Visitors

Finally... we have visitors!!! We are so excited to finally be able to have some family out here. My grandparents flew in on Tuesday and are here for just over a week :)

They have been staying at a resort since Tuesday, and yesterday Ryder and I got to spend the day out there with them. It was so nice to sit by the pool, get some sun, watch Ryder play in the water, and pretend we are on vacation too! I forgot my camera and only got this one pictures off my phone, but i'll be sure to get some the rest of the time they are here.

Tomorrow morning they will come and stay at our place for the rest of the time. We can't wait to enjoy the rest of our time together with them.

Ryder with his Mimi and Papa

iPhone update

Like usual I went through my phone and found a ton of cute pictures from the last month of my little man and figured i'd share. I promise to get a little more depth to my posts sometime in the future, but until then.... more pictures

As awful as it was having Ryder sick...

I sure do miss this right now

With my babies last week

We spent a lot of time on this couch trying to feel better

When we were feeling all better

At the park

How Ryder insists on sitting in the cart now.

He refuses to sit in the top part.

Love the naked baby

Also love when he crosses his feet like this

Ryder on his new bike... he's working on figuring it out

Playing at the park

Mom loves it!

Dad hates it!

I thought it was the headband he hated... it was the pink in the ears....

What do you think? Is it ok for little boys to wear bunny ears?

I think it's adorable!

Oh yeah... we got a new car!!!

Lovin' it!

We're Back... With Happy Pictures!!!

I have a happy baby again!!! It is so nice to see his sweet smile again. I finally had some time to edit some pictures I took before he's was sick and threw them all into this post. After looking through the pictures I realized maybe he was sick because of the crazy weather around here. He would be in a hat and sweatshirt one part of the day because it was freezing and in a diaper with a popcicle because he couldn't cool off the next. The desert is a crazy place to live!!!

Notice the drool.... nice

He brought my sneakers from the bedroom, lined them up like this, then stuck his feet in them

"If you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all"

So sorry for disappearing! I can't really promise we're back quite yet, but I did want to let you know we're still alive. Blogging got a little behind having two other married couples in the house. Unfortunately for my blogging game night, cookouts, and hanging out with friends took priority. THEN... Ryder got sick again. This time it was a fever, coughing, and a runny nose. He has been to the doctor and he assured me with a kid Ryder's age feeling like he is "always sick" is normal. Glad to know! Anyhow Ryder slept in bed with us for three nights. This is the first time he's slept with us since he was a week old and it was just exhausting. He also wouldn't nap in bed and has been sleeping on me which led to lots of t.v. watching and getting nothing done. I picked up a little bit of this cold and well I think you get the point.... no blogging. Ryder has slept the last two nights in his bed and just finished his first nap back in his bed too! A three hour and fifteen minute nap at that!

Although we have figured the sleeping out Ryder is still not a happy guy. He has made his paci and blankey permanent fixtures on his body. He is always fussing for me to hold him and really isn't too fond on food yet either. I know we'll get back to normal soon, but until then i'll just go with the good old quote "if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all"... so we'll be back when we have smiles on our faces again.

And some St. Patty's Day pictures for you....

The face I see ALL day

The "I feel crappy" face
"Mom why are you taking my picture and not holding me" face

"Hold me pleaseeee"

"You look silly with those bunny ears on your head"

"The bunny ears aren't funny anymore... hold me!"

Off to go love on my little man.... see ya soon blog!

Videos

Sorry for the lack of posting or pictures. We have been busy! I wish it was a "busy" that made for good blogging, but it's not. Derrik has started back to Spring Training and has a new schedule, we have four new roommates, and it's just kind of thrown our daily routine out of whack... it's good, but just not producing pictures since things seem to be happening on a whim these days. Anyhow I do have some videos off my iPhone to hold the grandparents over until I get some blog-worthy pictures and stuff to write about. Unfortuntely when I load these onto blogger they show as a black blocks instead of the actual video until I post it for you the reader to view. Sooo.... Not sure what order these are in, but this is what you're going to get.... Ryder playing on the small baseball field at the Reds new stadium, Ryder playing at the park by our house the other day, Ryder being amused by a balloon we got the other day, Ryder and Homer (the Heisey's dog) playing together, and Ryder says his first name after Mama, Dada, and Chloe.... NiNi(Ryder's great grandma)! I know she will be thrilled :) I've been trying to teach him to say MiMi since my grandparents will be out here in a couple weeks and I know he can do his M's, but it wasn't working so I attempted NiNi and he got it on the first try!

Almost Forgot

With all that talk of baseball I almost forgot to mention our four new roommates... Our roommates from last Spring Training, The Heisey's and The Wood's decided to be a little unruly at the place they were staying and got kicked out (ok they left... the situation they were in just wasn't working for them) and we graciously accepted them in. Obviously they aren't here all month since our house is pretty full to begin with, but the place they found isn't available until the 13th so they are crashing at our place until then. One air mattress in the play room and one in the living room and voila... it works! We will make the best of the situation and enjoy some quality time together.... making some lemons out of lemonade around here :) I love having them around!

Let's Talk Baseball...

So the season has definitely started... I'm not sure if it started the day pitchers and catcher for the big leagues reported, if it started on Derrik's report day which is today for minor league camp, the first day of actual season (another month or so), or if it truly never ended and is just a continuation from last season since we've truly not "stopped" baseball throught his whole rehab process? It doesn't matter though. What does matter is that right now baseball is in the air. Although things are a little odd for us right now, given that Derrik isn't healthy enough to actually be participating in any actual games he is still on a roster right now for spring training, he had to report and do all his tests and blood work this morning with his fellow teammates, and will participate in the first work out of the season this afternoon. We are surrounded by our "second family" which we live with six plus months out of the year and things couldn't be better! It is surreal to me that with minor league camp just starting it feels as though all our friends are already here... in BIG league camp! We are getting so much closer to the dream we have been dreaming for what feels like forever (Derrik a little longer then me... I didn't know this was my dream until a couple years ago). We get to go to the big league games this year for spring training and watch OUR friends play on the field. Although it crushes both mine and Derrik's hearts that he can't be out there on the field with them at the moment, we will still whole-heartedly cheer on our friends and play a quick game of catch up come June when Derrik's is healthy enough to get back in the game, but until then we will enjoy the sweetness of having our friends in town. It is so nice to have friends stop by because they are in the neighborhood, impromptu dinners on a neighbors patio after the guys day of golf, tanning with friends just because they are close by, and games nights because...well.. we like to play games. I am going to soak in all the "baseball" I can get during this next month because I miss it... yeah I said it.... I miss it, and it truly going to just down right suck when they all leave us behind to head off for the season. We'll be chasing after them not to far behind.... we'll be ready soon :) Until then though... just enjoying it!

Congrats to the New Mommy and Daddy

I thought everyone might enjoy some very exciting news! Olivia, my childhood best friend and a very close family friend of ours (seriously thought she was my cousin growing up), and her hubby Jeff just adopted a gorgeous little girl!!! After lots of heartache over the past almost three and a half years I belive it has been, they are now the proud parents of Autumn Hope Taylor born 2/27/10. I have not had a chance to catch up with Olivia yet, but have gotten lots of updates from my mom. I know that they were in the delivery room and even got to cut the umbilical cord. The birth mother is from Pennsylvania so they are now staying in a hotel with Autumn waiting for all the legal stuff to be over with so they can get her home to New Hampshire. We can't wait to meet Autumn, and hope her and Ryder can be lifelong friends just as we have been!!!

Congrats Olivia and Jeff!!!

A big congrats to the new Grandparents, Wendy and Steve, too!!!

Autumn

Girls Road Trip to San Diego

This past weekend Ryder and I were invited on a girls weekend to San Diego. I know Ryder's not a girl, but I think he still gets the pass to go with the girls for a few more years before he stays home with dad on weekends like this. Plus Daddy had to work Saturday so that option was out. Anyhow.... My friend Heather is from San Diego and thought it would be nice to take the opportunity to show us around since we are finally on the West Coast. Until now we had all only lived on the East Coast together. It was such a great opportunity since none of us girls had really had the chance to go to California before (i've only been in the LAX airport on a layover to Hawaii before... doesn't count right?) We headed out early Friday morning....

Welcome to California

A sure sign we were leaving the desert when we saw the mountains with the snow on top ahead of us

When we arrived on Heather's house we went for a quick walk around the lagoon by her house to get a little exercise after our long car ride

Lisa, Danielle, Heather, and Brittany
and of course Ryder down below

After our quick walk we decided we were going to head to Coronado. Please excuse me for butchering the names or terminology on any of this West Coast stuff... i've never heard of most of it before. Heather's mom offered to take Ryder for the afternoon. She has two little girls about my sisters age who she thought would be thrilled to have Ryder around for the afternoon. It worked out great because they got to play with a baby and this Momma got a much needed afternoon and evening with her girlfriends kid free! I can not tell you how thankful I was for this opportunity... Thank You Mrs. Smith!

Anyhow... we headed to an island right by downtown San Diego called Coronado. Heather wanted to show us an old hotel called Hotel Del Coronado. As soon as I saw it I kept saying it looked like The Floridian at Disney World, and after a quick google search we realized The Floridian is in fact modeled after this hotel.

It was a really cool place to see and reminded me a lot of where I went to school at Flagler College.... an old hotel by the ocean. We had a good time walking around, checking a few shops out, and of course checking out the ice cream shop! It was the most expensive small cup of ice cream i've ever bought, but delicious!
Last year we got pictures at the Gulf of Mexico in bathing suits....

This year the Pacific Ocean in hoddies...

After touring around the area we headed to get some dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Miguel's. Before I met Heather I never would have ate queso dip and now I love it. Of course this place had amazing queso and the drinks weren't too bad either! We made our own little concotion of a Strawberry/Mango Daquiri that was a-m-a-z-i-n-g! I can't tell you how nice it was to sit at dinner, order a drink, eat appetizers, eat my meal, talk a little after, pay the bill, and never once have to try to entertain, pick stuff up off the ground, clear the table around me in fear of things getting thrown.... it was SOOO nice!

Heather does NOT drink... After telling her is was a girls weekend, we were out to dinner, and I was baby-less we convinced her to order a daquiri with us. After drinking 3/4 of her small daquiri she was already feeling good... Brit finished the rest after this pic was taken. We got a few good laughs out of it :)

After our dinner we headed to downtown San Diego to see the Gas Lamp District. There were no gas lamps in site, but it was such a cute little area to walk through. There were so many restaurants, shops, and of course a baseball field. We had lots of "When we make the big league" moments. "When we make the big leagues we'll be staying in that hotel", "When we make the big leagues we'll shop in these boutiques before the games", "When we make the big leauges we'll buy that house on the beach".... it's fun to play pretend with my girlfriends living the same lifestyle as me. Let's hope one day we can all turn our pretend into a reality!

Gas Lamp District

The Padres Field... We hope to be back there one day
It was such a great night, but I loved getting back home to this guy and enjoying the BIG hugs he had in store for me!!!

The next morning was a yucky rainy day. We only had the weekend so we made the best of it and toured around with Heather and her mom showing us all sorts of cool places. One of our stops was to a famous golf course.... had to stop for our boys of course and get some pictures

Ryder checking the place out so he could tell his Dada about it when he got home

It just so happened that while we were touring the area there was actually a tsunami warning in affect! Nothing major, but it was still fun for us east coast girls to get a kick out of :)

Ryder happy to be home after a long day in the car

It was such a great weekend away! I know it was much needed on my part after being in Arizona away from friends and family for such a long period of time. I remember Derrik's first season in baseball thinking I would be on this adventure on my own for the rest of my life while Derrik had the baseball team. I felt like I was the only girl out there going through any of this crazy life. I thought I would be alone while Derrik was on the road, sitting in the stands by myself for years to come, and never having anyone who just understood. Little did I know God would introduce me to a whole new family.... my "baseball family". It is an amazing support group and truly the reason I think Derrik and I make it from season to season. These girls know exactly what I am thinking and feeling. Most of their husbands have been through rehabs, lows, and highs in this game of baseball. They know how it feels to see your husband struggle and how it feels to watch your husband go out and have an amazing game. We have lived with each other, by each other, packed each other up, unpacked each other, watched pets while we take visits home, entertained each other while the guys are on roadtrips, searched for homes in various states, sat huddled around computers listening to games while our husbands played (honestly... how many girls sit around and listen to baseball games on computers together and think of it as a fulfilling night?!?!)... basically these girls are what make me love this life we live! I am thankful to them for all the support they give me, and even more thankful we left them for once this weekend!!! They always leave us on roadtrips, and i'm not sure they knew what to think when we told them WE were leaving this time! What a great weekend.... wish all you baseball girls could have been there, but there will be plenty of trips to come!