Insomnia

Anyone know how to cure insomnia? The past couple of weeks I haven't been able to sleep at night. I'm exhausted all day and then it comes time for bed and I'm wired. My mind just spins all night long and I can't sleep the whole night through without waking up at LEAST once. Most of the time I wake up every hour or wake up and can't fall back asleep for an hour or two. I'm slowly going insane. I got in bed at 9:00pm and it is now 3:27 am and I have not fallen asleep. I even took a sleeping pill at about 12:30 and all it did was make me feel "floaty" and numb and tingly all at the same time. My eyes are starting to wig out on me too but I can't for the life of me fall asleep. I'm not stressed or anything and I didn't have a ton of caffeine so I'm not quite sure what's wrong. All I know is that there's no point in trying to sleep now because I would be waking up in 2.5 hours to get ready for work and I'm not sure how I'm going to make it through the day without pumping myself full of caffeine (which I don't like doing).

Lesson learned

So I've already had this happen to me once, but it happened again tonight. You see...my whole life I have learned things the hard way and pretty much made every mistake twice before I really learned from it. Tonight...Ryder pooped in the tub...AGAIN! For any moms out there that have not experienced this yet and Joy, this is for you...here are signs of a baby about to poop in the tub

- They hold very still
- They stay VERY quiet
- They stare into space
- They start to rip "duck" toots in the water (and I always think he's JUST tooting)
- They start to grunt (this is the RED FLAG)

I even said to Ryder, "Wow. You sure are tooting a lot. You better not poopsie!" Literally 2 seconds later he poopsied. DISGUSTING! The worst part is trying to fish the log out because you KNOW it ain't goin' down that drain. Sorry if this is TMI. I just had to share.

Labor Day pictures

Keira took pictures of all the kids by a lake up in Heber when we were there for Labor Day.
Here are some of the cute ones she got of Ryder.
He was just talking and playing while she played photoshoot.
Ryder LOVES being outside. If he's cranky or bored we just take him outside and he immediately calms down. I can't wait for cooler weather so we can play outside all the time.

Grumpy Old Woman

I am only 23 and I feel like such a grumpy old woman. Let me just start off this rant by saying I have one major complaint about our apartment and that is noise. You can hear EVERYTHING! It is 1:05am and I can't sleep because there are stupid college students having a party outside!! They did this about 3 weekends ago and the party lasted until 4am, which is when I could finally fall asleep. Lucky for them it was a Saturday night and we have late church so it was annoying but I blew it off. They lucked out once again because tomorrow is Saturday and I don't have much going on. I got out of bed to look out my window and it woke Jon up so I asked him to PLEASE go tell the people to shut up and of course he said, "No. Just put a pillow over your head." I am so annoyed but too chicken to go out there and ask them to please SHUT UP! The stupid girls keep screaming and yelling, "WHOOOO!!!!!" I wanna go sucker punch them. It also doesn't help that in my first 3 hours of attempted slumber I was rudely awaken by Jon 3 different times because he was either sleep walking or talking. He has been getting worse. He used to do it every once in a while only one time during the night. This past week he's been doing it 2-3 times per night every night!!! I'm just ready to freak out. I know he can't help it but I HATE being woken up. I'm just so grumpy and old already. I used to be a college student and go to parties and I would hate the stupid old people that would break up our parties and complain about the noise. I am now the stupid old people getting mad at the stupid young party people. Life is just one viscious cycle.

Halloween Craft Kit

Look at what I made! It's a Martha Stewart Halloween wreath making kit! Looks kinda cheap, I know. It was only 15 bucks but I was kinda in a crafty mood today so I picked this bad boy up at Michaels. It was NOT easy. I had to brush glue on some of the leaves and sprinkle glitter on them...very messy. Then I had to gather leaves together in clusters and wire them together. THEN I had to use special tape to attach all the leaf clusters to the circle frame all while keeping Ryder busy. Also, NOT VERY EASY! I even took him to Trader Joe's after Michaels and they gave him a balloon so I figured he would keep busy while I crafted away. But NOOOO!
I gave this little man snacks, toys, took several breaks to hold him and play with him, and he STILL would not play by himself. He was SO into what I was doing.
What was that??? You're spoiled? I know it!
See! The proof is on his face. I was doing everything I could to keep him from wanting me. What can I say? My little man loves me...AND my new wreath. He crawled over to it about 2 minutes after I finished it and tried to pull it apart.

Yet another

I'm bored right now so what the heck. I'm supposed to say 6 things that are weird about me. I'm a weird person so this should be easy. However, I do tend to repeat myself since I get tagged a LOT so I'm gonna try and say different things this time.

1. I love the smell of wet CLEAN towels. If they have been used a lot or smell like someone or something, then it's just gross. But I just love when a clean towel gets damp. It's smells so good.

2. I can gleek. You know when you can spray, well - saliva i guess, out from under your tongue.

3. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people can't spell or use proper grammar. I've always been real strong in the English dept. so when I catch those types of errors I HAVE to correct whoever did it. I'm sure I make errors sometimes too but if I think it's correct, then in my mind it's correct. Okay let me just put it this way people. We live in AMERICA. We speak ENGLISH. Therefore...speak proper ENGLISH!

4. I have some crazy OCD tendencies. I won't go into detail but let's just say it has a lot to do with light switches, where decorations are placed, my hair, etc.

5. I have this problem with food. As soon as I am done eating a meal, I can be completely full but all I can think about is when my next meal will be and what I will eat. It's a sickness! I'm seriously obsessed with food.

6. Ryder has to look cute. It matters to me more than how I look. If Jon dresses him and makes him look weird or dumb (which has happened - and Jon actually thought it looked good) I have to change his outfit. Same thing with his hair. Last time I let Jon do it he made it look SO gay and put so much product in it that it ended up being greasy and I had JUST bathed him.

Okay there's my 6 weird things. This time I'm going to tag...Ashley Madsen (so you can post something NEW :))

Boys will be boys

Sonia had to take Peyton to the Dr. last Friday and when I found out she was going to be taking 3 other boys with her I HAD to intervene. Taking one child to the Dr. alone is hard enough. I have Fridays off so I offered to take the 3 boys for her. I kept asking them what they wanted to do and offered a few suggestions to which they would reply in a way that was less than enthusiastic. Then I said the magic word...nintendo! We have the old school nintendo, ya know the one where you can play Duck Hunt (only we don't have that game - the coolest one). I was on the computer and then looked over to see this! All of the boys (including Ryder) totally absorbed. Thankfully Jon gets off early every other Friday so he was there to help me do "boy stuff".

Here is Ryder practicing his scary Halloween face for all the trick or treaters. I don't know about you but I'M pretty scared. This morning he crawled over to my entertainment center, opened the doors, then pulled the glass against his face. I grabbed my camera as fast as I could and then just cracked up laughing. This is the goofiest face he's made in his short life. I'm so glad I caught it on camera.

Oh Geez

Okay so in my tagged post I didn't mean I want ALL new friends!!! I guess I gave everyone the impression that they are old friends and I don't like them anymore. Not true! I just want to make new friends. I like having lots of friends. I would like to the keep the old and get some new! That is all my people!

Tagged by Ashlee

I HAVE BEEN TAGGED!!!

8 OBSESSIONS
1. reading blogs
2. Kissing, snuggling, hugging Ryder
3. money - i'm constantly thinking about it
4. SCENTSY!
5. Diet green tea (it tastes better than regular)
6. trying to control portions and not eat too much or too fast
7. Online shopping for clothes I can't buy
8. Keeping Ryder on a somewhat strict schedule. I'm ridiculous. If he misses a nap or goes to bed kind of late, I get all upset. It's not even that serious!!!

* 8 WORDS OR PHRASES I USE OFTEN
1. I love you
2. When are you gonna be home?
3. Is that my pookie baby?
4. Are we gonna be able to pay rent, bills, etc???
5. no, no
6. What's wrong?
7. Have a good day
8. Skin and Cancer Center, this is Lara how can I help you? lol.


8 THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE
1. See my kids grow up and get married
2. see all my grandkids
3. Go to New York!
4. Pay off all debt
5. travel, travel, travel
6. Conquer any one of my many fears
7. Find a way to live comfortably and never have to worry and stress about stupid money.
8. I want to die before Jon. If he dies first I don't know what I will do.

* 8 THINGS I'VE LEARNED
1. Being a mom is just as hard as I always imagined.
2. Money does not buy happiness, but neither does the lack of it.
3. I am going to be picking up after Jon for the rest of my life.
4. Pick your battles
5. No matter how many good changes I've made in my life I will always be a bit of a rebel in one way or another. It's just who I am.
6. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
7. You can't have complete control over everything ALL the time.
8. I do not want a lot of children.

8 PLACES I WOULD LOVE TO GO
1. New York
2. Paris
3. Hawaii
4. Canada
5. China
6. Disneyland when Ryder is old enough to appreciate it
7. on a romantic vacay alone with Jon.
8. My parents' new cabin!!

8 THINGS I CURRENTLY WANT OR NEED
1. Money
2. A new pair of jeans. Jon thinks I'm retarded for wanting jeans so badly but I have been wearing the same jeans (they are my favorite) almost every day for 2 years now. I haven't bought a new pair since. They are very worn out. I need a new pair! Is that so much to ask?
3. A house (or to just have our apartment be on the bottom floor)
4. A Vacation!
5 to lose weight and work out
6. new clothes, shoes, purse, make-up, etc. I hardly shop for myself since I got married.
7. A new group of friends. Jon and I are kinda losers but at least we have each other and Ryder! We just never go out with friends...ever, only with family.
8. To not have to clean my house ALL the time. Sometimes 3 times in one day.

THAT WAS NOT EASY! I tag MY MOM!

Photo Tagged

Susan photo tagged me. This is from March 31st of this year. Ryder was about one week shy of being 2 months old. Jon was carrying him around the house like this and he actually fell asleep. We thought it was pretty funny so we snapped a shot. So for the photo tag you have to go to your pictures folder, open the 6th folder, and choose the 6th picture. Post it on your blog ladies! I tag Sonia Cobb, Lindsey Michaelree, Melissa Goebel, and Tatum Hendrickson.

8 Months!!

Ryder is 8 months old today! He weighs 23.5 lbs and is just getting heavier by the day. He still has only 2 teeth and he likes to bite EVERYTHING! When he bites my hand it hurts so bad. They are like little daggers. He loves to eat everything and anything. The other day I was blogging and he got real quiet (which all mothers know means trouble) so I went to check on him and he had pulled the rubber tip off a doorstop and had it in his mouth!!! Luckily I got it out without struggle or he might have choked. I have also caught him twice crawling over to the kitchen and finding a little felt circle (the kind you stick under chair legs so they don't drag across the floor) and trying to eat it. So gross! I also HAVE to add that our bottom floor is ALL tile so Jon got extra carpet from his parents and cut a big "area rug" for us. It is not bound on the edges so I am always sweeping up loose carpet fibers because Ryder loves to sit at the edge of the rug, pull the fibers out, and try to eat them. I have to watch him like a hawk these days! I gave him his first real spanking today. You can call me a bad mom if you want but I think he's old enough to start getting SOME discipline. I was trying to change his (poopie) diaper and he kept kicking me and trying to crawl away so once I got his butt clean I gave him a nice firm swat on the bum cheek. He cried, but got over it pretty quick. Then he proceeded to kick me more, all while I'm trying to keep poop OFF my furniture. So I swatted his butt again. It took about 3 spanks for him to finally stop. His favorite thing to do since he started becoming mobile is crawling to my entertainment center and pulling every single DVD we own out on to the floor to play with. I clean up DVD's daily. See him in action in the picture above.

2 years!

I should probably have posted a picture from our wedding or something but I couldn't find them. I think they are all on Jon's computer. This one was taken when I was 8 months pregnant and I just like it. It shows the love. So in case you were wondering why I'm totally leaning into him, it's because my belly was huge. Our 2 year anniversary is today, October 5th! Last night we went to Saketini and ate 5 sushi rolls until we felt sick. It was awesome. Then we went and saw Eagle Eye. That movie is LONG, but pretty good. After that we went and got a Jamba Juice. Anyways, we didn't do anything out of the ordinary and we actually came home pretty early so we could get our bumpkin to bed. He was being babysat at Grandma and Grandpa Stowell's. It was really nice to get out and be alone for a few hours. Neither of us can believe it's been 2 years. Sometimes it feels like we've been together our whole lives, other times it feels like we haven't had enough time together. The best thing that happened to us these past 2 years is RYDER! We love him. He makes us so happy. Having him has definitely brought us closer and challenged us in ways that we never imagined. We have had so many fun times and so many hard times, but somehow we have made it through 2 years and we are still in love! We are best friends. There is nobody I'd rather hang out with than my own little family. I know that I've made my complaints about Jon, but at the end of the day...I just love him. So here's to 2 adventurous years!