Major Milestone

I believe I've said before that if given the opportunity The Meat would win a speed crawling contest.  The boy is fast and only getting faster.

But..... 

we may cross over to an upright position before he reaches top crawl speeds of 88 miles per hour. 

This week he's been standing...

On his own...

For almost whole minutes at a time.

He's 9 and a half months, so think it's safe to say he will be walking before his first birthday. 

 

  SO BIG.

 

We say, "How big is Tyce? (pause) Soooo Biggg!"  

He raises his arms above his head to show us just how big he is.  

We used to do the same thing with Ryder when he was a little tike.

It is one of the absolute cutest things of all time.  

What's even cuter is when his big brother says it out of the blue while he's using the playroom couch for leverage. Right on cue, he just raises 'em up.

  Just like that he's standing!  

On his own!

 The look of surprise on Ryder's face is priceless....it says it all.

No sleep till...

So all that talk of having a wonderful happy baby may have given me the jinx.
Oh, he's still wonderful and happy mostly all the time, but he's totally not falling into any long restful sleep pattern.
I've been successful in working some sort of night time routine.
Bath and a Meal with Bed time following around 8 or 9 every night.  Sometimes we are off by a half an hour or so, but that's fine.  The first sleep stint usually last around 3 or 4 hours, then it's every two hours.  Sometimes less and sometimes he doesn't want to go right back down, so I end up sleep-rocking him.  (By that, I mean I usually fall asleep sitting up while rocking him)
What gives?
He's a chunker so while Boo seems to be the nickname that rolls of the tongue the most, we also like to call him 'The Meat'.
Naturally, The Meat needs to keep up appearances so each of these wake periods he eats...a lot.  I haven't caved with bringing him into my bed and I'm not going to. I know this would give me a few more hours, but I also learned from past experiences that once done, this is hard to undo.
How long could this possible last?
We started giving him cereal and it makes absolutely no difference.
I mean, he scarfs it down, but he's still wakes up wanting to eat at the same time.  I believe I may have created a human garbage disposal.  I'm not even sure if the 'cry it out' method would even work in this situation.  I would probably only succeed in waking the rest of the house.
For now, I guess I'll just see where we end up.  He's almost 5 months, so I think we are still with in the average as far as sleep.

Another little treat The Meat has been testing out is the capacity and limits of his lungs and vocals.  He can make such a high pitched sound that it almost silences out for a few seconds in each yell interval.  He loves it.  It cracks him up. He's totally discovered that voice and must know how far he can take it.
Maybe I'll have a rock star.  :)

Just to keep current with brotherly love...
Ryder has been so unbelievable.  I had hoped that they would like each other, but all my expectations have been exceeded.  Ryder talks to the baby all the time and the baby actually pays attention.  He'll say, "Hi, Boo!" and the baby's eyes will light up.  They smile at each other and get each other cracking up.  When big brother walks around the room, Tyce will follow him around with his eyes.
And sometimes Ryder can calm him down when no one else can.  It's fantastic.
I just love watching them interact with each other, it melts my heart.  (and I can manage to squeeze in a few chores)

I'm amazed every day.

I just love those two boys.

Wait..It's been 7 weeks?

7 weeks seems like such a short period of time in the full scheme of things, but like such a long time since the birth happened.
Next week he goes for his shots.  The ones that "allow" him to go out into the world.  I feel like he's sturdy enough now, but why rush it?
Really don't need to get him to the grocery just so people can breathe, touch and germ all over him.  Let the preciousness of it all last just one more week.
Just one more week for me to coddle over my "newborn".
In my mind once he gets those shots, he'll be a baby not a newborn.
He's almost ready for the Bumbo....
Time is really gonna start moving after that.
He'll roll over.
Sit up on his own.
Start eating cereal.
Be able to go in the walker.
Crawl.
Walk.
Talk.
He'll be a toddler before I figure out how to handle each phase of all these weeks.

The benefit of him being my second child is that I do know the time is fast.  I can relish
cherish
live
each moment.
He's only a baby for a minute.

Just as an added Bonus I look at my 4 year old with awe.  He's perfect.
I often wonder how he grew so fast, how he was once so small?   Smaller, in fact, than his little brother.
His features are changing.  He's a little boy, not a baby, not even a toddler.
So smart, so observant, so aware.
He's really beginning to BE the big brother. 
He looks at his brother with love and sweetness.  I know he will be protective.

They smile at each other...it is a beautiful, beautiful thing.