FAIRly great weekend!

The Fair as a child is AWESOME! The fair as a teenager is cool. Then there are those few awkward years where you don't know where you fit in. I was too big for the rides and games and too young for the crafts. Then came Noah and it is AWESOME all over again. We pulled on the road where Noah could see the Fair and from the backseat I heard "Oh. My. Gosh." :) He cracks me up!

Noah rode every ride he was tall enough for at least once and played 2 games that are thankfully kid-friendly and everyone is a winner every time! That is so nice when you have a little boy that wants to win the prize himself and we don't want to pay $30 for a blow-up shark. Noah wanted to ride the big kid rides - he is fearless! When I asked him his favorite part he said the "so giant slides" :) We finally left at 9:00  -an hour past Ryan's bedtime, but Noah was having SO much fun we didn't want to make him leave! Ryan didn't care much for anything - just wanted to be held and she liked the lights. But, next year we will be chasing her around everywhere! I need to start resting up for that now - a toddler at that age can be exhausting!

Sunday after church, Noah wanted to go to the water park - which closed last weekend for the season :/ So, we drug out his pool and water table and he was in heaven! We have two babies that love the water and are so content just playing in our little pool! (for now anyway).

We had an awesome little family weekend - blessed for the time we got together :)

5 Day Weekend!

My babysitter had to close unexpectedly a few days last week, which was inconvenient, but we made the best of it. We just had a 5 day weekend instead :)

Our church rented out the local water park one night. We are having crazy cool weather for August so the water was a little chilly, but it didn't bother Noah at all. What did bother Noah was when a kid pooped in the pool and we had to leave so they could clean the water! But, we did get an hour of swimming in before we had to go. This was our second and last time to get to go to the water park this year, they are now closed for the season. It is hard to think that the next time I go I will have a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old!

Friday we went on one last zoo trip for the year. The weather was perfect! It was cloudy and a little cool, but not cold. No need for sunblock and no one was sweating. It was awesome. Noah had a blast and Ryan was a good girl as usual. They are both at the perfect age for this right now. Dada couldn't make this trip since it was finally not raining he had to work. So we went with my mom, my 2 nieces, 2 nephews, and my nieces mom and stepdad. It was such a nice way to end the summer.

Group pictures are a little hard these days :) (Noah's face cracks me up)

The COUSIN tree :)

Finally a good one - minus ole' crazy eyes in the front :)

Saturday I spent the day at home with the kids - we played and cleaned house (which they love right now - Noah loves to help and Ryan thinks the vacuum is hilarious). Nathan went and raced his car at Centerville Dragway. He broke the track record! He has been dreaming of doing that for years - and telling me he was going to too :) I was sad that I missed it - I stayed home with the kids because I knew he was going next weekend for a big race and I didn't want to leave the kids 2 weekends in a row.

Sunday we went to church and Ryan made it in the nursery the whole time! This has only happened twice so this is a big deal. I went through this same thing with Noah, and it is easier this time because I know eventually she will be ok. I hadn't witnessed it with Noah so it was a hard transition, but I think we are finally getting somewhere with Ryan. Her biggest problem right now is nap time - it conflicts with every service time at church right now! But, this season will pass soon enough :) After church we went to eat and to look at paint samples for a closet that Nathan is building me. We ended up getting Noah a new ceiling fan while we were there. Noah has had a pastel flower ceiling fan since he was born! It also started making a squealing noise sometimes so it was finally time to get him a new one.

Monday morning I had to send my babies back to "school" and I did first day of school pictures this time. I realized Noah would only have one more first day of daycare after this one and then he will be in kindergarten. Since the other  kids at this daycare started kindergarten this year Noah is the oldest one there! How did that happen? It seems like just yesterday he was the youngest there and all the girls were naming their baby dolls Baby Noah and pretending he was there. I do have the youngest kid there too - and Ryan won't be in school for 5 more years since she was a fall baby!

Ryan Maelynn is 11 Months!

This is the last time I will refer to my baby girl in months - from here on out it is a year and so many months! 11 months old! Here are this months highlights:

* She weighs around 26.5 pounds and is 32 inches long (these are my measurements - the best I can get with a squirmy squishy kid)

*Well, I quit pumping when Ryan was 10 1/2 months old. I had over 120 ounces frozen and have been slowly transitioning her to whole milk so it doesn't upset her belly and to use the frozen milk up too. She needs all the good momma milk she can get! She drinks 10 ounces a day (half cow, half breast, with some cereal mixed in) and 6.5 ozs of baby food for lunch, and 10.5 ounces of baby food and a 7 ounce cow milk/cereal/breastmilk bottle before bed at night. She loved her birthday cake at her cake smash pictures - Noah wouldn't eat his, so I think she may like junk food a little more than he does :) She now also eats yogurt bites, puffs, cheerios, and kix cereal with a little water/juice at snack time.

* Ryan is sleeping from 8:30 - 7:00 (give or take an hour). She goes to sleep all on her own without crying like a big girl and wakes up and will lay there and babble for at least 30 minutes. She is sleeping partially swaddles (from the belly down) and not in her nap nanny anymore.

* She is still in size 3 diapers, and size 4 night diapers. She sleeps too long for a normal diaper to hold up.

* She is in 18-24 month clothes and most of her size 2 shoes still fit, but is into size 3s for the most part.

* Ryan will still sit in the floor and play with toys for hours - she loves playing with anything that is not toys right now. Her diapers, desitin tube, tearing up the phone books, 2 liter drink bottles, and Noah's dinosaurs.

* She is still a scooter! She pulls up on one knee and one foot all the time. I am waiting for her to start "cruising" around the furniture and tables.

* She still only has 8 teeth - but she is working on a few more, they just haven't popped through yet.

* Her  new "tricks" this month are playing peek-a-boo, dancing to the ABC song on her dinosaur toy, and lots of new words! She can now say Momma, Dada, Un-uh (no), Uh-oh, bye bye, and kitty! This all happened in a few days time too! She also automatically smiles when I pull my camera out - I have her trained :)

Happenings here lately...

Just a few happenings here with the Stillwells lately. Scooter (aka: Squish aka: Baby Ryan) is everywhere! I will be pumping milk (so she knows I can't get her) and she will scoot in the kitchen and open cabinets, roll 2 liter bottles around, open the bottom of the oven - whatever she can get ahold of!  So, we had to put the baby gate back up - it was a nice little break not having to open it to get in the living room and kitchen - but wild child needs to be contained - especially when I am not able to chase her! Ryan doesn't know what to think of the gates so far - she laughs and plays with it, then cries, then laughs again :)

Another big step for Ryan is no more nap nanny! She has slept on a nap nanny every night and nap since she was born! She had choking episodes that resembled seizures and she would stop breathing so she had to be elevated to sleep until she matured past that. Well, she now can sit up in the nap nanny and squirm out of it so we had to do away with it for safety reasons. We are also doing away with the swaddle blanket - we are down to both arms out, but she still can't sleep without her legs in it and it wrapped around her belly - which is fine - baby steps :) She looks so much older sleeping on her mattress with her arms out!

About a month ago Noah decided that he was a big boy and wanted to get himself out of bed in the morning. The only way he could for sure do that was to get up before anyone else - we are talking 6:00 a.m. or earlier - on Saturdays! Then he doesn't nap on weekends - so he was cranky and tired by the afternoon and he was getting everyone up way too early - he was still tired but was too worried about getting himself up to go back to sleep. So, Momma found a solution! I got him a new clock! Not just any clock, this clock tells him when he can get out of bed! It has a picture of a bunny in bed on it and a bunny outside playing. If the bunny in bed is lit up he cannot get out of bed, if the bunny outside is lit up he can get up if he wants! This has worked perfectly! I set it for 7:00 a.m. to switch from bed to wake-up. It doesn't make a noise or anything when it switches and it doesn't wake him up at 7:00 - but when he wakes up he knows if it is ok to get up or not. He will get up and come find me and say "my bunny waked up! it's sunny day" - just like that every day! No matter if it is rainy or not - so cute!

I have to brag on my family a minute. We went shopping Saturday - (kind-of forgot about the tax-free weekend thing but we experienced no crowds or long lines thankfully!) and my husband and kids were awesome! We went to Hobby Lobby to get supplies for Ryan's first birthday party next month (cannot believe we are already planning that), and clothes shopping for her 1st birthday pictures this weekend. Nathan was in a "whatever makes Momma happy" mood (my favorite mood of his) and the kids were awesome! No meltdowns or anything! It was just one of those days where you realize you are not screwing up as bad as you think sometimes :)

We had a benefit for my uncle Sunday to help with his medical bills and living expenses since his recent brain surgery! The benefit was awesome and raised a lot of money to help out! It rained while we were there and I let Noah play in it since it was not lightening - he was in heaven! He has never seen a puddle he didn't like! No matter where we are or what we are doing he will go out of his way to stop a puddle if he sees one! I have to watch him or he will get his good clothes (or anyone within 5 feet) dirty!

Changes going on everywhere - all good ones for now! (Hopefully it stays that way!)