all things Ryan: 7 months

I'm constantly amazed at how fast Ryan is growing and developing. Watching him learn is so fascinating and fun. He's weighing in at 18 lbs, up 1 lb from last month, and my attempt to check his length was completely dismissed by my wiggly little man...

7 Month Chair Pic
-click HERE for a flashback-


The Photoshoot

Here's what he's been up to this past month...

~He sits! And only occasionally topples over!


~He's been rolling for many months but now he can direct his rolls. In other words, he rolls with purpose. He gets his bum in the air and pushes it over to cause him to turn a certain direction or he scissors his legs to make him move a certain way.

~Who needs to crawl to get a toy when you could just pull the quilt that the toy sits on. Smart boy!


~He loves eating and has been trying out Cheerios (see last post).

Mmm...Peas!

~He's started putting his arms up to be picked up. I'm pretty sure putting his arms up also mean 'I love you Mama!'.

Teeth and a Mohawk!

~Ryan has had unequal pupils since birth and we finally got around to taking him to the ophthalmologist this month. He has what Chris and I suspected, Anisocoria. It's a fancy word for unequal pupils. It causes no problems and he may or may not grow out of it. The doctor did a full eye exam and said he couldn't have more perfect blue eyes and I have to agree.

~Sleep is a surprise every night. Ry wakes up multiple times a night but often puts himself back to sleep, occasionally needing help from his Mama. With that said, he normally sleeps between 10 and 12 hours a night.

~Ryan couldn't be a happier baby. He plays hard. He laughs often. Chris and I are so in love with our sweet little boy. He brings more joy to our lives than we could have imagined.

~He is the most loved baby ever!

Baby Love - Baby Food

Soon after Ryan was born I remember someone asking me if I was going to make my own baby food. I'd never given it any thought. Then I was given this book. After reading the benefits of homemade food I was hooked. And its actually super easy! With that said, I now make all of Ryan's food. In fact, he eats better than we do! Everything's fresh, except for peas (cause shelling peas is a pain), peaches (cause they're out of season), and prunes (cause plums are out of season). And I buy mostly organic. The biggest challenge has been finding frozen peas without salt, frozen peaches without additives, and prunes without additives (Whole Foods, BTW). So far he's loved everything we've given him. Here's the list of fruits and veggies he's eaten so far:

-apples
-pears
-avocados
-bananas
-sweet potatoes
-butternut squash
-carrots

Except for bananas and avocados, I freeze the purees in ice cube trays, store the foods in snack size ziplocks, and defrost daily as needed. Check out this latest batch of apples. I always puree with the skins on and the color heavily depends on the type of apple. These turned a beautiful pink.


Up next:
-peas
-peaches
-prunes

Other foods:
-We sometimes use rice cereal or oatmeal cereal to thicken his foods
-He eats apple slices and bananas (and soon frozen peach slices) in a mesh teether
-Cheerios



I love to watch him eat Cheerios. He hasn't mastered the pincer grasp so he picks the Cheerio up with his whole hand and then puts his whole hand in his mouth. Sometimes they make it in his mouth, sometimes they get stuck on his face, sometimes they fall in his lap. Then he gums the Cheerio slowly opening and closing his mouth as wide as he can (looks like he's chewing with his mouth wide open). It's so cute to watch!

At this point, I want the majority of his nutrition to come from breastmilk. I'm pretty sure he'd eat a ton of food if I let him, but then he wouldn't take as much milk.

I also rely heavily on wholesomebabyfood.com for recipes and tips (like plumping prunes and shocking peas!). And here is my sweet boy with a smile that says 'feed me'!

Going Green

We've been cloth diapering for a couple weeks now and so far so good. And doesn't he look adorably happy in his cloth diapers?








I plan to use them for as long as they work for us...

Baby's 1st Christmas & 2nd Trip to Texas

Our holidays started off in New York for Thanksgiving where we were able to celebrate with both the Hayes and Micho families. We had a great time and Ryan got to meet many new faces including his great-grandma Micho. And as a side note, we drove 8 hours overnight (as to not disrupt the Kings sleep routine), each way and he did awesome!

-Ryan's New York Christmas Loot-

Once back in Virginia we visited Santa in a small, local shop. There was no line, you used your own camera and it was FREE. Ryan checked him out closely and agreed to sit in his lap, briefly.



Ryan also saw Santa when we attended a work event. Not only did Ryan sit on Santa's lap, so did mom and DAD! Sorry, no pics.

Before heading to Texas we opened presents at home for the first time as a family of three. Ryan sat in his bumbo and enjoyed the commotion and the paper.







Then it was off to Texas. I was quite nervous about the plane ride with my very active boy but he did great. After thoroughly checking out his surroundings he closed his eyes and went to sleep in my lap. We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Wheat's: PopPop, Aunt Kelli, Uncle Dustin, Uncle Tristan, Great Grandma Wheat, my cousin Bryce, my Aunt Paula and her husband Rick.



After waking up at Nonna and digging into Ryan's stocking, we headed to over to celebrate with the Cabe clan: Nonna, G-Pa, GiGi, Uncle Austin, my Uncle David, Aela, Lynn, Cherria, and Jeff.












Oh, we ate BBQ on Christmas Eve and Mexican on Christmas. Gotta love Texas!

Because of the bad weather on the East Coast, and the fact we were flying standby, we had trouble getting home. Chris was able to get a flight back (he had to return to work) but Ryan and I had to stay a few days longer in Texas. Ryan smiled and kicked when he saw his Daddy via Skype each day. It was precious.

-Ryan was ok with this reindeer so long as it didn't sing to him-

Overall, we all had a wonderful 'baby's first Christmas'...

all things Ryan: 6 months

My baby boy has been in this world for half a year! Ryan is now 16 lbs and 15 oz (yep, one ounce shy of 17 pounds) and 27 inches long (up a one pound and one inch from last month). This puts him in, about, the 45th percentile for weight and the 75th for height. His head circumference continues to be in the 95th percentile. I love the way he's so mesmerized with absolutely everything! He laughs at the most random things and Chris and I do the most ridiculous things to hear him laugh. Seriously, you would think we're certifiable the way we act over here! Here's his monthly chair pic, followed by a few of this months many quirks and accomplishments...

~He got his first tooth on December 17th (5.5 months) and his second tooth just over a week later on December 27th. Both bottom teeth. They are visible when he smiles big but they are nearly impossible to catch on camera. They came in without any trouble.

~He continues to LOVE being naked and sometimes I undress him when he's cranky! And, yes, sometimes pee happens.

~Ryan's such a happy baby. He's even started smiling at strangers...sometimes.

~Just like his Mama, he gets punchy when he gets tired! Yep, we both laugh at everything when we get tired. Hey, its better than getting cranky.

~He continues to roll to get around and he's enjoying playing on his tummy more than before.

~Right after Thanksgiving Ryan got a jumperoo. He loves it! And I love that he loves it!

~His feet are still tasty toys...

~He plays so hard. He loves his toys. A couple rattles, his glow worm, a few talking toys, and a couple teethers are among his current favorites. He also loves reading books...anything with bright colors that he can chew on are favorites.

~We tried feeding our little monkey rice cereal at 4 months. He declined. We then tried off and on until 5.5 months when he finally decided to open his mouth. In addition to rice cereal, he eats sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, and apples. Carrots and pears are up next. Everything is made with love by Mama! Oh, we do use Mazie to entertain him during feedings, take a look...

~Sleep! We are finally getting some sleep! Sometimes he gets up once during the night, sometimes not at all. We are looking for some blackout curtains to help him sleep better (he slept in a really dark room during our visit to Texas and he slept so well there). He's been going down for the night around 6:30 or 7pm and is up about 12 hours later. Naps are still touch and go and afternoon naps are rare.

~He still loves when Daddy comes home from work. In fact, when Chris was in VA and Ryan and I were still in TX (thanks to the blizzard on the East Coast) we skyped and Ryan was so happy to see and hear his Daddy on the computer. It was so sweet!

~And, of course, he is still the most loved baby ever!