Easter

I have so many photos from our extended Easter weekend in CT that I think I'll just let them do the talking...

We had a great visit with my wonderful high school friends, Abby & Caroline. The boys warmed up pretty quickly (of course, Ryan will befriend anyone who will read books to him!)

Next was the Easter egg dying, with some help from Aunt Debbie. Ryan had a blast and was very proud to be able to do the last few eggs completely by himself.


GREAT shot of Kaeden & Aunt Debbie



Kaeden attacked my water bottle. Crazy teeth will never come through!



Here's Ryan showing off his Easter basket on Easter morning:


It had a talking egg in it that you could hide & then push a button and it would say things like "I'm over here" or "yoo hoo... I'm hiding!" - Ryan LOVED it, and thought it was hilarious!



A couple of "first Easter" shots of Kaeden before church:


Nana & Papa's church had an Easter egg hunt before the service for the little kids, and completely by chance, a little bunny showed up right in the middle of it! It was perfect :-) Of course, all the kids started chasing it around... poor little Easter bunny!


And then we had to have our own Easter egg hunt back at Nana & Papa's house after church.

Here are the observers:


Kyle & Debbie on their first wedding anniversary:


Ryan had a blast finding all the eggs, and even got a little help from his Uncle Dain:


this one is my favorite - love that expression!


After Easter dinner, Ryan was allowed to pick out 10 candies from the bowl for dessert. He was thrilled, as you can see!!


then, back outside for some more photo ops:



I tried my best to get a good photo of the boys, but they were not feeling especially cooperative. Oh well. They're hilarious/cute nonetheless:


... and one more of my chubby little Kaeden. I love those daffodils!



on Tuesday, the weather was gorgeous, so we made a trip over to the local park. Ryan had a blast jumping & hanging & riding on the see-saw:

... and Kaeden got to try out the swing!

All in all, it was a wonderful trip & we loved all of our time with my beloved family.

"Thine is the glory, Risen, conqu'ring Son; Endless is the victory Thou o'er death hast won!"

Strawberries!

Easter post to come soon... but for now... we had such a wonderful morning that I just have to share about it :)

It's strawberry season in North Carolina - one of my very favorite times!! Today is just gorgeous - warm, but not too warm, and sunny. We decided we needed to be outside as much as possible this morning. So, despite a sick Kaeden, we headed off to the strawberry farm.


Ryan did great. We showed him how to pick them from the stem, so as to not crush the strawberries, and he did a good job. He liked putting them in his bucket, and then periodically Mason would transfer them to the box so that the ones on the bottom wouldn't get crushed.

After we'd filled our box, we wandered around a bit to see the animals. Isn't it gorgeous there? I highly recommend Waller Family Farm if you're local.


I just love this photo of Ryan.... wish it were crisper, but I just brought the little camera today. Still... that face makes me smile :)


And here's Ryan with our loot, ready to go to our next activity:


After the strawberry farm, we picked up some Bojangles, and headed to a park for a picnic & some play time.


Thankfully, Kaeden's tylenol is doing its job & he even felt well enough to smile for some pictures :)


of course, we can never get them both looking & smiling at the same time.



Ryan always loves being a monkey (with his Daddy's help of course)


I just loved getting to enjoy this beautiful day as a family. I feel so blessed!


Oh, and click here to see last year's strawberry picking. Ryan is wearing the same outfit (got to go with the red shirt for stain purposes!) but he looks so much older now!!

Kaeden giggles

Finally, some video-quality giggles from my littlest one!

Forgive the shaky camera - it was necessary to produce the cuteness :)

this moment

5 months

Dear Kaeden,

Happy 5 months!!


You've had a busy month, as far as development goes. I feel like you have changed so much! About mid-month, you started obsessively rolling onto your stomach from your back. It's been great for your sleep, but for a while, it caused major problems for play. It was as if you just couldn't stay on your back, but you really don't like playing on your stomach that much. So, every time I put you down, you would roll onto your tummy and then fuss until I rolled you back over. I am so glad you phased out of that after a week or so! Now, you're back to happily playing on your back most of the time, but you do alright on your tummy as long as someone is there to play with you.



Your newest obsession is sitting up. If you are in a reclined position at all (even in your car seat), you will try so hard to sit up. It's pretty cute :) So, we practice a lot. Your balance is not very good yet, but you like it when I sit you up and let you try. I usually prop you up on your taggies ball and that helps, as does putting the boppy around you. And then, of course, there's the bumbo.


You are getting better and better at holding onto and controlling your toys. Given the teething you've been doing, just about everything goes in your mouth these days, which typically prompts one of your brother's signature phrases: "Babies like to chew on things." Yes, indeed!



Your personality has changed a lot too. You have relaxed quite a bit, which is nice to see. You aren't nearly as skittish and you're adapting better to new situations. You're not even afraid of Ryan anymore, which is great. In fact, when you are fussy, he can almost always settle you down & make you smile, just by talking to you. It thrills me to see you two really starting to bond. You don't laugh very much - I almost always have to tickle the giggles out of you (and even that can be hard work), but they are so precious.


You like playing with your cousin, Atticus - he still seems to view you as a rather elaborate toy to play with, which you tolerate amazingly well. You, on the other hand, prefer to just watch him & smile at him. You certainly enjoy tummy time a lot more when Atticus is doing it with you!




You've had a couple of colds this month, which has been a bummer. You've been a trooper, though. On top of that, you have been working on some teeth and they have really been bothering you in the past week or so. Sometimes, it's so bad that you persistently try to shove your hand in your mouth while you're nursing - that makes things tricky for both of us! Tylenol definitely seems to help, but I hope I don't have to give it to you for much longer. Come on, teeth.. pop through already!



You continue to work on developing a daily routine, which is hard when we're out & about so much. You're down to two naps most days now, and lately, it has been working out great. You take about a 30-60 minute nap in the morning, wherever we are... it's more often in your car seat or carrier than in your crib, but we make it work. Then you usually take a good, long nap in the early afternoon for a couple of hours. It's been lining up with Ryan's nap lately, too, which is wonderful for Mommy - I can actually get some things done during the day! Plus, you usually do wake up before Ryan, so we still get a little bit of one-on-one time :) You still sleep through the night most of the time. You had a brief period of waking up at 4:30 to eat every morning, but then you even quit that and now you're back to sleeping 12-13 hours at night. Yay!

prior to rolling over :)

Of course, this was the month of your baptism, which was a wonderful weekend of celebrating you... one of the most wonderful gifts God has given me! You got to meet your Great Grandma Runestad that weekend. You also got to meet your great grandmother BB another weekend:


We spent a couple of weekends up at B & Grandaddy's farm, where you mostly get passed around and Ryan has a blast running around and playing. Someday, you'll love that place just as much as he does - I am sure of it!

milk coma after a meal at the farm

I know I say it every month, but we love you so much, little one!

Ryan-isms

I just have to record some of my favorite Ryan moments in the past week:

Ryan: "That was nice of me to get you a surprise at the grocery store" (referring to the cadbury cream egg that he & Mason got while at the store... Mason's idea)

Me: "You're right - that was very nice"

Ryan: "Can you say, 'thank you, Ryan'?"




Ryan, playing with a toy phone:

"Hey Jesus"
"How are you doing?"
"At your house?..."
"...At the temple?"
"Okay. Bye!"




While having lunch outside, a bee started flying around us. Me, nervous that Ryan would be afraid of it, preemptively tells him that the bee doesn't want to bother us - it just wants our food. Ryan says, "It can have a few bites of my lunch if it wants..." (thinks for a few seconds) "... but it can't have any yogurt because it doesn't have a bib"

Love this kid!

Spring (or summer?)

We had a brief heat wave here in North Carolina the past few days - it was in the mid 80s and sunny... ridiculous! Thankfully, there have also been a number of gorgeous days in the 60s & 70s. I'm not quite ready for summer yet.

Ryan, enjoying one of our many recent lunches outside!

Regardless, we have enjoyed the opportunities to be outside and enjoy the warmth. The whole month has been pretty nice, really.



Here are some photos from our first family picnic of the year, back at the beginning of the month – it was just in our backyard, so not too exciting, but Ryan loved it! And I always enjoy any opportunity to be outside on a nice day. Note that it was the day of the Duke-UNC game, so we were decked out in our Duke gear :)







On Tuesday, Ryan re-discovered the sprinkler in our garage and asked if we could play in it. We didn't have time that day, but I told him we could yesterday. As soon as he woke up from his nap, he asked if we could go out, and it worked out perfectly since Kaeden was napping at the time. He had fun for a few minutes, but despite being 85 degrees, it was also windy and he got a bit chilly. Still, we can say that he played in the sprinkler in March - kind of crazy!

Kaeden's Baptism Weekend

This Sunday, we had the privilege of bringing Kaeden before God, our families, and our church to be baptized. I truly believe that the greatest gift that Mason & I can give to our boys is the gift of faith. I was blessed to be raised in a Christian family and to be surrounded by people who guided me to a faith of my own. As our pastor said at the beginning of the baptism, "The way God reaches out to us is by making promises to us," and I am so grateful that He promises to love this sweet baby even more than I do and to draw Kaeden (and Ryan) to Himself, walking beside me as I work to lead them there myself.

We were doubly blessed to have lots of family in town for this event (not to mention some important basketball games), so it was a wonderful, busy weekend.

I was fairly busy trying to stay on top of things and make sure everyone was fed and got where they needed to be when they needed to be there, so I didn't do as much photo documentation as I might have liked, but here is our weekend in pictures:

Grandma enjoying her newest great-grandsons. I was so thankful to have this wonderful woman of faith here for this event. We love you, Grandma!



our family during the service...

... and after


Kaeden with his daddy & grandaddy, who both wore this baptismal gown before him


Presbyterians may not recognize godparents, but we do! :-) Here we are with Kaeden's godfather, Uncle Dain


Ryan was thrilled to have his friends over for the post-baptism lunch and especially thrilled to have a picnic outside on this gorgeous day!


Atticus is ready for the ACC championship game and wearing the proper allegiance. YAY DUKE!