Day 151: 5 Months!

Happy 5 months, Rylee!! I don't even know where to start, you are just getting so big! I think every morning when you wake up, you look like you've grown! You've learned so much in the past month, I'm surprised  you're not ruling the world yet! :)

Let's do the basics! According to our scale you are 17lb3oz! Holy cow! 2.5lb in a month!! You sure are growing. I tried to measure you using a Sharpie and paper towels but then I couldn't find a tape measure (ghetto, right?!) so I used the 11" paper towel to measure between the lines. I'm guessing you are around 25" now.

You are mostly wearing 3-6 month clothes now, though tonight I put you in a 0-3 month onesie and it fit well over your fluffy butt. You are eating foods and LOVING every bit of it (except pears and avocados). Your favorite seems to be carrots and sweet potatoes, so I have a freezer full of it. Please keep liking it :)

You went on your first road trip this past week. On the way to Louisiana, we broke the 8 hour drive into 2 parts, not knowing how you would do. Both days when we got within 30 minutes of where we were going you had had enough! Overall, you did very well. On the drive home, we did it all at once stopping every few hours to let you out for about 20 minutes. You slept a lot of the way home. You had a lot of sleep to catch up on since you didn't nap a lot while we were there.

You got to meet SO many of your family members! I loved every minute of it, you not so much. We've learned that if a man has a deeper voice than your daddy then you pucker at him, and well, most men have deeper voices than your daddy. However, those same men could have you smiling and laughing if they made their voices higher. You loved your Uncle Harland and Uncle Ralph when they did this!

You met your MawMaw, Nana, Aunt Amy, Aunt Zollie, Aunt Tene, Uncle Jeff, Uncle Danny, Shay, Falon, Cassidy, Dylan, and Eathan, Aunt Hoot, Aunt Linda Fay, Aunt Dot, Steve, Susie, Kenneth, Uncle Ralph, Uncle Harland, and Aunt Linda. No wonder you were overstimulated! They all loved you, even when you were screaming your head off. I also heard "you look like your mom when she was a baby" from just about every female that held you.

Next week, you'll be taking your first plane ride, and then you will be a world traveling baby. I'm scared to death of how you'll handle it, but we'll cross that bridge next week.

Things you've learned this month: sitting up (you were tripod-ing until today!), getting on all fours, rolling back to belly, holding yourself in the standing position when stood up by me or Daddy (this was learned today!), and I'm sure some other things that I'm forgetting. Oh, and you love to blow raspberries/spit! It's so funny, especially when we start doing it back and forth (yes, I'm an encourager)!

We've been watching Baby Signing Time at least 2-3 times a week and it's the only thing on TV you get excited when I turn it on. Your face lights up and you get the biggest smile. I've tried Baby Einstein and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but you could care less about that, but put BST on and you are focused. I've tried some of the other DVDs in the series, however nothing keeps your attention like the first DVD so we watch that one over and over and over and.... It's a good thing the songs are catchy :) I'm truly hoping this will help us communicate as you get older.

Here are some pics from today:

Our monthly picture with Turbo

You were so tired, but happy I wasn't making you nap

So sweet

I told you to show Turbo lovings, and you hit him in the face

Absolute love of my life

You can just turn and spin in that things for hours- you haven't figured out jumping just yet

Shoulder ride from dad

Meet Tess- your new pony

Look at her go- yes she has carrots all over her face

She was so excited and proud of herself

Sitting up like a big girl all by herself

Rylee, I'm loving watching you learn new things everyday. You never fail at making me laugh and smile AT LEAST once a day. I feel my heart swell just thinking about what you've brought into my life and I can't wait to watch you grow and learn more. You are becoming so big and wanting to be so independent (you get very frustrated on the floor right now, because you are trying so hard to crawl, but not understanding some aspects of it), so I've spent a lot of the past week just cuddling you in bed, because I know I won't have these moments much longer. I love you, bug!

Day 150: Lucky

I was originally going to post about Rylee's first road trip this past weekend. Then, I watched the live news conference on channel 6, and well that just seems trivial now.

The body of a missing 3 year old boy from the tornados on Tuesday was found this morning. His dad and grandparents participated in the news conference and I've been crying since.

I've whined/complained about Rylee's napping issues, colic, etc. I know I'm not different than any other parent, but seeing what I just saw puts a lot into perspective. I have Rylee in my life and I'm lucky. I have a house over my head, food in my pantry, money in my bank account. I'm lucky. I have a family, immediate and extended, that is there for me no matter what. I have a wonderful, loving, caring husband that stands by my side no matter what. I'm lucky.

My heart, thoughts, and prayers have been with those devastated by the weather this past week. I can't imagine what any of these people are going through. I have a lot of friends that have been effected by the tornados and though I am donating anything I can, I know it won't give them their house, friends, or family back. I can't take away the terror they have seen, heard, or felt. I can't erase the images from their memory. I can offer my assistance and condolences all I want, but that doesn't change anything for those that have to live with the devastation. It might help make a dent in what is needed and feel a piece of a void in their hearts, but nothing will ever be the same for these people, my friends.

I will continue praying and offering what I can, and if enough do the same, I'm hoping we can rebuild a community and help them get through what they experienced, and allow them to heal.

We are all pretty lucky.

Day 138: Too Fast

Do I need to say much else?! I can't take it! She's only 4.5 months old, she's not supposed to be doing this yet, at least not in my opinion! If I had my way, though, she would stay in my arms forever. I've been teary-eyed since she did this. My little baby girl is just getting so big.

We had a great week! We didn't do much, but just play around the house. Except for Friday, she wanted to just lay near me and "talk" away. It was a great day :) Today she went to her first baseball game, she was decked out in her baseball BabyLegs and looking pretty darn cute. Owasso lost the game but we had fun, and I have my first sunburn of the season. Rylee tried carrots for the first time tonight, and I couldn't get them on the spoon fast enough! Who knew?! Maybe she'll eat enough and have better eyes than me...one can only hope.  Not too much to update, so here are some pics from the week.

loves to feed herself

watching Baby Signing Time

so independent

finally liking her jumperoo

giving the snail the side eye

such a happy baby!

loves her mama

she's very interested in the cow on her jumperoo

Day 135: Baby Fever?!

So today, I was rocking Rylee trying to get her to go down for a morning nap (she wasn't having it) and as she was trying to sit up in my arms, I got hit with a flash of baby fever. Ummmm WHAT?! I have no intentions of having another baby anytime soon (i.e. give me about 2 years), but I had the sudden urge to have another baby, and now.

I think it's because of all the things Rylee is learning to do and I keep thinking of when she was so tiny and just laid in my arms and looked up at me. Now she tries her darnedest to get away from me and move.

So just to clarify, no I'm not having a baby anytime soon. I just had an urge and I told that urge to hit the door running!

Day 133: "Before I was a mom...

... I never knew what it was like to have my heart outside of my body."

This little girl owns every ounce of my heart! There was a poem that was sent to me by multiple people for mother's day and the above line was in it, and I'm pretty sure I cried reading the entire thing. I honestly understood every line of it, and on a deeper level than if I weren't a mom. Being on the "other side" for mother's day was quite an interesting feeling, and I loved the entire day!

Rylee has been great in the past week since I made my last post! We have been having a lot of fun, and the weekends are usually jam-packed that we get off schedule, but she handles it OK.

She has been growing and learning how to do so much, and it's going way too fast in my opinion!

On Saturday, Paul was helping his little sister move off of campus so Rylee and I headed over to my mom's bright and early. We played and napped and then headed outside and looked around for the ducks (mom's neighborhood has so many), while we were outside, I thought I would try sitting her up like I've been doing everyday. This time this is what happened:

When did she learn to do that?! Because the day before when we tried, she crashed and burned over and over again!!

Then on Mother's Day, Paul and I are hanging out with Rylee in her room playing, and she decides she can do this:

WHAT?!?! "Sitting" and rolling back to front within 24 hours?! This momma can't handle all of that growing up. She's been a rolling fiend ever since! And of course, now she is trying to get herself up on her knees. Paul and I are starting to childproof the house because of this. I can't believe it's all happening so fast. She's just growing up so much, and it brings a tear to my eye every time I look at the pictures from the day she was born and that first week.

We've also started some solids, and my little eater is loving every bit of it! I knew she was ready when she grabbed a piece of banana and stuck it in her mouth and swallowed a piece of it. Yeah she gagged and coughed but that's all part of her learning to eat. We tried oatmeal, but once I gave her some sweet potato the oatmeal became the black sheep and Rylee wanted nothing to do with it.

She prefers to TRY and feed herself and well, it gives Paul and I some laughs when she does. I usually give her the spoon on the last few bites and she gets her face first and then in her mouth it goes. I'm going to go up to 2 meals a day here soon, probably oatmeal in the morning and a veggie in the evening. 

Well, I just wanted to catch everyone up and yes, it's a picture heavy post, but I love looking at my little girl :)