Thankful Thursday Week 4

     I am extremely thankful for my amazing husband, Ryan. I could never express all the reasons I am thankful to have him by my side everyday, but I will list a few.

      He is the best part of me. When we started dating, we were both 18, just kids, we have grown up together. Through that growing process, we rubbed off on one another quite a bit. I can honestly say that having him in my life has made me who I am today. I wouldn't be the wife I am, the mother I am, or the teacher I am without his influence on me. He has mellowed me out quite a bit, even though I can still be a bit high strung-ha!

      He makes me smile, and even more than that, he makes me laugh. I am so happy when we are together. We still act like giant kids most of the time, and there's an innocence in that type of fun, that makes my soul happy.

     He takes care of me and Rylee more than he even knows. He does things for us that not every husband or father does. He goes beyond what is expected of him and does things to make things easier for me. Even when he was workign full time, he still took immaculate care of Rylee in the mornings while I was at school, did the laundry, and usually even did things to help keep the apartment clean. He teaches Rylee so much, that one would think he was the one with a background in education. He is such an amazing father and husband, and I am truly thankful for him every single day.

Thanksgiving in Middle TN

      Yesterday we traveled to Decherd, TN to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents. It was a perfect day. We left Ripley around 7 and arrived around 11. The kids played for a while and we had a fabulous Thanksgiving lunch at noon. We all got incredibly stuffed. My mom's a great cook! :)

     After lunch, the kids played until around 2, then my dad had to head to work. After he headed to work, we took the kids to Adventure Mountain, a big park near my parents' home. The park had tons of different equipment for the kids to play on. They had a blast. They all cried when it was time to leave.

     We got back to the house around 5 and ate pie and watched football until around 7 and then we put the kids in their pj's, loaded them into their car seats, and headed back home. Rylee and I slept the whole way home, so poor Ryan had to drive in silence, but we made it home safely. It was a great way to start of my Thanksgiving Break!

Thankful Thursday Week 3

      I am completely and totally thankful that I have amazing in-laws. We don't always see perfectly eye to eye, but they have always been there for Ryan, Rylee, and I.

      If it wasn't for Ryan's parents and grandparents, I wouldn't have be able to finish school on schedule after having Rylee. They are so sweet with my little love. I love all of his family so much. There is so much laughter and personality when we all get together. It makes my heart feel so full.

Thankful Thursday Weeks 1 & 2

       Since it's November, I thought I'd do a weekly rundown of what I'm thankful for. Last Thursday, was the first of November, so I'm going to make up for it, by writing about 2 things I'm thankful for this week! :)

      I am so very thankful for my Rylee Love. She had a doctor's appointment yesterday for a physical and a flu shot. She was 27.2 lbs and 36 inches tall. I cannot believe how fast my "baby" is growing up. She is so smart and so sweet. She lights up my world in such an indescribable way. I am so blessed to be her mommy. Most of all, I am thankful that she is happy and healthy. Nothing is guaranteed in this crazy world, but so far, her life has been relatively problem-free, and that is the greatest blessing. I try to never take it for granted that my child is healthy because I know there are so many parents in this world that are not that fortunate. I know that the original sin, the fall of man, led to all illnesses and pain, but it is so hard to understand why innocent children suffer and die. I wish Adam and Eve would've had a crystal ball to see what pain they would cause with just one taste.

     I am also thankful for what I have. I was thinking the other day after a particularly hard day at work, "I don't make enough to deal with this." That got me thinking, what is enough? My bills are paid, I have a roof over my head, there is food on my table every night, I have clothes on my back, my daughter has more clothes and shoes than I do, and more toys than she could play with in a week. What is enough? I have enough. I have much more than enough. I am thankful for what I have. Even though this economy is hard, and Ryan still has been unable to find work, we have enough. I am so incredibly thankful for that. Even if we didn't have enough, we have family who love and support us and would never let us starve, that is more than enough. Even if we didn't have any of that, we have a God who promises an eternal life of joy and praise after this temporary life is through. That is more than enough. Material things don't matter so much, but I am thankful for what I have.

Halloween 2012

      This is has been Rylee's (and my) best Halloween by far. I love the age she is right now. Everything is so exciting, and she can do so many things this year that she couldn't last year. We really celebrated this year. We started on Saturday by attending 2 trunk-or-treats, and then last night we went trick-or-treating just to a few family members.

       Rylee had and absolute blast at the trunk-or-treats on Saturday! She LOVED the bouncy houses, and is still talking about them. She has been jumping on her bed pretending to be in a bouncy house. It just amazes me that last Halloween, she couldn't even walk, and this year she's jumping in bouncy houses! She also got tons of candy, went on a hayride, and got her face painted again. I would say the night was a success. She cried and cried when it was time to leave. She didn't want to go home, she wanted to stay and bounce forever!

     Yesterday, when I got off work we headed to Liz and Brandon's to begin our night of trick-or-treating. We let the kids play together for a little bit while Kade's Meme and Liz's neighbor, Kala made stops to see the kids and drop off goodies. Then we exchanged goody bags that we made for the kids. They got absolutely spoiled!

      Next we headed to Granny and Pawpaw's to trick-or-treat. We ran into Matt, Amber, and baby Jenna over there. They had the cutest idea for her first Halloween. She was a lobster and they were the chefs, and they carried her around in a pot! It was beyond adorable!

      Next we headed to Nonna and Granddaddy's for the grand finale to our night. They gave the kids a mini hayride. They rode around for a while, but Rylee and Kaden were being a little timid about it, so at first I rode with them, then Liz rode with them, then finally Mary rode with the kids. While it was Mary's turn to be the chaperon, and lever got knocked loose and the wagon dumped Mary, the hay, and all three kids right out! Luckily, no one was hurt at all and, now, it's just a funny story to tell! :) Both Liz and I agree that we are glad it happened during Mary's turn-haha!

      After the hayride ended so drastically, we went inside and had pizza together, then the kids got even more presents. Did I mention they are SPOILED?!

     Holidays are fun when you are little, but nothing compares to enjoying holidays as a parent of a young child! These are the best years of my life! I love making memories with my little love, and I can't wait to see what the rest of this holiday season has in store!

Fall Fun

      Fall is finally here! Technically, it has been Fall for a month now, but the leaves are just now changing and everything is beautiful. Friday, after work, we took Fall pictures. They turned out amazing! We got some GREAT family photos, which is what we needed. My sister is so talented. She got some really great shots.

       This weekend, my mom came down for a visit. She got to be there for the behind the scenes picture-taking action (haha) and spend all day Saturday with us and our babies. She doesn't visit all that often, so when she does, we try and make every moment count!

      We took the kids to Pumpkins, Pines, and Ponds Saturday morning, and they had a blast! They slid down a huge inflatable slide, got their faces, painted, went on a hayride, and went through a corn maze. Last night, we all went out to dinner together and just enjoyed each other's company.

     Visits and family time are a lot of fun, but today I plan on just focusing on the 2 I love the most before I have to start another work week. :) Here are a few more family shots from the Fall photo shoot. I feel very blessed to have such a beautiful family. <3 p="p">

 

 

Fall Break

      This week I have been on Fall Break from work and it has been absolutely wonderful! I have loved spending all day everyday with my little princess. I love her so much!

     We were lucky that Mel and Austin came to visit this week, too. We started off my break by spending Sunday evening with Nonna, Granddaddy, and Austin. Rylee is sweet with her baby cousin. They had sun playing outside in the leaves.

      Monday we had a play date with Aunt Liz and Kaden. The kids had so much fun together. Aunt Liz's house is one of Rylee's absolute favorite places to go!

      Tuesday night, Ryan and I had a date night. It was refreshing to spend some alone time together. I love my husband so much! I am one blessed lady.

     Wednesday and Thursday nights Nonna, Grandaddy, Mel, and Austin came over. The girls LOVED making Mel read them story after story after story. Austin had fun playing with all the toys over here. Our girls are very spoiled!

      Friday we went over to Nonna and Granddaddy's and had a fire. Rylee was timid around the flames, but Bailey was obsessed with throwing sticks into the fire pit. We had a really fun night over there!

      This morning we headed to the park to play for a little bit. The kids had a lot of fun. They love going to playgrounds and parks.

      More than anything else I have enjoyed my time with Rylee this week. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I love every single minute with her. She has gotten a bit spoiled this week, and daddy's gonna have his hands full next week when I go back to work and Mary starts a new job and Bailey goes to daycare. It'll be just them 2 all day every day, but I think they'll enjoy their alone time. I know I'm jealous! ;)

       My goal for this week was to get Rylee pretty much potty trained, and it worked. She is wearing big girl panties now! She's averaged 1 or less accidents per day since Wednesday! I am so proud of my big girl! She's growing up way too fast.

If I had a super power..

       I would want the ability to travel through time. I wouldn't want this power in order to change anything, I would just go back and relive certain moments over and over again. I want to go back and hold Rylee when she was still a little baby. I can't believe how quickly she's grown up on me!

       This is Rylee around this time 2 years ago. She was so much fun at this age. She loved tummy time, and she babbled all the time. She loved to talk! She was such an early talker, and now her vocabulary is so extensive, it astonishes me at times.

          This is Rylee around this time last year. She hadn't started walking on her own yet, but she was very mobile. She was still a "baby." She loved to snuggle with me. She still ate some baby food, and rice cereal for breakfast every morning. She still did things that babies do, even though she was approaching toddler-hood.

       This is Rylee now! Definitely not a baby anymore! I love everything about this child. She is so smart, curious, and determined. She learns so quickly. She knows so many things, and she learns new things everyday. She is becoming more social and less timid. She has her own opinions about what to wear, what to eat, and what to do. She makes choices for herself. I just can't believe how fast this has all happened. I love every minute that I spend with her, and I love her big personality.

       But sometimes I just want to go back for even just an hour or so and spend some more time with my little baby. I want to snuggle her and hear her little baby babble. I want to feed her a bottle, change her, and swaddle her up in a little blankie. I love my big girl so much, but I do miss my baby!

A Rough Week

      This week was a bit more difficult than usual. Last weekend I didn't feel well, and I still wasn't feeling 100% this week. On Sunday as we were leaving church, Rylee started to run fever and she just wasn't feeling well at all. Monday night Rylee woke up crying at 1 AM and her temp was 104.6. I tried not to panic, and I stripped off her pj's, gave her a Popsicle, and gave her a sponge bath with cool water. We checked her temp again and it was 102.5, so I laid her in her bed with no covers except for her silky and let her go back to sleep. I stayed up all night worrying about her and checking on her, making sure she didn't get that hot again. I didn't want to risk her having a seizure or anything like that from a high temp. Since I didn't sleep at all, I took a personal day from work on Tuesday, and we took Rylee to the doctor. She had a double ear infection, a viral infection, and a bacterial infection in her tonsils. My poor baby was sick! The doctor gave her an antibiotic, but warned that she'd probably continue running fever from the viral infection until it ran its course. As of last night, she was still running a low grade fever, but it never got up that high again. Thank goodness! This week Rylee has been a handful. She has been throwing a lot of tantrums and crying a lot. I can tell she just really doesn't feel well. On top of that, she hasn't been eating barely anything, so I just pray she feels good as new soon!

      Work has been kind of crazy, too. When  I returned on Wednesday, I found out that my first planning and instruction evaluation will be on Monday. I am so nervous! I love my job, but some days it's a lot harder than I ever imagined it could be. I just hope it shows how hard I am trying and how much I care!

Finding Nemo

      Today, Ryan, Rylee, Mary, Bailey, and I went to the movies to see Finding Nemo in 3D. Bailey had been to the movies once before, but this was Rylee's first time. We were all so excited, and had a blast!

      The girls did really well with sitting and watching the movie. Rylee only wore her glasses for the first 5 minutes, so I'm sure it was blurry to her the whole time, but she still sat pretty still and watched the "fishies!" We had a couple of times were the girls wanted to get up and play, but they did way better than I even thought they would.

      After the movie ended, the girls had pent-up energy from being still for so long, so we took them to Poplar Park in Munford. The girls had a blast sliding, swinging, and climbing. They played and played until it was time for dinner.

    We almost didn't go today because Bailey got food poisoning or something yesterday and was pretty sick last night, but she woke up good as new. Thank God! Then, I woke up with body aches and a 100.1 fever, but I didn't want to miss out, so we went anyways. I'm glad we did! I still don't feel 100%, but I had a lot of fun! :)