Happy Birthday Ryan!

Photo of us at the Houston Rodeo two weeks ago, another story for another time.

Ryan's birthday came and went while I was in Utah for a wedding and to visit my family. I feel badly that I missed it and that Ryan had no one around to help him celebrate the day. (They brought a cake into work, but it's hardly the same thing.)

He waited for me to get home before opening most of his presents, and from the quantity and quality of them - it is obvious that he is very loved by friends and family. I love Ryan so much and wish that there was a way to give him everything that he deserves. Here is a list of gifts I would get Ryan if we had limitless resources.

- a nice house in Orange County with a back yard
- a professional organizer (or Shannon) to come out and organize our apartment down to the last napkin
- itemize a list of 100 items that are essential for daily life, and throw the rest out (Ryan prefers a minimalist approach to life) - one knife, one fork, one spoon, one plate - kind of thing
- a day of personal shopping with StyleGuy from GQ
- a haircut from a place that charges more than $10 (Ryan is a sucker for the lowest price haircut, then invariably comes home angry and with a horrible haircut)
- a good job with minimal stress and minimal commute time (hey, we can dream - right?)
- fly us all to Los Angeles for a double birthday party with his birthday friend Paul
- hire a lobbyist to help nominate him for Ohio and Dayton's "Favorite Son"
- hire hot-shot to sue North Carolina to remove their "First In Flight" claim
- have Ryan Hall as a running buddy, and the time and money to spend as much time running and racing as he wants
- a tailormade suit where he gets measured and can pick out the fabric and the style; heck - a closet full of such suits!
- a personal tailor to make every clothing item to his exact specifications

I'm sure the list could go on and Ryan deserves it all! We make do with what we have, and I will make him a Rainbow Chip* cake and we will have a splendid birthday celebration. I love Ryan and feel so happy that he is my husband.

**note to Courtney and Paul - Ryan has since thrown off allegiance to Funfetti and now embraces Rainbow Chip as the most festive birthday cake. It not only has confetti-like appearance of Funfetti, but you can also taste and chew on the little Rainbow Chips.

Swim Time!

Lisa arranged a week-long guest pass for us at her ultra-swanky gym so that we could use their pool. It was very fun and got Willa all prepped for our little apartment pool. Check out her cute little bathing suit cover-up from Claire.

 Willa already knows where our apartment pool is located. We've had to stop taking her on walks outside, because she makes a beeline for the pool and then screams and throws a tantrum when we won't let her get in. She has done this in very cold weather, when swimming outside in an unheated pool seems as unappealing as drinking hot cocoa on the Fourth of July. One of the (many) frustrating things about this part of the world is that they clean the pools all year but they don't heat them or open them. So, when it's 75 degrees in January, the water is too cold even though the weather is not. All the little neighborhoods have nice pools but they are only open in the summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day. What's the point of living somewhere that is warm in the wintertime if you are only going to open the pools in the summer? I mean, every state in the U.S. has pools open during the summer, but the real joy of a warm climate is being able to swim outside in the winter! Okay, get off that soapbox and breathe.

I wanted to record a few of the cute things Willa is doing lately.
- She loves when we use the computer printer and responsibly will grab the newly printed paper and trot it over to me.
- She knows how to work the drain in the bathtub and is a great tease with it. She will unstop the drain and sign "all done" and then she laughs and stops the drain, then unstops it again and signs "all done" Repeat ad infinitum.
- We have the keyless entry on our Explorer so she sees me push the buttons on the door to unlock it. Now she likes to push a few buttons and then reach for the door handle.
- I took her to the grocery store yesterday sans cart and she was so obedient! She stayed close to me, when she pulled something off the shelves she put it back when I asked her, and she even heeded the word "No" when she wanted to get something else.
- She understands the word no, but doesn't really obey if it's not convenient. She knows that she's not supposed to use the keyboard or the mouse, so she gets really close and puts one hand on the desk and looks at us. When she is into mischief, we get down to eye-level, take her by the shoulders, and firmly say "No" to her, then we try to redirect her elsewhere. I think it's actually effective, but she laughs when we do this and refuses to make eye contact because she knows she is being a stinker.

Spring Break

It's Spring Break and I am enjoying every minute of it! It is so nice not to rush to get off in the morning and to not stress about finishing lesson plans/grading/inputing grades. It's also nice to not have to drop Willa off with the babysitter. The last two days before Spring Break she didn't cry! It was miraculous and a blessing to know that she is getting comfortable there, but it still isn't home and it isn't me.

In celebration of Spring Break, I thought I'd post a few pictures of the college campus where I am teaching. It's a very sweet little place. It's small, but the buildings and grounds are very nice. All the trees and greenness reminds me of Indiana University - only about 1/100 of the size. The fun part about having morning classes is that campus is a bustle. It really feels like college with all the students walking between classes and little tables set up to highlight certain causes. At IU, there was always one table in the Humanities building where sorority girls sold pizza by the slice to support Darfur. That must have been the big thing back then. Kony 2012 table coming soon?

Willa has collected some of her favorite things right here. She is becoming very attached to her baby and likes to give her hugs while patting her on the back. It is so sweet.

Helping Dada roll out his calves

Finger-lickin' good!

Lisa bought some finger paints and invited us over to try them out. Finger paints, with toddlers? Yes, indeed. She set out a bunch of sheets and had visions of handprints on the walls, but it wasn't that bad. Actually, the babies weren't really interested in the paints at all. Jayden tried to each one of the cans - which gave him a joker-face. Willa liked to daintily put her pointer finger in a can and then lick it. I put a blue stripe on her belly and it was quite upsetting to her!

Jayden is a real ham for the camera. Willa was not in the mood, but this little guy always gave a huge smile whenever the camera flashed.

After a few minutes of them not really being into it, we put them in the tub and scrubbed them down. It was nice to spend a rainy afternoon with some friends. Willa is definitely entering toddler stage. Jayden was playing with my keys and Willa went over to get them from him. We thought she wanted to play with them, but she just brought them over and put them in my lap. I imagine her thinking "These are MY mom's keys and no one else can play with them!" Recently, she has started throwing tantrums in the morning when we have our smoothies. She wants to drink out of my glass instead of her own. I have even tried pouring her smoothie into the same type of glass as mine, but she refuses to drink from it. Instead, she screams, stomps her foots, points at mine, and often lays on the floor to cry. It's still pretty hilarious to me, but I've got a feeling that that won't always be my reaction to a tantrum.

Lately she has liked putting her toys in this little corner and playing.

Ducklings, make way for Willa!

We've taken a lot of trips to visit the ducks, lately. Here we are with our friends Lisa and baby Brayden! We met them at the library and they live very close. We see each other several times a week - whenever one of us gets tired of being the house, we text each other and usually end up at the park or somewhere together. They have a big house with all of Willa's exact toys, plus about one hundred other toys - so it is always a fun place to go visit.

Brayden turned one on Valentine's Day and you can see that he's about the same size or bigger than Willa. They love grabbing toys, food, and pacifiers from each other, and sharing sippy cups! Right now, Willa is king of the mountain because you can see that she has managed to wrestle away both bottles of hand sanitizer. She is sucking on one and holding the other in her hand. It's very interesting being with a baby boy and seeing how active and STRONG he is compared to little Willa. This baby boy has sports in his future.

A few days later, Willa, Ryan, and I ventured out to the ducks again. Look at the temperature change!

Ducklings, make way for Willa!

And... wearing her plastic stacking rings that she has repurposed into beautiful bangle bracelets! So fashion forward!