First Sleepover with Gamma & Papa

I'm back! I'm here! I've been busy taking care of mama. She's been very sick with this 2nd pregnancy :(
Not much going on here...just enjoying the warmer weather. Well, it's not warm, warm but it's getting there! I've been able to play outside a few times and I love that!
Mom and dad went on their very first date last weekend without me. It was mom's first time in over 2 years...leaving me for the night. Gamma and Papa came over and stayed with me and I did great! I had such a good time with them. Mom cried for the first 30 minutes or so down the road but then she was fine. I think her and daddy had a good time ;)

And...there's ONE baby in there!!!!

Hey guys! Today was an AMAZING day for the Ruffing family...a long day...but a very special day :) Mommy got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time today...I think it made things more real for her. Mom is 9 weeks and 2 days. Baby Ruffing is due August 19...mom and dad's 5th wedding anniversary...how ironic is that? Dr said everything looked great and the baby is doing awesome!
I had my 2 yr checkup today which dad took me to since mom was at her appt. I hit all of my milestones except for jumping. That's okay though - we're working on that in PT with Martha and I know, just know, that I am going to get it down one of these days! I'm in the 75th percentile for height, 50th for weight and 10 for head. I have a small head like my great grandpa Gourley :)
I think the biggest news of all that I can't wait to share with you...is this...I had my CPK levels drawn today for the 3rd time...and they were normal! This is wonderful news for all of you know what's been going on. Mom has been praying like she's never prayed before in her whole life and those prayers were answered today...thank you God!!!! Dr says she's happy with the results and is no longer concerned at this point. What a truly amazing, miraculous day. Thank you to everyone who has been thinking about me and praying for me through all of this. I love you :)

I'm Going to be a Big Brother :)

I know mom and I haven't posted in a while but it's only because mom has been really sick :( but for good reasons...

I'M GOING TO BE A BIG BROTHER! WOOT! WOOT!

Mom has her 2nd doctor's appointment on Monday (17th) and it will be her first time seeing my little baby brother or sister :) Let's just hope there's only ONE baby in her belly...

Happy 2nd Birthday to Me!

My 2nd birthday was a success :) We made it through the day without mom crying (about me getting older). I had PT this morning. Martha brought me this really cool truck for my birthday present. Thanks Martha! After that, mom took me to storytime at the library where everyone sang happy birthday to me :) We went home...picked up a bit...made lunch for dad...then mom and I napped for about 2 hrs. It was so nice to snuggle up with her :) When I woke up we made my birthday cake together. Mom had just picked up a box of Swiss Rolls that she was going to put a candle in because she didn't want to have a whole sheet cake lying around in the house when we're going to have a big one on Saturday...but after talking with Grandma from Massachusetts...mama had a change of heart. And so...we made chocolate cake with confetti frosting...yummo! When dad got home we all skyped with Grandpa and Grandma Longley. They had shipped a box full of birthday presents to me and I've been itching to open it...and I finally got to tonight! I opened it right in front of them when we were skyping tonight. It was awesome :)

2 More Days!!!

2 more days until I'm 2 years old!!!

It's Almost My Birthday!

I'm going to be 2 next week...can you believe it? Mom already has everything planned...it's going to be a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme and I can't wait! I just wish my family from Massachusetts could be there as well as my family in Iowa!
Did I tell you that my grandma from Massachusetts came out to see me from Mass.? We had such a good time together.
Not much else going on...just getting ready for Christmas and baking lots of sweets :)

Thank You Shutterfly!

We just received our beautiful Christmas cards last night from Shutterfly. If you read in one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that mom and I had ordered our cards from them this year. Let me tell you, they did not disappoint! They're so cute :)

I think mom ended up saving over a hundred dollars on these cards...she ended up paying a little over $8 for shipping and that's it! What a deal! Please go to Shutterfly and make your own Christmas cards...it's worth it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can't believe my birthday is just around the corner. I'm going to be 2! This year has flown by...I think I'm going to celebrate with a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed party this year.
Did I tell you that Grandma Longley from Massachusetts is coming out to see me next week for

Thanksgiving? I am so stinkin' excited :) I made her something special for Christmas and I can't wait to see her in person to give it to her. Mom and dad are going to make a nice turkey dinner for grandma....homemade applesauce (great grandma Ward's recipe of course), mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, peanut butter cup pie, dinner rolls, stuffing...you name it....it'll be there! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sesame Street Live

I had the BEST time today! Mom took me to see Sesame Street Live!!! She was nervous I'd freak out at seeing Elmo and Big Bird so up close and big and all that...but I. LOVED. IT! Mom took a ton of pictures on her phone but she hasn't figured out how to upload them onto her computer yet...when she does...she told me she'd post them so you could see how much I liked the show.

After that, mom took me out for pizza and then we played at the mall and bought a Christmas present for daddy. I was such a good boy!

Storytime is canceled tomorrow for Veteran's Day and Friday we have MOPS all morning. We'll be packing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child (OCC). Have a good weekend!

Free Christmas Cards!!!

I am so stinkin' excited! Mom just got 50 Shutterfly Christmas cards for FREE! She saved $119.50 (all she had to pay for was shipping and handling for $8.61). Not bad huh? I'd show you a sneak peak of the card but mom said no way...'it has to be a surprise'!
All you have to do is follow this link Shutterfly and you can get yours for FREE too!
Enjoy!

Miracle Blanket Deadline

For all of you bloggers out there who are interested in winning a Free Miracle Blanket...I am closing the voting at 9pm CST. The winner will be announced on the Miracle Blanket Facebook page tomorrow after 2pm CST.

Thanks! And good luck!

Another Great Deal!

I'm addicted...to coupons. I just went to Summer Fresh here in town with a few more coupons that Nichole helped me find. Take a look at what I got :2 bags of lettuce, 2 air fresheners, 2 things of dental floss and a package of Jimmy Dean Sausage for $11.83 and you're never going to believe how much I got this one for...everyone I've said this to has guessed $2 but nope...I paid $0.16 for ALL OF THIS!!! I actually made money back on most of the products in this picture so I was able to bring down my overall cost by a ton. Thank you Nichole!

Coupons Are My New Best Friend!

My dear friend Nichole - has introduced me to the beautiful world of 'couponing'. Oh - this is Dylan's mom posting today by the way :) Dylan is in bed!
Anywho - I recently wrote an article about Nichole in Connection Magazine for the December issue...about how she saves her family money by coupon clipping. After interviewing her, I was so intrigued with the process that I decided to pay more attention to those Sunday paper coupons! BUT - the next time I went to Wal-Mart, I still didn't save much money and only had a few cents to show for it :( SO...I asked Nichole if she would come with me the next time I went and she said Yes! Look what happened when I got her one-on-one help!!!

You might not be able to see everything I got...but here's a run down: 2 boxes of Cheerios, 2 boxes of Cheese Nips, 2 boxes of V8 soup, 1 package of WW Jiffy Pop, 2 cans of soup, 2 packages of cheese, 2 chili mixes, 2 bags of lettuce, 1 box of spaghetti and 3 boxes of toothpaste...my total came to $43.57 and I got all of this for...drumroll please...$7.77!!! Oh yeah...

Miracle Blanket Giveaway Contest!

I was just re-reading my posts from my earlier days here on Earth...and I can't believe what a bad sleeper I used to be? Granted, I did have GERD and possibly, colic...mom and dad NEVER slept and I am not exaggerating. Anywho, I wrote a post back in January 2009...I was about 6 weeks old? And my grandma Longley came to visit me from Massachusetts. Mommy remembers this night like it was yesterday b/c it was the first night since I'd been born that I'd slept longer than an hour.
I slept for 5 hours that night. And all b/c grandma wrapped me up in this thing called the Miracle Blanket. Yep, that's what it was called. And man was it a miracle. It was the best sleep I'd ever gotten and I wore that thing until mom couldn't squeeze me into it any longer.
Whenever mom hears about other parents who's kids can't/won't sleep - she always suggests this Miracle Blanket.
Since this is mom's FAVORITE baby gift to give to new moms and dads...she's going to give one away for FREE to a new mom or dad out there who is expecting a baby and wants to try this thing out. I guarantee you (and mom's got my back on this one) that this. thing. is. for. real.
The person who posts a comment on my blog with the funniest reason as to why sleep is important to them (since the Miracle Blanket in turn will put your baby to sleep, meaning you will get sleep) will win the Miracle Blanket! And you must 'like' Miracle Blanket on Facebook as well as Twitter (if you have Twitter).
The only way you'll know if you won - is to track Miracle Blanket's Facebook page on Tuesday after 2pm CST and look for your name. If it's there - you won!

Good luck!

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

Yes. Mom is already getting ready for Christmas. She's already started our annual Christmas letter (this is only year 2 that she's done it). Anywho, if you know my mom, you know that she's crazy about me, taking pictures of me and well, anything to do with me. So, what could make her happier than taking my picture, putting it in a beautiful Shutterfly card with our holiday letter and sending it off to all of our family and friends? Nadda :) That makes her pretty happy.

Mom always has to get the perfect Christmas cards every year. She usually buys ours at Walmart because they're cheap. (Sorry mom, yes, I totally just called you out.) But she decided to get ours from Shutterfly this year because they are better quality and still affordable. She won't buy just a regular card though. They absolutely have to be Christmas photo cards.

Mom bought some photo cards from Shutterfly when I was a little bit younger. She was really impressed with how they came out - so, here we are! I can't wait to see what you all think when you get them in your mailbox this Christmas!

1st Haircut & New Addition

I forgot to tell you about my first haircut! I went with grandma Ruffing, dad and mom. I did really good! I sat in a choo choo train and watched a video. I didn't cry once...only when we left! Imagine that? The lady who cut my hair kind of had an attitude - so I could have done without that. But I did get to keep a few locks of hair and they took my picture for me. Check out my slicked back hair before the cutting began :)

We've also added an addition to our home...you've all been asking for pics - so here they are! We love our new space. It's called a 4-seasons room.

Halloween! I look so cute!

Has it been that long? Since I've blogged? Too much time has gone by. Mom is finally getting around to posting pictures...geeze mom!?Aren't dad and I so cute together!? Here's some more pics for you to chew on :)

Great!

So life has been pretty busy as you can tell from my MIA blogging. Things have been going good. I'm officially walking now - all the time! It's so weird to finally be on my 2 feet rather than scooting around on my butt. But it's great. I can get places much faster which makes mommy's day that much crazier :)
Last weekend was ABMD and I had great time with mom, dad, Aunt Erica, grandma and grandpa. I rode the train twice and fussed when the ride was over.
Mom and dad just bought me tickets to see Sesame Street Live next month. I'm so excited I can't wait!
Not much else going on here. I've started to sit on the big boy potty but haven't done any business yet. Mom wasn't even thinking about tackling this one - but I kept pointing to the potty and saying 'pee, pee' so we've been at it every day. I'll keep you all posted!

Outside Rocks!

Today is the first day in a long time that mom and I don't have any plans! And I'm looking forward to it. I feel like we've been on the go, go, go!
We spent most of our day yesterday outside and it was awesome. I walked and played and helped mommy weed out the shrubs for over 2 hrs! And when daddy got home we all piled into the car and picked out some mums for the front stoop.
I love this type of weather :) See you later!

Harvest Fest

It has been way too long since I've blogged. Let's just say life has been pretty crazy lately. I'm not sure where I left off - but I got my first haircut last weekend at Cookie Cutters. I only cried when we had to leave (!) I loved the fire truck I got to sit in and guess I didn't want to leave it. After my haircut we went to Cider Days with grandma and had a really good time. It was super hot outside but well worth it. We had a great time.
Today, mom and grandma took me to Harvest Fest at the Rutledge-Wilson Farm and we had so much fun! Mom was a little nervous about how I'd behave since I skipped my morning nap but I was the best little boy ever :) We went on a hay ride...I fed the chickens...ate ice cream...saw some bunnies...picked my very own pumpkin in the pumpkin patch and got my picture taken on a haystack! Doesn't that all sound like fun? Fall/Winter is mommy's favorite time of year so I know she just loved, loved, loved all of the festivities today.
Dad is in KC this weekend...again. He is going to the Chief's game with Raef and going golfing. I'm glad he's having a good time but I sure do miss him. I wish he'd been there to see me feed the chickens today. But - I picked him out a special pumpkin. So, hopefully he'll feel like he was right there with us.
So what else is new? We had a playdate on Friday with some new moms and had a great time. I met so many new friends to play with. We decorated cookies and played with trucks and cars. I had the best time. Mom even met some new ladies who have invited her to can applesauce!
Monday, we have another playdate...Tuesday, we have PT with Martha...Wednesday...mmm, nothing planned yet...Thursday, storytime at the library...and Friday...I feel like we have something going on but I just can't remember for the life of me what it is?
I still have tons of pictures to post of course. Just haven't gotten around to it. Keep checking back though...mom will get around to it one of these days!