Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Time has just been ticking on by...

Ross turned 7 months old on Monday. Doesn't 7 months sound soo much older than 6 months? I guess it's because he's closer to 1 now than he is to his actual "birth" day. Ross continues to be the happiest kid we've ever seen. He smiles ALL the time. We joke around that he's just as "grumpy" as ever. He is sitting up on his own now. He puts everything into his mouth and is drooling like crazy but he shows no signs of any teeth coming right now. (but he is going to Grandma Cella's for the weekend which means he'll either get sick or get a tooth - always happens!)

As evidenced by his 7 month pictures below - he sure likes his food!! He's growing like a weed, only not getting taller :)

We took him to Reid's back to back soccer games last weekend and I had the stroller with the shade cover and a hat on him but then he fell asleep sitting on my lap and I left him without thinking so he got a sun burn on his arms. Bad mom move #3. At least I've documented all of them so he can use them against me in the future.

Here are a lot of pictures from his 7 month afternoon - he was having so much fun (but I was slightly afraid he was going to go off the chair head first several times).
Everything into his mouth:



We are in sippy cup training right now. He likes to chew on it but hasn't figured out how to drink just yet. My goal is to get him used to a sippy cup by June 24th. Our family is going to the cabins again and I want to be able to give him drinks of water if it is very hot.

Evidence of my poor baby's sunburn (although the pics make it look much worse than it actually was:


Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day Walk


I had the pleasure of walking the Mother's Day 5K with my mom this year. She came down the night before and watched the little guys for us and then stayed the night. It's really amazing how much becoming a mother makes you appreciate your own mother so much more. I guess you don't really understand the sacrifices that moms make until you are making them yourselves. And while I know and understand that a mom would not have it any other way, I wish that I let my mom know more often how much we appreciate all she does for me, my family, my sisters and their families, and our extended families. We love you so much Mom!

Reid - At this time last year you were just learning to ride your bike without training wheels, we were starting to think about you being a kindergartner and planning our summer trips and time at home. You have grown SOOO much this year. I often tease you that you are getting too tall and I am going to stop feeding you. We rarely talk to you about cleaning your plate or eating a good dinner anymore. You are just mature. You eat well, you have pretty decent manners, and you are a great friend. You are becoming independent in so many ways. One of the things about you that I am really proud of is that you play with anyone and everyone and you will include anyone that is around. Most days you even allow Ryan to tag along and play with you and your friends. You have a genuine sincerity about you and it makes me proud. You are a nice kid and people just like to be around you. You were our first and we have always been so proud of you. I love you more than you think I do (you like to tell us that at bedtime).

Ryan - You are so often the end of a lot of our jokes around the house as you are certainly your own person. On most days you prefer to do your own thing, play with your own toys, make your own schedule and you are just fine. You do not like to be forced into doing anything that you don't feel like doing - heading out the door, changing up schedules, etc. You thrive on rituals and schedules. If I mention that we might skip a bath for a night you get upset and say that you can't go to bed dirty. You know what we typically do at what time and you like to stick to it. You look up to Reid a lot and always ask what Reid is doing or what Reid wants so you can pick the same thing. You love Ross so much and you tell him that about 100 times a day. I can already tell that you two are going to have a very special bond. You are going to be a great big brother as he gets older. You are a very smart little guy and you pick up on things very quickly. You are usually listening to everything going on around you and figure things out even before we know you are paying attention. You can be a real cuddle bug when you want to... most of our babysitters always tell us how much you like to cuddle. I need to spend more one on one time with you because you always thrive in those times. I love you so much!

Ross - Last year you were in my belly and we didn't know much about you. We didn't know if we were having another boy or girl. We would soon be hoping and praying that everything would be all right and you would be born healthy. You are here now (as healthy as can be) and you have filled our home with so much more love and happiness. We often speak about how you are the happiest baby ever. You always have a smile on your face, you wake up in such a great mood, and you are always happy to see your mommy. We are on the go a lot and you just go with the flow. We can take you pretty much anywhere. I wasn't planning on taking you to the 5K walk this weekend but decided to at the last minute. I took you, without breakfast, and you just rode along in the stroller not making a peep. You had wide eyes most of the time watching all that was going on and you slept a little too. You talked in the car to grandma all the way home and then ate breakfast when we got home. What an easy going guy!!! I can't wait to spend many more Mother's Days with you.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Ryan at school



I've been meaning to post these pics and didn't get around to it. Last Monday (May 3) Ryan got to go to high school. He was invited by Dani (Beth's son's girlfriend). He was very excited and wanted to pack his back pack and talked and talked about going. I was afraid that he would get nervous and back out at the last minute but he did not. He hopped right in the car with Dani's mom and she took him up to the school. They did a theme on bears. He made a bear with moving arms and legs, a bear mask, and a couple of other crafts. They got to eat gummi bears for a snack and he had a great time. Dani said that he did great and Ryan was very talkative about all that he did and all the fun that he had. I was pleased that he did so well and had so much fun!


The McDowell Weekend

We had a great weekend! The little guys were with Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Cella Thursday night and Friday night so we only had Reid on Friday night with no plans. We had four different book-it certificates that hadn't been used and I realized they expired on 5/1 so we arranged for Reid to have five other kids over for a pizza party. All of the kids were neighbors so a couple sets of parents came along with them as well. We had a great time and didn't call it a night until VERY late.

I picked up the little guys on Saturday and Russ took Reid to his hockey game. We didn't do much else.

On Sunday I had to run 12 miles to make up for skipping it on Saturday morning. As soon as I got home from running and got around, we headed out to the air show in St Joseph, MO. The boys were great at the air show. We had to park and ride buses to the actual show. We didn't have to wait at all and the kids listened really well. We had a great day!!

The boys spent a lot of time on daddy's shoulders. I tried to help and carry them on my back as well but each time I would go to pick one up Russ would take them away (he knew my hips were a bit sore from the 12 miles that morning).





Reid sitting and posing by the cockpit of an (airplane)... insert name after Russ tells me what it is :)


Ross stayed awake almost the entire air show and just hung out in the stroller as happy as could be. He got hungry midway through the air show and had a bottle under an airplane wing. We left shortly after his bottle and he slept on the way home.

A picture of two parachuters and a plane (Russ would have to tell me what kind... they are all "airplanes" to me).

Loving the bathtub...

Ross is starting to sit up with more stability and for longer and longer periods of time. I've switched his infant bathtub to the toddler side and he loves to take a bath sitting up where he can see the water and splash in it. The other night I put him in the sink so he could splash around. He LOVED it... well, until mom let the slippery guy fall forward and knock his head on the sink! "Bad Mom" (as Ryan would say). Unfortunately Ross was having so much fun that Russ had just got the camera out to capture the cute pictures and was able to capture evidence (on video nonetheless) of mommy letting Ross bang his head on the sink :(


Here's some much better pictures to end the post with:

See the bump on his eyebrow :(