1st SNOW!!

It snowed all day Sunday. Total snow fall...2.5 inches:) Not much but the schools were all closed on Monday!

Thanksgiving Road Trip!

We drove home for Thanksgiving. We left Murray at 3:30 pm on Wednesday and arrived in Wayne at 3:30 am Thanksgiving morning. We drove through the night so Ryan could sleep. He traveled very well. He sleeps most of the time he is in his car seat. It was pretty rough on us but we made it. Lots of random conversations on a long drive especially in the middle of the night kept it interesting. We spent Thursday and Friday with my family. Saturday and Sunday was spent with the Gesells. We drove home Sunday night into Monday morning.

Ryan 4 months old!

Ryan turned 4 months old on Monday. It has gone by so fast but it has been the best 4 months. It's amazing the simplicity he brings to our lives. Just a simple smile or laugh from Ryan will make our day:) He has been busy rolling over, laughing, and smiling. He has been sticking his tongue out a lot lately and we think he might be working on some teeth as he has been extremely slobbery. He is a very easy going baby. He still is not sleeping the best at night but we are working on it. The doctor told us we could start feeding him rice cereal once a day and after he gets the hang of it we can start with veggies. He weighed 14 lbs 2 oz and is 24.5 inches longs.

1st trip to NE

We flew to Nebraska for Tiffany's wedding. It was Ryan's first trip to Nebraska and first flight. Our flight left at 9 pm from St. Louis on Thursday night and we were in Omaha a little after 10 pm. Ryan slept the entire flight:) We drove to Wayne on Friday morning. After visiting the grandparents, great grandparents and Uncle Mike we heading back to Omaha. We spent most of Saturday with Tim's family. Then it was off to the wedding. Ryan made it through dinner but afterwards we took him back to Ray and Nicole's so he could hang out with the Gesell's and we could go back to the wedding and dance:) We were back in Murray by Sunday night at 10pm. It was a quick trip but lots of fun. We'll be heading back to Nebraska over Thanksgiving. This time we'll be driving...12 hours!

Touchdown Huskers!!!

Check out Ryan laughing as Tim cheers for the Huskers!

Jess & Josh Visit!

Last weekend Jess and Josh came down for a visit. They got in Friday night and drove home Monday morning. Saturday morning I took Jess and Josh with me to Body Pump. Matt and Sara grilled burgers and brats for lunch. We then came home to watch the NE game and had friends over for BBQ nachos that evening. Sunday we headed to the Land Between the Lakes for the afternoon. It was a great weekend!

3 months old!!!

Our daily challenge is trying to keep Ryan awake from about 6-8 pm. He still isn't sleeping very well. He gets up 2-3 times a night. We have moved him to his crib. We've tried having Tim get up with him the first time he wakes at night. We try to keep him up at night. And we try to keep his bed time routine the same when possible. One of these days something will work...right?!?!

Ryan LOVES to smile and talk. He gets distracted easy when we are trying to feed him. If you make eye contact with him while eating he stops to smile. It is so cute but he only eats about 2.5 ounces at each feeding so he eats every 2 hours. Even daycare has mentioned it's hard to keep him focused. With those BIG eyes he's not going to miss a thing.

He also likes to watch me work on learning Body Pump. I think he likes the music, the movement and me practicing my cueing. A lady in one of my classes said that Body Pump music is Ryan's lullaby since I taught Body Pump up until 4 weeks before he was born.

RYAN IS 3 MONTHS OLD TODAY!! It has been the best 3 months. I love all the noises he makes...his laugh, his cooing, his squeaky noises, his sneezes...they are the best sounds in the whole world.

Daycare is going really well. Better than I expected. Work has been really busy. The wellness center will celebrate it's 10 year anniversary the end of October so it's been really fun planning for the celebration.

Ryan and Grandma Vicki

First Road Trip and Basketball Game

Last weekend Mike was invited to the John Lucas basketball camp in Louisville, KY. Tom, Vicki and Mike flew into Louisville for the weekend and we drove up to see them. It was Ryan's first road trip! He slept the entire 3.5 hour car ride both ways. It was so much fun to see Mike play basketball.

Bath Time

Last week was pretty uneventful. Another week of work went by FAST! Tim played in 2 golf tournaments over the weekend. One for church on Saturday. One for work on Sunday. Ryan and I got to spend a lot of quality time on the couch snuggling. Ryan is growing so fast and changing everyday. He LOVES his bath! Which makes us very happy. I'm not sure what we would do with a baby that didn't like the water!! He's still getting up about 2 to 3 times a night. He goes to bed early, around 7, and by about 3 am he starts to squirm. I still don't know how I'm making it everyday with so much energy with so little sleep. I guess his cute smile makes it all worth it! His favorite animal sound is the moo that a cow makes...I sometimes get a laugh out of him with that one anyway. He's also starting to reach and "bat" at objects.

Oktoberfest and Tailgating

Our friends, Heath and Julie, have an Oktoberfest party each year. Oktoberfest is a 16 day celebration that typically ends the first week in October. This year Oktoberfest started September 18 ending October 3rd. They had their party on September 18th. They make homemade brats, pretzels, German potatoes, etc. They also have a keg of Erdinger Hefe-Weis beer. We can't forget the cornhole tournament! Neither Tim or I have been on a winning team yet:)

The pictures are from Oktoberfest (Sept 18-Sara Stoffel and me with our mugs of beer) and Tailgating at the Murray State football game the weekend before (Sept 11-Heath and Julie with Ryan)

Boo Hoo and 2

This week I returned to work and Ryan turned 2 months old. Sunday before I returned to work Tim and I discussed the pros and cons of me returning to work ALL day long. I hate to leave Ryan at daycare but I really enjoy my job. After the first week I can say it's going fairly well. It may sound crazy but it works perfect if Ryan wakes up at 4am! Tim and I can get up, get Ryan ready and still have some time to play with him before heading off to work. Tim drops Ryan off at daycare at 6am so he gets extra special attention for a couple of hours before the rest of the kids arrive. Tim says there are two other kids there that early. Another infant and a 3 year old. I pick Ryan up at 2:30 so we still have the afternoon together.

Ryan's two month milestones: Lots of smiles and sometimes a giggle! He's really "talking" to us a lot. He loves to kick his legs and wave his arms. His favorite thing to do on the weekend is to watch football...go Huskers!

A+

Tim earns an A+ (++++) for being an awesome dad (and husband).

1.)Doctor's appointment: Yesterday was Ryan's 2 month doctor's appointment. I was called in to work short notice for half a day (my first day was supposed to be Sept. 13th). So Tim had to take the morning off and take Ryan to his doctor's appointment...which at 2 months means the first round of immunizations!!! I have to admit I wasn't too sad about not being there to see Ryan get his shots. I think it would have broke my heart!

2.)Taking a temperature: So yesterday afternoon Ryan had a little fever which I checked each time I changed his diaper. It continued to increase all afternoon but did not reach a temperature that was considered too high. Last night when Tim got home from work he was changing Ryan's diaper so I asked him to check his temp and without any resistance he did it. I know taking a temperature doesn't sound like a big deal but considering it was with the rectal thermometer I thought for sure Tim want to do it.

3.) Projectile vomit: There isn't much that makes Tim flinch when it comes to dealing with all the fun things that happen when having a baby. It might be because he was 14 when his little brother, Mike, came along. Earlier in the week we were in the kitchen I was handing Ryan to Tim when out of no where Ryan started throwing up. I have heard people talk about projectile vomit but until you experience it yourself it's something I would not believe could happen! It was like someone turned on a garden hose...how could a small baby produce so much, so forcefully?!?! I freaked out a little but it didn't phase Tim. He said it would happen all the time when his brother was a baby.

4.) Daycare drop off: Because the daycare is so close to Tim's work and my schedule is 6am to 2:30pm and Tim works 6am to ??, Tim will be dropping Ryan off at daycare in the morning and I'll get be pick him up when I get off work at 2:30. I hope this makes going back to work!

Labor Day weekend and Ryan's baptism

Ryan's baptism was this last weekend. Tom, Vicki, Mike (Gesell) and Lucille along with Ray, Nicole and Addison arrived late Friday night. Mom, Dave and Mike (Wiltse) arrived around noon on Saturday. Saturday we set up the back yard for the lunch we were having after the baptism, Sunday was the church service. Ray and Nicole, Mike Gesell and Mike Wiltse are Ryan's sponsors. After the church service we had friends and family over for a lunch that our friends Heath and Julie cooked on their smoker. We had ribs, chicken, green beans, potato casserole, slaw and bread pudding. Sunday afternoon we headed to the lake. The grandmas were able to watch Ryan and Addison was able to come out on the boat with us. Monday we leftovers from the baptism and headed to the lake again. It's always sad when everyone leaves...it's too quite!

First Boat Ride. Aug 28, 2010

Ryan's 1st boat ride!

Want to view more pix?

We had Ryan's newborn pictures taken when he was 2 weeks old. If you would to view his pictures (as well as my belly bump pictures) go to www. baileyandbphotography.com Enter the site and view the galleries. We are on the 1st page.

The beautiful Kentucky Lake

It's a beautiful Kentucky morning!!! Not too hot or humid...yet!!! We are heading to the lake today for the first time in about 5 weeks! Tim and our friends Matt and Sara headed out to the lake to put the boat in the water. Ryan and I will meet them for about an hour or so. I had my 6 week follow up appointment on Friday and last night it finally hit me...I could probably do some wakeboarding if I wanted to!!! I may wait just one more week and go out over Labor Day weekend:) The picture is of the guys on our boat a few summers ago. We are spoiled with calm water almost every weekend!

I love Google.

Today Ryan is 6 weeks old! The last 6 weeks have gone by so fast. Yesterday I took Ryan to the doctor because after 5 days of diarrhea, and a rash covering most of his body, I was pretty sure something I have been eating was upsetting his stomach. I had a feeling weeks ago that dairy was not agreeing with him so I had been careful of most dairy... or so I thought! The pediatrician confirmed more than likely it was dairy in my diet (shocking...an intolerance to dairy! Considering Tim and I both had problems with dairy as babies it wasn't much of a surprise). After some internet research (I LOVE google) I discovered many foods with hidden dairy. Like the NON dairy creamer I've been putting in my coffee EVERY morning and some lunch meats to name a few. I also called the family expert, Nicole (Tim's sister), to get her advice. She has been on a dairy and soy free diet since Addison was born in December. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon. I'm just glad I loaded up on Dairy Queen blizzards while I was pregnant because I won't get to have one again for a long time:(

On a positive note: Ryan weighed 10 pounds 3 ounces!!!!

Why Nugget?

I guess I should explain why our blog is titled "Nugget". While I was pregnant with "The Nugget" we did not find out if we were having a boy or girl. Instead of referring to the baby as "it" when we would talk about the baby we would say... The Nugget. I started this blog before Ryan was born. I had planned on posting pictures of my belly bump for family. Ryan is 5 weeks old and I'm really just getting started now...I'm on the ball!!! For those of you that did not see me while I was pregnant this picture was taken the morning Ryan was born.

Getting started

Ryan Thomas Gesell arrived at 10:47pm on 7.15.2010. He was 7lb 10oz and 20 1/4 inches long. We decided not to find out if he was a boy or a girl during the pregnancy so it was very exciting to hear "it's a BOY"!!! He looks a lot like Tim as a baby. He is a very good baby. He only gets fussy when hungry. He has been sleeping well at night.