More randomness....

I don't have anything important to say tonight, but I just feel like writing. I am kind of worn out and yet I can't complain because I had a very refreshing weekend. Derrick got to be home, which is always a treat. Its amazing how our life completely switched around when it comes to weekends. When we lived in Shiner, we couldn't wait to leave for the weekend. We were gone ALL the time...getting out of the house was a treat and going places we loved always made us feel good. Now that we live somewhere we love, the weekends at home are the best. Granted, Derrick is gone all week so being home is what he wants...so we don't want to even think about going places on the weekends right now. Maybe someday when he gets to be around home during the week we'll be ready to go again on the weekends.

Rhyder slept from 8:30 to 6:15 last night! Derrick had to leave at 4:45 this morning though so I would have had 8 hours of straight sleep if he hadn't tripped over the metal trash can, dropped his iphone on the concrete floor, flushed the toilet, and rolled his suitcase out at 4:30 :-) Oh well...someday! (maybe tonight?!...depending on how Rhyder sleeps). He is still sleeping in our room...after taking a poll of a lot of Facebook friends, 4 months seems to be the time when most moms move their babies. I had almost committed to doing it a couple weeks ago, but then it hit me that he will only be a baby one time and I am loving every minute of it and enjoying this season of life. I may wish later that I had done it earlier, but honestly, I am enjoying his presence and I will miss him when I move him. As soon as we introduce some rice cereal and I know that his awakening isn't out of hunger need, I'll commit to the move.

Last night, I spent the evening at my friend's mother-in-law's house watching the Oscars. We thought they started at 6 so the party started at 5:30 but then they didn't end up starting until 7:30...I ended up leaving around 8:30 because Derrick was home and I didn't want to miss out on time with him so I only watched about an hour of the Oscars. It was entertaining...made even more so by the ballot we filled out before they started. Made you actually care who won what! Granted I hadn't even heard of over half of the entries but I guessed where I had to and educatedly guessed on a few :) .... I didn't win... ha!
I thought it sad though that several times there were very inappropriate references to a lot of things...Tim McFarlane is pretty gross. (although he looks VERY much like Peter Brady on the Brady Bunch and it kept weirding me out all night). Its just sad that I gotta raise my kid in a world where special nights like the Oscars definitely aren't child friendly anymore. Especially made me sad when he made a stupid comment about Quvenzhane Wallis. On the most special night of a 9 year old's life, the only comment made about her on stage objectifies her. She probably had to ask her mommy "what does that mean?" rather than smile with the magnificence of it all. Sad day :-(

Two nights ago, we watched Taken 2. Whew! intense! I've become much more of a wimp since becoming a Mommy. I think you look at the world now through the eyes of losing your child and that's an awful awful feeling. I am rarely able to identify superlatives in my life...favorites, biggest fears, most hoped for vacation destinations, etc...but I do know that my biggest fear in life is having to witness a loved one being tortured. I don't do torture scenes well so Taken 2 got a little hairy for me. Definitely a well made movie, but its an "on the edge" of your seat the whole time kind of movie. At one point, Derrick said "am I shaking because I'm cold or because I'm nervous?" ha! Nerves it was! 

Anyway...just random thoughts of Cherise Ratliff. Hope you enjoyed! 

Rhyder's 3 month pic! This kid has LOTS of hair! He's become so expressive and we've heard his beautiful laughs a few times now! 

Just Life...

My sweet boy went to bed at 7:45 this evening! So I feel like I have had a full night to get stuff accomplished! I cleaned the house, did laundry, started packing for our Shiner trip tomorrow, actually did some work work, checked out Facebook, and am now actually blogging...

This past weekend was SO beautiful in every way. Derrick is only home Friday-Sunday these days so every minute we get to spend with him is precious. The weather was so gorgeous that we spent lots of time outside enjoying the sunshine. On Saturday, we went to Research Park with the Maders and just layed around on blankets and had a picnic lunch watching the Mader twins feed the ducks. Rhyder has much improved his tummy time lately (he used to HATE it and Mommy hated it too so didn't make him do it as often as he should have)... but for everything there is a season and its finally good tummy time season :) Research Park brought back lots of great college memories...everything about living here does and I love it!

On Sunday, we went on a walk and then took Derrick's 1950 Chevy out for a 30 mile ride. It was fun getting to see him drive his jewel with his SON in tow! What a crazy concept that Derrick started that project years ago with his dad and now he's a dad getting to take his lil boy along.

This week is kinda refreshing as I had 24 hours of vacation that I had to burn before Feb 22nd or I'd lose it so I've been taking half days here and there. I really needed them as I was just starting to get run down. With Rhyder still not sleeping through the night and Derrick being gone 4 days out of the week, I was just exhausted. So, I've been able to get a little more sleep and run some much needed errands without worrying about timing so much. Amazing how far a little flexibility goes mentally and physically and in my case, emotionally.

The bummer of the week is that my macbook's charger somehow got sliced and even though we could milk a little electricity out of it occassionally, it got to the point of dangerous when the wires melted the plastic and smelled like smoke :) so it was time to throw that sucker away. Therefore, you get no pics with this post as its being done on the desktop and not my laptop where my pics all are. Its unfortunate that blogspot is a Google product and therefore you can upload pics directly from Google+ but not from Facebook. $79.99 later, I'll be back in business with a new charger soon.

As far as being a mommy goes, its an experience in its own category. Its amazing really...as miserably tired and incapable and sometimes frustrating as it is, its somehow and in some way 1000% worth it when you look into your child's eyes and you get that silly, quirky grin and giggle...when you rub that baby lotion into a freshly bathed baby and you get that baby smell that is oh so yummy....when your baby is crying so hard he can barely breathe and then you pick him up and the world is all better....when you recognize that your baby is learning by studying a rattle intensely and then shaking it. Its inexpressible really and all you moms know what I'm talking about. Incredible to know that child didn't exist a year ago and now he's here and will always be yours and will be amazing every day of his life. I love it.

OK I lied, you get one photo because I took the time to go to Facebook, download it, and upload it for y'all just because I love it so stinkin' much! :-) That's my sweet blue-eyed boy in his daddy's cap!

Rhyder's Dedication

I have wanted to sit down and blog SO many times in the past few weeks, but there is always something more pressing to do. I have finally started...let's see if I can finish! Life has been a whirlwind...between Derrick being gone for work 4 out of 7 days a week and Rhyder growing up so quickly, life has been tough, but totally rewarding. Sunday nights are tough because it means the weekend is coming to an end and the harsh reality of the week is kicking off again. The darkness around 6:30 is actually physically depressing (something I struggled with every night after Rhyder was born but has gotten much much better)..but Sunday nights its still around. Mostly because I know we are losing Derrick for the next 4 days and we miss him a whole lot.

I honestly can't remember when I last blogged so I'm not sure what we've done since then, but I do know this weekend was quite special. We had the opportunity to sign up for the Baby Dedication at Grace Bible this morning. We have chosen to publicly dedicate our precious boy to the Lord...we know he isn't even ours to begin with but that he's been gifted to us for a time by God. Its our job to raise him in a Godly home dedicated to introducing him to the Lord and loving him beyond measure. We take this job seriously and have asked the people at Grace and our family and friends to help us!

This morning was even more special because our dear friends, the Maders, also got to dedicate their baby girl, Rilyn Kaylee so we got to stand up front with people we love so much and their 3 girls.

The verse we chose for Rhyder was 1 Tim 6:11-12:
"But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called."

Wow...powerful words if you break them down. Ladies, can you imagine a man who truly pursued those specific characteristics - what a blessing he would be! We hope and pray that for our little man.  We pray he will come to know Jesus at an early age and that he fulfills the purpose for which the Lord created him.

We are so grateful for everyone who came to support us. Both mine and Derrick's whole families stayed with us this weekend. Thanks Linda, Robert, Logan, Kelly, Austin, Mom, Dad, Jason, and Hali!!! We love y'all. We toured Messina Hof winery, we played Settlers of Catan til 1:30am, we all went out to Rudy's BBQ, we ate homemade chicken fried steak and chocolate cake, and we sat around and talked and it was an exhausting but wonderful weekend.

Special Day! Thank you Lord for our son!

My little family! 

The Ratliff crew..we're so thankful for this gang

My sweet parents...such amazing supporters of us and awesome grandparents to our son 

He was WORN OUT by the end of the weekend. Sweet boy was out.