Ryan's 6 month pics

We took Ryan for his 6 month pictures on February 6th. They are now available to view at http://carlislephotography.smugmug.com/Proofs Go to Johnson R. 6 months. Password is johnson. I think they turned out really well and now I am stuck deciding which ones to buy.

More firsts and 6 month check-up

We have had a busy last couple of weeks getting our house ready to sell. It is now on the market and we are praying it sells quickly. We would really love to move as soon as we could so we have more time to spend with Ryan and less time driving to and from work. Last weekend we had Ryan's 6 month pictures taken. I am hoping they turn out well, he sure did look cute getting them taken. And he smiled much more this time around. We drove around a neighborhood we are thinking of building a house in while we were in Georgetown. We liked what we saw so lets hope we can begin that process soon. We also went to visit my grandmother. It was great to see her! My grandmother is amazing and I love getting to see her. And I love Ryan getting to spend time with her. We noticed last week that Ryan now has another tooth on the bottom. He now has two of his bottom front teeth. And I do believe that there is one on the top that will be out soon since you can see a little white spot there. So far, he has done pretty well with them. He chews on everything and drools a lot but he hasn't run a fever and neither Jonathan nor I think he is any fussier because of them. We feel very blessed by this because I have heard horror stories about teeth. Ryan is doing great with his foods. We just started him on baby food. We decided to start with carrots. He seemed to enjoy them but was getting distracted. His high chair has a giraffe on it and the giraffe has ears that stick out. He loves playing with them. He will play for a minute and then take a bite and then go back to playing with the ears. But if you aren't there when he is ready for a bite he lets you know. He is too funny. Ryan went for his 6 month check-up and weighed in at 17 pounds 4 ounces. This puts him in the 37th percentile, smaller than what I thought he would be. Dr. Gillispie said that starting him on solids will get some weight on him and he didn't seem concerned that he didn't gain much since he had still gained weight. If you look at him he looks like a big boy so I was a bit surprised by this. He is 27 1/2 inches long and that puts him in the 78th percentile for height. And his head circumference was 44 centimeters which is in the 50th percentile. Overall, they were very pleased with his size. Ryan did have to get some eye drops again, it seems any time he has a cold he gets it in his eyes. So, we have to give him eye drops again. This is not a fun job and usually takes two people. Although I have done it by myself it is much easier with two people. And, of course, he had to get his vaccines. He did well with these, cried a little until I picked him up and then he was fine. He was smiling at the nurse before she left the room. She was very happy about that because she said she always feels like the bad guy and none of the babies like her after that part. Ryan has been babbling much more now. And he has just started saying "ba ba" and Jonathan's favorite "da da". I think this must be some kind of joke to all mommies out there that babies can say Ds before Ms. But Ryan still favors me so my feels aren't hurt (too much, lol). That seems to be all that has been going on in our lives lately. Work has been keeping us very busy but then again, when you work in taxes that is to be expected this time of year. All in all we are doing well!

Here are a few pictures of Ryan over the last two weeks. I seemed to have slacked off on taking pictures over the last month, I better start picking that up again.

Ryan has started a new habit of sticking his tongue out all the time, here is a picture of it.

I just think he looks cute in this one. Plus, it shows off that he is sitting up better.

We gave Ryan his sippy cup last week for the first time. He couldn't get anything out of it with the valve on it so we had to take that off. Then we had water everywhere. So, I bought some different ones we are going to try. Hopefully they will be a little easier for him to use.

Here is a pic with Daddy.

Trying to grab the spoon for his first bite of carrots.

Getting his first bite.

He wasn't for sure what to think of the carrotts at first but he quickly decided he liked them and wanted more.

And the after pic, not too messy.

He is such a ham.

Starting solids and turning 6 months!!

We started giving Ryan rice cereal on Friday. Since he was thriving so well and growing like a weed on breast milk alone our pediatrician said to wait until he turned 6 months before beginning solids. I am so happy we were able to wait because there are so many benefits to waiting. I won’t go into that now since I have answered it a million times before. We did start him a couple of days early so I could make sure he was handling it before having daycare feed him his cereal as well. Ryan did great with the cereal! He really enjoyed getting to try something new and actually be able to eat something. Although I don’t know if eating is the proper way to put it because they make you thin it out so much you might as well just say he used a spoon to drink with. However, we are working on getting a good consistency for him that he can handle. He does really enjoy being able to eat off of a spoon like Mommy and Daddy too. Daycare said he is doing well with it there and they are enjoying feeding him. Right now we are giving him cereal twice a day for two weeks and then start him on veggies. I have already started stocking up on baby food. We have carrots, green beans, peas, squash and sweet potatoes so far. Then comes fruits! It should be a fun time! Ryan turned 6 months old today (yes I will say it again), I can’t believe how fast time has flown. It seems like I should just get that tattooed on my forehead now that I have a baby because I say it way too often. We don’t go for his 6 month checkup until the 12th but I am very curious to see how much he has grown in these 6 months. Just by looking at him (and carrying him around) I know he is a big boy! A lot of his 3 to 6 month clothes are getting snug and some are too short. He is wearing some 6 to 9 month clothes now but they are a little too big (we use them anyway because I don’t see the point in buying clothes that would only fit for a week or two). We are going Saturday to have his 6 month pictures taken and I am so excited about them. I am hoping that Ryan will smile a lot more this time around (keeping my fingers crossed!). He is sitting up better and better every day. However, he is still falling over a lot as well. This might not have been the best time (at least for him) for us to have replaced our carpet with laminate flooring. The floors look great though and our house will be on the market as soon as the snow melts and our realtor can take some pictures of the outside. I am trying not to get my hopes on selling quickly with the way the market it is right now but it is hard not to. I am really excited about moving closer to work so we have more time at home (and of course getting a new house is very exciting). Here are some pictures we have taken over the last couple of weeks.

He is playing more and more with his toys and really enjoying them.




Sitting up tall!

Getting ready toe eat his cereal.

First bite

No time for pictures Daddy!

He got ahold of the bowl and dumped it all over.

I wish I had recorded this. He was grunting at me with frustration, I was not getting him his food fast enough.

Daddy took a turn.

And the after picture. Not bad, we kept it out of his hair.

Trying to attack Mommy!

He is getting so strong and can push up much higher than he used to. Not much longer and those legs will start to come up too.

Picture of Mommy and Ryan after church.

And here are two pictures of what our new floors look like.

What a week!

This past week has been a crazy week at our house. Ryan picked up a stomach virus at daycare and was sick last weekend, then I got it and was sick for a few days and then Jonathan got it and was sick. Ryan either never completely got over it or got re-infected with it when we took him back to daycare on Monday because he was sick again on Wednesday and was sent home from daycare. Jonathan stayed home with him (Mommy doesn’t have any time to take at work; which made me really sad, I wanted to be home with my sick baby) so he hasn’t been to daycare for a full day since Monday of last week. Hopefully it is out of his system and out of daycare. He was acting much more like himself over the weekend, which we were very happy about. The big news in our house is . . . . Ryan got his first tooth! I was so sad yesterday when I found it. I just couldn’t believe it and neither could Jonathan but its right there on the bottom. I don’t think it bothered him much or at least he wasn’t chewing on anything more than usual (but that’s hard to really gage because he chews on things all the time anyway). Hopefully they won’t all come shooting out now; Mommy would like to keep her baby a baby for awhile. But he has been determined to not do that since before he was born. Ryan has also started rolling every where. He began rolling from back to belly at 4 months and on Thursday he figured out how to roll from belly to back. Well, this weekend he realized if he rolled he could get places. We can’t keep him on a blanket or in one spot anymore. So, now the chase begins and will never end. Our days of being able to put him down, let him play and know he will be in the same spot and not have to chase after him are over. Plus, he has learned how to get out of his sleep positioner now. He thinks he wants out but as soon as he gets out he wants back in it. I think he still enjoys the comfort and closeness it gives him. We gave him his first hair cut yesterday. It was getting long in the back on the bottom so I just trimmed that up a bit. I thought I was going to cry and probably would have had it not been so difficult to do. Trying to cut a baby’s hair is not an easy task! We met with our realtor Sunday as well and are going to try to get our house ready to put on the market by February 1st. Hopefully we can sell it fast and move. I am really looking forward to living closer to work. That’s what’s been going on in the Johnson house hold for the last week. We don’t have anything planned for this week but I am sure Ryan will keep things interesting.









Ryan has started really enjoying his jumperoo over the last week or two. Here he is playing in it. In this picture he is actually screaming; which is his usual thing while in the jumperoo. It's a scream in delight.

Here he is before nap time playing with his Scout puppy.

He has recently taken an interest in our cats; more so with Allie, our black cat than Abby, our gray cat though.

Mommy and Ryan.




He has started standing a lot more lately and really enjoys the new view.

Before the hair cut.

The hair cut in process.

And the after. As you can see I didn't take off too much.

He started out on the play mat . . .

And ended here.

Here he is playing in his room. It looks like that is where I put him but actually I put him on a blanket in the middle of the room with a few toys. He rolled all the way over to his toys near the wall here. I don't know if that was his plan but he was happy with the results.

Family, 5 months and more!

Ryan turned 5 months old on January 2nd. He is getting to be such a big boy. Things have been busy around here. We had family down from Illinois for a visit after Christmas. It was great to see Chris, Nikki, Aubrey and Hayden. And my dad. I wish they all could have stayed longer (better yet just move down here). Our visits never seem long enough. And once they are gone, I miss them and hate waiting so long to see them again. We got right back into the swing of things with work and daycare. Ryan and I have been fighting a cold for awhile now. We took him back to the doctor twice because of it. I am sure the doctors think I am a crazy first time mom but I don’t care. He was pretty sick at the beginning of the cold and had a horrible cough. I just wanted to make sure he was ok and that it hadn’t turned into something worse. The second time the cold had gotten into his eye and they gave us eye drops for it. We did find out he weighs 16 lbs 12 oz (with clothes on). He is getting so big, I can’t believe it. Some of his 3 to 6 month clothes are getting pretty tight or not fitting at all. We are buying 6 to 9 month clothes now but those seem to be a little big but that’s better than too small and he will grow into them (and at this rate out of them before too long). We are also trying to work on getting our house ready to put on the market and are hoping to have it ready within the month. Besides that we have just been busy working and enjoying Ryan. Here are some pictures of him from the last couple of weeks.

Here is Ryan with his Aunt Nikki and cousin Brandon. He had so much fun playing with everyone.

My niece Haydon enjoying her gift.





And Aubrey wasted no time getting her paint set out. I'm glad she enjoyed it and I have a picture on my fridge to display proudly.

Ryan is sportin his new out fit from Uncle Chris and Aunt Nikki. He looks so cute in his bibs. And we love the blanket his Aunt Nikki made him.

Ryan didn't know what to think about Aubrey holding him, lol.

Just chillin at home.

5 months old!

He is finally starting to enjoy his jumparoo.

This is his usual position while on his tummy. He is either going to do some skydiving or enjoy swimming (I am personally voting for the swimming).

Practicing our sitting. He is getting pretty good at it. Although, as Aunt Gigi pointed out, I think his tummy is helping hold him up as he leans on it, lol.

Christmas!!

We have had an amazing Christmas with Ryan. We feel so blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas as a family of 3 this year. First, Ryan got to come to work with me on Wednesday. Daycare was closed for the holiday and work always does a “bring your kid to work” day the day before Christmas break (and now I know why; since day cares are closed). We went in a little late and left a little early so that Ryan wasn’t there all 8 hours (I think it did ended up being 5 hours though). He did so wonderful and was so well behaved. Everyone loved seeing him and I loved showing him off. And I actually got quite a bit of work done because he was so good. He was really tired when we left (he only took a half hour nap at work because it was loud due to the other kids being there as well) but I was still very impressed with how well he was and we avoided fits. He got to see Santa at my office and we had to take his picture as well. We spent Christmas Eve down at my family’s in Wilmore. Ryan started getting a little sick during the day so he was a little fussy but not terrible. He got fussy when he was tired but did well during church service. We enjoyed spending time with everyone and they enjoyed loving on Ryan. Christmas morning was so much fun. Once Ryan woke up we opened our stockings and he really liked what he got! He was very interested in the elephant rattle crinkle toy he got but he really liked the turtle and hippo bath cups he got. He has a turtle on his swing mobile that Jonathan and I always say he likes best. So, when I saw the turtle bath cup I had to buy it for him. He got so excited when he saw it. He did really well opening his presents and was getting the hang of tearing the wrapping paper off (sort of). And he got excited over a few of the presents. He really likes the glow seahorse and the light up music ball he got. I think he will enjoy some of the bigger toys he got later on as he gets older. He got tired about ¾ of the way through opening presents. So we opened all of his and then he took a nap while Jonathan and I enjoyed some time with each other opening the rest of our presents. We went over to Jonathan’s mom’s for lunch and then came back home to relax and enjoy some family time with just the three of us. I cooked us a big dinner and we put Ryan in his high chair for the first time so we could have a family dinner. Overall, it was a great Christmas and I am looking forward to continuing some of the traditions that we started this year with Ryan. Ryan has been really sick though. He has come down with a nasty cough and lots of congestion. I took him to the doctor today just to make sure it was a cold and not anything serious (found out he is now 16lbs). That’s what they said it was; a viral cold and that there wasn’t anything we could give him to help him. So we are just continuing what we have been doing and hoping he gets over it soon. Thankfully he has still been in a pretty mood even though he is sick. He has been getting tired quicker and he gets fussy when you clean his nose, lol. Here are some pictures from the last few days.

At work with Mommy and having a good time.

His first picture with Santa. He didn't care at all.

I had to include this picture. He was so happy he got his socks off and could play with his toes.

His first Christmas present.

Mommy and Ryan.

Getting the hang of tearing the wrapping paper off.

Opening his stocking and getting his bath cups.

Looking at his glow seahorse. Despite what his face looks like in this picture he really liked the glow seahorse; he fussed when we put it down until we gave him something else.

Getting his light up music ball. I think he liked it.

He started getting a bit tired here and was done opening his presents.

At Grandma's opening presents.

More presents!!!

Playing with his new toys.

In his high chair for the first time.

At the end of the day he still had a smile on his face!