ONE!!

Dearest Baby Ryker,

Today we celebrate your FIRST birthday, Baby Boy. As I always say, time is flying, and it is hard to believe that you are already one. Although I can't imagine our family without you, this year has flown by. We honestly couldn't ask for anything more, you are thriving. You are healthy, happy, loveable, active, easygoing and funny. We know you love being with family most, but are easy to warm up to new people and give them your signature smiles.

Your personality is starting to shine through, and like I said, you are funny. The other day, while feeding you yogurt, you would take a bite and immediately open your mouth in an exaggerated, super-wide fashion while laughing and giving me an expectant look. You were joking around with me. You do a lot of things to get a laugh out of us and like when we tease you back. You clap along when we sing "If you're happy and you know it," you play peek-a-boo, and you raise your arms up when we ask, "How big is Ryker?" You also love to wrestle! From an early age you have joined in the pile with Daddy and your siblings, throwing yourself right on top while laughing. You are definitely busy, busy, busy and a rough and tumble little man. Outside, you are almost always holding a stick and are content playing in the dirt and wood chips. This part of you reminds me so much of what your brother was like as a toddler.

Like all of our babies, gross motor skills are your strength. You started walking at 9.5-months-old and had fully traded crawling for walking by 10 months. You are now practically running! You have been climbing stairs since 7.5-months-old, and have figured out how to come down fairly safely. You climb slides at the park, climb up onto the dishwasher when it's open, climb onto stools, furniture, tables...you are a climber! You love to be chased and stand right back up when you fall down.

You have a lot of vocalizations, although I'm not sure your "mamas" and "dadas" are directed at us yet. You make new sounds daily and I know words will be quick to follow. We've been lax on teaching you sign language, but you do know "more" and use it while eating. You LOVE to eat and can get quite demanding. At about 9-months-old we traded any purees for real food, and you pretty much eat whatever we're having, which I find impressive with only having four teeth (front two on top and bottom). You feed yourself finger foods and like to use the spoon, which you're actually pretty accurate with! The only things I've found you to refuse so far are avocado and tomato soup. Your favorite foods are fruits, and you love bananas, watermelon, cantaloupe, blueberries, pears, strawberries, peaches, oranges, and grapes. You're still nursing, but this is naturally coming to an end (bittersweet for mama), and you've been transitioning over to milk in a sippy cup just fine.

Sleep-wise we're getting there. You will still frequently wake up once a night, but give us sporadic nights without any wakings. You are the best napper out of the three kiddos and we can count on you for a solid morning and afternoon nap if we're home. Because we're so often out and about with your siblings' activities, you frequently miss a nap, but tend to just go with the flow.

I could go on and on about all the little details that make you, you. We all love you to pieces, Ryker-man, and you are a joy to have. I'm blessed to be your mom.

Love, Mommy

Summer Birthdays

During my blogging hiatus this summer I missed documenting two very important birthdays for two of my favorite little people.

Sydney turned 3 on July 21. For months she had been telling us, "My birthday is on Sunday." Lo and behold, it actually did fall on a Sunday. We were lucky that Aunt Siri and cousin Raum were in town for the celebration. We all headed to the zoo for a very hot afternoon and then home for dinner, present opening, and cake. Sydney's only request for her birthday was a pink and purple cake. Gilby made a pink and purple layered cake with pink frosting and purple sprinkles. Sydney thought it was amazing.

Myles turned 5 just ten days later on July 31. Uncle Danny and Aunt Nel were in town and came to spend the day with us. Later, Grandma and Grandpa joined for dinner, presents, and cake, and we were able to Skype with Grandma Gilbert for present opening. Myles still loves Spiderman and had a very fun Spidey cake decorated by Aunt Nel.

Our "big kids" are growing so quickly!

Fall Festival

Today the kids and I went with my parents to a Fall Festival (Gilby stayed home to work on one of our many house projects with a friend). The kids jumped in the bounce house, we picked out pumpkins, ate pancakes, and played at the playground. It was a gorgeous fall day and so much fun for all!

Her Blue Shoes

Sydney has a pair of blue sparkly shoes.

She wears them all. the. time.

 iPhone photo courtesy of Myles, who takes photos of everything in our house.

About a year and a half ago, my mom found these cute, blue, sparkly shoes at a thrift store. Sydney took to them right away, but they were a little big at the time, so we tucked them away for later. This past spring, when I was desperate to break Sydney from wearing her "kitty boots" everyday, we got out the blue sparkly shoes. They had straps at the time, and were in great shape, and super cute. She's worn them pretty much everyday since. For awhile, one had a strap and the other didn't, which didn't deter her from wearing them. We were waiting for the lost strap to show up again so we could reattach it, but gave up the search and Daddy finally took the second strap off. Sometimes I suggest wearing other shoes; that's not pretty. Once we lost one blue shoe, but instead of wearing another pair altogether, Sydney said, "I think one blue shoe and one flower shoe will be good." And off we went with mismatched shoes.

It's time to retire the blue shoes. I wish I would have thought through a strategic plan on how to do it, but that would've been too organized for me. Instead, one day while driving with Sydney, I just blurted out, "Sydney, it's time to get rid of your blue shoes. Why don't we donate them today to kids who don't have shoes and go get you some different ones?" I regretted it even before I was done talking. Just because someone doesn't have shoes doesn't mean they don't deserve the very best shoes, not our old, crappy ones. I tried to downplay it, but this kid has THE BEST MEMORY!

So now, several weeks later, she will randomly ask, "Mom, do I have to give my shoes to kids that don't have shoes?" We've had the conversation several times now about how some people can't afford to buy new shoes, so we can donate some, but not her blue shoes because they are too worn out. She's relieved when I get to the part about her not having to relinquish her blue shoes. She then asks what we are going to do with her blue shoes. Oh, I don't know, THROW THEM AWAY NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN! That's what I think in my head, of course I don't tell my sweet three-year-old that. (And in reality, I probably won't be able to throw them out. I'll have to keep them to share the memory with her in later years.)

This kid.

While I'm on the subject, I would be remiss not to highlight some of her other quirks.

Her hair. She won't let me "do" it. No clips, ponytails, headbands, bows. Nothing. She won't get it cut either. We've talked about that A LOT. She went with my mom and watched other people get their hair cut. She came with me to Ryker's haircut. She came with me to my haircut. Nope, not gonna do it.

Her clothes. Oh my, her outfit choices. We let her pick out her own clothes as long as they meet some minimum standards. I try to help guide her, but in the end, it really is all her. Although she is rarely in a coordinating outfit, it is hard to deny her this privilege when she often says things like, "Look, Mom, do you love my outfit?" or "Do you think this is beautiful, Dad?" 

 Like all kids, Sydney is unique. She is persistent, fiery, strong-willed, sweet, loving, smart, caring, shy and everything else that makes her, her. She knows what she wants. Yes, I wish she would let me put her hair up, and I would love to dress her in the cute outfits I imagined when I found out I was having a girl. But nurturing her unique personality is so much more important to me than battling with her to fit into the mold I imagined. I look at her blue shoes, wild hair, and crazy outfits and love the little person she is becoming.