Dear Ryan (2 months)

Dear Little R -

Your two month birthday was this past Friday but we had such a busy day and weekend (it was your Aunt Terra & Uncle Bryan's wedding weekend!)  that I wasn't able to get this post up until now. These part two months have been so amazing! I love being a mommy so much and LOVE that you are my little son.

Two-month stats:
Height: 22 inches (25%)
Weight: 9 lbs 8 oz (!0%)
Head: 37 cm (5%)

You are packing on the pounds and should be a chunky baby (like mom and dad both were) in no time!

Two-month milestones:
- At 6 weeks you started wearing 0-3 month clothing
- At 6 weeks you started wearing size one diapers
- At 7 weeks you started sleeping in your crib
- At 8 weeks you moved up to Level 1 nipples (Dr. Brown bottles)
- At 8 weeks you started sleeping 5/6 hours a night - yay!

Our current daily routine is as follows:

Morning: You have decided that you want your first feeding at 5 or 6am. That is your choice - it's a little early for mommy but thats ok. You typically won't go back down in your crib after this feeding so we hang out on the couch and watch TV. Eventually you fall asleep for a little longer.

Daytime: You eat every three hours and after each feeding we play for a little while. Your FAVORITE toy is your sock monkey. When we put him in front of you, you give him the biggest grin! It's so cute! You also love your mobile in your crib - that also makes you smile a lot. Over the past month you have become so much more alert and can entertain yourself for small periods of time - which is super helpful for mommy!

Evening: You usually hang out on your blue bear mat while mommy makes dinner. Dad comes home around 6pm and after Bob gives him his greeting you guys play together. Can't wait for you to give him a big greeting. Once dinner is ready we eat - sometimes you let us eat together and sometimes one of us has to hold you.

Nighttime - Around 8:30 or 9pm daddy gives you a bath to start your bedtime routine. Since you love baths its a great way to calm you down before bedtime. After your bath you usually hang out with daddy either in your room on the glider or in the living room sleeping on his chest. Mom usually goes to bed around 9:30 so dad gives you your last feeding with a bottle - 5 ounces of breast milk - yum! Once you have downed that he swaddles you up and lays you down in your crib. You are usually awake when he lays you down but daddy helps you fall asleep sometimes by holding in your pacifier. Sometimes you fall asleep right away and sometimes it takes a couple of tries, but thats ok because we are so happy you are in your crib!

So let's review what you are loving and hating these days:

Thumbs up
- Sock monkey
- Laying on blue bear rug
- Mobile in crib
- Napping in your swing
- Changing your diaper - this is an odd one but you really love laying on the changing mat. You must love a clean diaper. You also don't mind changing your clothes - which is good because sometimes mommy does it a couple times a day!
 - Bath time - you still love it. We now give your bath at nice which helps relax you for bedtime!
- Leaning your head to the right side. You have done this since birth and we are really trying to break it
- Kicking your left foot. When you lay on your back your left foot kicks out over and over again - you show major preference for it. There isn't anything wrong with that right one but you just don't like to use it as much!
- Baby bjorn - You love your baby bjorn. Mommy can take you anywhere in it and you are nice and calm and usually fall asleep.

Thumbs down:
- Naps in your crib - you just won't do it
- shots - we both hated your two-month shots!
- Gas - ohhhh you hate this. You little arms and legs flail all over and you grunt up a storm. I wish I could help you with this but as soon as it passes you are back to being the sweet little man you always are!
- Shopping - not sure if you really hate it but every time mommy tries to shop with you, you are not a happy camper. I am sure daddy is ok with this since it prevents mommy from spending money! haha

I can't think of much that make you upset, which is good.  So lots of feeding, playing and napping. we have so much fun together every day and I wouldn't want it any other way! I love you!

Tietz Park

Today the weather was amazing so we went to the park with Audrey & Sarah. 

I hung out in my stroller but I can't wait to get bigger so that I can play on the playground!

Happy little man!

Sarah & Audrey going down the big slide!

Two months - shots!

Today we went to the doctor for Ryan's two month check up and he had to get shots. Watching little Ryan get his shots was heart-wrenching. I didn't expect to react the way I did but when little Ryan screamed as hard as he did it felt like I was punched in the stomach. It's soooo hard to watch your little baby in pain. I never understood what its like to be so hurt from someone else's pain until now - I guess thats just part of being a mommy.

 Luckily I was able to calm him down pretty easily. I think I was more affected by his shots than he was! Here are some pics from when we got home. He didn't have any bad reactions to the shots - just a little more tired than normal. I am still working on his 2 month post and will get that up later. 

Just hanging around the house...

Here are some fun pics from this week!

Big smile for daddy!

Hanging out on my blue bear mat

Me and sock monkey doing tummy time

Mommy got some new hair

Grandma is back in town from Montana!

Happy Monday!

Ryan and I had a wonderful day today! We got up at 8am and did our normal morning routine of feeding and pumping. Then I was able to take a shower and after my shower Ryan and I took a 2-hour nap together! It was AMAZING! The rest of the day was filled with playing, eating and more naps for Ryan. We even made it to Central Market and I was able to make a yummy dinner! I made a yummy healthy casserole and we all loved it! It was called Italian Hot Dish. Enough about that, here are some pics from our day today. 

I put Baby Einstein on for Ryan today but I think he is still a little young for it. He did focus on it for about 5 minutes, but then he got tired and was ready to do something else. 

Tomorrow my Aunt Sarah is going to watch me while mommy goes to her hair appointment - can't wait!

Fun weekend at home

I love weekends because it means daddy is home to hang out with us! We had such a fun little family weekend - nice and relaxing.  We stayed home most of the weekend except I got a chance to run to the mall to buy a dress for a wedding next weekend and then we also went over to the Hales house (Ryan's cousins) for the UT game on Saturday night.

On Friday night we made pizza and hung out at home with little R. Here are some pics from Friday!

I love it when daddy gets home!

It's game day - Hook'em Horns!

Daddy fed me a bottle before the game came on. 

I had a fun time watching the game with the boys but I was pretty tired around 8pm and was ready to rest so mommy took me upstairs to lay down. 

On Sunday we hung out all day long. Eat, Sleep and Play!!

Tummy time - daddy put his hand there because although I can hold my head up, I get tired and it comes crashing down so daddy's hand prevents me from banging my head on the floor.

And I love to sleep on daddy's chest. Bob joined us too...he is sleeping upside-down. Silly dog!

Such a fun weekend!!!

Fun times in Katy

On Monday we came home from our trip to Houston. We had such a great time with my family and friends and would have loved to stay longer but we were missing daddy. It was so nice to have our entire family in town - lots of hands meant lots of help! My brother Nick came in town from Florida and got to meet Ryan for the first time. Uncle Steve was also in town - Ryan loves them both!

Here is a pic of Uncle Nick feeding Ryan

Here is a pic of Ryan pulling out Uncle Steven's chest hairs

Here is Ryan with his Papu - they loved hanging outside in the backyard. Next summer we will have lots of pool time!

It was so nice to have all these extra hands to help out with him. Ryan really loved being at his Yia Yia and Papu's house because he loves being outside and they have a wonderful outdoor sitting area. Ryan spent every morning outside on the patio with Yia Yia and Papu and he would take two-hour naps in his swing while mommy laid out of the pool - so fun!

Can't wait for our next trip back!

Just like daddy

I was going through Kevin's baby book today and couldn't believe how much little Ryan looks just like him!! So adorable! Below is Kevin (not sure on exact age):

And here is a pic of Ryan -

Ryan definitely looks like daddy - he has those chubby cheeks and double-chin! They even have the same facial expression going on! How funny!

What do y'all think??

My friend Shadi has come to visit little Ryan three times already and I keep forgetting to blog about it! We always have such a fun time every time she comes to town and Ryan loves being held by her. The first time Shadi came we hung out around the house and then made a trip to a fun fabric store called City Craft - I still haven't done anything with my new fabric but hope to soon! Here is a pic from the first visit:

The next time she was in town it was also T's birthday so we all went to Chuy's to celebrate - so fun! She also came to visit while we were in Katy and we watched the Texas game. Her sister Yalda lives here in Dallas so we are lucky because that means lots of visits from her! yay!

Sleeping Update

So I have huge news - we officially moved Ryan out of our bed! Yay! He slept in his crib last night and I am so proud. Kevin and I talked about it and we decided that after we returned from Houston it would be the perfect opportunity to get Ryan in a new nightly routine.

While I was in Houston Ryan really changed a lot - he has really started to focus on things which is nice because he can now sit longer and entertain himself. It's great because he is a lot more calm when he is awake where as before he seemed to be fussy if he was awake and wasn't eating. This was another reason why I knew he would be ok to move in to a crib. That and he was really started to grunt and groan so much more - I don't sleep well at all with him!!

Last night we put him down about 10pm and he wiggled and grunted for probably 20 minutes before he finally wore himself out and fell asleep. He slept from about 10:30 until 2am and then I went to feed him. We were up together from 2am - 4:30am and then I put him back down in his crib and tried to go back to sleep but he just wasn't tired or just didn't want to sleep so about 5:30 I got him again and fed him again. So although neither of us got much sleep I am just so happy I didn't give in and drag him back to our room.

Here he is in his crib:

My new rule is no more sleeping in our bed - so I know I am in for a lot less sleep in the next few days/weeks I hope/think it will pay off in the end. Here we go with night #2!

The Steger's

Today The Steger's came over to meet little Ryan. We also got to meet little Corbin - their four (almost five) month old! I can't believe I hadn't met him yet - his is adorable! Here are some pics from our visit.

Corbin and Ryan's first pic! Corbin is only three months older than Ryan.

Reese really wanted to hold Ryan...

But she held her little brother instead

Here are the grandma's holding the babies!

We had a great time - can't wait for the boys to play together in the future!

Birth Announcement

I finally got them out - Yay! It took me a little longer than I anticipated, but then again everything does these days! I think everyone should have received it by now so I am posting it. I found this adorable design on Etsy (where I seem to find EVERYTHING these days) and a lady created it but I had to get them printed - which ended up being a little bit of a pain. The kinkos in Dallas is horrible - they are under staffed and their hardware really needs to be updated. They had to reboot one of their main computers and I am not lying when I tell you it took 20 minutes to start back up again!! Ridiculous! Every time I go in there I am stuck waiting for over an hour and they never get my project done right the first time. They ended up using the wrong paper for the birth announcements but I was so tired of waiting I just took them and left. Oh well, Ryan is adorable so that's all that matters!

More Houston fun!

Today Ryan and I went to visit the Aston's. Ryan had been fussy all day yesterday and we didn't have a very good night either so I was a little worried about trying to get out with him. It seems like it was just what he needed - he fell asleep on the way out to Mk's and ended up sleeping for 3 hours! So amazing! (I wish he would do that at night between each feeding!)

We had a great time hanging out at their house - as I mentioned before Ryan slept the majority of the time, Caroline played and MK and I just talked. It was nice to get out but also stay in, we love Yai Yai T's but a change of scenery is always nice.

Here are some pics from our play date:

Caroline is always very concerned about Ryan's pacifier - she wants to make sure he always has it. It's  soooo cute!!

Ryan loves hanging out with Caroline - he had such a great time with her when she came to visit us in Dallas too. I can't wait until Ryan is big enough to actually play with Caroline AND I can't wait for Thompson! Ryan and Thompson will be best buddies! 

MK and Caroline also made a trip to Dallas a couple weeks ago. While they were here we did some shopping for the boys and also made it to buy buy baby to buy some more baby things. Mk was quite the helper assembling his new pack n' play and a cradle thing. Caroline loved playing with Ryan's stuff too! Here they are hanging out:

And here is Caroline helping me put Ryan in his car seat:

I love this picture of Caroline and Ryan - so cute!

Visitors

Today we had such a fun time hanging out at Yai Yai and PaPu's house in Katy. It rained most of the day so we stayed inside but we had lots of people come and visit.

Here I am hanging out with Yai Yai in the morning.

A close up shot of me

Jennifer and Marc came to meet me and they brought cupcakes! Yummy! I know my mommy loves cupcakes!

Then Ashley and Elizabeth came to visit me. Ashley held me :)

And Jessica and her finance John came too! 

Here is Jessica, Ashley and me:

Now it's later in the evening and I am sad because daddy had to leave to go back to Dallas for the week. I love hanging out with my daddy - I love to snuggle on his chest. 

We are excited to be in Houston this week but we already miss daddy. Can't wait to see him on Sunday!