McWhit Wedding

The day school was out, began the wedding festivities for my long time baton buddy Kara Whitaker and her groom, Joe McClyde (McWhit). Early in Kara's engagement I volunteered to be her wedding day coordinator, taking vendor phone calls, organizing people, etc. This was before I was pregnant and extra snow days pushed back the end of school. It was also after Ryan's annual golf outing was planned for the same weekend.

Kara and I at her bridal shower in December

Anyway, I was so excited, fatigue and no date didn't slow me down. I had a wonderful time enjoying their beautiful day at Notre Dame with their wedding at the Basilica and reception in the new Percell Pavilion. It was so great to share their day, catch up with old friends, and remember why you love someone!
Even though I didn't feel that busy on her wedding day, I only took one picture...here it is...

Kara applying mascara in the "bride room" before walking down the aisle

Congrats to Joe and Kara! You guys are going to be so happy together!

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Traveling alone with a 22 month old...

Over Memorial Day weekend, I took Rylan to see Em and Gabo in Mexico. Ryan is so awesome for even considering letting his 6 month pregnant wife take his precious boy to a foreign country without him. He was nervous though Gabo assured him he would keep us safe.

We flew over night Thursday night. Rylan did pretty well with the traveling and the waiting for a full hour while AeroMexico experimented with their new system and worked to figure out how to collect the fee for Rylan to fly without a ticket. They "let me go" after the hour to go wait for the plane. We got in line at 10:15pm and sat down at the gate at 12:00am. Rylan was still ready to run at that point. The plane was full. I was in the middle seat with Rylan on my lap and two non-English speaking gentlemen on either side of us. The one on the left seemed nervous about flying and the one on the right was very nice saying (in spanish) Rylan could put his feet on him if he wanted. I was thankful for that and Rylan was really fidgety. I was just beginning to pray that Rylan would settle down and go to sleep when the flight attendants came up to talk to the man on the aisle. I thought they were asking him to change seats with me so I would be on the end, but they were asking him to move to the only other empty seat on the plane! What an answered prayer. I seriously almost cried. 5 minutes later we were moving and Rylan (and I) were headed to sleep. He slept the entire flight, taking full advantage of the empty seat!

Now it was Friday. We got to Emily and Gabo at the airport with very little incident and went straight to sleep at their house when we got there. Later that day we went to the park and Rylan played in a fountain while we took turns enjoying frozen yogurt. Em and Gabo bought him an airplane blow up toy from a balloon lady. It is hanging above his bed in his new room...more to come on that later.

Saturday we went to the zoo in the morning. Rylan was, at this time, taking baby steps out of his "scared of animals" stage and seemed to enjoy it though he spent much of the morning in Gabo's arms. It was a very nice zoo. It was also hot! Later that afternoon we picked up Gabo's dad and headed to Coyoacon to walk around and eat churros. Gabo and his dad also got coffee from one of their favorite spots, and Rylan made some new Mexican friends while playing in another fountain. We also went to Chili's for dinner. We knew we were pushing Rylan's bedtime, but his need to play in the kid area pushed him over the edge. Again, we took turns holding him while the other two were eating, and sweet Gabo climbed in the germ filled kid area so Rylan could try to play. He was really too small. Needless to say he went to sleep quickly.

Sunday we relaxed most of the day and Gabo's sister-in-law came over to cook us lunch (3:00pm). She made chilaquilas, hamburgers, and noodles. It was all very good. In order to be polite, of course, I ate it all. Ryan would have loved the chilaquilas! I should really learn to make them. Rylan slept most of the way through lunch with 20 of Gabo's family members. It was fun being able to see them. They want us to know they are taking care of Emily without us there, that's why his sister-in-law cooked for us. So nice!

Monday we went to the children's museum and hit up every spot for kids under 3. Rylan had a great time at each spot as well as a screaming fit every time we were ready to move to the next one. He went to sleep quickly on our return trip home. On the way home, we picked up Angie at a gas station, and saw a very large man toweling off (remember it is hot) while sitting in his car. Later that night we had a girl's + Rylan night with Costco pizza and girl talk.

Tuesday morning, after another stint in line with AeroMexico, we sat down on the plane 2 minutes before it was scheduled to take off. I had already cried with Emily, was rushing, nervous about going through security, and sweaty. When I finally was settled on the plane and Rylan was happily yelling at the other planes out the window, I started to cry. It could have turned into the ugly cry again but this nice lady sat down next to me and we were instant friends. That helped me so much! We chatted most of the way. Rylan did well again and said "I unt to ride a airplane" as soon as we landed.

I'm so glad we were able to go! I love seeing them. I have no idea when I (we) will get back there with the new baby coming soon and Rylan turning two and having to have his own seat. I'm thankful for this trip, and the hospitality. Despite the fact that I got a viscous stomach bug when I got home. Parasites and amoebas were ruled out yet it lasted two weeks! It wouldn't have been so bad had Ryan not caught it from me! Oops!

April

April brought a much welcomed spring and visit to Chicago to see new baby Tessa B! We had a fun couple of days hanging out with the Purdue pals at the Burritt's and the zoo. We had three 2 year olds at the zoo. Rylan was clearly the "stongest willed" of the group asserting himself each time it was time to go back in his stroller to see another animal or go somewhere else in general.Rylan and Kyri

Rylan, Kyri, and Conn0r

We had a great weekend together as usual. Rylan has been going through this scared of animals phase though, so that was less than enjoyable with the Burritt's pooch, and all of the animals at the zoo. He loves to talk about going to see animals, and see them in books, but the movement up close was not his thing.

We also had a VERY hot day in April. One Sunday, it was in the 80s. We busted out Rylan's wagon he got from Santa. We took a walk on the path by the river. I felt like I had walked 5 miles and we really only went about 2. And we were walking pretty slow. My hands were swollen, and I was moving like a turtle by the end. I told Ryan I didn't know what I was going to do mid-July. I think I was just so hot because it had just stopped snowing the week before.


We also did Easter with the family in April. We had a great day. Rylan loved picking up the eggs and then throwing them out of the basket. Due to all of the fun with egg hunting, he melted down at church, and they flashed his name up on the screen. We figured that may happen, that boy needs his sleep! Here are some pictures of him enjoying the eggs.Heather and Greg won the "big kid" egg hunt at Nana and Papa's. Ryan and I didn't do so bad though, it took me a long time to spend all of our change on Diet Cokes. :)

March

March brought the wedding of my brother, Eric, and his new sweet wife, Cindy. The month flew by as we made the trip to California to spend the week sight seeing and doing wedding festivities. We started in San Francisco checking out Pier 39, the Anchor Steam Brewery, the aquarium, a random Target, and all of the transportation. Rylan was VERY into the many vehicles throughout the trip.

Rylan loved the airport! He slept the whole way there across Mom, Ryan, and I's lap. Thank goodness we were all in a row together! One of my favorite parts of the trip is that all of us siblings were together. Em and Gabo made the trip from Mexico too! The photographer was great, he got some great pictures of all of the family together.

Here is one of the best photos we got of the three of us (not great I know)...this was after Rylan's 2 1/2 hour nap during the reception...this was very late at night.

On a side note, I tried to force him to sleep before the wedding, instead he said EVERY word he knew during the ceremony. At one point he even said "I unt to slap boards." (Ryan taught him this while they were playing basketball and he does it on the doorways.) I decided I wasn't going to miss the wedding because he was talking, so I took him down to sit in the back. I was so frustrated by the end, I had my shoes hooked to my arm (from standing for an hour holding a 30 pounder), and cried in the bathroom. Gabo, the baby whisper, insisted on taking him to help (force) him to sleep, and of course it worked...thus leading to the long nap. Gabo is awesome at that!

I am so grateful that we are able to make these trips to celebrate with our loved ones! We had a great time! If you have a snapfish account, you can click here and view the photo album I created for Eric and Cindy of our time in California.

Rylan in January and February

Rylan had his 18 month well check up in January and many many non-well appointments during the winter months. He was 36 1/2 inches and 28 lbs at his check-up. He was healthy other than his constant double ear infections. We were at the doctor every other Monday for six weeks and I missed at least one day of work each week beginning before Christmas break. After I finally talked the doctor into referring us to a specialist and Rylan actually getting tubes in his ears, he had had 10 ear infections and 5 different antibiotics. He had infections when he had his tubes put in on February 11th.


This is Rylan is his little gown before his tubes were put in. Much to our surprise he went with the nurses without crying. It was so quick. Rylan didn't really cry when until we got back to recovery and were getting ready to go. He fussed a little bit in the car until he saw all of the buses on the street and forgot why he was sad.
Since his tubes he has only missed 1 day of daycare for being sick. This was the best thing for him! He is even used to putting in his earplugs for baths and swimming lessons. He probably won't even remember how bad his ears hurt for all of those months.

Some milestones:
In December Rylan-
-loved to listen to books
-was really into his push/ride train
-loved his musical toys
-was just getting into watching shows other than his Baby Mozart DVD
-was singing the ABCs
-was recognizing some of the upper case letters (the R and K on the Christmas ornaments)
-was counting to 10 and recognizing the numbers
-loved to say "1,2,3 jump!" while just bending his knees and straightening himself out

In January Rylan-
-was really getting into cars and blocks (Christmas helped this)
-was really into bath time (and his new toys he got from Nana and Papa)
-still loved reading books
-had memorized Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin and helped us read it
-was LOVING Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
-was recognizing the upper case letters and counting objects
-was using tons of words
-was introduced to timeout


In February Rylan-
-started to get more into nursery rhymes and songs
-was still loving to read
-was talking more and more
-couldn't decide if he liked Mickey Mouse or Elmo more
-started his basketball career on a $5 garage sale Little Tykes rim in our living room
-began jumping on the couch and yelling "sit down"
-even told two waitresses at Applebee's to "sit down" while they were pulling the blinds down

Rylan continues to be very affectionate with almost everyone. He has gone through a couple of hitting/kicking/biting phases that thankfully don't last forever. He is hilarious to us, and the smartest kid around. We love it!

Being pregnant in January and February

At the time, Ryan and I hadn't announced that we were expecting, except to Em and Gabo. I fell down the stairs mid-January and had some worries a few days later so I called the doctor and they scheduled an ultrasound for that day. We were very nervous and very thankful to get an appointment so quickly. The ultrasound revealed a strong heartbeat (162 bpm) right away. What a relief! It also showed a small clot that had formed right next to the baby. We were told by the doctor that there was a good chance it would absolve back into the body but that I was to "take it easy" for the next 3 weeks and they would check again. I asked what to do about my 30 lb babe at home, and he said to limit the lifting as much as possible. So I tried, prayed a lot, read only one time about clots and pregnancy (that was plenty), and tried to take it easy. I had help in that department, Ryan was/is awesome. On February 10th, we had another appointment scheduled for an ultrasound and a regular appointment later that afternoon. I was 11 weeks at the time. The ultrasound revealed that the clot was gone and still a good strong heartbeat (164 bpm). We left the office and headed back later for the regular appointment. This was the appointment when the doctor uses the very old looking doppler machine to find the heartbeat. The doctor actually never found the heartbeat with that machine. I told him I was okay with that because I had just heard/seen it a couple of hours earlier. I laughed at myself because that would have made me crazy in any other situation. Below are the pictures of the ultrasounds from the two appointments.

This is baby at 7 weeks 6 days. The dark circle is where the baby and clot are located. The baby is on the bottom.

This is baby at 11 weeks. The clot is gone, and look home much growth has happened! Amazing!

Back to January

I have been meaning to post for months now. (Of course, this is the story of my life.) I wanted to go back and include some pictures and fun times we have had during 2011 even though it is already May. I would really like for this blog to help us highlight family fun as well as milestones. So I'll back up...

January
Rylan played in the snow for the first (and really only time) January 6th. We bundled up and headed out. It took as long to bundle as we actually spent outside. He loved standing in it, but was very unsure when he would fall down mainly because he needed help getting up. We had a great time! Here are some pictures...


2 days later Rylan woke up at his usual very early hour and we spent a normal Saturday morning watching Mickey Mouse on the couch for the first little while we were awake. Well, he was awake, we were cuddling on the couch and I wasn't awake at all. :) So when we moved from the couch, I decided to peek outside and see if we got anymore snow because that's what they were predicting. You may know what the snow predictions are like, sometimes correct, sometimes not. This is what I saw...

I was honestly speechless, and as dumbfounded as I was, Rylan had no idea what I was so worked up about. I really wanted to wake Ryan up, but knew this was not a good enough reason. Needless to say our late family Christmas for the Hendrick's side was canceled. We were snowed in. It continued to snow all day. Below are more pictures from our big snow...


This is Ryan's truck. He happened to parked in the street because he was going to clear the driveway the night before. Good thing he didn't, it would've have been time wasted!

Ryan clearing the driveway. This snow blower is one of the best investments we have ever made.

This is Rylan's playset. It has a slide that you can't see. It continued to snow all day and we got about 6 more inches.