2008 Summer Olympics

My buddy Jeff is training to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games. Here is a short video from NBC:

http://video.nbcsandiego.com/player/?id=200546

He also has a site you can visit in our links on the right ("Jeff Smoke").

Cuddle with Grandma

IMG_7048
Originally uploaded by flowmug

Solid Foods

On Thursday, we fed Ryan his first solid foods. We have been picking up signs that it might be time for him to get some solid food - he always wants whatever we are putting in our mouths, he is a bit more ornery and doesn't sleep as well making us think he is not getting enough to eat. So Sharis talked to the pediatrician who suggested we feed him 1 T of green foods 3 times a day. Sharis obtained some organic green beans, chopped them up real good in the food processor and then poured them into an ice cube tray in 1 T increments. Now all we have to do is grab a cube out of the freezer and heat them up for him.

He wasn't a big fan of the taste / texture of the food at first. He made some really nasty faces:




But he didn't cry once and still wanted more through the whole ordeal:


I fed him his first serving today after his first nap while Sharis was at the gym and he still made the occasional "icky" face but gobbled up the whole tablespoon (not at once! come on now). Of course as soon as I set him on his blanket to play, he spit most of it back up.

Grandma P Visits

Along with his Half Birthday last weekend, Grandma P also came to visit.


There are lots more photos with Grandma P in the set - including some with "Cranky Pants."

Half Birthday Party

Sharis made Ryan a cake for his party. We had a couple of friends over to ... well, let's just say people don't really come over these days to see Sharis and I.



Kelly and Ryan:


Augy and Ryan (Kelly and Augy gave Ryan this jumpsuit - so cute):


JB (Leslie's fiance) and Ryan - Ryan liked the feel of his head (Sorry Leslie, all the pictures I took with you and Ryan didn't turn out):


Katie and Ryan:

6 Month Pictures

Last weekend was Ryan's 6 Month "Birthday." I haven't really been keeping up on taking his picture with the ND helmet as much as I would like - but we took some more pictures of him in it on his 6 Month "Birthday."


He is definitely filling out the helmet more than he was before.
1 Month:


6 Months:


1 Month:


6 Months:


And his hands are getting bigger too.
1 Month:


6 Months:


Here is a shot with him with Raggedy Ann and Andy. At 2 Weeks, he is barely bigger than the dolls.
2 Weeks:


6 Months:

Model Material?

Sharis' cousin Nicole (of 'On Leils' Level' fame) makes clothes and other goods and was able to get some of her things into a shop in San Francisco. She asked Sharis to take some pictures of Ryan in a hat that Nicole had given to him. So Sharis took some pictures that are in the Week 25 set. Unfortunately there wasn't enough light so she had to use a flash. So we took some more pics a week later with a little bit better light.

Week 25 Pics


Week 26 Pics

More Baby Laughter

Going along with Sharis' post below, I suggest you check out more baby laughter at the site of our friend Missy's (of 'Schneller Teller' fame) sister's site - 'The Tog Spot.' Make sure to click through the link she has there of the commercial of the kid who can't stop laughing as his Dad rips paper. Hillarious!

The Best Sound in the World

We've been enjoying Ryan's laughter so much that I always forget to try to capture it on video. He is the best. How did we ever get along without him in our lives?

Whoseyourdaddy...

Matt Lauer?
I discovered this while the Today show was on the other day. Ryan and I were playing and whenever Matt was on TV by himself Ryan would stop, look up, and give him a big grin...just like he does to Dan when he comes home from work each day. Now Ryan can see his "daddy" all the time!

You may think Ryan is a little off, but in my opinion Matt Lauer resembles Dan more than...hmm, let's see. I don't know. Say...Allen Iverson?
I know, I know...it's the eyes.

Baby Break Dancing

Ryan displays the mad skilz he plans to use on the streets.

Ryan in 2007

I have been wanting to do this for awhile now. I can't take credit for it, Jason did it on Nila's blog first. But I thought it was really cool and just had to create a few short videos for us. Hope you enjoy as much as we have enjoyed our little man for the past 6 months!

Merry "Late" Christmas

Found a place for all those great "photo shoot" photos!

Ambidextrous

Ryan has been sucking his right thumb for several weeks now, but just recently I have caught him sucking his left one. I have to admit that I've been pushing the left a bit b/c I want him to be able to use both hands (hence, both sides of his brain). Hopefully this will serve him well in sports in the future too!!

Ryan "Army Crawling"

Sort of...
Not sure if this truly counts, but we were pretty impressed. Oh, and amused as you can tell from the whispered laughs in the background.

By now he has advanced even further and able to get to all fours and rock a bit, only for a bit though. By the time we get a video of that on here, he'll probably be crawling.

In case you were wondering...he is definitely in the oral stage right now.

Ryan Sits By Himself

Ryan is seriously strong and I'm amazed at how much he is able to do at this point. He showed signs of this freakish strength when he was only 5 days old doing tummy time and it has only continued. This past weekend was really fun for Dan and I because we got to watch him progress through a lot in terms of figuring out how to move (stay tuned for that video next). The time that he is able to sit all by himself also continues to increase and we finally got around to capturing it. Pay no attention to the fall at the end. As you can see shortly after that...he is just fine. Tough kid.

Ryan's Development

I thought I would give some updates on some of the things Ryan has been doing lately. We have a few videos of a couple of these things but need to find some time to cut them up and get them on the blog.

• He is very interested in the way things feel and the sound it makes when he touches them. He will continually rub his nails across a surface if it makes noise. For example, when I was packing, I propped him up on our suitcase and he would rub his nails across the nylon like cover. He does this to the couch, the rocking chair, our shirts, etc.
  
• He is still very interested in his hands. He is continually learning how his fingers work and what happens when he pushes against things. It is almost like he is learning the very primitive form of the physics of things. Maybe I am getting a little ahead of myself thinking this but that is what it seems like. He can't pinch yet though.
• He is very interested in anything we do near our mouths. He watches intently as we eat, drink and talk. I think he is trying to figure out to make his mouth move to talk like us.
• He can sit up all by himself.
• He can move himself toward an object. I am hesitant to call it crawling but he is getting there. It is a very crude form of army crawling. But if we put a ball across the blanket from him, he will move toward it so he can put it in his mouth. We have video of this so you can see it later.
• He puts everything in his mouth. This is expected but I thought I would list it anyway.
• He is still sleeping VERY well. We are quite disappointed if he doesn't sleep for 12 hours at night.
• He goes down for bed VERY well. He seems to know when it is time for bed. We lay him in bed, he sucks his thumb and snuggles up to his stuffed elephant. It's pretty cute to watch. After we leave the room, he might do a little talking, but we rarely have to go back in the room to quiet him down after 15 minutes.

For those of you with kids, this list probably isn't a big deal but to watch your first child develop is amazing. There is so much for them to learn that we take for granted and it is fun to watch.

Annie and Doug's Wedding

The wedding in Boston on New Year's Eve was a blast. We were able to see some dear old friends as well as hang out with my family. Ryan did very well even though we flew him all over the country for the holidays - from Chicago to Cleveland to Pittsburgh to Boston.

Any of the pictures below will take you to the Annie and Doug Wedding photo set. My Dad also has some FANTASTIC pictures over on his Flickr page. He worked really hard all weekend to go around and document this wedding. It was almost like the families were paying him. He has 2 sets:

** Update - My Dad combined the sets into 1 set so Set 1 no longer works - only Set 2.

Set 1

Set 2

We did a little shopping on Newbury Street a couple of days before the wedding.

Ryan and the Bride.


Ryan was a big hit with the girls.

Ryan was still all smiles even though this is past his bedtime.

Ryan's First Christmas

Both sides of our family were very generous for Ryan's first Christmas. Some gifts of note:

Marla and Ben gave Ryan a stuffed tool set - a very appropriate gift from Ben.


Sharis found a VERY cool pop up Star Wars book to give to Ryan from Santa. This was a gift I would have like to get for Christmas. I am going to enjoy reading to Ryan all about the Republic and Darth Vadar.

My Buddy

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Originally uploaded by flowmug

Mom, can we unwrap this burrito and have a little fun yet?

Getting to Know Drew

Ben studies his new son's face.


It's hard to tell, but I think Drew's hands at 3 days old are bigger than Ryan's at 5 months old. Drew's hand is the one on the bottom of the picture.


"Let me see that. Your hands aren't bigger than mine. Nice try buddy."

Ryan's New Buddy

IMG_6648
Originally uploaded by flowmug

Ryan is quite intrigued by his new cousin.

I don't know if people know how the sets work in Flickr, but when you click on this photo, you will be taken to that photo's page. On the right hand side are all the sets this photo belongs to. If you click on 'flowmug's photostream,' you will be taken to every picture I have uploaded to Flickr. If you click on the title of one of the sets, you can see an overview of all the photos in the set. You can also click on one of the pictures to go forward or backward through the set picture by picture. So, if you click on this picture you can see a few remaining pictures that I put in the 'Ryan Week 23' set.

Safe Toys

Being a neurotically concerned parent, I have been really trying to eliminate the toys that Ryan gets from China. Thought I'd share the info with all of you so that those of you who are also new parents going through the oral stage with your kids and concerned about them ingesting lead can find safe toys too. Sorry it's a little late for the holidays, but who are we kidding...family gift giving for these little ones is not limited to the holidays!!

Melissa and Doug toys are safe

Also, you can use this "wizard" to search for other toys.
Same website, but offers brands other than Melissa and Doug that are safe.

You also may want to check out this blog to keep up to date on the situation.
They say that these brands are safe: Playmobil, Kathe Kruse, Haba, Plan Toys, and Heros.
And also that these are usually good as well: Briarpatch Games, Buffalo Games, and Photomosaic puzzles, Crayola or Legos at any Target or Walmart.

Check up

Ryan's 5 month check up with his pediatrician was today (at 5.5 months) and he weighed in at 15 lb 4 oz (22%). I had many people ask me over the holidays, so I thought I'd let y'all know.

In Chicago

We made it to Chicago but we are sitting on the runway and have been
for a half an hour. Apparently gates are backed up because of the snow
here - planes are waiting to de-ice. Ryan messed his pants and it
started to leak and Sharis caught it just in time. We don't have
another outfit for him - we forgot to pack one in our carryons. So far
Ryan is being pretty good but I don't know how much longer we can keep
him busy.

Waiting Game

We are sitting in the Providence airport waiting for our flight to
leave. We are currently an hour and a half late. Ryan is doing very
well so far. He loves the airport and all there is to see.