First Haircut

Ryder has been in desperate need of a haircut lately. His hair was out of control in the back! The curls were so long, they weren't really curly anymore. Anytime he had his head up against something, like his car seat, highchair, or laying on it, his hair would rub on his head and get so matted! As much as I hated to see the curls go, it was time.  The great thing about hair is it grows, so I know the cute curls will be back. We had Ryder sit in his high chair and I tried to distract him with books and treats while Kevin cut, but he was very scared of the hair clippers. Kevin used the clippers on the bottom and sides, and trimmed the top by hand. Ryder did pretty well overall, and didn't move around too much. I think Kevin did a great job and Ryder looks so cute!

This shows how messy and long the back had become in the back

 His hair wet and combed out, all ready to be cut

 The side view before... mullet!

 During the haircut

 After, side view. No more crazy hair!
 

After, front view :) 

Ouch!

 Today Ryder was walking with me down a hallway and as we came close to a corner, he tripped. He slammed his on the corner of the wall, and my first thought was that he had split his head open and we were going to have to rush to get stitches. I hurried and picked him up and he was crying really hard.  As soon as I was able to see his head better, I could tell he hadn't actually cut it open. It was just a really deep dent, for lack of a better word. After a couple of minutes, a little bit of blood kind of seeped out, but nothing too bad. Poor little guy! I took him to his room and rocked with him in the rocking chair. He cried for a couple minutes but then he was fine. I hate feeling helpless as a parent. The wasn't anything I could do to immediately make him feel better. I did give him some Tylenol to help with the pain and the headache that I'm sure was going to come.  Since it didn't actually cut the skin very much, I don't think he'll have a scar. He sure did get a major goose egg later in the evening though!

By the time I took these pictures, he was actually pretty happy again!

Sunday Best

 Today was our stake conference and our stake presidency was being released and a new one put in. Since it was such a big day, we had a big visitor, Elder Russell M. Nelson. It was a beautiful meeting and it was great to be taught by such an amazing man! Ryder did really well the whole two hours. I was very grateful we didn't have to take him out and walk around because I really wanted to hear the messages today, and two hours is a LONG time for a toddler to be in one spot! We dressed Ryder in his Sunday best and he looked very dapper :)

  (we didn't notice Ryder's shoes were on the wrong feet until we got to church haha!)

After church,we took off Ryder's Sunday clothes to eat some lunch. He was a little cold, so Kevin put his hoodie on him. Obviously it was like a dress on him, but he was so excited to get to wear it! He is such a cute boy!

St. Patty's Day

 For our St. Patrick's Day dinner, we made pasta with green fettuccine alfredo sauce and chicken sausage with green lemonade. It really didn't look appetizing at all, but it was yummy. We also found a green tractor that some leprechauns had left for Ryder. He was pretty excited about that!

 waiting for dinner to be ready

 Ryder enjoyed his green food

 Kevin looks unsure...

Ryder with his tractor from the leprechauns!

What We've Been Up To Lately

 I love hanging out with Ryder during the day, he is my little buddy. I can't believe he is is going to be 22 months old in a few days. He still just feels like my little baby.  Ryder is growing, talking, running, climbing, getting into everything, and playing hard!  He is still really obsessed with cars, trucks, tractors, etc.  He has to carry about 5 little toy cars everywhere we go, even if it's just to the bathroom.  He always has to have his toys tag along.

This shows a typical game of cars on the bed

 This kid loves to dance!  I love these pictures of him dancing with his sunglasses on :)

 

Just playing more cars on the bed

 Ryder trying on his new swimsuit

One morning, the first things he asked for was to put his new sandals on over his socks and for some nutterbutter cookies (or peanut cookies as he calls them).  What a funny boy.

I Love My Family

This morning it seemed like it was just going to be one of "those" days. It was 1:00 and I still had not got myself ready yet. By this point I was very ready for Ryder to take his nap. I went in to get him to sleep, which he normally doesn't have any problems with, but today he just wouldn't lie down. He would easily fall asleep in my arms, but as soon as I tried to lay him in this crib, he would start crying and stand up. I tried to get him to sleep for an hour and it just wasn't happening. I was really frustrated because if Ryder doesn't take a nap, he is extremely cranky the rest of the day. I was losing my patience with Ryder and snapping at him. My mom called right then with a couple questions about something. I wasn't exactly cheerful on the phone with her. I told her I was frustrated with Ryder. After I got off the phone with my mom, I started crying. I'm not sure why, I guess I was just feeling mad at myself for being so annoyed with Ryder. Ryder was instantly very concerned and kept asking, "Mommy?" I felt so guilty! My mom called back a couple minutes later and asked if they could come up here and we could all go get something to eat. I started crying again and said that I would like that. I hurried and got ready and met up with my mom, dad, and Logan at Costco. My mom bought a really cute church outfit for Ryder. Then we went and got some late lunch. It was really fun for me.

The point of this story is that I'm sure it wasn't the most fun afternoon for my parents or Logan, but it meant a lot to me. They dropped everything and drove half an hour up here just to see me and cheer me up. It was exactly what I needed. I'm really lucky to have a family that cares so much about me! Another really great thing about today was that Ryder ended up not being cranky at all (at least no more that usual). That in and of itself was a miracle! Thanks again Mom, Dad, and Logan!