Ryan's favorite...

thing to do in the WHOLE world is be pulled around in his wagon! It is the cutest thing....he sits back and holds on with both hands :) I know I have said this before but I wanted to put a few more pictures on here. Momma pulls him around nice and slow. Daddy on the other hand RUNS with him...can you guess which one he likes better?

Ryan is always doing new things and I want so bad to write it all out so I won't forget!

A few things that Ryan is doing right now are:

When he says "uh oh" it sounds like "uh-ewwww". Love it.

He says "uh-ewww" and THEN throws something on the floor.

He is doing that thing when he reaches for you and opens and closes his hands over and over...can't hardly resist that!

Ryan has his front 4 teeth on top and bottom. He also has/is getting some molars...there is a one tooth gap between the molars and the front teeth. This week he started getting the teeth to fill in the gaps too :)

He has been cracking us up with his squealing! He gets so excited and is very loud! I don't think I have ever written this but for a long time now, when Ryan gets excited, he extends his arms and legs and then pulls them in, throws them out and pulls them in. It's hard to explain it...but I am hoping when he is 20 I will read this and be able to picture it!

The sleeping through the night thing was a fluke. Hasn't happened again and this week has actually been a bad week as far as sleep goes. I know I should let him cry but I have a hard time with it. I ALWAYS have an excuse for not letting him and I know this about myself :) But I honestly think it is his reflux waking him up....there is no other reason why he should wake up so much. Also, since I am not with him during the day, I have a hard time not comforting him at night. I have lasted this long with interrupted sleep...I will survive :)

One thing I never want to forget are these sweet feet... I wonder where these feet will take him, what fun adventures he will go on, how fast they will run...but right now I can't wait for those first steps. I know he will be SO happy! He is mentally ready...I see him watching other kids and he looks like he wants to run around with them and he watching everything they do. I know he will get there soon!

Warrior Dash 2011

Ever heard of the Warrior Dash? I had not until a few months ago...but apparently it is a BIG deal! Our neighbors, the Dillons, were doing it and told Michael about it. Michael signed up and started "training" on January 1st :)

The Warrior Dash is a 3-1/2 mile run with an obstacle course built in. Some of the obstacles were hurdling fire pits, a wind tunnel, a big rope climbing thing that you had to climb up and down, the tire thing where the tires are laying flat and you run through them, and my personal favorite, army crawling through mud. Niiiice. (there were more obstacles but I can't remember them all)

Here are some before pictures:

Some people dressed up:
The guy above makes me laugh! I didn't even know he posed for the camera until I put the pictures on my computer! The best part is that I was standing right at the start of the mud pit. So this guy went from clean and posing into this:
The mud pit. I stood there for probably about an hour and laughed so much! It was the funniest thing to see all the people. Some of them did the cannon ball into the mud...some people dove in (uuuhhh...not smart people)...some tried to tip toe in so they wouldn't get dirty. And they usually ended up on their booty! Loved it!

Here are some after pictures:
Cody is proud of his medal that says "Warrior Dash Finisher"!


I am very proud of Michael for doing it! It was a challenge but he enjoyed it. And he finished 520 in his age group :) There were a LOT of people who ran. Thousands. We were SUPER impressed with Beth (who we did not know was a runner!) She finished somewhere around 40 including ALL the ladies!! Whoa nellie!

It was a fun day! A big thanks to Auntie (Jenny) and Uncle Chris for keeping Ryan. We were gonna bring him and at the last minute decided against it. SO glad we did that. He would have been miserable. Maybe next year I can run.....

MAJOR life event!

Our precious son, who is 16-1/2 months old, slept through the night for the first time in his life!!! AND he was in HIS bed!! WOOOHOOO!!!!! Momma did NOT sleep all night...after over 2 years of waking up numerous times a night (I didn't sleep great when I was pregnant), I think my body is not used to long hours of uninterrupted sleep. But I bet I could get used to it!!

Catch up

I need to play catch up for the month on March...here is what's been going on:

March 3rd was Michael and my 4th wedding anniversary! It feels wrong to type that cause there is no way that we have been married for 4 years...no way. Michael's parents kept Ryan and we went to eat at Pappadeaux for dinner. A good, low-key anniversary! (we did not take any pictures :(

The picture below was one morning when I was getting ready for work. Normally Ryan sleeps until I wake him up to get dressed but he woke up early on this morning. He is such a sweet, happy boy!
One thing the doctor mentioned was to get Ryan some Baby Einstein dvds or dvds like those, mainly for hearing the word and seeing the picture. Ryan has never been very interested in the tv so I hesitated but I ended up getting a few. Ryan seems to like them! He will sit and watch for a couple minutes and then move on to other things...and he will watch a few minutes again later.

Ryan loves to play with his books! He mainly pulls all of then on to the floor but he does like to look through them sometimes. He has a couple books that have large puzzle pieces in them and he is starting to understand where the pieces go on the pages! (this pictures was first thing in the morning so he still has bed head :)
Love this sweet picture! Ryan was asleep in the car and looked so peaceful and beautiful.
A couple of weeks ago, I was having a girl's night with Michelle and Alecia so Michael and Ryan had a boy's night. They went to McDonald's and Ryan had his first happy meal :) I think he mostly just ate some of the bun and a few french fries but still, this is a monumental occasion!

This is Michael's current favorite picture of Ryan. Michael wasn't home one evening and I was trying to get a cute pic of Ryan to send him. He would not be still for the camera so this is what I got :)
Ryan finally realized he could pull up on this flower pot and play with the dirt inside of it :) He loved it. (p.s. please don't judge me by the shape of this plant...my excuse it that since Ryan has been born I have only had time to nurture him...NOT my plants!)

This past week was really busy with visiting but lots of fun! We started out Sunday after church going to Wildwood for lunch with mom, dad, Jenny and Chris. Mom and Dad left at the end of last week to go to Denver for a few weeks for Dad's work. We don't all get together as a family very often so mom wanted to have a family dinner before they left. Mom made chicken parmesan...it was VERY yummy! She and dad also made mini cheesecakes and brownies that were to die for. I think I am hungry now.

This were how our evenings were last week:
Monday--Michael had plans with friends and Susanna came over for dinner and a visit! We never get to hang out so we had a great time catching up! I remember the night that she was born and now she is a beautiful almost 19 year old...how did THAT happen??! (we didn't take any pictures :(

Tuesday--Amy, Dennis, Kate and Laura were on Spring break last week and they were camping in Louisiana for a couple nights and then pulled their trailer to our house! We got to hang out with them Tuesday evening and they stayed the night outside in their trailer :) It was fun!

Wednesday--Grammy and Pawpaw came by to visit since they were leaving on Thursday. Had to get one last Ryan fix.

Thursday--I have been working in our front flower bed (pics and post to come!) so Thursday I ran up to Silsbee to get some plants. Don't think anyone came over.

Friday--I got a few more plants when I got off and Michael's dad brought Kate over. She is trying to earn some money to help pay for a camp that she goes to in the summer (think--the Parent Trap...very cool camp and Kate will go for 2 weeks! Some girls spend a month I think.) She watched Ryan while I planted some plants and she folded a load of clothes for me. Michael mowed the grass. We had GREAT weather last week and loved getting to spend a lot of time outside! Cody came over and spent the night. (love this picture of Kate and Ryan waving at cars)
Ryan has a new favorite thing to do...riding in his wagon. I literally think he could ride in it all day!

Saturday--I woke up at 5:30 cause I had to leave at 6:40 to bring Ryan to spend the day with Auntie (Jenny) and Chris. Michael, Cody, Beth and Ryan were running in the Warrior Dash in Conroe and I went with them. I was the bag holder :) (Again, pics and post to come!) Jenny and Chris brought Ryan home that evening and Amy and the girls came over and spent the night. We all ate pizza and got to hang out. It was a great day!

Sunday--Skipped church (had visitors :) and did some work around here. Sheah came over for a visit that evening. Hated for the day to end :(

As you can see, we have been busy but have enjoyed getting to spend time with people that we love!

I love this picture of my boys...

Pretend

I thought this deserved it own post because it is too fun! Tonight was the first time Ryan played "pretend"!!!

He has gotten to where he will take things out of something and hand them to you. Example: I had a bag on the floor and he took everything out and handed them to me one at a time...and of course I exclaim and tell him thank you so much :)

Well, when he got done with everything in the bag, he looked in it for a second and pretended to hand me an imaginary thing!! I exclaimed and acted so excited about it and he thought it was SOOO funny :) I love watching him learn and enjoy new things.

Ryan is so funny about what makes him laugh...you just never know. Swatting at a mosquito? Hysterical. Whipping your head around? Hilarious.

And there is nothing better than hearing that laugh!

Changes

We have had a lot of good changes in the past couple of weeks! Ryan has been visiting with his physical therapist once a week now for about a month and a half or so. About a week or so ago, Michael and I decided we have GOT to spend 1 hour a night working with Ryan. So many nights we play and do a lot of things and all of a sudden it is bed time and we have not worked on standing up, balance, etc. Since we have done this, Ryan is pulling up ALL the time! Thank you Lord! It makes me a little teary to think about how far he has come just this week! His balance is greatly improving just in the last couple of days and he is falling better now...meaning he is learning to put his bottom down first when he wants to sit instead of falling back and expecting momma and daddy to catch him. His legs, ankles, knees and hips are working together better now.

Earlier this week, I called to talk to his therapist about how Ryan's legs seemed so wobbly and unsteady. He said it was just a work in progress and his legs are gradually getting stronger. He also said that 18 months is late normal for walking so we are still in the ballpark with Ryan.

He is also saying a lot more sounds. We think he is almost saying "book" and "uh oh".

I am so proud of him! He seems proud of himself too :)

2 weekends=2 camping trips

We had not been camping since November so we were really ready to go! Michael says "I miss the trailer" all the time....like it's a person or something :)

2 weekends ago we went to Hen House Ridge with our neighbors/friends the Dillons. They just got a trailer so they had never been camping before. We had a good time just hanging out and being outside.

I like this picture...it looks like "grrrrr...don't mess with me!"
On Saturday morning, we went to the ranger station and they had a class to make old timey toys. We didn't really make any though...the ranger lady mostly showed us old toys and how people used to make them with stuff they had around the house. Michael remembered this toy that his grandpa showed him how to make:

One of my favorite things about Hen House Ridge is taking walks:
Love this picture of Michael and Ryan:
This past weekend, we stayed in Spring, TX. The main event of the weekend was the 175th anniversary of Texas at Washington on the Brazos State Park. It was very interesting! I had no idea what to expect but there were a TON of people! It was a huge deal!

There were lots of people dressed up in clothes of that time, tents set up like they would have been then, etc. Here are some pictures of our day:


Ryan is NOT a big fan of animals right now. They had a house set up like it would have been back then and they had pigs, chickens, etc. This was Ryan face as he was looking at the chickens:
He is NOT too sure about them.

At the camp ground there were a few horses behind a fence. We went over to see them and one of them came right over to us...very friendly! Ryan started screaming! Poor baby. We got him away from the horse and he calmed down. I took a couple steps closer to the horse and Ryan was holding on for dear life. I told him we didn't have to go any closer and we just looked at the horse and Ryan started waving at him :)

Here are some more pictures:
(I was cracking up at this pig. She did NOT seem very happy that her piglets wanted to nurse!
She kept using her front foot to fling hay and dirt all over them...come to think of it, maybe that's her way of saying I love you!)
The guy below was a cowboy poet! He was really good! I think this was taken at the time he was reciting his poem "Momma's biscuits".
We had a great time and I am so glad that we went! Michael mentioned how weird it is that when Texas has it's 200 anniversary, we could be there with Ryan and HIS kids...can't even imagine that!