Its a girl!!...and other happenings

So the news is out - we found out last week the Lord is blessing us with a baby girl! As of last week she weighed in at 14 ounces and was healthy in every way. We are so excited to be able to experience having a girl. I was honestly thinking our baby was going to be a boy. It wasn't really a feeling or differences in pregnancy, I just assumed we would have a boy since we already have one. It took me a few days for it to really sink it that our baby was a she - I tend to say "he" when talking about our babies before we know! Josh was more convinced it was a girl though and he was right! So now we are thinking about nursery ideas and clothes, she will be a winter baby so thats quite a bit different from Ryan, who was born during the hottest summer on record! 

21 Weeks 

I thought I could do multiple posts for all the things we have had going on, or I could do one post and hopefully get everything in without making it too long! We have had a busy summer and although I've written about most of it, the last month or so has still been really busy!

Josh and I celebrated our second anniversary on Ryan's 1st birthday, but we hadn't had a chance to go out and celebrate, just the two of us. So last week, when my mom came to visit for a couple of days we took the opportunity to go on a date! We just went to dinner, but it was so nice to spend some time just the two of us, we are always grateful for those moments!

Dressed up for our date night

The beautiful dessert the waiter brought us for our anniversary!

Last week, Ryan and I also got to go home for what will probably be our last vacation before baby girl arrives! I wanted to have a chance to celebrate his birthday with family and although we missed Josh, who wasn't able to go, we enjoyed having a small birthday party for him. Josh did get to participate in the birthday party through skype so he got to see Ryan open his presents and eat his birthday cake.

We had a great time on our little vacation and Ryan and I flew home Wednesday night and. I'm thinking 12 months is possibly one of the more difficult ages to fly with. On all of our previous trips, he has done great, he sleeps during the whole flight. This time, he did not! He was tired but wanted to move all over the place. By the time he finally fell asleep we only had about 20 minutes before we landed. He was so tired though he slept through the entire process of everyone getting off the plane.

I am always terrible at keeping up with picture taking but I managed to get a few while we were on our trip.

Playing at grandmas

At the pool

Helping mommy pack

Camping

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to go camping with a group of families from our church. This was Ryan’s first camping trip and our first trip in about two years. We really enjoyed getting out in the mountains and enjoying fellowship with others and getting to know some new faces.

 We settled at a campsite in the mountains and it was beautiful! We could see the mountains and the lakes over the ridge from where we were camping and there were trees all around. We spent Saturday morning at the lake and although the water was ice cold it was a beautiful day for the lake and we even enjoyed dipping our feet in the water.

We weren’t quite sure how it would go with Ryan but he seemed to love it! He LOVED the tent and was all over the place walking and crawling over the air mattress and the sleeping bags.  He also loved playing in the dirt and with the sticks and rocks he could find. I so love watching him explore new things and figuring out what he likes and what he doesn’t like. We also learned he loves watermelon and probably would have eaten as much as we would have given him!

Playing in the dirt

Exploring the tent and loving it!

20 Weeks

20 Weeks

We are halfway through our second pregnancy and halfway to meeting our sweet little one. Our official due date is November 26. So we might be having a Thanksgiving baby – however I’m hoping he/she comes early so we can celebrate at home.

We are hoping to find out the baby’s gender at our ultrasound in a few weeks. So far, we don’t really have a feeling either way. With Ryan, deep down I was about 95% sure he was a boy.

 So far, this pregnancy is going well, I’ve been more tired than ever, but with my first I didn’t have a 1 year old to chase around so he definitely keeps me on my toes. We cant wait to meet this little one!

July 8

Josh and I are so thankful to be celebrating two years of marriage today.  We have learned so much about each other and about how a marriage under Christ should look. I am so thankful for such a loving husband who works hard and loves Ryan and me so much. The Lord has given us such a blessing in Ryan and we pray every day for his salvation and that he will grow to love the Lord. We are also thankful for the child we have on the way. We are halfway through the pregnancy and we are already excited for and praying for this little child that is going to join our family in a few months.

  

We are also celebrating Ryan’s first birthday today! One year ago he joined our family one day early.  It has amazed me how much he has grown and changed in a year!

Some milestones he is hitting…

He weighs 22 lbs 10 oz

He is talking all the time – although we have yet to hear many words that we can understand

He began walking about 3 weeks ago and is becoming more confidant in his ability to walk as he practices more and more.

He has started dancing when he hears music and it is so sweet to watch.

We love watching him experience new things and learn about the world around him!

11 Months!

Ryan is now 11 months old! I didn’t do an update for 10 months but he is changing soo fast. He is so so busy playing and crawling. He won’t sit still for more than 10 seconds and then he is off again.

These are some of the things he has been doing/is learning to do

Crawling everywhere. He would much rather be on the ground than be held right now.

Cruising. He is pulling up and walking around all the furniture

Walking – we have seen a few first steps – about 1 ½ before he falls but he is getting brave and is trying it more often. His favorite thing to do is walk behind his stroller and push it himself when we are at the store or on a walk.

Talking all the time. Sometimes I wonder if he is telling himself jokes because he will be talking and then just start laughing at himself. This also includes screeching. When he’s happy or having fun he just screams at the top of his lungs just for fun – this is not necessarily a skill we want to encourage – as there are times and places when it’s not appropriate but we are trying to teach him when he needs to be quieter.

Becoming more consistent in naptime length as well as bedtime. He consistently sleeps from 7-6:30 – which I thought would never happen.

In the last month or so I feel like he has changed from a baby to a little boy. He is showing more emotions and interests and likes and dislikes. We are so enjoying watching him grow. He loves to play and laugh and he is learning so many new things about the world!

Two Weeks of Adventure

It has been a BUSY start to our summer! When I started this blog, I had hopes of writing more often. But with a very busy 11 month old, the woes of the first trimester of pregnancy and various other things, it has fallen behind J 

This post is very text heavy – I am horrible at taking pictures so I will add the few I have J

Awhile back, we decided we needed a vacation! We decided on St. Louis as our destination because it was close to my home so that we could leave Ryan with family and have some time for just the two of us – but we were also close enough that if he had a hard time without us we could come back.

We started out by driving to Kansas City and spending a day there. Then we (Josh, Ryan and I and my mom and sister) drove to Columbia. We stopped at Shakespeare’s Pizza for lunch. This is one of the places we definitely recommend to eat in Columbia – some of the best pizza we’ve ever had J While we were there, Josh’s sister Heather and her boyfriend Ryan met us for lunch and a walk around Mizzou’s campus. It was so fun to see all the places we used to pass by everyday and all the new changes even since I was there – just 2 short years ago.

Ready for some pizza!

Becoming familiar with his future school 

Learning about what grass feels like from Nanny Heather - this trip was his first real experience with grass since we don't have much here!

We had to take a picture on the Columns 

"This sun is so bright!!"
While he was crawling on the grass he rolled down a small hill and I think the sun was so bright he couldn't roll over to get up so he just laid there

Later Saturday, we drove to O’fallon (this was a busy day! But we had so many things we wanted to do in such a short amount of time). Josh went to high school here and some of his best friends are still there so they spend the evening having a guys night and catching up while my mom, Steph and I hung out in the hotel and watched movies in the dark on the laptop so Ryan would stay asleep – traveling with a small child is a very new experience!

Sunday we went to the St. Louis Zoo – which is free! However it was very hot and very crowded so we didn’t stay long. We ended up back at the hotel for an afternoon nap and dinner with a longtime family friend.

Monday, my mom and Steph took Ryan back to KC with them and Josh and I headed to St. Louis for a few days on our own. We spent the afternoon/evening in Old St. Charles, Mo shopping and eating at some of the little café’s they had.

Tuesday, Josh and I went to the City Museum in St. Louis and also visited the St. Louis Arch. We both really enjoy history and learning about new things. Tuesday night we stayed at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast in St. Louis the Fleur de Lys. I would recommend it to anyone staying in St. Louis. It was the perfect relaxing end to our mini vacation as we headed home Wednesday.

At the top of the Arch

At the top of the Arch

View from the Top

Another View from the top

Josh, Ryan and I drove back to the Springs on Friday and my mom and Steph then joined us on Saturday for a vacation extension! We spend the next week going shopping and going to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo – post on that later. Ryan and I drove back to KC with them on Thursday so I could attend a ceremony for Steph’s school – she has one year left! And we flew home Saturday night – after a 2 hour flight delay.

When I look back it’s almost exhausting just to read about all we did and I left out quite a bit – otherwise this post would be more like a novel! but we had a great time with family and friends and we wish we could go back more often!

Springtime and Snow!

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. I can open the windows and go on walks with Ryan and enjoy being outside. This past weekend was perfect for all of those things and as I sit here today watching the snow fall - on May 1st! I am thinking back to the weekend we had.

My mom and sister made a quick trip out to visit since it's been a while since we have seen them. It was the perfect weekend for visiting! On Saturday, we made a picnic lunch and went to a local park  to enjoy the outdoors and put Ryan on a swing for the first time. It was so nice to just be outside in the fresh air and spend time together. Ryan wasn't so sure about the swing at first but I think he enjoyed it by the time he was done.

"I'm not so sure about this swing thing" 

By the end he was laughing and kicking his feet - I would say he liked it!

Feeling new trees - again he's not so sure about it!

Josh and I also got an opportunity to go on a date - which are few and far between these days. Its always a blessing to be able to spend time together without having distractions. We went to Red Lobster - one of our favorites and then went to a movie. Usually there are 4-5 movies out that we want to see, but this time we had a difficult time picking one. We ended up seeing "The Croods." It was pretty cute and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

I am so thankful that the Lord has us stationed close enough to family that we can see them on a regular basis - even if it is a long drive.

Choosing a book to read before bed - his robe is getting a little small :)

Cuddling with Aunt Steph after a nap

Playing with Grandma