Rylee's 1st Birthday Party

This past Saturday (three days ago), we had a little party with family and a few good friends to celebrate Rylee's first birthday, which was this past Wednesday (the 15th). The party started at 3 in the afternoon (I wanted to make sure Rylee could get her nap in first so she wouldn't be cranky) and lasted for about an hour and a half or so. I bought some chips and stuff for everyone to snack on, and I ordered Rylee's birthday cake from Publix. Since it was her first birthday, Publix made Rylee her own little cake to dig into for no extra charge. It was a lot bigger than I expected it to be, so I was really pleased. Of course I got some ice cream as well. It was so much fun to watch her play with her cake (I think she only really ate a bite or two... the rest ended up ON her). She made such a mess! At one point, she wiped her face with her hands and got icing ALL OVER her face, in her eye, and in her hair. We gave her a bath earlier in the day before her party, and we quickly realized we should've just waited until after her fun with her cake. Jordan ended up stripping her down and washing her off in the kitchen sink before we opened her gifts. Rylee got several nice gifts, including some cute outfits, a couple of books, and some money for her savings account. It was nice to be able to celebrate Rylee's first birthday with the people who love her the most. Below are some pictures from her special day:

the snacks

the big cake

Rylee's little cake

Rylee's cake with the candle on it

Daddy helping Rylee blow the candle out

yummy!

Such a MESS!

Rylee's birthday balloons

Rylee's birthday presents

opening presents

11 Weeks/Father's Day

I am so behind on my blog right now. So much has been going on the past week or two - all things I want to blog about - but I just haven't had much time to actually sit down and do it. I completely missed blogging about my 10th week of pregnancy because Jordan and I were on vacation in Tennessee for our two-year anniversary. I've been working on a post about that trip for a few days now, when I've had a few spare minutes, and I'm still nowhere near finishing it. Hopefully I'll be able to post it in the next day or two, but we'll see. I promise it's coming, though. I did take a few minutes the other day to do a short post on Rylee's birthday so I wouldn't miss that, but we had a birthday party for her on Saturday (two days ago) that I want to post about, so be on the lookout for that as well. Right now, though, I wanted to try to do a quick pregnancy update since I entered my 11th week yesterday. I don't want to get two weeks behind. Yesterday was also Father's Day, so I'll post a few pictures of Rylee and Jordan, etc.
First things first - I am now 11 weeks pregnant. I still haven't noticed too many changes in the symptoms I'm experiencing yet, except the fact that my sciatica is slowly but surely getting worse (I was hurting pretty badly during Rylee's party on Saturday). I'm praying it won't get as bad as it did while I was pregnant with Rylee, but I'm afraid it will since it's flaring up so early this time. I'm still experiencing nausea on and off throughout the day (although I felt pretty great ALMOST the entire time we were in Tennessee, which was definitely a blessing), but as long as I eat often, that helps a lot. I still get worn out pretty easily, but overall, I don't feel as fatigued as I did the first few weeks. I took a belly picture last night, and I can definitely see a bit of a difference between it and my belly picture from my 9th week (I missed taking one for week 10). I don't know that I've gained any weight yet, but my tummy is definitely starting to pooch out a little. Here's the belly picture:

I can tell that I'm growing faster this time around than I did when I was pregnant with Rylee. Anyway, that's about it in the way of a pregnancy update for now.
As I mentioned above, yesterday was Father's Day. My daddy is actually staying with us right now (he drove up from Florida on Wednesday to be here for Rylee's birthday/party), so it was nice to be able to visit with him yesterday. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday:

Below are a few pictures of Jordan and Rylee on Father's Day last year - their first Father's Day together. Rylee was only five days old. I can't believe how much she's grown. It has been a quick year.

My Baby Girl Is 1!

Exactly one year ago today, I held my beautiful baby girl in my arms for the very first time, and my life changed forever. Although much of that eventful day is now a blur to me, I will never forget the way I felt when I heard her cry as she took her first breath outside my womb, and I finally got to see her sweet face - something I had anxiously been awaiting for nine long months. I was immediately head-over-heels in love in a way that I had never been before. She was absolutely perfect, and she was mine.
I can't believe it's been a year. I can't believe my BABY is a year old now (and starting to take steps!). It has definitely been the BEST year of my life. I am so thankful for every second God has blessed me with as a mommy, and I pray for many many more years of blessings with my precious baby girl (and my baby on the way, too, of course). My Rylee is such an incredible gift, and I can't imagine my life without her.
Happy 1st birthday to my beautiful, sweet Rylee! Mommy loves you more than you will EVER know!
Below are a few pictures I took today, as well as a video of Rylee opening the gift her daddy and I gave her.

my birthday girl

I wrapped her present with newspaper comics.

playing with her birthday present from Mommy and Daddy - her very own phone!

playing with her birthday present from Mommy and Daddy - her very own phone!

my sweet birthday girl and me

Daddy and Rylee (she's holding up her finger to show how old she is!)

(I know I am behind on my weekly pregnancy update (I entered my 10th week on Sunday), but Jordan and I were in Tennessee over the weekend for our two-year anniversary, and we did not have internet access in our cabin. I might try to do a pregnancy update in the next day or two, or I might just skip the update for week 10, since I'm already half-way to week 11 now. I will most definitely TRY to post about our anniversary trip in the next day or two, though. Stay tuned.)

Oh, Blue Bell, How I Love Thee!

June is one of my favorite months, for several reasons. My wedding anniversary is in June. My precious baby girl was born in June. My daddy's birthday is also in June. And... Blue Bell ice cream releases its Century Sundae flavor in June. That might sound like something pretty silly to get excited about, but I'm telling you... this ice cream is AMAZING. It consists of Blue Bell's homemade vanilla ice cream, swirled with caramel and chocolate sauces, a whipped topping and diced maraschino cherries. Oh yes. I know your mouth is watering. Unfortunately, Century Sundae is one of Blue Bell's "rotational" flavors, meaning it's only released for three months during the year, beginning in June. I think it's pretty cruel on Blue Bell's part to not offer this ice cream year-round, but it's definitely worth the wait. I can't tell you how many half gallon containers of this stuff I ate just in the first 14 days of June before I had Rylee last year. Or how many MORE I ate after she was born, before the flavor was retired for the year at the end of August.
This week, Publix has Blue Bell ice cream on sale, 2 for $9. I also had two $1-off coupons. However, when I got to Publix today, THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY CENTURY SUNDAE!!! I was slightly disappointed, to say the least. Don't get me wrong - I love my Publix - but WHAT are they thinking not carrying Century Sundae?! Fear not, though. I quickly remembered that Walmart does price matching, so I simply swung by after I finished my shopping at Publix. Thankfully, Walmart's ice cream aisle was fully stocked, complete with plenty of Century Sundae. I grabbed two, made my way to the check-out line, and got them for the same sale price (with $2 extra off, thanks to my coupons) I would have had I bought them from Publix. (I actually ended up getting them a tad bit cheaper at Walmart, only because the sales tax is slightly lower in Millbrook than it is in Prattville.) I rarely go to Walmart anymore, but I sure am thankful for their price-matching policy in situations like this. So tonight, I enjoyed a bowl of Blue Bell Century Sundae ice cream for the first time in almost a year. And boy was it YUMMY!

9 Weeks

Yesterday, I entered my 9th week of pregnancy. As with my last pregnancy post, I don't feel like I have any real updates yet. I still don't feel good all the time. I'm still tired all the time. Just kinda the story of my life right now. I know it's all worth it, though.
I took a belly picture last night, but I decided to wait until today to do this post since I had my first prenatal doctor appointment today. It was a pretty uneventful appointment. A nurse came in to get my weight (107 pounds... the same starting weight I was when I was pregnant with Rylee) and check my blood pressure (102/60), and then Dr. Dupre came in to talk for a few minutes. We didn't get to hear the baby's heartbeat today, which I was kinda bummed about, but it's still too early to hear it with the little machine they use. We should be able to hear it when we go to my next appointment on July 5.
Jordan, Rylee, and my sister, Amanda, all went to my appointment with me, so while we were there, I took a picture of Amanda and Rylee with Dr. Dupre. He delivered Amanda 10 years ago by c-section, and he delivered Rylee last year, so I thought it would be nice to get a picture of the three of them together. It's neat to have a doctor who has delivered two generations of babies in our family.
Well, that's really all I have to say for this post. I haven't been up to much lately, with not feeling well and whatnot, so I don't have much to write about today. Below is the belly picture I took last night, followed by the picture of Dr. Dupre with Rylee and Amanda.

9 weeks pregnant (Sunday, June 5, 2011)

Date Night at the Ball Field

Jordan and I went to the "Family Faith Night" Montgomery Biscuits baseball game last night. It was the first game either of us had been to since we first started dating back in 2008, so it was really nice to finally go back and have a night out together (my mom watched Rylee for us). We got to the field about a half hour or so before the game started, and I went ahead and got something to eat so I wouldn't start feeling sick. Out of all the food options available there, I decided to get a taco salad. I was pretty surprised myself, because lately, I haven't wanted anything with beef. For whatever reason, though, when I smelled it, I couldn't resist it. Thankfully, it was pretty good, and I was able to eat almost all of it. Jordan ended up getting a chicken fingers and fries basket. The game wasn't all that great, unfortunately. The Biscuits didn't play very well, and made errors left and right (I think they had 8 total; the Mississippi Braves didn't make any errors, if I remember correctly). The Biscuits ended up losing 11-3.
After the game, there was a fireworks show presented by Max Federal Credit Union. Over all - even though our team lost - it was still an enjoyable night, and I'm thankful we had the opportunity to go. Below are a few pictures I took at the game, followed by a short video clip I shot of the fireworks finale.

the Biscuits on the field at the beginning of the game

the Mississippi Braves prepare to bat

Jordan... with a mouth full of food

the Biscuits on the field in the top of the third inning

the Biscuits team mascot, "Big Mo"

We All Scream For Ice Cream

If a stranger were to walk into my house right now and look in my freezer, I think he or she would immediately know I was pregnant. Why? Well... because this is what is currently in my freezer (among other frozen goods, of course):

That's right... FIVE containers of Breyers ice cream. Confession: there was actually a SIXTH container of the Chips Ahoy! kind, but it's already gone (we took it over to my parents' house on Monday afternoon to share with them for our Memorial Day lunch. I didn't like it very much, so I didn't mind sharing. (On that note, I'm not pleased with the Whoppers kind either, which is a big disappointment to me, since Whoppers are one of my favorite kinds of candy.)). Anyway, I know it might seem a bit overboard to have this much ice cream at one time, but Publix had them on sale for buy one, get one free last week, and I had coupons for them as well, so I feel those two things together justified the purchase. Besides, it's not like it's going to go to waste around here. All five of those containers will probably be gone by sometime next week. (Another confession: the Whoppers kind and the Waffle Cone kind are both almost already gone.) Hey, it's summer, and it's starting to get HOT outside. So, bring on the ice cream!
On a totally different, unrelated note, we had a little "issue" with the large Bradford Pear tree in our front yard (the one that I've posted pictures of before in a previous post). By "issue", I mean that when Jordan walked out to his truck early yesterday morning to leave for work, this is what he saw (except it was still dark outside, so he couldn't see EVERYTHING; I took these pictures later in the morning):

That's right. We FINALLY get his truck paid off, and then a HUGE tree limb decides to fall on the hood. Figures. You would think we must have had some severe weather, or at least some strong winds, to cause the limb to split from the trunk, right? WRONG. This is simply typical Bradford Pear tree behavior. THANKFULLY, the fallen limb completely missed our house (the tree is right in front of our bedroom windows), and although it fell on the truck, it didn't actually dent it or leave any major scratches. We got lucky for sure. Unfortunately, we have now lost a good bit of the natural shade the tree provided for our bedroom. I'm also nervous about leaving the remainder of the tree up. Now that we know how easily the limbs can fall - and possibly the entire rest of the tree - I don't want to risk it falling on our house. It would look so weird to not have that big tree in front of the house, but it might be for the best.
Anyway, I reckon that's it for this post. I'll leave you with this, though: my baby girl will be a year old in exactly two weeks from today. YIKES!