New Year's Resolutions

So Greg and I have made a few New Year's resolutions that we want to share with everyone. So far we have really tried to stick to them even though it has only been a couple of days....

-Ensure that 2008 is the BEST year for Ryan!
-Spend more time together as a family
-We will try to eat healthier...limit junk food (not totally eliminate it though)
-Try to exercise more at least 3x week
-Try not to spend money frivolously
-Try to limit trips to walmart/target/golfer's warehouse/Dick's/golf galaxy
-Try not to eat take out/limit dinner's out (limit once a week)
-Limit purchases made at the grocery store (we end up throwing food away a alot)
-Try to rid our house of useless junk by selling some of it on Ebay
-Clean our basement and garage
-Donate clothing to the salvation army/goodwill/big brothers
-Try to live a simpler life
-And the list goes on.....but you get the general idea

BABY MUTINY!

I know I have discussed this in earlier posts but it has been very evident lately! We call it baby mutiny....Ryan has a little bunny that he sleeps with and cuddles at night and for naps. We have designated the bunny to stay in the crib so it does not get lost and so he associates the bunny with sleep. Well he decided that he would exercise his baby mutiny on the new bunny we gave him for Christmas. Gasp.... We have in the past rotated 2 bunnies with Ryan one for home and one at my mom's without a problem. But now that he is a bit older now and understands more there was major bunny mutiny going on when handed the spanking new ultra soft bunny blankie. I literally had to hide the old bunny blanket and stuff the new one in my shirt for a while before he would even look at the new one. Eventually after 2 days he finally took to the new one..phew. But there is still baby mutiny going on when he wakes form his nap and when he wakes in the morning. All we have to do is peer in the baby monitor and if the bunny is on the floor (baby mutiny) we know it is definitely time to get up.

POTTY TIME

Greg and I decided to get Ryan a new potty over the weekend. I know it is way way early for potty training but we wanted to see if he had any interest in sitting on it (with his clothes on) I was thinking of popping him on after bath time to limit the amount of clean up if he happens to poo in the tub. Knock on wood has not happened last week. So we wanted a basic simple potty minus the bells and whistles not to distract him from actually going potty and after a little research we decided on the baby bjorn potty (had pretty decent reviews for boys)So we practiced today and told Ryan to sit on his new potty chair and he DID it! We yelled HOORAY! HOORAY! and Ryan had a huge smile on his face clapped his hands and repeated HOORA HOORA. It was the cutest moment ever. He will now sit on the potty on command and smile shouting HOORA HOORA! We are not pushing the pottying but want him to familiarize himself with the potty so it is not a scary experience for him we want it to be a positive one.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

Tomorrow Greg and I are getting out of work early and headind out to a romantic dinner sans baby. Polina is watching Ryan a little later tomorrow she will feed Ryan dinner and get him in his jammies while Greg and I enjoy an early dinner at Pane Vino in Westport.

TEETHING WOES

Ryan was a bit overtired tonight before dinner and appears to be cutting 2 molars, and seriously like 6 others, 2 sets of uppers including his eye teeth, and a set of lowers. He was extremely irritable not his norm and nothing we did seemed to calm him down. We tried giving him a snack, rocking him inthe rocking chair (his favorite), self feeder with apple (baby mutiny), tried ice (repeat baby mutniny!), tried nursing, tried singing and walking around the house, nothing seemed to do the trick for more than a few seconds! Finally we gave a dose of Tylenol and tried a bath in the ducky tub and played with some bubbles (his favorite...something magical about bubbles!) and he was cured! Thankfully we are almost certain it was teething he has been drooling like mad and putting everything in his mouth, gagging himself with his hand, and I could feel the teeth erupting on his poor sensitive gums. He was so happy after his bath. I tried to give him some meatloaf, mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner but again their was baby mutiny going on he ended up only eating the broccoli and a few bites of mashed potatoes...I think he mouth was too tender to chew the meat. Oh I have to add that Dylan LOVES baby mutiny during meals! He sits right under the high chair with his head up waiting for baby mutiny to occur! We think it is his favorite time of the day!

Here are a few links to some of our ebay items we hope to add to them soon!(you will probably have to copy and paste in your browser)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESEX:IT&item=150200540006&_trksid=p3984.cSELL.m315.lVI

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESEX:IT&item=150200524905&_trksid=p3984.cSELL.m315.lVI

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESEX:IT&item=150200545868&_trksid=p3984.cSELL.m315.lVI


Wishing everyone a very happy healthy 2008!

Ryan meets Santa

Ryan got to meet Santa today at his friend Caroline's house. Santa made an appearance for all the children at the party. Ryan really enjoyed his visit with Santa and was running around the house looking for him. He even got to sit on his lap for a picture. Thanks to the Scott Family for hosting such a fantastic holiday party! Here are a few more pictures from the party.

2007-12-23 Ryan and Santa 2007

Christmas Preview

Today we had a little pre-Christmas celebration with the Flynn's unfortunately Auntie Erin and Uncle Brian, and Great Uncle Steve were not able to make it. Erin and Brian had a leaky roof in their guest bedroom closet and Uncle Steve's hot water heater flooded his condo. Auntie Jen and Uncle Paddy are celebrating with the O'Reilly's in Sweden this Christmas so it was just 4 of us in Fairfield this year. We were so excited to see Grammy and Granddad today and we had a wonderful visit. Thanks to Grammy for providing dessert and some yummy side dishes. Thanks for making the trip to visit us today we had so much fun. And Ryan just loves his new rocking horse. Here is a little Christmas preview of a rocking horse given to Ryan by his grandparents.




Did I mention that Ryan LOVES to entertain himself with the laundry basket? He loves to climb in and out and in and out. It will capture his attention for literally at least 20 minutes which buys me time to fold, sort and put laundry away, strip bed sheets and make beds, tidy up the bedrooms and the like....every second that I can occupy this busy body I try to do a little something here, a little organizing there if you know what I mean....and you all know I am a total neat freak! So I have to take advantage while he is playing happily! Take a look.



Here is Ryan playing with some wooden blocks Daddy brought home from his trip to Japan last week....again Ryan happily played with them in the big red chair for close to 20 minutes before he started throwing them at Dylan and I ouch! And boy does he have good aim...of course he thought that was so funny and it is hard not to react to wooden blocks being pelted your way!





Also Here is a cute picture of Ryan brushing his teeth....his favorite thing to do these days. He loves to brush his teeth...I only hope this continues once the novelty has worn off!



Just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas to all our family and friends we hope to catch up with all of you soon! Looking forward to our visit with the Strattons on Christmas day!

Hooray Daddy's Home!

Hooray Daddy is finally home from traveling the far east...was visiting Tokyo, Shanghai, and Beijing. He really enjoyed his business trip and got to meet a lot of interesting people and got to have a little fun too. He went to the Chinese Opera, ate authentic Chinese food (which by the way in case you are ever in China consists of Duck tongue and shredded jellyfish) needless to say Greg prefers American Chinese food. I have to laugh he even insisted that we go out to dinner to our favorite Chinese restaurant The Little Kitchen in Westport last night so that he could eat some "real' Chinese food. He also did some bargaining at a Chinese silk market. He describes it as a big huge warehouse of "pirated" goods everything knock off you could imagine. He said it was 7 floors of wall to wall merchandise. The merchants would yell to him "mista mista how much money you got?" Greg said that was a fun experience he came home with a huge duffel bag of stuff for us. Don't worry no toys with lead paint.

So we spent a relaxing weekend at home. Greg got to spend a lot of quality time with Ryan. Here are a few things that Ryan can do now:

When asked the following...Where are your teeth? Ryan can point to his teeth or yours?
Can point to your belly button or his.
Can't point to his nose but can say it.
Can turn light switches off can sort of turn them on with help.
Can pucker up and kiss you when asked
will open his arms and come running over when asked to hug me
Can say Mama, Daddy, Diyyan, thank you, hot, nose, Na Na for nurse
Can sign more, light, eat when he is hungry, and milk
We all know Ryan is always hungry but he will actually go over to the refrigerator when he wants milk and he goes over to his high chair when he wants to eat.
He loves to do whatever mommy is doing...loves to brush his teeth and his hair
loves to help mommy clean up in the kitchen...likes to sweep with the broom and throw things in the trash (not always trash though)
Will sometimes put his toys away in the baskets when it is time to clean up
Likes to play in the laundry basket and put clothes in the basket and take them out
Has become part mountain climber...a recent development...will actually climb on/off the couch and ottoman, climb and stand on the arm of the couch, climb and stand on his learning table and then on the coffee table (yeah we had to move the learning table to the center of the room b/c he now only uses it as a step stool not to play with)
Has mastered the stairs going up and down!
While shoveling snow on Friday before greg came home I gated him in the kitchen and left the door open so I could keep an eye on him. He just stood there staring at me with his face pressed up against the glass with his tongue out. It was really cute.
And he loves to clap his hands and dance to music.
Now literally RUNS around the house giggling/squeeling in delight if he gets out of the gates.
Oh and his most favorite thing to do is tip Dylan's water bowl over....poor puppy had learned to drink and eat when he can...he never knows when or if we will remember to put his water/food bowls back down.
Oh as Greg calls it "baby mutiny" when he throws food off his tray he has lost interest in....yes even his arrowroot cookie today at dinner while Greg and I were trying to scarf down our food. We will resort to feeding him first then feeding ourselves after he has gone to bed so we don't have to inhale or abandon our dinner. Or we will end up with "baby mutiny" all over the dining room floor. We actually think he may have regretted throwing his arrowroot cookie because he peered down at it while frowning and pointing....oh well.

Could think of so much more that the list could go on forever. Ryan has changed so much can't even remember where we were only one year ago. Seems like time is going by so fast. We can't believe he will be 14 months tomorrow. He is so full of life full of energy. He is constantly moving and constanly learning new tricks. I love trying to imagine the world through his eyes.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I heard everyone in MA got tons more snow today. My parents got a total of 15 inches. Maybe we will have a white Christmas this year.

Bath Time.....not so much fun for mommy...

Okay I know this is going to sound really really gross but lately bath time has not been that much fun... for me anyways... um yeah Ryan has been totally pooing his brains out in the tub luckily for me at the very end but still...YUCK! And it has just been with in the last 2 weeks at first I thought okay maybe it is just a phase but today he did it again and it was a ton of poo.....and usually Greg is there to help me clean up but not today. He is still in China will be home very soon HOORAY! We do miss him a ton but he is enjoying his visit there..okay back to the poo...um yeah today I let him play a little in the tub a while after we washed up and he went to stand up and then sat down and stood up and that is a tell tale sign that Ryan is about to poo... and poo he did but I scooped him up just in time before he sat back down. I managed to pour half a jug of bleach down the tub just to get all the poo cleaned. So I guess no more play time in the tub...let's just get in...get clean... and get out before we can get dirty again. But then will he poo all over me while I am getting him dressed because if so I would rather he poo in the tub.... HELP, any suggestions? I told Grammy Sharon that he did this again tonight and she laughed and said "gee I am glad he did not do that for Grampy and I when we gave him his bath this past weekend....." Any advice for me? Is this early potty training? Help me out guys!

Anyways Ryan and I are gearing up for the big storm tomorrow. I have work tomorrow instead of Friday and Ryan will go to Polina's. So I have an extra pair of socks in the car with my snow boots, a brush for my car, extra food for Ryan in case Polina has to give him dinner, Pj's just in case I get stuck, hmmmm what else? Got the snow shovel and paw thaw near the back door. Plenty of gas in my car... Not sure how long it will take to get home but it did take me 2 hours to get home last Friday in the snowy/wintry mix we got right before rush hour. Hopefully if it gets bad all the patients will cancel and I will take off early.

Greg should be home sometime Friday if all goes well with the weather and delays. He has called everyday to check up on us. He said that China has been alot of fun so far but he is totally jet lagged his business partner is also jet lagged and has been over sleeping poor... Greg has sort of been on his own in the mornings. He got to do a little shopping today at some giant flea market....he called me all excited as they were leaving and said
"I got Ryan a cute Polo golf jacket and a sweater."
me: "oh cute what size did you get like a 2T or 3T?"
Greg says " no I guesstimated.... the sizes are all in Chinese"
me: "oh duh"
So cute to know that he is thinking of us. Ryan misses his Daddy and looks for him every morning. It is so cute it just breaks my heart. We hope Greg has a safe trip home and we can't wait to see him soon.

Hope everyone gets home safely tomorrow! Grammy and Granddad are so lucky they are in Florida enjoying the warm Florida sunshine and playing lots of golf. Hope you guys are enjoying your vacation. We miss you.

Thanks Grammy Grampy and Uncle Freddie

Just a quick note.....Thanks so much to Grammy, Grampy and Uncle Freddie who stayed with Ryan and I over the weekend and helped us get out the door this morning while Greg is away traveling. I get lonesome especially on the weekends because that is when we all spend time together as a family. So I was so ecstatic to have the company this weekend! It was such an enormous help you have no idea. I was able to spend time with my family, finish our Christmas shopping, make Christmas cookies with mom, go to the gym, get extra sleep, and get out the door for work on time this morning (I usually run about 10-15 min. late). It brings tears of joy to know that I have such loving families on both sides who will go out of there way to be there for Ryan and I while Greg is traveling. It is not easy but we are getting used to it now with a little help from our families! Thanks guys could not have asked for a better family or better in-laws! Glad we are all so close. And we wanted you all to know how much Greg and I truly appreciate all that you do for us. Looking forward to seeing everyone again in a few weeks!

Locked out yikes!

Yes I knew it would happen at some point...goes something like this. Ryan and I were on our way to the car after sing and sign class and chatting it up with Sarah and Caroline as we approached our car and Ryan decided to play with my car keys (yes I am totally blaming this one on him LOL) and of couse set off my car alarm so now everyone is staring at us in this strip mall parking lot and here I am fumbling around with my keys in the car trying to shut this stinking alarm off! Thankfully I was holding Ryan I dropped the keys on the driver seat stepped back and the door shut...Yes locked with the keys in it thankfully not with Ryan in it...so here we were standing outside in the freezing cold and it was snowing. But thankfully Sarah was there with us too and she kept me calm told me to go back inside to the music studio and ask Leslie (the instuctor) to use her phone to call AAA. Leslie was so great she sat Ryan down in the studio with some toys while I was kept on hold FOREVER with AAA and no I did not have my member ID it is on my keys locked in the car duh! Anyways Sarah stayed with me until I got off the phone with them and she even gave me Caroline's snacks for Ryan because we all know hungry Ryan is not a happy Ryan! I did have a snack and his milk locked in the car. Sarah was so sweet she even let me use her cell so I could call Greg but there was no answer. But all was well Ryan was happy all we had to do was wait for AAA it only took them an hour. In the mean time Ryan played, ate Caroline's yummy snack, and then we decided to trial the next music class for 1 1/2 year olds while we were waiting and before we knew it the time went by and in less than 5 sec the AAA guy had our car open. I kept saying to myself...gee i hope this guy does not moonlight as a car jacker..it was that easy! Gotta love AAA have had to use them alot thankfully not recently though. Anyways not exaclty how I wanted to spend the afternoon it could have been much worse.... I had wanted to pick up dinner at Soup Thyme on my way home they have THE BEST soup you will ever eat but they were closed by the time we left...oh well. I came home and made homemade butternut squash soup...it was so delicous and easy too. Got the recipe off food network. Anyways thought I would share. Like the title says more of the same today...adventures in toddlerhood....

Sorry now new pictures left my camera charger at my parents...bummer...hope to get it back this weekend!

Weekend with the Babysitter

So Greg and I left Ryan with a babysitter for the first time at night.....I was a little nervous but everything went smoothly, thankfully. We found the best babysitter she is an elementary education/psychology major in a 5 year master's program. In my desperate search for a babysitter I had posted signs at Sacred Heart but only in Nursing, Education, and Chemistry/Biology departments. I had a few inquiries but this sitter seemed like the best fit for us. I never knew how hard it would be to find a babysitter and find the RIGHT sitter for our family. You see I am super neurotic about certain things..like setting the rules of our house. Also it is quite different setting ground rules to someone other than a close friend or family member. I felt sort of mean....what do you guys think about these rules?

1. Ryan is only allowed to eat in his high chair- (Demonstrated Heimlich maneuver) no wandering with food
2. Pacifier and bunny blanket stay in the crib for nap time only
3. No TV for Ryan want to prolong this as long as possible
4. Light house work...translating to please pick up the toys and clean the dishes ect.
5. Please try to be on time

I know these seem like basic common sense rules but you would be surprised. I took a lot of advice from Sarah (Caroline's mom) before deciding on a sitter. Thanks for all the helpful tips!

So anyways sorry to get side tracked...We ended up leaving Ryan with our sitter on Sat for my work Christmas party. She was left to put our sleeping giant to bed and then left to deal with Dylan the puppy who tends to bark a lot when I am away. She said he only fussed for a few minutes when she put him down and then he was asleep. I told her to call us around 9 PM so I would not spend the entire night worrying if he slept or not that way I could enjoy the rest of the night and not have to call and be the neurotic mother that I am. So She did a fantastic job and cleaned up the toys and the dishes. And the best part is Ryan really likes her a lot.

We left him with the sitter again on Sunday so we could do a little Christmas shopping....Greg said "wow she gets to see Ryan in full force and all his babying she does not know what she is in for" You see on Saturday night she only had him for an hour and a half before he went to bed for the night...but Sunday she had to give him lunch and a snack and put him down for a nap. Like I said earlier she is doing a fantastic job and Ryan really likes her alot. He flirts and bats his eyelashes at her it is so cute. He even did not notice when we left on Sunday.

So yeah leaving Ryan with a sitter was not easy for me. It is very hard for me to leave him..I don't want to miss anything or have anything happen to him...But I realize now he is a year old and I feel a bit more comfortable now that he is older. I do feel that Greg and I deserved this night and day out alone sans baby. We did miss him the entire time though but it was so much easier shopping and running around the cowded mall without lugging around a stroller. Greg and I got to spend some great quality time together before he leaves for his trip it was so nice! We are so thankful that we found the right sitter for our needs.

Yesterday when I picked up Ryan at Polina's her husband was playing with him and he called him Dada...I though it was so cute...he does call Greg Dada or Daddy, but he also calls Uncle Freddie Dada too so we are thinking he at least associates Dada with men who knows....

Today we went over to Sarah's for a play date. Ryan just adores her baby dolls and Caroline has a little baby carriage and he just loves putting the baby in the carriage and pushing her around. He even gave the baby a ride on the rocking horse. So cute all the babies seem drawn to this baby carriage. Ryan and his friends are at the stage where they really enjoy pushing/pulling anything, and they love the concept of putting things in a basket and taking them out over and over again. Ryan and Caroline tooks turns on the rocking horse and sat together rocking in the big chair.

Ryan also had a new found love to play in our upstairs stand up shower. He loves to step inside and practice stacking the shampoo bottles up and knocking them down. It makes it easy for me to to ready in the morning but he ends up getting a little wet sometimes. He almost dropped his little bunny blanket in the toilet today (practicing his favorite skill putting things in and taking them out)....thankfully I caught him just in the nick of time...phew...gotta remember to keep that toilet down at all times. That would have completely sabotaged nap time and been a complete disaster!

Hope Grammy and Grandad are enjoying the warm sunny Florida weather. We are all feezing cold up here. Miss everyone and we hope to see you all soon!

I Love Daddy!

2007-11-26 Ryan 13 months

Here are some pictures from the past weekend. Hope you all enjoy. Some are from Uncle Brian's 30th birthday party, Thanksgiving with the Flynn's and the Strattons and Ryan in his rocking chair. We are so happy to say that Ryan has started saying DADDY...Yay! He will now recognize Greg and call him Daddy instead of Da Da. It is so cute he gets so excited to see his Daddy now. So happy to say Greg missed the boat on the trip to India...his passport was going to expire next Feb and they denied his visa only allowing him to enter unless it was a dire emergency. So yay and his trip to China got moved back to next week so he can come to my Holiday party this weekend. We are so excited to have him home this week.

Ryan had his sing and sign class today. He is learning more and more...today he actually followed some simple instructions by placing some dishes in a container when it was time to clean up the toys. Also one of the girls in his class said "no no no" to Ryan as he was banging on some cabinets and she escorted him back to the circle to my lap....the teacher commented on how Lily was telling him to stop banging on the cabinets and return to the circle with mommy. It was so cute! He also loves to dance in the class too. As soon as the music was turned on he started moving his hips and swinging his arms side to side. We really have to get it on video it is soooo cute. He even danced for Frank, Teresia, and Sofia today (our next door neighbors)

So I wanted to share that it can be difficult to get groceries done with a grabby toddler. We went shopping yesterday and for some reason Ryan kept grabbing everything in close range of the shopping cart...weather it be those plastic produce bags, the produce itself, bags of anything you name it. I finally just gave him my cell phone to keep him happy he kept grabbing at my purse...then he thought it was so funny to throw it on the floor and then whine when I took it away I finally said enough but he whined some more and people started looking so I gave I gave in yet again. Then as I was loading up the car I almost forgot my cell phone in the back of the shopping cart that would have been disastrous I am sure it is bound to happen one of these crazy days.

Next stop was A & S fine foods for some meat...they have the best in town but to my dismay there were no parking spaces at the deli and I really needed meat...Darn it why did I pass up the meat at the grocery store? Anyways I had to wait until someone pulled out so I could pull in so Ryan in tow off to the deli we went....
Goes something like this.......
They sort of know us there and talk to Ryan and all was good he was standing near the glass peering through looking at all the raw meat there were a few people ahead of us and of course a few seconds before out turn Ryan found the shelve at his eye level with all the bags of single serving chips and he started grabbing and throwing them around the deli...I am chasing after him trying to put the bags back neatly on the shelf and I hear...
"next in line can I help you"?.....
I run back over give my order.....Ryan bolts for the canned goods...
I run back pick him up and now he starts to fuss trying to shimmy out of my arms....
I did not want to make a scene others started looking....I put him down....
"something else miss" From behind the counter...
I glance over to see Ryan is batting his eyelashes and flirting with the girl who came over to say hello. I think to myself good distract him from more destruction please....
I turn back and finish up my order. No sooner and I reaching to get my meat and I see Ryan going for the small green hand held shopping baskets and yes he toppled them all over...
CRASH they went lucky for for me the cute girl Ryan was flirting with said...
"oh how cute let me get that"...I am thinking to myself smiling while grinding my teeth yeah..really cute.

Note to self settle for meat from the grocery store...,,even if it is not quite as good as the meat from the Italian Deli....must learn to lower standards a tad to help improve efficiency while food shopping with a toddler.

So yeah my point was that I had booked an extra day with Polina today in anticipation of Greg;s travel plans I thought I could use the time to run errands because I thought it was going to be alone this week but as it turns out I was able to do some fun stuff for myself...went to the Gym, did a little shopping and stopped by work for an in-service on our new Optifast medical nutritional weight loss program we will be starting in Jan. Really looking forward to this program rumored to have a high success rate and patients lose on average 50-75 lbs in the first 12 weeks...seems still a bit unrealistic to me but we will see what happens. The patients will get their visits with us covered by insurance if their BMI is greater than 35 with co-morbid conditions such as HTN, Diabetes, High Lipids, and such. the patients have to buy all the food which consists of these really yummy shakes, bars, pudding, and soup.....and that is all they eat for 12 weeks. The best part is it is managed by a physician and myself so the patients will know what is in the food is safe. I tried the shakes myself they are quite tasty just don't know if I could eat only that for 12 weeks straight. They provide 100% balance of carbs/protein/fat and all the vitamins/minerals you would need. Dr. menon claims that he drank a shake for breakfast and it was so filling he was not hungry until lunch. Basically our new program is a healthy alternative to bariatric surgery. The people at Optifast claim to have 80-90% compliance and drop our rates are low providing we offer the proper encouragement and couseling on a week to week basis. I am optimistic about this new program weight loss has always been an extreme interest of mine clincially so I will keep you updated with the program.....geez between this and the diabetes study I will be busy...but busy is good! Good news the study is closed for screening..Yay! less work for me. Glad this job is keeping me on my toes and I am truly enjoying every second. How lucky I am to enjoy the work I do and still be able to spend time at home with Ryan....so what if it involves chasing him through the Italian Deli...

Not too much else going on here. We are just so happy to have Daddy home for now even if it is just for a little while. Hope everyone has a great week. And talk to you all soon.

Holiday Flynn Family Extravaganza

So our Thanksgiving holiday kicked off on Tuesday night. We packed up the car and picked up Auntie Jen and Uncle Paddy for the trip home to Medfield. Thanks to Auntie Jen for driving everyone safely. Greg and I were too pooped to drive. He had been away for a golf outing and did not get home until very early Tuesday morning then had to work and I had to work back to back days mon and tues to get Friday off so we were both a bit too tired to make the long drive to Medfield. We had strategically planned to leave after Ryan had his dinner and bedtime bath. We put him in his warm fleece jammies and off we went. About a quarter into the ride I felt a wave of panic that I forgot to pack Ryan's little blue bunny blankie and his pacifier both are needed to get Ryan to sleep at night. These were the last two items left to be packed from the morning... would we have to turn all the way around and head back to Fairfield to retrieve these precious items? Phew I founf them hidden in the side pocket to Ryan's overnight bag. Once I gave him his pacifier and bunny he fell soundly asleep in the back seat. Ryan uses these items for comfort at night and for naps. You would not believe all the gear we had to pack for the trip home... our SUV was so packed poor Auntie Jen could not see out the back. It took Ryan a little while again to settle down in his pack and play at Grammy and Granddads. We felt bad for the poor guy he woke up in the middle of the night to unfamiliar surroudings and go scared. Greg decided to sleep on the floor in Ryan's room so in case he woke in the night he would not get scared. What a good Daddy.

We enjoyed a leasurely moring on Wednesday it was such a relief not to have to fight the traffic the day before the holiday. Even better was we could hand Ryan off to Grammy and Granddad in the morning so Greg and I could get a little extra sleep. Grammy and Granddad took care of Ryan so Greg and I could do a little shopping at the Natick mall too. Then we celebrated Uncle Brian's 30th birthday and everyone came over for dinner. Auntie Erin made a delicious birthday dinner and we had cake too. Then Auntie Erin and Uncle Brian headed to East Granby to spend Thanksgiving with the Majewski's. We missed you guys but glad you had fun and we heard the turkey trot was alot of fun.

Thursday we spend a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Flynn's Great Gram and Granddad came over we also saw others from the Flynn extended family. Grammy Nancy made such a beautiful Turkey day feast. Ryan enjoyed his first turkey dinner with all the fixins. He got a little overwhelmed at first but enjoyed the company and seeing everyone. Ryan tired everyone out running around the Flynn house. Thankfully we were able to really wear him out so he napped and slept well...phew a huge relief for us. Dylan and Sabrina (the flynn family dog) even got along a little better this time around. He seemed right at home.

Friday we headed home to Agawam for my 10 year high school reunion. It was a lot of fun I got to catch up with a lot of old freinds. We did not stay that long it was really not our scene but it was nice to get out and see everyone.

Greg was suppossed to leave for India on Saturday but unfortunatley for him his working Indian visa had expired so he now has to renew it on Monday then head out. Lucky for him his boss's visa had expired as well so it did not make him look so bad. Yay we got to spend 2 extra days with daddy before he heads out to India and then to China this will be the longest time he will be gone nearly 2 weeks :(

So Saturday Greg and I got to enjoy a special date night while Grammy and Grampy gave Ryan his dinner, bedtime bath, and put him to bed. Such a good baby did not give them any fuss at all. Greg and I enjoyed dinner at Judies our favorite spot in Amherst brought back lots of good memories of UMASS then we went to movies and saw American Gangster......such a great movie I highly recommend it I mean we do not get out much and this was totally worth the wait! What a fantastic date night for Greg and I.

Now it is Sunday morning and Grammy and Grampy have already been up chasing after Ryan and they had a fun trip to the grocery store..Ryan loves to ride in the shopping cart! Greg and I got some much needed rest. Now sadly it is time to pack up the car and head back to Fairfield. Hopefully we wont hit too much traffic headed home.

Just wanted to say a special thank you to both sets of Grandparents for spending lots of time with Ryan so Greg and I could rest up. It will be a tough 2 weeks with Greg away but we have lots of activities to keep us busy. We cherish spending time with our families and yes they do adore Ryan as much as we do. It is so amazing how Ryan can capture the attention of everyone in the room and put a smile on their face. He is such a bringer of joy and this will be a Thanksgiving holiday weekend that he will never forget! We love you all and thanks again for everything!

Weekend with Grammy and Granddad

Weekend recap goes a little like this....Starting with Thursday we had a play date at Sophia's and Ryan had so much fun with all his girlfriends- Sophia, Caroline, and Lila. So funny to watch them all "toddle around" seems like not that long ago we were all trying to keep them from crawling off the picnic blanket now we are all trying to keep them from running away. These toddlers have alot of energy! Then on Thursday the mom's enjoyed a fun girl's night out at Sakura my personal favorite Japanese restaurant. It was so nice to get out with just the girls and not have to worry about entertaining the toddlers. I actually got to sit down to a nice dinner without interruption..gasp my first uninterrupted meal in a while. Greg and I usually inhale our food I hardly ever get to finish my meal these days because Ryan also inhales his food too. It was a fun night out something we have to do more often!

2007-11-18 Ryan 13 months

Friday the Flynns came down to stay with Ryan while Greg and I enjoyed a fun night out in the city for his holiday party. It was at Tuscan Square in Rockefeller center. The food was fantastic and all of Greg's co-workers were so nice. It was great to meet some of them. We even danced a little. What a late night though we did not get in until nearly 1 AM the latest we have been out in over a year. 2 nights out in a row was alot for me thank goodness the Flynn's took Ryan in the morning so we could sleep in a little. They really enjoyed their visit with Ryan. Even Auntie Jen came in from the city to visit for a while. We enjoyed dinner at Bangalore on Saturday night together before Auntie Jen caught her train back to the city.

Today we enjoyed a restful day at home Grammy and Granddad played with Ryan in the morning while I hit the gym and ran some errands. Greg left at 3 Am for South Carolina for a golf outing with Neil. Grammy and Granddad got to spend the day with Ryan. He is just bursting with energy and I think he tuckerd out his grandparents I know he tuckers me out everyday! Ryan just loves his grandparents so much and really enjoyed the weekend visit. Him and I were so sad to see them leave!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. We will be spending Turkey day with the Flynn's this year. Ryan can't wait to see his Great grandparents. Miss you all.

Finally on the Mend!

Hi So Ryan is finally on the mend. He had a little cold that started last Friday with a runny nose and little sad cough....no fever though. We have been cooped up for the past 5 days it was the first day Ryan has been out of the house except to see Polina on Friday and Monday. We spent a quiet restful weekend at home so Ryan could rest up. We decided to go to our music class today but skipped LLL meeting yesterday due to a runny nose. I did not want to be that mother who brings a sick child out. I even contemplated all day weather we would make it to music class today but we did and surprisingly he did well aside from a little whining and a slight cough. He is also drooling like crazy poor Ryan he is getting his eye teeth and first year molars all at once I can see the eye teeth poking through and I can feel the molars too. I did break down and I gave him his very first dose of Tylenol today due to the teething whoes....he was whiney and clingy after class and seemed so unhappy so I figured he was in some pain. It seemed to help ease him a bit he ate dinner ( 3 of Grammie's yummy meatballs, squash and whole wheat couscous and half an apple for dessert) no lack of appetite here and I figured if he had a sore throat he would not want to eat. I am guessing all the drooling is attributed to teething and not a sore throat. Anyways he went to sleep without a peep, thankfully.

We decided to start interviewing for a local babysitter for Ryan. Although I am sure his grandparent's don't mind the excuse for a visit to take care of Ryan we really do need someone local at night...gasp...maybe Greg and I could even go out together at night for dinner alone. Right now we have both sets of grandparents babysitting for our holiday parties but we really need someone local. So I decided to post flyers in search of a babysitter at Sacred Heart University in the school of nursing, education, and biology areas. I have already heard back from a few inquiries that seem promising. So I will let you know how it goes.


Update on the diabetes study...After 5 screened participants I have 2 patients who actually met the criteria to enlist into the study. They have passed the screening process and are now eligible for RUN IN which is a month long period where the patient actually has to take a placebo three times a day (they think they are getting the actual drug but everyone gets placebo during this time period to ensure compliance) if they have less than an 80% compliance with the placebo rate then they are disqualified from the study. Yes I actually have to count all the pills they return. Only then after they complete RUN IN are they actually randomized to the study. This study is really a great learning experience and I know we are trying to find a new drug for diabetes but it is sooooooooo much work and somehow I am stuck doing EVERYTHING......identifying the patients, screening the patients aliquotting all the blood for the lab (I feel like a chemist), and doing all the data entry (I am sooo not good with computers)...not to mention I have no idea what I am doing and I am constantly on the phone with the people from Harvard and GWU all the while I am supposed to be seeing patients and precepting an APRN student form UCONN. It is alot for me but let's just say my days seem to fly by. But I am sad to say it will be like this for a while.... once the patient is randomized to the study it is 8 weeks long plus a follow up period..the screening process alone is roughly 6-8 weeks so that will be until next Spring at least.

Looking forward to Seeing the Flynn's this weekend for a visit. They are watching Ryan so Greg and I can go into the city for his work party on Friday. It should be a lot of fun. We used to go into the city all the time and I can't believe I have not been since Ryan has been born. Hope everyone has a great week and Talk to you all soon. Hopefully Ryan will be feeling better by the weekend! Miss you all a ton!

Quote of the day....

Okay Greg and I woke up this morning and as usual Ryan was "babying" around as Greg calls it. Ryan was on his usual path of destruction! Loves to bang,hit, throw things around. He was throwing things in the dirty laundry bin and running all around upstairs. He took the phone and started pulling at the cords and trying to put them in his mouth.....Greg looked at me and said "Are we in the terrible two's early?" LOL LOL! Ha I told him welcome to my world on a daily basis! More to follow.

JF

Ryan's First Haircut

2007-11-09 Ryan 12 months

So Wednesday I decided to give Ryan's wavy locks a little snip...frankly I was tired of Greg always saying he had a mullet in the back. I really wanted no part in getting his haircut at all but one of Ryan's favorite past times involves him twirling his fingers around the hair near his ears in his highchair while he is eating thereby leaving caked on broccoli, melted cheese, sweet potato (whatever he happens to be eating that day) becomes permanently embedded in his sideburns until bath time. So yes we decided to give him a little trim. Surprisingly he sat still and those curious little fingers tried to grab the scissors a few times...gotta love toddlers with sharp objects. Anyways we managed to get through the first haircut but looking back now I feel so bad for poor Ryan. I took way too much off the top and left most of the mullet in the back..oh well as Greg says it will grow back right?! He is still cute even if now he has a bigger forehead. I think through all of this I have learned a valuable lesson that is to have your child's haircut be done by a professional or risk having them walk around with a "bowl cut on top and a mullet in the back" Checkout the pictures and see for yourself I really did not get a good picture of the back but I will try and get one for another post.

On another note we have managed to get our anorexic puppy Dylan to bulk up a bit...you can still feel all ribs and bones when you pick him up although they are not as prominent....I should open a homemade baby/dog food business I could make alot of money marketing this..anyways Dylan now eats slow cooked kosher chicken with carrots/celery/onion with chicken broth and whole wheat couscous with a scoop of dry kibble. I know this is pathetic but it is literally the only way we can get him to eat anything at all. I have tried every dog food under the sun from dry kibble to wet canned food..he even snubs his nose to all types of treats like the expensive organic pumpkin treats (which Ryan really enjoys I am embarrassed to say that I think Ryan has eaten more of the treats than Dylan has not really but Dylan hides them all over the house and you know who finds them and thinks they are cookies for him to eat..NOT)So I have resorted to once a week making a huge kosher chicken in the slow cooker with veggies and Greg, Ryan and I will eat it for dinner then Dylan will eat the left overs for a week then the process repeats. Well it beats throwing the food out...Ryan and Greg are so not big fans of left overs. So that is the story with Dylan we are happy to say he no longer needs his doggie Meclizine for shorter car rides 1.5 hours or less but I think the trip to Medfield this Turkey day will require us to drug him with half a dose...you never know we might run into stop and go traffic and that just sends him over the edge. He is so anxious in the car sometimes but lately he has really mellowed out, thankfully. But I am sad to say when it comes to having visitors over the house he still goes into full fledged ATTACK mode regardless if you are the mailman, the cable man, a friend, a neighbor...it is quite embarrassing but that is Dylan in a nutshell our favorite family pet would not trade him for a million dollars.

Unfortunately Ryan woke this morning with a runny nose sneezing and coughing...I think he caught a small cold. Polina said his nose ran like a faucet all day..poor little pumpkin. He acted like himself, playing, napping eating a ton as usual. I am not too worried I just to hate to see his little nose all goopy and runny and his poor little cough. Poor Ryan he was snoring like a freight train last night...At least I am pretty sure it was Ryan and not Greg... It is so sad to see your child ill even if it is just a cold. We had to cancel our plans for tomorrow we were supposed to head down to Stamford to meet our friends they have a 2 1/2 yr old and a new baby and the last thing we want to do is infect their entire family especially not little Arik. So we will reschedule for another time. Not too much planned for the weekend just want to rest up so Ryan gets better soon. Hope you are all doing well. Miss you have a great weekend.

XOXO RYAN

Happy Birthday Grampy!

2007-11-06 Ryan 12 months

Weekend re-cap (I know I am a bit slow it is already Tuesday) We headed up North this past weekend to celebrate Grampy Fred's birthday. Unfortunately Grammy Sharon was not feeling well over the weekend but thank goodness she is on the mend:) Greg made my dad a fantastic birthday dinner- chicken Marsala, lemon broccoli and rosemary roasted potatoes (Thanks Martha!) It was delicious and instead of birthday cake we had pumpkin pie yum. My dad, Greg, his dad and his friend John all enjoyed a round of golf at the Ranch on Sunday. We had a lot of fun even though hit was a quick visit. Grammy and Grampy took out my old rocking chair that I used as a small child and Ryan just loved it. He really enjoys rocking in the big "grown up" rocking chair here and at Grammy's too. He also amused himself with the laundry basket for at least a half hour. He kept climbing in and out and wanted Grampy to push him around in the basket. It was amazing that he actually knew how to get out of the basket all by himself...we only had to hold the sides of the basket so it did not tip over. But he knew to hoist his chunky legs over the side one at a time. Oh by the way just to let you all know Ryan know how to climb to the top of the stairs and get down on his own. To get down he goes backwards on his tummy...not that we are encouraging this at all but good to know. Polina actually had a split level ranch with 4 -5 steps that he freely goes up and down with supervision of course.

Ryan and I hosted a play group with others from the neighborhood today it was a lot of fun. We joined the Fairfield mom's club and they sort of section off the chapters according to where in Fairfield you live. That places us in the North chapter. I have to say this small play group is great! But overall the moms in this club are not that friendly and some are rather snooty and they did not make Ryan and I feel welcome to the few events we tried to attend. We prefer those our age in the play group. There are so many babies Ryan's age in the area most with in walking distance to the house. We had 9 month old twins, Billy and Allie, 10 month old Tommy, and 12 month old Max. Max and Ryan were so funny...all they did the entire play date was get into trouble together and eat Cheerios! The twins were so cute they just started crawling a few weeks ago and remained stationary for the first 45 minutes I think they were scared of the bigger babies either that or they were just taking it all in. This mom is a super mom she showed up at the front door with a baby in the Bjorn one on her hip and two diaper bags one on each shoulder! I was amazed at how she managed to get out the door the same way...I had offered to help but she said she was so used to managing them on her own...wow! I can now picture this mom in my mind every time Ryan and I are having an off day. I don't know how she does it. Anyways the playgroup was a success and everyone seemed to have a good time. We will be meeting every two weeks and it is nice because we can rotate hosting the group and we are small enough not to feel overwhelmed.

So Ryan had the all American dinner tonight. Parmesan chicken fingers- baked in the oven- another Martha recipe, Mac and cheese (from a box...come on I made the chicken fingers from scratch I did not have time for the homemade mac and cheese too..hey at least it was Annie's organic)and a broccoli/cauliflower puree combo...to my surprise Ryan still prefers his veggies pureed and will eat more this way...he is very particular about the texture of his food. Then I gave him a little homemade pumpkin bread for dessert which he loved. Then it was off to bed. Surprisingly the time change has not affected Ryan too much still sleeping well (knock on wood). Sorry I have to add this too. I have been trying to brush his teeth at night the pediatrician recommended we do this to prevent cavities. Ryan does not mind this at all afterward I usually give him the toothbrush to practice with and he sees me wetting it in the sink...so today he decided to wet his tooth brush in the dog bowl and stick it back in his mouth (gasp luckily I caught him in the act before the brush hit his mouth and I had just scrubbed Dylan's water bowl) But part of me was mad that he dipped his baby Einstein tooth brush in the dog bowl and part of me was thinking wow this kid is really smart that he wanted to wet his toothbrush. hence the new title of the blog...adventures in toddler hood. Kerri like Caroline and Reese Ryan is totally obsessed with Dylan and like Reese...Dylan takes so much abuse from Ryan pulling his tail and his hair and stealing his toys...I think he puts up with it because he is so terrified and does not know what else to do but stay still and take the abuse or run like hell!

Hope you guys all enjoy the rest of the week. Miss you all and hope to see you soon.

Get to know your neighbors

I just have to share this experience with you....yesterday I took the video monitor outside so Dylan and I could play a little in the yard while Ryan napped for 2 1/2 hours (YES!) and I noticed a little static on the monitor. At first I thought it might have been sleeping giant awakening but it was just static (phew!) so I decided to change the channel from A to B and to my surprise I got a clear view of what looked to be my neighbor's baby's crib (2 doors down). At first I thought this was really funny then I thought some more about it. What if they cold see/hear us too? Should we ditch our monitor? Just an FYI for anyone who has a video monitor your neighbors may be getting to know you a bit better than you think.

PS Greg and I are enjoying Ryan's Halloween candy he really made out with a lot of loot:)Too bad he does not know what he is missing.

XOXO RYAN

Happy Halloween

Ryan had a ball in the center of town trick or treating with his friends. There were so many children out and about. The town really did a great job making it a great day for the kids. In the center of town all of the local business opened their doors from 2-5 PM for trick or treaters. Ryan met some of his friends in town and had so much fun. His lion costume got alot of use YAY! Then we went trick or treating in our neighborhood with Sofia. Sofia and Ryan had so much fun riding in the wagon. What a great night for the kids. Halloween is such a magical holiday and Ryan was just so cute in his lion costume. Hope everyone had a great Halloween.

XOXO RYAN

2007-10-31 Ryan and Friends Halloween

Time for an upgrade!

Okay guys I just had to tell you all it is time for an upgrade(in diapers that is) We had a huge poopy blowout this morning in our size 4 cruisers (must have been the oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast)I have to say this has not happened since Ryan was a teeny tiny baby....but yes it is time for an upgrade I was trying to use all of these size 4's but I ended up changing bed sheets yesterday morning...upon awakening Ryan had soaked through his pj's, his sleep vest, and his sheets and now the blowout today. So it is definitely time for the bigger size which I must say he has worn these by far the longest! I did give his little tush a quick little bath in our upstairs bathroom sink which was disastrous (I do not recommend doing this) He sat down started splashing and the sink over flowed on to the floor but in the end I had a very clean happy baby! Happy Halloween everyone.

XOXO RYAN

Weekend Re-Cap

2007-10-30 Ryan Halloween Preview

So Saturday Greg got to come to our make up class for our sing and sign class. It was so special to to have him there so he could learn some of the signs. Not sure if Ryan will catch on to any of the other signs besides more but we will keep trying. We went to Soup Thyme (my favorite lunch spot) for lunch in Monroe with our friends and got Ryan down for a power nap to rest up for the Halloween Spooktacular.

We had so much fun at the party. All the babes looked really cute in their costumes. It was great to see everyone we had not seen a while. Kerri- your whoopie pies were so delicious! Ryan really enjoyed them too! There were certainly a lot of people there. All I kept thinking to myself was that the host of the party has some MAJOR baby proofing to do (her twins are still non-mobile). They had a lot of candles and lit pumpkins and I kept picturing our little lion up in flames. No but seriously he did do pretty well although he did almost pull some of food off the table along with the table cloth a few times. Poor Ryan he was so good he kept his costume on the entire time and by the end of the night we took the hood off and his head was all sweaty!

Sunday we headed North to Agawam for a baby shower for our friends Lori and Bernie. They are expecting their first Jan 1st 2008. Greg and I got to do a little shopping while Grammy and Grampy got to spend some quality time with Ryan. It was really nice out and they got to take Ryan for a stroller ride.

It is official today Ryan looked straight at Dylan pointed at him and said "DIYYA" He now says Mama, Dada, Dog, and Diyya. He sort of signs for more with food and if I hold up cereal versus fruit he will point to his preference. His new annoying thing he does is he sits in his high chair and bangs his head on the back with all his might and thinks this is so hilarious! I am just worried he will tip the highchair backwards.

There is hope for us yet with the cow's milk he is now taking to it a bit more but not great. Taking small sips from his sippy cup only with a straw and it has to be room temperature or warmed not stone cold. But a week now of just nursing in the morning and at night and in the moring. But I still worry that this is not enough fluid he takes only sips of milk or water during the day. I know he does eat fruti and yogurt but I am not convinced this is enough. Still not pumping at work. I feel like I have so much free time now (not really).

So I am taking part in a research study through the Joslin Diabetes Center and NIH (National Institute of Health)for work and we have worked really hard trying to get up to speed with the logistics and I am expecting my first potential participant on Friday and I am so anxious/excited (just hope I don't mess anything up). We are trialing a new drug for treatment of type 2 diabetes it is so exciting and I am so lucky to be a part of it. I will let you know how it works out.

So Happy Halloween! No major plans just plan on saying hello to the neighbors with the little Lion in tow. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

XOXO RYAN

Halloween Preview Ryan the Lion!

2007-10-27 Ryan the Lion!

Yay MORE!

Okay we had to make up our sing and sign class that we missed on Wed and I can finally say that all this sign language is paying off YAY! Ryan can now sign for more! He loves to do it during meal time especially. Not sure if he will catch onto the other... signs we have been trying to teach him but only time will tell. They say that hearing children who learn sign language will speak earlier, use complete sentances, and comprehend more. Still Ryan appears distracted during the class at times his friend Caroline is really into the class and she can sign a lot! Hopefully we will be able to communicate with Ryan more through sign language. It is a rainy lazy day today! Gotta rest up for the Halloween Spooktacular!

XOXOX Ryan

Teething Woes...Again ughhh

So it is official Ryan is getting his first year molars. I wondered why he kept sticking his entire hand in his mouth while pointing his finger down his throat and finally today realized that yes he is indeed getting his first year molars. To my surprise he actually let me feel them poking through all the way back there! It was funny I did think something major was wrong last night when Ryan woke from his 2+ hour nap (that he so desperately needed) he was so groggy and clingy so we decided to go for a stroller walk with Dylan of course. And little Ryan was slumped over to one side of the stroller sort of dozing off even though he just woke from his nap. On walks he usually babbles holding on the the sides of the stroller kicking his chubby little legs in delight but not yesterday. I kept peering through the window to see what was going on. Even when Dylan barked at a nearby dog Ryan did not make a peep...totally unlike him he is usually so nosey leaning out of the stroller to see what the racket is all about.

Then when we got home from our walk it was dinner time and Ryan practically refused his dinner come to think of it he barely ate his breakfast refused his afternoon snack and only had a few bites of his lunch...again totally unlike Ryan to refuse any type of food! While Greg gave him his bedtime bath he just sat there....bath time is his favorite time and he usually tries to climb out of the tub always stands up several times and he always splashes and giggles in the tub. But last night no smiles or splashes or attempts to stand. Greg noticed he felt a little warm and was not feeling like himself so we took his temp and it was 100.7. I nursed him and put him down in his crib and he went to sleep right away. I was going to give him some baby Tylenol but he fell asleep so peacefully.

Before I went to bed I just had to pick him up to feel if he was still warm (I am so paranoid he will have a febrile seizure) so I told myself if his fever was the same or higher I would give Tylenol but it had come down to 100.3 and he slept peacefully all night..... thankfully. This morning he woke without a fever and seemed a bit whiny and clingy again gave Greg a hard time getting dressed fell asleep the whole way to Polina's and whined as I was leaving dropping him off. I had called her last night to give her a heads up he may be a bit grumpy in the AM. I packed extra food for lunch and snacks not knowing what he would feel like and to my pleasant surprise it was as if he was never sick at all. Polina said he laughed and played and walked all around first time all day he did not crawl...only walked! And ate everything and I mean I packed him with alot of food...a pumpkin pancake, cantaloupe, grapes, kiwi, strawberries, 1/2 apple, 1/3 of a banana, oatmeal, yogurt, spinach, pirate booty, goldfish, and cows milk. And he took his cereal with cow's milk and drank only from is sippy cup today...HOORAY! Such a relief he is feeling better I was afraid we might have to miss out on the Halloween Spooktacular Kerri!

So yesterday while we were upstairs little Ryan took Dylan the puppy's toy looked right at Greg and said "DIYYA" as if to say Dylan in baby talk. It was so precious! And I think he has actually done this before but I was not paying that much attention. Usually when he takes Dylan's toys he brings them to his mouth and we say that's Dylan's toy and take it away from him. This morning as I was eating breakfast he took Dylan's toy again and walked over to Dylan who was laying on the ottoman and tried to hand the toy to Dylan who was asleep disinterested in it all. Greg and I were so amazed!

Yesterday we also had a weaning consult with Dr. Smilie and she was so great as always. She answered all my questions and we left the office feeling really good and reassured that we were doing the right thing. Our plan for now includes nursing only in the morning and at night and giving cow's milk and water as needed for fluids during the day. Eating yogurt and fruit is fluid enough similar to drinking a cup of milk or juice. And I totally agree with Kerri that we will stay away from juice for as long as possible lord knows Ryan does not need the calories and he would rather eat his calories in the form of fruit than drink them :) Dr. Smillie also said to ditch the bottle and only offer the cup at this point. Also she recommended restarting the vitamin D supplement now that the days are getting shorter and the vitamin D from sunlight is lessening. She also told us not to deny Ryan if he wants to nurse during the day for naps etc but to try and distract him or limit his nursing time to shorter periods. He seems happy with this and I can finally ditch my breast pump for good YAY! I did not have to pump today at work and it is so nice not to have to wash everything and store the milk and then cart it back and forth. This seems to be working for us for now and I will let him decide when he is ready to move on.

It is getting chilly out there. Ryan wore his mittens and hat today. He gets so mad when we put his mittens on! I think he feels like we cut his hands off! He was so grumpy this morning and putting his hat and mittens only exacerbated his mood. He fell asleep in the car with his hands straight up in the "I surrender to the mittens pose" Also Ryan went to bed with is "straight jacket on" as Greg calls it. It is really a sleep vest blanket which is basically a blanket with a head and arms cut out. I put him in it as he was standing up and he ran away before I could put his legs in and zip him up. Picture this a little boy running around his bedroom in a blanket. Literally looked like he was wearing an extra long super man cape only white and fleece, LOL. Looked like a cathedral length train on a wedding gown hanging in the back. You would think it would slow him down...NOT! ha ha! Okay seriously though it keeps him warm and he can't suffocate himself or kick the blanket off. They are great.

So hope everyone has a great weekend. We will hopefully get some cute pics at the Halloween party tomorrow night. Miss you all. Turning oi now it has been a very busy week.

XOXOX Ryan A.

Ryan and Friends

2007-10-24 Ryan and friends

So today we missed our sign and sign class (oh I wonder if Jona was asking for Ryan?) to have a little party for Ryan to celebrate turning one with all his little friends. I managed to take a couple pictures before my camera battery died and I am embarrassed to say I could not get the TV to work so I was unable to show the slide show for the party today:( I am so technologically challenged it is a wonder I can manage the blog!) LOL. So Ryan protested his afternoon nap today but decided after lunch he was ready to go down and I had to wake him at 3 PM for his party I wanted to get him dressed in time for his guests.

The party was so much fun Ryan really enjoyed spending time with all his friends some we have not seen in so long. The babes had so much fun with all the new toys. The ball popper was a big hit with everyone. Also the sports center and the little tykes walker. Thanks to both grandparents for these toys. Ryan got so many new toys from all his little friends. I am thinking of putting a few away for later he seems to have so many new toys to play with now. I think Ryan's toys are taking over the living room not sure what to do with all of them. Poor Dylan had to be kept upstairs for the party. He was like a little gerbil clawing at the gate the entire time.

Tomorrow we have a weaning appointment with Dr. Smilie over at breastfeeding resources. I woke at 3 AM in wrenching pain due to a plugged milk duct. I had to apply a warm moist face cloth and wake sleeping giant to unclog it at 3:45 AM. Lucky for me he was more than happy to help me out and peacefully drifted back to sleep after. That baby has rescued me every time. If you get a plugged milk duct and are unable to resolve it on your own it will likely turn into a nasty infection called mastitis necessitating a high unpleasant 10 day course of antibiotics that wreak havoc on your tummy! Lucky fo me I have been able to avoid this at all costs thus far thanks to Ryan my hero! So I have alot of issues to discuss during our appointment tomorrow! Just a few of the topics include how to go about this weaning process and avoiding more plugged ducts (extremely common with oversupply). How to go about discontinuing to pump at work, how to get Ryan to drink straight up cows milk, sippy cup vs bottle, how to introduce him to like cold milk (yes I am still heating up his milk but a lot has to do with the fact that he likes it fresh out of the tap at body temp)how to get him down for nap without nursing him before, and what on earth to do in the future with the second one to prevent this huge oversupply issue that I constantly battle even after 12+ months. So hopefully for us Dr. Smilie will have some answers for us.

Oh I have to tell you guys that for the second time Ryan has got himself stuck in his crib! It happened two nights ago he was twisting and turning trying to get comfy and decided to stick his foot out of the crib then flip over. Well then all of a sudden we heard this wail of a screech and I glanced in the monitor and it was difficult to see but it looked as though he was stuck. Knock on wood once sleeping giant is down for the night he is out like a light without a peep. So for this it was highly usual and I bolted up the stairs and sure enough he was stuck so after some hugs and kisses and a little nursing he was happy again and drifted off to sleep. Ryan likes to comfort nurse alot not sure how this will go over when we stop nursing completely. Oh and today after I got Ryan Alexander up after his nap before the party I went to the Bathroom to wash my hands after changing his diaper and I heard that unforgettable screech again I went running back in his room only to find his arm stuck in the crib. he was reaching for his bunny blanket (his lovey) and in the process he managed to get the crook of his elbow stuck and twisted in the crib. Yikes after talking with some of the other parents today apparently this happens a alot and it is quite scary! With the arm I had a very difficult time getting him lose and he was very upset it must have hurt his arm alot to be stuck like that! Kerri- i am keeping the bumper on just so he won't get stuck. He has not tried to use it to propel himself out of the crib just yet:)

Anyways I have to go puree some spinach, sweet potatoes and carrots for Ryan. I will catch up with everyone soon. Miss you all!

XOXOXO RYAN

Oh yeah not to mention I could not get the slide show working, my camera battery dying, but did I tell you I forgot to hand out the goody bags at the party to Ryan's friends? Yeah this baby brain thing only seems to be getting worse the older Ryan gets! Sometimes I wonder how I manage to keep everything straight! LOL

Everybody Loves Ryan

Okay I have to share this really funny story with all of you.... for some reason regardless of age all children are gravitated towards Ryan and everyone always wants to be his friend. For example Sophia our next door neighbor is constantly obsessed with Ryan. Every time I see her "where's Ryan" she asks over and over again everyday. She just adores Ryan and refuses to go in her house to ear her dinner if we are outside playing. Her Nana has to pull her away from Ryan kicking and screaming almost every night. The other day we were all outside playing with Ryan's new car and she absolutely refused to get in the car to go home even after Greg took Ryan inside for dinner and his bath. Her mother finally pulled her away kicking and screaming while securing her in her car seat. Sofia will be 3 in Jan.

On Wednesdays we have a sing and sign music class in Monroe and there is a little boy who is 4 named Jona and he just adores Ryan too. He comes to the music class with his babysitter and his little sister Anna Gret who is 2 1/2. I guess Jona talks about Ryan all the time at home and in the car on the way to class. It is so cute he wants to sit next to Ryan during circle time and even asks Ryan to guard his books/toys while he goes to the bathroom. Jona asked Ryan "where do you live, do you want to come over to my house and play" then after Ryan gives him a blank stare and no response Jona turns to me and says "does Ryan like Thomas the train I have lots of Thomas trains and videos, does he like tv? Can Ryan come over to play? It is just so so cute that this little boy is so into Ryan.

His little girlfriend Caroline flashes a big smile when she sees Ryan and the other day greeted him with a kiss. So cute. Ryan has such a great personality all the children just seem to love him. He has lots and lots of friends. I hope he grows up to be well liked by others. How can you not fall in love with Ryan he is just so lovable.

Looking forward to Ryan's play date party on Wed. Hope everyone has a great week.

XOXO Ryan

Happy Birthday Ryan!

2007-10-20 Ryan birthday pictures

Today we had a little family birthday party for Ryan and it was so much fun! It was so great to see everyone. Special thanks to everyone who traveled all the way from Ma and NYC. It was such a very special day for Ryan and he was so excited to see everyone. Ryan got so many new books, toys and clothes. Our home is literally being taken over with baby toys! We had enough food for an army! We had ordered an Italian Combo 5 foot hoagie for the party and it was literally 5 feet long and took up the entire counter. I think we barely made a dent in the sandwich. I thought I had a picture but I am sure someone does I can post later! We also had tons of other yummy sides and a carrot cake and cupcakes. Ryan had his usual kale and yogurt for lunch but he did dig into some cheese and fruit and of course he had a yummy cupcake and ice cream too! He had strawberries for the first time today and he LOVED them! So yummy I think this may be his new favorite fruit!

I also wanted to thank Greg for putting together a very special slide show honoring Ryan and his first year of life. He really captured the memories of Ryan as a little tiny baby in the hospital to the big boy he is today. He even got all of his milestones in the slide show. I know it was a lot of work and it turned out to be the hit of the party. I think this was the first time I made it through without crying. Kerri it was great to see you, Steve and Caroline I can't believe how big she is! I wish we had more time for the kids to play!

The little blond girl Sofia in the pictures with Ryan is our neighbor's granddaughter. She just adores Ryan and he really loves her too. She is 2 1/2 and they play so great together. Sofia pretends to "babysit" Ryan when he goes over her house. It is so cute! She was such a great helper today assisting Ryan in opening all his presents. And Sofia just had a ball with all his new toys. Her and Ryan will have enough to keep them busy for a while!

So glad everyone could come to help celebrate Ryan's first birthday. It was so special to have everyone here. I know Ryan will look back at these photos someday and smile! What a great party! It is 9:30 and everyone in the house has been fast asleep for hours. Greg was the first one out he is passed out in the big chair snoring away. Ryan was the second one to fall sound asleep upstairs poor little dumpling so much excitement for a little baby boy. Even Dyan is asleep next to me on the couch too much excitmemt he missed his afternoon nap too! So much excitement for everyone for one day. I am feeling a bit tired myself so I think I will join the rest of the family and turn in for the night.

Thanks again to everyone for making Ryan's birthday a very special one he will never forget. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends to share these special celebrations with! Hope you enjoy the pictures. Love you all. Goodnight.

Love,
Birthday Boy Ryan!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!!

Happy Birthday Ryan! We are so excited because it is Ryan's Birthday today YAY!! Ryan slept in this morning until about 7:30 (he usually gets up around 7:000 and he was so happy talking to himself in his crib. I actually woke up before him and Greg and I lay in bed so happy I sooo wanted to wake him up to wish him a happy birthday but it was best to just let him wake up on his own. Anyways when he finally did wake up I got the video camera and we sang happy birthday to him in his crib. He was soooo happy and he danced in his crib while we sang happy birthday to him over and over again. It was like he knew it was his birthday! Then his favorite thing to do when we come in after we wakes in the morning and from his naps is to throw himself face first in his crib and kick his arms and legs laughing.....Polina says he does this for her too when he wakes from his nap. Then we helped him open his gift from us his push around buggy. We have not had time to try it out yet but I know he will LOVE IT!

Yes we have had a busy morning so far and it is only 2PM. Then Ryan had breakfast his oatmeal mixed with avocado and pumpkin and some mango and avocado for finger food and cheerios then I jumped in the shower and we were off to the pedi for his one year physical. YAY clean bill of health! 26 pounds three ounces and 31 1/2 inches long. Tippity top for both height and weight like 97th for weight and 99th for height and I can finally say he is taller than he is wide. He actually only gained a pound in three months and grew almost 2 full inches! He can eat anything now (b/c we have no history of food allergies) and YES he can have whole milk YAY! What will I do with the 130 ounces of breast milk in the freezer? Probably just mix a little for a while with the cows milk then use it for cereal. I have thrown so much of it away in the past I hate to waste more :( Oh well I really want to ditch my breastpump in a huge way! Ryan really has little interests in nursing anyways these days he'd rather be on ON THE MOVE! BTW he is walking so so well now I even let him (gasp) walk in the driveway and on the lawn. Yes we are religious about picking up the doggy do do now! Unfortunately for Ryan he also got 4 shots today too I felt like a really mean mommy making him get them on his actual birthday but his party is not until Sat. He took them all like a champ and barely cried. I opted not to get a flu shot for him he is not around sick children in daycare and most of his friends are at home. Greg and I plan on getting ours in the next few weeks. His pedi said unless he was in day care or around sick children there was really no need for yet another shot...the mercury and therosols- preservatives in the vaccines really freak me out!

So after a quick stop at Trader Joe's for some organic whole milk we came home to have lunch. Lentil soup and some cheese sticks he ate almost 2 whole cheese sticks! I swear he eats more than me! Ryan had a sippy cup of breast milk and cow's milk and he didn't even bat an eyelash! Oh yeah that's the other thing the pedi said no more bottle! The lactose from the milk can rot his teeth. We have to brush his teeth twice a day now and only sippy cups and no milk at bedtime after we brush his teeth only water. He has been napping for and hour and a half and I will have to wake him soon for his music class.

I told Greg yesterday I think I am ready for baby number too! I got so teary eyed thinking where we were one year ago, where we are today and how we agreed this past year has been the best year of our lives! Where has the time gone. It really is true when people say that children grow up so fast! We are enjoying every precious moment with Ryan. He is our dumpling our joy and we can't ever imagine life without him! See you all soon. I promise we will get a picture of the birthday boy up later on! I gotta wake sleeping giant soon for his music class

Love XOXOXO Ryan the birthday boy!

Ryan the Great Pumpkin!

2007-10-14

Weekend recap....yesterday I worked for a few hours and Ryan spent the morning with Polina while Daddy went to the driving range. Boy it got really cold all of a sudden here. I am not complaining though I LOVE Fall. It is our favorite time of year. When Greg and I first started dating and of course when Ryan was born! So after work we all ate lunch then took a family nap. I felt so lazy yesterday it was great! Then we decided to head out to grab an early dinner at one of our favorite dinner spots in Fairfield called Quatro Pazzi. They have the best Italian food in town and they are super family friendly! Sorry I have to brag a bit... the hostess comented on how well behavied Ryan was throughout the entire dinner and she even added that she knew he was a good sleeper and a good baby just by watching him interact at dinner. We took our dessert to go and headed to boarders so I could get the new children's cookbook everyone's been raving about called Decepitvely Delicous by Jessica Seinfeld. http://www2.oprah.com/foodhome/food/jseinfeld/recipes/jseinfeld_recipes_main.jhtml
Check out some of the recipes. My mom saw her on Oprah and she was on the Today show promoting her new cookbook. She hides spinach in brownies and veggie purees in alsmost all her recipes! Oprah said the recipes tasted fabulous! Then of course it was home to tuck Ryan into bed.

Today we all slept in and had pumkin pancakes for breakfast yum yum! Ryan just loves pumpkin pancakes and they are pretty healthy too. We make them with whole flour and canned pumpkin. He ate almost 2 whole pancakes for breakfast and even took a bottle from Daddy and he ate almost an entire kiwi too. This babe loves to eat. Then we cleaned up and headed over to Silvermine's for some pumpkin picking. Ryan really enjoyed the pumpkin patch and even got to ride in the wagon....he seemed a bit overhelmed (it was pretty crowded even though we got there early) but we think he had fun. He picked out some pumpkins and Greg even guessed the weight of one of the pumpkins and we got to take it home for free! Yay Daddy! It was so much fun. Not much else planned for the rest of the day maybe a quick Target run for some party supplies.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of Ryan in the pumpkin patch. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Talk to you soon. Miss you!

XOXO Ryan

Yay for Yappy Hour!

So today Dylan and I got to spend dome quality time at Yappy Hour and Dylan even won a raffle at yappy hour- a small bag of pumpkin spice treats. Yappy hour is at a pet boutique in Milford where you can bring your under 30 lb well behaved dog to play with other small dogs and they serve the adults wine and cheese. A co-worker of mine told us about it but we can only go if Greg is available to put Ryan to bed and it just so happened to be that he was home tonight. Poor Dylan this is only our second time going but I must say it went a little better than the first time. The first time we went he was shivering behind me and constantly wanted me to pick him up... today he actually socialized with some of the dogs a little and only wanted me to pick him up a few times. But it was a lot of fun.

Today Ryan and I had our first playgroup with some other mom's in town it was really nice to get to know some of the mom's in our neighborhood. There was even a mom there with 8 month old twins. Our little curious George was into everything and I could just see the mom of the twins looking over like "this is what I get to look forward to very soon" Yeah it is times like these when I tell myself "gee and I thought one was hard" as I looked over at this mom with her twins. They were really cute. There were 2 other little boys there too about Ryan's age. The seemed to play really well together except Ryan tried to steal one of the twins self feeder and protested as I dragged him away desperately trying to distracted him with cheerios and his sippy cup.

I successfully gave Ryan a bottle today and only managed to nurse him 3 times yay. A step in the right direction towards weaning him but we still have a ways to go but this is a huge accomplishment for us because he does not like to take a bottle from anyone (except Daddy0 let alone me because he ALWAYS wants to nurse around me regardless of when or what he ate last!

Tomorrow we have a busy day I have to go into work for a few hours I agreed to be a research assistant to one of the Dr's. We are doing a study through the National Institute of Health and the Joslin Diabetes Center on Type 2 Diabetes so it should be really interesting I just hope it does not entail too much outside commitment. So Ryan is spending a few hours with Polina then we are off to our sign and sing class then from there we have a neighbor's birthday party. I'll give you all an update later in the week. Till then take care.

XOXOX Ryan Alexander

Can't believe only one week till our little baby boy turns one!

Relaxing weekend!

From 2007-10-08

Friday I left work early because Polina had an appointment and Ryan and I came home and played with Sophia our neighbor's 2 1/2 yo granddaughter.
It was so cute to see her interact with Ryan. She just loves him to death. They played on the swing, Ryan loves to push her shopping cart around and they laughed and played in the yard. It was so cute Sophia told everyone she was "babysitting" Ryan. She tried to pick him up several times but we had to keep telling her he as too heavy for her..not sure if she really understood. It was adorable. She even gave us some apples she had picked with her mom that day. Ryan just loves apples!

Greg, Ryan and I were able to enjoy a very nice relaxing weekend at home just doing nothing and it was so great. Seems like Greg has been traveling and this was the first really weekend in a long time where we could just stay home and relax. Greg watched Ryan while I worked a few hours on Sat. and he was so excited to spend some quality time with Ryan. Then we headed out to dinner as a family to our favorite fairfield dinner spot Osianna's in the center of town. It was a beautiful evening to eat outside on the patio. Ryan was so funny he once again kept flirting with the waitresses and catching every one's attention. Greg and I enjoyed a wonderful meal and Ryan was very well behaved only fussed when he dropped his self feeder and we had to wash it off.

Yesterday we spend the day relaxing and lounging around after our morning errands and then headed off to the beach for some fun. After OCt. 1 you can bring dogs so Dylan got to come yay! He really had a blast running around and chasing the seagulls his favorite thing of course! Ryan, Greg and I got some cute photos by the water. If felt funny to be at the beach in the middle of October. There were quite a few children and families playing in the water and the sand..

Oh so cute today when I picked Ryan up he was pushing his stroller in the driveway. His new favorite thing to do. Like I said he is happiest on the move!

By the way did I mention this child is a human vacuum? Wanna know what he ate for breakfast today??? 5 oz bottle of milk, a large bunch of grapes literally inhaled them faster than Polina could put them on his tray ?? we wonder if he is swallowing them whole or actually chewing them (quartered of course to prevent choking)then he had an entire kiwi, oatmeal and his midmorning snack and entire apple! For lunch he ate yogurt, and finger foods of roasted turnip, sweet potatoes, carrots and butter nut squash. The least favorite being the turnip but Polina still said he gobbled it up. He later enjoyed an afternoon snack 5 oz bottle of milk and some goldfish and a few cheerios. Is there anything this child won't eat? Yes tonight he decided to throw his steak dinner around and thankfully Dylan happily cleaned up for us. Must have been the chewy coarse texture Ryan disliked he is not a big protein eater. For dinner he had super porridge (a mix of ground brown rice, and split peas a highly nutritious complete protein)carrots and cauliflower...yum yum. Then it was off to bed.

Just an update on the weaning...taking small strides only nursing 3-4 times a day over the weekend and trying to get away with pumping less at work down to once a day today from 2-3 times a day. The sage tea is sort of helping decrease my milk supply I guess but nothing too exciting. Will keep trying though. I want this to be a natural process for both of us.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Can't believe Ryan will be turning one in just 9 short days! Miss you all.

XOXOXO Ryan Alexander

A couple new pictures

Hi everyone. Here are jsut a couple new pictures form our new camera. There is even a shot of Ryan walking and a few from Caroline's birthday party and a few with his new lion toy Grammie and Grampy got him. Enjoy. Click on Dylan's picture below.

2007-10-04

Weekend Getaway (sans baby)!!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates but it was been a whirlwind of a week so far. I have been spending all my free time at night the past few weeks taking part in a diabetes study they are paying me $225 to answer some online questions every night about diabetes so I thought why not it actually was not that bad.....hence the lack of new news though. Okay so here it goes....

Thursday we left for Greensboro early in the morning and left the boys with Grammy grampy and uncle Freddie. I was so so sad to leave our little dumpling but I knew he would be great hands. I gave my mom a itinerary (at her request) to follow in terms of our "routine" eating, sleeping, and wake cycles and I must say she did a fantastic job in sticking to it......no disruption at all. Ryan ate well, napped well and slept through the night like a champ! Did not give the grandparents any hard times at all except one protest to an afternoon nap on Friday. They even took Ryan on morning walks everyday, to the park everyday, to the children's library on Friday to play, and to the grocery store. What a big help to come home to a nice home cooked meal and fresh laundry. Mom and Dad you ROCK!!! Could not have asked for anything more.

On our end Greg and I had such a FABULOUS time! I kept looking over my shoulder the entire time asking did I leave Ryan behind somewhere? It did feel like something BIG was missing! But I must admit it was nice to have a little freedom and not have to worry. We had so much fun to bring Ryan would have been difficult we had a family barbecue(in a mansion the most beautiful house I have ever been in complete with 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms!)on Thursday night, a rehearsal dinner on Friday night (in a bar totally not baby friendly!), and an outdoor wedding on Sat. and with Greg as the best man it would have been difficult with Ryan. Neil and Kristen's wedding was absolutely beautiful. Very unique very southern very non-traditional. She wore a stunning pink Lilly Pulitzer dress and he wore khakis a blue blazer and a pink Vineyard Vines tie with Cape Cods on it. The ceremony took place in her parent's backyard and it was short and sweet. The reception was held in a tent in her parent's backyard. The tables were decorated with pink and green flowers each center piece different and unique very elegant. Each place setting had a different piece of china all keeping with the color scheme pink and green. And of course I have to comment on the porta potty....which by far was the nicest porta potty I have ever seen. It was air conditioned (or heated) with gleaming hard wood floors, marble counter tops, lights, a mirror, fresh flowers, running water, air fresheners, and yes even mints! This whole weekend was like nothing I have ever seen before. We really enjoyed our weekend away. By Friday Ryan was calling out "Mama, Mama" and to hear that just broke my heart a little. I really missed him alot. I only cried once. The pumping was not all that terrible I have to say the worst was trying to find places to pump but we managed. I thought the time away and pumping might slow things down a bit in preparation for weaning but no such luck. All in all it was a great weekend. Greg and I got to spend some quality time together. Grammy and Granddad have already said they want to watch Ryan for Meeta and Jonathan's wedding next May when we go to Kansas City for a long weekend!

So yes after being engorged again this morning and pumping 9 oz (probably could have pumped more) only 4 hours after Ryan ate I freaked and called breastfeeding resources. At this rate I figured if I can't slow things down a bit I will be nursing Ryan until he goes to college. So yes I did set up a weaning consultation but int he mean time Dr. Smilie had suggested lots and lots of sage tea! Hopefully this will do the trick. I plan to stop nursing when Ryan turns one.....but sadly him and I really really enjoy it a lot it is part of our bedtime routine! The only snuggle time I get. Well maybe we will just try at night only. We will see. My mom claims that breastfeeding resources will make me feel guilty for wanting to stop but I can;t have him pulling an tugging down my shirt in public which he has recently started doing to me and almost anyone else!

Our new camera arrived today YEAH! Just in time for Caroline's birthday party tomorrow so look for new pictures some time soon. I can't believe I have been without a camera for over a month! We have missed so many precious moments! Good thing our video camera is still up and running..Ryan has not broken that one YET!

We also had our sing and sign class today. Trying to teach Ryan sign language and I think he may be catching on. He appears to understand so much. I really love this class the teacher is awesome and the babies are all about the same age as Ryan maybe a little older. He absolutely loves the class so much and has a big smile on his face and lots of laughs and giggles throughout the entire class. The instructor is GREAT at getting the kids attention and keeping it for short periods of time. All of her toys are interactive and and great learning tools. Ryan's friend Caroline is also in the class too.

YEAH Daddy is home and cancelled his trip to MN tomorrow so we have him home for a wile yipee! We are so lucky to have him here he is such a wonderful Daddy and loves spending time with Ryan. He even watched him for me tonight so I could make Tacos for dinner. What a nice treat to get that done without worrying about Ryan.

So hope everyone is having a great week. Look for some new pictures in the next few days. Miss you all. Can't believe Ryan will be ONE in only 2 short weeks! Take Care.