Life Lessons

An important part of being a parent is helping your children become well rounded individuals. By the time you are a parent you have gone through a lot of things and you want to give your children some of that hard earned wisdom. I know children have to learn from their own mistakes but if you can prevent even an ounce of pain your children will have to experience you will do anything to do it.

Here are some important life lessons I would like Ryan to hear from me (Since this blog is for his benefit I thought this would be a good forum for it).

1. When you go to college get a degree you can do something with when you graduate… they all cost the same and you can go to most graduate schools regardless of the undergraduate degree.

2. Make the choice to be happy not to be right. I know you really want to be right, but understand the consequences before you fight too hard.

3. This one might seem a little too much information but… don’t have sex with someone you don’t know will be a good parent. You never know and you are not the only one that will have to deal with the consequences if you choose incorrectly.

4. Look at how the people in your life treat other people in their lives. If you notice they treat other people poorly your turn is likely coming up. Make sure you are okay with that before investing too much of yourself. (This is especially true with how they treat their parents).

5. If you are spending your time doing something (like school) put your all into it. You are spending the time being there, you might as well get something out of it. Also, you don’t want to close doors of opportunity because you were being lazy.

6. Be kind, be gentle and love even if you get hurt sometimes.

7. Don’t let stupid people make your decisions for you (this one comes from my mom). What it means is watch how you react to people who are irrational, mean or crazy. Let’s say someone like that tells you to do something so you do the exact opposite to rebel against them…. While you didn’t do what they wanted they still influenced your decision and who wants a crazy person making your decisions for you?

8. You can't change other people, the only thing you have any control over is how you react to them.

9. If you won't remember it/ it won't be important in 5 years it probably isn't that important no matter what it feels like at the moment.

Ryan's Classes

Ryan has gotten to the age where he can participate in classes. I love getting out of the house and it is really helping him feel more comfortable with new people and I can see him learn something new each and every class. Right now he is taking a gym class and an art class. His gym class includes dancing, singing, obstacle courses, races, soccer kicking and one week there was even a bounce house. Ryan is the youngest in the class but I think that might actually be a good thing. He is picking up on what the older kids do and it is helping him with following directions, language and motor skills.

Ryan loves art class. He gets excited when we pull into the parking lot and the second he gets out of the car he runs to the classroom. He really likes the teacher and listens to all that she says. As you can tell from the pictures Ryan takes the art projects very seriously. I love coming home with a new piece of art every week and he likes that his creations are on display.

Final Round of Asheville Pictures

Running.... this is what he does ALL DAY
He decided as long as he could eat with the grown up fork he would eat whatever we gave him for lunch. he ended up eating a large piece of pizza and a spinach salad. I have no idea how he fit it all in his tummy, but he had enough room to drink all my water when he was done.

He is deciding whether or not to run into the house or go cause more trouble. He stood there for a good minute before picking "trouble"

Nice play area huh?

The Farm

Asheville

We went on a long weekend trip to Asheville with some lovely friends of ours. It was amazing and wonderful and I am so glad we took the time to do it. We rented a house, what we didn't realize was that it was directly on top of a mountain. When they said "we recommend four wheel drive" they were not kidding. At one point we couldn't go up any further, our car literally was sliding down the hill, it couldn't grip the rocks. Don figured out how to turn off traction control and I think it was on attempt #6 we made it up! When we saw the house we knew that it was all worth it. Both the front and the back of the house overlook miles and miles of valleys. (Above is the view from the back porch, Below the view at sunrise from the front porch). Our friends (Lindsey and Josh) have a little girl Ryan's age so it was great to have people who understand/ abide by a toddler schedule. Even more importantly Ryan loved having a friend to get into trouble with and we enjoyed hanging out with the adults. We spent a lot of time outside enjoying the beginning of fall in the mountains. The leaves were just starting to change and the air was turning crisp. I will post later with pictures/ stories from downtown Asheville and the amazing farm we visited. Overall the trip was great, the company was excellent and I'm exhausted enough to need another weekend!

8 years

Don and I started dating 8 years ago today, my how things have changed!

End of September Pictures

He is wet from a hand washing event :) but he is ready to play the drums!

My little rock star really wants to play guitar hero

supporting the team

First cool day and he is decked out in Red Sox gear

Playing in the Rain

I haven't posted pictures for awhile so here are some of us playing in the rain! Telling us where his head is
Chillin' in the big boy chair

How handsome are my men?

I had to post this... a good picture of Don and I (it happens so few and far between that it had to be posted)

Welcome Fall!

Fall is here again! I love fall: the crisp air, the leaves changing, thanksgiving, fall clothes, everything.

While the weather is certainly not fall-like yet, it has gotten probably about 10 degrees cooler. The change it weather has allowed us to spend much more time outside exploring all the playgrounds our area has to offer, and let me tell you there are a lot of them. Ryan gets to run and play for as long as he wants without fear of overheating.

It's fun to see how much he has changed and grown since the beginning of summer. I'm sure I will feel the same way when fall gives way to winter.

Hugs

Today Don asked Ryan to give me a hug, Ryan kindly obliged. He turned and started to walk away, then stopped and looked back at me and Don. He went up and pushed us together because he wanted us to hug. When we did he clapped and gave us a huge smile.

Toddlers know what's going on. Ryan understands even the most subtle body language and how everyone around him is interacting. Ryan likes when Don and I hold hands or hug, it's crazy how quickly he picked up on positive, loving gestures. It seems to be especially important how Don and I interact.

I am lucky to have married such a great guy that sets an amazing example for Ryan. I can see that Ryan already understands how to be sweet and loving, I truly believe that it is one of the most important thing you can teach your child.

Precious Childhood

Have you ever had a moment where something completely inane made you nostalgic, I mean to the point where you could remember exactly how you felt at a certain moment years ago?
Today Ryan and I were playing at a playground; at one point he got tired of playing and ran to the deserted soccer field next to the park. I chased him as he ran around the field for a good 30 minutes. I haven’t played soccer since middle school but when I got out to the field chasing after Ryan I remembered exactly what it was like when I played.

I could remember the team work, the strategy, the anxiety to win and how much physically it took to run up and down the field a gazillion times. I could feel how much the game had been everything to me while I was playing. I had no mortgage, no career (or lack there of as it seems at the moment), no responsibility, completely carefree except for that next point. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my life and I am thankful everyday but I'm glad I had a long comfortable childhood. I hope that I can give Ryan the same carefree childhood, and that he keeps that innocence as long as possible.

It’s funny I hadn’t thought about soccer or that time in my life for a long time. Apparently all it takes is a walk in the park to realize how precious childhood is!

How to Occupy a Toddler

When you have a toddler you have to let certain things go. My personal philosophy is that if it isn't hurting anyone/anything and it is entertaining to Ryan I am not going to stop it. This picture is of Ryan in Walmart, he made a huge dam of faucet blockers (I have no idea why someone would need one of these but if Ryan likes them, I like them).

So Much Change in 16 Months

How long is 16 months? I feel like as an adult it is easy to let 16 months just slip by, and you look back and wonder what you have been doing for all that time. As a child, everything changes in 16 months especially the first 16 months.

Here is how much Ryan has changed...

Picture Post

I was doing so well posting there for awhile... but now apparently I am slack again. So instead of writing something profound (which I believe is beyond me tonight) I will post pictures. I have no idea how he grew so fast but it seems like everyday he looks more like a toddler and less like a baby.

Ryan LOVES art now... chalk is my favorite because it is easiest to clean up :) After art we have to wash off (this was after a marker experience..) Ryan hung out in the sink for awhile, I think he might get messy for the off chance I will let him play in the water afterwards.
Trying on his winter coat to make sure it fits... instead of throwing a fit he decided to completely ignore the fact that it was on.He was on his way out to mail the netflix movie... that wasn't a joke, he really was.