15 months...

Ryken- roo is 15 months old! Crazy to think that he is already that old. He is getting to be so much fun, well he has always been fun but he is more active now.

We took him in for his check up and silly me was thinking that he wasn't going to have to get shots. Well they surprised both him and I and said yep he will be getting 3 shots! Yikes thank goodness Justin was able to meet us there and help with the holding down of Ryken for the nurse to give the shots. ( I am such a baby and can't do the hard stuff like that) But we made it thru and he was all better after I found him an Elmo sticker to play with. :) He hasn't gotten chubbier which kinda makes me sad cause it really means that he isn't much of a baby anymore. He has only gained 3 ounces since his year check up. So he is a whopping 24 pounds 3 ounces. :) And is 32 inches long so he has gotten a little taller. He is still trying to get better with his talking. But really doesn't say much. He will say a few things that I understand but others may not. :)

Here are a few...

*Dog

*book

*ball

*ma ma

*da da

*and if you tell him to say turtle he will repeat it. :)

* He also has this old McDonald book that he loves and he will now repeat e-i e-i-o.

*He also moos like a cow sometimes. :)

He still likes to read books but his new thing is to look at magazines. And he loves to look at my silly gossip magazines. (Which is horrible for both of us to look at I know. I just can't help myself)

And he loves to play under the kitchen table and under the chairs too. Even if he gets stuck under the chairs sometimes.

He likes to give kisses and is even pretty good at blowing kisses too. :) (here he is kissing his bear, sorry it wouldn't turn the right way. )

His new obsession is with red grapes. He LOVES them. As soon as the fridge is open he goes straight for the bowl with the grapes in them. I guess its a good thing he like some kind of fruit right? He is trying really hard to climb up on the couches. But hasn't really gotten up all the way on his own.

And he loves to follow me in to our room and he likes to play on our scale. Ryken is growing up so fast. I enjoy every new thing he does and all the old ones too. I really truly can't get enough of him thru out the day. :)

I swear I do put pants on this kid when we go out. But sometimes its just easier to stay at home in just his diaper and shirt. :)

Oh and guess who we are off to see in a few days?...

That's right, Mickey Mouse. We are headed off to Disneyland to hopefully get to see Mickey Mouse and all his other friends and have a little fun too! This trip is probably mostly for me since Ryken really doesn't know whats going on so much yet. But hey I will have fun. :)

Daddy + Clippers =

So we decided that it was time for Ryken to get another hair cut. His hair was getting way to long to spike up anymore. And I was kinda sad cause I loved the way his hair turned out last time he got it cut. And since Jessica is the one that cut it and she lives WAY OUT in Queen Creek, I opted to let Justin cut Ryken's hair instead. He said he was going to put one of the guards on the clippers so it would still be a little longer. Well once he put it on and buzzed all of Ryken's head, I told him "No more". It was all short. So he couldn't try to take anymore off of the sides and the back. So instead he got an all over buzz cut. I was pretty sad, cause it just didn't look like my little guy anymore. But I guess no one else seemed to notice. And both Justin and my mom said it shouldn't even matter cause he is such a cutie pie anyways.... I guess they are right. :)

So now Justin got what he wanted and was able to buzz Ryken's hair off. :) And yep as you can see his is still pretty darn cute! :)

Guess who is...

Walking!

Yep Ryken has finally started to walk more on his own. Here is a little video I shot the other day. Oh and sorry bout the scary laugh that came from me. :) (OH and sorry bout our messy bedroom. We had just gotten back from our trip so we still had luggage and clothes all over. )

I guess you could say he has been walking for a few weeks. But this is the first time I was able to get it on video. And plus he is just getting to be good at it. He still has his moments where he would rather crawl than walk. And believe me he has lots of those moments. He also would much rather hold on to someones finger and walk that way.And he is so funny when he walks cause he for the most part always has his arms up and is trying to balance so that he can make it from one place to the other. :) I am just happy to know that he can walk now. I really do think he enjoys just being able to go way faster by crawling. But I am sure he will get the hang of the walking thing and just get better and better. :) Our next step is just trying to get him to wear shoes. He hates them! So hopefully we can get that done here sooner than later. :)

Splash Pad Fun!!

On Saturday we got to hang out with some awesome, fun, fantastic friends of ours, The Lee's! We always have a good time with them. It makes it even better that we all have someone to converse with. I have Gina, Justin has Kameron and then of course Ryken has his buddy Porter. So when Gina called and asked if we wanted to meet up with them and go to the Splash pad in Tempe we were so up for it. Once we got there I am not so sure Ryken was really up for it. But he joined in on the fun but of course didn't have as much fun as Porter did. :) But hey he did play a little. I think my son has my personality, and for some reason is hard for him to be fun and outgoing around lots of people. He just has to warm up to it. :) But we did get some fun pictures of our outing.

Here Ryken was practically dragging Justin along to play in the water. Since Justin's knee is hurt Ryken really was dragging him along. :) We tried to get the boys to ride on the whale together. But that didn't go over so well. Porter was like "are you kidding me I could do this by myself." And Ryken was like "um mom, I don't want to do this!"Okay fine if you are going to make me then I guess I will give it a try. (note he had a mouth full of food while he was trying to hold on. :) ) Justin and I took Ryken over to play in this little waterfall and there is where we ran into this little girl...

She decided she didn't want Ryken over by the waterfall. So she decided to push him. This is after she did push him. And then she...decided to be nice and wanted to give him a hug. So I guess she was a sweet girl after all. :) Ryken finally got a little use to playing in the water and had maybe a fraction of fun in one of the little fountains.

I don't know what it is with him but I swear he is a fun child around others. Well sometimes. :)

Do you think this means he isn't going to make many friends growing up? I sure hope not. We even made it over to play in the little play area in Chandler Mall again. And I am happy to say he actually made his way around the play area instead of just sitting there checking out all the other kids. But I must admit. I probably looked like a crazy mom cause I was in there having a little fun of my own chasing him around a little. :)

We survived...

Well we made it back from California safe and sound. And thank goodness I didn't pull out much of my hair. :) We had a pretty good trip for the most part. It had its moments but what trip doesn't right. We flew out to Sacramento last Saturday with Justin's mom and dad.

And guess who forgot the camera. (ME) So Justin was nice enough to buy a throw away camera at the airport so I could at least get a few pics while we were gone. So sorry about the poor quality. But his sister took a few shots for me with her camera too. :)

(LONG POST AHEAD....SORRY!)

I was so nervous for Ryken's first flight. And to make me even more paranoid he was being a major fussy monkey at the airport and had not taken a nap yet that day. Then as we were making our way on the airplane he started freaking out. As I walked by holding Ryken and looking at every other person on the plane I swear I could hear them thinking "Oh great this kid is going to be a basket case this whole flight!" Which made me freak out too. So for the first 10 mins sitting on the plane we had to entertain him with his books and the airplane magazines.

Then as soon as the plane took off it seemed to really get to him. And he just fell asleep on me. I was the happiest girl at that moment and could only hope that the flight would go by fast and he would sleep thru all of it.

He ended up sleeping for most of the flight. I think he ended up waking up once the pilot got on the speakers and said we were about to land. So all in all it was a good first flight for him. And he was even kinda happy when he woke up. At least happy enough to get a little family pic on the plane without screaming.
Once we landed we made our way out of the airport with all of our luggage and went to find our rental van. Then we met up with Justin's sister and her little guy Tristan and had some much needed lunch. After that we made our way to Travis Air Force Base where his sister lives and we were going to be staying. We had to wait for what seemed like forever to get everything lined up for our rooms at the hotel but when it was all done we had some great rooms to stay in for the 5 days we were there. I was hoping that the weather would be nicer there but the day we got there it was in the 100's just like at home, I guess you can't always win. That night we got to hang out and visit with Jess and her hubby Cody and Tristan at their house.

Ryken doesn't play much outside at home but when we were there he loved going outside with Tristan. I guess we need to invest in some real patio furniture so we can hang out side more. When it cools down that is. :)Tristan loves books as much as Ryken so they got a little daddy/uncle Justin time and loved it. That night we headed back to the hotel a little later then Ryken's real bed time so I thought I was in for it. But guess what?... He slept pretty darn good that night. And even better as the nights went on. I was so grateful! On Sunday we were planning on meeting up with Jessica and Tristan and going to their church out there. We did end up doing that and Ryken wasn't the best since it was around nap time. But it sure was a different experience for all 3 of us. It was nice to get to go to church somewhere you have never been and see how others worship. So it was a fun learning experience for us. Then after church the boys decided to go out and play a little golf and the girls went to do some grocery shopping after the boys got their naps of course.

I guess they didn't take long enough naps cause this is the outcome of our grocery trip. Tristan started crying so that made Ryken cry and scream. So I had to lug him around the store so we didn't have to listen to both of them. :) We all headed out to Red Robin for dinner after the boys got back. And I guess Justin didn't have the best time cause he ended up hurting his knee. I guess that's why you don't do extra curricular activities on Sunday. (And now he and me are paying the price.) But dinner was nice that night...Can't you tell, Ryken loved his mac and cheese! He couldn't get enough of it. Which was nice cause it kept him busy so mommy could eat too. And eat I did! YUMMY! Monday we were able to get some family pictures taking at Sears. They turned out okay for the most part. Ryken didn't want to smile at all since he hadn't gotten a nap that day either. But he had a little fun with his cousin while we waited...And then after he got to ride next to his cousin in the stroller and we all hoped it wouldn't turn out like the grocery trip.But with snacks from Aunt Jessica in hand and in mouth everything turned out great! Later that day we got to go feed some ducks at the pond. And those ducks are kinda scary. There was some that hiss at you and they freaked me out. We were trying to show Ryken how to feed the ducks. So when we gave him some bread to throw to the ducks, he decided that he would rather eat it then share with the ducks. So he ate his bread himself. :) And there were a few ducks that looked like they were a cross between a duck and a rooster. They had red heads like roosters, they were also the ones that hissed at you.We decided to just check them out from inside the gates. If you look close you can tell what I am talking bout with the red heads on those ducks. I think Ryken had more fun just following around Tristan and being led around by uncle Cody then feeding the ducks that day. After dinner we always ended up at Jess and Cody's hanging out which was nice cause the boys got to interact with each other a little more. And they had some fun times but some dramatic times too. Tristan was trying to scratch Ryken's back with his little fake rake. Ryken thought it was pretty funny! Tristan was so funny with that rake he did the same thing to Justin's back too. Tuesday we went and checked out the jelly belly factory. And it was kind of a hectic day too cause the guys were planning on golfing too so we didn't get any pictures taken there. But we got some jelly belly beans! Justin didn't golf but he went and drove the golf carts around instead. I wish us girls would have been able to get out more while we were there but it didn't happen. But we did get a little shopping done a little that day which was nice. On Wednesday the plan was to head in to San Francisco and go to watch the Diamondbacks play the Giants. That day was fun and cold and a little stressful. The wind was blowing good that day. The game was fun but work too since we had to keep Ryken busy.

He got his hot dog for the day and it helped a little but it was still a little hard to get him happy that day. He loved getting to spend some time on Grandma and Grandpa Buchberger's laps thru out the game. We had to get up and take a little walk in the middle of the game too.
While we were walking around we found this BIG baseball glove and had to get Ryken to sit in it for a picture. What a goof right? I love my little goof ball!The Diamondbacks ended up losing the game but it got a little close at the end. But the Giants came back and won. BOO! Oh well we had a fun time. Since we were in San Francisco already we decided to go down to Pier 39 and check out the Sea Lions. And stop to eat at Bubba Gumps. It was a nice idea but once we were out of the car we were kinda regretting it. The wind was so cold and we had to push the strollers right in to the wind. Poor boys! But we finally made it to the Pier and saw the Sea Lions. There was so many of them. Maybe you can tell by this picture sorry there was no zoom for the camera. :) It was so stinky there and those big sea lions can get to be pretty loud too!We tried to stay warm but we decided to just head over to the restaurant for dinner. I am not a sea food eater but Justin's family is so we ate at Bubba Gumps for dinner. It was pretty good food. But Ryken was such a stink pot at dinner I didn't get to enjoy it much. Oh and also it was Justin's birthday that day so they brought him out a dessert.And for him to get it he had to stand up on his chair while they sang to him and the also made him get up there and...Shake his booty! It was pretty darn funny if you ask me. :) But hopefully it was worth it once he got the dessert. The only thing that seemed to keep Ryken from screaming was him getting to go look out the window at the boats going by and all the seagulls flying around too. So being the good dads they are Cody and Justin watched the little guys as the boats went by. : ) Thursday was the day we came back to Arizona. And of course Ryken decided to sleep the whole way to the airport. So that of course means that he didn't sleep on the airplane. Which was not good for mommy or daddy. Or the rest of the people on the plane. Ryken and another little boy were fussy during some of the flight. But it wasn't so bad. But for sure not as good as the flight to California. :) We had a fun trip with Justin's family. And we were glad we were able to make it out there with his parents. Thanks for everything Pam and Ken. It was lots of fun! And thanks to Jess and Cody for all they did too. :) It was great getting to see Tristan and Ryken play with eachother and also for us to get to visit with everyone. :)

Wish me luck!

So it is late Friday night.The night before our flight out of Arizona and in to California. Wish me luck! I am sure hoping that Ryken will be a little saint on the flight and hopefully the whole time we are there. :) I am hoping we get to see alot of this face...

And hopefully very little of this face...

(Sorry these are older pictures.)



I am pretty sure I got all the packing that I need done tonight done. Just have the last few things to pack in the morning when I am done getting ready. This will be Ryken's first flight. SO I am just hoping that it will be a good one. Thank goodness its not a long flight. I hope I have packed all the things that he and we will be needing. And I hope I don't get any of the snacks that are in the diaper bag thrown out after going thru security! That would be just my luck. I am not really sure how all this works with a little guy in tote, so we shall find out. Hopefully we will have some good pictures to show when we get back. And hopefully there will be some of us smiling and not some of me pulling my hair out! :)

Calling all Moms...

Okay so I need some major help! Well it may not seem major but it is to me. We just got back from spending the weekend up at my parents house in Woodruff. (If any of you don't know where that is it is kinda in the white mountains area of Arizona, between Snowflake and Holbrook.) Any who. We had a great time during the day. Getting to just hang out in the nice weather up there. Even though it did rain it was a lot cooler then being here in Phoenix. And we especially enjoyed the time we got to spend with my parents and Ryken loved getting to hang out with his Grandma and Grandpa Baker. And of course Uncle Deak!



But here is where I need the help. Ryken slept like crap! He didn't even nap on the way up there but for like 20 mins. And didn't nap really at all while we were there. It was really bad. It has been bad in the past but never this bad. I mean major scream fest like every few hours and then it was like there was no way of comforting him at all. I felt like the worst mother ever. Thank goodness my mom was there to help out one of the nights and was able to get him to sleep at least for a good 6 hours. When we visit there he has a little pack and play to sleep in and he doesn't like that at all. So we tried to put some blankets on the floor and see if he did better there. But that was only good for like an hour. And the first night he was in bed with us and that was still hard. I don't know if it is something to do with the altitude change or if he is just a baby who likes to sleep in his own bed and no where else.



So I need some advice. Has anyone ever had these problems? Does anyone have some way of helping me out?



I only ask because we of course will be going to visit my parents still and I would like if he slept good there. But really I need help soon because this Saturday we are headed to California with Justin's parents and I don't want to have to have nights like this when we are there too. Because we will be there 5 nights! And my only other real help my mom can't go with us on this trip. So what am I suppose to do? PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN! (Even if you may happen to just be blog hopping or stalking or whatever you want to call it and you don't really know me and have some advice please leave it.) I don't want to go crazy just yet and if I have to do this again for 5 nights in a row I just may. :)