The last hiatus

I'm back from another blogging hiatus.  Been a busy, fun summer with our one year old baby.  Since the last post we had Rya's one year pictures, a family reunion, been swimming, went to Wisconsin to work a kicking camp while Rya stayed overnight on the farm with grandpa and grandma (this was the first time we've left Rya for an overnight and 2 days), and Rya has now been to the state fair.  She has loved every minute this summer!

I'm constantly reminded how much our life has changed in the last 14 months.  Walking in to the fair I remembered a year ago I went to the fair with Jesse and left Rya with my parents while she struggled to take a nap for the day; now she's almost down to only one nap/day, and she's sitting in her stroller babbling and drinking from a cup with a straw.  :)  Last weekend Jesse & I ran with Rya in the jogging stroller and I was just amazed how relaxing it was, but so different from when I ran by myself every day after work while I was home alone until Jesse got home, when I had all the time in the world to myself.  I used to read books and relax on the couch with nothing to do but watch tv.  I remember when Rya was only a couple months old and I thought I would never get to watch tv again, let alone sleep through the night.  Now when Rya goes to bed, we are certain she will be sleeping until 6:45 or even a little later some mornings.  And, I have so much more time on my hands without breast pumping, feeding Rya bottles, and washing bottles every few days.  :)

Not only has life changed, but my feelings and emotions have been on a roller coaster ride.  In all honesty, I've gone from being perfectly satisfied pregnant and having no idea how I'd feel about a baby, to overjoyed in the hospital holding Rya, to exhausted and very sad at home missing my life before a baby, to exhausted from going back to work and being scared and dreading going home from work b/c I had Rya all night by myself and she fussed all night without going to bed until after 10, to not being able to wait to get home to see my baby girl!  I wouldn't change this last 14 months for anything; I think it's really made me appreciate Jesse more, my life, and Rya.

That all being said, I think this will be my last blog post.  I've discovered how I can turn my blog into a book and I think I will do that next, so Rya and mommy & daddy can always remember this journey.

I hope you've enjoyed the pictures and updates on how life has been with our first child.  We look forward to the continued journey of life as our family grows, and the fun that  continues!

HAP-PY BIRTH-DAY!

Happy birthday, miss Rya!  She turned ONE on Friday, June, 8th.  We didn't have a big birthday party for her because we headed to Okoboji that Sunday to meet my parents, sister, and two nephews at my parents' time share.  Since Rya doesn't really know any different, we'll hold off until next year to have a big celebration.

Grandma & Grandpa Von Behren got Rya a pair of cute pajamas, and the leggings & pink tee she is wearing.

Grandma & Grandpa Kelso got Rya a cute little Okoboji t-shirt that they then had "RVB 1" put on the back of.

In Okoboji Rya got to go swimming for the first time.  We tried a floaty with a shade but it was too chilly out of the water so I held her and walked around the pool.  Rya wasn't afraid at all.  Eski says she's an H2O baby.  :)

We went to Arnold's Park and watched cousins Caden and Rayne go on the rides.  Next year we'll get Rya on some rides.  She got to play on the playground there and LOVED it!

We also went on the Queen II boat for a relaxing ride around West Lake Okoboji.  Learned that the most expensive house in Iowa is on the lake, at $5 million something I think the guide said.  Warren Buffet's nephew also has a house on the lake, as well as the founder of the gummy bear!  Who knew?!  :)

Rya had so much fun in Okoboji that we had a hard time getting her to nap.  ;-)  But she did ok sleeping while on vacation.  She actually had an ear infection that we just learned of the day before going on vacation.  I thought she might have one over Memorial Day weekend, but wasn't sure and then she slept through the night for the 2 weeks and her symptom was only that when we changed her diaper she fussed and cried and it kept getting worse and worse of a situation; I hesitate to take her to the doctor every time she isn't acting herself, since it could be teething too, which we believe she's been doing recently as well, so I didn't take her to the doctor for 2 weeks, but thought I should before going on vacation.  Sure enough, she had an infection so we got her on antibiotics.

Vacation was great, but not quite like what it used to be before Rya when I used to lay out at the pool all day long- with Rya I was in the room more time than not, getting her to bed, feeding her, etc. ;)  Then, when we got home from Okoboji we went on to Olin for Von Behren cousins Brant & Natalie's baptism on Father's Day.  We are baby Brant's sponsors, and are excited to be a part of the twins' Christian life.

After we got back home from vacation and the baptism trip, we said goodbye to Jesse's motorcycle!  :-(  Jesse had a big scare on it last summer and ever since he felt he should sell it.  He realized his family is too important.  I told him we could always get another when our kids are grown up.  So here we are on the bike for the last time-

Yesterday was Rya's one year doctor appointment.  She is in the 90th percentile in height and 50th percentile in weight = long & lean, as Dr. Bilgi puts it.  Rya is now drinking all 2% milk and has started eating some of mommy's chicken strips and french fries.  :-D  She loves graham crackers, gold fish, and biting off mommy & daddy's bananas.

We also did one year pictures yesterday.  I'm super excited about them, but hate the fact that we still have 6 month pictures in frames but not hanging on any walls yet!  We have a little gold & black tutu she wore for some pictures, plus 4 other outfits!  I got a 5" cake and a used a balloon from Eski's b-day party for Rya, for some pictures.  We had one of those round rainbow lollipops for some pictures.  Stay tuned to see her pictures b/c they were so cute & fun, other than the hot, muggy weather, and rushing so that we got them in before it stormed.

Work is busy and going well.  Jesse is keeping busy with Driver's Ed in addition to basketball and football workouts.  I think that pretty much catches you up on our life.  I hope to post again soon with Rya's one year pictures.  In the meantime, I will be busy uploading pictures to Shutterfly to make a picture book of Rya's first year!  It's hard to believe it's been a year since Rya was born, and it's been quite the ride.  But I treasure the first year of many things, and look forward to the next and all it brings- hopefully some words!

Oh Where Has the Time Gone?

I’m  a bit disappointed in myself for not blogging more often.  It’s been about 2 months, sadly, since my last post.  I started this blog really for Rya, but also for myself to look back on the journey of my first child (and I'm glad I did because it was quite the whirlwind in the beginning that I don't even remember some of it).  If you remember correctly, I’ve never been a baby person, didn’t know if I wanted to have babies (I was pretty afraid of babies, to be honest) and just wasn’t ready for so long, when Jesse was ready 3.5 years before we finally had Rya.  So deciding I was finally ready for a baby was a big deal to me.  That’s why this blog means what it does to me.  That’s why I wish I had blogged more often.  But life is busy.  Plain and simple.  And when I had the time that I could have sat down with the computer and posted to my blog, then I didn’t want to; I just wanted to sit and watch tv, relax, and enjoy the quiet, sometimes me-time, time.  That kind of time was taken for granted before Rya.  Now I cherish it, but not as much as I cherish my time with Rya!  But it’s time I wasn’t sure I’d ever have again when Rya was a young baby and not going to bed until when Jesse and I did, and waking up all the time, and not napping on the weekends well.  So now, when Rya is in bed and asleep by 7:45 and I can sit and watch tv and do nothing, I love it!  There are plenty of things I could do, like mop, dust, fold laundry, put away clothes, and COOK.  But I just want to do nothing but sit on my couch and enjoy my tv shows.  “Cleaning is for the weekends” is my motto.  :)

So anyway, it’s been 2 months & Rya is 11 months old!  WOW, I can’t believe she is going to be a year old in a few weeks.  As I was uploading new pictures on Facebook I noticed I had over 100 pics in my “Rya Wilhelmena” album.  Then I decided I’ll rename it soon, and call it “Rya Wilhelmena – Year One”  :)  It really is fun to look back through all the pictures and see how she’s grown. 

We made it almost 11 months before Rya had to stay home from Eski’s because she was sick.  2 weeks ago Jesse checked on Rya before we went to bed and he said she was really hot to touch.  I went in and felt her and he was right.  I took her temp and it read 102!  The next morning she was pretty lethargic and still had her temp, so I stayed home with her.  She was not herself at all- hardly ate anything, didn’t want to drink much, just laid wherever I put her and stared, and even cuddled and slept on me.  Remember, this girl does not cuddle and sleep on me, as she is always squirmy and on the go!  :)  So the only good thing about her being sick was that she cuddled with momma. 

Rya wasn’t herself all day and still had a fever overnight, so we kept her home again the next day, with daddy this time.  Jesse took Rya to the Pediatrician and the doc ruled out strep throat.  By the third day Rya was more herself and back to daycare on Monday.  Then we made it until exactly a week after she had her first fever when I got a call from Eski, an hour after dropping Rya off there, saying Rya vomitted about 4 times and hadn’t even eaten there yet.  I had to go get baby girl and off to the doctor we went again (really only because his office is right by Eski’s & could be a stop on the way home, not out of our way).  Rya had a pretty normal temp, and doc figured it was the food she’d eaten the night before (I started giving Rya Gerber’s 3^rd foods that are called “nutritious dinners”.  Doc doesn’t like those for babies and does not think they are nutritious).  So we decided not to feed her that anymore, and after he checked Rya’s ears, throat, belly and lungs, he said she was fine.  Unfortunately, she wasn’t, and couldn’t keep anything down the rest of the morning.  I called a Mercy Nurse (hesitantly, because this was the same Mercy Nurse line I called the night I went into labor and one nurse said my contractions were probably only cramping as I started to dialate, and later another nurse was concerned I had a bladder infection rather than having contractions and being in labor!), and the nurse said she’d had a lot of puking children as a stomach flu was going around.  She instructed me to get Pedialyte in Rya, and then “taught” me how much, how often and how to do it.  :)  I got some Pedialyte into Rya, but she really wouldn’t eat or drink much for 3 days.  If you know what happens to you when you don’t eat or drink much, you know how miserable Rya became.  Once she finally pooped, it was so painful for the poor girl, she cried every time.  Eski tried prunes and they didn’t help.  Finally, after 3 days of not pooping, magic happened.  I talked to a Pharmacist and she suggested giving Rya 1 tsp of caro syrup.  Of course, Rya liked the almost pure sugar treat- she is her mommy’s daughter after all.  ;)  Within a half hour of the syrup dose and dinner, Rya’s pants were rumbling!  I’ve never been so excited for a poopy diaper!  =D

ANYWAY, she’s all better now.  She’s back to her fussy needy lovable self.  ;)  

We’re excited for this weekend- Rya gets to meet her twin baby cousins, and we get to see them and their mom & dad for the first time since they were born Feb. 12!  It’s been exactly 3 months!

This weekend is also my first Mother’s Day!  It’s been quite a year, and I feel so blessed.  I’m so happy to be able to celebrate the day as a mother now, with my baby Rya.  She means the world to me, and I just want to spoil her forever! It’s amazing the feeling I have for my first born, and how special she is to me.  I will cherish this first Mother’s Day, and wish all of you moms reading a Happy Mother’s Day!

9 months

My blog was due for some pictures (sorry, don't have a good one with my new hair-do yet). I decided to upload some while watching North Carolina and Harrison Barnes almost get beat. :-/ Good thing they won [in overtime], because Jesse is going to win my office's pool if the rest of his bracket is accurate. =] The guy leading the pool right now has Duke winning the championship- ha ha! :)

Anyway, Rya had her 9 month doctor appointment last week. She is now 28 3/4" long and weighs 19.04 lbs. Long and lean the doc says. She used to be in the 90th percentile for weight, but now that she is more active, she's down in the 50th percentile. Still in 90th for height, doc said. Rya had her iron level checked and we learned her iron is a tiny bit low, so we have to give her an iron drop once/day until she's a year. Other than that, she's very healthy, and doc said we've done a great job. whew =D

Rya isn't quite walking yet, but she will take steps now if you hold her hands and walk a little with her. Everyone says it won't be long. My mom said I walked at 10 months, but I just don't see Rya walking that soon, because that's only about 2 weeks away! Time will tell though.

Baby girl has been sleeping really well. When she got back from being at the farm last week with daddy, she was off a little overnight for a night or two, but nothing too bad, and then she got right back to sleeping 8pm-6:50/7am. I love it, and am SO happy! :) FINALLY! She still randomly may wake up but we haven't had to go to her, and she's woken up at 6 when my alarm goes off, we give her the pacifier and she's back asleep until 7. There's another benefit of working in Ankeny now- more sleep. I've noticed Rya getting hungrier earlier and tired earlier at night now too. Tonight I fed her about 6, which is about 15-30 mins earlier than usual, and then we went on a 35 minute walk at 6:35. She was asleep by the time we got home. I wasn't sure she'd go to bed that early so I let her play a little in the living room until about 7:20 and then she didn't seem interested so I took her up to her room. She drank some of another bottle, I read her a short book (she barely sits still long enough to read to her, even right before bed), and then turned the light off and rocked her a little. I put her down in her crib at 7:40 so about 20 mins. earlier than when she's been going to bed. It's still a little light out, so I think she wasn't quite ready for bed, but she just played for about 10 mins and then she was out. It's so nice to finally be able to put her down and she go to sleep all by herself. It's also so nice to finally have some time to myself (and to spend with Jesse). I remember thinking when Rya was an infant that it seemed I'd never have time to watch tv or workout again. I'm glad that's no longer the case- Monday night I watched 5 tv shows after Rya went to bed (thanks to DVR)! :)

In other news- we traded Jesse's Monte Carlo in and bought a Chevy Traverse!

Out with the old... In with the new...


Jesse was pretty sad to say goodbye to the first car he bought on his own, and has had since 2004, but I think he wanted the Traverse almost as bad as me. ;) It was quite the night last Thurs when we bought it. We didn't decide we were going to buy it until 8pm (after test driving a couple that afternoon, and Jesse spending all day negotiating). We gave Rya a bath quick, got her ready for bed and then headed down the street to the dealership. We didn't pull out in my new car until 9:45, so it was a late night, but a good one. =] I love it. I don't like seeing the gas gauge go down faster than the Monte ever did, but since I don't drive nearly as much as I used to, I can still go over a week without having to fill up, so at the end of the day, I'm ok with it. ;)

Something else new to me is the year 3-0. ;) It was just another day to me (Jesse was teaching Driver's Ed Monday night so we didn't do anything special, which was fine, since I got a Traverse! We went to dinner with my parents last Friday night for my birthday.), but it is kind of weird to me to think I'm 30. 30 used to seem so old to me, and now, I think 30 is the new 21. =] I definitely don't feel old, and hope I always say that!

As I think I may have mentioned in a previous recent post- life is good. Really good. So good, that I'm a little nervous it's too good. We refinanced and are saving a couple hundred dollars a month. Then we got an escrow refund from our previous mortgager and it will pretty much pay for the new window we had to put in Rya's room b/c the original was a cheap one that leaked and rotted out the wood under the siding, in addition to dripped through the ceiling of our front room. :-( Then, we learned we are getting a good size tax refund, which we were not expecting b/c I rolled a chunk of my traditional ira to a roth one so we thought that would wash any refund we had coming (I wonder how much a refund we would have had if we hadn't done that!). I guess having a baby really does help, a lot.

But happiness isn't all about money, and I know that... I'm happy to get to spend quality time with Jesse and Rya, and to be able to look back to when I was afraid how my life had changed and would never be the same, and I just couldn't seem to imagine life being so nice and easy again, and to see now that I'll never have to go through that time again! Next baby I'll have an idea of how it all turns out as the baby gets older. And that's such a good thought to me. I'm excited to play with Rya outside soon, and to go to the park to swing, and then to Okoboji in June. I am reminded every single day how much I love my baby girl. I never knew I could love someone SO much, and it's a great feeling!



March Madness isn't just about basketball this year- the weather has been somewhat crazy, with 80 degree temperatures in the middle of March. :) Enjoy!

Latest

Jesse is on spring break this week so he decided to go to his parents' to help on the farm the last two days; what better weather could he ask for?! His mom is retired so she said she'd love to watch Rya, so mommy got some r&r last night, this morning, and tonight! Last night I went to my nephew Caden's school music concert. The kindergarten class sang first, then the first grade, finally Caden and the second graders (it only took a half hour, but it was during the Iowa NIT game! At least we got to still watch the second half and see Iowa dominate Dayton for their first post-season win in 9 years! =]) The concert was pretty cute- the kindergarten class did The Little Red Hen, the first graders did The Parable of the Rich Man, and the second graders did The Parable of the Builder (Caden attends Holy Trinity Catholic Church school now; he's officially a maroon-in-the-making, eck!) Anyway, after spending time at my parents' afterward, I got home around 9:30 and still wanted to get on the elliptical. Since I was sure I wouldn't have to wake up in the middle of the night with Rya gone, I decided to go ahead and get on the elliptical that late. It was actually relaxing. [I'm really trying to get back into shape/working out more like I used to, so Sunday Jesse and I started Jillian Michaels again. Boy was I sore the last couple of days!] But, as my friends know, I'm not much of a late-to-bed person, so finally getting to bed at 11:00 was late for me! ;) However, I did get to sleep in until 7 this morning! It was GREAT! I got to work early for once (really helps when I only live a minute away). ;)

Speaking of work...I got some flack for not mentioning my job in my last post, so I'd like to go on the record and say, I do like my not-so-much-new-anymore job. =] It's going well. I think it's a great job for me because I can feel very accomplished at the end of the day, and even work ahead so much so that I can be waiting until something comes across my desk. I've only had one CrAzY busy day, that did actually really have me concerned about leaving my previous job, but now that I know those kind of days don't happen all the time, I can handle them when they do happen. I mean, this day I didn't have time to eat, worked 9 hours straight and STILL couldn't physically get everything done that was my job to get done. Thankfully, I work with great people that helped me out. I enjoy the people I work for/with, the small office atmosphere (smaller than anywhere I've worked before), and, have I mentioned how close to work, and Rya, that I am?! :) Today for lunch, I went shopping at Target! It's great! :)

About my job- anyone thinking about refinancing should do so, and do it with Valley Bank in Ankeny. Then I can close your loan for you. =] I have the contact info for the person to refi with, so let me know if you are interested. Jesse and I just refinanced and got a 30 year for 4%. I've seen rates even lower than that. With Valley Bank you can get set up with a payment schedule to make bi-weekly payments, and we're going to shave 7-9 years (at least) off our mortgage, saving us thousands of dollars in interest. It's really amazing to see the savings on paper, so I totally suggest you refinance with Valley Bank in Ankeny. ;)

Anyway, back to my r&r time- tonight I went on a run. It was beautiful out, even hot when running. And I loved it. Perfect temp to run in a t-shirt and shorts. Listened to my iPod for the first time in I don't know how long. I think the last time I've ran outside was when I was on maternity leave in July or August! So it's been a while, and felt great to be back! I just hope I can keep up with it. After my run, I went to the salon and got my hair cut...I mean chopped off! I think it's the shortest I've ever had it. I really like it, and think I'll love it when it won't take me very long to get ready. I'm a little nervous about my natural curl/wave, but I'm hoping it'll be easy to tame. No pictures right now, but I'll try to get one soon. Jesse isn't home yet, so he hasn't seen it, and can't be my photographer. =] I think he'll like it- as he put it "I proposed to you with really short hair." haha If you remember [that long ago ;)], I had no idea he was going to propose so I cut all my hair off and a couple weeks later, he proposed, and I remember thinking, "crap, now I don't have long hair for our wedding!" :) So, yeah, I have a new do that I'm excited about...

...a new do for a new me- turning the big 3-0 this month, on Monday actually- yikes! On that note, I think I'll head to bed now and get my beauty rest! =P
Happy St. Patrick's Day! And happy Spring!

P.S. Sorry no pictures. I'll try to get some posted soon. Rya is 9 months old and has her 9 month check up tomorrow, so I'll have a "Rya update" for you soon. =]

I love...

Driving to the farm this weekend I heard a guy on the radio say the things he loves, and it inspired me to blog about everything I love.

I love my daughter, more than I could have ever imagined. She is the cutest thing in the world to me, even though she is the most squirmy, stubborn, silly baby girl I know! :) I love her babbling, and how she always watches me. I love watching her in the water during bath time, and I love watching her discover new things. I love her smile when I come in the room and say hi to her, and her smile just before she does something she knows mommy said no to! :) I love Rya so much, I can’t imagine sharing my time and love with another child some day.

I love my husband, more today than ever before. He’s a very patient, caring and thoughtful husband, and a wonderful daddy. He’s an amazing man and teacher that is very dedicated to his students’ health, as well as his and his family’s health. [Jesse has been a bit concerned about my heart because I’ve been so tired at night. Since I have heart disease in my family, he worries about mine.]

I love my parents and siblings. I’m so thankful to live so close to them, and thankful for their support and help with Rya. They are very excited to have a baby girl in the family, and I’m very excited for her to grow up with them in her life.

I love my parents-in law & siblings-in law. My parents-in law are two of the most compassionate, christian, conservative, loving people I know. They are also very excited to finally have a granddaughter, and I’m excited to have them in Rya’s life as well. And, being the oldest in my family, I look up to my older brothers and sister-in laws, and enjoy shopping and working on the farm with them. :)

I love my extended family, and wish I got to see them more often.

I love my friends- from Simpson, Ames, and everywhere in between.

I love Simpson College, and all the memories made there.

I love men’s college basketball. More specifically, I love March Madness on CBS.

I love the Iowa Hawkeyes.

I love college football. More specifically, I love college football on Saturdays [and Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit].

I love softball and pitching. I love giving pitching lessons, and seeing my student grow. I love when she all of a sudden gets it and you can see it in the smoothness of her pitch.

I love playing basketball, and really wish I was still in shape like I was when I played in college! :)

I love skinny caramel lattes from Starbucks. I love Mt. Dew. I love chocolate, cookies & candy, oh and Coach. ;) I love Taco Johns and Arby’s. I love Okoboji and Okoboji Bar & Grill. I love country, pop & christian music; I love upbeat music I can sing along to, like Taylor Swift songs. :)

All in all, I LOVE MY LIFE!

Walk to baby cousins--

2 weeks ago today, we welcomed 2 new little babies to the Von Behren family- Jesse's brother Nate and our sister-in-law Jess had their twins a few weeks early. One boy, one girl, named Brant and Natalie. They were just little tykes at 4 lbs 1 oz and 3 lbs 12 oz, but they are doing well, as well as momma. We are so excited for Nate & Jess, and for Rya to have baby cousins to play with! :) We got to go visit the day they were born, but accidentally left our camera in the room when we went to the NICU. But here's a picture Jess sent us.

There was also another addition to the extended Von Behren family this week- one of Jesse's cousin had a baby, and it was a girl! Rya will have so much fun growing up with cousins only 8.5 months younger. =]

Rya is so ecstatic, she is about to "walk" to them- she is now pulling herself up to everything and standing, all on her own. =] She's such a big girl! We even started putting her in a big girl car seat today. She has the tooth on the bottom that was her first tooth to come in, plus the front top two, and now Rya has the next two on the top coming in. These last two teeth coming in may have been part of the reason for her waking up overnight, but she slept all night this whole last week. A couple of days Rya woke up earlier in the morning than we prefer, but we were thankful for the uninterupted night's sleep! In addition to the teething, I think her waking up could have also been b/c we stopped giving her acid reflux medicine. First we cut back to just once/day and then a couple of weeks ago we stopped giving it to her all together, thinking surely by now she is grown out of the need for it. Last weekend we started giving it to her again, and then she started sleeping through the night. It's so hard to know, but I think we'll keep giving the medicine to her for a while longer.



Baby girl is now almost 9 months, but here is an 8 month picture-



Jesse's basketball season ended on Friday night when the Ames boys lost to Ankeny. We love basketball season, but love daddy being home even more! He will start teaching his driver's ed next month, so we'll enjoy a couple of weeks at home. I'm hoping to get some little projects around the house completed now that basketball is over. ;) Unfortunately for us, one unexpected project is having to replace a leaking window.

As for my new job, things are going well. I had a really stressful and challenging day last week, but I got through it and survived, so all is good. :) I enjoy the job and the people I work with, and really love being so close to Rya and home. But, I may always miss Simpson...

Last weekend I went back to campus to play in the alumni basketball game. We also got to watch the Storm women win the IIAC title outright. Rya made her third visit to campus (I forgot to get a picture of her in her cute "SC" Sweet Tee)! I always enjoy going back to play, and missed not being able to last year. =] I've been playing in a rec league on Wed. nights, and that just ended last week.

With the end of some basketball seasons comes March Madness and the end of winter- yay! Soon it will be summer and Rya's first birthday...in Okoboji! Enjoy the warm end of the season!