First Night = Success!

Ryder’s first night in his big boy room was very successful!  He seemed a little nervous when we first laid him down, but he went through the normal routine, asked Mommy to say prayers, asked Daddy to say prayers, asked me to turn his music on…said he couldn’t hear it and asked me to turn it up, then told me “Mommy’s not comin back in da big boy room!”  Little did he know, I totally would have gone back in there if he got upset, but I just agreed and walked out.  We never heard another peep out of him, which is strange for Ryder, usually he talks to himself and his animals for atleast 20 minutes.  I don’t know if he was scared or just exhausted, but he must have fallen right asleep.  Me on the other hand, I was wide awake, listening for the smallest little clue that he was terrified, suffocating, falling off the bed, climbing on the bed, up walking around, unplugging something and sticking his finger in a socket, touching his night light that might be hot…you know how I do!  Andddd, you know by now how Ryder does too.  He always transitions so easily, but it never stops me from worrying about every possible outcome.  He did wake up crying at 3:30, I went in and he asked me to rock him, so I did for 5 minutes, then laid him down and he went right back to sleep. 

Today when I picked him up, he was so excited to come home and go play in his big boy room!  It seems like everything he has been saying this evening has been so grown up.  Daddy asked him where one of his motorcycles was and his answer was “It maybe is probably in da kitchen!”  He told me “Ryder needs some socks to keep your feet warm.”  And he has been giving Beasley & Bubba instructions about his room, they sound like “Beezaawee, don’t eat da harwey davison big boy room!”  “Bubba no jumpin on da big boy bed!”  So not only did he sleep well in his big boy room, he also grew up, over night! 

Here is the video I took from when we first showed him his room yesterday morning, I don’t think he really knew what to think!:

Let’s hope night # 2 goes just as smoothly!

It’s A Big Boy Room!!

Ever since we found out we were pregnant, Daddy & I have had this big plan to move all of the baby stuff out of Ryder’s room and give him a brand new big boy room for his Birthday!  This toy box that the Steinhauser’s got us for Ryder’s baby shower was our inspiration, and I’d say we went a little crazy from there!

Ryder loves Harley Davidson, so we knew it would be the perfect theme to go with.  For the past few months we’ve been planning this in our heads (and shopping!) so it was so awesome to finally see it all come together!

He got a big boy bed (tonight will be his first time sleeping in it…ahhhh!) and a new Home Depot work bench!  These seem to be the 2 most fascinating parts of his room to him. 

 

Of course I love all the goodies I found online, like the Harley Davidson cork board (which Ryder drew me a picture for today and asked me to hang it up!), a Born to Ride light, a Growth Chart that has a motorcycle you move up as they grow, trash can, hamper, all the fun accessories!

I really appreciate all the hard work Daddy put into making this room perfect.  He refinished a night stand we had, painted Ryder’s old letters, put together the bed and bookcase, hung everything, and even went to Poppy’s and uninstalled some of their Harley gear to transfer it to our house!

 

 

I decided not to do a dresser so Ryder would have more room to play and went with some plastic drawers in the closet instead.

Ryder fell in love with his bed immediately and has been crawling up to lay in it throughout the day.  I can’t believe he’s such a big boy now that he can have his very own bed!  

 

We absolutely love how the room turned out.  Ryder loves it so that made it all the more exciting!  Now we are just anxiously waiting to see how he does tonight! 

 

Birthday Parties!

We had SUCH a fun day today!  It started off at Chuck E. Cheese for our friends James & Erica’s kids birthday parties…yes I said KIDS…they have 3 kids all born within like a week of each other!  This was Ryder’s first experience at anything like this, and of course he loved it! 

I don’t know what was more exciting to him, being at a Birthday party, all the games/activities, Chuck E Cheese, or carrying around his money and getting to put it in the slots!  But he had a blast and it was fun being able to watch him enjoy himself.

 

  

Happy Birthday to Alyssa, Karley, and James!  We had so much fun celebrating with you! 

Then it was on to the next party for us, we headed over to My Gym for my friend Madison’s daughter Lila’s birthday party!  Again, we had so much fun, Ryder was beside himself with all of this activity and running wildness!

 

Happy Birthday Lila!  She’s such a sweet little thing!

Although I probably could have slept for the rest of the day into tomorrow after these parties, there was no time to sleep because me & Daddy had big plans that involved some major renovations!  Sorry to be a tease…but I’m so excited I can barely keep it in.  Check back soon :)

Monster Jam

Yesterday we took Ryder to his very first Monster Truck show!  I was (of course) worried that it would be too loud for him, but he did great!  Alan kept telling me he would be fine since he likes the sound of Alan’s motorcycle, and he was right.  We spent $20 on the big huge ear muffs and when we put them on him he started yelling “Take Dem OFFFF”.  I guess the little $1 ones I bought him for the pool were enough, and he even took those out half way through.

Rammunition was our favorite and Ryder kept saying “dats Ryder’s truck!”  Every time they would get into it really loud, Ryder would turn and clench onto Uncle G or Daddy, whoever he was sitting with, until the loud part was over, but he never took his eyes off of them.

 

Ryder & Daddy especially loved the 4-wheelers & Dirt Bikes! 

 

 

I’m sure the best thing about the whole night for Ryder was all the goodies he got!  He really loved his monster truck that Daddy bought him (which was filled with cotton candy that he wanted nothing to do with!)

And the light up sword that Uncle G bought him on the way out, that he refused to turn off the whole ride home!

 

I remember going to stuff like this when I was little and how magical it all was.  Now I realize how much our parents probably had to sacrifice to be able to take us to one of these events…but that they did it because it’s SO worth it to see the joy that it brings to your child’s face!

22 Weeks!

Here’s what Alpha Mom says about this week:

Your Baby:

• Is about 11 inches long, which is just about one inch shorter than your average 12-inch ruler.
• Has likely crossed the one-pound mark in weight.
• Is getting more defined facial features every day, and already looks unmistakably like himself or herself on a 3D ultrasound.

You:

• Are gaining about a pound a week now, if you happen to be one of those rare creatures whose weight gain lines up with the books and calendars.
• May find yourself ravenously hungry at odd times during the day — the middle of the afternoon, after dinner or even in the middle of the night. Blah blah nutrient-rich protein-heavy snacks like nuts and things blah. Me, I’m going with calcium-rich milkshakes, thanks.
• Continue to be that pregnancy-patented mix of moods and emotions. Blissfully happy and belly-rubbing one minute, wracked with anxiety and worry the next. Affectionately hoping your baby looks just like your partner one minute, hating their guts and face the next. Rawr.

I have been pretty emotional lately, crying mostly at TV shows: One Born Every Minute, Teen Mom, American Idol, Jersey Shore, you name it, I’ve cried while watching it!  Today my meltdown happened during Ryder’s therapy, get it together Brandy!  My goodness.  So I guess having this extra dose of estrogen running through me is making me all sappy. 

My stomach feels SO heavy this week, that’s my only complaint, I promise!  Little Miss Maisy has been very active in the mornings and right before bed which I love.  Her movements are getting stronger and sometimes I can see my stomach jump from her little jabs.  I can also feel them in my bladder these days, that’s always fun!

Here we are at 22 weeks:

Our Life as Blue’s Clues

Our life has seriously turned into an ongoing episode of Blue’s Clues.  It all started when we were at the store the other day and Ryder said he needed us to buy him a Notebook!  Of course we gave into his request and bought him a notebook, then he needed a crayon to put in the top “just like steve does!”  So he got a crayon in his notebook.  Now he carries his notebook around with him, ya know, in case he finds a clue.  And it is a MUST HAVE when he’s watching Blue’s Clue’s so that he can draw the clues too.

 

Sometimes he needs Daddy to watch Blue’s Clues with him and help him draw the clues, and again, we always give in to his requests!

 

 

 

 

 

We have about 7 episodes recorded and Ryder always knows which one he wants to watch, he knows the titles of all of them.  Throughout the day he never stops talking about Blue’s Clues.  He relates everything to it!  When we check the mail in the evenings, it’s a big deal because “WE JUST GOT A LETTER!!”  When we’re playing and he finds something it is always “we dus found our first clue!!”  One of his favorite episodes is called Treasure Hunt, so he is always now “lookin’ for treasures!”  My favorite part that he repeats from the show is “We can do anything…DAT WE WANNA DO!” 

 

So it should be no surprise to anyone, that Me & Daddy bought this for Ryder:

 

 

His very own Thinking Chair!!  He absolutely loves it, and as you can see we were pretty excited to give it to him! 

 

I’ve been typing this post throughout the evening, and now I have a funny story to share that just happened before bedtime.  We told him he could watch Blue’s Clues before bed and Daddy asked which episode he wanted to watch.  So he said “Puppets” (this is a new one that I just recorded that Daddy didn’t know about yet).  Alan looked at me and said “what’s that?” and before I could even speak Ryder said “you take your hand like dis and say helllooooo” as he was moving his hand like a Puppet! 

He is too much, his mind really amazes us every day.  He might be just a little bit spoiled…but he deserves it!