Birthday parties and bike rides make Mommy too tired to write

I haven't been posting here very regularly for the past several weeks and I'm sorry about that, but I've been a bit preoccupied with some goings on. First it was the big first birthday bash for Ryan, which I am glad to say was pretty chaos-free. It was fun and I have to say that I am more than thankful that that was the last first birthday party I'll ever have to plan. Next, of course, is the upcoming MS150 ride that is in, gulp, two weeks. I can't promise regular posts until after the ride, but bear with me, please. When I have less on my mind I'll get back to regular postings, I swear.

Yesterday my team and I rode 64 miles in sweltering heat and humidity. The temperature reached at least 95 degrees with humidity that was so thick and heavy it was actually hard to breath. I seriously thought I might die during the ride. In fact, it was so hot that I actually had a breakdown and we had to pull off to the side of the road to let me calm down. I started bawling like a baby. I couldn't help it, I felt defeated; the weather had done me in. But after I got my cry out, I sucked it up and we managed to finish 64 miles. I'm proud that we were able to do that distance under terrible conditions yesterday, but I'm praying for better weather for the actual ride.

Speaking of the big ride, I wrote a column about my upcoming ride that appeared in The Mercury newspaper Sunday. You can read it by clicking here.

So, without further adieu, here are a few photos from Ryan's first birthday party.

I love this picture of Ryan. I think he looks exactly like Sophia in it that it's spooky.

Happy Birthday, Buddha-Buddha

To My Little Ry-Guy,

When you were born, you had chunky cheeks, lots of hair and a temperament that announced to the world that you weren’t fooling around. You were all business.

But you were born into a family that was anything but all business. When you met your big sister, you somehow understood that first few months of life weren’t going to be easy, but we loved you. We loved every last ounce of you. We also knew that even though you may not be ready to show your inner goofball, it was inside, waiting to come out.

You prefered peace and tranquility, so you became our little Buddha-Buddha.

As the weeks went by, you slowly found your place among our family.

You got yourself a job, and finally started pulling your own weight. (No, of course he didn't have to get a job, but the picture was just too cute to leave out!)

You started to come into your own. You were our silly little Ry-Guy.

You learned to love hanging out with your big sister ...

... that is as long as she wasn’t trying to squash you.

Weeks turned to months and you learned to roll over,

Sit up,

Feed yourself,

Crawl,

Stand up,

and eventually walk.

You’ve grown so much and come so far in the last year. I can’t believe that just 12 short months ago you were so small and so helpless. Now you are running around and playing like nothing can stop you.

Happy First Birthday, Ryan. Your Daddy and I love you very much.