Slacker!

I have been such a major blog slacker lately! Our lives have been so crazy busy lately I am having a hard time finding time. Seriously. But summer is over now (SUPER sad face) So maybe things will start slowing down a little. Maybe. This summer has seriously been awesome. We have been able to do so much, it has been so much fun.

Ryler is now 8 months old. He is so big. I know I say that every time, and every month it'll be true again. He just keeps growing and growing.

Ryler now has 2 teeth.

He LOOOVES pretzels. They are his favorite snack in the world.

He is still a major picky eater.

Still hates puffs. I don't know why I keep wasting my money lol (Gotta try every flavor, right?)

He is not crawling but wants to get around really bad. He ends up rolling back and forth across the room. I try explaining to him that crawling would be easier but he doesn't seem to care lol. He scoots and moves backwards.. He'll get it soon I'm sure.

He gives really sweet hugs when you first pick him up. I love it! It's like hugging fresh cookies :)

I had to get a bumbo tray cause he kept flipping out of his Bumbo. Scared me to death more than once. He is no longer allowed in his bumbo unsupervised.

He finally drinks out of a sippy cup.. sometimes.. when he really wants to. He's a stink.

He wants big people food so bad. He lunges at us whenever we have food. So I've tried giving him a few things, crackers, and what not. He seems to like just about everything. We were at my friend Erin's house for a play group last week and she had ordered pizza. I was holding him and eating mine and had no clue that he snatched someones crust off the plate next to me till ten minutes later I go to put him on the floor to play and he had eaten half and spread the other half all over his clothes. He seemed to really enjoy it too. (Great Mom, huh?)

He loves playing on my phone. Not just playing with it and tossing it around by he likes playing on it. Its a touch screen phone and he loves swiping across the screen to make the colors move. I also have a bubble popping game that he loves. I usually end up handing him my phone in the car cause he still HATES being in his seat. He'll hush right up and sit there popping bubbles. Its a new age for sure. My 8 month old can use my Android phone...

Baths are his favorite past time.

He is still in the super clingy mommy faze which is wearing on me lol

He loves Brother. Loves watching brother, loves playing with brother and doing everything brother does. I think its adorable.

He is now talking a ton. Yelling over people at times. I think its super cute :)

Love that butter ball!!

8 Months old! Wearing some big boy Jammies :)

Ryler loves being with Tray

For the most part Tray loves it too :)

I actually had Ryler in the front of the cart with me but Tray kept asking if Baby Ryler could come drive the car with him. Cute brothers.

A few weeks ago Ryler got pretty sick and had really high fevers for days. I finally took him to a local Dr. who told me "there is nothing wrong with your baby. Hes just teething." So I wasted my money there to say the least. I knew it wasn't just teething. He wouldn't eat or pee, was super cranky all the time, couldn't control his body temp and was sweating constantly, diarrhea, throwing up... he was very very sad as you can imagine. The morning after the Dr. visit we woke up and he had red spots all over his body. So I took him to the ER. LOVED that Dr. If I could take my kids to him all the time I totally would. Hmm.... ER well child check ups?? I might just have to. :) Turns out he had an ear infection, a virus, and was dehydrated. The poor guy. He got a shot and lots of gaterade and a few days later was fine thank goodness.

Relaxing after a rough day at the ER. No one likes getting shots :(

Hard to see in the pictures, but its a pic of the red spots that were all over Ry's body.

7 Months

Ryler turned 7 months old a little over a week ago and I'm finally getting the chance to update lol Life has been so fun and crazy the past couple months its hard to find time to do anything (such as clean my filthy house, and update my blog. Finding time to shower can even be tricky) But summer doesn't last long here in the great Wyo so we have been trying to take advantage of the little bit we have left. Hopefully one of these days I'll get enough time to post about all we've been able to do.

Ryler is in a completely new faze it seems. He has developed so much more personality and even some attitude lol He is still a really sweet chill guy.. but he's had no problem voicing his new opinions.

A few updates on Ryler baby...

Ryler loves to lunge and flop and roll toward things he wants. Usually landing on his face lol

He is starting to get some scooching down, but not crawling yet.

He could sit for an hour playing toys with Tray.

Tray has become his favorite person. Tray can make him laugh when no one can. If Ryler is crying Tray says "Its ok Ryler baby. Don't cry. I'm right here" lol its very cute.

Ryler does not like baby toys. He never really has. But lately he really won't play with them.

His favorite things to play with are Trays cars, garbage (wrappers, boxes, juice jugs, packages) and cooking supplies (spatulas, cups, bowls, spoons, measuring cups) I have gotten some funny looks when pulling out rubber spatulas and serving spoons out of my diaper bag for him to play with. :)

He has the most adorable laugh I have ever heard. I could listen to it all day!

He is insanely ticklish (always has been) but will now try really hard not to laugh, resulting in this growl sounding thing till he can't hold it in anymore and he busts up.

He cut his very first tooth this last week. The bottom center left one if that makes sense. Only 4 and a half months sooner than Tray. lol of COURSE my nursing baby gets the teeth... Nice right?

We are very suspicious that the other bottom center one will be coming in soon as well.

Along with teething has come some crankiness that is new to us with him.

He has become pretty clingy, crying when anyone he loves leaves the room lol

He is a very big Mamas boy right now and will give Darren all sorts of grief if I'm gone for a little bit, then beam up at me as soon as I walk back in the door. The stinker :)

He has become a Very picky eater. He wasn't bad when we first started solids. But now I will get spoonful of food and before he will open his mouth I have to put some on his lips which he will lick, THEN decide whether or not to open his mouth.

When he doesn't like something he REALLY doesn't like it. He is having a hard time with new textures especially. I tried a Gerber's Puff thing.. just a little piece. He projectile vomited to get it out of his mouth. Mushed up banana= Projectile vomit. Cheerio= Projectile vomit. Rice Cereal= Projectile vomit. Oatmeal= Projectile vomit. Green beans, peas, carrots, squash, sweet potato/corn= projectile vomit. And now even sweet potatoes will be hurled across the room. Up until a couple weeks ago those were his favorite.

But as soon as I offer him something he likes he gobbles it right down sometimes eating two full things. His number one favorite is pears. He also likes apples, bananas, peaches, and mangos. Stinker right?

Along with that attitude adjustment he absolutely refuses to get in his car seat or the bumbo if HE does not want to lol he was arch and kick and go stiff legged to where it would be impossible to get him in without hurting him.

He can stand to be in his car seat all of a few minutes now before crying and arching and getting mad. He throws such a fuss sometimes that he will be drenched with sweat and choking cause he's crying so hard. So I get worried, we pull over and pull him out of the chair and as soon as he's free he cracks a HUGE grin. I just know he's thinking "Ha ha Suckers!" lol

Despite his new little attitude I just love that butterball so much! He seriously brightens up our home. I just love him! And really... how can you get mad at this face....? :)

Strike A Pose!

A few months ago Darren and I purchased a Photo Booth.

I know what you're thinking.. "You bought a Photo Booth?"

Yes we did. And we LOVE it! We are having so much fun with it!

SO....

If you or anyone you know has an event coming up LET US KNOW!! The photo booth is SO. MUCH. FUN! And seriously awesome for any event. Weddings, Receptions, Company parties, Family reunions, Class reunions, Birthday parties, etc. It's instant entertainment and provides everyone with a very personalized favor to take home and cherish forever. :)

Your guests will seriously have so much fun. Photo strips are unlimited! We'll print out as many as your guests can make :) We have a ton of silly props to make it even more enjoyable.

We were actually inspired by a photo booth at one my best friends, Angie Frazier's wedding reception earlier this year. We thought it was such an awesome idea we thought we might try it out :)

Call or text or email or message anytime!

Mandi 435.232.6570

Darren 801.707.2050

Dmtanderson@gmail.com

(Also on Face book, of course) Mandi N' Darren Anderson

Here are a few photos from an event we did this last weekend. A Young Single Adult conference. It was so much fun!

Bath Time Boys!

High Chair Or Bath Chair??

One night at bath time Darren decided he was tired of having to sit next to the tub to make sure Ryler didn't fall under. This was his solution lol I know they make bath chairs for this very purpose, but we don't have one and I thought it was a pretty clever substitute.

They are So cute!

I sure do love these Bath Time Boys!

And they sure do love their nightly bath time!

The Golden Spikers!!

At the end of June I had the awesome opportunity of participating in the Flaming Gorge Days Volleyball Tournament! It was SO. MUCH. FUN! I haven't competed like that since high school. It was a blast!!

They started us off with 3 "Round Robin" games to determine our bracket. We ended up with 81 out of 90 points. Not too bad! So we were in a pretty good bracket. The teams we played were so much fun. We won a couple games then lost, sadly. It was single elimination.So we were out. But we put up a good fight I think. Playing against girls from a college team who never rotated lol They won one, we won one, and we were point for point all through the third game. Our brave Kara sprained her ankle in that third game. We were all terrified cause we all heard it snap! We thought for sure it was broken. I ran as fast as I could to get the medic just to come back to her walking off the field ha ha I felt so dumb. After trying unsuccessfully to convince her to stay put and ice it, she shook her head, put her shoes on, and said she was good to go. What a fighter! We finished out or last game strong! Poor Kara could hardly walk on her poor purple swollen foot for a week!

We finished out in 6 place. Not too bad considering the 20+ teams that were there. I actually don't even know what the prize for first place was. lol I should have found that out. We did come home with some killer tank tops that I will probably never in my life wear. I was pretty upset about them actually. We were promised t-shirts, but were given XL tank tops. The kind you would see on a 50 year old, leather skinned man, with a picture of a mug of beer on the back. Chalk it up to WYOMING baby :)

Thanks to my Golden Spikers for the awesome day! And thanks to all our little fans for cheering us on!!

The Golden Spikers :)

Oh ya! Slam that!

Sarah flies through the air to deliver a devastating blow!

Britt attacks the ball! What a hit!

Kara dominates with amazing skill and grace! :)

Here it comes!

My boys there supporting!

Thanks soooo much babe! It meant the world to me!

Can't take his eyes off Mama's mad skills!

This poor little fan, covered in sun screen and shade almost the entire time still came home with a sun burn :( What a trooper!

Sadly I didn't even get a pic of my brother Quin who was playing camera man. He was a huge support as well, cheering us on to get our butts in gear when we needed it most. Thanks bud!

Rollin' Rolls!

He's got it!

My babies are kind of slow rollers, but it finally clicked in Ryler's head the other night. He's all over the place now. I love when babies learn something new! We are all so excited for him :)

Make It Stop!

Ryler is 6 MONTHS old!! Where has time gone?? My first year with him is half over?? Make it stop! It's going by WAY.TOO.FAST!!

Our little chunk is growing and changing constantly. It always amazes me to watch babies learn. To watch them watching the world around them trying to figure it all out. That's our Ryler right now. He is so interested in everything. He is an avid people watcher. He watches everything going on around him with such wonder and interest. His favorite person to watch is Tray. He wiggles and squirms always trying to get closer to Tray and get in the action. This is such a fun stage, I am LOVING it! He is such a riot :)

Some new things this last month...

Ryler loves blowing Raspberries... all the time... till his shirt is soaked and then some. He and Tray get in Raspberry wars till Darren or I stop one of them. That's a lot of little boy spit flying about. lol

Ryler is sitting up a lot more. He still topples over here and there, but he's really getting the hang of it.

He loves standing up.

He loves standing, then sitting, then standing, then sitting lol giving whom ever is holding him quite the work out.

He keeps trying to flip out of his Bumbo to reach anything and everything around him.

He is interested in EVERYTHING and will flip out trying to reach what ever has caught his interest. He is so curious all the time. I love it!

He has started solids and loves them. He eats twice as much as I was planning to start him off with, and takes giant spoonfuls at a time. And will get unhappy if there is not another spoonful waiting for him after he has swallowed lol He is such an Oinker!

As a result of him starting solids he has gone from a once-a-week pooper (seriously..once a week. Tray was that way too) to a 3 times a day pooper. We go through so many diapers!! lol

His favorite toy in the whole world is a water bottle. Any water bottle really. He's nuts about them.

He has started whining just for show and will laugh when he gets the attention he wants.

He rolls from his stomach to his back, and from his back to his side ALMOST to his stomach, but always chickens out at the last minute. He has successfully made it from stomach to back about 5 times that I've seen.

He scooches. lol while on his tummy he scooches and squirms to reach whatever I've put out of his reach. He actually moves too. Slowly. But surley he inches toward his destination.

He pretends to talk.. moving his mouth open and closed over and over, it looks like he's saying 'mamamamama'

I can't think of anything else at the moment. We just love him soo much! Looking over his crib each day and seeing his face light up when he sees me absolutely makes my day :)

Ryler-Smiler!

This pictures depicts Ryler perfectly! HAPPY!

Me and my little man :) I just love him so much!

My big 6 month old!

The Water bottle.. His favorite.

Practicing Standing.

Blowin' some Raspberries! :)