Today, September 20, 2009, was Ryan's blessing day. He was lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents, as well as Uncle Kevin, Aunt Megan and cousin Kale visit him for the occasion. As you can see above, Kale and Ryan hit it off immediately as they were posed by parents together with little Ryan sitting on Kale's lap. In this first picture, both seem pretty happy ...
A moment later, Ryan isn't sure about the seating arrangement, but Kale still seems OK with the situation.
Eventually, even though the two cousins obviously have mad love for each other, Kale was done with having Ryan and his lap and Ryan was ready to move back into Mom's arms.
Dana was in love with Kale, and was very excited to spend some time with Aunt Megan, whom she worships. When it was time for Uncle Kevin and Aunt Megan to leave, Dana broke down into semi-hysterical sobs. It was so sad, and cute!
More bonding time between Aunt Megan, Dana and Kale. Notice Uncle Kevin's stylish pink tie in the right edge of the photo!
After church, we gathered outside for some family photos. We asked our great friend, Sandra Hanson, to take some of the photos for us, and afterwards she was very anxious to hold little Ryan. As soon as Ryan went to her, he started smiling all over the place. It was so cute! This photo is proof!
There were several family photos from the day, but this was our favorite. It really captures the personalities of Nate and Dana. Kimmy was happy to be snuggling Mommy, and Ryan was trying to get in a little nap. Also, if you look closely, Ryan is using his hand to flash the sign of the horns. Lovely. My son is a Texas Longhorns fan.
I like this photo. Sandra took it right after we were finished with the photos, and I think it was interesting to see everyone beginning to scatter once photo time was done.
Another nice family photo.
Nice photo, except for Nate's "Chandler smile" (a Friends reference). He's such a cute kid, but every now and then, you put him in front of a camera, and he forgets how to smile. It's cute.
This is my favorite photo of Nate in the family pictures. You can see the difference between his "Chandler smile" in the photo before this one, and his real smile here. Why the sincere smile here? He was reacting to Dad's announcement that Ryan had just passed gas.
The whole family! From left to right: Grandma Cowley, Grandpa Cowley, Nate, Aunt Megan, Uncle Kevin, Kale, Dana, Angi, Kimmy, Jared, Grandma Noble, Grandpa Noble, Ryan.
More family fun! We were very grateful to have both sets of grandparents as well as Uncle Kevin and family out to visit and participate in this wonderful day. A special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Noble who came out for this on their 43rd wedding anniversary! Thank you, we love you all!
This is me, right after they officially admitted me to the hospital. As you can see, I was in good spirits. Ryan was 20 inches and 8.2 pounds when he was born. Pretty average size, but when I saw him for the first time, I said "oh, he's so small!" 
Here is the proud daddy:
These pics look a little weird, as Jared took them without the flash, cause he was trying not to make his first bath any worse:
He has since grown 1 3/4 inches and is up to 8.13 lbs. He is SUPER mellow. He only fusses for a short time when he is getting his diaper changed (really, who can blame him?) or when he is hungry, but as soon as his needs are met, he is happy to sit quietly using his shifty eyes to see what is going on around him. 
He has big dimples in both cheeks. I only have one on my left side, and just when I am smiling, but he has them all the time. As you can see, it was a poor choice of finger I used to point out his dimples, sorry!
The only "problem" we had the first few days of having Ryan home, was the big kids fighting over who got to hold him. Since his newness has worn off, the fighting over holding him has stopped, thank goodness, but they still want to hold him all the time and be great helpers.
I can't try and be modest here, I make BEAUTIFUL babies. When Ryan came out, he didn't have a cone head or any birthmarks or any of that baby acne...he is just one good lookin' baby!
Yes, it really is that bad, but it does work.
