8 Months!

Well, I am officially exhausted! Our child has endless amounts of energy and is ALWAYS on the move. This month he has cut another tooth and learned how to stand up on his own. He pulls himself up on everything! Tables, couches, stairs, my legs, really anything that he can get his little hands on. Every time I put him down for a nap, I get downstairs to put the monitor on, and he is already standing in there. He is really enjoying practicing his new skills and likes to scale the 4 walls of his crib.

He also seems to be experiencing a period of separation anxiety. It is adorable, because he always wants to be with us and we feel very loved :) On the flip side, naps and night time sleeping have gone down hill!! It's okay, I know it won't last forever and I love how much he loves being around Joe and I.

We had finally figured out a way to make him sleep through the night (one bottle of formula before bed, it keeps his tummy fuller longer) and I was SOO happy to only be waking up with him one time in the night to eat. That is over for now. The life of a parent... never consistent!

This month has been really fun. We were able to enjoy our first Thanksgiving with Ryan and also went to cut down our Christmas tree. Everything is so much more fun with this little man! The 3 of us decorated our tree listening to Christmas music and it was one of the best nights ever.

He is "talking" up a storm now and has the most precious little voice I have ever heard! This is the conversation that takes up a good portion of my day:

Me: "Ryan, say mama"

Ryan: "Dadadadada"

Me: "Ryan.... say mama"

Ryan: "Dadadadada"

I think you get the picture :) Mama better be coming soon!!!

Joe and I agree that we have never been happier before in our lives. Joe is really enjoying his job and I am LOVING my job. Staying home with Ryan is truly the best job in the world. It's tiring but more rewarding than anything I have ever experienced. We love making Joe breakfast and lunch to go before he leaves for work and making dinner for when he gets home. I enjoy cleaning the house and doing all the shopping and just keeping our house in order. Sometimes I feel the effects of talking to a baby all day, but for the most part, I would not want to be doing anything else.

I feel very blessed and I think Ryan does too :)

7 Months!

Playing with his cousin Jackson, or climbing over him :)
Waiting for Penny to come in and play
Goin for her food....
My present from Ryan, he looks so proud of himself
Carrying his basket around the block
Cutest lion and monkey ever!
Our little lion :)

I thought a lot of changes took place in the 5-6 month time span, but 6-7 has been crazy! A month ago we had a toothless baby that couldn't really move around and now we have a crawling baby with a tooth! How does that happen?? His first tooth popped through on October 23rd and he started crawling on November 8th. I guess I should take as many opportunities to snuggle with him as I can because I have a feeling it won't last too much longer! He has always been a busy baby, but now it has really gotten crazy.

Halloween this year was sooo much fun! Ryan was a little lion and his cousin Jackson was a monkey. They were the cutest lion and monkey I have ever seen! We really didn't trick or treat, just kind of walked around the block with them, but it was still a lot of fun. Ryan was adorable and carried his little pumpkin basket all the way around the block, dropping it only 1 time. Next year will be even more fun when they can walk, and we have an excuse to get more candy :)

On November 2nd, I was able to enjoy my first birthday as a mommy, it was wonderful! I received sour candy from Ryan (my favorite!) and roses from Joe and a sweet card from each of them. It was really nice to enjoy the day with my boys. Ryan and I also went to lunch with my mom, grandma, cousin Meghan and her daughter Gianna. After lunch we went to my grandmas and watched the babies "play" together. I think she may have shown Ryan how to crawl because only a few days after that, he stopped rocking back and forth and started flyin around the house!

We kind of thought that once he started crawling, it would be a slow process. Yeah, not so much. He woke up from a nap, and he knew how to crawl. By the end of the day, he was chasing Penny around the house. It was like once he realized how to do it, he just took off! Now that Ryan is on the move, I can't turn my back for even a second. He has spilled Penny's water dish, gotten fists full of her food, he grabs cords, knocks over the DVDs, its so funny. That was on day one of him crawling, so who knows what this boy will get into. We had to put up his pack n play downstairs so that I have somewhere to put him while I do dishes and stuff, otherwise I will turn around and he will be trying to get into Penny's cage... true story.

Once he learned how to crawl, he decided that napping was unnecessary. For about a week, he napped for about 45 minutes a day, TOTAL. Everytime I would put him down for a nap, I would look at the monitor 20 minutes later and he would be crawling back and forth in the crib. So proud of his new skills! Not good for me though, the cleanliness of our home sure took a toll! I think it's so funny that people, myself included, try to have their babies on a schedule... lets face it, these babies make their own rules! Thankfully, he is back to napping for me though!

He is eating a lot more solids now, so that has been fun to see him continue to try new things. As far as nursing is concerned, we have to go in his room and shut the blinds otherwise he won't eat because he just wants to look around and play. He is SO much like Joe it's not even funny! SO BUSY! He also looks like Joe when he was a baby. We held him up next to a picture of Joe when he was around Ryan's age, and the resemblance was incredible!

He is really vocal right now too. He loves the sound of his own voice (another similarity to his father ;)). He says eeeee, ooooohhhh, da ba, muum (hope that turns into mama soon!) he likes to yell, grunt and cough. So weird, but he loves to hear himself cough!

Can't wait to see what he is up to next month!

BIG News!!!

Usually I only update about once a month, but there is some pretty great news to share! Ryan is so excited that around March 29th, he will be getting another little BOY cousin! My brother and Jen found out that their little bundle of joy will be a boy! They came to breakfast with a blue bib for Ryan and said that they got him a present... but that they would need it back. I'm pretty slow sometimes, but I understood immediately. Our family is really excited!

Ryan has also really learned a lot these last couple weeks. He is now able to sit in a normal highchair at restaurants, which doesn't seem like it would be a big deal, but just try telling Ryan that. He was looking at everyone like "look at me, I'm a big shot now!" He was smiling and laughing and looking at people at other tables like he couldn't understand why they weren't all looking at him too.

The sippy cup that he used to just hold and bang around, now is grasped by both hands and brought directly to his mouth. He loves to drink from it, it's adorable.

He is able to get around pretty easily now when he is on the floor. There is no word to describe how he gets from A to B, but he does it quite well. He scoots a little, then rolls then scoots again, backward, forward, whatever really. Yesterday he scooted himself toward our TV and knocked all the DVD's onto the floor....and then rolled his way over to the end table next to the couch and dumped out a basket full of remotes and things. He's quite proud of himself.

His jumper is still his favorite toy, he always has other little toys in the trays in the jumper and when he drops them onto the floor, he looks down at them, trying to figure out how to get it back and then finally looks at me. I go pick it up and then he smiles at me like he is saying thank you, he is so polite already :) He loves to blow raspberries now too, if you do it to him, there is a good chance he will do it right back. It's very cute...until he does that with a mouth full of squash, which has happened more than once, that was nice.

Still doesn't sleep through the night, I am just going to have to make my peace with the fact that our child hates to sleep at night. We are up with him several times each night, but this phase won't last forever, so I guess I just need to relish in the fact that our little baby needs us at night. Plus Joe said that, "it's okay, I enjoy our priceless pillowtalk" Pretty witty for being such an off hour. That was last night at 2:00 AM after we had spent 20 minutes talking and watching Ryan rock back and forth in his crib faster than we have ever seen... soon enough he is just going to take off flying. He enjoys practicing his skills at all hours of the night. Just wait until he starts crawling.... then we are really in for it.

6 Months!!!

Well, I am taking advantage of a long nap out of Ryan and writing this a little early. Sometimes it takes me about 20 tries to complete a blog entry so, I figure I might as well! We are creepin up on the 6 month mark and I really can't even believe it. I think I say that every month, but really....half of a year old already?! It's insane to think about it! My mom and I went to get pictures developed at Costco and were scrolling through the 1,687 photos that were taken in the last 6 months.... yup, you read that correctly, 1,687 pictures were taken of Ryan in the last 6 months. Anyway, its just so crazy to see how much he has changed and grown in the last 6 months. He started out as this little teeny tiny peanut that couldn't do anything except for eat, sleep and cry. Now he is smiling and laughing, getting up on his hands and knees, playing with toys, sitting up, reaching for things that he wants. He is just such a boy instead of a baby now.

He is getting up on his hands and knees trying to crawl, but I think it will be a while. He tries so hard but just ends up falling down. His bottom teeth still haven't popped through, but the bumps are more pronounced now. Ryan is OBSESSED with Penny. If she walks into a room, he will drop his toy and stare at her and just watch whatever she is doing. If he is on the floor, he will get up onto hands and knees and squeal because he's so happy and excited. Then he tries to move to get to her, lunges forward.... and falls down. This is repeated several times :) Her days are definitely numbered, once he can crawl, she is in for it!

One of my favorite things is the moment that Joe gets home from work. Usually Ryan and I are in the kitchen getting dinner ready. As soon as Joe walks in the door, Ryan hears his voice and starts looking around. Then as Joe enters the kitchen and Ryan can see him, he starts smiling like crazy. He loves his daddy so much!

In the last month, he has started eating oatmeal cereal again, and now he really likes it. I give it to him in the morning and in the evening. In the last 2 weeks, we have swapped the morning oatmeal for sweet potatoes, which was last week. He made hilarious faces, like I was feeding him a bowl of dirt or something equally as awful. For some reason, he kept opening his mouth for more though! He only ate a little each time, I didn't force it, so when he was done, he was done. Then this week he has been eating avocados. It's so funny because with each thing he tries, he makes a totally different face while tasting it. So far, so good with both. I think I will try butternut squash next. Then maybe move onto some fruits. Making his food has been really fun to do, I can't wait to try other things too! He used to sit in his bumbo chair while he ate, but now he sits in his little high chair. He looks so cute in there! He holds onto his sippy cup and bangs it against the table top, throws it on the floor and looks at me like "umm, are you gonna pick that up mom?" Then I do, and he does the same thing again. He's so funny!

His jumper is still his favorite toy, he goes in there and just starts trying to sprint. His little legs move SO fast!

I can't wait to see what he is up to a month from now!

More pictures by Abby!