Memorial Day

This past Monday was Memorial Day. It's great to have a day off to hang out with family and friends and we definitely enjoyed ourselves but most importantly we took some time out to remember the many men and women who sacrifice so much to defend our freedoms. I will probably never truly understand the price paid by our fallen service men, women  and their families but after supporting Reece through his deployment I feel like I've gained a whole new appreciation for their sacrifice. I'm thankful the man in uniform never showed up at my door early one morning but I know for many that reality has changed their lives forever. And so, this memorial day we celebrated our freedom and remembered the fallen.

After a delicious BBQ at our place, we headed down to Ala Moana Beach Park with the Garcia's for the Hawaii Lantern Floating Ceremony. I cannot even describe how spectacular this event is to watch. An incredible sunset, music and thousands of lanterns floating out to sea carrying messages to those who've been loved and lost. Seriously WOW…the colors in the sky were beautiful and I was in awe of the God who painted them there.

I'll start with a couple of my poor quality iPhone pics and then get to the good stuff. Reece took some fantastic photos of the event!

Me, Sharon & Rylea's head :)

Anthony hanging out in the stroller.

Such a huge crowd.

The main stage

So many people taking photos with their iPads

6 weeks of parenthood!

We've been in our new role as parents for a little over 6 weeks now! Hard to believe it's already been 6 weeks but then again sometimes it feels like she's been with us for so long already. She's already such a huge part of our lives and with all the feeding, diaper changing, burping and snuggling she sure takes up a lot of our time. We've had our share of late nights and fussy days but at the end of it all her smiles and her cuddles make it all worth it!

Rylea at 6 weeks:

*smiling lots and cooing

*very gassy (this girl can rip farts that rival her dad's!)

*likes to suck on fingers/thumb

*always moving her feet and waving her hands in the air

*loves her bouncy seat

*lifts her head up

*favorite book is 'Hello Bugs'

*favorite snuggle spot is on mom or dad's chest

Here is our little peanut, just a few days old, snuggled up in her bassinet. I made some high contrast picture cards
for her to look at. Even at just a couple of days old she loved to stare at the pictures!

Showing Rylea off at daddy's work. 1 week old.

My mom came out to spend our first week at home with us! It was such a huge blessing to have her around.
Don't know what I would have done without her and it was so cute to see how quickly her and Rylea bonded.

Here we are outside of Tripler Army Medical Center where Rylea was born.  It's a big pink hospital on a hill.
This is Rylea at 3 days old when we went back for her well baby check-up!

Reece helping burp Rylea after getting home from work.

I just love seeing the two of them snuggle. Melts my heart.

Rylea's first Sunday. 6 days old.

My cutie pie. Always so alert and always, always moving.

On Mother's Day Reece made me dinner! Twas such a treat. He made a delicious homemade pizza…crust and all!
He also spoiled me the day before with a massage and facial! Such a treat.

This is serious business.

Rylea loves her bouncy seat and she especially love the little lion that hangs over it.
She'll stare at that lion for a good 10 minutes! She's also constantly moving while in there.

Reece and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on May 6th! It's been such an incredible 2 years and I am so blessed
to call this man my husband! It's amazing to see how the Lord has blessed us and shown his faithfulness to us.
We celebrated the occasion with a homemade dinner of bacon and avocado burgers…Reece's favorite!

More visitors! When Rylea was just over 2 weeks old Rianne, Alyssa and Lisa came out to visit.
We had such a blast and many good laughs. Here they are at the top of the Pillbox hiking trail overlooking
Lanikai Beach. Rylea and I sat this one out so we could catch up on some much needed rest :)

Rylea found a comfortable spot with Auntie Rianne by the pool in Waikiki!

Spent a day at the North Shore with our visitors.

So many faces.

Grumpy face. She smiles a lot though, I promise.

Rylea - 1 month old!

And then we headed home to Washington/British Columbia! Rylea meeting her cousin Drew.

Rylea and cousin Jake.

All the Lodder grandkids! They multiply like rabbits :) jk
(L to R - Lucy, Maddy, Rylea, Mica, Ally, Hadley, Jace, Mya, Evan, Bennett, Joey, Lleyton)

Rylea and Grandma Lodder

Outside the Lodder residence.

Rylea and Grandma Peters.

Rylea meeting her Grandpa Peters for the first time!

Some Washington wildlife! So beautiful.

Rylea meeting cousin Mya.

Lucy absolutely loved "baby Wylea".

Stopped for coffee at Woods (yumm!) after being picked up from the airport.
First snuggles with Grandma and Grandpa Lodder.

Silly uncle Reece. Always pulling weird faces.

Rylea and cousin Maggie! These two were born just two days apart! 

I thought it would be cute to have a picture of Rylea on our front bench.
She looks rather disgruntled about the whole situation.

After our run today I found Rylea asleep in the stroller like this…love how her feet are together!

That's all for now. Stay tuned for pictures from our Memorial Day!

With love from,

Krissy

Rylea Pearl

I'm not going to say much because I think the pictures speak for themselves. This is the story in photos of the day our precious Rylea Pearl, our gift from God, entered the world and changed our lives forever.

xoxo
Krissy