5 months old

Ryder turned 5 months old on January 7!  He is getting so big so fast!  We are having a blast watching him grow and do new things and also just see how different he is from Rilyn.  It's been fun having two kids that are so incredibly different with their unique qualities, strengths, and challenges.

Tricks: Ryder can roll over very easily now and gets very angry when he does.  He grabs and mouths toys constantly and also likes toys that rattle.  He loves to jump.  He can sit up with minimal support and it will be any day now before he is sitting up on his own.  He also likes to say "no, no, no" by shaking his head no over and over again (a trick he learned from papa over Christmas).

Eating: Ryder is still nursing every 2 hours during the day.  He joins us for meals and has just started to reach out and try to grab the foods in our hands or on our plates.  I'm sure it won't be long before he is sneaking food from Rilyn.  He takes a bottle fine and gets one sometimes from dad when mom wants to sleep a little or from Grandma when she babysits.

Sleeping: He is sleeping okay.  Much better than Rilyn did at this age, but I still don't think it is great.  He needs us to get up a couple times at night and give him the pacifier.  This can be anywhere from 2 - 5 times and can get frustrating.  He eats once or twice (mostly twice).  If the second time is at 5 AM or after I say he only needed to eat once, but really 5 AM sure seems like night time for me still :)  Especially if I've been up 4 times already that night.
He does nap well though and takes 2 naps a day for 1 - 2 hours each.  Some days he will take a 3rd nap later in the day if our naps were earlier than normal.  He really struggles staying up longer than 2 hours still but we can usually get 3 hours out of him in the evenings if we push him.

Ryder also has 2 teeth!  They popped out just a couple days after he turned 5 months old.  He wasn't cranky before hand but now I can tell they are really bothering him so I'm not sure if it's the two that popped through that are bothering him or he has more coming soon.

He is taking interest in the dogs and has started pulling Zoe's ears on a regular basis.  He loves his big sis still!  He also likes being read too and sung too and going for walks in the stroller.  He is very content in the stroller actually and we have been doing that a little more than the carrier because he is so happy in the stroller.

We just love his smirk and his sweet personality! He is such a joy to have in our lives.

Big Girl Bed

We decided it was time for Rilyn to move out of the crib to make room for Ryder!  He hasn't been sleeping great with us or the playpen and knew he would be more comfortable in the crib.  We weren't sure Rilyn was ready for a bed and struggled moving her out, but we definitely didn't want to buy another crib.

Rilyn spending her last night in the crib....

Rilyn really deals with changes well and just doesn't need the transition time/help that some kids do.  So, we started talking about it a little a couple weeks before just telling her she was going to sleep in a big girl bed and Ryder was going to sleep in her crib.

Her and Tyler put up the bunk beds together and she was the one to move her stuff from the crib to the bed once they were finished.

Rilyn LOVES her new bed and sleeping pretty good in it.  We couldn't find a railing for the bunk beds that would keep her from falling out and she has fallen out a couple times, but it's close to the floor and she doesn't get hurt.

She does get up a little earlier because before she would play in her crib for awhile before making too much noise so now we are back to a 6 AM wake up call.  But she is still napping great!  The first day she napped in her bed she did try to get away with playing quietly in her room instead of napping but Rilyn is far from a quiet child so when I heard the crash and went in her room she was scurrying back to her bed trying to get in before I got in her room.  We then had a little talk about how she needed to stay in her bed until we come in and so far so good.  She will get out when she is done napping but is taking long enough naps.

The transition was good and we are excited to finish up her room.  And Mr. Ryder is sleeping pretty good in his new cozy bed!

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas

I can't believe I didn't post anything about Christmas!  It's such a busy time and I guess I just forgot.

We finally got to Montana where we spent lots of time cooking, eating, visiting, and watching Rilyn play with her cousins.   I'm so glad we got up there this year.  Also, Rilyn was way more into the gifts this year and had a lot of fun seeing what presents she got.  She loved the idea of Santa and is still talking about him every day.

cooking with Grandma

Ryder hanging out with Uncle Sam

Lovin on the cousins

Gotta have a kids talbe!

opening gifts

ho ho ho

Mr and Mrs Claus

Christmas Eve snuggles

Lovin on the husband

Telling Great Grandpa some stories

Christmas Day at Grandma Hermans

Ryder spent most the trip in Papa's lap

Opening gifts

When we got home we had Christmas with Tyler's parents and his sister Stacey and our new brother in-law Jason.  I'm very sad to report I didn't take a single picture that night, but did take some before we went over.  We had delicious mexican food, not one not two but 3 desserts, and we all got spoiled as usual!

We also had our own little family Christmas.  We limit the kid's gifts to 5 each (something you want, something you need, something you wear, something you read, and something you share).  It helps keep me on a budget, be mindful of the gifts we buy, and not overwhelm the kids with too much stuff.  We really like doing presents this way and plan on continuing this tradition.

Zoe enjoying her, Trixie and Porter's toys from their stockings

And last but not least today we had all the Decker's over for our sibling gift exchange.  We had a delicious brunch and caught up with everyone and George helped Tyler put trim on 2 of our windows. We have 5 windows left to trim but now we can get the kids' rooms put together!  I haven't taken pictures of the trim but maybe will tomorrow when we tackle putting up Rilyn's bunk beds!!!

Seriously, I have no  idea what we would do without George and Yvonne!  They help us with stuff all the time and take the kids whenever we need them too.  We really appreciate them and are so incredibly blessed they live close to us!!

I didn't take any pictures today but Carly sent me some.  We love when she brings her camera along and gets good shots of the kiddos!

Seriously!!!  Where does the time go.  He looks like a boy right here and not a baby!!