Ryan's First Dessert for his Birthday

Above is Ryan's first birthday party. He was very neat with his dessert.



Ryan had a bit more fun with his second party:)

January 2009!!!

January 2009

Wow!! Looking back, January was a super busy month for us!!!

We had great visits with both sets of Erik's parents. Erik's mom, Susan stayed with us for about 5 days at the end of December/beginning of January. She was so wonderful as to watch our kiddos while Erik and I actually went out for New Years Eve for the first time in YEARS!! We went with my friend Melissa, her hubby, and their friend to Ruth's Chris. I was so worried that I would be passing out at dinner, but we did pretty well. It was fun, the food was great, and I really enjoyed the adult conversation.

Alex joined Susan at the end of the week, so we got to spend time with both of them. Reid LOVES his Grandparents, and they are so gracious as to give him their undivided attention. He is in such heaven when they are here.

The following weekend we got a visit from Erik's dad, Larry, his wife Charlotte, and their son Josh. That was lots of fun too. We hadn't seen them in a couple of years and had a really nice visit. They blessed the boys with a new train table, so one of the days was spent assembling that!! 3 adults, and a couple of hours later, it was up and running. Reid is SOOO happy as that is probably his favorite thing to play with ever!! We also went on a trolley tour of St. Augustine, which was very fun. It is amazing that we live here and yet never experience the history that is around us.

This month, Reid went to his first concert. It was the Imagination Movers, who n are a music group who sing kid songs with nice adult sounds. They have a show on the Disney Channel that Reid loves and rocks out to all the time. The concert was an interesting experience. My friend Melissa went with us and we had GREAT seat, 3rd road and right on the center aisle where they kept coming by us!! Reid wore his mover suit from Halloween, and we got a couple of comments on it (I am so proud!!). Anyway, once the show started, Reid was like a deer in headlights. Where normally, he dances at home, at the show, he was frozen. He did manage however, to give one of the guys a high five, which I thought was AWESOME!! Anyway, it was a great time, and I think he enjoyed it. That night I shot a really funny video of Reid rocking out with his new guitar and using his grandma's cane as a microphone. Reid is now singing to music. It is hard to say if he will be a singer or not, but I love that he tries!!! His favorites are James Taylor, Imagination Movers, and Jack Johnson.

Since Reid turned 3 he got to move up to a different Gymboree class. He gets dropped off for this class, which is bittersweet for both of us. It is a sports class, so he is learning about different sports. Reid isn't so sure about being dropped off, but he is working with it. He really enjoys the class once we get past the dropping off.

We are definitely enjoying having a 3 year-old most of the time!! He can definitely get an attitude with us, but not too often. I love that we can now have coherent conversations, and he can tell me what he is thinking or feeling. It is also fun to see him being enthusiastic about learning. His favorite show at this time is a documentary show called Extreme Trains. It is an hour long show about different trains. He is also enjoying reading a book about different trains. It's fun to see where his enthusiasm goes. We started flash cards this month with the Alphabet. They are Thomas the Train flash cards, so it helps keeps Reid's interest. He actually knows most of the letters, and has been bribed with a new train when he learns them all:)

The final new thing with Reid is that he finally learned how to pedal on his bike!! He can do 2 laps around our pretty large block. That was exciting because we are planning on getting him a real bike before the summer.

Ryan got his first haircut this month!! He was getting shaggy!! He did not really enjoy the experience, but he got a new friend out of the deal; a little blue hippo blanket. He also looks adorable with his new cut!!

He is doing all kinds of new stuff. He finger walks with us and is pushing things around such as the laundry basket, chairs, his shopping cart while walking. We can't really get him to walk alone yet, he just collapses to the ground. He is doing his first sign which is more and he claps (they are pretty similar, you have to use context clues). This kid is addicted to Gerber puffs and would eat an entire container of them if I let him!! We are working on his eating as he seems to only want to eat sweet stuff like fruit and yogurt. He does like Mac & Cheese, broccoli, and cheese quesadillas though.

Ryan turned 1 on the 26th of this month!! It is kind of surreal that our baby turned 1. It is nice to see him being more independent, and finally starting to sleep better!! He is the sweetest and snuggliest little boy. He loves to play with his brother (who isn't always very fun to play with:). He is definitely holding his own against Reid though!! Ryan has an impressive temper and an impressive voice!! He knows how to scream, and has not been afraid to use that!!

We had 2 little parties for him. One with my Dad, Pam, and Uncles Bruce and David. Ryan enjoyed the cream cheese icing on the banana muffins I made. He LOVES his sweets:) He helped open his presents too!! He had a really good time I think, and so did we. The second party we had was with my sister and my Mom. That was also fun. He got to experience chocolate and got a bit messy!! He didn't eat as much as I thought he would, but he did enjoy it for sure.

This month Ryan got two vaccines, a HIB and a Hep B. He weighed 21lbs 4 oz at this visit. We have been trying to figure out what is going on with his bowels, he tends to get constipated on a regular basis, and it is painful for all of us!! I feel awful for him. I have started putting flax oil in his yogurt in the morning. I think that seems to be helping.

In other news, we FINALLY got a water softener. I know I am an adult, because this excited me beyond belief!! Our glasses were white and awful. It feels so nice to have nice glasses again!! I also got a new lap top!! This was a wonderful thing because our other one was 4 years old and was SLOW, causing me to go crazy!! I got a purple lap top thinking that with all the boys around me, I need to get girly stuff where I can!

Erik was STILL waiting on his official CPA license to arrive, hopefully soon!!

I have done a lot of reflecting this month. We felt such a sense of celebration with Ryan turning 1. We have had a crazy year, and we not only celebrated the fact that Ryan turned 1, but also that we survived this first year complete with anxiety attacks, heartburn, NO sleep, and Erik's CPA certification. We are so very blessed and even though our last year was hard for us, we really have NOTHING to complain about. We are stronger as a family and realize how truly amazing our relationships are.

PS. if you click the picture above, this is our January photo album.

November 2008

November 2008

We had quite the exciting month in November!!

Reid turned 3!! It is amazing that he is already 3, it has gone by so fast!! We celebrated by taking the family to Disney World for the first time. My sister, Carolyn, her husband Rollin, and the boys cousin Claire joined us along with my Mom and Stepdad. We went down there on Friday afternoon and had Reid's birthday dinner at a new restaurant called T-Rex cafe. It is similar to Rainforest Cafe, but with Dinosaurs. It was a fun place!! Reid got to take home a new dinosaur whom he named Four. We ended up renting a condo type place that could sleep all of us, which was fun!! The next morning we made our famous breakfast of quiche, grits, and monkey bread before heading out for Walt Disney World. When we got there we met up with our good friends from Tampa, Rich and Lisa and their son Mason who was celebrating his second birthday!!

We all had a great time, Reid really enjoyed himself and actually Ryan did pretty well too! We did the obligatory rides like Pirates of the Carribean, the Haunted Mansion (Reid fell asleep in that one- it was the end of the day), the Mad Hatters Tea Party, It's a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, the Buzz Lightyear ride, the speed way, and the adults even managed to fit in Big Thunder Mountain Space Mountain. Not bad for having 4 children under the age of 3!!

The following day we stayed in Orlando and met Erik's Mom and Stepdad at Downtown Disney. It was a beautiful day and we had a nice time walking around. We ate lunch at a nice sandwich place. Reid had a great time with his Grandparents as usual. Susan (Erik's mom) got Reid eating potato chips with mustared on them, which was funny. After that we drove home. All in all we had a great time!! I am not sure if we will go again next year or wait until Ryan is older. We shall see:)

The following week was Reid's actual birthday. We had my Dad and Pam and the boys over and had a small birthday celebration, which was fun. Reid got a birthday month this year.

New things this month with Ryan are that he started to pull up. Watch out Reid- it's all over!!! Ryan started doing something funny this month. If you lie down on the floor, he will crawl over to you and head-butt you. It's really cute as long as you are conscious of him. He can really hurt you!!He also started to do his pincer grasp which means he can start feeding himself. Indeed his did feed himself. I tried cheerios, but he didn't like them(maybe the only baby in the history of the world). I gave him some puffs (which are little star shaped starchy things that dissolve quickly), he LOVED those- might have something to do with all the sugar:) Ryan also got to have yogurt this month, which he also loved. He is a bit of a picky eater, preferring fruits rather than veggies (not surprising I guess). So it is always nice for me to find something he will eat without a fight. I have been getting plain organic yogurt and mixing it with fruit, and he sucks it down.



The boys visited with Santa this month. Reid did great, Ryan- not so much. He did NOT like Santa. In the photo album there is a picture of the screaming. Poor kid.


Well the other exciting thing this month is we learned that Erik passed his CPA exam!!! There was much rejoicing as this has been a 4-5 year ordeal. First with Erik finishing up his master level classes at UNF, then with the CPA exam prep class, then the time it takes to take each test and wait for results. I am SOOOOO proud of him and to celebrate he got a new I-Touch, which is what he wanted more than anything in the whole world!!!

Nothing new with me really. Just enjoying my boys!!

That's all for now:)

October 2008

October 2008

Well October was a busy month in the Hirsch house!!

Ryan is 8 months old now and this month he started to do some new things.

Ryan started pulling up to his knees, which gives him a new vantage point. He is loving his Leap Frog Learning Table. He has also thrown the army crawl to the wayside and started crawling on his hands and knees! He realized he can keep up with his brother easier by crawling. Another new thing this month is that he can sit in the bathtub by himself!! We had up until this point just had him in his baby tub. Now that he can sit in the tub, we can bathe the boys at the same time which makes our life easier!!

Reid has continued to love school!! He looks forward to it every day he goes- that makes me happy:)

Some notable activities occurred this month. Ryan had his first boat outing with DeeDee and Poppee. Of course this happened while I was at work sadly, but they all had a great time from what I understand. Reid had a blast!!

We also had a fun trip to the zoo with Gramps, Bruce, and David. Reid always loves the zoo.

I spent this month working on Reid's halloween costume. I decided that he HAD to have an Imagination Movers costume. The problem is that no one makes them yet as the show is pretty new. So long story short, after ordering the "boiler suit" from England (I could NOT find coveralls for toddlers in the US), and playing with my computer, I managed to make a pretty good replica of a real mover suit. I am NOT at all crafty so this was quite an accomplishment for me:)

Ryan got to be Squirt from Finding Nemo. This was the same costume Reid used at his age and we LOVe it. We had a fun Halloween with Gramps and Pamps. Reid did great and said Trick or Treat and even thank you. He also enjoyed the candy this year- M&M's are his favorite!!

Erik retook what was hopefully his last CPA test. We waited for what seemed like years to find out that he didn't pass it the first time. We are very hopeful that this is the last test. Erik studied his tookus off this time. Now we just have to wait!!!

Reid is a Rock Star

We had gone to the Imagination Movers conert this day. Reid found my mother-in-law's cane (she had an injury) and he thought it made a good microphone!!