Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad

Love,

Mom and Ryan

Happy Birthday PaPa B

Ryan sitting up all by himself! He is so proud (so is mom and dad)
Finger painting

This is what happens when mom says "No"

Ryan wishes Papa B a Happy Birthday!
So much going on lately, not much time to update and post to the blog. I have so many pics, I will post more this week, but here are a few to hold you over!

Ryan gets his AFO's

Standing in his AFO's

A flower from our backyard


The most beautiful baby in the world

I have Dad wrapped around my finger

Hamming it up with Dad

After a busy week and weekend, we plan to take it easy today. Earlier this week, Ryan was fitted with his wrist brace and AFO's. He doesn't seem to mind them too much. He figured out the wrist brace also doubles as a food saver. He stuck his wrist brace in some pudding and and put it in his mouth to chew on. With his AFO's he was able to stand, with a little help from dad, but he is on his way. It was very emotional for me. His 18mos checkup went well....in the 25th percentile of his birth age, 75th percentile of his corrected age...32 3/4 inches long and 24 pounds. His eye visit was great. He was working with flash cards and picking out pics of mom, dad, and shoes. What a great week for him. Getting over his ear infection and more teeth, he also had to fight Hand, Foot and Mouth virus. Got that from daycare! So the events of last weekend all make sense. Anyway hope to have a low key week, just playing and swimming are on the agenda. Hopefully his fussiness is over
Have a great week. Enjoy the photos! I can't believe how much he is changing.

Wishing Uncle Gerry well!

A busy few weeks

Hanging with Uncle Barry

Eating a cupcake for Jen's Birthday

Madisyn eating a cupcake

Aiden being a ham!

Sebastian in a time-out on the sunporch

Bailey playing in the doggie pool

Hanging out in our new, bigger pool

My new favorite, Almond Butter, Strawberry Jelly on wheat bread

My new music toy

Yes, its been a few weeks since I have posted, but we have been very busy. Ryan has a really busy week coming up too... PT, OT, Eye,18 month checkup and he gets his AFO's and brace tomorrow!

So not to bore you with too much babble, here are some pics of the last few weeks...new pool, Father's Day, playing with Aiden and Madisyn, a few family birthdays, more teeth, couple of ear infections...enjoy

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.