'to nap'.... it's a VERB Ryland!!!!

No naps today!!! What in the world is happening in the life of a 6.5 month old that she decides "oh heck, today does not seem like a napping day"????? I tried and tried and tried to get her to nap and the most I got was a quick 10 min one around 11am, another 15 mins at 3pm, and finally about 20mins at 6pm.

The funny part about it was she was acting totally normal and happy all day, she just didn't want to nap! This made for a totally not normal and unhappy mamma. It's not that I want her to take a nap so badly, I just don't like trying to get her to sleep for hours and hours of my day unsuccessfully.

Hopefully she decides that tonight is a sleeping night!

Grill-sations

My Mom and Dad bought Kyle and I a grill for our birthdays this coming week! While they were here last week my Dad installed a poll to chain it to so that it can sit right outside my kitchen door. We have three doors in the house, front, back and side. Currently the dog spends a lot of time in the back yard so grilling out there is not an option for me. The front poor is just too ghetto to have a grill on (in the city, anyway) and so there leaves the side door with a pad of concrete literally just big enough for the grill to sit.

OK, really long way of telling you my grill is close to the kitchen and therefore I have taken up grilling. Since my parents left, Friday, we have grilled every night. I went to Costco today and filled our fridge with all different types of meat to grill, because it is so fast, easy and quick clean up! I am in love with our new grill!!!

Tonight's dinner: Grilled pork briskets, grilled asparagus and fresh sliced tomatoes (yes, that is mayo next to my tomatoes... don't knock it till you've tried it!). What the heck were we thinking living without a grill for 5 years!?! Thanks Mom and Dad!

to love...

What I think of Motherhood...

I love it. Words just cannot describe how much I am in love with this little girl, my soul mate. I mean she hasn't even said a word to me yet and I know all there is to know about her.

I love the way she cries for me, when nothing else is working and all she wants is her mommy.

I love the way she stares at me as we lie in bed together early in the morning. She just stares forever without blinking like she is trying to tell me that she loves me with just her eyes.

I love the way that she laughs every time I do, she knows I'm happy so she is too.

I love the way she looks at me with excited eyes when I walk into the room she's in.

I love watching her learn new things everyday.

I love watching her love her daddy. And I LOVE watching him love her.

I love comforting her when she's crying, even in the wee hours of the morning.

I love getting to be there for every minute of her life.

Thank you Lord for giving me such a wonderful gift in such a small package!

sweet potatoes and naps

Ryland is broadening her horizon of foods, she has now enjoyed sweet potatoes and rice cereal. She loves both, but lets just say her face and diapers will never be the same (counting down the days to potty training)! :)


Aunt Tal has the touch. She got Ryland to fall asleep 4 times without much of a fuss from Ryland! That is amazing, can you move in?

What are the odds?

So I get an email the other day from a girl named Sherah! Yes, even spelled the same way. And get this she goes to my church and has a 5 month old baby... what are the odds. I know they say we all have a twin in life, maybe this is mine. I wonder what she looks like!?! :)

Window washing

So, Kyle and I have wanted to get new windows since we moved into our house. But that is a lot of money and we don't just have a few thousand to blow on windows. For some odd reason I got into a cleaning kick yesterday so I cleaned up the front lawn and washed all the front windows.

Wow, its amazing what nice windows we have and didn't even know it! :)

Ikea and Family

My family just left after a week long visit. We had a wonderful time with them! Here is a low down of what we did:

Went to church and out to eat
Went to the Farmers Market for some yummy fresh food
Talked them into buying us a grill for our birthdays
Helped Dad install a post to chain up the grill
Ryland had great Paparino time, she even cried and reached for him one day
Grammy gave Ryland baths and fed her several times
Shopped at Ikea
Gave Kyle and I a date night!!! Thanks!!!
Ate a lot of food
Had a ton of fun

Their visit was too short and it will be a few months before we see them again since my mom is returning to school in just two weeks. They live too far away!

Big time in Monahans

Ryland and I just visited our sweet friends in good ol' Monahans, Texas. Not much in that tiny town except the cutest 2 year old you ever did see. Ryland had so much fun with Jarrett. They played together, well, Jarrett tried to play with her and she just laughed. We spent 4 days there and loved every second of it. We even took Ryland to the big pool and she loved it!

The only bad part about the trip was that on the day we flew in Ryland broke out in a rash and had a low grade fever. After being checked out at 9pm but the local doctor on his kitchen table (oh the conveniences of living in a small town) and calling dr mom we determined that she had come down with Fifths Disease. Which is just a rash and fever. So we treated the fever and she was well in a few days. With all the traveling that we have been doing its a wonder that is the only time shes ever been sick!

Food and sleep, what a nice combo!

Yesterday Ryland turned 6 months! Yesterday Ryland had her first bowl of rice cereal! Yesterday Ryland moved into her room! Yesterday Ryland slept through the night!

Wow, what a big day!!! She LOVED eating the cereal, she ate the whole bowl in 15 mins. Then we put her to bed, in her own 'big girl' crib at about 10:30pm and she slept until 6:30am!!!! Then she ate and went back to sleep until 10:30am! Man, that was a lot of change and apparently that is what she has been telling us she needed!

Today Ryland is a VERY happy baby!!!! :-)

travel, sleep, prayer and friends

This has been a month for traveling. Ryland and I spent a week in Albuquerque, which was wonderful. Then spent 4th of July weekend in Oklahoma which was very fun and then on Monday Ryland and I will be going to spend almost a week with the Lynch family. I love to travel and Ryland loves to get out of the house, she is so easy to travel with. But, there is a down side, all this traveling has really messed up her sleeping patterns! I know it will just take several nights in a row back in her own environment to get her back on track but we won't have that for another week. I just keep reminding myself that getting little to no sleep is just a season and it will be over probably sooner that I would like. :)

It is really hard to believe that she will be 6 months old this week!!! This is just a huge weight off my shoulders, I don't know why, but for some reason in my mind 6 months was the milestone that I needed to get to and now I can breath a little. And believe it or not, she will be moving into her own room in one week (...don't judge us)!!!

Please be praying for Kyle as he has some things coming into his life right now. I can't be specific, but we need your prayer that God will remain clear and in control.

Here are a few pictures, but there are more in the web album. Ryland got to meet 2 of her friends the week we were in Albuquerque. The first was sweet Farren. She is just 4 days younger the Ryland and is just adorable. Ryland made her cry and then they played 'together' on the floor. I don't have pictures yet because they were taken on my sisters camera. The 2nd friend was bouncing Natalie, http://fortfamilyrobinson.blogspot.com/. She is three weeks older then Ryland and loves to bounce in her jumper that she kindly shared with Ryland who also loved it! Natalie also taught Ryland is sit up, got any more tricks you can teach her Natalie? It was really fun to finally get to see these babies in person and realize that we are more normal than we think. :)
So much fun with Grammy and Paparino
Natalie and Ryland
Paparino starting her out early and she loved it! :)
Ryland with her Great-Great-Grandma on her 88th birthday!

Look at her, sitting up all on her own!
The jumper we got because she like Natalie's, she didn't like this one, we took it back. :)
Ryland with her Pa-paw, hey nice new do! :)
Nini and Ryland, what a face Ryland! :)