The Big Boy

I don't know if it is because Dylan is so tiny or just because he is growing up, but Ryan seems so much bigger and smarter to me than he did a few weeks ago. He has been talking up a storm (more than ever), has really improved his vocabulary and comes up with the funniest things.

Two recent funny stories, both involving the swings:

1. Ryan and Grandma play a game called "Up to the sky" on the swings. I took Ryan to the park the other day and he told me he wanted to play - I didn't think it would be that complicated but Ryan kept telling me I was doing it wrong.

Me: "I am sorry Ryan, I will have to call Grandma and ask her to teach me how to play"

Ryan: "You have a phone?"

Me: "Yes, why?"

Ryan: "Call Gamma now"

2. They also have a game on the swings "Spin" which is exactly how it sounds - you twist the swing around and let go so it spins around. Mom didn't tell me she only twists the swing 3 times before she lets go. I on the other hand, twisted the swing about 10 times so Ryan spun really fast and wildly. As he was spinning, he was cracking up laughing yelling "I can't see my eyes"

Ryan loves going to the park and we try to go as often as possible. Whenever we are there, Ryan loves to play with kids that are there, although he has no interest in playing with little boys his own age. Instead, he always follows and imitates the older kids and as a result, he has become a little daredevil. He used to be afraid of going down covered slides for some reason and recently has been going down all by himself.

Jay and I took him and Dylan to the park yesterday and we couldn't believe how well Ryan could climb the nets by himself, tried to slide down the rope swing, and even climbed the monkey bars.

I look at Ryan and think how fast the past 2 1/2 years have gone and it amazes me that my little baby is not the baby anymore - he is a wonderfully smart little boy that surprises me everyday with his humor, intelligence, and love and I am so glad that Dylan will get to learn from him. I know Ryan will be a great teacher, playmate, brother and friend!!

The Little Boy - The first two weeks

After the first two weeks with Dylan, it is already hard to imagine our family without him. We had his first doctors appointment on the 24th and it went wonderfully. We had a small scare in the hospital because Dylan failed his hearing test in his right ear, however, he passed the re-test in the doctor's office and we could not be happier - I even cried out of relief when we were told he passed. When we left the hospital, we were told that Dylan weighed 8 lbs. 5 ounces and Jay and I were very surprised to hear that since it is highly unlikely he gained almost a pound in the 36 hours we were in the hospital - we were even more surprised when the pediatrician told us that Dylan now weighs 8 pounds 14 ounces and grew 1/2 inch in height!! He has been doing great eating but our pediatrician is pretty sure that Dylan's birth weight was wrong and that he really weighed over 8 pounds at birth.

We go back to the pediatrician when Dylan is a month old and I can't wait to see how much he weighs then!

**Update: My ob was not on call the weekend Dylan was born and I recently went to see him. While I was there, he was asking about Dylan and I mentioned that Dylan's birth weight made no sense. He offered to call the hospital to find out what the correct birth weight was because apparently, all babies are weighed not only in the delivery room but also in the nursery. If the weights are different, they are supposed to weigh the baby again and make the change on the birth record. Although they did not change the birth record, it ends up that when he was weighed in the nursery, Dylan weighed 8 lbs. 12 oz!!! We knew 7 lbs 9 oz made no sense and I am glad to finally know the correct birth weight. **

Dylan is a great baby. He has slept more in the past 2 weeks than Ryan did in his first 2 months and while he seems to have his days and nights confused, each day we seem to get closer to a normal schedule. When he is awake, Dylan is a nosy-body, just like his brother was. He has huge blue eyes and he constantly is looking around, probably looking over his shoulder to make sure Ryan isn't going to drive a train on his head.

He has already started trying to hold his head up, and even though I know it is just because of gas, I love when he smiles - I can't wait until he starts smiling for real.

Without a doubt, I have taken more pictures of Dylan in the past two weeks than most people take in a year and I think he is getting cuter by the day.

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He is so huggable and kissable and has the most delicious baby smell. We love him so much and even Ryan seems to love having him around. I really am lucky to have such a great life and family.

Dylan Matthew is here!!!

(this post is out of order and eventually I will fix it, but thought would be easier to find this way)

5 days after his expected due date, Dylan Matthew joined our family at 11:33 p.m. on Sunday, March 15th. I woke up the morning of the 15th not feeling well and within 2 hours, realized that I was having contractions. They went on throughout the day but were very inconsistent. Jay and my mom convinced me that Ryan should probably spend the night with my parents in case we needed to go to the hospital in the middle of the night. Around 8:30 p.m., we called the on-call doctor to tell him we thought I needed to go to the hospital and he encouraged me to continue to labor at home since my contractions were still not consistent. We decided to head to the hospital anyway and it is a good thing that we did - we arrived at the hospital at 9:30 p.m. and 2 hours later, our son arrived (quite different than the 14 hours we spent at the hospital waiting for Ryan to make his appearance). This time, we were so late to the hospital in fact, that after they inserted the epidural, they realized it was too late to turn it on and Dylan was born less than 10 minutes later.

We called everyone right after Dylan was born and everyone was so surprised that he came so quickly - last time they heard from us, it was around 10 pm and we were not even sure if they were going to admit me to the hospital. Since Dylan was born so late at night, we decided that everyone would wait until the morning to come meet him, but since Michael lives so close to us, he and Jasmine came to the hospital that night.

When he was born, Dylan weighed 7 pounds, 9.8 ounces and was 21 inches long. He has big, bright blue eyes and like Ryan, started opening them and looking around before the night was over.

As I predicted, Dylan had a full head of hair, but to our surprise and as further evidence that the old wives tale is true about heartburn equaling a baby with hair, Dylan also had the hairiest shoulders we have ever seen on a baby. He also couldn't wait to eat.
We were pleasantly surprised to be allowed to go home on Tuesday morning. After spending the first 2 days of his life in an NYU hospital hat, onesie, and the hospital blanket wrapped around him making him look like a little burrito, it was time to get Dylan dressed in his coming home outfit that he got from Aunt Erika and Uncle Richie.

Too bad his jacket was a little bit too big!! It was Ryan's and maybe we should have gotten a new one for Dylan - luckily the weather is starting to warm up and he shouldn't need it for much longer.

Like typical New Yorkers, we took Dylan home in a taxi and I am sure the cab driver thought I was nuts when I made him take our picture. The first few days with our new son have flown by but things have been great. We were lucky enough to have one wonderful son already and we feel truly fortunate to have added another healthy, beautiful boy to our family.

Dylan's first outing

After 36 hours in the hospital and 2 days in the apartment, I was starting to get a little bit stir crazy. Since we had good weather today, Jay and I decided to take the boys out for a little while so we all could get some fresh air. We went to the park right behind our building and it was great for all of us, especially Ryan who was happy to be pushed on the swings, run around and play in the dirt, and most of all, push his brother in the stroller. As soon as we put Dylan in the stroller, Ryan told us that he wanted to push Dylan and show him where the park was.

As usual, Ryan had brought some trains to the park and once we were there, he quickly lost interest in Dylan, Jay and I because "Peter Sam need go in dirt". I am not sure who was dirtier at the end of our time at the park, Ryan or the trains, but the all ended up in the bathtub as soon as we got home.

Dylan slept for his entire first trip to the park, but he sure looked adorable all bundled up.

I forgot how hard it was to get little baby arms in a coat and am really looking forward to the nicer weather and spending time outside with my two sons. I still can't believe that I am the mother of two boys - two of the greatest, smartest, funniest and most handsome boys ever!!!

Brothers

The night Dylan was born, Ryan stayed at my parent's house and I could not wait for him to come to the hospital to meet his little brother. We had talked about the baby for months and the time was finally here - I guess months of telling Ryan that we need to be gentle with the baby and that he will be very tiny must have made Ryan nervous though because I was surprised at how shy he was.

Ryan told my mother later that day that he did not like "Dylan's house" - I think the hospital was just overwhelming for him and seeing me in that environment was probably confusing for him. Ryan did start warming up to Dylan after the exchange of gifts, perhaps thinking "This baby can't be too bad if he knows about Thomas". The longer Ryan stayed at the hospital, the closer he would get to Dylan but he said he did not want to touch him because he was afraid.

Being a family of 4 has been wonderful so far and here is our first family picture, trains included.

We are thrilled that Ryan seems happy about being a big brother and Jay and I are so excited to see the boys grow up together - I know that they are going to be best friends.