Meet Our New Barber

We decided the $10.00 every two weeks for Ryder's haircut was a little absurd when he has such a simple cut. Derrik said he could pull it off so I let him take a shot at it today.... It was a success!

"What are we doing DaDa?"

"Mama this is so fun! Dada is cutting my hair!"
"Ok... this is getting a little boring."

Testing his Daddy's patience

"I am O-V-E-R it!"

Mommy saves the day!

"I love when they bribe me with a lollipop!"

"I threw a fit for the one Mama had in her mouth too and she gave in so Dada could finish my hair cut. I have them SO wrapped around my finger!"

This picture has nothing to do with the haircut, but his feet are just so precious to me :)

Getting all the hair off

"I Love Lollipops!"

"This is how you double-fist lollipops... talented huh?!"

"Want a kiss?! I'm not sticky... promise!"

"I'll even share my lollipop with you!"

Ryder and I are off for a girls weekends to San Diego for the weekend with some of the baseball wives!

And Daddy... well we're sure he'll be golfing with the baseball husbands...

We'll be back in a few days with lots of pictures :)

Nap

Remember that nap I was telling you about in my last post? Here is a little photo evidence :)

One and a Half

One and a half.... That is how old my baby is now! I can not believe how much he is growing and changing from a baby into a little boy these days. I met up with a friend at the park yesterday who has a little girl who is three, and it was amazing to me how just watching her play Ryder managed to completely pick up on what she did and play on his own. He doesn't need my help to guild him up the stairs, doesn't need me to show him where the slide is, doesn't need help getting down the slide, he completely plays on his own.

Some facts about Ryder at 1 1/2 years old.

Favorite Foods: Milk, Water, Waffles, Grilled Cheese, Hot Dogs, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Chicken Nuggets, Macaroni and Cheese, Pizza, Cheese, Crackers, Gerber Snacks, Cereal, Grapes, Raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberries, Bananas, and Cantaloupe. He just tried Jell-O for the first time the other day and loved that too!

Favorite Toys: Balls, Golf Clubs, Basketball Hoop, anything that plays music, coloring books and crayons

Favorite Cartoons: Mickey Mouse Clubouse, Special Agent Oso, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Imagination Movers.

Words: Mama, Dada, Kitty, Chloe, Milk, Yeah, Blue, Moo, Woof, Ba (his pacifier and blanket... we continue to call it paci and blanki and he contines to call them "ba"), bye-bye, color, blueberry (this one is pretty butchered), banana, snack, ball. Well that is 16 words I came up with. We don't think he is talking quite as much as his little friends his age, but every day he keeps picking up on more and more. He is like a sponge absorbing everything we say and do these days. We love it!

Phrases he understand: "hold my hand", "can I have a hug?", "can I have a kiss?", "is your diaper P-U?" (He plugs his nose too cute!), "can I change your diaper", "do you want to go bye-bye?", "do you want a snack?", "Let's eat breakfast (lunch or dinner)", "Are you ready for bed?", "Where is the kitty/Chloe?", "Do you want water/milk?", "Give me you paci!", "It's bathtime!!!".... There are so many, but you get what I'm saying :) Ryder is just really starting to understand what we say to him and doing what should be done with that phrase. I love saying things to test and see if he knows what were saying... he's getting pretty good!

Gosh... I know there is so much more stuff he is doing that we are taking for granted. He is just in a big "immitation" stage basically! Anything we do he wants to do, and is slowly but surely wanting to "say"... we love our little man's voice. It is too cute!

Ryder Lee your Mommy and Daddy love you more then you will ever know! We dislike waking up early in the morning, but love seeing your face as soon as your in bed with us giving kisses, snuggling, and watching cartoons. We dislike being home for every meal since you think throwing food is a "good" thing to do these days, but cherish our meals of you in your high chair with only your diaper trying to get as much food as you can on your "k" (fork) for each bite. We dislike that anywhere we go you give us five minutes to get in and out if you have to be contained, but have learned that most things can wait until later, aren't as important as we thought they were, and that playing at home with you is always the funnest thing to be doing! This toddler phase is a fun one, we are all learning how to embrace it, I think we make it through each day knowing that most things "will pass" and that you'll be coming around pretty soon to give us a hug so hard that we can let go and you'll still be dangling from us... and we know everything is ok! You have made our life so complete and you know how to put a smile on our face always!

We look forward to this next "half year" with you. Who knows what it will bring. I'm sure it will involve lots of moving... as always! We will make the best of it and be thankful to have our family together through this journey. I'm sure it will fly by... the biggest question is where will we be having your birthday party?!? Arizona, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio (dream big right? HAHA!).... I guess only time will tell, but for now i'm going to embrace the sweetness of you taking a nap in our bed for the first time since last spring training! You had a rough morning and are having a hard time with your nap lately (we might try moving it back some), but Daddy was so thrilled to see you napping in our bed when he got home and has now curled up next to you! I'm just gonna go watch a little longer :) Mommy Loves You Little Man!!!

Water Time

Last weekend on Valentine's Day we filled up Ryder's ball pit pool with some water and hung out as a family on the patio. Ryder was thrilled to be able to play in the water, get wet, and not have his Momma yelling at him :)

Why is my ball pit full of water?

I just love his little baby feet
Ryder loves to catch his Daddy sleeping

Playing in the water

Getting excited....

The face of anticipation

Loves It!

Just Like His Daddy

In the mornings it is nearly impossible for Derrik to get ready without Ryder at his feet. They shave together, brush their teeth together, put on deodorant together, pick out Derrik's outfit together, and even eat their breakfast together. Here are a few pictures I got the other morning of this routine.

Playing in the water while Dad's not looking

Dad putting his deodorant on...

Ryder's turn for deodorant...

What Does A Cow Say?

Well Ryder managed to pass on whatever it was he had to me. I spent the last 24 hours absolutely miserable, but think it's behind us now (praying Derrik was just immune to it!). Anyhow... Derrik and Ryder got lots of father/son time while I was in bed puking my brains out. This is what I discovered Ryder had learned when I finally made it out of the room...

All Better

I just wanted to hop on here quick and let everyone know Ryder is feeling MUCH better. I know some family was wondering. He finsihed the day off yesterday drinking lots of water but no food. He slept through the night perfectly and Daddy made him some pancakes this morning. He's held them down now for well over an hour. He seems to be back to his perfectly healthy self :)

Yucky Day

Today has been a very yucky day for Mr. Ryder. Yesterday he completely boycotted his nap, which thankfully never happens. He might fuss a little every once and a while, but never just decides not to take it all together. He went down to bed without a fuss, but woke up around 10:30. We went through the lay down routine over and over, he laid with mom for an hour watching t.v., screamed in bed, laid with dad for an hour, and then went down without a fuss around 12:30 last night. At 3:30 I heard Ryder crying again and went to help him out only to find his bed covered from one end to the other in puke :( I had to rinse everything he had, get him a bath, and into bed with dad while I did laundry. Between 3:30-4:30 he had puked four times and made a huge pile of "puke laundry". We all managed to get some restless sleep from about 5:00-7:15 this morning, but then dealt with puke all morning. He puked the last time around 9:30, went down for a nap at 10:30, woke up at 12:30 and hasn't done it sense. Fingers crossed it was a quick stomach bug... and crossed even harder Derrik and I don't get it!!! Although the puking has stopped, our little man is not feeling well... see below

Ryder hanging out while Mommy works

Pray we're past the worst of this!!!

P.S... Ryder just surprised Turbo while she was sleeping with a hug and now has scratch marks under his chin... poor guy!

P.P.S.... Derrik called to say his arm felt good... didn't say great... but i'll take good :)

Say A Little Prayer...

Derrik should be throwing his first bull-pen since his surgery right about now!

Praying his arm feel great!

Love Them

Mac 'N Cheese

Remember me saying before how Mac 'N Cheese is an at-home-only meal for us these days? It's probably because Ryder thinks it's way cooler to eat it off his body then off the fork!

Where's Ryder?!?

Just Like His Daddy

The other day Ryder came inside, grabbed Derrik's hat, put it on, and ran right back outside. I immediately went and grabbed my camera to catch a few pictures....

Golf shirt and Tiger Woods hat... just like his Da-Da

Realizing I was snapping pictures of his cuteness

I love how he just wants to be just like his Daddy all the time :)

And he's over it....

I've been trying to snap pictures lately of how much he wants to be just like Derrik. I might need to do a daily "just like his Daddy" post to keep up. It's just adorable :)

We hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day. No big celebration around here. I couldn't even find a cute Valentine's Day shirt for Ryder so we're just hanging out spending the day together at home. Derrik has the whole day off for the first time in forever and we're loving it!

Little Boy's Simple Pleasures

He hears it... Pulls the chair up... and grins at me with excitement just like this...

I rush to pull the window up a little higher so he can catch a little glimpse over the wall....

And he sees it....

The Garbage Truck

And this is the smile I get :)

You have to love the simple pleasures!

And a little more of my little guy wanting to bet let inside....

P.S. - I wash this door daily and it still gets like this from Ryder and the pets.

Note to self... no glass doors if we ever build a house!

We hope you have a great Saturday :)

Let Me In...

"Hey Mommy... Let us in!"

Like I have said Ryder is loving having our patio area to play in. It has an eight foot privacy wall and is completely secure. Ryder plays out there probably an hour a day and it's so nice to know he's getting some fresh air. When he is ready to come in though this is what I see at the door :) Awfully cute huh?!

Verrado

The other day we were heading out for a walk, and I figured i'd bring my camera along to show you a little bit of the beauty our new neighborhood has to offer! I know i've said it already a few times on here, but we LOVE our new neighborhood! I must get miles of walking in each week now without even really giving much thought to it. A walk to the store, bank, CVS, or Denove's is about a half mile each way... so I get at least a mile a day, but more on most occasions. You can't help but want to put the baby in a stroller and go enjoy how amazing the outside is here. This is a lot to say coming from a girl who really does not enjoy the outdoors all too much! We have our windows open every day and just can't get enough of it. Anyhow.... some pictures....

A view of the back of the house from the alley

One of the parks... there a parks for adults and kids on almost every corner

Approaching the downtown area
Downtown...
CVS, Bank of America, Basha's (grocery store), a coffee shop, and Grazie (an Italian restaurant)

Looking up towards the clubhouse

There are small areas like this with fountains all over the place

The view from the patio at the clubhouse

We have yet to witness a sunset from here, but have heard they are amazing!

The practice putting green

Looking from the clubhouse, down Main Street, toward the gym

The gorgeous moutains our back window looks over

Hope you could enjoy it as much as we do through the pictures :)