Two Week Check-Up

Ryan had his two week check up today. He's looking good. Doctor G gave him a great review. Ryan now weighs....8.7 lbs and is 20.3 inches long. He's gained great weight! It's nice to know that he's getting plenty to eat and is a healthy boy.

Here are a couple of observations I've made since having our Ryan around:

1. I was so nervous about having a new baby. Jackson was 24/7 work when he was a newborn/infant. He ate 12-14 times a day and wanted to be held/rocked/soothed just about non stop. This is the only experience I had with a baby so it's all I knew to expect. Ryan is a completely different baby so far. He only eats 8-9 times a day and is perfectly content to be put down. He will grunt and squirm but rarely cries. As a matter of fact, I asked the doctor about that today to make sure it was normal for him to be so quiet. I'm really hoping he continues to be such an easy baby. Now....Jackson is another story. He's the one that's quite the challenge these days. He is one active little boy. Jackson is in constant motion and wants to touch/ruin/tear apart just about anything that he comes in contact with. So, it can be quite a challenge to nurse a baby and take care of an active 2 year old. I love Jackson's fun little personality but I have to admit that Ryan is the easy one right now. I definitely didn't expect that.

2. Everyone told me that Jackson would seem big once Ryan came. I didn't expect just how big he would be to me. It makes me a little sad. His once little toes and fingers seem humongous now. It's so weird to hug him and hold him now that Ryan is here. He just seems so HUGE. It makes me realize how much my little boy is growing up.

We are very thankful for both of our little boys! I'll post some pictures soon.

Happenings at Our House

Overall, things are going well and Ryan continues to be a pretty happy baby. He's still very sleepy and doesn't have a lot of awake time yet. Except in the middle of the night. Just about every night he has one episode of 1-2 hours of awake time after one of the feedings. We can't figure out what's going on other than he just doesn't have his days and nights figured out yet. We are ready for him to get it figured out!

Ryan has a pretty prominent widow's peak that you can really see in the right light. It's outlined by his sweet little blonde hair.

This week our friend Lauri came to visit from Houston. She stayed at Katherine's house so we went up for a visit. Sadly, this is the only picture I got. It's a cute one though. Jim has baby Sarah (13 days older than Ryan) and Laine has Ryan. Thank you Lauri for making us dinner. It was great! I'm just sorry we didn't get to see more of you during your visit. One day soon...

We've had several sweet friends bring us food and here Jackson is enjoying the dessert Tianay made.

I've tried to find time each day to have Jackson and mommy time. He seems to really need it and I am working hard to make sure he doesn't feel left out. We've gone on several walks, watched some t.v., and snuggled on the couch when possible.

Sweet Ryan

Last weekend Jackson spent the night with his cousins, Brooks and Kaley. He got to go watch Brooks play hockey several times. They gave him this hockey stick a while back and after last weekend he has wanted to play with it a lot. He usually ends up getting it taken away after a few minutes because he hits the furniture or someone with it. But he's getting better about understanding that you only hit the ball or puck. We also noticed that he started going down on one knee and then he would say, "Look, I'm on my knee." We finally figured out that this is what the hockey players did while listening to their coach. Needless to say, Jackson REALLY enjoyed watching Brooks play.

My three favorite boys in the whole wide world! This is the best shot I could get. Laine has been a HUGE help these last two weeks. I'm so sad he goes back to work on Monday but I'm thankful for the time we had together as a family.

First Week at Home

It's hard to believe that tomorrow morning will mark a week since Ryan decided to become a part of our family. Last Sunday around 4:30 am I got up to use the restroom (for probably the 7th time) and a gush of liquid came out. This happened about 3-4 more times and we decided that my water must have broke. We went to the hospital and they confirmed this. We had a doctor there to perform my c-section around 9ish and Ryan was born at 9:58. What a whirlwind! Everything went well. I was pretty anxious from the time I went into the OR to when they started the surgery but after that it all went well. I had some pretty uncomfortable pain at the hospital but am definitely starting to feel a little better.

Thankfully G and Dada were able to watch Jackson for the day and then Aunt Courtney flew in Sunday night. She watched Jackson while we were in the hospital and flew home on Friday.

Aunt Courtney was a huge help with Jackson and brought him to the hospital 2 time each day to visit us. Once we were home, things were pretty chaotic. I think these pictures say it all. :-)

Alex's knees were hurting crawling around on the tile and wood so Courtney made these little knee pads out of diapers. Like I said, total chaos. But we were so thankful for the help!

My mom always has a list of things for Laine to do when we go visit her house so she bought Ryan this shirt.

Ryan received his first sponge bath at home last night.

It looks like Ryan is going to like the pacifier. He has taken to it much better than Jackson.

Stretchhhhhhhhhh

Ryan was wide awake this morning so we had a little photo shoot.

Love the little wrinkles

Brotherly Love

Our first day home has been great. It's nice to have the whole family back together again.

Leaving the hospital.



For the first time, Jackson asked to hold Ryan and was definitely interested in him.

He put a stuffed animal by his head while he was sleeping.

Ryan brought Jackson a trash truck as a big brother gift. Jackson loves it!

Later we found Jackson driving on the bed we made for Ryan in the living room. It was then that we decided that Ryan cannot sleep on the floor.

Ryan - 4 days old.

Jackson - a few weeks old.

LOVE, Part II

I wanted to do one last post before leaving the hospital because pictures upload fast here! We had a great night - the nursery ladies said he was the quietest baby in there. Could it be that we might have a good baby? I guess we shall see once we are home. Ryan is eating well and even gained an ounce yesterday! He was born at 7 lbs, 4 oz and went down to 6 lbs, 11 oz but is now up to 6 lbs, 12 oz. That is a definite relief and his jaundice levels are not too worrisome either. They just said to keep doing frequent feedings and some indirect sunlight. We are much more confident and less stressed this time around. It's amazing how having done this before makes it so much less scary.

They gave him a bath last night and he smelled OH SO GOOD!!! Yum! I just wanted to snuggle all night long. :-)






Look mom, my eyes are open!

We've had lots of special visitors and I've gotten some pictures but unfortunately I didn't get everybody. Here are a few.

G and Dada with their grandsons. They now have 3 grandsons and one granddaughter.

Katherine and her family came by for a visit. Her baby Sarah was born 13 days before Jackson. The nurses brought the boys popsicles to keep them happy and busy (especially Jackson.)

Cousins

Ryan and Aunt Courtney

Hopefully we'll get some good pictures of Ryan and Jackson once we are home. Jackson was a little too rambunctious in the hospital to get any good pictures.

Wish us luck, we'll be home soon.

LOVE

Oh my goodness. I am once again amazed at how quickly you can fall in love with a little baby boy. I love his little noises, his smell, his snuggles, the way he purses his little lips while sleeping, and just his presence in our room.

We will most likely be going home tomorrow. I'm looking forward to being with my first baby boy love. Aunt Courtney said he's been good but when he left the hospital this morning he just stopped in the hallway and asked for mommy and daddy. The nurse gave him a big brother sticker to make him feel better. She also said he cried a little at home asking for mommy and daddy. I'm anxious to get home and remind him how much he is loved. We are so thankful for our two blessings!

We've had lots of special visitors so I'll post some more pics soon...

And Baby Makes FOUR!

Baby Ryan decided he wanted to see the world a couple of weeks early this morning. We called Dada and G to come watch Jackson and then headed up to the hospital. As you can probably tell, Ryan is here. Both mother and baby are doing well.

Our first family photo.

There is nothing like a good bath!

Jackson couldn't wait for this picture to be over so he could press buttons on the bed.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

While we were all together Jackson said, "my family." I couldn't say it any better myself. Thank you God for this new little blessing.