Sunday, January 31, 2010

Just some fun pics...

Nothing really new to share but some fun pics. This first picture is from Sam's Club this weekend. Ryan wanted to sit in the cart with Ross (luckily this works at Sam's). He's really been starting to fill the "big brother" role lately. He said 'Star Wars' to Ross one time and he smiled so now he likes to say that to him a lot. He was leaning over Ross' car seat and saying 'Star Wars' and 'I love you baby.' Ross was just eating it all up - he's really starting to recognize his brothers and loves them both so much.

I repeat one line to the boys often... "Brothers are best friends." I often tell them when they are fighting, playing together, etc that they will never have a friend as good as their brother. I hope it sinks in and that our three boys grow up with very close relationships to each other. Some days it works well and others it doesn't. On the times that it does, they are so cute together. There are times that they will just play and play like best friends.
The other night I was testing my battery theory on our camera (I finally figured it out - it's our charger that has gone bad). I wanted to play and take some pictures so talked Ryan into taking pictures with his brother and then with the three of them together. There was bribing of m&m's that took place but I did get some great shots!
Proud big brother...
All three of them together. This is Ryan's... "I'm smiling for you face." I took a lot of pictures and in more than half Ross is looking up at his two big brothers or else someone is squirming and the picture is fuzzy. Trying to get the three McDowell Boys to sit still is not an easy challenge!

The best one I got...
Then of course we decided we needed to get some silly pictures...


And dad even joined in the fun - check out his eyes... creepy!
Being silly just wore them out, they all fell asleep... ha ha!
Nope, they are awake... and hanging like the monkeys that they truly are:

Monday, January 25, 2010

Happy 3 months Baby Ross Jacob!



Baby Ross or BRJ as we've been calling him in texts lately turned 3 months old on Sunday. He is getting so big! Notice the scratches all over his eye.... he had actually went to bed at a decent time Saturday night (shortly after 8) and then he started screaming. I went in there and he had scratched his face and he got it GOOD! He was up and mad so I went ahead and trimmed all of his fingernails... which he HATED! There was no getting him back in bed after that.

We got him his exersaucer this weekend and he can sit in it and hold his head up high. He likes looking at the toys but can't quite reach them yet. He can't seem to get enough to eat before bed so we're thinking about starting some rice cereal sometime this month. He is starting to sleep better once he gets to bed. Most nights he only gets up one or two times and he has slept through the night a total of THREE times now. We're getting there!

Ross definitely recognizes mom, dad and his brothers now and rewards us all with toothless grins all the time. He's doing pretty good at daycare. He's seems to be getting into more of a schedule daily (you know the McDowell's - we like our schedule). Ross had his first babysitter Saturday morning and he didn't do as well. He was tired and fussed quite a bit for her but she's willing to try again next Saturday so hopefully he can make up for it!

Here are some pictures I took of Ross at Reid's hockey practice on Friday night. He was in a good mood and these pictures are better than his 3 month pictures I snapped on sunday since he boogered up his face :)




Here is Ross in his exersaucer. He's going to love it when he can reach those toys!



Here are a few of the other 3 month pictures I took:


And just for fun...

Bowling for MLK Jr Day

Ross and Reid were out of school for MLK Jr day, Russ was off for the holiday and Ryan and Ross' daycare was closed. Unfortunately I had to work :( As soon as I was done for the day we loaded up and went bowling. They programmed our lane so the bumpers were up for Reid and Ryan and down for the rest of us. We had a lot of fun! Russ won and Reid had the lowest score. I didn't even get over 100... none of us are going to make a living bowling!


Here are some good pics from the fun outing...



Thursday, January 14, 2010

Three and a half is a big step!

I think I've posted a lot about how difficult Ryan can be at times. I wanted to share some great things he has done lately.

First, Ryan had his first haircut in a LONG time where he did not throw a fit when it was time to cut his hair. His last three have been sitting on my lap. At his last haircut he kicked and
screamed like crazy. THIS week he went to get his haircut and I told him that he was three AND
a half now... so he couldn't sit on my lap and there was no whining. When it was his turn he started to whine and I said... "hey Ryan, tell Mike (the barber) that you are three and a half now." He suddenly remembered, came with me and got in the chair and then started talking to Mike a mile a minute. He talked during the entire haircut (of course) and never once got scared or had any trouble. I was SOO happy and proud of him.

Second, Ryan has never been interested in playing sports, trying anything, etc. I found an indoor soccer league that has parent/tot little kicker classes. He has been to two so far. He struggled with shyness at the first lesson but did the activities. He had a little shyness at the second as well but did much more interacting and talking. He's actually already asked me when he could play outdoor soccer... which is a HUGE step for him. He used to tell us he was just a "watcher" and didn't want to do anything.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Such a snuggly night

Ross has officially moved up to 3 - 6 month clothing for the most part and while I thought I was pretty set I hadn't really looked at what he had and needed specifically. The poor guy had ONE pair of pajamas in 3 - 6 months and almost no outfits that have feet in them. Apparently 3-6 months is when they start needing socks... and Ross has 6 pair. I went to a consignment shop over the weekend and got SEVEN outfits/pajamas for $19.00. I washed them up and put my favorite pair on him last night. They are long underwear material but also soft. He was in a cuddly mood and looked so darn cute in his "rock and roll" jammies that I had to snap some pictures. He cooperated well by crawling up the side of the chair and holding his head up high too. We had a fun 30 minutes together after the other two boys went to bed and he was in such a good mood - I wish I could have bottled that time up!




Wednesday, January 6, 2010

He's YOUR son...

I say this to Russ a lot when one of the boys does something silly, bad, etc... I'm always joking around that the boys are obviously his but not so sure if they are mine.

Tonight Russ brought home two Twinkies as a surprise for the boys. Neither of the boys knew what a twinkie was so he told them... it's like a cupcake with a creme filling in it. Reid thought it sounded gross and said he didn't want it... Ryan said "I'll eat yours!"

Today at daycare one of the kids (Jack) brought Rice Krispy treats. Beth put the treats on the kids' lunch plates. One of them asked Beth if they had to eat it last and she told them that they could eat it whenever they wanted. All of the kids saved it and ate it last... except Ryan - he ate his first. Jake, one of the kids at daycare took a bite and didn't like it and told Beth he didn't want his. Ryan said "I'll eat his!" She let him and he did.

Yep, it's confirmed... Ryan is MY son!

Friday, January 1, 2010

M-I-Z...Z-O-U!

We didn't plan to go out for New Years Eve this year so we centered most of our celebration/partying around the Missouri bowl game. I made some snacks, we ALL had on our Missouri clothes and we watched the game together.
Here are the boys (minus Ryan) posing in their black and gold. Ryan was in one of those moods where he wasn't going to cooperate for pictures.

Mom had to get in on the fun too - so here is one of the famous hold your arm out real far and take the picture yourself shots - took me a couple attempts to get us all in it.
This shot is great for two purposes. Documents that Ryan was in fact there and in his black and gold and it's a great shot of Ross talking with daddy and sticking his tongue out - which he likes to do a lot.
Ross intent on watching his tigers!
The second half was not quite as fun so Ross decided he'd rather sleep so dad was playing around making his bored face as well!