Four Months

Four months ago, at 1:42am, Ryker was the newest, purest baby on earth. He could not have come to us more perfectly. As Austin and I were holding him for the first time, he looked into both of our eyes, and we were hooked. The love shared between me, Austin, and Ryker was instantly the most powerful feeling we had ever experienced.

After four short months, this love has grown immensely. We never thought it could be possible, but we have grown more closer and stronger as a family with each passing day. We are very grateful to have Ryker in our lives. He makes us happy.

A lot has been accomplished so far in Ryker's short time with us. Here are some fun traits our little guy blesses us with every day.

• He is not so light anymore... Especially when you get to carry him around all day! He now weighs _____. [His four month appointment is on Friday. We will post the stats afterwards.]
• We would have to say that his absolute favorite thing to do right now is stand up. When we help him sit up, by pulling his hands, he automatically straightens his legs and stands. He can do this all day long!
• Our little man now measures _______ long. The large size of his hands and feet foreshadow a future basketball and volleyball career!
• His hands are constantly in his mouth. Last Saturday, he even stuck his finger so far in, that he made himself throw up. Poor guy!
• Teething has definitely come upon him. With this comes three clothes changes a day. The amount of slobber this guy produces, makes him look as though he just got out of the bath fully-clothed!
• His laugh is the sweetest thing ever! He is finally starting to laugh at funny things instead of just bursting out at random moments... :]
• Talking is a regular occurrence now. Austin and I have conversations with him all the time. He babbles, we babble back, he babbles, we babble back, etc.
• He plays with toys now!!! His favorite so far is his ball toy that makes jingling noises.
• Everything goes in his mouth.
• When we are holding Ryker and have something in our hands, he has to grab it. We love this.
• He is the most smiley kid ever. Anything and anyone will put a smile on his face!
• Along with his smiles comes shyness. When someone makes him laugh or smile, he will cover his face with his hands or turn away. It is precious.
• Sleeping is still something he needs to work on. Six hours at night is his max.
• He is not a boy who likes naps. We have to push him to get an hour in for each nap during the day.
• Everyone who comes in contact with him falls in love.

Happy four months Ryker!

In the AM

Ryker woke me up at 5:30am this morning. Of course, my husband has been gone to work already for a few hours, so it is me who has the privilege of sitting awake with him in these wee hours of the morning.

Many of you may think that I am being sarcastic when I say that I have the "privilege," but I am not. These are the times when I really have the opportunity to truly soak in every single second I have with our sweet boy. I do get to spend my entire day with him, but there is just something about the early morning when the world is sleeping, the streets are quiet, and the lights are low. It is special. It is peaceful. It is priceless.

We sit and smile at one another. I tickle him. He giggles. I do peekaboo. He kicks in excitement. It is all very precious. And I love it more than I could ever possibly love something.

These are the moments that I will never get back. Sure, I get this early morning time with him on occasions, but each is special; unique. And when the day comes that I will not have these times anymore, I will be heartbroken. That is why I have to cherish every single second; soak it all in.

Little Ryker has brought so much joy into our lives. Sure, there have been some hard times, but we would not change those for the world. They have brought us so much closer to our little man; and have taught us to appreciate him much more.

We love you, Monkey Boy!

[Pictures from just this morning.]

The Best Night's Sleep in 3+ Months

Since Ryker was four weeks old, he has been sleeping for about six hours straight during the night. We have tried to push him longer, but our attempts have failed each time. So last night, we put him to bed at the usual 7:30pm; believing he would just wake up in about six hours. Boy, were we wrong. Ryker ended up sleeping for ten hours! This is a miracle beyond miracles! I kept waking up every few hours to see if he was OK... because really, I was scared that something might have happened to him! Each time I woke up, he was fast asleep and snoring like usual. The last time I woke up was at 5:30am. Ryker was tossing and turning and I just knew that he was about to burst out crying in hunger. Of course he did, but luckily his bottle was ready at just about that time.

We are so proud of our little guy! He is growing so much. We have discussed recently that in just the past few days, it feels like Ryker has become much more of a 'little boy.' We feel that he is just progressing so fast! This scares us; but we are also very delighted at the same time. Along with him growing, he is also crying much less. However, he does have little outbursts of personality when he wants too, though.

L.O.V.E.

 is for the way you look at me!

is for the only one I see!

is very, very extraordinary!

is even more than anyone that you adore!

Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetheart!

I love you so so so much!

Oh, and who could forget the cutest, bestest little Valentine of all??

Notice how he is not smiling in any of these pictures.

Well, it took a lot out of him just to get a couple of good ones.

The rest look like this:

Our poor guy is just having a rough Valentine's Day.

Hopefully he will feel better when we go out on a little family date tonight!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Items of [Busy]ness

I sure do love my little family. There is never a dull moment over here; especially for Austin. Yesterday, Austin was at home for a total of about 55 minutes. Yep, he is that busy. So while he was off playing basketball last night, I went to the Chandler Mall with my Mom and brother. I had Ryker in the baby carrier the entire time; which really took a toll on my back. Luckily, it feels fine this morning. Then, I went and said goodbye to my little sister who is going to Georgia with her boy this weekend. They are so cute together. Remember when I set them up on a blind date? Who knew they would end up in love. Any-who, I don't really know where I am going with this post. I guess I might just be rambling on to get to some points.

Point number one may be that I lost my list of blogs. Can you see on the right side of the blog where it says, "Our Blog List"? Well, when I was redesigning our blog, the whole list disappeared! I was very sad because that is where I go to read all of your fun posts! So, I am asking if you could all just leave a comment with your blog address? That would be wonderful! I just love reading everyone's blog so very much.

I believe point number two could be that I am still going strong on my personal challenge. Last week I was 12 pound lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight. This week I am 17 pound lighter. I have gone down five more pounds this last week... Wow, who knew eating those ice cream bowls would really pay off?? Could it be because it is lactose-free ice cream that I have been eating? Either way, I am happy.

Well, I guess I really don't have a third point... But I do have a way cute picture from yesterday that just makes me smile so very big. Let's just say that Ryker has really gotten a kick out of looking at himself in the mirror recently.

Oh, and here are some other fun pictures from yesterday as well.

Have another happy Tuesday!

Three Months!

Our baby is getting old! It is amazing to us how fast he has grown. Like we always say, we love spending every moment we have with our little guy; and those little moments are going by too quickly!

Here are some fun little qualities Ryker displays each and every day.

• He loves wearing his rattle socks. When he has them on, he kicks non-stop. So cute!
• He is so smiley! There is almost always a smile on his face... even after he spits up.
• He babbles all day long. Mommy and Ryker are always having great conversations!
• He will never let us put him down. When we do, he cries. When we pick him up, he stops.
• He loves loves loves getting his gums brushed! Sometimes it is hard to even get the small toothbrush in his mouth because he is smiling and giggling so much.
• He still only drinks three to four ounces each feeding. It has been this way since he was born.
• He loves showers.
• He still has very blue eyes and very blonde hair.
• He chews on his hands constantly. We try to give him a chew toy, but he just puts a nasty face on and goes back to his hands.
• He slobbers non-stop. The bib is his continual friend.
• He dislikes his car seat very much.
• He has to look out at everyone and be in the center of the action. He cannot be left alone.

We love you, sweet boy!

The Day We Played Basketball With the Packers...

This past weekend, a serious game of basketball was played... 

Well, as serious as family vs. family basketball gets!

My family and the Packer family united to have a fun-filled Saturday morning.

Everyone sure had a good time. Family members of all ages joined in on all the fun!

Ryker even enjoyed himself!

Looks like fun, doesn't it?!

P.S. Austin, Ryker, and I are in Vegas for the weekend for a fun, family getaway!

Have a good weekend yourself!

New Years!

We had a very lovely, low-key time bringing in 2011 [which we absolutely enjoyed].
It was mainly due to the fact that Ryker had not been feeling very well the couple of days prior.
He also had not had a daytime nap in three days and was barely sleeping though his nights.
So, we thought it was best to stay home and let him have some peace and quiet.

But before we put Ryker down for the night, we showed him a couple of fireworks.
We thought he would enjoy them due to the fact that he loves, loves, loves lights...
Boy, we were wrong!
He cried [a very, very loud cry] during the first one, so I took him inside while Austin enjoyed
lighting a few more with my family.

They were beautiful.

And what is New Years without resolutions??
Just to name a few:

• Successfully complete P90X [which I will post more on later].
• Learn to cook... My family says that I should go on the show, 'Worst Cooks in America.'
• Journal more.
• Keep up on laundry. Ryker alone has more laundry than both Austin and I!
• Continue to be more patient.
• Serve more.
• Make my husband lunch to take to work/school each day.
• Be more diligent in all areas of my gospel.
• Get Austin to write down some goals... ;]

Our Poor Baby

Yesterday, Austin and I took Ryker to Cardon Children's Hospital.
He was being tested for Pyloric Stenosis.
Ryker has been having major projectile vomiting at every meal. He does not only spit up once during a feeding, [like most babies do] but will spit up about six times.
This is no fun for our little guy.
So we were sent to get an ultrasound on his little tummy see if he displayed this uncommon condition.
Poor Ryker had to fast for three hours prior to the ultrasound. Seeing that he eats every three hours, he was one unhappy boy when it came time to have the procedure done.
In addition, he was given some nasty clear liquid to drink during the ultrasound. This allowed the doctor to see his little tummy work in action.
Because he was so hungry, he drank about an ounce and then would not drink anymore.
To our surprise, he became a happy boy once more... on an empty tummy!
Our little guy knows no pain!

Daddy walking around the waiting room trying to calm Ryker down. The hunger got to our poor guy.

 This is what Ryker looked like in Daddy's arms. He is always so content there.

As you can see, due to the blurriness of this picture, Ryker was kicking like a mad-man during the ultrasound! 

 His drink...yumm! 

He became a happy boy once he knew he didn't have to drink that yucky stuff anymore!

Mommy and Ryker.

Just look at Ryker loving his Daddy! Austin is so great with our son!

So to ease on all of your suspense, Ryker does not have Pyloric Stenosis.

His blood tests and ultrasound all came back negative; meaning no surgery for him!

We could not be more excited!!!

When I spoke to Ryker's pediatrician afterwards, he told me that Ryker is just a boy who
likes to spit...Yay. :]