And the winner for World's Worst Mom goes to....

Ah, motherhood. Who knew that a two year old could be so quick? I remember before I had a child of my own, I would secretly judge other moms that apparently had no control over their kid. Yes, it's true... I would think to myself, "How could that mom lose her child in a crowded store?" "How does a child color a wall without you knowing?", etc. 


But then I had a 2 year old of my very own. And man, are those little suckers are fast! Now it's so very clear to see how a child disappears in a department store. All you have to do is turn your head for all of 1.5 seconds and "poof!" there goes your kid. And painting a wall? Psshhtt, Ryann could have the Mona Lisa painted in the time it takes me to go #1. 


Oh, but this morning was so far the scariest episode I've yet encountered. While putting laundry away, Ry got a hold of a q-tip and put it in her ear. She's done this before but I'm usually able to catch it and pull it out right away, and follow it up my "q-tips are for adults" speech. But this morning I didn't catch it until I heard the thud of her head (q-tip-ear side) hit the wall. I turned around just in time to see the bloody q-tip fall out and embrace the little peanut as she started to wail. At that point I just wanted to accept my award for Worst Mom Ever and walk off stage. But instead I did my very best to soothe her and hold her while the initial pain subsided. 


Then I carried her into the doctor's office with my tail between my legs. At this point she had stopped crying (nothing a little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse couldn't fix) and her ear had stopped bleeding. I relayed my story to the nurse practitioner, all while confessing how horrible I felt. I thought I might get some sort of "q-tips really should be kept far away from children" speech but instead she looked at me like I was crazy and told me it happens more often than you'd think. Ok, so maybe my award should be reduced to Worst Mom of the Day instead.


Thankfully, Ry was so brave and sat very still while two doctors checked her out. The verdict was a slightly broken ear drum that will heal on its own in about 48 hours. Who would have thought the ear was one of the fastest healing body parts? Well... now you know.


But my point of this post was not to gross you out with my tales of bloody ears. To be honest, I'm not really sure why I thought to share this story. Maybe it's because I wanted to confess my sins as a 'pre-motherhood judger', and to apologize to all those women who I secretly passed judgement on who were just being moms to 2-, 3-, and 4-year olds. Or perhaps I just wanted to get it in the books so that when Ryann calls me crying because all she did was turn around for 5 seconds and her kid got lost, got hurt, etc., I can say "It's ok honey... did I tell you about the time you ruptured your ear drum?"

4th of July

This summer has been so much fun that it's hard to find the time to update our blog. But now that over a month has passed since our trip to Nebraska, I figured it was about time to share our adventures and pictures.

Can you believe that this was Ryann's first trip to Nona and Grandpa Dale's house? The last time we were there I was 6 months pregnant, so we were more than past due for a trip to North Platte. And what better time to go than for the most American holiday of the year - the 4th of July? I must admit, not only did we have a great time, but Nebraska is one of the best places to celebrate the 4th.


Our first day was full of exploration. After breakfast we headed across the street to chase some chickens. Grandpa Dale helped build the chicken coop, so in our eyes that made the chickens fair game. Daddy and Grandpa Dale helped chase those crazy chickens out of the bushes so Ry could try and catch 'em. She patiently checked them out, preparing herself for the hunt. 

Then it was go time!

Unfortunately, those chickens were faster than those precious little legs could move, so we thought it'd be best to move on to a more steady animal... miniature horses! See, that's the beauty of Nebraska, if one of the neighbor's pets won't let you hold them, the other neighbor has miniature horses. No kidding, we drove down the street, knocked on the neighbor's door barn and asked if we could hang out with their pets, which so happened to be perfectly 2-year-old-people-sized ponies. 


We started by petting them from over the fence... you know, to see how friendly they were. 

After that there was no hesitation to pop on one of their backs and take him out for a spin.

But alas, Ry's face slowly turned from "this is awesome!" to "Daaad.... I'm not so sure about this anymore."

So back to the ground she went, posing along the way for mama and her camera.

All the while keeping an eye on him...

watch it horsey

I've got my eye on you

And as if the perfectly-sized horses weren't enough, after nap we went to a park that has miniature rides for the cost of a whopping $1 each. Ry loved the train, the merry-go-round, and even a large caged-in ferris wheel. We were too big to ride along, but that didn't stop her. Not only did she brave the ride once, but she went back for seconds.

The next day we headed to the R-O-D-E-O! Yee-haw! And just as Nona guessed, Ryann loved it. In fact, we couldn't keep her away from the cow-shoot (at least that's what I'm going to call the fences where they push baby cows through to the main arena). As interested as Ry was, I was clearly out of my element. At one point I yelped when a cowboy lassoed a calf so hard that he flipped over backwards. A local cowboy in the stands laughed so hard at me I thought he might spit out his beer. Oh well, we're at peace with the fact that our daughter just may love country music and want to become a cowgirl. (not really) But we did have a lot of fun!

Everyone had to try on the cowboy hat

Even daddy, whose dip fit right in ;) 

That brings us to the 4th, which was even more fun. Talk about mid-western hospitality... get this: the city offers FREE barbecue brisket (which was amazing), baked beans, and mac salad. Can you believe it? I think I'm still in shock. 


But the best part of our meal was our little visitor... a toad who hopped right onto Ry's plate. Luckily, she and Daddy had been working on her toad-catching skills all weekend so she was a pro by the time he paid his visit. 

see him?

After some sanitizing wipes were administered, it was time to partake in the best part of the meal... watermelon! There were just too many cute shots of her eating that melon, so I included them all. If her future career as a cowgirl or toad-catcher does pan out, she could probably win some type of watermelon-eating olympics. 

Then we were off to the 4th of July parade. There were no crowds, so we didn't have to fight for a seat, and they threw candy at us the whole time. Now that's a good parade!

The loot!

Later that evening we watched the fireworks show and taught Ryann the official firework language. "Ooooh, aaaahhh, ohhhh". She also loved telling us "here comes another one!" as they shot up through the air. 


We had such a great trip (thanks Nona and Grandpa Dale!) and are already thinking about going back for next year's 4th. Hope you all had a great holiday too!

Happy Easter!

Easter began for us during our last visit to Buckeye, where Mimi bought some easter eggs so Ry could practice hunting. All it took was one crack of the egg to realize candy lives inside, and she was hooked. As soon as I saw her eyes light up I knew Easter was going to be a ton of fun this year.

We kicked off the weekend by attending an Easter event at our gym. They had a bounce house, clowns, and, of course, the Easter bunny! When the bunny first walked in, Ryann was very interested and even walked up to check him out. 

But it didn't take long for her curiosity to turn into uncertainty:

Then came the "save me, daddy!" face:

But lucky for us, the clowns were super friendly, so she took to them a little better.

still a little unsure

oh, they make balloons! sold! 

But that scary bunny kept walking around so we didn't stay much longer. Plus, the event was from 1-3pm (NAPTIME!) so we had to get Ryann and Daddy home for their daily snooze.


Later that evening we dyed easter eggs for the first time. Ry loved it! Her favorite part was licking and blowing on the finished eggs to make sure they were dry. (They weren't - she just doesn't seem to mind vinegar water).

But soon it was time for bed. Although we all had so much fun dying eggs we had to get to sleep so the Easter bunny could come visit! And what a great Easter morning it was. Ry loved looking through her basket full of treats, books and a stuffed animal lamb, and she set some records finding all the hidden eggs around the house.

After eating candy for breakfast (hooray!) we got dressed and left for Fort Collins where we spent the rest of the day playing with Porter and Mason, and friends Cam, Christie, and Connor. Look at the peanut all dressed up. She's such a ham.

By the end of the day Ryann had become an egg-hunting pro. 

We had such a great weekend. 


I'll leave you with the following video, which was taken after the candy sugar high kicked in. Mason was jumping around with Ry's bunny ears on and she thought it was the funniest thing in the world.


We hope you had a great holiday with your friends and family! xoxo