Christmas Surprise

Chris and I got an early Christmas present this year. . . we found out that we're expecting baby #2 in August!!! We're both really excited. I have to admit though I'm a little scared. I mean 2 kids both in diapers! A newborn and a 16 month old! Whew. . . it makes my stomach do flip flops just thinking about it! And of course the biggest scare comes w the fact that Chris won't be here for long after the baby is born since he will be deploying soon after. Ok now that we got that out of the way. . . Rylee is 8 months old now and is so much fun! She has developed quite a personality. She knows just how to get our attention when she wants it! She's also into everything all the time. . . the dog's food and water, the Christmas presents, the Christmas tree, and just about anything else you can think of that you wouldn't want her to get into. She recently just started waving bye and waves whether you're coming or going or not! Here she is pulling on the Christmas tree

She crawls under the tree and pats on the presents. Almost like she's trying to figure out what's in them. She just discovered the shiney bows tonight! She's only getting three presents from mommy and daddy bc the other 2 gifts we ordered online we're cancelled "due to their popularity" They actually ran out of my order 2 weeks after I ordered! I was so frustrated!

Poor Rocky! He actually whines when she gets near him! She's definitely not scared of him! I'd say its the other way around. . . he's scared of her!

We recently got our family Christmas pictures taken at Penney's. They did a great job! They turned out really well! We actually get to spend Christmas at home this year! First time in 2 years for me and the first time in 4 years for Chris. I'm so excited to actually be able to join in all the family get togethers again! That's one of the things I miss most is just getting together for all those special family gatherings. We leave Friday morning or Friday afternoon. Not sure which yet. Never know till the last minute w the military! So this will probably be my last blog before Christmas so Merry Christmas to everyone! Cya next year!

Happy Birthday Daddy

It's been a busy few weeks, which is why I haven't posted in awhile. But before anything else I just want to say Happy Birthday to Chris. He turned 25 on November 17th. Here's a picture of him and Rylee w his birthday cake. And yes that is icing you see on the carpet!! She moves fast and got into the cake before we could catch her.

Rylee is almost 8mo now and is as busy as she's ever been!!! She keeps her daddy and I hoppin. She's not quite crawling yet. Although she gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. She just hasn't quite figured out what to do from there. But don't let that fool you. . . she has no problem figuring out how to get where she wants to go. Which is usually where she's not supposed to go!! I'll be doing something in the kitchen and have her sitting right outside the kitchen on the carpet. I'll turn around every couple of seconds (bc that's how long it takes for her to get into trouble) and one second she's there and the next she's gone!!! When I walk out of the kitchen she's halfway down the hallway!!!

I recently started giving Rylee her bath in the big bathtub. Until this past week she's always taken it in the kitchen sink, but even w me standing right over top of her she still manages to create chaos! If there is anything on the counter like clean dishes or dirty dishes for that matter or her towel and rag it's guaranteed to end up in the sink w her! The final straw for me was when she realized how much fun it was to flop onto her belly while in the sink. She wouldn't stay sitting up no matter what. I kept sitting her back up and she'd work herself right back onto her belly. I was terrified she was going to crack her head open so I decided it was time to graduate to the big tub. Now she loves it. She has more room to slide around and make lots of waves w her legs.

Poor Rocky. . . he's so mistreated! She just loves him, but unfortunately the feelings not mutual. As soon as she gets close he takes off. It's not going to be much longer though and she'll pretty well be able to go everywhere he can. When we get in the door of the evening after I've picked her up from the sitters she just immediately starts talking to him. I have no idea what she's saying, but it's very obvious that she loves her puppy.

You have to watch this little girl like a hawk. She'll sneak right up on you w/o you ever knowing! Which is exactly what happened the other night w Chris. He was on the phone w his mom telling her what he wanted for Christmas and didn't even realize he had company. It was so cute. I just sat back and watched it unfold. She worked her way across the room. . . rolling and scooting until she was close she could wedge herself between the computer and the loveseat. Then she just kept looking up at Chris like she was trying to get his attention.

And of course what all little kids love to get into. . . the dog's food and water! It didn't take her long to work her way over to Rocky's food and water dish. The first time she did was so funny bc it was like Rocky realized what she was thinking. He took off real fast and lapped up all of his water before she could tump it over. We have had to start telling her no when she starts to get into stuff. Although it doesn't work to well bc we usually can't stop from laughing as we're telling her no. She just gives the funniest look when you tell her no. It stops her momentarily and then she turns around and gives you this look like "Me? Sweet, Innocent, Little Me??" and then turns right back around and continues what she was doing.

Her other new thing to do is roll her way over to the sliding glass doors and pat on them or just look out the door. I thought you didn't have to worry about hand prints being smeared on the windows till they were walking??? I'm not sure if she was expecting someone this night or what exactly she was looking at?

We bought this toy when she was just a few months old. It lights up and plays music so we thought she'd love it. It's one of those toys that starts out being for when their babies and can lay on the ground and kick it then as they are able to sit up it switches again so they can sit in front of it and push the buttons and then as they are able to stand it switches to an upright position so they can stand and play. Well when we brought it home the first time she HATED it! It was incredibly loud and scared her so Chris put a piece of duck tape over the speaker so it wouldn't be so loud. She at least tolerated it then, but still wasn't crazy about it. So it has sat in our living room for months. But now that she's able to sit up she LOVES it. It can entertain her for quite some time. She presses the buttons and talks to it.

Among the discoveries she's made would be my blinds! I used to have trouble w Rocky messing w my blinds and now it's Rylee who messes w the blinds.

She was concentrating so hard it looked more like work than play!

I took this picture during the Nor'Easter. It was almost like she was hiding from the storm under the bed. We were trying to stay out of the living room bc the wind was so strong that it was causing the sliding glass doors to buckle. And as you can tell from how dirty her clothes are we had no power and no hot water!So a couple weeks ago I had a family visit I'll never forget. My grandma came down w my dad and stepmom for a short visit. This was huge! Grandma isn't much of a traveler. I think she's traveled to Cinicinnati Ohio which is a few hours away from where she lives. I'm pretty sure this was the longest trip she's ever made. And let me tell you she made the most of it. They stopped in Northern Virginia first to visit some family there and then after a couple of days made there way here to see us. It was so nice to have her here and really meant a lot to me that she made the trip.

This was Rylee's second trip to the beach. We went to Virginia Beach bc Grandma had never seen the ocean.

We ate lunch at a really nice restaurant on the oceanfront called Waterman's.

In my last blog I was telling you about Rylee going to the babysitter for the first time. Well she's now been going there for a little over a month and loves it! I love it as well. I feel comfortable going to work and leaving her there. I also don't feel as guilty about having to leave her and go to work bc I know she's having fun and enjoys being there. The babysitters little girls love her and usually fight over her. In fact Wednesday when I picked her up they knew it was going to be her last day until Monday so they devised a plan to tell me that her dad had already been there to pick her up and that way they could just keep her all weekend! Their mom told them no bc it would make Rylee's mommy sad!

First Tooth and First Words

Well, it has been two weeks full of lots of firsts. On the 19th Rylee went to the new babysitters for the first time. She did really good. I went early enough so that I didn't have to drop her off and just leave. I wanted to give her enough time to get adjusted. I managed to slip out pretty well unnoticed. She was busy playing with the babysitters little girls so she didn't really pay much mind to me leaving. The first couple of mornings she was a little hesitant, but never really shed any tears. She's now been going there for over a week and could care less whether I'm there or not. In fact the last couple of times I took her she was reaching out for the babysitter! I was even holding her a the time! Shows where I rank. . . .hahaha!!

By that Wednesday, the 21st, Rylee was saying da-da and ba-ba. It was pretty random and when she first said it I wasn't sure I had heard right. It started out more ba-ba than da-da, but now she's a pro and says da-da non-stop. She falls asleep saying da-da and wakes up saying da-da if that tells you anything!

Less than one week later Rylee came home from the sitters with a surprise. . . her first TOOTH!!! She had been working on that tooth for awhile. If you ran your finger over her gum you could feel two little ridges side by side. One of them finally managed to break through. That same night she decided to celebrate by rolling from her back to her belly for the first time!! It was a busy night!! Then just two short days later her second tooth popped through!!!

Then on the 29th Chris went to the ship for the first time in 2 years. It's been really busy with him being on the ship again. He leaves around 5:30 every morning and doesn't get home till about 5:30 that evening. By the time I get off work and get Rylee from the sitters we're usually getting home around the same time. Then the fun begins of trying to get dinner started, Rylee fed, clean up after dinner, get Rylee's stuff ready for the sitters the next day, give Rylee a bath, then before we know it it's time for bed. The evenings are short and busy. Rylee goes to bed around 8 so we have literally 2 hours to get everything done.

We thought once he got on the ship that some things would settle down and we would know more about the upcoming months and holidays. Unfortunately, that's not the way it worked out. We're just as lost and unsettled as we were before. There are lots of rumors flying about the holidays. Some are saying they may not even be here for Thanksgiving let alone get to take Christmas leave. So who knows when we'll make it home again.

Here are some pictures from the last week. . .

Once she started to roll over from her back to her belly she discovered this was the perfect mode of transportation. Here she is digging in her toybox. And P.S. we did not put her anywhere near that toybox when we sat her down. She rolled and scooted her way over there. Guess the toys I had out for her weren't good enough so she was going to solve that problem on her own. She must know the saying"If you want something done right you have to do it yourself!"

"Uh Oh I've been caught!"

We've had some really crazy weather these past couple of weeks. One day it's freezing cold and the next it's 80 degrees. This was one of those days so we decided to take advantage of it and go for a walk. Rylee loves to go on stroller rides.

Rylee and her best friend Mickey Mouse. And yes she is still obsessed with Mickey Mouse. I have no idea what was so funny here. Obviously I wasn't in on the joke! She loves Mickey Mouse. . . need I say more. . .

I think she was so tired this night she was just delirious. She was laughing so hard at absolutely nothing

Notice the remote scattered amongst her toys? This was an old remote that we took the batteries out of so she could play with it. She's always so interested in the real remotes that we thought this would keep her occupied and keep her from wanting the other remotes. And as you can imagine she could care less for the fake remote!

We always lay this sheet down and spread her toys out on it and sit her down on it. After a short time we'd start to notice that she was wrapping her self up in the sheet.

Family Visit and Mickey Mouse

So this week has definitely been better than last week, although its had its ups and downs too! We found a new babysitter and we're anxious for her to get started. She has three sweet little girls who just can't wait to play w Rylee. In the mean time Chris's family has been filling in as our sitter. Rylee's nana and mamaw came down last week and stayed w her while Chris and I worked. And of course spoiled her rotten every chance they had. Nana (Chris's mom) left Saturday am, but his grandma (mamaw) is staying w us through the rest of next week. Rylee has had lots of company this week. Aunt Nin and Uncle Larry (Jenny and Larry-Chris's aunt and Uncle) we're vacationing in Myrtle Beach and decided to stop by for a short visit on their way back through. They got here Saturday afternoon and left this am. So Rylee's newest thing is Mickey Mouse. This girl loves Mickey Mouse! We DVR Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for her that's how much she likes it! Everybody that comes over has to watch her reaction to Mickey Mouse on tv. When it comes on she just smiles and laughs and gets so excited. Well nana brought her a stuffed Mickey Mouse w a little mickey mouse blanket and this Mickey Mouse now goes everywhere she goes! She absolutely loves her Mickey Mouse! This picture starts the process of working to get her sock off. You can see her working on it through the other pictures. She decided to try a different position this time. I guess the other position wasn't all that great for trying to take your socks off? Aha! Finally! She finally got that darn sock off! Even funnier is how she's acting now that its off. Her mamaw was sitting to her right. That's who she's looking at. It looks like she's taking that sock and dangling it in the air just to say "hahaha Mamaw look what I did!" Rylee had just woken up from a nap when Jenny & Larry got here so she's looking at Jenny like "who are you and why are you holding me?" Awe! Cuddling w Aunt Nin!This has to be the cutest picture ever! She loves to sit outside and while nana was here she would get up every morning and sit outside in her walker. So this morning her nana was gone so she went outside w her mamaw. But she was still in her pj's and it was pretty cool out so she had to have shoes, socks, a jacket, and a hat. Obviously as you can tell in the picture the only thing that matches is her pj's. I was in a hurry trying to gather all these things so she could go out. She was getting impatient w me. She saw her mamaw going out and didn't care how cold it was she was ready to go out right then and there so I just grabbed the first things I could get my hands on. Oh but when it was time to come in she had a little tantrum! She was not at all happy that I made her come in! We got Rylee's pictures taken Saturday and I had her laying on the bed so I could get her ready. That bottle of lotion between her legs was making her so mad bc she kept trying to pick it up, but it was just a little too heavy. She looked so cute sitting here naked w her little headband on. Rylee couldn't decide which headband she wanted to wear to get her picture taken so she thought she'd taste test each one! I already know what you're thinking. . . it looks like she's talking to her diaper bag. Well, guess what. . . she is!!! But of course look who's right there w her. . . Mickey Mouse!! We were getting ready to go get her picture taken, but since her nana was on the road back to Indiana we had to take a picture of her all dressed up before we left. I almost think she was telling us to make sure and remember to pack Mickey Mouse.This girl LOVES to eat!!! I'd say her two favorites things are Food and Mickey Mouse. I have to strip her down naked before she eats bc she makes such a mess. She can't keep her fingers out of her mouth. I almost have to fight her to keep her fingers out of her mouth. Which is how the food gets all over the place is bc she puts her fingers in her mouth before she swallows the food and sucks the food off her fingers. Then while i'm working on getting another bite ready she smears the food all over the place.

When It Rains It Pours

This week started off with a bang and ended with a bang! Let's just say it's been a rough week! So here's a recap of how everything went down. . . Monday-Rylee has dr. appt. at 3pm for an ear infection (2nd one in 4weeks), babysitter texts and says she's sick, I stay home but Chris gets home around 10 to relieve me, we get to the dr. and end up waiting in a room to be seen for an hour and a half!!!!!! By then we had a very grouchy, very tired, very hungry little girl on our hands!!! Then to make matters worse the resident decides to dig wax out of her ear and makes us hold her down while she's screaming!!! Eventually I had had enough and told the resident that was enough. By this point Rylee was almost to the point of getting sick bc she'd been screaming so hard for so long! Mine and Chris's patience were already running a little thin considering we'd been there for an hour and a half already. So they give her a script and we go to the pharmacy to get it filled only to have to wait some more! Chris and I have been up since 5am and its now after 5pm! Then just when we thought things couldn't possibly get any worse the babysitter texts us and says she's leaving to go home to North Carolina Friday and doesn't know when she'll be returning! The only explanation we get is that "they have stuff they have to take care of." Now we're really in trouble bc we don't have a backup babysitter and we don't know anyone else! Thankfully my boss was understanding and was willing to give me the week off to get things together. After a few tears and a whole lot of anger Chris and I put our heads together and decided to see if Chris's grandma would be willing to come stay awhile. She agreed so now it was time to start searching for daycare. Tuesday-I called a daycare that we had looked at while ago when I was still pregnant and they had some openings so I decided to do a walk through again. Things change when you actually have the baby. I asked a lot of questions when we were there the first time, but there are only so many things you can think to ask when you don't actually have a child yet. So Rylee and I took a "guided" tour and needless to say I left in tears!! The 2 workers looked like security guards rather than caregivers. Neither of them smiled the entire time i was there nor did they even say Hi. There were about 5 "babies" in there. Two of them were laying on the floor playing w toys while the one lady just stood over top of them w her hands behind her back like she was "guarding" them. Never once did they laugh or talk to the kids. So I asked if they ever just got down w the babies and played and interacted. The girl giving me the tour said yes and tried to come up w excuses as to why they weren't doing that, but eventually just gave up and said I was right that there was no reason why they shouldn't be down there that very minute. Then she told me that since they are licensed by the state they're not allowed to put Rylee to sleep on her belly. And then she starts telling me that they will only give Rylee "certain" solids, bc some of them list water as their main ingredient and since they're USDA certified they're not allowed to serve those. Needless to say I thanked them for their time and left. As soon as i got to my vehicle I burst into tears! I just felt overwhelmed and have never felt so alone in trying to find someone who would care for Rylee the way we wanted her to be cared for. I spent the rest of the day calling sitters/daycares only to find out I was running into a roadblock. . . if they were state licensed then they were all going to have the same rules. Wednesday-I eventually remembered a girl from back home that lived here in Norfolk, so i asked her for some ideas on sitters. Thats when she gave me the name of her sitter Brandi. So I called her up and asked her some questions and set up a time to meet w her on Friday. I was already feeling relief after having just talked w her. Finally everything felt like it was all going to work out. Then I started to remember "Of course it was all going to work out. . . God was in control." What a relief that feeling was. If only I had remembered that in the beginning! Thursday-We had such a nice day. I felt confident about the babysitter we had found so now I could relax and enjoy my time off w Rylee. So Rylee and I left early and ran a ton of errands. She was so good! We were gone for 4 hours and she was wonderful the entire time. She was so cute in Wal-Mart. I let her ride in the shopping cart like a big girl and she loved it. She just squealed and giggled the entire time we were in there. She also started her "fake" cough! Which drew alot of attention. . . I could feel people looking at me like "Oh no this kid has the swine flu!!" hahahaha. Even worse was that I couldn't stop laughing when she would cough!! Friday-Didn't start off as well as Thursday. Chris had another appt. that morning to finish up his physical for the ship. He called and says he has bad news. . . the Nurse Practitioner he had just seen wouldn't clear him to go back to the ship. So that meant he was in limbo. . . his time was up on limited duty so it was time for him to either go back to the ship or they would discharge him from the Navy. My heart sank! I just thought "Oh no! I don't know how much more I can take this week!" So they called the Medical Officer on the ship and he said he wouldn't accept him on the ship either. Now we were really in trouble! The reason she wouldn't clear him was bc the surgeon had waived him from having to do the PRT (physical readiness test). The test consists of running a mile and a half in a certain amount of time, so many push ups/sit ups in a certain amount of time. So now he has to go back to the surgeon and see if he will clear him to do the PRT. If he does then as long as he passes the PRT everything will be ok. If not then we'll be seeing everyone soon!!! So after all that lovely news Rylee and I went to meet the sitter. She was wonderful, but of course the way my week has gone nothing is going to go smoothly. . . Rylee decided she was going to have a case of stranger anxiety. She wouldn't let Brandi near her. She screamed and cried everytime. This was not the way things were supposed to go! How could I go to work knowing that she was crying and not happy! So we set up a time to meet again hoping that the more time Rylee spent around her the better. So we're supposed to meet Sunday. We couldn't stay down for long though. At least not with this little girl around. She's so funny! She's growing up so fast and is always doing something that makes us laugh!

This was so funny! She's playing w his tail. The look he's giving her is the funniest thing ever. . .kinda like "What are you doing to me?"

You can acutally see her w a handful of his tail! Poor Rocky. . . he's so mistreated

When I laid her down she was in the middle of the floor facing the opposite direction from what she is in the picture! She slithers herself around and all over the place! Obviously you can see what's about to happen in this picture. Poor Rocky was just trying to take a nap. He had no idea what was coming! Finally after making sure he was asleep she went in for the attack!

Once again here she is picking on Rocky! She just thinks he's so funny! And the louder he is (barking, growling) the louder she laughs!

She's been holding her bottle for awhile now even when we hold her. So I thought i'd lay her down and give her her bottle and just see how she did. She had no problem. As long as she stayed focused and didn't get to engrossed in the TV. Which you can see in the picutre that she's looking to the side. That's bc she's watching the TV!

Rylee decided she didn't need help eating anymore! I did not give her the spoon! I'm still not sure how she managed to get it away from me? But she's looking at it like "I've seen mommy use this, now how did she do that. . . " "Oh I know. . . ."

This was actually taken last weekend, but I just now found it on the camera. It was a cute picture so I thought i'd post it.

New Orders

Well the wait is finally over. . . Chris got his orders on Friday. We're staying in Norfolk. He got orders to the USS Enterprise. Which is where the movie Top Gun was filmed. But the wait to see where he'd go was almost tortorous! Not being able to say where we'd be a week from now was starting to take its toll on us. The Enterprise was exactly where we wanted him to end up. We knew a little more about that ships schedule than any of the others.

Chris being on a ship is going to be so different. We've been married 2 years and he was only on a ship for a few months. I've definitely been a spoiled military wife. Having him come home every night, eat dinner together, go to bed together and wake up together is not at all the norm for a military family. So it's going to be a big change for all of us. For now we're just going to relax and enjoy our weekend.

Here are some pics from the last week or so. .

Kisses for Daddy! This has to be the most adorable picture ever! She was leaning down to give kisses to her daddy! Chris is saying "awww" as she was doing it. That's why he looks so funny here. Definitely my favorite picture!

She loves to sit up like a big girl. You can sit her down and turn Mickey Mouse on and put some toys in front of her and she'll sit like this for hours! Once in a while I'll sit her down and leave the room and when I look back in on her she's fallen over and is laying on her back. But you'd never know anything ever happened bc she just falls over and resumes playing like nothing ever happened.

I was obviously oblivious to the fact that my picture was being taken! Rylee on the other hand was all smiles! I think I was engrossed in Storm Stories. They were telling a story of a 2 families that were neighbors in Greensburg, KY. There was a tornado headed straight for them. The one family was a mom, dad, and a 9mo little boy. The family next door was a dad and his daughter. It was kinda intense bc the mom and little boy were home alone. The dad was a truck driver and was on the road. He happened to be on his way home so it was flipping back and forth between the dad trying to get home and the mom trying to decide where they should go because they didn't have a basement. Long story short. . . both sets of neighbors made it out alive and well. The tornado did hit and wiped out the entire neighborhood.

Who would've thought someone sucking their thumb could be so cute! She just started doing this over the last couple of weeks. She kind of sucked her thumb as a newborn, but this is taking thumbsucking to a whole new level! Although, she really only does it when she's tired or hungry.

She's just kinda giving me this look like "what are you doing now?"

I could never watch TV this way. It would kill my neck. But this is how she watches TV if she's not sitting up. I betcha can't guess what she's watching???? MICKEY MOUSE!!!!

She just got done eating (as you can see all over her face) when Rocky walked past. Although he wasn't paying a bit of attention to her she obvioulsy thought he was amusing!

This was after church last Sunday. We came in and I sat her down so I could get changed and when I came back in she was talking to Rocky who was laying on the couch. We have no idea what it is about him, but she is so amused by him. Most of the time he's not even paying any attention to her. He's usually trying to get my attention so I'll pet him. Even when he eats she just stares at him like he's the most interesting thing she's ever seen. Ok, so we bought this jumperoo like 2 or 3 months ago and couldn't wait to put her in it. We just knew she was going to love it. But she had her own opinion. . . she hated it! She cried everytime we put her in it. Plus she wasn't quite long enough to touch the ground. So we kinda set it aside for awhile and just recently decided to give it another try. She loves it! She bounces and giggles and looks at us like she's wondering where the heck this toy has been all her life.