Pastel and Boo Boo

As a gift for our birthdays, my mom and stepfather had this pastel done of us and Aldergator. I am 5 months prego in the pic. Thanks again, we love it!

The other pic is Ryan with his famous boo-boo face! How can you EVER say no to a fotch like that!!?? It has taken us days to capture this!

Ryan's 1st Sitter

We decided to do our first date day without Ryan. It was the first time for him to be with a sitter. It did not go so well. My cousin watched him over at my grandma's house. Sean and I went to the movies and saw Time Traveler's Wife. It was really good, but REALLY sad. Any way, when we picked him up, he was not a happy camper. I guess he did fairly well with my grandma and my cousin. I couldn't really get the same answer. My cousin said he did fine, my grandma said he fussed and my dad said he was fussing when he got there, but that he was able to calm him down. So, grandma asked if we would like to stay for dinner and things just got way worse. He cried for a LONG time. At times, he was really, really screaming. He was not able to breathe and was just having a really difficult time. He cried from 6:45 until 9. He stopped after we had gotten him home and calmed him down finally and fed him. It was horrible. I'm not sure if it is because we left him, because of who he was with or where he was (not being at home), being off of his schedule, because he had to have my milk in a bottle or all the above or none of the above. It just made me feel like a 3 hour date night is not worth it to come back to my baby so upset. I know it is worth it and we just will have to do it again to get him used to it, but it was emotionally taxing for all of us, especially me and Ryan! He is sound asleep now and I am exhausted.

Oh and to top it all of, I was just doing our finances and see that I lost $20. I had taken it out to give to my cousin for sitting, but she wouldn't take it. I threw it on top of the diaper bag and now it's gone. Ugh!

Tampa Bay Ski Team

So, we decided to go to Oldsmar and see the Tampa Bay Ski team practice. It's free! This is what the weather looked like when we got there.



However, it really only sprinkled, and we just sat in our car for that part.







Ryan after the ski show on the way home.



Last night was the lock in with the youth group at church. We did the scavenger hunt and Ryan was so good. It was hilarious - all the things we did around town with the kids (asking a cop to sing "Bad Boys", getting a fireman's autograph and asking if he has seen 101 Dalmatians, get strangers to sing and do the motions to YMCA, etc, etc.). It was fun and our team won! Then we had pizza with them. Then it was off to do laser tag, but Ryan started getting fussy, so we decided just to come home. He had, had a big day and was totally off schedule. During the day we had gone to my friend's daughter's 2nd birthday party. It was really cute. She had baked ladybug cupcakes and hand painted ladybug gift bags for the kiddos. Ryan got one, too. :O) Sean even got to stop by on his lunch break.

Today, while Sean worked, me and Ryan went to the kids consignment store. I got 4 books, a Boppy slipcover and 2 kiddo movies for $10!. Then to BRU to get a new diaper bag, a teether cloth and a monkey picture for his nursery. Ryan got a check from his GREAT GREAT grandmother, so it was a fun little shopping trip and I think I did pretty well money wise.

Now we are back home and watching our first preseason football games - the Bucs on one TV and the Bears on another one (the smaller TV of course!). hee hee

Hey Becca, look, it's a happy Ryan! :) yay lol

Heritage Village and our weekend

Here are some pics from the weekend, and one of my SIL and Ryan when she was here.








We went to Heritage Village on Saturday. It's a free park and it was really interesting. We enjoyed ourselves. It's basically a history of Pinellas County and they had different buildings and homes (the real ones, only a few were replicas) that you could walk through. Only horrible thing is I saw not one, but TWO snakes! I think I handled myself well; Sean does not, well he said I did better than I would have 3 years ago, so improvement has been made! We went for coffee and rented Bride Wars after that. Yesterday we went to church, Ryan slept through service, so we actually got to hear the message. We took Ryan swimming in Dad's pool. We had gone to K-Mart to get him a floatie, but they were 6+ months. He's still not old enough. Aaawwww! We ate dinner at Chili's and rented Transformers. Friday was Capagna's and cat sitting.

Ryan laughed out loud for the first time on Saturday. He has a ton of different noises now. He also is starting to bat at things and he is definitely paying more attention to objects. He will hold onto things much more now, too, especially my hair...ouch!

OMGosh!

So, Friday is cleaning day. I thought I would probably not get much done. I fed Ryan and then put him down for a nap (yes, in the swing), but he only slept like half an hour or so. I tried changing him, walking him, going outside with him, his chair, etc., etc., so I finally decided he was still hungry. After feeding him and changing him again, I tried to put him in some of his different play things, but no. So, then I got out the carrier and he was totally content. Way harder on Mommy to clean with him attached to me, but hey I got a good workout and that's good because I have been feeling super fat lately. God has a sense of humor! Ryan just needed his mommy and that made me feel wonderful. So, we finished up, all I had to do was vacuum the stairs, which I can't do with him in the carrier. I gave him a quick pep talk and some cuddles on our bed and then I put him in his crib. I put him in there to look at his mobile and he loves looking at the patterns on his bumper. He has NEVER fallen asleep in there. We have NEVER even tried. I was NOT trying this time. I was just hoping his mobile and bumper would keep him occupied for 5 minutes so I could finish up cleaning. I walk in his room after I'm done and lo and behold, this is what I find:



He has been in there sleeping since 4 and it is 4:30 now! I am in shock! I am happy, but also a little sad. My little one is turning into a big boy who can sleep in his crib all by himself AND put himself to sleep!

Parenting Tip #385

Long- haired, furry stuffed animals are not safe around unsupervised 3-month-olds. Me and Ryan had some errands to run this afternoon and I thought I would give him a stuffed animal to hang onto while riding in the car. He seemed to really like my idea, as well. Well, when we got to our first stop and I go to get him out of the back seat, he has FUR all over his mouth, in his mouth, in between his clenched fingers, on his legs, etc., etc. !!!!!!!!! AAAHHH! Lesson learned! I was wondering why I didn't hear a peep from him the whole way there! I have the mirror, but I couldn't see what he was doing. Stinker!

So, I accepted my spot into the nursing program and sent in my letter. 4 1/2 months until school starts........again! And a special thanks to my darling husband who is going to put off going back to school for the time being so that I can go back.......again. He is such a wonderful support system. We had decided that it would not be good for us to have Ry, both in school and him working full-time. It would just be too much for our baby and our marriage and everything else we have going on. He will get his degree after I am done. I guess my AS was not enough....and my 270 credits! Sheesh!