Happy 1 Month, and 3 Years!!

Sunday was Ryan's one month birthday.  It's hard to believe that he has been here a whole month!!  Where does the time go?!  He did have a few visitors for his one month birthday...Marie, Mrs. Hodge, and Mrs. Pearson stopped by to see Ryan.  He wasn't in the best mood, but Marie did a great job of getting him calm...good practice since their bundle will be here in a little less than a month!  Also, Mrs. Hodge painted Ryan's name in a nautical theme to go in his nursery (better pictures will follow when we hang it).  It is such a pretty piece of art, and one that Ryan will have forever...Thank you Hodges' and Gordons'!!

Also, today (Monday) is Maggie's 3rd birthday!!  She had a pretty low key birthday, just chasing a tennis ball, napping and getting lots of love!  We'll have to take her for a special treat later this week.  She did get a fresh tennis ball today...one of her faves!

We are preparing for our busy week of Dr. appointments and a Santa visit!

Here is a picture of Ryan at 1 month.  We had printer issues, so we had to go back to the dark ages and draw a sign.

And, here is a picture of the birthday girl!

And, a picture of the artwork...

Home from the Hospital and Thanksgiving

We are back from a short hiatus. Nick and I thought that we would have so much time for many activities, including blogging after Ryan was born. We were wrong! It seems like the day goes by in the blink of an eye. I am in a mad dash in between feedings to get anything done. Our day consists of feeding, changing diapers, crying, comforting and trying to get some sleep. It is all so worth it when he looks up a us with those big eyes!

We also have been busy with family and friends coming to meet our little man. It has been great to see them all and introduce them to our precious little boy. Thank you to our moms, the Gordons', the Voyles', the Fullers', and many of our wonderful neighbors who brought food. We certainly enjoyed it and it helped us out so much!

It was great to celebrate Thanksgiving with Ryan. He seemed to enjoy all three Thanksgiving meals with family.

Ryan's 1st Thanksgiving

Next week will be a busy week for Ryan. I have to go to the doctor on Tuesday and Ryan has his one month pediatrician visit on Wednesday. I cannot believe that he has been with us for one whole month! It has been a great month and we are so happy to have this little guy in our family! Ryan has brought us so much joy! To end our busy week, Ryan will visit Santa for the first time. We will definitely post pictures. We are hoping that he does not cry. His appointment with Santa is scheduled during his fussy time of the day. Hopefully, the car ride will keep him calm!

Drum Roll Please....

We would like to introduce to you to the newest addition to our family, Ryan Andrew.  He entered the world twelve minutes after midnight on Friday, November 13, 2009. He weighed  7 pounds and 7 ounces and he was 20.25 inches long.  We are completely smitten with our baby boy.  He has rocked our world!

Also, Maggie loves her brother. She tries to comfort and nurture him when he starts crying! Maggie has also dealt well with most of our attention going to Ryan. We think that she is as sleep deprived as we are at this point.

Mommy and baby are doing well after a long delivery. Ryan had meconium in his amniotic sac, so our delivery was quite interesting. Meconium means that he pooped in his sac, which is a sign of fetal distress. After pushing for 2.5 hours, Ryan arrived with a little help of a Kiwi vacuum. Because of the meconium, Dr. Roberts (he was awesome) did not want him to breathe immediately. So, they brought in a respiratory team to suction his lungs and assist with his first breaths. It was a very nerve racking 4 minutes and 22 seconds for Mommy and Daddy until we heard his sweet little cry. Daddy went to the nursery with Ryan to make sure that everything was ok from his respiratory ordeal. Mommy was getting herself fixed up and anxiously awaiting a chance to hold Ryan since she had not been able to yet. At least, MiMi, Grandmama, Grandpa, Aunt Jessica, Aunt Beth and Aunt Marie all got their first glimpse of Ryan in the nursery. We had an awesome experience at Piedmont Hospital. All of the doctors and nurses were great and so helpful to us.

We look forward to updating all of you on all on Ryan's growth and development!

Ryan's first cry


















Mommy holding Ryan for the first time!

Ryan sleeping in his Piedmont Hospital onesie!

37 Weeks and Anxious

Baby A is on his way within the next 19 days, give or take. We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and I was 2.5 to 3 centimeters dilated with a soft cervix. Since Nick and I are both new to this whole baby thing, we are not sure what that means as far as how long until he will make his debut! Of course, everyone has a different opinon. Some people say it will be soon and others think that it could be another 2 to 3 weeks. Anyone want to guess what day Baby A might arrive? 




Another highlight from our doctor's appointment is that Atlanta is the #1 city for babies born on the highway...imagine that! Piedmont Hospital is only twenty something miles from our house, but the commute could take forty five minutes to an hour and a half in traffic. Hopefully, I will not go into labor during rush hour! To end a rather eventful weekly OB appointment, I received my H1N1 vaccine, which I was hesitant to take. However, my obstetrician (like Marie's) highly recommended the vaccination and he took it himself. So, I am hoping that there will be no issues from it.




In other news, Maggie is not a big fan of anything baby related these days (including me)! She hates the car seat and runs away from it if she sees it. However, I think once Maggie is properly introduced to Baby A that she will be as smitten as we are (we can only hope)!

Rerun of the Last Several Months

We thought it would be good to catch all of you up to speed on what's been going on in our crazy lives over the last several months.

(Caution: This post is long and picture heavy!)

In January, we listed our townhome for sale.

We found out we were pregnant in March! 

In April, we had a nice visit with the Christensens' in our nation's capital.

May brought a contract on our townhome. After a few stressful weeks of trying to get the deal to the table, (SHOUT OUT TO ANNE VOYLES...our AWESOME real estate agent!) we purchased our new house!

In June, we moved in and started a mass transformation of said house (another blog to follow with before and after pics of the inside of the house).

We spent a week in July at the beach with Nick's family and close friends!

Also, we celebrated 3 years of wedded bliss on July 22 with a yummy dinner at Atlanta Fish Market.

August brought more work in our new home and preparing the nursery for Baby A.

The end of September and half of October were full of baby showers hosted by our wonderful family, friends and co-workers.

(Baby Arnold and Baby Hill already causing mischief!)

Mandy co-hosted a shower for Marie in October as well!  

And, if you thought that we were not busy enough, we had both of our 10 year high school reunions within 3 weeks of each other.

Mandy's ten year high school reunion

Nick's ten year high school reunion

Now, we are just patiently awaiting the arrival of our baby boy who will be here in a matter of weeks! We are quickly marking off all of the things on our to-do list before his arrival!

Here We Go

We are following our friends and starting a blog! We want to be able to share the growth and cute stuff from Baby A with all of our family and friends. Let's hope that we are able to keep it up when he gets here!