Webb of Love: Can it be?!

Such a sweet boy

It's already here?! My sweet baby boy is going to be 6 months old tomorrow. Every day has been full of joy & amazement. While I was putting him to bed tonight I took a few minutes to just stare at him (like I do each night) & thought of how much he's changed. His little checks have filled out, he's practicing crawling & tonight he saw his shadow for the first time as I rocked him. He's also starting to sleep through the night (thank the Lord!) and tonight I actually got to enjoy dinner AND dessert without him crying out as he slept.

I wanted to take a minute to write a few of the things he's been doing & catch up a bit since it's been so long.

His favorite thing to do is bounce & has been for several months actually. He lets you know he wants to bounce by bending his knees & quickly dropping into his bounce position. He also loves being tossed up or dropped down, but counting to 3 helps get the giggles going. I guess he likes the anticipation, or maybe its the silly way we say the numbers. Either way, we love to hear him squeal in delight & can't get enough of it. Cooper on the other hand, does not like how we count to three or any of the other noises we make to entertain Ryder for that matter. Poor guy just cries as we make pig noises, kissy noises or squeal "threeeeeee."

That's another new thing for us. Tonight was the first time to come home to a dog-less house. This weekend we took Coop to stay at the ranch for a while. We've decided to work on the house & try to get it dander free to see if we can get Ryder over his constant congestion. It's been pretty bad lately & we've had to do several nebulizer treatments this week. I think he's on the upswing though & hopefully that cough gets it all clear soon!

Such a big boy ... while mommy works, Ryder plays with his blocks

Other milestones include his first try at food. A few weeks ago I was eating a banana & he seemed interested so I gave him a tiny taste. Needless to say, he was not a fan & his face showed the distaste. This weekend, I tried banana again but this time he started gagging & Grandma & I called it quits with the threat of vomit! Last week my dad was visiting for work though & we gave Ryder his first taste of rice cereal, well, oatmeal really. Though it was mostly milk, he did not seem to enjoy it in the least & let most of it drip down his chin. With the second try this weekend (rice cereal this time) he decided to show us his new trick & blew raspberries at us, sending rice cereal flying. Though both attempts were cute & I'm glad the grandparents got to see his first attempts with food, I don't think he's quite ready. Guess it's time to let the professionals give it a go. Rice cereal is going to school with him tomorrow so they can try it out for us.

This weekend was Ryder's first ride on the 4 wheeler at the ranch. After a really long night due to his cold & a day without a long nap, he was a little cranky Saturday evening. He loves to be outside & Papa was entertaining him but I knew we needed to calm him down before trying to hit the hay. So Sam & I decided to take him for a ride & show him the pasture. Worked like a charm! He loved seeing all the trees, birds & cows. By the time we got back he was in a much better mood & I knew I actually had a chance of getting him to sleep on time!

Ryders first sunglasses

In the same rocking chair as his great-great grandpa Samuel May

Other cute things I'd like to remember when I'm old ...

while he is falling asleep, Ryder grasps at his hair & ears. Its like he wants to massage his head, but just doesn't quite have the finess. So we do it together now. I rub his head & he grabs at my hand, intertwining them, holds my fingers or pats my arm. While he grasps at himself I try to tell him to be gentle with himself, but aside from his baby bear-hugs, he's not a gentle kid. He loves do do things with force! He throws his arms down at his side, bounces hard enough to get his exersaucer to rock & throws himself backwards when I'm rocking him in order to fight the sleep.

while I'm changing him he grabs my arm with both hands. He's actually pretty strong & gets a good hold. Its as if he's trying to get my attention sometimes & I visualize what it'll be like when he's older & grabbing at me to show me something exciting & new.

he started reaching for me from his exersaucer a last month as I reached out my hands & asked if he wanted up. He now reaches for other people or things when we're holding him. He knows what he wants & is ready to get to it. Today as I was unloading groceries, he was reaching for things in the door of the fridge & when I was warming up his bottle, he reached for the microwave door. It's cute to watch his little fingers explore things as simple as the door handle of the fridge. His eyes tell us how exciting it is for him.

he absolutely lights up when daddy comes home. He absolutely loves Sam & gets very excited when he hears his voice or sees him coming. I got a taste of what that's like when I came home late the other night & Sam was trying to put Ryder to bed. As I rounded the corner, I could see Ryder cuddled into Sam's shoulder & an obviously tired baby lit up as soon as Sam said "there's mommy." Melts my heart!

Can't wait to see what the next 6 months brings!!