Love this, and not so much...

I do NOT love this...

blowouts that go through three layers of clothing and all over legs.


I DO love this...

The two LOVES of my life :)

It doesn't get any better than this!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

Look who popped up to say hello...

Ryder's first two teeth!

These hard months of teething have started to pay off!  Ryder got his first tooth on November 1st.  About two weeks later, on November 13th, the second bottom tooth cut through.  He has not enjoyed the process!  Poor little bud has been waking up at night screaming sometimes because it hurts.  I hate teething because i feel so helpless to take away the pain.  He really has been such a trooper and done pretty well overall.  Let's hope he at least has a little break before the next ones come.

It's kind of hard to see them, but they are definitely there!

Ryder will be six months old this week!  I can't even believe we have had this sweet little boy with us for half a year already!  The time is slipping away so fast; too fast sometimes...  I seriously fall more and more in love with Ryder everyday.  Sometimes it's hard and he stretches me to my limits and pushes me to be a better mom.  I can't imagine life without him now.  Life before Ryder seems like a dream.  It feels like he has always been with us!  Kevin and I were talking the other day about how Ryder feels like one of his best friends and i definitely agree.  It's an overwhelming responsibility to be in charge of another human being.  To provide them with everything they need, protect them, teach them, and most of all love them!  I would not trade being a mom for anything.   I sometimes get so scared thinking about the world today and how it is going to only get worse when Ryder is older.  I just want to teach him the gospel and everything he will need to stay on the right path.  I hope i can be the kind of example he needs from a mommy.  I am so thankful to have an amazing, hardworking, smart, loving, funny, righteous priesthood holder as a husband and a father for Ryder.  I know Ryder has the perfect Dad to help him through this life.  Still, sometimes I just want to keep him my sweet little baby forever!

-Ryder has almost tripled his birth weight, yay!!  He had a hard start being so small, but he's slowly making up for it!

-He refuses to take a bottle or binkie.  He loves nursing so much, I'm hoping it wont be too hard to wean him when the time comes (we're shooting for a year) 

-His hair is finally starting to grow!  Just these past two weeks or so i have been noticing a difference.

-We introduced solids at 5 months, and his favorites so far are sweet potatoes, a strawberry/apple/banana mix. yummy!

-He LOVES standing up!  so much that he will cry if you set him down in a sitting position.  He wants to walk so bad!

-He hates when you take a toy away from him, especially when it's time to get out of the bath.  Watch out!

-He is the sweetest/silliest boy.  He is constantly giving huge smiles and giggles to mommy and daddy.

-He loves grabbing his feet/toes

-He loves grabbing ANYTHING within range of his little hands!

-He blows raspberries when he's mad, and when he cries he sounds like this, "beh-beh-beh-beh-beh!" haha, he likes the "b" sound.

-He hates taking naps!  Unless it is on Mommy's lap, then he could sleep all day haha.

-He loves to grunt himself to sleep :)

-He has conversations with himself in the car.

He is the most precious baby i could ever imagine.  I feel sooooo blessed and lucky to be his mom!  I don't know what i ever did to deserve such an amazing husband and son! 

Laughing during a diaper change

He has such a silly personality

Always chomping on something

I love his smile and I'll do anything to get one!

I'm Already Counting Down...

Guess what I was listening to a little bit this morning...

Christmas Music!!

Yes, I am one of "those" people that start listening to Christmas music as soon as November starts.  I am outnumbered in my family by people that think listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving is stupid, but at least I have my Dad on my side ;)  I just can't help it.  I LOVE everything Christmas, especially Christmas music!  I think I could listen to it in July and it would still make me smile haha.  I love Pandora.com because I can listen to all the Christmas songs I want for free. YAY!  Kevin thinks I'm crazy, haha.

October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Kevin's Birthday and The Halloween Party

Friday, October 22 was Kevin's 25th birthday.  I was thinking of doing breakfast in bed for him but he gets up so early to go to school,i didn't know if i could.  Ryder happened to wake up at 5 that morning, so i changed him, fed him, and put him back to sleep and by then it was about 5:45. So i decided to make Kevin some German pancakes.  When i brought them in to him singing happy birthday, he was really confused!  Then he noticed what i was holding and finally figured out what was going on.  He loved it!  I let him open a present from me.  The movie, "The Invention of Lying."   

He had to go to school all day, so while he was gone, i made a two layer chocolate cake from scratch.  I had never made a two layer cake before, and i didn't have cute round pans, so i just used two small rectangular ones.  It turned out really good, as far as the taste.  That evening, we went out to eat at the Olive Garden, without Ryder.  That was a huge deal for me, haha.  I was on the verge of tears the whole way to the restaurant!  It wasn't too bad though.  He had fun with Grandma and Grandpa Briggs.  I was happy to get home to my sweet baby though!  Kevin opened his gift from his parents and me.  It is called a net book.  It is pretty much just a mini lap top, more compact and light to carry around at school.  It's so cute haha!  Anyways, he was really excited about that!

After he opened his present, we sang happy birthday and had cake.  Ryder wanted some so bad! He kept grabbing for it. No chocolate allowed bud, sorry!

Ready to blow out the candles

stripping down for bath time!

On Saturday, the 23rd, Kevin and I did our annual Halloween party for our families.  It was fun!  I loved everyone's costumes!  My Dad's was my favorite!

Rashell, a penguin, and Ryder, a dragon.

My Dad, the "cereal" killer! hahaha!  I thought that was really clever!

Colby and Rashell, the cute penguins

Tyler- Jason from Friday the 13th, Chantelle- a pirate, Payton- a poodle, and Riley- a dragon. 

Tyler won "scariest costume", Chantelle won "sexiest", and Payton won "best overall".  Awesome costumes!

My mom, as a witch, and Ryder

Payton was so cute!

Uncle Colby making Ryder smile :)

The cousins, Payton, Riley, and Ryder.

Kevin's parents, Jeannine and Chad, being gross nerds? haha, i don't know, but theirs was funny!  Jeannine won "funniest costume" 

Kevin and I dressed up from the 1940's era.

Brianna and Dave as their pet pugs, Tootsie and Titan. I loved theirs.  They won "most original"

Chantelle's full costume

Cousins, Payton and Ryder, sharing a seat.  Payton was giving Ryder kisses! How cute :)

Some of the decorations

The food!

My hair, 1940's style

The back of my hair

On Sunday, the 24th, we had Kevin's family birthday dinner.  Jeannine made a couple really yummy soups, which was perfect for the weather:  chilly and super windy!

Kevin's Grandpa Sam and Grandma Gladys.  For cards that they give for birthdays and things, Sam always scans in a picture that Gladys has painted (she's very good!) and puts it on the front of the card.  How cool to have those!

Lighting the candles on the cakes.  Kevin had just told a joke, and i LOVE the look on Grandma Gladys' face!

One of Kevin's cakes

Kevin and Ryder

Ryder was wiped out by the end of the night!

October Fun

On October 11th our niece, Payton, turned one!  I can't even believe it's been a year already!  She is so dang cute!  She is just a tiny little thing and it's so funny to see her walking and running around.  We all went over to Tyler and Chantelle's for a birthday party.  It was fun to hang out.  Things are definitely getting to be more loud and crazy at family get togethers with three lil' ones running around.  It's fun though.  Payton got a lot of cute gifts and wanted to play with each one right when she opened it.  Chantelle made a giant cupcake just for Payton and it was funny to see her timidly eat it at first like she was thinking, "is this really ok that I'm doing this???"  By the end, she was covered from head to toe in frosting and had half the cake sitting in her lap!

We have been letting Ryder try rice cereal for the past month.  The other day we introduced him to banana baby food.  He wasn't sure if he liked it at first, but he loves it now.

We have a mirror in our car so we can see Ryder from the front seat.  It's so fun to watch him just chillin and looking out the windows.

Last week was Kevin's fall break from school, so one of the days we decided to take Ryder to Wheeler Farms.  He's probably still too young to appreciate the animals there, but it was still fun. 

I love my mummy :)

Ryder loves grabbing his feet when he's on his back.

We let Ryder taste some lemon juice on my finger...  he didn't seem to mind it

Ryder is now five months old and i feel like time is just flying by.  He is so fun and such a sweet boy.  He is doing something new literally everyday.  It's crazy how fast he grows and changes.  He is talking up a storm and i LOVE it.  He has the a smile that melts my heart.  I try everyday to be the kind of mommy i want to be for him, and i always fall short.  I do the best i can though.  I feel so incredibly lucky to have Ryder in our little family and to be his mommy.  He's my sweet angel :)

Tomorrow is Kevin's 25th birthday.  I'm so thankful for him and the amazing husband and father he is.  I couldn't have even dreamed of a more patient, thoughtful, hardworking, funny, amazing man to be married to.  He works so hard going to school.  He wakes up early and leaves to go to class.  He is in class all day and then stays a couple hours afterwards to study in peace and quiet.  Then he comes home and works on homework until about 2 in the morning!  He does that everyday and is so tired all the time.  He knows it will be worth it in the end and so he just keeps on going.  I am so grateful for him!!  I have the best husband and i would be completely lost without him.

I am having a really hard time leaving Ryder at all to go anywhere on a date...  I get a huge lump in my throat and start to panic just thinking about it.  I know i should probably just get over it and that it would get easier the more i do it, but it's really hard for me.  So poor Kevin has had to deal with a long five months of redbox movie rental date nights.  I'm so thankful Kevin has been understanding about this since i don't feel ready yet.  I'm trying to work up the courage to go to a dollar movie without Ryder sometime.  I'm really pathetic, i know.

On Saturday we are having our third annual Halloween party that we put on for our families.  The parties aren't anything big or great, just fun to get together, and dress up of course!  I have not had the time this year to decorate as much i usually would.  It's pretty simple.  Kevin and I are going to be dressing up from the 1940's era.  Ryder is going to be a dragon.  I'm excited to see everyone!  I will have to post pictures from the party next week.

I Love My Baby and Chocolate!

Why do i think it's hilarious when in the middle of a diaper change, my son pees ALL OVER himself.  I mean, all over.  I don't know if he was aiming for me... in that case he has terrible aim.  If he was going for his own face, then he's a great shot!  He had it on his cheeks, in his nose, ears, and little puddles of it in the inner corners of his eyes, haha.  He just looked up at me with a stunned look of surprise and then when he saw me laughing, gave a huge grin.  He peed all over his face another time when i was visiting my parent's house.  My mom and I couldn't stop laughing. Oh what an adventure diaper changes can be! Never a dull moment.  Sorry i did not get any pictures of this one.  I'll try to remember it next time, because I'm pretty sure it will happen again.

On a completely unrelated note, i found a box of truffles in our pantry and now i can't stop eating them!  It's ok though because chocolate is actually quite healthy... Did you know chocolate has nearly 8 times the number of antioxidants than are found in strawberries and 5.5 time the amount in blueberries!  A small bar of dark chocolate everyday can help keep your heart and cardiovascular system running well, reduce blood pressure in individuals with high blood pressure, and reduce LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) by up to 10 percent.  It also stimulates endorphin production, which gives a feeling of pleasure and it contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant.  Don't wash your chocolate down with milk though, it could prevent the antioxidants from being absorbed or used by your body. All the benefits are from dark chocolate.  I'm a milk chocolate kind of girl myself, but i don't mind dark chocolate.  Not too bad though huh?  So go eat some chocolate right now!  Do it for your health! ;)

Mmmm! Who needs an apple a day when you can have chocolate!