Now that Ryleigh has turned One I feel it's a little strange to continue posting every month on her behalf. I'm going to try to post as things happen but now that I'm a "working" Mom I don't seem to have as much free time to blog (what? No free time? That can't be!) But have no fear my blog audience of 10 followers! I am here to fill you in on what has been going on these past couple weeks!
As most of you know, I got a promotion, so now I am required to work 40 hours a week which require me to work during the day, so our little babyface is now a socialized daycare child. She has been going for 2 weeks now and is doing magnificently! Our sleeping beauty does miss out on a lot of her beauty rest, but she is transitioning well and hopefully she will get the hang of nap time shortly. Because she isn't used to sharing a room with others while napping, she tends to wake up at the smallest little sounds. Some days she sleeps the full 2 hours, some only 30 minutes, but regardless of how much she naps, her "happy", "curious", and "friendly" boxes are always checked on her daily report sheet! We're also very excited because we learned on our first day at daycare that Ryleigh's teacher is a member of our church, so we actually know her! It's such a weight off of our shoulders knowing that we actually know the person spending the majority of the day with our baby. I guess God knew the transition would be hard for Mommy so he added an extra surprise to ensure Mommy's nerves were settled so she could focus on her work instead of worrying about her muffinhead : ) But now that week 2 of daycare is over, I can say that we are starting to get into a little morning and nighttime routine, which is nice. Mommy & Daddy love being able to spend the nights together and we are enjoying getting to eat dinner as a family every night. Mostly though, Mommy LOVES the look on Ryleigh's face when she realizes Mommy has walked into the room to pick her up from daycare. Talk about heart melting : )
All dressed & ready for our first day at daycare
Lucy wants to go to daycare too!
with Daddy on Day One
jumping right in and making friends
Our first day of daycare went wonderfully...oh, except for the two incident reports that got sent home :/ It was no biggie though. First, Ryleigh grabbed a toy off the top shelf and it bonked her cheek, whatever. But later that day she took a tumble and face-planted in the playground leaving a nasty scrape on her face. Ms. Maple (Ryleigh's teacher) said she handled it well and they treated her with lots of hugs and kisses. Of course, this being Ryleigh's first "big" boo-boo, Mommy documented it...
Ryleigh's boo-boo
After the first few days, we all finally started getting into a routine. Ryleigh plays with Mommy's hair accessories while she gets ready, then Ryleigh gets ready, then we hop in the car and head off to daycare while watching cartoons (Olivia or Winnie-the-Pooh usually).
mesmerized by Olivia
Ryleigh tries out some new hair accessories
soooooo sleepy...but I guess I can still watch some Pooh bear
So like I said, we're getting into a rhythm and hopefully we'll all be fully transitioned into our new way of life shortly. I miss my baby during the day, but it does kind of, sort of feel good to be back at work. I also love that feeling of excitement I get every afternoon about 20 minutes before I head out to pick her up and it does make me smile watching her play with all her little friends at daycare those couple minutes I watch from outside the door before I make my entrance into the room for my hug : ) There's nothing like seeing the look of pure joy on your child's face simply because you're there. That look alone tells me that she is just as excited to see me as I am excited to see her and like I said, it makes my heart melt.
Sigh....moving on. Mommy got a new toy! I figured that one year of crappy pictures of my first born was enough! So I upgraded my camera. I retired my trusty 7 mega pixel, 3x zoom, bright pink camera that has seen me through my college years and made it through many plane trips between Michigan and California and survived 3 cruises for a much more grown up 16 mega pixel, 5x zoom, unisex black camera! So of course I had to test it out, and now you get to reap the benefits....
"hey Mommy! Whatcha got there?!"
Ryleigh's new obsession...headbands
"I love Yo Gabba Gabba!"
those are Daddy's eyes with Mommy's color
"Here Lucy...have something I just found on the floor"
sitting at Mommy's feet, because I have to be as close to her as possible
So that's pretty much the extent of what's been happening here. Next week is going to be hectic for Mommy because she runs the Toys & Electronics department at a big retail store and the dreaded Black Friday is upon us. A few overnights, a few 10 hour shifts, a Thanksgiving feast with friends and a 26th birthday are all looming for Mommy, which means Daddy is going to be on double duty this week! I want to recognize him in advance...oh wait, that's something we do at work...ugh, I'm already mixing the two :/ Wish us luck and hopefully it won't be long before I'm back to post pictures of Ryleigh's second Thanksgiving!
And with that note I leave you with some vintage Ryleigh footage I stumbled upon tonight while loading some software onto the 'ol computer....it's adorable and it almost had me in tears remembering how little she used to be. Enjoy! And if I'm not here before, Happy Thanksgiving!
April 2011...Ryleigh at 6 months
June 2011...Ryleigh at 8 months
