My little girl...

I'm not a fussy mom. Most of the time I barely have time to do my own hair let alone help Riann with her's. Plus I grew up with only boys and so I don't know how to do a TON. Anything I do know, has been self taught and that's a short list. I've been trying to do fun stuff with Riann's hair lately. The other day Riann was VERY patient with me and let me pull out my curling iron to do her hair. I was able to get her to sit still for just a few moments while I got it done. Here is how it turned out...





Over all I think I did pretty good. She sat REALLY still, thanks to Nemo, so there weren't any burns. I even made sure to use a heat protector spray (for Paul's mom ;-)) so I didn't hurt her beautiful "virgin" hair. This last Sunday she let me curl it again but was a little less content through the whole process. By the time we got back from church it was all over the place so I didn't get any pictures. I have done a few things with braids, I can't believe I was able to put a braid in her hair - it's SO thin, and clips since this day but I haven't been able to capture it. She's got really long fluffy "bangs" and they are always falling in her eyes. We can't cut them because they aren't her "real" bangs, just the long hair that's more on the top of her head. And the layers just wouldn't look right. Her real bangs are just baby hairs that haven't grown too much but we can't keep the longer stuff out of her eyes so we, yes Paul's included in this - which has been SUPER cute and very fun so far, have been trying out different ways to keep her hair back. I just picked up a few more hair ties, and Paul picked out some head bands and I'm going to be playing more. I'm so glad she's patient with me because I'm hoping I can get her to do some fun stuff. I'll post more as I get better and have fun things done.

And the results are in!!!

It's a...

BOY!!!

We're not going to show you the for sure boy shot but we're pretty positive he's got the goods!!! Now we just need to decide on a name. We aren't as set on one like we were with Riann. We might not even be able to decide until we meet the little guy but I'm a little excited about that. If we are for sure about a name we'll let you know but until then... The possibilities are endless!!!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow we're going in for our 20 week (gender) ultrasound. For some reason I'm a little freaked out that we wont find out what we're having. With Riann it wasn't a question. I didn't know that couples sometimes didn't find out, because the baby wasn't turned right or some odd reason like that, until I had a few friends who experienced that. This time around I have this scary feeling that the baby just wont cooperate. I REALLY don't think we'll have an issue with it but it's still a thought that's been sitting in the back of my mind.

Originally I hoped for a girl because it would be so much easier to start over with what we already had and I would LOVE for Riann to have an "instant" friend. Then Paul told me he was hoping for a boy so I started playing with the idea of what that would be like and started to get excited. With how different this pregnancy has been I've been thinking it's a boy but as other friends who are having babies about the same time as me start to announce what they're having I start to think again it could really go either way.

I've been avoiding the thought of what we could be having because I haven't wanted to ponder on it too much. The appointment is also later in the day and I don't want to get too excited because I know how anxious and stressed out I get over things, even good things, and so I've kind of put all pregnancy thoughts on the back burner. Lately people have been asking me how far along I am and I haven't been able to tell them. I've been pretty proud of myself for not putting too much time into thinking about it but for the last few hours it's been working its way forward in my mind. I think it's because the appointment is scheduled RIGHT in the middle of Riann's nap time and it's hard to get her to go down early. She typically does okay without a nap but she was VERY restless at our last ultrasound and so I'm a little worried about her doing good at this one because of the time frame. I keep thinking maybe I'll get up early with her so she's tired earlier but that just cuts into my sleep and puts the appointment that much further out... I know I can't have it both ways but I would REALLY like to... Haha.

Anywho the more I keep typing the more I stress about what tomorrow will be like. I think I'll call it quits tonight but I'll for sure update tomorrow!!!

Little update

Sorry I'm not good at this. I planned on doing a lot of blogging while I worked but it's hard to manage my photo's from one computer to the next so I haven't been doing very well. On top of that I fear boring everyone because most of you are friends with me on facebook and were I typically update my photos there first I hate repeating them on here. I should just get over it because this is more for family and personal use than it is for friends. I need to get better at journaling our story so that my children have something fun to read. One day I'll figure out how to balance it all out but for now I think it will be a struggle on getting that all together.

(When Paul's little brother Kevin came to town we all got to try on his uniform.)

So just a few updates. Not too much is new here. Paul is still doing well in school although this semester is much harder than the last. We can't believe it's so close to being over but it's exciting that we've made it through a "year" of school already and we're one step closer to being done. I'm so proud of him for working so hard. I feel bad that he has to do it under conditions that I said I would never attend classes under (mostly being a parent) because I know how much of a struggle it would be for me but he's really doing good. I just have to remind him every once and a while that even though generals are lame they still need as much focus as the "fun" classes.

(Riann in cousin Daniel's puppy towel. She didn't want to be out of it and kept taking it off the door where it was drying so she could wear it, even after getting dressed.)

Riann has grown SO much in just the last little bit. I'm amazed at how much she's learning everyday. I'm SO grateful she's a talker, most of the time. It has been such a joy to be able to communicate with her better. The other day she made me so proud because she was able to help me help her find her cup by giving me specific instructions on where to look. It amazed me that my two year old could pick up on that so well. She really seems to love life. I wish at times I was better at keeping up with her. She LOVES to read and sing. She still struggles to remember tunes but she is great at getting the words down. Now if only we can get her to organize her ABC's and her number's we'll be in good shape.

Some of the fun things she's recently started saying are:

"Hi, I'm Riann, I'm two..." (To anyone who now tells her hello. It doesn't matter who it is.)

"Are you kidding me?! Mom, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" (She picked this one up from me while we were driving one day. Most often I hear it after I've laid her down for her nap, before she starts to drift off to sleep.)

"I LOVE IT!!!" (This typically comes anytime food is put in front of her but if she's excited about anything that's new to her or enjoyable for her she shares her new found joy for the item by loudly exclaiming this.)

"Hey, look at me!!" (Anytime we're driving and she wants to show us what she's doing with her hands or something like that. Most often she says this when there is no one else in the car to look at her except for the driver. She also likes to do it when she thinks you should be in 'trouble' and if need be she will grab both of your cheeks and force you to look her in the eyes.)

"Where's daddy? Oh at school?!" (This is the first thing she asks before she gets out of bed in the morning... Then after asking she walks around the house checking every room to make sure I told her the truth.)

"Mommy, you okay? Tummy hurt?" (Anytime I pull a face she asks me this... I may have told her I was sick too many time on this one.)

"I DID IT!!!" (This she screams in the highest pitched voice possible. It's fun to see her light up when she really feels like she did something good.)

She loves saying and singing happy birthday so if I don't have your birthday on my calendar and you want a song email me your birth date and your phone number and we'll make sure to call.

(Me at 17 weeks, dirty and unshowered...)

As for me, I'm doing good. As most of you know we're expecting baby number two. "It" although I think it's a "He" should be coming early this November. It was a little bit of a surprise to us but good none the less. As I watch our friends add more children to their homes I'm excited and a little nervous about adding another one to ours. I know that it will all work out when it's time but it still makes me a little anxious. This time around I've felt MUCH better than I did with Riann. I'm just shy of 20 weeks with this one and although I have sick days here and there I'm relying on my anti-nausia medicine a lot less. I have yet to gain weight which helps me feel better about everything but I'm still not able to get out and excercise like I wish I could and that's been a struggle for me. With Riann I had no desire to excercise so I'm glad that I feel it lacking these days. As we get glimpses of nicer weather I get more motivated and soon I will be able to figure out how to build a workout back into my day. Now that I have a little more time this year I've committed myself to reading as many books as I can this year. This is the first time I've ever had a desire to really read and so instead of vegging in front of the TV during nap time I try to make sure I read and use my time more wisely. I'm always looking for a good book, perferably ones with big print - so that I can workout when I read - once I get back to the gym.

As for the rest of life we're taking each day as it comes. For the first time ever I'm trying not to rush through each day hoping for the day, the week, or the month to end so I can get moving onto the next thing. I haven't perfected this yet and sometimes can't wait to get to bed so that the next day can start but living in the moment, and really trying to enjoy it, has helped bring balance to life. As we grow together I enjoy ending each day with the feeling that we're better off now than we were 4 or 5 years ago. For a long time I lived in the past wishing for easier times and the joy I felt then. As that perspective has changed so have the relationships in our home and I've noticed the blessing that have come from them. We haven't perfected communication but I can honestly say this year we've gotten a LOT better at it than last year. As we see the changes coming in the future I think we'll be able to handle them better than we have in the past and the joys of life will be more readibly seen in the future.

Back up and running... Riann's 2nd Birthday!!

So it's been FOREVER since I've posted. I was having trouble getting pictures to load onto Facebook (so I could work on posts while I was working) a while back so I gave up on that for a little while, and then we took down the computer with all of the photos on it when we started working on the house again and so I couldn't access any photos so I've been out of commission for a while. I feel really bad because I've just looked through some of our photos and I realize how that I've missed a few big events that I should have posted about for family.

We'll start with Riann's birthday... This past March Riann turned 2. We debated throwing her a big party because she was so sick last year we couldn't do anything and we wanted to make up for it this year but she's still at that age where it doesn't matter to her so we weren't sure what to do.

On her actual birthday, the 10th, we went out and got some pizza, a cake mix and a Texas muffin tin and came home and played for a little bit. Once Paul and his sister Amie were out of classes and everyone was "home", we played at our house. I had borrowed some Disney movies from a friend and one of the movies I thought I had gotten wasn't what was actually in the box so that night we ended up watching Cinderella. After eating pizza we pulled out the cupcakes and everyone got to decorate their own. I didn't realize it until after we had started decorating but between the sprinkles I had purchased for the cupcakes, the cake being pink with pink and white frosting, and the movie... Riann had just had her first princess party!!! We all kind of laughed at that because I am SO not a princess person but over all it worked out okay.

The cupcakes before decorating.

Riann decorating her own... Yes, she was being heavily supervised with the knife.

Riann's work of art.

Her special #2 candle that she loving broke hours later.

Later that week, we decided to get a few friends together and go to breakfast and then the new bounce/play zone at The Rex (one of our local theaters/bowling/entertainment centers). It was a lot of fun. When we got there they were still setting up from a party the night before and so we got a free game of bowling while we waited for everything to be complete. I didn't know they had little stands for the smaller kids and so Riann and all of her friends got their own lane with bumpers and the stand and with the help of parents everyone got to bowl for about 20 mins before we started to play.

The rest of our time was spent in the bounce area, until the kiddos got too tired to keep going and we all left for some much needed naps.

At breakfast. She's now in love with ice. She picked that up from Paul's mom when we were home for Christmas.

Getting ready to bowl.

Coming down a slide at the bounce house... She's not as scared as she looks.

Rolling to the bottom.

Finally at the bottom.

Loving every moment of it.

Bouncing around.

Taking a break before the other kids, bigger kids, get back in and trample her.

Just having fun!!!

Naps

Well ever since we've taken away the paci naps have been a little difficult. It took about two weeks to get her back into a napping pattern and we're finally back on track, for the most part. Over the last two weeks we've been struggling with little things here and there like colds, how tired she really is, scheduling conflicts, replacement soothers, keeping her clothes on, and keeping her toys and other objects out of her bed. Yes, the last two issues have been the biggest problems. She's been going through a new naked stage, this hasn't been the first. I've found that if she doesn't have on pants with a belt sinched before her nap, than it's not worth putting her down because if doesn't go to sleep right away, her clothes are the first thing to come off. Sometimes we catch her before she gets to her diaper but unfortunately there were a few occasions where we didn't make it in time. We've only had one major accident in the bed, this time around, and by the time we realized her clothes were off she was already asleep so we couldn't get in to inspect the possible damage. I should have known better because she had been yelling "yucky" at me for a few minutes before she got quite, but she had thrown up a little bit in her bed the night before (due to coughing hard from the cold she was getting over) and she noticed that in the morning when she woke up. I had already changed the sheets because of that whole ordeal but she gets things stuck in her head and keeps repeating them so I figured she was just remembering the spot from this morning and wanted me to come in and give her a little more attention, delaying her nap a little longer. Little did I know she had pooped and was trying to tell me about it. Well during this particular nap she was good and slept on the opposite side of the bed and stayed 100% away from it.

As for the particular nap I wanted to share with you today it involves objects in her bed. I don't know how she gets them in because I make sure there is nothing around the edges of the bed so I don't trip on them when I maneuver her into the bed or when we come in to get her out. On this particular day she was able to get her laundry basket into her bed. I'm not sure how she did it because the basket was about 2-3 feet away from her bed but somehow she was able to do it.

She had actually "quitely" gone to sleep this day so I never suspected something was up. When she woke up I can't remember what she was yelling at me, normally is "open door please!!!", but I'm sure it was something different because I remember thinking it sounded strange and I should probably go get her before anything "bigger" happened, like the normal removal of clothing. When I get the door open this is the first thing I see...


Yes that would be my baby hiding in her laundry basket. And the colorful item in the very bottom left of the picture... That would be her shirt.

At first I panicked because I didn't know what I was looking at. All I saw was the basket and I couldn't see anything inside because I was a little groggy myself. I came in thinking "oh no, she's finally figured how to get out... it's all over!!" After my momentary panic I realized that the basket was happily saying "HI MOMMY!!" and starting to rock as she was trying to sit up. When I finally realized what I was looking at I sprinted out of the room for the camera.

When I got back she was VERY happy to show off her accomplishment. Here are a few pictures of I got of her while she was still in the basket...




I must admit she is one cute kid. I'm just glad we're getting back to a normal nap schedule because she's hitting the terrible twos hard and I think my life would be over if nap time was gone!!

A step up to becoming a BIG girl...

Photo From: http://www.babiesadvantage.com

So I've been trying really hard to decide what Riann's first "big girl" step would be (potty training, giving up the paci, or moving into a big girl bed) and well...
in an upset tirant, both on Riann and my part, it was decided that the first thing to go would be her paci. I was little upset at her today because she woke up cranky and threw a couple of fits right when she woke up. By the time she was throwing her last one she had gone back into her bedroom and pulled her paci out of her bed and walked into the hall with it in her mouth while she was crying as loud as she could. When I saw her I gave her 3 warnings, saying "You need to go put that back in your bed", and then on her last warning I counted to 3 because she's normally good at responding at that point, at least by 2 she's moving because she knows that it's not worth the fight. Well with this particular fight she didn't put it back and she didn't move like she was going to put it back, so I decided it was time. Well... fast foward through some MAJOR frustration and her paci is now in pieces in the garbage. I knew I wanted to cut her off soon but I didn't plan on it being today. I just feel really bad because her paci was her favorite thing about bed time. She'd get giddy when it was time to wrap up in her blanket, hold her night-night doll and have her paci.

After we finally calmed down (you'd think she had just found out her favorite pet had just died) we talked it over and she seemed okay. She did alright with her nap but it took about an hour, and a few visits into her room, for her to get down.

A friend said to substitute a glass of warm milk or something like that, something that signals it's bed time and something that's soothing, so we're going to give that a shot for the next couple of nights and see how it goes.

I feel really bad about it because I can look at her and tell she's been crying all day over it. I don't know if that is just because I've been here all day with her as she's moaped about it or if she really is depressed about it but she just hasn't been herself. She's also been good at taking it out when we get her up and leaving it in her bed and so it's never really been that big of a deal to me but she likes to sneak in and go grab it and that's where the frustration was starting to kick in. I think we were in the habit of allowing her to go and grab it once or twice a day not realizing that she had it right away and then getting in tiny arguments as we tried to get her to put it back.

I hope I wasn't too hard on her but I wanted her to see that it was gone and that it wasn't coming back. I wish it had been more of a celebration of her growing up and moving onto the next step but I don't know if that would have worked. I hope that she does well over the next couple of nights and that she understands that it will really be okay.