Football and Firetrucks - Twenty Eight Weeks

This week marked the start of Flag Football Season!  Brody has moved up into the next age group - so he is one of the smallest guys on the team.  He was excited to run into one of his best buds, Aaron at the practice.

It was National Night Out on Tuesday night.  We decided to head downtown Rockford and give the kids a chance to talk with some police officers and firefighters.

 

 

Brody was excited to have a chance to dunk a fireman!  He did a good job with dealing with all the heckling!

 

Addisen wanted to try the bounce house out with Brody.  Luckily most of the kids in there were pretty small because she wasn't so sure about it!

We started building the deck at the cottage this past week.  We had a neighbor do a lot of the "hard" work a week before.  He put all the posts and joists in so Jim could focus on the decking.

Our two little helpers were hot while helping so they had to take off their shirts. 

Addisen hard at work trying to get the railings lined up.  As Jim and my dad started on the decking it seemed like a never ending process - everything was seeming a lot better by the end of the weekend!

 

Ryder was a champ during the whole process - I didn't get a picture of him but he was so content to sit and just watch as we were working on putting things together.

Uncle Steve and Aunt Ellen Visit - Twenty Seven Weeks

We were so lucky to have Uncle Steve and Aunt Ellen come and visit us from Pennsylvania for the weekend!  We were able to show them some of our favorite places!

Addisen was brave enough to feed the goats on this visit to the petting zoo!

 

 

Brody even braved it feeding some of the bigger animals!

Ryder was happy to be along for the ride!  Aunt Ellen was so surprised to see how his personality had changed since she saw him last.  When we were in Pennsylvania for Easter it was at the peek of his colic!  While they were here visiting Ryder started to officially roll from his back to stomach and stomach to back!

Brody and Addisen took Aunt Ellen in to feed the birds - they were especially hungry that morning!

Aunt Ellen getting her chance to feed the birds.

This week Addisen was so excited to have Ryder take a bath with her!  He still hasn't mastered sitting up (that big head really slows things down!) so we are using the bumbo seat in the tub!

Brody decided that he wanted to run a marathon like his dad this year!  The Grand Rapids Marathon sponsors a kids marathon where the kids can run 25 miles over the summer/fall and then get together in October to run the last 1.2 miles together.  I'm glad Brody has decided to participate in this - it has allowed a lot of time for Daddy/Brody time during their runs.

He was so excited to kick it off at the local baseball stadium!

 

Brotherly Love - Twenty Six Weeks

They kids really enjoyed helping me change the sheets at the cottage!  It lead to some time to capture some pictures of the favorite little people in my life!

Brody has really started taking an interest in entertaining Ryder and trying to get him to laugh.

 

Ryder had his 6 month well baby visit this week.  He is continuing to grow!  He is now up to 18lbs 10oz and 28.25 inches long!  He is pretty much in the 75th percentile for size.  Dr. Weirich mentioned that she thought he was starting to thin out!  Not quite my little butterball anymore, but instead my sturdy guy!  He has four teeth on top and two teeth on the bottom and is starting to explore new foods.  He is eating cereal three times a day now and we are introducing vegetables and fruits.

 

Ryder is continuing to be a laid back guy.  Ms. Terri says that he is her easiest baby!  He really only gets upset when it is time to lay down for a nap.  We have been so blessed to be past the early days of colic!

 

Twenty Five Weeks - 5 Month Pictures

Took me awhile but I finally got some 5 month pictures of Ryder!  He is such a happy little guy, but doesn't have the ability to pose in many different ways!

I wanted to get some pictures of those little fingers and toes!  He has found his feet and is quite fascinated with them!

 

His eyes have a lot of expression in them.  I find myself sometimes sitting there just trying to imagine what he will be like in 5 years.  I look back at the pictures of Brody and think how I had no idea that he would turn into the boy that he is today.  I want Ryder to stay this little baby because he will be my last, but at the same time I am ready to see what he is going to offer the world as he grows.

 

This is the look we see pretty often now - chewing on his lips.  Ryder is getting his two bottom teeth, his incisor tooth on the left and his left front tooth.  He has been so happy even though he has so much going on!  He is now drinking five 6 ounce bottles a day and eating cereal at dinner time.  He typically goes to bed at 7pm and is up around 6:30am.  He still takes 2 naps a day and sleeps about 1-2 hours each time.  If he only has a chance for 1 nap he will sleep 2+ hours.

 

It's been really nice here.  A little cool in the mornings but then warms up to 80 by the afternoon.  Jim and Brody have started to focus on training for flag football.  It will be fun to see Brody's progress this fall.

Addisen always wants her picture taken...and normally a close up!

I thought it would be a great idea to have the kids lay down and take a picture of them.  It didn't work out as I had hoped - it took about 5 minutes to explain to Brody and Addisen where I wanted their heads to be and then it was too sunny for anyone to look up.  Finally Jim tried to stand in the sunlight so they could look without squinting.  This is the only one that has everyone looking at me...but they all look sad!

My favorite picture of Ryder - my sweet little boy...don't know what I would do without my kids.

Twenty Four Weeks

While we were up at the Lake over the Fourth of July Brody saw a lot of people tubing on the lake.  He started to talk about it with Jim and ask if he could do it sometime.  Jim had actually already bought a tube but didn't have the pull rope yet.  He told Brody that he had to jump off the end of dock 5 times before he could go tubing.  Luckily Jim had a feeling that Brody was pretty serious so he stopped during his run to buy the pull rope. 

Unfortunately for me the only one that knows how to drive the boat is Jim.  So through my anxiety I agreed to be a good mom and go tubing with Brody...well attempt tubing!  The first obstacle was getting me on the tube...that was a sight to see!  Once we were finally on Jim started to coast away and Brody and I said we were ready to go faster.  Then we were shouting to slow down!  I don't think the boat every went over 5 miles an hour...it was an adventure!  We determined that Jim would need to try the tube out with Brody because I could not lean back far enough to keep us from flipping forward.

Before heading back in we decided to stop to go swimming in the deep water.  I didn't know we would be going swimming so Addisen came on the boat in her shorts and diaper.  I thought it would be okay to just take off her shorts - Jim didn't really agree!  I couldn't help getting a few pictures of her bottomless swim adventure!  Grandma thought the whole thing was pretty funny!

Addisen couldn't care less - she was a happy girl!

My handsome boy!

And silly sister!

While we were at the lake for the extended weekend the kids seemed to fall in love with each other and become enemies at the same time!  I had no idea that Brody and Addisen would be teasing and torturing each other at such a young age!

Brody is starting to show more interest in Ryder.  He requested to hold him a lot this week and loves to make him smile.

He even wanted to feed him his bottle.  What a great big brother!

Ryder really is an easy going little guy.  Everyone told me once he got past the colic he would be laid back...I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.  When he is on the floor he instantly rolls to his belly and lays there and plays awhile.  He doesn't seem to want to roll off of his belly so he cries for us to help him out.  Everything is going in his mouth because he is getting his two bottom teeth.  I even noticed his incisor tooth is starting to come in on top!  He seems to be getting teeth a lot faster than the other two.