Woah Baby!

Today my Mom's group had a morning play date.  At this point in time the play dates are more for the mommies than they are for the babies.  There were 17 Moms there, 18 babies (none older than 7 months).  I really enjoyed getting out and meeting some more great Moms!!  

Ryan had his arm around this little girl for a while.  The girl in the pink dress was upset...once her Mommy laid her down, Ryan grabbed her hand.  My son...the ladies man.  

Emily....Ryan wanted me to tell you that you are still his favorite little girl!!

One Year Ago....

Exactly one year ago yesterday Jeff and I got the news that changed our lives forever.  Two pink lines...three times.  Yes, I took three pregnancy tests (just to be sure).  We were both very excited but very nervous at the same time.  Most of you know our history with early losses.  We prayed that things would be different this time and that God would bless our family with a healthy, happy child.  

God is amazing.  Maybe I should emphasize that a bit more.  God is AMAZING!!  Jeff and I are incredibly grateful for the son that we have been blessed with.  I used to pray for a healthy child and a healthy pregnancy.  I never dreamed that we would be blessed in quite the way that we have been.  Ryan is truly a gift to us.  We were chosen to spend our time on Earth with him.  I cannot begin too describe how incredible it is to be Ryan's Mommy.  I honestly believe that we were chosen to have this child for a reason.   I am so thankful to have this wonderful little man in my life!

Keep on Rolling...

Well...my child is mobile.  I am not sure how I really feel about it to be quite honest.  I am glad that he is developing and progressing.  At the same time I am a bit bummed that I can no longer leave Ryan playing on his play mat or smack dab in the center of the bed while I brush my teeth, go to the restroom or change clothes.  

Yesterday Ryan rolled from his tummy to his back for the first time.  Then today he did it several more times.  Tonight he was laying on his back and rolled over to his tummy.  Then he went back to his back and rolled onto his tummy again.  It was his little game for the night.  

I tried to get out the camera, but he is just camera shy or something.  Every time I push record this red light starts blinking and he becomes mesmerized by the red blinking light and stops doing whatever he was doing before. 

In other news...yesterday was my Aunt's birthday.  I love her to pieces!  I made a cute little sign and snapped a great picture of Ryan.  

Why Ryan?

Out of all of the millions of names out there, how did we finally decide Ryan was the name for our baby?  Let me share...on October 31st we found out that we were going to have a boy.  We already had several girl names picked out that we liked but could not find any boy names that we found all that great.  We knew that because we could not find any boy names that we would probably end up having a boy and well...we were right.  

We were given lots of suggestions in the months leading up to the birth of our son.  Jeff and I had a little list but we did not share it with very many people for many reasons.  One, we didn't really want opinions.  Two, we weren't sure if we would end up using any of those names anyway.  Three, we wanted something to be a surprise!  

We went to the hospital thinking that we would probably name our child Evan Michael.  We liked Evan because it wasn't the most popular name out there.  The name had no meaning other than we liked it.  We also had two other names on our list, Jacob (we would call him Jake) and Ryan.

The moment that our little boy was born and I saw his face, I thought that he looked like a Ryan but I didn't say anything to Jeff.  The nurses quickly rushed Ryan to the warmer to get him breathing (that was the scariest moment of my life).  Once he was stable Jeff came over to the bed and whispered in my ear "I think we have a Ryan on our hands."  It was amazing!  Both of us thought that the name Ryan fit our son before we had even said anything to one another.  

Ryan was not official until the day after he was born.  We wanted a little bit of time to sleep on it.  I think that we picked the perfect name for our son! 

Happy 4th of July

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays of the year.  Maybe it is because it is during the summer...maybe it is because of the fireworks.  I don't know really why I love the 4th so very much.  Unfortunately, it was quite a dreary, rainy day here.  Ryan was asleep before the fireworks started (7:30pm).  We were shocked that he managed to sleep through what sounded like a war-zone around here.  (Fireworks are allowed in the city here so you hear explosions all around from late-June through mid-July).  

There are more firework shows tonight so maybe we can try again!  

Here are a few pics of the newest American in the family celebrating July 4th! 

Ryan figured out how to "lounge" on the couch yesterday...

Tummy Time Faces

Ryan has a love/hate relationship with tummy time.  He used to scream every time we would put him on his tummy but is slowly coming around.  Now he usually makes it between 10 and 20 minutes before he has had enough.  He is more talkative during tummy time than any other time of the day.  Here are a few of the faces of Ryan. 

The High Chair

For the past month or so Jeff and I have been eating dinner while sitting on the floor playing with Ryan.  While it is nice on occasion, I decided it was time to put the high chair together and get Ryan used to sitting at the table while we eat.  The chair has wheels on it and Ryan really enjoyed being pushed around the kitchen.  He seems to like the high chair...like most things.  :)