"ee", pumpkins, and dogs everywhere!

"ee" and deer, beer, pee pee. i have the sound down. its a milestone for me because i haven't done much saying of words with those types of sounds. but this past week i added them to my vocabulary. I love saying deer becuase I can finally describe the "nors" in the back yard. they are deer!! pee pee is cool too. i have been seeing daddy pee pee lately and then he waves buh bye to the pee pee as it flows down the toilet bowl. neat. just awesome stuff.

mommy says i have become quite the help around the house too. helping her with the laundry and the dishwasher and even setting the table. its been great fun. daddy has been using my services too. this week we cut the lawn together! it was awesome riding on the mower and going around the turns. then i helped him set up the sprinkler for the past couple nights too. you wonder why i am so tired at night!! anyone say child labor laws?! he he.

we had a good weekend, saturday was my school's fall festival where i proceeded to not enjoy the moonbounce, and win lots of great prizes including a nice wooden train whistle. the bigger kids went down this HUGE blowup slide that was as tall as our house. that wasa pretty good time there. i won adn ate a lolly pop and then we stopped by mom-mom's for dinner. sunday we went pumpkin picking (attaching a few pictures) after the picnic we were supposed to go to got rained out. The final pictures are from monday when we picked up Cassidy and brought her over to our house to play with Lucy. They had a great time running around!!








Hope you all are doing well! School is going great. Tuesday night is mommy's class night so me and daddy are going to hang out. he always finds something really fun for us to do.

oh...go Eagles!! Beat the Packers last night (as we all suspected). this week the moo's are coming to town with TeeeOh. Daddy thinks its the same cowboys from brokeback mountain, whatever that means. all i know is, we better win!!

thanks oma and poppop

thanks guys for picking me up from school yesterday!! Sorry I was a bit fussy getting into the car, i just wondered where mommy and daddy were. I had fun picking out pumpkins and corn though after school! :)

i was going to get to meet a new babysitter this week, but that fell through. wed night mommy and daddy have to go and pick out our family portraits. but too bad the babysitter couldn't come. instead, something even better. mom-mom is going to come to school with mommy on wed and pick me up from school. I am going to go to her house and hang out with mom-mom and pop-pop while daddy and mommy are gone. that will be fun. mom-mom is really nice and gives me almost whatever I want and when I want it! I love her! And Pop-Pop always plays outside with me (usually golf) and that is great too!

Yesterday I painted mommy and daddy a picture on the easle at school and they LOVED it! I wonder if they knew what it is. Now that I think about it, I don't think they mentioned what it was, but they certainly were impressed with my skills. Maybe I will go to art school during summer vacation! he he.

my sweet rockin chair

Thanks Aunt Louise for this awesome rocking chair you brought for me!! I am really enjoying it so far and have spent countless minutes just sitting and rocking. Plus, now i have my very own seat in my house! What a great idea (and I wasn't even expecting a gift!)



Had a great weekend, Aunt Louise and her friend Betsy visited from Pittsburgh. They came over to our house for dinner on friday night and then we went to mom-mom's for lunch on Sunday. I had a great time there hanging out with aunt jen and those crazy girl cousins of mine!!

Then we went to Uncle Jim and Aunt Tracy's house to watch the Eagles game. I got to see Lexa and play with her feet and stuff. Daddy and mommy kept holding her and I have to say, I wasn't that big of a fan of that idea. She is a cute baby though, but I don't see the big deal about her. She doesn't do all of the funny stuff that I do. Atleast I didn't see anything funny! Oh well, I am sure we will grow up to be great friends!!

Mommy started work today at her new job, and PopPop and Oma are goign to pick me up from school. I think mommy has to stay late. Daddy picked me up for school on friday and got to see me in my class for a while. That was great.

Hope you all had a great weekend. Looking forward to getting home and rocking!!

picture day!

today is picture day at school. i am semi dressed up and i showed mommy this morning how i can practice my smile. she was darn impressed! :)

school is going great now. I am glad i gave it a chance and believed mommy and daddy when they said it was going to be fun. i have a great friend there in Yaseen (sp?) and when I come in to class in teh morning, the whole class runs over and greets me! I am like a celebrity!!

Just though't i'd give you all an update on the situation. this weekend was pretty good, we went to Oktoberfest on Saturday night and had a great time. Check daddy's website for pictures soon! Mom-Mom took me on the magical train ride, and i got to experience some german dancing and food for the first time. it was great!

sunday was fun too, roger and corrine and chris came over to visit and watch football with mommy and daddy. it was a disappointing loss, and it seems to have really effected daddy. (he took his eagles flag down after the game and he never does that, we also took off our jerseys because it was "hot")

not much else going on though folks, hope you all are doing well and I am glad you still continue to check in! I will try to respond to your posts and do a better job, but they keep us busy here at HMS! Talk to you all soon!

starting to believe...

thanks all for your encouraging posts about school, i am starting to buy in...

mommy just dropped me off and today was about the first maybe second day that i was ok with her leaving. i have a good feel for what is going on here now and things are actually pretty cool here. first, wanted to attach a quick picture of me on my first day of school:



This is me explaining to Lucy that i had to go to school that day and that she would be OK here alone with daddy.
















So, things are going good at school. They have cool animals there. And everything in our room is the right size for us kids. All the tables and chairs are accessible, we have cubbies, a play area, a music area, and a great potty where we wash our hands. So, after about a week and a half, i am starting to settle in.

I think this weekend should be fun. we are going to Oktoberfest near mom-mom's house on saturday and on sunday is the big game (Eagles vs. Giants). Some of mommy and daddy's friends are coming over to watch the game too. HOpe you all have a great weekend. Here ar e few more pics:

shh...monday update

ok, i was able to sneak away for a minute at school. i found this computer in the backroom and thought i'd give you all an update on school.

yesterday we had a rough start. after an AWESOME weekend with daddy (mommy was traveling) i had to go back to t his place. i kind of forgot about that whole thing (even though mommy and daddy constantly try to pound positive influence about school and teachers into my head). it was rough seeing mommy leave and drop me off, but once the day got rolling i had a pretty good day. i ate a good lunch and even had good nap on a cot! Miss Valerie said i slep for almost an hour and a half there. I could have slept longer, but heck, its a cot man. i need a crib if you know what i'm sayin...

so, all in all, it was a good day. this morning is going well too, mommy had to stay with me a while longer because she had a volunteer meeting to go to a the school...up, gotta go, cya!

getting better...a little

3 days of school done...how many to go??

day 2 was a bit better, i managed to stay the whole day though I was pretty upset when mommy left after dropping me off. after we ate lunch at our lunch table, we have to have nap time. they pulled out these crazy cots and asked us to lay down on them. it was interesting. thankfully miss lotta showed me what to do because i was struggling all day. i was able to rely on my nook for soothing mouth comfort!

day 3 was not that great, but i thought i was getting the day off. we started out with an appointment with a photographer. mommy and daddy ketp talking about this family portrait thing and the night before we had to make sure our outfits weren't too clashing. anyway, the photographer lady seemed pretty nice and she took lots of pictures. we walked to a lot of different places and played in the park. lucy was going crazy!! daddy said sometimes she posts photos on her blog after she takes them, so stay tuned! Anyway, we spent about an hour doing that first thing in the morning and then i had to go to school a little late. my class was already in gym so it was a different routine. i eventually stabilized, but I am still feeling that place out.

thanks for all the good wishes everyone. its been a rough week and i hope i can get through next week OK. i know with all of your support i sure can!!

momma? dada?

school started out with a bit of a hitch. apparently i am supposed to go alone, and not with mommy and daddy. this may take some getting used to. yesterday morning i spent most of the day looking for mommy and daddy outside fo the classroom door, but they were not there. i had to have the teacher call them so they could come pick me up early. we will give it another go tomorrow, but now i sort of understand.

i did enjoy the bunny, hampster and fish they had in class though. it is a big bunny and some of the other kids touched it (they're crazy!). hopefully the animals will be there again today. ok, gotta go get ready to leave! must remain calm....

Last day of summer

well, off to school tomorrow. today was my last day home with mommy. its been so nice being home with her and spending so much time with her. having daddy and lucy here with us all day has been great too. I am nervous for school, but i think its goign to be fun. daddy says i am going to learn so much and he says he can tell that I want to learn because i ask a lot of questions, like, where are the nors? (nors are deer). are they out there? nors? over there? nors?

so wish me luck everyone! mommy and daddy and I are all going to go together in the morning. btw...i know some of you think i am crazy for going to school so young, but hey, i don't call the shots around here. don't worry though, i can handle myself pretty good as most of you know (because you have probably watched me for amore than an hour alone). anyway, i have a feeling that this new school is going to be the perfect place for me to get really really smart. soon i will be writing daddy's blog!! heh heh.

ok, so, so long summer, we had a blast with you. moving to a new big house, spending time with teh family, outings to get ice cream, swimming, wow! what a great life i have. just want to tell mommy and daddy that i love you very much (and you too lucy!!) next time i write i will be more educated!

the ry-man

school and some rain...

ahhh the rain...how i love spending hours on end inside!! :)

thu night at school was not that fun. mommy and daddy and I went to school for parent orientation. I soon found out that this did not include me...how do i know? As soon as we got there we went right to the gym for some great play. it was nice, they had a ton of balls to play with, music, a big parachute thing...

in fact, i got so caught up that i lost site of mommy and daddy. apparently they left to go to my classroom for orientation. i had the teachers take me there immediately (through methods undisclosed, but use your imagination). eventually i got to spend the rest of the evening with them in my classroom with a couple of other misfit kids who didn't want to hang out in the gym and miss all of the action. by the end fo our time there, all was well.

today was raining all day, so we went to pop-pop and oma's for some swimming at the pool at their house. daddy said some people were using the pool though and that we couldn't go in. mommy tried to pursuade him but he wouldnt' budge so we went to visit pop-pop and oma at their house for a while. after we left we went back but those old ladies were still in there so we went home. after my nap we headed back to church, which until we moved, was not all that fun. Now, we go into a special room where kids can make noise and walk around and get into things. Its awesome, i played with 4 other kids tonight at church and had a blast!

Hi Everyone!

Been a while since I last updated, Daddy has been quite busy lately. He said he would take some time to update for me today though.

Well...this is my last week at home and its been a pretty eventful weekfor the most part. This morning was meet the teacher day at school, so mommy and I went to the school and hung out in my classroom for a couple hours. My class has 16 other kids in it, and I am the 2nd youngest. 11 of the 17 kids are boys too. (stats all provided by mommy)

anyway, i really like the classroom, everything in there is MY size and i can play with all of it. i was so disappointed when we had to leave and go home, but mommy said i will have plenty of time to play there. tonight all of us are going back for parent orientation night. mommy said i will get to play while her and daddy get to learn about my school. playing sounds good to me man.

last night pop pop and oma came over for dinner. we had a nice time, and i showed them some fo my dining tricks. they are going to watch me a for a while in October i think. No one told me this, but i picked it up from some of the conversations going on last night.

i have really been practicing with my words and doing well. daddy is always surprised when I walk out of his office and say bye bye. i still find that when I can't remember a word for something, i can usually just scream really loud to get my point across. i know this drives "them" crazy, but oh well.

tuesday i spent the whole day with mom mom and pop pop bill. we went to applebees for lunch (still never get to go anywhere with momma and daddy), then to teh carousel horse farm. It was great fun. Mom MOm gives me whatever I want and I love spending time with her. She seems to be able to read my mind, like for example, i might be thinking, "gee...how about a cookie" and before i say it, mom mom is there giving me a cookie and some yogurt ("wowurt")! WOW!

monday mommy and i went to millburn orchards nad it was really cool. we saw some goats and some baby cows and mommy even fed a cow. i thought she might get down there and try to milk one, but it never happened. it was neat there and you can pick fruit and hang out with animals.

sooo...that was my week. this weekend mommy is preparing me for a lot of inside time. she said we are supposed to get lots and lots of rain. lets hope not though. daddy says the weather people are alarmist and rarely get the forecast right. we'll see who's opinion prevails! talk to you all later!

one cool college

about 2 weeks till school starts and we have been busy busy busy. this weekend mommy and daddy took me to their old college, the university of Delaware. It seemed pretty cool. they had lots of bricks, and steps. buildings with big columns, fountains and trees. there is a street with stores and restaurants too. sounds like a pretty good place, could have used some more playgrounds though. how do people go to school without a big twisty slide or swings?!?

yesterday I went and got my hair cut again. It was SCARY! The woman was cutting my hairs and then all of a sudden she put this large loud buzzing thing toward my head. though mommy said it was OK, i was not having any of that! we also got to go to a gigantic toy store and i played with lots of toys. mommy bought me this great red car that i can ride on, oh and a dancing elmo. the car is awesome, the dancing elmo is cool too. i put it on my new desk that daddy brought home from mom-mom's house. we also brought home all of daddy's smurfs from when he was a little boy like me and played with them. all of these things are great but not sure any will replace my Thomas the Train train set and tracks!!

oh and i forgot to tell you all...last friday my new teacher came over to our house for a visit. she was really nice. her name is Valerie, and she brought the teacher's assistant (whose name we can't remember at this point). they were both really nice, and i showed them my toys, and my house. i hope they can teach me lots of great things. maybe like how to use the potty. i have seen daddy do it and it looks really fun. not sure i understand the whole process yet, but soon they tell me, "soon". school should be fun though, even though I will definitely miss seing mommy and daddy and lucy all day long...

Happy Birthday Momma!

Thanks for being there each day for me mommy. No matter what my agenda is, you are there, and I couldn't imagine life without you!

I love you and Happy Birthday!!

Last Weekend - Beley Bash!

Hi everyone, just wanted to take some time to update you on our recent trip to Pittsburgh. We went out in the beginning of August for the tad less than annual "Beley Bash". We stayed with Jake and his parents.

Thanks Jake for letting us stay. Oh and thanks to Mommy and Jake's parents for giving me the opportunity to bath with another boy! That was an interesting experience. For the most part, I think we pretty much bath the same, but they have a cool hose they use to rinse off, instead of our ghetto red cup!


Also, i got to use Jake's high chair and pack and play, even better I got to play with his rather awesome toys. I hope mommy and daddy were taking note. I just can't play with the same old toys all the time. Maybe its time for a refresher guys?!?


On to the Beley Bash where I had a great time. I spent most of my day grabbing ice from the numerous coolers and eating it. It only became an issue a couple of times when I mistakenly picked up a rock or two thinking they were also ice cubes. Luckily mommy stopped me in time. Here is a four generation picture for all of your viewing pleasure! Me on the left, daddy, pop-pop, then Grandad. Pop-Pop was able to make it out of prision to spend the day with his family, which was great. (he he, just kidding!)


After a not so long trip back from Pittsburgh, it was TIME. Sunday night Hall of Fame Game, Oakland Raiders versus the Philadelphia Eagles. Here is a picture of me gearing up for the game (I had to check on bunny in the backyard to see if he was eating the vegetables mommy left out there for him). The game was great, only saw the first series, but the Eagles are looking good!!

To All My Fans

Whats up! Two posts in two days!

Just thought I'd give a state of how things are going these days. Still home all day with mommy and daddy. Daddy disappears into his computer room adn shuts the door shortly after he gets me up and dresses. Then I usually don't see him. every once in a while he comes out to play with me for aminute or two, or me and mommy will step into his office for a quick visit. other than that, daddy time is usually in the night time. me and mommy have been having so much fun though. almost every day we go somewhere. lets see, for example, monday was kind of exciting because I went to pop-pop and omah's house while mommy went on a job interview, ok, not the best example. tuesday...mommy and i went to food store AND to a playgroup at the park. that was awesome. theere were some awesome climing toys for kids my size at the park. i was so zonked out after playing that i went straight to my nap. then, after i woke up, me and mommy rode over to jcpenny to exchange our bar stools. that night daddy and lucy and i played football in the backyard. daddy was showing me out to hike the ball while he ran an out route and lucy covered him. then he took me for a walk all the way to the back of our yard and showed me how tall weeds grow.
today was story time at the library. i think its the second to last one for the summer, but it was great. each week we go, and thten we get out about 5-6 new books for me to read. on the way home we stopped off to pay for my school. yes, school....
i start at the hockessin montessori school the last week of august. time for me to get some education. i will be going to school for just about the full day and learning lots of great things. i will probably meet some other smart kids, but i doubt any of them have a friggin blog man! hopefully i don't run circles around them.

thats it for now. all is going well. its been a busy time since we moved, but i can tell things are starting to calm down. the house is great, the yard is great. we can race ("wace") up and down the driveway for hours. hopefully you all can come and see the house someday. i am pretty sure lucy likes it a lot too. as for daddy, he seems pretty content, and so does mommy, though i think she thinks we live in the middle of nowhere. more as i learn that stuff.

hope you are all well!

Wedding! Behind....

Sorry folks, I am really behind in my posting. hard to keep up with all of these events. Just got back from the Beley Bash, but wanted to post about the wedding first!

Wow...great wedding. I think my second one, aunt beth and uncle pj's last fall was my first. this one was outside which made it really hot out. but it was OK because I got to see some cool boats, oh, and get this, there was a live horsee there!

Friday night started out with the rehearsal dinner. As soon as daddy was done with work for the day we got ready and headed on over to mom-mom's. Poor Lucy ("dog") had to stay home, but no doubt she had a good time. Daddy got all the drinks and put them into a cooler. AFter a while, everyone arrived and it was a nice party. I played outside with all the girls and michael. daddy came out and we played soccer in the backyard. Still not so sure about kicking things. I just don't see why we need to kick if I can pick it up and stick it in my mouth with my hands....












Sat we got up and I had an early nap before we left for the wedding. When I got there I noticed a funny white blanket on the ground. Someone had left this there maybe from the night before. It looked pretty clean so I gave it a test walk. All was good. But boy it was hot so I settled down with a cup of water for a while.

As we all gathered around we all had a lot of catching up to do from the previous night (not really). I think Uncle Mark was running late or something, so daddy took the opportunity to teach me about being on time. then i overheard him telling someone that since we moved to PA that this was the first event we were on time to.



So then out of the corner of my eye I saw some one I had never seen before. The glitter dress girls! They were really cool and they had this great glitter on their dresses. Every time I got close I couldn't help but reach for the glitter and end up pulling on their dresses. I spent a lot of the day chasing these girls around trying to get their glitter.







But before we knew it the wedding ceremony had started and finished. All of my cousins read a poem on stage (WOW!) and then they had to pour sand into a glass jar. Then at the end Aunt Jen and Uncle Mark had a kiss, kind of like mommy and daddy do. the lady behind them told them it was OK so they did. this now makes them married and we can start the party!






So we darted across the dock of the Chesapeake Inn and went inside the air conditioning. We hall had a great time, and I did some dancing and girl chasing. Daddy let me order his drinks at the bar and he also a few straws. By the end of let me play with the day, I was exhausted! Much of my time at the party was spent being hounded by girls and by the end of the party, I had had just about enough. I mean, I love my cousins and all, but give a man some space! :)

Goin to the zoo zoo zoo

Family night at the Brandywine zoo was fun! it was a hot and muggy night, but i got to see some cool animals, so I didn't mind breaking a sweat. mommy and daddy weren't impressed with the zoo, but we all had a good time anyway. I also got a chance to test out my new sneaks...


When we got there, we were late because daddy got lost, so the first thing we did was eat some hot dogs. we were starving!










Shortly after arriving we toured through some of the animals. Truthfully there weren't that many, maybe 10 or 12, but they were all amazing. Especially to eyes that have never seen the likes of a tiger, llamas, or otters! Afterwords we headed out of the zoo and down to the foutain and got some great looks at the Brandywine river. Hope you enjoy the post, look for more about the weekend and the great time we had at Aunt Jen and Uncle Mark's wedding!

Thu - Gearing up for the weekend

Ok...so we are about to head over to the zoo for family night. no, not my family, but daddy did joke that we will meet some of mommy's family there. he got a real kick out of it, while mommy just sort of smirked.

I think we are going to see some animals though and eat dinner there. It should be fun, hopefully we can get some pictures taken. too bad i have to be the keeper of all things memorious around here. slacker parents!

big event this week is the big wedding. aunt jen and soon to be uncle mark are getting marreid on saturday in maryland. i am gonna get to go. can you believe both of my aunts have gotten married since i was born! thats two weddings i get to witness. daddy says the more weddings you go to , the less weddings you will want to go to.

huh? sometimes he says things that i just don't get.

today we went for a play group at teh park (mommy and I). we were the only ones who showed up. whats up with that you shady kids!? i was ready to lay the smack down on you! haha, just kidding. tomorrow though daddy is off of work adn we are goign to hang out. he said he might let me sit on his new lawn mower (wahnmore).

thats all for now, should be a fun weekened with lots of visitors! can't wait to see aunt jo and unlce rick and meet all of uncle mark's family. of course, dinner at mom-mom's house is going to be great tomorrow night.

have a great weekend everyone!

Tues - Cecil County and Eagles!!

Fly Eagles Fly...

Daddy has been teaching me the Eagles fight song over the past couple days. my favorite part is at the end when he spells out E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles! Of course all of this is prompted by the Eagles starting training camp this past weekend. we are psyched for the season to start and for some football to be on TV. Daddy says the first game of the year features the Eagles and the Raiders in the Hall of Fame game. Thats in just a few short weeks.

Had a nice and busy week again. This weekend we did a lot. Friday started out with a trip to pop-pop and oma's for a swim and a visit with my visiting cousins. daddy and mommy took me swimming at pop-pop's pool at his complex. we had a great time tooling around in the pool, though it was very slippery walking around there. i kept falling down. i was a bit nervous in the water at first, but i got more comfortable. after that we headed back to pop-pop's for dinner. Aunt Diana and my cousins Amanda and Celeste came by for a visit. We had a great time visiting with everyone. Riley and my new cousin Lexa was there too!

Saturday I stayed with mom mom and pop pop bill while mommy and daddy went out to dinner for their anniversary. they said they had a great time. apparently when they don't take me to restaurants its more relaxing. that may be true, but i bet its much more expensive too. and geez, what they heck are they doing there anyway? probably talking about me!!!

Sunday we went to the Cecil Couny Fair. Wow. I had a blast. The best was getting to sit on all of the different tractors they had there. I think i tested out the seats on each one. then we went through the animal displays and i saw some pigs, goats, sheeps, and whoa momma cows! They were so big that I was scared fo them. Daddy said that they weight 10 times as much as he did. some of them were moo'ing too. AFter that we had some dinner and watched a few minutes of the rodeo while daddy shared some of his ice cream with me. But it really was a blast! Too bad lucy couldn't come.

just wanted to say that i am glad you all read my blog. daddy says he gets a lot of compliments on my rantings and always tells me that more people than i think are checking in to read. so, if your checking in, feel free to check in and let me know your out there!! its an honor to have you all.

coming up: aunt jen's wedding next weekend, beley bash in pittsburgh after that. comin to see you jake! then maybe a visit from aunt selena, and then maybe some time to relax!

as i say to mommy and daddy:
belauka shaka jaka babk babka bed

Mon - Yes, No, and I just don't know!

Hi Everyone,
The title of my post is really some ofthe things I am mastering over the last week or so. I have learned that I can acknowledge questions and say Yes by nodding my head up and down. I can say no or disagree by turning my head side to side. I can claim ignorance by simply raising my brow and putting my hands (palm up) up. All great methods of non-verbal communciation. This eases the communication gap around the house and is helping.

Other ways to say NO....I can actually say "nuh-no". Or I can groan with a half shrug and run. Those work too, and those I am starting to use for those questions mommy and daddy ask that don't really give me an option. Tricky adults....like....Ryan, do you want to take a nap?
{turn head indicating no method}. I get picked up and carried to crib.
{say "nuh-no" method}. Picked up and carried to crib.
{fuss, shrug, and run method}. Play chase, then picked up and carreid to crib.

Duh, which one would YOU choose! ;)

We had a nice weekend. It was very very busy though. Life in PA has been all but relaxing. Thu and Fri we went swimming with Mommy and her new Mommy's group, along with a brand new playgroup. Oh man, the house we were at on Thu had so many toys that I didn't even WANT to go outside to play. Fri I skipped the pool again, still a bit wary of it. Daddy carted me off to our new doctor friday to have her take a look at some bumps on my skin. She was pretttttty nice (hehe). Then daddy carted me home and unlce jim and aunt tracy came over for some grillin. Cassie came and we had a bit of a run in, but its all good.

Sat we were off to Haley's birthday party (10 years!!!). We played in the park there, but ti was pretty wet and muddy that day. Sat night mommy and daddy took me after dinner to the Ice Cream Festival over in Wilmington. We had an awesome time! Ate some ice cream, checked out the vendors and I even got to pet a few dogs there. They had this HUUUGE balloon ("boon") that filled up with fire and floated into the air. They had a live rock band there too. Getting back in the car mommy and I had a bit of an incident, and hopefully she is still not too mad at me. I threw my firetruck and hit her in her lip. It was bleeding and now she has a cut on her lip. Sorry mommy, i love you!!!

Sunday we headed to Pop-Pop's for his birthday party! We had fun there too. Got to see everyone again. No Riley this weekend, daddy says they are trying to get their house ready for sale. Riley, if you need any coping advice, let me know. stressful time! But I did get to see Lexa quite a bit, and of course all those crazy girls (Haley, Kristen, Carly, Anna)!

Hope you guys all had a nice weekend! I will try to take it easy on some of your children. i am still pushing my limits though. just remember, i got my share back in full force when i went head to head with cassie, and I didn't get anyone as hard as I got mommy the other night (once again, sorry momma!)

Ry-Man

I'm back baby!

WOW! Its been a heck of a few weeks! I dont' think I could possibly catch you all up on what was a great move and what has been a hectic couple weeks. A real whirlwind of activity.

Couple things....I really like our new house, and my new room is great. It looks a lot like my old room. Our house is a lot bigger and I can run and play inside but even outside there is tons of room to run and play too. Daddy was right when he said my lawn mowing skills better get better!

I think I have seen some of you almost every day since we moved! CAn you believe how much we have seen eachother?? Soon I won't need to post a blog cause you guys are all so close. its really been great seeing you, especially mom-mom who takes such good care of me!!

I do miss school, but its not so bad. Mommy has been home with me every day and daddy too! Daddy works really close by and frequently pops in for visits at lunch and other random times. Me and mommy have been all over the place checking out local stores and getting familiar with the roads. i think she is lucky she has me to talk to!!

The neighbors have a girl that is about my age. she came over shortly after we moved in. haven't seen her since, but she seemed pretty tough and intimidating. hopefully we can be friends.

Today mommy and I went to the local library for story hour and that was a lot of fun. Tomorrow we are going to a pull party that abunch of local mommy's planned. Then on friday another get together at another mommy's pool.

So, we are keeping busy! Its been so nice seeing all of you this week. Thanks for watching me while mommy an daddy got our house setup!

OHHH. And, duh. I have a BRAND NEW COUSIN!!! She was born a couple days after we moved in. Congratulations to Uncle Jim and Aunt Tracy on the birth of my cousin, Alexandra (Lexa) Lorraine Earley!! I met her. She is pretty cute, not all that interesting right now.

ok, off I go. had to transcript this one for daddy earlier this evenign so he could type it up and post for me. hopefully he took no editorial rights to my thoughts!!

cya guys!!!

Mon - Last post from NJ?

hopefully it won't be too much of a teary goodbye, but tomorrow is the big day. we move on. we had such a nice family weekend bonding in teh house because of the rain. sun me and mommy went to lunch together and then to the park so daddy could get some packing done.

there are boxes everywhere, but in the midst of packing we played a lot with the couch cushions and made some nice forts out of them. then i ran and jumped into them knocking them over. i love it when mommy and daddy play with me! lucy even got in on the game and crawled into some of the cushion forts! what a blast!

today was my second to last day of school. i guess i am really gonna miss everyone there. they take such good care of me and teach me things everyday. most importantly they are cracked up by my antics... i am actually a pretty funny guy, now that i think about it. tomorrow is my last day though. i think mommy is going to pick me up and we are going straight to mom-mom's house for a few days before the house is ready. daddy is going to stay back until wed and get everything cleaned up and straightened for the new people. I hope they are nice. I think they have a dog just like lucy too. daddy and mommy think lucy will be stressed out by the move so i have to make sure she gets through ok. i have to pull her hair and sit on her just as much as usual, maybe more!

so, off we go, to the great state of PA! I have really enjoyed your comments and enjoyed writing this blog. i might ahve given you all the wrong impression about stopping the blog, its not because know one reads it, but just because i am getting older. soon enough i can express all of my thoughts without this blog. we will see though. the old man is still thinkin bout it.

have a great week everyone, wish us soooo much luck with our move!!

love,
the ry-man

Thu - Times a wastin...get packin!

Less than a week till the big move so we have been very busy at home. Not much time for an update. Thought I'd share a couple of pictures.

I mowed the lawn for daddy on father's day:




















Then me and mommy called Granpa to wish him happy father's day:

















This week I can tell has been pretty stressful for mommy and daddy. It started out with the oil tank removal. That was quite a feat. I didn't see it but mommy was home to take some pictures:




The good news was that the leak was not TOO bad. Still bad enough to cause problems though. Hopefully that all can get worked out soon though!
so wish us all luck this weekend with packing, couple more inspections to go, but we are on target according to daddy.

School has been great this week. Tuesday was favorites day so i brought in my favorite fire truck. when i got to school, we had to show everyone our favorites than share it with the other kids. then on wed was pajama day combined with water day! so, i got to wear my pj's to school and then in the middle of the day we got our suits on and headed out to the water table and sprinklers. it was great!!

hope you all had a great week, and please write in! haven't heard from anyone in a while. i know most of you are pretty busy though. can you believe you have been reading my blog for a year now? time flies dudes! daddy says its almost time to hang it up for some reason.

hope you like the mixed in pics too. i stole the idea from one of my neighborhood buddie's blogs (the jackson journal). His mommy writes his and puts great pictures in there. Daddy says she is a better picture taker than him though. Oh, and daddy told me to add my feed to your RSS aggregator (whatever the heck that means). daddy might start his own blog to explain stuff like that though soon. anyway, add this:
http://ry-man.blogspot.com/atom.xml

if you want a cool aggregator where you can add feeds, check out netvibes.com!

later!

Tues - Things are going well i think

can i just tell you all how much I love the outside! i mean, there is so much going on out there, there is so much to look at, and the terrain is very exciting. makes going in and getting ready for bath and bed a real bummer.

i have started noticing a routine though, and yesterday wasn't so bad. it seems that after dinner is over daddy or mommy usually take me outside to play. daddy says it is to work. he mows the lawn while I help him out with my mower. i can usually get the spots that he misses (or so he says). my mower though is not as loud as his and a lot of times it doesn't even start up till you push it a while. anyway, we usually play for a while, run into some neighbor at some point, play for a while and then daddy says, ready to go inside? Lets got put your mower away. I guess that is sort of my cue to get ready to go inside and go to bed. I didn't fight it last night because it was bath night. I learned this really really really funny trick. I think most adults know, but for you kids out there, next time you are in the tub, try it. Wait till your sitting in the water, then wave your arms like crazy splashing water everywhere! Watch your mommy and daddy run for cover while you crack up laughing!!!

The other trick I am learning is to take the cup that your daddy uses to rinse you off, fill it with water, adn practice your drinking from a cup. i am getting good at it, and fast too. The trick is, wait till daddy/mommy is soaping up your washcloth, or turning on the water, then get a quick drink in!!

So I am noticing more and more boxes in our house. Pictures coming down, things disappearing. this is all part of moving. we have to take all of our stuff from this house and move it to another house. i will carry the broom if they want, so they won't have to pack it. hopefully lucy won't take too hard to the move, though i keep hearing daddy saying that we are goign to have a big yard and a big house so we don't need to worry.
we told school about the move too. it will be very sad to leave there, especially with not knowing what is in store for me (new school?). i am sure i will be fine though, i think i am too young for it to affect me too bad!

cya guys later!

Tues - Whoa...over a week since i posted!

hey dudes and dudettes! been a while since I last wrote. I remember that I was just about to go swimming after I last wrote. that was our memorial day weekend.
since then though, things have been pretty busy. it was a short school week, only two weeks. monday was the holiday and then thu daddy said i could skip school and we got in the car, loaded up lucy and went to pop-pop's. mommy and daddy dropped me off because they said they had to go inspect our new house. They were gone for a couple of hours so me and pop-pop hung out most of the afternoon. We were out for a walk when mommy and daddy came back and i showed them my pretty much perfected wave. i could tell by the look on their faces how impressed they were!! We then headed over to mom-mom's house for dinner, and then mommy had to leave to go back to NJ for work the next day. lucy and pop-pop bill and daddy and I played ball outside while mom-mom sat outside and watched us. id have to say the downer of the day was the fact that I had to go inside and go to bed. i really really really don't like having to go inside!

Fri was a busy morning and i ended up taking a really long morning nap and then daddy adn mom-mom and I met pop-pop at a restaurant for lunch. wow, a restaurant, too bad cheapo mommy and daddy never take me out to eat! we had a great time and i entertained them with my ability to drink through a straw (yeah...i know...simpletons). then we headed over to mom-mom's work so daddy could work on their computers for a while. then it was back to mom-mom's for dinner and mommy's arrival. we played outside again for a while, and i again, did not like one bit coming back in side...grrr.

Sat and sunday are a blur at this point, i remember being at a baby shower, and mommy telling me to grab some diapers and get out of here while no one is looking. (he he, just kidding, oh and congratulations aunt tracy!) Spent some time playing the piano with daddy and I guess just hanging out getting ready to cause trouble and causing some!

Hopeyou all had a good weekend. It was great seeing you all!!

Happy Memorial Day!

Hi Everyone, did you have a nice holiday weekend? Mine is going well so far. I am about to get up from my nap, but thought i'd sneak an entry in. mommy is downstairs talking on the phone and I think daddy is in the basement packing.

packing you ask?

packing.

we are moving at the end of june! I haven't see the pics, but apparently the house is bigger, the yard is bigger, and we are going to be much closer to family. no more treks up and down the jersey turnpike!

so, pennsylvania is our destination state. it probably means alot of changes. I think daddy is going to somehow keep his job while mommy is going to look for another. hopefully one where she is not out at night all the time. lucy is going to be without her favorite dog walker, but she is going to spend more time with daddy instead. new rooms for all of us too, lots of packing and unpacking in the coming weeks. hopefully my schedule will stay pretty constant though!

we are going down this coming weekend and daddy adn mommy are going to the home inspection.

so, thats the news here.

had a nice weekend, spent a lot of time with mommy and daddy. today we went into town to watch the duck race and saw some of our neighbors there. yesterday selena and dave came over for a cookout on the new deck with the new grill. it was a blast! today i heard that aunt jen might be stopping by and chances are granpa is going to come over and see me. wow! what a weekend!

hope you all had a good one too! cya

Tues - bam bam

RAAAHHH!

Got your attention eh? my newest trick. scream as loud as i can to get people to react. Works ever time.

Here is the scenario:
Your in a room, everyone is watching your every move. Cracking up at your antics, marveling at your cuteness. Then all of a sudden something happens to shift the focus of the room, say a conversation, or a visitor comes. All of a sudden, you are standing there with no audience.
RRRRAAAAHHHH!!!
Whammo, your audience is back! Works everytime folks.

I don't see a lot of older people doing this. Though daddy does a lot of yelling around the house at me and lucy. the man needs to come down a bit! sorry daddy if you are reading this, but hey, lucy is only 2, i am only 1, someday we will be the perfect angels you want us to be, just not yet! ;)

had a great weekend at the cystic fibrosis walk and the dinner before. got to see most of my aunts and uncles this weekend and cousins too. getting ready for the baby barrage that is coming this summer and fall. my newest cousin riley is still pretty queit and not much into playing, but that will change soon. after the walk mommy and daddy left to look at more houses again. they came home somewhat happy.

things are happening fast around here though, it seems like everyday is a new thing to talk about with all the houses.

miss C is going on vacation tomorrow and won't be in school. its a shame cause she is so nice to me, and always gives me food! fooooood!

ok peeps, talk to you later!

wed - is it hot in here?

ok...so i am sitting here in daycare waiting for mommy to come pick me up. i have a 102 fever so it looks like i can go home early today and hang out with a much missed mommy who has had to work for the last couple nights in a row...

coincidence? you decide.

a mommy a day keeps the doctor away! sorry daddy, your great and all, but you ain't mommy! hee hee

so, what is cuasing this fever you ask? probably those two huge needles the nurse stuck in my legs yesterday! daddy says they were booster shots and it wouldn't be that bad, but i didn't see any needles going into his legs! doc said maybe i get a fever from these shots. i think i got one!

as for the rest of the 15 month checkup, my weight seems to be leveling off, I weighed in at 27 lbs 5.5 oz. Getting closer to average, and my height was pretty average at 31 inches. they measured my head, and i think it was in the 42 cm range, but can't quote that one.

all in all the appt wasn't too bad. me and daddy played ball while we waited for doc to come in, then he let me play with his blue tooth head set and let me wear it. he said i looked cool.

thats it for now, though I am hearing about a moving date of june 28th. not sure yet what this means, but more to come on that.

buh-bye.

Mon - Back to School

Well, did everyone have a good weekend?

I did. It was nice and relaxing. It started off Fri night with a nice quiet evening on Friday, while daddy was working on the grill and mowing the lawn, i spent most of the evening with mommy. then we had a visitor, she looked familiar, but as it turns out, she is the one responsible for selling our house. apparently our first potential buyer has decided not to buy the house. daddy and mommy seem ok with that. then i noticed that no one was paying attention to me, so I spoke up!

sat was an early morning for me and daddy. i just couldn't wait to get up! We played for awhile and then we all went for a walk while some guy came to check out our house. He seemed nice enough, but he was late, and I could sense mommy's impatience. She probably saw that I was getting sleepy and this man was stealing my nap time! But alas, he came, we went out for a walk, and got home. I went for a nap and found out that the man wants to buy our house. Hooray! Then we went to home depot to get some propane for daddy's new grill. That thing is nice lookin.

Sun was the big day. I again decided not to sleep in. Mommy told me that daddy was getting up with me again because it was mother's day and she was goign to sleep in. She also noted that daddy was going to be out late that night, and he would want to get up early to see me! So...we got all of mommy's mother's day cards and presents ready for her so when she came down we could surprise her. I am glad that she was happy to get the gift and cards. Then we gave daddy his birthday cards! It was a nice relaxing day though and we topped it off with ice cream birthday cake, a great steak dinner, and a quick trip to Rita's. I got a taste of all of that and hit the sack!

Now I am relaxed and ready for school this week. Its picture day today, so I think i am going to get my picture taken! gotta look good...

cya!

TGIF - whatever that means

Hi Everyone! Its friday, and the weekend is just about here. Had a rough week, came down with a heavy cough. probably caused by my parent's need to transport me from place to place. lucky its mother's day and daddy's birthday on sunday, so i will forgive them. that should be gift enough...

hopefully it will be fairly relaxing this weekend. this week i noticed a lot of tension in the house. i think mommy wants to buy a house really bad but daddy wants to see if we sell our current house. geesh, what a balancing act. pending offers leads to lots of tension....

not too much else going on. daddy has been trying to teach me more and more words, and he was pretty impressed when I said bye bye the other day. i can also say "door" pretty good, and he has me working on "window". that one is much harder. the other hard one is "light". daddy says i can't say "L" words yet. I guess he is expecting that I will be developing that skill soon.

so, happy mothers' day to all of you mommies out there! most of my readership is motherly figures, so i know you are all looking forward to a great Sunday! hopefully your children won't disappoint. i know my mommy is getting something special, i have been saving up with daddy and lucy. i hope she likes her gift. mommy and dadddy said i had to buy them dinner too, they want to order from Church's chicken that night since it is a special day for both of them. I might be able to swing that with a few extra photo shoots. Lucy has a bit of savings too, so maybe I will hit her up for some. i have been sneaking her food every day since i have been eating, so she defintely owes me!!

ok everyone, have a great weekend!!

Mon - Rest Please

Wow, some rest...please...i am just a small child. Carting me around here and there is very tiring for me (and you, I am sure). Here is a synopsis of my crazy weekend.

Fri yields an early pickup from daddy, and not only that, but Lucy is there with him. He pulls out a cup containing my yogurt drink and says, we are going to see Mom-Mom. But doesn't Mom-Mom live far far away? {yes, she does}

So we hit the road and head down to DE. It was a fun ride, I slept about half the time, but since it was a nice day, daddy turned up the music and opened the windows and sun roof! We had a great time. When we arrived we got to see Aunt Beth and Uncle PJ, and my new cousin Riley. She is pretty quiet and didn't seem very interested in her favorite cousin, but I will give her the benefit of the doubt. She seems to be doing well and is rather content most of the time.

Sat I decided to get up a little early (5:30) to see who else is up at that time. Turns out that when daddy (against his own will) and I went downstairs (after my refusal to lay back down), nobody was there but us and Lucy. Geesh people, wake up, start your day, the sun is shining! By 8:30 we were on the road to Pop Pop and Debbie's. Mommy and Daddy left, and we played for a while then visited Kristen at her soccer game. She was pretty good, she had a couple saves in goal. Got to spend some time with Haley and Anna, also Aunt Jen too.

Then I was whisked back to Mom-Mom's and mommy and daddy gave me lunch. Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop Bill were no where to be found, i think they went to Florida for sun and relaxation. Hoepfully my 5:30 wakeup didn't drive them out of the house. Anyway, had some lunch then me and mommy and daddy headed over to Jake's bday party. I had a great time there, and Jake, sorry for the smack on the head. According to my development phases, I do things now to get a reaction because I am learning about cause and effect. Had some cake adn ice cream then it was back to Mom-Mom's for a nap. Before I knew it we were off to dinner at the Outback with Pop-Pop and Debbie. Uncle Jim and Aunt Tracy got to join us too. Had a great time sipping on my straw from the water glass!

Back to Mom-Mom's and into bed!

Tired yet?

Then, Sunday morning was back to Pop-Pop and Debbie's. They took me to Church, fed me some lunch after and we played outside for awhile. I got to ride around on a little tike bike which was pretty neat. Walking really opens up a lot of doors!!
Finally mommy and daddy got home. they were house hunting and were not sucessful in finding one. sounds like they are changing strategy though and have a new outlook.

So, daddy took me, we picked up lucy and headed back home to NJ. Mommy stayed because she is meeting with some people from her work today to talk with them. She will be home tonight. Daddy adn I stopped at McDonalds for dinner since the traffic was so bad. We finaly got home and it was bath time and then bed time. Wow, finally the long weekend was over.

Today I am still very tired, but recovering. Probably take a few days though. Daddy says that on Sunday is mother's day so get ready. Mommy says that Sunday is daddy's birthday so get ready. I guess maybe I have to get them presents or something. Hopefully some more guidance on these events is coming soon!

Hope you guys all had a great weekend and talk to you soon. It was great seeing almost all of my loyal fanbase!!

Wed - Just A Taste

well, this is a tad embarrassing, but...

yesterday miss pat had to call daddy because i took a small taste of "A" at school. he is my buddy and all, but sometimes we fight too. yesterday he took my crayon, so i had to go get it back. i admit it though, it was a moment of weakness, i lost my self control and took a little bite at him. this is apparently really a bad thing to do, and hey, now I know. daddy made me say i was sorry to "A" and hopefully today he won't get me back! ah the crazy world of school every day. you just don't know what you are going to get there each day...

mommy has a new nickname for me though, "animal". don't know about you, but i kind of like it!

Mon - How was your weekend?

rocks...small oddly shaped objects that are hard and feel good in your mouth. i am learning about rocks, throwing them, hitting things with them, tasting them. the outside just has to much to offer.

i wish daddy would let me spend more time in the garage. the other day i carried the broom all the way to the front of the house. it was great. adults take stuff like that for granted i think. no one seemed nearly impressed with my feat, but man, consider the fact that 2 months ago, i could not even walk. in a few weeks i will be ready to sweep!

daddy and mommy are starting to realize that i do understand things. confirmed by this conversation:

Daddy: Ryan, where is your other sock?
Me: ehh (points to sock)
Mommy: See, he understands what you say to him.
Daddy: Yeah.
Mommy: Ryan, where is Lucy?
Me: eh? (points to Lucy)
Mommy/Daddy: Yeah! Very good!
Daddy: Ryan, where is Mommy?
Me: eh. (points to Lucy)


What I can't convey is that I was only joking on that last part. Don't worry mommy, i know which one you are! i guess i have daddy's kean sense of humor huh? he he.

before i go, happy birthday to the Jake! He turns the big 1 tomorrow. Soon we will romp around together, and can't wait to hang out.

Fri - End of April is Here

Hey Everyone! Its been a while since I posted (as usual) but we have been a very busy bunch. We are moving (I think). I finally have figured it all out, what mommy and daddy have been doing when they leave me off with mom-mom or pop-pop. they have been looking at houses. they actually took me to one that they really liked and let me sample it. i loved it, they loved, unfortunately johnny house-seller took it off the market before it could become ours. soon though mommy and daddy will find a great house for us that will be bigger and have a yard for me and lucy to play in. we will also live closer to many of my loyal readers!

we still have to sell this house and i think mommy is getting a bit frustrated. not quite as much interest as she originally anticipated, but its really only been a week or so since the house was avaialbe for showings. so, we shall see. this is a whole new adventures.

i guess it also means i am going to be leaving my school. i will let that sit awhile before i see how i feel about it. i am now the 2nd oldest in my room and once my buddy A leaves, i will be the oldest by far. perhaps this will be a good time for a change.

we had a nice visit in DE this past weekend though. i got to visit with mom-mom and pop-pop bill and pop pop and debbie. lots of visiting!! no houses found and daddy was sick, but we still had a great time. can't say as much for the long ride home on sunday afternoon. we hit some major momma traffic and that darn car seat just gets so restricting. throwing my nook is only fun for so long, plus mommy eventually catches on and stops reaching all around the car for it. she is a smart lady. daddy is no nonsense in the car. he was probably just crabby from being sick, oh, and having to drive that trip so many times!

Daddy took lucy this week to go and visit aunt beth and my new cousin riley. he hasn't shown me the pictures yet but he said she was a beautiful baby and that she was very little still. compared to me he said she was like lifting a feather. dude, i can't help it if i am carrying some weight, i will say that it is some lean and solid baby fat. watch out ladies!

hope you all are doing well!

Thu - back after a day off

well, me and daddy had a nice day off on wednesday. he picked me up early from day care on wednesday. miss pat said i had to go home since i was having some crazy poop explosions, in combination with a bad bad diaper rash and also that i got all of my clothes dirty! it was a rough morning yesterday. today has not been much better in that arena.

so since we went home early, me and daddy and lucy got to hang out all day together. we took a great wagon ride to the park and daddy and i threw the tennis ball for lucy. i got to wear my baseball cap to keep the sun out of my eyes too. daddy showed me how to wear it backwards to, he said he does that sometimes. we played outside a lot and we also played chase around the house. i can play chase now because i can move pretty darn fast on my feet.

with the fun came the unfun. the burning rash on my bum. i hope it goes away soon. the diarreah isn't fun either. also, i am noting, the faster I move the harder i fall. yesterday i fell on my face, but not before dropping my cup on teh spot where my face landed. the falling is getting old though. I'd say i must fall about 50 times a day. at school there tends to be more padding so its not too bad, but at home, its hard core wooden floors.

i think today is a big day for mommy and daddy. they keep talking about finding out. not to mention the endless cleaning...someday i will be privy to such information. maybe they just don't want me to blab about it here on my blog. not even sure that they read this stuff...

oh, and i got your package mom-mom (if your reading) so thankyou very much for the Easter card and outfit!

talk to you all soon!!! (happy birthday uncle wasil!)
oh...and crayola factory is out this weekend. not sure why. will get to the bottom of it, somehow. if only i could communicate through spoken word!

rYman

Tues - Been A While - Happy Easter

Hi Everyone,
Happy Easter and hope you all had a nice holiday. Mine was pretty nice. Though after comparing with some of the other kids at school, i think there was room for improvement. I heard stories of egg finding and candy. Well, my Easter dind't quite encompass all that, but we still had a nice time. Granpa came over and we went to church. we started going to the a new church, one that is closer because it only takes a few minutes to get there. I like the old one better, I think Mommy and Daddy do to. I was really good in church though. I even took a nap!! Something very peaceful about that place, always puts me into a deep sleep!

After church we came home and Granpa, Daddy, and Lucy and I all played outside while Mommy cooked our Easter dinner. Before we knew it the big ham and all the side dishes were out and we were eating. I wasn't that hungry so I didn't eat that much, but it was fun throwing ham to Lucy. She is so hungry ALL the time. Its amazing...

Then I sat with Daddy while we all chatted around the table. He gave me a sip of his drink and wow! Mommy was not happy about that, though I don't think she realizes, it hardly even made it to my mouth. Granpa said it will help me sleep better!

Not too much else going on around here. Daddy says he is going to go visit Riley my new cousin soon. we have also been straightening up arouund the house. I have noticed a lot of the furniture is moved or missing and things are really neat and clean. Not quite sure what it all means, but as usual, a new adventure and something else to learn about!

Hope you are all doing well! Did you file your taxes? If not, they are late! Thanks everyone for the cards and also thanks to Aunt Louise for the great outfit and book (and goldfish!). Thanks Pop Pop and Debbie for funding my actual Easter outfit! Picture will come soon, just have to nudge the old man to post them on our website. Mom-mom, daddy said you sent me something but think it is lost in the mail. Thanks so much for even thinking to send anything, that was very nice of you!

Wed - to Daddy

ok...this is to my daddy...

daddy,
i know what a dog says...whooof whooof whooof
i know what a cow says...moooooo

asking me every 5 minutes, no matter how enthralling it is for you, is not that entertaining to me!

thanks,
your little buddy

Tues - Just Chillin

Hi Guys,
had a great weekend in the sunny warm weather! we spent a lot of time outside and i got to walk on two new surfaces, grass and brick, for the first time ever! I also got to taste wood chips and pebbles. I love tasting new things. Lucy does too, especially wood chips, i was her taste tester. i think she appreciated it. daddy thinks lucy is annoyed by me and my antics, but little does he know how much she loves and appreciates me!! she loves the "mow-down" game where I chase her with my little walker all over the house. she loves when i take chew toys right out of her mouth, and she loves when i pet her too. those low rumbles are doggy laughter daddy!

there was also some sort of a shift in time this weekend. not sure what is going on but it is darker when i get up and lighter when i go to bed. not sure what that is all about but i know daddy and mommy have been complaining about my awake time lately.... whatever dudes.... i mean, wake up already, lets get this day started!

Seriously though, you want me to go to bed at 8 and sleep past 6, i think your dreaming. so please, don't get so irritated when I am up at 5:30am. Atleast I greet your frowns with a big smile (and sometimes even a giggle) when you come into my room!

I let on much more to my walking skill this weekend too. I heard daddy telling someone on the phone that I was walking more than crawling. Yup. When do you think he will find out I can go potty in the toilet too!? hehehe. Me and my buddy Aiden at daycare are also really curious about what is in the cabinet under the changing table. Neither of us have been able to infiltrate alone, so we are now working together. Distraction techniques, and a little luck, will get us in there. Aiden says I need to learn to mask the "little devil" eye gleam if I really want to fool Miss Pat and Miss Jan. We'll see...

Have a good one guys!

Wed - Congratulations are in order

Hi everyone,
mom mom called early this morning to tell us that riley catherine smith was born. congratulations aunt beth and uncle pj! daddy said she was 7lbs and 3 oz and 19 inches long. she sounds comparable in size to me, but a girl version! :)

congratulations guys and i can't wait to meet my new cousin!!

Tues - Just Checking In

Hi Everyone,
Not too much new going on. Getting better each day with the walking. Still not sure I want my skill level to be known. I think daddy might be getting discouraged, I have been falling after one or two steps when i go to him. Little does he know, this is on purpose! I do most of my practicing at day care out of view. Miss Pat and Miss Jan tell him when he picks me up, but i can tell he doesn't much believe them.
The talking is coming along too I think. Soon enough my thoughts may transform into actual speech, but for now they stay in this blog! I have been practicing my speech a lot though. I still can't say much more than mama an dada and ughh, but I figure if i say those three words enough, i can get my vocal chords ready once i get other pronunciations down.

yesterday was the first day of my second full spring. we went to rita's to get free water ice. no one would give me any. jeesh. i keep telling them, sugar is NOT going to keep me awake at night. i am exhausted by 8 oclock.

Last week was rough for the family. Pop pop bill is recoving from Bronchitis, Aunt Louise fell could have really hurt herself, and aunt beth fell (with baby) into a sewer hole. Anyway, if you guys are reading, I hope you are all feeling better. And please, all of you need to be careful. Your not young and spry like me, but I know you must have been scared. Sometimes when I fall it gets pretty scary.

Pop pop and Debbie are coming to visit this friday, so i think i get to leave school early. then we are heading down to good old Delaware. not sure why...though i could probably guess. can't wait to see mom mom though, and show her my walking skills.

mommy says i have to walk for our trip to the crayola factory in April. I hope so too, I am practicing real hard with that date in mind.

Ok everyone, hope all is well, and thanks for the comments, they are great!!

Thu - two weeks later

Wow...its been a while since I have written. Its been a busy month, but all is going well.

We had quite a warm up here last weekend and daddy and mommy let me play outside for awhile. It was a really nice day. I pushed my walking cart thing all around the sidewalks and even chased our neighbor dog Grady around a bit. He kept licking me in his defense! That being said, yes, i am walking! but not 100%, really only between close objects. its still no my primary mode of transportation, but it definitely is fun being able to get around like that!

Later last saturday afternoon mommy and daddy took me for my first haircut. Be the judge, do you think I needed one? I do have to admit that the back was getting a little long and crazy, but man, do I really need to subjected to a lady wielding scissors at me!?!

Initially it was a little scary but I came around and calmed down. It wasn't all that bad, and best of all, IT WAS FREE! First haircut free sounds good to me. I get the impression though that daddy might be cutting my hair going forward...

Anyway, here is the finished product. That is me standing on the stairs and selena and dave's new house. We ended up going there for dinner on saturday night. Selena made some excellent lasagna and we all had a nice meal. they are going to have to get a high chair though if they ever have a little one. i had to eat most of my meal on either mommy or daddy's lap!

I do have to say, they have some awesome stairs and I really enjoyed climbing up and down on them. Nice soft clean carpeting. {hint hint mommy and daddy} Lucy clods up and down our stairs and it is soooo loud!

ok...gotta run, need to get my pool in, games start in just minutes! daddy says uconn and texas, with uconn pulling it out. i like kansas and villanova. we'll see dudes!

Thu and its snowing

a snowy icy day here in NJ. its been a while since i've written, but not too much is going on with me. still teetering with the idea of walking. i've done it a few times in private, but i am not ready to show mommy and daddy just yet. there could be some usefulness to that. :)

ok, so get ready, teh baby explosion continues. aunt jenn and uncle wasil are having a baby in September! Congratulations to you guys. daddy said pop pop told him yesterday that this was the case. i guess chase-man must be pretty excited to be getting a brother or sister. so, so far the line up for new babies:

Aunt Beth & Uncle PJ - April
Aunt Tracy & Uncle Jim - July
Aunt Jenn & Uncle Wasil - September

So...that means someone is going to be november/december, wonder who? Aunt Kelly? Mommy/Daddy? Times a wasting.

Anyway..daddy tells me that my reign as being the lone baby will end very shortly. I don't think I mind that much because I can work a room pretty good. You should have seen me sat night after aunt beth's shower. I had the whole room cracking up with my antics. So bring on the new borns, they pose no threat! hehe.

Had a nice weekend in DE. You should have seen how surprised aunt beth looked when she got to the shower. I think mommy took some pictures, but daddy hasn't put them up yet. it was nice to get to see everyone again, especially aunt louise. she must not think i dress very well because she keeps buying me clothes. mommy just says she is generous.

sun mommy and daddy went out lookin at places again. i haven't heard much about it though. they seem to be keeping in under wraps for some reason. guys, if were gonna move, lets go. if not, try to be happy where you are! Geesh. Oh, and parent police, if your reading this, they didn't take me to church for ashes yesterday. I like to go to church to guys, and you know I am always good!

ok...thats it for now, hopefully my next post wil be more picture-ful!
later peeps

Tues - Bday Party Weekend

Hi Everyone, for those of you that came over for my birthday party, thanks for coming! We had a great time. It was pretty neat seeing all those people squeeze into our house. I sat on the floor a lot and played. Luckily my cousing Summer came and kept me company. Otherwise it was mostly adults, but it was great to see everyone. I often forget what people look like (give me a break, i am trying to learn how to walk/talk/eat, luckily I was born with the ability to type in my blog!!)

I think my favorite part of the party was when everyone gathered into the dining room. And all at once, everyone starting singing! Man, I got a kick out of that. It was like a big chorus in our house!

Hopefully daddy will be posting the pictures on his site soon, but I know he's been pretty busy. I think mommy and daddy are waiting for me to start walking. I have shown them that I can stand on my own, and I can even stand and clap at teh same time. Just a matter of time before I take a successful step. I tried to step the other night but fell into mommy's arms.

ok, gotta go practice my balance...see ya!

Wed - Quick Update

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! My birthday was great...wow...one year...its gone by fast.

Hope everyone had a nice valentine's day. It was pajama day at day care so everyone got to wear their pajamas all day long. It was pretty neat. Then, since a lot of kids weren't there on monday we had a little birthday celebration for me. Mommy had brought in treats and little gifts for everyone and it was a lot of fun. I hope to post some pictures some day of this place i call daycare!

Oh and last night i had my one year doctor appointment. man, if i have to go to one more doctor...btw...i think i do have to go get blood drawn to get a led test (just standard practice), so gee...can't wait. Two shots last night, made me just about go berzerk. All these doctors and nurses want to do is hold me down and stick me with things or scrape things off. its getting old...if they think i am going to be so cheery about going to the doctor next time, they have another thing coming...

Some stats....
Weight: 26 lbs. 4oz. (90th percentile) - up 3 pounds from my 9 month checkup
Height: 29 in - (average, no percentile) - up 1 inch from my 9 month checkup

Whole milk is on the way. I think mommy and daddy are pretty excited at the prospect of not having to make formula anymore! Oh, and all that stuff that I couldn't eat before, well, most of it, i can now.

And...this is a bit embarassing...but...
I got mistaken for a little girl last night at the dr. i had my pj's on and my long hair was flowing. don't think daddy or mommy took too kindly to the woman who mistakenly identified me. maybe daddy will take me for a hair cut soon. its been a topic of conversation around the house lately.

Ok...thats it for now! Hope you are all doing great!

Sat - trip to Pitt recap...

Ok Ok...i know its past my bedtime but daddy said i coudl post an update...
and...btw...we are getting ready for some mega momma snow! 8-12 inches in the forecast.

So, I promised earlier in the week to post more about our trip to Pittsburgh to visit the Smedleys, and while its still fresh in my head, I thought i'd get it down in print.

Fri
Started off well. I think mommy and daddy got most of our stuff together at on thu night so we could have a semi-relaxing morning. worked out well. daddy took lucy to the doggy hotel and when he got back we hit the road. conveniently right around my nap time. stopped off quickly at dunkin for a bite (not for me) and then hit the road. woke up about 2 hours later, oh, and forgot this...remember my car seat? how it used to face the back of the seat into the back of the car? well...its front facing now baby! awesome...

the trip was pretty good. we stopped midway at the rest stop on the PA turnpike. i think we had roy rogers and i got to have some of daddy's chicken strips. it was fun looking at all the people. then daddy let me walk back out to the car (with his assistance) so i got to stretch the legs and all.

we arrived ahead of schedule (apparently made great time) and beat aunt kelly to her house. we hung out there for a while waiting for jake and his mom, so we played with howie (their dog) and all of jake's toys. we have a lot of the same toys, so i felt pretty comfortable. Eventually everyone got home and we got ready for dinner.

{oh and check this out...i dind' tell anyone but daddy actually captured it on film. Jake has this special eye power trick. here it was, we were hanging out on teh floor playing with some blocks when well, we both wanted the same one. we tugged at it for a while but i could tell he wasn't going to give. then...all of a sudden i looked at him and his eyes were giving off this beam of light... Was I freaked out? Well, kind of, but mostly I was blinded momentarily while Jake was able to get the toy. Round 1 to the jake man!}

So that night after a bath and some cleaning up, it was off to bed. I slept very poorly. I think the car thing sort of did me in.

Sat
Got up, ate some breakfast and hung out playing with jake and howie and the toys. it was fun. then mommy got out a special surprise for me from uncle jimmy, aunt kelly, jake, and howie. it was a birthday present. Leggos! My first set. Awesome. And, if your reading guys, thanks again!

{oh, so then i was crawling into the kitchen, and i hear the regrigerator start moving, sort of wobbling. quick thinking, i held the fridge so it wouldn't fall and sent howie off for some help. Luckily, daddy was there to capture the moment on film! Can you believe it? }

Then we were off to Aunt Louise's house for lunch. WE had a great time, Aunt Louise made us some pizza and got me some great gifts! A brand new walking toy and a bath towel, some jammies (more on that later) and some black and gold goldfish! Plus I got to play at her house for a while, and she played some polka music to check out my dancing skills. It was great!

Then we headed back for an early dinner at Max and Erma's. Jeesh, everyone i saw had their steelers gear on. it was quite a show. we had a nice dinner though and headed back home to bed. It was a long day and I slept like a rock!

Sun
Superbowl day! Lots of playing and napping today while the house got ready for the guests. man, the food smelled good, and can you believe i hardly had any? it was game time though so as visitors arrived I tried to smile welcomly at them. jake and i pretty much hung out on the floor during the game. great game and congrats to the steelers. Bed time game in teh middle of the game so mommy (hear that? mommy) took me to get changed into my new jammies. These are the ones that aunt louise bought me for the big game. Anyway, daddy wasn't all that happy when he saw me in them, but eventually he came around and held me once again. Off to bed, and not knowing the outcome of the game I didn't sleep well. In fact, once everyone left, I slept horribly. I just couldn't settle down. Daddy claims it was the foreign PJ's, and that I was being punished for giving up on my eagles. Mommy doesn't believe it. All I Know is, I probably won't wear those PJ's again, why take the chance! :)

Mon
Got up early and headed out. Made great time again, under six hours and with a stop for lunch at Dairy Queen! It was great! Anyway, we had a great trip and a great time hanging out with them smedley's. Thanks guys for having us!



OK...man that was long. Hope you stayed with me there. Good night and enjoy the snow!!

thu - boo boo no more

yesterday, doc successfully removed my hemangioma. it was aweful for about 10 minutes, but its over now. in about a week or so, my wound should heal into a small little scar. then when i am older, much older, i can impress the chics with my scar. he he.

here is how the day unfolded. sitting and playing at day care, la la la. in comes daddy, and i am thinking, great, he came to play with me at lunch time, just like he used to. as i am crawling over to him i hear the mention of the D word. he then grabs me, applies some sort of creme to my wound and whisks me off. details get shady because in the car i fell asleep. Before i know it we are in the waiting room adn mommy shows up. they call us into the room, but the nurse (who looks so nice) is having problems with the computer in that room. So...we switch rooms...

then the three of us are hanging out, playing and waiting. and waiting...and waiting. it was now 20 minutes afer our appt time, and daddy and i saw the doctor arriving to the building through the window. this sparks a heated debate between mommy and daddy about appointment times and being polite.

finally doc shows up, nurse wraps me in a tight swaddle in a sheet and hollllly cazollee. details are sketchy here as i was writhing in pain, but they involve an injection, a scalpel, and some sort of burning device.

Finally it was over adn we went home. I slept most of the afternoon. Glad its over. Daddy said I was pretty tough and that he was proud of me. Mommy looked a little shaken, but she assured me i would be ok. Good news...I was!

So, one more week of band aids and healing cream, then back to normalcy again! Its been a long few weeks!

Thanks eveyrone for your concern!

Tues - What a weekend!

Hey Guys, been over a week since I posted, but its been excitement filled.

Quick Update on my hemangioma...it is scheduled for removal tomorrow (Wed afternoon). Am I scared? Well, heck yeah, but i think it will be worth it. having mommy and daddy constantly cleaning and changing my bandage is getting old. yesterday i was fed up and ripped it off in the car. the blood was annoying...

how bout them stillers? they won the superbowl! congratulations stiller fans.

we just got back from a short visit out to pittsburgh yesterday. we had a nice time and according to daddy, i was pretty good in the car. we even stopped at dairy queen on the way home yesterday, and we mdae great time. i think daddy was pretty tired though cause as the day went on he got grouchier and grouchier. i know how it feels to be tired though....

i will post more about our trip later and hopefully some pictures, but wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to LUCY today! She is 2 years old. Almost exactly one year older than me. Next monday I will be 1 year old. Daddy says my blog may end that day, he is still thinking about it.

SO...HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite big brown dog!!


In other news:

Welcome to the 2006 edition of getting to know your friends. What you are supposed to do is copy this entire questionnaire and paste it into a comment. Change all the answers so they apply to you, and then sign your name. The theory is that you
will learn a lot of little things about your friends, if you did not know
them already.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:40am
2. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? March of the Penguins
3. What is your favorite TV show? Jeopardy
4. What did you have for breakfast? Similac and Oatmeal, can't remember the rest
5. What is your middle name? Stephen
6. What is your favorite cuisine? American Dairy
7. Your favorite Potato chip? Potato what?
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? My Raffi CD
9. What kind of car do you drive? doht
10. What is your favorite sandwich? Grilled Cheese
11. What characteristics do you despise? not sure what despise means
12. Favorite item of clothing? mcnabb jersey
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation,where would you go? Delaware
14. What color is your bathroom? Blue/Green
15. Favorite brand of clothing? Old Navy
16. Where would you want to retire? Delaware (i've only been to 3 states, its the closest)
17. Where were you born? Livingston, NJ
18. Favorite sport to watch? FOOTBALL
19. Who do you least expect to respond? mommy
20. Person you expect to respond first? jake!
21. What laundry detergent do you use? what the heck is that?
22. Coke or Pepsi? haven't had either yet
23. Are you a morning person or night owl? definitely morning
24. Do you have any pets? YES, Lucy bear!
25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with
everyone? next monday i'm gonna be one!
26. What did you want to be when you were little? drummer
27. Favorite candy bar? haven't had one yet
28. What is your best childhood memory? swimming in the pool
29. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? head of household,
diaper tester, nighttime accoustic engineer, dog feeder, bottle emptier
30. What color underwear are you wearing? white (hehe)
31. Nicknames? bugger, buddy, little monster, little devil, bam bam
32. Piercing? none
33. Eye color? brown
34. Ever been to Africa? no
35. Ever been toilet papering? no
36. Love someone so much it made you cry? not sure yet
37. Been in a car accident? nope
38. Croutons or bacon bits? haven't had either
39. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
40. Favorite restaurant? Bunny's
41. Favorite flower? flowers are for girls
42. Favorite ice cream? any kind
43. Disney or Warner brothers? Disney
44. Favorite fast food restaurant? not sure yet
45. What color is your bedroom carpet? dark blue adn light blue
46. How many times did you fail your driver's test? 0
47. Besides this one, whose blog did you last read? none, can't read
48. What store would you choose to Max out your credit card? credit cards are bad
49. What do you do most often when you are bored? cry
50. Bedtime? 8pm
51. Who are you most curious about their responses to this questionnaire? aunt louise
52. What are you listening to right now? other kids crying
53. What is your favorite color? green
54. Lake, Ocean or river? Ocean, haven't seen the others
55. How many tattoos do you have? none
56. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? egg

Now, here's what you're supposed to do ... and please
Do not spoil the fun. Copy (NOT forward) this entire-questionaire
and paste it into a comment.Change all of the answers, so that they apply to you.
The theory is that you will learn a lot of little Known facts about those who know
you. Remember to send It back to the person who sent it to you.