M.I.A.

I haven't been blogging too much the last few weeks. I guess I've gotten lazy and I just keep putting in off.
I need a new computer. As I said in my last post, my laptop bit the dust. Which totally stinks cause it was only 2.5 years old. Dan, being the amazing husband that he is, was willing to go out that day and buy me a new laptop. We went and looked but the $700-$800 price tag is a little hard to swallow.
Do I really NEED a new laptop? No. Do I want a new one? YES. I am trying to be content with the fact that I can use Dan's business computer, but it's not the most convenient thing. His computer is in the basement and it's scary down there! Not really, but it is COLD. I have to dress for a winter day just to go check my email.
I am trying to wait it out and maybe for Christmas I'll give in and let Dan shop till he drops. Who am I kidding, I won't make it till Christmas!

Ok Becky, here's your new post.

I am thinking of planning a funeral for my laptop. It died today.

Family history

I haven't always been interested in History. During High School I didn't have much interest in it at all. By the time I finished college I was only a few credits short of a History Minor. It's funny how things change and how your interests grow and change over time. I have come to really enjoy History and learning about the past. One particular area that fascinates me is family history. I often wish I had sat down with my grandparents and asked more questions. There's a lot of things I'd like to know that no one else can answer. Sadly, even though my Grandma Ryan just passed away a year ago, for the last 10 years at least she had suffered from dementia and couldn't answer much about her childhood or early years of marriage. What I am left with are beautiful historic family pictures and no one to tell me about them. I am lucky that on both sides of my family there are many old photographs that at least give me glimpse into where I come from and who my adcestors are.

I thought I would share a photo with you. This is a picture of my great-great grandparents and their 3 children. The oldest girl in the picture is my great-grandmother, the mother of my grandpa Elmer Ryan. This picture had a date on it and it's sometime in 1888-89. I love looking at these old photos and imagining what their lives must have been like. It amazes me that this picture has survived over 100 years. I'm sure they would have never dreamed that their great-great grand-daughter would some day be blogging about it.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Montgomery with Harriet Ann, Rayment,(not sure on this name, that's what it looks like it says) and Charlie.

new trick

Lucy has learned a new trick this week. It's something she's been working toward for awhile, but finally, she can do it. Lucy has learned to sit up on her own. Now, she's been sitting by herself for over a month now, but she would be in that position because we sat her down that way. What she has figured out is how to go from lying down to sitting up. What is funny about it is the way she does it. I've been around lots of babies and have never seen one do what she does. Most babies will get to a sitting position from being on their tummy. They'll get on all fours and then push themselves back to a sit. Lucy's figured out a different way. She will roll onto her side and prop herself up on her arm and from there she will use her arm and lots of tummy muscles to pull herself up to a sitting position. She did it once last week and we thought it was a fluke. Today she was able to do it several times. I haven't been able to capture it on video yet. When I do I'll post it so you all can see it.

Meeting the neighbors

Dan and I have now lived in our new home for about 6 weeks. In that time we've had 2 different sets of neighbors come by with a plate of goodies and welcome us to the neighborhood. It's kind of funny though, the people who live on either side of us have yet to show their faces. Anyway, it's been nice to know there are a few friendly people on the street. One of the neighbors, Rachel, that came by lives about 4 houses down and has a daughter that just turned one in August. We seemed to hit off just from our 5 minute conversation at my door. She is super nice and we have already had our first playdate. From what she's told me, Lucy is the only other baby on the street close in age to her daughter Elizabeth. I can already picture them in a few years running back an forth between houses and riding the school bus together. I am glad Lucy will have a little friend to play with.

9 months old

On Sept. 4th Lucy turned 9 months old. I took the traditional picture and I even remembered to do it on the actual day!

We went to the doctor on Friday and found out that Lucy weighs 26 pounds and is 31 inches long. She's a healthy girl. We've been exploring finger foods and trying lots of different things. Now that she's learning to self feed, I have such a fear of her choking. Poor girl, I break her food into such small bites she probably can't even taste it.

She's not crawling yet. She can get up on all fours but then doesn't know what to do from there. I guess she figures she doesn't need to know how to crawl since she gets where she wants to go by rolling.

This year has flown by and I know the next 3 months are going to bring lots of new accomplishments. Part of me can't wait for what she's going to learn next, but it also makes me a bit sad because she's not going to be a baby much longer.

My girl

I think my favorite time with Lucy is bathtime. She loves getting in the tub and starts jabbering and "talking" the minute I start the water. Once she's in the tub, I think I get just as wet as she does. She makes sure to splash me. I have her in a baby tub, although she's almost too big for it even though it says "up to 24 months". I haven't put her in just the big tub yet. I like having her somewhat contained. She's so wiggly and squirmy as it is.

After bath I wrap her in her "bunny" towel and let her look at herself in the mirror. She loves that and immediately gives a big grin and a little chuckle. We took some pictures of her the other night because she's so funny. I wanted to capture these small moments on film.

One of the new games she's learned to play is peek-a-boo. Tonight she was laying on her changing table with the towel under her as I dried her off and rubbed lotion on her. She kept pulling the towel over her face and when I'd say "Where's Lucy", she would peek out from under it. She was so funny and I got her laughing pretty good. It's moments like this that I wish would last forever.

food and blogs

As I have gotten older I have come to really enjoy cooking and especially baking. Unfortunately after having Lucy, I can't seem to find the time to do it as much as I'd like but it's getting a little easier to get in the kitchen now that she's older.

According to Pastor Matt, I am the best baker he knows. He even told me I'm better than his mom. Now, I have only briefly met his mom and I do not know what kind of baker she is, but I still took that as quite the compliment. Pastor Matt is always nosin' around our house looking for any homebaked treats I might have. He was very disappointed a few weeks ago when I sent left-over peach cobbler to work with Dan, and Dan had eaten it all before P.Matt had a chance to sample any.

So where am I going with this? Well, I recently happened upon several blogs all about food and cooking. I am not new to the world of blogging. I have had this blog for over a year, but for whatever reason I didn't know there were "food blogs" out there.

I have bookmarked several cooking blogs and I love how these people take pictures and show you step by step how the recipe is supposed to come together. I thought I would share with you one of the blogs I came across. Apparently this woman is trying to use her crockpot everyday for a year. I don't know that I would want to do this but it looks like she has some tasty recipes.
I thought some of you out there might enjoy this blog as well.

go to: crockpot365.blogspot.com

HAPPY COOKING...AND BAKING

Lingo

In previous posts I've mentioned that I frequent internet message boards. The boards I visit are parenting boards and I get to chat with other moms of 6-12 month olds. As a stay at home mom, it's really nice to get some adult conversation, even if it is with people I don't know and can't actually see. Mostly I lurk and read the threads. I will ask questions and give answers if I think I may be helpful. Anyway, my point with this post is that there is a whole other language out there in cyberspace. When I first started checking out the message boards I had a difficult time decoding what I was reading. I am sure some of this lingo also goes along with texting, but as I am not really into that at the moment, I can't say for sure. I am still learning the lingo, but here are a few "words" for you.

dh= dear husband... or if you're mad at him, use another D word in there.
dd= darling daughter
ds= darling son
poas= pee on a stick (pregnacy boards)
fffc= flame free friday confessions
lmao= laughing my a-- off
tia= thanks in advance
pip=pic in post
lip= link in post
mil=mother in law
fil= father in law
wdyt= what do you think
kwim= know what i mean
mud= made up drama
bfn= big fat negative
bfp= big fat postive

This is just a sampling of the internet lingo I have picked up. It's funny because I find myself wanting to say DH in real life. Sad, but true.

Feel free to add any more that you know.

Moving: part 2

Today was moving day number 2. On our last moving day about 2 weeks ago we cleared out the house except for Dan's work area, the big furnace room in our basement, and the garage. Since moving in, Dan's been working non-stop to try and get our new basement ready for his business. This included framing off a room for his office and drywalling. Framing the perimeter of the basement so he could hang peg board, insulating the ceilings, and putting down a foam flooring material, and running new electrical and installing work lights, etc... Needless to say he's had a full plate with working full time and then doing what he could in the evenings and weekends.

Last night the clock was ticking. There was still alot of work to be done before anything could be moved in. Dan stayed up all night working to get it ready. I went to bed around 11pm and Dan headed to work. At 6 am this morning when I got up with Lucy, we went downstairs to find Dan finishing up the floor. He took a quick shower and then headed over to the old house to start tearing things down. Luckly we had a few friends and some very devoted family comeback to help for a second time. This move didn't go as quick. I think around 4:30 the guys had finished unloading everything and were on their way home. My poor husband had been up 36 hours when he finally was able to crawl in bed at 7pm. He is getting some much deserved rest. I told him I wasn't waking him up for church in the morning. :)

8 months

Ok, so it's really 8 months and a few days. I can't seem to get her picture taken on time. It seems like every month her "birthday" is on a day that's full of activity and I don't have the time to get her picture taken.

I have had the realization over the last couple weeks that I am going to be in trouble when she starts cruising. In the last 2 weeks she has gotten the hang of rolling in both directions. Now, I can't keep her in one place. She rolls all over the downstairs floor. And she is so busy. Everything she sees she wants to touch or put in her mouth. Once she gets the hang of crawling, I am in for it! :)

Last week she started waving hi and bye. It's so cute to see her do it. I love to stand in front of the mirror and let her wave at herself. Too funny!

Lucy has 2 more teeth. You'd probably guess that she got her front teeth, right? Well, she got one of them, but she also got the side tooth next to it at the same time. Her other front tooth looks like it'll be coming in before too long. She has the funniest smile right now. Because she got a side tooth and her teeth aren't lined up, she has a crooked little smile.

Here are a few more pictures. She couldn't leave the paper alone. I had such a hard time getting her to sit still...ah, I see lots of chasing in my future.

It's a good thing that we moved 3 weeks before our closing date because it's going to take every bit of the next 2 weeks to get everything out of that house. We had a great group of friends and family come over last Saturday and help load up the 16 foot rental truck. We weren't really sure how big of a truck to get. We didn't feel like we had a ton of stuff because Dan and I had already moved over the contents of the dining room, living room and most of the kitchen as well as about 50% of my closet. All we really had was furniture. So a 16 ft truck seemed big enough. Not exactly. Dan said he had that truck packed as full as he could get it and there are still 2 rooms in the basement that need to be packed and all of Dan's business - which is a alot because of all his equipment and inventory. Oh, and we didn't even touch the garage. I don't know where that stuff will go when it gets moved over. It's mind boggling how much stuff we have accumulated over the last 3 years and I have never been more motivated to get rid of stuff. As I unpack I am making a big pile for the next yard sale. I really tried to declutter before we moved, but having Lucy made it hard for me to find the time to really go through things.

I don't have much time to blog at the moment, but I thought I'd let everyone know that we moved this past Saturday and we finally have internet at the new house. We have been busy trying to get settled in and unpacked. There's just so much stuff!!!! I never want to move again!

I'll be back soon with a full story of all the past weeks event!

Bathing Beauty

Yesterday I finally got the chance to take Lucy swimming for the first time. My Aunt Bev lives in Taylorville and her pool was finally warm enough for Lucy. I was pretty sure that Lucy would like the water because she LOVES bathtime. But, you never know how babies are going to react.
I put her in a little tankini that I picked up at a yard sale a while back. This was the 4th bathing suit I had gotten for her. I had 2 hand-me-down suits from my neighbor and a bikini I bought at at a resale shop. They were all size 12 months. The tankini I had was an 18 month, so I took that one for her to wear. It was so cute on her, but the top was a bit snug. I should have bought a 24 month instead. Here are a few pictures of our fun afternoon in the pool.

another milestone

This past week, Lucy has really gotten the hang of sitting by herself. She is finally able to sit and play with her toys for quite awhile before teetering over to the side or falling backwards. Now, if we could just get her to roll over from her tummy to her back, we'd be doing great. She actually knows how to roll, we've seen her do it a few times. For some reason though, she doesn't like to do it. Maybe she forgets she knows how, or maybe she's just lazy and knows that one of us will flip her over.

Here's a cute clip of her. I just love all her chunky rolls!

moving

I am in the throws of packing. It's such a tedious job and I really don't enjoy it. I will also admit, that I am not a very good packer. I get a bit lazy with things. Since we're are only moving across town, I just can't see packing everything in boxes when I'd just have to unpack it at the house. So I find myself loading up the car with odds and ends and taking them over. We are trying to take as much over before Saturday as we can. It will make Saturday go faster if we don't have a lot of little things to load and unload. We are blessed to be in the situation where we have both houses for the next few weeks. It makes moving so much easier. If I had to have everything in boxes and ready to go for Saturday I think I would be stessed beyond imagination. But, I know that as long as all the big stuff gets moved on Saturday, then I can come back the following week to get the little things.

Here's a totally random announcement that has nothing to do with my post. If anyone reading this needs, or knows someone who needs a washer/dryer we have a set that we are wanting to get rid of. We will give them to anyone who wants to come and haul them away. They are Whirlpool brand and about 15 years old. They still work, but they are noisey. So ask around and let me know!!

We are moving next Saturday. So far I have only packed up the dining room. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the packing that needs to happen in the next week. I can't seem to get much done with a 7 month old...

If you're bored next Saturday with nothing to do, give me a call. I have some boxes you can carry.

confession

I ate Doritos for supper last night.

7 months old...

I'm a little late at posting Lucy's 7 month picture and update. She was 7 months on July 4th and with eveything else going on, I just didn't around to posting it. So here is her picture. The onesie still fits!

It was hard to get a good picture of her because she was very interested in the paper.

I took her to the doctor this week because she had a cold that turned into a cough. She sounded horrible Thursday morning when she woke so I took her in to be checked over. The nurse weighed her and she's now up to 24 1/2 pounds!!! I can't believe it. She's gained 2 more pounds this month. I had to go buy her some more summer outfits because many of her 12 month size clothes are getting too tight. So everything I bought her was size 18 months.

I had wanted to buy her a Jonny Jump-up to hang in the doorway. I know she'd love it. However, the weight limit is around 25 pounds. So that's out. She's getting a bit bored with the exersaucer. She still likes it and is in it quite a bit. I was hoping to get something else that she could sit in to occupy her, but now I'm not sure what to do. She's almost too big for her swing but she doesn't sit in it very much anymore anyway. She gets bored in it and she's starting to lean all the way forward and I'm afraid it'll tip.

She is still not sitting unassisted. I am anxious for her to be able to sit on her own. That will give us more options for play when she can sit by herself.

Lucy is loving the solid foods. We started after her 6 month appt. I have been making most of her babyfood. It's really very easy and does not take that much time to do. I steam or bake whatever food I need and then puree it in the food processor. I then freeze it in ice cube trays and store it in ziplock bags. Then I just take out 2-3 cubes and microwave. She really seems to like everything she's tried so far. I did try giving her greenbeans from the jar when we were out one evening. She made faces and didn't seem to like the jarred variety.

Here is a video clip of her trying peas for the first time. I was wanting to capture the funny way she eats her food. She has to get her thumb in her mouth after every bite. If it weren't so cute, I'd be more annoyed.

Pictures

I finally got Lucy's 6 month pictures and our family pictures. We had them taken a month ago and because of my inability to make up my mind, we are just now getting them. They all turned out so good that I couldn't decide, so I just got them all. We were able to buy the "rights" to the photos and so now we can print whatever we need to.

Here are a few of the pictures. I have the rest on my dropshots page, so if you want to see a bunch more pics of Lucy, let me know and I'll give you the link. I'm not posting it hear since I have no idea who all is reading this.