What is he up to these days?!

That's a question we get often.
Here's the River update...he finally started crawling, and we are so proud of him. Most people say, "Oh no, it's starting now." But we love it!
He has a nice "grill" going; he has 8 teeth and working on some more.
He points at everything, so we're constantly telling him what things are. We know that one day he'll start the "What's That Game?"
He loves to be read to. His favorite book is I Love You Through and Through. He even tries to read along sometimes. He loves being read to so much that we keep his greeting cards around, and he'll randomly pick them up and hand them to us to read to him.
He says, "Mama, Dada, Light (which sounds like L-eye)" and other random sounds.
He dances. He claps which is so funny. Game shows, Olympics, football games, anywhere he hears a crowd going wild, he'll start clapping. He waves.
He loves getting into and playing with everything he's not supposed to....phones, remotes, office supplies, the refrigerator, mama's pump, on and on.
My new thing is lint rolling him before naps and at other random times during the day. That Chaco is leaving her hair all over the place, and I can't keep it up. There are times I just have to pick him up and roll him. He doesn't mind. He thinks it's funny.
That's all I can think of right now, so here are a few pics....

I Love Dancing!!

Grammy's Birthday!!

"Can you please put the camera down and read me my card...AGAIN?!!"

Helping Mama get some work done.

River Turns One!!

River turned 1 year old on January 27th! We can't believe it. And yes, he did have a party...an Elmo party! Ryan and I talked about River's 1st party, and we didn't want it to be too stressful or too crazy. We had the gathering at Grammy's and Pappy's in Spring Hill, and we invited our parents and a few close friends to celebrate River's first year of life. Of course, there was snow, but we had the party anyway. We had some snacks and cake and presents. River's godparents gave a blessing at the beginning of the party which was super special. Sounds like your average birthday party...who are you kidding?! Do the Jenkins' ever do anything tame?! Come on.

I thought about not mentioning this part of the party, but it would be neglecting to share a very important happening to the day. Everything else went off without any glitch. Well, except for Ryan putting his hand in the Elmo cake that I spent hours making before we were ready to cut it.

Our very dear friends, Ben and Mel, have two daughters which we absolutely love and adore. K-dawg has severe allergies to eggs, dairy, and wheat, so I made sure that the snacks were something she could have. The only thing off limits...the cake, and we put that up on the counter. During cake time, I made some special cookies without her trigger foods, so she would have a sweet treat. Well.....shortly after a bite or two (none of us are exactly sure how much she ate of the cookie), she started having a reaction. It got worse and worse. Benadryl wasn't completely stopping this one. Then came some swelling, hives, vomiting, and some breathing troubles...we called 911. The paramedics were there within a few minutes of the call, and Ben and Mel were able to be assisted in using their epi-pin for the first time. They took K-Dawg to the hospital and had her checked out. She obviously has more allergies than they thought. They ran some more blood tests at their doctor's office and will have the results this week. I'm really curious to know what the allergic reaction was to.

Everyone keeps telling me to quit beating myself up, and that is was nobody's fault. I know. I know. But it's like a car accident I keep telling everyone. It was an accident. Nobody intended for it to happen, but you still feel pretty crummy that you were apart of it. I think everyone learned some valuable lessons from the experience that we will all take with us from here on out.

On a lighter note, River got a Zoo membership from us. We are looking forward to taking him to the Zoo over the next year. He got lots and lots of clothes and some toys. He got a new stroller, a riding Tonka truck, and a wagon came in the mail from Grandma and Grandpap. River also received money for his banking account. I can't believe he is 1 and already has his own account.

River's real birthday was the 27th. Grammy and Pappy came over, and we went out to eat. Grammy thinks of everything! She brought River a cupcake with a candle. We sang, and Ryan and I enjoyed his cupcake.

River's Birthday Party was actually on the 31st.

Logan and Becky (River's devilparents) and Grandma and Grandpap

Uncle Jim and Uncle Choyer (River's godparents) give a blessing to River.

Logan looks like he got caught doing something...that devilparent.

River's Elmo Cake. Grammy and I worked hard on that thing. It was my first try at a cake like that.


Logan and Ben catch up!

Granpap enjoys the snacks

Kitchen chit chat

Karis is growing up!

Uncle Choyer....BUSTED!!


Present Time!!!

And then there was CAKE...

The wagon came in the mail, and Dada put it together at the Barn and brought the surprise home!

I think River looks so cute here in his cloth diapers.

How does this thing work?

Seriously, this thing has No Tip - Steering. Yay! We're going to have lots of fun with this wagon.

A Wild and Wacky Winter

I'm in complete agreement with Al Roker...It's been a Wild and Wacky Winter. I feel like I spend a good portion of every week trapped back in the woods because of the snow. Even now, I'm watching flurries STILL falling to the ground. It's definitely making me reconsider mine and Ryan's dreams of living in Alaska. I try and watch the meteorologists 7 day forecast to figure out when my snowy, hilly drive out to civilization may melt. At least it is giving me time to work on my Birthing From Within classes. I have a home study to complete by the end of March, and I started teaching my first group series, so I spend most of the week preparing during River's nap times. The snow is beautiful, but I'm almost done with it and yearning for Spring. But really, how often do Ryan and I get to break out the sled and act like children.....twice this year. I believe it's now our 4th or 5th snow...see I've already lost count. I do have this love/hate relationship with the white stuff.

Here are some pictures from the snow at the end of January. I'm not getting any of this round. With Ryan gone, it's hard maneuvering a camera and River.

River and Thomas having a snow day! This was the first day of snow. Josh is another Ranger at the Park. He, his wife, Anne Marie, and their son, Thomas, came over to play.

I think Thomas told River how much fun crawling was...since their visit, he's picked it up! Thanks, Thomas!!!

I wish these next pictures had sound effects! We had so much fun. We would take turns sledding, holding River, taking pictures, and video taping. If I ever figure out how to put video on the blog, I'll try and put one of our sled runs. We were laughing and screaming and loving life. I remember my last snow blog I mentioned needing a couple more inches for good sledding. Well, we got it this time.

Poor Ryan...I only got one picture. My picture taking ability is not that great, especially when holding River. He was a great sledder nonetheless.