More Snow!

We got another good snow this weekend, about a foot of accumulation.  Today we bundled Ryder up and took him out in it.  He didn’t think much of it and was ready to go back inside after only a few minutes.  Daddy & Uncle G stayed outside working hard on making an igloo…yes…we now have an igloo in our front yard!   

“Okay, I’m ready to go inside now!”

“I’d be much happier inside on my dump truck!”

“Or…maybe not!”

       Gotta love the teething tantrums, poor guy!          

He did enjoy going back outside to sit in the igloo with Daddy & Uncle G when they were done.  I must say, I was pretty impressed too, the thing is like 6 feet tall and 8 feet wide!!

 

Snow Angel

Wanna Play Ball?

Ryder does!  That’s his new favorite thing to do!  He likes to throw the ball, clap his hands, then wait for you to throw it back.  Hes teething so he has to chew the ball one good time before throwing it back.  Here he is playing ball with Mommy (at 6:30 in the morning, he woke up pointing at the ball ready to play!):

One Word Wednesday

**Relaxing**

26

There’s something about the number 26, it seems to follow me around.  My initials BM on the phone are 2-6 (I know this because it was my pager code, ha! I can’t wait until Ryder gets older and reads this!   He’ll be like “Mom, you had a pager???” Yes Ryder, Mommy was alive before cell phones! GASP!), Ryder was born at 2:26, my extension at work is 226, my Birthday is 1/26…and today….

I’m 26!!!

That must mean that this year has great things in store for me :-)  It has already started wonderfully because I have the best gift ever here to share my Birthday with me!  Plus, I’ve been blessed with families who cook GREAT Birthday meals!  We had dinner with my family on Saturday and with Alan’s family on Monday…I’m spoiled, I’ll be the first to admit it.  AND I got just enough Birthday money to buy myself the Nintendo Wii and the Wii Fit!  (And I’m sure by the time Ryder reads this they will have come out with the Nintendo WiiTHOUSAND and he’ll be laughing at me getting excited over the very first Wii!)  So, as soon as I find somewhere that’s not sold out of the Wii Fit, I’m going to buy it!  I hope that happens soon before I start feeling guilty for spending money on myself.

I was so surprised today when this showed up at work for me: With a note that read “Happy Birthday, Lots of Love, Ryder”!  So sweet…I’m so thankful that Ryder has such a sweet Daddy that would help him send flowers to me for my Birthday.

**Thanks to everyone for all the sweet Birthday wishes**

Movin’ On Up

Ryder has officially moved UP to the big bathtub!

 

He has moved UP to the big boy carseat (no more infant carrier!)

 

He has moved UP to the Toddler meals (no more baby food!)                          

And he has even figured out how to go UP (and down) the stair at Aunt Vicki’s!  This is a great exercise for him, and we’re all so proud considering the Therapists said that it would be months before he would be strong enough to climb stairs!

You go Ryder, keep on moving UP and FORWARD and don’t let anything stop you!  We’ll all be here cheering you on along the way :-)

Ryder’s Twin Sister

Ever wonder what our little girl would look like?  This picture says it all! 

This is Ryder a few months ago…with a hairdo that looks like bangs & pigtails.  Aunt Jiggles has it on her phone and it makes me laugh every time I see it.   

One Word Wednesday

“Look!”

Ten Months Old!!

I can’t believe Ryder is TEN months old today!   That means he has lived here with us longer than I was pregnant with him…which to me, it seems like I was just pregnant with him a month ago!  But no, it has been ten whole months, ten amazing months.  Here is this little 10 month old in action (because you know there is no sitting still for photos anymore…even when Mommy really needs them for the 10 month post!) As you can see, Ryder is very busy…here’s what he’s up to these days:

• He weighs about 17 pounds, wears size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes.
• He’s very mobile and very fast, he knows what he wants and heads straight for it, he thinks its hilarious if he crawls into a room and “finds” you.
• He rarely eats jarred baby food anymore, he’s mostly on finger foods that he can feed himself, and soft “people” food. He eats 3 meals and 3 bottles a day.
• He has his 2 bottom teeth that he enjoys having brushed every night, and we can see the top two getting ready to emerge any time now.
• This was the first month of his life that he didn’t have to take an antibiotic for his kidneys!!  He’s still on Zantac for reflux.
• He’s starting to understand what Mama & Dada mean now and is beginning to call us by name.  He’s very vocal, constantly chatting away, and has added Na-Na and Ba-Ba to his vocabulary.  We even notice him repeating consonants that he hears us say! 
• His favorite toys to play with are his cars and trucks, he immediately starts “vrooooming” as soon as he sees or grabs one.
• He has started to point at things he sees that interest him, and is opening & closing his hand to say Hi & Bye (brand new development…this deserves its own post…stay tuned when I can get some footage!)
• He understands what NO means and it hurts his feelings when we have to use it.  He mostly gets told No for grabbing our faces, it hurts and it’s mean…trying hard to break him of that.
• He sleeps from 7pm – 7am and there is a bear in his crib that plays ocean sounds that we turn on when we lay him down.  It puts him right to sleep, Daddy too, he gets in bed so that he can listen to it over the monitor!
• Ryder spends most of his time crawling around, playing with toys, talking, and laughing.  He’s still very silly and loves anything that makes him laugh.  He loves music and dances when his toys sing.

The list gets longer each month!  It’s so neat to watch him learn and pick up all these new things.  This month has been especially fun because he’s so mobile and active and I like watching him make choices about where he wants to go and what he wants to do. 

         Happy 10 months you little wild child!!

Our First Date

Ryder & I ventured out today to do some shopping and take a few things back from Christmas.  On the way home I was hungry, and he was getting a little restless in the car (this was our 3rd trip to Maryland in the past 3 days!), so I decided to stop so we could get some lunch.
What a special lunch it was, I will never forget this day.  We sat in a booth together, read elmo books and played cars until our food came.  We shared a personal pan cheese pizza!
We had great conversation, yummy food, lots of laughs, and even a greasy-faced pizza kiss when we were done…what more could I ask for on a first date?! 
You know I had to take a picture on my cell phone to document!!
When we got home, we all decided to go for a walk, he must have been exhausted from our long day out, because before we were even off of our street, this is what he looked like.                                                  

So Precious!!

A Day Filled With Friends

Today we ventured out to meet our friends from “blog world” for lunch!  One great thing that I’ve gained from creating this blog, is making all these new friends…we have so much in common and even though we haven’t known each other that long we’re definitely building lasting friendships :-)  Our random get togethers are always entertaining!

Ryder bouncing on Nicki’s lap  

Owen being his handsome little self (well he’s not that little!)

Ryder loved Mikayla, until he realized how much more attention he could get from Mikayla’s Nana, so he moved on real fast.  That got Mikayla’s attention…she didn’t want to share!

Me & Jelena trying hard to get the boys to take a decent picture…3rd times a charm?!  Not with an 8 & 9 month old!    

 

The group…Me & Ryder, Angela (minus Carter), Mandi (minus Bailey), Jelena & Owen, Nicki & Mikayla, Jen & Ryan (minus Lance), and Elaine & Caleb.  And Mama Rison snapping pics :-)

After spending the day with new friends, Me & Ryder went to visit an old friend Kristen.  She’s not old, but our friendship is…15 years and counting!!  She has been the best friend to me for all these years and I’m so lucky to have her!  I’ve always felt like part of her family, so it was nice to get to visit and catch up with everyone.  And of course they enjoyed spending time with Ryder, and he ate up every bit of attention they had to give :) 

I just have to add this…we were gone from 10:30 this morning until 7:30 tonight and Ryder did not fuss one time.  It was a busy day with lots of stops, random meal times, and sporadic naps, but he was such a trooper!  I love his personality and how he’s able to go with the flow, even when it’s so far off from his schedule. 

So, to end this friend post, I just want to say how much fun I had spending the day with new friends and old friends, with my favorite friend by my side the whole time! 

Running & Relaxing

Ryder was running from me tonight!  Well, not running from me…but trying to get away from me taking his picture.  I used to be able to lay him down on a blanket, then hover over him and snap away.  The end result being a successful photoshoot with tons of pictures to choose from.  That technique doesn’t work anymore.     

He’s too busy for me now, he doesn’t have time to lay around having his picture taken, he’s got places to be…things to do…I get it.  But notice how he always turns back, making sure I’m still following him, and flashing the quickest smile.  Just enough to keep me chasing!

After all that running, it was time to kick back and relax.  He got his jammies on and kicked back to watch a little Praise Baby.   Moooommmmm!! 

Oops, he caught me snapping pictures!  Look at him relaxing with his arm behind his head!

Have I mentioned how much I love the Praise Baby DVD’s?!  I’m not real big into letting Ryder watch tv…but I love putting one of these DVD’s in so we can listen to the hymns (they have all the good ones!) and it gives me a chance to get his bedtime bottle and his medicines together.  We leave the DVD in and listen to the music while I rock him and give him his bottle.  It’s so relaxing and the perfect way to unwind from the day!