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)

Ryan turns 9 months old

We are so happy with how our little guy is growing and he is such a happy little guy.  He does get his feelings hurt from time to time but thankfully he is happy pretty much all the time.  

I took him into his 9 month appt and he is 30 inches long and weighs 24 pounds 7 pounces.  He is waving, clapping, saying Mama, Dada, ba (ball-he will say it when he has a ball) and will make the K sound for Kiki.  He actually plays ball with Rob, will figure out a way to record and post this weekend, and he also makes a sign and has a 'y' sound like yes.  He does not crawl (probably due to his size) but he does scoot to where he wants to go. I tried giving him solids (avocado) last week but it didn't so well so I will try again in a month or so.  All they need is breast milk in the first 12 months so I am just taking his lead on it.  

I am so sorry!

Suzie asked me about the blog and I cannot believe that I have not updated since December 1st.  oops.  :(  Won't happen again.  

Pumpkin Patch

So we drove over 30 minutes to Lemos Farm and we didn't get any pumpkins OR shots with the pumpkins.  It was too cold for Ryan to take off his jacket but the kids had matching pumpkin shirt. I really wanted to get their pictures for their Halloween card but it just didn't happen.  

Alyssa's friend Gianna, Amelia, and Gianna's sister Neila all riding the train.  I walked behind the train with the double stroller.  They thought it was funny that the boys and I had to walk.  Next year we will ride!

Alyssa riding the horse.  What a wonderful morning!

I thought it would be freezing up their since it is so close to the water but it wasn't.  In fact, the sun was pretty warm.  

Festival of Lights Parade

The festival of Lights is a parade that is hosted by the small town of Los Altos.  Think Disneyland parade on a much smaller scale. They have some of the princesses, Tigger, Pooh etc without the 7 hour drive and 2K price tag.  :D  

Ryan LOVED all of the lights.  He was supposed to be napping however all the pretty lights was too much to resist.  He was very well behaved so I can't complain.  

Baby looks much better than Daddy in a beanie. ;)~

Our friend Amy's daughter Amanda.  

Alyssa posing in the window waiting for Daddy to bring us our Starbucks.  One day she got a milk and they put it in a tall cup like our lattes and even though it is just milk she calls it her coffee nut latte.  I guess that is a cross between my toffee nut latte and Daddy's morning coffee.  The part that gets me is that my son is drinking coffee now and Rob asks him if he wants it at home!  I just think he is too young but apparently he drinks it at school and at Church.  On the other hand, it could stunt his growth.  Maybe coffee isn't so bad after all.

Hanging around the house

Bath time!

I really loved this picture but I couldn't remove the shadow off his face.  :(

Thanksgiving

A




What a wonderful fall day!  We all stayed home and spent the day cooking, playing the wii and bonding with each other.   Part of me would have enjoyed going to spend the day with our extended family but the other part (the part that was in my jammies all day)  was content to be at home.  Plus, tomorrow will be a big day with climbing around the mountain looking for the perfect tree.  

Alyssa dressed up as an Indian Princess for her Thanksgiving party at school.  It was really cute.  Each child had to bring a lunch for a friend and write a card saying what they were thankful for about this friend.  Each child got up in front of the class, held a microphone and 'read' their letter to their friend.  They were very excited about this.

I didn't get any pictures of her at the party because my old camera took a turn for the worse.  So off to Best Buy we went last night.  Thanks to Jen, I bought my first SLR camera and LOVE IT!

In between taking care of the baby, cooking and watching the family play the Wii, I watched a few tutorials on the camera and i can't wait to use it in the mountains tomorrow.  Hopefully I will get pics for the Christmas cards and newsletter.