Tahoe Christmas

Ryan made his first trip to the snow for Christmas this year. We spent 5 days at Nanny and Dzia Dzia's cabin on the west side of Lake Tahoe, and spent the days enjoying the view from inside and playing in the snow outside. Eddy and I even managed to sneak away for a day of skiing, while Nanny babysat. My brother Derek and his family flew down from Seattle to make the family vacation complete. It was a great few days with the family, and the kids gave all of us a new appreciation for the holidays.

The family portrait, in front of our huge tree (yes, it is real!)

Another family portrait, but this time without a screaming baby

Couldn't resist taking this shot on Christmas Eve...Ryan could have fit inside these stockings

Derek reading "The Night Before Christmas"

Ryan was mesmerized by his cousins, Elena and Connor, and they thought Ryan was pretty cool as well

Love that view behind us!

So maybe we're cruel parents, but we couldn't let this photo opportunity pass. Ryan obviously could have done without this moment.

The Seattle Kuzaks
Connor, 10 months, Elena, 3 1/2 years old, and Derek and Kim

Derek and Elena sledding in the backyard

Nanny and Elena playing in the snow

Christmas with the Bayers

We celebrated Christmas with Eddy's family last night, as we will be in Tahoe for the actual holiday this year. It was a great evening, with plenty of willing arms to hold Ryan. A great start to baby's first Christmas!

Family picture in front of the tree (and yes, Ryan is crying as he had hit his meltdown point a few minutes before we decided to take pictures)

Nonni & Nonno

Auntie Dana, Nonni, and Auntie Andrea showering Ryan with love

And just a few more pictures of Ryan's smiles, because I can't stop taking pictures of him

6 Weeks Old

Ryan is 6 weeks old today, and already seems like he's grown so much compared to his pictures from birth. It's amazing how fast it all changes! He's smiling all the time, although nearly impossible to capture a good smile on camera. He's also focusing more on faces and loves to stare at the lights and the ceiling fan in our bedroom. I even caught him smiling at the shiny knobs on the bathroom cabinets...so much for thinking my face was important! As I'm getting out of the house a lot more, I realized that I'm not taking as many pictures of our little fella. Promise to change that this week. But here are some moments from the past week

Ryan and I went to visit our friend Nicole Rotem and her baby boy Lucas. He is almost 8 weeks older than Ryan (even though their due dates were exactly 4 weeks apart!), and seems so much older and wiser compared to Ryan!

almost captured that smile...

...and again...

...finally a good one!

he woke up from a nap the other day, and we knew he could kick and wiggle, but we didn't know he could wiggle his feet right out of his pj legs

finally enjoying tummy time, or at least tolerating it

and yes, we finally figured out how to take black and white pictures on our camera...

Things to Smile About

Although we've seen glimpses of Ryan's smile for the last week, this morning was the first long lasting smile that I could capture on camera. How can you not smile when you see this face?

And here are a few more pictures that make me smile...

drying off after bath time

exploring the big jungle

this one might just be a frame-r

Holiday Spirit

The house is ready, and so are we. There was even some snow in the area (not our house of course) this week, and it's been fridgidaire outside, so we're truly feeling it's time for Christmas.

I love the picture of our tree, it makes it look huge...which it is in comparison to Ryan. However, it really is just an average size tree.

hand-me-downs

Ryan at 4 weeks old

My sister in law sent me a picture of cousin Connor at 7 weeks old, looking very simlar to a picture we took of Ryan at 4 weeks old. Gotta love the hand-me-downs!

Connor at 7 weeks old

the Huskies vs the Bears

The "big game" in the Bayer household was yesterday, with the Huskies proving victorious once again over the Bears. Sorry Eddy! Since we couldn't travel up to Seattle this year for the game, we hosted a little game day bbq at our house. It was an alternating chorus of babies crying and cheers from the UW fans in the crowd, but a good time was had by all. Thanks to the Westcoats and the Readels for making the drive.

"Go Huskies!"

Once upon a time we were college roommates, and now we're mommies
Megan and her daughter Macy, Lindsey and her daughter Hadley

4 weeks old!

It has been 4 weeks with little Ryan, and we're learning more about him every day. His times of being alert are getting longer, and he's crying a bit less every day (on most days that is!), so every day is getting more and more fun. We are also getting a bit more adventurous, getting out of the house more and showing Ryan the big world around him.

We took Ryan to his first winery in Napa, and he slept through the entire thing

Sleeping in his car seat after a long walk

Big yawn

Tummy time
can't you imagine how big his lungs are by looking at this picture?

"So big" with Nanny