Rylee's 1st Bday Party and Father's Day

      Saturday was Rylee's first birthday party, she turns 1 tomorrow. I can't even begin to understand where the time has gone. It all happens so fast!! I got through her party only tearing up twice, so I think I handled it pretty well. :)

      The party went great!! I think everyone had a great time, and I know she did! She was so excited to see so many people she loves in the same place!! And she got some really good stuff, so she was excited about that, too!

     Rylee absolutely adores her cousin, Anna, but she hasn't gotten to see her a lot because we've been so busy. But they sure had a blast at the party!!! They played and played and played!! :) I love this picture because it looks like Rylee's making a silly face on purpose for it! :)

      When we sang "Happy Birthday" to Rylee she was kinda confused on why everyone was looking at her and singing and she did not take to the cake at first because I stuck her hands in it.

     But she quickly came around when she realized how good it was!! She ate almost all of her little cake. The only reason she didn't eat all of it was because I took it away because I didn't want her to make herself sick at her own party! Luckily, she didn't get sick and she didn't even really seem to get a sugar rush. She just took to it like it was any other food...

      After the party, Kaden and Rylee took a nap, and then Bailey, Anna, Kaden, and Rylee had an after party in the kiddie pool. The sweet cousins had so much fun splishing and splashing together!! :) I was so glad they were all getting to spend some time together!

     After the kids got out of the pool, we released Rylee's balloons so she could watch them float into the sky. I was kinda sad. Her first birthday party was a success, but it was over.

     At the end of the day, Ryan and I were putting all Rylee's new presents together in her room and she climbed into her old baby bouncer seat. It made me feel a little bit better about her growing up so fast that she still fit in it and enjoyed it. :)

     On Father's Day, Ryan got a sweet card from "Rylee," and we went to church. After a great sermon on Fathers, we came home and said goodbye to Mary, Alex, and Bailey. Then, we spent a quiet afternoon together as a family. :)

First Time in a Pool

      Today was Rylee's first time ever in a pool! Nonna gave Rylee a kiddie pool, and we blew it up and put it in Liz's yard for the kids to enjoy.

     Rylee was unsure of the water at first. She loves splashing around at bath time but this water was a bit cooler than her bath water and I think that threw her off a bit at first, but once she got used to it she was splishing and splashing to her heart's content! Kaden's Mimi was there to witness all the fun, and she helped Kaden get used to the water so he could enjoy the pool, too.

     Rylee and Kaden were so funny. At first Kaden just sat there and watched Rylee splash. He would grin every time she splashed some water on him. Then he got into the fun and started splashing. He has to do everything she does. :)

     Then they discovered the water toys. Kaden is teething so he found them to be wonderful chew toys, but Rylee had fun squirting them and watching the water that came out.

    And then trouble started. When Kaden pulled Rylee's hair a few times, pinched her, and bit her, she decided she had had enough time in the pool and started crying to get out. Normally Kaden plays pretty rough with her and she just plays rough back, but she hadn't napped well today, so she just wasn't in the mood!

    Overall, it was a very positive experience and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun. Plus, they were so precious in their swimwear!! :)

What Dust Can Do

      Yesterday morning Rylee had a fairly normal morning. She got up, ate, played and napped as usual. While she was napping, I vacuumed the house, I had no idea what trouble that would cause! She got up from her nap and played for a little bit while I vacuumed out her room, and she still seemed fine. We headed over to Liz and Brandon's house, and I noticed that she had some "eye boogers." I cleaned them out with a rag and let her go play. Not even 10 minutes later, I looked over at her and her whole eye was watering and covered in "eye boogers." It was so gross

      I cleaned her eye again and then the swelling started. Her eye just got bigger and bigger until it looked like she had a black eye. I started to get pretty concerned about how quickly things were getting worse, so Liz googled it. She found on a baby forum that this is common when a child is allergic to something. A food or perfume allergy would've made both eyes swell, so we figured out that it must have been something that got stirred up when I vacuumed. The website recommended that we put a warm, moist rag on her eye and hold it there. I did that and then I rinsed the eye with warm water when she took her nightly bath.

      And today, her eye is a little swollen, but not bad!! She seems to be about 90% better! I'm so glad! :) I just know she'll wake up tomorrow good as new!

Memorial Day Cookout

    On Monday, we had a cookout at Granny and Pawpaw's to celebrate Memorial Day.

     Rylee had her first experience with bubbles. She didn't really react to them at all, but she hadn't eaten yet, and she's a grump when she's hungry, so maybe that was the problem.

     However, she did enjoy being center of attention. She's always the life of the party. :)

    She had to tell her Nonna and Granddaddy all of her stories for the day. She sees them all the time, but every time she sees them she talks like they have so much to catch up on! :)

     She loves playing with  Emilee because she's so silly, she makes her happy!

11 Months

     Well, it's time to start planning Rylee's first birthday party because she's 11 MONTHS OLD today!! I know I say this every month, but I really can't believe how fast she's growing up on me!! It's totally unreal! But I'm getting to the point where I am enjoying her growth instead of trying so hard to hold on to her as an infant.

      She is in size 3 diapers, getting into size 12 M this week, wears size 3 or 4 shoe, and has 6 teeth, 4 on top, 2 on bottom.

     She is getting to be so much fun. She is all over the place playing all the time. She loves to talk in her little gibberish talk. She is too cute when she starts yelling at one of her toys because it doesn't do what she wants it to. It's too funny!

     And she's showing her personality more every day. She's an adventurer and a princess all in one! :)

     Most of all, she's a giant GOOF! She is so silly. She likes to "play jokes" on us by pretending to cry and then bursting into laughter when we come grab her up. Silly girl!! I love her so! :)

Anniversary Weekend in St. Louis

     Ryan and I celebrate our 2nd anniversary on Monday, so this weekend we went to St. Louis to go to Six Flags and spend some quality time together. :) 

     We arrived on Friday around 4:30 pm. Our hotel had an arcade and a pool so we spent Friday night playing around the hotel. We had an amazing time, and we had an amazing dinner at the hotel restaurant. After dinner we played at the arcade for a little while longer, then watched the 4th quarter of the Grizzlies game. 

     On Saturday morning we got up and ate breakfast, then we went outside to wait for the shuttle to Six Flags.Even though it was cool and rainy, we had a wonderful time at Six Flags! We rode rides until we couldn't ride anymore!! We were there from 11:30am -7:30pm, and we loved every minute! :)  

      We rode one of our favorite rides, American Thunder, at least a dozen times. By the last few times, we started getting silly right before we knew the camera would go off.

    On Sunday morning, we got up packed up and headed home! And even though we had a fabulous weekend, we were so glad to hold Rylee again once we got home! We sure missed her!

Mother's Day Weekend

 

    On Saturday, we spent the day at Ryan's parents' house. Rylee loves to be outdoors, so she had a blast!! She is so independent! She loved sitting in a chair by herself, but we had to keep a close eye on her. She's a brave one, and she kept trying to stand in the chair!

     We took Rylee on the 4-wheeler for the first time, and she LOVED it! She said,  "Weee!" the whole time! 

      And, of course, Rylee always has a good time goofing off with her granddaddy! She couldn't stop staring at his hat so he decided to let her try it on! :) Rylee loves her nonna and granddaddy so much. It is absolutely precious!

     On Mother's day we went to church and spent the day with family. There was some family issues going on, but Mother's Day went from bad to good very quickly. It was wonderful. Rylee makes me so proud.

     She is the best Mother's Day gift of all time!!

Easter and the Storms that Followed

     We had an amazing Easter service at church. Rylee looked so beautiful in her Easter dress, and Bro. Dennis preached a very powerful message. After church we had an amazing Easter lunch at Ryan's grandparents' house.

     After lunch, Ryan's sister Melanie and her boyfriend Josh came over. Ryan and Josh had a lot of fun playing video games. Melanie and Rylee took a nap, and I had a good time listening to the boys carrying on. Then we had a delicious Mexican dinner at LP.

     After Easter, we had some pretty intense storms. We were under tornado watches and warnings Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We decided to be safe rather than sorry and Rylee spent a lot of time in the interior hallway.

     We didn't end up getting hit very hard, but a lot of people did. It's scary and tragic how quickly things can change. Now a lot of people are watching out for some flooding due to the rising river levels from melting snow and lots of rain. I'm praying for everyone who has been and is being affected by all of this chaos.

She Can't Really Be 10 Months Old Yet, Can She?

      I'm sad to say it's true. My little baby is now 10 months old. I'm having a really hard time with her growing up on me. Probably because she's changing so fast! She wears size 6-9 M, size 3 shoes, and size 3 diapers. She has 5 teeth: 2 on bottom, 3 on top.

      Her favorite thing to do? SLEEP! She usually sleeps from 8:30 PM to 8:30 AM every night and takes at least two one-hour naps a day. That's at least 14 hours of sleep per day!

     She's becoming increasingly more mobile and increasingly more exploratory. She loves to go from room to room to find things to get into. Her favorite place to go is into the bathroom to get into her bath toys.

     She also LOVES to eat. I give her bits of table food here and there if she shows interest in something I am eating, but she mainly eats baby food, yogurt, and baby snacks still. She sure can put it down, though! She loves to chow down!

      She is also obsessed with books! She loves to look at them and point to things on the pages. She'll sit down and open one up and "read" it by making cute little baby talk noises and turning the pages.

     She is so very precious and her personality is infectious. She loves to rough house and wrestle. It's adorable! She'll come up to you and hit you when she wants you to tackle her and play. It's pretty amusing! I can't believe how fast she has grown! But I do believe she gets more and more beautiful each minute. :)

Pawpaw's Birthday

    Tonight we had a cookout for Pawpaw's birthday. Pawpaw is Ryan's grandfather. He's such a sweet man; I love him like my own! :) Sadly, since Ryan works second shift he wasn't able to come, but Rylee and I sure had a good time!!

     Ryan's dad cooked some hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill!! The hamburgers were sooo delicious!! I don't really eat hot dogs very often, so I'll just take everyone else's word that they were good, too! :)

      Rylee loved all of the attention that she got!! She especially likes to talk to her Nonna!!

     Everyone kind of fought over who got to hold Rylee, and she loved every minute of it! She loves being the center of attention!! :) She really likes to soak up some love from her Auntie Vicki! :)

      At the end of the night, it was finally Granny's turn to spend time with Ryles. Rylee really loves her Granny, and Granny definitely loves her Rylee! Granny was trying all night to get a chance to hold Rylee, and she was glad when it was finally her turn!!

     Rylee had so much fun, she got totally worn out!! She was passed out by the time we made the ten minute drive home!!

Best Friends

      Rylee and I LOVE Fridays, because on Fridays, Kaden comes over and spends the day while his mommy is at work! Rylee and Kaden are more than just cousins; they are definitely best friends!

      Rylee always has to be near or touching Kaden when he's around. She's like, "He's small like me! I want to be friends!" :)

      They have some pretty intense conversations. I wonder what they're talking about, or if they can understand each other.

     I can't wait to watch them grow up and see how their relationship develops. They have no choice but to be close, they're always together!!