Yes, you read that correctly. Ryleigh is definitely showing signs of walking in the near future. I have seen her take about 4 steps consistently before falling, and last night she took almost 6!!
YIKES! Here we go...
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Easter memories
This weekend was Easter- and more specifically- Ryleigh's first Easter. Something about all the pastel colors and fun crafts put me in a creative mood. So, when we got together with Jesse's family on Saturday, I made cookies and decorated them myself. I attempted to put the name of our niece and nephews on a cookie, and each child got one except Ryleigh, whose name I could not get to fit! Don't worry- she still had more than her share of cookie bites.
The Easter bunny came to visit Ryleigh, and left some fun goodies, including new hair bows, a chirping chick, a purple rubber duckie for the bath, a grow-and-hatch chicken egg, a cuddly lamb, a new Baby Einstein video (more for Mom's sanity), and a new Spring play dress.
(Pardon the naked baby in the following pictures...she had eaten breakfast and smashed fruit all over herself, and I didnt want 'dirty' an in-between outfit, before I dressed her for church.)
Ryleigh had fun checking out her Easter basket, and went straight for the Baby Einstein video. Haha, she really does love those videos!!
We did not hide the Easter eggs, because obviously she would not know what to do. She did have fun throwing them up in the air and hitting Mommy and Daddy with them. :)
A classic Easter photo...if people sent out Easter cards like they do Christmas cards, this would definitely be my picture! Gotta love the look of confusion, like "what in the world are these colorful things?"
All ready for church, but refusing to sit still for a picture. I miss the days when I could play dress up and merely prop her up and snap away. Now she will not sit still long enough to get a good picture, much less smile for the camera.
I thought her little Carter's dress was a precious Easter dress. No, it was not the traditional white, pink, and purple dress with ruffles, but it suited her. And it suited me. :)
Church was awesome, as usual. Ben Stuart was there to preach and Nathan and Cristy Nockels (formerly Watermark) led worship. Can I just say that every single time I hear Cristy sing, it gives me goosebumps? There are not many people with such crystal-clear voices.
The Easter bunny came to visit Ryleigh, and left some fun goodies, including new hair bows, a chirping chick, a purple rubber duckie for the bath, a grow-and-hatch chicken egg, a cuddly lamb, a new Baby Einstein video (more for Mom's sanity), and a new Spring play dress.
(Pardon the naked baby in the following pictures...she had eaten breakfast and smashed fruit all over herself, and I didnt want 'dirty' an in-between outfit, before I dressed her for church.)Ryleigh had fun checking out her Easter basket, and went straight for the Baby Einstein video. Haha, she really does love those videos!!
We did not hide the Easter eggs, because obviously she would not know what to do. She did have fun throwing them up in the air and hitting Mommy and Daddy with them. :)
A classic Easter photo...if people sent out Easter cards like they do Christmas cards, this would definitely be my picture! Gotta love the look of confusion, like "what in the world are these colorful things?"
All ready for church, but refusing to sit still for a picture. I miss the days when I could play dress up and merely prop her up and snap away. Now she will not sit still long enough to get a good picture, much less smile for the camera.
I thought her little Carter's dress was a precious Easter dress. No, it was not the traditional white, pink, and purple dress with ruffles, but it suited her. And it suited me. :)
Church was awesome, as usual. Ben Stuart was there to preach and Nathan and Cristy Nockels (formerly Watermark) led worship. Can I just say that every single time I hear Cristy sing, it gives me goosebumps? There are not many people with such crystal-clear voices. After church we went to my parent's house for lunch and a little hang out time. Ryleigh had fun playing with more Easter goodies over at their house, and then conked out for a good nap.
Later during the day...still fascinated with the brightly colored Easter eggs!
Ready for "night-night," all clean from her bath, and snuggled into her Easter pajamas from Grandma Holder and Auntie Sus.
Can you see the cotton-tail on her bum? Haha, super cute.
Ready for "night-night," all clean from her bath, and snuggled into her Easter pajamas from Grandma Holder and Auntie Sus.
Can you see the cotton-tail on her bum? Haha, super cute.
We had a fun, though exhausting weekend hanging out with family and trying to make Ryleigh's first Easter a "hoppy" one.
(Haha, I cannot help but laugh at my own lame joke. Can you tell why I have not written lately? Talk about writer's block...!!)
Happy Easter everyone. I hope you had a special weekend with family and friends, celebrating the hope we all have thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Pictures from the cruise
I have posted my favorite pictures from our trip on my Snapfish account. I did not think Blogger would appreciate me uploading 80+ pictures in this post...so if you are interested in seeing the pictures, feel free to visit this link.
I still have plenty of stories to share, but I know some of you are dying from anticipation (sarcasm), so I thought I would go ahead and share. :)
I still have plenty of stories to share, but I know some of you are dying from anticipation (sarcasm), so I thought I would go ahead and share. :)
We're baaacckkk!
We had an EXCELLENT trip. I can't wait to tell (you=blog-o-sphere) all about it! I'm getting all my pictures uploaded, and will have plenty to share soon.
Hope all is well with everyone!
Hope all is well with everyone!
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Why do we get the hiccups?
I get the hiccups all the time...seriously, all the time. And I always assumed it was some sort of lack of oxygen, therefore my body almost forcing me to breathe in more. Apparently, that is not the case. After a bit of research, I have learned that hiccups can be caused by any number of reasons, and the "cure" for them is just as varied. I found one article that was slightly humorous, and thought I would share.
For years very little was known about hiccups and even less was written about them. Today that's changed. We still don't know jack, but scientists have explained this to us at length.
Here's what we know.
When you hiccup, your diaphragm and nearby muscles convulse, causing you to briefly gulp air. Within 35 milliseconds the glottis (the opening at the top of the air passage) slams shut, producing the characteristic "hic."
If you're able to stifle the hiccup right away, great. But if you hiccup more than seven times you'd better settle in for the long haul. Once in hiccup mode you typically will hiccup 63 times or more. Maybe a lot more. The hiccup record, last time I checked, was 57 years.
Hiccups are commonly caused by distention of the stomach, which you get if you eat too much, drink carbonated beverages, or swallow too much air. This suggests hiccup as a sequela to boozing may be more the result of fizzy mixers than alcohol itself. Or else you just slurp.
Lots of other things can cause hiccups too, some of them pretty scary. Skimming through a long list, I see skull fracture, epilepsy, diabetes mellitus, myocardial infarction, tuberculosis, meningitis, bowel obstruction, and ulcerative colitis.
But it's not always, or even usually, so bad. A 27-year-old man complained that he'd been hiccuping for four days. The doctor looked into the guy's ear and saw a hair tickling the eardrum. The hair having been washed out, the hiccups stopped.
Why do we hiccup? I don't know, and as far as I can tell, neither does anyone else. Unlike gagging, sneezing, etc., hiccups serve no known useful function. Some speculate that hiccups "may represent a vestigial remnant of a primitive reflex whose functional or behavioral significance is now lost," as one researcher put it.
Or maybe they're just, you know, hiccups--an accidental reflex triggered by a stimulus to (usually) the vagus or phrenic nerves. This travels up the line to a nerve control center that for some reason sends out a "commence hiccup" impulse via the phrenic nerve.
The vagus and phrenic nerves go all over, which explains why so many things cause hiccups. For example, a 16-year-old girl began hiccuping after receiving a blow to the jaw. A brain scan found that a blood vessel was pressing against the vagus nerve in her neck. Surgeons inserted a Teflon spacer between the nerve and the blood vessel, and the hiccuping stopped. When the spacer later fell out the hiccuping resumed.
Which brings us to the question of hiccup cures, of which a great many have been proposed. Unfortunately, to paraphrase the distinguished physician Charles Mayo, the number of remedies is in inverse proportion to the likelihood that any one of them will actually work.
Home remedies are mostly based on the idea that you have to disrupt the hiccup cycle. These include holding your breath, induced sneezing, breathing into a bag, drinking water while covering your ears, pulling your tongue, pressing on the eyeballs, sudden fright, or--this is interesting--eating dry granulated sugar. Merely drinking water, if done soon enough, may work by washing down a glob of food in your throat that's pressing against a nerve.
If the preceding are unavailing, a doctor may try drugs such as chlorpromazine, tickling the pharynx with a catheter stuck through the nose, hypnosis, or acupuncture. Still no go? Time for stern measures. In 1833 it was recommended that you blister or burn the skin above the phrenic nerve on the neck and back. This has now been supplanted by a marginally more civilized procedure in which the nerve is sliced or crushed.
Sometimes unorthodox procedures are efficacious. Doctors tried everything they could think of on a 60-year-old man who'd been hiccuping for two days. No luck, so "digital rectal massage was performed, resulting in abrupt cessation of the hiccups." I'll bet.
If that's not your cup of tea, the case of a 32-year-old man with persistent hiccups offers hope. His hiccups stopped when he had sex. But it was only temporary, and additional therapy was soon required. The obvious question to have put to this guy: you sure you want this cured?
Okay, now we know all about hiccups...actually, I dont know that I know too much more than I knew before. But, it was a funny attempt at explaining what seems to be a scientific mystery. Now back to your regularly scheduled program!
For years very little was known about hiccups and even less was written about them. Today that's changed. We still don't know jack, but scientists have explained this to us at length.
Here's what we know.
When you hiccup, your diaphragm and nearby muscles convulse, causing you to briefly gulp air. Within 35 milliseconds the glottis (the opening at the top of the air passage) slams shut, producing the characteristic "hic."
If you're able to stifle the hiccup right away, great. But if you hiccup more than seven times you'd better settle in for the long haul. Once in hiccup mode you typically will hiccup 63 times or more. Maybe a lot more. The hiccup record, last time I checked, was 57 years.
Hiccups are commonly caused by distention of the stomach, which you get if you eat too much, drink carbonated beverages, or swallow too much air. This suggests hiccup as a sequela to boozing may be more the result of fizzy mixers than alcohol itself. Or else you just slurp.
Lots of other things can cause hiccups too, some of them pretty scary. Skimming through a long list, I see skull fracture, epilepsy, diabetes mellitus, myocardial infarction, tuberculosis, meningitis, bowel obstruction, and ulcerative colitis.
But it's not always, or even usually, so bad. A 27-year-old man complained that he'd been hiccuping for four days. The doctor looked into the guy's ear and saw a hair tickling the eardrum. The hair having been washed out, the hiccups stopped.
Why do we hiccup? I don't know, and as far as I can tell, neither does anyone else. Unlike gagging, sneezing, etc., hiccups serve no known useful function. Some speculate that hiccups "may represent a vestigial remnant of a primitive reflex whose functional or behavioral significance is now lost," as one researcher put it.
Or maybe they're just, you know, hiccups--an accidental reflex triggered by a stimulus to (usually) the vagus or phrenic nerves. This travels up the line to a nerve control center that for some reason sends out a "commence hiccup" impulse via the phrenic nerve.
The vagus and phrenic nerves go all over, which explains why so many things cause hiccups. For example, a 16-year-old girl began hiccuping after receiving a blow to the jaw. A brain scan found that a blood vessel was pressing against the vagus nerve in her neck. Surgeons inserted a Teflon spacer between the nerve and the blood vessel, and the hiccuping stopped. When the spacer later fell out the hiccuping resumed.
Which brings us to the question of hiccup cures, of which a great many have been proposed. Unfortunately, to paraphrase the distinguished physician Charles Mayo, the number of remedies is in inverse proportion to the likelihood that any one of them will actually work.
Home remedies are mostly based on the idea that you have to disrupt the hiccup cycle. These include holding your breath, induced sneezing, breathing into a bag, drinking water while covering your ears, pulling your tongue, pressing on the eyeballs, sudden fright, or--this is interesting--eating dry granulated sugar. Merely drinking water, if done soon enough, may work by washing down a glob of food in your throat that's pressing against a nerve.
If the preceding are unavailing, a doctor may try drugs such as chlorpromazine, tickling the pharynx with a catheter stuck through the nose, hypnosis, or acupuncture. Still no go? Time for stern measures. In 1833 it was recommended that you blister or burn the skin above the phrenic nerve on the neck and back. This has now been supplanted by a marginally more civilized procedure in which the nerve is sliced or crushed.
Sometimes unorthodox procedures are efficacious. Doctors tried everything they could think of on a 60-year-old man who'd been hiccuping for two days. No luck, so "digital rectal massage was performed, resulting in abrupt cessation of the hiccups." I'll bet.
If that's not your cup of tea, the case of a 32-year-old man with persistent hiccups offers hope. His hiccups stopped when he had sex. But it was only temporary, and additional therapy was soon required. The obvious question to have put to this guy: you sure you want this cured?
Okay, now we know all about hiccups...actually, I dont know that I know too much more than I knew before. But, it was a funny attempt at explaining what seems to be a scientific mystery. Now back to your regularly scheduled program!
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Cruise!
We are going on our cruise vacation! We are going with three other couples, and are starting to get very excited. We leave on Sunday, and will be gone 7 days/nights, returning next Sunday. There are three port destinations (Cozumel & Progresso in Mexico and Roatan in Honduras). We have been to Cozumel before, but not Progresso. And certainly not to the island where Roatan is located in Honduras! So far, we have not planned any excursions or anything. We might do our own exploring and snorkeling once we get there. Hopefully we will find one excursion somewhere that entices us. :)Since we are going with friends, we did lay down some ground rules. Pretty much, anything goes. There are no obligations about hanging out together, doing the same excursions, or anything. If we all decide we want to do the same thing, great. If one couple chooses to do something different, great. If we all decide we want to do different things, great. The only thing we have scheduled right now, is we are all set up to eat dinner at the same table at night. And even then, there are other restaurants on board, if one couple wants a romantic dinner by themselves.
I'm super excited about spending an entire week with Jesse. This summer will be our 5-year anniversary, and we really have only had one other big vacation together since getting married and going on our honeymoon. (And since I had just gotten pregnant, I was sick the whole time!)We really need this time together, away from work, and even away from Ryleigh. I must admit, Jesse has been slightly neglected the past year or so, and I can't wait to just love on him all week. I want to come home, all in love and giddy again. I can't wait to walk on deck, hand in hand, watching the sun set. I can't wait to play in the ocean together, swimming side by side, pointing out beautiful fish and creatures of the underworld. I can't wait to get all cleaned up for dinner every night-- a yummy dinner that I don't have to cook or clean up after! I can't wait to curl up next to him at night, not having to turn on a baby monitor or worry that she will suddenly wake up. I am VERY excited. :)
The ship is so cool! I really had not looked at it much until this week, for some reason or another. But I did some extensive research this week, and I keep getting more and more pumped! On board there are so many things to do:
- Ice skating
- Rock climbing wall
- In-line skating
- Royal promenade (shopping type environment)
- Themed bars and lounges
- Casino
- Miniature 9-hole golf course
- Golf simulators
- Day spa
- Fitness center
- Pools
- Hot tubs
- Johnny Rockets restaurant
- Portofino Italian restaurant
- Steak & seafood restaurant
And more! I'm hoping Jesse and I can get a couple's massage together, like we did on our honeymoon. At that time, we had our massage, overlooking the beautiful mountains. How cool would it be to have it this time looking over the Caribbean? We are also going to gamble!! Haha- neither of us have ever done it before, so we are setting a very low budget, knowing we will go blow it. But, hey- you got to do it at some point in your life, right? Why not now?
For dinner, they have different dress codes. Jesse is not very happy about this, insisting that he does not want to dress all formal on his vacation. I would be okay with one formal night, but two seem a bit much. So I imagine on those nights, we might go eat at one of the other on-board, casual restaurants. Who knows. Truly, we both want to play the whole week by ear, with no schedule and no plan. Easier for him than for me, but I'm trying to get into the spirit.
We both need a vacation desperately. And we are EXCITED.
BUT...this will be the first time to leave Ryleigh- ever. Sure, we have gone on day visits to College Station, or out on dates at night, but she has never slept away from us. Well, she has never slept away from me. Honestly, I know she will be in good hands, but it is so hard nonetheless. Ryleigh will be staying with my parents, and luckily, my sisters, Susan and Julie, will be home during the week. It works out pretty perfectly, with Sus and Juls watching her during the day, so Mom and Dad don't have to take off work. I'm worried that it might be slightly overwhelming for them- Ryleigh can be quite a hand-full! But I know they will take good care of her, and all three of them will have a blast! They are going to think I'm crazy...I typed out tons of notes and information, pertaining to her schedule, feeding, doctor information, and of course Mommy tips! Jesse referred to my "book" as a "technical document for caring for Ryleigh." That was not my intention, but sure, in a sense, that's what it is. I'm really just trying to help as much as I can. It makes me feel better knowing I have done all I can. YES, I know she will be fine. I don't know if I will be fine... :) It might be a long week, without my baby.
So! We leave in four and half days! I have started packing and organizing everything as best I can. I'm sure I will forget something, but oh well. There is a lot of STUFF to pack and items to remember!
Please say a little prayer for our safety on the boat, Ryleigh's time with her grandparents and aunts, my time away from Ryleigh, and an incredible bonding time for Jesse and I. Thanks, and I'll be back with pictures and stories soon!
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Please pray
Please pray for my friends Mike and Shelley. Shelley was approximately 17-weeks pregnant, and suffered a miscarriage on Friday. I do not know many details, other than the fact they are (of course) devastated.
Please pray for a phyiscal healing of Shelley's body, as well as a peace for both Mike and Shelley. Pray that God wraps His arms around them both, provides comfort only He can offer, and hopefully, (eventually) an understanding to His plan.
Thank you.
Please pray for a phyiscal healing of Shelley's body, as well as a peace for both Mike and Shelley. Pray that God wraps His arms around them both, provides comfort only He can offer, and hopefully, (eventually) an understanding to His plan.
Thank you.