Ryder Funnies

I haven’t posted any Ryder Funnies lately and I wish I could remember all of the funny stuff that comes out of his mouth!  But here are just a few I remembered to jot down.

Transitioning Ryder to a big boy bed was such an easy experience for us (thank you God!), in fact to this day he still will not get up on his own.  He lays in bed yelling for me if he needs something throughout the night or when he wakes up.  One night I put him to bed then sat in the living room and was shocked to hear his door open.  He froze when he saw me, waiting for my reaction, which I didn’t have one because I wasn’t even prepared to handle that, so he just busted out laughing.  I walked him back to his room trying to figure out my game plan to make sure that didn’t happen again.  Just as I was about to have the serious talk with him he said “Did you like that magic trick Mom?  I just appeared out of my room!”  It’s so hard to be serious with him.

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Ryder is a very logical person, he always has to know how things work and why they work a certain way.  He will ask question after question until he understands something and will move on.  Well the other night he woke up with a stomach bug.  He’s never really been sick to the point of throwing up before, so he could not make sense of this, and it kept happening about every 45 minutes.  While he was throwing up he would say “I just don’t get this!” “This makes NO sense” “Why would ANYONE think this is a good idea to be sick????”  Another serious situation where I just can’t help but laugh.

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Speaking of being logical, Ryder was going potty the other day and he said “Mom, oh oh ohhhh, I get it, so you’re saying when I drink something, it goes into my pee generator, and comes out as pee, poop, or snot???”  Ummmm…sure.

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Maisy was tattle-tailing on Ryder the other day, her version of tattling is to cry as dramatically as she can and yell “BRUBBAAAAA” to let us know he has done something to devastate her.  I walked in the room to find out what happened.

Me:  Ryder, what did you do??

Ryder:  I didn’t do nothing TO her!

Me:  Well obviously you did if she’s crying and yelling your name.

Ryder: She’s not yelling my name.

Me: Well she’s yelling Brother and you’re the only one she has.

Ryder (turns to Maisy): Maisy, I’m not your brother, I’m just a regular man!

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The other night we were all riding to the grocery store in the truck.  Me & Alan were having normal conversation and Ryder kept interrupting saying “Shhhh! “You guys be quiet” Shhhh you’re making too much noise”.  Finally I asked, “Ryder, why do you keep telling us to be quiet??” He said “Because I’m trying to hunt!”  Alan said “oh yeah, what are you hunting for??” He said “Barbeque chicken!”

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Ryder was going pee before bed the other night, telling me some long complex story of course, so he wasn’t paying a lot of attention to his aim.  Well wouldn’t you know he moved and pee came shooting straight for my leg!  My eyes got big and before I could even get the words out to yell at him he said “Mom, you had a fire on your leg, don’t worry, I got it!”

This child, I swear.

17 Months

Maisy is 17 Months old (and 4 days!)…here is what she’s up to these days:

• Busy, busy, busy!  She is very active and loves to be chasing her brother around, playing, rough housing, she’ll take as much action as she can get!
• She weighs 22 pounds, wears 12-18 month clothes, size 4 shoe, size 4 diapers.
• She has 6 teeth! 4 on top and 2 on bottom.
• She has learned the word NO this month!  She says it in the cutest sweetest voice “noooooo” so you can’t get mad at her.  And she says “mm hmm” for yes, so cute.
• She is loving all the Christmas festivities, she says “Wowwww, Cooool!" any time she sees decorations, she knows who Santa is and knows that he says “ho, ho, ho”.  Her little voice is so cute.
• She has been really curious about the potty lately, obviously she wants to do all the big kid things that her brother does.  She says “poop” and points to her diaper all throughout the day and gets so excited if you take her to the potty.  She has even peed 7 different times already!  I’m not getting my hopes up, as soon as she knows this is actually what I WANT her to do, she’ll change her mind!
• She is SUCH a Daddy’s girl.  If he leaves the room for 5 minutes she acts like she hasn’t seen him all day when he comes back in!
• Her favorite things right now are Sponge Bob & Bubble Guppies.  She FREAKS when she sees something with Sponge Bob on it and when she wants to watch Bubble Guppies she starts singing “bubble bubble bubble” and shaking her hips like they do in the theme song.  Again, really cute!

Maisy is definitely a sweet, fun-spirited little girl to be around.  She is also strong willed and will try hard to get what she wants.  Her & Ryder have been enjoying each other more lately and can make each other laugh so hard!  The age Maisy is at right now is so exhausting, she is just non-stop…but we’re enjoying it because all too soon she will seem way too grown up!

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving is a time to spend with family and reflect on all that you have to be thankful for.  And that’s just what we did!  We spent the entire day with all sides of our family and made our final stop the next day.  It started with my Mom’s house for Breakfast, Alan’s Grandma’s for Lunch, then his Dad’s for dinner, then Cindy’s for dinner the next night.  To say we were full after all that eating is an understatement!  But we loved spending time with all the different families, and all of the meals were delicious!  But most of all, we had lots of time in the car in between trips to talk about what we are thankful for. 

These two seemed pretty thankful for eachother on Thanksgiving, a rare occasion!  But I’ll take it!! 

Grandma’s house is right on the water, so we always have such a pretty view during our visits!

And Nana’s new house is in the middle of the woods, so our backdrop was nothing but leaves…which of course we made the best of! 

 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!

Be Still

Do you know how hard it is to be still?!  Well maybe it’s not hard for you, but for me, I find it extremely difficult to just be still.  Even when I’m not physically moving, my mind is going a million miles a minute.

I went hunting with Alan a few weekends ago.  If you recall, this is my second trip.  I got the normal instructions as we walked back to the woods: Don’t drag your feet, don’t shine your flashlight through the woods, no loud noises, talking, coughing, etc…yeah, yeah, I got all that. 

We were a little late getting in the woods so we didn’t have time to get all the way back to his stand, instead we found a nice big tree to lean against, and set up shop right there on the ground.  We got situated, and he whispered quietly but in a stern voice his one final instruction “BE……STILL…...”

You know when someone says “don’t look” and you look?!  I was in one of those situations.  The only thing I needed to do was be still, but suddenly I really needed to move.  My nose is running and I need to wipe it. Sniffle Sniffle.  Oh no, my butt is going numb, I must adjust. Crinkle leaves Crinkle leaves. My phone is vibrating, I HAVE to check that.  Yeah I was definitely pushing the limit and I could feel Alan glaring at me.

Glare confirmed!

His words to Be Still kept running through my head, but every time I’d think “Be Still” in my head the words “and know that I am God” would follow.  It’s a familiar Bible verse and I’m OCD like that.  But that picture of him glaring at me is hilarious, I must Instagram it.  Be Still…and know that I am God. Okay now my hip is numb, time to adjust again. Be Still…and know that I am God.  I could hear the words over and over in my head but I couldn’t follow the most simple command. 

And then it happened, my punishment.  A squirrel on a tree a few feet in front of us spotted me moving, and started BARKING at me!!!  Did you know that squirrels barked???  Well they do!  Go hide in the woods and pretend like you aren’t there, then surprise a squirrel, he will bark at you!  He barks loud and for a long time too, it’s not like a bark and run.  No, it’s like a freeze and bark as loud as you can to alert everything in the forest that there is an intruder, including any possible deer my husband was going to shoot.   Thank you squirrel, I think you just got me permanently banned from this activity with my husband.

So there we are, my husband I’m sure burning a hole in the back of my head with his glare (I was too afraid to move so I can’t confirm it this time), Me as still as I’ve ever been in my whole life, and the barking squirrel.  What else could I do but pray.  Dear God, good analogy, I get it.  All You ever want me to do is just Be Still, and I find a million reasons to not obey that command.  But I PROMISE you, if you remove this barking squirrel from this scene, I will really really really try to be still, knowing that you are God and YOU are in control, not ME.  Your other option is to allow my husband to shoot me with his bow in like 2 seconds.  Your choice. Amen.” 

And with that, a breeze came and the squirrel strolled away, looking back every few feet to make sure he didn’t catch me moving again.  Nope, not me, I was just going to sit there and be still. 

A Trip to See Santa

Last year we happened to stop by Bass Pro Shop on the way home from Ryder’s Richmond doctor appointments and realized they have Santa there pretty early in the season, and no lines!  So this year we made sure to do the same thing.  We got there 2 hours before Santa was going to be there, but these guys can find a million ways to waste time at a place like this!

Of course Me & Maisy joined in on the fun too :)

When it was finally time to see Santa, Ryder of course ran and jumped on his lap.  I tried to place his sister on the other knee but she promptly hopped down and went running back to Daddy crying!

 

And then clung to him for dear life!

With all of that commotion she completely threw me off my game so I didn’t get to hear Ryder’s wish list to Santa!  We have asked him several times since then what he asked Santa for and his response: “I can’t tell you.  You’ll see when he brings it to me.”  Greeeeaaaatttt!

Little Sickies

We’ve had so many appointments over the past 2 weeks I don’t even know where to start!

Ryder started coughing last week and by Wednesday had developed a fever, so I took him to the Doctor.  He had an ear infection and got Amoxicillin.  Usually as soon as he starts an antibiotic he starts feeling better, but this time he kept getting worse and worse.  Friday I took him back to the Doctor and she listened to his lungs and said a touch of Pneumonia had set in his right lung.  So she gave us a stronger antibiotic and sent us on our way.

Saturday morning, Maisy woke up with a fever, of course!  Since Monday was Veteran’s Day I knew it would be Tuesday before I could get her seen at the Doctor, so I made the executive decision to start her on Ryder’s left over Amoxicillin from Wednesday.  By Monday she seemed to be feeling better.

Monday Ryder had his follow-up appointments in Richmond, first with his Kidney Doctor.  The appointment went great, they did a sonogram of his kidneys and his bladder, before and after using the bathroom.  He still isn’t completely emptying his bladder but there is no sign of any additional damage so they didn’t seem too concerned.  His kidneys have grown and the pockets of fluid have gotten smaller.  We usually follow up with him every 6 months and it is now getting extended to a year, so that’s definitely a good sign that things are going well!

The next stop was to his Eye Doctor.  They did all the little tests on his eyes and said the eye condition he has (Sixth Cranial Nerve Palsy) hasn’t worsened, and that’s really all they need to make sure of.  We usually follow up with them every year and now he doesn’t have to go back for a year and a half.  So, again, definitely a good sign when the time between appointments gets extended!

Tuesday Ryder had to get fitted for new Orthotics, which requires getting a mold of his feet and picking out the cool new patterns.  He’s getting Superman this time and is pretty excited about it!

By Thursday Maisy’s cough and other symptoms started getting worse even though she had been on an antibiotic, so back to the Doctor we went!  I had to tell on myself that I put her on an antibiotic without being seen, which of course her Doctor wasn’t thrilled with.  Turns out she had two pretty bad ear infections and needed stronger meds.  So we got those and now both kids finally seem to be on the up and up!

Here are our at home sick pics:

   

We had a few pretty lazy days!

 

Scrolling through my gallery this next picture made me laugh, I was trying to get a shot of the 2 sick babies resting on me, look how miserable I look and I’m not even the sick one!  Having sick kids is not easy on us Mommy’s!

 

Maisy insisted on wearing her brothers shirt one day, I paired it with some leg warmers and my heart skipped a beat.  Yes, she is really this cute!

I swear my kids have become professionals at being in waiting rooms with all of the appointments Ryder has!  Here are our office shots:

  

     

So that was our exhausting past few weeks.  Throw in Ryder’s therapy appointments, school, and work, and we have literally been non-stop.  We don’t call it Marsh Madness for nothing!

Halloween Festivities

I can’t believe we are a week into November and I haven’t posted about all of our Halloween Festivities yet!  Be prepared for a long post with lots of pictures!

The last weekend before Halloween Me, Nicki, and Angela took our kids to the Pumpkin Patch for 3 hours of fun!  I couldn’t believe the 6 of them lasted so long there, but there is so much fun stuff to do that they loved every second of it.

They played in the corn box…

Drove the play tractors…

Rode the barrel train…this was the first year Ryder rode all by himself, such a big boy!  Maisy took his place on Mommy’s lap this year.  Nicki rode with both of her kids in one barrel, good thing she’s so tiny!

They went down slides (Okay, Okay, I went down too!!)…

We went on a hayride…

Jaxon couldn’t get enough of Ryder on the ride!

(sweet picture ahead)

We ran into friends…

And we picked Pumpkins from the Patch!

  

Thank God for strollers!  There were some times where these little ones just needed to be contained!

And other times where the bigger ones just needed a break!

There was even a time where we went to the petting zoo part and Maisy didn’t like it.  So her big brother took matters into his own hands and strolled her far away from those animals out into a field all by herself…and what do ya know, this made her happy!

The stroller even came in handy to carry that big pumpkin back to our car!

What a fun day!!  Can’t wait to go back next year.

Early that next week Hurricane Sandy came our way so we had a few days to spend inside…what better way to pass the time than to carve and decorate our pumpkins :)

Good job Daddy!  Of course we could only be cooped up for so long before Ryder was ready for his rain boots!

 

And Daddy was ready to go storm tracking!  No, not really, we just drove 2 streets over to have dinner at Poppy’s.  But obviously based on these profiles it was a pretty intense drive.

                      

Okay so I have totally gotten off subject.  Back to Halloween. 

We thought Hurricane Sandy might wreck our trick-or-treating plans but she came and went just in time for Halloween and we were good to go.  The kids dressed up as a Daisy and a Fireman!

Obviously Maisy was not thrilled to have her costume on!  But we headed to the Church for trunk-or-treat with Ryder’s Awana class and then she realized how cool it really is to dress up and go around getting candy!

 

The only problem was that every time she got a treat in her bag, she would immediately dig in her bag to get it out and bring it to Daddy to open it!  Of course the little animal lover couldn’t get enough of this little ToTo.

  

Ryder walked around to each station with his class and they recited their verse from that week before they got candy in their bag. “Through Him, all things were made. John 1:3”  It was really cute.

And he ended up with a bag FULL of candy when he was done!

We headed back to our neighborhood to trick-or-treat to all our VIP’s that live in our neighborhood.  So we made about 5 stops then headed home to assess all of our goodies! (Yes Aunt Brenda, he picked your treat to be the one he got to eat that night!)

All I can say is I’m happy I got my teeth fixed in time to be healed up for Halloween!  (don’t tell my dentist I just said that.)

Beasley was pretty happy too.  Maisy is in a kick now where she takes a few bites of something then runs and gives the rest to Beasley – they are officially BFF’s.

    

We did see some scary costumes and decorations in our neighborhood, so someone had a hard time going to bed that night and needed to make a bed on our floor.

So that was our Halloween and everything that went along with it!  Sorry for the delay in all the juicy details.