Diem-2 months

Age: 2 months

Weight: 12lbs 5oz (74th percentile)

Height: 23" (73rd percentile)

Head: 38.5cm (57th percentile)

Diem is still a very content baby. It seems like she only cries once a week. She gives plenty of warning if she needs something. Brennan used to go from 0 to 100 in 3 seconds, so it's nice to not have a ticking time bomb for a baby :)
Diem loves being in the Boba carrier. She falls asleep within minutes of being snuggled up to me in it. I don't have to worry about her being upset, as long as she has a full belly. It makes leaving the house so easy.
Diem has been smiling even more lately. Every morning, she smiles so big, that her eyes shut. She has just started to coo when smiling this big. She gets so excited when she hears Ryan's voice. A few weeks ago, she was laying on her side and she lifted and turned her head to look up at Ryan, as he was talking to her. She's getting strong.
Diem is a pretty good sleeper. She only wakes up once or twice a night. Unfortunately, I am wide awake after changing, swaddling, and nursing her.
I love Diem's bottom lip. She likes to pout it out when she's sleeping. It's so precious!

Outtakes:

Brennan-25-27 months

Age: 27 months

Brennan is such a dream of a toddler! I can't quite put into words how amazing I think he is! He makes us laugh and smile ALL DAY LONG! He is sweet and cooperative and the opposite of what I thought the terrible twos would be! I know there are lots of phases that children go through, but we are appreciative every day for his demeanor right now.
The way Brennan has welcomed Diem into the family is incredible. He loves her so much. The first thing out of Brennan's mouth when I walk into his room in the morning is either, "Me Daddy" (My Daddy) or "Me Diem" (My Diem.) He needs to see her before he'll do anything else. He always says, "Hiiiiiiii Diem." in the highest sweetest voice possible. He loves to point out her hands, feet, and nose. If Diem cries, Brennan's eyes get red and watery and he puts his hand into his mouth. It hurts him, if she is sad.
Brennan is very predictable when we're in the car. He ALWAYS asks for 4 things. The first is "choo-choo." He loves trains and there's a pumpkin patch near our house, that has "Tommy" train rides. The train is visible from the road, and Brennan thinks of it the moment we pull out of our subdivision. The second thing that he'll say is "pumpkin" again, in reference to the pumpkin patch. The third request is "soothie," because he knows we are suckers and that we will get him a smoothie if he asks in his sweet little voice. The fourth request is "Me drive," which is hilarious! Ryan has held Brennan on his lap, in the drivers seat, when pulling the car out to clean the garage. Brennan really thinks that he can drive now, and says that he wants to drive every time he's in his car seat.
Brennan is still figuring out the English language. He is confused and says "You," when he really means, "Me." when he sees himself in the mirror or in photos. I can understand where the confusion comes from, as Ryan and I say, "You," when we point him out.
Brennan's favorite person is Grandpa Carl. When Grandpa is visiting, Brennan has to tell him everything that he sees and does. Brennan will randomly say, "Me Papa." (I want Papa.) If Brennan is talking to Grandma Barb on the phone, one of the first things that Brennan will say is that he wants to talk to Grandpa.

Outtakes:

Diem-1 month

Age: 1 month

Weight: 10 lbs. 11oz (74th percentile)

Height: 22" (72nd percentile)

Head: 37cm (48th percentile)

Diem has been a dream baby! She rarely cries, usually she'll just grunt and groan. She gives plenty of warning that she's hungry or upset, before letting out a cry. At night feedings, she'll just whimper to wake me up. (Brennan would go from sleeping to screaming in 1 second.)

She's growing like a weed! I can't believe that she's gained over 3 and a half pounds in a month. Diem sleeps so much, she's only awake for 2-3 hours of the day. She's been sleeping a good 4-7 hours at a time at night! In the first couple of weeks, I'd have to set an alarm to wake her up for feedings at night, but because she's gaining so much weight, now I just let her wake up when she wants to nurse. She does cluster feed during the day, usually nursing every hour to two.

She has started to smile already. Brennan gets her to smile more than anyone. She's only given Ryan and me a couple of "on-purpose" smiles, but almost every time that she makes eye contact with Brennan, she smiles! Brennan absolutely adores Diem! It has been the smoothest transition imaginable! Brennan talks to her in this super high voice, that his voice cracks. The sound of him saying, "Bless you...Diem, bless you." when she sneezes is the sweetest thing I have ever heard. Her refers to her as "Me Diem," which means "My Diem!"

My biggest fear with becoming a mother of two, was the thought of leaving the house. I didn't know how I'd go to the grocery store, or run errands. Well, it  has been a breeze. Diem is so content in the Boba wrap that I don't even have to worry about her crying in public. Brennan has been so cooperative, as well. He just does whatever I ask him! I feel fortunate beyond belief!

I love kissing Diem's plump little cheeks and the sweet way that she just melts into me when I snuggle her in the early mornings. I am trying to cherish these newborn moments, because I know they will be gone in the blink of an eye.

Outtakes:

Diem-Newborn

Introducing...
Diem Ariana Rahl
born September 17th, 2015 at 2:02AM.
Diem weighed 7lbs 1oz and was 19 1/4" long.

My labor and delivery with Diem was a 180 from Brennan's. I labored at home for 5 or 6 hours. When we arrived at the hospital, they said it was up to us if we wanted to stay or go back home to labor more, as I was only dilated to 3cm. I knew that we had to stay. Ryan and I walked the halls of the new life center for an hour. I had progressed to 5cm after that hour. Then, I labored in the tub for an hour and a half. When my nurse checked my progression, she tried not to show her panic, as she left the room, to "call in the troops" as she put it. I could hear her say that I had progressed to 8+cm. When she came back to the room, my water broke and I couldn't fight the urge to push. At that moment, another nurse came into the room and they both convinced me that I needed to get out of the tub, asap. I was able to walk to the bed and with one more push, Diem entered the world! My midwife walked through the door, right as Diem was being born. I was in labor for 9 hours and only pushed twice. Ryan was able to cut the umbilical cord. It was perfect! There is no way I could have had my all natural delivery without Ryan! He encouraged me and said just what I needed to hear. When I said that I couldn't do it anymore, Ryan would say, "You are doing it, you're doing it right now!" Diem and I were doing so well, that we decided to only stay the required minimum of 24 hours. We really wanted to get home to Brennan!

Brennan-24 months

Age: 24 months

Weight: 29 lbs. 8oz (68th percentile)

Height: 36" (88th percentile)

Head: 51cm (95th percentile)

How Brennan is two years old, is beyond me! He is the light of our lives! We always say, "Do you think there's any child more loved than Brennan?" and our response is always, "It's not possible!"

Brennan's favorite thing to do is be active! He loves running, and playing on his bikes and ride-on cars. He doesn't stop moving from the moment that his feet touch the ground in the morning, until the moment he is laid down at night! (With the exception of his afternoon nap.) He is full of laughter and smiles all day long.

Brennan has just recently gone to taking one nap during the day. We also decided to stop giving him his pacifier. It has only been allowed in his crib for over a year now. Since he doesn't have his pacifier to look forward to, for nap time and bed time, we have just begun to rock him. Brennan was never one for cuddling, but he really enjoys this time. I'm not sure if he enjoys it as much as us, though! We usually talk about the day and recap everything that he did, or we'll tell him what he has to look forward to, with the next day.

Brennan's second birthday party:

Brennan-23 months

Age:23 months

This month Brennan has been so funny with his facial expressions. He'll crawl up onto me and look me right in the eyes, as he makes a funny face. It makes me bust out laughing every time.
We went on a little get-a-way to Wisconsin Dells a couple weeks ago. Brennan did wonderful in the water. Ryan will be doing swimming lessons with Brennan next month. Hopefully he is a faster learner, than I was as a child. Brennan's favorite part of the Dells was definitely the deer park. The deer were able to roam freely around us. We were bombarded by deer, wanting to grab the crackers out of our hands. Brennan thought it was so funny, as long as he was in our arms.
Brennan cracks me up so much. Lately, he will randomly come up next to me and say, "uhhh HI!"

Outtakes:

Brennan's "silly face"

Brennan-22 months

Age: 22 months

Brennan has had so much energy lately. He loves running really fast, and especially when we say, "Wow, you're so fast!" Every night about an hour before bedtime, he is really hyped up. He loves belly flopping onto his ball and being surprised by where and how he hits the floor.
Last weekend, Ryan helped move my brother, and his fiance, from Pittsburgh to Washington DC, so Brennan and I had a mommy/son weekend. We left the house early on Saturday and went to The Original Pancake House for breakfast, then drove an hour to a great petting zoo. It turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day. Even though Brennan thought the animals were pretty cool, he still enjoyed the random balls and tractors around the property more.
Brennan's favorite thing to do right now is to be outside. He has figured out how to open the sliding screen doors to the patio, if I have the large glass doors open for a breeze. If I'm not looking, he slides the door quickly, and makes a run for it. He doesn't care if it's light or dark, warm or cold, dry or rainy, he just wants to be outside. I was also surprised by how brave he is with his backyard play set. I was watering my plants, and looked over to see him climbing the ladder all by himself. He'll jump right down the slide, although he doesn't know how to slow himself down at the bottom. He goes flying off onto his butt/back every time that I'm not there to catch him.

Outtakes:

Baby #2-sex reveal

We found out last week that we are having a baby girl!
We are so excited to experience raising both sexes!

Brennan-21 months

Age: 21 months

Brennan has been incredibly sweet this month. He has been so happy and clingy. Typically, Brennan is pretty independent and does not like to cuddle. He enjoys being held, but only if you're standing and walking, so that he can get a different view of things. This month, he has been reaching up for us to lift him onto the couch, so that he can sit next to us for a few minutes at a time.
Some of his favorite things to do this month are jumping (going up onto his tippy toes) and dancing (quickly jumping from one leg to the other.) All you have to do is ask him to do either, and he gets a mischievous smile on his face and obliges.
Brennan has made leaps and bounds this month with his speech. He is really trying to pronounce words and not just saying "DA!" or "BA!" every time we ask him to repeat after us. His favorite things to say are definitely still "ball" and "whatisthat?"

Outtakes:

Baby Rahl #2

Baby Rahl #2 is due September 13th, 2015!

Brennan-20 months

Age: 20 months

Brennan's favorite thing to say now is "WhatisTHAT?" He says it about a million times a day, while pointing his finger. Sometimes he's pointing at nothing, other times he really is curious what something is. He gets so excited when birds are sitting on the roof line right outside his window. When I go into his room in the morning, I can almost guarantee the first thing out of his mouth will be, "whatisTHAT?" That is usually said before I even pick him up out of his crib.
We've been experiencing a lot of stubbornness with Brennan. He never listens to us and if we have to tell him "no" or take something away from him, he has a 5 second meltdown where he will fall to the ground and drop his forehead to the floor. Some people have told me that the most trying time with their kids was between the age of 15-20 months, so let's hope that we'll have our sweet Brennan back soon.
Brennan's favorite toy is still balls. He says "ball!" anytime he sees a circle, or something round. He loves to throw a ball for Xander to fetch (which Xander actually fetches for him about 1% of the time.) He's finally tall enough to dunk his basketballs into the hoop his uncle Adam bought for him.
Brennan is starting to come out of his shell at his weekly gymnastics class. He lets the instructor help him slide into the foam pit and hang on the bars. In the past, Brennan would freeze with shyness if the instructor so much as looked at him! Brennan has been intrigued by a tunnel there for weeks, but has just become brave enough to crawl through it. So brave, that he doesn't want to come out of the other end, and he thinks it's hilarious to hide in it.

Outtakes:

Brennan-19 months

This month was rough for Brennan and me. We both got sick with terrible head colds. This is only the second time Brennan has ever been sick, so it was so hard for us to see him so miserable. His sickness brought a lot of irritability. Everything we did made Brennan mad and resulted in a ton of temper tantrums. Luckily, he is feeling much better now, and is back to his sweet self!

This month Brennan learned to say the word "no" and shake his head. I've always dreaded when this day would come, but the way he says it. isn't so bad! He is so innocent and sweet when he says it, not aggressive at all. Anything you ask him in a question form results in him saying very gently "nah" and him shaking his head. It's so hard not to laugh at him. One day I asked him if he had a good nap, and of course he said, "nah" with a huge smile. Another time I asked him if he knew that I loved him sooooo much. Again, his response was "nah" with a shake of his head. We're trying to teach him that "yes" is an acceptable answer to questions as well.

Outtakes:

Brennan-18 months

Age: 18 months

Weight: 27lbs 4.5oz (87th percentile)

Height: 32.5" (50th percentile)

Head: 49.7cm (96th percentile)

Brennan started gymnastics this month. It's a parent and tot class. He's a little timid to try out the equipment, but loves just running on the spring floor. I hope this will help him be a bit more social. I wouldn't say that he's shy, but he's definitely not outgoing with strangers. When he gets nervous, he always puts his hands into his mouth. Once a stranger turns their back to him, he starts waving and yelling at them. It only takes him 10 minutes to warm up to people, but we want him to feel confident in social situations.
One of Brennan's new moves this month is walking backwards. He thinks he's pretty cool doing it. He'll walk really slowly backwards, with a huge smile on his face and then once he bumps into something, he bursts out laughing.
Brennan is really understanding what we're saying. We can ask him to get something and 9 times out of 10, he will. If he doesn't understand he'll say, "Huh?" and wants us to point to the object. He can also point to any animals eyes in a book. Sometimes he surprises me when I ask him, "where are his eyes?" and he'll take his little pointer finger and precisely point at the tiniest eyes in a book!

Outtakes: