The Arnolds' Are Back in Blog Town...

Ryan will be six months in two weeks, and we have not blogged since he was two months old. The Arnold family is busy and so is Ryan. He has no time for sitting still, unless he is asleep. He prefers not to sit in your lap, but would rather stand up the entire time. We cannot believe how strong he is these days. He actually sat up by himself the other day. We think it will not be long before he is sitting up alone. Ryan has changed so much in looks and personality. He is such a happy baby, who is always talking, smiling or laughing. Ryan certainly keeps us entertained and we cannot imagine our life before him.

There have been so many events that we will give you a short (well as short as you can get summing up four months) update with a few pictures on what all happened over the last four months.

This was one of the coldest winters in Georgia, so we spent many hours indoors. Ryan experienced his first big snow in February 2010 and he was not the biggest fan of how cold it was.

Also, Aunt Marianna and cousins Debbie, Lindsey, Mark and Chandler came to meet Ryan for the first time. It was such a great visit. Ryan loved all of them, but he was a big fan of Debbie. She kept him happy for a long time.

Libby Gordon was baptized in February. Marie and Michael asked us to be Libby's Godparents and we were honored to do so. We do not have any pictures to share, but it was a great service and day. Here is a picture of Libby and Ryan hanging out at the Gordons' house together. Grant Hill was also dedicated in February, which we were glad to be able to attend.

Ryan had his first illness two weeks before Mommy headed back to work. We took him to Children's one Sunday morning after a long night of coughing and crying. He had RSV, which is some respiratory crud that is no longer contagious, but seems to be the never ending cold.
Mommy headed back to work part time at the beginning of March and we all had to transition to a new schedule. However, it has worked out really well and seems to be the perfect balance of baby and adult time.

In the middle of March, Emily and Charlotte were in town. Ryan and I went over to the Gordons' house for lunch with Marie, Libby, Emily, Charlotte and Mrs. Conrad. We had such a pleasant visit and it was so good to see both of them.

At the end of March, Mandy hosted a shower for Kristi Fuller. We are so excited to have another new playmate. We cannot wait to meet the little one. Kristi's shower was lots of fun! We used the theme of her nursery as the decor of the shower. Her nursery theme is owls, which is too cute!

April was full of Easter events, Mimi's birthday, the introduction to new friends and Ryan ate his first solid food, rice cereal.

There was an Easter Egg Hunt in our neighborhood. Ryan had no clue what was going on at the egg hunt, but he sure looked cute doing it!

We love Easter! It is one of our favorite holidays. The most important aspect is that Christ Jesus rose from the grave on Easter morning! It is also special to get dressed up in your Easter outfit and go to church to celebrate Easter morning. It was even more significant this year now that we had a child. We went to Fifth Avenue Baptist, which is my mom's church on Palm Sunday for church. On Easter, we went to Nick's home church. Glen Haven always has an Easter parade where the children get to walk through the church and show off their Easter outfits. It was lots of fun to see all the kids dressed up in their outfits. Ryan looked cute as a button in his little Easter outfit. Daddy almost matched him perfectly. 

After the Easter service, we had lunch with Nick's family at Cherokee Run Golf Club. It was delicious food! Everyone enjoyed playing with Ryan and eating good food. Ryan got a cute Easter basket from Grandmama (MiMi already sent him one earlier in the week in a sand bucket!!).

To end a big day, Ryan opened his Easter basket that Peter Cottontail dropped off the night before and he tried his first tablespoon of rice cereal. He loved rice cereal and ate it well out of a spoon. He was pooped on Easter Monday!

We've been having some fun play dates with our friend, Caroline. She is a little bit older (one year and a day to be exact), but so much fun. Here is a picture of Caroline and Ryan hanging out at El Azteca!

Lastly, we finally got to meet Landon, Olivia, A, Navey and Ian. Melissa and Dave drove down from Chicago and their parents threw a BBQ for them. It was so good to see everyone and meet their babies. Here are all the daddies with the babies. It is hard to believe that we all had babies at the same time.

Whew! Oh well, it was too much information for a short update, but now we are all up to speed!

May is going to prove to be a fun month. We have a Cinco de Mayo party at one of the neighbor's house this weekend. Ryan will have his 6 month pediatrician appointment with Dr. Roe. We will get to start stage one foods (Ryan already tried cantaloupe for his aching gums and loved it)! Nick's company is having a big cocktail party to celebrate their 50th birthday party at Piedmont Driving Club and Nick is having a birthday. To end the month of May, we plan to take a little trip over Memorial Day weekend to Mimi's beach condo for some much needed R&R!

We're so glad that spring has sprung! Ryan loves going on walks and being outside.  He is such a good baby and we are love watching him grow!

We will now return to regular scheduled blogging!!