project 366 {week 30}

The first time we took Ryann out for fro-yo was Valentine's Day, and ever since she has called getting ice cream 'having a holiday'.  Cracks me up every time.  The headlamp came with the tent Christopher randomly bought for her, it is pretty awesome, and excessively bright.  And the pajamas, well... we only have 3 pairs of pajamas with long sleeves, and kiddo has to have long sleeves to keep the 'sock mittens' on so she won't pick anything (her lips, scabs, etc).  So she generally looks pretty special at bedtime.

ryann's second birthday - alphabet party invitations

Guess what I finally did.  Found the invitations from Ryann's birthday party.  They were cleverly placed in an unmarked bag with a whole bunch of other design stuff that I saved as samples.  I was obviously thinking ahead and putting them with like objects.  Good plan, good plan...

Anyway, here are my terrible photos of the invitations:

The illustration was inspired by Melissa of I Still Love You's invitations for her daughter's birthday party.  Hers is much better than mine of course, but I think you still get the idea.  I combined that with the idea of a letter flash card to get the whole look.

I spent a long time trying to figure out the best way to get the illustration the way I wanted, and ultimately settled with just tracing a photo taken by Anne Pendleton Photography in illustrator.  I am not all that proficient in illustrator so it took me a while, but it works for me.

To see more from Ryann's party, go here!

just call me rosie

Lately Ryann has been very into pretending.  VERY.  To the point where I'm pretty much not allowed to call her Ryann anymore, and I get zero say on who I am for the day.  It all started when she became slightly obsessed with Thomas the Train.  She has played with the train set at Barnes and Noble several times, and Chris got her some track and a couple of trains for her birthday.  When Ryann filled up her potty chart she got to pick a new toy from Target.  She had a tough time deciding, and struggled between accessories for her doll and a new train, but ultimately picked Rosie, the train.

Well then Chris and Ryann went shopping together while I was taking a shower, and came home with a DVD of Thomas the Train episodes.  Ryann had only seen one other episode before, but after this DVD she is hooked.  This is a text I sent my mom recently:

Yes, for the majority of the day I tend to be Rosie, and have to call the wee one Thomas.  But a few days after that she has taken to changing it up.  Sometimes I'm Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, she is usually Skully.  The cats get in on the action too, she pretty much always calls Max Captain Hook now, and Soph is Mr. Smee.  It is hilarious.  "Mama I'm going to sneak up on Mr. Smee!  Captain Hook is being naughty, he stole my toy."

Yesterday she took it to a whole new level of awkward though.  We watched an episode of Doc McStuffins, and on it the little girl fixed up a dump truck, and there was some sort of yellow truck too.  I wasn't paying much attention of course.  Well, the rest of the day Ry was the dump truck, and I was yellow truck.  Seriously.  If I wanted her to do anything I'd have to call her dump truck.  "Dump truck, your lunch is ready."  And the fun doesn't stop in public.  If I tried to get her to listen to me, such as "Ryann, please come stand by me."  "I'm not Ryann!  I'm dump truck!"  Ok, whatever, dump truck, get the f over here...

The only nice thing it about it?  For some reason she is much more affectionate and polite when we are pretending to be someone else.  "Oh Rosie I love you!  Thank you Rosie!  Rosie, you're the best!"  I mean, yes, I'd appreciate getting some love as mommy too, but I'll take what I can get.  :o)

Completely unrelated to that, I just had to share my awesomeness.  Yesterday I was getting ready while Ryann was taking a nap.  I plugged in my straightner and then when to get dressed.  The shorts I wanted to wear (ok all my shorts) were a little (a lot) wrinkled.  Especially the cuff.  I was throwing a little mini fit because I didn't want to go all the way to the basement to turn on the iron and iron the stupid shorts, when it hit me.  I could totally use my flat iron to iron the cuff.  So I did.  Genius I tell you, genius.  It totally worked.  And yes, I'm sure I'm not the first person to do it, but I was pretty proud :o).

ten weeks

This week has been quite the week.  Nothing crazy or insane happened, it was just, well, long, and tough.  And I know its the hormones, but I'm struggling.  And after about 4-5 interrupted hours of sleep last night, I have zero idea how I'm going to handle a newborn...

Anyway, my appointment that was supposed to be last Friday, was moved to today, because they were hoping they would hear the heartbeat on the doppler in the office.  Mind you I wasn't worried about that at all, since I've found it myself three times this past week.  Well, I still had a mini panic attack in the office when the doc couldn't find it.  I was sure I'd lost the baby in the last two days.  Thankfully she isn't one to just say better luck next time, and sent me straight to the ultrasound room.  Even though it was a bit stressful for a minute there, I was thankful to get a peek at the baby again.  And he/she is doing absolutely fine.  The little arms and legs were moving around, and the heartbeat was strong right around 160.  Such a relief.

AND I was cleared to run a half marathon in October :o).  I'm not so sure Chris is excited about that, but I definitely am.  Obviously I will listen to my body and back down if I can't handle it, but I'm so happy to have something to train for, and it will be such an accomplishment for me if I can succeed.

how far along:  10 weeks

size of baby:  according to the bump a prune, about 1.2 inches long and weighing .14 ounces.  Still so itty bitty!  Baby has working arm joints, has developed all of their vital organs and starting to swallow and kick in there.

weight gain: -3.5 pounds.  Only lost half a pound this week, which is a good thing.  I thought I'd start gaining, because I thought I was starting to feel better, but I was wrong...

maternity clothes:  nope

symptoms:  Last week it really seemed like I was on the way out of some of the gross feeling.  But now?  I wake up feeling pretty much ok, but my 4pm I have a major headache, I want to puke, and pretty much keel over and die.  Which is really appealing for Christopher to come home to.  I also get dizzy and feel like I'm going to pass out a lot, which is just simply annoying.  Thankfully I still haven't thrown up at all yet.

exercise: Thankfully not feeling gross in the mornings, meant I hit the gym SIX times this week.  Yes, I'm patting myself on the back.  I know there are plenty of women who still exercise like crazy while pregnant, but seeing as I didn't do a damn thing last time around, going to the gym six times seems like a pretty amazing feat.  Only two real runs this week, but one of them was seven miles.  Not too shabby.  It felt great to get in some distance.  I also had a 4.25 mile run, a 3.15 mile run/walk, 3 mile walk, 2 mile walk, 2 mile bike ride and a 7 mile bike ride.

cravings/aversions:  Let me tell you, I am craving all things healthy... NOT.  Strawberry shortcake, doughnuts, apple turnovers, a molten from Chili's, those all sound amazing.  For the most part my serious make me want to vomit food aversions are subsiding a bit, but still nothing really sounds wonderful.  And occasionally I'll sit down to eat something and I just can't do it, it seems too gross or my stomach is just too blah.

movement:  nope

sleep:  !*%&!$%*!&$*&%$#  That is how I feel about sleep this week.

gender:  Whenever I want to talk about the baby, my brain says she.  But I still don't really believe it is a girl.  Most likely we are going to have a boy, that is what I'm thinking.

looking forward to:  Not feeling like crap anymore.  The end of the first trimester is in sight!

worries: It was a rough week, and now I'm terrified to have two children.  I could barely function, and was irritated with Ryann when she woke up early.  What am I going to do when I am sleep deprived with a toddler AND a newborn?  Hold me.

what's different this time:  Going to doctor's appointments mostly by myself or with Ryann.  Chris didn't go to all of them last time, but he made a good effort.  I'm not sure we'll even be able to get him to the 'big' ultrasound.

milestones:  Double digit weeks!

best moment this week: Seeing a healthy little baby wiggling on the ultrasound.  Sweet relief.

Baby J 2.0 on the ultrasound at 10 Weeks

project 366 {week 29}

Yes, Ryann loves putting stickers on her potty chart.  But she still has ZERO interest in wearing underwear and actually telling me when she needs to pee.  If I remember to take her every 90 minutes to 2 hours, we can pretty much keep a diaper dry all day long.  But sometimes she still resists, and if I ask her if she needs to go, 90% of the time the answer is no.  And she won't tell me unless she needs to poop.  So that's that.  Hopefully we'll try again in September and she'll rock it.

And ohmygawd, her in the chair with my phone?  How old is my child?  I swear she looks about 13 in that picture.  I have a feeling the teen years with this one will be a wee bit tough.  Hold me.

Thank you for all the love you guys give me on this project.  Some days I do just take a picture to take a picture.  But sometimes I manage to capture really great moments that I don't want to forget, and even if they aren't technically the best photos (when are my photos ever?), I'm so happy I snapped that shot.  So I greatly appreciate the encouragement to keep going.  Seriously.

week in iphone pics

Weeks, actually.  I didn't realized I missed one, but I suppose that isn't surprising since the blog has been sort of at the bottom of the totem pole lately.  Oh well.

July 8th - July 14th

enjoying the 90 degree weather (gag).  loving the swings.  sticker attack.  good morning.  long time no see, chalk.  blueberries!  happy little picker.  time to go.  goobers.  goobers part two.  stepping stone love.  snack time at the gym.  fort loving girl.  what happens when you shop with daddy.  my attention whore of a cat.

July 15th - July 21st

outfit of choice.  little owl craft.  doc mcRyann.  shopping entertainment.  looking like a pro.  FRENCH BRAIDS.  my favorite workout top.  coloring.  bath time cutie.  jewelry like grandma 'nita.  splash park.  catching the water.  lunch time.  stencils.  silly princess.  little miss preppy.  ryann and daddy.  goofy kisses.

Despite all the triple digit heat lately, we are still managing to have some fun.  But I'd be lying if I said I was enjoying it.  I'm dreaming of 60 degree fall days and hours at the park in a light jacket.  I thought I loved summer, but, well, this kind of blows.  Thankfully Ry loves to color, because we do a LOT of it lately.  But she is getting stir crazy, and I'm getting stir crazy and tired of thinking of ways to entertain ourselves indoors.  Relief is coming soon, right?  Right...

Linking up with Amy!

project 366 {week 28}

splash park

Check me out.  Another thing checked off our summer to-do list.  Only, you know, sixteen more items to do, an like um, six weeks to go?  Hmph.  Part of the problem is it is a million degrees all the time.  We pretty much have to be inside by 11am, or we have to be wet.  And that kind of sucks.  Also?  I need to clean out my freezer so that I can stick our popsicle maker or ice cream maker in there.  Jotting that down...

Anyway, yes, today we trekked out to the splash park to try and beat the heat.  Too bad the kiddos were a little aprehensive about getting in the middle of things.  There were a lot of older kids, who didn't quite understand that no, my two year old does not want to be blasted in the face by the giant water gun.  But I think they still had a good time.  We really need to find a spray/splash park on the Kansas side though, this one is in Missouri nearly 30 minutes from our house.  Anyone know of a spray park on the Kansas side we might be able to visit?

 See that little girl back there?  Totally just blasted Ryann.

Where'd the water go?

I love these little guys so much.  I'm so glad that even though they aren't all the best at playing together, Ryann has had some steady 'friends'.  Our time with the twins is coming to an end, Sarah won't be taking care of them anymore come the end of August.  But it has been fun while it's lasted.  Seriously, how cute are they?

compared to last year...

happy thursday.

nine weeks

Go ahead and picture me doing cartwheels and an awesome happy dance right now.  Today I found Baby J 2.0's heart beat on the home doppler I have.  Really, it is pretty early to be looking, and if I hadn't found it, that wouldn't mean anything.  Most doctors don't even try to find the heartbeat until 10-12 weeks because the babes are just so tiny that it is tough.  But I found it.  Just beating away at about 145bpm.  I can't stop smiling I'm so happy.  I think maybe, just maybe, this pregnancy might start to feel real soon.

how far along:  9 weeks

size of baby:  according to the bump an olive (which still makes me shudder, thinking about eating an olive), about .9 inches.  The baby is forming more distinct facial features and continuing to grow.

weight gain: -3 pounds.  Down yet another pound this week, even though I feel like I've been eating more than I have the last few weeks.

maternity clothes:  nope

symptoms:  The bloating has completely disappeared this week, thank goodness.  That was annoying and incredibly uncomfortable.  Still feel a bit nauseous a lot of the time, but not as bad.  I'm also tired a lot, but again, not as bad.  Yesterday I manged to cover 3 miles on the treadmill, unload and load the dishwasher, sort and do three loads of laundry, cook dinner AND take a shower :o).  I felt very acocmplished

exercise: Hit the gym four times again this week.  The workouts included a 2 mile walk, 3 miles on the stationery bike, a 3.6 mile run, a 5 mile run, and a 3.1 mile run/walk combo (again I throw a little walking in on all the workouts, but the 'runs' consist of mostly running).  I can feel things starting to get uncomfortable, which is making me a little sad.  Pretty sure I'm already getting round ligament pain on my left side, no good, no good at all.  I really REALLY want to continue to run for another 20 weeks or so, if not more.  But I'm not sure my body is going to make it.

cravings/aversions:  Most things besides carbs still sound pretty repulsive, but I'm able to convince myself to eat halfway decently.  The other day I got a serious craving for Snickers Ice Cream Bars.  That is a craving I decided to give in to.  So good.

movement:  nope

sleep: If I don't take a nap during the day, I sleep much better at night, falling asleep more quickly even if I do wake up to go to the bathroom.  But I get so tired in the evenings right now, it is tough to decide which is worse, taking a nap or not taking a nap.  Just really hoping my energy returns soon.

gender:  Well, I fell in love with a girl's name this week (unfortunately Chris doesn't love it, but I'm hoping maybe it will grow on him :o), so all I can think about is little girl things.  I think until someone 100% tells me I'm having a boy, I will always think about little girl things.  It is what I do.  But really I have no idea either way.

looking forward to:  Telling people and coming out on the blog.  At the same time I also feel in no rush to share my secret.  I go back and forth all the time.  I want to tell people so I can start pinning baby things on pinterest and talk about working out while pregnant and all sorts of other randomness in my brain.  But still, it is kind of fun to have a secret.

worries: I think some sort of miscarriage will always be in the back of my mind, but today I am feeling on top of the world.

what's different this time:  I wish I had documented my earlier weeks with Ryann...

milestones:  Baby graduated from being an embryo to a fetus this week.

best moment this week: Hands down finding the heartbeat on the doppler.  I feel such a sense of relief, and I am not scared to go to my appointment at all tomorrow.  Well a little scared because Ryann is coming with me and who the heck knows how that will go...

potty training irony

Yes.  Potty training and toddler bodily functions.  If you have no interest feel free to move on.

This weekend we weren't supposed to have any real plans.  So I figured it was probably the perfect time to suck it up and potty train the wee one.  She has been pooping in the toilet for over a month (asking me to use the bathroom when she needs to).  She regularly pees in the toilet when I sit her on there, and will sometimes tell me after she wets her diaper.  Readiness signs, no?  Not to mention we know this kid is smart, so I figured she would just get it.

Now, ok, I didn't do a ton of research or anything.  I read Erin's posts about potty training Annie, I've seen a few other posts here and there, I figured it couldn't be too hard.  I talked it up all week, "Oh Ryann, do you want to be a big girl this weekend?  You want to start wearing underwear?  It will be so awesome!"  I let her pick out some Minnie undies (which kills me, because I would prefer nothing character, but hey, you do what you can right?), I grabbed some prizes from the dollar bin, made a potty chart, stocked up on m&m's, read our potty books a few times.  We were set.

Saturday morning when Ryann woke up I got her all hyped up, "Today's the day!  Do you want to be a big girl today?  Yes?  Hooray!  No more diapers!"  She dropped a number two in the toilet, we pulled on some Minnie's, talked about keeping them dry, etc.  Yes, this was going to be great.  I kept reminding her to tell me if she needed to go, asking her if she needed to go, etc.  Finally after about 90 minutes we made her try.  Woot!  Potty in the toilet!  Minnie was still dry!  Success!  Stickers!  M&M's!  Life was awesome.  We grabbed some juice (ok flavored water) and settled in to make a craft.

Not 20 minutes later I told Ryann to remind me if she needed to go potty, and asked her if she did.  "No."  Ok, I mean we did just go.  And two minutes later she peed on the floor.  And proceeded to have 3 more accidents quickly after that.  If you want to keep track, it was four accidents in about an hour.  WTF?  I'm pretty sure little miss smarty pants did not want me to even talk to her about going potty, at all (I know I know, that is pretty much what you said Erin, I'm a terrible listener!).  If I would mention the bathroom she would pee on the floor.  And she didn't give two shits that her underwear got wet.

But stick with it, right?  Yeah not so much.  We had a few successes, but that was only by setting a timer and forcing her to go.  She was resisting.  And really just didn't get the whole sticker chart to get bigger prizes reward system I set up.  She just wanted stickers and prizes NOW.  Duh.  We threw in the towel by 7pm and had her in a diaper.

This morning I asked Ryann if she wanted to wear undies or a diaper, and she picked diaper.  Whatever.  We can try again in another month or so, and maybe I'll try to figure out a different approach.  I'm hoping that we can potty train her by the time she is two and a half (at the end of September), but I know some kids take longer than that.  I just thought that my child who was telling me at 14ish months that she had recently pooped or was going to poop would have figured it out by now, you know?

Now the ironic part?  She has kept her diaper dry and peed in the toilet every time I've taken her today.  What gives child, what gives?!?!

embrace the camera - the berry patch

Woot!  Finally checked something off my summer list!  Sad, I know...  Anyway, on Tuesday my bestie and I took Ryann to The Berry Patch to pick blueberries.  I figured Ryann would find it fun because she really likes blueberries, and I was right.  I couldn't get that kid to put the berries in the bucket for the life of me.  All the blueberries went straight from the bush to her mouth. 

We (well me and Meg) didn't last too long because it was HOT.  I only took home just over half a pound of blueberries.  I think Ryann would have stayed a while longer just eating berries.  We had a good time, and will definitely be back again next year when it isn't quite so warm.

Linking up with Emily!

eight weeks

how far along:  8 weeks

size of baby:  according to the bump a raspberry, about .63 inches.  Baby is wiggling his or her little arms and legs, and the taste buds are now forming.

weight gain: Down three pounds from last week, so down two pounds overall from my starting weight.  All three of those pounds came off in the last three days :o(.  Hello nausea.

maternity clothes:  nope 

symptoms:  Nausea, fatigue, bloating.  I do not remember the uncomfortable bloating with Ry.  It isn't causing a problem with my clothes fitting, but I am so uncomfortable ALL. THE. TIME.  And I'm scared there will be no relief from these symptoms for a few more weeks.  Yes, I'll do anything for this baby, but this is hard.

exercise: Got in three 4 mile runs this week, the last of which was at a decent pace (for me right now) with minimal walking.  But other than that I haven't done much organized exercise.  It is tough because I feel like crud, but usually getting up and getting moving helps me feel a bit better.

cravings/aversions: I hate food.  I hate looking at food.  I hate eating food.  I hate thinking about food.  I've yet to actually throw up, but many MANY things make me gag a little.  I'm living mostly off apples and town house crackers.  Breads and carb items are generally the easiest to stomach so I'm hoping to make a loaf of zuchinni banana bread soon.  Figured at least there would be some fruit and veggie in that.

movement:  nope

sleep: Crappy.  I wake up in the middle of the night to pee, and then it takes me at least an hour to fall back asleep.  I take a nap in the middle of the day because I simply can't survive without it.

gender:  I still assume we're having a boy, but I just can't get into boy things.  I'm pondering girls names and looking at headbands and bows on etsy.  Maybe it is just because that is what I'm used to?  I haven't had any baby dreams yet.

looking forward to:  I just freaking want to feel normal.  Normal is a very relative term right now, but I loathe this period of feeling like death and still being uncertain and worried about how the little babe is doing.

worries: Scared that they won't find a heartbeat at my appointment next week, or that they won't check because I won't be 10 weeks yet.  Also, I'm starting to get paranoid about getting pre-eclampsia again this time around.  I know my chances are really no greater than with my first pregnancy, and hopefully the fact that I am healthier than I was will better my odds for not getting it, but I'm still scared.  Thanks to Chris being in the medical field we caught it right at the beginning stages of pre-e last time, but had we not had a blood pressure cuff at home, I'm sure I would have waited a few more days until my doctor's appointment to discuss how I was feeling, and I could have gotten a lot sicker in a couple days.  What if I do get pre-e again?  What if it develops earlier?  What if I am on bed rest?  What if we have a preemie?  I know worrying about these things won't do anything for me, but it is what's on my mind.

what's different this time:  Umm, not sure of anything right now.  I definitely wasn't exercising at all last pregnancy.  We had also told more of our friends by now last time around.  For some reason I'm in no hurry to tell anyone.  I think Christopher feels the opposite.

milestones:  Another week down.

best moment this week: Ryann was coloring while I was laying pathetically next to her on the floor.  Without any prompting or me asking what she was doing she just said "I drew mommy, with a baby in her tummy."  It was so incredibly cute.  Ryann will also bring me a blanket and her pillow pet and tell me to lay down when I say I'm not feeling well.  She has been doing surprisingly well despite the fact that I am pretty much useless and no fun most of the time.

week in iphone pics

While putting these together I realized I didn't take a SINGLE picture on my phone on the 4th of July.  I barely took any pictures that day.  Blogger/mommy fail.  Oh well.  Picture swimming and food.  That is pretty much what happened.  We were at my parents, and didn't think we could  make it through the fireworks (all three of us were pretty tired) so we opted to get in the car around 8:30pm and head home.  Ryann played Monkey Preschool Lunchbox the ENTIRE way home.  No joke, she loves that game.  Definitely her favorite right now.  The funniest part of the drive home, we were trying to point out random fireworks to her, but she was having a hard time seeing them.  At one point she said, "Um, I'm just going to go back to playing my game," in this sort of sad matter of fact voice.  It was hilarious.  We pulled into KC at just the right time to see at least three fireworks shows from the highway, and Ryann did get to see those.  She was so cute, saying "Bang!  Bang!  Colorful!  Look at all the colors!"

Anyway... phone pics...

watching the water.  eyelashes.  twinkies.  swimming with my bestie.  baking with grammy.  making a mess for grammy :o).  the best part.  piano with papa.  my girl.  goofy faces.  dinner is not a time for shirts, apparently.  daddy builds the best forts.  hand holding for comfort.  bobcat yard art.  tree hugger.  my hot date.  and our adorable third wheel.  pretty girl.

project 366 {week 27}

 

The diaper swimming adventure actually resulted in skinny dipping on Ry's part, but I decided to spare her and not post her bum cheeks on the internet.  But man, she thought that was the best way to swim :o).  We actually had no intention of swimming that evening, just dipping our feet after a boat ride.  And then she sat in the pool...  Oh well, she had a great time!