Nice Weekend

We were very fortunate to have wonderful weather this weekend.  We spent lots of time outside.  I look forward to summer break so I don't have to spend so much of my time working, cleaning, and running errands.  Enjoy the pictures!  (Ironically they are from inside.)

How Perfect!!

William on the swing for the first time.

Happy 6 Months William!

Today William turned 6 months.  It's hard to believe my little pumpkin is half a year.  It seems like just yesterday he was born.  I took the day off from work to take him to his check up.  William was 17.8lbs and 26in.  He falls right in the middle for weight percentile and is around 35% for height.  He took his shots like a champ!

Kindergarten

We got a call late last night from Ryan's pre-school teacher that there was a gas leak in the church so the gas was turned off.  Since they were forecasting several inches of snow, she had to close school.  Since Travis has been taking so much time off I decided to bring Ryan to school with me for the day.  He did great!  As expected he was a little clingy and tired, but overall he fit in nicely.  (One of his friends from pre-school is in my class.)  In fact, I put him in a reading group and while his group was working with me he did a great job.  We were working on discriminating the short e/i sounds.  I said the word ship and the group had to write an e/i on their whiteboard to show what sound they heard.  Ryan wrote the whole word- correctly!  It was great having him hang out with me in kindergarten for the day.

Ryan goes for kindergarten screening on May 15.  I couldn't be more excited and proud of him!

It Finally Happened

William is just shy of 6 months.  For the past week or two he has been waking up around 6am give or take.  Prior he was sleeping till at least 7.  Friday morning as I was getting ready for work I realized that I hadn't yet heard him over the monitor.  Of course I began to worry he wasn't breathing.  I slowly opened his door to find him on his belly.  My almost 6 month old had finally rolled over!  I couldn't believe it.  Was that the secret to his longer sleep session?!?!  While home with Travis during the day he was able to capture his rollover.  This morning around 6ish I heard William start to fuss.  After 15 minutes of non-crying fussiness I finally got up but decided to feed the cats first.  Off to the basement I went.  Then I went to the bathroom.  It was at that time I realized I hadn't heard William since I got up.  I decided to take my chances and go back to bed.  At 8:30 I woke up to William fussing.  I went into his room and found him on his belly!  So there you have it.  I have found the secret to my child sleeping in- belly sleeping!  Good luck to all the other parents out there!  Both my boys have always been good sleepers and for that we are grateful!  And for your viewing pleasure....

Ryan loves to build forts.  Here is his newest one!

Hoppy Easter 2012

Where did the time go?

William is now 5.5 months!

Ry's 5 Year Check Up

This past week Ry had his 5 year check up. That's right, my little peanut is 5 years old. Man does time really fly! He is the most amazing boy I know and we are so lucky to be his parents.

Ry's 5 Year Stats:
Weight- 44lbs
Height- 45 in.

I thought it was interesting to see his growth stats in the past few years.

Ry's 4 Year Stats:
Weight- 39lbs
Height- 42.5 in.

Ry's 3 Year Stats:
Weight- 35lbs
Height- 38 3/4 in.

Ry's 2 1/2 Year Stats:
Weight- 32lbs
Height- 37 1/2 .

I Know, I Know

I know....it's been a while. Well surprise...we had a baby. William Harper was born on October 26 weighing in at 7lb13oz and 20.25 inches. He is an amazing little boy. He is now nearly 5 1/2 months old. I've been back to work for just over a month and we've settled into a routine and I'm hoping to be able to get back into blogging.

William loves....
mirrors
books
walks
his bouncer
bath time
food (pears and sweet potatoes are his faves)
and of course his big brother

We are so lucky to have 2 healthy boys.

Florida was a hot success!

Wow, has it really been nearly a month since my last post? Sorry we've been unbelievably busy.

Florida was great. The drive was much better than I could've imagined. Ry was great and watched quite a few movies. We made it to SC on the drive down. The next day we were in Florida by 5pm. Trav and I shared the driving for the most part.

First stop was my parent's house in Bradenton. We had a wonderful few days there. Ry rode a scooter made by my dad (!), did a lot of swimming, went to a minor league ball game, fed fishies, played on a playground, ate ice cream and more that I'm probably forgetting about.

After a few days at my parents we then drove to Orlando. My parents joined us for the first day at Magic Kingdom. Despite the heat and crowds we had a good time and got through most of the kids rides by around lunch time. We left the park at 1pm due to the heat and needing a rest. We checked in to the hotel, took a nap, and went swimming. It was back to the park later that day for a character dinner, more rides, parade and fireworks. Ry seemed to enjoy all the rides he went on but I think it's safe to say he probably enjoyed Dumbo and Pooh's ride the most. I loved the fireworks! Ry made it till about 11pm that night.

The next morning we said our goodbyes to my parents and decided to head to MGM for the day since we got through all the Disney kid rides. While MGM didn't have a lot of rides, I think they did have Ry's favorite overall, the Toy Story 3D one. He loved it! We were also able to enjoy a Little Mermaid show, Playhouse Disney show, meet Toy Story characters, and do a few other rides. We left the park in the early afternoon to get a nap in.

After our afternoon nap, we headed to Downtown Disney. We wanted to take Ry to the Lego Store. He loved all the lego statues and abundance of lego choices. He chose an airplane set. After visiting several stores and taking in a few sites, we decided to eat at the T-Rex Cafe. It's a dinosaur version of the rainforest cafe. Ry was very hesitant at first and a little scared. He finally relaxed enough to enjoy it.

The next morning we headed back home and made it to Virginia. Trav would've driven the whole way but I wouldn't have let him. Overall we had a great trip. We think we'll wait a few more years for Disney again and go in a cooler month.

Away We Go

In a few hours we are departing for Florida. I am hoping the 2 day drive goes smoothly. Our plan is to make it to NC/SC tonight and then drive the rest of the way to Florida. We will be visiting with my parents and then heading to Disney for a few days.

Thanks to my friend Kira for watching the house/cats while we are away.

Wish us luck and say a prayer!

Wordless Wednesday

New Pet

Yep, we have some new pets. And no they are not dogs. We are now the proud owners of 5 American Bull Frog Tadpoles, 7 pond tadpoles, and 1 African Dwarf Frog. Exciting, eh! In school we had tadpoles, butterflies, ladybugs, ants, and more. Well at the end of the year we released many of the creatures but I didn't feel comfortable releasing the tadpoles and obviously small dwarf frog. Cleaning the large tank has not been much fun, but watching the tadpoles/frog has been amusing! We do plan to release the tadpoles when they are full grown frogs.

Children's Museum

On Friday I took Ry to the Children's Museum. It's one of our favorite places to go and we certainly have gotten our money's worth out of our membership. He had a great time exploring Mr. Roger's room, water room, garage, and art studio. We even enjoyed a nice lunch there too!

Wildwood!

We took an impromptu trip to Wildwood (NJ Beach south of Atlantic City). Trav grew up there. His parents still live there and own a motel there. I LOVE going and never miss an opportunity to go. All 4 of his brothers were going to be in town. It is rare that all 5 are together so we decided to drive up for the weekend. Despite our short trip, we had a great time! We went swimming, went to the boardwalk, rode bikes and enjoyed yummy food! We had a wonderful trip and are always so thankful to be able to enjoy his family's motel (Tide Winds Motel). We will be heading back for a full week at the end of July and couldn't be more excited!

Schools Out....for the Summer

Yes, that's right! I am officially done with school for the summer. Ahhhhhhh!!! I have nearly 2 months off and couldn't be more excited. I can't complain as I had a fairly good year but it's always nice to have a break. On the agenda- lots of vacations and work on the house. I hope everyone has a nice summer! (I know I will.)

Big Brother

Yep, you read that right! Ry is going to be a big brother. We are expecting another little boy on November 6 (my brother's birthday). Ryan is very excited! So far so good. I've felt well for the most part with no sickness (yeah)! We have no name decided yet although Ryan seems to like Foxy Loxy! We will begin the room transformation later this summer. Right now the nursery has been a storage space/guest room.

Fingers crossed the next 19 weeks go smoothly!!

A Perfect Day

Today was a perfect day!

Our morning started with Ry and I making popsicles for after lunch- strawberries, mangos, bananas.

Then he helped with laundry. (We are training him!)

After that I made breakfast- complete with eggs, bacon, potatoes, toast and fruit salad. Mmmmm!

Later we went to Schenley Park. We walked by some dino's, went on the carousel, at a snack in the tent and then waded in the fountain. It was wonderful!

Once home we ate our homemade popsicles. I made a German like dinner and then we went for a walk.

It was a perfect day and I hope it's a sure sign of how our summer will go!

Take Your Child To Work Day

A week or two ago Ry came with me to work for our version of Take Your Child to Work Day. (We missed it last month.) He was so excited about this opportunity and kept counting day the days. I kept Trav on stand by....just in case. I must admit Friday is our easy day. Ry did great with the students. They were very excited to see him. He was able to complete all the activities the students did. Around 1pm, his typical nap time, he started getting sleepy. He loved kindergarten and I know he'll do great when it's his turn!