Happy Baby...

When Ryder wakes up he says, "Ahhh" or "Da-Da-Da-Da" until you go get him. This is what you'll find to greet you. Big smiles! Matt and I race to get in there because we both want to be the one to scoop him up and give him kisses!

9 months old

At nine months you have such a personality! Your favorite word BY FAR is "da-da" and you say it OVER and OVER again...even if you want to eat, or sleep, or if you're mad. You also say "ba-ba."

Things you love:

*Playing ball with mommy and daddy. You are getting so good and throwing the ball!
*Mommy singing Itsy Bitsy Spider and doing the motions. Anytime you hear music, you start moving your hands like the itsy bitsy and I have to sing it for you!
*Playing peek-a-boo. When we say "Peep-eye!" you laugh a deep belly giggle that just makes me melt!
*Your puppies, Louie, Payton and Maddie.
*Your PawPaw is your best buddy, besides mommy and daddy of course!
*Your big boy fruits and veggies. You are eating a level 2 jar of fruit everyday and a level 2 jar of veggies. You also have lots of about 4 tablespoons of cereal in the morning and at night, along with your formula. You are only taking about 7 ounces at a time now.
*Sneaking to get to the Christmas tree!
*Pulling up to the couch and walking along the edge seeing what you can get into! You are pulling up on everything now! (Including the big screen tv...no no!)
*You love to bang on things. TV trays, the couch, the hope chest, the front door, and the LAPTOP! (no no!)...something about it just cracks you up!
*Being rocked to sleep...lately you won't nap without mommy holding you. But you don't want to be cradled like a baby. You like to be facing out, sitting up, leaning back against me. Once you are in dreamland I can lay you in your crib.
*You still love your paci. When you don't have it, I say, "Where's your paci-waci (wassy) bub?" And you actually find it!!
*Playing with cell phones...your daddy is so proud!
*Looking outside, and being outside. You LOVE to stand at Nana and Pawpaw's door and look outside. You also like to lick the door while you're there, ha!
*You are in a size FOUR diaper now! And you have four teeth in, and at least one more working its way through! Yikes!

Things you are not too fond of:
*Your swing ( I think because you know you will fall asleep!)
*Daddy leaving for work without you
*Getting clean pants...you try to flip and crawl away everytime!
*Getting your boogies picked...tee hee. ( I can't just leave 'em in there!)

Here you are, such a sweet boy!

We love you more and more everyday Roo!

Ahhhh...gotta love Christmas Vacation!

We started the day looking out the window. The other day Ryder was playing with the curtains and realized there was an actual window and a ledge behind them! Today I opened the curtains all the way and let him stand up and look out. He loved it!


Ryder LOVES to be in tight spaces. He crawls under his toys and plays. I always try to catch him but as soon as he sees the camera, he comes straight at me. I caught this one as he was playing under his exersaucer...so CUTE!

Bub's First Christmas!

Matt's family Christmas was this weekend, the 20th, and Ryder Roo did an excellent job. He was mesmerized by the paper, as we predicted, but he really did enjoy his new toys too!

Family Picture before we left for Jasper

Mr. Man and Mommy

Mr. Man and Daddy

Prezzies!!

Merry First Christmas Bubby!!

New Hair!

Getting my hair done is so therapeutic! I had 7 inches cut off and bangs added! I love it...and watch out, I feel sassy! haha

Jamie, did you know....

...that your baby boy....

likes to dive off the bed head first...EEK!

I had my first big mommy scare last weekend and have just come to the point where I can actually blog about it. I was changing Ryder on the bed when he flipped to his stomach, and crawled at a million miles an hour, right off the edge, onto his head, and began screaming.

I was ok until he spit up and started shivering. I called the nurse on call and she said to take him to the ER...this is when the panic started. Of course, once they checked him out they said he was fine, but I was still a mess. It was the longest, scariest one hour of my life.

But, thank God he is safe and sound...and adorable. :)

:GobbleGobble:

Happy Turkey Day from the Cartwrights! We had a wonderful holiday. Ryder tried turkey and ate mashed potatoes. Here are some pics from the weekend!

He is so fun now!

Ryder absolutely LOVES bathtime now! He splashes and plays with his toys until we let all the water out. If we take him out while there's still water, he gets MAD!



He will be 8 months old this week. I can't believe it! He crawls SUPER fast now, pulls up to the couch (or anything that won't tip over) and scoots along to where he wants to go.

He is so curious and wants to touch and taste everything. He has developed one heck of a temper...I mean personality. :) He says ba-ba, bye bye, and *maybe* bite...but it sounds a lot like bye bye and ba-ba.

He sleeps from 8pm til about 7am...thank the Lord!!!

He still loves when I sing to him (especially "Hello" by Lionel Ritchie) and he falls right to sleep everytime in less than a couple minutes!

Playtime!

Ryder loves to play in his room with his mommy and daddy. He goes right to the mirror and talks to himself. "Ba, ba, ba" We tell him he sees Baby Ryder.

Ryder and his daddy decided to put together Rydee's wagon.

Ryder just HAD to help every step of the way!

The wagon is tiny, intended for Ryder to pull his toys in, but Matt couldn't resist putting the big boy in for a ride!

I think Matt enjoyed the wagon ride just as much as Rydee Roo!

So handsome!

A Day at Home with Mommy

Today I came home from school early because Ryder hasn't been feeling very well. This is a glimpse into our day...these pictures are from about a 15 minute time span...

Crawling around from toy to toy...




The MINUTE he sees the flash, he zooms over to say hi!

And then, he zooms off again to play with his toys...


He pulls up now! (mostly in an attempt to escape the living room and get to the doggies) When the book in his hand squeaked, the dogs got fiesty, so he decided to try to get through the ottoman...

Trying to push the ottoman out of the way so he can get to the puppies...look how cute his bum and little toes are!

Can I help you, woman?

When he gets REALLY sleepy, he starts standing on his head...bahahahaha....cracks me up!

At this point I put him in his swing and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

He's growing up so FAST! Before long he will be toddling around! Eek!

Giggles and Curls and Beautiful Eyes...

That's what little girls are made of in our family! We spent the weekend in San Antonio with Kevin and Yasmeen, welcoming their newest arrival, Noah, to the family. He is healthy and happy, weighing 8 lbs and 19.5 inches long.

Here are some pics of the girls from our trip. I miss them already. :(

And baby Noah with his Uncle Matt...

Can these two be ANY prouder of this little one?? I love it!

Mr. Ryder Roo had a blast too, trying to keep up with all the action!

Ryder was soooo good in the car. I think he was exhausted after a wild weekend in San Antonio! I can't wait to go back! Miss you Mila, Kira, and baby Noah!

Dear Rydee Roo,

You look more and more like your daddy every day. You have such a personality already. You love to laugh and smile, flashing that charming dimple whenever you can. Your smile melts this momma's heart everytime. I don't know HOW I'm ever going to punish you!

Now, when strangers want to hold you, you put your face into my chest and snuggle against me. It's so sweet and I love it. You eventually go to people, but at first you snuggle and play shy. Overall, you are a super good baby and you are mostly happy. If it's past your feeding time, you let me know about it! You also like your naptime. Food and naps...see, you and daddy already have so much in common. :)

6 months and still growing!

How cute is he!? Here he is at his 6 month checkup! He's 20 pounds and 30 inches long! Such a sweetie! :)

The Swing Debacle

Oh lord...he's such a big boy! Apparently he was done swinging! We kept re-pushing him because the swing kept stopping. We couldn't figure out why because Matt just changed the batteries. One minute he'd be swinging away, and the next minute he'd be sitting still! Little turkey.

#@&^$#(*!!!!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! I'm losing it. Why did I ever think that starting a new career and starting grad school at the same time would be a good idea, all while trying to figure out how to be a mommy. When am I supposed to grade papers? During my planning period? Then when am I supposed to plan? In the evenings? I can't because I have a baby to take care of, feed, clothe, bathe, etc. Then, when am I supposed to read 300+ pages a WEEK for grad school and WRITE papers too?!

I'm officially losing it. And, I'm tired. Really tired.

Carry On.

We have teefers!

As of 9/19 Rydee Roo had TWO little teeth poke through on the bottom, front and center. Now they are almost all the way in and they are SO adorable! He wasn't fussy at all so we didn't even know he had was teething until the 19th, when we noticed one was barely poking through. By the next day, he had TWO! However...since then, he is miserable, whining and crying for no reason. He takes his paci out and bites down on the hard plastic part. He bites the nipple on his bottle and pops it in and out of his mouth. Our only guess is he is still teething, maybe new teeth? Or maybe these two teeth that have poked through are really starting to hurt? I don't know, but whatever the case, it makes me sad because he is so sad. He is inconsolable. And it's just SO not like him! All of a sudden he is fighting sleep BAD. He used to just lay down and fall asleep. We bragged on him all the time because you just had to lay him in his crib and he would fall asleep! Now, you have to rock, bounce, swing, beg, PRAY and he finally falls asleep. Last night we gave him a little Tylenol to help with the pain, but I hate doing that, not knowing if it truly is his teeth bothering him.

Being a mommy is hard. I can't believe in two weeks he'll be SEVEN months old. It just doesn't seem possible!

So BIG!

Ryder now has two teeth! And is starting to sit up on his own! Such a big boy!