Jorden and Kristin

Cranky Girls

2012-01-27T20:53:00.003-05:00

I'm in the midst of my 5 days in a row stretch. That means this week, when it's over, 6 out of 7 days I will have spent 12 hours at work. Well, one of those days I left after only 8 hours since we had some extra staff on hand. But seriously, at 36 weeks I'm pretty darn proud of the fact that I could do it. But I still have a whole 2 shifts to go before I can really say I'm done! :) Needless to say though I am so uncomfortable. It doesnt matter how I sit, I've taken to sitting on a pilates ball, my legs go numb. If I stand I feel shaky and get a head rush and then have contractions. Laying down (obviously not at work) ends up making my legs, hips and belly numb. It blows to say the least!

So thats cranky me.

Then there is Ryleigh. She's had a rough past few days. We're in the awkward transition from 2 naps a day to 1 nap a day. Some days we don't get any nap at all. Which makes for a tired crabby little girl. Then on top of that she has 4 teeth coming in right now. I think those are the cause behind most of her crabbiness because one that is coming in on the bottom is causing her 4 center teeth on the bottom to sort of buckle and become crooked. It looks painful. Motrin has helped a bit, but really not much. She's still 99% of the time sweet as a peach, but she certainly has her moments.

Redirection, distraction and reminding her to "use your words" helps a lot and when we ask her to show us what it is she needs or wants that helps as well. But when told no there can be some pretty epic meltdowns! She has started wanting to nurse again, which again I think is due to the teething she wants it for comfort. So that's been hard to tell her no and reminding her that nursing is for babies. I hope she starts to forget about it/get over the desire soon because if P-Nut comes anytime soon that will not go over well with Ryleigh I'm sure.

But despite me not being at the top of my mommy game the last few days due to exhaustion and being uncomfortable Ryleigh has still managed to surprise us with a few new tricks. It's cute as can be to watch her grow and turn into a kid. It just makes my mommy heart swell with pride!

When you ask her what sound a squirrel makes she can totally make that clicking/sucking sound that we all associate with a squirrel making. It's hilarious! She has added a few new words to her vocabulary like Grandma, walk, pretty, Fenway (Benwai), Milk, Grandma, swimming (immy), lotion (oshen), cereal (earal), bug...I think there are a few more but my memory is about as good as a fleas right now!

She can now open the sliding door and let Fenway in and out which makes her so proud! She's so cute when she does it because even if Fenway doesn't want to go out she'll open the door then yell at Fenway to go out! It's hilarious!

The other thing with Fenway that she's learned to do is to whistle. Like she can legit whistle! it blows my mind that she's figured out how to do this already! But when she yells at Fenway to come in she'll then whistle at her just like we do. It's so stinking cute! And when we ask her if she can whistle she will, then beam with PRIDE and giggle. It's adorable, really it's video worthy so maybe I can get her whistling on video one of these days!

Anyway, in the midst of the crabbiness that Jorden is getting to deal with we've had a few bright spots and those are the moments I'll remember more than the discomfort and crankiness :)

Frustrated

2012-01-26T09:52:00.003-05:00

Here I am at 36 weeks. Since Monday I've had contractions on and off every day. Yesterday at work I was so uncomfortable I was pacing through the department because I just couldn't sit still and couldn't get comfortable.

I have all these people telling me that "You're not going to make it to February" or "You will probably have this baby by the end of the week". You know, because people can tell from just looking at you.

I feel silly because here I am getting annoyed with people, and myself for getting my hopes up about her coming soon. We still have 4 weeks before she's even due!! I want, more than anything, for her to come when she is ready and healthy enough to be born. But at the same time. I want her here. Now. Like right now. I want nothing more than to be holding my squishy newborn in my arms!

I just wish there was a way to just know that the contractions and uncomfortableness are doing something down there! Because seriously, I'm not a fan of this faking me out stuff! I want the real deal!!

So there you have it. While in all honesty I want her here, I don't want her to come until she's ready. But I'm just getting antsy and frustrated!! I know that sounds silly....but really these could be the most uncomfortable 4 weeks ever. Ever.

And really, I know she'll take her sweet time and come in March.

There you have it. I'm done whining now!

Here's to hoping this "fake" stuff gets real, real soon! :)

Labor(ish)

2012-01-24T19:38:00.001-05:00

This is what my day looked like yesterday,

Literally, it started at 11am and didn't stop until I called the OB at 3pm and was told I should probably go in!

When we got to L&D my contractions were regular and strong about every 3 minutes. They checked me and said I was partially dilated to 1cm so my body is starting to do its thing.

I kind of figured they would take me off work since I still have a week an a half until I'm 37 weeks but the Dr was comfortable with me still working and doing what I needed to do. They told me that honestly at this point had I been dilated more they wouldn't have done anything to stop it.

They did offer me a shot of terbutaline which I declined because, oh goodness, that medication made me want to loose my mind with Ryleigh! It was awful. So I turned it down and went home and ate a big meal, drank a bunch more water then went to bed just like they told me to.

I was awake from midnight to 4am and during that time I had a few contractions but they were mostly in my back so I had a hard time getting comfortable.

So far today I've had some but nothing too exciting or regular.

I'm hoping this means my body will do it's thing and get her out on its own, but I know that by getting my hopes up it just means I won't have her till march!

So needless to say it was a tad nerve wracking around here yesterday! Thankfully she's still safe, sound and cooking!! But hopefully before too much longer we'll be able to introduce our little P-Nut to the world!!

- Posted from my iPhone

Chubby Baby

2012-01-20T10:29:00.004-05:00

One of the perks of working in a hospital and working night shift when things are usually slower is that you have access to some cool resources. And while pregnant, one of those resources is getting ultrasounds done whenever you can! :)

The poor ultrasound tech probably thought/thinks I'm crazy because the day I got a positive pregnancy test I went over and begged her to take a peek in my belly because I just HAD to know if there was even something showing in there yet or if I was only getting a positive test as a fluke! Basically P-Nut has had ultrasounds every two weeks. Mostly because the first trimester I was spotting so much I could never shake the feeling of something going wrong. Then the second trimester I wanted nothing more than to get an adorable chubby cheek 3-d picture but since she's had her face crammed up in my belly every time that never happened either! Anyway, it's been fun because I've gone from having nothing that you could see in my uterus to being able to see a little bag, to a gummy bear, to a little squirmy baby, to a real little person!!!!

Or in P-Nut's case, a real BIG little person.

When I went to the OB last time they measured my belly at 34 weeks and I measured at 31/32, no big deal they weren't worried about it. The doctor made a comment about "This is probably a smaller baby". So when I went over this week and asked my friend if she'd scan P-Nut for me she happily agreed.

Girlfriends head is all up on my cervix. She's in position, thats for sure! My cervix is no longer the 5.5 it had been measuring...it's now 3.5!! So who knows how much longer it will be before I'm in labor...it could be today, or 5 weeks from now...

We got to see her ears, and what could be a little bit of hair on the top of her head!! Maybe she'll have hair like her sister! And for a brief moment we caught a glimpse of her adorable chubby cheeks and cute button nose, but then she put both hands over her face! I swear she doesn't want any pictures taken already!

After that she grabbed a few measurements, including the head, belly and femur to get an estimated weight. At 35 weeks this "little" lady is already weighing 5lbs 12oz!!!

Holy tamoly!

Now, don't get me wrong I totally get that it's an estimate and it could be anywhere from 1-2lbs off either way. But with Ryleigh, the ultrasound I had the day before she was born said she was 7lbs and she was a whopping 9lbs 1oz!!! So if the ultrasound guess is off the same way this baby could be almost 8lbs already!! And seriously, I have 5 weeks left. This little gal is supposed to put on anywhere from 1/2 a pound to a pound a week from here on out. So she could be close to 11lbs if she truly does something crazy like that!!!!!!

Needless to say, I'm a tad bit worried about the size of this child that i'm about to birth! I think we may need to take her coming home outfit in a 6-12 month size! :) Yowza! Here's to crossing my fingers and hoping and praying this baby doesn't pack on the pounds the way I have been and stays nice and tiny in there! ;)

Happy Birthday!!

2012-01-19T17:04:00.003-05:00

Dear Jorden,

Happy 25th birthday babe!! We love you so much and we couldn't ask for a better daddy or husband! You make our worlds go round and we love you so much for that! Thank you for being you and for doing everything you can to make our lives easier!

You are a superb husband and I have been so honored to be called your wife. You have made me the happiest woman in the world. You have given me the greatest gift I've ever wanted in life, you've made me a mother and for that I couldn't be more thankful! You are totally and forever the only one I will ever be able to thank for that!

Seeing you with Ryleigh makes my heart swell every day. I love watching you dance with her, play with her and most of all just love her. She adores you and it's obvious by the way her eyes light up when we call you when you are gone and how her whole body jumps when you come home each day! You are such a wonderful father and I just can't wait to see you with both girls!!

We love you so much babe, more and more each day in fact! Thank you for being awesome and for taking good care of us!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Love
Kristin, Ryleigh & P-Nut

35/35

2012-01-18T19:59:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow marks 35 weeks pregnant and only 35 days left to go! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has flown by!!!!

Sunday I experienced my first contractions. I hadnt had much sleep since I helped host a baby shower Saturday after church then had gone straight to work. So when I woke up about 3 I noticed I had a few contractions when I got up. I ate, drank then Ryleigh and I laid back down and just relaxed.

I kept having irregular contractions that never got stronger or more frequent but they just never let up. Ry and I went to bed early and when Jorden came home that night and came to bed I woke up. After that I just couldn't get comfortable. Around 2am I had 7 contractions in an hour so I felt like maybe we should go in. Of course once I got up I had no contractions for over an hour so I just went back to bed.

Since then I've had a few contractions here and there but nothing major.

Yesterday my SIL wanted a belly picture so I took one. But before I sent it I took it from several different angels because my belly just didn't look right.

So I decided to compare it to my 33 week picture...

I was SHOCKED at how much lower P-Nut is already!! In case it's hard to really tell check out the side by side..

Yep, that baby has drrrooopppeeddd!

Which explains why I feel like she's nearly falling out of me! I can breath easier but bending over has gotten much harder the past couple days.

Suddenly I'm feeling like this baby could come any time now! I realize that she could come today or she could come in 5 weeks, her dropping really doesnt mean much, but it's a step in the right direction!

This weekend I decided I've got to get my hospital bag packed and her stuff together as well.
Hopefully I can get her bedding material cut out and start piecing it together!

Now if only I had some nesting elves to come and get their room done for me!

If nothing else this has given me hope that this time around my body will go into labor on its own this time around which would be awesome I really don't want to be induced again!!!

So there you go, 35 days!! (you know, theoretically!)

- Posted from my iPhone

I'm Here I Promise!

2012-01-13T21:07:00.002-05:00

I haven't been on here lately. I haven't blogged, haven't been reading blogs, haven't been on twitter, nothing. Nothing at all.

Why?! My fingers are hurting way too bad to type and be on the computer!

I can't tell you how many times I've pricked the ends of my fingers. I've been sewing like a banshee lately. I've gotten quite a few projects done and I'm super excited about how much sewing I've been doing!

I am thisclose to being done with my friend's bedding. She's due the same day I am (6 weeks from yesterday!!!) so I feel bad that I've put off doing her bedding for so long. It's taken me longer than I thought but mostly because my pregnancy brain/forgetfulness is killing me. Seriously, how do you loose a whole 3 yards of fabric and 3 packages of quilt binding?!! Apparently I do so I've had to make way too many trips to Jo-Ann's to pick stuff up! The quilt is almost totally done, the crib skirt is finished and next up I just have to do the bumper, which shouldn't take long!

Then I lost the present we had for Ryleigh's little friend Vance, seriously I totally lost it. So I sewed him a hooded towel. SO SO SO cute!

I also made 5 cash envelopes for my friend who is starting the Dave Ramsey program. I broke 3 freakin' needles on the zippers, but why wouldn't I!?

I think those are all the little things I've gotten done in the past week, but it feels good to have that stuff done! My fingers will be even happier when I totally finish everything because at this point my fingers look like a newly diagnosed diabetic who has to prick her fingers every hour! It's totally ridiculous!

So anyway, when I get all the bedding finished I'll post some pictures of it. As well as the other projects I've done. I sure as heck can't wait to get started on P-Nut's bedding :)

Alright, so that's why I haven't been around. Now, back to sewing because I've gotta get this quilt finished by tomorrow!!!!

Drama Queen

2012-01-09T20:19:00.004-05:00

My girl is a drama queen.

No. Doubt. About. It.

She gets it from her dad. Go ahead and laugh, but I'm serious! :) okay, so maybe she gets some from me too, but mostly it's from him!

Anyway, last Thursday we took Ryleigh in for a Well-Baby check and some shots. She was a little peach during the whole check up, did everything they asked of her. It was so cute! She stood on the big kid scale and weighed in at 27lbs. She stood with her back against the wall for them to measure her height, she was 34 inches tall. I just couldn't believe she's really that big already, I mean, that's what BIG kids do!

Alright, back to the real part of the story. She got two shots and she screamed bloody murder and let the whole office know she was not happy about her shots. But, as soon as we put her tights back on she was fine. The tears were gone and she was as good as new.

Later that day when I went to change her diaper as soon as she saw her bandaids she said "OWWWWWW" and was very dramatic and wouldn't let me touch her legs and threw a fit as I pulled her tights back on. But once again, as soon as her tights were on, all was forgotten and she was good to go.

The next morning when I went and got her out of bed she'd pulled her pajama pants off and was laying there touching her legs yelling "OWWWWW" "OHHH" "OWWWW" over and over again. I went in and got her up and put her down to go get a diaper and girlfriend wouldn't even straighten her legs or stand up straight to walk. She walked around like a little old man that needed a walker and the whole time she was holding her legs saying "OOWWWW". But, like the day before, as soon as her pants were on she was fine!

It just cracked me up. And of course she was so protective of her bandaids it took until yesterday morning to even get them off since if you tried to touch them she would yell and cry! You would think the whole world was crashing down the way she carried on!

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure her legs hurt, but just to check I would rub her legs while she had her pants on and it didn't phase her. It was only when she could see those bandaids that the drama broke loose! Looking back I wish I would have gotten a video because she could have won an Oscar for her acting skills!

She's certainly 19 months going on 15! Yowza!

The Girls Room

2012-01-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Some of you asked if we have a Theme for the girls room. I wouldn't say that we have a theme...but here is what we are doing right now..

This is the color scheme. The blue we used is much more blue, and we painted it with the "sparkle" crystals in it so it gives the room a very girly flair! I love it! The prints for the bedding are not the ones above, this was simply a color palate for us.

Ryleigh's big girl bed is coming from IKEA. I wanted a wrought Iron bed, and this is as close as I could get with our price range! I simply love it! We'll head to the actual store so I can make sure before we buy it!Her sheets are grey with a lighter grey design in them. She has a bright yellow comforter. She'll have some grey and white and pink throw pillows on the bed as well. I haven't made any of her bedding :( But I really am not feeling too bad about that. She's going straight into a full size bed because we already have the mattress and box springs. And this way when P-Nut is ready for her big girl bed we're thinking we'll hand our bed down to her and get ourselves a king :) That way neither girl has to be "jealous" about one or the other having a bigger bed! ha.

I want their room to be centered about Love. Love for God. Love for each other. Love for themselves. Love from us to them. And love for us. Because really, that's all that matters in this world!
I want some Bible verses and motivational words framed for them as well. We'll see how much we do but I really love this verse.

I'll be doing one of these paintings for each of the girls. Instead of the 3d wooden letter in the circle I'll be having my friend "Button" the letter for me. I'm so excited I think it will be so so cute! I picked up the paint and canvases today so I will hopefully get those done before P-Nut makes her debut!

P-Nuts bedding is going to be grey, white, and yellow. In several different patterns and prints. Whether we use the crib we have now or buy a new one she'll have a white crib. Something about white furniture in a nursery/kids room just makes me happy!

So that's a peek at what we are working towards. Now if we can get it all pulled together in the next 6 weeks I'll be thrilled! I've got all my free time planned out! That's for sure! :) I'll be sure to post pictures once the room is done!

No Small Task

2012-01-06T22:49:00.003-05:00

When we found out P-Nut was on the way we had decided that we were going to trade our (big) room with Ryleigh for the small room. I figured we'd move our stuff and cram it into her room, set up her big girl bed, decorate then move the crib over. Followed by us setting up our stuff in her old room. Seemed pretty simple and easy right?!

Well we are 3 days into this and we are still freaking moving stuff! I feel like I just can't get one little thing done! We still have to head over to IKEA to pick up Ryleigh's big girl bed, and we're still trying to decide about the crib. (Ryleigh's is a drop side crib (which makes me crazy mom nervous) so we are going to attempt to fix that, and if nothing else we'll be buying a new crib.) We have all the bedding for Ryleigh's big girl bed, but I have NOTHING done for P-Nut yet!! Her bedding still is a pile of material downstairs!

Thankfully my BFF had a girl a year ago so she's loaning me a TON of cold weather clothes because I had pretty much nothing warm for Ry since she was a June baby. And on top of that, she started out wearing 3 month clothes since she was such a chunk! Their closest is done and all their clothes are hanging up so I feel pretty good about that!

We went and bought the carseat the other day and I finally got around to ordering an adorable baby book off of Etsy. The newborn diapers are all washed and ready to be on her cute little tush!

My "To Do" list still goes on and on, but we're getting there. Slowly but surely! I'm planning on buying a moses basket for this baby with a rocker...do any of you have suggestions as to brands? We literally have hardly enough room in our new (small) room for our bed and ~~tv tray tables~~ bedside tables so I need something small for our room since we used the big honkin' pack'n'play with Ryleigh since we had the space. But that's not an option this time around! So please, recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated!

Okay, so I think that's where we stand with the big messy room switch! Now who wants to come finish the rest for me?! ;)

33 Weeks and A story

2012-01-05T21:28:00.004-05:00

Today marks 33 weeks. And it marks the week that my pregnancy hormones decided to rear their ugly head. I mean seriously.. Woah. They need to go back to wherever they were hiding!!

I'm feeling great these days. I'm now working further in this pregnancy than I was with Ryleigh, as at 33 weeks with Ryleigh I was in the hospital fighting preterm labor after having an accident at work. So I'm feeling pretty good about that! Although, I have had to break out the TED hose because of the crazy cankles I've started rocking after a 12 hour shift! I've worn them once so far and they make the world of difference!!

I don't have a check up until next week so I have no real baby news other than, she's moving, grooving, rocking and rolling in there. I'm pretty sure she's way more active than Ryleigh was, but the weird thing is she does full body movements where as with Ryleigh they were more just the punches and kicks. She's sitting kind of high making it hard to breath, bend over or even talk some days, but all in all it's not too bad!

Anyway, I'm realizing that here we are, 33 weeks into this pregnancy and I don't think I ever shared how we told Jorden P-Nut was on the way!

You see, Jorden had left for Alaska on June 14. June 14 I decided to pee on a stick as I did every month since I was a year post partum and had yet to see my monthly ~~uninvited bitch of a~~ friend. So I pee'd on the stick, set it aside and assumed to see the negative sign I'd seen every other month for the past 6 months. Because seriously, who gets pregnant and gets a positive test all within 12 days all the while never having had a period?!

Apparently me.

As soon as I saw the two lines I freaked out a little bit, grabbed Ryleigh and told her she was going to be an AMAZING big sister and that I was so happy for her, and then the tears flowed. I mean, we wanted this baby and we wanted Ryleigh to be a big sister, but suddenly I felt like I was ripping away her babyhood from her! It was all sorts of emotional that afternoon. I wanted nothing more than to be able to tell Jorden, but as luck would have it he was on a flight to Anchorage Alaska!! And, I refused once I did talk to him on the phone later, to tell him over the phone. I just couldn't bring myself to do it!

So for 3 weeks every time I talked to him on the phone I had to keep the secret in! It was the hardest thing ever. He even asked me and I flat out lied because I just couldn't do it over the phone!! Plus, I still hadn't been to the doctor and I had had some spotting which made me nervous, but there was no way I was going to the doctor without him!

The day he came home I still hadn't gotten a shirt I had ordered in the mail so I was frantic to find a Big Sister shirt...but seriously, Target, Kohls, and Walmart all let me down and only carried "Lil Sis" shirts! I was not happy. So I busted out my sewing machine and got to work.

We waited at the airport what seemed like F.O.R.E.V.E.R. for his bus from Chicago to get in. And when it did my heart was pounding out of my chest. I knew he would be excited but the nerves were out of control at that moment!

He was SO happy to see his little girl and she was just as thrilled to see him!! I was SURE he would notice what her dress said right away, but of course not. Why would he?! So now my heart was pounding even harder!!I mean REALLY how has he NOT noticed what her dress says yet?!

And then it hit him..he read it out loud. Then wanted her to come closer so he could "really see it" and then, BAM, it clicked!

He looked up with total shock and asked if it was true or if she was just wearing the dress. I'm not sure if I could do anything but nod my head. He was thrilled and that was all that mattered! I on the other had, had just about had a heart attack from my heart pounding for almost 20 minutes straight!

But there you have it. That's how daddy found out about P-Nut!

(And please excuse my husbands attempt at a beard. He figured that he wouldn't shave the whole time he was in Alaska because he'd grow himself a beard, but all he did was come home looking like an adolescent boy who's dad still hadn't taught him to shave yet. That was thankfully gone within hours of him arriving home, because apparently they don't have mirrors in Alaska)

Hello Twenty Dozen!

2012-01-02T21:03:00.002-05:00

So I have so many pictures I need to upload from the past couple weeks, but let me just tell you that Christmas was perfect. Ryleigh was so much fun this year and that made every busy/stressful moment of the season SO worth it!!

But now here we are in a new year. A year that holds so much excitement and hope for us! You see, this year Jorden will be a quarter century old, we'll welcome our second baby into the world, Jorden will graduate with his Bachelor's degree and then start his Masters degree, we'll celebrate with joy and excitement as friends expand their families after waiting and praying for many years, Ryleigh will turn two and there will be so many other little moments I just can't stand the excitement!!

I have some goals for this year. Nothing major or life changing, just goals to help me accomplish some of my dreams and help me become a better person.

Be a better wife. Always be there for Jorden, support him in any way that I can.

Grow into a stronger mother. Nurture my children's hopes, dreams and desires. All the while raising them to be Godly children with kind hearts and gentle spirits.

Get back into shape after baby number two and get back into running.

Speaking of running. I want to complete a 1/2 marathon this year. As well as several 5k's and a couple 10ks. As well as a Warrior Dash and possibly the Tough Mudder.

Learn to quilt. I know how to sew quilts but I want to learn how to actually quilt them.

Sew/Make some type of handmade gift each month for someone in our family so that at Christmas everyone will have at least one handmade gift from me.

Be a better house keeper. I hate cleaning. I hate it. I hate picking up. I hate putting away laundry. I just dont find "joy" in cleaning. But at the same time I'm embarrassed by the clutter in our house. So, that needs to change. In a big way.

Learn to say no. I am finding that I spread myself too thin sometimes. I don't want to miss precious family time and moment's with my girls because I have a plate that is overflowing with responsibilities. I need to do it for me, and my family.

Read more books! I used to read all the time. Now days I just can't seem to find time to read. I'm about to steal Jorden's kindle just to help fulfill my goal!

So really, I think those are my main goals for this year. Nothing too lofty or major. But there they are. The things I want to accomplish this year.

What about you?! Do you have any goals or resolutions?

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T17:08:00.002-05:00

The "oooo's" and the "ohhhhh's" abounded this morning and last night as the gifts were unwrapped. No one's joy could beat Ryleigh's pure joy and love as she met her new baby last night. Then today, as she saw her kitchen as well as each and every other toy, outfit and puzzle she got! Her pure joy and excitement made this the best Christmas I have ever experienced! I'm sure they'll just keep getting better!!!

I hope that your Christmas has been as wonderful as ours has been! Merry Christmas to one and all of you! I'm off to spend the night with my work family, so please be healthy, happy and safe tonight! :)

Please Pray

2011-12-22T07:35:00.000-05:00

We all have people who have helped shape and mold our lives in some way or another. Whether its a teacher, coworker, friend, relative or random stranger I'm sure we can all think of at least one or two people who have changed us for the better.

Pastor David Solomon Hall Sr, is one of those people for me. He was my highschool religion teacher and I adored him. He took time out of his day to always ask how I was doing. He truly cared about my answer too. I worked for him for 3 years as a grader and I can remember many days when I would clock in, go in and start working only to stop minutes later when we started chatting and never get back to work. It was so refreshing to have an adult, other than my parents, that cared so much about me and who I was and how I was growing.

He wasn't just like that to me either. I am pretty sure that every single person who went through the Academy while he taught there can tell you some story of how Pastor Hall changed their life. He was the teacher that everyone loved. His classes were the first to fill up on registration day. And if his class ran over, no one cared. It was awesome.

He had a thing he would do each Thursday called "Thankful Thursday". Every Thursday during our prayer time instead of sharing requests, we could only share praises. I can remember many Thursday's where our entire class would just be sharing praises. He never cared that his lesson plan had changed, he just cared that we were able to share with each other the good parts of our lives.

Well today it's Thursday and I am so thankful for Pastor Hall. He changed my life, for the better, and I couldn't be more grateful.

But, I'm going to break the rules.

I'm going to ask that you would take just 10 seconds real quick and say a prayer for Pastor Hall right now. You see, today he is having Open Heart Surgery at the Mayo clinic. Over the past few years he's been dealing with heart issues and it's gotten to the point where he has no other choice now but to have this major surgery.

I know that God is guiding the hands of the physicians and surgical team and I know that whatever the outcome God will be glorified in it all. But really, it would mean so much to me if you would take just 10 seconds to say a quick prayer for Pastor Hall and medical team.

I'll keep you posted once I know how things have gone.

Thanks guys!

31 Weeks

2011-12-21T12:59:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow I will be 31 weeks pregnant. That means we are down to the single digit week count!! I can't believe just how fast this pregnancy has flown by! It is so different the second time around, I just don't have time to sit and think about the fact that I'm pregnant! It still catches me off guard sometimes when I look down and see my belly bouncing around!

Ryleigh loves to pat my belly and say "Hi baby" or "Hi ____" (insert baby name). It's the cutest thing. She'll even give "baby" kisses without being prompted too. She has recently started to ask to nurse again, I think we can blame it on more teeth coming in, but it makes me worried about how she'll take watching me nurse another baby! It could be interesting but I'm sure we'll manage.

Last week at my appointment everything looked and sounded great. I'm still trying to get some good 3D shots of P-Nut but since she's stayed in the same position this whole pregnancy, no joke, where she has her face shoved up against the placenta it's kind of hard. She's still laying sideways, head on my right side, but on my left side with her feet and hands up under my ribs. I'm starting to get anxious for her to turn and start putting her head down, but I know soon enough she'll do that, which brings about some oh so fun feelings! ha

Overall I'm feeling good, but starting to feel very pregnant at times. It's not so bad most days, just the days I work nights and then don't get a lot of sleep before or after I feel it most. But I honestly cannot complain at all!

I'm coming up close to the time I quit working with Ryleigh, 33 weeks, thanks to my injury that sent me into preterm labor at work. Because of this I have noticed that I'm more nervous at work and I'm much more cautious about what I do and don't do. I have voiced those concerns to my coworkers and they all understand and are very supportive and help me out a lot. "The boys" as we call them help me a lot, but of course not without a lot of "Just 'cause you're fat you think you need our help?!" or "What?!!? You think you're pregnant or something?!" Thankfully it doesn't hurt my feelings and I know they are teasing but they always help me out and I do appreciate it! I am spending more and more shifts in Triage though which is a less risky area so that helps with my nerves!

We haven't done a thing around the house to get ready for P-Nut and I'm starting to stress a bit. Jorden goes back to school January 9 and I told him before he goes back we HAVE to get the girls room set up. Because seriously, once he goes back to school he'll be busy, we have his birthday to celebrate, I have extra work hours thanks to having to take a bunch of classes, and then it's February which means I'll be pushing out this baby in no time!! So, I'm hoping he can get a friend or two to come over and help him paint and then we can trade over furniture and switch our room with Ryleigh's room now. We still need to get a crib and a moses basket but that we'll do after Christmas. I have to laugh that with Ryleigh by being 20 weeks pregnant I was stressing out that we didn't have anything done in her room! Although at least by then I had most of her bedding done! I haven't even started on P-Nuts!! Yikes!

So anyway, that's what I'm up to at 31 weeks! I'm blessed beyond compare, thats for sure! It gives me so much to be thankful for this year!!

Mysterious Angels

2011-12-20T12:00:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend I had to work. I came into work and the report I got was "Sorry, you're about to get sh*t on". Apparently medic was on their way in with a possible hemmoragic stroke patient who was getting worse by the minute and I was going to be getting the patient.

When the EMS crew arrived the patient wasn't doing so hot and we set to work doing what we had to do to make sure we kept them stabilized.

The family was there and was doting over him trying to make those big decisions that no one wants to make as our dr explained the risks and benefits of a medication we could give since he was within the "window". It's one, that if given within the certain time frame can reverse the effects of a stroke by breaking up the clot.

We did everything we could in the ER then I took him up to CCU. By the time we were ready to leave in the morning I called up to check on him and his new nurse said things were looking better! I was thrilled.

Lat night when I went into work I checked and he was still in the hospital but now in a normal room so I headed down to say hi. He and his family were just one of those families that struck a cord with me and I just wanted to say hi.

I went into his room and his wife gave me a huge hug and kept thanking me over and over saying they were so greatful for me and the rest of the ER team. She then proceeded to tell me that "you will never know how many people know about our wonderful nurse and her earrings!!!"

It caught me off guard an the husband piped up saying that he would never forget them either and it was so special that I had THOSE ones in that night. His wife then said "You will never know what it meant to have your angel earrings when we needed our angels most!!"

I smiled and told them
I was glad it meant so much to them and I was so thankful he was doing 100% better! I held it together until I got out of their room and down then hall. Then I lost it and just started laughing!

My "angel" earrings were quite possibly the furthest thing from an angel... I just didn't have the heart to tell them that really they were Rudolph faces!!

I suppose they saw what they needed to that night and now, anytime I ever wear those earrings or even look at them I will laugh and remember that family!

- Posted from my iPhone

30 Weeks

2011-12-16T08:13:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I had my 30 week check up for P-Nut. Everything is pretty much perfect!

My belly is measuring at 29 weeks.

I've gained almost 20lbs, although I weighed with my coat and boots on.

Her heartbeat was 148.

I'm feeling super still. I really cannot complain. I've had more hip pain, like the crests of my hip bones hurt but that's because she's laying sideways with her head resting on one hip and her butt on the other.

My eating capacity has taken a hit the past week or two and I can barely eat as much as Ryleigh eats! When I eat till I'm full then I deal with heartburn, but that's been totally tolerable with a big glass of milk!

I'm still way smaller this time around than I was with Ryleigh. If I wasn't in one of jorden's over sized shirts and my underwear with crazy bed head I'd totally take a belly picture for you. But since I want you to come back I'll spare you that image and try to get myself pulled together enough to take a somewhat decent belly picture! :)

Santa

2011-12-13T20:03:00.005-05:00

Today we went and did a little Christmas shopping... while we were out and about we decided to stop in and see Santa.

He was a big hit.

Seriously, doesn't that look fun!?

He was so popular we all had to join in on the fun! ha

She was totally happy and content talking to him but sitting next to him was as if we were leaving her to the wolves! As soon as we stood up she was all "bye bye!" "Thank you!" and smiles and waves! I kind of figured this was how it would go this year, but we still had to do it!

It's fun to compare to last year thats for sure!

I'm thinking next year we can get another smiling picture since she'll be a little older and might "get" Santa!

Merry Christmas!

PS- Santa isn't a elf this year, the only way Jorden and I could fit in and get Ryleigh to even take the picture was by sitting on the arms of the chair, making Santa look very tiny! But really he wasn't! :)

Sadness

2011-12-09T18:09:00.002-05:00

I've been annoyed and frustrated today with reading stuff on Twitter, Facebook and some blogs about how people are "Happy" that Michelle Dugger lost her 20th pregnancy to miscarriage yesterday.

It frustrates me because losing a child is something no mother should ever have to deal with. Ever. No matter how far along in the pregnancy or how old the child is there is never an easy way to go about that loss. I've never experienced a miscarriage myself but I know plenty of people who have.

To me, it's cruel and just plain rude that people can say such things. So what that she has 19 other kids. So what that they don't believe in birth control. That is their choice. Besides they provide for every one of their children and all their kids are well rounded children. Who are we to say how many kids is too many?! We aren't paying out of our pocket for their kids!

I've had patients in the ER who are pregnant with their 3rd or 4th kid at the age of 18. They aren't married. They aren't working. And we are the ones that are covering the bill for each and every one of their children. But yet no one makes a big deal about them. So why should we make a big deal about a family who can provide for their kids?

So I ask, please be kind. We are in no position to judge them. And honestly, we should be supporting Michelle because I know that if I was to lose a baby, I would be devastated. Instead of getting judgmental lets just think about the fact that they lost a child. It doesn't matter what number, it was just a child. A life given to them by God.

Please, be kind.

18 Months

2011-12-02T18:01:00.003-05:00

Dear Ryleigh,

You are becoming SUCH a big girl. Like, 18months going on 18! You have become very determined and very sure about what you want to do lately. You do what you want, when you want to. And no one can bribe you or make you do otherwise until you decide that's what you want to do. (I'm pretty sure you get that from your dad!)

You have opinions about what you want to eat, what to wear, and whta books or toys we will play with that day! We try to encourage and embrace your decision making but some days, it takes everything I have in me to not get frustrated because you are so stubborn! We pray daily that we can help mold your determination into a skill that you can use for the Lord, and we pray for our patience as well! :)

Slowly but surely your vocabulary is expanding but your understanding of words is expanding rapidly! You quickly catch on to what we are talking about and as I'm telling you what we are going to do that day I know you understand because if I tell you, "After breakfast we'll take baths and then go shopping" after your breakfast is done you'll start climbing the stairs saying "Ath, ath?!" (bath, bath?!) and as soon as your bath is done you'll start saying "Bye bye!" It still amazes me just how much you understand and comprehend!

You love love love LOVE your puppy! She puts up with so much from you and you simply love playing with her, pulling on her, and tricking her. Your favorite game right now is to bring a rock in from outside and give it to her like its a treat. Then when she takes it you giggle and laugh in delight! You also love when we blow bubbles for you because the dog goes nuts trying to catch all the bubbles in her mouth. There is nothing funnier to you than when this happens!

You haven't nursed in over a month, but yet old habits die hard and you will ask to nurse at least once a day. You don't get upset or anything if I just give you a sippy cup so it hasn't been a bad thing that you still ask. Although there are times that I would love to just scoop you up and let you nurse! Every once and a while if your in my arms while I'm trying to get dressed or just getting out of the shower you'll try but you always laugh like it's a big joke. I'm not really sure what you are thinking but it's pretty funny!

I'm thankful you are still napping usually twice a day, usually about 2 hours each time. You nap better now, when most kids are stopping napping, than you did as a newborn, when most kids are awesome nappers! But I can't complain because I usually nap during your morning nap and then get stuff done that I can't do as quickly with you helping during your afteroon nap! The tricky part with you napping twice a day is I have to cram errands into our little window of time between the two naps! Your regular schedule looks like this: wake up around 730 or 8 each morning, take a nap from 10am-noon, second nap from 1-3 or 2-4 depending on what we are doing, then you go to bed by 730 or 8 each night. It's gotten to be a really easy routine and something that works really well for us. Some days you'll only get one nap but you go to bed by 630 or 7 on those days. If you don't get your naps life is pretty miserable so we work really hard to make sure you get your naps in!

You are still fully in diapers but you are becoming much more interested in telling us when you go to the bathroom. You enjoy sitting on your potty as well and are quite excited when you go and get a chocolate chip reward! :) We'll need to go get potty chairs for each floor of the house as well as for both grandparents house because I'm sure you'll be ready to start using them more often before too long.

Every day you become more and more of a kid and while I am always sad you are no longer my "baby", I LOVE watching you grow and change!! Keep it up kiddo, because you are the best thing I could have ever wished for! You make me proud each day!

Love you to pieces!

Call Me Crazy

2011-11-29T11:37:00.003-05:00

Ryleigh turns 18 months in 3 days. I'm not sure how time is going SO fast, but it is. Part of me is sad that she's not longer by baby, but at the same time, this is SUCH a fun period of time. She's learning new things every day and growing up each time I turn around. I love it.

But seeing as how she'll be 2 in just 6 short months, which really I am feeling like it's only 3 months away since in 3 months we'll have a new baby and pretty much time will go doubly fast then! Anyway, since we're so close to her 2nd birthday I've already started thinking about this birthday.

I go back and forth on if we will do a party each year. Or maybe just do something small with just our families. Either way, her birthday will be all about her and we will celebrate. It just comes down to how big are we going!

Right now her loves are cars, dogs and balls. So I'm kind of thinking about doing a puppy party for her. Like last time I want to make her a bunch of the decorations and cake and other goodies so I'm starting now with my planning so once the baby is here and it's really crunch time I'll know exactly what I want to do....it'll just be doing it! :)

But let me tell you, Pinterest does not make this an easy task, because I'm always seeing something more I could do! but the ideas are endless on there! I love it!

So go ahead and call me crazy, but I just have to be prepared, because it will come all too soon!

Real Quick

2011-11-28T16:03:00.002-05:00

~ This past weekend was a blur! I have pictures, but goodness I just can't find the time to upload them all to share!

~ Thanksgiving was great! We started our day with a 5k. Let me tell you. Running at 27 weeks pregnant is no easy task, especially when the course is really hilly! I ran about half and walked the rest finishing in 41minutes. Jorden ran the whole thing pushing the stroller with Ryleigh in it pretty much the whole way finishing in 29minutes! I am so proud of him because this is his first 5k! I'm sure we'll be doing plenty more next summer! And I'm also pretty sure I'm done running, because yowza, this belly is getting big!

~ Thanksgiving night was spent with both of our families at Jorden's families house. We ate way too much, but it was oh. so. good!

~ Black Friday's goal was to get the material for P-Nut's bedding and my friend's baby bedding. Mission was accomplished and not only did I get all the fabric, I also got a BUNCH of much needed sewing equipment. I should have spent over $450, but only spent $150! I love sales.

~ Ryleigh has been in rare form lately. I pray this is just the terrible two's hitting early, but some days she's just so nasty! It's so hard and makes me feel like such a failure as a mom sometimes.

~ Poo-Poo and Pee-Pee are words we are hearing a lot of lately. As soon as she's done pooping she lets us know and many times after her diaper is wet she'll let us know as well. It's nice that's for sure! Earlier today she took her diaper off and I told her that if she was going to go without a diaper she had to go pee on the potty. We went upstairs and she did just that. Then over the next hour we took many trips to the potty, none of which were successful but she never once pee'd herself. After a little bit she started to say Poo-Poo! So we ran right upstairs and she sat on the potty and did it! I was so proud! She got rewarded each time with a few chocolate chips! I have no idea when we'll actually start potty training but she's showing interest that's for sure!

~ Thursday I go in for my glucose test. I'm not looking forward to it. The drink is gross. Not awful but I still don't want to do it!

~ Christmas is less than a month away! our house is starting to get all decorated. We went and cut our tree down yesterday. It's drying in the garage right now but I'm hoping tomorrow Jorden can bring it in and we can start decorating! I just love the holidays!!

Anyway, hopefully I can get back to normal posts soon!

Stationery card

2011-11-25T12:45:00.005-05:00

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Stationery card

2011-11-25T12:45:00.003-05:00

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2011-11-25T12:45:00.001-05:00

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Sucked Dry

2011-11-22T20:04:00.002-05:00

I worked Wednesday night, Thursday Night, Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night last week. Each of those are 12 hour shifts, except for Sunday night since it was OT it was only a 9 hour shift.

Either way. Doing 5 shifts in a row killed me. I nearly died.

No joke.

It wouldn't have been so bad except Monday I only got a short nap in while Ry napped and the rest of the day we were b.u.s.y. So I crashed out last night at 730pm and happily took a 3 hour nap today.

The sad thing is, tomorrow will probably be a repeat of Monday but that's okay because for good reason!

I just keep telling myself, "Just make it to Wednesday night and you're off for several days!"

Anyway, all that to simply say, that's why you haven't heard from me in ages!

Hopefully I'll have thanksgiving day post for you, that is, if I don't keel over and die in the Turkey Trot Jorden, Ryleigh and I are doing that morning! HA!

Work

2011-11-19T07:31:00.002-05:00

I need a job.

One that pays me mega bucks to stay at home with my girly-o.

One that doesn't require me to work past 8pm or before 10am.

One that allows me to take naps if needed during the day.

One that lets me be my own boss.

One that pays me to travel....to places I want to travel.

One that pays enough that we can be debt free.

One that just pays me even if I don't work.

Anyone know of where I can find this job? Because I need it. Like woah.

Coupons

2011-11-17T08:17:00.002-05:00

I'm new to the whole coupon world. I have watched that crazy coupon show and I'm amazed at the shoppers who should be spending $1000+ and end up spending less than $10! It's crazy really, but I do not need 800 bottles of travel sized shampoo. Or 50 jars of spaghetti sauce.

I just don't.

But I do need to save money. So with the advice and some great tips from a coworker I made it my goal to use coupons this week when I did our 2 week grocery trip. I went to the store with my little pile of coupons in hand and kept them in my hand the whole time.

Why?

Well if they weren't right in front of me the whole time I knew I'd forget about them! I loaded up my cart with the necessities for the next two weeks and headed to the checkout lane. I figured I'd be spending right around $120. My total rang up to $124.

I handed over my coupons. And she scanned away, earning me 2 free boxes of pasta and a quickly decreasing total. When she was all done with my coupons I was proud.

Proud because I'd used coupons. But even more proud because that total went from $124 to $86!

Boo-to-the-ya!!!

I did it!! I clipped, I used, and I saved!

I'm already mapping out my plan for next time. I think it's time to steal my printer back from my parents so I can go to manufactures websites to print of coupons for things I need as well as getting coupons out of the Sunday paper.

We sadly do not have any stores that do double coupons which I know is a huge bonus for couponing. Maybe someday I'll live somewhere that I can try that out, but for now I just have to use my coupons as they come! :)

I'm obviously still very new at this, so if you have any tips or tricks please let me know!!

Hold on!!

2011-11-15T17:11:00.003-05:00

Today, I was going about my day, nothing special. A little cooking, a little crafting, a little shopping, you know, a pretty normal non-working day...

Then my phone buzzed. Expecting a text I picked it up and looked at it.

And there it was.

A little box, thanks to my Pregnancy App, that read:

"Congratulations! You have 100 days before your due date!"

...

...

...

Cue freak out!!

With my pregnancy with Ryleigh, it took F.O.R.E.V.E.R. to get to this point. This time?!! This time!! It's here! I'm basically ready to pop this baby out!! (Okay not really I've got just about 14 weeks to go, I'm really in no hurry!)

We still have so much to do! Bedding needs to be made, a crib need to be bought, a car seat needs to be purchased...oh my goodness! There is so much more I'm sure!

But anyway, since I've been horrible about taking any belly pictures since this marks a significant day, I figured I'd take one and put it out there for the world to see.

BOOM! Large and in charge already! Although I'm much smaller this time around! Even though looking at my belly I'm trying to figure out how! :)

I just can't believe before I realize it I'm going to be posting a "She's here" Post! Hopefully no sooner than February thought :)

Sick Girls

2011-11-12T09:16:00.002-05:00

The past week or so Ryleigh has been battling a cold. She's had everything it seems like, runny nose, cough, fevers, diarrhea, loss of appetite, no energy, etc etc etc. I was happy because it seemed like the rest of us wouldn't be getting it.

Until Thursday when I woke up from my afternoon nap to get ready for work. I had a sore throat. I made some tea, a smoothie infused with spinach and vitamin C. Armed with my camlebak water bottle, smoothie and some vitamin C lozenges I headed off to work. By 9pm, just 2 hours into my shift I could tell it was getting worse, and fast.

By 11pm my nose was a faucet that couldn't be stopped. It was awful. And let me tell you, hospital grade kleenex are no ultra soft ones! That's for sure. My nose was already raw.

Then by 3pm I had a cough that was settling in, a low grade fever and so much snot I hardly couldn't keep up with blowing my nose. It was miserable.

I got the short straw and got to come home 2 hours early at 5am sleeping soundly until Jorden left at 830 on Friday morning. Then all day Ryleigh and I napped. And by napped I mean 3-4 hour naps. It was glorious. After all those long naps I was sure she'd be awake all night, but instead she slept all night.

Needless to say, so did mommy! And now this morning, you have two girls with runny noses but we both have energy and the day doesn't look so daunting!

*******

Hope you all have a wonderful Sabbath! We're off to church (to spread our germs) then off to Grandma and Grandpa's house for lunch then to hang out with my BFF and her amazing family tonight! It's going to be a good day!

Triage

2011-11-11T14:41:00.003-05:00

I work in the ER at our hospital. I love it. I really truly do. You get different patients, see really weird and crazy things, you get to help people through some of the most crazy moments of their lives, and you get to deal with some of the most ridiculously stupid comments in the world.

Lately I've been working in Triage a lot, not sure how I'm getting assigned there so much lately, but I'm really not complaining. But there are times that it physically pains me with what some people tell me. Or how they treat me or the tech thats in triage.

When we ask you to take your coat or sweatshirt off of one arm so we can take your blood pressure we mean take it off. Not, pull it up and make it as bunched up as possible between your elbow and your shoulder making it impossible for us to take a blood pressure.

When asked, "What brings you in tonight" don't answer with "I dont know" or "You tell me". Those are not acceptable answers. You came in on your own free will, you know why you came in. I have 8 other people waiting to be checked in I don't have time to play games. And in my 30 second assessment of you I honestly don't think you probably need to be in the ER at 230 in the morning!

Do not ask me how long the wait will be, then when I tell you "It could be a while" do not add on to your list of complaints "Oh and my chest hurts" Thinking that because you've said that you have chest pain somehow magically a room will appear for you. If I say we are full, the department is full. There are no rooms. Unless you keel over in front of me and we have to start pumping on your chest or you truly are having a heart attack you will not go back any sooner.

If you want us to take you seriously about your belly pain that you've had for 8 weeks please do not come in eating McDonalds and then get mad at me when I ask you not to eat anything else until the doctor sees you. And no, I'm not going to give you a boxed lunch just because you haven't eaten all day.

When you rate your pain a 10/10 but yet are sitting talking and laughing with your friends, calling people on your phone and making a scene in the waiting room you don't make your story very believable.

No, I cannot give you pain meds in the waiting room.

Threatening that you will leave and go to a different ER if I don't take you back within 10 minutes does not phase me. You can leave. I'm not going to stop you.

"A minute", "A hot minute", and "A while" are not time frames. I need minutes, hours or days.

Bringing your kid in at 3 in the morning because they "felt hot" is just so wrong. At least take their temperature for real and give them some tylenol. Or maybe, just maybe, you can take of one of their 8 layers of clothes that you have on them in July.

No, your 10 day old does not need a prescription for pain pills. He's crying because he's a baby. Pick him up and hold him.

I will lecture you if you bring your baby in in the infant carseat from your car and they are not strapped in, or if there aren't even straps in the seat. I will nearly lose my mind over this.

I do not know when your last period was. Just because it was when you were in jail does not help me. I do not know when you were in jail. I don't need an exact day, just "Last week" will do.

Please bring in your prescriptions, don't just tell me "I take a blue pill". That doesn't fly.

Oh goodness, I could go on and on. These are just a few of the things people say to me that make me go nuts! But without them, my job would not be very entertaining! :) If you want some more entertaining nursing tidbits check out the last readers digest! They've got some great ones in there as well!

Embrace the Camera, November 10

2011-11-10T08:04:00.002-05:00

A month ago Ryleigh and I headed out to Oregon to spend some time with my grandma, aunt and mom before we headed to Seattle for my brothers wedding. While we were at the beach my mom snapped some pictures of Ryleigh and I that I just love. But this one, this is my favorite.

It's just me and my girl enjoying a lovely morning on the Oregon Coast.

Yoga

2011-11-09T08:06:00.001-05:00

Last night I went to my first Prenatal Yoga class.

Strike that, I went to my first Yoga class. Ever.

It was amazing.

I learned that I am super tight and def need a lottttttt of stretching and relaxation. I also learned that I can tolerate a lot more than I thought I could. And I just got the reminder that I am in control of my body and only I can determine my breaking point. It was an awesome experience.

There were a few moves that I couldn't do very well. I'm a chronic shoulder sloucher so that was hard for me to keep my back perfectly straight, but when I would do everything right and my body would align, oh.my.word. It felt like the heavens opened and the hallelujah chorus was about to break out!

It was a great reminder to hear, but more importantly, to feel how much of a difference keeping your body and mind aligned can make! I'll have to do a lot of work each week between classes to keep that alignment. Plus, the good that can come from this for P-Nut, it's totally mind blowing! And if by some luck I get to labor on my own this time, I sure as heck will be thankful I went to these classes!

I love when you try something and it turns out to be a million times better than you could have imagined! Here's to a new start and to yoga!

Namaste!

Picking a Name

2011-11-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Several people have asked us if we have picked out a name for our sweet little P-Nut. It hasn't been easy and it took a lot of throwing out names before we finally decided on her name earlier this week.

I'm so in love with the name! It's a name that is timeless, classic, and hasn't been in the popular list since the 1800's! So we're hoping that it doesn't suddenly become popular because we love the idea of her having the name all to herself when she goes through school.

The middle name is a family name and so for more than one reason we love it.

But let me tell you, coming to the name hasn't been easy. I think I've made a list of about 75-100 names, narrowed it down to 0 and started over about 3 times! It was so much harder to decide on the name this time around than it was with Ryleigh.

With Ryleigh, we discussed names early on in our dating relationship, and we both loved the name Ryleigh for a girl. So when we found out we were having a girl it was a no brainer! We never even discussed other names for her so we had no second names.

Well, I take that back, I had a backup...you know, just in case she didn't look like a Ryleigh! But when I threw it out there this time around Jorden nixed it in about 0.0001 second! So, we were back to zero names!

And honestly, picking out a name that grows with a child is hard. So it's not something to take lightly!

As of right now we keep going back and forth on if we are going to tell anyone her name before she arrives. Right now, we're not telling people. For several reasons. We don't really want to hear peoples opinions about the name, and we want to reserve the right to change her name if we decide to for any reason! :)

So yes, we have a name! But no, we're not sharing....at least not today! :)

My Big Girl

2011-11-07T15:32:00.003-05:00

Words don't even express my thankfulness for an amazing photographer! She captured SO many great pictures at our family portrait session on Friday. This is just the sneak peek....

I'm not exactly sure who that kid in the pictures is since I still have a baby, but she's super cute none-the-less! :)

I'll be sure to share more as soon as I get my CD from our session!

Scrap Tutu Tutorial

2011-11-06T15:56:00.001-05:00

This is seriously the easiest almost no-sew project ever! It took me less than an hour to complete from start to finish!

First, pick out several fat quarters in colors you like.

Wash and dry them before you start! I then had to iron them since mine got pretty knotted up in the dryer!

Lay the fat quarters out and cut strips in varying widths out of each piece of fabric. I ended up cutting 9 strips out of each color.
I chose to cut mine with pinking shears to keep the strips from fraying too much once Ry started wearing it!

Once all your strips are cut out cut a strip of elastic 2" shorter than the measurement of your kiddos waist. Mine was 16 1/2 inches.

Then you'll need to sew the elastic together to make a circle. I did it by hand since its such a small area.

Once it's in a circle stretch it over something, I used my knee, and then fold your strips in half. Slip them behind the elastic and the loop through and pull snug.

Repeat this until your tutu is full. Just make sure not to tighten them so much that the elastic curls.

Once it's full try it on your model!

Then watch her run and spin around in glee with her new fancy skirt!

See! Super easy!

Enjoy your crafting!

- Posted from my iPhone

Big Sigh..

2011-11-05T03:27:00.001-04:00

It's been one week.

One week since me and my girl had that special moment they only a nursing mother can have with her child.

Really I can't complain, nor can I be sad. I mean really, we did it for 17 months. Which I'm really darn proud of and happy about.

I know in this era and this country especially it's "weird" if you breast feed your kid a day past their first birthday. But to me the time frame wasn't what I was worried about. I wanted to follow her queues and I knew she'd stop when she was done.

There were a few times when I thought she was done which nearly broke my heart. The first time being at 10 months when I got sick and my supply dropped she had no interest in me. It was then that we introduced some formula into her diet. Something I swore I wouldn't do. But it worked because after I got feeling better and my supply returned she and I picked up where we left off.

Once I found out P-Nut was on the way I knew I needed to get serious about weaning her because nursing two at a time was not something I wanted to do.

But the idea of cutting her off when she still wanted it broke my heart. So I decided, against what many people thought I should do, to follow her queues. Just like I always have.

Last sabbath as we sat in church and she nursed her little heart out I had no idea it would be my last time nursing her in public. Then that night when I put her to bed and she only nursed for a few minutes I didn't worry about it. But the next morning when she woke up and didn't even ask I knew something was different.

And two days later when she still hadn't asked to nurse I knew she was done. I even offered and she wasnt interested.

She was done.

Almost exactly 17 months to the day, she was done.

And you know what, while I do miss those precious moments that only she and I had, I'm not sad about the end.

From day one I followed her schedule, nursing her when she wanted to. And I followed my heart and let her be the one to decide she was done. And because of that, I don't feel any guilt or sadness about being done nursing. We had an awesome run of it and I will always be thankful for such an easy first breastfeeding experience!

But really, it does make me a little sad because it was her last but of babyism! Shes becoming a big kid.

Sigh.

- Posted from my iPhone

Embrace the Camera, November 3

2011-11-03T13:35:00.003-04:00

I haven't "Embraced the Camera" in ages! So here we go... me and my girls! :)

Me and P-Nut at 23 weeks. Shirt made by me, as inspired from Pinterest! :)

Me and Ryleigh, almost 17 months, my sweet little Puppy!

Now, go! Embrace your camera with your kiddos today!

Pinterest for the WIN!

2011-11-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

This time around with my pregnancy I've had a lot of cravings, food aversions and smell aversions! It's been frustrating to say the least because I refuse to cave to my every whim and craving because well, we have a budget. And lets face it, I hate going over our budget and just throwing it out the window!

So anyway, my biggest craving so far this pregnancy (all 23w5d of it!) has been smoothies. But at nearly $4.00 at most places a smoothie as often as I want it just wouldn't fly. But when I came across this pin on Pinterest I nearly pee'd myself (And lets face it, these days that could happen at anymoment.)

Source: thetidynest.com via Kristin on Pinterest

Thats right, those are smoothie packets! I was making my grocery list for the next two weeks when I saw this and so I added yogurt and some frozen fruit to my list. I looked around to see which of our grocery stores were having the best deals and off I went. I found the large Vanilla yogurt's for 2/$3 and bags of frozen fruit (the unsugared or processed kind) for 3/$5. And I've used 3 banana's which is probably about another 1.50...maybe?! I'm terrible with math.

I have made 16 smoothie packets from 1/2 of the fruit and yogurt. The second batch will be made. Which means a total of 32 smoothies for $9.50ish!!

If I would have gotten 32 smoothies at $4.00 I would have spent $128.00

But instead. I'm spending less than $10.00!!!!

So THANK YOU Pinterest! This pregnant tummy forever thanks you!

Happy Howl-o-ween!

2011-11-01T08:36:00.004-04:00

Halloween was not a holiday our family celebrated growing up. I have to this day, never been trick or treating. At least not for myself! Last year we took Ryleigh downtown for our towns Halloween festivities and she was the cutest little Sweet Pea ever! This year we headed downtown again, only this time with the cutest puppy you ever did see!!

All the businesses downtown hand out candy and they block off the main road and have games, bounce houses and little shows that take place while the kids all trick-or-treat. It's really nice because you walk a 3 or 4 block radius and you can be done. Granted our town does trick-or-treating on Halloween night as well, but we saw no point in taking her out for that when we had already gone downtown and she had plenty of candy!
Ryleigh just had so much fun walking around waving to her adoring fans and saying hi to all the other kids her size!
Plus, getting the candy was pretty exciting! She was thrilled because she got to pick out her own candy at a lot of the places!
Our town opened up a carousel a few years back and we have taken Ryleigh down a couple times and she has loved it. It was free so we of course headed right down and took our free ride! Ryleigh was so so happy about it and loved every second of it! She was LESS than impressed when I made her get off! All in all our Halloween was a blast! We had a lot of fun and most of all our puppy had a lot of fun! I was a little sad because I had so badly wanted to make her a cute scarecrow costume I had found on Pinterest but when she saw this puppy costume she was sold! But you know what, she made the cutest puppy ever! Hope your Howl-o-Ween was as fun as ours was!! :)

Imagination

2011-10-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

Ryleigh is a very imaginative girl. I'll find her playing many little games by herself. Whether it's cooking or playing with her babies, or reading to herself. I can see her imagination growing daily and it's awesome to watch! She does very well with playing on her own and interacting with her toys which wouldn't happen if she didn't have an imagination, that's for sure!

Yesterday as we were hanging out I was doing some stuff on my computer and Ryleigh was walking around loading up her bag that we use when she goes to grandpa and grandmas houses. After a while she had the bag about half full and she came over and wanted a kiss. I happily gave her a kiss. She then walked over and kissed Fenway. Then turned and said "Bye Bye!"

I replied with a bye bye and asked her where she was going. She replied "Grandma. Bapa!" and walked off! It was the cutest thing. She got to the door and yelled "BYE!". I just about died laughing.

She stayed behind the couch where I couldnt see her and after a few minutes of chattering to herself I heard her say "HI! Bapa! Mom*!" and then went to talking. It was so cute.

Needless to say I'm pretty sure she likes going to visit her grandparents! You know, since she's ditching me in her pretend to go and play with them! And her imagination, it's getting pretty awesome. I just wish I could see what all she was imagining at the same time she is imagining it! :)

Happy Wednesday! We're off to our last tumblin' tot's class of the session!

* Ryleigh often times will call my mom "Mom" when we are hanging out together. I think it's because she hears me call her mom so she does as well. It's pretty darn cute!

Wish List for P-Nut

2011-10-25T14:55:00.010-04:00

There are a few things we'll have to get for P-Nut. Whether its because it's something we never got with Ryleigh and wish we would have, Ryleigh will still be using, or we just have to get since we'll have two kids now!

I'm trying to keep it realistic because as a new mom with Ryleigh I got on all the pregnancy websites and made list after list of things that other moms said they needed. You know, because that surely meant we needed it!

But after realizing we didn't need a lot of the stuff and getting by so far almost 1.5 years without it, I'm not so worried this time around. But with a second kid so close in age there are some things we will need, like it or not.

First up is a crib. Ryleigh obviously has a crib. But it's a drop side crib (yes, yes, I know.) which we're going to transition her out of soon here because now that she's trying to pull up on it I'm always worried it's going to drop on her. But as of right now, I'm not quite ready for her to be in a big girl bed. You know, since she's still a baby! (don't burst my bubble, please!)

Ryleigh's crib is very similar to this one:Which is from Babies R Us. I'm thinking this is most likely what we'll end up getting for P-Nut as well since the price is right for our budget! But if we're talking wish lists, I'd be snatching up this little beauty in a heart beat!
But since the price is a little more than we'd like to spend it'll sadly stay on the "wish" portion of the list!

We're also going to need an infant seat for P-Nut. We borrowed a infant seat for Ryleigh although we hardly ever carried her around in the stupid heavy thing. But this time knowing I'll be toting a toddler and a baby around I could see us using it a little more in stores and such. But either way we'll need a carseat and so we decided to just go ahead and get an infant one. We're deciding between these two, same seat just different color schemes. You know, since thats so important! :)

As for strollers we were gifted a tandem graco stroller that we can use for shopping trips and such, but since I love going out for walks down to the beach and on the beach as well as running I really want a double jogger.
This is our splurge item. Seriously. I love it. I have read so many reviews, talked to so many parents that use the B.O.B. systems and I have a goal! I wish it came in the plum color that you can get a single in but I think we'll go for the orange when we get it. I'm guessing we won't get it until later in the spring closer to when Jorden is done with school since it'll take a little saving up to do and it's not a newborn necessity, although I would love to have it right away so I can start back to running just as soon as possible since there is a half marathon in August I'd like to do! And lets be honest, I have a really hard time scheduling runs around Jorden's schedule, okay I just don't like doing it but if I had to run only when he was home to watch one or both girls I could do it.

With Ryleigh next to our bed as an infant I used our pack'n'play for a bassinet. Which worked great. You know, except for the fact that it collected a ton of crap since it was an easy dump spot! But since in this house we have 3 levels that I spend equal amounts of my day on each level I want something that I can easily transport from one place to the other if Ryleigh and I are doing stuff and P-Nut is resting. I really wanted a moses basket with Ryleigh but since we had the pack'n'play there was no real need. But this time around I will classify it as a need since it's so much more portable!And of course we'll need the rocking base for it :)I'm not sold on this exact brand of Moses basket or anything, and the bedding for it will immediately be swapped out for some that I make that matches P-Nut's crib bedding. But this is the look I'm going for. I love the darker finishes of both!

Depending on how big this baby is and how fast she grows I'm pretty sure we'll have to buy quite a few new clothes just because of them being born in different seasons and such. Granted she would have gotten her own clothes anyway, but you know, now this way I don't feel so bad buying her clothes :)

As for bedding I am planning on making her bedding just like I did with Ryleigh. I've picked out a few bedding sets that I love and I'm not 100% sure which one I'll go with but it's between these ones.
Ryleigh's bedding is brown, orange and yellows mostly. I think I'm going to pick up the oranges out of her bedding and make P-Nuts more of an oranges, pinks, and whites theme. But that may all change when I head to the fabric store! :) I think my favorite is the Chevron pattern quilt but I'm worried that in a few years that will look out dated since Chevron is almost to the "over used" stage in my opinion. (Don't get me wrong, I love me some Chevron, I just don't want to look back and feel like that was popular and now no one likes it...ya know?) Simplicity wise the bottom is the obvious choice and probably the most cost effective if you price out time spent creating as well... The top I just loved. I've always loved scrap quilts. I'd love one for our bed someday but I think sewing crib sized scrap quilts would be MUCH easier :) What do you think?! Any votes?!

So there you have it.

All in all, I don't feel like we need that much. We have diapers, we have clothes and sleepers, we have a swing, a bouncer, baby carriers and slings. But most of all we have all the love in the world for this little girl!!

And as always, any suggestions from moms with two under two? Any things you couldn't live without? Any things that you got thinking you'd always use it and never did?

Please click on the pictures to go to their original sites or the sites where I found the pictures! :) I am trying my hardest at getting better at linking back to sites :)

Hugs

2011-10-23T08:01:00.002-04:00

There are some mornings that I can't wait to get home. Not because I hate my job or i'm extremely tired or anything. It's simply, I want to go home.

I want to get home where I can snuggle my precious toddler. Where I can laugh at my crazy pup. And where I can crawl into bed next to my husband.

So often at my job I'm reminded how precious life is and how quickly you can go from being healthy to being buried. Life is precious.

Cliche? Yes.

True? Absolutely!

And this morning, is one of those mornings where I risk waking up the toddler for a few precious snuggles before I climb into bed, relieved that I get to climb into bed with my husband.

- Posted from my iPhone

Yowza!

2011-10-19T22:08:00.002-04:00

It's been over a week since we got home and I just can't seem to find the time to tell you about our trip! I wanted to show you so many pictures and tell you all the great things that happend, but instead we'll skip all that for a P-nut update!

Last Wednesday I was supposed to have my "big" ultrasound. Jorden couldn't go due to having a review at school so my mom went with Ryleigh and I. We got there, checked in, etc etc etc but when the nurse took me back to the room she took me to a regular room. Not the ultrasound room.

When the doctor came in I asked her about my ultrasound and she realized there had been a scheduling error so I wouldn't get to have my ultrasound that day. Since we weren't planning on finding out the gender and I've had several ultrasounds already (thank goodness I work in a hospital!) I wasn't too worried about it!

I left the doctor and called Jorden to tell him about the appointment. Except I told him it was a boy! He was SO annoyed that I had "found out" and not only had I found out, I had then told him!! It was too funny! He was so dead set on not knowing!! When I told him I was just kidding he was much happier and was glad I didn't really know because he didn't want to know!

Anyway, fast forward to this week. Jorden and my mom and Ryleigh of course went with us to the doctor. The tech did her scan and showed us all of P-Nuts parts but knowing that we didn't want to know the gender she never made any mention of if she saw any dangling bits or not. When she was all done with the scan Jorden asked her if she knew the gender to which she answered "Of course". I knew as soon as Jorden asked we were done for! And sure enough the boy who was SO opposed to knowing the gender had caved!

So when the doctor and the tech came back in the room Jorden asked to know and the doctor laughed, verified that we really did want to know and then told us the news!

Ryleigh is going to have a little sister!!

Jorden is through the roof happy because he's always dreamed of having 4 girls! I'm thrilled as well, but I was sure that it was a boy since this pregnancy has been SO different from Ryleigh's! But knowing that Ryleigh is going to have a sister so close in age thrills me to my inner being!

So there you have it! Two little girls!!!

And no, we won't be sharing the name...you know, once we actually decide on one!

It's Over!

2011-10-11T01:23:00.001-04:00

The big weekend is over! Our uber busy west coast trip is coming to an end. And while I'm sad that our vacation is over I'm looking forward to going home!

Ryleigh is very ready to see her pup-pup and to be done with bunny beds!

I'm ready to have a full nights sleep and to get back to napping!

And Jorden, hes just ready to go home! That's my homebody husband for ya!

I'll be updating you about the wedding and the rest of our trip as soon as we get home and I can get all the pictures on the computer!

And while I'm thinking about it, ryleighs vocabulary burst wide open last week! Her words now include: mama, mom, dada, grandpa, bapa (my dad), GiGi, Onka (Monica), ombralala (umbrella), eye, nose, mouth, ear, hair, eeth (teeth), shoe, off, ball, book, ssss (snake sound), baa (sheep sound), graaaa (lion sound), oooooo (elephant sound), ee ee (bird sound), woof woof (dog sound), baby, no, knock-knock, weeee, boo, fower (flower), ish (fish), car, bus, neow-neow (cat sound), mease (please), tank to (thank you), itty (pretty), cheese, hi, bye,

I'm pretty sure those are all her words now but seriously every day of this trip she had one or two new words! So much fun!

- Posted from my iPhone

The One Where We Nearly Had an ER Visit

2011-10-03T12:28:00.002-04:00

Sabbath we were sitting in my grandmothers church enjoying the service. Ryleigh was munching on her cheerios and looking at her books.

It came time for the offering and so I gave Ryleigh a quarter and dime to put in the plate when it went by. She held onto the coins in her hot little fist like it was a prized possession. Pretty soon I noticed she had put the coins in her cheerios. She'd fish them out, eat a few more cheerios, put the coins back in and do it all over again. I kept checking to make sure she got both coins out which she always did.

We were getting ready to give the offering and I realized that she only had the quarter.

......

.....

....

Cue mom/ER nurse panic.

.....

......

....

I was SURE we were going to have to leave church early and I was going to have to call Jorden to tell him I was in the local ER with Ryleigh getting an Xray of her belly because she'd eaten a coin. I was just SURE of it.

The dime was not in her cheerios. Not in her hot little hand. Not under her bottom. Not on the floor. My panic was rising quickly. My aunt started feeling along under her leg to make sure Ryleigh hadn't slid the coin over under her leg. And at first she came up empty handed and we looked at each other and shared that look. You know the one. The one where you are saying "Oh crap. She ate the dime!"

And JUST as I was ready to pack everything up and head to the closest ER she found the dime!! We both breathed a sigh of relief and kind of chuckled.

As the offering plate came by a few minutes later I watched closely to make sure that both coins went in the offering plate and made a mental note to myself.

Always take a few dollar bills to church for offering!

Oregon Coast

2011-10-02T14:55:00.003-04:00

I am kicking myself right now because I forgot the card reader for my camera so I can't even upload any pictures for you to see!!

We are having a glorious time here on the Oregon Coast! My grandmothers house literally is on the beach. It's fantastic!! We've gone out and walked the beach a few times. Ryleigh loves it! She is a water girl for sure!

Speaking of Ryleigh, she's done really well with all this travel and routine change! She misses her daddy and her pup. That's for sure. We facetimed with Jorden last night which improved her mood a lot! And she gets to see a lot of pup's out here running on the beach which makes her so happy! Once we are home I'll blog about traveling with a 16 month old. (yes, my ~~baby~~ ~~kid~~ toddler, is 16 months old today!)

Anyway, the Coast is beautiful. I love it here. While we live by the beach at home, nothing beats living next to the ocean with all the breakers and the roar of the waves! It's fantastic.

(Thats a photo booth picture from over my shoulder where I am blogging from the kitchen table! Told you we were RIGHT on the beach!!)

We have a few more days here before we head to Seattle so I'll be busy soaking up every moment of coast life that I can! :)

Flying Friday

2011-09-30T12:01:00.001-04:00

Right now my mom, Ryleigh and I are flying west to visit my grandma!

today is my grandma's 87th birthday so we are heading out to spend a few days with her!

We have until mid next week to spend with her at her place on the Oregon Coast!

Then we head up to Seattle for my brother and BFF's wedding! It's going to be a fabulous 2 weeks!!

We are almost to Seattle now and I'm loving the free wifi you can get on your phone! Lame that its not free on the computer though! And this is my view:

The lady that checked us in was so kind and got us an entire row to ourselves! Best thing ever!

Happy Friday!

- Posted from my iPhone

I'm Fine-d!

2011-09-29T05:57:00.003-04:00

(Super bonus points if you know where the title of this blog post comes from!)

The sickies have been going around our house lately. Jorden came down with the fall cold that everyone in this area has been getting about a week ago. Ryleigh came down with a much smaller version shortly after. I managed to avoid it all.

Until Tuesday.

You see, Monday night I worked in Triage. Usually not a big deal. We were super busy and 90% of the people that were coming in were checking in for this stupid cold. I went to take one guys temperature when he coughed. All. Over. Me.

As in, you felt the spray. All over my face. All over my arms. And there were wet spots on my scrub top.

I stopped mid-temperature. Walked out of the room. Scrubbed my face. Scrubbed my arms. And changed my top. Came back into the triage room, and asked the man to put a mask on. To which he refused and it took EVERYTHING in my will power to not give him a lecture on covering your mouth when coughing! I was so peeved.

But that changed Tuesday morning when I woke up with a full blown head cold, cough and general body aches. Then I was plain ol' pissed!!

Needless to say the past couple days have been really rough and since I had to work Wednesday night I was running on 2 hours of sleep yesterday. So last night at 5pm I crawled into bed! It was glorious!

So today, waking up at 530 really wasn't so bad since I'd already gotten 12 hours of sleep! Plus, I'm feeling much, much, MUCH better. Still a little sniffles but not nearly what it was yesterday!

Anyway, Hopefully none of you are sick, because this junk sucks!

Here's to a healthy Thursday!!

(Oh, and the title, it's from Friends when Monica gets sick!)

1st Year Pictures

2011-09-27T11:20:00.005-04:00

A few months back we had Ryleigh's 1st year birthday pictures done. They turned out awesome and I can't wait to do our family pictures/18 month pictures in a couple months!! So without further ado...

Bows and Dirt! I love that girl!

She jumped right into the water without any fear!

Phew! Photo overload! But I love them all and there were a TON more, so be thankful I didn't post them all! :)

All About Ryleigh

2011-09-22T07:00:00.000-04:00

Ryleigh has gotten to such a fun stage! I have loved every stage so far but this "Learning Something New Each Second" phase has got to be my favorite...so far! ;)

This is more for my memory and for keepsake than anything but I just had to share!

The other day she wanted me to read her a book. After reading her several books I told her to go get "Goodnight Gorilla". She went over and looked at her shelf and then walked around behind the couch, came back 15 seconds later with that book in her hands! I couldn't believe it! She really knows her favorites, "The Lost Sheep", "Goodnight Moon", "Goodnight Gorilla", "Heads", "This Little Light of Mine", and "Baby Talk".

If I help her get one arm out of her shirt she can get it all the way off now. And she can get her pants down to her ankles but then asks for help to get them off her feet. She picks out at least one part of her outfit most days and I pretty much always let her pick out her shoes. She's loving her new Keens and picks those out most days!

She loves her baby's! She'll pick her baby up, pat it on the back, rock it and sing to it. As well as give it kisses, check it's belly button and try to put it's paci in it's mouth or thumb in it's mouth (depending on which baby).

For a while now she's been naming your "Nose" but now she can name all your face parts, nose, eyes, mouth, ears, hair. It's harder for her to point to her own but she usually gets them right. Her belly button is by far her favorite body part and she proudly shows it off to EVERYONE!

She loves to put things in the garbage. If you have something and hand it to her and ask her to put it in the garbage she'll take it right over and throw it away. Yesterday we were in her bedroom and I asked her to throw something away. I thought she'd go into the bathroom next to her room to throw it away but instead she took it downstairs and into the kitchen to throw it away! It was the cutest thing!

Fenway loves playing with Ryleigh as does Ry. Fenway will bring her toys now and drop them in front of her and Ryleigh will either hand them back to her or throw them. Sometimes she'll walk off with the toy and Fenway will follow her around often times whining. The other day she cornered Ryleigh until Ryleigh gave her the toy back! Ryleigh loves it and laughs the whole time, unless Fenway takes the toy before she was ready to give it up!

A day or two ago she discovered how to pick her nose. Now she seems to always have a finger up her nose and she'll pull snot/boogers out and look at them and then squawk at me like "GET THIS OFF!" Thankfully she hasn't started eating them, but that will come! I'm trying to break that habit but it's awfully cute to see her walk up to me with a finger up her nose saying "HI!!"

Since she has been able to sit up I have sat her in the sink in front of me as I do my hair and makeup. Now as she's more interested in what I'm doing I'll let her put a little lip gloss or chapstick on and she puckers her lips up and then smacks them! It's the cutest thing ever!

The other discovery she made this past week was how to flush the toilet. Needless to say, as soon as we go in to go to the bathroom she rushes and waits for us to stand up so she can flush! She gets so excited and says "Bye bye" to it!

Her words include : Mama, Mom, Dada, More, Please (Meeezze), Thank you (Tank Tu), No No (But only Fenway gets that), Pup-Pup, Bapa (My dad), Grandma (still not sure exactly how she says it but it's so cute!), Eat, Milk (Meel), Nose (No), Eye, Ear, Hair (Air), Mouth (Mouw), Shoes (Chews), Book, Baa (Sheep), Woof Woof (Dog), Grr (Bear), Baby, Ball, Nigh Nigh, Hi, Bye, Boo....oh goodness I feel like there are more I just can't remember them all!!

Needless to say, this stage is super fun and she's growing up so fast!! I can't believe how fast time has gone since having her!!

Naptime

2011-09-21T12:29:00.005-04:00

During naptime I try to maximize the time either by napping myself (especially when I have to work that night), folding laundry (so much easier to fold when you only have to fold it all once!), cleaning house, or doing something for me.

Yesterday I dedicated Ryleigh's naptime to "Craft time".

The other day Jorden brought home this lovely lady to me:

I immediately started searching online for a computer sleeve that I loved because I want to take the best care possible of her! After searching and searching I wasn't coming up with anything I loved that wouldn't break the bank. So I set about looking for tutorial's on how to make a good protective sleeve.

I came across this tutorial from a very talented crafter and I immediately had to get myself to J0-ann's! So after a quick trip to Jo-Ann's and a 1 hour and 15 minute nap this is the lovely sleeve I now have!
Her tutorial was extremely easy to follow and it was so easy to make this in the time I had. It would have taken me less time if I was any good at putting in zippers!! I highly recommend it if you're looking to make a laptop sleeve!

The one thing I need to change if I ever make another one is to cut the liner fabric a little smaller because it's a little bulky and can get caught in the zipper. But other than that I was so happy with the end result!

I'm still planning on putting a few more embellishments on the green stripe but I haven't exactly decided what. I'm thinking some cute big buttons, or maybe some ribbon flowers. I just can't decide. But for now, I love it and I'll be toting my laptop around with pride!

So there you have it, my first laptop sleeve!

Happy Crafting!

Moments

2011-09-19T08:13:00.003-04:00

Today's moment was a moment in which I totally questioned my desire to wean Ryleigh. To me nursing is important, not just to Ryleigh but to myself as well. But with another baby on the way I'm not sure that I really want to be nursing a toddler and a baby at the same time. Nor do I want to cut Ryleigh off and then make her jealous by starting up nursing a baby right away.

I've been putting off really trying to wean her until after our trip out west just in case we need to nurse on the plane or something in order to not have that child. But it's something I've been starting to try and do little by little.

But anyway, back to today's moment.

I got home from work, came up to our room said good morning to Jorden, took my nasty scrubs off and climbed into bed praying Ryleigh sleeps in late for me today.

But, by the time Jorden was done with his shower Ryleigh was awake and was asking to nurse as soon as I walked into her room. I asked Jorden to go get her a bottle because I know I don't have lots of milk these days so usually she'll nurse for about 10 minutes then drink a full bottle.

This morning was different though. Once she had nursed on both sides and I knew I was running on empty I offered her the bottle. She pushed it away, latched back on and started rubbing my chest. I knew at that moment she wasn't nursing for nurishment but purely for comfort. Something that just warms my heart.

It was that moment that made me think "Screw it all! I'll let her nurse until she's done!" I know she won't want to forever, but we'll see. The idea of nursing two at a time is still pretty daunting to me!

But it was a moment I don't want to forget. It was just so sweet and made me feel so needed. It was a total mommy-daughter moment because no one else in the world could have had that moment with her.

And that my friend, makes it a perfect start to the day!

Happy Monday!

Pregnancy Rant!

2011-09-18T06:00:00.001-04:00

The other day at work several of my coworkers were talking about pregnancy and several kept referring to it as "getting fat". I know it's all in good humor but for some reason when people refer to pregnancy as "fat" that bothers me.

You're supposed to gain weight. You're supposed to eat more food. Your body is supposed to change and stretch and become shaped different. And that's okay! It's good! It's how God created women to be.

Our society has twisted our views on skinny and fat. More and more women are dieting while pregnant. They sell "Slimming" pregnancy clothes.

All because women are afraid of becoming "fat".

But pregnancy isn't fat. It's another human!!

And yes, I understand that after we push out that little (or sometimes big) human we want the 30ish pounds we gained to go away just as quickly but sadly it doesn't. It takes time, and sometimes hard work to get back to being what you were prior to getting pregnant. It can be frustrating, I totally get that. But in the end I do believe that just about every mother will say it was worth it.

But seriously, don't look at me and say "Look at you getting all fat" and expect me to take it as a compliment. I'm not getting fat. I've gained 4lbs and 5inches around my belly. It's not fat.

ITS A BABY!!

So please, don't confuse the two!

And yes, I really got that "compliment" the other day.

My Husband Is Amazing!

2011-09-17T05:09:00.003-04:00

99% of the time Jorden never reads the blog. If I tell him to he'll maybe go look at it and see what I posted about him but it's not something he reads regularly! Which is fine because he's there for most of what I blog about so he already knows!

With that being said, yesterday I got home from work and he headed off to school with promises to be home by 10am so I could go to sleep then. I laid down and got a short nap before Ryleigh woke up. Shortly there after I got a text from him saying that his professor assigned a huge project due over the weekend and he needed to get a headstart since most of the stuff he needed was on the computer there at school so he wouldn't be home till close to 11. Since I got a little nap in it wasn't a big deal so Ryleigh and I hung out, read some books, did some laundry and ate a small lunch.

I was about to pass out when Jorden walked through the door. I told Ryleigh to run over and say hi to Daddy while I quickly cleaned up her highchair so I could crawl upstairs and get into bed. Jorden came over and greeted me with a hug and a kiss and a very mischievous look on his face. He asked if I was tired to which I just rolled my eyes and yawned. He went into the living room and came back carrying a box and said "Well maybe this will wake you up!"

And there she was....

My new love....Seriously, it was like the heavens opened and the hallelujah chorus rang out! I got tears in my eyes while Jorden informed me that he did not have a project to work on he had to go pick this little baby up for me because he knew that without a doubt, by the end of the weekend I would have found some other use for my hard earned reward money and would not have gotten myself the reward I'd looked forward to for so long.

And he was right, except I was a few days ahead of him since I was planning on making an extra payment on our debt snowball when I woke up from my nap!

I couldn't believe it and this was really the first time Jorden has gone out and surprised me big time since we got married! He's a pretty awesome guy, that's for sure! He told me I am not allowed to feel guilty at all, and honestly, I haven't felt guilty yet! :)

So I guess thats one way to get rid of the guilt associated with doing things that make you happy, make someone else spend the money for you so you don't know about it! :)

All about ME!

2011-09-15T16:56:00.001-04:00

As fall is coming up on us I'm starting to feel the "blahs" setting in. Not because of the weather changing or anything like that, I just feel blah and I have for several weeks. I could blame it on pregnancy hormones but honestly it's a lot more than that and I totally know it.

You see, I have put ME on the back burner a lot this summer. Not because I don't care about myself or how I look, but because the first half of the summer I was single mommy-ing it up and my world revolved around Ryleigh and around working.

Every pay period since April I have had at least 20 hours of overtime. So basically instead of working 3 twelve hour shifts a week I was working 4 or 5. Which is a lot and working nights seems like even more due to not always getting a good sleep prior to working or after working.

But I did that because I had some goals. We needed a new car. I wanted to build up our savings for the new baby on the way. And I wanted a new computer.

We got the car, we're building our savings and I finally have enough money to buy a computer. Because each time I got paid I took a small amount and saved it up. And it's paid off.

But I feel guilty. Guilty because it's a lot of money to spend on me. It is. And while I know I've worked for it and I deserve it I still feel guilty!

Jorden, bless his heart, is so encouraging and is telling me to take care of myself and get what I need to be happy. (not that a computer buys me happiness!)Because the boy has learned that having a nice haircut, wearing clothes that fit and feel good, and having an outlet to edit pictures and blog makes me happy! And if momma ain't happy, aint nobody happy!

He's seen how much I've let slide this summer to take care of his needs for school, for Ryleighs needs and for our family in general. And now he's trying to encourage me to take care of myself.

But I find it hard. I feel guilty about spending money on my hair (that I'm currently getting done) because I feel like we could do so much more with that money. But at the same time I hate how my hair has been looking lately because I haven't had anything done to it in forever. And having my hair looking nice is important to me! So yesterday Jorden told me to get my hair done and to do it ASAP. So I am and it feels so good!

And then there is clothes shopping. I need some maternity clothes that make me feel good. Because honestly most maternity clothes make me feel frumpy. Especially the jeans. But anytime I go to look for my clothes I come home with clothes for Ryleigh!! I just feel like her needs are more important than mine.

And the computer, my "reward" for all my overtime, lack of sleep and surviving the summer mostly on my own. I just have a hard time doing it. But as Jorden keeps reminding me, I worked for it. We've paid off debt, bought the car etc now it's my turn. I've been blogging off my phone (which sucks but I do because when I don't blog I really miss it!), I havent uploaded any pictures in forever, and I cant just sit down and browse the Internet since my computer died shortly after ry was born!

But the guilt of spending too much on me is totally there in my face. And I hate it because it was supposed to be my reward. The light at the end of the tunnel. ANd now I just dont know if I can do it!! It was hard enough just getting my hair done and even that isn't very expensive!

But I can tell you one thing. Going and getting my hair done is the first step in the guilt free-make mommy happy and feel good-path! I most certainly needed it and I can tell you one thing, jorden was right! My hair NEEDED this! Ha

- Posted from my iPhone

P-Nut at (almost) 17 weeks

2011-09-13T19:29:00.002-04:00

Today Ryleigh and I went to check up on P-Nut to see how he's doing.

(No I don't know it's a boy I just don't like calling the baby "it" and no I don't FEEL like this is a boy since I was sure Ry was it just so happens we refer to the baby as He more than She!)

Anyway, Jorden couldn't come since he had class so I took Ryleigh instead. She macked it up with all the office ladies and the Dr that I saw today and was quite the little doll. I was thrilled.

I have gained just about 4lbs total which I'm thankful for since I have a non-maternity bridesmaid dress to fit into in about 3 weeks! I haven't broken out any maternity clothes yet but my low rise jeans are my BFF. As are my sweats! I'm just waiting for cooler weather to set in so I can break out my leggings!

The heartbeat was right around 160. Which is perfect of course! It took her a few minutes to hear the heartbeat because he was squirming around so much! And since he was squirming for about a minute all we could hear was "Woosh-woosh plunk" it was pretty cute! Ryleigh was a little perturbed that my "belly button" was making noise!

I have belly pictures but since our Internet hasn't been working (okay the Internet we steal) I can't upload any of them. So one of these days I'll bombard you with belly pictures! Some days I look quite pregnant while other days you really can't tell. Not sure what that's about but oh well!

So all in all P-Nut is doing fabulous and we are QUICKLY approaching the 1/2 way point! My next appointment is the ultrasound appointment! We won't be finding out what's between the legs but I always look forward to seeing our little guy!! :)

- Posted from my iPhone

Yum-o

2011-09-01T07:40:00.001-04:00

My dad and mom emailed me these pictures last night and they are too cute not to share!

And while these are all cute, this one takes the cake!

She is too cute for words these days! I just love her. And she obviously loves corn! :-)

- Posted from my iPhone

Sadness

2011-08-30T09:32:00.001-04:00

If you were to scroll through my FB news feed right now it wouldn't take you long to see that something sad and horrible has happened.

Yesterday evening I got a text from one of my coworkers saying that she had just found out that another one of our coworkers had passed away.

It wasn't something any of us expected. It was a horrible accident. I don't know many details but from what I understand he took a bad fall while trimming a tree and died.

Nothing prepares you for something like this. It shook me pretty hard because he was one of those guys that could always sense if something wasn't right and he had this gentle way of getting it out of you. He would do anything he could to help you out and there were many times after I became a nurse that I have been so thankful for him because he would just come and stand in a room with me to let the patient know we meant business. He looked tough but he was a big Teddy bear.

And honestly, my first thoughts when the news was confirmed that he really was dead were for his granddaughter. His world. If you wanted to see his eyes light up all you had to do was ask him about her and he would go on and on. It was precious. My heart just aches for her because I know she adored him equally as much!

I know in many jobs you become friends with your coworkers, but I feel like in the ER, you arent friends you're family. We go through so much together as a team, we yell at each other to get with it, we cry together after a loss, we laugh together and we are always there for each other. No questions asked you just do it for the other person because you know they will do it for you.

Right now our family is thrown into a tailspin. Every single one of my coworkers on Facebook has it as there status. We are all reeling from this loss. And while it's affecting all of us, I can't even imagine what it's like for his real family.

So if you wouldn't mind, please lift my dear coworkers family up in prayer, especially his granddaughter. They need all the prayers they can get!

All I know is, I can't wait for the second coming when we will all be reunited in heaven!

- Posted from my iPhone

Details

2011-08-29T12:20:00.001-04:00

Yes we really are pregnant again! We, well really I, found out June 14 and had to wait f.o.r.e.v.e.r to say anything because I found out the day Jorden left for alaska!

We are due February 23 which just so happens to be my birthday! We weren't sure on dates since I didn't have a LMP to go by so we have had several ultrasounds. Partly due to the fact that I had a lot of spotting the first 10 weeks. Thankfully that's resolved and everything continues to look good.

P-Nut as we are calling this baby has been a lot harder on me. Mostly I attribute the exhaustion to working nights and having a toddler but it seems more crippling than it was with Ryleigh. Up until a week ago I was pretty miserable, smells really bothered me and I couldn't cook without vomiting! It was awful. So our budget was adjusted and we ate out a.lot. I've just finally gotten to the point where I can make it through a night at work without puking. Thankfully I was able to cover for myself so no one at work knew I was off puking!

We are not going to find the gender unless he/she flashes us at an ultrasound! We had never thought we'd find out any of our kids genders before they were born but with ryleigh being a surprise we chose to with her!

(little legs frog crossed in the air)
I just started to feel movement last week. It's very sporadic still but it's always a nice little surprise that catches me off gaurd!

Ry has no clue at this point but we got her a big sister book and shirt. But as far as I can tell, it means nothing to her!

Ryleigh is still breastfeeding and while I say I'm going to wean her that hasn't been happening yet! I just hope she loses interest soon so I don't have to cut her off! Because holy moly I feel guilty about it because she still very much enjoys nursing. But at the same time, I really don't want to be nursing a toddler and a newborn! Ha

So there you have it! We are super excited and I'll hopefully get better about belly pictures and updates here soon!

(the ultrasound pictures are from 12 weeks)

- Posted from my iPhone

5k

2011-08-28T21:00:00.001-04:00

Today there was a 5k at the college I graduated from where jorden is still attending. It started at 9am but after working all night I was ready to lay down by then! But I sucked it up and made an effort to finish in under 45 minutes. I figured I'd walk about half of it but I really wanted to run it all if I could.

And I did! I ran the whole thing (minus the length of the soccer field where Ryleigh was screaming bloody murder) and it felt good!

I finished in just over 34 minutes. It was fabulous!

And the best part was, passing up these young in shape looking college kids and hear them say "Dang she's passing us and pushing a stroller!!" I even had an older gentleman run by me and tell me I was doing an admirable thing! Ha!

It was a fun race and I'm looking forward to another one in a few weeks.

Finished! 34min 53 seconds, pushing a toddler in a stroller while nearly 15 weeks pregnant!! Not bad if I do say so myself! ;-)

- Posted from my iPhone

It's okay to have some mess

2011-08-08T18:02:00.001-04:00

Today as I was getting ready for work I was leaning into the mirror perfecting my makeup when I noticed the mirror. It's in desperate need of cleaning and I put that on my mental note of things I need to do.

But as I shifted positions I smiled because I realized what that big smudge in the middle of the mirror was...

It's hard to see but it's two little hand prints with a little mouth and nose print!

Ryleigh usually sits on my sink while I do our hair and my makeup and she's just discovered how fun it is to smoosh her face into the mirror!

Needless to say, I'm not so worried about cleaning my mirror anymore!

(am I back to blogging? We'll see... I just had to share this because it made my mommy heart happy! But in all honesty, I'm ready to be back. I've missed blogging.)

- Posted from my iPhone

She's got jokes!

2011-07-19T12:38:00.001-04:00

Ryleigh is really starting to develop a sense of humor and is becoming aware of what she says or does can be funny. It's adorable to watch!

Fenway loves to lay in front of Ryleighs books and toys all sprawled out making it hard for Ry to get to them. Ry will try to climb over her but usually just gets mad and yells at her. I've been trying to teach her to ask nicely for Fenway to move by saying 'move please Fenway!'. Ry doesn't have those words in her vocabulary but she tries to mimic those sounds. Anyway the other day I was coming in from taking the garbage out and just as I opened the door Ry was squatting down by Fenway where she was sprawled out. She said something to fenway, who of course didn't move. So Ry got up and went to walk around Fenway. She stopped when she was about to step on Fen's tail, bent down kind of picked her tail up, looked at it, then took her pointer finger and poked Fenway in the butt! Fenway leapt out of the way and Ryleigh squealed with delight ! I nearly peed my pants laughing as I hauled Ryleigh to the bathroom to wash her hands! It was so funny! Now Fenway tends to skiddadle when Ry gets anywhere near her butt! Which is now a game to Ryleigh!

I have mentioned before that I am still breastfeeding. Ry shows no signs of stopping so I'm soaking it up. The other day when I woke up jorden came upstairs with Ry and with a traumatized look on his face told me Ryleigh had tried to nurse on him then laughed! I found it hilarious and wanted to see her try which Jorden was less than impressed with. But instead of trying To nurse she simply pointed to his nipple and said 'mama!' and laughed! So so funny!

She's getting to be so stinking funny we end up laughing most of the day at her!

I need to get better about writing all these moments down!

- Posted from my iPhone

Carseat fail

2011-07-13T11:20:00.001-04:00

Or maybe I should make that title Daddy Fail. You can decide I suppose.

Yesterday we decided to take a couple hours and drive around looking at cars since we are hoping to have enough saved up in the next few weeks to buy a new to us car.

I got Ryleigh dressed and then scoured the house for her sandals which I finally decided must still be in the car.

We went out to the car and jorden put ryleigh in the seat then put her sandals on her. (which were left in the car) After her sandals were snuggly on her feet we headed out.

We hadnt gone all that far when jorden looked in the rearview and startled saying "KRISTIN! RYLEIGH GOT OUT!"

Sure enough little miss houdeini wasnt buckled in to her seat.

She popped up and let us know that really this was quite fun!

Drive a little faster daddy!!

And as we pulled over trying to figure out just how she undid all her straps I asked Jorden, "are you sure you buckled her in?!" which he was certain he had.

He went around to put her back in and realized that sure enough, he hadn't buckled her in! Apparently buckling her sandals confused him! ;-)

It was amusing to say the least but we're just oh so thankful nothing happened!

- Posted from my iPhone

Well Hello

2011-07-12T14:02:00.001-04:00

I have been the worst blogger lately. I've had no desire to blog because all I've been doing is working working working. Seriously. For the past month every week I've had at least 20hrs of overtime each week!! It's been nuts but since it's helping us reach our new car goal it's worth it! (at least it better be!!)

Jorden has been home for a while now and its so nice having him home!! Ryleigh has thoroughly enjoyed all the daddy daughter time they have been getting between my time at work and when I sleep after my nights on!

I've decided to go back to school to become a midwife. I think I'll wait until next fall but I'm for sure going to do it! Talking to a friend about doing this she encouraged me to watch "the business of being born" and "pregnant in america". Both of which were totally amazing and inspiring and just really made me realize just how awesome midwifery is and how badly I'd like to be a midwife! But for now in researching and checking out schools and trying to decide if I should just do midwifery school or if I should get my NP and then specialize. Decisions decisions.

Ryleigh is walking everywhere now and learning new words every day. Her latest thing is "nose" and "eye". She recognizes them on others but doesn't point to them on herself. She will find her own belly button though. It's pretty darn cute!

The other day Ry was sitting on the floor eating snacks then got up and said "nigh nigh" and asked to nurse. So we went upstairs and she was nursing away and she pulled off and tucked her head down under the bottom of my breast which is often how she'll fall asleep. But then I heard a "crunch" as she took a bite of her cracker and then she latched back on and drank some more milk! She did this several times until the cracker was gone. It was hilarious !! Once her cracker was gone she was done nursing and wanted to go get more! She seriously cracks me up!

Maybe one of these days ill stop working so much so I can blog some more! :-)

- Posted from my iPhone

Out of time

2011-06-30T12:51:00.001-04:00

Today jorden comes home. Fishing and him just didn't mix since he apparently gets pretty sea sick. And for those of you that have experienced sea sickness before know just how awful it is. So he's on his way home!

I'm super excited he's coming home because this single mommy working nights thing was getting old...fast. And I was getting tired. I feel like I don't sleep much on days I have to work since ryleigh doesn't really nap. So it's been hard. And I'm ready to have my main squeeze back!

But at the same time, he's coming home too soon! The laundry isn't all caught up. The basement isn't organized. I didn't get my hair done yet. Ryleigh didn't get her hair cut. Fenway never got a bath. The bathroom didn't get painted. Ryleighs welcome home daddy outfit never got ordered. I didnt get in shape like I'd wanted to and on and on ad on!

But you know what. Who freaking cares?!

Not me!!

I'll regret my hair when I start posting pictures but oh well, whats a girl gunna do?!

With that being said it's time to load up a sleeping baby and head to pick him up!! :-)

Hello family reunion!

Goodbye single momhood!

- Posted from my iPhone

Just Do It

2011-06-24T07:56:00.002-04:00

I've had many people over the last month and a half ask me "How do you do it?!". Many times it takes me by surprise and I have to think for a minute to try and figure out what the heck they are talking about. But then it all clicks and I realize they are asking how I'm doing it with out my other half.

Honestly, the only answer I have is "You just do it."

I don't have a choice. I'm just doing it. It's whats best for our family right now and it won't accomplish anything to have me sitting around moping and crying and whining because my husband has been gone for 7 weeks since May 1st.

I am by no means a pro and by no means do I want to do this forever. But for now, we're doing it. We have a lot of support and a lot of friends who have stepped up to help us with Ryleigh so that I can get some sleep after I've worked a night shift and so that I can even go to work since someone has to be with Ryleigh.

It's tough and it's hard and would we rather be together? Heck yes!! But each day we get closer to the end.

It's bearable. Barely, but it is.

The sweet emails, comments, texts, calls etc that I have gotten from friends and family asking how we are doing and offering to help make this whole thing a lot easier too! So please, if it takes me a while to get back to you please know that I really do appreciate your sweet emails and texts (etc)!! I'm running on little sleep, lots of exhaustion and doing it all on my toes since I have a toddler that just loves to keep things interesting!

So for now, we're just doing it.

But we only have to do it for another 4 more weeks. Because 4 weeks from today, Ryleigh and I will be on our way to the airport to pick up her daddy!! We can't wait!

Trickster

2011-06-21T20:35:00.002-04:00

Ryleigh is growing up so fast each day. Every day she gets a little more confident and a little bit smarter and it's just so much fun to watch. Like for example, this week she's really started walking. She walks more than she crawls now and it's just the cutest thing! She is so proud of herself and she loves getting from point A to point B without having to crawl! It makes me so proud!

She's getting to be full of more and more mischief which I love because you can tell she's experimenting and trying out new things each time she does something. Like for example, for her birthday she got a chalk board lap easel that came with a handful of chalk for coloring. She loves it! She'll pull it out, pull all the chalk pieces out and color for a long time with it. Well all day today she would put a piece of chalk in her mouth while she colored with another one. I kept saying "Yucky" or "Gross" and she'd take the chalk out.

Of course as soon as the chalk would leave her mouth Fenway would have to come over and sniff it to see what it was. Ryleigh got this little grin on her face and kind of giggled. She picked up one of the pieces of chalk, put it in her mouth, pulled it out and said "YUM!" then handed it to Fenway. Fenway took it, ate it, spit it out, gave Ryleigh a dirty look and went and got a drink. Ryleigh just giggled and laughed so hard, you could tell she was so proud of herself.

A little bit later Fenway came back over to her and Ryleigh did it once again! And Fenway fell for it, again and again and again!!! It was the funniest thing I have ever seen! Every time I tried to catch it on video both girls got more interested in me so it never worked out but that is my new mission!

Needless to say, we're down a few chalk pieces and Fenway still has blue hairs around her lips! HA!

So it begins

2011-06-20T09:49:00.001-04:00

The other day ryleigh and I were leaving target after a quick trip to pick up a present for her friends birthday.

Ryleigh was in one of her famous happy moods where she was making friends with everyone in the store. It was cute and I was proud.

It never ceases to amaze me at just how friendly she is and how many friends she makes and how many compliments that she receives! I mean seriously, this girl needs a fan club.

As we were leaving target we walked out the sliding doors into the bright sun and I fumbled to get my sunglasses on while holding my girl and our bags.

As I was doing this Ry started laughing so I was sure it was probably my sunglasses that were setting her off this time. But then I looked up and I realized what she was laughing at.

Here my barely one year old daughter was in my arms with her right arm out stretched with her little pointer finger extended all the while laughing.

I was horrified.

Because there my sweet innocent daughter was laughing AND pointing at one of the largest ladies I had ever seen.

I was mortified. I quickly sputtered out something about "how nice of you to say hi Ryleigh" As I tried my hardest to pull her arm down and get to our car.

Thankfully the woman laughed and commented on how cute she was but I was so embarrassed!

When I told jorden that story later he said "that. Is. Awesome!!!!" so I've decided she must get that from her dad!

I had always figured it wouldnt start until Ry was really talking. But no....

So it begins..

- Posted from my iPhone

Fathers Day

2011-06-19T07:37:00.003-04:00

Dear Jorden,

Today is a day that we celebrate you. We celebrate how awesome of a daddy you are. Because honestly, you are an awesome daddy!! Ryleigh couldn't have been blessed with a better father than you, and for that I will always be grateful!

On our first date you told me you loved kids and you wanted to have a big family. We may only be starting out but watching you with Ryleigh makes me want more! more! MORE! You ooze happiness and love when you are around Ryleigh.

We are so proud of you. You work so hard in school, you pick up hours as much as you can at work to help support our family and you always make time for us. But now this summer you have been stretched to your limits and put in so many situations that are new and exciting to you! You've been around the world yet you've always made us feel like we are number one!

We wish more than anything that today we could be with you in Alaska, but since we can't we'll celebrate in style when you get home.

Thank you for being an amazing father. Thank you for making me a mother. I am so honored that you are the father of my children. You make a spectacular father and I look forward to the day that there are more kids running around our house playing with you!

Be safe. Come home soon. And know that we love you and are always missing you!

Happy Fathers Day!!

And happy fathers day to my amazing father who I admire more than anything, my father in law who is one of the most patient men I know! You are both so wonderful and we are so thankful for our wonderful dad's and Ryleigh's fabulous Grandpa's! :)

Here We Go Again

2011-06-14T11:56:00.002-04:00

This morning before the crack of dawn Jorden left to go to Alaska with my dad.

So, here we go again. Another 5 weeks of just us girls. As much as I would love to say it'll be a breeze, having him leave while I'm sick isn't very fun! But, we did it before so I know we can do it again!!

He'll be up in Dillingham AK commercial fishing for salmon. Something my family has been doing forever. I've been going since I was 14. This will be the 3rd summer since starting that I wont have gone and it is sad. I wish I could go but it's just not happening this year. Maybe we can work it out next year... we'll see.

Once again I have a list of things I want to get done while he's gone so I'll stay pretty busy which will help time to go by faster...hopefully.

We do have a competition going to see who can get in better shape while he's gone though. One of my new years resolutions was to get back to 135lbs before Ryleigh's birthday, which I did, but my body isn't shaped the same as it was before. So I need to do some serious muscle toning work!! Wish me luck!!

If you wouldnt mind I would greatly appreciate any and all prayers for safety for my dad, husband, brothers and sister in law while they are out fishing. As well as LOTS of fish! :)

Thanks!

Celebration!

2011-06-13T13:30:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we partied. We partied it up until the birthday girl (and momma) couldn't keep their eyes open any longer!

I'd love to share a bunch of pictures with you but those will come later. I didn't take a single picture yesterday. I asked my friend to come take pictures and I am so glad I did because I was feeling so miserable yesterday by the time her party was ready to start I was ready for everyone to leave! But I put my big girl panties on and smiled and mingled until the last guest left.

But it was fun. My heart is full and I feel like she's now officially one! It was such a beautiful day and the most important people in our lives were there and that's all that mattered!

So for now that's what I'll leave you with. And as soon as I have pictures I'll share!

- Posted from my iPhone

Phone pictures

2011-06-11T06:45:00.001-04:00

It's 630 on a Saturday morning and I'm wide awake. So I decided to do a "My Favorite Phone Pictures" post! :)

This is Ryleigh less than 8 hours old. I love this picture.

Look how tiny she was!! Sigh.

This still melts my heart. Everytime.

Babywearing leads to some of the most precious looks you'll ever get!

Her first time in pigtails!

Ryleigh and Addison hanging out. This just makes me think of two guys, one letting the other take his car for a drive then standing there talking about how amazing his car is afterward!

Happiness is bathtime!

I'm not sure who she was screaming at but look at how long those pigtails are!!

All dressed up for Easter!

Big sunglasses on a baby should be illegal!

This post could also have been titled, where's my baby?! Or Baby Fever!

I can't believe how tiny she used to be!

Anyway, happy Saturday!

- Posted from my iPhone

Oops!

2011-06-10T07:28:00.001-04:00

I haven't blogged in over a week! You'll Have to excuse me though, because we are soaking up every minute of having Jorden home! He's only home for 4 more days before he leaves for another 5 weeks so we are making the most of it!

Lots of snuggles, hugs and kisses.

Lots of outside playtime and hanging out with friends!

Time out on the boat!

And lots and lots and lots of just soaking up the little moments! We have loved every minute of having him home and before too long he'll be off again leaving us girls to fend for ourselves!

Not only have I loved watching him with ryleigh I've loved being able to nap, take a shower without little hands grabbing my legs and just having him to snuggle up to at night!

Yes, life has been good this past week!

And this weekend, this weekend we celebrate our fantastic little girls first birthday. So hopefully Monday or Tuesday I'll have a bunch of great pictures and a. Recap!

- Posted from my iPhone

1 year

2011-06-02T15:33:00.001-04:00

Dear Ryleigh,

How has it been one year? I honestly feel like I just had you. This has been the most amazing year and it's only been that way because of you!

You are the light of your daddy and my eyes! We beam with pride when we talk about you, and we talk about you a LOT!

Every day you grow and change more right in front of our eyes. We've been privileged to the most private amazing show with the best seats in the house for the past year. I have caught myself so many times just stopping to stare and watch in amazement as you figure something out for the first time!

I can't tell you the amount of times I have snuck into your room to stare at you while you sleep. You are so so precious to me and I will love you forever.

At a year old you have started to walk, not consistently but your trying it out more and more. You say bye, thank you, mama, dada, pup-pup, grandpa, grandma, papa, up (you said that for about a month and rarely say it anymore), please (ma), yummy (num num), and Monica (mo-ma).

You understand so much and you do not like being told no. You can throw some amazing fits. We are working on curbing that habit now but it's hard because you have a quick, quick temper!

You enjoy being outside, reading your books, talking on the phone (both for real and pretend), trying to put on clothes, helping with dishes, helping with chores, climbing stairs, swinging, swimming, playing with Fenway and so much more!

(yes thats puke all over but she's so cute I couldn't resist!)

You wear size 18-2t. 18 month clothes are getting too small. 24m and 2T fit good and give you some space! You wear size 5 or 6 shoes depending on what brand they are. You still use your medium diapers and we are slowly starting to use large ones as well. You are 22lbs 13oz and 31.75 inches tall!

You amaze me every day with what a wonderful bright girl you are! Daddy and I will always be proud of you and we love you oh, so much!! This has been the best year of our lives and we wouldn't change it for the world. You are so precious!

Happy birthday baby girl!! We love you!!

- Posted from my iPhone

Weaning

2011-05-31T14:04:00.001-04:00

I always said I'd breast-feed through a year then see where it went from there. We are just 2 days away from the 1 year mark and I can tell you ryleigh is no where near ready to give up nursing. Which is fine and I love because seriously, the time we spend nursing is so precious to me.

But you see, there is one problem. Ryleigh has started demanding the boob. I always said once my kid started pulling my shirt down or unbuttoning it or whatever they had to do to get some milk I'd cut them off.

Well, we're there. The shirt pulling can be quite embarrassing at times. But even though I swore I'd quit once this started, I'm not ready to give up nursing.

So I'm working like a mad woman to teach Ry to sign for milk. I should have done this all along but, since I didn't i'm working like crazy now.

So far today she's done pretty good. She'll pull at my shirt expecting to get something but when I say no and hold my shirt in place she'll then sign for milk. So of course she nurses then. And let me tell you, the pleased expression she gets on her face is so darn cute! It's like she's meeting a long lost friend!

I'm also working to teach her to say please. But whenever I tell her to say "please" she says "ma". Not sure if that's what she is meaning by "ma" but without fail thats what she says when asked to say please! She'll also say ma once and a while when she wants another cracker or something but it's not consistent.

Anyway, so here we are at the year mark of nursing. Ryleigh nurses when she wakes up and anywhere from 3-5 times during the day anywhere from 5-15 minutes. She also nurses before bed but is mostly not falling asleep nursing anymore.

I'm happy we've done so well for this long and I'll happily keep going with her for a while. But I'm sure by summers end we'll be dropping most of the daytime sessions and going to a morning, nap and bedtime type of thing. But who knows, I'll follow her lead just like I have this whole time! She knows what she wants and she's not afraid to let me know!

- Posted from my iPhone

Soon

2011-05-30T09:02:00.001-04:00

Soon I'll be able to take a nap anytime I want to because I'll have someone to watch Ryleigh right here!

Soon I'll be able to take a shower by myself or without little hands playing with my legs and having bath toys thrown at me.

Soon I'll be able to finish up a few projects that have been put on hold since I can't seem to accomplish as much as I want to each day.

Soon Fenway will learn what it's like to sleep on the bedroom floor again at night!

Soon I'll have to share the covers and pillows again.

This will all happen soon because Jorden's coming home!!

Only 3 more days!! Hooray!!

- Posted from my iPhone

One week

2011-05-26T21:54:00.001-04:00

In one week I will have a one year old. I'm not sure who put us in a time warp since I just had her yesterday.

And now shes a kid!

Like really, a kid. A full blown getting into mischief but looking really cute kid! I can't believe it!

And also, in one week we'll have our family back together. And really, nothing excites me more than the thought of seeing my girl snuggled into her daddy's arms again!!

These next 7 days need to fly by because I am sooo ready to have my husband home!!

- Posted from my iPhone

Eye Appointment

2011-05-25T05:39:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Ryleigh had her first eye appointment. Not because I felt like there was anything wrong we simply did it because my eye doctor offers free exams between the ages of 6-12 months.

It was the cutest thing really. Ryleigh sat on my lap and let the dr look in her eyes like such a big girl. She was fascinated with the lights and kept trying to touch them. She didn't even mind when the doctor prodded at her eye balls to make sure the pressure was good. I was so proud!

I was never thinking or planning on taking her but it worked out great so we did it. And really, I'm glad we did. Our optometrist told me that many children suffer from different eye problems but they go undiagnosed until the child is well into their school age years. She also told me that by getting Ryleighs eyes checked now and then again in a year or two we will be able to see any changes early on and help to slow visual deterioration if there is any.

Honestly, I'm not too worried about it but it was just one of those things I never thought about, which is funny since I wear glasses and jorden is supposed to. You'd think I'd be planning this out!

But anyway, she has a clean bill of eye health and we don't have to go back for a year or two so I'm happy!

When did you/when will you take your kiddos for their first eye exam?!

- Posted from my iPhone

Just some pictures

2011-05-24T00:37:00.001-04:00

I really don't have much to say besides, I miss him & I'm sick. So to avoid being Debby downer i'll skip the woe is me post that we all hate so much and share with you some pictures that warm me to the deepest parts of my soul! Excuse the quality, I've been stuck with just my iPhone camera...

Playing the piano at my parents house.

Our town unveiled the street animals, this year it's farm animals. So cute!

Allison, Ryleigh Christy and I after our 5k last weekend.

Just some dog water bowl fun!

My cooking helper!

Watching papa's team warm up.

Seriously, her laughs make my day!

Snacking at the softball game!

Yummmm! Dirt!

Practicing driving the boat for this summer!

Riding the sleepy cow with auntie Allison

At dinner out with the girls!

Now, if you didn't just smile you have a heart of ice! But as for me, I'm off to steam... I never should have listened to my own lung sounds! Crackles are not what I wanted to hear...

Today we have ryleighs first eye appointment! I have no idea when your supposed to start those but since our eye dr offers free childrens exams this month i figured we mine as well! By the way, when do you start kids at the dentist?

- Posted from my iPhone

May 23

2011-05-23T13:18:00.001-04:00

Today is a day that will always be special in my heart. Not anything that will be big or celebrated, just a day that will always mean something to me.

You see, last year on this date I had hit the mark. I'd made it to 40 weeks and I was so happy about that because at 34 weeks we faught to keep Ryleigh inside! So reaching 40 weeks was a celebration.

So last year, on may 23rd we headed out to celebrate. We headed out on our dear friends boat for the day! I still remember the shocked look when we were loading up at the dock and someone asked me when I was due and I said "today!" everyone joked that I'd go into labor but since Ryleigh was happy as a clam in there that didn't happen!

She stayed put for another 10 days in fact!

But anyway, so here we are, a year later. And this time instead of going out on the boat we are practicing birthday cookies and finishing up our first session of swim lessons!

Funny how MUCH has changed this year!

May 23 will forever be a special day to me. Although... It will never come close to June 2! ;-)

- Posted from my iPhone

My Motto

2011-05-19T16:37:00.002-04:00

After my post about missing jorden I got a nastygram from a woman who does the single mom thing a lot since her husband is in the military. Things were said to me like "spoiled brat" and "Selfish" because in the scheme of things 5 weeks in Europe for school really isn't that bad. And let me tell you, I realize that and I am SO thankful for that.

But lets be honest for a minute.

Unless you have a completely horrendous marriage and you totally hate your spouse. 5 weeks is a long time to go and not miss them. I get that other people have it worse, I do. But the fact of the matter is, I miss my husband. I miss him for me and I miss him for Ryleigh. I don't think that my situtation is any worse than anyone elses and I don't think I deserve a medal for holding down the fort while he's gone. Not at all.

But I miss him.

Plain and simple. So if you want to jump on me for being honest. Go ahead.

And after seeing this picture on pinterest the other day I decided it's my motto. It's going to be my motto for quite a while because really, it's just too darn cute! (And true!)

So excuse me, I have to go be awesome now! :)

We miss him

2011-05-18T05:45:00.001-04:00

It's official. We really miss jorden.

We still have a little over two weeks before he comes home, but I still have enough to keep me busy for 10 weeks!

Ryleigh has changed a lot and I know jorden will be shocked when he sees her. Sometimes it's hard to see the changes when I'm with her every day but I know they are happening.

Jammies that were too long and much too wide now fit her perfectly and are quickly heading to the small side. Her vocabulary has expanded so much and she loves trying out new sounds and attempting new words. She's becoming more affectionate as well.

I know that's hard to believe since she's always been very affectionate but it's true. Now whenever she sees one of her stuffed animals she will pick it up and hold it close to her and snuggle. It's adorable and so sweet. She'll also give her animals kisses. Im starting to feel like she needs a baby doll!

She loves to snack. Multiple times throughout the day she will ask for food "num num". I try to limit her snacking but she's pretty persistent and will crawl into the kitchen and open the cupboard doors! I love that now she can express a feeling to me, but it's hard because she knows what she wants and there is no tricking her now! Like yesterday, we offered ryleigh a teething cookie while my mom was eating a sugar cookie and ryleigh flat out refused and kept looking at the sugar cookie saying "num num"! It was super cute truthfully!

I know that as much as I miss her daddy she misses him a lot too. She is saying dada more and more and bow says it when she sees his picture or hears his voice. It's so precious. I really can't wait to see them together!

And really, i can't wait for him to get home! I'm looking forward to a shower by myself and a nice long nap! :-) you know a day or two after he gets home and settled!

We miss you jorden!!

- Posted from my iPhone

Hello Spring!!

2011-05-13T20:39:00.002-04:00

It's F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. looking like spring around these parts. For the past month it's been rainy and dreary and the trees and flowers are suddenly springing to life and everything is green and lush now! I love it! Although, this week we had what felt like summer temps soaring into the low 90's! But really, what's the difference between low and high 90's because at that point its just too hot!

Anyway, now that it's spring I'm starting to realize just how close we are to Ryleigh's birthday. My mind is full of birthday party ideas. I have all these ideas of what i want it to be and I'm working on pulling things together so hopefully my dreams and reality mesh and work well! It should be interesting.

I'm working on her first year photobook which, thanks to Shutterfly, has been super simple. But I have a lot more to go! I'm also thinking about sending out some type of moving announcements because I've gotten several letters and cards from my family to our old address. And of course birthday invitations have been scoped out and planned! But anyway, I'm off track here.

It's spring and I'm busy planning my girls birthday. As well as I'm busy trying to ignore the fact that her daddy is still gone and I'm still missing him like crazy! Spring has sprung and I totally love it. We're welcoming with open arms the warm sunny days. Hello shorts, sunscreen and sunglasses!

And by the way, if you have a blog, contact Shutterfly and get yourself some free cards! Which, I can say, they rock! You don't want to miss this awesome deal-e-o!

Growing

2011-05-12T08:09:00.000-04:00

The past two days have been a growth explosion around here. Miss Ryleigh Kate has been battling a fever on and off since Friday with extreme crabbiness one minute followed by some hard core snuggles. She's been a moody little girl which I tease Jorden saying she gets from him! But yesterday as I changed her diaper and tickled her belly it all became clear because there on her top jaw was another pearly white! That sucked popped through fast and hard! I had looked two mornings ago and there was nothing so I was shocked to see it now! So now my girl is sporting a partial mouth of teeth and her attitude, for the most part, is back to her happy go lucky self.

Two days ago this runny nose started as well so i have been on major snot control. Everytime I'd try to give her nose a wipe I'd say "blow" and blow through my nose to give her an example. Mostly she just screamed and hollered but then yesterday I went to wipe her nose and she blew without hesitation. She did it again and again through the day, even showing off her new skill to her grandparents totally wowing them! I may have popped a button off my shirt from my heart swelling with pride!

Yesterday she demonstrated that all our efforts to teach her to blow kisses has paid off! She gets it. She does it. Not all the time but when she does, the adorableness is almost more than I can handle!

And the new words, she's experimenting with new sounds and new combos of sounds and you can tell she's trying. She studies your mouth and gets her mouth into the right shape and tries. Mostly coming back to a ba ba ba babble. But yesterday she wowed me. I asked her to give me something and said "thank you!" she turned, looked at me and said "bank bewe!". I was so pleased! Several times since she's said it as well and it makes me so happy!

She's turning into such a little lady right in front of my eyes and I just can't believe it! At times I get totally bummed because her daddy is missing this once in a lifetime show right now. But I'm trying my best to document these moments. My heart aches to see them reunited and Id be lying if I told you I don't know how much longer we have, because it's three weeks from today. Oh and in 3 weeks, I'll have a one year old on my hands.

Oh my! My girl is one going on 13 already! She's got enough sass to last a lifetime! I mean really, here's the proof.

And yes, she'll keep the sunglasses on for the most part outside but takes them off inside pretty quickly, but then promptly tries to put them back on! It's adorable!

Anyway, those are the changes that she's made overnight! Now excuse me, I have to go cuddle this little one that's not going to be a baby much longer!

Posted from my iPhone

Mothers Day

2011-05-08T16:40:00.001-04:00

Today I'm celebrating mothers day with my precious baby girl. Poor girl has been sick the last couple days but still so so sweet. Last night I felt like a failure of a mom as I'd had her out and about while she was not feeling well. But I realize that it's not the end of the world and we both survived.

I'm bummed that I'm not getting the little picture perfect family of 3 for my first mothers day because of Jorden being gone. But he texted me before I'd even woken up wishing me a happy motets day. He called me later once I'd woken up which was a fantastic gift!

Ryleigh got me a beautiful card and she even drew me a lovely picture in it!

There are really no words I can use to describe how blessed and honored I am to be her mother. Ryleigh has brought so much light into my life and she has softened my heart in so many ways!

I pray daily that I can raise her in a godly way and that I will so a decent job in molding her into a godly woman.

I have a wonderful support system and I wouldn't be the mother I am today if it weren't for the example my own mother has given me! I'm so thankful for my mother today!

I am also incredibly thankful for my MIL and all that she does for us! We are blessed!

So happy mothers day to all the mothers out there! Keep up the good work!

- Posted from my iPhone

Two years

2011-05-05T00:28:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was my two year anniversary. That's right, two wondefully blissful years of marriage. I've been happily married to my main squeeze and I wouldn't have it any other way!

So why am I blogging about our two year anniversary a day after the fact? I mean it's not like we were out on a hot date. Because let's face it, we're three thousand miles apart.

I'm blogging about it a day late because well....

I totally forgot.

Totally.

I didn't even realize it was our anniversary until 5 minutes until 1!! I felt terrible!

I of course immedietly texted Jorden (thank god for international texting) and he replied right back. Then called me and we talked for 2 minutes then said goodbye.

I feel bad because I had in my head this beautiful loving post to write him about how much I love him (cuz I do) and how lucky I am (cuz I am) and how blessed Ryleigh is to have a great dad (cuz she is) and how we are so proud of him (cuz we are) and how we miss him so much (cuz we do).

But instead I'm totally trying to make up for forgetting and playing the "He left me to go to Europe" card and the "We celebrated a week ago" card!

So go ahead and hand on over the "wife of the year" award, because I surely just won it!

- Posted from my iPhone

Adjusting

2011-05-04T08:16:00.001-04:00

We are all still adjusting to our new place. Figuring out where to put everything, remembering where I have put thing and searching through boxes for a specific item!

It takes a while,I'm well aware of that, I just sometimes wish it'd go faster! I'm ready to be able to Park in our garage and not have to worry about unloading boxes instead of taking a nap!

Thankfully Ryleigh has done quite well with the move and adjusting to or new place. We've had a few more meltdowns than usual but between teething, having her daddy gone and getting used to the place
I think that's to be expected.

Fenway on the other hand is having a terrible time with it. He won't step foot on the wood floors. She will go upstairs but immedietly runs into our room and hops into our bed. If I make her get out of the bed she starts shaking and whining. And she won't go down to the basement either. If I'm in the kitchen she'll lay right next to where the wood floor starts and just watches me and whines. I've tried bribing her to come in with me with food, treats and toys but nothing works. She is just totally freaked out about this place. I don't know what it is or what to do about it!

Any suggestions?! I have tried to make everything as home like for her here as it was at our old place, but as you can see I'm obviously doing real well...

See her peeking in through the bathroom. She won't step foot in to come to me so she stood there and cried. It's so sad and pathetic!

I just don't know what to do but the whining is getting out of control!

- Posted from my iPhone

11 months

2011-05-03T22:09:00.001-04:00

Dear Ryleigh,
As of yesterday you are 11 months old! I can't believe how fast time is flying! You are growing into such a little lady it's super sweet to watch. I just adore you and am so thankful that you have been in our lives for these past 11 months!

I don't have your pictures or stats so i'll have to update with those later.

At 11 months you are walking, talking, eating and sleeping like a champ!

2 days before your 11 month birthday you took your first purposful steps. Grandpa, daddy, auntie traci and I all got to see you take them! You'd still rather crawl but your happy to take a few steps here and there. Still not on command though. But that will come soon enough.

You say bye-bye, mama, dada, ball, up, pup-pup, grandpa (grangra) and grandma (gramaga). Bye-bye and ball are your best words but you say the others frequently. I had thought that grandpa and grandma were just fluke words but now several times looking at grandpa or grandma C you have said it! I'm imressed because those are big words! You use mama a lot and are coorilating me with the word now but dada is just thrown about willy-nilly. When forming your words you are very animated and really exaggerate your face to say them. I think that's probably because when we are all trying to get you to say the word we do that too!

Your favorite toys are still your books but you of course love your balls, blocks and hedgehog. You really like your beads as well but you only get those when we are playing with you since I'm a tad paranoid you'll choke yourself!

The past few days have been hard on you and the littlest thing sets you off into a tizzy fit. Between moving and having your daddy gone you are having a hard time. I'm hoping some extra snuggles and naps do the trick! Thankfully your fits are short lived and your easily consoled with a hug. I need to get back out "Love and Logic" and finish it because there are times you really test me! Who knew such a cutie could throw such a fit!

You really like our new place. All the stairs and space is good for you. You go up and down the stairs like a champ and you know that to go down the stairs you have to go backwards. You really like being out on the back porch but it nerds to warm up before we can spend long periods of time out there.

I can't think of any new foods you've had other than salmon, and that you didn't even really eat. So I don't think we can really count it. I've told daddy the only meat you can eat for now is salmon and he's agreed.

You wear all 18-24 month clothes and they fit great. Your 2T stuff is a little baggy but I'm sure not for long. Your size 5 shoes are getting too small and size 6's are fitting pretty good. Still a little big, but not by much! I've had several people act surprised when they ask if your walking and I say not really. But then when they ask how old you are they are really shocked! Most people think you're much older than you really are! Your a big girl and becoming more and more of a toddler every day!

I love you Ryleigh Roo!

Happy 11 month birthday! Next month you'll be a year and daddy will be home!! Hooray!

- Posted from my iPhone

Busy Busy

2011-05-03T08:52:00.001-04:00

I had every intention of blogging yesterday after Ryleigh fell asleep. But truth be told, I fell asleep nursing her and woke up this morning when she did! I was exhausted.

Since we still have almost an entire month until Jorden gets home I know I have to keep myself busy to help the time fly by. So the other night at work I made a list. Not only did I make a list but I also made a calendar that had one or two of the things on my list to do each day.

Yes I know it's a lot but seeing as how we moved two days before he left our entire house has to be organized and put together. Yesterdays mission, the kitchen. And I'm proud to report I got it done!

I'm hoping I can get it all done because that way when Jorden gets home he can just come home and we can all relax for a few days before he leaves again.

I also took ryleighs 11 month pictures yesterday because, well, she's ELEVEN months old!! How did that happen?! I'll be sure to get that post up later tonight or tomorrow. I can't believe I almost have a one year old!!

- Posted from my iPhone

He's Gone

2011-05-01T17:10:00.001-04:00

Life has been so hectic lately!

We've moved.

Jorden had all his finals - which he did awesome on!

My future sister in law/BFF graduated today with her bachelors in dietetics.

We threw an (almost) surprise shower for my brother and SIL/BFF.

Ryleigh got to meet one of my besties from nursing school as well as some friends from years ago at graduation.

But none of that would have felt so chaotic if it weren't for the fact that Jorden left today at noon to spend the next almost 5 weeks in Europe!

He will come home to a walking one year old, which thankfully, yesterday Ryleigh took her first purposful solo steps right in front of Jorden!

So now that he's gone I'm going to be moving everything into the house and getting it all organized. Painting a few rooms and putting together the DIY projects I have for Ryleighs birthday!

I'm planning on keeping busy for the next few weeks to hopefully make time fly by! Ill be updating regularly too keep jorden posted! Be prepared for pictures an possibly multiple daily posts!

- Posted from my iPhone

Cray to the zee

2011-04-26T22:46:00.001-04:00

I've had every intention of blogging these past few days. Of important things too!

Like how we totally fell down on the job of ryleighs first Easter. Don't get me wrong she got a basket...only she got it on Monday! What can I say, we like to spred out the holiday cheer!

Or how Ryleigh learned how to drink out of a straw today at an informal play date at DQ with my work friends and their kiddos after getting our butts kicked at the Y. And did I mention she only learned because she was sucking on a chocolate shake?! Yeah, I tried a straw later with OJ and she acted like she'd never seen a straw before!

Maybe I'd even blog about how this is going to be a crazy weekend because my BFF/soon to be sister in law is graduating so we're busting out the you are special plate for her! And not only is she graduating but my brother will be in town as well as my bff from nursing school as well as Ryleighs great grandparents! Oh yeah and on top of all those people to see Jorden is leaving Sunday at noon for 4.5 weeks!

But you know, I can't really blog about all those things in depth because we're up to our eyeballs in packing boxes! Because we're out of this place!

Our first home as a married couple. Our first home with a pet. Our first home as a family.

And while it's sentimental leaving this place, we are off to a bigger and more comfortable place and we just can't wait!

So once we get settled and everything I'll update you on life!

- Posted from my iPhone

Paci

2011-04-23T08:04:00.001-04:00

From pretty much the week Ryleigh was born she was sucking on a paci. She l.o.v.e.d. them.

I was of course worried about nipple confusion since you hear all the stories about how babies breastfed perfectly until they had a paci then they stopped after that, but since my poor nips could only take so much, she got a paci. Because really, nothing prepared me for how much it would hurt to nurse at first, Nor for how LONG she would nurse for at a time!!

Once I got over the fear of nipple confusion then people started telling us we were going to be fighting quite the battle to get rid of her pacis when she was heading off to highschool. I knew we'd have to figure out some way to break her of the habit but once again, my ladies could only take so much so I figured a paci would be easier to break her of than her thumb.

And I knew it would be tough since she loved her paci. If it popped out while she was sleeping she needed it popped back in. Driving in the car Id always stash 10 next to me so as soon as she spit one out I could pop one back in! She loved her pacis. Eough so that I invested in one of those stupid-swore-I'd-never-use paci leashes.

The way she looked when she discovered she could pop them in her mouth was so precious. She was so proud and a whole new world of soothing had been opened up to her. It was precious really. And every month Jorden and I would discuss, maybe This month we should try weaning her. But after the first 15 minutes of screeching when we tried to put her down without a paci we gave that up and said we'd break her
Of the paci when she was going to highschool.

And since we were in it for the long haul I invested in some fun pacis just because! But for whatever reason she wasn't a fan. But oh well we got some great pictures!

But then something happened around 7.5 months. She suddenly lost interest in the paci. It was almost overnight that it happened! Within one week Ryleigh went from needing her paci all the time to being angry if you tried to give it to her! It was like night and day! I couldn't believe it. We thought it was just a phase but everytime since then that we have tried it she gets angry!

Which is fine with me because now days we get to see her precious smile! We don't have to worry about if we have a paci or ten with us. It's quite freeing! I don't know how it happened so easy but I am so so greatful that it was such a breeze!

So long paci's!! See ya never!!

- Posted from my iPhone

Bubbles!

2011-04-19T15:57:00.003-04:00

It hasn't been nice enough to hang outside lately so we had to introduce Ryleigh to the joy of bubbles inside! We didn't get pictures the first time at Jorden's parents house, but I made sure to capture her joy the next time!!

She wasn't too sure at first about all these floaty things...
But it didn't take her too long to realize that it was daddy that was making these crazy things come at her and she was eager for the next batch to be blown!And then the sheer joy and glee set in!! Her happiness over those bubbles just melt me!

She wanted to know how daddy was doing that, and he was happy to show her!
She couldn't quite figure out that you couldn't touch the wand so her bubbles weren't successful!
But once she let daddy go back to working his magic the happiness and the squeels returned and our smiles were uncontrollable!!

Now we're saying "HURRY UP SPRING!!!"

Celebrations

2011-04-17T11:46:00.003-04:00

Last night Jorden totally blew me away. Jorden is not the type to make a big deal about holiday's or celebrations. He may or may not have been known to totally skip buying gifts for our first Christmas together. (which may or may not have secured him a lifetime of teasing, you know if he HAD done that...) Which is totally opposite of how I am. I feel like holidays need to be c.e.l.e.b.r.a.t.e.d. and accomplishments need to be celebrated as well!

Growing up we had a "You are special Today" plate which was pulled out for good grades, birthday's, engagements, winning sporting games, being nominated for an award, becoming a class officer or SA officer, etc etc etc! And it wasn't reserved for just our family members. If one of our friends came over for Sabbath lunch and my mom discovered they had accomplished something the previous week they got to eat off the red plate! When we got married that was a gift my mom made sure we had and we've used it a few times as well.

But anyway, this is where my belief that accomplishments need to be celebrated because nothing makes you more proud than knowing everyone around you is celebrating how awesome you are!

So last night, Jorden, knowing how big of a deal passing the boards was to me, got together a group of our closest and best friends and surprised me with a surprise party to celebrate me passing the boards!! It was awesome!! I felt so loved and I honestly had no clue he was planning this until we were on our way over to our friends house! ha But he honestly did such a good job and I honestly was really surprised!

He may have never understood before why celebrating accomplishments was so important to me, but he told me last night on the way home that he loved doing that and he wants us to get better about breaking out our special plate more often! It's a great tradition and thanks to my parents, it's something that has become important to us!

So thank you Jorden for a wonderful surprise and for getting our friends together to celebrate my biggest accomplishment in my career!! You are awesome and totally made my night!!

Silent Saturday

2011-04-16T07:27:00.001-04:00

Be prepared... Cuteness overload!!

Really, is there anything cuter than a little girl in a babykini?! I didn't think so!

- Posted from my iPhone

I did it!

2011-04-15T13:28:00.001-04:00

I made it through my first two night shifts!

I'm such a big girl! (ha!)

I'm not gunna lie. They were hard and come 5am it seemed like the e-brake was pulled and time stood still. But, I have awesome coworkers who kept me laughing and more importantly, busy so I could stay awake!

I made it through both nights sans coffee and caffine which I thought was pretty darn good! Now if I can keep it that way since I only have about 6lbs to lose for my goal weight! I was kind of worried that working nights will allow me to pack on pounds but I think it won't be all bad!

One thing I learned, the crazies really come out in the middle of the night. I mean seriously. But it makes life a little more interesting and makes me a lot more thankful for my uncrazy life!

Thanks for all the encouragement! You guys rock!

- Posted from my iPhone

Night Shift

2011-04-13T09:58:00.002-04:00

Ever since I started nursing school I knew that most likely I would end up being a night shift nurse. Its not what I dreamed of working since I really love sleeping, but I learned that was how it was in nursing.

I've been fortunate to have a day shift all the way up to now, but tonight marks the first night of my new position. It's going to be hard because my body isn't used to being up all night. But, I have awesome coworkers who will help me stay awake and who have been warned that if I don't return after 10 minutes on a pumping break to come find me! (ha!)

A lot of my friends and family have been bemoaning the fact that "I don't know how you'll do it" and "How are you going to function if Ryleigh stays awake all day and doesn't let you sleep?" And that kind of irritates me. Because you know what, I'll pull up my boot straps and go to work, just like all the other mom's that don't get a full nights sleep before they go off to their day shift jobs since their baby was awake every hour on the hour all night long. And honestly, since I've known that I'd eventually end up working nights, I'm a-okay with going to nights.

It's just like with my maternity leave. I knew I only had 6 weeks so I enjoyed every single week. And when I went back to work, it was hard, really hard. But you know what, I knew it was what I had to do and I was thankful for those 6 weeks! So now, just like that, I know this is what I have to do. I don't really like it, but I'm not going to complain because there are a few perks to working nights.

We get shift differential. Hello extra money each week!

I can work any day. Gone are the days of only being able to work Thursday's and Friday's and weekends! I can pick up shifts and work when I want to!

Since Ryleigh is a champion sleeper I don't feel bad about leaving her with her grandparents to spend the night since she'll sleep through the night. I'm sure it wont be a problem but of course I am worried that this is when she'll decide that sleeping is lame and night time is for partying!

I don't have to worry about missing her do something since she'll be sleeping while I'm at work!

No more missing beautiful weather just because I'm at work. I can go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather with Ryleigh and then we can both come in and take a long nap before I go to work.

So no, I don't want to work nights, but I'm choosing to see the good that will come from working nights! I refuse to pout about it because it's just a fact of life and honestly, I think it may make life just a little bit easier!

But, since I see myself becoming a coffee drinker in the near future, please, could someone explain to me what you put in it to make it drinkable?!

10 months

2011-04-12T09:19:00.004-04:00

Dear Ryleigh,How can you already be 10 months old?! Time is going by way too fast. And while I sometimes get sad that you are growing up so quickly I am so thankful for you growing. You are turning into quite the little lady and daddy and I just love it!

At 10 months you are 23.5lbs and 30.5 inches tall! You're long and skinny, just like you always have been! You have a little bit of chub, but mostly you're tall and skinny. 12 month clothes are all too short and tight, but 18 month are still a tad bit long, but I'm sure in a couple weeks you'll be fitting them no problem!

Nursing is still going great. You like to nurse when you wake up and before you go to bed and a couple times through the day still. I cherish those moments because I know that it will be over all too soon. You eat a lot of table food and you aren't afraid to try anything. Some of the new things you've tried this month have been pickles, lemons, salad, baked french fries, curries, and oh goodness, I'm sure there are more!! You are not picky at all and will eat pretty much anything, and if you see someone eating you book it over to them as quick as you can to get some bites!You love to read, whether its reading to yourself or having us read to you, you love your books! You've discovered that you can put things into each other. You like putting your ball into your stacking cups. You put your mardi gras beads in and out of cups and other toys. You like to open the drawers in the living room and put stuff into them all the time too. But whats even more fun is pulling all the dvd's out of the drawers and throwing them on the floor! Catch is probably your favorite game though! You will play catch with someone for quite a while! You'll even play it by yourself too! It's the cutest thing!

At 7 months you started clapping, but only did it for about 2 days then never really clapped since. Well a week ago you started clapping like there was no tomorrow and you will clap on demand too! Which shocked me because we hadn't really worked on it with you!! You are so smart it just amazes me!Sometimes if you dont listen we have to take something away from you and we'll put it someplace where I think you can't see it and soon enough you'll go and find something else to do. But later you'll head right back over and try to get whatever had been taken away! I always thought "out of sight, out of mind" but not with you! You are one smart cookie!

You say "Bye", "Ball", "Up", "Boo", "Mama", and something that sure as heck sounds like "Grandpa". You are experimenting with lots of new sounds so I'm sure that by the time you are one you'll have even more words! It's so fun to watch you imitate the shapes our mouths make and try to make sounds too!

Each month gets better and better! You are such a joy!! It's so hard to believe that this time last year I was on bedrest praying you'd stay cooking just a little longer!!

Keep growing my little Sweet P! You are such a joy and such a blessing! We are thankful for you every day!

Hand Over The Title

2011-04-10T23:47:00.001-04:00

It's April 10.

Ryleigh has been 10 months old for over a week now and I have yet to write her monthly post!

I'm a slacker.

Maybe tomorrow?! Ha. But since I haven't posted all the adorableness that is my 10 month old daughter i will leave you with this:

My little one in her new (to us) vintage 1930's highchair! More on that later...I promise.

But until then, please hand over my Slacker Mom Snuggi, you know, since I didn't earn a cape for this one! Ha

- Posted from my iPhone