Kids & Friends

Some random info & pictures of the kids I haven’t posted yet:

Taking pictures of Maisy in her bath the other day, my flash washed this picture out, but look at these blue eyes:

Maisy has really been loving her activity mat now that she is grabbing at her toys:

 

She also likes sitting in her Bumbo seat (whenever big brother gets out of it to actually give her a turn).

Ryder has started working on kicking a ball with his left leg in therapy, it’s pretty difficult for him to do right now, but it’s only a matter of time before he’ll master this too.  Miss Stacey has officially made her blog debut now :) 

Ryder is doing great with this new therapist, she works him hard and always gives me good ideas to work on at home with him.

 

I wanted to post a few things about some of our friends too:

We went to a vineyard on Sunday to see the place where our friends will be getting married at next year.  Congrats to Justin & Jenn, we’re SO excited for the wedding!

A HUGE congrats to DIANA too who just got engaged over the weekend!!!!  Sooooo exciting :)  Another wedding next year to look forward to!

I haven’t said anything about the tragedy/blessing that affected the Matteson family last week, but it hasn’t left my mind since that horrible phone call last Monday that Matteson had been hit by a car on his motorcycle.  Thank God he is alive and okay, this truly is a miracle, but he has a long road to recovery ahead of him.  If you can, please keep Nicki, Matteson, Mikayla, & Jax in your prayers.  I know they are all rejoicing in the fact that he is still here with them, but it can’t be easy seeing your husband/daddy in pain and have to go through surgery’s and rehabilitation.  I’m sure they can’t wait to get him home and all be together again!

Another family that is so special to us that really needs prayer right now is the Darago’s.  James was diagnosed with cancer only a few months ago and is really fighting a hard battle.  It breaks my heart to see them going through this, they have 4 young children and are such good people.  You can read his story here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jamesdarago .

Okay I know this post was alllll over the place, but most of the time so is my brain!  :)

3 Months Old

  

Here is what our 3 month old is up to:

• She wears some 0-3 month and some 3-6 month clothes.  Size 2 diapers.
• She eats 4 ounces every 3 hours during the day.  I’m nursing her in the mornings, pumping milk throughout the day, and feeding her a formula bottle before bed.
• She goes to bed at 8pm and sleeps anywhere from 8-10 hours before waking up starving!
• She is SO smiley!  Especially when she first wakes up from bed time or a nap.
• She has found her hands and always seems to be chewing on her fists. 
• She likes to be part of whatever is going on and enjoys being talked to.
• She puts weight on her legs now and loves to stand on your lap.
• She has started cooing and talking, still very quietly though, she really doesn’t make much noise at all.  (unless we’re in the car).
• She still is not a fan of the car!  I bought her a convertible car seat to see if maybe it was just the infant carrier she didn’t like.  It has helped a little, but was not the miracle I was hoping for.
• She loves to swing and stays content in it for hours at a time.  She has a swing at home, one at Vicki’s, one at Poppy & Nana’s, and every time I pick her up from the daycare at the gym she’s in the swing.  It didn’t take long for people to figure out how to keep my girl happy!
• She recently started grabbing at the toys on her activity mat and also sitting in her Bumbo seat.
• She has found her big brother and now if he is in her range of sight her eyes are fixed on his every move!
• Big brother has made up some interesting nicknames for her.  He used to call her Maisy Telijah, then it was Maze, now it’s May-ziki.  His nicknames for her always rub off on us and we find ourselves calling her whatever he calls her that week. 

As a family we are all so in love with this little girl.  She has made the last 3 months of our lives that much sweeter, we just can’t get enough of her. 

2.5 Years Old!

Wow, my baby boy is 2 and a half years old today!  I can’t believe how fast time flies by and how SO grown up he is already!  Here’s what the big 2.5 year old is up to:

• He weighs 27 pounds, wears size 2T tops and 18-24 month bottoms.
• His favorite food is Oreo cookies.  I probably let him eat more than he should but only because it’s great therapy for lefty!  He insists on twisting the one side off and then will only eat whichever side has the cream. 
• He goes to bed around 9pm and sleeps until 8:30am (except during the week when I have to wake him to go to Nana’s).
• He doesn’t fuss about normal 2 year old things like eating, naptime, bedtime, bath time, getting dressed….BUTTTTTT
• What he does fuss about are completely ridiculous, not logical things.  Like when he says its raining outside and I say no its not.  MELTDOWN.  Or when he decides that he has a new favorite show and I don’t have any recorded and its not on TV at that moment.  MELTDOWN.  These are not normal lay on the ground kicking & screaming meltdowns either…instead they are full blown arguments!  About things that make no sense.  Hello gray hair.
• All day long he shouts out orders on how he thinks the world should run.  We call these Ryder’s Rules.  I want to open the door, I want to go down the stairs first, You follow me Mom, Don’t buckle my monster, Turn on my Jesus music, That’s not loud enough, THIS IS NOT THE PATH TO NANA’S!!  TURN THE CAR AROUND!!! 
• A millisecond later it switches to Jesus Loves Me Dis I Knowwwww, I love you Mom, I will miss you while you’re at work, let’s call Daddy, I’ll take good care of Maisy today.
• Did that just make you feel bi-polar?  Or is that just me every morning?
• Sorry, these bullets are supposed to be about Ryder…like good things about Ryder…not me going on and on about how instead of celebrating his half birthday, I’m celebrating the fact that we’ve survived half of these horrible, terrible two’s!
• He has such a huge vocabulary and pronounces every syllable when he talks.  I love when he uses words in the wrong context and pretends like he knows what he’s talking about.  “Momma, I don’t need to take a bath, I’m not all crumbly!”  Or when he uses sounds as words like when he doesn’t want me to laugh at what he’s saying, instead of asking me not to laugh he’ll say “Momma don’t say hahahahaha!”
• He is doing great in therapy and has overcome some really big fears of being unstable, it’s to the point now where he shocks us every week by doing something new that he used to refuse to do.
• He loves to draw, paint, play with Play-Doh, play with his tools, ride on his truck or his bike, and go to the Kids Spot at the gym.
• His favorite books to read are The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Llama Llama, and of course his Bible.  He has the story of David & Goliath memorized, I will have to try to get that on video!
• He’s the best big brother ever!!  He is always so concerned with Maisy and what she’s doing.  When he’s not all up on her, he can be found hanging out in one of her many chairs!

This little guy is so hilarious, he makes us laugh probably 100 times every day.  Even with all the challenges that a 2.5 year old brings, he is the light of our lives and we wouldn’t trade him for the world! 

Just a Few Things to Say

This weekend we went to my sister Megan’s baby shower.  She’s expecting a baby boy at the end of October and I can’t wait to meet my little nephew.  She’s going to be a great Mommy!

 

 

I love when we go places and the people have a swing.  This girl could swing all day long.

I also love when Paw-Paw is around and wears Ryder out!  I thought this was too cute not to take a picture of, falling asleep with the balloon in his hand, my little party animal!

Pit stop on the way home : Target to get a new seat for Maisy!  I can’t take the crying car rides anymore, I thought I’d try a new seat.  She was so quiet back there I had to snap pictures with my camera to check on her and make sure she was okay!

Has anyone noticed my newest obsession???  LEG WARMERS!  Oh they are so cute.  Especially on my girls chunky little legs.  Yum, I could just eat her up!

I’m not the only one around here with things to say…Ryder has been on a roll lately with great lines like:

“Momma, Don’t buckle my monster!” he suddenly has a fear of the bottom strap on the car seat.

“Momma, do you know where you are???  You’re in da jungle babaayyyyy!” obviously him & daddy have found a new song to jam out to.

him: “Momma, I can’t go to bed yet, I’m practicing being quiet for when I go huntin’ wif Daddy!”

me: “Nice try Ryder, it’s time for bed”

him: “shhhhhh you’re gonna scare da bucks away!”

“Big Brova’s” not the only one chatting it up around here either:

That’s right, miss Maisy has officially found her voice!  We could be in trouble…

Kidney Walk 2011

It’s that time again!  Actually, it’s PAST that time…we’re usually deep into getting our team together and raising money by now, but I think we have a pretty good excuse for getting a late start, right?!  With that said, who’s joining/donating to support Team Ryder this year??  Everyone…right?!  We’ve got to get a move on!

This is our THIRD year participating in the National Kidney Foundations Kidney Walk and you all know how near and dear this foundation is to us.  Each year our team gets a little bigger and we are able to raise a little more money, so I’m really excited to see what we can do this year! 

Each year that passes is a year further away from all of the complications we faced with Ryder’s kidneys.  Another year we get to cherish with our sweet boy, not even being able to imagine what life would have been like without him.  And another year we all get to rally together in support of the NKF to show our appreciation for all that they do!

Nothing puts into perspective how much things change in a year like looking at these from the past 2 years:

 

The walk will be held on Sunday, November 6th at 1:00 in Richmond, VA.  You can go to http://walk.kidney.org/goto/teamryder to join or donate!  Thank you all so much for supporting us each year, I hope you know how much it means to us!!

Lets go Team Ryder :)

Maisy Girl

Maisy Girl

Don’t you know that I love you

I wouldn’t dream

  

Of going nowhere

Silly woman

Come here let me hold you

Have I told you lately

We love you like crazy girl!

 

**Song by Eli Young Band**Remixed by the Marsh Fam**

Crazy Weather!

Within the past 3 weeks we have experienced an Earthquake, a Hurricane, a Tornado, and now some horrible flooding from a Tropical Storm!  I don’t know what is going on with the weather but I think everyone is over all of this craziness now.  I know I am anyway!

Last night I got a call from my mom around 10pm saying that she was trying to get home from work but was completely stopped behind a line of cars, the rain was pouring down, the water was getting higher and higher, we were both kind of panicking.  Eventually the water started to come into her car so we called the police but all they would say is that they were doing their best to rescue everyone who was stranded.  The rain finally let up around midnight and by 2am she was finally able to drive her car out of there and get the rest of the way home.  Poor Yaya, I know that was so scary for her!

At one point, Alan decided to leave to go try to rescue her himself.  That idea got put to rest as soon as he tried to leave our neighborhood and realized that the only 3 possibilities were all either flooded or closed off! 

This morning we woke up to find out that our area has a lot of damage from the flooding.  We have bridges and roads that have completely washed away!

Right now, my biggest question is…how will we ever get to Nana’s???  This is the road I always take to get there:

The dam washed away and the road came crashing down…it is completely gone!  There’s only one other way to get there:

 

And that road is crashing down too…giving us our very own waterfall!  Everyone in the neighborhood has been gathering all day to see all the damage (and I thought the Walmart opening was a big deal! Psh.)

Ryder knows how to make the best out of any situation.  In Ryder’s life FLOODING = MORE MUD PUDDLES TO PLAY IN!!

We got about 14 inches of rain already and I hear we’re supposed to get another down pour this evening!  Crazy weather…

Ryder Wants to Talk About…

His motorcycle!  Surprise, Surprise!

Labor Day Weekend

What a nice long weekend we had!!  It started with lots of action and ended with a nice relaxing day at home.  I wish we could have every Monday off work! 

Saturday Alan had a moving job in the morning but that evening we went out on a date!  Ryder went to hang out with Nana and our friend Mary came over to stay with Maisy so that Me & Alan could hit the town.  Hitting the Town these days has turned into dinner and a nice long trip to Walmart to restock our groceries!  Okay so maybe it wasn’t the most romantic thing to do, but it felt good to shop at a leisurely pace with no interruptions.

Sunday morning we went to Church for Jaxon’s dedication.

It was great to be a part of this special day for our friends!  The service was so good, as always!

My boys looked so handsome:

 

Afterwards they had everyone over for lunch.  Maisy got passed around, not just to the girls this time, but to the kids too!

 

This would be what happens when I leave baby girl alone with these crazy women:

Attack of the hairbows!!!  Yikes!

Ryder played so hard with all of his friends that I barely saw him the whole time!  The only picture I got of him was when he finally sat still…not even 2 minutes after pulling out of their driveway:

In typical Maisy fashion, she needed a break from her carseat so we stopped by CJ & Angela’s on the way home.  They were hosting a fantasy football draft so Alan got to see some of his old buddies from school.  After the draft they played a game of football, the difference between the game now and 10 years ago…they were all a lot more out of breath!

Me & Maisy enjoyed visiting with Angela & Callie

 

And Ryder had fun playing with Carter (except for that one fist fight they got into…yes, they were throwing punches and the Daddy’s had to break it up!)

They might fight over toys, but one thing they do agree on is trying to beat Alan up!  They love to team up against him.

 

Since the kids got to bed late Saturday night & Sunday night, they made up for it by sleeping in late Monday morning.  Maisy didn’t wake up to eat until 7am, then went right back to sleep until we all woke up at 10:30am!!  That was the latest we have slept since we had kids…it was a nice relaxing start to a peaceful day at home. 

That was our Labor Day weekend!