I love being Mommy

18 months

2010-08-10T23:10:00.000-05:00

18 months ago I was having a baby boy named Rylan! Can you believe it? It has gone by so fast.

Rylan is growing by leaps and bounds and is getting SO tall! He opened the door going into the garage the other day, so it looks like I'm going to have to start locking doors!

Rylan loves to wear shoes; especially Daddy's shoes.

Here is Rylan's growing list of words and fun things he does:

"Dadad"
"Mama"
"Pupup" (Harley, the dog)
"GiGi"
"Granpa" (kinda comes out gmpta)
"YaYa"
"Pop" (Pops)
"Ball"
"Buh-bye"
"Uh-oh"
Instead of counting "one, two," he just wants me to say "one," and he says "two."
"Nanana" (Banana) - he can now reach the counter to get these down.
"Chuce" (Juice)
"Shoe" he likes to pull his shoes out and try to put them on himself.
"Bluhr, Bluhr, Bluhr, Bluhr" - funny noise he makes when he wants to brush his teeth, which he would do about 10 times a day if we let him.

Rylan and Dadad busy brushing teeth.

"No!" - Unfortunately, one of his favorites!
"Done" - said while wiping his hands.
"More" wants more and does the sign for it.
"Yo-glug-glug-glug" a little weird, but it means yogurt. He knows exactly where to find this in the refrigerator.

Rylan eating yogurt

"Talk" he means he wants to get down and walk by himself.
"Down"
"Choo-choo!" Rylan LOVES Thomas the Train and would watch it all day if I let him.
"Yay!"
"Truck" He has a little dump truck and crane, so we play trucks often.
His favorite song is Trucks, buy Lorie Berkner, and when she says fire truck he goes, "Whooooooo!" And at the she says, "Honk honk!" and he says, "Gonk gonk!"
"Book"
"Schker" Sticker
"Poopoo" yes, he knows what that is and when his diaper needs to be changed... potty training will hopefully come soon!
"Ready, GO!" Sometimes he just says ready, sometimes just go, but when he is cruising through the house it's "Ready, GO!"
"Bug!" There are always bugs around the front porch that he has to point out every time we leave the house.
"Bat" bath.

Bubble bath time

"Bubbles" He loves to have bubbles in his bath, as well as blow bubbles when he is in childcare at the church.
"Egg" he plays with a plastic Easter egg in the bathtub.
"Ba-ba-ball" Basketball.
"Whoa!"
"Hello, Buh-bye" He loves to talk on any phone you put in front of him, or small rectangular object that could be mistaken for a phone.
He gives hi-fives.
He puts his own dirty clothes in his basket.
Loves to wash his hands so he can play in the water.
He vacuums with his little Dirt Devil while mommy vacuums.

Momma's big helper

He loves to go swimming or play in the baby pool.

Baby pool for a not-so-little baby.

Lucky for me he is still a cuddler and likes to be held.


So sweet.

I would just like to know how we went from this...

To this...

So quickly!

I am so blessed!

Nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby

2010-07-10T17:12:00.000-05:00

Truly, is there much sweeter than this?

Rylan has been sleeping and snuggling with the patchwork scottie dog I made him. It makes me so happy that he likes it!

We have spent a lot of time sleeping and snuggling in the last two weeks. Rylan has had some kind of bug, and has not wanted to do much. He has been enjoying watching so much Thomas the Train though. He pulls out a big pillow, lays it down on the ground, pats it and says, "Choo choo?" Then he will just lay his little head down and enjoy his movies.

It has been nice, but very strange having a calm child. Especially when I walk into the kitchen and he is just sitting, like this -

But, no matter how bad he feels, there is always energy to be a little goofy and wear a bowl on your head like a yarmulke (YA-muh-kah).

You are missing a month of fun!

2010-06-02T12:44:00.000-05:00

I just remembered I have a blog! I'm such a slacker, I know. May was a good month and I'm sorry to make you miss out on the fun of our last month. Let's see where to begin...

Well, for starters it has been so hot, and I am so grateful for the invention of the kiddie pool. While we enjoy going to the pool at the YMCA, there is something nice about not having to pack up all your stuff to spend an hour at the pool (especially when you have to hold the kiddo the whole time you are in the pool.)

The other nice thing about the kiddie pool is not chlorinated, so that when Rylan drinks from the pool, I don't really have to worry about it!

May has been a month of discovering temper tantrums. I've heard they only get worse, but so far the month has only gotten better.

Rylan has been learning so many words and says funny things sometimes:

Dada - He asks for Dada all day long while he is at work!
Mama
Pupup (Harley, the dog)
GiGi
Granpa (kinda comes out gmpta)
RaRa - a.k.a. YaYa
So far he hasn't been able to say Pops, though he kinda makes a hissing noise when we are saying his words and come to Pops
Ball
Buh-bye
Uh-oh
"Wuuuh.... Oooo" (Counting one, two.)
Nanana (Banana)
Chuce (Juice)
Bluh, Bluh, Bluh, Bluh - funny noise he makes when he wants to brush his teeth, which he would do about 10 times a day if we let him.
"No no no no no" Not only does he say no, but he has to say it 5 times (which is how mommy says it :-P )
"Done" - said while wiping his hands
"Mo" wants more and does the sign language for it too
"Shna" Snack

Rylan keeps us laughing at something pretty much all the time. Whether it's facial expressions, dancing, or just looking dazed and confused sometimes.

Hope everyone is having a great start to their summer. I will try to keep track of our adventures better than I have been.

April is still here

2010-04-26T15:48:00.001-05:00

I am surprised to look at a calendar and see that April is still here! Seems like we have been busy enough that it would have flown by us by now, but it's still hanging out. So, what are we doing with ourselves these days?

Well, we are staying very busy with church stuff. We are usually at our church 4-5 days out of the week, but we are enjoying it! Sundays we attend Sunday school at 9:40 a.m. with the 20's & 30's group, then off to worship at 11:00. Then, Sunday afternoons we have Youth 5:32 where we get to hang out with a bunch of cool kids.

Tuesdays we are at church for a class called Alpha - and introduction to the basics of Christianity, where Ryan and I are each table leaders. Then on Wednesday morning I lead a moms study - Momfulness: striving daily to mother with mindfulness, compassion, and grace. We are doing a study of the 5 Love Languages of Children, by Gary Chapman. Wednesday night Ryan plays softball with the church team, so Rylan and I are usually out at the park with him. Thursday night I attend the Jr. High girls' Bible study and Ryan attends the Sr. High Bible study.

So, now that you know how crazy our lives are, I will finally get to the real reason you probably look at this blog...

Cute pictures of Rylan!

[Rylan looking rather suspicious - and cute!]

[When Rylan sees the camera he just has to try and get it.]

[The boys hanging out and being silly!]

[Rylan and Grandpa playing.]

I love being Rylan's Mommy!

Wildflower Weekend

2010-04-12T15:00:00.000-05:00

This weekend we went to Yorktown with Ryan's sister Kristen, her hubby Kevin, and the kiddos Kate & Gray, and some of Kevin's family as well. The wildflowers are blooming like crazy in that area so we went on a hayride through the country looking at fields of flowers.

Ryan and Mr. Simecek who was nice enough to load up his trailer with hay for us.

Random cows in a field of blue bonnets.

We stopped a few times to let the kiddos out to take pictures.

Rylan was more interested in picking up rocks than looking at flowers though.

We did manage to get a few pictures of him.

After the hayride we headed back to the Alex & McFarland Farm to hang out. Rylan got to swing with Aunt Kristen while he ate his snack.

At the end of a great day Rylan was still smiling - even after only having a thirty minute nap!

Hoppy Easter!

2010-04-05T18:04:00.001-05:00

We hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. We were in Corpus Christi for the weekend visiting Ryan's parents. Ryan's sister Kristen, her husband Kevin, and kiddos Kate and Gray came too!

On Friday when we arrived in Corpus we went to visit Rylan's Great-Great-Grandmommie Jim. She is now out of the nursing home and living in a private assisted living home. She looked great (especially for 103 years old!) Rylan has been in a bit of a shy stage though, so we were barely able to get pictures of him in her lap!

The next day we went to an Easter egg hunt out on the Island. Rylan thought it was really fun to carry around his basket.

Dad reminded him how to put eggs into his basket.

Being a boy, of course he had to try to throw them in the basket.

While we were there the big-kid cousins, Kate and Gray, did some Easter egg dying. It was fun but very messy. We decided Rylan was a little too young for this. Maybe next year though.

And now for the big finale... Easter Sunday pictures...

Well, we would have these, except for the fact that Easter Sunday was a little traumatic!

We took Rylan to church at Island in the Son UMC (where his YaYa is the pastor) and I took him into the nursery to play. There are not nursery workers there, so I went in and we were playing. He decided to try out all of the chairs in the room that were his size. He tried the plastic lawn chair first. He sat down and got down all by himself. The second one was a rocker, and again he sat down and got down all by himself. The next one that looked like a good idea was a baby swing that swings side to side like this one, but as I started to tell him "no" he leaned into the swing, actually breaking the seat off and sending him flying to the floor. His middle finger slammed into the skin between his gum and top lip, cutting it, and his thumbnail cut his chin. He began to bleed everywhere and I freaked out.

So, needless to say, I don't have any pictures of him in his cute outfit with bloodstains and a swollen lip. I will do a make-up photo shoot though. Perhaps out in a field of bluebonnets or something. So, stay tuned for some postponed Easter shots.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T22:01:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is wearing their green!

We are at the Hamilton house!

Today Rylan and I had a great day hanging out in the beautiful weather,

enjoying our clover t-shirts,

playing with some split-pea shamrocks bean-bags.

(amazing tutorial for Shamrock bean-bags on Made)

Hope Everyone is having a great St. Patrick's Day!

Waddling and Toddling

2010-03-15T00:12:00.000-05:00

–noun

a person who toddles, esp. a young child learning to walk.

(according to dictionary.com)

It is official; we have a toddler!

He is walking EVERYWHERE and loves it! Most of the time he likes to hold Mommy's hand when he walks, which Mommy loves, but as he becomes more comfortable with walking he is taking off on his own more often *sniff, sniff*

Here is a recap on the last month, since I can't seem to blog more than once a month.

Rylan's "One and Wild" birthday party was February 20 and was so much fun! Family and friends showed up and we had brunch, then games for the kids.

The games included Crocodile Creek (a blue table cloth on the floor with paper cut-out crocodiles and rocks for the kids to jump on to get across,) a monkey beanbag toss, and pin-the-stripes-on-the-zebra (sorry, this is the only one I have a picture of.)

Of course there were presents to open (with some big helpers)

Yummy cake to eat (made by my cousin, Missy)

It was a great, but exhausting day! We all took a nap once it was over.

Now, fast forward one month and here we are. Rylan is 13 months old, tall, and pleasantly plump - especially those cheeks! He is usually smiling, or giggling at something.

Words he knows are:
Momma, Dad-dad, Pup-pup (Harley), bath, uh-oh, ball, done.
Plus, he will mimic pretty much any word you say to him.

We are glad that Spring is finally starting to make it's appearance so that we don't have to play in a backyard that looks like this anymore:

Poor kid, having to play in the dead grass.

So, most of the time we stay inside and pretend it's spring time.

I have been crafting a little lately also. I made a Scottie Dog for Rylan:

Free pattern from Denyse Schmidt Quilts

Making new pillows for the couches

Found a great tutorial on Make It and Love It

And getting ready for St. Patrick's Day - which is my favorite non-holiday, in case you didn't know.

Hope everyone is having a great almost-spring-time!

My little boy is one year old!

2010-02-15T23:35:00.001-06:00

Ok, does anyone know where Rylan's first year went? I know I have it all recorded in lots and lots of pictures, but it did not feel like a year.

I am so grateful to have this little boy. He has brought more meaning to my life that I would have ever thought possible. Even on the worst day his smile just makes every bad thing disappear - it just doesn't get any better than that!

Once again I must ask myself the question... what have we been doing?

January seemed to just last for a second and then it was gone, but during that month Rylan walked on his own for the first time, started to try to climb on everything, and found a love for the swings at the park!

Enough of January - lets move on to February!

The Hamilton family has gotten VERY busy in the month of February. We are starting training to lead a group at our Alpha class. We have taken the class twice now and it is a great experience, so hopefully we will be able to share that with other people now.

We are also still very active with our church youth group. We help on Sunday afternoons by just hanging out with the kids, then on Thursdays Ryan goes to the senior high Bible study, and I go to the junior high girls study. These kids are so smart and really good kids. It has been great to be accepted by them as friends and as people they look up to. Plus, they keep us on our toes making sure that we behave ourselves!

Also, on Wednesday mornings I started a Moms' study at church. Beginning in March we are beginning a study on the book Momfulness, by Denise Roy. So far we have about 20 moms on our email list, but just based on the nature of our work (sick kids, errands to run, going out of town, etc.) we will probably never have us all together in the same room. It helps my week so much to have that time with other moms to talk and explore our spirituality.

Rylan has changed so much just in the first two weeks of this month! He is walking now - when he wants to - and is slowly becoming more independent. He turned one year old on the 11th of February and I made a few cupcakes and we celebrated just the three of us.

His first taste of cupcake - so yummy!

And first taste of a cupcake with icing - not so happy

The day after his birthday we took him to get his very first haircut!

He did so well

no major meltdown...

 until the very end, that is.

He looks like a little man now with his hair trimmed. It was getting a little shaggy.

Valentine's Day weekend GiGi came to visit after attending a conference in San Antonio. When she first walked in the door he stood up and walked (all by himself) straight over to her! She picked him up for a hug and then when she set him down he took her hand and walked her around and showed her all of his toys. It was so cute!

Happy boy with his GiGi

Next weekend we are having Rylan's big birthday party and I will have more pictures and there will probably be 10 new things Rylan has figured out.

The first year has flown by and now I am looking forward to every year with our precious little one and I hope they are as wonderful as his first!

Tales of Christmas Past

2010-01-11T16:30:00.001-06:00

Christmas was wonderful this year. It wasn't anything extravagant; we stayed at home, just the 3 of us, and had fun opening presents and watching Rylan play with them!

On Christmas Eve we ate our tamales (a Ryan Hamilton family tradition,) got all dressed up and braved the cold, windy weather to go to the Christmas Eve service at Gruene United Methodist Church.

The service had amazing music, a great message and there were so many visitors there! It was a great way to spend Christmas Eve.

When we got home we put Rylan to bed and "Santa" came to eat the milk and cookies we left out for him!

Warning: These pictures are not appropriate for children who would be disturbed by someone eating Santa's cookies!

I think Santa really enjoyed those cookies!

The Santa presents were then set out...

and Christmas was officially here!

I am so sorry there aren't ANY pictures from Christmas day. We were so busy playing all day long that I forgot! Rylan did give us the best Christmas present though: he slept in until 10:00 a.m.! Merry Christmas to me!

I hope everyone had a very happy Christmas and that your New Year is the best year yet!

Christmas is here

2009-12-24T12:13:00.001-06:00

Well, Christmas is here! Are you ready??

I hope so, because it's not stopping to wait for you!

This Christmas season has been so busy. Seeing family here and there, trying to get all the gifts made - yes, I said made - there is only one gift this year that isn't homemade/semi-homemade.

A couple of weeks ago we had our first Christmas party of the season in Fort Worth for Ryan's job. We went to an amazing place called Texas de Brazil. It is a Brazilian steakhouse and they come around with a skewer holding large chunks of steak, chicken and pork, all cooked different ways, and they will slice off a piece for you right onto your plate. All I had was steak, and it just melted away in your mouth! They also have the most spectacular salad bar you have ever seen. It has much much more than salad; cheeses, vegetables, lobster bisque (sooo yummy!) and I believe there was even some sushi. So, enough about the food...

We were able to go out for the night by ourselves thanks to Russell (Ryan's brother) who watched Rylan. I am sure there wasn't much watching since he has two twin boys who love to play with Rylan!

Here is a picture of all the R's together

From left to right: Ryder, Russell, Rowan, Rylan, and Ryan.

The R names are a family tradition, "All boys' initials must be R.C.H."

I am pretty sure it is written on a stone tablet somewhere (haha, just kidding!)

The next day while Russell and the boys were at work and school we took a trip out to the Bass Pro Shop. (I know what you're thinking. You're jealous, right?)

It was fun, for being at a store that sells fishing equipment. We did see a huge shark and some fish though!

We also went to Mana's house (my mom's mom; Rylan's great-grandmother) for Christmas with Mana, Uncle Eddie & Aunt Liz, Uncle Don & another Aunt Liz, cousin Christie & Randy, cousin Missy & Jason, and Rylan's second cousins, Noah, Joshua, Ayla, Alex, and Zachary. It was definitely a FULL HOUSE, but it was fun!

It was Rylan's first time to open a present - didn't really know what to do with it.

But where there are lots of cousins, there is a lot of fun!

We hope everyone has a very merry Christmas this year, wherever you are!

What have we been doing??

2009-12-07T14:10:00.003-06:00

The other day my mom called me and said, "I haven't talked to you in a while, have you been busy?" and I replied, "Oh, yes!" and she said, "Well, what have you been doing?"

I paused for a moment...

"What have we been doing??"

It is amazing how you get so wrapped up in life and everyday things - especially with a little boy crawling in circles around you all day! You know that you have accomplished many important things throughout the week, but you find yourself saying, "Uh, what exactly did I do?

So here is a list of things I have come up with so far:

1. Work on getting all my Christmas projects together!

Nearly all of the Christmas presents I am giving this year are handmade, or have handmade touches to them. Here is a sneak peek:

^{I know, it just looks like a big jumbled mess, but don't you worry, I'll have everything put together by Christmas.}

2. Making tutus for other people's Christmas

Tutus just looked like too much fun to make, so even though I don't have a little girl, I made one and now I am making them for a few of my friends to give as gifts.

3. We went to Wassailfest!

It is so much fun, but it was sooooo cold! We kept Rylan bundled up and braved the chilly weather for a few cups of wassail in downtown New Braunfels.

4.We visited Grandmommie Jim in Victoria to celebrate her 103 birthday!

Grandmommie Jim is Rylan's Great-Great-Grandmother and she enjoys him so much!

He enjoys her too - especially her cool wheelchair. (Just like any boy - he likes anything with wheels!)

5. Rylan and Daddy let Mommy have the night off!!

I went to a Christmas party with a group of girls I hang out with. We call ourselves the W.W.W.D. - Women Who W(h)ine and Dine! We had a "Tacky Christmas Sweater Party!"

It was so much fun! Everyone was dressed up festive and crazy and we had an awesome spaghetti dinner thanks to Chelsea! (Who, by the way, has an awesome blog about "Hill country livin', lovin', and tryin' to conceive!" If you need a good laugh, or a good cry, you should check it out.)

After dinner there was a gift exchange and an entertaining game of Catch Phrase!

What do ya think about my semi-handmade tack Christmas sweater?? Pretty spiffy huh?

The reindeer, santa and snowmen were removable and had velcro so that they could be put in different places on the sweater. I know, I'm crazy...

6. Taking care of a precious little boy every day and lovin' it!

We play, and eat, and nap, and do it all over again, and it is great! I cannot imagine myself working right now and missing out on all of the amazing things that Rylan learns every day. His growing and developing is much more fun and interesting than any job I have ever had.

Another one of Rylan's favorite things to do: Bath time!

His favorite toy is an orange whale and he loves to run his hands through the water as it comes out of the spout.

Overall, he is a very happy boy and I am so blessed to be his Mommy!

This Sunday one of the scriptures that stuck in my head is from Philippians. Paul writing to the church of Philippi and you can tell he had such great love and hope for these people and only wanted the best for them. I feel that it describes some of my hopes and dreams for Rylan -

"And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." Philippians 1:6 , NLT.

Baby, it's cold outside!

2009-12-03T18:18:00.000-06:00

Welcome to cold weather in Texas - one day it is 75 degrees, and the next it is freezing (literally)! There may actually be snow tomorrow in New Braunfels! Amazing.

Thanksgiving was great. We spent it with my parents, sister, grandmother, uncle and aunt in Houston. I did not take ANY pictures over the Thanksgiving break (sad, I know) so, untill my mom sends me pictures, you will have to imagine Thanksgiving at my parents!

Now that we are back home we are back to a busy schedule! Today, instead of going to the grocery store, I decided to take Rylan to the park for the 1st time!

He thought this rock wall thing was really interesting. Thank goodness he doesn't know how to climb yet - that will come all too soon.

The thing that REALLY kept his interest though, all of the leaves on the ground!

They were so crunchy under his feet he had to get down and the if they were really that crunchy in his hands and on his knees! And they were...

Luckily I was able to stop him before he found out how gross crunchy leaves taste! It was a cold trip to the park, but a great day for some firsts!

If you are wondering what Rylan likes to do during the day, here is a little peek:

He really enjoys "reading" books, a.k.a. flipping through the pages.

He also enjoys looking at the fish in the fish tank.

Well, we are off to Wassailfest in chilly downtown New Braunfels! Have a great weekend!

Crawling and trying to walk

2009-11-22T19:17:00.000-06:00

Well, I have only been blogging a short while now, and I fear I am already bad at it. I have many blogs I follow and there are so many people who manage to blog everyday. I, on the other hand, am spending my days running after my wonderful, crazy, crawling baby who has decided to get into EVERYTHING and is very good at it.

He enjoys crawling to the back door the most (which makes me nervous since it is all tile and Rylan tries to pull up on anything and everything and is not always successful.

So far in November we have been very busy! We have been to the Hamilton Ranch, to GiGi and Grandpa's house, to the doctor for our 9 month appointment (yikes, time is flying!!), to our very first Sunday in the new Gruene UMC sanctuary, and so many other things that I know I am forgetting!

Overall, life is good, God is great, and my little man is so darn adorable!!

Halloween!

2009-11-02T14:55:00.002-06:00

This weekend was Rylan's 1st Halloween!

Halloween Day Part 1:

We began the festivities by going across the street to Bobbie and Sam's house for a birthday party for their little girl, Ainsley.

Bobbie, little Sam, Ainsley, John David, and Sam

It was a Halloween themed party, so it was so fun to see all the kids in their costumes!

I did not put Rylan in his costume for the party though, because we weren't staying long and we were getting ready to drive to Bandara. (I know, you are wondering, "Why Bandara?" and I will explain in just a moment.)

Part 2 of Halloween Day:

In the afternoon we drove to Bandera, TX to watch Ryan's sister, Kristen, finish running the Cactus Rose 50 mile race!! Can you believe she ran 50 miles?!? There was even an option for people who wanted to run 100 miles. Kristen was raising money to benefit the Rexanna Foundation for a Cure for Lung Cancer.

Here are the pictures of Kristen and her brother-in-law, Troy, finishing the race!

Kerry, Troy, Kristen, Me(Darcy), Ryan and Rylan.

The most amazing part is that they didn't even look like they had just finished 50 miles! (I'd bet they were sore the next day though!)

Halloween Part 3:

So, after the race we followed Kerry, Troy and Kristen back to Nicole and Chad's house (Chad is Kerry and Kevin's cousin -Kevin is Kristen's husband- can you follow all this??)

That is were all the kiddos were. By the time we got there all of the trick-or treating was over, but we still decided to put Rylan in his costume and let him wear it for a while. Here was the end result of all my hard work making his costume:

Rylan and his cousin, Kate.

So, that was our busy, fun Halloween! Hope everyone had a great one!

THE END

Blog #1!

2009-10-30T17:29:00.001-05:00

Well, here is my attempt to start blogging! Yay!
I figure, I "mini-blog" all the time on facebook, so why not do some real blogging.

So, the Hamilton Family consists of

Me (Darcy), Ryan (the hubby),

Rylan (Momma's boy), and Harley (the dog).

The hubby and I got married on July 29, 2006 in Austin, TX. We later moved to New Braunfels and had Rylan on February 11, 2009.

And here we are! One little happy family enjoying life and loving each other.

Ok, I am a blogging rookie and I have had enough for one day! More to come though, so don't you worry!