Dance Recital!

Jaycee had her first dance recital a little while ago. She had been sick a week before and wasn't feeling good at the recital. I just thought I would give that as part of the excuse as to why she isn't dancing at all. It was out of my hands by then, and all we could do was sit back and laugh at her lack of doing anything at all besides suck on her hands. I actually wasn't even going to take her to the dance recital, but at the last minute I decided to ask her if she wanted to go, and she said she did. Lance thought I was crazy to decide to go ten minutes before it started. We were a little late, but the program hadn't started yet. Then I realized that, being the scatterbrained person I am, I had forgotten Jaycee's dance shoes. Who does that? I know, only me. It's not like I had a lot to remember. Anyway, Melissa did a wonderful job teaching these girls, and Jaycee had a lot of fun. She even put together a video for the girls. Thanks, Melissa. On the way home Jaycee told us that she was just dancing really slow. Yeah, maybe. I don't think so. Just in case you can't tell, she's the one on the right with her hands in her mouth. A side note: I hope this doesn't sound like I'm being rude about Jaycee. I love her and think she is the cutest little girl in the world. We've just decided that dance might not be her thing.

He's crawling everywhere!

A while ago (as in March 27th) Rydge started crawling. He was so close for such a long time. He had good positioning, good form, and the muscle strength, but could not get his arms to move alternately. Then while waiting in the doctor's office for his 9-month check-up he just started crawling all over the bench they have the kids sit on. He was so proud of himself and did not want to be contained by sitting on my lap. This video is old news now because he has gotten so fast at crawling, but it was so cute when he was just starting. He reminded us of a frog.

A couple key points or disclaimers to talk about before viewing this video clip because Lance thinks we look like a disfunctional family.

1. Jaycee starts out by saying she's scared a tornado's gonna come, which is something she has been doing randomly throughout the day. No worries, there wasn't even any wind.

2. My daughter bonks Rydge's head on the floor and I laugh. Not cool, I know. It just happens a lot.

3. I don't normally let my baby suck on batteries.

Along with picking crawling up on the 27th, Rydge also figured out how to pull himself up to a standing position in the same day. I'm so proud of my little guy. Jaycee made Rydge fall in this video, too, but he didn't get hurt.

Here's a little video I took while I had preschool at my house. It's been so fun having these kids get together. We were missing Drey, the poor only boy, and these girls were pretty wild. So many fights over toys it's almost comical. I have to apologize to the moms if they don't allow their girls to jump on the bed. They love it when they come to my house. (I don't know why Jaycee was crying. I think she hurt herself right at the first.)

A glimpse of our spring break

Once again, I failed miserably at remembering to take pictures so I could document all the fun times we had. We are so grateful to our parents for catering to us and making sure we had an excellent time. This picture below shows the only circumstance that Rydge would allow anyone to hold him. After he was asleep I could hand him off. Other than that, he would cry anytime anyone tried to take him from me. Towards the end he finally got used to being around other people, but that was just in time for us to leave. The only time he let anyone else hold him without him crying was when I was getting my hair done. I went to my sister (who is in beauty school) to have her cut my hair and give me some highlights. She did a great job, and I have enjoyed having short hair for a change. While that was happening my mom and sister-in-law were watching Rydge, and he let Vanessa hold him. When I went to take him from her he didn't recognize me (I cut quite 6 or 7 inches off my hair) and wanted to go back to Vanessa. It took me three tries to convince him that it was me. I got a taste of how he was treating everyone else, and did not like it one bit. I love my momma's boy!

We went to a kids playplace that had a dress-up room, and Jaycee loved it. She is always wearing dresses to dance around in at home. Take note of the fingers playing with her neck. That's a remnant of her sucking her thumb. She would suck one thumb and play with her neck with the other hand. She still does the neck thing to go to sleep or when she's tired.

This is Jaycee's cousin, Cael, and they are inseparable when they get together. She was convinced she was sleeping with Cael that night, so she snuggled right up next to him, and we had to pry her away from him.

We spent a lot of time swimming at the hotel pools. We stayed in a hotel two nights so the men (Lance, his dad, brother, brother-in-law, and my dad) could float down the Snake River in the drift boats. The weather cooperated so well that they were able to float three days in a row. They were in heaven, I can assure you. I was fine staying back with the kids. They were pushing the fishing season just a little bit. Anyway, Jaycee floated around everywhere with this ladybug floatie. She loved it.

Rydge is showing off his two new shiny teeth. They were just barely breaking through. He loved kicking and splashing in the water.

We can't forget about Jaycee's other favorite cousins. These cute girls are my brother's kids, Kynzee and Kambrie, and they have so much girly fun when they're together. A lot of giggling and screaming goes on.
Something I don't have pictures of right now is when we went with my family and played around in the Paris elementary school gym. We had so much fun with all the little kid toys. Hopefully I can get some of the pictures my mom took.

This picture has nothing to do with our spring break except for the fact that it shows how tired Jaycee has been since we got back . She has taken more naps than usual because of our busy schedule we were keeping. This shows how she took one of her naps the other day. I just had to take a picture because she has never fallen asleep in weird places, but this time she did. She told me that she was cold, and then I hear snoring. So cute.
Now that we are back in Wisconsin, we are having great weather, and are taking full advantage of being outside. I love being able to go the park with Jaycee, but she never wants to leave, which is a problem. We miss family, but we'll be able to see them soon for summer.

Spring Break's almost here!

In a couple days we are headed off to visit family for Spring Break. We can't wait to have a break from our normal routine. Even if it is cold in Idaho as well, it will be a refreshing trip. I just thought I'd give the grandparents a preview of all this cuteness that will be heading their way. Jaycee couldn't be more excited to go get spoiled rotten and have someone's undivided attention. She will have everyone sick of playing babies with her by the time we leave. Here's Rydge eating some whipped cream (again). What can I say, we love our treats.

What's up with that double chin? She looks like Rydge (see next pictures).

These aren't the greatest pictures, but Jaycee took them of Rydge, and I think they show a ton of his character. You can also see how much he loves his sister. Only she can get those kind of smiles whenever she looks at him. He's such a happy baby.

Cute baby laughs!

The other day I was feeding Rydge and he was in the happiest mood. It was so cute, so I had to pull the camera out. He's such a happy baby, as long as I am right there with him. He is such a momma's boy, and I love it. He really cries every time I set him down, or whenever I leave the room. I got a couple phone calls from familly members asking if I was okay after I did my last blog post. I assured them I was fine, and Rydge is actually doing a lot better with his sleeping. So, I thought I'd post this to make up for my complaining. I love his little tongue when he curls it. He is also quite drooly if you can't tell from the video. Mix that with a little food, and it's pretty gross.

This is what Rydge looks like when his daddy feeds him. He's not very conducive to clean feedings. He wiped it all over his forehead if you can see it on the picture.

I miss my sleep!

Rydge is learning how to scoot around everywhere and got stuck under the couch.

Rydge is getting almost as big as Jaycee.

Well, due to a recent lack of sleep lately, I haven't had much motivation to blog. I cannot figure little Rydge-a-roo out for the life of me, and have decided that between mine and Lance's families it could be highly likely that Rydge got a triple (or more) dose of stubbornness built into him. He is a fighter, and I do not have the motivation or willpower to fight him. I am the only thing/person that can soothe him. He doesn't do patting, rubbing, binkies, bottles, anyone else putting him to sleep, and he won't sleep in his crib. It was my New Year's resolution to get him sleeping better, and not sleeping in my bed when he wakes up for an early morning feeding. We have only gone backwards from there and I have failed miserably. I have let him cry every night for a week straight, and he only put himself to sleep twice. The other times I gave up after 1 1/2 hours or more of his crying. I can only listen to him for so long before I start thinking it's borderline child abuse. I also can't get through a night without feeding him 2-4 times. That's not how it's supposed to be after 7 1/2 months. Anyway, I am not meaning to complain, but I was just wondering if there are any ideas out there that I have been overlooking. I can't believe how much different my little guy has been from his sister. I have come to appreciate how easy it was to get Jaycee to sleep when she was a baby. It must be a boy thing, maybe?

Disclaimer: After all the sleep he deprives me of, I can't help but grin from ear to ear when he smiles at me in the morning. He is such a sweetheart, and I love him so much. I think he is adorable and forgive him the instant he wakes up. I love the fact that he adores me, and thinks the world of me.

There's no place like home for the Holidays!

Living in Wisconsin is great. We love the trees, the houses, and we have tons of friends, but when comparing it to being in Bear Lake, Idaho it just isn't the same. We love the opportunities we get to go home and see family. Thanks to both sets of parents for helping out with the tickets to get us home. Jaycee and Rydge were wonderful on the plane, but Rydge was understandably less excited to drive the three hours from Salt Lake to Bear Lake. No exaggerations when I say that he screamed from Evanston to Garden City (two hours). We pulled over three or four times to feed him and change his diaper, but he was just sick of traveling and I can't say that I blame him. I felt the same way, but it would have been weird if I had acted like that.

My mom bought this cute dancing outfit at a craft fair. Jaycee loved it!

I look at all the pictures my parents took of my Christmases and cringe. I always pulled cheesy grins, had tired eyes and extremely messy hair. Now I can continue that tradition for Jaycee. I thought about combing her hair, but who expects to look good on Christmas morning?

Rydge is such a snuggler. I love it.

Yes...Jaycee received dinosaurs from Santa Clause. He is so cool for giving those to her because she loves them.

Grandma J. and Uncle Chase.

What's a vacation without getting in the hot tub a couple times? Rydge had so much fun being in the hot tub. Every time we took him out he would scream.

I realized after we got back to Wisconsin that I was having so much fun that I didn't take very many pictures. I'm so glad we were able to spend so much time with our families, and look forward to our next visit.

Images of the week

We've been teaching Jaycee how to write her letters and Lance taught her her name tonight. The "y"seems to be the one needing the most work, but she did great. The pink writing is Jaycee's without any hand guidance from us. Some mothers of three-year-olds might be saying, "My child doesn't want to learn anything. If I try to teach him/her they just get mad." (Or something like that) I used to say the same thing, but discovered if I would bargain with her about watching TV, she'll learn 4 letters for every show. It works great. She will sometimes wear out long before she's learned 4 letters, and decide it's not worth it. It works for me. I can handle TV time if she's still learning in the process.
Who needs Pottery Barn? I'm not saying that mine's as cute as theirs, but I made one for a lot less money.
The dad's always seem to get the raw end of the deal in these situations. Jaycee was sick a while ago, and kept waking up in the night, and Rydge frequently ends up sleeping with us as well. That little sliver on the very end is Lance. He probably didn't sleep well, I would imagine. The kids left me plenty of room because they know how ornery I get when I'm tired:) I was thinking the other night how I have never won a battle with this little six-month-old. He has sleeping issues, and wakes up whenever I try to lay him down. I have tried patting him and all that fun stuff, but he looks up at me as if to say, "What are you doing? Pick me up now or I won't even try to go to sleep." If I am bound and determined to get him to sleep in his bed, he is more determined to wake up at any little sound or movement, and I end up giving up after I've had 5 unsuccessful lay-downs. Sometimes he will fall asleep after a full feeding, and I will get him to sleep, but he wakes up after 10 minutes wanting to eat again. I say out loud, "I'm not feeding you. You're not hungry and I just fed you." 15 minutes later I've had all the clawing, slobbering, screaming and chin latches that i can take and I feed him. He is the sweetest little guy, and I wouldn't trade him for anything, but I just thought I'd give you insight into our struggles. That's why he's in bed with us as well. I've decided to label it all under a give-up in 2009 and wait until 2010 to try and get him sleeping in his own bed consistently.
The other night we took Jaycee to see Santa Claus, and she was so excited. When we got there, we saw a pretty long line, and realized that all the people making the line so long were pet owners taking their dogs to see Santa. It was pet night at the mall, and everyone looked at us weird when we tried to take our daughter to sit on Santa's lap. Santa didn't even talk to Jaycee. Lance prompted her to tell him what she wants, and then we left with our coloring books. It was weird.

What we've been doing...

--I finally got a piano!!! (It's such an expensive hobby, but Craigslist made it possible.)
--Rydge has suddenly started grabbing everything, including my beverages...

--Rydge has been eating anything I give him (this is just whipped cream),

--Wearing the kids out,

--Camping out in the living room,

--Reading stories while camping in the living room,

--Enjoying extremely good weather at the end of November,

--And just having a great time!