Holidays

Well, its about the end of January so how about a Thanksgiving and Birthday post!  As with any family our Holiday time was CRAZY busy.  And since I have trouble remembering yesterday, I will do my best to give some highlights since my last post. 
Thanksgiving
The Klocke's first road trip as a family of 4 went like this..........Lakeville ---> Mason City, Ia ---> Carroll, Ia ---> Omaha, Ne --->  Mason City, Ia ---> Lakeville.  It was a very long weekend but we did get to see alot of family which was great.  And the boys did awesome, serioulsy!  This trip even included their 1st hotel stay which Bryson was a little confused about, but when we told him he could ride the elevator again in the morning he was cool with it.  I should mention that the car DVD player saved us with Bryson and Rylan was only 4 months at the time so still slept alot.  But overall it was a great trip and we all got to meet new cousin Hazel (picture below). 
Bryson's 3rd Birthday
We did a pirate themed party and Bryson had a blast!  They got to dress up like pirates and go on a treasure hunt, which got crazy near the end but still fun.  The party was "controlled chaos" as I like to call it, but what do you expect with 17 adults and 7 kids running around.  So this was the LAST Bryson Birthday we will do in our house.  He also had a party at Primrose with his school friends.  When asked what was his favorite part about his Birthday........cake (duh)!
Other highlights

•  Rylan's bottom 2 teeth broke through (4.5months), early I know but that is exactly when Bryson's came in.  My Mom had the pleasure of being with both boys when their first tooth broke through (sorry Mom)!
• Boys have their own language to communicate with each other, series of high pitched short screams.  They go back and forth and then laugh, it melts my heart watching them together.
• Rylan's colic is completely gone!!!  He is such a happy baby FULL of smiles and growing fast.

I will do a Christmas post next time.  Just wanted to get this one out, enjoy the pictures.  I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends.  Peace and much Love,
Jana

Catching up.......

I really have some catching up to do on pictures, so here is a start!  My friend Jennie is a AMAZING photographer (www.sewellphotography.com) and came to take some family pictures when Rylan was 5 weeks.  Here are some favorites.............

More from September..........

 More from October........

And that's as good as my post gets for tonight!  More to come soon!

Long time, no blog!

And this is what the boys look like today!  Yep, Rylan is almost 4 months already........sorry!  I have no excuse for not updating the blog except for the fact that I have a busy toddler and a baby that struggled with colic.  Notice how I phrased it as "struggled", I'm very happy to report that Rylan has really turned the corner and his colic issues have almost disappeared.  Which makes for a very happy Mommy, Daddy, Rylan, and Bryson too.  Well, since its been so long since my last post I should start at the beginning.............

Rylan Robert Klocke was born July, 27th at 9:49am weighing 7lbs 7oz and 20inches long. Everyone was healthy and happy.  Big Brother Bryson came to meet Rylan in the hospital and greeted him with a kiss on the lips (so much for germs!).  The brothers exchanged gifts and Bryson was SO EXCITED with his little brother.  I really wasn't sure of how Bryson would react to Rylan, but he continues to amaze me everyday.  Just this morning he went into Rylan's room and greeted him with "hey Rylan buddy, good morning" then he gave him a high-five, he just LOVES his little bro.  Anyways, then came home from the hospital and enjoyed many days and nights of 2 hour stretches of sleep as many new parents do.  Rylan was eating great, sleeping well, and was very healthy, then week 6 hit.......

Everyone knows what colic is so I'm not going to bore you with the details of poor little Rylan's 30 minute crying/screaming spells.  But I will say that it is very hard for Mommy & Daddy to listen to their little mister cry and know that there is nothing we can do to help him, it seriously broke our hearts (and made us a little crazy at times too)!  However, when Rylan wasn't having a colic spell he is a very happy baby that is FULL of smiles.  It was quite amazing to me that immediately after he would finish crying, he would just look at me with a huge grin!  I just remember thinking "How do you forget about the last 30 minutes of crying and just smile so big??"  The truth is that I think he wanted us to forget about it too.  And with just one of his smiles my heart would melt.  So after a few extra doctor visits and 5 different formulas later, he is doing great!

As far as other updates, I'm back to work and its keeping me VERY busy.  Dan's work is also extremely busy so the weeks just seem to fly by.  I can't believe its almost Thanksgiving, which we will be making a road trip down to Carroll, IA then to Omaha to meet the boys' new cousin Hazel.  On a different note I can't believe that my little man is going to be 3 on December 3rd!!!!!!  I will make sure to post some pictures from Thanksgiving and Bryson's Birthday party next post (probably in the Spring, just kidding). 

So I will close this post with the Ryaln's birth story which I know some people love to hear about and others not so much.  So I will summarize and keep it brief (shouldn't be that hard considering my entire labor and delivery lasted 1 hour 9 minutes)

• 7:30am - induction appointment (already 5cm dilated & totally effaced) half way done! = Good
• Pitocin started because OB and I both agreed it would be great to have baby before lunch  = Good
• Contractions fast & PAINFUL - Epidural in = Good
• 10 minutes after epidural still feeling INTENSE pain and PRESSURE = Bad
• Informed by nurse that I was ready to push without epidural working = VERY Bad (insert Jana's freak-out here)
• 9:49am - Rylan Robert was born and the most crazy intense pain I have ever felt turned into complete love & joy = Good, Great, Miracle!

Recalling Rylan's birth reminds me of a conversation that I had with my friend Beth before he was born.  She was also due with her second child within weeks of me, and we were contemplating how we could possibly love anything just as much as our 1st child?  I read this the other day and thought it describes my heart perfectly............
 Rylan has proven that the greatness of our love is not divided among our children, but rather multiplied, indefinitely between them.

And this Thanksgiving we all have so much to be thankful for.

God Bless, Jana.

 These are just some pictures within weeks of Rylan's birth.......I will post some more recent ones soon :)

Ready!

What does a heat index of 113 in Minneapolis and a 9 month pregnant woman equal........ Jana thinking every 5 minutes "I'm so ready to have this baby!"  Yes, we have had record breaking heat here along with record humidity.  Even when I'm not pregnant I constantly complain and am crabby when its humid and hot, so you can imagine how much fun I have been lately (even Wylie has started to distance himself from me)!  But truly we are all SO EXCITED to meet this Little Mister and anxiously await his arrival very soon.  Bryson touches my belly and says "hi" to baby brother and when people ask him where his little brother is he will reply "in mommy's belly".  But truly I feel he as NO CLUE what is in store......sometimes the miracle of life is challenging for adults to understand, nonetheless a 2 1/2 year old.  But he knows what a baby is so I figure that's a good start, right?

As far as updates go, the most exciting is that Bryson is potty trained!!!!!  3 weeks ago we decided to try again one more time before the baby gets here and it just clicked for him.  He is doing an amazing job and hasn't had an accident in weeks :)  He even goes in the "big potty" when we are "out and about" running errands, so we are so excited for him.  Everyone keeps telling me that he will regress once Little Mister is born, so we will just have to wait and see.  But nevertheless, it is amazing to watch him grow over the last few weeks and become such a little boy.  His vocab and sentence forming has grown like crazy.  Just the other day on the way to school and our neighbors are getting a new roof.   From the back of the car he says "WOW, the roof must be broken.....the men are fixing it!"  I just sat silent for a second and responded "Yep, you are exactly right buddy!"  He is too funny and Dan and I are amazed by him everyday. 

Other than that, we are just running around getting some last minute preparations done around the house.  Dan did finish the back splash (with some help from Grandpa Freddie) and it looks amazing!  I'm so lucky he is so handy (and a perfectionist may I add), I will take some pictures and post them next time. 

Well, this will be my last post with pictures just of Bryson so enjoy them!  God Bless and hope everyone is having a great summer!