Not quite ready to walk.

I whole-heartedly believe that Lyla is able to walk, but she just isn't ready yet. She walks just fine, in fact quite enthusiastically, so long as she's holding on to someone's hand. It doesn't have to be two hands either, we went for quite the stroll the other day with her holding my one hand (it was totally one of those "Oh my! She's growing up so fast!!" moments). I have mixed feelings about her walking, I'm excited because she's so close and I think it will be slightly easier for her to get places without having to crawl or be carried. On the other hand, my baby is growing up so fast!! We've been looking through our over 2000 pictures we've taken of her and Katherine and I repeatedly say, "Remember when she was so little!" or "Who's that tiny baby?" or "I can't believe she was that small!"

The other day I was folding laundry and there were a bunch of her pajamas in there. She wears size 18 month because she's so long. Well, Katherine had put this old pair in that were size 3 month and the difference in size was drastic. They grow so fast.

Anyway, here are videos of Katherine and me trying to coax the little girl to walk. Enjoy!

Thank you and an update.

Wanted to thank all of you who have been praying for my dad's health. Quick update, he visited with his oncologist yesterday and found out that none of the cancerous spots in his lungs had grown at all. In addition, the spot in his chest lymph-node (which had alerted him to the cancer in the first place by swelling) is now completely gone. So things are going well. Please continue to remember Mike/Dad/Grandpa Ring in your prayers!

The tradition in the Ring family is to call the paternal grandfather "Grandpa Ring." I did it. My dad did it. I think his dad did it. Anyway, there is a long and distinguished line of Grandpa Rings and my dad fits the mold quite nicely. Something tells me though, if Lyla ends up calling him something other than Grandpa Ring, he'll like that just as well.

Here's a video of Lyla dancing a celebratory jig (and otherwise ignoring my efforts to rile her up) after hearing of Grandpa Ring's good news.

Last week wrap-up: SHOTS!!!

We got way behind on posting last week so prepare yourself for some machine gun posts!!

First up, Lyla finally had her 2 month immunizations last Wednesday. Last Wednesday she was 11 weeks old, so why did they wait that long to give her the shots? Well, the state of Michigan uses months instead of weeks as its unit of measure for spacing out the immunization schedule. Originally, Lyla was scheduled to have on Jan. 29th (or so), well into her 8th week of life. We found out when we got to the doctor that Michigan would not recognize the immunizations if they were given before the 2 month mark (Feb. 4th). Craziness!!! So we had to reschedule and they pushed it way out just to be safe.

So we went in and they gave her six vaccinations (1 oral and 5 injections). Baby drank the oral quite well, then we pinned her down for the shots. Neither Katherine nor I really enjoyed this process but understand the necessity of limiting her movement in order to gain access to the legs (where the injections are given) and to minimize her thrashing (once the injections are given). The two nurses lined up, one with three shots for the left leg and the other with two shot for the right leg (shots are given simultaneously in each leg to minimize the duration of discomfort).

We get ready for the first shot, the nurse counts down: 3... 2... 1... INJECTION. Baby starts, yells, pulls a leg free and starts to cry. In the process of pulling the leg free, the right leg needle came out before the nurse finished injecting, so now it's three shots in the right leg as well as the left. The great (or one of the great) things about Lyla is she's pretty mellow. After the shot, she cried for about 10 seconds, then calmed right down, even smiling at mommy and daddy (high tolerance for pain!!! yes!!! woo-hoo!!! every parents' dream!!!)

Daddy repositions so he's now in charge of holding the legs down, mommy is holding both hands. The count down: 3... 2... 1... INJECTION. Baby starts, yells, cries, shots are given no problem, baby calms down after about 10 seconds. Smiles again.

Injection sequence number 3 - The count down: 3... 2... 1... INJECTION. Baby starts, yells, cries, shots are given no problem, baby calms down, but it takes a little bit longer, about 20 seconds. this time. Smiles again. All done. Good baby.

As you can see, they gave her nifty Snoopy band-aids. After the injects, daddy, er I mean, I got my blood drawn (one of the benefits of going to a family practice is being able to coordinate medical visits). I neither cried not wrenched my arm free, I also have a lot of practice getting blood work (one of the benefits of having chronic illnesses). I got a Looney Tunes band-aid (sorry, no picture).

Legs

Of all of Lyla's awesome attributes, one of my favorites has to be her legs. We we visited the doctor back in December, they measured her and she was in the 50th percentile for weight and 99th percentile for length. Since then she's probably moved up in weight and definitely is leading the pack in length.

Most of the time you can't tell how tall/long she is because she's folded up nicely and hidden under cute outfits. But every once in a while she sill really stretch out and I'm constantly surprised at how long and strong her legs are. She's always pushing her legs out, whether it be during a diaper change (see picture), standing around (see picture), when digesting her lunch, or while sleeping (see picture), and it's quite amusing to see.

Just in the past week or so, Katherine and I both feel like she's doubled in size again and already looks too big for the swing that she sleeps in (we decided to transition her to her crib this weekend, wish us luck). Anyway, the kicks against my stomach (along with the headbutts and punches to the face) are cute and slightly uncomfortable (just like when Chuck Norris does it, except cuter) and just another attribute of this sweet little girl that I love.

C-ya!!

From burrito to... the opposite of burrito... taco salad?

Early on in Lyla's life, she LOVED to be swaddled. I used to double wrap her to keep her nice and warm and packaged in a tight little cute bundle. It was the panacea for whatever ailed her. (see Exhibit A to the right)

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Apparently, she has gotten over that phase and (as long as she's warm) she likes to be able to stretch way way out (which isn't really surprising because back when she was in the womb she used to try and make more space for herself by planting her feet on Katherine's abdomen wall and push). It's totally cute, especially because sometimes she'll kind of freeze once she's stretched out and stay that way (see Exhibit B to the left). What's particularly funny about this shot is I'm holding her under her back with one arm and I am not supporting her legs.