"Brotherly" Love

Well my little man is 5 months old now. It's crazy how it seems like he's been her for only a couple of weeks and then forever all at the same time. I haven't yet taken a picture of Ryder in his hat for 5 months, but I will soon, and to report he has moved up to the next size. At his Dr. appointment last week I got undeniable proof that he is growing just way too fast. Ryder has gone from the 5th percentile at his 2 month appointment to the 75th percentile last week. The official stats: 15 lbs 11 oz & 25 1/2 inchs long. He more than doubled his weight (had been 7lbs 10 oz). He's such a little charmer always smiling, laughing and he loves to "talk" and tell me stories in his own little language everyday when I pick him up from Grandma's house. He almost rolls over, he gets to his side and then just refuses to kick his leg over to go all the way, it's like he knows that he's not going to like being on his tummy so he just hangs out on his side :) Ryder also loves to sit up, he still has a little bit of a weeble, wobble look about him when he does, but he loves it!

Ryder is also starting to love to watch his "Brother" Jasper. He'll follow Jasper with his eyes as Jasper walks around. He also loves to touch Jasper. When Jasper cuddles at his feet, he'll actually flex his toes into Jaspers fur. Jasper is also really patient with him, except when Ryder tries to grab his beard and/or eye brows, the Jasper gets very unpatient for you to untangle Ryder's fingers.  The two of them have already started to conspire against me. Ryder will fuss just enough to get me to put my plate of food down, and as soon as I do Jasper swoops in and steals some food, I then yell at Jasper, which apparently is Ryder's cue to smile and giggle like that was the plan all along! Why do I have a feeling this is only the start of the trouble the 2 of them will get in together :)

The Hat continued ...

Ryder is 4 months old this week, which means another picture of him in his hat to show how much he's grown. He's still wearing the 0-3 month size but as you can see it's starting to look a little small.

On an unrelated note, can I just say how much I love Dr. Brown bottles. Since birth Ryder has had a problem with spitting up, and I mean ALOT. After eating he'd easily spit up 1-2 oz before his next feeding. I had tried everything, different kinds of formula, different acid medication, seriously everything. Then I just happened across the Dr. Brown bottles on Amazon started reading the customer reviews, one said that they couldn't believe how much difference they made in their baby spitting up. So I figured hey I guess it's worth a shot, and she was right. They made a HUGE diffrence, after the first feeding Ryder didn't spit up at all. He's been using them ever since, and only spits up like a normal baby now (after big belches). Dr. Brown gets 5 stars in my book and I highly recommend them.

The Hat

Today is Ryder is 3 months old and I can't believe how much my life has changed for the better. I am back at work now, which is different and the same all at once. I do miss Ryder during my shifts, but thankfully I really love my job and it normally stays busy enough I don't have time to miss him too much. But when I get off  I love how Ryder just can't take his eyes off of me when I pick him up at grandma's and he just smiles and giggles the whole time.

I think its great and sad at the same time that Jasper has turned his loyalties over to Ryder instead of me. When Ryder and I come home from the store or wherever we happen to go with out him, Jasper won't even greet me until he sees and sniffs Ryder first to make sure he's okay.

And now for the title of this post, " The Hat" .. Ryder is now in the double digits with weight (a whole TEN pounds), I know it doesn't seem like alot, but he's almost doubled his birth weight. The pictures below really show his growth, here's Ryder in his little newsie hat ...

Ryder at about 1 month (NO FLASH MOM...GEEZ)

And at 2 months

And this is Ryder now at 3 months. See I told ya he's grown!

YAY!! He's finally growing into it, and yes he likes it. A good thing too since I thought the hat was so cute I bought the same one in 3 different sizes so he can still be a cute newsie even as he grows bigger :)

The Blessing

Ryder was blessed by his Grandpa Willden on April 11, 2010. His uncle Mike, great-uncle Randy, Bishop Wernli and Mark Christiansen all participated. It was such a sweet experience hearing my dad give my son a blessing. I had a mini-flashback to when he gave my oldest nephew his when he was Ryder's age. I can't believe it's been almost 18 years since that happened. Colby has grown up to be such a great guy, I'm glad Ryder has someone like him & all those that participated in the blessing  to look up to.

 I forgot to take pictures of the family luncheon after church but here are some pictures of Ryder in his blessing outfit.

His Elvis lip curl... he seems to do this when he's annoyed :)

                                                                    Smiles

Ryder & Jasper

His GQ model pose :)

The Amateur Photo Shoot

The Early Delivery

So any dispatcher out there that wants to know the trick to delivering a baby early ... all you have to do is work a the busiest radio channel on a Friday night where all the officers decide to make more stops that night then they did on New Years. At least that worked for me, my water "broke" (it was just a slow leak) on the way home from work.

Ryder M Willden was born at 0100 hrs Sunday February 14, 2010, weighing in at 5 lbs 14 oz and was 18 inches long. Yep he was my little Valentine, an exact 4 weeks early. Had the support of my mom and sister in the room for the entire process. My dad was waiting just outside for his first look. 

Getting all cleaned up and listend to. Of course with him being 4 weeks early they were a little worried about his lungs, but he passed all his respritory tests with flying colors.

My first look.

Hanging out in the hospital nursery bed. We stayed the 48+ hours. Even though Ryder was passing all the tests with great numbers, he was having a little trouble learning how he was supposed to get food in his belly. It wasn't until the morning I was getting released that we got the green light from the pediatrician for him to leave with me.

All dressed and ready to break out of the Mom & Baby ward.

Big brother Jasper's first look & sniff of his baby brother. They'll share the same birthday week. Jasper turned two today February 17th.

Grandma holding Ryder & Jasper :)

Open eyes!! Rare for only 4 days old!

I just want to say thanks to all the loving support from all my family, friends and awesome co-workers. I appreciate it more than I can say and am glad that I'll have all of you to lean on during this single parent hood process, especially since Ryder's dad has decided he doesn't want to be a part of his life. I know that though I'm single, I'm not alone.

The Nusery

My awesome nephew came over this last weekend and helped me put all the furniture for the nusery together. (He only swore under his breath once doing it). Now that it's all put together I was able to arrange everything and put the bedding on etc. The only thing left is the corner changing table that's coming this week, I'll put it in that corner that has the hamper in it now.  The general "theme" of the room is courtesy of the crib bedding I got from Kohls, it has puppies, police cars, and fire trucks.

View from the door.

The Crib.

The dresser.

Rocking Chair.

The window with the cute puppy valance.

The hamper, lamp and diaper stacker. (The corner changing table will go here, with the hamper to the side)

Anyways the nusery is all put together now, so it's ready to go if Ryder decides to make an early appearance.

The hits just keep on coming

Disclaimer: I know this is mostly me just whining, but sometimes I think pregnant women should be allowed to whine and vent, and stomp their feet, and pretty much just have a temper tantrum like the ones we'll have to deal with from our kids soon. So on with my tantrum ...

OUCH!! Seriously .. OUCH!! I get to be one of unlucky few women that actually gets to experience Mastitis WHILE PREGNANT. That's right I'm still pregnant, 8 weeks to go, already dealing with these ligament issues and NOW I also have a breast infection. HELLOOOO!!! I'm not even nursing yet!! I don 't think there's even milk in there yet!!  How is that possible? Of course my Doc says well it's very rare but it does happen, and then he tried to put a good spin on it by saying that since I'm dealing with all of this now the rest won't be so bad.... I have to say, I don't believe him.

End tantrum.

I'll be getting the nursury put together (for the most part that is) this weekend with help from my awesome 17 year old nephew. Thanks Colby! I'll try to get pictures up afterwards.

The Scoop on the pain ...

Some of you know or have noticed that I've been walking around kind of slow and sometimes even favoring one side. I have apparently pulled and maybe even torn some of the ligaments on the lower right portion of my belly, the pain radiates from the far right side towards my belly button (still an innie by the way), and is worse when I put too much weight on my right leg.

 Doctor says there really isn't anything they can do for it at this point. Even bed rest won't really help, since the belly is obviously still getting bigger and Ryder apparently likes to play with those sore ligaments, there  isn't any way for them to rest and heal until there isn't an "inside force" causing further issues :) (Not even born yet and he's already in trouble, the little punk)

 Ryder is doing okay, and Doc says as long as he keeps moving around (and belive me he does), and there are not other signs of complications,  I just get to be in constant pain until he's born. But Doc thinks since my body will be overly stressed by this it will eventually say enough is enough and I'll end up having him early.

So here's to 9 weeks or less left.

The Name ... Part II

I think I've finally decided on a name for this little guy ....  So coming March 2010



Ryder M Willden


Thanks for all your votes & input but when it comes down to it this is the name I can imagine yelling :)

The Ultrasound Pics

Face Shot!! Super cute, a little fist right up next to his face and he's all snuggled up next to the placenta :)

His hand was actually reaching down and grabbing his toes... you can totally see it on the DVD of the ultrasound :)

Body Shot!! All curled up, though he doesn't seem to like that position much if how much he moves around is any indication.

And yep, definitely a boy!! I told you he wasn't shy :)