Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Welcome to the Family Ella Gwendolyn Ryan

Welcome sweet Ella - born September 12, 2011 9am at 8 lbs 19 3/4 in.


Proud Daddy (David's brother Richard)
Ashlyn meeting her first ever first cousin on her Daddy's side.

My little girl has grown up so much.  When I see her next to really little babies...it just reminds me how quickly they grow up!  We were all commenting on how Ashlyn and Ella look like they have the same nose! : )

Beach Trip September 2011

We went to Gulf Shores in early September.  This is Ashlyn's second trip to Gulf Shores, but the first one where she could play...I know she won't remember it...but we will always remember her seeing the ocean and touching the sand (with her hands anyway-we put her little feet in the sand the first time we came down) for the first time.
She was a big fan of the sand!  She loves the sand at the river, so I figured she would probably like the beach sand.  She LOVES to walk, so we took turns holding her hand as we walked down the beach.  For some weird reason, she will only hold one person's hand at a time.  She doesn't really care who it is, but as soon as one of us picks up her other hand, she drops the hand she was originally holding.  She is a funny little person. P.S. - please note what we are lovingly referring to as "ducky lips".  I don't know where she learned them, but they are hillarious and she does them all the time.  We occasionally can get her to "do ducky lips."  LOL!

I adore seeing David and his little girl together!  She is such a daddy's girl!  She had David wrapped around her little finger already!
She still loves Mommy too!
I didn't think to factor in the sound of the ocean.  She wasn't the biggest fan of the waves.  The waves the weekend we were down were REALLY big for The Gulf.  They were really strong too...must have been a storm coming because I remember them rarely being nearly this strong any other time I've ever been.  Daddy was comforting her in the picture above.  They are so sweet together.
If you know me, you know I love footprints...




We had a great view...at a great price...hopefully we'll get to go back next year!  We would have more pictures, except that I didn't bring the good camera...I was afraid it would get sand in it...and Ashlyn decided on day 2 that my phone needed to take a swim....in the hotel toilet...yep, I had a forced smartphone free vacation thanks to my little one.  I guess God works in mysterious ways.  We took it apart and let it dry for the rest of the trip.  It still works...just not always exactly like it's supposed to.

Happy Anniversary to Us

August 28th, David and I celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary.  I can't begin to describe how blessed I feel that God chose David to be my husband, my parter and my best friend.  Not only does he put up with my craziness, but he challenges me to do my very best in all things, while at the same time helping me not to drive myself crazy trying to overdo (those of you who know me well know exactly what those 'trying to overdo' moments are like).  He always extends grace...even when I definitely do not deserve it.  He isn't perfect, but he is so perfect for me.

Ashlyn went to a GrandMary spend the night party - while David and I went to Birmingham to bring some food to a family who's child was in the hospital (if I get the time that family deserves their own blog post-such an inspiration!) so we decided while we were in "The Big City", we should go for our Anniversary dinner.  Of course David asked me what I wanted - so I picked CRAB! :)  I think I could eat crab for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a month straight and still like it!  Honestly...I'm not sure if it's the crab or the drawn butter I like so much! HaHa!


Can you tell we're tired???  Maybe one day we'll catch up on sleep...  Hey!  A Girl can dream...

1st Birthday Invitation Photoshoot

We did a little photoshoot in GrandMary and PapaChuck's beautiful front yard.  We wanted to accomplish two things: 1) Capture how beautiful she looks in the dress that Aunt Reese (Teresa Mills) made for her. 2) Get some pictures for a Princess Birthday Invitation for her 1st Birthday.  I think both goals were well accomplished.  The ones below are my favorites!




Visit to Huntsville

We were so excited to get to go back to my cousin Becky's house in Huntsville to visit with my dad's side of the family!  My cousin Natalie flew back to "The States" with her mom.  I always have so much fun spending time with my family.  Anytime we're together making new memories, it always brings back the old memories of Memorial Days and Thanksgivings spent together.

Me, my sister Bonnie, my little 1st cousin-twice removed (yes I looked it up) Jaelynn, and Ashlyn.
Me and Ashlyn with My Aunt Teresa and Cousin Natalie.
Me and David with "The Next Generation" of cousins.  I love them ALL!!!

Monday, September 26, 2011

David's Birthday

On August 9th, 31 years ago, a little baby entered this world who would grow into one of the most wonderful, amazing men I have ever encountered. This man took a piece of my heart that God intended just for him. This man helped create the most perfect little girl with me. I can't imagine a better life than the one I share with him. He is the most perfect man for me. To my fabulous husband David, Happy Birthday. I pray we get to spend many more celebrating together.






Watermelon, Stairs, Playing in the Pool and Miniature Books

Pictures are my favorite part about the blog and there are a bunch in this post. :o)  Mostly just random stuff from the last few months.

 She wasn't so sure about this watermelon stuff...
 Daddy says, "I'll eat it if you don't..."
 "Ok...I'll try it."  Watermelon was a big hit. LOL
 Steps all by herself (with very careful 2 inches behind her supervision).




 Yep.  She climbed every single one of these steps on her own to make it to Uncle Joe!
The Champion of the Day...Miss Ashlyn Ryan!
 My itty, bitty, teeny, weeny (well not yellow polka dot) bikini.
 "Where does the water keep going?"

 "Oh...that's where the water is going!"


 Ashlyn LOVES playing in the water...she will play in it as long as you will let her!
 Thank you Granny for my miniature books.  She loves them!  They are just her size!



Friday, September 23, 2011

Walking up a storm! - Revised Edition

So in my efforts to get organized this year, I chose Picasa Web Albums to try to organize my photos...it also let me upload videos.  Thankfully, I didn't delete anything from my original media - because you can upload the videos...but you can't get them back...uuugghhh....not to mention the pictures may now be stored one additional place, but they are no more organized that when I started out.  Anyways, here is the revised edition of the blog post with the videos that transferred only as photos before.

Ashlyn took her very first step on July 6th. She took her first set of steps on the 8th...then she decided she didn't like it so much and continued to crawl around with her goofy, little crawl until July 26th of 2011. She just got up that morning and walked - she walked all day and hasn't stopped since! Now she is practically running!

Ashlyn loves sweets!  I try to limit the amount of processed, sugary, not any nutritional value kind of sweets, but every once in a while, everyone deserves an oreo. :)

10 and 11 month Onesie Pictures

Here goes my attempt at updating my blog...I'm WAY BEHIND!  Here are Ashlyn's 10 and 11 month onesie pictures.  One more left to post!  I can't believe we made it through a year of onesie pictures!  My baby is such a big girl now!