Sneak Peek

We had Christmas pictures taken a few weeks ago for our Christmas cards. Melissa got some really sweet shots. Here is a sneak peak of what is to come...

Thankfulness

I didn't want to let this season of Thanksgiving slip away without listing a few of the MANY things we are so thankful for...

Our Families

Bryson

Halle and Jake

Health

A job that I am so passionate about

Jason's job

Hot water heaters

A brother who will give up his bed for me

Overhearing family members talking to Bryson in the other room, and hearing him laughing at them

Bryson's sweet smile

Troops fighting overseas for our freedom

Our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ

Great friends

Time spent at home in our pajamas

Warm food

Home-made Lemon chess pie

FBC Bryan

Long walks pushing Bryson in the stroller

Bryson's Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins

Tidbits of wisdom mixed into our days

Being a Mom and Dad

Overwhelming joy

Time to Celebrate!

Last Sunday I turned the big 27! We had a great day spending time together as a family, and then we went out to eat at On The Border. My brother Matt, the Kenleys, the Reeds, the Taylors, and the Browns met us at the restaurant to help us celebrate. I am so thankful for such good friends and family!

Family Shot

This was my present from Bryson!

Cereal !!!

Lots going on in the Ruple household!

Bryson has started eating rice cereal. It has not been the smoothest transition. In fact, Bryson HATED it at first. Our first feeding ended in screaming and lots of tears (from Bryson and me!). We put it up for a few weeks and then tried again. Things went much more smoothly the second time, and he is continuing to get better and better at keeping the cereal IN his mouth!

Jason putting Bryson in his highchair for the first time!

First feeding- didn't go so well!!!

Never fear! Grandma is here!

Grandma came down for the weekend and wanted to feed Bryson. I have to admit he did eat really well for her (like maybe she's done this a few times before!). I still think she enjoyed it more than he did!

Dirty face!!!

Coming Soon: Landon Pickens

On Saturday November 7th we traveled to Katy, Texas to help give a shower for our good friends Derek and Melissa Pickens. This sweet couple lived in the other half of our duplex for the first three years of our marriage. We loved having them as neighbors and miss them terrribly! Melissa found out she was pregnant on the day we went to stay with them so she could take our maternity pictures (she found out literally about five minutes before we rang the doorbell!). It has been so much fun to go through this pregnancy with them, especially with a new baby of our own. We can't wait to meet Mister Landon in January and know that him and Bryson will be forever friends.

I made the diaper cake!

Bryson was flirting with all the ladies (and they were eating it up!).

Sweet Friends!

Four Months Old

On November 10th Bryson turned four months old! He had his four month check-up on the 6th. Everything went perfectly. Bryson weighed 14lbs 14oz and was 24.25 inches long. He had his second round of shots and this time things went much more smoothely (no 4am trips to IHOP for Jason and Bryson). Bryson slept for a few hours after his appointment, but then was cheerful as usual for the rest of the afternoon.

A little bit about our four month old--- He has an infectious laugh that we can't get enough of! We are really enjoying getting know his sweet personality. He is rolling over and over and over, and raising himself up completely on his arms. He is scooting across the floor by raising his rear-end up into the air and then pushing as hard as he can with his feet (usually while letting out a few loud grunts). He hasn't quite figured out that he needs to raise himself up on his arms at the same time, so he usually ends up nose-diving into the floor. He might be crawling sooner rather than later! We aren't really encouraging crawling, trying to hold onto these last few days of sanity before our house is forever turned upside down! :)

After a few small transition "road bumps" Bryson is doing great in daycare. I am also beginning to enjoy my time at work; being a nurse again and helping people in this community is a true passion of mine. For now, we seem to have found a really good balance. I'm learning that balance is key in everything.

We're looking forward to seeing what month five holds for our little guy! We will definitely keep you posted!

Mr. Penguin = Lots of Laughs

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's...

Super Bryson!!!

Okay, so- all corniness aside- we had a great first Halloween! We kept things pretty low-key, which is exactly what we need at this point in our life. We hung out on Saturday as a family and then headed over to the Kenley's house that evening for some backyard fun including weenie roasting, friends, and an awesome fire in their outdoor fire place.

The Bocks joined us for a little while! Ella was so cute in her little pumpkin hat and outfit. It is so much fun to hang out with them and always good to catch up with Megan (Bryson and Ella are only six weeks apart). Ella conked out pretty early so they didn't get to make the trick-or-treating rounds with us. Maybe next year!

Bryson also pooped out early. In fact, if you know where we live in comparison the Kenley's, Bryson didn't even make it from their house to ours! For those of you who don't know, that's only half a block! It was a lot of fun though. We watched Sam trick-or-treat as a little Fireman and then I stayed home with Bryson when we got to our house.

When we got home the MacDonalds came and knocked on our door. Madison was the cutest little OSU cheerleader! Sam also knocked on our door!

What a great night! I'm already looking forward to next year...

Ambree !!!!

On Friday October 30th Ambree came to visit us and to meet Bryson for the first time. She called earlier that week and said she was meeting her family in College Station on Saturday for the Aggie football game, but she wanted to spend the night and spend time with Bryson on Friday. I was so excited when she said she was coming. It had been WAY too long! I quickly made big plans for our evening out on the town (ha!ha!) and even got Jason to agree to keeping Bryson that night. I told Ambree about all these plans, and she said "That sounds good- but I'd really like to spend some time with Bryson." Oh! I was telling another friend about this and she told me that I am no longer the picture, just the frame. What a funny, but very true, way of thinking about my life these days! So, we ordered Olive Garden and spent time with Bryson while Jason went to pick it up. After dinner the boys went to bed and Ambree and I got to spend some time catching up. It was so good to see her. We definitely had a perfect evening!

Bryson was a big fan of Ambree immediately! We hope to see her again soon and are thankful she thought to come visit us on her trip to College Station.

Long time no post...

Well, life in the Ruple house has been CRAZY!!! We have been traveling every weekend, I've started working three days a week, and Bryson and Jason have been sick. On top of all of that, my computer got a horrible virus and has officially crashed. There were actually strange voices saying very strange things to me when it wasn't even connected to the internet (and no- it wasn't just the lack of sleep finally taking over my brain). I have got SO MUCH to blog about, but no time! I just wanted to say that we are still alive, getting used to this new life, and recovering from the snot attack we've been under. :0 More to come (hopefully) soon...

Road Trip

We recently had a weekend trip home to see our families (October 23rd-25th). Our first stop when we got into Pleasanton was at MeMa's house. Bryson had never gotten to meet MeMa, so we were so excited to see her. Bryson took right to her, and spent most of the visit in MeMa's lap. Bryson has two great-grandmothers. We are so blessed!

Next Stop: The Winn House to meet baby Keaton (born 5 weeks after Bryson)! It was so much fun seeing all of our boys together. Keaton was adorable! We can't wait to watch these boys grow up together. I'm sure there will be lots of trouble for them to get into together in the not so far away future. :)

After a pretty long day of traveling and stopping for visits along the way, we finally made it to Granny and Grandpa's house. Grandpa was at a knife show in Arizona and William was marching in the band at a football game, but we got to see everyone else! We wish we lived closer so we could see them more often...

Bryson smiling at Aunt Julie and Uncle Bruce

Taking a bottle from Aunt Julie

Our sweet niece Laynie

Meeting Great Aunt Sandra

Granny and her Grandkids

Cousin Sheldon

Cousins (missing William!)

Phillip and Bryson

Tummy-time with Cousins- so much fun!

Kami and Ruben Campos (looking good with a baby! :)

Meeting Brooke!

On Saturday Abby hosted an Uppercase Living party for me at her house. She had a great turnout and it was so much fun getting to see everyone and getting to introduce them to Bryson. After Abby's party, we ate lunch with Granny, Will, Jessica, and Laynie, and then Bryson and I headed to my parents' house for the evening (Jason stayed in Pleasanton so he could go dove hunting). My mom had an Uppercase Living party that night! It went great as well. I was a little bit overwhelmed, but made great commission and got some good experience. Bryson loved hanging out with Grandma and PawPaw.

On Sunday Granny and Jason met us at Clear Springs for lunch. Here are a few pictures from our lunch:

Posing with Grandma. Such a sweet smile!

Laughing with Granny- such a big boy!

Sunday afternoon we headed back to College Station. Bryson did much better in his carseat this trip. The MacDonalds loaned us a mobile for his carrier and it actually kept him entertained for long stretches of time. Thanks MacDonalds!

We had a great weekend and were happy to be home. It is amazing how life changes with a little one! We are loving every moment of this new life.