How to entertain an 8-month old...

...give him a pot, wrapping paper, and a tree branch.  Ryland played with these guys for a little over an hour straight.

First Snow

Seattle RARELY gets snow (and it's a good thing because our lack of snowplows and crazy hills makes snow a big hazard!)  We got a good 3 inches earlier in the week.  Ryland loved watching it fall!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

 Rylie-bug is in love with our decorations.  He just stares at them for the longest time.  So cute.

 

We put up our tree yesterday - we got it from the cute little tree farm where we got our tree last year as well.  Since we're on a TIGHT budget this year for Christmas - we wanted the most bang for our buck.  This 8 foot tree is nearly bare on top (haha!) - but I think if I get some more ornaments on there you'd hardly notice.  It's definitely not a pretty tree but we decided it has character... 

 It looks kind of sad... more lights and more ornaments needed!  I may have to retire the Burberry ribbon as well, as sad as that is.  This is our largest tree to date.

I was going to make some cute vintage-inspired stockings for all 4 of us (dog included) - but I have so many projects going on right now that the stockings are going to have to wait till next year.

I did Black Friday (which was actually 10 pm Thursday) at Toys R Us.  Stood in line for 40 minutes, ended up being person #200 but it was really pretty painless.  So glad I didn't get there any later than I did because it was becoming madness as I left.  But I got the wooden train set I wanted for Ryland at 50% off - so worth the chaos.  I also found great deals online at Amazon and Old Navy (Got to love online black Friday deals!)

I HEART The Foundary

If you guys haven't checked out this site - it's pretty awesome. Every day there are new deals (and they are really GOOD deals!)  Right now they have the cutest kids' toys and some really fun kitchen stuff and I am really wishing I had my paycheck already...  BUT if you sign up I get some money - so go sign up and check it out!

http://www.thefoundary.com/invite/brandister

week in review

First of all, I'm sure this doesn't bug any of you as much as it bugs me - but new blog design is in the works.  I apologize for the weird title/picture combo going on.  Like I said before, sure no one cares but me!

Rylie-pie (he keeps aquiring nicknames) is a busy guy lately.  He can get around the house pretty well now - he loves to get under things (like wedge his tooshie under the sofa and crawl in the rocking saucer of the exersaucer.)  He is not officially crawling though - he pulls himself along the ground by his arms like the creepy dead girl in The Ring.  Bad analogy, but that's what it reminds me of.  He gets super frustrated too - and will throw his little face into the carpet and scream.  I love it.  Getting mobile is hard work. 

He is a clapping machine!  He loves to applaud himself when he feeds himself.  I need to film this.  Last night he was eating cottage cheese, and every time he got a curd inhis mouth he would start clapping.  Of course my child would find ways to reinforce his own behavior... he must catch on to all the weird reward systems I put in place for myself.

He's also obsessed with books.  He literally throws a tantrum for them whenever he sees them.  I can't wait until he gets better at signing so he has a way to communicate other than screaming.  But back to the books - he loves them.  We go to the library and he picks out board books. He loves to lay down with books by himself and turn the pages.  Looks like he's going to be a bookworm like his momma!

Yesterday I was taking some 3 month photos of baby Addie.  Ryland loves Addie - as in laughs at her when she cries and wants to pull her hair out.  They have matching bear hoodies so I wanted to get a few pictures of them together.  I thought it was sweet Ryland grabbed Addie's hand when she was crying (this was the end of the photoshoot - she was sick of me)

I've been working quite a bit and it's been a great thing.  I am really appreciating every moment I spend at home with my little guy.  He's a good boy for his babysitters so that makes me feel better about leaving. 

Today I'm going to a wedding of one of my old coworkers.  Our budget is soooo tight around here right now (can't wait until Brent is done with this unpaid internship!!!)  I made a wedding present from things I had laying around and think it turned out pretty cute.  I may make an "A" for our own home.

The not so great part of this week?  My child is waking up 3 times a night to eat.  I'm exhausted.

"Enchanting Words" - Auti and Bailey EHS Cabaret 2010

My little sister is such a rockstar

 We returned to our old high school to watch the annual Cabaret Night for the first time in 8 years.  My little sister, Auti had 3 acts: a duet song, a silent monks act, and she performed an original song as well.

The highlight of the show was the original song she wrote and performed with her friend Bailey.  Love you girls, you are such great songwriters! 

And good job, EHS, in general.  Cabaret was almost what we remembered it as when we participated years and years ago (of course I mainly just painted sets, not a musical bone in my body!  Brent is the rockstar of this household) 

Videos in next posts

"We'll be a dream" - EHS Cabaret 2010

7 month photos

Finally took a few shots of the baby boy for the month!

7 months

 

How is he 7 months old?  He suddenly seems more like a little boy to me than a baby.  Ry is a constantly-getting-into-things-never-stop-moving kind of guy.  He's also a really happy, easy-going, content, and chill little dude.   I couldn't have asked for a better baby!  We are constantly asking ourselves how we got so lucky.

 Here's what our little man is up to in his 7th month (most of the milestones are related to food - because it's his favorite thing in the world):

*he is an eating machine.  If you're eating, he wants to be eating it and he's a bottomless pit.  We let him try a lot of things - he's never had any sign of any allergy so I'm not too paranoid about letting him taste our dinners.  Mostly he's eating some homemade fruit and veggie goodness but he LOVES  babyfood from a jar (he must love that slimy texture).

*In addition to his puree, oatmeal, and cereal meals - he is really enjoying Baby Mum Mum bars (think of rice cakes...) and those little dissolving fruit-flavored wheat puffs that I can't remember the name of...  

* His pincer-grasp is coming along great - so he is eating finger food like peas while we are eating dinner.  We love that he is able to feed himself a little and give us time to eat!

* Ry is sooo bored with nursing.  Of course he'll do it when he's really really hungry, but it's difficult to get him to slow down enough to eat.  From the second he wakes up he is go-go-go. It's frustrating for me, but he's still growing and gaining weight.  I wish he loved nursing - but I'm pretty sure he can't wait to be off the milk. He'll have to put up with it a while longer though.

* He is a mama's boy through and through.  He reaches for me when others are holding him and I secretly love it.

*According to our home scale - he's weighing in at about 17.5 pounds - getting pretty close to trippling his birth weight. 

*For as much as he loves tummy time and being on the floor - I am surprised to say he is not crawling.  I know he's still young for that milestone - but he's been so close for about 6 weeks.

*He is starting to pull himself up on low objects

*His favorite toys are his stacking blocks, his big recylcing truck, and his piano

* He loves to jump and he'll do it all day long.

 *he loves his sippy cup - but not as much as mom's water glass.

 *i think he's also taking an interest in the visual arts...

*He's still pretty darn cute

*He's learned to scream when he wants something.  I must have reinforced this once and it's been going strong since.  We're teaching him now that screaming does not equal getting anything.  

*Baby sign language is the cutest thing ever and he's starting to recognize some signs. He has yet to do one but he seems to know "dog" "eat" and "milk" when we sign it

and the big milestone:

*He waves hi and bye.  Just did this today to several people in a restaurant.  

Growing up way too fast around here.

Halloween Day 2

Woodland Park Zoo (right by our house) has  a "pumpkin bash" on Halloween.  Ryland wore his fuzzy warm cow suit.

 The zoo keepers placed these pumpkins all over the Elephant barn  and the let the elephants in from outside.  They were so excited to eat the pumpkins.  This one put the whole thing in his mouth.  

We also watched the snow leopards get their pumpkin treat.

 Looking at the Elk

 Fascinating!

Pumpkin Bash was so cute - think we'll make that a tradition!

Halloween Day 1

 Some of our friends were throwing a costume party Saturday night - Brent and I always have coordinating costumes but were still costume-less that morning.  We ran to value village, found power ranger suits in size 4T, then I cut them up and sewed the designs onto clothes we already had.  For lack of better planning - we went as Power Rangers. 

 Grandpa and Grandma Allred spent most of the day with us Saturday.  Too bad the weather was gross and didn't do the neighborhood businesses trick-or-treat.  We'll have to catch it next year.

 Ryland LOVES his grandparents!  So glad they could spend some time with him.

 ha! comical.

Yes, we look silly.  But we took him the prize for "Best Costume You Would Have Worn in 1995" :)  So true.

Diaper-madness

I'm a little obsessed with making diapers lately.  I've gotten all the old towels, t-shirts, and fabric scraps around my house gathered up and am sewing away.  I can make a diaper that would normally cost $10-$20 for completely free.  And they are cute!  Ignore the ugly stitching on the one above - I was out of purple thread...

I keep trying out different techniques, they are progressively getting better and better.  I've been doing a lot of projects lately - thinking about starting a craft blog so I don't clog up our family blog with showing off my projects...

Too much crafting...

I got burned-out.  Ryland ended up as icebat but I did not attempt to craft giant ugly doll costumes for Brent and myself.  I'll start next year's costumes well in advance.