Friday, December 30, 2011

Ryan - 15 Months

Dear Ryan, 

Now you are 15 months old. Your 14th month was a very busy one, with Mommy waist-deep in a work project that took me to Boise for the day and back -- the longest time we'd been apart from each other. You and Daddy did fabulously together while I was gone. 

Your 4 top teeth really came in, but it was a difficult month food-wise. You were bored with many of the foods that you'd been eating for awhile, and rejecting almost all of our suggestions for things to eat. It made me a little crazy as you started nursing more, which was not the direction I wanted to go in. But towards the end of the month, with some helpful suggestions from other mamas, I found a bunch of new foods to add to your diet and you have been happily eating more since then. Your favorite at the moment is brown rice toast. I hope you continue to like it for awhile!! 
Smoothies are another favorite, thank goodness. I like to sneak coconut milk or almond butter into them to give you more calories and protein and to help both of us get a good night's sleep. It works most of the time!
The playroom was a fun discovery for you this month. You knew it existed, but you came to realize how much you enjoy having a cozy little place for you to go and be comfortable by yourself.
Yup, you still LOVE to play with balls.
And now you love to read, just like your big brother.
We got together for a Christmas party with friends and you had fun doing parallel play with friend Oliver.
One day you really needed a nap but fought the nap so hard. Eventually there just wasn't any milk left and you cried and cried and somehow wedged yourself into this position and finally fell asleep. It was so sad and so funny at the same time. Sigh.
An attempt to get you to eat by presenting you with multiple options. It was semi-successful.
You've been a very busy, growing little boy. And sometimes you needed a break from all that busyness and growing, and sticking with mama was just the thing.
Juice containers make really good toys.
I had to get a picture of the sweet curls on the back of your head. They get tangled and your least-favorite thing is when I get the knots out. But they are so beautiful.
My sweet, sweet little one. I love watching you grow. At the end of this month you had a low-grade fever for 5 days (over Christmas, of course) and when the fever finally broke I could see obvious signs of growth -- you were taller and you started adding more words to your vocabulary. You also hug more and kiss us and pat our backs when we hold you.
We love you so much, Ryan.

Hold Up!

...new posts coming soon.


Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas 2011

Christmas! Jake got this cool computerized globe from family friends. It can be played in either English or Spanish, very cool. Right now he is learning the names of the states and also the names of the continents. 
 Then we went to Black Butte for Christmas, arriving the afternoon of the 24th.
 Christmas Eve dinner.
 Decorations.
 Holiday spirit.
 Beautiful, cute, sweet, awesome boys of mine. New pajamas and Santa socks.
 Stockings.
 Laughter.
 Reading Christmas stories.
 Presents under the tree.

Christmas morning! A happy Jake.
 And Ryan!


 Merry Christmas from the 4 of us!


 Papa holding up his ornament from Jake. This year Jake decided he wanted to give a present to everyone. So sweet.

 New helmet. Cool.
Christmas Day nap. Sweet baby.
 Then to the Lodge for Christmas day buffet dinner!



 Ryan discovered he loves cranberry sauce. He just can't keep his eyes open for the camera flash.
 Looking good!



Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Winter Solstice 2011

We decided to have a party to celebrate the winter solstice. Corky, Sara Beth, and Guthrie all joined us. 

The boys had a fabulous time playing balls with Corky. Some people never grow old ;)

Ryan's shirt says "Oh come let us adore me." Cute.


For our solstice dinner, we did individual, homemade pizzas. Available toppings included goat mozzarella, goat feta, parmesan, black olives, red peppers, artichokes, mushrooms, spinach, real pepperoni, and zucchini. A feast! We ended up with 9 individual pizzas and ate them all.

I wanted a picture of us pretty girls.
They boys insisted on another picture to show off my shirt.
After the 2 little boys went to bed, the 5 of us took a moment to appreciate the celebration and significance of solstice. First each one of us received a fire wash (smudging with sage stick). After everyone had done that, we each wrote down on paper things that we wanted to let go of for the previous year, things that were negative, fears, or bad habits. When everyone had finished their papers, we went outside and lit a fire and threw our papers into the fire and reflected for a moment (or rather, until we were too cold to stand outside barefoot any longer).

Then it was time to get happy and giddy again with this amazing cake! It was chocolate with peppermint and soooooooooo good.


Guthrie, the expert cake-cutter.
Then we got playful (I'm sure it wasn't the wine).



I took this picture to show off the pretty new earrings my aunt gave me.
Just in case you weren't already drooling...