Making Up for Lost Time

Ryan was born at 34.5 weeks gestational age. While we were so lucky that his lungs were mature and his body as a whole was healthy, he still wasn't technically ready to come into the world, as most babies prefer to chill in their mama's bellies for at least four more weeks than he did. Obviously none of us remember what it's like to be in utero, but I imagine it's pretty comfy, warm, peaceful, where you just sleep a lot.

When we first brought Ryan home, all he did was sleep. A lot. He would get up every few hours to eat, but he would quickly shut his eyes as he drank his bottle, having expended what little energy he had to let out a few cries, and soon enough he would be back to sleep, and sleeping some more. We put him on a slanted bed out in the middle of the family room all day long, so that he could hear our voices and feel like he was included in everything we did, even though he snoozed through all of it.

One night Richard and I were going to bed and he confided in me, "I feel kind of bad, like we're ignoring Ryan, he never does anything!" I was so relieved, because I had been feeling the same way. But the fact was that Ryan just needed to catch up on several weeks of lost sleep, so we let him sleep as much he needed. Finally he started coming around, being awake more and more often, and before we knew it, our premature, sleeping angel was this chubby, giggly baby who never stopped smiling or chasing after his brother!

I can't help but think sometimes though, that those early weeks of sleeping have made Ryan feel like he's got to constantly be on the go now that he is so mobile. His favorite activity?

Climbing.




My mom pointed out to me that there should be many more pictures on here of places he has climbed onto, but in those instances I had to save his life, rather than turn it into a photo-op. Who knows where Ryan's skills will take him. Today it's the window sill, maybe in a few months it will be the apple tree out back, and in twenty years, maybe he will be scaling Mt. Everest.

Guess we'll all have to wait and see, (and I'll try not to have a heart attack in the meantime).