A daily event...

I couldn't get this girl outside all summer, now that it's a bit cooler she wants to be out riding her bike all day! The best thing about this -- I set up a lawn chair and read the paper or a magazine and she rides up and down the driveway for at least an hour. It also doesn't hurt that it's getting a bit cooler so the mosquitos aren't as bad. They're not completely gone, but they are dying quickly! That's one of the main reasons we didn't go outside all summer -- those darn mosquitos are deadly! Even with bug spray...they bite right through you.

What Kids Say

I try to remember everything my daughter says, but I tend to not write things down, so I soon forget those cute little phrases and responses she uses. But today, she has 3 responses in a row that were just too great to not document.

#1 We went to my work today for an inservice and when checking in the rehab nursing supervisor says to my daughter, "You look just like your daddy" (she's the ONLY person in the entire world that thinks she looks like her daddy -- the rest of the world says she's a spitting image of me!). My daughter looks up at the nursing supervisor and says, "but I'm not a boy, I'm a girl!"

#2 The rehab doctor (he has 3 small children of his own) I work with comes up to us after the inservice and says, "Wow, you're getting so tall. How old are you now?" My daughter says, "Three" (more like 'free' with her little preschool speech pattern). The doctor says, "You're so big I thought you must be four. When will you be four?". My daughter says, "After I'm three."

#3 As we're leaving the hospital to come back home, a man passes us in the hallway. He's wearing black pants, black shoes and a white and black shirt. The shirt had a white body and black arms. My daughter says as he walks past us, "That looks like a penguin!" (Luckily, he didn't hear her or myself as I laughed really loud as I realized what she was talking about)


Nothing like that heart-warming feeling you get by the innocence of a child.

Our new altered personality...

Our preschool daughter has been obsessed with the Disney movie CARS for some time now, but just as I thought, her obsession has faded a bit, only to be replaced by something else. This week, it's "Skywalker Luke" -- you know, that character from the Star Wars movies? Jeffrey, the 5 year old at the babysitter has been OBSESSED with Star Wars for years now and his obsession doesn't seem to be fading, only being passed on now to my preschool daughter!

Here's her rendition of Darth Vader (on the right) trying to get Luke (on the left). However, she told me, "Darth Vadar can't get Skywalker Luke because Skywalker Luke is on roller skates".

Now, my family knows I am NOT a fan of sci-fi movies, but my brother is a HUGE fan. My parents once bribed me with a quarter (yes, a shiny quarter) if I would stay awake in the movie theater watching Star Wars....I don't' think I ever got that quarter. I don't think I could get a quarter to this day staying awake during one of those movies.

But, my brother on the other hand probably knows those movies frontward and backward...maybe he can tell me if there's a part in one of the movies where Luke escapes Darth Vadar's attacks by racing away on roller skates? For some reason, I think not.

vacation photos....FINALLY!!

I spent well over 2 hours trying to get these photos uploaded and made into a montage. It's a bit 'busy', but hang in there and enjoy the pictures! It only took me 2 months to get them organized! :) Click on the picture below, but let me warn you - it's 10 minutes long!



Florida Vacation, 2008

It all started like any other day...

It started like any other Monday, I set my alarm (okay, my husband set my alarm) and I woke up at 7AM with the toddler up soon after yelling, "Daddy, I'm done with my nappies". (she always calls for him in the morning, but he's long gone for work)

I got her all set up with breakfast and PBS and threw in a load of laundry before heading up to take a shower. Today was a school day, so we had an hour and a half to get ready before heading out the door.

I went up, took a shower and was getting ready when I heard this "THUD" downstairs. I waited and hear the cries start about 2 seconds later. I ran downstairs and saw the preschooler sitting next to the cat's food/water crying, "I slipped and fell". I saw there was something wet on the floor. My first reaction, "Did you accidentally pee on the floor?", "no" she says. My second reaction, "Did you spill Pookie's water bowl?", "I slipped on the water, it was just spraying everywhere!" she responds. I was confused, but then looked around.

I saw water EVERYWHERE!! It seemed to be coming from the laundry room.....yes, the washing machine (a front-load) exploded!! (not literally, of course). There was water all over the floor, spilling out into the dining room area. I rushed to get towels and started sopping up the mess. It was all under control and I thought everything was fine...

...until the washing machine door blew open again and water started gushing out once again. I ran to shut the door and turn off the machine, but not until after at least 3 gallons of water sprayed all over the floor again -- my newly cleaned floor (HA!) So, I ran to get another set of 10 towels to sop up the mess. I also got the floor fan to attempt to dry some of the water and set the washing machine to spin -- I wasn't going to dare try to run the machine again without supervision.

As the water lay on the floor and towels attempting to dry some of it up, we rushed out the door (only after spilling my coffee, of course!) to go to school (only 5 minutes behind schedule, not bad!). But, then we ran into a 'dead' train -- sitting on the tracks. I turned around and figured out an alternative route, only to run into the train tracks again! Did, I also mention it was pouring down rain at this point.

I finally gave up and parked my car at the train tracks, called the school to tell them we would be late and just sat and enjoyed the moment. We ended up only being about 8 minutes late for school and I am back home drying some towels and cleaning the floor once again....nothing like a shiny tile floor, huh?

Since coming home, I have found water in the basement, wet boxes of dishes (note to self, only store items in rubbermaid containers!). I have the dehumidifier running, cleared out the 10x4 foot area where the water is located, have a small space heater and an occilating fan from our neighbor running as well to dry out the area.

Things couldn't get worse, right? Well, at lunch I spilled my glass of milk all over the table, just missing the library books we just checked out!

I think I'm going to take a nap and hope that this afternoon is better -- if it's not, we're sitting on the couch and reading books the rest of the night and I'm not laying my fingers on another item in this house!!!

Please let my day go a bit smoother, I promise to slow down and enjoy the moment -- I think God was speaking to me this morning and telling me to stop, listen and relish each moment -- instead of trying to do too much. Sometimes you just need the message thrown in your face or sprayed across your floor to realize He's speaking to you!

Who are those blue guys?

Do you know who these little blue guys are? I'm sure if you're old enough to get onto the computer, find my blog and read the blog then, in fact, you should know who these guys are:


But, I found out how old I really am when my daughter and I completed this 100 piece puzzle and took ot over to share with the babysitting family. Jeffrey (age 5) scrunched up his nose while looking at the box and said, "Who are those blue guys?" in a somewhat hesitant voice -- not knowing what to think of them. Yes, I guess he wouldn't know who they were, huh? Why would he? They were on TV quite a while ago......and quite a while ago now I was a child.

Funny how time flies and all of a sudden you realize that you are an adult, a mother and quite possibly on the edge of being at the "middle of you life", closer to 'mid-life' than you really feel comfortable being...

We're HOOKED!

...on America's Got Talent (our daughter calls it, "America's STILL Got Talents")

here's two of our favorite acts.....we've even gone crazy -- we voted for our favorite performers!




From Door County, Wisconsin:

Does she know something?

We haven't told our preschool daughter that we're having another baby yet. Last time we told her and then had to tell her that "God isn't ready for us to have a baby yet" when we had a miscarriage in October of last year. That was one of the hardest moments of my life. So, it's hard to sit down and tell her when both my husband and I are hesitant to get excited and 'connected' to this baby growing inside me yet. We are both optimistic, but it's still hard not knowing from day to day how everything is going inside there. I am 'officially' 14 weeks and go back to the doctor next week.

Anyway, our daughter loves to draw pictures of people and her most recent family photo:

She told me this was a picture of, "daddy, mommy, {her name} and a baby". This was drawn on July 1st. I was only 2 weeks pregnant at this time, so I know there's no way she was picking up on 'baby' by the size of my belly yet. (it's quite obvious by now -- I'm in maternity clothes already). So, I guess she had some insight we didn't even know about at that time!

Another instance: she was watching TLC yesterday morning and after the "Magic School Bus" show starts regular programming and "The Baby Story" was beginning. Before I could change the chanel, she saw a lady having an ultrasound. I told her, "Oh this is a show about mommies having babies". Her response, "I know, I saw you on there" (!!!) I asked her what that meant and she just said, "I don't know".

Interesting what children pick up...I think she really knows there's a baby in my tummy. But, I don't know if she really understands what the means. She's the queen bee at our house right now. When her 'reign' ends in late February, there will be uproar in the Reilly kingdom!

The First Day

Well, it's come and gone and we've all survived: the first day of school!!! Daddy worked from home today so we could all go together (and for some emotional support for me if needed). I tried to get the preschooler to stand by a tree or some significant area in our yard -- you know, so we could do a tradional 'first day of school' picture every year, for the next 15 years. But, as many parents of preschoolers/toddlers know, that was almost impossible! Here's the best shot I could get:

I'll keep trying in the next couple of days to get a better "first day of school" picture...at least by a tree or something -- so, we can watch her grow over the years....


The preschooler in our house has been excited about starting school, that is, until we were driving there and almost at the school. You see, she often pretends she is "baby Yoshi", a character from the Mario game on Nintendo GameCube that they play at the babysitter's house (long story, maybe I'll go into it sometime...). At least 90% of her days she is "Baby Yoshi" and not my real daughter. This morning was no different. However, as we were pulling into the drop-off line at school, she announces, "I'm Baby Yoshi and babies don't go to school"!!

I don't even remember what we told her to get her out of the car...but, I think when her teacher came to the car door she forgot about being "Baby Yoshi" and remembered her real name.

Here we are, at school. Her teacher, Mrs. F (I'll protect her identity) came to the car to pick her up. We are beginning to learn the drop-off and pick-up line rules: the teacher comes out to get them and the teacher brings them out to the car. No parents allowed to bring them into school. I'm sure it's for organization and so the morning run a little smoother with structure.

After the special first day of school, the preschooler got to choose what restaurant we went out to for lunch. At first she chose Portillo's, but then as we pasted Red Robin she yelled out, "I mean I want Red Robin!". So, that's where we went and she even got to share daddy's chocolate milkshake.

What a special day!

Our new "project"

I'm ready to make the 'formal' announcement now: WE ARE PREGNANT!


I am 'officially' 13 weeks and 2 days, but have been measuring about a week bigger - so, more like 14 and 1/2 weeks. I haven't been wanting to make the announcement on the blog, for fear of something happening. With everything that happened back in October of last year, I've been hesitant with saying too much. But, I decided today was the day to make the announcement!

It's not been an easy road, even though I was expecting smooth sailing. I was in the ER 3 weeks ago with bleeding and ultimately, I think I miscarried a twin. My hormone levels were so high at my 8-10 week appointments, that my doctor was questioning twins!! But, right now I have one healthy, growing baby in my stomach and for that I am very thankful. My doctor is watching me closely and I'll keep updating on here...

We having told the preschooler yet. My fear is that we will tell her and then have to tell her (again) that "God doesn't want us to have a baby right now, maybe later". Although my stomach is growing quickly, I suspect she may know more than I think!

The little boy at the babysitters told her the other day about the baby (spilled the beans!). The preschooler's response: "Oh, I love babies", and then proceeded to keep playing. She hasn't mentioned anything to us yet....so, I'm not quite sure she fully gets it. We'll tell her in a couple of weeks...