As much time out as in

Yep, nine months! I'll skip the part where I say how quickly time has gone or how big Ryan's getting (20 pounds 3 ounces and 27 5/8" at yesterday's 9 month appointment). I will share that he's mastered his army crawling, occasionally crawls on his knees, is pulling up and cruising (it's interesting to see if he'll crawl or walk first), had added "dada" to his babbling vocabulary, and continues to be a baby on the move! Which is good, because you can see by these shots how chubby he's getting. LOVE those cheeks. Without further ado, the pictures of the month:


As always, Bella feels the need to insert herself in his picture.


This is such a typical shot: Bella with her staticky hair and two thumbs in her mouth, and Ryan making a break for it headfirst off the glider. Ahh, good times!

So, in protest of paying $13.95 to have Bella's hair cut, I decided to cut it myself. Bad idea. I NEVER learn this lesson. It seemed cute right when I got done, but it's now a hot mess of layers and randomness. Enter the pigtails: they keep her hair out of her eyes, help with the myriad pieces that stick up all over her head, and look cute as all get-out.

I spent one whole morning turning Ryan's carseat box into a nice little home for Bella, complete with daisies, grass, a mail slot, and windows.

And of course, a welcome mat.

I spent another morning making foam fishies so we could string up a dowel rod and go fishing. Here's Isabella with her stringer of fish. She LOVED it, but she loved taking the yarn off the rod and smacking things with it. Yes, Ryan will be okay. :o)

She has fisherman blood on both sides-she had no choice!

And just a random morning in the sunlight, trying to enjoy these moments while the kids are still young and fit into footie pajamas (although some of Ryan's 12 month jammies are too small!).

We didn't have this shot of Bells until she was 11 months old: standing up in the crib. Of course now he jumps up and down in it, but at this point, he thought it was pretty cool.

We have a family pass to the Children's Museum so one day when Joshua was off we headed out. It is amazing and I'm so glad we get to go whenever we want. There is a gigantic blown glass "thing" in the middle of the museum, and this is a shot from the lower level, below all the pieces.

Bella was cleaning out an archaeological site-had a little brush for cleaning off dinosaur bones and everything. The pink goggles put me over the edge.

In the Barbie exhibit, there's a fashion show area where you can go backstage, put on random sparkly/girlie/slinky things, then strut your stuff on the runway while music pumps and lights flash. Bella loved it. I think I need to learn how to sew some tutus!

Ryan wasn't bored at all. Okay, so he fell asleep, but it was naptime...here he's riding an airplane whilst wearing his bomber jacket. If we only had a hat, goggles and scarf...

The toddler area was amazing: water table, sand area, magnetic wall, musical instruments, cars, trains, you name it. I made sure Isabella tried on the outfits available while she mowed the carpet. I think she makes an adorable little bee...

and quite the fetching turtle!

And of course, being a museum in Indy, there's an Indy 500 racecar. Bella made her own sounds.

And here she is, with a final look for you until next month!