What We've Been Up To...

We have been B-U-S-Y... a good busy though! We have been busy hanging out with family. Something we haven't been able to do for months now. Ryder has been such a great little man the whole time we've been here. His sleep is slightly off, but given the fact that he's in a place he's not use to and already has another runny nose we'll take it! He is loving having grandparents, great-grandparents, second cousins, and great aunts and uncles to love on him. His favorite though might be his adorable Uncle Cole, Uncle Dalon, and cousin Noah to play with. Gosh he loves these boys! I'd go into all the details of what we've been up to, but i'd be rambling on forever. I think i've got some pictures that explain just what we've been up to.... having fun with family :)

Ryder and Uncle Cole waiting for the Thanksgiving Day Parade

Getting some fresh air on on Turkey Day...

Ryder wasn't sure what to think of this cold weather!

He just stood there like a statue

Then he found one of his favorite toys....

My attempt at getting all three boys in one photo

A little Thanksgiving football....

It might get a little more intense in the years to come

Miss Chloe feeling a little left out

Cole loves when Chloe visits

Are my brother-in-laws littler charmers or what?!?
He was begging to make a silly face for the camera

Ryder got to try SOOO many big kid toys since we've been here...

Santa's list keeps getting longer and longer now!

Going for his first bike ride

Uncle Dalton

It's so nice havings kids around that actually want their picture taken!

Ryder playing on top of the sand box

Watching his uncles play

I love that both my babies have a backyard to run in here

So excited to be swinging with Uncle Cole

Cutie Pies

Dalton hanging out in Ryder's baby carrier while watching Ryder tear his room apart

Derrik terrorizing Dalton...

What else are big brothers good for?!

Love Them

The boys playing with their new Hess cars their Me-Maw/Mom bought for them

Ryder with his Thanksgiving dinner....

Bad shadow in the picture...

He didn't even eat a bite of it...

Ending up chowing down chicken nuggets....
BUT I felt like his first Thanksgiving (that he could eat it anyhow) must be documented :)

Ryder hanging out with Noah

For those of you who complain that you never see Ryder... here is the last of both sides of our family who truly had never been able to see Ryder!!! We kept missing them on many occasions. So yesterday, while Derrik golfed, Ryder and I made it happen...

Uncle Scott, Aunt Karen, Mike, and Jeff.... it was soooo nice to finely let you meet Ryder :)

Ryder was fascinated by Mike

Ryder exploring Aunt Karen's living room

I hope you enjoyed some of the pictures from our first couple days here in Pennsylvania :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Our family would like to wish all our friends and family a very Happy Thanksgiving! We are enjoying time with our family in Pennsylvania, and Ryder is in heaven. There are toys for days around here and so much family to love on him. Lots of pictures and posting to come, but for now we are enjoying our time with family :)

HaPpY tHaNkSgIvInG

P.S. Ryan was discharged from the hospital this morning. He is doing much better. He will be spending the day at my grandma's getting pampered and served his turkey dinner.

We're so glad your doing better bub... Love You!

Praying for my bub...

I don't have long... have to catch a flight, but wanted to put this up real quick. My brother, Ryan, started having awful pains yesterday afternoon in his stomach. He is now in recovery from surgery. He had his appendix and part of his bowel removed. We are so thankful to have my grandparents down there to take care of him since my mom and I are so far away. Thanks Gram and PaPa!!!

Bub... We are praying for a speedy recovery!!!

We Love You!!!

15 months

Oh Ryder... You will be 15 months in two days! Pretty soon we won't even be counting months anymore... and it will just be years. It is crazy. You have grown into such a little boy lately.

Ryder is obviously a VERY observant little boy. Since he has gotten this walking thing down pat now, he has started doing things that he has watched us do for the last fifteen months. Without us ever thinking to show him to do things he is doing them. It is so crazy how they can pick stuff like that up. Makes me think I should start watching what I do and say a little more carefully!!!

Here are some things Ryder likes to do now...

When I get done wrapping his diaper up he likes to hold it until I am finished getting the new one on. Once that is done he gets up and goes to the trash can to throw it away. This was the first thing he did that we realized he was imitating us, and we thought it was so cute. Now though he's over the thrill, and we have to follow after him pretty quick or he'll use it ask an escape to play with things in the kitchen. It's amazing how quick he'll run out to touch something that he knows he shouldn't before I can get there!

Immediately after throwing the diaper away (if the gate is put away during a nap or something) or after he gets out of his highchair he goes to get the gate from the side of the fridge and pulls it out so Mommy can put it back up. It's funny how something that blocks him out of the kitchen and makes him so mad he does anyhow because he knows it's going to happen no matter what.

Ryder's "paci" is something we only use for nap and bedtime now. When I walk into his room to get him he'll suck on it really hard as if to get the last few seconds with it. When I pick him up out of his crib he always takes his paci out and reaches for the shelf next to his crib that we put them on. He puts it down and then gives me a high-five. Then when we go to bed he gets to pick which one he wants. It use to be a quick process, but now he'll pick one up put it on a higher shelf and get a new one. This can go on for a while and at that point I plop one in his mouth and call it quits! I'm so proud of Ryder for doing this. It's a great game because he's proud of himself for giving it up on his own. I have a feeling the paci might be making a little out-of-the-crib visit on the plane tomorrow. Sometimes it's just necessary!!!

Before nap or bed Ryder always gets some milk with a snack. He use to throw his cup when he was done, but now he holds onto it and puts it in the fridge when I open the door for him.

Ryder has learned to go to his high chair and start pulling it out when I ask him if he wants to eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

The newest thing Ryder has learned to do is putting Chloe in and out of her cage. I think the big sign to him that we are leaving is me putting his shoes on. Once this happens he always goes to open the laundry room door, tries to reach for the treat jar (I come in and get it for him... we have to keep it up high so he doesn't get in it when he's playing), opens the door to Chloe's cage, and gives her the treat. He hasn't figured out how to lock the cage yet, but he pushes the door closed. When we return home as soon as we are opening the front door we tell him to go get Chlo. He runs in and lets her out. We wait outside for him to bring her out to go potty (the laundry room door and front door are right next to each other).

Chloe is Ryder's favorite!!! When Derrik left with her on Friday, I thought Ryder's heart was broken. The two of them play together all day. Ryder has been saying Mom and Da for a while now, but Derrik and I agree that Chloe truly gets the award for being Ryder's first the he really relates the name to. If you ask him "Where's Chlo?" he points to her, he says "Chlo" if you ask him to, and calls her when he wants her. I feel like this is the first thing he's really put together in all aspects.

And of course a blog wouldn't be fun without a couple pictures. Ryder's push carts are pretty pointless these days since he can walk on his own, but he's found a new use for them.

Play Date

Today we were lucky enough to be able to meet up with some friends we have made here in Arizona, Tricia and Page. Tricia and her husband, Steve, moved here a couple years ago and have a little girl Page who will be two in January. We have been able to get together a few times now. It's fun to get some mommy time to talk to another mom and let Ryder play with someone his age. Today we met up at the playground we found at the mall last week. Ryder once again loved it.

During a week to be thanksful... I'd like to share my thanks for my amazing Canon camera. I packed it up in the car with Derrik and had to use my old smaller camera I keep in the diaper bag in case of emergency. It just doesn't compare at all after using my Canon camera for so long.

My Little Man

"Mom, I'm trying to play!"
This is the first time Ryder and Page began to truly interact with each other, and Ryder pinched her!!! Ryder made her cry.... apparently we have some serious manners to teach him on how to treat girls!!! UGH BOYS!

They made up and decided to go play together again :)

Enjoying a quick ride before we headed home for a nap

And finally a face shot of Page

Thanks Tricia and Page

Hope we can do it again when we get back to Arizona!

They Made It

Just wanted to let family know who were wondering how the boys trip was going... They made it at 1:30 a.m. Sunday Arizona time! Map Quest said the trip was suppose to take 36 hours driving time. The boys made it in 34 hours including their food, gas, and potty breaks. The animals did great. As far as I know the boys are going to rest lots today and enjoy some football on the couch together... I think they deserve it :)

Also... for those reading that know Ryan and his best friend Gabe were on the road from Massachuetts to Florida since yesterday... They are in Ocala... only a few hours from home.

So glad all of the boys in my life are save and sound :)

The Troops are Headed East

Let the holidays begin!!! Last night Derrik's dad flew out to Arizona to help Derrik bring the car back east for the holidays. This morning Derrik and Ronnie headed to the field to do Derrik's exit physical for the holidays and for Derrik to throw one last time. Ronnie got to check out the Reds new facilities which was pretty cool too.

This afternoon we started our packing of the car. Let me backtrack a few days real quick for you first though... Packing has been a chore! We weren't just packing for a trip, but for many different things. First off we wanted to get some things in the car to get back home that we've had with us since we left for spring training back in February. I mean we hardly need to be lugging Ryder's infant carseat around the country with us anymore. So yeah... we got that stuff in that car. Then I had to pack for almost a month which meant basically pack anything warm we have. BUT I didn't want to have to lug everything we had into Derrik's mom's house when we get there for Thanksgiving. I wanted a weeks worth of stuff that we could just bring in instead of everything. So yeah.. it was like packing for three different occasions all at once. A nice little 3-for-1 deal.

So back to the car today. We managed to fit all of our stuff in the middle row of our car. That left the whole back part for the cats. In case you forgot, the pets are the reason for this ridiculuos trek across country to begin with. We just couldn't afford/think of putting our pets in a kennel for weeks! Derrik is trying to do this trip on a budget which means no stopping at hotels (F.Y.I - they are already contemplating stopping tonight! They left at 3:30 PM!). That means we can't keep the cats in their cages the whole time because they need to eat and go to the bathroom. Plus... Derrik's dad is allergic to cats so they can't be crawling all over him in a confined car for a 36 hour trip! I bought a huge table cloth that we used to make a wall kind of and to protect the car. In this area we put their litter box, a cage with a bed in it (Thanks Wood's... were getting great use out of Abbi's cage still!), a cat bed, and Chloe's cage with food and water in it for them. I tried to get some pictures.

During my last phone call to Derrik when, Ryder was telling him good night, he told me that Turbo had broken through our "wall"... it's going to be a LONGGGG trip! I feel for them... BUT I also feel for myself and this awful flight I am going to have to take with our extremely active, never wants to sit still, doesn't take no for an answer 15 month old on Tuesday!!!!!

Ryder loves his Papi :)

The Boys and Chloe heading out

DRIVE SAFE BOYS!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

A Case of the Sniffles

Not much to report again. I can't wait to start traveling for the holidays so I can have something new to blog about! Friday afternoon Ryder started showing signs of a cold. We definitely knew he had one about the middle of the night Friday night. Saturday afternoon I started feeling kind of crappy, and yesterday we were both sick. When Ryder and I both had colds like two week ago I said I didn't mind because hopefully we were getting our "winter colds" out of the way before we were with family. Well now we've both had two colds so I think we've paid our dues for the winter season :) Right?!?

Saturday we did get to go shopping at the outlets around here with Lisa before she heads back home on Tuesday. It was nice having a friend out here for the fall ball season. I will miss her when we get back in January, but all the girls will be out here by mid-February for spring training :)

Yesterday afternoon we needed to get out of the house for a little bit. We took a walk to the pond, and Derrik brought his golf clubs to use the driving range across the stress from the pond. I didn't have a camera so this stuff is off my i-phone. I just thought Ryder looked so cute all bundles up. It wasn't too cold.... high 50s, but with Ryder being sick I didn't want to risk getting him sicker... which explains the hat.

Ryder LOVESSS his Da's golf clubs... looks like Santa might have to bring him some little man golf clubs for Christmas!

Wipe Out

At the mall we go to quite often here they have a pretty big play area. We hadn't really let Ryder play in there much, but figured we'd let him run off some energy before we headed home tonight. He loved this place. It might be the most fun I have ever seen him have! He would just run from one end to the other, climb up, down, and over everything, crawled through the tunnels, let kids plow him down and would get right back up... he just loved it! It put such huge smiles on our faces to see the excitement on his face and to watch him interact with other kids.

Ryder running around and playing

This was not the first time this happened... he just kept doing it!

And here is an even steeper one... The first time he did it we didn't think he would go until we saw him barrel rolling down it! He conquered this one by the time we videoed it.

P.S. Santa is at the mall already.... what is up with that?!? Go back to the North Pole buddy... we don't want to see you until after Turkey Day!!!

Winter Gear

I think we are officially ready for the cold weather back home. Tonight we got Ryder a winter jacket, a pair of gloves, and two hats. I think he looks so precious in them!

"Honestly Mom, what is this stuff?!"

"You want me to model it?!"
"Do you guys think i'm one sexy lookin' babe?!"

Ryder making sure he can still play in this stuff

So Precious!

We got Ryder another cute hat to match his sweatshirts and sweaters.... he obviously doesn't think it's as cool as his other one.... These are the best we got... After putting the hat on.. literally.. like thirty times!

I'm holding his hands down in this one

... and this one

Can you tell he loves it?!

This time next week Derrik will be heading east with the car and pets! AHH!!!