Nursery in Progress

It's missing some of the finishing touches, but here is a first look at the nursery. It's a Route 66/Cars theme. I think it turned out pretty cute!

 

Jon painted the blue walls and the racing stripes over the weekend and my Mom made the curtains out of some cool, vintage-looking Route 66 fabric. She's also making a matching pillow for the rocking chair. We haven't hung it yet, but there will be a magnetic board with magnetic cars for playing under the window.

 

I still need to get a new changing pad cover and diaper changing organizer (I'm waiting for coupons before purchasing). I love this wall map decal I stumbled across at Kohl's. It happened to come with two word bubbles for the states of Minnesota and Florida. It felt like it was meant to be! (My 30 percent off coupon helped too.) We'll probably hang some of our license plates (from MN, TX & FL) on that wall too.

 

This area needs the most work. Above the crib, I have plans for a racing number (possibly the number of the date the baby is born) and the baby's name (still yet undetermined). I need to put the Cars crib sheets on and the dark brown bumper pads, but since Brendan naps in the crib every day I doubt I will do this for the time being. The cute Cars mobile will be coming down too. I just wanted it up for the picture! You can't see it, but my Mom made the crib skirt out of the Route 66 fabric and she's making a sleeve to cover the plastic part of the mobile too. (And yes, that is Rylee pretending to be a baby in the crib!)

 

This wall needs some things too. The closet doors need to come down and the curtain rod and dark brown curtains need to go up. I also plan to hang some license plates above the curtains. The wall hanging is a height chart. Right now it's hanging on a vacant nail, but it needs to be adjusted lower.

So that's pretty much what it will look like. A big thanks go out to Jon and my Mom for all their hard work. I love the nursery and I'm sure the new baby will too. :)

Smart Cookie

*I briefly posted this yesterday before I remembered that I hadn't written anything about our anniversary, so I pulled it and reposted for today. Sorry if you read it already.*

Rylee wanted to wear her "smart cookie" tee today. It seemed apropos with all the Girl Scout cookies for sale on our shopping excursions lately, plus it is one of my all time favorite shirts.

It made me remember the first time she wore it when she was about 1 1/2.

 

How much she has grown and matured since then!

 

The shirt is getting on the small size and will have to be retired soon. :(
If anyone ever sees them for sale at Old Navy again, let me know!

20th Anniversary!

Jon and I started dating (going out... going steady... I can't remember what we called it then) 20 years ago today. We had been flirting all Fall and hanging out regularly over holiday break.

That was the Christmas where I drove my snowmobile into a barbed wire fence and sliced open the under side of my chin. I was lucky it wasn't my neck and that I didn't decapitate myself! Jon must have felt sorry for me because he started driving his snowmobile over to see me almost every day (since neither of us had our driver's licences yet!).

We had our first official date on New Year's Eve. We watched a movie at his house. We were pretty much inseparable after that, but it wasn't until Jan 29th that Jon asked me to "go together." Jon thinks that's what we called it... I had to ask him. :)

Sorry, Jon, for any razzing you're going to take at work, but I thought 20 years was worth mentioning on the blog. Love you! :)

One Liner

So this quote from the little boy that I'm babysitting is a couple of weeks old, but it was too funny not to share.

It was after the first or second day when my Mom was still helping me. Brendan told his Mom: "Rylee's Mommy is very nice. Her other Mommy is very nice too." :)

Rylee Da Vinci

Rylee drew her first recognizable object today: a portrait...




... of me!

Although I'm very impressed with Rylee's talent, I'm a little concerned about my appearance. I knew that this pregnancy hadn't been kind to me, but I didn't realize it was this bad. :)

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Skate or Cry

It looks like we might need to invest in some protective skating gear for Rylee. Here she is practicing her skillz with Daddy at the skate park yesterday.








In addition to skating, Rylee also likes to invent new words in her spare time. Her latest is a new contraction: amen't - as in "I amen't!"

Apparently it was taking too long to say "I am not" (which seems to be her favorite response to any observation we make these days)!

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Baby Names?

I am making this plea on Facebook and Blogger in hopes of turning up some good baby name ideas. Jon and I basically have no names at this point. I have a few I like that Jon has objections with. As of right now, I don't think Jon has offered up anything other than fake names.

The other night he walked in and declared that our son's name was going to be: Dylan Michael. I'm not super fond of the name Dylan (all the Dylan's in my Kindergarten classes were little sh*ts - no offense to those of you with little boys named Dylan... I'm sure your kiddo won't pee on the windows or start fights on the first day of K), but considering we have N-O-T-H-I-N-G, I was willing to go with it. About two hours later I asked, "So what is Dylan Michael's nursery going to look like?" Jon eloquently replied, "Who the f*ck is Dylan?" He'd already forgotten the name. He was just messing with me when he offered it up!

The only other two suggestions we have are: Bobba Fett (from Rylee's cousins) and Optimus Prime (from Jess). Optimus seems to be winning favor since OPP are such rocking initials.

But in case those two suggestions don't make the final cut, we could really use some help. Any ideas for names that sound good with the name Michael (their family middle name)?

Jessie Girl

I bought Rylee "Jessie" pajamas and a doll for Christmas. Today, my Mom brought her the Woody and Bullseye doll. Now they're all snuggled up on the couch watching "Toy Story" (or 'Woody 1' as Rylee calls it.)




She's part of "Woody's Roundup" now! :)

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Wrestle Mania

Every night Jon and Rylee have a fight... a wrestling match in fact. Jon is teaching Rylee the finer moves from the good old pro wrestling circuit.

In tonight's main event, it's Jonny Fabulous vs Righteous Rylee!

Righteous Rylee comes out strong with a choke hold.

 

Then she uses the "you can't see me" sneak attack.

 

She really delivers a blow with her "flying nightmare!"

 

And to finish him off, a top rope jump to the chest. We have a new winner!

 

3 Day Weekend

I'm making the most of my 3 day weekend:

Tonight, I'm headed up to Mizner Park for some yummy Tex-Mex with my Girl Scout pals. Tomorrow, I'm off to Bonita Springs for the day with my Mom. We're meeting some friends over there for some shopping and fun. On Sunday, I'd like to do something special with Rylee. As good as she's been with the kids, she is missing her one on one time with Mommy.

The best part is I'll still have Monday for grocery shopping and chores. If only they could all be three day weekends!

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Don't you just love how I'm already excited for a three day weekend when I've only been back to work for two weeks!

I suppose a special thanks should go to Jon for being Mr. Mom Friday night and Saturday while I'm out galivanting with friends. I don't normally schedule two things back to back, but one has been in the works for a while and the other was last minute. What could I do?! :)

Sidewalk Sideshow

Week 2 with the kids has gone pretty well. My mom has dropped by to check in occasionally and watched the kids once while I was gone for an hour at a doctor's appointment, but other than that we've been managing on our own. I think I've got this three kids thing down. How I'm going to manage four kids is beyond my comprehension at this point. I'm trying not to think about it! :)

The only thing I miss is not being able to get out of the house. I wish there was a park or something to do within walking distance of our place. We try to get out for a walk every morning after breakfast. It's quite the spectacle. Rylee walks Rio, Brendan trails after them and I push Savannah in the stroller. When people drive by and see us (especially me with my pregnant belly), they have a look of sheer horror on their faces. One lady commented, "that looks like a nightmare."

We also try to get outside after the kids nap in the afternoon (if there's time before their Mom comes to pick them up). When it gets too hot for these brief outdoor reprieves I don't know what I'll do. Water toys perhaps?

New Blog Feature

I've been meaning to tell everyone that I added a new feature to the blog. It's a "follow by email" function. Instead of checking the blog for new posts, they would be automatically emailed to you.

I thought this would be handy for those readers that don't have a blog themselves. This way you don't have to waste time checking to see if I posted or not, you'll simply receive an email on the days that I do post.

If you're interested, there is a little box on the left hand side that says "follow by email." Type in your email address and submit. You'll have to enter a word verification. Then you'll receive an email from blogger with a link it. You have to click on the link just to verify the email address. After that, you're all set up.

So if you're interested, that feature is now available. :)

Screwed Up

The other night I asked Jon to make me an orange juice and 7Up. I took a big gulp when he brought it to me and thought, "man this tastes good... really good... like vodka good."

Yep, you guessed it. Jon had decided to make himself a screwdriver at the same time and mixed the glasses up.

I only downed one gulp so I'm guessing the baby will be unharmed. However, the ultrasound tech told me that the baby can taste everything I eat and drink so maybe he'll come out with a liking for vodka!

1 Week Down

Sorry for the blog break, but I returned to work this week so we were all adjusting to the new schedule. Plus it was my Dad's last few days so we tried to spend time with him in the evenings. We were sad to see him go back home. :(

As for work, I started providing day care for my friend's 2 kids: Brendan (2 1/2) and Savannah (turns 1 on Tuesday). So far it's been going well. The kids are really nice. Savannah is a challenge to put down for naps, but other than that she is a complete sweetie. "Brendat" (as Rylee calls him) and Rylee seem to like each other a lot. They only have one or two small issues a day, otherwise they play and giggle. They've already started to play house and pretend to be married - oh boy!

 

 

*The wedding dress was a Christmas present from Gaga. She made the veil and bouquet. So pretty!*

(Their Mom told me that Brendan tried to get her to go to work on Saturday just so he could see Rylee!)

A big shout out goes to my Mom who helped everyday last week. Hopefully we can phase her out this week or at least only use her part time so she can get some semblance of life back! She will be my back up when I get closer to delivery and of course will be helping daily after the new baby comes. She is the best!

The other big helper this week was Rylee. She is great at entertaining Savannah and letting Brendan play with all of her toys. She will be a big sister pro by the time our baby arrives.

Family

I never had the chance to post some of our family Christmas pics so before we get any farther into 2012... :)

 

 

 

Twists

Rylee likes to put an interesting spin on those traditional sayings we like to use.

Phrase: That's the spirit.

I was making a blanket fort for Rylee the other day and apparently was not doing a great job. She looked at me and groaned, "that's not the spirit."

Phrase: I can't believe it.

I don't remember what it was in reference to, but over the holidays Rylee was talking with Grandma Sandy and she exclaimed, "I can't wait to believe it!"

My silly girl makes me smile. :)