Princess dress up time!

Ryan is crawling all over the place and is now standing up on his own no problem.  Where did my baby go???

She literally just walked out of her room from napping and saw me taking pictures of Ryan and asked me to take one of her.  Her eyes are barely open but she is smiling! 

One from Natalie's sleepover...

Alyssa's sleepover with Natalie

Pictures are out of order but just imagine they are the correct way.  ;D Last Friday Alyssa had her friend Natalie sleepover and it went so well! In fact, I am ready to do it again!   I took the kids to the SF Zoo Friday morning and Alyssa ended up skipping her nap so she was tired and asleep by 8:15 which usually is much later for sleepovers.  They were into dancing and dressing up like Princesses for a little bit and then of course, playing in the back yard.  Lots of fun! They woke up right at 7 and we met her parents for morning coffee which was Rob's and my treat for a job well done!

SF Zoo

Sarah and Alyssa riding the lion.  

All of the girls have horrible smiles but there was such a line that it was a snap and go.  
Okay, this was cool. The giraffes were doing this thing where they were almost like hugging and I secretly asked one of the zoo docents if they were doing some kind of mating ritual because I would have taken the girls away but it was the mother's way of showing love to her baby.  So cute!  The girls got such a kick out of it.  

This and that

Alyssa is pretending to be the squirrel!
After days and days, okay weeks, of rain the squirrel is thoroughly enjoying the sun. He layed there for almost an hour which delighted both Amelia and Alyssa which in turn delighted me because they stood at the glass window watching him almost the entire time.  If they are busy watching squirrels then they are not making messes in the house. :)
We have tried three times to give Ryan food and he is just not interested.  He takes his probiotics off a spoon daily but not food.  I started Alyssa on solids at 6 months and I was a basket case every day trying to get food into her.  Finally about 91/2-10 months she got the hang of it and actually would eat more than a teaspoon.  I promised myself that I wouldn't do this again and I am definitely letting Ryan take the lead.  Besides, this is perfect because I only really wanted him to have breastmilk the first 12 months of life so this works for me!  He does however love to play with the spoon.  

With all of the rain comes really pretty rainbows.  The girls love to get pictures of them. Thankfully I can just show them one or two from the first rainbow we saw and they think they are all new pictures every time. :D

Alyssa has been requestiong crazy hair dos for awhile but she is now starting to come up with her own ideas.  I love her creativity because I would get bored doing the same hair do every day.  Her hair is getting thicker which I love and so does she because some of the things that she wants done won't work because her hair falls right out.  We cut off her hair the beginning of January because of all the undergrowth and while she did not want short hair (at all) she did want her hair longer and thicker which is what I promised come Christmas time.  I am doing my part by trimming it every 2 months so I hope it grows by Christmas! 

Playing the backyard

Isn't he so precious?

Alyssa dressed herself.  :D  Actually she is usually very good about picking her outfits but she will ask if we are going to stay home and if the answer is yes then sky's the limit! 

Ryan is now 10 months and a week and is finally crawling! His fifth tooth is still playing hide and seek with us and has been for a few weeks. Dr. Song said it would be out within a week or so and has yet to arrive. For the first time in three kids I think I understand what 'sleep deprivation is" He has been teething and a little gassy at night and it has been waking him up and of course me.  It is different than waking to eat it is waking and fussing, tossing and turning, fussing, and when I pick him up he puts his head on my shoulder and won't take it off so I know he is tired.  I called his holistic PD and she recommended chamomila and lo and behold it worked!  Three nights in a row and his fussiness is GONE!  Love homeopathy!

He still scoots here and there but he does a full on crawl.  This past weekend he was holding onto a chair while standing there and took one hand off the chair reached for Rob's hand and then took a few steps while still holding onto Rob's hand and the chair and then walked right into Daddy's arms OMG!  He is going to be walking before we know it!  The little guy that I take care of just started walking (walks 45% of the time and crawls the other part)and he is 17 months old.  I understand kids are all different but I don't think we are prepared!  Guess we will start baby proofing the house.

Alyssa is doing really well in school and at her dance classes.  She is taking her normal dance class (the one that she has been in since she was 18 months old) and then she takes one at school so she can participate in the Church/preschool Spring Sing.  This one is going to be really cute!

Destruction at its finest....

 If you stack blocks on top of one another he will scoot and attempt to crawl to go get them. He will go get them when they are pretty far away like 5 feet.  It is amazing to watch as he figures it out.  Alyssa was 9 months when she learned to crawl but he has been scooting for 2 months now so the incentive to crawl is not there....yet... (pictures were taken when he was 9 months)