Finally - portraits

We went this past Saturday and finally got some portraits done of Rylan. We did the 1 year old and some other fun ones! I usually just take my own with my camera but I wanted to get some "real professional" ones done. They turned out real well and I was very pleased with them! Rylan did real well until he got tired in the last few with the suit. I hope you all enjoy them!!!

Big Birthday Boy

This past year has went by so fast. On April 24, Ry turned the BIG 1! It seems like I just had Rylan put in my arms after he was born. I've looked at our photo albums of the Rylan's debut into this world over and over again. That day changed my entire life. I could have never imagined a better year than this past one. The time just flies and it's such an amazing journey. Butch and I have watched him grow and learn so many things. God really has blessed us with an amazing baby boy! We couldn't imagine our lives without him.

We had his birthday party planned to be at the park, but I don't know if you remember much about that Saturday, BUT...it rained, stormed and several tornadoes touched down around Alabama. So needless to say, we celebrated his birthday inside...at Pizza Hut. We reserved a room and had a great time. His party was a cowboy/western theme - of course! He was dressed in some blue jeans, plaid shirt and had a cowboy hat that his Gappy had bought for him. He wouldn't wear it for very long, but we got some cute pictures of him. We had about 25 people come and get in on the fun! Rylan had a great time digging into his cake. He would have ate the whole thing if we had let him! He definitely made a big mess, but that's part of it! We had a lot of fun watching him. Everyone was cheering him on when he would pick the cake up and act like he was going to smash it in his face...but he never did it. (Thankfully!)

We took hundreds of pictures and there is no way I could upload them all - so I've chosen a few of them I thought you'd enjoy.

More March

Little Kaydence came to the park with us.

Rylan hated the grass! He completely flipped out!

KK wanted to get in with Rylan and play with him. I babysat her this past Saturday and we had a really good time. Butch and I took the babies to the park and let them swing, see-saw and slide. I took their pictures and had a great time myself. It was a lot of fun!

Ry's first BIG booboo! He had a swollen upper lip and a knot between the eyes!

His typical tantrum!

Rylan has grown so much and it's so hard to believe how fast it's all happened! I'm looking at the calendar thinking "where did the time go?" It's hard to fathom that this time last year I was getting very close to having him in my arms for the first time. He was such a tiny thing and now he is triple the size he was at birth. He's talking and saying things like Ma-ma, No No, Bye bye, and sometimes da-da. He waves when you say bye and he knows how to blow kisses. Rylan is still an excellent sleeper. He doesn't wake up until I get him up during the week and on the weekends he sleeps til about 8. Rylan is crawling everywhere and he is pulling up on everything. He can walk or travel down the couch holding on so I don't think it will be long before he is actually walking. I'm not rushing for him to do that though because then he will really be into everything! My baby is almost one...wow, where does the time fly?

Last night he fell asleep in our bed and I got up to put him in his bed and I told Butch how much I missed him sleeping with us when he was a little baby. Butch said to let him sleep with us even though we would probably be up all night because Ry was snoring...lol. We were just reminiscing about Rylan being born and how small he was and how amazed we were at how he had grown into a little boy....ALMOST. We're still claiming him as our little baby boy..and probably always will. God has blessed us so much. Nothing compares with being a Mother. It's just simply amazing.

Feb-Mar 2010

Crawling, Talking, Gawking...

Exploring his new room

Ashley, Clifton, Austin and Kaydence came over the day we moved in to bring Rylan to his new home (cause they had babysat him) and Kaydence took a ride on Rylan's horse!

They were playing together...or fighting over the toy...lol

Crawling around everywhere!

My little Preacher Man

Me and Ry

He sleeps all over the place in his crib.

Pulling up already

So happy to be able to pull up on his own.

Well for those of you that don't know by now, Rylan is crawling like a pro! He conquered his new milestone on January 28. He had begun to do little bitty crawling steps at the beginning of that week, but it didn't take him long to get the hang of it. Now he is into absolutely everything!! You can't keep him out of anything. He goes after cords, little stuff, trash, phones, and whatever else he can get his hands on. I'm seriously trying to baby-proof the apartment because he is in the next bedroom before I catch up with him. The other night Butch and I were in the kitchen and I was keeping an eye on Ry while he was behind me playing with his refrigerator ABC toys. All of sudden it got really quiet and I looked around and didn't see Rylan. I asked Butch where he was and he didn't know either. I looked around the corner to our bedroom and he had crawled in there and was tearing some papers I had next to the bed. Gracious! I need to grow some eyeballs in the back of my head. My parents always told me they had eyes in the back of their heads, why didn't I come equipped with them?? Ry has got such a great personality of his own that just becomes more and more unique everyday. He is a little mischievous thing...like his daddy was. I was never into mischief! LOL.

Ry is constantly talking when we are at home or we are with new people. It's almost as if he's trying to show them he knows how to talk. He says bye bye, ma-ma, and da-da. He really says ma-ma a lot if he is crying or wants my attention. It's amazing how fast they learn to put words with people or actions. He has started waving too. When we get ready to leave in the mornings before I go to work he starts saying bye bye when I shut the front door.

Another thing he does is when he's around certain people that really catch his attention he just stares and gawks at them. For some reason he gets in this phase sometimes and I know people wonder why this kid is staring at them....but maybe he sees something that's weird..who knows! With the way folks look now-a-days, I guess I can understand why he does stare!

Since we have moved, Ry has been sleeping in his crib in his room....and he sleeps ALL NIGHT! Usually around 8:30-9:00 pm he starts getting cranky so we go into his room and I feed, rock, and sing to him for a few minutes and then I lay him in his crib and he goes to sleep on his own. He is such an awesome baby! God has really blessed me in this area. Rylan has always been such a great sleeper....like his momma...haha.

This precious little miracle that God has given us will always be the light of our lives...a day does not go by that I'm not thankful to God for my family and for the days that we have had together. I hope and pray that there are many more. Family....there's nothing like it.

Moving Finally!!!

We found out yesterday that we were approved for the apartments we applied for!! It's really weird that I am moving back to Moody. I never thought in a million years that I would be living there again. It's amazing how God orchestrates your steps. Butch and I have been searching for the right place for a while. Trussville is too busy, 280 is definitely a congested area, and well, Moody is just right. It's not too busy, not to far away from places we will travel to the most and it's familiar. (well to me anyway) I was telling Butch the other day that this time last year were just giddy about our new baby that was about to be born and had no idea what God would hold in store for us. It seems like after Rylan was born everything toppled upside down from everything we were becoming familiar to. We were pastoring a church in Centreville and then it seems like overnight we weren't. God had been dealing with us in different ways and showing us different things in the Holy Ghost but I think we were in denial of "it" actually happening - us leaving the church and the people we had grown to love. But we have come back to New Life and started growing in God more, getting involved, and knowing that God has orchestrated every step and I trust Him. He has a bigger plan than what we see right now...but our vision is getting real close. Well, it's about time for me to leave and head to work, but I will let you know how God is so faithful to His promises by telling you an amazing story that happened this week. Have a wonderful day!

Ry's First Christmas and New Years

That was the best we could get on New Years Eve...Ry was so tired!

I love this full belly laugh!

Finally opening presents!

Daddy and Ry checking out the horse Gappy got him

Ry wearing his hat Nonna got him and opening some clothes she got.

The family I love

We had a busy Christmas this year. It felt like we went all over the world...even though we stayed in Alabama. On Christmas Eve, we went and stayed at my parents house in Pelham and had our Christmas there. It was a lot of fun watching Rylan open his gifts and enjoy all the excitement. He had a great time and is thoroughly enjoying all of his presents. He got lots of new toys and clothes from everyone. On Christmas Day we traveled to my grandma's in Sulligent and opened gifts there with everyone. It was really hard this year because it was the first year without my grandpa and we all had a difficult time with that. But we did have little Ry to look to and enjoy. We stayed for a while and then left and headed back home to do Christmas with just Butch, Rylan and me. It's one of those times you just wait for when you have a baby...the first Christmas. We had our own little family and it was such a blessing to be able to be together and enjoy another "first". We shared another "first" with Ry just a week after Christmas when New Years rolled around. We didn't go out or do anything special. We went to my parents and stayed up with them til the clock struck 12 midnight. Then we drank our glass of red grape juice and went upstairs to be alone with just the three of us and we prayed for this new year and all that is to come.

I have way too many pictures to post them all...so these few will have to do!