Shepherd: 9 months

 Here is what Shepherd is up to these days...

• rolling and G.I. Joe crawling EVERYWHERE! And unfortunately this includes when I'm trying to change his diaper--so much fun! He flips onto his tummy and tries to wriggle himself right off the end of the table. I keep a few toys nearby so that I can hand him one and distract him long enough to change him. It's exhausting! I am vacuuming daily now so that when he is on the floor he isn't trying to eat whatever we track in from outside. When in his bedroom, he beelines for the Alexa device; in the kitchen area he heads for Garcia's food and water bowls. I'm getting more exercise these days just chasing him around!
• making fun noises... He likes to growl (though not to the same extent that Ryder did!), blow raspberries, click his tongue, open and close his mouth like a little guppy, and inhale/exhale while puckering his lips as if he's trying to whistle. 
• eating finger foods... I'm still giving him purees at each meal so that I know he's eating enough, but he would much rather use his little fingers to pick up tiny bites and feed himself. He's been practicing with his Gerber puffs, and now he does a great job actually getting the food to his mouth! Some finger foods I've given him recently include beets, avocado, roasted cauliflower, toast, pasta, and bananas. (Yes, I'm reintroducing bananas into his diet, but only about once or twice a week to make sure it doesn't affect his diaper area again!)
• teething. He has three teeth right now and is still constantly drooling and chewing on things.
• waving. He doesn't have this one perfected yet, but if we wave hello to him he will imitate us. It looks like he's conducting an orchestra...more of a large arm movement than a hand movement. Ha!
• babbling. In addition to his other fun noises, he does plenty of "talking". He still makes "da-da-da" sounds and lately has added some "ba-ba" and "ma-ma" into the mix. 

practicing with some puffs

This requires concentration!

This is what he does if his food is too slippery to pick up! 😂 This boy is resourceful!

Ooooh, these are nice shoes! 

snuggling with Daddy 😍
He still likes to do one "lap nap" like this around dinner time, and Andrew loves it. 

Taking Shepherd's picture this month was much tricker because he kept turning around to grab the sticker or trying to climb over the arm of the chair. I called Andrew in to help out!

wearing his Packer shirt for the playoff game tonight!

I was going to let him hold the sticker if he could just keep the number facing out!

Really? We have to do this right now?

I finally handed him Ryder's rubix cube to distract him a bit. :)

I take Shepherd to the doctor on Tuesday for his official 9-month well visit. I'm anxious to see how much he's grown because he has been changing so much!

Science experiments and swings

A wild and crazy New Year's Eve photo! :)

Our new coffee table, made by Andrew! He bought a live-edge slab of wood and then spent several evenings sanding it down and sealing it. It looks amazing in our living room, and we have so much more space to walk around!

more room to roll and scoot!

Shepherd and Andrew have the same "weekend wear": a tie-dye shirt and grey sweatpants. 😂

Shepherd has decided that our new coffee table legs are perfect for teething!

Ryder was happy to hammer open rocks to find hidden gems...thanks Steve & Ali!

using a kit to "build" a volcano

This was the kiddos' first time using plaster of paris. They couldn't get over how the gauze strips got sticky after being dipped in water and then hardened once they started to dry.

Once the volcano was completely dry, Harper took over the painting part.

She did a great job, but by the time she was finished there was paint everywhere!

I had the kids take the volcano outside when we were ready to make it erupt, and it was pretty anti-climactic. But they enjoyed the process of making it!

We got a little time-out from winter this past weekend when the temperatures reached the 50's and 60's for a few days. It was delightful! I had to return some books to the library on Friday, and on the way home I decided to stop at the park so Shepherd could swing at the playground for the first time. Once he got the hang of how to sit in the swing, he really enjoyed it! We went back to the park as a family on Sunday because the sun was shining, so he got to practice swinging again while Ryder and Harper did the monkey bars and played tetherball.

outside on Saturday in a hoodie...in January!

both front teeth are gone!

It wasn't really warm enough for shorts, but that didn't stop Harper or Ryder from wearing them!

Shepherd is on the move!

Just in the past couple of days Shepherd has mastered the "G.I. Joe" crawl. Ryder and Harper were playing with him in his room yesterday afternoon, and they turned on Alexa to hear a story. At the sound of the voice, he started scooting across the room to get to the Alexa device. Time to do some major child-proofing around here because he is fast!

Ryder: 108 months :)

Ha! In honor of Ryder's 9th birthday, I decided I would do a post similar to the ones I do monthly for Shepherd. After all, Ryder is the reason this blog even exists. I started it when I was newly pregnant with him and wanted to document every little detail, both for myself and for long-distance grandparents, family, and friends. Who knew that over 9 years, 2 more kiddos, some job changes, and a couple of moves later I would still be writing it? Life has been busy and full of surprises, that's for sure!

sporting his new Redskins hoodie from Grandma & Grandpa and his stocking cap from us

Ryder is still the sweet, sensitive, laid back little guy he has always been...he is just not so little anymore! I can't get over how much he has grown up since we moved here a year ago. He is thoughtful, kind, smart as a whip, and has such a fun personality and sense of humor. He has come out of his shell so much and isn't afraid to try new things, which I really admire. Football has truly become a passion of his, and I love to watch him get so excited about something he really enjoys. It has been a great bonding activity for him and Andrew; they love to go outside and toss the football to each other, chatting and laughing the entire time. Harper still loves playing with her big brother, and Ryder is great about spending time with her too. It helps that she loves to rough house with him, including tackling each other in the back yard. We gave him a football tackling dummy for his birthday, so maybe that will give Harper a break! 😜

coca-cola cake, of course!

Ryder likes:

football (playing it, watching it, reading about it), wrestling, playing outside, reading, math (he is learning his multiplication tables!) eating dessert :)

Ryder dislikes:

toting firewood up to the porch, going to bed if there is a football game on, not having dessert after dinner

The Christmas Season

December has flown by, so here is a recap of the entire month!

I really wanted to send out Christmas cards this year since I didn't do any last year because of the move. Andrew had the idea of putting the kiddos in Christmas color tie-dyes, made by him of course, and I thought it was a great idea! The weekend after Thanksgiving he tie-dyed the shirts, and Ryder and Harper did a few extras while all of the supplies were out. We had a huge snowstorm that same weekend, so between the tie-dyes and some snowy winter pictures, our Christmas card was finished!

Shepherd's shirt turned out the most vibrant, so we decided his organic cotton onesie absorbed more color than the big kids' shirts.

eating a Christmas book

Garcia's most recent trip to the groomer included a festive scarf and jingle bell. 

Pops and Grann flew in a couple of weeks before Christmas to spend a week with us. We were able to celebrate Christmas early, enjoy a snow/ice day, celebrate Andrew's birthday, and attend Ryder's holiday program at school. The cold was definitely a shock to their systems, and we spent most of our time sitting by the fire and being lazy.

Christmas #1

Shepherd was thrilled with the Rudolph gift bag and spent quite a while just gumming it.

a competitive game of NFL Game Day 

Andrew's annual birthday pose 😂

Pictionary game night! 

Harper and Grann snuggled in my bed one afternoon to watch a movie. I'm pretty sure the heating blanket was on too!

Garcia found a new friend. :)

Pops, Grann, Ryder and Harper spent an entire morning doing watercolor paintings...

...and Harper made the biggest mess!

The kids shopped for Andrew's birthday presents at their school holiday fair. Harper gave him a football-themed platter, and Ryder bought him a "Dad" keychain that has a little screwdriver set included.

Two of my flannel-clad boys at Ryder's holiday program

Ryder is in the front row in his red and black flannel!

Ryder and Harper's winter break officially started on Monday the 23rd, so we got busy baking some Christmas cookies! Harper helped me make candy cane cookies (her first time!) and both she and Ryder helped make my Grandma's sugar cookies. I even went the extra step and made some red and green frosting so they could decorate the cookies. It was a delicious mess!

Yum!!

Shepherd is into everything now...including my rug!

a Christmas Eve game of Monopoly

Shepherd loves grabbing Andrew's hat and trying to chew on the brim.

Christmas morning! Stockings and Santa bags were left by the coffee table, and the rest of the presents were under the tree.

Look at those sleepy little faces! They listened well and didn't come downstairs until 7am because I didn't want them to wake up Shepherd. 

Shepherd loves his new toys!

My mom got Andrew a pair of Ove Gloves to use with our cast iron pans and when he is grilling, and we both love them!

I'm so glad Andrew bought this foot massager. Shepherd loves it! 😍

It was a wonderful, relaxing Christmas, and we were so blessed to be able to spend time together as a family. For the second year in a row, we didn't go crazy with gifts; I really like keeping things simple and being able to appreciate what we do receive from each other. Now we are gearing up for Ryder's birthday and another new year! 😮