Averys big girl room...

Well, the Winnie the Pooh themed nursery has officially left the house. Dale spent all of last weekend painting Avery's room and it turned out great!

The wall above her toy box. Yes, the side pictures are not even, I need to fix this.....

Avery's bed. Three of the walls are purple, the other one is the same green that's in her comforter.

The walls are still kind of bare, I have a few ideas but I need to think about it for a while. Heck, it took me two months just to pick paint colors, it may be years before Avery has something more on her walls, lol!! A border would look nice but Avery took her old one down so I'm not investing in that kind of money right now for it to be ripped off.

Other than that it's been kind of quiet around here lately. I got home from work last Saturday to Avery in our bed with a 103 degree fever. She also complained of a bellyache and a headache so I dosed her up with Motrin and

spent the night nodding off and on while she spent the night next to me moaning in her sleep. That lasted all day Sunday and it ended Monday morning after she got sick twice. Good thing I was in the middle of steam cleaning her room because I needed it to clean the furniture. Poor girl, she still doesn't know to run to the bathroom when she gets sick. Tuesday morning comes and Rylee wakes up complaining of a headache. I check for a fever and give her Motrin. At this point I thought that maybe her headache was from Dale painting all weekend (I'm very sensitive to that smell) so I tell her to take a shower and see how she feels. She gets out of the shower and feels better so she gets ready for her LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!!!!! Yes, our first baby is now a first grader!! We are so proud of her!! Crap, I'm getting off track here, where was I????? Oh yeah, so she heads off to school and I think all is well. Boy was I wrong. The moment she stepped off the bus at the end of the day she broke down in tears. I felt her head and she was burning up so we get home and I take her temp, it's 103.4. Not good considering I'm due at work in 1.5 hours and it's now too late to call off. I called my in-laws and told them that we wouldn't be over (they watch the girls every Tuesday) and then I called Dale and told him that he needed to leave work a few minutes early so I could get to work in time. I went to work but got to leave early so I was home by 9:00 and of course Rylee was in our bed waiting for me. By the next morning she felt better but man, that was one mean virus!!! Fever generally don't bother me but I don't like it when they are that high. At one point Rylee's was 104 and that kind of scared me.

Soooo, other than Avery's new room and illnesses we've been spending most of the nice days at the pool. Both of the girls already have their own group of friends to hang out with. It's so nice to be able to actually sit down at the pool. Last year they didn't know anyone so I had to entertain them, this year Rylee takes off to the diving board as soon as we get there and Avery sets up shop with her friends at the baby pool. Avery has officially become the "cool kid" because she has paint brushes ;-) I'm telling you, give a kid a bucket of water and a paint brush and it will keep them busy for hours at the pool!! Swim team starts tomorrow and Rylee can't wait. She's even talked one of her new friends into joining so they can hang out together all day. Our first meet is next Monday so look for pictures soon!!!

Well, that's the update for now. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. We're off to a rainy and cool start here in Pa. but hopefully that will change soon!!

Mommy and Daddys day out.....

Boogity, boogity, boogity let's go racing!!!!

We spent Sunday in Dover at the race and had a great time while the girls were enjoying some quality time at grandma's and grandpa's house. The weather was perfect and our seats were great, we couldn't ask for much more! Well, Kurt winning would've been awesome but he finished 5th, we'll take that!!!

Note to self, remember to apply sunscreen to nose next year. I did the rest of my body but forgot my face and well, let's just say that my nose is bright red and you can definitely tell that I was wearing sunglasses all day, lol!!

Us in front of "Miles" the monster, the track mascot.

The view from our seats. We were between turns three and four, 12 rows from the track.

That's our boy, the #2 Miller Lite "Blue Deuce"

The field during a caution.

Soap Box Derby

This past Saturday our nephew Bailey was in his first Soap Box Derby
so we went to cheer him on. He did a great job!!!



Coming down the hill at over 30 mph.

After his race with his car

Strawberries!!!

Mmmm, finally our local orchard opened to the public and we took
full advantage of it by picking some fresh strawberries last Friday.
Later that night I made strawberry shortcake and it was YUMMY!!

Bikes, a parade and the pool!!

Well, Rylee FINALLY got brave enough to ride her bike without training wheels. She had the strength last year, just not the confidence, but this year she took off after only 20 seconds of help! She thinks she's cool now because she can ride with the big kids. Avery also graduated to a "big girl bike", with training wheels of course. I pulled Rylee's old bike out just to see if Avery could fit on it and within an hour she was cruising the street with Rylee. I really didn't think her legs were strong enough but I guess she's stronger than I think!

This past Saturday we went to the annual Memorial Day parade and the weather was perfect!! The girls were so excited because they knew the pool would open when the parade was over. So, after the parade was over we stopped by the park for a quick lunch and then ran home to get changed into our bathing suits.........

Getting ready for the parade.....and candy!!

After her first dip of the season....the water is still freezing!

Showing off her new bathing suit after a swim

Well, you know where to find us if you need us in the next few months, just call the pool!!!! Swim team practice starts June 15th so we'll be there every morning for that and then we'll probably stay for the afternoon. Swim meets are every Monday night so look for lots of pictures soon and if you're in the area come to cheer Rylee on!! Oh, and yes, I already got suckered into racing a few times this summer. Seriously, didn't I retire from swimming 15 years ago?!?!?

Word of advice, never have your ex-coach be your daughters coach, that's how you get suckered into racing when you're in your 30's!!

Mothers Day

Yesterday was Mothers Day and we had a great day! It started with Dale and Rylee running to Dunkin Donuts for bagels and my Chai tea. Avery climbed out of bed when they got back and it was present time. Now, the girls had been talking about this all week but wouldn't tell me exactly what they made. Dale had taken them to a Home Depot Kids Club workshop last weekend and they made me mini wheel barrow plant holders!! They are so cute, Rylee made me a pink one and Avery made me a purple one. I also got an assortment of pictures that Rylee had made at school. After we got done with that I was told that we would also be going to a baseball game that afternoon. So, I got a shower, ran to the grocery store and then we headed over to the Reading Phillies game for an afternoon of fun.





Rylee with Screwball, the main mascot......

Avery doing her best to stay awake during naptime!

After the game we came home and my parents and grandparents came over for dinner. Then I ran to Walmart for some Aloe lotion as my body began to itch. It was so windy at the game I didn't even think about getting burned, that is until my neck and cheeks started to feel a bit warm. Yep, I woke up this morning with a nice looking farmers tan on my arms, lol!! Not to worry, the pool opens in a few weeks!!

Fireworks!!!

It's that time of year again, time for weekly fireworks!!!!
Our local minor league baseball team sets off fireworks after every weekend night game and this was the first weekend for it. It's only a ten minute drive from the house so we keep track of the game online, when it gets close to the end we hop in the car and drive over. I started this with Rylee last year and she loved it. Now that Avery doesn't mind the noise she gets to join us!



The girls patiently waiting in the back of daddy's car.

Watching the fireworks for the first time without climbing into my lap and covering her ears.

Fireworks picture!

Little music lover....

Miss Avery found Rylee's old MP3 player and is totally in love with it. In fact, she sat on our bedroom floor for almost an hour yesterday while I did laundry. What's on "her" MP3 you ask?? Hannah Montana, Camp Rock,
and a few of her favorite Disney songs.


Jamming to the music!

Action shot....she's singing along to Hannah!

And so there's no hard feelings, Rylee with daddy's MP3, she has her own playlist on it.

Seattle trip

Copy and pasted from the email I sent out because I don't feel like typing the entire thing again!!!


Hello everyone!! Okay, since we are getting a ton of emails/phone calls asking us how our trip was I decided to write one big email and send it to everyone. There's no way I'm going to type the same thing ten times, lol!!

Anyway, our trip was great. We're exhausted but we're happy to be home. The time change was a killer. Just as we got used to West coast time we had to leave so now we're trying to get back on East coast time, talk about confusing!!! My body doesn't know when to sleep, when to wake up, or what meal to eat! Here's what our schedule looked like for the last week.............
Wednesday- we got up bright and early at 3:45am to leave for the airport. The girls did GREAT getting up that early, Rylee even woke herself up as soon as she heard Dale get in the shower. All I had to do was whisper "time for Seattle" into Avery's ear and she jumped out of bed wide awake. We drove to the airport and our first flight to Chicago took off at 7:45. That flight was very bumpy and we learned that the girls get motion sickness just like me. We got to Chicago, found the play area and hung out there for a while before eating and getting back on the second plane. The flight out to Seattle was very boring. Honestly, the Mid-West is nothing but fields and more fields!! We got to Seattle around 1:30 (West Coast time), got our rental and headed to the hotel. By this point we were exhausted from traveling so we went to dinner and then back to the room. John came over and the guys went to the bar for a little while I got the girls to sleep.

Thursday-sight seeing day!! We spent the morning at the Children's Museum and then went to see the Space Needle followed by Pike's Place. Pike's Place is a famous farmers market. If you've ever heard of the place where they throw the fish, this is it!! Anytime someone orders a fish (think big ones with heads still on) the guys throw it to the person behind the counter. It's really cool and one of Seattle's most popular attractions. We watched that for a while, walked around and then headed back to the hotel for dinner. Thursday night was also the bachelor party.

Friday- Aunt Hope came to see us!!! Yay!!! She got in around 11:00am so we spent the afternoon at the zoo with her before heading back for the rehearsal and dinner.
It was clear enough this day to see Mt. Rainier from Seattle. Wow, what a sight, it was breathtaking! We only think we have big mountains on the East coast but ours are ant hills compared to the west!!

Saturday-more time with Hope!! We went to the Seattle Aquarium that morning and then walked along the waterfront for a little before going back to get ready for the wedding.
The wedding was really nice. They got married at one of the local marinas in Kirkland (a suburb of Seattle) so they had Lake Washington in the background, very pretty!! The reception was in the hotel and we had so much fun. The girls danced until the passed out around 10:30.

Sunday-we got up, packed up and checked out of the hotel since we were staying at the airport that night. After checking out we met Hope and had a private tour of Franz Bakery (where she works) and then walked along the waterfront and did some shopping before saying good-bye to her. She lives in Portland and had a long drive so she left around 3:00.
Thank you once again Hope for everything!!! We had such a good time with you. After Hope left we went to John's house to say good-bye before heading to the airport. Another clear day and more views of Mt. Rainier. On the way to the airport we spotted a Rainforest Cafe, one of our favorite places to eat while on vacation so we surprised the girls by stopping there for dinner. We got to the Marriott, checked in, took the rental car back and went to bed.

Monday-wake up call at 3:30am!! Once again, the girls hopped right out of bed! We grabbed the 4:15am shuttle to the airport and took off at 6:00 for Dallas. That ride was awesome. We went over so many snow covered mountains, don't worry, I took lots of pictures!! We got into Dallas a little early (11:15am) and were told that out gate wasn't ready yet so they parked us (and about 6 other planes) on an old runway. We were told that it would only be 10 minutes but that turned into over 30 minutes and as a result we watched our connecting flight take off without us. Yes, we missed our flight, our flight home. Ugh!! So, we were stuck in the Dallas airport for about three hours. There we people all around us with masks on because of being so close to Mexico and the swine flu thing going on. Let's just say it was NOT fun!! Luckily they got us on the 4:00 flight and we got into Phila. around 8:00, came home, unpacked and went to bed!!

Well, that's our little vacation story. Let's see, Seattle over-all is really nice. Very clean, natural, VERY environmentally friendly, no trash anywhere, and the people are very polite, almost too polite, they don't use car horns or yell if you cut them off, lol. The traffic is horrible though, think of driving the Schuylkill Expressway every time you need to go somewhere and that's how it is. We got lost quite a few times. I did miss my Chai Lattes though and couldn't find anywhere that had good ones. I guess that's what I get for looking for tea in a city known for coffee!! The girls loved flying and did great! They each had a backpack filled with games and toys and that kept them busy while in the air. It was worth the trip but we're all glad to be back home. Now we just have to get used to this time zone again!!


To see the pictures please visit the following link. I took WAY too many pictures (about 300) and it would take forever to upload all of them to the blog. Click on the pictures to enlarge them, most pictures have captions to explain what they are.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=nancee2014&target=ALBUM&id=5329796441707563665&authkey=Gv1sRgCPLL3by7oPPM4wE&feat=email

Happy Easter From Rylee And Avery!

Quick review of the day........
Up too early, got way too much candy and ate BIG meals twice in five hours, lol!
Happy Easter!

Easter Eggs!

We did the traditional egg coloring this morning as soon as the girls woke up. Here are the results!

Miss Avery coloring her egg before it gets dipped.......

Rylee creating her masterpiece!

Working hard.......

The finished product!! Notice the two empty spots?? Yep, we dropped a few, lol!

Happy Easter everyone!!!!!

Remember Me??

Wow, has it really been almost two months since I lasted blogged? I really need to get my act together!

Let's see, I guess I'll do a family update first. We're finally getting close to our big cross-country trip to Seattle. Word of advice, NEVER tell two kids about a big trip months in advance. Not a day had gone by since November without Rylee asking about it and every time Avery sees an airplane she reminds me that we are going on one. Anyway, this is by far the biggest trip we have done as a family and I'm really looking forward to it. Well, I'm looking forward to it once we are there, lol. I'm not a fan of flying and having a two hour layover in Chicago with kids doesn't exactly sound like fun but I'm sure everything will go just peachy! We did change out flight on the way back, instead of coming back through Chicago we now fly through Dallas. Not exactly "along the way" but going through Dallas will avoid a three and a half hour layover in Chicago during naptime so it works out better AND we still get back to Phila. by dinner. Other than that nothing else has really been going on. Of course we've been to a few more Royals games and we still have tickets to a few more. We had a few snowy days but nothing too big. I wanted a really good storm, the kind that drops a foot overnight, but I guess I'll have to hope for that next year now.

On to kid updates....

Rylee is doing great in school! She got her first report card and is right on track. In fact, she's even a little above where she should be for reading! They started with weekly spelling tests and

so far every test has been perfect. She signed up for two after school classes that start soon. She picked a golf class and a dance/cheerleading class. She also lost two teeth within the last two weeks AND she still has one more loose one!!

Her 6 year well-visit stats are......

height- 45 1/2 inches

weight- a solid nothing but muscle 50 pounds!! yep, she's my child :-)

Avery is turning into a little girl. It's kind of bittersweet to watch her grow so fast. She's very into fashion and will protest if you pick the wrong clothing out for her. She also likes her hair to be "so pretty" all the time. She knows every letter and their sounds and has even started to write some on them, her favorites being H and T right now. Ironically even though she's a princess she turning into quite the outdoor lover as well. We had a hard time getting her to come in on snow days and now that the weather is changing she wants to be outside all the time.

Her 3 year well-visit stats...

height- 36 1/2 inches

weight- a tiny 28 pounds

So, those are the updates for now. Hopefully the weather will warm up so we can get outside with the camera soon. For now, I'll leave you with a picture of "toothless".............

Kids Day..

It was another Reading Royals hockey day and the girls had soooo much fun. Since it was a school holiday it was kids day and then after the game we got to skate with the players at a local sports complex. Rylee skated around with a Sharpie and got the players to sign her new shirt. I think she got about 20 autographs including the coach and the two all-stars.



Avery during her 5 minutes on the ice before giving up and sitting on the bleachers with daddy.

Rylee getting her first autograph....

and another......

and another...

Being interviewed for the local news....

Royals Game

We had another Royals game tonight but this one was special. Birthday girl Rylee had her name announced at the game and then afterward got to go down to the locker room to meet one of the players.


Avery having fun while cheering for her team. It worked and we won, yay!!

Poor girl, she can't handle these late nights...bedtime is usually 8:30, this picture was taken around 9:00, lol.

Rylee outside the locker room with her new favorite player, Brock Hooton.
He rocks!!

My little helper....

So, my New Years resolution this year is to get back in shape.
Most mornings are spent on the elliptical followed by some type of strength training.
Apparently Avery feels the need to get into shape as well, lol.

Happy birthday Rylee!!

Yep, I now have a six year old!! Wow, she's just growing up WAY too fast and I guess it's only fair that I write about her birth since Avery got her story told. So here goes....

The beginning of the pregnancy was definitely "not normal",lol! For about a week I had been having really bad abdominal pain at night but I ignored it until one morning I couldn't get out of bed. I called work to tell them I wouldn't be there and then I called Dale to come home so we could go to the ER. He gets home in record time and we take off. We get to the hospital, check in, the doctor does a quick exam, takes some blood and then tells me that they need to wait until the results come back before doing anything else. About 20 minutes later he comes back in and says "You're pregnant but the levels are really low. We think it's ectopic and you'll need surgery. Sorry, but we can't give you any medication for the pain.", and then he walked out of the room. Yes, this is exactly how we found out, crappy, right??? I wasn't due for my period for another week so even though we were trying being pregnant didn't even cross my mind. So, off to the ultrasound room I went. Because it was so early they couldn't detect anything. I was told to take it easy, go back for a repeat ultrasound in a week and I would also be required to get bloodwork done every other day for the next week to see how my levels were. Long story short, my levels went up like normal and two weeks later an ultrasound confirmed that everything was okay. My ovaries just decided to flip out because of the pregnancy and that's what caused the pain. I was told that it's totally normal, kind of rare and very painful (no crap!!). The rest of the pregnancy went great. I felt wonderful and loved every minute of it. Christmas Eve was my first internal check. I was 1 cm dilated. Wohoo, I thought!! New Years Eve was my second check. 3cm dilated and I'm told to "stay close to home, it won't be long now". Umm, yeah right! My due date (Jan. 13th) came and went. I went in for an (overdue) check-up and on the way out one of the doctors stopped me and asked me about my weight gain. When I told him what I had gained me told me that I looked "too big" to have only gained that amount and that he'd like to do a quick ultrasound. Okay, no problem. I bee-bop into the room and hop onto the table. He does the scan and says "I'd like to induce you tomorrow, I'm estimating this baby to be over nine pounds already" WHAT?? TOMORROW? NINE POUNDS??? So, he tells me to be at the hospital around 7:00am for the induction. I go back to work, call Dale and my mom and then my boss tells me to go home for the rest of the day to relax. I spend to rest of the afternoon calling everyone that I know and I get no rest. That evening Dale and I go out to dinner and when it comes time for bed he went to the spare bedroom so I could get some uninterrupted sleep (he snores, bad!). Around 2:30 I wake up, go to the bathroom, lay back down and realize that I feel quite crampy. I brush it off thinking it's from the internal exam earlier that day. Hmm, now the cramps are coming and going. I lay in bed for about an hour and time them. Yep, I'm in labor!! I spent the rest of the night watching TV and timing contractions while Dale slept. Around 5:30am the phone rings "This is the XXXXX hospital, you are scheduled for a 7:00 induction but we are extremely busy right now Don't' come in as scheduled, we'll call you when we're ready for you". Dale tells the nurse "too late, she's already in labor". So they go back and forth on the phone, how long are the contractions, how far apart are they, are you okay being at home, etc. and it's decided that we are okay with staying home for now. 6:30 the phone rings again, it's the hospital telling us that a room just opened and we should come in. So we head to the hospital all excited, park in the garage, walk across to the entrance and up to the 2nd floor. I get checked in and my doctor comes in to do a quick exam. Yep, active labor and I'm 6-7 cm. HUH??? But I still feel fine?? I'm still laughing and I just walked across the parking lot and into the hospital by myself. How did that happen so fast?? She asked me about medication and although I still felt great it was my first baby,I had a "fear of the unknown" and got the epidural right away. 1:30 come and I start to feel like crap. They had turned my epidural off at this point, they wanted to me be able to effectively push. 2:00, time to push!! At this point my body takes over and I push 5,6,7 times in a row before stopping. I kept thinking, just cut me open, I can't push a nine pound baby out! 2:30 comes and she's crowning but not moving down much. I push again and feel a huge "pop", and she comes out with the next push. It's a girl!! We were so excited because up until this point we didn't know the sex. They weigh her, 7lbs. 12oz. WHAT?? What happened to "over nine pounds". Oh well, she's healthy, that's what matters. I found out later that the "pop" I felt was her shoulders getting "unstuck" in my pelvic bone. I had shoulder dystocia, which is where the baby's shoulders are too wide to fit past the pelvic bones. Because of that she required some extra stimulating right after her birth (she wasn't breathing) but the nurses did a GREAT job of not letting us know. I found out later that night that her first APGAR score was a 2, had I known that right away I would've freaked out. From that day on she has been one of the strongest little girls that I know. Now she's an energetic six year old who loves school, loves swimming and loves her family. She's become somewhat of a tomboy over the years but still loves to climb into our bed every morning for a quick snuggle before starting the day. I'm still amazed when I watch her play. How did she get so big so fast?

So, to you Rylee, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Birthday Avery!!!!

We have a birthday in the house today!! As of 3:59am Miss Avery is now 3!!! Wow, these past years went so fast!! It seems like it was just yesterday that I found out about her being on the way. I woke up on a Monday morning and realized that I was late so Rylee and I hopped into the car and ran to Giant for a pregnancy test. On the way home "Daughters" by John Mayer was on the radio. I remember thinking well so much for that test, this song must be a sign that we're about to have another baby and our second girl. To this day that song reminds me of that morning. I went home took the test and called Dale right away with the results. I think morning sickness kicked in as soon as I hung the phone up, lol!! The first few months were pretty stressful. I was sent for monthly ultrasounds for the first five months to check my cervical length because of my cervix being so scarred from previous surgeries. I was told that if at any time they weren't happy with the ultrasound results I would have to have a cerclage put it, which is here they go in and literally stitch the cervix shut. Everything went so smooth and before I knew it I was due with baby girl #2!! I was induced two days before my due date because I had shoulder dystocia with Rylee and an ultrasound estimated Avery to be getting close to Rylee's birth weight. Dale and I went into the hospital bright and early on Wednesday January 11th expecting this to be a smooth, easy, fast labor just like with Rylee. Boy were we wrong!!! I got checked in, hooked up and then the resident came in with the cytotec tablet. Crap, that hurt so bad and he had NO idea what he was doing!! We sat around for a few hours and watched as the monitor started to track my contractions. My OB came in around noon and checked me, I was 4cm. The contractions kept coming so I walked the halls hoping to speed things up. Around 6:00 my OB came back to check me, I was still 4cm. CRAP!! She broke my water and told me"this will speed things up for you". Yeah right!! She came back at 11:00, checked me and reported my progress, which was NOTHING!! I couldn't understand why I was having contractions but they weren't doing anything. She explained that because my cervix was so scarred it just wasn't able to open. So, we were told to hang out for the night, baby was fine so there was no need to rush things. At this point I was frustrated and tired so I got the epidural thinking that I would sleep a few hours and then be woken up for a C-section. The epidural never worked because apparently there was a kink in the line and as they were trying to find it they pulled it out of my back. At that exact moment my cervix decided to give in and open. I have never felt such pain in my life!! I'm still shocked that I didn't break the bed rails because I had a death grip on them. The nurses came flying in, checked me, called my OB and broke the bed down within a matter of minutes. After 15 minutes of hard pushing little Avery came into the world weighing 7lbs 9oz., exactly what she was estimated to be. No shoulder dystocia, I didn't tear, and she was perfect. What more could we ask for. She was and continues to be such an easy going little girl. She's our little princess girly girl who loves getting her hair done and her nails painted. She's the one that completed our family and we're so happy to have her here! Happy 3rd birthday Avery!!