Home Sweet Home

We arrived in Indiana towards the end of April and we literally hit the ground running as soon as we got here!! It was super busy and still is!! Chris, Rylee, Rocky and I left Thursday April 29th to head this way, but Rylee was not enjoying the ride so after driving about halfway we decided to call it quits before we all pulled our hair out!!! We found a motel that allowed pets and we all shacked up for the night. Although i'm not real sure what was more stressful. . . the drive or the stay in the motel? We didn't pull in till around midnight and Rylee was wired!!! The room was really small so there was no where to really put her down so she ran up and down the bed for an hour till we forced her to lay down. Not long after i got her to sleep Rocky started in. . .he barked all night long. Since we are crammed in the same room every time he barked she woke up which in turn woke me up! It was a stressful drive home that's for sure. I am so glad we don't have to do it again for a very long time.

Chris was able to stay home for a good week before he had to go. In fact he left on Mother's Day and let me tell you it was the worst Mother's Day I've ever had. Seeing him off at the airport was incredibly difficult! Once he got back to Virginia he only had a couple days and then his ship pulled out for a 3 week underway. And of course during this 3 weeks everything that could go wrong did. . . my video camera w memory card intact and Rylee's tv's were stolen out of my vehicle out of Dad's driveway. I was so sad. We just got the video camera for Christmas and just used it for the first time to record Rylee's bday party. I hadn't even seen the footage from her party before it was stolen.

Her birthday party was great! She had a great time digging into her cake and all her presents. She was still pretty leary of "strangers" though so she didn't have much to do w anyone. Little did I know this stranger anxiety was just the beginning of what would turn out to be a very long month!

No more than we saw Chris off at the airport did Rylee start to go downhill. She was terrifed of everyone but me and wouldn't leave my side even when we were home alone. I had trouble just tearing her away to go to the bathroom!! She wouldn't go to bed till midnight and then every 1-2 hours she would wake up screaming! She did this for almost a month! Let me tell you it was the longest month of my life! I think alot of things contributed to this phase. . . she watched her daddy leave and of course doesn't really understand any of that, i'm sure she could sense how upset I was, she was now seeing gobs of people that she didn't remember ever seeing in her life, not only were these people strangers, but she had to be overwhelmed by the number of people she was seeing w in one week! She had pretty well spent a year of her life in seclusion. She saw her mommy, daddy, doggy, and the babysitter and that was it. Now she was seeing all these new people plus she was living in a new house and forced to get used to "home" all over again.

A month later and things are much better. She's not near as clingy w me and has really gotten used to our family and even strangers. She's much more outgoing. I've seen alot of changes in her over the last couple of weeks. She's sleeping through the night. . .even though she doesn't go to bed till 11pm most nights. But she's sleeping 10-12 hours so I can't complain too much. Bedtime is definitely a struggle although I don't think this has anything to do w her surroundings, but everything to do w a busy yet stubborn 1 yr old who can't stand the thought of missing out on something. Bedtime usually consists of me laying her down and trying to sing to her or pat her to sleep and her flip flopping all over the place to keep herself awake. This can last anywhere from 30 min to 2 hours! Naptime is the same way!

She started walking a couple weeks ago and is having a blast discovering all there is to get into. She is really walking now! She loves to go for walks anywhere i will let her down. The other day we were in walmart w Nana and Pappy and she was barefoot but insisted up on walking through walmart!

I definitely can't say that I miss Virginia. Although I do miss our babysitter and her family who were angels. And i know she was an angel bc before I found her I had been to numerous daycares and always left in tears thinking there was no way I was going to leave my kid w those people. I truly thought I was going to lose my job bc I had to take so much time off after our first sitter up and left us and then I wasn't even able to find a daycare. I just prayed and prayed and prayed some more until finally a friend I went to school w introduced us to her sitter/friend (Brandi). I knew almost immediately upon talking on the phone w her that I was going to like her. So we sat up some "get to know you" dates and took Rylee a few times before we left her for good. This ended up working out great. Brandi turned out to be a good friend and a good babysitter. I often asked her for advice when Rylee was sick or going through some phase. She is mom to 3 of the greatest little girls. Rylee became really attached to their whole family. It was very hard to leave them. I think of them constantly. Brandi was the first person to ever keep Rylee over night w o one of us being there if that tells you anything.

Well I need to get off of here bc she's insisting I get off of here by throwing numerous fits!

"I'm a cool dude!"

This was Rylee's bday cake Rylee had her own personal cake thanks to Buehler's who gave it to us for free since it was her first birthday. Rylee and Uncle Jason at the birthday party Spring cleaning for Nana

This was after dinner one night at her cousin's house. She loved this toy "hmm... there has got to be more goodies in here somewhere!" "Aha I knew it. . . there they are!" Taking time out from her toys to read a book

She now has 2 of these toys, but I don't think she can ever have too many bc she loves it. Playing in the toybox at Mommaw and Poppaw's Playing w toys and watching TV at the same time Swinging at the camper! Rylee loves to swing and play on the slide. I tried to get her to swing a long time ago when we were in Virginia but there were too many people around I guess bc she wouldn't have anything to do w it.