I'm Standing!

Watch out world, I'm standing. Actually, it's more like watch out Ainsley here I come to see your toys! I'm not sure how this happened so fast. It seems like we went from crawling to standing within weeks of each other. (Well, that actually was the approximate timing.) Thankfully Andrew has been quite content to just stand and look at things. Here are some shots of him standing up like a big boy.

Who me? Yes, I'm standing and crawling up the stairs. (8/29/09)

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

Please come get me, I have no where to go! (9/01/09)

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

I'm so grown up. Grown up clothes, grown up pose. (9/03/09)

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

Barely hanging on. We are definitely one-handing most everything now. Stand and reach is his motto. (10/1/09)

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

Since I'm writing this in October now, I can tell you that his confidence has increased with this skill dramatically. Over the past two weeks we have successfully noticed some walking around tables and a desire to stand without assistance. I'm guessing we will have some videos of him walking before we reach the end of the year.

oh, and notice the lack of footwear. This is becoming a problem. Socks are a definite dislike in Andrew's book. To keep them on we have to put shoes on as well. You should see the grin he gets though when he's allowed to yank them off and wiggle his toes. I'm thinking we will suffer from cold feet all winter. He's just like his sister :)

Pony Tail

Ainsley's hair is getting longer and longer. It seems to have really hit a growth spurt as of late. Here she is sporting her first pony tail ever.

From The Rankin Family

We also have been working on perfecting braiding. I've gotten decent at braiding the pig tails. Nana managed to french braid Ainsley's hair last time she was here. We'll try to get pictures of that sometime soon.

Reading!

Ainsley has really gotten busy into reading here lately.

From The Rankin Family

I'm not sure how this happened, but we have started reading big books. Not big word or big picture books, long books. Mom's books from her childhood are still in pretty good shape and we've been reading at least two chapters a day. We successfully read through The Ordinary Princess and we only have one chapter left in Charlotte's Web. So far, Ainsley prefers The Ordinary Princess and has asked to read it again. Personally, my vote is for Stuart Little or The Trumpet of the Swan next. Don't get me wrong, we still read Curious George, Skippy Jon Jones, and other picture books but the imagination has been going crazy as we have read books with less pictures.

We also have been working diligently on writing her name, spelling words, and the sounds each letter makes in the alphabet. Some of our fun activities include finding all the letters in her name on signs while we are in the car, spelling every word we say (mom's getting better at making the sounds of the letters), and singing all the things we do.

Teaching Ainsley how to read is on our list of school items for the year. She is ready. So now, we just need to find some easy readers that she hasn't already memorized. Go Dog Go, A Fish Out of Water, Put Me in the Zoo, Hop On Pop, and other short Dr. Suess books have already been comittted to memory. I'll take suggestions if you have any.

Strike a Pose (with some Balance)

I am so into dress up now a days. I wear a dress (regular clothes or dress up) every day now. It's hard when we go to the park sometimes and I have to put on shorts, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes. I am really more into "tapping shoes" and ballet slippers. I really like jewelry too! Check out all of my necklaces and my outfit.

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

Though I am great at all of this girl stuff, it's important to have some balance. So, here I am in my garden. It's a good outdoor thing, complete with bugs and dirt.

From The Rankin Family

Our produce has been growing great. Here is a picture of our first harvest.

From The Rankin Family

The beans are the best. I may have pulled my carrots a bit too soon, they were a little bitter and not sweet. Or perhaps, that's the way home grown carrots taste. I am very excited to try our peppers. The pepper plants are almost weighed down with all of the little peppers we have growing. They are by far the most bountiful. We've got tomatoes too. Truth be told they aren't my favorites. But mom and I made some salsa with them and that was pretty good.

My First Swing

Wow, the time has flown and I am growing up so quickly. June brought the feat of sitting up by myself and with that I get to do a whole bunch of new things. I'm in the high chair which you have all seen. But check this out, now I am in a swing.

From The Rankin Family

I love swinging in our backyard with my sister right next to me. It's fun to watch her.

From The Rankin Family

I get to go higher than she does because she is just learning how to swing herself. Mom gives me smiles while she pushes me. Then she says "out" and "in" to Ainsley while she's teaching her the finer points of pumping her legs. (I think mom's doing this so she doesn't have to push two of us.)

Our sweet boy!

Yes, he's still sweet and beginning to develop a bit of a personality. I would verge on calling it demanding now. I use to pass it off as frustration on his part but now, he's demanding. His great way to communicate "more food, please!" is with a few hand smacks on the high chair tray. But he keeps the smiles coming and I look forward to seeing how his personality and Ainsley's mesh together as he begins to do more than babble and goes after things he would like to explore.

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

6.5 Months

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

I am 6 1/2 months old! We went to the Dr. today and got my stats. Surprise, surprise...I am a lean, mean, growing machine! I weighed in at a whopping 15 lbs. 4 oz. Over a pound heavier than Ainsley at this age. However, compared to the rest of the boy babies in this country I fall in the 7.5 percentile. Mom and the Dr. just laughed. I am 25.75 inches tall as well. Overall, a very proportioned little boy.

I am doing lots of things and verging on serious mobility. I can sit myself up now and am working hard on the crawling. I am eating really well and especially love fruits and orange vegetables. I am not really into the green vegetables, despite mom's persistence.

August is sure to bring changes and challenges for our family as I learn to crawl. Stay tuned to see what types of things I get into and what my various achievements are in the coming month.

Getting Ready!

I am getting closer and closer to crawling! Mom got a few snap shots up of me as I got up on all fours, started rocking, and getting ready. I have really been working on my upper body strength and can't wait to be able to move around myself.

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

Ainsley keeps demonstrating to me how I should crawl. I get a lesson at least once a day. I don't think she realizes how her life will change once I get on the move. Watch out toys, here I come! Perhaps, though it will be good for both of us. We enjoy each other so much!

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

The Cabin and a Birthday

Wouldn't you know we don't have any picture's, but we went to our friend's cabin for a few days down at the lake. It was an amazing time of fellowship and firsts for all of us as a family. Our friends have the proof (pictures) but mom got in the river. Can you believe it!

I loved the river, I went in with a life jacket and loved floating and spinning. The best though, was when dad took me on the jet ski, I kept telling him to go faster. I also went tubing with my friends Ethan and Luke. Ethan held on to me tight to keep me in the tube and dad drove fast. Andrew loved hanging out in the pack n' play outside and playing with his toys. Andrew was a great baby to vacation with.

We had campfires every night. I loved the roasted marshmallows. My friend Julia and I had a slumber party up in the loft and we read stories together at bed time every night. Then, mom, dad, Andrew, and I all slept together in the same room a few nights.

While we were at the Lake, we went to Ha Ha Tonka, a state park. We saw castle ruins and my favorite the entrance to a cave. They had a gate up so we couldn't go in but there was an exit hatch for all of the bats that live in it.

It was a great time to bond as a family and we thank our friends for offering to spend this time with us and share their cabin with us. We came home on mom's birthday. Happy Birthday, mom! Having cake was a great way to end our vacation.

From The Rankin Family

Vacation at Nana's

This year mom and the kids went to Nana's for a little vacation and some quality time. It was a blast and we got to do a lot of neat things. Mom painted a bathroom and made some artwork (things she enjoys) while I got to learn how to drive a golf cart! This was my favorite part of vacation (besides riding in Nana's convertible, just to the pool down the street and back).

From The Rankin Family

One of my driving destinations was feeding the ducks. There were ducks there, but then the geese came. A lot of them! We had to be careful because geese can be aggressive, especially when they are hungry. But that was okay because it gave me a chance to work on my throwing form.

From The Rankin Family

We also went to the pool. Nana's pool and the city pool. Both were a lot of fun. At Nana's I learned how to swim with my water wings and wasn't afraid because I can finally touch the bottom in the pool. Andrew loves the water too. He liked to play in his starfish float and he even kicked his legs and splashed.

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

At the city pool, they had fountains, water slides, and places for me to jump in. I had fun at the fountains while Andrew enjoyed hanging out with Nana.

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

Mom's favorite moment though was watching me learn to play my first board game. Candyland!

From The Rankin Family

Thanks Nana and Granddad for a great time! We can't wait to do it again next summer.

Happy Man

Here's a few pictures I snapped of Andrew while he was playing with Matthew. He loves his daddy and laughs when they play together on the floor. Andrew is really working at moving to grab objects and so badly wants to crawl.

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

He went to the Dr. at the end of last month. He finally surpassed Ainsley on the growth chart. They had been tracking within just a few ounces of each other and at the same height. This month however, he jumped by her by 1/2 an inch and 1/2 a pound. We have a growing boy on our hands!

Blueberry Picking 2009!

Ainsley has been asking and asking, "When will it be spring?" "When will be going BLUEberry picking?" (I try to help with the pronunciation of blueberry, and she just corrects me and tells me how she says it, "No mom, it's BLUEberry." The fact that they are berries is an after thought, blue is her favorite color. (She's currently asking if we can move to a blue house when our house sells and if she can have a blue room. She also points out blue houses while we drive through neighborhoods.)

So today was the big day. We had to pick a cooler Tuesday, lest we all collapse from heat exhaustion. Plus, we had to go on the first day of picking (a Tuesday), before the Berry Patch got picked out. We walked a mile with our buckets to the open patches and began the hunt.

From The Rankin Family

I'm putting berries in at this point. This was the only picture exhibiting this task. By the end of picking (3 hours later, my kids are into this) I had just 5 berries in my bucket. Where do you suppose all of those berries went? Well, in my tummy of course, and boy were they good!

From The Rankin Family

(After about 40 minutes, I (Mom) walked back a mile with Andrew in the front carrier and Ainsley riding piggy-back. Bathroom break! I knew we wouldn't make it if I didn't do the pack-mom sprint. Upon returning to the patch I was armed not only with a stroller but also with a petite porta potty for Ainsley. Good thing, we used it again about an hour later. What a work out.)

I ditched my bucket after awhile and just put my berries in mom's. I felt way more productive that way and we couldn't tell how many I was eating either. So, instead of a bucket when I found some really full BLUEberry bushes, I just used my hat. Some of these berries did make it to the bucket. (I'm glad the Berry Patch actually states it's okay to eat while you are picking!)

From The Rankin Family

Here's the berry picking crew! By the end of the day we had successfully picked 4lbs. of BLUEberries!

From The Rankin Family

Well, now Ainsley is asking, "When will it be fall for picking apples?" Maybe she's going to go into agriculture when she gets older.

Food!

Hmm, Hmm Good! No, it's not Campbell's but I think I like it. What more could a growing boy ask for than some Organic Brown Rice Cereal to get the concept of food going?

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

And boy did I get going. Here I am helping mom get the spoon to my mouth.

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

Yes, I caught on quickly to the idea of silverware. I grabbed for the bowl as well after grabbing for the spoon. I just couldn't get enough. Here's a two-handed grab for the food carrier.

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

High Chair

It's getting close to time for Andrew to start eating solids. We started Ainsley at 5 1/2 months and Andrew is going to do the same. The high chair we had for Ainsley is getting redone and will be at my parents, so I had to get a new one for Andrew. I scored exactly the one I wanted off of Craigslist (50% off!) and was able to order a new cushion as well. So, I got a brand new high chair and two new cushions for $60.00. I was really excited to try it out.

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

Andrew however is really not to sure about it.

He's really still a bit too small but you can't pass up something on Craigslist or else the next time you look it's gone! (Other score of the week, an Exersaucer, like new, for $15.00. I really get pumped about great deals, it's such a thrill.) We will probably have to use the Bumbo seat for awhile and have an Andrew centerpiece on our table. Completely attended/supervised of course.

Pool, Pool, Pool

I'm going to have to come up with some more original names for pool postings. I can tell already that this is what we will be doing a lot of this summer! It has been hot here, hotter than Texas believe it or not. We have been under excessive heat warnings for an entire week and cooling off in the pool doesn't even seem possible. By the time we get out there with sunscreen and everything, the water mom has pre-filled the pool with is like the bathtub. Tepid, not refreshing. Oh well, Andrew prefers the warm water anyway.

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

Action is what I like. Here mom caught me on the move. I love to run and jump (Cannon ball style) into my pool. By the end of the day, a real pool skimmer couldn't even get out all the grass. I also like to practice my kicks. Our grass gets a lot of watering thanks to me.

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

I don't play in the same pool as Andrew does, he has a tiny pool. But what I like to do is play beauty shop with him. Good thing he's still smaller than I am, I doubt I'll be doing this for very long. Here I am spiking his hair. (Mom's sad, it's starting to lay down now on top unless we give him a bit of water help.)

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

Check out this video of Andrew. He loves blowing bubbles or playing motor boat. He's putting some extra water in his pool by doing this. I'm still playing beauty shop and doing finger nails with my paint brush and putting on rouge. (Mom never really does this in front of me so she's not quite sure where I have learned these skills even though they are pretend.)


My favorite kiddos. Ainsley likes it when I sing "Ainsley and Andrew, you are my favorite two, and you know that I love you, yes, yes, yes I do." She cracks up and then asks for it again.

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin

Andrew just smiles. He has such a diverse personality. Laid back, introverted, extroverted, and thoughtful. Just like his personalities, he could be a totally different kid when his hair is wet.

From Andrew Tyndale Rankin