The Gang's All Here

One of my sister's posts inspired this one. Ryan is getting to the point where she is literally obsessed with animals. She always had a love for them, but now she just HAS to be around them. Some of her faves are

1. Lamby, which was a gift given to her before she was born by GiGi. She sleeps with him every night and flips out if he is not laying beside her in bed.

2. FAO Schwarz bear. This guy sits by her changing table and she wants to kiss him all of the time. Bill and I got him when we ventured to NY with her in my belly.

3. Ducky. He was given to her by her Aunt Vicky. She loves this one because every time you touch him no matter where it is he quacks, pretty hilarious. Oh and if you shake him and make him quack a lot back to back, he quacks Old MacDonald for you.

4. Whitey. Yeah our names are not very creative, but it is this little polar bear that my mom gave her at Christmas time. It looks like a beany baby and he is just her size.

5. Dog. She picked this guy out at TJ MAXX. We were walking through the aisles and she started saying"DAg, Dag, Dag!" and throwing herself backwards. We looked around and low and behold there was a stuffed dog on the shelves. He now comes everywhere with us too.

6. Bunny. This was given to her by her Aunt Ashley and Uncle Brian for her first birthday. He is very very soft and she loves biting his ears. I am a fan of bunny too because now I do not have to buy her one for Easter!

7. Curious George, which was given to her by the Texas McKees. He tends to get on my nerves because she hits me in the head with his long legs. Hmmm, weird sentence!

8. Finally, Whoville character. This was given to her by JoJo and Pap on her first birthday. Yes, I occasionally find bits of yellow hair in her mouth, but it's only because she wants to give the crazy looking thing some loving.

SO, with all of these animals things can get a little crowded around the house. Please notice, that I said these were just her favorites, she has probably 20 others that sit around her room and are shoved in storage cabinets in our living room. If Ryan sees one that is not in her immediate grasping range she just points at it and says Da Da. I guess that means give it to me. Dog pretty much means everything to her!

Now having all of these animals is not so much the pain, it is putting Ryan to sleep at night. Because Lord forbid that I try to put her down without all 6 animals in hand.

Yeah ridiculous. Please note the extreme over extension of the back, I am going to be in a wheelchair after all of my kids. I just can't seem to put her down. I would rather rock her to sleep then keep my lower vertebrae in tact.

But once I hear the deep breathing of Ryan on my shoulder and the little bit of droll coming down my right forearm, I know it is time to lay my baby down to reunite with all of her other friends. Tell me how crazy this bed is please...Yep, gang's all here. But I think we all know who gets the prime time location...

Beach Trip

I have been putting off this post because I knew it would be a long one. Honestly, we have just had a really busy Ryan week, that there was no time for a lengthy blog. Just a quick update, we have decided to switch daycares. Ryan will no longer be attending Growing Room, she will start at another one very soon. I am just so so so fed up with her current location, I cannot even begin to talk about it. Well, okay maybe I can a little. I guess the biggest deal breaker that I am telling everyone is when I take and pick up Ryan from daycare I honestly feel like this place does not love, hardly even like my child. It breaks my heart to send her there every morning to know that someone is not melting all over her precious smile and her hilarious butt/head scoot she has started doing. Or her need to say "dog, dog, doggy" 65 times over and over again. I really feel like they are just DONE with Ryan. It is heartbreaking. So hopefully, we will see improvement in our next location.

Okay, moving on. First, I want to comment on my diet. I busted my butt for three months to get down to my goal weight and I was still 4 pounds off, which was fine with me. I mean I went from this...
To this...
In one year. I know it sounds like a really long time, but for all of you mothers our there, you can relate to this accomplishment. I was so proud of my progress and really felt like I was leading a healthier lifestyle. I will say I totally fell off the wagon. While on spring break there was no way I could resist all of the yummy, delectable seafood. So I indulged myself at every opportunity I had. When I got home, I gained 4 pounds. Well, I had the mindset, while stop now. So I am taking a week break from my diet. Ooohhh, let me tell you, it is a break. But, I am going for a 10 mile run tomorrow morning and getting back on track. I know I can do it, but I just do not want to get burned out before bathing suit season is in full swing.
So instead of commentating our beach trip, I will once again let the pictures do the talking. The picture above is the only family pic I have, the rest are just snippets of the week.

We went to Destin and stayed with our friends Charlie and Hollie Harriman. Oh, we just had the most amazing, relaxing week. Charlie & Hollie are so laid back, so it was nice to just lounge and have no schedule. Getting some smooches from my girl!
Look at that sweet smile. Charlie & Hollie. Everyone kept telling Hollie how adorable her daughter was. Since she is gorgeous, blond, and blue eyed. This is where Ryan pretty much chilled the whole time on the beach. She loved her wagon! The guys
I love this picture. Ryan really did not like the sand, Bill was trying to warm her up to it. It was still a little cold and wet, but hopefully she will enjoy it when we go back in July.
St. Patty's Day

We gave the pigtails a whirl. She was NOT happy when I put this do up, but we will definitely give it a second debut soon.

One of our only pictures of just us two in a while.
Charlie and his adorable babies (his dogs) just could not get enough of Ryan. Maybe because she fed them countless amounts of goldfish (the cracker).

Yes, they are ready for a baby!
Look at that hair. She is too much!
I know this looks dangerous, but Ryan cannot get enough of hanging upside down. Or, throwing herself back. Which can get very dangerous! But she would rather be flipped upside down than carried normal.

Look at this butter bean in her adorable bathing suit her Aunt Kelly got her.

Those are two really good looking people!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

She could not get enough of her daddy this week. We all had such a great time together.
Yeppers, the dogs are eating all of her goldfish, she looks really concerned...right?

Beach Beauty

Home again, do you notice anything unusual about this built in?

Yes, this is Ryan's new, favorite hangout place. she pulls out her toy basket and take bunny (her stuffed bunny) and her tea set in the cubby to play. It is hilarious. She really likes it when mommy tries to squeeze in there with her. It pretty much ends up catastrophic.

So, that is our beach trip. It was so much fun and a good time was had by all. I am really looking forward to getting her back down there in July. She will be walking and I think able to enjoy it all much more.

Whoops

Normally Bill takes Ryan to daycare. He is so wonderful in the mornings. He will get me up, make her bottles, get ready, get her up, get her ready, and off they go to school and work (side note, I sound like a lazy bum, but I just have a lot of hair to do in the mornings). But, on Tuesday I took Ryan to school. I even laid out her outfit she would wear the night before. Diaper, cream, onesie, jeans, socks, shoes and bow. I put her in her adorable outfit, jacket on and we were actually out the door at 7:10. I could not believe it!

I was very bubbly when I walked into daycare, really boastful that I got her there on time. I walked in the door and was greeted, I gave them a very fake smile back (for those of you who don't know I am fed up with her daycare and we are switching, but I play nice because they are still caring for my butter bean).

As I was walking Ryan back to her room, I peeked in the toddler room and noticed, "Ahhh, that little girl looks so cute in that spring dress!" Then I noticed another girl in a gorgeous smocked number, and another, and another. When I walked into Ryan's room I was greeted at the door with a crawling Logan (Ryan's boyfriend) in a suit. Yes, it was true, Tuesday was spring picture day at school. I just laughed to myself and dropped my head in disappointment. I was that mom who sent her daughter to school in scrubs the day of picture day.

But, that is not the worst part. The worst part is that I sent Ryan to school in her Valentine's Day outfit. Yes, yes Ryan sat like a little angel in her "I give HUGS and take NAPS" shirt next to a bunny rabbit for her spring picture.

Freaking picture day!

Flashback

It is very strange that Bill and I can now say, this time last year.... and Ryan was in our lives. She is just growing up so much and it is hard to believe that just a year ago she was a, in my eyes, breakable piece of baby- not human yet, just a baby. I remember being so careful with every move I made to her and every time I picked her up from her crib or laid her down to change her diaper. If she coughed I would run towards her and say with ultimate panic in my voice, "is she choking?"

My how things have changed. This little thang is like a pin ball. Walks along hitting everything in her path, hits something hard (usually with her head), falls down, screams once (the noise the pinball machines makes when you get a bonus), then is back at it. She does not like taking a bottle sitting down, that sucker goes everywhere with her. We were told by our daycare to try to get her off of the bottle over spring break, because they want to move her up to the toddler room. Yeah, you heard me right...the toddler room. But, everyone in that class is walking and on a sippy cup. So, she has a couple of milestones to hit in the next week:)
She has taken about 6 steps total, but is by no means walking. Bill and I have decided it is the same trend with her and crawling, she is just not that interested. She knows she can get to things quicker by crawling, so why walk? She will walk from Bill to me when she gets really excited, but other than that she just drops to her knees and crawls. Everyone has told me not to rush the whole walking thing, because once they do, you cannot go back. Honestly, I am fine where she is. I can leave her in a room and know that she can't go far if I have the stairs blocked off. We will see what happens in the next week.

ONE

That's right, this little girl is ONE. I knew it was coming, but it is actually here. I definitely cried as I was putting her to bed tonight. Even though she is one, she will still snuggle up with her mommy with the best of them. She just isn't a little baby anymore. She is becoming a bit more gutsy and trying new things all the time. She is talking more and more, and putting things together when she is talking. Like if I say "Doggy, Ryan is that your doggy?" She will say, "dao!" Then when I celebrate she starts jumping up and down like she has conquered Mount Everest.
Bill and I greeted Ryan on her birthday morning with camera in hand, I mean no surprise there. Look how happy she was. Honestly, this is how she is every morning. I have never walked in on her in the morning without being greeted with a smile.
We put her in a new birthday outfit and off to daycare she went. So that makes the grand total time I got to spend with her on her birthday morning, 15 minutes.
But, hey, I will take every second I get to spend with this little butter bean. As you can see, being 1 does not affect her extreme love for Lamby.

After school, I had two soccer practices to run. But, my good friend Dan took my team at 6 so I could make it home before Ryan went to bed. I picked up a healthy dinner at Moe's and booked it back to the abode. We all ate our dang quesadillas together and had a fabulous night. Ryan got a BIG birthday cookie and devoured the whole thing in no time.
She is such a doll baby. I cannot believe I can no longer say, "This is Ryan's first..." She has already gone through all of the holidays. Is it still cute to get her holiday onesies since it isn't her first? I guess I need to get rid of all of her "first" bibs. Someone told me to keep all of them, they are great memories. But, do I really need to keep her first St. Patty's day bib that has a permanent milk stain on it? Will I really need that for a memory one day?
ANYWAYS, My baby girl is one, she is amazing, and she keeps us smiling every single minute. My fabulous co-worker said, "You are so blessed, you know not all babies are like that. I guess you will only have one." Haha, anyone who knows me knows that is just not going to happen, there will be more and I bet our next child is a bit more rambunctious, I mean Ryan will be its older sister- the child can't help but be a little crazy.

Polka Dot Party

This past Saturday we had Ryan's 1st Birthday party. She was such a good girl and had SO much fun with all of her family and friends. Thank you to everyone who came, I think a picture walk will do this party more justice than my words...
Clearly her colors were pink and green. I know I know, I just cannot get away from those, I love them so much. Another captain obvious is polka dots were her theme.

This was the guest's cake. My friend Jill made all of the cakes, this particular one was cocnut, it was so yummy!

Here are the pink velvet cupcakes for the kids and other guests. They too were more than yummy. Please note the decorations, I was so proud of Jill!

Here is the food table. My mom and Aunt Barbar worked so hard to get everything together. It all was so yummy and the best part was I did not have to worry about a thing, they were the busy mice working in the kitchen.

Her present table. So, my note to not bring presents worked really well! Ha! Ryan got so many fabulous presents, she is so loved!

And here's the birthday girl. This was the best picture I got of her entire outfit. I was just too excited to stop and photograph just her, and let's face it she was too busy being held by everyone.

Family pic, one of the best ones of the day. Please notice all of the pink and green in this picture. Bill and I both coordinated with her. Her dress was awesome!

I am obsessed with this picture.

Bringing out the birthday girl's cake. It was also pink velvet and decorated to the nines. It was perfect.

Yeah right, like she would look at the camera when that delicious goodness was in front of her face.
Making progress. She LOVED this cake

Really digging in. Please note Kate helping along the way

Waving to mommy.

Family pic!
Literally about to puke. Well, actually she did a really good job of holding it all in. But, her poop was pink the next morning.

Look at this doll baby, she was so excited about all of her presents.

Yes, yes, her Uncle Dan got her a pink guitar. She just stares at whoever plays it.

Yep, this is a tricked out wagon from JoJo & Pap, Bill's parents. The kids loved riding around in this all night long. I think Kim is going to invest in one so she can keep Jack in one place. I think he was thrown in there 4 or 5 times to keep entertained.

Absolutely adorable.

Her actual birthday is Thursday. I think we are going to start strong with the traditions and take the little butter bean to Provinos. I mean she gets a free dinner...right?