Weaned!

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted! I'll try and post more later to catch up on how big Ryan is. However, I wanted to post that today is the first day that I have not nursed Ryan. Last night was the last time that I nursed him before bed and now I've gone a whole day without nursing him. I'm extremely sad that I am no longer providing him breastmilk, but I'm so thrilled that I went for 1 year and then some. I treasured every session and it was amazing to have that connection with him. I think I'm also sad because I'm realizing that he is no longer a little baby, but a big boy now. Anyway, I just needed to mark the occassion since I worked so hard to accomplish this. Pumping at work for 10 months, taking medicine to help with my supply; it was not without tears but came with alot of smiles.

Thank you for being a great nurser, Ryan. You made me so proud!

Love, Mommy

8 months old

Oh geez, I'm such a horrible mom and haven't posted in awhile! Ryan has been learning so many new things, that I don't get much opportunity to post!

Well, my sweet little boy turned 8 months two weeks ago! Where is the time going? I already find myself having to start thinking about his 1st birthday party since it will be here before I know it!

He is now a full fledged crawler and has gotten pretty fast I might add! Sometimes in the evening I set him down on the floor, turn my back for a second, turn around and then he is gone! He has already made it into another room! I'm not looking forward to when the walking begins.

Within the past month, Ryan got his first haircut! After seeing the picture from his time at the gym in the last post, I decided it was time for a haircut! He looks like such a little boy already!

BeforeAfter

Our most recent accomplishment is he is now sleeping through the night more often then not!I've never felt more rested! A couple of tricks that I have done that I think are helping are leaving a CD playing all night of lullaby's and I have turned off his night light. I might hear him sometimes early in the morning babbling away, but I refrain from going in to get him. About 2 minutes later, it's all quite again in his room and he goes back to sleep. It's so wonderful going into his room to have to wake him up after getting ready for work!

Playing at the gym

So, I've enrolled Ryan into a class at My Gym Saturday mornings in Kent. I'm so excited he is finally old enough to finally go to some of these classes. Now that he is crawling, I wasn't as concerned to let him crawl around without getting hurt! Afterwards, he never slept better for me on a weekend! Looking forward to next week!

7 Months Old!

Where is the time going?! My little buddy turned 7 months yesterday! It also had been exactly one year that we found out we would be having a little boy. How our worlds changed forever that day that we knew we would have our precious boy to add to our family. I couldn't imagine my family any other way! Now, he is 7 months old...where did he time go!

Ryan has learned so much in this last month! He is eating solids, although he isn't a huge eater. He takes maybe 10-15 bites and then tightly closes his lips so I can't get the spoon in. Sometimes I can trick him and get him laughing pretty hard, then sneak the spoon into his mouth. His first started out on sweet potatoes. After that we have since tried squash, carrots, green beans, peas, pears, apples and peaches. His favorite so far are peas!

He is also becoming more mobile. He has mastered sitting up and can also get to a sitting position from his tummy. He woke up in the middle of the night one night and I went in to calm him and I found him sitting up in his crib. Woah! (I think that was my exact word!) Good thing we had just lowered his mattress to the lowest setting.

He also really wants to crawl. He can get his knees under him and rock back and forth. Today he was doing a very good downward facing dog pose. Maybe I should enroll him in yoga?!

Since he has started become more mobile, his sleep has now regressed to like the days when we first brought him home from the hospital! Sucky!! He wants to continue working on his new skills! He will fall asleep in my arms and the minute I put him down, he starts to scream. And then it starts the cycle of waking up almost every 2 hours. Ugh! Makes momma very tired and difficult to concentrate at work! I'm hoping this is just a phase and he will go back to sleeping soundly!

6 Months Old!

It's hard to believe that Ryan has been in our lives for over 1/2 a year! It seems like just yesterday that this new little person entered our lives and changed us forever. I look back at these past 6 months and it's amazing how quickly he has grown and changed. In six months, he has gone from not being able to hold his head up and focus, to now sitting on his own and recognizing familiar faces. Then there were the nights of Ryan waking up every 45 minutes and holding him all night, now to nights of sleeping in his own room all night. I now even get some nights of uninterupted sleep!

I have also found myself to more comfortable as my role as mom. I'm no longer overwhelmed going out alone with him. I know that he has a favorite blanket that will help him get to sleep. I know what toys will stop the tears and bring on the smiles. I know the signs when he starts to get sleepy and needs a nap. 6 months ago...I didn't know a single thing!

I'm excited for the next 6 months and what new adventures it brings! I'm sure it will be a wonderful ride!

Here is Ryan's 6 month photo-taken on the night we got home from Montana. My cute little boy still smiling after spending hours on end in the car that day!

He had his 6 month check-up the other day. Stats are:

Weight: 16 lbs, 12 oz (almost exactly 10 lbs gained from birth!)-36th percentile

Height: 26 3/4 inches long-62nd percentile

Head: 16 7/8 inches long-17th percentile

He had 5 vaccinations at the appt. 1 oral and 3 shots. When the nurse gave him his first shot, he didn't even cry! Such a tough guy! But then when the 2nd & 3rd came along...he was done! But only cried for a couple seconds after and then was his happy self again! Love this little boy!

Road Trip to Montana

Ever since I found out that my best friend was pregnant and due at the beginning of May, we had been planning our trip to drive out to Montana to meet her new bundle of joy. We chose Memorial Day weekend to take advantage of the holiday and stay an extra day. We've done this trip twice before...but never with a 6 month old! It wasn't as bad as I expected, but it still took longer than before.

We left bright and early Friday morning and hit the road (after a Starbucks run, of course!) Ryan fell asleep even before we hit Issaquah-Hobart road on Hwy 18. We stopped in Ellensburg to let Casey stretch her legs at our favorite dog run and to feed Ryan. Afterwards, it would be my turn to drive. After our stop, we hit the road again. However, Ryan did not fall asleep as anticipated and screamed the whole way until Moses Lake. Time to switch drivers...and I ended up sitting in the back with Ryan for the remainder of the trip. Ralph was a trooper and drove a total of 10 hours! Ryan finally settled down, but I feel so bad for him having to be strapped in to the car seat for so long. Poor little dude!

During the drive

We finally arrived in Helena and met little Colby for the first time! It was so amazing to see our two babies finally together! Ryan immediately took to Colby and reached out his hand to "pet" him. We had to remind Ryan to be gentle with little Colby! Ryan even started perfecting sitting up while on our trip! Can't believe how grown up he is getting!

Then it was time to head home on Tuesday (Ryan's 6 month birthday!). He pretty much slept the whole way through Montana which allowed me to drive to Missoula and then sit in the front with Ralph until the Idaho/Washington border. But, then it was back into the back seat with Ryan for the rest of the trip. He just needed some entertainment which mommy gave him by singing silly songs!

We loved spending time with our friends and was so wonderfully getting to meet Colby!

Visitors!

We have been busy this last week with family coming into town to spend time with Ryan. We love being able to catch up and see everyone!

Over the weekend, Ginny and Mike came into town from Arizona. We had the family over to our house to get together and celebrate the May birthday's (mine and Mike's). We had a very yummy soft taco meal and fun times playing Apples to Apples. We always seem to have tons of laughs with that game! Ryan even got in on the action!

Then we had my Aunt Cary and Cousin Rachel come into town from Southern California to meet Ryan for the first time! We were only able to spend one day with though since Ralph and I are heading to Montana for Memorial Day weekend. But, we were able to go to lunch and dinner together so they could get as much time as they could with Ryan. We'll just have to get to Disneyland soon so we can stay with the Wagner's!

5 months old

So, I am a week behind of posting his 5 month photo. I can't believe how fast time is going. I'm trying to treasure each day while he is still a baby. We are going to try solids at 6 months, so I want to enjoy this last month before we add one more complexity to the mix.

On his 5 month birthday, we finally got the blinds up in his room! His room looks complete now! This also meant that it was time to transition him into his own room. I was excited, but also sad to not have him so close to me. The first night was a little rough as I tried to make him sleep in the crib. He still does not like to lay flat, so the minute his head would hit the matress he would be screaming! So, I just moved the bassinet into the room and he slept so much better! I was even amazed that he slept 7 1/2 hours one night! It was the first time in over 5 months where I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night! Although I miss my little boy next to me, it has been so much better for our sanity to be sleeping apart. Here are pictures of his room finally complete!

4 months Old!

We've been pretty busy around the Howerter household now that Ryan is 4 months old. He had his 4 month check-up and shots which was heartbreaking to watch. He weighed in at a whopping 15 lbs 13 oz! This put him at the 65th percentile. He was 25 inches long, only in the 49th percentile. Sorry little buddy...you just might have mommy's height!

We also haven't been getting much sleep at night, so I did some research and found a bassinet that would keep him inclined at night. It hasn't worked as much as I thought it would, but I did finally get one night with a 6 hour stretch. It was heaven! We are going to continue trying it out. Here is the little guy enjoy a snooze!

We also got the go ahead from the Pediatrician to start cereal if we wanted since he is not sleeping well through the night and is having some tummy issues. I was a little hesitant on starting so early, but thought we would give it a try. He LOVED it! He was begging for more!

New to Blogging

I've always wanted to blog, but never really knew how to do it. So, I finally sat down and played around to try and come up with our family blog. Now that we have little Ryan, it will be fun to document some of his milestones! Hopefully I will remember to post often!

Be on the look out for more posts on the Howerter family!