Family Photos

A friend of mine offered to shoot some nice fall family photos. So, here ya go!

Apple Orchard 2009

Hopefully, you'll enjoy this as much as we enjoyed doing it today. Such a dream day; the type that once your home all you can do it comment on what a great day it was.

Now we're off to make all sorts of yummies from all the apples we picked! The good news is I think after all his exposure to apples today Rhys might finally be a fan of the delicious fruit! Happy Autumn!

Rhys Learns to Share

Be All You Can Be....

So, it's official. While i'm sure "uncle Brian" will hate this analogy (he's in the marines): Rhys is officially ready to "join up" because he's got his "Army Crawl" down pat. He REEVES himself up, gets up on his hands and knees, sways back and forth (winding up) and then steps his arms out and goes down to his belly. Moving forward just enough to encourage him to try this ritual again. Lord help us. He's mobile now, and I don't think there is anything slowing down this "Go Baby!"

SNOW!!!

Are you serious! That was my first reaction when i woke up and saw our new, white ground covering on the front lawn. Half of me is tempted to bundle up Rhys and go introduce him to the precipitation that he will love and hate, the other half of me wants to crawl back in bed. Since I don't think the kiddo will put up with option two I'm going to have to start the introductions i think. The only problem....do you know how hard it is to put a winter coat on a wiggly, giggly 6 month old boy. To give you a bit of insight: picture me wrestling a little piglet-squawking and squealing and wiggling all about. Hopefully, i'll be able to "up" by skills, because I have a feeling it's going to be a LONG, COLD Minnesota winter.

Our lil' Foodie

Okay, thus far Rhys has eaten Acorn Squash, Bananas, and Sweet Potato. First off, i'm impressed with just how easy making your own baby food really is! I'm currently obsessed with it. I sit down every night and have to make an effort to relax and not RUN back into the kitchen to start making a new concoction. This morning he started banana...and he wasen't a HUGE fan! So I suppose I'll have to convince him that it is a yummy fruit...could my kid not like fruit? Maybe he'll prefer vegetables....weirdo! Although, i guess thats not too bad a problem to have. Anyways, next is Butternut Squash, then Apples, then maybe pumpkin....notice, all but the apples is food that Jamie wouldn't come near with a 10 foot pole. ;)hehe! Wish us luck!

YUM YUM!

Rhys had his first bit of solids today! Boy, was he ready! I made him sweet potatoe and i don't think he objected to it too much. At least he had fun getting it all over himself:)

Our trip across the pond

So, we just got back from our first trip to the UK with Rhys. We went over to introduce Rhys to Jamies family and to get Rhys christened. The trip was fairly easy the most difficult part has been the adjustment to the time change...but even that has been taken care of within a few days. But below are a few pics, it was great to see everyone and so tough to leave.

Happy Family

Rhys and Grandpa W.

Rhys and the Vicor at his Christening

Still able to make time for great friends and family: Brian (my brother-in-law), Meg (my sis), Dave (best man at our wedding...and just awesome guy in general), Sian (jamies sis)

Rhys and his Great gran Thomas

Rhys and his Auntie Sian

Rhys and his Gran W.

All the boys: Simon (jamies brother), Jamie, Eric (jamies dad), and the cutest lil boy ever!

i LOVE this pic! My two loveable boys.

Rhys and I

Rhys and his Great Grandad W.

Rhys and his Great Aunt Mary

Rhys and his Great Gran W.

And after all that WHO wouldn't be exhausted.

All the Witheridge Boys.

THIS JUST IN!

Just wanted to give a big shout of congrats out to my lil' sister who is now officially engaged! Meg and Brian will be getting married this upcoming June and I can't imagine a better guy for my little sister.

Congrats to you both. I wish you all the love and happiness possible..and Brian, remember there are no exchanges or refunds...sorry dude! ;)

I'm in the mood for a list....

Ok...so today Rhys is 5 months old....geez, i can't even believe that! So, for the past 5 months we've been watching all that Rhys has learned...to smile, to laugh, to hold his own bottle, to roll over...you get the idea. But I'd like to think about all that my beautiful boy has taught ME in the past 5 months....

1. giggling can solve all problems
2. sometimes, even if you sing off tune, it can lighten any mood
3. love - yes, i know i experienced love before rhys came along...but the love for a child is so different!
4. "this too shall pass"- sometimes this isn't the best thing, but whenever i was too tired to function this became my motto.
5. how to be a mommy- i'm sure i still have more to learn as we graduate to each new step together...but thus far it is the best title i've ever been given...and nothing will stop me from being the best that i can be for him.

So, there ya go 5 things that my 5 month old has taught me...theres so much more..but now he's awake from his nap....so i must run!

Girls Weekend

So, last week Rhys and I headed home to Va for a "girls weekend". More like a Girls plus baby weekend...but nonetheless...we had a great time. First, we stopped off in Fredericksburg to introduce Rhys to his great-grandma Birney then, we headed down to Williamsburg for some retail therapy with his grandma Birney and Auntie Meg.

Great-Grandma B. and Rhys

Bath Time in Great-Grandma B's Sink...splish splash!

Rhys' First Fire

Thats right! Our first night in Williamsburg we were RUDELY woken up at 3 am by the fire alarm...Rhys however, handled this like a champ, no tears, no grumpiness...turned out to be a false alarm.

I might add that he was a dream baby on both the plane ride out there and back. I was given so many compliments about how he slept the whole way out there and back...now, lets just hope it's the same story for our trip to England!

More pictures of the ONLY thing we blog about anymore....

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=736798544113.580816275113.1248923558906

we've decided we're just not that interesting without the baby...so here are some more pics of "said baby".
Love, lauren and jamie

Important Clarification ;)

Having read Lauren's post from our weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Howell, I just wanted to clarify one thing for our wonderful readers: we DID NOT actually let Rhys drink her coffee! :)

Of course, they say a picture paints a thousand words - but here's a few just in case anyone is thinking, wow, are they crazy...giving a four-month-old a sip of Caribou coffee?

Cheers,

Jamie.

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa Howell

So, this weekend Rhys got to meet his grandparents Howell; he was so impressed with them both! Jamie and I were both impressed to see what goofs they were around Rhys...who isn't?!? :)

So here are some pics of the wonderful weekend we all had together!

Meeting them at the airport they started fulfilling their grandparents' duties and started snapping away!

Dad (aghem...I mean Grandpa) and Rhys taking a nice nap together.


Grandma and Rhys enjoying a walk:)

They even got a chance to expose him to the "finer things in life"....CAFFEINE!

It was great having them both in and having Rhys spend some time with his grandparents...and it was certainly a perk having someone, especially two someones to take care of Rhys while we got to sneak away to go see Harry Potter!

Rhys' First Laughs

Some pics for your viewing Pleasure!

New respect found

okay, i have a new respect for any single parents out there! Jamie has been gone on business for a week..and we still have three more days before he gets back home. So it's been just me and the Bean for awhile now....it's exhausting. We've had fun and planned lots of fun little activities: going to my couple of moms groups, mommy and me yoga, etc...but still! Heres the kicker...theres no way I could have gotten through this without Jamie...our evening chats are so nice.
Reminds me of back in the day when we were dating and I couldn't wait for each evening phone chat. SO...while I'm no were near being a single parent...i have a new found respect for those that are. In the mean time...prayers for me please...only 3 more days!

Check out our online Album

I wasn't a fan of Facebook for uploading photos to an Album, so I used Kodak's free service instead. Check out the pics - and download/order prints of the ones you like.

Enjoy!
Jamie.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=9ehatv5d.5o3em65t&x=1&y=v59tpw&localeid=en_US

Our first (somewhat acceptable) family picture

So instead of going to a professional photographer and paying an arm and a leg, I decided to try using the self timer on our little camera. So, for everyone who's ever been dying to have a 'Witheridge Family Portrait' from us, here's our first attempt.

I'm sure we'll get more, and maybe we'll actually catch him smiling or looking at the camera one of these days ... but until then this will have to do.

Jamie.

"Please Sir ... It Isn't Fair"

Everyone we've ever talked to has told us that one great way to soothe a crying (or just not sleeping) baby is to stick him in the car and go for a ride. Well, that worked for the first month. Since Rhys has started becomming aware of his surroundings, he ABSOLUTELY HATES riding in the car! He cries, and sreams, and just yesterday the poor guy made himself sick crying.

I'm torn as to why this might be. First off - as Lauren is nursing, he's definitely developed the 'attachment' syndrome... sometimes he can't bear to be away from her. But, even with Lauren sitting in the back trying to comfort him, he still throws a wobbly or two. The second thought was that perhaps he didn't like riding backwards, and that maybe it was making him get carsick... how great would that be? We asked the doctor and she said there's nothing we can do anyway - he can't ride facing forward until he's a bit older.

The weird thing is that he doesn't seem to mind the carseat itself - when we use it with the stroller ('buggy' for the Brits), or carry him to and from stores, etc. Its just the riding in the car that he doesn't like... HELP!!! What can we do?

Ps. Its not the hat Dad, don't worry. He cries with or without it when he's in the car :)

Time for an Update

Okay, we've heard your complaints...so here are some more picture updates:

Rhys at the zoo on mothers day.

Jamie and Rhys saying hi to the goats.

Me and Rhys in front of the monkeys.

We have more to download off the camera...so stay tuned. I'm trying to catch video of the best sound in the world...Rhys' giggle...the only tough part is that we have to make real dorks out of ourselves to get the little guy to laugh at us!

Our happy little baby

Almost six weeks in and we're able to make Rhys smile on command (except when he's really mad!!!).  Here's some evidence of the fruit of our labor 

Making a splash!

Last Sunday night was Rhys' bath night ... and believe it or not, he seemed to like it ... no tears or cries, at least, not until we took him out and started drying him off. I wonder if he was saying "put me back in" or "I'm cold!".

We used a portable baby bath that Lauren's mum bought us (Thanks Judy)! It worked really well - he was comfortable and we were able to sit the tub on top of our bathroom counter so we weren't having to crouch down over the main bath tub :)

Doesn't he look like E.T. here?