Christmas is upon us!

I can't believe that it is December 18th already! This time next week we'll all be passed out from a turkey overdose... To everyone I have sent cards to, I must apologize for the delay. I booked Ryan's xmas pics for mid November so I would have them back in plenty of time to share with the masses. When I went to pic them up - they didn't turn out! You can imagine my disappointment. So we went in again the next day for a re-shoot and then waited ANOTHER 3 weeks thereby making my cards late, late, late! You can imagine my dissapointment...

Ryan has been busy since my last post. She has written a letter to Santa (I helped her translate of course) asking for a sled and a toybox for all the toys she will be getting. Is she already showing signs of her parents compulsive cleaning and organizing behaviours? She has also been to visit Santa to have her picture taken and seemed rather unimpressed. I think she might be the little girl yawning on the roller coaster! 2 photo shoots and numerous shopping trips later and here we are. With just a few odds and ends left, I think that we are almost ready. I hope that Ryan loves her first Christmas as much as we will love having her here for it!

So what is new with Ryan? I have to say that the changes in her over the last month are amazing. She is so interactive and starting to exhibit a real interest in her little toys. She can now sit up with and without assistance (I guess it depends on how excited she is), and has been taking an evening bottle for a couple of weeks now. We haven't started her on solids yet but that is just a matter of time. She is growing like a weed and when I weighed her at her Nanny Thibodeau's a week ago she weighed 19.5lbs! She loves to grab for everything - especially mommies new hair - and nothing is safe within her reach. EVERYTHING goes into her mouth. During bathtime she gets her own little facecloth to suck on. The funniest thing... Ryan does impressions, the best is Sylvester Stallone. She starts talking away out of the side of her mouth and waving her little arms. Too cute!

Well - I hope that you and yours have a magical holiday season. We'll be in touch :o)

Boo! or should I say Brrrrr!

Well wasn't Ryan the cutest little bee ever?! Halloween was alot of fun and while we didn't get a whole lot of trick or treating done, we did manage to get Ryan into Mommy and Daddies offices for a little show and tell. We bumped into out friends Pam and Juliana while we were there. As you can tell from the picture (sidebar), Ryan and Juliana play well together. We also went to have pics taken in her costume and were lucky to get one picture (she was a little warm in her costume). Jason asked when it is we stop having professional pics done so often.... I think I'm addicted! Maybe I'll slow down once I get one good smile out of her :O)

So what is new with our little peanut? 4 month shots - ouch! Ryan is now off the charts for her height and in the 95th percentile for her weight. As people like to say when they see her.... 'She's a big girl!'. She has also discovered the art of jumping thanks to an early Christmas present from her Nanny Thibodeau. I don't think the jolly jumper has changed much since its introduction way back when but, it doesn't need to. We put Ryan in and she jumps jumps jumps with a big smile on her face! The more excited she gets the higher she jumps. The same is true of when she's had enough - she whines and jumps a little higher. Too cute!

Ryan has also learned that her hands have many uses aside from nibbling on her fingers. She now likes to grab on to lots of stuff. In the last week or so she has discovered her feet. They haven't made it to her mouth yet but they are in her hands all the time. Her feet aren't the only things she likes to grab though... my hair, Lucy's hair, our clothes, her toys. I was giving her a bath the other day and I noticed that she had a firm grip on one of her little rolls. What a girl!

Boy is it getting cold out. I still have to get bulbs in the ground and I can't say I'm looking forward to it. I am looking forward to Christmas though, and will have to exercise a significant amount of self restraint not to buy Ryan everything!

Seasons change...

Here we are. Autumn is in full swing and it is Ryan's second season. This is both exciting and disheartening to me. I tried the other day to remember exactly how it felt to hold her as a newborn and it was so hard! Some could blame it on mommy brain but I think it is just so easy to look ahead to when they can do this or that that we (ie me) forget to enjoy every second of where they are right now. I will try my hardest everyday to enjoy Ryan for who she is and what she can do that very day.

So what is Ryan up to right now at 3 months + 1 week you might ask? Lots! For the last few weeks she has been starting the day between 6 and 7am when she wakes for a feeding. Daddy, rushes to her assistance to rid her diaper of the nightly deposits and brings her to Mommy where she can have breakfast in bed! The life!! After she's had her fill its back to bed where she sometimes sleeps for another 3 hours. They tell this can change in a minute - I'm choosing to be in denial. For the rest of the day Ryan moves from crib to playmat to bouncy chair to Mommy never shy to let me know when she's tired of one or the other. We get out almost every afternoon to see the sights (the mall). Generally, Ryan has been getting to bed at 9ish and sleeping right through. The baby Gods have smiled upon Jason and I.

New skills? Ryan has turned into quite the chatty Kathy (notice the spelling) and loves to converse. She has quite the ability to time her responses appropriately too. "Do you love your Mommy Ryan?", "Ahhhaahhhhahhhhh". She has started to become a little shy in the presense of people she doesn't see every day and sometimes needs a little warm up period. The traits of her father are coming out more and more... she loves to suck on her hands and more specifically her index and middle finger. I believe there is photographic evidence proving that this has indeed been passed down through the genes although I have yet to see it. More than once her sweet little smile has turned into a laugh and while she is still not a fan of tummy time, she loves to sit-up (with assistance of course) and can hold her head without a problem. No problems with her vision either, she is picking up her parents bad habits all ready and loves to watch TV. She's not even picky about what's on! And now the piece de resistance, the latest and greatest skill.... The last couple of days Ryan has been picking stuff up from her lap and bring them to her face or mouth. Its to cute!

Another update in the life of Ryan! Stay tuned :o)

Ouch!

Welcome to the wonderful world of immunizations. As you may well have guessed Ryan had her first shots today (at least the first ones that Jason and I were present for). It is hard to wrap our brains around the notion that by making her hurt (and cry she did) we are helping her in the long run. I take solice in the fact that I have absolutely no memory of any of my immunizations and hold no ill regard towards my own mummy. Hopefully she will have forgotten by supper time :o)

Ryan is growing in leaps and bounds. At just over 2 months old she is now 24 and 1/4 inches long and weighs in at 12 lbs 6 and 3/4 oz. As the wonderful nurse says, 'she's off the chart!'. There is not a whole lot of her 0-3 month wardrobe that still fits her. I guess its just as well - the fluids that come from babies can stain a little...

Any more first? Ryan has found her voice and loves to use it. The other day she was talkative in a kind of demanding way. I'm sure if I was fluent in baby talk I could translate what she was saying to, 'Jump, jump higher!'. And jump we do!

Any more likes? Ryan now enjoys having her diaper changed (especially by Daddy because he tells such good stories) and likes to play on her exercise mat. She watches all of the little hanging toys and smiles at the spider. She can also strike up quite the conversation with her little toy, Wow Wee and on occasion becomes frustrated when Wow Wee gives her the silent treatment. Her like that I love the most.... Ryan loves to cuddle with Mommy and Daddy! There is nothing more comforting than having her squirm to get closer - perhaps a little reaasurance that we are on the right track :o)

Any dislikes? Ryan is not a big fan of tummy time although I have taken to proping her up on a pillow to give her a little boost. Although I have been trying to get her used to taking a bottle out of a selfish and desperate desire to get my hair done, she knows a frauds when she sees it (or tastes it) and so far is not falling for my half-hearted attempts. At the rate I'm going my next hair cut may be the same time she has her first! She hates having her neck cleaned which is rather surprising to me as he doesn't mind me using a nasal aspirator to clean her nose! All lessons for Mommy, Daddy and Ryan that what is best for Ryan is not always what she likes best or what Mommy and Daddy like to do :o(

Until the next time!

And she smiles!!!!

Little Ms Ryan is turning into a social butterfly! She has had tons of visitors in the last 6 weeks. From her grandmothers (Nana and Nanny) and great grandmother (Great Nanny V), to all of her aunts and uncles, not to mention her cousins Natasha, Nathan and Lauren and of course her new littles friends (what fun to have a baby during a baby boom - there are so many people to draw friendship and support from). Even though she slept through most of these visits I know that she will come to love and appreciate all of the people who surround her.

These visits have been accompanied by a whole lot of firsts.... She has been to her first movie (Hairspray) and while she didn't say a whole lot about it I think she was pleased. She had her first professional pictures done at 2 weeks (what an experience that was). She went to Bathurst for the first time (and slept through a borderline tornado on the way - good thing Uncle Robbie is such a good driver!)

What about the developmental milestones? As the title of this post indicates - Ryan can smile! And what a beautiful smile it is :o) It is so different from the gassy little smirk she had been flashing up until last week that there was no mistaking the full smile that took over her face - it is the sweetest thing. She has started making those breathy little vowel sounds that will soon be a continuous streem of baby talk. She is also incredibaly alert - even her Doc commented on it. We cannot wait to see what's next.

All is well in our little world! Until next time....

Ryan, meet the world. World, meet Ryan!

Finally, at long last (40 weeks, 3 days, 2 hours and 55 mins to be exact), I am overjoyed to be able to introduce our precious little girl - Ryan Joan Thibodeau! She was not rushed to add to the world population and is equally unrushed in life so far. Here is a little description of how the last week has gone for us....

When my due date came and went, as well as the novelty of having a Canada Day baby, I had pretty much resigned myself to the Doc's induction date of July 6th. Sooooo, when I got up from my nap around 9pm (July 2nd) and started feeling 'cramps' I didn't think much of it but, I thought I should keep track anyway. Well, the 'cramps' were about 6 - 8 mins apart. Around 9:30 Jason noticed my timings and we deduced that I was in labour! At 11 pm we called Labour & Delivery at the DECH and the nurse there told us to hang on at home until the contractions were 3 -4 mins apart and lasting for 1 to 1.5 mins. That happened in about a half hour. Shortly after midinght we made it to the hospital and (skip ahead, skip ahead) at 2:55 am we had ourselves the cutest little girl in the world! Less than 6 hours in labour - yeah! And no epidural - yeah! It was most definitely a magical night.

Now, what about her name you might ask.... Jason and I made the decision almost as soon as we found out I was pregnant that we were not going to share our name choices. Primarily because people are not as poker faced as they think they are when hiding their distaste over the name you've chosen, and we really did not want to be influenced by anyone elses opinion. We had both heard Ryan used as a girls name in the past and really liked it. Joan is my mother's name and finally, Thibodeau is Jason's last name and also my mother's maiden name. Put them together and we have Ryan Joan Thibodeau.

The last week at home has been great. As with my pregnancy, I am having a smooth and uneventful recovery. Ryan is taking to nursing very well and seems pleased with her surroundings. Lucy runs to Ryan’s room when she cries at night and seems to be adjusting quite well to not being an only child anymore. Jason and I are learning life lessons at an alarming rate…. Sleep when baby sleeps, don’t leave the diaper of too long, be sure to plan your outings far in advance and to act quickly when you leave, and most importantly - enjoy every minute….

Ryan is already showing signs of genius – she holds her head up on her own (for about 3 seconds) and her facial expressions are countless. We have already started the college fund because there is no telling how many years of school she will skip :o) She also may have some super powers as she seems to hypnotize everyone that comes around her. The consensus thus far is that she is the spitting image of her Daddy and, I must agree that she is a looker! Everyday she is just a little bit different. For example, today her umbilical cord fell off. I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings but am careful not to wish this time away – so far it is wonderful!

Anxiously awaiting baby....

Here we are, June 2nd, and only 6 days until Mom Wheeler is finished work for a whole year and only 27 days until Mom Wheeler and Dad Thibodeau's lives change forever!!! There is so much to do and the days keep slipping away... Irregardless, we cannot wait for the little one to arrive and will be ready no matter how much we have left to do :o) Our big concern right now is how Lucy will react. She doesn't seem to know that she's a cat and is under the impression that the nursery was created just for her! I have the option of just closing the door I suppose but I would rather break her of the crib-hopping habit before Baby comes.

We are very excited to learn the sex of the baby as well - Fredericton is one of the few sities left in the country that will NOT tell you the sex of the baby and, while I've heard they've slipped some pretty strong hints to some people, the technician was quite clear with us that there would be no hints! All the better - I look forward to the surprise. In case you're wondering though, most of the people who just take a guess say girl. As a matter-of-fact, the only person I can think of who's said boy is Jason's sister, Donna....

That's all for now, I will be sure to keep you informed of any future developments and look forward to sharing our experiences with all of our friends and family!