Busy times!

Well, it's been two weeks and I have yet to find time to post a new blog. We have been busy! It started with Rylan getting sick. She started running a fever on Monday the 16th so we took her in to the doctor Tuesday. It had been 103 steadily. Every few hours after tylenol or ibuprofen it went back up. They found no ear infection, so they did a strep test which was also negative. Then we got to go to the hospital for a lovely chest x-ray and rsv test. Rylan screamed bloody murder when I was holding her down for the x-ray. It was miserable. My worst moment as a mom thus far. Anyway, those tests also showed nothing. So Wednesday she got to have blood drawn to check for any kind of infection. On Thursday at another doctor appointment we still did not know what was wrong. Finally on Friday morning Shaun sent me a text that said Rylan had broke out in a rash all over her upper body. Another call to the doc revealed that she had roseola! The symptoms pointed to that all along, but without the rash who knew?? I am sooooo very thankful that we have mom to take care of Rylan. She kept her Monday and Tuesday and Shaun was home the rest of the week with her on his days off. I was able to stay at work, which was a hard choice to make but I don't have much time off. I used a few sick days in January when Ry was last sick and am down to 3ish. It's still a long 3 months until school is out so I'm trying to preserve them. I felt like a terrible mom but I am blessed with wonderful support! The high point of all the doctor appointments was Thursday when Rylan showed Dr. Amari her speaking skills. For a while she has had some two-word phrases and recently added a three -word phrase! She says "What's that?", "Who's that?" and now "Look at that!" So while the doc was talking, Rylan pointed at her and said, "Who's that?" Dr. Amari kept talking and just interrupted to say, "Dr. Linda, honey." Then she stopped and looked at Rylan when she then pointed at a poster on the door and said, "Look at that!" The doctor was a bit shocked. Probably not a great sign that she is talking so soon. I can just hear the other teachers at school having to tell me about motor mouth Rylan in class. Not good.

This pic isn't great, but demonstrates a bit of the rash she had.



We are thankful to have her back to her old self again. She lost about 14 ounces being sick and she is already petite. Hopefully she gains the weight back quickly!

Shaun was so busy taking care of Rylan and working his wacky schedule that he still hasn't had much time to mess with the Wii. One night when Tucker (or Uncle Tucker as we call him around here-our neighbor and good friend) stopped by after work Shaun convinced him to try it out. They had a good time and Rylan and I enjoyed watching. Shaun and I have not yet found time to play together. I'm chicken. I stink at video games and am very competitive. Not a good combination.



The next day Rylan was clearly feeling better! My cousin Kaeleigh came to baby-sit while I was at a Women's thing for church and Shaun was painting our bedroom (I will post pics and words about both those things at another time)!


After a long week of work for both Shaun and I, we had the opportunity to make a trip to Sheridan to see Daunee' and Damion and had a great time! I was really looking forward to a shopping trip in Billings on Saturday. So much so that I had a dream on Thursday night about shopping for Rylan. I was going through racks and falling in love with the adorable new clothes. Then I went by Children's Place-my fav place to shop for Rylan-and the gate was down but there were about ten women inside getting to preview a new line of clothes. I was ticked! And then the phone rang and Shaun woke me from bliss!!

The actual trip was almost put off by stupid snow. I am so sick of winter I could scream. I hate it that we have to plan out of town excursions around what is coming out of the sky. And living in Gillette makes one crave getting out of town! We did make it Friday just as planned. Shaun always worries how I will react if our plans change. I like things to always go the way I see them happening in my head! We had a good meal out at a new place in Sheridan that night and headed out bright and early Saturday morning to enjoy a fun day of shopping! Since dad was working, mom decided to ride along. Shaun and I really enjoyed a trip where we got to get cozy together in the backseat of Daunee's Yukon and play with Rylan while she was awake!



After a couple of hours of shopping we went to my Aunt Angie and Uncle Jim's house for lunch. They just retired and moved to Billings from Seattle in November. It's exciting to have some of mom's family closer and hopefully we will get up there to see them again soon! They have a gorgeous house and she fixed a yummy lunch. Food is always a highlight of any trip or moment in my life.

Aunt Angie playing with Rylan. She wouldn't give her up and helped feed her lunch and everything. That was fun.




Rylan and Auntie Nee' practicing walking. She still just takes a couple of steps at a time.




I have an incredible husband. He is so good with Rylan and an awesome daddy. Multiple times during the day he would take off with her so I could get some shopping done alone. I wasn't just shopping for fun and had some serious things to find! We are traveling to Tennessee to see family and friends in early April right before Easter. The weather in Wyoming will probably still require long sleeves but we are thinking TN weather will allow for some short sleeves and maybe capris. I wanted to get Rylan a new outfit or two before we left. And I always like finding cheap cute things that I can wear to school. It was a great day of finds and we ended it by having another great meal, this time at Olive Garden. Rylan had done so well all day. She waves at everyone she meets-even if they aren't looking and says, "Hi!" It's fun to watch people who were engaged elsewhere start smiling and talking to her. She made friends with a little girl who was also from Gillette and born the day before she was! The grandma had a bottle in her hand and Rylan kept signing "please" (instead of rubbing her hand on her chest she just smacks it!) over and over. It was hilarious. And speaking of signing, she does "please" all of the time and does "more" and "all done" as well. It can be a bit exhausting to figure out what she wants when she is saying please and you don't know what she wants. She combines it with "Uh, uh" repeatedly. I guess it is nice that she is telling us what she wants!

Meeting a new friend. Maybe someday they will go to school together!

It is getting a lot easier to be out and about with Rylan. Especially now that we can feed her table food pretty easily. She still prefers to snack more than eat a "normal" meal. She really enjoys getting sneaks of tasty things like cookies from her aunties and MeMa. I just turn away and don't watch!

Playing with Auntie Nee' who has an awesome toy chest with lots of fun things for Rylan to do!



We came home this morning so we could be home for church. Mom had Children's Church and Shaun hasn't been able to attend much with his work schedule. We were back early so Rylan got to mess around with the steering wheel. She thought that was just awesome.



After church we enjoyed a good lunch out with friends. Yep, we spent our life savings eating out this weekend. But every bite was well worth it! And the fellowship was great! We have a bit of a tradition to eat out when Tucker's work schedule allows him to make it to church. And he did buy which was much appreciated!

Rylan cuddling in with Uncle Tucker at lunch. She adores him. He is my saving grace in church when Shaun is gone and my family is busy with the other kiddos. She is always happy to escape my arms and hang out with him during worship. I don't know that he knew what he was in for when he became a part of our family and got the status of honorary Uncle!

This post has taken up most of my evening and I have to work tomorrow! I'm sad that the weekend has come to an end. Our family is starting a Biggest Loser Couples competition and that is supposed to start tomorrow. Good luck to you all but I plan on winning! My husband better be prepared to work his tail off!! And pray that I stay committed to it for real. I would like to eventually have this baby weight off. A year is too long. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

One more pic for you to enjoy...Rylan playing with her scooter thing. She can get on and off pretty easily now!