Ryder is two months.

A little bit about Ryder William in his second month of life...

- has silent reflux that transformed my sweet baby into a bit of a monster. We tried a whole slew of natural solutions before the pediatrician told us we should really start him on some meds so that his esophageal lining doesn't get damaged. Within 24 hours I had my sweet and smiley baby back. He still spits up but he isn't in pain. 

- at his 2 month appointment today he weighed 9lbs 2oz and is 21.5in long. He's in the 3% and 5% respectively and his noggin is 40cm in the 50%. Average size head on a tiny body I suppose. 

- still in newborn clothes and diapers. 

- because of the medication he's on and because he's feeling better this child is hungry all the time! I went from getting up twice at night to getting up every 2 hours. I'll take it, he's growing and he's happy! Hopefully the need to eat constantly will taper down a bit soon.

- his naps are still pretty sporadic but I think I've figured out a few trends. If he "sleeps in" until 7am he'll be up for an hour or two and then go down for a two hour nap. If he gets up at 6am he'll come eat and snuggle with me in bed (because I'm not ready to get up) and he'll usually sleep until 9am if I'm near him. He's a snuggle bug and I love it! He almost always has the same afternoon nap, from about 2-5pm but wakes up to eat half way through.

- this boy loves to be held. He would sleep all day if I would hold him. He loves skin to skin contact and he loves eye contact. He will make the sweetest noises to get your attention and once he has he just starts smiling like crazy.

- his little baby noises resemble actual words. His favorite noises are "hi" and "yeah" and when he's hungry he says "mum" I swear sometimes he is actually talking to me. Caiden loves it.

- his big brother definitely smothers him with love, to the point where I have to intervene sometimes. 

- Ryder celebrated his first 4th of July and he was pretty indifferent about it. Miles was out of town the whole week leading up to the 4th and the rest of the weekend so we were pretty low-key. No fireworks, but we did have sparklers. He didn't seem to care either way about them. 

-  he still loves to be on the move. If I can't get him down for a morning nap I either get him in the stroller or in my wrap and we go for walks. He always falls asleep. I love that I can get him to go to sleep pretty much anywhere, it's a nice change from Caiden who would only sleep in his bed.

- Ryder was blessed in church this month. We started going to church for the full 3 hour block around 5 weeks. He started out going to Young Women's. It lasted one week. After being sweetly mauled and passed around by all the girls he started going to Priesthood every week. 

- HIS HAIR STARTED GROWING BACK IN! In his first month of life he started losing the hair on top of his head. I was kind of devastated. He looked like a little old man. But it has started growing back in already. 

- we sure love this smiley, handsome boy. His big beautiful eyes light up when he sees us and it makes my heart just swell. 

4th of July.

Here's a little fact you may not know about me: the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. This is why I was majorly bummed when Miles took off for a 6 day trip that would span 4th of July weekend. But I was determined to make it fun and exciting for the boys and myself. I was up most of the night before making Caiden's shirt and altering Ryder's shirt so it would fit him. We had a little photoshoot before taking off for the ward picnic. We indulged in packs and eggs and blue and red fruits. Caiden had a blast digging in the sand box at the playground. He was fully covered in sand when we left. After the picnic we went on a Rita's Italian Ice hunt which turned out to be a flop. Both stores near us closed recently. Instead we went to Panera and got Caiden a cookie. He was pretty bummed about missing out on the shaved ice. After we all took naps we cracked open the sparkler's. I tried in vain to self timer some photos. Pretty much none of them were in focus. Oh well. After that we packed up and headed to a barbecue at a friend's house. Caiden played the night away and when we got home both boys fell asleep pretty instantly. I was sad we weren't going to attempt the fireworks, but I really don't think Ryder would have enjoyed that too much and then Caiden would have been sad we had to leave. As I lay in bed trying to fall asleep hearing the city fireworks and neighbors celebrating all I wanted to do was swoop up Caiden, put him in the car, and go find a spot to park and watch. But with no one home to watch Ryder I fell asleep instead. There's always next year!

Family time.

My parents and Matthew were able to stay for a few days after Ryder's blessing and Caiden was in heaven. I kept it a secret from him that Matthew was coming. He didn't know until Matthew appeared up the escalator at the airport. He was so excited! It was the hardest secret I've ever had to keep, and let me tell you I've kept plenty of secrets. We went on bug hunts, many trips to the pool, played legos, played at the playground, drove up to Gainesville to visit Grandma and got to play at the coolest little lily pad pond with teeny tiny frogs, got donuts, went to chick fil a, watched late night movies, had cousin sleepovers in Caiden's room, and soaked in lots of family time. It was a blast! Now if only I could have figured out a way to keep at least Matthew here for the rest of the summer...

Ryder's Blessing Day.

On June 22nd (happy birthday Nikki!) Ryder William was given a name and a blessing by his daddy at church. We were blessed to have my parents, nephew Matthew, and Miles' dad there to celebrate this special occasion with us. It was incredibly hard for me to find a blessing outfit that would fit our tiny peanut. Even after I did find one close I had to take it in a little, this guy is just so small! It was a beautiful sunny day and we couldn't have asked for it to be more perfect. After church we had some friends over to barbecue with us. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that, but I did get pictures of my beautiful flowers Miles picked up from the Farmer's Market the day before. We feel so blessed to have this sweet little presence in our home and are continually reminded just how close heaven is when we hold him in our arms.