Go Royals!

We took Ryan to his first Royals game last Tuesday. He did really well, and the outing was a success. We snagged a table at the bar in right field where we watched the first few innings, and Ryan got his picture taken with commentator Joel Goldberg. We then walked around the stadium and picked up his first-game certificate and bought him a ball to commemorate the occasion. He got sleepy in the bottom of the seventh and fell asleep on my chest so we found some empty seats behind home plate and enjoyed the rest of the game. The Royals won, and Zack Greinke set the franchise record throwing 15 strike outs. We had a wonderful evening and can't wait to go again this season.

We spent this weekend at the lake with our new neighbors, the Collins'! Zach, Meghan and Charlie are officially moved in next door and we're excited for all the fun to come. The weekend prior we spent a great weekend on the water with our friends Zach and Claire White. Ryan got lots of love of attention from the Whites and experienced his first campfire with them, too.

Ryan is growing up fast. He lost his horse shoe hairdo and now has blond hair coming in everywhere which makes him extra cute. He's rolling over finally and sits up unassisted although he can't get to a sitting position himself quite yet. He's trying all sorts of new solids and gives everything the same strange, disapproving face on the first couple bites. We're loving this stage and are having a lot of fun experiencing many new firsts with our little guy.

Visiting Family

Ryan and I visited Clay Center this last week to see family. We stayed with my mom and Ryan had a great time checking out all the old toys that are new and interesting to him. We went to see my grandpa and great aunt at the nursing home, and between going to the Country Club, Danny's, Tasty Pastry, Dad's office and the bank, I think we saw half of the people in town. He behaved well, really turned on the charm and blew raspberries at all of the ladies in the office. We had a nice time in Clay Center and were able to squeeze in a short visit with the Knoettgen cousins in Maple Hill on our way home.

Ryan with Nana and his great-grandpa Whetstine

getting kisses from Popo at the office

playing with Grandma Marcia

Ryan and Parker

getting some help with his binky from Finley

(it's a little alarming that he's only 3 weeks older
than Parker but is closer in size to Finley!)

Started Child Care

Ryan started child care today and we're easing into the transition so he went for a few hours this morning, will go until mid-afternoon tomorrow then all day Wednesday. He's the youngest of 5 kids: Morgan is 10 1/2 months, Madeline is 1 yr, Liam is 20 months and Hayden is 2 yrs. He was fascinated watching the older kids play and was pretty excited to check out some new toys. He did very well and, while I'm sad my little boy is growing up so fast, it's good for him to be around other children and in this new environment.

Outdoor Boy

Todd took this picture of Ryan when he was outside in his exersaucer "supervising" our yard work. He really likes being outside since there are so many new and interesting things to check out. Lately we've just been sitting down in the grass to play and he thinks that green stuff is pretty fun to grab.

This is the little guy after a swim last weekend. He lasts for a good 20 minutes these days and it wears him out which makes for a great nap afterwards!

On a less pleasant note, he has an ear infection but is feeling a little better now that the medicine has had a few days to work its magic.

New Foods and Hopefully A New Tooth

We've had a low key week here. I was in Austin for work last week and was thankful to have Kelli and Steve and Jane take turns watching Ryan during the day while Todd was at work. Todd's sister Ali drove up from San Antonio to Austin one evening so it was great to get to see her during my trip. While I was gone Ryan did all sorts of cool things for Todd. He put his binky back in his mouth, started to roll over and is doing really well at sitting up on his own.

He's definitely teething now which no fun for him or us. We hope he gets the tooth soon so that we can discontinue the Orajel and Tylenol as almost regular parts of his diet. We have been trying new foods, too, and much to my surprise, he's not that interested in the new flavors. He doesn't mind bananas but isn't excited about them either and didn't care much for the sweet potatoes. I guess I figured that after eating only breast milk and formula then a little rice cereal he would have been more interested in more flavorful food.

Weekend at Home

This is our first weekend at home since early May but we've been packing in as much as we can. Saturday morning we all woke up very early, but it was intentional unfortunately. I did the WIN for KC all women's mini triathlon for the third year in a row and was so excited to have my favorite boys there to cheer me on. Several of our friends did the race too so it was fun to see lots of familiar faces on the course.

We had a full night Saturday and spent Sunday doing yard work, running errands and visiting Erin Collins who was in from Virginia with her new baby Andrew. I'm headed to Austin for work next week and I'll miss my boys terribly.