9 WEEKS

Though it is the end of May, the weather here has been crappy! We've had cold, wind and rain almost every day. Ryder and I have been having troubles getting outside for walks with Scout. I did bundle him up a few times and took him out. One day we even went out to see Dirt.

Check out the rubber boots..adorable!

Last week, I had taken Ryder to the Public health nurse for his vaccinations. She got me all freaked out about the flat spot on the back of his head. Ahhhh! I had asked the Doctor about it, but she said they don't worry until 6 months, but the health nurse seemed to think it was something that needs dealing with. She even reccomended a "repositioning class" where I'll learn how to reposition him during play, bath, feeding and nap times so that his head rounds back out...yikes! I decided to get a Bumbo right away. This little chair allows him to sit up without leaning his head on anything, giving the flat spot a break. He isn't a big fan of sitting in it for too long yet, but he is getting used to it slowly...he looks like such a big boy when he sits up.

We went to mom's for the weekend as Marty had to be away for a few days.

Mom was such a proud Grandma, pushing Ryder in the stroller, feeding him a bottle and just loving him!

I love dressing Ryder up and taking him out.

I had plenty of opportunities to dress him up and show him off, like I did here at a horse expo.

I cant believe it's been 9 weeks already! Time is flying!!!

8 WEEKS

Have you ever been soo happy that your smile just wasn't big enough to express your joy?

I don't know what it is with babies, maybe it's their lack of outlets for expression, but they seem to have mastered the ability to smile so big that it stretches from their face all the way down to their toes pulling everyone around them into their exuberance!

Ryder does it all the time. Now that he has mastered the smile, he is not afraid to use it to express all feelings equated with joy.

You guys gotta soak up some of his huge, chubby smile! One of the first smiles I captured on film...lucky shot!

I dont' care who you are, seeing a smile this big, will make you smile

He is almost giggling here..his giggles stretch to his toes too!
Smiling from bald head to chubby toes!

I love being home to see his smiles all day, everyday!!

A DAY IN THE LIFE....

Ryder is the cutest when he sleeps. His cheeks are all loose and they hang like a dashhound puppy! LOL He is super happy when he wakes up, that is when we have the best tummy time, which evolves into "back time" that ends with bouncy seat time until he falls asleep again. Usually during his first nap, I put him in the carrier and take him and Scout for a walk or we load into the truck and do errands.

How can you not love those chins???

After we return from our morning adventure, Ryder's nap ends. He'll eat and then have more "happy mat" time. Sometimes he wears clothes and sometimes he doesn't..isn't being a baby great??

In the early evening, before bedtime, Ryder and I hang out up in his nursery. We lie on the floor, listen to tunes, shake rattles, read stories, giggle and I kiss and kiss those cheeks!

Ryder's evening ends with bath time. Marty is in charge of the bath. I love watching my boys bond and Ryder loves his bath!

Ryder 's day ends the way it begins, with cute, adorable sleep!!

PANTS OFF PARTY

Serious Ryder...

Happy Ryder

Yesterday, Ryder and I met up with 3 other girls and their sons from our Baby Class for a walk in the park. 2 of the ladies had strollers and 2 of us had our babies in carriers. This was my first walk with other people, away from home with the carrier and I was torn as to what I should bring with me for gear. With the stroller it's easy, just attach the diaper bag to the handles and away ya go. With the carrier it is different. There are no pockets on it (something I will get my mom to sew for me when I see her next) which makes it difficult to bring even my phone or a doggy bag with me on our walks. When I leave from home to go for walks, it's not a problem since I'm never really that far away from my change table, however walking downtown is a little trickier. I really didn't want to carry my huge diaper bag, so I found a large purse in the closet that I thought would make the perfect "diaper bag to go." The purse had one long shoulder strap that I could wear across my chest, overtop of the carrier so it would be comfortable. I carefully pondered exactly which items I would need to carry with me. Necessities only! I packed 2 diapers, the wipes, the vaseline, an extra onesie, a small blanket, my wallet and my cell phone.

I had planned things as close to perfect as I could. Ryder had been fed and he had had his awake time, he was ready for a nap, being in the carrier was a perfect place for that. I figured by the time we hit the coffee shop, he'd be ready to eat while us ladies drank our coffees, perfect...or not.

I showed up at the meeting spot with Ryder happily sleeping in the carrier, ready to walk, but one of the other ladies needed to feed her baby on a bench before we even started. I watched nervously as the minutes ticked by, I really didn't want to have to stop the whole walk to feed Ryder and this unexpected event was messing with my perfect timing! I rocked from foot to foot, hoping to keep Ryder sleeping. It worked and after 10 or 15 mins, we were on our way. It was fantastic walking and talking with other mothers who were going through all the same things together! Before we knew it, we arrived at the coffee shop, but because it was such a beautiful, sunny day, we opted to keep going and hit the coffee shop on the way back. I was happy to keep walking, but began to get anxious as Ryder stirred in the carrier. Just as we hit the turn around point, Ryder was in full, "MOM, I'M STARVING" mode. I tried to ignore it, stuffing the soother in his mouth, but eventually even the soother couldn't keep his voice muffled and I couldnt' take it anymore. Rather than have everyone stop, I announced that I was going to have to rig up my carrier so that I could feed Ryder on the go. Now I have done this a couple of times before, and I really want to master it, but I was hoping to practice at home alot more. Ideally, I would not have picked a public bike path as a place to practice breast feeding on the move. Opportunity presented itself though, so I plastered on a confident smile, and headed for a bench where I could get "organized." I make a habit of wearing two shirts at all times. Usually a tank top with a Tshirt over top. This way, I can pull up the T-shirt without bearing my belly and pull down the tank top, and unsnap the nursing bra without revealing too much. I worked my T-shirt up over my boobs, no easy feat, considering it was under the carrier and Ryder's weight. My tank top pulled down easily. Before unsnapping the bra, I loosened the carrier, turned Ryder sideways and in an awkward, very ungraceful move, shoved his head onto my exposed boob. When I was sure he was latched on, I snugged up the carrier and stood up with a proud kind of "voila" motion and rejoined my friends for the walk. We made it to the coffee shop with Ryder attached to my tit, nursing happily.

We slid into a large booth, and since Ryder was still eating, one of the other ladies bought my coffee for me. By the time everyone else was seated, drinking coffee and feeding their babies, Ryder was done...eating that is. I relaxed, then, in the booth and drank my coffee with a happy, full baby in my lap. Didn't take long for my "full" baby to become my "empty" baby, if you know what I mean....so empty infact that most of what he had just eaten has spurted out of the leg hole of his diaper, soaked through his brand new shorts and smeared on my hand that was holding him, ewwwwwww! Ofcorse, in my little "to go" diaper bag, I had NOT packed extra pants! Ryder had effectively turned this little outing into a "pants off" party!

Ryder with no pants!

The afternoon was my first outing with other mothers and babies. I now understand that babies run the show. That it's not a big deal if a baby has to eat or poop or cry, it doesn't ruin the walk, it turns the walk into an event. Moms are flexible, patient and have a sense of humor and they stick together even when one of the kids doesn't wear pants!!!

Ryder laughing outloud cause the only people who worry about pants are adults, babies don't care!!!!!

MOTHER'S DAY

Today I woke up for the morning feeding before my 7 week old son. My right boob was huge, hard and leaking milk. Clearly, my body was telling me it was time for Ryder to eat, but for the first time in 7 weeks he had decided to sleep in! I could have let him sleep and just pumped. It was awfully tempting to do so, but I couldn't, not today. See, today was the Mother's Day 5km race and I had been planning since I found out I was pregnant, to run in this race. I wanted to run in THIS race, not because I was planning on winning or even getting a personal best butbecause I would be a Mother and I so wanted to run in the Mother's Day Race as a MOM!

I fed Ryder, though he didn't even wake up, (damn, I wonder how long he would have slept, how long I could have slept...) checked the weather (it was raining) and got dressed. The rain was a bummer and I was half tempted to just skip the race and go back to bed (how I could have used a few more hours of sleep,) but Marty reminded me how important this was to me and convinced me to just "suck it up and run!" I also had a good friend who, at the last minute (before we knew it was gonna rain) had signed up to run with me. She was texting me, pumping me up, convincing me that we could do this, that I could do this, despite the pouring rain and my lack of sleep!

Jamie knocked on my door at 8am. She, Ryder, Marty and I piled into the truck. Marty navigated the city traffic to get us to the starting line in time for the group warm up. Before the horn sounded to start the race, 34 white doves were released into the sky as a tribute to all the moms (me included!! :) ) The whole race turned out to be a lot more emotional for me than I had expected. The doves made my eyes fill with tears. I got choked up when we hit the start line. I felt a lump in my throat as I crossed the finish line of my first race as a MOM!! And when Jamie hugged me, and said, "congratulations, MOM!" I almost lost it!! I have waited so long to hear someone use the word "mom" when talking to me!

Jamie and I at the finish. We got just a little wet! LOL

Marty and Ryder were there to meet us after the race!

It will be a while before Ryder can call me "mom," but Marty did sign his name on a Mother's Day card for me and that made me cry too!! I had no idea I would be so emotional today. I guess I just feel so lucky to be a mom, finally!! I only hope I can be as good of a mom to my son as my mom was, is, to me!!!

HE SMILES!!

I have seen Ryder's smile a few times, it lights up the room and makes my heart feel like I never knew it could. Up until yesterday though, I wasnt sure if he was doing it on purpose. I know he is doing it on purpose now because he and I spent a good ten minutes or so, laying on the floor of his room, giggling away together! His smile made me giggle and my giggle made him grin! It was one of those "firsts" I will always treasure!!

I tried to capture that great smile, but I kept missing myself..oh well, we've all seen my smile, Ryder's is the one that counts!




He even threw in a fist pump here! LOL

SHORT END OF THE STICK

Scout looking sad and pathetic in her cone!

Poor Scout. Ever since Ryder came along, she feels like she has the short end of the stick. I can't blame her.

It's no secret that before, Ryder came along, Scout was the center of my, universe. I adored her, I still do, but I fawned over her and made her and giving her a happy lifestyle my priority! Then I got to be about 9 months pregnant and I didn't have the energy to get out with her as much as I used to. This actually broke both our hearts as I truly get so much joy out of watching Scout bound around outside. Her free spiritedness is inspiration and I missed witnessing it twice a day like I used to. Once Ryder was born, Scout's walks with me got to be even less frequent. I did get an awesome carrier for Ryder and Scout began to recognize that when I put that on, it meant we were all going for a walk.... then it kept snowing.

Like every other day, it snowed, making it real difficult for me to get out with Ryder. Scout's been a trooper, hangin' inside with me and Ryder. She follows us around and lays on the floor near my feet wherever we are. She loves to kiss Ryder on his head and face and smell his stinky bottom, (dogs are wierd lol.) Scout had been patient and adorable, waiting for things to get back to "normal."

Dirt Face has also been slightly neglected since Ryder's pending arrival, however, when the sun shines, Ryder and I take Scout out to the "farm" to visit Dirt and let Scout have a good run in the field. WE all look forward to those days and as the sun shines more and more we have been getting out there more often and for longer periods of time.

Last Sunday, Ryder, my friend, Lisa, Scout and I headed out to the farm for a visit with Dirt and a walk through the field. We headed out across the field on that beautiful sunny afternoon, Scout full of piss and vinegar! WE just kept walking because it was so fun to watch Scout and because it seemed like it had been forever since we had any real significant sunshine on our faces. On the way back towards the barn, Scout took off on the trail of something so she got behind us. At one point I heard her, at the time I didnt' think it was a yelp, I thought she was just talkin' to the coyotes, but I called her to "come" anyway. She ran up ahead of us, leading us to the barn. Once in the barnyard, Scout played hard with the farm dogs before I loaded her up into the truck.

It wasn't until we got home and saw the blood drops on the floor that we realized one of us was bleeding. Ryder and I were fine, Lisa was fine. That left Scout. At first we didn't see anything. She wasnt even limping or crying or anything. Just lookin' at her, we couldn't see anything, then she layed down on her bed and started licking....ewwwww! Once I saw how deep the puncture wound was, I almost barfed. I could see "meat!" We called the emergency after hours clinic and Marty took her in right away. He had to leave her there until midnight when they called him to come pick her up. The bill was six hundred bucks, the inside of her leg was shaved, she had a bunch of stitches, a stent to aid with draining, a bottle of pills, a cleaning solution, some liquid pain medication and a cone, but she was gonna be ok!

The stent is the grossest part. It looks like a straw hanging out of the stitches and it's whole purpose is to let blood and clots drain out of her body, onto the floor! Ewww!

Poor, Scout! She mopes around here with her "cone of shame" half stoned on her pain meds, banging into walls and doors with her sad, sad, puppy dog eyes!

Yesterday, I was home all day, so I took the cone off and made her hang out with me all day so I could keep an eye on her to make sure she wasn't licking here wound. She acts a whole lot happier without the cone, but she still seems sooo confused and sad. 14 days of this! Here's hoping she heals fast!! Friday we get the stent out.

Scout has definitely been getting the short end of the stick, this time, she got it in her leg!!