Grateful

The last 6 months have probably been the hardest of my life so far. At times I have felt sorry for myself and wondered why I had to go through the trials I have been experiencing, but today as I was in the Truck with my husband Rob and my baby Ryder I looked over at Rob as we were driving down the road and it just randomly hit me-how much I have to be grateful for I began to feel so blessed as I thought of all that I have.

• I have a handsome husband who loves me and would do anything for me
• I have a son who is adorable, strong, smart, hilarious, happy and who makes every day a great day!
• I have a great place to live
• I have wonderful hair clients
• I tend an adorable little girl 5 days a week
• I have a dependable car
• I have a phone that allows me instant access to scriptures, conference talks, lesson manuals, etc
• I have family whom I am in contact with daily
• I have friends that have taught me to coupon and have taught me how to spreadsheet a budget
• I have friends who care about me, who text and call me just to see how I'm doing
• I am in a wonderful ward full of friends
• I am grateful for the temple and the peace and answers I can find there
• I am grateful for the gospel and all it brings to my life
• I am grateful for all the opportunities life provides

I could probably go on and on but the point is this too shall pass.... In this lifetime we have hard times and good times and everything in between. I may be going through a rough time now, but things will get better someday and in the meantime I have a whole lot to be grateful for! I am so blessed and grateful for all I have. I love being able to be home with my Ryder. He is getting bigger and cuter and learning more and doing more each day! Being a mom is the best job ever!

five months!

I can't believe that Ryder is five months old! He is growing up so fast. He loves to laugh and smile. He has been such a good baby. We started giving him rice cereal a couple Weeks ago, and he loves it. It is so fun to feed him and watch how excited he gets about it.

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Ryder our favorite!

This last weekend we had the opportunity to go up north. We went up Thursday after rob got off work. We stayed with my sister in Payson. On Friday we were able to hang out with our friends Alyssa and Shyrel and on Saturday we went to pizza pie cafe. We love pizza pie cafe, it has all you can eat pizza and pasta and salad. It has amazing desserts and it is pretty good price for all the great quality food you get.

It was so fun to hang out with my sister and her kids. They loved having little Ryder around! We went to Cabella's on Saturday and after that hung out with Some of Rob's family for the rest of Saturday. On Sunday we went to Rob's Uncle and Aunt's homecoming from their mission in southern Africa.

Four months!

I can't believe Ryder is four months old! I have been a mom for four months! Crazy! I love being a mom! I love my little Ryder. Every day with him is a new adventure! He is getting so big so fast. He loves to kick in the bath he loves to kick toys and he loves to kick when being held, he just loves to kick! He likes sitting in his bumbo and sitting in his swing , but his favorite place to be is on the floor so he can kick and play, he does this silly scooting thing on his back, he can turn in circles and move a couple feet up or down all while on his back! He loves to laugh and laughs all day long every day. He loves his little squeaky shoes especially when dad has him jump up and down in them and he jumps faster to make it squeak more!! He sure is a talker! Loves to be social and tell baby stories in gibberish! At his four month well child appointment he was 15 lbs 14 oz and 27 inches tall! A big boy for only four months!! you would never guess he was a premie! For the past two months he has slept through the night he goes to bed between 730-830 and wakes up around 7. He hardly ever cries and mostly has a pretty chill personality alot like his dad but he loves to be social like his mom! I will hopefully post cute pictures of him this weekend!

Ryder's blessing day

Ryder was blessed on August 7, 2011. Even though he was born in May we waited until August to bless him because we were advised to keep him home for 2-3 months because of his prematurity. Now at 3 1/2 months old he is thriving. You would never know he was a premie. He is a strong happy big boy! We love every day with our little Ryder! He is a very verbal baby. He loves to play on the floor with toys or be held. He now sleeps through the night. Starting a few weeks ago he eats at 8:30 then goes to sleep until 6:30-7am! It is fabulous. We like getting more sleep now. He is a generally happy baby. He loves to eat his hands and laugh. We sure are proud parents!

Ryder my new favorite! :)

This has been a crazy summer!

Ryder came 5 and a half weeks early, Three weeks later I had my gallbladder out. I am loving being home with my new little guy and being a mom. After staying home for two months as a precaution since he was a premie Ryder has now experienced his first swimming adventure, his first camping trip and lots of other fun adventures! He can smile, make little noises, kicks his legs when he is excited, he hates diaper changes, he is our new favorite pass time :)

Baby Ryder

Ryder is now three weeks old! I can't believe it! And his due date is still a couple weeks away-crazy! We are having so much fun with our little Ryder. He is getting stronger and bigger and cuter every day! He has super long arms and legs just like his daddy, he will be a big guy some day.

At his two week check up he wieghed 7 lbs six ounces and was 21 and 1/4 inches long. so he is gaining weight and getting taller :)The dr said he is doing great. Alot better than expected for being so early.

Ryder is a pretty good baby only cries when his diaper is being changed or when we are changing his clothes. when he is hungry he usually just makes cute little squeaks and opens his mouth and sticks his tongue out. The past couple days he has been a little fussier than normal but thats just because of his circumcision-poor little guy! Rob and I love being parents and are learning more each day :)

Surprise!

I thought my next post would be titled baby shower number two and be all about my baby shower. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to my baby shower since we had our little Ryder the night before. well here is the story!

On Tuesday the tenth I was having sever back pain, I thought it was just a normal pregnancy symptom. It was the worst pain I had ever felt so I figured maybe I was a pansy or something if it was supposed to be normal. Anyway the pain never seemed to go away, although the intensity would change from mildly tolerable to completely painful where I couldn't function properly because I was so focused on the pain. Well on Friday the pain was at its worst. Well Ronda and Rob kept saying I should go to the hospital and at least get checked and see if it was labor, I told them I would go Saturday after the baby shower. Well After much more convincing and more pain, I finally relented. We went to the hospital just after ten on Friday night. They took information, got a urine sample, hooked me up to some monitors and we mostly waited and waited, in the mean time the nurses told me they didn't detect contractions so they figured it was ligament pain and said they would probably send me home. Well at about 11 the nurse said they would check for dialation just as a typical procedure for me coming in. When they checked me I was dilated to an 8 and my water had broken and the nurse could feel the baby's had. They wheeled me down the hall to the delivery room by the time i got there I was at an 8 1/2. We called Ronda told her she better come to the hospital soon that we had been told we were having a baby tonight.The nurses had left a message with my Dr but were afraid he wouldn't make it in time since they couldn't get a hold of him. So they had another Dr waiting in the hall outside of my room just in case my Dr didn't make it. Well my Dr showed up at about 11:15. Ronda Showed up at 11:20. I was pushing by 11:30 and had Ryder at 11:39. NO time for an epidural, no time to mentally prepare, barely enough time for everyone to get there that needed to be. IT was crazy. We did not plan on having our baby til the end of June-definitely not in the middle of May?! Ryder was 6lbs 14 oz and 20 & 1/2 inches long. I am doing great. Ryder is in the nicu but showing improvement. He was able to get off the cpap machine and hopefully will be able to breathe on his own soon? He is eating through a tube for now but hopefully soon he will be able to eat without it. So we are continually praying for him and are happy he is doing so well and showing improvement. We love our little Ryder!! :)

baby shower number 1

On March 21st I had a baby shower up north that my sister Jan and my good friend Shyrel threw for me. I was excited to see the friends and family that were able to attend. I received lots of fun stuff for Ryder and had lots of fun. The unfortunate thing that occurred was my sister Jan who was hosting the shower had to leave because her husband was involved in a car crash right as the shower began and she had to leave to go pick him and her two daughters up. The whole point of having the shower at her house was so she would be able to attend and she missed the entire shower :(

26 weeks!

In the first picture I am 19 weeks in the second picture I am 24 weeks.

So I am now 26 weeks pregnant. I can't believe it. Sometimes it feels like I have been pregnant forever, other times the due date feels so soon. I am so excited to meet my baby boy. On the other hand sometimes I don't feel quite prepared? My pregnancy is going well so far and Rob and I are enjoying preparing for Ryder's arrival. :)



I guess I am too easily persuaded by peer pressure. I feel ginormous in both of these pictures and feel weird about posting them, but people kept asking to see pregnant pictures of me. who knows why? P.s. Rob and I had a hard time taking these pictures, after taking multiple pictures and me not liking how any of them turned out Rob gave up and told me I looked fine in all of them and didn't understand why I was so upset?! Silly pregnancy hormones!

Half way through! Yay!

So, I am now half way through my pregnancy! :) We have had so much fun planning and preparing for our little Ryder. I've had to learn how to slow down and take it easy sometimes, which hasn't been easy for me, but it's worth it for our Ryder. :)

Even Rob, who hates shopping loves to shop for baby stuff! I think its because he's so excited that its a boy that even shopping for little Ryder is exciting to him!

We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and we were both so excited to see our baby! It's the best feeling in the world to hear the heartbeat, see the heartbeat, see our baby move and to know hes growing and doing well!

I don't really fit in my clothes anymore, but I don't know if you didn't know me if you would think I was pregnant? or would just think Ive gained a little? I think I don't "show" as much as some people because of my long torso? but who knows? I am excited to start looking pregnant! :)

I am so grateful for this pregnancy! I am so excited to finally be a mom-it's something I have always wanted! I love how Rob is just as excited as I am over every little baby/pregnancy related thing! Now if I can just learn to be patient for the next 4& 1/2 months until I get to meet my baby that would be good! :)

We're having A.............

BOY!!!!

We had an ultra sound on friday and found out that our baby is a boy! :)Rob has wanted a boy the whole time! He said he doesn't care how many boys or girls we have he just wanted the first to be a boy! He got his wish! :) We are going to name him Ryder Lewis Robinson! :)