Chocolate Puddin'

Detained

I know I've been a slacker blogger lately. The simple reason is that I've been busy. But busy doing what, you ask? Ok ok, here are my perfectly good reasons for not getting the blog on.

1. Holidays

Like always in the past (but maybe not so much in the future) we visited both sides of the family for Christmas and New Years. 3 flights with a toddler. . . not enjoyable. We reminisced about the days when we could take a nice nap on a plane. . . or maybe read a book or listen to music. Now it's a full contact sport as we wrangle a very active toddler. He was good. . . but did not like having to sit on our laps for 2 - 3 hours. He napped on each flight but not for the duration.

But, we love seeing our family. We had a white Christmas in St. Louis and a white New Year's in Utah. Our families were way too generous to and helpful with Ryan. I just wish we all lived closer.

Santa Fail

It only took Ryan and Andrew 4 days to get used to the idea of playing with each other-- mostly because Ryan was sick most of the time we were in Utah. But once they did, it was cute. We have high hopes that this two boys will be best of (long-distance) friends someday.

Baby Charlie (Peter and Paige's little one, and Andrew's brother) entered the world while we were there! Yay for good timing! Ryan and I went to visit Paige and Charlie in the hospital. He is such an adorable little boy. Another boy cousin for Ryan!

So Jen & Matt's Wedding wasn't technically during the holiday season, but since it was mid-January and we had barely unpacked from our holiday travels to go back to St. Louis for the wedding, I'm counting it. I don't have any pictures of the actual wedding or good ones from the reception but this picture makes me laugh because Allison is always in pictures with my husband and kid now. I think she should just move in permanently. And we had way too many cupcakes left over from the reception. . .

2. The House

I LOVE my house. We closed Dec 1 and then painted and refloored it. Ok, we didn't really do that, but we paid someone to do that for us. Yay for a nest egg (and boo for its depletion.) Maybe in a couple years we will have it furnished and decorated how we (err, I) want it. It's a house that we plan on staying in forever. . .ok maybe not that long but I want my kids to grow up here. I spend a lot of time planning all my home projects and future purchases.

Here are a few pictures of the house BEFORE we moved in, painted and refloored.

The entry way

The Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Soon I'll show you my recent projects: painting my kitchen table and chairs red and making an upholstered headboard. That'll have to wait though.

I have to plans to paint a rug, paint a chalkboard wall, paint my bedroom dresser glossy black, and do other various home decorating projects. This is so much fun.

3. And the most important reason I've been a blog slacker is because of a little boy who is everywhere now. . . and we love it.

He walks, he runs, he climbs up the ladder on our outdoor play set. He is everywhere all the time. He is also dealing with some separation anxiety issues which make the gym childcare and church nursery quite stressful. He's getting better. But he wants to be around us all the time. Can't say I blame him. We are pretty cool parents.

At the Children's Museum

Bath Time

Pre-First Haircut

The First Haircut

Lounging on our stairs

First day of church nursery

Swinging with Dad in the backyard

Chillin' in the video box-- his new favorite perch. He can get in on his own, but not out.

4. And in the other category: my blasted thesis that I HAVE to finish this semester, couponing which I am all gung-ho about right now, and being an overall domestic goddess (naturally).

So that's basically it. Please forgive my sporadic postings. I'm a little busy. . .

Thanksgiving is

Bliss

And he's off!

Coping Mechanism

+

=
A perfect mid-morning snack while your toddler tears up his room.

Autumn in Houston

Ya, it really doesn't exist. It was 85 degrees today. Granted, there was hardly any humidity. But we are still in our shorts and flip-flops. I did go out and buy Ryan some long sleeve shirts and pants today but I bought a size up because I don't think he'll need them for a bit.

In other news, we are looking for a house. The big question now is to move to the suburbs or not. It's funny-- I grew up in a suburb and Jon grew up in a rural area but we have lived in urban areas for the past 6.5 years. I already cry thinking about becoming a suburban housewife. But then I think of my garage, porch, backyard and all the fun I'll have decorating and it starts to sound pretty good.

And for the grand finale. . . . Ryan eating frozen-and-then-thawed blueberries.

Sisterly Visits

My sister-in-law, Amanda, came to visit for Labor Day weekend. Chris had to study and work (and watch college football) so it was a great excuse for her to come alone to Houston, where summer NEVER ENDS (ugh!)


While she was here we:

-- Visited the George Ranch Historical Park where we avoided alligators and snakes (we tried to find them to no avail!!!),


and the historical homes.



-- Ate yummy snowcones at Mam's House of Ice with condensed milk on top,


and take awkward "wrong combination" photos.


-- visited the Battleship TEXAS,





and the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Park, where we learned that the movie was actually much better than the view from the top of the monument (and it seems that some one just made up the place name of "San Jacinto" because it was actually called "Lynchburg" when the battle took place.)



-- and toured the Blue Bell Creamery, causing me to form intense loyalty to the brand. Caramel Kettle Crunch (vanilla ice cream with caramel swirls and kettle corn pieces) -- yum.




We all had such a great time except right now Amanda is stuck in Detroit until morning because Tropical Storm Hermine delayed her flight from Houston to Detroit. Hopefully she will realize that we are not the cause for the weather and will come visit again soon! :)

Is it bad to laugh when your kid falls?

Sympathizing Husband

Me: I think I am getting sick.

Jon: Are you getting a cold too?

Me: That is what "sick" is.

The K Key

I'm a pretty lax mom. I haven't child-proofed our home (except for electrical outlets). I let Ryan pull all the books off the shelf, DVDs out of his bin and suck on all types of ointment tubes (closed of course) for entertainment. Maybe it's because he didn't crawl/scoot for so long, or just because there aren't many places for him to explore in our apartment. He does know the word "no" and when it's spoken, he will stop, look and smile, and usually resume what he is doing unless the said "no" is accompanied by relocation to a new venue.

But, now he is on the move, and everything is changing. The little tyke is thisclose to walking, which is exactly what we thought about crawling months and months ago (is he crawling now? kinda, sorta, but hates it. butt scooting is a much more effective mode of transportation.) He pulls up on furniture and walks around it while holding tightly. And he has become quite a little mimic. Because you see, he observes his parents clacking away on our laptops all the live-long day. And he wants to do the exact same thing.

Which brings me to the k key. He's a smart little cookie and has been working on his novel on my laptop. I've learned to quickly open Word when he makes his way over in an effort to avoid any file deletion, unwanted facebook status updates or worse on his behalf. He is quite proficient at inserting symbols, footnotes and other odd macros in Word. But now that he is so comfortable typing away, he is a little more aggressive and happened to pop off the k key yesterday. And I can't get it back on (a trip to the Apple store is on the "to do" list.)




So, for now I can't even open my computer around him or he will want on. And forget about a toddler version of a laptop. He knows the difference. Someday he might end up writing the next Great American Novel. For now however, his toys are going to be limited to the bright red plastic, noisy, on-a-rope variety.

Ryan Turns One!

Months 11 - 12

Month 10

Months 8 - 9

Months 6 - 7

Months 4 - 5

Months 2 - 3

Month One

I'm not going to pretend that everyone wants to see every moment of my kid's first year. But for those of you that do, here is month one. Don't worry -- months 2-12 will follow. :)

What a Difference a Year Makes

I've started making videos for my virtual scrapbook of Ryan's first year, a la Wendy King. I don't know if I'll do one for each month of his life of combine some months together, but OF COURSE I had to devote an entire video to his arrival. So in honor of his first birthday on Friday: