Ryan Family

Ah, Labor..
August 30, 2008 10:30 PM
Posted By Shannon
So, it appears the contractions have begun.. early labor, braxton hicks, prodromal labor, false labor - whatever you wanna call it.. when I have a contraction - IT HURTS, there is nothing false about it - I can't talk during one, I can't sleep during one, all I can do is focus everything I have until it peaks and starts to fall, and then ahhhh all better for a while! :( I'm also irritated that it's AUGUST! I am due mid September - I'm looking forward to my fake fall baby! August in no way, shape or form can be considered fall, right!? So, the least the babe can do is hold off until September 1st - LABOR day... a perfect day for labor, right? But the longer he waits, the longer I have to suck it up and breathe, and count to what I think is the peak and then start to relax... I swear, labor makes me feel like the BIGGEST wuss in the world!! Waaaaaa!! Just had another one! It's going to be a looooooong week.. I just know it!
I went into Shaun's parents hot tub (set at 98) and it helped SOOOOOOOOO much! I had 3 contractions in there and they were so much nicer! I should just live in the tub until baby boy makes his appearance!

Well, enough of my whining! For now! hehe
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A Busy day!!
August 27, 2008 10:26 AM
Posted By Shannon
Tuesday was a busy day for us!
We started the morning by going to the La Leche League meeting. The weather was beautifully fallish and I loved it! I brought Gwen's bathing suit just in case it was warm so she could enjoy the splash pad.. but since it was a bit chilly, never put it on her. She went in the splash area ANYWAY - with her clothes on! Luckily in the van, I had a shirt - but no pants, so she spent the rest of the day in her bathing suit bottoms and a t-shirt! NICE!
After LLL we headed over to Shaun's work to have lunch. We went to the vegetarian Indian place and had yummy food! To my pleasant surprise, I wasn't even burping up indian flavors all day! YAY! After dropping Shaun off we headed to our friends house and played for a few hours! Well, Gwen played with Kieran and I chatted with Melissa.. it's nice to talk to adults sometimes, isn't it? I realized it was after 5pm and it was time to go! We had to get home, so we could pick up Shaun and head to my mom's for Ruthie's birthday cake!! WHEW!! I took a short nap after getting home.. but then woke up at 1015 after Gwen was asleep.. and watched THREE episodes of Dexter!! THANKS SHAUN!! I think he would have stayed up all night to watch the remaining 4 episodes! It is really hard to stop when the episodes are sitting there, just waiting to be watched!! I'm sure I'll be exhausted by noon on Wednesday! :)
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Up North!
August 18, 2008 11:13 PM
Posted By Shannon
We went to the cabin up north over the weekend! What a nice and relaxing trip! (although, right now I'm super annoyed because I was mere seconds away from finishing this entry when somehow I deleted the entire thing with no way to get it back! grrrrrrr!!)
Anyway, we went to the beach, for a drive but mostly just lazed around enjoying each others company! Our last mini trip as a family of THREE!! YIKES! Here are some pics!

Gwen shows off her muscles!

Gwen dips her foot into the LEACH pond!! (I got a leach swimming here last year on my toe! GROSS!! First I ran out of the water, then realizing that as a mother it my responsibility to not only save myself, but my child as well! So, I turned around and grabbed poor Gwen by one arm - to protect her from those blood eating savages!) haha I guess she has no memory, since she went into this water more readily than our previous day at beach!

The Pink elephant! Gwen now knows that when you see the pink elephant, it means you are UP NORTH!! We take her picture standing by him every year to see how she's grown! :)

Gwen sure LOVES those Michigan cherries!

Running through the cabin!

No matter where we go, there is always a playground!

Gwen is not in the mood to swim today! Too bad, cause I could have spent HOURS relaxing in the crisp refreshing spring water!

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Categories: shannon, gwen, shaun, fun stuff, vacation

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAUN!! (over a month early!!)
August 11, 2008 9:18 AM
Posted By Shannon
Well, it was hard work - keeping my mouth shut that is! But it all worked out and we discovered that I actually CAN lie (a new talent?)! haha I think having a surprise party a month early was really the best option (we can think baby boy for that!) since Shaun was really genuinely surprised! He had a lot of fun - one last HUURAAH! as a young whipper snapper! Thank you EVERYONE for coming to the party and for not making my fear of only 4 people being there for the surprise come true!! hehee

The arrival - we were not prepared for! Call the fire department!!
the dino cake that Gwen picked out! Gwen has to help the old man!
Shaun enjoys some cotton candy! Playing in the rain!
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Categories: shaun, fun stuff

Kite Festival
August 8, 2008 11:48 PM
Posted By Shannon
We took Gwen to a kite festival last weekend. We even got to decorate and fly our very own kite! What a cool experience. This was Gwen's first time flying a kite and she thought it was pretty sweet!
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Categories: fun stuff

Where did she get THAT smile?
August 8, 2008 10:50 PM
Posted By Shannon
I took some photo's of Gwen yesterday and one of them just stood out to me! I kept thinking that I'd seen that exact same smile somewhere before!! Turns out that I have! In my own 5 year old picture. Check it out! (My sister Jennifer is in the photo with me, and granpda Pruden in the background)



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Kitty Whiskers
August 8, 2008 9:55 AM
Posted By Shannon
Last week Gwen found a halloween book that I forgot to put away. (I put holiday books and dvd's in a box, so it's a special occasion when they come out!) After reading about Froggy's halloween, she wanted MORE! She kind of became obsessed with Halloween, and that couldn't make momma happier - since Halloween is a personal fave! So, after a little thought I decided to get the Halloween box down.. and we read some more halloween stories. Then I explained to her that in October, (which is far away, you'll have a baby brother, daddy's birthday will pass, blah blah) she can get dressed up and go trick or treating! We were talking about what she would like to dress up as, she said a Lion, or an elephant! I said or a kitty cat, and daddy can paint you some whiskers, and you can wear kitty ears! Forward to last night - Gwen was painting on her easle and kept asking to paint whiskers on mommy,. so I explained that no, that is paint for paper and there is a special face paint at the halloween store.. This morning she wanted to paint using the brown paint. So, I open the paint, give her a brush and then leave the playroom to call Shaun (yeah, what kind of crazy person leaves her 2.5 yr old with open paint ALONE in a room! haha) I come back in about 2 minutes and here she is!!!!!!!

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Categories: gwen

Shaun is awesome!
August 8, 2008 9:03 AM
Posted By Shannon
So, Shaun was able to link this blog - which is free through our web host- through our website! YAY!!! I'm sure it was easy for him, but I would have NEVER figured it out.. had no idea even where to begin!

Our actual website is still intact and without current information - there is a link through this page (SSRYAN HOME PAGE to the right). This is really so much easier for updates! I hope I actually update regularly now!

But anyway, Thanks Shaun!!

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Categories: shaun

Blogging
August 7, 2008 11:04 PM
Posted By Shannon
So, I'm terrible at updating our website.. it just takes a lot of time. I haven't updated since Feb 07! Terrible!! So, I figure by setting it up this way, I might actually update things and family/friends can go to our website and learn something new! HEY! I didn't say it would be important or thought provoking.. who knows, maybe you'll get a good laugh out of my terrible writing capabilities? So, I'm giving the blogging thing a whirl.. if nothing else, it will be a saved document / diary of our lives that we can look back on and think, WOW! How would we go on without the mighty blog?
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Categories: random thoughts

Lazy
August 7, 2008 10:30 PM
Posted By Shannon
Lazy.. yep, that's totally me right now - 8 months pregnant in August, and quite honestly it's not nearly as horrid as I thought it would be!!
BUT still, it takes hours.. no, DAYS to clean the house! If I can actually motivate myself to finish. I have to force myself to take poor Gwen outside, even though I really just want to force poor Gwen to take a nice nap! (so I can get some shut eye myself! hehe) Once a week that happens - if I'm really lucky. yaaaaaawn! I don't feel like cooking either.. so it's been really easy lame meals or dining out. I had/have full intentions on making all kinds of freezer meals for when the babe arrives - HA HA HA!! I will just laugh at my brilliant ideas right now! I keep hoping that nesting starts soon and I actually finish everything that I want to within the next MONTH! AHHH!
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Categories: general, shannon