Splish Splash

We finally got a new bath seat for Ryan. Until yesterday, We had still been bathing him in the infant bath. He was clearly getting too big for it, and now that he has been sitting up like a champ for so long, it was time to move on and start showing him the fun of a big boy bath.
The first bath wasn't so fun. He screamed the entire time. I didn't even wash his hair because I couldn't figure out how to tip his head back while he was crying so hard. In spite of that, I decided to give it another try again tonight. I figure he has got to get used to it eventually since it is here to stay...we are not going back to the infant bath!!! My friend "Cute Katie" was over and she gave me the courage that I needed to try it again. He cried at first but then got interested in what it was all about. "I get to play with toys in here??! There are even toys right here at my fingertips! I can sit up like a big boy AND get washed in this nice warm water??? Okay, I could get used to this!" And just like that he was quiet, curious, and completely fine with the new bath scenario. Whew!!!

Double Take

Since this balloon says "Happy Birthday Mom", I think of my own Mom every time I see it. But really, it is my balloon, given to me by Ryan on my birthday last week. It is funny that when I see that, I don't associate it with me being a Mom, but with my own mother. Just proof that I am still adjusting to my new role, my fabulous new role, that I wouldn't trade for anything in the free world.
P.S....When I came home from work on my birthday, Ryan was sitting in the living room with a paper party hat on, holding this balloon. It may have been the cutest thing that I have ever seen. However, it was a long, virtually napless day at school, and meltdown was setting in. Therefore, no photos to share of the cuteness.

Play Time

Handsome little lads- Ryan, 8 months and Mikey, 13 months

A kiss from Mason, 3 years

Busy boys!

I brought Ryan over to Megan's on Friday for some play time. Yes, Megan is home! Although she is still in therapy relearning basic tasks like getting dressed and walking, and is back and forth to the cancer center multiple times a week, she is home and enjoying her family. It was a great visit and made me so thankful that she is still with us. The boys were awfully busy and played so nice together. The world could have stopped and they would not have noticed!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to Keith...the best Dad ever! (Besides my Dad, Gary, and my father-in-law Bob, of course!) I love this photo of Keith and Ryan. It looks like they are sharing a moment in time and it really tells a story. I changed the coloring to sepia and had it framed for Keith for father's day. It's even better in sepia, if I do say so myself!
A huge grin comes across Ryan's face whenever Keith walks in the room. It is very sweet. Even when Keith is just around the house doing stuff, Ryan studies him and it's almost as though he is already thinking...."I want to be just like him someday!". I am so grateful for my boys and know that Keith really treasures his alone time with Ryan, on Sundays when I am working and also during his weekday stint every other week.
Happy Father's Day, Keith, Dad and Bob!

New Tooth

Ryan is cutting his third tooth. It is his upper lateral incisor (I know, so technical...not one of his front teeth, but the one next to it). From what I understand this is somewhat unusual, as it is typically one of the front teeth that comes in first. He does not seem to be bothered by it, but he has been grinding what little there is of it so far against his 2 bottom teeth. It is like nails on a chalkboard to me and I can't imagine it is very good for his brand new teeth. But how on earth would I get him to stop doing this? I guess I will have to wait for him to figure out that it will probably eventually hurt??? I can't wait to see this side tooth emerge...I think he will look awfully cute with no front teeth but one to the side. Keith thinks he will look like a hillbilly.

We are also trying some new foods. Now that he is sitting up so well we tried Cheerios. But he will have none of this textured foods thing! He makes a face and gags when anything with texture is given to him. Once he got so upset that all he wanted was his bottle. I don't want to traumatize the poor thing! Even mashed bananas are too chunky. Mashed avocados, same thing. He does like yogurt however, very smooth, chilled and sweet! :) This morning I pureed fresh asparagus that my parents brought back from Wisconsin last weekend. I tried to puree it as smooth as I could, but there is still some texture. We will see how it goes! I do think once he has some more teeth he will be more open to textured foods...I mean what kid doesn't like bananas and Cheerios??! Soon we will try cheeses, and after that, beans, tofu and eventually chicken and beef. Wish us luck!

Tid Bits

Just some tid bits of what is going on in Ryan's life....
as you can see from this photo, he is sitting up unassisted these days. Depending on how tired he is, he can usually go a good 15 minutes or so before toppling over. He is also rolling all over the place, mostly in his crib. He is still not moving around a lot when playing on the floor, but he is starting to attempt getting up on his knees and perhaps figuring out how to crawl. In typical Ryan fashion, he is in no hurry to be the first baby on the block to do anything! :) He is just one laid back kid.

He is almost 8 months old and still loving his sleep. As a follow up to the question, how much does he love Robbie?, the answer is....A TON! We discovered this the hard way on Monday when he was at Grandma DeeDee's. We forgot to bring Robbie along but didn't think it would be a big deal. When he went down for his morning nap he was inconsolable upon realizing that Robbie wasn't there. DeeDee tried to give him a substitute lovey, but to no avail. He ended up falling asleep in her arms (which she hated, I am sure:))and Keith shuttled Robbie over for the remainder of the nap. All was well. Now we know not to forget Robbie, ever, and DeeDee even went out to buy another stuffed bunny~ the same exact one~ for such emergencies.

Just the other day Ryan started sleeping on his tummy. It is so cute! He is usually cuddling Robbie and when I go in to peek at him before bed he is looking like such a little boy. It is so hard to believe. Even tonight I discovered 2 new things that I have never seen him do. I was playing peek a boo with him after his bath. He had the hoodie part of his bath towel over his head and he pulled it over his eyes. Then he would pull it up as I yelled BOO! He would again pull it over his eyes and then pull it up, with me yelling BOO right on cue...he did this a few times as I wondered, could he really be understanding peek a boo, or was that just a fluke? Who knows. After his bath, I gave him his bottle which is our routine right before he goes to bed. He finished his bottle, burped, and immediately started fussing. As he reached for his empty bottle on the nightstand, he was crying, "Ba, ba, ba...!!!", which is our lingo for bottle. I think he was still hungry and wanting more ba! Was that his first word??? He was saying it so clearly in between sobs and it was obvious what he was referring to as he reached for it. The funny thing is that my parents watched him on Saturday and told us that after his bottle then he was doing the same thing. I just sort of dismissed it and thought it was probably a coincidence (sorry Mom and Dad!), but now that I have seen it with my own eyes, it is pretty incredible to see him make those connections. What a big boy!

Robbie

This is a photo of Ryan with his new best buddy, Robbie. It is not the most recent photo, and I may have already posted it on a previous entry but I wanted to show a picture of them together for this posting. We decided to give Ry a friend, or "lovey" as some people call it, to have in his crib with him as a comfort and way to signal when it is time for bed. At first Ry seemed pretty indifferent to him, but recently I have noticed an attachment. When our little guy is tired and fussy is it pretty obvious; all he wants is to be placed in his crib. As soon as he sees Robbie, he is all smiles, reaches out for him, and instantly puts these two fingers in his mouth:
He knows it is time for bed and on the video monitor I can see him patting Robbie, playing with his ears, or just nuzzling his face in the fur. Too cute! I also noticed that Ryan was fussing last night around 2am. When I looked at the monitor he was reaching for Robbie and couldn't quite get to him. He continued to fuss until I went into his room and put his bunny back in his arms. Then he was fine!!!
For now we will keep Robbie in the crib for nap and bedtime only and see if Ryan continues to develop a strong attachment. At that point we can reevaluate where the relationship is going.....
As for where the name Robbie came from, I am not quite sure. Whenever I thought about him in my head I always called him that. Maybe because he is a rabbit...Robbie the Rabbit?? Not sure.