Dear Ryleigh,

I can't believe a year has come and gone, just like that. Your growing up right before my eyes. So much has changed in just this one year. You can now say Mama, Dada, Chop Chop, was at (whats that), Baby, night night, mum num (num num for food). Also Today for the first time you took 3 steps! Could there be a better birthday present? You amaze me each and every day with how much you know. The other day when Carly got you the cabbage patch you put the bottle in her mouth to feed her, then hugged and kissed it! Where did you learn that? Then you looked at it and said "baby". Your turning into a little girl right before my eyes. Im so happy to be able to stay at home with you and watch you learn all of these new things. Your new thing is your ornry face. Whenever you do something you know your not supposed to you scrunch up your face and smile and look at me. Its so cute I *almost* forget to say "no no Ryleigh"....lol. You also love to dance. If your standing up you shift from side to side, and if you sitting you fold your arms and twist side to side. Its so funny. I just want you to know that I love you so much more than you can ever imagine.

Love,
Mama

Ryleigh's Birth Story Con't...

At about 1:30am I woke up and was having cramping. Like I was going to get my period. When the nurse came in to check on me I told her I thought I was having contractions. She hooked me up to the monitor's and sure enough I was having contractions on my own. They were still far apart, but it was a start. I called Bobby and told him and he said "ok call me when she gets here" Good thing he was joking...lol. I told him I didnt need him to come in, and that I would keep him posted. At 6am they started the pitocin to speed things along. At 9am I decided to get the epidural. I had seen how they put them in on Baby story and I was scared. They made Bobby leave the room too. He said I would feel a pinch, and thats all it was. After that I felt some pressure, but it was fine. I was so suprised...I thought it would hurt more than it did. After I got the epidural they checked me and I was 3cm. At 2pm I was 10 cm! I had slept through all the contractions! The nurse wanted me to try and push to see if I was ready. I pushed and she said everything was looking good, but that the baby hadnt dropped like she should have. 30 min later she came back in so I could try again. I pushed a little more and then she left. I didnt know anything was wrong. A few min later in rushed my Dr. And tells me the babys HR is too high and they need her out and I was having an emergancy c-section. I was hysterical because the last thing I wanted was a c-section and she just told me Ryleigh was in trouble. They gave Bobby some scrubs and off I went down the hall by myself. Bobby had to wait there. As they were prepping me for surgery I was crying and asking for Bobby. Finally he was allowed in and he was trying his best to calm me down. I just kept laying there thinking...they are cutting my stomach open and pulling my child out! There was alot of pressure and then I heard her cry for the first time! I knew then everything was ok and we were both going to be fine. Bobby was taking pictures of her, then he would come back to me and show me. Then I got to see her and I kissed her tiny little face and told her Mommy loved her and would see her soon and that Daddy was going with her. I told Bobby not to take his eyes off of her for a second! (A funny sidebar...Earlier that day Bobby was talking to my belly and told Ryleigh "You cant come out between 3-4pm because Dr. Phil is going to be good today...lol Wouldnt ya know it she came out at 3:41pm. We missed the whole show. She showed Daddy who was BOSS!)



I was wheeled back to the recovery room and my mom was allowed to come in with the visiters that had arrived. The nurse said that the epi would wear off and that i would get feeling back in my stomach. About 5 min later I felt a horrible burning pain. I was yelling for someone to get a nurse. I was in so much pain I didnt know what to do with myself. Finally she came in and gave me some morphine. After that I was loopy and didnt really know what was going on. I remember the people that were there, and I remember my sister bringing me a slushy that I wouldnt for the life of me let go of...lol. I also remember holding Ryleigh. But I dont remember what anyone said.



Soon everyone went home and it was just me, Bobby and Ryleigh. I was in and out of sleep due to the heavy medication and I told Bobby he could go home and I had the nurse take Ryleigh for the night. The next morning they brought her to me and I just cryed. I couldnt have told you if she was mine or not because I just didnt remember what MY baby looked like. I called Bobby crying and he said "calm down...lay her on the bed and unwrap her. Look at her feet. What do you see" I said "her toes on one foot dont line up like the other foot" He said "Thats our girl!"

Ryleigh's First year

I was going to wait till tomorrow to post this, but I just cant. Ive spent the last 2 months working on this video. From choosing the picture, to adding captions, transitions and elements to each and every picture. Im happy to say its finished, and Im so pleased with how it turned out. I was going to make a shorter one for online viewing, but I decided not to. It is rather lenghty...almost 12 min. I hope you will take the time to watch it. This is the video that I will be showing at her birthday party on Saturday also. Ryleigh LOVES this video. Everytime she hears the music, wherever she is, she coming crawling in and wants up on my lap. She will sit and watch the WHOLE thing too! It amazes me!

I now present to you *drum roll* RYLEIGHS FIRST YEAR!!!

6am

Last year at 6am I was in route to the hospital. I was being induced. There wasnt a really good reason for me to be induced. I was having a lot of back pain with Ryleigh due to my 2 slightly buldging disks and I wanted her out. At around 630am I was hooked up to the monitors and the pitocin drip was started. I was happy and terrified at the same time. I came into the hospital having a just a husband and I was leaving with this little baby that I knew nothing about. She wasnt going to come with instructions and I had to figure out what the heck I was supposed to do with her all day. That part scared me. All my life my dream was to become a mom. But was I ready? Would I know what to do?

I was having slight contractions, but nothing was progressing. The contractions werent getting closer together and I wasnt dialating. My OB came in at around 330pm and gave me 2 options. #1 I could spend the night and try again in the morning. But if I did that and there was no baby at the end of day 2 I would have to have a c/s. #2 I could go home and wait till she came on her own. She left the room and gave us a few min to decide. I was a mess. The one thing I didnt want was a c/s. That scared me to death to even think they would cut me open while I was AWAKE and take my baby out of me. I had seen it all too many times on Baby story and I would watch it with a wrinked up face looking through my fingers that were covering my eyes.

Bobby and I decided that we would try again in the morning. Before he left that night he prayed with me and we put it in gods hands.

To be continued...

Elf Yourself!

I elfed my family....go check it out for a good laugh!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9552326424

Christmas Traditions

I'm so excited now that we can start Family Traditions with Ryleigh. Yesterday we dug out the Christmas decorations and tree, and put some Christmas music on. We took down all the fall decorations and replaced them with Christmas ones. We Put the tree up and As I got all the ornaments out of the box I told Ryleigh what each one was and when we got it. After that I got out some paint and the plaster Ornament that we bought at Michael's and let Ryleigh paint it. She had no idea what was going on. She was eating the ornament and the paint...lol. I did help her and show her that the paint goes on the ornament. It was a dog coming out of a stocking, so i only got red and brown paint for it. Every year we are going to have her pick out and paint an ornament. The she took a nap and we got ready and went to the festival of lights. The festival of lights started in 1985 and has grown to be the nations largest light show. See this artical for more details.

Ryleigh slept through the whole thing, but we will go several more times im sure. On a night when its not so cold we will go check out the garden of lights. Thats the new thing this year. It has a huge nativity scene over top of the fountain. And lighted flowers where the real ones would be. You walk through it. Its beautiful, and kind of romantic.
Anyway, we had a great christmas themed day. Ryleigh LOVES the christmas tree. She points at it and says "Ooo".

Online Stores

I just wanted to tell you about my 2 favorite online stores. The first one is Zing Slings and More. The Owners name is Jessica and shes a very good friend of mine. Ive gotten 2 pouch slings and a matching diaper bag from her. Se sells 3 different types of slings, Diaper bags and toats, Re-usable cloth gift bags and wallets. Go check out her store. If you decide to buy anything use code tiffanyrefer at checkout for free shipping. Pumpkin patch

Coopers Rock State Park in WV

The second one is Cutie Pie Clippies. Its a fairly new store, but I did have the pleasure of purchasing a breast cancer Awareness Bow for Ryleigh, and I LOVE IT! She did a wonderful job. The Owners name is Natasha, and shes also a very good friend of mine. She sells custom bows, breast cancer awareness bows, Clippies, Flower loop bows, loopy bows, Small bows, medium bows, Korkers, Holiday Bows, Pony O streamer's, Woven headbands, Headbands (they have a spot to put the clippies on), and Hair bow holders.

Both of these ladies have amazing talent. So go check them out! What are you still doing here....GO!

Birthday Dress

I took some pictures of Ryleigh in her birthday dress today. Our local news displays first birthdays and you have to have it in 2 weeks in advance. Here are some of the pictures I took. The last one is the one I sent to the news. So if you are in my area watch the news at 20 after 5am and/or 20 after 6am.

Quick Note

To tell you all im still alive...lol. Ive been spending all my free time doing the great cloth diaper hunt over at Diaper decisions. Its an online scavenger hunt. I have found 107 little pink diaper icons so far! I still need 5 more extreme ones to qualify for the extreme grand prize. (Those ones are HARD) and I need 17 more to qualify for the grand prize. Anyone else diaper hunting? How are you doing?

Also I wanted to give a Ryleigh update. She is now walking with a push toy across the dining room and living room and cruising across the couch! Shes doing great. Hope everyone is doing good, hopefully I can get this hunt done with so I can catch up with everyones blogs...lol.