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.