late March & early April

Ugh, well I guess you could say that March and April got away from me again. When I uploaded photos from my camera to my computer there were about 150 of them - way too many! What have we been up to? The Moms on the Border (of Illinois/Wisconsin) mom's group I'm in has had several playdates that we've attended. I never manage to take any pictures though, sometimes because they are at my house and I'm busy entertaining or sometimes it's because they are at other people's homes and I'm worried about Ryan breaking something or getting into the toilet paper (again). We also have been hitting some neighborhood parks and forest preserves with Gizmo to get some walking and fresh air. I helped out at the Vernon Hills Park District Breakfast w/ the Bunny event again and Dean and Ryan came too. We had a wonderful Easter meal and Aunt Christy and Uncle Chris's house. We've done some yardwork, got new toys, been to the Round Lake Children's Museum, got our 18 month photos taken (I'll have to post those next time), started a new class at the R.L. Park District (again, photos next time). All in all pretty busy! Just the way we are happiest. Now for the explanations.



My friend, Amy, who I workout with gave me some toys that her boys no longer play with. This truck is a personal Stoeber family favorite. It has a button that you press and it says "All music, all the time" then plays a heavy metal guitar solo. We all dance when Ryan hits it, which just encourages him to do it over and over.
Finally, a picture of Ryan cuddling Bubba Bear.

These next few are at the Round Lake Park District's Children's Museum. Ryan was drooly and had a runny nose, thus the bib. Here he is playing some blocks.

Finally he got his hands on a grocery cart. These are popular there with all the kids.

Waiting patiently to check out the customers in the grocery store.

Finally business has picked up!

Treating the dogs and the cats in the vet clinic portion of the museum. Maybe following in the footsteps of Dr. Dan, Dr. Sherry, and Dr. Chris?

Trying to get Ryan to eat can be challenging somedays. Breakfast is the easiest, dinner is the toughest. One day I tried all orangish/yellowish foods for lunch. Cheese/crackers, mangos, mandarin oranges, and carrots. It was a hit!

Here's a few Easter family portrait for the old album. Dean seems to be enjoying Ryan's misery a bit much. Likewise that bunny seems to be awfully cuddly with Dean ;)

One of the beautiful weekend days we had. Dean spreading mulch and Ryan following along pushing his John Deere toy.

We've had Gizmo for 7 Easters and this was the first time we tried an egg hunt for her. She did pretty well, we "hid" her eggs in open places before Ryan woke up and put her treats inside them. Here she is with one of her finds. Paw up means she wants something, in the case she wants the goods!

The Easter Bunny brought Ryan a basket that included a book, some bubbles, and blocks. It was hidden behind the rocking chair in the familyroom.

Ryan found one of his eggs while looking for his basket.

Yeah, he found the basket of goodies and more eggs!

Here we are at Chris & Christy's. They have an egg hunt for the young kids. Here Ryan is with my cousin Adam. Adam is 5 months older than Ryan. Ryan is more mobile, Adam is more vocal.

Ryan loves cousin Nathan (one of Adam's older brothers, you can see his other brother Caden in the red in the background). Here the two were dancing to some music only they could hear.

I managed to get my old kitchen set from Meema and Meepa and we put it in our familyroom. Though we haven't bought any play food yet, Ryan still likes playing there. He is a pro at the microwave (that must be genetic)
The other day we had our friend and neighbor Erin over. It was a little windy, but too sunny not to get outdoors. So here the two are bundled up for a wagon ride.

Back inside they were doing the same dance, it was a version of the Twist.

That's all for now. Next time I'll have 18 month pics as well as photos of our art projects from our Park District class and who knows what else!!!

Early March

We have been quite busy the last couple of weeks. For some occasions I have taken photos, others I just forget. We started the month of March out by going to see Meema and Meepa for a quick visit. Meepa even babysat Ryan while I went to get my hair done. Lucky Meepa, Ryan slept almost the entire time I was gone. Meepa did learn that Ryan likes to be tossed in the air. Here are the two counting down until blastoff time!



I wouldn't say Ryan is a daredevil. He doesn't climb on stuff and never strays when we're out places. Here he is on Meema and Meepa's couch, we put him up there to see how long it'd take him to get down. Needless to say, he wasn't crazy about being "stranded".

Getting into things and making messes is more up his alley. See exhibits A and B. Getting into Meema's kitchen cabinets and shredding some napkins he found.

While on one of the playdates we attended in March (that I didn't get photos of), twice I found Ryan in the bathroom unrolling and shredding toilet paper. Sorry Kristen, I owe you a roll.

While going through some 18 month old clothes, I found this 12 month outfit. It was great timing 'cause it barely fit. It was too cute not to photograph him in this hat. You'll notice him playing with his socks - one of his most favorite toys, as well as Bubba Bear on the floor. Bubba is Ryan's new love. One day he picked the bear out of the toy bin and started cuddling and kissing him. It was sooooo sweet. From that day on we've tried to include Bubba Bear at mealtimes, storytimes, and bedtime. How'd we get the name Bubba? Well I used to have a stuffed animal named Bucky Bunny and my mom was forever trying to get me to pronounce things so she'd say "b, b, Bucky - put your teeth together and go b" One day while in line at a checkout, an older lady in front of my mom and I asked what my bunny's name was. I proceeded to try to get the lady to say the rabbit's name just as my mom did, however for whatever reason, I changed the name to f, f . . . well you can figure out the rest. Mortified, my mom drug me away from the store. So in keeping with that theme, we now have Bubba Bear, put your teeth together and go b,b, Bubba.

On my previous posting, I mentioned that we'd be taking some fieldtrips. Below are some pictures from the Grayslake Open Gym. It was a nice set-up. They had a lot of balls, riding toys, hula hoops, and plenty to keep kids entertained for the hour. Ryan even found a little girl to play hide-and-seek with.

He should know how the grocery cart works, it seems like he spends enough time riding in them.

The Leprechauns were giving away the location of their pot of gold early this year. I took a few pictures from my moving car of this beautiful rainbow one day. This one turned out the best.

Ryan and I had a lunchdate, just he and I, at Olive Garden one day. He was a good date, keep conversation light, didn't hog all the breadsticks, and let me have the mint.

It was also this month that we had to say good-bye to a family friend - my Alero. I absolutely loved this car, it has always been a great vehicle for me. However times are a changing and while this car was many things, spacious it was not. So it was time to bid the Alero a fond farewell. May you find a happy home - and not be stripped down and be sold for parts.

Enter, our new car. See I got to put the 100th mile on it!

The 2011 Kia Sorento. 3rd row seating! Hello space.

Another fun event that I unfortunately forgot to capture in photo was a dinner with our friends the Bleims. I used to work with both Pam and Rodney at Vernon Hills Park District. They have 2 daughters (12 and ~8) and twin 4 year old boys (whew!). It was great to catch up with them. Funny to see Ryan so shy in his own home, but he eventually warmed up and laughed right along with the big kids.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all. Next post to include more photos from playdates, fieldtrips, Breakfast with a Bunny (guess who's the bunny again?!), and Ryan's 18 month photos.

Second Part of February

We've been pretty good about having Ryan on a set schedule, his days are typically as follows:

8am - Breakfast 10:30-Snack 12:00-Lunch 1:30-Nap 4:00-Snack 6:00-Dinner 7:15-Bed



I've found that it's much easier to do things with Ryan in the mornings than try to cram in fun in afternoons when he wakes up from his nap. He goes with me to exercise class 2 or 3 mornings a week which still leaves 2 or 3 days to fill with fun stuff. Our music class ended this week, so that'll free up some Wednesdays, I've attended - and now even hosted a playdate for the moms/kids in the mom's group I'm in, and recently I've decided to look for "fieldtrips" for us to take - you know other than the grocery store.



One day we decided to visit the local Bounce House business. I don't know what it's called, but for $8 we sure had a hoppin' good time. There was nobody else there the day we went, so we had the whole place to ourselves. In this first picture, you can kind of see the layout, and how small Ryan is in comparison to the bouncers. Next time we go, we'll have to bring dad too. Twice, I successfully was able to carry Ryan up the bouncer's steps so we could slide down. However, I don't think that was the smartest or safest thing I should've done. Two of us would've been better.





We spent most of the time bouncing in the tiger bouncer. Ryan liked it, and liked it more when I would turn somersaults.

I don't know if he spent more time on his feet or trying to stand up. It sure wore him (and me too) out, we both napped that day.

Upcoming fieldtrips to include, Grayslake Open Gym, Lindenhurst Open Gym, Round Lake Area Park District's Children's Museum and their Nature Museum. Always open for ideas! For now they're all indoors, but hopefully it won't be long until we can be outside again.

Had to include this random picture of Ryan eating. For being Dean and I's child, Ryan sure is a fussy eater. But when he finds something he likes, he'll go to town on it (ie applesauce, yogurt, waffles). In this case it was teddy bear graham crackers. You can see he's got one sticking out of his mouth and a reserve in the hand, but what you can't tell are that he's cheeks are fully inflated with about 5 others. Too funny!

February Part One

Only February and already hard to stick to my goal of updating our blog every two weeks. Poor weather and lack of fun and photo worthy indoor activities is a major contributor. I'll give it a go though!



This picture was taken about a year ago on Ryan's first day of music class. Fast forward one year and we are enrolled again - even have the same teacher. Although none of our classmates from the first time around are in it, we've had fun meeting new people. I'm a little surprised to see how shy small fry is around the group. He is on the young side as compared to the library group where he was older and the center of attention.
First day of music class 2009 (above)
First day of music class 2010 (below)

For only the second time this winter we venture outside to play and use the sled. Ryan enjoyed it, Gizmo not so much. She always wants to be where the action is though.

It was hard to pull him around our backyard. It was about 12-14 inches deep. When I'd pull the sled over the boot-hole I just made the back of the sled would get stuck and kind of tip. Ryan was buckled in, but he still had fun with the "near-tipping" experiences.

I finally couldn't pull anymore so I wanted to see how Ryan would do at standing and walking in the snow. He didn't even try to stand and didn't like laying in it either.

Sitting he was happy as can be.

Here he is walking the cleared path on our patio that Gizmo uses. He would've been about waist deep in snow.

Sadly, we haven't been up to much more than this. We went to our neighbors for the Super Bowl - Ryan fell asleep on me. We were thrilled to have Meema and Meepa visit over President's Day/Valentine's Day weekend. We also enjoyed dinner with our friend Joanne. On 2/17 I'm having my first day off in 16.5 months! We'll have to see what/how Dean does with Ryan. Don't know what I'm doing - just that it won't involve cooking, cleaning, laundry, or grocery shopping!

Gizmo

This time around, I decided to make Gizmo the star of my posting. Recently a few friends have had major health issues with their pets -some resulting in the pet being put to sleep. That topic is not discussed in our house, Dean nor I can't imagine our lives without Gizmo. From day one, she's been a member of our family and will continue to be so. And whoever says dogs are dumb and don't have personalities or a sense of humor has never met ours. Whether it's getting excited at key words (car, walk, out-back, treat, Meema/Meepa), waiting patiently for permission to be granted to eat her food, or making the nightly trip up to the bedroom to steal our spot by laying on our pillow, Gizmo surely is one of a kind. So I decided she finally deserved some web attention too.


Since Ryan is mobile, this spot on the couch has become Gizmo's sanctuary. She tucks herself up on this pillow and naps. Ryan really has to stretch his arms to reach her. For a few more weeks she is safe here from the little menace. However when he cries, she is the first to jump down to see if he's okay. That being said, she also knows when Ryan's doing something he's not supposed to and that Dean or I are going to holler - she'll jump down and search for safer grounds.

Gizmo's worst trait is that she periodically will chew or hide things while we're away. Some may call it separation anxiety, but I swear she's getting revenge for being left alone. Of late her favorite target is Ryan's diaper bag and the items in it. She's gone through 3 plastic formula/snack dispensers. Usually she leaves the item in the middle of the floor for us to see upon our return. However, recently she chewed the cap to one dispenser and hit the rest. I knew she didn't eat the whole container, but it did take a couple of weeks before we could find it. I finally spotted it in our dining room behind our china cabinet. I have NO idea how she got it back there.

While looking for the formula container, I went on a search through the couch cushions to see what else she had stashed. In the past she has "hid" granola bars, sleeves of saltine crackers, and pork chop bones. I don't know if she thinks we're aren't going to feed her or if she feels remorse for chewing. Nonetheless, it cracks me up everytime I find something new.

This is a fruit strip bar that was in Ryan's diaper bag, it ended up DEEP between the couch cushions.

In this cushion (again deep down), I found a rawhide (she isn't a fan of chewing them) and 2 Halls cough drops. Lord knows where she got those from.

And in the corner of these cushions was part of a treat she didn't eat. Talk about a treasure hunt!

A few days after I found the plastic dispenser, Gizmo chewed an old wooden spoon I'd given to Ryan to play with. I found bits and pieces of the chewed handle, but not enough to constitue the whole spoon. She was never sick, and the scoop part of the spoon has never reappeared. Maybe during my next treasure hunt something will pop up.

Ryan is also becoming quite the fan of Gizmo. He now notifies us when she's at the door ready to come in.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about the funniest member of our family as much as I have had recalling some of her stories. WE LOVE YOU GIZMO!