Harper: 9 months

Here are a few new developments since Harper's 8 month update:

Feeding:
This girl can eat! We've been giving her more and more "real" food and she loves everything. Chicken is her new favorite, and tonight she chowed down on some meatloaf! It makes meal times much easier when I can put some finger foods on her tray and she's content to feed herself. She still drinks three bottles a day: morning, after nap, and before bed. At meals she has mastered drinking water from a sippy cup. For breakfast she likes her oatmeal and fruit, and at lunch and dinner she eats a mix of fruits, veggies, and some kind of protein. (She likes black beans just like her big brother!) Cheerios make a great snack mid-morning and late afternoon when she starts getting a little fussy.

Sleeping:
Nap--> Sometimes she wants a morning nap, but I limit her to 30 minutes or she won't nap in the afternoon. Selfishly I want her and Ryder to be on the same nap schedule so I can have a little quiet time to myself, so I do whatever I can to keep her entertained and awake in the morning. I lay both kids down around 12:30 or 1, and Harper will usually sleep 2 hours.

I'm knocking on wood as I type this, but Harper goes to bed like a dream now! I barely even rock her because she gets squirmy and just wants to be laid down. I walk out, close the door, and don't hear a peep out of her. At least for several hours. She's been getting up at least once a night for what appears to be no reason at all. Sometimes she's wide awake, and other times she falls right back to sleep when I pick her up. She apparently didn't get the memo that I'm staying at home now, because she has started waking up around 4:30 or 4:45 like I used to for work. She's my beautiful little alarm clock with no snooze button. I can usually get her back to sleep, but by 6:30 or so she's up for the day.

This is how she likes to drink her bottles now--lounging on the living room floor.

I LOVE this grin! :)

Have I mentioned before that she gets in to everything? She will single-handedly destroy these vertical blinds.

A short video of Harper's "crab crawl"

A super Saturday

A trip downtown to the fountains, a hot dog at the jetty, and pool time in the afternoon made for a great Saturday!

"I'm not getting into Mommy's cabinet, I promise." 

"See! I'm innocent!"

silly face!

splashing in the fountains downtown

on a mission

my little "fun guy" :)

Yum...belly buster hot dog!

squirting some lizards on the screen

Ryder is relentless with this squirt gun!

Ryder found my headphones and discovered he could use them with his game. So cool!

Ryder's latest expressions

A few Ryder expressions that have popped up recently:

"Not yet"
It doesn't matter what we ask or even tell him to do, his reply is "not yet". Ugh, does that get old fast! I am no expert on toddler behavior, but I'm guessing it's just part of him wanting to be in control of things. He wants to do things on his terms, not Mommy and Daddy's.

"Actually"
This one cracks me up! He just started saying this two days ago, and it makes him sound so educated! He says it sweetly, so it doesn't come across like he's a know-it-all. :) Here's an example from today.
(It was lunch time, and I had just reheated some stir fry from last night's dinner).
M: Honey, the rice might be hot so make sure you blow on it before you take a bite.
R: (blows on his food and takes a bite) No, Mom, actually it's not too hot.

"Talk to me!"
It's rare for Andrew and me to have an uninterrupted conversation until both kids are tucked into bed for the night. We've just accepted that our "daytime" conversations will revolve around the kids for the time being. Well, the other night at dinner Andrew was trying to tell me about something that had happened at work that day. As he was talking to me, Ryder's little voice piped up and said, "No! Talk to me, Daddy." Without skipping a beat, Andrew continued his story but looked at Ryder instead of me. Ryder looked amazingly interested, and even said "yep" and "uh huh" as he listened intently. Andrew had been working on an elevator at a condo that day, and he was talking about some of the rules of the condo association. I just thought Ryder's verbal agreements were his way of mimicking what he had heard us do, but I knew he was truly paying attention when he asked, "What an 'association' is?" At that point I couldn't keep a straight face, especially as Andrew tried to explain it to him using words Ryder would understand. My little man just wants to be included as one of the grownups!

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere

 The kids have a tub toy mounted on the shower wall that blows bubbles and plays music. When we give the kids a bath together, Ryder pops all of the bubbles before they get a chance to land. The other night I gave Harper a bath first. See what happens when her big brother isn't around as the official bubble popper? (Look very closely at her head!)

a happy crab!

The "Paci Princess"

Ryder was pacifier-free last fall. He no longer used it, even for sleeping, and I was proud that it was a thing of the past. Why I didn't throw it away, I have no idea. It was in the back of his sock drawer, so I guess 'out of sight, out of mind'. Then in January he went through a phase of not wanting to nap or go to bed. He screamed and pounded on his door, and of course there was a new baby in the house getting more attention. Andrew and I decided to let him have the paci back to help him sleep because surely this was just a phase, right? Ha! He no longer fought us when it was time to sleep, but he has NEEDED his pacifier for naps and bedtime ever since. He had some kind of virus this past weekend, so he pretty much laid on the couch looking pitiful and feeling like a dishrag. I didn't mind letting him use the pacifier when he had a fever of 101 and felt awful; it was soothing to him. But the next day when the fever had gone down and he obviously felt better, I was tired of listening to him trying to talk with it shoved in his mouth. Andrew and I decided it was time to remove the paci, cold-turkey. But how? Enter the "Paci Princess". When Ryder laid down for his nap yesterday and asked for his pacifier, we told him we couldn't find it. He had us look in all of the usual places we might keep it during the day, but it was nowhere to be found. He was so mad at first that there was no reasoning with him. Once his screams turned into sobs, I told him that the Paci Princess must have taken it to give to a baby who needed it. Since Ryder is such a big boy and so good at sharing, the princess decided he was ready to share his pacifier with someone who really needed it. He was heartbroken but seemed to understand what I was explaining to him.

R: A baby was crying?
M: Yes, a baby was crying and didn't have a paci to help calm him down.
R: But I didn't want the princess to take my paci. (Picture a pouty lip and big crocodile tears).
M: I know sweetie, but you're a big boy now and too grown up for a pacifier.
R: The baby's not crying now?
M: No, I think the baby is happy that someone like you shared a pacifier to make him feel better.
R: Yep.

When he woke up from his nap, he asked about it again. I told him it must have been the Paci Princess because while he was napping she delivered a present for him in exchange for his pacifier. This caught his attention. He was hesitant at first about the present, like he knew that accepting it would be officially giving up his pacifier. (Wow, when did my baby grow up to be such a smart little boy?) I would say he's still "in mourning", but he's going to be okay.

his new scooter!

N.C. Aquarium

Mike, Jen, Andrew, and I took the kids to the aquarium one morning for a little change of scenery. Ryder and Kendall really enjoyed all of the exhibits, and it was cute to see them point things out to each other. 

R: "Kendall, look at that big fish!" 

K: "I see it! Look at that big fish!"

R: "Wow!"

Besides fish, we got to see turtles, alligators, snakes, crabs, sea stars (apparently they're not called starfish anymore), and sharks. 

posing on the pretend alligator

Ryder even got to watch one of the employees, dressed in full scuba gear, swim around a tank to clean it. He was fascinated until she waved at him, and then he kind of backed away from the window. I think he was surprised that it was a real person!

This was our attempt at a group photo--oh well!

Ryder wanted no part of standing still, so I had to steal a quick hug.

wandering the deck of the pier

Ryder got elbow deep at the stingray petting station.

Even Harper was fascinated at the shark exhibit!

Thank goodness for the multiple layers of glass between Ryder and that shark!

dinner at the pier across the street

OBX 2013

When you live in the perfect tropical vacation spot, where do you actually go for vacation? Well, we headed north 13 hours to OBX where we vacation every summer. If it weren't for the fact that our beach house was paid for back in March before we even knew we were moving, we probably wouldn't have made such a trip. This time we decided to break the trip into 2 days so we wouldn't be exhausted when we got there. We drove about 7 hours the first day and spent the night in a hotel with the kids for the first time. It also happened to be our 10th wedding anniversary, so we can joke that we went out for dinner (to Wendy's) and got a hotel room (with 2 kids). :) Andrew and Ryder shared a bed, and we discovered that Ryder is a bed hog. He kept cuddling up to Andrew, and at one point Andrew woke up to find his head was actually on the nightstand because each time he moved, Ryder would snuggle closer. We were back on the road by 8 a.m. the next morning and at the beach house a little after 4 that afternoon. It was definitely a long couple of days, but we were excited to get there and see everyone!

Picture upload #1:

Kendall, Ryder, and Andrew flying a kite

Kendall loved digging for ice in the cooler.

got some!

more kite-flying

Zach and Jen

Harper snoozing with Aunt Ali 

Andrew went out early one morning for some sunrise pictures.

moonfish

the pier across the street from the house

taking a little breather

walking with Uncle Steve

another nap in the shade

Kendall was getting sleepy!

"first date"--a walk to the beach after dinner

"Dad, you're embarrassing me!"

queen of the mountain

splashing through a tidal pool

Can you guess what he was doing in this picture?

caught with wet pants!

(We asked him why he went potty on the sand castle, and he said he had to go reallllly bad).