10 Months!

It doesn't seem possible that Ryan is already 10 months old. The week since his 10 month birthday has been pretty crazy. Ryan got sick again right before his birthday, so we were back at the doctor's office early last week. He hasn't been able to shake this congestion/cough since mid-September, and we've been pretty worried about it. Ever since our vacation in September he'd get a little bit better and then even sicker than before.

This time his cough sounded a little "croupy" but not enough to confirm that he had croup. The doctor wanted to test him for RSV again, but when I explained that he'd already been tested 3 times and it had come back negative each time she decided against it. So Ryan spent the week of his 10 month birthday home with me and Grandma getting lots of attention and rest. He had an ear infection and was wheezing as well, so we've been doing lots of nebulizer treatments, antibiotics, and benadryl. Luckily I think it's all starting to work! The past couple of days he's finally started to cough less and have fewer sniffles.

To make matters worse I came down with a case of mastitis the week he was sick, but luckily Grandma Debbie was here to take care of us both.

Even though Ryan has been sick, he's still been a very happy, playful baby and is changing every day. We've had so many changes the last few weeks that it's been hard to keep up. Here are some of his fun milestones -

• Saying "Mama"
• Waving, giving high fives, and most recently making sounds like an indian with his (or our) hand over his mouth.
• Lots and lots of laughing and flirting, especially when playing peek-a-boo or when we tickle him.
• Moving from a sitting position to his belly and back up to a sitting position.
• Stretching, reaching, inching, and crawling backwards to get where he needs to go. He wasn't crawling, but he could definitely get where he needed to go with all of his little movements. Usually he wanted to get to his toy bin so he could pull all of his toys out.
• He's gotten really squirmy. As soon as you pick him up he wants to squirm out of your arms and then wants you to pick him back up again. And as soon as you sit him on the changing table he squirms to the end and tries to pull himself up.
• Learned how to feed himself a cracker, and other bigger items. He still has some trouble with smaller items like cheerios though.
• Tons of new foods like spaghetti, hamburger helper, chicken soup, muffins, and so much more! He even had a tribute to Chris' grandmother Bygone one day and ate her pancakes for breakfast, her macaroni and cheese for lunch, and the next day had her chicken and dumplings for dinner. She would have been so proud of him!
• He's gotten much more clingy. We've had a few episodes where he hasn't been too interested in strangers, and sometimes he just wants you to stay near him.

Overall it's been a really fun month. Here are some more pictures with his bear...I don't think the bear is going to enjoy these pictures as much from here on out...