Day to Day

It's hard to remember the details of every day, so I kind of have to go back and look at the pictures I've taken to remind myself that I'm not 100% boring and have actually made some memories! 

He has officially found his feet. He's convinced there is nothing yummier than toes. 

 

 

Jake and I went on a date by ourselves! It's usually more stressful to leave Ryan than it is to bring him (he still doesn't consistently take a bottle), but we decided to ditch him with grandma this time and take a night off. One very poor quality picture later... 

We seriously rednecked it this time. Naked dinner for baby in the stroller while dad washed the truck, and a tub on the driveway. I wonder what the neighbors think. Whatever keeps the kid happy! 

  
 

And last but not least...

No picture proof at the moment, but I accidentally gave Jake a buzz cut!!! He got new clippers for me to cut his hair, and the settings are NOT standard apparently. Their 5 was actually a 1. So yeah...he handed me the clippers thinking I was going to do a longish cut to start out with, and I freakin practically shaved it. We both had a moment of panic, but it's growing on us. It's been said he looks like Michael Scofield from Prison Break. Heck, I'll take it. ;)  

Foundation

We drove down to see the house progress! We now have a full foundation, and are waiting for rough plumbing and for the slab to be poured. (We opted out of a basement because of bed rock. It would have cost someone a loooot of money to chip that away to dig down deep enough!) After those 2 things are accomplished...it's framing time, baby! Then the EXTRA fun part begins. I'm starting to feel the pressure of finding light fixtures/paint/exterior colors etc. Good pressure. :) 

 

 

We've met several of our neighbors who have wandered out to say hi, and so far we feel like we hit the jackpot. Everyone has been super friendly and personable. Super easy people to get along with (so it seems).

I am so home sick for Eagle Mountain!! Can't wait to be back.  

Laundry Hacks

First, I have to share an AWESOME homemade laundry detergent I found! It's cheap, one batch lasts a whole year, and it smells super yummy. Triple win. 

 

Here's the recipe! 

*one 4lb 12oz box of Borax 

*three bars of grated Fels-Naptha bar soap (don't ask me to pronounce that one) 

*one 4lb box of arm and hammer baking soda 

*one box of arm and hammer super washing soda 

*4lbs of Oxy Clean (I used the one with the green lid)

*2 containers of laundry softener crystals. I used Downy Unstoppables.

Mix it all up! I lined a 5 gallon bucket with a garbage bag, dumped all the ingredients in, put the lid on and shook it around. 

Each load only uses 2 tablespoons of detergent, so the whole batch is supposed to last around a year. So far we love it! It smells good and our clothes feel nice and clean. 

Note: if you're using a HE washer, put the detergent in with the clothes. Don't put it where you would normally put liquid detergent. 

Original recipe here.

 

Laundry hack #2... Baking soda.

Jake works hard and gets sweaty in his clothes, and his jeans all had that funky musky/mildew smell after you wash them that builds up over time. 

We put them in buckets (1 pair per bucket), dumped about a cup of baking soda in each, filled it up with water, and let those babies soak. Hours later we took them out and voila. The water was NASTY looking. Like a detox for pants. I'll spare you the pictures. Let's just say, we basically want to soak everything now to see what the fabric is holding onto. The best part....they smell brand new and have for a couple of washes. Winning!

Little Baby Park

I went to Paige and baby Park's fiesta themed shower over the weekend. It was a fun afternoon with yummy food and good company! 

 

Apparently I didn't take any pictures of the preggo lady, but she's pretty freakin cute. Here's one +hubby stolen from her Facebook. Please notice the mustache on her belly. 

We played a game where everyone put on a mustache and we were only allowed to speak Spanish. If you spoke in English, you had to take your stache off. Last man standing wins. It lasted about .3 seconds. 

 

I couldn't help myself and got her a practical gift of nursing pads, butt cream, nursing cover, and nipple cream. All the joys of postpartum. ;) 

Happy Baby Paige!! 

Footers and Tangents

We have footers!! And apparently as of today, the rest of the foundation too! I'm sure we'll go out there tonight, so I'll have pictures soon. 

Here's Jake checking the measurements. He's kinda OCD like that. ;) Although... I don't really blame him cause from the street it looks like a doll house. We were in full blown panic mode when we first pulled up, but turns out footers are deceiving.

 

Exactly one week ago a tractor hadn't even touched the dirt. Now we have a foundation! Crazy how speedy fast this is going. 

Ryan is loving all our time with my mom. We're gonna be pretty sad when we move. I see a lot of trips to grandma's house in our future! 

 

Jake sold his first commissioned custom table! Pretty dang cool if you ask me. Here it is in its new home. 

 

Sweet cousin friends. A couple minutes after Dax asked to hold Ryan he said "ummm can you grab him, my arm is getting very wiggly." 

Little tubby babe.  

 

 

A very important trip to IKEA

We went to IKEA yesterday to buy Ryan a high chair. Ugh, tears! He can't be big enough for a high chair! 

I love this picture because it really captures Jake as a dad. Burp rag on his shoulder, baby high up in the air, buying baby furniture. So much love for these two!

He digs it.

 

And he DIGS food. No purées for this babe, he wants the good stuff. He's all about what's on our plate. We pretty much let him try whatever we're eating that's healthy and that he can gum. He's a pro. 

 

 

"I got dis mango, mom!!!" 

 

Fourth of July and Naps

We had a pretty low key Fourth of July this year. I made us all dress patriotic for a drive in the canyon, and pretty much capped it at that. I think Ryan will enjoy fireworks more next year. I'm not sure I'll ever enjoy something that wakes my baby up over and over again....

 

I spy a flag! 

 

We also took advantage of the Independence Day sales and picked out our appliances for the house! Ryan tested the integrity of all the companies that claimed their stainless was "smudge proof" ;) 

 

Have I mentioned our little dude isn't a great napper? He goes back and forth between sleeping awesome and horrible at night, but he has never really taken solid naps. Therefore, whenever he does, I end up snapping a pic of the craziness. I also make really good use of the time by napping with him, duh. We love the cuddles.

 

 

Who doesn't love a sleeping baby!?  

 

Three, Four, and Five Month Update!

I've been horrible at taking monthly pictures. Better luck next time. I have, however, written milestone updates that I want to document here. With some serious cuteness following, of course! 

At three months Ryan:

 •giggled for the first time...we even caught it on camera :) •has the sweetest bashful smile •loves to lay on the floor and kick like crazy •still absolutely refuses a bottle and binky •has started to grab on to things and put them in his mouth 

We also found out this month that our little guy has a heart defect called Ventricular Septal Defect. As scary as it sounds, we've been reassured that the little holes should close on their own with some time. We are so grateful to our pediatrician who is thorough and sent us to a specialist! Life is so so good being his mom ☺️

 

 

At Four months Ryan:

•grew a TON! He weighs just shy of 15 lbs, and is 27 inches long •loves standing and playing with toys •is finally growing out of hating the car (praying I didn't just jinx myself) •wears 6mo clothes •is the happiest in the morning. He's changing so fast and every stage gets better and better!

 

At Five Months Ryan: 

 •is our sturdy baby! He's heavy and strong, and means business when he grabs on to something •is selective with his smiles, and will stare you down if you're holding him and you're new •loves to jump in his jumper •is either quiet as a mouse or making all sorts of crazy noises •finally falls asleep in the car, and will take an occasional bottle •gets tastes of real food here and there. They weren't kidding when they said time will fly. This stage is soooo fun!

 

Ground Breaking!!

We just broke ground on the new house! Let the excavation begin. The grade needs to be brought down quite a bit, and they're also building a retaining wall. They say it'll take a couple days, I say at least a week. We'll see..I hope they prove me wrong. ;) 

 

 

Here's a funny story...we got there a little early to watch them make the first dig, and they rolled up and started to unload the tractor on the wrong lot. Doh!

 

I forgot to take a picture (rookie move) but Ryan watched for a few, and then zonked out in my arms. That kid never falls asleep cuddling. Made a sweet morning even sweeter! We're so excited/grateful/nervous for this house. More to come!

The move!

Fair warning...this is going to be wordy. :) I'm obviously super behind on keeping this updated!

We sold our house a couple months ago!!

"What? That's crazy! Weren't you only been in your first house like...9 months!?" Why yes, yes we were.

Let me answer a few FAQ 

•Why!? The houses around that area went up quite a bit. We met with a realtor to see our house value and thought well, let's list it for this much and if it sells, great! If not, we'll stay. Sure enough, the day after we listed we got a full price offer. So we went for it!

•Didn't you love your house? Yes! Nothing was wrong with the house. It had a ton of space that we would never need, but we got it for a great price and it was nice. 

•What about your friends out there? We weren't attached to our neighborhood. We had a couple great neighbors, but overall the neighborhood wasn't something that was keeping us. It's all in the little things. We had a hard time with a dog that had gone after both Jake and I, were a little sick of the cigarette butts being thrown on our lawn, and being 20 mins from the grocery store wasn't my favorite. Again, we weren't unhappy, but we weren't attached. 

•Any regrets? No regrets. It may seem counterproductive to sell one house and turn around and buy another one, but there's logic behind the madness. With the help of the equity from house number one, we were able to put a hefty % down on the new house. Meaning, we can shave years off our mortgage! Being debt free (INCLUDING debt from a mortgage)  is super important to Jake and I, and the only thing standing in our way from that goal is the mortgage. How many times can I say mortgage? :)

•What now?

We're building again! Here's the fun part. Seeing as the details of the house are more important to us than space, custom building (vs buying a house that requires fixing up) is where we can really stretch our dollar within our price range. So! We picked a lot in the Ranches in Eagle Mountain (an established neighborhood with TREES! I've seriously missed trees), found a contractor, and sifted through a million and one house plans. We finally finally finally found one we loved that only required a few modifications!

 

We purchased the plans, tweaked them, got them engineered, and voila. We really love the contractor we chose, he's been great and patient. He's pulled lots of tricks out of his hat so far, and magically got several things done in a fraction of the time that they should have taken. We're very pleased, to say the least! (Shoutout to you, Brad Wilson) We just got our building permit and will be breaking ground within the next week!!

We LOVE living in Eagle Mountain. It's juuuust unpopulated and quiet enough to feel like a quaint small town. It's a close knit community that is full of young families. We're living with family right now, and as grateful as we are, we are totally homesick for EM. Can't wait to go back! 

Sorry if this was terribly boring, but we're playing catch up over here. I can't wait to post about the process along the way. Crossing our fingers it goes smoothly and that this ends up being as awesome as we think it will be! 

If you made it this far....you deserve to see this cuteness.

 

 

 

Sweet Summertime

We've been busy busy over here so far this summer! Just the way I like it. We've been swimmin', hanging out with family, and watching Ryan grow into practically a toddler. ;)

Here's a photo dump...

Redneck tubby time ;) Ryan LOVES taking his bath outside! There's so much to see!

Jake and Ryan's first parade happened to be on my Birthday. Obviously they were super impressed....

Love it when my boy cuddles.