4 Months | Ryken Spree

Sweet, happy girl turned 4 months yesterday and I’m clueless how that happened so quickly.  How is it possible? 

Ryken is as happy as can be (besides the teething) most days.  She is just now starting to roll over and holds her head up so well.  Not one day has passed that she isn’t happy! ❤️ Her personality is starting to come out and she’s a little combination of sweet, ornery and sass.  She’s been sleeping like a champ until recently but no complaints – we’ll sleep someday 😂

Zayden still isn’t 110% sure about sissy but he’s warming up to her. He’s very excited about when she’s big enough to play with him! Some fun things about Zayden:

Continuing to love to learn, swim and be his curious little self. He knows more random facts about things that I can keep track up (most of these “facts” he tells me are spot on but occasionally he gets his info mixed up. One of the more questionable facts is turtles can jump up to 10x their length and they can jump 10 miles. 😂 Another cute thing he does, is wonders what color the car will be after we come out of the car wash. He’s always a little disappointed when my car comes out to be white after every wash lol.

Pandemic is still the pandemic, life is still limited, but we’ve adapted and are lucky enough to see all of our immediate family and enjoy the lake most weekends. Life is different but thankful for these two sweeties.

3 months & 32 months

How did we get here?  Little Miss Ryken is 3 months old today and Zayden is over 2.5 years old (yes I had to count the months to figure it out bc I have up counting months awhile back!)

Ryken is smiling every day.  Cooing all the time, sitting in her lion chair, holding her head up really well and officially rolled over for the first time today!  She’s been pretty content just chilling and letting us move her until today.  She loves to swim in our little pool, riding in car rides is a breeze, and sleeping is her thing (thankfully)!

Zayden is still is curious, adventurous, smart little self. He still is a bit particular when it comes to the food he wants to eat. He traces his name and words really well, starting to color inside the lines, loves to create things and is a little obsessed with excavators and tractors. He takes all information we give him and can repeat it a month later – this kiddo surprises me every day. We’ve been working on reading and I wouldn’t be surprised if he could read some by the time he turns 3. He could step up his sports game a little, but he will get there if he wants eventually (currently, he thinks a basketball is a football and a baseball is a basketball). He loves his sis but still wants momma’s attention when I give her too much! 😂🤷 And he loves to swim in his pool & the lake, so much so we can’t get him out of the water most days. He even got to tube with his cousin and me and all he wanted to do was, “Go faster.”

Last month, we got to see zebras, Ryken met her great grandma Jackie, and finally got to see Ryken’s grandparents (Papa & Grammie Vinson). This meant travelling 11 hours by car to New Mexico during pandemic was interesting but we did it! They both actually did really well! ❤️🚗 We also got to shoot off huge fireworks thanks to the Qualls family; Ryken slept through most of them and Zayden loved them as long as he was wearing his headphones 😂

Life is still fairly quarantined with a little more outside life but staying at a safe and cautious distance! We are ready for things to be a little more normal but we’ve learned this may just be our new normal. Our children may never step in a store again or eat inside a restaurant for quite some time, maybe they will not blink an eye when they get to school age and have to wear masks all the time. Who knows, but we are loving life with them no matter what type of restrictions life gives us.

We are so grateful for our two cuties and praying to continue to stay healthy, happy and as rested as we can!

2 Months in THIS World

Sweet girl, you are 2 months (yesterday) and you are full of smiles, despite the world chaos you have come into. Generally, my posts of you and Zayden are just about you and where you have traveled to and things you have done, but things are much bigger than just you or us.

You were born into a pandemic & now protests & riots everywhere. Let me explain so you know just how different this life is than what we expected you to come into. We have been isolated for quite some time until more recently. We didn’t have visitors, we didn’t see family or friends (and still haven’t seen most friends) and we haven’t been out in the world since you were born. Until recently, this week we traveled to see your Grandma & Grandpa Vinson. And while in isolation, we have done a handful of fun things like ride your first boat on the lake, your first pool time, traveling 11 hours in the car, and you & your brother’s first camping trip which you loved every single thing and smiled through it all! We have experienced quite a bit of happiness in our little bubble, and yet there is so much sadness here and in our world that my heart hurts you’ve come at this time. It hurts that we haven’t done better as a society. We shouldn’t be seeing the hate we are seeing now, things that should have never ever happened have. But I’m going to tell you about it because this is reality. We should be living in a world where hate shouldn’t be present, racism should be non-existent, rights for people of color should be just as equal to anyone else’s. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. You my sweet girl are privileged, there is no doubt about that. We are not judged by our skin color. It unfortunately happens in this world and has caused so many unruly deaths, and produced so much hate that I can’t even explain it fully to you. But I will try. We are already trying to teach your bubs and you about racism, and love and hate in this world. We are trying to teach you both about white privilege and will continue so hopefully you don’t have to live through the same things that we are witnessing. You and your brother are the future. You are the change.

Prior to your birth, we had covid19 hit the world and have been in a pandemic for awhile now. Businesses have been closed down, restrictions with what you can and cannot do, how many people can be together at a time, etc. For us, it fell at a time where we had to stay at home anyways and this just gave us more time with you and Z while weddings get postponed and the scheduled things we had opened up. The pandemic continues, little help was given to small businesses and people that have poured their lives into their business have to close down for good. Then people start to protest about opening back up, some states (like Arkansas) have opened back up with some restrictions and some have chosen to stay closed down. It’s a weird world as a small business owner. Next up, murder hornets – honestly, just Google this when you get old enough because if I try to even explain them, you’ll think I’m making it up from a movie or something. Then shortly thereafter, a terrible murder happens to George Floyd, a man that did not deserve to be treated like he was and he died a terrible death. The world hasn’t been the same since and it shouldn’t be. Protests began in every state. Then riots began. People are taking a stand. We are taking a stand. This was another person of color that died unjustly and we have to stand that this stops. You will be taught to treat others better. You will be taught to love. You will be taught not to hate. And you will be taught to stand up for things you believe in. Sweet girl, you and your brother be the change and we vow to pour into you so you don’t witness these same tragedies every single day.

I am sorry this book of our journey for you and your brother has turned into a world of chaos, but it’s apart of your life. We pray you never experience the unjust things that are happening in the world, not because you were born with a privilege or because you are living in a bubble, but because changed has happened.