Getting Close

Our friends Cas and Missy are getting close to their due date which is this Friday. They just put up a post that says they are going to get induced on Sunday night if nothing has happened by then. So keep a close eye on their blog which I have linked on the right (Soon-to-be Little Schneller). Enjoy that birth guys - it is one of the most amazing things you will ever experience.

Mr. Fussy

Ryan has been a little more fussy this second week (and we realize we were pretty lucky the first week with a well behaved baby - maybe he just wants his grandparents and aunts and uncles around again). It has been hard to settle him down at times right after he feeds. Of course there is no way to know what is wrong with him but it seems to be gas which is a tough problem to solve. He gets really worked up and takes short breaths and grunts and cries. We have different holds to help him work out the bubbles (over the knee, over the arm, over the shoulder) but the main thing is to just keep him from getting too worked up and over stimulated (at least that is the conclusion we have come to so far). I am sure we are making a ton of mistakes but we are fine with that. We are enjoying time as a family.

Books

I would love to hear from any parents out there about what books you found really helpful in regards to your children's development. I have "Happiest Baby on the Block" and "What to Expect in the First Year", but would like to know more. I feel Dan and I did a lot to prepare for Ryan's birth, but very soon I won't be quite as informed. How many hours should he sleep each day? How many feedings? What changes does he go through during his growth spurts and when should I expect these various developmental stages to occur. You all have a wealth of knowledge. Please share your favorites. Comment away!!

Grandma and Grandpa's Pictures

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Originally uploaded by paulalong

Grandma P (Paula) and Grandpa G (Gary) - as they have chosen to be called - have put up their pictures from their first visit with Ryan. Click on the picture to be taken to their Flickr page.

Gadget Geek

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Originally uploaded by flowmug

Ryan is already a gadget geek like his Dad. He wants to know when he can get the iPhone. He says it's the best mobile phone he has ever used.

Too Much Stroller?

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Originally uploaded by flowmug

You think that stroller is a little much for Ryan at this point? We manage to get him out about once a day and he looks really tiny in the massive stroller. At least we don't have to buy 2 strollers - one for when he is an infant and one for when he is a toddler.

We walked down Armitage yesterday where we grabbed lunch at the fantastic Chicago Bagel Authority. Then Sharis left Ryan and I sitting outside in the sun (I was in the sun, he wasn't) for about an hour while she shopped. We thought she forgot about us.

Ryan's Week 1 Photos

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Originally uploaded by flowmug

I have added a couple more photos to Flickr. For those of you who have already looked at the ones I already put up, the new ones are at the bottom of the 'Ryan Week 1' set. I added them to the current set because I want to try and organize them by weeks - so all the pictures taken up until his 1 week birthday are 'Ryan Week 1'. Unless I have some really good pictures, I will try to wait until the end of the week so people aren't looking at the same pictures over and over. If you click on the picture you will be taken to the whole set on Flickr.

Please Take Ryan Back To Bed

Picture this scene:

It's about 12:45am (Sharis and Dan had gone to bed at about 11pm). Sharis pokes Dan and wakes him up.

Sharis: "Would you please take Ryan back to his crib?"

Dan willingly jumps out of bed (maybe 'jumps' is too strong a word - but it was willingly), walks over to Sharis' side of the bed and expects her to hand him to him. She doesn't. Dan starts to search around in the dark, gently feeling for the "Little Man". He looks under the blankets to see if he was nestled in under there. He searches near her bosom and then near her hips. He's not there.

Dan: "Where is he?"

She feels around as well and can't find him. There are lots of blankets and it's quite soft in their bed. They continue to search. Sharis gets a little nervous. She thinks about all the possibilities of where he could be. Is he behind her? Is he at her feet? Is he on the floor? Did he get up to get himself a snack from the fridge?

Dan finally realizes what is going on.

Dan: "Sharis, you're dreaming. You have never brought him back here to be in bed with us. I will go check his crib but I am pretty sure he is sound asleep."


Sure enough, Sharis had been dreaming. The little baby burrito was wrapped up tightly and sound asleep. She ended up doing that 2 more times during the night. Luckily, she caught herself before she woke up Dan the other 2 times.

Sharis constantly sleeps with one ear open and worries about if he is OK - Dan does as well but not to the extent that the mother does. That is natural for a new mother but as you can see, it is affecting her sleep. It probably doesn't help that she doesn't sleep more than 3 or 4 hours at a time.

Ryan ended up sleeping until about 3am where he fed for an hour and then went back to sleep until 7am. Needless to say, the new parents are quite happy that they only have to get up once during the night (once due to Ryan's hunger that is - more due to worrying). Of course that could change in the blink of an eye, but they will take advantage of it while they can.

Both Mom and Little Man are asleep right now. Sleep tight.

Thank You

I've been wanting to write a big thank you to all of you who have been following the blog, commenting, well-wishing, praying, and generally sharing in our joy. We feel so loved and we are truly grateful for all of the support from each and every one of you in our lives. You are all AMAZING!! Thank you.

Pediatrician

Ryan had his first dr's appt this morning. He did great! He is back up to his birth weight-the little overachiever!! The doc was expecting him to weigh 6-5 and he was 6-11, which still puts him only in the 12 percentile. He is also growing in length like a champ. He's lengthened 1.5 inches since birth! Crazy. For length, then, he is in the 78 percentile. This is all due to the fact that he is a hungry little monkey. If he could, I think he would feed all day long. The ped doc was impressed. To reiterate a recent post from Dan, WE ARE SO BLESSED!

And Then There Were Three

My mom left this morning. She was an amazing help and we loved having her here, but we wanted to have a go at it with just the three of us for a bit. Dan still has some time off of work and I am cherishing being able to bond with and love both of my boys. If only I could freeze these precious moments in time...

The Silent Mother

Sorry for slacking on the posts. Dan has been doing a great job of covering. All you moms out there understand, I'm sure! Ryan is a great baby, but still a great deal of work.

This first week has been so much fun. I am just so incredibly enamored with every little thing he does. I think I could give him a million kisses and it still wouldn't be enough. I've already told him that he's not allowed to grow up-we'll see how that goes ; )

Ryan's Flickr Photos

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Originally uploaded by flowmug

Most of the photos I have taken of Ryan so far are finally up on Flickr. If you click on the picture, you will be taken to the entire set. I have been bombarded for requests for more pictures. Hopefully this will satiate the appetites - for a while at least.

Due Date

Today was the day Ryan was actually due - in those imprecise ways they measure due dates. We had a pretty good day. He only woke up once last night. I was on diaper duty and was supposed to change him if he woke up before 2:30am. But he didn't. Sharis ended up waking up at 3:30am and had to go wake him to feed him. He then slept until about 7:30am. So he is doing quite well at night - for now.

We also gave him a little time on his tummy today. He was able to pick his head up and move it from one side to the other. I have no idea if this is what newborns do or not. You new mothers and fathers out there can let us know. He was also able to pick up his legs at the same time he was picking up his head and only had his torso on the ground. Sharis was able to get video of it so I will try and see if I can get that up for people to see.

And finally after dinner we took a trip to the ice cream shop. We had taken him out for a stroll around the park the two previous days but this was his (and Sharis') longest stroll. They both made it back just fine - Sharis with a belly full of key lime pie ice cream and Ryan with an empty stomach ready for a feeding.

Grandma Paula has been here since Thursday and is leaving tomorrow. She has been a great help and we appreciate all she has done.

All his activity should make for a sleepy night.

Perfect Timing

It seems that every time we get that last snap on his pants snapped,
Ryan manages to dirty that pristine diaper.

Sent from my iPhone

Many Blessings

We feel very blessed for how well things have gone so far. The labor and delivery went very much like we planned. Sharis was able to give birth without pain medications and she was able to do it in the tub. She only had to push for about 10 minutes and didn't have any major complications.

We are blessed because we have a handsome, healthy baby. We haven't seen the pediatrician yet but he seems to not have any major problems. He is eating well and sleeping plenty.

We are blessed because we have a fantastic immediate family that dropped everything to come support us. They all arrived last Thursday and my family and Sharis' sister and brother in law left on Sunday. Sharis' father left on Monday and her Mom has generously said she would stick around to help Sharis out a bit. And her brother is still here as well. So we feel very fortunate to have so much support.

We are blessed because we have wonderful friends and family who have voiced their congratulations a surprising number of times. We are so happy to have heard from everyone that wrote in (both in the comments here and through email). We would love to continue to hear from people so don't stop. We would also like to thank those that stopped by the hospital and the house.

We are very blessed.

Day 1 Pics (Dan's Pics)

Day 1 Pics (Grandpa Gary's Pics)

Day 1 Pics (Grandpa Doug's Pics)

I was thinking of getting a bunch of pictures up on Flickr but I don't want to chew up all the hospital's bandwidth. So I will just give you some teasers here and take care of Flickr later. These pictures were all taken by my Dad.

Delivery Room Pics

Ryan's First Picture.


First Family Picture.


Our Midwife Amy.


Our Doula Tara.


Ryan during the Apgar Test. He got a 9.

It's a Boy

Ryan Sherman Cooley was born at 9:30am on July 19. He was 6 lbs. 12 oz and was 19.5 inches long. He has a ton of black hair and recent sightings claim he looks like Dad. Both Mom and baby are very healthy. Sharis didn't have an epidural or any pain meds. It was really awesome how she handled it! It was difficult but so worth it. We will have more labor stories later.

Sorry for the lack of posts but I really didn't feel like putting posts up after getting almost no sleep last night. Oh well.

He is just adorable. I can't stop watching him and studying his face. I can't believe we are parents.

So Much for Sleep

We were headed to bed until we started talking to our doula and the doctor. They suggested we try to delay labor a little bit until the morning so we can get Sharis a good night sleep (even though that hasn't happened in a month or two). I drew her a bath and poured her a glass of wine (at the doctor's suggestion) so hopefully we can get her a little sleep before the hard work begins. So NOW we are headed to bed.

Violent Thunder Beautiful Lightning

There is some violent thunder and some beautiful lightning outside our windows tonight in Chi-town. Is it sign of things to come for the Cooley family tonight?

We are about to crawl into bed to try and catch some zzzzz's. Sharis is handling the pressure and warmth beautifully. They have come about every 6 to 8 minutes now for the last hour and a half but they are still pretty inconsistent. She just took a shower so that should calm things down for a little while at least.

Our poor doula Rita has been up since 6am yesterday morning with another birth of hers. She just finished up at about 5pm tonight. Hopefully she can get a little rest so she can take care of us as well.

Violent Thunder ... Beautiful Lightning.

Heat and pressure

Sharis has been having contractions all day - they actually started
yesterday and have continued off and on since then. We originally
thought they were braxton-hicks but they kept coming. They are not
uniform in frequency and aren't very strong. She went to the doctor
this morning and they said she is about 1 cm dilated. So this could
be the beginning of something or it could be a false alarm. Either
way we are ready. If anyone is thinking of calling her to get her
status we appreciate your well wishes and prayers, but we would rather you not call her
directly (she is resting up). If you really need to talk to us call me. Otherwise watch
the blog for updates.

I am pretty excited about the developments but the excitement is
tempered. We have a lot of work to do for this delivery. I will be
able to open the flood gates after I have caught our new baby.

Sent from my iPhone

We are in labor

Nah, we are not in labor but I wanted to make sure emailing to the
blog did in fact work.

Sent from my iPhone

The Baby is Coming

Not right now ... but she is coming any time from now until they make us induce if we hit 42 weeks. I just wanted to let everyone know that it is possible I will be leaving updates about Sharis' labor on the blog. This blog allows me to email posts into the site. My number one priority is to make sure she is getting everything that she needs and has as much support as possible. But during the many, many hours of labor, if I have a chance to send a quick email from my phone, I might try and do it. So if you care about how her labor is going, you can check in here. Stay tuned.

Thriller

Here is one of the many pictures from the wedding we attended at Notre Dame for our friends Mike and Christin Fairchild. There are more to come but I thought I would put up a teaser of Courtney and Augy dancing to Michael Jackson.

Baby Update

Sharis had an ultrasound last week which was ordered by our doctors because the baby (or Sharis) was measuring small. She was measuring only 34.5 centimeters when she should have been measuring about 37. I didn't think 2.5 centimeters was a big deal but the doctors did. They ordered the ultrasound so they could get a more accurate measurement of the baby to see if she was ok.

Well, the tests came out just fine. The doctors are content with how big the baby is (~6lb 7oz) and there is plenty of amniotic fluid (AFI: 13) to help protect her in her last few weeks in there. We took home a picture or 2 but they aren't nearly as good as the first ones so we aren't going to bother putting them up - you will see pictures soon enough.

On the negative side, Sharis tested positive for GBS (Group B Strep). It's a bit odd that they even test for this at 36 weeks because it can be gone by the time you deliver - and if you test negative, it could be present at labor - but they do it anyway. About 25% of pregnant women test positive for it. The doctors worry about the baby catching it. If they do it can be quite harmful - if not fatal.

One other downside is that we have to be at the hospital at LEAST 4 hours before we (when I say we, I mean Sharis) deliver. I'm sure we will be there even earlier than that but we were planning on laboring at home for quite a while. She has to get an IV - which she wasn't necessarily going to get if she didn't need it - with antibiotics for those 4 hours before delivery. It's a little crimp in our plans but we are going to roll with it because that is what we need to do for all the other things that pop up for this delivery.

Wednesday is week 39.

The end is near

Only 1.5 weeks to go until the "guess date" for when this babe will meet the world. I have been feeling overwhelmed with emotion-excitement, fear, anxiety, elation, relief, frustration, joy, sadness...you name it! Hormones are a crazy thing.

I can't believe that this is almost over-all the movement and kicks that make me feel constantly connected and in-tune with our little one will soon be gone. Then again, I CAN believe that it's ending-9 months is a very long time!!! I am ready to get back to my old self (parts of it anyway).

Bireley Get Together

Burke Bireley Lloyd Doug Jason Megan Sharis Sarah Heintz Summer Megan Emmie Jule Abby Erin at Heintz's House for Birely Party
Originally uploaded by flowmug

Our friends Mike and Megan Bireley were in town last weekend to finish up the sale of their house - they now live in MN. Some of their friends had a bunch of people over to toss some bean bags and grill out. We had a good time and Sharis and I feel fortunate to have been invited into that circle of friends. Feel free to click on the picture to see the whole set on Flickr (I apologize to anyone whose name I misspelled).

Schmutte Wedding Pictures

I have finally finished posting the pictures of Brian and Nicki's wedding to Flickr. It was a fantastic event starting with the Rehearsal Dinner on Friday night all the way to the last song late Saturday night.

On Sunday, the Long family and some of Sharis' aunts and uncles headed to River Downs horse track for a gorgeous day in the sun watching the ponies. We also visited Coney Island amusement park which is right next door. Sharis' cousin's girlfriend is in a show there so we saw her perform. To finish the night we had dinner on the roof of a restaurant and watched fireworks over the city.

Because we stayed through the 4th of July, the boys were able to squeeze in 3 rounds of golf. And on Tuesday night Sharis' other cousin Cara had us over for dinner. That was fun because her husband loves to shoot off fireworks and their kids love to watch them. Make sure to check out those shots of Gabe covering his ears as the firecrackers go off and Paula laughing with him.

If you want to see some more pics of the wedding, make sure to check out Marla's shots on Flickr. They aren't organized in a set but if you scroll past the pictures of her husband lighting off fireworks, you will see the wedding pictures near the bottom.

Paula also has a few pictures from the wedding as well.

More Freedom Posts

One of my buddies Drew put up a pretty good post about the 4th of July. There are some pretty interesting facts about the USA in there. I thought it was appropriate so I thought I would give you the link. Those of you from "The Land of 10,000 Lakes" should definitely check it out because, according to Drew's post, Maryland doesn't have any natural lakes within it's borders.

If you ever want any other insights from Drew, he has a blog that I have linked at the right. Enjoy ....

July is Here

We have finally reached the month of July. I never thought we'd get here - even though the time has flown by so fast. We are down to 3 weeks. I believe that Sharis said that if the baby is born now, it is officially not premature (I could be wrong on that). She has had feelings lately that the baby is going to be late. I guess we will have to wait and see if those motherly intuitions are correct or not.

We would like to wish everyone and their families a happy 4th of July. Even though there probably aren't too many servicemen or servicewomen reading this blog, we would like to thank them for the fantastic job they do upholding our freedom.

We just returned from a jaunt down to Cincinnati for Sharis' cousin Brian's wedding to Nicki. It was a gorgeous wedding. We stayed a couple of days to hang out with the family and enjoy the good weather. Kyle, Gary and I played a little golf with some of Sharis' cousins and uncles. We also made it to the horse races one day as well was Coney Island which is an amusement park.

We took 415 pictures which I will be getting up soon. I need to name them and clean them and choose the best ones to put up. Here is a quick one of Sharis to whet your appetite. We both think she has gotten bigger this week which is good since the doctor is looking for her to grow. We will see the status of that tomorrow as we have a doctor's appointment. As always, we will keep you updated.