Happy 4th Birthday Ryan!

I should have written something this morning, but the day has just been so busy. We started with breakfast at Panera. When we got to the parking lot Ryan said, "I don't think I'm going to like this place." He had wanted to go somewhere where they had chicken nuggets for breakfast. After he ate his chocolate chip muffie (aka- muffin top, I guess someone at Panera watched Seinfeld back in the day)I asked if he liked the place and got an enthusiastic head shake with a big chocolaty grin. When we got home we played in the front yard for a while. Then he watched Toy Story with Grandma while I went to the store to tie up some loose ends for his party Saturday. While I was at the party store I picked up a balloon bouquet for today. He shared one of his balloons with Lily and I think it made her week. She grinned and giggled and played with that balloon most of the day. Ryan also played with his balloons. Most of his games ended with a big thud as he landed on the floor after jumping off some makeshift apparatus to grab the ribbons. Jay's family and my mom all came for dinner and cake. Elizabee came more for the ice cream than any of that stuff, but they all came for Ryan and he thought that was special. He also got calls from Uncle TJ and Grandpa(aka my brother and dad) who couldn't be here. That was pretty cool too. Unfortunately for Grandpa he called right in the middle of a very cool Lego project Ryan was working on with Uncle Ben. He did talk to Grandpa for a few minutes and he told him some stuff about his day, but his attention could only be held away from that space ship for so long. Sorry, Dad, if it felt like an abrupt end to your conversation. He does that sometimes. It was really special to have the family that could come to celebrate and though Ryan doesn't fully get how much that means it does mean a lot and some day he will look back and it will mean a whole lot more. Thanks to everyone who made Ryan's day special. I love to see my boy smile the way he did today.

Drywall!!!!

It's starting to look like a real room!

Here is our bedroom from the hall entrance.

The other side.

Side wall. Closet on the left, bathroom on the right.

Shower.

Potty cubby.

Vanity area.

Pilates

I'm thinking of signing up for a Pilates class at the local community college. I'm trying to be proactive in getting rid of this second baby muffin top that seems to have taken up residence in my middle. I'm a little worried about it because I don't know anything about Pilates except what I've read about it's origins on the Internet. I wonder if I'll be able to do it. I kind of wish I knew someone who would do it with me. I asked one friend, but she can't do it right now. She did say keep her in mind for next year. Almost all of the other women I think might be interested already belong to gyms. Why would they want to pay for a class? I have one more person to ask before I give up. Don't worry Erin, it's not you;-) If I don't find someone to go with I'm afraid I will lose the will to go. Sad, but true. I need accountability.

Point and Speak

Saturday Lily pointed to her nose and said, "No-s". I congratulated her on her unprompted accomplishment and she beamed. She immediately pointed to her teeth and said, "Teesh". I guess she figured she was on a roll because she pointed to my toe and said, "too" and then my flip flop became a "schoooo". She has been going a little crazy with the new words. I was feeling all proud until the neighbor came to the bus stop this morning with her baby girl that is 3 months younger than Lily and she pointed to Lily and clear as day said, "Baby!" Her words were very clear and apparently she has lots of them. I guess Lily was talking 3 months ago. It just seems like such a new thing. I know I shouldn't compare and I know Lily is smart. For a moment though, just for a moment I thought she *might* not be the smartest baby in the world. Then I came to my senses and realized I was just over reacting;-)

A Long Time Comin'

I knew it had been a long time since I posted pictures of the progress on our house, but I didn't realize until I looked to see what I last posted that it has been since July! Sorry for those following along. Honestly for awhile it seemed like things were stalled. I felt like they were never going to finish for a couple weeks. They were mostly working on the closet I asked them to build for about 2 weeks. The shelves are all built now and I finally got to move the toys in. I LOVE it. This closet is like an answer to my prayers. One central place to keep our toys close to where we will spend most of our time(the new family room). It also creates a bit of a foyer in the front of the house which I like.

Some of these pictures are recap since I have been taking pictures all along, but I did get to posting them.

This is the view from the front door now. Matt put up a really thin drywall to cover the textured ceiling as a surprise for me when I came back from my mom's house because he knew I didn't like them. You'll see the texture if you look at the ceiling of the closet.

This is the hallway to the garage you can see goes off to the left from the entryway.

These are the cubbies Matt suggested. One for each kid.

This is the closet, the second area you see of to the side of the entryway.

Here is the left side of the family room with insulation. See the boards on the wall? Those are in case Jay ever wants to mount a TV there.

This is the other side of the family room.

This is the closet in our bedroom.

Here is the bathroom.

The closet is on the left and the bathroom on the right.

You can't see the roof from our bedroom anymore:-) See that little board over the door? That is where our new plasma TV will be mounted. You can guess whose idea that was. This from the man who made me get rid of the TV I had in my room when we got married.

Jay is installing surround sound before they put up the drywall.

The kids watched him.

Ryan helped.

Lily tried to help, but really she just picked up whatever tools where laying around and handed them to daddy.

This installing hidden wires is serious business.

Lily finally got to really help:-)

Here is the best part of the week...I got to put stuff in the closet! Do you know how much space that stuff has been taking up in my living room?!

Little kid toys on the bottom, then bigger kid toys and finally stuff that could cause a problem for a toddler(small parts, etc.)

We have a few games too;-)

Tomorrow they start the drywall!!! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The vanity and medicine cabinets came today. It feels like things are really coming together. I can't wait to see what happens this week!

To those who are coming to the party this weekend...don't worry I've been promised that the family room will be available for Saturday.

I love this dress!

Don't anyone tell me she looks like a boy in her little blue dress or I might have to beat you down! ;-)

I had to go out and buy Lily some fall clothes because the weather has been so cool and she doesn't have anything. I didn't find much, but I did find two little outfits I love- both dresses. This little dress has a long sleeved hoodie that goes with it. So cute! I debated getting it because of it's blueness, but it does have pink in the skirt and it is so dogon' cute!

Ideas For Ryan

It struck me today that most of the people who will want to buy gifts for Ryan read this blog. I have been a little lost myself as to what to buy the boy for his birthday, but I have a couple ideas. I will share them with you and you can talk amongst yourselves and claim gifts in the comments if you wish.

Diego Roller Skates- These are at Target and I think he will like them.

Lightening McQueen and Mater "Shake and Go" Cars -(also at Target)

He could also use some new characters for his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.(I've seen them at Walmart)

There is this CD read along I found that he would love.

This Curious George Tea set would be fun with his kitchen.

The same website with the tea set also has some other cool Curious George stuff.



Things he loves- Anything Cars, Curious George, pretend play, Thomas the Tank Engine, building stuff (Legos, Brio building kits, etc.), The Tigger Movie, running, jumping


I'll update as I think of things. This is by no means an exclusive list or even a registry type thing. It is just ideas because a few people have asked me. Feel very free to do your own thing.


PS The links are just so you can see what I was talking about. I did no hunting for the lowest price and I'm sure lots of this stuff is available in stores. The Curious George stuff would probably be hard to find in stores.

Follow up

I knew Lily would remind me of more things she says before long. She says quite a bit during Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She tries to say Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse in the beginning. It's somewhat recognizable. She also told me she wanted to watch Mickey mouse Clubhouse the other day by sitting on the couch looking at the TV urgently and singing the theme song. It sounds something like "i ah i-ee Mou uh-ouse" but I knew what she was singing. She also says "cho" when Mickey says "Say 'Cheers!'"

Then there is "Ready, ready, GO!" It sounds just like the real words, but I don't know where she got it. It is pretty funny sometimes. It's a bit messy when she smashes her fruit on go, but it is cute.


As a follow up to Ryan wishing to die with his money I wanted to share another short story. When we got home Ryan wanted to get his chore money to give to Jesus(that's what we call it when he tithes- which is completely voluntary on his part in case you were thinking we tortured him into it) Since we had just gotten home the night before and he asked as we were going out the door we didn't have time to do it. He made sure to make a pint that he was NOT going to give the money Grandma gave him to Jesus and that he still wanted to "die up to heaven" with it. So I asked him and he confirmed my suspicion that the money he got from Grandma was special because Grandma gave it to him. Ohhhhhhhhhhh. It makes much more sense now. Anyway, later that day Jay took the boys to the grocery store. This is not something that really ever happens, so I guess Ryan thought it was pretty special. When they were getting ready to go to the store Ryan said, "Wait! I need to go get my special money. I want to help pay for the food with it." So he did. His 9 cent contribution is clearly stated as "$0.09 cash" on the receipt. I'm starting to think he might just get it after all.

Obesessed with Death

Ryan is obsessed with death. I'm not sure what to do about it. At first it was just in play. He and his brother would be playing and he would take a toy and start beating the other toy saying, "Die, die, die!" I think he picked up from Zach, but it seemed like every time they played together this happened. I'm not a big fan of that kind of play, but I held my tongue because I'm on a parenting team. The other half of my parenting team thinks that is perfectly normal and maybe even healthy boy play. Since I was never a little boy I defer to his judgement on that.

I guess the play made him start thinking about death and dying. One night when I was putting him to bed he asked, "What's going to happen when you and Daddy die up to heaven?" I told him the truth including our plan for what would happen if that did happen while he was still young enough to need someone to take care of him. I told him I don't think that it will happen anytime soon. He wasn't quite satisfied. He wanted to know the back up plan for the back up plan. I told him he didn't need to worry because there would always be someone to take care of him. Then he told me, "I want to die up to heaven with you at the same time." I almost cried, but I didn't want him to keep thinking about it or to scare him, so I kept my composure. I told him he is very young and he doesn't need to worry about it. He got very indignant, "I am not young. I am old!" I told him I'm not even old yet and there are people who even think I am young. He was pretty amazed by that. He seemed to be in a good place, so I said goodnight and left the room a little worried about how I handled it, but not knowing how it would keep going.

Now whenever he really likes something he says he wants to die up to heaven with it. First it was me, then he got a new watch. "I want to die up to heaven(that's what he says every time in case you didn't get that) with you AND with my watch!" he said with an excited giggle. He giggles the cutest giggle when he is excited. We went to visit my mom and she gave him 8 cents in change. He clutched it to his chest and said, "I love my money. I want to doe up to heaven with it." At this point I'm getting a little worried on multiple levels. First he is talking about dying a LOT. Second he is way over valuing money. Third he thinks he gets to take stuff with him to heaven. I know he is three and doesn't really get the whole thing and that it is fine that he doesn't. I do want him to know that money is not the most important thing. I explained it to him the best I could that people, not money, are the most important things. He continues to talk about "dying up to heaven" and I've tried to explain that his body stays on earth and who he really is inside, his soul, goes up to heaven. I'm not sure he gets it, but I think he will at some point. I just hope I'm not scaring him.

This parenting gig is hard sometimes. There is so much second guessing and the thought that I am forming these little humans into who and what they will be is overwhelming sometimes. Every decision and interaction has big consequences that we might not be able to know at the time. It's a good thing I don't have time to be deep much or I might not want to get out of bed in the morning;-)

Words

Things Lily says...

"Sa!" it means "thanks" or "Thank you" even though it doesn't sound like it.
She says it every time you give her something.

"MA!" Has a couple different meanings. It could mean "Pick me up!"(it doesn't have to be me which is a little strange) or "Pay attention to me woman!"

"Mama" I think you can figure this one out.

"Dada" or "Dadeee" another easy one to guess

"Wan dat" means "May I please have that?" Yeah, we're still working on the manners.
It can also mean "Do you want this?"

One, two, three and eight

"a", "o"

"Istu" - It's stuck

"Wasda?" -What's that?

"Ah da"- All done.

"moo", "baa", "ah-a-oodle-oo", "foo"- woof

"Dye" or "dye-dye" usually accompanied by a wave, otherwise it might get me some strange looks= bye-bye

"hi" or "hewo"- big favorites repeated many times.

There is the ever popular "No!" and she has added "uh-uh"

"da" can mean a million and one things. One of the most popular meanings is "I'm stuck in my room because I've closed the door. Please come help me."

I think yiya is Ryan, but I'm not 100% on that one.

Recognizable songs (or at least the first line or so of the song so you know what she wants you to sing)...

"abcdefg...." you sing the rest with her making some sounds... and the grand finale "nah ah na ma abc ahahahahahah"

"Jesu ah me da da oh"- Jesus loves me this I know

Row, row, row your boat. -At this moment I can't think of her sounds, but I knew when she was singing it. She did this one in the pool at Grandma's a lot.


I'm sure I've forgotten some and of course there is a LOT of babbling that means something to her, but I'm not quite up on the lingo yet.

Pool Pictures

Here are some pictures my mom took in the pool yesterday. I still can't get mine off of the camera, so there will be more when we get back.

Guess Where I Am

I'm in South Carolina! What, you didn't know I was going away? Neither did I until Friday! The thought occurred to me Thursday. I talked to Jay about it. I called to see if my mom would like some visitors at this time. I called to see if it would really make a difference to speed of the construction. I thought about how hard it would be to drive 10+ hours with 2 little kids by myself and I almost decided not to go. Flying occurred to me, but I wasn't sure. I brought it up to Jay and he had thought about us flying too. I priced airline tickets, Jay priced airline tickets, and I pretty much decided we wouldn't go. Friday afternoon I got a call from Jay. He was in the process of booking our flight! With Credit card points! Woot! (I never thought I'd use that word, go figure.) It's great to have a husband who will figure stuff out for you even when he doesn't get the benefit of going. He's at home this week doing his regular thing. We miss you, honey! So Jay got the tickets Friday and took us to the airport Sunday.

Now here we are on vacation that fast! It was kind of crazy and spur of the moment, so it was all a bit surreal for me until it happened. I like to make lists a couple days in advance and add to them as I think of stuff so I don't forget anything. I didn't really get to do that this time and I forgot some key bedtime stuff because it wasn't on my list when I finished up in the morning. Both kids' blankies are sitting on their beds at home and Ryan's sheets had to be changed this morning because I forgot the pull ups. We went to the store this afternoon to fix the problems my mommy brain caused for this trip. I wonder if my brain function will ever return to normal. Until then I will just have to makes lists, lots of lists.

It's hot in the south, but I'm sure we will find stuff to do. This morning we got up, ate breakfast, put on swim suits and sunscreen and headed straight out to the pool. We didn't come back in until lunch time. Ryan had a blast kicking around in this inflatable tube I got for like $3. By the end of the morning he was jumping in and getting back to the ladder to get out and jump in again all by himself. This is a pretty major accomplishment for the child who just 3 weeks ago had a death grip on anyone who went in the water with him(even when he had his life vest on). He did make some major strides on vacation swimming around by himself with his life jacket on. He is quite proud of himself. He did not want to get out of the pool for lunch. He said he was not hungry. I think if I would let him he would stay in the pool from sun up to sundown.

Lily had her own brand of fun with the pool. She didn't stay in her baby float for long. She really didn't even want to be held. I don't know what she thinks is going to happen when she gets off on her own in the 4 foot deep water, but she kept trying. I think she finally resolved herself to the fact that she would have to be held while in the pool. She climbed out of the pool. Then back into someone's arms in the pool. Then out of the pool. Then she started handing things (like Ryan's Crocs) to my mom in the pool. In the pool, out of the pool, in the pool... I think you get the picture. She did have fun though.

I took some pictures this morning, but I forgot the cord for my camera and the computer doesn't like my card for some reason :-(

I think we are going to visit a children's museum tomorrow. We talked about going to the zoo with Ryan, but it's supposed to be 102*. I don't think the animals will be doing much except getting up to move back into the shade as the sun passes overhead.

On Lily

Is it possible to be so cute when saying no that people actually want you to say it? I didn't think so, but Lily is giving my presumption a run for it's money. I'll try to get it on video and you can judge for yourself. That is if I can figure out a way to post video for free because I'm not paying for it!

Lily

I have really been neglecting my blog lately. I need to get on the ball because Lily and Ryan are doing some really great and funny things that I want to remember. I could offer up excuses, but I think we all know them pretty well by now. No matter how true it is that I'm busy it doesn't really matter in the long run. Today I am going to write about Lily(that is until Lily wakes up and resumes her normal position when I'm on the laptop- Kicking the keyboard)

Lily is funny and amazing. Jay told me Monday when he read to Lily that she pointed to the number eight in one of her books and said eight. Being as I have very high standards for what constitutes a word I took it with a grain of salt (no offense, Jay) because she could have just been repeating it. The very next night I was reading the same book to her and as soon as I turned to the page with all the numbers 1-10 Lily plopped her cute little finger right on the eight and said, "eight." I believe that this is a fitting tribute to the great Cal Ripken, Jr. (Baltimore Orioles' number 8 for those of you who live under a rock) who had just been inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame. She really is very smart, but I had no idea she was already learning numbers just from reading books. Most of the time she is happy, smiling or laughing. She loves to "jump", run around with he big brothers, climb, play peek-a-boo, make people laugh and babble (almost constantly). Oddly enough she also likes to pull people down on her whether she sits behind you and pulls or pulls Ryan down while they are hugging. She seems to think it's funny. She must think she is already two as she throws a mean fit when she doesn't get what she wants. People often come running to her aid only to find me sitting next to her. They usually give me some sort of "Are you crazy woman?! Your child sprawled on the floor screaming her head off and you are just sitting there!" look. Most times I'll inform them that she is okay and just mad that I didn't do what she wanted. Sometimes I get a knowing look in return, sometimes people are not as understanding.

She does have a way of getting what she wants without throwing a fit. When I'm cooking she will come up between me and the stove and push my legs. She is strong and resistance is usually futile (she doesn't give up), so I almost always cook with a "helper" on my hip. It's probably a bad habit, but sometimes I just need to take the easy way out. When she wants a drink she goes into the kitchen, holds the refrigerator handle and yells, "Ma!" until I get her one. When she is done with just about anything she says, "Ah da" sometimes she holds her hands up too. Unfortunately all-done sounds quite a bit like I-want-that, so sometimes there is confusion. Usually I am tipped off by the tantrum that follows removal from her high chair, but sometimes she just pulls the tray back or tries to buckle herself back in. She will grab someones hand a literally pull them where she wants them to go. It's actually very sweet.

She has started to "sing along" with songs she hears a lot. She even gets some of the sounds right. Mostly it's like this:
Me: Jesus loves me this I know.
Lily: Jesu la la dadadaaaaaaa.
It's sweet. I love when she sings with me, but it has made our bedtime routine quite a bit different because she doesn't fall asleep while I'm singing anymore. There have been many times I have been able to leave the room while she is still awake, but I'd better not close the door or we will have to start all over. She also sings and plays along with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, her very favorite show. All I have to do is say, "Do you want to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?" and she will run to the living room and plop down in front of the tv. I know there are bunches of you out there shaking your heads that I let her watch tv, but you try to not let your baby watch tv while your 3 year old watches. I think she is still pretty well rounded. She loves to play outside and water play remains at the top of her list. When I tell her it's time for a bath she runs up the stairs to the tub. It's nice to know she really understands at least some of what I say.

I could probably write a lot more, but this post is getting crazy long and is probably a little jumbled. I have neither the time nor inclination to go back and proofread...sorry.