Ryan's First Thanksgiving - Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Ryan and Mommy on Thanksgiving morning - such a happy day.

What a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving day, and one we are most THANKFUL for because we have our little one at last!

Ryan started the day with a 6:30am wake up time, which he does every couple of weeks but not too often - thank goodness.  Ry played on the floor with Mommy until his 8:00am nap, which prevented him from seeing the start of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Ah, he's only 6 months old, so not too big a deal. He did wake up not long after it began though, and he played on the floor some more & did catch some of NBC's coverage with Mommy.

Playing on the floor with Mickey Mouse while watching the parade.

Later in the morning, Ryan and Mommy went for a walk, and Ryan went down for his mid-morning nap around 11am.  He woke up just in time to head to Chris and Evelyn Kemp's house for our Thanksgiving meal.  Ryan ate pumpkin puree and Ms. Evie's mashed potatoes for lunch.  Yum, Yum! He looked all full of carbs towards the end of the meal and kind of stared off into the distance once he finished.  I think he was in a baby food coma.  Gave us all a good laugh while we were finishing up. Here's video of Daddy feeding Ryan his puree.  Click link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeoqdbKaFow

Ry is now napping.  He has had a very full day for his first-ever Thanksgiving.  Oh, and a warm one too.  It is in the high 70s.  No kidding.  That is very strange for us here...really, but we are enjoying it, & we'll enjoy it more during our evening walk to burn off some calories.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! WE LOVE YOU & MANY BLESSINGS TO YOU!

Love,
Chantal, Dave, Ryan & Ike

PS: We miss you, Bear.

Ryan - Nigh Nigh with Sophie & other news

Ryan, Sophie, and other cool developments

Ryan has some big news! On Monday, he began using the "duh" sound.  He chatters a lot more and says, "duh, duh, dah, dah, dhat, dhat...," and as of this morning, he rolls from back to front and finally from front to back.  He even rolled around to get to where he wanted to go this morning. Amazing.  Can I catch any of these new developments on camera? Well, of course not.  I have tried, especially the new chattering (which he doing as I type this). Anyway, he clams up. Maybe later.  One other big development...swollen bottom gums - white too! Maybe we will have a tooth report coming up soon. Oh and lest I forget, he is almost sitting up by himself too.

Ryan and Sophie in his jumper. He put Sophie there. It had been on his tray.

Evidently, she liked it better there.

Our weekly video: Ryan and his Sophie teether on Monday night - he is sitting up by himself with a little boppy support.  The video is 1 minute long, so you will need to press the link to youtube for this one since Blogspot won't post anything over 30 seconds. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEX_XdXLJrA

Love,
Us

Ryan - Flying the Friendly Skies

Flying the Friendly Skies with Ry Ry the Super-friendly guy

Ryan got all dressed up for his trip to Florida on Sunday, and boy did people notice! He wore a snazzy little hat purchased by my friend, Jill, and an adorable pair of brown corduroys & an argyle sweater from Sue & Jayne. He was a hit as we walked through the Atlanta airport, and he seemed to like all the attention! He smiled at everyone who complimented him on how cute he was.  The smiling only added to the fun.

Here is footage of him sitting on the plane waiting for take off. He is quietly sitting on the seat.

The real story is the return trip.  Evidently, Ryan has found that attracting attention is pretty cool.  I wish I had footage of this, but I don't. I was holding Mr. Smiley in his cute little hat, as he greeted about 60 passengers on our return trip to Atlanta on Wednesday. Since Ryan is a baby, we are able to board the plane first.  We went and sat in our seat...25F, and there were 18 rows (A-C and D-F) behind us.  As people filed past us, Ryan sat and/or stood on my legs bouncing up and down...squealing and smiling as people passed! Sometimes our fellow passengers were stuck standing in the aisle as people ahead of him were placing their luggage in the overhead compartments-Ryan entertained them as they waited.  Grandmas, grandpas, & guys in the 30s, 40s and 50s were oooo-ing and awww-ing at him.  Ryan gave it right back with his smiles and well, to be honest, sometimes screeching with glee.

Please note:  He had a meltdown a bit later, and I was really happy when we got off the plane. I spent the majority of our time in the air standing in the flight attendant galley swaying back and forth praying he would just take a nap on my shoulder.

It is good to be home.  We enjoyed seeing Great-Nanny Ellie, who had a fabulous time on her 85th birthday, although she was a bit wiped out staying out until 7:30pm.  Nanny attended her party wearing a black cocktail dress and a lovely gold pin, and she asked to sit next to Ryan.  It was sweet, and we were thrilled she could be there with her first great-grandchild on her special day.

Until next week...



Ry Ry My Special Guy

The Big Guy hanging out of his bouncer!

Well, I totally missed the Thursday posting, but I know some of you are catching up & haven't checked out his previous blogs yet. Tomorrow morning, Ryan and I will be going to Florida for my Nanny's 85th birthday.  We are going to go to Ian's Tropical Grill http://www.ianstropicalgrille.com/ for dinner to celebrate! Looks like Mommy will be getting some Macadami Nut Crusted Yellowtail Snapper. Whoo-hoo!

This will be Ryan's 3rd plane trip.  However, this week was filled with other fun firsts.  Ryan had his first taste of something other than rice cereal. Ryan had homemade apple puree...made by Mommy.  We had some organic apples from Rome, GA, and Mommy thought that would be a fun first food.  He liked it okay but enjoyed the apples mixed with cereal better.  Ryan also went to dinner with Mom & Dad on Friday night & sat up all by himself in the wooden highchairs available for babies at restaurants.  It was nice & he occupied himself by grabbing at our plates, napkins and eventually the toys Mom had in his diaper bag.

Well, normally, I post videos of Ryan screaming, squealing or being noisy.  Ryan can be a reflective, quiet guy too.  He sometimes just likes to look at Mommy and the camera - and be his cute, adorable self. Here is one of those moments.

Finally, Ryan is getting so big that I think we now have to retire his bouncers.  Ah, they have been good to us. Plenty of hours of entertainment & lots of help for us when we need to calm Ryan down.  He took many a nap in his bouncers too! Can't wait for Ryan to sit up completely unassisted.  I have a feeling that will be real soon.
Lots of Love~The SE Puylearts

Ryan - The Alphabet According to Daddy

Ryan, Dave, and Play n' Learn Puppy during Daddy/Baby time!

Everyday Ryan and I review a picture book of the alphabet and another one called First Words.  The alphabet book starts, “A is for Airplane, B is for Baby and so on…”On Monday, I didn’t have time to review with Ryan, so I asked Daddy to read to him that night while I was making dinner.  Dave wanted to play with Ryan like he always does, but he agreed to go over the books with Ryan instead. So this is what I overheard starting with the letter “C”:

“C is for Cheese – half of you is from Wisconsin, and they make cheese there.”

“D” is for Duck – I don’t know about ducks. (I interject, “Ryan’s playgroup is The Ducklings.”) Dave repeats with “D is for the Ducklings like your playgroup.”

“E” is for Elephant – Elephants (I interject one more time, “Elephants are the Republican symbol, and Mimmy is a Republican .”  Dave tells Ryan “E is for Elephant, and Mimmy is a Republican.” (No, we are not saying my mom is an elephant. I was trying to indicate that she is a Republican supporter and probably likes elephants.)

“F” is for Flower – Mommy likes flowers, and we buy her those.”

“G” is for Gloves – You will wear gloves one day. They are important to wear for many things.”

“H” is for Horse – We call Bear a horse. He is not a horse, but that is what we call him.”

“I” is for Ice Cream – You will like ice cream one day.” (Yes, if he is like his dad he sure will!)

“J” is for Juice – You will also like juice.

Now I am thinking, oh great, it is the letter “K” and the picture is kitten, and Dave doesn’t like cats. He makes fun of them all the time. So of course, Dave says…

“K” is for Kittens. You won’t like kittens.”

“L “ is for Lamp.” Now, I thought Dave said, “lamp” but the picture is a lamb. Sometimes I think English is my second language.

“M” is for Motorcycles - Motorcycles are dangerous. You won’t ride one, and you will not own one.”

“N” is for Numbers – Numbers are good, and you will know these.”

“O” is for Orange – They grow oranges in Florida, and Mommy is from Florida.”

“P” is for Puppy – You will have your own puppy one day. Right now you have old puppies.”

“Q” is for Quilt – We are sitting on a quilt right now.” (They were – Ryan received 2 for welcome gifts).

“R” is for Robot – You will have a robot one day, and it will do your dishes.” (I like this one).

“S” is for Strawberries – Strawberries taste good, and you will like eating them.”

I missed “T” and “U” – timer went off or something-remember I am in the kitchen preparing dinner.  But, “T” is for Teddy Bear and “U” is for Umbrella.

“V” is for Violin – You won’t play the violin. Maybe another instrument. Violins are noisy.”

I got busy again for “W” for Watch, “X” for Xylophone, and “Y” for yogurt. I can imagine what Dave would say, “W” is for Watch, and you will wear one.”

Then I heard the end which is “Z” is for Zebra…it’s like a striped horse.”

I thought this was sweet & definitely Dave's way of looking at things! But, cute, so dang cute & one of those moments you have to remember. Hope you enjoyed it.  Dave is available on weekends for storytime should any of you need him.