Back for awhile!

Well, we didn't last too long without Internet since Nebraska played last night. Since, it wasn't televised unless pay per viewed, we decided to listen to it for free on huskers.com. What was even better was that they beat Western Michigan 47-24...............GO BIG RED!!! Unfortunately, only our laptop is in working order, so I can't add pictures like I was hoping. But I have some good ones from the past few days. Jason painted Ryleigh's room while we listened and I took some breathers away from the paint every once in awhile. Finally, her room is finished being painted. We went with the color Chantilly Lace, which is a very light, light pink. In fact, if it wasn't next to the white you probably wouldn't be able to tell. Oh, and in one of my pottery barn mags I found this magnetic paint you can buy and then put magnets on it. So, we did half of one of the walls in Ryleigh's new room. The cool thing, you can paint over it, so the wall isn't black. And, since we have stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, the new magnetic wooden letters Ryleigh got for her birthday don't work there but, now they have a new home in her new room!!! It's one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I highly recommend it. Jason wants to put it in an office someday too.

It has been extremely warm here, reaching around 85 today and yesterday. We set up the sprinkler and Ryleigh had tons of fun running through that, as well as Jason. I have some awesome pictures of Ryleigh going through it and her facial expressions just crack me up. Soon I will get them posted....hopefully.

I should also say congrats to our friends, Josh and Amy. They had their sixth child on Friday, a boy, Osborn Alan and the whole clan is healthy and happy. Hopefully we get to meet him soon. I was thinking, what do you get your friends who just had their sixth kid? I remember a few weeks ago, this nurse that I work with wanting to do something for when my little one comes around. She was talking about people signing up to bring meals, then I remembered seeing something a few weeks later along the same lines in one of Andie's blogs and I thought that would be a perfect gift for them.......a nice hot meal. Only thing is, Jason and I are only used to cooking for 2 1/2, not 7, but we will give it our best shot after we make sure when they would like it!!

Ryleigh is a lot like Havyn with all the affection and playing with the dolls and hair. For the past few months she just loves when I play with her hair and brush it. She has always loved me running my fingers through her hair, in fact that is how I used to get her to sleep as a baby. AND bananas, are these two related?? HAHA. The funniest thing is yesterday morning, I made two loaves of banana bread because we fortunately had some bananas that went riper than normal in our house. And then today when I went to read blogs, I just laughed when I read Andie's and making banana bread because I had just made some yesterday, and usually we don't have any either to make it.

Potty training is going AWESOME! This time around she is much more into it, unlike two months ago. We have not had any urine accidents since Wednesday......#2 is a little different. It's like she knows she has to go right when it's about to happen. Yesterday, she came running to me yelling, "mommy...poopy!" So we ran to the bathroom, only thing is one of the little things popped out before we reached the can. She looked at me with one of those, I didn't mean too, looks. But she finished on the toilet. Today we were playing outside when she yelled, "poopy" again, so I picked her up and ran for the house, when we turned the corner this little thing popped out, but again she finished on the toilet. She just needs to learn that sensation a little better. BUT I AM SO PROUD OF HER!!! I think we are going to wear underwear to daycare on Tuesday!! YEAH!! I can't even put into words how excited I am or how excited she gets when she goes. She is so cute too, because she gets to wipe and then flush, and then wash her hands. She is just doing so good!

Sarah, that Wii sounds so fun. I want one so bad, especially the wii fit. I have been begging Jason for one. I also wish we could see the characters better. Sounds hilarious.

Well, I should get going. Jason officially started class last week, but doesn't really have to do anything until Tuesday, so I am going to go hang out with him on the couch. Until next time.....................hopefully it's not too long!!

Another Accident Free Evening!!

YEAH RYLEIGH!! She went potty in her potty chair all afternoon and evening without any accidents! I think she's finally catching on. The true test to see how patient we all three are will begin tomorrow, where we will have three full days of potty training. I know there will be accidents so I am prepared! I am just so proud of how she's done all week! Stickers and marshmallows are my best friends right now. I know bribing isn't the best, but when it works sometimes, I am going to use it. My friend bribed her daughter with treats and she turned out just fine!

Ryleigh was so funny this afternoon. Jason got his hair cut off and boy does he look different. Ryleigh even looked at him funny for awhile. We were all three cleaning up her new room and getting it ready to be painted when she ran her fingers through Jason's hair. I asked her what happened to daddy's hair and she responded with what sounded like, "mowed it"! It was so cute and funny.

Well, we are going to take down the computer next, so I am thinking, even with the laptop that we will probably not be able to get online until we get the computer situated in it's new place. So, it might be a few days until I post another blog or get to read anyone's. (BOO HOO) I am already missing it. Well, have a great holiday weekend and I will get back on as soon as I can.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy 50th birthday to my mama! I am glad we got to hang out with my mom on Sunday because today was so busy, I didn't even get to talk to her until later this evening, even though I sent her a text right away this morning, which she said made her day!! Mom, if you read this, I hope I am as gorgeous and fun as you are when I am your age! She doesn't look anything like 50. Well, we had Ryleigh's 2 year pictures taken this afternoon. She was just as ornery for this camera as she is for mine. I think we got some good ones, though! Now, I have to wait a few weeks to see them. You all should see my tummy...........it's huge! I think I've got a butter ball on the way! At least it's active, and it's picky. It only likes it when I lay a certain way and a trend I have noticed is that it likes to get real active between 9 and 10 pm, so we will have to see if that is when it will be up and at 'em! Well, I just wanted to write a quick post to say Happy Birthday to MOM/Grandma. We love you!

It's Raining, It's Pouring.........

.........and not just rain! Helloooooooooooo, all! I am happy to announce that Jason and I are pretty much ready to have our garage sale, and it's not even until the 6th of Sept. We have pretty much everything priced and ready to go, I just have one more cupboard to go through and a second sweep of my closet. YEAH!

So it's been raining like crazy here all day on and off and is much needed. Our grass and plants look wonderful after getting the drink they needed, too bad we're just getting it now at the end of summer. Ryleigh likes the rain and tried running through it tonight, however since it was lightning out, we didn't let her. The last two days we have been working hard on getting things organized for our garage sale. And let me tell you, the title of the blog not only has to do with rain, but also how much urine a little girl can make. We have decided to be really serious about this potty training business, and since Jason is helping more now, it's 100 times easier. Especially, since she is such a daddy's girl. We have decided we are going to go diaper/pantyless since with both of those she really only tells us after she has gone. So, every evening we are going to be working on this and with the three day weekend coming up, we are hoping that will really help us, help her get this figured out. So, last night we are out in the garage pricing items for the garage sale and we keep telling Ryleigh to tell us when she needs to go potty. Pretty soon, she tells us she went and there is this puddle under her.......ughh. So we explain, no you have to tell us before you go, not after. Then, she does it again like 30 minutes later. By now, I am getting irritated because I feel like I am not getting anywhere with her. Don't get me wrong, I know there will be accidents along the way and all that good stuff, I just get tired of how perfect everyone else's kids are and how girls are "easy". I've begun to realize that Ryleigh is her own little person, she has been from the day she was born and she will always be, not like any other kid, she is unique. AND, I mean this in a very good way. Like I said in an earlier post, I think she is going to be a leader and not the follower. Jason says, "how about we try something different." So....I show her the pee on the ground and I said to her that big girls do not pee on floors, they go in the potty chair, then we went and sat on the toilet and I told her again, this is where we go potty. I go into all these explanations about things and she is so intently listening to me. I am sitting there wondering...........is she getting what I am saying. She finally says, " ok mommy" "all done". So we go back outside, and she is playing in her sand and water table as we are pricing and 15 min later she runs into the garage, saying, "MOMMY, I GOT TO GO POTTY". I am running after her up the steps, into the house, to the bathroom and she sits on the toilet and pees............................OMG, I was so excited b/c I am thinking, FINALLY! So tonight we start all over again once I got home and she did perfect. No accidents and she went potty on the toilet three times. It was awesome and I was happy because it was raining out and I was nervous she'd pee on my carpet, but she didn't. We were doing our "potty dance" and she had stickers all over her shirt and legs, what an exciting evening!!!!

She was also cracking us up during supper. She makes all these funny faces and I was trying to get pictures of them. There are like 7 different faces she makes, and for the life of me, I couldn't get her to make my favorite one. She is such a stinker when I get the camera out. Which reminds me, tomorrow we are having her 2 year pictures taken. Hopefully, she behaves for the camera and hopefully it's not raining for the outside portion.

Today our boss took us out to eat at a nice Italian restaurant for lunch, since we have all been working our buns off. The restaurant is one of mine and Jason's favorite, however we only treat ourselves to it on very special occasions. So, when Jason takes me there for our anniversary(wink, wink), I know just what I am getting. I had shrimp and seafood cannelloni. Oh, was it ever good. Tomorrow my mamma turns 50. She has requested no parties, and since I am currenlty an only child, while my brother remains somewhere beneath the ocean, I have decided to go along with her pleas. So, only a gift will have to do, but I am going to get her a gag gift too. Her and dad are heading to Neb next week to spend with their parents, taking them to dr appts and such. They are really looking forward to it, but they are going to have some serious Ryleigh withdrawals, I'm afraid. Just a week before Jason starts school, a few weeks before he heads to Ohio, then comes back for our anniversary and then heads to KS for his hunting trip, so sorry if my blogging is not as often until then, we are trying to get in some good "us time" before this all starts. Oh and I added some pictures to the last couple of blogs now that are computer is hopefully fixed. But, don't hold your breath, I am sure it's just a temporary fix!

Wild Weekend

It's been a few days, so I decided I'd better get on here and let ya'll know what's going on in this part of the country. We had a lot of fun at Bill and Katie's wedding, and it was good to see everyone. We stayed at Adams house, a friend of ours who used to live in Mankato and now lives in Sioux Falls. Bill and Katie both looked great! I was happy to be the sober cab, even though I don't think anyone had too much to drink. We got back to Adam's at around 1 am and just hung out with him and his girly friend, Angela. She is a real sweetie and we all ended up talking way into the night. Jason finally said something about it being 3 am and we all decided it was time to hit the sack. I don't think I have stayed up that late for at least 2 1/2 years. HAHA. Time just slipped away from us. Ryleigh had spent the night at Danny and Terri's both Thursday and Friday, so we got up and left Sioux Falls around 10 am, so we could go pick her up because we were both missing her pretty good. It sounds like she had a wonderful time at their place, they had many funny stories about things that she did.

I love summer, but I also love the fall. The smell of bonfires, kettle corn..........the start of football season, and the coolness in the air (jeans and t-shirt weather). That is the reason why Jason and I wanted to get married in the fall, even though the day we got married it was 98 degrees in Garden City. Well, since the air is now cooling, we decided it was a good weekend to get the new pool cleaned and put away, so Jason focused on that today. Jason loves the fall too, probably because hunting season begins. He is excited for the upcoming season. He is not however, excited about school starting up again, but it will be here in a few weeks. So, before it starts we want to have this garage sale next weekend. So, this weekend we also cleaned house, closets, etc. And boy did we ever get a pile! I really worked hard on getting rid of things, so I think Jason is happy with that. The office that once looked like a tornado went through it, is now spotless and ready to be painted, and I think, with my mom's help, I found the perfect shade of pink for it.

Ryleigh is doing good. When we went to get her from Danny and Terri, she looked like she had grown so much, so I weighed her when we got home and she has gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks. She is counting to 10 all by herself and did it three times today without missing any numbers and all by herself. She also knows her colors(rainbow) pretty good, so now I am adding in new ones. Her ABC's change on a weekly basis. I think she knows more than she lets on, because there are times she will just say them when we aren't asking her to say them, but then when we ask her to say them, she giggles and won't do it or skips letters. She is what you call VERY STUBBORN!! We worked on potty training today. She went diaper-less all day, but kept telling us after she had gone. The few times she did go on the toilet was when I took her about two hours after she went the last time. AND, she won't go on her potty chair anymore, she has to go on the "big" toilet. So, I have her step stool in front of the toilet with one of those fitted toddler seats on the regular seat, so she can go on the "big" chair! She is talking up a storm and is putting many words together to make sentences. The funniest thing she is saying right now is "honey" after everything, which I think is because I call her honey and Jason honey when I am talking to them, and she calls everyone honey. It's pretty cute.

My parents stopped over this evening because they were having "Ryleigh withdrawals"! My mom turns 50 on Thursday, so we all went out to eat to celebrate her birthday. And Ryleigh sang happy birthday today for her, with my help of course. She did sing it herself too, but it was the same verse over and over, so it was almost close to singing it perfect!

The baby is doing good, keeps moving and moving and moving. Sometimes it kicks or punches pretty good, I have to gasp for air. My friend is about to have her sixth baby and so she brought me over three bags of maternity clothes this evening. It was like Christmas. And she has wonderful taste, so they are all cute. I love hand-me-downs, especially b/c these are cute and free!! I will have to get pictures of the past week on here. I seriously think our computer has a virus because it doesn't work like it should and this lap top is so old I can't d'load photos onto blogger, so you will have to wait for photos until Jason fixes the computer. Hope everyone has a great week.

Happy Bill and Katie Day!

Just want to say congrats to Bill and Katie on their wedding day. Jason and I are excited to get to help celebrate their special day with them. It is also nice that we don't have to spend a night in the hotel as we have a friend who lives in Sioux Falls and that is where we are going to stay. We have known Bill and Katie for about 4 years. And then when Katie became an LPN a year ago, I roped her into working where I work. She has been going to school to get her RN and just graduated this May and passed boards. YEAH! So it is also exciting that some nurses that I work with are also going to make the trip to Sioux Falls, so I will have friends from work and friends form hanging out, all there. They both moved to Sioux Falls this past summer as Katie is from South Dakota, but all of Bills family live around here, so there is a good chance we will get to see them even though they live there now. I will try and get some pictures of the day and post them later this weekend. Again, CONGRATS TO BILL AND KATIE!!!!

Ryleigh...............push the button!!

So.......I left out a funny story on my blog yesterday and thought I would tell you all about it tonight. Jason went to get Ryleigh at daycare yesterday in his truck. He got her all seatbelted in her carseat and was walking around to the drivers side when all of a sudden he heard a CLICK! Yes, you guessed it, the keys were in the ignition with the truck on and she locked him out!! Luckily, he had the air conditioner on because it took him a few minutes to break in. He tried getting her to PUSH THE BUTTON, and she did, she just kept pushing the lock button! So, he had to go get a screwdriver from our daycare provider to break in to the truck. Another good thing, she was buckled in her carseat, so she wasn't able to go put the truck in drive or reverse!! I, of course, thought it was pretty funny, as did our daycare provider this morning when I dropped her off. She did say it wasn't funny at the time, only when he finally got into the truck. Little stinker. Well, Ryleigh went to spend the next couple nights with Grandma Terri and Grandpa Danny. Jason and I are going to our friends' wedding in Sioux Falls, SD. tomorrow evening. Ryleigh was quite excited to get to go. I was at a Good Luck, Adios party and went to get Ryleigh to drive her half way to meet them this evening. When I walked into the house, I heard Jason say, "ask mommy!" So, Ryleigh came running to me with 2 dolls and 3 stuffed animals and asked, "bring babies to gama and papa's?" "Please!" I couldn't help but say yes, since she asked so sweetly, so sorry to Danny and Terri for all the stuffed animals/dolls she brought! HAHA! Well, I am going to go to bed, I am so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning, cuddled up next to my hubby!

Baby Update.

Well, we had our ultrasound today. I have a feeling we have another ornery, "never sit still" child on the way, just like it's sister. We were unable to get a 3D as the baby was seriously moving so much, and you know what, that's okay. A 2D works just fine for us because everything looked so good and the baby and I are both healthy and that is all that matters. The US tech kept saying how active the baby was, well I could have told her that, I seriously feel the thing move non stop, I even think it moves more than Ryleigh did. Every time we tried for the 3D, the picture was blurry, so we got some good ones the other way too, which I will get on here soon. So, all the measurements put me at 22 weeks, 2 days.............which is pretty darn close to what I am now. It was absolutely amazing to see the baby. We got to see the four chambers of the heart, the bladder, the diaphragm, and the stomach which had some fluid in it.......and thats a good thing because it means that it is practicing swallowing and for when it's time to take it's first breath. In fact, we actually got to see it open it's mouth and swallow some fluid..........the coolest thing EVER, well besides giving birth! The neatest thing was hearing the excitement in Jasons voice. The baby had it's hand flailing around by it's face also and kept turning away from us and showing us its spine, which made another difficulty in getting a 3D profile. NO, we didn't find out what we are having because that was one of the funnest things the day Ryleigh was born and we wanted the same experience. We both have our suspicians though. Per the ultrasound the baby weighs approx. 1 pound, 1 oz. The heart rate was 139, which is much more accurate, I think, than the Dr looking at his watch for 30 seconds and telling me.

We took Ryleigh fishing this evening, which didn't last long as she was not about to sit still this evening and enjoy the quietness of the lake. She did catch a bullhead on her new fishing pole that she got for her birthday. We got to also see some ducks pretty close and one of them had only one leg. He did pretty good swimming, better than what I thought he would do. Ryleigh had more fun tonight getting the nightcrawlers ready for Jason than she did fishing, but that's okay, at least all "four" of us were together hanging out, which is the ending I needed to this emotional and exhausting day. I am looking forward to having a vacation day on Friday, even if we are driving to Sioux Falls for a wedding. It should be fun.

Jason's "Near Death" Experience

You know how something can be so funny with the right circumstances, but if anything would have happened differently it wouldn't be something to laugh about. Well, that happened tonight after supper with Jason. All I can say is that after all was said and done, I couldn't stop laughing about the situation. First of all, Ryleigh was such an ornery, naughty child and had to sit in a long timeout before she finally decided she was tired of crying and wanted to join us for supper. She ate her entire supper and then her and I were begging Jason to cut up the watermelon I had to have. So, Jason was cutting up the watermelon and I was walking into the kitchen to get Ryleigh's piece when all of a sudden out of nowhere the knife blade goes flying past Jason and landed on the floor in front of me. Jason was standing there, holding the handle of the knife, with this look on his face and there lies the knife blade on the floor. After I seen that he was okay, I just started laughing so hard and then he later joined in the giggling after telling me how close the blade came to hitting him in the face. He kept saying how he almost stabbed himself. It was really quite weird how the blade came off the handle, but I guess when he was pushing down to cut, it popped off backwards and went flying towards him. We came up with several titles for the blog, but I like this one the best. He was very lucky actually as he could have seriously hurt his eye. I am excited to have our ultrasound tomorrow and cannot wait to see the baby! I am actually feeling so well with this pregnancy, that the only way I know I am pregnant is because I can feel the baby moving and because my stomach is getting bigger and harder, which makes tying my shoes or picking something off the floor and little tricky!! From my appt last week, I have only gained 12 pounds so far with this pregnancy, so I guess I am not as huge as I feel or look! Well, I will let you all know how the ultrasound goes and hopefully get some pictures of the ultrasound on here shortly. Other than that, check out the previous blogs because I finally got some pictures downloaded after Jason checked out the computer issue.

HOT HOT DAY

Just a quick little post before I hit the sack. So today was extremely hot, however they keep work pretty cool so that is nice for me. Ryleigh had some fun with a sprinkler today, at first being afraid of it and then once she got hit with the water, she was all for it. So, I guess she got soaked in her clothes as did the other kids. I wouldn't have minded having a sprinkler handy today. Jason and a co-worker took the Indians to the much popular Cabellas store to show it to them and of course get in some shopping for themselves as well. So, Ryleigh and I hung out at the park for about 1 1/2 hours after supper and then played in her sand and water table. Tonight I decided, enough sports, and I started on the cleaning out of her room.............OMG, I made a dent but you can't even tell. I didn't realize how much crap I have accumulated over the last two years. The dresser is almost empty and is going on the garage sale and I have a huge pile that is trash. I already feel tons better making a start at this, but I am super tired from the heat and non stop of today. I do have to boast about myself today. I was dreading going into work today because I knew I had a hard blood draw this morning right away that I had to get done immediately to get the results to the doctor, and then when I got to work another blood draw was added over the weekend. I went for the hardest first and was totally psyched that I got in on the first try.........Phew! And then I got the second one even quicker. So right away at 8 am I was on top of the world. Now, if I did blood draws every day, it would be a breeze, but I hadn't done one in over 2 months, so I am pretty excited. Just call me the vampire lady as that is what they were calling me at work today. I love doing blood draws and starting IV's, it is so fun when you get that return, but when you don't get it you feel like a piece of......... OK, I'll stop talking blood now and get to bed.

Melt my heart like butter!

So it was another busy weekend. Of course, today got all messed up so I didn't get to make it to Ana's baby shower :( I am so sorry, I wanted to be there. I do have the sweetest story ever about today that just melted my heart. Ryleigh and I laid down together this afternoon and took a nap, I don't know why, maybe it's the heat, but I have been exhausted this weekend. Anyways, I was just laying there watching her sleep because I woke up before her. She started waking up and rolled over so she was facing me. I smiled at her and she touched my cheek with her little fingertips and said, "I love you, mommy!" Now, if that doesn't melt you, I don't know what will.

Yesterday was a long day. We went to Jason's softball tournament, but they lost all of their games, so they didn't play today. It was fun hanging out with Amy and the kids. We went to her in laws house to take a nap in the afternoon. They live on a farm and so Ryleigh got to feed some horses and play with some barn kittens which she enjoyed. We spent all day at the fairgrounds and later yesterday they had a petting zoo, which the kids loved. They got to pet ponies, puppies, llamas, sheep and a snake, which Ryleigh talked and talked about. We finally left for home around 9 pm, and our little stinker didn't even fall asleep. She stayed awake and watched Lady and the Tramp the whole way home, but went to bed in like 2 seconds once we finally did get home. The worst part of the day, Ryleigh drank so much that she overly filled a diaper, which leaked into the wagon, on her shoes and then onto my pant leg. Luckily mommy packs a few extra outfits just in case, but only for Ryleigh. The potty training is going. I kind of backed off for awhile because our stubborn little daughter does things when she wants to and when she is ready. I have a feeling that she is going to be the leader and not the follower. She has been doing really well with going on the toilet before bed and when she wakes up in the morning, it's the in between that is not going so well. I decided I would work on it again coming up here this fall when it is not so busy and we are not on the go all the time. And they say girls are easy, NOT OURS! Jason is out fishing with his dad right now, hope they get a big one. I need to get off here and work on the checkbook as well as clean the office and pack some stuff. Hope everyone has a great week! I have been trying to get pictures on here, but the computer is acting up again, so I will keep working on it.

Quick Little Story!

Just a quick little story before we head to the softball tourny! So, the other night I am watching the Olympics and this commercial comes on for Merger, and I am looking at this guy on the screen saying to myself, NO WAY, THAT IS NOT CHANCE MULLEN?? BUT IT LOOKS JUST LIKE HIM!! Jason was out in the garage cleaning it and I ran out there and said you have to come see something. So he came into the house and I rewound the commercial and I said you have to tell me who this looks like, so I played it, and first thing out of his mouth was....Chance Mullen. Oh, by the way, Chance is this guy we went to high school with. He was a really nice guy and I know Jason had his car insurance through Chance's parents when we first got married. So we didn't think anything of it, besides maybe that he just had a twin somewhere, until Jason got a message from his mom last evening telling us about the commercial and that our suspicions were right, it was Chance! Jason came upstairs this morning as I was getting ready and said, "you have to listen to this message on my phone!" It was the message from his mom and I started laughing! SO COOL to "know" someone on TV! Well, I better get going, we have lots planned for the day!

HOLY COW!!

Jason and I are sitting her watching the Olympics and just finished also watching the Twins. Just have to say go Twins as they kicked Seattle's butt! Also, watching Micheal Phelps had me on my tiptoes, coming from behind......wow! I couldn't beleive he had won. Congrats to him, what an amazing swimmer, as well as to Nastia L and Shawn J in the gymnastics yesterday............Gold and Silver!! GO USA!! Finally, track events start.

Enough about the Olympics. I have been so tired when I do my blogs that I am either forgetting things or messing them up. So I forgot some funny stories about Ryleigh yesterday. We had our two appts put together which ended up being a good chunk out of the afternoon. Our Dr. is so good. Ryleigh had brought some dolls to play with at the clinic, so when the Dr. came in, he kind of used the dolls to show her what he was going to do. She did really well, with all the "checks" and was happy to show him her tongue and teeth. The funniest thing was after we were both seen and were waiting for the lab lady to get us Ryleigh had her dolls on the floor and grabbed the measuring guides they used for her head and my fundal height and she started measuring the dolls head and body length, as well as her own tummy. It was so adorable. As she was doing this, I looked at her little feet and noticed that they are not as little as they were a few months ago..........she has outgrown her sandals, and I bought them a little big at the beginning of summer so they would last. Thank goodness summer is almost over! Ryleigh did no crying with her fingerstick, heck she didn't even flinch. She's got her mommy's high tolerance for pain. Jason is finally finished putting in his garage windows and painting the trim...............finally he is done with painting the outside! It was a beautiful evening so Ryleigh and I had fun hanging out with Jason, playing catch with a ball and other things. She's got a good little arm. This was only the second evening all summer that I have been bothered by mosquitos, which is odd here in MN, but good for me since my blood is pure candy for those guys.

We have a busy weekend planned, so I will sign off probably until Sunday. Jason is in a softball tourny tomorrow in another town. Luckily our friends will be there so Ryleigh will have some kids to hang out with. It all ends with a bonfire, so we will see how long we all last. Sunday I think Jason is planning on going fishing with his dad and I have a baby shower to attend. Jason has been doing some scouting for deer hunting this fall and I think he has finally found some land to hunt on, thanks to a friend! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Double The Fun!

Today was Ryleigh's 2 year check up, which didn't consist of much except for a blood test in which they test for lead. I'm not concerned because our house is only 17 years old, however it also shows if there is lead in the city water. It took a while for me to get her finger to stop bleeding after her fingerstick, it just kept bleeding and bleeding. And that was when she got cranky because I wouldn't stop applying pressure to her finger, otherwise she did a great job at an extra long appt. She weighs a wopping 25 pounds and is 84.5 cm tall. Now this next one is where she leaps into the 90th percentile for her age: her head circumference is 49 cm. That just means shes got lots of brains!! Since this was a rescheduled appt for her and mine is tomorrow with the same Dr, I asked if they could get us both done in one day, since my appt only consists of listening to the heartbeat, measuring the fundal height, any questions, peeing in a cup and scheduling my ultrasound, they went ahead and fit me in! How nice of them. The baby is doing great. The heart rate was 155, fundal height was 20.5, which is right on track as it usually follows how many weeks you are and my ultrasound is next Wednesday!!!!! Ryleigh was sitting on the chair when the Dr. started listening to the heart rate, next thing I know, she got off the chair, peeked around the Dr and had a look like, what is he doing to my mommy? She came over next to him and looked at the machine spitting out the heart rate and just listened, then he told Ryleigh that is the baby, do you know where the baby is. Then she came over to my tummy and touched it. The baby continues to move around and it is fun to see it move on the outside. I am just excited I don't have to go back to the clinic tomorrow.

Not much else going on here. Since Jason and a buddy were working on a car tonight in our garage, Ryleigh and I went shopping. I had to get some spray to keep the bunnies away, as they are nibbling on our newly planted grasses and our hostas. I also had to get some algae killer for our pool, and some baby stuff for a baby shower I am going to on Sunday. We had a good time. I am still putting off getting Ryleighs room ready, I just get home from a crazy day and want to relax and watch the Olympics, but I will get to it soon.

Watching the Olympics

I should be upstairs getting Ryleigh's new room ready to be painted, but I am excited to watch some of my favorites in the Olympics like, gymnastics, swimming, and diving. I also LOVE the track events. I have SOOOOO much to do to Ryleigh's new room to get it ready, it looks like a tornado went through that room alone. We are thinking of painting it a pink color but we will see. We are going to move Ryleigh sometime in Sept or Oct so that she is used to her new room by the time the baby comes. I am toting up my scrapbooking stuff, so we can sell the dresser that it's all in, on a garage sale, which Jason is thinking about doing here in a few weeks as well. I am also going to go through some things to see if I can part with anything to put on the sale. I was going to do some other fun stuff with my blog, but unfortunately I can't do it on this old lap top, so I will have to go upstairs to do that as well, only problem is I don't have a TV up there, so it will probably be later.

So, nothing new with Jason and I except getting Ryleigh's room ready and getting ready for a garage sale. I have my appt on Friday, which I am excited for because we get to set up our ultrasound. I don't remember Ryleigh moving around quite as much as this kid is. Jason has been able to feel it even more this week and I just saw my belly jump. I think this thing is going to be a soccer player, HAHA! Ryleigh saw Jason trying to feel it move yesterday and so then she was trying to feel it move. Of course, she is too impatient to wait, so I made my stomach jump and she got so excited. Yesterday she said she wanted a brother and tonight she said she wanted a sister. I don't even think she knows what any of that means, but it's fun to ask her if she wants a brother or a sister and then see what she says.

Some interesting facts regarding Mankato that I learned last week. The average age of Blue Earth County is 30.7! Last week there were a record number of births in the birthing center at Imanual St Josephs Hospital with 11 births in 17 hours (the most ever there in one day). I know that sounds like a small number to those of you who live in the big cities, but it's pretty good for Mankato and they don't staff like they do at the bigger hospitals. My friend is a labor and delivery nurse up in the cities and delivers probably that many herself in a shift, and has helped deliver many of the Twins players babies. COOL, huh! There was also a baby born in Fergus Falls MN on 8-8-08 born at 8:08 am, weighing 8 lbs, 8 oz....................weird, but true and in the papers. The paper said they couldn't beleive it when they placed the baby on the scale and that is what it weighed.

HALF WAY THERE!!!!!!!!

I am so excited to be half way there to see our new baby! It has gone so fast. The baby continues to move everyday and it's movements are getting stronger and stronger. I have been feeling great! My next appt is this week and there we will get to schedule our second ultrasound. I am so excited to see it moving again and am excited Jason will get to be there this time around. The baby is about 7-9 inches long at this time and is weighing in around 9 ounces (a little over 1/2 a pound). It's skin is thickening and developing layers, nails and hair continue to grow, if it's a boy the testicles are starting to descend (I think I am having a girl, though ;) Oh and if you have any cute names you've heard, I need some suggestions, so pass them my way. Oh my, I am starting to get big already!! Grow baby, grow!

Last evening, Ryan and Ana came to visit us. We all ate supper together and then the hubbies went to a concert downtown, so us girls decided to rent us a chick flick. We watched 27 Dresses and it was great. I loved it and recommend it. It was also great to hang out with Ana, she is so fun and SOOO pregnant, very cute. We took some pictures of us together, so I will post that, too. It was really great catching up as it has been awhile since we have hung out. I can't believe Baby V. will be here the first part of October. It seems like just yesterday, they told us they were pregnant. I am just excited we will have kiddos together so they can play. I have a suspicion theirs will be a boy!! Jason, Ryan, Josh and Jerhod had a good time at the concert. They saw the band Egypt Central.

Today was a very lazy day. We didn't do anything besides make meals and Jason did get to work on replacing his garage windows. Other than that we all three took naps and Ryleigh slept from 1-4. It was great. Ryleigh did go swimming a little before her nap. This evening she found another baby pet frog for her sand and water table. She had a hard time telling him goodnight and tried to bring him in the house, it was cute. We played a lot with some of her new toys she got for her birthday. The play do was especially fun, and Jason and I joined in on that. The Mr. & Mrs. and baby Potato heads were fun too. And, I think we read every book Ryleigh has. OMG! It was great not to do a darn thing.

The Last Few Days

I think I left off on Wednesday, so I will start with Thursday. Ryleigh's daycare had a vacation on Friday, and since I am saving all mine for when the baby comes, so I can have three months off again, Grandma Terri and Grandpa Danny were able to watch her. Jason hasn't been feeling the greatest, so Ryleigh and I went to meet Terri half way. Ryleigh was so excited to get to go, she just waved and smiled big when I got her in Terri's car and they took off. She gets so excited when she gets to go with all her grandparents. So I went into work EARLY on Friday and got in some overtime!!! I, too, love the Olympics and was so excited for the opening ceremonies, however Jason and I had some free tickets for the first preseason game for the MN Vikings, so we headed up to the cities, and watched them instead. I figure the best part of the Olympics is yet to come, as watching the sports is the most exciting thing. And we had fun at the game. They don't play the starters the entire game, so it did get kind of boring and we left for Northfield at the end of the 3rd quarter. I still don't know if they won, but they were down by 3 when we left. We were going to spend the night at Danny and Terri's but couldn't find a dog sitter, so we went and picked up Ryleigh instead and drove home. We got home around midnight and I didn't even realize until we got home that I had fallen asleep with Ryleigh, so Jason and I made a deal that I would get up bright and early with Ryleigh in the morning.........................the nice thing, she slept until 7:15!!!! Yeah Ryleigh. I almost forgot to mention on Thursday evening when I got back from meeting Terri, what fun I had. A friend of mine is moving and doesn't want to move a bunch of her inventory for these baskets she makes, so she let me go through all the baby stuff before her garage sale today. There was one huge tote and three garbage bags full of baby stuff. I ended up with a lot of things at a wonderful price. The nice thing is I got doubles of some stuff, but I have a handful of friends who are expecting so I can use it for gifts as well as for my own. And Jason slept for almost the entire evening, so I got to watch some girlie shows I have been recording. I even had myself a very piggish, unhealthy supper of nachos and salsa!! Ryleigh is taking a nap at this time and it's nearly 90 degrees, so when she wakes up we are going to head out to the pool. I will add pictures later this evening because she just woke up and we are going to go have some FUN!!

Ryleigh posing with one of her babies. She is in love with necklaces.

Happy "Belated" 63rd Wedding Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa Dinslage

In the midst of all the craziness going on in our lives, I forgot to give a big shout out to my Grandpa Ray and Grandma Leora on their 63rd wedding anniversary which happened to be on July 30th. Good thing they don't have Internet to keep track of how late I am............Oh wait, I forget Al, Lisa and the kids show them. Oh well, better late than never, right? Well, if they do get to see this, I am sorry it's a week late and I love you both so much, thanks for being such wonderful people in our lives and for all the great wisdom. There are many stories that go along with their wonderful lives together, and fortunately we have most of them on video, someday, I promise we will get them out to the rest of the family. One of my favorites is when my Grandpa was coming home from the war, and in one of his letters he asks my Grandma, how would you like to be a June bride. But as you can see he didn't quite get to her in June, so July it was. I have so many stories but not enough time or space, but I am very thankful to have these two special people in my life.

My brother deployed out to sea on Monday for awhile.......supposedly only for a few weeks, than back for a few weeks, then sometime a few weeks after that for at least six months hopefully. We will see. Hopefully all goes well. He called on Sunday to talk to Ryleigh at her party but she was busy and in one of those moods, so he didn't get to talk to her or me, but I wanted so badly to tell him that Ryleigh started to pedal her bike on her own for a few feet ALL BY HERSELF, and down a slope of course. So, that will be exciting to tell him in a few weeks when he comes home.

A few funny stories on Ryleigh: 1) Monday evening when she was getting ready to take her bath, she got on our scale butt naked and started singing "How much is that Puppy in the window!", with her hands on her hips shaking them back and forth with the next line, "the one with the waggly tail". I wasn't there to see it so Jason got the last part of it on video. She sings this song almost perfectly and has all the actions for it. SO Funny. 2) Last night Jason and I took Ryleigh for a walk in her new wagon. I grabbed Jasons hand and was holding it for old times sake. He had let go of it to scratch his head and she yelled out "Daddy, hold mommys hand!!" It was so cute. A few blocks later we let go again, not on purpose, and next things you know she shouts "DADDY, MOMMY, HANDS!!" She cracks us up, and is talking so good. It's amazing all that she says and in just two days we have noticed how much clearer her words are. 3) Today, when I got home from work, there was silence in the house. I figured Jason and Ryleigh were outside, so I just threw my lunch containers in the sink when I heard this noise coming down the hall. I turned to see little Ryleigh Grace in nothing but her birthday suit and tennis shoes, running to give me a hug, it was so funny. Her and Jason went swimming in the pool before I got home and she was changing out of her wet suit.

Birthday Bash for our little "Tweety"!!!

Well, we finally were able to celebrate Ryleigh's birthday. We opened all of her gifts including the ones that were mailed to her. Thanks to everyone who sent her a gift. She loved them all. We just had a small little get together since we rescheduled it, but it was still fun. As you can see from the slide show Ryleigh got many things. She loved everything when she opened it, Brittany......she really loved the Potato Heads. And what a great gift for eye hand coordination. I think she played with that for at least 30 min straight. I made her a tweety bird cake, I am not even sure if tweety bird still exists, but it was cute and it was a free cake pan loaned to me. I'm still shocked at how well it turned out!! Apparently, so was everyone else!! We bought the pool yesterday on sale at Gander Mountain. I just love end of season sales. Ryleigh loves it too. We filled it with water yesterday while she was napping and right away after her nap she wanted to jump in. So she did, it didn't even bother her that the water was freezing. We didn't get any pictures yesterday and I wish we would have, she just hopped right in, in her diaper. She also had fun in it today. It wasn't quite as hot as what it was supposed to be, but August is usually the hottest month, so we will get some good use out of it before summer ends. The MN Vikings had their fireworks show last night. We thought it was last weekend otherwise we would have kept Ryleigh up for it since they started around 9:30 p. But instead Jason and I watched them right inside our screen house. They lit them off at the same place they do for the 4th of July. And the nicest thing Ryleigh let us sleep til 8 am this morning. She had her last music class for the summer this evening and it was the most she participated the whole summer. She was singing to the songs, dancing and playing many new instruments, rather than her regular favorites. The classes start again in Sept, so we will see about signing up again. She sure had a lot of fun doing it! Well hope everyone has a great week. Good night.

It's FINALLY Friday!!

TGIF is all I have to say about today! Ryleigh spent all afternoon swimming at the pool today, so we decided we would take the boat out tomorrow maybe. We did however bring her to the mall, where they have a little play place with foam slides and things to climb. She had fun climbing (scary) and jumping off things. She was also trying to be like the big kids and was trying to walk on thin pieces of foam (like a balance beam), her balance became pretty good after falling down many times. She just wouldn't give up until she did it and then she was so happy with herself. We called Grandpa Quint to check up on him and see how he's doing. He seems to be doing good but is missing Grandma Quint and was very thankful for the call. As you all already know, their 67th wedding anniversary would have been this coming August 4th. I can't imagine being with someone that long and not missing them like crazy....poor fella. Ryleigh talked to him for a few minutes, which made his day. She also talked to Grandma Peggy and did really well............Jason and I understood everything she was saying, anyway. We let Ryleigh stay up past her bedtime this evening to sit out in the screen house with us, eating peanuts and listening to the Twins beat Cleveland!!! Yeah Twins!! The lightning bugs have been out like crazy for the past month, so Jason caught some in a jar for Ryleigh and she got so excited when their little butts lit up. She went to bed perfect, as always, now I am just hoping she will let me sleep in a little. HAHA! The baby is moving like crazy, it's so good to feel it move every day. I can't beleive Andie and I are almost half way done. Mankato is pretty busy this weekend so we have some things planned for the weekend. The Vikings are in town for training camp, we probably won't go see them as we got some free tickets to go see them at their first game next Friday, now we just need to find a babysitter. It's the annual rib fest, as well as the Blue Earth County Fair. We are having a little get together on Sunday to celebrate Ryleigh's birthday and open all her gifts. You are all invited! (wink, wink)! P.S. I added some pictures finally from the last few posts, so be sure to check them out.