I showed this picture to Ryan and he said, "cute, whose baby?"

It's our baby...the day after he was born! That cute baby, now looks like this. 

In just a few months Xander will be 2 years old! I know it's been a LONG time since I've

posted but I think it's about time to do another- all about Xander, post. 

• Xanders favorite word is mom. It's the only word he will repeat, over and over and over again. 
• He speaks in sentences and he knows what he wants, but he wont say the same sentence more than once in a row. 
• He  LOVES food! Everything! shrimp, salsa, hot wings, jalapeno chips, fruits, veggies, etc! But if you give him something he doesn't like, or doesn't even want to try(sour gummy worms!) he will gag and gag until you take it away. He wont even look at it without gagging. 
• Xander sleeps in his "big boy" bed. he's been doing it for awhile and he never gets out of bed until morning. He sleeps 12+ hours a night and it scares me for when he gets to the school age because he never wakes up before 10am
• When we say, "bedtime" he will start waving bye and blowing kisses then go down the stairs himself and climb in to bed! It is never a fight! He LOVES his sleep
• He sets his own schedule, every night when he starts getting tired and he knows it will be bedtime soon, he grabs our hand and walks us into the bathroom to take his bath. 
• He is one of the happiest kids I know, but he knows what he wants and if you don't let him he does a HIGH pitch scream until you give it to him.
• He is the most independent toddler. He goes down stairs and plays in his room by himself for hours, he drinks out of big boy cups, and has to feed himself and If you try to help he wont eat. 
• He's left handed. He eats using his left hand and he is the cleanest toddler I know when he eats! But if you switch him to his right hand he makes the biggest mess trying to get food in his mouth! 
• He loves being outside! No matter how cold it is, he wants to go outside. 
• He loves to clean. He would be completely happy if you handed him a broom or a mop and you told him to clean the floor. He loves to wipe up drinks when he spills, sometimes he will tip his cup over on purpose just so you can hand him the paper towel and tell him to wipe it up. He loves when you hand him a napkin and say, "wipe your face" 
• He is so good at listening. Go to bed, take this to the garbage, pick up your toys, etc. has always been a cake walk with him! 
• He dances so good! and he loves to dance all the time. It is the cutest thing we have ever seen!

Xanders first trip to the pumpkin patch!

On our way home tonight we came across this cute HUGE pick your own pumpkin patch, we bought all our pumpkins for $4. Here are a few pictures from our little trip. This pumpkin patch is just outside of Preston off of South State street, there are signs that point the way, so it's not hard to find. :) 

This one?

Too big...

This one, maybe?

What do you think dad?

maybe I'll just sit down instead.

 Once Xander found his pumpkin he had to be the one to put it in the car! He was so cute! He didn't want any help! He is growing up way too fast! 

 

I don't like conflict, I never have. That is why I learned to keep my mouth shut a very long time ago. That is why i'm a "quiet" person. TODAY, that changes. Welcome to the new blog, where my opinions, feelings, and heart will be left in writing. 

NONE of your **** business.

Ryan has dated a few crazies in his past. I don't know what it is about Ryan, but I feel like every girl he has dated has turned into the definition of "crazy ex-girlfriend" Keep in mind that Ryan and I have been married for 3 years this July. One of his Ex girlfriends in particular will now be getting a blog post JUST FOR HER! Just because I have heard so much sh** coming out of her mouth lately and It has pushed me too far. 

This girl works with Ryan's mother so we get to hear ALL of the lovely things she says, so here we go. 

She tells everyone that she dated Ryan for two years! Normally that would be okay, except for they have only been on ONE date. Ask her what two years, I bet you money it will be from July 2007-July 2009. The two years Ryan was serving a mission in BRAZIL!  

This girl rolls her eyes and says a lovely comment like, "kill me now" or "eww gross" every time we see her. 

She drives by our house three or four times daily, which wouldn't bug me because it IS a small town, she MIGHT live in the apartments down the road from us, BUT when she drives by she stares. Not a quick glance but a full on stare. At the car, the windows, the door, the cracks in the sidewalk, the leaves on the trees, each piece of grass, each hole in my fence, she stares at! 

She was engaged to Ryan. SHE called it off though, so of course Ryan is heart broken over it.

I've heard that she has tried to start a few rumors like: 

Ryan is miserable in our marriage. 

He wont divorce me because he "feels bad" for me. 

Ryan never wants to be around me and tries to get away from me all the time, that is why he works 12 hour shifts. 

So HERE is your reality check hunny. And anyone else who doubts. 

Ryan works 12 hour shifts because that is HIS job and most of the people he works with jobs'. He doesn't have a choice what hours he works. They go in at 7am and they come home at 7pm or 7pm to 7am. Sorry, that's just the way it works.

Ryan spends his days off with ME, not because I force him to but because he WANTS to. I have tried, many times, to get Ryan to go hang out with someone besides his boring old wife, and guess what? He chooses me every time. 

Our marriage is far from dead or miserable. We are going on our three year mark and we still have sex at LEAST once a day (it is the best and funnest form of exercise after all)

He still kisses me each morning and night and a hundred times a day in between. 

We still laugh, and tease, and enjoy each other. 

We work out together, we play together, we cook together, we clean together, we eat together, we sleep together, we shop together, we shower together, we pray together. Are you starting to see my point? We are together all the time, because we love each other. Because we want to be together and we enjoy being together. NOT because we have a marriage license that is "forcing" us to be together, not because Ryan feels bad for me. 

We want to be together and that is why we got married and are still married. We want to be together and that is why we started a family and will keep growing our family.(NO NO NO that is not an announcement! but yes, in the FUTURE, we do plan on having another kid.) 

We want to be together and that is why you will never see one of us without the other. 

But BELIEVE me IF our fireworks are ever doused and our happily ever after does end in divorce. I will let you have him, if he wants you. HAHA! I wouldn't keep your hopes up though.

For the LOVE of obsession.

I've been feeling really obsessive lately. O'er everything! So here are some of my obsessions. 

My baby boy. It amazes me how fast he is learning, I can't get enough of him! He is so funny!  

MONSTER energy drinks. I haven't had one for three days. I'm getting the shakes, and having dreams about them. 

Being outside. Yesterday, it snowed. I cried for two hours. I WANT SUMMER! 

Music. I have Spotify, not Pandora. Why? because I have a horrible obsession with listening to a certain song that I heard 5 years ago over and over and over again and then listening to that new song I heard on the radio! Spotify is the only way I can afford that!
  
The Voice. I have watched The Voice for the last three seasons, and it probably has something to do with my obsession over music.

Bareminerals foundation. I used to have horrible skin, now I feel good about my face even going without make-up! I'm IN LOVE! 

Our Yard. Last year I didn't work in my yard. I never wanted to take my tiny baby out. This year Xander is at the age where I don't have to carry him around and he can run free in the yard while I get some yard work done! 

Driving with the windows down. I've always liked it but now Xander LOVES it so I get to enjoy it with my favorite little boy who SCREAMS when they're not rolled down! 

Instagram. I love taking photos of my little boy and I want to remember every detail about him and photos are the best reminders of the little things. plus it makes it so much easier to have it on my phone and not have to carry around my big camera (: 

Chapstick. green apple! I'm IN LOVE! oh.my.gosh. My lips smell so yummy! and feel great too. 

Ellen. I've youtubed each episode. Watched EVERY clip, and laughed until I cried! I AM obsessed! She is HILARIOUS! 

My husband. duh. How could I not be obsessed? HE IS PERFECT! 

one year old STATS!

My baby just turned ONE on the 24th of March. He's not exactly my small little boy anymore, he's pretty big! We are not sure where he got it from, but he's growing so fast! 

Weight 24lbs 10oz ~ 75th percentile

Height 32 Inches ~ 97th percentile

Head 50.8cm ~ above the 100th percentile.

Xander has been such an amazing blessing to our life! He is so much fun and such a good baby.  

Xander says a handful of words. Dadda, Moooomm, Duck, Bath, and tickle. He says tickle a lot lately, it's so cute and I wish I could get it on Video because he says it so so fast that you almost can't hear it unless you know that's what he is saying. 

Xander wont walk by himself, but he'll walk if you hold his hand, yes, just one hand. If you are holding on to his hand he walks like a champ. He will stand up by himself without help from anything. He will cruise around our furniture so fast that it scares me but when you try to get him to walk all by himself he freaks out and sits as fast as he can. 

Xander LOVES water. He love's taking baths. He has now figured out that the toilet seat goes up and water is in it, safe to say our bathroom door is ALWAYS shut now! 

Xander has never had a binkie. Not even when he was a baby. I have heard and seen horrendous moments of kids and binkies so we never let him have one. A few weeks ago however I happened to find one that we received from the hospital and I handed it to him to see what he would do with it, he put it in his mouth bit it as hard as he could spit it out and went on to play with other toys. 

He is the best eater! He will eat almost EVERYTHING we have given him! I say almost because a couple weeks ago I cut up a hot dog and gave it to him, he took one bite of it spit it out and wouldn't touch it again. I tried to give it to him again the other night and he wouldn't have anything to do with it! 

Xander would be outside 24/7 if I would let him. I'm not even kidding. He loves dirt, and the feel of grass between his toes. He loves the swing, the trees, and he loves smelling flowers. We try to go on walks and bike rides every day because he laughs and claps the whole ride. 

Xander is an amazing sleeper. He will be in bed at 8:30 pm almost every night and he wakes up at 7 am every morning. He is then back in bed at 8 am and wakes up after 10 am. He goes down for an afternoon nap at 1 pm and wakes up at 2 pm then will take a 15 min power nap at 6:30. We have noticed that he wont sleep well unless he is in his own bed. He wont sleep in mom and dads bed no matter how hard we try. At grandma's he will now(after a year of trying) sleep but it has to be on "HIS" blanket on the dog bed. 

He climbs up and down our stairs like a champ! It took us a few weeks of trying to get him to TRY taking the stairs but now he is amazing at them! 

Xander doesn't watch TV  He will watch a movie if both Ryan and I are watching one but that's it. We also don't have TV, we have my parents' Netflix account and we have tried to get him to watch so many cartoons but he just wont do it. 

He LOVES LOVES LOVES people. Especially kids around his age. He will laugh and smile at almost anyone. I have only met a couple of people who he wants absolutely NOTHING to do with.

Xander loves music. He is always "singing" and dancing. He loves to bang on pots and pans, lids and random furniture with my make-up brushes. (future drummer? hope so!) We are not "allowed" to drive in the car without music on, he will do a high pitch squeal if it's not on, or if it is too quiet. 

Xander is really independent. It scares me actually. He can't fall asleep if someone else is in the room. He has to feed himself. He gets frustrated if you try to help him with a toy. He wont let you read him a book, he has to "read" it himself ect. I'm hoping that it's just a phase but I doubt it...it's just who he is! 

Xander loves to open drawers and pull everything out of them, but when I LOVE most is that he will put it back if you ask! He is such a good listener  If you say NO he immediately stops. If you say come here, he comes. If you tell him, "bath time" he heads straight to the bathroom. Pat-a-cake or yayy and he will clap his hands. Say "get down" and he immediately sits. I love how well he listens and I hope it stays this way forever! 

I'm not going to lie, every day is not a picnic here. We have had some rough moments. Xander doesn't get sick often but he has been sick two or three times that has made any normal kids ornery day look like a walk in the park. We got lucky with X and we know it. We are so thankful for our son every single day, good and bad. He is the light of my life and the best part of my day! I couldn't even imagine life without him! 

A very random catching-up post!

**This will probably be the worst post you will ever read from me! so feel free to skip ahead to the pictures of my cute little stink bug!**

So we have been having a crazy time trying to figure out what is going on with me. Last week I ended up in the Preston Hospital, puking and white as a ghost with a lot of pain in my left kidney. I knew it was another kidney stone, I've had them before so I was really just going to the hospital for some pain relief and fluids because I felt horribly dehydrated from puking so much and I was to the point where nothing but green gunk was coming out! After sitting in the hospital for two hours, the doctor came in and got tests ordered, two hours later he came back and said, "There is nothing wrong with you. You shouldn't be in pain, just go home you are fine." The next day, guess what happened! I passed THREE kidney stones, all good size! The next day I passed more! I have never in my life been so irritated!! This was also the guy that told me that there was nothing wrong with my appendix...yep, there was and after he took my appendix out I said I would never go to him again! Which is why I hate Preston hospitals new rule of not being able to tell you which doctor is on call! I know it's for safety reasons, but still! That was a waste of day!  

Trying to get everything figured out has been, honestly, really upsetting. The doctors also know that I have a stomach inflammation, but they don't know why. So really i'm just kind of a ticking time bomb, waiting for more bad news. 

On the other hand...I've been told a few times that Ryan and I have the perfect relationship/marriage. I was told just a few days ago that we have a very strong marriage. I do believe we have a strong marriage and that it's going to last for eternity, but I also don't think people realize that Ryan and I do have our rough days. 

 Ryan makes every day worth living for, and he makes me so happy, but he can also completely ruin a day. You see, we might have a strong marriage but that doesn't mean we NEVER fight, or argue. In fact, we argue about some outrageous thing! We have only been in one BIG fight. That just so happened to happen last week! It was the first fight that scared me to think Ryan was going to hate me, but even when I thought he was going to hate me I didn't think that we were going to get a divorce. I've never thought about leaving Ryan or Ryan leaving me. Yes, I've wanted to kill him multiple times, but leaving him would be absolutely CRAZY and I'm talking gone off the deep end, end up in a mental hospital, CRAZY! I tried to not talk to Ryan once, guess how long it lasted... not even 15 minutes... yep, not even 15 minutes before I broke down and ended up running into his arms and telling him I was sorry and that I loved him! Now could you imagine me LEAVING HIM!? ha. 

Ryan keeps me in line, and sometimes lets me get a little out-of-line. He knows everything and more about me! Seriously, ask him what day my period starts, he will tell you. Ask him what day I ovulate, he will tell you. Ask him anything completely odd and I could bet you money he'd have the answer. Ryan has seen me at my complete worst, he has seen me at my best and he still loves everything about me(or at least that's what he says ;) haha)  So yes, I believe we do have a strong marriage. I believe that we will be one of the very very few couples who last a lifetime. I know that we haven't been married all that long, but I'm in love with him more today than I was on the day that I said, "I do" and I think that means a lot, especially with all of the trial we have gone through already. So to anyone who looks up to our marriage, I say Thank You. I'm glad that you see our marriage as "perfect," it is definitely far from that, but it is perfect to us and that's all that counts. I look forward to the many many more trials we get put through, as long as we are together we can survive anything.  

I would also just like to point out that last year, at this time, this is what I looked like. I was fat, and huge, and ornery all the time. I had a baby boy who was trying to make his way out into the world WAY TOO EARLY, and had to get a shot to stop the labor almost on a daily bases! Xander was "due" in April on the 23rd! He ended up coming on March 24th! He is SO CLOSE TO BEING ONE!! ahhh, scary. 

Thursday we ended up going down to McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden where Xander decided looking out the window was his favorite thing to do! He waved to all the people and screamed at the cars! 

So this isn't one of the best pictures, but it's probably one of the cutest upset faces I've seen him do in a long time! He had just been told "NO" for trying to grab dads glasses and he looked at me like this! haha

 I don't do Xander's hair very often, because most of the time it sticks straight up on it's own. This day however I had decided to put some gel in it so it would stay that way and we ended up getting SO MANY COMPLIMENTS on his hair! 

 And just because he is always so so happy in the bathtub I had to post a picture! He is always happy but he never holds still long enough for me to get a picture! It only took ten tries to get this picture!!