My first birthday was so much fun, and I even loved eating my cake all by myself!!!!!!

Although when everybody sang "Happy Birthday" to me it really scared me at first with all of these people staring at me and singing real loud! Once I saw the cake and got a taste, that all did not matter any more!!!

Thank you for the great birthday party everyone!!

I LOVE YOU!

I look good!!!

New video of Raygen checkin herself out! This robe is so cute and we couldn't resist getting her watching herself do her thing in the mirror! She has become quite infatuated with this mirror, practicing all of her new faces that she loves to show off!

Raygen is 1 year old!

Raygen is now 1 year old and the joy of my life. With the economy so bad and Ryan and I both getting pink slips...aka layoff notices the main thing that brightens my day and gets me through all this is little Raygen. All I have to do is see her face and I can forget it all! God definitly brought her into my life at the right time. She is always happy and smiling and full of joy! She smiles at almost everyone even when we're out shopping or eating. One thing that really does bug me, though is when she is so darling towards others...strangers and they don't even have the kindness to smile back at this adorable little thing! I want to say " what's wrong with you?" How insensitive can you be? Anyhow, she is almost walking. she loves to just hold one hand and walk by your side. She hates the walker now she wants to do it on her own. The walker is headed to storage here very soon. Her grandpa Mat has taught her to look at birds and point at them in the sky frequently. She loves to say "what's that?" to everything she points at. She can spot the smallest bird in the sky and point to it.

She is very tall for her age, it could be an early sign she'll be a tall girl and take after her daddy, but we'll see! she melts everyones hearts and brings us all closer! I couldn't imagine life without her! I hate having to look at her sad little eyes when I leave her every morning to go to work where I know that no one appreciates my presence as much as she certainly would.

Grandma Penny and Aunt Lynn came from the midwest to visit us and we got to take a trip to Yosemite. On our trip we took bikes and rode around the whole park and ate a pic nic lunch. Raygen had so much fun in her bike seat on the back of dads bike. She was watching everyone and all the wildlife and waterfalls. It was a great trip! This was her second time to Yosemite in her first year of life.

Saturday is her big birthday party, so we will post pictures later and tell you all about her big day! Thank you to all of our family and friends that have supported us and helped us take care of our bundle of Joy this first year!

Easter Vacation

Family Shot at New Melones Lake - Easter Pic Nic

Doing her gymnastics on the floor!

Raygens first easter egg she found

Raygen sitting in the bike basket at the bike shop

We tried on a helmet for her to wear. she liked it!

Easter vacation was finally the rest we needed! although Dad had baseball games 4 out

of the 5 days off so mom and Raygen got to spend a lot of time together. It did rain for 1/2 the time and snowed, too, so we couldn't go outside a lot. We got the kitchen island all done. Ryan built it himself and tiled it to match the kitchen himself, also. It looks awesome! I will post a picture later. Raygens first birthday is rapidly approaching. It looks like we're going to celebrate at the local marina and grandpa is going to barrel chicken and tri tip. Anyday she will be walking, all she wants to do is walk around with people helping her and now she is trying to move furniture to furniture...getting more daring. Grandma penny and Aunt Lynn are coming to visit for 3 weeks and my birthday here pretty soon...so she'll have quality time with her Midwest family!

update at last!

Raygen was pointing out the VW that she wanted for herself as we waited for the passat to get worked on.

So it's been forever that I have updated the blog!!! I have let months go by. I am blaming it on softball starting. Not only does mom and dad work full time but we are both coaching full time, so an extra 20 hours a week on top of the job. It's tough!!!!!! I won't complain much as I'm sure I'll have a break here pretty soon as Ryan and I both were served pink slips for layoff notices in our district. It is a hard time to be a teacher in California. That's for sure!....and I'm sure one of us will feel the pain of the layoff. Ryan is currently getting his Single subject in Math, so it makes him more marketable. He will be the only one in our district with that credential, so it would be really stupid of them to let him go, so I'm sure if someone is laid off it will be me :(

Anyhow, back to little miss Raygen! She is getting so big, so fast! she doesn't want to crawl. She scoots and pushes herself around. She is way more interested in walking. She pulls herself up and surfs the couch and coffee tables. I am putting some pics of the last few months, as I haven't put any on here in a long time. She has learned how to clap on Que. She waves all the time and points at everything (even at restaurants and stores...)which is a little embarrassing. I say, "ohh sorry she is just learning to do that so she points at everything." She loves her dogs and esp. her cat. She chases them around in her walker and laughs at them because they run away from her.

She is 10 1/2 months old, I cannot believe it's almost been a year since she was born. Parenting gets easier and easier ...boy, those first 5 months were really hard, but now she sleeps like a champ through the night 7-8pm till 630-7am, which is awesome. It's amazing what sleep will do for you. BUT we have #2 on the way, so I'm sure the lack of sleep will be coming around the corner real soon!!!! I will try and enjoy my next 4 1/2 months of sleep. I am crossing my fingers that the next one will be a SUPER sleeper... ha

Towel Tricks

Raygen enjoyed her visit so much from Jaime!

Raygie and Dutch

Here's a great look at Raygen and Dutch playing in the morning! She loves her animal brothers...all 3 of them!!!

My new hat!!

She got a really neat, comfy winter hat that she's been able to try out plenty on her walks!!!

Her bumpy seat is now in use! She loves to sit in her crib and play with the aquarium she has hanging from the crib!! As you can see from the pic, she can turn it on and off all by herself now!! She is the queen of her crib now that she can sit up in her throne!! She sure lets us know by her smile!

Speaking of smiles, when she isn't, she is crying and not very happy. This is due to the coming in of her new teeth!! She's got two coming in on the bottom and the two at the top middle have just broken through the skin. Oh how she loves her new life of eating crackers and other solids!!!!

We will post more very soon!

We're baaaack!

It's been awhile since we've put pics up for all to see. Raygen told dad that he needed to put new pics of her for all her friends to see! Okay little buddy, you get your wish!!! Today she got herself a new hiking backpack that she can ride in! Daddy is excited because it is much more comfortable for him than her old tiny backpack and she had a blast sitting on daddy's back cruising around the neighborhood!! Here's some new shots of our little ham!

Here's a first, Raygie with a baseball cap on! I think she is going to like the stright brim, daddy shouldn't have curved it for me cause I'm all about the straight bill!!!

This is one of my favorite pics of mommy and Raygie!!! Look at the pose on Raygen and how proud she is of her bow that is equally as big as her head! haaaa

I think she definitely does have daddy's nose!! Raygen loved showing off her new outfit for Christmas Eve as well as the oh so cute jacket that matched... Her first Christmas has past and we have collected so many great memories, although as I write she is being a little fuss bucket with whoever holds her...I think she is holding out for a piece of daddy's birthday cake from yesterday!!!!

Raygen's 1st Radio Flyer from Annie. She was posing like a little model! She loved sitting in her all terrain wagon. She can't wait to go in walks in her new wagon...she has to get a little bigger, but pretty soon! Thank you Annie for my present, I will you use it for many years to come.

Family Photo Christmas Eve: We went to Nana's house in Sugar Pine. She had her first gift exchange. She loved playing with the paper. She got a brand new outfit from Elise and Jaime for christmas with a little pink pea coat, which was too cute! She definitly had a good time and a good christmas Eve!

Ryan and Raygen in her first snow. We had a lot of snow to play in, so much snow that we had no school for 2 days. We also had no electricity for the most part. She got scared at night because it was so dark in the house and we just had candle light. She just loved watching the snow fall when we took her outside.

Good Morning Everybody!!

Raygen decided she wanted to leave a message to all of those that love her this morning! Any help on decoding it would be appreciated! Seems as if there are a lot of da da's coming!!! I've been working on her "MMM" sounds, sorry mommy she is just not taking to that idea :) As I've been typing this she's telling me that her agent called and I must work something out with him first before she appears on the Internet!!!! She's big-timing us already. She's also beginning to boss people around like someone else we know!! haaaaa -Dad

Time Flies!

It's definitly fall time around here...leaves falling, but we've had perfect weather.... 70's everyday. We can't put away our summer clothes just yet. We are all adjusting to mom and dad working full time and little Raygen being shuffled around. Raygen stays with family during the week. Between my aunt, grandma florence (gram) and my parents (mi mi) and mat she is well taken care of. Although I miss her during the day it makes the time I spend with her extra special. Plus, she is getting to know all her family very well! She gets spoiled everyday, which is just fine with me.

Saturday we took Raygen downtown Groveland where all the kids trick or treat and walk around the businesses. I didn't see one other skunk downtown. She did really well. She was kinda sleepy but enjoyed staying up high in daddys arms watching all the movement.

Ryan is putting in our hardwood floors right now, so we took a picture of the entry way progress, the nail gun scares Raygen so we have to do it when she's playing in her room or I take her somewhere. She will be crawling on them soon, so we are trying to get them down so it's not sub floors she's on.

In the morning we play with her before we have to go to work and take her to wherever she is going in the morning. This is a picture of her playing with daddy in the morning...she is usually really happy in the morning. She loves wearing her pajama sleepers at night and I always put a little hat on her before I take her out in the morning.

She is now eating pears, bananas, rice cereal, and peaches and she drinks some dilluted apple juice in her sippee cup. She is getting to be a "big girl" now. Love it!!!

Fun in the TUB!!!!

This is a recent video from Raygen in the bathtub enjoying a water workout to the sounds of the duck. She really gets after it in the tub, ever since she was born! I'm guessing Dr. Clinite was correct in stating that this one was going to be a swimmer!! Just look at her kicking away, sometimes I wonder about her smashing her head into the side of the tub she is kicking so hard! She does let us know she is having a blast with the smiles though!!!! Enjoy your viewing ;)

I have 2 sets of Great Grandparents!!! & they love me

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREAT GRANDPA!!!!!!!

Great Grandpa Dave got a birthday visit from little miss Raygen. She brightened his birthday day! She was talking to him and in her own little way saying "happy birthday!" These days all she does is jibber jabber and smile constantly! She makes everyone who is around her Happy! In these pictures she is wearing her "girly" camo outfits from Bass Pro Shops that her grandma gave her.

SKUNK IT IS!!!

We stumbled upon this wonderful costume while shopping, but not for her halloween costume. We put a monkey one on and then we put this skunk on and it was just too funny! I know I know ... why would I make my kid something smelly? But seriously it is so adorable on! IT looks like she knows she's a skunk because she was giving such a dirty look in this picture.

Last week raygen went for her 4 month shots and she weighed 17.1 lbs and was 26 1/2 inches long. She is in the 90th percentile for her age. The dr. said she was her fathers child...ha! She is healthy and smiles ALL THE TIME! she loves to jibber jabber. She is starting to grab objects and transfer them hand to hand and of course eat them. She makes me happy every day all day! I cannot wait to come home from work and see her! Now that I have to work full time I miss her all day, it is truly hard, but I remind myself that I am providing for her! The kid has to have a full closet, too...c'mon? hAAA! Ohh and she loves eating yogurt, pears, and rice cereals...I think she'll have a sippee cup soon, too!!!

The Wedding experience - 9-6-09

Daddy holding Raygen up overlooking the awesome view of the meadow (at wedding site)

All the girls in the wagon

Family photo before the ceremony....can you see raygens boots?

Raygen and Shannon (The super hot bride). Sept 5,2009 I had the honor of being in one of my childhood friends wedding. Raygen had her yellow dress to match the wedding party. She even got to come in with the girls in the house before the wedding started. Raygen loves to watch people, colors, and movement in general. Raygen got to stay for the wedding ceremony and through dinner then grandma and grandpa took her home.

Raygen & Chip

Raygen has found her big brother Chip, although she is pretty much the larger one of the duo already!!! Take a look as she goes along for the ride!!!

Raygen and her saucer

Raygen tries out her saucer. Of course it's a little big and all she wants to do is eat it. She is now teething so anything that gets close to her she tries to put it in her mouth to relieve her pain. I guess mom was an early teether, so it's usually passed down. She usually just likes to turn herself in circles in the saucer with her feet, but in this video she didn't want to do much! We've had 2 weeks of mom back to work full time and it's working out. The time I do have with her I savor so much more because it's limited. She's been going to bed around 10pm and waking between 5-6am every morning, (unless her teeth are bothering her) and then it's earlier. When she hears our voices come in a room she looks all over to locate either mom or dad! too cute! she is laughing and smiling all the time. I have a whole rubbermaid bin (big one) of clothes shes' already grown out of. She is basically 4 months, but fits in about 9 months...some 6 months, but for the most part 9 months and bigger. She is just really long so nothing snaps because they are all made for short babies.... or babies without super tall dads! haaa

Raygen is over 3 months old and Mom is going back to work now!!!!

These past three months have went by way too fast. I was so busy "mothering" that I can't even hardly think about how fast it went. Raygen has become such a "happy" baby. She loves to talk to everyone and laugh. She went on her first camping trip this past week with a whole bunch of family. We even saw a bear (she doesn't know that, though...she was sleeping). She has a whole bunch of cool camping clothes she got to wear...I have to say she got quite dirty, too. I am so sad to go back to work. I love spending time wither and seeing all her "new" developments. She loves bouncing in her bouncing chair and eating rice cereal. She recently had a case of thrush in her mouth so she got a new medicine, so she has to take two med's, which I hate giving such a small baby, but if it makes her feel better it's certainly o.k. with me. She weighed 15.5 lbs at 3 months, so she's quite the "big girl", but she is mostly just long...not chunky. I guess she takes after her daddy! We will see how she does without mommy around....I'm sure she'll miss me :(

THIS SMILE WILL DRIVE DADDY CRAZY ONE DAY!!!