Nine Whole Months

Sweet Ryleigh celebrated her nine month birthday this past weekend. Ok, celebrated might be an exaggeration. But she did hit that nine month milestone on Saturday. I cannot believe that I have to start thinking about a first birthday party soon!

The little bug is doing some pretty cool things these days: 

She rolls. 

She sits up on her own and is just this close to getting up to sitting all by herself. {In fact, I just got a voice message from Gerti telling me that she got up on her own three times today during PT.} 

She gets up on hands and knees, and bounces her booty...so ready to take off crawling.

She waves, and it's just the cutest.

She says mama {although not always directed at me} and dada {usually directed at him} 

She gives mommy kisses, sloppy open mouth ones. 

She's working on her first two teeth. 

And she has this new scrunchy faced smile that is just to die for. 

...I'm sure there are a few other things that I am forgetting.

I may have already mentioned that she is nearly 24 lbs. We'll get official height (and weight) on Tuesday at her 9 month check-up.

A little video of one of her other new tricks. She also figured out that if she sings while you are bouncing her it sounds pretty cool too. Mimicking daddy is pretty fun too.

 

We had a weekend visit from Mimi and Pop that included purchase of Ryleigh's very own private swimming pool. But more on that in another post...

I hope everyone else had a great Memorial Day weekend too!! 

The Weather Today

A little overcast Memorial Day.

Something Sweet

Something New

Yesterday I just happened to catch a glimpse at the new VW Beetle. How appropriate for the photoaday prompt, right?

Pink

twenty-two

Road Trip

Last week we decided to take a long weekend and make the trip back to Indiana to catch up with family and friends. There were a lot of people looking forward to meeting Ryleigh for the first time.

We loaded up the car for an early Wednesday morning departure. First stop, Cardinal Glennon for Ryleigh's clinic appointment. Of course, we left later than we intended and arrived right when she was supposed to have her CT scan...late. Luckily they are really understanding when it comes to getting your kiddo to the hospital. Lunch, then the clinic appointment. Everything looks great. Ryleigh's bladder and kidneys look normal and she has never had a UTI, so she's doing great there. Neuro was pleased with her; PT and ortho were really happy and excited with how awesome she's doing. She was however diagnosed with incurable cuteness. :-)

After clinic we hit the road again headed to Indiana.

bye bye st louis!

After a stop in our favorite city, Effingham, IL, we made a navigational error and ended up heading out of our way a bit. Not a huge deal until we ended up stopped in traffic for two hours. Ugh! Ryleigh had to get out of her car seat and even out of the car for a bit. She was such a trooper all day! We finally got going and made it to Lafayette late Wednesday night and checked into the hotel.

stopped in traffic sitting on daddy's lap

Thursday we headed downtown to walk around and eat some lunch while we waited for grandma to get off work. Then dinner at the Brewing Company with Cousin Madi and Aunt Christy.

enjoying a sidewalk lunch at bistro 501

we saw some really cool alley way artwork (those are real instruments)

madi loved her baby cousin

madi found some fun games for ry on her ipod

so sweet!

Friday was another day out and about. We met Grandma downtown and went walking. Then ended up meeting up with some friends for lunch. In the afternoon we headed to Columbian Park Zoo. We had a great time! They have a cool wallaby exhibit and we saw a baby peeking out of his momma's pouch. They also have a nice otter habitait. Ryleigh got so excited when we got close to the goats in the petting zoo, but didn't get any pics of that.

wallaby!

checking out the underwater view in the otter exhibit

cute baby ready for the zoo!

Saturday was Madi's last soccer game. More time visiting over at Aunt Christy's house. And a trip to Pizza King for dinner with the fam, including five rambunctious cousins. Then we headed out to see friends and Ben and Heather's new house. The night ended way too late with a long game of Catan. Good times indeed.
Sunday was our day to head back home to MO. We made a quick stop at Aunt Christy's to say goodbye. We had a great trip! We got in some good visits with great people. Can't wait to see everyone again. Ryleigh was AMAZING! She was so good and to top it off we discovered when we stopped for lunch that her first tooth was poking through. Seriously, we are so lucky, we have such a wonderful, happy child!

madi's real-life baby doll

cousins

pillow throne

sleepy baby

Thanks for a fun visit everyone! Can't wait to see you again!
Someone seriously needs to invent some sort of teleportation device.

Where I Stand

I got behind on my photos during our trip to Indiana. :-/

What I'm Reading

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
(...what day is this? 16, I think).

Love

For really real...

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day we took a little afternoon stroll around Shelter Garden where Ron and I got married. It was such a beautiful day. Spending some relaxation time with my two faves, a Sonic Cherry Limeade, can't ask for much more. Well, except maybe a Mother's Day card from your husband... 

goodness, how cute is that face?

"gimme that phone, daddy!"

family self portrait

how sweet is this pic? i mean gooey. <3

And a few pics of the flowers around the garden:

these roses were so pretty

my iPhone camera doesn't really do these justice. they looked like they were lighting up in the sun. 

Mom

I'm a little behind posting on the blog...

me and my momma in 2010 (i think)

mom in-law & mom at our wedding. 6.27.09

I hope all you mommies out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Something that Makes Me Happy

waking up to these two on a saturday morning

and second place

Kitchen

I Have a Problem

It may be unnatural, but I seem to have a bit of a problem with superlatives and superlative type language. I just can't commit to something being the most, the biggest, the best ever. I am encountering this problem quite a bit {read twice} on this month's photo-a-day challenge. A smell you ADORE. Your FAVORITE word. Really? C'mon now. Why you gotta be like that? Can't it just be a smell I kind of like most of the time? Or a word that makes me smile every once in a while? It's too much pressure to choose the best ever. Not like I can never change my mind and have a new favorite word. But I feel like once it is posted to the interwebs, it is set in stone! From this day forth my favorite word shall be "XXXXX!" Therefore, I have skipped the photo of the day that is my favorite word. Deal with it. ;-)

Everyday

Something I do every day. I use my Sonicare. Actually, multiple times a day.

Catching Up

LAST weekend we spent some time outside working in the yard. I realized I never got around to posting about it. I received a wonderful gift for Administrative Professionals Day... a gift card to Westlake's Hardware! WTF, a gift card to a hardware store, you ask? So did my husband. What he didn't know is that Westlake's has an excellent selection of flowers and outdoor plants. I had been talking with Carin about planting something in the two big pots on either side of our garage. And she remembered, what a thoughtful gift! We went on Friday evening to pick out what we wanted, that way we'd be ready to go Saturday morning.

my selections



i came across a (not so) little friend in one pot. ick!



finished!

some zinnias for around the mailbox

We also did a little landscape improvement here, but I keep forgetting to take an "after" pic when it's still light out. Just imagine new mulch, no more weeds and no more bricks. ;-)

before...

A Smell you Adore

Nothing like a soft, clean baby.

Someone Who Inspires Me

happiest kid in america.

Probably not a surprise. I'm kind of cheating here, I didn't take this photo today. And honestly, it's not even the greatest pic of the bug. But it does capture her spirit and that's what inspires me. She is so happy. She has already overcome so much and continues to surprise us everyday. She inspires me to want to be a better mommy and a better person. I hope she always knows how much I love her.

Yeah, We're Bikers

Or I guess I should say cyclists, so not to mislead. We had a great weekend, I hope you did too. We kicked off Friday evening with some fun and relaxation at our neighborhood park. You may have seen that post...
Saturday we got up and decided to go out for breakfast at one of our favorite spots, Ernie's Diner downtown. It was a beautiful morning, so we sat outside. Ryleigh LOVES that she is big enough to sit in the highchair when we go out now. She always wants to be up and see what's going on around her.


she really does love it, even if she looks oh so serious in this pic

keeping an eye on our fellow diners

After breakfast we went to the farmer's market and Klunk's bicycle shop. {I didn't take any pics though} We stopped at Klunk's because Ron has been in the market for a used bike that he can ride on the trail near our house. He has an awesome road bike (Camille) but her tires aren't made for trail riding. And his other bike (Pierre)...well, maybe some day I will share the story of how Pierre came into our lives. But no one else really seems to fully appreciate the true National Lampoon-like nature of this bike's existence in our household. But, I digress... we saw a couple decent bikes at Klunk's but Ron was still convinced he could find something cheaper on Craigslist. So we went home, and what do you know, after weeks of looking there was a nice Trek Giant mountain bike for $110. The perfect bike. Just what he had been waiting for. He went and tried it out, bought the bike and brought it home. He decided to take it to Klunk's to get it checked out and see if they could install a rack for little bug's bike seat on the back. Thirty minutes later he was home with the news that his bargain bike could use a $50 tune-up and the worse news that a rack could not be installed. ...He promptly relisted it for sale on Craigslist for $120.

However, Klunk's was able to install the rack on my hybrid bike and we got the seat all hooked up ready for a ride.

safety first! we got the little one an awesome princess bike helmet.

ever hear the story about the first time i rode my Trek road bike? ...maybe some other time.



OMG! seriously, how freaking cute is this kid?!?

 

she's ready to ride!

We had a great time. Ryleigh liked the ride. We probably waited a little too late in the evening and rode a little too long. She started falling asleep in the seat before we got back home. And when we stopped to look at an owl up in a tree she woke up and was not happy about still being on the bike.
 
Sunday Ron finished up his big garage reorganization and sold his "new" bike. He's thinking about becoming a bike dealer as a hobby. You know, just for fun, no profit, just because he loves to buy ans sell used bikes. Ha ha!

Happy Monday!