A visit with Da-Da!

So, it's been a few weeks since we've updated the blog...we've been busy, but not with anything exciting enough to share, I guess. Today, Ryan and I took a field trip to Purina to take daddy to lunch and to check out his handsome mug hanging in the lobby. Yep, a gigantic banner of Stephen is hanging in Purina's lobby right now. Pretty sweet. Here's hoping he gets to keep it afterwards -- just think of the possibilities!

I finally learned how to transfer the photos from my BlackBerry to our PC, so you can see our visit a bit -- pardon the poor quality! And yes, that means I was the obnoxious wife taking a photo of her husband's banner in the lobby. I think it's pretty cool, mostly because it's not me. Ha. Anyway, the photo-taking was awesome for me, embarrassing for Stephen. I did it as quickly and discretely as possible. Here's daddy's banner:

Yeah, I know - that was a crummy shot -- here's the mock up...you get the idea:

And, here's Ryan having fun with us at Blues City Deli for lunch. He loves straws:

Cozy Coupe

A quick bonus post for the day...we found Ryan at the back door today, banging on the glass and gazing longingly at the Cozy Coupe parked on our back patio. He's seen cousin Haedyn ride around in it, but we'd not yet put him in it for fear of him a) slipping off the seat, b) dragging his precious little toes on the concrete or c) screaming like a banshee.

Tonight, we tried giving him a ride...and he loved it! We've officially found a new past time for our backyard. :) Special thanks to cousins Tyler and Conner for handing down their sweet ride!

Look out, yard - here I come!

Wanna race?

Lake Vacation

We just returned from our second road trip with Ryan -- this time, to the Lake of the Ozarks with my family for 4 days. Thankfully, the ride is short, so Ryan napped most of the way. We rented a really nice house on the 2.5 mile marker on the main channel -- it was such a great spot!

Ryan had a blast being around his grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousin and the family doggies so much. He also took his job as the family alarm clock very seriously, waking the entire house up each day by about 5:30 a.m. :) Ryan also experienced his first boat ride on the trip. He loved going fast and feeling the wind in his face. He didn't, however, love the life jacket. It looked very constricting and quite warm, so we kept the ride short for his sake.

Good food...good drinks...good weather...and great company -- overall, a great little getaway! Enjoy a few pics below!

The entire crew, doggies and all (from left to right: top-Uncle Tom, Uncle Josh, Grandpa, Uncle Tommy, daddy; bottom-Aunt Lauren & Frasier, Aunt Kelly & Madison, Grandma and Haedyn, Brianna and Mommy and Ryan):

Ryan and Haedyn took a dip in the baby pool on the deck a few days, and boy was Ryan hamming it up:
Haedyn was sweet and shared her breakfast -- Cheerios!

Ryan took his first "cousin bath" - isn't that a rite of passage of some sort? We all have these photos growing up, so I especially love them: (this one is one of the more "modest" ones) :)

Grandma and Grandpa bought Ryan and Haedyn toy fishing rods...Ryan liked "catching" himself:

Ryan in his straight jacket, er...I mean, life jacket:

The fam on a boat ride:

Professional Photos

Hi, everyone - before I dig in on this post, I need to share some great news -- Ryan is drinking again! He's been downing his formula and juice from a sippy cup for a few days now, so we're thrilled and just working on putting on some pounds to satisfy the doctors. Many thanks to all of our friends and family for keeping us in their thoughts and prayers - they certainly paid off!

Now...on to the photos! Our good friend Maria Donaldson has been taking photos of Ryan and our friends' kids for a while and now she's turning her talent into a photography business. Maria came over last weekend and got some incredible shots of Ryan. Her style is really relaxed - she likes to follow the kids as they play and grab shots as she goes, and it always turns out beautiful! Check out a few of my favorites below and then visit her blog if you want to learn more. She has some fun packages where she goes places with a family and makes a photo/story book out of the outing - very cool!

Our little man...isn't he so GQ? :)

Bottomless Pit

Lately, Ryan's become a bottomless pit for food. He's eating us out of house and home, adding tasty treats like baby "puffs," Cheerios and small chunks of fruit to his steady diet of baby food. That's the good news. The bad news is that he's still not drinking anything. It's been nearly 4 weeks since Ryan had a full day's worth (or even a full serving, for that matter) of milk. He's not dehydrated -- apparently he gets enough liquids (from his purees and the formula that I mix in with his food a few times a day) to keep his body running like normal.

We've been to the pediatrician, the GI and over the past week, an occupational therapist/feeding specialist. No one's been able to crack the code on our stubborn kid just yet, but I'm holding on to a shred of hope that someone's got to have a solution for us.

So for now, we continue to do some therapy at home as recommended by our OT, we go visit the OT a few times a week, and we offer liquids at every meal (we sit down to eat 5x a day, nowadays). Ryan occasionally takes a few sips, but more often than not, he just pushes the cup away. Please keep us in your prayers and hopefully we'll have a miracle sooner rather than later. Below are a few new pics of some food firsts from the last week. Enjoy!

Ryan enjoying his first cookie (a Gerber biter biscuit):


Ryan eating a frozen GoGurt (blueberry blast, yum):

Ah, and yes - that is still a clogged tear duct in Ryan's right eye (if you can see it in this shot). We also visited a pediatric opthamologist recently, and need to schedule an outpatient procedure to surgically open the tear duct as well. Who knows, with all these doctor/therapist visits, maybe Ryan will grow up wanting to be a doctor. (We can hope that something positive can come out of all of this, right?) :)

A visit with cousin Jayden

Ryan had a big weekend -- he got to meet his cousin Jayden, (7) from Tulsa! Jayden came in with Stephen's parents for a weekend in St. Louis and we had a blast shooting off fireworks, going to the pool, playing Wii and seeing animals at the zoo. (Seriously - Ryan actually noticed some of the animals this time, so it was really fun!)

Ryan loved smiling at Jayden, and Jayden loved feeding and playing with both Ryan and Autumn. Ryan's looking forward to seeing Jayden again when he comes through in two weeks with grandma on his way home!

He's on the move!

About a week ago, Ryan started scooting around the floor on his belly after lunging from a sitting position. A few days ago, he started to crawl. Now, he's all over the place. I'm finding myself constantly shifting his attention away from the lamps, fireplace and furniture with corners...we even bought a new leather storage ottoman to replace our coffee table so that Ryan's less likely to smash his face into its squared legs, top or lower shelf (again...sigh).

His crawl is a typical baby crawl only about 20% of the time -- the rest of the time he's on two hands, his left knee and his right foot. Whatever works! :)

Today, he successfully made it to the fireplace, and pulled himself to standing on the hearth (about 10 inches tall). Holy cow! I'll post some video of him cruising soon. For now, you'll have to settle for a shot of him on the beach. Ok, ok - it's the Winghaven pool "beach" area. :) Stephen loves this shot -- says his face is like a GQ model in a swimsuit ad.