Holiday Rush

There is so much to tell since our last "real" blog post!  We have had a very busy schedule from Thanksgiving to now.  We'll get all you readers (all 2 of you) caught up on the Arnold happenings beginning with Thanksgiving. 


Last Thanksgiving, Ryan was about 10 days old, so this one was more enjoyable for everyone, including Ryan.  We spent Thanksgiving afternoon with Nick's family and extended family, ate yummy food and hung out for a while.  Thanksgiving night, we hosted some of our good friends, Warner, Melissa, and Caroline.  We also had Mandy's sister, Beth join us for the evening as the rest of Mandy's family was celebrating at the beach.  It was a fun time, and we all enjoyed more good food, and more laughs! 

Gobble Gobble!

On Black Friday, we did not venture out with the crazies. We chilled out for awhile and tried to do a little Christmas decorating.  Later that evening, we had a get together with some of Nick's high school friends.  It was a lot of fun to catch up and let our kids play with all of Ryan's new birthday toys! 

Something must be funny!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we went to the annual Mitchell Santa Party.  Some of Nick's family friends host this lovely party every year, and since we've had Ryan, we've gone the last couple of years.  Ryan is not Santa's biggest fan, yet!  We had a nice time seeing Santa and enjoying the company of friends...what a nice way to usher in the Christmas season. 

Oh Gosh!  Hurry and take the picture! Santa is scary! 

To close out Thanksgiving weekend, we took a family field trip to get our Christmas tree.  It was coooooold, so we picked a tree quickly.  I always enjoy the smell, and the look of a real tree...and this one did not disappoint!  It was fun taking Ryan and seeing him look at the trees and such.

December began with a bang as Mandy attended the annual GHBC ladies Christmas tea.  We attended Owen Gleaton's Christmas party at Anthony's Fine Dining in Buckhead. We had our Christmas card photo shoot, and a good visit with Nick's cousin, Karen. That weekend, we had another Santa encounter (our 2nd one of the season).  Ryan's school, hosted a Santa breakfast that was really nice.  Since Ryan was not impressed with Santa this go round either, we opted for a family Santa picture, that actually turned out very good! 

The next weekend was just as jammed...Friday night we attended Holder's Christmas party at the Atlanta History Center.  It was a nice evening out!  On Saturday, we went to our annual Christmas dinner with Nick's Georgia Pacific friends...we do a secret santa and gift exchange and it's always a blast!  We closed out this weekend with the Johnson Ferry Christmas Festival...it is the choir and orchestra cantata, and it was incredible!  We went with grandmama and grandpa and they enjoyed it as well! 


We celebrated Maggie's 4th Birthday on December 14! 



I know you're probably tired...bear with me we're getting near the end.  I'll save the Christmas post for next time!


The weekend before Christmas, we took Ryan to Phipps Plaza to see Santa Claus.  This Santa is the real deal, and we're so glad we began this tradition from birth.  We will have all of his and our kids Santa visits on DVD, which will be nice to look back on one day when we're empty nesters!  Anyways, this time he did fairly well with Santa!  We had to wake him up from his nap, but he did remarkably well to have just been woken from his slumber.  We filled out his wish list and got in line to wait to see Santa.  Mandy took him up to put him on Santa's lap, and the crying began.  BUT, Santa calmed him down, and we were able to get a decently good picture!  Santa reads his wish list and talks to him a little after the photo, so after about a minute of idle Santa chatter, Ryan was done, and begging Dadddy to resuce him!  It was a great memory! 

That afternoon, we (Mandy) did a little Christmas shopping, and we had the Mays' over for Christmas dinner and a little gift exchange. 
The next day, we went to Ian's birthday party. The McFadden's were in town from Chicago for Christmas and had his "Atlanta" birthday party while they were here.  It was good to see them! 

Happy Birthday Ian!

Whew...if you're still with me, congratulations!  I think this is plenty for one post, and we will get a Christmas post up shortly! 

Last Minute Christmas Shopping

Ryan helped Mommy and Daddy finish their Christmas shopping today! He was such a big help and the carts at one place were just his size!


We are looking forward to a very Merry Christmas with our families. We have lots to blog about and plan to catch up after Christmas!

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Ready, Set, WALK!

Ryan is walking! We knew that he was getting close, but he took more than a few steps on Saturday while Karen (Nick's cousin) was here to take some family pictures for us. Ryan just loved Karen and she was so excited to be a part of his first real waking adventure throughout the den. Ryan definitely has the concept of give me 5 and clapping when he is proud of himself down pat. When he would walk to one of us, he would give us 5 or clap when we would clap and say yay! It was so stinkin' cute! Here is a quick video of the big event...

We have been dealing with lots of sickness at our house lately. Ryan went to the doctor on Thursday of last week after almost a week of feeling bad. Dr. Roe was not in the office, so we saw Dr. Bramwell. She was AWESOME. Ryan had an ear infection and some serious wheezing. We came home with an antibiotic and a breathing treatment. Ryan seemed to feel brand new after the breathing treatment. We were so glad to see him feel better and moving air throughout his lungs a little better.

We spent much of the weekend at home, since Ryan was still recovering. We did go to Ryan's school on Saturday morning to see Santa Claus and we got a great picture of the family with Santa. Ryan is just not sure about Santa yet. We hope he will love jolly Ole Saint Nick next year!







And just when we thought Ryan was feeling better, I got a call from his school today that he was having gastrointestinal issues. He was pitiful when I got to him. A little TLC from Mommy seemed to help and he ate a banana before bed. We just hate when our sweet boy is sick.

The switch to milk has been more of a challenge than we thought it would be. But, we are making some advancements. We are half formula and half whole milk at this point and that works for us. Ryan is eating really well and LOVES green beans. Of course, our new mealtime game is for Ryan to throw the sippy cup and he says uh oh. You pick it up and he does it again. We love that he knows the concept of uh oh. I love to hear him say it.

Here are a few recent pictures of Ryan.

Ryan loving on Maggie!

We're Bananas for 1st Birthdays!

Ryan is ONE! We cannot believe that it has been a whole year since that sweet little boy came into our lives. It has been the most exhausting and exciting year ever. We love him a little more every day. Ryan has the cutest personality and he is always laughing about something. Here is a picture of Ryan in the outfit from his 1st birthday party (We will share more pictures from his 1st birthday shoot in another post)!

I am ONE!

Ryan's 1st birthday party was so much fun. We chose a sock monkey theme for the party and it turned out really cute. Ryan loved opening his gifts and eating cake. All of our family and close friends came to help us celebrate. It is hard to believe that our little monkey is one! We thought it would be easier to share the photos from his party as a slideshow. Enjoy! 

It was a great day of celebration. We were so happy to have our family and close friends to celebrate with us. We missed all of you guys who live too far or could not be with us to celebrate Ryan's 1st birthday.

We took Ryan for his one year appointment with Dr. Roe last Thursday. He is in the 50th percentile for head, height and weight. He is 30.5 inches long and weighs 22 pounds. Dr. Roe said he looked awesome! Ryan has been given the go ahead to start drinking whole milk. And, the doctor said to keep Ryan rear-facing until he is 2. We were really looking forward to turning his car seat to the forward-facing position. It is so hard to figure out what to do, especially when he gave us such alarming statistics about car accidents and one year olds. The worst part of the visit was the 4 shots that Ryan needed. But, Ryan took it like a champ and only cried for a minute or two. Ryan even gave Dr. Roe knuckles before we left his office!

Ryan's little personality comes out more and more each day. He loves to laugh at funny noises, puppets and anything remotely silly. He loves to shake anything that will make noise and clap when music is playing or when he is excited. Ryan is almost walking. He takes three or four steps before falling. He can get all over the house holding onto the furniture or the wall. He is just scared to let go and take off walking. Ryan will walk between us if we sit a short distance away from each other. We are in no big hurry for him to walk because he is already busy enough crawling and surfing! Ryan is a decent eater and enjoys some foods more than others. He definitely eats better during the day and it is a battle to get him to eat at night. From what we have read, it looks like food battles will go on for several years!

Ryan loves his new school and has lots of new friends. His teachers, Mrs. Sue and Ms. Chantae are awesome! Ryan had a birthday party at school with all his friends and he ate so much cake that day. It was so funny to watch all of those babies eat cake. They all seemed to enjoy themselves and Ryan loved having his mommy and daddy at school. I have a picture to add of Ryan at his birthday party at school, but Blogger will not cooperate.

This cake is so good!

To finish up this blog post, Ryan has formed a serious attachment to a monkey. We call him George and he goes to school with Ryan every day. Ryan hugs George and kisses on him all the time.  George even had his ears checked at the doctor the other day, just to make sure that they were not infected. It is so cute how much he loves that little monkey. We even had some pictures made for his 1st birthday with George!

Sorry about the sideways picture, I cannot figure out how to get it turned....

We are looking forward to Ryan's second year of life and all the fun that it will bring!

Gobble 'til you Wobble!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! We are so thankful for many things, including the love of our Savior! We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!





We promise to update the blog with pictures from Ryan's 1st birthday sometime this weekend.

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Working for the Weekend

Weekends are way too short here recently. I have been working longer weeks to assist my boss with a large case, so Ryan and I have not had as much time together. Nick and I miss our sweet boy when we have to be apart from him. Luckily, we've been able to enjoy each other on the weekend and participate in some fun activities.

Two weekends ago, we went to the pumpkin patch at a church near our house. It was so much fun to see Ryan trying to roll the pumpkins and standing up on them. He even liked to use them as a drum. After the pumpkin patch, we took Ryan to the park in Roswell. He had a great time swinging and going down the slides. It was so much fun to be outside in the beautiful weather!

We also went to the fair that same weekend. Aunt Jessica came to spend the night with us on Saturday night and went to church with us on Sunday. Then, we headed to the Cumming Fair. Aunt Jessica and Daddy got to ride lots of rides. And, Ryan really enjoyed the petting zoo. He thought the goats and the llama were so funny. There was also an ostrich that Ryan loved; however, that ostrich liked to bite, so we avoided him.

This past weekend was also a fun weekend. We had dinner with The May family on Friday at Roasters (our favorite spot in Sandy Springs)! I have a picture to add, but I cannot get it to upload. I will try to add Caroline and Ryan eating dinner together when my computer will cooperate.

On Saturday morning, we headed to Ellijay for the Apple Festival. Mimi was there with the Red Hat Society, so we ate lunch with all of them. The Apple Festival was fun, but not really our thing. We enjoyed some excellent apple dishes and ate a snow cone or two.

On the way home, we decided to go to Cagle's Dairy Farm. They are doing their annual corn maize and they have a hayride and bonfire on Friday and Saturday nights. The corn maize would probably be more fun at night. However, we still enjoyed it, but I think Ryan will enjoy it more when he is older. He seemed to really like the hayride and roasting marshmallows! It was a BIG day for all us, but Ryan was such a trooper. Every time we got in the car, Ryan fell asleep instantly, so I feel like he got in his two naps for the day!

Do you see his two top teeth?

Ryan turned eleven months old during all this fall fun. He is eating lots of table food these day, even though he does love to have some of his old favorites, like apple sauce or yogurt! His likes and dislikes about food change all the time. One day, he loves macaroni and cheese and the next day he does not want it. But, you can bet money that if you give him baby Cheetos, Cheerios or crackers (Ritz) that he will eat!

Ryan has been standing by himself, but recently he seems to be more stable and stands for longer periods of time. And, he is taking a step or two towards us. I definitely would not call it walking, but he is thinking about it. His teacher at the new school, Ms. Sue, thinks he will be walking soon. She says that he does not like being left behind when the other kids walk away from him. We shall see! And, Ryan can talk a blue streak. We do not understand most of it, but we love to hear it. Ryan is finally saying Ma-Ma. It is definitely not as frequently said as Da-Da, but I am just happy that he is finally saying it.

The new school is going pretty well. He has only gotten a fussy on his daily report for one day. And, Ms. Sue has gotten my child to take long naps on a toddler cot. The napping on cots was a big concern for me. Sometimes, I can hardly get Ryan to nap in the crib. I thought he would never nap on a cot. BUT, I was wrong. Mrs. Sue lays him down twice a day for a nap and his afternoon nap is usually longer (all the other kids nap in the afternoon)! I am so happy that he is napping at school! Hopefully, next week will be as good as this week was at school.

We are looking forward to Grant's 1st birthday party this weekend!

New School

Ryan started his new school, East Cobb Prep, today! This morning was a little hectic, but that was to be expected! I prepared everything last night, but there is always something that needs to be done in the morning. However, drop off went great (according to Daddy). Ryan went right to his teacher, Ms. Sue and started playing with Adam. Here are a few pictures of his first morning at ECP!

 Ryan and Adam playing together! They are only 3 days apart!

Lots of fun toys and friends to play with at school!

This is a big change for all of us, since Ryan went to the 12-18 month room. It was a much better fit than the older infant room and only has 4 children in it. His schedule will probably change slightly, but it is a good time for a schedule change since Ryan will be one in less than a month. Daddy chose what foods that Ryan could eat off of the menu for school today. It was strange only packing his bottles and a sippy cup last night. I got used to preparing his breakfast and lunch for school, but the menu looks delicious.

Giddy Up!

Last weekend was so much fun and the weather was beautiful!

Grandmama came to visit on Friday night and we had a wonderful meal at Roasters in Sandy Springs. Ryan did a great job crawling and standing up for Grandmama (it was her first time getting to see him do it)! 

Saturday was packed full of activities. We went to a birthday party for Ansley (her dad, Wayne works with me). They had a pony party at East Cobb Stables and Ryan got to ride his first pony. He loved riding with Mrs. Amanda (Ansley's mom) and she told us that he was laughing when they were riding. 

Ryan's friend, Caroline came to the party with her mommy, Melissa. Ryan and Caroline loved looking at the "neigh neigh", which is what Caroline calls horses. Aren't they cute together? They are exactly a year apart in age. 

Ryan had his first bite of cake! He LOVED it. Lucky for him, Caroline shared her cupcake with him. 

After the pony party, we headed to Libby's house to play and meet Alison Taylor. It was so good to introduce Ryan and Libby to her and they both had a great time playing together. 

Ryan loved Commissioner, even though he could never quite catch her. Commissioner is as fast as Libby!

We should have been headed to Grovetown after the Gordon's for Maverick's 1st birthday party, but Nick Smith died and we needed to go give our condolences to his family. We hated to miss Maverick's party, but we know it was lots of fun. We actually did not make it out to the funeral home until Sunday because Ryan napped for a long time on Saturday afternoon. 

We've had a busy week this week and we had to give the sad news that Ryan would be going to a new school. All of his teachers and friends are sad, but they understand. We went to meet Ryan's new teacher this morning and new friends. Ms. Sue is going to be great with Ryan and there are only a handful of kids in Ryan's new class.  Ms. Sue only had Audrey to keep her busy this morning, so she was glad to see us. I have a good feeling about the change, even though I am still nervous. Please continue praying for our family as we make this transition.

And, to finish off this blog post, Ryan ate spaghetti for the first time on Tuesday night. We used turkey in it and it was a hit. 

We have another fun-filled weekend ahead of us! We hope everyone enjoys their weekend and this beautiful weather!

"Eat Mor Chikin"

Daddy and Ryan do not share the same affinity for Chick-fil-A (yet)!



We met the Chick-Fil-A cow tonight at dinner. Ryan was mesmerized and then scared when he got close!

Ryan loves the yogurt parfait at CFA and hopefully will love the food when the time is right.

What a beautiful day! I hope it will be this pretty outside tomorrow, so Ryan and I can play outside!

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Who needs sleep?

Apparently, Ryan does not think he needs as much as he used to need. Here is a little video of what should be Ryan's morning nap!

Isn't that video too cute? I could not be mad at him for not napping. Of course, I got him dressed and he feel asleep while I was showering.

When I get a minute, I am going to write a post on our busy, fun weekend.

Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for Ryan to go to his new school! I am still pretty nervous about this whole transition.

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Always Ready to Play!

We are having such a fun time over at the Arnold household, since Ryan started crawling. Maggie even seems to not be as bothered by her brother constantly crawling over to climb on her or using her to stand up! Ryan is getting faster, but he is not quite as fast as his friend, Libby. We affectionately call her "the cheetah" because she moves so fast. Recently, the Gordon's came over for taco night. We are so glad that we finally got to have them. Ryan and Libby really enjoyed each other and Libby loved playing with Maggie.

Ryan turned 10 months just 2 days before he started crawling. We are finding it hard to believe that we only have 7 weeks until Ryan turns one (lots of planning going on for the big 1st birthday)! We both love his personality and all the new things that he is doing! In addition to crawling, Ryan is eating lots more "table" food. He feeds himself and very rarely wants someone else to help. And, Ryan talks all the time. He definitely knows how to say "da-da", but has no interest in ma-ma. If you say ma-ma, he says da-da. Also, you can ask where daddy, mommy or sister (Maggie) are and he will look toward their direction. 

Ryan had another ear infection last week. It looks like we will be getting ear tubes if he has one more ear infection. It is miserable for Ryan and us, since there is little to no sleep when he has an ear infection. Dr. Roe really makes our life easier when Ryan has an ear infection. He sees us right away and does not hesitate to make it all better. Of course, there is always a little crying when he looks into his ears to see if there is an infection. And, this visit was even more torture because Dr. Roe wanted Ryan to have his flu shot. Nick and I both cringed when he asked. I was not mentally prepared for a shot, but Ryan did great. He cried for a second when the needle went into his leg and then he was fine. 

It seems as if separation anxiety is still in full effect. It is not so bad when we drop Ryan off at school. However, we are trying to find a church home for our family in the East Cobb area. We recently have been visiting Johnson Ferry Baptist and placing Ryan in the nursery while we are in church. It is really hard for Ryan to be separated from Mommy and Daddy. We have not been paged out of church yet and the nursery workers say that he does fine while we are gone. We hope that this gets easier sooner rather than later, especially since Ryan starts a new school next month. Let's just say that we are all anxious about it. 

Catch me if you can!

Ryan is crawling! We are so proud of him and he is so cute doing it. Of course, Ryan is still perfecting his crawling, but I feel like he moves quick like a rabbit! Here is a video of Ryan crawling to "love" on Maggie!

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9 months and busier than ever!

Ryan's 9th month of life has almost come and gone! August and the beginning of September proved to be a busy month for our little family. We have been out of town more than we have been in town. 

We traveled to Reidsville, North Carolina, so Ryan and his great-grandmother could get better acquainted. It was a great trip, but Ryan did not nap or sleep well at night there (he was at the start of a horrible ear infection). Ryan met his great aunt and uncle (Ronnie and Paulette) while we were in town. As well as Carole Knowles and the Tilleys'. Ryan loved Granny Mary's farm and the little wagon that his mommy used to ride and play with when she was little (I have a picture somewhere of me in this same wagon!). It was a great trip!

When we returned from North Carolina, Ryan had his 9 month appointment with Dr. Roe. It went well and he is in the 50 percentile for both height and weight! Dr. Roe said he looked great and that makes Mommy very happy. There were no shots this visit, but we did find out that Ryan had an ear infection (looks like we are headed toward ear tubes)! Daddy bought Ryan a swing for being such a big boy at the doctor's office. And, he loves it. He would prefer to stay outside all day long if possible. 

August ended with a Labor Day trip to Mimi's house in Surfside Beach, SC. It was nice to get one last trip to the beach in before the summer ended. Ryan loved the ocean and sand. He was all over the place, which meant not much time for just relaxing. Ryan did take a nap on the beach for about two hours one day and we really enjoyed just sitting and reading during that time! While at the beach, we started giving Ryan more table food. He is not as happy to eat baby foods, so we had to make some adjustments to his diet. Dr. Roe told us that it was time to start table food, as long as he got enough formula throughout the day. Ryan is a big fan of crackers, cheese, goldfish, pasta and Gerber puffs. We are continuing to add all types of different food to his diet. It is just another step toward our baby becoming a toddler. Honestly, I think Ryan has lost a good bit of his baby look and is starting to look like a little boy! I need to upload pictures from our last visit to the beach. I will try to do that soon. 

Hopefully, Ryan's blog will be updated a little more often since we will be at home!

Ryan's Dedication Video

Ryan's Dedication

There is so much to tell about Ryan and his activities these days that I decided to pick the most important thing that has happened lately for a post. We dedicated Ryan to the Lord on August 8, 2010, which just happens to also be Mommy's birthday. It was a beautiful service and we are so thankful to our family who came to support us. Reverend Warren Green dedicated Ryan. He was also the minister who married us. We have a special bond with their family and vacation with them every year. Ryan was so well-mannered during the service. Of course, he wanted to talk a little bit before it was time for him to be dedicated. It was cute! Many of the people sitting around us said that they could not pay attention for watching Ryan. Trust me, Mommy felt the same way and was nervous about what Ryan would do next. Daddy was calm as ever, even though he was about to have to speak to the congregation. Rev. Green's prayer over Ryan and our new little family was very sweet. The only funny thing that happened was that Ryan threw his pacifier under the pulpit. I wanted to have a pacifier just in case there was a need for it, but I guess Ryan let me know that he did not need it nor did he appreciate my lack of faith in him.

After the service, we celebrated Ryan's dedication, Grandmama's birthday and Mommy's birthday with a meal at the Italian Oven. It was so yummy!

When we got home, Daddy and Ryan had a birthday cake and presents for Mommy. They are so good to me!

Also, we had a big discovery during the same weekend. Daddy discovered that Ryan had two teeth that had completely come through the gum. Ryan seems relieved to have those two teeth through the gum. Although, we have not heard much from him in regards to teething pain. Of course, Ryan chews on whatever he can get into his mouth. It is so cute to see those two teeth in the bottom of his mouth, but there are days that I miss his big toothless grin!