My First Mother's Day

I'm so lucky to be the Mommy of such an amazing, sweet, well-behaved (so far) little boy!

7 Months

Height: ~28 inches (81th percentile)
Weight: 20 pounds 6 ounces (80th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.3 inches (94th percentile)
Milestones: Ryan wants soooo badly to be mobile, but he isn't quite there yet. He can go from his sitting position to belly and will occasionally get on all fours and rock for a second, but for the most part when he's on his tummy it still touches the floor. He's got the concept of pushing up off the ground with his arms, and with his legs....just not at the same time. So many times he'll get frustrated because he head-plants on the floor and sticks his butt in the air and that just doesn't get him anywhere. He rolls alll over the place and grabs everything his little hands can find. It's particularly troublesome when you're trying to diaper or dress him and he flips over and starts lunging for whatever object he has his eye on. He also loves to stand and can do so holding on to an object or our hands, and he tries to pull up but hasn't figured out how to get his butt off the ground yet. He now drinks solely from a sippy cup, has his two bottom teeth, and can pick up food with the "pincer grasp" using his finger and thumb. He is fascinated with the outdoors so we go on walks often. I've noticed that he follows objects beyond his field of vision. Today a bird flew overhead and he turned his head and followed it until it was out of sight. He watched our neighbor going back and forth cutting grass and gave him a big grin. (Previously once anything left his field of vision it was just completely gone to him) And he looks for sounds, too! This evening it was thundering and he kept looking up at the sky trying to figure out what he was hearing. Separation anxiety is setting in. The other day i was talking to him while he was in the jumperoo and walked out of the room to go grab something and he started bawling even though Jake was sitting right there with him! (Ok that one made me feel a little loved, but i'm sure it will get old ) :P
Favorites: Puffs! Grabbing anything and everything in sight, blowing raspberries, going for walks
Sounds: Dadadada is his usual response to any question you ask him. He babbles all the time and loves to "scream", which is where he screams but very little sound comes out. It's quite funny to watch, and i'm thankful it's not the loud version. I told him to keep practicing the silent scream for his temper tantrum phase.
Foods: He's starting to get more picky and will definitely let you know when he's had enough. Either his lips clamp shut and he turns his head, or he blows raspberries with a mouth full of food and you end up with it all over your face. The he laughs at you.
Hours I Let Mommy Sleep: He still rolls all over his crib, but usually it doesn't wake him up anymore. Most of the time when he does wake up he finds his pacifier, plops it back in his mouth and goes right back to sleep. Lately we've been having a few issues with waking during the night and not napping long enough so we're fiddling with his sleep schedule and trying an earlier bedtime. I hope it works out so that i can still see him a few minutes before bed on the days i have to work 'til 6.
Other News: Ryan is generally a very happy and pleasant baby, but i can already see his stubborn side peeking through. He gets pretty mad if he doesn't get what he wants. We're way behind on baby-proofing because Ryan can already roll, scoot, and push himself all over the place and he is now getting up on his hands and knees for brief periods so i think crawling is in our near future. I'm also at a loss of what to give him now that he can eat finger foods. I'm too scared to give him anything because i'm scared he won't chew it and will choke. So far he's had the puffs, yogurt melts, watermelon in a mesh feeding bag, and cheerios. I cooked some carrots yesterday and tried to cut them in itty bitty teeny-tiny pieces but they were hard for him to pick up and to chew because he ended up chewing and then spitting the majority of them back out. Any suggestions for just-starting-out finger foods?

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone enjoys this very beautiful Easter weekend. I, of course, couldn't resist dressing up Ryan in furry green bunny ears and doing a little photo shoot for his first Easter.

I'm Going To Miss This

Sometimes i just can't believe how fast my little Peanut is growing up. So many things are changing on a daily basis now. And there are times that i'm tired or frustrated or stir crazy, but then i think "I'm going to miss this." If you had told me when Ryan was a newborn that i would ever, EVER miss a time when i was constantly exhausted, unable to sleep, getting up every hour or two to try to comfort a crying baby that couldn't convey which of a multitude of things could possibly be wrong...i would have called you crazy. But now i miss it terribly. That crying newborn would love nothing more than for me to cradle him in my arms and snuggle him close. But now that newborn is a "big boy" and when i try to cradle him like i did only 6 months ago he wriggles and squirms and tries his hardest to sit up and look around. He has a whole world to explore, and no time for his mommy to hold him.

So when i come home from work: exhausted, hungry, and my feet hurting so bad i just wish they'd fall off already, those are the times that i just wish i could lie down and veg out in front of the TV. But then i scoop up my little munchkin and take him to play in the bathtub. As i watch him stick his little ducky in his mouth and make cute faces and then i wrap him in a soft towel and play peek-a-boo, suddenly my feet hurt a little less and i remember "I'm going to miss this" There will come a day in the very near future where Ryan will not want to be cuddled in a towel to play peek-a-boo. He won't want to lie with me in bed reading book after book before bedtime. He won't want to make silly faces and laugh at every silly thing i do to get his attention. He won't even be sobbing little baby tears because his very first teeth are coming in and they ache. For all these things i remind myself "I'm going to miss this."

So if you happen to stop by around bedtime and i have to make you wait until the baby is asleep, there's a small but very important reason. I'M GOING TO MISS THIS. Bedtime is the only time that i can still snuggle my baby close and rock him and he just stares at me with those beautiful little blue eyes. There's no wriggling or squirming (well not for long anyway) or crying or talking. Just me and my baby enjoying the day we had together. I don't care if it's better to put him down "sleepy but awake" so that he'll learn to go to sleep on his own. I will rock my baby until he won't let me rock him anymore because i'm going to miss this and it will be much too soon.

Not only is Ryan cutting his first two teeth (at the same time), but today he also sat in a highchair at a restaurant for the very first time and he has suddenly decided that he no longer needs a bottle...he's a big boy and big boys apparently use sippy cups. This has taken me by complete surprise as i was not expecting him to wean from the bottle anytime soon. And of course, big boys don't need mommy to help them with their sippy cups because they can do it all by themselves. I'm so very much going to miss this.

Happy Half-Birthday Peanut!

Height: 27.5 inches (84th percentile)
Weight: 19 pounds 7 ounces (81th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.0 inches (93th percentile)
Milestones: So much has changed in just a month! Ryan can now sit up all on his own, unsupported and without using his arms to balance himself. He leans over to grab things and is able to sit back upright and play with things and stick things in his mouth while sitting. He can now roll tummy-to-back AND back-to-tummy, which means he's basically a little rolling monster. He has suddenly learned he can roll around all over his crib and has scared the crap out of me the past couple of mornings when i woke up to find him face-down in the bed, not moving, only to have me rush in there to see...he's just sleeping peacefully. Little arms and legs get stuck out of the crib constantly and he uses the slats to push and pull himself all around the crib. He can also find and replace his own pacifier pretty well, so that's nice. He can stand by himself when holding on to something, but you have to be right next to him because he will eventually let go or fall backwards.
Favorites: Stealing peoples glasses, iPhones, computers, basically anything that he sees us using. I tried giving him an old computer keyboard to play with but he wanted nothing to do with it...he only wants to use *our* keyboards with the pretty glowing screens that make noises. He still loves his feet and tries to suck on his chubby little toes.
Sounds: He wants sooooo badly to talk! Now he will watch our mouths as we talk to him and then his little mouth will open and shut and open and shut (it looks like a little ventriloquist dummy!) and sometimes he will be silent like he wants to say something and mouths it but can't quite get it out, or other times he'll squeal or say "yayayaya" "dadadada" "gagagaga". Current nicknames (and the reason he probably has no idea what his real name is): Monkey, Munchkin, Peanut, Munchy-kin, Monkey-doodle
Foods: He hasn't found a baby food he doesn't like and will basically eat anything you stick in his mouth...IF he's in the mood. If he's not hungry and you try to feed him he just spits it out all over the place and gives you a huge grin. I try really hard not to laugh, but it's quite cute.
Hours I Let Mommy Sleep: Ryan was such an awesome sleeper until about a week ago. Then he discovered that all that rolling he was doing on his playmat in the daytime could ALSO be done in the crib. So now he's sleeping on his side or stomach sometimes (which scares me) and little hands and feet are often poking out of the crib. Hopefully it's a phase and will end soon!
Other News: We had so much fun this past weekend because it was finally gorgeous and sunny! We met Ally and Lucas at the park one day and Ryan borrowed Lucas' sunglasses and shoes. Ryan thinks he looks sooooo cool in those glasses and is very proud of himself. We also practiced walking in the walker in our driveway. The thing that got him to move? Jake's iPhone.
 At the doctor's office today for his 6 month checkup, Ryan was a little flirt. He smiled and talked to all the nurses and the doctor. He absolutely loved the exam-table paper. He crinkled and crunched and tore and waved it around. Then when the doctor was trying to examine him he: stole the doctor's glasses, tried to use his laptop, and when both of those failed he snatched the stethoscope dangling from his neck and chewed on it. And he was all smiles and giggles for the nurse. The first vaccine she gave him was RSV. It's a liquid that apparently tastes yummy because she put it in a little bottle thing and when he drank it all and she tried to take it out of his mouth he snatched it with both hands and wouldn't let go. He wanted more! And he was soooo happy...until the nurse then smiled at him and jabbed him with a needle in each leg. He cried soooo pitifully for about 30 seconds, it was so sad to watch. But then he was fine...maybe a little quiet, tired, and distrusting, but his world was still intact.

P.S. I realize i'm obsessed with my baby and take way too many pictures. I attribute it to my self-diagnosed OCD, so there's just really nothing i can do about it. Sorry! :)