Check that off the list

We've had a very eventful day in the Ryan household today. Fortunately, J got to see most of it before he left for the evening. Kate has had a very exciting few weeks and is really growing into her personality.

She is an incredibly happy baby and loves meeting new people. We ran into one of our amazing nurses from Children's at our Mother's Day dinner and within 30 seconds of talking to her, Kate was reaching out for her to hold her. We love that she is willing to go to anyone, though she often doesn't want to sit still for long.

Kate has picked up a couple new skills in the last few days. A few weeks ago, we started tapping our hands over her mouth while she was making noise. She thought it was hilarious. Well, it is now one of her favorite games and she is even learning how to do it herself. Usually, she uses her pacifier or a toy, but recently she is actually doing it the right way with her hand. She even tries to make the noise on our mouths and puts our hands over her when she wants to play.



Perhaps you noticed in the beginning of that video that Kate has also learned how to crawl in the right direction. She figured it out this morning. She usually only takes a few movements forward at a time, but she definitely has the idea. I expect she will be off and running in the next few days.



I got a little surprise this afternoon. Many of you know that we have a video camera in Kate's crib that connects wirelessly to our TV downstairs. A few days ago, we were watching her on KateTv (as we lovingly call it) and we watched her sit up in the crib, scoot down to the end, and stick her face right in the camera. We then proceeded to watch her turn the camera around. It was almost as if she was giving us a tour of her crib. We decided that is was time to move her crib down to the lowest setting. It's a good thing we followed through because this is what I saw on KateTv today. She was pretty proud of herself when I got up to her room.



Kate is also working on hugs and kisses. Her kisses usually are open mouthed slobber-fests. She is spotty with the hugs, but it feels so good when she wraps her little arms around us.

Here she is going in for the kiss.
I can't wait for her to learn how to give closed-mouth pecks.

Kate will be nine months old on Monday. We can't believe how heavy she is (almost 25 pounds) and how quickly the months have passed. We're beginning to plan her big 1st birthday party in conjunction with a big birthday for my dad (they have the same birthday).

Some parting photos just to show how much our little girl has grown already.

Grandpa D made this chair for Kate for Christmas and she tried it out for the first time on Christmas morning. She was 4 months old.

Here she is today! The bow is in the same place as it was on Christmas morning.
She is already looking like a little girl.

Houston, We Have a Problem!

For a few months, people have been saying to me that Kate looks ready to start crawling. "Any day," they say. Alas (or thank God?), we have no forward progress in the crawling department. She usually gets from point A to point B by scooting around and turning on her butt. We will put her down in the center of the room and before we know it, she will be five or six feet across the room digging into her toy box.

Kate has made some progress, though, in other mobility-related areas. For the last week, Kate and I have been practicing transitioning from tummy to sitting up. She has taken a few face plants into the carpet but has finally figured out the mechanics.

Here, Kate demonstrates her new skill. You will see she is quite proud of herself, but quickly gets distracted by Willow (who is still HI-LAR-I-OUS!)



This new knowledge has cause a few problems, though. A few days ago, I went in to get Kate out of bed in the morning and I could see her whole head peeking out over her crib rail. Last night, she woke up around 11:00 and managed to get herself upright. This feat, of course, lead to crying; we aren't quite sure that she has figured out how to reverse the movement. This will probably lead to some necessary but annoying trips up the stairs for the next few nights until she figures out how to lie back down.

Kate does have one reverse movement down pat, though. She has figured out how to "crawl" in reverse. I know she will figure out how to reverse gears pretty soon, but it is really funny watching her little face as she moves farther and farther away from her desired destination.



On second thought, though, maybe she is just tricking us. Maybe the toy box was her goal which, I guess, makes her a genius.

More on her status as a genius in a later post entitled "Why Kate is a Genius!"

First trip to the Flower Fields

J, Kate and I had a very relaxing weekend spending time together as a family. We have been pretty busy lately with trips, newspaper weekends and more trips. Rarely do we get the whole weekend just to relax.

On Saturday, we slept in a little and then went to Stagecoach Park, a nicely shaded, grassy area and playground a few miles from our house, for an impromptu picnic. Kate was kind enough to let us enjoy our lunch which doesn't happen very often; we tend to schedule our meals during her sleeping times. While we ate, she chewed away on a carrot and had a grand time playing with her food.

On Sunday, Grandma K and Auntie L came to visit and we took them to the beautiful Carlsbad Flower Fields. Every year, the Flower Fields grow hillsides of colorful ranuculus. Over the years, J has taken some beautiful pictures at the fields. We hoped to take Kate and get some fun pictures with her in the flowers. The weather wasn't as perfect as promised, overcast instead of beautiful SD blue skies, and Kate wasn't really in the mood to sit on the ground surrounded by flowers, but we still managed to get some great shots.

Kate and Mommy cuddling for a picture. Kate is really starting to learn to hug, cuddle and attempt to give kisses which are usually wet, open mouthed lunges at our faces.

A family picture at the Flower Fields.
We don't get to take many of these as Daddy usually prefers to be behind the camera.

Three generations of Dirksen girls; you can tell by the prominent Dirksen chin.
Sorry about that Kate. Hopefully, your chin will be all Ryan.

One of Kate's happier shots in the flowers.
They come in a variety of colors, but the orange was particularly vibrant this trip.

Our little Daisy. How cute is that? The cutout was a perfect Kate-size.

We love ladybugs, especially when they come in the mushroom variety.

Pay no attention to the mommy behind the toadstool.

All in all, we had a very lovely weekend filled with family and tons of pictures. J was up until the wee hours of the morning uploading a huge batch of pictures into our 6 month album from the last month or so. Featured in the group are: our trip to Phoenix, Kate's first time in the pool, more Flower Field pics, more picnic pics, Easter, a few of Kate's new tricks, and some cute pics from around the house. Hope you enjoy.

Long-awaited new pictures

D's been picking up the slack on my lack of blog entries for a while, and she's done a great job.  Which means that I can just jump in and point you at the latest pictures of Kate, which represent the last month or so of activities....Phoenix, Easter, and various impromptu photo shoots.  I just uploaded 130 new ones....enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/Kate6Months

You CAN teach a baby new tricks

I spent a few days away from home last week in Portland with my journalism students. We had a great time networking and learning wonderful ways to improve our newspaper.

J held down the fort superbly. Yia-Yia, Papou, and Cugina (cousin in Italian) L helped out a bit, too. Of course Kate had to learn a few new tricks while I was gone. I guess it is only fair as J has missed a few of her firsts, too, while he was away on business.

Before I left, Kate had mastered a few fun new skills.

Kate has really gotten the hang of waving hello and goodbye. I will add a video as soon as I have a good one. I showed up at daycare on Monday and she started waving goodbye to Miss A as soon as I picked her up. She loves waving at Willow, Mommy, Daddy. Pretty much anyone who will wave at her.

For Easter, Mr. Terry gave Kate a stuffed dog named Violet who plays songs. Kate loves to sit and dance to the music. Obviously, she isn't dancing the tango, but it is fun to watch her enjoying the music.

When I returned home from Portland, Kate had been practicing her most fun skills yet. We keep all Kate's toys in a box on the floor. Apparently, she has figured out what we hide in the box, because she has started to help herself to her toys. She wiggles her way over to the box, lifts the lid, and digs in.

First, she lifts the lid and takes a peek at all the wonderful toys inside.
By the way, Kate is a bit spoiled in the toy department.

She finally figured out that it would be a lot easier to just throw off the top
for maximum reach-ability.

Success! Looks like she had her eyes set on her ball.

Cugina L from Iowa came to visit this weekend. I am really disappointed that I wasn't home to enjoy her visit, but I heard that everyone had a great time. Cugina L brought Kate some great gifts including a baby cell phone.

Pretty soon she will be as talented as my students who think that I don't see them hiding their phones underneath their desks so that they can text their friends.

When I called in for my nightly report on Saturday, J informed me that Kate had picked up her coolest trick yet. For the past week or two, Kate and I have been playing peek-a-boo. I would put a blanket in front of my face or over my head and she would pull it off.

Apparently, Kate wanted to get in on the fun. J and the family were sitting at dinner. At one point, he looked down and realized that Kate was trying to play peek-a-boo with everyone. She is quite good at it and it is her new favorite game.

Next on the to-do list is crawling. I have been trying to practice with Kate and she seems to be making progress. Maybe we will have her up and mobile in the next few weeks and I'm guessing that I will regret teaching her this new skill shortly after. We definitely have some babyproofing to do before she really gets moving.

J is on location this week, but we have a ton of new pics that he will upload once he gets home. There are some gorgeous pictures of little Miss Kate. She is becoming very photogenic (if I may brag a little).

Fun times in the pool

Here's a little preview post. J should be uploading a bunch of new photos in the next few days, but I thought I'd post a little sneak peak from our first time in the pool this afternoon. By the way, if you are surprised about the number of posts over the last two days, I am on Spring break and have a whole week with nothing to do other than vacation and take pics of my cute baby to share with all of you. So, enjoy!

We bought a fun little floater. It has a side for me and a side for Kate.

Kate really loved the water and spent a good amount of time splashing it everywhere.

Daddy got in on the water fun, too. And even trusted me with the camera near the pool.

Kate really enjoyed her time in the water and the pool at Auntie K's house is so gorgeous.

I think I could live in their clubhouse.

After pool time, we had a little photo session in the poolside cabana. Kate told me that she could really get used to resort-style living. Oh, wait. Maybe that was me who said that.

Kate's In Love

This weekend, we finally got out to Phoenix to visit one of my oldest friends Kelly, her husband Chris, and their new, beautiful baby Cole. I had decided the moment that I heard Kelly was having a boy that he was destined to be Kate's husband, because, as everyone knows, the most important thing is that the in-laws get along. For now, at least, I guess he will have to be satisfied with being her first boyfriend as I think it is illegal to marry two infants.

The weekend started on a bad note, though. We left San Diego at 4pm with the expectation that we would pull up at Kelly and Chris' door around 10:45pm. Kate has been battling a cold for a really long time and I was getting a horrible feeling that it was more than just a cold. She cried from the moment we put her in the car until we got on the 8 freeway thirty minutes later. Overall, she was not her smiley self. So, we made a quick stop to get her ears checked out and lo and behold-double ear infection...again! For those of you counting, this will be Kate's second double ear infection since around Christmas. I don't know what we would have done if we hadn't gone to the Dr. and had come to Phoenix with a very unhappy and uncomfortable baby. That stop was a lifesaver!!!!

With pink medicine in hand, we headed out for Phoenix. The second bad note was when Kate coughed so hard that she puked all over herself and her car seat. She was drenched. We pulled over on some deserted off ramp and quickly changed her. When we pulled out, we left with hundreds of little bugs in our car.

The third bad note was when I missed a turn and we had to drive way out of the way to make a u-turn. Finally, though, we were back on track and pulled up at chez Kelly at 12:00am- only slightly behind schedule.

Thus far we have had a really nice time. Kelly and Chris live in a beautiful resort community outside of Phoenix. Their house is lovely and the resort has an amazing new clubhouse that we plan to check out fully tomorrow.

Kate seems to be on the mend and is back to her happy self again. Unfortunately, Cole has been under the weather today which has made the poor little guy unhappy. Hopefully, he feels better tomorrow and can join us as Kate tries out the pool for the first time.

Anyway, back to the title of the post. Kate and Cole have hit it off splendidly and Kate already seems smitten. Cole seems to only have eyes for his mommy right now, but I am sure that will change when he realizes how adorable Kate is. So my master matchmaking plan seems to be working. As you will see below, Kate was fascinated with Cole today. Hopefully, he notices her soon so she doesn't get a complex.

Kate looking her cutest hoping Cole will notice her.
Cole only wants to look at his gorgeous mommy.

When all else fails, just reach out and grab the boy's hand.
Still, no attention from the heartthrob.

Kelly took this picture around Easter. You can see why Cole already has little Kate's heart. He is sure to be the sweetest little boy ever. What more could a girl want than a boy with a flower?

For those of you who love pics of Kate, J has uploaded some new pics in the 6 month album.
I'm sure we will have a ton more after our weekend fun is over and J has some time to upload more.

And, hopefully, our drive home will be less eventful than our drive here.

Also, I am headed to Portland, Oregon on Wednesday with four wonderful journalism students for our annual weekend conference. If you hear soft sobbing coming from the San Diego area, it is J who will be staying home alone with Kate for the first extended period ever. Though I have great faith in his ability to hold down the fort, dealing with a baby alone for five days will be a true test of his daddy skills. I'm sure he will do a great job.

Noisy Girl

Kate has always been very advanced in her motor development. She held her head up very early, stood up quicker than we expected, and has, in general, been an incredibly strong baby. She hasn't been the most verbal of babies, though. She started cooing a little later than expected, stopped talking entirely for a few weeks, and was a bit slow on her babbling. But once the girl figures out something, there's no stopping her. Kate picked up her consonants out of nowhere last Thursday. She went from this- all " ahhhhh's"



to this in less than a week. You will also notice her attempts at waving, a new skill that she is mastering very quickly.



Since then, Kate has not stopped "talking." She is nonstop noise. We sometimes wonder what she thinks she is saying and if she gets frustrated that we don't understand.

We are looking forward to her first real words, but for now, we just love hearing her little voice. Even if it is CONSTANTLY going.

I'm a Big Kid Now

Not to be trite or cliche, but time does really fly quickly. Kate hit her seven month birthday last week and has crossed a few milestones off her to-do list in the last few weeks.

J flew home from his annual "guys weekend" in Vegas yesterday. On the plane, he sat next to a seven week old baby. When he got home, he told me about the baby and said, "I know I said I wasn't going to miss that age, but he was so cute and little. I miss that." He has since wised up and changed his tune a bit once he saw all the exciting things Kate is doing. Every day seems to be something new and fun and we are anxiously awaiting the day when she begins to crawl. So far, she has managed to scoot backwards and roll around a lot, but we have yet to see any forward progress.

Fortunately, though, we have a few new things to share.

My mom and sister were down for the weekend and Kate decided, to Grandma K's delight, that it was now time to start "talking" incessantly. They had a very nice, albeit loud, conversation. I will try to get a video in the next few days so that everyone can get a feel for the nonstop noise and motion.

Kate has recently started holding her own bottle. Although this doesn't seem like a big event, it is nice not to have to hold her bottle constantly for her. Though, I do sometimes feel that she is needing me less and less. It'll be just a blink of an eye and she will be driving herself places and moving out to go to college.

Kate has always been a really strong baby and she was able to stand fairly early on. Although she isn't crawling, we thought we would try her walking legs out just a little. More importantly, you can see how tall she is. At our last check up, Kate was significantly above the 100% line on the growth chart. We fully expect her to be tall like her Daddy and, hopefully, the next Kerri Walsh winning an Olympic gold in volleyball.

It seems like Kate has been teething since she was about three months old. We were sure that she was going to be an early teether based on her constant need to chew on everything she could get in her mouth. Four months later, she has finally gotten her first tooth. It has come with it's share of teething fun (runny nose, fussiness, and drooling) but she is sporting a new pearly white. You do have to look closely as it just barely broke through her gums on Friday. I'm guessing the other one will be following very shortly.

Kate has been going to daycare every other day since January. We are thrilled with the experiences Kate has while there. We love that she is able to play with other kids and that she gets used to spending time with someone other than us. She has yet to show any signs of stranger anxiety and loves meeting new people. Most importantly, Kate is cuddled, loved, and cared for as well as she is at home. Every so often, Kate tries out her artistic side while at daycare. Here is her first attempt at finger painting.

I always figured I wouldn't be one of those parents who got all excited over every piece of artwork done by my child. But I was so excited to proudly display her first painting; maybe because it is her first one, or maybe because I actually am that parent.

It's amazing how fast they grow and change. I know we have many years ahead of us, but every new change is so fascinating and makes us so happy and we look forward to sharing all of them as a family and with you, our family and friends.

Seven Months

Aside from being St. Patrick's Day, yesterday was also Kate's seven month birthday. She had a couple of green beers to celebrate. More of the pictures we've taken in the last month are available on our picture site...I uploaded almost a hundred new ones:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/Kate6Months

Kate's been going strong for the last month, and she just gets cuter every day. Someone told me the other day that nine months old is the pinnacle of child cuteness, and that it just goes downhill from there. If so, I'm really looking forward to the next two months. Obviously we are incredibly biased, but we also hear all about how sweet she is from random people we run into in restaurants and stores. Beyond her appearance, her personality is fantastic (if I do say so myself). She spends a good portion of her day smiling and laughing, she's very well-behaved and mellow, and even her worst outbursts are generally very manageable. She's definitely not frustration free, but we've been very lucky.

We've continued introducing Kate to new "solid" foods, though solid is somewhat of a misnomer. After steaming and blending various fruits and vegetables, they all end up as a similar consistency, and it's far from solid. At this point, Kate's tried sweet potatoes, peas, peaches, pears, green beans, butternut squash, avocado, banana, prunes, and oatmeal. I say "tried" because not all of them were a success. The banana was a little too solid, avocado was less than a hit, and the peas were interesting all around. When D made fresh peas, Kate had a grimace on her face through her entire meal. The second time she tried them, she gagged enough to make herself vomit....it was a real Exorcist moment. I think perhaps the flavor was too strong, because she doesn't mind Gerber's version of organic green peas. D has made almost all her food from fresh, organic ingredients, but peaches aren't in season and Kate's been clear on her pea preference.

With the new food comes some new challenges. Aside from steaming, blending, storing, freezing, thawing, and feeding, we also have to worry about what comes later. Sweet potatoes are, shall we say, a constipating influence.....maybe that's what they mean by "solid" foods. We've read about several analogies for what diaper contents are supposed to (or not supposed to) look like....peanut butter, Tootsie rolls, rabbit droppings, etc. [Author's note: I just realized how disgusting this conversation is. I apologize for my candor regarding random parenting issues and I hope you're not eating while you read this, but I will continue.] We've been playing catch-up with Kate's digestive system. When she gets backed up, we give her extra fruit and bottles with a prune juice/water mixture. Then she clears up and we go back to a normal menu.....and then the cycle starts all over again. We'd rather not give her natural laxatives all the time, so we're still trying to figure out the right balance.

Kate still isn't crawling, but she's definitely more mobile every day. After setting her on a blanket on the floor, she could end up several feet in any direction. Most of the movement is turning, reaching for things, and rolling over.....it's a little bit of controlled chaos. She's much more dexterous with her hands, and enjoys grabbing at anything in reach (even in stores, from her stroller or shopping cart). She's even reaching for the camera when I take close-up shots...the other day she caught the strap and tried to reel me in. You can see a couple of her reaching/playing poses in the pictures....here's one.

It's softball season again, and though D is only teaching every other day and has Kate to worry about in the afternoons, she's trying to help out as much as possible. She goes to practice after school on work days, and has gone in a couple of times on her day off. There was a tournament last weekend, and we packed up Kate and headed out to Poway for a couple of games. Kate enjoys seeing all the other people in the stands and interacting with the softball girls, though she doesn't pay much attention to the game itself. She especially liked the four year-old brother of one of the girls, and he enjoyed Kate as well.....he followed us around all day. Check out what a great time Kate was having...

I had to go to Hawaii for work last week.....and I can already hear you now, "Oh you had to, did you? You poor baby." Trust me, it sounds more glamorous than it really is, and the majority of my time there was spent in meetings in basements of government buildings. Of the four full days I was gone, I had two short afternoons to actually enjoy myself. Fortunately, I was on Maui at the time, and it was my first time there....I was able to go whale watching one day and take a drive on the Road to Hana the next. I might post some whale pictures in a few days.

Anyway, this wasn't meant to be about me. I was away from home for four days, and Kate managed to change while I was gone. Her face looked a little bit different when I got back...it's much harder to see the changes when you're with her every day. She also learned to fake-cough and fake-laugh. She'll start to "cough" and then it will turn into a little chortle. It's still very cute, though I can see us getting tired of it over the course of the next couple of months. She also has plenty of genuine smiling/laughing moments....when I catch her eye from across a room, when she sees Willow, when she looks in a mirror, when we play peekaboo, when we clap and cheer (for anything), and even when she sees a picture of herself. Looking through pictures on my computer the other day, she noticed herself and started laughing...it's hilarious.

Kate used to enjoy herself just a bit when we put her on the ground on a blanket, and only as long as we put a toy right in front of her. She's now getting a little more independent and a lot more mobile, and she can sit up unassisted for long periods of time. She'll reach out and grab any of her toys and play with them for a while, so we've tried to offer her a variety of playthings. I bought an electric keyboard on Woot a couple of weeks ago, and pair of bongos a week before that. Since banging on anything in reach is another favorite pastime, Kate has turned into a pro. Maybe we'll post a video sometime soon.

We want to expose Kate to as many new experiences as possible, and also take advantage of the great weather we're having in San Diego. The "winter" storms seem to have passed for now, and last weekend was gorgeous...we decided to go to the beach to take some pictures. Kate really enjoyed sitting in the sand and playing with it. She squished it between her fingers, dug down into it, grabbed handfuls to "throw," and even tried to stick it into her ear. Fortunately, we minded the ear (it didn't get all the way inside) far less than when she tried to put it in her mouth. She got a tiny taste, and realized pretty quickly that it doesn't have the best flavor. She mostly avoided her mouth after that. There are a lot more on the picture site, but here's one shot:

Even with the great weather, the California Current ensures that our ocean water will be freezing, and it definitely felt that way when we waded in a bit. However, we wanted Kate to feel the water, so we dipped her feet in. She was definitely intrigued by the waves, and didn't seem to care about the cold at all. As the water lapped at her legs and feet, she smiled and laughed....success!

Sleeping is still going well, and we've only had to go comfort her once or twice since we focused on it a month ago. In fact, we've been putting her to bed even earlier, around 6:30pm, and she continues to sleep until 6am. When she wakes up earlier, she's usually able to keep herself entertained in her crib until we come to get her. Naps are still more of a challenge, but we're glad that she's getting enough sleep at night....it helps with her mood, because a tired baby is not a happy baby.

It's been a busy year so far, and it appears the spring and summer will be even busier. We're already looking forward to get-togethers (like Easter), vacations (Phoenix, Mammoth, etc), and other fun summer events. D and I are looking into heading back to Bora Bora (one of the stops on our honeymoon cruise). I have enough airline miles and hotel points that the transportation and lodging should be cheap/free, so we can't pass up the opportunity. We haven't booked it yet, but we're excited by the idea.

It's been a long time since I've written this much on a blog post....thanks to D for picking up the slack. I'd like to start posting more, but they might be shorter and less encyclopedic entries. I want to be able to post quick thoughts as well, since not everyone is on Facebook and I'm not a Twitter fan. So, if you can handle lighter comments on more mundane subjects, we'll try it out. Until then, I hope everyone's well!

Snuggle Bunny

Now that Kate is six months old she wants to be on the move constantly. If she is awake, she wiggles and squirms and tries her hardest to go exploring. I can't even imagine what it is going to be like when she can actually crawl. I don't expect to be able to sit much as I presume she will do laps around our living room and try her best to get in to everything.

Every so often, though, she still will spend some cuddle time with us on the couch or in bed. There's nothing better than having a warm baby next to you and a loyal puppy at your knees. Here are some of our favorite pics of Kate in her quieter moments.

Kate and mommy relaxing on the couch.

Aren't I the cutest baby ever?

Daddy, can you please stop snoring? We are trying to sleep here!

Even Auntie L loves to cuddle with Kate.

Six Month Update

Can you believe it has been six months already? Half a year has gone by but it feels like just a few short weeks ago that we were bringing home our helpless nine pound newborn. In those early days of sleepless nights it was at times challenging to see the light at the end of the sleep-eat-diaper, sleep-eat-diaper tunnel. Fortunately, it seems like we have emerged and we are really loving being parents (well maybe except for the early mornings- we are NOT morning people!).

Kate is becoming such a funny, happy wiggle worm. She seems to always be on the move and not satisfied sitting still on the couch. Whether it is lunging after Willow or bouncing in her bouncy chair, Kate is a bundle of energy. From what my mom tells me, she is already taking after me as I was always on the move when I was young.

J started a new folder of pictures from 6 months on. You can check a few new pics here. It has only been a few days, though, so check back in a few weeks for more 6 month pics.

We have been working hard on our sleeping- stayed tuned for a cute blog about napping in the next day or so. J and I are lovers of sleep, not that we expect Kate to follow suit right away. We do realize that she is a baby and thus won't sleep in until noon. So, we all have been working on altering our sleep patterns. That said, Kate has always been a great sleeper. Ever since we moved her out of our room at around 2 months, she has slept at least 6 hours a night. Fortunately for us, she has slept through the night for the last few months. I guess that is one of the great things about having a larger baby, though my back would disagree. We have had a few hiccups lately, so tried a little gentle Ferberizing the other night. Night number 2 was slightly painful, but Kate gave up and went to sleep after about 30 minutes. Ever since, she has slept all night without really crying. Let's hope it sticks because she seemed very happy this morning! Naps are a whole different story that I won't get into right now.

Kate has really made huge leaps in her motor development. She can roll over in both directions and sit unassisted for a decent amount of time. She even seems to be trying to get her crawling legs underneath her. I wouldn't be surprised if she was up and cruising in the next few weeks. We have found her in countless places in her crib, and we have no idea how she ends up in some of the positions we find her in when we go to pick her up in the morning.

One of the exciting aspects of Kate sitting up is her ability to sit in a high chair at the table with us. She seems to really love being able to look around and take in everything. She also loves throwing her toys on the floor so that mommy and daddy have to go find them. We'll be looking for a solution to that endearing yet slightly annoying game in the near future.

Kate had her six month appointment this week. She passed with flying colors. She is a gigantic 22 pounds 8 ounces and 28.5 inches long. She is significantly above the 100% line for both height and weight but technically 120% doesn't exist so she is classified in the 100th percentile. It seems like she has slowed down a bit so we hope we will be able to keep her current set of clothes for awhile.

Speaking of clothes, Kate just transitioned into her newest set of clothes. We are starting her on her set of 12 month outfits. Yes, our 6 month old wears 12 month clothes. We expected a big girl as daddy is 6'4", but we never expected her to race through her clothes as quickly as she has done to this point. Hopefully, this set will last a bit longer as she starts to be more active.

In addition to the routine check up and icky shots (don't worry, she only cried for about 5 seconds) Kate got the green light to start some real solids. Kate has been eating rice cereal once a day for two months now, but we are now ready to open her up to a whole world of food and we are pretty excited. I got a wonderful gift from my sister for Christmas and I have already put it to good use on Kate's first set of food.

J affectionately calls it the BabycookER, but it is the Babycook and it is an all-in-one steamer, blender, and defroster to make baby food. Our first trial was sweet potatoes. I made a few batches, and now we have a few days worth of fresh, organic food for our little eater. I am really hoping I have the energy to keep up making baby food at home. It was really easy and I am loving my Christmas gift (thanks Auntie L!).

We have eaten sweet potatoes for two days and Kate seems to be somewhat satisfied with them thus far. She doesn't seem to LOVE them, but she ate them nonetheless. I hate sweet potatoes - a distaste which I hope not to pass on to Kate - so I started her out with them early. I can be a picky eater at times - don't even get fish near me - and I really want to eradicate that trait in Kate. We're really looking forward to introducing her to some of our favorites over the next few months.

Finally, a funny picture for those of you who made it to the end of this long update. Kate has found her tongue, lips, and mouth recently. Her new favorite pastime is sucking on her lips. She looks like an old grandma with no teeth. We keep telling her to put her dentures in, but she doesn't seem to get the message.

When You're the Best of Friends

Happy belated Valentine's Day. We hope you all had a wonderful day with your loved ones.

J and I had a wonderful combination Valentine's and birthday (mine) celebration. Grandma K came down to watch Miss Kate for the night and we headed downtown for an overnight celebration. We checked in at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, relaxed and watched a little Olympic coverage, then got ready for dinner. We had a lovely dinner at Morton's downtown. To cap off our romantic evening, we did what every parent longs for on her birthday. We went to bed and slept until 11am; we even asked for a late check out. It was a well-needed break from babyville. Though, we were happy to see Kate later this afternoon after some catch-up on our sleep.

Now for a Kate update. J has uploaded some new pics to the picture page for your viewing pleasure. Our 6 month appointment is next week so we should have some interesting updates from the doctor including a new weigh in and height check. We are amazed that our little girl will be 6 months old on Wednesday. It is incredible how quickly times passes (not to be cliche).

Kate has a new passion in her life: Willow. Perhaps obsession is a better word. Kate started to notice Willow a few months ago, but her delight with Willow has really seemed to increase over the last few weeks. Kate's little face lights up every time Willow enters the room. When we come home, Kate strains in our arms to look for Willow, and when she finally catches a glimpse, she practically throws herself out of our arms to get to her. She gets the most excited when Willow joins us on the couch and tries her hardest to lick Kate. We do our best to keep Kate kiss free, but Willow has a missile-like tongue, so it is hard to keep her away all the time. It is so wonderful to hear Kate's peals of laughter as she watches Willow.

Willow has been a wonderful, albeit costly, addition to our family. We were a bit nervous about Willow's feelings over our newest addition. She has been the only baby for most of her life- she even started out as the only puppy in her litter. Though she shows a little bit of jealousy every so often, in general, she seems as smitten with Kate as Kate is with her. We are hopeful that as Kate grows older that she and a healthy Willow will become wonderful friends. We seem to be off to a good start thus far.

Here are a few pictures and a video that really capture Kate's love for Willow.

Kate and Willow sitting on the couch. I'm pretty sure Willow is getting in a little foot lick while Kate smiles at the camera.

We're trying to teach Kate how to be gentle with Willow, especially her back, but sometimes Kate can't help herself. She just has to reach out and grab Willow for a big Kate hug.

Willow going in for the lick again. Kate loves the attention and would let Willow lick her all day long if we would allow it.

Though Willow seems to enjoy Kate, there are times when she would prefer to have Mom all to herself. She somehow managed to squeeze herself in the middle of floor time and wanted her own Willow time. Don't worry about her being too jealous, though. She was trying to lick Kate a few moments later. So maybe not jealousy but a sneaky maneuver to lick Kate.

Finally, here's a bonus video that shows how much Kate enjoys Willow and how much Willow likes to lick Kate.

Milk-a-what?

I love this little E-trade baby and the picture below made me think of this funny commercial from the Superbowl.

Our own little milkaholic!

Some long overdue videos

So, we have been pretty good about the pics, but not so great with the videos thus far.  Here are a few highlights taken on D's new iPhone (thanks Mom!).  We'll get the HD videos up one of these days.


Kate was pretty silent up until the afternoon of her four month doctor visit.  We had just told the doctor that morning that she wasn't really vocalizing a whole lot, and then we got this for the rest of the afternoon.  She hasn't stopped since.  Apparently she didn't like us talking about her to the doctor.



Ok, so this video is very random.  J and I were listening to NPR in the car and they were doing a report on Iran.  I was talking to J about Ahmadinejad and Kate heard me and started laughing.  She laughed for days every time we said his name.  Perhaps it is the funny voice or the fact that we are laughing.  Nonetheless, she apparently thought it was hi-lar-i-ous.  I hope his people don't see this and try to come and hunt us down.



Kate rolled over from tummy to back about a month ago, but hasn't done it since.  She has mastered the back to tummy roll.  Unfortunately, she isn't a huge fan of being on her tummy.



We started letting Kate play in her jumperoo a month or two ago (a little early... don't tell the doctor).  At first she would sit and bounce a little, but recently she has really gotten the hang of bouncing and thoroughly enjoys her time in it.  Unfortunately for her, though, she is going to outgrow it very soon.  She is already on the second height level and is quickly approaching the weight limit.  Anyone want to borrow a Rainforest Jumperoo until we have number 2?  As the video proves, this toy gets the Kate Ryan seal of approval.

Five Months

No excuses....moving on.

A lot has happened in the last month and a half, so let's hit the highlights. First, easy access to the pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/Kate3Months (the most recent pictures)
http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/KateFans (people holding Kate, with updates)
http://picasaweb.google.com/jaimeryan/Kate When she was tiny (nothing new)

Next:

• A few days after my last post, Kate visited the pediatrician for her four month checkup. The doctor was happy with her progress and not worried about her size....she happens to be a very big baby. The official measurement was 27 inches and 19 pounds, 12 ounces. She was wearing clothes and a diaper, so it was likely more like 19.5 pounds, but both measurements are still in the 100th percentile. By its definition, there's nothing higher than 100 percent, but her curves are far above those on the chart, which stop at 97 percent. Fortunately, she's still proportional and baby fat isn't concerning at this point. The one thing that D was a bit concerned about was Kate's lack of speech. Obviously she's not supposed to be talking at four months old, but she is supposed to be babbling and cooing and making non-crying sounds; the pediatrician said that some babies are just quieter than others, and to give it some more time.
• Our appointment with the pediatrician was in the morning; by the afternoon, Kate wouldn't shut up. She found her voice and was talking up a storm. Ever since then, she's been a lot more vocal, and D's not worried in the slightest.
  
• Another thing that the pediatrician told us is that Kate could start eating rice cereal at one meal per day, since she's obviously not lacking for nutrition and is sleeping through the night. The rules are still pretty strict....only one meal a day, only mixed with breast milk or prune juice, and only a quarter-cup. Her first food experience was about as expected...most of it ended up on her shirt. The second time, we took her shirt off before she ate, and then it ended up everywhere. We've been using bibs ever since, but she's also gotten much better at it; about three meals in, she had totally grasped the open-as-the-spoon-arrives, close-when-it's-in, swallow-when-it's-gone concept. Her face and hands still need a good scrub-down after every solid meal, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that she's good at eating, no matter what form it takes.
  
• We initially started by mixing her rice cereal with breast milk, and then moved on to prune juice; apparently prune is the one type of juice that no infant has ever become addicted to, which is more than they can say for sweeter varieties like apple juice. She seemed really excited the first time she tried it, I suppose because it was something new. She managed to smear it all over herself (see the pictures below), and enjoyed her first several tries. Then we noticed that she started crying after every bite...we didn't know if she didn't like her booster seat, if she was tired of solid foods, or if she just wasn't hungry. After two meals like this (smile, bite, cry....smile, bite, cry), we went back to breast milk as an experiment, and that seemed to solve the problem. Apparently there's a reason kids don't get hooked on prune juice....it's disgusting.
  
• Christmas was about a week after Kate's appointment. We had a great holiday, managed to drive around a tiny bit less than during past years, and even had Christmas dinner at our house. It's always been my favorite time of year, mostly because of the opportunity to get together with family; we weren't able to see everyone this year, but it was still a wonderful break from work.
  
• We're spoiled at Christmas every year, but this was Kate's first opportunity to join in the fun. She got all kinds of clothes, lots of stuffed animals, and a couple of big items (check out the picture page). Throughout the season, Kate was able to wear some great winter-themed outfits. Santa hoods, reindeer costumes, penguin/snowman/Santa pajamas, etc. Fortunately they were almost all nine months, because she's wearing clothes way ahead of her actual age. She turns five months old today, and she's just about to move into 12 month outfits.
  
• From a physical perspective, Kate's come a long way in the last couple of months. She has a lot more control over her limbs and interacts with her environment in a much more active manner. Though she rolled over once from tummy to back quite a while ago, she still hasn't replicted the feat; instead, she's focused on going the other way, from her back to her tummy. The good news is that she's now a pro....after doing it once or twice, she got to the point where she can do it whenever she wants. The bad news is that she still doesn't particularly enjoy being on her stomach, so she rolls over and then gets frustrated. A couple of times, we've found her on her stomach and turned around in her crib in the morning, whining at her predicament.
• Kate's really enjoying her toys at this point....she can grab them, pass them from one hand to the other, and even toss them away. When propped up in a Bumbo-like chair or sitting up in our laps or next to us on the couch, she can keep herself occupied for a while with a couple of toys. Of course, her favorite game is "How can I get this in my mouth?" She's definitely in her "oral phase," and will put literally anything in her mouth, including her toys, her hands, her feet, our hands, our shoulders, our arms, etc. She's a little less fixated on her pacifier than she used to be, but that just means she's less picky.
• When D went back to work in November, we had help from our moms with the baby. It was great, but unfortunately we couldn't ask them to do that forever. In January, we switched Kate to day care every other day; she's at a house next to D's high school, in a day care run by a teacher's wife. They have seven kids of their own (six are in school), and are great with Kate...we've been really happy with it so far.
  
• In the weeks just before and after Christmas, almost everyone we know got sick, and we were no exception. D got it first, then I got it....and I've kept it for the last three weeks. Earlier this week, Kate got it too. At first it was just a little sneezing and stuffiness, but then we could tell it was getting worse. D took her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with double ear infections. Growing up with lots of ear infections, I know how uncomfortable it can be, but she's been a real trouper.
• She's now taking two doses of amoxicillin per day, and she hates it. Apparently she's too young to appreciate its bubble gum flavor, because she's been making it as difficult for us as possible. It's a liquid dose, delivered orally via a syringe; she completely spit out her first dose, right onto her shirt. Since then, we've tried mixing it with milk, mixing it with rice cereal, mixing it with prune baby food, sneaking it in when she's half-asleep and docile, and finger-feeding her with a tiny tube attached to the syringe.....no dice. The rice cereal has been the most effective, but we can tell she still tastes it, and she makes faces and squirms. She's starting to feel better, though she's still stuffy with a head cold and a runny nose.
• Since she's been a little stuffy, she hasn't been that excited about drinking from a bottle either....it's possible that it hurts when she swallows, or that the pressure is too much for her ears. Two days ago, Kate saw D drinking water and reached for her cup. After we let her have it enough to demonstrate that she knew what to do, we got a little shot glass for her to drink from. She's not quite ready to do it with her own hands (she tends to shove the whole thing in her mouth), but she's definitely able to drink from a cup. It's still messy....we put a bib on her for her second try....but it's interesting to see her learn new things just by watching us.
  
• When she was at the pediatrician for her ears, she also got a new official weight....21 pounds, 2 ounces. Big girl.
• Because she's so big and has so much control of her body (for her age), we've been introducing new experiences. She loves her bouncer, she likes sitting in her faux-Bumbo, and she's even pretty good at staying sitting up once she's raised into that position. I've been putting her on the couch next to me, and she sits there on her own while we play with a toy or read a book....it's darn cute. Yesterday we put her in a high chair at a restaurant for the first time. She did a great job, she was happy throughout, and she looked completely comfortable. She was even smiling at a 14-month old sitting in a high chair across the aisle.....they looked like they weighed about the same.
• I'm about caught up, but there was plenty of other stuff that's happened in the last month that I'm sure I've overlooked. We got to watch Kate's Auntie JJ become a three-day Jeopardy champion (we went to the filming back in November), we had lots of visitors (check out the KateFans page), I've had a lot to do for work (more on my trip to Delaware later), D's taking Kate to an infant play group every other week, etc, etc, etc.
  
• Okay, it's 8am and I haven't really slept much, so I guess I'll end this now. Check out the pictures below, but remember they're just a teaser for the picture site linked above.
  

Here's one of Kate's Christmas presents (the chair), hand-made and beautiful.

Here's one of Kate's first experiences with prune juice-based rice cereal. Every baby has a "messy face" picture, and I'm sure she'll dig into a chocolate cake with her bare hands at some point and produce another outrageous photo, but this one's pretty good for now.

Kate really enjoys when we read to her, and she always tries to grab the book while we do. From day one, she's held them pretty well, with one hand on each side....she's a born reader.

Here she is yesterday in a high chair at a restaurant. Being at the table made her feel all grown up, and she kept herself occupied the entire time.

We decided to use some of our Christmas money to upgrade our camera, so we have a great new DSLR speeding its way to our house on a UPS truck. Hopefully this will mean better (and probably more) pictures of Kate. Lucky you!