6 months in a nut shell.

Wow I have really been slacking in doing this. Ryker is now 7 months old and crawling everywhere. He is pulling himself up on everything and loves to stand up. Reagan is almost 3 now and loves that her brother is old enough to play a little now. They are always laughing and playing together.

This year for Christmas we were up here in Rexburg. We spent it with my aunt and uncle and their kids. It was so much fun. Reagan had so much fun playing with her cousins. There were people everywhere and that how it should be. I loved it. Here are a few pics and videos of out Christmas day.

Matt and I have just finished our first semester back here at BYUI. We cant wait to be done but we have a long way to go. We do love the snow up here even though it has only snowed a few times this winter so far. here are a few of our times playing in the snow with the kids.

2 Months

Ryker turned 2 months old last Monday and he can now:

• He measured 24 1/2 inches and only 11 lbs.
• He is smiling when he sees me, Matt, or Reagan
• He is now laughing when we tickle him or get him excited
• is eating about 6oz every 4 hours but sleeping all night and even sleeping in sometimes later than Reagan.
• Is taking 3 long naps during the day
• takes a nap when Reagan does and goes to bed when Reagan does. He is so easy and adapted to Reagan's schedule right away.
• Went on his first camping trip

He is an even easier baby than Reagan was and has been sleeping through the night pretty much since he came out. I can't stress enough how grateful I am for that. He is the happiest baby ever. We all love him so much and I feel so grateful that he is a part of our family. I don't have any new pictures of him put I will take some this weekend and post some in another blog.

never perfect

So when I took Ryker to the dr when he was 2 weeks old he was in the 90th percentile for height and weight. The dr said we were feeding him to much and that we needed to feed him 3 oz every 4 hours and we will see how he is doing at the 2 month appointment. Well that 2 month check up was today and Ryker is now in the 90th for height and 25th for weight. The dr said that I am not feeding him enough and that I need to feed him more because he hasn't gained much weight since his 2 week appointment. The same thing happened with Reagan when we were in the hospital. I think I just need to go with my mothers instinct and feed them what I know they need because the dr's are always wrong. I just had to vent on this one because now I feel like I have been starving my baby. So now Ryker gets to eat for as long as he is awake. I wish I could be on that diet.

4th of July

Ryker celebrated his first 4th this last weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Stout came down to celebrate Ryker's baby blessing. Matt did a great job and said a very nice blessing. We were glad that our friends and family could be there for the blessing. Unfortunately I forgot to take more pictures with everyone that was there and was sad I didn't take a picture of our new little family. Here is the only pictures I did take.

On the 4th we headed down to the grandparents hotel for a day of swimming and cards. Reagan had so much fun swimming and she is getting so good at it. She kept telling Matt to go away so she could swim or jump in by herself. Ryker and I couldn't go swimming so we sat on the side and watched Reagan and Matt. Ryker was in such a good mood and here are some pictures that I got of him smiling.

He is an amazingly good baby he has been sleeping through the night for about 2 or 3 weeks now. I LOVE IT!!! I have not lost any sleep. Reagan is a crack up as always. She and grandma were out shopping and all the sudden Reagan started doing her model walk. This is where she will swing her hips as she walks. It is hilarious I need to video tape it and post it on here soon. She is getting to be as funny as her father. She came up to me the other day and said, "mom i'm hungry so......um......" like so what are you gonna do about this problem mom. I laughed so hard. Here are some pictures of them on Fathers day.

I had my surgery about a week and a half ago and it has been a fast recovery (thank goodness) and Matt has been so helpful and took over the kids by himself so that I could rest and recover. I bet that is why I am recovering so fast. I still can't lift up anything over 10 pounds so he is still helping out so much. I feel so blesses to have an amazing husband that is so willing to help anytime I need help sick or not.

Hard times ahead.

My sweet newborn is getting so big so fast. He is 4 weeks as of yesterday. He is 10 lbs and I forget how tall. I feel like he has been here forever. He is so sweet and last night slept from midnight to 5 am! I couldn't believe it he has always been such a good sleeper.

I had a meeting with my surgeon and in 2 weeks I should know when I am having my surgery. I need to get this taken care of as fast as possible but I am worried because 1. 2 weeks is when we are blessing Ryker and 2. poor Matt is going to have to take care of 2 kids and go to work because for the first few days I wont even be able to lift up my baby. The dr said that I will feel like a semi just hit me after the surgery. I am really scared and we have defiantly figured out that we need to be around family. I never realized how much we needed them when we were down in AZ and now that we have had a baby and this surgery with out family we never want to be away from them again.

Reagan is doing well she is slowly starting to go back to her big girl self. She is more excited to help out with Ryker and I think she realizes that he is going to be sticking around for a while so she better get used to it.

Ryker James Stout

Ryker was forced to make his grand entrance today. I was originally supposed to be induced on May 17th but every woman around here decided to go into labor that day so we were told to wait and call at 3am the next morning to see if there were any beds available. Matt and I did not get to sleep until about 11pm and then woke up at 3 and were told to come on in at 5am. We were to excited to go back to sleep so we decided to just get ready for the day and make sure we had everything that we needed for the hospital. At 5 we strolled in and started getting ready to be induced when I turned white and getting really clammy. I was very close to passing out for some unknown reason and they had to use a few of the ammonia salts to wake me up. After about 20 min of that everything went smoothly. They started the PIT at around 7 am and upped it every half hour till about 11am. They checked me and I was dilated to a 4 and 80% so the Dr decided to break my water. Seems like immediately after that i felt my first real contractions. I will never understand how or why women give birth naturally it hurts so bad. I quickly got my epidural and was able to finish watching the season finally of Castle with Matt. at about 1:20pm the nurse checked me and told me that I was ready to push. The Dr came and after pushing for 20 min Ryker was born at 9lbs 8oz and sunny side up just like his sister. He was healthy and crying. he was 21 1/2in long and he felt like a brick. I am so nervous and excited to have him as my son. Reagan doesn't really seem to interested in him yet but she did kiss him and say hello and it was such an amazing moment for me as a mother to see my children meet for the first time.

The end is in sight

I have 4 days left until Ryker is forced to make his arrival. I am really hoping that I can make it that long. I have developed a new horrible symptom where it feels like a charlie horse cramp in my groin. It hurts so bad that I have literally laid on my kitchen floor waiting for the cramp to pass. Nothing I do will help this pain and just standing in one spot brings these cramps on. I am dying. I have had a very hard pregnancy this go around and I have to remember that soon he will be here and all of this pain will be forgotten when I look into his sweet little face. My mom is coming up on Monday evening after work and I can not wait to see her. It has been a year since I last saw my family and I am in much need of a visit. So we call the hospital at 8am to make sure that we still are able to be induced and if we are then we go in at 10 am. I am so excited and so nervous at the same time. The next blog will have pictures of Ryker and Reagan. I can't wait.