Eleven Months Old & Home For Two Months

It's been awhile since I last posted, so I spent today trying to get caught up. I've really been thinking in this last month that I don't have much time left for being able to spend everyminute with Rylan. I know the count down is on for Rylan going to daycare and me going back to work.
On Tuesday, Oct 21, Rylan slept through the night!! He went to bed at 7:45 p.m. and woke up at 5:45 a.m. Then we found his pacifier for him and he went back to sleep until 7:15 a.m. I'm sure having a good bedtime routine helps and Rylan & daddy usually share a special quiet time in that routine.
We experienced Rylan's first shot on Thursday, Oct 23. Ron & I took him and we were expecting him to cry, but he didn't shed a tear. We'll have to see how he does in a month when he gets the second flu shot along with all his other one year shots.

Rylan still isn't interested in crawling yet. He spins when he is on his belly and then rolls to get whatever he sees. He also will sit and scoot a little on his butt, but he doesn't get very far. He knows he can cover more floor by rolling and boy can he roll quick. We are encouring him to try pulling himself up and we are trying to get him use to standing instead of sitting. We know he'll do it in his own time and I'm guessing he'll be really moving by Christmas time when we have the tree up. We'll have to see.

In preparation for next week, when I go back to work on Nov 3, I've been taking Rylan to his in-home daycare in Monticello for a few hours a day and increasing the hours and days. His first day at daycare was Mon, Oct 27. I took him to Carla's at 9:00 and he met the other kids. I left him there for a few hours and then picked him back up. I kept my tears back as I left, but as soon as I got in the car I started to cry. It was so hard leaving him. I kept teling myself it is good for both of us, but I know all other mommies reading this have been there and know what I was experiencing. It didn't get much easier on Tuesday when he went back, but it is such a joy to go pick him up. It is also a joy that he likes Carla and liks to play with the other kids. It would break my heart more if he cried when I left him, but he goes right to her so that makes me feel better. I kept him home on Wednesday and he'll go back to daycare on Thursday, 10/30. I'm keeping him home on Friday so I can enjoy him all to myself and we can get ready for Halloween.

The first haircut!

We noticed that Rylan's hair was getting a little more out of control than normal and thought it was time we get his first U.S. haircut. Daddy called his barber and we went on Saturday, Oct. 18th. Razor Ray did a great job and his wife, Lu snuck in some pictures when I was trying to keep him distracted with my sucker stick. He did great overall. Maybe next time, we'll have to time daddy's haircut with Rylan's and they can make a day of it. Here are a couple pictures of this memorable moment.

Is it October already?

It is hard to believe that it is October already, but we are trying to get outside as much as possible before the weather gets too cold. Here are a couple pictures of Rylan enjoying the fall day in the leaves. I think it may be the last day for sitting outside without a jacket. This first photo, Rylan is letting me know that I can only take one more picture because he just wants to eat the leaves and not sit still anymore. He may also be trying to tell me that the Hawks are number 1.
It is a good thing I got a smile on the last picture.

Meeting Great-Grandma Johnson

Rylan is lucky to have two Great-Grandmas. He met Grandma Holub at his baby shower and then mom & I drove to Sabula to meet Grandma Johnson. We had trouble getting a few good pictures, but at least we got a couple.
We went to the little diner in town and we ordered pancakes for lunch. As soon as they put Grandma Johnson's plate down Rylan reached and grabbed a handful of pancake. We thought that was pretty funny that he couldn't wait for us to feed him. Needless to say he loves pancakes!

A Holub Baby Shower

My mom and sister-in-laws gave Rylan and us a baby shower for the Holub side of the family, which was hosted at my parents house on Sunday, Sept 28th. Rylan met many of his great Aunt & Uncles for the first time along with many of my cousins and their children. It was a fun afternoon visiting with everyone and Rylan did very well with all the new faces he was seeing. One of Rylan's presents was his red wagon.
Rylan received so many cute outfits and a few toys that he really likes.




He also received a special gift from his Great Grandma Holub. She made him a blanket and matching pillow case and lots matching little blankets.
Here is a wonderful picture of Rylan and his Great Grandma Holub.

Third week of Sept

On Saturday, Sept 20th we celebrated Grandma Bertling's birthday at our house. Rylan met Uncle Mark & Aunt Marybeth and Uncle Leo & Aunt Caroline for the first time. He did very well with all the people around and even took his nap while missing out on the laughing that was going on outside. It was a beautiful day. Here's a picture of Ron and his brothers that could make the party.
















Here's a picture of Uncle Pete with Rylan.












Here's a picture with Aunt Caoline.












We have a picture of all the Bertling boys at the party with their sister Anna and of course their mom, the birthday girl...Christina. It is hard to believe that on Sunday, Sept 21, Rylan is already 10 months old and on Monday, he has been with us for a month. He is doing so well.

It is hard to believe that we are into our 4th week with Rylan. Last weekend we asked Aunt Lori to take a few family pictures for us.






Here is a great picture of my two guys and Ron's favorite... VWs. Maybe someday this oval will be Rylan's first VW. I can see this being a project for dad & son. :-)
This photo was taken after a fun filled afternoon with Aunt Anna and Grandma Bertling. I sat him down thinking he'd play with this book and toys and to my surprise a late afternoon nap was definitely needed.
When it is time to get the clothes off the line, Rylan gets a ride with the clean laundry.
I love his cement truck shirt and kacky shorts from Grandma Holub and here is a great picture of Rylan laughing.

Here are a few more pictures of Rylan.
We noticed this week that he is not a very good nap taker, but he definitely needs them. We try for a two hour nap in the morning and afternoon. Like clock work he wakes up exactly 30 min after he first lays down and then it might take up to an hour to get him to lay back down. He is such a fighter at going to sleep, but we still work at getting the naps taken, so he'll be in a good mood later. .
Winston and Rylan are still getting aquainted. Winston is being so great with Rylan and Rylan likes to watch Winston walk around the house. Rylan & daddy enjoy spending quiet time together after daddy gets home from work and before Rylan goes to bed
The picture of Rylan in his highchair & Winston speaks for itself. I can come up with many ieas that these two can be thinking of each other. I think it is such a cute picture. . Here is a picture of Rylan and I. I'm going to try getting someone to take a family picture of us soon, but "soon" these days is not defined. :-)

Rylan's 1st U.S. Doctor Appt

We had Rylan's first doctor appointment on Thursday, Aug 28 with Dr. Thomas at the Pediatric Center in Cedar Rapids. This appt was exactly one week after Rylan turned 9 months. He was two ounces shy of being 21 pounds and he is 30 1/2 inches long, so he is in the 50 percent tile for his weight and in the 90 percent tile for his height. Dr. Thomas noted that he is cutting a molar, so that confirms what we had suspected with the drool and pulling on his ears. She thought Rylan was a healthy and happy baby boy. We did have to take some blood and capture three stool samples for the lab just to make sure everything is okay and to confirm that he doesn't have any bacteria in his intestines that could be causing his belly pain. Watching him get his blood drawn was so tough to see. Strong daddy had to leave the room, because he couldn't stand watching his boy scream. I would have been right there with him, but I was holding on to him and I was thankful I couldn't see his face otherwise I wouldn't have been able to take it. We got the call later letting us know his labs came back ok on his blood work. We will see Dr. Thomas again in November for some immunizations after he turns one.

The first week with Rylan

The first week with Rylan has been great and it has been wonderful that Ron has been able to spend the first week off of work. We are starting to learn signs from Rylan so we know when he is tired or when he needs something. The first days home and in the beginning of the week he had a lot of problems with gas pains, so he was very uncomfortable. We now think that a lot of the pains were due to jet lag being in the sitting position for so long on the plane and it has taken a few days to get rid of the pains, but by the end of the week we could tell he was starting to feel better. Rylan is eating very well and he loves his baths. He is not taking very good morning naps and we can tell that he needs them, but he is taking on average a two hour nap in the afternoon. He loves his stroller rides! This week we are just trying to make him feel secure and comfortable. It is important this week to make sure he knows that Ron and I are his parents and we are here to take care of him. In the middle of the week, we took a ride to visit Brad Bohlken and Nate Curry (Daddy wanted to show him off a little to his friends). We also used the opportunity to surprise his will-be babysitter. She is very nice and thought it would be great for Ron & I to introduce Rylan to her and see how the other kids in her home act. Rylan and I also visitd Grandma Holub for a couple of hours and did a lot of floor time play. Great Grandma Holub also stopped by for a quick visit. Towards the end of the week, we were able to get him to take a two hour morning nap and a two hour afternoon nap. He is sleeping in his crib and wakes up about four hours after putting him to bed and then again around 2:30a.m. So far he is waking up about every hour to two hours after that. He basically just needs his pacifier put back in his mouth. He is waking up anytime between 5:30 and 7:30 in the morning. We really don't have a schedule yet, which is okay. We are very happy with how the first week has gone.

Sunday, Aug 24 with Rylan

After breakfast and with a little resistance in going down for a morning nap, we got in the car to go see Grandma & Grandpa Holub. They are letting us borrow their exersaucer to help keep Rylan challenged with his toys. While there Grandpa and Rylan bonded a little when Grandpa gave him a cracker. In the car Rylan got a little nap in so when we got home he was in a good mood for lunch. Then he got in the stroller and we sat outside on the patio while Ron mowed the lawn. It was a beautiful day and Rylan likes to be outside. Our neighbors, Denny & Sue Joslin came over to say high and meet Rylan. They also brought over a very cute bunny blanket that Sue had made. Then Morgan Murray stopped by to visit Rylan and so did Uncle Pete. Then it was time for an afternoon nap after lunch and when he woke up Aunt Anna and Uncle John were waiting to check him out. While slowly waking up, Uncle Travis, Aunt Sarah, Aunt Christine and his cousins Trey, Harlee, and Jordan stopped by to check him out. Rylan really didn't want anything or anyone, but Daddy. (I'm not sure if or how to rotate this picture, but I think it is too cute not to show.)

Our first day with Rylan, Sat. Aug. 23

Rylan woke up around 5:30 Sat morning and ate cereal with fruit. He then played well with this favorite toy from Uncle John and Aunt Anna.
Then we took a nice bath which he loved playing in the bath tub. Afer a morning nap, Grandma Bertling and Uncle John were waiting for him to wake up.
Rylan's second visitors were Grandma & Grandpa Holub, who brought Rylan his first ball and brought me some beautiful fall flowers. Then Uncle Pete & Aunt Lori visited. After their departure it was time to have a litle lunch and an afternoon nap. Kal Zimmerman stopped by to say while Rylan was eating lunch and we saw a quick smile.
During his nap he had a few more visitors. Larry & Tammy Lawrence stopped buy for a quick peak and so did Pat & Connie Brehm. JW Chapman also stopped in to see how Rylan was doing. In the afternoon, Dan, Connie, Zach, Cassie, Mackenzie Dietiker stopped by to say hi to Rylan and to bring us some yummy apple crisp.

Rylan's Gotchya Date - Friday, Aug 22, 2008

I received the travel call at 11:00a.m. Wednesday, Aug 20 from the agency telling us that Rylan was ready to come to the U.S. His flight would be arriving in Chicago at 7:35p.m. Friday, Aug 22. Ron and I were so excited that we would finally get to meet our son. We borrowed a van from a friend and invited Pat Brehm, Deb Wenger, and Kari Kromminga to go with us.
We let our house around 12:30 on Friday after figuring out the car seat and getting the cameras and diaper bag ready. We got at O'Hare around 5:00p.m. and went to dinner to kill some time, but it was hard to eat knowing it wouldn't be long. We met our greeter, Bob from the agency around 7:00p.m. and there was another family who was also waiting to meet their 10 month daughter who was on the same flight with Rylan. They were from Nashville and very sweet.
Bob received a phone call from the agency letting us know that when Rylan and his escort were in San Francisco he had not ate anything since they left Korea and had very bad diarrhea, so Bob picked up some pedialyte for us. Pat was keeping in contact with his wife Connie who was checking our flight numbers on line. O'Hare wasn't showing current flight information for their flight, but we quickly found out they were about 5-10 min early. Yippee!! We got the call, letting us know that our babies and escorts were waiting at gate 9. We were waiting at baggage claim gate 3, so we started our walk. We kept looking at everyone, trying to find our babies in the crowd and Ron saw them right away and said there they are. We saw the two babies and we knew exactly which baby was waiting for us. Our escort was very protective of Rylan and it took a little while to get him from her arms, but at 7:40 we were holding him. By 8:15 we were in our van getting on the interstate for home. He fell asleep shortly after the ride and slept until 11:30 when we pulled into our driveway. He did very well for all the changes he had just gone through in the last 24 hours. It was a wonderful night and we kept checking to see if he was really in our house and it was all real. It was a wonderful day.

We've started a blog

Hello - Since Rylan has been in our home for a week now, it is very clear to us that free time no longer exists and even reading e-mail has gotten to be a challenge. So we are going to try to blog. This way I can keep everything in one place and everyone can check in when they want to see what is new with us. It will probably take a little time before I really figure this out, so you'll have to be patient with my mistakes until I figure this out. I hope to post some pictures of Rylan in the next day or so. He is doing beter than we could have ever imagined. We can't believe he has been with us for a week already.