Ryan's First Movie

Jeff has spent a LOT of time making this special movie about Ryan--from the VERY beginning through his first moments home from the hospital. I hope you enjoy it.

Apple Picking

We shot this back in October. I'm learning more advanced technological maneuvers with the computer. It's a longer clip, but quite funny.

More Indiana Photos

Merry Christmas! We spent a leisurely day in our PJ's opening gifts and eating at will. We had a fire in the fireplace and I played with dinosaurs, a fire truck, an airplane, and took a nap. A highly successful day overall.

Here are more photos from our Indiana trip. Enjoy!

Happy Hippy Christmas!

We are renting a tree this year from the Adopt-A-Stream Foundation. It is a living tree that will be planting on a streambank after the Christmas holiday. Small trees work best for restoration work, so there weren't any big ones from which to choose. We got this little gal and gave her an ego boost with a table underneath and a fancy tree skirt to hide her ugly 5 gallon-bucket-bottom. We're also more green in terms of energy use this year, as the tiny tree can only handle one strand of lights. Only the lightest and most special ornaments made it on the tree. Here's to a greener, more simple Christmas!

Christmas Trip

We're back! We survived the flights, cold weather, and bad tempers to visit our family for an early birthday/holiday celebration last week. Here are some highlights.

Ryan loves riding horses and tractors. Grammy and Grampy have two horses, Sabi and Jewel. He just had to ride BOTH of them! The tractor would not start due to the cold, but the horn still worked, much to his delight. The bottom two photos are Great Grandad getting "nosies" and Great Grandma holding Ryan.

I just downloaded 93 photos from the last two weeks, so more posting to come!

Thanksgiving 2009

Our family was very thankful this year to get away from it all at Mount Hood. Some friends of the family have a house there that we used to rendezvous with our Burghdoff friends for some fun in the snow. We attempted a snowshoeing expedition, but do not have photographic evidence. It was tough, as Ryan could not ride in the backpack due to his recent surgery, so we had to haul him along on a sled. The trail was not groomed, so there was more child carrying than riding. But this little guy LOVES the snow!

Slacker Blogger

Maybe I should claim that life as an Undead Prom Queen has led to less blogging of late, but that's not really it. I've just been lurking on so many other blogs lately, that I don't really have time left for writing on my own. I find myself composing ideas while laying in bed at night, with clever titles and stories to share, but never put them into the computer, and they flit away in the night.

New photos should appease the angry blog readers!

Male Prima Donna

So funny!!!

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Pumpkin Carving

Ryan and Jeff did the carving, I did the dinner preparation and seed cleaning for roasting. Photos of the completed pumpkins will be done later, as the largest pumpkin is not quite finished. The maestro got tired....

Photo catch up

We visited a local farm this past weekend to see some animals and pick out our pumpkins. Ryan really liked the goats the best. Photos of pumpkin carving coming soon.

What I made today

I'm hosting a playdate tomorrow, what other reason could I have to make these spooky cupcakes? They are Spiderweb Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes, and better taste as good as they look! They actually came out looking somewhat like the picture on the recipe. Yeah!

Do you know what this vegetable is called?

Please answer the poll with your best guess. No googling the answer either!

It appeared on my doorstep last week as part of my farm delivery. I steamed some today and put it through the food processor to add some veggie lovin' to the macaroni and cheese. Yum.

Testing Two

Ryan won't be 2 years old until 2 months from now, but he is trying out some two-year old moves already, and they aren't all pleasant.

1. We have a new game where he likes to make Mommy sad by taking away her blankie, and waiting for the pouty lip to come out. He then gives it back and says, "feel better, nice". It's sweet that he is starting to tune in to the emotions of people around him.

2. Tantrums. We've had two this week. One was over moose jammies, there is a general aversion to jammies lately, but it is too cold to allow him to sleep in a diaper only. This is a battle we have to fight.

3. Language, vocabulary, words! We started at a new daycare this month, and they are blown away with the vast knowledge of our boy and his grasp of language and meaning. Of course, Jeff and I think that he is advanced with language, but validation that your child is a boy genius ALWAYS feels good. :)

4. Ryan is excited at the idea of playing and watching hockey. We went to a WHL game last week, and he got his debut on the Jumbotron doing the chicken dance! Whenever he sees hockey on TV, he says, "play 'ockey". His daddy is very proud and excited to get him on the ice soon.

I'll get some new photos up here when I find the stupid cord to download them! Grr.

New Favorites

Ryan is developing his own sense of taste. His latest phrase is: "I no yike it." Even when he does. Go figure. Here are some of his favorite things of late.

Firetrucks. He gets to visit the firehouse when he potties like a big boy. We've been twice :)

Dinosaurs. We bought a Halloween costume of an alligator that looks rather Dinosaur-esque.

Fave movie: Monsters Inc. - A recent replacement to Finding Nemo. What a relief. And he's not scared by any of it.

Fave character: Roz. Go figure. He calls Randall a snake.

Food: Edamame. (so glad it's a vegetable- he calls it beans)

Book: Everyone Poops (hidden due to repetitive readings) or Where's the Poop? - the latest book purchase by mom. Also How Do I Love You? (this is a book that Granna bought a LONG time ago, but Ryan has only recently started wanting to read it.) He's really into most books lately.

Song: to sing- Twinkle Twinkle. I tried to capture it on video, but my performer is not well versed in the art of staying away from the camera. We'll try again soon.

To listen to- Hey Hippopotamus by Justin Roberts.

Color: Green-everything is green when you ask what color something is. Ryan really has no clue what color anything is. Jeff asked me if he could be colorblind. I really don't know how to figure this one out without him having a baseline knowledge of colors to work with. I remember in Jr. High we did a test for color blindness where we had to read a word hidden with pointillism within a picture. No hope for that one soon. :)

With Ryan being so advanced on saying ABC's and counting to 10, I feel like he is behind on colors. I know this is silly, but I'm admitting it publicly here.

Level 2- Potty Training

Failed at this one.

Tomato Bandit

We're having great success in the garden this year-probably because it is the hottest summer on record in Washington, therefore the tomatoes are maturing now instead of in October, like the did last year.

I'm having a hard time getting the tomatoes into the house. A bandit has been eating them. This is what they look like when I get to them. And here he is in action. This is two days worth of action-note the different shirts.

I'm so glad he is getting good food that I grew. And the dirt that comes with the tomato is supposed to be good for preventing allergies. Apparently kids today are too clean and don't ingest enough dirt to help their immune systems. Not so around here. It's not a pig farm, but we do have dirty veggies-almost all you can eat!

Interview with Ryan

Tonight Ryan picked up his keys (the valet set to our car) and announced "go bye bye Mommy".

Me: Where are you going?

Ryan: Go uh store.

Me: What are you going to buy at the store?

Ryan: Snackies!!

Me: What kind of snackies are you going to get?

Ryan: (running toward door) Um Um Um.....

Favorite snacks: raisins, carrots, blueberries, bears (crunchy cereal) and graham crackers (cookies to him)

Potty Time

We are GRADUALLY starting potty training. Ryan is very interested in cheering for me, getting stickers to put on his knees, wearing "unners" and flushing. It's getting the stuff into the potty that is the trouble. He's great at telling me "poopie mommy" AS he is filling his pants. Tonight we practiced wiping on the potty. He likes to wipe the front too. :)

Last night we found the perfect stool for Ryan at Target. When we brought it home, he cried until we brought it inside. He's never latched onto a "thing" so quickly before.

I've read that it is easier for kids to push if they have their feet grounded. His stool has a little flip lid where we stash his flushing wipes, and I am sure it will be filled with toys soon. He LOVES to stand on this stool. Here are photos of what I went through this evening. He turned a velcro curler and tube of mascara into a trumpet of sorts, tooting around the house.

Injury Photos

For all you far away folks, here are the best shots I could get of the stitches. Look above his right eye. Ryan kept coming toward me when I had the camera out! The stitches are out now, and he's down to a small scratch on his forehead-like it never happened. I still think he should be a model. Just look at these photos!!

Favorite Commercial

Every time the new Prius commercial comes on TV, Ryan drops what he is doing to watch it. So I downloaded the song for him from the Toyota website, and he LOVES it! It is one of the coolest commercials I have ever seen.

Here's the link to it on You Tube if you haven't seen the commercial yet.

Adrenaline Junkie

I've had a heck of a week. Jeff's parents are visiting from Indiana, so we have spent lots of time with them, at our house and at a vacation rental on Whidbey Island. We're at the end of a record heat wave for western Washington, where homes do not typically have air-conditioning, as it is not NEEDED--except this week.
I scurried Ryan from place to place with A/C, we did the library, several trips to Baskin & Robbins, "shopping" in the toy aisle of Wal-Mart for an hour, etc. But I've had a big round of three bad things happen to cause my adrenaline to rush and stress me out for a bit.

1. A nice old man scraped the bumper of my 2009 Forester while I was parked at Trader Joe's. An alert lady let me know what happened. I waited for the man in 98 degree heat, with frozen foods and milk and Ryan in the parking lot to discuss it (not fun). I also called the police to file an official report. Luckily, the man was honest, and my car will be repaired soon.

2. The next night, I was attempted to bed down in my 85 degree house at 11PM. Jeff was doing laundry (not a common occurrence) in the garage. All of a sudden, there was a POUNDING at the front door. My first thought was, "why did he go outside, and why is he pounding on the door? He knows that Ryan is asleep!" Then the door knocker yelled "Open the effing door! (he said the word though). I yelled back through the screen near the door--WHO ARE YOU? He replied "Jeff" and I said, "NO---you're not." (not MY Jeff anyway). I was dialing 911 during this exchange. I said, "Go away, I'm calling the police." He mumbled something about Christine, which I think is my trashy neighbor's name. He then started begging me to NOT contact the police. I told the would-be intruder to go away and the police would not come. He complied with my request, however; I was left with a serious case of the shakes, and it took me a good long while to fall asleep that night. We think he meant to go next door, but I haven't found out, and I'm not sure how to ask my trashy neighbor about it, since we have suspicions about activities at that house, and this theory would support it. Too bad you can't choose your neighbors.

3. Ryan spent a nice day at the Children's Museum with his Granna and Grampa on Thursday. It is just two blocks from my office, so I met them for lunch at a cafe. All was going well until I received a dreadful phone call at about 2:30 from my MIL saying that Ryan had hit his head and she thought he needed stitches. They came to my office, we loaded up and went to the doctor. My little guy now has 2 stitches in his forehead. No photos yet, it's under a bandaid until it can stop being all gross and weepy. In the course of this experience, I was asked by the nurse to pin my baby down in a sheet swaddle. Besides his writhing body and blood curdling screams (supposedly his wound was numbed, but I don't think the stuff worked) he stopped asking for me and started asking for his Grampa. I got woosy and had to lie down. Basically, the nurse pinned me on top of Ryan, which wasn't helping my woosyness. I eventually flipped over and laid him on my chest, making it MUCH easier to breathe. After 10 minutes of laying there, another nurse took my blood pressure, which was only 94/70. I felt like such a wuss, but I think the week's events culminated there on the treatment table. Seeing and feeling my baby hurt was the last straw.

You will be glad to know now, faithful blog followers (all 4 of you) that I am now home ALONE for the night. It is my first night away from Ryan, he and Jeff went back to Whidbey to stay with Granna and Grampa. I will join them tomorrow, but I'm taking tonight for ME. I don't have a car, so I'm not going anywhere. So far, I've laid in the hammock, while sipping a cocktail and reading a book, cleaned the kitchen uninterrupted, cooked zucchini bread from homegrown squash, and am now writing a very long blog post. Oh, I also did one load of laundry. So much for a glamorous evening alone! I plan to get a FULL NIGHT OF SLEEP for the first time in a LONG time. Woo-hoo!

From Baby to Little Boy

We finally did it. We had Ryan's first haircut last weekend. The curls had become too matted, and he had hair in his eyes at all times. Below is a before and after shot. We also have the BEST CURL PRODUCT EVER!! It's called Ring around the Curlies, and it is an all organic leave in conditioner/styling product and we LOVE it. No more matted back of the head baby. Just sweet, lovely locks of curls. Just because we got his hair cut, doesn't mean we went SHORT. He could still be considered a hippy baby when caught in his tie dye shirt. :) (for some reason blogger is putting his AFTER photo first, but you get the idea)

Why I Love Crocs

Because when you release your child out the back door wearing nothing but their Crocs and they poop down their leg to fill the shoes with poo and undigested raisins, you can just flick the shoes off the patio and spray them down with the hose.

Not that this happened to me today or anything.....

Colorado Pics

Here are some more photos from our trip.

Colorado Cruising

We just returned from a week long roadtrip through southern Colorado with my parents. We had a fabulous time and saw some amazing bits of the country. We went to the top of Pike's Peak, visited 3 different natural hot springs, toured ancient Anazasi ruins at Mesa Verde National Park, and saw lots of farm animals and tractors along the roadside--all of which were pointed out by Ryan. Ryan can now say "Grammy" and "Gym" (grampy?) My parents were positively basking in the glow from their time with Ryan. Here's a sampling of the photos.