Air Show

      On Saturday, Ryan, Rylee, and I went with Ryan's dad to the air show in Halls. We had a lot of fun. The weather was sunny and breezy, so it was just right for spending time outside.

      The air show was amazing. It lasted for about an hour and a half and there were so many planes that could do these outstanding stunts. It was a lot of fun to watch.

      Rylee watched the planes some of the time, but since we had to look up to see them and they weren't in her direct field of vision, she wasn't all that into them. She spent a lot of time snuggling with her "gran-da-da" instead of paying attention to the show.

     After the show was over, we walked around and looked at different vendors and we got to go see the planes. It was really cool. Overall, it was a very good day!

15 Month Check-Up

      Today Rylee had her 15 month check-up with Dr. Melton. She was 20 lbs, 4 oz and 32 inches long. She's in the 30th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height. Let's see... She wears size 3 diapers, size 12 M clothes, and size 4 shoes. She has 10 teeth and has been acting like she may be cutting a few more teeth here soon. She eats 1/2 cup of infant/toddler cereal and a fruit cup for breakfast, yogurt and a fruit and grain bar for lunch, an afternoon snack(usually animal crackers, fruit snacks, or cheese puffs), and table food for dinner. She can be a bit of a picky eater sometimes, but she seems like she may be getting better about that. She drinks solely from a sippy cup, no bottle. She does not walk yet unless she has something to hold onto. She talks like crazy. She says about 15-20 clear words with which she attaches meaning, a couple of sentences, and tons of little chatter sounds.

      She got her first MMR vaccination and her first flu shot today. She doesn't really cry for her shots, she cries because she can't stand for the nurse to hold her down. As soon as I pick her up off the table, the tears usually stop. She's such a good girl! They told us to watch her closely tonight; since she had 2 new vaccines today, she could have some sort of reaction. She hasn't had a reaction to any of her previous shots, so we're praying that it's the same for the ones she got today.

First Trip to the Zoo

      Yesterday we went to Memphis to visit Aunt Mel and Uncle Josh. We had talked about maybe going to the zoo, and it was a pretty day so we decided to take Rylee for her first trip. She was really excited. She loved getting to see so many new things.

     When we would come up to an animal she would say, "What's that?" I would tell her what it was, and then she would try to say it, or just say "Oh," if the name was too hard for her to try to say. Her favorites were the tigers who she lovingly called "dogger". :) While we walked through the cats exhibits she constantly said "Me-ow". It was pretty cute because lions, panthers, cheetahs, and tigers don't typically say "me-ow."

   She got pretty tired by the end of the visit and wanted a break form being held. She took the chance to have a nice chat with her Aunt Mel and then she got into her stroller and rested for a bit. It was a very good first visit, and I'm glad we waited until she was old enough to enjoy it!

2 Weeks Down...

     This week of school was a little better than last (especially since it was a short week due to labor day!). I still feel kinda lost but I am trying to just take things one step at a time, and it's a lot less overwhelming! Rylee has been kinda grouchy. She's always been a schedule girl, and now she's gotta get used to a new schedule that includes a lot of time away from her home. It makes me feel bad for her, tho. I just want her to be happy.
     Ryan and I took her to the park one morning this week. She really loves that. She loves to spend time outside, and she doesn't get to do that very often because we live in an apartment complex. I love spending time with my little family, and I feel very blessed that I get to spend a lot of my time with them. I know what's to come and how busy things will get soon, so I want to soak it up now while I can.

    I've done a lot of soul searching on the issue of leaving Rylee and I still don't know where I stand on that issue. A lot of people sacrifice time with their kids to go to school or work and say they are doing what is "best" for their kids. Is it really best? I'm not sure. If you value money and worldly success and social rules, then definitely. You cannot be successful without an education and putting in time. How much do I care if I am "successful" or not? I'm not sure.
     I study Early Childhood Education, which means that my degree includes a lot of studying of the development of infants, toddlers, and children. There are more theories on child development than you can count, but one stands out to me: Erikson's Psychosocial Stages. He suggests that each and every human being faces different crises in their lives and how they come through these crises determines how they will function throughout life. (I'm simplifying this a bit, and there's more to it, but you're getting the general idea.) Anyway, he says that the first crisis that each infant faces is basic trust vs. mistrust. Can they trust their parents to take good care of them or not? Erikson suggests that it is at this very young age that most people develop their trust/abandonment issues. That makes it seem like constantly leaving your young child to go "better" yourself, will be detrimental to them in the long run, right? It's surely a possibility.
     Another thing I've been considering is the mother's place. For so long, so many people thought that it was only natural for a mother's place to be in the home taking care of her children. Where did this idea come from? Was it all a big conspiracy to devalue women? I'm not so sure. I think the only thing that devalued this lifestyle was the idea that raising children is not an important, all-consuming task. Was this the way God meant it to be when he sent Adam and Eve out of the garden and sentenced man to a lifetime of working for their food and woman to carry the burden of a child within their womb and suffer the pain of childbirth? Did He mean for the woman to stay home with the child she birthed and spend all her time and energy on raising that child or did He mean for woman to go out and work for her food, too and find someone else to help with the child while she did that? I'm not so sure he really meant for it to be one way or the other... Maybe a different situation is right for each family.
     By now, you probably think I'm completely off my rocker. I assure you I am not. I have just been deeply considering some aspects of my life.

Back to School Frustrations

      I put Rylee's hair up in a ponytail for the first time this week. She's growing up way too fast! This week I've definitely felt like I've been missing out. I'm pretty frustrated with school, it just doesn't seem like anything is working out right. I feel like I'm gaining a lot more by spending time at home with my daughter than by sitting in a classroom doing busy work or trying to pay attention to a professor that is rambling on for 3 hours straight about seemingly nothing.
     Rylee seemed to miss me too. She laid still and cuddled with me on the couch this evening for 2 hours straight; she even took a short nap on my chest. This is not her personality at all, so I can tell she just wanted to be near me. And, boy, did I need time to be close to her. I don't like having to come back from school and ask about my daughter's night. I want to know how her night was first hand. I don't like not being the one fixing her dinner or giving her baths.
     I'm frustrated beyond belief. But I know I'm gonna stick with it. I'm not a quitter, and I really don't have a choice. I graduate May 5, 2012. 8 months from Monday. I would say I look forward to that, and I do. I'm just not sure that I look forward to actually teaching. I'm scared I won't like it and all this will have been a waste. I don't even want to think about it. I think everyone has doubts when it comes to their career path. 21 seems too young to have the whole rest of your life planned out. I think that's why so many people go back to school later in life and try out a new career path; it's like a second chance.
     I have a love/hate relationship with school. I love it because it's easy for me, I almost always get good grades with very little effort. I hate it because it seems like the things that I have to do to earn those grades are pointless, like they have nothing to do with helping prepare me for the future.
     All these frustrations are aggravated by the fact that I hate to drive, and I spend 10+ hours per week driving just to go to school and back 4 times a week. 10 hours. That's a full day in Rylee's book considering she sleeps 14+ hours per day. Yea, that really sucks. Next semester that should ease up because I've requested to do my student teaching close to home. I hope that works out.
     No matter how frustrated I am, there's a light at the end of this tunnel. I'm almost done with college. I have nearly completed a bachelors degree in 4 years time (this is more uncommon than you'd think...). Even with getting married right after Freshman year, finding out about an unexpected pregnancy during Sophomore year and having a child that is so beautiful and precious and special that she makes me want to spend every moment with her before my junior year, I stuck to it and I got my work done, and I'm set to graduate on time. I'm pretty proud of that, and I don't think I'd let ANY amount of frustration mess that up.

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!

Anna's Bday Party and Date Night

     Yesterday my niece, Anna turned 10. We went to a party for her at her house and celebrated the anniversary of her birth. She and all her friends had lots of fun splashing on a slip-n-slide and throwing water balloons. We had fun watching them. Rylee had to say "what's that?" at least a hundred times. She was so interested in everything they were doing. After the kids got done playing outside we went in and allowed Rylee and Kaden to roam around. Rylee ate her first Cheetos. She loved them. Then she and Kaden were crawling around playing with a balloon and Kaden tried to stand up on the balloon and fell and busted his lip on the hard floor. Poor little guy, but after some love form his parents and a little orajel, he was acting good as new.

     After the party Ryan and I headed to Memphis to visit Melanie, since we were already in Atoka for the party. We haven't had a date night in a WHILE so we decided to go see the final Harry Potter. It was realy good. Rylee had tons of fun playing at her Aunt Mel's house. She passed out asleep on the way home from having way too much fun! :)

One Last Shopping Trip

     Today, Liz and I went to Dyersburg for one last shopping trip. She starts work back on Monday, so we had to do something for the end of her summer break. We began her summer break with a shopping trip to Dyersburg, so we though it was fitting to end that way, too! We went to the mall and got some clothes for the kiddos and picture frames for the beautiful pictures that were taken last weekend. And we went to Walmart and got some new sippys for Rylee and a new toy for being such a good girl and finally taking a sippy cup!

     After, we went out to dinner at El Patio. Since Rylee is a big girl now and she takes a big girl cup, I ordered her a big girl meal. She got grilled cheese and curly fries. She ate over half of the food on that big plate! She took the other half home to eat tomorrow night. I can't believe how grown up she is now! But I am loving how much personality she has and how smart she is. Her vocabulary absolutely amazes me. She's already says her first sentence: "What's that?" and then when you tell her what it is, she says, "Ooooooh." :)

Summer Pictures

     Rylee had her summer pictures done on Saturday by my amazingly talented sister, Elizabeth Jones. They turned out a million times better than I could have even imagined! It helps that my kid's freakin' gorgeous, but Elizabeth has a knack for finding the perfect background and perfect angles to capture people in the best possible way.

      You can't tell from these shots, but Rylee is NOT a fan of photo-shoots. She'll pose for the first shot or so, but then she gets impatient and either cries or tries to crawl away. The thing that is most amazing to me is that both of these shots were taken while Rylee was just playing on the porch. She didn't have to sit still and pose. It makes me happy that she didn't have to be miserable for me to get some good pictures of her!

An Interesting Week

      This week has been pretty typical, but it did involve a few firsts. Rylee colored for the first time yesterday!! I haven't trusted her with crayons yet because I was scared she would eat them, but she didn't even try to put them in her mouth! She actually made marks on the paper by banging the crayons against the paper. Of course, her first masterpiece found itself on the fridge!

      Unfortunately, another first this week was her first big accident. Of course she's had minor scrapes and bruises that come along with her becoming more mobile and bumping into things. However, this one was a bad one. When she first started pulling up on things, she would always try to pull up in the bath. Of course, I discouraged this, and she really hasn't tried to stand up in our bath tub in over a month. I left the bathroom for less than 30 seconds to run and go warm her milk for her bedtime bottle, like I do every single night. (I know I'm not gonna win any parent of the year awards for being so careless. I understand that it only takes a second for an accident to happen, and believe me, I feel completely awful and will NEVER leave her in the tub again.) Then, I heard the worst thing I could possibly hear, a crash, a splash and her flailing under water. I run into the bathroom as fast as I can and she is face down in the water struggling to get up, and there is blood on the rim of the tub! I completely FLIPPED! I pulled her out of the tub and thankfully she hadn't aspirated any water, she wasn't coughing or anything, but she did hit her mouth on the rim of the tub when she fell and it was obviously pretty sore. She was screaming and shaking, she was so scared! My poor baby!!! I gave her some orajel and a baby lotion massage and then she calmed and went to bed. I felt absolutely HORRIBLE. I cried from the time she went to bed just before 9 until after my husband got home just before 12. It just completely frightened me how quickly things can change, and I couldn't bare the though of her hurting because of my stupidity.

     But a good thing about this week is that Rylee got to have lots of time with her Aunt Mel!! She got to see her Monday for the Fourth, Tuesday for a visit, and most of the day today! Today we went swimming early in the day, then tonight the 3 of us went to dinner at El Patio. Our server was absolutely amazed that Rylee was eating salsa by the spoonful. He actually asked me if her father was Mexican because she took spicy food so well. Haha! After dinner, we went to the mall for a second to check out a pretty cool store, Burke's Outlet, and Rylee was such a good girl that I hadda get her some dessert! A very small piece of chocolate fudge! Yum!

Fourth of July Weekend

      On Saturday, Ryan and I were pretty lazy. We sat around the apartment mostly. But we did go over to his parents' house and help his dad set up his father's day gift-a new grill. Rylee was glad to spend some time with her Nonna and Pop-pop because she hadn't gotten to see them very much lately because the week before last the were on vacation all week, and they spent last week getting back into routine.

      On Sunday morning, we went to church. It was our pastor, Bro. Dennis's, last sermon. God is calling him to preach elsewhere, but he will surely be missed. On Sunday night our church had a Fourth of July celebration with grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and a fireworks show. It was great. It was Rylee's first time seeing fireworks and she absolutely loved them! :)

      On Monday, the fourth, we went over and spent the day at Nonna and Pop-pop's. We started off the day by swimming with Aunt Liz, Uncle Brandon, Kaden, and Aunt Mel. Then Aunt Mel and I went and picked up lunch for everyone, Subway-yum! Then we spent the day playing around and talking. We went on a four-wheeler ride. Then we fired up the grill and grilled some Ribeyes-double yum!!

     And then we started to shoot off some more fireworks!! :) Rylee only made it about halfway through the show. She was tired from such a long, fun day, so she had to go inside and lie down while we finished watching the fireworks. It was a truly wonderful weekend spent with amazing family, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

12 Month Check-Up

     Today, Rylee had her 12 month check-up with Dr. Melton. She passed with flying colors. She's doing everything a child her age should be doing (crawling, pulling up and releasing, beginning standing unsupported, eating table foods and whole milk, saying at least 4 words [she knows about 7], communicating with hand gestures to be understood, obeying simple commands such as "No", etc). She weighs 19 lbs 9 oz and she is 31.5 inches long. She is in the 90th percentile for height and the 25th percentile for weight.

      Unfortunately, 12 month check-ups come with shots, 4 of them!! She got 2 in each leg; I'm just glad they didn't do it in her arms because I have a feeling that would've been a lot worse!! She cried, of course, when the shots were administered, but she quickly calmed down afterwards and has shown no signs of fussiness since. She always handles her shots like a champ! :)

      After the doctor visit, we went to Walmart to pick her out a potty so she could get used to seeing it, and it wouldn't be a big scary thing when it's time to begin training in a few months. She decided she wanted to ride in the cart standing up instead of being held by her daddy. She's such a goof!

     When we left Walmart, we went to Applebee's for lunch and Rylee behaved so well during lunch and did so well with her shots that we thought she deserved a treat! She got a couple of bites of their Triple Chocolate Meltdown, yum!!

Summertime Fun

     Yesterday, we started the day out by going swimming! Ryan, Rylee, and I and Liz and Kaden had a blast swimming and laying out in the afternoon sun. :)   

      We went home and let the babies take a nap and then Ryan headed to work and Liz and I and the babies headed to the park!! Rylee loves the park! She had a lot of fun swinging with her mommy, and I loved swinging with her, too!

      Kaden had fun, too! This was the first time he really played at the park. He liked the slide!! I think he is enjoying his mommy being on summer break just as much as she is. He is getting to do so much fun stuff with her everyday!! :)

    I know I am enjoying my break with my Rylee Love. It's not even July and I'm already dreading August. I so wish I could be a stay at home mommy. I would probably never stay at home, but I would always be with my buggy!! I love her so!:) 

     After we had a good time playing, it was time for a stroll! The babies love to be able to ride around and see everything, and Liz and I love the exercise!! I really need it, she really doesn't, but I don't like to do it alone! Haha! I was pretty proud of us, though. We walked over 2 miles yesterday! :)

     When we got home the kids were sweaty and covered in sunscreen, so it was bath time! :) They do everything together! Haha!

It's official; She's 1!

     Today my little angel turned 1!! I can't believe how fast the time has flown, but it also seems like she's been a part of my life for forever. Let's see... She wears size 3 diapers, she has 7 teeth with 1 more close to coming through, she wears size 12M clothes and size 4 shoes, and she eats infant/toddler cereal for breakfast, Gerber yogurt for lunch, and table food for dinner. We planned to go swimming for her birthday today, but the weather was yucky so we took her to Memphis, instead. 

     On the way to Memphis, we stopped at Chili's in Millington for lunch. Rylee sat in the booth between Ryan and I and played with a straw for most of the time. She ate her lunch and some fries from our lunches, too. :) Once we got to Memphis, we stopped at Target to get her a new toy box because she has way too many toys now to fit in just one toy box.

     Then we went to Wolfchase and she got to ride the carousel for the first time!! She had so much fun!!  She said "woo" and "wee" the entire time we were on it. She loved the motion of it, and once we got off she kept staring back at it wanting to get back on!!

          Aunt Liz and Kaden came with us and after we got off the carousel, Aunt Liz noticed a photo booth and mentioned it would be a good memento for Rylee's first birthday. She was right!! We love our goofy photo booth photos!! :) After the photo booth, we took Rylee to Dairy Queen and got her some ice cream (her favorite food)! I don't really let her eat sweets other than a small taste every once in a while, but she deserved some on her birthday!!! :)

     And then, when Aunt Mel got off work she came and met us at the mall and took Rylee on the carousel again!!! Rylee couldn't have been more happy!!

    All the excitement wore her out, and she passed out on the way home. I think daddy had a little too much excitement, too 'cause he was right there with her. :) I think Rylee had a wonderful day, and I know we did. I am now the proud mother of a one-year-old!!!!! :))