Just Another Day in Paradise...

So, what does a typical day in the Massengill household entail??

Tons of play-time....

 Making big messes... (and then Mommy cleaning up those messes...)

And, of course, mastering new skills!

      Saturday Rylee drank out of a straw for the very first time, and today she definitely mastered that skill! She came up to a powerade I'd been drinking and just sucked a big gulp out that straw like she'd been doing it forever. My silly girl.

     The fall semester starts a week from today. This is my last fall semester as an undergraduate (I'm sure I'll have more semesters as a grad-student eventually...). It seems like I just started college. Time sure flies. This semester I have all night classes, not by choice really, I just took the classes I needed and that's when they were offered. I think I'm going to enjoy still getting to spend my days with Rylee, but I've never really liked night classes. My brain is just not in it's best learning shape after 5 PM. But I'm sure it'll be fine. I've always just been good at school regardless. Some days I will have to spend my days in classrooms completing field hours and then spend my nights in classes. Those days are the ones that make me wanna quit.When I leave before Rylee gets out of bed and pick her up just in time to lay her down for the night, it makes me want to die just a little. I always want to be there for her. However, I know she is in AMAZING hands when I'm at school, and she is with people she loves and who love her so much. That makes it bearable. I also know that finishing college on time after having her, will set a good example for her to know how important education is. I obviously value it, considering I'm striving to be an educator. This time next year (lord willing), I will have a full-time job. That's hard for me to imagine, being away from her for 40 hours every week. It's going to be quite an adjustment. I'll get a taste of it during the Spring semester while I Student Teach. I'm so nervous about that. I'm just not used to being away from her that much. But I know I'm going to love it, so I'm sure that'll make it easier. It'll be an adjustment, but I'm trying to be willing to adjust.

A Day at the Park

     Today, the weather was not too hot. It was cloudy and breezy, but not rainy. It was just the right weather for some fun at the park! Ryan and I had to go pay some bills anyways, so we decided to go all together, pick up some lunch, have a picnic at the park, and then let Rylee play for a while.

     She had a lot of fun! She ate her lunch and some tator tots from our lunches. Then, she played and played and played. She went down the slide about a hundred times. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but not by much! She swang, walked on the "worm", rode on the merry-go-round, practiced walking around with her daddy holding her hands, and then she went down the slide some more!

    We were so glad to have such a good day with her after last week. It was such an exhausting, emotional, nightmarish week. I'm just so glad it's over. Rylee had an awful stomach virus that lasted for nearly four days. It led to her first doctor visit for anything other than a check-up, and it had us pretty worried. I know she's gonna get sick or hurt sometimes, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna be okay with it!

Weekend Getaway

     Ryan and I spent this weekend in St. Louis for a final weekend getaway of the summer. My classes start back in three weeks, and he has one more week of the summer trimester for his program and then the fall trimester begins the first week of September. We spent Friday and Saturday nights in a hotel and went to Six Flags all day Saturday. This time we spent time in both the water park and the amusement park parts of the park. Last time we went, the water park wasn't open yet and it was still pretty cold, so we wouldn't have gone even if it was open. We had a lot of fun, but we missed Rylee like crazy. We spent most of the day Saturday saying, "Look at that; Rylee could do that!" or "Awh, look at that baby; I miss my baby!" I think we came to the conclusion that Rylee will be going with us on any future trips. It just doesn't feel right leaving her behind. It didn't feel so bad when we were gone celebrating our anniversary because that weekend was supposed to be about just us spending time together. This time it just felt like the biggest part of our little family was missing!

     Rylee got her toenails painted for the first time ever Friday morning before we left. She came up to me when I was painting my nails and stuck out her foot and held it perfectly still the whole time I painted her nails. She was so excited! She also had a great weekend being spoiled rotten by her Nonna and Pop. They bought her an outdoor swing to play on at their house and she loved it! They took her out to eat Friday night and she loves that! She sure was worn out from all the fun when we picked her up. She went to bed before 8 last night and didn't get up until after 9 this morning!