New Pictures

Ryan looking out the window of the car

Footie PJ's

Anyone need a hug?

Caught the smile!

It is SO hard being a baby

Popular baby

Sarah Cate came to visit from Louisiana this weekend! Ryan was a huge fan, he found someone else that was willing to hold him for HOURS at a time. We have voted and think that she should stay :) Ryan got a lot of attention this weekend... Uncle David also came over to hang out Saturday, we went to the mall and then to an outdoor concert.

Expressions

I have been told that I have a very expressive face which can be good and bad.. the good is that people know that I am listening to them because my face is reacting. The bad is that I have trouble hiding what I am thinking... Ryan is starting to develop the same sort of expressive face… Here are some examples:

Sad

Skeptical (I get this one A LOT)

Tired

Freaked out

I will post more as he develops them, it is hard to catch a smile (they are open mouth so it is sometimes hard to tell they are smiles)

Pregnancy Weight

Pregnancy weight is an interesting thing. You gain weight for 9+ months (mine was a few days shy of 10) eating almost anything (no beer or sushi but all the butter you could want). Then you work really hard to get the baby out and your body is tired, not only from pushing but from giving all the good nutrients in your body to the baby. So you lose the initial baby weight and some of the liquid weight right away but then you are stuck with what is left. Let me begin by saying it is 100% worth it… but who wants to be left with 20 extra pounds?
I wouldn’t mind so much if I fit into a single pair of shorts, with it being 100 degrees outside it seems like a necessity. So when you have a baby you are left with a stretched out body and zero muscles, starting to exercise is easier said then done. Add that to the fact that 99% of your time is spent taking care of the baby so you have to exercise you can do with him.
All that said… I am now motivated to lose the weight. Besides the shorts issue, I am going to the beach in August and while it seems like a while away, there are bathing suits involved in beach trips… I will need all the time I can get. Also, one of my friends has posted her weight on her blog in order to motivate herself to lose some weight. While I am not even close to as brave, I figured if she could do that I could give the whole weight loss thing a try.
Ryan and I now start our day by going on a long walk. We try and go for an hour. (I have also limited the number of cookies I eat). So far so good, Ryan likes to get out of the house and while he is sitting in the stroller so not getting much physical exercise, it does give him new sights and sounds which helps his mental development. I have lost 3 pounds so far which leaves about 12 to go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight and about 20 until my goal weight. If you don’t hear me talk about weight loss again it is because it isn’t going well, so hope for more posts like this for my sake!

Ladies Man

Ryan and I adventured out into the world today to attend a baby shower. The whole morning Ryan was… how do I put this nicely? … fussy. He was not dealing with life well and hadn’t been since the moment he woke up. Well, before I went upstairs to get ready I told him that if he didn’t calm down he was going to have to stay at the house and he would miss the shower. I am not kidding, he stopped crying immediately. Not only did he stop, he didn’t start again, so I told him we could go. The baby shower was about 2 hours and he didn’t fuss once, he was looking around at everyone but no crying. When we left he got fussy again. I think he liked getting all the attention and hearing all the new voices. He is already a ladies man; he wanted to be with the large group of women and when I took him away he got mad at me. He has been fussy since we got home. Conclusion, when Ryan is inconsolable invite a bunch of women over, I hope this doesn’t continue into his teenage years!

insecurities

The development of babies is an interesting process, it seems that they can’t do something at all and then the next day it has all changed and they act as though they have always been able to do it. I understand that this is a unique and exciting time in life for Ryan, he is developing faster then he will at any other time in his life… it is also kind of stressful if you allow it be. The thing about being a first time parent that they seem to forget to tell you is you have no idea what you are doing or what to expect (even when you read all the books.. sometimes BECAUSE you read ALL the books). I am a go with the flow kinda girl (ok that isn’t always true but I’m trying to be that sort of girl). There is however this underlying worry that something is wrong, especially when you are witnessing other babies around the same age develop differently then your own. So when you see Little Billy lifting his head and looking around, or Little Suzy smile at her mom and you don’t see your own doing it, it flashes through your mind that something could be wrong. It is an irrational fear at this point, but it is there, and then your morning comes where you look over your babies crib and he/she gives you a huge smile… and then it is off to worry about the next thing.
On another note, I have been a little slack in my blog entries because I am trying to get my 20 page paper done (which is always interesting with a baby in my arms so I have to type with one finger) it is due Tuesday then I will have a little bit more freedom and a little less of a feeling of being totally overwhelmed.

Best Dad Award

If I could I would call in sick to parenting today. Yesterday I was too tired to deal, then because I was tired I was not very good at calming down Ryan which frustrated me even more. Luckily Don stepped in and took over I don't know what I would have done without him. He took my shift and his. Thank you Don for being the best dad ever.

4 weeks old

Ryan is 4 weeks old today! It’s a strange feeling because on the one hand it feels as though he has always been here; on the other I can’t believe it has already been 4 weeks. he has been changing a lot, for instance he has gained a lot weight he is now about 10 pounds (he was born at 7 pounds 6 ounces)! Also he has started to focus on things more; you can tell his sight is getting a lot better. He has started grabbing and holding onto things in his reach which is cute unless it is your hair. It is amazing to see the first time he does something, I am with him all the time every day and he is changing so fast even I can see it happening.
Not all the changes have been good... for instance some of his hair has fallen out, now he has old man hair… but I have faith it will grow back. (No worries this isn't actually Ryans head :)

Photo Shoot Pictures

We got the pictures back from the photo shoot! Notice that Ryan is awake in EVERY picture, it was like a 3 hour photo shoot and he couldn't even pretend to be sleeping for any of it.
http://www.pictage.com/487909
We are going to be ordering some of the prints, if you have an opinions on which ones we should get please leave a comment with the photo number you think is best.


On another note.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DON! You might ask what Don got to do on his birthday... Well Ryan wasn't feeling well so Don sat in his PJ's holding Ryan all day. I'm not all that terrible of a wife, I cooked him food and got him gifts! We are going to try and go out on a date just the two of us sometime this week.

Belly Button

Ryan’s little belly button stump fell off so now we can give him a real bath instead of just wetting him down with a washcloth. Don had expressed to me a few days ago that he had this fear that he would accidentally hit the stub and it would pop off and freak him out. You want to know how it came off… Don accidentally hit the stub and it popped off and freaked him out (at 2 in the morning none the less). Apparently Don’s reaction times were a little slow and he didn’t get the clean diaper on in time, so Ryan peed upwards and some of it landed on his stomach, then when Don was cleaning it he hit the stub which came off. Poor Don is probably traumatized now.
I will post pictures of the first bath once I can wake the boys up and get it done this morning!

Out in the world

I went out to lunch today with two friends both of whom had baby boys in the last 2 months. The babies ended up sleeping the whole time in their car-seats and I felt like we were in that new Tostidos commercial where the mothers sit around talking while the babies "play". Anyway, the outing was successful and it felt good to get out and just hang out outside of the house for a while. Hopefully this is the begining of my re-introduction to the world.

biting off more then I can chew

Sometimes I think I can do more then I actually can, I am that girl who is standing on the roof thinking that if she believes in it enough she can fly. So I am taking a summer class, yes I have a 2 week old and I am going to a 3 hour night class 2 times a week. It seemed like a good idea, and in the long run it is because I will be done with law school by the end of the summer. In the short term, actually doing it is another story. It takes about 45 minutes to drive there; the class is 3 hours and then 45 minutes back. There is a 20 page research paper due next week… I have been tired when writing law school papers before but NOTHING compares to this. We have an outline for the paper due today, mine is awful, I’m not entirely sure it makes sense, but it is written and that should count for something.