17 Months Old

I was just messing around this evening down in the photography studio testing out and adjusting two pieces of new equipment for a photo shoot on Saturday. I was just using Ryane's dolls as my "models". When Ryane got home, she wanted her dolls and was willing to stop for a couple pictures. These were just for practice and nothing I planned on keeping, hence the crazy hair and a runny nose I tried to edit out. However, I got this cute facial expression and thought it was very worth sharing. I'm a sucker for her dimple, so when I capture it in a picture, it becomes a keeper.

Digi-scrap page made

Silly Girl

I feel like it's been forever since I've shared any snapspots of Ryane. I really don't take NEAR as many as I used to either - bad mom! But, here are a couple recent ones or our little cutie, and at times odd kid (as shown below!). :)

First one, she LOVES to wear dad's belt around. It fits her perfectly wrapped twice around. This picture cracks me up as the look on her face. I think she looks much chubbier in it and what a silly grin - makes me laugh which only encourages her more.


This second one was just taken this morning after she was ready for day care - too cute not to take a picture. We had a breakthrough morning as Matthew was ready to try fixing her hair. :) We have to pull it back in some fashion or another as she's getting longer "bangs" that are in her eyes if left down. He did a pretty good job for his first attempt--it'll take practice, but that's the fun of having a girl. Their hair has to be brushed and fixed.

Come Back Anytime Karlie!

What a fun and exciting weekend we had. Matthew and I watched our 2.5 year old niece, Karlie for the weekend. Personally, I think she is VERY advanced in her language skills and the girl can talk, and talk a lot, and talk pretty clearly. It’s amazing! We had an interesting time referring the toys between Ryane and Karlie and making sure they were taking their turns. They also had to take turns on Daddy/Uncle Matt’s lap, as that was a favorite place to be as well.

The most excitement out of our weekend comes from Karlie being potty-trained. A couple weeks ago we bought Ryane her new furniture, a potty chair—not because we were going to start the training, but rather get her used to it being in the bathroom and so she could set on it whenever she wanted. Well, this weekend with Karlie having her potty chair, Ryane had to shadow her every time to the bathroom and set on her own. Karlie kept telling me I needed to take off her pants and diaper. Well, Saturday afternoon, I knew Ryane was ready for a diaper change anyhow, so I took off the diaper and left the girls to set on their potties and I went to get a new diaper. As I was gone, I heard that ‘music to my ears’ literally! Ryane had done a #2 in her potty and I couldn’t be prouder! The next visit, she managed to leave some pee pee in the there to make the music go off again. OK, so now I was starting think my daughter was a potty genius of course!! We’ve gone on the potty the last two mornings—let me tell you, she goes A LOT in the mornings. This morning she had a dry diaper, so I was happy about that. I’m just so proud of her. I always said that once we start potty-training, I wasn’t putting diapers on her. Well, after our trip to Wal-Mart last night, we only found size 3T in training pants—ugh! I really don’t Ryane to have to wear training pants at 3!

I’m thinking maybe at 18months, we hit the potty training harder – at home and at day care. We don’t want to push her right now, but I don’t want to lose any ground we’ve gained so far. We are going to be giving her chances to go and encourage it if she wants. As of now, she WANTS to set on the potty rather than put on a diaper. She'll set on there, then stand up and I'll tell her we have to put her diaper on, so she'll scurry back and set back down. Pretty time consuming, but I understand patience is important in this step. It sure makes for a struggle to put a diaper back on---fun of a toddler! I would love it if she was out of diapers by the time our little guy arrives to keep Matthew and I in the diaper changing mode. Right now, it’s looking very do-able.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is Ryane's Valentine we made for all her friend's at day care. I got the background paper from Golden Girls Digital Design, then created all the other embellishments and frames myself.

Our Little Love Bug

I really didn't intend to wait this long to take Ryane's valentine pictures. Time seemed to just get away from us. Knowing this was our last weekend before Valentine's Day, we managed to sneak in some picture time. Being a typical 1-year old, Ryane "allowed" me enough time to take 4 pictures, then she was done. Pictures 1&2 were very similar, so here are 3 of the pictures taken. Now, I just have to get her valentine cards made before Thursday! Check back for it when the day gets here.




...and, just for fun and giggles - here is one of Ryane's Valentine pictures from last year.

Family-Mobile

Well, I feel like I have my first family wagon! :) If you see a silver Xterra driving around, it's no longer me. We traded it in this week for a Nissan Altima. This is my first vehicle that I've owned that can't be passed off as sporty - it just says "family". Guess this time of our lives happens to the best of us, huh? No matter what it says, I am loving it and think it will fit our growing family well.