Kaitlyn Ryan

Yesterday was Anthony’s college graduation! It was hard to believe he was already graduating from college! It feels like he just graduated from high school last year. The graduation ceremony was at the colesium at 10am. We had a nice group of family & friends there to cheer him. After a nice, but long, ceremony we headed back to my house for an after party. We munched on finger food while Dad warmed up the baked ziti… yum! We all just hung out and had a wonderful time. I am so glad all of us got to get together to celebrate Anthony’s accomplishment! Seven more months and we’ll be celebrating his wedding!

So for those of you wondering what Kaitlyn’s Uncle Anthony is going to be up to now that he has that college degree under his belt… he’s going back to school. Yes, that’s right, he is starting to get his Masters degree this fall at The Citadel. He is looking and applying for a job, and while nothing has come up yet he does know he wants to continue his education. Last I heard he plans on becoming a Social Studies teacher. I think he will be great!

And then today… Happy Mother’s Day! I hope all of you Moms had a wonderful and relaxing day. Mine was pretty easy going. I was looking forward to going to the pool this afternoon, but Mother Nature decided otherwise. The afternoon thunderstorm cancelled my hopes of hanging out in the pool with Kaitlyn. That’s ok though, we’ll get our fair share of the pool this summer.

And as I always say, please visit my Flickr site for more pictures from Anthony’s graduation. I hope everyone has had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

…since I last posted. I know you have been missing me, and who could blame you? But the ladies have been nagging me to post, so here I am. We really don’t have any sort of specific updates. I guess I can tell you about how life has been outside of the big events.

For those of you who don’t know, Mom has quit her job to be home with Kaitlyn full time. She wasn’t terribly happy where she was or where her “career” was headed. And at the same time, this is an exciting time for Kaitlyn as she really starts to move from helpless baby to active infant. Before you know it, we’ll have a toddling toddler on our hands!

So Mom gets to stay home and be with Kaitlyn. We have no real long term plans at this point for a new career, though we do have a few options. I am sure most of you are saying “photography,” but she decided (and I agree) that it would be best to keep that as a hobby and not a career. It is one of those things that she really enjoys and is all hers, and I would hate for it to become a burden for her because we are relying on it for income.

As for me, nothing has really changed. Just keep doing my job, keep coming home to my beautiful women. How could that be considered anything other than wonderful?

Kaitlyn is kicking butt, as she has since her very first day. She is definitely getting a very distinctive personality. She met her Aunt Nina and Uncle Pops (my Aunt Annelle and Uncle Doug) a couple of weekends ago, and they definitely seemed to hit it off.

I have also been spending some time tracing Kaitlyn’s ancestry. Right now, I have back to her Great Great Grandparents on both sides, and in some places, have gotten back as far as Great Great Great Great Great Grandparents! For those interested, she is English, Irish, Scottish, German, and Spanish.

She likes to smile, though she still doesn’t laugh much. She has been nailing almost all of her milestones for her adjusted age, and actually is starting to catch up on her actual age. The only things she is lagging behind in is her verbal milestones, but we aren’t terribly worried. She has always done things on her own time, and I am sure this is no different.

So there you have it, a very rambling – and probably not very amusing – post from Dad. Quite frankly, I think Mom has been doing a fantastic job, but I’ll try to do better in putting stuff out there as well.

-Dad

It’s hard to believe our baby girl is 8 months old! She has come such a long way from where she started. We are thankful every day to have her in our lives. As you can see by the photo, Kaitlyn is one happy baby! She is talking more, sometimes getting really loud, which is fun. She also started sitting up last week (June 2 to be exact). She has a pretty good handle on it now. She can lean forward past her toes then pull herself right back up to a sitting position. She is also continuing to put her knees under her when she’s on her belly. She’s going to take off when she learns how to crawl! I weighed her a few nights ago and she was coming in a little over 17lbs. She’s still eating like a champ! Papito has been spoiling her with organic homemade baby food. She’s already had bananas, pears, apples and peaches and loves them. Kaitlyn had her first trip to the beach last Sunday with her Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Veronica, Uncle Anthony & Aunt Katie. She had a good time sitting on the blanket under the umbrella with Daddy. I took her into the water for a little bit (just where the water comes up on the sand). I think she was a little intimidated by the constant moving water, but still enjoyed it.

On another note, I have entered Kaitlyn into another Photo Contest. Thank you to those who voted on the last one, but I think it was a little bit of a scam. Lesson learned. This time is for real though. I have entered her in the Parents Magazine Cover Model Search. Go to the Parents Magazine website and rate each of her 6 pictures 5 stars and click on Recommend (both are above the photo). Thanks to those of you who still keep up with Kaitlyn on her website! Leave us a comment if you’d like to know anything else.

The first trip to Disney World with Kaitlyn is completely, and we all had a very good time. Of course, Kaitlyn isn’t going to remember any of it other than the pictures and video we have, but that will be enough.

She was awake pretty much the entire time. But not just awake, but very quiet, always looking around, checking things out (at least as much as you can when you are laying on your back in a stroller). She didn’t get to ride any rides, but I think she enjoyed herself.

For those who are interested we took a tour of Minny’s house (her favorite character…or at least what we are going to make her favorite for now), took some pictures with Donald, Goofy, and Pluto, watched the pirates and princess parade, went shopping, and got numerous compliments from complete strangers about how adorable our baby girl is (duh).

Outside the compliments, shopping was my favorite part, as each of us got something to remember the trip with. Kaitlyn ended up with a nice onesie (onesy?) with Minny Mouse on it and the words “Princess in training.”

I am sure we will end up back there, but one day when she is a little older and can remember a little more, we are going to go back and do the whole experience. But for now, this preview will at least give Tori and I something to look back on fondly.