Trip to Highlands, NC

We just got back from a long weekend in Highlands, NC. The entire family was there ... Pops, CC, Tab, myself, Ryland, Codi, Bailey and Spike. The weekend was full of relaxation, walking around downtown Highlands, and of course .... playing with Ryland and doing whatever he wanted to do.

Ryland had a really big weekend in Highlands! He is now in what I call "stage 2 crawling" which means he no longer casually goes where he wants :) He is fast and determined to get to wherever and whatever he wants.

Another big milestone from this weekend is that he can now go from laying down/crawling to sitting up without any help! When we walked into his room this morning we found him sitting up in his crib happy as can be.

Needless to say when we got home I immediately installed all of the outlet covers in our house and we will be installing the gate at the top of our stairs tonight!

Below are some pictures from our wonderful weekend.

Hanging out in the kitchen after breakfast ...



Strolling around downtown Highlands ...

I found the cutest hat at a store in downtown but did not buy it because I am afraid that it will be too small for him this winter. But that did not stop us from trying it on and taking pictures!

Pops and Ryland walking up to the house after our afternoon out and about ...

Sound asleep in daddy's arms ...

Meet and Greet at The Goddard School

Thursday night was the grand opening and meet & greet at The Goddard School. Tab, Ryland and I all went after work and met all of the teachers and toured the new school. I loved it and left having a really good feeling about it. The facility, the teacher/child ratio and the activity schedule for each class is just what I was looking for. Ryland was laughing and smiling the entire time that we were there.

His start date is not until November 1st but there is a good chance that it could be earlier if another child drops out or moves out of the class that he will be going into. Age wise he will be right in between the "infant" class and the "first steps" class. So depending on when he starts he could go straight into the "first steps" class which starts around age 9-12 months.

We are getting ready to go to Maddie's 1st Birthday Party this afternoon. And then leaving for the Highlands tonight for a few days. We cannot wait!

7 Months Old and Loving Life

I cannot believe that Ryland is already 7 months old. I feel like he is growing up so fast and he is definitely becoming his own little person with his own personality.

Below are a few things that he loves and is into right now ...

* He still loves his exersaucer! It is his favorite thing to play in every morning before he goes to school. And it is the first thing that he wants to do when he gets home from school in the afternoon.

* His JJ and MiMi brought him a jumper a few weeks ago and Ryland loves it. Right now we keep it in our bedroom or bathroom so that he can play with it while we are upstairs. It is so funny because he cannot stop jumping while he is in it, even if he is getting tired and wants out. He just keeps jumping and whining and laughing all at the same time.

* Codi cracks him up all the time :)

* He loves reaching for Bailey and grabbing a handful of fur. Surprisingly, Bailey is great with him. He just lets him pull on his fur and when he gets tired of it he just jumps down or walks away.

* Ryland is now drinking water out of a sippy cup. A lot of it still goes all over him but he definitely knows how to pick it up and put it in his mouth.

* He loves all remotes, cell phones and house phones (and pretty much anything else that he is not suppose to have). And he can grab it and have it in his mouth in a blink of an eye.

* He is a great eater and has loved everything that we have given him so far ... oatmeal, pears, apples, prunes, bananas, sweet potatoes, peas, avocado, peaches.

* We started giving him Gerber Puffs recently but he is not too sure about them yet.

* He can sit up, roll, scoot, crawl, lunge and pull up on his knees.

* And his smile can definitely make your heart melt :)

Sunday Brunch and Playdate with Aunt Kari, Aunt Stephanie and Jack

This morning Ryland and I went over to Stephanie's house for brunch and a playdate with Kari, Stephanie and Jack. Ryland had a blast playing with his friend Jack and all of his toys. Jack even surprised Ryland with a gift ... the coolest basketball play set. He loves it and the cutest zoo animal train (which comes complete with a zebra, giraffe, monkey and lion) that Jack is letting Ryland borrow for a little bit. He cannot say thank you enough (and neither can I)! I love how much fun we all have when we get together and cannot wait for the next time!

Sound Asleep ....

Ryland feel asleep in my lap .... I love these moments together with him ...

Crawling, Crawling, And Then He is Gone ....

Ryland has really been working hard at crawling over the last few weeks. He has been on his knees rocking back and forth really wanting to go. Over the last week he has really made progress and can now go. And when I say "go" I really mean it. There is no slowing down for him. His style of crawling is quite funny .... he will get on all 4s and go forward with his hands and feet a couple of times and then lunge forward. And then he is back on all 4s to do it all over again. He can really move across the floor and get to whatever he wants. I am not sure if I am looking forward to this stage. No more leaving him on the bed surrounded with pillows. No more leaving him in a spot on the floor knowing that he can't go far. I guess we really need to get serious about baby-proofing our house!

Ear Infection Update

Dr Loventhal recommended that we go see the ENT since Ryland has had ear infections for almost 4 straight months. His ENT appt was this past Monday and we have made the decision to move forward with getting tubes. The good news is that he passed his hearing test with flying colors and he does not have an infection in either ear right now. The surgery for the tubes is scheduled for Aug 5th. I hope we are making the right decision. Hopefully his ears will stay clear until the surgery and then remain that way after he has tubes! We just love that little boy with all our heart and want him to feel 100% (and get quality sleep since we know that he loves it)!

Back from the beach

We just got back last night from our annual beach trip. Ryland did great on the 8 hour drive home. We had a lot of fun and Ryland loved all of the attention that he got from the D'ville crew. And he definitely loved spending quality time with his Pops and CC.

He LOVED playing in the pool. This was his first time going in the pool and his favorite thing to do was to "pat" and splash the water. He could not get enough of it!

Peachtree Road Race - July 4th, 2010

Here are some pictures from the Peachtree Road Race on the 4th of July. We definitely did not prepare for the race this year but it was still fun. As you can tell these are the proofs from the photography company that takes pictures at the race :)

Right before we started ....



Right before the finish line ...



After the race in Piedmont Park ...

My book makes me sleepy ...

I found Ryland sound asleep in his pack-n-play the other night from reading his book ... the second picture was taken a few minutes later after he rolled to his side and moved the book off his face

June Pictures

I love prunes ...



Hanging with CC in Douglasville ...


In the middle of telling us all about his day ...

Tooth #2 Has Appeared

Ryland's second tooth came in last week. It is the bottom left one so now he has 2 teeth on the bottom. And he loves to rub both of them on his toys!

Another Ear Infection and Now Pink Eye ...

I had a feeling that Ryland had another ear infection so I took him to see Dr Loventhal on Tuesday June 22nd. He not only has another ear infection but also has a mild case of pink eye. So we are back on antiobotics and hopefully both will be gone soon. I can already tell a difference after 2 days on the medicine because he is sleeping better at night.

Father's Day 2010

We just got back from a great weekend at my parents new house in Highlands, NC. Tab, Ryland and I left on Friday night. It is so nice only having a 2 hour drive to get there. We spent the weekend helping my parents unpack, move furniture and had a nice relaxing lunch and walk through downtown Highlands on Saturday.

Tab had a great 1st Father's Day weekend. Ryland definitely loves his daddy!!

Below are some pictures of Tab and Ryland reading the book that Ryland gave him ... "My Daddy and Me"

6 Month Check Up

Ryland had his 6 month check up with Dr Loventhal today. I cannot believe that he is already 6 months and 2 days old!!

Weight = 16lbs (24th percentile)
Height = 25 3/4 in (25th percentile)
Head = 45 1/2 in (91st percentile - it must be that big, intelligent brain that is growing in there!!)

We got the good news that his ear infections are both gone. He still has a cough and some congestion so we are hoping that it does not lead to another round of ear infections.

He also had his first vision test and had good results - no lazy eye. Dr Loventhal said that everything looks great and gave us the green light to start feeding him a bigger selection of food and increase to 2 food meals per day. I think bananas and avocados are going to be the next ones that we try.

Tybee Island

We had a great time in Tybee Island. This was Ryland's first trip to the beach and he loved it!!

Below are some pictures.

Getting ready to walk down to the beach ...

Unfortantely Tab had work some while we were there but Ryland helped him out ...

Listening to the Jerry and his band play music ...

Out to dinner ...

Aren't they the cutest 2 boys in the world ...

Another ear infection

After a few days of a runny nose/congestion and waking up in the middle of the night I had a feeling that Ryland was getting another ear infection so I decided to take him to see Dr Loventhal this morning. I got the news that he not only had one ear infection ... he had an ear infection in both ears. So we started another round of antibiotics today. Lets hope that this medicine works it's magic and clears up both ears soon.

PS ... We leave for the beach in 12 hours so I am doing all of the last minute packing. Who knew how much stuff you need to take when you have a little one!!

Sitting Up

Ryland mastered the art of sitting up last week and he loves it. He still tumbles over sometimes so we won't leave him sitting up without us there with him. I am so glad that he learned how to sit up before we went to the beach because I think that is going to make a world of difference.

3 more days until we leave for Ryland's first beach vacation. I have already started packing and can tell that our car is going to be full!

My first night away from Ryland ...

Tonight I am in Charlotte, NC for work. This will be my first night away from Ryland. I already miss him and cannot wait to give him a big hug and kiss when I get home tomorrow night!

And then there was a tooth ...

Ryland's first tooth has officially broken through. He has been fussy the past few days and we had a feeling that he was teething and now we have confirmation ... His lower front right tooth is here!

World of Coke

We all went to the World of Coke on Sunday with Jerry and Sharon. Ryland was great and loved looking at all of the lights and colors.

It was exhausting and by the end he was sound asleep back in his stroller but he did not leave without getting his bottle of coke ...

6 Year Anniversary

Tab and I had a great 6 year anniversary on Saturday. Jerry and Sharon kept Ryland while we went to a nice and romantic dinner at The Capitol Grill. Tab surprised me when we got there with a beautiful arrangement of 6 calla lilies (for 6 years) on the table. The restaurant staff was great and they even took 4 of the calla lilies out of the arrangement before we got there because they knew that Tab ordered 6 and it was delivered with 10.

I have the best husband and love him and our little family of 3!!

At our house before we left ...




At Capitol Grill ...


I love my calla lilies (the flowers from my wedding bouquet)...

Check out the tv commercial behind us ...