First Road Trip

All set for her first road trip

This past weekend we took our first road trip with Rylee. We went to Big Rapids, MI for the NMU vs. Ferris St. game. It is about a 5 hour drive and Rylee was so good for us both on the way there and back. She was sleeping a few minutes after we left our house and then slept for the next 3.5 hours! I think she really likes the car, at least for now. We have a lot of road trips this fall so we are hoping that she continues to travel well.

A few minutes into the trip and she's already sleeping (look at those cheeks)

We had a good time in Big Rapids. Friday night we met my family at the hotel. We got to see my mom, dad, Brad, Vanessa (and her boyfriend Alex), Auntie Diane, Uncle Lance, and cousins Tyler and Zach. With all the commotion going on Rylee didn't get to bed til after 11 PM but then she slept til 4 AM.

Rylee playing with Grampa Friday night

Saturday we went to the game, which we lost and was kind of a bummer game. But it was so nice to see everyone!

Auntie Ness and Rylee before the game (Rylee has her game face on)

Rylee hanging out after the game waiting to see Grampa and Uncle Brad

Uncle Brad, Rylee, Alex (Vanessa's Boy) and his niece Kayleigh (who is 11 days younger than Rylee) People thought they were twin boys dressed all in green and gold.

Saturday night we stayed with my mom and Vanessa in the hotel again. Jaclynn, Jason, and Maddy drove up from Howell to see us and stayed at the hotel as well. We just sat around and visited, played with the girls, and ordered pizzas. It was great to see them again too, even if it was just for a night. Maddy absolutely loves Rylee. She wanted to be by her all the time and play with her. Then she would get all concerned for Rylee when she would cry. It was really cute.

Maddy in her bikini, sitting by the pool

Rylee smiling at Gramma

Sound asleep (in her "I love Mommy" pj's) after a long day

Sunday morning and ready to head back home

Maddy giving Rylee a kiss good-bye

Sunday morning we all went out for breakfast and then headed home. Again Rylee slept for the first 3 hours or so and then we stopped to get out and change her and let her stretch. We listened to football the whole way home so the trip went really fast. Then we got to come home and watch highlights of the Packers win and Favre's record setting touchdowns. Yeah!

Grady Gauthier

My cousin Zach and his wife Meg had another baby boy, Grady Lawson Gauthier, on September 19th. This is the 11th great grandchild on the Anderson side. The boy-girl ratio is still pretty lopsided; there are 8 boys and 3 girls. It's fun having such a big family! Congrats Zach and Meg!

Zach and his boys: Tramon and Grady

Grandma Spindler

Last week Brad's mom came down and stayed with us for a week. Rylee enjoyed having someone else to play with all day. I was able to get stuff done like get my haircut, do some errands, and get some cleaning done while she watched Rylee. Brad and I even went out for a date and had a great dinner together. It was very nice!

6 Weeks

Now that Rylee is 6 weeks old she is really starting to interact with us. She definitely knows who her mommy and daddy are. She is smiling and talking (cooing and other noises) at us a lot more now. She is also a nosy little girl. Rylee has had a pretty strong neck now for awhile but now she just loves to lift that head up and look around. She is awake and alert longer during the days now and is still sleeping great at night. We are going on over 2 weeks in a row that she has slept for around 6 hours when we first put her down to sleep at 9. Our bathtime/feeding routine at night seems to be working pretty well. We are so proud of her for being such a good sleeper (it makes it so much easier on us).

Some of Rylee's favorite things (besides eating and sleeping):

- Our living room ceiling fan: on or off she loves to stare at it (it keeps her so content)

- Sitting in her bouncy chair if the vibration is on

- The star that lights up and plays music on her Baby Einstein Activity mat: she kicks, flaps her arms, smiles, and talks at that star

- Dad coming home at lunch time: Brad tries to come home everyday for lunch and Rylee is so excited to see him and gives him so many smiles

- Going for walks with mom, Mindi, and Gracie: we go for a walk almost everyday with our neighbors and Rylee loves being outside. She usually is awake for awhile at the beginning but then the movement eventually puts her to sleep (and Gracie)

- Lifting her head up and looking around at everything

Zebra Outfit Pictures

Here's some pictures of Rylee from the other day, in her zebra outfit that my mom got for her. She looked so cute in that outfit! I was telling my mom how adorable she looks in that outfit and she wanted me to post these pics. Thanks for the outfit mom and I'll be sure to print off some of these pics for you.

Sleeping in the Crib

We finally made the big step to the crib! Rylee has slept in her crib in her own room the past 2 nights. Up until then she had slept every night in her bassinet in our room. It was nice and convenient to have her in our room cause you didn't have to go far if she needed her pacifier or was fussing a little. But now that she is sleeping better (and is 5 weeks old) we decided it was time to move her to her own room. Plus she's kind of a noisy sleeper...she likes to make grunting noises and move in her sleep. So Brad and I will sleep better with her in her own room.

Rylee has been sleeping great! This whole past week she has went 6 hours between her first and second feedings at night! She usually eats around 9 PM and then doesn't get up to eat again until around 3 AM. It is so nice to have more than just 3 hours between feedings. I was so excited that she was sleeping so long that I thought I would take advantage of it too and sleep that whole time. Well, little did I know that I should have still been waking up around 3 or 4 hours to pump. Saturday morning, after 4 nights in a row of this good sleep, I woke up with mastitis. My right boob was killing, I had a fever, and my body was achy. I pretty much knew what it was right away. My Dr. gave me antibiotics and I felt better by Sunday morning. I was glad that I felt better so fast. Now I am making sure I pump right before I go to bed to make sure I can sleep a little longer. We are so proud of Rylee though for sleeping so good. Let's just hope this isn't a 1 week fluke and that she keeps this up.

The Bottle!

We started Rylee on a bottle this week. Brad has given her a bottle once a day everyday this week and it is going great. Thankfully there is no nipple confusion! She took the bottle right away. I kind of figured she would because she loves her pacifier and the bottle has a very similar nipple as the pacifier. Brad says she can get a little sloppy when feeding from a bottle but she'll get better. It has worked out so nice having Brad take one of the feedings. He usually takes the early morning feeding (around 6 AM) and then he just gets ready for work after he feeds Rylee and gets her back down to bed. That way I get some extra sleep in the morning =)

Brad and Rylee bonding during their first bottle feeding

1 Month Old!

On Monday Rylee turned 1 Month old! Wow...we can't believe how fast those 4 weeks went by. Of course there were some nights that seemed to last forever but overall those first 4 weeks were great and flew by. My maternity leave is already half over...boo...I don't like that at all.

Rylee had her 1 month Dr.'s appointment on Monday and she was so good. The Dr. was poking and prodding at her and she was wide awake and didn't even cry. Her Dr. said she looks great and was happy to see that her bump was completely gone (it was gone at 2.5 weeks). She was very impressed at how strong her neck is, how alert she is, and that she smiles already. Dr. Slaven was talking to Rylee and she smiled at her, it was pretty cute. She is also ahead of the game in her measurements.

Height: 22 1/8 inches (75th percentile)

Weight: 10 lbs. 2 oz.'s (75th percentile)

Head: 37.8 cm. (75th percentile)

We can't believe how much she has grown! I knew she had big cheeks and is a good eater I just didn't expect her to be 10 lbs. already. And she's still tall for her age too. I wonder how long that will continue.

I took a little photo shoot on Monday so here are her 1 month pictures.

Pictures from Weeks 3 and 4

These are some random pictures from Weeks 3 and 4 that I thought I would share. You can see in some of these pictures she is starting to smile now (and not just because of gas). In a few of these pictures she is wearing an outfit from Auntie Ness and the shirt says "Mom thinks she's in charge". It's a cute shirt and even though there are times where I would like to think that I am in charge, I know at this age SHE is pretty much the one in charge.