6 months

Ryder is now 6 months and 1 week old!  He had his 6 month check up last Monday, and he is doing great!  They did a lazy eye test (our doctor is one of three doctors in the area to have the machine to do it) and he got a 4 out of 5 which means it is not likely for him to have lazy eye.  He weighed 19 pounds 8 ounces and was in the 75-90% for weight.  He is 29" tall and is "off the charts" for height according to the doctor.  There is no surprise there!  The doctor said that he knows one day Ryder will be famous for some sport.  I hope he's right!  Ryder is at such a fun age.  He did so great throughout Christmas.  We went on our first road trip to Houston, and he did better than I expected in the car.  Ryder does not like being in his car seat for very long, so I was really dreading the drive.  He slept the first half on the way down there, woke up and got fussy, so we stopped at a gas station with a cafe and sat in a booth and fed him.  Then we got back in the car and he fussed for a bit, but then he fell asleep and slept the rest of the way.  He got to meet a lot of Lance's family this trip, and he was so good.  Then he slept the entire way home!  I was so relieved. 
Our Christmas celebrations were great.  Ryder LOVED the presents, especially the bows.  He was pretty good and his attempts to open the presents.  Santa came and visited him, of course, because he has been such a good boy.  He got so many great things from Santa and our families!  Our living room now has a portion of it dedicated to Ryder's toys.  I cannot wait to move into a bigger house with a PLAYROOM.  It is pretty much a necessity these days. 
At about 5 and a half months, we tried cereal again with Ryder and this time he was ready for it.  He likes it and eats it pretty well.  We have only done rice cereal so far, but I can't wait to try some other flavors!  On January 3, we gave Ryder baby food for the first time-carrots.  He wasn't real sure what to think of them at first, but now he is really liking them.  He eats a whole jar at a time!  Since he is eating a whole jar at dinner, I am starting to also give him cereal in the morning.  So starting today, he is having two meals with solids along with a 6 oz bottle.  Boy likes to eat!  His other three meals are still the 8 oz bottles.  And, as of yesterday, I am hoping to "dry up" and no longer pump.  I am SO very thankful that I was able to pump so Ryder could have breastmilk the first 6 months of life, but I am so ready to have my body back!  I am very excited to be done pumping!  Ryder really likes his formula, so it was not a hard transition at all.  He would have some formula bottles here and there even when I was pumping, so he was already used to it.  
Ryder still grabs for everything!  We have to be careful at restaurants because he is very quick.  We have to move all drinks, plates, and silverware far out of his reach.  We also have started sitting him in high chairs at the restaurants, too, because he likes to sit at the table with every one.  He does not like being confined to his car seat. 
I am very curious as to when his teeth will come in, because he drools constantly and is always gnawing on something.  Luckily, he hasn't been too fussy!
He is still wearing a size 3 diaper, and he has outgrown the size 2 shoes.  He can fit into 3's now.  Even a pair of his 2.5 shoes were too small to get on his big feet. 
Ryder is also making the most hilarious facial expressions.  They are hard to describe, but he is being very expressive with his eyebrows and mouth.  It makes me laugh out loud pretty much every time he does it.
He definitely shows when he wants me to hold him now, and when I come home from work he will cry a lot of times until I come pick him up.  I know this will be a pain later, but it makes me feel good now :)  He loves me and can show it now!  He still sleeps well in the night, but sometimes he will still wake himself up by rolling over or he will wake up and want us to put the paci back in his mouth.  This is a bad habit we made when he was sleeping in the pack in play by our bed.  We have had to have him sleep in there some because his room is SO cold, and on cold nights he will sleep in our room.  It's so easy when he starts waking up to just roll over, give him his paci, and go back to sleep.  The other night when he was back in his crib, if he woke up, he wanted that same thing to happen.  I got up so many times in the middle of the night to give him his paci.  But next time, I'm going to let him cry and soothe himself back to sleep, because we have got to break this habit!  It will be hard, but I know we can do it and I'll be glad we did in the long run.
Ryder is definitely ready to be mobile.  He gets very frustrated if a toy is a couple of feet away from him while he's on his tummy on the floor and he tries so hard to move, but he hasn't quite figured out how to yet.  He can scoot, but a lot of times it just sends him backwards.  I try to show him how to get his legs under him to crawl, but he just gets mad at me.  He is a pretty good sitter now, but we still surround him with pillows since he could face plant at any moment!  He usually falls over because he wants to lean over to grab toys and can't quite keep his balance.  It's pretty funny!
He looooves our dogs.  He laughs just at the sight of them.  He loves to pet them, too.  We have to be real careful, though, because he always wants to pull Marli's ears and tail.  Marli doesn't like this too much. 
He is pretty vocal and when he cries sometimes it sounds like he says "mama" and Lance and I look at each other like..."umm...did he just say mama?"  But we figure probably not and we are just crazy.  Sometimes it also sounds like he says "dada."  I don't think he realizes what he is doing, though. 
I am so thankful for my beautiful little boy!  He has the best dimeanor and is so sweet!  He is so great when we take him places, and he hardly ever causes us any trouble.  I love him to pieces and can't imagine my life without him.  I love you Ryder Lee Robbins!