Sydney and Ryan's Blog

Holiday Tree Set-Up

2005-12-06T08:23:00.000-08:00

As always we took time during Thanksgiving to set up our holiday tree. This year we replaced our 4 1/2 foot tree with a 6 foot. This was also the first year Sydney could participate in decorating the tree.

Here is the tree before we started to decorate:

Sydney going through ornaments:

Ryan playing in his seat:

Sydney giving Daddy ornaments:

Daddy helping Sydney hang an ornament:

And here is our finished product:

We had a great time decorating!

Thanksgiving

2005-12-06T07:16:00.000-08:00

This year was Ryan's very first Thanksgiving! Unfortunately for him, he was too young to eat any of Mommy's cooking!

Just like every year, Thanksgiving was held at our house, with Mommy & Daddy doing all of the cooking! We were joined this year by Bubbie & Grandpa and Grammy & Gramps. This was a fairly small gathering this year, but very nice and fun. We had our family's traditional holiday meal, which includes sweet & sour meatballs to start, a big turkey, roasted potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, and corn pudding. Of course dinner is finished off with pumpkin and apple pie!

Here are Sydney and Baylie watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade:

Here is Bubbie after feeding Ryan his traditional Thanksgiving formula:

Grammy giving Sydney a big kiss:

Grandpa took this family picture - this is also our card picture for this year:

All in all it was a wonderful holiday!!!!!

Updates and Going Ons!!!!!

2005-11-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

The month of October was quite a busy month for us! With the high holidays and lots of activities, we were certainly out and about!

On Saturday, October 15th, we took the kids to Stasburg, Pennsylvania to the Strasburg Railroad. It was so fun! We got to ride a steam engine out into scenic PA! There were lots of activities for the kids like riding the Cranky Car and taking a ride on the Cagney Train. From Stasburg we went to Lancaster to do some shopping. Of course this was Mommy and Aunt Melissa's choice of activities! We got lots of good deals, and got home REALLY late!

Sydney on the Cranky Car:

On Sunday, October 16th, we all went pumpkin picking at Summer's Farm in Frederick. We always love taking a hayride to choose our pumpkins. As always, we picked the coldest and windiest day of October! This was also the first year we enjoyed some additional activities, such as the slides.

Mommy, Ryan & Sydney on the hayride:

Mommy, Ryan & Sydney in the Pumpkin Patch:
Daddy & Sydney in the Pumpkin Patch:
Sydney proudly displaying her pumpkin:
Sydney enjoying a barrel ride:
Sydney on the slide:
Mommy & Ryan on the slide:

What a fun day at Summer's Farm!!!!!

With Ryan turning 4 months old on October 18th, he had a well-baby check that Monday. He weighed in at 13 pounds, 2 ounces with his length at 23 1/2 inches. He is in the 5th percentile for length and head circumference, and 25th percentile for weight! He is doing well developmentally, "talking" to us all of the time, smiling and laughing, and enjoying playing with toys, which he can now hold. He is still inconsistent on his feedings, still ranging with an average feeding of 5-7 ounces 4 times per day. He has started eating solid food, including oatmeal and rice cereal, applesauce, bananas, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash. He does not like sweet potatoes, but does like everything else! Way to grow Ryan!

Halloween was quite fun this year! We had lots of fun dressing Ryan up for his first Halloween! Ryan was a 101 Dalmation, and Sydney was a Care Bear. We took both kids trick-or-treating, though only Sydney got candy. She is allowed to have 1 lollipop a day, and most of the rest of the candy was confiscated by Mommy and Daddy.

Sydney as a happy Care Bear:

Ryan in his Dalmation costume:
Sydney holding Ryan:
Sydney trick-or-treating:
Mommy and Ryan trick-or-treating:
We have enough candy to last us until next Halloween!!!!!

Yom Kipper

2005-10-14T17:36:00.000-07:00

So Yom Kipper was Wednesday - Thursday. Our family observed on Thursday. Sydney and I went to services which we both enjoyed. She seems to understand what the holiday is about and enjoyed the Rabbi's story and singing. Ryan stayed home with Jasmine for this year.

For Break Fast, we went to Peggy and Gil's house, which is our yearly tradition. This year Sydney and Hannah were old enough to play together, and Wow, they had a good time! It was so fun to watch them interact with each other. They even shared!!!!

On another note, Ryan went to the pediatrician twice this week, Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday I took him in because he was not eating well, and spent most of the day screaming. Dr. Burns couldn't find anything wrong, thinks it was mostly teeth (or lack thereof) that was bothering him. I was told to continue giving Motrin and Tylenol to help with the pain. He weighed 13 pounds. On Thursday, I took him in to get his Prilosec prescription adjusted. He has been pretty uncomfortable again, and it seems the medication is wearing off quicker than it should. Dr. Burns saw him again, and adjusted the medication. He seems to be more comfortable now, and is certainly eating better! He weighed 12 pounds, 12 ounces.

First Entry!!!!

2005-10-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

So this is our first blog post! Finally decided this is a good way to document every little detail about the kids and us! So, here it goes!

As of today, Oct. 6, 2005, Sydney is now 3 years, 8 months (tomorrow!). She is attending preschool at Beth Sholom Nursery School 3 days a week, and loves it! Her teachers speak very highly of her, saying she is becoming much more interactive with the kids in her class, especially the two other little girls, Elle and Sydney. She mostly enjoys circle time. She is also taking sign language on Wednesdays, and is continuing with gymnastics. As of today, she is in pull-ups at nap and night, wears size 3T clothes, size 8 shoes.

Ryan is now 3 1/2 months old. He has suffered with acid reflux since birth, however is doing much better since being placed on Prilosec at 2 months. He takes between 6 and 7 ounces of formula, 4 times a day. He is sleeping completely through the night, from 8:30pm until 7am! He can grasp objects when placed in his hands. He loves playing on his gymini, and paying lots of attention to Sydney and Andrew. He is beginning to try to roll over, I noticed today he has been rolling onto his side! He has begun to teethe, though we don't expect to see any teeth until the spring! He smiles, laughs and coos all of the time! He wears size 1 diapers, 3-6m clothes (though a bit long still), no shoes.

As a family, we celebrated Rosh Hashanah this week. This was Ryan's first, and unfortunately he began the holiday with a bit of a cold. He is doing better now. Sydney seemed to enjoy the holiday, especially once Grandpa told her it was the world's birthday. She then insisted on singing "Happy Birthday" when we dipped our apples in honey. Dinner overall went well - for the first time, I got everything prepared before family arrived, and completely cooked! Yay for me!

From Saturday, September 24 until Thursday, September 29, we took our first family vacation since Ryan's birth to Ocean City, Maryland. We went with Fran, Dmitry, and Zach. We had a great time! Sydney loved playing in the sand, Ryan loved napping on the sand! We rode the turreys (bikes with steering wheels and 4 wheels), rode the tram, and took Sydney on go-carts. Here are some pictures from our trip:

Ryan enjoying his activity dome on the beach:

Sydney all bundled up after enjoying a swim:

Ryan enjoying a stroll on the boardwalk:
Sydney on the boardwalk:

Sydney getting ready for her first go-cart ride:
What a great vacation!