The Strong Museum

Sunday we went to Rochester to visit Robby's uncle and take the Strong National Museum of Play. It was our first time there but not the last! There was SO much to do and see, I can't wait to go back again.



Are we there yet?

Can you tell me how to get to Seasame Street? There was an entire miniature Sesame Street village, including a replica of the famous step. Saige, Dominick, George Henry , and aunt Carrie. The Count, he's always been my favorite.

Saige learned how to punch into work like daddy does... and now wants a job because she "know how to do it and it's easy" LOL


Saige with mom and dad in Big Bird's nest



There was a pretend (although very realistic) Wegmans grocery store for the kids to shop. They got a cart and could pick out 5 things for there trip and then go to the checkout and play cashier. they had quite the selection, with the exception of being run by 4 yr olds and the boxes being empty it was a miniature grocery store. My kid wanted rice, tacos and of course junk food to go with it. Afterwards they had to put it back.
They have an entire section called Grossology, all about burps, farts and snot. Definitely designed with little boys in mind, lol. It was gross.


Saige was mesmerized by the talking faucet with snot that came out na talked about mucous.... YUM!
A life size game of Operation. All about farts, the tubes made fart noises when you put your finger on the rubber.... yes that is Robby's arm, he spent quite a while making "noises" apparently his own are no longer enough to amuse him.


This guy here burped, it was actually pretty cool. You pump the soda in his belly as hard as you can to see how loud you can get him to burp... another one that amused the "big kid"



Our next trip will be during the week, it was extremely crowded and filled with rude kids. maybe a two day trip so we can really take our time and do all the fun stuff. There was a reading adventure land (and if I ever figure out how to post video I'll post some form there) it was the coolest part of the whole place, at least I thought so. Pirate ships, dragons, the mystery mansion. I think the three of us could have played there all day long. There was a giant chess set, I though that was neat. Saige and I were checking it out and out of nowhere came this kid, he just flew in and pushed Saige out of his way and starting throwing all the chess pieces at other kids and all over the room. Parents no where to be seen, off somewhere oblivious to the fact that there spawn is off torturing little kids and being obnoxious. There was so much more to tell about but I have to get Saige to bed, and I don't have a week to post it all, lol. If you are ever in the Rochester area I highly recommend this place.... even if you don't have kids.

First teeth and sleeping through the night

Rylan has gotten his first teeth. the bottom left popped through last Monday (yes, I'm way behind yet again) and his bottom right one popped through sometime today. It wasn't there this morning, but as of ten minutes ago he officially has two teeth. He seemed to do surprisingly well given his normal temperament, I was expecting a lot more crying and all around misery from him while teething. Nothing wrong with pleasant surprises though! I hope the rest go as smoothly.

He's been sleeping so much better since he started sleeping on his tummy. I always put him down on his back but he rolls to his belly to sleep. It makes me nervous but, I'm not about to spend all night turning him around, and I'm thankful for a full nights sleep. I can't blame him, I sleep on my belly too. I think that is the biggest reason I hate being pregnant. It's been almost three weeks straight so I'm crossing my fingers this is for good.

Now that he has mastered the rolling and is starting to lift up I thought we would get a few weeks peace from him with his new skills. No such luck... now he wants to stand... ALL the time. He grabs for hands at any opportunity and hauls himself up and yells in delight and waves his arms around. He wants to go in the worse way, part of me can't wait and the other part is dreading it, lol.

Our Anniversary

Saturday was our fourth anniversary. It seems like so much longer than that, I barely remember what life was like before Robby. As much as he drives me nuts I do love him to death. Anyway my mom gave us the BEST gift ever-

She took BOTH kids for the night and we (or most importantly, ME) got 12 hours of uninterrupted blissful sleep. Twelve silent, no whining, no crying, no screaming, I don't even think Robby snored, hours. It doesn't get any better than that. We are going out to dinner tonight and as nice as that will be I'm sure it wont beat sleep. Now I just need a few more of those nights :) It has really made me question going on the Disney cruise, what I need is a nice quite relaxing vacation. Somehow the idea of getting that trapped on a ship with thousands of other peoples screaming crying kids along with mine no longer seems like such a great idea, lol.

I get annoyed in those situations where (and there is always one) the kid wants something mom/dad says no, the kid proceeds to whine and cry, and whine and cry until mom/dad finally say fine. It's not the kid that gets to me it's the parent, I am one of those terrible moms at the grocery store. The one who doesn't hand over the candy bar to shut them up. Depending on how far I am, I will either just leave or ignore that tantrum (and all the annoyed people) while I check out. Thankfully I have only had to deal with that a couple of times, but I also think that's because I don't back down at home or in public and when I say something- that is what I mean.

I saw all this the other night shopping. A little (ok not so little maybe 7-8) boy and his mom, they were in the checkout line and he started asking for his gum NOW. She says when we get to the car, he says increasingly whinier BUT I WANT IT NOW, her again- when we get to the car, him stomping his foot and now yelling I WANT IT NOW. She gave it to him. Me? at that point the gum would be back on the shelf and he wouldn't be getting a damn thing. I stood and watched all this wanting to ping her in the head with my can of olives. Does she not know that giving in only encourages him to continue to act like an ass? Does she not know she looks like an even bigger ass for encouraging it? But, it got me thinking why did I agree to go on a cruise all about kids? I should send the kids with the big kid (aka dad) while I spend the three days in some spa on dry land. Then after I am nice and relaxed we can just go to Disney for a couple of days and back to the spa to recover. Now that sounds like a good idea.

7 months

The (not so) little guy is 7 months 1 week, I'm a bit behind. He went back to the doctors for a follow up on his meds... he gained another pound! He has stayed steady on his percentage charts but it seems like he gains weight like a behemoth, must be a boy thing. It is really hard to get a good picture of him, the moment he sees the camera light his eyes squint and his mouth opens. Already a ham. And a brute, hair pulling is his new favorite sport. Saige and I are both targets and he has quite the grip it hurts! So I keep my hair up but, I think that makes it more painful when he manages to get a handful thats pulled up. He thinks it's hilarious when we jump and say oww, and he doesn't give up. you can see it in his face, trying to figure out what he's got to do to reach it again.

He has been considerably happier the past couple weeks- thank god. I love that he can now play WITH Saige, and she is usually happy to play with him, or at least with his toys near him anyway, lol. The past couple days he has been rolling again, and again, and again. He either remembered how to do it or it's because I temporarily stopped using the cloth diapers. He is in between sizes, the next size up is just way to big and bulky to make him wear, and the smaller ones aren't holding enough which leaves me with a lot of laundry. I could add more layers but that just makes them bulkier or I could make some more but I just don't feel like it. Anyway naked or in a disposable diaper he is moving. Below is him rolling around naked on his pink towel... saving this one for the future embarrassment.
This one you can see his pretty blue eyes, or at least I could when it was full size, they aren't looking all too blue in this little picture, lol. Saige had bright blue eyes as a baby but now they change like mine. Rob still has bright blue eyes and eyelashes a mile long that most women would kill for, both of the kids got them too.

I think he is teething, starting to feel some ridges on the bottom and he's been chewing like crazy, he does have one molar (weird, I know) that looks and feels like it will pop through any day , but it's been that way for over a month. He seems to be taking it pretty well so far but the worse is yet to come.

He feeds himself, the cheerios are big hit, it took him all of two days to figure out how to pick them up with two fingers when mommy stopped doing it for him. He also likes little chunks of bananas and pears but they are slippery and more fun to play with than anything else. He has yet to meet a food he doesn't like. I'm finding myself adding cereal to his fruit to thicken it. He likes to mush the food and gets angry when he tries and it just squishes back out, of course then he uses his hands to help it back in which just makes a big mess. That's okay with him, next comes the bathtub. He LOVES the tub, he will sit in there and splash until I make him get out because the waters cold or my ears wont stop ringing from being trapped in the little echoing bathroom with the loudest child in the world.

I think he really is the loudest, lol. Saige and I went shopping yesterday and there was a woman with a baby and it kept making this tiny little fussy noise. The mother starts cooing "oh poor baby why are you crying, you never cry" Me? I was standing there with my jaw hanging open thinking that is crying?... come home with me. Even Saige caught that... "mommy why doesn't that baby cry like baby brother so you can hear her" Perhaps when they are handing out features like hair and eye color at the baby factory, both my kids had their volumes programmed by a deaf stork.

Rylan also says hey... okay I know he's not really saying hey but it's a sound and it sounds just like it and it seems to be his favorite sound (aside from squealing as loud as he can). He will lay on the floor with Saige and they go back and forth yelling hey hey hey. I got it on my new video camera.... but when I loaded it the volume was off and the picture was really dark. I'll be returning that one and trying again. I do have the old camcorder but it wont hold a charge. I even bought an extra battery and that one dies after 5 minutes. Plus I have so many tiny tapes laying around, it's rather annoying. My big switch to digital has been so far rather exasperating. Anyone have any suggestions on a good affordable digital video camera. I don't want a really cheap cheesy one, but I don't want to fork over 800 bucks either.

Pre-K

It's been a crazy week. I have been watching and watching for pre-k sign ups. I've checked the school websites, scoured the papers, and nothing. I knew it had to be coming soon, kindergarten registration is posted everywhere, so I finally called. It was LAST week! Ugh So I rushed to get the paperwork, and get it turned in. Many calls back and forth to BOCES (which is where it is through, not the school district, which is why I couldn't find it, I don't know this is my first time with all this) and the doctors office to set up a physical and get medical and immunization records. I thought we were missing a couple vaccinations (turns out we aren't) but I was in a panic about that. They told me they wont even consider her application until all her shots are complete. So being me I had to ask what if you are against vaccinations? Well that's simple you just flat out don't go to pre-k, I was tempted to ask what about kindergarten, but I figured it was my 4th phone call to them today, and really it has no affect on Saige, so I just let it go.

So during all this craziness it hit me- MY BABY IS GOING TO SCHOOL! Saige is very excited about meeting new friends and riding the school bus. I am excited for her, but yet so sad she is so grown up already. I cried, she asked why. I told her mommy is sad that you are going to go to school, it means you are growing up way too fast. Sweet thing that she is said "I want to go to school but I wont go if it will make you sad mommy." So I dried my eyes put on a brave face and said I would be alright. Suddenly 7 months away doesn't seem so very long (should have waited to get pregnant- those months would have lasted forever, lol) I cried when Derik went to school, I have no idea what I'm going to do when the bus pulls away with her on it. I would probably be arrested if I followed it and peeked through the windows at school all day, lol. It will be along day, and I am totally dreading it.

She has a cold, I hate that she is sick but secretly I love it too. She is content to cuddle with me all day long and ask for endless hugs, how could I not love it? I know these moments will be gone before I know what happened. Does that make me awful?

Rylan is 7 months old today, I'll do that post tomorrow. I don't have any pictures yet, my camera is dead and I can't find the battery charger (sigh) I suppose if I actually looked my chances would improve. I guess I should do that now.

A whole new baby

Is it obvious I like to play with the colors on here? It's the only thing I know how to do, lol.

I should be knocking on wood as I type this but the past three days it's like I have a whole new happy baby. I think his meds have finally started to work, we were about to stop them because we didn't see any difference. He has been so content, no screaming, very little crying. He does have huge tantrums though, things like me taking his fist out of my hair or removing his hand when he pinches. He seems to think it is his right to hurt us, and finds it really funny, until we stop him that is. He has a fit, I mean how dare we not let him rip our hair out by the roots!

He has come a long way in the past week. He can basically sit all day long unsupported and even uses the pillow behind him to push himself back up when he topples over. He reaches out his arms and open and closes his hands when he wants to be picked up, while screaming hey. I know it's not really hey but that seems to be his favorite sound to make, it's cute. He holds his own bottle (finally!!). He still isn't rolling again but he has started to lift himself off the floor when he's on his belly and kinda pushes back and forth. He spins in circles whether he is on his belly or back and can scoot a few inches to get the toys he wants. I guess my worry over the rolling seems pointless if he is still halfway to crawling anyway. Oh and he loves to stand, he wants to hold my hands and pick himself up all the time. He holds on and goes up and down, up and down. He gets so mad when Saige is running in circles around him, you can practically see it in his face when he "yells" at her- he wants to do that too! He loves the busy ball popper, him and Saige sit on the floor with that thing all day long. She presses the button and he leans it towards him so the balls come out and pop him in the face- he thinks that is just the funniest thing. Strange child. but he does it over and over and gives this deep belly laugh every time., I love it.