Sweet Shots By Nicole

Week 2

2012-01-14T20:31:00.001-06:00

So we are changing things up a little. I decided that I really like the idea of placing all of these pictures into a photo book. So hopefully, week by week, I will make time to place the pictures into a layout and journal about the week. At least I decided to start this during week 2 and not week 22.

Here are the layouts for Week 2 – 7 pictures is all as some days I really struggle and phone pics were the best I got. I did remember though. Thankfully.

The EVERYDAY weekly dump–Week 1

2012-01-07T17:56:00.001-06:00

I know it’s just the first week of this challenge, however, I feel like it’s going great. I have been remembering to pick up my camera and take some shots even if we aren’t doing anything fantastic or even if we are just sitting around on a very typical day.

Day 1 (great start to “the everyday” as the only photo I took was this one on my phone!)

We started the new year out with a great big remodeling project. My dad came to help my husband and the two of them ripped out the three holes in the wall, added trim and sheet-rocked and placed bead board on the inside of them. we still need to pain all the trim white and add cupboard doors but the project is coming along.

Day 2

Cystic Fibrosis is a tough disease. Winter is especially hard with this disease. During the summer, there are fewer germs around and we are able to keep Rylee way more active through swimming, climbing and running at the park, nightly walks, bike rides and basically any thing that is outdoors. Keeping Rylee active helps move out and break up some of the mucous that causes her to become sick. The winter brings in so many more colds and germs and it’s tough to keep her active with it being so cold outdoors. We do try to do many activities that can get her moving. She is in Cheerleading and Tumbling and we do take her to open gyms at the gym, Cheer and Gymnastics where she is able to run and jump on the trampolines. Two years ago for Rylees birthday she was gifted this Trampoline from her friends. It has been amazing and even after 2 years the kiddos still love it and Rylee is getting quite the work out. Her jumps are becoming higher and higher. I fear one of these days she is going to jump head-first over the handle bars. YIKES!

Day 3

Dress up is also becoming a favorite in the house. Rylee is very much into Cinderella and the dress up clothes come out daily now.

Sesame Street Live came to town with it’s show Elmo Makes Music. Santa Clause brought Rylee and her cousin Logan tickets to the show. Rylee loved the first half of it. She stared at it intently and danced to the music. It was a great show and very entertaining.

Entertaining and fun that is until Auntie Aimee purchased the $10.00 Elmo Balloons for each of them. Rylee loves to look at balloons. She always points out the Elmo balloons when she sees them in the stores. Now holding on to the balloons, well that is a different story. They recommended that we tie the balloons to the childrens belt loops to keep them from accidentally floating to the ceiling. Mistake number uno. I should have tied the dang balloon to my wrist to keep Rylee from fearing that she will float away. Add this fear to an over tired, non-napped little 3 year old and guess what. By the time we got to the car we were pretty much in full melt-down mode. However, the next morning at breakfast, Rylee did hold the balloon again, and it seemed that while indoors with shorter ceilings, the fear is not near as bad.

Day 4

This next picture makes me so happy yet so sad. My little baby is growing up. Three years old. How can that be. Being handed CF, really changed how exciting every little life change and growth is in our house. I am so happy that Rylee is growing and learning to do things every day and has such an independence about her. However it also makes me realize how much of what she has to do makes her grow up beyond her short 3 years. She sits like this two times a day, more if she’s sick, and never ever complains. She holds her nebulizer to her face through two separate medications while she shakes in her vest. She never ceases to amaze me. The most sadness comes from when I look at this and see these small hands, a 3 year olds body, and an ability to do what I know a lot of adults would not be able to do on a daily basis. I know that I would complain every time I had to do a treatment if it was me. She is strong. I love her.

We have had some amazing weather here. On January 5, 2012 the temperature reached 61 degrees here. That is just unheard of. We are used to –10 degrees during this time of year not 60’s but I will definitely take it. We spent the afternoon playing at the park. 2 hours of non stop running, climbing, and laughing. This however did catch up with us as it was also a cheer night and we have found that we do need a good nap on these days or else we tend to cry through the entire practice. Note to self – even if it’s beautiful out, don’t skip nap on Cheer nights.

Day 5 - again phone pictures. I really could use a new phone with better camera. Too bad my contract isn’t up for a very long time. so sad.

Gabe is Rylee’s friend that comes over during the week days. His mom is expecting and I found it funny that he has begun to play with the baby dolls on occasion. I’m not sure if this is due to the fact that he has been talking about a baby at home or the overwhelming amount of girl toys that occupy our house. Either way, learning to be gentle with a baby doll is a good quality for both girls and boys right?

Day 6

I walked into Rylee’s room to grab her blanket for rest time and saw this. Stacking pillow pets anyone? Who needs blocks?

Since this challenge is being titled the “EVERYDAY” I figured I should start photographing some of the less fun everyday tasks. SANITIZE occurs 2 times everyday. More when Rylee is sick. We are fortunate enough to have learned of the Avent baby bottle sterilizer and germ guardian nursery sanitizer after about 2 years of sterilizing her nebulizer pieces by boiling them. This is so much easier and has been a great investment. We just have to wash the pieces with warm soapy water, rinse with clear water, throw into the bottle sterilizer and add water. When they are done with the cycle in there, I throw them into the germ guardian and it helps to dry the pieces. Who would have thought that I would buy a baby bottle sterilizer for my almost 3 year old child at the time, who has been off of the bottle since 7 months or so.

Day 7

Santa brought Rylee a Nintendo DS for Christmas along with the Team UmiZoomi game. She has loved it and it amazes me how quickly she can pick up on the game. It is a math game where she needs to use measuring, addition, patterns, shapes and various other math skills to progress in the game. The two areas she has struggled with are the addition of numbers over 10 and the greater and lesser questions. She is grasping the ideas though and that amazes me at the age of 3.

Wordless Wednesday–Still Shakin

2012-01-04T09:08:00.001-06:00

An amazing photography giveaway at Crave photography

2011-12-31T21:28:00.003-06:00

just a little shout out about the amazing giveaway going on a Crave Photography. She is giving away your choice of lens - a nikon 85mm or a canon 85 mm. Also lots of other prizes. truely an amazing giveaway.

2012–A new year

2011-12-30T14:43:00.001-06:00

With the start of the new year, I am again going to attempt to jump in the wagon and try to capture at least one image each day. Bethany over at Hissyfits photography is starting a sort of blog hop called “The Everyday” I will be joining her in an attempt to capture at least one picture from each day for the entire year. Nothing fancy, some may be unedited, some phone pics and some a edited masterpiece (well, as much of a masterpiece as this non-pro mommy photog can do). I think I will be attempting to post them weekly to make room for jumping back into posting on a regular basis. It’s been to long. Nothing like the new year to start this over!

Here’s an image of Rylee with the Christmas tree this December.

Book Review: Restless in carolina

2011-08-24T20:01:00.001-05:00

A quick review for this book. I don't normally like to review novels, but I chose this one because it looked interesting.

At first I struggled to get into the book. It wasn't catching my interest. However, that soon changed. The books story line captured me and I was finally able to read and stay in the story. From the tree-huggin girl to the non green developer the book was a great read.

Like I said though, the book was a tough start but ended on a good note. Definetly one that you have to keep reading to find the joy in it.

photo shoots galore

2011-08-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

I know, I know…Pretty impressive title for someone who is nothing but an individual who enjoys taking pictures and editing them. I’m by far not schooled in photography, nor am I in Photoshop, but non the less, I love experimenting and snapping pictures.

I started out snapping some pictures of my cousin for her senior pictures.

Soon after I took some pictures of Rylee’s friend Haven.

I must admit that this little girl cracks me up. She did awesome.

And finally, just last night, I snapped a few pictures of Mya and her sisters. They are so much more comfortable with me after being around me for a year. They did wonderful too and are super cute of course.

Last but definitely not least, I snapped a few shots of my Rylee. Some time this week I am headed back out with her to take some birthday pictures. Think lots of bright pink, light pink and aqua colored balloons. I am super excited.

Tie Dye Party–The actual Party

2011-08-08T13:30:00.001-05:00

The party is past but I have been slowly working on uploading pictures and have since had 3 friends 7 family photo shoots to work on also. To say we are still busy is an understatement. So these pictures are mostly straight out of the camera – no editing done – meaning most are dark and off centered, but oh well. Better to get them up then not.

Getting ready to open presents

birthday cupcakes

The weekend was super hot. That of course didn’t stop the kiddos from wanting to be outside all day long. It was the perfect family birthday for Rylee. She loves camping and absolutely adores her cousins. With all the activity and fun, we totally forgot to make our tie-dye shirts that we had brought along. Oh well. Our party was perfect.

Tie Dye Party

2011-07-28T18:46:00.000-05:00

We are gearing up for Rylee’s 3rd Birthday here. Of course, her birthday doesn’t fall until the end of next month, but we are doing a combined party with her cousins Brooke & Logan. Brooke will be 10 and Logan will be 3. We are having a tie dye party for them. It should be fun. We will be having a ‘friends party’ for Rylee around her actual birthday also. You know, a overtop, girly, pink and aqua, camping party complete with smore’s, campfires, bean bags, and an outdoor movie showing.

These were some pictures from our photoshoot. You would be so surprised at how difficult it was to get a little certain boy into a tie-dyed shirt and on top of that, attempt to get him to smile and look at the camera. It took some major rump shaking by my sister.

July update

2011-07-27T18:42:00.001-05:00

I basically forgot all of July and about jumped straight into the end of July/August. Whoops!

July was full of fun activities. But just like June, July sped by. It’s almost August already.

We began with the 4th of July. We stuck close to home and had some great sweltering hot fun at the parade and Uncle Sam Jam (USJ). Rylee loved getting the candy from the parade and jumping in the jumpers at the USJ. She also enjoyed the craft area where she made an awesome flag necklace. Fireworks were also a favorite.

We spent one morning picking strawberries at the strawberry patch.

We also took in Phil Baker, Story Times, and Friday Features at the library. The zoo has also been visited a few times in the past couple of weeks when the temps weren’t too high. We have really enjoyed spending time with friends that come over while their mom works and frequenting “moms club” events. Pool time happened quite often as we had a warm spell with temperatures into the 90’s and heat index’s well over 110. Talk about some hot and humid weather.

Camping was put on the back burner for a while because we decided we could easily sit in the air conditioner at home instead of in the small camper. We are packing up to go camping soon though, so more camping pictures will come soon.

We took a tour of Dairy Queen here in town this past week. Rylee loved seeing all the stuff and especially loved walking in the giant fridges and making her own ice-cream cone.

Sprinkles

waiting for the tour to begin

inside the giant walk in fridge

making her ice-cream cone

eating her self-made ice-cream cone

We are in full planning mode for Birthday parties here. We are having a “cousins tie-dye party” for the summer birthdays and also Rylees “friends” party at the end of august.

I will also be taking some senior pictures of my cousin soon so more of that later too.

We have Rylee’s CF appointment tomorrow. Hoping for growth, continued clean cultures, and not too many tears during the blood draw.

Where did June go?

2011-07-10T16:35:00.001-05:00

It seems like just yesterday was the beginning of “our summer”. School was out, I said goodbye to all of the kids I had been watching except for miss Mya and Mr. Miles. And now, the summer is 1/3 over.

We have kept busy all summer so far. We took walks to the park.

We participated in the Bike Rodeo for the summer reading program. We also have participated in story times, Bingo, Friday Feature Movies, Reading Logs, The Zoo man, the Juggler Man, The transportation Fair, and the Puppet Show.

We spent a rainy day taking in Excite, which is a indoor bounce house and play area. Rylee absolutely loved this! they had a ton of big bounce houses, a toddler area with climbers and play houses and a bubble machine.

We have ran through the sprinkler and played with our outdoor toys a lot.

And we have been to the zoo 3 times so far. Of course we have rode the carousel, fed the goats, walked over the bridge, and really enjoyed the museum inside. When we go to the zoo we almost always get to go get ice cream afterwards. Fun summer treats.

And on top of that we have finally headed to go swimming pool numerous times, the children’s museum, and lots of parks. And so that was where June went. We also participated for the 3rd year in our Great Strides Walk for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in June. I will have to do another post with the few pictures we got from that day.

So to say the least, June has been a tad busy. And so far, July hasn’t slowed down one bit.

High Hopes

2011-06-21T08:31:00.001-05:00

Well, I had high hopes that I would get on here more often, but again, summer is summer and that means being busy. Oh Well. Well that and the fact that I am waiting for my dear hubby to add some more space on our computer. Apparently I have too many photos stored on my computer. Who Knew.

Here is a picture of Rylee and her friend Gabe. Gabe is one of the kiddos I was watching for a while. He instantly took to Rylee and they became friends. Since decreasing the kids that I watch, Rylee occasionally still asks where Gabes carseat is. I’m sad that she misses the kids that came over, but also know that slowing down a little is what was best for her.

Today I am linking up to sweet shot Tuesday at My3Boybarions

Huge Bloggy Break – I guess

2011-06-13T08:28:00.001-05:00

I guess I took what would be considered a huge bloggy break. The remainder of the winter and spring was busy and full of hustle and bustle. I picked up a few more kids in March and finally in June, I decided that we had to slow down. Rylee was getting colds more and more and I just felt as though she was run down. I scaled back to watching just her little friend Mya everyday and our neighbors grandson Miles on Fridays. It has been a nice change and we are really enjoying our relaxing time.

We have now discovered that I can easily run all my errands during the day, we can have low key days and watch movies when it rains. We can go to the pool and not be as worried about runaway kids or drowning kiddlets for that matter. It has been nice. Now don’t get me wrong, we miss the other kiddos like crazy, and the girls do ask about them lots, but we needed this little break.

With all that, I can now get back to blogging. I really enjoy keeping a online scrapbook of all that goes on but with all the kids that I was watching I was just exhausted at the end of the day. It seems the only time I blogged was to post a book review. Now I can get back to sharing our days, pictures of my baby girl (even tho she has proven she isn’t a baby anymore) and just catching up on all my favorite blogs.

And with all that ends my gigantic bloggy break (HOPEFULLY). Heres a picture of my little girl who is growing up way to fast.

Book Review: When God Created My Toes

2011-04-25T17:27:00.002-05:00

So it seems all I have time for lately is book reviews. Life is flying by thats forsure. Even my book reviews have been brief. Oh Well, I will catch up soon.

When God Created My toes is a great little rhyming book. The two and three year old I read it to were laughing the entire time at the rhymes.

The illustrations were colorful and fun. Overall it was a fun book and one we will read again.

I recieved this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: God Gave Us Two

2011-04-07T13:20:00.002-05:00

I've always wondered about how to tell my daughter about a new baby addition to our family when that time approaches (No...we are not pregnant right now). I read this book and am going to choose to keep it to myself until I need to use it for that reason. God Gave Us Two is a great book.....We have many in the God Gave Us series and this one again is a great way to teach young children about some major things. Little bear is getting a baby sister or brother and at first isn't to crazy about the idea. Towards the end of the book she decides that being a big sister wouldn't be so bad. She asks many questions about it and in the end is excited. When mama and papa come back from having the baby she finds out she is a proud big sister to a baby brother and sister. A loving story about becoming a big sister. A great addition to our collection. I recieved this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this Review.

Baby Kody Day 77

2011-03-20T12:56:00.001-05:00

Quick update and post……I have been so behind editing pictures that I just needed to post what I had and move on. I am missing about 10 days between day 44 and 54 and then some after day 65…..but I will find them and quick sneak them in at somepoint. But moving on.

Things have been crazy around here. We’ve been busy with the “daycare” or if it’s considered daycare. Baby Kody and his sister are the newest addition. Baby Kody is 2 weeks old…sleeps most of the day….and likes to be swaddled! Easy baby.

It also gives me quite the chance to snap some pictures of a newborn. This pose has been one that I have wanted to try and get better at. My first couple attempts were no go’s. Finally I got it, but I couldn’t get the paci away from him. We will keep trying.

Rylee Update

We officially got rid of the pseudomonas after just one cycle of Tobi Nebs…..Lucky us. We do however still have a cough, which they treated with bactrim…..But soon after the flu hit the house and we were down and out for about a week. Rylee is finally recovered and starting to eat again. She has been quite timid with food. Her cough is still present, however her lungs sound crystal clear…so we are heading to the allergist to see if that could be the cause of the drainage/runny nose(clear)/cough….Hopefully we can figure something out so we can start enjoying this nice weather.

As for nice weather…..It was here all week long…Will continue tomorrow, but then we drop back down to the 30’s….Total bummer but hopefully in a week or so we can have warmer temps and we can get out of this house. I am really hoping it happens soon and the weather guy is wrong..

So busy busy busy and lack of posts on my part. It’s just life here. Crazy busy

Days 59-65

2011-03-20T12:45:00.001-05:00

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A week of pictures – We took in story time at the museum and colored with chalk, played with friend Nolan in the music room one day, took pictures of Baby Delaney, Played outside, Ate spaghetti, Climbed a rock wall, and flew to outer-space. Whew! The pictures aren’t in the exact day order, but I am so far behind that I am just trying to get a picture posted from each day!

Days 54- 58

2011-03-20T12:44:00.001-05:00

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A quick post to work on catching up…….A picture of baby Delaney, Rylee riding Kota’ the dino at the museum, Hunter digging for dino bones (Lovin the goggles), Funny faces while playing outside by Rylee (don’t mind the runny nose and dirty face – It seems to be constant right now!) and finally Cheese’s from Mya!

Book Review: God Gave Us So Much

2011-03-03T16:40:00.004-06:00

I have been given the chance to review the book God Gave Us So Much. I have reviewed a variety of the books in the "God Gave Us" Series and must say that I love them each. They are a great reminder of what God has done and broken down into a simple version that even a 2 year old can understand.

God Gave Us So Much is a Limited Edition Treasurery that consists of three of the books from the series: God Gave us the World, God Gave Us Love, and God Gave Us Heaven. It also includes an attached ribbon to mark your place if reading to little ones.

The stories are all wrote from the perspective of little cub. She mainly asks a variety of questions in which the adult in the story always answers and explains how God has given us the things.

The illustrations are bright and cheery and the children enjoy looking at them. The 4 year old I read the story to took the book immediately after and re-told each story.

I really enjoyed the story God Gave Us Heaven. I feel that children do not always grasp the idea of heaven and what happens when a person dies. This story however explains it in a very simple manner that still keeps the gloriousness of Heaven alive. This book would be a great story to have around when having to help a child greive a loss or preparing them for a major loss in their lives.

Overall this book is a great asset to our collection.

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this Review"

Baby Kasey – Day…..Who knows

2011-02-22T07:37:00.001-06:00

This is baby Kasey. Rylee screamed to take baby Kasey home with her when we left his house. She settled for a picture.

This is day something and sometime this week I will rummage through my pictures, edit a few, and post the remainder days to catch up. This picture was taken on Saturday while visiting this little man.

So Recently this 365 day challenge has been kicking my behind. I am still trudging away at it, just get behind at times. I am determined to catch up at least once a week (most weeks).

Book Review – The Dragon and the Turtle

2011-02-16T14:18:00.001-06:00

I recently read this book to the children of my daycare. The children consist of two 2yr olds and a 4 yr old. I must say that this book was above the 2 yr olds level and didn't hold their interest well. The 4 year old however loved the book and proceded to read it numerous times after the original reading. The only problem she had was remember the name of the turtle and dragon.

The pictures were unique - I loved the textures that the illustrator used in the images. The pictures did keep the younger children interested.

Overall the story was a little long for the younger kids and even drug on a little for the older child. After we discussed the bible verse it relates to and the 4 year old really enjoyed this part. She seemed to understand how it related to the verse.

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review"

Love

2011-02-15T19:28:00.002-06:00

I know yesterday was valentines day and that the title of this post felt fitting even though it's after Love day.

Today I had the rare chance to spend with Rylee alone. The girls were all gone because of illness (ear infections) so I had Rylee all to myself. Love. I really had a chance to soak in the little things I love about her.

Today is the first time I have really noticed her pretending. This morning she was playing with her snap and style dolls (which she Loves) and she would hold one up and say "you fly" and "jump".

Then...

Later in the morning she was holding her stuffed minnie mouse and a spoon. She would lean down and take a "scoop" of the floor and turned to her Minnie and said "Minnie, you eat floor".

Now, I know this isn't actual full our pretending or role playing...but it's a start.

Just a few minutes ago she was holding her Minnie and Mickey, and she had them laying next to each other. She picked up Mickey and stood it over Minnie and said "wake up Minnie. Wake up"

So it is pure love that I have for my baby. I love everything about her. She is growing up and I love it. She will however always be my baby :)

Valentines Flashback

2011-02-14T15:51:00.001-06:00

2010 – Rylee

My little chubby valentine last year. Look at those cheeks. This year she is wearing the same shirt amazingly (It was big last year).

Happy Valentines Day to everyone!

Day 43 – The Poky Little Puppy

2011-02-11T14:47:00.001-06:00

Engrossed in her book.

And…..

I am Caught up! YAY!

Day 41 – Washing Clothes

2011-02-11T14:45:00.001-06:00

Another shot from the museum…..Like I said, we are there ALOT……I showed Mya how to wash clothes the “old fashioned” way. She was doing a great job washing the apron.

Day 40 – Toucan Laughter

2011-02-11T14:43:00.001-06:00

After story time at the museum the girls played for a while. There is a toucan in one of the trees and Haven just thought it was HILARIOUS

Day 39 – Little House

2011-02-11T14:04:00.005-06:00

Rylee received this dollhouse for Christmas. To say she likes it is an understatement. I often hear her saying “Grandma…Hurry up Grandma.”

Rylee isn’t the only one who enjoys this. Mya and Madelyn were busy playing and conversing about who got to use the potty and where the mommy needed to sleep.

They really enjoy when I get this toy out. It normally is considered a “Rylee’s Room Toy” That means that it stays in Rylee’s room where the kiddos’ aren’t allowed. This is because I feel that Rylee has to share almost all of her toys and think she should be able to have some special toys that she doesn’t need to share. This works great and sometimes she wants to bring a special toy out to share and I am totally fine with this.

It is a great way to teach her to share and also keeps some of her toys from becoming broken.

Day 38 - Miles

2011-02-11T14:04:00.003-06:00

Miles was pretty excited to get outside even though you can’t tell by the picture.

Day 37 - Stacking

2011-02-11T14:04:00.001-06:00

Can you tell we spend alot of hours at our local children’s museum? We do. And I tend to take ALOT of pictures there. The kids are having so much fun and are really into what they are doing usually.

Rylee really enjoys the portion of the museum that is for building/architecture. They have foam concrete bricks that you can move on an conveyer belt or build with, and “hut”/house from a different place, blocks to build with, nuts and bolts and the infamous “screwdriver” that Rylee will carry around most of the day. She just loves it.

Here she was attempting to “build a house”.

Day 36 – Lovin Her Baby

2011-02-11T14:03:00.001-06:00

We are playing catch up. I finally recieved the charger cord for my lap top in the mail today, so now I am attempting to get caught up on my daily picture project/editing.

I have 2 kiddo’s napping, one at preschool and one playing in her room…. So what better time to try and catch up then now.

Rylee has been really into her dolly’s thanks to two little girls who are here during the week that really like to play dolls. I was so impressed with how gently (for the most part) she treats her dolly’s. She has this one in particular that she really likes.

I caught her playing with her doll in the hallway one night. She was rocking her and talking to her and just being a great mommy!

Quick Update

2011-02-10T09:24:00.002-06:00

I'm not MIA.........

My laptop charger is on the fritz and the battery is cruddy there for I am not able to get on my computer to edit any of my recent pictures nor get any of the ones saved on my computer. A new charger is in the mail and will hopefully be here soon. I am not enjoying using my hubby's computer nor either is he enjoying me using it. I tend to mess up all his settings according to him.

So I will be back soon for anyone wondering........Just laying low and enjoying a few days semi-unplugged! Literally.

A quick update on the peanut also - Rylee is doing good. Her last clinic appointment (In January) showed the dreaded Pseudomonas in her culture. We were very bummed as she hasn't cultured it since 5 months old but we put it behind us and are determined to conquer it again. We started inhaled TOBI and also Hypertonic Saline. The only downside to starting both of these is that our treatment time when from an easy 30 minutes to more like an hour and 15 minutes.

Rylee is a trooper though and never complains. She knows she has 3 nebs and luckily her cough has deminished.....or so we thought (as i type this she just coughed ..ugh) The constant cough at night has ended for the most part though. I am hoping to get her in again as soon as we finish the 28 day cycle of TOBI and get her cultured so we can figure out the next plan of attack.

So prayers for my peanut to rid her body of this nasty bug. Otherwise she is back to her normal sassy stuff!

We will be back soon with pictures from the week! It's been a busy week!

Day 35 – Sleddin’ - Sorta

2011-02-05T08:06:00.001-06:00

We went sledding – Sort of. I pulled the two girls around the culdesac and up the street in the sleds. They thought it was fun and didn’t want to stop. I wasn’t as convinced of this hard work, I mean fun.

And what else do you go for when you head outdoors to play in the snow…..Golf Clubs of course. It’s the first thing they grab when we head out front. Crazy girls.

By the way…this is an unusual picture for me – Rylee is actually smiling and looking at the camera. AMAZING! I am pretty sure I told them we couldn’t sled anymore unless they smiled for the camera……BRIBES

Day 34 – Big Girl Bike

2011-02-05T08:01:00.001-06:00

This picture is really bad quality…..but it’s the only one I took of her riding her big girl bike on Thursday. She was actually able to pedal for the most part and was sooo proud of herself.

She looks so grown up on a big girl bike. I even had to raise the seat up because of her long legs. Where did my baby girl go?

Day 33 - blue eyed beauty

2011-02-05T07:45:00.001-06:00

The blue eyes on this little girl amaze me. And I must say she is one of the most photogenic little ones that I have taken pictures of.

Have you noticed that I have more pictures of other peoples children then of my own precious one? Well she is at that age right now where she knows mom is gonna snap the picture so she turns away and refuses to look at the camera. I get alot of pictures with hair covering her face or her back side. I need to come up with some good bribes!

Day 32 – Computer Time

2011-02-01T16:17:00.001-06:00

Rylee loves the computer at the library. We headed there today since it was soooo cold outside and we have been getting a case of cabin fever these last couple of days with no kiddos/friends here to play with. The library was the perfect place for today.

I love that the computer games are toddler friendly. She can even run most of them herself. Wonderful!

Day 31 - Say Cheese!

2011-02-01T16:16:00.003-06:00

This was the response I received when I asked Madelyn to say cheese. She is too funny!

Day 30 – Baby Kasey

2011-02-01T16:16:00.001-06:00

So this is totally cheating – But again, I didn’t even pick up my camera this entire weekend. I attended the birthday party in the casino, and apparently my family knows how to party so I didn’t get enough sleep. In turn, I was a pile on Sunday and went to sleep around 6pm. So I am cheating on todays photo, as I did on yesterdays also.

My friend Kristi had her baby about 2 weeks ago. They had been trying to get pregnant since before my wedding in 2007. Finally they were able to and this little buddy boy is turning out to be the naughty little boy I told her she was going to have. He pushed a little too hard 2 weeks ago and was born via c-sections at 5 weeks early. He remains in the NICU but is stable and improving every day. We are hoping that they will get to take him home this Friday. They are ready to have their Family and they are more then deserving.

The first picture is baby Kasey at 2 days old I believe. Rylee looked at this picture and said, awe..baby Kasey crying. The next two pictures are from about a week old. I can’t wait to visit and hold the little peanut when we venture out their way in February.

Sorry about the picture quality. These pictures came from my friend and only the first one was really taken on her phone. The rest are pictures on her phone of pictures they had printed. No phones in the NICU :( = No photo texts.

Book Review – God Gave Us the World

2011-01-31T13:08:00.001-06:00

picture from Barnes and Noble.com

God Gave Us the World is a wonderful book about little bear and learning about the differences in the world. Little bear is always so curious to why something happens, or why something is someway.

In God Gave Us the World, Little bear wants to know if all bear tongues are the same and this leads to a discussion about why God created different types of bears, different locations and homes for the bears and why each individual bear loves what they have.

I read this book to my group of 2 year olds and they were in love with little bear and the pictures of the other bears. I also read this with a four year old and we discussed alot of the questions that were in the book and also more related to people and the differences between individuals.

The illustrations in the book were very cute and brightly colored. This is a great addition to our home library.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

Day 29 - Cupcakes

2011-01-31T09:36:00.002-06:00

Cupcakes for Valentines day with the girls…….This picture is from Friday as Saturday I headed to a 60th birthday party at the casino – and guess what – No pictures in casinos (LAME). Oh well. This will have to do.

Day 28 – Sledding with Nolan

2011-01-31T09:33:00.001-06:00

Nolan Joined us to sled on Friday. So much fun. He even went down the big hill with his mama!

Day 27 - Sledding

2011-01-27T17:49:00.001-06:00

The weather today was amazing. We borrowed some sleds and headed out to the “Big Hill”. The girls were so excited about getting to go sledding.

We attempted to head up the big hill, with two 2 year olds in tow on one sled, one empty sled, and a four year old pulling another sled….we only made it half way up. The girls went down that hill once and we decided to move to the other side where their is a bump at the bottom of the big hill. The girls could climb up this bump and pull their own sleds and then go back down.

We were out there for about and hour and a half. Even mya started to get into the sledding and lost her fear. Rylee loved it. Loved loved loved it. Madeline was a little fearless big kid that even went down on her belly head first. They didn’t want to leave.

Day 26 – warm up

2011-01-27T17:43:00.001-06:00

The weather here actually warmed up this week and we headed outside to play on numerous occasions.

My husband willingly shoveled a path from our back deck to the swing set…..this meant shoveling through 3 or 4 feet of snow for about 50 feet. What a great husband I have……Or I should say, what a great daddy Rylee has.

The slide is super fast with a little snow on it but the landing is soft at the bottom. Regardless of what we are doing, the kids are more then happy to make snow angels, march through the snow, and throw snow balls. We can’t wait till spring when we can be out every day!

Day 25 - Innocence

2011-01-25T21:12:00.001-06:00

We had a busy day today. We had story time at the library this morning, ran home for a quick lunch and rest and headed out to the children’s museum for the afternoon.

I am always amazed by watching the innocence in these little girls as they play at the museum. They just run and pretend, and imagine, and create and just flat out enjoy every minute that they are there.

We have been going at least once a week since the museum opened with a few weeks skipped for major events like holidays, surgery, etc. I really expected the girls to get bored with it, as they only have one changing exhibit and most of the time that one is filled with artwork.

Yet, they don’t get bored. They don’t complain. They get overly excited when I tell them that we are heading to the museum. They run around with smiles on. They are just plain happy.

Rylee was pretending to play the recorder, or trumpet, or kazoo, or anything that makes a noise. She is always pretending to play some sort of instrument these days….Maybe I have a future musician on my hands. Regardless, I love the determination and emotion that she puts into the pretend play.

And speaking of determination, this little girl was full of it. She was attempting to place a piece of Velcro on the corresponding strip to measure how high she could jump. She didn’t quite get the “jumping” aspect, however she reached as high as she could on her tippy toes and stuck it to the strip. I love this picture. It’s one of the first “mirror images” that I have been satisfied with.

Day 24 – Sleepy times 3

2011-01-24T15:05:00.001-06:00

What are the odds that 3 two year olds will be sleeping at the same time? Well chances are if you roll into our living room between the hours of 1:15 and 3 you just might find that happening. Of course a busy morning consisting of breakfast, playing dolls, mom’s club play-date at the coffee shop, and a yummy lunch may be required before achieving any sort of closeness to this miracle that happens.

I must say I was amazed to see all 3 sleeping today. Rylee and Mya have not been taking a nap during the week. We have either been just too busy or we just rest. I must say that I enjoy no nap days because that means bedtime is easy and early….But some days naps are just warranted.

Day 23 – Static Electricity

2011-01-24T14:30:00.001-06:00

Rylee and I headed over to the girls house for a couple of hours so their mom could go work out. When the girls would sit on the couch we noticed that there seemed to be quite the amount of static electricity going on. I took pictures of Rylee’s crazy-standing-on-end-hair too but here magic didn’t show up as well because of her brown hair on the brown couch!

I am also thinking that I could have titled this “Little Beaver” given Mya’s expression in the picture. What a nut!

Day 22 – Peek – a - boo

2011-01-23T12:38:00.001-06:00

If you haven’t noticed, we spent a ridiculous amount of time at the children’s museum this week. We keep pretty busy during the week between Gymnastics, library story time, Open Gym, Play-dates, Craft times and now Museum Story Time and Museum Activity Day. We also try to make a one day Museum play day and also weather permitting, play outside. The days stay pretty busy and the kids usually go home happy and tired. I’ve noticed the days we are cooped up in the house all day are not as enjoyable for anyone. So we go. We go go go.

When the museum announced the new story time and activity time, I knew we would be taking advantage of these days. They are free to those with a membership so we were all ready to jump on the adventure.

We also stay for a little while each day to play and explore in one or two of the rooms. This day Haven had fun on the slide. She is a cutey and very photogenic!

Day 21 - Rockstars

2011-01-23T12:29:00.001-06:00

My little Rockstars. Or so they think they are. I must say that I love the Guitar Hero Guitars – as they don’t make any noise but they still give the kiddos hours of fun rocking!

And this picture just shows what the floor in our house looks like on a daily basis. With Four or Five kiddos 4 and under here each day, it looks like a toy box threw up in my living room, kitchen, toy room and bathroom! The only room’s safe from the mess of toys is the bedrooms! So don’t mind the mess…..It’s always a fun day when the floor has a mixture of lucky ducks, tractors, balls, blankets, and kids on it!

Day 20 – Little Man

2011-01-23T12:26:00.001-06:00

I love this picture of the little man. He is handsome and chubby and lately full of NO smiles. His mama’s work schedule changed and was a major benefit for their family….however for us – well we don’t get near the amount of smiles and giggles that we used to. But he is pretty content and cuddly still which is always a good thing!

Day 19 - Chatterbox

2011-01-19T15:56:00.001-06:00

Daddy would say she takes after her momma! First thing she picked up at the museum was the phone.

Day 18 – Pink Cheese

2011-01-18T11:58:00.001-06:00

Haven is such a cutey – The instant you say haven look – She turns and says Cheese! I love the blue eyes!

Day 17 – Fun With Boys

2011-01-17T18:48:00.001-06:00

We had some visitors today. A friends boys spent the day playing at our house since there was no school. And since the weather was beautiful – well as beautiful as it can be in January in the midwest – we headed outside to play. It was mid 30’s so we had fun without getting too chilly too fast.

This little guy, or not so little any more, used to be in my preschool class when I worked at daycare. He is such a well behaved guy that it’s really easy to have him and his brother over during the day.

I must say I need to give Bethany at Hissyfits Photography a Shout-out for introducing me to Actions. I haven’t purchased any yet, but I am taking full advantage of some free ones. I am hooked. I love the ease of them and the results! Thanks Bethany!

Day 16 – Game Day with Grandma

2011-01-17T18:40:00.000-06:00

Grandma Briggs was here to visit this weekend and Rylee took full advantage of this. She played lots of Don’t Break the Ice, lucky Ducks, Dinosaur Train, and Snap and Style Dolls with Grandma. So much Fun

Day 15 – Close Up

2011-01-17T18:37:00.001-06:00

Close Up of a Cutey! No Other words needed!

Sober Face – Day 14

2011-01-17T18:35:00.001-06:00

This little man was having a day on Friday. Not many smiles were shown as he was pushing through two teeth and just not happy to be over. Separation Anxiety has set in and with him only coming over once a week now he just isn’t too convinced that it’s such a great deal. Regardless, he still makes a pretty cute little model, sober face and everything.

Playdoh

2011-01-13T16:16:00.001-06:00

Simply put –

Playdoh = Winter Savior = Fun for Hours.

We have played with playdoh for at least an hour every day this week and last. Such a easy activity and while some would say its messy, wood floors make this bearable. Just let the crumbs harden and sweep up!

We have a couple of the fun factories, but the favorites seem to be the plastic forks, cups, letter stamps and crazy creature pieces (similar to mr. Potato Head Pieces).

Hard Workin’

2011-01-13T16:07:00.001-06:00

So totally cheating today….This picture is from today, not yesterday, but the pictures I took yesterday just were not doing it for me today, so here it is…..Day 12. We headed to the children’s museum with the Mom’s club – Did I mention I joined the Mom’s club? It’s great. Well anyways, we headed there and this is my friend’s daughter M. She is such a sweety and we love her. She was working hard building with the sticks and bolts and made sure she had her hard hat on. What a cutey.

The kids all had a great time at the museum as they usually do. We can easily stay there for 3 hours and not get bored and we go almost once a week. So convenient to have the membership for the year. We will be purchasing that one again. It’s a great energy release during the winter months.

Ele-FUN

2011-01-11T20:30:00.001-06:00

Rylee received a lot of games for Christmas. Ants in the pants, Don’t Spill the Beans, Dora Memory, Lucky Ducks, but her favorites are definitely Don’t Break the Ice and Elefun. She could play these games all night if we would let her.

She was amazed when she actually caught one of the little butterfly thing in her net. Normally she waits and watches as they fall to the ground and then she scurries around to pick them up and place them in her net.

I think we are going to have to break out the big girl games – candy land and uno.

Concentration

2011-01-10T16:39:00.001-06:00

It takes a lot of concentration

For a 2 year old to string pony beads on to a pipe cleaner. But she’s a pro at it and made herself a very pretty randomly colored bracelet……or sometimes its a balloon if you ask her.

Day 10! Still going strong!

Pops

2011-01-09T20:13:00.001-06:00

Rylee and I made some cake pops for the pops in a post challenge, and it just happens that these 2 pictures are going to be my day 9 pictures.

Rylee is really into helping in the kitchen these days. She loves to be up on a chair, watching, stirring, or helping. Now if only her mama was better at baking we would be in business. We won’t say too much about the failed caramels at Christmas time or the failed rice crispy treats tonight. Yes I managed to mess up rice crispy treats.

None the less, my baking ability doesn’t hinder her love for helping in the kitchen. Next I’m just going to put her at the sink and let her wash dishes.

Bright

2011-01-09T20:05:00.001-06:00

So this is sorta cheating, but a picture is a picture and this is my favorite picture from the day on Saturday. I had a few to choose from, mainly Rylee being silly and winking, but I just wasn’t satisfied with the way any of them were turning out. So this my friends, is picture number 8. Painting with bright, fun, exciting and pretty colors. All lined up!

Valentines Day Pops

2011-01-09T19:59:00.001-06:00

Tonight, Rylee and I made some Valentines Day Pops. I have some experience making pops, but by far not an expert in any area of making them. I had made some “Pops” for Christmas…Both Oreo Pops and Cake Pops. For Rylees 1st Birthday we had made cupcake shaped cake pop. Each time I really struggle with getting the finished, decorated product to look very good. Either the ball itself is oddly shaped or the candy coating is not smooth. Sometimes it runs and drips, and sometimes the sprinkles don’t fall right. But regardless of the looks, when you get a bunch together, they still look cute and they taste remarkable.

Tonight we tried peanut butter rice crispy treat pops. We made a batch of PB rice crispy pops and dipped them in Red Wilton Candy Melts that were melted in the Wilton Chocolate Pro and sprinkled them with Wilton Valentines Day Sprinkles. Easy enough for me and my baby girl to do together….Oh yea, My husband chose to help make one too.

I must say I like the fact that the Chocolate pro keeps the candy melts consistently melted…Which is nice. However they don’t melt to a point where they were easy to dip. The candy melts were more spreadable then dip-able. In the end, they still tasted good, which is the point right!

I had previously pre-registered for the Wilton Pops in a Post Contest and received a Wilton Pops Kit free for being one of the top 40 to register. Some of the products used in the production of the pops were received from this kit. Other items, although still Wilton brand, were purchased by myself.

Crawl

2011-01-07T17:32:00.001-06:00

He is almost ready to crawl

Almost….

Snow Fun

2011-01-06T20:30:00.001-06:00

Today, the weather was beautiful, considering that there is snow on the ground and it’s winter here…But we did reach low 30’s which meant that we could play outside and the kids had so much fun. Snow angels, snowmen, snow castles (similar to sand castles) and just plain trudging through the snow. fun fun fun!

our day 6 photo is a close-up of Rylee, while making a snow angel. She surprised me with how well she liked the snow. Maybe we will try sledding soon.

Tough

2011-01-05T20:14:00.001-06:00

tough is what my little girl is. today was a long day as most days that we have doctors appointments are.

we had a follow up appointment with dr. k. – rylee’s ent.

lately i have had a lot of friends/cf mama’s that are experiencing the dreaded toddler fearing doctor situation right now. it’s tough. it’s hard to watch your child scream in fear of the unknown, the fear of getting a needle poke or throat swab, the fear that starts when you enter the parking lot of the clinic. it’s just tough.

but the remarkable and real thing with it is, that it gets better. or at least it did for us. rylee screamed at the scale, at the measurement place, when we walked in the small patient room, when the nurse came in, when the dietician came in, when the doctor came in. she screamed and cried and then she screamed and cried some more.

but today……

she smiled. she gave five to doctor k. she showed him her dora book. she let him look in her ear.

she was tough

tough during a tough situation.

she is my hero! my pumpkin! one of my favorite things in life!

Milky Way

2011-01-04T18:26:00.001-06:00

rylee coined the term “milky way” from dora the explorer. dora has one episode where she talks about the milky way, constellations, space, etc. she really has no idea what the real milky way is, however she seems to think she knows. i must say she is pretty close, and maybe knows more then i think. she points a flashlight at the ceiling and says “milky way”. she is fully aware she is using a flashlight, yet the light on the ceiling is what she is referring to.

here she was proceeding to show me the milky way. i am just satisfied with her knowledge at this point in time and will delve deeper into the “milky way” at some point, but today i will just enjoy her curious eyes, and astonishment as she looks at the milky way on the ceiling.

day 4 – finding the milky way

day 3 – just a cute 2 year old

2011-01-03T20:34:00.001-06:00

yea, i may be biased, but i sure think she is cute! it’s very rare that this little darling will flash me a smile without blinking, winking or making a goofy smile at the camera.

Rylee Jean

2011-01-02T21:40:00.001-06:00

Love, Love, Love

picture perfect

2011-01-01T22:43:00.002-06:00

that pretty much sums up my thoughts about these two.

picture number 1 – a picture every day 2011

they are picture perfect in every thought in my mind and i love them more then anything!

2011 - New Year - New Goals

2011-01-01T19:07:00.002-06:00

Alternative Title - Day 1 of Breaking my New Years Resolutions!

Resolutions to me are always silly little tidbits that seem to get broken by day 5 of the new year, if not day 1. This year I am setting practical goals that I hope to achieve instead of the typical resolution to lose weight, plan meals better, be more organized, etc.

Goal #1

Since I really enjoy photography, my number 1 goal is to take at least 1 picture each week to edit and post. I would love to think I could do 1 picture a day to post, or that I could really do more then 1 per day, but I would be setting my self up for failure. Some days it's just not practical. Like today in which we have sat around in our pajamas all day long watching tv, surfing the internet, and playing, only really moving long enough to walk to the bathroom or make something for lunch. We have been lazy, and no pictures were taken, nor would we want to really captur our laziness on camera.

Goal #2

Post at least 1 time per week. Hopefully by taking 1 picture each week and editing it, I will at least have 1 post each week. Seems like a given huh.

Goal #3

Become more contious of our health - Both physical and mental. For this I would like to excersize more, eat better, and make time for myself, time for Rylee and I, and time for our whole family. I could set my self up for instant failure by choosing to set a goal of working out 5 times a week, or eating only healthy foods this year. I know I would instantly fail at that. I really hope to just become more aware of it, which in turn I hope will lead to me being more ambitious about working out. In other words, I am going to try to work out more, eat better, and stay sane, but we will see how it goes :)

Goal #4

Continue to focus on my Rylee. While I had the first 2 years to spend just with her while my husband worked, I am fortunate enough to be able to make an income while allowing her to play now. I really loved our time together - Just the 2 of us, but it was time for change, time for growth. I hope I can still manage to take advantage of those little times with just the 2 of us and cherish every little minute of those moments that we get.

Goal #5

To focus on my relationship with my husband. Don't get me wrong - we have a wonderful relationship. I just want to keep it that way. :) Somedays I tend to shut down at 5 when he gets home or after the kids leave for the day. I, in reality, sometimes feel like I could be so much of a better wife! So we will work on it!

And thats all - Of course my number one priority above all of this, is to keep my precious 2 year old healthy all year and happy. I want her to continue to grow and learn and achieve wonderful things this year!

2011

2010-12-31T10:25:00.002-06:00

Happy New Years Everyone!

Have a great night ringing in the new year

and

BE SAFE!

Book Review – Little Star

2010-12-30T21:09:00.001-06:00

Little Star is a charming little story about the true meaning of Christmas. While the story line is close to the real story of the Christmas story, it's not exact, however this story does make it relateable to real life for children.

The first thing I always notice when reading childrens books, are the illustrations. The pictures in Little star are semi-real life, however still cartoonish enough to keep the attention of little ones. The illustrator uses dark hues and tones, but with the addition of the yellow star, the mood is brightened.

The story line itself is very easy to follow and my 2 year old enjoyed this book and was attentive for the most part. Older children will be able to relate the story in a more mature manner, however it was still interesting enough for a young child. I like how the end of the story ties the little star to the star on the top of a Christmas Tree, giving a real life connection for the children listening.

Overall, this book will make a good addition to your Christmas book collection and leads for some great discussions about the True Meaning of the Season.

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review"

Happy Holidays

2010-12-23T14:04:00.002-06:00

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

May everyone have safe travels, good company, and great memories!

See you next week!

Update

2010-12-21T22:17:00.002-06:00

So not to leave everyone hanging after my last post on Thursday.....Rylee's appointment went very well. We really liked this ENT doctor and he was very knowledgeable about CF. His recommendation was to put tubes in the ears and check out the adenoids while he was there. If they were inflamed, large, and/or infected he would remove them. If not, he would leave them alone. Tonsils were a no go as he said if they aren't infected or causing her to stop breathing while sleeping then there was no reason to put her through the painful recovery and risk of bleeding/infection.

We met with the scheduler to try and find a date to do the procedures. Well, the only day before the end of the year, was Monday. So we took it, and my little precious baby went under the knife on Monday afternoon. She did really well and they removed her adenoids as they were very very infected and also put the tubes in the ears. She recovered very well and by today was completely back to normal.....naughtiness and all.

Hopefully this will solve our ear infection issues and keep us off of antibiotics for a little longer. I am also hoping that by removing the infected adenoids that we will get rid of these nasty green drippings from her nose. TMI - :)

So now on to our new adventure - Rylee's friend Haven is going to start coming over a couple of days a week, and Miles will be dropping down to one day a week as his mommy started working a different schedule and now gets to spend more time with her baby boy! Rylee will love having her friend around more. Her mommy may be crazy - 3 two year olds is just plum crazy! but we love it and so on to our next adventure. :)

nervous nellie

2010-12-17T08:32:00.002-06:00

You would think that after spending 2 years going in and out of doctors offices, that a new appointment wouldn't be that stressful. But that couldn't be any farther from the truth. I am a nervous nellie about our appointment today.

Normally we just have appointments with our CF team to check Rylee over and make sure she is doing well. These aren't ever too stressful until we have to wait for her throat culture to come back. Then we are always very nervous about what she is growing inside her little 2 year old body. We also worry about her weight during these visits and if her lungs sound good and clear or not.

Today's visit is a little different. Let's backtrack to right before Halloween. Rylee was experiencing so major allergy symptoms. Runny nose, congestion, coughing...all brought on after a trip to our local pumpkin patch which just happens to be located in the middle of a soybean field. The last trip out there, they were combining the field and dust was flying. We quick picked our pumpkins and went on our merry way only to wake up that night to a stuffy congested coughing little girl. We had a routine appointment with our CF team and we all concurred that this was probably allergies......until we looked in her ears. Full blown double ear infection. This is the first ear infection in over a year - She had only had 2 ear infections in her 2 years of life. So on antibiotics we went - Bactrim for 10 days.

Fastforward to the end of the 10 days - right before Halloween. We were happy and all cleared up. We trick or treated, played and all was well - until 2 weeks later. She again woke up with a snotty, stuffy, congested cough and we thought man, I figured these allergies were gone. We waited a few days, giving her a chance to clear this on her own. Nope, down it traveled to her chest. We had a little weezing, lots of coughing, and lots of mucous (TMI I know) So back to the doctor for what we thought was a chest cold. One look in the ears and guess what - Full blown Double Ear Infection. So back on antibiotics...AGAIN...UGH UGH UGH - This time, Augementin for 10 days.

One more fastforward to right before thanksgiving. We were all clear again and went on our merry way. We ate lots of yummy food, played, shopped, we were good to go. Until 10 days ago. We woke up to a whiny crying stuffed up, snotty, congested, little 2 year old. I immediately told my husband - It's another ear infection. We propped her up on some pillows and laid with her all night. Of course this was a Saturday night - So we had to take her to urgent care on Sunday. I told the doctor her symptoms and that I thought it was an ear infection. She didn't believe a word I said until she looked in that little ear of hers - FULL BLOWN DOUBLE EAR INFECTION. - 10 Days of OMNICEF.....10 days later - still stuffy, still congested - so I called our CF Team again and they extended her OMNICEF for 10 more days.

In the mean time, We saw a ENT at our local clinic - He immediately wanted to do Tubes, and take out her tonsils and adenoids. The next day. I wanted a second opinion just to verify. Also, the CF clinic where Rylee is seen likes procedures done in their hospital in case of any issues that may arise (totally understandable). So today we are off to the ENT for our second opinion. I am nervous that they too will want to take her large tonsils and adenoids out. I know this is a fairly common surgery, however anytime a little one has to be put under for a procedure it is nerve racking.

Hopefully they can help us find an answer to these ear infections and if it means surgery - it means surgery and we will do anything to stop this cycle of antibiotics that we have needed in the last 3 months.

Book Review – God Loves Me More Than That by Dandi Daley Mackall

2010-12-14T14:05:00.001-06:00

I am review a book for blogging for books.

The first thing I always notice in childrens books are the illustrations. This book was illustrated by David Hohn and the pictures are very "real Like" verses being cartoonish. I really think this helps the overall message in the book. Also, the colors used are very calming.

The book discusses the different ways that God loves me. I love the fact that the verses rhyme and each verse ends with "God Loves Me More Then That".

The final thing I look at when reading childrens books are how the children respond to the book. I read this book to 4 children ages 9 months to 4 years. The older child seemed to grasp the message in the book a little more, however the book kept the interest of the two 2 year olds very well with it's short phrases and repetition. The 9 month old really enjoyed the pictures.

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review"

Wordless Wednesday - Flashback

2010-12-08T07:35:00.002-06:00

It seems lately I am slacking a bit in the blog posting area - This time of year has been crazy for me and this is the area I push aside. We will be back in full force in January hopefully, but for now enjoy my little (or not so little anymore) peanut from last year at this time - fun in her new ball pit from christmas!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-01T13:34:00.001-06:00

A wordless flashback from last january. Wordless….Messy…Self-explanatory….Love IT!

Stay tuned as tonight marks the beginning of our 25 days of christmas celebration.

gma card

2010-11-26T10:34:00.001-06:00

I Love Grandma Mother's Day 5x7 folded card

Find unique and elegant Mother's day cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Thankful Giveaway at A to Zebra Celebrations

2010-11-22T17:42:00.002-06:00

Click on over to A to Zebra Celebrations to check out her giveaway worth over $170.00! Such cute products and businesses! A little something for everyone. Entering is as easy as "liking" each business on facebook or picking out a fave product on their etsy store or website.

I have my eye on some bows so if I don't win (which I don't usually) I might just have to order some bows for my sweety's christmas outfit!

Go check it out.....not to mention that Nancy is totally awesome at what she does. :)

Updates

2010-11-22T07:37:00.001-06:00

So once again, we have been MIA for awhile with the exception of a wordless Wednesday here or a flashback Friday there. It’s been hectic here again. So hoping to actually get the pictures off of my camera and loaded onto the computer so I can upload some.

Rylee came down with what we thought was a cold last weekend. We upped treatments and were prepared to ride it out until the night of extreme coughing occurred. So the next morning (Monday) I made a quick call to the clinic who so graciously let us come in for a check up. Turns out the little cold that Rylee was nursing was due to a double ear infection and a moderate growth of H-flu. So back on antibiotics we go – hoping to really kick the ear infection and H-flu that are taking up residence in my little girls body right now.

Things didn’t seem to be getting better, however I believe it was the worse before the better part that I was experiencing. The antibiotics loosened everything up and she was able to cough up some junk. She now seems to be on the mend. Way less coughing going on and the nose isn’t a fountain of snot like it was 3 days ago.

So back to normalcy we go. For now anyways.

Other updates from our house – Rylee officially kicked the paci habit. She has been paci free for 2 weeks and she did amazing with it. However we possibly think that the lack of sucking may have lead to the ear infection….but thats just our theory.

Other then that, we don’t have too much more happening here. We have a trip to the museum planned for Tuesday with the girls and then Wednesday is sure to be busy with gymnastics in the morning followed by a pizza party and then off to the movies to watch Tangled. The girls are off until Monday then and we are more then excited to see all our family for Thanksgiving this year.

Sad to announce that there are no pictures for this post. like I said above, they are all still on my cameras card and I haven’t had time to upload them to the computer. So no fun pictures but there will be some soon. I promise!

Happy Monday Everyone!

Shutterfly

2010-11-15T20:56:00.000-06:00

I have always been a fan of shopping on www.shutterfly.com for a variety of photo prints ranging from individual 4x6 prints to 20x20 photo books or also 12 month calendars. I have never ordered Christmas cards through there and this year seems to be the year.

I always look forward to sending out Christmas cards, spreading the cheer for a merry and bright holiday season. I also love picking out the perfect picture to place on the cards and coming up with the best wording for the message we want to deliver. www.shutterfly.com has made this task so much easier and I really look forward to picking out my cards from there this year.

I believe I want to go with a Merry and Bright theme consisting of bright colors, black and white photos or muted aged photos, however I am indecisive on if I want one photo or more then one.

I have browsed through www.shutterfly.com searching for the perfect card to send to my family and friends showcasing my little darling. There are so many options and I am super excited to get my order in.

Visit www.shutterfly.com and check out there huge selection of christmas cards here

I absolutely adore this card

Found Here

I also really love the simplicity and the colors of this one:

Found Here

I also think that the snowflakes on this one are so appealing.

Found Here

I really think I could go on all day about the cards that i like. There are so many different designs that it’s time for me to just start putting my own pictures in them to see which one I truly like the best.

Head over to www.shutterfly.com and check them out for yourselves. Not only do they have Christmas cards, but they also have desk calendars, mugs, and a variety of other products also.

www.shutterfly.com is running a promotion for 50 free holiday cards to bloggers. Sign up now here.

Fall Photo Fun

2010-11-12T07:55:00.001-06:00

A quick sneak peak at some cute little girls that I have shot this fall. Lots of little girls! :) I am loving the fall colors during this time of year! It’s beautiful out there.

Flashback Friday

2010-11-05T07:37:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-03T07:37:00.000-05:00

Howdy Partner!

2010-11-01T07:34:00.001-05:00

We spent our Halloween decked out like a cowgirl! We took in the Halloween Event at the Children’s Museum and then headed out trick or treating. Rylee I think picked skittles at every house! I must say that she is my favorite cowgirl out there!

I hope everyone had a wonderfully safe Halloween night and the sugar highs are wore off for the start of the week! Happy Monday!

Flashback Friday 2009 Halloween

2010-10-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

Shout Out

2010-10-25T08:28:00.001-05:00

A Shout Out is going to Jodee over at Follow the Leaders! She hosted a giveaway for her 3 year bloggervisary and for the first time ever since I started blogging, I won a giveaway.

I was able to choose a custom banner from A to Zebra Celebrations. Nancy does wonderful work and has some great party planning ideas. I love looking at all of her stuff in her etsy store.

I of course chose a Happy Birthday Rylee banner for her birthday next year. We are going with a Pink, Orange, and Brown Giraffe Theme! I am so excited to see Nancy’s work! :)

Thank you so much Jodee! Head over to Jodee’s blog and see all the fun stuff she does with her kiddos. She is an amazing mom and equally amazing at documenting their every adventure.

Flashback Friday – Tired Little Girl

2010-10-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

Apparently this was an exhausting day. This was taken almost a year ago. Look at the round chubby face she had! Awe!

Wordless Wednesday – Feed The Goats!

2010-10-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Storytime

2010-10-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

We have been attending the storytime at the local library. Although Rylee really doesn’t care to sit and listen to the stories very nicely, She loves the dancing and the craft time.

At the end of the storytime they always sing and dance to a song. And after that there is a simple craft that they get to do. We have made necklaces, a picture frame, a weaved pumpkin and colored a picture.

Pumpkin Patch & Apple Orchard

2010-10-18T08:15:00.001-05:00

We are back officially! After 3 weeks of adjusting and getting a new routine settled in, we are back. Adding 2 extra girls to the daily agenda is quite a bit.

So now time for some catch up. October has been filled with pumpkin painting, pumpkin painting, museum visits, zoo fun, painting, playing, photo-shoots and doctors trips. Lots to catch up on here about.

At the beginning of October we headed to an Apple Orchard and Pumpkin patch with the girls and their mommy. The patch is about an hour away and it was hosting Harvest fest. They had train rides, hay rides, pony rides, inflatable's, yummy apple turnovers, cotton candy, balloon animals, a petting zoo and of course apple picking and pumpkin picking.

Right away we jumped onto the horse drawn hay ride out to the apple orchard. We picked a small bag of apples and Rylee had her first taste of an apple straight off the tree (Well as straight off the tree as it can get after mom wipes it off with a baby wipe). Next we went and looked at the pumpkins. They were a tad overpriced so we held off and just snapped some pics with the pumpkins.

Next up was the all the fun. We saw the animals, watched the balloon animal guy and ran on the hay bails. We also enjoyed some yummy apple turnovers. Yummo!

It was quite the day and Rylee was exhausted but refused to give into a nap. I think she was officially in bed by like 7:30pm. Now that’s a record in our house!

Flash Back Friday: Apple Orchard

2010-10-08T07:39:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-06T07:36:00.001-05:00

Adjusting

2010-09-28T12:51:00.001-05:00

So for a lack of better words, we are totally adjusting. With this, comes less time for me to upload pictures, edit pictures, type up a blog post, and everything else I normally do during the day. It’s more like, making breakfast for 3, load the dishwasher, wipe the table, circle time, playtime, break up disagreements, storytime, park, make lunch, load dishwasher again, rest time, park/outdoor time, snack time, load dishwasher again, and finally pick up time. Throw in a few dirty diapers, a potty training 2 year old – attempting to potty train another 2 year old, bottle feeding for miles, and preschool pick up and drop off three days a week, you’ll see how busy we really are and how much adjusting is actually taking place.

Luckily for us, Miles was only scheduled to come 1 day this week, which means we do have a period of adjustments with just the girls for the most part and then we can add him in more in the coming weeks.

It seems to be going pretty good. The girls are having fun, not to many disagreements, and they are adjusting good to being over here all the time.

So basically, as of now, during this adjustment period, the posts will be fewer and further in between. I have a little time at night, but hate to take away from family, so hopefully after we get into a better/more structured routine here, I can get back into my “bloggy time” during nap/rest time. Until then, don’t worry and be surprised if there is a couple days in between blog entries! It’s life man!

A New Adventure!

2010-09-27T09:31:00.001-05:00

Beginning today….Monday…..We are having two little friends join us during the day! Our friend was in need of daycare for her 2.5 year old and 4 year old and we decided since Rylee and Mya were already friends, that they would have fun playing together all day.

Madeline (4yr old) has preschool a couple of days a week in the afternoons and Mya (2.5 yr old) will be here all day Monday thru Friday.

We really think this will be good for Rylee to have friends around all the time. It will also help to keep us busy throughout the winter months that get sooooooo long.

Children’s Museum of South Dakota

2010-09-22T09:28:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday, The new Children’s Museum of South Dakota opened in town. It is located in the old elementary school building and has been renovated and is pretty amazing.

Rylee invited her friend Mya to join us for the day on Friday and take in the new museum. It was perfect as we went at 10:00 am when it opened and not too many others were there at the time. I love the fact that I will be able to take her during the day without the fear of massive crowds and germs from snotty nosed little kids.

To say Rylee and Mya enjoyed the museum was a little bit of an understatement. They didn’t want to leave the grocery store (which I must say is a little brand specific – as it was stocked with all things HyVee.

Next we moved into the farm. Can we say that these two girls are city-girls. They refused to pick the veggies from the stalk or ground, but instead headed to the troughs where all the extra plastic veggies were stored. There is a big pig with piglets that can nurse, a cow that can be milked and chickens that you can pick eggs from (they have a whole under the chicken where eggs can be placed so it appears as tho they have layed eggs).

After the farm we headed over to the sod house. This was complete with a old stove and cow pies to heat them. The girls absolutely loved the sod house and played in it for a good 30 minutes.

We also took in the band/music area, the art area, the water area, the tv studio, and the mini-explorer area. We didn’t make it to the cafe, the post office, or the cloud climber other for a quick photo on the lowest platform. Back by the band/music/sensory area there was a giant light bright. Rylee really enjoyed sticking the large colored pegs into the slots and watching them glow.

Last February, We painted a ceramic tile that they were going to use in the new museum. They made three giant murals using all of the tiles that they had painted. Rylee’s is the blue purple and pinkish/red on in the center. Its pretty cool to think she will always be a part of the museum.

We will be heading back soon to take in another days worth. We are going to be purchasing season passes so we can take the museum in whenever we would like to this winter.

Wordless Wednesday – Big Kid Story Time

2010-09-22T08:32:00.001-05:00

Fall Fun!

2010-09-21T09:41:00.001-05:00

Fall officially begins tomorrow, or today, depending on where you live and what your calendar says! (Apparently some calendars have it marked on the wrong date) Either way, the fall weather is here for the most part…….except for yesterday in which we had a sporadic heat wave with lots of humidity. yuck.

For us, With Fall, comes all sorts of new fun and concerns. We start Story time today. Hopefully we can continue to go for the majority of the time without worrying about germs/colds/illnesses. Last year we began it in October and after the first session we ended it because of all the “yuck” that was there. But we will try again this year.

Fall also brings the opportunity for us to go pick apples, pumpkins and gourds. We do love the cooler weather and going for walks and stomping on all the crunchy leaves. It’s perfect park weather during the fall.

We do have many concerns once fall sets in tho. It brings the beginning of flu season, cold season, threats for pneumonia and just overall germ phobia’s set in for us. We are planning to not seclude ourselves to the house this year, but we will be taking lots of precautions. We will not be taking Rylee to our local Walmart as it seems that Everyone there is coughing or waiting for a prescription. Of course this is just my germphobia talking as we do take her there during the summer months. In general we try to keep her away from places with pharmacies. We also are very willing to leave a location (restauraunt, story time, museum) if we feel that there are too many airborne germs from people coughing.

It is not going to stop us from having fun this fall tho. We have lots planned. We have started up our tot time again……..and today we plan on making sugar cookies. Rylee has never really helped other then to sit on the counter or table and watch, but she’s gonna get to get her hands dirty today!

No pictures today, but plenty to come! We have fun stuff coming up. :) Lots of Fall Fun!

We belong in the circus

2010-09-20T09:05:00.001-05:00

Last week the Kristi-Kole James Circus made a surprise stop in our town so we made a spur of the moment decision to attend. I am glad we did because Rylee really enjoyed it. She kept saying circus the next day which was a sign to me that she liked attending and remembers it.

This circus is much smaller then the Shrine circus that we attended last spring. There was only 1 clown, 1 elephant, 5 tigers, like 7 dogs and 3 acrobats. There were a couple of different acts to including the great “Clothes Switch” act similar to the one shown on America’s Got Talent this season. Regardless of how they switch their clothes and how many layers they have tucked into their outfits underneath, it is amazing they can do it so quickly.

At this time last week, we were on somewhat of an eating strike from the little miss. She was refusing almost everything we offered. At the circus however she indulged on popcorn and SDSU Icecream. Probably not the healthiest items out there, but both loaded with fat and when she is refusing to eat, Something is better then nothing.