Tuesday, November 30, 2010

McKinnon Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving day was a bit interesting for us this year. Rhyan was not herself and so we spent a good bit of time consoling her and trying to figure out what was wrong. The nice thing about this year is that it was just family. No "strays". haha! Just kidding. I like it just fine when people in the family invite friends to come. After all, no one wants a friend to not have a place to go for Thanksgiving! But at the same time, its really nice when you have the occasional year of it just being family. No awkward silences. No trying to figure out what to talk about... just the comfort of family :-) So that was really, really nice. AND, everyone got along (mostly) for most of the day. Miracle you ask? Yes. Definitely.

I enjoyed this year because i had an excuse to wear my stretchy preggo jeans :-) I mean, who doesnt love stretchy pants for turkey day?!

Rhyan was clearly not feeling her happy self :-(

Mama, Mommie and Jonathan... and the yummo food, of course!

Rhyan wouldnt stay in her seat w/o crying, so i tried to eat, feed her and hold her :-(

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. nuff said.

Mama trying to comfort poor little Rhyan on the front porch swing.

Finally, Mommie found something that made her happy. She filled up a bucket, stripped her down (the back porch is heated and enclosed) and let her play in water! lol. Gotta love "grandmother" :-) She will do ANYTHING to make my baby happy!


Dip in the water....


... and pour it ALL over yourself! hahah....
I always love thanksgiving with my family. The food is just. so. yummy. The desserts are fab. And we always love time with my crazy family :-)

Thanksgiving night, Shlaine and I always decorate Mommie's Christmas tree. We kept with tradition (after watching survivor, of course!) and then retired to Shlaine's house to get our game plan ready for black friday.

Y'all, we got up at 2:30 am to be at Kohls by 3am on friday. And i'm telling you the truth, i thought i would DIE! I've never been so glad for it to be a year that shlaine had to drive :-) She, of course, hated it! haha. We shopped and shopped and shopped and on the way home, I fell asleep. Thats kind of against the "rules", but she forgave me b/c of the pregnancy. She actually said i snored! HAHAHAH! I think that makes year 13 or 14 of shopping on Black Friday with Shlaine. We will both tell you that its miserable, so we're not sure why we do it, but its tradition, and not one we plan to give up until we (or rather, Shlaine) is too old to go! lol.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Tankersley Thanksgiving 2010

The Tankersley family Thanksgiving get together happens each year the Saturday before the actual holiday. We had a great time together, as always, at Uncle Wayne and Aunt Cathy's home in Madison. The weather was absolutely perfect and the food was delicious. What more could we ask for?!

This was also the day that we told the whole family we are having another baby! We got a shirt for Rhyan saying "big sister" and had her wear it so that she could be the one to "tell all". Everyone was quite surprised (we did wait until we were 11 weeks this time to share!) and were all excited for us!

I also have a TON of pics from the day that i just love. I couldnt pic, so I'm posting them all! Enjoy!
Chowing down

Some of my favorite pics of Rhyan...



Rhyan and Grandad

Aunt Gaye reading a book to Rhyan

Having fun with Daddy!

After dinner, we took a walk in the pasture to see the bull and cows. This was Rhyan's 1st time getting to see a cow in person and she "mmmmmmooo"'d to them all!

Frame worthy? I think so :-)

She just sat down and "moooo"'d at the cows for a while!


Then we headed back out to the front yard to join the family in all the fun. Liz was taking pics of everyone, as always!

Brothers :-)

The girls were sitting around watching...

While their brothers played "corn hole" :-)

All the girls

And the big, bad boys!

Uncle Brian/Aunt Becky's Family

Uncle Wayne/Aunt Cathy's Family (minus Jenny and Tripp who came on Turkey day)

Tankersley Siblings

Ford Family

The WHOLE Tank Clan!!!!







I love this one... these boys will never be too old for their old man to be able to whoop up on them!
It really was a great day. It was so nice that Rhyan was able to be awake for it all this year (last year she was still napping most of the day! so she missed out on all the fun...) and that we ALL got to visit. We missed Jenny and Tripp who live in Valdosta and needed to wait to come up on Thanksgiving Day, but other than that, EVERYONE was there this year. Hopefully, next year our family pic will be full of little ones... I think there are several of us "trying" to make that happen :-) Here's to hoping for a growing Tank Family in 2011!!!!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Almost Wordless Wednesday

What can i say, other than, "yep! thats my kid!"
*sigh*

Monday, November 22, 2010

Start Spreading the News....

"... I'm leaving today..."

Hope you thought of the song and that its stuck in your head now :-)

So, I thought I'd update the blogger world and all 3 of you who read this on what is going on in our lives. Our big news? We are expecting baby #2 June 11th of next year!

I am currently 11 weeks pregnant. I have had 5 ultrasounds so far and everything looks great! Of course, after having had a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy, its hard to really feel like everything is ok... I think I felt comfortable that Rhyan would be fine when I hit around 38 weeks!
But really, I do think things are probably fine and am trying desperately to NOT fear but to TRUST. Everyone knows thats easier said than done, right?! haha...

Anyways, life is good. I'll be due at the beginning of summer so Jeff will be home with us to adjust which will be awesome! Gods timing is soooo good. And i'm appreciative.

So far, i'm nauseated pretty much 24/7, but thats a sign of a healthy pregnancy, or so "they" say. So i guess thats good. And i'm on progesterone for about another week just as a precautionary measure because of the miscarriage from this summer. It makes me tired, but its definitely doable. (Isnt anything for a period of time?!)

All in all, we are thrilled. We are a little scared of having TWO kids... oh, my... just saying it sounds scary! But Jeff is an awesome dad. He may not mop floors or clean windows, but he doesnt shy away from any duty that is kid related. He changes diapers, gives baths, uses the nasal aspirator!, feeds, rocks, dances with and plays with rhyan... I couldnt ask for him to be any better to our daughter. Well... if he could learn to breast feed, that would be the BOMB! haha. So i think that we'll adjust, as a team, as we always do :-)

Appreciative of any and all prayers for a continued healthy pregnancy and baby!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Monday, November 8, 2010

Ahhhhh... welcome back, computer!

So, as i mentioned a week or so ago, our computer has been on the fritz. Jeff was trying to get AT&T to help him figure out if it was a computer problem or an internet problem (the internet kept shutting down) but he mentioned the word "virus" while he was on the phone w/ them and they refused to help anymore. Really?! Thanks for the great customer service.

BUT, I ended up downloading all of the "updates" available for our computer and guess what?! That seemed to fix the issue. Praise the Lord! So now, I can get back to updating!

I'll start with what has been going on most recently: Rhyan's 18 month checkup.

Her stats were as follows:
Height: 33.5 inches (92%)
Weight: 26lbs 9.1oz (79%)
Head Circumference: 18.5 inches (62%)

Dr Messick (the best pediatrician EVER) said she looks great. He said that her tummy looked like a toddler tummy should (aka: huge) and that he felt certain she wasnt being deprived of food. lol. On a side note, while I fix her breakfast, lunch or dinner, she whines incessantly as if she will absolutely STARVE if she doesnt eat immediately. Somehow, she survives till its done.

As far as milestones to report, there arent many. She continues to eat well, sleep well and learn. She is enjoying playing with playdough recently and is learning new words all the time. She shakes her head "yes" and "no" to answer and seems to understand truly everything we tell her. She has added several words but my favorites are "Ashes, Ashes" (as in ring around the rosies...), "pud" (for spud) and "off" when she wants her socks off or wants to turn a light off, etc.
She is very playful, especially during times of getting dressed. She basically wants you to chase her down, catch her and then try to dress her while she wiggles and giggles the whole time. Fun if you have the time, not so funny when you're rushed. She doesnt seem to grasp the concept of "we're running late" yet, so its a little difficult for her to understand why I sometimes play along and other times tell her she has to sit still. :-(

She still absolutely loves to read/be read to. She is also becoming quite fond of her stuffed monkey that angela gave her. We started putting it in her bed for her to sleep with (more for it to be there when she woke up to play with) around 14 months old, i think. I cant remember. But she now rubs it against her face, wants to give it hugs and kisses before getting out of bed in the a.m. and if we take it out of the bed to change sheets, she wants to put him back quickly.
Just this past week, she started pointing to her eye ("I"), then crossing her arms ("love") and pointing to me or Jeff ("you!"). My mom taught her that. Its precious!

She still loves water and really likes to take showers with me. She does seem to be pointing out our "differences" more and more lately, so idk how much longer that will be appropriate. I thought she was young to notice stuff like that?

She is also loving playing outside now that its cooler. Rhyan is super hot natured and it was hard in the summer to let her play outside too long, especially with the HOT summer we've had. Her little face would get beet red and she'd sweat like a man. So this cooler weather has been a nice reprieve for her! (although i freeze when i take her out!)

Lastly, we've noticed that she's doing something that Mommie said i was obsessed with as a child: checking her toes for "toe jam" (as we all it around here). She wants to inspect her toes at least a couple of times a day, or every time we take her socks off (which she asks us to do so she can check!). It's pretty hilarous.

In regards to babywise, i've kind of fallen off the wagon. When Rhyan became discontent in her playpen for independent playtime (around 13 months old), I never moved to room time. This is a huge regret of mine. I am anticipating going back and working on this in the next few weeks. I've noticed her becoming more and more whiney and clingy and i KNOW this has something to do with it. It may not be the entire reason, but its part of it. Especially now that outside time is becoming limited due to cold weather, its so crucial that she learn to be content playing inside and using her imagination.

Well, thats about it! I'll work on getting pics up and getting back onto updating this thing! As a side note, I FINALLY got finished w/ my 2009 blog book (i turned my blog into a book!) and its fantastic. It really makes me want to make sure to not forget to keep this updated!

Looking forward to all of the holidays coming.... and BOY are they coming FAST!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween!

Halloween was WAY more fun this year than last... for one, Rhyan can stay awake longer now so she can be AWAKE for most of it :-) We also had a fall festival at church this year that she really enjoyed. We allow her to have small amounts of candy these days so she liked that part, too.

I really didnt want to spend money on a costume this year... i just felt it was unnecessary to pay a lot of money for something. So i looked to dress her up using stuff we already had. So, she was a fairy :-) My bff, Angela, had brought the wings for Rhyan back when she was only 12 days old! They were a bit large, then, but fit great now!

First, i have to post pics of my Mom (the witch... really, that was her costume...) and my Mommie who dressed as a "flapper" from the 20's this year for their bunko group party. They are a hoot!



Ready for our church's fall festival. LOVE those eyes!

We did "trunk or treat" at our festival this year and our sunday school class decided to do a covered wagon wild west theme. Jeff is looking more like farmer jeff than cowboy jeff, but the boy will use any excuse to wear his overalls :-)

Our sweet little fairy!

Playing the games... she loved the ducks ("cakk cakk")

After "Shrek" scared her! lol
Halloween evening, Rhyan really didnt seem to be quite herself. She ended up running a fever a day or so after and was pretty sick for a bit so in hindsight I can see why she didnt really do so well. We were going to go to my Mommie's, Mama's and then trick-or-treating in our neighborhood for a few homes, but we ended up going home after the family visits. She just wasnt up for it. And as much as it disappointed me, lets face it... halloween is for the kids to enjoy. So if she wasnt enjoying it, there was no use in pushing it. So we went ahead and put her to bed like normal and then turned off all the lights and tried to hide! haha.

Rhyan with her Great Grandmother (my Mommie) and her 2nd? or 3rd cousins? Idk. They are my cousin's children. So i think they are 3rd, but who cares!? She loves them!!!

Using her wand to make the flowers bloom. Jk.
So i guess it goes without saying that it worked out very well to have saved money on a costume. She looked super cute, regardless! :-)