Eight Days :: Twenty-three Hundred Miles

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! We had a great week traveling the east coast! We left on Friday after meeting Coleson for his office Thanksgiving potluck lunch. The drive started a bit rough with Ryan throwing up two hours in, but we were able to get him cleaned up pretty well and he felt fine so we continued on. We made a quick stop at Chickfila in Greenville. We enjoyed seeing cousin Maxim (& Auntie Sarah & Uncle Christian too!), playing in the playplace, and eating dinner. We then spent the night with Aunt Lolly & Uncle Brian in North Carolina. Saturday brought yummy make-your-own-pizzas and lots of fun at the park. Saturday night we drove to Pennsylvania and stayed with my cousin Teri and her family, and Aunt Barb was there too. It was great fun having all the second cousins together. Ryan LoVeD playing with the big kids and they were so good about including him and letting him take turns too. Thanks guys! Teri & Brent treated us to a delicious lunch and then an afternoon photo shoot (TeriKlingerPhotography). Christmas cards coming soon :) Thanks Teri!!

Monday we ventured on to Massachusetts to see Coleson's Grandma. It was wonderful to introduce Great- Grandma and Abby! We were also able to spend some time with Great- Aunt Betty, Great- Uncle John, & cousin Ricky and Great- Uncle Rick, Great- Aunt Cheryl, & cousin Dan. It only took Ryan a few minutes to warm up to everyone and then he enjoyed all the attention - running in the halls, riding Great- Grandma's scooter with Rick, and all sorts of other fun :) Also a special thankyou to cousin Ricky for the Beanie Baby kitty cats. Ryan really loves his kitty cat! He hung on to him the rest of the trip and sleeps with him at night now that we are home! What a perfect and thoughtful gift! We are so glad we were able to make it up and hope we can return again soon.

Wednesday morning we back our trek back south stopping in Virginia at Coleson's dad's house. Jo-Ann's son and his family were there as well and Ryan & Layla Grace played together as well as a two and three year old can! Ryan still needs a little work on sharing, but we'll get there someday :) We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. A cold turkey was a blessing in disguise allowing us to work together and create a yummy meal complete with some special homemade sides (including sweet potatoes with both marshmallows & pecans - glad to know Coleson & I aren't the only couple who can't agree on the best topping!). And while we were there Suzzette was blessed with the best Thanksgiving present - a new baby girl! Baby Emma was born on Wednesday afternoon! We are very happy for her and looking forward to meeting her soon. Unfortunately all four of us caught a cold, so hospital visits didn't seem like a good idea.

Friday afternoon we left for home and arrived about 2:30 am Saturday morning (Coleson is now a fan of energy drinks!). It was a long drive, but worth it to avoid Saturday traffic and get the kids home & back in routine. Ryan & I are feeling much better, but Coleson & Abby are still pretty sickly. Coleson actually went to the doctor today and has a sinus infection, but is on antibotics now. We enjoyed resting on Saturday, watching football, and stopping by my parents' house for a little bit - nothing like your mom's homemade chicken soup when you're not feeling great! It was a somewhat rushed trip and we wish we could have spent more time with everyone, but we are so glad we were able to see as many family members as we did. Thank you to everyone who let us crash at their places! We are grateful for such a loving extended family and we look forward to seeing ya'll again soon!

Seven months old

Sometimes it's hard to believe Abby's already seven months old; other times it's hard to believe she's only seven months old! Either way, here she is looking her usual beautiful & happy self. We love you baby girl :)



Red & Black themed photos since her seven month happened to fall on a gameday Saturday.
Go Dawgs!

that's how it goes in everyday America

It's been a while since I've just written and chronicled the everyday going-on's of life. I suppose it's easier & quicker to just put up a few pictures of the last family outing and be done :) So while Abby's napping and Ryan's at preschool, perhaps I can think a little clearer than normal - at least my normal, not normal normal.

Abby's sitting up all by herself now. She started getting the hang of it about a month ago. Within the last two weeks she's gotten really good at it and I can sit her down & walk away and she'll stay there until she decides the grass is greener somewhere else and then she lays down & takes off. She's very close to crawling. Of course she can get anywhere she wants to go by rolling. But she's also trying very hard to crawl. She gets her belly off the ground and kinda rocks back & forth on her hands and knees. Recently she will actually move forward an inch or two before falling back on her belly. It's amazing how she picks up all the physical milestones so much sooner than Ryan did. Nice for Mommy too - it's so helpful that I can sit Abby down when I'm trying to keep up with two kids! Abby's also got her first tooth - not so nice for Mommy if you know what I mean :) It broke through probably three weeks ago. Just one so far and it's the bottom right one. Food is still a long, slow battle. Ryan definitely did the food better & faster. I was going to say she eats solids twice a day, but I suppose it'd be more accurate to say we attempt to feed her twice a day. She eats rice cereal & apple juice in the morning and a veggie in the evening- green peas this week, carrots are next. She makes a huge mess of everything by mushing it up in her mouth and then letting it drool back down her chin. The only way she consistently swallows is if she pushes it down with the three middle fingers on her right hand. At first we didn't like that, not really a very ladylike socially-acceptable way to eat. But that's about the only way so we've given up and said why not. Hopefully we can break her of that habit sooner than later.

Ryan is doing great, being a wonderful big brother ninety percent of the time. He is finally potty trained, yay! That was a long three- four months, but we've been accident free for well over a month now. I've never actually said that outloud, so I sure hope I didn't jinx anything :) He's also starting to overcome some of his fears. He slid down an enclosed tube slide for the first time two weeks ago and he's been loving them ever since. Last Friday we went to Chickfila and he kept talking about the playground and the slide and sure enough he went right in & slid down. Of course, he's picked up a few other fears in the meantime. Despite me consciously not using the word scared, he has certainly knows that word. His biggest fear seems to revolve around loud noises. He loves airplanes from a distance, but up close they are too loud. The other afternoon he ran back in the house when a low flying plane went by claiming it was going to get him. And he won't stay outside if Daddy is mowing, or even the next door neighbor. Not sure where this is all coming from, but I sure hope it passes quickly! His current favorite toys are still cars and blocks. For his birthday his teachers gave him a "little baby dinosaur in egg" Ryan plays with baby dinosaur every day - he's the perfect size to drive the cars. He particularly loves the cars and trucks that can pull things. He also loves to watch tv, although I limit that as much as possible. We have Nana's netflixs on our wii, so he can watch all sorts of fun stuff - he loves "Kipper Dog," Caillou, "penquins," & "backyard." (those last two translate to Pingu (I think it may be a British show?) and Backyardigans).

Our weeks are falling into a routine of preschool on Tuesday & Thursday and now that Ryan's three he's in speech at the local elementary school on Monday & Wednesday afternoons. He goes "real quick" to "my big kids school" and "see Colin." Weekends are the typical crazy busy fall weekends. Although November seems to be calmer than October was. Hard to believe it's already time to think about Christmas again! Anyways, off to the Children's Musuem down in Atlanta after we pick Ryan up from preschool, so time for me to get back to being productive :)

(re)introducing: the hat!

Do you happen to recall Ryan's hat from last year? How he wore it for weeks on end? Literally. Well, perhaps we are in for another long winter of hat wearing...


He initiated the hat wearing on Tuesday.
"keep head warm, need wear hat"
And thus it begins ...


And today just happened to be hat day at preschool. Here's my little Bug after putting his hat on all by himself while Mommy was driving.

Happy Halloween 2010

Ryan and Mommy made ghosts to hang in the trees

"tennis balls inside them"

 

Princess Fiona and her friend Parker the monkey

Shrek & Princess Fionathe cutest kids ever!

Getting ready to Trick or Treat with Nana

Ryan had a great time, he did soo good!

Trick or Treat!!

unexpected detour

Unfortunately a family friend passed away last week, so the kids and I trekked up to Virginia so Grandma could go to the funeral. We made the best of the trip though and had as good of a time as possible when you are driving long distances with little kids to go to a funeral for someone who was way too young.

Bet you didn't know there is a Chase City, Virginia. I had a little too much fun here. Guess that's what happens when you've been in the car as long as we were!

Downtown Lynchburg is B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!! After dropping Grandma at the funeral, we explored the Riverwalk. Unfortunately my camera wasn't in the normal setting and the lighting is terrible, but otherwise here we are looking good.

Ryan passed the time by taking lots of pictures of the pretty fall leaves and all sorts of other completely random things, including eight or ten photos of Mommy & Grandma's Moe's cups. Silly guy! But he and Abby did great in the car so I won't complain :)

catching up in pictures

Whew, we sure did pack a lot of fun in to October! If you don't believe me check out the 200+ photos in my October picasa album. Here's a couple of recent highlights ...

A catnap in Grandma's arms, sooo sweet!

Tara's baby shower, only 5 weeks until we meet Baby A :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Madeleine!

Beautiful Baby Girl!