Deitrick Detail: one month, two kids

oh man, january was a fun month. while getting used to life with 2 kids and being by myself during the day, its been exciting. i admit there have been days where all 3 of us cry at the same time. it happens. but for the most part we are all happy. Rylie has been such a joy and a blessing. she has been a good baby and a happy baby.

we have had some issues nursing. she wasnt latching deep enough so for a while i was in a lot of pain. i needed to talk to someone about it so we ended up calling a lactation consultant. she said that everything looked good she just needed to start out deeper. it was hard to practice that when i was still in so much pain. so we decided to stop for a few days. i would pump and then feed her that. it actually worked out really well. after about 5 days i tried to nurse again. it was still tender but so much better than it had been! no more sharp pains. it didnt make me cry. so we are on the mend and doing much better.

Rylie already looks so big. she is chunking up really nice haha. at her 2 week appointment she was supposed to get back up to her birth weight (7lbs 11oz) but she was well over that at 8 lbs and 15 oz. so even with some problems eating she was getting plenty! but she has been so much fun. i love her being little and cuddly. Ryker has gotten more cuddly too. im sure its because attention has changed. but we get some good one on one time with him as well. its important. most days rylie is still sleeping when ryker gets up so we spend the morning just the 2 of us again. then rylie gets up and we all hang out. then we all go down for a nap. its a perfect system! sometimes rylie wants to stay awake. happy but awake and i dont get a nap. thats a little more sad for me, but if my kids are happy then that is the important part.

Ryker is doing great with rylie. when she cries he will always run over to pat her and make her feel better. he gets a little jealous when she is in the swing and wants to grab her and take her out so that he can swing. its adorably cute. he has recently gotten into stopping it from swinging and then pushing is so it swings really hard and fast. practically dumps her out of it. maybe thats the point... haha we are working on that. ryker is still growing up so fast! he looks so old now! he is really good at saying hi, bye, thank you, cracker, and has sounds that definitely mean certain things. he is doing awesome and is so smart! i love that boy so so much.

once my mom and alicia left it took some time to feel comfortable with being able to care for 2 very needy kids at the same time. but i think we are doing great! a nurse told me at rylies 2 week apt that she was really impressed that i was keeping ryker happy during the appointment. apparently most moms just let one kid cry while they focus on the baby. that doesnt sound fun to me so i try to avoid it. apparently for my first outing i was doing good!

side note, we got the dr bill for rylies delivery. it was a lot less than we were expecting! so we were able to pay that off with what we had already saved for it so far. yahoo! i dont know if i mentioned this before, but we did finish paying my parents back for helping with the student loan. so we are officially debt free!!!!!! yay!!! it was a big accomplishment for us. we were so excited to have that done with within less than a year from finishing school. i think its a great accomplishment. we worked hard to get that done. but its great! and now we can save for other things. our 6 months savings. a down payment for a house (in a year or 2. we are not buying a house yet) and other such expenses.

the biggest thing this month is we were able to bless rylie! it was simple. Justins parents were able to come into town and my mom and dad (and fae! so stoked she could come visit too) came and stayed with us for the weekend. my family had some issues combating snow as they were coming in on saturday, but made it finally! justins parents had come that friday night before so they were already here. it was fun to hang out with everyone. sunday was bright and early needing to leave at 7:30 am for 8 o clock church. it was rylie and mines first time back at church. it was fun to come back. i missed it. mom and fae took turns helping ryker back to nursery. i was able to meet my new class and talk with my other teacher again. dad got to go to sunday school for the first time in a while. being in the bishopbric has kept him busy haha. he mentioned that he was super happy to be sitting where he sees the back of peoples heads instead of being on the stand. made me laugh... both dads, justin and the bishop were in the circle. it was a beautiful blessing. i was trying to keep ryker quiet but it was so nice to listen too. i love the priesthood and the blessing that it gives. im grateful justin can give our kids blessings. its just so nice. rylie looked so beautiful in her new dress. so it was a small group of us, but so perfect.

also to show our lack of sports knowledge. justin and i didnt even know the super bowl was this weekend until like a week ago. haha oops.... so after church we had a fun little super bowl party. half sea hawks fans and half anti sea hawks fans. it was fun. and a much better game to watch than last year. but we had yummy food! that was my favorite part. veggie salsa, pigs in a blanket, peanut m&ms, chips, a cheese ball with crackers. im sure there is more. but i ate a ton and was in a food coma for a few days. haha i am still enjoying the left overs.

everything is going good! been a good month so far, and the more rylie grows it will keep changing. but we love her and love ryker. just love our fun family of four!