Ryan- 7 Months

Ryan is SEVEN months old today!  I can't believe how the time has flown!!  I say that about all my kids, I know, but it is so true!  He is such a little joy to have in our house and I can't imagine our life without him.  Whitney and Brooke are helping with him by playing silly little games that make him laugh and give him toys. His smile lights up the room and I can't help but smile and hug and kiss him just about 50 times a day!  I know he won't let me do it forever so I better do it while I can!  

Doesn't this picture just make you want to smile!? 

Sitting up, but not sure what to do next...

 Cooing at mommy :)

Ryan started eating solids a few days after he turned 6 months.  He caught on quickly and now has the hang of it.  He LOVES rice cereal and has also tried carrots, peas, apples, pears, and beef.  The beef seriously looked like dog food and it smelled disgusting, I don't think I'll be buying that one again.  Ryan hated it and made the most disgusted face.  Poor little guy. 

Ryan is scooting, lunging, rolling, and army crawling, and had been for a couple of weeks.  He is working on sitting unassisted and crawling the normal way.  I am not used to having a mobile baby this young.  Whitney and Brooke crawled long after 6 months.  From the time he was a newborn he has always preferred being on his tummy.  He can get to pretty much anything he wants and if he can't one of his sisters gets it for him.

Ryan is finally sleeping through the night.  It took about a week of crying and fixing the binky to get him to sleep all the way through.  For a few weeks before, I started to train him but would wake up, so I'd nurse him and he'd go back to sleep.  He worked his way up to waking and eating 3-4 times a night and that's when I decided it had to stop.  He mostly just wanted to be held and cuddled back to sleep anyway.  He does love to cuddle and I love to cuddle him, but I need my sleep too.

  We love you our sweet little baby boy!

Horse Races

 I took the girls to Ruidoso NM a couple of weekends ago to see my cousins that I hadn't seen in a super long time.  I didn't think to take a picture with my bff cousin Jana who is my age and just had a baby too, so I'm a little mad about that, but next time I will for sure!   

 I had never been to the races before so the experience was new for all of us, and it was really fun to see.  I didn't bet anything, but my uncle won 10 bucks, so maybe I should have :)  Next time, maybe.

 

4th of July

This year for the fourth celebration we got together with my brother Abe and his family.  My mom was out of town, so we invited my dad too.  The night of the 3rd there was a light parade downtown, so we went.  It was raining, but we wanted to go anyway.  Luckily, my dad showed up with an umbrella just as the rain really started coming down.  The evening of the 4th we had a little party at one of the daycare centers that is located close to where the city sets off their fireworks.  We grilled burgers and had strawberry short cake and popsicles for dessert.  While others were confined to a blanket laid out on the soccer fields to watch the fireworks, we enjoyed our evening with about an acre of playground, a grill, running water, a flushing toilet, lights and a picnic table.  The fireworks where beautiful!

Ryan--4 months

Ryan turned 4 months old today.  He has grown and matured so much in the last couple months it's amazing.  He smiles at everything now and has even laughed.  Whitney can get him to really belly laugh, it's adorable.  He rolled over last week and still loves tummy-time so he could be crawling soon too.  I recently got all the beds switched around so that he has his own bed.  It took a little bit of sleep training, but now he falls asleep on his own without being rocked, walked or bounced!  Most nights I feed him, wrap him up, lay him in bed awake and he falls asleep, then wakes up happy the next morning.  He sleeps for about 6-8 hours at nights, wakes up, eats and then goes back to sleep. 

I love dressing him in his little polo shirts and plaid shorts.  I have some little tennis shoes for him too that look just adorable on him!  He is very strong and loves to be on his tummy.  Ryan has grown quite a bit since his last check-up.  He weighs in at 13 lbs and is 25 inches long.  I am still breastfeeding him and want to continue to exclusively nurse until 6 months before I introduce solids.  Daddy can get him to laugh more then I can, but he'll smile at me anytime I look at him.  The girls love him so much and are very happy to have a little brother to snuggle.

Dentist Divas

The girls had their first REAL dentist check-up last week.  They have both been to the dentist before, but this was the first time they let them take x-rays of their teeth, and clean and polish them while laying in the chair.  I was shocked.  I think what happened was, Whitney is old enough to let them do those things to her and Brooke saw that Whitney was okay with it so she let them too.  By the end Brooke was in tears from just being out of her comfort zone for so long and Whitney was excited to have a new Dora toothbrush.  I was so proud of both of them!!!