My throat is sore and my nose is draining. I am sick. Just a little bit though. I am having my first cold but the doctor says I'm doing just fine. He gave mommy and daddy some salt water to spray up my nose, dang does that feel weird. I am a bit more cranky but I still sleep through the night, so that's good. The doctor was impressed with my ability to stand, in fact, he said I was a very impressive baby. Who doesnt know this already?

While we were sitting in the waiting room a girl was talking to my mom about me. The girl was around 13 years old and could not tell if I was a boy or a girl. Do I really look like a girl? I was dressed in a grey shirt and pants. I don't understand. I guess I shouldn't feel too confused because she said when she was a baby, that she was 8lbs 5 inches. Yes, I said inches. Silly people.

Daddy distracted me from my slight cold by buying a few new toys. Mommy picked out a toy phone that I have another one of. This one is blue though and I think mom said she is going to keep it in the car. Its maybe my new favorite toy.

I am really glad that it is Friday because I like to spend time with daddy. I get to see mommy all day long but daddy sure is fun to see when he walks in the door. I get smiley because I really love him a lot and he gives me good kisses and hugs.

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My wife and I found out about the Bumbo before Rylan was born and we knew that it was one of the things that we would want to purchase when we had a chance. When Rylan was old enough to be able to hold his head up and had enough back strength, we purchased the Bumbo on EBay. We picked up a decent deal by buying it from EBay we think.

They do not sell these Bumbos in your normal store like Babies'R'Us. In fact, they will look at you confused if you even ask. We did however recently see a few at Burlington Coat Factory. This does not seem to be the norm however.

The idea behind the Bumbo is so that the child can sit up and be fully supported. They are designed to help keep the child in and stay safe. I have heard from one mother though that her son was able to tip the Bumbo over. This does not seem very likely though as the base is very wide. We placed Rylan in this from time to time and at first he hated it. He would cry once he knew you were getting it ready for him. Now months later, he has really begun to enjoy it.

The Bumbo has no loops but toys can be placed in his lap and keep him entertained for a bit while we eat which is always nice. I have seen numerous pictures of parents placing their child in the Bumbo and then putting the Bumbo onto the kitchen counter. Their idea is that the child is happier when they can see the adult. This simply blows me away. Regardless how sturdy it may appear, would you really want to risk your child on the counter top? Craziness.

I think that the Bumbo has worked out nicely for us and I would suggest it to others. I believe that it can work with children a couple of years old so the investment seems justified.

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Rylan's night time routine has changed in the last couple of weeks. Certainly not for the better.

Rylan has definitely started to show the signs of teeth waiting to arrive. His gums have begun turning white in certain areas and overall, he has become a lot more cranky lately. We believe that because of his teething he has begun to wake up in the middle of the night in pain, resulting in him crying. Lucky for us though, he is quickly soothed with a quick diaper change and a short feeding. Having to be woken up in the middle of the night is never easy, especially when you need to work in the morning. I am not a morning person as it is, but dang do I feel dead when Rylan is having one of his nights.

All in all, Rylan still sleeps really well. We really consider ourselves lucky to have a little boy who goes to bed at the same time each night and seems to know his routine pretty well. We just hope that he can get through the teething soon. We are looking forward to seeing what his little teeth look like.

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There are some toys that Rylan seems to really enjoy and others that he does not. The Learn-Along Leap is one of those toys that he can't seem to get enough of. Rylan will find interest with Leap whether we are out driving around or just laying in his crib.

Last night we laid out some foam pads onto the ground and let Rylan slide and roll all over it. His Leap toy was leading the way and giving him a reason to continue on. Once he was able to reach it, we would let him take it and it would go straight to his mouth. Leaps arms are getting abuse from all of the teething that Rylan is having to deal with.

Leap sings the A-B-Cs and Rylan seems mesmerized when I turn it on. He begins to get happy and when I sing with Leap, Rylan goes into hyper drive. Every muscle in his body is working at showing his excitement.

This was definitely a good choice in toys to pick out.

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Dad had to go back to Nogales, Mexico again today. His work has been making him work alot lately. I really miss him alot so when he comes home, I give him lots of smiles and giggles. He really likes it. I guess its not so bad that dad is doing so much overtime because I get new toys out of it. Yippy!

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First off, Thank you to the woman who found my sandal in Costco last night. My mom made me say that. In reality, I wish she would have never found it. I really don't think I like wearing shoes just yet. Mom says I need to get used to it. Phewy!

My moms grandma came to town this week and we had fun. We went out to eat a few times and mom and dad tried to feed me for the first time at a restaurant in a big boy chair. It worked out, sorta. I became pretty irritated which turned into screaming. This made mom and dad think twice about feeding me in public. I eventually calmed down but not before the rude man next to me gave my mom bad looks. He doesn't know it but when he was 5 months old, he screamed too. Phewy on him!

Do these diapers make my butt look big? That's what I'm thinking now that I moved up to size 3 diapers. They are much more comfy now rather than the tight 2s. This is just another sign that I am becoming a big boy.

Toys, toys, toys. Boy do I love toys. I hope mom and dad keep buying them for me. They sure are fun...

That's all for now, have a good weekend.

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Thingamababy.com recently finished up their Ugly Baby Contest. This was the sites counter to the Regis and Kelly baby contest that they recently had.

As a parent, It's understandable to believe that you have a wonderful looking son but I am not against showing off the fact that sometimes, my son just doesn't look too pleasant. I submitted Rylan to the ugly baby contest in hopes of winning one of the prizes they were giving away. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, Rylan lost. In other words, Rylan is not the ugliest kid in the contest. While this makes me and my wife proud, we were a bit bummed about losing out on the $25 Amazon gift card.

Now for the kids parents who won, I am not sure if I should congratulate or simply keep my mouth shut. When is it a good thing to be told you have the ugliest kid? Is there a time and place? I guess the prizes can make the hurt feel better.

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The BuggyBagg is by far our favorite new baby item. My wife found out about this product from a local baby shop and has been aching for Rylan to be ready to sit up in a grocery cart so that we could purchase it. Rylan is now at that point where we don't need to keep him in the carrier and either lug him around or place him in the grocery cart. Rylan now has the freedom of sitting in the cart like a big kid but remain safe.

We have yet to find a problem with this BuggyBagg. First and foremost, the thing works. It works on every grocery cart that we have tried it with. It worked from a very small shopping cart to the extremely large Costco cart. Each time, remaining just as safe and secure as the others. The BuggyBagg has 2 bottle holders and 2 loops to hook toys onto. A small pillow even comes with it which we have used quite a bit. The pillow works great to keep Rylan sitting up right as well as when we know he is tired, we can put the pillow in one corner and simply lay him down. This keeps him very snugly in the seat and lets him sleep comfortably. The entire thing is padded and despite what the image shows, they have some nice patterns rather than only crazy colors.

We did pay a bit more for this BuggyBagg rather than one you could find from Target for maybe half the price but even I, being the cheap guy that I am, feel this was a good purchase. As mentioned before, we have yet to find anything negative about it. The bag even zips up at the end of the day so you can keep it clean and everything in order. With 2 large pockets, this thing could easily convert to a small diaper bag as well.

For those people who don't understand why exactly we would need something like this, let me give you some quick facts that I dug up. I think that these are good enough reasons to spend the money on any of the grocery cart covers.

• A study shows that 54% of shopping carts sampled for bodily fluids failed the hygiene test. (Only the handles were tested...does not include the seating area that touches your child.)
• 21% of handles in that study tested positive for at least one bodily fluid (blood, mucus, saliva, urine, etc.)¹
• Bacteria, molds, and viruses can live on solid surfaces for long periods of time before they die (hours, days, or maybe even longer).
• People can touch an average of 300 surfaces in 30 minutes.

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I mentioned a few days ago that Rylan had been doing things that made us believe that he was nearly ready to be sitting up. This mainly was the fact that when he was on his back, you could see him lifting his head and shoulders up in hopes of getting up all of the way. He had been doing that for a few weeks now.

Rylan is now 5 months old as of last Friday and on that day, he hit another milestone by successfully being able to sit up. He is now able to sit up enough so that he can play with his toys before he decides to just flop over onto his back. He seems to really enjoy his new ability. I imagine most babies are similar but Rylan seems to be very anxious to get moving and onto his feet. This is certainly a positive step towards his ultimate goal, mobility.

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Top o' the mornin' to all you leprechauns out there. I don't even know what a leprechaun is but i think its a funny word. In fact, a lot of things are becoming funny to me and daddy is doing a good job finding out what they are. Daddy loves to make me laugh and mom does too but she seems to have a more difficult time getting me too. I like to make it special for her when I finally decide to laugh. She just loves it.

My great grandma is coming back to see me today. She is the one who loves to sing to me. I need to get my dad to take me to his grandmas house because its been a while since I had a chance to see her. They would be amazed at my growth.

I tried my luck at carrots this week and I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. These vegetables aren't terrible. Mommy likes to make me dinner and then dad gets to serve it to me sometimes. Its really nice when he feeds me because he is gone all day at work. I like to spend the extra time with him. He's my daddy and I sure love him.

Of course, I love my mommy too. She stays with me all day while daddy is at work. I get a bit bored with her but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate her taking care of me. She is the best mommy around. Hands down.

I think I will go ask mommy if I can have some green colored apple juice to go with this fine St. Patrick's Day. If old people can have green apple juice, why can't I?

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My wife's mother recently sent us a picture of my wife when she was only 5 months. Rylan is just a few days away from 5 months himself. I think that this picture definitely confirms that our baby was not switched at birth.

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I have mentioned it here in the past, and will likely do so again, people give you advice when you are pregnant that is simply wrong. Wrong in the sense that the advice may not pertain to our child as it did with the person giving the advice.

One of the big things that my wife and I heard throughout the pregnancy was that we should not buy 0-3 month clothing as Rylan will grow so quickly that the purchased clothing will be for no good. My wife loves to shop, for anything. This includes baby clothing. We found multiple bargains on eBay for bunches of clothing for great prices and overall, we are happy with our purchases. Most of the bunches had 0-3 month items with some scattered 3-9months.

Rylan is coming up to 5 months old now and still wears around 90% of his 0-3month clothing. How can this be? Multiple people told me not to buy 0-3month clothing. Is Rylan not growing like other babies? Wrong. Rylan is at the 50% percentile for both weight and height.

The bottom line is that advice should be taken with a grain of salt. There are multiple people at my work who are currently pregnant or just had a baby. Do I give them advice? Sure I do, but I do it by first thinking of my answer. I refuse to tell a new parent something that turns out to be flat out wrong.

A word of advice, when you are about to say "you should not..." when it comes to pregnancy/baby, try changing it up to say "in my experience...". It will make every ones life easier.

Has anyone else had this problem with incorrect advice being given to you? What about clothing, did your child burn through it or take their time? Leave a comment and let us know.

(dang I seem grouchy lately)

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Any parent can likely agree that once that baby arrives, you begin to lose it. Your mind simply does not work the same as it did before. You look at things differently. Understandably, you cannot put a price tag on your child as they are priceless but when I was out grocery shopping the other day, It hit me, you can price your child by the pound.

What does this mean exactly? Take produce for example, the majority is simply sold by the pound. They are each given a value regardless of their physical size or appearance. They are simply measured in pounds. From now on, I can tell people that Rylan is worth X amount of dollars by simply taking his current weight and multiplying it by the current price of bananas. Ingenious!

So with this in mind, lets see how much my son is worth (in produce).
Rylan was last weighed at 14lbs 8oz.

Apples ($.88lb) - $12.76
Bananas ($.49lb) - $7.10
Green Seedless Grapes ($.77lb) - $11.16
Large Hass Avocados ($.99lb) - $14.50
Cauliflower ($.99lb) - $14.50
Sweet Onions ($1.29lb) - $18.70
Black Seedless Grapes ($1.99lb) - $28.85
Tender Asparagus ($1.99lb) - $28.85
Navel Oranges ($.79lb) - $11.45
Chilean Peaches ($1.79lb) - $25.95
D'Anjou Pears ($.77lb) - $11.16

Of course this will work for meats as well..
Boneless Beef Tenderloin ($7.88lb) - $114.26

How much is your child worth in produce or other grocery goods?

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For quite some time now, Rylan has been wanting to hold our cups or bottles. He immediately takes hold of them and moves them towards his mouth and aims the end of the cup or bottle right into his mouth. This goes for straws too.

We decided that it would be fun to see if he would use a sippy cup. I have heard in the past that it was sometimes hard to get a child to use a sippy cup as they are used to drinking out of a bottle or other measures. Rylan however seems to have taken to the sippy cup quite well. He has the movements down it seems and with the easy grips, he can hold it himself for quite some time.

One thing that I have noticed though is that he tends to simply gnaw at the rubber tip rather than drink from it. When he does suck from it, his eyes open wide as if he wasn't expecting something to come out. As for now, we are only giving him water but in time, it will progress into whatever else the pediatrician will let us try.

My wife and I are always pointing out ways that Rylan is extremely smart and we make comments on how we have never heard of seen a baby progress so quickly so I am putting the question out there, is Rylan's sippy cup actions advanced for his age? He has been doing this since about 4 months old now. Is this normal behavior? We would love to know. Please leave a comment with your opinion on the matter and let us know what ways your child has advanced more quickly than others too. Thanks.

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Yams. Sweet potatoes. Whatever you want to call them, I'm eating them. My mom spoke to the doctor and she said that I could begin feeding on orange vegetables then I can move onto the green stuff. Mommy and daddy bought a food processor to make fresh food for me and so far, I think I like it. Tomorrow, I might get to try some carrots. Yippy. I think the fact that my poopy is changing is funny, I don't know about mommy or daddy though.

My daddy has been working hard lately at work. He has been needing to spend more time at the office and even having to go in at night to fix computer problems. I don't like it when he is gone for a long time. In fact, yesterday he had to take a work trip to Nogales, Mexico to help set up a new part of the office. He was gone all day and I just couldn't take it so I got fussy. Really fussy. Mommy had to hear my screaming for hours yesterday. Nothing would calm me down. Once dad got home though, I was OK again. Daddy's are really important.

Mom and dad let me pick out some toys when we went to Target the other day. I picked out a new stuffed animal and baby book that both attach to my new shopping cart cover. Mommy picked out the Buggy Bagg and so far I love it. I can sit up in it like normal or if I am feeling tired, I can lay down in it as well. Its really soft and has a nice pillow too. I think daddy will be talking about it more later.

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Rylan has begun showing interest in girls. No, I'm not talking about other babies; I'm talking about women who are atleast 20 times his age. Where he got this from is anyone's guess.

Yesterday, we had some errands to run and stopped at the mall. Rylan took a liking to the cashier at Sears and more importantly, he admired the girl at the Disney Store. I think that this excites my wife just as much as she thinks its her way into the Disney empire.

Leaving the mall, Rylan was told how cute he was (by a bum) and this just egged him on. He now seems to be staring at all of the women he sees. While at Disneyland, Rylan would interact with the other boy babies however would only take short looks at the girls. He now cannot be unlocked from his hypnotic trance when it comes to the older women. What may be the funniest part of all is that while he is in the trance, he says nothing but once we leave, he begins to talk. Talking like he is trying to tell us how good looking the woman was. Maybe he is talking to himself in hopes of boosting his confidence and gaining enough courage to talk to the next woman who passes by. It certainly gives a new form of entertainment for us and the women he admires.

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Scenario: You are walking through the mall or the grocery store and you come across another baby in a carrier or stroller. You take a quick glimpse. Do you compare your child to theirs? Of course you do. This is only natural. Everyone wants some assurance that they have best looking child that they can have. Now what do you do when you realize your child is not as cute as the next one?

Luckily for us, we have not encountered this problem just yet. You will commonly find me strutting my stuff, holding Rylan proud, as my son is handsome. I want everyone to know that my son (for the most part) is a great baby. He so far has a great personality, he looks handsome and overall is just an ideal baby to have (especially as a first child). Do the parents around me look at my son and compare? Sure they do. But the unspoken question is, do they think my child is better looking, or better acting than theirs? Are women jealous that I am willing and confident enough to hold my child and not consider my child a black plague like many men seem too?

It was only 7 months ago that I was in the waiting room with my wife, waiting for her checkup, when I reported being starred at heavily by women. I still have not been able to get a solid answer as to whether some women get jealous when they see a man holding a child when their husband/bf will do no such thing.

As for now, I will continue to hold Rylan and walk proud as my child is handsome and I know that my wife and I split the genes perfectly.

*gets off high horse*

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It seems to me that women just have a instinct on how to care for a baby. While every parent has massive amounts of learning to do, women seem to pick up on it all very quickly. At least more quickly than men.

My wife and my sisters can both agree that my first attempt at changing Rylan's diaper was a complete failure. In fact, I still have a difficult time getting everything lined up as its supposed to be. One of the reminders that I heard from many people is that when changing your babies diaper, simply remember that the character always faces forward. That's great. Make changing of the diaper easier for men. These types of tips are always helpful the first bit after delivery.

My wife and I went months with diapers that went along with this technique of always having the character in the front. Four months later now, we opened a new bag of Pampers (I believe) and what do I see, characters everywhere. Characters on the front, the back and if I look closely, they are probably on the inside as well. Now don't get me wrong, I know how to generally put on a diaper now but for new dads these diapers could be hell. The old technique of characters in the front has gone out the window. Now the only thing you can tell new fathers is to put the tabs near the child's back but that just doesn't seem to flow like characters in the front did.

Is it pathetic that men need made up techniques like this? Sure it is, but atleast it gets us through the diaper changing experience.

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Well, this week proved that my daddy is terrible at keeping his teeth in check. I, on the other hand, will be taking very good care of my teeth and not running into the same problems my dad did.

We celebrated dads birthday on Monday and I had a good time. For my birthday gift to him, I gave him a book to fill out with memories of when he met mommy and when he first found out I was going to be joining them. I think its a great gift if I do say so myself. Mom got him a Goonies t-shirt and now I'm jealous because I want one too. The cake that mom made sure looked nice but I didn't get to try any though. Dad didn't have much either because of getting his teeth worked on that same day.

Mom and dad bought me a new car seat and we put it in this week. Its a Britax Decathalon and boy is it nice. It is much better than my old carrier/car seat that I had before. This new seat boosts me up much higher and now I can see out the window and everything. Mom says that it is one of the safest seats you can get. Regardless, it sure feels nicer than the old one.

I had another checkup this week and I had to get 4 more shots. Boy those things are tough. I think I took it like a manly man though and just cried a little bit. Dad really knows how to soothe me. The rest of the day I was pretty out of it because of the medicine but now I am OK. Later that day mom fed me some rice cereal. It was pretty icky but the apple juice helped a bit. I'm learning quickly how to do this whole eating thing.

That's it for now, have a great weekend.

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Along with my Birthday came Rylan's four month doctor check-up. The results were great. Even though people say he is a long baby, his weight and height were both in the 50% percentile. His head though was in the 50-75%. That just confirms that we have a smarter than average baby, not that we are bragging. My wife has been looking forward to this day for a while and we were finally given the OK to start feeding Rylan rice cereal.

Later that evening, we began the journey of solid foods. Starting with what is likely the dullest tasting food possible. The trick to feeding babies the rice cereal and other bland foods is a dash of apple juice. This is doctor approved after all.

Rylan took to the cereal pretty well. With understanding, he wanted to suck on the spoon rather than swallow as we normally would but overtime, you could see him improve while his patience slowly ran away. He made feeding much more difficult when he began to cry but we found that giving him a spoonful and then letting him suck his finger gets the food down with minimal effort.

We have now fed him a total of 3 bowls of cereal and each time, you could already see massive improvements. My wife fed him the second time within our room where he is probably more comfortable rather than the less often used high chair. The food was eating with minimal crying and fussing. Last night was my turn, where I got to feed him the entire bowl and I have to give my son a pat on the back because he took it like a champ. He took down the entire bowl without a single cry. In fact, he kept sticking his head out for more food like he was really enjoying it.

We can only hope that Rylan will do well at feeding. We have been really lucky with Rylan's sleep and just general attitude. He is not an insanely fussy baby, and we really enjoy that. We look forward to watching his progress as any parent would.

For those who just dislike seeing pictures of children with food all over their face, I think I will be keeping it to a minimum.

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