Photo Friday

D is for Ryan's guilty pleasures--Donuts and Dora.  Occasionally, Pat will pick up a few donuts (or munchkins) on his way home from combatives.  Ryan really enjoys his donut days.  

Ryan also enjoys a little bit of Dora (and Diego too).  

This is just a photo of Ryan playing in his pool with his new swim shirt on.  You can even see Bailey off the deck in the background.  (that hardly ever happens, as Bailey doesn't like grass)

Water and Sun

A while back I posted about how I know I should drink lots of water a day, but find myself unable to.  I had almost even convinced myself that water wasn't all that important.  In an attempt to make this water consumption easier, I found a perfect bottle to carry around filled with water.  I found that when drinking from a plastic refillable travel bottle with a spout, I'm able to drink a lot more water without noticing.  I highly recommend this tactic to those struggling to drink their water.  

Coincidentally, last night on TV I caught part of a show on food network that was exploring the effects of the amount of water we drink on our skin's health.  According to this show, to find out how much you should drink a day you take your body weight and divide by two.  That is equal to the amount of ounces of water you should drink per day.  They followed identical twins while one drank the recommended amount of water and one drank half of the recommendation.  A dermatologist examined them at the beginning and the end.  While they both started out with healthy and similar skin, the one that drank less water lost her glow and more scientifically, her skin tested to be somewhat dehydrated.  Dehydrated skin shows more wrinkles and fine lines.  So that is just another reason to keep drinking your water.  

(Just a side note though, there is research out there that says drinking when thirsty and eating well will provide enough fluid.  That said, I personally know that I need to up my water consumption and could benefit from more.)  

Speaking of skin health though, I also have been thinking about skin and sun.  I remember the days when I longed for a tan.  Now as part of a routine I use a daily moisturizer with SPF30.  I spray and rub Ryan down before we go out to play.  We got him a little SPF swim shirt.  (It matches his bathing suit perfectly too!)  I am a bit of a slacker when it comes to protecting the rest of my body from the sun though, unless I'll be out long.  I just think the idea of skin cancer is so scary.  Not to mention I'd love to avoid skin damage that makes me look older.  I wish I had realized what a great thing sunblock was before I hit my mid 20s.  If you have a favorite sunblock, I'd love to hear what it is.       

As my product recommendation, I really like Olay Complete SPF 30 Defense Daily UV Moisturizer (I use the one for sensitive skin).  It leaves my skin so soft and it isn't greasy at all.  

Busy Days, but Yummy too!

This whole weekend seemed to fly by.  I won't go into details of Friday night, but I'll say that I was the designated driver that was less than happy with her hubby.  Use your imagination ;)  

Saturday and Sunday, I'm not sure where the days went.  I know we played in the pool and ran some errands. Pat mowed the lawn, and that is just another reason I love having him home from deployments. Best of all, I got to go grocery shopping all alone.  It was so nice to be able to take my time and go back down aisles when I realized I forgot something.  I cannot even remember the other things we did.  We always seem so busy, but don't seem to get much done at the same time.  

Today Pat's unit had off.  This is a very rare thing.  It was actually to make up for a 3 day in which they were in the field.  I felt like we really needed today because the weekend was such a blur it was like it didn't even happen.  I got my haircut today.  I'm not sure how it looks.  I'll have to see how it is after I wash it myself and do it.  That is the thing, curly hair is hard to judge until you see how it is when you do it.  Either way I needed my ends cut off, and it feels better already.  I may not be cute, but at least I'm happy.  

Ryan had his 18 month well-baby visit today.  Pat got to see how the pediatrician's office is run. Thankfully he validated my opinion that it isn't the best quality care there.  

Ryan's stats were:

Height:  32.5"

Weight:  25lb 12 oz.  

He's following his own growth curve very well, and seems to be hovering right around the 50th percentile for both.    

For dinner tonight we're having turkey and homemade apple stuffing.  I even managed to whip up a little homemade gravy from my Mom's recipe.  I think her gravy is the best thing I've ever tasted.  I tried to explain to Pat tonight how it is like liquid gold.  I still haven't won him over to the gravy eating side, but believe me I will.  

Here are a few photos of the feast (photos of gravy and stuffing).  Hopefully sometime in the future I'll post my apple stuffing recipe.