Getting into the swing

Well we are trying to adjust to our new life and family. I think the days go better than the nights...duh! But my mom is here to help and that has been a great blessing. Here she is with her two grandchildren.

Gracin is even opening his eyes a few short min more that the day before!!

Rhylan has the best friends

Rhylan and Mary

Our husbands teach scouts together on Wednesday nights, so Margaret and I decided to start hanging out together and let the girls play and us socialize. Rhylan sure has great friends. I love this second picture, they are both little models. Rhylan was sad this week when we didn't get to go to Mary's house. Maybe in a couple of weeks we can do it again. I am still in the stage where I don't leave my house! These were about 3 weeks ago.

Gracin Photo Shoot

We wanted to get some pictures of Gracin while he still had the new baby look!! Here are some of my favorites---I took over 100 pictures it was hard to narrow it down!

Here are my top 5!!!

Coming Home

We got to bring Gracin home on Friday. Here are a couple pictures of us getting ready to go!

Here is his first outfit. He didn't like gettingdressed.

He's HERE!!!

Gracin Gail Williamson
Born July 22 at 8:26 am
8 pounds 15 ounces
21 inches long

This is not the whole story. I just wanted to give you all a little sampler of our new baby. My water broke at midnight Tuesday. We came to the hospital and he was born 7 hours later. He is a big boy, healthy and happy. He was 3 days early, just like Rhylan. It is nice that I still have never had to wait for my due date!!

Here are a couple of pictures of his first day. They are in reverse order I didn't have the patience to fix it right now. Enjoy!

This is how we kept Rhylan entertained for some of the time. She was really into exploring the hospital room and all its cupboards.





Here we are when he is just min. old!!
We still need to get a picture of the four of us, but here are two happy parents.

50 cents!!

You can buy some time and a little fun with 50 cents!!

I went to Office Max last Thursday to fax something and picked up the ad. Markers for 50 cents for a 10 pack...wow I have to go grab some of those. Rhylan has never tried real markers before. It was a hit!! I just wanted you all to know that Office Max is having huge sales on back to school stuff. There were things like highlighters for 1 cent! Of course I have no idea when that particular sale ends. But office supply stores all over are having good sales. I love school supplies (I guess that is the teacher in me!)

"Nesting"

Well the other day I went a little crazy. I spent hours getting stuff ready for our new little baby to come. My washing machine had quite the workout! I took all the covers off things like the swing, bouncy seat, boppy, car seat and washed them all! I packed my bag, made a few list of thing to remember in time of stress...labor, sterilized binkies. And did a few projects around the house. Whew... I didn't even stop for a nap. And with a little Tylenol PM I had a great nights sleep! Of course my ankles are still a little swollen and haven't gone down but hey, I am 39 weeks preg and I am just starting to get swollen I think that is pretty lucky.

Rhylan spent at least an hour in the empty baby car seat (while I washed the cover). She even ate her lunch in there! I am serious. She wanted to be in there with a blanket over the top. I handed her a PB and J sandwich through the blanket.

I made these funny little things. I saw them on a blog a couple of weeks ago and thought they were too cute and a little funny. I had scrap material and an hour to spare. They are called "pee-pee tee-pees." If you can't guess what they are for...ask your mom:) A friend of Riley's saw this little sweater at the store and told his wife that they needed to get it for Riley's little boy. Riley loved it. He asked if the baby could be blessed in it! Thank goodness it is a winter sweater and size 3-6 months so I had a good excuse! But I think it is SOOOO cute.

On a side note. Rhylan drew a picture of Riley! Too bad it was on the Magna-doodle so I can't save it! He has a head, hair, eyes, mouth, and arms and legs. What a smarty pants.

Another ultrasound

Isn't he cute!!! You can already see his chubby cheeks.

The doctor wanted me to get another ultrasound to check on the babies growth. I was measuring kind of small last week. She said it was probably because his head is already down in between my pelvic bones but wanted to check anyways. Well he is measuring 8 lbs 11oz! The ultrasound tech said "he has a big belly!" I am glad for that. Chubby little babies are the best. The doctor wanted to induce me next week but I decided to wait. My mom is coming to help with Rhylan and she won't be here yet. So I have an induction set for July 28th if he doesn't come any eariler.

"Bir-day cake Mommy"

Here is the birthday cake Rhylan made for me! I even blew out the candles/straws.

For my birthday on Sunday we went on a picnic at Lake Arkabulta. It wasn't too hot in the shade. We loved watching Rhylan explore the great out doors.

Full term

Only 2 weeks left!!!!
(can you believe it?)

Bubbles

Oh to be a little girl again. Rhylan loves blowing, popping, and watching bubbles. Life must be great for a two year old!

Just finished--No spoilers

"Science fiction for people who don't like science fiction"

I just finished this book yesterday. I loved it! I read the Twilight series and really like Stephenie Meyer's writing so I asked for this book for Mothers Day. She did not disappoint. I am pretty picky about what I read. Picky meaning, I have to love it right away or I won't finish it. I have only actually enjoyed reading the last 3-5 years or so. It is a real page turner. Warning I would stay awake at night wondering what happens next so much that I would give in and read more at 3:00 am! It didn't help that I can't sleep really anymore already.

Independence Day

We had a fun 4th of July. I was glad it was on a Saturday so Riley was home. We started the day off by going swimming in the morning before it got too hot.


This was Rhylan's best swimming day! She has this suit that we put floaties inside and they keep her afloat really well. Of course she is always scared and cries for us when we let go. But, today we got her sidetracked with a funny game and she forgot all about it! Once she realized she was swimming by herself she didn't want any help. Her poor little legs were kicking for over an hour!
But one great swimming day would not be complete without a little injury. She fell and scrapped up her knees and foot pretty bad on pool deck/cement. It made her a little sad and cranky for the rest of the day and night!
Then later on we went over to some friends house for a BBQ and some fireworks!

Here is Rhylan watching some of the fireworks in the backyard!

She even was brave enough to hold a sparkler... after much coaxing!
Rhylan and Lucy with their matching USA shirts!
We did a couple more bigger fireworks in the street and Rhylan just wanted to hide behind my legs. We were surprised when she actually wanted to try these little ones. I don't know what they are called but you throw them on the ground and they pop! Lucy and Rhylan went through two boxes of these. They were having a ball. Later we went to watch big fireworks at the park! But really there was a better show from our balcony! A bunch of guys had fireworks going just across the pond for 1-2 hours.

What form!