Long and overdue

I don't even know where to start...It's been months, 5 to be exact! I love to blog and love to have a journal of all the latest happenings in our life. I love to go back and read old posts and reflect on memories in the past. Poor Ryder is already going to have the second child syndrome so early on in life, because the first 7 months of his life have not been documented. I will do my best to play catch up, but at this point I think a fresh start sounds more realistic and much more refreshing!

So what have we been up to? Life has been crazy! Life with two kids was a really big adjustment for us, WAY bigger than I thought it would be. We love our little Ryder man to death and simply cannot imagine our lives without him. He truly has been such a blessing in our family! With good, there definitely comes hard. He has been a really hard baby! I do not wish colic on anyone! It is miserable. Miserable for the baby, miserable for the parents and miserable for everyone around. We tried everything, and I mean EVERYTHING! Whatever is on the market for colic, we had it, nothing worked and thus I am completely and utterly convinced that it is something you have to grow out of! We didn't leave the house much at all with him for the first few months. Our daily outing would usually be the park, just to get out of the house before all of us went crazy (especially our active 3 year old ;)). That's pretty much all our little man could take. It was a huge ordeal 90% of the time. Crying, screaming and more crying in public is not so pretty and makes me extremely anxious. Amongst all of this, I didn't think I would be returning back to work, but turns out we couldn't "make it" any longer on a zero income in CA, weird huh?! So back to work I went! I truly am blessed to have such a great job while Shane finishes his last semesters of his Masters. So fast forward almost 7 months later and Ryder is a much different kid. I noticed the biggest change when he turned 6 months old. He just seemed more content. Don't get me wrong he still has his fussy times, good days and bad but most babies do! The past two weeks have been really great for us, (I hesitate to actually write this down, because I don't want to jinx it) he is so happy and sweet...Now let's gear up for teething! :/

As of late Ryder has been smiling, laughing, rolls around everywhere to get to what he wants, standing while holding onto support, jumps jumps jumps the kid loves his johnny jumper, is sitting up (but still a bit wobbly), chews on EVERYTHING, drools more than I have ever seen, pulls hair and earrings and anything he can get his hands on, and as of yesterday started to wave. We love LOVE love him. Tylie is still OBSESSED with him. She is a very rough lover. You know the kind that grinds her teeth and grabs his hand really tight and gets really close to his face and says "Oh Rydee my little chubby chub, you are so cute and chubby, I just want to eat you up" in a very high weird voice. It is kind of creepy, but I love it. I love when I hear from the other room "Oh Ryder, (still in creepy high voice) you stop crying. I love you, why do I love you so much!?" The other morning I caught the end of one on video. Here's an example of what I mean...

LOVE

Here are some random pictures of the past few months, mostly just taken from my phone...

First time on a boat

Big smiles

All handsome for church

Love this picture because it shows his cute ears...those come from my mom's side. His uncle has them too.

This kid is SO strong, but hates to sit! He literally thrusts and arches himself out of the bumbo.

First time to Santa Barbara

First time to the beach (not a fan) not sure where he came from

First camping trip

First time he held his own bottle

The end! Be back sooner than 5 months... that's if he keeps up his good behavior! ;)