New Changing Table

When Emma was born, a changing table was not something that we really had the money for. It wasn't very high up on the priority list of things we needed to get. We decided to use an old stand to put her changing pad on and despite the fact it didn't match and was a little wobbly....it did the job. Since Ryleigh will be here very soon, I really wanted to get a new changing table to complete their room. So for our baby shower we received a lot of things that we either already had, or didn't need, so we returned those for store credit. We have also received some gift cards from Babies R Us. Yesterday we finally got enough to get this changing table. When we went to the store last night, I expected to have to wait a week or two for it but they had one in stock so we were able to get it and Josh put it together last night before we went to bed. I love this changing table. It's a lot taller than what we were using and it has a drawer that we can store things in. I am beyond excited. It took us a year and half to get it, but now their room looks complete.

Check-Up

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my 37 week checkup. It was actually a pretty easy check-up, unless you count the part where I waited over an hour only to talk to the doctor for 3 or 4 minutes. But I guess that is to be expected. I was pretty excited when I got there because I was told that I was seeing a different doctor but I ended up seeing my primary doctor which was nice. I haven't seen him in months. So after checking my blood pressure, weight, peeing in a cup, and asking all those repetitive questions I finally got to see the doctor. He checked Ryleigh's heartbeat and it sounded wonderful. The he checked to see if I was making anymore progress. Nope! I'm still around 3cm....which is where I've been for the last couple of weeks. I was kind of shocked because at my appointment last week, the doctor said that I would probably have her this week, so I guess I just had it my head that she was coming soon. But I guess it's a good thing. I won't technically be full term until tomorrow so she still has plenty of time to hang out in there. Either way, I know for sure she will be here in the next 15 days!

Little Hats

Remember a few weeks ago when I showed you all a picture of a precious little beanie that I ordered for Ryleigh? Well it is finally here. I got it in the mail today. This past Friday I e-mailed Veronica, the lady who makes the hats, because it had been over 2 weeks and I hadn't received the hat yet. Her website had said that you would receive your package in less than 2 weeks, so when it didn't get here, I was a little worried that it might not be here before Ryleigh is born. When she emailed back to me she explained that she was running a little behind because she is expecting a new baby in a few weeks too. She apologized and said that she was including a special little gift for having to wait. How sweet is that? She didn't tell me what the special gift was, but I was so excited when I opened up the box today and found another sweet little beanie along with the one I ordered. She is so sweet to have sent that to me and I'm so excited. These hats are so cute and I can't wait to see Ryleigh in them.

I ordered the brown hat and she sent me the little pink one.....aren't they just precious?

Peek-a-Boo Blocks

Sleeping Beauty

Emma always takes a 2 hour nap from 12-2 every day. She has never been one to really nap longer than she should. Normally, she'll wake up before I want her to. We don't really let her nap past 2 1/2 hours because if we do, then she doesn't go to bed on time and she doesn't sleep well at night. However, for the past 2 days, she has not wanted to wake up from her nap. I really don't like waking her up because she can get grouchy but after about 2 1/2 hours, I start making a lot of noise hoping she would wake up on her own. Today, I even had to go in her room. I started putting up toys, took a few cute pictures, and even said her name a few times.....but she was OUT. She was not waking up. Finally Josh came in her room and woke her up. Luckily she woke up so happy and has been in a great mood today.

36 Weeks!!

Seriously?!?! 36 weeks?!?! I didn't think we would make it this far but here we are. I'm so glad that Ryleigh has decided to stay put for a little while longer and grow. I am still hoping that she will wait another week or two before she decides to come. I want her to grow and mature those lungs as much as possible. My c-section is scheduled for 3 weeks from today. I don't think we will make it that long but it gives me a date to look forward to. I'm so excited to meet this little girl. This pregnancy has been far from ideal, but strangely, I wouldn't change anything about it. Things are actually going pretty well right now. I am still on "moderate" bed rest but other than that, the baby is doing fine and I'm hanging in there. I have been out of work almost 4 weeks now, which basically sucks, but there isn't much I could do about it. My doctor will not clear me to go back to work so for now, I'm stuck at home, on the couch, feeling like a bum. I have been able to get a lot accomplished over the past few weeks though. I have been cleaning some, doing laundry, washing dishes, etc. I do these things at least once a day because I don't want us coming home to a dirty house. I have made all my lists for packing hospital bags. Ryleigh's bag is ready to go, but my bag and Emma's bag will have to wait because we need most of the things that we will have to pack. We even have 2 "on-call" people on standby just incase I have to go to the hospital in the middle of the night, they will be able to come and stay with Emma until she wakes up and then bring her to the hospital. So I guess for now, we are just waiting. I am trying to spend all the time I can with Emma now. Poor thing.....her whole world is getting ready to change, and she has no idea. I just hope that she will welcome Ryleigh with open arms and realize that having a little sister is going to be great.[most of the time anyway]   :]  

Brown Bear and Cheerios

Here are a few pics of Emma I took yesterday of her reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear and snacking on some cheerios.

AGAIN?!?!?!

Oh my gracious.....Emma did it again!!!!!! 2 times in less than 8 hours. Are you kidding me?

Poop covered hands!

Luckily, I actually caught her in the act of putting her hands down her diaper and was able to grab her hands before she made a complete mess.

I'm so tired of poop today. Surely she doesn't have any poop left now..........right?

Needless to say, she is now in a onesie. I can't take anymore poop!!

(you all can quit laughing at me now......it's really NOT funny)

I knew it would happen one day.....

and that day....was today!! Since Emma was born, I knew that what happened this morning would happen. I have been dreading it. All kids do it, but I was hoping maybe I would have the one kid that wouldn't. Nope! She did it too.

It was about 7:45 this morning and I was sitting on the couch. We had not been up too long and Emma had already drank her milk and was watching a Backyardigan episode. All of a sudden I look up, and Emma is walking towards me with poop covered hands and pants. Ummm......Ewwwwwwww!!!! I wasn't quite prepared for that....especially at 7:45 in the morning. Emma always poops in the morning and I'm pretty good about changing her diaper as soon as she is finished. But this morning, I didn't even notice she had gone and I didn't smell anything either. Needless to say, I will be watching her very closely from now on. I guess the good thing is that she realizes that she doesn't like for that poop to be there and this is the first step to potty training.

So I walked her to the bathroom trying to only touch her arms. I was able to get her hands clean and get her undressed without causing too much of a mess. I finally got her clean enough to put in the bath tub and then I scrubbed her like crazy. So now she is nice and clean and smelling much better.

I know all of you moms out there are laughing at me and thinking to yourself that you know exactly what I went through. But it was not fun at all. I knew it was going to happen but I still wasn't fully prepared for little poop hands walking towards me. Yuck!!


So, that's how my morning has been so far.....hope you all have a Happy Wednesday!!

The Sweet Girl Beanie

This little beanie is so precious....don't ya think? I got this beanie made for Ryleigh and now I'm just waiting for it to get here. I thought that with her being born in February or March that she would need something a little warmer than most infant hats. I can't wait to see her in it. If your interested, I got it from here. She makes the sweetest little hats.

Big Girl Bed

I decided that today was the day I would try to let Emma nap in her toddler bed for the first time. I want to start getting her used to her naps first before we try bedtime. She did pretty good in it. She slept almost an hour and a half before she rolled and hit her head. After that, I tried to get her to go back to sleep in the toddler bed but I think she was just startled from waking up so suddenly and party because she didn't recognize where she was. Luckily, I was able to lay down with her and she quickly went back to sleep and she slept her full 2 hr and 15 min nap. It will definitely be a work in progress, but I don't think it will take too long.

Yes, I realize that I put her in the bed upside down, but that's the way she sleeps in her crib and I was trying to keep her routine the same. Next time I am going to try and get her turned the other way.

Preparing...

The past couple of weeks I've been doing everything I can to prepare for Ryleigh's arrival. The doctor thinks that she will be here in the next week or two so I want to make sure I have everything done. There are still a few things that we need to pick up, but other than that, we're ready. Although I prefer for her to wait at least 2-3 more weeks, if she decides to come early, I'm prepared.

The carseat is installed... I love our Chicco. Josh's mom and dad got it for us for Christmas and I can't wait to use it.

All the bottles are washed and ready

Emma was very picky when it came to paci's. There were only a certain kind she would ever use. So we have 3 different kinds...surely she'll like one of them.

I spent one afternoon washing the swing cover, infant seat cover, infant pillow cover, and making sure everything she would be in were clean. Here is our swing.....just waiting on a baby.Since Ryleigh and Emma are sharing a room.....that also means that they share a closet. I've tried to get creative and make the most out of the space that I have. Josh and I are planning to add more shelves soon but for now, this will have to do. I actually like the way it turned out. I have a place for just about everything....just as long as we don't get too many more clothes. :] Ryleigh's clothes are on the left and Emma's are on the right. I also use the fabric boxes for some clothes and also for things like blankets, burp cloths, swaddles, socks, pj's....etc.

Ryleigh's hospital bag

Emma's shirt for the big day

A Little About Emma

I realized that it's been a while since I really posted about Emma and what she is up to these days. Right now she is about 17 months old. She still only has about 8 teeth. They are really taking their time coming in, but that doesn't stop her from eating anything she wants. She has started using a fork when she eats and is becoming really good at it. Sometimes she is able to get the food on the fork and other times we will help her but she is still doing a great job. I'm guessing she probably weighs about 24 lbs now and she is still about 30 in. tall. She has just started wearing her 18 month clothes and is in a size 3 diaper. She has put herself on a great schedule too. She usually gets up around 7:00am, eats lunch at 11:30, naps from 12-2, then goes to bed at 8:30. We had a few rough nights last weekend but for the most part she is sleeping through the night. There are some nights when she will sit up once and then we just go in her room and lay her back down and help her get comfortable and then she goes back to sleep. She loves taking baths and brushing her teeth. Every time I get her tooth brush out she sits and waits for me to come brush her teeth. She tries to do it herself but just ends up chewing on the brush. She is still in LOVE with the Backyardigans. I wish she would watch something else sometimes, but as long as she is happy, it's ok. Josh has predicted that she is going to be a drama queen when she gets older. She has started to throw cute little tantrums and when she is sad or gets told "no", she hangs her head and covers her eyes with her hands. It's so cute....but I'm sure we won't think so in a couple of years. Emma is very independent and likes to be by herself. She doesn't like large groups of people and she is usually happy just playing by herself. She is great and giving hugs, kisses, and high fives. Emma is such a sweet little girl. Sometimes I wish I could box her up and keep her like this forever. But I'm enjoying watching her grow and learn new things. I can't wait to Ryleigh gets here because I know that Emma will be a great big sister....once she gets through the first few weeks.

Shower for Ryleigh Laine

Yesterday we had a baby shower to celebrate Ryleigh. It was so much fun and definitely the best baby shower ever. Katie and Victoria did everything for the shower, of course with some help from my mom. These two girls have been excited for weeks about this shower and they really went all out to make it special for me. I couldn't have asked for anything better. There was some really great decorations and also some good food. There was a candy bar too. The cake was absolutely to die for. It was pink and had Ryleigh's monogram on it. My mom made the cutest diaper cake. We keep telling her she should sell them. We also received some awesome gifts. We got so many clothes, diapers, wipes, bath stuff, blankets, a few gift cards, and we also got some cash to go towards our stroller. We hope to order it next week. Katie and Victoria put so much work into the shower. Thank you both so much for everything you did for us and for helping us celebrate this little baby. Here are just a few pictures from the shower. It's nothing compared to the almost 500 pictures Autumn took. :] Go to her blog to see some other pictures.

The diaper cake my mom made. It is so pretty.

Victoria made this awesomely cute baby carriage from fruit....she did a great job

The candy bar

The beautiful table

Katie, Me, and Victoria

Ryleigh's monogram on the cake.I made the punch myself, and it turned out so good. I love this little duckies

Katie and Victoria

All of the great gifts for Ryleigh. I love this basket that we got from Autumn, Katie, and Victoria

6 years ago today....

Josh and I went out on our first date! It was probably one of the best days of my life. It was the start of all the great times we would have together. Don't ask me how, but I knew from that first date, that I was going to marry him. It really doesn't seem like we have been together 6 years already. I am constantly learning new things about him and our relationship is only getting better. Out of the 6 years we've been together, we dated for 4 and have been married almost 2. We have one beautiful little girl and another one who will be here in a few weeks. What more could any girl ask for? He is the love of my life and the most amazing person I've ever known. I love you sweetheart. Happy "Anniversary".

Squeaky Clean

Emma LOVES bath time. She is so happy when she is in the tub playing. Her favorite thing right now is the little foam letters that stick on the side of the bathtub. She likes to see how many she can stack in her hands before she drops them. She also likes to line them up on the side of the tub and knock them off one by one. She always has so much fun getting a bath.

Aquadoodle-ing

I just love this picture...she's so stinking cute!!

Sweet Little Emma