Prayer Request

Do you remember these 2 cuties... Connor

Macy




Well, they are in desperate need of prayer. Connor and Macy have been struggling with bowel issues for many weeks now. Connor, in particular, has had unstoppable, diarrhea to the point he has actually started losing weight. This is a BIG deal...a serious deal. He has recently started vomiting, too. Macy has had diarrhea also, but not to the extent of her brother. However, she is not growing as well as she should. She is almost 15 months old and is still wearing size 3-months clothes. They are both beginning to dislike eating which is NOT a good thing, especially with a preemie. The doctors are testing them for everything from celiac disease to whatever else they can come up with. Please, please, please pray with us for these two precious cuties and their family. Their mom is exhausted, worried, and worn down. She is truely a great friend of mine. My heart is breaking for them right now. Please pray. Please get on your knees right now and beg our Father, the Great Healer, to heal Connor and Macy.

Groovin'

Here is a short video of Ryan dancing.

More Climbing

We're Having a Blast!

To say that my child likes the water hose would be a great understatement. He LOVES the water hose. A couple of evening this week I've taken him outside while I water the garden. When I turn the water on he gets so excited. He can't wait for me to finish with the hose.

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Nothing is Safe--He Can Climb

We recieved a package today via UPS. It was coffee beans. Wade and I have a special tradition of drinking a cup or two of flavored decaf coffee. We've found it cheaper to buy in bulk. I brought the box in off the front porch, laying it by the front door. When I turned around this is what I saw.

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New Additions

Here are the new additions to the family. Nana and Papa brought Ryan 2 Goldfish and 2 Plecos (algae eaters, aka Tank Suckers). Unforunately we've already had one tragedy. The smallest Tank Sucker (that's my term by the way) wasn't able to make the transition. The other 3 are doing well. I'm amazed at how animals and even fish can have such unique personalities. Needless to say, it's been fun watching the fish. Ryan has been enjoying them too.

Guess What's New

Guess what's new at our house!

Guess what's missing... :)

I remember as a kid having a fish tank. I enjoyed it and have always found fish tanks, the sites and sounds, to be very relaxing. I could spend hours staring at a fish tank with delicate music playing softly in the background.

The first time I took Ryan to the zoo his favorite place was the aquarium. He seemed mesmerized by the fish. I decided then that I wanted to have a fish tank at home. Ryan's Mimi's Mom lovingly gave us her fish tank. She was finished with it and was wanting it gone. I mentioned we were looking for one, and now we have one. It's just the right size, 20 gallons. It's not too small and not too large.

Ryan and I went to the pet store today and bought the gravel, filtration system and aerator. I'm still researching what fish we should have. I know, I know...I'm probably putting way to much thought into this fish tank. I want it to be fun for everyone, and I want it to be relatively easy since it's the first fish tank I've had in a number of years.

We came home with our new treasures and I began to "assemble" our aquatic environment for our soon to be adopted fish. It took me ALL afternoon, but I had a little two foot helper that insisted on taking the hose, chewing on the cords, grabbing everything. Amidst several crashes, a few crying spells, and many "please hold me for minute" moments we finally were able to get everything hooked up and running. I think it looks great! What do you think? The only thing we need now are some fish!

Speaking of crashes...

Ryan had his first major, bloody crash yesterday. We were over at Nana's (my mom) house. Poor Nana, she's beginning to think that everytime we come over Ryan has a catastrophic event. Anyway...he fell, HARD, and hit is mouth. I thought he had hit his head and quickly picked him up from the wailing heep into which he had fallen. I was looking the back of his head over when someone said, "he's bleeding!" I panicked! I looked, and then I saw it...blood was pouring out of his mouth. We rushed to the kitchen and grabbed some water, an ice cube and a cloth. After further inspection I saw that Ryan had a tiny (minute, really) cut on the corner of his upper lip. Boy! did it bleed though. [Mimi...If you're reading this...I thought of you!]

Ryan has not acted like he is feeling just great for a few days now. I think it's teething. I hope it's just teething. He has a horrible diaper rash that I've been struggling to keep under control. It looks like it's healing, but the next time I change him it's red and raw again. Ugh. He's been having "not diarrhea but not far from it" stools lately. I don't know. I had an "oh no!" moment today. I was preparing to change yet another poopy diaper when I noticed that the contents were black. Black stools mean blood. Black means bleeding higher up in the digestive system, red is lower. Alarmed, I decided before calling the doctor I would do a little internet research. It was then that I remembered...YESTERDAY...Ryan's crash! I expect the black is from the blood swallowed during that episode. I'll keep an eye on it though. If it continues I'll call the doctor tomorrow.

Little Birdie Taking A Bath

Mushabelly Playtime

Today as I was sitting in the living room wasting more time than I ought I heard some commotion coming from the hallway. If I were to guess (and it would be very educated I'm sure) the commotion was the sound of a few steps and a crash, few steps and a crash, few steps and a crash. What I saw as I peeked around the chair was Ryan dragging his 2 Mushabelly Friends from his bedroom. They're pretty big stuffed animals and bulky to a one-year-old if nothing else. He has always liked his Friends. The pig squeals and monkey makes monkey sounds. (If the pig squeals what word describes a monkey sound?)


They're big and squishy and if you squeeze them tight enough the sound emitted is reminiscent of a whoopy cushion. What boy wouldn't like that sound, right?! Because they are so bulky he struggled to get them to the living room. He couldn't quite get them situated well enough without causing him to trip over one while dragging the other or causing him to loose his balance altogether. I guess it didn't help that he was sleepy on top of it all. Ryan falls A LOT when he is sleepy.

His determination paid off and with a little help from his mom the 3 were happily playing in the living room. That is where the wrestling match began. And the winner...

Just in case you're wondering how well Ryan can clean an ear of corn...
This is half an ear. I gave the other half to his daddy. When Ryan got this piece of corn on the cob it was full of corn. This is what was left when I was finally able to pry it from his persistent little fingers.

What a Messy Face

Now I know you're probably not looking at his messy face because those big blue eyes just stand out in this picture, but the picture was actually taken in interest of that cute messy face. How in the world did he get that messy face? Well...one of my new-found favorite summertime foods is baby carrots dipped in cream cheese mixed with fresh dill from my garden. It's great! My dogs love cheese wrappers, whether from the sliced sandwich cheese or from the cream cheese. I threw the wrapper on the ground for the dogs to like. My dogs need to learn to move a little faster. Ryan snatched that wrapper right out from under their noses and proceeded to lick the cream cheese off. Now do you know how he got so messy?

Corn on the Cob

Word of advice...

If ever my son has a corn on the cob, don't try to take it away. He won't be happy!

The Grass Is Always Greener....

Why is it such a part of life to live with that "grass is always greener on the other side" mentality. As I was trying to think of a good caption for the pictures today the green grass and the fence reminded me of that. I'm amazed at times of just how much we allow discontentment to be a part of our lives. Today's society is all about getting more...more money, more prestige, more cars, more gas, more promotions, more everything, more for me! This brings me to a knew question to contemplate: How do I go about guarding my son from this? How do I teach him to have a heart of thanksgiving and a spirit of contentment?

I believe it starts with me. I need to live daily with a heart of thanksgiving and a spirit of contentment. "Lord, please help me to always be thankful. May I live completely content in You." God is so good. I have so much to be thankful for. He has blessed me more than I could have ever asked.

Ryan has started stomping on things. Today he stomped in a mud puddle. Anything that it different...different texture, different color, different sound...he likes to stomp on. It's cute. Today we had an exciting first. He danced for the first time. Of course I tried to get it on video, but he stopped as soon as I got the camera up and running. Maybe next time.

Puppy Bath

Saturday Afternoon Fun

Week Recap, Continued (Finally!)

Tuesday I decided to have a little pampering. Sometimes us Mommies need a little extra pampering from time to time. I went and had my hair cut and styled. Here is a picture. Please don't laugh I'm not very photogenic which is why I am usually on the opposite side of the camera.

On Wednesday we had a great time doing something I haven't done since I was 12 or 13 years old. We went to the drive-in movies! We met up with a bunch of friends and ate dinner in Guthrie after which we went to the Beacon Drive-In. We got there early and the kids had a blast running around on the grassy patch in front of the screen. When it was time for the movie to start we sat around in lawn chairs and the big kids stretched out on blankets. Ryan sat on my lap. He was very excited about the movie for the first 5 minutes. He pointed and squealed. Eventually he and I had to retire to the car until he went to sleep. We saw Nim's Island. I recommend it. It's cute. We had a great time and we can't wait to do it again!
Thursday we spent the morning recouperating from our late night out. That afternoon we went grocery shopping. Not very exciting, huh?

For some reason the urge hit me to make some changes on Friday, so I decided to rearrange our master bedroom. My husband just loves when I do that. Poor guy! While I worked on the bedroom Ryan climbed all over his "baby" carseat. He played tough guy with it. Friday night I got together with a group of ladies. Ryan and Daddy played all evening while Mom was away. They had a good time together.

And that pretty much sums up our week.

Urgent Prayer Request

Please, please, please pray for this precious family. I've mentioned Tricia, Gwyneth and Nate on this site before. They are in desperate need of prayer again. Please spend some time on your knees tonight and in the days to come begging God to bless, heal, and provide.

Tricia, Gwyneth, and Nate

Week Recap and a little bit of a Father's Day Tribute

Isn't it amazing how time just slips away from you? I looked at the website and thought 'oh my goodness, I haven't blogged since Monday and it's already Thursday!" This has been a bit of a crazy week. I haven't been able to keep up with what day it is all week. I woke up this morning thinking it was Saturday. Ugh!

So to recap what has been going on this week....

Monday we played in the mud puddles. It made me think of my Grandpa Cassiday. He used to always tell me, "don't get stuck in the muddy holes". I loved my Grandpa. He was a great man. He and I spent hours sitting in his (ugly) brown chair reading the newspaper. Actually it was the Funny Paper. He always read the comics to me. His favorite was Blondie. As I sit and think here are some other things that remind me of Grandpa:

• Drawing farm animals. He always drew farm animals for me while we sat in that brown chair.
• Overalls. Whenever he would come home from his chores he would always clean up, change out of his dirty overalls and put on what else...clean overalls!
• Zest soap. Grandpa always washed up with Zest soap. He smelled so good. Now when I smell that soap I always think of Grandpa.
• Dirty boots. He always took off his dirty boots at the door and put them on newspaper.
• Counting cows. For those farm folk out there you'll appreciate (and understand) this. He and I would count cows. I, of course, would help. :) He always called the cattle in with this call, "siii-cooow, siii-cow, siii-cow", and for the calves it was, "siii-calf, siii-calf, siii-calf". (To fully appreciate those words you must pronounce them with a long drawl and the siii is with a short vowel i sound. )
• Spearment gum. He always had a pack stored in his front overall pocket. Sometimes he would switch it up and have a pack of Juicy Fruit gum.
• Swimming in the wheat truck. My brother and I used to swim in the wheat while waiting for the combine to return with a full load. Grandpa always drove the small black wheat truck and I loved riding with him in that truck. It was your typical OLD wheat truck that barely made it up the hills when carrying a full load. My favorite part about that truck was when you got to the elevator to dump the wheat the entire truck had to be lifted up and tilted because the bin didn't elevate independently of the truck. Occasionally Grandpa and I stayed in the truck. It was so cool to be in the truck as they lifted it up off the ground.
• Scraps. Grandma always kept all the edible kitchen scraps in a can and Grandpa always took those scraps to the barn cats.
• Counting sommersaults. I turned several hundred sommersaults around my grandparents living room. Grandpa counted them all.

Grandpa was a good man. He lived a good long life. He had a stroke in the latter part of his life. The very last thing I remember about my grandpa that I will forever hold dear to my heart was this: I was visiting him in the hospital after the stroke. He could barely talk and I'm not certain of how clear he could think and/or remember, but he looked straight at me and asked me this one thing, "Did I leave a good legacy?" It was kind of hard to make out, but it was clear. Grandpa's last dying wish was to know if he left a good legacy. Of course you did, Grandpa. It's one I will never forget!

To Be Continued....

Oklahoma Weather

We had a good 'ole soaking rain here in Oklahoma last night, so the only appropriate thing to do today was this...

Birthday Party Fun!!!

The Birthday Party was great!!!!! Thank you to all who remembered us on this very exciting day. It really meant a lot to me to have my friends and family around my little boy today...more than I could adequately say.

It was a little windy, but at least the wind kept the bugs and heat away. We had a wonderful time together. Everyone visited and it was great to just catch up with friends and family. Thank you again to everyone who has prayed for us and have been so involved in our lives continuously over these past 16 months.

We ate hot dogs, chips, and potato salad. After dinner we had cupcakes. They were decorated like grass and dirt with a 4-way stop in the middle. They even had one-way signs at the end of the roads. I figured every little boy likes grass and dirt, so why not have cupcakes that look like grass and dirt.

We had to have Ryan's birthday party in June since his real birthday was right in the middle of RSV season, but Ryan didn't seem to care. He had so much fun. He loves people, so having everyone around to be his audience was very exciting for him. I hardly saw him the entire evening. He was constantly on the go with someone. Needless to say he is now sleeping peacefully in his bed. He was a very tired little boy when we got home.

It's so funny how things work out wether or not you planned them to be a certain way or not. I sent out invitations that looked like stop-lights. At the time of the invitations the party had no theme, but as time went on I decided to go with a cars and trucks theme. Ryan has gained a new interest in cars and trucks. He loves them. He loves to drive them around the house, over the dogs, through the laundry basket, over my toes and everywhere else. Guess what Ryan got for his birthday...

Lots of new cars and trucks!

He must be one loved little boy because he got lots of other stuff too. When I get everything organized again I'll try to take a picture of all his new goodies and post it. In fact, as I get time I'll post more pictures of everything.

Thank you again. We love you all!!!

Still A Fan...

Yep! He's still my little Trekkie. We put the Star Trek series on hold for a few months (we finished the series). When we started it up again it was like we'd never missed a day...squeals of delight and big smiles from ear to ear! I can't believe he remembered it after all this time.

Mom's Hat

Motivated

This picture was taken a few days ago, but I thought I'd share it. It's one of those "that's sweet" pictures.

I woke up motivated today, and if there's anything I've learned in the 2? years I've been blessed with life is that when motivation hits you, you better take advantage of it. For some reason I woke up motivated to clean the house. I usually keep a fairly tidy house although not spotless. I detest clutter and disorganization. It started innocently enough...do a little vacuuming and then mop the kitchen and dining room floors. This needed to be done anyway, with or without motivation behind me. I ended up not only vacuuming, but I also ran the carpet cleaner. My husband came home and said I'd been "Hoovering and Bisseling". The house is much cleaner and smells nice, too. I wish there was some way to keep a house looking, feeling, and smelling freshly cleaned. Do you remember the Zest commercials..."you're not fully clean unless you're ZEST fully clean!" I wish my house had that Zest-fully clean feel all the time.

Ryan and I spent some time outside today. We even got in the swimming pool. The first day he went swimming he was a little scared and clung to me tightly. Today he thought the swimming pool was actually an okay place to be. He floated in his floaty, kicking his legs to motivate and waving his arm to create some waves. His favorite part of swimming...GETTING OUT AND GETTING DIRTY! Our backyard has several bare spots where nothing is growing. The only thing present is dirt. Ryan loves the bare spots and he seems to like them best when he's wet. Do you know what wet baby and dry dirt equal : Hmmmm. Mud! I get such a kick out of watching him. I was going somewhere with that thought and now I must return to the original thought of this post, my clean house. Coming in from swimming carrying a muddy baby and walking through the dirt and grass means that now I need to sweep the floors again. Alas, the clean house lasted all of about 3 hours, but boy is it worth it all!

Summer Fun!

Surprise!!!

Birthday parties are so exciting! Wouldn't you agree? I've been thinking about Ryan's birthday party for a while now, and today I actually started preparing for the big day. I made a batch of cupcakes. I was so excited to find that the batter actually made 24 cupcakes. It seems that most of the time I end up overfilling the liners and come up one or two short of what the box said the mix would make.

Don't they look so yummy. Oh...by the way...did you count them?

23 you say!!!

I don't have a wire rack for cooling my baked goods, so I have a creatively engineered cooling rack. Our bar stool/chair makes a great cooling rack. Unfortunately it is just the right height for my cute little thief...
Something new with Ryan...

He's started picking things up and carrying them around. He loves to pick up large bulky objects...objects that are almost as big as he is. He gets so excited and squeals in delight. I think he's proud that he's such a big, strong boy!