Ryan had his two-month doctor visit and first round of vaccines today. As you can see, he was pretty wiped out after the fact. The poor little guy was either asleep or fussy practically all day. Other than that he is doing great.
Here are his stats today: 9 lbs 5 oz (10th percentile), 23 3/4 in long (80th percentile), and head circumference is 38 cm (10th percentile).

All of our friends here at Chambers Court had a great time barbecuing.

Today Ryan had another cardiology appointment, and it is amazing what they can tell about the heart just from listening to it. From what the cardiologist heard, it sounds like the hole in Ryan's heart is starting to close even more which is such a relief. The cardiologist says because Ryan is still doing well with his growth and breathing they will continue just to wait and see how he does. We don't have to go back for another cardiology appointment for a couple of months now.

Just in case you aren't sure where a VSD affects the heart here is a picture.


Ryan's current stats:
9 lbs 3 oz (The same as Eric's birth weight. Yes, Ryan's still our little peanut).

Got Milk?




We know when Ryan is hungry when he does the obvious, cries, but he will also sometimes pucker his lips to let us know he is ready for the bottle. When feeding Ryan we have to pay close attention to him; otherwise, the minute we look away he loses interest and stops sucking and swallowing. Before you know it, his mouth fills with milk which then drizzles all down his face. As long as we talk to him while he eats, he is a pretty clean eater. We've also noticed that sometimes he will, amazingly, suck vigorously on his bottle for 20 minutes or so when actually he hasn't drunk a thing! The milk in the bottle will be at the same level it was when we started. This is kind of funny during the day but not so funny when it's 3:00 a.m.! I don't know how he does it.

It's been so fun to see Ryan start to pay more attention to his surroundings. Just within the last couple weeks he's started to be entertained by the mobile on his swing and crib. YAY!! It's great when I'm trying to get some stuff done around the house.

Ryan had an upset tummy so we gave him a little medicine. He really liked the flavor but as you can see half of it ended up on his face.

Ryan adores his dad, he will just stare at him forever.
Here is Eric reading to Ryan

It's so fun...Ryan is starting to SMILE awake! He still doesn't do it very often so we felt lucky to catch this one on camera.



Ryan had his second doctors appointment with the cardiologist. They did an EKG and from what they could tell they think the hole in his heart is starting to close a little. So from here they will just monitor it for the next year.

Eric's parents came into town to visit us. It was so fun to have them here to see our little Ryan.

After eating at a famous Milwaukee fish fry


We went to Cederburg for Strawberry Days

Ryan had another doctors appointment yesterday. Everything checked out fine. He now weighs 7lbs 14oz which is still pretty little but he gained about an ounce a day which is what the doctor wanted to see.

These pictures show a few of Ryan's many expressions.

Kristi's parents and younger brothers came into town for a few days to visit.
Here we are at the Milwaukee Zoo.



Kristi's parents holding Ryan

Everyone eating wings

Greek Fest
Fred and Kathy, our landlords, took us to Greek Fest to eat. It was fun for us (especially Eric) because the food and dancing was a lot like what they have in Bulgaria.

Our pretty little boy!



Ryan had an appointment with his pediatrician on Friday to check his weight. He weighed 6 lb 12 1/2 oz. They are having to monitor his weight every two weeks because he was born with a VSD (ventricular septal defect). This basically means that he has a hole connecting the two sides of his heart. We met with a cardiologist who said there is a 50-60% chance the hole will close on its own. We are hopeful that it will do just that. However, because of the heart defect, the pediatrician wants to make sure Ryan is gaining adequate weight so that the cardiologist will not be forced to aggressively treat him. Ryan is such an easy going baby, however, so we are having to wake him up to eat and practically force feed him. We should know within the next couple of months whether his VSD has closed or whether it will be necessary to fix it with surgery.

Ryan's many hairdos

Ryan's having sweet dreams.



Ryan is so fun to watch when he's in a light sleep; he is all smiles. Every once in a while he'll even laugh too.

Kristi's mom came to Milwaukee for a few days to visit and help us out. She made meals, and helped with Ryan in the early morning hours. She was such a life saver.

Grandma Crump helping with Ryan's first bath

Ryan loves his bath time, as you can see he doesn't mind having the water hit his toes.