on the move..

Little Rylan continues to bring us such joy and love to our everyday.  Just when we think that he is at the perfect stage, we get so excited at what comes next.  His personality continues to emerge and there is so much to admire and to love in this little being.  

He is a very laid back lil guy who loves to play and is becoming increasingly independent.  Feeding himself is his favorite thing to do and he can also hold his own bottle.  "mmmmmm", he saids with every bite and just like his sister, is an awesome eater!  

Waving hello and bye bye with a relaxed wrist and an exaggerated shaking arm is the cutest thing.  Oh yea, and peek a boo is always better when you put your hands on the back of your head.  Da da has become his first word as he sometimes forgets who is with him 24 7  :) and longs to be with his Daddy.  ha!  That's ok..it's very endearing and I'll wait my turn...

tick, tock

=)

At 9 months old, Ry was still very content playing in one place...but that certainly is no longer the case!  At 9 months and 1 day, he started to be on the move and this past month, he has made great strides in that area.  Mastering pulling up to a stand, and starting to cruise along objects is a daily activity.  Preferring to stand than crawl has him crawling to reach objects but then he wants to stand.  His favorite game is to see how long he can stand by himself and when he loses his balance, he loves to fall forward in your arms, laughing hysterically at himself, only to do it all over again!

These days, Rylan is sporting 2 bottom teeth and the top right is coming in any day now (his white gums and his increasing drooling is very evident of that fact!) His contagious, rolling laugh will make you smile every time. 

And it's so hard to think that this momma will have to be planning a first birthday party soon.. yikes!

Been a while since I've posted

But might as well wait for the right occasion, eh? With Kelly and the kids downtown for a few days, I'm doing the bachelor shuffle at the house. Came home from work today and decamped in the basement to get my work done and by the time I emerged to let the dogs out and plant a tree, a big wall of, well, rhymes with "spit", was bearing down on us to the point the dogs went out and came back in really quick.

After two hours of basement dwelling while the sirens madly blared and Mother Nature went all Terminator on us, we emerged to see what had transpired. Fortunately, still got power, nothing destroyed outside but some cool colors. Below are a slideshow of pictures and then I stitched together video from the backyard as well as the front of the house. It's still thundering and lightning in the distance...wonder if we're in for another round?

And here's a movie taken with some panned views of the front and back:

Nope, I am on the right track..

I often wonder if I stress myself out, trying to do too much, always feeling like I am never "caught up".  I have so many passionate hobbies and I never feel like I can devote as much time, energy or ME into any of them.  Sometimes this makes me a little stressed..always feeling "behind" and my never ending, forever adding, To Do list is always there.  At the same time, I  know that I dedicate myself to our kids and they will always come first, so the ME time comes in to play once everyone is snug in their beds and the house is quiet. (as I compose this at 12:15 am).  And that time is limited.

One of my passions is photography, and scrapbooking our memories.  In case I was bored (HA!), I decided to add and additional layer to my plate.  Hello Project 365..  document our lives by taking a picture a day for the 365 days of the year 2010.  I thought it would be a challenge but it would encourage me to bring out the camera each and every day, thus improving my skill set, and why woudn't I want more pictures, right?  And our normal day to day lives would be preserved, sealed and recalled in the years to come.  Sounds great!

Well, it has proven to be a challenge.  I have enjoyed taking the daily pictures but trying to stay on top of the downloading, the journaling, as well as assembling of our digital and paper book is difficult and I am always playing catch up.   And this leaves less time to scrap, so I am still scrapping Rylan's birth.  At the same time, I  have enjoyed the progress and I absolutely LOVE this book as it has really exemplified our memories in a different way than my traditional scrapbooking.

My point.  

As I sit here and look at  last couple of weeks of photos, I came across these picture beauties.  SERIOUSLY, all of my doubts, stresses and concerns of taking on another time consuming project have completely diminished.  I am confidant that if I wasn't doing project 365, I would not have these photos.  Photos that speak volumes to me and ones that I will forever treasure.  Thank you project 365.

Little did I know that these would be Bailey's last photographs..taken just  1 and 2 days before she died. And better yet, they exemplify her life to a tea and capture the essence of her.  She was loved beyond measure and boy did she return that love back. Always.  Always. Always.

This moment wasn't unusual in our house, but for some reason I get the chills looking at this now.  To me, the picture is a salute to Bailey's life as well as a good bye, i love you, exchange from one great friend to another.  Before we even knew it was time.

Priceless.

Treasured.

Story told.

Life captured.

Yep.. I am on the right track...

{access all of my project 365 photographs by clicking on the flicker photostream side bar}

MY DADDY runs.

Whoooo HOOO!  There goes Daddy again..running full speed ahead and finishing another 8k race in Western Springs this last weekend. And of course, his #1 cheerleaders were there for him.  So proud of you babe...way to go! You are a wonderful example for our family.