SUMMER AND WATERMELON

Alot of people in my family like watermelon

(the list is long: everyone but me).

I don't like any kind of melon. But I will not put my

food preferences off on Royanne. (We won't discuss milk, jello, pudding,

cool whip or brussel sprouts. She can talk these up with daddy).

So, summertime was here and it was melon time!

SHE LIKES IT ! HEY MIKEY !

This moment, as with a lot of first food tries, had to be

captured in pictures.

"....Thinkin' I might like this red stuff......"

"It is squishy."

"Feels good.......tastes good"



"I can hold it."



"Good finger food."



"Oops....I thought it was a little too squishy!"

"This is quite a lot of fun!"

Cramming it in...

GIVE ME MORE!

"Mighty fine!"

"I can suck the juice from this....."

"Whew! This watermelon eating is tough work!"

"I LOVE IT!"

"Delicious!!"

"I can't talk, my mouth is full."

"Still full."

"I'M STUFFED!"

Birthday Party: WOO-HOO!

The day before Royanne's birthday party (which was a week after her real birthday date), cousins Abby and Liam came over to help decorate the cupcakes with sprinkles. Aunt Kay made the poster board signs that hung in the trees.

One said HAPPY

one said BIRTHDAY

& the third said ROYANNE.

Royanne licked the icing spatula, which is what birthday

girls are supposed to do!

Royanne's doll got 2 bottles and she perched

on her new couch to feed her. One is milk, the other orange juice.

I call her doll Annie (aka Royanne).

THE FIRST FIRST BIRTHDAY PRESENT

A week before her party, Mimi brought Ro a truck to ride,
the precurser to a tricycle, they tell me. In the box,
it looked fully assembled but when we used a knife, kitchen shears, a
box cutter and pliers to get the box apart (I know you know what
I mean!), it needed the axles and wheels built and attached.
Lookie at the cute little fat legs that are watching and
helping daddy.




He needed the mallet and she agreed to have it handy,
although she also insisted she needed to carry it around.





Patiently waiting.







All aboard!












Brandy, Wesley and Kayleigh were the
first to arrive. Don't all one year olds have
radishes for snacks?





Looks like Royanne emptied the pool:
"EVERYONE OUT!"

Pictured are Amberlynn, mom of baby Dixie &
Jordan (the cute blonde haired boy), Abby & Liam, and Royanne's
(and Abby & Liam's) cousins from Tyler,
Ava and Lexi.




Liam is good at posing!




How many kids can you get in a blow up pool?




Royanne, Ava and Liam. Bubbles and water guns.
We aren't weird for having a party in the front yard,
we just remembered how hot it was the last
get-together out back on the deck (west side of yard)
so we opted for a cooler environment.





Ava and Royanne.




Royanne had A LOT of help opening her
presents!

She gottum new shoes!

(She's already a shoe lover).

Aunt Janice and Uncle Joe got her the whole line

of sunflower duds from GYMBOREE!

This is the truth: last week when Bruce neeeded to

walk for his physical therapy, we went to the

outlet mall and I looked at those very clothes!

I love her in navy blue!

Royanne's Great Grandma (Billie) made her a

beautiful white swiss dot dress. There is an accompanying white

slip underneath that buttons on the shoulders. Mom tells me that the

buttons were sosososo small that Grandma's machine wouldn't

make the buttonholes that small, so she sewed them all

BY HAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This will become a family heirloom! No eating, drinking, or sleeping

in this!! It has smocking and ribbon embroidery. Verrrrrry snazzy!

Things my Grandma makes mean so much to me.

Abby helping me with the cards and presents while Ro

sits on Mimi's lap and is entertained by Liam bringing her

"what she got" and showing her.

Cousins Abby and Sarah with Royanne as she opens

her new doll from Brandy, Wesley and Kayleigh.

I think this doll looks alot like Kayleigh, so that's what I call

her. I hope I don't confuse Royanne.

Liam and Abby were so excited about Royanne's

presents! They both have to hold it.

One of my favorites is what her cousins Lexi and Ava presented her with!

A dress-up outfit of SNOW WHITE!! Abby and I were in raptures!

Abby just can't wait to teach Ro how to play dress up. Abby

has several (many) princess dresses: like Jasmine, Snow White,

Cinderella, then there's Dorothy (from Oz, where else?) and all the others

she makes up as she goes along. They will have so much fun!

Marilyn, look out!

Thanks to everyone who attended!

Great Grandma, Mimi, Aunt Kay, Uncle Craig, cousins Abby & Liam,

Aunt Janice, cousin Sarah, Grandpa Kelly,

Brandy, Wesyley and Kayleigh,

cousins Lexi & Ava, (great) Uncle Roger and (great) Aunt Marybeth

third cousins Sandra and Linda, Great Great Aunt Jessie,

Mr. Lin and Miss Roberta, Miss Jo, Miss Wanda, Grandma C. C.,

Randal, Amberlynn and Dixie Johnson, Jordan Brinkmeyer,

& Amanda Lovern.

I must be loosing my touch! I won't give excuses, but I didn't take very many birthday

pictures! I was feeling pretty ill when the party started, and by the time it was over, I was really doing poorly. It was the lack of sleep & heat exhaustion, and I found out I had all the classic symptoms of dehydration. And I was on day three! Mom took the munchkin and

I slept for 17 hours.

Until next year.....................

Contest Winner

We got word today:

Royanne won another contest! This one was at

www.sportsbaby.com

She wins a tee-shirt!

This was the photo we submitted.

Sponge (headed for Harvard?)

Royanne sleeping with her monkey from Aunt Tammy

and Uncle Darrell. She hands us the monkey

every morning so we can greet Monkey Girl &

Royanne.

I started a list of all the words Royanne knows, and

the words she can say. The list got kind of lengthy!

KNOWS

apple

baby

ball

bath

bed

Bible

book

bottle

bring me....

bye-bye

change diaper

clap

come on

can I suck your thumb?

Connor

cup

daddy

dance

diaper

dirty

drink

duck

eat

eyes

face

feed the dogs

foot/feet

get it

good

go to sleep

hair

hand

hug

hungry

jump

kiss

hug the baby

kiss the baby

is that good? -responds "mmmm!"

look in the mirror

milk

Mimi

momma

monkey

NO

pat-pat (pat something)

patty cake

pillow

pray

purse

push

Royanne

shake

shoe

sit down

tongue

spoon

stand up

stomp feet

take a nap

thumb

toes

truck

wanna eat

water

wave (bye-bye)

SAYS

Dada

Daddy

Momma

kitty cat

cat

duh-jee (doggies)

gee gah (says it all the time) (I don't know what it means)

see it

hi

hello

yulch (ick)

ekklish (ick)

mmmmm (good!)

here it is

bah bah (baby)

ba (bottle)

kitty-kitty-kitty (real high pitched)

book

cup

ball

kack kack (when asked 'what does the duck say?')

First Year With God's Precious Gift

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROYANNIE!!!!!

I would like to take this time to reflect on Royanne being with us.

Every day I wake up to the wonderment that is her.

First of all, I prayed to God for many years for him to send me

a little angel. Royanne was definitely worth waiting for!

I don't know why waiting so long was in the plan.

I am forever thankful & grateful and will do my very

best to love and teach this child, God's precious gift.

When my sister-in-law Janice came to understand my disappointment in

years of waiting, all the procedures gone unsuccessful, she offered to

help. She sent us to a doctor that possessed a great passion for

discovering the right course for her patients. I am thankful to Janice

for many, many reasons, which she knows, but I am also

thankful she made the recommendation she did.

Dr. Anna Nackley was very thorough in her explanations.

Her attention to detail was great. She was frank

when she needed to be, and always optimistic.

I will never forget the afternoon she herself

called to tell me the results of the local lab's

pregnancy (blood) test. I held my breath when I saw the

number on caller ID. I expected to hear the voice

of a nurse, but it was Dr. Nackley herself! Briefly I

thought maybe she was calling herself because she wanted to

tell me what the next plan would

be. I was afraid to hear her words. When she said I

was pregnant, I think I said "what did you say?"

or "are you sure?" or "I am?" or something

equally dumb. When she repeated it, I cried!

I was home all alone, Bruce was out of state on business.

I called Kay! I sent Bruce a text message!

I will forever be indebted to the talents of this

wonderful doctor, Dr. Anna Nackley.

The next player in this journey was Dr. Paul Bushart.

Dr. Bushart came highly recommended by a working chum

of my mother. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would

have such a wonderful OB/GYN doctor. He did not raise an eyebrow

or chastise me for wanting to have a baby

"at such an age",

as some had done. He and Rosalyn took me through

swollen legs, feet and hands & gave supportive feedback when,

even hard as I tried to eat exactly right, I still developed

gestational diabetes. He was happy and positive at

each and every visit. He sure loves babies!

I have met two other women who also had the good fortune to have

him as their doctor.

It is unanimous. He is the best thing to happen in the months a

woman is pregnant!

I am forever in his debt for delivering a healthy

(and smart and beautiful)

baby!!

This picture was taken in December 2007 for a calendar

for the year 2008. This is the picture that is featured on

the July page. The hat says "The Big 1".

I cropped this picture small for the blog, but the balloon

on the background says HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

First picture.

3-D sonogram pictures.






Waiting on the angel.....




Minutes after her birth.



Angel!

Shirt reads "God's Precious Gift".

Bruce and I are very thankful and honored to be her parents.

Rainy Day

It rains so seldom, and Ro is so young, every time it rains,

to her, I guess it might seems like a brand new

experience.

The other day when it rained, I opened the front

door and she watched it a while.

She wanted to sit down and pat the rain.

She was hysterical!



We stood in the rain just as it was (unfortunately)
ending and she loved it. The temperature
had dropped and it sure felt good!