December 30, 2011

twenty-one months

There are less than three months until I am the mother of a two-year-old.  To tell you the truth, it doesn't really surprise me.  This little girl is definitely not a baby anymore.

This photo session was definitely not as easy as last month's.  She wanted nothing to do with my chalkboard.  I still managed to get some shots that I love, but honestly all of the bribing in the world would not get her to actually stand still for more than a second.  It was the first time we'd gotten to play outside on a semi nice day (it was like 54!) in quite some time.  Therefore it was as if I had released a caged animal!  Ha ha.

IMG_7499_2

Ryann's next doctors appointment isn't until April 4th, so I won't know any 'stats' until then, but I'm pretty sure she is just getting taller and taller.  She hasn't really thinned out all that much but some of her 24 month pants are starting to look like high waters.  Every time she attempts to stand on the scale it reads somewhere around 25.5 pounds, but she isn't standing on it correctly, so I don't give it that much credit.  And no, I'm not making her weigh herself.  Of course I don't get to pee alone, and when I'm in there she generally drags out the scale and starts pushing buttons and climbs on it.

Her closet is still full of clothing ranging in 18 months - 2T.  I've stopped buying 24 month clothing unless I know it is something we need right now.  Shoes are also still 5.5-6 range.  I bought a pair of size 7 boots from Old Navy for her, and they look like they would work right now, but I think they are just a tad big.  The See Kai Run shoes I ordered from Zulilly are a size 6 and she has plenty of room in them.

IMG_7462

Potty training is going pretty much the same as last month.  Ryann will usually go if I ask her, unless of course she is playing with something way too exciting.  She also asks to go on occasion, but it is pretty seldom.  And a lot of times when she does ask she is trying to get out of something she doesn't want to do, such as eating a lunch or dinner that isn't on her 'approved' list.  "Ryann, are you going to take a bite of that carrot?"  "I need to use the potty seat!  I need to use the potty seat!"  Uh huh, sure :o).  In her defense she does always go when she sits on it, but I'm sure it wasn't quite that urgent.  Actually while we were in Omaha and Ryann was up in the middle of the night, she was trying to find any excuse to get out of her crib.  At one point she stood up and said "I need to put poopies in the potty seat!  I need to use the potty seat!"  Manipulative much?

IMG_7153
IMG_7241

Listening to the things that come out of Ryann's mouth is still lots of fun.  I love that she can tell me what happens when I'm not around.  Sometimes she is being a tattle tell, "Gigi picked up a bag.  Miss Julie tell her no thank you!  Gigi was being naughty."  Obviously I don't really know what happened, but it was funny to hear her recount part of her day.  Or yesterday when we got home from the gym she said, "Did you watch Thomas at the gym? (she still phrases everything as a question a lot)"  "No, I didn't.  Did you?"  "Yeah.  Thomas the train wiggled his eyes.  Thomas is a funny show."  Too cute.  On a slightly different note, yesterday after Ryann went down the slide she said, "Whee!  That was fun Mommy!"  Not sure why but that really made me smile.

Unfortunately one of Ryann's favorite words right now, is of course "No."  She even turned it into a fun little jingle, I'll have to try and record it.  It is actually a universal tune that she'll swap out with different words, "No.  No.  No no no!" or "Dad.  Dad.  Dad dad dad!"  It would annoy me more if it wasn't so funny to hear her sing it.  And she has developed this other odd little voice she uses when she says no.  It is rather whiny, high pitched and drawn out.  But it is near impossible not to laugh when she looks you straight in the face and says, "Nooooooooo".  Another thing I need to just get on video.  Really, you can be incredibly frustrated, ask her a simple question, that odd little no comes out, and it takes everything you've got not to snort with laughter.

IMG_7445

We are getting more and more unprompted 'I love yous' everyday.  Just last night Ryann came sprinting into the kitchen, wrapped her arms around my legs and said "I love you, Mommy".  I melted into a puddle right there from all the sweetness.  She also loves on her toys, tells them she loves them, hugs them, kisses them.  And she also makes them kiss each other which is kind of funny.  She'll grab a couple of animals from her Little People sets, push their faces together and make a kissing sound.  Cracks me up.  I'll ask her, "Oh, did the zebra and lion just kiss?"  "Yep."  Very matter of fact :o). 

But you know what gets the most hugs and I love yous?  Why her stuffed ginger of course.  My mom put a stuffed gingerbread doll in Ryann's stocking and I think we might need to find a couple more.  She isn't consistent but Ryann frequently asks to sleep with her ginger.  I was doing my best to keep it at one night time buddy, but she freaking loves that thing.  Between the doll and the two pairs of ginger pajamas she has now, we talk about gingers all the time.  And I truly hope I'm not offending any of the red heads out there.  It really is hysterical to watch Ryann hug her doll and say "I love you ginger!"

IMG_7475
 
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but Ryann has assigned us all colors.  Well not all of us, but while playing with the sorting bears she decided certain colors are for certain people.  The purple bucket is hers, the yellow is mine, Christopher gets blue, red is for our friend Kyle, and green is for our friend Chris.  But now not only are the yellow bears mine, pretty much anything yellow is mine.  She brings me yellow blocks and pieces of her toys.  Yesterday Ryann threw all of the yellow plastic balls out of her ball pit and said "I got your balls out for you Mommy!"  Recently she had some fruit loops in her snack cup, and whenever she would pull out a yellow one she would hand it to me and say, "Here mommy.  This ones yours.  Eat it."  It cracks me up.

IMG_7202
IMG_7163_2
these were the 'stop taking so many pictures of me' faces

Ryann is very into spinning this month.  Or playing ring around the rosie.  She'll just start spinning in circles in random places.  We've asked her to only spin in the family room (it's the only carpeted area in our house) and preferably only when mommy and daddy are around (because she goes a little crazy and bashes into things).  We can be in another room doing something completely different and she'll stand up, "Go in the family room?  Spin?  Spin again, please?"  Who knew spinning in circles was so awesome.

Coloring and coloring books also score high on the fun meter.  For a little while there she really wasn't interested in coloring at all anymore, but in the last couple of weeks we have spent hours laying on the floor with her crayons and coloring books.  When she is really concentrating she can actually do a pretty good job of staying in the lines.  It isn't perfect, but it is very apparent that she knows she is supposed to color section by section.  And if you suggest she color a certain part a certain color?  That simply thrills her.  For example, "Ryann I'm going to color Elmo's nose orange, maybe you should color Grover blue?"  "Oh yeah!  Ok!  Find the blue!  Color Grover!"  Like it was the best idea in the world, and then she goes to town.

IMG_7448
can't you just hear the whine?  obviously i'm a mean mom who makes her child do horrible things.

Oh, I almost forgot.  Nodding her head for yes?  That has also become pretty awesome.  If you ask her a question she'll do an exaggerated yes nod with a little "Mmm-hmm" thrown in there.  Or a "yep".  I'm partial to the yep I think.

Other random things Ryann is enjoying lately:  Corduroy, letters (definitely solidifies my choice for an alphabet party), m&m's, splashing in the bathtub, looking at Christmas lights, meatballs (I think she would choose meatballs for every meal every day if she could), Peek-a-Zoo on the iPad and Kung Fu Panda 2.  Oh Kung Fu Panda 2.  I'm pretty sure I've already seen that movie somewhere in the neighborhood of five times.  But she loves it (mostly the baby panda scenes).  So I guess I'll tolerate it.

IMG_7411

Oh Miss Ryann.  You have loads of personality.  I love you.

December 29, 2011

this and that

::  I uploaded pictures and put up blog posts about Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (ok photo dump, whatever).  I did four loads of laundry.  I cleaned up the dirty dishes in my kitchen and wiped down the counters.  That is progress right?  I also finished Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah in two days.  There is a reason I can't pick up novels unless we are on vacation, I simply can't put them down.  I have to know what happens.  Which means when I could be being somewhat productive my nose is stuck in a book.  Oh well, it makes me happy so it is a good thing, right?

:: My holiday cards are still sitting on my desk.  Apparently no amount of ink can clean my print heads or bring my epson back to life, so I've opted to just get a new printer.  Now the question is, which one?  Anyone out there have a recommendation for a good ink jet printer?  I want to be able to print photos, and would love the option of printing up to 13x19, although that isn't 100% necessary.

::  My little princess pie is 21 months old today.  Sigh.  It will never slow down, will it?

IMG_6815
IMG_6840
IMG_6783_2

:: I want to put together a couple of posts relating to blog design and photography.  Those are both topics I've been asked about on more than one occasion, so I'm going to try and bit the bullet and put down all my completely non professional probably not the best way to go tips :o).  I want to make sure I answer all of your questions so if you have any related to those topics please ask in the comments section!

::  I'm going to sit down and put together my schedule for 'a day in the life' tonight.  If you are interested in participating please check out this post!

::  Colors are officially (sorta) decided for the birthday party.  Hooray!  Now on to the good stuff.  Any suggestions for your favorite little place to get fun party supplies (balloons, plates, cupcake liners, etc)?  Also, has anyone seen alphabet sprinkles anywhere?  Especially in colors other than primary ones?  And if you've ever ordered or bought large amounts of crepe paper or tissue paper, where from?

IMG_6890_2

Happy Thursday!

December 28, 2011

christmas day 2011

The one thing that kind of bites about not spending Christmas at home, is the fact that we spend Christmas morning in a hotel.  It isn't the end of the world of course, and there are still presents and stockings and we have a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant... but it is a hotel.  It just doesn't wake you up with a holly jolly feeling you know?

That aside, Christmas day was lots of fun of course.  More presents, more family, more food... need I say more?

Oh, in a total mommy fail moment, I forgot to bring Ryann a stocking.  My mom has the rest of our families, but Ryann never got one of the 'family' stockings, so my mom asked me to bring one from home.  I uh, didn't.  Oops.  So she used my brothers and he got a shopping bag.  Oh well, I suppose at almost 30 you don't care if you don't have a stocking.   Quite frankly I bet at just under 2 you don't care either, but whatever :o).

IMG_6999
IMG_7006
IMG_7025
IMG_7039
IMG_7050
IMG_7055
IMG_7060
IMG_7079
IMG_7095
IMG_7115_2_Web
IMG_7124
IMG_7128
IMG_7129
IMG_7133_2
IMG_7137
IMG_7144_2


Check out that concentration!  She sat and colored for such a long time, completely ignoring everything around her.  The only way to get her attention was to take the crayons or the paper.  And that absolutely did not go over well.

Something else to mention about Christmas morning... Ryann had opened a couple of gifts, and of course after each asked us to open whatever it was she had unwrapped.  She got to a gift Chris and I brought, some crayons, a couple of coloring books, and a pack of stickers that Chris threw in at the last second.  We thought it would be an easy thing to keep her entertained with in the hotel.  As soon as she opened the stickers she had ZERO interest in any of her other presents.  She didn't care that she still had like five more packages to open.  Just goes to show that kids don't need much.  Just something they love!

christmas eve 2011

For as long as I can remember we have always spent Christmas with my Dad's side of the family.  I recall one time with my mom's family, and maybe, MAYBE one time at our own house, but really we have always been in Omaha.

Every year we talk about spending Christmas at home with just my immediate family, but you know?  It just doesn't seem right.  Not yet anyway.  Maybe when there are a few more little kiddos in the mix, but for now, I absolutely love spending the holidays with my crazy big family.  I think at one point there were between 40-45 of us at my uncle's house.

IMG_6897_2
IMG_6919
IMG_6925
IMG_6932
IMG_6942
IMG_6944
IMG_6957
IMG_6962
IMG_6972_2
IMG_6984
IMG_6980

Really there is no need to explain all of those.  There were lots of people, lots of food, and lots of laughter.  Also lots of tears, but that was mostly from over tired overloaded with sugar little people.  But Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without that right?

December 27, 2011

looking for motivation

Whew.

Christmas was lots of fun.  Ryann slept horribly at the hotel.  I'm exhausted.

I've missed two weeks in a row for 'move it monday'.  I've got several other half finished/barely started posts I've been meaning to get to.  And now I have a slew of holiday photos that I want to post before I never get to it.

My holiday cards still haven't been mailed out.  My house is a disaster.  Our fridge is empty.

I really need to do something about much of the above, and hopefully I'll get there eventually, but until then, here is our only pathetic attempt at a family picture from the weekend.

IMG_6975

I'm kicking myself for not taking better pictures of Ryann in her Christmas Eve outfit.  The cuteness killed me.  Seriously, I could barely stand it.  She looked like such a little princess!  And the outfit/fur was most likely a bit over the top, but it was on sale.  And she rocked it.  :o)

Crossing my fingers for a productive nap time today!

December 25, 2011

week in iphone pics

Merry Christmas, and you know, happy everything.  We are having a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with my dad's side of the family.  For the first time in probably 3 or 4 years we are having amazing weather!  Seriously, the last two or three years we've had to drive to and from Omaha in near blizzard like conditions.  Sunshine and no snow was a much welcomed change.

I'm sure there will be an actual Christmas post soon, but my dad was giving me grief about not updating the blog since Thursday (I know he was kidding, whatever), so I thought I'd throw up my iphone pictures before I forgot.  It seemed like a rather busy week getting everything all put together for the holiday weekend!

sunday
iphonepics_12_18_11_Sunday

We were still at my parent's house, and I actually braved the cold to go for a longish run outside.  I truly was surprised how much I was able to tolerate the cold.  It was overcast and supposedly only felt like 24 or something, but there was no wind, and by the time I hit the 3 mile mark I was wanting to strip off some layers.  I covered about 7.75 miles.  I call it a success!  

Ryann wasn't feeling to hot on Monday, and spent a lot of time laying down places.  She cuddled up on the couch with papa for a while.  A little dose of tylenol perked her up enough to bake some cookies, but by Monday evening we were considering taking her to the ER.  She was barely running a temp, not even 101, but her nose started bleeding again and she was acting so weird.  I knew I was most likely overreacting, so I gave her another dose of tylenol and put her to bed.  Thankfully she woke up chipper at 6am Tuesday morning.

monday
iphonepics_12_18_11_Monday

Somebody got a special wintertime breakfast... a snowman pancake with chocolate chips for eyes and buttons!  I was in love with Ryann's outfit that day, I'm pretty sure her Grandma 'Nita bought it last winter.  Just another trip to Target, where else.  We went out to lunch at Red Lobster and Ryann kept sneaking fries off Daddy's plate.  She would dip them in the ketchup, take a bite, and put them back :o).  Hanging out with Auntie Lorin and celebrating Papa's birthday.

tuesday & wednesday
iphonepics_12_18_11_TuesWed

The first photo is the only one I took on Tuesday.  Whoops.  Honestly?  I don't even remember what we did besides drive back home.  Wednesday Chris didn't have to go in until 1pm, so we took Ryann to Bass Pro to see Santa Claus.  And the fish of course.  I wish I could remember what she was saying to me at dinner, she was being a total goober if you couldn't tell.

thursday
iphonepics_12_18_11_Thursday

As soon as I say something about baking, Ryann pipes up, "Want to lick the spatula!  Want to lick the spatula!"  I made some nutella puppy chow and snickers brownies.  The nutella puppy chow made for a very tasty spatula!  We ventured out to Nordstrom Rack that evening to see if there was anything I wanted to wear for Christmas Eve (no luck, boo), and Ryann enjoyed trying on lots and lots of bracelets.  Thursday night I stayed up too late watching the Jayhawks win (hooray!) and wrapping presents (because I'm a slacker and didn't already have it done).

friday
iphonepics_12_18_11_Friday

Chris and Ryann ran out to do some errands for me while I showered and pack to leave for the weekend.  Good story (not), our Christmas cards were actually delivered late Thursday so I was trying to get them mailed out on Friday.  I ran out of ink while trying to clean the print heads, so Chris and Ryann went to get more.  The stupid printer never would work, so I still haven't sent out my cards.  Lame.  A little nap during the car ride to Omaha.  Ryann got a ride around the hallway in Gigi's cart.  She found it pretty entertaining. 

saturday
iphonepics_12_18_11_Saturday

Ryann is incredibly congested and slept HORRIBLY at the hotel Friday night.  Of course the only thing that would keep her sleepy self remotely happy the next morning was the iPad.  That kid and technology, sheesh, my dad's iPad is passcode protected, and she has figured out how to swipe the thing, put in the password and get to the games she wants.  Ridiculous.  We of course had to run to a store Saturday morning to grab a hairbow for Ryann.  They had an adorable mini chair and couch set that Ryann did not want to get up from.  She looked pretty classy riding to the Christmas Eve party.  And surprise surprise, a little more iPad before bed time.  The real point of that picture is the matching jammies (more gingers!) she got for her and her doll.  When I saw them in the store last week I absolutely couldn't resist.  Gingers?  A matching pair for the dolly?  It was a must.  Unfortunately Ryann was too tired last night to really care.  Oh well, they made me happy :o).

Overall a pretty good week :o).

December 22, 2011

embrace the camera

Ryann and I spent the past weekend, where else, at Grammy and Papa's house.  Chris's schedule tends to blow, but at least for the most part I have some awesome (and incredibly helpful!) parents that take care of and spoil us like no one else can.  Overall the weekend was lots of fun, minus the part where Ryann was sick, again.  I feel like she is always sick on the weekends.  I'm guessing it is because she goes to MDO on Thursdays and then starts feeling crummy by Saturday or Sunday.  But she also goes to the gym so who knows...

Sunday morning started off with a fairly gorgeous sunrise.  These are pretty much straight out of the camera.  Yes, the sunrise did look that amazing!

IMG_6379
IMG_6383
IMG_6419

Us girls had a good time baking and decorating sugar cookies.  Ryann was a crazy woman with the sprinkles sometimes!  There was colored sugar everywhere.  But we were happy :o).

IMG_6441
IMG_6451B
IMG_6468
IMG_6487

Monday was my Dad's birthday, and Chris's day off, so he came over to hang out and have a birthday dinner with us.  We put together a gingerbread house (note to self, read instructions before starting a project :o), had a delicious dinner, and opened some Christmas presents so they didn't all have to travel with us.  Overall another great day!

IMG_6527_2
IMG_6536_2
IMG_6542
IMG_6555
IMG_6566
IMG_6629


It was a fun filled weekend, and now I can't wait for Christmas this weekend!  If only I could motivate myself to make a dent in my to-do list...