Baby Straight Jacket

Ryder likes to be swaddled when he's sleeping and our blanket of choice is the SwaddleMe blanket, or more affectionately dubbed, the "baby straight jacket". He loves it. I'm pretty sure that Ryder sleeping through the night is directly related to us using the SwaddleMe blanket. This basically means we're huge fans. I love walking in to see this little guy totally zonked out in his perfectly contained bundle. It melts my heart. I love the way he stretches out like a cat after I undo the blanket and then smiles at me like I'm the best thing he's ever seen. Love it.

 sleep smile

 stretching out

First Mother's Day

Yesterday I got to celebrate my very first mother's day. Chad spoiled me rotten... he loves to do that. Plus, he's so good at it, I just have to let him.  Chad loves giving gifts and has been asking me for the past week if I was ready to open my mother's day gift but I made him wait til Sunday. He was so excited to give me my Kindle Fire and I absolutely love it! As I work every Sunday, I was set to work a normal shift from 6 am- 6 pm like usual. However, miracle of miracles, I got to split my shift with a coworker and only had to work from 12 pm- 6 pm! It was a blessing to be able to sleep in and then go to church with my 2 boys. It was the best mother's day present I could ask for.

I'm so grateful for this sweet little boy who is the reason that I am a mother. It's only been 3 1/2 months since we welcomed him into our family, but they have been an amazing few months. Its been tough and most of the time we are just "winging it" as we go along, but its been quite the adventure. I love the way that Ryder lights up when he sees me, that I know what makes him cry and just the right way to calm him down, that he loves me and gives me huge smiles with his big blue eyes just because I'm his mom.

My short adventure into motherhood has given me a profound and deep gratitude for my own mother. She is amazing and I am just starting to understand how many sacrifices she has made for me in the last 23 years so that I can be happy. She is such a wonderful example of how to be a mother- so incredibly selfless, charitable, loving, compassionate, and so much fun! I'm lucky to have such an incredible mother!

I hope all you moms out there had a wonderful mother's day!

A Day at Arches

 Yesterday we broadened our perspective of this crazy state we live in and got to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Arches National Park. Utah really does have so much beauty- I am officially in love with the beautiful red rock of Southern Utah. Ryder did great most of the time, he was such a good sport to let us drag him around in his hiking backpack and as long as he had someone sitting next to him in the backseat, he was fine on both 3 hour drives.  We started with a 3 mile round trip hike to Delicate Arch- you know the one, the arch on the Utah license plate. The hike wasn't too hard, but proved to be almost entirely in the sun... it's a good thing Ryder had his trusty Gilligan hat and a sun shade!

 This was how Ryder looked a lot of the time- passed out with his forehead on the front of the pack.

 We became quite accustomed to diaper changes in the backseat of the car...

 After some lunch and a quick break to feed little man, we loaded him back up in the backpack and did a 5 mile round trip hike to Landscape Arch and Double O Arch- both were beautiful and the hike was quite fun. Ryder just looked so big sitting in his hiking backpack... I couldn't stop taking pictures of him!

 One more place to check off of our, "While we Live in Utah we Have to See" list!

Bathtime

This kid loves taking a bath. He loves everything about it... As soon as I strip him down I swear he knows what's coming and starts getting excited, squirming everywhere and making all manner of high-pitched squeals. He could just like being naked, who knows. Either way, bath time is happy time at our house.

{ Ryder :: 3 months }

 Can you believe this little cutie is 3 months old? He's getting to be so much fun to have around. Here are some of his most recent developments:

• Still spitting up some, after almost every feeding, but the amount has gotten a lot smaller. We're still trying to figure out if there are certain types of foods that I'm eating that are causing him to spit up, but right now we have figured out that chocolate and dairy are no good. Bummer for momma.
• Smiles all the time, it melts our hearts.
• He's got the most beautiful blue eyes- it's the first thing that people always comment on when they meet little man. These pictures don't quite do his eyes justice.
• This guy loves to sleep! We usually put him to bed at night between 8:30 and 9:30 and then we don't hear a peep out of him until 7-8 am. Last night he slept 11.5 hours! It was awesome.
• Doing much better at tummy time and has even rolled over from his stomach to his back 5-6 times. I keep trying to get a video of him doing it, but it seems to be an accident. He always looks surprised to be on his back. 
• Loves watching TV. Doesn't matter what is actually on TV, he just likes to watch the lights and movement of whatever is on. Chad seems to think he favors ESPN...
• His new favorite thing is to kick his legs wildly while we're changing his diaper. I don't have to tell you that this can make the entire diaper changing process quite entertaining.
• He's starting to talk and coo on and off all day. He'll even respond and have a conversation if you're willing to coo along with him.
• Wearing 3-6 month size clothes which fit him perfectly, for the most part. Some of the 3-6 onesies though are almost too small because they're not long enough for his long torso!
• He's overall a happy kid with a pleasant disposition and has been so fun to have around... it's fun to incorporate him in a lot of our interests and introduce him to the things we love.