We decided to take the boys on a short walk on the beach before Ryland headed to bed.

I’m a blessed woman to have two amazing sons and a husband who loves them and is raising them to be amazing men.

Also just to add a huge thank you to my Mom for being so amazing and helping me become the mother I am today. I can’t thank you enough for everything you do for me and my family. I’m truly blessed to be able to call you Mom.

Here’s a little taste. Check them out! I’m sure the girl’s clothes are adorable too.

Elijah is now 3 and a half years old (on the 22nd). He is doing great. Crazy smart, but of course I’m his mom so I think that.

Ryland is now 9 months old. He gets sweeter by the day. I have never seen a baby smiles as much as he does. He literally smiles with his whole body. He’s the cutest and (both my boys) steal my heart.

He now as 7 teeth showing. 4 up top and 3 on bottom. He is a busy body. Crawling and pulling up on everything. He loves to eat, not so much baby food, but he will eat almost any finger food. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, chicken, couscous, pasta, and the list goes on. He definitely doesn’t have the texture issues that Elijah had and still has. I thought that Elijah seeing Ryland eats so much would make him interested but instead he just looks at him like he’s crazy for eating all that food. Some day Elijah will eat lots of different food but for now he’s stuck in his ways.

Not a day goes by that I don’t get told that Ryland looks exactly like me.

And I leave you with one last photo of Elijah and Ryland. This makes my heart sing. Love these boys.

Still a few tweaks to come

Ryland turned 8 months on March 20th. Time has really flown by. The first 6 months were very difficult and I feel like we are finally getting to a great place with him. He is a joy and a blessing. He is incredibly sweet and smiles more than any other baby I’ve seen. But I get him 24/7 so I’m sure I see it more. He is starting to crawl more but is pretty happy staying in one place playing with a toy or whatever is closest to him. His newest thing is pulling up on everything, which he is in NO way ready for.

He is starting to eat more food. He loves him apple cinnamon oatmeal. He isn’t a fan of pears. Mainly we’ve been doing a lot of sweet potatoes and apples. I’m going to puree up some plums and try those out too. He is definitely more of an eater than Elijah was. He really likes to feed himself so I’m starting to give him little bit of food off my plate. Soft potatoes and carrots.

He is finally sleeping better. He pretty much has to be in bed around 7 p.m. or he’s a mess. So his schedule is pretty much 7 p.m.-7 a.m. I feel like right when he starts to do good at sleep something comes in to mess it up, a cold or teething. He just got over a bad cold that he caught from Elijah. There was one night that he couldn’t breath and he didn’t sleep a single hour straight through. While visting my parents (which I will blog about soon) he slept most nights through sometimes waking once to feed in the early morning. It was AMAZING! I haven’t slept in till 8 in forever.

We don’t go back to the pediatrician for another month. I am so interested to see how much he has grown. I feel like he just went through a big growth spurt. Daniel couldn’t get over how much bigger he looked after not seeing him for just one week. It is crazy how much they grow in that first year. Main reason why I try to document it so much with pictures and blogs. Blink and the first year is over.

top left: mischief, top right: bird mobile made by Mom, bottom: big blue eyes

Sickness hit the Ariza house. First Elijah, then Ryland (who might I add was also teething). Sore throat and stuffy nose. Elijah managed well. Poor little Ryland suffered through it though. He gets so confused that he can’t breathe through his nose and was up most of the night coughing. Seems to be leaving his body. Finally back to sleeping well and is only slightly stuffy.

He’s had a tough go at teething. Poor little guy was in some pain. Makes me so sad that I really can’t do anything to help ease the pain. I gave him a little baby tylenol and finally broke down and tried Oral gel. Seems the worst is past. The 2 top teething have broken through so now he has a total of 4 teeth. 2 bottom (which came in right before our trip to Colorado back in beginning of February) and 2 top.

Before all this sickness Ryland was eating so well. At first he wasn’t digging it. Finally I mixed up some sweet potatoes, apples and a dash of cinnamon. He loved it. Now he won’t even open his mouth for baby food. Hopefully it passes once he is all well.

Ryland is finally “crawling.” He can get around quite a bit but isn’t too interested in moving quickly. He’s pretty content to sit in one place and play with toys. Very different than Elijah who had to be into everything. Ryland even pulled up onto the coffee table this morning when he was sitting with Daniel. I’m SO not ready for that. Thankfully I think we are a ways off from walking. He’s got to get the crawling thing down first.

Elijah is as strong willed as ever. Seems he wants to do whatever we don’t want him to do. So I guess as long as we don’t ask him to eat his food or go to bed he’ll do it. Also his new favorite thing to do to us is when he gets in trouble he turns to us and says, “I love you Mommy.” or “I love you Daddy.” He thinks it is going to get him out of the trouble he’s in.

He is 99% potty trained. Only wears a diaper during nap and nighttime. He doesn’t even tell me during the day when he needs to go. I just don’t see him for a minute and then I hear the toilet flush and he runs out pants pulled up and everything! First time he did it I was shocked. Now every time he needs to go he wants to do it by himself. It is great!

Heres just a breakdown of some of the things going on in my boys lives:

Elijah:

- 99% potty trained

- Can count from 1-12 and from 10-1

- Can say ABC’s (has a little trouble with LMN)

- Loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates

- Obsessed with Ryland’s yogurt melts.

- Loves playing Chutes and Ladders (hates losing!)

- 99% of the times when I ask him what he wants to eat he answers, “grilled cheese.” Pretty sure he is primarily made of grilled cheese.

- Scared of Unicorns

- Loves the song Kids by MGMT

Ryland:

- Starting to crawl

- Starting to eat

- Has 2 teeth fulling in on bottom and 2 teeth partially in on top

- Only wakes once at night to eat (most nights)

- Generally a happy boy. Very smily

- Obsessed with Elijah. I can tell he is going to be Elijah’s little shadow when he gets older.

- Chews on everything!

Also, seems like every time I get a routine down something comes around to mess it up. Sickness, teething, busyness. Any other moms out that feel that way?

]]> http://www.biggunsdesign.com/lilmonster/?feed=rss2&p=1133 0 http://www.biggunsdesign.com/lilmonster/?p=1129 http://www.biggunsdesign.com/lilmonster/?p=1129#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:06:20 +0000 Kaci http://www.biggunsdesign.com/lilmonster/?p=1129