I hate to interrupt my blog break once again, but this one is too easy. Here is a link to my friend’s blog… a friend who happens to be our family photographer as well. Scroll down until you find the super sweet pictures of our girls!
ONE!
My blog break has been interrupted by a big event in the Riddle house…our sweet Rynn is ONE! I’m really not sure whether to be excited or sad about the whole situation, but one thing is for sure…I’m loving the stage she is in right now. She is playful, sweet, happy, and curious. As much as I’d love for her to stay a baby, she is truly developing a personality that cracks us up and makes us melt all at the same time. She is such a blessing to our family.
Rynn and big sister are really starting to play together more and more. This playtime also causes a few throw-downs on our living room floor, especially when our sneaky baby snags her sister’s sippy cup (which happens to be a bit of a security item for Reece) to get a swig of some yummy juice!
Rynn’s curiosity has peeked, and when we have to tell her “no,” her little feelings are crushed! And when we take something away from her, the drama that ensues rivals her sister’s theatrical talent.
Most of all though, Rynn is a super laid back, happy, sweet child, whom her Kids Day Out teachers say they want to “clone.”
She’s our sweet baby Rynn, and she’s a wonderful gift from God.
Oh, and just in time for her birthday, she has two teeth!
Two and a half!
Reecer turned 2 1/2 a couple of weeks back. I thought I’d post some of the things she does now, so that maybe one day I’ll transfer it all to her baby book (along with the first two years of her life). 
- The girl loves princesses. I don’t remember ever being into princesses, and I kinda thought if Reece did decide to like princesses it would come around the age of 4 or 5, but not so. At 2 1/2, if she isn’t being a mommy, Reece is a princess. Oftentimes she’ll tell me, “I turned into a princess, Mommy” when she wakes up from her nap. She spins like a princess, calls her daddy a prince, requests princess videos all day long, cries when I don’t buy her a princess item she sees in the store, reads princess books…everything is PRINCESS! (gag) I must admit that it’s great to be able to use the whole “Princesses don’t act that way” approach when she isn’t being nice. And when she’s lallygagging and not moving to the car fast enough, all I have to say is, “Princess Reece, your carriage awaits,” and she’s in the car in a flash.
- She’s an independent lallygagger. Not only does she have to do everything herself, but she takes her time and does not like to feel rushed. Feeling rushed and feeling as though her independence is being compromised causes a major meltdown. That’s why we’re late everywhere we go.
- Reece is becoming quite the helper. She picks stuff up and puts it where it belongs, and she throws trash away without being asked.
- Reece is so funny, sweet, and pleasant. I enjoy her company and her two-and-a-half-year-old insight. And she has a really great, smart sense of humor.
- When she’s upset, she’s REALLY upset. Explosive tantrums seem to be our biggest issue with Reece. Lately, I feel we’re finally seeing some improvements as we “love and logic” her. Scott gets results with Reece by counting to 5, while I get results by giving her two choices and letting her decide what direction she wants to go. Taking toys/privileges away also works. Spankings and time out really just lead to much huger and longer tantrums, but we still use these, as they are effective for getting our point across. Of course, when we’re in public we focus on avoiding a tantrum at all, so we tend to cater to Reece’s desires then. Ugh.
- Reece’s vocabulary is quite large, and she speaks with great clarity. She likes using words like “constipated” and “disgusting” (even though she uses this one out of context), and phrases like, “Don’t say those words to me” and “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe it!”
- She can count to nine, sing most parts of the ABC’s, draw circles, and identify shapes such as square, triangle, oval.
- Reece LOVES to pretend…with her dolls, her kitchen, everything. She acts out scenarios by talking to herself. It’s hilarious. Her imagination is so vivid. She used my exercise bands to make shapes of a boat on the floor the other day, then she sat in her boat and played. I love watching this.
- She’s beginning to crawl in our bed if she wakes up during the night. Scott hates it; I secretly like it. She’s a snuggle bunny just like me.
- Reece still loves to read books like they’re going out of style. We could read all day long.
- She’s working on peddling her tricycle by herself.
- The girl could swing all the day long too.
- She’s becoming a great big sis. Although she has her bad moments (when Rynn takes a toy or sippy cup from Reece), Reece really looks out for her little sister.
- Reece is still a great sleeper…she usually sleeps 11 or so hours at night, and takes a good 3 hour nap.
- She loves to eat: chicken nuggets, waffles, grapes, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, apples, grilled cheese sandwiches, apricots, french fries, and more (this isn’t what she is always offered, but is what she will most likely finish eating when given). She still says no to milk (beginning when she had her tonsil issues), but she loves apple juice and flavored water.
- She’s in the 95th percentile for height, and has finally reached the 50th percentile for weight in her age group.
- I love how her mind works. You can almost see it in action. And she cracks me up with the way she recalls days by what color of shirt her daddy had on.
I still feel the same way about Reece as I did when we brought her home two and a half years ago, in that every time she sleeps (no matter if bedtime couldn’t arrive soon enough!), I can’t wait till the next time she wakes up. Love that girl.
(I really didn’t think I’d ever post this on the internet, but it just sums her up so well!!)
Indian(a) Summer
We had a wonderful time with family in Indiana. Not being able to travel there as often as I once did before children, I missed them terribly and I am so thankful our whole family could get together with their whole family (as opposed to getting a few of them here or a few of us going there.). The girls were reacquainted with their aunt, uncle, and cousins and Reece has spoken fondly of each of them ever since. Nate, Phil, Anna, and Luke all did so well with the little girls. The two bigger boys have always impressed me that they play and play and play with their little girl cousins when they could be more concerned with their upcoming football game, or homework, or even the t.v. Nate and Phil swung Reece and read books to her (princess books at that!) and held Rynn any chance they could. Anna shared her princesses and baby dolls so well and was so sweet with the girls. Just like the last time we visited when Reece was nearly one and learned how to wrap boas around her neck and carry a purse, Anna offered more things for Reece to learn. This time it was the “climb the door frame” maneuver, but Reece has yet to be successful at actually getting up to the ceiling. Luke (a.k.a. “Yuker”) and the Reecer became pals right off, and even though he wished Rynn would have been a boy, I know he loved her lots too. Why else would he leave his G.I. Joe mission in the playroom to go play with the girl on the other side of the sliding glass door?!
Wayland and Kaleesha were so wonderful to let us invade their house and their busy family schedule. Wayland seemed to work magic on Reecer’s occasional grumpiness and Kaleesha was, as always, so hospitable. I loved being able to visit over breakfast out, and during down time at the house. The four adults stayed up late each night after putting the kids down so we could visit more.
One of our most memorable moments of the trip came during the start of Nathanael’s football scrimmage. Reece had been woken up from her nap before we left and was in a foul mood, even by Reece’s standards. She threw a monster fit on the way to the field (something about her independence being challenged) and threw herself on the ground. After finally coaxing her to peel herself off of the ground and into the stadium, she decided to take her baby doll to go tee-tee at the end of the bleachers…where we would later learn was right above the home of a bee hive. I hadn’t had a chance to watch a single play because of the two bees I kept shooing away from Rynn’s stroller, but a familiar scream broke my attention off of Rynn and onto Reecer. I saw a swarm of bees around Reece and immediately scooped her away from the buzzing swarm. The two bee stings on her leg caused a fury of excitement at the football field…the trainer was paged, people brought ice packs, other moms gave their advice on how to take away the sting, the athletic director arrived to tape off the area…all in about 30 seconds flat. Nathanael even heard the commotion on the bleachers from the football field and got to tell all his friends that was his little cousin crying. Unfortunately, the bees continued to stalk us because of the fruit juices, fruit snacks, and whatever else in our diaper bag, and we had to vacate the field to avoid another attack. Poor Kaleesh didn’t get to see Nate’s first scrimmage that she had been so excited about.
The story does have a happy ending though…
Ironically, the bee stings turned Reece’s frown upside down and she became the happiest victim of a bee attack you’ve ever seen. She even sang about the bees who stung her. Kaleesha and I joked that they must have injected some nectar or honey into her bloodstream.
For more on our great time in Indiana (including pictures), see Wayland and Kaleesha’s blog.
Summer Vacation
Long time, no post! Between two vacations, my work for the church, sewing, MOPS steering team, Food 2 Kids, and family time, I’ve been a little busy. In turn, I’ve taken a “summer vacation” from blogging. I’m going to catch up in installments, starting with the Thompson Family Reunion at Don and Michelle’s Four Spokes Ranch, and Butch and Carrie’s Possum Kingdom lake house. The pictures show all the fun we had…
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- a little bit of shooting
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- a little bit of tank-swimming
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- a little bit of cooling off
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- some goat-feeding
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- some mule-riding
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- some caravan-riding
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- some using a raft as a play pin
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- some jetskiing with G-Dad
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- some lake swimming
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- some lake floating
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- lots of hanging out
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- some more jetskiing
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- some crawling on the dock
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- a little bit of air guitar
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- some synchronized swimming
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- a little bit of lounging
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- some boat riding
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- some hanging out with Kat
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- some fishing with Gee
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- some deer feeding
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- some hanging with Con
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- a little bit more fishing
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- some prayer time
Our 9-Monther
Rynn is now 3/4 of a year old!
In case you can’t tell by the picture, Rynn is tiiiiiiinnnyyyyy! She weighs 14 pounds and 7 ounces and is 26 1/2 inches long. That weight puts her in the first percentile for her age.
Despite being tiny, she is still one healthy, happy girl. She is progressing well and the doctor says she is very strong. She likes to say, “dadadadada,” and she just started saying, “mamama” this week.
She eats a lot of solid food and I just started giving her whole milk to supplement my breastmilk. She loves yogurt melts, homemade beef casserole, and veggies or applesauce with sprinkles of cinnamon. She also loves blueberries and bananas.
She’s at the age where she’s into everything. In fact, just as I typed that sentence she dumped a basket of folded laundry onto her head.
Rynn also loves the water! She climbs into her pool in the backyard, loves to splash in the bathtub, and she really loves to dunk her face in the water.
This girl is definitely proof that good things come in small packages!!
No Sympathy
Shortly before lunch yesterday the phone rang and I had to run to the living room to find a phone (all four of our cordless phones tend to end up in one room by mid-day). In my rush I stubbed my toe on a bar stool. While I was laying on the couch and moaning in pain, Reece came up to me and asked,
“What’s wrong, Mommy?”
I said, “Oh, I just hurt my toe and I already don’t feel very good (more on that later).”
Reece’s response was this (word for word) and spoken in the sweetest voice she could muster:
“Well, do you feel like getting up and going into the kitchen and fixing some green pancakes for me?”
Wow.
My response?
“Of course I do.”
That girl.
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Coming soon…Rynn at 9 months and our ranch and lake trip!!
More Reeceisms
I’m always looking for new songs to sing to Reece at bedtime. She seems to be getting bored with lullaby songs, so tonight I did some digging in my brain and pulled out “Oh How He Loves You and Me,” a hymn I remember from a long time ago.
So I sang:
Oh, how He loves you and me,
Oh, how He loves you and me.
He gave His life, what more could He give;
Oh, how He loves you, Oh, how He loves me,
Oh, how He loves you and me.
And Reece asked, “Is Howie a gull, Mommy?”
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A couple of days ago Reece hurt her bottom and told me she needed some diaper cream. I told her that she doesn’t wear diapers and therefore doesn’t need diaper cream. Then I think I made up some kind of other “cream” to rub on her bottom boo-boo.
Today she hurt her bottom again (possibly from jumping and intentionally landing on her bottom), and said in her best whiny voice, “Mommy, I need some dipe panty cream!” So I pulled out a tube of hand cream she had never seen before and applied it to her bottom.
In Reece’s words, “Dat cacks me up.”
Where’s Rynn?
That’s a question we find ourselves asking a lot these days. The best was when she crawled between the couch and wall (in about 6-8 inches of space) under Scott’s “watch.” We found her when she let out a squeel after seeing me and hearing me ask “Where’s Rynn?”
Unfortunately, we didn’t get a picture of her in the “tunnel.”
Here’s what we do have…
playing under our bed with Reece
She has quite possibly learned from Rocky Road that if you sit under Reece while she’s eating, you may get some scraps headed your way.
Today Reece and I came home from Target, and after seeing Scott on the couch and briefly scanning the living room floor without seeing Rynn, I asked, “Where’s Rynn?” Scott’s reply was a finger over his mouth and a quiet “shhhhh.” I looked down and saw the sweetest sleeping beauty…
It seems that she, just like her big sis, isn’t keen on the idea of public napping, so after a long day at church she was worn smooth out!
When she woke up, she wanted to continue lounging a bit with Daddy…
Love. her.
Phase I of Kitchen Update Complete
You have to look closely to see that we sanded, painted, and replaced the hardware on the cabinets. We also replaced a couple of fixtures.
Not fun.
Phase II: Replacing countertops
Phase III: Replacing appliances (umm, when I convince Scott they really do need replacing. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.).
