Busy Summer

This summer has been the busiest ever! It definitely holds some of the most fun times. We've been extremely busy this last month or so. We left June 10th for Virginia to visit Chris. Well this I will never forget bc Rylee and I flew by ourselves. I was extremely nervous ahead of time worried about how well she'd do on the plane and how many meltdowns she'd have w in the hour of the flight. As usual I had nothing to worry about. She did great and slept the vast majority of both of the flights.

When we arrived at the Norfolk airport Chris was there waiting on us. This was another of my worries. . .how she'd react to him. I kept talking to her on the airplane about going to see daddy so she'd wouldn't be too surprised. I think he was a tad worried as well. When we first saw him she kinda gave him a look like "I think I know you, but I'm not sure?" Then w in just a minute or two he picked her up out of her stroller and from that moment through the rest of our visit she was daddys girl!!!

Well we immediately started our visit off w a little excitement. Turns out we had picked up the wrong carseat and had actually gotten back to the hotel w it before I got a phone call from the airline saying we had the wrong one!! I never really looked at the carseat to be honest. Chris picked up our luggage so I just kinda randomly pointed at a carseat and said that's the one. And then he was the one to buckle her into it and since this was a borrowed carseat he had no idea what it looked like to begin w. So we returned the carseat and everything worked out fine.

We had a great time while we were there. We took Rylee to the zoo for the first time and it was blazing hot. She was an angel the entire time we were there. Once again I was amazed at how well she was while we there. She's so hot natured and you could see how red her little face was, but she never really fussed at all. I think it was bc her daddy had her most of the time. She loved to look at the animals and would point and get all excited and giggle.

We had plans to swim in the hotel pool while we were there, but Rylee had other plans bc we took her down one time and she clung to us like we were going to toss her in at any minute. So instead we just spent quality time in the hotel and then of the evening we'd usually go out for dinner. We got to visit w the babysitter and her girls and we also got to visit the hospital where I used to work. Those are the only 2 things I miss about Virginia. I loved my job and I loved our babysitter.

Chris took us back to the airport on the 15th. Thankfully he wasn't able to stay long bc he had to be at work. It was almost easier that way to just say our goodbyes and get it over with. Taking him to the airport the first time was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do and then leaving him again this time definitely comes in a close 2nd. The first time we left Rylee didn't really react to him leaving. This time though was a different story. One that I don't want to go into bc it makes me sad.

Things have been even busier since we've been back. We just celebrated the 4th of July a couple weeks ago. I took Rylee to the parade in Shoals. This was her first ever parade. I wasn't sure going into it if she would really enjoy it. She's awfully busy and doesn't like to sit still so i wasn't sure she'd sit through it. But once again she proved me wrong and did really well. We did not attend any fireworks just bc they were right about bedtime and I think she's still a little young to enjoy those.

She's now not only walking but running around like a chicken w its head cut off!!! She just gets busier and busier!!! After we got back from visiting Chris I started working on her bedtime habits. Her routine got all out of whack when we moved into a new place w "new people" and w o daddy. She wasn't going to bed till midnight and then would wake 2 or 3 times in the night and when I would finally get her to go to bed I would have to stand in there patting on her till she fell asleep. Which sometimes was an hour long process. So once we got back I decided we needed to work on going to bed like a big girl bc one baby Loren gets here Mommy isn't going to have time to stand in there for an hour every night. It wasn't as bad as what I thought it would be and it definitely didn't take her long at all to going to bed like a big girl. I started by taking her in and turning her seahorse on and I would hold her a minute and then tell her mommy and daddy love her and it was time to go nite nite and I'd see her in the morning and then I'd lay her down and walk out. The first several nights she cried a little, but never more than 2 or 3 minutes. After the first week of this she was good to go and going to bed on her own! Now when I tell her its nite nite time she won't let me stand and hold her! As i'm giving her a kiss and telling her we love her she's already pulling away from me wanting to be laid down.

Here are some pics from the last couple of months. . .

I took her to the Washington park the other day to feed the ducks and play on the playground. Ok so you know the saying. . . "What goes up must come down" well Rylee knows it too. She climbs up the slide and then slides back down.

This look she was giving me wasn't real loving! Here is Rylee at the most miserable day of both our lives. . . the baby contest. I entered Rylee in the prettiest eyes and prettiest girl. She got 3rd in prettiest eyes. This contest was awful! It was outside and it was so hot! As you can tell by her face she was not happy and was ready to go. Furthermore it didn't start on time and it was incredibly unorganized! Her and I neither one were happy and we won't be doing it next year.

Here she is patiently waiting on the parade to start Her and I went outside to play one day. This was one of those weeks where we had like 3 days of absolute beautiful weather. She loves to just take off running once we're out there. She never wants to come inside. See that happy look on her face? She loves to be outside! This was her right after we left the zoo. We weren't even out of the parking lot yet.

See how engrossed she is? I couldn't get any good pictures bc she was too busy looking at the animals to look at the camera.

She was telling daddy all about whatever animal she saw! You can already see how hot she was and we had just gotten there. "Daddy come out!!!" Chris had gone into the bathroom w o her. She let him know she was waiting by banging on the door. By this point she was done being patient. She either wanted him to come out or him to let her in.

Well just a short side note on baby Loren. Im just over 2 weeks away from delivering, but the dr. is doing an ultrasound this week to see how big she is. We don't want anymore 10lb surprises! I'm extremely miserable and very ready for this to be over w and her to be here. Im anxious to see how Rylee will act around her. Still no word on whether or not Chris will be here for the delivery, but he has turned in his leave request and they sent it back to him wanting him to list my dr. phone number and the hospital phone number. So I'm taking that as a good sign, but trying not to get hopeful. Very seldom does the Navy do anything that makes any sense!!!

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.

Daddy's Home

Chris has been gone off and on for about 10 days w the ship. Well yesterday they got to come home so Rylee and I went to watch the ship pulling in. It was an awesome experience! I've been on Chris's previous ship before, but had never seen it actually doing anything other than just sitting there. So this was definitely an experience to remember! Rylee of course had no idea what was going and could've cared less. She was more interested in the other people that were around. Especially the little kids. There were a few other wives/significant others there waiting/watching w their kids.

Rylee and I did a whole lot of nothing while he was gone. It was extremely lonely and boring being cooped up in this apartment. We had seen him a little over the last week or so, but it still felt like the longest 10 days of my life!!!! We tried taking walks whenever possible, but the weather has turned kinda chilly so that put an end to that. I'm already thinking ahead to the next one which is longer than the last one!!!! UGH!! I will be so glad to get home so we can keep ourselves busy. That's the worst thing about him being gone is he's my only adult contact! So when he's gone we literally have nothing to do and nowhere to go! That makes for an extremely long week!! Things could definitely be worse though. . . he's not in Iraq or Afghanistan and he doesn't have people shooting at him everyday. I think of those men and women and their families all the time!

After we waited 3 1/2 hours for him to get off the ship we came home so he could clean up a bit and then headed to the Olive Garden. I really didn't want to spend his first evening home cooking and cleaning in the kitchen. And of course Rylee is the Olive Garden Queen! She loves pasta!!! Plus by the time he got off the ship Rylee hadn't eaten since lunch and I hadn't eaten since breakfast! And what little food was left in is we walked off by passing time waiting on him to get off the ship!!

Rylee loved the Olive Garden! She's been numerous times since she was born since this is Mommy's favorite place to eat, but this was the first time she was able to indulge in the yumminess!! There wasn't a thing she didn't like! She loved the breadsticks (especially dipped in Alfredo sauce) and I had ordered chicken alfredo so I was sharing that w her and she was shoveling it in by the handfulls!! Let's just say she left her mark on the Olive Garden bc by the time she was done she had created quite a mess on the floor!!!

Here are some pictures of Chris's ship pulling in. In some of them you can just barely make out the white stick figures around the top of the ship. These are some of the sailors in their white uniforms standing around the top manning the rails.

This picture was taken on the fishing pier after Chris's ship was pretty well out of sight. I just asked some random wives if they would take our picture. Rylee still wasn't awake yet. She hadn't had a nap so she fell asleep in the car for a few minutes. I had to wake her up to get her out to watch the ship pulling in.

Ok now you can really see the sailors around the top. This picture was taken after we were back in the car and getting ready to leave. I didn't realize they were going to be pulling in so close to where we were until we were actually in the car getting ready to leave. So I snapped a few shots from inside the vehicle. Most of the time it's not ok to be taking pictures or videos for security reasons so that's why I didn't get out and take any better pictures.

Well now that Rylee is one she is really keeping us busy! She's not quite walking yet though she does take a random step or two here or there. She loves to walk if someone helps her. If I'm sitting down she'll come up to me and take my hand and start to walk away. She loves to hold my hands and walk through the house. She does really good walking this way. She's also so much more aware of everything around her. If i'm sitting at the computer she'll come up behind me and grab ahold of my clothes and turn me around so she has my attention.

She's talking up a storm although you can basically only understand "Go, dog, and da da." She does have a couple new words. She says "duck" and just the other day finally started saying "momma." She still says da da more than anything, but is definitely saying momma more and more each day. She's started pointing at things and getting really excited. Like when Mickey Mouse comes on tv she'll point and smile real big and just get so excited. With all this new awareness comes the ability to throw tantrums! And let me tell you this little girl has that down pat!!

She loves to help mommy clean the kitchen. Although its usually when im loading, shes unloading. This was after her bath one night. She loves to run around naked!

This picture was so cute. She has such a sweet innocent look on her face. See that look on her face? She's already looking at me bc she knows I'm about to tell her no and to be nice to the doggy. That's the look I get every time she's about to do something she knows she's not supposed to be doingSometimes when I'm trying to take her picture I have to be very non chalant about it or she comes to investigate. Which is what she's doing in this picture. I was doing something and it caught her attention.I had no idea she had that funny look on her face when I snapped the picture. It's like she's trying not to let Rocky know that she's up to something, but at the same time she's keeping a close eye on him.See that awful look on her face? This is the I'm ticked off at you face and I really just want you to leave me alone! This was so hilarious. I had been loading the dishwasher w some assistance of course and I turned my back for a second to grab a sack (which you can see on top of the counter) that was on the kitchen table. When I turned back around she was sitting on top of the dishwasher w her Mickey Mouse plate and a fork in one hand and a spoon in the other! I laughed until I cried!!! Just a quick note on this pregnancy. . . the one that I tend to forget about bc of how busy this little one keeps me!! I've been feeling great! Half the time I forget I'm even pregnant!! I'll be 24 weeks this Friday (4/24). I am starting to get to the point where I'm feeling a little more tired than normal, but it's not that bad.

We'll be leaving for Indiana on Friday April 30th. So this will be my last blog for awhile till we get home and get settled. Chris will most likely be coming home w us for a week or two so I probably won't do much until after he's gone. So i guess this time I get to say. . . See ya all real soon!!!

1st Birthday Party

I can't believe Rylee is less than a week away from turning 1! Wow time flies!! We had a little birthday party for her Friday night because we're not sure if Chris will be here next week or not. We didn't invite very many people because she's so shy that she just clings to me when strangers are around. I had no desire to cart her around all night. Plus it's her birthday party so it's supposed to be fun for her. So we just invited the babysitter and her three little girls. I think they all had fun including Rylee. I had Wal-Mart make a Mickey Mouse cake for her which turned out to be adorable! And i bought some Mickey Mouse plates and a Mickey Mouse banner.

Chris took the whole cake up to her at first. We just wanted to see what she would do given the chance. She didn't hesitate to dig both hands in! It was kind of a last minute party so I didn't have time to make her her own separate cake that she could play in, so after we saw what she'd do with it we just gave her her own piece. She loved it! I think more of it ended up in her lap than in her mouth though.

We gave her the piece of cake on a plate and she dumped it upside down. Who needs to have manners when it's your birthday anyway!!! She's squishing the cake in between her hands.

Ok so I just realized my pictures are in the wrong order, so you'll just have to piece them together as you read.

Chris and I got her this big bag of mega blocks for her bday present. The babysitter has these huge legos at her house that Rylee loves to play with so I knew she'd love these blocks.

This is one of the toys that the babysitter and her girls got for Rylee. She loves this toy. It's one of those where you press the buttons and the animals pop up. Rylee gets angry when she closes one and another one pops up.

Overall the night was a success. Rylee had lots of fun. Eventually she started to wear down and was extremely grouchy so everyone took that as their cue to head out. She was so tired she went to sleep at 8:30 and slept 12 hours without making a peep all night!

Yummy. . . Ravioli and Peas She had been eating hamburger helper in this picture, but then she spotted Mickey. I was sitting on the floor trying to take her picture, but she wouldn't stay far enough away. She had to climb on me as I was trying to take her picture. So we got an extra close close up!

She got ahold of my cell phone. It was so funny because she started talking to it. Eventually by the time she was done it wouldn't work anymore. I guess it's not slobber proof! Here's what's been happening since I last updated. . . Rylee is eating all table food and not really any baby food. She pretty well eats anything you put in front of her. I haven't found much of anything she won't eat. Her favorite food seems to be peas and yogurt.

It started out that she was just dabbling in whatever I would eat. Chris and I always ate in the living room and she would stand in front of me and fuss till i gave her some of whatever i had. After about a week of this I decided to transition dinner to the kitchen so she could sit in her highchair and feed herself. She started off with fettuccine and hamburger helper then little by little she just ate whatever we were eating for dinner.

She is still taking a bottle, but we've transitioned down to just the bed time bottle. I haven't tried real hard to wean off that one because we can't get her to drink any milk unless it's mixed w formula. When she drinks out of her sippy cup it's usually always water. She loves water!

She's not quite walking yet, but she just started taking some steps the other day. If we sit on the floor with her and let her walk between us then she'll take a few steps in our direction, but like everything else she dictates how long she'll do this. Once she's had enough she'll hold her legs up in the air if you're trying to stand her up or she just won't stand up at all. She does stand up on her own for a few seconds. She's getting braver though. She'll have a hold of the couch and will turn around and let go like she's going to take off walking then she chickens out and grabs back ahold of the couch.

Her personality is definitely coming through and is more noticeable. She has no problem letting you know when she's not happy about something. She throws little temper tantrums already. I have a feeling these are just a preview for what's to come later!! She'll kick her legs and arms if you try to take something away or are trying to get her dressed. She's just recently started saying NO too. She'll even point her finger at you like you do when you're giving someone a talking to. It's so funny because if you do it to her then she'll start mocking you, but she doesn't point back at me. She turns and points at Chris.

Well Friday was my last day at work! YAY!!! I'm so excited to be able to stay home with Rylee all the time! We still don't know exactly when we're moving yet, but it'll be sometime around the end of the month. We've already started packing some things. We're trying to get as much packed as possible while Chris is still here to help.

Well I'm going to get off here for now. Hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently now that I'm not working.

Little Girl, Big Personality

It's been busy around here as always. Since my last blog Rylee has started pulling up and has moved on to cruising around the furniture or anything else she can manage to hang on to. She's working on standing on her own now. I watched her stand up in the middle of the floor the other night. Although almost as soon as she got up she was right back down!

Her personality is really starting to come through. She has no problem voicing her opinion. She has even started to smack when you're making her do something she doesn't want to do! Really the only things she doesn't want to do is get her diaper or her clothes changed. I guess she feels like we're slowing her down or something. But yesterday morning I had her on the changing table trying to get us both ready to head out the door when she gave me that "im ticked off look" and actually swatted at me!

I've been telling the sitter about her little temper, but I don't think she believed me. That is until yesterday. . . when I went to pick her up at the end of the day the sitter was telling me how she had her in the highchair trying to feed her when a commercial came on that I guess Rylee wanted to see bc she pushed the sitter's hand out of the way so she could see around her to the TV!

Well standing and cruising are not the only new things Rylee is trying. . . yesterday she had her first drink of cow's milk. I had the sitter give her some and she said she thinks she liked it, but she didn't like it cold so she had to warm it up a bit. She's also eating alot more table food. She's had green beans, little pieces of chicken, bananas, and mac and cheese (which she doesn't really like). I'm sure she's had more than that, but that's all i can remember right now.

She is laying on the pillow in her jammies sucking her thumb! Doesn't she look so sweet and innocent?? Hahahaha. . . if you said yes then she has you fooled!!! Oh my gosh this little girl is so smart! Much smarter than her dad and I ever gave her credit for. When Rocky has to go to his crate we've had to start actually shutting the door and locking it to keep Rylee out of there. Well the other night she figured out how to unlock the door and open the gate to let him out. Rylee sticks her tongue out when she's concentrating really hard on something. Here she was trying to figure out how to get the lid off these cd's.

Well, baby and I are doing well. Even better now that I found out I don't have diabetes. It was a stressful couple of weeks worrying about all of that, but for now I'm in the clear. I'm 16wks as of yesterday and haven't felt the baby move yet, but assume in the next couple of weeks I probably will. I've been feeling pretty good now that I'm into my second trimester. Tired as always, but good none the less.

Everybody's asking when do we find out what we're having. . . well the answer is only a week away. My ultrasound is scheduled for March 8th.

Well, gotta go for now. Rylee is starting to fuss. I think she's ready for breakfast. Better go so I can feed the monster!