June 19th, 2008

Daddy and I made another big website update today. There are 35 new pictures scattered across the Family Tree and MySpace sections, 4 new blog entries (read below for those) catching you up on how my June has been going and one more new video.

Click here for new pictures starting on Page 13 of the Family Tree section including some old ones of me and Uncle Lee that have just surfaced out of Aunt Danisse's camera.

Click here for new pictures starting on Page 16 of the My(baby)Space section including the now famous Elmo pics.

Click her for the new Jumperoo video on Page 5 of the MeTube section

June 15th, 2008

Happy Fathers Day to Daddy! At school Ms. Diane, Ms. Cindi and I made him a present. It was a pair of socks with my footprints on them and Daddy liked them a lot. Now he says he knows where to put his feet when he puts his socks on. Come on Daddy, what's up with that? I'm only 4 months old and I know this already!

June 14th, 2008

Worst. Feeling. Ever. Just getting over my first baby cold. No fun at all. Haven't been in the jumperoo in days. I was all congested and coughing but I'm feeling better now thanks to the thing called an aspirator. What is this miracle of modern medicine you ask? Well you probably don't want to know but let me just tell you it involves having your Mommy squeeze this bulbous tube then shoving it up your nose to get all the gooey stuff out. Not very comfortable but ah what a relief when it's all out! I was about to go and add that Chicago song "You're The Aspiration" to the MyPod page but then someone (thanks Gypsy) told me that's it's "Inspiration" not "Aspiration" and then the song just wasn't as good anymore.

June 7th, 2008

Best. Plaything. Ever. Have you heard of this thing called a Jumperoo yet? No it's not a kangaroo, it's a jumperoo. Well maybe it's like a kangaroo, I've never really seen one of them, but I don't think so. In my class at school they have one of these and it's so much fun that I just had to have one at home too! It's like the Exer-saucer where you sit in this pouch and put your legs through the middle but the seat itself is attached to three poles with bungee-cord like things on them. You can jump up and down by flexing your legs and pushing up on them and the whole seat bounces and spins and there's music and lights and just "wow", so much fun!

If you want to get a feel for exactly how much fun this is, there's a video of me "jumping around" up in the MeTube section. Check it out when you get a chance and let me know how you like my "Riverdancing".

By the way, Mommy and Daddy keep singing this song "Jump Around" whenever I'm in it. Goes a little like this. "Jump around, jump around, jump up, jump up, jump down. I came to get down, I came to get down, so jump around!" Maybe some of you remember this song? They do this kind of thing a lot, just randomly break into song together. I wonder if maybe they've watched too many musicals? I guess it's OK, but someone really needs to tell them they don't sing very well. The hills may be alive with the sound of music but they're certainly covering their ears!

May 31st, 2008

Today we went to Long Island to attend Gabriella's 1st birthday party. I was wondering why they called it Long Island but after we arrived I figured it out. They call it Long Island because it takes so long to get there! But the party was great, there were lots of people and I got to see Gabriella the birthday girl and also Christopher and Jenna too! We took a group picture, it's up in the MySpace section, but as you'll see we're not a very attentive bunch are we? The rest of the Smith clan was there too, Aunt Rosemary & Uncle Richie, Debbie & Russ, Jessica & Michael, Bobby & Cathy and of course Gabriella's parents Richard and Juliet. But they're not all "Smiths" actually, some of them have different names now since they're married. I won't go into it all here, it'll just confuse you like it does me…

Now here's the best part that I haven't told you yet. Guess who else was at the party? Elmo from Sesame Street! Da-da-da-da Da-da-da-da Elmo's World! Yep, the Big Red Guy apparently took the subway in from the Bronx, which is where they say Sesame Street is I guess, and hung out at the party with all the kids. He was very cool; but I must admit also a bit intimidating too! He's much taller in person than he is on TV. Man, if that's true for all the Sesame Street gang, I hope I never run into Snuffleupagus or Big Bird on the street! There's also some great pictures of me and Elmo in the MySpace section too. Overall the party was great and when it was over we left Long Island for the, yep you guessed it, the "long" drive home…

May 26th, 2008

Happy Memorial Day to everyone! For the fashionista babies out there, this now means it's OK to wear a white onesie - but only until Labor Day...

This weekend Daddy put together my Exer-Saucer. Now it didn't actually take all weekend, but if you saw the look of frustration on Daddy's face while he was putting it together you'd think he'd been working on it the whole weekend for sure! I didn't know what an Exer-Saucer was, and frankly I was a bit scared I was getting a Flying Saucer. I don't want to go into outer space, I'm too young for that! Isn't there a dog, cat or a lab monkey with some spare time on his hands (or paws)?

Well after it was all put together it turned out I had nothing to fear after all. This is the same thing we have at my school which I call the "Put Your Legs In The Holes And Get Pushed Around In Circles By The Teacher" toy! So cool! There's lots of things to play with on top and the seat turns in both directions and the whole thing goes all the way around the center play table on wheels. To make it go you have do what Fred Flintstone does when he drives his car, you use your legs to push yourself forward. Now if only my legs were long enough to touch the ground so I could make this thing work on its own and not have to rely on Mommy and Daddy to push me :(

If you want to see me and my new "mobile baby activity center" (that's what they call it on the box) and a few other recent pictures of recently-turned-3-months-old me, then check out the website updates I've linked to below.

Click here for 12 new pictures starting on Page 14 in the My(baby)Space section

Click here for me in the Exer-Saucer video on page 4 on the MeTube section, this one actually has some audio in it so turn the sound up and be careful, the last part might make you dizzy, I know it wore me out!

Click here for one new picture of Mommy and me on Page 13 in the Family Tree section

May 18th, 2008

Daddy just helped me finish a major website update! We put up over 50 new pictures from the past month or so and along with some new blog entries from the month of May (read on below for those) there's also a new video of me and another song in my iPod playlist (from my favorite contestant on this year's American Idol show). Use the links below go directly to the new stuff if it's easier than making your way through the main menu and hitting the Next buttons all those times. Enjoy!

Click here for new pictures starting on Page 9 in the Family Tree section

Click here for new pictures starting on Page 9 in the My(baby)Space section

Click here for the new video on page 3 on the MeTube section

Click here for the new song on the MyPod playlist

May 17th, 2008

I went to a birthday party today. My friend and "across-the-street" neighbor Graham had his 5th birthday party and he invited me and Mommy and Daddy to come to the party.

There were lots of Big Kids there, some of them I recognized from Mommy's class at school, and they played T-Ball and jumped around in this enormous bouncing thing that filled with air and had slides and all kinds of things for the Big Kids to do while they jumped around inside. Daddy took me close to look in and see what they were doing and it looked like fun! I thought "hey can't I just crawl in there for a little while and jump around too"? Then Daddy reminded me that not only had I not yet learned how to jump so how would I know what to do once I got in there, but he also pointed out the trouble I might have with the crawling inside part because, guess what, I don't even know how to crawl yet either. Hmmm, Daddy's got a point, guess that's where the phrase "you need to learn to crawl before you can jump" comes from?

The party had a baseball theme to it and since all of the Big Kids were wearing baseball shirts, Mommy and Daddy dressed me in my New York Mets gear, my blue #5 David Wright t-shirt and orange and black floppy Mets hat. I might have to talk to Daddy about this soon because I heard from a few folks at the party that there are a lot of Red Sox fans in the area and I'm not sure how long in life I can get away with being a Mets fan up here without my superior baby-cuteness to back me up.

May 11th, 2008

Quick note here to make sure I wish a Happy Mothers Day to everyone on my list:

May 8th, 2008

Today was my first day of school! Daddy took me in the morning and we rode all the way there in the car. I guess the whole school bus thing comes later? My teachers are Ms. Diane and Ms. Cindy and they're really nice. There's lots of other babies in my class to talk to and play with and we'll have to get on each others MySpace pages real soon!

The biggest surprise of my first day was when Mommy came in to see me! She works in the classroom right across the hall so she can look in my room and see what I'm doing all day (note to self: self, you better behave!) and she can come visit me and take me for walks on her lunch break when it's nice outside.

We also had our family picture taken before Daddy left to go to work and later in the morning we had Muffins For Mommy. Well I didn't get a muffin myself and I'm not sure how many mommies actually had muffins because I wasn't really keeping track (too many new things to look at in here!) but that was the theme they were going with in our room since it was so close to Mothers Day.

Finally after a long day, Mommy picked me up and we drove back home. Whew, I'm glad she came when she did, I was getting really tired. But I like school and look forward to going there three days a week from now on.

May 5th, 2008

I made a quick trip down to New Jersey this weekend to see everyone for an early Mothers Day. We stayed at Grandma's house on Saturday, then went to see Nana, Papa, Aunt Danisse and Uncle Lee on Sunday. We went to one of those "all you can sleep" buffets to celebrate Mothers Day. Yes, I slept through the whole thing! Long car rides will do that to a baby, you know. When I found out later on from Daddy that it was really an all you could eat buffet and not an all you could sleep one, I felt bad. I guess I wasn't just dreaming about how good those Eggs Benedict smelled, was I?

April 28th, 2008

Well that wasn't so bad after all. Three shots in the leg and I didn't even feel a thing! Matter of fact I cried after they took the needle out, not when it went in. Talk about your delayed reactions, eh? Well I guess I'm safe now, not going to get any of those really exotic diseases like Diptheria (sounds like a dinosaur), Rubella (isn't she one of my pet cats?) or Chicken Pox. Which reminds me of a joke, what did one farmer in Ancient Rome say to the other farmer who he was mad at for stealing his cows? "A pox on both your chickens!". Well, maybe I should stick to the writing and not to Ancient Civilization humor? Although you've got to admit, that Caesar's salad joke in the hospital section intro was a real knee slapper wasn't it? Ouch, my leg! Oops, I guess it did hurt. LOL

But that's not all (tell them what else they've won Johnny!). The doctor measured and weighed me and as of this writing I am now 13 pounds and 3 ounces big and 23 3/4 inches long. We'll just round up and call it 2 feet, that's easier to remember. How many feet do I have? Two. How tall am I? Two feet. See it's real simple. For now at least... The doctor also said that I'm in the 75th percentile for my height and weight which I think means I'm a little big for my age, but not so much. Finally, the nurse also measured my head and they said it's normal for babies like me, I heard them say that I scored 50 person tiles on that one.

All in all, not a bad day at the doctor's office, except for all the rain! Word to Daddy. You've got to be a lit-tle bit more careful when taking me out of the car. I got real wet! If I had a bar of Irish Spring I could've skipped tonight's bath completely!

April 27th, 2008

I just found out through a trusted source (meow!) that I have to go to the doctor tomorrow to get my first set of vaccination shots. Does anyone know a good safe house in the Hartford area? How do I get a ticket for that Underground Railroad? I have a feeling this isn't going to be fun. :(

April 25th, 2008

Funniest thing happened today as I was working out at the gym... Well, OK, it wasn't quite "The Gym" exactly, it was more like "laying on a blanket in the living room and kicking" but I digress...

So I'm laying on my stomach for my daily session of supervised "Tummy Time" with Mommy, staring straight ahead into the hallway (and I think I saw one of the cats do something mischievious but don't worry I won't tell!), when I start leaning a little to the left... Then a little more to the left... And next thing you know I'm really "listing to port", going all Titanic and such! I briefly consider screaming but instead, for some strange reason, I want to sing a Celine Dion song? But that passes quickly, thank heavens! Where was I? Oh yes... I go into a full shoulder roll that a Hollywood stuntman would be proud of, wind up flat on my back, and I'm staring up at the ceiling while heaven knows what that cat got away with while I wasn't looking!

Apparently, this is a great thing because Mommy's all excited and she's calling Daddy on the phone at work to let him know that I'm a complete klutz! Hmmm, they sound excited? Folks, welcome to my first "baby flip"! Quick somebody get me Bela Karolyi's cell phone number, I'm going all Mary Lou Retton on the other babies at the Summer Olympics in Beijing!

April 22nd, 2008

Happy Birthday to you

April 20th, 2008

Wow! I finally did it! It took me two months of hard work post-birth, and now I've finally finished building this web site! Welcome everyone to "Ryan's Room", my own little space on the Internet where you can come to see pictures of me, watch videos, hear songs and generally just keep up on all things Ryan!

The fruits and vegetables of all this labor? Well we've got 8 sections of the site to choose from with over 150 pictures grouped by various "themes". There's me in the womb, me in the hospital, me with family, me with friends, just me, well you get picture, all of them actually! There's also a video section with 2 short movies of me and I've got 5 songs rotating in the music section plus whatever I'm writing now.

There's still a whole lot more to come, I've got Mommy and Daddy taking pictures of me on a daily basis and you'll be the first to know (if you read this blog) when I put up the good ones.

I'd like to thank all of you who have been taking this web site for a "test run" with me while it was still "under construction" but now it's time to send Bob the Builder home so tell all your friends that they are welcome in Ryan's Room anytime! Oh, and you better send them the link in the address bar there at the top (that's www.commish.com/ryan) otherwise they'll never find this place, even if they've got that GPS thingie...