Sunny Days...

This weekend we decided to take a last minute trip to Sesame Place in Longhorne, PA. Ryan is obsessed with all things Sesame, especially Elmo, so we knew he would have a blast. It's only about 2 hours from here and the weather forecast was a good one so we figured, why not? We are so glad we went!! As soon as we arrived, Ryan was so excited to point out all the characters and yell out their names - there are pictures of them everywhere! We spent the day Saturday at the park, went on some rides, saw Elmo's World Live, splashed around in the water park area, then dried off and watched the Sesame Street parade. After that, we decided to head back to the hotel for some relaxing time in the pool and then went out for an early dinner. Ryan had skipped his nap, so he conked out early for the night (around 6:45!) Sunday morning we got up and went back to the park for breakfast with Elmo, Big Bird, Zoe, Bert and Ernie. We will just say that Ryan was brave from a distance, but wasn't into seeing any of the characters up close, or having his picture taken with them (even when held by Mommy). But he still had fun seeing them all and yelling out their names and waving to them, as long as they didn't try to talk to him! After breakfast, Ryan decided it was time to dance and was running around, dancing, clapping his hands and stomping his feet, it was hilarious. We went on a few more rides and then headed back to Baltimore. It was a fun family getaway. We realized that we have never gone anywhere, just the three of us, and it was Ryan's first hotel stay. But everything went great and we will definetley be planning more fun family adventures!

Brave when Big Bird is only a picture!
Fun with Daddy in the hotel pool

Brave again...when Elmo is only a picture!
Crossing his arms and then laughing hysterically...must be an inside joke with himself!

Cheers!

Hiding from Elmo at Breakfast
Hi Big Bird!

ok, as long as Big Bird is ignoring him....

Uh Oh, Bert tried to talk to him!
Bye Elmo!
Riding the carousel with Daddy
Climbing like a big kid
Driving the Fire Truck

Congrats Colleen and Kenny!

Tim's sister Colleen got engaged recently to her boyfriend Kenny. We couldn't be happier for them and to welcome Kenny into the family! They are planning to get married sometime in 2010 and we are very much looking forward to the wedding and celebration of their marriage. Congratulations Colleen and Kenny :)

Ryan from Ork

Ryan is slowly expanding his vocabulary, and I find the more he talks, the more we discover that he has his own word for something, that sounds nothing like the real word! Some of his favorite words....

EEEEEEEE = Horse
Eggo = Elmo
Duddles = Bubbles
Wawa = Water
eeeesssss = Please
eye-an = Ryan
D'OH = Boat. Or sometimes means truck or even just the water that the boat is in
OUT = means out and in. This can be very confusing when he is standing at the door yelling "OUT" and we are already outside.

He also has words for Grandma, Grandpa and Papa which I cannot even decipher enough to attempt a spelling. And my own personal favorite - NANU. What does Nanu mean, you ask? Well, we used to think it meant "more." Ryan would do the sign for more, while at the same time saying "NA-NU!!!" when he wanted more milk, juice, snacks, etc. Then he went on to using it when wanting another book or toy. Now it pretty much just means everything. I think it just means "I want" because he says Na Nu ALL THE TIME while pointing at what he wants. Yesterday he wanted to go inside and started pointing at the door yelling "Na-Nu." We had no idea what he was asking for. We always thought he was from another planet...maybe that planet is Ork!

"nanu nanu!"

Bye Bye Time

Today for the first day since I can remember, Ryan didn't cry when I dropped him off at school. I bought him a new book "Bye Bye time" and we read it a lot over the weekend, and again this morning. On the way to school I talked to him about saying Bye Bye to me and playing with his friends at school. Did it help? I'm not sure. Maybe after the long weekend and 3 days in a row of being home with us, he just wasn't sad about getting away from us! Other books in the series..."Germs are not for sharing," "Teeth are not for biting," "Diapers are not forever"and "Words are not for hurting." Can't wait to tackle those subjects!

Happy Memorial Day!

We had a great weekend here in Baltimore. Saturday morning Ryan and I went to a playgroup and he had a great time playing with another little boy named Ryan, and Jake and Emily. After a long nap we went to a cookout at Lisa's house with our friends Mike and Amanda. Yesterday Tim and Ryan spent the morning at the farmer's market (while I got some much needed cleaning done!) and then in the afternoon we headed to Mike and Kim's for their annual Memorial Day cookout. Ryan had a great time and made a new friend - spending the day playing with Thomas, who just turned two. He wanted to do everything Thomas did, and the boys had such a fun day playing together! Kim had bought bubbles, sidewalk chalk and had plenty of sand for the kids to play with. Ryan also enjoyed climbing up on everyone's laps for them to tread him books and so he could eat his popsicles (sugar free thanks to Kim's smart thinking!) We had so much fun that we all spent the night, Ryan went to bed like a champ and slept in this morning. Thanks to Mike and Kim for being such great hosts, providing plenty of food, drinks and fun!

Ryan's juice needed to be cold too, so he put it in with all the beer!Cheese!

Cup holder is the perfect size for Ryan's sippy cup

Reading with Kim Ryan and Thomas

Ryan enjoying some frozen pie
Working off the pie on the bike
Ryan and Thomas trying to hug goodbye
Ryan and I at the same party last Memorial Day weekend, a lot changes in a year!

Sand and Water Table

I recently bought Ryan a sand and water table. Let's just say it was a big hit...

Getting the hang of it

Pretty much covered in sand by the end
Water + Sand + Sweat = hair in this picture

"OUT"

Couch Potato

Last night, I was cooking dinner in the kitchen, Ryan was playing with his toys. I came back in the living room to see this.... Ryan had never climbed up on the couch before by himself, it was very cute to see him sitting up there, quiet and content and reading his Barney book...

Skyping

Last night we "skyped" with Tim's sister Lynn and two of her 3 kids - Alec and Lizzie. Lizzie and Ryan were born the same week, and Alec just turned 4. It was really fun seeing them and chatting with them over the computer. Of course Ryan just sat there and stared at them on the screen, so I'm not sure how much fun it was for them but we enjoyed it! We have also skyped with my parents and plan to again. If you have a webcam, and family living far away, I highly suggest checking it out. It is free and very easy to use, just go to www.skype.com to download it and create an account. If it's good enough for Oprah, I figure it's good enough for all of us :)

Ryan's First Field Trip

Another teary moment for me....When I picked Ryan up at school on Monday, there was a permission slip waiting for me to sign. Ryan is going on a field trip! They will be heading to the Baltimore Zoo on June 5th. Tim is going to be one of the chaperones, as the school needs a 1:1 ration of adult per child in order to go. I am so excited for him, and think he and his Daddy will have such a great time together. But already signing permission slips? I can't believe it.

Preakness and updates

This is totally unlike me, but Saturday we had a little party at our house and I did not take one single picture!! We had a bunch of friends over to cook out and watch the Preakness race on TV. Ryan had a blast running around, writing on everything with his new sidewalk chalk, and just being the life of the party as usual. While we were all talking and laughing, he would look at everyone and start laughing really loud, as if he thought he was in on every joke and story, it was too funny. He was such a good boy all day and mingled and played and just enjoyed himself. As it got closer to bedtime, he got more and more hyper (and I'm sure the popsicle I gave him didn't help!). At one point I moved his big soft green chair to the area in front of our front door. For those of you who have not been to our house, this is one step down from the living room. Ryan then decided he was going to take flying leaps off the living room floor and onto the chair. This kid shows no fear!! But when bedtime came around, he went to bed without a peep like he usually does. With such a big crowd over, I was afraid he wouldn't want to leave the party and go to bed, I was so proud of him! Tim and I want to thank everyone for coming over, playing with Ryan, and bringing lots of food and beer. We can't wait to have everyone over again!

I also wanted to provide an update on the health of our grandparents. My grandfather is now home, back at my parents house and recovering after his heart attack. He spent about a week in the hospital and the doctors determined he was strong enough to go home. He has some restrictions with diet and activity, but we are glad he is home and on the mend. Now we will need to shift prayers to Tim's grandmother. Mum, as she is affectionately called my everyone, has been in the hospital since last week with some heart issues and internal bleeding. The doctors hope that switching her medicines will help alleviate the bleeding so we are just waiting to see what works, although in the meantime she is rather tired and weak. Please pray for her that she can go home soon as well and that all of her issues are resolved. It's not fun or easy to see people we love get older, all we can do is continue to love and support them and each other during times like this.

Paying it Forward

Many months ago, a friend passed on a blog for me to check out. www.mattlogelin.com. It is the heartbreaking (yet at the same time heartwarming) story of a young man, around my age, living in LA with his baby, Madeline. Heartbreaking because his wife died only 27 hours after giving birth to Madeline, their first child. Heartwarming because of what a wonderful job he is doing with Madeline, mostly on his own.

The backstory - Matt and Liz were high school sweethearts who lived in LA, far away from all of their family back in Minnesota. Matt started the blog as a way to keep their family and friends back home posted on Liz's pregnancy and the birth of the child. After Liz's death, he kept the blog going, mainly to keep his own sanity, and also as a record for Madeline to read when she is older. I have been following the blog almost every day since I was first introduced to it. And I'm far from the only stranger keeping up with Matt and Maddie. An entire Internet community of women, men, widows, widowers, moms, dads, etc have also been following Matt's story. Since I was "introduced" to him, he has been on Rachel Ray and Oprah. He didn't ask for this fame and I know he would give it all back to have one more day with his wife. But he is doing amazing things with his time in the spotlight. After news of his wife's death spread to the Internet community where he has found a home, the gifts started pouring in - gifts for him, gifts for Maddie - clothes, formula checks, diapers, toys, etc. He ended up donating a lot of it and then wanted to do more. He has started a foundation in his wife's name, the Liz Logelin Foundation. www.lizlogelinfoundation.org. The purpose of the foundation? To raise money for all the other widow and widowers out there who find themselves struggling financially after such a tremendous loss. His attitude is that he does not care how they spend the money - whether it be on bills, or to simply go get a massage to take their mind off their troubles for one short hour.

I don't know Matt, but from reading his blog I feel like I do. The first time I read his entries, I cried. Some of them are not an easy read. It only makes me appreciate even more what I have and how lucky I am. This month I made my first donation to the Liz Logelin Foundation, one of several I hope to make as part of his "Give $7 on the 7th" campaign. Times are tough and it's not a lot of money, but I like to think I am helping in some small way.

Check out Matt's blog if you have time, if for nothing else than to see the beautiful photographs he takes, mostly of Maddie, who is an adorable subject. Or maybe to remind you to appreciate what you have as well and to remind us all of how lucky we truly are.

Ryan's new trick....

I know I am a first time parent when I find myself tearing up and getting excited about Ryan drinking from a regular cup (instead of a sippy cup). But that's what happened tonight. He has transitioned to an older room at daycare and this room does not use sippy cups. My initial excitement was over no longer having to wash them everynight to repack them again in the morning, but my excitement turned to pride when I actually saw him drink from one. I bought plastic cups in a size similar to what they use at "school" and decided to try one tonight. And lo and behold....

My Mother's Day Weekend

We are just finishing up what has been a fantastic Mother's Day weekend!! It started on Friday, when Tim and Ryan surprised me by showing up at work with flowers. I came back from a meeting in the afternoon, rounded the corner to my cubicle and heard "mama!" and saw Ryan walking towards me with flowers. I was in shock! It was fun showing him off to my co workers, who hear so much about him everyday! Yesterday afternoon Tim made margaritas for us with chips and salsa, and then prepared a delicious surprise dinner. This morning I woke up to yummy breakfast in bed and cards from Tim and Ryan. We took Ryan to the playground this morning, and after Ryan's nap we went to Ft McHenry for a picnic, Tim had secretly bought my favorite wine, cheese and sushi and packed it all in a picnic lunch. We had a great time!! He really outdid himself and I need to start thinking about what I can do for him for Father's Day! I could not be happier, I have the best son and husband anyone could ask for!! Some pictures from today -