Rylan in January and February

Rylan had his 18 month well check up in January and many many non-well appointments during the winter months. He was 36 1/2 inches and 28 lbs at his check-up. He was healthy other than his constant double ear infections. We were at the doctor every other Monday for six weeks and I missed at least one day of work each week beginning before Christmas break. After I finally talked the doctor into referring us to a specialist and Rylan actually getting tubes in his ears, he had had 10 ear infections and 5 different antibiotics. He had infections when he had his tubes put in on February 11th.


This is Rylan is his little gown before his tubes were put in. Much to our surprise he went with the nurses without crying. It was so quick. Rylan didn't really cry when until we got back to recovery and were getting ready to go. He fussed a little bit in the car until he saw all of the buses on the street and forgot why he was sad.
Since his tubes he has only missed 1 day of daycare for being sick. This was the best thing for him! He is even used to putting in his earplugs for baths and swimming lessons. He probably won't even remember how bad his ears hurt for all of those months.

Some milestones:
In December Rylan-
-loved to listen to books
-was really into his push/ride train
-loved his musical toys
-was just getting into watching shows other than his Baby Mozart DVD
-was singing the ABCs
-was recognizing some of the upper case letters (the R and K on the Christmas ornaments)
-was counting to 10 and recognizing the numbers
-loved to say "1,2,3 jump!" while just bending his knees and straightening himself out

In January Rylan-
-was really getting into cars and blocks (Christmas helped this)
-was really into bath time (and his new toys he got from Nana and Papa)
-still loved reading books
-had memorized Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin and helped us read it
-was LOVING Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
-was recognizing the upper case letters and counting objects
-was using tons of words
-was introduced to timeout


In February Rylan-
-started to get more into nursery rhymes and songs
-was still loving to read
-was talking more and more
-couldn't decide if he liked Mickey Mouse or Elmo more
-started his basketball career on a $5 garage sale Little Tykes rim in our living room
-began jumping on the couch and yelling "sit down"
-even told two waitresses at Applebee's to "sit down" while they were pulling the blinds down

Rylan continues to be very affectionate with almost everyone. He has gone through a couple of hitting/kicking/biting phases that thankfully don't last forever. He is hilarious to us, and the smartest kid around. We love it!

Being pregnant in January and February

At the time, Ryan and I hadn't announced that we were expecting, except to Em and Gabo. I fell down the stairs mid-January and had some worries a few days later so I called the doctor and they scheduled an ultrasound for that day. We were very nervous and very thankful to get an appointment so quickly. The ultrasound revealed a strong heartbeat (162 bpm) right away. What a relief! It also showed a small clot that had formed right next to the baby. We were told by the doctor that there was a good chance it would absolve back into the body but that I was to "take it easy" for the next 3 weeks and they would check again. I asked what to do about my 30 lb babe at home, and he said to limit the lifting as much as possible. So I tried, prayed a lot, read only one time about clots and pregnancy (that was plenty), and tried to take it easy. I had help in that department, Ryan was/is awesome. On February 10th, we had another appointment scheduled for an ultrasound and a regular appointment later that afternoon. I was 11 weeks at the time. The ultrasound revealed that the clot was gone and still a good strong heartbeat (164 bpm). We left the office and headed back later for the regular appointment. This was the appointment when the doctor uses the very old looking doppler machine to find the heartbeat. The doctor actually never found the heartbeat with that machine. I told him I was okay with that because I had just heard/seen it a couple of hours earlier. I laughed at myself because that would have made me crazy in any other situation. Below are the pictures of the ultrasounds from the two appointments.

This is baby at 7 weeks 6 days. The dark circle is where the baby and clot are located. The baby is on the bottom.

This is baby at 11 weeks. The clot is gone, and look home much growth has happened! Amazing!

Back to January

I have been meaning to post for months now. (Of course, this is the story of my life.) I wanted to go back and include some pictures and fun times we have had during 2011 even though it is already May. I would really like for this blog to help us highlight family fun as well as milestones. So I'll back up...

January
Rylan played in the snow for the first (and really only time) January 6th. We bundled up and headed out. It took as long to bundle as we actually spent outside. He loved standing in it, but was very unsure when he would fall down mainly because he needed help getting up. We had a great time! Here are some pictures...


2 days later Rylan woke up at his usual very early hour and we spent a normal Saturday morning watching Mickey Mouse on the couch for the first little while we were awake. Well, he was awake, we were cuddling on the couch and I wasn't awake at all. :) So when we moved from the couch, I decided to peek outside and see if we got anymore snow because that's what they were predicting. You may know what the snow predictions are like, sometimes correct, sometimes not. This is what I saw...

I was honestly speechless, and as dumbfounded as I was, Rylan had no idea what I was so worked up about. I really wanted to wake Ryan up, but knew this was not a good enough reason. Needless to say our late family Christmas for the Hendrick's side was canceled. We were snowed in. It continued to snow all day. Below are more pictures from our big snow...


This is Ryan's truck. He happened to parked in the street because he was going to clear the driveway the night before. Good thing he didn't, it would've have been time wasted!

Ryan clearing the driveway. This snow blower is one of the best investments we have ever made.

This is Rylan's playset. It has a slide that you can't see. It continued to snow all day and we got about 6 more inches.