Pics From Our Trip to Florida

Since we've been home for almost two weeks now, I figured it was about time I posted the pictures from our trip to Florida to visit my daddy. Of course I'm not in any of the pictures, because I was always the one taking the pictures, but that's okay. Most of the pictures are just of Rylee at my daddy's apartment, but some of them are from when we took her to the park one day while we were there. Anyway, here they are:

She loves Kix cereal!

yummy milk!

I sure do love that smile!

watching cartoons and eating Kix cereal

mouthful of Kix cereal

watching cartoons at Grandpa's

smiling through a mouthful of Kix cereal

She's getting sleepy!

heavy eyes... sleepy girl

showing us that she swallowed the bite of food she was chewing

napping with her "baby" on Grandpa's couch

napping with her "baby" on Grandpa's couch

walking through the park with Daddy (I love this picture - so precious!)

walking through the park with Daddy

swinging at the park with Daddy

She loves to swing!

swinging at the park with Daddy

Daddy helping Rylee go down the slide at the park; Grandpa is ready to catch her!

flirting with a little boy at the park; he did NOT seem too happy about it!

watching the train by the park

playing in the dirt at the park

playing in the dirt at the park

dancing with Daddy at the Al's Landing restaurant

showing off her new purse from Grandpa (I think she looks so grown-up in this picture!)

napping with Daddy and her "baby" on Grandpa's couch

getting sleepy

She loves her "baby"... and sucking her thumb!

trying on one of the Christmas items for sale at Home Depot

We enjoyed our visit. It's hard to believe that the next time we make a trip down to Florida, we'll have TWO kids! Yikes!

Halloween

Monday (two days ago) was Halloween. It wasn't Rylee's first Halloween, but since she was only 4 months old last Halloween, we never dressed her up or took her out to do anything. So, this year was her first "real" Halloween experience. My mom found a ladybug costume for her at a yard sale a few months ago, and it fit her perfectly (thanks, Mom!). Thankfully, she didn't mind wearing it, although she wasn't too fond of having the hooded part over her head.
Our church had a free Halloween festival called "Light the Night with Jesus", so Jordan and I took Rylee to enjoy some family fun and get some candy. Our Sunday school class hosted one of the games there, so I sat by it for a while to help greet kids and hand out candy while Jordan walked around with Rylee. Later in the evening, we rode on the hayride together. I was nervous that Rylee would get scared, but she actually seemed to really enjoy it. She just sat in Jordan's lap and looked around, and anytime we would say, "Rylee, are you having fun? Say 'Wee!'", she would say "Wee!". It was cute. We all had an enjoyable night and were thankful to get to spend the time together as a family.
Here are some pictures of Rylee in her costume. The first three pictures were taken by one of the women we go to church with when we first got to the festival, and I took the rest of the pictures when we got home. They're not the best pictures in the world (we could never really get her to stay still, look at us, and smile), but they're better than nothing.

Isn't she the cutest little ladybug you've ever seen?! I sure do love her!

30 Weeks

Okay, before I say anything else, I know I still haven't posted pictures from our time in Florida a couple weeks ago like I said I would. I will try to do a post with them sometime this week... maybe. Or maybe not. You'll just have to wait and see, I guess. (For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, I have already uploaded them in one of my photo albums.) Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there.
Now then... today, I am 30 weeks pregnant with Ryan. Three-fourths of the way to the "finish line". *Inhales and exhales deep breath.* I really don't have much to say today other than the fact that I had to try on three or four different shirts this morning before I finally found one that actually covered my entire stomach. And these are MATERNITY shirts I'm talking about, people. I think that pretty much sums it up. I am officially huge. (Okay, let me specify there: my BELLY is officially huge.) I feel like a broken record saying this, but I just honestly don't see how it's possible that I still have TEN weeks until I'm due to have this baby. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if I actually make it that long... For now, I am just thankful to have a healthy, growing baby on the way. I so can't wait to meet him. I can't wait to hold him in my arms. I can't wait to look into his eyes for the first time. (I wonder what color they'll be...?) I can't wait to smell him (I know that might sound weird, but you fellow mommies know what I mean). I can't wait to kiss his precious little cheeks and nose. I can't wait to see Jordan hold him for the first time. I can't wait to introduce him to Rylee and see her reaction. I just can't wait. Can I please have him NOW?! 70 more days... 70 more days...
Here we are tonight:

29 Weeks

As promised on Saturday, here I am to post my pregnancy update entry. Aren't you proud of me? Anyway, yesterday I entered the 29th week of my pregnancy. I'm telling you, the weeks are really FLYING by. I simply cannot believe my baby boy will be here in just 11 weeks (if not sooner). 11 weeks might sound like a long time to some people, but I'm telling you, folks - it's NOT. We still have so much to do to get prepared for this baby boy. We don't even have his crib up yet. I know we'll get everything done, though - I'm not even stressed about it... yet. I'm sure I can owe that to Rylee for keeping me too busy to even think about it and subsequently get stressed over it. Thank you, Rylee. What would Mommy do without you? (Goodness. I feel like this post is already so all over the place, and I haven't even really started the "update" part of it yet. Could it be because at this very moment, I'm slightly distracted watching GORGEOUS Derek Hough on Dancing With the Stars? Surely not... (And for the record, I totally think my husband is even more gorgeous than Derek is... really, I do. He just can't dance quite as good as Derek can...) Okay... back to my post now...)
ANYWAY, I went to the doctor today for another check-up and to have my blood drawn for my glucose test. Thankfully, I was able to drink all of the fruit punch flavored glucose stuff in the time I was supposed to before my appointment (okay... so technically I finished it one minute AFTER I was supposed to... big whoop). I got to my appointment about 20 minutes early. After a while, a nurse called me back to draw my blood. Thankfully, although I'm pretty thin, I've got really good veins in my arms, so the nurse had no problem sticking me. When she finished, I went back out to the waiting room until another nurse called me back to a room to get ready to see the doctor.
My blood pressure was good as always, thankfully. I've gained 7 pounds since my appointment last month (total pregnancy weight gain so far is 18 pounds), so I'm up to 125 pounds now. My "height of fundus" is 30 centimeters, so I'm still measuring a week ahead in that aspect. I'm telling you, this baby boy is getting bigger every day! (That's one of those "duh!" statements, I know, but I'm just saying...) I have a feeling I'm going to gain a bit more weight with him than I did when I was pregnant with Rylee. Guess we'll wait and see. Anyway, since I had to drink the glucose stuff before my appointment, Ryan was on a sugar high and gave the nurse a run for her money when she was trying to listen to his heart rate. He kept squirming around, so it took her a minute to finally lock in on it, but once she did, it sounded good and strong as always at 162 beats per minute. Oh, I just love hearing his heart beat... such sweet, sweet music to this mommy's ears. Anyway, one of the things I was going to ask my doctor about was if I should go ahead and get a flu shot, but the nurse ended up asking me about it while she was in the room with me, so she went ahead and gave me one before she left (I barely felt it at the time, but now my hip is pretty sore. Don't you just love that about shots?). After a little while, Dr. Dupre finally came in to chat with me for a bit. As always, he said that everything looks great and that I'm doing a "fantastic" job and that I've had a "phenomenal" first two trimesters. Guess I can't complain about that, huh? So, all continues to go well.
Now that I'm in my third trimester (confession: this fact totally caught me off guard today. I'm telling you, the weeks are seriously flying by, and I can't even keep up with my own pregnancy. I'm already in my third trimester!), I will start going for check-ups every two weeks instead of every four weeks, so my next appointment is two weeks from today on Monday, November 7th. I'll meet with Dr. Dupre as usual, but before that, I'm going to have a 4-D ultrasound done, so I'm REALLY looking forward to that. I can't wait to see my precious baby boy's face! Hopefully he will cooperate and we'll get some great pictures of him. When we had a 4-D ultrasound done with Rylee, she did NOT cooperate, so we had to go back for a second attempt. Thankfully, though, we were able to get some GREAT shots of her the second time. So we'll see how it goes with Ryan. Anyway, I reckon that's all I've got for today, so I'll go ahead and post the belly pictures I'm sure you're just dying to see... right? First is the belly picture from last Sunday when I was 28 weeks (remember, I was in Florida, so I didn't have a chance to do an actual 28-week post). The second picture was taken last night.

28 weeks pregnant (Sunday, Oct. 16, 2011)

29 weeks pregnant (Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011)

Can you tell a difference? I almost think I look bigger in the 28-week picture, but maybe it's just because my pants are a little lower under my belly. I don't know. Anyway, that's it for now. Until next time...

I'm Still Here...

Hello, poor, forsaken blog. Yes, I am still alive. Sorry I haven't posted in a little while. Jordan, Rylee, and I went to Florida for a few days to visit with my daddy and aunt, and while there, I only got on the internet a couple of times, and just long enough to check my email and Facebook real quick. We arrived at my daddy's late Friday night (last Friday... not yesterday), and came back home two days ago on Thursday. We had a nice visit. I plan to do a separate post about it in the next couple of days (with a little more detail and pictures). I just don't feel like going through the pictures and stuff right now.
For now, I just wanted to check in before anymore time passes without me posting. I know I'm behind on my pregnancy update post, since I entered my 28th week last Sunday while we were down in Florida. Thankfully, I did remember to have Jordan take a belly picture of me, so I'll just share it in my 29-week pregnancy update entry, which I'll probably wait until Monday to post, since I have a doctor appointment (for my glucose test) that day.
As I mentioned earlier, we got home from our trip to Florida on Thursday afternoon. That evening, after we got Rylee to bed, Jordan and I were able to relax and watch a Netflix movie before we went to bed. The next day, yesterday, we enjoyed hanging around the house with Rylee. Around 2:30, we took her over to my parents' house. My mom offered to watch her for us so we could go on a little date to the movies to see Courageous. We NEVER go to the movies anymore, because it has just gotten so expensive, but we really wanted to support this movie since it has such a great, Godly message behind it. (It's from the same producers of the movies Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof.) Thankfully, we were able to take advantage of our local theater's super bargain matinee ticket price, so it only cost us $10. Here's my handsome hubby and me in the theater waiting for the movie to start:

The movie was great. I wish I had taken a box of tissues with me, though, because I cried like a baby on and off through the entire thing. We will definitely be adding it to our family movie collection when it comes out on DVD. When we got out of the movie, we picked up some Marco's pizza and headed back to my parents' house to have dinner with them and pick up Rylee. It was a good day.
Today has been a pretty laid-back day for the most part. Jordan was sweet enough to make eggs and bacon for us for breakfast. At 2 o'clock, I went to a baby shower for my sweet friend, Rachel. I worked with her at Chocodelphia, and we "hit it off" immediately. She and her husband, Ross, are expecting their first child - a girl - in just a few weeks. I am so excited for them, and I can't wait to meet their precious Emma. I know they are going to be fantastic parents. Here are a couple of pictures of me (and my big boy) before I headed to her shower:

And here's a picture of me with the beautiful mommy-to-be:

She's due in just a few weeks (November 11th). I'm not due until January 8th. Is it just me, though, or does it look like it should be the other way around? Lordy, Lordy... I think I've got one BIG boy "cooking" in there! I sure can't wait to meet him, though!
Anyway, that's what we've been up to since we got home from Florida. Not much, but it's been nice. I'm NOT looking forward to Jordan returning to work on Monday. I guess all vacations must come to an end eventually, though. Anyway, like I said, I'll try to post the pictures we took while down in Florida (I think they're all of Rylee, but what else do you expect?) in the next few days. Until then...

27 Weeks

I hate that I'm a few days late posting this pregnancy update entry, but I've been pretty busy lately. Jordan and I hit the JACKPOT on hand-me-down boy clothes and stuff from some sweet people Jordan used to go to church with. They have two young grandsons, and they literally had to get a storage unit for all of the clothes and toys and stuff they've outgrown. So, two weekends ago, Jordan and I got to go through the unit and take ANYTHING we wanted/needed. We ended up filling up our truck's bed TWICE with stuff... a crib (thank you, Jesus!), a wagon, a Little Tykes tricycle, three or four tubs of toys to go through, a walker, a bouncer, a stroller, two sets of crib bedding, Angelcare baby monitors (yay!), several other miscellaneous things, and my favorite... probably ten tubs FULL of clothes, sized preemie all the way up to at least 12 months (I think there's some size 18 months stuff too, and possibly even size 24 months, but I can't remember right this second). There are also socks, shoes of all sizes, bibs, and hats scattered throughout the tubs. I'm telling you, we are absolutely OVERWHELMED (in a very good way) with all the stuff we got from them. I can't even describe how blessed we feel to have such loving, generous people in our lives. This helped us out in so many ways, and we are SO thankful for how God has provided for us so far in helping prepare us for the arrival of our baby boy. Needless to say, though, I have been BURIED under baby clothes the past week trying to go through everything. I am fortunate to know a few other people (my pastor's wife, one of my aunts, and one or two other people) who have baby boy clothes that they've been willing to pass on to me as well, so I'm trying to go through everything and separate what we want and need from what we don't. I have a friend who is expecting her first baby right now, and it's a boy, so thankfully I have someone I can pass stuff on to that I don't need. I've already filled up at least 10 grocery bags of clothes for her. Like I said, we have been blessed to have received a LOT of hand-me-downs recently. For the record, in case I've never said it on here before, I LOVE hand-me-downs. Basically ALL of Rylee's clothes are hand-me-downs as well, and I'm so thankful for that. It has saved Jordan and me a TON of money (that we don't have) by not having to buy her new clothes every few months. I'm telling you, hand-me-downs have been a huge blessing in our lives. Our children would be naked without them.
So ANYWAY, that's what I've been up to lately... going through baby clothes. Now, on to the main reason for this post. On Sunday, I entered my 27th week of pregnancy. I really don't know what to say at this point, other than I REALLY DON'T THINK I'm going to make it to my due date. I can't see him (obviously), but I think I have one BIG boy growing in my belly. I know I mentioned in my last pregnancy update post that people have started giving me the sympathy look when they ask me when I'm due, but now it's to the point where they're asking me if I'm sure I'm not having twins. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten that question lately. I find it kind of funny, honestly. I got pretty big when I was pregnant with Rylee... I mean, I only gained like 22 pounds with her, but by the end of my pregnancy, I had a big ol' belly. But I was never once asked if I was carrying twins when I was pregnant with her. Now, I haven't even made it to my third trimester yet, and I already look like I could go into labor at any moment. It's just crazy. I'm still hanging in there as best as I can for now, though. My sciatica has been acting up every now and then (it was bothering me pretty bad last night), and my back in general has been bothering me a little more this week, but I think it's because I've been spending a lot of time sitting on my living room floor leaning over bins of baby clothes. As for Ryan, he has been MUCH more active this week. There have been several times where I literally thought he was going to jump right through the side of my stomach. I don't know what he's doing in there, but it really does seem like he's trying to escape already. I can't help but just laugh sometimes at the stuff he's doing lately. I sure can't wait to meet him and see who this person is who has taken over my body. Anyway, that's about all I can think of for now, so here's the belly picture Jordan took of me on Sunday night:

Until next time...

Rylee's First "Sick" Doctor Visit

Well... we made it 15 and a half months without ever having to take Rylee to the doctor for anything other than the routine "well" check-ups. This morning, that "run" unfortunately came to an end.
Yesterday afternoon, when I woke Rylee up from her nap, I noticed her forehead felt really warm. She wasn't acting irritable or anything, but I decided to check her temperature, and sure enough, she had a low fever of 101.5. Because she didn't have any other symptoms and wasn't acting like she was in any discomfort, I didn't give her any medicine. When I checked her temperature again a few hours later before I put her to bed, the fever was gone.
When I woke her up this morning, her chest, stomach, back, face, and neck were covered in small red dots. I checked her temperature, which was normal, and she was still acting like her "normal" self, but I decided to go ahead and call her doctor to see if they thought I should bring her in. Since it's hard to diagnose rashes/break-outs over the phone, they told me to go ahead and bring her in.
When we got there, a nurse called us back and had me put Rylee on the scale first so she could record her weight. She weighed 22lbs, 6oz. fully clothed and with shoes on (normally, when they weigh her at her "well" check-ups, they have us strip her down to her diaper). Then the nurse took us to a room and asked me a few questions about Rylee's symptoms. After a while, her doctor finally came in, and after asking me a few more questions and looking her over, he said she just had a common viral infection. He called it some fancy term that I had never heard before. I Googled her symptoms when we got back home to try to figure out what he told us it was, but I had no luck. Anyway, he said everything should be cleared up by Friday.
So, thankfully, it's nothing serious, and it'll go away on its own with no antibiotics after a couple days.
I am so thankful for the health God has blessed Rylee with so far. I mean, the fact that today was the first time in her almost-16-months of life that we've had to take her to the doctor because she is "sick" is amazing. I mean, she has had a couple of mild colds with a stuffy/runny nose here and there, and she had roseola when she was 9 months old (I mentioned it in one of my previous posts), but in every case so far, even when I've had to call the doctor just to check and see if I needed to take her in, it's been situations where I could just keep a close eye on her here at home unless she started getting worse/getting other symptoms. Today, as it turns out, we could've very well gone without taking her in, as there's nothing we can do to "make her better" (it's a viral infection, so it just has to run its course), but I wanted to be on the safe side and let the doctor reassure me there was nothing more to it, even though she was acting fine.
So, although I'm sorta bummed we did finally have to take her to the doctor for a "sick" visit, I knew it was bound to happen at some point (of course).
Here are a few pictures of Rylee while we were waiting for the doctor to come in:

some of the spots on the back of Rylee's neck

trying to hand me her sippy cup because she was "all done" (If you look closely, you can see some of the red spots on her chest/neck.)