Freeze frame time...

Oh, Mylanta! Where to even start?! This not blogging thing is getting totally out of hand; I have every intention of fixing it, but I won't make any promises! So much has happened since my last update...

As for freeze framing time...Ryder is now 10 months old...it's so bittersweet to watch him grow each day into a little toddler instead of just being my sweet baby. He is still on the go at all times...except of course at daycare, where he whines for his teacher to hold him all day (I repeatedly assure her we do not hold him all the time at home, but I doubt she believes me!). At his 9 month appointment he went down in his weight percentile to 85% (from 90), and went up in his height to 93% (from 90). No idea who he's getting that from, but we'll definitely take it while it lasts! He still only has two little bottom teeth, but I keep thinking we're going to see signs of more any day. He is starting to try more table foods, but lately each day is hit or miss on whether he'll eat anything or decide to eat everything. RyMan is standing by himself, and still cruising furniture...we've caught him taking steps several times, but the most is about 4 or 5. As soon as he realizes that he might not be holding onto something, he immediately sits down or grabs whoever or whatever is closest to him. When it comes to climbing though, the kid has absolutely no fear...stairs, chairs, the coffee table, the back of the couch...if he can get a grip with his feet, then it's fair game. He acts more and more like Tristan each day! Scary...I know.  And now for a bombardment of pictures (non-FB/Instagram pictures...mostly)!

His first trip to a Pumpkin Patch

Ryder LOVES bath time!

Yesterland Farm

Posing with Baby Jansen

Scaling Nana & Papa's couch

Ryder Man's first Snook football game

Happy Halloween!

..and onto the next holiday!

Ok...just one more!

Teaching is going really well...it could be better some days, but it could always be way worse. My students constantly make me laugh...occasionally make me want to come unglued, but they have yet to make me want to cry (KNOCK ON WOOD)! It's insane to me that we are already almost halfway through with the year! How many days until summer break?!?!? :)

Okay, now for some exciting news.....(insert drumroll here!)...we are closing on a house in College Station in the next couple of weeks! (For those of you who were thinking I was about to announce something else, THINK AGAIN!!!) :) We are ecstatic, and we feel so blessed that we are able to purchase our own home. It's a great feeling, and shopping for home decor is even better! As soon as we get unpacked and settled, I will try to post some pictures. We plan to do some work to it, so I definitely plan on taking some before/after pictures to show our progress, so stay tuned! Well, it is WAY past my bedtime, and I have to go back to school tomorrow after a much needed break! Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving!

Better late than never!

It has been entirely too long since my last post, but I have a really great excuse! I got a teaching job!! The whole thing happened really fast and extremely unexpectedly, but I know that just means God was completely in control of the entire situation. Now if I could just keep that going through my mind as my days continue to get longer and my temper shorter. My teaching position is 6th and 8th grade English at Snook (my Alma Mater). Because Tristan is still working down south, Ryder and I have moved in with my parents, and we'll be staying with them while we try to find a house in this area.

The past two weeks have been the craziest, sleepless nights I've had since Ryder was born, but I can at least say that as each day has passed I feel a little bit more at ease with my decision to make teaching a career. I honestly decided I wanted to teach because I really just didn't see myself doing anything else, but liked the idea of helping kids and having summers off with my own. Being in the classroom has truly shown me this is definitely, without a doubt, the job I was called to do at this time in my life, and that's not because it's been easy, but because I can just feel it in my heart that God has placed me in a classroom, more specifically in Snook, for a reason. With all of that being said I would greatly appreciate all prayers this school year as I'm embarking on what I know will be one of my greatest journeys!

As for my little man, I missed blogging about his 7 month birthday, so I have lots of catching up to do! He is 10 days away from being 8 months, but thinks he's much older! He is still continuously on the move...if he's awake someone is constantly running up ahead of him to block him from getting into something or right behind him to ensure that he doesn't get 20 more bumps on his head in addition to the hundreds he's probably already achieved! Two weeks ago he started crawling completely off his stomach (he had been crawling a few feet on his hands and knees, then a few feet on him stomach). He's been pulling up for awhile, but within the past week he has learned how to squat down from the standing position to get down - this is a huge accomplishment because before he would just fall straight backwards! Also in the last week, he has decided that he can walk (he's not actually taking steps unassisted yet!)...as he cruises furniture he will let go and take a step towards me, and then dive in my direction. As for teeth Ryder officially has 2 bottom teeth! The first one finally popped through Thursday morning, and the second one just yesterday. I was perfectly fine with him having no teeth, but I do feel a little bit better that he has something to show for all the crankiness we've all had to endure the past few weeks. I have so many mixed emotions about all these physical milestones...pride, fear, anxiety, and excitement, all wrapped up into one big emotional ball!

He loves bath time!
(This was taken Friday night.)

With me starting a new job, Ryder started at daycare. He is going to one that I worked at, so I felt and still feel so comforted in knowing that he is being well loved and taken care of every day while I'm at school. He has done great, except of course for nap time because probably at my own fault, he still does not put himself to sleep!

Ryder's first day of daycare

 I made the horrible mistake of letting Ryder play with my phone without a cover on it, so my camera lens is shot to h-e-double-hockey-sticks! So if some of you have wondered why I haven't texted pictures or been adding much to Facebook and Instagram, that is the reason! I could very easily go get another one with my upgrade, but I'm trying as hard as I can to hold out for the iPhone 5! Until then I will try to remember to break out that old thing we call a camera.

On another note, Miss Jansen Sloan Teat has finally made her appearance into this world! We had to wait a few days to see her because of my new job, but she was of course worth every second of that wait...Ryder will be one lucky guy if he gets to call her his girlfriend one day! ;) We are so proud of Skyla and Jonathan, and I know they are already amazing parents to that sweet, beautiful baby girl! Now the waiting game starts for Ryder's very first BOY cousin, Brice, to get here any day now!

The Sopishes with Baby Jansen
(This is as close as we let Ryder get to her this visit!)

I'll post pictures of my classroom once I remember to take my camera to school! Hope everyone has a great week!

Rowdy Ryder

Looking back on Tristan and I deciding on baby names before we even knew the sex, Tristan insisted on Rowdy. Now don't get me wrong there are some great Rowdy's out there, but I was adamant that we would not be naming my baby Rowdy. I obviously got my way (like I usually do!) and we went with Ryder, BUT holy cow do we have THE MOST ROWDY 6 month old that I've ever been around!! (I worked in childcare for several years, most of those being with infants, so I feel like I've seen a little bit of everything and am quite qualified to make that judgment call.) He is constantly moving, constantly. At night he crawls and rolls in his sleep so much that he wakes up several times from hitting the sides of his bed. I was starting to think that maybe it was just my family and me that thought he was such a big wiggle worm until we went for his 6 month check-up today and the pediatrician was exhausted after seeing him...she could barely examine him! She attempted to listen to his heart multiple times between his trying to grab her hands and stethoscope or kicking her arms away from him. I nonchalantly made the comment, "I hope this is how other babies are too..." She slowly looked up at me, smiled, and said, "No, not quite...I hope that you have a pair of roller skates ready because you're going to need them with his energy." FANTASTIC! I am extremely, extremely beyond thankful that he is so healthy, but I never imagined having such an active baby! Guess I'll be purchasing a pair of skates in the near future!

At the doctor's office attacking the baby in the mirror, and tearing up the paper like always...

 Besides being on the go at all times, we have a really hard time getting Ryder to sleep. I was always rocked as a baby, and even child, so naturally, Ryder has always been rocked to sleep, but in the last couple of months, rocking him is like wrestling a large (definitely not small) baby alligator. By the time he is finally asleep both of us are sweating and I'm the one that needs the nap! I've tried several times to put him down when he's drowsy and just let him go to sleep on his own, but of course the weakling that I am, I never let him cry more than a few minutes. Well, today the doctor said no more rocking..."he's 6 months old and it's time for him to learn how to put himself to sleep," were her exact words. She said to let him cry it out for 5 minutes, calm him down without picking him up, then cry it out for 10, calm him down, then 15, and so on. I drove home thinking, "if I have to listen to him cry for 15 minutes, then I will start crying." We got home and he ate and played for a little bit and then started fussing like he was tired, so I put him in his bed and left...about 5 minutes later (of course after rolling around like the "rowdy" maniac he is), he started crying, so I timed it and then went and calmed him down without picking him up, despite how incredibly hard it was when he grabbed my arms trying to pull himself up to me, and then left again....not even kidding yall...that kid was alseep LESS THAN 2 MINUTES later! What the heck?! Hopefully it continues to work! So all you mommas out there..the pediatricians do sometimes know what they're talking about! :) Of course most of you are probably reading this thinking the whole sleep training makes complete sense and only an idiot wouldn't have tried it that way to begin with...well, I guess I'm an idiot (or at least my child knows how to play me for one)!

I apologize for the longevity of this post! I just had so much to say about my little man, and here's just a little bit more! The big boy weighs 19.7 lbs and is 27.75 in long, still around the 90th percentile for both. No teeth yet, but he is teething. He is currently drinking 6 oz., eating fruits, vegetables, baby yogurt, and he LOVES when Daddy shares his popsicles with him (which I'm sure does not contribute to any of his hyper activity at all...lol). He is rolling over, army crawling everywhere, sitting up, getting up on all fours and rocking, and sometimes he puts his feet down and tries to go on his hands and feet...he face plants a lot. I think that's about it...I'm sure there's more, but I know this thing is long enough!!!

Two versions of his "crawling"

I really thought I was going to be better about keeping up with this blog, but apparently I have proven myself WRONG! The main reason being that our life is just not that exciting...at least our exciting is probably not on the same level as other people!

Just some updates to get you caught up with where we are...
Ryder is now almost 5 months old! It's insane how fast time has flown with him in our lives. I am truly blessed with one sweet, rambunctious, Tristan-looking baby! Tristan and I are constantly talking about how thankful we are that we get to be parents to such an amazing little human (granted it also makes us terrified of what our second will be like!) At his 4 month check-up, he was a little under 16lbs (75th percentile), and a shocking 28in long (90th percentile)! We're not sure where that height is coming from, but we'll take it! He is rolling over, army crawling, and kinda sitting up...it lasts for about a minute before he falls over. We are still working on sleeping through the night...he does it sometimes, but it's definitely not an every night kind of thing yet. Suggestions welcomed!

We are very excited to be welcoming so many new babies into our lives this next fall. My sister, Brooke, recently found out she is expecting a baby boy in late September, and one of my best friends, Skyla, is having a baby girl in early September. I've always prayed for (and begged my sisters) to make sure that at least one of my kids has a cousin his/her age, and God has answered that by bringing us Baby Brice...Ryder is even more excited because he gets a BOY cousin! :)  As far as Skyla goes, our group of friends have always loved the idea of having babies at the same time, so we are so happy for her and for our little ones. It's such a special blessing to be able to say that your childhood friends' kids will be childhood friends with your own. We look forward to many summer vacations with the Teats!

After lots of going back and forth, I've decided to attempt to find a teaching job in the fall. Tristan and I would like to settle down somewhere other than where we are (South Texas), and I'm just ready to get out of the house. He plans to continue to work down there, but we would travel back and forth on weekends between two places. We are not dead set on an ideal location, nor do I have designated place I want to teach/work, but we both agree we want to be in a small town. I'm starting to apply a little late in the game, but we will see what happens...if I don't get one, then it's just not time.

Hopefully, I'll be writing again sooner than later! Until then, here's some pictures from the past couple of months of our growing boy (and Tristan's new truck)!

The new addition to our family 

 First time eating cereal...we have now moved

on to 2nd foods because this fat boy likes to eat!

4 months old

He loves his little swimming pool (that we have yet to put water in)!

At my cousin's wedding Memorial Day weekend 

Ready for the Freestone County "World's Fair" last night

It's been way too long!

Between finding time and actually remembering, I'm finally updating this blog! It's hard to believe the last time I did a blog post we were waiting on Ryder to get here and now he's already almost 3 months old!! Time flies when you're having fun (and when you lose so much sleep)! We have been blessed with a very happy and healthy little boy!

Just a little bit about Ryder Michael Lee Sopish... He was born on Thursday, January 19th at 12:47 p.m. and weighed 6lbs 10oz and was 19.5in long. He was pretty tiny, but he took no time to fatten up! My little man is finally eating every 2-3 hours instead of 1.5-2 hours! He talks and smiles non-stop, but gets really upset if he's not acknowledged. I've been getting a hard time about him being spoiled, but like my Grandma has always said he's not spoiled, just well loved! ;) He came out looking just like his daddy, but we're finally starting to see a little bit of me in him, especially his eyes. And the talking is definitely a momma trait! :) We are so incredibly blessed that he has been so easy! Makes me scared to have a second!! Lol

I will try to keep this updated more often from now on!! Here's some pictures...you've probably already seen them on FB/instagram though! :)

 Pretty baby - 1 day old

 Finally home after an extra day in the hospital for jaundice.

 Sweet baby

 "I have crazy parents!"

 Smiling at Daddy - 8 weeks

 Happy 2 months old!

 Roly Poly Ryder

Daddy's favorite shirt :)