Webb of Love: Recent developments & playing catch-up

In light of a few important milestones (well, to me at least) I thought it was time to finally update the blog so that we can remember these small joys & share them with our friends & family.

Ryder has been an active baby from the start. Not only did he hold his head up starting on day 1 & move his arms & legs constantly throughout the first month, he has also been rolling back & forth on flat surfaces for the past month & a half or so. In the last week he learned to move around his crib at night. A few weeks ago he started pulling himself around like a little inch worm with his hamstrings. These two tricks together have provided Mr. R with his first taste of mobility. Starting this week I began finding him in many different positions in his crib - on his side, lying next to the crib slats, perpendicular to the crib slats & finally, last night, at the foot of the bed. Yep, he moved himself all the way to the end of the crib with his head facing the complete opposite end that he started at. Now, granted, his mattress is at an incline so he has some assistance in rolling to the other end of the bed, but I'm still quite proud of my little guy!

So, in addition to his crib antics, tonight, after swaddling him up tight & laying him down, I proceeded to watch the monitor as he rolled himself completely over to his tummy. I'm so excited to watch him develop his motor skills & fear the day I have to start child-proofing the house & walking him into his kindergarten class for the first time (yes, I'm already stressing about him growing up too fast!).

The other highlight this week is that while Grams is here watching Ryder for my first week back at work (a very sad milestone for me), he began reaching out for the toys on his playmat. While I was home with him I would point out the excitement each offered & help him touch them (though he only allowed a closed fist to touch the colorful objects). He has yet to start playing with his feet but is starting to reach out & grab my hair, shirt & necklace so I'm sure it's coming soon. Hopefully Sam gets to enjoy seeing Ryder master that next little trick while he's at home with him this week.

Now, since it's been 2 months since my last update we have lots to catch up on. Ryder's first trip out of town was to visit his grandma & papa at the ranch followed by his second out of town adventure to visit his cousins in Austin (I say adventure because on the way home mommy resorted to playing old school Mickey Mouse cartoons on my I-Phone to keep him entertained for a few minutes & end the crying). He is such a trooper! He was definitely not ready to be in the car for a long trip but made it all the way to Waller before we had to pull over for a nice long break. Almost made it home! Almost ;-)

We also celebrated Ryder's first Halloween & Thanksgiving. For Halloween we headed to Humble with cousin Abby for pics in the pumpkin patch & then to Austin for the weekend with the cousins & a little Halloween festival at their church, complete with a petting zoo & hay ride!

Here are a few pics ...