A World of Firsts

Ryley has had many "first" already. He will be 4 months old on the 18th of December and already he has done more than some adults do in their entire life.

Thinking about it, it's hard to believe that in just 4 short months, we've had a baby, survived a major surgery, flew on a airplane 1/2 way across the country, rolled over from our back to our stomach and stomach to back, and has successfully been sleeping through the night for almost 2 months now.

Its funny people ask how Ryley is doing a lot. The greatest way I can think to reply is "he is better than new". He is a happy, healthy, thriving little boy. What a special Christmas gift he is. He laughs, smiles and coo's about just about anything which leads me to believe that he doesn't take the world to serious yet. I am thankful!!

Its funny how much you find yourself smiling and laughing with a baby in the house. I probably laugh more now than I have since I was a little kid. Ryley is a funny little boy :)

So cheers to the next set of first to my baby boy. Just don't grow up to quickly.

Reflecting for a minute

Today I sat in Ryleys room just for a few minutes to really collect my thoughts. I have always heard that having a baby changes you, but I never really comprehended it until Ryley was born.

He has taught me the single greatest gift that a child could ever teach his parent; patience.  Obviously he doesn't understand that at the moment but I hope to show him what he has done for me for the rest of his life.

He taught me to be patient when he was born, he certainly had no intentions of jumping into the world in a speedy fashion. I am grateful for the time he stayed cozy right where he was.

He is teaching me that the dishes can wait, the floor can be cleaned later and the laundry doesn't have to be done right this minute.

Every time he looks up at me or grabs my fingers to hold on I am reminded that he won't be little for long. Someday he wont want to hold my hand, this breaks my heart already just thinking about it. It's hard for me to think that each and every day he is "growing up". Don't get me wrong I don't want him to stay a baby forever, but his innocence is so sweet and I'm trying to figure out a way to preserve that as long as I can.

Just looking around his room today I asked myself, what does his room say to him. He has books that say things like, "you can be whatever you want to be in life", "we love your more than you'll ever know", and a book titled "Rules for my son". He has multiple blankets that were made just for him with love and so many stuffed animals he could start his own zoo.

But the bigger question to ask is, will he know how much he changed me? Most of you know I have always lived by the saying: If you are early your on time, if your on time your late, and if your late don't come at all. Maybe this is where I developed my obsessive compulsion to be on-time. I have also always has this strange behavior to make sure that the house is in "perfect" shape before I went anywhere, it didn't matter where it was, I could be going to the post office and I would have to make sure everything was put away, cleaned up and pretty much looked like a museum. For what you may ask. Well it really was because I always thought in the back of my mind, what if something happened to me? I don't want my mom and dad having to riffle through my dirty clothes to find something. Strange I know!! I guess I don't think about that so much now, I just figure "hey I'm coming home, I have a little guy that needs me".

However, now I would rather leave the pile of clean clothes on my dresser, a few dishes in the sink and a load of wash in the drier in order to spend those minutes with my little peanut.

So I guess it is true what they say. A baby will change you, it has changed me!

I love him more and mover every day and though I'm nervous about what the future brings I know for certain that he is loved so much, not only by Chris and I but by a community so far stretched that it's hard to wrap my head around it.

 

For Ryley

Dear Baby Boy Ryley,

It's your momma writting you. Today marks your 1 month birthday. Your daddy and I love you more than words can express. You have given us such happiness and opened our eyes to how great of a love we have for eachother. You bring us laughter and a sense of tomorrow.

We love you more every minute of every day.

Happy Birthday Peanut.

Love Momma

Reflections

Today marks the birthday of Ryley. It's hard to believe that he is already a month old today. As I sit here this morning with him snug up against me I have taken a moment to reflect on what a miracle he is.

Nealy 8 months ago we found out he has a medical condition. We didn't know if we would see the day that we would get to hold him in our arms.

Now it's been a month post birth and he amazes us daily. He is strong, bright eyed, vocal and loves being close. He is our miracle baby by all means.

Before I started typing I had to break loose the tight grip he had on my finger. He is strong beyond words which will serve him well in the next months to come.  As I looked down at my little peanut and just soaked up the moment I realized that I am the luckiest girl in the world. He is here in my arms, there is not much more I could ask for.

Tears come to my eyes as I think about having to hand him over to the surgeons. Though in my head I know it has to be done. I can't bear to think about being without him for those long hours that will surly pass slowly. Holding our breath till we hear him cry again.

So you may ask, is he a good baby? Does he cry, does he sleep. Well to me he is the perfect baby. As for does he cry, yes... and this momma loves the sound of that cry, it may sound strange but to me a cry means there is life!  So for sleeping, well he sleeps like any other baby.. He wakes up about the time I go to sleep. Though it is all worth it and when I pick him up to comfort him and he opens his big blue eyes I realize that I could just stare at him all night, no matter what time of the night it is.

The first month has been a blur.. I can't seem to take enough photos of him to capture all his uniqueness, but with any lucky I catch some of it.

Someone asked me is it what you expected? I replied with yes, it's even more. The moment I heard him cry I think my heart did a double beat.

So as I embrace the time I have at home with my little peanut I still count my blessings at night that he is here with us. The time will go by quickly and I will have to return to work, though he wont be far away from me I think I will have to print out about a billion photos and cover my cube in them. Just so I can function at work.

Welcome Baby Ryley Christopher

We welcomed baby Ryley Christopher into the world on August 18th at 6:30AM.

Here are some photos of his big day and days to follow.

Welcome into the world baby

Memaw and Papa

Papa time

So Alert

Aunti Jen

The God Parents, Jen and Kevin

The Boys: Kevin, Chris and Ryley

Going Home Outfit thanks to Aunti E

Nala the watch kitty

Daddy time

The Grandmas first sighting

Aunti Lynne and Aunti Pat -- They are going to spoil me rotton

Uncle Petey

Aunti E and my soon to be best buddy

Going Home Snug As A Bug

And were home!

First Pedal Car

Pink Puppy thanks to Uncle Petey

And We're Ready for LB

Ok, now LB make his/her arrival. The nursery is all set (minus my new chair which is on order).

I think it has turned out better than I could have ever imagined.

Check out the photos :)

Nala had to check things out too.

The chair will go where the playmat is when it comes in.

Future Best Buddies

As you know my girlfriend Elizabeth and I are due just 4 short days apart with our baby's. It's been quite the journey for both of us being pregnant and we've really embraced having each other go through the exact same milestones at almost the exact same time.

We are both excited to raise our kids together and teach them all the diverse info we have between the 4 of us. She's a mathematical statistician, her husband Sean is a mechanical engineer, Chris is a mechanic and I'm a aviation nerd. Hopefully somewhere in there we will be able to teach these little ones some common sense and how to do math!

We are also aligned on how we want to raise the kids. Both her and I have read "Bringing up Bebe" which we absolutely loved. We both love the philosophy and the ideas that the book represents. It's the simple things like getting your baby to sleep through the night, being able to sit at the dinner table when it get's older with out having a fit because it's bored and having respectable manors to accompany all those things.

We are excited to make our own food for the baby's and to extend their pallet away from the typical Mac and Cheese and fish sticks that so many people seem to think is an acceptable lunch every day.  (Not saying our kids wont have those things, but at least they will know what their veggies are!!)

In going with our theme we thought it would be fun to take a photo of our bellies just to remember these days before the kids. We plan on taking a photo of the kiddos every year together to watch them grow.

I'm on the left in the Black and Elizabeth is on the right in the Orange. Funny how our bellies are so different looking. Not to mention she is almost 5'10 and I'm respectively 5'7.

A Welcome To Grandmas House Box

I saw the cutest idea the other day for a special "Grandmas" box to give to Elaine. It's a box of a few things that will be helpful for her while the baby is at her place.

 

Here's what is inside:

Bath Robe, Wash Clothes, Bottles, Pacifiers, Bibs, Teether, Burp Clothes, Bottle Brush, and a snuggle Dog. 

It's not everything she will need but at least it's a good start. This is also helpful so that I don't have to pack all of this stuff every time the baby goes down to Meriden. 

37 Weeks

Today I'm 37 weeks. Officially full term. LB could come any day now if he/she so chooses.

I thought I would take one last photo. Really just to remind me that I will be so happy to be back to my normal size at some point!

Laundry Line

Here's to a look at our future. I think these little diapers are so cute in their own way.

TIme Crunch

Since the time crunch is really on, it's a good things the floors are coming together and the weather is starting to coorporate with us. Yea for cooler temps and lower humidity.

Here are some photos of the progress.  Doesn't Chris do fantastic work!

The stairs are sanded

LB's room is now sanded

The new flooring is installed

Let the staining begin.. I love the color

Our bedroom is making progress too

Both rooms are now stained

The Countdown

The countdown may be shorter than we originally thought. I went to the doctor last week because of some serious itching and breaking out starting at my scalp and running all the way down my back to my waist. Not to mention my forehead, chest and upper arms. It appears that I have what they call as PUPPS. It's pregnancy related and unfortunately only goes away once you give birth. So in the mean time just imagine having the worst case of chicken pox possible covered with mosquito bites. I want to scratch my skin off!!

So they ended up giving me steriods which I was very nervous about, but they assured me that it will not cross into the baby so we are safe.

With all this being said as of Friday they determined that they will induce me at 39 weeks due to the severity of the PUPPS, in conjunction with my high blood pressure. Which had never been a problem until this week. Seems like it's all colliding at once.

So if they induce me early that puts us right around our wedding anniversary, which in some ways is kind of cute. However, I do home LB has it's own birthday.

This weekend as much as I was supposed to be relaxing it's hard. I feel like there is still so much to do before LB arrives. All the while knowing that the baby is not going to know weather or not things are done, or if its closet is all put together or if it's room is done. The problem is I know and it will drive me crazy until it's all complete.

Chris has been working night and day to get the floors done, but unfortunately the weather out here is just not playing along. It's been so humid that we can't stain anything until that humidity drops, or else the polyurethane will bubble up and we will have to redo the floors again in the future.

I know he feels the crunch time too. I've tried my very best to be calm about the fact that our bedrooms is both in the living room and dinning room, everything is a dusty mess and there is just stuff everywhere!  So not the way I normally keep the house.

I guess it's a good thing that mom and dad are coming out after the baby's born. Maybe I will have some projects for them :)   Should they want to putter around the house.

At least I can look at all the stuff that is done, all the laundry is done, all the bags are packed for the hospital, all the freezer meals are made, and most of all my Tupperware cabinet is organized. Ha ha just kidding on being the most important thing.

I moved most of the cleaning stuff out of the bathroom so now it's all in one spot downstairs, not that my baby will be digging under the sink that fast but it's one less thing for me to keep in the back of my mind.

So take my mind off of everything I'm baking Chris chocolate chip cookies :) He defiantly deserves a special treat for all of his hard work!

Meals for the Momma's and Pappa's

I decided to make a bunch of freezer meals for us. Since I really don't know what to expect after the baby arrives I figure worrying about what to make for dinner should not be something I worry about since I can fix that problem prior to delivery.

So here are the meals I've put together :)

Mongolian Beef and Mashed Tatters

6 Salsberry Steaks marinated, 3 Steaks marinated in Old Bay Seasoning

All together now and ready for the freezer

Fresh yams with OJ, Cinnamon and brown sugar

Homemade Apple Cobbler

Orange Beef with Sweet Potatoes

Tuna Casserole to be divided and frozen

LB's Bag

Ok one bag down two to go. Oddly enough I found packing LB's bag both exciting and nerve raking. I've never spent so much time trying to figure out what to pack in my life. Maybe it's because I don't know if LB will be a girl or a boy. I wanted to pick something cute to bring LB home in, but it was a little overwhelming in the sense that I can't really wash anything until we know what the gender is.. (For the gender specific clothes). So I decided to just pack new stuff and I figure LB will be fine for the short car rid home.

So what did I pack:
1. The most important piece of the baby's bag. Its the Core Blood Kit that Aunti Erin gave us. I told Chris if we forget everything else this CBR Box has to come with us or else he is making a very fast trip back home to pick it up. You never know this may save LB's life.

2. Turtle Paci - Still not sure I'm going to use a paci, but just in case I want to have one with me.

3. Two receiving blankets from Aunti Tracy. I picked the goldfish one since she loves fish I thought it would bring good luck to us.

4. Three separate outfits that have multiple pieces to them. Mainly because I just couldn't decide what to pack. At least this way we will be covered for either a boy or a girl and one spare outfit... just in case LB has the same stomach reflexes as it's mother does. God knows we will need a lot of burp clothes if that's the case.

5. Two pairs of sleeper sacks to make things easier for mom and dad at night for those late night changes.

6. Two cute hats: boy hat is the red crab, and the girl had is white with a teal flower.

7. Nursing cover up. I don't care what anyone says about "not caring who sees what in the hospital" I care! Hence the cover up.

Nesting Part 2 -- Making Progress

The Car seat is installed.

The dresser is loaded. Blankets on the bottom, sheets and covers in the middle.

Diaper inserts and cloths on the top.