Unexpected Present

While I was dressing Ryan today after his bath, I saw the UPS man pull up in front of our house. I knew I hadn't ordered anything so I just thought he was going to one of our neighbor's houses. Soon enough I heard a knock at the door. I tried to think of anything I had ordered, but I couldn't think of anything?? After I got Ryan ready, we went downstairs to see what the UPS man had left.

The return label on the box said "Pottery Barn Kids." I knew I had definitely not ordered anything from there--cute stuff, but too expensive for me :) I took the box in the kitchen and opened it up.

Inside there was a neatly wrapped package in blue & white gingham wrapping with a cute blue ribbon around it to match and a card taped on top. It was actually quite fun to open the mystery present :) I opened the card first--I just had to know who had sent the gift.

I should have known who sent the gift--it was from my good friend Dana. She is always so thoughtful and sends the cutest gifts. I continued opening the package. Inside was a personalized onesie. It is so adorable. I've been trying to find something to bring the new baby home in. I think this might be the winner :)

Play date in Nephi--may be our last for the season :)

We went to Nephi today for our Monday play date. Since I'm being induced on Thursday, I don't think we'll be down to next week's play date. I wouldn't mind going to another play date before summer is over, but we'll see how that works out for me when little Jake gets here. I don't think I'll be able to take care of Jake and chase after Ryan at the same time.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. We stopped and got lunch at Reed's and then headed over to Nephi City Park. The "regulars" showed up--Meagan Bosh and kids, Alisha Lynn and kids, Jessica Woodland and kids, and me. The kids played and the adults chatted. It's always a good time. I'm so glad we get together and let our kids play and get to know each other more.

After the play date, Ryan and I went out to Levan to see my parents. We just left their house on Saturday from staying there while Jim was AT, but we still wanted to go and visit. We sat on the porch and enjoyed the day. It was kind of hot so we got Ryan a bucket of water to play with and a couple of spoons so he could stir, of course. He had a blast. He kept flipping water on all of us with his spoons--he thought it was hilarious. My dad thought it was pretty funny, too since Ryan mainly kept getting me and my mom wet. He didn't think it was as funny when Ryan got him with a spoonful of water, haha.

Ryan started getting tired around 5pm. I like to head home when he gets tired so he'll sleep on the way home so we packed up and made our way back to Spanish. Ryan's clothes were soaking wet from playing in the water so he rode home in his diaper and shoes--classy huh. I had to take a picture of him :)

Ryan usually wakes up when we get home and wants to stay outside and play. When we got home today he wanted me to hold him so I took him inside and he fell back asleep on my chest. He was super tired from all of the playing :)

A close up of Ryan sleeping and drooling :) Jim makes sure people know that Ryan gets his drooling from me.

If we don't make it to any more play dates this year, I hope we will get together next summer for more play dates. They give us something to look forward to each week, and it's always fun to see friends and chat with adults during the day :) Plus there are tons of kids to play with, which is always fun for Ryan--I'm sure Jake will love it, too.

The End is Near

I went to my 37 week doctor appointment today. My blood pressure is a little high so if I haven't had my little guy on my own by Thursday July 2nd, then I am to go to Mountain View Hospital in Payson at 6am to be induced :)

I'm excited but a little scared at the same time. I've heard that pitocin makes contractions hurt alot worse. Contractions hurt enough by themselves--they don't need to hurt even worse. I'm also nervous to have a newborn again...and a 16 month old to go along with a newborn.

I am a lot more uncomfortable with this pregnancy than with my first. I sleep terribly--it's like pulling teeth to turn from one side to the other. But if I lay on one side to long then my hips start to ache. When I finally get enough strength to turn over it feels like my muscles in my sides are ripping apart. It's great. Oh, and I think Jake is right on my bladder too. So I have to go to the bathroom at least once during the night if not multiple times. Oh the joys...

Anyway, the end is near--6 days to be exact :)

Ryan's Pool

We took Ryan's pool down to Levan and blew it up while we were there. We couldn't use it the first week we were there because of the weather so we made sure to get it out the first day we could. I think my dad was more excited to see Ryan get in the pool than Ryan was to actually get in the pool--he's funny. My dad filled it with warm water from the tap that is water from the house so it was nice water to get in.

Ryan wanted to get right in the pool when he saw it. Once he got in I think he wondered why he had to get in the tub again--it was that warm. I think he needed a friend to get in with him so he had someone to play with. He only stayed in the pool for about 10 minutes and then we was ready to get out.

Later that day he wanted to get in the pool again. By that time, the water had cooled off considerably and there were bugs and floaters in the water, but Ryan didn't care. He did gasp a little when the water hit him cause it was so cold :) Anyway, I didn't want to put Ryan's swimming suit and swim diaper back so I just took his clothes off and put him in the pool in his diaper. When he got out of the pool his diaper was HUGE. I couldn't even roll it up to wrap it and put it in the garbage. I took the diaper off him and he ran--he was streaking in Levan. It was pretty funny. He is so light skinned my dad said I better get his clothes on him or he'd burn :)

Anyway, Ryan had a good time in his pool. We left his pool in Levan so he could play in it while he stays there when we have baby Jake. Hopefully some of his cousins will get in with him while the pool is in Levan so he has a friend to play with him :)

Ryan in his pool for the first time

Playing in the pool

Manna was kind enough to go and play with him so he had a friend

The second time in the pool--just in his diaper

Ryan streaking :)

Ryan's Crazy Eyes

Today we went to the Levan Park for our usual Monday play date. We got a really late start so we were an hour late, oops. Paula and her kids stayed in Levan since Casey is gone to England for work so they came to the park with us to play. Alisha and her kids were the only ones that showed up for the play date. I felt really bad we were so late :(

The weather was actually warm--it had been rainy the whole week before. It was really nice to be able to get out and play. After playing for about an hour, the kids started to get hungry. We'd actually just had German Pancakes for breakfast around 10:30am so they shouldn't have been too hungry. I guess they were though because they kept eating Alisha's kids' snacks and food :) We decided we'd just run into Reed's and get something for lunch so we packed up and headed back to the house to get money, etc. Ryan was actually really tired so we stayed home so I could put him down for a nap.

After we ate lunch, we watched the movie "Taken." It was a really good movie--I highly suggest everyone watch it. But it was very intense!! I swear I about went into labor watching it :)

Paula and her crew left shortly after we finished the movie. Ryan didn't eat his lunch very well so my mom and I started to make dinner. Of course, Ryan had to help. He stood on a stool by my mom while she fried some hamburger. I noticed his eyes started to get red and watery. I thought it was the smoke from the hamburger that was bugging him so I turned on the vent and opened a few windows to get the air circulating. Then he started to get a bit fussy. I thought it was because he was hungry so I put him in the highchair and started to feed him. He couldn't quit rubbing his eyes. Right when he'd stop, he'd start again. Then his eyes started to swell. I immediately thought that his "eye issues" were starting again. Of course I hadn't brought his eye drops down with me--didn't even cross my mind to pack them just in case.

After dinner Ryan's eyes continued to swell. It looked like he had two black eyes. I decided I better make a quick trip to my house and get his eye drops. I missed the Bachelorette unfortunately :) On the way to my house, I called Jim. He thought it was probably allergies and if his eyes didn't look better in the morning I'd better take him to the pediatrician. I couldn't imagine what he'd gotten into that he was allergic to. The only thing I could think of was he'd been playing in some trail mix that my dad got for Father's Day. Jim is allergic to melon and grapes. I thought, oh great, might as well throw peanuts into our stay away from category.

I got back to Levan around 9pm. Ryan was asleep on the couch by my mom. I asked her why she didn't put him in the crib and she said she didn't want him up in the crib by himself in case anything happened. That made me nervous. I wondered if we should take him to the ER or something since they don't have Instacare down in Nephi. My mom wondered if we should give Ryan his eye drops at this point. His eye drops make his eyes hurt when I put them in his eyes, which would make him rub his eyes more so I didn't know if I should put the drops in his eyes. We decided we would wait until the morning and get an appointment with the doctor before we put the drops in his eyes.

We took him to the pediatrician the next day. I thought for sure Ryan had an allergy to peanuts. Turns out he had an ear infection and a sore throat!! I was really shocked. Ryan hadn't been sleeping through the night at my mom's, but I thought it was because he would wake up in the night and not know where he was. He is back on amoxicillan and goes back for a check-up in ten days. The doctor said kids Ryan's age tend to get ear infections quite often and it is nothing I am doing wrong. I seriously thought it had to be something I was doing.

My dad, Zach, Ryan, and Cade sitting on a bench at Levan Park

Another picture on the bench

I missed the cutest picture--Ryan was sitting on my dad's knee taking a drink of his Diet Coke :)

The crew at the play date

Ryan's eyes starting to swell at dinner

Yes, he is stirring. It's the only way to keep him quiet these days.

Ryan's eyes after I got back from Spanish Fork. It looks like he has two black eyes. He didn't end up going to bed until 10:30pm that night. I told him it was a good thing he wasn't feeling well or he'd be in big trouble :)

**Update--Wednesday July 1st**

I took Ryan to his check-up this morning. His ear infection and sore throat are all cleared up. Unfortunately Ryan still isn't sleeping through the night in his crib. We try to put him down around 9pm, which is actually about an hour after he used to go down. It ends up taking about an hour to get him to go to sleep--very frustrating. Then he wakes up around 4:30-5am and will not go back to sleep so he usually ends up in our bed. I hope he has a drastic change in sleeping habits starting tonight since baby Jake will be making his debut tomorrow :)

Happy Father's Day

Jim was actually able to get a pass from his Annual Training and come and spend Father's Day with us. I wasn't expecting it at all so it was a good surprise. It has been a little over a week since Ryan has seen Jim. It was really cute when Ry first saw Jim. He was doing his little laugh and running back and forth--you could tell he was excited to see his dad. I think Ry wanted Jim to chase him, too :) Jim picked Ryan up and Ryan laid his head down on Jim's shoulder. I seriously about cried--you know how out of whack my hormones are these days.

Jim got to Levan a little after 1pm. He had some laundry to do so I did his laundry. The family get together in Nephi didn't start until 5pm, so we just hung out and relaxed until it was time to go.

We then went into Nephi to spend the rest of Father's Day. We had dinner in the dance shoppe. Afterwards, we went outside and the kids played. It was really fun to just hang out and have nice weather for once (the weather all week has been rainy and cold, which I actually don't really mind since I'm pregnant. I would like it to be nice weather so Ryan can play outside though).

Jim had to be back to Camp Williams at 5am so he decided he would go back to our house and sleep. He left Nephi around 8pm. Of course, I got teary eyed :( I was really glad he was able to spend the day with us though.

I want to wish my dad, Jim, and all of the other father's (my brother, brother-in-laws, father-in-law, etc.) a Happy Father's Day. Jim is the best dad--he takes such great care of me and Ryan. Best of all he is very patient with both of us--I tend to lose my patience with Ryan and Jim will always take him and play if I need a little break. He'll always take Ryan outside to play when he gets home from work, too. He'll even get in the sandbox and actually play in the sand. Of course Ryan loves it. I want to let Jim know how much I love him and appreciate all that he does for our little family. Happy Father's Day!!

Ryan fell asleep as Jim was holding him going through the food line :)

My dad and mom on Father's Day

Our little family on Father's Day

And a family picture showing my big belly :)

Me and my cousin Marci showing off our bellies--Marci is due September 2nd with her 2nd baby girl :)

A cute picture of Ryan--he was tired and ornery in this picture though

Keaton is Mr. Baseball. He's only 4 and knows everything and anything about baseball. The kids were taking turns hitting a little plastic baseball with a plastic bat in the Blackett's backyard. When it was Keaton's turn, he "ran the bases" after he got a hit. We all clapped when he was finished and he got embarassed. This is Keaton throwing his embarassed fit :) Another little bit--one of the kids got hit by the ball when Jackson pitched the ball to them. Little Keaton said to me very seriously, "You're supposed to take your base when you get hit by the ball." I about died laughing.

More evidence of the fit, haha

Mother/Daughter Picnic in the Park

Yesterday, I went to a mother/daughter picnic at Levan park with my mom and all of my sisters. Ryan had to come, too. My mom's Relief Society did the picnic as an Enrichment Activity. It was a lot of fun to get together with my mom and sisters.

They served sloppy joes. I'm not a huge fan of sloppy joes, but Carolyn Royce and Marilyn Mangelson were in charge of making the sloppy joe filling so of course it was homemade and delicious. My mom was in charge of getting the buns so we ordered them from Shirley's Bakery in Provo. They too were scrumptious. They were probably the best sloppy joes I've ever had :) Everyone brought salads, desserts, etc. for everyone to share. My mom also prepared a game similar to the Newlywed Game but she made questions for mother's and daughter's to answer. It was really fun, too.

This June has been unseasonably cold. It had been rainy all week and the forecast called for rain the day of the picnic, too. The whole day it was sunny with a few clouds in the sky, but about an hour before the picnic was supposed to start the rain moved in and it poured. It was way cold--like turn the heater on in your car cold, haha.

It's always a good time to get together with my mom and sisters. I'm glad my mom invited us to come down--even better was all of my sisters were able to come :)

Molly, Paula, Amy, Me, Emilee, and my mom holding Ryan

Only Molly and Emilee had brought jackets so the rest of us were sporting United States Postal Service sweaters courtesy of my mom :)

To Grandmother's House We Go...

Jim left for his Annual Training with the Army on Saturday morning. He will be gone for a little over 2 weeks so Ryan and I will be staying with my parents in Levan until he gets back.

On Saturday, I got up early before Jim had to leave so I could get ready. I wanted to get all ready and packed before Ryan got up so when he did wake up I could get him ready and packed and leave for Levan. I was ready to go by 7:30am. Ryan didn't wake up until 8:30am so I watched T.V. and got tired again :) until he got up.

We went through Ry's normal routine after he woke up. He was ready to go by 9:30am. Jim was scoring P.T. tests and was going to come home and shower after he was done. I waited until he came home before leaving for Levan. I actually had to run to the grocery store and get a few things for the appetizer I was taking to Keaton's party that afternoon so Jim sat with Ryan while I ran to the store really quick. When I got back, we finished loading up the car and Ryan and I left.

When we got to Levan, I unloaded my car and then made my appetizer for the party while Ryan played with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a bite to eat for lunch and then left for the party around 3pm. Grandma J rode with us to Keaton's party so we stopped in Nephi to pick her up and continued on our way.

Saturday was Keaton's actual birthday. Keaton has been so excited for his birthday--he was so cute at his party. We had BBQ'ed hamburgers and hot dogs, salads, chips, and cake. Everything was so good. I always leave stuffed after birthday parties that my sisters' host :) After Keaton would open a present, he would tell whoever gave him that present "thank you" in his soft, little voice. It was seriously the cutest thing.

Ryan had a great time at the party, too. After opening presents, all of the kids went outside to play. The Roper's had a car similar to the one that Paula gave to Ryan. Of course, Ryan had to have a ride in it. Dallin would ride the trike and Ryan and I would follow him in the little car. We had a little fun and "bumped" the back of Dallin's trike like bumper cars. Dallin and Ryan both thought that was hilarious so it turned into a big game. It was fun until I was running with the car :) I got pretty tuckered out so we had to start playing something else :)

We left Taylorsville around 8:45pm--already 45 minutes past Ryan's bedtime. He was a bear on the way home and finally fell asleep around Spanish Fork. I thought it would be fine and I would just take him up to the crib when we got to Levan, but he woke up when we got home and wouldn't go back to sleep. Well, he would fall back to sleep but anytime he would hear a noise he would wake up. I resorted to having him sleep with me the whole night. It was a treat. We got to bed around 11pm. Ry woke up crying at 12:30am, 2am, 5am and then we got up for good at 7:30am. I had got up so early the morning before and all the driving we had did, I was exhausted so we didn't make it to church on Sunday. The rest of Sunday was spent relaxing and just hanging out.

Ryan, or should I say Chef Ryan, did help with Sunday dinner though :) Ryan loves to "stir" or pretend like he is stirring with his little pan and whisk that Manna gave him. He would love to actually help stir real food, but Jim and I never let him for fear that he will get burned on our gas stove or make a huge mess. Well, Manna gave in and let him stir the gravy on Sunday. And she says I spoil him, ha. He had the best time though. I think he would have stirred that gravy for ten days if we would have let him. Later that day, we made a batch of brownies and Ryan had to help stir, of course. I don't know what I'm going to do with him--I hope he still likes to help "stir" when I actually want him to help :) One good thing is he likes to help clean up, too.

Keaton opening his birthday presents

More presents to open

Keaton's Indiana Jones cake--it was chocolate cake of course. His favorite :)

Waiting to blow out his candles while we sang "Happy Birthday" to him. I love the expression on his face.

Finally, he got to blow out his candles

Chef Ryan making gravy

He was so proud of himself--I swear he really thought he "made" the gravy. Well he did, kind of :) We had chicken so we'd just made chicken gravy with the packets so it wasn't that hard to make.

Now the good stuff--making brownies. Look how concentrated he is :)

Stirring the brownies--he would get ticked if my mom or I would take the spatula to help him get everything stirred in.

Stirring the frosting--once again, concentrating very hard

Then he got silly

Ryan smells his work, but he does not taste it. Oddly, Ryan is not a fan of sweets. He'll try them and promptly spit it out. He does not eat typical kid food.

Still being silly, but I love the look on his face

Even though he would have rather continued stirring, we had to clean up. Ry was a good sport and helped. He wanted to clean Manna's face for some reason though :)

And his own while playing peek-a-boo

I love how he is looking with one eye and the other is covered up. He thinks he is so sneaky.

Swimming in Alpine

Yesterday, we went to Levan to get Jim's mountain bike that we'd left there and we are borrowing an extra recliner chair my parents have to use as a rocker for when baby Jake comes. We also went for Sunday dinner, of course :) Paula & Casey and their kids were also there. Paula mentioned that they are house sitting for their neighbors while they are out of town. Cade is doing a bunch of watering for them so they gave them the key to their pool and told them they could use it whenever they wanted. Of course, the weather forecast isn't the greatest this week.

We got home late last night from my parents so we got a slow start this morning. I wasn't going to be ready to leave my house at 10:20am to make it to our Monday play date at the Nephi park so we decided to see if Paula was going to go swimming today. She said they didn't have any plans and to come on up. I had Ryan take a nap before we went and fed him so lunch so we got to Alpine around 2pm. It had been cloudy all morning and the sun would peek out every once in awhile When we made it to Alpine though, the sun was shining pretty good.

We got changed into our swimming suits and got in the pool. Ryan was having a good time--there is a little area that is only maybe 1 1/2 feet deep. But he would kind of lose his footing and it was making me nervous so Paula had a baby life jacket that we put on him. After we put it on him he was a little ticked. He wouldn't play and would just stand by the wall of the pool. He could have been a little cold--I'm not sure if it was the life jacket or being cold that made him mad but he started to cry so we got out. I wrapped him up in his towel and we watched the kids swim for a bit.

After a while, Ryan warmed up and ran around the pool and played. We never got back in the pool though :) We played for a bit and then went back over to Paula's to play. Paula was getting the twins in the tub to rinse off so I put Ryan in with them. He had so much fun. Paula got a cute picture of them in the tub--I'll have to have her send me a copy and post it. After that we just played and hung out.

We left Alpine around 5pm. Right when we were leaving it was starting to sprinkle. When I started down the street, it started to pour.

We want to go up and swim again sometime this week while Paula is house sitting. Hopefully we can get the weather to cooperate :)

I didn't get a picture of Ryan actually in the pool. This is after we got out. Zach wanted to hold Ryan :) He was so cute with him and Nick always like to help Ryan out with his binki, haha.

Nick playing with Zach's swimming goggles

Ryan running around the pool after he had warmed up

Cade going off of the diving board

The twins watching Cade and Zach in the pool. Sophie was a little sad--she had a little accident in the pool and was upset about it. Paula actually got her out of the pool before she full on peed in the pool. When she was sitting on the chair she told me she peed in the pool. I told her it happens sometimes but she was so sad. She also told me she wanted some Cheetos but they didn't have any. I guess she is a Cheetos fanatic :) She's a funny little girl.

Zach would throw the ball to Cade while he was jumping off of the diving board to see if he could catch it. I don't think he ever caught it though :(

Zach waiting while Cade was getting out of the pool. He looks a little cold :)

Another attempt at catching the ball while jumping off the diving board

Bees Game

Jim's brother Jerry had suite tickets to the Bees game for tonight and invited us to come to the game. We went to a Bees game where we were able to sit in a suite last year and it was so much fun. It's the only way to go to a game for me--Ryan would never last in a regular seat, or the people around us would want to kills us :) Anyway, the suites are always catered with food so we had the most scrumptious hot dogs--they seriously tasted so good. I know some people hate hot dogs, but I don't mind a hot dog every now and again. There was also cut up fruit, popcorn, chips & salsa, cookies, and soda.

Ryan did pretty good during the game. He did get a bit restless and he wanted to play on the stairs in the suite next to us, but other than that he did ok. He played with Will towards the end of the game and had a really good time.

The Bees mascot usually comes and visits each of the suites during the game, but he never came around for some reason. I was dying to see what Ryan would do when he saw the Bee. We saw the Easter Bunny at the grocery store this year and he was petrified of it. In fact, the bunny gave Ryan some fruit snacks and Ryan wanted nothing to do with those fruit snacks.

The Bees played the Sacramento River Cats. The game was slow moving and was tied, 5 - 5, around the 7th inning. It got to be the 9th inning and it was still tied, but it was around 10:30pm--2 1/2 hours past Ryan's bedtime so he was getting tired and ornery. We decided we would leave since Jim had to do a salute at Ft. Douglas the next morning. Plus, Jim and I go to bed around 10-10:30pm so we were getting tired, too. We listened to the rest of the game on the radio on the way home. The Bees ended up winning and they had fireworks after the game so we missed out--oh well.

We had a lot of fun at the Bees game and sitting in the suite. Thanks to Jerry & Michelle for inviting us to go :)

Ryan trying to sneak into the suite next to us

Ryan and Jim watching the game. It got a little cool after the sun went down so we put Ry's jacket on.

Ryan thought it was so cool to look at people in the suite.

The 9th inning--waiting to see if the Bees could score before we left. Ryan is in his PJ's--we knew it would be late when the game got over so we took them with us.

Will and Ryan playing with Will's new Bees ball