1 Year!

We made it! It's crazy how fast time has flown, but also how slow it seems at times when I think of how far we have come in 12 months. Ryan's personality has REALLY started developing. We are going to have a stubborn, strong-willed, my way or the highway, kind of boy on our hands (wonder where he gets it from). Here is how he spends his day lately.

Always searching for his toys under the TV stand or the couch

Loves to dunk on his basketball hoop. He has gotten pretty proficient with making baskets! He will just wander over to his sportscenter when no one is watching and just play and play. He does seek approval after most baskets or will just cheer for himself.

If we can't find him sometimes, this is usually a safe bet. Not sure why, but he loves to stand under his highchair and just play with the straps even though nothing ever comes from it!

He is still really, really into playing with all of the doors in our house. He has gotten brave recently and will just start exploring around the bedrooms and down the hallway, stopping to mess with each door along the way. With our recent bath remodel under construction, baths now have to take place in the kitchen sink, since our master bath has only a shower. He was pretty unsure about it at first, but seems to be adapting pretty well. Good thing we didn't wait much longer or he may not have fit.

We have also encouraged more "self feeding" which is just a disaster, but I guess he has to learn sometime. He does well with foods he likes, pretty much all fruits, but basically throws everything else off the tray.

 Just thought he needed a diaper shot!

Even though we're not Irish, thought we should dress up for St. Patty's day. He was even a trooper and made it to Christian's Totem to celebrate for a bit!

 Ryan spent a day at GiGi's and they went up to the park to enjoy the nice weather. He loves the outdoors! We can't wait to break out his swing and water table and all other sorts of fun toys he got for his birthday.

 Swinging with GiGi

We have been having a lot of fun meeting new friends in our neighborhood playgroup, as well as our Gymboree class. Hopefully, he will start warming up to other kids soon, since he still pretty much keeps to himself or I should more appropriately say, stays in my lap.

We went to the doctor yesterday for his 1 year check-up and everything seemed great. His stats were:

Height - 31.75 inches (95th percentile)

Weight - 22 lbs. 14.5 oz (52nd percentile)

Head - 19.5 inches (99th percentile)

So basically, he has a humongous head on a really long body with a stick figure holding him up! Or at least that is how I interpret it. Our doc says this is why he probably can't walk or completely balance on his own yet - mainly due to his large head. Even still, we are having a hard enough time keeping up with his sprint crawling (it's pretty cute because when he takes off, for whatever reason, he just starts laughing to himself - like "haha, come catch me if you can!"). He also had 3 shots as well as a finger prick test for anemia yesterday. He was such a trooper, but didn't do so well on the finger prick test. I swear it took 2-3 min to fill the vile up and he was just out of control, I hated it! Although, he did bounce back pretty quickly, thank goodness.

Other updates for the month:

* Still sleeping 12 hours at night (7:30-7:30) and takes 2 one hour naps (11 am and 3 pm)

* Really loves his books, could sit there and flip them for hours

* Takes three 8 oz bottles whole milk/formula morning, afternoon, night and one 5 oz juice/water at lunch (goal is to swtich to sippy SOON, just he won't have it - any suggestions!?)

* Says Mama and working on Hi (so close), Bye, Ball, and DaDa

*Loves electronics more than anything else (esp my Iphone and Laptop); once he sets his sights on something, you may as well give it up

* Scales our couches and coffee table

* Loves to pick up stuff, hold his arm up really high, and then drop it (Pick up, drop, repeat)

* Claps with reallly wide arms now

* Eats just about everything, now it's just time to start weaning out the purees and get on more table food

* Working on 4 teeth right now (1 top, 1 bottom, and 2 molars) yikes! They have all slightly broken the skin

For our one year pic, we decided to use the cute crown Aunt Jilly brought him. But since he hates hats, as seen below.....

 .... I gave him a biscuit and there you go! I snuck it on his head and got about 20 pics! Fooled ya :)

King of the Castle! 

 Happy One Year Ryan!

Sesame Street Soiree

Otherwise known as, Ryan's 1st Birthday Party. Our sweet little boy turned 1 this past Saturday and we had a Sesame Street themed birthday party at our house for our family and a few close friends. The timing was perfect because right as Ryan woke up from his morning nap, the party was starting. It was a pretty windy day, so some of the decorations didn't work out as planned, but everything else pretty much turned out just as I had hoped. We couldn't have asked for a better day to celebrate our little man.

Here are some shots of the decor. I was able to find most of the centerpieces and pennant sign from a cute shop on Etsy called Shindig Parties To Go.

The cake and cupcakes were done by a friend of ours, Ashley. Her company, Yay Yay's Cakes, does all types of cakes and other yummy treats. You should definitely check her out if you are ever have a special occasion!

I LOVED how the cupcakes turned out, I just sent her a pic and voila! She decorated them even cuter than the pics.

  Here was Ryan's smash cake - loved the little 1 in Cookie Monster's hand :)

Some of Ryan's second cousins were able to make it. Scotty is 16 months - they had fun riding in the wagon on our patio until Ryan started kicking Scotty's shoes because he didn't like them touching his feet. Then Scotty started pointing at everything on Ryan's face. It was pretty cute.

And sweet Will, who is 10 months, also was able to make it. I think he enjoyed Ryan's toys more than Ryan usually does!

After we all stuffed our faces with BBQ and chips-n-dips, it was time for Ryan to eat cake! I first tried to get some pics with his birthday hat on, but the boy HATES any type of hat. So, this was the best we got. I think he was trying to say, "I'm going to give you a knuckle sandwich"

After we sang to him, we let him have at it with the cake. He actually was just more interested in smearing the icing around rather than eating it which was surprising since the few times we have let him try anything sweet, he usually goes nuts over it.

He was pretty clingy the entire day; probably because he didn't like having 30 people in his house, so he never got too hyper until it was time to open presents. Then he let loose and went crazy after all the paper, as per usual.

He received quite a bit a loot from everyone. Wes and I got him his very own car (actually, his second car, if you count his walker as his first!) I foresee many, many afternoons/evenings on our back patio with him running circles in this thing.

He also received a tunnel, just like the one at his Gymboree class, and he has already broken it in over the past few days. He likes to hear his voice echo inside it.

Ryan learning how to play washers with his Aunt Allie

Ryan with CoCo and Poppy

It really was a perfect day, even though he will never remember it, we'll have such wonderful memories celebrating with everyone that loves this little boy. Happy Birthday Ryan - mom and dad sure do love you!

Puppy Love

Over the past few months Ryan has become more and more attached to his lovie. Before he was born, he probably received about 8 lovies as gifts from family and friends. Well, the one he has now become extremely attached to is actually the one I bought him as his first Christmas present back in 2009.

It all started a few months ago when we would give it to him during naps and at bedtime. We now can't go anywhere without it. He will bite the nose of the puppy and crawl around with it in his mouth. He also discovered how to get his teeth under the stitched mouth and eventually pulled out all of the thread with his teeth, so I have since cut the the remaining thread out for fear of him losing some teeth!

Whenever he is playing or crawling around the house, he will sometimes look back for his puppy, go retrieve it and bring it back with him to wherever he was going in the first place - it's pretty sweet. He loves it so much.

He will sit there and just rub the ears or pull the puppy up to his face and rub his cheeks with it. He has become so attached to it, we can hardly find the time to wash it. It looks like I am going to have to order some more from Restoration Hardware pretty soon, seeing as how we have tried to trick him with other lovies and he can't be fooled.

He also loves to carry his bat around as well. Puppy in one hand and bat in the other, perfect combination!

You know you're a mom when....

you are walking through the aisles of Hobby Lobby, and upon passing the fabric section, your husband decides it would be funny to ring the bell at the fabric counter just because. I immediately turn to Wes and in my stern "motherly" voice say "RYAN, stop it!" and then finally realizing, oh wait, you aren't my son.

Oh the joys of having to parent TWO boys all the time :) Happy Tuesday!

Accepted

For the past week, I have been waiting impateintly everyday for the mail to arrive like a little kid on Christmas morning. Finally, on the last day that letters could have possibly arrived, there it was. I don't know why I was so nervous, maybe because I hadn't applied anywhere else so I was definitely putting all my eggs in one basket.

But, I am happy to say as of September 1, like it or not, little man will be going to school :) He will be starting the Th/F MDO program at St. Luke's Methodist from 9-2:30 and I am thrilled. Mainly because he needs more consistent social interaction with kids his age and I think it will be really good for him. Too bad they don't start in the summer :)

Not sure how he is going to handle it, even though it is not for another 6 months, but I am sure like anything else he will come around and accept it. Just wanted to share the good news (more of a sigh of relief on my part), and as Wes put it, hopefully he won't have to apply for another school until college.