(T minus 8 days until his birthday)

Here is a picture of my sweet angel the other day, napping while we were in the car:

I can't believe Ryan's about to have his first birthday.  One whole year old.  It's crazy.  It's crazy how quickly time has passed, particularly in the past few months.  Those first few months seemed to take forever and time trickled by so slowly.  Then, something clicked and all of a sudden, Ryan is 6 months old...8 months old...10 months old...having his first Halloween, first Thanksgiving, and now he's about to be a year old.  My sweet baby is not a "baby" anymore.  He's a full-blown toddler, constantly running from one thing to another, rarely stopping.  He just goes goes goes goes all day long.  He (sometimes) crashes for his naps, and then he's up, ready to investigate and examine everything around him.  He's amazing!

Ryan playing with the Dino-"roar".  He LOVES this toy.

The Dino-"roar" is one of Ryan's favorite toys.  He pushes these plastic balls into the top, and they roll in different directions, and music plays and lights flash.  He does this all day long.  He also has figured out that if he just pushes the ball in halfway, it will trigger the lights and music, and he's perfectly content doing that, too.

He's beginning to understand so much too!  We'll ask him where various things are, and he'll point at them.  He's beginning to say a couple of words and will try to say more words when prompted.  It's awesome to listen to him try to communicate with us.  Even when he falls down or hurts himself, in the middle of crying, he'll sometimes try to put together all of these jumbled syllables and sounds that don't make a bit of sense, but it's like he's trying to explain what happened.  It's adorable!

11 months...only one more to go!

Happy 11 months to our favorite little boy!

So much has happened since the last post!  Ryan is now a seasoned walker--he goes everywhere he wants to and even to places he knows he's not supposed to go!  He learned how to walk backwards and to the side just within the past week. 

He's learned how to clap his hands:

He's learned how to point to things and he's learned how to consistently wave hello and goodbye, too!

He's learned how to say "UH OH", and he loves to say that when he intentionally drops his spoon when he's eating dinner.  Super cute!  He also loves to smile mischievously when we tell him "no" to something and he continues to do it (note: he WILL drop this behavior sooner than later).

He's learned that some of his toys can move all on their own (I guess, with the help of batteries, but I think that's an advanced concept for him right now):

We celebrated Halloween (Ryan was a bat):

We walked him to the houses on our street (only 3), and he got some awesome loot!  One of our neighbors even gave him some applesauce instead of candy, which I thought was really sweet :)

I can't believe he's going to turn ONE YEAR OLD soon.....this year has been the fastest and the slowest year (if that's possible).  When I look back at everything that Joe, Ryan, and I have been through, all that we've learned, all the hugs and kisses we've given and received, and how much our lives have changed for the better, it makes me get all teary and emotional (surprise surprise).

We're going to savor this last month of infancy!!