1 year later

one month old 9-3-10

newborn pic - taken next day

Wow, I can't believe a year has passed since writing a blog. I never thought I would be where I am now, but I am loving life!! Nathan and I had an amazing wedding and honeymoon and in December we found out we were pregnant with our first child.

Months later we found out it was going to be a little girl and we were just thrilled. Immediately we started buying all the cute little pink and purple things and went with an adorable monkey theme for her nursery. Donna ( the owner of Double D bar that we work at) threw us an amazing couple's shower along with the help of my mom and we got everything we could have ever imagined needing for our sweet little Rylee Mae. Before knowing the gender of the baby (which I called HE for 5 months....oops) we loved the name Riley as a boy or girl name. So after finding out we decided to make it a more girly spelling. Mae was a cute middle name that I have always loved and it was also Nate's late grandmother's middle name so it was settled. Way easier than I thought it would be.

Due to me being a 10lb 3oz baby, they were concerned with how big Rylee would be. After our 32 week ultrasound we were told she would definitely be over 9 pounds and the doctor was concerned that she wouldn't fit through my pelvis. So once it got closer to my due date (8-7-10) we decided that if I didn't go into labor by 39 weeks that I would be induced. Sounds so easy right?!? Long story short....we were supposed to go in at 8pm to get cervadil inserted and then in morning they were going to start pitocin and break my water. Instead, they didn't have a room open until 1am when I received a phone call to come in ASAP. On no sleep and not having eaten since 5pm we went to the hospital and got pitocin started by 3am. My water was broke at 9am...epidural at noon....full dilation by 230....started pushing at 4......still pushing two hours later. Dr came by to say he could try vacuum but didn't think even that would work b/c she was just plain stuck! Wheeled back to OR at 6pm....Nate came in all scrubbed in and ready with his camera at 6:15 and little Miss Rylee was born at 6:24pm. She was 8lbs 13oz and 20.5 inches long. It was a loonngggg and hectic labor. Things didn't go as the doctor wanted with me coming in to get the cervidil the night before, but that wouldn't have mattered. She was not budging through my pelvis. :-(

We had to stay at the hospital for 4 nights. It was nice to be able to get the hang of breastfeeding with the help of the nurses. We came home on Saturday (her due date hehe) and its been great ever since. We had a minor hiccup with me getting a painful breast infection and having to switch her to formula b/c my milk dried up. She got super constipated and fussy for two days but we have been having such a great time together. I love my family so much and I am definitely dreading going back to work!!

August 17, 2009

Well, it's time for my weekly blog :-). I processed the rest of my Botanical Garden pics finally and posted them on flickr. Here are two of my faves.

Also one of Dexter thinking he is human as usual :-)

The week started off with Nathan being so tired and worn out from his bachelor party and I just worked Sat, Sun, and Mon. Nate's great friend from high school, Danny, is staying with us for a little bit until he gets some stuff figured out and moves into an apartment. It's been really fun though because someone is always home and Dexter loves the extra attention as well. We had taco night on Tuesday which was yummy and played guitar hero and hung out on Wednesday. On Thursday we went to Max and Erma's where he manages in Lake St. Louis and had dinner. YUM YUM!!! And then Nate and Danny came up and visited me while I bartended later that night. Porscha got my bridal shower stuff squared away and I'm helping her get invitations together and sent out hopefully by tomorrow or Wed by the latest. It's at the Bistro in St. louis by the Fox Theater. Should be really modern and fun! I'm so excited! I can't believe my shower and bachelorette party are less than a month away AHHH!! Friday was a blast! We had barbecue and beer at Debbie's and tie dyed shirts while the boys went for a helicopter ride. It's so nice being out in the middle of nowhere. So peaceful and so much privacy. I think Dexter had even more fun than us if that's possible. He ran around sniffing and chasing bugs and peeing on everything and even managed to bend his stake in half trying to eat Debbie's cat Zeus. A very fun and relaxing week and it's my last night of work. YAY!

Friend Award

My coworker and friend, Debbie, sent me this loyal friend award to pass along to some of my friends and to get people more involved in other people's blogs. Please take a look at her blog when you get a chance. She always has such wonderful stories and pictures about her and her boys. http://babykingsadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/

I would like to pass the award along to two of my great friends Jenn and Pamela. They are both friends from college and will be bridesmaids in my wedding in two months. http://rowclifffamily.blogspot.com/ and http://bornreddy.blogspot.com/ .

August 9, 2009

Happy Birthday Bridgette! I can't believe we have been friends for 10 years. CRAZY! This week has been hectic/fun. Tuesday was our softball championship. We beat the number 4 seed (green team) to make it to the finals and had to sit and watch blue vs. black to determine who we would play in the finals. Black was definitely a better team all summer but blue battled and won by 1 run. We won the championship and had a blast doing it. Everyone seemed to hit and make some pretty awesome plays. It was a blast. We got a big huge trophy and went out to Duffy's afterwards for pizza and celebratory beers! Nate and I stopped by Double D afterwards to say hi to Sarah and Bronson and have a beer.

On Wednesday, Porscha and I ironed on fun rhinestone designs on the back of the girls shirts for the float trip :-). Then I watched Race to Witch Mountain (cute) and got my nails filled before Nathan got home. I also had a major headache and laid in bed for 2 hours. Hormonal issues...... Nate was planning on golfing with Joe and Nevitt and since he would have to ride in the cart all by his lonesome (which isn't fun) I offered to go ride along. haaa. Little did we know, this place doesn't rent out carts after 530. Their tee time was 6. Neat huh!? So I just wandered around with them and walked the 9 holes. Well, they only got through 7 because the sun went down. We went to Fortel's afterwards for a late dinner and then off to DD to meet Sarah and Bronson and Ann (Antwan :-/ long story). We had a really good time hanging out with everyone and a lot of the fun regulars were there like Kevin, Leonard, and Jason. We stayed till close and got home to SURPRISE dexter puked all over the bathroom floor. UGH!! So I drunkenly cleaned up puke before bed, while trying to hold back my dry heaves lol. Then we ate our white castle we had picked up on the way home. YUM YUM!!

Thursday was fun because Nate worked from home and we got to relax all morning. In the afternoon, we ran to Sams for some shopping and Nate picked up some light at Sears for his bachelor party camping trip. Then we cleaned house the rest of the afternoon before I picked up my mom to meet with the florist in Collinsville. We are doing fake flowers for bridesmaids and groomsmen but my bouquet, Nate's bouttoniere, and our parents flowers will be real. It'll be a nice mix. I hope everything matches and looks good. That was a two hour meeting figuring things out and putting down a deposit and this and that. My mom and I went back to her house to eat dinner with my daddy before heading off to the Muny to see Hairspray. SOOOOO GOOOD by the way!! I loved it :-). Nathan packed his car for his camping weekend and helped finish up some cleaning and laundry around the house. Soooo sweet!! I was all wired after seeing Hairspray and stayed up and watched the movie Obsessed with beyonce. I really liked it!

Friday we finally got Dex to eat his normal amount of food without barfing and then let him spend the afternoon outside while we met Bo for lunch and a beer at Hot Shots and then went to his house to help him load up his truck for Nate's shindig. We had to put in coolers, a grill, generator, propane tank, firewood, etc into his truck. It was nice so he could just be ready to go in the morning and not sweat his ass off carrying all that stuff. Nate wanted to get to bed early so he stayed in and watched the Cubs game and Ann came over and played guitar hero for a little bit. Then we got ready to go out and stopped at DD for a beer and 2 shots before going out downtown. It was nice to visit with Sarah again and make fun of everybody in there. It was sooo crowded but everyone was already drunk and just like standing around dazed. Kinda funny. We went down to Morgan St. and realized we didn't have cash for parking and had to pay in quarters lol. Fun times. We stood right in front of the stage and danced for hours and would take turns getting beer and sharing it. I of course didn't drink as much because I was driving but I did want to have some three olives bubble ( the new bubble gum flavored vodka yum yum) and they had 2 dollar shots of it mixed with creme de banana. Ann hated it but i HEARTED it. We had a blast catching up and dancing our butts off. We didn't get heckled by many guys either b/c we were right up against the stage which was nice. We got up on stage for the last 2 songs which was fun and then sat outside and cooled off for a little before heading home. We were considering going to big daddy's for another hour because its open later, but opted for taco bell and sleep. We went to bed at 4 and next thing I knew Nate's alarm was going off at 5. UGH!

Nate left at 530 for golf with the boys in alton and then got changed at Greg's before lunch at the duck and then out to the land to get wasted and be crazy. I hope he is having fun!!!! He even called me a few times too which I wasn't expecting. It was sweet. :-) Ann and I got up around 830 or so and got ready for Raging Rivers. We spent the day riding slides and fighting waves and then ended with a yummy cheeseburger and floated around the lazy river 3 times. We had an awesome time together and I got to see her 3 times this week which was awesome. :-) .

Now I'm sitting at work completely exhausted because I was in the sun and water all day and now I'm trying to stay awake and focused. UGH. Debbie is off so it's even busier without the extra person. Tomorrow I'll be getting no sleep either b/c I'm getting up for my new niece's baptism. Well, I better wrap up some stuff before it gets too busy again.

August 2, 2009

WOW! A whole month...I know! I suck :-(


In the past month, I've gone to Wrigley Field for a Cards/Cubs game with Nate and his friends Joe and Castro and others, and also met my Aunt Patty and cousin Michelle at the game. It was my second time to Wrigley, but first time in the bleachers. It was an awesome time, even though the Cards lost. I'm pretty sure we drank for like 14 hours....ugh. Here is a pic or me, Nate and Michelle, and a pic of me, my aunt, and michelle.

Nathan and I went to the Botanical Gardens with my mom and Uncle Raymond one Saturday and nate rented a macro lens and got some awesome shots! I got a little more comfortable with my camera and took at least 450 pictures that day. We watched the All-star game at home together...the one game we cheer for the same team all year :-). We dropped off some wedding stuff in Springfield to be engraved and met Bob and Taush for sushi YUM YUM, I bartended 2 more times, and Nate went on a golf trip to springfield with Nev, Joe, Kevin, Foster, etc one weekend. Bridgette got me awesome Bare escentuals makeup at the galleria and then we went to cheesecake factory with Nate and Joe afterwards. We went to Dave and Busters for Colin's Birthday (guy from work) and met a whole bunch of other work people there. It was nice because Nate got to finally meet all these people I had been talking about for the last year and a half lol. We have one more night of softball, but it keeps getting rained out. We are in 1st place and we just have the playoffs left. The black team proves to be our only hurdle of getting 1st place overall. :-/ We'll see..... I got my hair trimmed and highlighted, and have my practice updo coming up next month. I just need to print my address labels and get Nathan to print his and we'll be ready to send out our invitations. After that are the rehearsal dinner invites and then programs. We have to meet with our officiant first to discuss the order of things before doing program. We got our guestbook and pen ordered and our favors done...just need to be bagged up the week or two before. Porscha and I made tanks for the bachelorette party (pink of course) with iron on words and fun things on the back with iron on rhinestones from Joanns and Hobby Lobby. We are going to look so cute. I just hope it won't be cold or rainy! Nate's Bachelor party is this weekend and the weather is supposed to be gorgeous. I'm so happy! I have to get back to work because Debbie left me by my lonesome tonight :-(

Sorry for such a disorganized blog...just trying to get everyone up to speed.

July 4, 2009

Yes, it's the 4th of July and I'm writing a blog while sitting at work. Fun Fun! We aren't too busy right now, so I'm watching Lost (season 4 woot!) and then going on top of Z building to watch the fireworks with Debbie. Romantic huh? lol.

On Tuesday, we lost our first softball game :-( but I had the more fun than I have all season b/c the other team was good and I got a lot of ground balls at 2nd :-) I hit like crap though (to the shortstop every freakin time!).

Wednesday was awesome. I picked up Nate from work for lunch and we went to Trainwreck. We sat out on the patio and ate and then went to Schillers (camera store) and got a UV lens filter for my camera and a lens wiping cloth. Nathan also reserved a rental for a 100mm macro lens for when we go to the botanical gardens. I can't wait. I spent the afternoon finishing season 5 of one tree hill. It's awesome!! I can't wait to watch 6 and for 7 to start on tv!! When Nathan got home we had turkey club and guacamole for dinner and then went to St. Charles to take pictures of the old building decked out in flags and banners for the holiday. We both got some great shots! After sunset we went to the mills mall and saw transformers 2. It was really long but good. Not as good as the first one though.

Nathan worked from home on Thursday so we could go to my parents for an early dinner and go to the Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp concert. The concert was like 5 hours long and we waited in line for an hour to get good seats. It was a great show. It's funny how old they all are and can barely move around the stage but the music was still awesome. We ended up staying the night at my parents that night since we got home so late.

On Friday we woke up and met Debbie and her family at Grant's Farm for the day. We had fun feeding the goats, eating snow cones, and taking pictures. The free beer was great too lol. I still have to load and process my pictures from then but I'll put some pics from St. charles up.

Also, my barn HDR I took of a random barn driving from Springfield to Carlinville.

June 27, 2009

I didn't do anything too exciting this week. I got a lot of errands done and wedding stuff accomplished. On Thursday night Debbie and I got our CPR certification. We had fun making fun of the guy on the video and also learning CPR/AED. Her arms are sore and my hand is bruised though. :-) We are wimps!
On Friday, Nathan and I drove to Springfield to drop off some stuff to get engraved and check on progress of our wedding bands. Nate's is done already but mine is still getting made. Hopefully its done soon lol. We dropped off the name plate on our cake topper, our cake serving set, and some groomsmen gifts to get engraved. We will have to head back in a week or two to pick everything up. We got to see his brother for a little and meet his friend Jason for lunch at this yummy sushi restaurant.
Friday night, my mom and I got some ribbon to decorate the unity candle, an ivory toss garter, some ivory paper to put hotel info on and stuff in invitations, and a few other odds and ends things. I also ordered some silk ivory carnations online to attempt to make the bridesmaid's bouquets. I'm not a very crafty person so we'll see how those turn out lol. Nathan is going to pick out a unity candle holder this week and order that at work. I love that he wants to be involved and helpful. I've heard so many brides complain about the guys just not caring. I think Pt and Bridgette also decided on Sept 12 and 13 as bachelorette party/bridal shower weekend so that's good too. Nate and I got our new laptops today (mine is pink YAY). We were playing on them today and trying to get things loaded on them. I still have to transfer pictures and music which is going to suck.
My work is still down, so I'll be reading and watching Lost and One Tree Hill. Fun Fun! Nate and I are almost done with Lost season 4, which sucks because we will have to wait 6 months for season 5 to come out on DVD AHH!! I don't think I'll be able to wait, so I might have to watch it online at home. Our flight itinerary for our honeymoon randomly got changed today, which I got really worried about. They just changed our layover to be in Atlanta instead of Miami now so that's not a big deal I guess. Kinda random though.