The Best of times, the Worst of times

It's been a couple of weeks and a lot has developed between then and now. I'll start with the kids first, since I know you all are more interested in them than us! LOL! Ryan is growing more everyday. I will have to agree with a good friend of mine (hey Taira!) that this is such a fun age. He learns something new everyday and is exploring everything. He can now crawl on his hands and knees, though he still prefers to do his soldier crawl on his tummy. He is much faster doing the soldier crawl and can shoot across the room in no time flat! He now has three teeth on the top and on the bottom, making for six teeth! Goodness! It is precious to see his toothy grin. He is starting to "walk", as in when he pulls himself up he will "walk" around the perimeter of what he is holding. This makes mommy nervous and sad because he is growing up way too fast! But then again, Natalie was "walking" about this time as well. When Ryan pulls himself up on his sister's chair, he will climb...yes, climb...onto the seat! Yikes! He is a monkey like Uncle Luke. My brother would get into everything as a child, and we would find him in or on the craziest things. Once as a toddler, my mother found Luke on top of the fridge! No lie! I have a feeling Ryan will be the same way. Ryan has a new sound, "mamama." When he is getting tired or hungry, he will follow me everywhere and cry "Mamamama!" He knows who I am now! That warms my heart! He knows his daddy, too, and usually says a short and simple "Da!" No actual words yet, as these are just sounds that will lead to full words soon. Ryan also has discovered that he can blow raspberries with his tongue and lips. It makes for a lot of spit, but he has the most fun doing it. We have introduced sippy cups into Ryan's feeding and he is doing quite well. I am doing both breast feeding and bottle/sippy feeding along with his foods. I am anxious for Thanksgiving because he will be old enough to try meat. He enjoys everything we have introduced to him thus far. He is still our laid back, happy boy. He is over 18 pounds.

Natalie started T-Ball last week. She was adorable! The day before her first practice/game, we made a journey with Uncle Luke to the sports store to buy her mitt. Uncle Luke helped her pick out her first mitt. It is black and pink and lights up when a ball (or her hand) hits the pocket of the mitt. I figured I better get her something she would enjoy wearing. That night her daddy worked with her on how to wear it and catch ground balls. She was prepared for practice the next night. Because we are short on volunteer coaches, I am helping coach Natalie's team. If Daniel happens to have that day off, he will also help. She had an absolute blast! It is so funny to see all of these kids chasing after the ball. One kid hits the ball off of the tee....and a dozen other kids jump on it! Too cute! Natalie is on a team with her friend, Parker, and they really enjoyed playing together. Natalie didn't seem to mind that she didn't get the ball each time, and she cheered on her teammates. This is a positive sign that she will exhibit good sportsmanship. We are so proud of her! She is learning to write her letters and spell. Not too long ago we all were headed to my parents' house. At a stop sign, Natalie pointed out the window and said, "Look! It's an octagon!" Daniel and I were floored. We hadn't taught her that. It turns out that Papa Jerry teaches her all kinds of things when they spend time together. Good Papa! She also spells "STOP." Natalie is still our little fireball and challenges us on, well, everything. But we couldn't ask for a more precious princess!

For those who don't know, Luke has officially moved home. For the last two years he has tried to make his situation in Texas work, but to no avail. It continued to be an unhealthy environment for all involved and he made the difficult decision to move on. He is getting a divorce. We support him and are doing our best to help him during this time. Please keep him and Sophia in your thoughts and prayers. And pray for Ashleigh, too.