Happy New Year!

I'm stealing a post out of Jess's blog and looking back at some of the decade's highlights before ringing in 2010...

2000 - Jon and I moved from Houston, TX (where we lived for a year after graduating from Bemidji State University - that didn't quite make the decade!) to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Jon and I both started working for Motorola (where he still remains today). My career path has a few more twists and turns. :)

2001 - Jon and I took a trip to the Bahamas and stayed at the Atlantis Paradise Hotel. Amazing! Expensive, but amazing! Motorola announced the move of their factory and their lack of need for my materials planning analyst position, but it would be another year before they really let me go.

2002 - Jon and I bought our current home in Sunrise. Motorola laid me off in the fall, but with bonuses (to stay through the move) and unemployment, it was the one time I actually made more money than Jon! :) Santa brought us a new addition to our family - Rio!

2003 - Motorola hired me back (after my two month absence) - this time as a marketing planner. I celebrated my "diamond" birthday on 3-3-03.

2004 - The darkest and most difficult year of the decade: my life was forever altered after the death of three of my family members. I took a leave of absence from Motorola and Florida as well. Jon was understanding enough to let me move home for a few months to help my Mom finish out the 60th year of business at the resort. When I returned in the fall, I didn't return to Motorola. I started making my transition into teaching instead.

2005 - After subbing in the spring, I started teaching Kindergarten full-time the following school year.

2006 - Jon and I celebrated my 30th birthday and first Spring Break from school with a trip to Vegas. We didn't gamble, but it was a fantastic trip regardless. I love the Bellagio fountains! Jon even took me to see the Hoover Dam - a personal favorite.

2007 - I finished my second year of teaching Kindergarten. I started my blog. Santa gave us another addition to our family - though we wouldn't know it for while. :)

2008 - The most joyous and important year of the decade: being pregnant with and delivering my beautiful, healthy, silly daughter. I could fill post upon post about Rylee (oh wait, I do and have!). 2008 also saw the finish of my third year of teaching Kindergarten and the beginning of my leave so I could be a stay-at-home Mom.

2009 - was marked by Rylee's many firsts milestones including her 1st birthday! (I had a cool birthday too. My "platinum" birthday: 33 on 3-3.) I also returned to work for 5 months, this time as a librarian.

I welcome 2010 and my (soon to be) return to being a stay-at-home Mom. Mostly I'm excited for all the wonderful moments and changes that are in store for Rylee in the new year. I only hope this year goes by a little more slowly than the past one - she is growing up too fast already!

Happy New Year everyone! Thanks for taking a brief trip down memory lane with me.

Christmas Day Recap

After Rylee found her two big presents outside on Christmas morning, it was clear she wasn't going inside anytime soon. Solution: move all the presents outside (see pile below). It was quite an enjoyable experience. It may become a new family tradition.

 

Rylee got so many great gifts this year, I can't possibly list them all. One of my favorites though was this apron my Mom made to go with her new kitchenette. She even made two little oven mitts. Cute!

 

Christmas Eve Recap

Christmas Eve was all about gift opening... for Rylee that is! We didn't want her to get overwhelmed so we opted for short segments of opening starting in the morning... continuing after her nap... and then finishing before bed. "Finishing" might not be the right word considering she still had plenty to open Christmas Day - Santa presents and others. Lucky girl!

The traditional adult gift opening on Christmas Eve night was postponed due to my yuckiness and early bedtime. This wasn't as disappointing to me as the fact that I could only eat about 3 bites of the lasagna I made - I haven't made lasagna in years. No fair! :)

Back to the important stuff - Rylee's toys! It was the Christmas of baby dolls for Miss Rylee. She received an American Girl Bitty Baby and an adorable pink stroller from Grandma Sandy. Her cousins got her the high chair. Gaga got her a Fisher Price set that included a doll, stroller, pack n play, and swing. She is loving playing Mommy. She feeds her babies, rocks them, kisses them - it is too cute.

Here's a pic of her with her bitty baby. She's also wearing her new boots from fellow bloggers Stacy and Emma. Thanks girls for the Hannah Montana starter pack. You are too sweet! :)

 

Xmas Revealed

I still don't have time to write much about the holiday, but I can't resist posting a couple of these cute pics from Christmas morning. :)

Here's Chef Rylee playing with her new housekeeping kitchen from Gaga and Papa. The other side has a picnic bench and grill. It is awesome! I have as much fun playing with it as she does. (It's since been moved to her playroom upstairs.)

 

And this is the playhouse Santa Claus brought her. I don't know how he managed it on his sleigh, but she really owes him one - especially since we didn't even leave him cookies and milk (I guess when Mommy is sick no one remembers to thank Santa.)

 

Hi! Wanna come inside and play?

 

What a Week!

Sorry no blogging this past week - it's been an adventure here. Sunday and Monday Rylee and I were busy hanging out with Gaga and Papa. Tuesday I got the house ready for my in-laws and then... I got sick.

I don't really know what it was, but I was nauseous and miserable the whole Christmas holiday. I didn't really start to perk up until this afternoon. I didn't get to eat any of the yummy snacks, dinners or cookies! I took naps and went to bed by 7 every night! I feel like little Sally from the Peanuts cartoon - "I want restitution!" :)

Luckily, this holiday was all about Rylee and she had a blast regardless of my lack of holiday cheer. I have tons of cute photos and stories to relate, but I've hardly spent any quality time at all with my in-laws so it won't be tonight.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and for you fellow bloggers out there, I plan to catch up on all your posts tomorrow during Rylee's nap. Fingers crossed. :)

Silly Saturday Stories

1) Celebrity Part 1
Being an elementary school teacher affords me automatic celebrity status whenever a child spots me outside of school.  (Maybe it's not so much celebrity as surprise?  It's as if they now know we exist in the real world.)  Today, Jon and I took Rylee to McDonald's for lunch and one of my fourth graders was there with his Dad.  He gave me a hug and was quite interested in meeting Rylee (I have her picture up in the library).  The funny part was that before we left, he came over and took a picture of Rylee and me with his Nintendo DS... so he could show his friends at school!  :) 

2) Celebrity Part 2
http://hyattextremechristmas.wordpress.com/
There is a family not far from us that goes above and beyond when it comes to holiday decorating (you can check it out at the address above).  Not only do they turn their house and yard into a magical winter wonderland with a gazillion lights and holiday displays, but they sit outside every night offering cookies and punch and chatting with everyone who stops by.  This year they even added a blowup projection screen for the yougins to watch their favorite Christmas cartoons!  It is spectacular!  (There is no fee though they do accept donations, which they collect not for themselves but for the Humane Society.) 

Tonight we took Rylee and she loved it.  Her favorite part was an animotronic Santa that was dancing under some disco lights.  She danced with him and waved at him - so cute.  We have to go back another night with our camera.  Anyway, while we were there I saw another one of my fourth grade students.  Her eyes got wide when she saw me and she said, "Mrs. P is this your house?"  "I wish," I laughed (did I forget to mention the place is a mini mansion?).  It was too funny!

3) Ruh-Roh!
Rylee is getting more interested in talking every day.  She's much more willing to repeat or try new words.  Today she said "Rio" for the first time.  It sounds like "Ri-ro" which makes it all the "cuter" if you ask me.

4) Raise you're hand if you're sure!
To clarify: the deoderant was not part of a gift set of any kind - just one deoderant wrapped up in pretty paper!  I do feel better now that I know all 3 of us female specials teachers got deoderant.  I'll have to find out if the one male teacher got some too.

Good News

1) Rylee's test results came back and she is C. Diff free! Yeah!

2) My Dad arrived today. I am so excited to have him here for the holidays!

3) I didn't receive any personal hygiene related gifts today. :)

Do I Offend?

Today a few of my students were sweet enough to bring me Christmas gifts. The first was a cute coffee mug with hot chocolate, peppermint sticks and candies. The second was a basket with lotion and note pads. Very thoughtful!

The last gift, however, was unlike anything I've ever received before (and I've had a few strange gifts over the years). It was...wait for it... deodorant!

I always smell good so I was a little taken aback. I'm not bragging, it's just a fact. Everyone loves my lotion. Today alone I got two compliments from teachers and a group of fifth grade boys wanted me to sit next to them at the assembly because "I smelled like s'mores." Maybe this family doesn't like the smell of baked goods? Is that even possible? :)

It's certainly a very useful gift - it even promises to "minimize the visual appearance of hair over time" so that's a plus. I'm just not sure how to exactly word that thank you note!

*Another bonus - it doesn't appear to have previously been used!*

Let the teasing commence....

Xmas Card

I guess since I've posted all the bloopers, I better post Rylee's pretty picture as well. :)

 

Blogger issue: Blogger all of a sudden stopped emailing me my comments. Is anyone else having issue with this or had this happen before? I went in and checked my settings last night and my email address and everything was still there. Help!

Blooper #1 (drum roll!)...

Angels We Have Heard...
Cry! :)

 

Blooper #2 - ?

Caption needed for this photo! I have a few ideas on the tip of my tongue, but none seem quite right. :)

 

Blooper #3 - Cry-y-ing

Aren't Christmas photos fun?!

 

Blooper #4 - Tipsy

Here she looks like she was dipping into the spiked egg nog. :)

 

Rylee had her 15 month checkup yesterday.

Height: 32 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 22 pounds (38th percentile)

Her weight basically stayed the same which is why she dropped a bit from 50th to 38th percentile. Technically she lost weight last month due to all the mudd butt, but she's slowly started to gain it back. Now all she needs is to pass her poop test tomorrow and we'll be back to normal. If not, it's off to the GI specialist - please keep your fingers crossed so that is not the case!

Blooper #5 - Abracadabra

I was playing with a Christmas ornament to make Rylee laugh (and get her in better spirits for her photo shoot!), when Mom caught this photo. I think it looks like I am magically suspending the ball on her head!

 

Stocking Stuffers

Just a couple of shots of Rylee getting her daily present out of her advent stocking.

 

She's holding her cell phone from a few days ago and the new gift is an elephant finger puppet. :)

 

I plan to start posting Rylee's Christmas card bloopers one of these days - I've picked my top 5. You won't believe #1!

Fashionista?

Rylee has some interesting fashion sense. This morning, while still wearing her pjs, she "asked" to put her sweater on... then her apron! It was a look... :)

 

You can see she's also holding her makeup brush. A girl's gotta look her best - you never know when Mom's going to pull out the camera. Case in point!

 

Adventures in Babysitting

Last night, Jon and I watched Miller for a few hours. Rylee and Miller had a blast together. It's fun to see them interact now that they are on a more similar developmental level. Rylee shadowed and mimicked Miller's every move.

 

We had a little issue when they both wanted to play with the rocket ship, but luckily we invented the "taking turns pushing" game. One would push the other the length of the living room and back, then they would switch. They must have done this for an hour at least!

 

In the end, Miller even embraced his more feminine side. :)

 

*One funny story: We took the kids for a walk. Jon had Miller's hand and I had Rylee's. We had gone a half a block or so when I looked down and realized Jon had put Rylee's shoes on the wrong feet! I don't know how he didn't notice - the toes were obviously curving the wrong way. Needless to say, we had to do a quick shoe change before continuing... :)

Shop Till You Drop

I interrupted my nightly blogging routine this week to venture out to the stores and begin my holiday shopping. (I'd rather inflict pain upon myself than venture out to the stores on the weekend.) Between Wednesday and Thursday's excursions, I was able to make a nice dent in my list. Now I just need to finish up, do all the wrapping, mail out the Christmas cards, make my holiday slush, bake cookies and fudge... Aahhh, the hectic holidays!

Since I'm too tired (and overwhelmed) to think about blogging right now, I'll just post a pic instead.

Here's Rylee sportin' her Peebles 'do. (In case you're wondering, she's holding one of her mini-blankies in each hand. They work nicely as poor man's pom poms!)

 

The bow is kinda cute right? Well enjoy it in the photo, because that's the only way you'll see it. She's quicker than the dogs at pulling out those pretty bows!

Stress

After three weeks of asserting that Rylee's mud butt won't go away and getting a second stool test, we finally found out what was wrong. She has c. diff - an intestinal infection that is a result of the antibiotic she was on in early Nov.

It's good to finally know what's wrong, but I made the mistake of checking out c. diff online (never a good thing for those of us prone to worrying) and it didn't sound too good. Luckily she seems to be suffering from a mild case and is now on a specific antibiotic to target that (and hopefully only that) bacteria. Killing the good bacteria is what caused this whole mess in the first place! Aagh!

Anyway, I'm really hoping that we'll see some improvement in a few days. The poor girl has been dealing with this all month... and is really getting tired of only eating soup. :(

The doctor promised us December would be a better month. Let's hope she's right!