Rylee is 4!

       Saturday, my sweet love-bug turned 4 years old! I cannot believe 4 years have gone by so quickly! Even though I am her mother, we have grown so much together, and she has taught me so much about myself. Her middle name is Love, and it is very appropriate because becoming her mother taught me how much I was capable of loving.

      We had her birthday party at the Ripley Water Park. She has been excited for months about this party, and when the day finally arrived, she could hardly contain her excitement. She woke up, and immediately informed us that she had grown during the night, and now she was 4 years old because it was June 21st. Then she proceeded to inform us that it was okay to have cookies for breakfast on your birthday. I gave her some cookies, and we got ready for the party, and off we went.

       We all had so much fun swimming. The favorite was the giant water slide. All the kids had the adults take them down the slide again and again. Rylee got to slide three times with me, twice with her daddy, once with Aunt Mary, and once with Aunt Liz. She also slid down the smaller (but still pretty big) water slide countless times and swam and swam until it was time to get out.

       After we got out of the pool, we headed to the pavilion for pizza, cake, and presents. Everyone was starving from all the water fun so we got right to eating the pizza. Rylee decided she didn't want everyone to sing to her, so she blew out her candle and then we cut into her pizza cake. It was delicious and everyone enjoyed a dessert of cake and ice cream.

     After food, came presents. Rylee got so many wonderful things. Everyone knows what she likes. Today her favorite has been a Barbie pool and water slide that she got. She's been using it to reenact her birthday party. Yesterday she played with her new baby doll that she named "Lillie" pretty much all day.

     After presents, the kids took turns whacking the pinata. After all the smaller kids had had a chance to hit it, Maleyia finally got it to open up, and everyone filled their goodie bags with candy.

        As everyone headed home and I cleaned up, Brandon and Ryan took Rylee and Kaden to the playground because they were asking to play. It was hot, so they didn't last long, but they had fun. Then we headed to my house where Liz, Brandon, Kaden, Mary and Bailey came to play with Rylee's new toys. Elizabeth, Brandon, and Kaden stayed and played until it was time for Rylee's birthday dinner of spaghetti and Texas toast. Everyone ate their fill, then they headed home.

       Then we let Rylee open her presents from us. We saved them so that her birthday could last a little longer and so that we could enjoy her opening our gifts as a family. From us she got angry bird skates, a guitar, a my-size Barbie and Hot Dots. Her birthday was a perfect day. It was definitely her best one yet. I had so much fun, and she had a smile on her face for the entire day. I could not have asked for things to have gone any better than they did. Happy birthday, sweet girl. You are so very loved!

        Becoming her mother was an unexpected road and it was challenging for many reasons. The day I found out I was pregnant with her, it was sophomore year of college, Ryan and I had been married for only 5 months. That October day, my class had been canceled, so I went shopping with Liz while Ryan went to school. She had been trying for a baby for a few months, and was beginning to get frustrated. She was venting to me and randomly said, "I bet you are pregnant right now on accident, and I've been trying, and I'll never get pregnant!" I just laughed it off, but I got to thinking, and when I got home I decided to take a pregnancy test even though it was still a week before I was supposed to get my period, just because I was getting paranoid, and I didn't want to worry about it anymore. I checked the test after a few minutes, and it was negative, but I didn't throw it away because it hadn't been a full 10 minutes yet, but I figured because it was still negative at that point, I wasn't pregnant...

     A few minutes later, Ryan came to me and said, "Are you supposed to be able to see another line just a little bit?" He didn't fully believe me when I said a faint second line meant I was in fact pregnant, even after I showed him in the directions that come with the test and took the other test in the box with the exact same result. He finally believed it a few days later, when I tested again on a digital test, and it was confirmed. I think we were both mainly just in shock. We didn't know anything about being parents. We had NO money. We didn't feel ready. But no matter how unprepared or frightened I was in the beginning, everything worked out better than I could imagine. I know without a doubt that Rylee Love was a gift from God, and she is going to do great things one day! She makes me so incredibly happy, and I am so blessed to be her mommy!