American Idol

In case you were wondering, I am NOT the next American Idol.

Here is how my dream of stardom came to an end: The other day I was putting Ryan to sleep. We were rocking on his rocking chair and I decided to sing him a song, I thought I could sing so I thought it might lull him to sleep. I start to sing, and Ryan with his eyes half mast looked at me for a moment, took his pacifier out of his mouth and stuck it in my mouth. Then he laughed. You know you shouldn’t be singing when your 8 month old tries to stop you.

Oh well, I guess I will just have to give up on that dream and go to my fall back of being an attorney.

Enjoying the Sun After the Snow

Ryan's First Snow

Hand in the snow! Catching snow in his mouth. He is using the snow as just another opportunity to eat :)

I think we are at about 4 inches

This is our first big snow in 5 years and Ryan gets to experience it! We got him all bundled and he loved it! He put his hand in the snow and didn't seem cold at all! He is still trying to figure out what is going on.

History

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
- President (Elect until tomorrow) Obama

I am really excited that Ryan will have this chance to experience what seems to be such a turning point in our history. I hope that we can live up to the hype and work together to change this country, something that is so necessary right now. So here is to going out each day and doing what you can to make the day of even one person better, if everyone did we would be a lot better off.
Well, I am going back into my hole to study now. I thought I was on a good track and then hit a memory roadblock... so I must re-focus and hope that I start to retain information again soon.

Real Laugh

[This is actually Don posting!] Make sure you have the sound ON for this video.

Today I decided to make a strange noise to Ryan, and for some reason he thought it was hilarious! This is the first time I have gotten him to laugh like this (without tickling him).

The video is not great, as he would only laugh when I was making a strange noise AND holding him. :) Enjoy!

8 Months Old Today!

My baby is growing up!

Standing

Ryan has a new trick! He likes to stand when he plays with his toys. Unfortunately his legs aren't strong enough to hold his body up for long. So until they get a bit stronger I have taken the legs off some of his toys so he has less far of a fall :) I can't believe he can pull himself up into a stand already!
Also, It's my birthday which Ryan enjoys.. he gets to play with fun bows (this one from Sarah Cate) and I gave him a little cake (shhh don't tell)

How I Feel About the Bar

This is how I feel about the bar exam studying

This is how I feel about my what I know of the law so far.... I get the general stuff but I keep forgetting the details :)

Busy Family

I might be a little hard to find until March. I am going to try and update when I can, but life has gotten pretty busy.
I have class from 6-9:30 every week night and then class 9-5 on Saturdays. Then I have to study during the day for the upcoming class. It doesn’t leave me a lot of blogging time.
I have hired an amazing nanny who comes in on Tuesday and Thursday (I think I might ask her to come in Wednesdays also) Ryan wasn’t sure about it the first day she came but now he has a lot of fun. She brings her 2 year old daughter and now Ryan is trying to do things how the big kid does them. I think he likes the change of routine and the fact that he is now the center of someone else’s day.
My brother comes and takes care of Ryan on Fridays and Don gets weekends. Mondays are mine and I am trying hard to hold onto them. I just have to remember that after February he is mine again and I don’t have to share as much!
Ryan seems to have grown up a lot recently. He has started feeding himself his bottle; he can also eat some finger foods now that he has his two (sharp) front teeth. He can crawl from one place to another, and even more importantly he can sit up whenever and wherever he wants. He also says “Mama” whenever he is complaining or tired, not directed at me yet but at least he has the sound down.

Growing up

Why does my 7 1/2 month old baby look like he is a toddler in this picture? He is growing up so fast.

A Year in Review

2008 has been a great year for me. I can't believe how much has changed in the course of only one year. I hope 2009 brings as much joy!
Here is a quick run down of the last year:

• I moved back from Chicago at the end of last December so I was adjusting to life back in NC at the beginning of the year
• January Don and I had our late honeymoon in the mountains which was romantic and wonderful and the last vacation we had before the baby
• February I had my baby shower in Chicago thrown by Rachel who is amazing and wonderful and I still can't believe how great it was (much like my bachelorette party which she also helped throw).
• In March my mom got married to a man who was wonderful and had acted as my father through a lot of stuff.
• April we finished Ryan's room
• May Ryan was born... biggest month of my life. Rachel and David came home from school for the birth.
• June Sarah Cate came to meet Ryan and we got settled in at home.
• July Ryan got to meet Grandma and Grandpa Mason for the first time.
• August we went to the beach and Ryan got to meet some of our college friends.
• September Ryan got to meet Ava (who is one day older then him) and I got to reconnect with my friend Nicki from middle school who I have grown super close to. I love the Internet, I can't imagine my life without having her to talk to now.
• October Sarah Cate came back to visit and Ryan had his first Halloween.
• November we traveled to the mountains for thanksgiving and Don got his new job which he loves.
• December Ryan had his first Christmas.

What a full year! It went by so fast. I can't believe how much time matters when you are watching a baby grown up. This year I have learned that I have amazingly great friends and family. I am so blessed, thank you all for reading the blog. I am printing out everything here to make into a book for Ryan so he can see what great people he has in his life.
I am excited for next year, I can't wait to see what sort of person Ryan develops into.

Adventures in Flour

Head to toe flour... Fun times, unfortunately I didn't realize until after that my dust-buster had not been charged... oh well.... I will be peeling caked flour off of Ryan until his bath but it was well worth it, so much fun. At one point he got down on his belly to "swim" in it. Ryan decided that he wasn't covered enough and needed to take just a little more out of the bag

I've Been Had

I have been played. I know it happens, but by a 7 month old? It is too early; Ryan is too smart for his own good.
So if Ryan is crying in his crib when I put him in for a nap, I usually let him cry for a while (unless he is really upset then I go in), I usually only go in if his pacifier falls out of the crib which I can hear on the monitor.
So Ryan was particularly fussy today so I put him in his crib so he could calm down and maybe nap. He didn’t realize it, but I was watching him from the doorway. So I see him staring up at the ceiling, when he gets bored he takes his pacifier out of his mouth and tries to shove it out of the crib! He totally did it on purpose! Then like 5 seconds later he starts to cry and looks at the door waiting for me to come in!
And so it begins…

Ever Changing Baby

Ryan has changed so much recently I thought I would have a blog focused just on some of his recent milestones.

• Today he went from laying on his belly to sitting up all on his own for the first time. This makes it way easier to play with toys (imagine laying on your tummy and trying to play games with both hands... not easy).
• He has also started eating everything... lasagna, yogurt, salmon, pickles etc.. His two teeth on the bottom just popped through but I think he needs a few more to get the chewing thing down pat until then he gets the pudding version of everything. I hope the teeth come in soon, I am not a huge fan of this teething business.
• Ryan is making lots of new noises, he sings to songs on the radio or rather talks over them. He says Dada and Mama, but not to Don and I... just babble.. but the real thing should come soon.
• His favorite thing is when people smile at him, even his reflection in the mirror.
• He gives hugs and reaches for people when he wants to be held. When he hugs he gets really aggressive.
• He has just discovered that when you hit two hard things together it makes a loud noise which he loves and does it with everything.
• I don't know how much he weighs, but it sure seems like a lot when I am carrying him around, he is in 9month clothes and seems to be getting bigger daily. He is 7 1/2 months old.
• He can go from one side of the room to the other in a sort of crawl slide, he doesn't like his knees on the floor so he either has straight legs with bottom straight up or is slithering.
• His favorite books are 5 little monkeys and the Hungry Caterpillar, I read them numerous times a day.

Life is good, Ryan is more amazing then I ever thought he could be. I'm sure after I post this I will think of a lot other things that he does but this is enough for now.