At the Beach!

Ry Ry is such a beach baby! We've been going to the beach several times a week and she just loves playing in the sand. The other day the water was a little too rough to play in, but she had tons of fun in the sand.

The waves were gorgeous and we got a pretty sunset too!

She's starting to 'talk' a lot more now. She say's "Mama" all the time now. And I think she says it cause she wants milk! I'm kinda thrilled she says Mama before Dada cause I hear usually kids say Dada first. Shhh... don't tell Peter! hahahaha

Her upper tooth is now sticking out almost all the way. It's one sharp little toothy! Boy does it hurt when she bites! She's crawling all over the place like a little pro now and is obsessed with climbing and the dog food bowls. I have to watch her like a hawk!

Breathtaking

There is an art gallery next to Brighton in the Whaler's Village. I strolled in last night with Ryenne (she was sleeping) as we were waiting for Peter to get done with work. As we strolled through the gallery, a wall of paintings caught my eye. There is an artist called Pino that does the most beautiful paintings I have seen! There was this one with a mother and child that was so breathtaking that it almost brought me to tears. Truly amazing, beautiful work. Perhaps someday I'll be able to buy a piece for my home! To see some of his work: http://www.pinoartist.com. While I LOVE many of them, my favorites are "Long Day" and "Remember When".

So Tired!

Little Pooper

This is one of Ry's favorite spots to poop! LOL. I thought she was being so cute... little did I know she had a present for me!!!

New Part Time Job!

I got a new part time job working at Brighton at the Whaler's Village. I'm working there three mornings a week from 9am to 1pm. Perfect cause it's not too long to be away from Ry and I'll get some extra money to help pay the bills. So far I've worked for 2 days and it's pretty easy and fun. Lots of pretty things in the store. The hard part is that it's so tempting to spend $$ in there! But I'm good.... promise! Here I am just before work.

Ry-Ry & Daddy

Two great pics of Peter and his baby girl

Cookies!!!

I always have to edit my photo shoots, and it can be challenging with Ryenne being fussy. So I gave her a Newman-O. It's like an Oreo, but organic. And I only gave her the wafer part, not the cream... anyway, getting off track.

She LOVED it and ate the whole thing, giving her a cute cookie face. She then discovered that playing in the dog water is so much FUN and she splish splashed in it. She was having too much fun playing in the water for me to be mad, so I put the dog water where she can't get it (dog drool anyone?) and got her a pot of water to play in and put her and the pot on a big towel. She stirred the water with a wooden spoon (I think she learned that from watching me cook!) and had so much fun!

Sunday at the Beach

We went to the beach on Sunday for a photo shoot of a friends' daughter and Ryenne got to come hang out. It was so beautiful! Look at those sandy toes!

Already Lovin the Shoes!

Taken with Peter's phone camera. Too cute, yeah?

First Time in the Garden & Other Pics

I took Ry in the backyard to play (It was finally clean enough!) and I watered all the plants which I'm trying to nurse back to health LOL.

What's Cookin??

Adventures in a Purple Onesie

Happy V-Day from Ry!

Here's Ryenne crawling into our room last night - it was pretty dark and the light from the living room was hitting her just right so I grabbed the camera as fast as I could!

Okay... totally switching subjects here...

It seems like the universe is out to get us. Not only are we struggling financially to stay afloat, but today Peter got rear ended in his Subaru (which we're trying to sell) and the dude that hit him tried to get away! The police didn't even write the guy a ticket for trying to flee the scene. Gosh that's so stupid. I just hope that we can get things squared away with the rental car company that he had rented from to buy Peter a new bumper.

I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders - not only dealing with my own weight issues LOL - but just the fact that I feel I'm doing my very best to keep us afloat and it just doesn't seem good enough. I'm trying to be positive and I see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just can't get there fast enough. And it's frustrating for me and such a vicious cycle because when I'm stressed the first thing I reach for is something to put in my mouth and I know that's not really the way to handle anything at all.

We're getting ready to put the condo on the market and I've cleaned both the bathrooms and our bedroom, and I haven't quite gotten to everything else yet. This shouldnt' stress me out, but it does. I just need to buck up and get through this. I WILL get through this and everything will be fine!

Prettiest Princess Ever!

Ryenne had on a cute yellow outfit today and our sheets on the be were also yellow so I hung them over the headboard and made myself a nice little backdrop!

These are a couple of my favorites from the session.... but there are other great ones as well. I'm so lucky I have such a photogenic baby!!

We went to lunch with Leizl today and Ry fussed the entire time. I had to get a to-go box and eat in the car on the way home... ah well, what can ya do, right??

The hunt is still on for a great place for us to move too. I'm not sure North Carolina is the best place for my gorgeous brown man. It's sad that there's still prejudices in our world. We're all the same color on the insides!

Ry-Ry's 8 Month Birthday

Well all of these were actually taken over the past 3 days... but my oh my has my little one grown. She is so smart and it's amazing to watch her eyes grow wide as she learns new things. Yesterday she learned how to climb up on the stool and scoot it across the living room floor! She was actually trying to push it out the sliding door into the back yard. It was pretty funny!

Enjoy...


"I'm in the laundry basket... can you find me?"


"My laughter lights up my mama's life!"


"Laughing so hard I'm falling over!"


"All I need are my shoes and something to chew on!"


"I really want to eat this apple..."


"But it's tiring work trying to bite it!"


"I'll give the apple raspberries!"


"Maybe my fingers taste better!"


"Mama, why'd you make me try to eat an apple?"

Having fun in the walker

Discovering Grass & Other Great Things

Such a Big Girl!

Ryenne is totally mobile and she's amazed me so much in the past week! She's now got two little teeth coming up from the bottom - she's a bit fussy but working through it. She's such a trooper! She's loving her walker from Gams and Pops and can cruise from the dining area into the living room and our room.

Now for the big news... she's pulling up on everything! She loves to stand up and pulls herself up on lots of things. We also play a fun game where I hold her arms and she 'runs' really fast. She looks like a little ballerina on her tippy toes!!

I know that she's frustrated because she really wants to walk. I keep telling her that she WILL and not to be so fussy about it. heeheehee

We're all doing well. Getting organized (thanks Mom!) and working through Ry's fussiness - trying to get sleep whenever I can cause it's so important to my sanity!

First Tooth Breaks Through!

Ry-Ry's first tooth broke through her gums today! She's getting her lower right front tooth first and it looks like the left lower tooth is soon to come after!

Big Walker!

Ry-Ry is loving her walker. Today she started out in the dining area and walked into our room and then back out to the living room. When I called her to walk closer to me she got so excited and walked over. It's so amazing to see her moving around like that! She even grabbed one of Peter's shirts that was hanging over the couch arm and put it on her walker tray. It was so funny. It was like she was collecting things she could reach.

I got an offer to work casual at the Four Seasons. A couple of days a week in reservations - it'll be some much needed extra $$ and also an opportunity for Ry to get more accustomed to being without her mommy 24/7. I went in today to fill out paperwork and I'll probably start at the end of the week I think. Cool!!

The Stone Came Out!!

Peter's kidney stone finally came out yesterday!! I am so happy that it's over and done with because I hated seeing him in so much pain. It was surprisingly much larger than we both had anticipated.

On a different note, now that Ryenne's First Birthday is only 5 months away, I've had to really start thinking about how I'm going to decorate, ect. So I was watching QVC cause they were having a scrapbook show and they had these beautiful vintage floral papers. And WHAM it hit me - Vintage Garden Party! And I'm sure a Flower Fairy will make an appearance too. So I think I'm going to get pale tablecloths for the tables and put paper circles down the middle for color accents and get some potted flowers as the centerpieces. Simple and chic and unlike any other bday decorations I've seen. I'm so excited!

It's been a really busy week. I had two weddings and a portrait session, a birthday party, a bridesmaids dinner, and a belated Christmas party! Next week I've got absolutely nothing planned and I'm kinda lookin forward to being a house bum!

I'm a proud Mama!

My princess is 7 months old already. Gosh where does the time fly to? She actually made 7 months yesterday, but I have a junky cold and I was totally out of it and didn't post.

After a few really tough nights, Ryenne is now sleeping in her crib all by herself FINALLY! At first I was really terrified to make her sleep by herself. I thought that it was mean of me to want to kick her out of my bed, but I think she's actually sleeping better. She slept for 10 HOURS last night! Let me tell you, it was fabulous!

She's also a very smiley little girl. She is scooting all over the place, laughing like crazy, and when she's really happy she kicks out her leg and looks like a little can-can dancer!

Life is good.