We had an amazing Christmas this year and having my parents here to enjoy this special time in Preston's life made it that much better.  We are truly blessed in every way possible.  Preston is the light of our lives and God couldn't have made our little family any more perfect.  

We hope that everyone had a special and meaningful Christmas as well.

Latest happenings

I will be the first to admit that I have totally dropped the ball on updating our little blog.  I feel like time is something that I have been lacking lately between work, illness, OH and raising a toddler BOY.  And let me tell you, this child is ALL BOY.  I blame his father :)

New things in the Rittenhouse world since the last update:

• P now climbs up into his chair when he is hungry
• P no longer uses a bottle... EVER.  We are officially a sippy-cup household.
• P has a potty chair in the bathroom and it is waiting for him once he decides he likes it. :)
• "Mama" and "Dada" are now "Mommy" and "Daddy"... occasionally Mommy is called "Mom"... not cool!
• P thinks its hysterical when Mommy and Daddy mimic his sweet dance moves.
• P lights up when it is time to brush his teeth... he runs to the bathroom and can't wait to sit on the bathroom counter and brush away.  
• Speaking of teeth... we now have 4 molars, 4 front top and bottom teeth and the others are filling in daily.  
• P experienced his first stomach bug = HORRIBLE experience.  Mommy and Daddy were heartbroken watching our boy throw up.  
• Mommy, Daddy and P starting going to a new church about a month ago and love it.  P has a great time in the toddler room and Mommy and Daddy really enjoy the time together as well.
• We are anxiously awaiting the arrival and Mimi and Papa (my parents) next week as they are moving to Colorado from Florida.  We are absolutely thrilled and can't wait for them to see the fun and craziness that we experience with this little boy.  
• The house is decorated for Christmas and so far P hasn't broken anything :)  Although he is quite intrigued by the lights on the tree and other places in the house.  I predict it won't be long before he gets his hands on something and it all comes crashing down :) 

There are probably a zillion more things that I am forgetting, but I think you get the idea.  Life is good.  We are so blessed and thankful for the friends and family in our life.  We hope that everyone has a safe and healthy holiday season.

Below are a few pictures from the last few months :)

- The Rittenhouse's

 Thanksgiving Day

 My BIG boy.

 Thoroughly enjoyed dessert.

Cousins!!!

 Cool kid .

 My little dragon - Halloween

Happy guy!

Hittin' the Trail

On Sunday, Brennan, Preston and I went for a beautiful drive and hike in the mountains around Mt. Evans.  The weather was perfect - 65-70 degrees.  Yup, eat your heart out Floridians :)  It was absolutely the best day for a hike.  Sadly, it was our first real hike of the summer and Preston loved it.  We bought a Kelty backpack carrier off Craigslist and it is really a great way to get him around until he is a bit bigger and can hike on his own.  Not to say that carrying him around in that is easy.  Whew!  Brennan carried him up and I carried him down.  I thought I was going to make out on that deal, but going down was insanely hard.  I felt so top-heavy that any time I would get the slightest momentum I felt like I was going to tumble down the mountain. 

Just about as soon as we started heading down to head back to the car, Preston fell asleep.  He was literally snoring in my ear most of the way down.  I am so thankful that my child will sleep on the go.  We had a great time and couldn't have asked for a better day or time with our family. 

Daddy & Preston - getting ready to hit the trail

Mommy & Preston - heading down

Hiking wore him out!!!

We absolutely love our life here in Colorado.  We realized this weekend that like most things, we were starting to take this beautiful state and scenery for granted.  Getting outdoors in the mountains and enjoying being together as a family reminded us exactly why it is that we moved here.  God has blessed us so much here and we need to be better about appreciating everything around us.

Ironic

I find it quite interesting and ironic that now that Preston is actually able to say words and starting to put words together, he has mastered the ability to sign for "more".  When he was younger and not really talking at much, we tried so hard to get him to sign for "eat" and "more".  He has decided that now is the time to put that into practice when he can actually just say them. Ha.  Kids are funny and truly do things at their very own pace.  Even though he can say the word, I think I am more proud that he is able to use sign language and totally understands what he is saying and doing.

I love my smart and sweet little boy.

1st Haircut

Preston had his very 1st haircut today.  His hair was really getting long around his ears and starting to get straggly in the back, so after some serious heartache, I decided to go forward with it.  Brennan had been pressuring me for weeks and I decided today was the day.

Let me just say this one time, my husband was right! :) Ha.  Preston looks absolutely adorable and like such a big boy.  He was a champ during the cut and enjoyed his first lollipop (if I have my way it will be a long time before he has another too).  Here are some pictures from the salon and a few from home later in the day.

My boy is such a stud....

Special Big Boy Seat

 cutting - rockin' the hawk.

All done and SO handsome.

Such a ham.  My child LOVES the camera.

Cheeeeeeeeeese!

Such a handsome guy.

Mr. Independent

This video is from about a month ago, but Preston basically insists on feeding himself everything now.  If I put any kind of food on the spoon or fork and try to feed him, he takes it out of my hand and feeds himself.  I swear, he is growing up way too fast.  Enjoy...

Words.

It seems that Preston's vocabulary is increasing by the minute.  Here's the growing list:

Mama
Dada
Baba
Ball
Cheese
Cracker
Na-night
Hugs
Oh no!
Uh-oh!
Ahhh-chu! (fake sneeze)
Up
Dressed
Hi!
Lijah (Elijah is his friend at school)
Diggy (Doggy)

There may be more that I forgotten but I love that our little man is developing a voice.  He has always been a very vocal child, but there is nothing better than hearing him say na-night when he is ready for bed at night.  I feel like our communication has grown to a whole new level. 

I have to say that being a Mom is the greatest gift that God could ever give me.  I can't wait to see all of the amazing things that our family's journey through life will bring.

Rough Life.

Life is rough when you are a few days away from being 15 months old.  Even a leisurely wagon ride is enough to wear out any child (apparently).  Preston decided he couldn't wait 10 minutes to take his afternoon nap and passed out in his wagon on our way home.  Absolutely hysterical.  This is becoming a trend of his.  The child will seriously sleep anywhere.

Hugs.

My sweet boy has actually gotten even sweeter - which I didn't think was possible.  He has officially started giving hugs and saying "hugs" when he does it.  Oh man, it melts my heart to get that big squeeze from him.  I can't get enough of them and love that he actually understands what a hug is.  He is growing up and turning into such a little boy. 

I am still frequently overwhelmed by the joy that my little boy brings to my heart.

Door Man

Preston learned how to open doors this weekend.  So, not only are we dealing with a walker, but a door opener.  Any part of the house that we were once able to keep sacred is now free game for this "toddler" boy of ours.

It is actually quite cute watching him struggle to reach the handle and the ultimate joy once he has opened the door.  Precious.   Our boy is growing up right before our eyes.

Boys.

Preston & Daddy

My boys being silly.

With Father's Day just around the corner, I thought it fitting to take a few pictures of just Preston and Daddy.  They are absolutely precious together and couldn't have more of a bond as father and son.  Each day I am reminded how truly blessed I am so have such an amazing son and loving husband.  Our little family is perfect in my eyes and I am so thankful.  

Are all animals really Dogs?

Grandma, Preston & Mommy

Relaxing at the Zoo

Mommy, Daddy & Baby Giraffe

Awesome Bears!

Polar Bear

So, this weekend, Brennan, my Mom and I took Preston to the zoo.  We had a great time and Preston enjoyed all of the animals and being outside.  Brennan insisted on calling every animal we saw a doggy aka diggy in Preston talk.  By the end of the day, we walked up to the zebras and Preston said "diggy"... Leave it to Daddy to confuse our child!

It's a good thing he has a Mommy who teaches him the correct name for things :)

Pool Time!

Loving the Pool!!!

Pool with Grandma

This past weekend my Mom was in town for a visit.  We ventured to the pool on Friday and attempted to get into the kiddie pool with Preston.  The water was a little chilly and he was not interested.  After a few attempts and tears... I decided we should venture into the big pool.  I took one step in and it was at least 10-15 degrees warmer.  Preston immediately loved it!  I was so excited and relieved.  I was terrified that my child would not like the pool - I would have been devastated!  Not so much!  He loves it. We went back on Sunday and he played so hard that he ended up falling asleep in the water and took a nap on Grandma under an umbrella poolside.  THAT is my child :)  

We are definitely looking forward to a summer of pool time and lots of fun in the sun :)

Busy. Loud. Sweet.

Busy.
We are quickly learning the meaning of the word "busy."  That sounds as if we didn't know what it meant before.  One would likely think I am referring to how busy our lives are balancing careers and family life.  Oh no... that's the easy part.  The aspect of the word that we didn't quite realize before relates to how busy an almost 1 year old boy is.  He is constantly on the go, finding something new to get into.  His biggest joy in life is grabbing a hold of something that he knows he isn't supposed to have.  The minute he gets the opportunity to dig through his dresser drawers, they are instantly empty and he has a huge smile on his face.  He thrives on knowing that he pulled one over on his Mommy and Daddy.  It's quite cute, but I will never tell him that. :)

Loud.
We are also quickly learning that the first 6 months of Preston's life, he was tricking us into believing that he was a mellow, quiet baby.  Not so much these days.  He thoroughly enjoys being as loud as possible with whatever means necessary to do so.  Be it his voice, blocks slamming, chucking his sippy cup across the kitchen, opening and close cabinet doors or slamming bars of soap (yep soap) on the tile in the bathroom.  The boy loves to cause a ruckus.  He seems to especially love to talk and yell as loud as he can in the morning when he comes into bed with Mommy and Daddy for "snuggle time."  Althought "snuggle time" consistently seems to be a time to climb all over us, yell as loud as possible and provide an occassional smack to the face if we look too comfy.  Ha.

Sweet.
Finally, each day throughout all of the loudness and times when it seems all we do is chase Preston, we see more and more of his sweet spirit.  His laugh is adorable and rhaspy.  He loves to hug and pat our backs at the same time.  Each night at bedtime, when we lay him down for bed we say prayers.  Throughout prayers he is completely still and silent as if he is speaking with God himself.  Its precious and the same every night.

Lucky. 
Mommy and Daddy truly are.