The Rocking Chair

While we were in Washington, way back in JULY, Ruston really enjoyed playing on my sister's old rocking chair. While he was doing so one day, my Papa came in and said he still had his old rocker, and would give it to Ruston if we wanted it. After a little bit of love and care from my mom (it had to be glued back together in a couple places), and hefty shipping bill, it made it here to Tennessee. Ever since, Ruston has been rocking in it constantly. He LOVES it. Great Papa's chair is getting good use!

We're still working on the whole NEED TO SIT thing... but he's getting better!


And he gets a bit crooked sometimes...
Most of the time he sits like this, and when we say "rocky rocky", he rocks with a HUGE smile on his face!

Papa said he thinks the chair is about 79 years old, because he thinks he got it for his second Christmas... which would be Christmas of 1930. I'm impressed with the condition it's in!

Facial Expressions

I love this age. Ruston has sooo many facial expressions, so I thought I would share a few.

This is the excited face... usually he's laughing while scrunching his nose like this.

The angry face... due to me not giving him the camera like he wanted.
Next is the "I want" face. Mouth open, arm or arms reached out, and an "eh eh" noise coming out of said mouth stating that he wants whatever I have.
And the mischievous face. I LOVE this face. And you can almost see those teethers in there. It's hard to get a picture of them!
The happy smile... self explanatory.
And the cuddly smile. I love this one too... Ruston is SO cuddly, we love it! Notice daddy's bald head in the background? Yep, that's police academy policy.
And another happy smile face... playing in his rocker.
then there's the CHEESY smile! This was after I told him he needed to SIT DOWN in his rocker, and he just started saying "didididi" like he was telling me off... sheesh, we're in trouble!
The food smile... yyyuuuuuuummmmm.
And a close up. I believe he was eating a teething bar, which got ALL over him, but he liked it!

Who done it?!

Yes, I realize I'm WAY behind... maybe today will be more catch up day! Now on to my post!

Our house is often a large mess these days... and I used to blame that on Taco. But this time, Taco is even just as confused...

Here's the culprit!
Caught red-handed!



But it's soooo much fun because they keep coming out!
And then the end of the box came...
...so I stuffed them back into the box, thinking I would be able to use them still, but no, he started right back into them. After about 5 times of me stuffing them, and Ruston pulling them out, I finally threw them away because they were mostly torn into TINY pieces. Who says you need expensive toys... needless to say, we don't have any Kleenex in our house anymore.

Ship Me Back!!

I am not a fan of unpacking after a trip, so my luggage from WA has been half unpacked in the bedroom for awhile now. The other day, I caught Ruston playing in my suitcase. Maybe he wants to go back to WA?

I even got a wink from him! And he was almost doing his old man face... the hardest face to catch on camera!!
I like Ruston's face in this picture... just happy to play with his clothes.
We may ship him back when he's a bit older! :)

(make sure you check out all the other posts I have made... probably a good 5 or 6 recently)

Miscellaneous from the end of July

Here are just some random pictures from the end of July that don't really fit in anywhere. These are Ruston's feet... yes, that is dirt. Every day when Ruston comes home from Nanny Cindy's house, he is DIRTY! I have a child that likes to get in to things, and luckily, Cindy lets him. This is even mild... sometimes the bottoms of his little feet are completely BLACK!

I just really like this picture, so I had to include it... I think he was eating something and trying to talk too.
Most of my cupboards have child proofers on them, but the one that doesn't, has wax paper in it. He's just trying to help me cook!
I was trying to catch a picture of Ruston walking, but this was when he FIRST started walking, and by the time my camera was up to speed, Ruston was on his way down! Yay for action shots!!
This pillow we got for Tucker when he was still in the house. Now that Tucker is an outside, dog, Ruston and Taco enjoy playing on it. Ruston will often lunge himself onto it, or just bounce up and down, like he was doing in this picture. At least he entertains himself!!
I'm not really sure what he was telling me, but I'm sure it was important. Please excuse the mess behind Ruston... the little tornado had just come through!
Taco and Ruston have started to interact better and more often lately. Unfortunately, the interaction usually means Taco licking Ruston (see the tongue?). Ruston thinks it is funny... I just think it's gross, so I try to stop it most of the time!
And while I think Taco licking Ruston is gross, I think THIS is funny. This is a little green ball that has little feet on it. It's one of Taco's toys, and actually squeaks as well, but it is Ruston's absolute favorite teething toy! He carries it around in his mouth like this without holding it with his hands... pretty talented!

10 Months Old!!

I'm determined to catch up! I know I've been saying that for awhile, but really, I am!!

On July 25th, Ruston turned 10 months old! It was a tad difficult to get him to hold still for his bear shot.

We also did a standing shot because that's what he really wanted to do!

He sure is growing up fast!! At 10 months, Ruston is:

-- WALKING!!! Yes, he started walking about a week before his 10 month birthday.

--CLIMBING!! Like I said before, he figured stairs out this month, so therefore, the baby gate stays on our stairs here at home. He also really likes to try to climb anything else he can... the doggie stairs by our bed (for Taco) are a frequent.

--TOOTHLESS!! Yes, he was still toothless at 10 months old. I say he was focusing on walking, and couldn't multi-task!

--VERY cuddly still. Ruston LOVES to cuddle... you ask him for kisses, and he'll lean in and let you give him kisses. He also opens his mouth nice and wide in order to give you kisses... which really is just a ton of slobber!!

--LOVES to eat! Cheese is a favorite, but he also loves noodles, crackers, and just about anything he can get in his mouth. I don't think I know of anything he doesn't like yet.

Getting Ready for the Police Academy

At the end of July, Jason was getting ready to use his GI Bill to put himself through the police academy at Walters State in East Tennessee. Since he wasn't sponsored by a department, we also had to make sure he had shirts with his last name on them, so my job was to iron the letters on.

I think I did well, if I do say so myself!
The other major thing Jason had to do was shave his head... BALD. Here are my little twins. :)

This was the day Jason was leaving. The academy started July 26th, so he had to leave the 25th in order to be there on time. 8 weeks... more posts later on the academy!