Happy 2nd Birthday, Tyler!

Tonight cousin Tyler celebrated his 2nd birthday at the Children's Museum with his little friends. It is a neat-o place, and the kids could play for hours here...Wonder if I could turn part of the basement into a little "town" like this...humm...

Julia is playing a nurse in the hospital and giving LOTS of meds to her little baby patient!

And..the favorite part for my children of most birthday parties, the CAKE! This particular one, very messy. So if in the next few posts you think you are looking at a Smurf, no worries..just us! =) By some miracle, the kids had the icing all over their faces and hands, but not on the clothing. That is a first!Me and my baby!

Things I Learned From Being a Mom

That it takes ALL morning to put together the Lincoln Log set (especially when you have natural disasters called 'Baby Sister')...but is well worth it when your boy gives you a great big hug for doing so and then plays for HOURS.

It is not necessary to grab your child and run screaming out of the hairdressers chair when she smiles and you discover she is missing most of her teeth. She might not be good at brushing, but she can still cut hair okay. [Life lesson: don't be so judgmental!]

And lastly, I never thought that singing at the top of my lungs and dancing to Aristocat's soundtrack would be such a fun way to spend a Saturday morning!

TGIF!

This morning we had a Dr. appt for Ryan's 4 year old checkup at 11am. It gave us the perfect amount of time to hang out in our jammies a bit and then even some playtime downstairs. Ry LOVES to ride his new bike around in circles down there. I am now grateful we haven't finished this area of the house just yet! This has been a great winter activity to burn off some energy. Julia loves to push whatever doll or stuffed animal around following her big bro. Today he told me I needed to move her out of the way, "Mommy, move this toad out of the road! The toad is Jugi!" What an imagination! She won't stand for that type of comment to much longer though, I have a feeling!

When we returned home from our doc visit, Ryan asked if he could ride his bike around outside for "just a small bit!". It was such a mild day today (ok, considering recent temps!) we decided to go for it for, uh, just a small bit! Of course, Julia wanted in on the action!

Glammie stops by for a visit this afternoon, and Ry shows her his band-aid for being "a brave hero." (I decided to start his 5 yr old shots at this visit, so his little system doesn't get them all at once!)

Ry and Glammie guarding their fort for monster attacks...good times! =)

To Worry, Or Not To Worry?

When I went to pick up the kids from preschool this afternoon, Ryan's teacher was waiting in the hallway for me. She wanted to talk to me about some artwork that they did today, and she was concerned about Ry's performance.
She had made this penguin (left) and given the kids the "parts" to the penguin to try and recreate it. The right photo is what Ry came up with. Understandably, she was concerned. She did show me some of the other kid's work, and by far, my little guys was the "worst" rendering of a penguin.

Some days (I wish more often than actually happen though), I do a little workbook with him while Julia naps. In my panic, I pulled it out this afternoon, and while he was working in it, I cut out some pieces to a ship to see how well he was able to recreate it. Mine is the left. His is the right. He did much better with this, but I am not sure why. I was sitting right next to him, and I did help him put the glue on the paper. But he did all the placement and drew his own circles and smoke.
So, do I worry about this?!?

Weather Confession

Dear St. Louis area dwellers:

I apologize for the dreary weather this entire week. You see, I am afraid I have "done" this to us, as I purchased a pair of sunglasses last weekend.

As a fair forewarning, I also had the car washed today, so please plan for rain/snow/sleet/ice in tomorrow's forecast.

** On a completely separate note, uh, is anyone else receiving catalogs in the mail for swimsuits?! Seriously!? It is January!!

Icy Tuesday

Today preschool was canceled due to some [dumb!] ice storm. So we had one of my favorite "jammie mornings." Ry decided to put together his new glow in the dark Thomas puzzle for the zillionth time since getting it yesterday. (Thank you, Izzy and Josie!).

I (playing the role of mailman) come pay a visit to little Julia's home.

The proud mama insists on showing me her newest addition.

Later, Julia and I ran to the grocery store and Ryan went to play with his friend Nicolas. This afternoon, Nicolas is here playing while his mommy and sister run some errands of their own. Julia adores Nicolas, so I let her stay up a little late before putting her down for a nap.

Daddy's Girl

Daddy and his little girl!

Julia's Dance Debut

This video is all from the same day. (It was sometime this past fall). Jeff says he's grateful as she dances she adds clothing rather than removes it. =)




I think she will one day kill us for posting something like this. This seems exactly like the thing she would not want her first boyfriend to see.
Love you, baby girl!

Christmas Movie 2008

I realize this post is uh, very tardy, but Jeff just made it tonight. It is from Christmas Eve with the Harriss family and Christmas morning. We didn't take any video of the Conway Christmas celebration Christmas afternoon, just still photos...uh, maybe that post will be done by July? Eek!

My favorite part is when the kids come down the steps and Julia sees her house. Oh, pure surprise and joy!

January Organization

Does anyone else go crazy organizing in January? We seem to have that trend around here. After Christmas and Ryan's birthday it just seems like we need a good reorg to keep along with my sister's favorite quote: "A place for everything, and everything in its place."

Throwing "girlie" toys into our mix this year has completely thrown me off. I have bins for matchbox cars, nonmatchbox cars, superheros, animals/dinosaurs, balls, Little People, blocks, wooden Thomas, Take-Along Thomas, plastic Thomas, etc. But NO doll, jewelry, purse, dress-up type of storage. (Where do you put the Rose Petal cottage, cribs, doll bunk beds and strollers!?!)And it had me going CRAZY (I wish I were kidding!) for a good week here. After many many trips to the organization store, we are finally gaining some sanity around here!

Last year, my sweet husband made the wainscoting and hooks along the laundry room wall (great for coats and bags!), as we seemed to have outgrown our little laundry room closet. This year, he was busy this weekend making additional storage for our shoes. I am SO THANKFUL for this! So now on days I need rainboots, at least I don't have to dig through the closet for them, making those rainy days even more gloomy! HORRAY!

A Fun Day!

Today we met Jeff's parents at the coffee shop in Edwardsville, as we enjoy doing many weekends. They offered to take the kids for the day so we could enjoy some kid-free shopping. HORRAY!

And THANKS SO MUCH! We had a fun, responsibility-free day, and the kids (even Julia!) have been talking about their fun day. YEA!

We actually spent about a hour in Sunglass Hut alone - something that would NOT have happened with the little people around!

Kate & Us

New Year's Day my parents hung out with the kids so Jeff and I could grab some dinner and a movie. We saw Marley & Me. (Which, if you have been living under a rock, is a story about a couple and their TERRIBLE dog, Marley). Well, this movie brought back LOTS of memories for us about our dog, which we think might be a close second for the worst dog ever! As I think I have mentioned before, she earns her keep because the kids adore her so much...and I can't get her to run away and I haven't had good enough aim backing the car over her --yet. (KIDDING!)

To give you a better impression of what I am talking about, Kate has eaten the handle off of coffee mugs, soup bowls, DVDs, CDs, almost an entire baseball card collection (she prefers the "special" cards in the hard plastic cases), matchbox cars, doll arms, Little People figurines, Thomas train track, etc. We once tried to put a 4x4 foot fence in the basement while we were working since she couldn't have run of the basement with this type of behavior and we felt bad crating her all day, and she was able to somehow get out of that even. Our vet tells us she has extreme separation anxiety, and that she has hormone issues, so we give her hormone pills (ok, who am I kidding, Jeff gives her!) once a day, which she refuses to take unless they are smoothered with peanut butter and you smoosh them as far down her throat as possible!

Here is part of an email I wrote after our first few days with our dearest Kate, back in June 2003. (Which means she can't have THAT much longer to live, right?!?)

I got home around 3pm, and the dog had "#2-ed" ALL over herself and her cage and her blanket and toys. It stunk SO BAD. So I open her cage to bring her outside, and I open it and grab hold of her collar and as we're walking to the door, she's shaking and flinging poop all over me and everything else! It was soso gross. So I tie her up in the front yard hoping she'll continue shaking and going through the grass to get some of those chunks off her. I go inside to clean up the mess in there but she won't stop barking out front, and I get nervous that maybe I am not supposed to have tied her up like that, so I go get her, and we go upstairs to the tub. Oh man, wish it could have ended there! So I'm trying to hang on to her as best as I can, and she thinks it's play time, but sees I'm filling up the tub. So I'm trying to keep her close, without completely rubbing all over me - she's still really gross at this point, despite the fact that she's flug many of the chuncks that were stuck to her hair off. STINKY. So I fill up the tub, and stick her in...and she's being very good letting me clean her (eeewwwwww) until it's time for her face. She wasn't wanting that wet at all. So I fill this tuperware up and am drizzling it over her head and she takes off. She jumps up on back side of the tub, knocking in all the candles and bottles of bath gel and flowers into the water. Then she starts shaking all over everything...but she's on the far corner of the tub and from this distance I can't reach her and she's just standing up there. So I have to strip down, walk into the poopy water and grab her wet self. EURG. She enjoyed the drying off part, so that was good. So then I dry her off for the most part, and leave her in the bathroom and go call Jeff at work to tell him what's going on back at the house. Then I go back to the bathroom to get her and we go downstairs and I shake out all the chunks that aren't smooshed into the blanket outside and throw her blanket into the washing machine along with her washable toys. Then we drag her icky cage outside to hose down and vacuum up some mess that had scattered outside the cage and when she was flinging all around on her way to the door to go out. So then we go back upstairs and I'm going to clean out the tub, and I'm talking to her, and she squats down and begins to pee. So I scream and grab her midstream and we run down the steps and outside. So then Emily calls, and I'm like "PLEASE HELP ME" and so she comes over, and things seem back under control. So we're Katie is eating a bone, and Emily and I are taking and looking at her, and Emily is just saying how she seems like a really good dog and she heads into the family room and squats - so again I scream, grab her midstream and we head outside. Not long after that, Jeff calls for us to get him from the bus stop and Em takes off and Katie and I head to pick up Jeff. Then I went to my tennis league at 7...let me tell you - I don't REMEMBER a time when I was SO happy to get out of the house!!! Real babies CANNOT be this tough! It was quite an exhausting day!

Chatter

Christmas Eve, we are at church and the pastor is talking about a funny childhood memory. He shares his story, and the congregation chuckles. Then, as the laughter stops and the people are silently waiting for him to continue speaking, Ry looks at me and says LOUDLY, "Oh my, he is a funny guy!"

Yesterday:
Julia (in her playhouse with her dolls): Niiii, niiitte, babee.
Ry walks in.
Julia (pointing finger): No, Ry Ry. No!
Ry: Baby, can I be the daddy?
Julia (pauses to think): Ok. (Then she hands him the baby and leaves the playhouse. Smart girl!)

And today:
Me: Ry, did you have fun with Glammie and Papa yesterday at the movie theatre?
Ry: Yes, but I was mad.
Me: You were mad?
Ry: Yes, because I didn't see you there.
Me: Well, I had to stay home with baby sister so she could take a nap. Babies can't go to movies. You got to go for a special treat because you are a big 4 year old boy!
Ry: Daddy could have stayed home with her!
(I am, at this point, impressed with his critical thinking skills..he is becoming better at forming his arguments!)
Me: Daddy had to run to the store, so I had to stay home with Julia.
Ry: Oh. Yeah. Okay. Sorry.

Me (at lunchtime): Julia, would you like more cheese?
Julia (growling!): NO!!!
Ry: That's it. Bad attitude baby. You are going to bed!
Julia (screaming, flailing arms and shaking head): NO! NOOOO!
Ry: Yes baby. You are too tired to be awake.

Goodbye 2008!

2008 was a busy year for our family!

Flipping back through the calendar it seems like we traveled more than I had remembered! Here are some of the highlights...

January - Jeff enjoyed a ski trip with friends.

February - I traveled to Paris for an amazing girlfriend getaway!
We also celebrated Julia's 1st birthday (and Jeff's 31st!)


March - Jeff and I traveled to Tepilitan, Mexico for a life-changing mission trip.

May - Happy 5th anniversary to us!
Welcome to this world, Baby Lucas! (Julia is excited about this, can you tell?)

June - We postponed our Disney trip on account of our nephew's arrival! When we asked Ryan about going to see Mickey at his castle, he said "Oh, I'd rather just watch him on tv." (What!?!)

July - We brought the kids on their first airplane flights to New York ("York City" as Ry calls it!) to visit Aunt Stacy and Grandma/pa who were there for the entire summer.

August - We took our annual trip to Norfolk Lake where we rent cabins and spend the week boating. (Did I not take pics of this trip!?!!)

September, October and November we visited the condo at the Lake of the Ozarks!

Other memories: ear infections (not a happy memory, but a big part of our lives - Julia has a double infection as I type this!), birthdays and more birthdays!, softball games and tennis leagues, gymnastics at the Y for Ryan, the Harrison family reunion, Julia takes her first steps, Mom&Me club events, Fusion (Metro's youth group), Jeff business trips mostly to Denver and Kansas City, swimming at the pool, mold and work on our brick, Julia starts preschool, NCCS walk, the kids meet Clifford, Day out with Thomas, the circus, the zoo and homecoming carnival, parades, Ryan wins a coloring contest, Grumpy's 90th birthday, my dad's 59 1/2 suprise birthday and the balloon glow.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Ryan:

I can hardly believe that today you turn 4 years old!  I try and remember to tell you every single day how glad that I am God gave you to me. How happy I am that you get to be my little boy. And you know what you are constantly telling me when I say this?  "I'm a big boy, Mommy!" You are right...where has the time gone!?

I remember how excited (ok, and shocked) I was when I learned I was pregnant with you.  Daddy wanted to take the day off work to celebrate, but I insisted on "normalcy" that day, and we settled for a lunch date were we headed straight to Borders to read all about what was in store for the next 9 months while we waited for your precious arrival.  Your Daddy used this as prime opportunity to tease me about expanding bellies, stretch marks, swelling, etc.  I do think I got the last laugh here though, as during the first half of prenancy I was sick, sick, sick and actually lost weight! 

Your Daddy wasn't quite sure how to help during all the commotion!  He kept busy painstakingly painting your room (over and over and over until it was perfect) with a denim finish, a stripe and yet another color up on top just as we'd seen in a catalog, and running to KFC for mashed potatoes for me. It is hard to believe that the crib which was once yours is now your sisters, and that you have been in a "big boy bed" (with rails!) nearly 2 years now!  

Four years ago, at 6:06pm (with the help of some forceps!), our lives changed forever.  I'd like to say that our first moments together were  perfect, but honestly, when the nurse put you on my chest I told your Daddy to take you away fast because I thought I might vomit.  He did such a great job taking care of you while I tried to recover from the labor. I remember watching him 

hold you, walking around the room and bouncing ever so gently and being so thankful that at least it seemed like one of us maybe knew what we were doing!

New Year's 2005 will probably be my most memorable, as we welcomed in the new year still at the hospital together.  We drove home the next day probably the slowest your Daddy has ever driven, with his prized 8lb 6oz package snuggled in the back seat. When we arrived home, Daddy carried you in the kitchen and set your infant carrier on the table because we weren't sure where you "belonged" just yet.  Oh my, has that mind-set changed..it seems you "belong" everywhere here!!  Little did we know how much STUFF comes along with a baby (or a big boy!)!  

So here we are, 4 years later.  It is hard to remember what life was like before you were born. (Although I do think it involved a little more sleeping!)  One thing is for sure, I never knew I could love someone so much, or worry so much, or feel so much joy - at times all in the same 10 seconds!

Ryan, you have a ZEST for life I pray you never lose.  You love to dance and sing when you are happy, and you don't care who is watching. You are an influencer (and you really know how to work your grandmas, in particular!).  You show empathy for others.  At times you seem so aloof, and yet you know exactly everything happening around you. (Today you finished Glammie's adult conversation sentence when we didn't think you were even listening!).  You know just how to melt my heart (the other day you actually stroked my hair and said "I love you, Mommy. Let's talk!" ...ok, in full-disclosure here, you are very up for talking when it's bedtime..you know just how to prolong my walking out of your bedroom. HA) =).  You are fun-loving, easy-going, smart (your memory is amazing!), you love to play and have books read to you ("Tell me the words!", you request.) You are a charmer, and you are a boy everyone seems to LOVE!  

I'm so glad you're mine. (and daddy's!).

Happy Birthday, my big boy!

Love, Mommy

(From your 1st year photos - how you have grown!)