A day in the life of Rylee...

I think just in the last 3 weeks Rylee has tripled her speech and comprehension! I love this little girl so much. She listens and learns so much, I actually really have to watch what I say or do since she loves to mimic me all day!

So these are just some pictures of Rylee from the last couple days, she is such a goof I could watch her all day.

Morning: Gotta have some morning coffee.

Afternoon: Get on some shades to play outside!

Evening: A little tea time with dinner.

Night-Time: A quick TV show in jammie's before bed.

Some sun and lunchtime with Nana.

I was able to get some great photos with Rylee in the kitchen with the sun coming through, it was so nice to have some natural light for some photos.

After I got lunch made and set downstairs I went to let my parent's dog outside and when I came back downstairs this is what I found.

My grandma said Rylee got up in the chair then asked for a bite of of sandwhich, so she gave her a peice on a plate and Rylee could not have been happier. Days like today couldnt be replaced by anything, my grandmother and Rylee are so close and she just loves her. With Rylee getting older and being able to enjoy her great-grandmother is an experience I want to make sure I can show her years from now.

This is by far my favorite picture from this afternoon, whenever I tell Rylee that we are going to go she runs to my grandma and says "Nana, bye-bye!" and it is followed by the sweetest kiss! Rylee gets on her tiptoes and holds onto the side of the wheel-chair and tips her head up to reach her.

Table dancer...

OK not so much table 'dancing' as in table 'surfing'. Today was Monday so I was taking care of my grandma and I always start by making her tea while Rylee looks for the cat and the dog. She likes to find them then run away... which I don't understand but it is funny to watch.

So today my grandma was in the kitchen with me, but right next to the doorway to the dining room by the kitchen table. Rylee has had this fascination to sit at the kitchen table ever since we did it for Easter. We eat at the table at home, but Easter had more people and she loved it.

So Rylee was sitting in her seat yelling at my moms dad, then my grandma looks over and goes "Oh Rylee, NO!!" so when I just peeked over the kitchen bar into the dining room, I was beyond grateful that I had left my camera right next to the teapot the day before. I got to take a picture of this...

and then when she saw she was caught, I got a picture of this next face.

I did feel a 'tad' guilty that she was upset and I was taking a picture of her, but she is got over it quickly.

Rylee and her dog...

We have been working a lot on Rylee and our dog Duke. Duke is a good boy, but can tend to be a bit pushy and gets a little possessive with Bill and I. So I have been having Rylee walk Duke around in the house on his leash to get Duke used to the idea that Rylee is calling the shots. They have been doing so well, Rylee throws the ball to him everyday and gives him loves and kisses without him jumping away. Duke comes with us on our walks when Bill is home, I cant handle both by myself yet, Duke is a good boy but can pull sometimes- though his new 'no pull' lead is working SO well.

They are really becoming buds, which is what we have always wanted for them. I am so thankful Rylee has not remembered her dog bite when she was 12 months old and loves dogs. She knows to stay away when they are eating and not to put her hands in their mouth for the most part. Though this weekend Rylee become fascinated by Dukes tongue, since it was warmer Duke was panting a bit and she would try and grab his tongue as it moved, Duke didn't care at all, it was so funny to watch her little face scrunch up trying to figure it out.

Here are some pictures from this weekend when Dukes ball went over the couch, Duke just jumped on the couch and looked over the back, too funny is the view I had. This is the reason I keep my camera close!

The slide master!

Rylee has officially mastered climbing up the baby slide all by herself!! I am so proud of her.

Nana Dunbar

As some know, Rylee and I take care of my grandmother three says a week. She is 89 years old and just had her leg amputated in September from some hardware issues after she broke her leg a couple years ago. She is one of the toughest ladies I know, she didn't even shed a tear when she found out she had to have a leg removed, she just takes everything in stride. My mom and dad definitely have a hand in that though, my mom makes sure all her appointments are attended, her medications given, and makes sure she is eating right. I am so thankful that my parents have been so involved, my grandmothers worst fear has been having to go to a nursing home, and my parents have promised her she will never have to go to one.

Last week at one of her regular monthly check-ups her Dr. noticed her eyes were not tracking together and that one of her cheeks was swollen, which had been attributed prior to some teeth she had pulled the month prior. The Dr. ordered a CT scan and wanted to get a check to see what might be going on. My mom, Rylee, and I were in Yakima for a memorial and received a call from my dad stating the CT scan had found a mass, most likely a tumor under her eye that has spread around one eye, this causing the swelling and pressure. She has an appointment tomorrow to see a specialist and we are hoping to find out more. We are having to be ready for anything really, we just love her dearly and enjoy our days with her. So please keep her in your thoughts as we find out more on whats going on.

Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks, Rylee loves her Nana so much. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday they enjoy a little tea-time and lunch together. Nana is always given a kiss when we leave and Rylee yells "Bye-Bye"from the stairs every-time. I am so glad Rylee has been able to be so close to her, she may not remember it all when she is older, but I sure will.

Here are some pictures sharing Nana's tea, Rylee loves the Chai tea and gets to enjoy some spoonfuls when it cools down. :) And she is a big fan of the wheel chair, she has to sit in it if Nana isn't, and has even found out how to work her stair elevator all by herself!

Easter!!

We had a very nice Easter weekend, Bills parents and sister Shelby were able to make it up to our house for a afternoon visit. Rylee loves Aunt Shelby and Grandma and Grandpa Fritz, and even more that they brought a very cute Easter bunny for her Easter basket! Later that day we dyed Easter eggs for the first-time since Rylee was born, it was great, we stripped Rylee down to her diaper and dove right in to getting the eggs dyed. She did really well and I actually came out with more dye stains on me than she did.

The next morning for Easter Bill and I couldn't wait for Rylee to wake up so she could get her Easter basket we set out for her. So when we heard her start talking, which is how she wakes up, we got her up right away and brought her to the living room.

We had Easter dinner with my parents, brother, and my grandmother. We had a really great time and Rylee ate so much! I loved Rylee's Easter dress this year, she loves wearing dresses too which is so nice.

The weather was rainy so when we got back to our house we did an indoor egg hunt, this was Rylee's first year to really get into the point of the egg finding and was so funny once she got it. At first she would find an egg then sat right down to open it, so when she found out she put them in her basket she was unstoppable. We actually had to re-hide eggs when she started saying "again-again". When she was done she was one tired girl!

Puddle Jumper

Last week Rylee had been trying her hardest to play in this huge puddle in our driveway, running for it when I was trying to get her in the car and then crying when I caught her just before she jumped in it.

So last week we went to get the mail and Rylee slipped and got the knees of her jeans dirty (OK barely dirty but gave me an excuse) since Rylee was going to be taking a nap I decided to just let her go for it! I walked her to the puddle and let go of her hand, it took her a little bit to understand I was in fact letting her play in the puddle!! It only took a few minutes to have one soaking wet toddler! She jumped in the puddle and then figured out to put her hands in the water and splash that way, she had water dripping down her face and off of her jacket when I picked her up.

I have never seen this girl more happy then when she is slapping tons on water on herself, she just loves it. It definitely makes you understand that sometimes a bit more dirt can be much more fulfilling than a clean house all the time.

Here is a video, I know it is sideways.... I cant get it to rotate.

Just a few of pictures of Rylee... just because :)

I took the ones in the orange dress and black boots just the other day, and the ones in the light blue top is from last week.

She is such big girl, her vocabulary has almost tripled, she is a very smart girl. She can even say the names of things in her books now, there are just a couple that are too hard right now.

This next one is my favorite, but I cant take full credit, this was a very, very well timed nose picking picture! I had no idea this is what the picture caught until I uploaded them!

I love this face!! She is such a happy girl!!

Those big eyes are trouble!

The waiting game...

So just a surgery update, the surgery was scheduled for Monday March 16Th, on Friday March 13Th, yes Friday the 13Th insurance denied the surgery for lack of information. I have boxes full of paperwork since dealing with my back since high school, they just waited till the last minute to ask for any of it.

My back specialist is not happy in the least, he knows this surgery will give me my life back, and help my back from not being an issue anymore. We have sent in all the appeal paperwork so we will see what happens. I just need to trust if the appeal doesn't go through, then there is some reason the surgery needs to not happen now.

We are hoping if it does get approved sooner than later, I have at least one wedding to preform in July for a family friend and possibly one in May which is out of town. I never thought I would be using my ordination but since doing a wedding in September for our good friends, it meant a lot knowing that I was a big part of their special day. The wedding in July is a wedding for a great family friend, I was friends with her daughter since 2ND grade, and she has been in my life ever since. So them wanting me to marry them means so much.

I will post again when I know what is going on for the surgery.

Moses Lake

We decided to get Rylee and us out of town and take Rylee on her first-ever road trip. A very close friend of mine from college lives in Moses Lake and her sister was having her baby shower in February. I have become close with Karrie's family when this past summer her parents were living in Seattle while her father was being treated for cancer. During his last few days her father was moved to a hospice about 5 minutes away from our home, and we were able to spend some great time with Karrie, her two sisters, mother and even her grandmother. Her sister Kamille actually was married in the hospital with her father present, and her actual wedding was only 6 days after her fathers passing. So when were heard Kamille was having a baby shower, we thought it would be a great time for a great family weekend.

Rylee has never been on a true road-trip, she went to Chelan when she was about 3 months old, however at that stage she slept the whole time. So this time I was nervous but excited to see how she would handle being in the car, especially since she is so active. We stopped and got some breakfast and stretched our legs in Cle Elum, then headed on our way again. We stopped again after Vantage and had a potty break, then we went off to Moses Lake.

Of course Rylee only fell asleep 20 minutes before we got to Moses Lake, but at least she got some sleep. I wanted to make sure we were comfortable and Rylee was able to have some room to run around, so I searched a really great hotel that had a kitchen and a separate bedroom so Rylee could sleep sound while we were in the living room.

I was so impressed with the layout of the hotel room! We were able to have a fridge for drinks and Rylee's milk, have a living room the watch TV, and a separate bedroom for naps! Definitely worth a little extra in the budget for such a great room. Rylee was even able to take a nap while I was at the baby-shower and even get to bed almost on time that night. But she of course had to try out the hotel swimming pool!

Rylee has only been in a pool one other time, and it was not a super great time for her. We went to a friends apartment to go swimming last summer and the pool was so crowded and a bunch of teenagers were jumping and splashing too much and it really scared her. So I expected some work to get her comfortable and almost gave up. When we got to the pool there were about 8 screaming 8Th grade girls in the pool, and the sound was deafening. So I sat on the side of the pool and held her while she shook and screamed her head off for about 2o minutes. Then she started to loosen up and took interest in watching the girls swim in the pool.

So then slowly I was able to have her sit on my lap, then slowly got her feet in the water. At this point the girls left the pool and we were able to have some quiet. Karrie and Bill were in the pool so that seemed to help, since Daddy and Aunt Karrie weren't getting eaten alive in the pool, she thought maybe it might be OK for her too. Finally I just walked into the pool, while she still had a death-grip on my top I walked her around in the pool while holding her close and getting the water up to her chest. Then out of nowhere she started laughing and splashing Karrie! She thought it was so fun, all the hard work finally paid off. I am so glad she had a great time in the pool. Swim lessons here we come!!

Rylee was such a good girl the whole weekend, the only melt-down happened about 6 minutes from our house, she was tired and just wanted to walk around and play! We got home and she ran to the back-door to watch the dog outside. We were pooped and so glad to be home, but had such a great weekend with friends!

Here is a video of Rylee going a little nuts on the ride to Moses Lake.