Weekend Update with.....

We travelled to MI this past weekend, so that I could attend the wedding reception of Amanda Igel (Wilson). She got married in Jamaica last year, but was having a reception at her parents house. I had a great time. I got to visit with a lot of friends that I hadn't seen since the last reception or Amanda's bachelorette party. I even got to see my little sis, Melanie, who lives in San Diego. I haven't seen her since we left school!

That was my Saturday night. Friday, Ryan awoke with a fever but after watching 1 1/2 hours of Sesame Street decided he was feeling better, so off we went. Due to extreme construction in MI (I swear they are the only state that received funding this year), it took us a little longer than normal. Then, mindless me, realized I had left my dress at home. So Robin and I took off to shop for a dress after Ryan went to bed. Then she dragged (right) me to the bar with her friend Erin. I had to tell Kris when I got home, not to let me go out with her again. Not because I drank too much, but because she stays out until after 2! I can't do that anymore.

Ryan ended up getting up all three nights we were there. Not sure if it was because of him being sick or because he figured out that I sleep in the same room with him. But overall he had fun. He got to go for a walk, have ice cream from the ice cream man and go to the park. And of course his favorite - play in the water!

We came home on Monday after stopping at Molly's house to see her and her kids. Unfortunately, we found out after we had left that Kris was going to Toronto Wednesday through Friday and had to work late Monday and Tuesday. So overall, it was almost a waste to come home since we are driving back to MI on Friday. This time we are dropping Ryan off and Kris and I are going to Traverse City and Mackinaw Island for a little vacation.

Since then we've been seeing friends and running errands.

I included pictures of Katie's wedding from a few weeks ago as well as Ryan playing in the water at Nana's and him eating his first apple (he stole it off the counter before I could cut it).

Kristin

Reason Behind It

To share what we know now. Today, we heard from the ob/gyn about our testing. The chromosomal testing came back that the baby had what I found is called Triploid Syndrome. Here is the explanation online:

Sometimes a baby will have a complete extra set of chromosomes. This is called Triploid Syndrome, where they have 3 copies of every chromosome. This is caused by either two sperm fertilising one egg, a sperm with twice as many chromosomes as usual fertilising an egg, or an egg with twice as many chromosomes as usual getting fertilised.

Not that it tells us much. Other information has said that most babies with this are miscarried and that the ones that make it to birth usually do not live past 5 months. What I cannot find out is any information on recurrance. However, the doctor said there is a 1% chance.

So we would have been having a girl. The chinese charts were right. All in all, I'm not sure this makes me feel any better. Maybe knowledge does not always us happier.

Pool time

Yesterday, Ryan and I were very busy and loving it! We went to the park in the morning and played here when we got home. After lunch and naptime, I shaved Ryan's head and we played in the pool. Then after dinner we went to Storytime at the library. I really enjoyed having a full day and Ryan had a ball. He even let me read a book while he played. As a Harper, he practiced and practiced going up and down the slide. He had some problems as you can see him sitting backward and falling off the top, but eventually he mastered it. So here are some pictures from the pool. As always there are more on Snapfish!

Kristin

Busy, Busy (& a Happy Father's Day, too)

We have been very busy over the last few days. Friday, Ryan and I went to the zoo and had a great time. Especially once he found the playground. I practically had to drag him off it. Saturday and Sunday, we did our normal shopping and errands as well as celebrating Father's Day with Kris. Ryan got Kris a great book called 'My Dad's Bald Head'. I think he was a little offended first, but then read it and realized its a cute story.

Monday sent Ryan and I to Funnastics class (pretty much a playgroup at a gymnastics place). But it was changed due to summer camps, so we ended up playing with some friends at the library next door. We went to a Florence Freedom minor league baseball game at night with more friends. That was a lot of fun. Then we had to clean - because Tuesday was our first time hosting a playgroup. We had a great time and hope that everyone else did too. At one point we had 10 moms and 13 kids here. If you've seen our house, you know that is tight. But we managed. Ryan's favorite thing was the new pool we got him. It has a built in slide like the one we had when we were little. After everyone else had gone inside for lunch, he was still swimming around! I'll have to get some pictures of him in it.

So overall, busy-busy. This morning we are off to the park - if Ryan ever wakes up. Then maybe I'll get the pool out again. And then it's Storytime. Wow, we are going to need to relax tomorrow!
Kristin

Super Silly

Ryan has taken to being what I call 'super silly'. It is so funny. He has been alternating between shaking his head with his tongue out and making a silly sound and making kissy noises. He can sit and do it in front of the mirror for so long. It is hilarious. So the picture is of him doing the tongue thing with Daddy's hat on. If anyone remembers, I took a picture of him in the same hat when he was 3 months old. So I put on a comparison.



We've been really busy this week. Monday and Wednesday we met my mom's group to play. We visited with Rachel, Matt, Simon and new baby Monica on Tuesday. We've also had a ton of errands to run. Today was the first day that we only had to be gone for an hour and stayed home the rest of the day. Ryan had a blast outside playing in the water buckets I had set up during his nap. I also let him play with the hose which he thought was pretty cool. Tomorrow we are off to the zoo. Can't wait.

Thank you......

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us or expressed their sympathy. It was very nice to see how many caring friends and family we have.

We are getting on with our lives as best we can. Things have pretty much returned to normal here. My mom drove Ryan and I back to MI last Thursday where Kris met us on Friday. We had a great time at Katie Klein's (Escott) wedding on Saturday. It amazed me to be at a wedding of a girl I've known since she was 4. And here she was getting married. She looked beautiful. Robin was her maid of honor and looked stunning also. I know that she had a great time! I didn't take any pictures, so I'll upload one once I get my dad to get his on the computer. It was so nice to see all the Escott's again. Amy has been a friend of mine since 3rd grade when we moved to Macomb. She was there looking great. And Miss Sarah is now a doctor in the military just getting sent to FL. Sarah and Melanie were great friends also. Also, a thanks to the Stones for watching Ryan during the wedding. I know he had a great time based on the numerous pictures I received on my phone through out the night.

By Sunday, we were ready to come home. We made it back here around here at 9. So our day is a little off today from being up late. Thanks to my family, especially my mom, for taking care of all of us for the last week.

Moving on..

Although it has been a difficult week, we are moving on - as anyone who has children knows you have to do. Ryan does understand Mom and Dad being upset and is pretty good for a while, but it only lasts so long. My mom as been down taking care of us since Kris had to go to California for work. It's been nice to have someone else around here. I would have been exhausted by myself - so thanks to my mom. I had a follow up doctors appointment on Wednesday. Everything checked out good so we just have to wait a little to try again. We have to wait a few weeks for the results of all the tests they did. Maybe we will have an answer for this.

Ryan has completely moved on. Of course he's not even two, what can we expect. We went shopping for stuff for his room on Tuesday and he is very excited to have his cars now all in the same bucket, which he can drag from room to room as needed. Yesterday we let him run through the sprinkler on our new lawn. He had a blast! He also managed to fall out of the strolller yesterday because he leaned over too far to touch the wheels. So he has a big mark on his head as you can see in the picture.

Our friends Rachel and Matt (parents to Ryan's friend Simon) had their little girl on Monday. So congratulations to them. Monica Katherine is 8 lbs. We hope to go see them next Monday.

As for us, we are on our way to MI soon for Robin's best friend, Katie Escott's wedding. Should be interesting!

All good things must come to an end......

Yesterday, I experienced my first miscarriage. A thing I hope never happens to me again (or anyone else for that matter). We are handling it very well or as well as can be expected. My mom is down here now to take care of me and Ryan since Kris is going to CA this week. I won't gore anyone with the details, but please understand why I am taking all the pictures of Ryan in the big brother shirt off all the websites. It is too hard to see. We are waiting on a lot of tests to see if they can find any reason this happened, which will make us all feel better knowing. But we know the chance of that is small. Hopefully, we can get past this and go on to have more children in the future.
God Bless.