Bryson's Birthday

It's hard to believe that he's already 3! It really does seem like only yesterday it was HIM we were bringing home from the hospital, now all I see is a 'big boy'. We tried to make Bryson's birthday as special as we could despite still going back and forth to the hospital. We met him and Grammie, Poppie, Josh and Anna for special breakfast at his favorite place, Crispy Waffle. Nate and I headed to the hospital and Bryce had a fun day with Grammie and Poppie. We met up again later for dinner with everyone... we celebrated Nanie's birthday too!

We headed back to Grammie and Poppie's for presents and CAKE, Bryson's favorite part! He sure had fun playing with everyone!! Afterwards we took him to the hospital for a visit with his brother. We wanted to make sure he understood why he wasn't home with us. It was a special day for a special boy!

You can find more photos here! Or copy and past the link below!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158101&id=1486225559&l=0d921e2aaa

Welcoming...

...Ryland Paul Buckert.

My Birth Story...
It was decided at 35 weeks that for my safety we would be induced the following week. Wednesday night Bryson headed to my parents and Nate and I headed to the hospital. I was hooked up and monitored for a while before they began my medication and it showed that I was actually contracting on my own. I then met the first of my fantastic nurses, Becky, who gave me the meds to get things rolling. By 2 a.m. I decided I would go ahed with the epidural, so I was moved to the L&D room, which was HUGE, and had a whirlpool tub!! The epidural ended up only working sparatically in my left side, which was fun... Shortly after 7 in the morning my doctor came, I was started on pitocin (to kick up the contractions), she broke my water and attempted to insert some monitors to internally monitor Ryland's vitals... this apparently was too much for him to handle which caused for about 10 very scary minutes, the possibility of an emergency c-section, me on oxygen, extra nurses brought in, etc. Thankfully he came through and we continued on with the process. Shortly there after my blood pressure started to get too high so I needed to be started on additional medication.

In the process of all of this as we knew we were getting closer, we discoved that our camera battery was dead!! Thankfully a friend was able to run to the store and buy a new one for us since we couldnt find the charger either!! At last I was ready to push... 3 pushes later Ryland was born, with the cord wrapped around his neck and tied in a complete knot. My doctor has been delivering babies for 25 years and had never seen that happen. They refer to Ryland as my little miracle, as if we hadnt have delivered when we did, he may not have made it!

Ryland was MUCH smaller than anticipated, born at 5 pounds 3 ounces and 20 inches. At 34 weeks they had estimated him as 5 pounds 8 ounces. And despited being immediately checked by the NICU doctor, about an hour and a half after being born, meeting grammie, poppie, uncle jordan and big brither Bryson... Ryland started to struggle with his breathing so he was brought to the NICU for observation. A few hours later we were told that he would be staying there as his O2 stats were low and he was continuing to struggle with breathing.

After first being told he would not need to be in there long, then being told Sunday.... Nate and I decided it would be best for me to head home instead of hanging out in the hospital so that we could be with Bryson for his birthday.

NICU stories and Bryson's birthday to come...

You can find additional pictures of Ryland's birth here... dont worry if you dont Facebook, you will still be able to access the photos!

You can copy and paste the link below;
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158103&id=1486225559&l=26af7fe1ea

Our Future Tennis Star

I finally got Bryson's mad skills on tape! Check it out! Nate says he definetly has 'above average skills'.... looks like that scholarship dream may not be so far off! Haha!

Yum!

Popsicles! Bryson's favorite summer food, I swear he thinks they are their own food group. I finally made him some homemade ones so that we weren't over-loading him with dyes and sugar!

Fourth of July Weekend

We finally got back to Michigan for the Fourth of July.

Auntie Lynda joined us and of course provided the entertainment.

Since I wasn't allowed on the jet ski this time, Nate took Bryce for a few rides.... I think they went too fast!

Bryce of course loved spending time on the boat...

...especially driving with Uncle Josh.

We of course followed tradition and had Breakfast at Wimbledon, a.k.a. ice cream for breakfast.

Bryson did much better with the fireworks this year, and didn't even request 'ear-muffins'.

Bryson's First Movie

Took Bryson to go see his very first movie, Toy Story 3. Uncle Jordan and Auntie Lynda came with and we had a blast. He also got to have popcorn for the first time. He did really well and we're looking forward to being able to see more in the future!

Bryson's Early Birthday Party

Bryson's friend party was a big success. The weather held out and so did mom!

Bryson and Aanya posed for a cute picture together, vouldn't get him to smile though!

The boys took good care of Aubrey at the sandbox!

We were thankful to have Auntie Lynda around to entertain... now who has the picture of her in the jumpy?! :)

Bryson loved his Lightening McQueen and Mater cake!

The black frosting was apparently a big hit!

Bryson did really well making sure to "read" all his cards before tearing into his gifts!

And he made sure to give higs and kisses to everyone, especially his special buddy Firefighter Ryan!

Bryson's Early Birthday Present

Due to the pending arrival of another little man, we decided to have the big man's birthday party a month early. The morning of his 'friend' party we also gave him his "big" birthday present from us and Grammie and Poppie. He didn't quite get that it was HIS to keep until Nate explained it to him!
He and his friends had a blast playing with it the morning of his party. We were worried about rain later in the day so we wanted to make sure everyone got to play just in case we decided to take it down!

Another hurdle...

What started out as us thinking Bryson may have a lazy eye, turned into the news that Bryson will be getting glasses. In the last three months his eyes have gotten worse and he is now dealing with two stigmatisms. He's not thrilled about the idea, but at least he looks cute!

New do...

We've decided to just let Bryce's hair grow. It's all curls and can look pretty interesting on a humid day, but this morning we came up with a new look. I think it makes him look like a little boy again!

NO FLOATIES!

Here's our no fear little boy swimming for the first time without his floaties on! I think I can confidently say he may be swimming within the month! Hooray!

New School

We were lucky enough to find a preschool program for Bryson to attend this summer! I had to get special permission for him to be accepted as he is 'technically' too young but they took him and he is LOVING it. It's through the park district. There are 15 students in his class and we were lucky enough to get to go with our neighbor Aanya! Here's Bryce on his first day!

(Poor photo quality due to using my iphone more often than my good camera, sorry!)

Bryson and the Ladies!

What can I say! He's a ladies man!

Our little fish!

Bryson is SO pumped to swim. And we're so lucky to have such a nice neighbor, Ang, who let's us use her pool all the time! Here's Bryce going for it!

Memorial Day in Michigan

Bryson pretty much lived in his pool the whole time we were in Michigan. He loved running as fast as he could and diving in head first.

He also played his own version of football with his daddy. I think he's been hanging out with the dogs too much!

If anyone got too close Bryson made sure they enjoyed the water as much as he did!

He also entertained us all with his 'Boom-Boom-Pow' dance. Check out Grammie and Poppie in the background.

We of course had do go for a ride despite the fact that neither of us should be on the jet ski... oh well, we had fun!

I was trying to figure out where the 'dare-devil' in Bryce came from, and then I was reminded!

Jumping off the back of the boat already!

Sandbox Picnic

Bryson's last day of school was the traditional Sandbox Picnic, which really isn't a picnic at all, but was fun none-the-less. Bryce had a good time running around and playing with the boys from his class.

Sandbox 'Graduation'

Bryson had a special graduation ceremony at school today. (Despite the fact that they will go to school until the end of May.) They sang some songs for the parents, got a certificate and had some cookies and juice.
Brady was the singer of the group (far right), while Bryson was really into the motions.
He sure loves his teacher Miss Jenn.... or he's trying to butter her up since he hasn't exactly been good lately!
Here he is with his diploma! He's sooo proud, and quite the ham, can you tell?

It keeps growing and growing and growing...

'The Bump' that is! This is me at 24 weeks, I'm gigantic!

Softball time...

Nate's going to be playing softball with the guys on Fridays. At practice Bryce and our friends little guy Nathan got to practice batting and pitching. It was pretty cute to watch the guys with the little boys! (That's Bryson's buddy Firefighter Ryan in case youwere wondering!)