Sledding

We borrowed Jacob's parents sled today! Mitchell really enjoyed it! It was the perfect day for sledding...there is nearly a foot of snow, but it was over 40 degrees! My kind of winter wonderland - I am a big wimp when it comes to cold weather!


Our snowbunny


Mitchell and Jacob
Thanks Gpa Michel for the snowpants and Gma and Gpa Bays for the shoes! We were well equipped!

Which pulling style do you think Mitchell enjoyed more?

Slow and steady

or

Fast and reckless


Ha! I think Jacob wins! After we were worn out, we left Mitchell flail around in the snow a bit. The foot of snow was tough for him to navigate, but he did everything he could to try to pull around the empty sled himself!

Jacob and I left Mitchell in good hands yesterday and went skiing at a resort about 1 1/2 hours from his parents house. Again, it was nearly 50 degrees yesterday! The snow was a bit slushy at the bottom, but it was worth it to me! Maine skiing is beautiful! I'll post pictures later (they are on my small camera.)

1st birthday party in Maine

We threw Mitchell a little family birthday party in Maine on Saturday! Aunt Katy baked and decorated two cakes for him (THANKS, KATY!) He was a little timid at first, poking at it carefully.


But it didn't take too long for him to dig in :)

Of course, he had a little help from his parents :) I can just see him thinking "what are you guys so excited about?"

We got lots of great presents to open too! Now the trick is to try to get all of the birthday and Christmas presents squeezed into our baggage for our flight back to Minneapolis tomorrow! Wish us luck!

We are having another birthday party with my family on New Year's Eve, so hopefully he'll be an expert cake demolisher by then :)

Mitchell's FIRST BIRTHDAY

Dear Mitchell Ryan, on your first birthday -

Oh, my dear little redheaded boy. We can't even look your way today without shedding a little tear! How do we begin to express how much you have brought to our lives over the past year? We always dreamed of being parents, but boy is it even more fun than we imagined! We honestly never knew you could love something so much until the day God brought you to life. Many of people have tried to describe the feeling, but it is truely indescribable! You are our most challenging, yes, but better yet - most REWARDING accomplishment! You cause more emotion in us than anything we'd ever encountered before.

Tears of joy that we choke back when we walk into the room after being apart for some time and see the look of excitement on your face, as you walk in our direction with open arms.


Tears of worry when we left you the first few times in other's care.

COUNTLESS tears of laughter as you constantly surprise us with new and hilarious things.....including one of your newest funnies of shaking your pointer finger back and forth while muttering "uh huh".

Tears of fear the night of your birth when they whisked you off to the NICU due to pnemonia.

More tears of insecurity and frustruation than we'd like to admit during those first few months after when you screamed for seemingly hours on end! Thank God someone made up the saying that fussy babies are smart babies...at your rate, Mitchell your IQ should be off the charts!

Although we hate to see you fall and hurt yourself, we can not pretend that it isn't the greatest feeling in the world to know that we are the first people you look for to "make it all feel better....." and tears of heartache knowing that the world can be a cruel place and there will come a time when we will not be able to make it all better, and knowing that there will also once come a day when you will be independent enough to not look for us at all...

So until then, we're doing our best to relish every tear, consciously soak in every moment and do our best to raise you to be a caring, confident, intelligent, passionate little boy -- ready to take on the world! Super boy!

And thank you, Mitchell. For although you have grown more this past year than you will in any other single year of your life...the same can be said for your lucky parents.

Mommy & Daddy

Maine travels on the news!

Heard of the movie "Four Christmases"? Although the title rings true to our situation of four sets of parents, we also have even more in common with it now!! The beginning of the movie shows the married couple being interviewed by the news in the airport.....and so were we!

Here is the Maine news clip!
(clarification: we did not tell them we were from the Kansas side of Kansas City)

It should be noted that we also differ from the comedy in many ways, but most notably because we CHOOSE to spend the holidays with our families! :) Yes, it is a bit crazy at times...but as they say...family is special because they know everything about you, but love you anyway!

Mitchell's FIRST Christmas!

Dear Santa, thank you for taking note,
That during this Christmas season,
There was new little fellow
Giving the traditions a whole new reason.

We named him Mitchell Ryan
and he is more than we ever dreamed.
Christmas was a bit more hectic this year,
and more special than it has ever seemed!

Dear Santa, we know you had to look close.
His stocking was in a different state and so very wee.
We knew you must've been intent to find it
Beneath the huge tree.

We told him that you were coming,

bringing presents and cheer;

We're certain, dear Santa,

He'll know you by next year!

As we trusted you would,

You left him many toys.

For though he's quite tiny

He's our pride and joy.

He's loving and happy,
So much joy he gives;
He fills our hearts with laughter
Each day that he lives.

Though he loved his toys,books and such

the bows and paper were just as desired!

Endless play with them all,

left the little man quite tired!

Christmas in Wisconsin

Despite the weather worries, we made the trip safely!

Mitchell, me and Aunt Kel

Mitchell has enjoyed exploring the house. He has already broken one christmas decoration and a bowl! Oh, man! Luckily my mom is the least bit phased by his destructiveness.....and my step-dad actually encourages it! Mitchell was in the process of picking each and every kleenex out of the box, and David was just watching and laughing! I'm not sure who was more entertained!

Here he is exploring under the Christmas tree!

I always complain about the cold here...but in ALL seriousness, it as -23 degrees last night. NEGATIVE 23 degrees - I mean, are you kidding me!?!?! Although we're tempted to never leave the house, we couldn't pass up on our traditional trip to the local dairy to get fresh cheese curds! Yummy! The fresh ones come out at 11am each morning and we joined the crowd of people buying them! If you've never had them, you've got to know that only the fresh ones SQUEAK when you eat them!

I
Aunt Kel and Mitchell at the small store
attached to the local dairy

"Watering" the Christmas Tree

We invented an easy way to "water" the Christmas tree! :)

We're making the long drive to Wisconsin today and couldn't be more excited! Please pray for a sleepy baby and dog and GOOD WEATHER!!!

Last day in the baby room!

Who looks more amused to be in this picture?

Today is Mitchell's LAST day in the "baby" room at daycare (0-12 months)! We will be continuing our Tour o' Christmas starting tomorrow and won't be home again until January 4th! Who hoo! When he starts back to daycare on the 5th, he'll be in the toddler room (next door to the baby room). They've been letting him spend the afternoons in the toddler room lately to get accustomed to it and he loves it! He just loves playing with the older kids. Some of them used to be in his baby room before they moved over, so now they'll be reunited. We will have a new routine and new teachers to get accustomed to though.

Here are the key differences:
- No morning nap; so only one nap a day
- Nap must be taken on a cot rather than in a crib (good luck! ha!)
- No bottles

I'm not so sure it'll be an easy transition. We'll see....

Go Chiefs!

Mitchell got his first Chiefs parafanalia - a little jacket that we wore in Oklahoma this past weekend. You'd think with a fan like him, they might do better...but despite his support, they lost again on Sunday. :(

Blue coat pictures

Can I tell you how annoying winter coats are? On and off, fuss, on and off, fuss. Mitchell is not a fan of being bundled up...in fact if it were up to him, he'd run around naked all day long! I do think this fuzzy blue coat compliments his eyes though!

He has to stick his tongue out every time we go outside. I think he likes to feel the cold on it...either that or he is already trying to catch a snowflake on it! We had 5 inches of snowflakes yesterday!

My chubby little man!

Just a cute little picture that I took after bath last night! My friend, Lisa, thought Mitchell looked skinny in his walking video...and I just thought show her that he's still hanging onto his rolls! And I love them! I do think he might be slimming down a little now that he's getting around so good!

He's still got a pretty good little "beer" belly on him and I think that is my favorite part of his little body. Each time he lays out flat to get his diaper changed, I can't resist rubbing it and am usually rewarded with a little giggle (before wriggling out of my hold and crawling across the room naked while I furiously chase him with a diaper!)

Here is a super chubby picture of Mitchell back from March! Look at those arm bands!

I'm starting to get kind of emotional about my little man turning 1! On one side, I'm enjoying him more and more everyday and can't wait to see what "kid trick" he can do next....and on the other side, he's quickly turning from my little baby into my toddler. Sniff, sniff!

Walking video!

We took a little video of Mitchell walking before we took off for daycare this morning! He's getting better and better! We love watching our little man waddle around :)

It's another winter wonderland outside today! We hope the weather cooperates for us to make the long drive to Wisconsin this coming weekend.

Oklahoma trip!

We had a wonderful trip to Oklahoma to visit Gran and Pops! Mitchell got spoiled, as usual...and Jacob and I got spoiled a little too :)

Never too old to be a momma's boy :)

Granny and Mitchell

We also got to spend some time with Granny and Papa (Karen's parents). They were enamored with little Mitchell. They even smiled and watched as he terrorized their house...emptying their kitchen cabinents, "rearranging" their newspaper and christmas card collection NUMEROUS times!

Mitchell and Papa

They even laughed as he ripped a page out of their Atlas (oops - I told them that I hoped they weren't planning a trip to Colorado or Conneticut anytime soon!).

I guess it just goes to show that the older generations often have a better perspective on what really matters. They will probably look at their poor ripped atlas as a "love note" from Mitchell :)

Grandchild's Hand

The promise of tomorrow

And the hope of dreams come true...

A reminder of the childhood

That's still a part of you...

The wonder of a miracle

From which this love began...

There is so much found in the touch

Of holding a grandchild's hand.

We're walking!!!

Mr. Mitchell is a man on the move!!! We struggled to keep up with him when he was crawling, so this makes things even a bit more challenging.....but fun! My mom's friends, Anna and Dave, claimed that one of their sons looked like a drunken penquin when he learned to walk, and I think that description also applies to Mitchell....but it's the cutest waddle I've ever seen :) I'll post a video soon and you can judge for yourself!

We are in Tulsa for the weekend visiting Jacob's parents, grandparents and Katy. We left last night at 7pm for the 4 hour drive. Mitchell feel asleep about five minutes into the drive and never made a peep the entire ride. It was kind of fun to have some good conversation with Jacob too with no TV, computers, etc. That doesn't happen often :)

WALKING as of Thursday, December 11
12 steps as of Friday, November 28
10 steps as of Wednesday, November 26
7 steps as of Tuesday, November 25
3 steps as of Saturday, November 22

Cheap entertainment

Here's a little video of Mitchell "helping" put the laundry away. For some odd reason, he thought it was very entertaining to remove the contents of one of my drawers item by item!

And here he is literally 45 minutes later....still playing!

Oh the poor, abused ornaments!

The ornaments on the tree have become Mitchell's newest source of entertainment! He LOVES to rip them off the tree and even half-heartedly tries to put them back on the tree. He also enjoys following the cat under the tree! We keep a close eye on him so that the whole tree doesn't topple on top of him!

Come here moosey, moosey!

Gotta one for each hand! (Notice the tongue)

I have my FINAL exam in my JuCo class tonight! Yeah! I'm ready for a break!

We leave for Oklahoma for our Christmas celebration wth Jacob's mom, stepdad, sister and grandparents on Thursday night. We are very excited and hope the weather lets up for the drive. It was a winter wonderland today! :)