Rylee is Walking! (And Other Updates)

I feel like I haven't written a good update post on Rylee in a while. She is getting so big so fast. Sometimes I look at her, and I just can't believe she's the same little girl I brought home from the hospital a YEAR ago now. Where has the time gone?
I spend all day every day taking care of her, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I realize more and more every day how blessed I am to have the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mommy, and I'm so thankful to have a wonderful, supportive husband who works so hard to ensure that I can continue to stay home and raise our children.
Rylee has been on a good eating/sleeping schedule since she was about 4 months old, thanks to an outline and some encouragement/guidance from her wonderful pediatrician. We start our day bright and early at 6 in the morning (okay, so I might hit the snooze button until 6:15 or so... a few extra minutes never hurt anyone...). I drag myself out of bed (something that has become a lot harder to do since I've gotten pregnant again), get Rylee's breakfast ready in the kitchen, and then make my way to her room to get her up, change her diaper, and get her dressed for the day. Every now and then, I wake her up when I walk into her room, but most every morning, she is already awake and waiting for me to come get her. She always greets me with a smile or a squeal or some slew of "words" that I have yet to understand. After I get her changed and dressed, I take her into the kitchen to feed her breakfast consisting of cereal and fruit or yogurt. After breakfast, we go into the living room and watch some good ol' re-runs of Saved By The Bell on TBS (oh come on... you know you still watch Saved By The Bell. I've seen every episode probably at least 50 times, and I never get tired of it.) while we play on the floor with Rylee's toys. Here are some pictures I snapped of Rylee this morning during play time:

that's our cat, Haiti, in the background

Around 8:30, Rylee starts rubbing her eyes, and it's time to put her down for her morning nap. I let her sleep until about 9:45, and then it's time to play some more until lunch around 11:15. Her lunch "menu" varies now that she's allowed to eat "real people" food. We still have a few jars of baby fruits and vegetables that we need her to finish up, so she usually eats one of each of those for lunch. Today, however, she ate chicken nuggets and grapes with Mommy. I can't believe she can eat the same food I can now. And believe me, she has no problem eating the food right off my plate. Forget that I have a growing baby inside of me that I need to be nourishing as well. After lunch, we play some more (lots of playing... sounds like a tough day, huh?) until it's time for her afternoon nap around 1. I try to take advantage of her naps times and work on stuff around the house, since it's my only opportunity to do things while I don't have to keep up with her, but more often than not lately, I've been snagging a nap myself while she's down. Being pregnant and keeping up with an active one-year-old can certainly take its toll on a woman. Nap time has become a dear friend to me the past several weeks. I wake Rylee up from her afternoon nap around 2:45, and the playing continues (surprise, surprise). Sometimes I'll treat her to a popsicle... she LOVES popsicles. Finally, around 5:15, I feed her dinner, and the rest of the evening is devoted to even MORE play time and wind-down time until bedtime at 7. It's a day full of smiles, giggles, dirty diapers, singing Bible songs and nursery rhymes, playing with Daddy's matchbox cars, picking food out of her hair... and sometimes mine as well, tickling, and so much more. And I love every single second of it. I am so thankful God has blessed me with such an incredible gift - motherhood.
Rylee is such a sweet girl, but she certainly has her "moments" just like all other babies. Right now, we are really struggling with her hitting and biting. I don't understand where she learned this behavior from, as she certainly doesn't see Jordan and me hitting or biting each other. It's pretty frustrating, because she's not quite old enough for us to start spanking her (when that means of discipline is necessary), but popping her hand doesn't seem to be doing the trick, and I'm afraid we're sending her mixed signals. We tell her "NO HITTING!", but then we hit her hand in return as punishment. Is that right? I don't know, but I don't know what else to do, and we don't want to just let her get away with this behavior. As for the biting, it's not quite as much of an issue as the hitting - YET, but it's a problem nonetheless. She only has two teeth right now, but I'm afraid it'll get worse as she gets more teeth and figures out how to "use" them to her advantage. We will definitely have to figure out some way to "nip" these two bad habits of hers in the bud soon, before she starts hitting and/or biting other people. I don't think that would reflect too well on Jordan and me as parents. We're certainly doing the best we can, but as my dad often reminds me, "You don't have to teach a baby how to sin." It's crazy/unfortunate how early/easily our sinful natures come out. Thanks a lot, Adam and Eve. You just HAD to eat the fruit, didn't you?
On a more positive, exciting note, Rylee has started walking! Lord, help me! She started taking steps a couple weeks ago (I wish I had written down the exact day she first did it, but of course, I forgot), and she is getting more and more daring with each passing day. At first, she would only take a couple steps to me or Jordan or whoever was waiting to "catch" her, but in the past few days, she has started "venturing" out more, walking from the couch to her Exersaucer, etc. I just can't believe my baby girl is starting to walk. I tell you, I am REALLY going to have my hands full with her once she really gets the hang of this whole walking thing. She is going to be ALL over the place, getting into EVERYTHING. And in January, I'm going to have a brand new baby to take care of ON TOP OF keeping up with her. How on earth am I going to do this? Thank the Lord I have six months to TRY to prepare myself. Each day will definitely be an adventure, but I am looking forward to it.
One other thing Rylee has really started to do lately is "talk". She has been saying simple things like "Mama" and "Dada" for several months now (more-so "Dada" than "Mama", unfortunately), but recently, she has really found her voice. She will look at us with this intent, determined expression on her face and just "talk" and "talk" and "talk" like she's trying to tell us something important, and it's so funny, because we have absolutely no idea what on earth she is trying to say. Sometimes we think we can make out certain things she's saying, but we have no real way of knowing for sure until she learns how to pronounce her words better. In the meantime, we are getting a kick out of all her gibberish. We love having conversations with her - they can get quite interesting and animated sometimes.
That's all the major updates on Rylee that I can think of to mention right now, although I'm sure I'm probably forgetting something, as it seems she does something new every single day. For now, though, I'll leave you with a short video clip I shot of her this morning during play time walking to her ExerSaucer. It's shorter than I intended it to be because the memory card suddenly got full and cut off on me, but you can still see her walking, which is the focus of the clip. Enjoy!