Wriggly Rylie

I think everyone is due for a Rylie update!

-She's grown quite a bit (over 18 lbs at her last appointment)

-She eats mushy food

-She moves

-She LOVES my cell phone and the tv remote

Paige's Future

Car ride chats have become more and more common for Paige and me, and I try to talk to her about a variety of subjects. Recently, we have covered everything from learning her middle & last name to Santa. On a recent car trip, I was chatting with her about Dave's and my jobs. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: When you are at school, Mommy & Daddy go to work.
Paige: Mommy & Daddy go to work.
Me: Yep, and do you know what I do at work?
Paige: Work.
Me: Well, yes, but my JOB is that I am a teacher.
Paige: A teacher?! Mommy a teacher?

(Side note - I think I blew her mind that I was a teacher, cause she has teachers at her "school," and, while she's visited my school many times, she apparently had no clue that was what I did.)

Me: Yep, and Daddy is an Engineer.
Paige: An Enguyneer?
Me: Yes, an EnGIneer.

So, we talked for a bit about Mommy and Daddy's jobs (traffic can be terrible around here) and how when we work, those are our jobs, blah, blah, blah. I also had to clarify that Daddy does not, in fact, work at the airport, but I suppose her only experience with Dave's "work" has been when we were dropping him off or pickig him up from the airport and I tell her that "Dad has to go to work for a few days."

I decided to take this conversation one notch higher (I AM a teacher of gifted students, so I feel a need to end all conversations with an opportunity for higher level thinking). I asked, "Paige, when you get older, what do YOU want to do for a job?" Now, I anticipated that she'd either answer with, "a teacher," or "an enguyneer," because Paige is the ultimate follower and not generally one for original thoughts. She surprised me when she said, "hum....." cause that meant that she was actually thinking about her answer. After a few seconds of thinking, she says, "a bucket." I was certain that Paige was just confused about my question, so I clarified, "No, what do you want to be when you have a job?" and she assured me that she does, in fact, want to be a bucket. I thought she must not know what a bucket is, so I asked her, "So what does a bucket do?" and she replied, "Holds water."

This conversation happened about a week ago, and Paige still maintains that she wants to be a bucket when she grows up. While these aren't the same aspirations that we have for her, we may be looking some career openings in the field of bucketry in a few years. I'm pretty sure UVA and BC don't have any sort of programs for buckets, but maybe they'll develop something before she gets to college.

Potty Training

Paige's potty training is finally over, not that we did any of it...that's why we pay KinderCare the big bucks, again, something we left to the professionals. Not sure what we'll do when the time comes for Rylie to start using the potty, maybe we'll just have to commission Paige to take care of that problem. She's been diaper-free for a few weeks now, Minnie Mouse panties are how she rolls (very similar to the ones Dave wears). One of the few ways we do allow her to assert her independence is by letting her pick out her panties and socks every day, something she looks forward to greatly, and that requires quite a bit of time...

We do need to work on Paige's "potty talk" a little, as she calls her pee, "poop," and her poop "brown ones;" but as long as her "poop" and "brown ones" are happening somewhere other than her pants, I'm okay with whatever she wants to call it.

So, to sum up, diaper usage is down, toilet paper usage is up (convincing Paige that you do not need a half roll of tp per dribble has proven to be quite the task) in our house.

Paige plays on couch, Rylie laughs

We're Back!

Yeah, so things got a little crazy for a while, but I think it's time for an update. Our audience (of two, maybe three people) deserves to know what's been going on with the Lynch family over the past few weeks. Brief overview: Rylie grew, Paige grew, our Escape broke down in CT, I started back up at work, the girls started daycare, Izzy learned how to carry her bed around and take naps all over the house (wherever the sun spots are located). 

 Rylie has now officially lived half her life at my dad's house and half her life here at our new house (8.5 weeks at each). She's 4 months today and we still really like her (though we could do without the 3:30 am paci replacement). She'll go for her 4 month check at the pediatrician tomorrow, so I really should write this post tomorrow when I have her stats, but I was worried that I'd lose the motivation to do it by then. So I'll guess: she's probably around 15 lbs (I base this on nothing) and 25 inches (again, I simply made it a number bigger than where she was when she was born). One thing's for sure, she's in the 99th percentile for cuteness! 

At the beginning of the summer I had three goals for Paige: 1) get her out of the crib and into a "big girl" bed 2) get rid of the paci and 3) potty train. I was successful on only one of my goals, getting her to sleep in her big girl bed. Paige started daycare last Monday, by Wednesday they had gotten rid of her pacifier and she peed on the potty on Tuesday. Apparently I just needed to leave it to the professionals.  I did all the background work, and then someone else swoops in and finishes it off. I'm okay with that arrangement. 

As for my car, Paige says it best, "Mommy car broken." We went up to Connecticut at the beginning of August and it broke down. The Ford dealership has been fixing it for a few weeks now and every time one thing is fixed, they find something else bigger and more expensive that is also broken. We may start entering Paige and Rylie in beauty pagents to pay for the repairs. We've done lots of research (Toddlers and Tiaras is set to record on our DVR), and we think they can really sweep the pagent scene. 

I think that's it. Good, now I can post videos of our girls again without feeling like I haven't written in a while...

Mom In Training

Paige "cooking"

10 Things Paige Can Do That We Wish She Couldn't...

1. Unscrew the toothpaste cap (or any screw cap, for that matter).
2. Take her shoes off.
3. Open the door/screen door to get outside.
4. Turn on the music for Rylie's swing.
5. Point the tv remote at the tv to change the channel/settings.
6. Lock her car door with her toes.
7. Change the time on Dave's alarm clock.
8. Turn on the water in the bathtub.
9. Take off her pants.
10. Reach items on the countertops.

Paige reading to Rylie

Busy Weekend

Our events from the weekend: Friday, May 6th - We had the home inspection for our new house that we bought.

Saturday, May 7th - Paige turned 2!! We had Gavin and Owen over for dinner and cake and opened a few presents.

Sunday, May 8th - Mother's Day & Paige's birthday party with the whole family. Paige is officially spoiled with all the presents that she got and she now has more possessions than her parents.

Welcome Rylie!

Here's how Friday, April 22nd went: We started out the day as a family of three. Had a nice breakfast (Frosted Mini Wheats), and then we were off to the hospital! They started me on pitocin right when I got there, but luckily a small enough dose that it only started the types of contractions that aren't painful. I was able to be up and wander around the room for a while, but I convinced enough people that I'm scared of pain, so they gave me an epidural around 3:30 pm. After that they really cranked up the drugs and by around 7, we were ready to push...BUT, the midwife was delivering another baby, so we had to wait (don't worry, I felt nothing, good epidural). She finally got there around 7:50, got set up and...

...at 7:59 pm, Rylie Mae Lynch was born (a side note, that is the exact time, to the minute, that big sister Paige was born)!! She apparently understands how impatient her parents are and decided to make things easy on her momma (3 minutes of pushing). Our little Earth Day bundle weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long.

Paige's New Pastime

Paige's favorite thing about living at Grandad's house is the rocking horse. She seriously wants to stay on this thing for hours...

Do I need to back up a little?? Yes, we are living at Pop's house in Leesburg as we house hunt. We rented out our townhouse and really want a place of our own, but just need to find the right house. We're settling in nicely, but it's all a little confusing right now because Andrew has informed me that I'm not allowed to call the room that Dave and I are currently sleeping in "our" room (as it is his old room). And if I say, "my room," I'm apparently referring to the room that Paige is currently sleeping in (my old bedroom), so I need to call the place we sleep either "Andrew's room," or "the room that currently houses our clothes." Our house hunt will pick up quite a bit when Dave returns from Afghanistan on Sunday. That's right, Afghanistan. He had to go over for two weeks to play in Excel over there (as far as I know that is what he does). Paige says over and over, "Daddy at urk, daddy at urk," I'm sure she'll be happy to have him home again in a few days.

Super Bowl "party"

We decided to have a Super Bowl party at home this year, and the guest list included Dave, Molly & Paige. So, obviously, we made tons of food. Dave made wings (hot and honey barbeque) and Paige and I made pigs in a blanket:



We all ate until we felt sick and actually craved a piece of broccoli, then Paige went to bed, Dave watched the game, and I cleaned our house (realtor coming the next day to take pictures to list it to rent). The only thing better than that meal was when we had it the following day as left-overs! Don't worry, we're back to eating normal meals again...

Baby Giggles

Owen, Gavin & Paige thought it was hilarious when Owen turned the light on/off.