Month by Month Ryan: Month 3

 February was an exciting month here in the world of Ryan.  Even though Little Pea didn't necessarily look too excited about turning 2 months old, we were!

I have to say, that looking back on this picture makes me smile.  I remember those little fisty hands, these are the things you don't really think about when they're gone, until you look back.  *Sorry, Mommy Moment*

Ryan did finally decide that two months was pretty cool, because he started to smile on his two month birthday!



 

And, although he may hate me for this picture in the future, Ryan's newborn "chicken legs" were finally starting to chunk up by the time Ryan turned two months old!  He even started getting rolls!

 

It was very clear by the beginning of February that Ryan was quite aware of everything going on and had lots of adorable faces to show for it!

 

 

Tummy time was exhausting, but Ryan worked very hard at it!

 

 

One of Ryan's favorite activites in February was looking at the "baby in the mirror," perched above his playmat.  Ryan could spend forever staring up at, and "chatting" with that handsome fellow!

 

Ryan also found his thumb in February.  Sadly, I don't have any actual photographic proof of this, but I sure do remember it.  He learned really quickly how to get his thumb to his mouth, and then would get all excited, and then, that darn thumb, would pop out the other side of his mouth.  It was a little frustrating to Ryan, but very cute to watch!

 

 

Our little heartbreaker also celebrated his first Valentine's Day!

 

Something that was really exciting for Mommy was that February also brought with it lots of eating!  Ryan consistently was drinking 180 ml of formula every feed, so Mommy upped his formula to 210 mL every feed. 

Ryan also had a really special event happen in February, that most babies don't really get to experience.  At the end of Februrary, Ryan, Mommy, and Daddy all hopped in the car and drove to Frankfurt to go to the US Embassy.  That was a day full of firsts!  It was Ryan's longest car trip, Ryan's first trip to Frankfurt, and most importantly, the day that Ryan became a dual citizen!

By the end of February, Ryan had really changed again.  He had really lost his "newborn" look, and we realized that we had an infant on our hands.  It was so fun to watch Ryan start to take in his surroundings.  He wanted to interact with the world.  Two months was a fun age!



 





Month by Month Ryan, Month 2

Our little boy changed quite a bit between January and February, it was a very exciting time!

We rang in the New Year with a special visitor from America, Mommy's Aunt Karen.  We always knew Ryan was a special guy, but to have your aunt come visit you from the States, and well, that shows just how loved this little guy really is.  Aunt Karen arrived on Ryan's 1 month birthday, and it was Ryan's first trip to the airport.

Ryan loved having Aunt Karen here.  It was nice for him to have lots of extra attention, and Mommy felt relaxed and happy.

While Aunt Karen was visiting, Ryan also went on his first trip to Stuttgart.  We went on a cold and rainy night, so there is no official proof that Ryan was ever in Stuttgart on a cold, damp night in January, but we do have a picture of him right before we left the house.

As I said, Ryan really enjoyed the extra company and all the extra attention.  I think it prompted him to start growing!  When Aunt Karen arrived, Ryan was still wearing newborn clothes (yes, at one month old,)

And during Aunt Karen's 10 day visit, I noticed that we were having problems getting Ryan's feet into the sleepers, and that well, he couldn't quite stretch his legs properly in his sleepers.  By the time Aunt Karen left, Ryan was already much bigger:

After Aunt Karen left, things were pretty quiet here, but Ryan grew and grew and changed every day.
Ryan started looking at everything with really huge eyes

He spent lots of time playing on his playmat:

And really enjoyed watching, and trying to catch, the birds above his bouncy chair:

Of course, Ryan spent some time sleeping as well.  Little ones sleep pretty well over the day!

As Mommy and Daddy felt more comfortable bundling Ryan up, and as Ryan started to get a little extra insulation, we also took lots of walks in January.

Ryan also got to know his hometown better, as we took lots of walks through Neckartailfingen.

But for Mommy and Daddy, the best part of Month #2 was our cuddly little man!

Ryan grew so much in January.  He was really like a newborn at the beginning of the month, and by the end of the month, he was all baby!  

It was an exciting month, as Ryan became more and more aware that there was a world out there.  Its funny to me now to look back at Ryan at one month old, and think of all the thoughts, worries, fears, and questions running through my head at the time.   It kind of makes me laugh at myself at the time, I worried about so much.  But now that I look at the pictures and think back, everything was fine.  Ryan was, as he is now, just an absolutely perfect, wonderful little boy!  

Ryan month by month

I can't believe this, but in 12 weeks, I'm going to have a one year old.  Oh my goodness.  Last year at this time, I was 22 weeks pregnant.  My belly looked like this:

I had just started to feel Little Erbse kick often during the day and I felt flutters most of the night.  Mostly, we were just so excited.

Fast forward one year, and we have a 9 month old, who is getting into everything.  He makes me smile more times a day than I thought possible. He makes me see the world in a completely different way.  But most importantly, every day, I feel such an amazing love every time I look into those huge blue eyes, see his little "old man hair," nom on those little toes, or hold him close.  I cannot believe that we're rounding out Ryan's first year!

I decided in order to prepare for Ryan's first birthday, and to ease my "I'm a bad mom, because I didn't do monthly blog posts about Little Pea," mind, I'm going to post monthly updates weekly.  This week kicks off the whole shebang, with the final post falling nicely, on Ryan's birthday.  I'm pretty excited about this.  And pretty sure that I'll spend at least half of all post writing experiences teary-eyed.  But, putting Ryan's first year into a 12 week span will make everything seem just how the past year has been for me- ridiculously fast.

Please join me in looking back and celebrating our wonderful Ryan, our Little Erbse.

December 2, 2011.  Welcome to the world, Ryan Charles!  You took us all by surprise, and stole our hearts, and from this day forward, our world would never be the same!

It wasn't necessarily the most ideal start for a baby, but Ryan's first 10 days were spent in the hospital.  We got to know each other under the flourescent lights and cuddled together in a plastic lawn chair.  We learned that you liked to sleep, liked to cuddle, and liked to cry when you were not sleeping or cuddling.  We all went through the food battle.  Mommy cried a lot, and Daddy went a little crazy driving back and forth from home to the hospital a few times a day.  It didn't matter, but it all mattered.  Our world revolved around hoping for more food, hoping for weight gain, and hoping to go home.  All of a sudden, on the 12th, we found ourselves being moved, because Ryan's bed was needed for "sicker" babies.  Mommy's heart must have floated away that day.  And just when things looked like they were finally starting to improve, the same day, Mommy sat surrounded by doctors and nurses with the news that we were indeed, going home.

December 14, was the second most amazing day of our lives, Ryan.  It was the day that we all left the hospital as a family, Mommy, Daddy, and Erbse.  It was Ryan's first breath of fresh air, first time in a car seat, first time in a car, and first walk through the front door of the house that Mommy and Daddy had been living in for one week.  Mommy cried, as she thought about how many times our little boy would walk through the front door, and of course, our house all of a sudden became home.

The rest of the month flew by.  Ryan quickly became a part of our family.  Ryan's first month home was full of discovery, cuddling, and very little sleep for Mommy and Daddy.

Aunt Mandy came to help Mommy for a few days, for which Mommy will be forever grateful!  She was Ryan's first houseguest.  Ryan enjoyed the extra Aunt Mandy snuggles.  Uncle Doug and Aunt Mandy stopped by on January 1st, for another cuddle.

We celebrated Ryan's first Christmas pretty quietly, with lots of pictures with the tree, and a hat that Ryan absolutely hated wearing.

Ryan's first month rounded out by his first New Year's celebration.  New Year's Eve is something really special in Germany, with the sky alight with fireworks.  Of course, Ryan rang in the New Year sound asleep, but when you're four weeks old, it was really a new year for Ryan!