Finally! We are getting some snow! It only took until February. Michael and the boys are all home celebrating the first snow day of the year, but I, unfortunately work at a hospital which gets busier during slippery, icy weather. So I am headed into work. Nathan was in my room at 6 am this morning dancing and singing, “It’s a snow day! It’s a snow day! It’s a snoooooow daaaaaay!”. Hopefully, the snow will stick around long enough for me to get a chance to play in it, too. I hope you are enjoying some beautiful, fun winter weather!

Ryan has started saying, “Excuse Me”, when he farts. It sounds like, “Muse me”. While I would like to take credit for my fabulous parenting that made such a wonderfully polite boy, in reality, he says it because he hears Nathan say it. I think he’s also saying, “Bless you” when he sneezes, but I’m not sure yet. The farts are much more frequent– he must get that from his father!

Last night he was taking a bath and he tooted in the bath which made bubbles and he started laughing. He was very pleased with his little bubble-maker! Then he looked up and saw me watching him. He got this sheepish look on his face and he whispered, “Muse me”.

Later, I was rocking him before bed and he was all snuggled up with me and so very, very close to sleep (a moment I cherished because he doesn’t let me cuddle with him much any more) when he let rip a big one. And in his sleepy, quiet little voice, he said, “Muse me”.

I know boys of all ages get a good laugh from farting, but Ryan’s good manners about it really make me laugh!

It’s hard to believe, but Ryan is 18 months old (plus a couple weeks- I’m pretty late on this post). I can’t believe only a year and a half ago, we were sitting in a hospital room exhausted, but so relieved to have this little guy in our arms and just about as perfect as he could be. Now, I look at him and see he’s not my little baby any more! He’s growing and looking more like a little boy than a baby. His fat rolls are beginning to disappear!

He is very busy talking and copying everything Nathan does– quite an annoyance to Nathan! He eats pretty much all table foods although he is very opinionated with regards to food. He will throw anything he can get his hands on– there has been more than one instance where my life has flashed before my eyes as a little fork goes flying past my head at the dinner table. He likes to climb. A couple weeks ago I was admiring a picture of my boys on the wall and Ryan walked over, looked up at the picture and said, “Huh”. Then he went and got a stool which he stacked on top of the ottoman already sitting there and tried to climb up to get a closer look at the picture. He has no fear.

Here are his 18 months pictures all decked out in Osh Kosh B’Gosh straight from Osh Kosh, Wisconsin. These pictures were taken just before he got his hair cut, so you can still see his beautiful curls!

Unfortunately, the poor little guy is a little under the weather today. He has strep throat which his brother so graciously shared with him. He started antibiotics tonight, so hopefully he will be feeling better soon. Last Friday Nathan was sick with a fever and sore throat, the same day that our hot water heater quit working and flooded our basement and left us without hot water for a day. Thankfully, our losses from the flood were minimal and Nathan was feeling much better after just one dose of antibiotics. Also, fortunately, we have a wonderful on-call repair man (AKA my dad) who helped us stop the water from flowing and replace the hot water heater the next day. Thank you, Dad!!

We had a wonderful Christmas. We were all healthy and together for the holiday and while we missed my mom who could not get away from Tennessee, it was great to see my brother and his kids and, of course, all the family we see each year at this time.

Unfortunately, Ryan got his little Bam-Bam hands on our laptop the week before Christmas, and did some damage that we have not been able to repair yet. But the good news is Michael got me this new Blackberry that I’m writing on now, so I can post from here, but I can’t get my Christmas pics from my camera to the blog (I took the haircut pics with the Blackberry). So be patient with me while I learn to use this thing (man! This keyboard is small!), but I’m loving all this new technology! I can now text and I think you may finally catch me on Facebook soon

It took a long time for Michael to convince me it was time, but Ryan got his first haircut last weekend. There were a lot of his cute, little curls on our kitchen floor (and a few tears in my eyes), but he looks more like a boy now :). Here’s the before and after pictures…


Still a cutie