Interesting weekend...

Well, as I am sure you can tell by the pictures, Rylan's party was a huge success.  He had such a blast with his friends and was so excited with all of the activities.  Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes and phone calls, which leads me to another reason for writing.

Saturday night J and I were supposed to go out on a date.  I was feeling really nauseous after taking a shower to get ready, but I brushed it off to pregnancy.  Well by the time we had ordered our food at the restaurant and the first course came, I looked at J and said, I can't do this, we need to get it to go.  Needless to say, I got a nasty stomach bug that lasted that evening into the wee hours of the morning.  Even worse, my Dad did too.  Apparently, this bug is getting passed around.  Fortunately, J, my mom, and Ry, seem to be okay.  J and my mom had tummy aches today but nothing happened, and I pray to God that it stays that way.

So I apologize to those of you that have called and I haven't gotten back to you.  I promise, we will some time this week.  I feel much better today but still have very little energy.  I think being pregnant in addition to getting this bug has really taken its toll.  The one thing that has put a smile on my face today is knowing that the baby is okay after all of this because he (I really have a he feeling lately ;)) has been moving around a lot today.  I think he enjoys the bottles of Gatorade I have been downing to try to get re hydrated.

It was a perfect time for me to have my Mom and Dad here, even though I feel bad that my Dad got the bug.  My Mom has been awesome the last few days with Rylan and helping to keep things sanitized.  God sent us some awesome fall weather which has allowed opened windows and fresh air. Glad this saga is coming to an end! 

Flutters

I felt my sweet little baby fluttering today!!!! What an amazing feeling! I look forward to when J and Ry will be able to feel him/her as well.

Life is good and busy. Rylan's big bday party is Friday. I will be happy to get it over with as it has consumed quite a bit of time. He is going to love it though! Lots of pictures will be taken for sure! Glad I was able to steal many of the ideas from a friend :)!

ECDC Fall Festival is in a couple of weeks as well. That has also been a lot of work and organization, but I enjoy the busyness.

Gma and Papa are here now and I am on the back burner. Ry ran to Gma first today at pickup and told her he missed her...too cute! I appreciate the distractions!

Missi and Pop arrive next week, landscape project is being completed tomorrow, bday celebrations for the next week, Fall Festival, ultrasound on Oct. 12, and Disney on the 13th! Whew! Gotta love it all!!!!

~sarah~

Sent from my iPhone

New stuff

Just thought I'd give a quick update on some things that I have found funny this week. Rylan has a new expression. He says, "it's no big deal." He often says it at appropriate times such as when someone starts talking loudly or emotionally and the words are accompanied by rolling of the eyes and hands up in the air with head tilted back. J and I have been cracking up and the phrase seems to be a new favorite among all of us!

Rylan also seems to be eating a ton lately. Where he is putting it all I have no idea! He even had his first bratwurst yesterday and loved it! There is not much he doesn't eat these days! Growing boy! Guess that's why he's gained 1.5 lbs in the last couple of weeks!

~sarah~

First Day!

Rylan had a great first day of Preschool.  Here he is with Ms. Ellen!

FIrst Day of School!

I just dropped Rylan off at St. Peter's ECDC for his first day of preschool.  What an enormous difference from a year ago!  He is such a big boy!  He knew exactly what to do when he got there...put his stuff in his cubby, washed hands, found the toys, and gave Mommy a big hug and kiss with a big smile and said "bye, go get your oil changed in your new car."  (I told him yesterday that was one of the things I had to do today because he asked what I was going to do when he was at school.  Funny bug!)

I was fine until I read a little goody bag from the teachers:
"My first day of school is here...
You can leave me in my teacher's loving care.
Go home and enjoy a hot cup of tea...
Feel the soft cotton and think of me...
With a tissue to brush away your tears...
And kisses to last you until I'm here!"
So that got me choked up a little bit.  I am going to be a mess when he goes to kindergarten!  I have three more years to worry about that though!

Well off to the joys of school days...how many errands can one person get done in a 5 hour time span.  It's amazing how quickly that time goes by!

Summer is officially over!

Missi was here for a long weekend last week!  We had a great time with her as always and Rylan was able to enjoy some outdoor time since the humidity was actually low for a few days.  I think Missi and Rylan enjoyed their walks and park time together, as well as playing and pool time.  Thanks for the great visit Missi!

It all begins this week!  Rylan starts back at ECDC on Wednesday!  This year, his teachers will be Ms. Ellen and Ms. Julie.  He will be attending twice a week this year on Mondays and Wednesdays.  I am so excited for him because he is already familiar with Ms. Ellen, as she was his music teacher last year.  I can already tell that the classroom will be filled with song all year which he will absolutely love!

I also have signed Rylan up for maintenance swim lessons.  Houston Swim Club is five minutes from Ry's school, so we are going to head over there on Wednesdays right after school.  He had his first lesson last week and it went great.  They jumped right into things and from what I saw last week, I have no doubt that he will be swimming by next summer!

MOPS also starts this week on Friday! Yeah for MOPS!  I love that Mommy time every other week and look forward to seeing some of the ladies that I missed over the summer.

The hustle and bustle starts tomorrow and I love it...and missed it this summer!  This month also brings Fall Festival planning for ECDC and the big #3 birthday party for Rylan!  I will be keeping very busy and welcome the FUN!  What could be more fun than planning great things for your little boy to enjoy?

SOOOOO EXCITED!

Okay, call me a dork, but I just booked us reservations on The Polar Express for December!!!!!  Most of you know, I am a planner, and there were so many things that I wanted to do last Christmas that we waited too long to do.  For whatever reason, I was thinking about it tonight and checked to see if you could already get tickets and you can!  Of course EVERY time slot and type of car is available so I got exactly what I wanted!  I can check that off my Christmas 2010 list!  Now time to start planning the cookie exchange ;)!

Up North continued...

I just realized that I never completed our Up North trip.  As I am sure that you can tell by the pictures that I kept posting, we had a blast at the cottage.  We got to do some of our favorite things such as mini golf, sand dunes, Leland and Fishtown, the Leland Beach, and Glen Arbor.  However, Rylan was able to do some new things this year as well.  He went kayaking with Uncle Jim, Liz, and Ben and he also went fishing on the boat with Uncle Jim, Papa, and Ben.  They did not catch anything, but they got "bites."  He was also old enough to "drive."  :)  This is a tradition that my brother and I used to do growing up.  When we got to the end of the road, my brother and I would take turns sitting on my Dad or Papa's lap and "drive" the rest of the way to the cottage.  Rylan did not forget when it was his turn!  We were leaving a restaurant one night and he said to my brother, "Uncle Jim, when we get to the dirt road, can I drive?"  Can't let anything slip by him!

Rylan had so much fun playing with his cousin.  My brother and I found it amusing a few times because the boys started wrestling like brothers, so of course we let them be boys and be rough and tumble.  It was a perfect time to be Up North and was very relaxing.  Thanks Mom and Dad for taking such good care of us and keeping Rylan entertained for 2.5 weeks!

Everything happens for a reason.

I have always believed that everything happens for a reason and once again today it was reconfirmed.  God knows what we are capable of enduring in our lives and is always with us through every experience, even the ones that hurt.  It was almost a year ago today that we found out that I was having a miscarriage and would have to undergo a D&C.  What seemed to be such an awful and painful experience led to a year of incredible changes in my life.  Right around that same time, Rylan also began school and I was introduced to an amazing group of women through our church, St. Peter's.  I have since become very close with many of them and value their friendship more that I could ever express.

In addition, another great friend of mine invited me to come along with her to a MOPS group, a Christian based Mothers of Preschoolers group.  MOPS is another group that is loaded with very inspirational and strong women that I enjoy having friendships with.  During the first meeting one of the mom's husbands, who is minister, came and gave us an inspirational opening talk.  I said on that day that I would love to go to a church where he was the minister.  As of June, Scott, the husband, is now the minister of our church, St. Peter's.  Now really, what are the chances of that happening?  I knew something was missing in my life last summer after that miscarriage, but the more that I look back and review this past year, I know exactly what was missing.  God and St. Peter's has become such an important part of my life.  I love being on Council for Rylan's school, the friends I have made are so faithful and irreplaceable, and the worship service with Scott each week is inspirational and fulfilling.

Wow!  What a year!  And today we got the icing on the cake....we are expecting Baby Eckel #2!  It still has yet to fully sink in because I have been really guarded since the beginning, but I think as the next few weeks progress, I will begin to become much more excited.  As it was with Rylan, the first several weeks were a little interesting and felt like a roller coaster of emotions, but now at 11.5 weeks and a great appointment today with an amazing new Doctor, I think we can officially announce the news.

God has blessed me once again.  I feel so honored to be able to be pregnant one more time and to bring another child into our family.  Thank you to so many of you that have prayed for us and continue to do so.  I would have been lost the last several weeks without the strength of so many of you holding my hand and your wonderful hugs.  You are all an inspiration to me.

Glow in the dark swords!!

Went fishing today on the boat with Uncle Jim and Papa

Drivin' with Papa on the dirt road

Let's go Uncle Jim!

Getting ready to kayak

Yee Haw

Liz bought the boys cowboy costumes. They are getting ready to go search for their treasure.

Where's my treasure?

Pittin' cherries

...naked of course ;)

Pittin' cherries for cherry pie

Projects with Gma/Nana

Rockin on deck all by himself ;)

Rylan is really enjoying the perfect temperatures up here. We have spent most of our time outside. I will be sad to leave the normal temperatures next week. At least we will have gotten through about half of August by the time we get home!