My Baby Turned One!

That's right, folks. Kyson is a big one-year-old. And if you ask Kendri, he grew overnight and she was shocked to see how big he was when she woke up on his birthday morning! (his b-day was actually on Friday, the 29th. I, however, am a couple days behind.) Lexi was a little more disappointed and said he "didn't look any different." She was expecting a major overnight growth spurt as well. Ah, such is life.

(Just so you know, that is not a booger on Kyson's nose.....he's had a few mishaps recently.)

So what can the little guy do? Just about everything! He's been walking for about 2 1/2 months and now tries to outrun me when it's time to get him dressed. He goes up and down the stairs like a pro and has been for about 4 months. He has been getting up only once a night....for the last week. Let's hope it holds! He can crawl up the slide outside and he can also crawl on top of the girl's dresser. (It's not a very tall one. He uses their little pink chair to give him an extra boost.)

And here is a run down on some things he loves.

He loves Craisins and goldfish. They're my go-to snack when I'm trying to get lunch or dinner ready. He loves crayons. I mean L-O-V-E-S them. To the point where he has to be taken out of church because he's screaming for the ones his sisters are using. He has colored on certain things (meaning my floor, door, window and who knows what else I haven't seen?) so I do have to keep on eye on him when he's carrying one around. He loves to throw things from the loft balcony. So far he's broken 3 Christmas ornaments and my small hand mirror. We've had a number of close calls with other things and of course there's the millions of non-breakable things that have taken a heave-ho. By far his favorite toy is his big bouncy ball. He loves to throw it and then chase after it as it bounces away. He loves to take his daddy's hat off and put it on his own head. He loves his binky. He loves giggling with his sisters and he loves playing in their jewelry boxes. He thinks it's hilarious to put his sippy cup on his head and he waits for his sisters to laugh at him. He loves giving hugs. He loves playing peek-a-boo and chase. He loves to scream. In fact, we've been working on this for the last 2 weeks and I do believe we've made some headway. I haven't heard as many screams coming from his little mouth. Whew! Obviously there's more but that's good for now!

Some things he doesn't love.

Hates meat. I can't get him to eat any of it. He hates being ignored. He does not like to be locked out of the bathroom. He hates it when Lexi and Kendri shut their bedroom door and don't let him in to play. He doesn't like it when I take the kitchen broom away from him. Or the toilet bowl cleaner. He hates it when I am on the computer....or phone......or reading a book. (He likes my undivided attention :) He hates it when I don't let him crawl into the shower with his sisters. He hates it when I ruin his fun by taking away the library books. (The library prefers the books be returned with all the pages intact. Go figure.) He hates getting in the car when Lexi and Kendri aren't in there with him. He does not like it when he sees his sisters in the backyard and he doesn't get to go out too. And he hates it when we barricade the TV so he can't get to it and push the power button.

Anyway, these are just a few things that are part of our little man's life. We love having him in our family and I personally must say he has stolen my heart! I love being his mommy. He has such beautiful little personality and is so easy going. Like I whisper to him at bedtime, I love him a million times a bazillion!

Dear Doctor,

Thank you for looking after my husband and taking care of his hand. I really appreciate your expertise in this field especially since you are the third doctor to examine it. The first doctor wrote it off as a "boxer-bruise" and kindly told my husband to please stop hitting hard objects....especially when working on the Ward Calendar. The second doctor asked Ry-Ry if he had any "anger issues". (Shhhh, we won't tell him this is not the first time something solid and stationary has "brushed" against his hand. Wink, wink).

No, Doctor, you passed no judgement and gave him what he needed. A brace to heal his broken hand. Now, I know you x-rayed it and felt that even though it had been 3 weeks since the "incident" that his hand was healing properly. I feel there may need to be a more radical route taken. I am worried that the hand may be misaligned and I am thinking the only way to correct this problem is by undoing what has already been done. By that I mean.......RE-BREAKING what has healed. I know. Frightfully painful. But if we must, we must. Please consider this route as I feel it may solve two problems. Teaching my husband a lesson being the first. Anyhoo, just let me know when you're available and I'll prep my brave, sweet hubby. Thanks again for all your hard work.

Sincerely,
Ryan's "sympathetic" wife

PS. Painkillers will not be necessary ;)

Random News Bulletin

• Break's over, school has started and I now have to wake up to an alarm clock that is not human. (I can't decide which wake-up call I prefer).

• I noticed if I don't bother to look in the mirror in the morning I can get out the door much faster. And if I avert my eyes and avoid eye contact, people can't see me. Or the fact that I didn't brush my hair........or teeth. Duh.

• Ryan is now working in Sacramento. The week feels much longer because I'm used to him being home late Wednesday night. So on Monday when he shows up I start thinking I'm halfway through with my week. Bummer.

• I have to cook dinner more now. Way more. My left-overs that used to last for 3 nights don't even make it "left-over" status. Because Ryan's home. (refer to above bullet)

• I can start watching my 48 Hour Mysteries again because now I don't have to be scared of the creepy pirate that showed up on my doorstep at 10:00 at night wearing a wife-beater. Who was on something close to crack. And started talking to me through the door when I wouldn't answer. When I was home all alone. Ahhh, Ryan's home. :)

• Kyson didn't wake up once last night????? I almost thought I was in some sort of delirium when I woke up to the alarm clock and realized I hadn't been up at all. Although my body was totally stiff and achy because I'm not used to staying in bed all night. And I need a new mattress.

• Kyson thinks it's funny to roll all of the balls he can find under the oven and then call, "Uh-oh". I found 5 of them under there today.

• Kendri thinks the people who live in other countries who don't have actual phones can use their "finger-phones" to talk to people.

• Kyson threw my real phone in the toilet earlier this week so then I had to use my "finger-phone" to fish it out. And now I'm down to one.

• Lexi says she's so lucky because she has "freedom......oh, and really long eyelashes." Well, who can argue with that?

Christmas Re-wind

Okay, so I got a little excited about my Christmas clean-up and totally ignored Christmas which I was okay with last night, but now 18 hours later I'm feeling guilty that I didn't even post a picture. So we're back-tracking to Christmas Eve....

We had a great day getting ready for Christmas. Ryan came home early and we all went up to his parents house in Angel's Camp (20 min away) and had clam chowder for dinner. Mmmmm, good. Then we waited for our special guest to show up (which happened around 7:00) to bring the kids some treats. When the knock on the door came we told the Lexi and Kendri to go open the door. Lexi looked out the window and saw Santa standing there and turned around with a "what do I do now?" look. Kendri ran over and saw who it was and with a look of disbelief said "Santa's out there!" With a little planning, Santa was able to bring the girls cute nightgowns and Kyson got a little pull toy.

Here's the picture of Santa at the door.

Here's Santa digging in his bag for some Christmas cheer!

And all the kids with Santa....Kyson wasn't so sure about him.

After Santa went on his merry way, we read the Christmas Story and talked about baby Jesus being born (which is one of Kendri's personal favorites :) Then we left to get the kids home to bed so we'd be ready for the big day.

We were all up by 6:30 Christmas morning ready to open presents!

After we had our little family Christmas we headed back up to Angel's Camp for a yummy crepe breakfast and to play with some new toys. By 1:00 pm the whole family had arrived and so we had another Christmas celebration (meaning we opened more presents :) and then had our Christmas dinner. The girls had a slumber party with their cousins at Gammi's house and Ryan, Kyson and I headed home to clean up presents and try out our new surprises! Overall, we had an awesome holiday season and can't wait for next year!

Christmas Clean-up

It is finished. Finito. Terminado. DONE! I'm talking about my house cleaning, of course. But not just any ol' house cleaning. We're talking house cleaning that rivals the meanest spring cleaning done by the biggest neat freak you know. Yeah. Like that.


Wanna know what I did?? I'll just give you a sample because I could seriously be here all night if I decided to write EVERYTHING. So here goes. Bathrooms are clean and shiny. Floors have been mopped and vaccuumed. Tops of cabinets and cupboards are wiped and dusted. Ready to get a little crazier?

Window treatments and hardware? Clean. Couches? Vaccuumed and fluffed. And behind my couches? Cobwebs and dust bunnies gone. Do you know what you'd find in my garage? A place your neat-freak grandma would want to move into. And if you ask about my attic, there would be no secrets. Nothin' to hide here people. My house is seriously clean. Oh, and my light fixtures and chandeliers did not get ignored either. Abnormal? Sure. Crazy? Maybe a little. Obsessive complusive? Probably. But breathe in.....ahhhhh, refreshing. Definitely worth it.

So, what started this obsessive compulsive behaviour? Taking all of the Christmas decorations down. (By the way, we had a great Christmas. Hate to see the holidays end, but such is life.) Now, back to the madness. Every year Christmas clean-up usually results in a cleaning frenzy but we took this one to all new heights. I just had things I had been putting off for too long. And I love starting the New Year in an extra clean house. Anyhoo, that's what I've been up to for the last two days. That's right....two days. You'd think I was crazy. Maybe I am. And now you're going to hate me and my craziness because you're going to walk around your house and start seeing all these little nooks and crannies that have so far gone unnoticed. Until now! So sorry! ;)