Mommy 201

A brief catch up

2011-10-10T20:29:00.000-04:00

I have been Busy with a capital B. The crazy thing about being a mom who works outside of the home is that my at-home work has remained the same, but my time to get things done has severely decreased. Therefore I am stressed and worn thin 24/7.
Not to mention the fact that my sweet baby who has been down to one feeding a night for months has suddenly decided that he needs to scream at the top of his lungs like he's in pain around 2 every night until I feed him.

But there are good things too.

The highlights of my day today was:
1. Watching Xander's personality emerging. Just this past weekend he has really started becoming a person instead of just a baby. He is becoming this goof-ball little kid who lives to make people laugh. He makes funny faces, funny noises, bounces everywhere, and absolutely loves to jump. He's also a huge flirt. As soon as he spots a cute girl he gets this silly grin on his face, and stares at her until she looks at him and smiles. He was ridiculous flirting with every girl on the train to Philly this weekend.

2. Ryleigh praying: "Dear Jesus, I vank (thank) you for we got to go outside today and play with the beautiful weather". It took a lot of self control not to laugh while she was praying.

Giggles by Ryleigh

2011-08-28T21:21:00.000-04:00

Today since church was canceled we spent the whole morning at home getting a bunch of stuff done. It was mostly small stuff that we kept meaning to do, but never actually getting around to it.
Ryleigh loved getting to "help" daddy do everything. She definitely enjoys helping him use all his tools.

At one point Ryan said he needed a washer, like those small metal things you put on screws. Ryleigh ran into the bathroom, then comes back with her hands kinda wet and said, "Here's a washer daddy". She washed her hands then gave them to him thinking that is what a washer was. Haha. She's so cute sometimes

Major Life Change

2011-08-22T22:20:00.000-04:00

I am about to begin a major life change. The end of my "career" as a stay at home mom. It's been a great 2 1/2 years! I'm so sad to see it end, but at the same time, excited about a new chapter in my life.

I recently accepted a position as a preschool teacher. The job is part time, at a Christian preschool, and I get to bring my kids with me. And best of all, I will be the infant room teacher, so I get to be in the same room as Xander. How awesome is that? I get to work, but still be with my baby all day. And it's pretty much my dream job. I get paid to take care of babies all day <3

I left it all in God's hands and figured if He wanted me to go back to work then he would open the doors for it to happen. And I decided that when the perfect job lands right in your lap it would be stupid to turn it down. Right?

Yes I am sad that I won't have the freedom to do what I want each day as a stay at home mom. But I definitely know that a more structured environment would really benefit Ryleigh. And I also know I am really looking forward to being "me" again.
As much as I've loved being a SAHM I've struggled to keep my identity. I've missed having a roll outside of the home. I'm looking forward to having co-workers to build relationships with, and interacting with new people other than my usual fellow SAHMs crowd. I'm looking forward to branching out a little more into the world.

Plus I'm super excited about the money. I'm not going to lie. Ryan does a great job of providing for us. He makes more than enough to pay our bills, keep a roof over our heads, and food on our table. So my paycheck will just be "fun money". We can plan a trip to Tennessee to visit my sister. We can finally go shopping for new furniture and stuff for the house. We can go out to eat more often. We'll actually have "extra" money, something we haven't had since we've been married.

So even though I will be an emotional wreck for the next few weeks there will be some excitement behind my tears as I adjust to this new chapter in my life....

Do Everything

2011-07-14T22:09:00.000-04:00

I heard this song on the radio, and I can definitely relate to the first verse, so I decided to share:
Steven Curtis Chapman- Do Everything

You’re picking up toys on the living room floor
for the 15th time today
Matching up socks and sweeping up lost
Cheerios that got away
You put a baby on your hip and color on your lips
and head out the door
And while I may not know you I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes does it matter at all
We’ll let me remind you it all matters just as long as you

Do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you to do
Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every little thing you do

Potty Training!

2011-07-08T14:36:00.000-04:00

Seriously, how are you supposed to potty train a kid when it's something you've never trained anyone to do before, and you yourself learned like 27 years ago?!

I know everyone has hints, and suggestions, but since no 2 kids are alike none of the hints and suggestions are always going to work.

Ryleigh no longer likes having a wet diaper, and will take hers off if it is wet. But she does not want big girl underwear on. She has no problems peeing or pooping in the potty when we stick her on it, but she won't tell us she needs to go until after the fact. No amount of M&M's or stickers have seemed to help.

I'm pretty sure my kid will still be in diapers at her high school graduation. (Okay, not really. I just like to exaggerate :-)

See-saw Xander

2011-06-30T13:31:00.000-04:00

This morning I had both of the kids laying down doing diaper changes and changing their clothes. Ryleigh said she wanted to do "see-saw Xander". Since I had no idea what she was talking about I stupidly asked, "What is see-saw Xander?". Next thing I know she's laying across him, rocking back and forth using him as the fulcrum of the see-saw! Ahh! Where does she come up with this stuff?

At lunch yesterday she wrote, "The strawberry song". Here are the lyrics:

Oh strawberries don't cry
We will take you home when the sun comes up!

I seriously need to keep a journal of all the crazy/silly things this kid does!

If the music's too loud...

2011-06-28T21:51:00.000-04:00

... then you're too old.
Or so the saying goes.
Apparently, two days shy of my 29th birthday I am officially "too old".

Someone in the house across the street from us has been playing drums since 12:30 this morning. His windows are open, to fully expose the entire neighborhood to his noise. He started right before my kid's naptime and didn't finish until after their bedtime. At one point he had a bass join him.
This is the first time since we moved that this has happened. It better not continue.

But I am feeling "old" for letting it annoy me. There once was a time not very long ago that I would have been with that drummer. I'd be in the room enjoying the music, and singing along. Ibed was an unofficial roadie with a band that played louder music than that. Plus, I married a drummer, and one of the things that first attracted me to him was the fact that he's a drummer.

Fast forward to today where one of the biggest things in my life is getting my kids to bed at appropriate times, and I get angry with anyone and anything that stands in the way of that.

Seriously though, I like my peace and quiet. If I was allowed I would totally move to an over 55 community. It would be wonderful! The loudest sound I'd have to deal with is all the old people shouting at each other cause they're hard of hearing.

The beginning

2011-06-21T22:11:00.000-04:00

We started to paint today! Yay!

Out with the peach and in with the brown!

Sweet and Serious

2011-06-16T21:22:00.000-04:00

My little 3 month old is showing his personality more and more every day. So far he is a pretty serious little guy. He usually looks like he's deep in thought. But when he smiles it lights us his whole face and you can't help but smile back :-) He's charming in a way that forces you to just keep looking at him and never look away because you just don't want to miss a precious second.
I love him so much and I am absolutely loving having a boy!

Overwhelmed!

2011-06-14T21:34:00.000-04:00

Right now I am feeling very overwhelmed.

The unpacking is almost done. We just have the office left to unpack, and then just some organization of things we're keeping, but need to be stored in an orderly fashion so we can find them when we need them.
Once the unpacking is done we can start decorating, but here's the problem... I don't want to hang stuff on the walls until I paint. I can't paint until I can afford to buy some paint. I can't afford paint until we get our security deposit back from our apartment in the end of July/beginning of August :-( I do not want to wait that long to start making my house look beautiful!

I know I shouldn't expect it took look instantly beautiful, and that it will take time, but I'm anxious to at least start the beautification process!

The outside is coming along. We still have a lot of bushes to pull up. I need to continue edging the walkways and clearing out all the weeds and overgrown stuff in the flower beds. We also need a lawn mower, but thankfully we were able to borrow our neighbors yesterday.

Then there's all the furniture we need. We mostly just need furniture for the front porch, like rocking chairs or something. And we need patio furniture and a grill.

I know everyone wants pictures, but I dont want to put up pics of the interior without it being all nice and painted because seriously right now our entire house is painted beige/peachy and it's very dull.

With that all being said..... my birthday is coming up, if anyone wants to buy me a present Home Depot/Lowe's gift cards would totally be welcomed :-) :-)

Moving: Day 1

2011-05-31T21:55:00.000-04:00

We finally closed on the house today! Yay!
We know that this house was totally provided by God because everything has just fallen into place. We found out today that the seller also replaced all the screens in all 22 windows, and replaced a whole bunch of the sidewalk outside of our yard! Then when we got to settlement we found out our final closing costs were a lot cheaper than originally quoted! Praise God!

After settlement we started moving boxes. Let me just say that kids do not function well in crazy heat, in an empty house where there's no where to really sit down, and nothing to do! Xander absolutely hates being hot! And Ryleigh just likes to get into every single thing she's not supposed to be touching! Thank God Granny was available to assist.

Tomorrow we're hopefully going to bring the remainder of a huge box mountain. On Thursday the hardwood floors are getting installed, and then we will hopefully be ready to move all the big things in.

I completely forgot to take pics, so this is a boring blog. But hopefully I'll remember tomorrow!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow

2011-05-30T22:02:00.000-04:00

Yes, tomorrow is the day we finally settle on our house. Seriously we found this house before Xander was even born and now he's 12 weeks old! I have been waiting forever!

Today we had the final walk through to check repairs done to the house. It was all boring stuff like the dryer needed a new vent, and there was old wiring in the attic that needed to be replaced. Altogether the repairs were about 6,000$, so we were happy the seller agreed to do it. Well, imagine our surprise when we found out they went above and beyond what we asked!

The whole front porch needed to be sanded and repainted. When we walked up to the house we realized the whole thing had been redone! Then Ryan said they also fixed a soffet (whatever the heck that is) on the roof, and they nailed a couple of boards on the porch down. They also chopped down a couple of dead trees in the yard, and mowed the lawn recently.

I find it so unbelievable that they went beyond what we asked. Even though it was small stuff, and mostly cosmetic it was such a nice surprise. The porch alone was something I was dreading doing, and now I don't have to worry about it! Yay!

So now, after signing a million papers tomorrow I can start getting busy with everything. Time to go curtain shopping, paint shopping, furniture shopping, and make 500 trips between our apartment and the house!

I need patience and wisdom, and more time would be nice

2011-05-11T13:10:00.000-04:00

I officially have an embarrassingly disobedient child. Like, the kind that you see in public, and you think to yourself, "That mom must not discipline her child". But I do discipline! All day long. Time outs, spankings, positive reinforcement, you name it, I've tried it. Nothing seems to affect my very headstrong, independent daughter.
I've decided it would be much easier if I just didn't leave the house. She always manages to reach the height of disobedience whenever I am feeding Xander. So if we're in a public place and she starts acting up, running away or getting into trouble there's nothing I can do about it.
I am so over the terrible twos!

And as far as time goes, I need more of it. Yesterday I got so busy I completely forgot about the fact that I was supposed to log in some hours for work! And trying to get my Bible study homework done, or time on my hobby, or even just time to breathe is impossible.

Thankfully I have a God who can help me learn patience and who can give me wisdom even when my mind is completely blank and frazzled by my kids!

Cuddle time

2011-05-09T14:57:00.000-04:00

They love each other! And it makes me so happy!

Xander pretty much always looks worried.... I think he gets it from me

Friday's thoughts

2011-05-06T21:07:00.000-04:00

So despite the fact that we already have a house I still get email updates from realtor websites. They send me the houses that match the criteria we were looking for. I suppose I could cancel these emails, but I don't because I like the reassurance. Again and again I see that we made the right decision about which house to buy, because none of the houses on the market are priced as right, or has a better location, or better property taxes.
I was so scared that we would commit ourselves to one house and then be disappointed when something better went up for sale, and I am relieved that it hasn't happened!

Along with the new baby, and the new house I have finally begun to pursue a new hobby I've been interested in for a while. I've been dying to start this hobby for over a year, but kept putting it off. I'm not going to tell anyone what it is yet, in case I suck at it, but I'm hoping it's something I'll enjoy as much as I think I will :-)

One last thought. The kids had doctors appointment today. Ryleigh is still steadily gaining weight. Woohoo! And Xander is perfectly healthy. The funny thing is, he's just shy of 12 lbs at 2 months and Ryleigh wasn't 12 lbs until almost her 1 year birthday. But it's okay because I love my petite little peanut and she's beautiful and perfect in every way (except for behavior wise)

Cuddle Bug

2011-04-27T21:33:00.000-04:00

My daughter is weird.

Every time she goes to sleep she takes an inventory of the things she likes to sleep with. It takes a while, and here's why:

She needs her regular pillow, pillow pet, a stuffed Tigger, Pooh, frog, dog, Olivia, 2 Taggies blankets, a yellow receiving blanket, a dish towel, and 2 cloth napkins.

And that's not even the weird part. Sometimes I find spoons in her bed. And then the other day I got her a play bake set complete with metal cake pans and metal cookie cutters, and rolling pin. She keeps asking me if she can sleep with them too! Seriously, a rolling pin... who would want to sleep with a rolling pin?

So long, and farewell

2011-04-22T18:54:00.000-04:00

Tonight makes the end of an era.
7 years ago I started working for the Sylvan Learning Center in Virginia. I started just as a sort of assistant, who assisted the teachers while they tutored the students. It was a good job for someone in college getting a degree in education. Eventually, over the next 2 years I acquired other roles, and finally moved up to being a teacher after I graduated.

Then came my decision to move to NJ. I decided the easiest way to gain employment was simply to transfer to another center. So I started working at the center in Philadelphia. I worked at a teacher/program manager/trainer/assessment test administrator/secretary/and just about every other role within the center. Sadly the pay just wasn't cutting it, and the commute was a killer, so I quit to become a preschool teacher.

But then I decided to try my hand at tutoring online with the Sylvan Online program. I worked as an online tutor for over 3 years. I stayed with the company as they worked through all the kinks, changed their name to Educate Online, and worked to get contracts with various large cities in the country. I enjoyed my job and stuck with it through 2 maternity leaves, and 2 summers of no hours and no pay whatsoever because summers are the slow season.

But now it is time to end my job as a tutor. I need to focus on being a mom and a wife more. I'm sad to be leaving, but so glad that God has provided us with enough so that I don't have to work anymore. And I'm so glad that I have a husband who would rather have his kids be raised by their mom, instead of earning a little extra spending money.

So, so long tutoring, it's been nice knowing you

I just un-quit

2011-04-18T13:37:00.000-04:00

So I quit my teaching position, which I am thrilled about. But, I still have my second 5-hour a week job that I wanted to try and keep because now that I'm not teaching it will be a whole lot easier to squeeze 5 hours into my week. Plus, the job project ends in June, so it's only temporary anyway. Well, after much debating by the higher ups in the company they have decided to allow me to keep that second position.
So for now my resignation is put on hold. So I am still technically employed, but this job is one that I can do whenever I have free time in the evenings, so there's a lot less pressure. The pay is still ridiculously little, but as we're preparing to buy a house every little bit helps!

Busy, busy bee

2011-04-14T20:00:00.000-04:00

I don't have time for blogging lately cause I'm so busy.
If I'm not changing diapers or feeding Ryleigh or Xander then I'm planning stuff for my sister's shower, or planning stuff for our house.
I'm mostly excited about the house stuff. After several trips to Lowe's and Home Depot we think we have nailed down the paint colors we want for each room, and the flooring we hope to put in on the main floor. I've also chosen some wall stickers I would like for some of the rooms because I figure they will be easier to stick on than trying to securely hang things on the plaster walls. (Ryan does not like wall stickers, so I kinda have to push him on it)

The only room I'm stumped on is ours. I would love to actually make it look romantic, unlike the bedroom/office/drum studio we have now. It's a very bright room since it's on the 3rd floor and has lots of windows. Ryan wants to do dark red, I'd rather keep the room a little more bright and airy. I can't think of a good solution.

My other problem is Ry's room. We chose a nice light purple color for her walls, and I know how I want it to look... but I want it to look like a Pottery Barn catalog.... but at a Walmart price, and I'm just not finding anything I like within my price range.

But despite my difficulties I am so excited about moving!!

Dreaming ^

Rainforest Cafe

2011-04-11T19:54:00.000-04:00

Today we decided to take Ryleigh to the Rainforest Cafe. Ryan and I had never been there either, and I had a coupon, so we figured why not go spend the morning in A.C.
Of course Ryleigh loved it. I was afraid she might be scared by the animals, but after we explained that they were just big toys that moved she seemed okay with them.
So, here is our day in pictures.

Most kids would be scared by giant animatronic (sp?) elephants... not Ryleigh. She just wanted to pet them

Xander was not all that impressed... maybe the waterfall lulled him to sleep

Here's the love of my life who ordered us a giant volcano full of ice cream, chocolate, and caramel! This came after the delicious mushroom stuffed ravioli in a creamy lobster sauce that I had for lunch. We absolutely had to walk the boardwalk to burn off the thousands of calories we consumed!

I hate making decisions!

2011-04-08T21:18:00.000-04:00

Today was technically supposed to be my first day back to work from maternity leave. But, since the boss of my second position doesn't actually know when I'm supposed to return I decided to postpone it till tomorrow. Mostly because Ryan didn't even make it home till 7.

However, I'm thinking of quitting my job. I was planning on working until the summer, when my hours pretty much disappear anyway. But, now with Ryan on a new route at work he gets home later, and will not always be home in time for me to work. It was super stressful when I used to have to juggle one kid while trying to work when he wasn't home..... it would definitely be impossible with 2 kids, one of them being an infant.

Plus, Xander won't take a bottle, so on nights when I have to work for 3 hours he wouldn't eat. It's not that he refuses bottles. He tries to drink them, but ends up having swallowing issues and just spits everything up. And I don't want to push a bottle if I don't have to.

Plus, the pay is so not worth the stress.

However, I am so nervous about actually quitting my job. It will allow me to finally be a strictly stay at home mom like I've always wanted. But I am stressed that it will depress me. I don't actually want to work at all. I've never wanted a career. But, having a college degree makes me feel important, and smart, and accomplished. What if I give that all up and no longer feel good about myself?

I just pray that I can find a sense of accomplishment in being a mother. And hopefully the work we'll be putting into the house will occupy my time so I don't go insane with boredom!

One Fish, Two Fish

2011-04-08T21:03:00.000-04:00

Ryleigh loves the book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. We end up quoting parts of it through out the day... actually, we quote a lot of books because we both love reading.

One page in One Fish says:
I do not like this one so well
All he does is yell, yell, yell
I will not have this one about
When he comes in I put him out

Well today after a very stressful day I ended up yelling at Ryleigh for spitting food out of her mouth. I realized I shouldn't have yelled, so I apologized for it. She looked at me and said, "put mommy out".

A perfect Monday

2011-04-05T13:31:00.000-04:00

Here's a pic of Ryleigh riding a pony at the zoo. She absolutely loves riding! I think this was her 5th pony ride, which is a lot considering she's only 2, but I just love seeing the look on her face, so I keep treating her to more rides!

Yesterday was so wonderful. After 3 weeks of Ryan only being off on Sunday he finally got a 2 day weekend! I have been going insane dealing with 2 kids all the time, and not getting a break, so it was extra nice having him here.
We spent the day at the zoo and had a very nice time together as a family. It was our first fun outing as a family of four. Of course Xander slept through the whole thing, but that kind of made it easier.

After the zoo we had more paperwork to sign for the house (does it ever end?), and we went grocery shopping. Those were not so fun, but it was a relief to get that paperwork signed because it puts us one step closer to actually owning our house!

I just love having my husband home, and spending some good quality time with him yesterday made me appreciate and love him even more!

It's me again

2011-03-28T22:09:00.000-04:00

So I totally haven't had time to update my blog. Probably because if I sit at the computer I usually have 1 kid on my lap, and one kid trying to climb on me, and that makes it difficult to type!

I've been busy-ish with trying to get back into the swing of things. I cooked my first dinner as a mom of 2 today. I think that was the only thing I hadn't tackled yet since Xander was born. So I guess that means I'm back to normal.... but let's see how it goes when I return to work :-(

Other than kid stuff I've been busy fantasizing about all the things I want to do to our house, and all the things I want to buy, and what paint colors I should choose. It's going to be a slow, very long process of getting the house the way I want it to be. But, if we can just get new floors in the downstairs before we move in I will be happy :-)

And I think my baby boy gets more and more handsome every day... unfortunately I never have my camera close by when I need it, so we have a serious lack of pics going on!

One week in

2011-03-12T09:29:00.000-05:00

Xander was officially a week old last night at 9:54pm. I have to say, this week has been a lot easier than I had been expecting. Yes, there was a lot of pain, a lot of tears and emotions, and a lot of frustration, but not as bad as I thought.

Thank God for my mom! She has been so great about jumping in and helping out with Ryleigh, cooking meals, cleaning up, and driving me to the places I need to go. She has made this week so much easier. I'm so nervous about when she leaves on Monday!!

Ryan has been wonderful too. It's nice that he's more confident with taking care of a baby this time around. He had no qualms about changing diapers, getting Xander dressed, or whatever else needs to be done.

And thankfully Xander has been good. Aside from one sleepless night he has been doing really well. He wakes up to eat about 2 times in the night, and then usually goes back to sleep. I can honestly say that I do not feel sleep deprived! I can't believe it. I expected to be a walking zombie for a few weeks.

Starting tomorrow people from church will start bringing us some meals, and I am so thankful for that! It will be so nice not to have to worry about dinner next week as I adjust to life with two kids, and without my mom here to help!

In other news, this week we finally signed the contract on our house and signed some loan papers for our mortgage. Next step, inspection on Monday!

Xander's story

2011-03-08T09:16:00.000-05:00

Ryleigh and Alexander were both born in the same hospital room. And that is where the similarities of their births end. The second time around was completely different. And since people like to know these things I will share the story of Xander's birth.

I woke up Friday morning feeling like it would be THE DAY. I had contractions off and on, but nothing else except my gut feeling. I called Ryan around 8am to put him on standby so he could be prepared to rush home from work if need be.
I ran a bunch of errands that morning, and then had a doctor's appointment that afternoon. My doctor looked at me and said, "I'm guessing you have this baby tonight"... and then she sent me home. After my 20 minute drive home the contractions started in earnest. I started making the phone calls to Ryan, my mom, and his mom. After about an hour of making calls, and finally getting ahold of his mom to come take me to the hospital I finally arrived. Ryan got dropped off at the hospital and I met him there soon after.

We checked in around 4:30, talked with the doctor, and ordered my epidural. What a horrible experience that was! I was so looking forward to the sweet relief of the epidural. But it didn't work completely. My left leg went numb, and that was about it. No relief on my entire right side, and no relief in any of the important places! I spent 2 hours in excruciating pain (as is just so happened to coincide with the transition phase between 7-10cm). The anesthesiologist couldn't figure out what went wrong. He spent his time jiggling things around and having me lay on my right side to try and get the numbness to go that way. Finally he decided to re-do the epidural. Thank God the second time around it worked fine.

After that came blissful numbness, and then it was time to push. 20 minutes later my little boy was born! All in all my labor lasted about 7 and a half hours. I'd say that was nicer than the 12 I had with Ryleigh, but it wasn't. I'd rather have 12 hours of numb labor, than 7 and a half hours of labor with no epidural!

The sad part was my mom didn't make it on time for the birth. She showed up about 20 minutes too late :-( But at least Ryan made it, my biggest fear was that he wouldn't make it from work on time.

Thankfully the physical recovery with this second baby is soooo much easier than it was with Ryleigh. I'm nearly pain free 4 days later. With Ryleigh it lasted weeks.And it's crazy cause Xander was 2 lbs bigger than she was!

The adjustment to having 2 kids has been a challenge, but thank God my mom has been here to help out. Next week, when she goes home will be the real challenge!

Please don't throw these out

2011-03-03T09:47:00.000-05:00

With our impending move I spend much of my time thinking about all the things we'll be doing to our house, and all the extra space we'll have. I'm excited about the space, and yet a little intimidated because I'm realizing there's so much stuff we'll "need" to fill it. A couple of people have already asked me about various items they have, that we may want. So I figured I'll come up with a list. If anyone has any of these items we would so appreciate them!!

1. Beds. Ryleigh is in need of a big girl bed since Xander will be claiming the crib/toddler bed once we move. We also would like a bed for a guest room. Twins are fine, fulls could work too... anything bigger and we probably won't get it up our spirally staircase, although Ryan could always try :-)
2. Dressers. Xander needs one since plastic drawers from Walmart don't hold up for very long. Plus a dresser for our guestroom would be an added bonus.
3. A couch. We would love to have a couch for the kids playroom
4. A small tv, again, for the playroom
5. Any yard equipment. We don't even own a rake, so anything, big or little would be appreciated.
6. Patio furniture.

That's all I can think of right now. But if anyone is going to throw anything away that we might possibly need or want we would totally appreciate it!! Just keep in mind that we're not moving till June 1st, so we would not be able to actually accept any items until then.

Our future home

2011-02-28T17:20:00.000-05:00

Today we found out the offer we put on the house we wanted was approved! So, we have taken the first step towards home ownership.
Very exciting, and very very scary!
Now we have to worry about inspection, and closing costs. Ahh! Our closing date will be set for May 31st. Which will give us 2 months to move, which is kind of good because the house does need to painted. The entire interior is painted an ugly peachy pink kind of color. Gag!
The first floor needs new flooring, unless we want to stick with the pre-stained carpeting. Unfortunately that task will probably have to wait until we get our security deposit money back from our apartment, so like, 3 months after we move in :-( But thankfully the 2nd and 3rd floor have new carpeting, so we won't have to worry about that.
The neighborhood seems really nice. We met our next door neighbor already and apparently it's the type of neighborhood that people spend their whole lives in. Case in point, our neighbor grew up in his house, bought it from his parents, and is still living there today. It seems like a good location to raise kids.
It's a twin Victorian style and I am in love with the big, bright windows :-) Even the finished attic is so bright and cheery.
So I'm scared to death about making such a big life-step but also excited about finally owning a home and having plenty of space to raise my kids

They melt in your mouth, not in your hand

2011-02-26T10:19:00.000-05:00

Here is proof that M&Ms are liars!

I'm hoping blue M&M dye comes out of shirts!

It's almost over!

2011-02-25T20:14:00.000-05:00

Actually a lot of things are almost over.

1. My pregnancy... only 2-ish weeks left! Woohoo!
2. Salao. This season has been killing me! Since I have a lot of work hours on the weekends, and Ryan isn't here because of Salao I've been playing the mommy and employee role at the same time, and it's really really wearing me thin
3. The search for a house. Yesterday I saw a house that seems like a good fit for us. Can anyone say 5 bedrooms? Yeah, it would be wonderful because we'd have plenty of space for an office/guest room, and playroom. Plus a fully fenced in yard, and it's centrally located to everything. Not to mention it has a wrap around porch, and a deck. Unfortunately Ryan has not seen it yet, so we can't put in an offer. But, he'll be going to see it on Sunday and we'll take it from there :-)

Ugh, so gross

2011-02-22T18:16:00.000-05:00

Ryleigh woke up with a runny nose this morning. So all day long I've been chasing her around with a box of tissues. Like any 2 year old she's not too fond of getting her nose wiped. At one point I told her she needed it wiped again, and she ran away into my bedroom.
When she came out of the bedroom I looked and noticed her nose was clean.
So I asked her if she had wiped her nose.
R:"Yes"
M: "Did you find a tissue in my room".
R: "No"
M: "So what did you wipe your nose on?"
R: "The bed"
M: "You wiped your nose on my bed? Can you show me where?"

At which point she led me back into my room and pointed to the snot on my sheets. Lovely.
The joys of having kids.

And tonight I realized I hadn't packed anything in my hospital bag for Xander. So I packed him some clothes, binkies, and then I packed a burp cloth, and all the memories of baby spit-up came rushing back.
Can't wait! Haha

Conversations with Ryleigh

2011-02-21T18:15:00.000-05:00

Today Ryleigh and I had the following conversation:

R: Is that a tree?
M: No, it's a bush. A bush is like a little tree.
R: Apples grow on it?
M: No, apples don't grow on bushes, but blueberries do.
R: Does Santa live in a bush?
M: ??? Um, no Santa does not live in a bush
R: Santa lives in his house.
M. Right, Ryleigh, Santa lives in his house, not in a bush.

So random. I love this kid, but sometimes I just don't know where she comes up with this stuff

19 days

2011-02-20T23:20:00.000-05:00

The countdown is officially in the teens. woohoo!

A couple people at church told me it looks like the baby dropped a little... I'm still getting kicked in the ribs like crazy, so I don't tend to agree, but hopefully they're right!

Ryan has decided that I will go into labor on Saturday. We're going to a friend's house for dinner, and it happens to be the same friends whose house we went to the night I went into labor with Ryleigh :-) It was a fun night, and I remember sitting on their couch feeling the first twinges of labor back pain, and by time we got home that night I pretty much knew Ryleigh would be born the next day. So, here's hoping!

And we finally got a double stroller- the one big thing we needed for the baby. 25$ off Craigslist! yay! As soon as we got it Ryleigh said, "That's Ryleigh, and Xander's stroller". I had explain to her that I was looking for a stroller for them to both ride in the other day, but I am still pretty amazed at how well she grasped it.

We also moved the pack & play from the car, where we've been keeping it for months, to inside the house. The only other step we need to take to prepare for the baby is to install his car seat into my car.

And I might go buy blue bath towels. I realized all our baby bath towels are pink. Call me weird, but I just don't want to wrap my son up in pink bath towels.

That is all for now :-)

You win some, you lose some

2011-02-18T22:54:00.000-05:00

Recap of my week: very busy!

On Tuesday I had my doctor's appointment where they said Xander's heartrate dipped low for a couple seconds. As a result, while trying to juggle Ryleigh in the doctor's office they said I needed to take a non-stress test that takes about 20-25 minutes. Thank God my wonderful husband walked in right before the test began and was able to take the little peanut off my hands.

My doctor also ordered an ultrasound, which thank God again, my mother in law was able to watch Ryleigh so I could go to my appointment alone. Everything checked out fine.

Today I had to go back to my doctor for another non-stress test as a precaution. Unfortunately no one was here to watch Ryleigh. Midway through an episode of Dora on my iPod she decided she didn't want to stay occupied. Instead she decided to reach her feet out of her stroller, and scoot herself all around the exam room! I was strapped up to a machine and could not stop her. Absolutely awful and very very stressful. But, thank God that test came out normal as well.

Unfortunately, because of that one time when Xander's heart rate went low I now have to do the non-stress test at every appointment from here on out. Which means, extra long appointments with a little girl who does not enjoy sitting in her stroller the whole time. What fun that's going to be!

While all this was going on we also made a decision to put an offer on the house we've been looking at. We made a firm offer at $10,000 less than the asking price, and we were denied. Kinda bummed, but we still have plenty of time for the house hunt. However, right now the majority of houses up for sale are short sales. I really, really don't want to do a short sale because I am not a patient person who can wait around for months to hear what the banks say.... but in this economy, short sales are abundant, and ready to move-in houses are not :-(

Oh good. More stress.

2011-02-15T18:27:00.001-05:00

Today I went to yet another doctor's appointment. (Going once a week is just so much fun).
While we were there the doctor noticed Xander's heartrate went low. It came back up and leveled out, but that was a cause for concern. So, the doctor asked me to stay for a non-stress test. It's just a test where they monitor the baby's heartbeat for about 20 minutes. Thank God Ryan had already planned on picking Ryleigh up during my appointment, because she was misbehaving and acting horrible during the appointment, I would hate to think of what she would have done with another 20 minutes!
So I did the non-stress test and again Xander's heartbeat went low for a couple seconds and then went back up again.
My doctor said there's usually 2 reasons for that to happen. 1) it could just be that he's in a position where he's squishing the cord, but then once he moves it's okay. or 2) the fluid levels could be low.
So now I have to go for another ultrasound this week, hopefully tomorrow or Thursday, to check the fluid levels, and then I have to go for another non-stress test on Friday.
Then depending on the results of those tests I may have to go to the doctor's twice a week for non-stress tests.

So now I have to drive all around south jersey this week, in between working 2 part-time jobs, and taking care of Ryleigh. Plus worrying about all the added medical expenses at a time when we wanted to put an offer in on a house :-(
And I know it's all worth it to make sure my baby is okay, but seriously, I've already been burnt out for weeks, I just don't know how much more I can take!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T19:44:00.000-05:00

I am so blessed to have these 2 people in my life. They are my world, my joy, and my loves.

A Day in the Life...

2011-02-12T18:02:00.000-05:00

A day in the life of a stay at home mom. (For those of you who think it's a cushy job).
Today I...
-Made breakfast
-Finally reorganized Ryleigh's closet, my closet, and the living room closet
-Made cookies
-Vacuumed up all the cookie crumbs Ry got everywhere
-Took a shower and bathed Ryleigh
-Made lunch
-Put Ry down for a nap
-Worked for an hour and 15 minutes
-Finally got some time to myself and watched a show on Netflix
-Played with Ryleigh
-Worked for 3 hours
-Unloaded the dishwasher
-Made dinner

.... and now I am waiting for my Ry's to get home from the soccer game so we can eat.
-Then I will clean up from dinner
-Then I have to pack up my stuff, and Ryleigh's stuff for the weekend (Our weekends are Sunday + Mondays).
-And I figure while I'm packing up that stuff I may as well pack my hospital bag.
-Then I have to put Ryleigh to bed
- And then finally I may actually get to spend some time with my husband, and catch up on tv shows I've missed because I work 7 days a week

Being a stay at home mom is no job for lazy people :-)

What to do???

2011-02-11T09:45:00.000-05:00

For the past 2 nights I have not been able to sleep due to stress. Not about the baby, but about the whole house buying situation.

We found a house we both like. It is in our price range, in the school district we want, and about a mile off the highway. At the end of the street is a playground with football fields and baseball fields, and a river for fishing. The house has a big, fenced in backyard that already has a big swing set that the sellers are going to leave behind. It also has a hot tub that may or may not be staying. It has 4 bedrooms, so I would have a room to use as an office. Plus, newer kitchen appliances including a double oven. And a side door that goes from the driveway straight to the kitchen, which is one little feature I have really been wanting. The house also has a wood burning stove, which I love, and it would save on heat.
Sounds great, right? Well of course there is a problem with it. It's a Cape style. The one style of house I do not want. 2 bedrooms upstairs, and 2 bedrooms downstairs. Which means, unless the kids share a room someone will have to be on a different level from us. I do not like that idea at all. So many scenarios go through my head. Of course they could easily share a room when they're younger, but thinking about the big picture it just wouldn't work out.
So do we buy the house and deal with that situation as it arises or do we keep looking? No house will be perfect. Is this the thing we should compromise on? Right now the houses in our price range are seriously flying off the shelves. Anytime we mention a property to our realtor we find out it's under contract. We don't have time to wait. And yet, we do, because we want to close in June and that's still 4 months away. And if we do get this house it may mean we'll have to stretch our budget and pay rent + a mortgage for 1 month depending on the closing date.
So many decisions leading to my lack of sleep!
Well that and the baby who feels like he's kicking me in the sternum!

29 days!

2011-02-10T19:47:00.000-05:00

March 11th is just 29 days away.
Today I got my hospital info packet, telling me all about the maternity ward. Can I just say that I love Underwood Memorial for having private rooms. They are labor, delivery, recovery rooms all in one. Which means, once I get assigned to a bed I don't have to get out of it through out my entire stay. And they are plenty big enough to accommodate lots of visitors :-)

Tomorrow I have yet another doctor's appointment because I will officially be at the 36 week mark.

I'm interested in seeing what position Xander is in. He is a squirmer just like his mommy when he's trying to sleep. He tosses and turns, and just can't seem to get comfy.

And how am I feeling? That's the question that seems to be on everyone's mind. Well, I am exhausted, uncomfortable, feeling like a hippo, and in constant pain from the pinched nerve in my back (if I can be honest). I am anxious to have this baby, and yet totally dreading the recovery time. It is so not fun! Thank God my mom will be coming to help me, and Ryan's parents are close by and always so willing to help. I would be 100times more nervous if I didn't have such wonderful support.

And Ryleigh seems as ready as possible for her baby brother. She knows where all his clothes belong, and she likes to point out the baby items we have versus her big girl stuff. She says she wants to hug and kiss Xander and feed him bottles... hopefully that will continue once she realizes he will be stealing most of mommy's attention for while. :-)

Laughs by Ryleigh

2011-02-07T10:06:00.000-05:00

Ryleigh pretty much cracks me up every day. But, I thought I would share a couple of things she said yesterday that I found particularly funny.

Yesterday as we were getting ready to go to a Superbowl party Ryleigh said, "Go potty". So we asked, "you have to go potty?". She said, "No. Go potty". We asked again, and again she said, "No. Go potty".... it was then that the Rhode Islander in me came out and I realized what she said! RI-ers don't pronounce their R's. So when they say the word "potty", they're really saying "party". Ryleigh was saying she wanted to go to the party. hehe. I love that my little Jersey girl has a Rhode Island accent!

At the Superbowl potty Ryleigh enjoyed herself by eating tons of junk food, dancing to the Black Eyed Peas, and sitting on random people's laps. (She was allowed since it was all people from church, and church people = family). One thing she did not enjoy was slipping on the kitchen floor and busting her lip open.
I told Ryleigh her lip was all puffy. She said, "Yeah, it has all puff on it".
So I explained it doesn't have puff on it, but it is puffy. I told her to go tell Daddy so he could kiss it better. So, she went up to Ryan and showed him her "puppy" lip.

Haha.
I love that kid and her silly logic, and her silly accent...

Superbowl Significance

2011-02-06T08:03:00.000-05:00

Every year the Superbowl rolls around and I can't help but think what I was doing during the Superbowl 5 years ago.
It was on that day that I moved to New Jersey. I attended a couple of Superbowl parties to say good-bye to all my friends, and then Ryan and I took off for our long drive. The night before was so full of drama, and tears, and fights, and fears, I was seriously having my doubts about making the move. But, since I had already quit my job, gotten a new job, and found a place to live I decided to move anyway. It was so sad to leave so many friends behind! When I think of all the friends I left and haven't talked to since then it kinda makes me cry.
But, despite everything I'm glad I moved. It's been very, very tough but in the end I am blessed with a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, and a growing boy who will hopefully show his face soon.

But that's not all the Superbowl reminds me of.

3 years ago a co-worker of Ryan's invited us to a party at his uncle's house. This was still back when I was struggling to make friends in a new place, so I was just excited to be invited anywhere. But little did I know how much that co-worker and his wife would mean to me now. That's the day I met our friends Chad and Regina. And ever since then they have been a source of fun, friendship, and comfort. Even though we have hectic schedules right now, and don't see each other at often as we'd like I am so glad I met them 3 years ago!

And then 2 years ago during the Superbowl I was sitting in my hospital room gazing at my beautiful new baby girl. We ordered wings and pizza and had it delivered to my room and sat around watching the game on the tiny tv. Not exactly the most fun party ever, but I didn't even care. I was so wrapped up in watching my baby I don't even think I could tell you what teams were playing!

So now we'll see what's in store for this year!

Our new apartment

2011-02-05T09:53:00.000-05:00

The first thing Ryleigh said this morning was, "we're in our new apartment. This one is not leaking".

I can't believe it was one week ago that we were moving. It seems a lot longer than that. Probably because this apartment is identical to the other one, so it doesn't feel like much of a change. However, it is a mirror image of the old one. For the most part it was an easy adjustment... except for when we try to find things in the kitchen. It's so confusing!

Poor Ryleigh is still confused. Every morning she turns the wrong way out of her bedroom. She was so used to turning left to get to the living room, but now she has to turn right.

I hate how all the baby books tell you to keep life normal, and don't make any extreme changes in your toddler's life before a new sibling comes along...
We moved last week, and we're planning on moving again within the next 5 months. Ryleigh's whole world will be turned upside down :-(

Karma please!

2011-01-31T13:37:00.000-05:00

I don't really believe in Karma, but it sure would be nice if it were true. I feel like we've just had a string of bad luck, so we should have some good luck heading our way. Especially in the housing department.
In the Spring of 2009 I fell in love with a farmhouse. It was so cute, and exactly what I've always wanted. We signed a lease, packed up the apartment, and then, 2 days before moving day found out the landlord wouldn't let us move in. Instead he bulldozed that charming home and to this day I mourn it's loss every time I drive by the empty lot.
So we ended up having to move to another apartment complex. Over the past year and a half we have dealt with maintenance problem after maintenance problem. Finally culminating in a leaky roof that can't be fixed until the summer... hence the very, very, last minute move we went through this weekend! Craziness.
Now we will have our current apartment until July, at which point we will hopefully be moving into our very first house.
I can't help but feel that after the 2 previous nightmares we deserve a nice easy house buying process in which the perfect house suddenly becomes available at a super low price. Everything should go smoothly, without so much as a ripple in the process.
If only life was fair...

But for now I will content myself with celebrating the fact that my fears of having to deal with 2 kids to bring up and down the stairs to our second floor apartment is taken care of! Yay for living on the first floor!

I want Mommy

2011-01-26T18:49:00.000-05:00

All day long, all Ryleigh says is, "I want Mommy".

It doesn't matter if we are in the same room together. She still whines and says she wants me. Sometimes we could be sitting on the couch together and she'll say it. Frankly, it's really driving me crazy!

It's almost like a separation anxiety thing... but not really. She has no problems at all when I drop her off in her class at church. She barely even acknowledges that I am leaving. It's only a problem when we're home.
I don't know if it's a phase or not.

I know there are times when I am with her, but emotionally unavailable. For example, when I am cooking dinner and she starts tugging on my pants, asking me to hold her. I explain to her that mommy is busy, I need to cook dinner, and then Ryan will usually take her out of the kitchen. She absolutely flips out. But I feel that it is important for her to learn that I cannot constantly be paying attention to her 24/7. Sometimes she even tries demanding that I don't take a shower.... obviously I am not going to give into a 2 year old's demands and I shower, but it's hard to enjoy my time with her crying at the door.

When I am not busy I make sure to spend quality time with her. Today we were kinda snowed in. I made a decision to not rely on the tv at all, so we kept it off. Ryleigh and I spent the day drawing pictures, doing puzzles, playing with her puzzles, and baking an apple pie together. We even took a nap together which is something we haven't done since she was about 2 months old. (she doesn't sleep well with others).

You would think that after so much time together she wouldn't cry for me later, right? Wrong. Even now as I am teaching she's whining for me.

It just doesn't make sense. We are never apart. Even when I am at work I'm still at home. Is she feeling like I am going to abandon her? She shouldn't be feeling the need to have physical contact with me 24/7, right?
This was how I was expecting her to react after the baby is born, not before :-(

Any of you expert moms have any advice? Or any reassurance that this is just a phase and it will be over soon!

Caution: I'm Fragile

2011-01-23T21:07:00.000-05:00

I am such a hormonal/ crazy pregnant woman right now.
I can't control my emotions/ temper/ or tears.
It's ridiculous! Everything else about this pregnancy has been so incredibly easy, but I do not remember feeling like a crazy person when I was pregnant with Ryleigh. Is it different cause this time I'm pregnant with a boy? I don't know.

All I do know is I want to apologize to anyone who encountered my this weekend and got a good glimpse at my bad side. Ugh, I feel so ashamed at how I acted towards some people. Especially my husband.

Not everyone believes in soul mates, but I certainly do because I know there is absolutely no one else on this planet who would deal with all the crap I've been throwing at my husband. I can't believe he still wants to talk to me and comfort me after I've been a total jerk to him.

I just keep telling myself that I only have 47 days (-ish) to go... but I definitely do remember how crazy emotional I was after giving birth the 1st time, so I know it's only going to get worse.

So, thank you to everyone for bearing with me, and I want to apologize in advance for anything I say or do while dealing with these pre-, and post-partum hormomnes!! Thanks for still loving me :-)

January Stinks

2011-01-21T20:17:00.000-05:00

Apparently a lot of kids have recently been born in January because this month is full of birthday parties!
Unfortunately, it seems to be the worst month to have a birthday. So far Ryleigh has had to cancel on one friend's party because she was sick. We have another one tomorrow, but Ryleigh has a high temperature, so we'll see how she's feeling in the morning...
Last year Ryleigh was sick for her own birthday.
I'm really, really hoping that she will at least be feeling okay for her 2nd birthday party next weekend!
Here's hoping for germ free/throw up free/fever free kiddos!

This was my poor sick baby last year. Thankfully she still seemed to enjoy herself!

A blog in which I whine some more

2011-01-19T19:26:00.000-05:00

I have been trying so hard not to whine and complain, but it's just so hard when I'm all hormonal!
Today was especially annoying, and I just can't stop myself. Feel free to skip this blog if you want.

I want to get out of this horrible apartment right now! Today my ceiling started leaking. Ever since we moved in we could tell the ceiling has leaked before because there has been this nasty multi-ringed water mark up there. Well today, with all the snow and rain sitting on the roof it started leaking again.

So I called maintenance, and no lie, the guy came, poked a hole in the ceiling with my screwdriver, put a bucket under it, and left. He said there's really nothing they can do until all the snow and rain dries up. He also mentioned the fact that it is supposed to snow again this week.

So now with the hole, and the big giant wet spot on my ceiling all I can think is, wasn't it really dumb to put a hole there? Isn't it compromising the structural integrity of it even more? Will I wake up one morning to find the rest of it caved in?And if it's been leaking before what about mold? I was very concerned to see all the moisture that my ceiling has been retaining.

After dealing with this stupid mess I had to run to Acme. As Ryleigh and I walked out to the car I saw the disgusting piles of dog poop that our neighbor leaves on the grass and sidewalk. Well, the rain had washed away a lot of the snow today... so now instead of the couple of piles I thought were there, suddenly I noticed at least 12 piles of poop.

Ugh. So disgusting! So once again I had to file a complaint with the leasing office. Thankfully I talked to a woman who was as equally disgusted as I was. She promised to deal with the situation. I really, really hope she's effective.

I know I should be happy that I have maintenance men to fix our roof, but not when they do shoddy work. I hate knowing that the ceiling has leaked before and it wasn't fixed properly, so it probably won't be fixed properly this time either. And I hate living in such close proximity to disgusting, rude people. Hopefully when we're in a house we'll have at least a few feet in between us and our neighbors!

Again, sorry for the negativity and complaining but I'm just so frustrated with being stuck here! July cannot come soon enough!

8 weeks 1 day

2011-01-13T09:05:00.000-05:00

That's right, D-day is just 8 weeks and 1 day away.

Some days I think, "Wow, only 8 weeks left! Yay!"
Other days I think, "8 weeks?! How will I ever survive 8 more weeks?!"
And other days I think, "Oh crap. 8 more weeks!"

I think really the biggest thing I'm worried about right now is how will I manage getting 2 kids out the door, and into the car? I am so not looking forward to dealing with a car seat, diaper bag, and a toddler going down the stairs outside our apartment. Ryleigh still can't handle stairs independently, so I will have to hold the car seat in one hand, and hold her hand in the other while going down the steps, which are seriously way too narrow for all that stuff to fit.... Maybe I could just rig up a pulley system off our balcony, that seems like a good idea. Haha.

I know I'll manage because plenty of other moms before me have managed the same thing... some with even more kids than I have. But I'm just sharing my thoughts.

The one thing that really comforts me is that with Ryan's new delivery zone he gets home during nap time now. So I just have to survive the morning activities alone, and then he'll be here to help me out the rest of the day. We are so blessed by his new zone I pray nothing changes it!

Big Blessings

2011-01-09T20:42:00.000-05:00

Since we're expecting baby #2 there are not many things that we need to purchase this time around. The one and only thing we need for him is boy clothes, since he obviously cannot wear his sister's clothes.

All her life Ryleigh has been blessed with an abundance of clothes. Starting when I had 3 baby showers for her, and continuing thanks to hand me downs from wonderful cousins, and friends.
So I've felt kinda bad for Alexander that all he had were the few clothes that were gender neutral from Ryleigh's old clothes.

Well this week I got huge blessings, in the form of 4 bags full of clothes! We have been very blessed by our church family. And I even have another friend who offered more clothes today, but I'm thinking we may have to turn her down.

Now our biggest problem is trying to find room for all these clothes because all of our closets are maxed out!!

To quit or not to quit

2011-01-07T20:11:00.000-05:00

I am seriously thinking about quitting my second part time job. It is entirely too stressful to try and squeeze 5 hours of work into my "free time" during the week, because as we're realizing I don't really have any free time. And this job came at a horrible time when Ryan has soccer 3 nights a week, so even if I wanted to work I can't because someone needs to watch Ryleigh.

But, ugh, I just don't want to quit 3 weeks into my position. I feel like it will make me look like a bad person.
Plus the extra 50$ a week could kind of, sort of, in a small way, help us save more for the big DP (down payment on a house).

What to do? What to do?

I am so totally stressed over this situation!!

Me? A napper?

2011-01-04T17:56:00.000-05:00

I am not a napper.
In the beginning of Ryleigh's life I tried to heed the advice of "Sleep when the baby sleeps". Apparently it's great advice, but the problem with it is that I can't sleep.

I have been an insomniac for years. My doctors tried treating it, but without the aid of habit forming sleep aids there isn't much hope. I lay in bed for hours trying to fall asleep, but my brain just won't shut off. So, of course, this affects nap times too. If Ryleigh only sleeps for 2 hours, and it takes me about 3 just to fall asleep you can see that I have a bit of a problem.

Well, just in the past week I've discovered the solution to the problem. It's called, being a pregnant mom in the 3rd trimester. Works like a charm. I have taken naps for the past 5 days! It's actually kind of crazy considering how many sleep problems I've had throughout my life.

I'm hoping this new found ability to sleep in the afternoon will stick around after the baby is born too.

..... Now to just figure out how to fall asleep at night, cause not even the 3rd trimester has affected it :-(

A Nelson Christmas

2010-12-30T16:58:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately our camera battery died Christmas morning.... so I have to wait for my mom to figure out how to post hers to Facebook before I can share some.... don't hold your breath.

But here are some from our Christmas evening at my aunt and uncle's house :-)

This is the first time the three of us were together in over a year and a half.

The five of us :-)

My cousin Eliah loved playing with Ryleigh! (Ry actually loved it too!

The soon-to-be newlyweds

You can see that the high energy Ryleigh has definitely runs in my family

Totally off the subject of Christmas

2010-12-23T21:54:00.000-05:00

I know it's the eve of Christmas eve, so I should be blogging about Christmas, but too bad :-)

Today Ryan left work early because he hurt a muscle in his back yesterday, and felt like if he worked more it would damage the muscle more. So, long story short, he just needs to rest the muscle.
So since he was home he had the privilege of running around the state with me today. Despite Ryan being with me it was a pretty typical day.
I had to get a Rhogam shot, which is something every pregnant woman with a negative blood type has to get at 28 weeks. So we went to the hospital, sat in the waiting room, I got the shot and we left. Then we headed to my SIL house to pick up our portable DVD player so we have it on hand for our long car trip tomorrow. Next was the MVC to get a new registration for my car since I lost mine. (Oops!). Then we went to the library to rent DVDs for the trip. Last was a trip to the dollar store for cheapo snacks for the trip.

Pretty typical busy errands kind of day for a SAHM, right? Not to mention the packing, cleaning, and preparing for being out of state for 6 days.

Well, after I finished work in the evening Ryan made a comment about how he felt like we didn't do anything today, and how unproductive we were.

Ahh!

I felt the flood of those same emotions I felt when I was first trying to adjust to staying at home instead of working. The feeling of accomplishment, lack of meaning in my life, boredom, etc.

And I am happy to say, I have come a long way from those days, and now feel a sense of accomplishment in staying home.

I have a somewhat active social life. Yes, most of it happens within church activities, and I don't leave the house in the evening because of my work schedule, but I usually have a playdate or 2 each week. My daughter is doing well, and learning a lot from me. She's starting to use full sentences, she knows almost all her letters (except for W and S), and can identify all her numbers 0-9. She's getting really good at figuring out what letter words start with too! I also am doing pretty good with keeping out with my household. There's always food in the fridge and cupboards at least. And, I now work 2 part-time jobs.
All in all I'd say my life is full.

Maybe Ryan will learn that staying at home can be fulfilling too... he has 10 days of trying it at least!

Where are you Christmas?

2010-12-22T20:21:00.000-05:00

"Where are you Christmas? Why can't I find you?"

So many people this year have said they're just not feeling the Christmas spirit, and they're wondering why.

I have your answer.
The Christmas spirit has turned into the Politically Correct eggshells that we all must tiptoe around during the holiday season.
Think about it. How are you supposed to get in the Christmas spirit when no one can even say, "Merry Christmas" to you?

I don't know about you, but each time I want to wish someone a Merry Christmas I find myself biting my tongue, because god forbid we offend someone by inferring they may celebrate a holiday that they don't in fact celebrate! Then I start getting all mad inside, and it pretty much squelches the merriness I was feeling.

It's too stressful when you have to worry about insulting a certain people group all the time. You just can't find the Christmas spirit in the "holiday trees", or the "holiday lights", or the "holiday food".

Christmas has been wiped out of our society. And unlike the Grinch I don't think it will ever have a change of heart :-(

Birthday Stress

2010-12-20T19:18:00.000-05:00

I am blogging this to see if anyone has any helpful suggestions.

Ryleigh's birthday is 5 and a half weeks away and I still have no idea what to do! Obviously our apartment is out. And last year was so sad/pathetic with sickness/snow getting in the way of cousins coming to celebrate, I really feel like I want to make it up to her (and yes, I know she won't remember it, but what about when she looks at her photo albums later on in life and wonders why her birthday parties were so lonely?). Plus she will not be an only child for much longer, doesn't she deserve to have a big party?

So with that being said, we want to do something big-ish... ok, more like medium sized.

I really like the idea of having it at a place that does all the set-up, clean-up, entertainment for you. That sounds very good to me since I'll be 8 months pregnant.

I'm thinking the guest list will probably include 10 kids. Varying ages, from about 1-5 years old.

However, I'm also looking for something kinda cheap... like around 200$

So does anyone know of anything that fits all that criteria? Or does anyone have a strong recommendation for a certain place?

Help!

Just some thoughts

2010-12-18T14:26:00.000-05:00

So I started a new part-time position this week. It's still a work at home thing through Educate Online. It's still very part-time, (ie. 5 hours a week). However, it's a kind of make your own schedule thing, where I squeeze in some work when I'm not busy. It all sounds easy and wonderful right? That's what I thought too, but now I'm just completely stressed.

Not only do I work in the evenings so I miss out on dinner with my family, cuddle time on the couch with my Ry's before bed, and putting Ryleigh to bed, but by time I finish working Ryan's pretty much asleep so now we don't have anytime alone time together. Not to mention the fact that I am busy all day with being a mom/housekeeper, plus working in the evenings, and now any "free" time I used to have needs to be filled with my second job.

And I feel so selfish that I'm upset about this. My husband works so hard to provide for his family, who am I to complain about 16 hours of work each week? Plus we want to buy a house, and shouldn't I contribute financially toward that goal?

Except that I'm supposed to be a stay at home mom, and what kind of SAHM isn't even around for dinner and bedtime? I feel so guilty missing out on those things because they are the only times we're all together as a family.

And Ryan did not push me to pick up a second job at all. It was totally me, because I thought it would be a good opportunity. Now I am totally regretting the decision! ::sigh::

The only thing I'm looking forward to is maternity leave in 12 weeks.

Early morning lessons in parenting

2010-12-17T09:35:00.000-05:00

As parents Ryan and I know how important it is to be consistent. If we establish a rule at home we stick to it no matter where we are. And if we establish a certain punishment for a certain offense we stay consistent with that as well.

But one thing we did not understand until now is that almost 2-year olds don't gather the concept of "special treats". You know, those times when you let something slide, or give special rewards for something in order to show gratitude for good behavior.

Last night Ryleigh wanted to sit in her play grocery cart. We let her because it was cute watching her get stuck, and it was funny watching her try to get out. But then we kind of came to our senses and told her she couldn't get in the cart anymore... mostly because the structural integrity of it really shows that I did not pay a whole lot for it!

Well, this morning she wanted to get in the grocery cart again and I said, "No".
Ryleigh just looked at me and said, "Sit in it yesterday".... Which is Ryleigh speak for, "Well Mommy, you let me sit in it yesterday, so why not today?".

Oops. Lesson learned. :-)

Angels and Dinosaurs

2010-12-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

Today we were walking through the mall, and we stopped in a Christmas decoration store. I was pointing out all the decorations, and when we came to a nativity I showed her baby Jesus and His mommy, and daddy. Then we saw some angels. I said, "See? The angels have wings on them".
Ryleigh's reply? "Yes, Angels have wings like dinosaurs".
It made me laugh because people don't generally compare angels to dinosaurs... but, I had to admit she was right. (She was thinking about flying dinosaurs like the Pteranodon).

I love that I get to gain a whole new view of the world as I see it through the eyes of a 1 year old!

Too busy to post

2010-12-12T20:50:00.000-05:00

I was so happy this weekend because Ryan took Saturday off, which gave him a 3 day weekend! He actually had personal days that needed to be used up by the end of the year, so he was more than happy to enjoy a day off :-)

So on Saturday we enjoyed breakfast at the Amish farmer's market in Mullica Hill. Then we went grocery shopping and bought stuff to make cookies. So the 3 of us squashed into my tiny kitchen to participate in the cookie making... needless to say by the end there was a huge floury mess to clean up.... but thankfully the cookies still came out good :-) Then we headed to Pitman with a bunch of friends to view the Hagerty House, which is a group of houses that take Christmas decorating to the extreme! We walked through the yards, and saw everything from Sponge Bob Squarepants, to the baby Jesus in Christmas decoration form. Then headed back to a friends house to eat and enjoy the company. (Such a fun way to spend Ryan's day off)

Today was pretty typical. Church, dinner with family, laundry, soccer, and football. But I love knowing that Ryan has yet another day tomorrow to spend at home. We plan on finishing up the Christmas shopping... finally... hopefully.

I am so thankful that I've been so busy because my normal social activities (MTO, library story time, Bible study, etc.) have been put on hold until January. Plus every single TV show I watch has been put on hold till the end of January as well. Grrr!

So, all this busy-ness has led to my inability to blog.

And it's only going to get worse... more and more doctor's check-ups now that I'm in the 3rd trimester! Plus the start of the Salao season in a few weeks. Plus I might be starting a new, additional, position at work to make some extra money.
I apologize for my infrequent updates, but I'll try to be better!!

"I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant"

2010-12-07T08:36:00.000-05:00

This morning I woke up to Alexander rolling around on what felt like the top of my ribs. Apparently he was trying to get comfy, so I had to give him a little nudge downward, off my ribs, to where I thought it might be a little more comfortable for the both of us.
As I sat and watched him do somersaults I couldn't help but think, "how in the world can so many people go on that show "I Didn't know I was pregnant"?" Seriously?
Maybe both my kids are just extreme kickers because they're going to grow up to be soccer players, but even if a baby isn't a strong kicker wouldn't you still feel something! Wouldn't it alarm you to feel something moving around like that. Sometimes I feel like being pregnant is like a sci-fi movie when someone has an alien moving around inside of them. It seriously would freak me out if I didn't know what was going on.
And I am someone with hardly any pregnancy symptoms. I don't get sick, or crazy cravings, or swollen ankles or anything like that. However, extreme tiredness, and the fact that I FINALLY have a breast size I can be proud, of would be huge hints towards pregnancy! Not to mention the whole missing your monthly "gift" thing. I know some people have reasonable excuses for that, but not everyone does..

I just don't get it.

Not much to report

2010-11-30T18:59:00.000-05:00

I like keeping a blog, but sometimes I just have nothing to say.
Today Ryleigh and I did some more Christmas shopping. It did lead to a mini heart attack when I thought I accidently overdrew on my spending account. I thought I was keeping track of my money, but then I looked at my bank app on my phone and panicked when I saw a transaction that may or may not have gone through. So I rushed home to check online, and realized all was well.
Ryan took us out for dinner at Applebee's thanks to some generous tipping customers today :-)
The rest of my week will be busy with doctor's appointments, MTO, and getting ready for the Ladies' Tea at church.
We have about 4 more people to buy Christmas presents for, so I guess we're doing good about staying on top of things.
And last but not least, I was supposed to work tonight, but the company experienced a big computer glitch, so essentially I just got paid to sit on my butt, blog, and Facebook for an hour. Woohoo!

The Bed Rest Blues

2010-11-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

It all started Thursday morning. I started having Braxton-Hicks contractions. I figured they would go away. They didn't. They stuck around for a couple of days.
After experiencing contractions for about a day and a half I decided to call my doctor. She told me the contractions were my body's way of telling me I'm pushing myself too hard, and that I was dehydrated. So, she recommended that I "put my feet up" and rest to make the contractions stop.
That's pretty much impossible to do when you have a toddler, so for much of Friday I tried to relax but it was very hard to do.
Then the fun really began. On Saturday, I had so many contractions I pulled a muscle in my abs, causing horrible pain anytime I sat up, laid down, or moved. And then Alexander decided that Mommy's pulled muscle would be a great punching bag. So all day yesterday I pretty much could not move at all, and even when I sat still I was still getting beat up from the inside! It resulted in lots of pain and lots more tears! I was pretty sure I'd end up in the ER yesterday, until my wonderful hubby came home and ordered me to lay down and not get up!

So I was pretty much helpless, and let him take over.
Can I just tell you how much I absolutely hate not being in control! It drives me crazy!
Plus I hate being told I can't do something. And even more, I hate when people offer me help. It's like the biggest insult to me. I always think that if someone is offering to help me then they think I am incapable, and I hate being thought of as incapable!
So to sit back, "relax", and let Ryan help me all day was very, very tough.
I also let him do everything for me today. I spent much of my day in bed, or on a couch.

Thankfully with all that rest the contractions subsided. And by trying really hard not to use my ab muscles they are starting to feel less sore as well. And, Xander has moved around, so now he's only punching my sore muscles some of the time, instead of constantly. So I am on the mend and plan on going out tomorrow!
The only scary thing is I really didn't think I was pushing myself before. I thought I could still do everything I normally did, even with being 25 weeks pregnant... apparently not :-(
So I have to learn how to slow down, and rest more. I don't how I'm going to accomplish that, but hopefully I won't have any more contractions until the big day!!

A new tradition?

2010-11-22T14:29:00.000-05:00

Ryan and I are in search of a new family tradition... which sounds kind of oxymoronic (yes, I made that word up) right? But let me explain....

As the holidays approach, and Ryleigh is older, we would like to find fun things to do as a family to celebrate the holidays, and hopefully we'll enjoy them and continue them in the years to come.

It seems like as long as Ryan is working for R+F we will spend Thanksgiving in NJ because he only gets Thursday off. So this year we're trying to come up with something to do on Thursday as a family. So far all we've come up with is getting to Christmas decorations out of the hideously over-packed storage closet. But that's where our ideas end :-( And Ryan has a rule about not decorating for Christmas until Thanksgiving is over, so going to get a tree is out, as well as putting up other decorations.

So for the next couple of days I will be brainstorming ideas. Cause I know if I don't come up with something much of our holiday will be spent laying on the couch :-(

My Husband doesn't know me at all

2010-11-16T22:01:00.000-05:00

Tonight I realized my husband doesn't know me at all.
He had to run to Acme to pick up some milk, and asked if there was anything else we needed. I said we need dishwashing stuff.
20 minutes later he comes back with dishwashing liquid! Liquid!

Anyone who's known me for longer than 5 minutes knows I DO NOT DO DISHES. I have no need for dishwashing liquid.

I am strictly a dishwasher kind of girl. I put everything in the dishwasher!

Ok, so I do have liquid by my sink for those times when the dishwasher just doesn't get my big pots clean... and it's pretty much empty, so it does make sense that Ryan would think I needed more liquid... but around here a little bit of dish washing liquid can last a really long time. Haha.

Needless to say, I will be running to Acme again very soon before my dishwasher fills up because there is no way I am doing an entire dishwasher full of dishes by hand. Gross!

Woah slow down!

2010-11-15T14:42:00.000-05:00

So remember all my posts in the summer time about how bored I was? I just wanted something to do... well, I got my prayers answered. This past weekend I had (almost) too much to do. But thankfully everything involved spending time with friends and family.

On Friday I got to go to "All Fired Up". It's a place where you get to paint your own ceramics. You choose a piece, paint it, and then they glaze it for you and you get to pick it up a few days later. I used to go a lot more often before I had Ryleigh, so I was glad to get to go again. I had a fun girl's night out, and painted a cute snowman spoon rest.

On Saturday we headed to our friend's house and had a fun game night with some other couples. Even though I totally suck at Monopoly I enjoyed the company, and had a great time :-)

And Sunday was as busy as it always is. Church, dinner and laundry and Granny's house, and then a soccer game. I have to admit I was not in a good mood at all the entire day. Have you ever tried controlling a toddler for an hour, when both of you didn't get any dinner, and you want to attempt to watch a soccer game? Yeah, not fun. Thank God for Miss Danielle who's always willing to give me a hand!

Then today Ryleigh and I got to enjoy the aquarium with some friends. It was a good day to go, and we enjoyed the animals, and a nice lunch.

I am so thankful to be busy with so many social plans, but tonight I am definitely looking forward to watching House, and then catching up on Grey's Anatomy from last week, finally!

(I also like how being busy makes this pregnancy go by faster!)

Getting ready for baby

2010-11-08T17:56:00.000-05:00

Since finding out that we are having a boy I have been busy going through Ryleigh's old clothes to find unisex items, throw out items with stains, and set aside some hand-me-downs. I'm trying to sell somethings on Craigslist, but I am more than willing to give everything away to someone who needs it.
We have been so blessed with so many clothes for Ryleigh! Between hand-me-downs and grandparents who enjoy spoiling their grandkids we have never actually needed to buy anything for Ry... of course there's been several outfits I haven't been able to resist buying, even if she didn't NEED them. :-)

Now my focus is on preparing for a boy.
I registered at Babies R'Us just for the fun of it, and the 10$ gift card they promised me. (why not? right?). While at BRU I told Ryleigh we were shopping for Xander and had to find things he will need. She got so into it! Anytime she spotted an item she'd say, "Xander needs it", and made me scan it with the registry gun. And she was actually pretty accurate with most stuff. She knew he needs sippy cups and a car seat... she may have made me scan one too many cute little pairs of shoes though.

It's really helped her prepare for the baby I think.
Now if you ask her what she'll do with her baby brother she'll tell you she's going to give him hugs and kisses and play with him. And if you ask her what sound a baby makes she'll tell you they say, "woosh woosh", since that's the sound the fetal doppler makes when we listen to his heartbeat. I love that it seems to becoming more real to her now. She keeps asking if Xander is out yet :-)

It's nice that at least for now she's enjoying the thought of having a baby brother. We'll see how long it lasts...

One Year Later

2010-10-29T18:31:00.000-04:00

Remember this cutie patootie face? I remember how fascinated she was with her pumpkin... and how easy it was to get her to sit still for a picture.

Today it was pretty near impossible to get her to sit still! But she's still so cute!

(excuse the blurriness, I'm still trying to figure out why my camera is doing that. Super annoying!)

Story of a mom with a sick baby

2010-10-27T18:53:00.000-04:00

Woke up to find Ryleigh, her bed sheets, blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals covered in throw up.
Striped the bed, rinsed Ryleigh off under the shower and then gave her a bath.... didn't have time to give myself a shower even though I felt gross after all that clean up.
Made breakfast, cleaned up from that, and then called the pediatrician. Waited on hold forever. Finally talked to a nurse, than ran to Rite Aid to buy medicine. Administered medicine, then started prepping dinner (yay for easy crock-pot meals). Then I made lunch.
The Benadryl knocked Ryleigh out, so I thought she'd sleep well... she didn't. More coughing/runny nose miserableness. Then finally the tiredness won and she slept for a little while. Husband got home, so our errands began.
Drove half an hour to my in-laws house to get access to our things stored in their attic. Visited with Granny, then headed home, leaving helpful husband there.
More throw up during the car ride. All over the car seat, and the baby.
Proceeded to wipe down car seat with wipes. Then very carefully carried baby into the house for yet another rinse in the shower, followed by a bath. Finally got around to eating dinner, which Ryleigh refused. Tried to get her to drink some tea with lemon and honey. She refused that as well.
Rinsed out yucky throw up clothes.
Now I am finally sitting down, trying to get just a second to breathe.
And of course, after refusing dinner 20 minutes ago Ryleigh has now decided she's hungry and would like to eat cookies for dinner.
After a day like today I am almost tempted to just give her the cookies....

Playing the name game

2010-10-26T09:39:00.000-04:00

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet".

After a debate that has lasted more than 2 years (see, I am stubborn), Ryan and I have finally reached a conclusion.

We have both always liked the name Alexander for a boy's name. We also like the idea of using Ryan in a boy's name. We think Ryan Alexander flows nicely.... but we do not want to call our son Ryan, it would be way too confusing, so we always knew we would call him Xander. But here's the issue, it would require us to explain again and again that even though our son's name is Ryan we call him Xander. I do not want to explain that a million times.

So then we thought, "Why don't we just call him Alexander Ryan?". It doesn't flow as nicely. And I don't like the idea of the first name and last name both ending in "er". But, it would require a whole lot less explaining when we call him Xander.

This debate started when I found out I was pregnant with Ryleigh. It continued even after she was born and we hadn't even thought about having another kid. And it most definitely came to a head when we found out we are having a boy.

But in the end we have decided to switch what we originally told everyone and name our son Alexander Ryan. And hopefully we'll stick with that conclusion up until March when we sign the birth certificate

Little Boy Blue

2010-10-22T08:18:00.000-04:00

Ok I have to admit I am absolutely thrilled that baby #2 is a boy!

Ryan and I had already talked about only having 2 kids. Mostly because of finances. When you think of how expensive it is to go out to eat, or take a family vacation, or put kids through college it's insane. We realized that if we still want enough money to be able to do those things we should probably limit the number of kids we have. So we were very happy to find out we will now have a boy. One of each gender sounds good to me.... (but we reserve the right to maybe change our minds and try producing more little playmates :-)

I am also happy that Ryleigh will always be daddy's little princess. All my life I wanted to raise a little girl who was daddy's little girl, and I get that chance and I'm happy.
And on the flip side I'm excited about having a boy for me. I've always heard there's a special bond between a mom and her son, and I can't wait to experience it. (Is it crazy I was thinking, "I get to do the mother/son dance at his wedding!"?)

I am also super excited about all the shopping.... lately I've started noticing some adorable boy outfits and have resisted the urge to buy them! But now I think I'm going to attempt to sell Ryleigh's clothes to purchase boy clothes!! Yay!

pink or blue..?

2010-10-20T12:34:00.000-04:00

I remember about 2 and a half years ago Ryan and I were talking about having a baby. At the time I remember there were specific songs on the radio that made Ryan emotional, and I knew then that he was ready to be a daddy. The songs also happened to be about baby girls. "American Girl" by Carrie Underwood, and "Stealing Cinderella" by Chuck Wicks.
The Cinderella one was one of the reasons why we nicknamed our baby "Cinderelly".. before we ever had an ultrasound telling us it was a girl. I knew she would be a girl all along. I just felt it in my gut.

But this time around? Nothing. No special songs. No gut feelings. No mother's intuition. I have no clue what gender this baby will be.
And I am totally 50/50 on what I want it to be.
There are pros and cons to having another girl, and I think there's just as many pros and cons about a boy. So it should be interesting when I go for my ultrasound tomorrow. 5:40 can't come fast enough.

The only thing bothering me about it is we still have no clue what to name another girl. My one wish is to see my baby on the screen for the first time tomorrow and say "Hi....(insert name here)". I liked knowing that I was seeing "Ryleigh" on the screen almost 2 years ago. I hate referring to the baby as "baby"! I need a name by tomorrow night or I will just feel awful..... (Yes, I admit, I may be crazy. Ryan thinks so and can't understand my line of thinking).

I'm seriously thinking of just putting our favorite names in a hat and having Ryleigh pick one!

Life might be a little more bearable now

2010-10-14T17:36:00.000-04:00

We have had many grievances with our downstairs neighbors, as I'm sure I've mentioned one too many times in this blog.
The latest, however, being that they let their front door slam shut. Everytime they do they shake our whole apartment. It used to be that we had knickknacks on one of the walls, and things would shift so much they would eventually fall off their shelves. It's extremely annoying! Especially since they come and go a lot... I'm talking about every 5 minutes, without the tiniest bit of exaggeration. seriously.

Anyway, for months now I've sat and let anger build up in me every single time I got shook up on my couch. I am so not a confrontational person! I will let a problem build up until it absolutely explodes, rather than nip it in the bud. But, today I decided to leave a little note in our neighbor's mailbox.

All I said was please don't let your door slam shut, it shakes our entire apartment. And I closed it with a nice "Thank You", hoping that my nice manners would help the situation.

So far these people have been very unfriendly...like when you walk by them on the sidewalk they look the other way type of people... even though I have tried to say "Hi".

So I was very surprised when the mom came and knocked on my door to apologize. She said they weren't aware the door would shake our apartment. So I very nicely said, "It's ok, I just wanted to inform you of the situation because I figured you hadn't realized it would shake it so hard". Overall it was a pleasant exchange, especially considering it was our very first conversation ever.

Then I was even more surprised when the ever more unsociable/unfriendly daughter came up to apologize as well! Again, the conversation went nicely, and I am so thankful that they are now aware of the problem.

Hopefully now our living situation in this place will be a little nicer

New camera, new pictures, finally!

2010-10-12T20:24:00.000-04:00

Today Ryleigh and I had a wonderful day at the zoo. There was hardly anyone there. For the most part we were the only people at each exhibit! It was so nice to take the time to really watch the animals, without feeling bad for blocking someone's view, or being pushed out of the way.
I also had a chance to finally use my new camera.So, here's some zoo pics for you to enjoy

Watching the penguins...

This snow leopard just sat there, begging to be photographed

She was so happy she got to ride the tractor, with no big kids pushing her around. She loves tractors!

She absolutely loves the Treehouse building because she's obsessed with things that hatch out of eggs... this is pretty much Ryleigh-heaven.

My daughter is way too much like me!

2010-10-10T19:54:00.000-04:00

Everytime Ryleigh eats a chocolate chip cookie she takes it apart into little pieces. I never understood why in the world she would do this instead of just biting into it. But tonight I observed her to see if I could figure out the method to her madness.

I realized she breaks it apart so she can get to the chocolate chips, and then she discards the plain, regular cookie pieces.... such a chocoholic already! haha.

However, as much as she is like me, she is also a lot like Ryan. She is the biggest Eagles fan ever! She will not stop talking about them and cheering, "Go Eagles".

A sigh of relief

2010-10-06T20:01:00.000-04:00

Jellybean (ie. baby #2) has finally started kicking hard enough for me to finally feel it. Hugh sigh of relief. I don't know about other pregnant women, but I am a wreck in between doctors appointments when I get to hear the heartbeat. All kinds of bad thoughts go through my head, and I struggle a lot with feelings of fear. But, now that I have gentle kicks throughout the day reassuring me I can spend less time in panic.

Also, as much as I loved being pregnant with Ryleigh I think I might be enjoying this pregnancy more. With Ry certain foods I ate would make me sick. Thankfully that was an easy enough problem to fix. But with this baby, so far, I've been able to eat everything with no sickness whatsoever.

Also, in the beginning, Ryleigh used to kick a nerve in my abdomen that must have also gone down my upper leg. So there was no doubt when she was kicking! (and she's still on my nerves outside the womb too! haha). But this baby is front and center, and not kicking anything vital (yet).

And yes, I am the woman that all other women hate because I don't get morning sick. I actually love being pregnant! If it was up to me I would be pregnant all the time! It's just the whole parenting a stubborn toddler that deters me from that idea.

Stubborness Part II

2010-09-28T08:44:00.000-04:00

Ryleigh is so much like me it's kind of scary. The one personality trait she's been showing lately is that she hates being wrong.

Here's an example:

We were reviewing the alphabet and Ryleigh called a "Y" a "V". So, I corrected her.
Her response: "looks LIKE V". (i.e. "Well mom, that was a simple error because both letters look very similar") And she's right, they do look pretty similar... she just wanted me to know that anyone could have made that mistake. Haha.

It's official. I'm a control freak!

2010-09-24T20:30:00.000-04:00

I am a control freak.

Actually, I've kind of always suspected I was a control freak, but I've been able to hide it.

For instance, I prefer to drive rather than riding in the passenger's seat. I have hidden this fact with carsickness. I actually really do get carsick pretty bad, and even if I got carsick first thing in the morning I would still be feeling miserable throughout the entire day. But, aside from that, I prefer to drive, or else I go insane if the person who is driving doesn't brake when I would, or doesn't slow down as much as I think they should.

And nothing would ever prepare me for how much I need to control everything in Ryleigh's life. Today was a prime example. We went out to eat and I decided to take a break from feeding Ryleigh, so I made Ryan sit next to her high chair. And guess what happened? I spent the entire meal either telling him what food to give her, or just reaching (very rudely) across him to put stuff on her plate! I just could not reliquish the control even though I really did want a break from the feeding responsibilities!

Of course, part of that stems from the fact that for the first few months of her life, while I was exclusively breast feeding, I was in control and I guess I got used to be the only one who could feed her. Then, add to that the fact that doctors are concerned about her weight, and I am the only one who went to every doctor visit, read every book, and heard every bit of advice.... so, I kinda feel like I am the only one capable of making the right food choices.

I think in the next 24 weeks I really need to work on allowing Ryan to help me with Ryleigh, and to trust that he knows how to care for her just as well as I do.
And if I don't learn that lesson I am certainly going to have a rough time juggling 2 babies, and myself!

So, here's to a swift self-improvement!

Pictures coming soon

2010-09-24T08:57:00.000-04:00

I have been dying lately because our camera broke. It seems as if Ryleigh does extra cute things when I can't take her pic. Plus, I want to take pictures of my baby belly and compare it to how "big" I was with Ryleigh. Just for fun. I don't plan on showing anyone.

But, thankfully, my wonderful husband secretly bought me a new camera. ( he kinda went against our "rules" of buying something for more than 50$ without consulting each other, but I guess it's okay since he was trying to make it a surprise). So, now I just have to wait for the wonderful FedEx man to come give me my new camera, and then I can start posting pics again!

I'm the mom

2010-09-20T14:00:00.000-04:00

Do you ever have moments when you realize, "I'm the mom now"?

Today as I was making french toast for Ryan and Ryleigh I was thinking about how everyone (usually) thinks that their mom cooks everything the best. For example, I love my mom's meatloaf, and I'm pretty sure no one cooks it as good as she does. Even when I use her recipe my meatloaf still doesn't taste as good as hers does (although, I have to admit, my meatloaf is pretty darn delicious). And Ryan loves his mom's peanut butter french toast, which I won't even attempt to make, because I know I won't get it just right.

So I was picturing, 27 years down the road when Ryleigh's feeding french toast to her kids, will she be remembering how I used to make it just right? Will she always strive to cook dinner "just like moms"?

Just a fun little thought to think about on days when sometimes the last thing you feel like doing is cooking dinner... Someday that dinner may be the comfort food your kid longs for when they're all grown up!

Finally!!

2010-09-18T21:13:00.000-04:00

I can't wait for next week. I am going to be a much happier person next week.

My Bible study is resuming, and my Mom's Time Out is resuming. Yay! Oh how I have needed opportunities to socialize without chasing Ryleigh all around. Today was the last straw. As I was trying to enjoy a birthday party I kept starting up conversations, and then abruptly having to run away from the person I was talking to in order to grab my kid before she got into something she shouldn't. I love her to death, but man do I need a break every once in a while.

Also, as pathetic as it sounds, I am so happy about all my favorite tv shows returning. When you have a kid who goes to bed at 7:30, you're pretty much limited to your nightly activities, so Ryan and I watch a lot of evening tv. I can't wait for House, Glee, The Middle, Cougar Town, Modern Family, Grey's Anatomy, CSI, and Fringe.

Now to just get through tomorrow which is going to be super boring because we have a ton of laundry to do, and Granny and Pop-pop won't be around to entertain Ry and give her momma a break... but at least I get to cheer on my sexy husband during his soccer game :-)

The World According to Ryleigh

2010-09-14T18:49:00.003-04:00

I love the interesting perspective kids can give to the world.

Today Ryleigh told me that the moon is a big balloon that flew away. :-)

Hello in there!

2010-09-13T18:26:00.000-04:00

Today I had another OB appointment. The baby's heartbeat is nice and healthy at 160. Yay! What a relief.

But one thing I am not relieved about is my feelings towards this baby. Yes, this baby was planned, for those of you who might assume it wasn't from my last statement. We meticulously planned it out actually, because I am going to be the maid of honor in my sister's wedding, and I really want to have time to lose the baby weight before then!

But despite trying to get pregnant and all that, my feelings towards this baby are SO different than they were when I was pregnant with Ryleigh. Today, as we listened to the heartbeat, rather than tear up and marvel at the wonder going on in my womb I was more concerned that Ryleigh hear the heartbeat. She's gotten into listening to my heartbeat, and her heartbeat, and we've tried to find the baby's with our heartbeat monitor, but this particular brand says it won't work until I'm 20 weeks along. So I wanted her to hear it, so she could understand my pregnancy a little better.

I just feel so guilty that even though I am growing a new baby all of my focus is still on Ryleigh. We don't even have a cutesy nick-name to call this baby..... we just call it "new baby", and that is so not fair to it. And I hate using the word "it" to refer to a precious new life.

I dislike how all the wonder, and newness, and excitement has worn off :-( This baby deserves to be super loved, just like Ry was before she was born...... but I'm just too busy chasing around "Big Sister" to even take time to enjoy it.

I'm probably not the first second-time mom to feel this way. I know. But, I'm just expressing my crazy, whacked out, hormone driven thoughts :-)

A Parenting Pet Peeve

2010-09-10T22:24:00.000-04:00

I have come to realize that one of my pet peeves about being a parent is having to answer questions that are directed at my child.

For example, someone will ask, "Ryleigh, are you hungry?", (or tired, or happy, etc.).... and then look at me for the answer. Why? If you start a question with my daughter's name in it, then you should expect her to answer, not me. If you would like me to answer then you could phrase the questions as such, "Micayla, do you think Ryleigh is hungry?"

And the key part to that phrase is "Do you think". I hate when people ask questions like, "Is Ryleigh hungry?". How am I supposed to know? Yes, I am her mother and I am in charge of feeding her and such, but really, do any of us really follow a normal eating schedule? There may be times when lunch time rolls around and you just aren't hungry. There may also be times when we are hungry 30 minutes after eating. How am I supposed to know if my child is hungry? If she is she will tell you.

And my personal favorite is when people ask, "Ryleigh do you need a diaper change?". Really, if you can't smell something foul then there is only one way to find out if she needs a diaper change, and it isn't by waiting for me to answer that question, because I do not know what is going on in my kid's diaper 24/7. The only way to find out is to look in the diaper! It's the same method I would use too, but if you're that interested in knowing, then you can be the one to look :-)

stubborn vs. stubborn

2010-09-09T09:18:00.000-04:00

Parenting a child whose genes from both her mother and father have pre-programmed her to be extremely stubborn is tough. Haha. Thankfully I think I am the most stubborn out of the 3 of us, so when it comes to discipline I never give in.

But I am proud to say I had some success last night. Ryleigh wanted to walk to the duck pond in our complex, and go feed bread to the ducks. So I said, "ok, just sit down so I can put your shoes on and we can go".

You would think a simple command like "sit down" is easy to do.... not with my kid. Anytime I try to get her to sit still to get dressed or do her hair she runs off and wants me to chase her. It was cute the first couple of times, but I refuse to chase her around every time we need to leave the house.

So I said, "Ryleigh if you do not sit down we are not going to feed the ducks".... she continued to run around. Until I went in the kitchen and started cleaning, and she realized I was serious.

Then she turned on the water works. So I gave her one more chance. Thankfully she sat down and let me put her shoes on. But I also sat and explained to her that she needs to listen to me when I ask her to do something.

Well, this morning I knew I did something right because Ryleigh saw the loaf of bread sitting on the counter and repeated the "lesson" I gave her. She told me that she had to sit nicely so I could put her shoes on, so she could go feed the ducks some bread, and to be a good girl. She remembered everything from last night! I guess my disciplining actually worked. Woohoo!

Did I go to elementary school?

2010-09-08T11:25:00.000-04:00

Today I had the not so fun task of getting pre-natal bloodwork done... I'm pretty sure it's one of my least favorite parts of being pregnant.

When I arrived at the lab there were about 3 people in line at the receptionist's desk, but the sign-in sheet was off to the side. So, I walked right up and wrote my name and appointment time down. Well, apparently a woman in line didn't realize that she could just sign-in, without waiting in line. So she picked up the sheet, and went up to the receptionist and said, "This girl, Micayla, just cut in front of me."

Really? A grown women "telling on me" to the receptionist because I "cut her in line". Wow. I didn't realize I had walked into an elementary school instead of a lab. Part of me wanted to resort to childish ways and explain that I did not cut her, she was just stupid for not paying attention to the sign that said to use the sign-in sheet. But, then I remember I am a grown woman and did not need to stoop that low.

At least it provided me with a chuckle during a not so fun task.

Growing by leaps and bounds

2010-09-07T14:10:00.000-04:00

This Saturday, at out church picnic, we got to witness a brand new baby Alpaca who had been born right before we arrived. Cutest thing ever. We all stood around in wonder as we watched it take it's few steps, and learn how to nurse. I'm pretty sure I fell in love with alpacas that day.

Me and another girl couldn't help but notice the difference between animals and human babies. Ryleigh took 14 months to learn how to walk. This alpaca had it down in just a few hours! It's kinda crazy. I see so many of my friends getting upset because their kids are entering kindergarten/1st grade/etc. for the first time, and thinking kids grow up so quickly. Just be glad you're not an alpaca! haha.

As a little side-ish note. My little bundle of joy is growing by leaps and bounds too. For example, just now she asked if she could watch tv. I said "no" because I have strict tv rules, and she does not get to watch tv during the day. She looked at me and said' "tv, little bit?". Haha. She was totally trying to bargain with me!

She's also learning so much every day! She now knows most of her letters, all of her zoo/aquarium/farm/backyard animals. She knows her basic shapes.... and we're working on her colors, but she pretty much just says that everything is green. haha.

We're still working on the potty training thing, but right now she's having trouble telling the difference between when she has to "toot", and when she really has to go number 2. haha

Labor Day fun

2010-09-07T08:11:00.000-04:00

We had no plans for Labor day because we thought Ryan was going to work. But, turns out, they didn't need him (which was somewhat ok, because he was just trying to pick up extra work, it's not like he missed a real work day). So, we randomly decided to head to the shore.

Ryan stayed in all his regular clothes and sneakers the whole time! Crazy.

Ryleigh loves the beach!

Yes, Ryan buried her in the sand. She loved it. We kept asking her if she wanted to get out, she kept saying "no".

So Long Summer

2010-09-01T19:49:00.000-04:00

I do not think I could express in words how happy I will be when this summer is completely over. It has been such an incredibly difficult summer!!

I know everyone loves summer time because it means a chance to sit around and do nothing. To me, sitting around doing nothing is worse than my worst nightmare. I hate doing nothing!! I have to be active 24/7 to be happy.

During normal times like the fall/winter/spring I have a lot going on. I work in the evenings, and that alone makes everything more hectic. But I also have social groups like Mom's Time Out, and I attend weekly Bible studies, which not only provide a social outlet, but also helps me stay more on track with doing my daily devotions. Thankfully we do have a children's program at our library, but even that ended 4 weeks ago. Therefore I have been left with absolutely nothing as far as set weekly plans go. And for me, that is the most depressing reality to face.

Plus, during fall and spring the weather is sooo much nicer to actually go out and do things. I have been such a hermit this summer because I didn't want to face the heat!

I am very thankful for the fun play dates we've had with friends and family. And I have definitely gotten lots of use out of our zoo, museum, and aquarium memberships!! But I hate waking up each day trying to think of things to do to stay busy. I'd rather have set days with everything planned out already.

However, I understand I'm pretty much the only one who hates to see summer go, especially since so many people I know are teachers. So I know lots of people disagree with me... but, too bad. haha

I'm a sucker for sales.

2010-08-31T19:58:00.000-04:00

I have been hanging on to a Gymboree gift card for about 2 months now, but none of their summer collections have appealed to me. (Ryleigh is blessed with so many hand-me-downs that I really can't justify buying her any more clothes unless I absolutely love them) However, today I got an email about a 30% off sale on their fall collections, and definitely found things worth spending money on.

So, we picked up a couple of cute items.

We also picked up some cute hair accessories. I pretty much loved everything they had for fall, so it was tough to limit myself to my 40$ gift card limit!

I am thankful we got to get out of the house, get in some retail therapy, and not spend anything out of pocket!

P.S. I love fall and am so ready to be done with this hot weather!

Prayer Warrior?

2010-08-26T18:35:00.000-04:00

Ryleigh absolutely loves to pray.

Yesterday, in the middle of the zoo, Ryleigh asked me if we could pray for the cheetahs. So, we found a bench, folded our hands, and thanked God for making the cheetahs.

Tonight, in the middle of dinner she asked if we could pray for the food... which we had totally forgotten to do at the beginning of the meal! Is it bad if you're 18 month old holds accountable for praying more than anyone else does?

I just hope she continues to grow up and give God the glory for everything!

It's been a while

2010-08-24T21:51:00.000-04:00

I haven't blogged in a while. Why? Because if I did it would be a horrible rant, and/or sob fest about who only knows what, because these stupid pregnancy hormones are making me go crazy! Unfortunately I seem to be feeling only negative emotions during this pregnancy. Of course I am happy about the baby, I just feel unhappy about everything else.

But, Friday marks the start of the 2nd trimester and hopefully my crazy emotions will take a turn for the better :-)

And hopefully this crazy, insatiable hunger will subside. Seriously, I'm the one in charge of the grocery shopping, and yet every single day I whine that we don't have anything good to eat! How is it that I do not have any chocolate, or cookies, or cake, or anything in my house right now?! Honey nut cheerios just isn't cutting it for my late night snack right now...

The End

weird kids

2010-08-21T12:18:00.001-04:00

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a kid with weird eating habits. I'll share what she did with lunch today, feel free to share your weird kid's stories.

Today we started off with a handfull of cheese curls (to keep her happy while I made lunch). She bit off the ends of each cheese curl, and then asked for more..... she didn't want to eat the middle parts! Then I gave her a pb+j. Every time, she opens the sandwich up, then dips her finger into the pb or j, and then licks her finger. She does this until the middle is all gone, and then leaves the bread un-eaten.

(No judgment on the poor meal choice please, it's grocery day! haha. Plus she did eat about a million and five grapes)

Anyone else with a story?

In other words...

2010-08-21T11:37:00.000-04:00

Ryleigh is getting a little better about forming actual sentences (or at least phrases), but there's definitely room for improvement. Today she came out with this "sentence".

"Maeve, cheese, ride, mouse, Barney".
Translation: I went to Chuck E' Cheese with Maeve. We saw the mouse, and I went on the Barney ride". haha.

At least she gets her point across, and I know what she means.

My insanity

2010-08-17T20:02:00.000-04:00

I am going crazy! Due to Ryleigh's altered nap schedule I pretty much cannot leave the house between the hours of 11-4. For the past 2 weeks we have been dealing with Ryleigh's decision to drop her morning nap. And everything is fine if we stay home all day. But, trying to go anywhere, and having her fall asleep in the car, and then not napping at home later in unacceptable.
And seriously, I feel like 2 weeks should have been plenty of an adjustment period for her. But she just cannot stay awake until her afternoon nap, without turning into Mr.Hyde. The only time she is disobedient is when she is tired, so we've spent plenty of time in the time-out chair. And with my pregnancy grumpiness it is not a pleasant situation.

I just need socialization, and to not be stuck behind these boring, unpainted walls!! Thank God we have friends coming over on Thursday, at least I have something to look forward to!

Ready for baby?

2010-08-12T14:47:00.000-04:00

In anticipation of getting pregnant, and having a baby in March we decided to rid all "baby" things in Ryleigh's life and replace them with "big girl" things.

The transition from a crib to a big girl bed went better than I expected. After only a couple of nights of Ry getting up, and us resetting her in her bed she now has no problem falling asleep.

We have all the stuff like the baby swing, bouncy seat, and boppy in her closet, so she does see them often, but anytime she sees them we just say, "those are for babies, you are a big girl".

I think the biggest hurdle so far has been getting rid of her binky. But, I am proud to report that she has been binky free for a week now! Yay!

The next step is potty training. She will go on the potty whenever I stick her on it, we just have to get to the point where she tells me she has to go. I am not absolutely adamant that she be potty trained by March, but I figure if she doesn't learn to go on the potty she'll just have to learn how to change her own diapers. haha. JK!

Our intentions are to have all the baby stuff behind her in order to ward off jealousy. We don't want her getting mad at the new baby for sleeping in "her" crib, or for sucking on "her" binky. Hopefully by the next 7 and a 1/2 months she'll forget that she ever used those things. That's a big hopefully, and I know that we have a lot to learn about sibling interactions, but it feels good to at least try some preventative measures!

It's kinda sad that my little girl is growing up, but it's also exciting to see her learning new things and entering new phases in her life (except that the next phase will probably be the terrible twos. grr).

If you work with kids....

2010-08-09T12:10:00.000-04:00

If you work with kids, you should know a little bit about them.

For instance, if you are the director for the children's program at the library and you are going to put on a fun show to celebrate the end of the summer programs do not...
a) make them wait in line. No one will expect to have to wait in line for a library event. Seriously? Let's stick a bunch of kids together in a line for 15 minutes and expect them to not run around/go crazy/and get very impatient
b) start the show 15 minutes late. So, after kids have to wait in line they then have to sit quietly in their seats?! I don't think so.

So sadly, my "fun" plan to take Ryleigh to the library show this morning was a failure. We walked out 15 minutes into the show because she was just fed up by that point :-(

And as a side note: Thanks to a wonderful birthday gift card we go to go out to eat at the Hard Rock in AC for Ryan's birthday. When we were there I took Ry to the bathroom to change her diaper. As she was running around touching everything at her level while I was washing my hands, a maybe-21 year old girl said, "How old is she?". When I said, "18 months", she replied, "Wow! And she's walking already!".
Haha.... seriously, don't make comments about babies milestones if you know nothing about kids!

Backwards thinking

2010-08-05T09:13:00.000-04:00

I just spotted an article on Yahoo about kids meals from restaurants that have high fat content. The article was talking about the epidemic of child obesity in this country, and it followed along with the book "Eat this, not that".

It explained how things like Fettuccine Alfredo from the Olive Garden is very fattening (duh!), and you should opt for something like cheese ravioli instead.

However, I read the article with a little twist. Rather than swapping "that" for "this" I was reading to find out what the most fattening meals would be so that I could give them to Ryleigh. haha.

The neverending story

2010-08-02T12:22:00.000-04:00

Ryleigh had her 18 month check up today. She gained 9oz. Yay! I asked the doctor how much she needs to gain in order to get back on the growth chart. She said we can't hope that she'll get back on the chart until around 3 years old. But, she's staying along a nice steady curve, and continuing to grow, so that's good.

The pedia. also asked why we haven't followed up with all the specialists. I explained how much money we owe the doctors, and the labs, and she couldn't believe it. She explained that the insurance may not have the code for FTT under Ryleigh's records, so they may not be treating our bills as if she has an actual diagnosis. So, the pedia. gave me the code to give the insurance. Apparently she thinks the insurance should be covering more.

I was SO hopeful that we could get some help with all these medical bills..... until I talked to the insurance and they said the codes don't change anything, and we're still responsible for all of these expensive bills. :-(

The pediatrician also said we may qualify for Medicaid..... unfortunately she assumed Ryan makes WAY less than he does, because there is no way we qualify for the income standards..... um, 900$ a month? At least I can thank God that we have more money than that to live on!

So, after letting my hopes get really high when I talked to the pediatrician, and then having them slammed back down to reality I feel so frustrated and upset!

Living on a middle class income with 2 people in the family that require a LOT of specialized medical treatment is not easy. I just pray that we can somehow get through these times and still manage to buy a house next summer!

Just my thoughts

2010-08-02T08:08:00.000-04:00

Here's something I don't understand. Why can't zoos and aquariums set everything at stroller height?

At the Philadelphia zoo the Big cats exhibits are great, the kids can stay in the stroller, and still clearly see the animals. At Adventure Aquarium there are several big tanks where, again, the kids in strollers can see everything. But then you run into exhibits where everything is so high up that you're forced to take your kid out of the stroller so they can see.

For those of you who aren't parents, you have to understand how difficult it can be to get a kid to sit back in their stroller after they've had a small taste of "freedom". Sometimes it can involve a lot of tears and/or screaming.

Not to mention, after walking around a large zoo and picking a kid up, then putting them back down, then picking them up again, and then bending over the stroller can be really tough on your lower back.

So, someday, maybe someone who designs zoos will realize that a large portion of their guests are in strollers, and they really should take that into consideration.

That is all. Now time to bathe my little peanut :-)

Too stinkin big!

2010-07-29T08:55:00.000-04:00

Ryleigh is too stinkin' big! Not physically of course, but mentally.

She now is in the "I want to do everything by myself" stage. It seems like "self" is her new favorite word. Whether it's brushing her teeth or eating cereal. Thank God her fine motor skills are improving more and more and she's spilling everything less often.... but there's still a whole lot of mess to clean up.

One of her favorite things to do is "talk" on the phone. Everytime she picks up my phone she puts it to her ear and starts saying "hello". But, up until today she would never actually talk when someone else was on the other line. This morning "Grandma" called, and Ryleigh listened to what she was saying, and actually responded to her questions. So stinkin' cute! They talked about everything they did last weekend, and Ryleigh even said "I Love you". And then she didn't want to hang up. I think she would have been content talking all day.

She's only 18 months... shouldn't she be like 13 when she wants to talk on the phone all day?!

This kid needs to stop growing and be my little baby for just a little while longer!