy went to pick them up while I got the kids situated at Blue Dog. We had a great lunch and the kids did really well. I know the babies are going to love spending some serious QT with their grandparents they barely get to see.

Thank goodness these babies still fit in the carriers. I am not sure how I am going to deal with getting them into places once they grow out of this stroller!

Would you like a puff?

Riggs loving on his Nana

Don't leave me alone for one second...

or this is what you will find:

Avery reached into the diaper changing basket in the living room, pulled out the diaper trash bags then scooted as far back as she could go! As you can imagine I am very much looking forward to having a permanent playroom that is completely kid friendly.

Helping Daddy Work

This morning Tim started his work day extra early and Avery thought he could use an extra set of hands to go through all that paperwork! ABR folk - don't worry this was way before "actual" working hours ;) This unfortunately didn't last long because the big screen in Daddy's office doesn't play Baby Monet.

NuNu Thief

Somehow Avery can find a nunu in every room. Who cares if it has been there for a while or if its not even hers! Maybe she is color blind like Daddy??

sweet moment...

The camera really can't capture how special of a bond our little babies have. It truly is the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed. This is just a moment that I thought was too cute.

First Day of School

It's a fact...our babies are growing up way too fast. They are a little over 8 months old and they started Mothers Day Out (MDO) today!! I really can't believe it. Avery absolutely loved school...I think she loves the fact that everyone is there to play with her! She barely napped because she didn't want to miss a single thing. Riggs on the other hand was not quite as excited about this "school" thing. He started to fuss as soon as I walked away. I had to come back and try to get him down for a nap. Unfortunately he wasn't interested. His first day was a little rough but I know in time he will grow to love it. Who knew he was attached to his mommy?!? I guess this has something to do with the fact that they have been with me since day one. I didn't have hired help until they were 3 months old and even that was only one day a week.

Sweet Avery ready for her first day of school!

My little man talking away...thinking he is ready for school.

Hey, is that my name?

School Time

(Their expressions truly describe how the first day went)

It was so sweet, when I got them both sitting on the floor Riggs looked at Avery to see what he should be doing. I have a feeling I will be separating them when it comes time for real school just so they can each develop their own personalities.

Playing with Friends

I think Avery likes hanging with the big girls!

I think he might have a crick in his neck...

Daddy has taken to long evening strolls with the babies. They really work out great for the whole family. Daddy gets exercise, Mommy gets to clean and straighten, and the babies get to enjoy the nice warm humid weather! Most nights the babies are awake the whole time, but this evening Riggs fell asleep. How he could be comfortable is beyond me!!!

Riggs is ready to head to Tahoe!

Movie Night

Tim has been working very hard this week to get some documents done. On top of the work stress he is still dealing with his shoulder/neck issues. After working most of his Saturday I thought it would be nice to go to the movies. (You can ask Tim - this was a very SINCERE gesture on my part) Now, as most of you know, with children you can't spontaneously decide to go to the movies because you have to line up babysitters for a Saturday night well in advance.

Well this is where Dearie comes in...how do you people live without Dearie's? I called Dearie to see if she minded tending to her darlings for a couple of hours. Of course she said YES! Thanks Dearie so much for being so generous with your time and helping out with the babies on a regular basis. We really couldn't do it without you.

We went to see Julie and Julia (I obviously got to choose the movie!). I would highly recommend this to anyone. I just told Tim to add to my Christmas Wish List a vintage copy of her cookbook.

Hopefully we won't be seeing the babies until 7am tomorrow!

Fire Department

Avery took her night-time bottle, then gave it right back - first all over Anne, then all over Tim, then all over 1, 2 and 3 sets of PJ's. Like adults who haven't done laundry in too long and have to reach for that "last" pair of underwear, we had to reach for Avery's last set of clean PJ's. Needless to say, they are way too small. If she grows any overnight, we'll have to call the fire department in the morning to get them off.

Who knew peas could mean so much

Once a week (most of the time) I have help. Since June Meaghan, home for the summer from college, has been our life saver. She comes on mondays to relieve me. On my day off I typically run errands, go to the gym, clean the house, cook dinner and do laundry. Today I had one additional plan - I had a scheduled massage (I had received a gift card for Christmas and couldn't ever justify paying someone to watch my kids while I went and got a massage.) I ran my errands, went to the gym (thanks B for meeting me!), and then had an amazing massage at Coccolare. I was relaxed for all of 30 seconds after the massage until I got to my phone and saw multiple missed calls and text messages from Tim. Immediately I thought the babies were so bad that I would have to rush home. Well it wasn't the babies, Tim got his results from the MRI he had on Friday. Unfortunately they were not what we were hoping for, he has a problem with a disc in his neck. As you can imagine I was very upset and came home. Tim is taking it all well and we will know more later this week once we can meet with some doctors.

After having lunch with Tim he insisted that I hit the roads and finish my errands. Well I did just that and came home to two very happy babies. Riggs was having so much fun in the johnny jumper that Tim asked us to leave the living room and go to the nursery because he needed to make some work calls. I thought to myself this is going to be a great evening - two fun loving, playful, happy babies! I obviously thought too soon. Moments later I had two needy babies. This was due to the fact that Riggs hadn't taken a long afternoon nap and Avery kept rolling over and getting stuck. I tried putting them both down for an early evening nap...no such luck. I then had them both in my room on the bed. Well both of them were screaming so loud that Tim came to check on us. While he held Avery I swaddled Riggs and left him on our bed. Within seconds he was asleep. Avery on the other hand had no desire to sleep. I put her in the swing and that lasted for about 5 minutes. It was close to dinner time so I decided to take advantage of feeding one baby at a time.

As I was preparing Avery's dinner Aunt B called to let me know that Charlotte wanted to see the babies, but she had to eat her peas. I then of course told Charlotte that if she ate her peas she was more than welcome to come over to see the babies. I even went so far as telling Charlotte that Avery would be eating peas very soon. I fixed (aka: opened) a jar of peas and pears with cereal for dinner. I even broke out the vintage bowls!!

By the time the May Flowers were at the house Avery had finished her peas! I did give her a bite of brothers so Charlotte could see her eat her peas!

I can't tell you what a treat it is to have evening visitors...especially the kind that bathe a baby while you feed another baby! The May Flowers swooped Avery out of her high chair and took her outside to play with Abi. I was able to feed Riggs all by himself, and suprisingly he ate REALLY well. I wonder if that means he would prefer to be an only child ;) Avery enjoyed her Aunt B bath while I fed Riggs. And Riggs enjoyed his alone down time after dinner (he must be related to Tim!)

"All Done"

These bowls were used my most of my siblings growing up! Pretty sure the Humpty Dumpty one was Trey's and the teddy bear one was mine.

The face of a little boy with a full belly.

Avery had a great bath with the May Flowers!

Ahh...so relaxed.

Charlotte - Avery and Riggs will eat peas anytime if it means we get to see the May Flowers!

Riggs taking the bottle on his "own"

Can't leave them for one minute anymore

During rest time I let the babies lay on their boppy's on a blanket and watch Baby Einstein (the ONLY one they watch is the Baby Monet Seasons). Well today I left them to do some cleaning in the kitchen. I came back to find them like this:

NOTE: Avery's boppy is the pink one on the left!

Mommy caught us!

Pretty sure Avery's foot made it inside of Riggs' mouth at some point!

I wonder if Avery steamrolled Riggs??

Avery goes Vintage!!

Today I looked in the back of Avery's closet to see if there was anything in the 12 month+ section that might fit her now. I came across one of my outfits (from the late 70's) which is labeled 12 months - but you know how girl sizing goes! Needless to say - good thing I got her in it this week because I am not sure it will fit her next week!

She even made her lips look like the swan's lips!

Baby Stats

Just a little update on our Crying Ryans!

7-27-09

Avery Kathryn

Weight: 17 lbs 6 oz (70th percentile)

Height: 25 3/4 inches (30th percentile)

Head: 17 1/2 inches (89th percentile)

8-03-09

Riggs Trey

Weight: 17 lbs 7 oz (30th percentile)

Height: 26 inches (15th percentile)

Head: 17 1/4 inches (30th percentile)

While the boys were still sleeping...

I took advantage of only having one baby to tend to! Usually during the babies morning naps I rush to get a couple of chores done, ie. unload dishes, clean kitchen, laundry, etc. Today I decided Avery could handle feeding herself while I got a few things done. I put her in her highchair, reclined her and then handed her the bottle (with handles I took from her sippy cup). She was able to finish the bottle almost all by herself. It took her longer, but that just gave me more time. So before Tim and Riggs woke up Avery had her bottle, her fruits and cereal, and we cleaned the kitchen!

One little, two little, three little....cousins

Riggs, Luke and Avery

Is Luke crawling?!?

I think that baby is coming after me!

I just love these pictures of Avery, Riggs and Luke playing together! Can you believe these cousins are only two days apart! Too bad Adelaide couldn't be in town too!!

Luke like flexibility

Over Mother's Day, we were amazed to see our nephew Luke (the same age as Avery and Riggs - literally, he's 2 days older - only 50% longer, and 50% leaner) display some remarkable flexibility by pulling his foot to his mouth and sucking on his toes. Tim tried this recently and nearly tore a hamstring. Clearly Luke is related to his Uncle Chris, who has also displayed some unusual flexibility over the years. Anyway, Avery - much shorter and "stouter" than Luke - has recently found her feet and has slowly been stretching her hammies, slowly but surely dragging the feet closer to her mouth. This morning, on the changing table, unencumbered by diaper, swaddle, sleepsack and pajamas (i.e., full monty), she finally made it and inserted foot into mouth. She was clearly amazed by the dual sensation of warm tickled toes and having the equivalent of five, simultaneous, wiggling pacifiers in her mouth, as even her pudgy foot couldn't hide her smile. Way to go Avery. The tall skinny kid (Luke) has nothing on you.

Six Month Mini Photo Shoot

The babies were not too excited about having to get all dressed up just to take some pictures!

hmm....what is Mommy doing??

Push ups with a big collar!

I'd rather eat my hand then be on my tummy!

Somethings missing...

ahh...we love our nunu's!

Happy Half Birthday

Dear Kids,
Tomorrow (July 6, 2009), you will be exactly 6 months old. So, happy birthday. Or, happy half birthday, perhaps. Over the past 6 months, you have brought more love and happiness to our lives than we had known in the combined 63 years that preceded your arrival, and we know even that pales in comparison to the happiness that you will bring us in the years ahead.

From your tiny beginning on January 6th to now, we have watched you in amazement each step of the way - during the sleepy nights in the NICU, during your first baths, watching you learn to smile and roll over, and watching you learn to play with one another in your cribs. Tomorrow, we start to feed you your vegetables. As with each "landmark" moment that came before it, this will bring us a mixture of happiness and sadness; happiness because it means you are moving up and moving on; sadness for the same reason (after all, with each blessed day that passes, it is another day in our past that has already been lived, rather than a day that we can look forward to spending with you in the future). We predict that you, Avery, will eat your full helping and ask for seconds, whereas you, Riggs, will wonder what all the fuss is about and express a preference for the bottle. Why fix something that isn't broken, right? And shouldn't the veggies wait until you actually have teeth??

However, of all the wonderful gifts you give us each day, perhaps the best ones are the smiles you greet us with at the start of every single day. While we are certain that will change when you are older, when waking up means more than a diaper change and a bottle (for example, waking up for school is never fun), the morning smiles and laughs you give us now will stay with us, and warm our hearts, forever.

Thank you for the best 6 months of our lives.

All of our love,
Mommy and Daddy