Driving the van

Ryan loves the minivan almost as much as I do! It's one of his favorite "toys!" He usually starts out in the back of the van, but makes his way to the driver's seat where he drives and plays with the "buttons." When he's "driving," he adds great sound effects too..."Vroom, vroom" and "Beep, beep." He has yet to figure out how to actually honk the horn, but the windshield wipers are usually going when I start the car!

And a side note...you'll notice he still has the same crazy hair! The only time it is laying down is immediately after bathtime! Every morning when I walk into his room, I'm anticipating what kind of crazy 'do he'll be sporting that day!!

Easter 2006

A belated Happy Easter! We had a great day. Ryan enjoyed his Easter basket (while Mike and I enjoyed the candy inside the eggs). I went a bit overboard with the Easter basket, but it's so much fun to buy things for Ryan...and with Easter, I had a great excuse!! Ryan's favorite things from the Easter Bunny included a Sesame Street bath toys set and a new book about Elmo and the Count. He still loves anything Sesame Street!

We went to church and then had a nice Easter dinner potluck with several of our military friends (the families of Ryan's playmates). Ryan had a wonderful time playing with his friends while we enjoyed some yummy food!

Ryan is finally reaching the age where he can play independently for a while - it's soooo nice! I only get concerned when the house gets really quiet...then I can usually find him playing with the toilet, the answering machine, the computer, the microwave or the stereo!

Good Old Days Parade

Every year in Pacific Grove, there is a celebration called, "The Good Old Days." It's a weekend filled with fun events, including a large street fair and a parade. We took Ryan to the parade this year and he loved it. He was in the backpack the entire thing and remained silent and stoic, but I think that was because he was taking it all in. There were fire engines, cars, motorcycles, bands, horses, etc. - all things he's VERY interested in right now.

We spent today at the street fair...until it started to rain. We're really going to miss living in this town - it's got such a small town atmosphere that we really enjoy!

More boots

I've posted before about Ryan and his love for the boots. This morning, he insisted on putting them on over his pajamas. Now, I can't get them off to get him dressed! He is following me around the house with my boots, wanting me to wear them too! Luckily, Elmo's World comes on in 10 minutes so I can distract him long enough to throw some clothes on him!

Ryan's doing great - still an incredibly picky eater and into everything (he's trying to remove the outlet safety plugs as I write), but he is tons of fun!!! He's talking up a storm, repeating just about everything that comes out of our mouths!

For Ellie

As many of you know, my sister, Ellie, is living and working in Japan for a year. She left before I was pregnant and will return after the baby is born. She keeps insisting on seeing a "belly shot!" So, Ellie, here it is! Here's my belly at 26 weeks pregnant!

Big Boy Haircut

Ryan and I spent last week in Seattle visiting friends and family. One of the highlights of the week was Ryan's haircut appointment at The Hair Chair, a children's hair salon. You pay a ridiculous amount of money to have your child sit on a tractor or an airplane, surrounded by toys and books, while the stylist cuts their hair. Since Ryan HATES having his hair cut, I decided to suck it up, pay the money, and hope that the professionals were more successful than I had been at home!

Ryan got to ride in the tractor with a bucket full of cars, but that didn't entice him to behave. He was screaming and crying (with huge crocodile tears) seconds into the cut. He proceeded to cry and thrash throughout the entire appointment. I was sweating profusely by the time he was finished - it was just as stressful for me as for him. He came out of there with a very cute big boy haircut - no more wispy baby hairs. When the crying began, I asked the stylist to cut it short so we could wait several months before attempting another haircut. The saddest (and funniest) part of the whole appointment was that Ryan continued to "drive" the tractor while crying. Poor little guy!

Elmo

Elmo is still a favorite at our house. I brought home a new Elmo book with a small Elmo stuffed animal and Ryan was thrilled. He gathered his new goodies and went and sat in his chair. He spent about 15 minutes hugging and kissing Elmo (or Melmo, as Ryan calls him) and looking at his book. He likes the other Sesame Street characters, but Elmo definitely takes top billing!

I love this picture - his little crossed legs and the serious expression on his face. The next baby already takes after his/her big brother. In the ultrasound, the baby had his/her legs crossed. Ryan crosses his legs all the time - high chair, car seat, stroller, etc.

Best buddies

Ryan and his friend, Sevrin have a long history, and Mike and I have a lot of bizarre coincidences with her parents! The kiddos were born six days apart in the same hospital in San Diego, although we didn't know each other until we reached Monterey. Now, we live a block away from each other, go to the same church, belong to the same playgroups, and all of Sevrin and Ryan's grandparents live in Washington state!

Sevrin is the sweetest little girl. She has suffered from severe separation anxiety from her parents, but in the last couple of weeks, she seems to be appeased, as long as she is with Ryan. She'll follow him around at the playground, doing everything he's doing, calling, "Iyan, Iyan." It's very cute! Ryan and Sevrin spent the morning in the church nursery, and for the first time, Sevrin made it through the entire service!

If arranged marriages were the norm, we found our pick for Ryan!

Ryan and the boots

Ryan's newest favorite pair of shoes are a pair of galoshes from Target. Although they are a couple of sizes too big, he insists on wearing them around the house. We have a basket full of Ryan's shoes and he pulls out the boots and brings them to me and says, "Boots, boots!" When he walks around in them, he looks like he's walking on stilts, stiff-legged and very unsteady.

In this picture, we were playing in the sprinkler and Ryan hijacked his friend's boots. Incidentally, they are the exact same pair that Ryan has. He was teetering around the yard, tripping over his own feet, but still wanting to wear them, undeterred because they look so cool!

Baby McGee at 21 Weeks!

Happy Valentine's Day!! Valentine's Day is a special day in our house - it started as a day with sad memories, but those have been replaced with happy ones. Three years ago, I miscarried my first pregnancy on Valentine's Day when Mike was on deployment. At the time, I thought it would horrible every year to have that reminder on a holiday. Thankfully, exactly one year later, we found out that I was pregnant with Ryan. The sad memories of the previous year were replaced with the excitement and expectation of this new baby.

Today, we added to our happy memories by getting to see Baby #2! I had my ultrasound this morning and things look great. Hopefully you can make out the picture - it's a side profile of the head with two, clenched fists up by its face and a leg off to the left. The baby was very active throughout the whole scan. The tech was moving the wand all over my belly, searching for the little one. We're sticking to a due date of June 26th and still waiting to find out the sex. Only four months longer!!

Bucket head

I know it's completely normal as a parent to think that your child is the smartest kid in the world. Of course, we've felt this way about Ryan since his birth, but recent behavior has called into question our little man's smarts. He's taken up a new hobby - putting a bucket on his and walking around the house. We've had several near misses with table tops and sharp corners, but he seems unrattled by the potential injuries! He continues to walk around the house in the dark - our bucket head!

What is Stroller Strides?

Most of you know that I'm a Stroller Strides instructor, but you may be wondering what that really means! Stroller Strides is a total body workout for moms with kiddos in strollers. The workout lasts 60 minute - which includes cardiovascular fitness, as well as several stops for strength training exercises using resistance tubes. I think that the best thing about Stroller Strides is that not only do you get a fantastic workout, you also have a great support system of other moms. My Stroller Strides buddies are my dearest friends in Monterey!

Here's a picture of the class I taught this morning. I'm in the blue hat; Ryan is in the red stroller. We're doing side step outs at this station - and enjoying a beautiful view of the Monterey Bay!

Ryan's Growing Vocabulary

All of sudden, Ryan is talking! I'm sure he's been trying to articulate words for months, but now, we're starting to understand him. It's awesome! The clearest word he says is, "Elmo," thanks to his new Elmo doll and having Elmo on his diapers. He also says balloon, sun, moon, dog, duck, banana, more, all done, shoes, toes, Big Bird, and baby. You'll notice that two important words are missing from his repertoire - mommy and daddy! He knows who we are, but I guess we're always close enough so he doesn't feel the need to call for us. It's so much fun to see him figure out new words. He's trying to pronounce everything we say, and oftentimes, we carry on full conversations - I think he's convinced that we understand what he's trying to say!

He recently had his 15-month check-up which meant more shots (MMR and Chicken Pox vaccine), but thankfully, he hasn't had a bad reaction. Several of his friends ran very high fevers for several days after receiving the MMR vaccine. He weighed in at 24 1/2 pounds and is not 31 1/2 inches tall - in the 50th percentile for height and weight - and of course, 90th percentile for his large head!! I ask every appointment whether we should be concerned with his head size and the doctor says, it's perfect, lots of room for brains!!

Go Seahawks!

We trained Ryan at an early age to fling his hands up in the air when we say "touch down!" He's picked up on it - and in fact, every time he sees a football game, he throws his hands towards the sky! We were walking through the San Jose airport and his hands were high in the sky. I couldn't figure out what he was doing, but then realized we were walking past a sports bar and he say the monitors inside!

This past weekend during the Seahawks/Redskins game, Ryan didn't disappoint us! This weekend, Mike is heading to Seattle for the NFC Championship game and Ryan and I will be watching from Pacific Grove. I'm sure he'll have his arms ready, so all I have to give him is the cue!

The Wisconsin Wind

We spent last weekend in Wisconsin visiting our friends and their new baby. Luckily, we escaped inclement weather - no snow or ice, but we did discover the bone-chilling wind. We tried to get Ryan outside to run around a little bit, but he was not a happy camper. I was able to snap a quick picture during his three minutes of playing in the backyard, but that's about all the time he spent outside. He was very upset every time the wind picked up.

Ryan is staying true to his San Diego birthplace - he is our little California boy - preferring sunshine and heat to wind and cold!

Road trip

Over the holidays, we decided to drive to Seattle since Mike had a good amount of time off. Well, we actually drove to the Palm Springs area first for a few days, then went to Seattle - a bit ambitious, but we made it. Ryan was a trooper - we discovered he wouldn't sleep in the car - a nightmare at 11pm at night when he's awake and we're in the middle of California looking for a hotel, but he was relatively happy sitting in his car seat for the 20 hour trip. We kept him entertained by introducing new toys and playing the occasionally Elmo DVD. We were even able to make the return trip (14 hours) in one day without too much protest. I think we'll attempt another road trip in the future. Well, we definitely have one on our agenda for next fall when we move to Rhode Island. Hopefully the new baby will follow his/her big brother's lead and be a happy passenger too!

Giraffes in the desert

Before heading to Seattle for the holidays, we went to the Palm Springs area for our first official family vacation. The weather was on the cool side and no diaper-aged children were allowed in the pool, but we still had a great time. We enjoyed eating at some great restaurants, relaxing, and shopping, but the highlight of our trip was a visit to the High Desert Zoo.

Ryan and I had the opportunity to feed a giraffe (one of his favorite animals). The only downside of the day was when Mike was putting Ryan up on his shoulders and he threw Ryan into a native African tree that had gigantic thorns. Luckily, no blood was drawn, but Ryan was continually ducking when he got close to any tree!

Inside the aquarium

One of Ryan's favorite places to visit is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They have a great area geared towards little ones called the "Splash Zone." It's nice to take him to a place that has activities and displays specifically for his age group. We love taking him there because we can basically let him run around and we know he can't hurt himself!

Here's a picture of Ryan looking at me through the aquarium in the "Coral Crawl."

First baby picture

We wanted to share this "first" picture of our new baby (although it looks like a blob in this image)! Yes, we're expecting our second child in June! We had an ultrasound in early November to determine my due date. This image was taken when the baby measured 7 weeks 1 day. I'm now 12 weeks. I had my second doctor's appointment yesterday and heard a very strong, steady heartbeat - the most wonderful sound!

So far, things are going very well, except for the fact that I've been very sick. I was sick with Ryan, but nothing like what I've experienced with this pregnancy. I feel like I missed the whole month of November. I know it was probably even tougher since I had Ryan around and he wasn't thrilled with the idea of mommy lying on the couch for seven weeks! I'm still not 100%, but feeling much better. I'm so thankful that Mike is such a supportive and involved husband and daddy. He helped me out so much with Ryan and keeping the house clean and functioning - all while having a smile on his face.

So, my official due date is June 26th, but I'm hoping this little one makes an early appearance like his/her big brother! Mike graduates from his MBA program on June 16th and then has a couple of weeks off, so the timing works out perfectly. Once again, we're going to wait until the birth to find out the sex of the baby. With Ryan, I had a feeling I was having a boy, but I don't have any feelings one way or another with this baby. We'll see!!

First Christmas Gift

Ryan received an early Christmas present over the weekend - a "Ryan-sized" rocking easy chair with matching ottoman! It's a hit at our house. He really enjoys reading books, so we put it in our living room, right next to his baskets of books. He likes to sit in the chair, snuggle up with his blanket made by Great-Grandma Yates and look at his books.

You can see from the pictures, he enjoys using the chair for other things - like testing limits. As I'm taking the picture, I'm reminding him that he must sit down on his bottom. By the defiant look on his face, you can obviously tell we need to work on his listening skills!! I'm sure I'm reinforcing bad behavior by taking pictures, but I couldn't resist.

Ryan also discovered this evening how to use boxes to climb onto things he can't reach on his own. I walked into the kitchen and he was just hanging out in one of our wicker chairs. There was a cookie jar box sitting suspiciously on the floor in front of the chair. I'm hoping he'll forget how he did that - otherwise, he'll be climbing all over everything!