Halloweaning Ourselves Off the Candy

We've had so much fun this past weekend. Ryan's school had their Halloween party on Friday. I'm usually the only parent there, but I don't mind. It's too fun to miss.

Ryan and his buddy Zach...known for being the first kid to ever bite Ryan. Happened around 10 mos old.

Zach, Ryan and Jonathan. Well, look who hasn't eaten their fruit yet.

All the kiddos in the class. I missed them in their costumes. They just woke from their naps by the time I got there. One little cowboy was still asleep on his mat. Two classes are in here. The other classroom is being painted right now, so they're merged for the time being. Definitely not this many normally.

11pm Friday night text message came in from my bestest friend Kim saying they were heading out to the Loft coffee house in the morning. "See you there." The whole Kruger clan arrived hungry and ready to be caffinated. Fun seeing all the kids, but believe the Ryan and Abby Show was hands down the fav. They're hysterical together. Abby is forcing Ryan up to her step to take pictures.

She got what she wanted...."We're taking pictures." Can you get cuter?!

Fruit Loops and cinnamon roll (aka donut to Ryan) have kicked in.

Halloween night we headed to Hudson's house to trick or treat. Ryan hogged the wagon the whole time. Thank you to the parents that loaded him in and out at every house. He HAD to ride in the wagon.

This was the cutest ever! One of the houses had The Great Pumpkin Patch projected on their garage door. Ryan was mesmerized! Candy and t.v.....what more does the Toot need? Thanks to the Sturms for such a fun time trick or treating!!!!!

Last Family of Three Vacation!

My sweet friend Elizabeth let us stay in her lakehouse this past weekend on Lake LBJ. While there, we visited Sweet Berry Farm. This farm has a wildflower crop (crop???), pumpkin patch...the real kind, hay rides, paint your pumpkin stations, lots of picture spots, goats, boats with pumpkins, every kind of pumpkin, Fall foods to eat, and so much more!

Have you ever seen such a thing? These pumpks truly looked like they had peanuts on them. I'm telling you...every kind of pumpkin!

While this place was great...it was PACKED. I chose to wear a black shirt, jeans and my birthday Uggs...so I got a little cranky b/c I was hot. Again, it's all about me. So, we snapped a pic here, snapped a pic there...and bolted!

The first thing Ryan wanted to do when he saw the pumpkins...try to pick them up. When he realized that wasn't going to happen, he just wanted to turn them over, making them roll. So, we shifted his focus...

...to a hollowed hay bail (is that what they're called?). He LOVED this. Sun was beaming down, so we moved on to the goats.

Then, Mom FINALLY found the tractor. A friend of mine took pics with her little boy on it. I was destined to find this tractor. Why the fascination with tractors?! Well, Ryan LOVES the movie Cars, and one part of it is Mater going "tractor-tippin'". He just laughs and laughs at the tractors. So, all bull-dozers, back hoes, diggers...they're all tractors to him.

Mom and Ryan attempt #1

Ryan, I got my hiney on the ground, now get back here and help your momma out!

Attempt #2...ladies hiney in the background.

In the neighborhood of the lakehouse, they have a private park with a beach in it. So, we took the golf cart over to the beach and let Ryan play in the sand and water, while watching deer graze in the grass behind us.

He felt so big walking up and down the dock. Sweet baby Ryan...you'll always be my baby boy!

A Weekend of Me!!!!

Casey threw the most scrumptious birthday brunch for me on Saturday morning! Thank you Case, for such a yummy meal, and my friends for helping to celebrate my birthday!

Here's a little taste of a Casey-feast! Nerissa made the yummy green salad. We inhaled an egg casserole, potato tart, pigs-n-a-blanket, and for dessert....bread pudding made with cans of cinammon rolls!

That night, Baby Toot #2 was celebrated (but I like to say that I was celebrated) at Fralo's pizza! Fun place to sit outside, bring your own wine, and chow down on their pizza with good friends.

Sweet Courtney set up the evening to help welcome Baby Tootle. Thank you Courtney!!! Your cupcakes were DELICIOUS!

One of my dearest friends, Rachel is expecting the first part of February. She looks radiant! Truly! Love you, sweet Friend.

Some of you have seen pics of Ryan with his buddy Holden! He's the CUTIE PIE with the glasses. Ryan and Holden are three weeks apart. Our #2s, are due a week from each other! YES, just a week...Nerissa carries babies very well!

Aunt TT, Ali and Kelly! Ali (in the middle) is due in April!

So, my genius sister-in-law (Aunt TT, above), called me out on the fact that I still don't have a name for this child. (Although I'm almost positive it will be Samuel). So, here I am trying to figure out what in the world she's trying to tell me with the letters.

Fun weekend for sure!!!! My birthday was pretty special as well! (Tuesday). Rod surprised me with breakfast in bed!!! I LOVED every bite, and smiled through the entire meal. Made me so happy. THANK YOU, ROD!!! xoxo

OCTOBER 4TH - Big Day, Big Bed!

October 4th will forever go down in the Tootle history book. Ryan had two of the utmost significant milestones for a two year old.
1. He pee pee'd in the potty with an audience consisting of mommy and dada. We were high-fivin' all around. AND,
2. Ryan slept in his big boy bed last night for the first time!!!! With Nama's help, we said adios to the guest bedroom, and made it Ryan-ized. Ryan LOVES his new bed. He even said to Rod, "I like this." It was really sweet. We had to bribe him out of his room (not 100% safe yet) with some juice.

Ryan went down like such a champ. It was just like any other night. I didn't bother with a book or anything. Lights were out, and he stayed in bed and fell asleep.

Now, where did we go wrong?! And, by "we", I mean "I". Mommy woke probably every hour, checking the video monitor, making sure he stayed in bed. Well, around 4am, I found no kid in the bed. So, I went in to his room, and he was lying on the floor with his blankie. I'm not sure if he fell off or if he let himself down and just fell asleep there.

I got him back in bed, and he said, "No. No." With a quick urge, I wanted to just put him back in the crib, but decided to push forward. I put him in his bed, and crawled in with him. I kept checking his dozing eyes. Then, said "Momma's going night, night." He said good night to me, and that was that! He went to sleep, and I continued to check on him by the hour.
We still have a few more things to do to his room. (wall art, cover outlets, hide cords, anchor down the dresser, etc.). Otherwise, we're complete!

He was so excited to have all of his night-nights (blankets) in his new room. It was so funny. One happy camper!!! Now, let's hope we have the same luck we did last night. I'm thinking it may be a bit harder b/c this morning I asked if he liked sleeping in his big boy bed, and he simply said, "no."

Our Pad in Maine

One mansion of a reason to want to stay another week. This was our house for seven days! The balcony is gated in, so Ryan was free to roam to his heart's desire.

Ryan's room is the one with the three windows (same size), just above the balcony. Rod and I retreated above the garage. Now, let me tell you...that garage can hold four cars. It goes way back....and, our master suite, does the same thing!

I loved this kitchen! Everything had its place, nothing was crammed and more than two people could fit in it. The opposite of that, defines my kitchen.

This is where we sat outside the majority of the time. It overlooks the water!

THANK YOU RUSSELL AND MILLIE for such a beautiful home to retreat to, and the opportunity to truly RELAX while on vacation!

Tootles in Maine!

Click LOBSTER to view all of the photos! Enjoy!!!

These are just a few to wet your palate.

Celebration dinner for Mimi and TT's birthdays.

Booth Bay....my favorite.

TT and I on the balcony watching the sunset over the water.

Ryan's Belly Shot

When we ask where Baby Parker is, he usually points to his own belly. So, now my kid thinks that a belly button is called a "Baby Parker".

32 Weeks!

ROUND 1: Ryan Donovan at 32 weeks


ROUND 2: Parker Stewart at 32 weeks!

Maine pics to come!

Pregnancy #2 Thoughts

1. "Hi, Esophagus? It's Stomach. I'd like my stomach-acids back."
2. How is it that I wake up every two hours (restroom usage or not), on the odd hours. (11pm, 1am, 3am, 5am, 7am...rise and shine)?
3. Only nine more weeks to go....as of TODAY!
4. Parker, just because I wear too tight maternity pants, doesn't mean you need to climb into my ribs. Hate to tell you, there's no room there either.
5. Did I take my PNV???
6. "Rod, do you think I'm bigger this pregnancy or last one?" Rod: "You look the same to me." Ah nuts.
7. I blame Jana Wascher for introducing me to Costco's bite-sized lemon cakes. Wonder if eating five of those will show up on the scale?
8. Excited Parker will have a buddy to pal around with. Rachel's having a boy in February!!
9. Am I really in this size???

On a Lighter Post....

We went to Sea World a couple of weekends ago. We got there at 10:30am, and left at 12:30pm. Benefits to having season passes. We did all the toddler activities, and bolted before it got too crowded and too hot. Truthfully, it was all the walking I wanted to do anyways.

The above picture makes me laugh. My belly looks like a dog sniffing the fence. One of the FEW Mommy, Ryan & Parker pictures. (Might be the only one).

I think Ryan thought this ride was LAME-O. Rod was particularly intersted in when the ride ended. My husband is always such a good sport with things like this.

Parker and I hung out together the whole time.

My ghetto-fabulous child. I couldn't keep these short on him. Ryan's almost 2.5 years old, and these shorts are 18 mos.

Love this of Ryan. He's playing in a "splash zone" type area. It took him a while to warm up to the idea of actually getting wet...which turned in to being soaked.

A Little Bite with a Lot of "Bite"

Problem #1: We let a mosquito bite, well what we think is a mosquito bite, get infected. Friends of ours babysat Ryan while we were at a wedding on Saturday. That night, they made mention of a bite on the back of his leg that looked infected. Sunday morning, Rod poked the bite and let me tell you... it was like a geyser of pus and blood. Soooooo sad. That night, after much discussion with a few of my mom's friends and Millie (Mom in Ohio), we headed to a med clinic. Problem #2: We were seen by a man probably triple my age. Problem #3: We were sent home with no antibiotics, no ointment. "Just put some black slav on it."
Tuesday finally rolled around (Monday was Labor Day), and we got an appointment with Ryan's pediatrician. After looking at Ryan's leg, she was appalled, and quite furious at the neglect from the med clinic doctor. Ryan had to have his bite sliced open to allow the infected bite to drain. Problem #4: a very hormonal, pregnant mommy. I was bawling as I tried to calm Ryan and blow on his face to cool him off while he was SCREAMING. With all we've been through with Ryan, this was hands down the hardest for me.


So, what are parents to do with a wounded solider???? SPOIL HIM!!!! And, that's just what we did. As soon as we got home, I plopped Ryan in his chair, and turned on Cars. Then, allowed him to drink Hawaiian Punch with no water to dilute. In addition, I made buttered-pasta, apple sauce and a hot dog for dinner....smack dab in front of the T.V. Rod wasn't at the doc's office to witness the nightmare, but when he got home, he walked in with a big Toys R Us bag. In it....a Cars racetrack.

So, was the track for Ryan, or Rod????

Rod??

From the point I plopped Ryan in his chair after the "minor surgery", it was as though nothing had happened. I, on the other hand, was traumatized.

Ryan was put on an antibiotic to treat a Staph infection. In addition, we have a topical antibiotic that we put directly on his bite. He'll get two baths a day, for 20 minutes to soak the wound to help keep it open and draining.

HUGE THANK YOU to my mom's wonderful friends who kept checking on us while my mom was out. And, an even bigger thank you for Millie loving me as though I were her own child.

P.S. Millie (MiMi) is guilty of the act of spoiling. We met at Willie's today, and she had a Cars box, and Dinoco and Dinoco's wife!!! Whoa!

Moving to a Big Boy Bed

...not quite yet, but we're making our way! He doesn't know this, so yet another secret I need you to keep from him. We've decided to forego an additional crib and move Ryan to the other room. To properly welcome him to his new residence, I plan to have his entire room done so he'll be super-duper excited! (Am I wishful thinking???).

Anyways, after Stacy helped me settle the sleeping arrangements, I quickly started looking for bedding for Ryan. And, I found his duvet! Hip, hip....HOORAY! I plan to find some "toddler-fun" sheets for his bed to go with this duvet. I figure Ryan will think the shambre sheets were lame. (I do).

Now, I would love to have all that wood work on the walls of his room, but since we'll probably not be living in this house long, we'll just be painting. We're thinking a dark khaki, with a possible chocolate colored wall, or alternate the two colors. We'll see. I'm loving these colors. What do y'all think?

BREAKING NEWS!!!

Yesterday, Ryan used the potty twice! Once in the morning to pee pee. And, then again in the afternoon to poo poo!!!

Lately, he's been asking the teachers if he can use the potty. The past several times he's had a little stage fright. Check out this boy's report card. (kind of fuzzy...sorry).

The two smiley faces on the right represent "success". I will continue letting this be Ryan's timing, but I had to share this b/c I was JUST FLOORED when I read his report card. FLOORED!