Funny Girl

This little monkey continues to crack us up. I took this video months ago but am just now able to post it! I was getting ready to feed her, and gave her the spoon to play with. When I came back into the room, she had the spoon sticking out of her mouth like a big tongue and it was too funny to not try and capture. Thankfully, she was obliging. :)

- Posted from my iPhone

Breakfast Time

Rylin learned how to use her spoon like a big girl today! Normally it just gets thrown over the side, but she figured out the connection between spoon and food. :)

- Posted from my iPhone

Testing...again

So I got this new app to write my blogs, and I just want to see how well it works. I am so so so SO behind on my writing...


- Posted from my iPhone

4 Months Old!

At her check-up, our big girl now has the following stats:

weight - 11 pounds 7 ounces (9th percentile)
height - 23 1/2 inches (16th percentile)

Which means that although she is small for her age, she is growing along her own curve perfectly. She has grown 5 1/2 inches and has doubled (OK one ounce away, but it doesn't matter!) her birth weight.

But the best news is that she is ready for solid foods! She has been teething, though we won't see a tooth for a while probably, can hold her head up well, shows an interest in what we are eating, and can sit AND stand up with support. Sooo, our foray into "solid" foods has begun! Enjoy the video of her rice soup. :)

The aftermath

Cute Outfits

Now that Rylin is big enough to move out of newborn clothing, I can finally put her in some of the cute outfits everyone gave us! Hooray! Ok, really, she can still wear most of her newborn clothes, but I am sick of the same stuff for the last 4 months. :)

 This outfit I pieced together, but thought it was pretty darn cute.

 This outfit we got from her Omi (German form of Grandma) Wright. Thanks Patty!!

 More to come as she gets older!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I am a bit (read: a LOT) behind on making Rylin's baby book and journal. So I decided it might be a good idea to at least write down somewhere the little things I notice changing in her as they happen. Otherwise I won't be able to tell her when she first did anything!

I was starting to worry that she wasn't developing "as she should" since I didn't to much tummy time with her. She HATES it. I mean, her neck is plenty strong, she's been holding it up on her own since she was about two weeks old. But I didn't think she was developing her core strength that tummy time provides. I have been trying to get her to do it more and more, and keep trying to convince her that's how she will learn to roll over and eventually crawl. She will now push herself up with her fists and look around, and suddenly realize "Wow, I can see more than carpet when I do this!" So win there. I still don't do as much tummy time as I should though...shhh, don't tell her pediatrician.

But she has developed more quickly in other areas. She already can sit up well, supported of course, and prefers this view anyway. Lying down is just NOT her thing. She will do somewhat of a crunch in order to hold herself up, which often ends in toppling forward. She needs a bit more practice on the side steadying as well. But it has been fun to watch her explore the new world around her that she suddenly discovered.

For example, she has found her hands!!!! She has not really ever taken a pacifier, and thank goodness she found her fingers to chew on instead of me a few months ago. BUT those moments resulted from flailing limbs and hands that upon landing somewhere near her mouth, would trigger the rooting reflex and in they went. Now, she has discovered the utility of these objects. I would watch her mouth form sort of a duck bill in eager anticipation of the fist slowly making its way to slobbery doom. No more accidental encounters here! She carefully watched and studiedly moved the muscles necessary to bring her chubby little hand to her mouth. Amazing! 

Soon afterward she began batting at the toys dangling from her floor mobile. She is starting to learn to entertain herself! (joy for parents!!!) The batting turned into swatting, which would sometimes result in catching the rings, which she would close her fingers around and pull on. At first the ensuing music startled her, but how much more elation came from discovering she was causing said music! Now she not only reaches for the dangling rings/toys, she reaches for anything her little eyes rest upon in her 6" radius world around her. Blanket, check. Stuffed toys, check. Mommy and Daddy's fingers, check. Her cute dress, check. And they ALL go into her mouth. She has begun exploring her world with that pink tongue. Sometimes she gets mad because she can't fit all of Eeyore or Tigger into her mouth at once. Only their nose. It's not enough for her!

Nom, nom, nom!

As a result, one of my favorite things to do now is watch her catch something with her eyes, reach for it with her dimpled fingers, and drag it determinedly to her mouth. Endless hours of entertainment here, folks.

Today, she did something new! She has already figured out which cry to use when. Thankfully I have (for the most part) figured them out too. She had been getting more and more distracted while nursing by the world around her. Whether it's Daddy laughing, or music playing, something causes her to quickly turn and look, pulling on and hurting me as a result. Today she just took a pause in eating, and decided to bite down. Thank goodness she has no teeth yet, but those hard gums with the right amount of force can HURT. I took her off, looked her in the eyes and said firmly and slowly, "Rylin, no biting. That hurts Mommy." She immediately got this distressed look in her eyes and started crying a new cry. It was almost her 'sad' cry (because what has she to be sad about at this point in her life, really?), but different. And she kept looking in my eyes as if to say "I'm sorry, Mommy! I am crying because you hurt my feelings when you scolded me." 

Ahh the joys of parenting. And she's only three and a half months old!     

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

So now that I am making the transition to stay-at-home-Mommy (yay!) I have been experimenting with various recipes and making them my own. I have always loved to cook and bake, but never really got the practice as an adult. I decided that once we came up with something that was now "ours," I would take a picture and post it here with the recipe. So...enjoy!

What you need:
1 Oreo cookie ready pie crust
1 pint (16 oz) fresh strawberries, washed and quartered
1/2 cup strawberry glaze
1 pkg 8oz cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar

What you do:
1. Refrigerate the crust at least an hour so it is nice and firm, it will break apart otherwise when putting in the cream cheese I noticed. While that is cooling, bring out your cream cheese to soften at room temp for an hour. Make sure it is not cold which makes it sticky, or it will break apart your nice crust.

2. Gently mix the glaze into your strawberries in a separate bowl.

3. Mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together with a fork or electric mixer until smooth. Using a spatula, carefully pour and spread over crust, making a nice thick bottom layer.

4. Spoon the glazed strawberries over the cream cheese layer without mixing!

5. Refrigerate for at least 1/2 an hour (not necessary but I don't like warm glaze) then top with homemade whip cream (recipe coming later) or cool whip and enjoy!

I've also added a 1/2 inch (maybe less?) layer of hot fudge on top of the crust, under the cream cheese mixture. This was delicious as well! You'll just have to be careful with piling the strawberries on top as they'll want to escape... into your mouth!!!

3 Months Old!

Just a quick post to show how Rylin has celebrated her turning three months old. She started smiling about two months ago, but it has been nigh impossible to get a picture of her doing so! She gets so distracted with the camera and stops smiling to inspect it. Her favorite time to smile is during her diaper change, maybe cause Mommy and Daddy aren't distracted by everything else in their lives at that moment? At any rate, she started responding vocally to me with various noises soon afterward, but didn't really seem to have control of them. Most of the time she would just open her mouth, give us a determined look, and expect the sound to come out. Hilarious to watch! Sometimes a squeal would work it's way out, delighting us even more. This past week, she seemed to suddenly realize that the noises she was hearing were her own creation. Her "ah-goos" slowly sounded more and more like a gargle. The resulting vibration in her vocal chords provided a tangible sensation to her developing senses. And she discovered she had complete control! Thus the experiments began. She could hear and feel what she was doing, and let Mommy know she could. Even better, Mommy responded in kind, which has led to the daily conversations we know enjoy. As her cries have become distinct to the message she is trying to convey, so have her vocalizations. The look in her eyes is priceless when she is trying to communicate to us what is on her mind. Now one of her favorite games to play is to start "ah-g-g-g-gooing", even if I am not facing her, because she KNOWS I will respond back. She actually initiates communication with me, consciously performing a specific action expecting a particular result. Simply amazing. Enjoy the video I was able to capture the day I discovered what she already knew. :)  

Happy Easter!

So it's a little late in posting, but look what the Easter Bunny brought us!

The egg coloring kit was really cool! Prettiest eggs I have ever seen!

 And the prettiest baby we know, Rylin!

2 Months Old!

Hard to believe, but our baby girl is two months old already! At her check-up we found out she now weighs a whopping 9 lbs 10 oz and is 22 inches long. Which means she has gained almost 4 pounds and has grown 4 inches. Not bad! She still fits into "newborn" clothing though, but just barely. We look forward to her blessing in a few weeks. Until then, enjoy some of her most recent pictures, and a video of her daily hiccups!

Her mouth is open most of the time, which allows the drool to come out! LoL















She just needs an arched eyebrow and the ability to say "Oh really?

She is getting the baby bald spot already!!! :(

 

Look at my big belly!

This must be her "I am fed up with you" face.

Tummy time mostly ends up as face-plant time.

Or flailing leg time.

Our 1st Anniversary

Since we were married on a Saturday, our anniversary this year fell on a Sunday. Combined with the fact that we are broke, we decided to stay in to celebrate our first year of marriage. Thanks to a I-don't-know-what-I-want-for-a-sleep-pattern-yet baby, we barely made it to 9:30 church on time. After coming home and having a bit of lunch, we started watching The Princess and the Frog for the second time in 24 hours. What can I say, it actually was pretty cute. Halfway through, however, all three of us were passed out. We left the baby in her swing (on the high setting I might add) since that is her favorite place to nap, and went to bed ourselves. Four hours later it was almost dark and time to eat dinner! Todd made sure I relaxed on the couch while he made steaks and asparagus with mushrooms. Yum. Yum. Yum!!! We drank it all down with our special celebratory black cherry creme sodas.

It took a few hours before we had room for dessert, but we brought out the top of our wedding cake and dug in to the chocolaty-caramel goodness.

Todd had also given me a vase full of the most beautiful flowers.

It was a wonderful day, and I can't imagine it being any better. I love you with all my heart, my dear husband!

Turtles and Tribbles

So we have had these baby turtles for a year and a half now. Chewie, Luke, and Leia. Chewie was given to us by one of Todd's old roommates, and Todd decided to get the other two to keep the Wookurtle company. We have taught them to eat food from our fingers (with the occasional snap for Todd) and the waterfall we have going in their habitat is a pleasant sound in our home. They haven't been causing us any problems until a few weeks ago when Chewie escaped. He and Leia have each done so before, but we have always been able to locate them. This time, he was determined to disappear. We live in a rather small condo, so his options are very limited. We looked under all of our appliances with a flashlight, to no avail. Well the other day I closed the door to our pantry and looked down at something wedged between the fridge and the wall. At first it looked like a corner of a rug that was currently in the laundry. This confused me. I had no idea why our rug would be in such a silly spot. Then I realized it was our missing turtle. Poor Todd has been a little down since the escape, so I called him into the kitchen to discover the returning reptile. I guess he finally got hungry and knew we were good for something. Welcome back, Chewie! :)


In other news, our little "Tribble" Rylin is starting to catch on that we are trying to get her to sleep without being held the entire time. It's haaaaard, especially since she has been sick for a week and has been very fussy. So any advice and/or tricks that you have would be much appreciated. So far we have been somewhat successful with using the Boppy pillow to transition from being held to being put down. But we really want her to STAY asleep once she is in the bassinet. Help?!

Testing 1...2...3

After being a fan of so many friends and family blogs, we decided to create our own! So hooray. :) More is coming, but for now thanks for checking in!