Three Months

Rylie is 3 months old today and look how big she is!

She is getting bigger and cuter everyday! I fall more in love with this little princess and I love that I can spend so much time with her. Lets look at how she is growing and changing:

• I had to take the infant head things out of her car seat, the swing and the bouncer.
• She is sleeping from 9:30pm and wakes at 5 or 6am to eat. Then she is back to sleep until 9am most days. She has some off nights where she wakes up at 3am, but for the most part that is our schedule.
• We have established the E.A.S.Y. routine (we follow it loosely). Look it up. I think it really helps!
• She is cooing all the time. She has little conversations with herself and sometimes her toys.
• She is moving all the time. I can not keep her still.
• She is reaching for toys and can pretty much hold them. Her hand-eye coordination isn’t perfect, but she is getting there.
• She found her hands and loves to stare at them. I think she is going to find her feet soon. She is always lifting her legs to her head.
• She is growing out of her 0-3 outfits and moving into 3-6. She also is in size 2 diapers.
• She weighs about 15 lbs 4 oz.

I can’t believe how much she has accomplished and how much she has changed! She is doing so great and I enjoy hearing her talk and watching her play!

Here are a few pictures:

2 Months are Almost Over

This will probably be the last picture post of Rylie before I post her 3 month stuff. Two months have come and gone and she is growing by the minute. I love taking pictures of her (as you can see). I especially love when she does something new or gives me that big ol’ smile she has! She gets so giddy when I get her out of bed in the morning. It’s like she was waiting to see my face and she does then gets real excited…or maybe she knows it’s time to eat Either way, I love to see that smile. I ordered some head bands and flower clips for her hair, so you will start to see a more “girly” Rylie. I just received them, and I cant wait to put them in her hair!

Here are some more 2 month pictures:

Her protector

Chilly day, Happy Baby

Another Video

Another quick video of Rylie being cute

The Love of a Mother

There are many kinds of love. The love between a man and woman is probably the first kind of love that comes to mind. It’s natural to want to be loved or to show love to someone else. People always state it as “falling in love” when in fact you choose to love someone. You may be attracted to certain traits in a person, but ultimately you choose to love them.

Then there is the love of things. I can say “I love chocolate,” but that doesn’t mean I would marry it. I also could say “I love shoes,” but I’m not going to worship them. The love of things shouldn’t be something we base our lives around. It should be more of an expression than an action.

There is also love for your friends, your pets, your job, or activities. But the kind of love I have recently discovered is the love a mother has for her children.

No matter what that child does, she will always love them. This has helped me understand the love God has for us. This is Agape love; the divine love of God toward His Son, human beings and believers. No matter what we do, he loves us. (Of course his love is perfect). He is the example of the greatest love of all. He sent his son to be sacrificed so that we could spend eternity with him. How much greater of a love can we be presented with?

For the first time in my life, I truly understand that kind of love.  A love that is unconditional, selfless, and sacrificial. I know that my mom spent her life showing that love to my brother and I. Whether I was throwing baby powder around my room or calling her something I shouldn’t have, she continued to love me just the same. The question is did I ever truly appreciate it? Or did it take becoming a mother myself to fully understand?

Mom, I get it now. I understand why you grounded me, made me write out Bible verses, and have a curfew. I understand why you spent so much money on dance classes, college, and shopping for me (and not yourself). I understand that you only had my best interest in mind, and you only wanted to see me succeed. I only hope that I can spend my life showing Rylie that same kind of love.

A Little Bit of Mommy and Daddy

Rylie definitely is a good combo of both Seth and I. Sometimes she tends to favor one or the other, but when I look at our baby pictures I think she has a little bit of both of our features. Some facial expressions are like me and some are like Seth. She even has some that look like her Grampy. It’s fun to look back at your own baby pictures and compare to your child.

Seth:

Me:

Throwback

Wow! Look at me! And look at that hair! I think this is 2nd or 3rd grade. Edit: Its 1st grade!

I Love Taking Pictures of Her!

Just a post of pictures of my girl! Love her!

Such a big girl in her tub

Laughing at daddy

She sits so good in her Bumbo

Survey

Some moms have done this survey and posted to their blog. I figured I would too!

1. Were you married at the time? Yes.

2. What was your reaction when you found out you were pregnant? ”No way!” I was not expecting to see a positive since we weren’t “trying”. As soon as I set it down I saw the positive and started freaking out.

3. How old were you? 24

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? I had a feeling that I could be. Since that time of the month was 2 weeks late (and never is) I decided to test. I had tested the week before and it was a negative, so I really wasn’t expecting the positive the second time.

5. Who did you tell first? I grabbed the dogs and said “you are going to be big brothers” lol. Then when Seth got home I told him. It was a long 6 hour wait!

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes! We wanted to be prepared as far as clothes, the room, etc.

7. Due date? November 15 ,2009

8. Did you deliver early or late? 5 days early, I was induced. 

9. Did you have morning sickness? Not really. Just nausea and threw up a couple times from gagging on my tooth-brush and vitamin. 

10. What did you crave? 2nd trimester was chinese food. I had some random cravings there after.

11. What irritated you the most? I don’t really remember…oh wait yes I do! My car didn’t have AC my entire pregnancy! That was horrible and on one of the hottest days I  had to drive 2 mph to my parents with no breeze. I was very irritated when I arrived.

12. What was your first child’s sex? Girl.

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 30 pounds. I’m pretty much back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I just have some toning to do for the summer.

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? No, but I was induced because they though there was too much fluid and she was going to be really big. Neither turned out to be true.

15. Where did you give birth? Winnie Palmer Hospital in Orlando, Fl.

16. How many hours were you in labor? I went into the hospital on Sunday and didn’t have her until Tuesday. I didn’t start active labor until 11pm on Monday and then Tuesday morning everything went fast. Pushed for about 10 minutes.

17. Who drove you to the hospital? Seth. It was kind of weird being prepared.

18 . Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Yes. Once my contractions got stronger and closer together Monday night I asked for the epidural. I don’t think I would’ve been able to go all night with out it…although my epi did wear off when I started to push.

19 . How much did your child weigh? 8lbs 

20 . What did you name him/her? Rylie Mae

21 . How old is your first-born today? 2 months 1 week and 5 days.

22. Who does your child look like? She favors her daddy, but everyday and every face is different.

23. Did you get mad at your husband during labor? No. I was actually pretty calm as was he. He helped me through my breathing and encouraged me along. He was a good labor coach…except when he dropped my leg to take a picture when Rylie came out haha.

24. Are you breast or formula feeding? Breast milk through a bottle. We had a tough time with the breast-feeding so I am exclusively pumping and doing well!

25. When do you want to have another child (if anymore)? At least a year. Hopefully we will start trying right before she turns 2 Lord willing.

2 Month Dr. Visit

Rylie had her 2 month check up last week (I know I’m a little late). She weighed in at 14lbs 7oz. She is in the 90th percentile for height and 97th for weight! She’s a big girl, but I was exactly the same way. She will probably be built like me. The Dr. said she is very healthy and looks great! She had to get a couple of shots though. She did well. She only cried for a moment and stopped when they gave her an oral vaccine. I fed her afterwords and she totally forgot about the pain. She just wants the food…she is definitely a Fake (my maiden name) haha. She slept a lot after her appointment, but woke up around 4pm with very bad gas. I never heard her cry like that before. After about an hour of crying she took a nap and felt a lot better. She was back to her normal self the rest of the week.

This past weekend she got to meet her 2nd cousins who are 3 and almost 2 years old. They loved baby Rylie. Her and Molly will have fun when Rylie is older. We celebrated my grandma’s 75th birthday! My mom and aunt Donna surprised her with a trip to Italy in May. She is so excited because she is Italian and has always wanted to go there! Rylie was exhausted after this weekend. She slept really well the past couple of nights!

Here a few more pictures of her:

So Happy!

Daddy doing airplane

With Great Grammy

Two Months

Two months have flown by! I know every month I will say this, but I can’t believe it. She is getting so big and I can already tell that she looks different from her early pictures. She is getting a lot more interactive and she is so much more content just laying in her pack n play and entertaining herself. I even made dinner the other night while she was laying there awake! It was great! Today was her first day in the nursery at church. They said she did well, but I forgot to tell them she has reflux. They were wondering why she spit up so much. Oops. I was ok letting her go, but surprisingly Seth took it harder. He told me it’s because she is a girl haha. Anyway, here are some 2 month pictures.