It's a.....

...healthy baby! We're happy to report that everything looks great with baby. I do have to have another ultrasound so the doctor can take another look at the heart as baby's spine was facing out making it hard to get a good shot of the heart.  So, we'll get another peek in a month!

During the ultrasound the doctor commented "that probably looks familiar..."

And I thought this would be an appropriate treat to celebrate.

Cheers!

We can't wait to meet you sweet baby BOY!!!

Happy 1st Birthday, John!

I can't believe it's been a year since this little guy was born! I've been terrible about keeping ye old blog up to date on his milestones and such. The least I can do is write up a special post to mark one year!

What a sweet and easy baby John was. He slept in 4-hour chunks from day one, and oh how glorious that was!

He has loved Joseph from the moment he was able to track with his eyes (and probably even before that!). There was so much fun to be had watching his brother dart from one place to another.

Those beautiful blue eyes stop people in their tracks all the time.

John has always been a happy baby as well. He never cried very much and gives plenty of smiles!

John loves his daddy so much! Every time Will opens his arms for a hug John runs to him for a hug. 

John also loves to wrestle with his brother and is already pretty tough for a 1-year-old. He seems to only whine/cry after Joseph has been sitting on him for a while and he can't wriggle away.

John loves to eat, but can be a bit picky about what he eats. I've learned to give him his vegetables first and to make sure he finishes them before he even sees the rest of his meal. He loves meat and potatoes - just like his daddy (can you tell?).

Just recently John has started pointing and babbling more. He seems to be having conversations with himself, and I'm pretty sure he's convinced we can understand what he's saying when he babbles to us.

John is definitely a bit more reserved than Joseph was, but still loves to be around people and is fairly independent. He loves playing with his brother and trying to keep up with everything he does. 

Just recently John started to point at pictures in books. It's so sweet to see. He also recently learned to wave - which is perfectly adorable.

Each night before bed I read him his bedtime story. When we get to the part about mommy and daddy giving kisses I give him some kisses on his cheek and sometimes he leans his head back, opens his mouth and tries to give me a kiss back. I almost die from cuteness overload every time he does that!

There's so much to love all rolled up in one cute bundle! Happy 1st birthday, John! We love you!!!

More Talking

Joseph is getting very creative lately. I keep thinking I should document some of the gems that come out of his mouth, so that's what I'm doing.

After a time out while I'm changing his diaper Joseph sings what I have dubbed the "Time Out Song."
(to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle)
Time out, time out,
No, no, no.
Stand up, Stand up,
Face the corner.

Joseph is very in to declaring what he loves. Here are a few things he has declared that he loves lately:
I wuv cookies.
I wuv wawipops (lollipops).
I wuv ice cream.
I wuv EXercise!
(Do you see a pattern here?)

After playing at the park for a while I inform him that he can go down the slide one more time then it will be time to go home. He pauses then as his eyes light up he says "we can not go home!"

While in his crib waiting for me to finish nursing John before bedtime Joseph shows me everything in his crib and what sound it makes. My favorite part  comes at the end when he shows me each of his blankets.
"Doggie says woof. Bunny says hop, hop. Udder doggie says woof. Bear says growwwwl! (Udder) Bear says growwwwl! Dino says rrrrawwwr! Bwanket doesn't say. Bwanket doesn't say. Bwanket doesn't say."

Joseph loves to help me - especially with picking up things that John drops. He occasionally gets to eat some of the treats - aka baby food - that John drops on the floor, so it's a win-win. I recently encountered this little scenario:
(John drops his cup on the floor.)
Joseph: (happily handing the sippy back to John) Here you go Don.
John: (Smiles. Takes a quick sip. Drops his sippy again.)
Joseph: (gets down from his seat, gives John his sippy back) Don, don't dwop id again or I'll take id away.
John: (Smiles. Takes a quick sip. Drops his sippy again.)
Joseph: (gets down, picks up sippy, places it on the table out of John's reach) Don, don't dwop it!
5 seconds later (this must have seemed the appropriate amount of time to take away the sippy)
Joseph: (hands sippy back to John) Don, don't dwop if again or I'll take id away.
John: (Smiles. Takes a quick sip. Drops his sippy again.)

I'm pretty sure Joseph gave up at this point and didn't get his cup for him again. Sorry, John. Game over. 

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 54)

1) John is now officially a walker. I think New Years Day is the day I officially deemed him a walker because that's when he made numerous attempts to walk across the room without being encouraged to do so. And he can make it across the room sometimes. Yay!

2) John can also climb up and  down the stairs by himself (but don't worry, I still spot him just in case - he's not that good yet). This has been helpful because it was getting old (and exhausting) carrying him up and down the stairs all the time - especially if I had a load of laundry under one arm and him in the other.

Christmas morning breakfast

3) Joseph isn't one iota interested in potty training and I'm not gonna lie - I'm starting to get a little nervous. We had a short spurt of interest several months back and had a few successes, but now every time I ask if he wants to sit on the potty he gives me a very clear "no!"
I'm learning that his short-lived interest in potty training is just a part of his personality (he is classified as an "impulsive child" according to a test both Will and I took at the beginning of the potty training book I'm reading). I believe the description they used said impulsive children will go "gangbusters" at the beginning of training then quickly lose interest. That pretty much describes what happened with Joseph.
I've also been a bit amused by the book because all of their descriptions of what an impulsive child is like are spot on. So much so that I actually laughed when they said the houses of impulsive children are "baby-proofed to the hilt" and that parents of impulsive children are "unable to hold a conversation with another adult because they can't take their eyes off their kid." True and truer.

4) What other nouns were used to describe my impulsive child? Energetic and active - yep (but really how many toddlers aren't energetic and active?). Early walker. Check (he walked at 9 months + 1 day). Bodily risk-taker. I think (willfully) slamming his head into walls, people, couches, etc. along with having zero fear at playgrounds qualifies him for this one. "Enjoy rough-and-tumble play, and frequently are the children who take this too far and, without intending to, end up hurting a playmate." I believe tackling his brother, random kids at play areas and adults holding babies at formal events qualifies him for this one. Happy and adaptable. Definitely. Pretty much everything they had to say about impulsive children related to Joseph. Now I just need to figure out how to get the boy potty trained before......

5) ...the next baby arrives...

...some time around July 6 :)

6) So far the pregnancy has been fine. A little harder than the others, but manageable (it would be pretty hard to be easier than my other pregnancies). The exhaustion is harder to deal with simply because I have two other little people to look after all day. And this time around I've had afternoon/evening sickness which I've never had before. Really all this has meant is that the bare minimum has been getting done around here - laundry gets done, meals are (usually) on the table, boys are alive. This is one of the reasons the blog has basically been ignored. It's also the reason that I took exactly zero pictures over Christmas, so I'm relying on my sisters for pictures of Christmas 2013 (the ones in this post are from my sister - thanks Julia!).
I'm finally about to enter my 2nd trimester, so I'm hoping to do a little more blogging (but I make no promises). Maybe I'll even take some pictures of the boys this month :)

John and Frances are enamored by the train tracks

7) We're excited to be adding another sweet baby to the mix, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not even a little bit nervous to have 3 under 3 3 two and under (that sounds scarier, right?) for a few days. Buuuut, we're getting a minivan (no more manual locks! or manual windows! and I'll get cruise control! and spaaaaaace!) so all will be right in the world...or something like that.

Thanks for an easy way to re-enter the blogging world, Jen!

2013

Thanks Google+ for making this for me. It actually does a pretty good job of hitting the highlights from this year. Enjoy!

You Know You're In the Rayel Household When....

...you hear:
          "don't eat the floor"
          "don't eat the wall"
          "mmmmmm! carrot!" (said the same way Cookie Monster says "mmmm! cookie!")

...doggie is included in most activities that go on - especially our evening rosary. Doggie is learning to make the sign of the cross. Joseph is his most excellent teacher.

...you see Joseph hijack John's monthly photo shoot.

...you see John's face light up when we go get Joseph from his afternoon nap.

...you see Joseph's face light up when John opens the door to get Joseph from his afternoon nap.

...the boys willingly pose for pictures together. Say "cheese!"

...you see John crawling around with one sock on his foot and the other in his mouth ... and then you see Joseph imitate his little brother.

...in the middle of saying our prayer before meals Joseph looks over at John, realizes he has a Cheerio in his mouth, leans over and says "first we pray!"

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 53)

1) A Wegman's is opening near us, and I just signed up for my Wegman's card today. Word on the street has it that I should be excited ecstatic. I guess I'll have to wait for our store to open to see how I feel about it, but I have a feeling I'm going to like this little enormous store :)

2) John is growing like crazy. He is now crawling all over the place, pulling up and stealing Joseph's toys. Joseph is fine with the first two accomplishments, but isn't too keen on having his little brother take his toys (even the ones he isn't playing with).

I guess it won't surprise you that one of Joseph's current favorite words is "mine!" We've been working on sharing a lot around here. Very often Joseph will say "mine!" then he'll look at me, realize I'm watching, tentatively offer the toy back to John and say "share." It's a work in progress. Sharing is seriously hard business.

3) Most of the time, though, the boys play well together. It's especially sweet when Joseph tries to play games with John. Recently he's started crawling really fast across the kitchen and John giddily follows. They go back and forth and back and forth laughing the whole time. It's really cute to watch.

Joseph decides he needs to have his picture taken, too.
He jumps in during John's "6 month photo shoot."

4) Our mom's group took a little field trip to the fire station a couple weeks ago. All the kids loved it. Here are a couple pictures from the trip.

 

5) We went to a train museum near us for Labor Day and Joseph loved it. When I say loved I'm not even a little bit exaggerating. It was a small museum that had one large room with a display in the middle and one small room with a fairly large lego display. Granted, the displays were interactive in that you could push buttons to make the trains or people or various objects move, but still it was only two rooms. We spent two and a half hours there. Crazy. We met up with some friends at the park afterwards and one of them said "I can't believe you were there for two and a half hours!"

6) Joseph started Preschool last week. We joined a homeschool co-op that meets once a week for a few hours. So far he's loving it (not surprising). I'm excited for Joseph to have this opportunity. And, as much as I balk at the idea, it's been good for me to have a little more structure to my week.
Sadly, I was a terrible mom and didn't take the obligatory "1st day of (pre)school" photo. I didn't even dress him in particularly cute clothes for his first day. Ah well. You live and learn. Maybe next year.

7) We've been enjoying a few of the warmer days at some local fountains. So much fun!

Thanks for hosting, Jen!