Ryken's first "big boy" bath!

Ryken and Kenzie have taken baths together since Ryken's first tub bath at 17 days old. Kenzie is very good about not splashing him (too much..anyway) and he LOVES being in the bath with her. The past few weeks he has wanted to sit up in the tub SO badly! He does little crunches the whole time....trying with all his might to sit up.

This past week he has finally been sitting up...and the past few days I have been able to leave him sitting and playing with toys on his own for awhile. So tonight I figured I'd let him spend a couple minutes sitting up at the beginning of his bath. He ended up sitting up for well over 10 minutes, and the only reason I laid him down was because I needed to shampoo Kenzie's hair was afraid I wouldn't be able to grab him if he fell over! He did GREAT! He played with toys and was even purposely splashing at one point and didn't fall over! I couldn't believe it! I was SO excited that I had taken my camera in the bathroom with me to get some new bath pictures. I went picture-crazy : ) But I will only post 5 here. There are more on my Facebook page for those of you that I am FB Friends with!!


My little cutie-patooties!


I love this picture...it makes me laugh at how silly he looks every time I see it! HA!


Working on the handle...tasty!


Splashing : ) So fun!


Ryken had such a good idea chewing on the foam letters that Kenzie had to copy him....

So that was my exciting night : ) I couldn't WAIT to upload these and share them!! I am so excited yet a tiny part of me is also so sad that my tiny little guy is growing so fast. But it also amazes me and makes me so thankful to our Creator that he is developing and learning and discovering this beautiful world that God designed. I am definitely MORE thankful and excited than sad!!

Thank you Lord...for strong tummy muscles and sitting up in the tub : )

Just another ordinary day....

So...here I am again : ) No pictures. Just a plain old post.

I did something this morning that I think is really going to help me. I really struggle with reading my Bible. It is something I know I should do. It is something I want to be better at doing. Yet somehow, I will make a resolution to read it everyday..for a month...or even a week...and somehow I always fail at it. Then, when I realize that I've failed once again, I get discouraged and frustrated with myself because somehow I found time to check Facebook and my email and talk to people on the phone...yet I couldn't even fit in 15 minutes of time in the book that really helps me KNOW the God I am serving each day! How pathetic is that? I have time to make cookie dough or watch some stupid show on TV, but I couldn't even look up one verse to meditate on throughout my day. So today, I realized something else. I have tabs across the top of window of my internet browser. They start with email...then facebook..then twitter...and my blogger dashboard...etc. When I sit down at my computer I go through them one by one. So today....I put a new tab at the beginning. My new tab is Biblegateway.com. So now, when I sit down at my computer, I can start off with a time in God's word. Not only that, but I also made it my homepage. There is no avoiding it now. I will have to choose NOT to read, instead of having to choose TO read. I am really excited about it and hope it will help me start my day the right way. (And will give me times with God throughout the day too...instead of automatically turning to one of my other online social outlets first.)

I can't write for long. My house is a mess and so am I. I need a shower and to get things cleaned up around here. I am somewhat tired, as I worked until 2am last night, but I got a 20 minute nap that has helped freshen me up : )

My little Rykie-boy just got up from a nap and Kenzie is still asleep. Ryken will probably go down again before Kenzie wakes up. But I need to try to get as much done as possible before they are both up and ready for dinner.

Chip let me sleep an extra hour this morning. He does this for me often. I am so extremely blessed to be able to call him my husband. He does so much for me and our family and I know he loves us with everything in him. He seeks to love us with Christ's love, and it is apparent in everything he does.

Let me start with some background....since I am nursing, it is pretty hard for him to get up in the night with Ryken. When Kenzie was a baby, I tried pumping a few times for him to give her bottles in the night...but the first problem was that he doesn't wake up from the babies crying. And I wake up right away. So we'd find that I would have to wake him up....he'd have to go heat the bottle up which would take a good 5 minutes...all while Kenzie was getting more and more worked up (and while she is getting more worked up I am getting wider awake). By the time he had her ready to eat she'd be wide awake and mad and would not want to take the bottle. So I'd be lying wide awake in bed, wondering how things were going. He'd be trying to feed her, and would be frustrated since it would take 2-3 times longer than if I just nursed her and she'd be fighting him the whole time. Plus she'd be mad at the whole process and it would be harder to get her back to sleep. When I'd just get up and nurse her it was a painless 15 minute process.....I'd hear her right away, before she'd even be fully awake. I'd stumble into her room half asleep...scoop her up....take her back in my room and plop down in my nursing chair. She'd eat and I'd doze and about 10 minutes later I'd take her back into her crib and lay her down. I'd crawl back in bed and be asleep immediatley (I have been blessed with going to sleep very easily and I am SO thankful for that!) Chip would never even budge. SO...after 2-3 times of trying out the whole daddy/bottle thing with Kenzie we realized that most likely I will always be the one who gets up for every feeding with every baby we ever have : ) Lucky me. But really...it just makes sense.

So back to why my husband is amazing.....since Ryken was born, there have only been about 2 mornings that I have gotten up when Kenzie has gotten up, while Chip stayed in bed. Every other morning, he has been the one to get up with her each morning. He changes her and makes her breakfast and reads her stories. If Ryken gets up and it isn't time for him to eat, Chip gets him up and takes care of him too. He never complains...never comes and gets me. Even this morning...Ryken was hungry for about 30 minutes before I got out of bed. Chip was just keeping him occupied and Ryken was going to town on his pacifier. Chip knew he could come and get me. He knew I wouldn't mind. It would have been much easier for him to just come get me instead of having to work at keeping Ryken distracted and happy. But he let me sleep : )

It really means so much to me that my husband does this for me. He doesn't have to do this. He knows that he could stay in bed and I would get up and take care of the kids. But he also recognizes that I get less sleep each night than he does and that it means so much to me that he cares that I get the rest I need to take care of our family. I know there are many others out there who have husbands who would do this if they could, but their work schedule just doesn't permit it. But I also know many others who aren't blessed to have a partner when it comes to the job of taking care of the kids and who have a husband with a work schedule that allows extra help, but they just aren't willing to do it.

Thanks Chip, for being my partner in life...in everything : ) Love you babe!

Reviving my blog....

Ok.
So I want to post more.
It has gotten outta control lately...I mean....one blog a month? I figured out why! (Other than the fact that I am a mom of a 1 year old and 6 month old who also works part time from home). The reason I have been SO bad at posting lately is because at some point I got it in my head that I only wanted to post when I had time to upload pictures and write about them.

But let's face it folks. That just takes too much time. In my head, I wanted to post pictures AND post frequently. That would be the ideal goal. But clearly it just isn't happening.

So instead of always having pictures in my posts, I have decided to post MORE often without pictures. There will still be picture posts. I can assure you of that. There will just be extra non-picture posts in between : ) So it is pretty much a win-win situation...don't you think?

So....a little update on our life. (and a picture of each kid...what can I say...I just can't help myself!)

Today is Ryken's 6 month birthday! Wow time is FLYING by! He is getting so big! He goes for his 6 month well baby visit on Tuesday and we'll get his official stats, but yesterday when I weighed him with me on our scale he weighed in at 17.5 lbs. Big boy : ) He rolls from his back to his belly REALLY well now and pushes up really high. He is starting to try to get up on his knees and rock too. He does this REALLY well when he is frustrated and mad! He started eating rice cereal about a week ago and LOVES it! Today was the first time he got it 2 times in one day and he did great! He STILL doesn't sleep through the night and on top of it all, has recently decided he's a "morning person". Last night he ate every 3 hours or less....9pm, 12am, 3am, 5am, and then was up and ready to start the day at 6am. He got to play in his exersaucer while I tried to keep sleeping and 45 minutes later he got all worn out from playing and went back to bed (hallelujah!) and slept for another hour. Soo....here's hoping I get some sleep someday, but I don't plan on it : )



Our beautiful Kenzie Rose is already 21.5 months old!! She is such a fun little girl. She is a complete dare-devil and I have a feeling that may get her into trouble one of these days! Today I found her on the kitchen counter. She had pushed a toy over to the counter and proceeded to climb on up! I've got to keep a closer eye on her I guess! She has mastered her sommersaults and can say half the alphabet. She is making 2 word sentences and loves to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (but the words are still pretty muddled.) She does puzzles and watches Sesame Street and LOVES Elmo. She know the tune to Jingle Bells (I think since it is the tune they use for the song of the day on Elmo's World). She sure keeps us busy!

We've been trying to decide if we should add more kids to this crazy mix now or later, and haven't fully come to a conclusion on it, but we're happy that God knows and has a plan! We're content to stay in our nice little home for as long as it makes sense. It sure will be interesting if we keep growing our family here, but it would be fun too....we'd make it work : )

Chip is still loving work. I am still loving work too. It is pretty demanding sometimes, but I would miss it if things were different. I am still SO thankful to be at home and not out at work somewhere!! What a blessing that is!

Chip got to go hunting with his dad last weekend. It was QUITE an experience as he didn't have cell service and we didn't get to talk to each other for 3 1/2 days. I know it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but the last time we went that long with NO CONTACT at all was in August of 2004...almost a year before we got married. So it was pretty different. Luckily, I was able to spend the weekend at my mom and dad's house in Tucson, so it kept my mind off missing him TOO much (but I still missed him terribly...enough to make my tummy hurt!) The pictures of the kids that I posted above were taken when we were in Tucson.

We had a normal day today.....we woke up and hung out as a family. Ryken went down for a nap at 9:45. He got up at 10:40ish and we got ready and headed to playgroup. Chip rented a movie to watch while we were gone. We got home at 1:40 and the kids went down for a nap. Ryken had actually fallen asleep at 1 while we were still gone, so he woke up at 2 and then went back down at 2:45. Chip left for work at 2. I got some laundry done, checked my email, watched a stupid TV show, and talked to a friend while the kids were sleeping. They woke up and we played and Kenzie had some snacks while I got dinner ready. Kenz and I had chicken nuggets and peas. I made 6 chicken nuggets...I was thinking either she'd eat 2 and I'd have 4 or we'd each have 3. Well...Kenzie shot BOTH of those plans and ate 4 of them...so I had 2. SO I will have to find something else to eat later I guess. It is 7:20 now....we've been playing and watching Sesame Street (I love Tivo). It's time for baths and bed for the little ones. I have a BUNCH of work to do tonight......Chip will get home around 11 and we'll probably watch a little TV (or TT as Kenzie calls it) and head to bed around midnight.

So yep. That's a snapshot of our life right now. It seems so normal right now, but I am sure in 5 years I won't even hardly remember what these days were like!

So that's all for now. I will try to be on here more : )

And As Always...We're Thankful to be in His Hands!

So I plan to be on here much more often.

2008 is OVER already! WOW!

Well....I'll will summarize December much like I summarized November...in one long post with lots of pictures : )

DECEMBER 1ST:
We started of the month by getting our Christmas tree!! Out of all our married years...this has been the smallest tree yet. We had to get something tiny enough to put up and away from little hands....and we love getting REAL trees....so we bought a LIVING tree in a little pot from Home Depot.









Chip and I were literally on the floor laughing when we first put our full-sized tree skirt on our teeny little crooked tree.


We could hardly believe how pathetic it looked! But we folded up the skirt and got the decorations on and got it straightened out a bit and grew to love our little tree! It was fun! And we chose to have a smaller tree (out of our two options that we felt we could make work) and saved $11. Yay! It was definitely the right choice.





We decorated the windows of our lovely little home with pretty lights and some small stockings. We hung up our stockings and got out our snowflake shower curtain and Christmas tree toilet seat cover and strung lights all over the house and we had lots of fun! : )



Later that night we got some great bath shots.....Ryken likes to be propped up in the tub now (but doesn't always get to be...much to his dismay!)



And after baths we got some fun CrAzY hAiR shots.


Ok...so Ryken's isn't TOO crazy....but we didn't have a lot to work with!

SKIP AHEAD A COUPLE WEEKS TO-
DECEMBER 13TH:
Kenz and Ryken having brother/sister time in the rocking chair. Kenzie stole Ryken's horse. Neither are very excited for the camera. Yep....this is a pretty typical scenario.....


Kenzie brushing her teeth....so cute!


DECEMBER 14TH:
Chip and the kiddos

Rykie-boy and his TOO SMALL hat.

Kenzie with her baby doll. This was pretty much the first day she ever seemed to show interest in TAKING CARE of her baby doll.


Just when I was thinking how much she was growing up and how big she was, she reminded me that she is still my baby. I love her.


DECEMBER 16TH:
Kenzie had a play-date with her little friend Sydney. They had a fun time together.

I am sure Sydney's mom love the way my daughter teaches her daughter bad things...like climbing kitchen sets and standing on Sit N Spin toys.....




DECEMBER 17TH:
Ryken got ahold of one of Kenzie's toy cookies. I thought it was SO cute seeing his pudgy little self "eating" a cookie.


He is getting interested in toys....although he still can't do very much with them. Here he is...playing in the high chair.

What a sweet boy.


DECEMBER 18TH:
Our Santa Babies.



DECEMBER 20TH:
I did Kenzie's hair in french-braid pigtails for the first time. I couldn't believe she sat still well enough and that I was able to do it with her fine silky hair. But they turned out so cute!



DECEMBER 21ST:
Chip's parents took us on a surprise outing! It ended up being a Segway tour : ) We had a really fun time crusing around Tempe Town Lake.

Us looking awesome in our helmets.

On the bridge over the lake...I can't remember which one this was.

All of us.
Chip's mom, Chip's dad, Chip's sister Liz, Chip, and Me


DECEMBER 22ND:
We went to Tucson to celebrate Christmas with my family a few days early. Here is Kenzie...She took my sling and put it on with her baby. So sweet!



Kenzie with all her "loot" from Grandma for Christmas......I think she'll be sharing a little bit of that with her mom and dad : )


DECEMBER 23RD & DECEMBER 24th:
I don't have any pictures....but I should probably document the fact that we drove back from Tucson on the 23rd and got home around lunchtime and I had to take Ryken in for a doctor's appointment. He got sick on December 3rd (the day after he had his 4 month well-baby check...of course) with congestion which resulted in an accompanying cough. I took him in a week after he got it because his chest was rattling when he was breathing. SOO....the dr told me he had a cold and to call in a couple weeks if he wasn't any better. So I called on the 22nd and the doctor said to bring him in the next day just to make sure he was ok before Christmas when everything would be closed. I took him in on the 23rd and OF COURSE even though he had sounded bad that morning he was *perfect* at the doctor's office. No rattling. No congestion. I felt like a stupid overly concerned mother....but the doctor understood. He decided I should get a chest x-ray done the next day...just to be sure.

So for our Christmas Eve we packed up the kiddos and hauled them off to get Ryken's x-ray done. I had called the "centralized scheduling" number on the sheet the doctor gave me of all the locations and they told me chest x-rays were done on a walk-in basis. So we go to the closest location on the list....I sign him in and check the "no appointment" box...and we wait. We waited for 20 minutes before I heard the ladies at the counter talking about how they had a patient with that last name scheduled but Ryken wasn't the first name...so I walked up and told them I had called to make an appointment but was told chest x-rays were on a walk-in basis. They smiled and said...oh sweetie...I am sorry...we don't do chest x-rays at THIS location. Great. So....off we go....to another location. I had timed it all out to try to fit it in before Ryken's nap. That didn't happen. He fell asleep in the car on the way to the next office where they were able to get him in right away (of course) so I had to wake the poor boy up for it! By this time we were running way behind the schedule we had planned for the day....we were supposed to try to go home, eat lunch, and get presentable for our Christmas Eve Service at church....which we wanted to go to before the kids had their afternoon naps. SO....we went out to lunch and did the unthinkable...we went to the Christmas Eve service in our workout pants and hats on our greasy heads of hair. And ya know what? Jesus knew what our day was like. And I don't think He was upset that our dress was not quite up to the usual expectations. And that was nice. Later that night we got together with Chip's parents and sister and did some presents with them. It was quite a different Christmas Eve...but a good one none the less.

DECEMBER 25TH:
Kenzie opening her baby stroller.....she LOVES it.

Here she was playing with her baby later that day at her Grandma and Papa Brown's house. She and that stroller and baby were inseparable for a few days!


DECEMBER 26TH:
We went to the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park with Chip's cousins and grandparents. Kenzie tried to flap her wings like the big bird (maybe a condor? I can't remember)


Liz (Chip's sister) Me and Chip in front of the giraffes.

Liz and I went up and fed them....really neat!


DECEMBER 27TH:
Another day of Christmas with Chip's mom's parents....we had to get a few pictures with Aunt Liz since she was leaving the next day.

Kenzie was NOT in a picture-taking sort of mood. So. This is the best we got. Oh well.


AND........THE LAST DAY OF 2008.
DECEMBER 31st:
We went and picked up our new spectacles at Costco.....

Kenzie and I celebrating New Year's Eve. Ryken had already gone to bed and Chip was working until 10:30. SO we just had fun playing. (Until she went to bed at 8:30..hehe).

And so folks. That was December.

A QUICK Recap of some of the HIGHLIGHTS of 2008:
-Kenzie started to WALK in February at 10 months old.
-We found out that our new baby was a BOY in March.
-Kenzie turned ONE in April (and Chip turned 26).
-We went to Coronado for a family vacation at the end of May/beginning of June.
-I celebrated my 23rd birthday in July. And 20 days later....Ryken had his BIRTHDAY!
-We made a few trips to Tucson this fall.
-My little sister got engaged!
- And SO much more. I just don't feel like thinking of it all right now : )

THANK YOU LORD for 2008 and it's HEAPS of blessings. I am beginning to see that we have even more in our lives than we even realize! He is so GOOD.