:: week with daddy home ::

Brady did it. He passed his first semester of PT school. It was a hard and busy semester for both of us. The transition from just working and having Brady home to hang out every night to school and Brady having to study like a mad man and only talk to me for about an hour for dinner every day was much harder than I had expected it to be. But we are figuring things out. 

Brady had this past week off of school and we took full advantage of having daddy home for a first. We played tennis and Brady was worried that the ball would hit Ryker in the jogger so this was his way of protecting him. Good thing no balls came even close to him. 

Ryker had a ball napping while we played tennis. We have missed playing and are very excited to have courts just outside our apartment. 

Brady retrieving our ball we hit over the fence. He had to climb through these poky bushes but he says it was worth it for the extra 7 balls he found. 

After playing tennis we were all hot and tired and decided to hit the pool for Ryker's first time. 

This little guy adores his daddy and loved having him around all week to play. 

Ryker even got to take a dip in the pool. I for sure thought he would not like it but to our surprise he seemed pretty indifferent. 

We ventured out of the city to Amicalola Falls for some hiking. It was nice to be out in the woods and smell the fresh air. 

If you look in the middle of the trees at the top you can see the top of the waterfall. We are down at the bottom in the picture. It was a total of 1200 stairs from top to bottom plus some switchbacks. Needless to say my calves and booty were very soar after our little hike. 

I bet you are wondering "what in the world is this?" This is a treasure we found on our hike. It was a log with all of these mushrooms growing out of it. We found it interesting. We had never seen something like this before. 

Here is the view from the top of the waterfall. This view took our breath away. In the distance you can see the Appalachian Mountains. 

Ryker enjoyed the hike by doing what he does best - sleeping. I know ya'll thought I was going to say eating.

These cute kids from Utah/Mississippi came to visit us this weekend and it was a blast to have friends from home. We love our friends here in Georgia but we miss our friends back home also. 

Friday night we hit up the Braves game at Turner Field. It was mine and Ryker's first time at a major league game. We decided that we better become Braves fans now that we live here and I even think I want a t-shirt to wear to my next game. They are kinda cute. 

It started to rain and the Braves were getting killed so a bunch of people left and we were able to get seats 3 rows up from home plate. The boys were very excited about this. 

On Friday nights they do an AMAZING firework show after the game. They were better than 4 of July fireworks. 

Our little thug.a.lug. 

Happy Birthday to Me! I had the best birthday week with my two best guys. I even got to go shopping and it has been so long since that has happened I forgot what it was like to try on a million things. It was super fun. New outfits always make me feel so happy!

Brady was super cute and made me a birthday cake and he and Blake even went to 4 different grocery stores to try and find my favorite ice cream (blue bell caramel kettle crunch) and no one had it. Bless his heart for driving all over searching for it. 

Sunday night the birthday festivities continued with dinner and games at Van and Lori's. It was a blast playing a new game with friends. We miss game nights with our friends and are happy we have found some gamer out here in Georgia. 

Ryker is working really hard on his smile these days and I love it! 

Life is good. 

:: 1 month young ::

yesterday my baby boy turned 1 month young. 

he is 12 lbs. and 22 inches tall.

cool ryker things:

* he can hold his head up on his own

*he is learning how to smile 

*he loves to look at me

*he is an amazing spiter upper 

*he  loves to eat a lot

*he loves to snuggle bug

*he loves to take naps in the jogger while mom goes running

*he knows my voice

ryker loves to hang out in his rocking chair on the counter while i make dinner. he was enjoying himself while we sang primary songs. 

i love baby bellies. they are so silly looking. 

kicking the camera away. he was done with my photographing. 

i love when his tiny little hand clasps mine like this. 

showing off his church duds. ryker was a hip and cool kid at church. his hair is lightening up it will be interesting to see what color it ends up.

mommy's handsome guy.

does he look like he is mine?

last week lori and i had an adventure in atlanta. we were planning on going on a tour of the governor's mansion but ended up driving around for 3 hours looking at these estates. it was fun to just drive slow and try and see the houses behind all of the trees. i guess we will head to take the tour another day. 

i love that lori loves to go on adventures and that i have someone to explore with me. 

reagan and ryker were great sports. they slept most of the drive. 

:: Busy Bee's ::

I know I know I have been awful and not updating ya'll sooner. It has been harder than I though to find the time to mess around on the computer. I am finally getting the hang of this "mommy" thing and I am now feeling better about life and able to function. 

It was so wonderful having my mom here with us for the first week. It would have been a very rough transition for me without her help. Thanks for being so AMAZING mom! You are the BEST!! We had so much fun having PJ parties watching Bones, eating yummy food, reading out by the pool, playing Skip-Bo, late night chats, going on walks, and getting lots of cuddles in while Nana was here. Ryker and I miss my mom very much and can't wait to see her again in a few weeks for Ryker's blessing. 

This is what we would call a "typical" Ryker face. He came into this world wearing his "curious" eyes. We are still working hard on getting Ryker to wear his "happy" eyes. 

This little man LOVES to eat a LOT! In the day he eats about every 1.5 - 2 hours and boy oh boy does my boy love his mommy's milk. I thought his little milk mustache would make the perfect "Got Milk" ad. 

For Ryker's 1 week birthday party we decided to venture out to the wonderful World of Coke Cola. Nana has been here before but it was a first for me and Ryker. We sure did have fun learning the history of how Coke was started and how fast it grew to be a world wide company. It was also cool to see all of ad's from around the world. Nana's favorite part was watching the commercials and my favorite part was the 4D show and tasting all of the Coke drinks from around the world. Some were tasty and were not so tasty. I felt like a fly stuck to one of those sticky tape strips because the floor was covered in spilled soda. I was certain my flip flops were going to break and I would be shoe less Linds (like shoe less Joe Jackson - name that movie).

This is how we sleep best here at the Wood house. Or should I say this is how Ryker sleeps best in the mornings. 

Ryker is a major snuggle bug. He made sure to give Nana lots of loves. 

Getting ready to take Nana to the airport. Silly me I put Ryker in the car seat and then realized that we needed to get some pictures before Nana left. Woops. 

I love my mom so much! It was so much fun having her all to myself for 2.5 weeks. I really do miss living 15 minuets from her. 

This would be our little "Mr. Burns" hands. 

Snugg.a.bug time with daddy. 

This is how we roll just before bath time. Ryker loves to make sure he is extra messy at the perfect time. 

Going out for our morning walk. Ryker loves to nap so I can exercise. Its wonderful! 

Ryker's umbilical cord finally (it only took 3 weeks) fell off last night so he could have a real bath in his bath tub. He loved it. No screaming just chilling and yawing. 

So I am pretty sure that his hair is going to be curly but not stay dark. It is looking lighter and lighter every day. I think he is going to have my color of hair and blue eyes. 

I don't really feel like a mom yet even though I have this little man who hangs out with me all day. I think it will hit me soon. But we are enjoying life and trying to enjoy every moment. This little guy is already growing so fast and changing daily. I have waited my whole life to be a mom and now that I am one it all seems like a dream that I am going to wake up from. We have been very blessed with such a healthy happy baby. He only really cries when he is hungry or needing to burp so I can't complain. I will say that I am loving life now that he is sleeping 3.5 hour blocks at night. Who would have thought that 3 straight hours of sleep could feel like heaven. I love my boys so much and I am so excited that Brady only has one more week of school and then he gets a week break to play with us. Ryker is going to loving getting to spend time with his daddy and I can't wait to smoke Brady in some games. I missing staying up late playing cards in bed with Brady. But its OK because I know that we are where we are supposed to be doing what we should be. A few weeks ago I was thinking that this is going to be a long lonely 3 years but now it seems like it is flying by. We have already made it through the first semester and it has gone by oh so fast. 

Now its time to plan our adventures with daddy for next week. I am so excited to do some exploring of this city and cities near by.