Looking cute

Cute huh?

I love when little kids dress themselves.  They have no concept of 'fashion' and know that they need to wear something on the bottom and something on the top.  It is however really hard for me to let Harper dress herself some days because I want to pick out the cute outfit for her to wear.


Today she decided she needed to wear her tie-dye shirt because that's what she picked out for Ryden.  Then she picked out 'leggings' for the bottom.  Her leggings are really tights so I told her that she needed to wear a skirt if she was going to wear them.  Fancy skirt picked out.  Then, she saw her pink vest and decided that she forgot it so threw that on to complete the look.


Perhaps the best part was when she finished getting dressed and said 'I'm looking cute'  Really?

The first time she left the house, she was wearing her fancy black heels.  The second time, she was wearing purple swim shoes . . . awesome.

Hot chocolate sunglasses

The shift

At least he's still a snuggle bug.

Yesterday, Ryden was my little baby.  Today he seems so much older.  It's as if overnight, he turned the corner from being baby into being a toddler.


I caught him today standing (on his own power) at the garbage can holding an empty pop can.  Safe huh?  I said 'Ryden put that back' so he put it back, smiled at me and promptly took it back out.  Then all night he continued to let go of whatever he had used to stand up and just stand.  I want him to walk and talk and hit all the fun milestones, but now I'm a little sad about him not being my baby any more.

Wii time

Harper got out the Wii-motes tonight and told me she wanted to play.  Too bad all the remotes either didn't even have batteries in them or they were dead.  We USED to have more AA batteries than we knew what to do with, apparently those days are over because there were none.  So I searched remotes and everywhere I could think of to find a few batteries.  I found 2.  We can share right?

Harper picked out Rayman to play and I for some crazy reason that that an almost 3 year old would be able to play some of the games . . . I was wrong.  The only ones that she could kind of do successfully were the ones that you just shake the nunchuck and the remote fast.  She however didn't LIKE that game.  We tried to play for awhile until I got tired and gave up.  Another day though maybe she'll figure it out.

Or maybe Daddy can figure that one out.

More Party Pics

Some more pictures of Ryden's party courtesy of Audrey.  Notice the MUCH better quality.

Ryden's 1

A year ago today, Ryden made his entrance into the world.  I don't know how I could ever forget the details of his birth, but if I'm anything like my mom (and I know I am) I better record the event.


Friday April 15, 2011 I woke up and got ready to go to work like every other day.  I was getting impatient for Ryden to be born (he was due the 11th), but had decided that he liked tight spaces so much that he would probably stay in there for another week or so.  While I got Harper ready though, I started having contractions. When we got in the car to leave, I told Nate I didn't think I would probably make it through the whole day of work.


My labor with Harper had lasted forever so going to work while in labor didn't seem like a crazy idea.  So, I dropped Harper off at daycare and went to work.  Things started progressing rapidly once I got to work and by 10:00 I decided to work with one more student and leave.  I clocked out at 10:45.  At 2:44 Ryden was born.

In those 4 hours I picked up the house, did some laundry and picked up Nate from work.  Nate convinced me that I needed to go to the hospital when we did (I think we pulled into the parking lot at 12:30).  They got me checked in and hooked up with some penicillin (for Group B strep) and things went very fast.  They were waiting for a round of penicillin to be done before they broke my water or let me push and I definitely wasn't getting 2 rounds in like you're supposed to.  So, they broke my water when I started pushing and he was born shortly after.  It was an amazing drug free labor and delivery that was a lot easier on me than Harper's (I will post that story someday soon before I forget what happened :) )


Ryden Paul (it took us a long time to figure out the middle name) was 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 1/4 inches long.  He began nursing and was an expert from the beginning.

3 months

In the first weeks and months he got FAT.  Ryden was a chunky baby gaining weight like crazy.  Even as a baby he was pretty happy and willing to go to anyone.


In the last year, he has gotten so big and has shown us his amazing personality.  He is easy to smile and laugh and pretty laid back for the most part.  Sometimes he gets shy, but isn't as dependent on me as Harper was, definitely a people person.

I can't wait to see how he continues to develop and reach new and exciting milestones (like walking - I'm ready kid lets do it already).  

Party!

We had a party for Ryden's first birthday today.  It turned out great despite my lack of planning.  All of the important things were there: family, friends, food and of course CAKE!

The plan (a very rough plan) was to grill at the park.  I didn't have time to get groceries this week, so we got food this morning.  Also, made the cake this morning . . . easiest cake ever (pretty cute too if you ask me).

Part of the lack of planning is my fault, the rest is to blame on Grandma and Grandpa who decided midweek that they were coming Saturday instead of Sunday.  I definitely thought I would have today to prepare for a party tomorrow.

So . . .  There is never anyone at the park grilling or using the shelter so I wasn't worried, but today of course it was reserved for a huge group of people.  Onto the next park (it would be so much easier if we had enough room to invite people to our house).  The Deerfield park didn't have a grill, but we had already told everyone that we were moving so my amazing husband went home and brought our grill from home to use.

 Besides that minor glitch, the weather forecast for today was SEVERE storms with tornadoes across the midwest.  Fortunately, the bad weather has at least held off for now and we were able to enjoy an afternoon at the park (even though it was a little breezy).

The Cake:  Chocolate cake cut into chunks layered with chocolate
pudding and crushed Oreos.  The inspiration was just a dump
truck with cake in the back but Jana came up with the brilliant plan
to use the cute, CHEAP dump truck and bulldozer.

The horse

When I was little we NEVER got to ride the mechanical riding machines.  My kids wouldn't get to either, except Hy-Vee has a free horse.  Push a button and it goes!  For Harper it is the highlight of every trip to the grocery store and Ryden is getting in on the action now too.


We love free fun :)

Dirt

Harper LOVES to play in it.

Ryden loves to EAT it  :)

Kids should get to play in the dirt.  If playing involves eating, so be it.

A 1 shirt

Ryden will be 1 a week from today!  The tradition is to have a number shirt for the birthday.  We got Harper a 1 shirt because it was cute and last year, ON her birthday I decided she needed a 2 shirt so I made one quick.

I just realized yesterday that I needed to make this shirt for Ryden this weekend so went to Hobby Lobby and picked up the goods.  Still don't have a needle with a big enough eye for the thread I got to stitch around it, but hopefully that will be accomplished sometime this week : /

Eggstravaganza!

Easter is tomorrow.  Since I'm so not religious, we went to an Easter Egg Hunt today.  It was not as much fun as I thought it would be.  Harper had some fun though.  She got some candy and got to see the Easter Bunny, from afar (this was her choice she is a chicken).

 Ryden may have had fun too :)

Then, we decorated Easter eggs!  Why do I think that it's worth it to decorate eggs?  They are never as awesome as I want them to be (except the year Jana and I did some with skill) and then they just get destroyed when you eat them.  Harper had fun though and then we had egg salad sandwiches for supper, so they are gone already.