Fall

Those who know me, know that I LOVE fall.  It is by far my favorite season, and since we don't get much as far as season changes here in FL, I savor any little thing that resembles this delightful time of year.  I was excited that my due date with Rylan was during the fall, and I had a fall themed baby shower.  And today I am looking forward to meeting up with John, Amanda and Sam to go to a local pumpkin patch tonight.  I can't wait to let Rylan crawl around the pumpkins and watch Sam and him explore.  I promise we will take lots of pictures and I will post them soon.

Also, birthday plans are in full swing and I can hardly believe it's only 19 days away, not that I am counting :)  I hope everything comes together, but most of all I am hoping come the time of the party I can just relax and enjoy this very special time with my family.

They grow up so fast

Rylan is just over 10 months old and is acting and looking more and more like a little boy everyday.  He has changed so much from the little baby we brought home, and I was reminded of this today as I went through the clothes he had grown out of to give to a friend of ours.  I sat in the living room with the tub of clothes in front of me, and Rylan next to me pulling the clothes out and throwing them on floor, singing "ah-oh, ah-oh"  I held up one of his newborn outfits and was amazed that it ever fit him.  Time rushes by to fast, and I don't want to look back and regret not being more involved.  I have been trying to make a more conscious effort to spend quality time with Rylan every day, even if it is only 5 minutes on the floor playing with him after dinner before he goes to bed.  I know there is nothing I can do to slow things down, but I can take the time to really enjoy these moments that I'll never get back.

I am also feeling very out of sorts lately.  Rylan is scheduled to have surgery next week, it's a minor out patient procedure, but as a mom, there is no such thing.  I know he will be fine, but I am still worried, and will likely remain worried until after the procedure is done and my baby is back in my arms.  I have had an unsettled feeling for the last few days that I am expecting to persist.  But at the same time I am trying to remind myself  how blessed we are that this is a very minor issue and there are a number of people out there facing much worse with their family.  There will certainly be lots of prayers said in this house this week.

Watch out World

He's walking- it's behind a push toy, but he has taken his first steps, and I am so not prepared for this.  I am so happy that he is healthy and growing, as of his 9 month check up he is 19.10 pounds and 30 inches long, but then there are moments that I just want to freeze time.  Time goes by way too fast.

Watch me

Yep, I got this

See I can do it

Update

I am so behind and I know it, but my sister in law updated her blog so I am trying to get motivated as well.  Of course lots has gone on and changed, Rylan will be 9 months old on the 4th and I can hardly believe it.  His personality is evolving more every day, and for better or for worse he has my stubborn streak for sure; once he has his mind made up, it takes a lot to distract him.  He starting crawling on June 30th while we were visiting my mom in Sarasota and from that moment he is everywhere now.  Not even a week and half later he started pulling himself up on things.  There is no containing him now.  He has always eaten and slept well at night, but now that he is up and going, he loves his baby food and has started taking longer naps during the day.  An 8th tooth broke through yesterday on the bottom so he now has 4 on top and 4 on the bottom.

Recently Rylan and I have both been sick, but we are both coming out of it now which is good.  Rylan actually ended up with strep which is supposedly rare in infants.  Thankfully, it didn't seem to affect his mood, but he was getting sick from time to time. 

We have started talking about his first birthday, and I can't believe that it is so rapidly approaching.  I am having fun working on things like the invitations.  Work hours haven't been as long lately, but still draining so it is nice to have a creative outlet with the party. 

I know I am missing lots of things, like Rylan's first trip to the beach, Boca Grand, with Jess, Caitlyn and crew, and his trip with his da da to Welaka to meet up with James' parents, but that's all I can come up with for now.  I won't promise, but I will try to do better about posting

So much for weekly

Work has been out of control.  I still really enjoy my new job and love my new team, but new systems and a crazy market make for very long hours.

But my new team is so great, even though every one else in my area was told that they had to work on Mother's day no excuses, my team, manager included, covered for me so that I didn't even have to log in from home to work.  It was so sweet of them, especially considering they were busy.  But because of them I had a relaxing mother's day spending time with James' parents and Rylan.  Once James got up he came over and we grilled out for dinner.  Nothing extravagant, but just what I wanted.

Rylan had his 6 month check up and he is over 17 pounds, I can't believe it.  The doctor was very impressed with his development; James was near by while Rylan was sitting on the exam table all by himself when the doctor came in.  Rylan stays sitting up on his own so well now, and when you lay him down you can see him trying to pull himself into a sitting position. 

Still no crawling yet, but he likes to have you help him push from a sitting position to a standing position and he will take steps forward if you walk with him.  He also has 4 teeth total now, the top two front ones have broken through.

Last week was my birthday and James and I had both taken the day off.  We decided to take Rylan to the pool for the first time, and he LOVED it.  He was so cute in his swim suit and he liked kicking in his float.  Which by the way, I really like this float, James got it at babies r us for about 15 dollars and it was perfect for keeping Rylan floating with out major effort from me.

Last week was also Rylan first planned night at grandma and gp's.  James had got some friends together to go out and celebrate my birthday and so he set up for Rylan to spend the night over there.  I was surprised, it was a little harder than I thought.  I knew he was perfectly safe and was having a good time, but I missed him.  He is such a major part of my and our life now, so being without him just feels odd.  But he had had a great time and we got him Saturday morning, I was very happy to see him!  It was a wonderful birthday, and so nice to get to spend some time with all my boys.

My Mother's Day

Since James and I both have to work this Sunday, I took yesterday off to be with my boys and we celebrated my first mother's day, and I couldn't have asked for a better one.  We had an appointment to do Rylan's 6 month photos, and they came out so great!!!!  I LOVE picture people.  I'll post the link below to the photos; the ladies at the shop loved Rylan and him in the cowboy hat so much they asked us to sign a release because they are considering framing the photos and putting them up in the store and possibly in the computer system for all the stores.  That of course made for some very proud parents.  It also made it very difficult not to spend all of our savings on the pictures!  Rylan did so good the whole time, through the pictures, outfit changes, and waiting/looking at the pictures. 
After the pictures James had set up for him and I to go to a tattoo shop for both of us to get our tattoos that we have been waiting.  James' was done first and he got a cross with Rylan James written above it.  The cross is very cool, and the lettering the guy did is amazing.  I got a turtle on my foot with a hibiscus flower in the center.  I wanted a turtle since that was the first toys Rylan was interested in, and I have always liked hibiscus flowers so it worked.  And yes, it hurt, it still hurts, in fact it might hurt more now than it did during the tattoo.  But it is worth it, I love it, and it will always be a reminder of when Rylan was a little baby.
After the tattoos we stopped by James' parents to show them the pictures of Rylan.  And then James and Rylan took me to dinner.  We went to a local Japanese steak house.  We had taken Rylan two other times to a steak house, but he was asleep those times.  Last night he was awake and he loved watching the chef.  When he lit the grill on fire Rylan just laughed at him, it was so cute and Rylan had the whole table laughing with him.
Overall, it really was a wonderful day with my wonderful husband, and my baby boy who means the world to me.  I really couldn't have asked for anything better!

Here is the link to the photos:

http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/pr3/viewalbum.aspx?a=708927

And our tattoos

April's News

So here is the rest of the news from April to catch the blog up, and from now on I am going to try and post weekly, even if I have to schedule time in my phone. I have found since motherhood, I can't remember anything if it is not in my phone calendar, so much for pregnancy brain subsiding once you're no longer pregnant.


• On April 1st Rylan rolled over from his back to his stomach for the first time while awake (he did it the night before asleep) James was home to see him do it, and texted everyone to let them know. Of course since it was April Fools Day, James' dad, GP, wasn't sure if it was real or if James was playing a joke :-) Rylan now loves to roll on his stomach and play, for a short time. James and I can't wait to he starts to roll from his stomach to his back. -which he did do yesterday, but I don't believe that he meant to do it and he looked a little confused.

• 10 days after Rylan rolled, on April 11th, my son started scooting. James and I were home and Rylan was playing with his toys, and one of them was just out of reach. So after a few moments of contemplating, Rylan laid his head on the ground and pulled himself forward. He didn't go far, but he definitely moved and he got his toy. He now also pulls his knees up underneath him as well, so it's just a matter of time before he'll be mobile

• April 18th he was able to "tripod", stay in a sitting position by putting his hands on the ground in front of him. As of yesterday he was even sitting up by himself without his hands down for a few moments at a time.

• Of course, all this new moving means Rylan does not sleep on his back any more. In fact, I think he is trying to give me a panic attack because he sleeps on his stomach, knees pulled up underneath him, and his face flat down in the mattress. We tried flipping him over, that lead to screaming, we tried just turning his head to the left or right, but that lead to even more screaming. So for now we let him sleep face down as he wants.

• In early April, for GP's birthday the whole family went to the Clay County Fair. We all had a nice time and Rylan loved looking at all the animals, and we even got him a cowboy hat. It's a little big for him still, but it is too cute!

• Rylan and I also drove to Tallahassee for James' cousin Kelly's wedding. He did great during the whole trip, and before we drove back home on Sunday, Rylan and I took our first trip to FSU. It is a very nice looking school and we found the Hall of Fame and trophy room which housed their two National Championship trophies for football. It was very cool

• As of 4/19 Rylan weighted 16 pounds 11 ounces and on 4/20 we graduated from the infant seat to a rear facing convertible car seat. He was getting way to heavy to carry him in his seat all around, and he was getting very close on the length for the infant seat. So far he seems to like the new seat

• In addition to GP's birthday we celebrated Easter which was very nice to celebrate as a new family of three, and Grandma's birthday more recently. We got to see Sam at Grandma's birthday, and I still can't believe he has grown so much; he's already walking!!

• We also got let in on some wonderful news in April, our close friends, Clinton and Sara, are expecting their first little one who should be joining us in early December!