Privacy

Ryder has been doing very well with potty-training. It seems like it has been a long process, but we're kind of just letting him lead the way as he feels ready. He didn't have any major setbacks during the move, which is amazing to me because his routine was definitely out of whack for several weeks! We've said goodbye to diapers; he wears a pull-up at nap and bedtime because he still has accidents once in a while, but there have also been many times when he wakes up dry. During the day he wears his "big boy" underwear, and he's gotten better at pulling them up and down by himself. He has apparently heard us use the word 'privacy' a few times in context, because now when he sits on the toilet he will say, "Go in the living room, Mom. I need piracy." What a little man! I'll close the door and leave him sitting there reading a book, and he'll eventually call for me when he's finished. He loves to flush the toilet, and he has started saying, "Goodnight!" to whatever swirls down the drain.

Harper: 8 months

Since Harper spent the day with Pops and Grann yesterday, here is her 8-month update a day late.

This beautiful little 8-month old gets into everything! I swear at least once a day Andrew and I say, "I don't remember Ryder ever doing that." She loves to eat shoes, push buttons on the DVD player to make it open and close, grab cords, pull hair and earrings, and the list goes on and on. She crawls at a sprint-like pace on her hands and feet--still no knees involved! It's cute because she looks like a little sand crab as she scurries across the room. She pulls up to a standing position using anything she can grab, whether it's sturdy or not, which means I have to watch her like a hawk. She falls down and tips over all the time, and I think she has had more bruises in 8 months than Ryder has had in 2 1/2 years. I attribute it to her always trying to keep up with her big brother.

"Can I get a refill?"

holding her bottle all by herself now

The teething process has taken a toll on Harper's sleep schedule. Some nights she will wake up 2 or 3 times and need to be held and/or rocked to fall back asleep. She has always loved being rocked, and it's a weakness of mine to sit and cuddle with her before bedtime. I know it's a habit I need to break though because she's not good at falling asleep on her own. Early last week I decided to modify her bedtime routine a bit: I rocked her only until she was drowsy, laid her down, and left the room. She cried screamed for 15 minutes before giving up and falling asleep. It was torture to listen to her, so I turned the monitor volume off and went to the other side of the house. The second night was more of the same, and the third night doesn't really count because I was a little late putting her to bed, so she fell asleep immediately. On nights 4 and 5 she cried for only 2 minutes before giving up. Whew! Maybe we made it past the worst of it--I can only hope!

weight "guesstimate": about 20 lbs.

clothes size:  9 months, but some of her 6 month separates still fit

crazy beach hair!

caught trying to eat Ryder's space shuttle

so serious

What a perfect pose!

Ewww! haha

And of course Ryder had to get in on the picture-taking.

crawling around like his sister

my little goofball

intense bbq sandwich eating

Me and the boys

Andrew and I wanted to spend some time with just Ryder, which the three of us haven't done since I went back to work in February. Even though I'm home now with both kids everyday, I don't really feel like I get to play with Ryder and do what he wants to do; everything seems to revolve around whether Harper needs to eat, nap, or just be held, so I was looking forward to giving Ryder my undivided attention. Grann happily agreed to keep Harper for the day since she had her Ryder time yesterday--it actually worked out perfectly! The boys and I headed to the beach for a little sand and sun, followed by lunch, and then orange ice cream for dessert from our favorite ice cream place. Ryder was in the best mood--which isn't always the case when he's competing with his sister for our attention--and we made it home in time for him to nap in our bed since his room has been taken over by ginormous fans.

building a sand castle

waiting patiently for lunch

passed out

(I snuck in and took this picture with my phone--sorry it's small and blurry!)

Peek-a-boo and babbling

Harper and I had a little one-on-one girl time today because Ryder spent the day with Pops and Grann. It really is amazing how much more I can get done in a day when I only have one of the kids with me; I actually had time to pick up the camera! It was a great day to "ship" Ryder out because we had some workers coming to fix a leak in the refrigerator's water line. That wouldn't have been a big deal, except the refrigerator backs up to one of the walls in Ryder's bedroom. The water had to go somewhere, and unfortunately Ryder's wall and carpet absorbed it. They had to rip out some of the carpet pad, the baseboard, and some of the drywall from one of his walls. His room now has 3 huge fans and a dehumidifier running until Monday, when the workers will come back to see if everything is dry before the repairs begin. Poor Ryder is "roomless" until then! Andrew and I are just thankful that we're renting and don't have to pay for everything to be fixed. :)

Here's a quick video of Harper playing peek-a-boo and babbling at me this afternoon. If you look closely, you can see her little teeth! She now has 3 on the bottom that are visible, and her 2 "fangs" (a.k.a. eyeteeth) have just broken through on the top. This girl has been busy!

First prayers

Over the past few months we've been saying bedtime prayers with Ryder since he is at the age that he soaks up everything like a sponge.  It began with me saying the prayer, thanking Jesus for the individual things that we did that day. Then Ryder started contributing, naming every little thing he did and/or ate that day. Now he likes to echo whatever we say; we say a line and then pause for him to repeat it. Pops and Grann came over for dinner tonight, and Pops offered to say the prayer when we sat down to eat. It went something like this:

Pops: Dear Jesus, thank you for this food.

Ryder: Dear Jesus, thank you for food.

P: Thank you for your love for us.

R: Thank you for love.

P: And thank you for our family.

R: Thank you for family.

P: Especially Pops.

R: 'Specially Pops.

After the "amen" we laughed at how Ryder's echo never missed a beat. Pops just grinned mischievously, and Ryder kind of looked at us like, "What's so funny?"

Settling in

We moved into our new house just over a week ago, and it's really starting to feel like home now that we've unpacked and put away most of our things. My mission was to set up the kids' bedrooms with all of their familiar things and then do the kitchen before bringing them over to see everything. Ryder was so excited to see his new room, and he bounced around from one toy to another like it was Christmas morning. What really cracked me up was when he first opened the tupperware cabinet in the kitchen and said, "Look, Mom! All our stuff is back!" I didn't realize he was so attached to the food storage containers. :) We are fortunate to have found a house in a great neighborhood, and the nearest beach is literally four minutes from our house. (Ryder already refers to it as "his beach"). I'll take and upload some pictures of the house over the next few days...stay tuned!

fireworks at the beach

Harper's favorite teething spot at Pops and Grann's house was on a glass table!

looking pitiful

pointing out the boo-boos he got from wiping out on the driveway

peek-a-boo! (no more glass to bite--just wood)

Harper will try to eat ANYTHING!

Harper: 7 months

Harper has been very busy over the past two weeks. In the short time we've been staying at Pops and Grann's house, she has perfected how to sit independently, learned to crawl, cut two bottom teeth, (yep,  her first pair!) and started pulling herself up. Now that she is more independent and can entertain herself, she is a much happier baby. :) She has even settled into a pretty predictable sleep schedule, which has been wonderful for the sanity of all of us! She wakes up around 7am, naps from 8:30-9:30, takes another 2-3 hour afternoon nap, and goes to bed around 7:30pm. She is eating three meals a day and has enjoyed everything so far. I gave her some avocado the other night, and once she got used to the texture she seemed to like it. Her two favorite foods at this point are green peas and applesauce.

Harper's newest trick: pulling up on EVERYTHING. And she doesn't stop when she gets to her knees; this girl gets into a full-blown standing position. She seriously looks like she could just walk across the room, but hopefully we have months before this really happens!

"Hmmm...I wonder if Grann has any good magazines to read."