Hard work!

Ryan has been working on a long project lately...teeth! Not an easy assignment! He is getting 5 teeth right now.

2 on bottom
(this is a weird picture but I assure you we were not hurting Ryan!)
3 on top

He has really been handling it very well. It's crazy to think about how many teeth will break through those gums in the next few years!

Lake Livingston

We had a 3 day weekend trip to Lake Livingston this weekend...LOVE getting away for a few days! We stayed at Northshore RV park and it was very nice! It was different from some other campgrounds because it didn't have trees and we weren't "in the woods" but it was a nice place that we think Ryan will love as he grows. He enjoyed it this time too :) We are thankful that there are several places that we like to camp within an hour-ish drive.

We had a spot lakeside and I am so glad. We walked around the park one night and there is no other place I would have wanted to be...you lose the feel of being "at the lake" if you are not camping on it!

This was the view from the back of our camper:
The spray park and playground:
We enjoyed the spray park a lot:

It took Ryan awhile but he figured out how to play with the water :)

(You can see the campsites behind Michael and Ryan...we were the 2nd one on the first row)


Ryan still LOVES his fans. We will walk from room to room in the house and his face will light up with a huge smile when he sees each fan. Best buds forever. So this fan/water sprayer had Ryan's attention for sure. He stared at it for so long Michael sat down with him and laid him back on him cause he figured his neck must be getting tired :)
This was Ryan's first time in the lake (lakes have never really been my thing...feels like bath tub water...never really understood the draw. But Michael has a lot of great memories at the lake so I hope we can make some good memories there with Ryan)
This was our second night there. It was beautiful and clear and Michael got to do a little fishing:

The third night, we thought it was gonna pour but it just got real cloudy, windy and very cool! We enjoyed sitting outside while the weather was blowing in...Ryan LOVED it! (Look at that hair blowing! I think I need to trim it soon but I am scared! Don't know how to trim little boy hair!)

We had a great, relaxing time. I even had 2 naps in one day :) That's the life!

8 months old!

(This post was originally titled "10 months old". uuuhhh...he is NOT 10 months old. He is 8 months old. Thanks for pointing that out Alecia :) I will chalk that up to being a little sleepy this week :)

Ryan was 8 months old yesterday, July 10th. He is 21 pounds 5 ounces and 29-1/2 inches long. He is sitting up so much now and trying to crawl.....buuuuut not so much. He pushes his leg in a way that makes him just roll right over instead of go forward. But he tries hard...lots of grunting :)

If you look really close at this picture, you can see his teeth on the bottom

His crazy after bath hair

Sometimes he will roll over and pull the blanket with him...he doesn't care too much for that!


Have I mentioned before how sweet Ryan is?! :) I know, I know. But he is! He is still clapping and makes the clapping noise now. And he will clap his hand against your hand :) Clapping is one of my favorite things.

July 4th, 2010

Ryan's first 4th of July:

He loves being an American boy :)


We did sparklers with Chelle:

We so enjoyed the day at Wildwood! Ryan had a good day and enjoyed the fireworks that night:

He wasn't scared of the loud noises and he just stared at all the fireworks. It was so fun! We had a lot of friends and family over and enjoyed getting to visit with everyone. This is my favorite picture of the weekend:

Or maybe this one:

He is our joy :)

Sitting up!

Ryan started sitting up last week! I mentioned it before but I didn't get any pictures up...so here they are :)

P.S. He is not sitting up all the time by himself. Sometimes he is just NOT in the mood :)

Granddaddy

Since our blog is our family scrapbook, I wanted to write a little about my Granddaddy. Hopefully, our kids will read our scrapbooks when they are older and since they won't know Granddaddy, they can read a little about him here :)

Some of my favorite memories of Granddaddy are:

1) WATERMELON!!! He loved them...and so do I! We ate countless watermelons on the picnic table in their backyard in Port Neches.

2) Their backyard. Granddaddy and Grandmother had a big, beautiful yard. Granddaddy always had it manicured like a professional. All of the grandkids would play for hours outside...volleyball, chase, hide and go seek, riding bikes, picking up pecans with the pecan-picker-upper, swinging on the back porch swing, playing in the pine straw around the trees, jumping on the pogo stick.

3) His garden. Granddaddy had the touch when it came to plants and his garden. He would always have a large garden with all kinds of vegetables.

4) His snore. He had a snore that could shake the windows! Seriously. I remember laying in the front bedroom at their house, wide awake and laughing till we (me and Jenny) cried over Granddaddy's snore that was so loud and strange, it just HAD to be fake!

5) His false teeth :) Granddaddy came from the old school of dentistry where they pulled all your teeth out and gave you fake ones! He liked to stick them out at us grandkids to make us laugh.

6) His sense of humor. Granddaddy loved to make people laugh! If he said or did something that made you laugh, he would keep on going as long as you continued. He was silly :)

7) He loved the Lord. He and my grandmother were Catholic until I think around the time I was born. They went to Cathedral in the Pines from then until they moved to Lake Jackson last year. He had a servant heart and loved to be an usher at his church. His favorite scripture was Psalms 103...it's a good one.

8) He was a hard worker and took care of his family. He and grandmother raised 6 kids who went on to give them 21 grandkids...and 4 great-grandkids to date, with another on the way :) and many more to come. Here are some of us:

There were all of us plus a bunch more at his funeral. This was after the memorial service at Cathedral Let's play "Where's Ryan?" He's in the picture but all you can see is his leg...

9) He served his country in the Navy during World War II.

10) He took me crabbing. I always remember that for some reason. It was so fun! We got chicken necks and went down by Rainbow Bridge and caught some crabs. A unique experience.

11) He loved to camp and travel.

I know I already put this on here but I love this picture :) It makes me smile. I am so glad that he got a chance to meet Ryan. I know Granddaddy knew exactly who Ryan was and he enjoyed his visit with him. We will visit again one day...it will be a long visit :)

Time marches on...

Things keep right on changing! I know that is what they are supposed to do but each stage seems to fly right by! It is a little bitter sweet.

Ryan is now getting his 2nd tooth! His first one is maybe 1/4 of the way in and the second one is right beside it on the bottom. They are so cute!

Ryan has been sitting up a lot better the last couple days. Tonight he sat by himself on the floor for about 1 minute...he would lean to the left or right and pull himself back to the middle. Amazing! Watching a little human develop is one of God's most priceless gifts.

Also, he started moving his hands in a clapping motion. I wouldn't say he is clapping yet...they don't make any noise. But it is the sweetest thing to watch his face as he does it. He usually holds his left hand still while "clapping" it with his right hand. I think this will be a favorite! Sometimes when he is upset, I can start clapping to a song and he will immediately stop crying and start to smile in amazement at the clapping :)

Another BIG deal for momma is, in the last couple of weeks, I have been able to add some things back into my diet that have been out for awhile now...namely BLUE BELL!!!!! WOOP WOOP and Praise the Lord!!! Moolenium Crunch, oh how I have missed you! You make me happy! Also added back, in moderation just to make sure, have been corn and pizza. I am still a little leery of beans...(you know...beans, beans, there good for your heart, continued...). My little man doesn't need any extra gas, if you know what I mean :)