a day at the beach

Ryan's first day at the beach!  We took a walk along the Tennessee Valley Trail in Marin, to Tennessee Beach.  A beautiful day.

we're almost there

my cousin Lara and her boyfriend Matt were in town for the weekend, from Vermont

Ry started to get a little fussy in the Ergo carrier, so he got to ride with dad like a sack of potatoes

our picnic spot

putting his feet in the sand with Nanny...love those chunky legs Ry!

look mom, sandy feet!

the anticipation of the cold water....

climbing on dad

a great day had by all

nap time

So...I put Ryan down for his afternoon nap today, and I heard a little whimpering from his room like normal...his way of telling me he wasn't done playing yet.  But that sound quickly disappeared, a little too quickly, I thought to myself.  So I checked the video monitor, and faster than both Eddy and I knew we could, we ran upstairs to his room to find this....

That's right folks, Ryan figured out how to pull himself up to standing in his crib today.  All by himself.  Good thing I lowered the mattress 2 days ago.  And he couldn't have been prouder of this new accomplishment.

adventures in crawling

Our little guy woke up on Wednesday morning, and had finally figured out how to advance his hands while on his hands and knees, and now we can say he's officially crawling.  He's not super fast yet, but he's working on it.  For now we're just loving watching him explore everything new...including the kitchen floor, bedroom closet, etc.

 "Hey mom, check out this other baby looking at me!"

mmmm, tasty camera strap

adventures in magazine shredding

exploring new worlds....the kitchen floor

a bird's eye view

playing peek-a-boo with dad

this time Ryan crawled completely into the exersaucer...

and he still has the occasional melt down...

finally...the giggles!

Just a quick clip of Ryan...demonstrating how much he loves the exersaucer...


And although we've heard snippets of this for the past few months, he's now finally giggling, like with a purpose, at the things he thinks are funny. And when he really gets going, pretty much anything is funny. It's enough to make anyone smile and laugh. Which is what we've been doing a lot of in recent days. How can you not?

6 month photo shoot

Ryan had his 2nd photo shoot of his life last week, and again he was nothing but smiles under the lights of the camera.  He loved every minute.  As did mom, watching from behind the bright lights. 

And as for his 6 month doctor visit last week, he is doing great...weighing in at 18 lbs 14 oz (he's finally slowing down on his weight gain...thank goodness!) and 28 3/4 inches long.  He had 3 shots this time around, and Ryan's getting so used to them he didn't even cry with the first one.  There were a few tears with the other two, but a quick recovery.  Such a change from his first experience!

mother's day and more

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

We spent the afternoon at my parents' house, visiting with the Seattle Kuzaks who had come to town for a long weekend.  It was great to see the family, and for the cousins to play... although I think Ryan spent more time watching and wanting to play with the big kids than actually playing.  And Elena and Connor were too busy actually playing to notice baby Ryan much.  But we still had fun.  

Connor is walking!  And Ryan is jumping (and making Dzia Dzia's low back get a workout)

Elena tickling Ryan

Auntie Kim getting her baby fix.  And Ryan in my lap...fascinated by what Dzia Dzia is saying

trying to eat....er, playing puppets with Nanny

we tried to recreate the picture we took at Christmas, when Ryan was about 8 weeks old and before Connor was as mobile.  This was a much harder photo to take again, as no one wanted to sit still or look at the camera this time around.  Within a few seconds chaos had ensued...

...and then Connor began to "straighten" Nanny's paintings on the wall, and the photo shoot was over.

Earlier in the weekend, Eddy's good friend Patti from PT school was in town to visit.  It was fun to catch up, and Ryan certainly put on the charm for her. 

And last week we took advantage of the beautiful weather, and took Ryan to the park for his first ride on the swings.  He loved it...although he's got some growing to do before he actually fits in those things.  It was more like a reclining lounge chair on a chain for him.