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.

Screamin'

I've had a couple people ask me what the hardest or most surprising part about being a mom has been so far. Honestly, we've had a fairly seamless ride. We feel really really lucky to say that. Ryan sleeps well and I'm lucky enough to be a stay at home mom, so really whatever I lose at night I can make up during the day in naps. He's been a great nurser from the beginning, so we skipped a couple road blocks there too.
Now obviously I can't complain too much after telling you what I just did, but I'll tell you what. The kid HATES the car. I mean, really really really hates it. He's fine in the car seat, but by the time I'm halfway down the driveway he's screaming bloody murder. We've tried everything we can think of- inserts, no inserts, binky, toys, white noise, cover, no cover, shushing, holding his hand, blanket, no blanket. Nothing works! He just cries and cries until we pull him out.
So, there we have it. The hardest part of motherhood so far is leaving the house. I dread the thought. Good thing he's cute. ;)

Pictured: a rare occasion weeeeeks ago when I got him to suck on a binky in the car and he fell asleep.

Two Month Update!

Ryan turned 2 months old on Easter Sunday! (3/27) 

I seriously can't believe how fast time is going by. It feels like he was just born yesterday, yet I look at pictures of him as a newborn and realize how much he has grown. What is it about motherhood that suddenly makes time go by lightning fast? 

At 8 weeks:

-Awesome eater, and a pro sleeper. (Although every time I say that he goes from sleeping 5-7 hour stretches at night to waking up every hour)

-Has quite the strong little neck and loves sitting up on your lap 

-He loves his daddy. He could stare at him all day long! 

-Has mastered smiling and is a little chatterbox when he's not nursing and napping, which is 90% of our day. :)

-Occasionally he will stare and stare at his hands with a completely confused look on his face. It's the funniest thing!
-Weighs 11 lb 10 oz, 24 1/4 in long

Our boy is really starting to develop a personality. When he makes eye contact and smiles, I swear you can see little wheels turning in his brain. He's figuring out life in this big scary world and I'm so lucky to be his mama!

Easter Weekend 2016

We had such a fun Easter weekend! On Saturday morning Emmy came and visited. It was so much fun having her over and her baby lovin' was so so helpful- I forget how nice it is to have two hands! She gets to take credit for all the bunny ears on the cupcakes. :)
That afternoon some of Jake's family came over for a day-before-easter-dinner. It was the first time we had a gathering at the house and I was suuuper excited to host! I decided to take my chances and try 2 new recipes. Luckily everything turned out awesome. (I forgot to take pictures of any guests, but the pretty table and baby made the cut). I adored having a full house!

On Sunday Jake and I took Ryan up Provo Canyon for the first time. We intended to go to Bridal Veil Falls for a quick walk, but we entered the canyon through Springville and ended up at a closed gate. Booo. By that point baby was screaming bloody murder so we ditched our plan and headed straight for the first place we could stop. We ended up finding the cutest campground. There were benches and old swings and tons of grass. After nursing the baby back to sanity, we walked around and relaxed in the sun for a while. Overall, I'd say it was a success!