The Carlson Family: May 2012

Ryker Andrew just turned 11 months old! Absolutely crazy! He is literally into everything now. I can't keep him out of anything! He is so fast too. Like a little blur crawling around here. He is such a cutie though. There's no way I can be mad at him. :)

I have recently had to child-proof cabinet doors. We also had to cover the edges of the coffee table, his bed, and we got a lock for the TV cabinet. It's been a learning experience for sure. We have also started using the octagon thing as a barrier instead of a cage. It's working out better to just contain him to a specific area. Toys litter the floor 24/7, and he is pulling up on everything. He has stood without holding on to anything a couple times, but he isn't taking any steps yet. We try to have him walk with our help, but he only does it sometimes. He isn't that into it...yet. Guess I will count my blessings for that.

I just sent out invitations to his first birthday party! I SERIOUSLY CAN'T BELIEVE IT! Here's some 11 month pictures. They are so much harder to take now.

I have been taking a lot of pics the last couple months during the days while we are just hanging around the house. I haven't really had a blog to fit them into so here they are. They range from the end of March until last week. Also, included is a recent day trip to Mamaw's house. :)

Ryker's first taste of formula...at 10 months old! He began weaning from BF at that time. He took to the transition easily, and I was so greatful. That made it much easier for me as well. He was weaned within a couple weeks. :)

The three of us headed up to Dallas a few weekends ago for a visitation trip. We headed out on Friday morning about 9, and we made it there fairly sane that afternoon. Ry doesn't like to sleep much in the car anymore, which I definitely miss, so he watched Baby Einstein on the IPad so many times. Nick and I had our fill of that show on the way there and back. The IPad was a lifesaver!

Anywho. We made it to town around 1 that afternoon, and our first stop was at Premier Diamonds. I lost one of my diamond earrings about a month ago. Nick gave them to me for Valentine's Day in 2009 so I could wear them at our wedding. I was seriously crushed and devastated on the inside, but I remembered how much worse things could be on the outside. I am trying hard these days to remember that I am very lucky...no matter what is going on at the time to bring me down. I was able to pick out a replacement pair no problem. Imagine that! :) Thank goodness for home owner's insurance. My advice...place your valuable jewelry on your policy. It's TOTALLY worth it!
After the jewelry store, we went to the hotel and checked in. I stayed back with Ryker hopeful he would take a nap...he didn't. Nick went to the PGA Store to check out some golf clubs and things, and once he was back we hung down by the pond nearby with Derek and Amy's brother, Zack. We made dinner plans for that evening with Kailey, Nick's step-sister. Her and her boyfriend Billy met us at the hotel, and we headed to dinner at Tin Star. It was so good...as always! Once back at the Shops of Legacy, we all had some ice cream, and then we retired for the night. Ryker was really tired.

Saturday morning we had breakfast and then headed over to Nick's Grammy's house for a visit. Grammy, Aunt Debbie, Amber, and Austin were so excited to see Ryker since they haven't seen him since August. BIG difference between now and then. We were over there for a few hours, and Ry loved playing with all of Austin's toys. They were new to him so it was really fun! He LOVED it. We could tell they all enjoying having a visit from us...especially Ryker. It was nice. :)

Nick only had 2 requests for the trip: Top Golf and In N Out. After we left Grammy's, we went to grab some lunch and then I dropped Nick off for some golfing fun. Ryker and I went out for a bit of shopping while Daddy played. I got Ryker to fall asleep in his stroller, and I just walked around shopping while he napped. I put him in the carseat, and he stayed asleep. AMAZING! We all headed back to the hotel for some down time before we headed to the Byrd's house that night for dinner.
Bret and Vicki invited us all over for dinner at their house Saturday night. The Kousers and Derek and Amy were there as well. It was a fun time, but Ryker was kinda off that night so he wouldn't go down for bed at all. He stayed awake until 10:30. It was a bit crazy, but I had to adjust. Dinner was great too. We all played this really cool football game that Bret had that involves glow-in-the-dark footballs and glasses. SO cool. We also watched some of the Mavs game. I LOVED it because they lost! :)

Sunday morning we packed up and headed out for an early lunch followed by some shopping at Buy Buy Baby. It's a Bed, Bath & Beyond for babies. It's such a cool store...wish we had them here. We bought some neat stuff for Ryker's birthday. We then headed over for a playdate with Nick's friend Lindsay's baby boy Conor. It was nice to see Lindsay and her hubby again, and the boys had a good time. I didn't get any pics, except on my phone, because I realized that day that I had left my camera at the Byrd's. :(
We headed out for home when we were done at Lindsay's, and we stopped along the way to grab dinner at Bucee's. Nick loves their sandwiches! We also stopped in Dew so I could visit my Papaw's grave and leave him flowers again. <3 It was a very productive and fun trip. We got a lot of visiting in, and we can't wait to go back up there again soon.

Ryker was having a blast in the hotel! He loved the mirrored closet door.