mommy and Ry.

Can you tell he loves bath time!?

How cute is this!?

Preemie's are fun....they get the most random things! In the nicu he had the ecoli in his eye...he has constant "infant congestion," he had the bubble on his head (which has gone away)....and today he has an huge ulcer in the back of his throat. Lovely huh?!

He's been real fussy that last few days, and throwing up after every meal....I thought it was nothing, but it never got better, only worse. After a night of a screaming baby, I decided "when in doubt, check it out." So I took him to Dr. Leavitt.

I must say Dr. Leavitt is AMAZING! In like 10 seconds he figured it out...he said, "here let me show you the problem..." and showed me the back of Ryder's throat, and there was this huge yucky thing...the ulcer. It could've been 3 awful things, one being hand-foot & mouth disease, BUT THANK GOODNESS! it was just a simple ulcer. The "simple" ulcer is really painful for lil' Ry, and irritates his stomach....and burns from the stomach acid he throws up....poor baby!!! Usually with these ulcers, they get screaming fevers...like 103....but lil' Ry doesn't! yet :-( The Dr. says its prob 4-6 more days of a screaming kiddo, but tylenol should ease the pain!

This kid is crazy!!! When Linda his P.T. came, he was moving everywhere! She was very surprised that a baby that was only 6 weeks old scoots. Yes Ry scoots....lay him on his tummy where he gets a good grip with his feet and he pushes himself. Crazy huh? and he also tries really hard to push himself up onto his knees....ONLY 6 WEEKS OLD!! (adjusted age) he already has it down to push his upper body up in the position to crawl... she says he'll be an early crawler. This morning he scooted himself up to the very top of his crib...he woke up fussin' for help. My mom says all of us were early crawlers and walkers... so maybe this kid will to!
He talks all the time!! goos, and gaa's, and mmm's... and laughs... He loves me putting the toys to his mouth. Yesterday he grabbed one and pulled it to his mouth. He lays and kicks like he's riding a bike, and moves his arms everywhere! From what I hear all this is really advanced....what a crazy kid!!! Gotta love him!

So I was looking through all my pics on the computer, and decided to upload this video. You can get a small glimpse into what our life was like during the NICU days. My lil' bro Rob filmed Ryder the first day of Ryder's life. It's kind of sad watching it, it almost brought tears to my eyes. He was so small and scared! All of the beeping and dinging...that became a normal sound for us. You can see why I HATE beeping noises!

I remember when Rob and my mom came to the hospital this Sunday afternoon at like 2...Ryder was born at 12:12 am that morning. This video was taken sometime while Rob was there. I remember laying in bed thinking about Ryder meeting his uncle Rob for the first time. I wasn't sure if Ryder would even live, so I thought I was happy that Rob was meeting Ryder "just in case." Well what do ya know, now Rob is taking care of Ryder probably more then he wants! haha.

That day was such shock for me. I'm surprised I remember it!
When I played this video, Ryder was asleep on my lap. When the beeps and dings in the video were going, he opened his eyes and focused in on the noise. I know he def remembers all those noises. It was his life for like 3 1/2 months!

Good bye to our beautiful Erika! (read below)

Ryder is doing great! He starts a new physical therapist tomorrow, at home! yay! Thanks to Coree Adams, thanks Coree!
He is very active still. He played with his dev. specialist today. He rolled over for her...and played with toys. He loves to suck on toys now, you have to hold them to his mouth though. He's making noises all the time! He's learning his voice. It's really cute. He smiles ALL the time! and no it's not gas, it's Ryder! he's a happy boy.
He's showing possible early signs of CP...with his left arm and both hands. It's still to early to tell....but that's what therapy's for. The therapy helps it not be so serious in the long run...so we shall see.
We were so sad, because today we said goodbye to our lil' doggy girl, Erika! our bullies gone! We decided that Ryder was our # 1! and that Erika needed so much attention to, so it wasn't fair to her to keep her. So we gave her to an amazing rescue. She will be missed, but someday we'll let Ryder pick out his own doggy!

all full of smiles!!

Ryder right after therapy...he was a happy lil' boy!

mommy and baby....she loves him.

helping mommy with laundry and still full of smiles!

all cute and ready for his cousins baptism..

so cute, don't you love his shoes!?

say what!!??

tired of pics....

so dang cute!