Gyros, Snow Angel & Patty Cake

I know, I know...what has Renner been up to? Well, we are in Georgia right now and I left the cord to download pics from our camera so...check back soon for pics. The updated picture from the carousel was taken with Mike's cell phone, so that's why you see that one on here.
So now, here's what Renner has been up to in the past couple of months.
First, Renner has celebrated his first Thanksgiving & Christmas.
For Thanksgiving he had lunch at his Gran & Pa's house in Hardin. He had a blast playing with all of his cousins and falling asleep on his cousin Stephanie's shoulder. That evening we went to his Mimi's house for dinner. He had a lot of fun there with his Mimi, aunts, uncles & cousin Jayden.
Then after Thanksgiving he was busy getting ready for Christmas. He has since learned how to say "My Momma" "Dada" "hu for hush" and "bye". The "hu" is the only word we know for sure that he knows what he's saying. He's also started to wave bye, bye now. The first command that he has responded to has been "pattycake". His Gran taught him that one. Everytime we say "pattycake" he starts clapping his hands. Since we've been in Georgia he's learned 2 more things. First he's learned to tilt his sippy cup & bottle up in order to get out the liquid. The other thing is that he is now dancing to music. We went to his cousin Audrey & Emma's house tonight and he was dancing to the Tigger toy that made music. He also loves Rudolph. We are staying at his Nana & Pop's house and they have a Rudolph & Santa toy that sings and he loves listening to it.
Backtracking a bit, we took Renner to his first Christmas with my folks side of the family. He has definitely learned how to ham things up for everyone. He received all kinds of great toys & clothing for Christmas. My side of the family definitely took care of the John Deere presents. His Pa & Gran gave him a John Deere ATV that he LOVES! We have the most adorable pics of him playing on it.
A couple of weeks before Christmas we took Renner to the Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens in Galveston. It was so pretty, despite the nasty rain. He even was so brave & sat on Santa's lap giving us a really great photo.
On Christmas Eve we took Renner to his first Christmas Eve church service at AHS through the Fellowship of the Woodlands church. While we attended the service, Renner went to the nursery. When it was over, we went to pick him up and he was fast asleep in a stroller. I guess he was tuckered out from the excitement.
Christmas Day we opened presents at home and then went to Mimi's house for brunch & to spend time with Daddy's side of the family. Renner racked up on toys and had so much fun playing with Jayden. Then we went home & Renner's Gran & Pa came over to watch him so Mommy & Daddy could sleep before the big drive to Georgia. We left that evening around 9:45pm.
Renner did really well on the drive and slept most of the way. Since we've been here we've had a lot of fun with family and have run Renner ragged. He's not eaten well at all. We're thinking it's either because he's overstimulated when it's time to eat or he's outgrowing baby food. I'm going for the second idea because today at the mall I ate a gyro and gave him some of the meat and he loved it! Who wants nasty, mushy baby food when you can eat the real stuff.
Okay, last thing for this blog. Last night we took Renner to Stone Mountain for the Christmas Holiday celebration that they have going on. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! They even have a woman called a Snow Angel that flies above the crowd & makes it snow on you. Well, Renner experienced that and even sat on her lap before her performance. It sure was cold last night, making it a perfect evening for a winter outing at Stone Mountain. Better run...Renner's fast asleep in bed and Momma better hit the hay too. Sweet dreams...

November Happenings

This past weekend I took Renner on a little outing Saturday. We first met up with one of my family friends from Hardin, Jon and his girlfriend Bri and her son Kayden at Chuy's. Lindsey met us there and we all had a nice lunch together.

After lunch Lindsey, Renner & I went to the Hardin HS football playoff game at Turner Stadium in Humble. After just about 30 minutes of being there, not knowing anyone and feeling out of place we decide to leave. So, before we left I called my brother because he was at the game but sitting on the other side. So he talked me into walking down the length of stadium to see if I knew anyone. That's when I ran into my good friend from high school, Morika. We chatted with her for about 10 minutes and then left.

Then Renner and I went home to rest. A little while later Erik calls to tell me that he and his girlfriend and her daughter were going to Olive Garden if we wanted to meet up with them. So Renner & I jump in the car and head to Olive Garden for a yummy dinner.

If you are wondering where Daddy was during all of this, he was at a UH football game with his brothers. Mike's been so busy with his football season at work that he hasn't had time to enjoy quality time with his brothers and his much loved Cougar football.

Some updates on Renner:

1. He's now clapping his hands

2. He has found the door stop. He likes hitting it and making it go "BOINGGGGG" and then clapping.

3. He likes drinking out of big boy cups.

Last but not least for today, Renner's Gran surprised us Friday with doing an art and craft project with Renner. They finger painted and created Renner's first turkey. It was so cute and I have to go have it laminated! Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

So busy

I know, it's been way too long since I've posted anything. The only explanation I have for the reason why I haven't posted anything is due to our little busy body. He never gives me time to sit down, download pics and write. When I try to get on the computer he cruises over and wants to touch all of the buttons.

Now on to the topic of little Renner. He's now 9 1/2 months old. When he went to the doctor for his 9 month check up he was 20.1 lbs and 29 1/2 inches long. That's 50% percentile for weight and 90% for height. He's definitely growing like a weed.

He's so busy now and all over the place. He loved Halloween and was dressed like "Puss In Boots" from Shrek. I took him to Mrs. Libby Boyce's house then the Longhofer's house, by Ling's to see Mimi and Aunt Paige and then to Daddy's football game. He was exhausted from his first Halloween.

We had a fall bash at my school for all of the kids so I decided to take Renner to it. Poor thing is so exhausted around 5pm that he acted like a zombie.

Gran has done a great job of rearranging the living room for us to give Renner more room to roam. Well, one evening Daddy decided to climb into one of Renner's play centers and got stuck. We were laughing so hard.

Renner is starting to try a lot of different types of food. We took him to Chuy's for Mimi's birthday lunch and one of the waiters brought him a sherbert push-pop. He LOVED that! We went out and bought him some for at home.

This weekend Renner spent time out in Hardin with his Gran & Pa because Daddy had a football game and Mommy was sick. So when I was getting him ready for the country I put him in a camo outfit. He was ready for his trip! (Yes that is a shiner you see on his cheek! He fell on one of his toys and bruised his little cheek bone.) Now I'm waiting for Daddy to return home with our little country boy! Next up...Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble

And on this farm...

Well, our little man is growing like a weed. He's now 8 months old and is so very active. He's pulling up to standing, cruising the furniture and crawling everywhere. He thinks every time we say "No" when he tries to touch the insides of the VCR or one of the light sockets that we are playing a game. He laughs at us.

We had him weighed & measured when he turned 8 months old on Sept. 29th and he was 19 lbs 12 ozs and was 28 1/4 ins in length. He looks so long when he stands up.

This past week his top 2 teeth came in. We had a heck of a time with him at night. Mommy was a walking zombie at work all week. Nights were a definite challenge and so exhausting.

We are giving him a variety of foods to try. He still had liked just about everything. Daddy bought him some biter biscuits from HEB today that he loved! In this picture I had just fed Renner carrots and Ryder was waiting to see if he would get any of Renner's leftovers. I call this my little redneck picture because of the dirty face and stretched out t-shirt.

Today Mike & I decided to take a little family outing since the weather was so nice. We took Renner to Old McDonald's Farm in Humble to see the animals and to pick out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch (well, it's not really a patch, it's more like pumpkins on picnic tables). When we first arrived at the farm we took a train ride around the farm so that we could see everything. Renner seemed to be mesmerized by all of the animals. There was one ostrich type bird that he saw first that he stared at for the longest time. He loved the horses, cow, llama & pigs. He didn't know what to think about the deer and by the time we made it to the rabbits Renner was tuckered out. As soon as we got back to the car and Mike sat him in his carseat his eyes closed and it was sleepy time.

Things are going well and his personality is really starting to shine through. He's so content playing by himself and seems to be quite independent but still very much a Mommy's boy. He loves his Mommy & Daddy very much and does so well with his Gran during the day time.

Until next time...(Who knows...the rate he's going with his cruising, he may be walking when I write again!)

Icky Ike

14 days later and we finally have power! Here are the updates from the past 2 weeks. It's a lot...sorry. :o)

The Hurricane...
The afternoon of Sept.12th we packed up and headed to Daddy's training room at the high school to "hunker" down for Hurricane Ike. We were there with Mimi, Uncle J, Aunt Steph, Jayden, Aunt Paigey & Uncle Robby along with the Humble ISD police and another coach and his family. Renner had fun playing on the floor with Jayden. As the winds grew stronger the boys decided to head outside to experience the winds. It was crazy how strong they became as the night progressed. We were all trying to sleep when I remember waking up around 4 am when the hurricane force winds blew through. They were so loud. At 6 am Renner woke up and it was quiet so I asked Mike if he thought we were in the eye of the storm and he said yes. I walked Renner down to the other side of the high school to watch tv with the police (they had a generator that we were able to watch the tv on). Sure enough, we were right in the middle of the eye. Renner had no clue what was going on. I think he was just enjoying being with Mommy & Daddy.

Around noon we decided to drive home to assess any damage we might have incurred. Other than losing all of our banana trees and one of our fences we were pretty fortunate compared to so many others. Here are a few pics from our neighborhood. That afternoon I took Renner and we drove out to Hardin to stay for the night since they had a generator to keep us cool. The next day we came back and stayed at home for a couple of days. The weather was beautiful and cool so it didn't bother us too much to not have power. Renner & I made the best of it by going outside one day to play. Here are some fun pics from that day of outside play.

Look what I can do Mommy! I can pull myself up to standing...

After we went back inside I had to put Renner in his bed so that I could put some things together so we could go out and do a little shopping. As I walked back into his room that little turkey was standing in his bed staring at me! I was so shocked that he was able to pull himself up all by himself. I ran to get the camera when I snapped this pic. I can ride on Pa's John Deere tractor! After Ike we spent a lot of time out in Hardin helping out there. They were hit really hard as well. One day Renner got to ride on the tractor with Pa. He thought he was something else on that big tractor. After a few days of bouncing from home to Hardin we decided we couldn't take the heat any longer so we found a hotel to stay in for a couple of days. Renner was so good through all of this especially with his routine interrupted. It is now Friday, Sept. 26th and we are home as a complete family now. Renner is in his bed fast asleep, Mommy & Daddy are trying to rest from cleaning the house the past 2 days and Ryder is passed out from exhaustion of keeping up with the chaos of the past 2 weeks. Thank you for keeping up with us and for praying for us during this challenging time of no electricity. We are so grateful to the power companies and all of the volunteers that helped during the clean-up and restoration of our great city. A huge personal thank you goes to http://www.convoyofhope.com/ for the goods we received when we were out of power. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Until the next update ... see ya later & adios Ike!

Making Memories

I don't want to make this one too long today because I don't have the cord with me to download pictures. Needless to say, we made it through Ike. I'll write all about that experience soon. As of right now we are going on day 10 of no electricity at the house. Renner & I have been in a hotel the past 2 days because we were so miserable from the very hot house. Daddy is staying with us tonight so we are hoping to all have a good night's sleep. As soon as our power is restored I promise to write all about the new happenings in Renner's life. There is a lot to tell you and I can't wait to write all about it along with some really great pictures!
Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers & phone calls during this challening ordeal.

Hunkering down for Hurricane Ike with Mommy & Daddy

Well, I have so much to write about that I'm hoping I don't make this too long. Renner is about to experience his first hurricane...hello Ike! Daddy is gone to Wal-Mart right now to get gas and a few supplies. We will be "hunkering" (that's the buzz word we keep hearing) down at the training room at Daddy's work to be on the safe side. I'm sure Renner will love that as one of his new favorite things to do is slap the wood and tile floors in our house. The training room will give him plenty of room to crawl, play and slap the floor. Renner is still eating well and is now on the 2nd foods and is loving them. I bought some rice snacks that melt in Renner's mouth this past weekend and he ate his first one a couple of days ago. He gags a little bit when he takes a bite because he's having to learn to swallow. It's so funny because of the silly look he makes on his face. He is wearing himself out everyday because he's so active. He loves to crawl all over the house, finding anything new. Mike's co-worker, Caryn, bought Renner his new favorite toy. It's a replica of Lightning McQueen from the movie "Cars" that makes all kinds of noise, music, etc. He loves to be pushed around on it. I'm sure it won't be too long before he's able to scoot around all by himself.

On Sunday we had Renner's dedication at church. Of course I was a huge ball of emotion that morning as a video was played about the miracle of children...I am getting choked up just thinking about it. Renner was so well behaved and made us very proud. He was presented with his very own Bible that is just so beautiful (thank you Gran & Pa!).

We are now a family of 4 down from a family of 6. Bonnie & Clyde have found a new home in Hardin with a family from Gran & Pa's church. The family is such a great fit for our precious first cat-children. Ryder seems a little depressed but this is allowing him to get more attention as well. It's best for all of us, even though we miss them terribly.

Mommy's good friend Meredith and her little girl, Sadie, came for their first visit this weekend. Sadie is such a beauty and Renner enjoyed checking her out while we visited.

Also over the weekend we took Renner for his first professional photo shoot. Thank you so much Mimi for organizing that for us. We had felt so bad that we hadn't had any pictures taken of him yet. I'm posting a few of the pics from the photo shoot that I thought were just too adorable. They are copyrighted (bummer) so that's why they have the weird emblem on the front of them. Next up on Renner's agenda is a party on Sunday (if not canceled from the hurricane) at the Humble Civic Center for the NICU that he was in when he was born. We are excited to see Dr. Munoz and his staff! Everyone stay safe and if you are in Ike's path ~ Hunker down!