Sunday, May 24, 2009

5 months old!


Ryan turned 5 months old yesterday!!! I cannot believe it.

He is getting so big and seems to be getting cuter and cuter by the moment. I adore his big blue eyes and toothless grins. My dad says "He smiles with his whole face." Lately it seems like he smiles with his whole body! When he's excited or happy he does this little jerky movement like he's just so happy to see you he can hardly contain himself.

He absolutely A-D-O-R-E-S his big sister Jenna and really lights up whenever he sees her. She is the only one who can make him laugh just by simply shaking her head or dancing or just talking to him. He really responds to her so easily and quickly. She loves to hold him and feed him and is such a great helper. She'll even feed him a bottle in the backseat of the car if he just can't wait until we get home. She likes for me to put his carseat in the middle of the backseat...right next to her. Sometimes I catch them holding hands and he is so happy back there just "talking" to her.

He's also the only one who can get her up and moving in the mornings. She is NOT a morning person and it used to be like pulling teeth to get her up during the week (of course on the weekends she NEVER wants to sleep in!). But if we want her to get up...all we have to do is put Ryan in bed with her. She responds to his little coos and giggles almost instantly and will roll over and cuddle and talk to him...before her eyes are even open!!

At his 4 month doctors appointment he weighed 19 lbs and the other day he went to the doctor again (he's having some formula digestion issues) and he was 19 lbs 6 oz. He's bigger than Jenna was on her 1st birthday! He does really well sitting up (with assistance) and even standing and bearing weight on his legs seems to be no problem at all for him. He's extremely strong and the happiest baby I've ever known. He still loves his swing and now is a big fan of the exersaucer. He's good at manipulating toys and gets REALLY excited when he sees himself in the mirror. It's adorable.

I still think he's the sweetest little guy....EVER!


Happy 5 month birthday Mr. Handsome!! Mommy loves you!!!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

God Bless Ryan

Ryan was baptized today. He cried through the entire ceremony. I couldn't believe it! This is the worlds happiest baby and yet he cried through the whole thing!

He looked absolutely adorable in his little outfit though.

Here's a shot of father Eric Swearingin (the priest who married Jim and I and also baptized Jenna)


Here's Ryan during the Baptism. Notice the watchful eyes of Jenna, Marisa and Elizabeth looking on.


and there's Madison peeking from behind....

All done (for the most part)....Ryan wasn't too sure about the whole process...he was keeping an eye on Father Eric...

Not the best family picture but it was the best we could get. One was crying and one was squirming and trying to deal with not being the center of attention (no...not Jim)....



After the "Official Pictures" were pretty much done I took him into the bathroom to change into a more comfortable outfit (and a new diaper since he decided to fill the one he was wearing DURING his baptism). At that point he became a MUCH happier camper.

Here he is napping with Mimi and Boppa

Two cute girls....


A big thank you to Uncle Scott and Auntie Kim for being his Godparents. We are honored to have them as both his Aunt and Uncle and now his Godparents. What a special bond they will always share!

We had a party afterwards at Bobby Salazar's. Of course this weekend had to = RECORD BREAKING HEAT! The average heat during this time of year in this part of California is around 85 - 88 degrees. SHOULD have been very pleasant...but today...no such luck. Try 104! YUCK is all I can say. But we all managed to sweat it out and have an enjoyable afternoon!

God Bless Ryan!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Mother's Day

*Edited to add: some funny dialogue between Jenna and her Auntie Elaine...

Jenna: "Happy Mother's Day Auntie Elaine!"
Elaine: "Thank you Jenna!!"
Jenna: "Don't you have something you'd like to say to me?"
Elaine: "What should I say to you Jenna?"
Jenna: "Ugh.....I have FIVE babies!!!!"
Elaine: "Oh your right Jenna...Happy Mother's Day to you too!"
Jenna" "Thank you very much!"

Oh man this kid!!!

------

I had a fabulous Mother's Day with my kiddo's. We had breakfast with Jim's family and dinner with mine....and in between, Jim and his sister Elaine took Jenna to Boomers to play. It was a great treat for Jenna and a fabulous break for me. I intended to spend the time cleaning and organizing...but ended up spending it relaxing and napping with Ryan. It was FANTASTIC. Jim and the kids got me some much needed camera "equipment" so I have been having even more fun with my camera...which allows me to capture moments like these.....





Which is the best Mother's Day gift a girl could ask for.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Future Picasso?

So I've noticed over the past few months/years that we are going to quickly become buried alive with artwork created by Miss Jenna. Therefore, I had the idea to take pictures of everything and immortalize it here...on my blog...for everyone to see. I mean really...who am I to keep this kind of talent to myself! It's far too beautiful to simply keep on my refrigerator at home!! ;)

Enjoy!!

This was an idea that Mrs. Evie got from my mom actually. She wrote their name in pencil on a piece of paper, and then they used a bingo marker to "trace" over it. Fun!


This was one of Jenna's very first pictures of her family. I like how her brother (who hadn't even been born yet) was the biggest one of all...and I especially love my wild hair. Please note that she was rather abstract with her portrait of her father.



Mr. Valentine...


This is one I'll be saving for sure. I love the idea of the tree made out of her handprints....

This is a closeup of the top left corner....

Macaroni necklace. Yes....definitely kept this one....


Frog on a tongue depressor.

Easter bonnet.....

"C" is for caterpillar

Letter of the week: "J" (for Jenna of course)....

Chinese Dragon


Cow puppet
Chick


Bunny puppet

Cute little bug (Jenna says "He just has one eye.") ...

Christmas Tree (guess some of these have been here for awhile)...

Sparkly rainbow....


Of course....a few of these I plan on keeping forever and ever and ever in a special place. The rest....I must admit...have already made their way to the artwork heaven in the sky. May they rest in peace.

I hope she can forgive me.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Bath Time

Bath time is one of my favorite times of the day with Ryan. He LOVES his bath. He loves the water...loves the soap...loves getting his hair washed...loves to splash. He's so relaxed and engaged and the whole experience just melts my heart.

Tonight he was a little fussy and his bath was the only way I could get him to calm down. Afterwards he had a bottle and was again having a hard time settling. Anyone who knows this baby knows that this is just not like him. I started combing his hair forward on top of his head with my fingernails...and he just melted and drifted off to sleep.


sweetest. little. guy. ever.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

A crazy busy weekend...

As usual...we had a busy weekend!

On Friday, Jenna had a dentist appointment. The hygenist cleaning her teeth in this picture is Michelle who also used to clean my teeth when I was a little girl!


Then, later that same day, Jenna got a haircut! Here's a few "before" pictures:

She looks thrilled doesn't she?

The cut....


The stylist kept saying "She has such beautiful hair!!" and I wanted to tell her to stop saying that....it was making it harder to cut it all off!!

But the end result was A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!

Jenna LOVED it!

Then, we had time to visit with Uncle Scott who came to town for the weekend:

Anyone besides me notice a little resemblance between those two??

Uncle Scott is SOOO funny!

Then we went to the carnival at Gramma Kye Kye's school....



Jenna enjoyed the spin art....

and the bouncy slide.....

Then, on Sunday, we got together with family to celebrate Grandpa Tomas' birthday (he passed away in October, 2006)
Here's a pic of Jenna with cousins Elizabeth (left) and Marisa (right)
and we even went to lunch at Jenna's favorite restaurant...where we saw Jenna's favorite BIRD!!


Then....back at home...Mommy had to take some more pictures.... (cause that's just what I do)...





It was a busy and exhausting...... but very fun weekend!!