The Stuart's: What's New with Ryleigh?

Well, that is a pretty good question! My three year old sure is a special little girl! I can honestly say that she is the best girl in the world. She has her moments of driving me absolutely crazy, but for the most part she is my best bud! I am so thankful the Lord blessed me such a precious daughter.

To start, she is as smart as a whip! In fact, it scares me a little bit. She knows all of her letters and sounds. She is putting together 3 letter words already. She knows her shapes, how to spell her color words, how to count money, how to write several letters, and so much more. I know me being home having "school" everyday is helping, but she was doing most of this before I started staying home. She is so smart, that she can just about get herself out of any situation. We have to stay on our toes all of the time. One of the most amazing things I have found about her is her ability to do puzzles. She already does 100 piece puzzles. The smaller ones are "too easy" in her words. In fact, she likes to do small puzzles upside down. Yes, with only the cardboard showing! I have no idea how she does it, because I can't even do it. Amazing! She asks questions about anything and everything. We can't get her to stop talking most of the time. Her imagination is like nothing I have ever seen before. She has a whole family that lives in Dallas. She has a husband with a wonderful job, three kids, a dog, and a nice house with a pool! Man, she is doing pretty well for herself. If you spend some time with her, maybe you can get her to tell you all about it.

The next few pics are of some of her favorite things!

First, she loves to go to the park and play! She is getting pretty brave and she now will go down the big slides all by herself. We used to say she was a "chicken" and it drove us crazy. However, now that she is getting braver, I wish she still was a "chicken" with her feet on the ground. She makes her mommy nervous!

She loves riding her tricycle! We don't have a great place at home for her to ride, so we take her up to the church often so she can ride as much as she wants! I think she is going to ask Santa for a "big girl" bike this Christmas!

She loves going to play at Chucky Cheese with her friends...

and her daddy, of course!!

She loves going to football games!! She looks forward to Friday everyweek! She also loves going to the ACU games. I think she likes the ACU games because she gets to sit with her daddy instead of seeing him from afar!

Ryleigh absolutely loves babies! She plays with her dolls all of the time. She dresses them and changes their diapers. She takes them with us to most places. She "teaches" them in Bible class and sings to them all of the time. I can honestly say she gets that from her mommy. I did the same thing when I was little. I love watching her be a mommy!!

She loves hanging out with her daddy! It doesn't matter what she is doing with him, she just loves to spend every moment with him when he is home! I just love this picture of her helping him rent a movie! Too cute!

Ryleigh started ballet class this year! She loves it!! She can't wait for Wednesday to get here so she can go to "First Steps" with her friends. She loves putting on her dance clothes and practicing what she has learned. I am so thankful we could put her in dance class. I think it is good for her to have something that is just for her!

One of Ryleigh's "not so favorite" things is going to the hospital. We had our first real sickness in July. Ryleigh got very dehydrated and ended up in the hospital for the night. It was not fun at all...for any of us! She was so sick, but she handled everything very well. Luckily, I had been in the hospital not long before with Garrett, so she was familiar with nurses, doctors, IV, and hospital food! This picture was taken in her hospital bed. As you can tell, she had all of her essentials right beside her the whole time. She was so brave!

I think one of my favorite things about Ryleigh is her sweet spirit. One of Ryleigh's best friends, Callie Cochran, was diagnosed with brain cancer in June. Ryleigh has prayed for sweet Callie every single day. She always asks me how she is doing, and she insists on wearing her Callie shirt at least once or twice a week. She was so excited when Callie came home from getting her radiation in Houston. She couldn't wait to go see her and hug her. I am so thankful that Callie and Ryleigh are friends, and that they will always be there for each other!

Here we are in our Callie shirts!

Here is Ryleigh and Callie at Callie's birthday party! It was such a special day! We love you, Callie girl!

Now for the greatest thing in Ryleigh's life...her new brother!!! She loves Garrett so much, and she is such a huge help for mommy! It makes my heart leap with joy everytime I watch them play and interact. Even though he is only 5 months old, he is absolutely in love with his sister! I don't think I have ever seen Ryleigh light up as much as she does when she is with her brother. I am so thankful for these two kiddos. They brighten every moment of my day! I am so thankful I can stay home with them to see every moment! I am so blessed!