This little boy...

-makes me laugh every day (even with a big milk mustache)

-never ceases to amaze me

-is the silliest kid I know (that flash is super bright)

-has decided that he loves to cuddle lately

-calls sandwiches "shammits" and sometimes it sounds like a really not so nice word. Especially when he says that he would like to watch Oso's shammit.

-is full of joy every day!!!

-sometimes will actually look at the camera and grin

-is the most wonderful helper

-has a ton of patience, especially with his brother

-teaches me to enjoy every moment

Thank you Ryan for being the super-fun little boy that you are! I am so proud of you!!

Air and Space Museum

A couple of weeks ago we decided to get out and find something to do indoors since it has been such a cold winter. We ended up heading to the nearby air and space museum. The boys had a fantastic time there. They loved that they could just walk around or run around and explore. We will definitely be heading back soon!

Ryan pointing out the space shuttle

What?

This little boy had a BLAST!!

15 Months!

Owen is 15 months old!! He is growing so fast. It seems like everywhere we go now people ask me if the boys are twins. I guess, well I know that Owen is big for his age. We went to the doctor today and found out that Owen is 27 pounds!!! The child knows how to eat! We go for his official 15 month appointment next week so we will have full stats at that time.

Owen is trying really hard to talk! He knows and understands a lot of what we say. So far he is actually a really good listener as well. He just doesn't have a whole lot of actual words in his vocabulary yet. He loves to say Go, Up, duce (juice - this really means any drink), ball (which comes out more like baaaa) and more. He knows what sound almost every animal makes and he knows several body parts as well (nose, mouth, ear, tummy, toes).

Owen is up to 7 teeth now. He absolutely hates getting his diaper changed. He likes to be held. He loves to be rocked at night. On nights when I am not home to rock him I think he wakes up on purpose just to get his extra snuggle time in. Tonight for instance -- Jeff worked late so I didn't have time to rock Owen like I normally would. About an hour after he went to sleep he woke up crying. I went in there rocked him for 10 minutes and he was ready to go to bed. He loves his cuddle time!

What better way to celebrate turning 15 months old than by getting pink eye and a double ear infection?!?! This was Owen's first time to ever go to the doctor for being sick so I think he has had a great run! Thank the Lord!!!

Owen is also starting to transition from two naps to just one. I actually have mixed feelings about it. Right now the morning nap time is my getting ready/alone time with Ryan. Once Owen is no longer napping then we can do things in the morning. With only one nap -- Owen barely makes it to 11:45 and Ryan doesn't go down until 1 so there isn't as much overlap of their naps. Right now they both nap at the same time in the afternoon which allows me some much needed alone time.

Example of a 1 nap day. By 11 he needs his paci or he is not happy..

Starts getting very, very sleepy while I am preparing lunch -- which never happens otherwise! He LOVES to eat!

Often only eats a couple of bites and then he is all done and ready to go to bed. This day I let him stay in the chair for a total of 3 minutes and he was out.

Sick, sick, sick...

I am so tired of someone in this house being sick! It seems like the day we all get well that someone gets some illness again and it slowly gets to each and every one of us. About 3 weeks ago Ryan started with a runny nose..a few days later Owen had one too. A few days after that I was dealing with a terrible cold, fever and all. The next day it hit Jeff. Jeff and I got better and the boys kept holding onto their runny noses. It seemed like some days they were good and the next day the nose was back to running again. So fast forward to Monday morning and I notice Ryan has goop in his eye. I cleaned his eye only for it to return in 30 minutes. My first thought was pink eye. Made him a doctor appointment and got a prescription for eye drops. :( Monday night Ryan spikes a fever. Tuesday Ryan continues with the fever and it gets higher (of course not until the doctor's office is closed). As I am putting Owen to bed I notice green goo in one of his eyes --- great! Wednesday morning both boys are diagnosed with double ear infections and obviously both have pink eye. Sleep has been laughable lately -- both kids are up multiple times at night (it doesn't help that Owen is also cutting molars). I am hoping that with their new antibiotics and eye drops that they are happy and sleeping through the night again in no time!! I am tired of being cooped up inside. I am tired of Lysol and Clorox wipes (at least on the scale with which they have been used lately).

How to Potty Train in 180 Days

It all started in July when Ryan told me he was sorry that he went poopy in his diaper. When I took off his diaper and he literally ran across the house to the nearest bathroom, hopped up on the potty and went. I decided that day that maybe he was ready to be potty trained. I didn't realize that Jeff and I would also have to be equally ready. We were also planning a couple of big vacations and long car rides and well -- one of the things I didn't want to do was stop every 20 minutes for someone to go potty.

Ryan did great with potty training for a few weeks. Then he started to have accidents. They got to be more and more frequent so I put him in pull ups. Really I think pull-ups are probably the worst thing ever to do for a kid that is potty training. Why? Because they are a diaper and it really doesn't bother most kids to pee in a diaper. So we had major regression and since we were going to the beach, then school was starting, then we were going to Disney, I decided we would just wait a while and start again.

So Christmas break was the time to start Ryan's second round of potty training. Due to a little snow we had an extra long Christmas break. He was a pro at going potty, except when he was wearing underwear or a pull-up. I knew that he just needed to learn that no matter what every time you need to go, it goes in the potty. In a few days Ryan had it down!

I hesitate to say this for fear that we might have another issue with regression but Ryan has been in big boy underwear for over a month now! YAY Ryan! I am so proud of you!!! He still likes some type of random treat after he goes potty. Owen still claps and says yay for Ryan every time Ryan goes potty. I love it and think it is adorable.

Lesson learned that in order to successfully potty train a child --- everyone, including the parents have to be 100% ready and pull-ups, well, those are just a waste of money. :)

2010 in Review

Here's a quick summary of 2010. What a wonderful year it was!!!

January - I don't remember much about January really because it was cold. Very cold and there was snow on the ground and I didn't get out a whole lot because it was no fun going anywhere in the cold with a newborn and an almost 2 year old. I think we went to Target a good bit, sad, I know.

With all that cold weather, I had plenty of time to work on my photography. There were almost daily photo sessions.

We went to a couple of parties..

Decorated cookies at Panera Bread

and I finally got a few pictures of both boys looking at me together.

February - by far my least favorite month of the year. On February 5th we were hit with a record snowfall. A few days later even more of the snow came. We spent the majority of the month stuck indoors.

No really, it was a lot of snow (this is a little mountain we had from digging one of our cars out of 30+ inches of snow.

But I got some new photography equipment and resumed the daily shoots...and prayed for the 28 days of February to go a little faster.

March - YAY the weather warmed up and the snow melted away day by day!!! I had a birthday and spent it with the most wonderful men in the world. Ryan turned 2 years old. We got to finally get outside and play without our snow gear on! We discovered that Ryan has a peanut allergy after he had a very scary reaction!!! We made our first trip to Texas with Owen.

The boys met the Easter Bunny

I got to play with this cutie and watch his personality develop

Ryan tried out his birthday gift!

April - We spent the first couple of weeks of April in Texas visiting with our friends and family and introducing Owen to all of his relatives. When we got back to VA the weather was perfect! We spent lots of time outdoors, had plenty of picnics and decided it was time to officially start working on my photography business.

Relaxing in Texas!

Boys meeting a very special lady, Great-great Aunt Doe

One of my favorite images of Owen, ever.

May - We had a visit from my Mom, got some really warm weather, went strawberry picking, got out our pool, Owen started solid foods, went and played with big trucks and much, much more.

Another favorite of my 6 month old cutie pie!

Owen's First Swim

Totally Trucks 2010

A rare moment where Ryan actually looked at the camera and smiled.

June - Jeff and I celebrated our 8th anniversary, we spent lots and lots of time outside playing in the water, playing at the playground and going to the pool. Ryan helped me pick strawberries that we grew ourselves.

The boys on Father's Day!

Ryan enjoying one of many pieces of watermelon he consumed over summer.

Owen was still totally content to pose for the camera just about anytime!

July - Owen finally started sleeping through the night and he started crawling! We went to a couple of fireworks shows and Ryan loved them! Ryan went to his very first movie in the theater (Toy Story 3 with Daddy). Ryan decided he was ready to start potty training. I was super busy with my photography business!

Ryan and his friend Libby -- both potty training at the same time!

Another one of Mommy's photo shoots with the boys.

Another favorite of Owen.

Beating the heat by watering the plants in nothing more than Mickey undies and Crocs.

Ryan on the way to his first movie, Toy Story 3.

August - I must have been really busy because I only blogged 4 times and those were mostly -- I'm way behind and way busy posts. ha! Ryan decided that maybe he wasn't so ready for potty training after all and we took a family vacation to the Outer Banks in NC. We took a trip to PA to visit the Strausburg Railroad and we went on several family picnics and park playdates. We also booked our Disney vacation and started a countdown to see Mickey!

Having a blast on the beach!

Family time at the park.

Riding the railroad!

September - Ryan got rid of the paci, turned 2.5, started preschool AND went to a big boy bed all in the first couple of weeks of the month! Owen started pulling up on everything in sight and cruising around the furniture. We went apple picking. Owen got his first tooth.

Ryan in his big boy bed. He was so excited about it and has done very well in his bed from the first day!

Ryan's first day of school!!!!

Picking apples with daddy.

Owen showing off his talents by standing and drawing at 10 months of age.

October - What a busy month. We spent the first week of the month with Nana and Papa in Disney World! Then Jeff had a birthday, Grammy came to visit, Owen took his first steps, we celebrated Owen's birthday and then had lots of Halloween festivities! We watched as the Texas Rangers made it all the way to the World Series for the first time ever!

Birthday boy!!!

Happy Halloween!

Ryan with one of his favorite people in the world, on one of his favorite rides at Disney, Dumbo!

November - We enjoyed lots of very nice days and lots of time at the playground. I had a ton of photo sessions and when I did have free time we would stage our own sessions to try for the perfect family picture for our Christmas card. We celebrated Thanksgiving with some good friends of ours!

My little boys humoring their mom on yet another photo session.

Silly boy loves his Woody jammies.

Me and two of the people that I am most thankful for in this world on Thanksgiving day.

December - I took the entire month off from photo sessions. Then was able to re-evaluate and decide once and for all what to do with my business. Ryan decided he was ready to potty train again, no looking back this time! We had lots of fun with holiday activities. Nana and Papa came to visit us! Owen had the stomach flu, I had the stomach flu, more holiday fun, Jeff's work Christmas party, snow, lots of freezing cold weather, hot chocolate, wrapping Christmas gifts, driving around looking at all of the beautiful Christmas lights, talking about the REAL meaning of Christmas, celebrating Christmas, celebrating the new year and making goals for 2011! What a fantastic year 2010 was...looking forward to all that 2011 brings our way!

I don't think he liked the snow one bit.

The boys had their first experience with the Santa at the mall. They had met Santa before but never at the mall.

Christmas morning fun!