One Month Stats and a Mimi Visit

Ryan had his one month appointment with Dr. K this week.  Here are his stats:

Height: 23 inches (98th percentile)
Weight: 12 pounds, 15 ounces (98th percentile)
Head circumference: 14 3/4 inches (75th percentile)

As a point of reference, Elizabeth had almost the exact same stats at her four month appointment.  He's such a chunk!  The doctor noted that Ryan was off the scale when he was born and now he's back on it.  We were given the OK to stop waking him up at night for feedings.  Some nights he sleeps from 11:30pm until 5:00am and some nights he wakes up between 3:30 and 4:00am.  We're hoping that he starts sleeping for longer stretches in the next few weeks.

Mimi arrived for a visit on Thursday.  Elizabeth was up all night on Wednesday with a stomach bug (and we were up with her), so we were particularly excited to have some extra help.  We also got to go out for a date night on Saturday, something we haven't done in months.  Mimi and I went shopping for a new wardrobe for Ryan since he has already grown out of his three month clothes and needed six month sizes.  Elizabeth and Ryan both had fun spending time with Mimi.

Joint Celebration

Today was a special day not just because it was my 30something birthday, but because Ryan is one month old today.  The time is flying by!  The sleep situation has improved greatly over the past two weeks.  He doesn't wake up between feedings anymore, and a few days ago we made the executive decision to drop one of the middle-of-the-night feedings since we were having to wake up him for both.  Now, he eats at 11pm and then we let him sleep until 4am or whenever he wakes up, whichever happens first.  After eating somewhere between 3:00am and 4:00am, he sleeps until about 7:30am.  This is a vast improvement in our quality of life. 

Weak attempt to pose a one month-old

This is the picture of a baby who doesn't know that the dreaded one month appointment (complete with his first round of shots) is this Wednesday.  I've got the infant Tylenol ready to go. 

In other news this week, we clearly did not move far enough south.  We had ice and snow and were stuck in the house for three days.  I know that our friends and family up north have no sympathy for us, but this is just not part of the deal in Atlanta.  We put up with the month of August so as not to be iced/snowed in for days on end.  Elizabeth enjoyed seeing the snow, although it took longer to bundle her up to go outside than she actually spent outside.

Up this week: warmer weather and a visit from Mimi!

Three Weeks and a Performance

Ryan turned three weeks old this week and had several visitors, including Kristi, Becca and the Berardis.  I am terrible about taking photos and need to kick that into gear.  Ryan still sleeps a lot of the day and eats every three hours.  Some nights we have to wake him up for feedings and some nights he lets us know when it's time.  His internal clock is pretty accurate.  John worked from home this week so the three of us ventured out for lunch twice.  I managed to take both kids to the playground by myself on Saturday, which was exponentially more complicated than taking one child.  It took about 20 minutes to get out the door.  I quickly learned that I'm going to need to utilize the baby carrier rather than the stroller when I'm trying to chase Elizabeth around.  We'll get it down eventually.

Three weeks old

Short-lived tummy time

We spend most of the day like this

This morning, John took Elizabeth downtown to his office.  They made a stop at the amphitheater in the building.  Elizabeth took the opportunity to perform her favorite song from her favorite movie.  She's seen Frozen three times and knows every word to every song, but we hear "Let It Go" about a hundred times a day.  We are counting down the days until it comes out on DVD (March 18, in case you were wondering).  You'll need to turn up your volume for the video although Elizabeth's vocals tend to crescendo throughout the performance.

Ryan Robinson Brown

We are so excited to welcome Ryan Robinson Brown to our family!  He arrived on Thursday, January 16 at 5:05pm, at 38 weeks and one day.  Ryan is named after John's godfather, Mike Robinson.  The week he was born was a tough one - I was so huge and swollen that I could barely move, and I had stopped going in to the office because I was so uncomfortable.  On Thursday morning, at my OB appointment, my blood pressure was unusually high and the baby wasn't moving as much as he should have been during my non-stress test.  My doctor sent me over to the hospital to be monitored for a few hours and John left work just in case this was going to be the day.  By coincidence, once they hooked me up to the monitors at the hospital, I immediately began having real contractions that were just a few minutes apart.  After a few hours, my doctor decided that it was time for Baby Brown to arrive, and we happily agreed.

We knew that the baby was going to be really big and had already determined that it was best for him to arrive via C-section, so they wheeled me down to the operating room and started my epidural.  Once that was done, John joined me in his scrubs and RRB was born about twenty minutes later.  We couldn't believe our ears when the nurse announced that he was 11 pounds, 1 ounce!  We had expected a big baby but not that big.  Thank goodness for C-sections!

Ryan had a few issues immediately after being born that caused him to be admitted to the NICU.  He was "grunting" (labored breathing due to fluid in his lungs), had very low blood sugar (common with big babies with gestational diabetic moms), and he has a minor heart murmur.  The breathing sounded scary but quickly got better.  The cardiologist checked out his heart murmur and thinks it will go away by itself in a few months.  The blood sugar issue was another matter.  Although common, it's a problem that is very slow to resolve itself.  Ryan's body had to figure out how to regulate insulin production so that he didn't have too much.  He was put on a dextrose IV and his blood sugar numbers went up and down for several days.  Once they finally stabilized, he was moved to the intermediate nursery while they slowly weaned him from the dextrose.  He was finally discharged on Friday, January 24.

Now that he is home, we are having so much fun being a family of four.  Mimi and Grandpa are here to help and G. Jill and Papa Charlie will arrive in a few days.  We are lucky to have family to help out while we get adjusted to having a newborn in the house again.

Here are a few photos from Ryan's first week and a half.  He is the sweetest little guy and has the chubbiest cheeks you've ever seen.  He's a good eater, and although the first night home was a little rough, last night was much better.  We're all in love with him!

We are also lucky to have great friends who helped take care of Elizabeth for the first few days after Ryan was born.  Elizabeth had so much fun at her best friend Ella's house and loved playing with the boys at Benjamin and Carter's house, where she discovered their new Christmas present:

Atlanta Christmas

Being 35 weeks pregnant, traveling this Christmas wasn't an option.  We missed being with our families, but really enjoyed being home for Christmas this year.  We went to church on Christmas Eve and Elizabeth got to be a cow in the Christmas pageant.  After dinner, Elizabeth prepared Santa's snack and read The Night Before Christmas by herself and with Dad.  I thought we'd be up with the sun on Christmas morning, but Elizabeth gave us a gift by sleeping in.  We started opening presents at 8am and went for about an hour and a half.

We went over to Ella's house for an early Christmas dinner and the girls had a blast playing with their new toys.  When we came home, Elizabeth spent a few hours opening every toy and trying out her new scooter. 

Here are a few photos from our Atlanta Christmas!

A Star is Born?

She's a natural in front of the camera, right?  We're just waiting for the agents to start calling.

This Week's Happenings

We've had a pretty busy week with a variety of activities. 

Monday morning: perinatologist appointment
Baby Boy Brown is large and in charge (as is his mother).  The doctor estimated his weight at six and a half pounds, which is off the scale as far as percentiles (at 30 weeks, he was 85th percentile) and three quarters of a pound larger than Elizabeth was when she was born (at 39 weeks).  I am also carrying a lot of extra fluid, so I am measuring several weeks ahead as well.  All of this is thanks to gestational diabetes.  Even though the oral medication is keeping my blood sugars in line, he is growing like crazy.  If this continues, the doctor may induce me early, but it's also possible that the growth will slow down.  Wish me luck with this one!

Here is a face shot from the ultrasound.  The nurse commented on his super chubby cheeks.  He also has a lot of hair, which isn't clear from this photo.

Monday night: ESB dance recital

ESB's semi-annual dance recital was Monday night.  She seems to have advanced a bit since May, although she sustained a temporary injury during the tap segment (likely due to the fact that her tap shoes were on the wrong feet) and had to sit out for a bit.  Luckily, the injury was not career-ending and she rejoined the group at the end.

Saturday night: Santa at Primrose

Santa made a special visit to Elizabeth's school for a photo op with the kids.  The Santa was great; the photographer left something to be desired.  Elizabeth had fun singing Christmas songs with Santa and repeatedly running and jumping into his lap.

Sunday: Disney Live - Jake and Sophia

We joined Ella and her parents for another Disney show, this one featuring Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Sophia the First.  Elizabeth says she enjoyed both parts equally.  No gender stereotypes for this one!