Ryan's 1st birthday!!!

Wow, I can't believe a year has passed since Ryan was born. Looking back through the pictures and blog posts I am filled with memories (and tears). I am amazed at how much my life has changed and how much I love my beautiful son. It was amazing watching him grow and learn through out this first year. Jonathan and I both feel so blessed to be parents to a wonderful sweet baby boy (yes, I will still call him my baby). I thank God every day for allowing me to be Ryan's mommy.

Now on to the party. We had Ryan's birthday party on Saturday and it went so well. We had the party at my brother Kenny and sister-in-law Jennifer's house (thanks again!). We had a small party with family hoping Ryan would feel comfortable with a crowd (he doesn't usually do too well with crowds). As a big surprise my twin brother Chris, sister-in-law Nikki and nieces Aubrey and Hayden came down from Illinois for Ryan's party. It was so nice to have them here and to see them. We opened presents first and Ryan did well with this. He didn't understand but with some help from his cousins he figured out how to tear the paper and enjoyed the excitement (the girls were so happy to help too). I had to stop him from eating the wrapping paper a couple of times. He enjoyed the boxes, of course, and now that we have the toys home and he can play with them he enjoys them too. Next was cake and ice cream. Ryan has never had cake or ice cream nor any sweets really (besides just the Gerber puffs and wagon wheels) so this was a big shock for him. He did really well and dug right in. It was so adorable!! He would take a bite and say "mmm" and take another and say it again. By the end he was a huge mess and ready to get out of the spot light. After a quick bath we swam in the pool. Ryan loves water and swimming so this was a great way to end his party.

On Monday (Ryan's actual birthday) we took him to the Newport Aquarium. We all enjoyed looking at the different kids of fish and spending time together. Ryan got to see a big sea turtle up close and personal (well through the glass) as we walked through the glass tunnel. Along with some sharks and big fish. We got to see Jonathan's favorite, the penguins, and many other water creatures as well.

We had a great weekend celebrating Ryan turning one! And while I am sad that he is not a small baby any more I am excited about what God has in store for his future. Each and every day brings something new and it is so neat to see him grow and learn.

Here are a some pictures from Ryan's party and of his birthday.

Opening presents!

He enjoyed pushing this box around.

Trying to figure out this wrapping paper thing.




His great-grandmother got him a card that sings happy birthday. He really liked it. At home he would open and close it trying to figure it out.

Ryan's cousins were helping him open his presents and figure out his toys, they were big help for a one year old who couldn't open his presents quick enough.

Here is trying to eat the wrapping paper.

Getting the hang of it.

Pushing a box, he loved that part.

His dinosaur cake that I made him. It turned out ok (not as nice as I had hoped) but it took much longer than I had anticipated. Next year I think I will order his cake and save my time for playing with him.

I made him a cake shaped as a 1 just for him (minus the food coloring, didn't want to have to scrub his skin clean).

Singing happy birthday to him.

His first bite. He dug right in.

Enjoying his cake.

And the after math. Any time he is done eating he starts pulling at his hair and this day was no exception as you can tell.

Playing in the pool with Daddy.

He loves being thrown in the pool.

Playing in the pool with his cousin Brandon. He had a lot of fun playing with Brandon.

This was the day of his birthday. Here he is playing in the Playhut we bought him. He loves playing in this!!!

The only picture we took at the Newport Aquarium.

11 1/2 months

Well, we have been busy as usual. Thankfully, nothing out of the norm has been going on; just working and spending time together as a family. After several weeks of one of us being sick, teeth getting pulled, doctor's appointments, etc. it was nice to have a weekend where we just relaxed and spent time together. And we will really need the rest because next weekend is going to be so busy. Not much to report other than Ryan is moving more and more. He is doing so much better "creeping" along the furniture but I still think it will be a little bit before he lets go of that furniture and takes his first step. But he has been proving me wrong since day one so we will see what happens. I haven't taken a lot of pictures over the last several weeks but here are a few of the ones I have (batteries in my camera died and I kept forgetting to buy new ones).

Two weeks ago we went to the park at Juniper Hill here in Frankfort. We didn't stay long because it was so hot outside but we did get to enjoy a few things with Ryan. We tried to go to the Silverlake Park by our house but there were too many bees. Jonathan was running every where and we didn't even make it to the playground before he ran back to the car (can't blame him since he is allergic but it was still funny). Here is the best picture we could get, Ryan wouldn't look at the camera. (the bruise on my arm is from the IV when I got my wisdom teeth removed, this was a week after. I have never bruised like this but I am pretty sure the nurse stuck me 4 times, it took 3 weeks for the brusie to go away).

Ryan cheesin it in the tub. He still loves his baths and loves to play. More and more though he is standing in the tub. He has had a couple of nasty falls and last night he got his first goose egg on his head from a fall in the tub. I felt so bad that I couldn't catch him, I tried but he was all soapy and slippery. But it didn't seem to face him and the swelling went down with in a couple of minutes.

And last, here are a couple of pictures that I took today. Ryan loves bananas. He will sit with Jonathan and eat an entire banana. And he has starting saying banana (doesn't sound perfect but we know what he means :)

This one is so cute of them sharing a banana.

Ryan and Mommy!

You can tell he was up to something by the look in his eyes. Still such a cutie though.

11 months!

Ryan turned 11 months old on Friday (July 2nd). Unfortunately we didn't really get to do anything for it because I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed. I really thought I would be up and at it within a day or two. But I was so wrong! I am still in pain. We didn't leave the house but once the whole weekend. I forced Jonathan into letting me go shopping and we weren't out but for maybe a half an hour before I said I wanted to go back home. I have a big bruise on my arm where the nurse stuck me four different times; apparently she couldn't get the needle in my vein. Plus, I have a nice bruise along my jaw to go with it. The swelling is going down but I still look like a mess. Sadly, we didn't get to do anything for Ryan's first 4th of July so we won't have any stories to tell about him being scared of the fireworks. But there is always next year. Hopefully by then he will enjoy them and we can skip the scarred phase.


Ryan is doing so much right now. He pulls up everywhere he can and will take a few steps while holding on to the coffee table, crib, etc. He babbles all the time and seems like he has conversations with himself. His favorite words are still dada and mama though. He has really improved with his finger food eating over the last month too. The last cold he got (right before he got tubes in his ears) produced a lot of mucus and he was refusing to eat almost all finger foods, even the little puffs that he had been eating for months. He would just gag on everything that went in his mouth unless it was thin. But thankfully after that cold cleared up he began eating tons of finger foods. His favorite right now is cheese hands down. He also enjoys bread, bananas and apples. He does pretty well eating carrots, peas, green beans, broccoli, and chunks of sweet potatoes too. We are trying to branch out his foods and I am trying not to push my picky eating habits on to him. Ryan is adjusting to living closer to daycare really well too. It took him some time to get used to sleeping longer at night at home (instead of part of it in the car) but right now he is usually sleeping 11 hours at night. He usually naps for an hour and a half to two hours twice a day. Sometimes at daycare he only takes one nap though, guess he just really wants to get up and play with his friends. It's been so much fun watching him grow and learn new things. His personality is really taking shape. He is a very happy baby but when he is tired he gets fussy. I also think he is going to have a temper when he doesn't get his way (I have no idea where he gets that from) and he hates being held down (just like his mama on that one). Lately we have been playing with his shapes ball and he has gotten pretty good at getting the shapes in the right holes. I was very impressed at how quickly he caught on to that. We are also in the process of weaning him from his bottles. Ryan has been doing so well with drinking water out of his sippy cup that we decided to put his milk in it and he did really with it. So, we are switching one feeding at a time to a sippy cup at daycare. We haven’t started weaning him to whole milk yet (waiting until his first birthday; which is sadly less than a month away) so he still nurses for his feedings at home.

Here are a couple of pictures I have taken of him over the last couple of weeks.



Making a mess in the kitchen. He loves pulling everything out of the cabinets.

They went on a walk one day at daycare and sent me this picture through text.

He was too busy playing with his new toy that I couldn't even get him to look at me to take a new picture. I bought him this over the weekend hoping it would keep him occupied over the weekend while I was resting from having my wisdom teeth removed. It really did help.

The next day he was available for pictures.

Trying to get the X in the hole, this one gives him some problems but he can usually get it if he works at it.

He has been very patient with learning how to put the shapes in the holes but if he gets frustrated he will just chew on the pieces.

The new view when I go into his room to get him out of bed.

Fun filled weekend!

This past weekend we went to Louisville to spend some quality family time together and to celebrate our anniversary a little early. Our anniversary isn’t actually until Saturday; however, we are closing on our house on Friday and couldn’t go out of town this coming weekend so we decided to celebrate early. Anyway, we went to Louisville for a quick trip. We took Ryan to the zoo and had so much fun despite it being so hot. We got there early but it was still pretty hot. We saw the elephants “working out” and Ryan enjoyed watching that. We watched the giraffes during their feeding (long line so we didn’t join in the feeding, just watched) and once again we got a good expression on his face seeing just how tall the giraffes are. We saw one of the gorillas going crazy trying to attack some monkeys he saw through the glass in his cage. Jonathan and I found this very amusing but Ryan was very wide eyed. We played in the water/play area for a little bit but I am not for sure what he thought of that. I think he enjoyed getting cooled off but was a bit overwhelmed by all the kids running around that it made him a bit nervous. I held him and we walked around under the sprinklers to cool off. But the best part of the zoo this time was the penguins. They loved Ryan!! We walked into their room and there were several people in there but the penguins weren’t really doing much. Once we got up to the glass there was one penguin who stared at Ryan for a couple of minutes then started doing tricks for him. It was so funny! Ryan really enjoyed it. Then a bunch of them joined in. I don’t think I have ever seen penguins actually pay any attention to the people watching them but they sure did that day. Even though it isn’t a long drive from Frankfort we still stayed in a hotel to relax. Ryan loved playing in the pool! He really thinks he is a big boy and several times tried to push off of us. He is really going to be a water baby. He enjoyed the room and was so good. Except he did get his finger cut on a mirror in the room and it took quite some time to get it to stop bleeding. Luckily it wasn’t a deep cut but we did have to fill out an accident report at the hotel and they switched our room so he wouldn’t get cut again. We went out to eat, did some shopping and just relaxed. Overall, it was a great weekend. It was really nice to get away, relax and just focus on spending time together. We close on the sale of our house on Friday (please pray every thing goes smoothly) and we are very anxious to get this step done and over with. Below are some pictures I took over this past weekend.

At the zoo checking out the giraffes.

Playing in the sprinklers.

Watching the penguins.

The penguin watching Ryan.

Back at the hotel, Ryan playing with the mirror (just before he cut his finger).

Playing in the pool with Daddy.

Back at home eating dinner; peas, carrots and cheese.

Tubes

Well, I am sure everyone knows by now but Ryan had to get tubes in his ears. Monday, June 7th daycare called me and told me Ryan was running a fever. I knew he had been teething but they said it was 102. So, I took him to the doctor that day (he still had a low grade fever but it wasn't 102, I really don't know if they are taking an accurate temperature any more after them telling me several times he has had one and I have taken it and he hasn't, but that's another story). Turns out, he had another ear infection. The doctor put Ryan on a different antibiotic and recommended we see a specialist about getting evaluated to have tubes put in his ears. We met with the ENT on Friday. He took one look at Ryan's ears and his history (of many ear infections and all the different types of antibiotics we have tried) and said he highly recommended we have tubes put in. He said he would give us some time to think about it but Jonathan and I had already discussed that we thought tubes would be for the best. Neither of us wanted Ryan to have surgery but we both knew that we had to do what was best for Ryan to get him healthy. The doctor recommended we do it as soon as possible because one ear was pretty bad and was probably impairing his hearing. We set the appointment up and Ryan had surgery on Tuesday, June 15th.



We had to be there at 6:45 am. They do the surgeries based on age and Ryan was the first one for our doctor. They took us back around 7. We sat in one of the rooms for a couple of minutes, answered some questions and played with Ryan trying to keep him occupied so he wouldn't get fussy (he couldn't eat before surgery and he usually eats at 6:30 so he was hungry). They had a little car that we pushed him around in and that seemed to occupy him. When the nurse came and got him he whimpered a little but she distracted him by pointing out all the neat things along the way to the operating room. Jonathan and I stood there until the doors closed to the OR and then went to the waiting room, this was at 7:22 am. We weren't out there very long at all before they called us back to talk to the doctor. He came in to a consultation room and told us that everything went really well. Ryan had a lot of fluid in one ear and a little in the other but that they cleaned it all out. We only talked to him for about a minute and then waited for them to call us back to see Ryan, looked at my watch again and it was 7:32 am. It wasn't but another minute or two before we got to go back to get Ryan. The nurse was holding him and he was starting to wake up from the anesthesia. I instantly took him and held him close. He was still very tired but was only fussing a little bit. I quickly fed him as I knew this would help comfort him. He slowly woke up while he was eating with minimal fussing. I think that nursing him helped a lot because there was another little girl there who did not wake up to the anesthesia very well at all (she was still crying when they left). He slept on the car ride home but once we got home he was back to normal. He ate his breakfast and then played the rest of the morning like nothing happened.



I was so surprised by how quick the whole process took. I had talked to many different people (and done my own research) and all had said that getting tubes put in was very simple and easy. Even though everyone told me this I had a hard time believing it. Ryan is my baby and I was very nervous about him having surgery; even if it was a minor surgery. I worried about it all week but thankfully God gave me the courage to be brave the day of surgery and I was surprisingly calm. Ryan did amazingly well! I was worried he would fuss from not being able to eat but he didn't. I was worried he would cry when the nurse took him, but he did really well with that. I was worried he would get sick from the anesthesia but he didn't. I am so thankful that everything went so well! We have had to give him ear drops twice a day for the last five days and he hates them. I thought that the eye drops were bad but for some reason Ryan hates the ear drops even more. He cries so hard that I really think they must hurt but thankfully he got his last dose of the drops today. Hopefully, we will be ear infection free from now on!!! We take Ryan back for a follow up visit on June 30th.


Here are a few pictures from the day of the surgery.


Riding in the safari car before surgery.





Sitting on the bed like a big boy.




Playing at home after. He loves putting his toys in the little compartment on his walk-n-ride and then getting them out.

Moved, 10 months and more!

We moved to Frankfort Memorial Day weekend and I think we are finally getting settled in. There were some issues at first. The air condition quit working and we spent 3 miserable days in the heat. We did get a hotel one day and enjoyed the pool. Ryan loved swimming in the big pool. And he did great sleeping in his pack-n-play; which I was very worried about. Plus, due to some miscommunication our place wasn't cleaned when we moved into it. But we got that all settled and our rent price was knocked down a bit due to the issues. We have been slowly unpacking boxes and I think we now have the majority of the things we are going to unpack out. We are all really loving the short commute to work now. Ryan doesn't get car sick in the morning anymore (huge praise!). We found out that our closing on our house has been pushed back to June 25th due to a miscommunication in the lawyer's office that is handling the closing. We were pretty bummed about that because we have been stressing a little about it and were looking forward to getting that pressure lifted off our shoulders. But we have been reassured everything is still set to go, that the buyer has been approved and that he still wants the house. We are praying everything goes smoothly from here on out.


Ryan turned 10 months old on June 2nd. He is growing and developing wonderfully. Every time I think it isn't possible for him to get quicker or to be more active he continues to prove me wrong. And he isn't even walking yet so I know I have a lot more of it ahead of me. He is crawling and getting into everything! He pulls up on almost everything and there is nothing that is safe from his little hands. Jonathan has gotten frustrated because he can't keep anything on the coffee table anymore, lol. He rarely sits in one place anymore. When he plays he kneels and moves all over the place. Ryan also got his first top tooth on May 31st. He has three now but I think he may get a few more in soon. He has been having more problems with his ears and I had to take him back to the doctor on Monday. He had another ear infection and they put him on a different antibiotic. Because he has had so many (I believe 6) and they think this one has been around since March. We have tried several oral antibiotics and the shots but nothing has cleared up the infection. So, we had to see an ENT on Friday about his ears and possibly getting tubes. The doctor was very nice, explained everything to us and looked at Ryan's ears. He let me hold him while he examined him; which made Ryan very happy. One look and he said that he would highly recommend getting tubes put in. The doctor also said that there is so much fluid that it is probably affecting the way Ryan hears. And it's important for us to get this cleared up soon so that it won't effect Ryan's talking development. Jonathan and I had already discussed what we wanted to do at this point and that was to get Ryan feeling better as soon as possible. So, we have surgery scheduled Tuesday morning (have to be there at 6:30 and the surgery is at 7:30) for Ryan to have tubes put in. We are praying that this helps him feel better and clears up the infections. I realize this is a rather simple procedure but I still don't like my baby having surgery. I know it's for his best so I am going to be brave.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Ryan loved having all the extra boxes around while we were moving.

Jonathan and I have often joked that we brought home a puppy from the hospital because Ryan makes some strange noises. Well, here he is proving us right, lol.

Poor little guy drooled so bad with this top tooth while it was coming in. I believe I changed him three times a day while it was coming in (yes, I know the easier thing to do would have been to keep a bib on him but I don't like keeping a bib on him, he just tries to eat it).

He is getting so tall. And he is so happy that he can just grab these toys now.

Playing in his "corner". We keep his jumperoo in the corner of our new living room and he will drag all his toys over there and play next to it and under it. So funny!

He loves putting his toys up on the shelf and then getting them down now that he can reach it.

He loves that he can kneel now and play with the tops of his toys. Such a different view.

Very active!

We found a place to move to and will be moving (hopefully) this weekend. Thankfully, it's a long weekend so that will give us some extra time to unpack and get settled in. It is a 3 bedroom townhouse with a garage on the east side of Frankfort. The living room and kitchen are on the first floor along with a full bath and laundry. The 3 bedrooms are on the second floor along with another full bath. Only the living room, stairs and one of the bedrooms (the one we are using for storage) are along the adjoining wall that is shared with the other connected townhouse. Since it is a two unit house we still have a yard! I am so happy that we can still take Ryan out in the yard to play. We are very excited about this new adventure and living so much closer to work. Our commute will be less than 10 minutes!

Ryan's ear infection did not go away. So we had to take him back to the doctor last weekend and they put him on antibiotic shots. He had to go in Saturday, Sunday and Monday for shots. The nurse who gave him his first shot was a lady we go to church with and she said that the shot was very painful but had a numbing agent in it; however, it took a couple of seconds to work. Ryan had us both in tears after because you could just see the pain in his eyes (and the look of "mommy, how could you let her do that to me?"), poor little guy. He calmed down quickly after I got to pick him up though and did really well for the second and third dose. I think it took a couple of days but I am very hopeful that the ear infection is now gone. But if it isn't or he gets another one within the next couple of months he will have to get tubes.

Ryan and I did go to my niece's sixteenth birthday party Thursday night. It is so hard to believe she is 16 now! I still remember her as a little girl with these beautiful blonde curls in her hair, love you Jess! The rest of the weekend was spent packing and playing with Ryan. He is getting in to more and more every day. And it's amazing to see how he learns. Jonathan commented how much like a sponge he is (I said, "um, yeah, that's how babies are" lol) because he learned how to open the cabinet doors while watching Jonathan open it once. He has gotten very good at getting into a sitting position from lying down and usually when I go into his room to get him out of the crib he is sitting up now. He is starting to push up on all fours a lot more as well. He still doesn't really crawl that way (usually does the army crawl) but is starting too. And he has also started to pull up on things. He first started doing this in the bath tub of all places (making it scary for mommy). I haven't gotten a picture of him standing up after pulling up because I am too busy catching him (and worried he is going to hit his head).

Below are some pictures I have taken of Ryan over the last two weeks.

He has learned how to put his toys up on the slide all by himself.

Working his lungs! He flaps his arms like a bird when he does this too, lol!

Helping Mommy with laundry, by riding in the laundry basket.

He is really enjoying this book right now.

He has enjoyed all the boxes in the house.

Sitting up in his crib.

After eating spaghetti one night. He made such a mess.

He is getting really good with using a sippy cup. Although some times he gets carried away with leaning backwards and will tip over.

We put his pool up and put him in it. He didn't know what to think of being outside and in the water.

But he quickly began to enjoy it. The pool came with this little floating whale sprinkler. He really enjoyed it.

He had fun covering it up.

Trying to get the water while Daddy was spraying him.

Trying to get Mommy wet.

Splashing with his tonuge hanging out.

Jumping in his jumperoo. He still really enjoys this (for about 10 to 15 minutes). He will jump for several minutes straight, he is a crazy baby!