Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend we didn't have any plans so we just went with the flow and hung around. Today we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to Lake Ella.

And I didn't post a 7 month picture of Little Miss yesterday so here it is!

Welcome Weekend!

What a week this has been! I am so happy the weekend is finally here. There is nothing more I look forward to the most than spending the weekend with my family. I travel for work about every six weeks. Thursday and Friday I traveled for the first time without the fam since I have returned from maternity leave. I felt like I was gone for an eternity! I was trying to think positive and try to enjoy some time to myself but all I did was think about the kiddos! However, I am very thankful to have a hubby that will, can, and enjoys taking care of the kids by himself so I don't have to worry about that. He even did two loads of laundry yesterday!

I have been contemplating making my own baby food for Rylee. I want her to have as much organic food as possible and the organic baby food is pretty pricey. I think I'm going to start with some peas this weekend and see how it goes. I'm hoping I can make it on the weekends and freeze it for the week. We'll give it a go and I'll let you know how it works.

Rylee was 7 months on Wednesday. She can sit up by herself for quite a while and when she is tired of holding herself up, she has figured out how to get on her tummy and scoot on along. She still hasn't got her arms and legs coordinated to crawl but she can definitely get herself to where she wants to go. Especially if she eyes the cat on the other end of the room. She's off! The cat doesn't mind Rylee (thankfully) because Rylee likes to grab her fur and pull her tail. Rylee also loves to play. She could play all day long, skip her nap (which is only about 30 minutes anyways) and not even pretend to be tired. This little girl laughs like no other 7 month I know! Actually I take that back. Her friend Emily who is also 7 months old, thinks Hunter is the funniest. A couple of weekends ago we got together at the Scileppi's home and Emily sat in the recliner and belly laughed at Hunter throwing a ball. It never got old to her and it was so cute!

I have really been slacking on pictures but maybe I will have some to share on my next post. Enjoy the weekend!

Welcome to My Crib

Rylee has slept all night, in her crib, in her room for the past two nights! I know I am probably jinxing myself but I hope this continues. We moved Hunter into his room when he was about 4 months old and I was afraid we waited to long to move Rylee since the last couple of weekends did not go well in her crib. She has slept through the night since 8 weeks but this transistion to her crib disrupted that. Since I work during the week, I couldn't bring myself to be disciplined enough to do this during the week. Hopefully we are on a winning streak now. All of Rylee's friends right now do not have her sleeping habits so I truly feel extremely blessed. I honestly don't know how other mamas do it, especially when working.

Speaking of Rylee's "crib", here are a few pictures of her room. Shamefully, I'm still not done with. I still have a few finishing touches to complete but it is done for the most part. Her room was made with lots of love. My grandad made over half of the furniture in her room, which I think is pretty cool.

This is my favorite piece. In 1989, when my mom was pregnant with my sister, Kaitlin, she tore a picture out of a magazine of a changing table exactly like this. She gave it to my grandad and be built it. The picture doesn't do justice but his craftmanship is amazing. Kaitlin will be needing this come August so we may have a knock down drag out over this :)

Kaitlin, my mom, and I handpainted the circles on her wall to match the inside of her crib bumper. Kaitlin and I picked out the fabric for her curtain and made it. I thought it added a different dimension and a pop of color. Kaitlin also made the mobile above her crib. It cast cool shadows on the walls for Rylee to follow.

My camera setting was off so sorry for the graniness. My grandad made this shelf for me when I was little. I painted it white and painted the end of the knobs to match the circles on her wall.

My grandad also made her accent table but I didn't get a shot of it. He is a very talented man!

Happy sleeping! :)

Rylee Faith at Six Months

Rylee had her six month appointment this week. She is growing so fast, I feel like we just came home from the hospital! She had three shots which she took like a champ, not crying a bit! She is a tough little girl. Here are her stats:

Weight: 14lbs 11oz
Height: 26 inches
She is running around the 30 percentile for both.

Clothes: 3-6 months, 6 months

Diaper size: Medium cloth diapers and size 2 sposies

She mostly breastfeeds and sometimes gets 1 bottle of formula a day. She eats cereal mixed with fruit in the morning and a veggie at night. She LOVES her solid foods.

She can sit up on her own, roll both ways, front to back and back to front.

She can do push-ups! LOL She is trying so hard to crawl. She doesn't quite have all 4 limbs coordinated but somehow makes it across the room.

She has graduated from her baby bathtub to bathing in the kitchen sink, which she loves!

She sleeps from about 7:00pm-6:30am, which is when I have to wake her up to nurse before going to work.

She isn't much for napping. We're lucky if she'll nap an hour and a half total throughout the day. She doesn't fuss though. I guess she wants to be included in everything. :)

She is very laid back and very adaptable. She laughs and smiles all day and is such a little joy to us all!

So Called Crazy Life

So maybe I can't commit to blogging as much as I'd like. Ever since starting back to work full time on December 7, I hardly have time to breathe! My day starts at 5:10 a.m. and doesn't stop until approximately 9:00 p.m. And litterally, I'm going 90 to nothing 16 hours! So here is a little catch-up...

We had Hunter and his cousin's 4th birthday party at Zoinks. The kids had a blast!

We celebrated Christmas and attended many Christmas festivities such as the

Victorian Christmas and Elf Night

We celebrated my sister's graduation from FSU... congrats Kait!!

We saw all of our family for Christmas

We attempted a family Christmas picture but they all turned out like this...

We saw a few small snow flurries!!

And we went to the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta and watched the Noles woop up on South Carolina!!

Little Miss has her six month check-up tomorrow so later this week I'll do a post all about her. Happy New Year!!

Back to Work and Turkey Day

Last Monday I went back to work on part-time maternity leave so now I will be living up to my blogger title. I am working 3 days a week for a few weeks just to make the transition a little easier on me and baby girl. It has definitely been harder on me! Rylee is being kept by my mother-in-law and she has nothing but good reports on her. She's a happy baby, naps well and takes her bottle well. Knowing this gives me some relief. I'm determined to exclusively breastfeed her until she is 6 months at least. I didn't think pumping at work was going to be as hard as it is and that is what is stressing me most. I have a pretty nice stockpile in the freezer but I hope I can stick with it so we can pass 6 months. We'll see though.

Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday after Christmas. I love eating yummy grub with the family! This year we are splitting up the day between my parents and Luke's parents so it will be a busy day with little ones but worth it since we only do this twice a year. Tonight I am baking Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies which I fell in love with last year. I got the recipe from a friend and you can get it to from her blog here. I'm telling ya, you'll be addicted to these things!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and don't forget about all of the wonderful things to be thankful for. Today, I am thankful for our $140 utility bill!! Woo-hoo!!

So Thankful for Healthy Kiddos!

Yesterday both Hunter and Rylee had doctor check-ups. Hunter had his annual check-up which was easy peezy but poor little Ry had to have vaccinations. I think it hurt me more than it did her- she only cried for a second and fell asleep as soon as I  put her in the car seat. Such a tough little cookie! Here are their stats:

Hunter:
40.2 lbs
42 inches tall
He is in the 95th percentile for height!!! I guess he gets that from his Big Pop

Rylee:
13.5 lbs
24 1/2 inches tall
She is in the 50th percentile for both weight and height. It is funny comparing the two. At Hunter's four month visit, he was 16.2 lbs and 27 inches long putting him in the 85th percentile! I guess Rylee is taking after her Gam or Nana...
Rylee smiles, coos, and laughs all the time and is such a happy baby. She is laid back just like her brother and just goes with the flow. She can almost roll over from her back to her tummy. She gets about 3/4 of the way over then needs a little push. She did roll from her tummy to back in the middle of night but that must have been a fluke because she hasn't done it since. We are beginning to cloth diaper part time until I can build up her diaper stash. Cloth diapering is much easier than I thought and I love knowing I'm not putting those harsh chemicals on her little bum. When she does wear a disposable, she wears a size two. She wears size 3-6 months clothes but they just barely fit her! I have to roll up all of her pants. She sleeps all night (thank you Jesus!) from about 9pm-8am.

I'm much more confident this time around than I was with Hunter. I was afraid to take him out anywhere by myself, I couldn't even ponder the thought of breastfeeding in public, and I didn't know how in the world I would change his diaper if we were out and about. With Rylee, we are out of the house pretty much everyday, I've learned to be discreet about breastfeeding so I will feed her wherever, and I finally discovered changing her diaper in the car! I don't think I could ever change her in a public bathroom... gross. Having two kids is much easier than I thought and maybe because Big Brother is such a "good helper", as he says. They amaze me everyday!

Little future cheerleader

Handsome young man