Tis the Season...

....for Ryan's first illness. We have been very fortunate that Ryan has been healthy and sickness-free for the first 8 months, but two weeks ago he got his first double ear infection. It's such a sad site seeing him putting his fingers in his ears and yanking at them, but he was definitely a trooper, never ran fever, and was pretty much himself through it all. Other than that, he has been quite amusing the past two weeks. He started clapping last Friday out of nowhere. He just stares at his hands and gets so proud of himself when he does it. He especially loves to clap between bites while he is eating. We think he is learning the meaning of the word "no". He will just look at you with sad eyes and a pouty lip, it's pathetic! He is one stubborn kid. He is also trying to get up on all fours, but can't figure out how to really get moving, so he resorts to scooting around and spinning in circles on his mat to get toys.

We have been getting ready for the Christmas season filled with lots of shopping, decorating, eating, and Starbucks :) This past weekend we took Ryan to our neighborhood winter festival. See how excited he was to go?!?

He really wasn't old enough to participate in the snow piles, moonwalks, or face painting, but we did let him ride in the train. Wes said he had a good time, whipping his head around trying to look at everything in sight.

He also received his first balloon. Of course, his first instinct was to immediately lick the balloon and then try to hug it.

Afterwards we headed to go get pics with Santa. They had us first all three go sit next to him and take a few pics. Then, we just placed him on Santa's lap and moved over. Ryan just placed his hand on Santa's arm and that was about all the interaction they had. I don't think he really ever got a good look at him. He only got a little upset when I tried to move too far away. We haven't gotten the professional pics back yet, but this is what we got on our camera.

 They also had an antique fire truck that he had fun playing in.

We headed to Cyclone's at City Centre and did some Christmas shopping. It was such a fun day. That evening, we had our nanny watch Ryan while Wes and I had a nice dinner at Vincent's and then went to Lights in the Heights where we ran into a bunch of our friends. Next year, we plan to take Ryan with us! Sunday we went to Lola with the newlyweds and then continued our shopping (I think we are almost done!!). It was such a fun weekend and a great way to start all the Christmas fun. Looking forward to spending lots of time with our lil family over the next few weeks.

On a side note, here are a few pics of Ryan two weekends ago at my parent's house while we were in College Station. He is now obsessed with this tiger.