Countdown

I can't remember what my last post was about and I'm too lazy to check since I'm blogging from my phone. Yeah, it's one if those nights!

I'm trying to cram our last week in FL with fun things for Rylee & Jace, with a couple of doctor and dentist appts thrown in. Add to that the fact that Rylee is sick (cold) and seems to be getting her urine infection back (wtf?) and I'm trying to pack clothes for three seasons (for me and Rylee) and multiple growth sizes (for Jace) and bottles and cameras and nearly everything but the kitchen sink!

Argh! To top it all off, I forgot last night was the Academy Awards! Oh well, in a few days I'll be trapped on a airplane with my impossible to hold baby - so at least I've got that to look forward too!

Life has been a blur, but I do remember taking Rylee to ride the ponies this weekend. She rode Romeo (a new horse for her). I'm not sure who named him but they obviously had a sense of humor! He nipped at my thigh the entire time I was walking him and when I tried to stop him, he threw his back end around and whacked me in the butt!

Rylee thought he was spirited and fun - I'm sure it was a wild ride! I thought he was a pain in the ass and I had an actual pain in my ass when the ride was over.




We were the first people to ride him of the day and I noticed they put the muzzle thing on him after our ride.

Good times!


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Jace @ 9 1/2 Months

Jace had his checkup today (technically it's his 10 month check up) but they did it early since we will be leaving for MN in 9 days (but I digress).  Here are his stats...

Height: 29 inches (? percentile*)
Weight: 20 lbs 14 oz (52nd percentile)

*He measured 29 inches or more at his last visit so they had to re-measure to make sure he hadn't shrunk! In the process, I never got his percentile for height, but I know it dropped from 80th to high 60th range.

In more exciting news, over the last couple of weeks Jace officially moved from army crawling to traditional crawling. He's a little slower at the traditional crawl so (in theory) we have more time to grab him before he gets into things (doesn't always work in practice though!).

He dropped his two other top teeth (his left is currently down more than his right). I think the other bottom two are ready to start poking through as well - all the better to chew his food with. Right now, he's sampling anything we eat that he can handle texture-wise (fruits, pancakes, waffles, breads, crackers etc.) The other night had some roast, mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. He didn't much care for the mashed potatoes. What is it with both my children and mashed potatoes - they were like one of my favorite foods as a child?!

I'll leave you with two pics.  Rylee (and Jace) in her first-ever face paint.  I think the paint made her cheeks tight so she couldn't smile as this was the expression she wore pretty much the whole day afterward.  :)

As promised, Jace @ 9 1/2 Months...

 

Ren Fest

We took the kids to Ren Fest today.  It was prefect weather for it and everyone had a good time.  It was pirate weekend so Rylee wore her Izzy shirt (here she is at the helm of a pirate ship).

 

 

I remembered that Jace had a "Jake & the Neverland Pirates" shirt too so he even he got into the spirit!

 

 

Highlights:

Rylee got to meet the King & Queen and chat with them for a while.  They taught her some pirate phrases which she had to repeat.  Then she curtsied when she left.  So cute!

A fairy sprinkled her face and hair with pixie dust (much to Jon's dismay - he really hates glitter!).  She and Norah also bought little fairy dust necklaces.

She loved playing on the pirate ship (complete with dungeon prison, captain's wheel, slide exit).

She got to see a little bit of a magic show and some of the jousting.  Rylee loves anything to do with horses so that was a treat.  She picked the knight that ended up winning and when he was riding his horse back to the stables he waved and called her a princess.  Awww!

After the big parade, one of the walking jesters (that's what I'm calling him) walked with us and carried on a conversation with her about mermaids for a few minutes. 

She also had fun watching Jess throw knifes, Norah and Jess throw tomatoes, and Miller shoot a bow and arrow.

All in all, Rylee got the full Renaissance experience!  Jace enjoyed the people and costume watching.  :)

 

Here are a couple of cute kids pics:

Miller & Rylee

 

 

Norah, Rylee & Mason

The whole kid crew (minus Jace who was already strapped in his car seat):
Caleb, Norah, Rylee, Mason & Miller
 

 

We left when Jace was tired and we had spent every last one of our dollars (plus one of Ryan's).  :)

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!