The Rings of Grand Rapids

This is how we play.

2011-05-27T09:01:00.000-04:00

Will's first joke

2011-02-06T10:36:00.001-05:00

Will: Knock Knock
Katherine: Who's there?
Will: Lyla
Katherine: Lyla who?
Will: (pause)
(pause)
(pause)

BOO!

Video of Will from 2010 Ring Family Reunion

2011-01-29T01:23:00.000-05:00

Tick tock, tick tock, I'm a little cuckoo clock.

Grand Rapids Snow Removal

2011-01-15T19:46:00.000-05:00

I can't believe people actually pay for this!

These guys do high quality work. Quite the professionals, if you ask me. A little slow, though.

Potty Power!!

2011-01-12T09:29:00.000-05:00

Well, I admit we were quite surprised when Will suddenly expressed interest in going potty AND actually went (both #1 and #2) when we put him on there.

For the past week he had been saying "Potty" to us and pointing at his diaper so we would put him on the toilet and he would go a little bit. Then five minutes later (after getting him down and putting a new diaper on him) he would "soil" that diaper.

So this weekend, when he pointed and said "potty" I decided to put him on the toilet and let him sit there for a bit. I even offered to give him some privacy by leaving and closing the door (which he enthusiastically agreed to).

The result: two successful poops on the potty and the enjoyment of Will's hilarity whilst on the potty... which I decided to video and share with you all.

Enjoy!

*Special thanks to our friend Eliana for introducing us to the phrase of Potty Power.

Bedtime

2010-12-08T13:18:00.004-05:00

Last night after my second trip up the stairs to calm the kids down, I said to Lyla "If you keep crying you don't get to watch any shows tomorrow and you will go straight to bed time-out." She started crying harder and said "That makes my feelings saaaaad!"

Reasons To Get Out of Bed When You Should Be Sleeping

2010-12-02T21:14:00.001-05:00

Lyla just called down from the top of the stairs:

"Mommy, my nails are getting a little bigger!"

But Mom....

2010-11-27T21:41:00.001-05:00

We spent the holiday weekend at my(Katherine's) parents house, and on Friday night my mom spiced things up a little bit by making a turkey biryani for dinner. Although Lyla had eaten a similar dish earlier in the week, when she took the first bite of this one it came right back out into her lap as she yelled "It's not tasty!"

Katherine

Dance Party

2010-11-20T11:11:00.000-05:00

Grandpa (Katherine's dad) recorded a CD of songs for his grandchildren. It's a huge hit in our house and something Lyla and Will love to dance to.

(This one's my favorite.)

Boy v. Girl

2010-11-18T14:50:00.002-05:00

When Lyla was around 18 months, she would play with her little Fisher Price sheep in the barn, letting them eat and go in and out of doors. This week Will was sitting in the car with two little sheep yelling "BAAAAAA BAAAAAAA" as he slammed them into each other.

Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls!!

2010-11-12T10:26:00.000-05:00

Here's Lyla performing the Alphabet (from her Leap Frog video "The Letter Factory"):

Pretty darn awesome, if you ask me.

Summer Fun with CRAAAAZZZZYYYYY Kids

2010-11-10T13:55:00.002-05:00

Seriously. Emily, Ally, Lyla, Will, and Chloe are crazy. So much fun to have them all together in one place. A bit overwhelming at times but fun nonetheless.

Crazy Lyla!! (You can see the remnants of her poison ivy on her arms)

Photojournalist Emily capturing the craziness on film.

Will... uh, sure used to drool a lot.

Ok, so maybe Chloe didn't participate in the craziness as much as everyone else.

Woo woo! Super Ally!

Cheese!!!!

Love the combination of his shaggy hair, tired eyes, super smile, and dirty shirt. Pretty much sums up Will.

There wasn't a surface in this house that these kids didn't climb up on to play.

So much fun.

Summer Fun at Meijer Gardens

2010-11-10T11:05:00.004-05:00

Catching up on all the photos from all our adventures this summer. This is from when Katherine's brother and family drove all the way up from Texas to spend a week with us.

Butterflies!! Hurray!!

Great times with our cousins, playing in the Great Lakes at Meijer Gardens.

Happy Birthday Aunt Anna!!!

2010-06-27T09:37:00.001-04:00

My little sister Anna turns six today! Whoa! We can't wait to see her and the rest of the family next weekend at the annual Ring Family reunion. We'll have to be sure and sing Happy Birthday to Anna while we're there.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA!!!!!

Moving day.

2010-05-01T08:44:00.003-04:00

We're moving to a new house today. The house is the same size (3 bedroom / 1.5 baths) but has a better layout (more spacious, especially the kitchen) and has a yard.

We weren't thinking about moving, in fact Katherine and I had recently had our annual conversation where we state that we're not doing anything major this year (and we all know how well we do at sticking to that... new jobs, new babies, moving, major life changes... we never listen to ourselves).

So we say "No big change this year!" And literally two days later Amy from our church sends us this message:

Good morning, Last night as I was thinking about my "old" house, the two of you came to mind. Forgive me if I'm being nosy or presumptuous. I thought at one time in conversation, you guys said that you rented a house in EGR. My house is empty as of tomorrow and will be available to buy, rent, or even a rent to own kind of thing. I don't know what you're interested in, or what your future plans are, but I thought I would share the information with you.

We both read it and had sort of the same reaction: "Interesting... but we're not looking to make any big changes." But we decided to look at it and once we did all of these frustrations with our current living situation surface (well, only two frustrations really: our kitchen is SMALL - uncomfortably small - and we have no outdoor space to sit in or let the kids play). This made us realize that Lyla's at an age where we can't keep her inside all summer, that she needs to be able to get outside and play (just as we need to be able to send her outside to play... if you know what I mean).

So we saw the house and we were hooked, then it became a question of how long would it take for us to overcome our objections and commit to what a huge effort moving is.

5 days.

So in the course of a week we'd gone from "No big changes" to "Moving".

So here we are. Moving the last of our stuff in today (if the rain allows us to) and starting the next phase of our lives.

We'll post more pictures soon so you can see what it looks like... or, you can come visit us. You are always welcome.

Playing in the snow

2010-03-09T09:05:00.001-05:00

So this took place a few weeks ago but I thought you'd enjoy it anyway...

Only twice this winter has is been warm enough (with no snow fall) to take the kids out to play in the snow on a Saturday. But when it happened, we made a point of taking Lyla out to play in it. Both times we went over to our friends' house and played in their driveway and yard.

It was a blast getting to pull Lyla around in a sled, sliding down the mounds of snow that the snowplows had left, making snow angels, and building snow men. For being a relatively low-key kid, Lyla sure has a sense of adventure (so long as she isn't too cold). She loved every moment of it... and as a result, so did I.

Looking forward to this aspect of next winter and having Will join us as well.

Enjoy!!

Happy Birthday Uncle Ryno!!!!

2010-03-08T12:47:00.005-05:00

Our extended family has grown a lot in the past few months. Since November, Lyla and Will have gotten a new cousin, a new aunt, and a new uncle... all of whom they're very excited about.

Today is Uncle Ryno's (Julie's husband) birthday so we wanted to wish him a happy birthday and take a moment to say how glad we are that he is part of our family!!!

So here we go:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE RYNO!!! WE'RE VERY GLAD THAT YOU ARE PART OF OUR FAMILY!!!!

Seriously, though, Ryno's a great guy: kind, funny and all sorts of awesome. I mean, he's good enough to marry my sister and that's not something I say lightly. (I've actually threatened a boy who was dating my sister because I thought he was being disrespectful... I take my job as a big brother very seriously. I am very happy that Ryno is part of our family.)

Here are some pictures from Ryno and Julie's wedding last year:

Breaking News!!

2010-01-15T11:31:00.004-05:00

Not really. But the only other title I could think of didn't seem appropriate.

Putting Lyla in her carseat to go to Ms. Linda's house (the kid's daycare provider), Lyla gave her "Oh no! Something mildly catastrophic is happening to me!" whine. Thinking I'd pinched her with the buckle or something like that I asked, "Are you okay? Did I get your leg in the buckle."

Her response, "No. My butt hurts."

Kind of flustered and trying to stifle my laughter as NOT to encourage such talk, I asked the only follow up I could think of. "Do you need me to kiss it?"

Luckily, she said, "No."

Happy Birthday Lyla!!!! or Holy Moley, I Can't Believe My Daughter is TWO!!!

2009-12-06T17:14:00.007-05:00

Seriously? When did Lyla grow up? It seems like just 730 days ago that Katherine was telling me it was time to go to the hospital. Yet somehow my Little Button became my Little Baby and my Little Baby become my Little Girl. All those country songs suddenly make a lot of sense...

Friday, December 4 was destined to be a special day even before it began. For us the magic began the night before when the first snow fall of this winter began to fall. We were forecast to get 3 or 4 inches over night and boy did we. We awoke Friday morning to a blanket of soft, white, beautiful snow covering everything.

Typically I have mixed feelings about the snow. I love the serenity and the beauty of freshly fallen snow, but I dread the cold and the exertion of shoveling our walks. But this was different because this was going to be the first snow that Lyla got to play in and that she would remember. And it happened on her birthday, what a neat gift.

I think that Katherine and I were slightly more excited about Lyla's actual birthday than the Birthday Girl was. Granted she had been talking about her birthday non-stop for at least two weeks and had made us sing "Happy Birthday" to every single person that we know, at least once. But I awoke that day more excited than I'd been in awhile.

We started the day with a special breakfast: blueberry pancakes. Special because we seldom make pancakes. They were good. Then we got dressed and all went to Target, whoopie!! Look, just because it was Lyla's birthday doesn't mean we can avoid the day to day tasks of running our lives. We all went together so that was fun.

After Target, we came home and Lyla got ready to go outside. We got her snowsuit on plus her hat and these great winter boots she got from her friend Sadie. Out Lyla and I went and shoveled the path. I had bought a small snow-shovel for Lyla a couple weeks ago and she was more than happy to help me clear off the snow. After shoveling, she and I built our very first snowman. Nothing too special, we used a carrot for the nose and leaves for everything else. Lyla really enjoyed packing the snow down. I think he turned out rather nice and he sort of looks like Grover from Sesame Street.

After playing in the snow we came in and were treated to a nice lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. It was the perfect meal to warm us up from the cold. After we finished, the kids went down for naps and Katherine and I started to get ready for Lyla's party.

For her party we wrestled for a long time as to what to do. Last year we invited a few friends and their kids over, four families in total. In the subsequent 365 days, 3 of the 4 families had another child and all the other kids aged a year. As a result, having the same families over would have been pure chaos.

So instead, we invited two families for dinner. I made pork street tacos and they turned out pretty good. After dinner we did presents and then cupcakes. After dinner, the chaos slowly ratcheted up until the kids ended up hitting a wall. The following pictures will give you some idea of how chaotic just two additional families can be:

Playing with friends...

More friends, more playing...

Adults trying to converse as the kids play...

More playing...

Pretty soon Will had had enough...

So we opened presents...

And then we played with the presents...

Pretty soon Will and Kevin had had enough...

So it was time for the cake...

Lyla likes cake.

So does Ian...

So does Sadie...

And then it was over.

The next day, we woke up and played with our new toys.

Lyla drying her hair with Mommy..

Later that morning, we went over to Sadie's house for her 2-year-old birthday party. I decided that Will and I should dress a like... I'm glad I did.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LYLA!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Test video interview with my dad

2009-11-20T15:48:00.002-05:00

This is a trial video I did with my dad and Lyla seeing if we are able to record a video call and post it on the website. Even though this was only practice, we did not hold back with regard to the seriousness or intensity of our conversation. You've been warned.

Happy Halloween!! 2009 Edition

2009-11-19T09:16:00.000-05:00

This year for Halloween the Rings were in Wisconsin for Aunt Julie's wedding. The wedding was on November 1st and the day before was a full day of preparations, spending time with family, and (for the kids and me) adjusting to being in a different environment. Because it was such a full day we didn't have time to take the kids out to go Trick or Treating. But that didn't stop us from getting dressed up and posing for pictures.

This year Lyla dressed up a Winnie the Pooh (dressed up as a 'Hunny' pot). And lil' Will dressed up as Pooh's buddy Piglet. You'll recognize the Piglet costume from last Halloween. Unfortunately this year we didn't get to carve pumpkins or go out in our neighbor's scary grave yard... but we did get over-stimulated and over-tired... so that was fun.

Enjoy the pictures!

Little Willy Is Growin' Up

2009-10-29T14:19:00.001-04:00

Little Will is not so little anymore. In the past month he's learned to crawl and has gotten a lot more interactive. He's personality has really developed and, well, the kid is loud. Seems like he is always making noise, hollering or whining or crying if you leave the room or grunting or laughing. He even whistles (which is pretty neat).

The best is definitely the laughing. He does it so much more now and we don't even have to instigate. Sometimes he'll just look over and see Lyla and start cracking up. It's the best.

That's my boy, good ol' Will.

Beautiful beautiful beautiful. Beautiful girl.

2009-10-10T21:11:00.039-04:00

Our dear, dear friend Jessica (aka Aunt Jessie, owner of "Aunt Jessie's White Car" as Lyla so fondly and frequently pointed out as we drove in said car while in San Diego) snapped these lovely pictures of Lyla during Jenny and Shane's wedding reception.

Thank you Jessie for taking such beautiful pictures of our daughter.

Will's foray into real food

2009-09-30T16:48:00.006-04:00

Though we are strong supporters of breast-milk for babies, we also have decided with our children to start introducing other foods after four months and start incorporating them regularly after six months. So these were taken some time in the past two months (the exact dates are fuzzy but so is everything that has happened recently).

As you can see, solid food is the WORST thing that has ever happened to Will (watch for his reaction at 0:11):

It's been like that with everything we've tried (rice cereal, bananas, carrots). Kind of funny but frustrating because we'd like to start incorporating solids every day. Plus Will's weight is trending down (he's gone from 50th to 40th to - most recently - the 25th percentile of weight. Note: this is not bad, especially given who he gets his genes from, but still we want him to eat).

Other funny pictures of Will with food on his face:

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

2009-08-31T11:22:00.000-04:00

Wow! I can't believe my little Emily is FOUR YEARS OLD!!!

She went from this:

To this:

For those of you who don't know (how can you not know?), Emily is our niece. The first born daughter of Katherine's brother Dave and his (awesome) wife Faith. We've been so blessed to have Emily as our niece and to have been able to see her as much as we have since we live so far way from her (boo). Emily for sure holds a special place in our hearts. She and her sister, Ally, are right up there at the same level as our own kids (Lyla and Will... remember?).

One good thing about Emily getting older is that pretty soon she'll be old enough to come up and visit us on her own... not that we don't want David and Faith to visit, we're just looking forward to some niece/cousin time with Emily and Ally.

Anyway...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMILY GRACE!!!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Not what I was expecting today.

2009-08-29T14:12:00.004-04:00

*Warning, the following is a frank and somewhat graphic discussion of bowel movements. May not be suitable for some readers.*

Quiet Saturday. Katherine took Lyla to Target and Meijer to get the necessities, I stayed home with Will, vacuumed and then had a nice video conference call with 'Pa (aka Katherine's dad, aka Jeff). Katherine and Lyla came home right as Jeff and I were wrapping up so they go to say hi. Lyla really liked seeing 'Pa on the 'puter. Then Katherine fed Will and I went to pring in the groceries.

As I was finishing up I heard Katherine say to Lyla, "You need to poop? Do you want to poop on the toilet?" Lyla said yes, so I took her in there. We've been going through the motions with her as a bit of pre-potty training: If she looks like she's pooping or mentions pooping, we'll ask her if she wants to sit on the toilet and take her in there. Usually, as soon as I set her on, she'll say "All done" and want to get off.

This time was different. This time she sat up there.

We've been talking about potty training for awhile now but have yet to buy any gear for it because we haven't zeroed in on a strategy yet. So Lyla is sitting on the regular seat with me holding her up. She's so tiny that if I were to let go, she'd *kerplunk* right into the toilet.

So she's sitting up there and we're talking about what to do. She notices the toilet paper, so I explain that to her. Then I look and she's making her "pooping" face. It's unmistakable, the strained look she gets as she pushes... well, you know how the mechanics of it work.

So she's pushing, and I'm holding and... poop starts coming out. Right in the toilet. It was awesome... except for the fact that it was poop. Just because it was my little girl, didn't make the actually poop any less, uh, gross.

So she's pooping and I just start crying. I'm yelling out in excitement "great job Lyla!" I'm yelling to Katherine, who is feeding Will in the other room, "She's pooping! She'd doing it!!!" See, part of our strategy is to be as encouraging as possible. We don't want to shame her in any way, so we've been making a big deal about every positive steps she makes toward going potty on the potty. Telling us when she has a dirty diaper is rewarded with congratulatory affirmation. Wanting to sit on the toilet is cheered.

You have to realize, though, that our excitement isn't fake. We have two kids in diapers right now. We change at least 10 diapers a day... maybe more. We're really looking forward to Lyla being potty trained. But again, we're restrained because we don't want to put any undue pressure on her... she's not even two yet.

But this time, I couldn't hold back the emotion. I'm crying, I'm cheering, I'm beaming. It was an onslaught of emotion for me. My little girl growing up. My little girl figuring out how to poop in the potty. My little girl offering Katherine and I some much needed relief of the constant demands of this current situation. I'm pretty sure I heard "Cat's in the Cradle" in the background.

So she poops. She gets down and I wipe for her and we get to wash our hands in the sink. Then I send her out to tell momma what she did (sans pants since I didn't have a new diaper ready). Much rejoicing. Some discussion as to whether or not we should take a picture... we decided against it. Who wants to look at a picture of that, regardless of how significant it is? Hugs. Kisses. High fives. It was a glorious moment in the Ring household.

Chances are that this was a one time thing, that we still have a lot more diapers in the future. But the thing you have to realize is that today offered Katherine and me some hope that one day soon our kids will be potty trained. That our kids are getting older and as much as I don't want my babies to grow up they are able to take care of themselves more and more. We have a long way to go still, but at least we know that it won't always be like this, taking care of two kids under two, twenty four hours a day, seven days a weeks.

And that, my friends, is something to celebrate.

The Lyla and Will show

2009-08-24T12:03:00.005-04:00

Okay, so Will is clearly Lyla's favorite ("HI WILL HI WILL HI WILL HI WILL HI WILL HI WILL HI WILL HI WILL HI WILL HI WILL HI WILL HI WILL"... we hear it all the time). And Will nearly explodes with squeaks and laughter whenever Lyla looks at him. It's beginning to feel like Katherine and I are just there to take care of the details so they can spend time together.

I'm definitely not complaining, I love how close they are and hope it sustains their relationship into and through high school. I think I'm mostly looking forward to when Will is a little older and able to hold himself upright so when Lyla hugs on him and whatnot.

Here are Bonnie and Clyde goofing off while I'm trying to get a decent picture of them:

Happy Birthday Ally!!

2009-08-20T08:35:00.009-04:00

So one of the only things I love as much as being a Husband and a Father is being an Uncle. And I'm super lucky to have the two best nieces in the world. Today (well technically yesterday because I'm posting htis Friday morning) is one of my niece's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALLY MAY!!!!

Ally turns 2 today, which is kind of unbelievable especially since she's just over three months older than Lyla (wait, Lyla turns two in three months? AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!)

This (and the one above it) are pictures from when we saw Ally and her family in Missouri last July:

Here's one of my favorites from last Christmas:

And of course, who could forget this?

WE LOVE YOU ALLY!!!!

Random videos

2009-08-16T20:14:00.013-04:00

Facebook friends, you can see the videos at http://ringworld.blogspot.com

Ring Family Reunion 2009

2009-08-10T12:17:00.011-04:00

So I was going to start this out by reminding you about our trip to St. Louis for July 4th last year (2008), but it turns out I didn't write about it. I only wrote 4 blog posts last July which I'll chalk up to having a 7 month old and the fact that it was summer.

Anyway, since you don't know, my family (the Rings) has an annual reunion in St. Louis, MO. It's been going on for like 16 years but last summer was the first time I (and thus Katherine and Lyla) had been. We had a blast, enjoyed seeing a ton of my extended family, and showing Lyla off to everyone. So we decided to return this year in order to have a blast, see a ton of my extended family, and show Lyla and Will off to everyone.

We drove down on Friday July 3rd and it took us about 9 hours, which isn't bad for having to stop frequently to feed a baby. We definitely were worried about having the kids in the car for that long but they both did fine. Arrive Friday and spent the next two full days visiting with family, eating a ton of food, drinking beer (sorry if you're offended by that but it is part of the weekend's events), playing with kids, and NOT taking pictures.

One of the things I've noticed about having two kids is we hardly have time to take photos any more. I thought that it would be because the novelty would have worn off by the second kid, but that's not it. I love taking pictures of Will, he's so adorable and stinking cute. Unfortunately, having Lyla run around makes it hard to focus on taking pictures. Plus our digital camera is O-L-D old and the compact flash card will take about 10 pictures and then get an error requiring it to be reformatted, which means stopping, uploading all the pictures onto the computer, and resetting the card. And if you only just started reading this post, back up a few lines because I just explained that WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!!!

So if you want more pictures of Will and Lyla, feel free to donate either a new digital camera or a new compact flash memory card. We'd appreciate it.

The main thing we were looking forward to about this trip was Will getting to meet all of my family. Which, he did. Magnificently. Here's a list of people that Will got to meet for the first time (and Lyla got to interact with for the first time where she could remember who they were and interact with them... which was super cute.):

My dad, aka Grandpa Ring, aka Mosquito Mike (his nickname back in the days when I was a kid and we used to wrestle... we don't do that any more):

Aunt Julie (I think this photo is funny because Lyla seems to be baffled by that plastic Easter egg):
Uncle Jeff:
Fei, Uncle Matthew, and Aunt Anna (I'm bummed that I don't have pictures of them with either Will or Lyla because there were definitely opportunities for some cute ones. Fei if you got some with your camera, please email them to me.)

Here we all are. This is the first time my immediately family has all been together in awhile so it was definitely a great trip.

Here's a cute one of Lyla and Will posing together.
This one it pretty cool. It's a picture of all the Ring men. From L-R: Uncle Pat, his son John (my cousin), John's son Allen, my brother Jeff, Dad (in the red shirt), my brother Matthew, me, lil William, my uncle Bob, my cousin Mike, my uncle Tom (Mike and Robert's dad), and my cousin Robert. Very cool.
Here are Mike and Rob talking with Katherine (Will's in there too).
Here are John and Allen, avoiding being photographed.
Here's my camera's version of the annual group photo. It was a very muggy day and the lens had fogged up. Great jorb, camera!! (Seriously, anyone want to donate a new camera?)

The trip was short but definitely fun. I would have liked to spend more time visiting but we didn't have it. Plus we had to head out on Sunday to get to Branson, MO where we spent a week in a vacation rental with Katherine's family. I'll post pictures from that trip soon.

Where's Lyla?

2009-08-07T10:36:00.006-04:00

Many of you probably have been asking yourselves that very question. "Where are updates about Lyla? Where are updates about Will? I'm going through withdrawal here! I'm starting to get the shakes! WOULD YOU PLEASE UPDATE YOUR BLOG ALREADY!!!!!!!"

Sorry for the absence. Life happens. And as Katherine and I have found out, when you have two kids under two life happens hard and fast and we feel like we can barely keep up.

So thanks for your patience. I will update the blog with more pictures, videos and stories soon. In the meantime, please enjoy this video:

Happy Birthday, Uncle Matthew!!!!

2009-07-30T13:06:00.003-04:00

I can't believe that my little brother turns 7 today!!! It seems like just one year ago that he was turning 6...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, UNCLE MATTHEW!!!!!

Matthew, the aspiring photographer, with his second-cousin-once-removed Jake.

Grandpa Ring, Will, Uncle Matthew, and Aunt Anna!

We got to see Matthew a few weeks ago at the annual Ring Family Reunion which took place in St. Louis, MO over 4th of July weekend. We really enjoyed spending time with him. Lyla and Will especially loved spending time with Uncle Matthew and Matthew was very helpful playing with Lyla and Will.

We love you, Matthew and hope you're having a great birthday!!

Love,
Kevin, Katherine, Lyla and Will

Goofballs

2009-07-02T11:49:00.009-04:00

Buddies for Life

2009-07-02T10:25:00.015-04:00

Wanted to get this up before we head off tomorrow for our 9 day adventure to Missouri. First, I love Lyla as a big sister. She's so good at. She very clearly loves Will and is always looking out for him. At the same time, it's funny how kind of rough she is around him. It's like she's only 18 months old and doesn't fully comprehend the nuances of Will's fragility. That being said, she has never done anything that has given us any concern... except maybe that time she bit his finger... but if I remember correctly Katherine was egging her on...

Anyway, I digress. The o9ther neat thing is that Will is beginning to recognize us. He's all smiles all the time when he sees us. And I just love the looks he gets on his face when he sees Lyla or she's all up in his grill. Sometimes it's a huge, beaming smile. Other times it's a look of serious "oh my, this isn't good" concern.

They're great together and both Katherine and I are looking forward to watching them grow together. Having two kids 15 months apart has definitely been hard but one thing we told ourselves going into it was that our kids would be good friends. It's such a blessing to see that coming true this early. See for yourselves:

Clownin' Around (Will edition)

2009-06-22T10:09:00.004-04:00

Clownin' Around (Lyla edition)

2009-06-22T09:45:00.004-04:00

Happy Father's Day!!

2009-06-21T18:06:00.009-04:00

For Dad/Grandpa Ring and Dad/Grandpa:

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

Remembering John Ring

2009-06-06T14:53:00.002-04:00

I only remember my grandfather talking about landing at Omaha beach once. He didn't really say that much and got too choked up to continue. That's the only time I think I saw my grandfather cry. The significance of that moment didn't really sink in until seven years ago when I visited Normandy and stood at the top of Omaha, looking down at the expanse of beach and massive hill.

It would be arrogant of me to think I understood in any way what my grandfather experienced that day or that night huddled in a hole, scared for his life. What I can say is that my heart trembled at the weak recreation that my imagination came up with. It was a fear that I'm not sure I would be willing to face.

And so it is with great respect, love, and appreciation that I say to John Ring and the thousands of other men who risked and gave their lives to take those beaches - thank you. Thank you for defending your countries, defending freedom, defending the oppressed, and standing up for justice 65 years ago.

A pretty typical morning in the Ring household

2009-06-06T14:13:00.005-04:00

Shoes and poop.

Lyla's fascination with technology

2009-05-19T16:14:00.014-04:00

This started a few weeks ago when I decided to make Lyla's bed-time routine a little more engaging so that 1) she'd "know" better when the routine was starting and 2) she'd "like" the process better and thus would be more likely to go to be no problem.

So how did I achieve it? Letting her watch as we heat up her bottle (we still give her a bottle of milk before bed to ensure she gets enough dairy and to help soothe her). She really likes the whole process: pushing the numbers, running away from the microwave to watch from a safe distance (radiation!!!), counting down with the microwave, yelling "beep beep beep". It's all fun. It even is helping her counting because she hears the numbers counting down from ten. Anyway, here's the video.

This next video is a video of Lyla and me watching the first video. This is our third time watching it in a row. She loves looking at pictures and videos on the computer (which she affectionately calls "Pooter"). She usually signifies that she wants to look by pointing at the computer and saying "Will" (her favorite person to see pictures/videos of, Emily and Ally - her cousins - are her second favorite). Anyway, I love how big her smile gets watching and how she recognizes people in the videos. It kind of freaks me out that she's quickly become as (if not more) tech-savvy than I am, but it is inevitable so I might was well enjoy it... and take advantage of it by having her do all the tech stuff for my business. Anyway, enjoy the video.

Buddies For Life, Version 2.0

2009-05-18T22:25:00.004-04:00

I am LOVING having two kids. And it's only going to get better as Will starts to interact. Hurray Buddies for Life!!!

Lyla saw Will and she also wanted to be swaddled like a baby. It made for some cute pictures! My little burritos.

Mike's graduation from Bethel

2009-05-09T22:34:00.000-04:00

My cousin Mike graduated from Bethel College in Mishawaka (aka South Bend), IN with a degree in Awesomeness. Since Mishawaka's only a little over 2 hours from Grand Rapids, we were very happy that we got to go see the ceremony.

Here's our view of the stage.There's Mike with diploma in hand. You can see my cousin Laura behind him and to the left... she'd gone up closer for some action shots of Mike on stage.
The Rings enjoying the ceremony.
You can see (sort of) in this picture the Sudyks (Mike's family). His parents are all the way on the right, about 3/4s of the way up right next to the rail. His sisters, Jenn and Laura, his brother-in-law, Andy, and nephew, Axel are on the same row as his parents but in the next section to the left right on the aisle (look for the baby in the car seat and the man in the blue shirt staring right at the camera... that's Andy).
Me and Lyla. Lyla only got about a 20 minute nap because of the travel so we let her have the pacifier to keep her calm. Despite the lack of sleep she did great all day.
Katherine and Will. Will had no problem sleeping.
Lyla cheering with the crowd as names are called.
Here's video of Lyla cheering, you can just catch her yelling "Yay!" as the video begins.

It was a long day (it took us 3.5 hours just to get ready and get out of the house... traveling with small kids is the nuts). But it was a lot of fun and so wonderful to get to celebrate Mike's accomplishment. I still remember when he and the rest of his family came to my college graduation in 2000. I really appreciated that they made the effort to come out and see me graduate all those years ago and now we've come full circle. Congratulations Mike!!!

The Unbearable Cuteness of Will

2009-04-30T12:36:00.007-04:00

Not saying his ABCs... yet. But still unbearably cute nonetheless.

The Unbearable Cuteness of Lyla

2009-04-30T11:09:00.007-04:00

Lyla waking up from her afternoon nap.

Lyla being super cute.

Will fans

2009-04-28T09:58:00.009-04:00

First off, Will is 6 weeks old. We can hardly believe it. He's growing a lot to and has really filled out in the past week or so.

Since Will was born a lot of people have been wanting to come by and see him. Especially the people from our church (seeing as we missed four weeks of church - two of the Sundays we were in the hospital), so we've had a bunch of visitors which has been great. Unfortunately I don't always think to take pictures because either we're busy and I can't remember where the camera is, or our stinky camera from 2002 is slowly dying and replacing it is not top on our list of priorities, or our friends insist that you don't take their picture even though for the past 3 weeks they've given you a tremendous amount of grief for not taking their picture when they visited you in the hospital... you know who you are.

Here are some, but not all, of the people who've visited us in the past 6 weeks.

The McDowells:

The Wammacks (sorry other Wammacks, I don't know why I didn't get pictures of you):
The Hawkins's:

The Greg (Greg is my roommate from college who drove into town while he was on a work trip. Unfortunately the rest of his family couldn't come visit):
The DeBoers (I guess Luke was camera shy):

The Adams's (except Tom who was, well, busy with other plans... and didn't invite me... grrrr.):

We're looking forward to many opportunities to visit with more friends and family this summer. We're planning a vacation in July to visit St. Louis and then Branson, Missouri - first for the Ring Family Reunion where we'll see my dad, Fei, Matthew and Anna, hopefully my brother and sister, plus a number of my aunts and uncles, cousins, my dad's cousins and other family. Then we're headed to Branson to spend time with Katherine's brothers and parents. I can't wait for Emily and Ally to meet Will and to see the three girls running around and playing together. Yay summer!

Congrats Laura and Andy

2009-04-21T11:45:00.003-04:00

I woke up this morning to the wonderful news that my (little) cousin Laura (aka LoLo) gave birth to my "1st cousin once removed" and Lyla and Will's 2nd cousin: Axel Andrew Gibson at 1:30 am. 9lbs 7oz 22 in long. Pretty darn awesome.

We're looking forward to heading over to the Detroit area in a few weeks to introduce the cousins, until then rest up and enjoy your new blessing. We love you and are excited for you!

Love,
Kevin, Katherine, Lyla and Will

Easter egg hunt 2009

2009-04-18T23:37:00.007-04:00

This Easter, all of the East Grand Rapids Play Group moms decided that it would be really fun to have an Easter Egg Hunt for their little kids. They were right, it was a lot of fun. It happened the morning of Good Friday in the back yard of our friends and old next-door-neighbors, Andy and Mandy. All in all about a bazillion people showed up and it kind of was chaotic, what with thousands upon thousands of under-two year olds milling about everywhere I tried to step.

But it was cute to see the kids chase after eggs, to see which kids "got" the concept and which didn't. For me, I really enjoyed seeing Lyla hunt for the eggs. She definitely picked up on the concept and knew when she saw an egg to pick it up and put it in her basket. (It helped that we had practiced the day before in our living room.)

After the egg hunt, we went inside for lunch... also chaotic... but good. It definitely was a lot of fun and there's a good chance that it will be come and annual tradition... except that eight of the moms in the group (including Katherine) are either pregnant or just gave birth to their second child. Will is the first of this new group and I fear that the addition of a second kid to the mix will change the dynamics of the group and it's questionable whether or not the group will be able to hold together. I hope the moms are able to figure it out...

Lyla planning out her strategy:
Ian on the hunt.
Kind of overwhelming...
Liam had a disadvantage not walking yet.
Sadie stopping to enjoy the spoils of her labors... while Lyla moves in for a hug.
And Sadie's off again.
Charlie looking sharp.
Charlie trying not to get distracted by the slide.
Julianna cleaning up.
The moms of East Grand Rapids. (imagine trying to get all the adults and children looking in a single direction for a picture... quite comical).
The lunch after... that's Lyla standing in the center.
Rockin' the double ponytail. Nice.
Oh yeah, QT with Daddy!
And Will. Slept through the whole thing. All the moms fawned over him (this being our first trip out since he was born) and he missed it. Probably for the better, don't want him getting full of himself.

Happy belated Easter everyone!!!

More sisterly love.

2009-04-10T09:41:00.003-04:00

I am overjoyed to see how much Lyla loves her little brother. We weren't sure how she would react to the new addition, so to have this response is another wonderful blessing on top of all the other blessings we have been blessed with. Bless.

Not sure what inspired this other than Lyla sitting in Will's chair and a desire to see her holding him. I think it's hilarious that she laughed everytime his arm jerk hit her in the face. We're still working on teaching her to be gentle and, well, as you'll see at the end of the video there are a number of other things we're going to be on guard for as well.

Yes, she bit his finger.

Will's fist doctor visit

2009-04-05T11:01:00.006-04:00

Last Tuesday we took Will to his 2-week doctor's appointment. It was quite the adventure for the little guy as he hasn't really done much other than sleep, eat, get his diaper changed, and lie around. He has continued to impress us with how calm and good-natured he is. I'm sure there are going to be plenty of circumstances in the future where he and his sister will have us pulling our hair out, but I must say that Katherine and I both are amazed and appreciative of what a calm baby he is. Especially given all the things we've had to deal with in the past three weeks.

Given how good of a baby and now toddler Lyla has been, we were expecting (and our friends were secretly wishing) that Will would be more difficult. If anything, he's better than even Lyla was. I'm not sure why we're so lucky, we definitely don't deserve it but we also not complaining. It's just one more thing on a long list of wonderful attributes of our beautiful children.

Here are the pictures from the visit to the doctor's.

Getting ready to go... Will sure doesn't like being put in his carseat.
LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!! LET ME... (tuck him in with a fuzzy blanket) ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..............

He awakens in a strange place... hmm, this can't be good.

Hey, Beardy! What's going on? Where am I? Where's Lyla?

What the deuce?!?! That thing is freezing! Where are my clothes?

Oh, mom's finger! Excellent, I'll use this to call Lyla. She's come rescue me!

Seriously, Bearded Guy. What the heck is going on here. p.s. Do you have your tickets?... To the GUN SHOW? POW POW!!

Okay, that wasn't so bad. I got my shirt and socks back. I guess we'll go home soon, nothing else is going to happen to me.... wait, why does that guy have a needle?

Ow. That really hurt. Do you not see how scrawny my legs are? Why would you give me a shot in one? And I don't even get a Snoopy band-aid. What the heck!

Mom, you and the Bearded Guy better take me back to Lyla. I'm so over this place.

According to the measurements, Will has already grown an inch and a half and gained about a pound and a half. Surprise, surprise he's going to be tall. Who knew?

Last weekend

2009-04-03T17:24:00.004-04:00

Last weekend, Katherine's mom (who had been in Grand Rapids since Will had been born) went home to Marion, IN and took Lyla with her. When she asked if Katherine and Iwanted her to take Lyla for the weekend, we were conflicted and had mixed feelings. Katherine's never been away from Lyla for multiple days, while I have had to be away for days at time before for work. So we both didn't want her to go because we knew we'd miss her. On the other hand, Katherine was still recovering and the idea of taking care of Katherine, Will and Lyla was daunting. So in the end, we decided to let our little bird fly and spent Thursday through Monday just me, Katherine and Will.

While we did miss Lyla a lot (I mean A LOT!), it was a relief to have some low-energy, quiet time. In fact, one day at lunch Will was sleeping and I said to Katherine, "The lack of noise is almost deafening. What did we used to do before Lyla?" Her answer: talk to each other... seems vaguely familiar.

The weather was somewhat nice a few of the days so we did get outside for a short walk up to the corner and back. Here we are at the apex of our walk:
Here's Katherine and Will getting ready.

Here's Will in the awesome hoodie that Mandy loaned us (Ian sure is a stylish kiddo).

Another shot of cute Will.

And here's our first thought as to what Will could wear if we took him outside. Unfortunately it was bigger than we needed. Which is too bad because he sure is cute in it. It reminds me of another cute kid I know...

Will falling asleep.

2009-03-29T11:06:00.004-04:00

Just because.

Babies have it pretty easy, don't they?

Will's first bath.

2009-03-28T22:00:00.005-04:00

We gave Will his first bath this past week. We got a little behind schedule giving it to him because of the unplanned trip back to the hospital. Fortunately babies are resilient and he seemed no worse for the wear.

Will wasn't too happy with the bath, though he seemed to like the warm water. And he really liked it when I sat him up. Katherine even says he fell asleep like that, though I couldn't really tell. The whole thing was reminiscent of Lyla's first bath... just not as stressful for the adults.

It was good to see him all clean and shiny. His hair definitely is blondish, though the jury is still out as to whether he'll be blond haired/blue eyed (like his mom) or come over to the dark side, by which I mean dark brown hair, dark brown eyes (like his dad and sister). Either way, he is super cute.

Trying to take a family photo

2009-03-26T20:24:00.002-04:00

Three of the four Rings were cooperating as we tried to take a family portrait. I'll let you guess which one wasn't having any of it.

Outfit change

2009-03-25T14:10:00.004-04:00

Nothing spectacular here other than we changed him out of the newborn jumpers and put him in a long-sleeved, blue onesie and immediately all of us (Katherine, her mom, and I) remarked at how handsome he looked in dark blue... just like his dad... which is me.

Anyway, here are some candid photos of my squirmy boy. Enjoy!

And then there is this.

2009-03-21T20:01:00.013-04:00

She's been capable of this for weeks, if not months. Of course she chooses today, while Katherine is upstairs resting to do it. Fortunately, she was more than willing to take the show upstairs for Katherine to see. Before Will was born, Katherine and I had commented that Lyla was probably going to start walking the same day Will was born. I'm glad she waited a couple days so that we could be there.

She went from this:

To this:

To this... all in a matter of minutes.

She is awesome. I can't wait to see her tomorrow as she begins to explore her world on two legs. I am a very proud father right now.

Big sister, little brother

2009-03-21T16:14:00.003-04:00

We are home

2009-03-19T17:29:00.011-04:00

After a tenuous Monday-night and Tuesday, with Katherine's recovering seeming to run into some minor (and not uncommon) complications, Wednesday turned the corner and Katherine's body sprinted to the finish line, recovering well enough that they let us go home at the usual time. So the morning was spent reviewing instructions from nurses (e.g. cover the front when changing a diaper or you could get an unpleasant surprise), packing up our things (we brought a bunch of things to the hospital and received a bunch of things at the hospital... like a baby), and waiting for Patient Transport to wheel Katherine and Will out to the car.

That last part took a long time... not sure if "Patient" refers to who is being transported or a recommended state of being while you wait for them to arrive. They came, they wheeled her out, we loaded the car, we started driving, Will started crying, we made it home. Hurray!!!

Waiting...

On our way out!!

Home!!!

Our time at home has been great so far. The first night home with Lyla we were up all night trying to get her to sleep. So our expectations were pretty low. And we were pleasantly surprised. Katherine slept on the couch, I slept on the air mattress and Will slept in his cradle which I had set up in the living room. We'll probably do the same set up tonight while Katherine is still recovering (it's difficult for her to sit up on her own in our bed). Today we sat around, playing with Lyla and taking care of will. I tried to get back to work... it took me seven hours to write one email (granted I had to look up a lot of the information I was communicating in the email, but frequent interruptions to change diapers, tend to Lyla, help Katherine, etc. didn't help).

Katherine's mom has been here since Sunday taking care of Lyla and she's staying for awhile. Having her here has been great, a huge help. Katherine's dad is coming up tonight to meet his grandson and stay a few days.

Hopefully, Katherine will be back to normal soon, save the mandated restrictions like not lifting more than the weight of Will in the car seat. I know that Lyla wants to get back to climbing all over her and it's hard to keep an eye on Lyla so she doesn't kamikaze right toward Katherine before Katherine is well enough to handle it.

If you're in Grand Rapids and want to visit, call and let us know. We're thinking that we'll be up for visitors starting tomorrow. I know Will can't wait to meet all of you!

Here's more photos:

In my exhausted state, I totally poored my cup of water on Lyla while she was sitting on my lap right before bed. She forgave me, then proceed to prance around sans clothes for about 10 minutes before she went night-night.

Goofing off with dad!

Yay! Family! I am the luckiest man in the world!

The kid sleeps a lot!

Time to head home... we think

2009-03-18T10:33:00.004-04:00

So I'm a little self-conscious about the fact that I haven't been posting as much as I did when we were here with Lyla (we really were here with Lyla, on the other end of the floor, in fact if you turned the building 180 degrees, we'd end up in the exact same spot we were in fro Dec. 4 through 7, 2007). I love will and don't want him to feel neglected because of second-child syndrome (I'm especially sensitive to it because I'm a second-child). That being said there are a few things that Have kept me from posting pictures and blurbs:

1. Lyla - she still needs attention, and though Grandma is here and doing a great job with her, I still have been taking time out of each day to spend with her. Yesterday, she and I went down to the GR Children's Museum for an hour or so so Katherine and her mom could spend time together. We had a blast, riding around on little carts, pretending to drive a car, throwing balls around, making music, brushing teeth, grocery shopping, looking in mirrors, and climbing on things. It was a lot of fun but it wore both of us out. Lyla passed out in her stroller as we were walking back. It was cute.

The other thing we've done while she's been here has been to walk around the hallways. The first day she walked around for about 30 minutes holding my hand. She kept walking up to different doors and knocking on them. It was cute. Yesterday she took the stroller and pushed it around the hall a whole bunch. She kept trying to go into different offices, it was funny.

We also walked over to the nursery to look at the babies. When she arrived yesterday, Will was in there recovering from his circumcision. We walked up to the window and I pointed him out to her and she got this big smile on her face. Then she kept asking to look at all the different babies but kept coming back to Will. I think she recognizes him, which is awesome. Anyway.

2. Katherine - this recovery has been a little more difficult than last time so we had to invest more time in making sure Katherine was getting what she needs. Fortunately she's feeling much better and we're on target to leave today, assuming the final checks go okay.

3. Internet access - this time I can't get on the network from our room so I'm sitting out in the hallway right now. Makes it harder to post.

Anyway, despite all the distractions, it has been great getting to know Will the past few days. He's such a content and strong baby. He sleeps, then he eats, then he sleeps again. But starting yesterday, and more so today, he's becoming more alert, looking around, spending time with his eyes open. He's so beautiful. I love it.

We're excited to get home and to get started on this new phase of our life. But until then, here are a bunch of pictures I've taken over the past two days.

I love the way she smiles when she sees him.

Our friends the Schalks are geniuses (well, Julie is) and they brought a present for Lyla. It's a duck.

Sunday evening - the siblings meet

2009-03-17T10:59:00.003-04:00

Along with all the other moments that made up that very long and amazing day, this was a moment that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Lyla and Grandma came by the hospital Sunday afternoon to meet little Will. Lyla was intrigued, a little shy, a little curious. She definitely was aware that he was there and was receptive to us referring to him as her brother Will We'd been consistently asking Lyla where her brother was while Katherine was pregnant and she learned that he was inside of Katherine. So the concepts of "baby brother" and "Will" weren't foreign to her. There were a few times when I'd ask Lyla where her brother was and she'd point to Katherine. But overall I think she picked up pretty quickly that this kid was special.

I love the look of joy on her face. Katherine and I are both hopeful that Lyla and Will will grow up to be good friends, so the excitement that Lyla has expressed thusfar is real encouraging and heartwarming.

Where's your baby brother?

Can you give your brother a kiss?

She's still the best.

Shortly after Grandma and Lyla arrived, our friends Mandy (right) and Alisa (center) stopped by to visit. Mandy and Alisa are the mothers of Lyla's buddies Ian and Sadie (respectively) and it was Alisa's delicious pork tacos that sent Katherine into labor on Saturday night. I know they're both excited for the newest addition to their playgroup.

Don't forget Lyla!!

2009-03-15T20:54:00.008-04:00

She's a super star!!... I honestly don't know how she got up on that counter.

Refusing to walk (though she is fully capable) in the cutest way possible.

Stairs? No problem

Will pics

2009-03-15T11:10:00.006-04:00

Pictures from our adventures last night/this morning.

Post pushing, pre surgery picture. Kate is such a trooper.

The doors outside the operating room. Seems like only 15 months ago I was waiting anxiously outside these doors. (Looks like they've added some awesome decals to the doors in the last year.)

The boy emerges!!

Ooh, he does not like it out here.

Tending the umbilical cord.

Katherine and Will meet for the first time. Katherine was so much more aware this time around, the anesthesiologist did a great job.

7lbs 11 oz, what a big boy.

Mother and son. Katherine is such a great mother, it was awesome to see her love for Will come pouring out of her.

All cleaned up.

Tiny foot.
More pictures and videos later. I love my family.

It's a boy!!!!

2009-03-15T04:16:00.003-04:00

William Kevin Ring was born at 3:25 am on March 15, 2009. Our beautiful boy weighs 7 lbs 10oz and is 20.5 inches long. Baby and mommy are doing fine, Will's sleeping in my arms right now and Katherine is resting. This was not how we were expecting today to end but it is definitely how I want this chapter of my life to start. I can't wait for you all to meet little Will.

We're having a baby!

2009-03-14T22:04:00.004-04:00

It's 10pm on Saturday, March 14th and we are at the hospital. Katherine started having contractions earlier and they got quicker, closer, and more intense pretty quickly. Lyla's with the Macs, so pretty soon our son will be here. Pray for us.

-----update-----
It's not 11:45 on Saturday. Katherine was dilated about 7cm when we got to the hospital. They haven't checked her recently because the plan for right now is to wait at least an hour (target about 4 hours) because they're administering doses of an antibiotic for our little boy. Not sure when they're going to have her start pushing, I guess when it's time. So for now we're resting comfortably, watching Saturday Night Live starring Tracy Morgan. Our son will most likely be born March 15, 2009. Secretly I was hoping it would be the 16th so we'd have the same birthday. But I get a son, so this is going to be the best birthday ever.

Here's me and Katherine enjoying Room 3409.

----UPDATE----
2:50 pm Katherine did a great job, pushed from 1:15 until about 2:45 am. All this started after her water spontaneously broke around 1 am, to which we both remarked, we'll that's a first. Unfortunately, I kind of have a big head and so do my kids. So our little boy couldn't quite make it over (or under) the main hurdle. So we're about the head downstairs for a c-section. Should have a baby boy soon enough. One thing I have to say is Spectrum Health's staff is amazing. They've been great.

Lyla's words

2009-03-12T09:14:00.010-04:00

We were at the doctor last week for Lyla's 15 month check up. During the examination, Dr. Wallace was asking us questions to gauge Lyla's development levels for areas like motor control, growth, socializing, and learning. One of the questions he asked us was "Does she know at least four words?" Katherine and I both looked at each other and we both were like, "Uh, yeah."

Here's a list of as many words I can think of that Lyla can say:

Turtle - her first word
Mama
Dada
Please
Thank you
No
Yes
Nose
Eyes
Ears
Couch
Wall
Door
Outside
Upstairs
Downstairs
Achoo
Blocks
Ball
Knock knock
Juice
O's (Cheerieos)
Cereal
Nana (Banana)
Yogurt
Open
Closed
Up
Down
Roar
Boom
Wheee (when I swing her around)
Star
Toes
Elbow
Button
Belly
Baby
Heel
Arm
Coat
Hat
Hot
No no (Danger)
Mouth
Teeth
Cheek
Hair
Shirt
Socks
Shoes
O (in response to pointing to a letter and asking her what it is)
All done
Bottle
Papifer (pacifier)
Bear
Off
On
Yum yum
Blueberry
Strawberry
Apple
Melon
Cracker
Beard
Mmm
Mem-mim (medicine)
Hand
Night night
Spoon
El-la-ant (Elephant)
I-no (Rhino)
Squirrel
Um (when you ask her a question)
Brrrr (when it's cold)
Duck
This
That
Dude
Really
Ready
Blue
Book
Toot
Burp
Uh oh
Hi
Buh bye
Home
Beep
Brother
Bottom
Amen
Jejeh (Jesus)
Ring
Again (her way of requesting that we do something again... like read a book, or swing her upside down)
Help
Ta-Da!
Sonny (the name of Grandma's bird)
Bird

Words she uses signs for:

Please
Thank you
Hungry
All done
Sleepy
Butterfly
Cat
Fish
Frog
I love you (blowing kisses)

Animal noises:

Rawr - bear
Rawr - lion
Rawr - tiger
Ooo ooo ooo - monkey
Eeeee eee - dolphin
Eeeee eee - mouse
Sssss - snake
Wah wah - duck
Heh heh heh (panting noise) - dog
Peep - chick
Bwap bwap - chicken
Mmmoo - cow
Kneee - horse
Hapiow (while sticking her tongue in and out) - frog

The names of her friends that she can say:

Abbie
Josh
Liam
Ian
Anna (the famous Aunt Anna)
Matthew (the super cool Uncle Matthew)
Luke
Sadie
Meggie
Ellie
Grace

There are others, I'm sure. And most of what she says is either "please," "up," or "no." She's so cute.

We're working on it.

2009-03-02T12:48:00.004-05:00

Please don't call CPS on me!

The Tale of Little Blue Overalls Skirt*

2009-03-02T12:13:00.007-05:00

Once upon a time there lived in a certain village a little country girl, the prettiest creature who was ever seen. Her mother was excessively fond of her; and her grandmother doted on her still more. This good woman had a little blue overalls skirt made for her. It suited the girl so extremely well that everybody called her Little Blue Overalls Skirt.

One day her mother said to her, "Go, my dear, and see how your grandmother is doing, for I hear she moved to within a 4-hour drive from you. Take her a kiss, and this little poofy side ponytail."

Little Blue Overalls Skirt set out immediately to go to her grandmother, who lived in another village (Marion, IN).

When she arrived she noticed all of the boxes stacked all around her house. "Grandmother, what big stacks of boxes you have!"

"All the better to move close to you with, my child."
"Grandmother, what a pretty bird you have!"

"All the better to make you smile with, my child."
"Grandmother, what tiny chairs you have!"

"All the better to entertain you with, my child."
The next day, Little Blue Overalls Skirt returned home after a wonderful time at Grandmother's and Grandfather's house. She was all tuckered out from the exploring and playing and reading that she did there. So she grabbed her bear, Bear, and went to sleep.

The end.

*Liberally borrowed from "Little Red Riding Hood" by Charles Perrault

Lyla photos

2009-02-21T13:30:00.005-05:00

Since we're rapidly approaching the birth of my son, and this blog is only going to become that much more neglected when we add taking care of another child to our list of responsibilities. I thought I'd put up a bunch of recent photos of Lyla for y'all to enjoy.

I know they're not as good as the real thing, and Lyla's been especially awesome the past few weeks. But I hope they put a smile on your face.

Pudding!!

Rocking Cow!!

Um, Red Overalls and Striped Hat!!!

Mall Playground!!!

No Pants!!!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

2009-02-09T22:40:00.005-05:00

Lyla says, "Happy Birthday, Grandpa Ring! What what!?!"

Ah, memories... Happy Birthday, Dad.

Love,
Kevin, Katherine, Lyla, and your grandson

We'd been doing so well.

2009-02-02T18:16:00.007-05:00

Staving off colds, remaining healthy despite Old Man Winter throwing everything he could at us. But all three of us seem to be a bit under the weather (just like everyone else in Michigan it seems).

This doesn't really have any medicinal qualities but it sure brings a smile to my face. That's something, isn't it?
(You need to turn the sound on your computer on... but not too loud.)

Snow + freezing weather + direct sunshine = icicles

2009-01-26T17:12:00.005-05:00

So it's been ridiculously cold the past two weeks. I mean, anytime you hear the phrase "... feels like negative..." when someone is telling you the temperature, you know you're in trouble. The weird thing is that over the past 4 our 5 days it hasn't snowed at all, and when the sun comes out, it melts the 2+ feet of snow that has accumulated everywhere, but because it's so cold out, the melted snow doesn't stay melted that long but instead forms icicles. And not just little, candy-cane sized icicles; I'm talking, the honkin' suckers that would do some serious damage if they fell on you icicles.

Keeping with tradition, I was able to grab one and we took pictures of it next to Lyla for comparison. You can see last year's version here. And now, this year's:

And a video of Lyla trying to figure out what the heck that thing is:

Snow days

2009-01-20T13:29:00.008-05:00

So, last year was a record year of snow fall in Grand Rapids. This year is headed toward equal (if not greater) amounts of snow. Our friend commented the other day that we've already seen the same amount of snow in November and December that GR would typically see in an entire winter (November through March)!

That, combined with the sub-frigid temperatures, combined with the fact that Katherine is 32 weeks pregnant are all forces conspiring to keep us inside. So we've been making a serious effort to get outside on days that we're able in order to take walks. We spend equal amounts of time getting ready as we do actually outside. All in all it is quite an ordeal, but it's also been a lot of fun and totally worth it.

Here's pictures of Lyla putting on her snowsuit:

Here's pictures of me and Lyla waiting for Katherine to come out:

Here we are walking in the snow! Happy winter, everyone!

Daddy's little helper

2009-01-19T20:46:00.002-05:00

Folding laundry:

She's so cute!

Christmas, San Antonio style

2009-01-13T08:11:00.003-05:00

We were lucky to be able to spend a few days over the holiday down in San Antonio visiting my family. We drove down from Dallas the Saturday before Christmas and spent five days down there. It was really good to see my dad and Fei and Matthew and Anna. Lyla had a lot of fun playing with Uncle Matthew and Aunt Anna, being smothered with love and attention from Fei, and cuddling with Grandpa Ring. She even learned how to say Grandpa, which sounded more like "Mmmm pah."
Here's Lyla's Ring-genes in action:
Yay Mmmm pah!
Lyla's number 1!
Hey Uncle Matthew, can I ride Flicka?
Aunt Anna is so cute!

I can walk, Dad. I just choose not to.
Matthew is growing up so big.
We left on Christmas Eve to go back to Dallas so the kids opened their gifts on the 23rd. Lyla got a cell phone.Anna got Hello Kitty stickers and gear.
Matthew got Monopoly Junior.

The night before we left we went out to dinner at Anna's favorite restaurant: Applebees.Anna, I thought you loved Applebees?
Are you sad because your daddy is busy telling all his funny stories to Lyla instead of you? (I love this picture.)
We had a wonderful time in San Antonio and were sad we couldn't stay longer. The saddest part was that my brother Jeff was supposed to fly in from Portland the same day that we arrived. But because of the huge snow storm they had, all flights were canceled for 3 days and he didn't make it. So we were sad we didn't get so see him. But we did get to eat at a yummy Thai restaurant, so it wasn't all bad. Hopefully Uncle Jeff can make it out this spring or summer to meet his niece and nephew.

Where's Waldo?

2009-01-12T13:06:00.005-05:00

Christmas, Dallas style

2009-01-08T10:38:00.013-05:00

We had a wonderful time this Christmas, spending nearly two weeks in Texas split between Katherine's parents in Dallas and my family in San Antonio. All of Katherine's family was able to gather this year for Christmas and it was a real joy to spend the time with everyone, especially Emily and Allison (and Stephen). Rather than take you through the whole time we spent together, here are pictures from some of the highlights.

Taking family photos (an annual tradition that becomes more and more chaotic as 1) the little ones get bigger - a.k.a. "squirmier"; and 2) there are more little ones):

Christmas morning gift opening.

Putting gift bows on the children (also becoming a Christmas tradition):

Playing at the park at night... early evening really.

Emily hamming it up:

The guys taking the youngest girls for a walk. The weather was pretty nice. We had a double stroller. The girls had matching hats. What more could you ask for?

What is the world coming to?

2009-01-06T07:39:00.000-05:00

I promise I will put up Christmas pictures of Lyla soon but I found this:

It is disturbingly hilarious, especially because a number of our "adult" friends got a Wii this Christmas and I can totally picture them reacting in the same way.

Eric, if you're reading this, I know you reacted the same way as the kid at 3:00.

Not quite ready to walk.

2008-12-16T19:30:00.006-05:00

I whole-heartedly believe that Lyla is able to walk, but she just isn't ready yet. She walks just fine, in fact quite enthusiastically, so long as she's holding on to someone's hand. It doesn't have to be two hands either, we went for quite the stroll the other day with her holding my one hand (it was totally one of those "Oh my! She's growing up so fast!!" moments). I have mixed feelings about her walking, I'm excited because she's so close and I think it will be slightly easier for her to get places without having to crawl or be carried. On the other hand, my baby is growing up so fast!! We've been looking through our over 2000 pictures we've taken of her and Katherine and I repeatedly say, "Remember when she was so little!" or "Who's that tiny baby?" or "I can't believe she was that small!"

The other day I was folding laundry and there were a bunch of her pajamas in there. She wears size 18 month because she's so long. Well, Katherine had put this old pair in that were size 3 month and the difference in size was drastic. They grow so fast.

Anyway, here are videos of Katherine and me trying to coax the little girl to walk. Enjoy!

I am a comic book nerd. I am not ashamed of this.

2008-12-16T11:35:00.001-05:00

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Our virtual koi pond

2008-12-15T00:20:00.001-05:00

Follow this blog

2008-12-13T14:19:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone,

Blogger has set up a subscription like service that allows you to "follow" the blogs that you enjoy. When you sign up a blog it will show up on your Blogger profile dashboard showing you recent updates to the site. It also is a great way to share the sites you like with people who know you.

If you're interested in "following" this blog, all you have to do is click this link:
Follow this blog

By doing so, you'll let us know that you're interested in our blog and your blogger profile will shown along with our other followers in the sidebar of this page.

Anyway, I just wanted to point this feature out and let you know I'd appreciate it if you decide you want to sign up.

Cheers!

I feel the same way

2008-12-09T14:46:00.006-05:00

Lyla's birthday party

2008-12-08T12:26:00.008-05:00

Decorations:Cupcakes (notice the butterfly theme):

Lyla and Daddy!!
Meggy and her daddy!!
Ian and his daddy!!!
Sadie and her daddy!!!
Adults!!!
Kids playing!!
Josh and Ellie!!!
Go, Meggy, go!!
Getting ready to open presents!!!
Time for presents:
Here comes Sadie, ready to help!Yay! Storybook Bible!

Yay!! Noisy toy!! Super cute and educational!! (I was quite relieved later to discover it has both a "low volume" setting and an "off" setting)
Yay! Princess papasan chair!
Hey! My presents!!
Oh man! I can climb all over this thing!! Mom and dad won't let me fall over so I can do whatever I want!!
Now it's time for my birthday cupcake!

Mmmm... messy and delicious!

Some awesomeness

2008-12-05T22:44:00.006-05:00

Katherine wants me to let you know that this video is long and does not contain a lot of action. So if you want to skip ahead to the good part start watching at about 2:40. Enjoy!

Day 366

2008-12-04T21:41:00.007-05:00

Happy Birthday to my beautiful little girl. I can not believe that one year ago at this very moment, I was standing anxiously outside the operating room as they prepped your mother for surgery. I will never never never forget the moment I first laid eyes on you. The moment I first held you in my arms. Thank you. Thank you for all that you are teaching me about love and life, about patience and perseverance, about beauty and about grace. Thank you for being my daughter. Thank you for smiling every time you see me. Thank you for still fitting perfectly in my arms. Thank you for falling asleep on my lap. I love you. Happy Birthday.