General Kid Update....

I thought I would post some pictures for you, especially of Rylee. I don't take nearly as many pictures of her as I should. Something about her being my third, I guess we don't need too many pictures though...we can just look at Em's old pictures and there's Rylee!

She is getting fun right now. She is a rolling machine. She never stays in one spot anymore. She is also a good eater, although you would never know it. The funny thing about her is that when you give her something new, there is no expression on her face at all. You know how most babies are, they give you looks like, gross or excited or tart, etc. But not Rylee. She's the first baby to give you a blank stare when she's eating. No matter what it is. That is why you never saw her first taste of baby food picture, it wouldn't be that exciting!

Ally, on the other hand, is starting to test the limits a little. It's only taken her 2 years and one month, but it's finally surfacing. Now, when I tell her to do something, she acts like I'm not even talking. She calmly continues on with what she's doing. She's very good at it. The other thing she'll do is say, "OK" and then completely do her own thing. It's like she's just pacifing us, making us think she's obeying but really she's not. She is so cute doing it, but alas, we have to be parents and reprimand! She's also really cute while Rylee is playing on the floor. As you can see in the picures, as soon as the blanket goes down, she gets on her tummy for "tummy time" just like Rylee. But hey, she's happy and not following me around. If she wants to act like a baby who am I to stop her?

Other than those things...there isn't much else going on. They keep me hopping that's for sure! Rylee still has no teeth, isn't sitting up, crawling ect. She truly is staying my baby for a long time. No complaints!

My Parenting Advice...Like You Really Want It

My Parenting advice is for every parent to have a timer. Yes, you read correctly, a timer. And no, I haven't lost my mind. I'll explain...

As most of you know, Emily was "formally" diagnosed with ADHD. So she's been on the mildest form of medication for about 4-5 weeks. I think she is much much better. She is doing great in school. When I picked her up today her teacher says she's been amazed at her progress lately. All of a sudden she's writing not only her two names, (Emily and Ariel), but other kids names as well. She was impressed. It's always fun to hear! So, on to the timer. After her doctors appointment we decided to get serious and get her organized as that is what ADHD kids respond well to. Anyway, I had a thought on the way home. The reason she gets so out of control during time out is because she keeps asking over and over to get up. So we bought a timer and when she has time outs, we set her timer for 5 minutes. The first time we did it, she was quiet as a mouse. When the time was up, she quietly came and we discussed it and moved on. She loved to visually see her time. It was SOOO nice, for her and us. There is now no more whining and crying. She is responsible for turning it off and coming to find us. So we now use it for other things, like we set it a half hour before bedtime, and we're discussing using it for Ally and Bella when they each want the same toy. Setting it for five mins. and then they give the toy to the other person. They all seem to respond really well to it.

So, there you have it. My parenting 101. Definitly not an expert but hey, if something works great, might as well pass it on!

Have You Ever Seen A Chuncky Tink?

This was the Tinkerbell from disney princesses on ice. She was very good, just not what we're excpecting I guess...click image for better view.

Here and there stuff....

Monday morning Mike decided to take us to breakfast so he told Emily to go get dressed. She started jumping up and down and saying, "at the rainforest cafe?" So Mike said, what the heck and we loaded up and went to San Francisco for the day. It was so much fun. The girls were amazing all day. When we ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe Rylee slept almost the entire meal. It was so enjoyable. Then we walked the pier and then took a walk across part of the Golden Gate bridge. Emily liked that as long as she was in the stroller and buckled in the whole time. She did declare that next time we went to the bridge that nana and papa would watch her. I guess she didn't like being that high!

Another funny thing about Emily right now is not only is she calling herself Ariel, but she writes her name now as Ariel. I made the mistake of spelling it for her the other day and it stuck. We were in church Sunday and Tessa needed to sit with us so she brought over her pencil but no paper. Emily had paper but no pencil. So I told them to take turns writing their names. After they had each done this, I look down and written on the top: Ariel... and on the bottom: Tessa. So I told my mom that I hoped she would write Emily on her papers at school. Lo and behold I pick her up today and out of her cubby comes her pictures with the name Ariel written on the bottom. I asked the teacher and she said she's been doing that for a while. LOL!

Her teacher played a game today where she wrote all the kids name on a white board and they were to go up there erase their name and rewrite it. She went up on her turn, erased Emily and wrote Ariel!

Valentines Day

So the guys have started this trend every Valentines where they all get together and do something fun for the ladies. It's very secretive and a lot of fun to try to figure out. This year, Mike told me to go and get a dress I had seen and admired in a dress shop window. Then he told me Thursday morning to be ready by 6:00. The guys had planned a nice wine/appetizer tasting at a really nice restaurant. It was a lot of fun and very nice, they even had some live music. Then we went out to dinner afterwards as a couple of us didn't have time to eat before.

Mike also got me those beautiful flowers. Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, they didn't arrive on time. They came about 5:45-6:00. They missed us by about 15 minutes but it was fun to come home and see them. I felt bad because Mike was very disappointed. Unlike last years order over the internet he had ordered locally so they would arrive on time. I guess it's just very difficult to get flowers on Valentines Day.

Thanks to all the guys and especially my hubby!

The Girl Loves Clean Ears!

Rylee's six months!

Rylee turns 6 months on Friday. As usual, it's so hard to believe. Its gone by so fast. She is such a sweet baby. She is a big mommies girl, (which I can't say I hate!). She does the sweetest thing when someone hands her back to me after holding her. She grabs a fistful of hair from each side of my head and brings her head to my forehead. Kind of an "I love you" hug. It's so sweet. I love them at this age. Mike says to enjoy my time because in another 6 months or so he starts the take over.

Rylee didn't have a great day today. She had her 6 month check up and had her scheduled 3 shots plus a flu shot to boot. So a total of four torturous shots. She didn't care for those! She also got weighed, (I always love this part, it's fun to see). She didn't tip the scales this time. She weighted 12 lbs. 8oz and was 26 inches long. She's gained a whole 8 ounces in two months and 3/4 of an inch. A little birdy told her mommy wanted her to stay little forever! It was funny because the doctor always charts her growth and she's always had a slight downward curve on her weight but today she didn't even make the curve, she fell off. But her doctor didn't seem concerned. She just has to come back in 3 months instead of the six month break she was supposed to get.

Overall, she's a happy healthy almost six month old!