the gloves are off!

quite a motley crew. ryder is growing so quick that he is starting to get too big for some of his clothes, so we figured we would squeeze him into the bunny outfit one last time.

he is way cuter naked and with his eyes open. not sure why that is. when you take him out of his blankets, he is super hot, like a tortilla fresh off el machino at chevy's. sometimes his breath smells sharp like cilantro. perhaps he will grow up to be a bull fighter or a luchador.

the smile is legit, and so is the belly.

isaac got his arm brace off today, the wrist is all healed up and stronger than ever. his arm smells like a rotten eggplant, and he laughs when he holds it up to you and you say "stinky!"

woo hoo

the boys had a visitor the other day, gianna (gigi) and her mom julie came over to hang out. isaac has always been a big kid, but seems mythical when set next to smaller children.

isaac has had this funny thing lately where he is wanting to get back into all his old toys: his jumper, saucer, and this, his swing. as you can see, they don't quite fit him like they used to. isaac was pretty entertained.

although he is generally very sweet towards him, i think sometimes isaac gets a little jealous of ryder. after booting him from the swing, isaac proceeded to push him off his lap very deliberately when we tried to arrange the above picture. he can also get pretty particular about people's time. if somebody who isaac wants to play with is holding ryder, you best watch yourself.

we are pretty sure that ryder is starting to smile on purpose. annie snapped this one tonight.

many people warned us before ryder was born that the first few months would be a blur. ne'er a truer word were spoken. ryder is already 5+ weeks, and growing all the time. (we often wonder how large he would be if he didn't puke so much, but it is pure speculation.) his legs and neck are getting way stronger, pushing and lifting respectively. we are trying to take it all in, but it sometimes seems like trying to grasp the wind.

what doesn't kill you...

so isaac had a bit of a tough weekend. friday i took him back to the ear doctor and pinned him down with all my weight (worst thing ever) so they could check his ears out and make sure his tubes were no longer blocked. good news is they were clear and his ear infection was mostly better. bad news is that when we went out front to play by the waterfall, he scraped his leg on a rock covered stair. honestly, who covers stairs in rocks?

saturday afternoon he tripped over a toy and bailed right onto his face, causing his lip to fatten up and bleed pretty good. then last night he decided he was going to leap out of a grocery cart and break his wrist. nope, i am not kidding. it is a buckle break, a buckle fracture in fact, meaning the bones did not shift and it did not go all the way through. when you consider the fact that he could have landed on his head, it really ain't so bad. kinda.


he is a brute, and doesn't really let the wrist slow him down. that is cool, but actually kind of scary. he does not understand that he has limitations in the first place (like you can't go jumping out of shopping carts). add to that the fact that his arm brace prevents him from full mobility, but that he still tries to do everything he used to do, and you have a recipe for parental stress. we don't want to limit him permanently, but at the same time we don't want him injuring himself further either. although we are certain this won't be the last time we take isaac in for xrays, we hope it won't be for another couple years at least.

injustice

if this were not a family blog, there would be swear words.

let us not despair

ryder put on another 10 ounces in the past 6 days. normal would have been 3 ounces (half ounce a day). he seems to be surpassing isaac in the newborn weight gain category. a year from now when the boys are both able to hold their own our house is going to be a brawl. i can't wait.

i don't have the energy to say much else. here are some typically cute pictures:

first pair of big boy shoes - thanks grammy!

long and lean

loving life with a new haircut

before the trim

boys night with grandpa, mark, and vincent

how do you like dem apples?

ryder does not have a lot of pants that fit him, but he does get cuter all the time. this morning he weighed in at 8lbs. 14oz. which means he packed on 26 ounces in two weeks!! isaac has thrown down the gauntlet, and ryder has answered with vigor.

winters in so cal are rough, we were at the pool today. yep, it is january. and, of course, isaac was having a miserable time as usual.

macho men

look out ladies, the montgomery boys are on the scene

the "why are you so chunk" shuffle

ryder got his first bath last night, mostly to wash off the puke smell. he loves the warm water, and his hair is a little lighter brown without all the grease in it.

crazy eyes

sometimes the truth hurts, and sometimes it is as plain as day. this picture is an example of the latter.

i have a homer simpson foot

if you read the last post you know that i am an idiot, and sprained my ankle galloping down the stairs with isaac the other night. it hurt real bad for like a day, xrays in urgent care assured it is not broken, and i have been walking on it since. this morning brought an interesting development, when i hit my foot on the ground, it jiggles. apparently there is a lot of semi-couagulated blood built up in there, like somebody injected hemoglobin jello into the region. it has also got some fascinating color building, as the pictures demonstrate.

"brothers don't shake hands, brothers gotta hug!"

in more important news, the boys (how weird is that plural) are doing well. isaac has been increasingly sweet to ryder, hugs, kisses and minimal pokes to the eyes. perhaps it is b/c ryder continues to get cuter and more monkey-like all the time. whatever it is, we hope it lasts as long as possible before the beatings begin. there are always beatings when it comes to brothers.

i am realizing that ryder is so chill and mellow, that it would be really easy to miss him. his nasty belly button raisin fell off today (finally), and that is one of those things that could very easily be glossed over with a second child. isaac takes so much time and energy, that sometimes it is tempting to just let ryder sit in his bouncer rather than holding him. and sometimes it needs to be that way. but i also need to remember to be intentionally present to him.

i found out today that isaac likes sunflower seeds. i don't particularly care for having to shell them for him, but it is funny to watch him chew on the little kernel.

shake your money maker

this video is further proof of something that annie said on our way back from the nicu a couple weeks ago: "isaac is living the life every kid should have." they are far from perfect, but isaac's days and weeks are pretty dang good, surrounded by people that care about him (family, friends, and now a sibling), ample food (more than ample if you have seen his thighs lately), and a residence in socal (where the coolest temperatures we have braved this winter are in the 40's or 50's).

annie's life on the other hand took a turn for the worst yesterday b/c the only thing tougher than recovering from a c-section with a 17-month-old who never stops moving is having a moron of a husband who sprains his ankle coming down the stairs, preventing him from doing just about anything. fortunately it feels much better today, so i am able to pick isaac up and all the rest, as long as i hobble like a pirate while doing so.

picture = a thousand words. here is a couple million.

don't mess with isaac's thomas the trains...or his new engineer hat.

if it is possible for a kid to get fatter overnight, ryder pulled it off. i am pretty sure his number of chins doubled in a matter of hours.

this one shows his freakishly long fingers. they match his toes and e.t. neck.

swinging with grammy

grauntie and the boys

rondi

sean and julie (and bradley e.t.a.: 2/11/09)

acting as ryder's lazy boy

gearing up for spring training

isaac is not sure how he feels about papa wearing his ewok hat

aunt lisa and uncle matt

great grandpa herold

if ryder is not sleeping, eating, or crying, he is peeing, pooping or puking. given that combination, we have no problem cathing him riding dirty. pukey has become one of my nicknames for him, along with ride dawg. isaac is about four times his weight, but is typically pretty gentle. tonight ryder was screaming while i changed his diaper and isaac got down on all fours and laid his cheek on the top of ryder's head a couple times. then he took his hand and squeezed ryder's cheeks together like he was trying to get him to shut up. baby steps i guess.

ryder, what are your highlights from the first couple days of this new year?

let me think about this one

finally got to meet papa

and the curry's

plus, i'm ready to grip a football

ryder sleeps pretty much all the time. i am not complaining or anything, i am just realizing that he and isaac are very different kids. we took ryder with us to lunch with us today, he slept the entire time. when we tried to take isaac to dinner on new years last year he woke up right after we ordered.

it is a good thing too. isaac is beginning to find out that he can throw a decent tantrum. the day before ryder came home he started pitching a fit when he didn't get his way. he is a big kid, so he is a force to be reckoned with when he turns into 28 pounds of writhing toddler: arms up, dead weight, piercing pitch. how is that for timing?