Overnight Get Away: Part I

Jeff decided a few weeks ago that he'd like to do a 1/2 marathon in Varnell, GA called "Run for God" on his birthday weekend. We thought it'd make for a fun ending to spring break and a good little overnight get away for our little family. Warning: I took a ton of pictures! So I'll try not to write too much so you can just enjoy!

We started off on Friday with my 30 week check up (a little late) and then headed on out for lunch... at a favorite..

2 hours later, we'd made it! Our little home away from home for the night.

We actually got two rooms, thanks to Jeff, who insisted Rhyan have her own room. He was concerned about having to sleep in the same room since we never have... plus, she goes to bed around 7:30 which is a bit early for us! So, i found the cheapest place to stay that was clean and had a good reputation (less than $50 per room!) so it worked out. Here is our room.

It had a great kitchenette area! Came in pretty handy!

After we unloaded our stuff and got settled, we decided to head on out to pick up Jeff's race packet for Saturday morning's race. The packet pick up was at the Varnell parks and recreation center and there was a great playground there. We had considered going to rock city or the discovery museum in Chatanooga since it was only about 15 min away, but the FREE playground was calling to us... and turned out to be great for letting Rhyan get some energy out after the car ride!

Even big "kids" need a water break occasionally :-)

There was an open pasture that she had a blast walking around!

How peaceful?! LOVE this house!

WARNING: Rhyan is about to get a little Mary Katherine Gallagher on us :-) HA!

Yes, she is for real kissing the tree! Oh, Lorddy.

Now that was funny!

Doing her "SMILE"!

Chillin in the handicapped swing at the school next door.

After our exhausting hour of play, we were all ready to eat. So we got into the worst traffic I've seen in a while on 75N (due to an accident) and chilled in it for over 30 minutes trying to go the 5 miles to the exit that had food. Cracker Barrell was calling to us!
Rhyan slept pretty decently in the car on the way, but her normal 2.5-3 hour nap was shortened to about an hour since it was a car nap. This probably would have been fine except that the same thing happened the day before on our trip home from the aquarium. So by dinner that evening, she was getting moody. There is a BIG difference in how she acts if she's had enough sleep (joyful!) compared to this evening where she was farily unpredictable. When I post about Saturday, you'll read more about her mood swings :-( But sometimes, life just must go on. So we made do.

We headed back to the hotel and got Rhyan settled in. She did great.. slept like a rock! Jeff and I were grateful to have brought the laptop so that we could explore the internet and watch tv for the evening. But in all honesty, I was pretty worn out from the day and so was Jeff, so we all called it a night pretty early to get ready for the full day ahead!

Stay tuned...

Happy Birthday to my Honey

We're home from our little overnight get-away and I promise to post about that soon, but for today, Jeff gets the shout out all to himself :-)

31 years ago today, Jeffrey Ryan Ford was born. He is the second son to a couple of great parents, Andy and Ronni and little brother to Jason.

He was a cutie from the start! I love looking through his parents old picture albums and seeing his little wavy fro and big smile.

It seems, from all the stories I've heard, that he was also born the little entertainer. Always into something... picking on his big brother... throwing the cat on top of the entertainment center, etc.
He truly is a guy who is just joyful. He can make me laugh when nothing else can.

Can i just say that i feel incredibly blessed that I am loved by him?! Jeff truly loves unconditionally. He never judges me. Always loves me... and let me assure you, I am NOT very lovable at times!

He is a godly man who cares deeply about teaching our children about Gods word and more importantly, about Gods love.

He is a provider for our family, a best friend for me, a fabulous father to our daughter (and soon to be son!) and so much more. He is a role model for anyone who knows him. He is a man of character. He knows what he stands for. Jeff can be opinionated (ie: politics), but his opinions are well thought out.

He's smart.

He's uber handsome. (like a cheese or fine wine, my man is getting better with age!... so unfair!)

And he's all mine.

Happy Birthday, Jeff. I simply adore you and am so grateful that you let me share your life with you!

Rhyans 1st trip to the Aquarium!

Thursday of Spring Break, Jeff had a great idea of taking Rhyan to the GA Aquarium. Rhyan loves "shish" and so we knew this would be a treat for her. Jeff and I had both been once before a few years ago and wanted this trip to be all for and all about Rhyan and whatever she found to be interesting. We left pretty early hoping to avoid the crowds and it worked! It wasnt very crowded at all (we got there a little before 10am) so we basically let Rhyan walk the entire thing, which made her feel like big stuff.
She led us around like we were on a leash... and had a blast! Here are some of my favorite pics of the day!

Her fake "cheese" smile

She was ready to move on. And good Lord, is my face getting big or what? :-(

That pointer finger got a real work out! She was saying "wook" and "shee?" and "shish!" all day!

They were cleaning this tank and the sweet lady hung out and waved to Rhyan!

When we entered the tunnel where fish are on ALL sides. She was AMAZED!

And she, of course, loved the moving sidewalk :-)

Touching the sea urchins... slimy little fellas.

There was a crawl tube that you could go in and a couple of "pop up's" to stand up in where you were acually IN the penguin exhibit (surrounded by glass, of course). Jeff took Rhyan through it and said she LOVED it!

Not so sure about touching the stingrays...

Water break!

Daddy showing her to use 2 fingers to touch the starfish. She thought one worked just fine!

Ick.

Our only family pic of the day...

5 minutes after leaving... she was WORN OUT!

What a great day! At one point while I was sitting while Jeff and Rhyan went to a little area that the stroller wouldnt go, I got teary eyed. Call it hormones or whatever you want, but I adore having our little family and it is such a joy to see Rhyan growing up and being able to take her fun places and for her to be old enough to enjoy it. This parenting gig, while hard, is pretty fantastic :-)

Spring Break: Daddy Daycare

SPRING BREAK!!!! Jeff is loving it. And its great for Rhyan because she's getting some much needed during baseball season one-on-one time with her Daddy. Yesterday was their first day all alone and they made it eventful. They started off with a Daddy/Daughter breakfast date to CFA (their fav!) and then a trip to target where they apparently just walked around and bought some bubbles. After lunch and nap, they took a bike ride up to Harbins park where Rhyan incurred several injuries from being so clumsy (is this a phase?! the girl cant walk straight some days!). So by the time I got home, she looked like she'd been beaten! It made me slightly concerned. JK.

Click on the pic to enlarge and check out the 5000 scrapes on her legs!

Rhyan has also enjoyed some light reading...

and some fun bath-time drawings :-)

Of course she knows she has to "keen up", although she occasionally asks for "elp"

What a GREAT job! :-)

They've survived 2 days so far. Tomorrow's my last day of work for the week but Rhyan will be spending most of it with her Gran since Jeff has a physical in the morning and a double header baseball game starting at 2pm. We've got some big plans for Thurs, Fri and Sat that I'll keep up with and blog about asap.

On a side note, i could have sworn that our house was going to blow away last night! I kept watching Rhyan on the video monitor to see if it was upsetting her, but she never moved a muscle. So, i'm thinking that if she could sleep through that storm, I dont need to worry about the baby waking her when he gets here :-)

Rhyan: 23 months old!

Theres a new post below about our trip to the library tha thas pics. This post doesnt have any pics. Disclaimer done.

I dont even know how to express the pure joy that Rhyan brings to my life. I am so grateful for her fun personality! She really is so sweet, very teachable and loving.

And i cannot believe that in just (less than) a month, our baby will be TWO years old! And at the same time, i'll be glad to move to 6 month updates :-)

I cant even think of all the things that have changed this month with Rhyan.

• Napping is still going well. She goes down around 1pm and sleeps until 3:30, give or take.

• Nighttime sleep is from around 7:30pm-7am. Some nights she stays up a little later (if we're out and about) and some she's in bed by 7:15. With the time change, I find it difficult to get her in bed on time. Its still so bright out (Thank you lord!)!!!
• Eating is still great. She has a good appetite most days. There are some days that she doesnt eat as well, but on those days, I dont worry. Over the course of 2-3 days, she gets plenty.
• Rhyan adds words DAILY. She will try saying ANYTHING! My very most favorite thing that she started saying this month is "Shelby" (one of her friends who stays at Tracy's). Its super cute and she was super proud of herself for saying it!
• No fits/2year tantrums yet. She does try whining to get her way if we tell her "no" about something, but we quickly tell her "no maam" that she can use her words and that while its ok to be upset, its not ok to be ugly about it. She seems to understand? For now... :-)
• Bottom molars are bugging her from time to time. Its causing some off and on fevers (i think thats what its from... no way to know for sure) and her gums are pretty swollen back there. On the upside, she's not drooling nearly as much and doesnt require a bib (odd, since they seem to be moving on in). No official appearance, yet, but they're coming.
• She told me once this month that she "go poopoo". She had not yet gone so i asked if she wanted to go in the potty. She said yes (she say's yes "see" like she's speaking spanish?! how odd! but funny.) so I took her in there. 1st problem is that I dont think she likes to poopie sitting down. I think this is an odd concept/feeling for her. So as the poopie came out, she stood up and it fell on the floor, to which she exclaimed "MAMA! UHOH!!! GUCK!". Yes, indeed it was guck. And we will not be trying the potty anytime soon again :-)
• Nightmares continue on occasion :-( I'll chat w/ the Dr about it at her 2 year checkup, although from all of my research, we're doing all we can.
  
• She vomited in her bed again once this month. This makes 4 times in 5 months. I'm looking forward to discussing this with the Dr as well and looking into the possibility of going back on reflux meds if needed.
  

She's getting a little bossy :-) If she wants Jeff or I to do something (like take her "outside"), she'll pull us by the hand or push our legs and say "GO!GO!GO!". And if we dont go she says "nooooooowwwwww". haha. Pretty sure she got the "now" from me telling her to either clean up or come to me or put that in the trash or whatever command i give followed with a "now". :-) Kids pick up on stuff FAST!

Soaking up this last month before she turns Two! And having a blast planning her party!

PS- NEW POST BELOW!

Our First Trip to the Library!

A couple of months ago, I started looking into something that Rhyan and I could do together where I could be with her but see her interact with other kids. On the top of my list was toddler gymnastics. Theres a place in Dacula that I liked, but they didnt offer classes at times that worked for us and honestly, it was more money than I wanted to spend. Then, thanks to tracy, I found this great place in Winder that was cheap and I was excited! Until I found out that they only do classes on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings... two of the three mornings that I work each week :-(

But two weeks ago, Tracy sent home a schedule of toddler activities offered by our local libraries... for FREE! 1st off, isnt she wonderful to be that thoughtful? And secondly, doesnt free ROCK?! So Rhyan and I headed up to the library this past monday for the 10:15am toddler time of reading. It was GREAT!

The sweet lady started off with doing a felt board and talking about rainy days. Fit right along with the weather for the day (planned, i'm sure) so that was cool! She talked about umbrellas, clouds, etc... Then, she sang a sweet little song letting the kids know it was time to be good listeners and read the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to them. I got some cute pics of Rhyan chilling out and listening to the story :-)

Then, she took the kids over for an activity. This particular day, they played with sheer scarves. They played "peek-a-boo" with them and danced with them. Rhyan loved it! No pics of that, but it was adorable, trust me!

After the activity, all of the kids came back to the sitting area where they all sang another song and then got in line to receive their hand stamp (a rain cloud and drops).

She politely told the nice lady "tane-tu" for her stamp. She really is a sweetie!!!!

Then, the kids had free time. Rhyan was obsessed with walking up and down those little stairs and practiced that for a loooooong time. This little boy (who's name i never can remember!) followed her around and did everything she did. Cute.

Man, those steps wear a girl out!

And finally, she wanted to play on the computer. These are mini-mac's set up just for children with kids games. They are definitely for kids a little older, but she loved trying it out!

We had a great time and it was so fun to see how independent she is! She didnt follow any kids around, but boy, did they follow her (some, anyways). She had a blast doing her own thing and I loved watching her! We will DEFINITELY be going back!