Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday, dear Ryan....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

Happy 33rd Birthday, sweetie pie! We hope you find a way to enjoy it even though you're far far away from us. We love and miss you soooooooo much! This will serve as a gift certificate for one yellow cake with chocolate frosting and all the kisses you can handle!

To everyone else: these are pictures from the early birthday dinner we had for Ryan before he left. Enchilada pie, cake, presents and friends...it was a fun night!

Eric, Shawn and Wanda sent Ryan a yummy Edible Arrangement

See the 33 made of pineapple? Neat, huh?!

Opening some gifts after dinner

Hanging in there....like a hair in a biscuit

As I said before, Ryan is currently deployed. He'll be in Kuwait for a little while before he heads north to Iraq. He left out last Thursday (well, he actually didn't leave until the wee hours of Friday morning, but we said our "see ya later's" late Thursday night). I (and Caroline, of course) am holding up rather well, considering. We had our first crisis 2 days after Ryan left...the garage door broke...on a Sunday. I asked a neighbor to help me get it closed and found out that his house had been broken into the night before. Needless to say, I feel totally and completely freaked out a bit uneasy about staying here alone. ADT is coming tomorrow to give me an estimate on a security system. That, a glock and a big ass dog would make me feel much more secure. =) Anyway, say a little prayer for our continued safety and check out some pics.

Daddy and his Mini-Me (sporting her red, white and blue outfit...festive, don't you think?)


Daddy snuggling while Caroline plays with his patch

The family


The doorbell rang on Friday...this is what I found when I answered it.

He's not even here and earning brownie points. . .I have the best husband in the world! Love you, Ryan!

p.s. Our home is open to visitors...y'all come see us!

Inchworm

Caroline has been trying to learn to crawl. She has most recently been inchworming (yes, I just verbed that). Sasha (poor, poor kitty) has been her target. Check her out...sorry its so dark.

It's been a while. . .

Hello, strangers! Sorry for my recent absence, but it has been a very busy time here in the Cryer home. As many of you may know, Ryan has left us girls behind to deploy to Iraq for a year. It sucks a WHOLE LOT isn't the ideal situation, but we are adjusting well and we're already ticking the days off the calendar (even though the real countdown hasn't even begun yet).

Ryan's Mom and Dad spent 3 weeks with us before Ryan left. We spent a few days down in San Antonio and did some touristy things. We visited Sea World (SHAMU ROCKS!) and visited the Alamo and the Riverwalk. We enjoyed it all so much! I think Ryan and I are going to try to go spend a weekend (baby free) on the Riverwalk once he returns from Iraq. Ryan and Grampy kept busy with some home improvement projects. We added a chandelier in the entryway and over our jacuzzi tub, tiled above our shower, added a fan/light combo above our shower, added tilt outs to the master sink false fronts and built a swing set for baby Caroline. Everything turned out so well and I'm enjoying all of it!

One thing that deserves a paragraph all its own: I've got a story for you. Ryan's Mom ordered some jeans off the internet and had them shipped to her home in Alabama. The night we returned from San Antonio (it was VERY late), she was chatting on the phone with Eric (Ryan's middle brother) and he told her that he'd shipped her the jeans since he knew she'd be here for a while and would want to have them. He sent them UPS and thought they might've arrived already and told her to check the front porch. When she opened the door, he handed her the package! He and Shawn (Ryan's oldest brother) drove ALL.DAY.LONG on Friday to surprise their brother. It was wonderful having them here (even though they were only able to stay the weekend) and we put them to work while they were here. Shawn helped Ryan tile the shower and Eric spent lots of time spoiling his niece. I think fun was had by all.

On to Caroline. She is 7 1/2 months old now and growing like a cute little weed. Her first Easter was a huge success. . .the Easter bunny tried to hide her basket in the oven, but it wouldn't fit! He left it for her on the kitchen table. She's now almost crawling. She's "inchworming". =) She took her first "crawl step" this afternoon, so I'm sure she'll be all over this house in a week or two. Her first tooth is breaking through as I type. Lots of exciting things are happening!

There have been lots of pictures taken over the last month or so. Instead of posting them individually, I'm just going to post them in slideshows (some of my photos were too large...these will have to do) . Now, for what you've all been waiting for...

Sea World

The Alamo and Riverwalk

Home Improvements/Easter

Little Lion?

Ignore me in the background. . .

Wakin' Up Happy

I had to lower Caroline's crib the other day and now she can't just lift up on her hands and see me over the crib. I went in yesterday to get her up from her nap and this is what I found.


Smarty Pants learned that she could pull the bumper pad down and see me through the spindles of her crib. =)

I wish I woke up feeling this good. . .



p.s. I think crawling is imminent. . .

Hippity Hop...

Easter's on it's way!

Daddy's Little Girl

Caroline loves snuggling with her Daddy!

New Obsession

What is that in these pictures?



Anyone have a guess? Take a closer look. . .

They’re cloth diapers! I toyed with the idea of cloth diapering Caroline before she was born, but we got six months worth of diapers at Ryan’s diaper party so the idea kinda went out the window. The diapers started running low and after I bought my first case of disposables ($40!), I started doing more research on cloth. I was on the fence for a while, but after Caroline got a stubborn rash my decision was made. I was totally disgusted so excited about the idea of dunking, washing and reusing diapers, but it really isn’t a big deal at all! I’ve come to enjoy it. . .well, as much as you can enjoy changing diapers. =)

Oh, and did I mention that she LOVES them?