See ya, 2009

It was a great Christmas. It came super fast and left behind a huge chaotic mess, but when watching the holiday through your child's eyes it makes all the work put into it, so very worth it. Christmas eve was at my parents house, I really look forward to it every year. I was so freaking exhausted I didn't take a single picture, and now of course regret that.

Christmas morning spent at home with just my little family. I remembered Christmas eve night that I didn't think far enough ahead to plan a special breakfast for Christmas morning. Here it is a week later and I could not tell you what any of us ate (except Kathryn, of course) :-) I want to find a good, easy traditional Christmas breakfast that I can prepare every year. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Christmas day, afternoon spent at my in-laws. Ryan and Kathryn's cousins, Ruby - nearly 8 years old and Kimberly, 3 - really entertain Ryan. Especially Kimberly. Those two are starting to play really well together. It's fun to watch.

Other stuff. . . Little Kathryn hits 5 months old tomorrow. The very last picture is her, napping in her crib for the very first time. 90% of the time she'll put herself to sleep without needing to be rocked. She still wakes up every 3 to 4 hours every night.... on a few RARE occasions she'll give us 7 hours. It's starting to catch up with me. Months of interrupted sleep. As hard as it is to cope with night after night, I have Ryan as an example that all too soon she'll be an all night sleeper. I am trying to enjoy every moment of her infancy. It's going to be gone in a flash.

My hopes for 2010:

My little family and my extended family stay healthy.

Paul finds a good job.

I get myself back into running shape. I so very much want to be able to keep up with my Dad - who can kick my butt with his running!

Happy 2010 everyone. :-)

Christmas morning

Ryan, helping Joey with her stocking So very excited about the fruit bar he found in his stocking

The kids

Grandma Soon Papa and his grandkids. Ryan was oh so uncooperative for this photo. This was the best of 4 attempts! Papa and Kathryn. Kathryn, wearing her very first pair of tights! Gotta love little girls in tights. New PJ's, she wears them well. Nap time

A day of firsts

It didn't start out as a day to reach a whole lot of "firsts" for us, but it sure ended that way. All small stuff, but made for a fun day for our little family. Below, I proudly show off the first decorated Christmas tree of my adult life. Hard to believe I never had one before and truly if it were still just Paul and I, we would probably be still sans tree, but I have great memories of growing up with a Christmas tree and I really want to pass that on to Ryan and Kathryn. That was first #1.

Next Ryan, Paul and I decorated our first gingerbread creation - in this case it is a train and caboose. It was a messy endeavor, but we created a messy masterpiece that really took all three of us to get in place. First # 2.

First # 3, Ryan can turn on lights now. On the tips of his toes he can just hit the switch to turn it on, and on and on they went. He likes this new skill.

First # 4 - Miss Kathryn took her first bath in the big kid tub. She outgrew the bathroom sink (bummer for me, I liked standing to bathe her).

First # 5 occurred as I prepared the tub for her.

I had laid her down on the bathroom floor, on her back, on a towel, in the buff while I was checking the bath water for a good temp. Look over and she is on her belly on the cold linoleum looking shocked. She rolled from back to belly for the first time! I imagine the second her sweet little belly hit that cold floor she would have gasped if she knew how!

Like I said, all small stuff, but warms my heart, big time.

"helping"

He only crushed one Peanuts ornament box as he stepped on it - and as a Peanuts collector that hurts a little. MIB is important to collectors out there! Supervising the decorating.

Catching up

Greeting! Just a bunch of pictures from the past few weeks of our lives. I feel incredibly busy and near overwhelmed. I used to be so organized and able to plan my life out just how I wanted it and now... well I feel like I have so much to do and even though I am constantly on the move, I don't feel like I am getting anything done! That's not a complaint, I just feel scattered and it's driving me nuts! :-) Happy Holidays!

My little family at Korryn's house, on Thanksgiving

Seattle's Macy's Holiday Parade

Ryan struck it rich with a million dollar bill!

Just cuteness Finding the perfect Christmas tree with my Mom and Dad Awwwwww..... Eating an old family favorite made by my Mom. Kapushnik - a split pea, ham and sauerkraut soup. It's AMAZING! Ryan ate 3 bowls of it at that sitting.

Puppy!

Meet Gingersnap:

We had a little 7 week old, four legged visitor for 3 days. CUTE CUTE CUTE! This puppy belongs to Paul's sister - and they were out of town for a bit, giving us the opportunity to puppy sit. As much as I loved having her here, I was happy to give her back. There is not a lot of time to properly care for a pup right now! It was fun chaos while she was visiting. Joey and Demeter-kitty were a little ticked off & if animals are capable of sending dirty looks our way, they did!

Jake's back!

After we moved into this home, June of 2008 we were welcomed by our neighbor kitty, Jake. Amazingly outgoing and friendly - sweet sweet kitty. Fourteen months ago he disappeared. His owners had no idea what happened and the whole neighborhood thought the worst, that he had been killed. Last week our neighbors got a phone call asking if they were missing a cat. It kind of stumped them, because Jake was kind of forgotten about. But, lo and behold, Jake-kitty had been found! He was found in a box, taped (!) shut with the word, "STRAY" written on the top of the box. Someone had dropped him off at the Petco, near Costco, North of here. The manager of Petco heard him meowing, had a kitty rescue place come get him and because he was micro chipped, Jake is home! Much fatter (someone had obviously been feeding him) and with bubble gum stuck on his back, but pretty much the same Jake.

He purred and purred as he let Ryan pet him yesterday.

We're thrilled to have this orange bundle of purrs back!

These were taken when Ryan was 11 months old.

Doctor Ryan

The doctor is in!

Ryan's other Halloween costume, this year.

Thank you Lindsay for the pictures!

Obviously he works in a rural setting and takes whatever transportation necessary to get to where he is needed. :-)

"Ryan do it!"

Oh how often I hear that now. I am trying to keep an upbeat attitude about my two year old, but he is exhausting me. His melt downs have increased by such a huge number that I have been questioning what I am doing wrong. Napping is not on his agenda - there has been a nap strike for about a week now. I suggest quiet time too, but no go. There is a lot of screaming going on right now. And I may be imagining this, but I think Kathryn senses something is amuk and she is not happy either. She needs to be held constantly and not just cuddled, but rocked, talked to, etc. Both Paul and I are tired. Right now it's kids - 1, parents - 0. I'm not liking that so much.

I am back at work, as of this week. It's good to be back in the sense that I get to use my brain for what I am good at. I thrive off of being organized and efficient. I had to let that go when Kathryn came home. I have come to terms with just going with the flow of the house, but it's really nice to use my skills and help others. Work is absolutely crazy right now. If you know a nurse, hug them. They are getting yelled at, stomped on and driven down because everyone is worried about H1N1. We're doing our best!

Paul has now hit 10 months of being unemployed. Yuck, yuck and more yuck. I cannot believe it's gone on this long. I do kinda like having him home now though. :-) But, I have put off a lot of stuff, waiting for that second pay check to come in, like taking Demeter-kitty and Joey to the vet for their annual check ups. All of our home improvement dreams just sit in a pile in our minds, since there are no funds for that. I am exceptionally grateful that we have made it ten months and financially are still going.... well not strong, but steady. We are still keeping our fingers, toes, arms, legs.... crossed with hopes a good job comes his way.

Ryan as a frog, trick or treating. He loved this outfit and asked to put it on again today. Too funny.

Little Pumpkins

Kathryn 10/20/09

Ryan 10/12/07

Kathryn completely fills out the shirt, where as Ryan just swam in it!

2 Month Check Up

10 weeks old today. At her check up yesterday she was 12 lbs 13 oz (4 lbs in weight gain since birth!) falling at the 97%. 23 1/2" in length, 90%. Came out big and continuing that trend, gotta love it! The scale says 12-12 because she was so ticked off, she would not hold still enough for the scale to settle and lock in. It flashed 12-13 a lot more than 12-12, so we took that as her weight. Despite her crying in the pictures, she was pretty happy and gave a lot of the nurses and staff grins.Receiving her rotavirus vaccine - it's an oral vaccine. She did not get her other needed vaccines yet, as the office was out of one of them. I opted to wait until they had them all before I had her get the pokes. LOVE how she is holding on to the doctor's arms! Nurse/Auntie Korryn

I think I have a thumb sucker here. . . .

Tummy Time x Two

Ryan, November 2007

Kathryn, October 2009

It's all good. . . .

I think we've settled in nicely, to being a family of four. It took me about 5-6 days to adjust to having Paul gone (he is still working with his friend, doing some construction), but Ryan, Kathryn and I found our groove. It's been a lot of fun and not as hard as I thought it would be. What I am finding the hardest is dealing with a 2 year old unpredictable moods. Boy I thought I was moody! Not even close to the mood swings of this two year old! Fortunately they are short and usually redirect-able within a few minutes. I think I have said this before, even though it's a challenge, when I think back on his ups and downs, I love it. It's an honor to watch this little man grow and being two is part of his journey.

My MRI's were negative. Headaches practically gone and if I do have one I usually know why, i.e too tired, hungry, thirsty, etc. The blood pressure medications are being tapered down and tomorrow I do a follow up with the neurologist, hopefully last time I ever have to see him.

Kathryn is approaching 8 weeks old. She is such a calm little soul. I caught the picture below yesterday. In awe that she can just fall asleep anywhere. She even slept through Joey barking her head off when the diaper service brought this weeks clean diapers. Joey was not even 5 feet away from her - going nuts at the person at our door. I love being her Mom and really look forward to our adventures together to come.

Ryan at the fair

This has become a fun routine of mine. Ryan sits next to me as I cook some sort of weekend breakfast, this day it was one of my nostalgic favorites - ricotta pancakes. And I know, I know.... he is sitting next to a potentially hot coffee pot, a potentially hot toaster, within inches of a block full of knives and an arm length away from a hot stove. All major NO NO's! Oh and not to mention that he could fall off the counter. Ugh, now that I see it all written down, I might have to modify how we do this.

All Grins

Kathryn, with her first on camera smile. Taken 9/6/09. Believe it or not, she has been smiling for weeks, but with no predictability... this is the first time I got it on camera at 5 weeks and 2 days old.

Ryan's first captured smile, taken 9/19/07. He was 7 weeks and he made us work for those first smiles and coo's!