Some Christmas Pics

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas!

With cousin Malena in our matching Coug outfits

Welcome home Dad!

No I'm not having cookies for breakfast - why do you ask?

Santa Visit

Well, she's not looking at the camera, but at least she isn't screaming in terror like some of the kids were. We went through once and she sat fine, and looked at the camera, but we couldn't get her to smile. So mom, aka the Grinch, aka cranky pregnant lady, snapped "I'm not paying for any of those! We're going through again!" So we got back in line and this time Grandma Marilyn got a smile.

Recent doings

High today: 15 degrees. Low: 2 degrees.

Brrrr.

Ryanne shows Auntie Colleen how to drink Dr. Pepper from a baby bottle -

not as easy as you would think!

Ryanne and Auntie Jen

Lucky Daisy gets a hug from Ryanne

Too cold and snowy to go outside...I'll have to practice my gymnastics in here.

Hmmm...I wonder if mom's new shoes will fit me...

Maybe something a half-size smaller...

Sorry blog fans; all two of you. Shoe and Christmas shopping was about as exciting as it got this last week. We'll try to do something more interesting in the next few days.

Trampoline

At Ryanne's gym class they have a trampoline with a handle. I often have to forcibly remove her from it so that other kids can have a turn. I was thinking of buying her one when Grandma and Grandpa offered her the one they had in storage - our lucky day!

Haircut

Before:

After:

Nothing drastic. She just has some bangs now. I'm not sure yet how I feel about it.

This Thanksgiving, we give thanks for...

Good friends like Avery, Izzi and Sunny;

Family like Uncle Chris;

People who pick us up after a hard landing (yeah, that's a black eye!); and

a nice soft pillow after a big Thanksgiving meal.

After Ryanne's gym class today we went to Starbucks, which we sadly don't do very often. I had promised Ry a treat and held her up to look at all the goodies and she picked out a banana bread slice. The lady working was apparently so overwhelmed by Ryanne's cuteness ("Awwww! She is SO CUTE! Look at that little face! Gina, come look at this little girl!") that she gave Ryanne her 'nana bwead' for free.
In case you are curious, I am not cute, at least not cute enough, and paid full price for my latte and bagel. : ( Next time I'm waiting in the car while Ryanne places the entire order.
Above: Ryanne enjoys the fruit of her "labor" - which apparently involves standing around and looking good.

44 days

I'm scheduled for my C Section on January 6 2009. I asked my doctor why, oh why we couldn't do it on, say, December 30th, 2008? But, apparently a tax deduction isn't a valid medical reason for major surgery. I say, then what is??? Does pending obesity qualify? To date, I've gained, oh, 37 pounds. And I still have 6 weeks and 2 days to go. Last time I was in, I had gained 13 pounds in 4 weeks. (That's apparently not acceptable.) My doctor said something along the lines of "That's excessive. Don't do it again." I know he thinks I sit at home eating crisco stright from the can while I watch Fox News but that's really not entirely true. Sometimes I eat doritos and ice cream and watch football. So there.

It must be funny glasses day...

I logged on to post these pictures of Ryanne goofing off in my glasses...

and discovered that Laura and Avery had beaten me to it!

at least we know you ladies will look good in glasses if you ever need them!

More Pics for Dad

Yesterday - making blueberry muffins. Today we made banana bread. I can't eat it but I'm sure someone will...The artist at work:

Risking the Play Doh - we managed to keep Stanley from tasting any this time.

Toothy grin

The camera loves me

Request from Dad

Apparently the stories are okay but what he really wants is more pictures. Soooo.... Putting on pretend makeup

Blowing my nose

Happy...

Happy...

Not happy. "Go-way! Go-way!"

This afternoon I was doing chores while Ryanne sat in her high chair playing with Play Doh when I heard her say a very simple and very calm, "Uh-oh." Those words have never been uttered from her lips then followed by something good like: "Uh-oh, I cleaned up ALL my toys!" or "Uh-oh, I went in the potty instead of my diaper!" or "Uh-oh, I took a bath and got ready for bed all by myself, mom!") Today was no exception. Today was, "Uh-oh, I just fed Stanley an entire container's worth of blue Play-Doh!" Sigh.
The good news is that other than him being extremely thirsty, it doesn't seem to have done him any harm. I'm expecting the bad news to appear sometime tomorrow as Stanley finishes digesting the bright blue salt, flour and water mixture...

This is my last bed post (ha) I promise. Last night I heard a small 'whump' noise but I didn't think much of it, as it was not followed by any swearing or wailing, which surely would have occurred had I fallen out of bed. When I went to take a peek at Ryanne, I discovered that she had rolled out of bed, and, rather than wake up and get back in, she just continued to sleep where she had landed on the floor. Nice work, bed rails. I guess they only work as intended with a non-migratory sleeper who stays in the intended area.

Big Girl Bed, Part II

I risked waking Ryanne to capture this shot but it was worth it to document her first night in her new bed. I expected some fussing but she climbed in without protest and fell right asleep, snuggling her puppy.

Big Girl Bed

Yesterday we went to go get Ryanne a "big girl" bed. After driving all the way to the store, I realized that there was no way that bed was fitting in the Honda, even flat in its package, and even if I left Ryanne, and all of her stuff, sitting in the parking lot (I've gone on long vacations with less stuff than my child requires to go across town). So I asked them to hold it for us so I could come back today with our SUV and they said ok. Of course, when we arrived today, no one could find Ryanne's bed, and it turned out it had been sold "just half an hour ago and I'm so, so sorry." They had no others in that color in stock, which meant we made a 40 minute round trip to purchase $2.69 worth of Play-Doh (4 cans - who knew Play-Doh was so cheap? Not I). Tomorrow we're going to a different store which supposedly has her bed in stock. If we strike out a third time I will accept that Ryanne is fated to sleep in a crib for a little while longer.

On the bright side, if we hadn't made that trip, we never would have seen the beautiful double rainbow (as captured by my cell phone) which appeared in front of us as we drove home:

This morning we went to our first "Wiggles and Giggles" which is a combination open gym/structured activity playtime. The kids play on the mats for a half hour and then do exercises and stretches while singing for the last part. I brought Ryanne and her friend Leah, and as soon as they saw the mats, balls and play equipment they were off tumbling and jumping. I did confirm one thing which I pretty much knew anyway - Ryanne is a giant. In terms of weight she is not big. But in terms of height and proportionate weight, she is huge. She towered over the other, relatively tiny and dainty, little girls (and some boys). They had so much fun that Leah cried when it was time to leave. Fortunately we get to go twice a week, which means at least twice a week, Ryanne will nap really well (daylight savings has gotten her a little confused).

Happy Halloween!

As Ryanne would say, "Too Too Tweet." (Trick or Treat). We took her to the mall to get candy and she loaded up. Once she got the hang of it, and realized that she got to keep the one she had in her hand, put it in the bag, AND get another one from the next store, she was unstoppable.

We had her pictures done professionally for Halloween. These are some of the online proofs.

This is how I help pack

Cupcakes - so worth the mess.

I thought I came here for a vacation...

...why am I doing chores???