Four Months of Fun!

Brooklyn's Birth Announcement

This is a link to her birth announcement from Shutterfly

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Brooklyn Marion is here!

Brooklyn Marion Wassmer was born on May 19, 2011 at 11:45pm, wieghing in at 5lbs 2oz and 17.5 inches long. She is a tiny little thing! I was actually induced early because she was showing signs of slowed growth, so much that she was measuring close to the 10th percentile which is when doctors start getting worried that something could be wrong. Ever since 29 weeks I was having many Braxton Hicks contractions so my doctor did a test that showed that I was at risk for preterm labor. Fortunately she did not come early, but she did stop growing after about 32 weeks. So, at 38 1/2 weeks I was sent to the hospital to get her out of there. I checked into Avista Adventist at 9pm on May 18. I started having regular contractions in the morning but they didn't progress me to quickly. It was in the evening when we started the pitocin and my doctor was able to break my water. Once my water broke, major contractions came and once I started pushing Brooklyn was out 11 minutes later! A quick little thing.

Healing has gone well, and we are all still adjusting. Ryan gets better with her more and more every day. Being a new mom again has it's new and old challenges. Brooke has taken to nursing better than Ryan, however she's not as good of a sleeper at night as Ryan was when he was a newborn. She is the LOUDEST sleeper I have ever heard - snorts, grunts, sighs, whimpers, squirming, crying out for only a moment, etc! I think she'll be making an early trip from the bassinet to her crib in the other room.

Having a tiny little newborn again is brings such joy to my heart. I truly love how small they are and all their looks and moves. I enjoyed each stage with Ryan and I look forward to the same stages with Brooke. The sleepless nights will end (some day), but I really do cherish the moments of holding her and she rests her head on my shoulder, or sleeps in my arms. Ryan hardly ever slept in my arms. It truly is a wonderful blessing and I am continually humbled by how good the Lord has been to us.

Ryan has grown so much in the past few months. He now likes to put two or three words together, such as, "I love you mommy," or "thank you daddy." He really is so sweet. Even his little tantrums aren't all that bad (when compared to some other children his age I've seen). Not that Ryan is above throwing such tantrums, I just think he's really laid back. All in all, things are going well here at the Wassmer household. There are more adventures to come and many changes will happen so quickly.

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Cor. 9:15

Well, a lot has happened since last Fall. I am currently 26 weeks pregnant with our little girl! Ryan is going to have a sister! The ultrasounds show she is growing well and all looks good from our end. My official due date is May 29, but Tom has his heart set on June 3. We'll see! Below are some pics of our little girl that I received free as a volunteer for Alternatives Pregnancy Center.




Ryan and his sister's 3D shots A shot of her face


We also got a chance to have a photographer take our family shots this past Fall. We had them taken as a part of our Christmas present to our parents. We chose one of our favorite shots and had them printed on canvas, and it turned out really good. All the shots were great, and I love how it captures our life as it was then: the 3 of us enjoying each other. We can't wait to add our little girl, but it's also fun to have a memory of when it was just "us three."

Kristol Kumar Photography

In preparation for little sis, we are moving Ryan to a new room and keeping the nursery the same. Tom wanted to add some new dry wall and smooth out the walls (same as he did for the living room before Christmas). The pics below are just precious as Ryan jumped in to help all on his own. He picked up a mudding knife, dipped it into the bucket and started spreading it on the wall. Just adorable.

Christmas 2010 was fun. Grammy and Pops came from NJ, Nana and Papa came from Genesee (35 mins away) and all uncles were there. Ryan got an all-terrain wagon and an inflatible jumper thingy. He loves jumping and he LOVES this jumper. We have to hide it when he's not using it or we have a melt down on our hands. Ryan also helped daddy set up the Christmas tree. Ryan loves his daddy and just loves being by his side. He's also my little helper, assisting me with sweeping and mopping. He also likes to empty the dishwasher and put things in the trash.

Just a couple weeks ago he started copying everything we say. It's fun to hear him mimick our words and try to say things like "cool," "oh yeah," "yogurt" (which sounds more like go-gu), among other words.

We look forward to many more memories made this year with the addition of little sis (name coming soon) and more holidays to enjoy.

Ryan's going to be a big brother!

We discovered a couple weeks ago that I am pregnant! We are thrilled and can't wait to find out more information on this little "cricket." Next week I will know exactly how far along I am and when my due date is. Right now I've calculated somewhere close to the end of May. I would love to have a May baby!

Last week we took Ryan to the local pumpkin patch to pick our Wassmer's Pumpkin for the Fall. We had fun, and we went with our neighbors Chris, Katie and little Conor. He's about 6 weeks younger than Ryan. They are sippy cup buddies.

Ryan's 1st birthday

Well, since Ryan started walking he's been all over the house. He loves to explore, and he's good at it. I just have to be careful when throwing out our trash, you might just find a toy that was placed in there during his curious moments.

Ryan turned 1 year old on July 15. I can hardly believe it's been a year, but at the same time I am proud of this mile stone. He's such a big little boy now, weighing 24 lbs 12oz, and is 32 inches tall. We celebrated with a party in NJ and another in CO so that all the family and friends could enjoy this big moment.

We had a wonderful time in New Jersey for our vacation. We enjoyed fishing, sailing, going to Point Pleasant Boardwalk, going to the beach and eating a ton! It was fun and we didn't want to really come home. I guess the world must go 'round.

I attempted a monkey cake for Ryan's party here in CO. It was supposed to be a whole 3D monkey, but half of the cake settled and fell apart, so we salvaged the other half and I was still able to decorate it. It turned out pretty good for only half a cake.

I guess the next question is "when's the next one?" Well, if I had an answer, that means we'd probably be trying! Don't worry, I'll be sure to let you know once we know!

One small step for Ryan, two giant proud parents!

Ryan officially started walking the other day (june 24, 2010). He's taken a few steps before, but this time he just kept going! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He truly is becoming a small boy. In almost two weeks he'll be turning 1 year old - I cannot believe he is not an infant anymore. I have a toddler. It almost breaks my heart in a bitter sweet way because I really tried to cherish every moment I had with him as an infant. I have sweet moments, and moments that felt like pure torture. I look at Ryan and beam with pride, and I am glad he sleeps through the night, but there's a part of me that hurts because I already have to let that part of our lives go. I know that Ryan will always be my baby, sometimes I just wish I could hit the pause button.

Work

I guess I forgot to mention that I got a great part-time job as a Medical Assistant at a local family practice! It's only 2 days a week, but I get to do everything I was taught in class. I work with other MA's in the back office taking vitals, drawing blood and giving injections. I really do enjoy it, and I like the fact that I'm actually using the education I received. Ryan goes to a home daycare on the days I work, unless Tom is home. It's a nice small group of kids, and Ryan gets along just fine. So far it's worked out quite well. Praise God such small blessings!

Heading towards our first year

Sorry for the delay in updates! It's been quite a busy time in the Wassmer household. Summer has arrived, so we're spending more time outside. I've been working a few days a week, which has been really good. I enjoy it, I enjoy learning more - it's "me" time. However, with one of the doctor's I've heard I'll be working with, it might be more about "her." Not looking forward to that, but we'll see.

Ryan had his second swim in a pool ever this past weekend. The first time he was only a month old, and was in the water probably a total of 2 minutes! He's getting big so fast. We've officially switched to the big boy car seat, Ryan can climb up on the couch, can go easily up the stairs and is showing the signs of wanting to walk. He can stand and is getting bolder day by day.

We will be in NJ in July to celebrate Ryan's 1st birthday. It will be a fun shabang! Ryan will get to play in the sand and enjoy the sun with Grammy and the rest of the Wassmer/Hillman gang. We're really looking foward to it.

Ryan's Easter and trip to Stillwater

Ryan's first Easter was great. The Easter Bunny left many chocolates (which Daddy will eat!), and we had all family that was in town over for dinner (my parents and Chris). We also had a March snow storm that brought about 2 feet to our area in a matter of hours. It melted off the next day! That's spring in Colorado for you! But I wasn't going to miss the opportunity for Ryan to play in the snow one last time before summer hits. Nana came over (no school that day) and we made a snowman and enjoyed the time with Ryan.

Now that Ryan has been crawling for a month, he's already ready to move on. He's trying to walk as much as he can. He'll walk along the couch or use his "walker" toy (seen above - it converts to a walker). He's not really close to walking yet, but I don't think it will be long. He loves crawling everywhere and standing as tall as he can, reaching to objects I thought were safe! He's goes in for his 9 month check up and vaccinations this Friday. We'll see how much he weighs and how tall he is! He's such a big little boy!

We recently traveled to Stillwater, OK to visit Ryan's great-grand parents. They are my grandparents on my mom's side. Roger and Freda Hobart. It was nice and warm while we were there, a tad windy, but lots of fun. We spent time outside planting flowers, and Ryan picked out some hyacinths for Great Granny. It was good to see them and have them meet Ryan for the first time. He's always such a ham!