Welcoming Baby Ryden

Ryden was born on Monday in the early afternoon. The kids came to see him that evening for the first time. They reacted pretty much exactly as I expected. Dakota first entered with Betty and came bounding in the room with a huge grin on her face. I watched her eyes scan the room, looking for the new baby. She climbed up on the bed to see me and then I pointed to Ryden laying in the hospital bassinet. She stood up on the bed to look at him. She exclaimed, "He's out! Your baby came out! He's got red cheeks!" I explained that his name was Ryden and she repeated him name perfectly and asked to hold him.

She sat down on the bed next to me and Betty place him in her lap. She held him so gently and just stared at him quietly for a full 3 or 4 minutes. She kissed him and stroked his head and after those minutes of silence, she looked at me and quietly asked, "Can I keep him?"

It was so cute! She continues to be a good big sister. She sings to him, gives him binky and tells him stories. She likes to hold him and talk to him and mimic everything I do with her baby doll.

Oakley is a different story... He hasn't shown an interest in babies ever. Period. We tried to prepare him for the birth and he just did not care. His reaction to seeing the baby for the first time was pretty much the same. He did not care. He didn't want to be at the hospital and was being difficult to start. When he came in, he didn't want to say hi or see the baby. He just ran around and grumbled, and was being destructive.

Finally, Dakota wanted Daddy to see the baby and tried to carry Ryden over to him. Doug took Ryden and finally Oakley was curious. He walked up to where Doug was sitting and got on his tippy toes and checked him out. He pointed at first (a little rough) and then got frustrated and starting swatting at him. He lost interest and walked away. Ryden was returned to me in bed and after about a half hour, Oakley again showed interest in who was taking my attention. He climbed up on my bed and and looked at the baby. Finally, he pointed again. He showed me his eyes and his cheeks and his mouth. Then when I tried to get him to say "baby", he got mad and jumped down. That was about the end of his interaction that night.

Today, we brought Ryden home from the hospital. Dakota showed immediate interest again. But again, Oakley was distracted and irritated. But after about an hour of running around, he finally walked over to where I was sitting and checked him out again, pointing and looking at me with a curious face. I tried to get him to say "baby" and he just jibbered at me, but it was a positive response.

After taking a nap, Oakley came into my room where I was feeding the baby. He climbed up on my bed and gently approached him again. He pointed to his face again and then he said "Bayba". I smiled and encouraged him and he said it a few more times. Since then, he has tried to push the baby in his swing and has shown a little more interest. I think it will get better with time. The first time he heard Ryden cry around dinner time, he stopped eating, turned and just stared at him in amazement. Aunt Melissa came by to visit and was holding the baby for a bit. When Oakley entered the room and saw me without the baby for the first time, he came running over and jumped into my lap. He was so happy to have his own mommy time. I think I will just need to carve out special time for him every day.

We love having a new baby brother in the house and I look forward to all the cute ways my kids will bond over the next few weeks and for the rest of our lives!

Big Sister and Sibling Rivalry

Dakota has always been a good helper and a pretty good big sister. She wakes up before any of us, and so we are in the habit now of leaving the TV on her favorite cartoon channel. When she wakes up, she usually sneaks out of the bedroom and comes in to say good morning, then goes downstairs, turns on the TV and helps herself to some breakfast while the rest of us are trying to get as much shut-eye as possible.

As soon as she hears Oakley wake up, she comes back up and lets him out of the room. The other morning, she let him out and then proceeded to open a package of pop tarts and gave one of them to him. Such a nice big sister! Always taking care of her baby brother.

For the most part, they play really well together and are pretty great friends. However, lately Oakley has started to learn how to get a reaction out of Dakota.

The other day, Dakota had some toy animals all lined up, playing. Oakley ran in, grabbed two animals out of the line-up and dashed out of the room. After she cried for him to return them, he finally brought them back, dropped them on the floor near her and as she reached to pick them up, he grabbed two more out of the line and took off again! What a stinker!

He also has been pulling her hair just to get a reaction.

Let the rivalry begin!

Disclaimer: I do have to admit that often he does just go up to her and give her big hugs and loves her so so much.

More Dakota

A few sayings and conversations as of yet:

Dakota to baby brother in my tummy:
"Whatcha doin' baby brother? Oh? You're just kicking in Mamma's tummy? Okay, you can just kick in Mamma's tummy!" Then she kissed the belly and ran off. And he started kicking afterward ;)

I ran back in church one day to drop something off and when I returned to the car, Dakota was unbuckled and standing by Doug up front. I asked her what she was doing out of her carseat. Her reply, "I'm just telling Daddy what to do. That's my job!"

When Dakota starts to freak out about anything, I usually say something like, "What's your deal?" Lately she is always telling me what she is doing and feeling and follows it up with, "... that's my deal." Even if I haven't asked :)

She is also very into favorites. What's your favorite food? What's your favorite color? And also how old you are, what color eyes and hair you have and if you are her friend, cousin, aunt or uncle.

Not a Great Listener

This is the monologue I got from Dakota on the way home from gymnastics today:

"I am not a great listener. I got up and ran away and my teacher said, 'Don't run away, Dakota. You are not a great listener.' and I said, 'Sorry teacher.' And she said, 'It's okay miss Dakota-bee.' And I got up and ranned away because I was getting a bumble bee on my paper."

So there you have it.

I told her she needed to listen to her teacher. :)

Ko-Da

Oakley is starting to jabber a ton, but doesn't say anything super clearly. But today when he woke up from his nap, we needed to go pick up Dakota from a playdate.

I asked him, "Should we go pick up Koda?"

He replied: "Ka-da!"

I asked him again, "Ko-da?"

He replied again, "Ka-da!"

Then he proceeded to say her name in the car about 20 times on the way to get her and throughout the rest of the day. It's super cute and I love that he learned her name as one of his first words. If you ask him to say "Koda", he will say it back to you and smile with satisfaction. Dakota thought it was pretty cool and asked him all the way home to say her name.

Don't Talk to Me

Doug thinks that Dakota is always partial to me, which is not always true. But nonetheless, the other evening, we were sitting down to dinner. Doug was pushing Dakota's buttons, teasing her and there was a lot of squealing and whining going on. I finally reached my limit with the noise and announced, "OK! Everybody stop talking! Let's just eat dinner, please!"

Dakota's response:

"No, Mamma! Don't talk to me, because I am talking to Daddy..."

(Doug, secretly is sighing a sigh of victory.)

"Daddy, don't talk to me, because I am eating dinner!"

(Doug rolling his eyes in defeat.)

And then both of us giggling under our breath. Trying to keep things serious. LOL

Ya

Oakley is just barely starting to try to talk. One thing he has picked up on is that people say "ya" in response to questions sometimes. So whenever you ask him a question... no matter the question... he replies, "YA!"

He must just recognize the inflection in your voice when you ask a question.