He is a CRAB!

This past week was Ryland's first week being an official "Crab" at school.  He has been transitioning from the "Turtles" to the "Crabs" over the past few weeks and has been doing great.  He is starting to master drinking water and milk out of a normal cup.  His counting and ABC's are getting better each day!  And he even wore  pull ups one day and is sitting on the potty most days (no luck yet but maybe soon!!).   We are going to miss the "Turtles" room and teachers but I have a feeling that his new room is going to bring some new and exciting milestones!!

Round #2 ...

After a series of some pretty bad ear infections and the fact that one ear tube had already fallen out the decision was made to go back in for round #2 of ear tubes.  For some reason Ryland's little ears cannot avoid ear infections ... he definitely had his fair share of them with both tubes in place and has has his fair share of them after his left one fell out.  Both Dr Loventhal and Dr Gower (ENT) recommended that he get a second set and are hopefully that by the time these fall out his ears would have matured enough to kick these ear infections out the door. 

His surgery was scheduled on Thursday January 26th at 8:15am.  That meant that we had to be at the surgery center at 6:45am.  Ryland did great getting up and not being fussy about not being able to eat or drink anything.  I know that I have said this 100 times but I cannot say it enough ... Children's Healthcare is AMAZING!  They really know how to make it the best experience as possible for the kids.  All of the nurses and doctors are great.  There is always some stack of stickers, bin of toys, balloons or tvs with cartoons on near by.  Ryland went straight to playing with everything.  And got to pick out his very own toy from the toy cabinet ... we are the proud owners of a new football and mini chalk board.

The hour and half before his surgery went by really fast and it was a steady stream of nurses and doctors coming into our room to talk about the surgery.  Since we had the surgery done at the outpatient surgery center I was able to take Ryland back to the operating room and hold his hand until he was asleep from the anesthesia.  Laying him on the operating table was the first time that he had cried.  He definitely knew something was about to happen but did great!  The surgery was over in 10 minutes and he was wheeled into the recovery room sound alseep.  He did not sleep for long and actually woke up before the medicine had worn off so it was a rough 30 minutes.   But once we got him calmed down and in the car to go home he was happy.

My mom came out and meet us at home and ended up taking Ryland back to Douglasville for the afternoon so that Tab and I could do some work.  He had a great rest of the day.  And our fingers are crossed that this is our last round of ear tubes and that they do the trick while they are in place.

Here are some pictures from the big day ...

Road Trip to Nashville!

Over MLK weekend Stephanie, Jack, Kari, Ryland and I all piled into a car to head to Nashville for a trip to see Courtney, Jerry and the girls!  Surprisingly the car ride was not bad and we did not have any major breakdowns!  Ryland stayed awake for the entire ride up and the entire ride back!  He was exhausted after the long weekend was over.

Once we got there we all had fun hanging out, playing with the kids and catching up.  Unfortunately I did not take too many good pictures but I did take a few of our exciting weekend!

Elleree and Hadley had a shopping cart that was a hit.  It did not take Ryland and Jack too long to find it and eventually take out the 2 cabbage patch kids. 

Courtney - I promise he was not standing in your chair like this for long :)

We attempted to do artwork with all of the kids.  There was a lot of re-dos but it was a lot of fun!

We cannot wait to go back!  It was 3 days full of fun!



BuBbLe BaTh ... ooOOOoOoOOoOOO

Ryland loves to take bubble baths! 

They are so much fun!

New Years Eve 2011 - Party Like a Rockstar!

We had the typical New Years Eve night for all parents that have little ones ... we spent the night in with some great friends!  Chuck, Lindy and Maddie all came over to celebrate and have dinner with us.  Ryland and Maddie went straight to playing as soon as they got here.  And they also got to have dinner together at their own table ... even though they did not stay sitting down for long!

After dinner and changing into their pjs, they decided to have a dance party with all of the animals.  The music they were dancing to was the Christmas songs from the singing Tiger toy.

Check out Ryland's hair ... they were doing some serious jumping and dancing!

And then it was time to try out Maddie's new car.  Ryland drove it first. 

And then Maddie was next.

Beep, Beep!

And then Ryland had to push Maddie around the house in his new John Deer truck.  Now that is way to a girls heart!

We all had a fun night.  It was perfect and the kids were so tired from all of the playing that they both went straight to sleep when it was time for bed.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was A-W-E-S-O-M-E and so special this year. 

Ryland was definitely into everything around ... the Christmas tree, all of the ornaments, Santa, all of his Christmas books, and most of all ... Dash!

Christmas Eve we headed out to Doublasville for cookie making, Christmas Eve candle light service and the annual Christmas Eve party at the Garbade's.  Ryland had so much fun and even though it was a long day and night he stayed up through it all and was in a great mood.  He did not even go to sleep on the drive home.  It turned out to be perfect because it allowed for him to see Dash one more time before he flew off to the North Pole to be with Santa and we were able to read "The Elf on the Shelf" one last time before falling asleep.

My parents and grandmother came out bright and early Christmas morning just as Ryland was waking up.  We all went straight to the Christmas tree to see what Santa had left!  Ryland went straight to unwrapping his presents.  He actually got one from under the tree and unwrapped it before we knew it since we had gone back into the kitchen to grab a quick cup of coffee ... new crayons and markers - Thanks CC and Pops!

One of the first presents he opened was a tee ball set.  He loved it so much that he wanted to play with it immediately.

Putting his new crayons and markers in his new lunchbox.

Opening more trucks!

New legos!

Taking a break from opening presents to watch his new Elmo DVD.

Opening all of his presents was a long and fun process.  He actually opened the last one right before dinner!  When he was done playing with one and ready for the next he would go grab one from under the Christmas tree. 



After the last present was opened he walked up to me and in the sweetest voice he said "more presents please"!  It was so cute!  He has had 3 straight weeks of opening presents so he is one spoiled boy right now!  And a cute one at that!

Here are some random pictures of him in his Christmas pjs eating a blueberry muffin for breakfast ... one of his favorite things for breakfast, lunch or dinner!