8 months

ok, so i haven't posted in six months. ryan turned eight months a few days ago, and boy, has it been an exciting ride so far. he is now sitting on his own, eating solids four times a day, and saying "DADADADA." he has two teeth, braved rsv in december, and loves carly. he doesn't sleep through the night regularly yet (booo) but we'll keep him. :-) his favorite foods include squash, peach & banana with oatmeal, apples & blueberries, sweet potatoes, and apples with cinnamon. he loves playing with his yellow sensory ball, chewing on plastic cooking spoons, and splashing in his tub. he's awesome. :-)

almost 8 weeks

Our strong man holding up his head!

I'm obviously really bad at updating this thing. Ryan is nearly eight weeks old, and it's a wonder how much he has grown. Things he loves include: being on his belly, Mommy or Daddy singing along to anything, his aquarium bouncer, taking a shower with Mommy, and falling asleep on Mommy or Daddy's chest. He was sleeping through the night at around week 5, but is back to getting up during the night to eat. I think he's growing. He's officially grown out of newborn clothes, which made me really sad for a day or two. Much to our disappointment, Ryan won't take a pacifier, which I am convinced would make him a happier kid during his sad moments. Plus, it would really help his caregivers at daycare.

Jason went back to work this week (he's tenured!) and I go back on September 14th. I'm definitely not looking forward to getting up at 530am to get us all ready and out the door each day. Ryan's baptism is scheduled for September 20th. We are excited to see family that haven't met him yet and introduce him to the church atmosphere.

Week 38!

Well, week 38 was a big one! Ryan arrived on Sunday, July 12 @ 3:23 pm. I tried to go to bed Saturday night and couldn't sleep, so I stayed up watching the lightning and rubbing my belly. At 1:30 am I headed to the bathroom, and guess what? My water broke! I immediately called the doctor, and he said we should go to the hospital. By 3 am we were settled into a labor and delivery room with monitors on my belly and contractions strengthening. The nurse gave me medication to try to help me sleep, but it only made me feel drunk and let me sleep for about 5 or 6 minutes in between contractions. Actually, I got the medicine twice, because it was taking forever for me to get far along enough to get an epidural. Then the doctors gave me petocin to start speeding things up ... and wow, did they ever. Before I knew it I was getting the epidural and I was 9 cm dialated by noon. Jason called everyone, thinking it would be no time before he arrived. Soon it was time to push, and boy, did I push. Ryan was a little stubborn about coming out, and it took 2.5 hours of pushing to get him to finally come out! The doctors even put a monitor on the top of his head while he was still inside to make sure he wasn't in distress. Finally he arrived at 3:23 in the afternoon, crying and beautiful. By 9:30 pm Ryan had met both sets of grandparents, Aunt Courtney, Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Bryan, Great Aunt Linda, second cousin Megan, and his Great Grandparents and switched into room 4112.

We spent Monday in the hospital and came home Tuesday afternoon. While we were in the hospital, Ryan met even more people, including Aunt Laura and Uncle Mike, Bill and Becky, Joe, Great Uncle Rick, Great Aunt Chris, and Regina. It was a tough stay between all the visitors, doctors and nurses coming in and out, and Ryan getting up and down every few hours. During one of his exams the doctors discovered that Ryan was "tongue-tied" -- the skin that holds your tongue to the bottom of your mouth should be in the middle of our tongue, but in Ryan's case it was all the way at the front of his tongue. This made it impossible for him to breast feed, and difficult for him to even bottle feed. Hence, we were at the pediatrician Wednesday to get a referral to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. Later Wednesday afternoon we went to the ENT, who stuck a HUGE needle in his tongue to numb it. Then he snipped the bottom of his tongue so it wasn't attached to the front anymore. It was so scary!

So all in all, Ryan had a scary tongue-snipping experience, got his first Hepatitis B shot, had blood taken from his heel for his jaundice test, was circumcised, and got stuck in the birth canal, all in his first three days. Poor guy. Luckily, now he's settled at home. I still can't believe he's here, out of my belly. He's eating about every two hours, which makes Jason grumpy at 2 and 4 in the morning. :-) Overall, we are thoroughly enjoying being Mommy and Daddy. It's a tough adjustment for everyone (especially the doggies and Daddy) but we will survive. We are very lucky Jason is home all summer, that's for sure.

So that's week 38! :-) Ryan will be a week old tomorrow ...

35/36/37

We've been so busy lately! Jason finished up school, and we finished Ryan's room. Jason has been working hard organizing the garage and those pesky to-do list things done before Baby arrives. Carly has had TWO surgeries, we had a Father's Day picnic here, (I made 7 different kinds of homemade cookies!), Maddie got baptized, and I traded in my Jetta (yes, my beloved Jetta!) ... all while getting to that oh-so-important full-term status July 4th. :-) Yesterday (just as I hit full-term!) I went to labor & delivery because I wasn't feeling Ryan move as much. After being monitored for a while, the nurses said that he looks fine, but my blood pressure was high. Basically I was told to stay hydrated in the air conditioning until he arrives. I have to try to get an appointment with my regular doctor tomorrow so he can have a look at my pressure earlier than our scheduled Wednesday appointment. The nurses didn't think it was preeclampsia, but I guess it's still a reason for concern, considering my pressure is usually low. Luckily, Jason is around and not stressed with school, so he's able to basically do everything so I can relax.

We have yet to take pics of the new car or Ryan's room, but here is a pic from Maddie's baptism until we get around to taking the other pictures ...

Week 34

Week 34 - The week began in a very special way: my shower! I had such a great time seeing everyone, and we received so many useful gifts. It was definitely the right venue and right people for the perfect baby shower. :-) As far as Baby Boy goes, we had an ultrasound yesterday, and he weighed in at 5 lbs, 5 oz. and in the 49th percentile with measurements, so everything is on track! It was awesome to see him - he was practicing swallowing, and each time he swallowed his bottom lip quivered. Priceless.

Laura, Me, Katie, and Emma - our lil Frog reunion at the shower :-)

Week 33

Week 33 update - It's been a quiet week. On Sunday we bought a kiddie pool for the puppies, and we enjoyed a quiet afternoon with them. It was a nice moment, just to sit back and watch them enjoy the yard. Yesterday we went to the OB, and listened to Ryan on the fetal monitor. The doctor said "the baby is doing beautifully," and because I am NOT diabetic I don't have to go every week for monitoring. yaaay. Other than that, it's been a peaceful at-home week. I wrote my birth plan, bought a nightgown for labor and delivery, and made tee-shirts for Ryan's arrival. This weekend is my shower, and I am SOOO excited. I absolutely cannot wait to see everyone, and eat yummy cake. :-)

Carly loves the pool!

Week 32

Week 32 - Well, it's been a busy week so far. We began the week at Grady's baptism, Monday I went for the dreaded three-hour glucose test, Tuesday we headed to Mountain View Golf Course for Emily's Graduation/Birthday party, and yesterday I went to the ob. The baptism was nice, and it was very special to be godparents. We even got authentic certificates. hehe. The glucose test was horrific - I look like a drug addict because my arms are so bruised. But ... (surprise!) the results came back normal and I don't have to prick my fingers anymore! yaaay! I'm supposed to "not go crazy" with my diet, but apparently I am not officially diabetic. wahoo! Tuesday was bittersweet. I started watching Emily when I was 18, and she was in third grade. Now she is 18, and in the same place I was when I met her (except she's brilliant and going to Cornell and I was headed to Mercer, lol). There was a slideshow, and I was in it, short hair, bangs, and all. haha. It was great to see the girls, but it got me a little down, because the reality of how fast time is going by really got to me. Anyway, on Wednesday I went to the doctor, and they did a non-stress test. Basically they hooked up a fetal monitor to my belly - one monitor on the baby's heartbeat and the other on my uterus. Plus, I had to press a fancy button each time he moved so they could track his movement. Turns out that he's fine, but I was having small (painless) contractions. This got me sent to Labor & Delivery, where they hooked me up again and fed me. I had one more contraction, and they did an internal. The doctor said, "Your cervix is closed. Go home. Rest, drink lots of water. Don't come back for at least six weeks." LOL. It freaked me out a little, but I guess it's just a sign that I need to slow down even more. Below are some pics from the eventful week thus far ...

Emily & me. (same color hair! lol)

Grady's baptism.