Twelve Months

Our sweet Ryder boy, this has been the fastest and most joy-filled year of our lives. You are our spunky little boy with the crinkle-nosed grin and we are so blessed to be your mommy and daddy. You love pointing to lights and fans and will usually say "this!" so I'm not sure if that counts as a first word or not. You love birds, airplanes, mommy and daddy. You really love your brother- like a lot. You chase him around the house and desperately want to run with him. When we pick you up and run after Finn, you squeal and kick your legs so fast as if you're chasing him. You do sort of a crab crawl on all fours right now and will walk with your walker. We have taken a lot of trips to the zoo in this spring weather. You are eating anything and everything, but your favorites are still meat, oatmeal, strawberries, cheese and fig bars. You love drinking milk, which is a good thing, because I'm slowly cutting back on nursing. You would still go to bed at 5:30 if we put you down, but we usually make you wait it out until at least 6:30 or 7. Thanks to daylight savings time, we have finally turned a corner and you sleep until 6 or 6:30 which feels like a mini vacation compared to 5AM.

You're still sitting comfortably in the 10% for both height and weight at 28.5" and 18lbs 10oz, so you really are our tiny little peanut. Your size doesn't hold you back as you love to climb the stairs and try to do just about anything Finn does. You clap when you hear other people clapping and bounce when you hear music.  We joke all the time that you have FOMO (fear of missing out), because you are constantly craning your neck to see what's going on around you. You are definitely my clingy little guy and have big time separation anxiety. This makes church and the gym challenging, but you usually settle down after all the tears.

You dislike the sun in your eyes (but who doesn't?)

You love being outside. This is not really a surprise, but if daddy and Finn go outside without you, you will crawl over to the door and cry until they let you out. Here is a pic proving that we are one above-ground pool away from a redneck good time.

We skipped naps one day to go see the Harlem Globetrotters thanks to some sweet friends that invited us. You were not impressed. Maybe in a few years...

Finn kept going back and forth between watching the game and "durge" (Curious George).

And you both crashed hard 5 minutes after being in the car.

Have I mentioned how much you love Finn? It makes my mama heart so happy to see you both give hugs and kisses.

You love big boy snack time with brother in the playroom.

And when there's only one swing available at the park, we improvise.

Swinging can be really hard work.

 

And now for the last of our monthly photo sessions. I love you to the moon and back sweet boy.

 He now fits into daddy's old outfit and my hope was that he'll wear it for Easter. Just in case, I wanted to try and get a few pics ahead of time. You were not impressed.

"wear are my hipster tees and skinny jeans?"

 After I had to put him in his bed so he wouldn't pull on the lamp.

 Still thinking about that lamp.

 Really sad about not being able to hold the lamp.

 Dustin's mini-me. Legs and all.

 And we're much happier without clothes.

 Like really happy.

 "oh look, there's the lamp!"