a video hello

My original intent for this video was to give a little shout out to grammy (my mom) for her birthday.  And then we got all random.  But I think Ryann is cute nonetheless, so I thought I'd just share it, all five minutes of it.  I'll forgive you if you don't watch it.  You're the one missing out.

And please excuse my nasty hair.

And the Bert and Ernie Ryann is referencing is this one.

Happy Birthday Mom!

p.s.  I entered Ryann in the pediped photo contest or something.  You can go here once a day to vote.  I definitely wouldn't mind if you did :o).

a day in the life - megan

Morning ladies (and gents if there are any out there actually reading this).  Hope this Wednesday treats you well.  I hope it is extra good for my mama, it's her birthday today!  Love you mom :o).  Today you get a look at a day in the life of Megan.  Enjoy!

 

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Hey y'all! I'm Megan from Girl Meets Camera. I've been married to the Army (ok not really...just a boy in the Army) for 8 years now even though I'm totally not old enough for that. Eek! I have a 6 year old girl and a 19ish month old man beast. I'm not so good at writing as I am posting lots of random pictures. When I actually get around to blogging. I'm super excited to have the chance to be a part of the day in the life posts! Here is a typical day in my geographically single parent life (Boy + Army = Korea).

(Our family picture is a year old.)

6:00 - Timmy wakes me up and since I could see sun through the window I decided to get up with him. I quickly give him his "4 C's" that he needs as soon as he wakes up. Cup, Couch, Covers, and Cartoons. That buys me a few minutes to get my C...coffee.

6:09 - He's over it. Now I sit with coffee in one hand and the boy in my lap while we wait to wake up Layla.

6:15 - Layla wakes up. Timmy is now walking around being angry. He dumps the box of cookie cutters then tells me about it.

6:30 - 7:30 - Kids play a bit with the free time they got from waking up with the sun. We get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, I pack up L's bag for school and prepare for today's workout.

7:40 - Heading out the door to walk Layla to school. She likes to push her brother and who am I to deny my sweet 6 year old that opportunity? Plus I needed a picture and it's much easier when I'm not pushing the little nugget.

8:15 - 8:45 - The boy and I meet a friend at the gym. I'm loving that this new program we started only lasts 30 minutes! Outta there by 8:45 and hella sore. I'm shaking things up today and choosing shopping over shower. Timmy and I speed off to the 'big city' to hit Target with some friends and our coupon binders. Three packs of to go Kleenex packs for .14? Yes please!

11:30 - Leave Target. Oh my gosh I can't believe Timmy lasted the whole trip with only minor screaming. I push my luck and stop at the fabric store on the way out. He slept in the stroller.

1:00 - Finally home. I unload our stuff and break out some chips and salsa before I put it all away. Not that I actually planned on putting it all away yet... Timmy gets a peanut butter and honey sammich on a wheat hamburger bun because we are almost out of bread and Layla needs a lunch for school. Most of his lunch goes to the dogs anyway. I also tossed a squeezy pouch of mush at him. Best things ever!

1:30 - Killin time before we need to walk back up to the school. Timmy climbs in the dishwasher helps with dishes, I try out my new Swiffer vacuum, Timmy works on math problems (by that I mean he colors in Layla's workbooks and climbs on tables)

2:45 - Go to pick up Layla. I take my camera but never take it out of the stroller. She gets a few minutes to play with her friend so I can have a few minutes to talk with mine.

3:30 - Layla does her math homework and her reading. Timmy has a melt down. I throw gently lay him in bed and he passes out for a WAY too late nap. I'm sure I'll be regretting that one later.

4:00 - I finally get to shower. Amen.

4:30 - Realize I have NO dinner plans and rummage through the freezer for anything that can thaw/cook relatively quickly. I do this every night. One day I might actually plan ahead. Then I make coffee.

5:00 - Timmy wakes up. Of course. I'm starting dinner and he needs to be climbing my legs. Thankfully their dad gets on Skype for the first time since getting back to Korea and kids are happy and distracted.

(ignore the doll house. The downside to having a big sister...girly hand me downs)

7:00 - Layla hops in the tub while I keep Timmy entertained.

7:30 - Jammas and books. FINALLY. Layla reads to us while Timmy goes wild. Our nightly routine.

8:30 - Kids are in bed, tomorrow's lunch is packed, and I'm in a ball on the couch under Timmy's blanket playing Sims and watching trashy reality tv. Goodnight!

Thank you Ashley for letting me share my every day life with your readers! Now for the mommy questions...

1. What is the most surprising thing about being a mom?

I'd like to say the feeling of loving someone so much the second you meet them that you would give your life for them, which is totally true, but everyone tells you that so it wasn't a big shock when I was head over heals in love with my kids. I think the shocking part was going from never really touching a baby to having a switch go off in my brain making it totally ok to see a gagging kid and have my first response (after not having any containers handy) to hold out my cupped hands to catch the vomit. Seriously. It's a mom thing and I would have laughed in your face if you told me at 17 that I'd be ok (or at least not freaked out) with catching vomit or anything else to come out of my wee ones.

2. What advice would you give new or soon-to-be moms?

Be open to change. It's super easy to have birth plans, parenting ideas, due dates, and your whole new little family planned out in your head. Things change. Don't freak out too much if a baby comes early or you end up with an epidural or c-section or if breast feeding isn't really the thing for you. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about what you choose to do for you and your family.

3. What are your top three baby products?

1. Gas drops fo sho. I wish they came in gallon jugs.

2. Baby food in squeezy pouches. Timmy wasn't a huge mushy baby food fan when he was bitty but now that he's all toddler sized and can feed himself from a squeezy pouch they are AWESOME. He was melting down at Target one day so I grabbed one and cracked it open for him right there and have never looked back. There is always on in the diaper bag for a when 'we're out and about, meltdown's coming, here eat this" snack.

3. The Boppy (or any other nursing pillow). Even if you don't nurse your baby...we used ours FOREVER. It props them up if they're all refluxy, they can flip over and do raised up tummy time, when they start to sit on their own you can wrap it around them so they have something to land on if they go crashing down backwards. I loooove the Boppy!

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Thank you for sharing your day with us Megan!

more random thoughts and info

Really, this post could be called "It's 10:06PM on a Monday Night and Ashley Doesn't Know What to Blog About."  But that is a bit excessive, is it not?  So I thought I'd just throw a hodge podge of stuff at you again, and call it good.  I suppose I could have just posted nothing, but what's the fun in that?  You'd rather hear me ramble, I know.

Since I got called out on my lack of comment response after Friday's post (no worries, no offense taken), I thought I'd do my best to make nice/explain myself in regards to how I approach comments.  To begin with, I greatly appreciate all of the positive feedback I receive from you all, really it means the world to me and gives me the courage to keep putting myself out there.  And all of your helpful tips, advice and suggestions are awesome, I am so thankful for your responses.  But I don't plan on responding individually to every single comment of that nature.  Just know, again, that I do read every single comment (they come to my inbox!) and truly do appreciate them.

When questions are left in the comment section, I usually do one of four things:  1.  Respond to the comment directly in the comments section.  But I need to figure out how to better set up the comment section on my end so my response can be located directly next to the question.  2.  I answer the question in a following blog post.  This is honestly what I try to do most often, because a lot of the questions I get are something I think other people might wonder too.  3.  I plan to answer the question in a following blog post, and either forget, or spend forever trying to come up with the best way to word my response and never actually go through with the post.  4.  I open the e-mail on my phone and straight up forget there was a question I needed to answer.  That, well, happens way too frequently.  And not just with blog comments.  I am TERRIBLE about opening an e-mail on my phone, not being able to respond immediately, and then flat out forgetting I had an e-mail to respond to.  I need to mark them as unread (or not open important e-mails on my phone) but it doesn't usually happen.

I decided to go back through the last 30 days of comments, and try and catch any questions that I know I haven't responded to.  There were more than just these that I didn't respond to in the comment section, but I know I e-mailed the question asker (very official term of course) personally so I'm just going to skip over them.

In response to my gym rant, Jess said "Are you training for a half?  I love running outside."
I would most definitely prefer to run outside, but for me it works best to get my runs done in the morning, and in order to have someone watch Ryann I have to hit the gym.  The treadmill is lame, but it is better than nothing!  And yes, I am going to say I am training for the KC Half on October 15th!!

My bestie wanted to know what I thought of the Trader Joe's Sunflower Seed Butter.
At first it was kind of weird, because I was expecting it to taste like peanut butter.  Which it does in a sense, but really it tastes like, well, sunflower seeds.  I have no idea why :).  It took a couple times, but eventually I got over the fact that it weirded me out a bit.  And I discovered I really like carrots dipped in it.

CoreysGal wanted to know "Is it awkward to be around other children Ryann's age with how much she is talking and how much she already knows?"
Well, yes and no.  I have said it OVER and OVER, no kid is the same and none of you out there should be comparing your child to mine.  Yes, Ryann's vocabulary is insane.  I have no idea why.  I didn't do anything magic nor do I have special tricks up my sleeve.  I present her opportunities to learn letters and numbers and things of that nature because she seems to enjoy it.  It is something we can do together.  When we are with other kids, or just around people who know kids Ryann's age, I do hear a lot of "Wow she is so smart!  My kid can't say that."  Or you know, my kid doesn't know that, my child only says this or that.  The only reason it is ever awkward is because, well, I'm awkward.  :o)  Seriously, it's true, I don't know how to react to positive reinforcement or praise in person.  I try and downplay the situation and just keep talking myself into more awkwardness.  But ultimately we move on, they're just kids.  And usually the child we are playing with can kick Ryann's butt in running/throwing/climbing/jumping, you know, the gross motor skills.  She has a lot of fine motor skills and a pretty good attention span, but she still doesn't move her little body around as well as a lot of other kids.  It all evens out.

Jamie asked, "What type/brand of frozen yogurt do you eat?"
I usually buy the Kemp's Fat Free Chocolate Frozen Yogurt.  I've gotten the low fat chocolate, as well as the fat free cookies and cream, and the are great too.  Recently we did our grocery shopping at WalMart and they didn't have Kemps, so I ended up with Blue Bunny's Strawberry Banana.  It was REALLY good, and I wouldn't mind getting another carton of that when my chocolate runs out.  I have mentioned that I eat my ice cream (frozen yogurt) every night, no matter what, right?  :o)

I think that about covers it.  If you have any questions you really wanted me to answer, feel free to ask again here or on my facebook page.  I swear I'm not trying to ignore you, I'm just really forgetful and scatterbrained a lot :o).  Hence the posts where I tell you 9 million things that don't relate and often don't matter...  which leads me into my randomness.

::  Ryann has been waking up earlier and earlier again.  Like between 5:30 and 6.  I'm crossing my fingers it is because more teeth are coming in.  But it is driving me crazy.  Especially with daylight saving time on the horizon.  4:45 most certainly is not morning, so she better get that figured out!

::  This outfit makes me smile.  I really want to try and pull off something like it.

from pinterest via sunday crossbow

::  Who out there has made pumpkin pancakes?  I'm in the mood to give that a go, but looking for the perfect semi healthy recipe.  Any suggestions?

::  Is it excessive to make chili once a week (and then eat it for the next three days)?  Chris and I more or less fought over the leftovers (he asked if he could finish them off for lunch one day, and I gritted my teeth while saying yes, they were so good).  That doesn't happen in our house.  Usually I will eat leftovers once or twice, Chris maybe once if I'm lucky, and then it ends up in the trash.  We aren't big leftovers fans.  But the chili?  It was amazing.  I'll share a recipe when I make it again.

::  Ryann has pretty much mastered her sad face.  And she will do it while saying "Ryann saaaad."  With the eyes and everything.  We are so in for it.

Eh.  That is all I've got right now.  Must sleep.

rambling and running

Let me preface this with the fact that it is that time of the month where I am irrationally emotional and everything stresses me out and makes me cry.  Seriously, ask Chris, every 4-6 weeks (because my body sucks at sticking to a schedule, FAIL BODY, FAIL), I make no sense and cry a lot.  I can't help it.  Anyway, sorry to those of you who didn't want to know that, but it is semi important.

Friday afternoon my friend Hanna wrote on my facebook wall, saying that she was pretty sure I had said I was going to be out of town during the KC Marathon and Half, but would I be interested in being a part of a marathon relay team if I was around.  I almost instantly replied nope, I would be out of town, and then I looked at the date again.  I SWORE the KC Half was October 8th, but it is the 15th.  I will be in town.

That totally threw me for a loop.  Chris actually has that day off.  I wouldn't have to travel to run a half.  It would make so much more sense for me to run the one in KC.  Only problem?  That's four weeks away.  Before today (more on that in a minute) my longest run was around 6.3 miles.  Was it (is it?) at all feasible for me to run 13.1 in just four weeks?  I have no idea.  I'm still not signed up for either race and am at a bit of a loss on what to do.  I know that it would logistically make so much more sense to run in KC, but I don't want to set myself up to fail (or get injured) by running something I'm not quite ready for.  Right now I'm planning on running in KC, so I know I have to really buckle down and train hard these next four weeks.

Saturday morning I went to the gym for the 8:15 group fitness class.  Previously it had been no limits circuit, or as I previously had described it, the 30 Day Shred on crack.  I'm not 100% why, but they decided to change it to 50/50, half cardio half strength.  Same idea, just not a circuit.  Well Saturday we more or less did 80's style high impact aerobics for 35 minutes.  I would equate it to jumping rope, while throwing in some high kicks, jumping jacks and other various ridiculous moves.  My calves?  They didn't appreciate it.  I was a little disappointed because the strength portion of the class didn't really do a whole lot for me, and that is really what I'm looking for on Saturdays.  I'll give it one more chance, and then I might just have to do my own strength workouts.  The best part of the class though, was a small 65ish year old man with a big old mustache rockin' out in his socks at the front of the class.  Seriously, his energy was crazy.  He wasn't doing ANYTHING that the instructor was doing really, but he never stopped moving :).  It definitely made me smile.

When I checked weather.com Saturday night, it wasn't looking good for a long morning run.  There was a 70-90% chance of rain from 6am-3pm.  With no more wiggle room left in my training schedule, I went to bed praying that the rain would give me a break so I could finish my run in the morning, instead of trying to fit it in later in the day.

Sunday morning I woke up to rain.  Booooo.  And then I cried.  It was pathetic.  I knew I couldn't skip my run altogether, and I didn't want to run in the rain, nor did I want to do 7+ miles on the treadmill, so I would just have to wait for it to clear.  But the reason I was so upset?  Because all I really wanted to do was to get my run over with, come home and take a shower, and BLOW DRY MY HAIR.  I never have time to actually fix my hair, and it is starting to drive me crazy, so thanks to my irrational emotional state I was incredibly upset over the fact that yet again, I wouldn't really get the chance to shower and get ready for the day.  Pathetic, I know.

Around 10:30 the radar looked clear for a bit so I decided to set out for my longest run to date.  I was worried it wouldn't go well.  The path was wet (for the record, the trail that I run on is paved, not a real 'trail', so thanks for the props last week Amy, but I didn't exactly earn them :o), my calves were so tight from Saturday's ridiculous aerobics, and I had eaten more than I usually do before a run (you never know how that will end...).  Not to mention the GPS on my phone still wasn't working.  I figured I'd do my best to use the trail markers to gauge 7 miles.

A couple minutes into my run I passed mile marker 6, so I figured I run a little ways past marker 9 and turn around.  But wouldn't you know, probably just before I got to the 9th mile, the trail was closed due to construction and I had to turn around early.  I ended up walking for a minute, probably somewhere around 5.5 miles in to the run, mentally I was telling myself I couldn't make it, even though I probably could have kept running.  But that quick walk break really helped me, and I picked up pace to finish up.  I decided I would run past my car (that was painful) until I hit mile marker 5 and then ran back to my car.  So once again I'm not sure exactly how far I ran, but I'm guessing just over 7 miles in 1:10.

SEVEN MILES.  AHHHHHH!!!!  When I'm looking at that in comparison to what I know I have to run in the next few weeks, or what the girls are running on all the crazy healthy living blogs I've been reading, it doesn't seem like much.  But that is a personal distance record for me.  Seriously, six months ago I would have laughed in your face if you suggested I run seven miles.  But yesterday I did it.  It felt really good.

via

Now, now I just have to figure out for sure if I want to sign up for the KC Half Marathon.  I know that if I allowed myself to use a run/walk combo, I could definitely complete the race.  Well I'm 99% sure anyway.  And there is nothing wrong with a run/walk method.  But for me personally, I want to be able to pretty much run the entire 13.1, to say I've done it.  So I'm not exactly sure what to do.  I guess the best thing would probably be to figure out how to come to terms with accepting a few walk breaks here and there for now, and maybe plan on running another half in the spring sometime.  Look at this first half as just another part of training...

Have a health & fitness related post?  Link up below, lets keep each other motivated!

week in iphone pics

Sometimes it is exhausting to try and have my phone out snapping pictures all the time.  So sometimes I don't do a great job.  But it is definitely fun to go back through the week and recap everything we did.  Also?  It encourages me to get out and do more, because I wouldn't want our week to look super lame of course :).

SUNDAY

All I've got for Sunday was Ryann eating snacks while watching football with Daddy (seriously Chiefs?  get it together.  you too Jayhawks).  He taught her to say "Go Chiefs!  That's what I'm talkin' about."  Pretty cute obviously.  Oh, and checking out her crazy post bath hair.  the curls are always out of control after bath.

MONDAY

Monday after a little workout at the gym, we hit up Deanna Rose Farm with our buddy JT (and Jenn of course).  Chasing the two of them around there was quite the task.  Ryann was of course thrilled with the alphabet stepping stones in one of the gardens.  All that walking outside wiped Ry out, so we spent 20 minutes relaxing with Nick Jr.  For my afternoon snack, I made tortilla chips out of a La Tortilla Factory tortilla and ate it with some Trader Joe's Tomato Basil Hummus.  SO good.  Ryann really wanted to ride in the school bus.  I didn't get a good pic when she was actually trying to climb inside it.  She was ticked she didn't fit.

TUESDAY

She may not do a great job, by Ryann loves to brush her teeth.  Grammy came to hang out with us, and we hit up Buy Buy Baby to check out the divided plates selection (I am enjoying these!).  While there Ryann gravitated towards this chair.  Maybe she knows that she has been extra naughty lately :).  Per Grammy's request we had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.  Ry felt pretty cool sitting in a booster seat next to me, drinking out of a 'big kid' cup (not her own straw cup, not that they're that much different, but whatever).

WEDNESDAY

That nasty little creature greeted me in our kitchen at 6:30 in the morning.  NOT the way I like to start my day.  I hate bugs with a firey passion.  I kid you not, I went in the garage and got a giant shovel and a big ol' ice scraper to get that thing the heck out of my house.  Ryann wasn't feeling 100% that day, but she rallied while trying on lots of different hats at Target.  You want to know what drives me crazy?  When Ryann wants to play hide 'n seek on the couch.  My pillows are NEVER where I put them.  Good thing she's cute.  She is also loving an old giant rhinestone bracelet of mine.  The first time she put it on she said "OOh look at that" in the most hilarious voice.  And just us being us before daddy got home.

THURSDAY

Another one of those days that I failed to take decent pictures.  After dropping Ryann off at MDO (she LOVES carrying her lunch box in), I spent nearly 5 hours cleaning my house.  Not that you could tell after Ryann and Chris had been home for the evening, but whatever.  The weirdest part of the day when Ryann is gone, is lunch time.  I definitely get lonely then, so I eat in front of my computer.  I made my self a delicious taco salad bowl.  Yum.

FRIDAY

 We had a play date with a couple of our favorite boys.  While at their house Ryann discovered a love for Mr. Potato head.  For snack I was dipping pretzels in hummus, Ryann of course refuses to try hummus, but opted to dip her pretzels in yogurt to be like mommy.  Silly girl.  She was even calling it yogurt hummus.  Grammy and Papa were on their way to visit, and Ryann waited at the door for over 20 minutes because she wanted to see Papa so bad.  Thankfully he brought his guitar (and the pick!  the pick is very important to Ryann) and Ryann was an extra happy camper.

SATURDAY

Saturday included a morning trip to the mall to buy some casual shoes for Ryann.  She would have rode the escalator all day if we let her.  Our shoe purchase?  Tiny Toms!  They are too freaking cute.  I can't get over it.  Personally I don't love the look of adult Toms, but in itty bitty sizes with sparkles?  Adorable.  Daddy and Ryann went to Target while I met with my friend Jackie to talk wedding invitations... of course they came home with a Mr. Potato Head.  Go figure.  Ryann kept trying to put the hat and glasses on herself.  Apparently she charmed the pharmacist at Target and got a sticker, which she stuck all over her face on our way to Whole Foods.  The easiest way to survive grocery shopping with Ryann?  A bowl full of snacks.  Thankfully Whole Foods has samples readily available.  And a shot of her in the cart because I seriously couldn't get over how cute the new shoes were.  Sorry :).

Linking up with Amy!

a whole lotta this & that

I've got lots and lots of things rambling around in my head, so I decided to just go ahead and throw it all in to one post.

::  If I was just posting a recipe today (have you noticed that trend?  I've started trying to post a recipe every Friday) it would have been this one.  Chocolate Avocado Muffins.  Sounds a bit strange, yes, but they taste pretty dang good.  Chris said he preferred them over the banana oatmeal bites.

::  My house looks nice.  It is put together, the furniture coordinates, it is designed well (I know, tooting my own horn, whatever, it's true.  My house IS put together).  But nothing in it really makes me smile.  Well except the hubby and the baby of course.  But my house looks very 'model home'.  Not comfy, cozy and personal like I would like.  I really need to work on that.

::  Well actually there is one room in my home that makes me almost smile.  Ryann's room.  It still isn't 'finished' (by her second birthday maybe...) but I put a lot of love into that room.  Lately I've seen it on pinterest a couple times.  But when I follow the link it goes to someone else's blog, and generally I'm not credited at all.  It isn't like I think it is the best room in the world and I want all the credit or anything, but I'm a little (A LOT) bummed when I don't get a little pat on the back for my hard work.  I know I could remedy the situation a little bit by watermarking my photos, but I just haven't wanted do that.  So do me a favor, if you ever share anything from my blog, or anyone else's, give the originator credit.  It is the right thing to do.

:: I got a new phone cover this week.  It makes me smile :).

::  Have I talked about what Ryann is going to be for Halloween yet?  I honestly can't remember, and don't feel like browsing the archives to find out.   Nonetheless, Ryann is going to be a penguin.  How did we end up with that?  She requested it, of course.  Originally the plan was for her to be Jessie from Toy Story, Chris was going to be Woody and I was going to be Little Bo Peep.  Randomly one day I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween.  "Pain-gun."  Wait what?  I waited a little bit, "Ryann, what do you want to be for Halloween?"  "Pain-gun."  I've asked her multiple times across various weeks and I always get the same answer.  It is a little tougher for me to pull together a cute penguin costume, but when a one year old specifically requests a costume, I suppose I better get on it!  Now I just have to figure out what Chris and I will be...

::  I've been getting comments or e-mails here and there, asking to be a part of the 'day in the life' series.  Currently I'm scheduled through the first of the year.  In December I'll ask for volunteers again.  It is easier for me to just do it all at once, so if you've tried to contact me about the 'day in the life' series and I haven't responded (I'm of course incredibly sorry), be on the lookout in December!

::  I NEED TO GET MY CRAFT ON.  Seriously.  I'm having craft withdrawls, but I can't narrow down something I want to do/have the supplies for.  Someone kick me in the creative butt please?

::  All you mommies out there, do you have any suggestions for music for toddlers?  Preferably that I can purchase on iTunes?  We need some appropriate jams to listen to around this place.

::  I am TERRIBLE at responding to comments all you lovelies leave me.  I feel horrible about it.  Just know that I do read EVERY SINGLE ONE.  One way to help me respond to those comments?  Make sure your e-mail is available through blogger.  Also, if you have questions about stuff, feel free to ask them over on the facebook page!  I would love to have a little more sense of community over there.  Suppose it would help if I posted more than just links to posts over there too :).

::  I made chili in the slow cooker yesterday, based on this recipe.  MMMMMMMM.  It was good.  And I had it again for lunch today.  So good!

::  Finally, some pictures that I haven't shared but wanted to.  First up, Ryann playing in my parent's pool a few weeks ago.  She was having so much fun filling up the bucket in the hose, and I caught a picture just as she was dumping it on herself.

::  Have I mentioned that my dad is a pretty cool dude?  He is a rock star business man, he rides a Harley, is a pretty good piano player, has a drum set... his most recent addition to his one man band?  Some guitars.  Ryann likes to play too :).  For the record, this is his travel guitar.

::  When we went to Omaha a couple of weeks ago, one of the first things we did was set up the pack 'n play.  Chris tossed the mattress aside while he was setting up the base, and Ryann immediately laid down on it like that was exactly what she was supposed to do.  That little blurb doesn't really do it justice, but it was pretty adorable.

embrace the camera + a good laugh

This is pretty typical these days.

come on Ryann!  I know the camera is beeping, but pretend we're doing something here ok??

I LOVE baking.  I can't help it.  I love sweets, I love the way the oven smells, and I love that Chris likes a good amount of the things I bake (lately I try and healthify stuff a lot, those treats don't always go over quite as well :o).  But I haven't just been baking.  I'm trying all sorts of recipes to try and get Ryann to eat SOMETHING other than peanut butter toast and fruit.  It isn't going so well.  But I WILL prevail!  Eventually.  For now I guess I'll pretend a little bit of brownie batter keeps her strong...

And I had to toss in this picture, and share a little story.

Sometime over the weekend when Ryann was a little fussy (ok a lot fussy) and kind of thrashing around but didn't want me to put her down she really grabbed onto my shirt and exposed the girls.  Thank God we were in our family room.  With no one else (well maybe Chris, I don't remember, but I suppose he'll live if I flashed him).  I said something to the affect of "whoa whoa!  keep the boobs covered!"

Now if you remember, Ryann has known the word boob for a while.  Not my proudest mommy moment, but that is what they are so whatever.  So I wasn't surprised that she talked about my boobs for a little while after my little outburst.

Fast forward to Tuesday.  Grammy came to visit us (hooray!!!).  I was driving us around and Grammy was in back playing hide and seek with Ryann.  Sounds strange I suppose, but Ryann loves her version of hide and seek.  She asks various questions such as "Is she... on the couch?  Is she... under the table?  Is she... in the chair?"  I'm not really sure who 'she' is.  Apparently we are looking for Ryann, but she doesn't really get the concept that she should actually be hidden out of sight for this game.  Whatever, it is really cute to hear her come up with places.

Anyway, so the car version was sounding a little something like this:  "Is she... in the trunk?  Is she... behind the seat? Is she... on the roof?"  Yes, my mom said some of those things first.  But then Ryann randomly threw out, "Is she... on the boobs?"  Of course both my mother and I burst out laughing.  She said it again, and we laughed harder.  She looked at my mom, "Grammy laughing?"  Yes Ryann.  Grammy is laughing, because you my little girl, are ridiculous :o).

Oh, and another random humorous fact?  Six people visited my blog yesterday via google, by searching the keywords 'diaper blowout'.  How do you like them stats?