Burn Baby Burn

Daniel & I have been eyeing one of those little fire pit things for the backyard since we moved in a year ago. (Not the chiminea things, the pit-bowl thingies.) Well, we waited all summer (not that we would have wanted to set anything on fire nor would we have wanted to sit anywhere near a fire in this TX heat!) but finally they went on clearance at target, so we got one a couple weeks ago. Tonight it was slightly cooler outside, Ryder was sound asleep (at 7:45!!!) and about 10pm Daniel went out and put some branches and such in the fire pit, got it started and I went out to sit by it. The flame seemed a little big & smokey to be in the yard and I noticed the older couple next door to us had their kitchen light on and were probably looking, wondering what was burning in our yard. (I mention these things to Daniel with a hint of worry.) A couple minutes later I heard some sirens a ways off. I joked they were coming to put out the fire...a couple minutes pass...still sirens, getting closer... I joke again to Daniel, maybe our neighbors had called the fire dept (thinking, "oh no, what if they really had?!?") The sirens continued, and suddenly Daniel JUMPS up runs and grabs the hose and says, "Turn the water on!!" He sprays the fire out... and the sirens fade away... HA!!!! I laughed so hard I snorted!!! OH... it was perfect.

Our first, very short-lived fire of the fall :)

Ryder & Ella go to the park!

Ella (one of our friends Todd & Dana's daughters) came over for a little while today and we took Ryder on his first trip to the park (well, the first trip he could really participate in anyway)! He loves going outside and on walks. He just did the swing, but he loved it.

I showed Ella how to take a picture...

Just hanging out in the swings.

In the past week...

So I've had a few "complaints" on the lack of blogs in the past week... sorry! Things have been a little busy, but I have been snapping pictures of life in general as normal. Ryder is (hopefully) over the ear infection and seems to be pretty much back to normal. Last weekend I decided to to take him on a quick trip to Dallas to see the the grand-rents! It was a good little visit and he was spoiled as usual. I didn't take too many pics of the weekend. We did go to Northpark for lunch on Sunday and Poppi took him out to the fountain. (Same fountain I used to stare at & throw pennies in when I was little.) He was really interested.



Lunch with Mimi on Monday

** OK - so I just HAD to add this pic Daniel's mom sent me this week: While I was having coffee with the girls Ryder was taking a little nap on Grandpa...


Seems like there have been lots of changes in the past week (maybe because we're approaching the 6 month mark)! We've been doing better with food and have been having bananas & cereal for breakfast... he gets excited, hits the table & goes "mmm...mmm!"

(notice the tiny little mohawk? we're getting there!)
But the biggest change is his mobility. Last week while he was still a little sick and having trouble breathing he was napping in our bedroom in his carrier in the floor, I heard something and walked in to this:

Yep! He's wiggled his way out of it onto the floor! And the scooting and multiple rolling across the floor is hilarious. There's really no "crawling" yet, although he's very close, he manages to move all around the room...

And my favorite - yesterday while I was putting away laundry in his room I laid him on a blanket in the floor. He kept rolling around and I kept moving him back to center. Well, a few minutes later I look down and see this... yes he's under his crib! Ha! :)

So that's what's been going on with us in the past week!

update on the update!

Well, I need to do a little update from last night's blog...

Last night Ryder's congestion seemed to be getting worse.  He kept waking up and when Daniel got up this morning he was coughing.  As soon as he brought him in to me I said, "I think I'm gonna take him to the Dr today."  Well, I did and poor thing has an ear infection.  :(  I knew this day would come, but kinda hoped we'd make it to 6 months before it did.  Oh well, we've been very blessed with a healthy baby and I know he'll be fine!  They said we caught it early and it's not too bad yet.  The funny thing was at the Dr's office he was not acting sick at all.  While the cute pregnant nurse listening to his heartbeat he was patting he belly and grabbing the stethoscope and smiling at her!  The dr said, "Well, he sure is in good spirits!"  As I guessed he spit the whole first dose of the bubble gum antibiotic right back out at me and then grinned real big.  (I guess that's pay back, huh Daddy?)  My dad warned me that's what he would do just as I did long ago! :)  

On another note, Erin called today and wanted to know what happened to us in hurricane IKE (or IKEA as I have called it) and said I didn't blog a/b it.  Well, that's because there was nothing to blog about.  We did not get even one drop of rain from that thing that wreaked havoc 2 hours away!  I mean, I am not complaining, we did not want the storm (unlike my weird friend Amanda, who DREAMS of one day being in a hurricane)!  But we did hope it would at the very least water our yard a bit.  Nope... we're just gonna dry up and blow away.  

Ok, it's very late and I've been up way too long since I got home from starbucks and need to go to bed now.  Hopefully I will not be awakened here in a few minutes by little precious!

Weekend update

This has been a pretty busy week (thus the lack of blogs). Not so much busy with fun things... just life. Ryder has had a runny nose for the first time and doesn't really know what to think about it. He's woken up screaming in the night several times a night for the past week because he had to choose between his paci or breathing! But, with a new humidifier (that looks like a frog!) and some nasal spray we're making it and hoping that's all it is. I've also had Sibley a couple days this week (see below). And I sang at our womens' conference at church this weekend which was really great and then normal services this morning, so this afternoon I came home and crashed. This is how life has looked the past couple weeks...

Ryder "helping" daddy make pancakes.


Experimenting with food. We've starting adding bananas this week!

Meet Sibley. I've been keeping her lately a couple days a week. She is 7 wks old. This is a rare moment (both sleeping)!!

Ryder checking her out...

Ryder is not crawling yet, but some how manages to "scoot" across the floor when I'm not looking. I put him down vertically at the top of this blanket, walked away for a couple minutes and came back to this... I have no idea how he gets there.

This was tonight after bathtime. Ryder and I were having a little story time (plus rocky there at my feet) and Daddy decided to sneak in and take some pictures.

5 Months!

Little Ryder is 5 months old today! Another month & another load of changes! He's growing like a weed (growing out of clothes which is sad), he's rolling around, "swimming" on the floor (wondering why he's not going anywhere), sleeping on his tummy (he always turns that way no matter what I do!), getting a little more hair, sleeping for long nights (PTL!), reaching for us, grabbing everything (my food, my drink, my hair, rocky, etc...), eating a little cereal (as seen below), mimicking our voices (I swear his first word was"No" - he was trying to roll over on his changing table and I said, "Ryder, NO" and he said, "NOAAAAAA!" Oh there's lots of changes, but each one brings more fun & more challenges!

So here's mommy's 5 months photo shoot - he took a little nap on our bed and woke up so happy I couldn't resist! Who do you think he looks like now???











Just growing and growing...

Learning to eat

So we've been playing with food again this week! Sunday night Ryder was again sitting in his bumbo at the table while we were eating and smacking along with us, so I said, OK - we'll try again. This time he was really fun and loved it. So I've been feeding him cereal once a day. Here's a couple clips I put together of the other night. I apologize for the annoying laughing. :) I've been told I'm the scary one on the videos!! **Make sure and watch the end where he goes for the leftovers on the table!!!

Labor Day Weekend... Family Reunion!

This weekend we went to the Fuller Family Reunion! That would be Daniel's mother's, mother's extended family - confused yet? Me too. :) Just kidding. I'm all caught up now!! I've not been before because living in TN we were never able to make it, but Daniel grew up going. Saturday morning we headed out to the camp in Glenrose and on the way Daniel realized we would be passing a "Storms." A burger place he loves that they always stop at on the way to the deer lease. So we had to stop. Let's just say, "ya ain't payin' for the atmosphere," but that is one GOOD burger! Here Ryder is- who just woke up obviously (notice the "Great Texas Hamburgers sign in the back)!

Yep, it has 3 meat patties. And yep, I ate that.


As soon as we got to the camp Grammy & the aunties met us at the car and scooped Ryder up. They'd already made a round with him before I got my stuff out of the car.


Ryder wasn't much into taking naps! (He was supposed to be sleeping here)

Brandy & I with our baby boys: Cooper & Ryder.

The view from the deck

Rachel, Sarah & Ryder


Brandy & Coop

Grammy trying to get Rydie to take a nappy!

The Allen Fam.

Ryder's first Hayride! (There you go, Karen!) I asked why we should go on a hayride in the humid 90 degree weather and Aunt Karen said, "So you can take a picture and blog about Ryder's first hayride!")

The Grandmas and their baby boys! Karen & Cooper, Becky & Ryder

The Great-Grandparents and their great-grandsons: Grandpa & Grandma Williams, Landon, Cooper, Ryder

When we got there Saturday it started pouring rain :( So we didn't get to take Ryder in the pool and I did not get to go on the paddle boats as promised by Daniel...me & the paddle boats!

It was a good weekend, I'm glad we got to make it.

I have to add these pics too! As soon as we pulled up on Saturday Aunt Rachel & Aunt Sarah came out to the car with a bag from Play (a kids store at Northpark.) It had this onesie in it - they couldn't resist...


I like my baby in a tuxedo onesie cause it says, "I'm formal, but I'm here to party!"