Summer Crafts

I love summer time because I actually have the time to try out new crafts and do things that are fun and entertaining for me. The down side is that they usually cost money, but sometimes I can make do with what I already have. My friend Allie gave me the idea for these "Grow With Me" blocks. These were great because I already had all of the materials and just needed to purchase the wood. You can use these to place in your baby's/child's pictures to watch them grow. You can also use these if you are pregnant to document your belly bump progress week by week. I am excited to start taking Rylee's picture with hers each month to see her grow! I think these would make a fun addition to a baby shower gift as well. Let me know if you would like some and we can decide on a fair price. :)

Rylee's pacifier clip has seen better days. I wasn't too thrilled with the other patterns at the store so I made these! I already had the clips from attempting to make hair bows (I'm not too good at that). These are simple and cheaper to make than buy at the store.

2nd Wedding Anniversary

Today is our 2nd Wedding Anniversary. Our 2nd year will definitely be remembered as the year that we had our first child, Rylee! We started the day with a nice breakfast at Our Place in Mansfield. It is SO good. We then took Rylee and the dogs to the dog park for some nice family time. That evening my parents watched Rylee. We went to Olive Garden for dinner and went to see The Green Lantern. It was a nice relaxed Anniversary. During dinner we reminisced over the fun times we had this past year. We also set some goals for the upcoming year. Some of our goals include: 1) Growing spiritually and attempting to attend the temple at least once every 2 months. 2) Sticking to our budget and finding was to save money. 3)Take a family vacation each summer, either near or far. We talked about how we won't really remember the stuff we buy, but we will remember the memories we create on vacations. Therefore we planned to try and go out to California next summer! Our hope is that Jill, Evan's sister, and her family will be relocated to California by next summer and we will get to visit them. Overall, our marriage has definitely been strengthened this year. I think having a child definitely tests you and can bring you closer together when you work as a team. We look forward to many more years! :)

2 Months!

Rylee is now 2 months old! She had her 2 month checkup today. She is 12.4 lbs (80th percentile), 24 inches (95th percentile), and her head circumference was 15 3/4 (80th percentile). She is doing great developmentally. She can be soothed by holding her. She can almost roll over from her tummy to her back by herself. She can hold her head away from the ground or your shoulder. Her reflexes are great too! She has been overeating a little so we need to cut back an ounce at each feeding. (probably my fault because I wasn't sure how much she was getting from me) Things we have noticed in the past month. She is growing like a weed!!! When we looked at her chart at the doctors office, the curve was huge! We were so concerned that first month that she wasn't growing like she should. To give you a comparison, her head circumference was in the 10th percentile at her 1 month check up! That brain is GROWING! She still prefers to sleep on her side. She is having regular poopy diapers (which we were worried about). She is starting to like her swing more now that she can see the rotating birds above her. She has spent the night twice at Nana's house with grandpa watching her. She sleeps between 7-8 hours straight through the night with at least 2 long naps during the day. She is going on her first road trip this weekend to Stillwater and OKC to visit family for Baby Oliver's blessing. We just feel so blessed to have her in our lives!

Goodbye to Room 28

Before I had Rylee, before we bought our house, before I met and married Evan, I moved in to room 28 at Otis Brown Elementary. Room 28 has been my home away from home for 3 years now. Recently, our district re-drew the boundary lines for the elementary schools. Due to this, my school is loosing about 2 teachers per grade level. While on maternity leave, I got a call from my principal. He was almost crying and said he had some bad news. I had to leave. I am getting moved to another school. I took the news rather well. I feel VERY VERY blessed to still have a job when so many others do not. As I came back to work after my leave, I kept my optimism, until yesterday. Yesterday was my last day with my kids. Each year, I think, "oh I will see them again next year in the halls and stuff". No more of that. Each year I say goodbye to coworkers thinking, "we will keep in touch and I will see them again next year". No more of that either. I realize that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and I need to be faithful. As for now, I am assigned to another elementary school teaching 1st grade instead of 2nd. This school is an extra 20 minutes north of my house which means my commute, with traffic, will be over an hour now. That means over 2 hours of my day will be spent in the car away from Rylee. There was a bright glimmer of hope in the 3 counseling interviews I had within a week. But that glimmer burned out when all 3 called to say they had chosen someone else. Like I said, I know there is a plan for me, and I am trying my best to just forget about work and start my summer with my family. As I say goodbye to room 28, I reminisce over the fun and hard times I have had. Goodbye Brown Elementary and goodbye to room 28.

Newborn Pictures!

We are VERY fortunate to have a friend like Jenny Rossi who is an amazing photographer. She took our engagement pictures and wedding pictures so it only seemed fitting to have her do Rylee's newborn pics. We flew her down Easter weekend so that she could be with her family, take pics of another friend's reception, and take Rylee's pics. It worked out so well! I never realized how much hard work it would be taking a newborn's pictures. We literally spent almost 20 minutes in between pictures trying to get her to fall asleep again for the next picture. By the end though, she was sound asleep. I had a hard time picking which ones I wanted on her announcement. Scroll to the bottom and you can see a preview of what is coming in the mail soon! :)

Blessing Day

On Mother's Day, May 8th, Rylee was blessed at our church. We belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We believe in baptising a child when they reach the age of 8. When a baby is born, they are given a blessing that is similar to a prayer circle. My mom, dad, grandma, and sister came to witness it. I was so glad that they could come! My friends, Amanda Churak, Johnnie and Glade Smith, and Elizabeth and Sam Akinaka came too! We also had Evan's good friend Josh Wray in town visiting and he got to participate in the blessing as well which was really special for Evan. Evan was a little nervous giving the prayer, but he did a great job! I am very blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is worthy to bless our little girl. Afterwards we went to celebrate Mother's Day with my family and had a good time. Overall it was a wonderful day!

1 Month Already?

Today was Rylee's 1 month checkup and tomorrow she is official 1 month old! I can not believe how fast time goes by. I like how some of my friends keep updates on how their babies are progressing so I plan on doing the same with each month. Here are a few things Rylee is doing:

*Rylee is both breastfeeding and bottle feeding now. We were worried about her weight gain and so we have been introducing formula slowly. Breastfeeding has gotten better and more enjoyable for the both of us.

*Rylee was sleeping through the night but we had to wake her up to feed her every 2 hours to gain weight, so now she is in a pattern of waking up and will wake herself up every 3 hours or so. She will sleep in her crib or pack and play for the 1st 3 hours but once we get her up to feed her she will not go back down in the crib and will end up in her bouncer for the rest of the evening. We are slowly trying to get her out of this habit.

*We spend 10-15 minutes of tummy time a day. She has really gotten to like it and will usually fall asleep after 10 minutes at which point I will roll her over and she takes a short nap.

*She has gained a whole pound in the past 2 weeks! We were really worried about her weight at first. She was born 7lbs 11oz but lost a whole pound in the first 4 days. She was up to 7lbs 7oz at her 2 week checkup and is now 8lbs 7 oz. They didn't measure her today but at her 2 week checkup she had grown an inch.

*She is almost too long for the newborn clothes but the 0-3 month clothes almost drown her. We are trying to figure out different outfits she can fit in, but we usually have a habit of wearing some of the same things over and over.

*She is VERY alert and usually has her eyes wide open trying to take in the world. She loves to look at lights and can usually be calmed down by being cuddled closely while talking and looking into her eyes.

*Her baby blessing at church is this Sunday and I will make a new post with pictures then.

Overall, Rylee is a wonderful baby and we couldn't feel more blessed. When we can figure out what she wants, she is almost always content and happy. We love our little girl!