Father's Day

My parents (aka Mimi & Poppi) came to visit for the weekend. We grilled steaks at home & watched a movie Friday night, did some outlet mall shopping Saturday and then Sunday we got up to celebrate Father's Day and went to church.

Ryder loves his Poppi.

He's smiling SO much now...


Sweet time with Mimi...


For Father's Day I got Ryder & Daniel matching shirts. Ryder's says, "My Dad Totally Rocks" & Daniel's says, "My Kid Totally Rocks" with guitars on them of course. They looked SO cute in their jeans, t's & tennies!!!








Happy Pop's day, Yo!


Happy FIRST Father's Day... new Daddy.

Growing!

Just a quick update as promised after our doctor visit:
Ryder is now 12 pounds 10 ounces & 23 3/4 inches!!!
BIG boy is GROW-ING!

Another Year, Another Month.

Yesterday I turned 27. Today Ryder is 2 Months.
As I was thinking where I was last year on my birthday I realized HOW much has changed in the past year! whew... Life is different this year- but good different. Last night as we headed out to dinner (Ryder in tow) I said, "Well, I think the times of glamorous Birthday dinners are over!" I was thinking of naming this blog, Another year, None the wiser because I was thinking how old I feel, and maybe I should be a little wiser now, but then I thought about how many brain cells it seems I've lost since having a baby. Example: yesterday as Ryder and I are trying to get ready to go I am frantically searching the house for a pacifier while he is in his carrier screaming, finally I look down and realize one has been looped to my finger the whole time!
Ahhh well... It was a good birthday. Ryder was nice and slept in his carrier & let me get a pedicure, I got some jamba juice (my newest addiction) and Daniel took me to a nice dinner at Z Tejas and got me a much needed 1-hour massage (can't wait!). AND I got sweet calls from my friends & family and gifts & cards in the mail. As I looked at Ryder yesterday I thought, I couldn't ask for a better birthday gift!

Ryder goes to the Dr tomorrow & we'll find out how much he's grown! So maybe I'll make this a monthly thing... here he is at 2 months...

He never lets go...

Today while Ryder and I were in the car out running some errands I was listening to some praise & worship music, just singing along, one in particular struck me today. As I was listening to this song, "Never Let Go," I was just thinking on how even in the times it seems we don't "feel" God, He's holding on to us just as tightly as in our "highest" spiritual moments. You know what I mean? We all have days where instead of saying, "Hello, God..." we want to say "Hello?? God???" It reminded me of something I heard Beth Moore explain: Imagine you are holding arms with someone. (You're facing them, and a little past holding hands, they are grasping your arm and you a grasping theirs.) Or imagine someone is holding onto you like this as if you're hanging on the edge of a cliff. Well, now imagine GOD is holding on to us like this, the problem is there are times WE let go. And when we let go (lose our trust in His hand) He's still holding on to us, but our hand is loose, falling, hanging, maybe feeling around for something else to hold on to.

ever faithful ever true...
perfect love that never lets go...
oh what love, oh what love, oh what love...
joy & pain , sun & rain, you're the same, oh you never let go...




Be encouraged, He won't let go, He's still holding on, are you?

memorial day weekend

We've had a very uneventful, but pretty relaxing weekend. Really the only real reason this feels like Memorial Day weekend is that Daniel was off today. Friday night we did have a BBQ with the worship team and Ryder did great. Again he was passed around and stayed awake and happy through it all AND then slept almost 7 hours during the night!!! It was like heaven for me! :) (I know this may not happen again for a while, I'm not getting my hopes up, but it was nice!) With the exception of church, the past few days we've just chilled at the house and caught up on some much needed rest!

Ryder is getting bigger fast and now some of his fun clothes actually fit. So this week he started wearing his PUMAS that his aunts gave him! Are these not the cutest little shoes ever???

We also pulled out the "Happy Hippo" play mat this week! He's just starting to respond to toys or bright things around him, so I thought he might start liking this ... and he did.


And Rocky didn't really know why Ryder was in the floor with him, but knew it had something to do with toys, so he brought his to join in on the fun!!!

Daniel took this picture this morning of Mommy & Ryder resting together - notice how we are both sleeping with our hands up - that was not planned! (I've always slept that way)

Erin Visits!

This past weekend Erin came from Nashville to visit! She's the last in the "scheduled" line-up of company!! (But I'm sure there will be more to come!) We shopped a little, showed her around town and even left Ryder at home for some Daddy time while we went to a movie. It was just really great to be together... I LOVE my friends!!!



Ryder & Daddy took a little morning nap together
(this was before we knew Daniel was sick!)

And again we dragged Ryder all over the city, but he didn't seem to mind...

Ryder's First Trip

Behind on blogs again... but better late than never, right?

We drove to Dallas last weekend for Mother's Day and then Ryder & I stayed for most of the week to hang out and introduce him to the family. It was his first trip and he did pretty well. He was great in the car and pretty good being passed from person to person - every time he woke up someone else was holding him! But I think he missed his Daddy during the week and was ready to get back to a little bit of a routine.

Saturday we got to go to a Mother's Day luncheon that my mom spoke at. Ryder made it all the way through, just for Mimi! :)

The girls in the family on Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day...

So my little man got all dressed up...


Ryder met his Great-Grandpa...

His Nana...

And his Papa... and lots more family.





He also met his cousin Tyler who's 6 weeks older

And finally got to meet his Aunt Rachel...


We had dinner with Michelle & Hayden & Rachel


And had lunch & a little shopping with Grandma

And Ryder got to meet Aunt Loretta


PLUS... Ryder got his first guitar from Poppi! HA! :)


We also got to go shopping with the aunties, see Mimi at work and Grammie at work, have lunch with Poppi and lots more! WHEW! After all that in a few days Ryder was pretty worn out and this is what I found after I left the room for a minute!


We had a really great week and it was nice to spend some time at home with the family.