Playing with boxes

Aunt Joan and Uncle Gordon gave Ryan some toy cars; Ryan enjoyed the box as well!

Bubbles!!!!

Ryan and Dad playing with a slinky on Saturday afternoon
Focused on eating waffles!
What an angel


In the pool with Dad

Splashing water everywhere

Ryan loves string cheese. He now says 'Cheese' too!


Aunt Tara with her fabulous chocolate dessert!

After a very busy week, we decided to keep the weekend low key.
Friday night, I hosted a Pampered Chef Party for my sister-in-law, (Aunt Tara is now a consultant!). We had a good turn out and had a great time. Good wine, good food, great friends and great dessert. She made a chocolate caramel cake. Delicious!
Saturday, we set up the pool and attempted swimming again. Ryan did really well. The water was still a little cold, but he loved splashing the water and playing with his lobster toy.
Today, Great-Grandpa was in town, so we went to Aunt Joan and Uncle Gordon's for brunch. We ate and then took naps. A nice relaxing afternoon.
We have another busy week ahead with PT, OT and Buddy Builders at Delta Gamma.
Enjoy the photos, more updates later

Ryan has an MRI

Standing on Dad; You can really see how big Ryan is getting: 24 pounds and 31 inches long!

Playing with a dump truck with such intensity
My pile of food: ham, crackers and string cheese. Yes, he ate it all!
In the bath, again!
The pool at our Church picnic
The pool at our house. (I prefer the pool at our fellow church members house!!!)

The water was a little chilly!

Today, Ryan had an MRI at CGCH. The neurologist we saw last month ordered an MRI to see how things were going. Since he left the NICU over a year ago, he hasn't had any tests or scans. This was just a follow-up test and we will find out the results next week. Not to worry, just follow-up and hopefully it will tell us everything we already know.
The day was exhausting. Ryan could not eat anything after 9:30am and his test wasn't until 1:00pm. We had to distract him and decided the zoo was our best bet. We went there and Ryan enjoyed tracking the monkeys! We then arrived at CGCH and everything went like clockwork. We were home by 3:00pm.
The time at the hospital was bittersweet. It was heart wrenching watching him have an IV put in his arm. He screamed, yet while he was screaming, he yelled MOM! The nurses are the ones to point this out. Tim and I looked at each other and nearly cried. He hasn't said MOM before! When the test was over, they had us come back in the room. We both got really emotional. He was hooked to the monitors again as well as having oxygen. It brought back so many memories of being in the NICU. We both had to hold back the tears. After waking from the sedation, he said it again, and it was very clear, MOM!!! ( he was also saying DADA), but he has never said an M sound. I guess it takes drugs and sedation for him to say MOM!
The nurses said he will probably sleep more of the day away. This was not the case. The little man was awake and thirsty, taking in almost 20 ounces of milk in 4 hours! He wouldn't stop drinking.
Like I said, we are all exhausted and I now have to find a way to take Ryan to school and go back to work tomorrow. All I want to do is hold him and play.
Attached are some photos of the week.
Keep positive thoughts for Ryan this week, as we wait for his test results.

Bath Time

So Ryan has been busy this week. We had a meeting with First Steps on Wednesday. Everyone is really happy with Ryan's progress. Our case manager couldn't believe how much he has improved on his skills since she last saw him in December. Unfortunately, she won't be our case manager after July (due to state issues). We will miss her. One of the things discussed is speech therapy. So Ryan will now be meeting with another therapist (PT, OT, Eye and Speech). So far he is doing well, we just want to keep him on target. He trys new words and sounds everyday. He now says 'Good' every time you ask him "How's Ryan doing" or How's my buddy". He also says it when we say "Good Morning or Good Night". He says "N-key" for Monkey. He also says "Cool". So the words are coming, but we think the therapist will help him communicate more.

We had bath time tonight and I let him play a little longer, so I could take some photos. He was having so much fun, playing with the cups and splashing.

I also took some photos last weekend when I put him in his swing. He loves it!

So enough of my babble, enjoy the photos.