{ 25 }

It's my 25th birthday today. I first got to celebrate by eating raisin bran at 2:30am with my 10 month old. He was very restless and would not sleep (darn teeth!) so we got up and had a little snack. Thankfully, after being awake for two hours, we went back to bed for three... so I feel mostly human today ;]

Last year by this time, we had almost 3' of snow... and this year, we've had very little. I can count on one hand how many "brown birthdays" I've had... I used to wish relentlessly for it when I was younger, but now I don't care. It was nice, however, to be outside in 47 degree weather yesterday! 

Check out how brown it is outside... no snow!

[my friend abri made me this beautiful wreath]
[hello, baby boy in the window]

Jake, Ryan and I spent the afternoon at Ikea. We bought some things to finish Ryan's room... a new floor bed (because his mattress was too big for my comfort; I wanted something lower to the floor), a dresser, and a lamp. It was fun wandering around the store, and there were very few other people there... such a bonus to going on a week day! We tried out a bunch of chairs and beds and let Ryan explore. He had a blast. 

Other things that made my day great...

 [a birthday card from my love]

 [i am blessed to be married to a man who buys me fun wrapping paper to wrap my presents in, instead of christmas paper!]

[coffee!!]

We had a really nice day together. I am so blessed to have another year... thank you, Lord, for giving me every single breath that I have breathed, and for everything in my life. <3

[ 10 month photos ]

10 months already, he is (well, on the 3rd, he was. I'm not very good at posting on the day of!). Can you believe it? I can't. The last 10 months have been so precious, so cherished... and they have flown by! I am so thankful for him. So much growing has been done by this guy. He stands alone so often, and walks, unsteadily, while holding our hand... it will be a little while until he cruises on his own, but he is definitely far from immobile.

Here are his 10 month photos :] Went with a little Christmas theme this time, since it is December. He was far too intrigued by the shiny lights and ornaments to look at me or the camera much... but they are still pretty cute!

[ 9 month photos ]

Here are Ryan's 9 month pictures!

Terrified.

That's how Ryan felt about the Christmas tree when we put it up. We have an artificial tree, and it scared Ryan pretty bad when Jake took out all the pieces and laid them on the living room floor. Ryan wanted to be held by Jake, but Jake was setting up the tree... and Ryan didn't want to get near the tree. He'd look back and forth from Jake to the tree, as if he was deciding if it was worth it to crawl to papa.

He sat down on the floor but didn't know the top of the tree was behind him... it scared him so bad when he turned around to see the green prickly thing! He touched it a few times and seemed to decide that it wasn't all that bad.

He had more fun playing with the kittens in the tree box.

[yes, he has a naked butt... don't you let your kids run around naked sometimes?]

He wasn't so scared of the tree after a few days, though. 

And he loved sitting with me on the couch, in the dark, gazing at the beautiful lights :]

{ embrace the camera : 12.1 }

I know I say it every year around this time... but boy, December sure came up fast! In just two days my little boy will be 10 months old... this has really been one of the most fun years ever! It has also come with a lot of challenges, as any parent knows... but I am so blessed to be a mom to this little guy.

Lately we've been dealing with teething. Ryan already has his bottom two middle teeth, that he got around 7.5-8 months... but now he's working on his top two middle teeth. It's been four days of very obvious discomfort. I feel so awful for him! He's been snacking on frozen grapes a lot; that seems to help some. Other than that and just spending most of the day snuggling, I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do... it's kind of one of those things that just needs to happen, I guess. He's been sleeping with us the past few nights (and I've loved every minute of it).

Anyway, my husband Jake snapped this picture when Ryan and I were snuggling on the couch on Sunday. Ryan had just woken up from his nap, and I went in to get him... and he nuzzled into my arms and fell asleep again. We snooze on the couch for 45 minutes. I love my snuggle times with him :]

Linking up with Emily for ETC... Emily is pretty much my hero right now. She has 5 littles under the age of 7 and she's anout 39 weeks pregnant with their sixth. What a rockstar!

Ryan's 1st Thanksgiving

We had Joe, Jake's dad, over for Thanksgiving lunch. It was my first time making a holiday meal for company! We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls and fruit salad. I forgot to make the corn. Oops.

Ryan LOVED eating the Thanksgiving meal! He wasn't too sure about the big turkey before it got cut up...

...but once he tasted it, a long with all the other goodies, he was instantly a fan. And it totally wore him out, too.

We tried getting a nice picture of him with Grandpa Joe, but Ryan wasn't too excited about that, either. 

I personally think this is the best one, but Grandpa begs to differ. Too bad, my blog :]

<3

What traditions do you have for your little ones during Thanksgiving?

{ embrace the camera : 11.17 }

Linking up with Emily for Embrace the Camera...

I knew this day was coming... this month would be here before we knew it. My friend just had her baby... and 9 months ago, when she told us she was expecting, I thought to myself... "Ryan is going to be 9 months old when her baby comes! Whoa! That seems so far away..." but I knew it would be here before I realized it. Well, her baby is here... and my baby is 9 months old.

And as someone said here, he's been an outside baby as long as he was an inside baby, give or take. ;]

Thinking back over the last 9 months... and all that we've been through, or are going through, as parents... I can't help but get a little emotional at all the "growing up" my little boy has done. It makes my heart so happy to see him thriving and loving life.

He's gotten a lot more snuggly lately.

I guess, that when he was a baby and couldn't "go" anywhere, he seemed snuggly then... because I held him a lot.  

But now that he's mobile and on the go, he actually comes to me for hugs and lovin'. He lays his head on my shoulder and just looks at me with his big brown eyes.

{rubbin' my hand... "it's okay, mama, i'll be your lil' guy forever!"}

 

 

I love the sleepy, snuggly moments we have together. I really do treasure them. And I'm trying to treasure everything... even the middle-of-the-night wakings, and diaper changing battles, and when I feel like I just need 5 MINUTES ALONE... I know that one day, I'm going to miss it all. I try to remember that all of these opportunities are God-given appointments that he has blessed me with to help grow, shape and mold this little guy.

Oh, I just love him!

{ 9 months old }

Ryan is 9 months old! We've known him on the outside as long as we did on the inside... give or take ;] I don't know his "official" stats this month, so this is an {educated} guess... I don't really feel like taking him in to the clinic and exposing him to all the sick people there just to get a weight reading!

16lbs, 4oz

28 3/4" 

He wears mostly 6-9 month clothes (6 month onesies, but anything with "feet" needs to be 9 months because he is so long).

Things he loves:

BATHTIME! Any time I wash the dishes, he gets mad because he thinks he is getting a bath! Baths have definitely become a daily (or twice daily, if he is having one of "those" days) thing for him.

{I should start putting dishes away before he gets a bath, but he loves digging out everything on the other side of the sink}

KITCHEN UTENSILS! I've been looking here and there for small extra kitchen "things" for him to play with. I plan on cleaning out one of the kitchen cupboards so he has a space to "destroy" while I'm in the kitchen.

 

CLIMBING! He is really turning into a little monkey :]

PLAYING "SOOOO BIG!" It's fun that he "gets it" now ;]

MAKING SILLY FACES! He's a natural.

EATING! Here he is eating home made guacamole. He LOVES it. He's really been enjoying eating in general lately... some of his favorite things right now{besides guac} are raisins, rice Chex, waffles and the rice bowl with chicken from Chiptole {complete with corn salsa!} ;]

WATCHING OUR EVERY MOVE! Ryan loves to be around people {except when he needs to relax; he likes his alone time and being in his own space, just like his mama!}... so he is always following me or his daddy around to be with us. Here he {joined with the kitties} was watching me clean the outside of our glass door.

STANDING! AHH! He doesn't do it all the time yet, but when he wants to, he can stand on his own {and play with toys at the same time!} He's going to be walking before we know it!!

That's all for now... off to love on my little guy who just woke up from a nap!

Cheddar and Herb Biscuits {yum!}

photo source

Oh my. I made these last night to go with our BBQ chicken. They were {and are, as I am eating one for breakfast as I type this...} soooo good. They were so good, that I didn't even stop to take a photo of them.

Hence the photo above, borrowed from the original source of the recipe.

You really have to try these! Some say they are comparable to the Red Lobster biscuits... but, I don't like seafood {even the smell gets me}, so I've never stepped foot inside a RL.

I wish I had another one...

Cheddar and Herb Biscuits

INGREDIENTS:

{biscuits}
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons shortening
3 tablespoons butter, cold
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

{buttery topping}

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon parsley flakes

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS: 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, garlic powder and salt. Cut in shortening and butter until coarse crumbs are formed. Lightly mix in grated cheese. Mix in buttermilk just until moist (dry spots here and there are ok – the biscuits will be tough if they are overmixed). Drop the biscuits onto a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until browned and golden. While the biscuits are baking, in a small bowl combine the buttery topping ingredients. Right when the biscuits come out of the oven, brush the butter/herb mixture over the biscuits evenly (alternately, you can dip the top of the biscuit into the butter mixture). Serve immediately.

Makes about 10 biscuits.

My alterations:

I don't have any garlic powder, so I used garlic salt and omitted the salt {in both the biscuits and the buttery topping}. I also don't buy buttermilk, but you can make a sour milk yourself by adding one tablespoon of vinegar {or lemon juice} to a measuring cup and filling it with milk to equal one cup. I added a lot more parsley, and will probably add more herbs the next time I make them... because, yes, there will definitely be a next time!!

Sophie and Bella

That's what we named our kittens, who unfortunately aren't very kitten-y anymore. I guess that's what happens when you feed and water something... it grows!

{ sophie }

{ bella... she tends to look like she maybe has had a liiiittle too much catnip }

{ oh, bella, that's better }

{ "one of these things is not like the other..." }