UPDATES:
Zoe, over the weekend you and I put up Christmas lights this past Sunday morning. We had a great time doing it and you were a big help. However there was one point where I was working on a particularly difficult strand of lights (they only worked if you shook them for a moment and then gently set them down). Anyway, I'm getting frustrated with the lights and you are talking and touching the lights, so in my frustration I blurt out "ZOE! DON'T. TOUCH. ANYTHING!!!"
Shortly after that, realizing that I am probably ruining the moment, I look at you and say "Having fun yet?" to which you replied "yes daddy". The incident reminded me of a scene from the classis Christmas movie "A Christmas Story".

Zoe, Grandma took you and mom to see the Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center. You had an "amazing" time. I was worried that you'd lose interest after 10 minutes, but you were enthralled throughout the show! You have been talking about it since you went. In fact, when you got home you showed us some of the ballet moves you picked up while watching the performance!

In previous posts I stated that Ryder was beginning to take steps. You continue to take steps and you're getting better by the day. A new development now emerging (since this morning) is that you have found a new method of transport, crawling.

Some updates on Ryder:

• You can now easily prop himself up into a sitting postion
  
• You can site up all by yourself
  
• You are currently waking up twice a night. Once at around 11:30 and once around 3:30 (that is the painful one). Mommy gets up to feed you and then you go back to sleep (most of the time)
  
• Your 2 top, front teeth are now coming in. Your mouth is like a fountain of slobber as a result
  
• You LOVE to walk! Mommy and I set a few feet apart from eachother and you walk back and forth between us. For the most part, you take a few steps and then collapse into our arms, but every now and then you'll get on a roll and walk the entire way. It shouldn't be long before you're walking on your own.
  
• You are a bruiser! You've taken a few spills resulting in you bumping your head or face and you are not even phased!
  
• Last night, I was giving you a bath and you reached for my nose. You grabbed on, hooking one of your fingers inside of my nostril and causing my nose to bleed. Thanks.
  
• You almost always greet us with a big smile when either mommy or me enters the room.
  
• You use a pacifier; when we put you to sleep, we give you your pacifier. If you are not ready to sleep you'll screw around in your crib, occassionally tossing your pacifier over the top onto the ground. We then have to come in and get it, as soon as you see us you crack that grin of yours....

We got together with Aunt Leah, Uncle Ray and your cousins Riley and Jaydon. We went to a pumpkin patch.





This is just a cute picture of Zoe and Ryder in their Halloween shirts that Nina got for them; Thanks Nina!!!:
A couple of other picture of the kids:



We went to Sydneys 4th Birthday Party:

Zoe and Jason "Throwin it up!"

Zoe and Sydney fought over this phone which allows the kids to "talk" directly to Chuck E. Cheese himself:


The Birthday Girl:



For Halloween, we went to Uncle Ray and Aunt Leahs house. Zoe had been talking about Halloween for the past 6 months and how she was going to be Dorothy, Mommy was going to be the Good Witch, Ryder would be the cowardly lion and I would be the scarecrow. Kia went out and got all the costumes. We had dinner and then spent a half hour putting on our costumes and getting ready to trick-or-treat. We finally went out; the kids lasted about 20 minutes before melting down. We called it a night.

A few pics:



A few bonus pics of Zoe as Dorothy:




Zoe with Miss Sarah; her Ballet instructor/hero:

Kia and Zoe made Halloween cookies:

Zoe:
This morning, we were in your bedroom getting you dressed and as I was putting your socks on, you said: "My feet are too big", to which I replied: "The only thing that is too big is your mouth", to which you replied: "The only thing too big is your head".
After that, you and momma gave eachother a high five.

We got you the movie "Up" yesterday. You refer to it as "Up and Down".

Ryder:
Yesterday, as Mom and I were video taping you attempting to walk, you surprised us with a new milestone... you sat yourself up for the 1st time!

Also, last night when we put you to bed, you went down "kicking and screaming". Using your newfound ability to sit yourself up, you just kept on sitting up and falling back. Finally, you were able to pull yourself up to a standing position in your crib!!! Seeing this, we had to lower your crib to be sure you didn't pull yourself completely up and over the edge.

Also, you are now able to sign "Milk" when you are hungry for milk. Its very cute.

Ryders 8 Month Picture

A few updates I want to write down before they slip my mind:
Ryder:

• About 1.5 weeks ago Ryders teeth broke through. He has been teething for a long time and finally the 2 bottom fronts broke! Here are Pix:
  
  
• Ryder, you love to stand and balance by yourself. Yeserday mom and I were recording you and you stood for the longest time yet! Way to step up under pressure.
  
• Related to the above, Ryder, you also began trying to take steps yesterday. In fact you took 1 step forward while maintaining your balance... so that counts as your 1st step!

Anecdotes and such:

Last weekend we decided that daddy would take you (Zoe) to a movie. We were going to see the 3-D version of "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs".

So we went to the very first showing of the morning at 11am. We got there early and got our popcorn and reeces-pieces, we got settled into our chairs and prepared for the show. When the previews started, we put our 3-D glasses on and began to watch. The very 1st preview was for an upcoming remake of "A Christmas Carol" (the story about the scrooge being visited by Ghosts of Christmas past. Well... when you saw the ghosts you immediately began crying your eyes out. It took me a minute to realize you were crying because the sound was so loud. When I realized you were crying I scooped you up and we left the theater. I tried to get you to go back into the theater but there was no way you were going back in there!

We wound up going to the 5pm showing that same evening and we had a much better time.

Other stuff:

Zoe can write out the alphabet by herself. We discovered that she did that tonight (09.30.09)
Ryder is beginning to say his B's and M's.
He actually said MaMa yesterday (the 29th of Sept)
Zoe went to the dentist for the 1st time on Sept. 21st:

















Ryder and Momma:


Momma surprised me by bringing you both down to meet me when I got off of my bus from work:

Ryders 7 Month Picture

Some updates:

Zoe, you love to play on the computer. You just sit there and type away. You're very good at it too! We'll type a word and you'll retype the word all by yourself. AND... if you make a mistake, you bit "backspace" to correct the mistake.
For example, we'll type
BIRDSONG
and below it you'll type
BIRDSONG

Last night we broke out some old video of Zoe when you were a baby. Ryder was asleep so me you and mom watched the movies. One of the movies was of the day you were born. We had our "birthing music" playing in the video and it made you cry. You're so emotional... mom says you get that from me.
ALSO, as you were watching the video, you tried talking to mom (the one in the video) and you said to the actual mom (She doesn't hear me!).
ALSO, you kept referring to youself in the video as "Baby Zoe".

For the past 2 weeks, your BFF Sydney has been spending the days with. You are on cloud nine! You both go 100 miles an hour ALL DAY.

On another note, we are looking forward to the arrival of Kias brother and his family. They are moving from Texas to Fort Belvoir, VA... not too far from us! They will be arriving sometime in October.

Ryder is 6 Months old!


You love to play in your excersaucer.

When we put you on your tummy, you can now prop yourself up and pivot and turn in a circle.

You loves to play and interact with Zoe. If she is leaving the room and you want her to stay, you will literally scream at her.

You will also, if within range, always reach out and try to grab a clump of Zoes hair. She is hip to your game so she has learned to keep a safe distance.

A few noteworthy updates:

• Zoe, last night I was putting you to bed and we recited "The Lords Prayer". Mom taught you the prayer. Well, when we got to the part where you are supposed to say "the kingdom, the power and the glory", I said "the kingdom, the power and the holy spirit (don't ask where I got that from)". Anyway, you were quick to correct me and you said "It's Glory daddy". Later that night, you got upset and cried and mommy came in to check on you; you looked at her as serious as can be and told her "daddy doesn't know the word of God".
  
  
• Ryder, you are getting sooo big. You are now eating "cereal". Yesterday you ate 2 entire helpings. You are sleeping better too... although you wake up EVERY morning at 4am.
  
  
• Uncle Charles, Aunt Bernie and your cousins Indigo and Orlando came to visit a few weeks ago. We have some great pictures that I'll post asap.

A few anecdotes:

Kia and I were talking about Zoe and Kia said, "I wonder what Zoe is going to be when she grows up?". To which Zoe replied, "I'm going to be a Pumpkin"

Kia and I were trying to get Zoe to do... something, neither of us can remember exactly what we wanted her to do... We were both telling Zoe to come here and do whatever it was we wanted her to do... She kept objecting saying "I want to give Ryder a hug"... for whatever reason, we weren't listening to her and weren't letting her finish her sentence or give Ryder the hug... We were basically just talking over her saying "COME HERE!"... Finally, she got fed up and yelled back at US, while pointing her finger at us for emphasis... "I WANT TO GIVE RYDER A HUG!!!" We both held back our laughter and Zoe proceeded to give Ryder a hug and then came to do whatever it was we wanted her to do.

Last night, for the most part, Ryder slept through the night... You normally wake up at 5am and cry in your crib until we get you at 6am. This morning, you woke up at 5:30am and instead of crying until 6am, you just played around in your crib. Mom and Dad hope you keep this up...

Lastly... Zoe, like Ryder, we recorded video of you immediately after you were born. Shortly before we left Arizona for Virginia, we wanted to look at your video. I went to get the video only to find that I could not find it. I tore the house apart looking for the video, but couldn't find it anywhwere. I told Kia that I couldn't find it and we were both pretty devastated. I always held up hope that it would materialize because I couldn't imagine what could have happened to it. Well, last night I decided to go over all of the tapes that we DO have to see if it was in there but mislabeled or something. Long story short... I FOUND IT!. It was on a tape labled 2007 (you were born in 2006). Both of us were very happy to have found the footage.

Uncle Rob came to visit for the 4th of July
Zoe, you took to Uncle Rob quickly. We had him, Grandma and Grandpa over for a BBQ, and you were playing with Uncle Rob. Then Uncle Rob got sleepy and fell asleep on our couch. You got very sad and couldn't understand why Uncle Rob wouldn't play with you. We kept trying to explain that he was asleep but you insisted "he's pretending!!!" and you cried and cried.

Ryder is 5 Months old!


A few of Ryders Milestones:

• Today, you rolled over onto your tummy and back for the 1st time!
  
• You can sit up (with our help)
  
• You love to play with your toes
  
• When we take baths together, you like to lean all the way forward and put your toes in your mouth!
  
• You are able to reach and grab objects
  
• You like to scream! When we are changing your diaper or when you are playing in your excersaucer, you'll just scream to test your voice.
  
• You like to do "raspberries" with your mouth. Zoe did that too!
  

Current Events:

• Mike Vick was reinstated into the NFL.
  
• Michael Jackson passed away earlier this month. He was the "King of Pop" and had millions of followers. Mommy and Daddy were never big fans (although Daddy did go to a Michael Jackson concert when I was a kid with Uncle Rob). I was a Lionel Richie fan! He was Michaels closest rival. I would later become (and still am)a big Prince fan.
  
• President Obama is in the process of trying to pass Universal Health Care. It's not going to be easy as the Republicans (aka The House of 'No') will fight it to the end AND, there are democrats who are not necessarily on board.... Losers!

As I did with Zoe, I'm going to put up Monthly pics of Ryder. Here is his 1st. Ryder is 4 Months Old:

We enrolled Zoe in her 1st ballet classes. She had a great time. Her ballet teacher (Miss Sarah) said she did great and was very focused.






We took Zoe to play with Sydney. Vanelda took the kids to the park to play tennis. This was a fairly big deal because it's the 1st time we've really left Zoe with anyone. Here are a few pics:






We celebrated the 4th of July at Grandmas house. We had a great time. Grandma and Grandpa made us dinner and then Uncle Rob, his friend Kevin, me and Zoe walked to Iwo Jima to watch the fireworks. Zoe loved it. The only downside was that after the fireworks, she did not want to walk home so I wound up carrying her the whole way.











Zoe is becoming quite the artist. She loves to draw pictures (spiders and monkeys) on her little sketchy thingamajig. Here are a few samples of her work:








Other items of note:

• For a few weeks now, Ryder has been reaching for things. When we give him baths, he reaches down to touch his feet.
  
• He really likes his excersaucer which is great because it gives us a little bit of freedom to get things done.