Birklee's Baby Blessing

Just some pictures from Birklee's Baby Blessing on August 8th! She was blessed by her Daddy! Doesn't she look pretty? :) Thank you to all of you who were able to be there!

Birklee's 1st Pictures - 10 Days Old

My good friend Tasha took these pictures of Birklee for me! I just love them. You did a great job Tasha, thanks again!!

Our Baby Girl!

Birklee Ann joined our family on July 12! She is a healthy 8 lb. 11 oz, and so very beautiful! :) She was lucky enough to be delivered by her Daddy! (with the help of Dr. Crandall) What a great way for Ben to finish up his OBGYN rotation for PA school!

Birklee is such a sweet baby and we love her so much. Ryker loves his baby sister, and loves to help hold her and take care of her. This gets a little scary at times, but it is so sweet!

It's A Girl!

We got another ultrasound, this time in 3D, and now we are sure the baby is a girl! The first ultrasound was a little earlier than when they usually check for gender, so we wanted to get another one to make sure. (Before buying too much pink!) I love the 3D ultrasound... it was so fun to be able to see her little face! The pictures may not be real clear, but we can tell that she is beautiful! :)

Camping

We decided to do a last minute camping trip last weekend! It was the first time we have gone here in Florida... we finally figured out that around here you go in the winter and early spring, NOT in the summer! Gathering everything for the trip and cleaning it all up when we got home was a lot more work than it seems like it should be, but we had a lot of fun! This was Ryker's first time sleeping "in the outside" (in a tent) and he loved it!

The Campfire

The Tent

Breakfast... oops. We brought a griddle and stuff for pancakes, bacon and eggs, but we forgot to check if our little power inverter for the truck was powerful enough to run the thing... turns out its not! So we tried to cook it in a tinfoil disposable roasting pan over the fire, which did not work very well but we did our best. Bacon just catches fire - too greasy, pancakes stick to the pan without the cooking spray which we tried to use, but also started the pan on fire. The scrambled eggs turned out pretty good, then we all had a bowl of cereal.

Ryker roughin' it on the potty!

Worn out and very dirty!

The next day we went to the Homosassa Springs wildlife park down the road from the campground. Ryker had fun riding the boat to the park and seeing all the animals. I was pretty tired of walking around by the time we left! (6 months pregnant, ya know!)

The boat ride

The "Lightning McQueen Song"

Ryker is becoming quite the singer lately. His favorites are "I Am a Child of God", "Twinkle Twinkle", "ABC's", "Popcorn Popping", "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", and a new one: "The Lightning McQueen Song" (I think its called "Life is a Highway" or something like that) I've tried to catch all of these on video, but he always stops if he sees me recording. I will have to keep trying because I still haven't caught any full songs, but here's the best we could catch of his latest... "The Lightning McQueen song."

On this one all you actually hear is the end by the time I got the camera out, but turn your speakers up real loud and you'll hear him sneeze and "toot" at the same time. Thats why we are cracking up. One the second clip you get to hear a little bit more of the song!

The Ferber Method

I just have to brag about my little boy for a minute. I guess first I have to admit something embarrassing... Ryker still doesn't willingly fall asleep without someone in the room with him. Its my falt because I have just kept spoiling him. Ben is working the night shift this week at his Emergency room rotation, so I decided this was a good week to try the "Ferber Method" its pretty common, so you've probably heard of it. A friend in our ward swears by it. Its the one where you let them cry for increasing periods of time before going in to comfort them... 5 min., then 10, then 15. Last night was the first night and he got to 15 min then went to sleep. Tonight he was really really upset so I thought is was going to be a long night (the 2nd night you start with 10 min, then 15, then 20) He cried through the 10 and 15 min. intervals, then at the beginning of the 20 min. interval he stood up in his bed as I left, but a minute later he started saying "Mommy- need help my blankie back on!" I couldn't leave him without a blanket, so I went in and re-tucked him in... he laid down very quietly and whispered "Mama... go in living room." So I told him I loved him and went out and he didn't make a peep! I feel horrible doing this to him, but I am so proud of him! Ben's not home, so I had to tell somebody.

An Announcement!

Well... I guess its about time we made a little announcement! Baby #2 is on the way! Many of you already know this, since we made the announcement to our families when we saw them over Thanksgiving. I thought I'd celebrate my first day of the 2nd Trimester by making it official!! Due July 15th! We are so excited!

Big Boy

Ryker is doing the potty thing for real this time! We are so proud of him! For the past week and a half he has been wearing "big boy underoos" at all times while awake. (We will work on night time and nap time later) He has been accident free for the past 3 days, except for one minor "sharting" mishap (no, I didn't teach him to say that!) He even made it through nap time today when I forgot to put a diaper on him for his nap! Yes, sometimes the potty makes its way out to the living room, basically because I am getting tired of spending my day in the bathroom. Plus, the living room is really a better place for reading! All he requires as bribery is 1 potty prize, which = 3 skittles, and he is getting so he forgets to ask for them very often. WAY TO GO RYKER! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!

The Big Game

Ryker and Ben had a chance for some male bonding while they watched the Fiesta Bowl together. They were both excited to watch the BIG GAME! (Ok, actually, during this picture was about the only time Ryker sat still. In order to be allowed to watch the game at all, Ben had to be actively playing cars most of the time). Ryker did sport his Boise State shirt all day on game day, and the day after to celebrate!! So Idaho had a few representatives here in Florida. Go Boise State!!