15 Month Checkup

Rylan had his 15 month appointment today with the new pediatrician we picked in Franklin. The office seems to be used by almost everyone we've met and we liked the doctor we chose. He spent a lot of time with us, was very thorough discussing shots, and lectured us (just a little) on giving Rylan more vegetables. (Since he's stopped eating baby food, I haven't been great about giving him vegetables everyday.) He's very different than our last pediatrician. The doctor in Knoxville was very laid back while this guy is a little high strung. However, we felt like we got a lot more information and I can handle a little bit of a lecture about things I know I should be doing.

Both boys (and me) have had nasty colds this week. Carter is almost over his, I'm not far behind him (hopefully), and Rylan is at the peak. So he was not in a good mood the entire appointment.

In the last 3 months, Rylan has gained just over 1.5 pounds and has grown more than 2 inches.

Rylan's 15 month stats:

• Weight: 26 lbs, 2 oz (75th percentile)
• Length: 31.75 inches (70th percentile)
• Head Circumference: ??? inches (97th percentile)

Rylan's 1 year stats:

• Weight: 24 lbs, 7 oz (75th percentile)
• Length: 29.5 inches (50th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 19.25 inches (95th percentile)

Rylan got three shots today. We held off on the flu vaccine since both boys are still sick. We scheduled an appointment for them to get those next Saturday.

I wasn't a big fan of how slow the nurse was to give the shots. She took forever to get the cap off of each needle and then put it down before going to the next one. It seemed like Rylan was on the table forever being held down before I could pick him up. But he survived and stopped crying after a few minutes.

After Rylan's appointment we went straight to the park to meet up with some of Carter's PDO classmates for a playdate. Two other parents showed up with their girls. Here's a picture of Carter playing with Sarah Kate ...


I have no idea what that expression on Carter's face is all about.

Rylan took short naps (less than five minutes) on the way to and from the park. When we got home he was falling asleep in his seat during lunch so I put him down for an early nap. He slept about 2 hours and then woke up grumpy. He seemed a little warm but I wasn't sure if it was from his cold (Carter had a fever on Wednesday) or from his shots. He sat on the couch and cuddled with me for 2 hours during Carter's nap. Then he took another hour nap. He was burning up after that nap so I finally gave him some Tylenol. Once that kicked in, he perked up and was back to his normal self. I'm hoping he feels better tomorrow!

Rylan's First Steps

Rylan finally decided he wanted to walk this evening.

He walked to both of us several times usually taking 2 or 3 steps each time.

Date with Rylan

I had a "date" with Rylan today at the zoo while Carter was at school. We spent a couple of hours there after Rylan's morning nap and lunch before we had to get Carter.

Rylan really likes animals right now. Whenever we see a dog or squirrel or any other animal while out, he points at it, smiles, and makes excited sounds. When we go to the zoo with Carter, Rylan spends a lot of time in the stroller and I don't get to point out all the animals to him. But today he was mostly standing at exhibits or I was holding him.

Rylan's favorite animals were still the meerkats ...




There were people in the alligator exhibit so they were really active and swimming around today ...


Rylan stood on this bridge and all the fish showed up below him. They kept sticking their open mouths out of the water as if begging for food. Luckily, Rylan didn't have anything to share. I know he would have because of how much he gives to Charlotte.





One giraffe came up pretty close again today ...


I had a lot of fun just hanging out with Rylan today. It's nice to give him my complete attention for awhile like I used to give Carter when he was younger.

Playdate and House Progress

This morning we met Missy and her kids and Missy's twin sister (Heather) and her son at Granny White Park. The weather is so nice right now. It's still warm enough for t-shirts and shorts, but you don't get so hot and sweaty.

Rylan really liked the dinosaurs ...


Luke (who is 5 months old) with Rylan (who is 15 months old today) ...


Don't the boys look thrilled to be getting their pictures taken with me?!?


There wasn't much visible progress on the house Monday night and we skipped going out there last night because Brian got home late from work. There was a ton of new stuff to inspect tonight though!

We have (most) windows!


A lot of plumbing has been run ...


The furnace is now in the attic space and all the duct work has been installed ...


Carter is so happy to finally have stairs. He would get so upset if one of us went up to the second floor without him. Brian actually put Carter on his shoulders the other night and climbed the make-shift ladder up to the second floor so Carter could get a look.


The fireplace was installed ...


Even things like hose bibs have been installed ...


It's hard to get a good look at things right now with it starting to get dark earlier. Hopefully Brian will get home from work early tomorrow or Friday so we can inspect things a little better.

Caitlyn & Alek

We met up with Amy and her kids today since they were in town so Chad could go to the Titans game. They were coming from Smyrna (a suburb southeast of Nashville) so we met them in Murfreesboro, which is east of Franklin and a bit further down on I-24 from Smyrna.

We started off at Old Fort Park which has a large wooden playground.

Alek turned one a couple of months ago. Our little ones are getting so big!


This was the best picture I got of all 4 kids (it's almost impossible to get them all to stay in one place) ...


Caitlyn and Carter were so happy to see one another!



We went to lunch at Ruby Tuesday. We survived 4 kids with only 2 adults, but barely.



"Here Alek, have a Goldfish" ...


After lunch we went to the Discovery Center, a children's museum in Murfreesboro.

Caitlyn and Rylan driving the fire truck ...


Digging in pebbles for fossils was probably Rylan's favorite thing at the museum ...


Carter got to pet a python ...


Carter put up with this very heavy firefighter uniform long enough for me to get a picture ...


Caitlyn and Rylan cooking ...


Rylan was really good at the xylophone ...


The car repair area was pretty cool ...


I'm so glad that we were able to see Amy, Caitlyn, and Alek today. We miss them a lot!

Cheekwood

This morning we took Carter to Lowe's to build a firetruck.



Rylan was super happy to get ahold of a hammer. I think Carter was just a few months older than Rylan when we started taking him to these workshops. I was constantly catching Rylan before he smacked himself in the face with the hammer.



After Lowe's we drove up to Cheekwood, a botanical garden and art museum. We bought an annual membership because they do a lot of neat events there and it's just a fun place to explore.

On Saturday mornings they have a program called Saturday AM where kids can do art projects for free. Today's project was making a train ...


Through the end of the year, the garden has a large model train exhibit. The boys loved it. Rylan was especially excited and hooted and pointed at all the trains.








After checking out the trains, we explored the gardens for a little bit until Brian's allergies got the better of him. We are really hoping these allergies end soon!

There is a random frame set up in the gardens to take your picture in ...



The Japanese Garden was really pretty ...




Carter liked watching the water cascade down this stream ...


Now that we have a membership, we'll probably be going back here a lot. There are a bunch of scarecrows set up in the gardens during October and they supposedly decorate a lot for Christmas.

The only negative of the place was that I found a tick on Rylan tonight when I was changing him into his pajamas. Luckily it was crawling on his chest and not attached yet. I thoroughly checked the boys from head to toe after that.