Lisa
I never updated on the maternity leave dilemma. I ended up taking the rest of the year off! I ended up getting paid for a little more of my leave paid than I initially thought and ended up randomly getting a very flexible part time job that has kept a little cash flow coming in. It was an exceptionally busy and stressful school year, so I wasn't at all sad to peace out the day before state testing started.
I have tried to tackle a few things while I have been home and one thing is I finally got around to officially changing my name to Stephenson-Horne. It still needs to be updated in a few places but I have a new driver's license and social security card with the updated info. So it's official.
I have decided it is time to get serious about health and weight loss, so I ended up trying the 21 Day Fix. It is a great program for me. It lets you eat so much food, which is good, so I don't feel deprived. I love the workouts. They are challenging but don't feel impossible. There are lots of modifications. The best part is they are only 30 minutes and I can do them right at home. I have been throwing in some gym workouts too, I joined an online squats challenge and I even went with a coworker to a glow zumba workout at the mall. I lost about 10 pounds and then vacations have thrown off my nutrition game so weight loss has sort of stalled. I have a mini goal to lose 20 pounds so it is time to get my eating back on track so hopefully my work clothes all fit in the fall and I can have the energy to keep with Tyler the way I had energy to keep up with Isaac at that age.
Ryan
Ryan is still on medical leave from work. To be honest, I don't really understand why. It is a lot of insurance company red tape and doctors stuff. He still has a lot of health issues, 2-3 doctors appointments a week and still takes a huge pile of medicines each day. He also has a lot of restrictions on driving. I would say overall though he is feeling much better than a few months ago and most days has a lot of energy and feels pretty good. I worry, of course, about my return to school in a few weeks when he will have so much on his plate with the two little guys, but it makes me feel good to see him feeling more like himself finally.
Ryan took Gabby to her first concert this past weekend for the Mixed Tape Festival (98 Degrees, Dream, Paula Abdul, Boyz II Men, New Kids on the Block). The tickets were actually a birthday present from me to Ryan and a series of unfortunate events and miscommunications left us without a babysitter. Ryan thought he might just go alone but Gabby ended up taking my ticket and seemed to enjoy herself even though she wasn't familiar with much of the music.
We also had another foiled date night not long before when Tyler spiked a high fever the night we were supposed to go to the Shakespeare Festival in Allentown. Our doctor was really worried and wanted us to drive out to the Children's Hospital Urgent Care in King of Prussia. Everything ended up being okay but we did miss the show.
We did manage to make it out for one date though. There is an upscale local Mexican Restaurant that I have mentioned to Ryan about 920928338 times how much I wanted to eat there. For Mother's Day he gave me a cute card good for one date there. I guess he bought a voucher from Groupon. Well we realized the other day that we only had a few days left until the voucher expired. We took our chances and took Tyler along (we arrived as soon as the restaurant opened and for most of our meal we were the only people in the whole place!). He was an angel, the food was amazing and it was fun to have a little time for a fancy quiet dinner.
Isaac
Isaac has really seemed to mature this summer and since Tyler has been born. Of course we are seeing glimpses of the teenage years with eye rolling and attitude here and there but overall he has just really stepped up and become incredibly helpful. I know it is so cheesey, but sometimes I just look at him and I am sooo proud. Summer vacation hasn't opened up his calendar too much. He has done two basketball camps, and then spent over a week in Utah attending a family reunion with my dad's side of the family.
He is back in full soccer mode. He is attending the Philadelphia Union soccer camp. He had his school physical and the doctor predicted he will grow to be six foot. She also talked a lot to him about eating healthier and trying new foods and I have been impressed that he has actually tried a few vegetables since then. He starts sixth(!!!) grade in a few weeks, so he is trying to make the most of what summer is left.
Hannah
Hannah has grown up a lot. She has really come into her own as a big sister and no longer seems to be on a mission to actually kill Tyler. She will declare several times a day "Tyler's my baby brudder! And I-Diss is my big brudder!"
Hannah was officially dismissed from speech in May which is really exciting. They rescreened her and all of her speech errors were considered to be age appropriate which is so exciting. We have started looking at preschool programs for her either in the fall or in January after she turns three. I think she would really enjoy and benefit from preschool. It is hard to make a commitment to a program with Ryan's work stuff being forever up in the air, but I really hope it works out and we are able to get her in somewhere.
In my mind I had three goals to work on with Hannah this summer. Sleeping in her own room (her bed has been in our room for the past six months or so), giving up the binky and potty training. She is *just about* potty trained, and for the most part she has done well with her bed being moved to her room. She still comes in every so often, but she is doing much better than she was in April and May. Giving up the binky, however, we have not made much progress on. We have tried to limit it to nap and bedtime only but she is very crafty and seems to always have one on hand. I am willing to put the binky on the backburner while we make more progress on sleeping in her own room and potty training.
Despite being together at home the majority of the time, Ryan and I can't seem to get on the same page about bedtime routines and potty training and that has been hard. Sometimes I miss when he used to work nights and I could more or less call the shots in the evening and he could more or less call the shots during the day. I was a single mom for so long making all of my own parenting decisions that even three years into marriage sometimes it still difficult for me to remember that I have to compromise and it's not just my way or the highway when it comes to decisions.
Anyways, back to Hannah. She has personality for days. She still LOVES Doc McStuffins and giving people check ups. She loves birds and will point them out everywhere we go. ("Look mommy!! Buhds!") She loves church nursery and play dates and will always ask if I can take her to play with her friends. She is the self-appointed overseer of seat belts and will let me know if anyone is not buckled in a timely manner.
Tyler
I don't want to jinx anything, but Tyler really is a great baby. He puts himself down to sleep if I lay him down in the crib when he is sleepy. He sleeps for long stretches 9:30- 4 most nights. Hannah and Isaac were horrible sleepers so it is great to have a baby who isn't waking up hourly. I just need to start going to bed earlier so I can fully take advantage of his long stretch of sleep. He is starting to bear weight on his legs a bit more and try to reach for things. He easily rolls himself from back to front but he isn't as great at rolling from front to back.
He is almost always pleasant and smiling. He tagged along to Isaac's well visit to get a shot he had missed and really put the pressure on Isaac because he didn't even make a peep when he got his injection. He can work his fingers to his mouth and seems to be able to comfort himself. Sometimes it is his thumb and pointer finger, sometimes it is the middle three fingers.
He has the same big, dark eyes as Hannah, but I think besides that he looks more like my side of the family. He is just such an easy going little guy. I feel so blessed every day that he ended up joining our family.
Shore Trip
We have managed to have a lot of fun this summer. When Isaac was in Utah we spent a few days at the shore. We had a great coupon code for the Best Western. My expectations were especiallly low for such a cheap hotel room but I was pleasantly surprised. We even had a big jacuzzi tub that Hannah and I both really enjoyed. The only let down was the hotel no longer provided a travel crib. I had been banking on it and had not brought the pack and play. I ended up making Tyler a little makeshift bed on the floor next to me. I woke up in the night to him screaming and I was panicked because I couldn't find him. He had managed to roll/wiggle/scoot himself completely UNDER the bed.
Even though this was another short trip, we managed to do most of our favorite Ocean City things. We mini-golfed, had Kohr brothers, walked up and down the boardwalk and of course spent lots of time in the sand. Hannah was still not 100% sold on the ocean, but she loved playing in the sand walking along the boardwalk. She especially loved Gillian's Pier with the rides and wanted to go on everything.
We also did some new things we had never done before. We went to see Lucy the Elephant, the world's oldest roadside attraction. We found another groupon for buy 1 get one tour tickets, so we got to walk all through her. It was pretty cool. We also did the Atlantic City Boardwalk, another first for me. It wasn't some place I would want to return to any time soon, but it was fun none the less.
Disney
We also had a really wonderful trip to visit Ryan's family in Florida. We went to attend Ross and Tommy's wedding. Hannah and Tyler had their first plane ride and did great. We spent the first two days doing some sight seeing in Saint Augustine. I knew nothing about the town where Ross and Tommy decided to wed, but it was beautiful and I wish we were able to arrange our schedule to stay longer. The wedding was beautiful. Then we went back to Orlando and had fun in the parks and visiting with family. Hannah and Lucas were fast friends. We love Ryan's brothers and sister so much and we had so much fun there. Here are some pictures from the trip.
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