Our house

It's pretty bad when I blog more about the house than I do Ryker. :) The house is coming along so quickly and we are so very very very excited. The sheet rock is all up and hopefully they will be mudding and taping soon and as long as the weather stays decent.

Master bedroom/entrance to the bathroom

Ryker's room

office/spare bedroom

looking from the front room into the family room

the three car garage

8 months old

I'm a little late (as usual) posting Ryker's monthly update. It has been a little busy with our fun trip to Alabama to visit family and then Ryker bringing home a souvenir for anyone and everyone who came close to him.....the flu. It ran through our house and other family member's houses and is very kind and makes sure it gives everyone the pleasure of its company. :(
Within the last month he has not only learned to crawl, but scale the stairs and pull himself up to any and everything. He is walking along the furniture and touching everything within reach. Just within the last day or two he has started figuring out what "no" means and will stop touching whatever it is or go the other way before getting to the "no touch" zone when we call his name or tell him "NO". We have a very long ways to go, but it's a good start.
Ryker loves to wave good-bye to everyone. Sometimes it's the whole arm and sometimes its the tip of his thumb. He sat in his highchair at dinner and waved at us for a few minutes while giving us the biggest grin every.
As we were shopping the other day we went past a cute little girl in another shopping cart and when I looked back at Ryker he was leaning as far to the side as he could to try and see around me. When I moved out of his way he saw the girl and his face lit up and he started yelling. I didn't think they knew how to flirt at such a young age. At least he has good taste. :)
We are having so much fun watching him learn and grow. He is so happy and always makes us laugh.

I needed something to hold all of his toys and he has grown out of the bathtub so it is now used to hold his toys and books (and sometimes him).

Ryker posing for a few pictures

I think he's getting too big for the swing

Hahahahaha

I love it when kids fall asleep while eating. It's just so cute!

I was working on the computer when I felt something on my feet. When I looked down I saw this. I guess my slippers are soft and comfortable to snuggle with.

House update

We walked through the house with the builder on Wednesday and everything is looking great!! They were working on the siding and trim while we were there. The insulation in the outer walls is in and the next step is to insulate the inner walls and start the sheet rock. They might be delayed a few days because it is taking a bit to get someone out there to hook up the gas and if they don't have that then they have wait for it to warm up so the mud doesn't freeze. Everything is on schedule and if all continues to go well we will be closing in the end of April and after painting we will move in the beginning of May!!! We are soooo excited!!!

Updated pics of the house

Our trip to the South

Ryker and I went to Alabama to visit Jacob's sister Kaybi and her family. We were there for 6 days and had so much fun!! It was great seeing Mike, Kaybi and Luke again and Kimber for the first time. What a beauty!!
On the flight to Dallas/Fort Worth Ryker did just fine, but the flight to Montgomery was a little tougher. We were on a small plane which didn't regulate the pressure as well and Ryker's ears started hurting as we started descending. I tried giving him a bottle as we took off and were coming back down, but it just wasn't enough. He cried for the last 10-15 minutes and fell asleep just before we landed. Poor little guy.
Kaybi picked us up from the airport and took us to their house at Fort Rucker which is a 2 hour drive. It was fun catching up on things with Kaybi and watching the little towns pass by. It's a whole different world down there.
When we got to the house Ryker had a great time trying to stay in Kimber's line of sight and playing trucks with Luke. With it being Super Bowl Sunday some of Mike and Kaybi's friends came over and we watched the game. Ryker sat on Mike's lap and watched a few minutes of the game just like he was one of the boys.

He also learned how to pull himself up in the crib......GREAT!!!!

He is so proud of himself!

On Wednesday we drove to Destin, Florida where we hit the outlet mall and the beach. We found some awesome deals at The Children's Place including this yellow hoodie Ryker did not want to wear and tried taking off.

After a few minutes of not being able to see he decided it wasn't so bad having it on.

It was cool and breezy, but we went to the beach anyway. I touched Ryker's foot to the water and he didn't like that very much. I don't know if I would either with it being so cold.

The sand was also a little cool, but I had to get pictures of his little feet in the sand.

Although it was cold we still had a good time.

Ryker enjoyed hanging out in Kimber's swing.

We drove to Eufaula and toured a southern plantation home. It was big and beautiful. I had my camera with me, but didn't take any pictures, so if you want to know what it looks like you'll just have to go visit it yourself. :)

We went out to eat the last night we were there and Ryker squealed the entire time. Luckily the people were really good about it and I didn't notice any glares. While at dinner I gave Ryker a slice of lemon. He sucked on it for a second before I pulled it away. He didn't make a face, but did grab for it so I gave him another taste. This one was a little longer and when I pulled it away his face twisted and turned and he did a full body shiver. I thought he would be done with it, but I was wrong. He reached for it again and when I put it up to his mouth he clamped down with his gums and grabbed my hands so I couldn't pull away. When I finally got it away from him he didn't pull a funny face or anything. He did try grabbing it again, but I wasn't sure I would get it back at all if I gave him any more.

The morning we left the entire South got hit with a snow storm. Kaybi and I felt at home while travelling down the highway, but it was very apparent that not many people know how to drive in the snow.

The airports were cancelling flights and shutting down stores so their employees could go home before it got too bad. Lucky for us our flight out of Montgomery was the first one to fly out. We did sit in the airport for an extra 3 hours while they deiced the plane 3 times. I'm still not sure how we got out of there considering they would run out of fluid before finishing the deicing so by the time they got back the plane was iced over again.

I tried keeping Ryker awake so he would sleep on the plane, but the wait was just too long. He did great in the airport and was happy and squealing the entire time. When we took off I tried giving him a bottle, but he wouldn't take it and was soon crying because his ears hurt so bad. He cried for about half the flight.

On our way to Salt Lake he was so exhausted he slept the entire time. I was afraid his ears would hurt again, but if they did he didn't let it show. It was so nice getting home and not having to worry about catching any more planes.

We had a GREAT time!! Thank you Mike, Kaybi, Luke and Kimber!!!!!!!!!