Sock Bouquet

Today the little sunbeams class that Kevin and I used to teach at church came by with a gift for me to say congrats on having Ryder. It was a bouquet of flowers and baby socks in a watering can. I thought it was such a cute idea! They had each made a card to say that they missed me and Kevin. They loved looking at Ryder and making him smile by making faces. They were so cute! I miss my sweet little class!

Ryder chewing/sucking his thumb

big eyes

My Little Four Month Old

Ryder turned four months old yesterday and today he had his four month checkup. The nurse was shocked at how chunky he looked. He is in the 60th percentile for both his length and head circumference and 25th percentile for his weight. He's our long skinny banana baby! The nurse said technically he's on the thin side, but she has a hard time saying that while looking at all the rolls and dimples on his legs haha. The doctor said he's thriving, meeting his milestones, and doing great. They said looking at him now, you would never know he was a NICU baby. Yay! That's what we like to hear :) He got more shots again today, which he definitely wasn't happy about, but he seems to be ok now. Anyways, just an update on how he's growing!

My little buddy asleep on my lap

Wearing his Dragon onesie and dragon footies.

His cute rear view :)

FUN!

Last night there was a free concert at the U of U and it just happened to be a band that Kevin and I love, called Fun. It really was so much fun, just like their name promises. We took Ryder with us. It was his first concert! He seemed to enjoy himself as long as whoever was holding him was standing and dancing. The show was outside and it was such a nice night. It felt great! It was on a big grassy area with trees so we just found a nice bench towards the back so it wasn't too loud for Ryder's little ears. It was nice to get out and do something different. I hadn't been to a concert since Kevin and I first got married!

Kevin and Ryder walking to the concert

Hanging out at the show

Fun!

Ryder dancing with Kevin

Towards the end, Ryder was ready to leave

Like Father Like Son

Kevin has an outfit that he wore in his 6 month old pictures and yesterday i decided to try it on Ryder to see how it looked. It was pretty tight length wise so at 3 and a half months Ryder is bigger than Kevin was at 6 months! After comparing pictures of all of us, i decided Ryder is a pretty good mix. He definitely has my cheeks (and overall chubbiness) and my smile. He got Kevin's ears and lips (can't tell in these pictures) andhis eyes just depend on his expression. No matter who he looks like, he's perfect!

Kevin at 6 months

Ryder at 3.5 months

Amy at 6 months

Ryder's Blessing Day

Today we blessed Ryder at church. It was a great day! Ryder did really well during the blessing (no screaming, yay!) Kevin did a beautiful job! I'm so lucky to be married to such a stud! I really have to almost stop and pinch myself sometimes to think that this is my life, Kevin and I are parents to the sweetest little boy. I'm so blessed! Ryder looked so adorable in his little white blessing outfit. It was a mini white tuxedo! Afterwards, we had a luncheon at our house with lots of friends and family. It was really nice. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it out, you all made our special day even better! We really do have the BEST family :)

I love the guys in my life!

Our little family

A sweet picture of Grandma Nelson with all her grandchildren, Payton, Ryder, and Riley.

Teething?!

I'm pretty sure Ryder is starting to teethe. Just this past week or so he has been WAY more cranky and he is drooling a TON (we finally broke out the bib). He is chomping on anything he can get in his mouth, mostly his fingers. When you have to take his fingers away from his mouth for any reason, he usually freaks out and immediately stuffs them back in and chomps on them. His gums feel a bit swollen but i think the actual tooth still has a while to go before it pops out. Another thing that has not been fun is he is starting to wake up during the night again... He has been sleeping through the night consistently for about a month now, but i guess he is uncomfortable enough that it's waking him up. Poor kid! Ithought he was too young to start teething, but both my nieces got their first tooth at 4 months, so i guess you never know.

Other than that life is pretty good. Kevin started school up at the University of Utah. He's taking a full load! He had to quit his job because they wouldn't work around his school schedule. So he's looking for something part time. Hopefully he can find something soon, we'll see. We are blessing Ryder this Sunday. I'm excited! He has a cute little blessing outfit which he HATES, haha! So, i just hope he doesn't scream the whole time he's in it!

Lots of chomping on fingers lately

This is what he does when you take his fingers out of his mouth

From this face, I guess Mommy only brings a little comfort!

Grandpa's little allstar

Hanging out with Grandpa Nelson


Ryder and Kevin with their hoodies on


Me and Ryder

Ryder in his Bumbo

Playing

Kevin's New Suit

My brother, Colby, and his fiance, Rashell, are getting married on January 11th. They want all the brothers to be in black suits. All the brothers are getting new suits and so we went and had Kevin measured at the store and they didn't have anything in his size. The smallest they even had was a few sizes too big. That is the problem Kevin always runs into with suits or dress shirts... He's kind of a small guy so the only suits he has sort of hang on him, haha. So we didn't know what to do. We were looking at suits online to try and find a, hopefully cheap, suit in his size. I came across a website called studiosuits.com. They do custom made suits, shirts, jackets, vests, etc. They do dress suits for women too! For a full suit it was 99 dollars and 50 dollars more to have it made out of wool. We were very skeptical, to say the least, but searched and found good reviews on the site. So we went ahead and ordered a gray suit, a black suit, and a dress shirt. We had to take about 15 different measurements and you could pick all the different detail/style options. It said it would take 2-3 weeks to make the suit. We have been waiting patiently, and it came today! It was shipped from India, so i guess that is where they are made. Kevin tried it on, and it looks great! It fits him perfectly and the quality is very nice. The dress shirt is the same! They only sent one suit, the gray one, so we could make sure it fit how he wanted it, then if every looks good, they make the other one. So we are excited to get the black suit when it's done! We are very pleased with this company and will definitely order from them again!

The suit tag

the suit, full length view

another full length view

The inside of the suit jacket and the dress shirt

Ryder and Kevin

Ryder being bored while Kevin tried on the suit

Ryder like his dad's new suit!

I had to post a couple other pictures of Ryder just because i think they are so cute!

The other night Ryder fell asleep on my shoulder while we were watching a movie

A cute bath time face

I Am Now a Quarter of a Century Old

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. 25 seems pretty crazy because I'm now halfway through my twenties. I still can't believe sometimes that I'm married and have a little baby. Life moves so fast! On Sunday we had a birthday dinner for me. My parents and Colby and Rashell came. Also Kevin's grandparents, aunt and uncle, and brother, Brett, came. It felt so good eating outside in the backyard and just hanging out with everyone. Instead of cake this year, i wanted cupcakes. So Kevin and I made a TON and had fun decorating them. We still have a LOT leftover, so i might just have to eat a few ;) Yesterday was a really fun day. Kevin had to work but he woke me up before he left singing happy birthday to me. Then after he left, Ryder and I had a lazy morning spent cuddling mostly :) He was being so cute and was making the sweetest little coos for me. Then my mom called and invited me to lunch and shopping in Orem. So i hurried and got Ryder and myself ready and we drove down there. We met up with Colby's fiance, Rashell, at Jason's Deli. I had never been there, but it was really good. Then we went to the mall to do some shopping. It has literally been FOREVER since i have been shopping in an actual mall. Probably since the beginning of my pregnancy with Ryder. I didn't even know where to start! I ended up buying some really cute things and I'm glad Rashell and my mom were there to help :) I'm so proud of Ryder; he has been starting to stretch his feedings out a little more lately. Yesterday he went three hours between feedings and allowed me to shop uninterrupted! He's such a good little baby. When i was on my way back to Sandy, I called Kevin and asked if he could maybe get a cold glass of water for me when i got closer to home because it was so HOT and i was so thirsty. When i pulled into the driveway, there he was waiting for me with a nice big glass of ice water with two straws. One of the straws had a birthday candle sticking out of the top, hahaha. He's such a thoughtful guy :) We put Ryder down for a nap and I opened a present from Kevin. It was an adorable picture frame that i had wanted for Ryder's room. Then when Ryder woke up we went and got In and Out for dinner. It was soooo yummy. We usually never eat fast food because first of all we are too poor, haha, second because Kevin is more of a healthy eater than me and doesn't like it that often... So that was a real treat ;) It was a great birthday and thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes!!

I want to go shopping for Ryder!

My birthday is coming up, but all I can seem to look for is Ryder! This jacket is so cute! Good thing we dont have money or i'd blow it all on cute baby clothes... ;)

Our Anniverary and Other Summer Fun

This summer is seriously flying by! I cannot believe it's already August!! Today is a special day for me and Kevin; it's our 3rd anniversary! In some ways it feels like we have been married so much longer than three years because we have had so much fun and so many adventures :) I will always look back with amazement at how Kevin and I came to know each other (If you don't know the story, Kevin was my brother, Colby's, trainer on his mission in Texas and I wrote him a letter, he wrote back... wrote for 9 months, Kevin came home and we were married 6 months later!) I love that we have a record of 9 months of letters to each other, getting to know each other and falling in love (although we definitely let on in our letters!) I truly married the most incredible man i can imagine! He treats me like a queen and takes such good care of me. Seeing him as a father has only made me fall SO much more in love with him! I'm so lucky to be able to spend eternity with my best friend :) Three years down, FOREVER more to go!

Life is moving right along. Ryder is 12 weeks old this week. I love that kid :D He is just so fun to be a mom to. When we are hanging out during the day, he loves to practice "talking" to me. His little voice is so cute and is showing up more and more in his fun noises. He had his 2 month check up last month and he weighed in at 10 lbs 7 oz and 23 in long. He is in about the 60th percentile for length but only about the 30th for weight haha. He's just long and skinny. She said he looks perfect though. He got his shots at that visit and i was SO nervous for him! He cried really hard while they gave him the shots and then once i picked him up and cuddled him he was fine. He's my little champ!

He is alert most of the day now, and is getting on a pretty good schedule with naps and sleeping at night. He has started to sleep through the night more and more lately. YAY!! It's so nice to wake up and realize it's morning not 3 am. I think I'm slowly starting to catch up on the lack of sleep since he was born.

We went on a date this weekend for our anniversary. It was the first time i had left Ryder at home and gone more than a block away. When we walked out the door i had a huge lump in my throat and was on the verge of bursting into tears! Once we made it to the restaurant i was doing better and it was fun to just spend some time with Kevin and not have to worry if Ryder was going to start fussing. I was ready to see him by the time we were done. We hurried home and he was fine of course, just playing with Grandma and Grandpa Briggs. I'm going to have to slowly get used to leaving him i suppose, i just hate leaving my little bud. Also to complicate things, he refuses to take a bottle or binkie! We have been trying all kinds of different bottles and nipples and anything we can think of with no success. However, just recently he has started to at least let us put the bottle in his mouth without screaming... we are making progress!

Yesterday we went down to Orem for dinner and to hang out with my family. We played "the perfect pitch" which is a fun bean bag toss game (sounds lame, actually really fun!) We also played a bit of bocce ball. It felt great outside and it was fun to just relax with the fam. My brother, Colby, is engaged to a girl named Rashell. They make such a cute couple and I'm so excited for them. They are getting married in January because they wanted to wait for Logan to be there. I can't wait, it'll be so much fun!

Ryder loves his bath time so much. I took a few pictures of his bath last night. He just sprawls out and relaxes, it so cute! He's a funny little baby :)