{ embrace the camera : 2.9 }

Linking up with Emily for Embrace the Camera... 

Me and my goofy little love. This is truly an ETC photo... post shower, wet-ish hair, still in sweats... but look at how cute HE is!! :] 

[ 12 months! ]

My oh my... 12 months old! I haven't taken Ryan's 12 month pictures yet... but I thought I would update anyway, because wow, has he learned a TON lately!

I had a proud mama moment the other day... I put him on his little potty after his nap, like I usually do. This time, he not only peed on the potty, but he also signed "T" (what we use for toilet) at the same time! I was seriously blown away... he has been picking up on signing so well!

His signing vocabulary now includes...

...milk
...more
...please
...thank you
...toilet
...book
...all done

And his verbal vocabulary includes...

...mama
...dada
...moo
...ball
...up
...buh [for nums]

I'm not sure on his weight/length... I'll have to check! He was 16.3lbs at the end of December... I'd say he's close to 17lbs now. But I've been wrong before ;] He's been mostly wearing 6-9 month pants, 9 month sleepers, and 6-9 or 9 month onesies. And size two shoes! Tiny shoes are so adorable...

Another huge thing: he is walking. He's pretty much got it down like it's no big deal, too. It is SO CRAZY to see him walk around the corner of the room... it makes me do a double take sometimes because I'm so used to seeing him crawling! He doesn't need to crawl over to a couch or shelf or anything to stand up now... he just pushes himself off the ground, sometimes with a toy in hand. Little multi-tasker.

One of my favorite things he does is when I ask him to go get a book (verbally and by signing). He stands up, stops for a second with his hands in the air like "Where's the book? Where IS the book? I'm on a MISSION!" and walks over to the shelf where the books are... and then he pulls one off, smiles, and carries it back to me to read for him. SO ADORABLE.

He definitely loves the kitties. He loves to snuggle them and chase them. I think they really like him too :] I hope they continue to be pals as they get older. I think it helps that we have super needy (er, cuddly) kittens. He just loves that they are all over him all the time.

He still loves to eat... I wish I had a metabolism like he seems to have. I'm not sure where he puts it all!!

Still only four teeth but he's working on 2-4 upper teeth. Teething seems to come and go. I kind of wish they would just come in already!

I think that's about all of the "new" stuff... but it's late and I'm probably forgetting some things. *yawn* This post is subject to being edited in the morning when I am more coherent...

Crayon Art { tutorial }

If you're on Pinterest, there's really no doubt that you've seen crayon art floating around... like this:

Source

I made one a while back that turned out pretty cool, I think:

I had intended on putting it in Ryan's room. I still could, but... eh. I decided I wanted to make another one specifically for his room... using only the colors that are in his room: white, orange, brown, blue and green. I've seen some people add painter's tape to part of the canvas so that it doesn't get covered in crayon, and I wanted to give that a try. 

I like the look of the unwrapped crayons, so I did the same with this one. HINT: put the crayons in a bowl of cold water and {most of} the labels will just slip right off! All of the slid off for me, except for two of the orange crayons. Annoying. Oh well.

If you want step by step details, then you can go here... I'll just show you the photos of what I did. 

I hot glued the crayons on the canvas, and then cut out a lowercase letter "r" (for Ryan, obviously!) out of painter's tape. I stuck it to the canvas, and then got to work with my hair dryer.

I wanted the "r" to stand out a little bit more, so I outlined it with a marker. 

And here it is, in Ryan's room. It may stay there, it may not... but I don't have anything else to put there at the moment... so it stays, for now at least. 

And hey... there's a sneak peek of the curtains and cornice that we made... at some point I hope to find a white glider that I can recover; then his room will be complete! And then I can share pictures ;] 

cake.

On Sunday, January 29th, we had a family party for Ryan at GiGi and Grandpa Jim's house. Our day had an interesting twist to it: Ryan's first trip to the ER.

During lunch, I noticed that he wasn't signing "please" and "more" like he usually does. I didn't think much of it; I just figured he was being kind of reserved in front of people. After lunch, I saw that he wasn't using his right arm at ALL... and that it was completely limp to his side. He "seemed" okay, other than being a little more anxious about being away from me than normal. I looked at his arm closer, and his finger, hands, elbow and shoulder were all swollen. Jake and I decided that we should take him in to Urgent Care. We didn't know if it was dislocated or if it was broken... so we put the party on hold and we took him in.

Long story short: it was only dislocated. "Only" is kind of a silly word here (it was extremely painful for him to get his elbow put back in), but we are very thankful that his arm was not broken or that there was infection. It was an easy fix! Two and a half hours later, we headed back to my grandparent's house to continue the party, since he seemed to be feeling fine.

And feeling fine he was... he was acting like his normal self when we got there, and he opened up his presents (well, Jake did; Ryan isn't too interested in that yet)... and enjoyed eating his cake!

I made him a modified version of a carrot cake... it was super healthy but super delicious! The yogurt was made out of greek yogurt. Not very frosting-y but it was sweet and covered the cake, so it did its job. Here are some of the pictures of Ryan enjoying his cake!

 ["ALL DONE! Please!"]

On Your First Birthday

Dear Ryan,

I remember the moment I met you for the very first time, face to face. You were handed to me, crying, and I laid you on my chest... "Hi, buddy!" were my first words to you outside the womb. "He's here, I can't believe he's here!" I excitedly said to Jake, your daddy. You were so little... so beautiful... and so perfect. After so many months of waiting and preparing for you, here you were!

I remember how you pooped all over me not long after you were born. "I guess this is my initiation into motherhood," I said with a laugh. You probably would have weighed 2 more ounces had they weighed you before you exploded all over me. But it was okay... I was so happy that you were here, I didn't mind the sticky mess.

I remember the first time you nursed. You seemed to know what to do, but I was hesitant. It was a beautiful moment I will never forget, the way your little hands grasped me; the weight of your little body in my arms.

I remember the first time our family came to meet you... I wanted so much to share you with everyone, but I missed you the second you left my arms! I couldn't take my eyes off of you, not for one second.

I remember our first night in the hospital, when your daddy and I laid you, snug as a bug in your swaddle, in the bassinet. The responsibility of you... of loving you, of raising you... weighed on me heavily, but also with peace. We can't do anything without Christ... we wanted to keep him the center of our family... and keep Him the focus with how we raise you.

I remember when we took you home for the first time. It felt so strange to leave the hospital with the three of us, our little family. You cried on the way home, so I sat in the back seat with you so you wouldn't be afraid. "Mama's right here, love."

I remember rocking you or nursing you to sleep every night. It was an internal struggle to put you down. I wanted so much to hold you all the time! It just felt so right to keep you close to me.

So many things to remember.

I didn't want you to grow up. I wanted you to stay my tiny baby forever. But very quickly I realized that your growing up was something I needed to embrace and not fear or resist. It became a bittersweet thing, but mostly sweet. I was able to look back with a smile and remember all the beautiful things about your life... but yet look excitedly towards the future, to see where God would bring you.

Last night, I cried as I put you to bed. Both sad and happy tears. Tomorrow you were going to be one, and my heart swelled with happiness. You've done so much growing and changing in this last year, love... it has been so much fun to be your mama. You light up my life in so many ways. I can't express to you how much I love you.

I hope and pray that someday you will realize that there is One who loves you so much more than I do. As much as I want to be needed in your life, I want you to need Him more than me. As you relied on me for breath inside the womb, I pray that someday you will rely on Christ for your every breath. I beg God that he would open your eyes, and that the gospel would transform your life. I'm not perfect... I will mess up as your mama... but God's grace is perfect, his mercy is perfect, his gospel is perfect... please cling to Him through all things. Today and every day, I give you back to Him and ask that he would use you as He sees fit.

Little Ryan, as your first year comes to a close and your second year of life opens, know how much I love you and cherish you. I am so proud to call you my son. You have already taught me so much! I am so blessed. God has richly blessed me with YOU.

I love you,

I love you,

I LOVE YOU. 

~Your mama