Visitors

Last weekend James headed off to Boston to attend an Oral Surgery conference, so my sister, Clair, and her very cute and very happy little girl, Sammy, came to visit. We had a great time while they were here doing what Evans girls do best - eat and shop. Luckily, neither of us did too much damage to the credit cards. It was so great to have her here on my first weekend alone with both Tyler and Ryan. She was so much help! Tyler keeps asking, "Where dat guy Care and baby Sammy?"

James just left to go to Seattle this morning for the next couple of days. I'm a little nervous about doing bedtimes 3 nights in a row by myself. Does anyone else want to come visit? Anyone? Anyone?


Ryan and Sammy were being so cute right before I took this picture. They were lying on the bed together, just staring at each other. Sammy kept grabbing his little hand and he was loving it. Of course, by the time I got the camara, he had had enough and was not shy about letting me know.

Tyler's Modeling Career Begins

I think he is practicing for the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swim Suit edition. Don't you love the wind-blown look? James has started calling him Farrah Fawcet since his hair is so long. I don't think I'm going to get it cut anytime soon. I like it and since it's gotten longer he has started twiddling his own hair rather than mine!

Tyler's Imagination Comes Alive

During the last few weeks, Tyler's imagination has really come to light. He loves to dress up and I often catch him having conversations with his toys. My favorite was when he had Buzz and Woody wrestling and Buzz was saying, "Ouch, Ouch. Woody, stop that! Woody needs to go to time-out!" A couple of weeks ago, Tyler's buddy, Sam, was over and they played all sorts of games. They dressed up like Woody and Bob the Builder and even made their own pirate eye-patches out of stickers. I think 3 is shaping up to be a fun year!

One more

I figured since I was posting anyways, I thought I would share this picture. I have been amazed at how many uses Tyler has found for the drawers under his train table. Besides actually holding the train tracks, etc., they have been used as a stepping stool to get into things, a fairly clever hide-and-seek spot (I couldn't find him forever - he had actually climbed in and pulled himself back under the table!), and finally a chair to watch TV in. It's amazing what a 2-year-old can come up with!

A brighter note

I came downstairs a little while ago (after all the fire museum saga) to find Ryan fast asleep in his bed with Tyler's new fireman's hat (a new treasure from the tour) on his head and Buzz and Woody next to him. When I asked Tyler what Buzz and Woody were doing in Ryan's bed, he told me that "Baby Bry (Tyler can't quite pronounce Ryan correctly) was sad." I have to admit I was pretty proud of Tyler for voluntarily sharing his both his old favorites (Buzz and Woody) and his new acquired fireman's hat with his baby brother in order to help him feel better. What a sweet boy!

Was it really worth all the effort?

Between having a new baby (Ryan is 3 weeks old today!) and the fact that Tyler has been sick all week, I have been feeling just a little house-bound and was very ready to get out today. Luckily, my great activity-planning friend, Nollie, had organized a group tour of the Ohio Fire Museum. So I got up extra early in order to get both boys and myself ready and fed - believe me, that was no small task. Tyler was in a great mood this morning ... until the fireman rang the firehouse bell. I think he was still feeling a little sensitive because he turned around and ran to the door of the museum sobbing, "I go to Tyler's house now." It took quite a bit of bribery (a happy meal if you are a happy boy!) to get him to even turn around to go back to get Ryan. Luckily, the tour wasn't too long and then the kids got to play on the fire trucks and go down the fire pole in the play area. I convinced Tyler that it would be fun the drive the fire truck, but when I went to take his picture, he was still a bit grumpy. Eventually, Tyler perked up and had a fun time. On the way home, however, I learned that my bribes are no longer forgotten and we had to stop at McDonald's for a happy meal.

Ryan David Jacobs Has Arrived!

Our sweet baby boy, Ryan David Jacobs, finally arrived this last Thursday at 10:30 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 10 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. He is really long and lean - you should see how big his hands and feet are! He has quite a bit of dark black hair in the back, but is kind of going for the male pattern baldness look on top.
Everything went really well with the labor and delivery. We were a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to get an epidural because I was having problems with my platelet counts. My doctor put me on a week long dose of steroids to try to get them to go up a bit. Between the steroids and the fact that James knew the right anesthesiologists to con into helping us (all those hours at OSU have finally paid off!) I was able to get one. The whole process took a bit long - I went to the hospital at 8:30 that morning, started pitocin at 10 am but didn't have him until 10:30 that night. James killed some time by doing some of the trainings that he had been putting off in the Oral Surgery on-call room and hanging out with one of his fellow residents on-call. I know you might think that would bug me, but my epidural was so great that I managed to sleep for about half of the time. In fact, my labor was so long that I sent James home about 9 pm to get a toothbrush, etc for himself thinking that we would have plenty of time. About 9:45 I got the news that I was ready to go, so I had to call James and tell him that if he wanted to see his son be born he had better hustle back to the hospital. Luckily, James knows the way to the hospital and all the good parking spaces, etc. so he beat my OB by about 30 seconds.
James' mom, Kathy, came out on Wednesday night since I was being induced on Thursday to be with Tyler and take care of all of us. She has been such a wonderful caregiver and tender of all of us. I really haven't lifted a finger around the house or with Tyler for the last week. I think that's why I'm feeling so wonderful at this point! We had a great time and were very spoiled all week long. Tyler, Ryan and I just dropped her off at the airport and we are going to miss her! Tyler kept saying the whole way home, "I want to go on a airplane with Nana too." He grew pretty attached to her this week. I guess now I have to step up to the plate and get back into his good graces after basically ignoring him for a week!
Ryan really has been a great baby so far -- he is pretty mellow. He reminds me of Tyler quite a bit - I think he's going to be a bit more feisty though. Here are some pictures of our new little guy and the rest of us.