Happy Halloween!

For Ryder's first Halloween, he was the cutest lion cub around! After being up North over the weekend, we stopped by my parent's house so they could see him in all his lion glory. It was nice that Ryder's great grandparents and some cousins could be there to see him too, as well as his Uncle Dave :) How could you NOT think this is cute?!?

He likes it....

Oh, he really likes it!....

Okay, time to take it off...haha
(yes, his face is absolutely SMASHED in this thing....)

Teething DOES suck!

Everyone always says that teething is the worst thing in the world and it sucks so bad, blah blah blah. Well, I was fairly excited last week when Ryder broke his first tooth with barely any fussiness. I thought, "woo hoo, I have one of those freak children that you don't even know they're teething and one day you look in their mouth and they have a tooth!"

Apparently I was wrong! Ryder's second bottom tooth is almost through the surface, but not quite yet. Joe and I can definitely tell he's being bothered by it because he's been more fussy than usual the last few days. But the most noticable difference in him is his sleeping. Last night he was up every hour to an hour and a half! It was like we were back to the first couple weeks after he was born. I didn't have to go into his room every single time he woke up, but I would say about five times I had to go into his room last night. I knew it was teething because his little cheeks were flame red and whenever he woke up he cried (which he normally doesn't do), and it was a pain cry. Poor buddy! I really hope that tooth breaks through soon so that he can have some relief. Tylenol seems to help a little, but not much! Oh, and the poops are fun too....they say that teething does not give kids runny poop, but I swear all that extra drooling does because Ryder has had some fantastic blow outs and gross poos lately. All of you really wanted to know that, didn't you?!?! Well I work tonight, so let's hope that he does better tonight for Joe since Joe has to work tomorrow too....

Go Vikes!

Not long after Ryder was born, Joe ordered him a Favre jersey. He finally fits in it! He had it on all day, along with his game face :) Go Vikes!!

Already rockin` a beer gut...

This weekend went all too fast, as usual. Friday evening, Amanda and Jayna came over to see Ryder and me. It was a much needed girls only time (plus Ryder). We headed over to Waconia to the Mocha Monkey and got some gelatto before coming back to our house to get Ryder ready for bed. I'm pretty sure Amanda and Jayna were pseudo-papparazzi since they took so many pictures during feeding and bath time! I don't blame them; he's so cute! As you can see, he enjoyed all the attention from the ladies:

Amanda and Ryder (they didn't even plan to match either!)

Jayna and Ryder

Saturday was the wedding of family friends Chris Petersen and Alissa Lindell. It was definitely a very good time! My parents watched Ryder, so we knew he was in good hands and we were able to have fun. If you can believe it--Joe, Logan, Amy Grace, and I danced for quite some time too. And no, that wasn't a typo: Joe's name was supposed to be in that group of names. I am pretty sure it was the longest time I have ever had Joe on the dance floor. I must say, he was actually pretty decent out there AND I could tell he was having fun too ;)

Today was the perfect lazy Sunday: crappy, rainy weather combined with some good family hang out time along with some football....it just doesn't get much better than that. I LOVE lazy family days!! Back to the reality of Monday...boo reality. I hope this week goes fast. This weekend we are heading up North to the Haskins' cabin and it is also Ryder's first Halloween. He's going to be a lion!!! Stay tuned for pictures.

First tooth!

I swear for the past few months that Ryder has been teething. And last week I noticed two pronounced bumps on his bottom gums. And then this morning his cheeks were especially red and hot and he just acted very disinterested in almost all activities. Not fussy, but just not as happy as usual. Well this afternoon we figured out why: he finally cut through his very first tooth! It's his bottom right tooth and we can tell that his bottom front left tooth is not far behind. Poor buddy! He didn't even really act that upset over it--what a good boy :)

I actually got kinda sad....he's growing up so fast! He can sit up on his own for longer periods of time. Only with fast movements does he take a tumble now. Also, he has learned that if he shakes toys, they make noise. It's so cute, he does this really slow up and down arm movement with toys in his hand and gets excited when they make noise. Oh, and one other thing that has progressed is his eating of baby food. Before he wouldn't eat more than two bites before rejecting all baby food from the jar. He HAD to have it mixed with rice cereal to eat it. Not anymore! Now he eats everything (I think he's storing it all in his cheeks....). I also slipped him a few teeny crumbs of banana bread yesterday and he was going nuts he loved it so much! I'm sure that's not the appropriate thing to be feeding him, but whatever.

Anyways, well back to work tonight. This whole work thing is over-rated.

PT

Today Ryder went back to physical therapy after not going for 6 weeks. I totally thought that he was a little worse, because whenever he sits and leans forward--he has a tilt. See the picture below as an example of how his head tilts to his right (it's of Finn Starkey and Ryder at a play date a few weeks ago).

It might look a little worse than it actually does because of the camera angle being slightly off-centered, but it's a fairly good example of his head tilt. Anyways, when we went to PT today, Nancy (the therapist) said that when he's sitting and looking straight ahead, he has NO head tilt at all!!! He started at a 17 degree head tilt at two months old, and six weeks ago at his last appointment his head tilt when sitting and looking straight ahead was 6 degrees. So Joe and I are really pumped about that. Nancy said that once he started playing and leaning forward that he had a slight head tilt (it's definitely even better than a few weeks ago when that picture was taken above), but she's not too worried about that. She thinks it will correct as he gets better at sitting on his own.

I did mention to her that I was concerned that he wasn't pushing himself up onto straight locked arms yet when he is on his tummy. Nancy replied to this by saying, "well, he's got a LOT of weight to hold up. He doesn't do it because it's too hard!" She said he eventually will but since he's such a big guy, he has a lot of weight to put on those little shoulders to hold himself up. She said not to worry, which is reassuring.

On a side note, Ryder took a TWO HOUR nap this morning. Now some of you might not think that's a big deal, but I do because he has never taken a two hour nap before. Ever. Ryder is a 3 nap a day kinda guy, with one long nap about 1.5 hours and the other two naps are somewhere between 30-50 minutes. Today he had two naps: one 2 hours and the other 1 hour. I hope he likes that better and will cut out the third nap and just take two longer naps. I would LOVE that so much more. I realized how much you can get done in 2 hours!! 2 hours is a loooong time for a mom :)

Ryder's 6 month appointment

Today we had Ryder's 6 month appointment with our favorite pediatrition in the whole wide world, Maggie. She is seriously awesome. If you don't like your pediatrition, go to the Spring Park location of Wayzata Children's Clinic and see Maggie. She's so reassuring, calm, knowledgable, and sweet. She makes Joe and me feel very comfortable.

So, for Ryder's stats:
At four months, Ryder weighed 16.2lbs and was at the 70th percentile. At six months, Ryder weighs 20 POUNDS and is at the 90th percentile! At four months, Ryder was 25 and 1/4 inches and was at the 65th percentile. At six months, Ryder is 27 inches and at the 70th percentile for height. His head is currently at the 80th percentile. Our pediatrition was wondering where the line backer came from..haha. He's a big boy!!! We did talk to Joe's mom though, and she said that Joe was 20lbs too at six months and then at his one year appt, he was STILL 20lbs because he started moving and grooving. So I'm guessing Ryder will start thinning out over the next few months as he starts moving around as well. (Maybe??)

Otherwise, she said he looked really healthy and really ridiculously handome (I agree!). We're going to restart physical therapy for him too. His next appt is this thursday. I'm somewhat worried because I feel like his head tilt has gotten a little worse since he's been doing more (supported) sitting and he's upright more too, which is a lot of strain on those little neck muscles. We'll see what they say on Thursday, I guess.

What else...oh, so it's not like I have any other babies to compare Ryder to as far as development. Ryder screetches and makes sounds here and there, but it's not like he's babbling and cooing all the time or making "razzing" sounds like most babies do at 6 months. Maggie said he's a quiet little guy. Also, most babies at this time are pushing their upper body up with straight arms when they are on their tummy, which Ryder doesn't really do yet either. So I hope he starts yapping soon and pushing himself up! I mean, I know all babies develop at different rates...so I shouldn't get worried. But if you know me, I like things to happen when they're supposed to and on time... I guess Ryder has his own schedule and is giving Mom's plan the big old middle finger!! That's alright though ;)

Cry baby

Before I had Ryder, if I ever heard a sad story about a baby I would feel sad and say, "oh that's horrible" but then move on and not think about it again. Now that I have Ryder and have experienced the way you love a child, I cry over every single sad story about a baby. Even stories that are neccessarily that sad. And on top of that, I can't get my mind off of the stories either.

First example, tonight I was reading my friend Camille's blog: The Style Handler. She had a cool posting of jewelry that has Braille on it that was created by a family to raise awareness of the need for more blind people to have the skill of reading braille. As I read her blog, I learned that the woman who designs the jewelry line started it after her 2 month old was discovered to be blind at his well baby 2 month check up. Yes, most people would agree that that is very sad. But I started thinking about that poor baby who was living in darkness for the first two months of his life and no one knew. I'm not sure what knowing would have done (maybe the parents could have talked to him more/describe things more, I have NO clue!!), but I just kept thinking about this poor baby who was in the dark...I sound like a crazy woman, but I can't stop crying thinking of that poor defenseless blind baby. In fact, Joe probably thinks I'm crazy when I'm sitting here updating my blog while intermittently crying!!

Other random examples lately: hearing about a TWELVE year old girl that my friend Amanda councils at a junior high who is pregnant--and keeping the baby. Did I mention her mom isn't around to help?? That baby has NO chance. It's not the baby's fault, and I think about how sad it is for that baby to not have the same love and support that Ryder does. Another one I heard from the photographer that did Ryder's newborn photos, and recently his 6 month photos. A client of hers had a baby die of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) at age 5 months. Let's just say that this past week if Ryder sleeps even five minutes longer than he normally does for a nap, I'm running up the stairs to check on him to make sure he's breathing. Again, I'm crazy. And I'm sure some of you remember the story on the news recently where I man drowned his 6 month old baby in a wash basin....

I know this is an incredibly depressing blog posting, but I just want to know if I'm the only mom out there who reacts so emotionally to hearing sad stories about babies!?? Because I'd like it to stop. I think Joe would as well. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm sitting around 24/7 sobbing and searching for sad stories on the internet to cry over, but when I do hear one it really gets me for a little while. Maybe that just shows how much I love my little Ryder and would do anything for him. Or maybe I'm an overly emotional hormonal looney. HA!

Apple Jack's Orchard

Today we met my parents at Apple Jack's Orchard in Delano. It was so incredibly nice (in fact, we were sweating it was so warm)--we couldn't believe it was October! Apparently I'm still learning and had a brain-fart mom moment because I forgot a stroller!! So we had to carry that chub-monster around! haha. I'm a dummy.

There were a lot of things to do and see: turkeys, goats, chickens etc. There were pony rides, hay rides, little train rides for the kiddies. There was a live band, face painting, food, pumpkin patches to pick pumpkins, and of course there were lots of yummy apple desserts!! Ryder was too young to really enjoy this, but he had lots to look at and examine. We decided that we'll have to make it a tradition to go there every year. I'm sure Ryder will love it next year (and each year to come).

My parents with Ryder under an apple tree

My lil punkin leaning up against some pumpkins

(and yes, he has a muffin top over his diaper...)

Family photo!

Flash Me Friday: your staples in your pantry

This week's Flash Me Friday is all about staples in your pantry/cupboards. If you want to participate, head on over to Jen's blog for details!

Rice cereal is a MUST in our house. Ryder loves his cereal! In fact, he won't eat regular baby food without having it mixed with cereal. He literally takes one bit, makes a face. Takes a second bit to see if maybe he was mistaken by that intense flavor. Then by the time we try to shove a third bite in his mouth of just baby food from the jar, he refuses to open his mouth. Stinker pants!!

This shows our messy, disorganized pantry. Staples you can see:

bottled water--we are non-environmentally friendly and go through excessive amounts of bottled water (well, mostly joe does).

Cheez-its---a family sized box is always in the cupboard.

Frosted Mini Wheats are always in the cupboard (need help going to the bathroom? These help!)

And peanut butter. Joe and I go through a big tub of PB every few weeks. It's a big problem of mine. My name is Carly and I'm addicted to Peanut Butter....

Enjoy this gorgeous weather and have a good weekend!!

Happy 6 month birthday, Ryder!!

Tomorrow is October 7...which means....my baby is SIX MONTHS already!! Where does time go?? Seriously!? It's funny, I used to think that I was totally a newborn person---that I would love the newborn phase the most-how small and cuddly and sleepy they are. But then I had a baby and found out that the newborn stage is just: eehh. That's all, just so so. I am pretty sure that right now is the BEST time with Ryder yet. He is still imobile so there is no chasing him around yet, but has a fantastically fun personality. He's giggly, chubby, kissable, and his little personality is really showing.

Today we had Ryder's 6 month professional photo session with the same lady who did his newborn photos when he was just 7 days old. Unfortunately we had to wake him up from his nap early to get him to the session on time, so he was still a bit sleepy. He wasn't cranky or fussy, but he just wasn't as smiley as he normally is. I think also since Paula (the photographer) was new to him, he just was staring at her. No smiles. No frowns. Just staring. haha. It was funny. I think he cracked a few smiles off here and there and she might have gotten some. Fortunately he's cute even when he doesn't smile, so we're good. As soon as we have the pictures back, 2 weeks she said, I'll post them! Also, Ryder's 6 month doctors appt is next Tuesday. Stay tuned for an update with that. How chubby could he possibly be?? At his 4 month appt he was 16.2lbs. I'm guessing he's 18lbs or so?? No clue, we'll see though.

Go TWINS!!! Beat those yanks!

Bouncing around in his new "jumperoo"

Check out that fuzzy hair coming in finally on top of his head!!

Grandma Sharol took Ryder to the park. He LOVES the swing. And he has a large face, too.

Happy Anniversary

Two years ago from tomorrow was one of the best days of my life: our wedding! (the only other day that can compare is the day Ryder was born). It's funny, I was telling Joe the other day that I feel like we have been married way longer than two years (haha, I know that sounds bad) But I didn't mean it in a bad way. I think there are two reasons why I feel like that. 1) this winter we have been together for 7 years (wow) and 2) SOOOO much has happened in those first two years of our married life. It's funny, it's almost like it's seemed super fast and long at the same time...does that make sense?? Like, time has just flown by but at the same time it seems like a long time ago when I think about specific events. Nevermind, hard to explain.

Anyways, for our anniversary we went to Fitger's Inn in Duluth. We dropped off Ryder at my parents house (they couldn't have been more excited if they tried, I swear) and we headed up North. It was a gorgeous drive-the leaves were sooo beautiful. We had a really good time in Duluth. The weather was PERFECT, the food was great (room service for breakfast!! My first time!!), and the company better. I couldn't think of a better way to spend some quality R&R time with my love! You know, I don't want to brag (but I'm going to anyways...hahah) but I really honestly think that Joe and I have the best possible relationship. (bold statement, I know). I feel so lucky to have knocked it out of the park with Joe. He's supportive of me, he understands me (often better than I know myself, I swear!), he is so incredible as a father and a husband, he's affectionate, loyal/trustworthy, laid back and easy going (love that!). He makes me feel good about myself, he makes me feel like an equal partner in our relationship, and he's obedient (Just kidding, I threw that last one in there to make sure you were paying attention). Relationships take work and I feel like Joe works just as hard as I do to make our relationship stronger and better all the time. He makes it easy to love him and love our little family life together. I can't wait to see what the next year, ten years, and even FIFTY years bring for us!

This is us on the way home from dinner

A view from our hotel room window
Joe eating breakfast in our hotel room in the morning sun.

Happy Anniversary Babe!! (and happy anniversary to our friends Eric and Teri, 10/3/2009!)

Flash Me Friday: Fall decor

This week is simple: Flash your fall decor.....the reason it's simple?? I have none. haha. Not even a pumpkin yet or anything :( I typically only decorate for the Christmas season, but not usually any other holidays. I'm sure as Ryder gets older, I will definitely be decorating more because he'll love it. But for now....I probably won't!

I'm really excited because tomorrow morning Joe and I are going up to Duluth for our 2 year anniversary, which is on Monday. We are staying at Fitger's Inn. I'm excited because we can SLEEP/EAT do whatever we want all saturday and most of sunday without having to schedule around Ryder, wake up with Ryder etc. BUT it's mixed emotions because it's our first time where both Joe and I are gone from him over night. My parents are watching him and couldn't be more excited. I know it will be good for not only Joe and myself, but also Ryder. Have a great weekend everyone!!