Rylan's 3 Week Exam

Our pediatrician's office does a 3 week exam instead of a one month exam. Rylan had his appointment today (a few days early since his doctor had no openings next week). It's obvious that he's a good eater because here are his numbers from today:

• Weight: 10 lbs, 2.5 oz (81st percentile)
• Length: 21.25 inches (64th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 37.75 cm (59th percentile)

And these were his numbers from 2 weeks ago:

• Weight: 8 lbs, 6.5 oz (62nd percentile)
• Length: 20 5/8 inches (72nd percentile)
• Head Circumference: 36 cm (47th percentile)

So Rylan put on 1.75 pounds in 2 weeks!

Rylan's belly button stump fell off this morning before his appointment. I had been a little worried about when it would fall off because it was still really raw on the bottom and bled onto his clothes sometimes. Once off, it looked weird in the middle (it was the color and texture of the umbilical cord at birth). Our pediatrician ended up sealing it with something that looked sort of like a match - it produced a little chemical reaction that essentially burned that section of the belly button. Rylan wasn't a big fan of having this done, but he didn't cry too much either.

Otherwise, everything else was routine at the appointment. We didn't really have any questions (things are so much easier the second time around!) and Rylan seems perfectly healthy.

Splash Pad

My mom and I took the kids to the splash pad this morning.

Rylan chilled out in his stroller for over an hour. I picked him up for awhile after that, but for the first hour, I was able to run around with Carter and just check on Rylan every few minutes. It wasn't that crowded at first so I was able to leave him in the shade at the end of the picnic tables and no one bothered him.


Carter had a lot of fun today. This was the first time we've been back to the splash pad since Carter has gotten so comfortable in the water at the pool. It took a little while for him get his confidence up, but he eventually was willing to run through everything.




Carter liked turning this guy around to shoot the spray in different directions ...


Carter decided to take a break for awhile and sit at the picnic tables. He kept clapping though for all the other kids running through the water.


I was really surprised that Carter liked this area. He run through these arches for about 10 minutes.

I think I'm going to be brave enough to tackle this outing on my own. We may have to leave sooner than planned if Rylan is really fussy and Carter won't play on his own, but I'm willing to give it a try.

Rylan is still doing well. I'm generally feeding him every 2 hours during the day. He starts getting fussy and tries to latch on to my bicep so I think I'm reading his cues correctly. He's not eating for that long at each feeding but I think he's getting enough quickly because he has thrown up a lot of milk the few times he has thrown up. I've tried pushing him to wait longer between feedings in an effort to eat for longer at each feeding but he doesn't seem to eat more when I do this so we're sticking with lots of short feedings for now. Most nights I can push Rylan to 3 hours between feedings at least once but that requires that he stays in his swaddle. Rylan is super strong and gets out of my best swaddles quite often. When he does that, he tends to only sleep about an hour before starting to fuss. I bought some muslin Aden + Anais swaddling blankets that are nice and lightweight, but I'm having more trouble keeping Rylan's arms in those. Hopefully I'll get better soon!

Rylan is still sleeping a lot during the day. I've been trying to keep him up more during the day in an effort to make sure he sleeps at night. He's slowly staying awake a little more each day.

Rylan has been doing a really good job of putting up with sponge baths and tummy time. He doesn't fuss much during either. He is getting stronger and can hold his head up during tummy time for probably 20 seconds. When you lay down next to him, he tends to turn his head so that he's not looking at you. Carter wanted to lay with Rylan tonight and kept having to switch sides so he could have Rylan look at him. Luckily Carter never stepped on him.

Rylan has a doctor's appointment on Friday and we're curious to see how much he weighs. using our scale and weighing myself alone and with Rylan, we think he's up to around 9.5 lbs. He's still wearing the newborn sized Pampers Swaddlers which are supposed to only fit up to 10 lbs. The size 1 are supposed to start at 8 lbs, but they are huge on Rylan. We tried out Huggies with Rylan like we did with Carter (I still had some left over from Carter), but they leaked almost every time he wore them. And the size 1 Swaddlers leak right now too because they are too big. And there's only been 3 times that Rylan has peed on us when changing his diaper. Carter had already marked his territory many more times at this point. I keep letting my guard down though so when it does happen, there's a bigger mess. Boys are so much fun!

Fireworks

Brian's parents visited us the weekend of the 4th to meet Rylan. Here are some pictures of them with the little guy ...



We kept Carter up on the 4th to see the fireworks in our neighborhood. There are still quite a few lots that haven't been built on in our section of our neighborhood and so several groups of people set up large firework displays on the street that is blocked off to traffic. And because we're on a little ridge, we can see several other local displays above the trees (we can even see the high fireworks from the downtown show).

Unfortunately, Carter didn't respond as we had expected. We thought he'd love the fireworks. Instead, he got really scared (this kid is usually scared of nothing!). He wanted to be picked up as soon as we were outside and kept pointing back at the front door. He was whining and just acting weird. When I sat on the couch on the porch, Carter got on the couch next to me and buried his head behind me.

We should have done a better job of preparing him for the loud noises. Plus it was way past Carter's bedtime so that probably had something to do with it. Oh well.

Dimples

I took some pictures of Rylan today for his birth announcements and here are a few cute ones that I'm not using.

Rylan showing off his dimples ...


Studying the camera ...


"No more pictures!" ...

Rolling Over

From www.babycenter.com ...

"Your baby may be able to kick himself over, from his tummy to his back, as early as age 2 to 3 months."

Rylan at 12 days old ...

We're in trouble!

My Three Guys

Rylan Observations

Before Rylan changes too much, I wanted to write about some of the things we've noticed about him.

Rylan does not have Brian's eyelashes like Carter does. Carter's were long and full from birth. Rylan just has a few short eyelashes right now. Looks like he's going to take after me on this one.

Rylan has dimples in both of his cheeks. His face is a little chubby right now so I'm not sure if they are going to stay. Rylan doesn't show his dimples off very often, but when he does, they are very cute.

Rylan still doesn't open his eyes all that much. He started off usually opening only his right eye when he wanted to look around a little. He's starting to look around more now, but he doesn't open his eyes up fully very often. Carter opened his eyes up wide from the day he was born. He had an intense stare that made him look like he was taking everything in. Rylan seems to not be as worried about what's going on around him.

Rylan's eyes are a dark blue-gray right now. I know Carter's started off darker than the light blue they are now, but I'm not sure if they were this color or not. Rylan's hair is darker than Carter's was when he was born. However, Rylan's hair color is already changing. It was a medium brown color when he was born and is starting to lighten up. I think the darker hair is falling out and the lighter, fuzzier hair is now more visible. I hope it's falling out because Rylan has a patch of hair on the top of one of his ears that I'm hoping falls out!

Rylan is so hairy still! I know it's supposed to rub off after a few weeks, but he's like a little teddy bear right now. The hair is white so it's not very noticeable, but he's covered in it!

Rylan got his first sponge bath at home on last Friday (July 2nd). He's had a couple more since then. He's been doing a good job of putting up with them without too much fussing.

When we put Rylan on his stomach for some tummy time, he's pushes his feet on the ground scooting forward already (he moves a lot if you put your hand behind his feet). The other night he almost turned over on his own when he got his feet going and started rotating his hips. We might be in trouble if this one figures out turning over and crawling early. It's not too hard with two right now when one stays where you leave him!

Carter is still doing great with Rylan - no injuries so far! Carter loves to give Rylan kisses on the top of his head. He also loves to put his head up to Rylan's as a sort of hug. He started giving Rylan fist bumps yesterday. Carter wants to hold him a lot and be close to him. Carter really does like his brother so far.

I still can't get over how big Carter seems now that we have a newborn around. I've always thought he was tiny (which on the percentile charts, he is small for his age). But now he seems like a giant. His hands and feet seem so big and meaty. Changing his diaper is so different than changing Rylan's - his diapers are huge! I'm starting to get used to Carter's size again, but it was just the weirdest thing for both Brian and me at first.

Rylan Photos - 10 Days Old

Smoky Mountains

We've been going a little crazy sticking close to the house since we got home from the hospital, so Brian and I decided to take a trip to the Smokies today with the boys. It has been super hot here so we've been stuck inside most of each day (close to 100F today), but luckily it was much cooler at the higher elevation and shade (closer to mid-80s).

I was a little nervous about the 1.5 hour drive each way but the boys did awesome. Rylan was a little fussy on the way home, but it was nothing we couldn't tune out. He did a good job calming himself down after a few minutes of screaming each time.

We drove in through Townsend and headed up to the Chimneys picnic area. We got there around 11:15 am before it got crowded. It filled up quickly but is set up well so that it wasn't annoying with the traffic through the area.

Rylan chilled out in his carseat while I got lunch set up and Brian and Carter played ...


Carter found sticks right away!


Lunch was good except for when Carter fell off the bench of the picnic table. He fell straight back onto his back and got a little cut on his scalp. There was some blood, but Carter got over it after just a couple of minutes. He's a tough one!

Rylan and me ...


Carter had so much fun exploring!


Me and my two boys!


I love this picture!


Carter had fun playing in this little stream that runs into the river that borders the picnic area. The water was freezing and Carter ended up falling on his butt once and getting his shorts soaked. He never seemed to notice though.


I really, really love this picture!


Carter got really good at climbing around the rocks. Brian had to help him out in some areas though.



Checking out the river ...


I put Rylan in the Baby Bjorn while we explored the river with Carter ...


We spent about 2 hours in the picnic area eating and exploring. We had so much fun!

On the way out of the park, there was a wreck on Newfound Gap Road (the only road that cuts through the center of the park and connects the NC and TN sides). The road was completely blocked and we didn't move at all for about an hour. Luckily the boys were AMAZING! Rylan was awake the whole time but didn't fuss much. Carter stayed in his carseat and we read books and played with his toys that were in the car. Right before the road opened up, Rylan decided he'd had enough so we got both boys out of the car only to have to put them back into their carseats after a couple of minutes. At least we started moving again!

We stopped by the Sugarlands visitor's center and got Rylan his own National Parks Passport like the one we have for Carter.


Rylan got his first stamp at 9 days old!


I'm so glad that we were brave enough to take the boys on this short road trip today. We had so much fun and it was GREAT to get out of the house!

Rylan's First Doctor's Appointment

Rylan went to the pediatrician the day after we got discharged from the hospital for his first checkup (he did get seen by a pediatrician every day we were in the hospital too). Our normal doctor was out of the office that day so we say another doctor in the practice. We really liked her so we were okay with seeing someone different this time.

Rylan's weight took the normal dip while we were at the hospital. He was born weighing 9 lbs. On Tuesday morning he was down to 8 lbs, 11 oz and on Wednesday morning down to 8 lbs, 5 oz. Rylan was approaching the 10% loss that seems to be the cutoff for acceptable weight loss so they weighed him again in the afternoon. He had dropped to 8 lbs, 3 oz so we had to start supplementing with formula. My milk took a little longer to come in this time, most likely because of the c-section. We fed Rylan up to an ounce of formula after I nursed him. Hungry boy gobbled up that formula! By Thursday morning, Rylan was up to 8 lbs, 7 oz so were able to stop the supplementing.

At the pediatrician's office on Friday, Rylan weighed 8 lbs, 6.5 oz. So he was holding steady without any more supplementing. Rylan also "shrank" just like Carter and measured only 20 5/8" long (instead of 21.5"). We were told they measure to the toes at the hospital instead of the heal.

So here are Rylan's percentiles as a newborn:

• Weight: 8 lbs, 6.5 oz (62nd percentile)
• Length: 20 5/8 inches (72nd percentile)
• Head Circumference: 36 cm (47th percentile)

Rylan also had slightly elevated bilirubin levels in the hospital. I think it got as high as 9.1 (which is low enough not to require any treatment). The pediatrician thought his coloring looked good at his appointment so we didn't have to worry about it.

Everything else during the exam was normal and Rylan will be going back for his next checkup when he is 3 weeks old.