Ryan's First Year: The Highlight Reel

It's been a year already?  Ryan Man or Ry Dog or Little One, as we affectionately call him, has turned one.

Rather hastily, Ryan was born on July 29th.  He weighed in pretty much as a three month old at right around 22 inches and 9 pounds 10 oz.

He was loved IMMEDIATELY by his big brother who welcomed our "Tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny tiny baby."

Thankfully, Ryan was a sturdy little one because from the minute we brought him home, Thomas wanted to teach him everything and play!

For the last 13 months, Thomas has been a (mostly) doting big brother who is happy to share, love and care for his brother, no longer tiny at all.

 
We've taken Ryan Man on many trips.   Some out of necessity, like when we needed a helping hand on the eve of Army football season, when Nana Honey couldn't visit us, we went to her, and most recently for more sets of hands to help while I couldn't lift 27 pounds of love (Ryan).

Trip one of many to LG

The Villages for Thanksgiving

Meeting Nana Honey

LG in July 2014

All in all, this year has been a lot of happy and very little sad, so we consider ourselves very, very lucky.

Bad Things or Busy Times?

My mother says that when she doesn't hear from me, she knows that I am either busy or things are not going well and I don't feel like chatting.  The lack of blog posts lately have been because of the first reason.  We've been very busy the past three weeks.  Thomas, Ryan and I visited Nan and Pop in Lake George for a couple of weeks while I recovered from a small surgery. 

The kids and grandparents got loads of exercise.  All of it was great fun.

A serious case of "If Thomas can do it, so can I!"

Splash Party!

Teaching Thomas to kick

Teaching Ryan to kick

The perennial favorite, blue ball

Hiking with Hunter

Some of the exercise was done under the guise of work like helping Papa make some things in his shop or the true labor of love, learning how to make homemade strawberry ice cream!

Or doing yard work with new toys like Ryan's very own lawn mower that Thomas gave him for his birthday or one of Papa's tools.

Thomas gassing it up for Ryan

Thomas the pole saw master

 We were busy, but not so busy that we didn't notice that Ryan really needed a haircut.  Thank goodness Papa was on hand because Ryan's experience this time was not nearly as positive and easy as the first haircut!  Despite Thomas' excellent example, Papa had to hold Ryan in his arms while a very patient stylist cut around him.

While we were in Lake George, our little Ryan Man turned one!  It was hard to tell who enjoyed the beach ball themed cake more, Thomas or Ryan....or me.

So don't worry.  We're just busy.