A Royal wedding, a playdate and date night

I joined the millions of people who got up early on this Friday, April 29th to watch the Royal Wedding live. I haven't been one of those waiting on the edge of my seat counting down the days to the royal nuptials but I must say that when I turned the tv on I was immediately mesmerized and drawn into all the excitement!

Catherine's dress was absolutely beautiful, regal and timeless. I loved it! It reminded me of Grace Kelly's wedding dress. I was impressed with the Christian themes throughout the ceremony! And the music was just spectacular. Can you imagine having that kind of choir and orchestra at your wedding? Simply amazing!

One of my favorite parts of the wedding was hearing the church bells as they walked out of Westminister Abbey! I also loved watching the pomp and circumstance of tradition after the ceremony of the royals headed to the Buckingham Palace.

This morning we went over to my friend Anissa's for a playdate. Ryan enjoyed seeing baby Quinn and of course just looking, not touching! He and Elizabeth had a blast playing together! Ryan immediately ran in and began playing with all her toys! Funny how we can have the same exact toys at our house but they are so much more fun at someone else's house! ha!

Tonight we had date night with our small group from church. It was our very first time leaving Ryan with someone other than family. I was a little nervous about it but he did great. A sweet high school girl from our church watched Ryan for us so we could go out. Her mom is our mentor mom in Mops. We had so much fun with friends and really enjoyed having a nice dinner, great fellowship and lots of laughs! It was a great evening after a great day!

Thursday

This morning we had MOPS and it was great as usual! Our guest speaker was the mother-in-law of one of our moms. She is a clinical psychologist and talked about personalities, specifically how to understand your child's personality. I was a psychology minor in college so I love the study of personalities and how do people tick. So many times I look at Ryan and wonder what type of little boy, teenager and young man will he be. He has such a sweet, fun and happy personality and I hope that never changes.

We came home from Mops and ate lunch then Ryan went down for his nap. I am still working out but not as intense as I have been. I do my cardio resistance class twice a week and walk on the treadmill at an incline 3 days a week. My energy and stamina are definitely lower now that I'm so far along. So many days I feel ready to just hang up my workout shoes but I know I need to workout, I will be a better recovery and it's good for the baby too.

And how many of you are setting your alarms for bright and early in the morning to watch the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate??? I know I will be watching! I am fascinated with the royal family and of course the wedding is history in the making. I am looking forward to watching the wedding and all the royal festivities!

A few things

It has rained here for the last several days in a row! The rivers are flooding and the rain just will not stop. The news has nicknamed it Cinci-attle! It has been awful! We have been trapped inside while it's so dreary outside. I wouldn't make it in Seattle I am SO over the rain and can't wait for the sun to come out again! It's suppose to be a nice sunny and warm weekend! Looking forward to getting out with our family!

I made these Easter cookies over the weekend! My favorite is the white rabbit and yellow chick!

Ryan has been a trooper sleeping through all the thunderstorms the past few nights. We have been putting him to bed at the same time, between 7:30-8 but he will lay in his bed for hours just playing until he finally falls asleep. I do not know what is going on with this boy! Since he is not waking up in the night and sleeping til his normal 8:30-9am we don't plan to change his bedtime anytime soon! I'm glad he goes to bed and plays well in his crib til he falls asleep.

I got the drapes for Ryan's new room today! You can't really see them well but those are the curtain rods in the picture too. I am excited about getting these up this weekend and moving Ryan into his new room.

I also picked up this sounds machine for Ryan. Has anyone ever used one of these? Right now we have a humidifier running in his room. We always play his lullaby cd when we put him to bed but the humidifier helps muffle any other noise. We don't need the humidifier with the summer approaching and with baby #2 coming I thought he needed something to drown out any noise. Don't want the baby crying in the middle of the night waking him up, though he is a pretty good sleeper.

30 Weeks

I'm 30 weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 30 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby D is the size of a head of cabbage

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 7 lbs
(Yes - it's weird that I haven't gained much. I think part of it is eating healthier this time around and working out more)

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants but everything else is regular.

Gender: It's a boy!!!! Baby boys' name will be coming soon!

Movement: I've been feeling the baby a lot more lately! I feel him all over my stomach! He is very active at night!

Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty good!

What I miss: Nothing really - maybe sleeping on my stomach? Or bending over? ha! Even though I have a love/hate relationship with running I think I miss being able to run!

Cravings: Fruit

Symptoms: Mostly tiredness, a few Braxton Hicks, and Oh the HEARTBURN!!!!! I eat tums like they are candy! I look at food and get heartburn!

Best Moment this week: Having my family here visiting and my mom feeling the baby move.

I'm starting to feel the affects of carrying around a 3 lb baby in my belly. My back hurts and I can't sit in one spot for too long. I love feeling all the movements in my belly but I am just plum exhausted by the end of the day! I was asking my BF Rachel the other day if she was ready to have her second baby before she was ready to have her first. With Ryan I didn't hit that "wall" until about 38 weeks where I was ready for him to come out. This time around I think the "wall" will come sooner! Ryan takes all my energy and I'm looking forward to feeling "normal" again soon! I am so thankful and blessed to have such a good pregnancies! And so blessed to have sweet, healthy babies!

Happy Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! My parents and brother came up on Thursday night and spent the weekend with us. They went home this morning. I miss them lots so we love when they come visit. Ryan called my mom Nana for the first time this weekend! It was so sweet hearing him call her by name.

We all went to church Easter morning then to DeSha's for brunch. Matt's dad, step mom, sister and brother-in-law joined us for family brunch.

The Easter bunny came to see Ryan! He got lots of fun things this year. He got play-doh, sidewalk chalk, a cookie monster book, a tag junior book, bubbles and a bubble gun and of course a chocolate bunny.

Ryan checking out what the Easter bunny brought him!

Such a cutie eating his waffle before leaving for church!

Of course we were running late to church as usual so we didn't get to take pictures at home. We decided to take pictures at church after the service and so glad we did. Love the adorable pictures we got!

Ryan was too busy running around to sit in anyone's lap but I thought this picture of my brother and my dad turned out really cute!

My mom and I before church. This is my new favorite picture of us!

The color this year was definitely purple! I saw so many people wearing purple at church!

My handsome little man

LOVE this picture of Ryan and Matt! I think Ryan is looking more and more like Ryan every day! I do still see some of my features in him but I think he looks alot like his daddy!

Ryan with his Nana and Granddad!

This is the first year that Ryan was old enough to participate in Easter traditions. We didn't dye Easter eggs this year but I'm sure we will next year. So wild to think that I will have two boys running around next Easter!

After Ryan's afternoon nap we had an Easter egg hunt in the basement. The original plan was to do an egg hunt outside but it rained the entire weekend! Yuck!!! So ready for the rain to go away and to see some sunshine! At least it's not freezing outside!

Ryan caught on very quickly and loved finding the eggs. He opened every egg looking for some goodies inside! We will definitely have to do more egg hunts on rainy days! It was so fun watching him get so excited every time he would find one.

It was a wonderful Easter weekend filled with fun Easter traditions! I loved reading to Ryan about the Easter story and telling about how Jesus is alive and how He rose from the dead. I cherish the moments I can share with him about our savior and how much Jesus loves him!

22 Months

Ryan - You are 22 months old!!!! In just two short months you will turn TWO!!!!

What have you been up to this month???

You weigh 26 lbs and wear size 4 diapers. You wear size 24 month - 2T clothes and size 6 shoe.

Your personality grows more and more every day! You love to laugh and you make us laugh all the time.

He is talking more. You love to say what a dog, lion and sheep say. You love to say Nana. He looks at my mom and says Nana all the time. His favorite things to say are dadda and to tell the dogs "sit".

You absolutely love water. You love to fill up your cup in the tub and pour water over yourself. You are so happy in the tub and you absolutely loved playing the ocean last week at the beach.

You have to carry something in your hands all the time. It's amazing how many things end up in the car because you have to take something in the car when we leave the house. Usually a toy or stuffed animal or book.

Lately we noticed you like to carry around your pajama shirt and suck your thumb. You usually only suck your thumb when you are in your bed but if your pajama shirt is around you will grab it and start sucking your thumb. It's your security blanket. It doesn't have to be the same pajama shirt but just a pajama shirt. So funny!!!

You took your second airplane ride last week on vacation. You did really good especially with a 2 hour delay coming home. We are so thankful you are such a good traveler.

You are the sweetest little boy and everyone constantly tells us what a smiley boy you are. You smile all the time. You are at a really fun age. You are understand more and more what we say. I can't wait til I can really carry on a conversation with you.

When I look back at pictures from just one year ago I can't believe how fast you are growing up. You are getting so big! You are such a delight and we love every crazy and exhausting minute of being your mom and dad. We love you so much Monkey!!!

St. George Island Part 3

The beach was absolutely beautiful at sunset. We took the kids down to the water to walk a couple of nights. It was so fun and the kids loved playing in the sand and picking up sea shells. Here are some of the family pics we took on the beach!

He didn't like the sand on his hands. He was holding his hand up wanting me to get the sand off.

Ryan would grab my hand and walk towards the water. He loved putting his feet in the water and watching the waves come up to his feet.

Watching the waves with Daddy!

I loves these two pictures! They just crack me up!

The guys went fishing one day and caught 31 fish! They paid someone to clean them and brought them home to cook! We fried them up and they were soooo good! Matt, who doens't normally like fish, ate it up and really liked it! The guys also bought some shrimp right off the boat from some fisherman who had just come in for the day. Eric was showing the kids the shrimps!

Ryan was telling the fish "bye-bye" here! hahahaha! He had seen enough!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip! Lillian Grace was NOT impressed with the shrimp the guys brought home!

Matt and I before our date night out! We went to the same place that Rachel and Eric went, The Boss Oyster. Neither of us are crazy about seafood but it was fun to eat right on the water. The only problem was the seagulls were diving for our food!

The Weavers - this is my favorite pic of them!

The Tichy's

One last beautiful sunrise on the morning we left!

The girls and our kiddos! Rachel with Alex and Ana, Katie with Lillian Grace and Me and Ryan. Love these girls and so thankful to have them in my life and call them friends! Who knew when we met so many years ago that we would all get married within one year of each other and all start our families around the same time. Love these friends and can't wait to go on vacation with them again!