The past 4 months

Lots of things have happened over the past 4 months!  It's amazing how quickly Ryan is becoming such a big boy!

Ryan is such a talker now!  He is picking up on words SO quickly now and is becoming a little chatterbox.

Back in March, Ryan celebrated his 2nd Easter and the Easter Bunny was good to him!  He went on an Easter Egg hunt, which he enjoyed and even found some eggs all by himself!

Ryan took his first airplane ride to California in April.  We spent a few days in San Francisco (we absolutely loved it there!) and then flew down to Santa Barbara to spend some time with his Aunt Deniz ("Auntie"), Uncle Bobby ("uncle"), Robert ("Rah-rah"), and Alex ("bay-BEE A-wah").  We had such a fantastic time and can't wait to see them again!

I'll upload some pictures soon.

First haircut!

Ryan (finally!) got his first haircut on Christmas Eve.  We figured we couldn't have him looking disheveled for all the Christmas pictures :)

Before:

During:

Get those scissors away from me!

Yes, take a little more off the top, please!

After:

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??

THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED!

Ok, ok, maybe it's not so bad.....

Yeah, I think the ladies will dig this

Oh yes, I think they will..... 

Such a handsome little man!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Ryan!!

Well friends, we made it!  Ryan is officially a TODDLER now!

We woke up in the morning (who am I kidding, I woke up at 4:30 and barely slept after that because I wanted Ryan to hurry up and wake up--this is DEFINITELY a first!).  Ryan finally woke up around 6:15.  We went in, sang happy birthday, gave him extra birthday cuddles and hugs, got him dressed, and brought him downstairs.

He opened up his two big presents from us:

He rode in the wagon a little bit and absolutely LOVED it (as you can tell) :)

We pushed his first nap until after 11, so he would be awake for his birthday party and not have to take another nap at like 2:30 or anything.



He had a GREAT time yesterday at his big birthday party (minus getting his birthday bruises from falling down the front porch stairs).  He got to eat some birthday cake icing:

He wasn't very sold on the cake/icing.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm sure he liked it, but he was definitely skeptical about it.  He made quite the mess out of his smash cake though:

We feel very blessed and thankful that so many people were able to celebrate this important milestone with Ryan.  It's been a year of ups and downs, lots of cuddles, lots of awesome memories, lots of tears, lots of learning (for both us and Ryan), but most of all, lots and lots and lots of love.  It's crazy to think how much has occurred over the past year, how much we have accomplished, how much we have grown, and how much our worlds have changed because of Ryan, and all for the better.  We are really looking forward to this holiday season and giving Ryan the best childhood we can.  

We can't wait to see what's in store for us for the next year!

(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!!

Go, Ryan, GO!!!!

We got a good video last night of Ryan walking around.

It's amazing how quickly he has improved!!  I guess we really need to start baby-proofing the house and get some baby gates.....

Look who's WALKING!

Look at my sweet nine-and-a-half month old sweet boy!!!  He's taking unassisted steps!  He took many many more steps by himself earlier today, but of course when it's time to record them, he decides he doesn't want to showcase his skills anymore :)  I got two steps on video, and then the rest are while hanging on to Joe's hand.  I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S WALKING!!!!

In other news, he's cut his top right tooth (that was #2) and his bottom left tooth (that was #3) and now he's working on his top left.  He pretty much looks like a jack-o-lantern, which is perfect for this time of year with Halloween coming up! :)  Anyway, his top left tooth is REALLY close to coming in.  I can't believe all these changes have happened just within the past few weeks!

One thing he hasn't changed is his sleep schedule.  Remember in the last post when I said that he finally slept through the night from start to finish TWO WHOLE TIMES?  Yep, still hasn't done it since :)  I think he likes the cuddle time that I give him in the middle of the night :)  He also has quite the case of separation anxiety, so these middle of the night cuddle/feeding sessions are extra special when he screams bloody murder when I put him back down in his crib and try to leave the room.  :)  Despite the sleeping habits, I LOVE his budding personality, his endless giggles and smiles, the way he gives kisses by attacking my face with an open mouth, the way he melts my heart by saying "mamamama".  I wouldn't change him for the world :)