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!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything. I think the last post was before Christmas. That's just how busy we've been since getting home from Christmas. Rylee started crawling the night before we left to come home for Christmas and life hasn't been the same since then. . . hahahaha!!! She is so busy and so mischevious! Speaking of mischevious she is right below my feet playing w the printer as I'm trying to type! I keep having to stop and move her out of there bc she opens and closes the top of the printer (the scanner part) and bangs on the scanner w her hands!!! If this printer manages to make it through all this w her then I will recommend this printer to anyone bc it can w/stand anything!! Well, I'm officially 11wks1day and am feeling okay. I don't feel great, but it doesn't seem to be as bad as it was when I was pregnant w Rylee. I have my good days and my bad days. It's weird how different things are w this pregnancy. I'm not taking pictures of my stomach every week. Mainly bc no one wants to see this stretch marked, flabby stomach this time!!!My cute, tan, little belly is long gone!! Thankfully Rylee is sleeping really good so that helps alot. She's going to bed around 8:30 and sleeping till 7am. Chris and I still haven't decided when Rylee and I are moving home. It seems like we change our minds on a daily basis. His deployment keeps changing. They move it back then they move it back up again. I really want to have the baby in Indiana, but that means leaving Chris alot sooner than I would like. I'm not really worried about me leaving him, I'm more worried about taking Rylee away from him. Eventually we have to make a decision bc our lease is up in April and we have to give 60 days notice if we're moving out. So stay tuned. . . Rylee hasn't pulled up yet, but she tries really hard. If you stand her up against something she'll stand for several minutes. She stands herself up in the middle of the floor but she keeps her hands on the ground and just sticks her butt up in the air. Oh my gosh this has to be the funniest thing ever. . . her in the dog cage!! And the funniest thing is she loves it!!! She thinks its hilarious to get in there. And she could care less wether the dog is in there or not! If he's in there she'll just join him. Rocky on the other hand is not so happy when she decides to join him.Yes, she still loves Mickey Mouse! Now when I turn it on she stops everything she's doing and crawls to the tv to sit and watch him. She giggles and squeals as she's watching it.

This cracked me up. . . she wanted to get to one of her other toys and instead of crawling around this toy she just climbed over it. Or at least she tried. She eventually got over it but it took her awhile.I don't remember what she was doing exactly in this picture, but she had that cheesy smile that says "I'm a perfect angel and would never do anything I'm not suppose to." And of course she was covered in food! This has to be her favorite spot and her mommy's least favorite! She gets back there and plays in the blinds. These blinds are so fragile! It doesn't take much to knock them down and once they're down you can't hang them back up they're just done! And of course we have to pay every time we have to replace them. No matter what I do she won't stay out of there! And when you catch her back there she just smiles at you like "What? Me?" Well, I think Rylee has decided my time is up. She's tugging at my pant leg and crying so I guess I'm done w this post for now! Enjoy the rest of the pics and hopefully I'll have more to post fairly soon.

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.