How do I know my links...

Okay folks, we all wonder how someone knows their blog crawl. And we check out other blogs that our friends look at so I thought I would explain how I know my "LINKS".

Hayes Family: This is one of my friends that I've know for a long time. She's one of my hometown girls. Although we've known each other since we were young we probably hooked up as friends in high school and became closer there after. She is one of those friends who even if we don't chat all the time, we can just pick up and chat as if we just saw each other last week. She has a great husband and 3 wonderful children whom I got to visit this past summer in Washington.

The Pearsons: Another one of those hometown friends... I've known Courtney FOREVER. She literally is my oldest friend in the world. We met in kindergarten and spent the night at each other's houses and had play dates as kids. We were lucky to get pregnant close together with our first and now our second children will be just the same distant apart in age as our first. We try to get together once a month or so to chat and let the kids play. She is a lifetime friend and I am really blessed to have her in my life.

The Lundy's: This would be a work friend. Meredith and her husband were new to the area (and the state) when I met her. We chatted at work and it developed into a friendship outside of work (which is good since we're both stay-at-home moms). She is my go-to for chic flicks. Before kids we use to go to the movies our husbands had no desire to take us to but we must see. I think the last time we went to a movie was a couple of days before her son Brendan was born... he is now 18 months old so that goes to show how much our lives have changed. We chat quite a bit on the phone and she is my lifesaver when my husband is out of town. I am so glad to be able to have her with my through my parenthood woes!

Fully Charged Double A's: Another friend I met through work. Alisa is Wonder Woman. I have so much respect and admiration for her because this girl has had some curve balls thrown at her in her adult life. She handles everything with grace and she is so upbeat. When I first met Alisa at work (we were on a team together) I thought there was no way I would be friends with her outside of the work place but here we are several years later... Alisa is so busy with her life and children that we don't get together too often but someone I always hope to maintain some sort of contact with... she is what you call good people. She has 2 beautiful children and she tells their tales in her blog. A must read!

Counting It All Joy: Tam-e is a girl from my hometown... yup, love the hometown girls. She is actually good friends with my friend Amanda (Hayes Family). They have kept in touch over the years and when Amanda started blogging I got hooked up to Tam-e's family blog. Tam-e was also a big help in our hs reunion. She helped connect me to a lot of folks from our class. Tam-e is fantastic and she too is a stay-at-home mom to 4. She has given me some advice through my blog which I am so grateful to have. Her experience as a mom is fantastic to have in your back pocket!

Bits & Pieces: Oh Jessey...how do I explain. Actually this one is easy. She went to college with Meredith (The Lundy's) at UC Davis (I hope I have that right girls). When Meredith started her blog I also started reading Jessey's blog. She is hysterical and I can get a good chuckle out of some of her misfortune's (sorry Jess but some of the things that happen to you... almost unbelievable that they are just too funny). Also she LOVES celeb gossip which is always so fun to read after some crazy incident happens. Her writing just tickles my fancy and I love to check on what is going on with her. She is what I term the blog friend! So glad I met ya!

Then there are the other two... Post Secret and Dooce. I don't have any connection to them. I actually have stopped reading them (well I still read Dooce... I use to be big into it but not so much now). Dooce is like the blog mama. She is huge. Her blog supports her entire family! Pretty fantastic if you ask me. She does write some funny stuff and I love her monthly letters to her daughter. She is just a great writer and so she is nice to read.

Alright kids, there you have it. How I know the folks I list on the right side column. Now don't get me wrong, I read others... I just don't have them listed. How about you... do you read your friend's friends blogs???

Gymnastics

I enrolled Ryleigh in a gymnastics class at our local rec center. My original thought was to send her to Buckeye Gymnastics but then I changed my mind. I want to see if she has an interest before putting her in at Buckeye. I am glad I did, because another mom pal of mine said that Buckeye was pretty intense and her son cried!

Ryleigh hasn't shed any tears but she is scared of Coach Mike. He's a boy and we just don't like boys we don't know. She is very good at listening though and runs to the yellow crayon to sit when he asks. She just tries to avoid being near him the rest of class.

This last week I was lucky to have Glenn home so he tagged along so we could get some photos...

Ryleigh sitting on the yellow crayon

Trying to do her first somersault

Hanging from the bar with daddy helping her

Pink Eye

Enough said!

Big To Do is finally marked off the list!

MY LIST:

• Buy furniture for Ryleigh's big girl room - DONE
  
• Buy mattress for Ryleigh's big girl room
  
• Paint Ryleigh's big girl room - DONE
  
• Go through tub of 0-3 month clothes in basement - DONE
  
• Go through 2 tubs of baby stuff and clean/pull what I need - DONE
  
• Get Ryleigh potty trained (okay this is more of a wish/dream but its on the list) - WORKING
  
• Do my pre-registration for the hospital (should have been done 6 weeks ago) - DONE
  
• Make and freeze meals for March (not starting this till Feb 1 but need to plan what I will make)
  
• Purchase items that I feel I need the 2nd time around... double stroller, sling, etc
  
• Purchase a packet of thank you notes (b/c I assume I will either get gifts/meals from folks and need to thank them without hunting for cards in Hallmark just days after giving birth)
  
• Donut... need to be sure I still have inflatable donut and if not - buy one since my hospital is anti-donut and would rather see me suffer for 2 days b/c their more worried about my hemorrhoids than they are my tootiefala (that is what my grandmother called it)! - DONE
  
• Buy Ryleigh's "I am a big sister t-shirt" and wrap and have with hospital bag so she has a gift to open when she comes to visit at the hospital
  
• Buy Ryleigh a banner for Glenn to hang above her new room when the baby arrives (I am big sister)
  
• Junk food bag... b/c my hospital serves what only can be described as icky food!Oh and must not forget to do all the other stuff that I normally do....

I can't even wrap my head around it...

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=292337&GT1=7702

She was a no show at her court hearing and she may not see her sons till April. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING??? Can someone please explain?

Panic

Okay, reading the last few posts my stress is really starting to show. I first want to say, thank you to my friends (new and old) for words of advice & wisdom. I am feeling pretty good till...

Alright I need to set this up a little better. Ryleigh and I went over to my folks today. If the husband is out of town during a weekend I will usually go over and spend the day there. It allows me to relax a bit plus Ryleigh LOVES my parents. She is my mom's shadow whenever my mom is around. When she was little and couldn't say Grandma she called her mama too. She thinks my dad is lots of fun. He swings her around and they share snacks. Anyway, on with my story.

So we arrive before lunch and we follow the same routine there as we do at my home. Play after lunch till nap. I take her upstairs and get her all snug in the crib, close the blinds and say night. She tells me thank you as I close the door (this is a recent thing and I can't figure out the why... I just always say you're welcome). My mom and I have a nice long chat while she eats lunch and we just sat in the kitchen below the room she was napping in for about an hour and half... then I hear a thump. I immediately break into a run (I don't even think my mom registered what happened). I tear up the stairs at a clip no pregnant women should dare try. The whole time I hear SILENCE. I am completely freaked. I open the door to the room and Ryleigh is standing there hyperventilating. Shear panic is running through my veins. Is she hurt? How bad? What? What if she broke her neck? I am holding her while I am trying to process that she climbed out of the crib and trying to check her. My mom soon followed and Ryleigh had to leap into her arms for some additional comfort. Then she came back to me and then she wanted a group hug. She was SO UPSET and scared. I took her downstairs to sit her on the couch (and better examine). My mom slid in Elmo on the DVD while I worked on talking to her and getting her to calm down. After about 10 minutes (from thump) I realized she was okay. Thank goodness.

I cannot say the same for me though. The rush of adrenaline caused baby Sharp #2 to kick the crap out of me for the next several hours. I felt horrible and my nerves were shot. Any misstep Ryleigh took I was on her like a hawk to get her to stop. I was a complete bundle of nerves.

We're home now. Ryleigh is fine, asleep in her crib and I sit in silence waiting to hear her make her next big leap! Yikes!!!!

Update from the potty

I don't know where to start. My mind has been racing because of everything I feel I need to do before the newest arrival and letting go of how things are right at this moment. I hate to say it but I will miss my one-on-one time with Ryleigh. She's my sweet pea, my first, my heart, my focus for the past 2 years. Please don't get me wrong, I am really starting to get excited for Sharp #2 but it will be such a jolt of change when he/she arrives that it will be hard not to miss the 2 years I spent with just Ryleigh.

Now onto updates:

POTTY TRAINING:
For the past 2 weeks we've been using the pull-ups. Ryleigh has had some success (usually she pees in the potty once, sometimes twice a day). Originally I purchased pull-ups that just changed color on the outside (flowers faded) and realized that Ry wasn't really getting it. So I purchased the kind that get cold when wet... really not cutting it. So finally I put her in training pants. The cotton ones and I put the plastic pants over. I really felt Ry needed to feel an accident or she wouldn't 'get it'. Well she got it. An hour into wearing them (and having just been on the potty 3 minutes before) she comes up to me and tells me she pooped! As much as I wasn't looking forward to the clean up I realized she was making progress. She actually told me when she did something in her pants. FINALLY!!! We had 3 accidents this morning and I put her down for a nap in pull-up. She stayed in pull-ups the rest of the day (we had errands to run). She peed 3 times in her potty today. I must admit I am pretty proud of her. I've been using stickers as incentive. She hasn't quite got the idea of an incentive (if I do it I get this...) but I figure she needs to be rewarded just the same.

MY LIST:

• Buy furniture for Ryleigh's big girl room - DONE
• Buy mattress for Ryleigh's big girl room
• Paint Ryleigh's big girl room
• Go through tub of 0-3 month clothes in basement - DONE
• Go through 2 tubs of baby stuff and clean/pull what I need - DONE
• Get Ryleigh potty trained (okay this is more of a wish/dream but its on the list) - WORKING
• Do my pre-registration for the hospital (should have been done 6 weeks ago) - DONE
• Make and freeze meals for March (not starting this till Feb 1 but need to plan what I will make)
• Purchase items that I feel I need the 2nd time around... double stroller, sling, etc
• Purchase a packet of thank you notes (b/c I assume I will either get gifts/meals from folks and need to thank them without hunting for cards in Hallmark just days after giving birth)
• Donut... need to be sure I still have inflatable donut and if not - buy one since my hospital is anti-donut and would rather see me suffer for 2 days b/c their more worried about my hemorrhoids than they are my tootiefala (that is what my grandmother called it)! - DONE
• Buy Ryleigh's "I am a big sister t-shirt" and wrap and have with hospital bag so she has a gift to open when she comes to visit at the hospital
• Buy Ryleigh a banner for Glenn to hang above her new room when the baby arrives (I am big sister)
• Junk food bag... b/c my hospital serves what only can be described as icky food!
  Oh and must not forget to do all the other stuff that I normally do....

For your viewing pleasure, a few shots of the queen playing office, eating ice-cream, playing with daddy (while wearing winter boots of course), watching Elmo from her chair, cleaning her table after lunch, and lastly playing (with a new cold to boot).