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!