That one time when we visited our sweet elderly neighbor......

So, there was this one time (tonight actually) where I decided it was high time to thank our sweet elderly neighbor for making us some corn chowder before Dylan was born.

Our neighbor will be 80 years old this week.  He is hard of hearing, so you have to talk really loud and face him if you want him to understand you and you have to expect that most of the neighborhood will have some idea of what you are conversing about, because he talks REALLY loud.  But bless his heart, he is just about the sweetest old guy out there.  He made us this corn chowder from scratch.  He peeled the corn off the cob and everything. But I digress....

I put Ryan and Dylan in the double stroller and hauled their combined weight over to his house with a hot pink THANK YOU card with a sparkly flower on it (Hey, it's what I could find Ok.) He seemed delighted to have our company and we were invited to sit down with him in his backyard.  

I had only expected to make a short trip....but bless his heart.....he was so excited to have company.  His daughter happened to be visiting too.  So while we discussed various birds that nested in his yard and the surrounding wildlife and flower gardens and such, Ryan ran around testing out various sticks and rocks and their effects on, oh, his CAR and what would happen if he dropped them in this man's bubbling garden fountain.   I kept checking behind me every few minutes to make sure nothing too devastating was happening.  Ryan appeared to be winding down.  He was simply trying to break into the man's house, which was locked.  That seemed safe enough.  I started to relax.  What a MISTAKE!

Suddenly, right in the middle of our conversation about wild turkeys, my neighbor's daughter clasped her hands over her mouth and made a gasping sort of noise.  I turned around quickly knowing it had something to do with Ryan and prepared to take away whatever it was he wasn't supposed to have or was about to break.....to come face to face with.....

My son's naked butt.  He had his pants around his ankles and was watering my neighbor's car.  He was taking a leak.  Peeing.  I. Was. Horrified.

And I don't think I've ever moved so fast.

And bless his heart.  All my neighbor said was "Son do you need to go to the bathroom?"  To which Ryan cheerfully replied "No, I done." 

More Family Fun

Yesterday, I'm pretty sure the whole family thought we were going to die of heat stroke at the zoo. 

Last night it rained and cooled everything down a lot.  It was confirmed around noon that the high was only 78 today and supposed to remain cloudy. 

So, we decided to take Rod and Linda and the kids to the Incline.  By the time we got out the door, the clouds had blown away and it was 90 degrees, muggy and sunny. 

It made for some great pictures though!

It's a Loooong way up!

Afterwords, everyone needed to cool off.  So we hit up Rita's for some Italian ice and then the kids changed into swimsuits for some sprinkler fun.

Strike two as far as the heat goes....maybe tomorrow we'll actually hit up the pool!

Birthdays and Other Good things...

Yesterday was my birthday.
Every year, I get really excited about it.  I love birthdays.  I blame my Mom for throwing us awesome parties when we were little.

Josh knows how hard it is for me to wait for my birthday gift.  This year he gave me a really good hint.  But I was way off track.  So when I opened my present, I was completely floored....

My very own Ipad!
The other fun thing that happened this weekend was Josh's sister and her family coming to visit us.  Linda's birthday is next week, but she had to wait for her present.
 We continued my birthday festivities by going to the zoo.  Andrew wanted to go to the pool.  By the end of the day, everyone was agreeing with Andrew that we should have gone to the pool, because it was super hot and muggy.

Ryan is the one with the pink princess umbrella.  It belonged to his cousins, but they were kind enough to share.
I guess I know what I'm getting him for his birthday.....
1

                                           The cousins in the shark tunnel.

Ryan and Katie at the petting zoo.

Ryan fell flat on his face and scraped his knee up.  Got up crying, walked a few steps, and tripped again.  A zoo worker saw this sad thing and gave him and his cousins a free log boat ride.

But only Andrew and Ryan were brave enough.  So they got to ride twice.

We ended the day with a meal at TGI Fridays.  All in all, a fabulous birthday.

Precious Moments

When I had Dylan, the final moments before he was FINALLY born are still a blur to me.   Probably because I was so drugged up.   It was a while before I was able to see him.  Probably because they were busy making sure he was ok and getting him to be more ok than he was.  No one announced to me that he was born when they pulled him out, or held him up for me to look at, or brought him over for me to see.  
My first clear memory that he was OUT was when a nurse came over with the paper showing his footprints.  Such cute little feet with long toes.
And now, one of my favorite things to do is to stroke and touch Dylan's soft little feet.  And his soft little head.  I love the way he zones in on your face, looks surprised and then gives a big gummy baby grin.   I love how his little head bobbles around as he tries to hold it up.  I love his little grunts and gurgles.  I love the way he nestles onto my chest when he sleeps all limp and warm. I love the way his eyes droop lower and lower as he drifts off to sleep. I love these precious moments with my baby.   
This stage of his life is flying by so fast.  He'll be six weeks old tomorrow.  He's already starting to be more alert during the day.  He's getting rolls of chub.  He's starting to give social smiles.  It won't be long before my sweet drowsy, warm, downy infant is no longer an infant but a big rambunctious boy!  I'm doing my best to enjoy every precious moment!

The Chick-Fil-A Cow

It all started with the Chick-Fil-A Cow.  You know that poor person who has to dress up as a giant cow and walk around waving at people and standing on the street corner holding a sign?

Ryan was first introduced to the Chick-Fil-A Cow around a year and a half.   We were eating outside and the cow stopped to wave at us.   We told him in cheerful voices to say hi to the cow.  So he said "HI Cow!" in a cheerful voice and then.....started screaming.   It frightened us all, including the cow who retreated inside. Since then, he's found every life-sized person-dressed-as-an-animal terrifying. We ran into a smiling shark at the zoo this week.  Observe his reaction: 

Poor thing.  He kept running away and hiding.   Finally, Josh picked him up and told him to close his eyes and we would walk past the shark to see the rest of the zoo.  And that's when we had a break through!

I'm so proud of you Ryan for overcoming your fear!

Check up

Dylan had his one month check-up yesterday.  My little giant weighed eleven pounds and 12 ounces and grew half an inch.

Way to grow big boy!

I Like Ryan Too

Ryan has recently begun to grasp the concept of "nice" and "mean."

He can tell me monsters and dragons are "mean" and princesses are "nice."
A few weeks ago, when Papa Turtle and his aunts were visiting, I overheard the following conversation (though a wall while I was feeding the baby).

Ryan to his Papa...." GET OUT! GET OUUUT MY ROOM! MYYYYY ROOM! I SLEEPIN!"

(For the record, he was anything BUT sleeping).

In this conversation Ryan was being mean.  He was kicking his Papa out of his room.

His Aunt Larissa pointed this out.  "Ryan, that's mean!"

This greatly upset him.

"I NOT a MEAN Ryan! I a NICE Ryan! I LIKE Ryan!"  

His Aunt backtracked (somewhat hindered by her own laughter) " I like Ryan too...."

 I'm glad it upsets him to hear he'd been mean.  I'm glad he does not want to be a mean little boy.  I'm also glad WE get to be the ones to teach and train him, 'cause I "like" him bunches!

A Big Beautiful Mess

After Dylan was born, the Doctor gave me some very strict directions with regard to my recovery.
Don't lift anything heavier than the baby (That means RYAN!)
Don't drive for two weeks
Drink a LOT of water
REST REST REST--this means NO bending over, cooking or cleaning for now.  

In fact, her exact words were "Everything will just need to be a big beautiful mess for now. You need to HEAL up first."   

My doctor knows me well enough to know how difficult it is for me to NOT to obsessively clean.  At the time I just stared at her woefully, but promised to be a good patient. 

So last night I ran into this in my room.....

A huge....depressing....pile.....of laundry.  I started twitching.

But then I remembered --- BIG BEAUTIFUL MESS.

I may have chanted it to myself a few times.

Then I told myself the good news.  That pile of depressing laundry was at least CLEAN laundry.
I could always fold it later, after I finished some more important things.

So I turned around and went downstairs and did some of this....

And a little of that....

And don't ya know?  That was way way more important. 















 

4th of July

Last week was the 4th of July.  The weather left something to be desired.  It was cloudy and rained in the evening right before the big fireworks were supposed to go off.   We weren't brave enough to go out and see city fireworks this year with our new addition.  But we had a great 4th of July anyway. 

Ryan's Aunt Larissa, Aunt Amanda, and Papa Turtle came to visit.  The cool weather didn't bother Ryan or his Aunts! They played in the sprinkler for a good hour or two!

 After dinner, we lit a few sparklers, smoke bombs and such. 

Happy 4th of July!