Happy 4th of July!

We had a pretty laid back fourth of July... as in, almost nonexistent. I was on-call for work, so I wasn't allowed to go anywhere. Plus, there was only one fireworks show even remotely in the area, and the thought of driving almost an hour each direction with Ruston at night time wasn't very appealing. SO, we stayed home and watched the Boston Pops and whatnot, and then watched the DC fireworks and New York fireworks on tv. Ruston will never know what he missed his first 4th of July. :)

We did get festive in our outfits though. See? Ruston's pants have little flags on them. Yes, he's making a mess... AGAIN.

And he knows it.
I was looking through all my pictures and realized I don't have many of Ruston and me together, so I decided to try to fix that. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to take a picture by myself while wrestling Ruston to look at the camera. Here are the good ones...
Of course I look good in the one below, and he's not paying attention!
The one below is my favorite, I think.
Ruston can often be found with a cup, container, or basket of some sort. He likes to act like he's drinking out of them. Smart kid.

And lastly, right before Ruston went to bed, he had some time with daddy... BUT Ruston was trying to squirm away in this picture. :) Why can't kids just cooperate???

Childproofing!!!

Since becoming more mobile, Ruston has enjoyed getting into A LOT more things as well. My oven drawer is RARELy closed anymore, and if it is, it usually gets opened onto my toe while I'm trying to cook.

It's also difficult to cook when, not only the drawer is open, but there is a high chair being shoved into the back of my legs... here he is demonstrating how he does this.
Getting into cabinets is always fun. I'm not quite sure what he was planning to do with the wax paper, but this is one of his favorite cabinets.
Oh yes, and Ruston LOVES to climb... to anywhere he can get! The dishwasher is one of his favorites.
Yes, shortly after this picture was taken, he did fall backwards. Didn't seem to hurt him though.
The first casualty of the war on childproofing! My bread pan given to me be Kelli. Ruston pulled it out of the cabinet and dropped it on his toe. Did he cry? No... I almost did though!
SO... we now have those obnoxious little childproofers on the cabinets. And here is Ruston learning how these things work.
Now he just pulls on them constantly and slams the doors back shut... noise is always fun when you're a boy!
Just a random mischievous face for you!

I'm not going to lie though, although Ruston is a handful, he is a joy to have. We love watching him learn so much while he's getting into everything!

Cheese!!

I know I've said it before, but Ruston is a huge cheeseball for the camera. This day he was eating and started to get fussy... and as soon as I pulled out the camera, I got these faces:

It's just so hard for me to not post all the pictures of this smiley kid!!!

9 Months Old and won't sit still!!

On June 25th, Ruston turned 9 months old! It's getting harder and harder each month to get him to hold still for this bear picture!!

At 9 months, Ruston is getting really really close to walking. He LOVES to crawl (for real now, not just army crawl), and babbles when he is doing anything. Babbling includes lots of dada, baba, mama, and nana. He knows what mama, dada, and nana mean, but will also just say them whenever he wants something to come out of his mouth. Ruston's got a pretty good sleep schedule now... sleeping usually from 9 or 10 pm to about 6 am... sometimes waking up once at about 330am. I can handle that! Ruston's 9 month stats were:

height: 28 inches (38th percentile) He has short legs... maybe he'll have a growth spurt!

weight: 23.6 pounds (88th percentile)... I think he was heavier, but since he's been crawling a lot, he's not gained much either.

head circumference: 18.75 cm (95th percentile) Kid has a big head!

The doctors are very impressed with his growth and development, especially since he was almost walking already.

Learning to Share

Ruston and Taco have started to take more of an interest in each other lately. Well, I should clarify... Ruston has taken an interest in taking Taco's toys... and Taco mostly puts up with it.

Ruston and Taco were actually playing a bit here... Taco was waiting for his toy to be thrown.
But instead of throwing the toy, Ruston decides it's better to chew on it. This particular toy is his favorite to chew on because it has little feet on it, and I think it squeaks when he chews on it.
Again, Taco was really waiting for his ring to be thrown....
...and Ruston was keeping his block away from Taco. They really will be best friends when Ruston gets older!
See what I mean by best friends? Taco's waiting VERY patiently for some Cheerios...
...and he's getting some too.

Shooting with the Big Guys!

At the beginning of June we went up to East TN to a cabin of one of the tnturkey guys. They were having a get together just to hang out, shoot clay pigeons, fish, and blab about whatever happens to come up. Here's the set up for shooting. Yes, they are using the battery from the pickup in order to power the clay shooter... true southern style. :)

Some shots... Jason's out there, in the green top and tan shorts.
I think there's about 4 people set up to shoot in this picture. The black dog is Tully, the black lab of one of the other guys. We didn't bring Tucker with us this time.
And of course, in order to make sure Ruston's hearing stays intact, he was sportin' these awesome earmuffs! He wasn't quite sure what to think.

Thanks, Charity, for making sure he kept them on instead of pulling them off constantly! We had a good time that day... next time we'll have to stay longer... and MAYBE I'll try my hand at shooting. It scares me to death to try shooting a moving target!

Chewing, Moving, and Sleeping

Although we've been thinking Ruston has been teething since he was about 2 months old, he still has ZERO teeth! At any rate, Ruston has to put EVERYTHING in his mouth... including my computer.

He also enjoys climbing on, around, through, and under things.
Along with his moving, I decided it was best to start giving Ruston baths in the regular bathtub. His aunt Shannon gave us this cool Safety 1st chair that holds him in place. He LOVES baths, so being able to sit and play for awhile was neat...
...and of course I had to make sure Ruston knows that mommy and daddy love him!
With all this moving and groovin' comes some much needed rest. He looks so peaceful when he's asleep.
Naps don't last much longer than about an hour, then tormenting Taco happens again... Taco looks enthused.

Once again, after a long day, this kid can give the look of death. Mostly, he was tired. We were up at Mammer and Papa's house sitting in the porch swing. He was hot, sweaty, and tired... but I LOVE this picture!!

(PS... just a reminder that these pictures are older. I'm mostly putting all these pictures in so when I make my blog book, they will be included.)

Practice makes perfect...

Very much on the move... these are pictures from end of May/beginning of June.
Ruston really got to practicing with his walking toy... and would zoom across the room!
One of his very favorite activities is to take all the DVDs off the shelf...

See the damage??
He also uses his table toy to walk everywhere... and is very happy about it.
But he's just soooo cute. :) And a severe cheese ball for the camera!
Ruston's also taken more of an interest in Taco, although I don't think Taco feels the same way.

Stay tuned for A LOT more blogs (hopefully this weekend). I'm trying to catch up since I'm over a month behind!!!