HOW? How is it possible that Ryken is turning 16 months? She’s getting so old I had to count out the months to figure out how old she is turning. I generally stop keeping track of “months” around 1.5 years old, but I thought it was interesting to show their differences and how old they are.
These two littles are so similar but SO different when comparing what they were like at the same age. Zayden (at Ryken’s age now) was so chill, quiet, content most of the time and a little ornery but not much! Now, with the other littles, cue the Led Zeppelin music “a-ah-ahh-ah,” and enter Ryken as she makes herself known with the orneriest smile you could ask for. Don’t get me wrong, she is also the sweetest and for the most part very happy little girl, but there is nothing that is going to stop or scare her. She’s a force to be reckoned with and I am so proud of her stubbornness she’s gotten from her mama. lol Maybe this is her personality, maybe she’s picked up on Zayden’s personality and takes it as the norm. You see, my chill little man has also stepped into this world of 3s where emotions some days are higher than others, and it’s hard to figure those out. He also, knows what he wants and will either attempt to convince you he should have it or negotiate his way to get he “needs.” You may think I’m complaining, but trust me I’m not. In this world, I want these two babies to be strong-willed, know what they want, but also be God-fearing individuals, respectful and courtesy of others. And I think we’re on the right track…it may be exhausting some days, but it. is. worth. it. IT IS WORTH IT.
The fun things….
Ryken says everything….she’s talking up a storm (when she’s not being reserved around others) and she repeats whatever you tell her. There is good and bad to this ha, but she takes after her brother and speaks very well for her age. She’s loudest when you’re laying in bed trying to sleep or pretend sleep to get her to nap. MOMMA. MOMMA. MOMMA – as I lay 2 cm from her, and do my best to pretend to be asleep as she yells my name. Some days this will work, other days, cue the Led Zeppelin music, as she stands up, looks down on me and slaps her foot on my face to wake me up.
She’s also a daredevil. But when she knows she’s doing something a little questionable, she at least looks at you and smiles. Not just your every day sweet smile, but the smile that says – “Hey you need to watch what I’m doing here, and be prepared to catch me…mmmk?” Yes, one of those smiles. I about laugh and have a heart attack every time.
Ryken & Zayden both are pretty picky eaters. With Zayden, he ate everything under the sun when he was little and now eats minimal things, where I’m hiding vegetables in smoothies and other forms (along with attempting the veggies every day on his plate, but let’s get real that little bugger knows and the battle of cleaning your plate is not one that I choose to go down). Ryken on the other hand, we didn’t necessarily give her everything under the sun. CLEARLY the having Zayden eat whatever we ate didn’t make him less picky, so we changed it up with Ryken and give her the basics and let her try things from our plates. ALL THIS to say, they’re both picky and one day I have hopes they’ll be little foodies like we are, but for now, cheese will probably be on most things we eat.
Zayden finished up his first “cool” aka school and is on summer break for a month before he goes into another “cool.” We haven’t fully decided what school he’s going into, but as a parent trying to find the balance of letting your 3.5 year live a fun-filled life of a child and not pushing them too quickly into this routine-filled school life. Don’t get me wrong, Zayden thrives in it, learns so much in school but how do you decide what’s too much for a child, when you know the real life isn’t always fun and you want them to enjoy their time so much right now. Anyways, that’s something Jason and I go back and forth on, what place is the right fit for him, what is too much mentally or physically or socially, and are we overthinking it? Ha. Either way, he will start something in the next month. Something he has to be potty-trained for – you’re welcome to send your potty-training tips, but pretty sure it boils down to it’s something he can do, he wants to do occasionally, but he just doesn’t want to. I’ve explained to him recently, that pottying is just taking out the trash (as a good friend told me) and I also have told him, he has a new job. Once these set of diapers run out, he’s been promoted to have a new job, and that’s going the bathroom on his own, when he wants, and he can decide what time of day that will be, so I’m leaving it on his shoulders to make the decisions. If it’s his idea, it’s likely to work more than if it’s someone else’s idea telling him to do it. Cross your fingers, say a prayer, we’d much rather go this route then forcing the potty training thing before end of next month.
Zayden continues to just eat up learning things. His teacher said, this is the age they are little sponges, and he tells me things I have to google because I first don’t know where he heard it but second have to see if he’s right and most of the time he is.
SLEEP – Zayden pretty much sleeps through the night, which I haven’t said in awhile. He does sleep with us 99% of the nights, the occassional 1% is just flukes here and there. I don’t mind it, Jason doesn’t mind it, Ryken loves it..it works for us. Ryken is currently being weaned and does pretty good sleeping through the night with the random nursing session, but she’s a bit of a bed hog. She also kind of seems to enjoy her space, so she will sleep in her bed more often than Zayden will. Now that she’s being weaned, I think it’s likely she will even more.
Speaking of weaning, prayers for this mama. Nursing takes a toll on your body, mind, emotions, etc, etc, etc I read yesterday, “The amount of energy it takes your body to produce enough breast milk for your baby for one day is the equivalent of walking 7 miles.” @moomysmilk – So theoretically, I’ve walked in comparison to over 3,000 miles in the past 16 months, but the body doesn’t always reflect that as a workout. It’s a full time job and when you have other full time jobs, it is exhausting and takes it’s toll. And I’ll be the first to tell you I’m not really ready to wean, but I think she is. She thinks she isn’t because it’s a comfort, but she also isn’t efficient like she used to be and only nurses to comfort. So, she’s ready – but this sweet girl and this mama heart need some extra love during the weekend so we can fully wean. We would likely nurse more, but we have other plans that we can share later on and it requires me to end this nursing journey.
Some things we experienced since my last post:
-Hand-foot-mouth – 1000/10 do not recommend
-Quick trip to Mississippi for a wedding, we found a fantastic sitter for the kids and were so happy they got to journey down with us. Making a couple of stops, one to see friend in TN and visit the zoo!
-Traveled to Arizona! Yay, this was our first flights for Ryken, first big trip since the pandemic, and first trip where mama was along most of the days while Jason was working! A little bit exhausting, a little bit of stress, and alot of fun. We miss adventuring outside of the state with Zayden and we feel for Ryken not getting to experience the things we could with Zayden, but this gave us a little taste and we can’t wait til next trip.
-Ryken got to play with her first sparklers (because apparently a 3 month old holding a sparkler is frowned upon). And Zayden got to shoot off his first ever firework – like an actual firework, which he liked and was a little nervous.
-Visit some friends in Kansas that I consider family. The kids got to spend the day with two of my favorite people in the world. They were a HUGE part of me growing up and growing in the church, and I may have been a little jealous I didn’t get to spend all the time with them too, but we had a wedding and I was so grateful Zayden and Ryken got to spend time with the Graves family this month!
-Celebrated Ryken’s 1st birthday! My heart can’t take it either and it’s already been 4 months since!
-Zayden fished for the first time and caught his first fish – WHO catches a fish the first time they go? He was in love and wanted his own fishing pole for next time.
-We camped for the 2nd time with our Community Group (so many kids I don’t recall how many but it was a blast)
-We laid to rest one of the sweetest men and the kids great-grandpa (they only great-grandpa they had the pleasure of meeting) But we know he’s in heaven hanging out with Aslan & Della.
Continuing to love every day with them, as tired as we may be and as much coffee as our bodies need. We wouldn’t change it! Til the next time….Jason did a 50 days of Spring project if you’re interested in some more photos from this year!
**School, potty-training, sleeping, nursing vs formula are different for every child, I firmly believe parents choose what’s best for them, and the paths we’ve chosen with our kiddos is what works best for us, and honestly they’re different that we choose different paths for each of them based on how they react to things. So don’t take anything I say as we think we’re doing it better – ha, because we’re not. We’re winging it and we’re changing things up if it doesn’t work for us. They’re not this small forever, so we’re embracing these exhausting years.**
Momhood or lack there of 