Double digits?!

Ryleigh is 10 months old!!!!! 

 Weight:  19lbs 15oz

EATING
Lots of new things going on. Still drinking 6oz bottles of breastmilk.  She's gotten to try several new things, and her favorite food so far is definitely guacamole! She goes crazy for it and will be a bottomless pit in a Mexican restaurant, eating it as long as there is more to offer.  Aside from guacamole, she's gotten to try refried beans, potato soup, cool whip, lots and lots of Puffs....she is no longer content as long as she has a full belly while we are eating. If she sees us with food, she's curious and wants it no matter how full she is! We can usually keep her happy with puffs but more and more we find ourselves letting her get a little taste off of our fork.  I'm insanely paranoid about her choking on something, especially on days when she's more congested, so we don't let her eat things that need to be chewed right now (other than puffs that dissolve). 

TEETHING
 As of 10 months she has 5 teeth! All four of her front teeth, and her top right incisor.  The three top teeth all came in together (that was loads of fun....) and are not fully down yet but they're getting there.  It's ridiculously cute to catch a glimpse of them and I can't believe that probably by the end of the year her smile will look different because she'll have so many teeth showing!  She will also be getting more foods as she gets more of these teeth and I am more confident that she can chew without choking...although I'm probably going to stay paranoid about that until she 10, haha.

SLEEPING
Lots of recent changes here, for day-time sleeping anyway. She's still pretty good with her 11-ish hours at night of sleep.  She's definitely needing her naps now that she's more mobile.  We just follow her cues...she started with one big 2-2.5hr nap around 11or 12 in the afternoon, but quickly transitioned to a morning nap around 9 or 10 that lasts about 2hrs and then a late afternoon nap around 4ish.  She is always on the go and needing her sleep these days!

ACTIVITY
Pulling up on any and everything!

She now says/has said:
 "Dada"
"Mama"
"Papa" (my father-in-law)
"Kk" referring to Kona
"Ssssssssssssss"
"Thhhhhhhh"
"Kkkkkk"
"Ba ba ba ba"
"Ta ta ta ta"
"Guh"
"RrrrrLLl" <--Her version of Ryleigh that she's copied us saying a couple times.
"Go, Go, Go!"
"Ko" <--Kona
"Reee" <--Reece
"Cak" <----Clap
"Hi"
"Hi Dada"
"Daw" <---Dog


clicking her tongue
making the sound of a rolling "R" (like in Spanish)
Waving Hi & Bye bye

We also learned that she has her Daddy's creepy talent of being able to clear her throat.  It's such a weird thing that I don't even really know how to describe but if you're around us long enough I'm sure you've heard Jake do it.  Ryleigh did it a couple times last week and it caught us off guard! haha

DIAPERING
Size 3, mostly only Luvs because they fit her well and they're cheaper than Pampers.

 CLOTHES
  Mostly 12 month but we can also put 18 month pants on her for added length. String bean.




 SPECIAL FIRSTS 
--pulling up on any & everything

--meeting SANTA!!

--seeing Christmas lights

--"driving" Daddy's car around the neighborhood

--eating a Breadstick...loved it!!

--Giving kisses!! if we ask and sometimes even when we don't, she will lean in and give sloppy open-mouth kisses complete with a lick! haha...that's what happens when she learns from two dogs.  Shes started kissing her toys (and oddly enough her bouncy seat that is used more these days as something to pull up on). It's so sweet!

 

 

We are in full birthday planning mode now!  I am so excited about how all of my ideas are coming together.  I picked a theme around 6months and recently completely changed it to something I am completely in love with. I don't want to rush time but I am so excited for her party!

 

 

 

31 Weeks!

Not the best picture, but it was the only one we got on Christmas day!

How far along?  31 weeks, 2 days

Total weight gain/loss: +23lbs...darn those Christmas cookies! haha but really things seem to be on track and my OB is happy with where we're at so far....

Maternity clothes? All the time!  Now I'm also trying to focus on nursing clothing and taking that into account when/if I purchase any clothing.

Sleep: Seems to be okay...getting tired and taking some weekend or evening naps here and there.  I've gotten a few leg cramps in the middle of the night which is not fun.  I'm having a little more back/hip pain as this bump gets bigger and bigger so sometimes it's difficult to figure out a way to lay that is comfortable.

Best baby moment this week:  Several!  Jake and I went to childbirth class on Saturday and learned lots about preparing for the exciting, yet dreaded, childbirth.  I have to admit that it pretty much scares the mess out of me.  But, I'm now feeling super informed and finding some confidence in myself and the choices that Jake and I will make for bringing our daughter into this world.  We had a great instructor and both really liked the class.  

 

On our way home from class, we bought little one's crib mattress!  Selecting one seems overwhelming and impossible to do with all of the choices available, but I did some research and we settled on the Lullaby Earth Stage 2 crib mattress from Buy Buy Baby [thank you 20% off BBB coupon!].  It's a huge matter of personal preference, but the important aspects came down to organic materials, firmness/support, and it's waterproof so it will be easy to clean and hold up well.

 

Also all the love and Christmas gifts for Ryleigh :)  She's already one lucky little girl.  She got some outfits and pj's, bedtime prayer board book, squeeze/teethe blocks, and two handmade quilts!  I had to hold myself together when I opened up the beautiful quilt from my friend Shanti, which she also had embroidered with Ryleigh's name and it has the softest minky fabric back.  That will keep her warm next winter for sure! 

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything?  Being able to sit down and get up quickly...being able to get dressed quickly...being able to do anything quickly...haha

Movement: lots, especially around meal times or after 7:30pm.  Night owl!

Food cravings: Still pasta, chocolate milk, and juice!  Trying out some out-of-the-ordinary flavors but not necessarily weird--like Hawaiian pizza.   

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really

Have you started to show yet: Oh yes :)  belly bump is measuring right on track at 32cm/32 weeks [I've been measuring 4 days ahead for a while now]

Gender: GIRL!  

Labor Signs: No, hopefully not until sometime in February!

Belly Button in or out?  In, but getting pretty shallow. 

Wedding rings on or off? On, but some days it's a little snug.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy/tired.  I do get emotional over sad/sweet things.  

Looking forward to: More nursery progress, and celebrating on New Year's Eve--closing out one pretty great year and looking forward to 2014 because I know it will be even better!  Also our maternity pictures and baby shower coming up in a few weeks!

 

 

 

29 Weeks!

Whoa hello 3rd trimester!  I can't believe we are already a week in, and that I'm going to be 30 weeks next week! That number just makes me feel like I'm sooo far along! 

Had my Glucose test this morning for my 28/29 week appointment.  I guess it wasn't quite as horrible as I had built it up to be, but it was still pretty nasty.  I took the first sip of my drink [I had the red one] and thought "well, maybe this won't be so bad" because it tasted like really strong Hawaiian Punch.  However, by the time I got to the bottom of that bottle I was questioning if I'd be able to hold it down for an hour!  I was told to put it in the refrigerator so that it tasted better, but I think that made it thicken a little.  Yuck--makes me gag just thinking about it again.

Everything else at the appointment seemed good! Measuring on track, baby's strong heartbeat at 143 bpm, and got my T-dap [whooping cough] vaccine.  Also found out yesterday at my follow-up renal ultrasound--for checking my kidneys/Hydronephrosis--that baby girl is head-down.  Of course, it's early and she could still move, but that's a good sign for being on track for a "normal" delivery.

Me & hubs before my company Christmas dinner last weekend :)

How far along? 29 weeks!

Total weight gain/loss: +20lbs...little bit of a jump in the past month! Let's blame it on Thanksgiving....

Maternity clothes? All the time!  With a couple pre-prego shirts and sweaters mixed in, although those options are starting to dwindle because they won't fully cover my belly. [And let's be honest--some of Jake's sweatpants and shirts for comfy lounge clothes and pajamas!]

Sleep: This past week, pretty terrible.  I think it's a combination of being extra tired from the weather, a growing baby, Jake's crazy work schedule last week, the dogs being unsettled because of the weird work schedule, lots of things to do.....I guess I've probably over-done it a bit.  I just can't seem to get comfortable, my kidneys have been acting up again [but still not as painful as 6 weeks ago-thankfully!], I've had more back pain from my ever-growing belly.....the list goes on.  I'm just glad that although I toss and turn all night long, the sleep I do get is pretty darn good--like when you've only been asleep for 45 minutes, wake up/toss & turn, and feel like it's been 5 hours--so I'm not walking around like a zombie all day. 

Best baby moment this week:  Feeling her STRONG kicks.  Some so hard that they move my whole body.  Jake was talking to my belly the other night, and she kicked so hard my belly hit him in the face! haha...Also, had a great time Black Friday shopping!  I found some great deals on things like picture frames and a bookcase for her nursery :)

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything?  Being able to sit down and get up quickly...being able to sleep on my back or my stomach...putting on socks or underwear without difficulty...

Movement: tons

Food cravings: Still pasta.  Always TONS of milk, chocolate milk, and juice!  Ice cream/milkshakes--not necessarily a craving but it's the only thing that seems to help my terrible indigestion/acid reflux or whatever it is. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: The drink for my glucose test made me super queasy.  I think the worst part was having to have an empty stomach.

Have you started to show yet: Oh yes :)

Gender: GIRL!  

Labor Signs: No, and better not for a while!

Belly Button in or out?  In, but getting a little shallow. 

Wedding rings on or off? On, but some days it's a little snug.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy/tired.  I do get emotional over sad/sweet things.  My lack of sleep has made me a little moody/irritable this past week though.

Looking forward to: Childbirth class, Christmas, and getting the crib set up!

 

 

 

Mid-week Randoms...and an exciting purchase!

Well, first let's start with the update from my doctor.  Hydronephrosis confirmed, and the safest way to move forward is pretty much do nothing.  They can put in a stint to help my kidney drain, however in pregnant women stints need to be replaced every 4-6 weeks.  That means having several surgeries between now and the time I give birth--no thank you.  The stints also tend to cause more discomfort in pregnant women, and have been known to cause pre-term labor--again, no thank you!  I'm perfectly fine with managing and dealing with the pain if that means little miss gets to cook all the way!  So, course of treatment now is a follow-up renal ultrasound of my kidneys and bladder in 6 weeks so that they can make sure the dilation is not getting to unsafe levels.  Over the past two weeks I have learned certain things that help the pain to subside and have been able to manage it pretty well.  I just plan to continue with that so that I don't need to resort to any pain medication. I'm allow to take Tylenol but I'm not crazy about putting medicine like that in my body that will get to the baby. 


So, on to more fun and exciting things, let's take a look back at Halloween:

Pretty cute for being thrown together in about 5 minutes, huh?
I had several costume ideas but procrastinated a bit and put this together at the last minute by cutting up some old
cotton t-shirts and pinning it to the outfit I wore that day.

 And now a peek at the Nursery progress:


Room cleaned out, floor mopped, rug laid down, diaper shower goodies brought upstairs, and washed all of the baby clothes that we have so far.  The two green and two clear plastic bins in the picture above need to go up into the attic, but we did not have our ladder so couldn't get that done this past weekend. 

We also changed out the electrical duplex in our hallway upstairs [to the left of the nursery door].  All we need it for is one plug-in to vacuum, so we put in one of these:

LED Nightlight and Receptacle

For about $9.00 at Home Depot, we got this nifty receptacle. The nightlight has a sensor so when it is a certain level of darkness it turns on, which will help tremendously during all-hours-of-the-night trips to the nursery so that I don't have to turn on any brighter lights in the hallway.



While that was an exciting purchase, that's not the one this post title is about.  No, that would be Ryleigh's "coming home" outfit!!!  I'm a little obsessed with paisley and mint green, and this cute little set was too perfect to pass up [plus it comes with a cute little bunny rattle]...

Tutti Frutti Layette Set from Vera Bradley Baby
[I found this set on sale from Zulily...still a little pricey but it's her coming home outfit so I'm justifying it!!]

Also, two good sales going on right now for you mommas and mommas-to-be!  Apparently, with the code THANKSGIVING you get five free pairs of baby leg warmers at www.babyleggings.com, you just pay $12.95 shipping.    The other is at www.Crazy8.com, where they are doing a B1G1 for 88 cents!  This is only for regular priced merchandise, but you can still get some great deals. 


That's all for now!

 

Baby Clothes Cuteness...

I know that I should be patient, but I would really like to fast-forward about 5 weeks so that I know if Little Bit is a he or a she.  I know at as soon as they are here I will be praying for time to stand still, but I can't help but want to be able to get a better idea of what our near future will be like.  I can't stop looking at cute baby clothes and baby items online, and [being the bargain shopper that I am] I would be scooping up so many clearance deals! Like these...

Also, can we please take a minute to talk about the overload of amazing that is Carter's Halloween costumes?!  Here are my favs:

For a little Mister...

or a little Miss :)

Only NINE more days until it is September, which means officially time to break out the Fall decorations, scarves, boots, cider, pumpkins, and spice candles....Makes my heart happy :)

 

Christmas in July..

Anyone else getting really excited for the upcoming Fall and Winter holidays?

I feel like this happens to me almost every year once the 4th of July passes.  We're halfway through the Summer season but I'm already getting over it and ready for Fall...Football season, pumpkin spice, cider, scarves, cozy sweaters, boots, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping, buying Christmas presents....it goes on and on.  My favorite time of the year!

 

 

Decorating and holiday parties and baking cookies....Anyone else as excited as me?

 

Margarita Por Favor!

Probably my 4th favorite holiday [behind Christmas, New Year's, and July 4th]...So of course we had to celebrate in our typical style--a big fiesta with friends at our local Charanda's.  The Corona and margarita specials did not disappoint! 

 

 

We had a lot of fun on Saturday night too...Went on an improptu double date to the Epicentre--it was neat to see it since they've redone some things.

 

 

 

Studio Movie Grill is the new name for the movie theater [used to be Mez].  They have renovated the theater rooms and re-vamped the menu. It's awesome!...but pricey, so I suggest snatching up the Groupon that makes it only $5/ticket right now :)

We saw 42, the Jackie Robinson story.  Great movie, it's definitely going to be one that wins at all the award shows this year.



Hope you had a great weekend too!  Can we "cheers" to all of the sunshine on the forecast this week?!  Let's hope it's here to stay.


  

 

 

March?!

Holy cow, it's already

 

Where has the time gone?

Although I'm very happy about it. Because March means one month closer to warm, pretty weather.  And March Madness.

And St. Patty's Day!

And family birthdays.

And a little mini-vacay at the end of the month.

 

 

Bring it on!

 

 

 

I've learned I need to take more photos...

It has become so clear to me that I really suck at remembering to take photos.  I get so caught up in the fun time that we're having that I always forget to whip out the camera or my phone.  So, unfortunately you don't get to see any cute pics of the holidays, but we have had such a great time!  So, where to begin...

I guess the first of our festivities started with April & Jeremy's annual tacky Christmas sweater party.  It was so much fun again, just like last year!  Although this year ended up staying a little bit more sane than last year which was nice, and we took the party to the bar instead of staying at their house the whole time, which I know must have worked out a bazillion times better for them!  Entertaining at home is so much fun but there's always that one person who has to break something sometimes the cleanup can be excruciating.

Following that came my company's Christmas Dinner which was at Del Frisco's in Charlotte.  Jake and I had never been there before and the food was amazing!  I got the crab cakes and Jake got one of the steak specials.  They also have the BEST calamari I've ever tasted.  It's seriously like heaven in your mouth.  Instead of serving it with marinara sauce like most places I've been, albeit they were Italian restaurants, Del Frisco's serves theirs covered in an Asian glaze, similar to what comes on Orange Chicken or General Tso's.  YUM.  I also had my first ever Celebrity sighting.  After narrowly missing Vince Vaughn and Kevin James on the elevator in Chicago and not seeing a single celebrity in Las Vegas for a week, who knew that I'd see my first celeb sighting in good ol' Charlotte.  Who?  Ric Flair.  Don't recognize the name?  He's this guy...

From the great world of WWE.  I recognized him but never knew his name because my family was never big into wrestling.  He still pretty much looks the same.  He's no Vince Vaughn, but it was pretty cool to be standing less than a foot away from him at the bar in Del Frisco's.

After that comes our Christmas visit to see my Grandpop and some others from my Dad's side of the family down in Mount Pleasant.  We don't get down there a lot so it was nice to see them, and my Aunt Kerri was home visiting from India.  We watched the new Bourne movie, which I really enjoyed, then exchanged gifts and had a nice traditional holiday meal--ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, wine, etc.

On Christmas Eve, we just slept in and relaxed, then went to church and dinner with Jake's mom, sister, and brother.  His stepdad was sick with a stomach virus the whole week so he didn't get to participate in anything :(  We went to their church in Lake Wylie, and I always enjoy getting to see different churches, especially when they are all beautifully decorated at Christmas.  It was a neat candlelight service but visiting other churches always makes Jake and I really realize how much we love our church, Allison Creek Presbyterian.  It's technically in York I guess but it's only about 10 minutes down the road from us since we're out here on the edge of Rock Hill.  Churches are so personal and everyone has different tastes, but we really love the community within our church and especially the delivery of the sermons.  I don't like feeling like I'm getting yelled at by the preacher if they have a harsh, excited delivery.  And I don't like being bored to tears by someone who is monotone.  We feel like our Pastor has the perfect balance and neither one of us ever gets bored or zones out during the sermon so we always feel like we really get something out of what he shares.  

On Christmas day we had Jake's side of the family and my friend Karen over for a brunch of waffles, fruit, casseroles, eggs, bacon, cinnamon rolls, etc.  TONS of food.  We exchanged gifts and just got to hang out for a while having some good conversation.  Then, we got to relax for a little bit and clean up before my side of the family arrived for Christmas dinner.  We had glazed ham with pineapple, seasoned green beans, steamed corn, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, and then desserts.  It was a good thing that we only ate two meals all day because holy cow was it a lot of food.  I did the ham and the mac & cheese both in crock pots, which was nice and easy for me so that I could sit and enjoy socializing instead of cooking in the kitchen all day.  It worked out extremely well for the ham, and the mac & cheese was good but I think I would use a different recipe next time.  I found one recipe that uses evaporated milk, which I thought I had but it turned out that I had sweetened condensed milk, both are from Eagle Brand and I didn't pay attention to the label.  So, last minute I had to switch to a  different recipe that only used 2% milk and I think it would have been nicer and creamier with the other recipe.  For dessert, I made a cherry crumb pie and some "brooksters" which are a combo of chocolate chip cookies & brownies.  The cherry crumb pie tasted really good, but good Lord did it make a mess in my oven.  I would highly suggest that if you attempt one of these pies, put a cookie sheet on the rack underneath your pie because that nice filling will just bubble out over the edge and create a huge puddle of burnt mess in your oven.  Thank God our oven is self-cleaning, but that makes such a smoky mess that I haven't done it yet.  I did cook dinner in the oven two nights ago and some of the cherry mess burnt off but that is a headache that I'll be dealing with for a couple more weeks I expect...However, the brooksters, or as I always mix up and call them, "Brewsters," are like the best combination in the world.  Here is the super easy recipe:

"Brewsters"

--Prepare chocolate chip cookie mix from scratch as directed on bag of chocolate chips.

--Prepare brownies as directed on box of brownie mix.

Put paper liners in cupcake trays and fill 1/3-1/2 of the way with brownie batter.  Top with one scoop in each of the cookie batter.  

Bake as directed following the Chocolate Chip cookie recipe.  You may need to add 5-10 minutes to the time since brownies take longer to cook.  You will know they are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  

Easy and seriously delish!  These were definitely a crowd pleaser.  

..And what have we been doing since Christmas?  Well, I enjoyed the after Christmas sales and picked up some adorable wrapping paper for next year (so prepared, I know!) and decided to re-decorate our bookshelves in the living room.  I got tons of new frames and decorations from Hobby Lobby, TJMaxx, and Ross.  I cleaned off the bookshelves and have figured out the new frame placement, but now I just need to get the correct size and orientation of photos printed.  So, pictures of that to come!  We also celebrated New Years/Jake's 25th Birthday!  He has not been feeling too hot following the celebration but we did it up right at the Longbranch last night!  He is also very excited about his birthday gift, a new propane grill for on our boat!  With all of the time we are going to be spending out there now that we have the boat, I figured we would get tired of pb&j's or turkey sandwiches REAL quick.  Now we can do burgers, hot dogs, chicken, steaks, kabobs, you name it!  Now, if only this weather would get back into the 70's..........

Have a great day back at work tomorrow!

<3 Stacey

...And we have HEAT!

We have been so busy I promise I'll do a little re-cap of the holidays over the weekend...however I thought it calls for a bit of a celebration because as of yesterday, our heat finally works again!

 Praise Jesus!

We have had quite the time with trying to figure out what was wrong with it for the past month....first the thermostat stopped working so it took us about a week to go get a new one and replace it (the weather wasn't cold enough yet so we weren't rushing), then we get the new, fun, energy-saving thermostat installed and......the heat doesn't work.  It just never turned back on.  The thermostat was installed correctly, by yours truly and the best hubby in the world, but that was about where our HVAC skills ended.  So, my life has been full of bundling up in about 20 five layers, plus blankets while at home.  Jake was of course loving it because he is abnormally hot-natured.  So what was the cause?  Well, about a month ago when I asked my adoring husband to get the Christmas decorations out of the attic, he must have accidentally hit some switches and turned off the heat pump.  The thermostat breaking was just a coincidence of having a 10 year old house with a cheap builder-grade thermostat.  However, I am looking forward to seeing if the whole "energy saving" piece of this new one works.  We have it programmed to certain temperature settings for during the week and on the weekends.  It says it can save you up to 30% of your bill.  We shall see.

Santa's Cure Hot Chocolate

I was trying to come up with ideas for co-worker Christmas gifts this year and stumbled upon this for inspiration:

SANTA'S CURE:  Mason Jars of Hot Cocoa, Mini Marshmellows, and a mini bottle of Bailey's Original Crème.

So after brainstorming and getting my supplies, here's the final product:

I added some Christmas fabric to the mason jar lid, got some clear cellophane paper with holly leaves printed on it, and put everything in an oversized ceramic mug.  I also got Bailey's Caramel Crème instead to add some more flavor.



Here's a picture without the mug.  I also used some of the cellophane paper to wrap the mini marshmellows, so that it could be separated and scooped easier. 

Super cute and affordable; perfect for co-workers, neighbors, hostess gifts, etc!

Weekend Happenings

We went to Jeremy & April's 2nd Annual Tacky Christmas Sweater Party last night and had a blast...great fun with great friends!

Sad that this turned out a little too blurry to use on the Christmas card :(

The studs

 And today I've been in an organizing/decorating mood so lots of laundry has been done and I decided to change up the draperies in the living room.  While picking up some gifts for our Angel Tree child, I found these at TJMaxx for only $19.99..I thought that was a great deal for the set of two panels.  I love that they are linen, so they add texture but they're going to let lots of natural light in.  The pictures make them seem a little blah, but they are beautiful in person.  They have a silver threading going throughout them so they pick up on the lights, and I can only imagine the effect that they'll have when the sun shines through.  Yay :)

Please ignore the bag from Michael's...those are the Stockings that will be the next project.  Just have to find some stocking holders first.

I gathered them with a brown ribbon that I had a scrap of at the house.  It helps to give some contrast to the wall color.

That's all for now.  Hope you all had a good weekend!