My, how time flys!

I know i say it all the time, but I really cant belive its been 11 weeks since I gave birth to our baby. What was my life like before her? She is pure joy to my life. God is SO good.

Often, this is how we find her after naps. She's quite the "scooter" and scoots down (at night) sometimes up to 2 feet!!!! For this reason, she's not swaddled at night anymore.

Loving her swing!

The sweet baby I will be leaving tomorrow to go back to work :-(
HAPPY BABY!!! Lord, how i'm gonna miss seeing this face all day long...

Progress!!!

We've had a busy week. Monday, my Mama kept Rhyan for a few hours so Jeff and I could sneak out for some yum-o breakfast at the Red Barn and a movie (transformers). Then Wednesday she stayed with my cousin Tracy (who will be keeping Rhyan when we both go back to work) so we could head out for Lake Lanier water park. We had a great time and Rhyan did great with Tracy (i knew she would) and it makes me so much more comfortable about having to leave her with someone. I have to tell you, Lake lanier has not changed and Jeff and I felt like a couple of (fatter) teenagers! We had a blast!!!

On Friday we took Rhyan for a physical therapy evaluation appointment at Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta (in duluth). She has a condition of her neck called torticollis which means a muscle in her neck is tight (and has been since birth b/c of the way she was positioned in utero) and she cant turn her head very well to one side (the left). Therefore, she is getting some head shaping that is not ideal on the right. We've been working w/ her at home prior to this visit to try to loosen the muscles and she's made progress, but we've not been successful in getting her to sleep with her head turned to the left, which is the only way the molding can correct on its own (w/o having to go into a helmet).

The therapist was super nice and said her torticollis is moderate to severe and she thinks she'll do well with therapy but that worse case senario, they could do surgery to "release" the muscle. Ok... so we're gonna work REALLY hard with her at home to avoid this, obviously. Part of what keeps her from turning left is that since her head is already flat on the right, her head naturally falls that way. So hopefully that will begin to correct itself, as well.

The therapist also said she's a little behind on her neck strength and needs tummy time during every wake time for as long as she will tolerate it. This, combined w/ all the stretches and exercises and massage of her neck, takes up most of her wake time for now and makes her fussy (which i hate... i much prefer to lay and talk to her and sing to her and have her smile and talk back rather than work so hard... hopefully this will get better w/ time!).

Last thing, and this is what i want to ask our friends to pray about. The therapist noticed some curving of her back which concerned her a little and wants us to see an orthapedist for an xray to see if she might have some structural scoliosis. This worries me a good bit b/c my cousin had severe scoliosis that required surgery to place a rod on each side of her spine to keep it from worsening. Thats pretty extreme, i know. But, of course, when its your child you fear the worse case. So PLEASE, would you pray with us that this is simply a case of her muscles being stronger on one side than the other (which she said is also possible). Again, my worry is b/c we 've had several people in the family with back issues and I dont want Rhyan added to the list.

But really, we are LOVING being Rhyan's parents. I cant believe how much she's changed already...

4th of july, weddings and a dr appt

We have had so much fun the last few weeks! Rhyan has turned 2 months old. She started sleeping through the night (from her "dreamfeed" at 10:30-11 till 7am) at 8.5 weeks!!!! We are so proud and excited!

She had her 2 month check up recently and got 3 shots :-( She cried SO hard for a minute, then we gave her a bottle (it was time, anyways) and she calmed down. She wasnt fussy afterwords or anything. We gave her tylenol just in case and we felt sure that she wouldnt s.t.t.n. that night, but she did! She didnt get up till 7 like always! What a little trooper!

We spent last weekend at cousin Jenny's wedding in madison. It was the first time that the great aunts and uncles, as well as 2nd cousins had gotten to see her. How fun!

And last but not least, we spent the 4th at Mommies for a family cookout. I snagged this cute bathingsuit at gymboree this week and so we let her try out the pool for the first time. She was a little unsure at first and cried a second, then enjoyed it for over half an hour (well into her normal naptime). She didnt get fussy, even though she was awake a long time and then napped like a champ while we ate... great timing.

Ok, well, enjoy the pics!

Rhyan and her Grandmother

Chillin on the blanket
Check out that hat! Adorable!

I love the fat rolls!

Tummy Time!

Daddy feeding her after her shots. Check out the bandaids. Sad.

A family pic on her 2 month bday!

With Gran and Grandad at Jenny's wedding

Chowing down with Uncle Jason and Liz

Rhyan and Daddy playing in her gym... umm... Daddy's a little too big! But its so fun that he likes to see things from her point of view! What a great Dad!

In other news... this is my last week before returning to work. The thought terrifies me slightly.

Summer Fun

Jeff and I have really enjoyed having this summer off together. I cant believe that in 2 more weeks, I'll have to return to work. But i do feel blessed to be able to return for only 3 days a week (tuesday, wed, and thursday). And that for the first 2 weeks, she'll still be at home with Daddy. After that, (hopefully) she'll be staying with my cousin Tracy. I cant think of ANYONE I'd rather keep my baby. It'll be hard enough leaving this sweet face.
Last Friday, Rhyan and I enjoyed a night out with the girls while Jeff played softball. Rhyan didnt make the all girl pic (she was asleep anyways). Macaroni Grill+lifelong friends=good times!Ok, so i'm terrible at getting good pics of memorable days. But this pic of Jeff and his baby girl was our token fathers day pic. For fathers day I got jeff some krispy kremes for bfast and then cooked dinner (pork chops, not quite finished baked potato's :-(, mac and cheese and greenbeans followed by banana pudding for dessert!). We had Jeff's brother and Liz over for dinner. Jeff's parent were out of town so we'll celebrate with them this coming weekend. The only sad thing from the day is that i very much miss my daddy... and really wish he could have been a part of Rhyan's life. But overall, it was great celebrating with Jeff his first fathers day. He has become such a great daddy!

This has GOT to be my fav pic of alltime of her (so far). Her little fro is just perfect, her eyes are beautiful, her cheeks are chubby and that smile is presh! Gosh, I love her!!!And the final pic... Jeff and I got a jacuzzi a couple of weeks ago off of craigslist for a steal and have been working to get it up and running. Monday evening, after Rhyan was tucked in for the night, we took a soak. It was so nice! We still had some cleaning to do on the cover but it was basically ready to use. So yesterday, i went out to clean the cover and found this "little" 5 foot long or so guy hanging out between the tub and the house. He slithered under the jacuzzi and then stuck his head out. YUCK! Jeff tried to coax him out so he could kill him (even though he says he's harmless and not to worry... i say the only good snake is a DEAD snake) but the fella retreated never to be found again. Jeff says the snake is probably long gone. I dont believe it and am forever weary. Shivers down my spine!

I am so grateful for the timing of Rhyan's birth. The opportunity for the 3 of us to be at home together this summer has been incredible. Jeff and i were worried about getting on each others nerves, but we've been so busy that we've really just made a great team and gotten stuff done.

Well, we've got a wedding and a family get together this weekend so i'll try to get a few good pics and post again next week!

The pictures are ready!!!

When Rhyan was 4 weeks old, our friend and photographer, Terilynn, did a complementary photo session for us. The pics are now ready to be viewed. Let me just first say that she did a TWO hour session with Rhyan and while I was afraid that she would sleep through the whole thing or fuss, she did neither. She slept for the first 2 or 3 minutes, woke up and wanted to eat and then stayed awake for the ENTIRE shoot. Towards the end, she got fussy (she was ready for a nap), but i think overall she did FANTASTIC.

Click the link below to see our favorites. If you want to see all (400) of the pics, once you are in the favorites page, you can click on "view gallery".

http://hcl.digitaleventpics.com/SC/index.cfm?fuseaction=FavoritesList&favid=587FC797&eid=9158276&fn=OrpheusandAphroditeMusicandPhotography478

Let me know what you think!!

Upload Drama

Jeff and I were watching the video's today of Rhyan's first bath and the one we recorded last night (to prove to her that she didnt forever scream at bath time... she enjoys it now!). I have to say, i'm so glad we got a camcorder before we had her. I'm sure we dont use it right half the time, and we forget to use it for most fun/important things... but hey, we're new at all of this. I tried to upload the video's today, but after waiting over 30 minutes, i gave it up. So you'll have to settle for some new pics, instead.

This first one is the night of our date. We went to target and got a sling... she likes it, you think?

Safe and fast asleep in Daddy's arms...

Getting jiggy with it... while she stares at the fan (the object of her affection)

And here are some pics from today. After daddy woke her up to eat... STRETCH!!!!After she ate... spending more time being amused by the fan :-)
And tuckered out from all her hard work. Jeff told me she had fell asleep "with her crotch hanging out"... and this is what i found when i went to check. LOL.

We are still trying to implement the principles of babywise (eat/play/sleep... in that sequence). Its supposed to help her distinguish day from night better and get her to sleeping through the night faster. For that purpose, we have found success. She slept last night for 5.5 hours between feeds. What we are finding, though, is that she doesnt really like napping in the day, which her Dr. says not to worry about as long as she is sleeping that well at night, and to count our blessings (in other words, quit griping!). Our pastor and his wife did babywise w/ all three of their little angels... seriously, they have fantastic kids, and so i called them today to ask their advice. Ken said maybe Rhyan just likes more "wake time" and to try letting her stay up longer and take shorter naps. I dont know if it was a fluke, but it worked for this time. She stayed awake and up with us for an hour and a half and I laid her down (swaddled by daddy) awake. She grunted a bit and looked around for about 20 minutes and then fell asleep till her next feeding. No crying. Halleujah. So maybe we'll try that for a bit and see if more wake time is what she needs. She really is a good baby... I'd love to have her up with us more!!!

Ok, so thats a day in the life of. Hope you enjoyed. If not, Rhyan has a knuckle sandwich for you!

Date Night

...was a success. Jeff and i dropped Rhyan off at his parents at about 6pm. We stayed and chatted for just a bit and then headed off to Chili's to eat (thanks to the Kunis's who gave us a giftcard when Rhyan was born!). There wasn't a line (thank you terrible economy and faining popularity of the resturant) so we were seated promptly. We enjoyed split 2 dinners for the purpose of variety, talked a while about plans for the summer, what a good baby Rhyan is, etc... and headed off to target to pick up a couple of things. Mainly, I wanted to get a jelly bean sling. I've been eyeing them and decided that while I'm not a fan of slings for everyday purposes (ie: holding her in it while she naps) I do like the idea of having it for when she has wake time and I want to walk around the yard with her or when we go to church and she is going to be napping during that time already (but I'm not quite ready to send her off to the nursery). Anyhoo, I love it... and so does she!

So we got back to Gran and Grandad's about 7:45. We were only away from her for a little more than an hour. We didn't intentionally rush back... it just didn't take us long to go on our date. But it was a nice time. Ronni said that Rhyan woke up to eat just a few minutes early but then downed her entire 4 ounces ( i figured she'd be hungry as she hadn't taken a great feeding at 4pm). When we got there, she was awake and in her little car seat, sitting by her Gran while they ate dinner. What a great baby :-)

Oh, and Ronni commented on how great Rhyan is when you change her diaper. I've noticed this and mentioned it to Jeff, as well. When we first brought her home she'd cry with each change... now, she just looks around and enjoys having her tooshie cleaned... i mean, who wouldn't? haha!