It's a Girl!

This delivery was by far the easiest. Maybe because I knew what to expect this time around. Rylie was born on Monday, November 23, 2009 at 3:58a.m. She weighed 5lb 11oz and was 19in long. She came out really awake and alert. Heck! Look at those eye on this photo (she is 2 days old). She is a champion nurser, but that could be because I've done it before. We were discharged from the hospital after she was 24 hours old and I took her in to see the pediatrician the following day, because it was going to be a long weekend (due to Thanksgiving being in a few days) and wanted to establish her with the practice. The pediatrician was concerned about her weight lost as a result of the breastfeeding and suggested that I supplement her with formula. Nevermind the fact that she should know that it takes a few days for your milk to come in and the baby is being fed collostrum until it finally matures. I wasn't going to use the formula , but I did supplement her with additional breastmilk that she didn't manage to get from the breast (this was Jerry's idea) . So, imagine my surprise when we go in for a weigh in and she has gained 8oz over 2 days. That's 1/2 of a pound and simply amazing! I was glad that I didn't listen to the doctor and trusted my gut.

My Big 6th Grader

Dropping her off at the Middle School reminded me of taking her to Kindergarten. I was weepy both times. Both times she said, "Good Bye" and ran along without me. I look at her sometimes and literally wonder where does time go. How can she already be 11 years old and not 2. Makes me want to shut her in the freezer to just slow down the time. Especially since we are on the cusps of the "Dreaded Teenage Years".

Ariel says that she is stuck in the house with Adults and Babies. I thought about that for a long time. And you know what? I agree. So I decided that I would just have to make more time for her and I to hang out or make myself available for her to just hang out more with friends.

On this day, however it was just her and I making a run for ice cream. My camera came along too- he he!

So quiet and thoughtful. She reads alot. She can finish a chapter book in about a week. This is in addition to homework. I never have to tell her to take time to read. Also reflective and conscientious. She's not really a risk taker, she likes to know all her options before ever making a decision. It reminds me of when she started to walk. She would always stand but no amount of coaching would make her walk across the floor without something to hold on to. She comes back and apologizes for acting out. I can hardly believe this, because I certainly wasn't doing that at this age.

Most of the time, she is a really good big sister. She looks out for Cailin- making sure she is safe. However her patience is really short when it comes to Cailin and her room. She rarely allows her into her personal space.

She LOVES chocolate! This is the smile I got when confirming that it was ok to have chocolate ice cream. This child ate at least 40 chocolate bars in two days. She wiped out all the Halloween candy in the house.

She has recently decided that my skills for picking out clothes were inadequate. Over night she has decided that I don't know how to dress her and she can do a much better job.

Which leads us to these shoes. I cringed while her face just lit up over these shoes. I am giving her the space to choose what she wears. My only stipulation is that it is neat and age appropriate.

Love you sweet sweet Ariel!

Halloween 2009

I love Halloween and always start months ahead brainstorming different ideas. Initially, when I was thinking of Ariel's costume, I was thinking Hippie. However it started to morph, while I was shopping around for accessories. I almost brought her a pair of clogs, but didn't think that really meshed with walking around all night Trick-or-treating. As we were leaving, we stopped by my neighbor's house and he said, "Angela Davis"! And I thought, "Bingo" she is dressed like the 1960-70's!

Cailin got to be Minnie Mouse this year. She always give me this smile. It always makes me laugh, so she keeps doing it. She will say, "Momma look at me!" and I turn around and I am greeted with this face. Jerry says she looks mischievous. No farther comment from me!

Notice anything different in the last two photos? She broke my DIY bow and insisted on taking the leggings off. The story of my two year old!

Ariel got a lot of compliments on her costume. This child was a witch like 565 times in a row, until I started making suggestions for different costumes last year.

Doesn't it make you want to sing, "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy?

Cailin was so upset in this photo. She is in the "Can't catch me Phase"- meaning she will just take off running and you running after her only makes her run faster. I have tried everything to get her to stop doing this, but she just thinks it's all a game. On this day she was running straight towards a 4-lane street. She got a few seconds lead on me and with my 8 month belly- well sometimes she is the winner of the race. I send Ariel instead chasing after her and I am yelling at the top of my lungs for her to stop. I'm sure we thoroughly terrorized her in the process, but when I think of the alternative.....

Anyway big sister made her feel better.

In the interest of keeping all things fair around here, Jerry painted belly baby for me!

8 months

8 months pregnant! My belly is huge! I looked in the mirror and discovered a long stretch mark on my belly. That is new and something that I can attribute to just you. I'm afraid of having a wrinkly belly, but I"ll just take it as proof that you are getting big in there. You are probably the best kicker so far. Your kicks feel like jolts and I enjoy watching my whole belly shift and teepee from your movements. Your are a very busy baby as I feel you moving almost constantly. I also feel as if I can feel you hiccup pretty often as well. At least once a day. They feel like short jerky movements that happen like 10 times in a row. When you press a knee or foot out and I touch there, you seem to press and hold it there pretty firmly.

We had some scares and I thought that you would be delivered early, but that fear is no longer since I am about 3 weeks away from you being full term. Yay!

I'm a little anxious because I'm afraid of the labor pains. I am a little bit of a wimp when it comes to pain, but I'm hoping that when it happens it happens quickly. However you stay in there and cook a little longer and we will see you soon little one.

33 weeks 5 days

I joked with your Dad that this looked like a "Cardine nose"!

(Oct23) We found out that you were about 5 pounds and 2 ounces. I was pretty excited about that because I was really worried that all my stomach issues would not allow you to pack on the pounds at the end. The doctor assured me because of all the measurements they did to get the calculations that you were probably +/- about 2 ounces. That was such a relief because Cailin was born weighing 5 pounds and 7 ounces, but you will probably be bigger than that.

31 weeks

(Oct 7) I was really excited during this ultrasound, because the tech switched on the 3D monitor to try and capture a better picture of your face. We thought the image was so sweet, because we were amazed at the details in your face and hands. The big black blotch is where the placenta was. She erased it so that we could see your face clearly. You are laying head down and at one point had your foot right next to your face. We have seen some pretty amazing things on the ultrasounds. We seen you open your mouth and yawn and then it seemed as if you got a taste of something you liked because you kept on licking out your tongue and taking big gulps. We have seen you look right at us on the monitor with your eyes open.
We were assured that you are growing and looking good. That's makes me so happy.

Zaniya's Birthday Party

I was invited to shoot a birthday party by Amanda. It was for her niece, Zaniya. She invited Ariel and Cailin and I was concerned about Cailin being clingy and not being able to take pictures. The truth was Ariel took care of her little sister. She kept Cailin busy sliding down the slide with her. I was pleasantly surprised.

Cailin didn't mind the pictures but Ariel said she gets enough pictures taken at home and that she didn't need to take any while at the party :0)! It made me think (only briefly) that maybe I take too many pictures!

Cailin was up first for the pinata, because she was the one of the smallest there. Ariel never got a chance because the little guy in front of her burst the pinata.

Story hour

We've been going and trying out different libraries. This one was near Ariel's school and was the perfect spot to kill an hour until school let out. There was a story book hour broken up with dancing and singing different songs. Cailin didn't know what to think at first.

However, it didn't take long before she was singing and dancing right along.

She sat down most of the time to listen to the stories.

And she participated as well.

But more than once, I had to get her back to the floor. She wanted to stand in front of the story teller and point at the book while she was reading.

Or she forgot the story all together and played under the table.

Arts and Crafts

After the stories were over, next it was arts and crafts. It was supposed to be fingerpainting.

You can see she is really in to it.

She was messy up to her arms with paint, but it all was washable. We had a good time.

7 1/2 months

I took this picture at 30 weeks. I had an ultrasound done the week before and you weighed in at 2lb. 11oz. I always want to know how you were laying and you were head down with your butt up and your legs clear across the belly. It was a really cool ultrasound in that we got to see you yawning and then opening your mouth repeatedly and licking your tongue out. The ultrasound tech said she felt like you had yawned and then got a taste of something that you thought was good and it had you coming back for more. It must be all the pancakes I eat every morning. It if had to say I ate one thing consistently it would be pancakes! At this point you're probably swimming around in syrup. You still kick and hit like crazy and at this point it's pretty cool to see you move my whole belly. You also have been poking different body parts for me to feel and try to decide what I am feeling.

I had to go to the hospital last week as well. I was contracting every 2-3 minutes which scared me to death. Although, it's not really new, I still expected this pregnancy to be different because everything had been going pretty smoothly so far. It did make me start to take things way more seriously, so I am off work and home on bedrest until you come. I am also trying my best to take it easy and not do much. That does get me out of chores around the house, while Dad picks up the slack :0)!

The biggest thing I have noticed this month is that the maternity shirts I brought, don't really fit me anymore. The end of the shirt doesn't quite make it entirely over my belly. I have a little bit of belly peeking out at the end of the shirt in the front. It was literally I could wear the shirts one week and I couldn't wear the shirts this week. I looked in the mirror and check it out, but I guess it's hard to see when you see yourself daily. I have gained 27lbs so far, which was a little concerning for me because that's how much I had gained by the end of pregnancy with Cailin. But seeing this is the time for you to pack on the pounds, I guess I can count on me packing on the pounds as well!

You have 9 more weeks (at the point of this post) to cook but 6 more weeks and you will be alright to make your arrival. So feel free to wait a little more than 6 weeks but don't go the full 9. We can't wait to meet you!