A pretty much perfect day :)

Today was so wonderful...Rosalyn was so much fun on her 2nd 4th of July! I really love this age. You don't have to worry so much about eating/naps/constant diaper changes/etc. It is so much easier to get out and about...just grab a juice sippy and a couple of diapers! She is old enough to really enjoy things and get so excited about fun stuff...I love it!


Jason had to work, so we had a low key (but fun) holiday with my parents, Nana and Pop. We started off the evening at 5 by going to our city's 4th of July celebration. For Rosalyn's age, there was: a petting zoo, pony rides, train rides, a bounce house, face painting, balloons, and ice cream + lots more stuff for other age groups and adults. Needless to say, she had a blast! She had sooo much fun and was so excited for each new activity (once she stopped sobbing because we were stopping the current activity). That excitement is contagious!


After the city celebration, the four of us went to Cracker Barrel for supper. It is too hot to cook! We had a yummy dinner complete with Strawberry Shortcake for dessert. Rosalyn ate a grilled cheese, carrots, and applesauce. She also showed off her potty training...I had changed her diaper at 4:30 prior to leaving for the city party. At Cracker Barrel (at 7:30), she told me she needed to use the potty. So, I took her fully expecting a wet diaper. However, her diaper was still dry (after 2-3 cups of fluids and 3 hours of distracting fun). She happily peed in the potty and we put her diaper back on! I am so proud of her! She has been really doing well with potty training. Before leaving the restaurant, she and Pop picked out a prize for him to buy for her. She got one of those fake ferret/weasel things that chases its ball. She likes it and really wanted it, but is also halfway scared of it. Silly girl! Maybe Roger can use it for exercise!


After dinner, we came back to our house and said goodbye to Nana and Pop. Then at 9:30, Rosalyn and I went into our backyard and layed side by side in the dark on a big sheet to watch the city fireworks. We live close enough to the park that it was like our own private fireworks show! They literally looked like they were going to fall on our heads! It was so nice to see her so excited...it almost felt like being a kid all over again. With each big firecracker, she would turn her head to me, drop her jaw and look at me like "seriously, did you just see that?" At first, she thought they were birds. She looked at me with a questioning look and said "bud?" It was cute. Once I explained to her, she said "cwack-a" every time she saw one. She also thought they were "pre-ey" (pretty). When we went inside, she said "nigh-nigh cwack-a." I think that laying there in the grass holding her sticky little hand and watching the firecrackers tonight was one of my sweetest, most favorite moments ever with her. Perfection.


At 10, the fireworks were over and we went inside to get ready for bed. After her bath, I put her to bed and I think she was asleep before I even got to the door! She was exhausted after all the fun today!


I really enjoyed being her mommy today (not that I don't always love being her mommy, but you know what I mean). She is absolutely the most precious thing ever and I love her so much. She has been saying "I wub you, Mommy" lately and giving me a big kiss...and if you think that melts me to mush, then you should see it when she crawls up in Jason's lap and says "I wub you, Daddy." I have seen him get big tears in his eyes at the sound of her sweet little baby voice! There is no word big enough for the gratitude I feel towards God for giving me this sweet baby girl. She is my little firecracker and truly my life's greatest joy.



Here are a few pictures. Besides missing Jason since he had to work, it was a great day! My dad (Pop) is not in any of the pictures even though he was there! Maybe he was too busy sampling the free blue bell ice cream!

Sleeping on the couch with Daddy.

This picture kind of reminds me of...

Sleeping on the couch with Daddy 18 months ago!

Riding the pony..when we got to the pony she said "Hi, po-ey."

She loved it and was not scared at all.

She was a little hesitant to touch the animals at the petting zoo though.

She loved the bounce house most of all.

After we got out, she would beg "I jump, peese (please), I jump?"

Riding the train with Mommy and Nana

So tired!

Showing off her balloon and her chocolate ice cream face.

She also had a pink heart painted on her arm.

This picture is to show how long and thick her hair is getting in the back!

First Ice Cream Cone!

It has been a long time since I blogged! I guess we've been busy, but not with anything too interesting, just busy in general! Rosalyn is 22 months old today...it is so hard for me to believe that she is nearly two years old. I have begun thinking of birthday party ideas, but haven't settled on anything yet. Today, after dinner, Jason, Ros, and I drove to dairy queen and got ice cream treats for dessert. She had been begging for "i-ceeeem" all day. The pictures above are of Rosalyn devouring hers on the backyard porch. She loves ice cream! Today is the first time we've ever given her a cone just for herself! She is so sweet and perfect...I love her!

Picture Day :)

We went last night and had family pictures made. Rosalyn was terrible, but we still managed to get a few cute pictures.

First, our 2008 family picture...it is amazing how much Rosalyn has changed!

Now, the 2009 pictures...

We've been married 6 years today!

Today is our 6th wedding anniversary! We went out alone last night to celebrate (my mom and dad babysat Rosalyn). Today we went to church and cooked out with my family. I am so blessed to have Jason as my husband...he is everything to me and is truly my best friend! I will try to post some old wedding pictures later (I am feeling lazy about scanning in old pictures tonight).

Addicted?!?!

Ok, I know these aren't the best quality pictures, but I couldn't resist sharing them...

So, what do you think, is she addicted or what, lol?!?!

Pretty soon, I may be calling up these guys for help!...

http://www.aetv.com/intervention/index.jsp

Seriously, I am not that concerned about the paci use, I just think these pictures are funny!

21 Months...

Rosalyn turned 21 months yesterday! Hard to believe she is nearly two years old!


Here are a few pictures of her that I took this evening...She was not very cooperative (as usual!).

Sitting on the coffee table...I have given up on keeping her off of it.

Watching Dora and wishing I would stop snapping pictures of her!

Serious Face

Finally, a smile (even if it is a fake! I tricked her into saying "please.")

Not a great picture, but it shows how long her hair is growing!

Here are a few facts about Rosalyn at 21 months...

Growth: She has not grown any over the past 3 months. I think it is the combination of toddler food pickiness and constant motion during her waking hours. She is holding steady at 27 lb (68%) and 32 inches (24%). I am not worried since I know she is eating healthy food (when she chooses to eat) and she still has plenty of chub to work with! She is wearing size 5 diapers and 24 month clothes. She wears a size 6 shoe.

Eating: See above! She is sometimes a great eater, totally cleaning her plate. Other times, she eats practically nothing all day long. She still drinks 16-24 oz whole milk/day. She is able to a fork/spoon fairly well and is able to drink from a regular cup (no lid or straw). However, she still uses her fingers to eat and her sippy cup to drink most of the time. Her favorite foods now are: fruit of any type, bread of any type, cheese of any type, and carrots. She basically refuses to eat meat at this stage in her life. I am sure this pickiness is normal for her age.

Sleeping: Ros is sleeping in her toddler bed fairly well now. She rarely ever cries when I lay her down for nap or bedtime. When she does fuss, it is just for a minute. She is rarely waking in the middle of the night. Our only real sleep issue at this time is that she is waking up super early (as in 5:30 am) regardless of her bedtime. Hopefully, we can get this kink smoothed out soon or I am going to need to stock up on coffee! She sleeps 9-11 hours/night and takes a 1-2 hour nap each day.

Speech: Rosalyn is talking all the time now. She says so many words on a regular basis that I've lost count. She is starting to put words together more often (hold me, open it, I see, I do it, etc). She "sings" lots of songs. She can recognize and say a few letters, numbers, colors, and shapes.

Motor: She loves to color, play with blocks, run, jump, and climb! In her opinion, there is nothing too big to climb up and/or over.. She is quite a daredevil and has given us lots of scares lately.

Other stuff: She loves to play outside with her bubbles, ball, swing, slide, or baby pool. She also loves to "hide" from us...she will run to another room and get behind/under a bed or door and wait for us to come in so that she can jump out! She is also teething viciously right now and it is not fun for her at all...it can contribute to some grouchiness at times!

She is such a sweet, funny little girl and I love her so much. She is the joy of my life.

Memorial Day 2009

Today, we had a fun little family get-together at our house for Memorial Day!

My Mom & Dad, Jason, Alan & Kelsey, Jessica & Diego, and Mark & Barbie (+Brannon) came over. My dad cooked on the grill (steaks, chicken, ribs, etc) and we made some delish side dishes and desserts also. We had lots of yummy food and enjoyed watching the babies play in the wading pool in our backyard.

Below are some pictures of Rosalyn (21 months) and Brannon (7 months)...

A few pictures from this week....

Rosalyn on her "baby leash" at the zoo. It worked quite well and she didn't seem to mind at all! In fact, she acted happier because she had 36 inches of freedom! She loved the "soo" (zoo) and seeing the "dwafs" and "e-fots" (giraffes and elephants)!

Getting ready to slide into her baby pool in our backyard! She loves to swim!

All I can say about this picture is that I guess she was hungry. I left her alone for a minute while starting some laundry and I came back to find her sitting in the floor eating bread. I am still not sure how she got it off the kitchen counter! Silly girl!

Sleeping is much better :)

Just wanted to update that bedtime and sleeping in general is much, much better at our house these days! I feel human again after sleeping more than 2 hours at a time...Rosalyn has gone to bed and down for naps easily and slept all night for several days now. Thankfully, she seems to be back to her normal bedtime/naptime routine.


I will admit that I had to use the cry-it-out method which I am not really a fan of (most people who know me know this). However, Rosalyn truly left me no choice. Believe me, I tried every single trick in the world to help her sleep and adjust to her new bed. My only other option besides letting her cry-it-out was to lose my mind and I am not kidding! She went from sleeping 11-13 hours straight/night in her crib + a 2-3 hour/nap to 6-8 divided hours/night in her toddler bed + no nap. I decided that since she is a toddler (not a baby) and I know that she is perfectly capable of self-soothing and sleeping well (she has been putting herself to sleep--no rocking--since she was just weeks old and has always been a good sleeper) that I needed to give the cry-it-out method a try.


So, the first night I followed our normal routine and put her to bed as usual. I left her door open with a baby gate in place to keep her in and a nightlight on. I came in the living room and waited while she screamed so loud that I thought the neighbors might call CPS on me. It was not easy for me to just sit here while she wailed for me, but I was strong. The only thing that helped me is that I know her cries and what they mean...this was definitely not a hungry/thirsty, sad, cold/hot, uncomfortable, scared, lonely, or sick cry...it was an I-am-mad-at-the world cry! I intentionally had to wait for a night that Jason was at work because he is much softer than I am and he would have never lasted!


She cried for 40 minutes the first night, 10 minutes (mostly just whining) the second night, and 0 minutes the third night. She slept all night without a peep each of those nights and also slept until around 8 am each morning. We are now on the third night of no crying and no night waking. She also resumed her normal naps with no drama. It has been wonderful and I feel like I have my sweet baby back! She was (understandably) a grouchy miserable little girl functioning on so little sleep!


Now, with all of that being said, I cannot imagine ever doing cry-it-out with a baby younger than 18 months...I think that learning to self soothe is important even at that age, but not as important as learning that the world is a safe, happy place and that mom is going to respond quickly and efficiently to your needs (even just emotional needs). With our strong routines and letting her fall asleep on her own, Rosalyn was able to learn to self soothe anyway as a very young baby and put herself to sleep with no crying-it-out (up to this point, anyway). After the past two weeks, however, I will never say never.


Even though I wouldn't do it with a younger baby, I can say honestly that doing the cry-it-out method with my almost 21 month old wasn't that bad and definitely worth it to have my happy, well-rested baby back!


It might seem like I have written a novel about a mundane topic, but it was a big deal for us!

Happy Birthday, Pop!!!!

Today is my dad's 51st birthday! I am cooking him a birthday lunch this afternoon (meatloaf, butterbeans, and apple dumplings...his requests!) and then my parents are babysitting so Jason and I can attend a wedding tonight.


Happy Birthday! You are the best Daddy and Pop in the world...We love you so much!


Here are a few pictures of Rosalyn and Pop together...

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Here is another picture of Rosalyn asleep in her swing a couple of days ago. She has been so sleep deprived from her lack of nighttime sleep (a whole different post, lol!) that she's been falling asleep anywhere she gets still. It is hilarious! Crazy girl!