March Maddness

despite what the title suggests, this post is not at all about basketball. the most i have to say about it is that my bracket is doing super bad. in one only 1 of my final 4 are still in. in the other there is only 2 of the final 4. either way i dont see me winning the family tournament.

march went so much better than february. so so much better. everyone is healthy. rylie finally got over her bad cough. the rest of us have been healthy and things have been going so much better.

justin was able to reassemble the truck. good news! it went all back together bad news... something was wrong. he took it out for a drive and found out we could not turn right all the way. not good. so we were both so tired of this project that we decided just to give it to a mechanic and have them fix it. we had to take it in for an alignment anyway. so they called and told us the upper control arms were on the opposite sides. okay. that would screw things up. they fixed it and did the alignment and said come pick it up. we got the truck and turned out of the parking lot. oh wait! tried.... tried to turn out but justin couldnt make the right turn sharp enough. problem not fixed. so we uturned in another parking lot back to the mechanic and said excuse me you didnt fix the problem.... so he took it for another 2 days. called us back and said we needed a new steering box. except the guy we bought it from recently replaced it. and it was working just fine before. sitting in a garage for 2 months wouldnt make it go bad... so we didnt believe them and took the car back. justin did his own diagnostics and found out it was not the steering box. so no we dont need a new one. but the steering cupler was on wrong. it was off by 180 degrees. long story longer we fixed the problem ourselves. the tie-rods were not simialr at all so that should have been a clue to them that something was wrong. stupid mechanic.... not my wonderful at home mechanic. he is wonderful and perfect and i love him so. but the shop mechanic. grr... oh well! that problem is fixed and done with and we are so glad its over.

granted that doesnt mean that there is not anything to do. just smaller projects. he has fixed the leaky rear differential. we have ordered parts to replace the power steering pump and re-key the lock on the door. it doesnt match the ignition so if our clicker dies we cant get into the car. uh oh...

anyways. we can take small breaks in between projects. justin mentioned that working on the truck used to be fun. but now its tedious. we will be happy when all these projects are done and its just tinkering for fun and when we want to.

we were able to finish rykers bed. he has transitioned beautifully. the bed turned out great. justin did great woodburning the decals into it. and it is nice and sturdy. he loves it. he still stays in bed till i come get him from a nap or night time. but i make him get in and out of bed by himself so that he knows he can and he isnt stuck in there. we do have some toys and books up there for him to play with. but whatever makes him happy.

he is doing awesome. learning lots. he is saying more and more words. i have been able to get him to say momma 3 whole times! its so nice and i get so happy. but he likes to say hi to rylie and the fishes. he can tell us what he wants mostly. to get up and snuggle or get yoghurt or an apple from the fridge, or a cracker or some peaches from the pantry. he loves loves loves cars and winnie the pooh. he asks to watch them everyday. he cant decide what to watch more. and after 15 min wants to watch the other one. gotta love that boy. we are on a strict once a day for my sanity. we are about to embark on potty training. wish me luck!!!

rylie is doing great. she is growing fast. still 13-14 pounds. but i just love her! her cheeks are so big i love them so. she smiles a ton and is learning how to giggle a little bit. cant wait till she can really start laughing. she will be moving out of our room and into her own room and the crib this weekend. im happy to get my room back and glad she can grow just like ryker. we got some cute sheets for her too.

they both did great at there dr appointments. ryker got his last shots. and rylie gor her 2 month shots. both cried and it broke my heart. but quickly got past it. so they are good till her next apt. haha.

i love my babies. they make me so happy and i love playing with them everyday. its so great.

justin is still enjoying his job. lots of work to do. but he is doing great. we are much happier now than this time last month! haha.

enjoy.

he got a sucker for being so good at the dr.

apple pie cookies i made for pie day!!!

it was like 60 so we went to the park one saturday

rylie stayed asleep in her carseat the whole time. the one time she sleeps when its not moving. crazy girl!

love those boys

practicing before doing it on the headboard

this was our original design. didnt end up this way

cute for st patties day!

we were wearing green too. well mine is more teal. it looks more green in person

she is so happy

and sleepy sometimes

he loves to rock her in the swing. sometimes stronger than she needs

working on the headboard

so good at tummy time!

blowing on his sloppy joe to cool it down

no shirt? show off those muscles!!!

finished bed in his room!!!

he loves it 

showing me all the fun characters dad drew

happy spring

happy easter!

when she wears dresses she loves to pull them up over her head and chew on them. she pulls blankets up and does it with the edges too. 

playing with dad

i do love my snuggle time

we were facetiming beez. such a good half family photo

uncle ethan with cousin charlotte

we tried out the mattress before it went on the bed

cream cheese stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon. DELISH!!!

quality photo by ryker

we were in the shower using it as a humidifier to help with her cough. but having fun regardless!

she hasnt been sleeping well with her cough so she finally passed out one day. slept for like 4 hrs

they both love her new floor gym

playing on mom and dads bed!

he loves the slide!

i taught him this song from when i was a kid. i looked back one day and he was doing the hand motions too. so cute!!!

february was a bad one

ugh... february was a rough month. there were some great parts, but mostly i could not wait for it to be over. both justin and i were stressed out a ton and had so much to do. then the winter flu came around and didnt go away and came back and it was just horrid.

it started off great with Rylies blessing. that was a beautiful day and a wonderful weekend as you can see in my previous post. but then it went downhill. Justin started our big car project of redoing basically everything underneath the front end of the truck with his dad and my dad the last day they were here. but after they left he got the flu. he was so miserable. he had no energy, the chills, 102 degree fever, just all around awful. i felt so bad for him. i tried to do everything i could to make him feel better. his throat got all swollen. one tonsil took up half his throat. it hurt to swallow and eat. poor guy. so it took a week to get over that. he did not work on the truck while he was sick obviously. that would be dumb. then after the flu it moved to a cold. he was still trying to take it easy. so now its been 2 weeks where he is not working on the truck, he has had the flu then a cold, still not feeling 100 percent. but doing better.

then auntie beez came to visit! that was a good weekend. of course it was freezing so we didnt leave the house. but she babysat while justin and i went on a valentines date. (we got some fish!) it was fun. i know not the most exciting date. but time out without the kids was awesome and very relaxing haha. church was good. beez held rylie while i taught my class. my other teachers were out of town. but all around it was a good weekend! we had lots of fun playing.

then the next week justin was able to work on the car and he went to the dr about his tonsils that were still swollen. they gave him some antibiotics and an anti inflammatory. it kinda worked. it helped. but that one side is still swollen. granted the last week in feb he got another cold. ugh he just cant catch a break!

he still isnt all better but its on the up and we are hoping that march is a better month. Ryker caught his last cold. its only been slight. mostly a cough and a small runny nose. only one bad night but he is on the up too. rylie has been good. maybe a little congested but thats all. same with me. i have been a little stuffed but thats it. ugh. we need this cold out of our house!

ryker is doing good. growing so much everyday. we are now in the size of pants that actually have a zipper and button on his jeans. so weird! he is growing so fast. he surprised everyone by saying hi grandad when we were facetiming my family last weekend. that was pretty cool. made my dad feel pretty special haha. i have gotten 2-3 good mommas out of him. but it still isnt consistent yet. ever since aunt lisha came to visit in january he has been totally obsessed with winnie the pooh. he asks to watch it everyday. he will grab the remote and bring it over to me and keep saying pooh? pooh? pooh? its so cute you just cant say no! i do keep it to only once a day. i did let him watch it more when he was sick. anything to make my little boy happy. he still rocks all his animal noises. he has only accidentally sat on rylie once. so far we are doing good! haha. he is really good and comprehending. he knows when we say not to do something and when we need him to turn off his toy cars or the swing. the words will come. we are still great at hi and by. he does try to say hi to the fish when we feed them in the morning and at night. we have started reading him stories before bed time. he really loves that extra little cuddle time.

rylie is doing great. growing so big. she is already in 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. bigger than her cousin lottie who is a month older. she is just a chubby one! but it looks so good on her. i am so glad she has been able to stay healthy. her and ryker had a well check this week. his last one and her 2 month. but because they were both sick we put it off a week and a half to get better. i love her so much! she is so precious.

february was rough on me too. i had to start and finish rechartering for cubscouts. do that and make phone calls and do things online while trying to take care of the kids and a sick husband. then we were also trying to finish taxes and see what we could do there. so im trying to do all this paperwork and im calling my mom a lot and taking care of the house. it was a lot to do! i feel so bad when justin is sick because he gets really sick. then i feel like a single parent of 3 kids and still doing everything i need to to keep the house/finances running and fullfill my calling. it was intense. taxes are done and submitted! rechartering is done and submitted! kids are back to being healthy and happy! justin is almost healthy but happy!

basically in the end feb was so stressful and im glad its over. time to start fresh! clean slate this march! no more sickness. projects will be done. justin is down to just reassembling the truck so it should be done by saturday! then we will finish rykers new bed this next week. then we can move him in! its going to be great.

happy march everyone!

sometimes ryker takes my phone and takes a million pictures. some turn out! artsy ya?

same story. just of his toes

another photo by ryker. he got a good pic of the fam one saturday morning haha

my little monkey!

trying to keep warm one day!. rylie and i cuddle. ryker runs around. its a normal occurance. 

auntie beez holding rylie while playing with ryker

they were cuddle buddies

cute sunday outfit

she loves her niece and nephew

reading a truck story

he is going to be good at the adjective game

my favorite sunday outfit so far

rylie compared to cousin lottie.

when i work out i am doing this 30 day plank challenge. ryker always comes and does it with me. 

 one day we were all doing planks! haha. 

he loves to check on her to see how she is doing

so cute!

kisses for rylie

our fish tank! in the pic we only have 2 guppies. but after 2 weeks we got another guppy and an algea eater. its a full tank but so fun!

daddy daughter nap time

smiley rylie

i know its dark and you can barely see. but this is/+ ryker napping with me the day he was really sick. he was up at 4 am and didnt go down and fall asleep till like 3pm

love my little girl!

also got this lovely one today. rylie and lottie are doing tummy time together! i promise she is not suffocating. she really is off the ground a little bit. this was towards the end so she was tired

playing at home. so cute!

fishies! he is trying to say hi mister fish

a good quality hot dog song

he is also great at doing his stoutness exercises