4 months

I can't believe Rylee is already 4 months old. She is changing and maturing so much everyday. Some of the milestones she has reached are hilarious and entertaining. One of the things she does now is she grabs her toes. No matter if she is laying down or sitting up, she is reaching for her toes. It's so flipping cute!! The one down side of her toe grabbing is it is impossible to get her to nap. Now I have to put her on her belly to sleep and pat her butt. She also fights her sleep now because she is excited that she is learning new things and she would rather stay up and play. Which has been making this momma run on little sleep.

She also is giggling. Giving her raspberry kisses under her double chin send her straight into the giggles. It's so adorable!! Just the way she laughs and smiles melts us into pieces.

She is still exclusively breastfed, but we're looking forward to starting her on cereal and purees within the next few months. 

She is very tall for her age and we haven't had a recent doctor appointment to see how much she weighs or her height. I am guessing she weighs around 18 pounds now. We did have to size up to size 3's diapers.

She loves to be read to. We go to the library every other week and take home 20 books to read at bedtime and random times throughout the day. She likes to play in her exersaucer but she gets bored with that quickly.

Her favorite thing is just to be engaged. She likes to be talked to in funny voices, tickled, and smooched all over.

Ry Ry we love you so much and love watching you learn and grow.

Xoxo

Date Night

It was our first big night out since Rylee was born four months ago. I was a nervous wreck and I also had to pump for two days to make sure I had enough milk stashed. I hate pumping more than anything and it was almost enough to make me veto going out.

Our really good friends won Monster Jam tickets for Saturday night and they invited us to go along with them. It has been on my bucket list to attend a show since I  was a kid. I've always loved monster trucks! Forever!

My awesome parents and siblings came and baby sat for us so we could go out and have a worry free good time. Ha right! No such thing as worry free night out as a new mom.

We left like two hours early and still managed to barely make it on time. Plus we had to walk in the freezing below zero cold to Ford field from like 4 blocks away. Did I say it was freezing cold? 

We finally found our seats and what would you know we got second row seats! We were right up front on the action and it was awesome!

I'd have to say the best show was when the crustacean hit a jump and landed into a wheely and hit another jump them flipped forward and rolled up into the stands and onto another truck. Best. Of. The. Entire. Night.

There were about seven cars left in the free style show and I found myself ready to get home to my baby. I was really starting to miss her badly at that point. Once the show was finally over we tried to book it through the icy tundra to our car but kept getting stuck behind super slow movers! Once we got to the truck we hit the freeway and hit traffic. Dead. Stop. For ten minutes. Ugh! Momma just wants her baby. Of course she was sleeping when I got home and obvi I didn't want to wake her little butt up. 

I couldn't wait till morning to see that smiling face of hers. 

This little girl has every bit of my heart. 

Xoxo

Valentine's Day shenanigans

Valentine's day shopping for my little love bug! I am so excited for Rylee to rock all of this come February. I don't even care, she will be decked out in red, white and pink all month long. 

My heart is bursting with cuteness overload. Not only because I have the cutest little pudgy face baby, but Old Navy has some of there Valentine's day apparel out! Oh my bursting heart! 

There is a part of me that just wants to be the most festive, crafty and decorative woman/momma out there and then the other part of me finds it incredibly overwhelming to even think about attempting all my pinterest inspirations. No matter how badly I want to. 

However one of my goals as a mom is to blow every holiday out of proportion and go all out and I really think that starts with clothing. You put your baby in a festive color block sweater with a big red heart on the front of it and it amplifies every bit of festive spirit within. 

So here are a few of the pieces my heart is swooning over right now. I mean those baby tights with the heart on the butt??! Come on!!! 

Heres to a New Year

Happy New Year friends and family! I trust you all had a wonderful night out or in. There is nothing more fun than popping the bubbly and getting glitzy! Our New Years was very low key. We were invited to a couple different parties but chose to stay home instead and curl up on the couch and watch movies. We usually go out for the occasion, but didn't feel comfortable going anywhere and driving home and the "drunken hour" especially with such precious cargo. Rylee must have known it was New Years because she wanted to stay up and party with us until midnight. Normally I would have vetoed that, but since it was her first New Years how could I say no??

 

We ended up turning the movies off at 11 and watched the tale end of the New Years show with Carson. Can I just say, I had no idea he was still around. Ha! I think he only comes out of hiding once of year for this show.

 

As always a new year brings new goals, resolutions and new fun! I hate making resolutions because I feel like its just setting yourself up to fail. So when I make my goals and resolutions for the new year, I like to implement it just a few days before so that I feel like its something I can continue doing rather than something to start doing.

 

Here are a few of my resolutions to keep up with in the new year:

 

1. Create a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. I feel like this one is always on my list of things to do but this year it is more important to me than ever. I've been really struggling lately with being happy and content where I am at. I feel like I have back slidden quite a ways down in the last year or so. I know now is the time to get right with God because my heart is literally yearning for it. I want to feel comfortable speaking his name without embarrassment and I want godly friendships that challenge me to grow and be a better person.

 

2. To strengthen my marriage to Casey. Having a baby changes a lot in a marriage. It has strengthened us in ways and hindered us in others. I want to work on implementing a date night for us every other week. I want us to take up a hobby together. I want to talk to him about things besides work and the baby. I want our deep friendship back. I want us to talk in a way that is uplifting and proud.

 

3. To be content and happy with where I am in life.

 

4. To try to see the positive in situations instead of the negative.

 

5. To let go of the past once and for all. I harbor all sorts of feelings of not completing college and becoming successful amongst other things. I need to realize I am successful. I am a wife and mother. Those are the hardest jobs and achievements of all. I am doing exactly what I wanted to do. This was my dream-stay at home wife and mother. Why isn't it enough??

 

I would say that's a good start. This isn't my goals list-that's completely different in its own. I have many many goals. Each area of my life has a different set of them.

 

I hope you all have a safe, happy, healthy, and bountiful new year and that this year may be better than its last.

 

xoxo

Shelbie

Rylee's first Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones. We had so much fun celebrating Rylee's first Christmas! She got lots of presents and actually plays with everything she got. Her favorite toy right now has to be her hedgehog rattle and chicken puppets.

Here is our Christmas in pictures.