Our Sweaty Boy

Yesterday evening we went outside to play in the backyard before Daddy came home and here are some pics from our playtime.  It's sooooo stinkin' hot here that it just takes 5 minutes outside and you're dripping sweat.  Uggh.  I'll be happy when it starts to cool down, especially being 7 months pregnant!  Here are a couple pics of Ryan while we were outside sweating.  He's so funny.  He LOVES to go outside.  He will say, "outside, outside, outside" meaning....Please take me outside Mama????!!!!!  But once we're out there and he gets hot and he wants to go back inside and he'll say, "inside".  And Mama happily obliges!!  We're tired of the humidity and heat!  Bring on the fall!

Ryan still enjoys playing with the red car that we are borrowing from Eli.  He loves to put rocks in the seat.  He could do this all day long!

Checking Things Out

We've slowly started bringing things into the house that will be for the new baby.  This weekend CC bought us a bouncy seat for our little guy since the one we used for Ryan we borrowed from the Laniers.  They'll be needing that one at the same time since our babies are only due 3 weeks apart!  On Sunday when we got home from our travels and Lee brought in the bouncy seat, Ryan couldn't help but check it out....and sit in it.  Such a curious little fellow he is.  Let's hope he eventually understands it's for the baby, not him!! 

Using a Spoon

(If you received the blog post via email, please go directly to the blog at www.leelaura.blogspot.com to view this video)

So I know most 19 month olds probably are already using a spoon but ours is just getting started with it.  Ryan doesn't eat tons of food that we have to feed to him so we haven't really felt any kind of urgency in starting the spoon.  Especially since it's messy.  Really messy.  We figured we'd wait till he was a bit older and maybe, just maybe, more mature.  We really only started about 2 weeks ago and not even on a consistent basis.  Only when he's eating something that a spoon might be helpful for.  Anyway, here's a video of him eating his oatmeal this morning at breakfast.  He's getting the hang of it quickly and that makes us happy!  We need to get him as independent as possible for the baby arrives.

Here are a few pictures from about a week and a half ago.  This is Ryan's first time eating yogurt with a spoon by himself.  He did great...just a little messy.  Daddy got in on the action too :)

Legacy

On Saturday, July 21st we had Ryan dedicated at church.   Not in a the kind of way where you parade your child up in front of the congregation (which I'm not knocking...it's totally what we are used to).  This dedication service at our church is called Legacy.  Legacy is a celebration service designed to help us mark the moment where we consecrate and dedicate our child and ourselves to the purposes God has established for our family! It was a special time to gather our family and focus on the calling God has entrusted us with—raising our children. We invited both sets of grandparents to join us in this celebration and were blessed by them being there.  Ryan, Lee and I are truly lucky to have such loving support around us! 



We were asked to submit up to 3 photos of Ryan so the church staff could add it to a photo slide show of all the children that were participating in the service.  Here a pictures of the 3 pictures we sent in of Ryan as they came up on the slide show.  (Obviously the 4th picture is NOT him.)





 Here are the questions that Lee and I answered and discussed with our families. 

Patiently Waiting on Daddy

Daddy coming home from work is a big deal around our house.  Ryan LOVES when Daddy gets home and so does Mama!  This afternoon Ryan was waiting on Lee to come home from work and it was just too cute to not photograph.  He was patiently waiting with his dog in hand.....a friend he dearly loves.  Here's our little fellow as he waits and then once he finally gets a glimpse of Lee.  

Old McFaye's Farm

Last Thursday we went with some friends to visit Old McFaye's Farm in Castle Hayne.  This farm is so cool for the kids.  They have horses, a pony, peacocks, hens, roosters, ducks, lambs, sheep, goats, rabbits and a pot belly pig. They even got to ride a horse!  This isn't a working farm, per say, but a place for kids to come visit animals and look around the farm.  Ryan had a blast and so did the other kiddos.  It was sooooo hot as you can tell from some of the pictures.  We're both a sweaty mess and Ryan is red faced too but it was a super fun day and well worth hanging outside in the heat.  Here are some pics from our field trip to the farm-

 Ryan is feeding the rabbit a carrot.

 We went on a hay ride too!

We attempted to get a picture of all the kids in the trailer after our hay ride ended but they had other plans for us mamas.  It was so funny.  They all just started crying.  NO one wanted their picture taken with out their mama by their side.  Anna took a video that showed the kids in action crying.  Here's a link to it:  http://youtu.be/L8VHD5cIwYs  This video is hilarious.  You have to check it out!

Once we got out of the trailer and were ready to head home we did get a better pic of all the kiddos together.  From Left to Right:  Sadie, Sadie, Tad, Ryan and Chase.

Amy and Jeff's Wedding, part 2