Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Wordy Wednesday!



Ode to Autumn


by John Keats


Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,

Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

To: The Baby, From: Rylie

Baby, here are a few of the things that Rylie has been saying to you lately (via Mommy's belly):
"My name is Rylie, and I'm your friend."
"I'm your big sister."
"I'm a Puggle."
"God made everything."
"I like ladybugs, do you like ladybugs?"
"What are you doing in there?"
"Are you swimming?"
"Are you silly?"
"I love you!"
These were accompanied by hugs and snuggles via the belly!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Dr.'s Appointment

For those of you who have been asking, I had my Echo cardiogram this morning. It took about twenty minutes and it was interesting to see an ultrasound of my heart beating and pumping. The tech said he's "not at liberty" to tell me any results of the test. I tried to get him to just go a little lower and do an ultrasound of the baby while he was at it, but he declined. (Bummer!) He did tease me though and said he saw that we were having triplets. I asked him if he then saw the heart attack I was having. Oh goodness, I don't know if I could handle that!
He said the Doctor should get back to me with the results by the end of the week.
They also put a twenty four hour Holter Monitor on me. It records my heart. They also gave me a diary to put my deepest, darkest thoughts in. . . oh, wait, to record anytime I get a palpitation, what time time and what I was doing. I will go back in tomorrow morning to have it removed. I'm not sure if I will get any results from that right away, or if I have to wait for a Doctor to review them first. The monitor is connected to me by four different leads with the wires from those connected to a four inch box I have hanging around my neck. The whole thing is rather itchy.
I have an OB appointment on Thursday afternoon, my Doc will schedule my ultrasound then. It's driving me crazy not knowing the gender of the baby! I want to be able to call it by name and start planning a little more specifically.
Goodnight all!

Saturday, September 22, 2007

The Fair, Trip Two!




We were blessed to be given more free tickets to go to the fair. Rylie and I asked Grandma (my Mom) to come with us. This is Grandma and Rylie plugging their noses at the stinky pigs. (I appreciate my parents so much! I'm so thankful they are such a huge part of Rylie's life. They adore her and the feeling is mutual!)
The top picture is of my baby girl going on a big roller coaster all by herself! She is fearless! She loved how fast and loud it was. She also loved the calmness of the canoe. She was ecstatic that she was in the yellow canoe again. She also rode in a green helicopter. She told me she went on the rides that the "older kids go on". She was quite proud of her self. Another fun, but exhausting, day at the fair!


Sunday, September 16, 2007

Backseat Driver

I thought backseat drivers were those people who know how to drive and were tall enough to see over the steering wheel. Apparently, they also come in the form of two and a half year olds. Rylie has learned the song, "Twinkle, twinkle traffic light". If you have a toddler, you may be familiar with this song. It explains what to do at a red light and so on. Rylie has really taken it to heart. She will yell to me from the backseat, "Stop Mommy, stop!" if she sees a red light coming up. And then, conversely, "Go now Mommy!" if it is a green light ( and yes, even sometimes, "Go very slow" if it's a yellow light.)
Tonight, on the way home from church, I just about broke her little heart. You would have thought so at least, if you could have heard the indignation and sorrow in her voice. What horrible thing did I do, you ask? I turned right at a red light. With a very distressed voice, she told me "You didn't stop Mommy, you have to stop at a red light." I tried to explain to her that it's ok, if there are no other cars coming to turn right at a red light. "No, Mommy, you have to stop at a red light, we have to follow the rules." This went on for a few minutes.
I'm glad she has such a sense of right and wrong, but the backseat driving is getting a little old.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Puggles!










Here are some pictures from our first night of Puggles! Puggles is a brand new Awana program for two and a half year olds and the three year old kids who turn three after the cutoff date for Cubbies. I have never done Awana before (I wasn't even in it as a kid), but after I heard about this new program I volunteered to be the Director. It was a little crazy of me seeing as I already have about a bazillion other ministries that I'm involved in! But, I wanted Rylie to be part of it, and I figured if I'm going to be there anyway, I might as well lead it! It is the cutest program! A "Puggle" is a baby platypus, and that is their mascot. He also has two friends, Alice the kangaroo, and Sydney the koala bear. I have two wonderful helpers, Ricci and Edi. I am very thankful for them. You can see them in the second photo,helping the kids glue cotton ball "clouds" on their papers. The first photo is Rylie and one of her best friends, Keegan, showing off their new Puggles shirts. The third one is from the end of the evening, when my nephew Luke came to visit. As you can tell, the Puggles love babies! Poor guy, I think he was a little overwhelmed!
The evening is two hours long, which is long for this age, but they did good. It ends at eight, which is most of their bed times, so by the end, some of them were laying on the ground! We are focusing on God as Creator for this first month. This week they learned that God made the light. They even have a "verse", it's really a compilation of several verses that are simplified. They all have to memorize a new one each week. I put together a prize bucket to motivate them to remember. This week's verse is "God made everything." So far, Rylie has told it to me every day without me prompting her! It is so exciting to see these little minds learning more about the Lord!
We also have a time of singing, which is pretty funny for those of you that have heard me sing! I am completely tone deaf! We have a CD with the songs on it, but it's on back order, so until then it's me! My darling husband laughed hysterically when he heard that I was leading the singing. We have a Puggles song that is supposed to be to the tune of, "Twinkle little star". My poor helpers couldn't follow along because my song was to it's own tune!
If you're ever in my neck of the woods on a Wednesday night, come check out these adorable Puggles!

Friday, September 14, 2007

My Baby!


Your pregnancy: 16 weeks
Click to enlarge
How your baby's growing:At 4 1/2 inches long (head to bottom) and 3 1/2 ounces, your baby is about the size of an avocado. In the next three weeks, she'll go through a tremendous growth spurt, though, doubling her weight and adding inches to her length. Her lower limbs are much more developed now. Her head is more erect than it has been, and her eyes have moved toward the front of her head. Your baby's ears are close to their final position, too. Some of her more advanced body systems are working, including her circulatory system and urinary tract. Her heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, circulating her total blood volume through her body many times. (By the end of your pregnancy, this will increase to about 190 quarts.) The patterning of her scalp has begun, though her hair isn't recognizable yet. Although closed, her eyes are moving (slowly), and she's even started growing toenails.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Rylie's Remarks

Rylie had a few funny things she said today. I wanted to include them in here, mostly so I don't forget them for the future. I plan on printing my blog out someday for her.
Me: What did you learn about in Sunday School?
Ry: About the first Mommy and Daddy.
Me: What were their names?
Ry: Adam and Joseph
Me: Are you sure it wasn't Adam and Eve?
Ry: No, Adam and Joseph
Me: Where did they live?
Ry: Tacoma, Washington
I need to have a talk with her Sunday School teachers! (I know it was your first day teaching, Dave and Michelle, but Adam and Joseph?!)
All day long Rylie has been calling my Dad, "Grandfather". I asked her where she got "Grandfather" from. Her answer: "Heaven"! Dad loved that one!
She was eating a piece of cake after church tonight and all of the sudden looked sad. I asked her what was wrong. In a forlorn voice, she said, "It's not my Birthday." I agreed that it indeed was not her birthday. She said, "But, I'm eating cake." I told her it was ok to eat cake when it's not your birthday. She remarked, "No, it's not." and pushed the cake away and wouldn't eat any more!
She flipped off the swing because she was trying to swing and push Daddy with one hand (even though he explicitly told her to hold on to her swing with both hands). She got a shiner on her left eye. When people asked her what happened, she said, "My Mommy did it." I wasn't even outside with her! When I reminded her that it was Daddy that was with her, not Mommy, she started telling people that Daddy did it to her. I had to quickly correct her so no one called CPS on us!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

The Fair!



Here is the link to all of our fair pictures from yesterday. I love the fair! I have only missed one year since I was seven years old! The sights, sounds, smells, tastes, I love all of it! (except for the small fortune it costs!)

We discovered that if you go on the morning of the first day you can get in for free. We had an offer for free parking, but when we got there it was already full. We had to go to the bank to get some cash out so we could pay for parking. It was still cheaper than paying for fair tickets though. They neglect to tell you that you need to bring an extra arm and leg, because that's what it costs you for food! That being said, the food is sooo yummy (other than the Krusty Pup, which tasted like fried fat, which it probably was). A fair burger piled high with grilled onions, warm, flaky scones with raspberry jam. . . now I'm having pregnancy cravings for fair burgers!

Rylie was so excited when she found out that Dora the Explorer was going to be at the fair. We waited in line for an hour and a half so she could tell her hello and give her a hug! The smile on her face was worth it though! She also loved seeing all of the animals, the sheep were her favorite. She had a great time on the rides as well. She even went on an airplane ride that came off the ground. She looked so serious while she was on the rides, but then would let out big smiles every once in awhile. All in all, it was a great day!

This was supposed to be a great post, where you would be able to taste and smell the fair, but alas, I have had a killer headache for the past two days and my brain isn't functioning at full speed. In other news, my OB sent me to the Cardiologist to have an EKG. I have been having three/four heart palpitations every day since I got pregnant. I know this is somewhat common, but my OB wanted me to have it checked out just in case. My EKG was normal, but the Cardiologist said it wasn't very indicative of what was going on since I didn't have a palpitation while I had the EKG. He wants me to come back in for an Echo cardiogram and then he'll also give me a 24 hour halter monitor to wear. I'll let you know more after the 24th.

Monday, September 3, 2007

September!

I love the Fall! It is my absolute favorite time of year! I love the feel of getting back to schedules, the colors, the smells, the slight crisp in the air (ok, well it was 75 today, but soon!). Today Rylie, and I put out some of our fall and apple decorations. It felt so good to have a change. Rylie found some little apple candles and "decorated" with them all day. She put them in several different places, but primarily in her Halloween bucket from last year that was in one of the Fall boxes. In and out of that bucket they went, they were sorted, and counted for a good two hours. We also lit pumpkin spice candles and drenched ourselves with pumpkin lotion, both courtesy of our friend Becky! (Thanks for feeding into my Fall obsession!)
Tonight, after dinner, we went to Baskin Robbins, thanks to my Secret Sister (whomever you are) who gave me gift certificates. Rylie kept saying that her and Daddy were going to have chocolate ice cream because they like the same things. She must have said that fifty times! She really enjoys being like her Daddy. Both her and I got chocolate and peanut butter and Daddy got Rocky Road (or Chocolate Roady as Rylie called it), but she failed to see that her and I were the same. No, it was her and Daddy that were the same! She's such a Daddy's girl!

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Friends!





This is Rylie and her friend, Daniel. They are about eight months apart in age. They are so funny because they talk about each other when they aren't with each other, but, when they see one another at church, they act all shy, like they don't know the other one. Get them at their own houses, though, and you've got a different story! They laugh, play, and sneak off to jump on the beds! (Sorry Dave and Michelle!) It's so fun to watch Rylie play with other kids and observe her little personality!

In my post yesterday, I mentioned that I needed to buy Rylie some new clothes because hers are getting too small. Well today, Rylie, Grandma, and I went garage sailing and Grandma bought Rylie some adorable clothes. Some from a MOPS fundraiser (aren't you proud of us Karen?) Then I got a phone call from Rylie's Nana double checking Rylie's size because she was shopping! I love how the Lord provides! Just one day after I realized our need, He is already providing ways to meet that need! He is good!