Technically taken on Wednesday, but TOO CUTE not to share!!
This past week has been an adjustment for everyone. I returned to work for the full week, which means that Oma watched Ryan during the day and Joe was in charge of Ryan's morning routine. This working-mom-for-40-hours-a-week deal is going to require lots and lots of time to adjust to. It's not easy!
One of my biggest fears about returning to work was that I was going to miss some of Ryan's milestones. My fear was confirmed on my 3rd day of work. BEHOLD--our wonderful, special, beautiful, smart, determined little boy showcasing his skills:
When I called my parents' house to check in on Ryan for the 4857th time on Friday, my mom said "Oh, he's doing just fine! He's been rolling a lot from his back to his belly, and just having a good time". As if this was nothing. As if this was normal. As if he had DONE THIS BEFORE! We missed a major milestone!! :( But anyway, Ryan is quite the roller now! He LOVES rolling from his back to his belly, and then he gets super frustrated with being on his belly, but won't roll back to his back. It's really cute.
Ryan has also discovered his feet and grabs them whenever he has a chance. When you combine that with his love of putting things in his mouth, you can see that feet + mouth = happiness for him.
Ryan, napping in the afternoon (something he RARELY does)
So, a big horrible tragic event happened this past week. It was so horrific that it pains me even to type this out....
My maternity leave was up and I had to go back to work. :( :( :( :( It was horrible. Absolutely horrible. I probably cried no less than 10 times on Tuesday, and then Wednesday morning, I cried or got super teary about 4 times before I even left the house. I cried on the way to work. I cried about 5 times while at work. I raced home as soon as I was able to, so I could be with my sweet sweet Ryan. Although I REALLY do love my job and I really do love most of the people I work with, I would still much rather be at home with my little guy. There were times when I physically ached to hold him during the day, but had to settle for calling my mom about 394757 times yesterday and today. Ryan, on the other hand, was perfectly happy spending the day with his Oma and Levi. He did better in terms of feeding and napping when Oma and Levi came over to our house to spend the day, so at least I know he's comfortable in his own house. I suppose that's a good sign that we're making our house a warm, inviting, and comfortable home for him. My last few days of maternity leave were spent savoring the small moments with Ryan--his morning smiles, playing modified versions of peek-a-boo with him (the real version still scares him and he cries), doing tummy time, reading books, going for walks, and doing all the things I wished I was doing while I was instead working these past two days. It really made me realize just how special maternity leave is, and I am very thankful that I had such an extensive leave....but it really never is enough. It is relieving to know that he is in GREAT hands while I'm at work, but it doesn't make me miss him any less. I do love knowing that he is going to have a very very special bond with his Oma and with Levi. So far, Oma has been the only one to get Ryan to fall asleep and take a nap without his binky, without being swaddled, and/or without white noise. She's truly amazing!
So, in Ryan news, he's really enjoying playing a modified version of peek-a-boo where you look away for about 2 seconds, and then look back at him and go "HUH?". He smiles...and then begins to giggle...and then begins to laugh. It's so cute! He loves grabbing onto things now, and loves playing in his exersaucer (still on limited time though). He LOVES grabbing onto his feet and grabs them not only on the changing table, but now whenever he's on his activity mat or laying down in general. We've started playing "This Little Piggy" with him, and he gets such a big smile on his face :)
One time this past weekend, Ryan was being very difficult very early in the morning. After I woke up with him no less than 4 times one night, I finally made Joe take over. I went into another room to try to continue sleeping, but I went back into Ryan's room, and I saw this:
Joe and Ryan snuggling in the morning
I know the picture quality is horrible, but Joe got Ryan to go back to sleep and I thought this was too adorable for me NOT to take a picture of. It's times like these that make parenthood really special :)
This past week, Joe was out galavanting in San Francisco and Las Vegas on one of his "work trips" (read: an excuse for him and some coworkers to get together and drink profusely all under the guise of a "conference" or a "meeting") and I played "single mom" for a couple of nights (can you tell I'm a little passive aggressive?). KUDOS TO ALL SINGLE MOMS OUT THERE--it was definitely not easy!! I got LOTS of alone time with Ryan though, and there are plenty plenty more silver linings. Ryan hitting his 3 month growth spurt (I think? I hope??) during this alone time was not really one of those silver linings, but really made me appreciate everything Joe does to help me out and to take care of Ryan, too. It was NOT easy to do this on my own. Tia Karen spent the night at our house while Joe was gone, so I wouldn't feel so alone and so that if I needed someone in the middle of the night, she would be there to help me out. Ryan had a couple of rough nights (and one REALLY REALLY rough night), but overall, we had a good time.
Overall, it was a pretty eventful week this past week. Ryan and I went over to my friend Bonnie's house for dinner one night while Joe was gone and spent some time with Bonnie's two little boys. Jenni came over with her little girl London (3 weeks older than Ryan) to join the party, too! Here are some pics of our babies (we all gave birth within 3.5 months of each other):
Kayden (22 mo.), Crosby (6 mo.), London (4 mo.), Ryan (3 mo.)
Crosby, London, and Ryan. Ryan is watching TV.
London trying to hold Ryan's hand. She's very forward :)
I suppose since our last doctor's appointment, Ryan seemed to be on the smaller side for height/weight so I'm not expecting him to be called a "big baby". However, seeing that he's just a smidge smaller than Bonnie's youngest son, Crosby, who is 6 months old, I think I really do have a monster on my hands!
Ryan has started laughing more frequently now and he is such a smiley baby! I FINALLY caught his laugh on video for everyone to enjoy. Hearing him laugh is the best thing ever :)
I like that he stops laughing as soon as I stop tickling him :) He is usually very camera shy with my phone and immediately stops whatever he's doing to look at my phone when I try to take a picture or video of him with it.
Ryan's also learned a new way to roll over. Instead of pushing up with his hands and rolling over by using his shoulders, he now pushes with his legs until his butt is waaaaayyyyy up in the air, and then leans it over to one side, and viola! He rolls over. He's really started to push more with his legs in general, and LOVES to stand up. He's even tried to crawl a couple of times with his legs, or so it seems. Again, I think I'm going to have an early mover on my hands. He has also discovered his feet and loves to grab onto them when he's on his activity mat or when he is getting his diaper changed.
So today is obviously a very special day--Ryan is 3 months old and 13 weeks today! He's becoming such a big boy! I can't believe he's 3 months old already. THREE MONTHS! We've only had him for THREE MONTHS. When I think back to everything we've done over the past three months, the list is incredible, but to know that he's only been with us 13 short weeks...it's just really special. Here's our little boy this morning:
Ryan, first thing this morning!
Happy 3 months, Ryan!!!
In Ryan news, he has started laughing pretty consistently. Joe and I figured this out during Ryan's bedtime routine when we were trying to wipe down his face and neck. He giggles and giggles and giggles and it's the CUTEST THING EVER. I'll get it on video soon because honestly, it's the awesomest sound ever :) He's thrown out his laugh in his sleep a couple of times too. SO CUTE!
He's also consistently rolling from his back to his side (he definitely favors his left side though...but favors his right arm/hand, so who knows!) and has teeter-tottered with trying to get to his belly, but hasn't made it over yet. I think rolling from his back to his belly is going to take a little more encouraging from us, because Ryan really doesn't like being on his tummy. Even now during tummy time, he'll either roll over to his back, or he'll lift his head up for awhile, but then slowly face plant back to the ground and stay like that (and eventually get really mad). It takes him a lot longer to get mad now than it did before (progress!), but he still doesn't seem to be too fond of being on his belly. Here's a video of him doing tummy time this morning:
Isn't he just so cute? I love him :)
He's getting better with grabbing and hitting things. He particularly likes to grab my hair when I'm carrying him around (I mostly carry him around like a big kid--with some extra handling--instead of a newborn because he's getting so big, and this makes me a little sad because it is a constant reminder of how he's growing up so quickly!) and he's becoming more and more active on his activity mat and in the exersaucer. Whenever I carry him around like a big kid, he also kind of "hangs on" with the arm/hand that is on my back--it's super cute :)
I think we're going to have an early mover on our hands. Ryan loves standing up and pretending to walk--he'll lift one leg, then another leg. I know this is a reflex that newborns are born with, and he did this when he was just born, and then he stopped doing it, and just recently started doing it again. Sometimes he pretends to jump, or he'll squat and then push up really quickly. All with a big smile on his face. And of course, it's super cute. Also, when he does tummy time, he's using his legs to push push push and he'll push his bottom up into the air almost like he's trying to crawl. You can see him do this at the very end of the video (it cuts out right as he gets his butt in the air). I guess time will tell whether or not he'll be an early crawler/walker!
Nighttime is getting a little better (minus this past Tuesday night). I've been reading a book on how to teach your child to sleep--it was an impulse buy when I was up with Ryan for the 2944737th time one night and I was absolutely exhausted. Anyway, it suggests establishing a nighttime routine and sticking with it--and only allowing the "start" time of the routine to vary within 15 minutes. We've decided to try starting the bedtime routine at 7:45-8:00ish and for this past week, it's worked pretty well. Ryan is usually asleep in the cosleeper by 8:30/8:45 and it also provides some consistency for him. It also encourages us to stay consistent with the routine, because we can see how Ryan responds to it. Plus, with Ryan's nap (or absence of) schedule, he really gets fussy after 8:00 if he's not either nursing or trying to go to sleep, so right now it's a win-win situation with us. Of course, after he continues/finishes his 3 month growth spurt (which I think was why he slept SO poorly this past Tuesday night), things may change, but either way, I'm glad we have something in place that we feel comfortable with.
Last week, we had some gorgeous weather--highs in the 70s, even 80 one day. Some trees are beginning to bloom and the grass is turning spring green. Anyway, it was such beautiful weather so we went outside and took a couple of pictures. Here are my two favorites:
Happy 12 weeks to Ryan!! We celebrated by going to Pullen Park!
Ryan, 12 weeks!
Yesterday, Ryan gave me and Joe a little laugh! Ryan was spending some time with his daddy in the morning and let out a little chuckle. I was out of the room for its debut, unfortunately for me. Ryan gave me a smaller laugh, kind of like a consolation prize or something. But he laughed! And again today, he laughed a little when I was playing with him. Our little baby is beginning to laugh!!
Over the past week, Ryan has had some really horrible sleeping habits. The routine thing is kinda beginning to work out, except the "sleep" part (napping) of the routine is only 30-45 minutes at most. Combining his lack of daytime sleep with very broken nighttime sleep leaves for a very grumpy Ryan come 6 or 7pm. He has basically regressed to a nighttime sleep pattern of when he was about 4-5 weeks old (I've been logging what happens at night after I've woken up and I can't remember when I changed Ryan's diaper last, or if I even put him back down to sleep instead of leaving him on the changing table). I'm hoping this is a short-lived phase or possibly a growth spurt. But enough about that!
Ryan has outgrown all of his newborn clothing and almost all of his 0-3 month clothing. There are a couple of 0-3 month onesies/sleepers that he can still wear, but they are becoming TIGHT and STRETCHED from shoulders to feet. It's so sad to pack up his clothes already! He's growing up so quickly!
Usually at about 3 months old, babies are a little too small and weak for the exersaucer. Their feet dangle at the bottom and they don't quite have the head control required. Because Ryan has pretty good head control, we decided to try out the exersaucer and see how he liked it. Carl gave us a Hugga-Bebe (www.myhuggabebe.com) for a shower gift and it was perfect for this occasion. So, we put the Hugga-Bebe in the exersaucer and plopped Ryan down in it, and HE LOVED IT. He got the BIGGEST smile on his face (unfortunately, I didn't have the camera ready for it, so we don't have evidence of this), but he has really enjoyed the time he's spent in it. His feet still dangle at the bottom though. He batted at some of the objects, grabbed others, and even pressed the music button twice by himself--probably an accident, but I'd like to think it's because he's advanced :) I probably won't put him in it very often until he's a little older, but at least he got to experience it (and we know he likes it right now, so hopefully he'll still enjoy it in a couple more weeks). Here are some pictures of him enjoying his time in the exersaucer:
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