Meeting Santa

We went to a christmas party yesterday, it was organised by Andrew's work. A whole building is used and different things happen in each room. One room was a cinema another had 2 bouncy castles with soft play and ball pit another had entertainers and music and there was a Santa's grotto. Ryan was really excited to meet the big man himself and told him what he would like to get ( a Power Ranger command center) and was pleased to receive a present.

Christmas Tree

This is Ryan right after we decorated the tree he was really pleased with himself.

Update

I have been really busy recently, lots of overtime at work. I just can't say no - Christmas is hurtling towards us and i have been buying already. I have never Christmas shopped this early before. We have also been making Christmas cards.

Ryan is great, loving school they have just started to teach him Christmas songs so that they are ready for the Christmas Concert next month. Halloween went ok, Ryan refused to dress as any sort of monster so he went for Shrek ears. A few children came trick or treating and Ryan and i greeted them with sweets, Ryan told them not to take them all! Bonfire night was great, i was a bit nervous about taking Ryan to an actual display because he has always been so scared of fireworks but we had a chat and somehow it was decided that it was all about Power Rangers fighting(power Rangers are the new big thing)in the sky. We went to the beach and met up with a friend of ours and Ryan loved the sparklers and when the display began Ryan and his friend where too busy running around being Power Rangers to be scared or to notice the fireworks.

I have just started reading Enid Blyton's The Magical Adventures of the Wishing-Chair to Ryan, it's lovely having him sat still next to me for half an hour and i have his full attention.

This is Ryan 4 years ago today

Happy Birthday Ryan

Today Ryan is 4 !!!!

He has had a wonderful day, in fact a wonderful 5 days the longest birthday ever!

We have been to Ryan's auntie Ne Ne's and Uncle James house who gave Ryan a brilliant Dr Who themed party, Ryan's other cousin Jake came and Uncle Adrian and they all played pass the parcel. There was lots of food and funny balloons. Ryan really enjoyed his time there especially with Sam. When we left last night Ryan was so upset to be leaving, he screamed down the motorway to turn back, we almost did! he cried himself to sleep after about 45 minutes, when he woke up nearly 200 miles later he was in a much better mood, i love it when he's all dopey and talks so sweet and loving.

Today Ryan went to pre school and was so excited to get a card from his best friend Lani. He took a Dr Who cake which was shared a break time and he had 'happy birthday' sung to him. Ryan came home tired so we had some quiet time before attempting to make up one of his new Lego sets, that took over an hour. Then we played outside on his bike and Andrew came home from work. We then went to Sharkeys which is one of Ryan's favourite places which today he shared with a pack of brownies! there where no other boys there but Ryan didn't mind. After a hour we left and had fish and chips on the sea front, it was really nice. As i write this now Ryan and his dad are making up one of the other Lego sets, a boat, and of course Dr Who is on the Tv.

I know everyone says it but time has really flown by, it scares me to think about how quickly Ryan's childhood might go so i'm really trying to make every day count and every moment special i try to remember everything, but you just can't.

The jolly green giant and Homer, there had been a slight adjustment made to the giant(see the purple paint and writing) by the fathers for justice group.

Ryan & Sam

Sam, Steph (Ne Ne) and James

Sam's 1st tooth

We have had a very busy 2 weeks, Ryan's cousin Sam came to visit it was his first ever holiday (he's only 8 months old) and during his stay he grew his first tooth. Ryan really enjoyed playing with Sam and his auntie Ne Ne and Uncle James, though he got too excited sometimes. We went out and about every day and began to feel that we to where on holiday. We visited several local attractions like the Sea life centre, Monkey World, Abbotsbury Children's barn and of course the beach. We also went to a couple of the mother and toddler groups i used to go to when Ryan was a toddler. I think the one that both Ryan and Sam enjoyed most was Sharkeys, its an indoor soft play area. It caterers well for all ages. Sam enjoyed the ball pit and Ryan enjoyed climbing and running around with other children he even made a new friend. After Sam and his parents went home Ryan was feeling a little down so we took him for a picnic at Abbotsbury gardens, he loves it there it has lots of space and he runs around everywhere which tired him out very well, he fell asleep in the car after as we drove to see the Cerne Abbas Giant. I had seen recently in the newspaper that someone had painted Homer Simpson next to the giant and as Ryan likes the Simpsons i thought he would like to see it but he wasn't to impressed because i woke him up to see it, all he wanted was to get back in the car and go to sleep! Anyway i took pictures for him to see later. I have taken lots of pictures over the last 2 weeks and thought i would put them here. I nearly forgot! I did my sponsored walk last friday, i raised £85 and i really enjoyed doing it. I didn't think i would be so tired but there was a lovely atmosphere which helped. The weather was perfect and calm.It took me 2 hours to walk 10km so it wasn't that bad, i ached a bit for a couple of days after. Looking for my next challenge now.

I know i haven't blogged for ages now but i have been really busy. Andrew had a week off work so we spent a few days doing family thing like days out and visiting family. Then we decided to decorate and ended up doing the bedroom, bathroom and living room all at the same time. Everything is still upside down and the new carpet comes tomorrow. I have also been doing a few extra hours at work. Ryan has felt a bit neglected and it has really shown in his behaviour, we have had time out recently with his friend Reece and they both encouraged each other to do naughty things, we went to the beach and a nearby amusement park which they enjoyed but i didn't really, i spent alot of the time shouting at them to come back. Hopefully things will return to normal soon.
I have so far raised £65 for my sponsored walk on august 25th which im looking forward to especially the bacon butty promised at the end!

Yesterday after many months of frustration and bribery Ryan rode his bike for the first time. He has had a bike for about 18 months well he has two, one is a tricycle we got this in case he found it easier to use the pedals that are in front of him on the front wheel but it didn't make any difference. He finally succeeded on his Thomas the tank bike. He was really pleased with himself and with his Dad who finally got through to him to pedal ! The weather is awful today so we haven't found out if he has remembered how to pedal yet. Something must of developed in the last few days because he has got much better at playing the Wii and he is so pleased that i bought him Mario Party 8 to play. Also i have seen less resistance to him eating fruit, he's great with vegetables but not so great with fruit but this weekend he's had avocado, melon, pineapple, apple, strawberry, tomato

Sponsored walk

www.justgiving.com/aspkaw

Here you can sponsor me for the Weldmar Hospice Midnight Walk

Sports Day

Sports day was great, lots of children and their proud parents. The children where split into 2 teams red and blue, Ryan was blue. Then they took it in turns doing various activities, not your usual all racing to a line. No one was left out, a few children had to be helped along but it was good fun and all enjoyed it. Ryan was very good a dribbling the ball, i was quite impressed perhaps he will grow up to be a footballer! He only uses his left foot though at the moment. Each time it was Ryan's turn he really looked like he gave it his best and smiled throughout, he was so pleased that his Daddy was there and kept pointing him out to all his friends. Ryan got a lovely certificate afterwards which made him feel like a winner.

We have had a lovely weekend the weather has been great (got sunburn't not so great) went into town and bought a couple of board games Mousetrap and Snakes & Ladders. Ryan has enjoyed playing them and is getting much better at counting the spots on the dice. Not long left of the school term and sports day is on tuesday, Ryan has been running around practising for days he'll be worn out by tuesday.

I have decided to do a sponsored midnight 10km walk in august in aid of the local hospice, they where really good when my neighbour died a few months ago, her husband can't say enough about how they looked after him too in her final hours. I'm looking forward to doing it.

Wash Out

We (i) had so much planned this weekend but the weather has been awful. The one day that Monkey World is open for free it rains continuously and it should of been the local school's fete but it was a wash out. So we have tried to make the most of it at home together. Ryan has been someone else for most of the weekend ranging from Superman, Dr Who, Spiderman and this afternoon a Pirate. We where also given the appropriate role to play along with props. He really gets into it, sometimes a little too much. It has been quite funny too, he jumped on the bed with his dad in pirate mode and shouted " we are skinny lads aren't we dad ? " i think he meant scally wags. Also we had the radio on and Ryan must of been listening too and asked "whats a donkeymentry ? " We have been singing a fair bit too (that's why it rained) Ryan loves to sing along to the Lloyds TSB ad (http://www.tellyads.com/show_movie.php?filename=TA2428&advertiser=Lloyds%20TSB).

My prize

My prize has arrived, we have tried it out and it's really good, it will now replace our cheap Asda alarm clock which keeps me awake because the display is very bright. This one has a light sensor!

Ryan is really excited today because Dr Who is on this evening but it's the last one, we will have to get the series on DVD.

The Mystery Phone Box

To help the long hours pass that i seem to spend in my kitchen every day i listen to the local radio station, i often enter the competitions and have won a couple of times. One of their competitions involves a mystery phone box which they call a 9.35am each morning they give you a clue each day. A few weeks ago i knew where the phone box was and got there about 30minutes early to beat anyone else who had got it too. I had my little radio to hand and waited for the phone to ring and it didn't, not where i thought it was anyway. I was so disappointed and vowed never to listen to this part of the show again. Until this week ! and i was so sure i had worked it out, even more certain than before. So off i went this morning to the phone box location, this time i had to take Ryan with me. There was a women already in the phone box and i was sure she wasn't really talking to anyone, we waited for 20minutes and another lady arrived. She said she was waiting for a phone call at 9.30 from her mom. I then knew i had got it right this time. The women got bored and went off.The women in the phone box didn't and as 9.35 came i saw her put the receiver down and i asked her if she was waiting for the radio station to call and she said yes. The phone rang and she picked it up, she couldn't hear them ,the phone wasn't working properly! She called me and Ryan into the phone box to help, i couldn't get it to work, so i phoned the station from my mobile and told them the situation and they talked to me as if i had won, i explained that both of us had turned up and that the other women had been there first. The prize was a coffee machine, not really something i would use anyway. The women looked on worried i was going to take her prize, but the station agreed to sort something out. They phoned me back and took our details, i insisted that she got the coffee machine and the radio station said that's OK if I'm happy and they offered me a different prize, a DAB radio alarm clock worth £110 , which was more than the coffee machine, i didn't tell the women this. So after being disappointed twice, by a stroke of luck i finally won the mystery phone box competition. Ryan was brilliant throughout all of this, he didn't really know what was going on but i rewarded him later with a trip to the library which he loves, and we got there just in time for story hour. I will be waiting for my prize to arrive and let you know what it's like.

Today when Ryan finished preschool he was full of excitement and energy (he's normally shattered), he had been taken to the local primary school to watch their sports day and the preschoolers took part in their own race, he told me he didn't win but was pleased that his friend had. The preschool have their own sports day in couple of weeks which Ryan now knows and is in training for.

One of Ryan's favourite Tv characters is Sportacus from the programme Lazy Town. It's great, funny and very energetic, really encourages kids to move about and eat lots of 'sports candy' fruit which they learn from the main character sportacus, without the sports candy he wouldn't be able to move so fast and save people. I've really noticed the effect this has on Ryan who watches it whilst jumping around and munching on a apple.

Ryan made this at school yesterday, Ryan is on the left, i'm in the middle and his Daddy is on the right.

Ryan's Art

This as you can see is a strawberry and it's the best painting Ryan has done so far. He was inspired by the strawberries we are growing though we haven't eaten many because the birds like them too but Ryan says he doesn't mind sharing.

The beginning

My son Ryan is absolutely great i really can't say enough about him, he is my number one topic of conversation and i bore people for hours just talking about him.

At 10.01am September 11th 2003 Ryan was born and i feel my life as well as his began, well i can't really remember much before him. I couldn't sleep for the first week not just because of his hunger but because i didn't want to take my eyes off him, i (we obviously) had made something this perfect! He smelt gorgeous and looked so beautiful.

I knew nothing about babies when he was born i knew everything about being pregnant, so i learnt on the job and listened to advice from others and read lots of books normally during the night after his 2am feed! seemed more peaceful then. I found What to expect the first year a brilliant book easy to find answers everything spelt out clearly just what i needed. I didn't find much help from my team of midwives just contradicting advice. I listened to friends and family and was really grateful for any advice but only you can decide whats the right thing to do for you it can get quite confusing.

I quickly got used to being treated differently when we went out and about, are pushchairs really invisible? not anymore you just keep going and people soon notice you coming. I did get lots of help on buses though. Mother and baby groups where a good chance to show off, mines bigger than yours and all that. All seemed the same after a while but i did get a cup of tea made for me.

Some people are prepared for the birth and the baby months before they have even conceived but you can't prepare yourself for how isolated you feel, especially during those first months.It takes all morning to get your baby ready then you think of yourself, by then its time for yet another feed and change. I was always late for everything. The huge bag of supplies needed to survive outside of the house was bigger than my baby. Its all very tiring and easier to stay in but you got to get out and then you don't feel so alone.

Ryan has always been a granny magnet, in bus stops and supermarkets they would flock around him, he's a big one isn't he they all used to say then they looked to me and said well your big built though, i had many conversations like this. The older they are the more honest the opinion even though i hadn't asked for one. Yes i'm over weight but my son isn't. He was 9lb 4oz born and in perfect proportion to the rest of his beautiful body, and still is. Anyway Ryan has always been very happy, quite easy to please, Andrew (his dad) made him laugh by waving a empty envelope in front of him at 2 months old, why did we buy toys.

Weaning was a bit of a struggle because Ryan loved his milk so much but we got there, everyday for 2 years he had weetabix for breakfast, now at 3 years he has cheerios or porridge or weetabix.

Ryan started at the local preschool at 2 years old just for an hour and a half a week. I don't know who found it more difficult, we would both end up crying. The staff had seen it all before and soon got rid of me, i stood outside the building listening to the cries it was awful. I stayed a couple of times but that didn't help the situation. He now loves preschool and i now enjoy time to myself but still can't wait to see him. I was surprised to find some of the other mothers not so eager to see their children. We all Que up outside the school waiting for the door to be unlocked, and for some reason nobody speaks to one another unless you are part 'the group' i have had people talk around me. Funny but the dads always talk to everyone. I just turn up on time.

Evenings and weekends are our special times, lots of messing about really just us time.We visit local attractions such as children's farms and the beach and cinema. Bedtime routine is simple but great. Wash then into bed with a story at the end Ryan says 'lets talk about my wonderful day' then we go through the good and bad bits then he goes to sleep.

Ryan awakes early always has (just like his dad) and bounds into my room 'morning darling' he says and i always begin the day with a smile.

There have been many funny moments during the last 3 years and 9 months but unfortunately i can't remember them all. I will try to write them here as i go, along with other things we have been up to.