Happy Halloween!!

My mom keeps dressing me up in this uncomfortable orange sack with a hood. I can't hear anything and it falls over my eyes! Everyone smiles and laughs at me. I don't get it.



This is my "Abuela" Merche. She is my mom's godmother. She comes and visits me and sings songs.


Elliott and I went for a ride in my new red wagon in our pumpkin outfits. It was kind of cold!



I'm eating cereal now, and sometimes vegetables. I like food. I see my mom and dad eating all kinds of good smelling things and I wish I could too!


My "auntie" Shelley came for trick or treating and she got a silver can full of liquid. She's a fun lady.



This is my friend, Olivia. She lives down the street and comes to visit me sometimes. Her parents put a funny outfit on her too. I think all parents might be crazy!!

My Fifth Month

This is my special fishing outfit my Mumsy gave me. I can't wait to go fishing with Daddy! Sometimes I go to visit Mumsy for the day. She takes care of me and we hang out. I get to go to coffee at Roosevelt Market and sometimes her friends come over.


These cows were so loud; I couldn't believe it! Daddy was wrestling the little ones and I watched.

We went to the park the other day. It was really pretty with every color of leaf. It was pretty, but really windy.


I like to sleep a lot. I take a couple naps every day and I go to bed after dinner about 8 or so. Sometimes they put me in my crib and I'm not even tired. Do those eyes look tired to you?? For being smart, my parents are sometimes pretty slow. Oh well, they'll learn.

My Fourth Month

I've been having a lot of fun. My daddy must be the funniest guy in the world. He does all kinds of noises and plays with me a lot.


Here I am at four months with my bunny. I was almost fifteen pounds at my four month check up!

My cousin Elliott comes over a lot and we play. He rolls over on me and even sometimes bites me!

He's still bigger than me, but I'm gaining on him I think!

Mom and dad like to put me on my tummy a lot. I don't like it that much so I've started rolling over more.

My Third Month

I just turned three months on August 15th and they say I'm growing like a weed. I weigh over 13 pounds now. I say I'm growing like a baby not a weed, but they still don't seem to understand my words even though I talk a lot.


This was a fun day. The neighbors brought their baby over to see me and Elliott.



I get to take baths again now that my face is all healed. It's fun! Mom and Dad said I look like a Jedi in my towel. I don't know what that is, but I heard them say something about special powers so I guess it's OK to be a Jedi.


One special power I have now is the power to sleep anywhere:

I just got a new chair with my name and everything and it's small enough that I already kind of fit in it. Here I am, lounging:


Here I am with my bunny again. I wrestle lots with dad, so here's a move I learned:


I'm not just bigger than the bunny now, I'm smarter too! Sometimes I help mom and dad water the garden (OK really I just go with them, but some day I'll help). We grew these tomatoes, daddy made the bread, and daddy caught the fish. The rest of it all came fresh from friends and relatives...


OK, that picture isn't nearly as great because it doesn't have a cute baby (namely me) in it, but my parents are pretty proud of their garden so I said it was OK and I'd share my blog.

Babies, babies, babies...

This is a baby nest. I'm glad Atticus was on the bottom because he's a lot bigger than I am, and soft so he makes a good pillow. The other baby is my cousin Olivia.


Here I am with my cousin Elliott in daddy's comfy chair:

Here we are with our moms:


And last, but not least, here I am with my cousin Paige. She's nice and she likes to hold me.

Great Escapes...

When I got home from the big brick building, mom made me a special new place to sleep. Instead of my big crib, I stayed in the little white crib and it was propped up on one end and mom built me a little nest. I could barely move! And to make things worse, all the sudden I couldn't bend my arms either!


This really frustrated me:



After a while, I found out that if I moved around a lot, then my arms would be free:
When mom came in on that day, she was amazed at how far I threw that arm band!

At night it was worse. They would put those bands on and then they would wrap me in this fuzzy thing that mom called a straight jacket, but I still managed to get a hand out....


and sometimes more...

If they think they can tie me down, they're just plain silly!


"Power to the babies, man!" Don't let them tie you down either!

My First Surgery

I was born with a cleft lip and palate. Here's a picture of me at about 4 weeks where you can see it up close:


On July 19th, Mom woke me up at 3:15. I'd been trying to sleep in longer, so I thought it was kind of strange, but I never turn down a good meal so I ate it right up. Then Daddy came and woke me up at 5:15. I figured something strange was going on and I hoped it was something fun. Then they took me back to that big brick building where we stayed when I was born. We waited a long, long time. Mom says that's because they rescheduled my surgery from 7:30 to 9:30, but all I know is that I was getting really really hungry and no one was doing anything about it. I cried and tried to let them know, but they wouldn't do anything, so I just gave up and went back to sleep. Here we are waiting:


Here I am in the weird gown they put on backwards. It had pictures of rocket ships on it.


All the sudden Daddy gave me to this guy:


The next thing I knew I was waking up and my mouth felt all funny. Mom and Dad weren't anywhere around until these two ladies took me upstairs. I had my very own room with a crib that Mom said kind of looked like a jail cell and Dad said looked like a bear trap.


Mom and Dad were saying I looked a lot different and kind of swollen. I felt so out of it, I just slept a lot. My grandmas and my Grandpa Harry came to visit, along with my cousin Elliott, my Aunt Merlaine, my Aunt Janelle, Shelley, and some other people too.



I can't move my arms and they wrap me up tight at night. I'd just like to touch my face where it feels funny, but I can't reach it no matter how hard I try.


Eating's kind of hard and they give me some bad tasting medicine, but mostly it's OK. The nurses were really nice and Mom stayed the night with me. I got to go back home the next day and Mom made me a special "nest" to sleep in my little crib. Here I am on my way home in my car seat:


I heard them talking about another surgery next year -- how far away is a year? I hope it's a long time...

My Second Month

Mom and I go to the doctor's office every week to see how big I'm getting -- I'm getting huge (I was 11 pounds 2 ounces on July 13th)! It's been over a hundred degrees here in Boise and our house gets pretty hot, so I like to hang out like this:


This is the outfit I wear so mom won't call me "the baby":


This is one of my cowboy outfits; it came from Georgia:


We've been taking more baths now and I sure like it. I've gone in a couple of pools too. Daddy holds on tight so I won't drown, but I float pretty well.


Here I am with my Grandpa Rydalch:


Twenty three of my Rydalch cousins and ten of my aunts and uncles came over for a barbecue so we could meet before I had my surgery. They are really fun. All my cousins were having a water fight with my daddy, but I was too little to play (maybe next time). My Aunts Britta, Kristen and Erin held me a lot and it was fun.

This is my "Auntie" Shelley. She comes over to see me a lot and we hang out.

Here I am at two months with my bunny. See how much bigger I am!