Rainy Valentine's Day

Yesterday's photo session was such a success that I decided to try again today.   Rylee was decked out in her Valentine's best and wanted to show off her ponytail braid...

 

 

Jace was wearing an interesting combo of gym shorts and polo shirt (the only things red and remotely coordinated in his clean wardrobe).  Luckily he's cute enough to pull off even the stupidest things I dress him in.

 

 

Jace was giddy when he first received his Valentine's card (not so much so later when he discovered that he wasn't meant to eat it).

 

 

 

 

I made the kids pink heart-shaped pancakes for Valentine's breakfast.  The batter was pepto bismal pink!  They turned a little orange-y upon baking, but the edges and middle remained pinkish.  Rylee loved them! To make them more guy-like I only served Jace the scrap pieces.  :)

Jace kind of got the shaft as far as Valentine's goes.  Rylee got three little arts and crafts gifts which we worked on throughout the day, but I didn't have anything for Jace.  Sorry dude!  I'll make it up to you next year.  It doesn't look like he's holding any sibling grudge though.

 

 

 

Our big Valentine's outing was kind of a bust.  Jon and I took the kids to a carnival, but we got rained out after only an hour or so.  We never even got to eat any fair food (except the cotton candy Rylee begged for).  We ended up hitting Wendy's drivethru on the way home since we were too wet and cold to go in anywhere and eat.  It wasn't the best  - Jon's coke tasted like charge and the fries were mushy and cold.

 

At least Rylee had a blast while we were at the carnival.  They were running a Valentine's special that if one person paid for the ride, another could ride free.  Since we only had the one kid riding, I immediately looked for another family with one kid so we could buddy up.  We met the nicest family and hung out together the whole time we were there.  Their daughter was also named Riley, was born on Sept 2nd (Ry is Sept 6th), the Dad's name was John and they were from Minnesota!  I joked that if the Mom's name was Shannon then it was going to be too much.  It wasn't - her name was Amanda, but her sister's name is Shannon.  :)  The girls got along great and rode tons of rides and played some games during one of the drizzles.  We were sad to leave when the downpour came. 

Happy Valentine's Day

I should have taken more pictures of Jace when I had the chance.  Now that he's on the move, the last thing he wants to do is pose for a picture.  Nonetheless, I tried to capture some festive pics today. 

The background of blowup bed, chair and soon to be installed bigger car seat wouldn't have been my first choice, but tossing Jace onto the bed was the only way we could keep him even mildly interested.  He posed for as long as it took me to capture these next two shots and
then he was back to causing trouble.
 

 

 

One last Valentine's picture from Rylee (apparently she supports all the V Day haters out there...).
 

Enjoy your Valentine's Day!  :)

Trend?

Looks like I'm on a weekly blogging trend right now so you're in store for another recap...sorry!

Here is what's new with us:

Me:
 - got my new driver's license picture (after 12 years), needless to say I do not look as young as I did in my old one!

 - got pink eye (viral not bacterial, but still, ewww!), spent the rest of the week staying home and wearing my glasses

 - took Rylee bowling today and scored my first ever 200 game (215 actually - 4 strikes in a row, plus 2 more strikes and three spares), I also bowled a 175 and a 135 (but we don't have to mention that one, right? - it was my warm up game!)

Jace:
 - not much in the firsts department except that he's been trying different first foods (pancakes, waffles, apple, banana, ritz crackers etc)

 - he shovels most everything in (he prefers to feed himself) and, not surprisingly, makes a considerable mess (it's not unusual to find stray puffs stuck to his butt later in the day!)

 - he's definitely in explore mode these days, his favorite activity is crawling around and under things and criticizing my floor cleaning skills by picking up every minuscule piece of something he can find

Rylee:
 - I love the way she plays with Jace, she comes up with the most creative scenarios to include him in:
the other day he was her husband (a recurring role he plays otherwise he's usually a prince) and he was driving them to a picnic (she gave him his steering wheel toy to drive), but apparently he was a crazy driver so she was screeching and comically falling around which, of course, cracked him up (too cute!)

 - they also love playing in her kitchen and she doesn't even care when he chews her play food (I know - amazing!)

 - and although I don't understand the appeal, they love playing inside Jace's crib just rolling around together and being silly (I can get a lot done when they're in there!)

Weekly Recap

Another busy week has come and gone.  The kids were sick (Jace more so than Rylee) so we stayed in most of the week.  The kids had back to back doctor appts on Monday (Rylee - the allergist, Jace - the pediatrician for his cold).  Thanks goes to my Mom for watching the "other kid" for each appt.

Despite the runny noses and hacking coughs, we did manage to have some fun.  We snuck out to the park on Wednesday so Rylee could play with Norah and Caleb and Grandpa Chip came into town on Thursday (he's staying on the other coast for the month of February). 

There were some notable moments for Jace this week (I mean beyond the time he sneezed out double snot rockets five inches long):

 - we lowered his crib down now that he's a standing boy

 - he crawled up the stairs for the first time (don't worry Jon was right behind him the whole time)

 - he gave me a small "no-no" finger wave after I gave him one when he crawled to the stereo equipment - yeah, he's got spunk!

 - oh, and he took his first poop in the bathtub

All in all, it was a messy week!

First Boo Boo

Uncle Ryan stopped over last week and gave us some advice on the medicine front when he asked if we'd tried bribing Rylee with money.  Duh?!  Why didn't we think of that!  The routine still involves nose-plugging, chase liquids, and chocolate, plus it costs us $2 a day - but at least one person can handle it and it only takes about 20 seconds.

Unfortunately 20 seconds is all Jace needs to get into trouble these days which is why he's sporting his first shiner (a mini one at least).  He tried to stand up using Rylee's green chair and it tipped over on him. 

 

 

We usually keep the chair up on her table because Jace desperately wants to chew its antique lead-based paint, but I had forgot to put it back up.  Strike one for Mommy.  I was also the one on watch when it happened.  Strike two for Mommy.  When I picked him up, the top part of the chair was near his mouth so I thought that was the area of injury.  I didn't notice the black eye until I put him to bed about a half hour later.  Strike three for Mommy!  

Rylee vs Jace

Another busy week flew by here.  I'm getting set back up for subbing next Fall so I had three days worth of appointments for finger-printing, screening etc.  Luckily, my Mom is still in town to help with babysitting (thanks Mom!).

I've been meaning to post a picture of Rylee (when she was around Jace's age) to compare their resemblance. Here goes...

Rylee at 10 1/2 months...

 

 

Jace at 8 1/2 months...

So what do you think?  Maybe this view of Jace is better for comparing (don't mind Jon!)...

This isn't a great picture, but it does show Jace standing
(which is all he wants to do right now) and it's my whole crazy crew...

 

 

Doctor Days

We're all trying to get our doctor appts in before we leave for Minnesota in March, that meant we had a doctor appt every day last week - whew! 

Tues - Jace's checkup, plus Rylee had a recheck for her urine infection (turns out she still has it)
Wed - Rylee's allergist appointment
Thurs - I had a routine blood test (the kids came with as a sort of field trip for Rylee since...)
Fri - Rylee had to get her blood drawn for some allergy testing

Rylee was a trooper getting her blood drawn.  This is actually the third time she's had it done although she was pretty little the last two times so she doesn't really remember it.  She was a little scared when it actually came time for the needle and cried just a smidge... until the nurse actually stuck the needle in!  Then she smiled and apologized for acting silly since it didn't hurt.  :)

I only wish she could take her oral medication with such ease.  The first round of antibiotics weren't so bad.  I could mix it in with something and she would eat it.  This is double the amount and a different flavor so she's not having it - literally!  It takes both Jon and I to get it down her.  Let me paint the picture...

First, chase Rylee upstairs.
Then, break into her locked room with the little master key tool.
I sit and hold her legs and arms.
Jon sits and holds her head.
I manage to get a hand free to pry open her lips and shoot in the medicine.

You'd think it would be over about then, but no...

Rylee sits up and plugs her nose.
Then she drinks some 7 Up to add to the mix.
The she holds it all in her mouth until basically she can't breathe because she holding her nose plugged...
And then she swallows!
(And finally chases it with a piece of chocolate candy bar.)

And we have to do this twice a day for 7 more days.  Good times, good times!