My-Rylee-Girl: Rylee's 4th Birthday

That's right, Rylee is 4 years old today. This day could not come fast enough for Rylee, because she has been talking about turning 4 since the day after she turned 3 last year. She woke up bright and early, just like every day, and wanted to open her presents right away. We waited for Nolan to wake up a few minutes later, and then headed downstairs. She had lots of presents to open today, and she loved them all. She started with her present from Nolan, the Barbie Doll from Toy Story 3. Then she opened her present from Granna and Double G, and new baby doll and a diaper bag for her babies. Then onto her present from Grandma and Papa Rick, a new matching game and her favorite new book, Underwear. Then she opened her presents from us. We got her lots of little things this year instead of one big present. She got a new night gown, some new flip flops, new underwear, new soccer clothes, some puzzles, and a new size 3 soccer ball. She was SO excited about everything she got, and all she did all morning was play with her toys. Her baby doll and diaper bag were a huge hit, and she carried them around all morning. After playing around the house in the morning, we actually had to go to the school district for speech therapy testing.
The testing took about an hour and then it took about 30 minutes for the tester to score the test and then explain it to us. We are excited that she did test into the speech therapy program, because we have been worried about her speech so this is a little stress reliever. One thing the examiner did mention was that Rylee speaks very nasally, and it can be cause by a hole in her soft pallet. So, we get to go to our ENT and have the evaluated this week and see if there is a problem, if not the therapist said they will work on that and fix it too.
After the testing we came home to get Nolan and run a few errands, but when we got home there was one more present on our front porch from Uncle Gary and Aunt Kari. They got her some card games, Slap Jack and Go Fish, because they taught Rye how to play them while we were int Texas. We then went and ran our errands after Rylee talked to Uncle Gary and Aunt Kari. We then played outside with some friends until Daddy got home from work, then it was time for cake and bed!
She had a terrific day and we are having her birthday party at the water park on Saturday. (She has had the location of her party planned since last year too.)

A little bit about Rylee at 4:
- We are currently learning more and more about her hearing loss and what we can do about it. She still has a 30% loss in each ear after putting her tubes in, so we are waiting to do more tests to see what the next step is.
- She loves to play outside and be outside.
- The other night she rode her bike all the way around the block for the first time.
- She is a terrific big sister 90% of the time. (we all fight with siblings sometimes)
- She loves to play soccer and wear her soccer clothes around.
- She thinks "underwear" is the most hilarious word in the English language
- Playing babies is her favorite thing to do around the house.
- She thinks Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is the best show on Television
- She loves all things Tinkerbell
- She loves flip flops and sunglasses
- When playing outside she is the most hesitant kid to get dirty, but within an a little bit she is as filthy as all the other kids.
- She can climb up any slide and thinks it is "cool"
- She loves the Splash Pad and Swimming
- She can still spin in circles for longer than anyone I have ever seen without falling over
- She is working on writing her name without help and can do letters R, l and e, just needs to get y.
- When she sleeps she still sleeps with her blankie, baby, bear and sucks her thumb.

We are excited for the next few months as we continue to help Rylee with her hearing and speech needs. We love our little girl and we cannot imagine or remember life without her.