It's Beginning to Look...

A Lot Like Christmas!

We spent Friday getting up the tree, lights and decorations. Saturday was Rylee's Christmas card photo shoot. Oh my! Let's just say I have tons of good shots for the blooper reel. I think Rylee is going through an anti-photo phase. Makes me reconsider that new camera I want for Christmas! :)

We also put up Rylee's advent stocking that Grandma (Ga Ga as Rylee calls her know) made for her. I had one when I was a little girl, but we must have sold it or something. Anyway this one is truly special since it was made especially for her.

 

I can't wait until the 1st so she can start getting her gifts! (Technically she already stole a gift out of one of the bottom pockets - I guess we hung it a little low in the house. Luckily I have a few extra so I filled it back up.)

I'm Thankfuls

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Since I didn't get a chance to post my "I'm thankfuls" yesterday, here they are:

Rylee
I love every minute with my smiley, giggly girl. I could gush on and on about her, but since this blog is pretty much dedicated to her, I'm sure you already know. :)

Jon and Rio
Jon is such a wonderful Daddy to both his girls and, if I must admit, a pretty excellent husband as well. (I try not to tell him that too often otherwise he gets a big head!) And who couldn't love little furry Rio!

My Mom and Dad
I am so thankful for my parents. I don't know anyone else who would make the sacrifices they are for both Rylee and myself. I'm thankful to my Mom for providing fun, loving, and FREE daycare for Rylee and thankful to my Dad for working so hard and taking care of himself while Mom is away. You guys are the absolute best and I'm sorry I don't tell you that enough!

Friends and Family
I consider myself lucky to have such wonderful family and friends both here and in MN. It's especially nice to have all these kids and new little babies in the mix!

*I'm especially thankful that my Dad's surgery went well today and he is home and recovering. Can't wait to see him over Christmas!

Congrats!

Congrats to Rachel - she had her baby boy on Thursday. You can see pics of adorable little Rowan on her blog!

It seems like all my friends having babies are on a boy/girl pattern. Just looking at the last few months:

Melinda - boy
Jess - girl
Karen - boy
Jenny - girl
Rachel - boy

I think my friend Soni is due to deliver next. By my calculations she'll be having a girl. :)

So many babies to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

Center of Attention

The dogs are sure hanging on Rylee's every word these days... or is it every cracker. :)

 

Speaking of crackers, Rylee has an interesting way of eating crackers from the inside out. You can see everywhere she's been by the crumb trail. I think I'll start calling her Gretel...

New Moon Fever

Swamped with chores and trying to get my new computer set up (finally!) so again no time for blogging. This seems to be a reoccurring issue for me lately...

Attention Twilight fans: If you have some free time, I urge you to check out Jen Lancaster's blog (you can find the link on the left hand side of my blog under "sites worth visiting"). Her post from Friday was a hilarious reenactment of New Moon with Twilight action figures. (Thanks Karen for telling me to check it out!)

New Look

Rylee's bathroom got a little makeover - new shower curtain, towels etc. As you can see I was too lazy to repaint so I made sure to pick something that went with the current wall color. The little pom poms on the shower curtain match the paint perfectly. (Obviously I was too lazy to iron the shower curtain too!)

 

Rylee loves her baths. She was getting impatient with me when I was fooling around with the camera. I think this means "lets fill her up with water already."

 

The entertainment center Jon and I built about a decade ago has now been "playroomafied".

 

The new guest room: it doesn't look like much (especially without curtains - I'm waiting for them to be hemmed by my seamstress!) but at least it has a bed. :)

 

Soccer Girl

Rylee loves playing "soccer" on the pool deck. She's learning to dribble the ball as she runs. Is that what it's called? You can see I'm not a soccer player! :)

 

She also enjoys running and smashing against the mesh so hockey or professional wrestling might also be options for future sports endeavors. :)

 

And here she is thanking Daddy for her pool fence with a little kiss. Aaaahhh...

 

Don't Fence Me In

Actually it's more like "yes, fence me out!" Rylee loves the new pool fence. She's already played in the backyard more today than... EVER.

It's more more relaxing for us not to have to play goalie and keep her from falling into the pool too. :)

It was too overcast for pictures today. Maybe tomorrow...

*Unrelated: How I Met Your Mother was hilarious last night! No need to mope over Robin & Barney's breakup when Barney is pulling out "The Playbook." SNASA! Love it!

Ch..Ch..Changes!

We've made more changes to the house:

- Rylee got a new look for her bathroom

- our entertainment center was moved into Rylee's playroom so that changed already!

- the man room became a guest room with a bed

- and tomorrow the pool fence people will be here to put up the pool fence

One of these days, I'll get the camera out and post more pictures. For now, I'm still recovering from the confusion of musical rooms. :)

Rylee...

...has been sick the last few days so there has been no time for posting.

She's been oscillating between bloody stool and mud butt for a week or so and was up until 1 am on Thursday night (which meant we all only got 4 hours of sleep).

Friday night was better so we all turned in early (exhausted!).

Yesterday was her Dr. appt.

She is off all dairy products for the near future - trying to get her stomach and digestive system back on track. She's also on a bland diet of soup and crackers. Poor baby!

She's been pretty good natured through the whole ordeal though. She's a trooper. Even Thursday night when she must have been cramping and uncomfortable, she was still smiling.

I'll keep you posted, but hopefully she'll be feeling better soon.

Repeat Please!

Rylee was little miss talkative the other day and she said "Maddie" and "Miller." We were soo excited, but now she won't say them again. :)

Her favorite words right now are:

ya (which is Minnesotan for yes...though Jon pointed out to me that she is a Floridian which really took me by surprise - I guess she is!)

good girl (she says this after she gives Rio treats and also sometimes about herself when she's done something helpful like put away her toys or brush her teeth)

button (which I've mentioned before - I think it's thanks to all those polo shirts Daddy wears)

bark bark bark (she gets a lot of practice with this when Angel is around!)

Grandma also taught her how to turn around in a circle the other day. Of course she does it too many times in a row and then she gets dizzy and falls down. :)

Vaca Day

In a time not so long ago (last year)... in a galaxy very, very near here (okay, this one), today was to be the beginning of my return to mommyhood. Alas, today is just a vaca day and tomorrow I will return to work. (My new end date is January 8th.) But considering there was a time when I almost wasn't returning to work at all, I won't complain... or at least not too much. :)

On to the important news:
Congrats to Jenny (& Morgan) who welcomed baby girl Caitlin Josephine to the world yesterday. Visit her blog (Irish by Marriage) to see photos!

Rachel, you're next...

The Horror... The Horror...

We had so much fun rocking out to the SingStar game the other weekend, I told Jon we should buy the game. I noticed he didn't exactly run out to fulfil my request. Now I know why...

1) I'm completely tone deaf... not that this is a shocker... I do actually know this about myself... I'm not one of those delusional American Idol wannabes

2) it's really not fun to sing by yourself... although it is kinder (see above)

3) I am horrible with song lyrics

4) I do not possess the mental acuity to look at the lyrics and the melody bars at the same time (it's much easier on RockBand)

In short, this game is really more fun in a group. Even then, I'm not sure I will ever again possess the confidence?... stupidity?... to rock the mic in front of people... that I know... and that possess full hearing capabilities

Good thing this game was only borrowed. :)

I think I'll ask Jon for some of those Lego games instead. They look fun....


P.S. Now I know why Jon gives up on video games so quickly!

Reasons Why...

... I haven't blogged.

"Two" Many Books
I am reading two books at once (a rarity for me) and they are both engrossing. I can't wait to finish blogging so I can crawl into bed and find out what happens next...

Too Much Fun
Jon did bedtime duty for Rylee two nights in a row (another rarity!) so I could have not one, but two ladies nights. Friday was Venessa's birthday dinner and Saturday we were supposed to go to the Rodeo as additional celebration, but we decided to just watch a movie instead.

We also squeezed in some play date time for Miller and Rylee. They even went on their first dinner date! Don't worry, they were separated by 4 chaperons so there wasn't any funny business going on. Miller did try to hold Rylee's hand when they were walking, but she was playing hard to get. :)

Too Much Teething
"Rabid Rylee" is getting 5 new teeth. She's chewing and drooling and fussing and even crying at times. Poor baby! I hope she gets some relief soon.

Tea Time

Rylee loves to have tea parties so "Nona" made her a pretty apron to wear when she's hosting. She loves it and "asks" to put it on all the time. She especially loves the button accents. The kid is obsessed with buttons. "Button" was one of her first words (though it sounds more like bun). :)

 

Here she is filling up my cup.

 

I couldn't get a shot of her drinking her tea, but she holds it so daintily and makes a cute sipping noise. Aaahh...

Congratulations...

to my friend Karen who welcomed baby James Robert to the world on Sunday @ 1:04 pm.

Here are his stats:

9 lbs 7 oz
21 1/2 inches long

I don't have any more details yet - like whether that was a natural birth or C-section! :)

C'mon Jenny and Rachel, you two gals are next... :)

Costumes

I tried to do coordinated costumes for Jon, Rylee and me (I even had one idea that would have covered Rio as well), but getting the others on board with my plans was impossible. Who knew Rylee would be so demanding? :)

In the end, I decided to do Cleopatra this year since I've been sporting bangs recently. I always enjoy a costume that doesn't require a hot and itchy wig. Jon wanted to incorporate his beard into his costume so ended up as an Arabian Sheik. I thought he was very Omar Sharif ala Lawrence of Arabia, but our friends called him "Sheik Your Booty" all night. :)

 

*Jon's face was shaved and smooth before 7:30 am Sunday morning.

With our tired Tinkerbell.

 

Pete & Amy as Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West.

 

*Jon has requested that the guys in our group stop dressing as women - it's starting to creep him out!

Ryan & Erin: The Rocker & his Prisoner of Love.

 

Ryan even treated us with a guitar solo later in the evening - and I don't mean on Rock Band.

*Though we did all jam out on Rock Band later. I really rocked the mic if I do say so myself (apparently off key doesn't matter on easy play mode)!

Hallo-weird

It was an interesting Halloween this year. We had sickness (Jess), a spray painted truck (Ryan), burns (me), bumps, bruises and bloody stool (Rylee), and only 1 trick-or-treater (Miller). But even through all that, we managed to have a pretty excellent time. Well, maybe not Jess - she sounded pretty miserable. :(

I have so many good pics from the weekend. Let's start with the kids...

Rylee learned an exciting new trick this weekend: she can now officially open our doors. So far she's only interested in opening the bathroom door when Daddy goes inside. :)

 

Here's Rylee trick-or-treating at "Nona's" house. She was a bit miffed that she wasn't getting any treats in her bucket until Nona plunked some Teddy Grahams in there. Nice save!

 

Our sweet and happy Tinkerbell. :)

 

And now our terrified Tinkerbell - apparently a swash-buckling, sword-carrying Miller was too spooky.

 

I guess it does look like he might force her to walk the plank! :)