Monday, October 31, 2005

Happy Halloween!




Even though Ryan's only 10 days old, we couldn't let him miss one of our favorite holidays. Technically, Ryan's a lobster for Halloween. But in these parts, he very well could be mistaken for a large crawfish. We have to make sure we look out for him, or he could disappear down some Cajun's gullet. Aieee!!

Batman, Belle and Lobster Boy

Logan is Batman!


Ryan meets his Great-Grand Be Be

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Moogie's Sweater


and in the sweater and blanket you made for him.

Tonight's Game



Here's Ryan sporting his purple and gold...

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Ready for bed


Ryan likes to play a little "air trumpet" before he puts it down for the night. Here he is doing his best Wynton Marsalis impersonation ... bwam bwah bwammm bwa bwa






Check out this last one for the Sammy Reynolds profile shot.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Doctor's Appointment




Ryan knocked the nurses dead at his 48 hour doctor's check-up. Everything looked good, and he got his first Hepatitis injection which wasn't a favorite. Anyhow, here are some shots of him getting cleaned up.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Motherhood

People have always told me that having a child shows you the meaning of the word love. I was always skeptical, sure that I'd explored the full range of this emotion that's named by such a short word. Boy, was I wrong. I now know that even though I have gone out of my way to love much and deeply, I have a lot to learn. Ryan is my teacher.

Thank you to everyone who has posted kind words, visited and helped out with their time, meals and prayers. Ryan has a whole world of people who love him, already. What a gift. I know he will bless the world.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Ryan's first Monday

Thanks to everyone for their kind words.

Ryan is doing great, he's eating well, sleeping well, dirtying diapers and getting along great with his fuzzy brother and sister. Snoop Dogg influenced Ryan's current diaper changing song that goes

Rat ta tat tat tat ta tat like that...
and i never hesitate to put a baby on his back...


Amy is more mobile today, and feeling much better, but she still needs to take it easy!

Pretty much, today was a perfect day. Ryan and I chilled on the couch and watched Master and Commander. Later, Amy had a doctor's appointment, so we packed up the family and hit his first Starbucks after. Finally, Riley and I went for a little run, the recent change in temperature has really helped her regain her running form. There's something great about running with your dog, then giving her a bath after.

Tomorrow is our 48 hour check-up with the doctor, so she'll let us know how Ryan is doing. He's still a very easy-going and sweet baby, just a dream to be around.



Friday, October 21, 2005

RYAN IS HERE!



So after 36 hours of labor, Ryan made his arrival into the world on October 21st at 1:32 AM. His grandmother's birthday! He weighed in at 7lbs 8oz. Both Amy and Ryan are doing great. I just came home to check on the pets, so more photos will follow, i just wanted to let everybody know. He's one cool baby.
:)

Photos will follow, Blogger seems to be having trouble publishing my photos.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Things to do in Baton Rouge when you're post-EDD

Being an enormously responsible freelance writer, I made sure I wrapped up all of my work by early October just in case Ryan came early. Well, that didn't happen, which means I've had about 3 weeks of time on my hands that aren't being taken up by feeding the baby, diapering the baby, putting the baby to sleep, feeding the baby, diapering the baby...you get the picture.

With these extra days, I've found some diversions, some of which I haven't had the chance to partake in for quite some time. I thought I'd share my list of great things to do in Baton Rouge if you've got the time, in no particular order:

1. Walk around the LSU Lakes
2. Hang out at Perks Coffee and read...Yesterday, I finished "Wicked," by Gregory Maguire, over a latte (the first caffeine I've had in 9 months). A very odd read, lots of fun if you're a fan of the Wizard of Oz.
3. Sculpt. Crayola has a modeling clay that doesn't make a mess and dries in 24 hours.
4. Blog
5. Write poetry. I actually went to grad school so I could do this, but do ever get time to do it? Hardly. So getting a chance to is a gift.
6. See movies. Last night, we caught "Proof." A very compelling performance by Gwyneth Paltrow.
7. Swim. I've taken to swimming the past 9 months and love it. Being the competitive type that I am (read: incapable of working out just for the fun of it), I focused my swim time by attempting to master the Total Immersion swim technique. I think my swimming improved, so maybe a triathlon is in my future?
8. Read. I just started "Truth and Beauty" by Ann Patchett. So far, so good. Thanks for the recommendation, Mom!
9. Work. Yes, I finally decided I'd better start working on stuff that's due in January so that I can have a bit more time on that end...I KNOW Ryan will be here by then!! Right?
10. Cook. Last night, I made vegetarian Shepards Pie from this cookbook. Fantastic!

Sunday, October 16, 2005

My Cousin's Wedding

For those of you who have never been to our house before, here's a shot of Amy in front of it. I know it's not much to look at, but hey it's not bad for an IT Professional doing an honest day's work. Anyhow, here are a few shots from my cousin Brian's wedding.

Of course, I only got one photo of Brian or Danya and it's a great shot of the back of Brian's head.


Here's a good one of Mom, Dad and Uncle Gaynor.

I wore my glow-in-the-dark shirt by mistake, DARNIT!

Steph and Dave jamming to Word Up by Cameo. Brian's wedding definitely featured some great music and some of the highest dancefloor participation i've seen in a long time. Especially given the fact that this was a daytime wedding, that's got to tell you something about how cool the people were, who were there. Amy and i were forced from our seats to partake in Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby. Come on! who can stay seated for that one!

One last photo of Jason, Chad, Kate and 55% of Gaynor's head.



And another of Aunt Sue, Aunt Elsie and Mom.

In baby related news, i've yanked the countdown code from the homepage, because WHO KNOWS WHEN RYAN WILL ARRIVE! Check back for updates...

Thursday, October 13, 2005

EDD blues

We have two due dates because one goes according to the calendar, and the other, which is supposed to be more accurate, goes according to the first ultrasound. So the first ultrasound said Ryan would be here on on the 13th, while the calendar said the 16th. Then you toss in that most first babies are late, and here we are. Of course Ryan isn't on time...David and I are rarely on time to anything!

Ryan isn't here yet!

Due to a slight website maintenance error, the countdown app on this page announced that Ryan was here today. Ryan isn't here yet, Amy visited the doctor this morning, and everything is progressing well, but no clear arrival date is in sight. So I changed the countdown to now shoot for Sunday. We'll see if that's more accurate, the 16th was a second due date that we had received. :)

Monday, October 10, 2005

Week 39



Here's Amy looking great and all set to go to the Dragon Boat races. Ryan is just around the corner! We ran into Mom down at the Beach, the races were a hit and PBRC managed to finish 3rd, just getting beaten by Varsity Sports. Not bad.

Ryan's Room

Here are some photos from Ryan's room, Steph came over this weekend and did her magic. It's really taking shape! We're just waiting on Ryan now.


Thursday, October 06, 2005

Growing, growing, groan






Okay, since many of our friends and family from across the globe (or at least close to Globe, Mexico) have inquired, here's a little montage of the transformation.


Here's me with Ryan at 17 weeks (top), then 26 weeks....Stay tuned for the 43" 38 week photo in a future post (while we're waiting for Ryan, we're looking for ways to pass the time...)

Patience, young grasshopper

Well, I've always said that Ryan will teach us far more than we'll teach him. This week's lesson: Patience. We just got back from our 38 week appointment, and it appears that Ryan's not going to be showing up anytime really soon. Dr. Hedges says, "Oh, don't worry. I've only had one mom this year that went past 42 weeks." 42 WEEKS!! The Braxton Hicks contractions I've been having aren't doing a whole lot to get the process going. He's in no hurry, but he's got to come out and meet everyone sometime. The good news is that Ryan's heartbeat was strong and speedy this morning, probably on account of the yummy french toast breakfast we had before the doctor's appointment. So he's doing fine, loving life in the Mommy hammock, putting on weight, and giving us a chance to practice all of our labor and birthing relaxation techniques.

This means that our whirlwind "Oh Lord, we're having a baby, we'd better go out to eat/go to the movies/get a haircut/clean out that closet/go work out/watch a DVD from start to finish/sleep in" marathon will continue for a few more days, at least, or more. I fully expect my water to break somewhere very embarassing. It definitely beats sitting around the house, though I have developed a new style of cooking I like to call "Hormonal Gourmet." It's what happens when someone who previously spent 10-15 hours a week on the bike is benched (beached?) while her wonderful hubbie is out getting in breakaways and challenging sprints and will be hungry when he gets home. I couldn't make soup when this whole journey started out (well, I made very putrid soup once, but that's a story for over drinks). Now, I've got a big tupperware bin of homemade blackbean soup in the freezer that's to die for. And I can also make cornbread from scratch to go with it. Not bad, considering for the first 4 months of this pregnancy, I was sure I'd been poisoned and didn't want anything to do with food.