Goodbye September

Have you ever had one of those days???? Well, I have had one of those months. It has been an emotional month and I think a lot of it has to do with the stress at work and my hormones and all the stuff going on with people I know. All I have to say is that I shouldn't be complaining and should be thankful for all that I have. A job, a wonderful husband, a healthy daughter, a great family and good friends, a roof over my head, food on the table and much more. I talked about the day of my appt. and how I seen my friend in the clinic and we talked for almost an hour. Her daughter is 2 months old and was still jaundiced, they were doing tests to rule out leukemia. I will get to see her tomorrow at work and she was supposed to email a couple of weeks ago but didn't, so I am kind of nervous as to what the news will be. A couple of days before that, a friend of mine from work had her 5 month old healthy niece pass away during the night. Then my friend Ana's, step mom passed away last Tuesday from Cancer at the age of 58. Another nurse that I work with had a friend who is only 52 fall into a coma and had been unresponsive for days, finally opening her eyes in the past couple of days, she has had cancer for 5 years. On top of that, Ryleigh had her first ear infection and was miserable from that, she didn't get a wink of sleep last Thursday, which made for an extremely long day and I think I am just getting caught up on sleep I missed on Thursday. She is doing 100% better. She did have a few #1 accidents but has been doing perfect since Friday. For awhile there, all I could think of was how behind I am at work and then it hit me. What is my prob? Here I am sulking in how far behind I am and look at all these things going on around me. I should be lucky that all I am is a few months behind with paperwork, lucky that I am able to have a job and go to work every day, lucky that my family is healthy. So, if I have been a little cranky, I am sorry. October is a new month and there is bound to be some good news right off the bat with Ryan and Ana's baby going to arrive any day. I have decided to be happy for all that I have and to try and be more positive in the days to come............and try and get my mind back. I feel like it is all "spider webbed" and I need to figure out how to clear it. So far this is helping!! Jason left for Kansas this evening for his hunting trip, he will be gone for a week unless him and his hunting partner get a deer earlier. Poor Ryleigh must have known something wasn't right because she cried for him when he left, but she's doing better now. She got to talk to Nana Peggy this evening for a short couple of sentences. She was cleaning everything with a wet wipe and actually started cleaning the toilet, so at the time, that was more interesting. The gross part was that she dropped her sock in the toilet after she had done #2 and then brought it to me, but I think she had flushed it down first and then dropped the sock in. YUCK! This was all while on the phone with Nana Peggy. HAHA! Quite the entertainment. She's a riot. Ryleigh and I are going to spend some time with Papa Kevin this weekend as my mom is meeting her sisters in Sioux City, IA for a "sister's weekend" and won't be around, so that should be fun. Jason fixed the computer for me before he left, so I have some pictures that I will add on here tomorrow of Ryleigh and the past few days. Take care! Be sure to check out the past few posts as I have finally finished them and added some photos of our wedding day. Isn't it funny how young Jason looks, I don't think I have changed as much as he has! What do you think?

Happy Birthday Ana!

Happy birthday to my dear friend Ana. I know it's been a tough week and if you read, I just want you to know how much we love you guys and that our thoughts and prayers are with you and the family at this difficult time. Soon, there will be joy again..............I am really getting anxious for little baby V. to show up, any day now!" I just want to thank you for always being a great friend and always being there for me. I appreciate everything!

Be sure to check the post below as I added some wedding photos.

Happy Anniversary to Jason & I

THEN










& NOW

















Many things go through my mind when I look back on our years of marriage. It's hard to believe it has gone by so fast-but you know the saying: "time flies when you are having fun!" We have definitely been through many ups and a few downs along the way, but that's what makes life. Now that we are here, I wouldn't change a thing about the past 9 years. To this day, I'm still madly in love with Jason.........probably even more, and I still think he is the "hottest" guy around :) The tough things that we've been through have only made us stronger and hopefully will help us to be one of those lucky couples. And, so, I say, thank you Jason and I love you!

Jason's Home

Jason returned from his work adventures in Ohio today. He surprised me by calling me at work to tell me he had landed safely and would pick up Ryleigh. So, it was exciting to get off of work to be with him. The funniest thing was when I got home, of course, Ryleigh was cuddling with him. And when she seen me, she stated, "My daddy!" I went to give him a hug and kiss and she did not really like that. As much as I don't like it when Jason has to leave, I am thankful it wasn't as long as when he went to India or as long as those who fight for our country and are gone for months to years at a time. Also, whenever he comes back from a "work" trip, I am always so thankful for what he does while he is home and feel more appreciative of him. Sometimes, it's good to have a small break from each other. He is one of the most helpful guys I know! He didn't get to do any sightseeing as he worked morning to evening, but sounds like he had lots of good food. Well, just a few days with him and then he heads to Kansas to go hunting.

We Miss You, Jason!

Jason, if you are reading this tonight, I just want to say how much Ryleigh and I love and miss you already. I added the slide show above of our evening Saturday night, I just got the pictures from Ana today. It was a good time. Ryleigh had a good time at my parents as well, darn near perfect, as always for them. They had a lot of fun with her as well. I didn't have to go get her after all, when I called my mom to see when would be a good time to come get her, she and dad were already half way here. They had stopped in a neighboring town for a picnic in the park with her, so I headed off to the store to get a waterproof mattress pad for Ryleigh's bed while they were playing for awhile and when I got home from shopping they were at the house waiting for me. Ryleigh has gone two nights without a diaper and has done well, no accidents so far. It has been an entire two weeks without an accident, day or night. I AM SO EXCITED, but I'm still expecting one every now and then. I can tell when Ryleigh is missing her daddy. She, of course, was expecting him to pick her up today and I think, was bummed to see me. Then she asked for the next hour, where's daddy? It started raining on my way home from work, so that ruined my plans for taking Ryleigh to the park this evening. We are having a nice lightning and thunder show going on now, with just sprinkles. I am surprised it hasn't kept Ryleigh awake, but she is out cold. We did take advantage of the weather and colored all evening, so if anyone needs some fridge art, just let us know and we will send it your way.

Ryleigh started her music class last evening. She just loves dancing and playing all the instruments, so we decided to join again. She was even singing one of the songs we just learned there, tonight while we colored. "Shoo, fly, shoo"!!! Of course, we really did have some flies in the house, so that made it all that much more fun to sing it. I get to go see the rest of her two year pictures tomorrow evening, so I am excited about that. Jason gets back Wednesday evening from his trip to Ohio and I am also looking forward to that. Otherwise, I am just hoping this week isn't as stressful as last week was at work. Baby #2 is still kicking away. Sometimes, it almost hurts and it is so picky about how I sleep at night. I am almost looking forward to when it gets even more crowded in there, so I just have big pushes instead of these hard jabs. But I guess that's a good thing, since it's letting me know how strong and healthy it is. I have my next appt coming up in Oct and then I start going every two weeks instead of four. I cannot believe how fast this is going, but, how exciting it is as well, that this little thing will be here soon. I can't wait. Well, I hope everyone has a great week. Take care...........I'm going to go watch Dancing with the Stars!!

SO MUCH FUN!!

So it's been a bit of a crazy and stressful week, so going out last night with friends was exactly what we needed...........or what I needed anyways. We met everyone at a bar up in Minneapolis called SHOUT before heading across the street to Fogo De Chao to dine. This place (Fogo De Chao) was AMAZING and it was such a nice atmosphere. Just a forewarning, if you're not a big meat eater, this place is definitely not for you. There are only 11 locations in the USA, and the rest are in Brazil. So there you guessed it, it's food is of Southern Brazil tradition. It was an all you can eat meat restaurant with beef, lamb, pork, and chicken. Perfect for 3 pregnant women, 1 not pregnant woman but a big meat eater and 4 men. The salad bar was even amazing, but the best was the meat. My favorite was the Lombo (from the pork loin flavored with Parmesan cheese).................OMG............my mouth is watering for more, even though I am still full this morning!! Also, served with the meat were side dishes of warm cheese bread, fried bananas, crispy hot polenta and seasoned mashed potatoes that were replenished as soon as they began to disappear. It was actually quite fun because if you wanted more meat, then you had to flip this "chip". The red side was stop, but green was bring me more meat. You had to be quick on your toes because these waiters were like houdini, appearing out of nowhere with meat of all kinds. I can't remember now, this morning, what Jason said his favorite meat was, but it was all very tasty! I kept thinking while we were there, my dad would absolutely love this place. We celebrated Ryan, Ana and Bjorn's birthdays, Ryan and Ana's 2nd anniversary, and Jason and mines 9th anniversary, as well as the three babies on the way. After we were done eating we went back across the street to the bar SHOUT because we got stamped before going to eat and didn't have to pay a cover charge. This bar was so much fun, and I didn't even get to drink! Our friends decided after we have our babies, we need to head back up there and just hang out there all night. I even said to Jason, when anyone comes to visit we need to bring them here. I can't say enough how good it was to "get away", even if only to the cities. I will add more pictures as soon as Ana emails them to me, as I only got a few.

Ryleigh stayed with my parents and I will be going to get her here in a while. Jason and I slept in til about 9:30 this morning, then I sewed a button on some pants for him, watched him pack and seen him on his way. He heads back up to Minneapolis around 12:30 and his flight leaves for Ohio around 3. Ryleigh was so excited to be at Gwamma and Papa's that she didn't even care when Jason and I left, in fact I told her it was time to take a nap and she ran straight to "her" bed at my parents house and fell asleep probably before we even left the driveway. I had a lot of fun with her on Friday and she was just a little crabby, but we got in a good 3 hour nap and she seemed much better after that. And she had a much better night Friday then she did Thursday. She didn't wake up once, so that is good, for all of us!! We were driving in the car to drop off a cake to work on Friday and Ryleigh was being her ornery self, so I told her she was a turkey. She said back to me, "No, I'm not!" I said "Yes you are!" and she replied back, "NO, I'm a princess!" I couldn't believe my ears. This conversing with her is getting so much fun and I can't believe the things she tells Jason and I, it's like we are talking to a miniature adult. She is so smart, it's amazing. She must have to clean up at daycare also (as well as at home), but we went to the mall yesterday and she was pushing in the chairs at the tables outside of DQ. And she is real good at picking up her toys here before bed and naps. There is this song they must sing at daycare, because whenever she picks her things up her she sings this tune and it goes something like, "Pick it up, pick it up!" and some other words that I really haven't figured out what she is saying yet. She has been doing so well with going potty, too. She hasn't had an accident for almost 2 weeks. WOW, not even while she wasn't feeling herself! She got some new Elmo panties from my mom and was so excited. She just loves Elmo and sesame street. She has a little Elmo that speaks English and Spanish as well as sings the sesame street song. She knows the song by heart and sings it for us all the time. She also loves the cartoon, Little Einsteins. She watches these two shows when we are getting ready for work in the morning. Well, neither of them are on over the weekend, which she cannot understand. I seriously thinks she thinks we are mean because we "won't" put it on for her. We will have to see how last night went, because it was her first night without a diaper. Well, I am going to try and go shopping real quick before I go get her from my parents.

It has been beautiful here, temps have been in the 50-60's during the night and it has been in the 80's during the day and the breezes are cool, which makes 82 feel lovely! It was about 86 on Monday or Tuesday and that was a bit warm, but we're back down to 82 again. The leaves are beginning to turn colors already and it smells so good outside. We have had the windows open to let in the fresh air. I like living in MN where you get to enjoy ALL the seasons. Winter could be a little shorter, but it's nice to play in snow! Hope everyone has a great day. And be sure to check below for the Happy Anniversary post to Josh and Sarah!

Happy Anniversary to Josh and Sarah!!

Just wanted to wish Josh and Sarah a Happy Anniversary. Hope you guys are having a ball and enjoying your special day! Love ya's!

Rough

Hey! I tried leaving a post last evening, but somehow the computer didn't save it, so it didn't appear and then Ryleigh wasn't feeling well, so that took up the remainder of the time. Anyways, it's been a pretty rough week. I now know a part of nursing I will NEVER go into....and that is psych. My week has been consumed with it and taking care of a two year old is much easier and funner and I wish I had the chance to be able to stay at home with her all the time, but you can wish in one hand and **** in the other and I will tell you which one will fill up faster. And don't count me out as being a "full time" mom because there isn't a second in the day that Ryleigh or this new little thing growing inside me isn't on my mind, and there is no way you can stop being a mom, not even part time, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Yesterday, I got a phone call late in the work day, which was my daycare telling me that Ryleigh just threw up all over. So, I had to go get her. She had a pretty good evening, had two glasses of juice and a PB&J sandwich for supper. Never did run a fever, but she has the sniffles, sneezing and a little cough. It is so weird how that can just creep up on ya. I dropped her off in perfect shape and pick up a snot nosed kid!! I think what made her throw up was how hard she was coughing b/c she coughed pretty hard and gagged herself last evening here too. So in order to bring her back to daycare she has to go 24 hours without vomiting. She had a pretty rough night and I think it's because she likes to sleep on her back, but when you have crap draining down your throat, sleeping on your back is not the best position, so she was up about every two hours, which made it a long night. But this morning she is doing well, she only has a runny nose. She has been playing up a storm and has eaten two bowls of cereal already and a glass of OJ. So, I get to spend the day with my adorable, loveable daughter! Yeah!

Jason went to work early so he gets to come home early to spend time with us. Ryleigh is going to my parents tomorrow and we are heading up to the cities to go out to eat with a bunch of couples. We will be eating at a place called Fogo De Chao and will call it our anniversary dinner. It is a bunch of celebrations that all of us will be celebrating. It will be the last time some of the women will be out before having their first babies, it is Ryan and Ana's birthdays and Ryan and Ana and mine and Jasons anniversaries. Jason leaves for Ohio on Sunday out of Minneapolis. He will get home in time to celebrate our 9th anniversary, before he heads off to Kansas for his hunting trip. It will be nice for him though and hopefully he will get to spend some time seeing his grandpa. I almost forgot to mention, Terri, Jason made that pumpkin dessert thing that you make, for a potluck at work. He won first prize in the dessert contest. Everyone was surprised to learn that he made it without any help from me ;)

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

I'm Tired

As I am sitting here trying to sound half awake, I can see my little (big) bump move out every few seconds. This child inside of me is going crazy in there! I had an OB appt yesterday and everything is going well. The baby's heart rate was 140 and very strong. Besides having an extremely hard belly and difficulty bending over recently I have had what I would call a wonderful pregnancy. My blood pressure was perfect and I have gained 17 pounds so far, even though I look and feel like I weigh more!! My appt was originally supposed to be last week but they changed it on me, therefore, even though it was already late in the day, I had to drink the sugar drink to test for Gestational Diabetes yesterday as well. It was fruit punch flavor and disgusting. I had orange with Ryleigh and wish I would have asked for that again, because it was much better. I was the last person to leave the clinic, but saw a friend there with her two month old baby and so she stayed and visited with me until they called my name to draw my blood (an hour later). I haven't received a phone call, which Dr. Campbell told me I would this morning if the results were not normal, so my blood sugar must have been normal. And apparently nothing wrong with the pee either. People who don't know I am pregnant at work, are just now starting to notice and ask. It's been pretty funny. A friend of ours told me today that you can hardly tell when I have my scrubs on, but then when I have "normal" clothes on, you can really tell. I have my list down to 5 girl names and 3 boy names, now I am just waiting for Jason's list so we can compare and weed out names. I am still trying to get my girl names down to 3 as that is our goal. We will see.

Ryleigh is doing great. She has went a whole week without any accidents and waking up dry from naps and bedtime. YEAH!! It has been great. I am even backing off on asking her as much because she is now letting us know when she has to go. I think I am going to count this as pretty much being potty trained. She continues to talk up a storm. Her new favorite movie is Fox and the Hound. This evening we moved our old couches into a friends apartment for her and the only way I could get Ryleigh to leave was to tell her we could watch Fox and the Hound when we got home. When we finally got home, she had forgotten that I had said that, but I was talking to Jason about it and spelled the word FOX (which is what she calls the movie). Well, she knew what I had spelled and ran to the TV yelling fox, fox. UGH. They sound pretty close when you spell and say it, but I thought I would've fooled her. Boy, was I wrong. She is figuring out a few things that we spell out. She was so cute this weekend. She got up quite early on Sat so Jason got up with her and let me sleep in for awhile. Next thing I know, I feel this little tap on my shoulder and a whisper, "mommy get up!" I roll over and she hands me my phone and says, "phone", then hands me my glasses and says "glasses". Then she said, "Now get up, c'mon." She also calls Jason's Busch light, "blue yummy". Jason was trying to get her to say what it was for a friend and after a few times of her ignoring him and his persistence with asking her, she finally said, "BLUE YUMMY, GOSH!!!" Those are just some funny things I remember her saying in the past few days, there are more, but I am so tired, I can't even think. She called my mom on Sunday and left her a message, I didn't think anything of it until my mom called me and told me that Ryleigh left her a message saying, "I love you gwamma!" I remember her saying it, but thought she actually was talking to my mom and then when I took the phone from her and there was no one on the other end I just hung up, not even thinking she was talking into the voicemail.

Jason is doing good. His thumb is feeling better and he is doing homework right now. He is baking Terri's pumpkin dessert for a pot luck at work and it is making the house smell wonderful. He is also getting ready to head to Ohio on Sunday. I am looking forward to going out for supper with friends on Saturday. It was so warm here today reaching 85 degrees, it's crazy how just Sunday it was in the 60's and today its that warm. And I put Ryleigh in a heavy jacket this morning and used my seat heaters in the car on the way to work. Sorry this post is so boring, I think I am going to hit the sack soon.

Clean Sunday

Well, all is well in the Quint household today. Jason came home last night with a really clean finger and a nice glue job. He had the option of that or stitches to hold his skin together. There is also a splint he has to wear for at least 7 days on his thumb. That makes everything fun for him. He had difficulty doing all sorts of things we take for granted.........opening cans of food, giving Ryleigh a bath, writing, hunting, etc. He says his finger is still throbbing today. He told the Doc that he was just going to cut the piece of skin off, but she told him if he had done that, that he might have damaged some of his nerve endings. She did check all his nerves and there is no damage. Ryleigh, is a little leery of his bandaged thumb and splint. He asked her to give it a kiss and she said no and ran. HAHA! We did however, manage to get the house cleaned today, we also got Ryleigh's room pretty much finished except for hanging things on the wall. We also went through all her toys and separated them out, into hers and what she used to play with as a baby. The ones she used to play with went in a tote in the nursery. The nursery is cleaned and ready to go, except I need Jason to bring up all the baby clothes so I can go through them and at least get all the "neutral" clothing out, and then just in case it's a girl, I will have all the other clothes ready too! It's finally nice to have Ryleigh's toys in two rooms instead of four, I was starting to get irritated with them being EVERYWHERE! It helped too, that it was raining outside, so we had to spend it indoors. Ryleigh didn't let us sleep in this weekend at all. She has almost gone a whole week without an accident.....I bet I just jinxed that!! She even took a nap today without a diaper and did great. I was debating on how long this goes on until I get to count her as "potty trained" in her baby book? Oh and Aunt Lisa, if you read this........your homemade dill pickles from your garden are AWESOME! Thanks so much for sending us a gallon of them, I think I have eaten them at every meal since mom and dad delivered them. YUM! I even put them on my homemade bacon cheeseburger pizza tonight and they are a hit with Ryleigh too. Sometimes, I keep thinking, if she eats one more, her tummy is going to hurt, but no complaints as of yet! Jason and I have decided we are going to try our hands at a garden next year to save on some money. We are currently making a list of what we want to plant. For some reason, that list is easier than coming up with baby names, which we are still working on. I have attached some photos of Ryleigh today with my tummy, she gives it a kiss and hug almost every day, but today she was especially fond of it and so Jason grabbed the camera quick. She always lifts up my shirt and shes starting to try and do it in public. Don't mind my "cleaning clothes"! Hope everyone has a great week.

Can't sleep, so I will write!

Well, I just sent Jason to the E.R. He and a friend were working in the basement and he sliced his thumb pretty good. Don't know if he will get stitches or not, but better safe than sorry. Looks like if he doesn't get them, he might lose the chunk of skin. I thought I seen something ivory looking, but I think it is just "hamburgered" skin. Hopefully he's not there all night for nothing. I'm not usually one to run off to the hosp to get stitches, but I can see this piece of skin being a bothersome for some weeks to come if it doesn't either get cut off completely or stitched back on. Here is a cute picture of him brushing Ryleigh's hair before she went to bed tonight and before he sliced his thumb. He went deer hunting earlier and saw a couple of bucks, but didn't take any shots with his bow. I listened to the Huskers beat New Mexico State 38-7 and watched the Twins win the first game of their double header against the Orioles while also playing with Mr. Potato Head and dolls. GO TEAMS!!! Will write more later.

Remembering........a day late

Hello! I just got off the phone with Andie..........thanks for giving me a call, it was great catching up, don't forget to give Jeremy and Havyn and hug and kiss from us!! It's been a crazy few days here, I feel like Jason and I have been BUSY every evening. I wanted to post a blog yesterday also, in memory of 9-11, but didn't get to it. I did however have the red, white and blue flying high and had Ryleigh in her NAVY t-shirt! Looking back on everyone's blogs had me remembering exactly what I was doing that day, and it's amazing to me how vivid it is today as it was 7 years ago. I was in nursing school and was working my first day shift (I normally worked evenings) as a nursing asst in Farmington, MN. I remember I was getting someone up for the day and when I 'walkied' for help, no one came. When I went out in the hall and around the corner to see where everyone was, there stood a crowd in front of the TV. I, of course, being short, worked my way to the front and just stood there in disbelief. I kept telling myself it was all a dream, and the rest of the day was seeing these images going through my mind over and over, with the help of the news. I also remember trying to call my mom because my grandparents were in Washington D.C. that day scheduled for a tour of the Pentagon. Of course, I was unable to reach anyone through phone lines, as they were obviously tied up, which was the worst feeling ever. I found out the next day from my mom that one of my grandparents fellow tourists woke up late that day and they were waiting for him to get ready when the Pentagon was hit, so luckily they weren't there yet. I also remember thinking about my brother as he was in the military at that time, also. Luckily he is in the Navy, however I remember he did have to go out to sea for a few months immediately following the attacks.

Last evening, Jason and I decided to get some new flatware as ours is very old and hand me downed. We have two different sets, one from my parents which I remember using when I was 5 and another from some friends who got two sets for their wedding and so they gave us a set (which was 9 years ago). We headed to Kohl's and they had sets for 50% off, which is a steal. They also have a scratch off sale going on as well, so that was an added bonus. Well, we decided to look at dishware and drinking glasses as well and we bought it all (which was also 50% off). So, we got up to the checkout and the girl (who was new) told us we couldn't do the scratch off unless we were opening a new card. Jason and I were wondering about it a bit, but paid anyway as it was still a good deal, then we grabbed a brochure on the way out and read it in the parking lot. I decided to go back in and ask someone who "knew what was going on" if we could do the scratch off coupon. Well, the lady said we were misinformed and to bring our receipt back in to get our discount. So, she gave me a scratch off coupon (which you could get 15, 20 or 30% off). Of course, mine was 15% off, which is better than nothing..........right? So, we had to go to customer service, credit our check card, get the extra discount, put in on the kohl's card and then pay it off. UGHH!! Well, the manager was there and instead of getting only 15% off, she gave us 30% off. So we saved 80% on all the items, it was awesome. All the dishes, silverware and glassware for $119!!!!!!! I told Jason that we could go ahead and count this as our "anniversary gift"!! So, it has been fun to get it all washed and put away. I have never had this stuff new, so I felt pretty special. And I can't believe Jason and I will be married 9 years in a couple of weeks here. OMG! Boy, have we come a long way. I wouldn't trade a second of it though for anything in the world!

Ryleigh has been talking up a storm. I thought she was really talking good lately but this week it's like talking to another person and having a "real" conversation. Last night, for the first time, she told me her tummy hurt. She has never told me that something has hurt before. I think she was a little constipated even though she has been going regularly, but this morning she had a huge #2, so I think that might have been the prob. She also told me everything she did at daycare and named all the kids without any difficulties. It's amazing all that she is saying lately. She also came downstairs this morning by herself and told Jason, "I slept all night!" I think she is finally getting used to her new room. There are some pretty funny and mature things that come out of her mouth at times. And we have gone three whole days without an "accident"!!! She is doing so good at telling us when she has to go. Now, she does have her moments, especially if "pottying" interrupts something she is interested in at that moment, but I think she is figuring out that it will still be there when she is done. I will try and get some pictures of her on here. I haven't got to take much this past week, but I did get one today with her playing with her play doh with the two macho men, Jason and Paul. Pretty funny if you ask me, two adult guys playing play doh, so I had to get a picture!

Work has been absolutely busy, which I guess is good, since it goes super fast. I would much rather be busy than having nothing to do. I am on call this weekend, so hopefully all goes well.

We have some plans for next Saturday (the 20th) that should be fun. We are going out with a few other couples. I think of all of us, only one of the women is not expecting. Ryleigh is going to stay with my parents and they are sooo excited. We are going out to eat for sure and I think Jason and I will get a hotel as this is all taking place up in the cities and then he flies out to Ohio on Sunday (the 21st) out of Minneapolis. So it will work out perfect. I am looking forward to a night out with friends. I just hope Ana doesn't have that baby before then, as she is due Oct 3rd. But, if she does that will be cool too as it would be fun to finally meet baby Volovsek!

Well, I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Almost forgot something....

Ryleigh loves this song by Sugarland called: All I want to do. It is the fifth song from the bottom on my jukebox playlist. She sings to the song almost perfect, especially the "ew" part. You have to listen to it quick!

Fast few days

Good evening~Hope everyone is having a great week. Mine has started out busy and I can't believe tomorrow is already "hump" day. I just have to say quickly and then I will try not to be so excited about Ryleigh and her potty training. This is the first day she has not had an accident at daycare. I am so excited. What a big girl. It's been a long haul but I think we are finally there. She first went potty and poopy in her potty chair when she was 16 months old, and she has been going pretty regularly in her potty chair before bed since then, but I can finally say that she is out of diapers during waking hours. She is even doing good when we leave the house in panties, telling me where ever we are that she needs to go. In a few weeks here, I am going to try and find a mattress pad and think about diaper free at night. She is 99% dry every time she wakes up either in the morning or at nap time, so I think it will be okay. Baby #2 is really starting to stick out it's feet/hands/elbows/knees and push. Today it pushed against my hand, it was kind of fun teasing it. Ryleigh got to feel it move for the first time today and was so excited.........then she didn't want to take her hand off my stomach. I added some photos to the slide show of me at 24 weeks, so be sure to check them out.

Jason and some guys from work got some free Twins tickets from work, so he is at the game this evening. I have been keeping an eye out for him, but haven't seem him yet........and the Twins are winning, so he picked a good game to go to. I think they are a game or two behind, so hopefully this win helps them. The are playing the Royals. GO TWINKIES!! He has been busy with lectures in the evenings so, this gives him a good break from that. He had some good luck fishing this past weekend. I will have to see if we can get the pictures from his phone onto here, so you can see his nice fish..........and Danny's! Sounds like they had a good time, even though it was chilly and rainy. This morning, it was 43 degrees when we left for daycare and work, but it warmed up to a nice 75 today.

Just thought all the grandparents would find this cute. Ryleigh named each one of you by name after going through pictures. She says, "Nana Peggy", "Papa Danny", "Gwamma Terri", "Papa Kev" and "Gwamma Pam" and she does it perfect when looking at all of you in pictures. She is copying everything we say, so we have to be very careful. Last night I broke some glass and said, OH SHOOT and for the next 10 minutes it was oh shoot out of her mouth. Ryleigh has been a counting animal this week, counting everything in site. Well, I should get going. I have to be to work earlier tomorrow for a meeting and should get to bed. Take care.

Happy Grandparents Day!

Just wanted to say quickly happy grandparents day to not only my grandparents, but to Jasons as well, and to the most important grandparents........Ryleigh's, "Nana" Peggy, "Papa" Danny, "Gramma" Terri, "Papa" Kev, and "Gramma" Pam!! I will post more later......I have to go grocery shopping. I am back..................






"Nana" Peggy












"Papa" Danny

"Gramma" Terri

"Papa" Kev

"Gramma" Pam

It was another good day in the potty training area. Ryleigh and I actually went shopping for a few hours and she told me every time she had to go. We didn't have one accident while we were out.........in fact, we didn't have one accident the whole entire day. GO RYLEIGH! So we got Ryleigh some new clothes........pants and shoes to be exact. She is now into 2T pants and her tennis shoes we got are a size 7, we got her another pair of shoes also that are a size 6. Holy buckets, she grew on me over the summer!! She is in love with her new shoes. This morning I let her pick out her own outfit. It was like on the movie big daddy..................she picked out this cute tshirt and her pink snowboots.............no pants. It was hilarious and I didn't even get a picture. The one good thing...............she matched!! TOO CUTE FOR WORDS. Well, I should get going. Hope everyone has a great week.

News, news, news

Good evening to all. I have lots of news this evening. Just want to congratulate my cousin Matt and his wife Andi as they are expecting their first child at the end of February. I emailed him to see how married life has been and we both told each other we were expecting. I, of course didn't know about him since it's pretty new news according to my mom, and he apparently didn't know I was either. How exciting for them.....Congrats to the both of you. My other cousin Ginny and her hubby Jeremy are also expecting a baby, their second one, in April. Congrats also to them. I talked to my mom this evening and sounds like my grandma Dinslage had a small stroke and they let her come home on Tuesday from the hospital, then on Thursday my Grandpa Dinslage's defibrillator went off. They are both being kept in my prayers. My other Grandma Zabka is doing good, thank heavens. I also added to my sidebar a jukebox. I left some directions if you want to stop the music or pick a different song.

Ryleigh and I had lots of fun together today. We did pretty much nothing except dance to music and play. She had a #1 and #2 accident in her panties this morning, but the rest of the day she did perfect with potty training. We even went to church and she told me she had to go during and we made it. She is doing so well, but I jinxed the no accident thing last evening in my blog. Oh well, it's bound to happen. We are only a couple of weeks into it. Tomorrow we are going to go shopping since we didn't make it today. She only has one pair of shoes she fits into at this time and we tried on all of her pants and she only fits into a couple of pairs that she got for Christmas and her birthday. Her legs seriously grew 3 inches over the summer, she looks like shes waiting for the flood, so we need to get her some pants, too. Ryleigh also had fun seeing Grandpa Danny this morning and hanging out for a little while with him. She showed him her new room and sang her ABC's for him but, shied away at around l-m-n-o-p! Too cute. Then she was excited to also get to talk to Grandma and Grandpa Zabka on the phone. She had some conversations with them. It was pretty nice here today reaching around 70 but then we had some showers this evening that cooled things off even more. Ryleigh went to bed great again in her new room without any issues. I was hoping springing both the room change and the potty training wouldn't throw her way off kilter, but so far she is being a trooper, far better than I had planned. Well I am going to get going to bed as I am sure Ryleigh will be up bright and early.

Baby #2 is doing great. I have some pictures that I will try and get on here tomorrow of the tummy. I have my next appt coming up next week. I think the 15th. All of a sudden, in addition to my salt cravings, I have begun to crave chocolate milk again like I did with Ryleigh. Which is a good thing, since she is a milk lover. 24 weeks marks the end of my sixth month. The baby has made some great stides this past month. A few weeks ago, it's bone marrow began making blood cells. Also the sense of taste and touch have made good progress. Last week the lungs were developing and producing surfactant, this week the baby's inner ear is now developed, which controls balance in the body. Next week I will begin month 7, yeah only a few more to go. I can't wait to meet this new little miracle that has taken over my body and kicks me every minute of the day!! Now if Jason and I could just come up with some names we would be in good shape.

Girls Weekend!

So far, so good with the garage sale. We have sold some of the "big" items and still have tomorrow morning left. It has felt good to get rid of some stuff and get money for it. We will finish tomorrow at noon and then Jason and his dad are going fishing. They will leave around noon tomorrow and return sometime Sunday late. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. Ryleigh and I are just going to hang out here and maybe go shopping..........at least online for some bedding for her since we can't seem to find anything around here. She slept in her new room, in her new bed last night, it was quite an adjustment for her. She cried and came out and I brought her back in and sang one more song to her and then left. She cried again and I just sat at the top of the steps waiting for her to stop which only took about five minutes and then she slept til her usual time. Tonight she went down like a princess and I got tons of hugs and kisses. She was a real sweetheart. I love it when she wraps both her arms around my neck and just squeezes and she was doing that when I was tucking her in "snug as a bug in a rug"! After last night I was not looking forward to tonight, however she did not cry at all tonight, in fact I didn't hear one peep out of her after I left her room. YEAH! I think I am having trouble finding bedding because it is a queen bed and most kid bedding that I am finding only goes to full size. We debated on getting a twin bed for her but didn't want to get rid of or store our "spare" queen bed, so we decided she could use it until we get the bedroom in the basement finished. Potty training is going so well. She has a few accidents at daycare, but has not had any here with Jason or I for a week and a half. I think it's because here she has our full attention and our constant nagging where at daycare, she has a lot to be preoccupied with. IT HAS BEEN AWESOME NOT BUYING OR USING DIAPERS all the time, she is still in them at nap and bedtime. I am so hoping this continues to go well, as I was not looking forward to having two children in diapers. I am hoping we don't have any regression when the baby comes, but I have heard that is normal, so we will just deal with that when the time comes. I will have to get some pictures of my belly on here maybe tomorrow or Sunday as this child growing inside me is getting huge and strong. And it never lays still......it's ALWAYS moving, which is a great feeling.

The slideshow I promised!

So, here is the slideshow from this past weekend. Ryleigh is quite the character. In the "hat" pictures, you will notice two different shoes on her. She couldn't decide which pair she wanted to trot around in, so she wore one of each. And the faces for the sprinkler............hilarious. We were cracking up and she was having fun. It cooled off today with the rain, getting to about 70. Ryleigh did good today with potty training, too. She had two minor accidents at daycare in the morning but did great after that. And she did perfect here this afternoon and evening. Instead of me hounding her what seems like every 20 minutes, she actually told us when she had to go potty and #2!!! It was awesome. We finally got the computer moved downstairs and out of her new room, so we will be moving her into that sometime this week. We are bringing over supper to our friends tomorrow evening. I have it all ready to go to put in the oven, which I will do right away when I get off of work. I am excited. Well, here is the slideshow so, enjoy!

Happy Labor Day!

We got to meet Osborne today and boy is he a cutie. It's amazing that Ryleigh used to be that tiny (even though he weighs a good 8 lbs, 5 oz). Ryleigh did so good with him and was very gentle. She sat next to me while I held him and just touched his feet and legs and then his head. He has lots of dark long hair. That is the newest little baby Ryleigh has ever met, my cousins baby was a week old when she got to see her. She did want to play with him, but did good when we explained he was too little to play. Everyone looks so good and we are going to bring them over supper on Wednesday. They seemed excited about that............thank you Peggy for the enchilada idea! I might have to make those for us, too.

We were going to put Ryleigh in her new room tonight, however we still have the computer up there and Jason started in on his lectures and homework so we will wait until maybe tomorrow evening. I went on a hunt today for some cute bedding, but had no luck. I can't believe the prices on some of the bedding out there for kids.....ridiculous. My aunt gave me some websites to check out for cute, affordable kid bedding, so I will check those out.

So, I called my mom to see how all is going in Nebraska this evening and couldn't get a hold of her. I finally found her at my grandparents house and learned that they put my grandma in the hospital yesterday. I guess she was really weak and could hardly move, they thought she might have had a stroke, however the MRI ruled that out. Looks like if all goes well, she might get to come home tomorrow, so we are praying for that. I am glad my mom and dad are there.

Ryleigh is going to go to daycare tomorrow in undies!! We went for a little trip to where I work this evening as I have to read some chapters in a book for a mtg tomorrow and I left it there. She made it all the way there holding in her pee and when we got there, as soon as I took her out of her car seat she said "potty". So, we ran into work to the facilities which were both in use, so then we ran to the bathroom near my office and we made it just in time! I was so excited that she didn't go in her underwear, since she has been bare all week. And I was excited that she held it until we got there. She got to see the birds we have at work as well as some of the nurses and nursing assistants that know her.

She has been a real ham lately. Her and Jason were wrestling this evening before bed and when I came downstairs to get her to go to bed, they were laying on the couch "cuddling". Jason has been teaching her to cuddle with us, so on the weekends we can just lay there for awhile with her, instead of immediately running downstairs to get milk. She did good this morning cuddling with us, too. She also hung out with Jason and Paul while they worked on the truck this evening. It was cute when I went out to get her and she was contently sitting in between them, eating sunflower seeds with them. I finally have some pictures downloaded onto the laptop, however I just finished making a salad for tomorrows potluck at work and I still need to read 6 chapters in this book, so I will get the slide show on later or tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great week.