It's time for a long-overdue update to the blog. It has been a while since the last update, and a lot has happened. Of course there are updates for Matt, so let's start there... Although he still doesn't seem to want to talk to us, he definitely understands a lot, and recently we think he said what might be considered his first "real" words - sit and stand. He plays a game where he squats and we (me, Jimmy, and Matt) say sit and then he pops up and we all say stand. Granted, sit sounds a little like sh** and stand sounds more like "sta" but whatever. We're pretty sure he really is saying those words. Matt has also learned how to get on his caterpilar rocker (like a rocking horse - just a caterpilar - we'll have to post pics of that later) and rock (as opposed to just pushing it). He also continues to love being outside, playing in his wading pool as well as his new sprinkler (pics of those will have to come later, too - I don't have them handy unfortunately). Matt continues to eat well, laugh a lot, and find new ways to showcase his personality.
Here's a quick pic of our happy boy. Doesn't he look so grown up??
In other news... up until a little over a week ago, I looked like this:
But now I don't.... we welcomed a new addition to our family... Ryan David Culbertson joined us Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 10:49pm. He weighed 8lb 12 oz and was 20in long. Ryan was a bit stubborn in terms of joining us and was determined not to come out without a fight! In fact, his "failure to progress," being in a sunny side up position, his size (doc thought he was going to be small, but nope...) and wrapping the umbilical cord around his little neck led to the doctors performing a c section (aka mandatory eviction). So, despite his best efforts, Ryan made his appearance.
Here's Ryan with Dr. Gros, saying his official hello:
And getting cleaned up. His unhappy face definitely reminded us of Matt's unhappy face:
The sign on his bassinet in the hospital:
I love baby feet:
Here he is, only a few days old, already so wide-eyed and alert:
Up close and personal... you can see a bit of jaundice in his eyes. His bili levels never got high enough to require him to have phototherapy and be under the lights like his big brother. We did have to return to the hospital the day after we were discharged, however, to check his bili levels again (they were obviously fine).
Mom, Dad, and Ryan... if only Matt were in this photo...
Proud Daddy:
Relaxing in Daddy's lap at the hospital:
Matt visited the day after Ryan was born. He was so curious about his little brother, and when we put Ryan down on his level, he just looked back and forth at him, then Jimmy, then Ryan, then me, then Ryan...and so forth, just smiling... We told him to "be nice" and "be gentle" and that made him start petting Ryan. (Back story: we always would tell Matt to be nice/gentle to Marley so he didn't hurt her while he petted her... and then when he plays with my hair or glasses, we say be nice/gentle and he'll start petting my hair. So, clearly, he thinks that be nice/gentle means "pet whatever you're near" - but that's ok. Very cute). Here's a pic of Matt meeting Ryan for the first time (and petting him):
We were discharged from the hospital on Sunday, with Ryan weighing 7lb 14 oz. (Since then we've had a follow-up appointment and he had regained almost half the weight he lost already - so there's a good chance he's going to be a big guy just like his brother.) Right before leaving, the hospital took a photo to post on their "baby faces" website. Here's the pic:
Back at home, there has been lots of sleeping, eating, and resting going on. Here's a pic of me with Ryan from today. Jimmy came home from work to find us crashed out asleep. He thought it was cute so he snapped a pic:
Here we are... this time I'm awake:
Ryan asleep... so cute:
Last but not least, we thought we'd share our walking example of why there are child-proof caps on pill bottles... Matt got ahold of my pills and decided to walk around with the.
Of course, since there were three bottles and he only has two small hands, he had to use his mouth. Nice.
That's all for now. We'll try to get some more pics posted (e.g., those pool and sprinkler ones of Matt I mentioned) as well as some videos. We also need to take a family pic - and when we do we'll get that on here as well.
