Pictures added

I added pictures of Ryleigh and I that were taken at her baby dedication... check out that post below. I will get more up.

How Many Words???

Ryleigh's List of Words...

Words she says often
Mama, Mom, Mommy and MomMom... she usually calls me mommom
Dada, Dadd-ee
PaPa
Hi
What's that?
Outside
Ball
Book
Stop
Bad
Huh?
Uh Oh
Ow
Hey
Wow
Yea
Bird

Words she can say, but doesn't very often
Downstairs
Aunt Sarah
Balloon
Archie
Bye-Bye
Down

Words that she has repeated but shouldn't say
Shut-up
Sh*t (yep that's right and more than once) she can even say in context. But I don't really count that as words she can say. ;)

Ry's first day...

I dropped Ryleigh off at daycare at 8:20 this morning, it went ok. When we got there, they were just sitting down to eat breakfast. I tried to get her to sit down with the other kids, but she wanted no part of it. She was starting to get a little clingy so I told the teachers that I better not stick around or it will be hard to leave. So I handed the teacher her things and kissed Ryleigh good bye and walked away and she started crying. I had to fight back the tears myself. As we shut the door and I hung her jacket and bag on her hook, I could hear her crying. It made me so sad. I had to finish up the paperwork and get my fingerprint in the system and all that stuff, so I was there for a few minutes. Her teacher came out and I asked her how she was doing, she said she was warming up and was getting ready to sit down to eat breakfast.

I picked her back up at 11:30. She had just got done eating lunch. She was so excited to see me. They said she did fine and was good. They really didn't say a whole lot. I guess I am just expecting to much from them, I don't know. But we will see how it goes. We went by to see daddy afterwards. She fell asleep about half way to work. I was hoping she would stay asleep, but no, she slept for about 20 minutes once we got to work. So, she is very crabby and whiny. This may be a bad day! ;)

Overall, I suppose her first day went ok. We will see how it goes next week.

Get to know Ryleigh

Here is a little about Ryleigh....

Her firsts...

Tub bath at 3 weeks... she hated it!
Smiled at 4 weeks.
Cooed at 4 weeks.
Rolled on side at 7 weeks.
Grasped an object (her binkie) at 10 weeks.
Sat up without support at 4 months.
Laughed outloud at 4 months.
Ate cereal at 4 1/2 months.
Rolled from front to back and back to front at 5 months.
Said "Mama" at 5 1/2 months.
Pulled herself into a crawling position at 5 1/2 months.
Pulled herself up at 6 months.
Slept through the night at 6 months (later to realize this was a vary rare occassion and didn't actually start sleeping through the night until she was 14 months old and I weaned her).
Crawled at 6 months.
Said "dada" at 6 months.
Fed herself with a spoon at 6 1/2 months.
Waved bye-bye at 7 months.
Walked with support from her push toy at 7 1/2 months.
Clapped at 8 months.
Stood alone at 8 months.
Took her first 2 steps at 8 1/2 months.
Got her first tooth at 8 1/2 months.
Said her first words other than mama and dada... Archie and hello (neither of which she really says anymore) at 9 1/2 months.
Walked alone at 9 1/2 months.
Ran at 10 months.
Kicked a ball at 10 1/2 months.

Ryleigh's dislikes...

Being told "No"
Sitting in a cart at the stores.
Sitting down to eat.
Scarecrows
Deviled eggs
Potatoes unless they are french fries
Her hands being dirty
Having her diaper and clothes changed

Ryleigh's likes...

Dancing
Music
Hugs and kisses
Food, especially anything bad for her.... cookies, chocolate, soda, candy...


Being outside
Being read to
Cuddling
Playing peek-a-boo
Singing songs... The Itsy Bitsy Spider is her favorite
Watching TV with daddy
Picking the toe fuzz out her toes after you take her shoes and socks off
Being naked
Sticking her tongue out and making faces

Favorites...

Food - Cheese, any pasta with red sauce, peas and carrots, bananas
Snack - Cookies of course and fruit cups
Drink - Milk (well it would be soda if she was allowed to drink it when she wanted)
Toy - Her babydolls, purses (or anything else she can carry like a purse), dollhouse, cell phones and remote controls
Book - Boots (dora) and Give Bunny a Kiss

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's off to school we go.......

As you all know I have had the privilage of bringing Ryleigh to work with me since I came to work for my dad. When I went back to work after a 2 month maternity leave, I went back to Barreth 5 days a week for just 2 weeks. During those 2 weeks Ryleigh stayed with Mandy. At 10 weeks old, I started working for my dad 3 days a week and I brought Ryleigh with me everyday. I eventually went to 4 days a week and continued to bring her everyday. I loved it!! I didn't have to leave her with someone else and I could be with her everyday and I didn't miss a thing. As she got older it became really difficult to bring her to work with me. She got bored and therefor she became very grumpy and would misbehave. It was hard to get any work done and keep my sanity. I finally came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work out anymore. So, back in January we hired Katie, a very lovable and sweet young girl, who watched Ryleigh 2 days a week and cleaned our house! It was great!!! It couldn't have worked out better, I could still bring Ry with me 2 days a week and I had 2 days a week at work by myself and I came home to a clean house!!!! Katie has been a Godsend, she is wonderful with Ryleigh and has helped me so much with housework. Having her clean the house two days a week has helped me more than I think she will ever realize and I am so grateful for her. But after much consideration, we have decided to send Ryleigh to daycare. This has been a very hard decision for me to make. She will go to daycare Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She will only come to work with me on Thursdays. I am just not really ready to give it all up. I couldn't be more appreciative and grateful for the chance to spend as much time with her and still work as I have. She is almost 16 months and has never really been around a group of children or the type of environment the daycare will provide for her. This way she will get the social interaction that she needs, as well as, the learning and one on one attention that I can not give her during the day when I am working. She is going to love it and it will be very good for her. I have shed a lot of tears and I am very nervous about sending her, but I know it's the best thing for her. So, she will go for a couple of hours tomorrow and Friday and then start full days on Monday. We will update you all and let you know how it goes for her.

Oh and let's hope she doesn't go around kissing all the boys. When we stopped by there to pick up the paper work and look at the daycare, she sat down next to a little boy and leaned over and kissed him! It sure was cute!

Spirited Toddler

Ok, I will go with that..... according to this fun little quiz that is what Ryleigh is!

http://quiz.ivillage.com/parenting/tests/whisper.htm

Spirited ToddlerThe Spirited Toddler is extremely active physically, often willful, and may be prone to temper tantrums. She is very social and curious and will point to objects and reach out for them and for other kids early on. This child is the consummate adventurer; she will have a go at anything and is very determined. She displays a great sense of achievement when she accomplishes something. At the same time, she needs very clear boundaries so that she doesn't act like a steamroller, trampling anyone or anything in her path. Once they start crying, Spirited Toddlers have stamina and staying power, so you're in for a long haul if you don't have a good routine going. Given good guidance and an outlet for her energy, however, a Spirited Toddler can become a leader and very accomplished in whatever area interests her.

Walking to save babies!

Sarah and her Stroller Strides group walked in the March of Dimes March for Babies on Saturday, April 26. Their team raised about $1850.00!! Which is awesome!! Ryleigh, grammy and I also joined in the walk on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and the weather was great! It started out a pretty chilly, but by the time the walk started the sun was shining and it had warmed up. Ryleigh fell asleep about 5 minutes into the walk and slept the ENTIRE time!! Overall, it was a great day and a wonderful experience. Sarah did take some pictures of her Stroller Strides mommies, daddies and babies.... I will post some soon.

Check out the link to March of Dimes
http://marchofdimes.com

How many teeth????

Ryleigh is finally getting some teeth. She was 8 months old before she got her first tooth and then for months she only had her 2 bottom teeth. Well, over the last couple of months she has starting getting a mouth full of teeth. She now has her 2 bottom teeth, the bottom right tooth, all 4 top teeth and now she is working on her one year molars. I think her bottom left tooth is coming through, it's hard to tell right now. Her one year molar on the top right has poked through the skin, the other side is just swollen. It's crazy because she went from 2 teeth to 6 (that are all the way through) in just a matter of time.

HI DADDY

Ryleigh said her first 2 word sentence on Monday evening. Her and I were in her room picking toys up and when daddy walked into her room, she said "Hi Daddy!". It was so cute. She has been saying hi a lot lately. I think it has become her favorite word. But to hear her put two words together was pretty cute. And of course, daddy felt pretty special!!

Ryleigh's Baby Dedication

Ryleigh's baby dedication was yesterday, Sunday April 20. Tom and I commited ourselves, as parents, to raise Ryleigh in a Godly way, to bring her up in a Christian home and to teach her to know Jesus and to love Jesus. The ceremony went well. We attended the 10:45 service, followed by a lunch and then the dedication. Grammy and Papa, Aunt Sarah, Unlce Matt and Andrew, Aunt Christa, Dennis, Dean and Devan, and Ryleigh's babysitter, Katie all joined us. Aunt Sarah took some pictures for us, so I will post them sometime soon!!

15 Month Stats

Since I usually send out emails to update everyone when she has her Well Child Check-ups, I thought I would post those as well. She had her 15 month WCC April 7. She is doing wonderful and moving right along with her development. Her stats: Height 30.5 inches (50th%). She has grown 2 inches since her 12 month WCC, I believe this was probably her biggest growth spurt. Her weight is 19 lbs 4 oz (5th%). She has gained 1 lb 4 oz since her 12 month check-up. Her next WCC will be when she is 18 months old.

Easter 2008

We had Ryleigh's Easter pictures taken the same day we had her Birthday pictures taken. As usual, she did not want to be there and she certaintly did not want to smile. But she is just as cute as ever and looks like a little lady with her purse!!! We hope you enjoy!

Ryleigh's Birthday pictures

Ryleigh turned ONE on January 6. I know that these are a little late, but we didn't get around to getting them taken until she was 14 months old.

Starting Ryleigh's blog

I thought that maybe this would be a fun and easy way to update everyone on Ryleigh and send pictures. I can't believe how fast she is growing! The time just goes by way to fast! I hope everyone enjoys reading all of her updates.Come back and check it out any time!