4 weeks old

Well, another week has flown by! Ryan is 4 weeks old today, but won't be "one month old" until Monday, the 27th...works out kind of weird, so just trust me.

Yes, she is still cute!!

Saturday, Ryan suited up in her Georgia gear to watch the football game with daddy. We lost, so that wasn't very exciting. We had a pretty sleepy day. I was EXHAUSTED, and Dave felt like I needed some "grown-up time" after having nothing but BABY for three weeks, so he asked my mom to come over and sit for Ryan while we had a date. He asked me what I would like to do, and I said that all I really wanted was a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks. We had some Applebee's gift cards from various Christmases and birthdays, so we decided to be cheap and have dinner there before heading to the bookstore where Dave bought me my Pumpkin Spice Latte...oh how I love the Pumpkin Spice Latte! We had a good time...I think we both tried really hard to talk about things other than the baby, but I'm pretty sure she dominated the conversation. We didn't stay long at the bookstore...I could barely keep my eyes open and I was just drained.

Watching the Georgia game!

When we got home, mom was standing in the living room holding Ryan and looking pretty frazzled. She said "she hasn't slept the entire time you've been gone!!" (Ryan ALWAYS sleeps on my mom, so this was the first time she really got the full effect of an awake Ryan! haha!)

Sunday morning, we dropped Ryan off at Nana's and we went to church. Everyone was disappointed that we didn't bring the baby.

Monday morning, my grandparents came into town. My mom picked them up at the airport and brought them straight over to our house. All of the dogs "greeted" them at the door, and since Ryan was asleep in her room, we waited a while for the dogs to get used to Papa and Judy. After several minutes, Papa said "I didn't come to see these dogs! Where is that baby??!" So we went back and I woke her up and handed her to her great-grandpa for the first time...it was really cool to see how much they instantly loved her. We had nice family dinner at Buffalo's that night and had a really good time laughing and talking.

In good hands...Great Papa

A super cute blankie that Ryan's Great-Grandma Judy had made for her...it has Ryan Ella and both of her brothers on it!!!

Tuesday, we all went to Bass Pro Shop so Papa could get a knife, and I made homemade pizza for everyone that night. Wednesday morning, Papa, Judy, Ryan, and I hung out on mom's back porch all morning while mom and B went to the gym. I was practicing my photography and got some great shots of everyone with the baby. Later that afternoon, we watched old home movies from when I was a kid, and Dave grilled steaks on the Big Green Egg for everyone that night...needless to say, it was great. Thursday morning, mom took Papa and Judy back to the airport. I was sad to see them go. We really didn't do anything much except hang out and "loaf", but it was a really great week and I just had a really good time having them here.

Great-Papa Lee!

Great-Grandma Judy and Ryan

And today was kind of a cluster. I got up early to get ready to go to the Duluth Fall festival, and mom, Ryan and I drove all the way down there only to find out that it doesn't start until tomorrow. BOO!! I was wanting to go to a festival SO bad today! Well, on the way home we were hungry and just happened to be right next to where Dave works, so we swung by and picked him up to have lunch with us. After lunch, Ryan had poo-pants and I was changing her on my tailgate (yes, we are THAT country...I highly prefer to change her on our tailgates rather than on a changing station in a random bathroom....germs germs germs!!!)....so I am changing her on my tailgate and as I moved the dirty diaper from under her, she SHOT out projectile poo right at me!! I jumped back to avoid the splatters from the blast, and she JUST missed me by a hair!! From her butt to the end of the poo stream was at LEAST a good 18 inches...the girl has nice distance! There was poo all over her cupcake changing pad and all over my bumper! And then there was an aftershock that followed...this time the poo was more of a gentle flow rather than a violent shotgun, but still just as funny. Poo just kept coming and coming! We finally got it all cleaned up and under control, and eventually got a clean diaper on the child. We picked her up and handed her to mom to put in her car seat, and ***PLLFFFTT***!! I looked at mom, amazed by the sound and said "did she just poop AGAIN??!" Amazingly enough, yes, yes she did. Dave was all "let me handle this, get out of the way!" and he changed her diaper yet again. We finally got on the road and dropped daddy off at work and headed home. Ryan was awake and wanted "her music", so I looked for a disc with either Keith Whitley or Josh Turner on it...I found a disc that had 2 Josh Turner songs on it, and we listened to each song 15 times or so...no joke, she can tell the difference. When you put on something that is not Josh Turner or Keith Whitley, she fusses, but when you put on Josh Turner or Keith Whitley, she is content and goes to sleep...it is insane. And you can't play "Brother Jukebox" first...."I'm No Stranger To the Rain" has to be first, or the whole thing is ruined. At least she likes good country music!!

Oh, and if you are wondering how fast Ryan is growing, I had to adjust her car seat straps today...they were too low on her shoulders and I had to move them up a notch :(

Ryan wasn't cooperating in her boppy, so we had to take her 4 week picture like this...

So tomorrow we are going to the Duluth Fall Festival for real. Dave is probably going to keep Ryan with him for the day and they can watch the Georgia game together. I would like to take her with us, but I think it would just be easier on us all if she just stayed home.

This will be my last "weekly" posting. I am WAY too busy having a 4 week old baby to try to keep up a blog each week, so from now on, I will just be posting as I can, or as something significant happens :) sorry....

Have a great week!!

~the Sullivans