Favorite Teething Toy

Ryder has a new favorite teething toy:) He has all 8 of his front teeth and is now working on some a little further back. Anytime he finds a hanger that one of the kids has left on the floor, it goes STRAIGHT to the mouth.

Well, I'm off to replace the battery in my smoke detector so it will quite chirping at me and to tear apart my oven to see if I can tell if it is the baking element that is out...you can read more about that here.

Can this kid hold still?

NO....I don't think he can:) I can not seem to get a decent picture of Ryder lately. He is CONSTANTLY on the move!! I am photography challenge, SO that doesn't help. I think I need to adjust my shutter speed? Come on all of you camera masters...let me know the secrets:)

Ryder is beginning to conquer all kinds of fun new things...feeding himself(utensils optional), climbing and descending stairs, walking(only 2-3 steps at a time), and busting out lots of teeth:) He is keeping me running.

Sorry about the blurry images, but don't say I didn't warn you.(see paragraph one)

I am LOVING that my baby is finally learning the stairs. He is doing really well and I am not SO worried about him falling down them now.

The other night we had spaghetti for dinner. This is Ryder's way of entertaining his brothers during dinner. He just kept smashing his plate against his face and then trying to lick the spaghetti off the plate. The more they laughed, the more he did it and the more he laughed.

One of the biggest reasons it is SO hard to get a picture of him is...that he is ALWAYS trying to get the camera.

After the shower....

and ready for church....

Gotta love that face, even if it does have a constant drip from nose or mouth:)

Baby LOVES the Snail Shower

Ryder loves to crawl up into our shower. Yesterday Jake was showering before church and started yelling, "Mom, Ryder is crawling into the shower."

Ryder's jammies were soaked. Since Ryder hadn't taken his bath yet, I stripped him down and let him shower with Jake. He LOVED it!!

getting ready to crawl in

peek - a - boo

This IS as fun as I thought it would be:)

LittleTeeth

**PLEASE excuse the messy nose!! We are TEETHING and enduring the NEVER-ENDING winter cold

Ryder got his first tooth on New Year's Eve and the second tooth not too long after that(probably a week or two). I live little baby teeth. Now he is cutting FOUR teeth on the top. He(and we) are loving the teething thing. Makes for a cranky baby:)

MMM...This looks good!! Should I taste it?

Yes, I should!! Just because.... I LOVE to taste EVERYTHING!!

FYI...I promptly removed the eraser from his hand and mouth after taking these pictures. It sure made him happy to have it for the pictures. AND it sure made him MAD when I took it away.

We're in trouble...

This little guy is into EVERYTHING!! He has started trying to climb the stairs. He tries to climb into anything that is left on the floor. He climbs into cupboards. He has started opening drawers and then closing them with his fingers inside. He is standing up against things, but not quite sure how to get down and has the red marks on the face and head to show it.

I had forgotten how HARD it is to baby proof things where there are older brothers around. I am constantly finding him chewing on the kids homework that they leave on the floor. He usually has a nice piece torn off and is attempting to enjoying a meal full of fiber:)

His favorite place to crawl to is the bathroom. If he sees that the boys have left the door open, he heads there as fast as possible. When he sees me coming after him he goes full speed with a HUGE smile on his face!!

He turned 8 months old last week. I'll try to get a good picture of him today that shows off his new tooth.

Ryder 'tries' to crawl

Ryder will be crawling ....SOON!! It is SO fun watching him get up on his knees and 'try' to crawl. Sorry the video is so dark.

Santa Baby

My Santa baby!! All I want for Christmas is happy kiddos. ...and a few less fits from the three year old:) oh...and maybe a few more hours of sleep in a row from this little guy:)

6 Months

Ryder has been six months for a few days now. I can't believe it has already been six months!! It seems that times has gone by faster and faster with each baby!! I took him to the doctor a few days before he turned six months for a diaper rash(yeast infection) that he had and he weighed in at exactly 16 pounds. He goes in for his 'official' 6 month check-up this next Monday.