12th Day of Christmas

On the 12th day of Christmas,
the Good Lord gave to me:
a baby brother for a sibling -
the perfect addition to our family!

So we'll have to wait awhile for baby brother's arrival, but at least now we can call it a "he," start seriously working on those baby names, and decorate the nursery!

I'll try to scan some of the ultrasound photos, but they aren't as good as our last ones so I'm not sure how they'll come out. In the meantime, here is a belly shot of baby boy Polich (referred to from now on as BBP).

 

In other news, I guess this is my 1001st post. It would have been cool if it had turned out to be 1000, but close enough! :)

Happy New Year everyone!

9th, 10th, 11th...

On the 9th day of Christmas,
everyone gave to me:
lots of toys to play with-
like princesses and clothes for Barbie!

On the 10th day of Christmas,
Grandma Sandy gave to me:
my very own tooth pillow
so I'm ready for the Tooth Fairy!

On the 11th day of Christmas,
Santa gave to me:
a trampoline for jumping
to save those couch springs!

 

 

6th, 7th, 8th...

On the 6th day of Christmas,
Gaga gave to me:
a special donut maker
(just don't tell me they're not as good as Crispy Creme!).

 

 

The donut maker is pretty sweet for a girl with lactose intolerance and donut envy. We made some cinnamon sugar ones on Christmas Eve and then Rylee wanted frosting and sprinkles on Christmas morning. The girl has been in donut heaven.

On the 7th day of Christmas,
everyone gave to me:
lots of new clothes and jammies
'cause I never stop growing!

 

Unlike her birthday, Rylee was very excited to get clothes. She tried most things on right when she opened them and fell in love with one pink t-shirt with bling on it (that Gaga bought for her) and wore it for three straight days.

On the 8th day of Christmas,
Auntie Laurie gave to me:
a silly Skippyjon Jones book
autographed by author Judy!

 

I was most excited for this gift. I have all the Skippyjon Jones books (my Kindergartners loved them). I couldn't believe how nicely the author signed the copy with name and sketch and all. Too cool!

3rd, 4th, 5th...

On the 3rd day of Christmas,
Grandma Sandy gave to me:
3 little ponies &
2 little pony DVDs!

On the 4th day of Christmas,
Grandma Sandy gave to me:
4 Thomas the train cars
on railroad tracks for driving!

 

I'm not sure who's more excited by the train: Rylee or Jon. Either way they are both talking about more tracks, more train cars & tunnels of course. :)

On the 5th day of Christmas,
Grandma Sandy gave to me:
a ballerina music box
for my golden rings and jewelry!

 

Rylee adores her new jewelry box. She winds it up and lets the ballerina pirouette until "Fur Elise" plays out. (Sorry, I should have zoomed in or cropped the photo so you could see the music box better. It's pink with white polka dots and the ballerina dances in front of a heart-shaped mirror.)

1st & 2nd...

On the 1st day of Christmas,
Gaga made for me:
a beautiful veil & bouquet
for when I pretend marry!

 

The silk bouquet is lovely, but I didn't have a great picture of it. My mom also bought Rylee an adorable play wedding dress, but she hasn't had the chance to try everything on together. Maybe she'll be in the mood to get married later this week so I can get a picture of the whole ensemble.

On the 2nd day of Christmas,
Gaga gave to me:
a stroller & twin babies
with knitted hats & booties!

 

 

 

Rylee actually got "Baby Elsie" from Grandma Sandy 2 years ago, but when Rylee started wanting twin babies she decided to add another Bitty Baby to Rylee's collection. "Baby Emily" looks more like Jon with dark hair and dark eyes. (My mom thought Rylee should prepare for the fact that the new baby might not look exactly like her!) To make them twins, my mom bought them matching jammies and knit them matching hats & booties. They are adorable! My mom also sewed them little blankies and made Rylee matching "chew blankies" as she calls them. As Rylee says, "Gaga is so talented!"

Christmas 2011

It was a bittersweet Christmas this year. After a couple of fun days, Grandma Sandy started to not feel well. At first we thought it was just side effects from her chemo on Tuesday and her oncologist recommended she go into the ER for fluids. When she got there, they found a bowel obstruction (a problem she's had before). Unfortunately, this meant they had to admit her to the hospital. She spent most of Friday and all of Saturday in the hospital. Not exactly how she envisioned her visit going. :(

The good news is that she was released early this morning and was able to spend Christmas Day with all of us! Rylee was especially excited to see her (since we hadn't brought her to the hospital to visit). Today when I asked Rylee what her "favorite Christmas gift" was she said "spending it with Grandma Sandy." :)

I have tons of pictures to go through so expect the "12 Days of Christmas" posting to commence soon. Merry Christmas everyone!

Safari

We got Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Chip up early Thursday morning so we could head up to Lion Country Safari. We'd never been and had always wanted to check it out.

The first part of the park is an open safari-type zoo that you drive your car through. There are lots of warning signs to keep your doors locked, your windows rolled up, and to give the rhinos a wide berth. They forgot to warn us about the sneaky ostriches though. One pecked my bumper twice before we drove away! I never did remember to check for damage. :)

I'm not sure what Rylee enjoyed more - seeing the animals or roaming free about the vehicle (no car seat laws apply in the park since the speed limit is 8 mph). She was giddy! She sat on the center console, helped Jon drive the car a bit, and walked around in the back with Grandma and me.

 

The second part of the park has your usual rides, petting zoo, and other attractions. Rylee chose to stroll part of the time.

 

Before we left, "the kids" monkeyed around for some silly photos:

 

 

All and all, it was fun excursion!

Advent Stocking

Yesterday when I was in the shower, I felt something run down my leg. It scared the bejeezus out of me. I looked down and saw that it was blue. I'm pretty blind without my contacts, but I felt confidant that it wasn't a spider. (Had it been a spider, I'm sure Jon would have found a cartoon-shaped Shannon cutout through the shower door when he came home.) Upon further (and more closeup) inspection, I determined it was a piece of Toy Story wrapping paper from Rylee's advent present that morning. She must have put a piece in my hair when I wasn't looking!

For those that might not know, my Mom made Rylee a huge advent stocking with pockets for presents. She's been opening one every morning all month. (Every night when she goes to bed she talks about waking up and getting her present.) They're mostly small, inexpensive gifts and this year I even put some practical things in there - like underwear. It was Barbie underwear so Rylee still thought I was a cool gift. I bought them the next size up because her other undies are getting a tad small, but when we really took them out to look at them, they were quite large.

When my Mom asked Rylee what she got that day, Rylee answered enthusiastically: "giant underwear!"

It cracked me up. Sorry for the granny panties Rylee...

Christmas Fun: Take 1, 2 & 3

Take 1
On Sunday we wanted to take Rylee to see some Christmas lights. I knew Hyatt's Extreme Christmas (the house that has gained national fame and is only a few blocks from us would be crazy) so we timed it to get there right at 6 when they open for the night. We arrived and got a good parking spot, but they were running late that night. Way late! He said they would be open soon, but we waited until 6:45 and they still hadn't opened the gates. By that time, Rylee was bored and a little scared by the growing crowd so she asked to leave.

Then I wanted to drive past another house I had read about online. I didn't realize they had such a huge following as well. You had to park on one road and then one walk several blocks to their house. It was worth it (they have an amazing lights display electronically timed to music), but we should have brought a stroller for Rylee. Next time.

The whole lights experience was much more complicated and took a lot longer than expected. I had made the decision that we wait and eat dinner after (oops!). Everyone was a little cranky with me.

Take 2
I tried to redeem myself by suggesting a trip through Tradewinds on Monday night. Jon opted out, my Dad got sick and decided to skip it, so it was just the ladies (we took my Mom's new minivan - I have minivan envy! - never thought I'd be saying that). Rylee fell asleep in the car on the way there even though it was only 5:45. I had to shake her awake once we got to the park. She wasn't too happy at first, but she did enjoy the lights. We drove around a couple of other smaller neighborhoods, but Rylee was tired so we called it a night.

Take 3
Last night, we had planned to go to Maracas (my favorite Mexican restaurant) for dinner. We'd been talking about it for weeks. My Mom and Dad were really craving their melt in your mouth skirt steak. I even had a gift certificate (bonus!). An hour before we were to leave, I called them and it said their number was disconnected! Damn. I think they went out of business. We decided to go to Olive Garden instead. Again, not exactly the evening we had planned.

Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Chip get in today. We'll see if we have any better luck on our excursions with them. Oh well, a little holiday frustration is all part of the fun. :)

Random Rylee

I love the way Rylee talks. Her sweet voice, the funny way she mispronounces words, and the crazy things she comes up sometimes. Here are a few recent examples for your amusement.

Storytelling
Rylee always asks for one more book at "bednight" (bedtime). I came up with a compromise - we turn out the lights and I tell her a story instead. Now she says: "Mommy, tell me a story in your mouth."

Cautionary Tales
Of course Rylee's at that age where we're constantly telling her what to do. Concrete examples of why to or why not to do something are the most effective for her. For instance, talking about Santa and the whole naughty vs nice thing was one thing, but telling her that her friend got a call from Santa when he was naughty was much more effective. She asked to hear the story about the phone call over and over. And now she'll say: "I don't want to get a call from Santa." :)

So when she was playing around in the bathtub and I was trying to explain how dangerous that could be, I told her the story about our friend falling in the shower. Ok, so Erin didn't fall because she was jumping around (she was pregnant at the time) but sometimes you have to take some liberties with the story. She asked me to tell it to several times a day for a week at least. Finally I asked her to tell me the story instead. Here is her version:

"When Baby Mason was big and he was pregnant with Erin. They both took a shower together and they slipped. They had to go the hospital but they were both okay. And they lived happily ever after."

I think I like her version better than mine. :)

Nap Nazi
Rylee hates when you try to sleep when she's playing. Even if she doesn't want your interaction, she wants you to be a captive audience. If Jon falls asleep on the couch, she will pounce on him or go right up and yell something in his ear. She tries to be a little kinder with me. The other day she came over, gave me a shake and yelled "shine and bright" (rise and shine).

Last week, we were all over at my parent's house watching a movie. My mom went upstairs to nap instead. After a while Rylee decided she wanted to go upstairs and wake my Mom up. I tried to dissuade her, but she was determined. A minute later she trudged back down the stairs and gave me a look and said: "she wasn't very happy about it." :)

Ho Ho Ho!

I saw something special in Norah and Caleb's Santa picture the other day. No, it wasn't Santa... it was a rocking horse! Since I knew Rylee had absolutely no intention of sitting on Santa's lap (or making eye contact with him or managing anything above an incoherent whisper), I thought the rocking horse would be a good compromise.

We arrived at the mall (with Gaga and Papa in tow) shortly before it opened and were second in line to see the man in the red suit. As expected I was needed as a human Santa buffer, but then Rylee agreed to climb on the rocking horse and give the camera a smile.

So here we all are: Santa in his finery, me with my belly-bowl full of jelly and Rylee getting her sparkly Christmas shine on. :)

 

From there, we cruised up to Sugar Sand Park. Rylee rode the carousel, played in their Imaginarium for quite some time, and insisted on getting soaked in their splash pad area... even though it was overcast and somewhat chilly. Luckily I had planned ahead with towels and extra clothes as I know Rylee simply cannot resist the temptation of water.

Afterward Papa treated his girls to lunch at Olive Garden where Rylee devoured her "pascetti" and then promptly fell asleep in her car seat on the drive home. Sleeping in the car seat looks even more uncomfortable than sleeping on the airplane. Her head falls completely forward so her chin is resting on her chest. If I slept like that for an hour I would have a gawd awful neck cramp! (I've tried getting her to use those neck pillow things, but they are a no go.)

It was lots of ho...ho...holiday fun! :)

Sore Throat

So Rylee's fever wasn't a fluke. She ran a temp all day yesterday and by bedtime I could barely keep it under 102.5 even with alternating meds every three hours. Today we ran into the doctors office for a quick throat culture (Rylee's least favorite procedure), but it came back negative for strep. Whatever it is just needs to run its course.

Luckily, her fever was down today and almost gone by bedtime. I'm going to let her (and me) sleep through the night tonight. We're both looking forward to that. Rylee basically kicked me out of her room tonight after books she was so tired.

So back to kids and sore throats. When we took Rylee to the doctor when she was little they would always say, "kids this age don't get sore throats." I always thought this was weird, like how would they know. It's not like we can ask them. Well today, Dr. M said that the rule of thumb used to be that kids under age three didn't get throat infections. Now he's seen kids as young as three months with strep. Ah ha! Doctors don't always know everything.

South Florida Snow Storm

You never know what kind of weather you're going to get in South Florida. One minute it's cool and pleasant, then next it's raining, after that it's sweltering hot and then it snows! Ok so it might have been artificial snow, but it did snow on us tonight.

After a fun day riding the carousel and playing at the park, we all decided to take Rylee to the mall where it snows. It turns out snow is really foam (Jon and I were having Spring Break flashbacks), but Rylee and the other kids there loved it just the same.

 

It was most impressive when you looked up into the air (on the ground it was just a foamy puddle).

 

 

There was also an ice village that had an igloo room with some other kind of artificial snow. It wasn't wet or cold, but it was kind of sticky. Rylee enjoyed that snow even more. She could scoop it up and throw it in the air hence the intense dandruff look.

 

She also saw Santa, but refused to sit on his lap or take a picture with him. She mostly hid behind my back. She did manage to whisper what she wanted when he asked her: a wumby pillow. Whatever that is. I hope Santa knows. :)

Of course all this excitement meant that she got to bed about an hour and half later than normal. Worse than that, when I was getting her ready for bed I could tell that she was burning up. A quick forehead check confirmed a temp of 101.5. I don't know if she was just exhausted or coming down with something. Either way I feel like a pretty bad mommy!

Creepy Crawly

I hate spiders. I mean I really hate spiders. It borders on true arachnophobia. I hate them so much that I can't kill them. I don't want to get that close!

Once when I worked from home in Houston, I discovered a giant, hairy spider in my office. I shut the doors to the room, pushed towels under the door jam, and called in sick. Then I spent the better part of a day watching the area of carpet outside the door to make sure it didn't escape. Miraculously, Jon found and killed the spider when he got home (I demanded proof) otherwise I may have had to quit. :)

Another time here in our Florida house, a nasty spider was crawling along the tile floor in our hallway. I didn't want Rio to eat it so I trapped it under a large glass measuring cup. It was running around the edge looking for an escape route and I was worried about the seal of the cup to the tile so I lugged over one of Jon's full 5 gallon aquarium water buckets and set it on top. I set up a folding chair several feet away so I could keep watch until Jon came home. My trap held and Jon disposed of the menace.

I realize these are not normal or logical reactions, but phobias are not logical I guess.

So back to last Wednesday. My mom was babysitting Rylee. I came out of Target and hopped into the SUV to find a big disgusting brown spider right on the steering wheel! I practically jumped back out of the car. I kept my eye on it, called my Mom and tried to come up with some courage and plan of attack. And then it scurried underneath the steering wheel and disappeared. Now what? My Mom feared (probably rightly so) that I'd crash the car if the spider decided to come back out and visit me while I was driving so she and Rylee drove over and swapped vehicles with me. Then we all went back to my Mom's to wait for my Dad (and later Jon) to arrive. Jon drove the SUV home later that night and by sheer luck saw the spider run across the windshield right as he was getting Rylee out of the car seat. He was able to smoosh it and, of course, showed me the remains so I wouldn't think he was pulling a fast one. He didn't agree with my assessment of "big spider," but he agreed it was "mean looking." :)

I'm not sure what the point of this post is other than giving you all a quick view into my kryptonite or lunacy depending on how you want to look at it. :)

Holiday Fun

I've been too busy to blog lately because I've been having too much fun! My Dad arrived on Wednesday - yeah! We've been hanging out with my parents during the day and having dinner with them at night. It's been great. Last night Jon watched Rylee so my parents and I could sneak out to a movie ("New Year's Eve"). We even decided to hit Anthony's Pizza afterward. I owe Jon one!

My parents took today for themselves and then they are babysitting Rylee tonight so Jon and I can finish up our Christmas shopping and then meet our friends for a Christmas dinner. Grandparents are the best!

Except for my getting "attacked" by a rogue spider and my Mom witnessing a mugging while at the mall, it's been a blissful couple of days. More on those two stories later as I have to run for now...

Dentist, check

Rylee had her first dentist visit today! We must have had the first appointment of the day. We got in right away and were the only ones there.

She was excellent for her xrays and was excited for her cleaning... until they leaned the chair back. She didn't fuss, but I could tell she was nervous because she was shaking a bit. I ended up holding her hand through the cleaning.

She did really well with all the tools. They did a quick count of her teeth (all there) and then a fluoride treatment.

The dentist gave her the all clear (no cavities). She does have a little cross bite on one side so I'll guess we'll have to keep an eye on that as her adult teeth come in.

She got stickers, a balloon, a pink ring, and a pink toothbrush. She was pretty excited when she left.

There was another 3 year old boy waiting when we left. He asked Rylee if she was scared in the dentist. She said no and showed him all her loot!

All in all, I think it was a pretty successful first visit.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

There's Something About Rylee

I finally downloaded the Thanksgiving pics from my new camera. It seems like it's okay. I haven't figured out how to use it yet, but it's working as a point and shoot just fine. The best part was I found a couple of pics worth sharing.

Rylee had been playing outside with Jon and had gotten a little sweaty. She must have ran her hands through her hair. When she came inside she looked like this. Too funny!

 

A cute pic of the new babies in the group: Mason and Caleb.

 

Rylee trying out her big sister act on Mason.

 

Compliments

I've had some busy and fun days.

Thursday night I hosted my book club - always a delightful time (we mostly eat and gossip, talking about the book is way down on our list). Jon even took Rylee out for dinner at Rainforest Cafe and then hung out at my Mom's to keep Rylee out of our hair. Or maybe it was to escape the noise? He teased me about how many conversations were going on at once and how loud we were. Hey, I said we had fun!

Friday night we went out with part of the book club crew and a few other teachers to see "Breaking Dawn." Then we went to Bahama Breeze for dinner. Two Rylee-free nights in a row! It was practically like being on vacation.

I spent the weekend getting Christmas chores done: shopping, wrapping presents, shipping out of town gifts, and getting the Christmas cards ready to mail. Rylee helped out quite a bit and was content to entertain herself other times. She put her foot down when it came to watching the Vikings game today though. Maybe she knew they were going to lose again? She opted to watch "A Bug's Life" in the other room. We are so spoiled with how independent she is right now. It will be so weird to have a new baby in the house again. :)

Before I go, I have to tell this quick Rylee story from last week:

I was helping Rylee get dressed when she said: "You're a good mom."

Me: Really? Why am I a good mom?

Rylee: Because I love you.

Me: But what do I do that makes me a good mom?

Rylee: Making salads... and making beds.

Me: Is there anything else that I do special for you?

Rylee: Let's talk about this later.

That's what I get fishing for compliments: making salads and beds! :)

Boy or Girl Poll

"Are you having a boy or a girl?" If MBP2 cooperates we should know the answer to this question on Dec. 30th. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, we speculate.

I feel the same... it's a girl.

I'm carrying different... it's a boy.

The heartbeat is fast... it's a girl.

If you look at "the cousins" it's boy, girl, boy, girl so... we're due for a boy.

It goes on and on. I guess deep down I think it's a boy but there's that lingering doubt from our fortune cookie. The night after we found out, we celebrated our anniversary at PF Changs. And our fortune cookie read: "You are about to embark on a delightful journey." And when you flipped it over, the Chinese word on the back was "Girl."

I know you're thinking who puts any stock in fortune cookies? We do. Before we moved to Florida we received this fortune cookie message: "You are heading to the land of sunshine." So those wise cookies have been right before... hmmm... :)

Let's find out what you all think. I've added a poll to the blog (upper left hand side). You have up until the 30th (the ultrasound date) to place your vote. Thanks!