I have to BRAG a little!

This was a "draft" I found from May 5th so I guess I'll finish it NOW in October. Lord, I told you I was behind!
I am REALLY proud of my smarty-pants this month (don't forget this is from MAY)! I mentioned a couple posts back that Ryder was picking out a few letters and saying them out loud to me after watching his little ELMO LETTERS video! We now know ALL our letters and he can call them out to me by random. Every momma needs this cute little "Learning About Letters" DVD from Seasame Street!
He is even counting very well from the Counting DVD he also watches. 1-15 is down and when we get to the twenties it's hilarious. He just says twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty over and over again!

It's now October and Ryder is FINALLY saying his ABC's without leaving out H-P. HAHA. It's the sweetest thing and is music to this momma's ears. We are now working on COLORS! He sure does have a hard time but we're pulling out the flashcards. I'm determined to have a bright young man!

TWO= Big Changes

Well, here we are AGAIN, BEHIND and playing catching up! I'm one busy working momma so my next few posts will be the last 4 months in a nutshell!

We broke two major habits and they went surprisingly VERY WELL. We converted Ryder's bed from a crib to a toddler bed in June. After catching my little monkey climbing the rails, which were a tad encouraged, we had to make the BIG change.

It was sad but he was a trooper. We didn't have many surprise visits in the middle of the night and he went down very well. The situation we are in NOW in October is completely different. We have a third little friend climbing in bed with us EARLY every morning. It's so sweet when he runs in with his blanket and softly whispers "momma" SOOOO I'm doing what I said I would never do- but I don't care. I LOVE IT (when I get good sleep)!

I love this pic, this was the 1st night in his new big boy bed. I curled towels under the sheet to create a hump so he wouldn't fall out and bump his head.

This next big change comes with a funny little story. I thought I just had this angel baby who was such a great boy at dealing with transitioning but I was proven VERY wrong. I still rock Ryder sometimes and especiallywhen we were going through the "bed change" so he would get sleepy and comfortable with the new bed. I got a wild hair and decided to NOT let him have the P-A-C-I. He did AMAZING, no fussing, no asking, went right to sleep and slept through the night. I was IN SHOCK! I HAVE THE BEST BABY IN THE WORLD! HA, well when I dropped him off at DayCare the next day I told them NO PACI. I had broke him of it and didn't want them to ever give it to him again! Here was their reply, "Mrs. Russell, Ryder hasn't had a paci in 2 months. You took it one weekend and never gave it back to us. He has been fine so we never asked for it back." Well, thanks DayCare, appreciate it!

Pic from what I THOUGHT was his first time sleeping with no paci. HAHA!

I had to add this pic because 1. it was an awesome family night out at the Levitt Shell to see Todd Snider which we ended up staying later than anticipated and 2. this was one of the last pics and nights with a PACI! He looks like a baby here.

Busy, Busy Easter

Well, the title pretty much sums up our Easter- BUSY! I'm becoming one of those working moms who CRAMS as much into our days off to make up for the time I am at work. UGH, I can get into my ruts (like now) so I'll change the subject before this becomes a WHOLE topic.  Easter was SO much fun this year. I'm sure that will happen more and more every year as he gets older. Our whole month was full of Easter FUN! I think the eggs were his FAV- real and plastic! I'm STILL finding them everywhere around the house and we can't walk through the Egg aisle at the grocery store without him screaming EEGGGGGG!!

Ryder has his 1st little Easter Egg Hunt at Baby Kate's Birthday! Stupid ME thought it started at 1 and we were an HOUR EARLY. Ryder was GREAT the 1st hour while NO ONE was there but became SO restless toward the end. We were doing several laps UP AND DOWN a set of stairs just to keep him happy- THIS BOY EXHAUSTS ME! The Easter Egg Hunt was a SUCCESS! He is a HUGE FAN of piling things into a bucket, dumping it and starting over so this was right up his alley. I'm not sure the other kids got many eggs because of Ryder, haha, oops.... and once he figured out there was CANDY inside, I was in trouble. I think I opened 20 eggs in the car on the way home!

Family Pic

Our day just isn't complete without at least ONE MELTDOWN!

Baby Kate, the birthday girl!

And, he has DISCOVERED they are filled with CANDY!

Already planning their wedding.....

AND NOW FOR OUR EASTER BUNNY PICTURE 2012......
Yes, that's a split screen of Ryder POUTING because of his FEAR of adults dressed in animals! My mom took him and she obviously has a much bigger heart than I do. I would have opted for the CRYING/SCREAMING look!

HUGE difference from my sweet and brave boy last year! Look at how little he is and I'm dying over that sweet, angel face!

We dyed eggs the night before Easter. It was not only RYDER'S 1st time but it was DADDY'S 1st time too. I know that sounds weird but his fam didn't really celebrate holiday's like others which is fine, just have to be the one to show him the ropes. I'm definitely throwing a lot of my traditions at him and can see that look of confusion! HAHA! I always remember dying eggs with my Step dad, Ron the night before Easter. I always remember my mom working and he always took the time to make the holidays special. I guess that's why I'm always wanting to pass them down to Ryder. My childhood seemed so "magical" and happy, cheesy but it was!

Dying Eggs just turned into him grabbing eggs and trying to pile as many as he could into the tiny cups! Of course, a few ended up cracked and broken on the floor. He doesn't want help with ANYTHING, very independent.Wonder where he gets that from?!?! HA!

NOTE: I do not wear heels while doing "Kid Activities". I walked in the door from work and literally have a 2 hour window to do EVERYTHING I need and want to do with him!

Love this sweet picture!

UH-OH!

One of many broken eggs!

I actually found Ryder's sweet, little Easter JamJam's from last year and wondered if they would still fit. They were insanely BIG last year and I remembered rolling the pants and sleeves up so they would fit. Shockingly they did fit again this year! It's scary at how much he has changed yet still looks so much the same.

 I had to include this picture. He was dancing! This totally captures the silly boy I am around all the time. He is always trying to make me laugh. What a sweet spirit he has. True blessing!

We woke up Easter morning to give Ryder his Easter Bunny goodies of CANDY, BUBBLES and a new pair of TOMS! He is absolutely OBSESSED with bubbles right now! He probably says it about 100 times a day. He knows where all my bubble hiding places are and will literally pull me by my arm while saying BubBub.

 I kind of went completely overboard with his little suit this year. Having a boy is easy on the wallet so I had to splurge a little this year. I was IN LOVE with this little ties that I had made from ETSY! My little man looked like such a BIG BOY! Broke my heart!
We went to church, brunch at Cockadoo's then The Peabody to watch the DUCKS! We had a BLAST and think we have made a Peabody Easter tradition! He was passed out last year we went so watching him try and attack the ducks this year was pure entertainment!

This was him SCARED of the ducks and Daddy LAUGHING!

After a little warming up, he was all but jumping in with the ducks!

Daddy caught this sweet moment walking to Brunch!

Family Pic Easter 2012

THE DAY WASN'T OVER! We still had Easter with Nana and PawPaw!

Ryder had ANOTHER Easter Hunt with his cousin Emily. It was her 1st Easter Hunt and she LOVED it. We had to hide the eggs OVER AND OVER for her. She was too cute!

PawPaw opening Eggs for Ryder!

We always get DIRTY at Nana and PawPaw's so a change of clothes is ALWAYS a must! AND notice he is playing with his BUBBLE MACHINE! Obsessed......

My Favorite BOY Things!

Not much has been going on in the Russell Household lately. Ryder is just getting bigger than ever and doing something new everyday! It's amazing how much he has picked up on and become interested in through the last few weeks.
We have finally somewhat moved on from DORA and our TIVO is officially full of ELMO! I got Ryder LOTS of Elmo things for Christmas but he never really seemed interested in them until I turned on Elmo's World one day. Ryder has now run down the batteries in Rock-N-Roll Elmo, lost ELMO'S microphone twice, received 2 other Elmo dolls from Grandparents, beaten his Elmo Drums to a pulp AND I have memorized the whole ABC Elmo DVD that repeatedly gets played in our car. ELMO, ELMO, ELMO.......
One good thing about his ABC DVD is I have caught him several times this week point out A, E, O and W correctly. I HATE letting him watch TV in the car since I let him watch a little in the morning when I'm getting ready for work and at night when we are making dinner but now that my new car has a built-in DVD player he KNOWS it's there. He whines and reaches his arms out and says, "ELLMMOOOO!" Kinda hard to get away from that......
At least it's educational, right?!?!?!?
Oh, and the cutest part is a W is pronounced just DOUBLE! AH, SO SWEET!

We have also FINALLY started giving hugs and kisses. Not sure why this took so long but I LOVE IT now that he understands it! We taught him how to hug and say AWWW from showing him with PHOEBE. He will lay his head down on you and say AWWW with this sweet little voice that will just melt your heart. To give kisses we have to say MUAH! He, of course, gives ELMO all our hugs and kisses!

My absolute FAV thing about Ryder right now is his OBSESSION with Planes, Big Trucks and Tractors. He has a Truck book that he LOVES reading and has learned to recognize all his big trucks and tractors when we are on the road. When we go to DayCare in the mornings there is a spot with construction and I always slow down and scream "LOOK, LOOK" so he can see. This has become a daily thing now. If I'm daydreaming or not paying attention he will be sure to let me know we are coming up on the tractors and bulldozers. I'll hear a huge "LOOK" and "WHOA" in the backseat! He is ALL BOY!

He learned about planes a while back from staying with his Nana and PawPaw. Mr. Wayne would always show him the planes fly over and now that he can speak, it's all about PLAAAAAANES. <--- how he actually says it, very drawn out......

Planes are another way we pass time in the car! He can spot them a mile away. Since I have to have my daily morning Starbuck's we will see SO many in the Airway's area. On Sunday's when we go to Hope I always take Airway's to the Interstate so he can see the planes land and takeoff. He just gets so excited and freaks out. I wish we wouldn't take the chance of getting shot near the Airport because we would LOVE to park in that huge field across the street so he could watch the planes for a while. Gotta love Memphis!
The funniest thing Ryder is doing lately is getting the Air Conditioner confused with planes flying over our house. Trav got in late one night from work and Ryder was crying so he went in to rock him and spend time with him. I was listening in the monitor as Trav was trying to calm him down and the air came on. Ryder screamed "LOOK, PLAAAAAAANE" loud and started laughing. HAHA, not sure what it is but he is fascinated. Thinking about a PLANE themed Birthday Party!

Something we have started new is SOCCERTOTS. We have only been to 2 classes and it's definitely interesting. The 1st class I had to miss since I was in Dallas but received plenty of pics while I was there, some frightening and others made me smile. He is in the class with his BF, Preston which I'm so glad about since they have been around each other since their birth. They seriously LOVE each other!

Trying not to take the class TOOOO serious since he is only 21 months but it's hard not to get frustrated. Ryder is very independent, he doesn't want help and he will do things when he is ready! I can't say, "Ryder, go kick the ball in the net" if he wants to THROW the ball or run into the goal like a maniac. He is the type that will do it 5 minutes later when we have moved onto another activity. It's humorous but annoying at the same time. He is stubborn and hard-headed which makes sense, he is my child.
The teacher keeps saying his behavior is common and it will get so much better as the weeks go by. We have 6 more weeks and I'm really interested to see him learn some soccer skills and learn to take direction. Love that he is taking his first sports class and it makes me SO excited about the future. Hope I have a little athlete on my hands, minus the meltdowns!

Easter is coming up this week and I'm BUSTING AT THE SEAMS! I'll be sure to post TONS of pics and update my blog afterwards. We have a jam-packed week of Easter fun! CAN'T WAIT!

New Year = Lots of TLC!

I'm ALMOST officially caught up with the present time! The first month of 2012 has been a little MUCH when it has come to being sick around this house. Nothing MAJOR just annoying sickly stuff! I'm usually as "healthy as a horse" but I hope how me and Trav spent New Year's isn't any indication of the coming year.

Trav played the Gold Strike for New Year's and I went to wedding before heading to "the boats". I had such a fun evening with my girlfriends and even discovered a little hidden preggo within our group. It isn't "out" yet so I will make everyone mad and wonder WHO it could be, hehe. Erin's wedding was so beautiful and one to remember! I quickly left to head to Tunica so I could have my special midnight kiss with the hubby and hang with my Gabby Wives.

I just realized I didn't get ANY pics with my hubby on New Year's! UGH!

As soon as I got to the casinos Travis started complaining about being nauseous, thinking maybe he overate. We rang in the New Year with the rest of the casinos and that next break Trav was PUKING HIS BRAINS OUT! I will just throw this out there since I'm sure your thinking it, we weren't drinking so it was definitely the first New Year's that we couldn't have alcohol to blame. It was an early night for Trav and Gabby had to play without him. Not THAT big of a deal, you can ONLY imagine the kind of onlookers at the casinos at 2 AM! I'm sure half of them didn't even notice Trav was gone. We headed home and poor T was hugging the toilet the whole night! I felt so bad for him until I was jumping out of bed at 4 AM! I WAS NOW SICK! We spent the whole next day holed up in our bed taking turns BARFING! It was HELL! Thank God my mother in law was available and free to watch that sweet baby while we recovered and Thank God he didn't get it. Trav bounced back rather quickly while I was just a weakling for a couple days. We still are not sure if it was something we ate or something we caught running around the casinos! Either way, it was disgusting and I pray we never get that sick again!

Ryder started DayCare again at the very end of December and, of course, I waited last minute to get him on the waiting lists of my top choices! Who knew DayCare was SO cut-throat!?!?! These mommies don't play around here. Last time I checked he was just learning numbers not getting a Harvard Degree. Like always though, God came through and lead us to the one place I had the highest doubts about and I am NOW LOVING IT! I couldn't imagine him anywhere else. The staff is friendly and amazing and he loves going. Just another lesson of "don't judge a book by it's cover." I definitely did because it wasn't as "nice" and "new" like the other facilities I visited. ANYWAY, the whole point of this paragraph is Ryder has been SICK since he started! I know his little immune system will have to build up since he isn't in the comfort of Nana's house anymore but I wish it would hurry up and BUILD UP!

We had our 18 Month Checkup in Early January. It turned out to be 1 of our 3 visits that month! He was 26 pounds, 34 inches and I'll keep his head measurements to myself- almost off the charts. Our check-ups always come at the perfect times! I always am so sure he has an ear infection before we go but it always turns out I'm wrong. We have been VERY lucky with the ears considering some of my friends seem to go through it way too often. It's so sad. Turns out what I thought was an ear infection was really just TEETHING! The next week was followed with Ryder having to be rocked to sleep every night and waking up in the middle of the night screaming because of his poor teeth! He would just toss and turn while moaning! It was so sad and it made me feel like I had a NEWBORN again. Guess I'm not ready to pop out #2 for everyone who loves to ask that question. P.S. why is that always the "next question"?!?!?

 ROLL TIDE! We had some good friends over for the National Championship and Trav's team won! I could really have cared less but it was fun having all of our friends with lil boys over. They are all about 6 months apart from each other and they were NOT getting along very well. It wasn't bad by any means but just a lot of jealousy and tempers. Ryder was in RARE form that evening. I don't want to be "that mom" but he was struggling to make it on about an hour nap from DayCare and it was the start of the worst TEETHING we have ever experienced. The funny thing about the timing of his teething is the fact that I randomly caught him trying to BITE Jude and Grey about 100 times. Like I said, he was in rare form! I spanked that butt a few good times and he hasn't tried bitting since. I would just like to think it was my amazing disciplining that stopped that right then and there (yeah, right).

Ryder and Grey playing on the couch.

Jude dancing for me!

Found Ryder playing with his trucks in the kitchen. Think he was mad other kids were there playing with his stuff. Wonder where he gets that selfishness from!?!?!

I can't move on from the National Championship party without mentioning the Brooke Mitchell/ Throw-up fiasco! If anyone knows Brooke, you know she is obsessed with children. She walked over to Ryder and picked him up over her head and shook him (not violently, just a little playful nudge) and YAK!!!!!!! Ryder barfed his milk ALLLLLL over Brooke's face and chest. Thank God he had his paci in and it didn't really get her good but it DEFINITELY made it in the corner of her mouth! I almost puked myself and peed in my pants! I can't believe she didn't throw him on the floor or go hurl in the bathroom! It was sooooooo disgusting, looked disgusting and the smell was BEYOND disgusting. SO that was our laugh for the night.....
Later that night was the start of our week long, midnight wake-up calls from a screaming baby!

A few days later we had our 1st poop-in-the-tub incident. I thought Ryder was going to D-I-E! I was sitting on the bathroom counter watching him and I just couldn't understand why he was spazzing out! He LOVES the bath and lately it's the one place I don't have to listen to him cry for no reason! I got closer and to my surprise there is DIARRHEA EVERYWHERE! It was the first time this has EVER happened but the month of January brought 3 total poop-in-the-tub incidents! EW and YUCK!

DayCare gave Ryder a lil surprise one Friday afternoon- HAND, FOOT , MOUTH DISEASE! I have heard of this but I had NO IDEA what it was until I really googled images. He had what looked like a cold sore on his mouth Friday night and I checked his hands and feet and saw nothing so shrugged it off. Saturday morning came around and it was DISGUSTING! He had little bumps all over his little mouth, one was even huge and white which was the infection. We went to the pediatrician and it was definitely HFM and an infection. I called his DayCare Monday and pretty much the whole place was sick with it. They barely had any kids there Monday and had a cleaning crew come in to gut and clean the place. To my surprise, Ryder had a very mild case of it. When I dropped him off on Tuesday you could see some of the kids faces COVERED in the bumps where Ryder only had a few around his mouth. Poor babies!

Ryder and Daddy at the doctor!

Taking a nap! Poor baby felt so bad!

The following week we had ANOTHER sick weekend! Ryder came home Friday with PINK EYE, runny nose and the nastiest cough I have EVER heard. I felt SO bad for him. He JUST got off antibiotics so my pediatrician wanted us to treat this a little more naturally. It's been almost a week and he still isn't better. The pink eye has left the Russell's house, it was actually mild compared to the time he had it as a baby. The cough and runny nose are worse than it was last week. Guess I'll be going in for my record visit of 4 in a month.

Ryder has REALLY done a 180 overnight. I feel like I just woke up one day to the world's most independent kid. We no longer are needed to help him use a spoon, brush his teeth, wash his hair and even take his medicine. He seriously WIGS out when I try and help do all of the above. I stand back with my arms crossed thinking he won't be able to do any of that by himself and he has proved my wrong every time, minus the teeth brushing. That was something he always loved me to do, now he SCREAMS if I don't give him the toothbrush. He just SUCKS on it and doesn't actually brush his teeth. As a control freak, this really erks me. I don't want him to have nasty little teeth and I want him to still need his mommy for things like that.

Our little vocabulary has expanded as well. He pretty much is repeating everything and even trying to say sentences we say often. He struggles but tries to sing songs we sing to him. It's hilarious. Travis loves to sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat and he will repeat Row Your Boat every time then laugh. I love singing him Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. He'll repeat Up Above Sky and then laugh. He cracks himself up all the time. It's so cute.
January also brought the words PooPoo, Samson and Phoebe which he screams ALL THE TIME. I love hearing him say PEEBEE, it's hilarious! We now know ALL the cast members in Dora and he loves to scream them every time they pop on the screen: Dora, Boots, Map, Backpack and Swipper. We have all those DOWN!
Another little thing Ryder loves to do right now is roll the dog canister (yes, it's on wheels) out of the closet and into the living room, open it up and pour hand fulls of dog food onto the floor. I literally let him do it for 30 minutes one night while I cooked. The dogs had dinner and the baby was entertained. I can't go to the pantry without that dog canister coming out. He even indulges in a little dog food himself. UGH, I really have to watch every move this kid makes. He is a CLIMBING, DOG FOOD EATING, CRAZY person and I love it!

Christmas Time

Christmas in February!?!? Not so much, just NOW getting to sit down and write about our WONDERFUL holiday! I have had this post written since early January, I'm just getting to post my fav pics! I swear having an 18 month old makes EVERYTHING hard to put first.
I will be better at blogging. I will be better at blogging. I will be better at blogging........

I guess I will start my Christmas Adventure with the funniest! Last year we went and saw the Macy's Santa which we stumbled on by accident. Me and my mother STALKED the Macy's website this year to make sure we didn't miss him again since his pic last year was PRICELESS! The website said Sunday but listed the date as Monday. We thought surely he would come on a weekend so we made the long trek to Cordova with Ryder. I should add that he was on a 45 minute nap since we had a little Christmas Party to attend earlier in the morning. BAD IDEA! He was in such an AWFUL MOOD! It might have been one of the worst experiences of my life. I was the lady walking through the mall with the screaming baby in the stroller getting "those looks". To top off the fit my child was throwing, the Macy's Santa WASN'T THERE! He was coming the next day! FREAKIN AWESOME! Since we drove that far we decided to see the Overpriced Mall Santa and remember to double check next year.

Here is the PERFECT pic from last year......

Now I know a lot of this has to due with age and every child goes through this little Santa phase but he was very tired and the combination of the two resulted in this classic picture!

I was totally expecting this sort of picture this year but the whole situation was rather comical, at least I thought so. Not so much from everyone watching. I sat down with Ryder first so he would see that this strange man wasn't the Devil and he got a little fussy. People were watching then when I got up and handed Ryder over he REALLY lost it. Santa asked me, "you really want his pic done like this?!?!" OF COURSE. I'm gonna look back on this and LAUGH! Me, Trav and my mom were cracking up as the crowd stared in disbelief! We got one good shot and I ripped this poor baby from Santa and did the Walk of Mommy Shame through the mall! As you can see, it was an AWESOME day Raising A Russell.......

Onto a more enjoyable evening, my girlfriends had our first Christmas Gift swap with the kids! We had SO much fun getting all the babies together and swapping gifts. They had a blast playing their brains out and I just enjoy every second of being with my "Memphis Family". They are literally like my sisters.

Ryder received the CUTEST lil Christmas shirt from Owen which we wore PLENTY throughout the month.

AND Ryder's Godmommy, LayLay got him his 1st pair of Tom's! We LOVE THEM!

We did try and have another Santa Run-in thinking maybe that last visit for Ryder was just a "bad day". NO, not so much. Our good friends Roy and Danah had Santa drop by their house to see the kids so we thought it would be fun to mainly hang out with good friends and let Ryder get used to this man that will be in his life for the next few years! HE IS THE ONE THAT BRINGS THE PRESENTS ANYWAY!!!!!

He didn't even want to STAND next to him!

We even moved him down the line and he STILL flipped out! This just isn't our year for Santa!

I rarely get to go home and see my family for ANYTHING because our schedules are all so different and busy. I got to get off work a few days and head to Nashville to see my WHOLE family. It was a BLAST! I have never been able to make a Birthday Party for any of my cousins kids so this year me and my mom worked it out so that we could wish Bentley a Happy 2nd Birthday at his party! It was the PERFECT day!

We always get together at my Aunt Polly's sometime before Christmas for dinner and it brought back so many memories. It was weird to see all the kids running around when it seemed like yesterday it was me and my cousins doing the running and annoying the adults. It was kind of an out-of-body experience. Where did the time go!?!?! I mainly get sad because most of those Christmas Dinner's at Aunt Polly's always involved my step dad Ron who passed away in 1999. When I type that date and re-read it, it seems so long ago but it's still so fresh in my brain. Holiday's are always so hard without him but Ryder feels that void so situations like Christmas seem so much sweeter. He is definitely a blessing.

All the WILD CHILDREN

Our Whole Family

Ryder, of course, was spoiled by the family!

Chair from Grandpa!

One of the main reasons we went to Nashville was to go to Opryland. My mother-in-law tagged along at the tail end of out trip so she could go check out this GIGANTIC hotel. It was VERY impressive!
We stayed with my dad and it is SO nice to see him. It wasn't long enough but since Ryder has come along it seems we are making more of an effort to set aside time to travel to see each other. I always get nervous that Ryder is going to be fussy or bratty around my dad since he isn't with him weekly but he always warms up to him so quickly. I love watching my dad with him. It's seriously the cutest thing. I wish we lived closer so that he could see all the silly things Ryder does weekly. Thank God for FACEBOOK!

Dad taking pics of Ryder and his new "Cars" chair!

Ryder FREAKING out about having to put that HUGE coat on at "ICE", notice his SHOE is coming off. THIS, my friends, is a meltdown.....

My dad, me, Ryder and step mom at ICE!

My lil family

Me and my Mother-In-Law in Nashville!

We MUST discuss the "car situation" on the way home! I had my heart set on getting Ryder a table and chair set for Christmas and I conveniently browsed through my Aunt Peggy's Pottery Barn Kids catalog and found the PERFECT set I wanted to get him. The convenient part was they had a PBK store in Green Hills AND they were running a sale on the sets THAT Sunday I called! What a coincidence. hehe. I drug my child and dad to Green Hill's and bought Ryder his perfect lil table and chairs. NOW the problem was how we were going to fit Travis, my mother-in-law, Ryder, me, TWO car-seats (don't ask, I get pissed about the miscommunication of that mishap just TYPING it), TONS of new TOYS and GIFTS in a SCION. The fun part about that ride home was we decided it was time I get a BIGGER car and we did just that the next week. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME!

That little space was how I rode for 3 hours.....

Christmas Eve was perfect! An evening at my in-laws watching all 12 grandchildren open their presents was so fun! Ryder was into it which made it even better! He LOVED ripping the paper open to see his new trucks. For some reason, his fav thing to do is lay on his tummy and push his cars around making a VROOOOOM noise. It's the cutest thing to watch!

Christmas Eve night at my house has become a tradition for mom to spend the night. I love having here there because I know she loves to be a part of Ryder's every move. We wrapped his presents and put most of them together. I can't imagine how much fun this is going to be the older he gets. I remember waking up Christmas morning as a girl and running into our living room to find the most ridiculous amount of toys, all placed in the most perfect places. I have definitely become my mother. I wanted everything to be seen in a certain order when he walked in! The biggest, of course, hidden so he would be really surprised. He could have cared less which I expected.

We woke him up and let him run into our living room! He noticed a big blowup tent with bouncy balls in them, which he has YET to play in! There were a lot of pointing and "WHOAS" going on! He was so fixed on the Rock-N-Roll Elmo and Elmo drum set that we pretty much just moved onto our gift opening and let him play with that all morning!

His big gift was kind of a bust. My mom bought him a John Deere tractor that he can control and drive. We thought he would LOVE it since his Red "Cars" car was his obsession last summer. NOT SO MUCH! He has just gotten comfortable sitting on it. He does like to ride in the trailer while mommy drives it around the backyard. It's a wonder I haven't broken it yet! Whatever makes him happy, RIGHT!?!?!

So there was our Christmas Holiday 2010! It was so much fun this year with a 1 year old. Everyone says every year gets better! I can't imagine seeing him as a 2 year old next Christmas! It's flying by and I'm trying to hold onto every move and breath he takes so hopefully this little BLOG will help me to look back on the little things!

I always like to end most posts with what Ryder is saying or doing and one of my INSANELY FAVORITE words he started saying this Christmas Holiday was SANTA, it was more like TANTA but it MELTED my heart when I heard him say it. He has a little Night Before Christmas Book that he LOVED and I would always point to Santa and tell Ryder who he was and that he was coming to see him. I always think he is ignoring me but NO, the boy is listening. When we were at ICE in Opryland he was walking up to all the Santa figurines in the gift shop and yelling TANTA! I think I was literally about to cry. It was the best word he could have learned this Christmas!