solving for x

nigel has been the best dog at not playing
with ryker's toys - unless ryker teases him.
on sunday, ryker was throwing a ball down
the hall, pointing, and saying "GO!" to nigel.
nigel would give us half a glance and then
take off to fetch the ball.

ryker would be fine with this until nigel
would refuse to drop the ball. at which time,
ryker would get mad and yell "No, Doggy, No!"
eventually we would have to get nigel to drop it.

this game went on for a while and we could
tell nigel was getting frustrated with not being
able to chew on the ball. so our (surprisingly) brilliant
puppy decided to solve the problem himself.

the game between ryker and nigel stopped and
we didn't think anything of it until graham noticed
ryker's toys scattered in the backyard.
apparently nigel's solution was to take ryker's
toys to nigel's playground (or at least to where
ryker can't easily access them).

smart puppy!

on an unrelated note, ryker had his 18 month check up
he is doing great and his asthma is under control!
he weighs 32 pounds (94% percentile) and
is 36 inches long (97% percentile).

i heard you can double your kid's height
when he is two years old to get an idea
of how tall he'll be when he is an adult.
if that is true, ryker is well on his way
to being over six feet tall.

last night we were reading ryker's usual bedtime books
(his choice and he rarely deviates from his favorites;
my personal favorite is when we are done with one book,
he'll flip it back to the front and say "more."
oh good, i eagerly anticipate the climatic ending to see
if our hero keeps norman the fish! anyway, i digress...)

ryker surprised us with his new animal sounds.
as i turned to a new page, i asked ryker where the fish was.
he pointed, made a fish face, and opened and closed his mouth.
later, we were reading barney's animal farm book and
ryker pointed to the duck and said "ducky QUACK QUACK!"
what a funny kid! i love seeing him learn new things!

so we'll add these to his current list of animal sounds:
dog = sticking out his tongue and panting (just like nigel)
cow = moo
cat = some kind of high pitch noise
lion, bear, tiger, monster = a very quiet roar
pig = pushes up his nose and blows his nose or shakes his head
bird = open and closes his hand (imitating beak movements)

we are so excited for christmas with this kid and promise to
post tons of pictures (including some of ryker giving santa
high-fives at our family brunch last sunday)
happy holidays everyone!

it's official

we had the 'big' ultrasound last week
where the doctor measured our little baby
and confirmed what we saw in the first ultrasound
(and what i figured based on my cravings
and carrying this baby so much lower than ryker)
we are definitely having a girl.

she is healthy and super active.
we are getting more and more excited
about the idea of having a little girl.

and we think this guy is excited too.

thanksgiving

happy thanksgiving to all our friends and family!
we spent the wonderful holiday with our families.
graham's brother sean cooked one of the
best thanksgiving dinners. it was delicious!

i'm so thankful for my wonderful family,
friends, and all of our blessings.
i love the magic of this beautiful season!

the first snow fall

evening the teams

yes, it's true. we are having another baby.
and it's a girl!

so as graham says, the teams are even.
two parents
two kids
two dogs
two boys (or three counting nigel)
two girls (or three counting kylie)
one family

baby girl weddick is due in april.
we are still getting used to the idea
that we are having a girl.
of course, aunt ashley and aunt nic
are both so extremely excited.
not to mention the grandmas!

ryker is going to love having a sibling.
a teacher brought one of the infants
to ryker's class the other day.
ryker grabbed a toy car and sat down to
play in front of the baby,
letting the baby touch the toy.
he loves playing with other kids and
seems fascinated with babies
(even if it is short-lived).

as far as the pregnancy goes,
it has gone very well.
i've been more tired this time
(and maybe slightly more grumpy)
but i think that has more to do with
chasing a one-year old around while being pregnant.

i waited a while to say anything
because i needed to tell my new boss.
i dreaded the "thanks for hiring me,
i'll be out for three months next year"
conversation but as i should expect at this company,
my boss was very excited and supportive.

so now graham and i are increasing our focus
on selling our house and finding the next one.
we want to move before the baby comes
but ideally want to move before christmas
(that's only six weeks away!).

anyway, we are extremely happy and
excited to start telling everyone the good news!

boxing

my mom has taught her dogs to box.
she'll say "katie, let's box"
and katie will sit on her back legs
and lift up her front paws and
move them like she's boxing with my mom.

it's very funny to watch and
last night was the first time
ryker saw the boxing and
he was amazed!

ryks immediately ran to katie,
bent over so he was at eye level,
and started swinging his fists at her,
apparently trying to
get her to box with him.

katie looked terrified
(she is already cautious around ryker)
and we were all dying from laughter.

ryks is definitely starting to steal the show.
graham and i spend every evening
watching him play and figure things out.
and we can’t think of a better way to spend our time.

loving the season

i love this time of year!
with yummy warm soups and foods,
playing outside,
leaves changing colors,
the smell of the fall air,
great fall styles, including boots,
and hanging out with family and friends.

we had a great halloween weekend.
ryks was a hot dog and was the hit
of the school parade and parties.

the friday before halloween,
graham's work had a parade for the kids.
we took ryks through the maze of cubicles
so he could trick or treat.
ryker quickly grasped the concept and
ran as fast as a hot dog can
from each cubicle to the next.











friday was also sean's birthday so
we had the family over to celebrate
and to take some pictures
for grandma and grandpa weddick.

with our crazy busy schedules,
gray and i decided to do pasta salads,
which we could prepare everything
the night before.
also, the weekend before,
my mom had my family decorate
cupcakes and we all loved it.
so i had graham's family decorate
cupcakes for sean's birthday.
with the creative genius of
laurie, cami, and ellie,
i think the whole family
had a lot of fun.















(kami - i'm so sorry i spelled
your name wrong. i will fix this pic!)


on saturday, we went trick or treating
in bountiful where we spent the evening
playing with family and old friends
and of course, watching the utes.

lucky kid

ryks is a very lucky guy.
because his aunt nick is the coach
for the woods cross high cheerleaders
(who took first at state last year,
which was nick's first year coaching them.
seriously, she is amazing),
ryks gets to spend football games
cuddling with the cheerleaders.

"o'doyle rules" and other funny stories

graham's brothers and my brother
will be very pleased to know that
i finally played a successful prank.
i always try to play pranks
but always get caught.
(they say i'm not sneaky enough).

well, graham got played.

gray kept kicking the soccer ball at me.
annoyed, i told him to stop "or else."
knowing that "or else" is a harmless threat
he continued to kick the ball at me.

resolved to finally get him back,
i taped rows of clear packing tape
across the frame of our bedroom door.
i quickly got ready for bed
and turned out the lights.

i eagerly listened as graham
walked upstairs and down the hall.
moving at a good speed, his face smashed
right into the rows of tape.

i couldn't stop laughing for ten minutes.
it was hilarious to see his face
smushed up in the tap. it was even better
to watch him peel the tap off his face.

hey graham - "o'doyle rules!"
i guess "or else" is something to contend with.

my second funny story is about ryker.
ryker is now learning animals and sounds.
when we ask him what a piggy says,
he puts his finger on his nose and pushes it up
and instead of snorting,
he blows his nose.
he is the funniest kid!
this age is definitely my favorite.

the third "funny" story is only funny because
(generally) it is funny when people fall.

i started my new job this week.
sorry about the cliffhanger last time -
i was recently promoted to communication director
for our parent company. so i had to leave some
really good friends and projects and move
to the downtown offices.

the first day on the job
did not go as well as expected.
around 10:00 a.m. i decided to head to the
food court to get a drink.
i started my descent down the marble steps
when somehow i fell.

i don't know what happened but at the end,
my shoes were still on the top step and i had
tumbled, rolled, and stopped on the last step.
i was mortified but only had one spectator.

now i'm sporting no less than five spectacular
bruises on my legs and top of my feet.
i am completely fine so now people can
laugh at my first impression on the
first day of my new job.

when will i outgrow clumsiness?

change: part one

one of my favorite lines from little women
is when jo march says:
"change will come as surely as the seasons,
and twice as quick"

as graham and i head into
our own season of change,
the thing that has made me the most emotional
is ryker starting a new daycare/school.

ryks' previous daycare was full of amazing
women who loved ryker so much and
took wonderful care of him.

however, it was time to switch ryks to the
daycare/school just down the hall
from graham's office.
this new school is awesome and places a
major emphasis on education.

so ryks and i said good bye to friends last week
and he started his first day
at the new school this morning.

graham just called and reported that ryks
instantly liked his new teacher.
ryker didn't even have time to
wave good bye to his dad
before he was off playing with
new toys and new friends.

kids are resilient and moms are emotional.
i'm glad ryks handled this so well.
now it's time to worry about
finding a new home soon and
starting a new job next week.
all in a day’s work.

lake tahoe

we had a great time in lake tahoe.
it was wonderful to spend time together
and do what ryks likes to do during the day.
during our trip, he/we learned the following:

• ryker now shows people his belly button
• he loves to do "touchdown" with his arms
• he makes noises when playing with his cars
• he covers his mouth when he laughs really hard
• he is very demanding when he wants something
• "mom" and "more" sound (and mean something) very similar
• ryker loves sand and water
• and he LOVES soccer - we'll post a video of him playing
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

kiss for mom

as we were driving back to our hotel
after a day at the beach at lake tahoe,
ryks was in his car seat saying,
"mom, mama, mom, mom, mama"
when i turned around, i saw
he was trying to give me his sippy cup.

about ten seconds later, i heard
"mom, mama, mom, mom, mama"
when i looked back
he smiled and blew me a kiss.

my heart melted.

shave and a haircut minus two naps

we finally decided to cut ryker's hair
now he looks like a little kid
instead of a toddler!



i guess with this new grown-up look,
ryks thinks he can get away with
skipping his two naps, which makes
for a very tired kid at 7:30 p.m.

a is for artwork

is case you haven't been an active follower of this blog,
ryker is a huge kid. just ask the babies at his school.

at home, ryks loves to sit down next to the dogs
and then fall back on them to cuddle.
apparently ryks does the same thing to babies
who are sitting on the playtime mat.

to solve the issue of human pillows,
ryker's teachers started putting him in the
two and three year old class for activity time.
this means we now get artwork every day.

the class just started the alphabet.
this week, ryks brought home colored pictures of
ants, acorns, apples, and more.
(this usually means we have an impressive
piece of art with four crayon lines.)

i love all this artwork but hope i'll
balance my tendencies to save everything
with the realization of the amount of
artwork coming our way.

and because i know people (grandmas and ashley)
prefer pictures on this blog - i found some.
i came across a couple more from
the rio tinto family night.

ryker throws everything and now has a great arm.
here he is practicing his soccer throw in.




and this is one of my favorite pictures of mad max.
he is an adorable baby - absolutely perfect.

weddick cousins

it took a while but we
finally got a picture of
the weddick cousins!
we had a hard time
getting all of them to
look at the camera.
but i figured
grandma and grandpa weddick
would love any pictures.

blink

we blinked and july was over.
summer is my favorite time of year.
we have enjoyed swimming,
lazy days,
fireworks,
wonderful visitors,
family parties,
and
great friends.

somewhere along the way,
ryks learned to walk,
starting saying "uh oh"
(at appropriate times),
learned to blow kisses,
played with the hose,
watched soccer games,
and continued to
grow up so quickly.