SHE DID IT!!

R will be 13 months old on the 15th. I was starting to wonder if she was ever going to walk. Why does she need to, she has 2 big brothers that pick her up if she makes a noise.

Today she decided that crawling was not necessary and took her 1st steps. Since then she will take about 6 steps each time she stands up before falling.

I guess it is time for me to get new running shoes!!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY K!!!

I cant believe it... 3 years ago K came into our lives and wow has it been interesting!! She is full of life and we would not have it any other way...hmmmm...

As you can see, this child who has not 1 shy bone in her body devoleped some when we sang Happy Birthday to her...

Happy 1st Birthday!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEANUT!!!

I can't belive it has been a year since I was sitting in the hospital just having given birth to my last child.

What a sweet baby she has been this year!!

WE LOVE YOU PEANUT!!

a mini vacation

Wow... neglect the blog much?? So I have A LOT of catching up to do. I guess I need to start with the present and work my way backwards a little... I guess this is going to work a little like my scrapbooking. I hope this goes better, I am WAY behind on the scrapbooks!

This past week we had the opportunity (thanks to my sister) to have a little R&R on the beach. Well I have to admit it was a little R&R but take out the R's. At least we were at the beach!! It is true, a bad day on the beach is better than a good day at home! Well there were no bad days, just not too much relaxing with the kids. I forgot to mention that Daddy was not there!

So... my sisters and I, along with 6 kids under 4, my nieces and my nephew were all at a beach house in SC. It was a lot of fun! The kids got a lot of time to play together, which does not happen often enough.

Here are a few pictures from the week...

How do you get a good picture of 3 kids???? YOU DON'T!! Here are the 3 big kids... K is the only grandchild in the group, the other 2 are great grands (and yes they are both older than K).

Here is R and B... R is the youngest of my parents grand kids and B is one of my parents great- grand sons!

Miss K is very hard to get a good picture of these days.. she never sits still enough (long enough).

Miss R always happy and enjoying (eating) the sand!

Here are 2 of my parents grandkids... the oldest (29) and the youngest (11months).

One night we had a pretty big storm and the next day this was on the beach. K was a little freaked out when she picked it up and it moved on her. We took a picture and let it go into the ocean.

Now we are back home and mentally preparing for another beach trip in a few weeks. This time Daddy will be there for at least part of the trip (whew)

May 15, 2011

10 Months old!!!

Wow, that is crazy!! The little peanut is 10 months old already! The time has really flown by...

so 10 months on May 15th, what does that mean??

It means that R is still a tiny little peanut:
weighing in at 15 lbs 4.5 oz (3%)
and standing at 26 3/4 inches.

What does she do??? (wow she sounds like a puppy)

*crawl
*eat normal foods
*pulls up (on everything)
*says bye bye
*claps
*waves
*drives her sister nuts (she gets into all her toys)
*starting to take some cruising steps here and there

R is a P-I-G! Her size does not reflect on her food intake at all. I can say without exaggerating that she probably eats double of what K eats. It is crazy to watch her eat. I am not sure where she puts it but I am a little jealous that her metabolism is so high.

R has THE BEST personality. Even on her bad days she is a joy to be around. I think she gets her laid back personality for me! Please stop laughing now!! I am really not sure where she gets it since neither Chris nor I are very laid back like she is.

It is hard to believe that almost 2 years ago I was missing the family beach vacation and instead sitting in a hospital giving birth to an 8 lb 1 oz baby who is absolutely perfect!!

I guess now it is time to start planning a 1st birthday party!!!

2011 County Champ for Pole Vault!!!!

Here is his video vaulting 10-6. This was his 2nd attempt at it. 10-6 was his PR in a meet. Well he did only vault in 1 other meet this season.



He then went to 11ft and missed his 3 attempts at that. One of the corrections he made was with his hands and on the 3rd attempt he didn't think about his feet because he was so worried about his hands. After he missed his dad wanted him to try the 11foot again for the heck of it.....
Here he is at 11foot!!



and he made it!! Of course it was too late but he knows now that he can do it! That is OK, he didn't need 11 feet yesterday. He won it with the 10-6!

So proud of you Con man!!! It takes a lot to get cut from a sport you love, turn to another immediately and do an exceptional job at that also!!

Now looking forward to his baseball double header on Sunday!!

1st track meet!

First I have to apologize for the horrible quality of these pictures. I took these with a new lens I got for Christmas and on top of needing to learn how to use my camera, I have to learn how to use it with the new lens.

Anyway, C had his 1st track meet ever yesterday evening. He started to pole vault about a month ago, maybe 5 weeks ago and he has done great.


Here he is getting ready to go for the 1st time. I was a
bunch of nerves at this point!!




Up,


Up and away!!!

This was his 9.6 foot attempt and he made it on his 1st attempt.
I was thrilled and of course screamed when he made it!

He also made 10 foot on his 3rd attempt but he did not get 10'6". He has done that once in practice so I am sure he will get it next time!

Most of the pictures I got looked the same as these. I choose the ones where his form looked OK. I do have to say that is something he needs to work on. Whew, that part was bad but he is out there today practicing and working on form.

We have 2 meets this week and hopefully he will be able to jump in both of them. I cant wait to see how he progresses over the next few weeks!!

GO CON MAN!!!!!

We got a jumper......

.... I mean vaulter!!!

My Con-man is not going to let his getting cut from the JV baseball team stop him. Days after getting cut he decided that he wanted to try pole vaulting for the track team. His dad was a pole vaulter years ago and Conner thought this would pass the time until the baseball league starts this spring.

Hmmm I think Conner may have found himself a new sport. About a month after walking up to the track coach and asking if he could try vaulting (they had already started practicing), Conner jumped 10' 6" and will be jumping in his first track meet ever this weekend!

I am so proud of that kid!! He took something negative and definitely turned it into a positive for him.

GO CONNER!!!!
GOOD LUCK THIS WEEKEND!!

Wordless Wednesday!

..and I promise I do have more than 2 kids, but the big boys are at an almost impossible age (teens) to sit and take pictures without them trying to mess them up!! Ahh maybe one day!

Such changes going on!

I just cant take this anymore!!

This weekend I noticed that Ry was doing a few little crawling steps. She has been doing the combat crawl for awhile now but this weekend while up on all fours she moved her hands, then her knees and then she realized that it was too slow of a process and down on her tummy to go she went!

On top of that, last night I noticed tooth #3 in her mouth. UGH! 3 teeth already. I think my mission to find a cup she will use has just gotten a little more urgent!!

Bye Bye Paci!!

Whew, it has been a busy one so far. I guess it started out the other day with Confirmation and then this little girl


will no longer be taking any pictures with one of these in her mouth!!


She did it!! She was OK not very happy with the paci bugs that came and ate the top of the paci's. Yup that is the story that happened no matter what her big brothers are trying to tell her!!!

She has been doing a GREAT job too. Nighttime is a little hard for a few minutes but she soon stops crying and falls asleep.

It is all worth it to her when she wakes up now and can come down to play with her brand new Disney talking kitchen!!! It's a huge hit with the new and improved paci-less 2 year old!

Confirmation

Last night was Confirmation at our church. Thirty 10th graders were in the group and what a great group it is!

The Arch Bishop came down to confirm the kids and let me tell ya. This guy is amazing! I paid attention the entire mass. With my ADD that is a miraculous thing! He is Hilarious!!! The kids loved him and I am so happy that he was the one who Confirmed the C-man.

I did not get any pictures of him in his red gown. Hopefully the person they hired to take pictures got individual pics of the kids in their gown and, hopefully that picture turned out great!

Here are few that I did get... I also failed to get one of C and his grandparents (my parents). It would have also been nice to have gotten C with his other grandparents that were there and my parents but that did not happen either. But this is what I DO have.....

The only picture I have of C by himself. Actually it was not even by himself, he was in with me but there was a bad shadow over me so I cropped it out. Love the big smile and how he is NOT trying to act goofy. Another rare occasion for a good picture!


Typical family picture right now.... finger in the toddler's nose! Can't wait for that to pass!!


Here is a pretty decent one of C, Chris and myself.


Not too many of these exist in the world... C and me.


C with his Aunt and Godmother (my sister)


Here he is with the most hilarious man!! The archbishop!


After that the arch bishop called K over for a picture of her and her brother. It would have been cool to get a picture of C and all his sisters and brothers with him but none were to be found except this one. I love C HUGE smile in this picture!


It was a great Confirmation Day and a wonderful mass. Special thanks to C's awesome sponsor who we will call Ms. K. She is wonderful and so happy that C chose her to be his sponsor on this path to this special day.

Big Day!!

Today is a big day in our house!!

This little guy, seen here with Sinbad (the best Husky in the world, may he RIP)

OK so he is not this little anymore....

this big kid teen, seen here with his 2 sisters, is taking a huge step in this faith!!

Today is Confirmation Day! Du du duh duhhhhhhh

He, along with 30 other tenth graders will be making the commitment and will become "adults" in the church. Oh do you here the thunder???

We are so proud of you C-man for making this decision and for your commitment to your Catholic beliefs.

Let the festivities begin!

Cha-Ching!

do you hear that?? It's all the coins I am saving!!

Spring is here and that means very warm weather lots and lots of consignment sales! I think I have a sale written down on my calendar every week for the next month and I am sure that there are many, many more.

This was the opening week of sales for me. I even decided to sell many, many infant clothes (sniff sniff) and a few other things. Crossing my fingers that I at least break even... which I really think will happen.

Last night I went to a preview sale (when the consignors get to shop, you know... early bird gets the worm). I would say that I got a lot of worms but that sounds gross, so I won't. I did get a lot of great deals!


5 bathing suits, 1 bag of sunglasses (6 pair)


3 hair bows (sorry its so blurry)


lots of cute clothes!! Note the green American Eagle dress. I didn't even know AE made sizes 3T. How about the little blue Ralph Lauren dress above the crocs. I can't wait for R to wear that!!

Oh here are more.. many many Gap, Gymboree, Ralph Lauren!! S-C-O-R-E! Most of these are R's

I also got the girls 4 books but K had already spotted them and carted them off to another room to "read".

Yup, all for 71.00!! Cha-Ching!! I did not pay more than 4.00 for an item. Thanks to all those moms who consigned these this weekend!!!

Not too bad for a days work!

A throwback Wordless Wednesday....

Latest Addictions...

So I do not mean addiction in a bad sense but lately they are...

**As of last night when I started mine is Words with Friends... wow but I am so bad at it. I thought that Angry Birds was bad but this game is addicting!

**Starbucks, I have controlled this one a lot since November when I was there just about everyday! Yup maybe 6 days that month I did not get my latte (and a snack). Now that I bought a Tassimo I am hoping it will be a good substitute for Starbucks.

**Jersey Shore... That show is like a train wreck. You know it is going to be horrible but you just can't stop watching.

**cookies... wow since #4 was born I have had the worst sweet tooth! I have always had one but now it is H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E.

**Shoes but not for me. Shoes for a certain 2 year old in the house. Really what 2 year old needs shoes in every color for her many outfits? Apparently mine does. I can't wait until summer hits in full swing so it is flip flops (much cheaper).

Whew, I think I will stop there. I am sure that Chris could add a few more to the list for me so I do not think I will ask him.

The circus is in town...

I do feel like there are days when my life is a circus but this time I mean the Ringling Brother's circus. Chris and I decided to take the kids, minus the baby. I have wanted to take K to something big like this but I am very hesitant to take her anywhere these days, after all she is 2! She did pretty well most of the time... well until after the lemonade and cotton candy kicked in.

We got the boys a ticket also and let me tell you that the oldest was really not thrilled at all. I guess I can understand, who wants to go to the circus with their parents when they are 16? But he ended up having a good time (this was never admitted but instead leaked out by his brother).

Here are some cute pictures that I picked out of the 230 that I took while we were there.


K was trying on the wardrobe before the show. At first she was not too sure but she looks pretty good. I think she would fit right in with the clowns.

The motorcycles always amaze me. This year they had 7 in there going round and round.

proof that I was there too. K in her "circus" shirt. It turned out so cute (and no I did not make it.. I wish).

K's favorite part... the elfants (by the way she says it).

And finally, the picture of the 3 kids after the show. See the boys have smiles on their faces. Maybe they were glad it was over?!?!

7 months!

..and she is sitting up like a champ...



and almost crawling!

and always a pretty girl!

7 months have flown by. R is getting so big!

**combat crawls faster than most I am sure
**sitting up very well
**eating little gerber finger foods (the ones that melt)
**saying Da-da-da-da-da-da and of course Chris doesn't hear any past Da-Da.

From Patrice's blog....

One of the blogs that I read and have for over a year now is Patrice's and most of the time it talks about her son Jonah who has a condition called EB. Such a sweet and adorable baby but this time she writes about something else.

Anton is a baby (not much older than Ryleigh) in Russia who is adoptable but does not have much time. He has the same condition as Jonah so Patrice is really trying to help Anton find a home. I had tears reading about Anton, Chris and I have often talked about adopting or fostering a special needs child/children so this story really got to me. We were getting ready to persue the idea when we found out that we were pregnant with Ryleigh so that idea has been put on hold for awhile but hopefully not forever. Even though it's not the right time for us but maybe it is the right time for someone out there or someone you know.

You can read all about Anton here. While you are there you can read all about Jonah too. I love the things he is doing and how he is really beating the odds!!

The hardest part of being a mom...

It's not the sickness we endure for sometimes 9 month while carrying a child...

It's not the pain we go through while giving birth...

It's not kissing and fixing up the bloody knees and scrapes from all the falls the child takes...

It's not the nagging and constant battles of keeping the room clean and taking away the phone....

No, it's not any one of those, even though those are not fun times at all.

It's those things you can't fix, the things you can't kiss and make better.

It's (so far) seeing a child disappointed, seeing a child not achieve something he has worked his whole (short) life to do.

We hit that this weekend. It is the worst thing that I have experienced as a mom so far!! I thought it was bad when he broke his elbows 3 times and had pins and stitches.

Playing ball since he was 4, loving the sport, not making a team, seeing his face when that reality hit. That has been the worst part of being a mom (so far).

The feeling of being helpless, not being able to take away what it was he was feeling.

At the same time I am so proud of him!

Even after the disappointment of not making the JV team (but made it through to the last cuts), he is not giving up on the sport he loves! He made the 9th grade team last year and he knows he had the ability to make Varsity next year.

He picked himself up (after not showing he was really down), found a place he could play this spring, and said he will try again next year after working hard to improve where he can.

He found that open door so quickly after that one he wanted to walk through closed before he could.

I am sure that as the kids get older there will be bigger disappointments they will go through and this will just be a little scrape on the knee. Wow, I am not looking forward to those!!

Again, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

I wish that I could pick myself up as quickly as you did!!!

Orthopedic Visit.

Yesterday was our visit with the pediatric orthopedic for Miss. R. Since birth her hip has had a click to it and it should have gone away by now.

When we were in her 6 month appointment last week the pediatrician referred us to a pediatric orthopedic close by. Who knew there was one close to us??? Not me.

So I met Chris and Ryleigh at the Dr after I dropped the toddler off at school. When I arrived they were getting an x-ray.

Turns out that x-ray was great! All normal!! No further action needed!!

That click is most likely some sort of tendon or something that is rubbing.

Woohoo..... great news!!

Day 3...

Of baseball is today. Conner is still in there....

Long practice today but like he says.. it's all worth it! This is why he has played since he was 4!!

Good Luck Conner!!

You Can Do It!!

That time of the year again!

Yes it is!!

The time of year that all moms get a little nervous about and all kids live for!!

BASEBALL SEASON!!

Well maybe not ALL moms but I know the one in this house does. Making the baseball teams in this area is very competitive. These boys work all year long on their conditioning, so they can be in shape for this week of a lot more running!!

Lots of running, fielding, hitting!! Well maybe not so much fielding since its raining today and is supposed to be this way most of the week but... thankfully the cages are indoor!

So just want to say...

GOOD LUCK TO CONNER AND ALL THE OTHER BOYS TRYING OUT FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM!!!!

Someone had a 6 month well check!

Ahh still can't believe it has been 6 months (well a little over) since Ryleigh was born. She is such a great baby, so beautiful with a wonderful personality!! Even when she gets her shots!! All 4 of them!!



Poor baby, 4 shots today... all the normal 6 months shots plus we gave her the flu shot. She is doing great with it all.

Ryleigh at 6 months:

14 lbs 6oz.... (21% )... she is little!!
26 inches long (61%)... tall and thin!!!
Head circumference 42 1/2cm (53%) lots of brains!



We were told that we need to take her to a pediatric orthopedic. She has some popping in one of her hips and although the pediatrician does not think it is anything major he said it should not still be doing that and wants us to get a baseline. He said most likely she will get checked out and then the orthopedic will want to see her again in 3 months to recheck.

Anyway..... 6 months old:
What is she doing new this month???
...she now has 2 bottom teeth
...combat crawls all over the place (and fast).
...tries to attack the cat (who is a great sport and just lays there)
...sits up a little for a little bit after we let go
...now sits and eats in her high chair
...eats, eats, eats, and eats!!
...still will NOT take a bottle or cup!! UGH

It's your birthday....

It's your birthday....
I know I am late because last week was your birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AVERY!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

I can't believe he is 14 already! Seems like yesterday I was holding that baby in my arms!!

Ave actually turned 14 on the 16th but I have been so far behind in the blog I did not even think about putting the birthday post up then.

So.....

I decided to save it until all his celebrations were done.....

We had the normal birthday dinner last week. Avery is so easy at times. When I asked him where he wanted to go for his dinner (it is always his choice) he chose Red Robin!

That caught me off guard. I expected something big. If I got to choose I would say Melting Pot or Fogo De Chao (two places I have never been). I guess I should be glad he is so easy when it comes to stuff like this.

So we went and then last night he had 3 of his buddies over to hang out and spend the night.


Another easy choice. He even told me that he didn't want a cake or gifts or anything. Well, on the cake I told him that was not an option ... what better excuse to have cake????


Hard to believe that this time next year I will have yet another driver in the house. How crazy is that?? Really, am I old enough to have 2 kids that drive????

Gotta love the candle or maybe that is a really big lighter!


Kennedi stayed up late so she could have a piece of the cake. There was no way she was going to bed until she got some. She had seen it earlier and asked to have a piece every 10 minutes or so. I told her when daddy got home we would have cake. She doesn't forget a thing! As soon as Chris walked in the door she went over to the counter and said, "daddy cake"!


another nice surprise was that Conner was home with us!! He had plans to go out but they fell through and so we were able to spend a little time with him. Well... he was home at least, even if we only saw him when we had cake because he was downstairs on his games most the time. But he was home!