a new adventure, just when we needed it most...

An opportunity literally just fell into our laps. A friend of mine sent me a message letting me know she knew someone who was looking for about 20 hours of childcare a week for their 16 month old - in exchange for an apartment in their beautiful home.  This was yesterday.  24 hours later, we're packing!  We met the family this evening - they have a gorgeous house and three super sweet kids.  The older 2 are off at school during the day - so Brent and I will have Ryland and their baby.  Ryland and baby J were instantly best friends - exchanging binkies, waving, and a huge kiss on the mouth!  We are so amazed to get this opportunity when we weren't even looking for it - when we need to save money so badly right now.  

We're so excited about: living in such a cute neighborhood (Viewridge), being a couple blocks from an awesome park, being next to the PCC (yum!), having an extra 400 square feet of living space, making new friends (the family is great!), having a washer/dryer to ourselves (I can do diaper laundry ALL THE TIME!), hard wood floors, a big grassy yard, and of course free cable, wifi, and utilities.  And I love this little baby we'll be watching- SUCH a sweetie.

2 downsides.... 1) there's one bedroom- but it is GIGANTIC.  I think I'm going to buy a room-dividing curtain from Ikea, so Ry-Ry still has his own space.  2) It's just a temporary situation, and we'll have to move this summer as the family is moving to California around July-August.  BUT we are very much looking forward to putting all the money we would be spending on rent during these next 6 months into savings and toward our debt snowball.

HUGE sigh of relief.  We're feeling so grateful.  

Follow our Year

365 days in a year - 365 pictures in this blog.

Everyday = 1 picture to sum it up.

The goal is not to post beautful pictures... but one that summarizes our day well.

Enjoy (click picture below).

Aquarium

12th man flags were EVERYWHERE!  

and I mean absolutely everywhere

octo-baby

baby meets octo

the aquarium = best place for photography.  How cool is this!?

and this?

The jellyfish arch was intriguing for little man

when the jellyfish turned blue - so did Ry-ry

We liked this guy

Ryland most liked the tiny fish.  He tried to catch them through the glass.  Only the cutest thing ever.

snack break!  Rylie-Steve is such a big kid now

He was a little freaked out by the spray from this waterfall

The fish wall was a great place to practice walking

hey mom, I can blow bubbles.  Just like a fish!

we really don't go downtown enough.  Love this city!  Even in the grey and rainyness of winter.

New Year, New Goals

Happy 2011 to all our friends and family that follow our blog!

Brent and I made some resolutions for the year: most of them regarding fitness and organization.  My biggest resolution for the year is frugalness.  I went through all the advertisements sitting in our mailbox and clipped coupons for the first time in my life a few days ago and man, does it feel good to get those DEALS!   2010 was incredibly hard on our bank accounts. I quit my full-time job, had a baby, and brent did 6 full months of a non-paid internship.  With all the state budget cuts, teaching jobs are incredibly hard to come by right now.  Thankfully Brent became a substitute before the hiring freeze (he is away at a sub job right now)  Don't worry family, we're doing okay.  We've just had to learn to live a different lifestyle! We used to go clothes shopping and take vacations...  But I'm hopeful we'll get back there one day soon.   I'm mostly very thankful for my job that gives me so much flexibility that I am able to juggle it while still being home with the baby boy most of the day.   

So we are not sad to say goodbye to 2010, because 2011 can only lead to good and more profitable things!  Our hope for this year:

*Brent gets a teaching job - or at least a full-time position with benefits somewhere that lets him use his degree he's worked so hard for

*I finish my coursework to become a BCaBA (board certified assistant behavior analyst) - missing those letters from behind my name is what is holding me back from getting more work right now.  Being board certified is pretty much required to be a servicer in the eyes of insurance companies (but let me take a moment to say I am so happy there are more insurance companies covering our services... even if it means me going back to school.)  The BCaBA should help me out until I can finish my masters degree.  

*we move to a bigger place, in a REAL neighborhood.  I want to be walking distance from a playground... and I desperately miss my art room (all my materials are in storage to make room for Ryland!)

*Arrange our schedules so Ryland rarely needs childcare (we love to be with him!)

*pay off our car and one of our credit cards

There are the big goals - I think each one is attainable :)  

Who's 9 months old?

 This guy, that's who!

We love this little man, but he is CRAZY!  This child only stops to sleep - otherwise he is non-stop on the go.  He still has a funny crawl, but he is super confident with it and really FAST.  Some things he's doing this month:

*Pulling himself up on anything he can get a good grasp on

* forgetting he doesn't know how to walk - and ending up with a lot of bumps and bruises when he tries to wander around from furniture to furniture

*talks all the time, and consistently says "Hi!"  He doesn't always use it appropriately, but sometimes he does. We might consider it his first word...

*Waves to everything.  He's been waving for a couple of months but suddenly is a social butterfly and has to "hi" and wave to everything in his path.

*He's happiest when he's up on both legs "walking" - I'm getting serious back problems from "walking" him around the house

*He loves his mom and dad - and would much rather us to be holding him that anyone else (sorry, grandparents!)

*Shelby is his best friend, not sure that feeling is mutual though

*He signs "all done," "more," and "dog" all by himself

*when I feed him something he doesn't like (like chickpeas), he furiously signs "all done!" It's hilarious.

*He eats pretty much anything, and adult-sized portions of it

At his doctor's appointment, he measured 28 inches (that was a big growth spurt for him!!)  but he weighed in just under 18 pounds.  This puts him pretty low in the percentiles (can't remember exactly what it was, I'm so bad!)  The pediatrician wasn't concerned at all, said something to the extent of "well, it looks like he is really active, so I'm sure that's why he's on the  small side."  Definitely seems to be taking after his mama in the size department!  I think he's cute being so little - as long as he's healthy!  And man, does this kid have a healthy appetite!  On top of nursing, he eats solids 5 times per day now.  The other night for dinner he had: 1/2 fillet of fish, 1/2 an apple, 1 cup of veggies, 2 pierogies, some mac and cheese, grated cheese, and a mango smoothie.  Seriously, he sometimes eats more than I do!  He's also a pretty adventurous eater.  For instance, he much prefers his fish with spicy black pepper marinade than plain. He loves tabasco sauce.  He accidentally got a haldful of spicy andouille sausage the other day and was in heaven.  He's making grandpa Keith proud, for sure. 

This guy is growing up way too fast, but it gets more and more fun everyday!