Ryan turns 30, and becomes a man.

Okay, so he was already a man. But still, turning 30 seems like a pivotal point in life.

So for Ryan's 30th I wanted to give him something special. I took the idea from our friend Lizzy and secretly got in touch with all of our family and Ryan's friends to have them write notes to Ryan for his birthday. They were mostly about what they liked about Ryan or memories they shared. I then gathered them all and put together a little book including pictures of the contributors. It turned out great! Ryan really loved reading what everyone had to say. Thank you again to all who contributed!Grant's favorite part of the birthday was helping Ryan unwrap this gift. I knew Grant would want to help so I wrapped Ryan's book inside of 3 other wrapped boxes, to stretch out the fun.

Instead of a birthday cake Ryan opted for a tray of huge cinnamon rolls all for himself. I obliged, being caked-out myself. He also took a plate of peanut butter bars to school with him on his birthday, so I think he made out pretty well. Both of these were supposed to go onto the food blog but I forgot to take pictures and what's a food post without good pictures?

Since we are training for our 1/2 marathon we were due to run 8 miles on his birthday, but it was unseasonably cold and windy and we just didn't feel like running. Instead we took advantage of Chick-fil-A's coupons and got a mostly free dinner and then headed over to COSI kid's museum and had fun playing without the kids. On Saturday, Ryan was able to go to a shooting range with several of his co-residents and brought back a target with all 15 shots from a 45 pistol right on the bulls-eye. I guess this shouldn't be a surprise since Ryan once took out a running rock-chuck with one shot from the passenger window of a speeding pickup truck. (Don't tell the police. Ryan later informed me that it's actually illegal to fire a weapon from a moving vehicle.) These just must be skills you pick up growing up in rural Idaho.

Another birthday surprise was we got a call from some raffle we had entered to win a car. We didn't win the car but the travel company that put in on asked us to come listen to their sales pitch for an hour and in exchange they would give us a free cruise for two including airfare. We went and listened (didn't buy but may have if we had money) and now Ryan and I get to go on a free cruise to the Bahamas in the next year. Now that's a nice birthday gift!

"Good day to you, sir!"
(His hat is actually the box that normally holds our series of Narnia books. Good times.)

So tired.

I always love the pictures of kids who fell asleep while eating. My boys have never done that (I think they are too interested in the food). So when I came downstairs after my shower and saw this, I figured it would be as close as they will get.

He wasn't eating, but he was in his high chair. We had gone to the gym this morning and I normally wait to take my shower during Tate's nap (I don't yet trust Tate to roam free with Grant while I shower). I didn't want to wait so I put on a movie and strapped Tate into the seat to keep him safe until I finished. I guess he was just too tired.

And just for fun...
a couple of days ago I found Tate in the bathroom like this. Good thing we only use that potty as a stepping stool now. Not that he would have cared :)

Mean Treadmill=Broken Back?

Let me explain. Ryan and I have signed up to run the Columbus 1/2 marathon in the beginning of May and so the week had arrived for us to begin training. Since all the roads outside are still covered with way too much of this:

(that is, lots and lots of snow...not Grant) I have been forced to try to get some runs in on the treadmill. We do not own a treadmill but luckily enough our complex has a gym we can use. Last Wednesday night I decided to try to get a little running in after the kiddies were in bed.
I get to the gym and the only treadmill available is the one where you have to look at an angle to see the TV. But, slight neck strain is better than no running for the night, so I step on, ready for some exercising and Olympic ski race watching.
All is going well until about 4 minutes into my running it all becomes too much for me. One second I'm watching the Olympians fly down the mountain and the next I'm flying (in slow motion apparently) off the treadmill. As I flew off the back I thought, "am I really falling off the treadmill right now, in our crowded neighborhood gym? So when is the part when my face gets road-rashed by the spinning tread?" Finally, my body does make contact with something, thankfully not the spinning tread, but my back lands right on the sharp edge of the treadmill next to me. I couldn't help but let out a yelp to which my neighbor runner hopped off his treadmill to see if I was okay. Of course I jumped up saying "Yeah!!! I'm Okay!!!" Umm, not true... I got up on the treadmill ready to pick back up where I stopped, but quickly rethought that once the pain set in (kinda felt like someone had just hit me in the lower spine with a baseball bat). So I sit down on the ground and pretend like I'm stretching. After a minute of that (all the while the bat-back-beating continues) I think I'll go redeem myself on the elliptical. I stand in front of it, wishing the bat would stop smacking my spine, and then slowly back away to get my coat and leave. So much for that training run.
On the way home I call Ryan to tell him I may have broken my back from falling off the treadmill and I hope I'm not paralyzed by the time I get home. The paralysis talk is just the nurse in me being crazy and thinking up every possible problem that could result from back trauma. I know it's highly unlikely that would result from my fall but I put myself on spine precautions regardless (basically I keep my back as straight as possible with no crazy twists or bends).
The next couple of days are filled with back pain and me worrying that my toes are starting to get numb and tingly. I try going to an urgent care to get checked out on Thursday, but after waiting for 2 hours and still not seeing the doctor I have to leave to relieve the babysitter. I go back and forth between just waiting it out or trying to see a doctor again. But since I'm a worrier, I go to another urgent care on Friday night. One x-ray later the doctor diagnoses a possible spinous process fracture (the part of your spine you can feel on your back) and orders for me to have a CT scan to further evaluate. Unfortunately, I can't get the scan done until Monday. So, the weekend continues with back pain and me being extra careful not to do any windmills (you know, those bent-over twisting toe touch exercises from junior high PE class). And FYI, if you spend a couple days picking things up off the floor by doing deep knee bends and not bending your back, your knees grow angry and start hurting too.
Anyway, I finally get the CT scan and just tonight the doctor calls me with the report. Thankfully, there were no fractures!! Woo hoo, my tingly toe is not related to spinal cord infringement!! The report said I did have some herniation, but the doctor thinks it is likely to recover on it's own with rest and Ibuprofen. I'll take a little herniation over a broken bone any day, thank you.
So the moral of the story: always get on the treadmill with the TV right in front of you, I know I learned my lesson :)

Our Baby is One!

This past Thursday was Tate's first birthday. It's hard to believe that it has already been a year since we had him. He is such a sweet little boy and has brought so much joy to our family. Here are some of the reasons we love Tate:
He loves to smile and laugh and gives a big grin to everyone he meets
He loves to cuddle and give big hugs (I mean it, he grabs around your neck and squeezes with all his might. He loves hugging!)
He has the cutest waddle/walk ever and is constantly on the move
He likes to figure out his own solutions to problems (like the time he spent 5 minutes trying to get the toy stroller up on the couch to push and finally succeeded--at which point I immediately took him down because it was dangerous)
He's starting to communicate better with pointing and gestures (and squeals)
He loves to have fun and play "chase" with Grant
He loves to read books and be read to
He's basically just an all-around sweet boy and we just love him!!

Grant was probably more excited for the birthday "party" than Tate was. Grant did a nice job helping to open Tate's presents and wished Tate a happy birthday about 20 times. He's a great big brother.

One of the ladies at Ryan's school wanted to make our family some super-hero capes. She made us each one and we decided to unwrap them at Tate's party so we all (especially Grant) could have something to open. Here are the boys in their capes. Ryan and I each have one too and so far Grant has requested we wear them every evening and "fly" around the house.

Tate got his own cake and enjoyed it very much. He was a pretty clean eater, too. He mostly crammed fistful after fistful of frosting in his mouth and laughed when we asked him if it was good. Grant enjoyed huge bites of cake and ice cream at the table next to Tate and gave a mid-bite "m-hm" when asked if it was good. What's a guy to do? There's just no time to talk when there's delicious cake and ice cream to be eaten. Such sweet boys!! I plan on posting video for the grandparents in the next couple of days.

Birthday & Life

The years really do go by more quickly the older I get. I really felt like Christmas had just finished and then my birthday is here already. Where does the time go? I had a really nice birthday with my cute little family. We had some treats from friends, a couple presents, and the traditional Big Fat Chocolate Cake (bonus this year: check out our food blog for the recipe and more pictures).

Grant was kind of sad that it was not his birthday, but he was still nice enough to help me blow out the candles.
Ryan and I also went out this past weekend to BD's Mongolian BBQ to celebrate and eat way too much food. I think we made ourselves at least 4 different stir-frys each and did pretty well finishing each plate. It was yummy! Sorry, no pictures!

In other news, life continues as normal in the Wood household. Here are some of the "normal activities":

Grant has now given up his nap so when I can, I like him to have a "quiet time" while Tate takes his afternoon nap. On this particular day Grant was being more quiet than usual, except for the occasional bang of a toy. I knew he was probably not just reading or playing cars quietly, but I was enjoying the time to myself too much to go check on him. When I finally went to get him I found the floor of his room completely spotless with practically everything he owns on his bed with him. He looked at me and said "Mommy, I was cleaning up!". Nice. Ryan, the eternal pragmatist, took advantage of the empty floor-space by vacuuming before we unloaded the bed.

Grant is staying true to his Wood heritage and beginning to discover the joy of weaponry. He told me the other day he needed to go to the store and buy a sword so he could hit some mean men. Not sure where all that came from... Since we don't own any swords, Grant and Tate battled it out with kitchen utensils. It doesn't really look like a fair fight but Tate was having so much fun I guess it didn't matter.

This normal activity happens all too regularly. For some reason Tate finds it extremely satisfying to pull all the baby wipes out of the container. He's fast, too. Once I finally hear the swoosh of the wipes being pulled out he's already emptied half the container. If I didn't have to put them all back I'd probably find it satisfying too.

The Manliest Man

Ryan convinced a few of his co-residents to not shave over the Christmas break and then to come back and compare their facial foliage. They called it "Don't-Shave-December". After the post-Christmas comparison each person could then decide what to do with their man-hair. Ryan held true to the deal and grew more facial hair than he's ever had in his life. He even held on to it for an extra week after returning to school. I had actually started getting used to it. But when the time to shave finally arrived, Ryan couldn't bring himself to make a clean break with his new-found manliness. The following series of photos were the result. (He wore each of these to school for a day.)

Which one is your favorite?

The Irish Prize Fighter
a.k.a. The Dock-hand

The Classic Handlebar

The Dirty Stash
a.k.a. The Tom Selleck

The Rhett Butler
a.k.a. Jaque

When Ryan finally shaved off the last of his facial hair I could have sworn I heard a faint, deep bellow of sorrow come from the last hair that fell. It was truly the passing of an age.

Girls Weekend

Last weekend I escaped to the other side of the country for a fun-filled weekend with my old college roomies. It's been at least 5 years since all of us have been together and it was great to see everyone and hang out in 70 degree weather. The best part, we all got to leave our kiddies behind and do whatever we wanted to do. (Well, Jenna brought Addie but she's such a good baby you could barely notice she was there).

Some of the fun things we did included:
eating, A LOT, at some really yummy places
going to the beach
getting pedicures
walking around, enjoying the weather
shopping
having pillow fights in our underwear (okay, that really didn't happen and no I've never done that)
having a baby shower
sleeping
hanging out and chatting with the girls

Thanks ladies for an awesome weekend! Let's not wait 5 more years to do it again!