From three to two...

Ryder has never been a great napper by any means. For the last few months he takes three naps a day. One relatively long one (one hour or sometimes, if I were lucky, an hour and a half nap) in the morning and then two short ones in the afternoon: One half hour nap in the early afternoon and then another half hour or 45 min nap in the late afternoon. Well for the last week now, he has been skipping the last nap of the day. At first I thought I wouldn't like this, but he has started to convert to two longer naps instead. This is a good thing because I can actually get some stuff done around the house. And rather than stay up two hours in between naps like he used to do, he stays up three hours between naps now. He has a really good schedule working now (anyone who knows me, knows that I like this).



You probably don't care, but I'll write it out anyways! He wakes up around 630, but I get him out of his crib between 7 and 730. Then he goes back down for his nap around 930 to 10am. Then he sleeps for an hour and a half. then he goes back down again for another nap around 130 to 2pm. And then he sleeps for another hour and a half (or like today, an hour and 45 min!). Then he's to bed for the night by 7pm-715pm. Of course, I'm sure now that I have said this is his new "good schedule" he'll change it. But hopefully not!!


Anyways, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our families. I ate plenty...and then some. It wouldn't be a good Thanksgiving without overindulging, right?! Now on to my favorite holiday: CHRISTMAS!! The tree is up and I have about ten presents under the tree already wrapped..ha! This week's chore: get all of our Department 56 snow village up. So exciting! And of course as tradition follows, it is the third annual December Girls Get together at my house: cookie decorating and secret santa this Sunday!! I can't WAIT! Have a good week.

Here's a picture of little bubba in his Christmas pjs!

A bad Letter

Yesterday we got a letter in the mail from our Pediatrition Maggie. It was a letter to all her families saying she was going to leave the clinic to focus more on her own family. Is it sad that I seriously got a little misty-eyed?? I mean, yes I think it's wonderful she has the opportunity to be with her family, but in my own selfish way I am thinking..."hey, what about Ryder?! What about Joe and me!!???" haha. It is hard to find a good pediatrition, and Maggie was no exception. She had THE BEST bedside manner with not only Ryder, but Joe and me as well. She was so reassuring and comforting; a very important fact when it's your first child. She seriously reminded me of a grandma or something. I mean, she was probably only in her mid 50's so it wasn't like she was old but you know what I mean--she just had that sweet, caring grandma vibe from her. So now we have to start looking for a new pediatrition and I am not looking forward to that. The first pediatrition we had SUCKED. We did NOT like her at all. Anyways, the hunt is on now....Like I said, it was a bad letter to get in the mail.

Happy Thanksgiving to me x4

This year I have four, yes four, Thanksgivings to attend. Some may think this would get old, but I love love love holidays, more specifically family time combined with food. Could it get any better?? Friday was my first Thanksgiving feast, and it was with my girlfriends. You know, I love our little family and our day-to-day activities and I wouldnt trade it for the world--- But I will say that I really look forward to GNO..Girls Night Out...every month. It's the only time I typically get to see my girlfriends, so I relish it! We all draw names at the beginning of the year and each pick a month to plan one day of hanging out with the gals :) This month it was at Jenny's place. We did the whole meal: turkey, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, salad, and of course PIE! It was a great night filled with a LOT of laughing. I must have been one wild girl because I looked at the clock and didn't even realize it was 10:40 at night--wooooahhhh everyone!! Watch out, Carly is getting crazzzzzy!! By the time I got home and pumped and got into bed, it was 1130. Now some may say I'm now officially an old lady, but when your child wakes you up early early early...THAT IS late! haha.

Today was the second Thanksgiving feast with the Bartlett side. My grandparents came down from Alexandria and got to see Ryder, which was nice considering they only get to see him once every couple months or so. Again, good food, great company...perfect! Ryder even enjoyed a little of the food. He had a little red jello--he thought it was yummy. He also thought tiny bits of pie crust were the best thing he's ever had. You should have seen how excited he got waiting for the next taste :) He's his mama's son, that's for sure! Oddly enough, we finally found something Ryder didn't like to eat: mashed potatoes. Yes, I find that odd--you'd think he'd love them considering they are so simple. But he had one bite and then refused the rest. Ha, he always keeps you guessing.

Thursday we'll do Thanksgiving with the Johnson clan (my mom's side) and then we'll head up North Friday after I get off work in the morning (yuck) and do Thanksgiving with the Haskins. All in all, I would say I'm one lucky gal to have enough friends and family to have FOUR fantastic Thanksgiving meals ;)

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!

Physical therapy again..

If you didn't know, we are doing PT only once a month now and today was Ryder's November appointment. The problem with going to PT only once a month is that you don't think about going to the appointments as often and therefore don't think about doing the exercises as often...which in turn leads me to NOT DOING his PT exercises as home. Can you guess what happened at our appointment today?? Yep, his head tilt is a tiny bit worse. He was tired when we went, which typically means it is going to be worse anyways, but she said that she could tell when he was sitting and playing with stuff infront of him that it was worse than last time. DANG it!! Bad mommy :( Oh well. I guess that means the Physical Therapy Nazi is back, as Joe refers to me. If his head weren't so darn big, we would probably be okay. hahah. it's so much weight to hold up straight, can you blame a guy?

Anyways, I attached a couple pics below. The first one is of Ryder "brushing" his teeth (aka chewing on the brush) with the toothbrush that was given to him by Joe's lifelong dentist Dr. Yaeger. The second pic is a shot of Ryder's three teeth he has. they are spaced out and slightly crooked...good thing he's so cute, that way he can pull off his crazy-man teeth ;) hehe.

He looks kinda drunk in this picture...

While mommy is away...

Daddy and Ryder play!! I LOVE my boys...here is an adorable video Joe took of him and Ryder goofing around while I was sleeping after work the other day.

First snow

Only in Minnesota could Joe mow the lawn three days ago in shorts and a tshirt and then two days later, be freezing his butt off while shoveling the driveway. Even though it was pretty cold, we bundled Ryder up in his new snowsuit and hat and took him outside to watch dad shovel. I can tell it's going to be hard during the winter because Ryder LOVES being outside. He could be outside all day long if it were up to him...he just stares at everything and never makes a fuss about anything. But when we're inside, I swear he gets bored looking at the same toys and being in the same dumb living room all the time. We'll have to get creative I guess. Anyways, we snapped a picture of Ryder sitting in the snow for the first time. He loved it!

A little snuggle time with daddy...a great way to end the day :)

Something new every day

At seven months old (yes, SEVEN!!), Ryder learns or does something new almost every day, I swear! I will give a little update for you friends and family members who do not get to see Ryder regularly. Over the last month, he has started to shake toys. At first it was this slow up and down, up and down gross motor movement. Now he actually shakes toys fast when he knows that they make noise. It's really cute.

Also really cute?? When he turns toys over in his hands while examining them. He gets that big bottom lip that I call his "thinking lip" puckered out...stares hard at the toy and turns it over and over in his hands looking at all sides of it. :)

What else...oh, he basically sits up on his own now. The only time he takes a tumble is when he looks up at something. He doesnt quite get the concept of looking up with just his neck/head...he looks up using his whole body, which is why he tumbles backwards!

If he wasn't such a chub, my guess is he would be crawling really soon. He constantly wants to move and get things out of his reach, but since he can't move...he just gets mad and squirms a ton. It makes him sooo mad...I laugh because it's funny when he tries to throw his body in the direction of something, but at the same time kinda feel bad for him because he gets so frustrated!!

Something that happened just tonight finally that clicked for him is the concept of picking food up and feeding himself. I have tried every couple days over the last few weeks to get him to learn this skill, or at least get the idea of it down. I put these "melt away" yogurt bites that melt really quickly in the mouth on his tray. At first he just flung them all over and pushed them around the tray without putting them in his mouth. I thought this was really weird considering he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, but then when I put food infront of him...he didn't. So I waited. I tried a few other times, and he did the same thing...and when I would put a small piece in his mouth to show him it was food, he would push it immediately to the back of his throat without chewing and he would cough and choke. Okay, still not ready. Then yesterday I tried it again and he finally figured out how to pick up the small pieces in his hand, but he couldn't get the skill of transferring it from his hand to his mouth. I wanted to show Joe tonight what I was "working" on with him, and he actually put a bunch in his mouth...AND chewed too! It was really cute. I could tell he was kinda pumped about it.

Crazy how time flies huh??

Ryder's 6 month photos

I know many of you have seen Ryder's 6 month pictures on Facebook, but for those of my family members who have not...Auntie Anna/Grandparents....here are a few!

I am seriously insane....

.....over Christmas shopping! I know, I know...some might say, "it's freaking November 3rd--why are you Christmas shopping already??" My answer to them is that I absolutely love love love Christmas shopping for other people and I can never start too early. I get so excited thinking of a super great present for someone. And I seriously pride myself on finding and buying something that someone I care about will truly love to get. I can officially cross two people off of my Christmas "to do" list as of today: my father-in-law, Paul and my sister-in-law, Amy Grace! I also bought two other gifts as well!! Joe thinks I'm crazy and just shakes his head. He thinks we should get through Thanksgiving first. But for me, the second Halloween is over, it's fair game. And as for over-shadowing Thanksgiving, I dont see it as that. I think Thanksgiving just gets me even more excited for Christmas when you're with family and it's cozy warm inside the house while you're nice and fat from all the food....

Anyways, happy shopping everyone!!!

Jumperoo

A few months ago we bought Ryder a "Jumperoo". He fits in it much better than he did when we first got it, so we can actually use it a lot more now. Not only does Ryder love it, but we love it too. Especially now that it is getting colder outside and we can't spend as much time outdoors (which Ryder LOVES). It gives us something "new" to do when playing on the floor or sitting on the couch/in the bumbo or walking around the house gets old. Now he can sit in the Jumperoo and bounce, kick, play, scream, and of course: laugh at Daddy!

And please ignore my bad video recording skills. I'm working on them....

Nick was in town!

This past weekend the three of us headed up North to the Haskins' cabin. Joe's mom's cousin, Nick and his roommate Jon, came in from California to do some hunting with the Haskins boys. It was a perfect weekend with great weather. We bundled up Ryder and were able to take him outside a couple of times. As always, it was really great seeing Nick---and he will be back up to MN over Thanksgiving as well! Here are some pictures from the weekend below.

Mommy and Ryder gearing up to go outside and put up Christmas lights

Nick and Ryder finally get to meet!

Ryder in his snowman hat!! So cute.

Ryder in a coon-skin hat--it was Uncle Logan's from when he was a little kid.