Last day of 2009

What a better way to spend the last day of 2009 than with these two sweet friends. Julie, Leah and I all went to Union together. They still live in Memphis and I always love to catch up with them when I'm in town. We had a great lunch downtown a The Majestic. Great suggestion Julie!

Matt and I had another date night on our last night in Memphis. We decided to go to The Butcher Shop and boy was it yummy. We both had steaks and twice baked potatoes, my fav.

At dinner we had an annual review of 2009. We talked about all the good and bad things from this past year and shared our goals for 2010. I will share more about these tomorrow. We had a great dinner and even enjoyed some yummy dessert.

We enjoyed a yummy slice of red velvet cake. It was great but I would like to set the goal to cut back on desserts in 2010. I have such a sweet tooth and need to practice some serious self control.

We decided to take a little road trip after dinner and go by Graceland and see the Christmas lights. Matt's never seen it and it's been years since I've been by there. I was born and raised in Memphis and have never been inside and toured Graceland. One of these days we will go and visit the mansion. It was a great evening and I'm looking forward to everything that 2010 will bring.

Dear Old Friends

Ryan and I had lunch with two of my sweet friends from high school. We enjoyed a yummy lunch at Rafferty's. Last year was our 10 year high school reunion and it's hard to believe it's been 11 years now that we graduated high school. I've known these girls for 18 years. Wow!

Wendy has two adorable little boys Gabriel and Gavin. And Katherine has a sweet little girl Ella. They were all so good and well behaved. Ryan did good as well even though it was during his nap time. I thought for sure he would fall asleep but not so much. However he did fall asleep on the way home just minutes after leaving.

Santa brought Ryan these fun self teething feeders. They are like pacifiers with a mesh end you can put food in and the baby can chew on it and get the juices from the food. Mostly used with fruits. We put an orange in it and Ryan loved it. He puts everything in his mouth and found the orange juice quickly. He loved his first taste of real food.

Terrific Tuesday

Today Ryan and I had the privilege to have lunch with my friend Jennifer and her daughter Ellyson. Jennifer and I met a few years ago when I still lived in Memphis and worked out at Bartlett Rec Center. She worked out there too and we became friends. We have kept up with each other through facebook and blogs but haven't seen each other in many years. She had a baby girl just two weeks after Ryan was born (July 5).

Thanks to the internet I'm so glad we have been able to stay in touch even after I moved away from Memphis. It was so great to "catch-up" today and meet her beautiful daughter Ellyson. Isn't it hilarious how both the babies are asleep. It's been hard keeping Ryan on a schedule this week. See Cincy is in the eastern time zone and Memphis is in the central. Ryan has been taking his afternoon naps around noon . Today he fell asleep while at Chili's around 12:30 and then took a nap when we got home from 2-4pm. I had to wake him up to eat. I thought it was so sweet how Ellyson fell asleep all curled up on her Momma!

Ryan just kept staring at her and when we put them side by side Ellyson rubbed Ryan's head. It was really cute to seem them checking each other out. Ryan looked so much bigger than Ellyson even though they are just 2 weeks apart. He's 50% for his weight but he is one solid, growing boy.

Tonight we had dinner with the fam at Logan's Steakhouse. Ryan enjoyed the attention and we enjoyed a really nice dinner, yum! To me Ryan just gets cuter and more handsome every day!

Date Night

Ryan has been doing great and just loving all the attention from his grandparents and Uncle Matt. I'm glad to say he is napping and sleeping well here. I was a little worried about that being a new place and not home but he seems to adapted well. Such a cute little monkey boy!

Today we enjoyed a nice relaxing day at home with my parents. My brother just got a new puppy the day before Christmas Eve so I went with him this morning to the vet. His puppy is a 10 week old fox terrior named Shelby. She is adorable and just the cutest thing. More on Shelby later.

We decided to take advantage of the grandparents and have a Memphis date night. We started our night at Germantown Commissary for some good ol Memphis BBQ. Matt got the all you can eat ribs and I got the pulled pork sandwich. It was soooo yummy. I also had sweet potato fries and they were just delish.

After dinner we headed to the movies to see "The Blind Side". The last movie we saw at the theatre was "Fireproof" (which was like 2 years ago). I had been dying to see this movie and heard such rave reviews. I knew it was a must see and I'm so glad we included it in our date night. The movie lived up to its' reputation and was AWESOME! Such a great movie with such a great message.

Ryan's First Christmas

We are so blessed! Ryan had a WONDERFUL first Christmas! We spent Christmas Day at my parents house in Memphis. Santa even visited Ryan on his first Christmas!

My brother just bought a house in Memphis so we went to his house for lunch and opening presents. Ryan is so blessed to have the best grandparents and they spoiled him for sure. He got more toys than he knows what to do with.

Ryan was so funny opening gifts. I would try to start to rip the paper and he would tear it some then try to put the paper in his mouth. So cute. Like all six month olds he was more enthralled with the paper than he was the toy.

Matt loves to lay Ryan on his chest even though he usually is graced with spit up sooner or later. It's still really cute and sweet. He loves his little boy!

After opening presents these boys were wore out. Ryan didn't take a good afternoon nap so he was really tired and finally just conked out on the floor in the midst of all the presents and excitement.

Ryan is doing so well sitting up and playing with his toys! He can sit independently for a few minutes. I think Ryan will start to sit up better since he has something to keep his attention.

And today we had Christmas with the rest of our family. This is my cousin Amber who is just six months younger than me. We've always enjoyed hanging out and catching up. We had a great time eating lunch and seeing everyone today. Everyone was saying how big Ryan has gotten and what a chunk he is. He is only 50% percentile for his weight but he is solid!

We are so blessed and thank our Lord for such a wonderful year!

Merry Christmas

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord"

Oh come and let us adore him

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Silent Night

Silent Night, Holy Night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant so tender and mind

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent Night, Holy Night

Son of God, Loves pure light

Radiant beams from thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord, at thy birth

Jesus, Lord, at thy birth

Silent Night, Holy Night

Shepherds quake at the sight

Glories stream from heaven afar

Heavenly host sing alleluia

Christ, the Savior is born

Christ, the Savior is born

Oreo Balls

This past weekend I made Oreo Balls for the first time. They turned out great and make a great holiday treat! I thought I would share the recipe. I got this recipe originally from Jenna's Blog!

Ingredients: 1 package of Oreos

1 8oz. package of Philly cream cheese

1 package of white chocolate morsels

Use a food processor or blender and crush the oreos. You can also use ziploc bags and crush with a meat mallet. Once the oreos are crushed to powder add in the cream cheese and mix til it is blended well together.

Form quarter or truffle size balls and place onto parchment paper on a baking sheet. 1 batch should make 60 balls. Place in fridge and let "set" and harden for a few hours.

Melt the chocolate (usually works better to melt using a double boiler and 1 tsp of veg. oil). Dip balls into chocolate totally covering them. Place them back on the parchment lined baking sheet and let them "set" and harden in the fridge. Once they have hardened pull them out and ENJOY!!!

And here's a pic of my sweetie pie....just cause!

Partridge and a PEAR Tree

Ryan had pears for the first time this morning! He loved em! He's not crazy about peas and green beans. I've been trying to feed those to him more b/c I want him to like them. I've also been feeding him oatmeal in the morning at breakfast. He likes it mixed with fruit and it seems to fill him up well.

Today was Ryan's 6 month check up!

He weighed in a 17 lbs 10 oz (50%)

He is 28 in. tall (90%)

His head cir. is 70%

We've got a healthy growing boy on our hands. He did great and Dr. Habel said he is right on schedule and doing well. We are still on stage 1 foods twice a day until he can sit up more independently. He said hopefully in the next few months we should be able to wein him off of prevacid and similac sensitive rs formula. This little boys smile just lights up my entire life!

Family Dinner

This morning we took our weekly Sunday morning picture! Matt has resorted to the fact that we are always going to be late for church, ha! We are decked out in our holiday fashions and ready for Christmas. We've been going to the later service at church and keeping Ryan with us during the service. Usually I end up spending the whole time in the "cry room" but I don't mind. He eats in the middle of the service so it has worked better to just keep him. I've been so paranoid about the swine flu and the seasonal flu we haven't put him in the nursery much. Since Ryan is 6 months old I think it's time he can go. In January we will start going to the early service and use the nursery. We don't have to worry about a bottle and he will probably nap.

Tonight we went out to dinner with family. Matt's cousin Isaac will turn 20 on Christmas Eve so we went to the Spaghetti Factory to celebrate his birthday. I had never been there before and boy was it good. I had the lasagna and it was very yummy. Ryan sat in a high chair at a restaurant for the first time ever. I got him a floppy seat recently and it worked great in the high chair. It's basically a high chair cover with safety straps and little loops where you can clip on toys to keep him occupied. I think it was a great investment. You can also use it in a shopping cart.

Aunt Teresa loves holding Ryan. Everyone loved his Santa footies. Ryan loves making people smile and definitely loves attention. He did great sitting in his high chair and playing with his toys.

Isaac enjoyed holding Ryan too. Ryan kept jumping up and down in his lap. He didn't want to stop and be still. I think he thought Isaac was his jumperoo, ha! We go tomorrow morning for his 6 month check up. Looking forward to getting his stats and see how he is growing. Just not looking forward to the dreaded shots, yuck!

Hustle and Bustle to Relaxation

Yesterday Ryan and I went to the mall to finish up Christmas shopping with the rest of Cincinnati, ha! I knew it would be crowded but I had to get the last few things on my list.

"Look at all the people! Are they all here to see Santa? There are people everywhere!"

"What? Santa's already headed to the North Pole?"

All of my shopping led to this! Time to get down to business.

After spending lots of time in the basement I've got pretty much everything wrapped except for two presents. Whew! I can't wait to see what Ryan open his presents on Christmas. I'm sure the hit will be the wrapping paper and bows.

Today we expected to wake up to a winter wonderland. However, we woke up to a rainy, snowy, wintry mix. The snow was sticking to the grass and trees but not the roads. Of course they called for much more snow than we got. With the snowy gloomy weather we made cinnamon rolls for breakfast - yummmmy, and stayed in our pj's the whole day! It was the best! We just hung out and played with Ryan. I made oreo balls and finished up my chocolate candy molds. The oreo balls turned out great and oh so rich. I love baking around this time of year. I'm planning to make my favorite on christmas, banana pudding!!!

These are a few of my favorite things!

Thought I would share our Christmas card since they have been mailed out and most of our friends and family have received them. I love it and very happy with how it came out.

We went to JCPenny to have our picture done a couple weeks ago. I made the appointment for early morning, between feedings and after Ryan's morning nap. We got there on time but ended up waiting, waiting and waiting some more. I was getting worried as Ryan was beginning to melt. Finally after 50 min. they called us back. They got only 3 pics before Ryan just melted in my arms. He would smile at the lady then just bust out crying. Not good! I thought if I fed him he would be better so I went to get his bottle. I started feeding him and asked the lady if we could view the pics that they did get. Maybe they got a good one that we could go with. Praise the Lord we had a winner! We all looked good and were all smiling! Yay!

I love this time of year. One of my favorite things is checking the mail and opening all the Christmas cards! I love the technology we have today with email, facebook, blogs and twitter but nothing beats running to your mailbox and seeing your friends. I wish I enjoyed checking the mailbox this much all year round, ha!

Baby It's Cold Outside!!!

It's been soooo cold here we've been staying home alot! This afternoon we did get out to get some Christmas presents, run to the post office and run in Hobby Lobby! I just love HL! I could have spent all night in there! Sometimes I wish I could just wipe my kitchen counters and wall clean and start all over with decorations and accessories!

And I tell ya, the post office was packed to no one's surprise but I never wait in line. I use the APM (Automated Postal Machine). It's the best thing since slice bread! I can buy stamps, send envelops and packages without having to wait in loooong lines. You do it all from a automated machine. I only wish our local Loveland post office had one. Does anyone else use these? Such a lifesaver. Plus you can still use them after the post office closes.

Six Months

Ryan - You are SIX months old!!!!

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO THESE DAYS?

• You weigh around 17 lbs - we will know for sure on Monday at your 6 month check-up
• Still in size 2-3 diapers
• You wear size 6-9 month clothes
• You are such a happy and easy baby. You are so easy going and always a good little boy.
• You love attention and love to flirt. When people smile at you you love to smile back at them.
• You are still on prevacid but we think you are outgrowing the acid reflux (praise the LORD). You still spit up but it's not as much!

• You love music, sometimes you serenade me in the car with Christmas songs!
• You continue to love your jumperoo and now enjoy your exasaucer alot more. You just move and turn from toy to toy in it.
• You sit facing out in your stroller now. Bittersweet for momma! I love that you can see all the action but I miss looking at you while strolling!
• You are still sleeping through the night. You take a 30-60 min. nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.

• We are looking forward to taking you on your second road trip to Memphis over Christmas.
• You are a great eater (now that you figured out that spoon, ha). You eat fruit in the morning and a veggie at night. You have eaten peas, green beans, carrots, applesauce, bananas, and this week you tried sweet potatoes and to no surprise to us you LOVED them.
• You were dedicated at church and all your family was there to see you!
• And the biggest milestone this month is you have TWO bottom teeth coming in!

I can't believe you are half a year old!!!!!

I hope the next 6 months don't go by so fast!!! We love you so much! You bring such joy and love to our lives! More than we ever could have imagined or dreamed!

Mellow Monday

Today Ryan and I chilled at home! It was nice to spend this Monday at home and not have anywhere to go! I was so proud of myself. I worked out this morning while Ryan played in his exasaucer. He did great! I was glad to get my workout over with and spend his nap time cleaning and getting some things done around the house.

I can't believe how fast this little boy is growing up! These are his 9 month pajamas...and they fit perfectly. I can't believe he will be 6 months old tomorrow. Where has the time gone?

He loves to hang out in his pj's all day too! Ha!

J O Y

We've had a busy and joyful weekend! Saturday we got up bright and early to view and pick out Ryan's 6 month photos. They were soooo cute and can't wait for them to come in.

Ryan has been chewing on EVERYTHING! Bless his heart! These two little chompers are really coming in.

This morning we enjoyed a great Christmas service at church. Then Ryan took a great 2 1/2 hour nap while I went grocery shopping!

Tonight we had our playgroup Christmas party at LaRosa's. It's a true Cincinnati favorite. Yum Yum Ryan did well but he did get a little fussy and we soon found out why...he fell asleep in my arms for about 45 min. I was shocked since he took 2 naps earlier today!

Cuttin teeth is hard work!!! ha!

And tonight we tried something new! I gave Ryan a sippy cup for the first time. He grabbed it right away but he wanted to chew on it. I don't think he realized there was water in there. I'm sure he will figure it out soon enough and enjoy it! Sweet potatoes were on the menu for Ryan tonight and to no surprise he LOVED them!