Valentines Day and Little Ears

Last night Matt and I had a Valentines day date night. My in-laws came over to babysit Ryan while we enjoyed a night out. We headed to Montgomery Inn for dinner. It was yummy! After dinner we went to Borders to look around and get coffee. It was nice to enjoy dinner and some time just to ourselves. I picked up the new Beth Moore book "So Long Insecurity"! I'm so excited to start it. Matt bought "Eat This, Not That". The book is full of eye opening facts about foods you should avoid and foods that are better choices.

When we woke up this morning I thought we would be heading to church then home for a relaxing Sunday. Not exactly how things went. Ryan woke up this morning not his happy self. Matt noted he was fussy during breakfast and didn't drink much of his bottle. I was upstairs getting ready for church. I came down and noticed Ryan was really warm. At first I thought it was his teeth but I had a feeling it was something more. We took his temp and he had a fever of 101. Poor baby! You could just tell he felt bad. We decided to go ahead and head to urgent care. They are calling for 5-8 inches of snow by morning and I didn't want to fight that taking Ryan to the dr so we headed to urgent care.

At urgent care the doctor confirmed that Ryan has an ear infection. Bless his little heart! The cool thing was the doctor is a mom from my MOPS group. She's a sweetheart and was so sweet with Ryan. It was nice to see a familiar face.

I've enjoyed snuggling with him today. He's been really clingy to momma! He's sleeping a lot and still has a little fever. I'm hoping he feels better tomorrow!

Valentines Memories

When I think of Valentine's Day I don't have a specific memory really. Since we've been married we usually have a low key V-day and go to dinner and exchange cards. We usually don't even do gifts! It's a fun day to remind and tell your sweetheart how much you love and admire them!

My favorite memory of Valentines day was back in 2004 when Matt and I had just started dating long distance and I flew from Memphis to State College, PA to spend v-day with him. I had never been to PA. They had a ton of snow at the time and I remember saying "I've never seen this much snow, ha"! And really, I had never seen that much snow! Matt made a chocolate chip, peanut butter cheesecake for dessert and gave me a beautiful heart necklace. It was a wonderful Valentine's day and one I will never forget.

This year for Valentine's day my in-laws are coming over to babysit Ryan and we are going to dinner at one of our favorite Cincy places...Montgomery Inn. They have great ribs and awesome saratoga chips (kinda like fries/potato chips). I'm thinking we will go get coffee afterwards and just sit and chat, something we don't get to do enough. Looking forward to spending some sweet time with my sweetie!

Coffee Cake and MOPS

Last night I made this Cinnamon Sour Cream Coffee Cake for my MOPS today. No, it wasn't Paula Deen but it was still good! Ha! Here is the recipe.

CINNAMON SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

Ingredients: 1 package butter recipe golden cake mix

- 1/4 cup flour

- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

- 2 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

- 1 cup sour cream

- 4 eggs

- 1/3 cup vegetable oil

- 1/4 cup water

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: Put cake and flour in bowl and mix. Measure out 2 Tbsp into a separate small bowl. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans to small bowl. Add sour cream, eggs, oil, water and vanilla to large bowl. Spoon half the batter into a bundt pan. Scatter half the contents of the small bowl onto batter. Pour the rest of the batter on top then the remaining sugar and cinnamon on top of batter.

Bake on 350 degrees for 52-55 min.

After making and eating some of the cake this morning I think it needs an icing on top. I found an icing/glaze recipe in my Paula Deen cookbook and here it is.

Mix together:

- 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

- 1/4 cup milk

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

This morning we went to MOPS and it was so good. Our speaker talked about family devotions. Matt and I read a short devotion at night for couples. I can't wait til Ryan is old enough to do devotions with him. We read Bible stories to him at night but of course his little mind doesn't quit comprehend them just yet. Do you do devotions with your kids and if so what do you do? Our speaker is all about hands on devotions. Taking an illustration and involving the kids with fun activities. It really helps bring home the message. I left being very encouraged to begin family devotions as soon as Ryan is old enough.

Weekend in Connecticut

Our weekend started on Friday with Ryan and I flying to Connecticut to visit our friends. My best friend Rachel lives in Oxford with her husband Eric and adorable 21 month old son Alex. (Baby #2 will arrive in just a few weeks!) I was worried how Ryan would do on his first flight. Our flight was delayed an hour but I had everything planned and laid out to feed him on the plane and hope he would nap. We walked the terminal before boarding, he's good as long as we are moving. He did awesome!!! He took a bottle as we were taking off then napped for a good hour, woohoo! The flight was an hour and half. The last 30 min he was just content in my lap playing with my fingers and his toes. So proud of my big boy!

We got to Rachel's house and relaxed and let the boys play. They are so cute together.

Alex loved showing Ryan his toys and things. Ryan was just enamored with Alex and would just stare at him. It was really cute. You could tell he was studying him and trying to figure this little person out. Alex is going to be such a good big brother. He wanted to play with him and know where he was all the time. If Ryan was napping he would say "Ryun - that's what he called him - where are you". It was the cutest and sweetest thing. Love him so.

Saturday we took the boys to swimming lessons at the Y. Ryan LOVED it. It was his first time in the pool and he was a natural water baby. He just kicked and played in the water. No fear at all! He had the best time. I can't wait to take him to the pool again. So excited our gym has an indoor pool.

Saturday night we had a 30th birthday party for Raych. She's so cute sporting her 36 week baby belly. She looked amazing but she's ready for this baby to be here. They don't know what they are having and everyone is dying to know what it is. My guess is boy but I would love for her to have a girl since she has a boy. It's so funny how I know so many of their friends since I've met them a few times at their wedding and showers. It was soooo fun and such a good party. The Tichy's know how to through a good party ;)

Alex totally thought the party was for him. Lots of kids where there for him to play with. As we were singing Happy Birthday Alex was just smiling and looked so excited. He totally thought it was all for him. So cute! Such a great and fun night!

We flew back yesterday afternoon and Ryan did wonderful on the flight home. We boarded the plane and took our seat. The flight attendant came by and said I could move to seat 3BC if I wanted so of course I said, heck yeah! I made my way to the front of the plane and realized we were sitting in the very first row with no one beside us (I think it's called bulk head). I was thrilled, we had the best seat on the flight. Ryan took a bottle as we took off. He played a little then fell fast asleep for the remainder of the flight. He even stayed asleep during landing. So so so glad he did great and was a terrific flyer! Rock on! He's just the sweetest boy and I just love him to pieces!

We had such a wonderful and fun weekend. Now I must get reaquainted with my washer and dryer, ha!

Big Sexy Hair

Kelly is hosting Beauty Tips and Favorite Products over at Show Us Your Life Friday. Here are just a few of my favs.

I can't live without my BIG SEXY HAIR! My friend Hailey in college introduced me to it and after that it was no turning back. It really holds without feeling sticky. And you can poof it up with the hands throughout the day and it's "poofs" well! Love it!!!

I found this Bed Head Straightner back in college and LOVE it. It works great and doesn't way to hair down. I found out about a year ago that they were discontinuing this product and I freaked and bought like 12 cans. I have 2 cans left. Not sure what I'm gonna do when I run out. Any suggestions???

And I love this moisturizer! It works great especially in the winter when my face is really dry. Feels refreshing and soft!

So there they are, my favorite beauty products. What are some of yours???

Thursday

Last night Ryan had a warm welcome for Daddy when he got home. I was cooking dinner and Ryan was playing in his exausaucer. Matt came in and went to change clothes. He picked Ryan up and noticed he had a dirty diaper. He goes to change him and it was bad, really bad! Ryan had once again blow out his diaper and somehow got poop everywhere. That's when Matt declared he was taking Ryan upstairs for a bath right away. He got him cleaned up and by the time they came back downstairs it was time to eat. Not exactly how he was picturing spending quality time with Ryan but sometimes it's just the way it goes!

Ryan and I headed out early this morning to run to Target for last minute items for our trip. I am so excited and just praying Ryan does great. I picked up a new toy for Ryan, hoping it will keep him occupied on the plane. And let me assure you my diaper bags looks like it belongs to Santa Claus with all the toys and teethers to keep Ryan busy, ha! I love Target, I could stay in there for hours. It seems I always end of buying more than I planned and spend more money. We were checking out and I saw these.

They are spanish candy hearts. Who knew they had these? I've never noticed them before.

We had to take a run by sonic on the way home to get a strawberry slush, my fav. It was so good and so worth it.

Who needs toys when you can just chew on the strap?

Organization

Today was a clean and catch up day. We started off the morning at CRT (cardio resistance training) where I got my bootie kicked. I'm gonna be sore tomorrow! I did laundry and finally got some vacuuming done. It was a productive day!

Today I was really motivated to get things marked off my to do list. One of the things that has been on my list for a few weeks is to organize Ryan's closet and pack up some clothes he has outgrown. It's sad to me to think he has outgrown all the 3-6 month clothes on the top rack in this picture. He is growing so fast, too fast, he needs to stop.

Before

I took all the clothes on the top rack (they were 3-6 month sizes) and packed them away! Just so you don't think I'm nuts, this is one side of the closet and the other side is pretty empty with no clothes.

After

So refreshing!!! I was glad to get his closet cleaned out and get ready for SPRING! I packed almost a whole box full of clothes. It's amazing how fast they outgrow things. Now I just need to tackle the other closets in the house.