Baby Back to Normal

Ryan is getting back to his old self. He is sleeping much longer during his daytime naps and only wakes up once in the middle of the night again. He has a much bigger appetite and seems to be in a good mood a lot more (although he was never really that cranky when he was sick). His cough has gone down considerably.

This all adds up to us getting more sleep and a much happier baby (and parents). Man I love sleep.

Birthday Happenings

Happy Halloween everyone. What a great time of year - fall, football, World Series, trick or treating and my Birthday! Sharis and Ryan helped me celebrate a fantastic birthday. They made me pea soup and a cherry cake (which I asked for) as well as a homemade Birthday card. We couldn't really go out on the town because we were nursing Ryan back to good health, but I just wanted to be with my family anyway. It was quite nice.

Also, my Mom sent gifts so that they were to arrive on my Birthday. And I received many cards from family members on the actual day - I was quite impressed. So thank you.

Happy 30th Dan

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. You are my best friend and I have been falling in love with you more each day of these past 3 months watching you as an amazing father. I am so blessed and looking forward to standing beside you for the next 30 years of your life.

Ryan's Week 14 Set

IMG_5594.JPG
Originally uploaded by flowmug

Not a ton of pictures in this set but he still looks pretty cute. Sharis sure does know how to pull an outfit together.

Speaking of outfits, I was noticing some things about Sharis and how she gets ready lately. First of all, she only tries on 1 outfit before deciding what to wear. Second, when we didn't have children, it would take her AT LEAST 3 times longer than me to get ready. Now with Ryan, she is able to get herself AND Ryan ready before I am ready. Amazing!

Bumbo Recall

Earlier this week Lindsay (the mother of Natalie), Jeff and Gia, Sharis's friend Traci, and also my Aunt Trish alerted us to the Bumbo recall. It warns of placing a baby in the Bumbo while sitting on the counter for fear of the baby falling off and having a head injury. The day before we received the alert, we had had Ryan on the counter in his Bumbo as you can see in this picture. And we have had him on the counter in the Bumbo in this post as well. I guess we won't be putting him on the counter in it much any more. But I don't think we will be giving back our Bumbo. We love it.

IMG_5607.JPG
Originally uploaded by flowmug

Sniffles

Little Man has had a runny nose for a couple of days and started coughing last night. We called the doctor this morning and they erred on the side of caution and asked us to come in so they could listen to his chest. The doctor didn't find anything too bad and said he just has a cold. We did learn about colds in infants though. Apparently, infants don't have any extra room in their chests so if there is a major illness in there (such as pneumonia or bronchitis) they will breath very fast (to get more air in their chest that is now taken up by a sickness) and will use extra muscles in order to get that air in there. Ryan was doing neither of those so it is just a common cold.

Ryan has still been in a pretty good mood (despite his lack of sleep and cold) which is good. He is still smiling and interacting with us. Now if he would only sleep.

Sleep

Ryan continues to not sleep well during the day. We can't get him to sleep for over an hour for a nap and it is quite rare he even makes it that long. I don't know what causes him to wake up but it is very difficult to get him back to sleep. Needless to say we are quite frustrated. And Sharis takes the brunt of it during the day while I am at work.

His sleep patterns at night are not very consistent. Last night he slept for 9 hours. The night before that he was up every 2 hours. So I guess Ryan is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you are going to get.

More Vomit

You all heard some news about my airport adventures with Ryan yesterday, and the flight actually turned out to be fairly smooth...considering. He was awake and not eating for the takeoff and just starred wide-eyed all around. However, before we got on the plane he was not as calm. Here is the story:
So we're sitting waiting to board and they announce the delay. Mom's who have done this (or something similar) know that timing is everything for these things so I'm trying to make sure he's got a clean diaper, he's fed, happy, and a little drowsy before we take off-that way he can sleep the whole way. After extending his play time to accommodate the delay, I take him into the bathroom to change him-he's a little cranky, but holding it together. Unfortunately, his potentially largest fear in life up to this point is public toilet flushing. Scary, I know. AND with the "advances" in technology these days we all know that every bathroom is equipped with the conveniences of automatic toilet flushers so that for every person that walks into the bathroom you can count on about 3 toilet flushes. Needless to say, Ryan is wailing through his changing. I pick him up and try to calm him, but it wasn't working too well (the toilet terror continues-flushes echo in the background as I cradle and shush him). So I decide that nursing might help at this point. It does, for a bit. I get him calm for about 5 minutes of nursing only for an abrupt toilet to strike again and startle him so that he comes off looks at me and starts hysterically crying again. Again, I cradle him. This time with a full tummy. Not good. Ryan is so upset that he projectile vomits all over the front of himself and me. My reaction to direct him away doesn't help. Now it's all over my purse and the floor too! Perfect, now WE are those people who you don't want to sit by on the plane b/c they reek!! I did finally get him out of the bathroom and calmed down, but next time I think I'll just change him at the gate. If ever you see moms doing this...please don't judge them.

Oh, and what makes all of this more fun is that I was carting my purse full of mostly Ryan stuff, his diaper bag, the laptop and the car seat. Awesome!

Ryan's Friend Natalie

Ryan was supposed to go down to ND this weekend to meet a new little friend - Natalie - but was whisked away to Pittsburgh for Sharis' sister's baby shower instead.  She is the daughter of my buddy Ariel from college.  Natalie is about 2 months older than Ryan.  It's a good thing they didn't meet because Ryan would have been smitten.  It was good to compare notes with other first time parents with a child so close in age. 

Airport Woes

Poor Sharis.  She was supposed to leave Cleveland Airport at about 3:45 and get into Chicago at 5:15 pm.  They delayed her flight and weren't supposed to leave until 4:30 pm.  She just called (as soon as she called I knew it couldn't be good because she was supposed to be in the air already) and said they are sitting on the runway and won't be taking off until 5:45 pm.  The one can't-miss way to keep Little Man quiet is with food so hopefully (1) Sharis has enough and (2) Ryan doesn't get too full so he doesn't want any more.  

What a nightmare.  

[Update:] They are now supposed to take off at 6:10 pm.

Ryan Spits Up

Here is our first foray into posting videos to the site (of course this isn't anything new - many of the blogs we follow including "The Schneller Teller" and "TeamMet" have posted videos before).  We received a fantastic video camera from my parents last year for Christmas so we might as well post as many forms of media on this blog as possible.

As mentioned before, Ryan has developed a fascination for his toes and he likes to suck on them. This video shows him trying to eat his toes with no help from me but apparently we were doing it too soon after his meal because he spit up all over me. To say the least, we do a lot more laundry now that Ryan is around.

I have figured out a pretty good workflow to get the video from camera to YouTube. I used a very short video for my first one to save time. Anyone can view this video without having a login to YouTube but I would invite others to get a login to YouTube and start sharing videos as well. It's all the rage - everyone is doing it!

Gorgeous Fall Day

You gotta love this school. It is so great being back on campus.

ND vs. USC

This is Sean, Elizabeth and Kevin at halftime of the ND game. It
doesn't look too good for the outcome of this game.

Ryan Chewing on Toes

Ryan Chewing on Toes
Originally uploaded by flowmug

We have a very agile "Little Man" on our hands. He has taken a fascination with his toes lately which includes sucking on them. He can't quite get them into his mouth by himself yet so we give him a little help on our chest. He does lean forward on his own to dive for them though and he finally had success this past Monday! You would think he would use the appendages that are closer to his mouth but that is probably just me thinking like an adult.

If you click on the picture you will be taken the scant number of pictures we have in the Week 13 photo set.

Ryan Watching the Vikings Game

Ryan Watching Vikings Game
Originally uploaded by flowmug

Last Sunday we were treated to a fantastic game between the Vikes and the Bears. We threw Ryan in his Vikings jersey and then into his Bumbo and he was good for a couple of hours of watching Adrian Peterson run all over the Bears (he didn't really sit there for hours - but we can dream can't we?).

Unfortunately, Ryan fell asleep before the end of the game. So when Adrian Peterson ran back the kickoff to get the Vikes in field-goal position after the Bears had taken the lead, Ryan's Uncle Kyle and I let out a small scream - which of course woke up our little man. But he was able to see the end of the game that way.

We would like to thank my cousin Katie and her family for the Vikings jersey. I am so glad it finally fits him. For a while there I was worried he would be too small for it this season and too big for it next season.

The best part is he wore the jersey to church after the game to throw it in the faces of all the Bears fans around the city - don't you love the things we are teaching him?

Ryan iChatting with Grandpa G

Ryan iChatting with Grandpa G
Originally uploaded by flowmug

Even though Grandpa is 350 miles away, Ryan still finds a way to chat it up with him. Grandpa G loves this of course because Ryan doesn't talk back much so Grandpa can talk as much as he wants. What is funny to note, though, is that Ryan was able to find the mute button during this session and successfully get Gpa G off the screen!

If you click on this picture, you will be taken to the Week 12 photoset. Needless to say, it is a pretty weak set.

Augy's comment

"Is he wearing a dress?"

If Ryan's wearing a dress, then so is Deacon Dan. The ceremonial gown that Ryan donned on the day of his Baptism is my doing. My great grandmother made it and my mom, brother, sister, and I all wore it for our Baptism. Regular Dan would have preferred a "boy" outfit. Tradition won out.

Radio Silence

So I know it has been awhile since I've posted (besides the new haircut one I just did). Sorry for my absence but we've had quite a fussy baby on our hands. For the past 2 weeks Ryan has been sleeping for 2 hours at a time (at most) at night and won't go down for more than a 1/2 hour nap (which takes about 45 min to 1 hr of rocking and gentle handling to get accomplished). Needless to say, we've been exhausted. He was never this fussy and sleepless, even as a newborn. The past 3 nights he has slept for 6 hrs, 8hrs, and 7hrs respectively...so hopefully that means he has come out of this "phase". He is still not taking great naps though, so I'm wary.

First Haircut

Ryan got his first haircut this past weekend. My mom was in town and so on Saturday we decided we could take on the challenge of conquering the mullet. He got a few snips off of the back and over the ears. He's got quite the receding hairline going on (some of you may have noticed) so we weren't sure what to do with the top. Consequently, we just left it as is. He looks better, I think-more like a little boy. You can check out the new do when Dan gets around to posting pics. Sorry I can't include pics now!

Baptism

Ben Sharis Deacon Dan Ryan Dan Marla in Cleveland at Ryan's Baptism
Originally uploaded by flowmug

Ryan was baptized last weekend at a small ceremony for just our immediate families in Cleveland at the church we were married in. We asked Sharis' sister Marla and her husband Ben to be Ryan's Godparents. We are shown here with Deacon Dan who celebrated the baptism. I would like to thank Sharis' parents for hosting and my family for making the trek from MN. It was good to have the whole gang together again - and of course they couldn't get enough of Ryan.

Click on the picture to be taken to the entire Baptism set (which is also Week 11 set).

All Dressed Up

Ryan
Originally uploaded by flowmug

Clicking on this picture will take you to the Week 10 photo set.

Ryan's Clothesline

Ryan's Clothesline
Originally uploaded by flowmug

There aren't many pictures in the Week 9 set but Sharis took this shot of her make-shift clothesline on our small balcony. She heard from another Mom that sun helps take out poop stains.

Ryan's Development

Hello? Is there anyone out there still reading (besides Kerry and Marla)? I hope so but I wouldn't blame anyone if you stopped reading. We have not had a post in October at all? Why come check the blog when there are never any updates. Sorry about that.

Ryan has been growing both physically and personality wise. He seems to be getting chubbier - although a lot of our family (including Sharis) doesn't think he is that big. He is definitely getting taller. He fills out his crib a lot more now. He still can't move around on his own - although his buddy Jack seems to be developing his dance moves VERY quickly. His face is filling out and his hair seems to be falling out - guess he takes after his Dad. He is discovering how to move his appendages a lot more and has discovered his tongue as well. He doesn't have a very good ability to keep drool in his mouth which worries me that he might pick up the old Cooley nickname - Drooly Cooley.

As for his mental development, he focuses on objects for a longer period of time and seems to be more curious about all things. He seems to be able to see a lot further now. He realizes who Sharis and I are and always seems to have a smile for me when I come home from work. If he isn't cranky he loves to smile and laugh. He also tries to talk at times. It is only coos and grunts, but it seems like he is trying to communicate. It is fascinating to watch his development.

I am in the process of getting a bunch of pictures up so we will share those here shortly. Let us know if you are all still there.