First sign

When Sky was first born, we bought a book on baby sign language. Brandi and I have not been good about learning and using the signs. About the only signs we ever use with Sky are "Mom" and "Dad". This morning, Sky clearly was signing "Dad". Brandi seemed a bit jealous. So, hopefully his first real word will be "Mommy".

Relatives in Kansas City and Wichita

Skylar's father's cousin Stacy (top right) and her children Shianna (top left), Brighten (middle bottom), and Jayden (bottom right).







Great aunt Judy.












Great Uncle Elvin.












Great grandfather, Oliver.













Great Grandmother, Lettie.











Great grandmother, Inez.












Great Uncle, Marty.












Great Aunt, Fay.












Father's cousin's husband, Nate.







Father's cousin, Christina.

Skylar goes to Kansas

Over Thanksgiving break, we took Skylar to visit relatives in Kansas City and Wichita. These pictures are of our roadtrip. Family photos will follow in tomorrow's post.

Kansas Skyline

Click on image to zoom.

6 Month Photos are in

To view Skylar's six month picture proofs, click on this link and enter the password "ainer".

http://www.rycophotography.net/SkylerRainer/

Family, if you want copies, let me know the #'s listed under the picturess that you want and what size you'd like.

Hunter and Skylar

Hunter (Left) is Skylar's 3rd cousin.

Trick - or - Treat

Last night we celebrated Skylar's first Halloween. It was a very exciting night for the both of us. Unfortunately dad could not join us because of work. My friend Monyka invited Skylar and myself to come trick - or - treating with her daughter Hannah who is 3 now. I thought this was a much better idea than me walking Sky around by myself. I was afraid all the neighbors would think that I was just some weird chick that just wanted candy, when the fact of the matter is I just wanted to show off my baby in his adorable costume. We went to several houses in Monyka's neighborhood and then headed back home. You know, for a baby he got a pretty good haul. We didn't go up to very many houses, but the people that did see him all wanted to give him candy and tell him how cute he was. Skylar loves a compliment so he delighted in all of this. I think that he did really enjoy going trick - or - treating with Hannah. At first he seemed a little confused as to why I was getting him dressed up and walking him around in the dark, but he loved the attention and seeing all the lights people had out. I thought that at this point I would leave you with some not so great pictures I took (dad is the photographer of the family), to commemorate the night.

Hannah and Skylar getting ready to go trick -or- treating (she was Cinderella).

Skylar was getting pretty excited about having candy in his bucket.

"Where's the Jolly Ranchers?"

An Update

Skylar is doing great! He's very tall and skinny. I guess he must get this from his grandfather on his mother's side. Or, perhaps his great grandfather on my mother's side. His first two teeth have come in. We recently took his 6 month photos. Some poses were typical. Others were in his Halloween costume (a yellow duck) and some in his Santa suit. We had a time getting the Santa pictures done because Skylar was trying to sleep. His day care is going great. I really like this place. And, Sky seems to like going as well.

In November, we will be making a trip to Kansas so that Sky can see his great grandparents. He's six months old and they've never had the opportunity to meet. I'm looking forward to this trip.

My business travel remains slow. A few months back I was told that I'd be spending two weeks a month in Paris. This fell through. Then there was another 2 week workshop in Paris to be held just after Thanksgiving. This has been moved back to at least January, possibly later. So, for the next couple of months at least, I'll be home all but 3 nights each month. And, I still get to work out of my house the other days! Working from home is great. I get more work done. I control the thermostat (my Lexington office is freezing in the winter and hot in the summer). Plus, I get to look the window overlooking my back yard. Sky remains in day care while I work.

Petting Zoo

Adventures at Double Stink Hog Farm

This weekend, we took Skylar to the Double Stink Hog Farm. They don't have hogs anymore. It's now a big pumpkin farm where they have fall festivals. We thought it'd be nice to take fall pictures of Skylar amongst pumpkins.

Skylar with Dad.
Skylar and Mom on a small train.

September Pictures

Picture of Sky taken Sept 16th.

Sky and his grandpa watching TV.

Skylar with Mom and Dad.

Brandi's parents are building a new house. Brandi and Sky are lying on an inflatable mattress in the new house.

While Skylar stays with Granny, Brandi (a.k.a. Mom) and Aunt Alisha eat fried cheese at the bowling alley.

Travel, Travel, and More Travel

I have only been away 3 nights this week. But, upon my return, Skylar looked bigger and older than he did when I left. It is absolutely amazing how quickly he is changing right now. Both him and Sabastian (our Labrador) were extremely happy to see me when I got home. At work today, I was told that I may have to be in France 2 weeks each month until January. They want me to assist with project documentation because their "Frenglish" is incomprehensible. But, I can hardly imagine how much Sky will change over a two week period.... And, I hope Brandi doesn't feel that I've abandoned her and our child....

Subscribe to this Blog

You can now receive e-mails whenever the blog is updated. To sign up, scroll to the bottom of the blog screen, enter your e-mail address and click the "subscribe" button. You will then receive a confirmation e-mail. You will have to click a link in the e-mail to activate the subscription. Instructions for un-subscribing will also be in this initial e-mail.

3 Month Portraits Are In

.
.
.
Click this link to see the entire album:

http://www.rycophotostudio.com/Skyler1/

Dad: Day Care

The teaching profession has allowed Brandi to spend her one month maternity leave plus two and half months summer with Skylar. During this time, I have been working mostly out of the house with much less travel. We both feel very blessed by this arrangement. But, Brandi is going back to work this week. I will be traveling next week. And, Skylar started day care on Monday.

I think it was rather difficult for Brandi to leave Skylar in someone else's care. I see both positives and negatives to day care. On the bright side, he will get better socialization and may learn how to do some things quicker by watching other children who are slightly older than himself. On the downside, he's likely to get sick more and is not getting our full parental attention.

When Brandi picked Skylar up on Monday, he seemed very happy. I think he really likes being around other babies. The rest of the day, he beamed as if he had had the most marvelous time. On Tuesday, we dropped him off and he went straight into Laura's arms. Laura is one of the women at the day care. She says that he is "the best baby". Of course, she might say that to all parents.

Skylar can nod his head yes and no to answer simple questions. This morning, I asked him, "Do you need a diaper change." He answered by nodding "yes". I asked him if he wanted to go back to bed, because he looked sleepy. He nodded "yes". Then, I asked, "Do you want to go to school today and see the other babies?". He nodded a swift "no". I think the newness is wearing off. Either that or he was just plain tired and wanted to continue sleeping...

Mom: Missing Out!

Today was the first day that I had to "work" I had to go in for a meeting with the other 6th grade teachers. While I was gone one of my biggest fears became reality. Upon returning home from work my husband informed me that Skylar can now roll all the way over unassisted. The first day I leave the house and he reaches a milestone! I know that It probably shouldn't bother me as much as it does but I can't help it. He is growing up so fast and I am afraid that I am going to go to work one day and when I come home he is going to be 12 sitting on the couch waiting for dinner. Am I just being silly not wanting my son to grow and reach targets so fast? I don't think that I that bad, I just really love him and don't want to miss a minute of it. Right this very moment he is laying in the floor of our office playing on his activity mat and showing me that "yes mom I really can roll over all by myself". Last night was also his first night in his very own room in his big boy bed. I cried. It just seems so hard for me to let him grow up and be a bit independent. He loves his room when we go in there to play or rock, so I shouldn't be surprised that he didn't seem to mind sleeping in there. I guess he is just more ready for the transition than I am. Once I am finished here I am going to take him down to the family room and just stare at him in amazement and try not to blink should I miss something else.

Gifts from great-grandparents

Skylar is sporting an outfit given to him by his great-gradfather, Oliver and great-grandmother, Lettie.

Skylar is wearing a hat knitted by his great-grandmother, Inez.

Myrtle Beach Vacation

Mom, Dad, and Aunt Alisha teaching Skylar to swim

.

.

Skylar chilling in the shade at the beach.

No limits

Perhaps the sky isn't the limit afterall.

A Mother's Reflections and Worries

I know that I am a bad blogger, but in my defense I am a busy new mom. My husband keeps telling me that I have GOT to do another blog post. So, here it is. As I sit here watching my now 2 month old baby sleep I am amazed by all the changes that have taken place in last 2 very short months. He now smiles, laughs, and even coos at his stuffed friends. When on his activity mat or in his crib or bassinet he now swings his arms and tries to grab on to the animals that sway above him (he doesn't quite have to hand/eye thing down yet but we are working hard on it). He tries to sit up and tries to roll over and once he gets there he even tries to crawl. I feel he is very advanced for his age, but then again it is probably just me(hehe). Being a mother is something that I would never trade! My mother always use to tell me that someday I would be a mom and then I would understand. I could never figure out what she meant by that. Understand what? There was nothing to understand she was just talking crazy. Well don't you hate it when you parents are right? It hard to put into words, because there is so many emotions that are wrapped up in it, but she was right I am a mother now and I DO UNDERSTAND. Being a mom is the greatest most special thing that has ever happened to me. I love being Skylar's mom. I really can't complain about him too much he is a great baby! He hardly ever cries, only when he is hungry or very sleepy. However, I do wish that he would learn that we sleep at night (or at least most of the world does) and play during the day. If we ever get that worked out we should be all good.

Many of you know that I am middle school teacher. Last year I taught ESL and only had a one year contract because I was emergency certified to teach ESL. I had kind of resigned myself to being a stay a home mom for the next year at least. In June my contract was up and so far the school had shown no interest in rehiring me. I was ok with that. I loved being home with my baby and spending so much time with him. About 3 weeks ago I got a phone call. The school wanted me to come in and interview for a 6th grade Language Arts position. The current teacher had decided to go to another school. Well... I got the job. It felt great to go in and interview and have them actually want me in that position. I was thrilled and said yes when the principal called to offer me the job. The only problem is that now I am having a really hard time dealing with the thought of having to leave Skylar. I have turned this over in my mind a thousand and one times, if I stay home I will more than likely go stir crazy sitting around since I really know no one here, but I will get to be with my baby and watch him grow. On the other hand, I am around kids all day anyway, but I do get some adult conversation and time to myself. However, I miss out on a lot of the cute little things that Skylar is and will be doing. My biggest fear in all of this is the I will miss out on his first word, or his first time crawling, or his first time walking. I am a wreck over this whole thing. And Skylar, he is becoming such a momma's boy, I am not sure how he is going to take this separation either.

My husband and I did a daycare blitz the other day. We picked out several different ones that we thought we might be interested in and picked a morning to go visit them all. There are a couple that we liked well enough to consider. One is really close to our house, I have already turned in the application and put down the "tuition" for that one. The other one we liked called me two days ago to tell me that they had an opening and would like to offer it to us. I told them to pencil us in until we had a chance to talk it over and that I would let them know soon what we would be doing. One of the problems with this one is that it is the opposite direction of where I need to go in the mornings. This daycare come highly recommended by a few people that we know here, no one really seems to know much about the other one that we liked. Their daycare program is fairly new from the way I take it, but the facility if very nice and clean, and the infant room "teachers" seem very kind and loving. I don't know about any of it. Just the general thought of leaving him at a daycare all day kills me. I wish that there was some easy solution to all of this.

Well I suppose that I have done enough rambling for one entry. It feels a little better to get it all out like that. I promise to try to post again before his is 6 months old! :) Thanks to everyone for listening or should I say reading, and for all the support you have given us! Any advice, questions, comments, or even snide remarks you have please feel free. I welcome them all.

The latest statistics

2 days ago, Skylar went for his 2 month vaccines. While there, they did some measurements.

Length: 24" long (Top 90%)
Weight: 11#, 10 oz. (50%)
Head: 38 3/4" (25%)

I was unable to go to the doctor with Brandi. She says that Skylar cried when given the shots. He was rather cranky the next day. Here's a picture of cranky Skylar... He's even cute when he's mad.



Today, however, Skylar seems to be over it and is in a very chipper, happy mood. Right now he's out shopping at Walmart with his mom and aunt Alisha.

8 Weeks Old Tomorrow

We measured and weighed Skylar today. He is 22.5 inches long and weighs exactly 11 pounds. I am told that my grandmother used to use this scale to weigh my dad when he was a baby.

We also gave Skylar a bath today. He is no longer fussy at bath time. I think he really enjoyed it.

...

6 Weeks Old Today

Skylar is now six weeks old. We think that his blond hair is turning red. Brandi's hair is dark brown but has red highlights when in the sun. It'll be interesting to see if he gets her curls as well.

Here are some pictures taken today:



The following were about two weeks ago...

.....Skylar in our Kia Sportage.......................Aunt Alisha and Skylar.