Nine Months Old & Florida

Look how much I grew in a month!!

hehe...did we fool you? :) We used a smaller Cookie Monster for the first picture!

Yes, I know, I am super behind in writing this post, because at his moment, Ryder has been 9 months old for almost 2 weeks now! But we were in Florida the day he turned 9 months, so I'm hoping that by posting pictures from our trip in this post, you might forgive my tardiness!

So for updates on our nine month old boy: He now has SIX teeth! Yes, you heard me correctly, six teeth! He cut four top teeth at one time while we were on vacation in Florida. We knew that the front two were coming, but I was surprised to see the two on either side come in at the same time! My baby is starting to look more and more grown up!!

Look closely and you can see those bottom teethies sticking out! :)

Other major developments this month include crawling and pulling up on everything in sight. Ryder started with his own version of the army crawl where he used his hands to drag himself forward, then he finally used to learn his feet and knees to help him and eventually got his stomach off the ground and started to really crawl. However, he has a tendency to lie flat on his stomach and push himself around the hardwood floors with his toes, while carrying around one of his toys. It's pretty funny to watch! :) I'm going to have to capture it on video one of these days!

As for the pulling up, Ryder surprised Tyler and I with this new talent. I was fixing food in the kitchen and had Ryder in the pack-n-play, since I can't keep a close eye on him now that he's crawling, and when I turned around from the sink after rinsing some green onions, I found Ryder standing in his pack-n-play beaming at me! It took me a few seconds to figure out what was wrong with that picture and then it hit me, "Ryder, you're standing up! When did you learn to do that?!?" Tyler and I think he must've been secretly practicing in his crib at night when we weren't watching because he is quite the pro at it! :)

Other big events this month of course included my first Mother's Day, a trip to the strawberry patch with my parents and Caitlyn to pick strawberries, Ryder's dedication at church, and Ryder's first flight on an airplane and trip to Florida!!

We had a good time on our first family vacation. It was definitely an adjustment from our trips before we had a baby, but we thoroughly enjoyed watching Ryder explore and play in the water! Tyler and Ryder got to spend lots of time together, and it was fun to watch them be such good buddies! Ryder loves getting to spend time with his daddy, so he was thrilled to have his palymate around so much!

So worn out!

The ocean made Ryder sleepy!

 Ryder had a few little bumps in the road while we were there. He caught Hand, Foot, & Mouth disease and cut four teeth, but he handled it like a champ, and we couldn't have asked for a better behaved baby and incredible weather! Ryder seemed to make friends wherever we went, and we had quite a few strangers offer to take him home with them, which Tyler felt was very strange! :)

All in all, it's been a busy but fun month!! And we're looking forward to a fun-filled summer!