Burp!!

Ryker's sense of humor has really been developing lately. He cracks up at the most random things. A few days ago he let out a loud burp, and I said "oh that was a good burp!" and for some reason he thought that was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. Now whenever he hears the word "burp" he starts to giggle. He's such a boy. Already burps are funny. Here's a "burp" video for you.

Baby Sister - All Grown Up!!

Tomorrow my baby sister Michelle is getting married!

Michelle is one of my all-time favorite people. I remember in the days after she was first born (I was 8 years old) I would wake up in the morning and think, "we have Michelle today!" and then I'd jump right out of bed. We have been close our whole lives.

Michelle is someone I can be myself around. We can act a little crazy when we're together, which I think is how we would always be if we lost our inhibitions.

I am so proud of her! She has done amazing things with her life already, and she's chosen a great guy to share the rest of her life with. We're excited to have Nick now in our family.

Congratulations Michelle! I love you!

A Paw for Christmas

I'll post about Christmas later, but I wanted to show everyone Ryker's "Christmas Paw". On Monday night he burned his hand on the fireplace. Poor little guy is so fast and so eager to pull up on everything - Josh ran to stop him but just didn't get there in time. He screamed for two hours while we ran his hand under cold water. When his little hands turned into blisters, we decided to take him to urgent care. They took great care of him, and wrapped his hand, gave him some meds, and then a sucker. This was his first taste of candy, and I think he thought the whole experience was almost worth it just to get the sucker.

It was so horrible seeing him in pain! I would have done ANYTHING to take his pain away. I know that feeling pain is part of learning and growing up, but I just want to hold him and protect him from everything for the rest of his life! It did help me put things in perspective. This was a relatively minor injury, and he is otherwise healthy and happy. I know there are so many kids out there who really are sick, and it must be so hard for their parents. I am so grateful my little guy will be back to normal in only a couple of weeks.

Here are some pictures of his "paw". They were taken the next day and as you can see he was feeling much better. We will probably need to keep it wrapped for a few more days to avoid infection. He must wonder why we took one of his hands away and left him with only a paw. It's a lot harder for him to pull up on things, but he's incredibly adaptable. He's already using his mouth to help hold on to things. But, I'm sure he'll be very happy when we give him his hand back.

On Christmas morning, Ryker's Grandpa Andersen decided to give him a hand for Christmas. I don't think it was exactly what Ryker had in mind, but he was a good sport about it.

Santa's Lap

I finally took Ryker to sit on Santa's lap last Thursday. I was worried he would be scared, but Santa was so nice and cute with him that he went right to him. You can see from the picture that he had a great time!

Eight Crazy Years

Eight years ago today Josh and I got married. Last night Ryker slept over at Josh’s parents’ house, and we went out. We had a great night enjoying the rare alone time. We were able to reflect on our relationship and how happy we are together.

Leanne: are you still glad you married me?
Josh: absolutely
Leanne: you don’t wish you married [insert several X-girlfriend names]
Josh: nope, you can’t make a ho into a housewife
Leanne: you’re so romantic

Here’s to 80 years more! I love you sweetie!

Don’t mess with the binkie

Last Saturday we attended the annual Harris Family Christmas Party. We had the traditional great-grandkid nativity pageant, opened our traditional Christmas ornaments, and had our traditional family fight. Well, okay that last one isn’t so much of an annual tradition, but it’s been known to happen on occasion. This year it was Ryker who started the scuffle.

One of Ryker's step-2nd cousins 3 times removed (or something like that) came up to him. He was about 14 months old and was just starting to walk. Ryker was sitting on my lap, and I had him lean forward so the two babies could “talk” to each other. Well, next thing I know the other baby was on the ground screaming. Apparently he had stolen Ryker’s binkie. When he turned around to walk away with it, Ryker grabbed him by his hair, and pulled him to the ground. You don’t mess with his binkie.

I of course apologized profusely to the family for the pain my little angel caused the other kid, but in my mind I was thinking “well what do you expect when you steal a kid's binkie!?” I’m afraid I’m turning in to one of “those” moms...

Clapping!

Ryker learned how to clap yesterday and he's so proud of himself! Here is a short video. For a few days he's been flapping his arms like a bird, and then yesterday his hands finally came together. I think he's been trying to clap for a few days but could only flap!