a rough week

This past week was a bit rough in the Bayer house.  Ryan had what we thought was just a cold last weekend, but then his eye got a bit pink and goopy, and then he spiked a fever to 102.5 for 36 hours, and then we finally accepted that he probably had pink eye on top of a virusy cold.  So...a lot of whining, a lot of waking up in the middle of the night coughing and crying, and a heck of a time trying to get antibiotic eye drops into this kid's eyes 4 times/day.  Then, to top it off, Ryan twisted his knee going down the slide at the playground on Saturday, and he wouldn't put much weight through his leg for a little while.  Kinda made our hearts beat a little faster for a few minutes, but Eddy got him riding his tricycle for some physical therapy and he's good as new.  And then on Sunday, Eddy was pulling him in a wagon, took a curve too tight and the wagon tipped over and Ry hit the side of his face on the ground.  Close to getting his first black eye, but it's just a bruise on his cheek bone. 
But the good news is...he is on the mend!  The eyes have cleared up, the fever is gone, the coughing is minimal, he's back to running around like normal, and we are all sleeping much much better. 
The one bright moment in the week last week was my birthday.  An exciting 33 years old.  My day was spent taking care of the little man, but my parents came over in the evening to brave the germs and pink eye so that Eddy and I could have a wonderful dinner at Bottega (in wine country).  Thanks Mom and Dad!  And thanks to all of our wonderful friends and family for all the birthday cards, phone calls, texts, and facebook messages.  Way to make a girl feel loved!

finally some smiles out of this guy!  note the pink in his right eye...no fun!

making room

We have ditched the sleep sack, and gave Ryan a pillow, a set of sheets, and a comforter for his crib.  The boy LOVES his new bedding.  He manages to stay under the covers, for the beginning of the night anyway.  And now that he doesn't have his sleep sack, he really loves to go get his stool from the bathroom and climb into his crib before bedtime, which makes it way easier on mommy's back as this boy is getting heavy!  And then he makes sure to tell me, every night, "stool goes back in bathroom" before I leave the room.  Got it buddy.  The next step will be to take that front rail off the crib and convert the bed to a toddler bed, but I'm just not quite ready to give him free reign just yet. 
However, it'll have to happen soon, because by this summer we will need the crib for someone else.....we are expecting baby #2 in early July!  I am 16 weeks along, and finally feeling like I can face the world again.  Not sure if this pregnancy has been worse, or if I just don't remember what it was like with Ryan, but I have been fighting the "evening sickness" from all afternoon until I fall asleep for the night.  Not fun.  But it's finally subsiding, and I feel like I can be a bit more productive during the days again.  Thank goodness!  So, we are beginning to make room for a new baby.  First step, get Ry guy comfortable in a new bed before the summer. 

here comes the stool

climbing up

new sheets...complete with trucks, planes, and trains

rainy weekend

The weather has finally turned, and winter is here.  And we're not complaining.  But that just means we've had to get creative with indoor activities.  So this weekend we did a lot of "tent camping" and football watching.  Over the last 2 weekends Ryan learned to run around the house yelling "Go Niners" and "touchdown!", and making fists at the tv screen because of the bad call made by the refs.  Unfortunately for us, the 49ers are not playing in the Superbowl this year.  Can't win 'em all I guess. 

Eddy set up our tent in the living room

Ryan loved zipping the door open and closed, and climbing in and out of course

intently watching the Niners

this is two

This was my date for breakfast this morning....

And since all he would wear for this date was his firetruck undies (no diaper, and no, he's still not even close to being potty trained), this was what breakfast looked like...
First course...oatmeal.  Bib was requested by the little man, because as you may have guessed, I can't get him to wear anything that he doesn't want to wear lately. 

lame face because he's actually saying "cheese", as he does for every photo these days

Second course....toast and jam.  No longer wearing the bib, because obviously one does not need to wear a bib when eating toast.  Obviously.  And Ryan pretty much demands to read the "funnies" every morning with his breakfast.  Some of his favorites...Garfield and Dilbert. 

And then breakfast promptly ended when Ryan said "I'm pooping mommy", which followed with a rapid hand washing and a quick transfer to the potty chair in the bathroom.  Thankfully he hadn't actually gone in his undies, and he then did not go on the potty as well, but about 2 minutes after I put a diaper on him he proceeded to go.  Crisis averted.  One point for mommy. 

Happy New Year

We rang in the new year quietly, up in Tahoe.  Still with no snow, but we made the most of it.  We took a few walks, enjoyed the sunshine, and Ryan learned great boy things like how to hit trees and rocks with sticks (courtesy of daddy showing him the ropes), and continued to perfect his skills on throwing rocks into the lake.  Our good friend Cristen joined us for the weekend, which gave us someone else to compete with in our annual game of Sequence (a board game) on New Years Eve...which she won, so I'm not certain she'll be invited back next year.  No offense Clarky. 

we spent one afternoon at Northstar Ski resort, exploring the village and having lunch, wishing it would snow

New Year's Day

our little ham

jumping off rocks

Christmas

This year was all about the Bayer family for Christmas.  We hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house with Eddy's immediate family.  Eddy's parents and Dana spent the night, and they had Christmas morning with us before Eddy had to go to work.  Luckily his work day wasn't too long, so we were able to drive down to San Mateo to spend the evening with Eddy's extended family at Auntie Judy and Uncle Joe's house.  A great few days spent with family, which is the best way to do it this time of year!  Ryan LOVED all the gifts this year.  Every morning in the week before Christmas, Ryan would wake up and ask "Santa bring presents?".  And then on Christmas Eve he learned to declare "Santa brings presents.  Ryan a good boy", just to make sure Santa had Ryan on the correct list that night.  In fact, he's still telling us that he's a good boy.  Not sure if he thinks Santa is coming every week now or what, but he doesn't seem to be upset when I tell him we won't see Santa again until next year.    Funny, since Santa is about the only thing this boy is afraid of. 

one of Ry's favorite gifts from Uncle Chris and Auntie Drea

not sure that driver's seat is big enough for 2

Ryan was in heaven with Uncle Joe's train track.  Don't think he left that spot all night

Alexandra and Kensie

The next generation.  Impossible to get a shot of them all looking at the camera

cookie baking amongst friends

For the past 3 years, my girlfriends Megan and Lindsey and I have gotten together before Christmas and exchanged books for our kids.  A fun tradition.  Well, this year, I thought we should step it up a notch and attempt a little cookie decorating party to add to the fun.  It was chaotic, with 3 toddlers, 2 babies, and lots and lots of sprinkles and frosting.  But I think fun was had by all.  And we even managed to exchange the books as well.  Success. 

Christmas the weekend before Christmas

Since my parents were planning to spend actual Christmas in Seattle with my brother and his family, we headed up to Tahoe to celebrate an early Christmas the weekend before.  It was a great quiet weekend, with a few presents shared amongst us, and plenty of outdoor exploring (since there was no snow to play in).

Ryan almost had more fun popping the bubble wrap than opening presents.  Almost. 

Ry opening his gift from Nanny and Dzia Dzia.  His first bike!

Unfortunately, this was the last time we could get Ry on it.  He told him he had to wear a helmet to ride it (after this first ride in the house), and since then he has refused to put on his helmet.  Oh well, some day he'll give in to the rules. 

what's a trip to Tahoe without time spent throwing rocks into the lake? 

Told you.  Literally, NO SNOW

the chilly temps reminded us that it was still December

Christmas in the city

Earlier this week, we decided to head into downtown SF to get the feeling of Christmas.  It's something we've always loved to do this time of year, as it always seems a bit more festive downtown than out here in the 'burbs.  But we've never taken Ryan.  So we hopped on BART (which I think was Ryan's favorite part of the day!), and off we went. We didn't get much shopping done with the little man in tow, but it was fun to just look at the decorations, see the animals in the windows at Macy's, and check out just how tall the tree is in Union Square this year.  Ryan even got to climb up onto a cable car, as he looked longingly at one that was parked as we were walking by, and the nice conductor who was eating his lunch asked Ryan if he wanted to come aboard.  Ry was in heaven!  After that, we all treated ourselves to a little lunch before heading home for nap time. 

that is one large tree!

snack time

Ryan chasing pigeons

"I wanna see it"

not even close

I was doing some online Christmas shopping a few weeks back, and needed to spend $3 more in order to get free shipping.  I was determined, so what did I find?  Oh, a pair of firetruck undies for Ryan.  That's right.  Are we anywhere close to needing those yet?  Nope, no way, not even close.  Although he will go pee on the potty pretty consistently once a day.  But, he loves these firetruck undies, so I'm hoping they give him a little incentive or something.  Way better than paying for shipping, right?