Overall, we feel extremely lucky to have such well behaved children. Just the other day we were at a local restaurant and Rylan was acting great while drawing and otherwise keeping busy. We had 2 couples come up to us and tell us how well behaved he was and that he reminds them of their own children. While he can act up just like any other kid, for the most part he is pretty well behaved. It seems that some restaurants just don't sit well with him and we have noticed he will never act well while there. We try to avoid them now.

As of now, life is pretty much the same as it was with just Rylan. Kaitlyn is staying awake more during the day so she ends up crying more often but still, it seems that she is quieter than Rylan was during this time. Minus the feeding time and occasional diaper change, Rylan still gets all of the same attention that he did during life without Kaitlyn.

This first couple of weeks with Kaitlyn have been much easier than with Rylan. I like to joke around that I am a pro now when it comes to kids but the reality is, everything seems a bit easier. We are better prepared in everything and we now know that you don't have to be super super gentle with a baby. Their fingers aren't going to break when you put a shirt on and their heads aren't going to just pop off and roll across the floor.

In time, things will change and I can only imagine that when one kid is having a temper tantrum, the other one will be OK and visa versa. Things are going to get more stressful but for now, life is pretty easy. Do I want to throw a third kid into the bunch? I don't think I want to push it any further. We are bound to get a trouble maker one of these times around.

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The Doodlebops have always been one of Rylan's favorites shows. We have enjoyed going to see them in concert and even owning a few of their toys which Rylan will get when he is a bit older. We even have their CDs which we used to jam out to in the car. Heck, I even know most of all the words to their songs.

Now, my wife and I have always questioned these kids. Well, are the Doodlebops actually kids, may be the first question. How old are these characters supposed to be? Somewhere between 25-30 in real life I imagine but as characters are they supposed to be much younger to be closer to the target audience? It is said that they are siblings but we are both thoroughly confused why they are each 3 different colors. Furthermore, what were their parents doing while they conceived these guys? I have had 2 kids and been in the nursery many times now and have yet to see a brightly colored baby.

Maybe they were born on another planet? Aliens in fact. If that was the case, how did they make friends with all the humans and why during the cut scenes are new kids not scared of them? Alien or not, why wouldn't some little kids run the other way if crazy colored people came their way. Something isn't right here.

I think we all need a bit of back story to go along with the show. Of course, the Wiki on the Doodlebops has nothing informative. I am on a mission to get some answers and will report back if the mystery ever is unraveled.

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We have been having some crazy wicked storms this week. One day, we were driving out to go see where our new house will be built and there was a crazy dust storm. I couldn't see anything. Cars were stopping or going really really slow. Sometimes you could barely see more than 10ft ahead. It was that dusty. It didn't help that the freeway was surrounded by dirt fields. That's Arizona for ya.

`We took a trip over to Party City the other day because my mom and dad are always ahead of the game when buying party supplies or birthday gifts. We stopped and noticed they were having some great clearance deals. We picked up all of my party supplies for $4.25. It normally would have been over $30. Talk about a great deal. For those who are interested in knowing, I will be having a Jo Jo The Circus Clown themed party this year. We are still trying to determine where we will be having it though. I'm counting down the days.

Tomorrow, my sister will be 3 weeks old. Time seemed to slow down after she arrived. It just seems like the weeks are taking longer lately. We picked up a scale last night to weigh her because we want to make sure she is eating enough and not just using my mom as a pacifier. She is a lot more responsive lately and still a whole bunch of fun to hold. I still like her a whole bunch.

Since the weather has been a bit more manageable lately, I think I will ask mom and dad to take us to the park. I always have a good time on the swings and going down the slides. It's been a while since I've been to one because the plastic gets so hot it burns your butt. Not a fun way to spend the day. Besides, who really wants to go outside when its 115F. It's terrible I tell ya.

Last weekend we went to my Grandpa Paul and Grandma Debra's house to swim. We met up with my great Aunt and Uncle as well. It had been a while since I had seen them so I was a bit nervous and i never was too OK with it all despite being in the warm water and having fun. I liked sitting on the steps and holding on the bar. I have never done that before. A storm began to roll in so we had to get out before I wanted too. I had fun the rest of the night in their house running around.

Have a good weekend. Hopefully the storms continue for us here. We could certainly use more rain.

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Wow, I was digging through my YouTube account and noticed that one of Rylan's videos was posted on a MySpace profile. When I went to check it out I was amazed.

http://www.myspace.com/kerstin560 DELETED

This person, who has a name similar to my wife, is not my wife nor any family member of ours. They are currently using about 15 Rylan pictures and 2 of his videos. Now if this is not disturbing enough as it is, there are a few comments under the pictures, one of which says...

June 27, 2007 6:34 PM
lol erin had fun with him that day..they were splashing each other with water haha

This was in relation to a few swimming pictures that I had taken. A swimming day that we had no one but me and my wife.

I have reported this to MySpace and well see what happens next. Crazy world we live in.

Update:
Looking at this further, the one friend of hers appears to be using a picture from TrixieUpdate.com. I have let the father know to see if he can confirm this and report that user as well if necessary.

http://www.myspace.com/meganderin321

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Kaitlyn is still doing amazingly well.

Now about 18 days old, she is still a bit red and yellow but we are told that this is making its way out of her system. We had taken her to her doctor a few days ago and he confirmed that she had a mild case of jaundice but from what he could tell, it was on it's way out. They confirmed this by checking her feet which have begun to already show normal skin tones. Slowly, we are told this will go away starting from her toes to the top of her head.

She is doing amazing as far as sleeping. She sleeps throughout the day but continues to sleep through the night as well. We have a bit of a time getting her to go to sleep but once down, she will sleep from 6-10 hours. Yes we are very lucky, especially since Rylan did not give us too many troubles as well. I'm not sure how we lucked out with these 2 sleepers.

My wife had terrible troubles feeding Rylan while he was still new. Kaitlyn is a bit difficult as well but for a different reason. Rylan had a tendency of biting and Kaitlyn has a thing for sucking in air. No matter what type of burping we try though, this air just doesn't always want out and we end up hearing about it later when she has an upset stomach.

She has begun opening her eyes a lot more lately and is ready to take in all the new sights. We have a play mat that we are working on introducing her to. It has a few toys that she can currently bop a bit when she involuntarily flails her arms.

My wife tells me that she enjoyed watching Sin City the other night. The black and white tones definitely are perfect for the developing eyes.

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Alright little Kaitlyn, enough of this crying stuff in the middle of the night. I know it only happens once in a while but when it does, I just can't get the type of sleep that I need. Let's try and work on this, OK?

So we have been trying to sell our home for about 5 months now with no luck. We were supposed to move into our new home early next month but that certainly is not going to happen now. My mom and dad went ahead and resigned some papers to get another house in the same area. That should buy us another 10 months or so to find a buyer. I don't know why people haven't bought our home yet. It's a nice home and I really like it.

We met up with my Great Aunt Carmen last night as well. This was the first time she had a chance to see Kaitlyn. She was holding Kaitlyn and then she had a big explosion in her diaper. It startled her quite a bit. My mom took care of that problem quickly though. It was funny to see her jump.

It seems like forever but we have finally had a few storms roll through this week. One actually gave us quite a bit of rain. My dad took me outside when it had just started and I got sprinkled on. That was fun. Last night, we had a dust storm take over. My dad was outside and couldn't see more than 40ft ahead of him. It was pretty nutty and the power even went out. Luckily, I slept through it all so I didn't have to worry about anything.

Keep an eye out next Monday. My dad will be putting up a video of me. I guarantee that you will just love it. I know I had fun making it.

I think that may be it for this week. It's just been so hot lately that there is very little to do outside of the house. My dad though has kept me pretty entertained with an old poster tube that we talk to one another with. He also rolls a ball down it and it bonks me on the nose. Boy I can't get enough of that. It's just so funny.

Have a fun weekend.

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I remember my sisters and I dressing alike at times. Now my wife is doing this. This is going to be interesting.

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When Rylan was born, he gave us atleast 3hours of sleep at night before he would wake us up for a diaper change or feeding. We heard all of the horror stories so we thought we had it pretty easy. We lived on this schedule for about 6 weeks before it started to take its toll. After that time, he slept through the night like a champ.

Kaitlyn is a bit different this time around and is actually making our lives easier. From day 1, she has been sleeping anywhere from 3-6 hours per feeding or diaper change. An amazing thing. This is even with her currently sleeping a majority of the day as well. We had one bad night in which she was just not interested in going down but that seemed to be caused by stomach issues.

It's hard to understand what people are going through when they talk about having to wake up every hour or never getting sleep at night with a baby. We have just been lucky it seems. Let's hope it stays that way.

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When my wife was in the hospital while having Kaitlyn, it was just me and Rylan driving back and forth from home. Eventually, Rylan wasn't going for this anymore and he simply refused to get into his car seat or stroller. In the past, we have had our random spurts of difficulties getting him to cooperate but for the most part he is great and very helpful.

For about 4 days, I was having the most difficult time getting him into his car seat and when my wife would do it she had no troubles at all. What's the deal with that? Maybe he was just bored of me. We pushed on a few days later and I gave it a try again and he slipped in with no issues. Hmm.

Turns out that the trick for Rylan being super cooperative right now in regards to his car seat is playing music that he likes. That happens to be anything sung by Mary Poppins. In fact, if a song of hers is not on repeat while we are driving, he goes bonkers. He loves this lady. Why wouldn't he? She is practically perfect in every way after all. She is so perfect that when you say Mary Poppins, Rylan's ears perk up and he pays super close attention, just like in the movie. His latest word he is working on is even Poppins in which he says more of a "Poppa" word.

Not unsurprising but Mary Poppins seems to be his favorite movie right now as well. If we start up the DVD he will sit quietly on the couch watching. He must get that from me because I think it is my favorite Disney movie as well. Just something about those songs are great. It seems that every song they sing is as good as the next and that's a hard thing to do.

It seems true the old saying that a spoonful of a sugar helps the... kid get into his car seat. Whatever works I say.

Maybe this love for Mary Poppins stems from his first visit to Disneyland. He was just 2 months old at the time.

On a side note, we have the old Mary Popping soundtrack on record but currently unable to play it. Anyone care to send us a record player?

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What can I say that hasn't already been said. My sister came this week and I am so happy. I was there during the delivery and will always be there for her when she needs me. I am her big brother and that makes me very happy.

I had fun at the hospital while waiting for my sister. My mom and dad packed me up a Big Brother Bag that included some goodies for me including a few coloring books, crayons, a new toy and even a special lunch for me. My grandma was watching me a lot during the visit which was nice. We got to roam around the hallways and just do things at my own pace. I like to see the babies at the nursery.

My dad throughout the weekend was taking me back home to sleep. I began to rebel though after a while because I was sick of being put into my stroller or car seat. I fought and fought, oh and I screamed. I just wasn't going for it anymore. I wanted my mom to do it. Dad had a hard time with me getting situated but now I am back to normal it seems. The trick is that I want a Mary Poppins song playing while I get placed into the car seat. That isn't too difficult now is it?

The past couple of nights I have been able to sleep peacefully. My sister didn't even wake up at all last night so that was really good. She is a pretty quiet kiddo. When I'm in our family room and mom is in the kitchen, if Kaitlyn cries or chirps I like to go tell my mom. I'm like the little watchdog. Last night in the car though she was getting all crazy crying and I just couldn't take it anymore. I just had to blast out my own scream. I think I won that battle. I have a lot more experience making terrible noises.

That may be it for now. Have a great weekend and try to stay out of the scorching sun.

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(sorry for the poor quality)

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Today is my first day at work since I rushed home early on Friday to rush my wife to the hospital only to be turned away. I have a lot of catching up to do and a lot of questions to answer about my new daughter.

Here is a bit of recap from the weekend events. We went back into the hospital and got admitted in at 10:00pm on Friday. At 9:36am, Kaitlyn was with us. My wife progressed really quickly near the end and they began to notice that Kaitlyn's heartbeat was running at 200bpm and they wanted to rush her out. They prepped us by talking about the possible use of c-section and the suction tool. We just wanted her here healthy. They got everything ready for a normal birth and noticed that she was already crowning. It only took 2 pushes and Kaitlyn was here. Simply amazing.

They monitored her for an hour or so and watched her heart rate. At this time we really introduced Rylan to Kaitlyn. At first, he was a bit reluctant but quickly reached out for her hand while she was on the warming table. They held hands and you could tell he knew who she was.

Me and Rylan took off for a bit and let my wife get settled into her new postpartum room. We came back and Rylan picked up right where he had left off. He was kissing and hugging Kaitlyn like he was waiting for her arrival. He can't get enough of her.

We were out of the hospital about 24 hours and back home. Soon after we got back home, Kaitlyn was crying a bit and Rylan, being the helpful big brother that he is, went into our suitcase and got whatever he could to help her. He found the nose sucker which he must have thought she needed. Definitely a helpful brother already. We are working on getting him to be a good helper by getting diapers and wipes. He is transitioning really well.

The past 2 nights, Kaitlyn has woken up to feed and she gets a bit fussy at that time. With Rylan sleeping in our room as well we figured he would be woken up and he has. The first night he started angrily grunting and then came over to see what the commotion was about. Last night, he sat up for a second and after we told him that everything was OK, he went back to bed. Perfect.

Right now we are getting woken up every 3 hours or so for feeding and changing. This was about what we had with Rylan. We can live with this.

My wife had a terrible time at first feeding Rylan but is having a much easier time with Kaitlyn. The knowledge she learned before and now better expectations allow her to coop with it all much easier it seems. It was definitely one of the most difficult things about having Rylan and I am glad that she can have a bit easier time with Kaitlyn.

More updates as the days go on...

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Here is a play on the magic numbers related to Kaitlyn and how they add up. Let the crazy talk begin..

Birth time: 9:36am
Weight: 8lb 4oz
Length: 21in

[(9*3)+(6+8-4)](21)=777

777 the same as her birthday. *cue the eerie music*

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Friday 11:00am - We headed to the hospital because my wife was bleeding. They sent us home after her doctor told the hospital that she had stripped the membranes which would have caused the bleeding. This stripping of the membranes never did happen though, We were sent home with instructions to drink more water to stop the 3-6 minute contractions. She is at 1cm dilation.

Friday 10:00pm - We head back to the hospital because my wife's contractions have increased in strength and timing.

Friday 10:20pm - My wife is taken back for exam. They determine she is having contractions every 3 minutes and she is now 3cm dilated.

Friday 11:20pm - My wife is admitted into the labor and delivery floor and is given a private room.

Saturday 1:00am - She is given an epidural to help with the severe contractions. She is still at 3cm dilation.

Saturday 2:00am - Me and Rylan head home for a few hours of sleep while my wife's mother is helping her at the hospital.

Saturday 6:50am - She has been at 3cm for about 10 hours now. They have given her Pitocin to get things really going.

Saturday 8:00am - Me and Rylan get back to the hospital. My wife is now at 5cm dilation.

Saturday est9:00am - I stepped out of the room to get my wife some ice chip and when I returned the doctor was telling her that she was 7-8cm dilation.

Saturday 9:20am - The doctor tells us that our daughters heart rate is high at 200 and they need to get the baby out quickly. They go over the possibilities of c-section and use of the vacuum.

Saturday 9:36am - Kaitlyn is born amazingly fast. They had gotten the table setup and my wife all situated and they quickly noticed the babies head was already showing. After 2 pushes, Kaitlyn was here.

Kaitlyn's heart rate remained high so they were a bit worried but after an hour it had decreased. Rylan was cautious at first but soon warmed up to here. He grabbed for her hand while she was on the table and they held hands for about 3 minutes. He is fascinated by her and loves to be next to her. She has even gotten a few kisses from him already.

My wife is doing great. Bit thirsty and tired but otherwise in great condition. The delivery was perfect.

Pictures should be coming soon...

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Well of course this weeks main focus was the firework displays that we saw. I had a good time watching the fireworks and I really liked the big loud ones. I kept looking behind me though because the bangs were really loud there. My dad tells me it was the sound bouncing off of the walls. He is smart. As for the fireworks themselves, we had fun but I think I like the fireworks at Disneyland much better. They have fireworks that they shoot up to make it look like Mickey's head. No show here will ever do that.

Dad and I have been having a lot of fun lately. We have been trying a new game where he sits on the floor near the couch and I jump off the couch into his arms. I could do this for hours. Sometimes I get to the edge of the couch and just fall off and sometimes I get of a running start and leap off. Every time seems to be more fun than the last. It is teaching me how to jump which is fun too. Dad put me on the ground after this and showed me how to jump but all I could do was stretch out my body as much as possible. Mom sure got a good laugh.

So the heat over here is scorching. I think it was up to 116F the other day. That is simply ridiculous. It seems to take the car a bazillion years to fully cool down and then you have the fight the heat of the sun. Talk about terrible. We try not to drive but sometimes it's just necessary. I sure never look forward to it though.

Yesterday my mom had another baby checkup and everything is still looking OK. The doctor said that my sister was going to be a bigger than I was maybe.. hmmm Mom just woke up and called my dad to have him drive us to the hospital. I just got back now, just in time to finish writing this review. They say everything is OK and that the problems she is having was because the doctor stripped her membranes yesterday. We are a bit cautious though because the Dr. did not actually do this so we are a bit confused. We are all watching mom closely.

I think thats it for this week. I am going to go monitor my mom like a hawk. We'll let you know if anything changes. Have a good weekend.

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We decided this year, due to work schedules, that we would check out one of the July 3rd events. A nearby city was throwing a big celebration so we figured we would check it out. We were hoping for a big celebration including food, activities and then the fireworks finale but that wasn't really the case.

We got there a few hours before the scheduled fireworks and not until after we got in did we realize that it was pretty boring and not too many events or food to enjoy. The most difficult part was there were no strollers allowed so we knew we were going to have a fun time with Rylan. We walked around for a bit and decided to get some overpriced concession food. Rylan wasn't too interested in this though and just wanted to walk around.

Somehow we blew a couple hours before the fireworks started. We headed up to the grandstands to watch and found a seat near the exit so we could bail out quickly in hopes of beating the rush. Rylan continued to be restless while watching the fireworks. He didn't know if he wanted to sit down or stand up. He enjoyed a few of the big fireworks but wasn't too interested in the smaller ones. I taught him how to say Boom! and he immediately picked up on that which was fun for us. We took off before their finale but still managed to get stuck in some heavy traffic. Despite drinking water, we were all dehydrated trying to fight off the 110F heat at night.

We didn't have anything planned for the actual 4th of July so we just headed to the store to run our normal errands. As we returned home we noticed some fireworks going off nearby so we took a slight detour to show Rylan. He was immediately interested in pointing out the fireworks but that quickly died off again. He seems to have a short attention span when it comes to fireworks. Maybe he just doesn't want to get stuck in traffic. Smart kiddo.

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My wife was having a rough pregnancy day on Saturday so it was my job to make sure that Rylan didn't wake her up. We played downstairs for a bit and quickly realized that Rylan would prefer to pick at my wife somehow rather than reading a book. I figured this was a great opportunity to reintroduce the good ol' secret fort.

I took Rylan upstairs and got out our largest bed sheet. We currently have Rylan's bed in our room so I draped the sheet from our bed to his. Using a bit of props, I got it to stay up and I showed Rylan how to get inside. He was thrilled like before. I figured it would be a good idea to have some of Rylan's friends over as well so I grabbed Mickey and put him next to him.

Rylan, the smart guy that he is, decided he would like to introduce all of his buddies to this new secret fort. He went out and grabbed Pooh bear and brought him back in. We gathered the rest of his stuffed toys including Donald, Huey, Dewey and Louie. We had the whole Disney crew hanging out in the secret fort. We were all in heaven.

I grabbed a few books and Rylan was now interested in reading them with me. He stepped out a few times to grab a few more books himself. We laid there for quite a bit just reading books. What a great weekend.

Rylan's good mood stayed through the rest of the day as we went out shopping, eating and even the play area. This may have been the best day for Rylan in months. We had dinner at home and Rylan was given some pie as a treat to finish off the day. It was a great day and just overall relaxing like the weekend should be.

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