Christmas 2010 ... What a Perfect Day

Christmas morning was so much fun! Ryland woke up around 7:30am and Pops and CC had just gotten to our house which was perfect timing.

Ryland went straight for his new rocking chair and was so excited ...



He then had to check out all of the other stuff around the Christmas tree ...



We started unwrapping presents and Ryland was right in the middle of it all.



He has been in love with any type of ball lately so he was very excited to open his new "sensory" balls.



He also got a new puppy that sings and talks to him.



He played with everything as he opened it.



And then it was time to go back to the rocking chair.



He decided that he should take some of his new toys over to the rocking chair with him.



He LOVES blowing kisses at everyone.



After a morning nap it was lunch time. He finished his entire lunch plate (he even ate some turnip greens!!). After lunch he had so much fun playing at the table with everyone. We had some holiday poppers at lunch and he had the best time popping Codi on the head with it.



After lunch it was back to opening Christmas presents. We decided to save some of them until the afternoon so that he was not too overwhelmed with everything all at once.





You will notice that he spilled water on his outfit and it definitely shows up in all of the pictures.

It was then time for the big present!! He helped his daddy open the big box with his new wagon.

After Tab and I put it together, Ryland could not wait to get in it.

He put some of his toys in there with him and we pulled him around the house. He stayed in the wagon for over an hour straight.

And he did not miss a chance to blow kisses as he passed by everyone.

It was such a great Christmas full of love, family and laughter!

And to top of the perfect day it started snowing Christmas morning and did not stop until the next day.

Merry Christmas!

It is Christmas Time!

We have definitely been preparing for Christmas around our house. Ryland is in love with our Christmas tree and loves looking at all of the ornaments and lights. And he is very interested in all of the presents that are under the tree. We are getting very excited about Christmas morning!

School has been doing some fun things in preparation for Christmas. They have been making "Christmas" crafts and sending them home with Ryland which is really cute. I love getting his art work that he makes at school. Santa visited all of the kids at Goddard on Tuesday 12/21. They said that when Santa walked into Ryland's room all of the kids started screaming! So they were not able to take pictures because all the kids wanted was for Santa to leave the room :) Today they are having a holiday party at school so we sent in snacks for all of the kids. And they all wore their pajamas to school today. I dropped off Ryland at school this morning in his cute little red Christmas pajamas. Tab has been taking him to school lately so I have not experienced the crying when we leave him at school until this morning. I know that it is typical for this age but it still makes me just want to stay at school with him all day. His teachers say that he does stop crying right after we leave which makes me feel better.

We have started the transition from formula to milk and bottles to sippy cups. So far he likes whole milk. We have reduced the # of bottles that he gets each day and have been mixing formula and milk together in them. We are also giving him sippy cups of milk with each of his meals. We are hoping to take away his bottles all together next week while he is out of school.

We also ordered his new car seat. It should be delivered today. He has been doing great in the rear facing infant car seat but I think he is really going to love his new "big boy" car seat that faces forward.

We are going out to Douglasville tomorrow for Christmas Eve service at church and then over to the Garbade's for the annual Christmas Eve party. We cannot wait to see everyone!

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Demember 2009 ... 9 Months Pregnant!!

I did not take many "pregnant" pictures and definitely did not share them with many people but I thought it was kind of funny to look back and see how much I looked like I was going to fall over on my face due to my stomach being so far out. No wonder random people loved to talk to me when I was out in public!

December 2010 ... Our little boy is 1 year old!!

At Perimeter Mall for Santa pictures. It is getting very difficult to take family pictures with all of us looking at the camera.

And it is even more difficult to take group shots with other little ones!

Hanging out in his Christmas pjs.

He has been "patting" his mouth lately. Not sure if he is blowing kisses or trying to make the indian sound!

All bundled up for the Christmas Parade in Highlands. He was so warm and cozy that he slept through 90% of it.

Eating bananas for breakfast.

Playing at Stella's house.

Taking a ride around the kitchen in his wagon.

He LOVES his cars!

Playing in the kitchen pantry.

Climbing in the tupperware cabinet.

Sound asleep on the sofa next to the fireplace in Highlands.

Ready to play.

12 Month Check Up

Ryland had his 12 month check up with Dr Loventhal this morning. The appointment went great. We were afraid that his ear infections had come back but we got the good report that both ears were clear! Dr Loventhal said that everything looked great. The only prescription that we left with was for some ointment to treat his eczema spots that have been getting worse due to the cold weather.

Below are the 12 month stats for Ryland. It looks like we have a "wee" little mister (minus the big head that holds the smartest brain!) on our hands! And love every ounce and inch of him!

Weight = 21 lbs 5 oz .... 29th%
Height = 28 1/2 inches ... 13th%
Head = 49 cm .... 98th%

HaPpY 1st BiRtHDaY!!!

Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday Dear Ryland! Happy Birthday to You!

I cannot believe how fast the last 12 months went by. I was in Minneapolis for work this week and our flight back last night was canceled so we had to fly back this morning. I was sad to miss waking up Ryland on his birthday morning but I was able to get home in time to go pick him up from school. And then we had a fun dinner at home and played with all of the new toys from his birthday party last weekend. And before we knew it, it was bedtime. But we did not miss singing him "Happy Birthday" at 9:17 pm on the dot ... he was just asleep during it :)

The Goddard School sent home the cutest birthday cards. The "Pelican" room (which is his old infant room) made him this HUGE birthday card with every one's signature and pictures of Ryland in it from his days in that room. The "Beluga" room (which is his new toddler room) sent home a birthday card with every one's handprints. Getting those cards at school was really the only time during the day that I almost teared up.

This past year has been the BEST. Tab and I love every minute with Ryland and he is constantly making us laugh and keeping us on our toes.

The Official Santa Picture

As you can tell he was not too happy to be in Santa's lap!

Catching Up ...

Things have been really busy at work and when I get home I am so drained that I have not been posting a lot on our blog. So now I feel like I need to catch up on what has been going on in the world of Ryland ...

I have already mentioned that he has moved to the toddler class at school. So far he is really liking it. They try to get the entire class on the same schedule (snack, lunch, nap, etc) and Ryland has been doing good so far. They also eat lunch at a little table in little toddler chairs. They say that Ryland does great sitting in the chair and eating. He is still taking naps in a crib but before he moves out of this class he will have moved to nap time on a mat.

It seems like every week Ryland has a new tooth. Before we know it he is going to have an entire mouth full. He got his first molar a couple of weeks ago. So that makes a total of 9 teeth to date! Cutting teeth does not seem to bother him too much which is great.

We decorated our house for Christmas on Thanksgiving weekend. This is the first year in a long time that we have put up a tree. It was fun to get everything out and hang the ornaments on the tree. And Ryland has been great with the tree. We put it in our front office which has glass doors. Whenever we have the doors closed he will go up to them and knock (well really bang) on the glass trying to get in. He loves to sit in front of the tree and look at all of the lights and ornaments. He typically has a lot to say when he is in there checking everything out. To watch him look around at everything and take it all in is pretty amazing. This is going to be the best Christmas yet .... and I hear that they only get better as they get older.

We all went to Highlands last weekend for the annual Christmas parade. It was COLD while we were there so it definitely felt like the holidays. The parade was on Saturday morning. We bundled Ryland up so much that he feel asleep within 5 minutes of being outside to watch the parade. We then relaxed around the house for the rest of the weekend next to the cozy fire. Tab and I went downtown for dinner and drinks on Saturday night which was fun. It was a perfect date night. When we woke up on Sunday morning it was snowing. It was beautiful outside but we were afraid that we were going to get snowed in so it was a mad dash around the house to get everything packed up and in the car. We made it back to Atlanta with no problems on the roads.

We took Ryland to see Santa last Friday afternoon. We went during the day which was nice because that meant no lines and we could take our time with pictures and hanging out around the Christmas decorations. Ryland LOVED the big Christmas tree at the mall but did NOT like Santa. I was not prepared for him to cry when I put him in his lap so it caught me off guard. He cried the entire time that he was in Santa's lap and the picture that we ended up with was pretty funny.

Ryland loves playing with his toys and anything that he can get into. I love to watch him learn new things and he seems to be doing that every day. He loves putting the blocks into the holes on his toys or putting the wooden shapes on the little pegs. And he even knows that the driver of his truck sits in the front of the truck which I think is really cute. It is amazing how much he remembers.

Ryland loves playing in the kitchen cabinets and in the pantry. We have the baby locks on most of the cabinets but he knows which ones do not have locks and will go straight for them. His latest favorite thing to do is to climb all the way in the cabinet with our plastic containers and pull out the ones in the very back.

** I will post pictures of all of the above soon **

Ryland's 1st Birthday Party

Today was Ryland's 1st birthday party! He had so much fun seeing all of his friends and soooooo much fun eating cake and icing!

I was out of town last week for work so most of the prep work and planning was done on Friday and Saturday. And I have to give a big thank you to Tab, my parents and Stephanie for all of their help!!

Stephanie came over to help me decorate the cutest birthday cake for Ryland on Saturday.





Tab and Stephanie ate all of the left over icing!



Ryland was already eyeing the cake and it was not even the day of the party!



Ryland playing with all of his friends at his birthday party.



Getting ready for cake time. He was not up for a family photo ... he wanted cake!

Feeding daddy some of the cake so that he knew it was ok to eat it ...

He was starting to really like the taste of the icing and cake ...

We had to take the cake away from him before he made himself sick ...

This was taken right before we cleaned him up ... Can you tell that he had a good time!

The strip down in the kitchen ... he had blue icing on everything!

The after effects on the highchair ...

The left over cake ...

He was sad to see all of his friends leave ...

And then it was time to open presents ...

He loved all of them!!

Time to Move to the Big Boy Class at The Goddard School!

Ryland has been transitioning to the big boy room at school for the past few weeks and this week is his first official week in there - We now drop him off in that room in the mornings and pick him up from that room in the afternoons! I cannot believe that he is already out of the infant room and into the first toddler room! I think the transition went pretty smoothly. The teachers really do a good job of getting them ready for the move and for that next big step. Ryland also had a friend, Parker, that moved up to that room a month before him so he was excited to see him and to be able to play with him again. The teachers said that the first time that Ryland took a nap in the big boy room he was next to Parker and they played through the crib and talked forever before they actually went to sleep.

I am still not fully in the grove with this new room and still do not know the teachers that well but that should come with time. We will definitely miss all of the teachers from the infant room and I know that Ryland will too. They come visit Ryland and Parker which is nice and I know that Ryland loves it. Ryland has been very busy when I go to pick him up in the afternoons which is really cute. He is definitely excited to see me but you can tell that he is trying to get in some last minute playing before we leave. And one of his new things is to pick up things and give them to you. And he is finally waving BYE BYE!! We can now check that milestone off the list :)

Under the weather ...

It seems like our entire house has been under the weather lately. I have been feeling sick since last Tuesday and finally went to the Dr this morning to get some medicine for the sinus infection and cold that they said that I had. I just hope the medicine starts working soon because I am ready to be over this yuck feeling. It is definitely interesting and exhausting chasing Ryland around the house when you are not feeling 100%!

Ryland went to see Dr Segal (Dr Loventhal was booked solid) a couple of weeks ago because he could not get over this awful cough that he had. She said that he had an ear infection in his left ear ... which is the first ear infection that he has had since he had tubes put in both ears in August. We started a round of antibiotics and he seemed like he was feeling better. We had put a humidifier in his room a couple of weeks ago and started the saline drops and suction every night routine which also seemed to help.

This past Monday Ryland had his follow up appt with Dr Gower (ENT) for his ear tubes which was perfect timing thinking that we would get the good news that the ear infection was gone. But we were definitely wrong ... the ear infection had moved to the right ear and was worse. And all of that ear wax that we thought we were cleaning out of his ear was actually drainage from the tubes (which is a good thing). Dr Gower started him on a different antibiotic which are drops that we put into his ear. Ever since we gave him Benedryl a few weeks ago he has hated taking all medicine by mouth. I guess the Benedryl tasted so bad that he does not trust what is in the dropper, even if it is the good tasting stuff. Hopefully these ear drops working and he will be over all of this stuff before his big birthday party that is next Sunday afternoon!!

Happy 1st Thanksgiving!!

Tab, Ryland and I all drove south to spend Ryland's 1st Thanksgiving in Brooklet with Jerry and Sharon and all of the family down there. It was a lot of fun with a lot of good food.

I will add some pictures soon. The weather was 80 degrees so needless to say we were not dressed in winter clothes and we were outside all day long!

Birthday Zip Lining in North Georgia Mountains!!

I had a great time celebrating my birthday with everyone on the north Georiga zip lines yesterday!! Since I was 9 months pregnant on my 30th birthday last year I really wanted to do something fun this year for my birthday. And I had a blast! The day started out by meeting everyone for brunch and then we all drove north to the mountains.

Here are some pictures from our afternoon out in the wilderness and on the mountain tops ...

Was that a first step ?!?! I think it was !!

Ryland has mastered the stairs!! He can speed crawl up them and then back down. And I do have to say that it is the cutest thing ever!! The nice thing is that we have 3 steps up into our bonus room upstairs which has been a great place for him to practice. Tab really worked with him last week while I was traveling for work. And then my parents keep him last weekend while we went to Savannah for a wedding and they practiced with him out in Douglasville. So far we have really only let him crawl down the 3 stairs in our bonus room because he likes to start going down head first and then flips his body around by stair 2 or 3.

During all of the stair crawling practice last week Tab sat Ryland on the bottom step and put out his hands for Ryland to walk to him. And he took his first step!! When Tab told me I was not 100% convinced that we could call that his first step but when he did it again last night I totally agree!! He bounced his little butt on the step a few times and then stood up and took a step. Now if he can just convince himself that he can take more than 1 step before falling we might have a walker on our hands soon!!

And I do have to say that our favorite thing to do every night before bed is to play chase as a family. We all go upstairs after dinner and have so much fun chasing each other through the hallway, bedrooms and bonus room. Ryland LOVES this and laughs so hard as he speed crawls away from us or into our arms when the other one is chasing him. And Codi and Bailey join in sometimes and Ryland gets a big kick out of that!

Time to Rearrange!

We had a weekend full of moving stuff around, building new cabinets and packing up clothes that are too little!

Ryland got sick on Wednesday afternoon with a high fever and throwing up so we kept him out of school on Thursday and Friday. He was feeling a little better so CC and Pops kept Ryland on Friday night and brought him back on Saturday morning. So that meant that Tab and I were able to sleep in and wake up and watch tv in bed which we never do anymore. Once CC, Pops and Ryland got here we then had a productive Saturday of all working around the house.

Tab moved his office from downstairs to the upstairs bonus room. We then turned the downstairs bedroom into Ryland's playroom with all of his toys and pack-n-play.

My dad and I put together a new bookcase that we put into Ryland's bedroom closet. Now I have somewhere to put all of his little shoes and another place to store books, extra diapers, etc.

We also packed up all of Ryland's clothes that are too small and moved them to the basement. I can now see the bed in the guest bedroom now that the pile of clothes is gone!

Now it is time for me to get ready to leave to meet all of the girls for brunch and a movie. And then I have to pack this afternoon since I am leaving bright and early in the morning for Orlando. I will be gone until Wednesday night ... which is my longest trip away since having Ryland. I just hope he is feeling 100% again before I leave.

Tooth #7 is a Sneaky Little Thing

We had no idea that Ryland was getting a new tooth but earlier this week my mom saw something new shining in his mouth. And it was tooth #7 ... right there next to the 2 on the bottom! Yay for tooth #7!! He is going to be able to eat steak before we know it!!