Ryder ACS Birthday page

To celebrate Ryder's 1st Birthday we set up a "Birthday Page" on the American Cancer Society's website. (It's the typed link at the bottom of his Birthday invitations) If anyone is interested in checking it out, I just wanted to make it a little easier with a click link :)
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/Events/BirthdayPages?pxfid=1447789&fr_id=19690&pg=fund

If you look under search pages and type in Ryder he should pop right up!

Mini post

So I have a ton to catch up on (but what else is new?!) so I'll make this a quick one and then, soon very soon I'll get it all done. Here's the quick catch-up of our summer so far-
1. Ryder is almost 1!!! Ahh my sweet baby boy is growing up too fast!
2. We sold our house and put an offer in another one!
3. I turned 30!
4. My Sis and Nate made there way up for a visit and it was awesome! Just not long enough! (It never is)
5. I've had the opportunity to do some awesome volunteer work this summer, so I have some great stories to share :)
Did I mention Ryder is almost 1?! So that is the quick and dirty of our summer and I'll have a real catch up, complete with pic's soon!

Near to 1 year! Ahhhh! our 10 month old :)

Ryder hit the 10 month milestone on the 4th of July! Time seems to be running away with my little baby and replacing him with a little boy. It's so exciting to see him learn and grow it just seems like I blinked and my infant was a boy. He has really exploded on some milestones he's been dabbling in . In just the last few weeks he went from quick little army crawler, to full blown crawler, to pulling himself up and standing. I swear every day last week he did something new! He also FINALLY broke a tooth, bottom middle and it seems to be only a minor annoyance to him. Each week he has picked a new sound to work on starting first with "Bubba" next was "Dada" and lastly "Mama". He's been a busy, funny, happy, inquisitive little baby. He loves going out and about and people watching (I wonder where he get's that from?!) He loves playing fetch with Cutter, small short throws seem to do just fine for Cutter, he still loves to swim and wrestle with Dad. He get's more fun everyday! His favorite foods right now are scrambled eggs (thank you Grandma Debbie's hens!), cottage cheese, yogurt, berries, and steak. He's pretty much really into whatever we are eating so we are having to be a little more mindful of what we make for dinner! Hopefully Ryder will help us to be healthier in the long run. I can't believe I just browsed 1 year birthday invites!!! I don't know how the heck this is all happening so quickly, but we are so thankful for our healthy, wild little 10 month old!

Had to throw this one out there, Scotty would call this "putting out the vibe"

 He's a mover and a shaker!

10-4 (Ryder is 10 months old and the 4th of July!)

We enjoyed a family BBQ for the 4th hosted by Dave and Beth. Ryder loves his cousins so he had a blast!

The trio gearing up some 4th of July BBQ

 Little BBQ babe!

The kids love the "hot pool"

In true Nicole dork style I wanted to theme everything out for Ryder's 1st 4th of July. We made Red white and Blue pancakes to kick off the day and the little turkey loved them! Especially the blueberries!

I also thought it would be cute to give him this 4th of July balloon, little did I know that he would love it so much and want to pack it around for 3 days. It went everywhere with us. We had to show it off to Grandma and Grandpa R when we visited to wish them a happy 4th.

We couldn't talk the kid-o's out of the low temp hot tub. They loved it! The big pool was still just a tad cool for the kids, but on a dare Scott and and I enjoyed (and by enjoyed I mean I was freezing and Scott enjoyed it!) a little dip.

Trying his best to stay up for fireworks....

really slowing on down on staying up for fireworks! I LOVE this picture of Kaylie loving up on Ryder while they waited for the fireworks. She is absolutely the sweetest little girl. She is the best with Ryder and he loves her to pieces!

We had a fantastic low key 4th of July this year. Hope all of our wonderful friends and family had a great day as well. Happy Independence day to you all!

Las Vegas, 4th of July and Ryder is 10 months (wow!)

Okay this is going to be a long one! We have had quite a bit going on lately and work and play have been on overload the last few weeks! So I'm going to go way back and post a little about our awesome trip to Las Vegas to see Nate and Nat. Ryder's 2nd plane ride went great, I don't know how traveling with a baby could have gone any smoother. Leaving Las Vegas was the only rough part because they had us all loaded up on the plane but waiting and with those Vegas temps, no AC, and plenty of body heat Ryder got grumpy fast! He passed the time looking at and visiting with all of the other passengers while we fanned him, until his patience ran out. So all of those young hung over partiers got their birth control for the month! For the most part Ryder did a lot of swimming and playing with Aunt Nat and Uncle Nate. My Mom was there for part of our trip as well so we got to enjoy some adult time! Here are a few pic's from our trip-

 Ryder loved playing with Uncle Nate!

 We were able to have a girls night out on the strip, to go see a comedy show! So fun getting all dressed up and the show was hilarious! Oh and you'll be seeing a lot of that tank top...

Equally as funny is this picture sequence I never saw until right now! Don't think the boys didn't feel the fashion vibe! (Adam might kill me for this, but watch out male modeling world!)

Love you babe ;)

Swimming and hiking

 We found a fun Indian store on Fremont street

 Adult time also included zip lining! 

 Ryder's 1st slide....

 and sprinkler run!

There were 2 more puppy dog tails to chase!

 We were definitely well cooked for and well cared for! Thank you Nate, Natalie, and the boys for a wonderful visit! We had such a great time and can't wait to see you back in Oregon soon!

All that fun made a Ryder a very sleepy guy on the flight home! He slept through our view of Crater lake!

Okay so I lied because I'm going to get back to you on the 4th of July and Ryder turning 10 months! Hope everyone had a fabulous 4th!

Celebrating Dad's

I just wanted to give a shout out to the most amazing father to our Son. He's just the best, and Ryder adores him. I love him even more every time he makes Ryder laugh or kisses him or hugs him close when he cries. Ryder won the Dad lottery with Adam and we are both so lucky to have him. Happy first father's Day to the very best Dad and best friend, we love and appreciate you so much!!

It's not complete with out a happy Father's Day to our wonderful Dad's and Ryder amazing Grandpa's! Thank you both for being such incredible guys! 

Catch up

Wow time is sure flying this early summer! I remember this feeling last year being prego with Ryder and thinking how fast it was going to go with lot's of nice weather, BBQ's, travels and get together's and the next thing I knew I was holding my baby boy! Well time seems to fly once the sun comes out and so in a flash I'm expecting to do the happy (and maybe tearful) post about my tiny little baby turning 1 (way too quickly!). But for now I'll savor the moment's of our newest milestone- Ryder is 9 months old!!! I can hardly believe that our baby bundle is now so very much a person with silly giggles and smiles, a little guy you really have to watch out for because man is he quick to find something to get into, a baby turning into a boy who loves slamming toys into one another, being outside with his 2 best friends Cutter and Bucker, and learning and growing and changing every day. It's going unbelievably fast. I keep saying I want a time machine, because I want very much for Ryder to learn and grow but I'd love to go back in time and visit little Ryder occasionally and give him snuggles. It just really does go way too fast! All my Mama friends said it and now I completely understand! So at 9 months little (or not so little) Ryder's biggest changes have been in his growing personality. He is so silly and making him laugh has got to be the easiest thing in the world. He's become SO snugly (Which we both love) and he just looks at us now with eyes that say I know you, you are mine, and I love you. He scoot's around the room like crazy but still just wont crawl. He's getting stronger every day with his standing up and he'll even bounce while holding on to furniture. I'm told to enjoy the mostly immobile baby but I'm so excited for him to crawl and walk :) He's still our toothless wonder, but is getting really good at mashing up his food "gumming" it. He is a total Daddy's boy, you should see his grin when Adam comes through the door at the end of the work day. We have a Doc's appointment at the end of the week so we'll have some growth stat's although to me he has seemed to slow down on his weight gain. Oh and his favorite foods right now are Cucumbers and Chamomile tea. We call Cutter Bubba as a nickname from time to time and I just noticed Ryder making his "B" sounds in a way that sounds a little like Bubba :)
I could talk about him all day but here are a few pictures of our guy at 9 months-

That's Ryder in a nutshell at 9 months sweet and silly as ever. I also need to do a big time catch up on our Vegas vacation, and our spring/summer outdoor adventures and travels.