Some Pictures!

While I have a couple minutes I thought I would post a couple pictures....
Cutie Pie Ryker (when we look at him he is like Gunnar's little clone only chubbier...this kid takes eating very seriously!)

His first bath at home. His belly button fell off so I figured why not...he hated it. Gunnar never cried at bath time from day 1 so this is something new. I was so worried the water temperature was wrong with the color of red the kid turned, but that was just because he was so angry. I checked the water about 50 times. I concluded that either the tummy-tub which is suppose to feel like the womb is a total rip off and just a bucket with a fancy name or the womb was a very scary place for little Ryker (which is very likely considering he was being body slammed by his big brother constantly) .

 After nap time today Gunnar wanted to cuddle on my lap. I went to hand Ryker to Kyle, but Gunnar grabbed the guy's little legs and pulled him back towards us. The three of us sat together on the couch with Gunnar's arms around Ryker for a good 15 minutes...then Gunnar tried to push Ryker off. (Sorry for the blurry picture, Kyle took about 10 and this was the only one you can see anything in).

Everyone loves a good Ryker cuddle. He loves sleeping and here he is enjoying a little snooze on the chair with dad.

Gunnar takes his job as big brother very seriously...

His "boobies" are courtesy of his dad. Gunnar has been very curious about what baby Ryker is doing to mommy, but what do you expect when you are breastfeeding...I am sure it is all very strange to him.

Keep us in your prayers. Tomorrow Kyle will be leaving at 11am to go to Landstuhl for a sleep study. This means it will be my first day and night alone with TWO kids!!! I am really nervous. He will also be gone all day Wednesday as well as they are doing a day time sleep study. So he will basically be gone 2 full days and 1 night. Hopefully we are all still alive when he arrives back home. I am praying for a good nights rest and happy kiddos tomorrow. These are his last two days of his "paternity leave" so I am sad that he has to spend them away, but if they didn't do the sleep study now they could not until the end of October.

Little Ryker Thomas

Ryker Thomas Pettit
Date of Birth: August 22, 2010
Time of Birth: 2026
Birth Weight: 3309 kg (7.2 lbs)
Birth Height: 53 cm (20.3 inches)

Timeline of Events on August 22(times are an estimation):
0300: Woke up with what I assumed were contractions (I know it is sad I could only assume, but you never know, it could have been gas). They were about 10 minutes apart.
0400: Attempted to wake Kyle up to tell him of my awful pains and got a response of "oh that's nice" as he rolled back over to sleep.
0400-0800: Paced the entire house while attempting not to think about all the pain that I was enduring.
0800: Gunnar woke up. I wake Kyle up and tell him that I don't think we are going to church. Make everyone breakfast, shower, and get Gunnar ready for the day. Making breakfast entailed pouring cereal and milk into a bowl.
Noon: Contractions were about 8 minutes apart and very painful. I decide it is time for Gunnar's sitter to arrive and for me to go to the hospital to see if this is really labor.
1300: Go to the hospital and have a midwife who speaks very little English. She checked me and said "no baby...maybe in 5 hours, maybe tomorrow." One of my fears came true and I got sent home. I realize at this point that labor is not going to be fun...I am being sent home and am in a lot of pain!
1330: Visit in the hospital with our friends Angie and Jon who had baby James early Thursday morning.
1400: Arrive back home, decide that babysitters should probably stay. I go to the back room and suffer through contractions as they get stronger and closer together.
1600: Call my parents to tell them of my sufferings.
1800: Contractions are 2-3 minutes apart and I am almost certain I will die, so we head back to the hospital.
1830: Got hysterical because I was afraid they would send me home again and that I was just being a big baby. The midwife convinced me that the hysterical sobbing was not helping and that I was obviously in labor and would not be sent home. Thank goodness she spoke English!!!
1900: Midwife checks and I am dilated to a six. She informs me that after she checks the baby's heartbeat, I will go to the bathroom (meaning I get a fun enema), and then the baby will come.
1930: Midwife forgoes the enema after checking me again (thank goodness) and seeing I am dilated to an eight. She takes us to the delivery room and says in 20 minutes she will break my water if it does not break on its own and then the baby will come!!!
1955: Midwife breaks water and the real fun begins.
2015: My doctor arrives. At this point I have been told that they can see the babies head and I am so close. My doctor then informs me that with each contraction I am only to push the baby 1 mm. "WHAT?!?! 1mm is not very far, this baby needs to get out!"
2020: After informing everyone I could not possibly push this baby out, and everyone assures me that I will indeed be pushing this baby out, my doctor gives me some sort of magical drug that makes contractions constant (and I thought I was having fun before). After feeling like my body was being ripped in two, having my legs shake uncontrollably, my doctor telling me I need to get a hold of myself,  and the most excruciating pain ever.....
2026: Ryker arrives!!!!
2026-2126: Ryker makes his arrival known by screaming. Gunnar's squeaker took a while to get working, but our boys come with the volume on HIGH!
2230: After being given time to bond with my baby, getting two stitches, and the sexiest undies ever I got to walk down the maternity ward wearing my tank top, and my sexy mesh underwear back to my room. The midwife informed me that any men in the hallway would understand. HAHAHA, thank goodness there were no men that I noticed. I also was lucky enough to be roommates with my friend Angie the first night before she got to go home. So...she got to see me at my best looking moment in my life!
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The first night Ryker maybe slept about 30 minutes. I was so worried about what I had in store for me. However, since getting home and adjusting he has been the sleepiest little guy. He doesn't even like to wake up to eat. He sleeps though Gunnar, diaper changes, clothes changes, being completely undressed, being sat on by big brother, etc...he is just plain sleepy. I am not complaining and I do like it, but it is just very different than our Gunnar! He had a few rough nights, but it was because he had horrible gas, but the last two nights, he wakes up only to eat then goes right back to sleep!
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So far Gunnar has adjusted pretty well to his role as big brother. He loves to give Ryker kisses. He does get a little jealous and wants to be held and will crawl right over Ryker like he doesn't exist to claim his own place on a lap, but overall I have been pleased. Mind you Ryker is only a week old and I am sure all of these things are likely to change as time goes on....
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I am feeling great! I actually can't believe how great I have felt. I guess when you push a baby out slowly it is a lot easier on your body! I only took 2 pain pills the entire time I was in the hospital and have taken tylenol once since being home.
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More pictures and videos will follow soon. For some reason I don't have as much time to blog as before, but until next time.....
Here is our first family picture.

Ryker Thomas Pettit

So here are the pictures that everyone has been waiting for....Slideshow style
-Kyle

A week to go...

Today is exactly one week away from my official due date. I am so ready for this baby to arrive. I didn't know that I would ever say that, but I am ready. I am ready to be the only woman in the house of 2 little, and 1 big boy. Well, maybe not, but I am ready to have one particular little boy out of my belly, this I know for certain.
Today we were brave and ventured out of town. Kyle's work had what they call Organizational Day...we prefer to call it "mandatory fun." It was only an hour away, so we figured we could handle it. Plus, two of the wives are nurses and assured me they were ready to deliver a baby, and were excited at the idea. Thank goodness I didn't have go that route. We are now safely at home, and about a 5 minute drive from the hospital, this is much more comforting to me.
So "mandatory fun" was can I possibly admit it, a little fun? As usual it was unorganized, and there was a lot of standing around, but we made the best of it. They had us get there at 9:30, but nothing actually started until noon. At noon our program consisted of an awards ceremony, a BBQ, a bounce castle for the kiddos, a dunk tank (which by the way is at just about every mandatory fun event), and they had a water balloon fight. While those things weren't to exciting, right next to the mandatory fun was probably the coolest playground we have ever seen.
Playgrounds are one thing that we love about Europe. They are so much cooler than any playgrounds we have in the good ol' USA. They are usually way more fun, and always incorporate a little bit of danger (the level of danger varies from playground to playground). Kyle says that the little bit of danger involved is what makes them so much fun. Also understand, that the danger level would lower substantially if we were not talking about my husband taking my 15 month old (who his dad thinks is 15 years old) on these playgrounds.
Anyways, instead of standing around and boring ourselves to death, not to mention trying to wrangle Gunnar, we headed over to the playground. I'm not really sure who had more fun, Gunnar or his Dad, but fun was had! I did a lot of worrying and trying not to hover as Kyle sent Gunnar down the big kid slides and had him climbing walls. They had a playground that was definitely for kids at Gunnar's level and ability level, but of course, Gunnar (or his Dad) were to cool for that, and had to go on the big kid stuff.
Apparently I didn't take a lot of pictures of the entire playground, but this was the huge, scary part...

Gunnar really does loves slides and will go down even the big ones without any coaxing, but apparently Kyle got a little carried away with a push on one Gunnar was a little hesitant about as Gunnar shot out of the bottom like a speeding bullet! Yet, Gunnar still trusts his Daddy a little to much if you ask me...Gunnar thought this was fun, I was just thankful Kyle was holding him and didn't push him down any of these big slides by himself.

Here is Gunnar playing on some of the safer, age appropriate toys...

Here is Mia (our neighbor girl whose Dad is also in WTU, she really adores Gunnar), Gunnar, and I on a pretty cool swing. Gunnar was pretty sleepy and thought this would make a good place for a nap. It made me feel pretty sick...maybe because I am 39 weeks pregnant???

Gunnar also enjoyed the bounce house after the Organizational Day Program. He burned a lot of energy in there. I was out with him for about an hour while he jumped and ran inside of it. He also did a lot of laying down as the other kids bounced around him. At one point, I decided to sit on the corner, but after about 10 minutes of being bounced to my limit, I decided that I really didn't need my water to break right there, and it would be best if I stood up...I hope Ryker thought the bouncing was fun, because while sitting felt good, the bouncing really wasn't all that fun for me!
Here is some video that shows the entire playground, plus Gunnar and Kyle trying out the zipline. And yes, I know, I am some mad skills behind the video camera!

38.5 Weeks

I finally went back to the doctor today, and I got to see my doctor! Yea! It took over 2 hours past my appointment time to see him, but oh well. I tried not to be one of the 7 angry pregnant ladies that was impatiently waiting. The nurse said that the doctor Schwind had been on holiday for 2 weeks and this was his second day back. She said that since he has been back, every pregnant patient he has was freaking out, nervous about their pregnancy, so they were demanding to see him, but then they all were upset when they had to wait.
Anyways, the appointment went well. When the doctor's assistant went to get the ultrasound started before the doctor arrived when she lifted up my shirt she started laughing hysterically. My belly was so lop-sided. Baby Ryker really had himself wedged into my left side. After she finished laughing she pushed him around until he was in a much more comfortable position. I don't really think it was that funny, but I think everyone in that office needed a laugh after dealing with cranky pregnant ladies all day.
Doctor Schwind says that Ryker is weighing in right around 7lbs. When I looked at the ultrasound it clearly said "8lb 1oz" on the screen, but I will take his word for it....he is the doctor after all.
He said everything is looking great and that I had the most photogenic baby of the day, I was his last patient of the day too! He scheduled my next appointment to be on August 23rd, but said he could very well see me at the hospital before then.
I have decided that the waiting game really is no fun. Anticipation kills me, I like to have a plan, but instead, I just have to sit around and wait. Dr. Schwind did tell me I could start working on natural ways to induce labor...he suggested motocross.
My 27th birthday is August 24th. I am only requesting that the baby does not come tomorrow or then. Kyle has to take another trip to Landstuhl tomorrow. He is riding a bus there and back, so it would be a real bummer for me to go into labor while he was not around. I have plenty of people to help out, but I prefer my hubby!  And I just don't think that having a baby on my birthday would be all that much fun.
Here is a picture of Ryker. He seemed much happier today. My doctor thinks he is smiling at us, so this was the one he printed...even though there were much clearer shots.

Here I am after a long day at 38.5 weeks pregnant.

The little things...

Gunnar has been such a sweet boy the last few days. Not that he isn't always sweet, but he is just doing little things that are precious and the last two days he hasn't been fussy at all, he just does his thing....
Today he did some things that were cute, and funny, and I wanted to write them down before I forget. Since I won't tell you have much progress I have made on his baby book, just know that I have to write things on the blog so that I can refer back to them at a later date.

--This morning I came out in the living room with a banana. Usually Gunnar tries to steal anything we are eating, but he just stood by me, and didn't even want any when I offered. When I finished I was holding my peel, Gunnar took it from me, opened the kitchen door, went directly to the garbage can under the sink and threw it away. He closed the cupboard door and walked away the proudest little boy ever!!!

--He has also become really good about helping us put away his toys. He loves putting anything in a box, so cleanup time is easy with a big tupperware for all this toys. We can even point to the toys that are to far away and we are to lazy to get and he will run and go get them to put in his toy box. The only issue with this is that somedays he likes to dump his entire toy box over just so he can put everything away...but at least he puts them away.

 --He is my little laundry sorter. He loves the laundry. He loves to sit in the dirty, stinky laundry, and drag the baskets all over. However, tonight after his bath, he grabbed the towel from  my hand and ran it to the baskets in the hallway. He even put the towel in the correct basket!

 --Gunnar is an active kid, he climbs, runs, and doesn't stop moving most of the day...unless he finds a good book. He will stop in his tracks if he runs across a book that interests him. Sometimes he will bring them to us to read, or other times he will just sit quietly on the floor and look at them by himself.

--Gunnar loves praying at meal time...or at least loves when we pray. He could be in the middle of throwing the biggest fit about having to sit at the table, but as soon as Kyle or I say "fingers please, its time to pray" Gunnar stops what he is doing and holds our fingers. (I don't know why it is just a finger, but he won't hold our hands just our fingers.) He sits there quietly the entire prayers. The other night I was saying a prayer for our food and when I finished Gunnar looked at me like I was crazy and forgot the most important thing. He then started pointing to his fingers that were cut and bruised from a fall he took....it was like he was saying "come on mom, did you forget to pray about my hurt fingers?" I know that is probably not what he was getting at, but he seemed satisfied once I prayed for them too and it melted our hearts. 

 --He cracks up at the silliest things. I have been putting lotion on him since he was a newborn baby after his baths. Well the last week or so, this has become the most hilarious thing to him. He will let me put lotion on his legs, but as soon as I go for his belly, he wraps his legs around my arms as tight as he can and laughs hysterically. He is probably being naughty, but he can't stop laughing, and in turn it makes me laugh, so I guess I just let it kinda be this game that we play.

 --His latest obsession is toilet paper.  Whenever anyone goes to the bathroom if you don't get the door closed in time, or if you are like me and can't close the door because you have to keep an eye on him (he is now an expert at sneaking outside, and climbing on top of the kitchen table and playing with the salt) he will come in and point to the toilet paper. One piece satisfies him and he waits until you are done and then thinks it is great fun to throw it in the toilet and watch it flush. If he happens to find an entire roll he likes to tear it off in the tiniest pieces and make big messes, which I don't think is so cute.

If anything we know that Gunnar is observant and that all those bumps and bruises on his head haven't done to much damage. It is amazing the little things that they pick up on. I love that when I tell him it is time to eat he runs to the table, or if I tell him it is time for a bath he runs to the bathroom.
I am a little sad but mostly excited to see Gunnar as a big brother. I feel a little bad for baby brother Ryker as I have a feeling a lot of tickles and hopefully not to many body slams are in his future. But Gunnar has also become a really loving, and caring kid. He loves to give loves...even if he doesn't know you that well. He is quick to give a hug, and if he leans in towards you with his forehead he wants you to give it a kiss (not a headbutt).  Gunnar's world is about to be turned upside down with this new addition, I hope he is ready, because I am not sure that I am.

Pickles and Cheese

This silly boy loves pickles. He sounds like he is going to have an asthma attack anytime he sees them.  I think he would like to be on a diet of pickles, cheese, and "ananas"(bananas).

Can we get a re-do?

Yesterday was one of those days that you wish you could fall back asleep during and start all over. Here is a recap...
Kyle got home Monday night at 9:30pm from a 4 day scuba diving trip. He was in bed and fast asleep by 10:00pm.
Kyle didn't have to report for PT because he had an appointment at 7:30am. He woke up at 6:45am left the house around 7:10am.
He called me at about 7:20am, and said "I fell asleep driving and hit another car, I will talk to you later."
Of course I had many questions, but he had no time and had to go.
Apparently he did exactly what he said, fell asleep while driving and slammed into some poor old German man's car who was patiently waiting at a red light. The guy spoke no English, but didn't care to have the police called and gave Kyle his phone number and name, Kyle gave him the same and they both went on their way. Kyle then went to is doctor appointment. The doctor wanted to know why he didn't just call and say he was to tired to come in...haha, if you know anything about the military you know that would never work! So, the doctor told Kyle due to his sleeping issues he shouldn't drive for the next 30 days when he is sleepy. I guess that means after his 30 days of restricted driving he can go back to driving sleepy???
We have known Kyle has a sleeping problem for a long time. He can hardly sleep at night and would sleep all day if he could. He falls asleep at times he shouldn't, and if we are driving a long distance I almost always drive. He can tell stories of falling over while walking around in an attempt to stay awake on guard duty because he fell asleep...So yes, he has sleep problems. He is already signed up for another sleep study because they want to do more tests as the first one was just for sleep apnea and they found he had a mild case.
We are so thankful that Kyle is okay, the car isn't to bad, and the person in the other vehicle is okay as well.
So that was the morning. Kyle was required to come home and not work the entire day and he spent most of it sleeping. Later that evening Gunnar and I went outside so he could play. Kyle came out to talk with us and some of the neighbors and one of the guys he works with. Kerstin a neighbor was going to call the person Kyle hit so we could find out exactly how he wanted to go about us paying for his car to be fixed. Kyle was walking to the car to get the info. I shouted out to him "Gunnar is following you." I didn't think much of it, and turned around to talk some more. All the sudden we all hear Gunnar screaming bloody murder. I looked at Kyle because I thought he was with him and Kyle said "where is he?" So now, Kyle has to follow the screams. Apparently, Gunnar decided to stop following Kyle and go down a stair case/bike ramp. We don't know exactly what happened, but he was pretty banged up and bloody. He calmed down after a couple minutes and wanted to get down and play so we let him. He has seemed fine ever since, so I guess the damage is way worse than it looks and sounded.
So pretty much, I have decided that I just need to lock both of these boys up. They both really shouldn't go anywhere without me. I love them both so much and praise God for keeping his Hands on them yesterday and protecting them. Both incidents could have turned out much worse, but God was pretty awesome to my family yesterday and took care of everyone!
I can't forget. Kyle's hair was SO long, that I had to give him a haircut yesterday. So this was my third time cutting his hair. The first two times were not so bad, not perfect, but not bad...this time it was bad!!! I told him we should just shave it, but he said it will be good in two days. His favorite saying is "what's the difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut? Two Days!" I don't know that this is true, but we can hope. I hope the two days pass quickly, because I have to laugh every time I see his hair. It went from being really long to SUPER SHORT. I think it would be better if we just shaved it, but Kyle refuses to have a shaved head. I told him next time he should go to a professional, but he refuses to do that too! So I suppose he will just have bad hair cuts until Mr. Army tells him it's time to let the professionals take over.
So like I said, it would be nice if we could have a do-over for yesterday, but, since we can't we will just be thankful everyone is okay and that we all have each other to help us through the hard times.
Here is a picture of some of Gunnar's damage...his hands are both also pretty badly scrapped up, but getting a picture of that was impossible.

So maybe this is part of Gunnar's problem. We have boxes full of toys for him, but none of them interest him. This is what was entertaining him this evening after dinner (minus the saggy diaper, that was just neglect on my part)...

Here is a picture of Kyle's totally sweet haircut. I could not get it to fade for the life of me, so the sides just kept getting shorter and shorter. Kyle hates short hair and is always pushing the limits with the length of his hair. Not anymore. It still really isn't faded that great, but much better than it was...plus it is super short on the top now, which he hates....almost as much as me making him take a picture for the blog.

Will work for food...

Meal times have become a battle around here lately. Gunnar will refuse to eat, hit the food away, or just sit in his chair and cry. It is so frustrating for us. I believe Kyle said that they sat at the table this morning for breakfast for over an hour. Lunch time Gunnar just screamed at me, and this was at dinner. He ate a good dinner with no problems. He is so unpredictable when it comes to meal time, some days he eats like a champ and other days he doesn't. He does prefer to feed himself and this is a very time consuming process, I cant imagine how frustrated I would be if it took me that long to get food on a fork! He really is working hard for his food. It does not always take him this long to get the food on the utensils, and if he can not get it he usually gives up and just uses his hands to eat with, but not tonight, he had to use those utensils. We do help him out and I usually feed him bites while he is busy working at getting food on his fork. If we made him eat like this all the time I think I would just sit in my chair and cry too.
(I have been on a blogging frenzy lately, so don't miss out on any of the other posts.)

Gunnar at the Park Video

The video above is from our day at the park. Gunnar riding the little spin thing.
I will try and post another video of Gunnar's funny laugh soon. It is taking a long time to upload and I need to get some things done...

Fun at the park

Wednesday I was feeling pretty crummy and felt bad because I didn't spend much time playing with Gunnar. He doesn't really like being in the house all day so when Kyle got home from work I ask if we could take him to the park. I mostly just sat and watched them play. Gunnar loves to climb and this park is perfect for him. I try to not be a "helicopter parent" but I get a little nervous usually. However, I was just feeling so rotten on Wednesday that his dad was in charge of safety, so Gunnar was a free kid and loved every moment. I am so impressed with his agility and the things he is able to do. He seems more like a little boy and not a baby more and more each day.
So here is probably way more pictures than you want to see of Gunnar's adventure's at the park. (I made the pictures small since there are so many, but if you click on them they will get bigger.)

So when we got ready to leave the park, Gunnar wasn't to happy. So he threw his first "I don't want to leave the park" fit. It lasted about 15 seconds, then he was good to go.

Today we went back to Landstuhl for some more of Kyle's medical appointments. I convinced him that a Cinnabon Classic Roll totally fit into his diet. I am such a horrible influence. He had never had Cinnabon before, so while he felt so guilty eating it he did enjoy it. The best news, it didn't put him over his calorie count for the day, whew! Gunnar also got to enjoy his first taste of Cinnabon, even if it was only a tiny piece (apparently Gunnar's parents are not good at sharing).

37 weeks

I went to the doctor today for my appointment. I was noticing how dead it was in the office, and I guess that is because everyone decided to take a vacation (where is my vacation?). After they hooked me up to the heart rate monitor, took my weight (to which I have lost almost 4 lbs.), and blood pressure they told me that my doctor was not in. Not only was he not in, but the doctor I usually see he if is gone was not their either. So I got the third string doctor. She came in the room and started speaking to me in German. I quickly told her I wasn't German and she said "oh you do not look American, and I am sorry but I don't speak good English." Not sure if it is a good thing or not to not look American.
Anyways, whenever someone who is caring for me and my unborn child says they don't speak good English I get a little nervous, especially since I was coming with a load of questions today....
So she looked things over and simply said "heart rate is good, you lost weight, not good." She then started the ultrasound and after about 3 seconds she said "do you feel that you are having a contractions right now?" YEAH LADY, I DO!!! She said no more about the contractions and started to have a looked around, she showed me the hands, feet, legs, said "oh a boy," and then looked at his face. I then had another contraction and she ask again if I could feel it...hmm...I think so! She then concluded the ultrasound with saying "baby is in the go position, he is moving, and your fluid is good, have a nice day."
Then the nurse went to schedule my next appointment and she told me it would be in two weeks. I quickly reminded her that Dr. Schwind said last time I saw him that after this appointment we would go to 1 week appointments. She looked around for who knows what and said "no, 2 weeks." 
Talk about frustrating. No one checked my cervix, no one ask if I had questions. I felt like the information I got was all information I could have told them without going to the hassle of actually going to the doctor and waiting over an hour. Yes, my baby moves, yes, his heart is pumping, yes, he is a boy, and yes, I am having contractions!
So, I will be calling tomorrow and hopefully I can either talk to my doctor or get in to see him and get answers to all the questions I have and see if I still have a few more weeks, days, hours... (or at least get his best guess at this).
Here are a few more pictures....I found some clothes I stashed away for Gunnar to grow into. I am glad I found them as most were in his current size. I found this cute basketball outfit that I am using as pajamas (everything is pajamas these days). I love it!

Here is another picture of Gunnar and I, he is such a sweet boy and as really turned into a cuddle bug the last month which I just love.

Gunnar and his daddy. They are a blur because Gunnar would not stop moving. If he is in Daddy's arm he usually assumes that it is Wrestle Mania time!