Omaha

We had so much fun this weekend! Thursday night we hosted the Murphy's for a BBQ since Libby and David were in town. It was a great time and everyone enjoyed catching up, talking sports, talking wedding plans, and giving Miss Riley way too much attention! We were sad that we missed the rest of the weekend with them and their engagement party.

Friday afternoon we loaded the car up and headed to meet Grandma and Grandpa Burch in Omaha. My brother, Nick, and his family - Casey, Kennedy, and Addie - were planning to meet us all Saturday morning. Riley slept the entire trip there and was rearing to go once we were there. We had a nice lunch/dinner at Granite City and then headed down to the Old Market to do some walking around. Once we finally made our way there we realized that there was so much going on that it would probably be too hectic to enjoy with an 11 month old. We headed back to the hotel and took Riley swimming instead. She loved every minute of it! After 20 minutes or so of swimming we decided to get Riley out - just in time before the 12 8 year old boys jumped in to begin their birthday party! We had a relaxing night at the hotel and enjoyed a late night pizza delivery!

Saturday morning the rest of the Burch clan arrived around 11am to start our day at the zoo. Turns out we picked the only free day of the year. There were tons of crowds, free entry, 25% off everything in the zoo, and the best people, I mean, animal watching of the year! Parking was ridiculous and we eventually decided to pay to park in somebody's yard several blocks away. We had a blast, all of the kids were great, most of the animals were awake and moving, and we were able to see most of zoo. After the zoo we headed back to the hotel to swim and eat. We were all exhausted so we decided to order carry out. Here are some highlights of the trip:

• Riley decided to only take one nap each day all weekend long. She only slept for 30 minutes before heading to the zoo and refused to nap while we were there. Number of meltdowns: 0...but we came very close to one at the zoo.

• Grandma Burch pointing to an unknown animal and saying "look girls, there's a...big animal...with antlers." This reminded me of road trips when we were kids and she'd point to animals in a pasture and say "wow, look at those big dogs!" They were cows.


• Our dinner Saturday night was great. Just wish I could remember the name of the restaurant. We all loved our meals and the chocolate fondue was even better!


• We saw more pregnant women in one place than I've ever seen! Most of them were under 25 with tattoos on their biceps. There was even a human baby born at the zoo. Apparently, the mom thought that walking at the zoo might bring on labor!


• Riley's favorite animal of the day: Rhinos. She absolutely loved the rhinos.

• Watching the elephant take a 2 minute drink from the water spout.


• Seeing the monkey's picking at each other. We had fun laughing at them.

• Riley got to wear her cute new sun hat. She outgrew her other one.


• Watching two of the apes fighting. Then, watching Riley pound on the glass in excitement.


• Riley peeing on Daddy half way through the day.

We really had a great time and were exhausted all Sunday afternoon. Nick and his family went back to the zoo Sunday morning...I don't know how they did it! We plan to go back next year when Riley will love the zoo even more!

Side!

Why do the weekends always seem to fly past us? I can't believe it is already Monday and I'm back to the normal grind of Case Management. Hmmm. We really had a good weekend and I'm sure that is why it flew past us so quickly.

Saturday Brett had a softball tournament. I stayed home with Riley in the morning and we went to watch his afternoon game...well, we went with intentions to watch the game. We didn't actually get to watch Daddy play. They were running late and Riley (and Mommy) was a bit bored with no other kiddos (and other mommies) to play with. On the way home, just as soon as Riley fell asleep, I decided to meet Grandma Burch, Aunt Bev, and Cousin Jillian at Waterfront for lunch. Remember the child who screams in restaurants is still in tow. I decided to brave it in hopes that she would sleep through lunch and I could enjoy some sushi! I did get my sushi, and Miss Riley, although awake, let her mommy eat it too!

Sunday we went to Lowes to purchase some weed killer and screws to attach our new door hanger (our once purple door is now black!). We decided that it was finally time to take down the personalized door hanger that had been up since 2001. We left Lowes with some extras: We found some perfect accessories for Riley's party. We are going with a polka dots theme...no cartoon characters yet. When she is old enough to pick her theme on her own she will. The excitement for her party continues to grow as I keep finding more perfect accessories! Later in the day Riley went to Grandma and Grandpa Burch's for a few hours so Mommy and Daddy could go see Harry Potter. She was "perfect, ate really well, and only yawned a couple times." She had fun eating lunch, helping Grandpa practice putting the tent up (they are joining Ragbrai for a day), and tearing up magazines. Grandma and Granpa's house is the best! She was exhausted when we picked her up at 3:30 and asleep before we pulled out of their driveway!

All weekend long, Riley was continuously looking out the window screaming and saying "side." Common meanings for the word "side": "Take me outside right now!", "Look, there's my swing! Take me to it now!", and "Slide! I want to slide!" Riley is an outdoors girl and loves to play outside, especially if it involves a swing. The more vocal that Riley has become the more we are noticing how impatient she really is! I wish I could blame this on her father, but he is the most patient person I've ever met. This leaves the blame to me. I admit, she is her mother's daughter!

Stay tuned for some exciting posts in the next week:

• Riley's Aunt Libby and soon-to-be Uncle David come to town.
• Trip to Omaha Zoo with the Burch's.

Happy 11 Months, Riley!

With 11 months the official excitement of the upcoming 1 year has begun. I should really clarify that the excitement really started a couple weeks ago, but who's counting? The invitations have arrived and cups and plates have been ordered! We can't wait to celebrate this special day.

Here is a look at Riley at 11 months:

• When asked "Riley, where's your eye?" She touches it! She hasn't learned any other body parts yet that she's shown us, but she's got one down! I have to give credit to Hedy for this because Riley came home from daycare with this trick.
• She has 6 teeth. The middle uppers and lowers are completely in. Within the last week the tooth on both sides of the upper middles have broken through (sorry I don't know my teeth lingo).
• She has taken one step completely on her own. She'd much rather reach as far as she can to grab a hold of something, or just plop down and crawl...unless she's got her walker in front of her!
• She says: mama, dada, puppy, hi. She really only uses mama and dada meaningfully. She is constantly moving her mouth like she it talking, but no words are coming out. She has started to mimic the sounds of words we say to her. One of these days she is going to surprise us with her new vocabulary.
• She is in a size 2 or 3 shoe. I know...tiny feet! I just bought a pair of sandals for her that are 3-6 months and she has some room to grow into them! This isn't surprising considering my feet are only 7 1/2's and Brett's are 10's.
• She is wearing some 9 months clothes and some 12 months clothes. Most of her shorts are 9 months because her legs are so short! But slowly, she is growing into the 12 months clothes.
• She loves to be outside and to SWING! We finally bought her her own swing and it is hanging in the tree in our backyard. She screams as soon as she sees it through the window. She'll sit in there as long as someone will push her.
• Favorite foods: banana pancakes, cheese, bread, grilled chicken, blueberries, peas, cheerios, and really anything else you put in front of her!
• She's drinking most of her "bottles" from a sippy cup. She prefers a softer spout. Some days she needs the bottle to finish a couple ounces, but otherwise she's a sippy girl. This transition took way less time than I had anticipated - only 1 1/2 weeks. She still likes to have 5 5oz sippies through the day.
• Favorite books: Any book about animals and Head, Knees, and Toes. She's a page turner and loves to turn the pages faster than you can read!
• Her favorite toy: by far her swing is number one. She also loves her lion walker and good old pots and pans!
• Her mommy loves to buy her new clothes and toys. Her daddy knows if Mommy goes to Target alone she will come home with something extra...it's no surprise.

So Close!

This weekend Miss Riley Nicole took her very first step before losing balance and plopping down on the floor. It was only one step, but hey, that's a start! Soon enough she'll be doing this without the walker:

Pretty In Pink

This is what Mommies buy for their baby girls when they go to the farmer's market. The Murphy's headed down to Valley Junction last night for some food, veggies, and drinks. We made it out with food, drinks, and a cute little headband. There was a vendor selling these headbands for $4! I thought I found a pretty good deal and Riley looks too cute. I should have bought more. I had to convince Brett that we HAD to buy it because we needed one for her 1 year pictures. It worked. He doesn't know yet, but I'm going back to buy more!

Baby Got Back

This is what a crawling baby butt looks like in a mini skirt:

This is what babies in mini skirts do for fun. Who said you had to crawl through tunnels!

God Bless America

God Bless America for giving the Murphy family a much needed long weekend! This was my first vacation, or staycation, in over a year (I'm not counting maternity leave - that wasn't really a vacation). Seriously, God Bless you, America!

We really did have a great weekend, rain and all. Thursday night we headed around town looking for some new bedroom furniture. We really need it and every furniture store in Iowa was having a 4th of July sale. We are currently using some pieces (of junk) that we found at Wal Mart 4 years ago. Two drawers are missing handles, a bookcase for a headboard, and an armoire with missing faux wood. Really, we could use an upgrade. We found a couple different sets that were okay but decided to wait and find something we really liked. Brett met some of his friends downtown for the Yankee Doodle Pops. He said that pops were boring, but the fireworks and drinks afterward were nice.

Friday morning we did some more yard work. It was such a beautiful morning. We were at Wal Mart at 8:30 purchasing some 4th of July necessities and flower pots. Riley fell asleep on the way home and we were able to do some much needed work in our garden. When we planted our inaugural vegetable garden a couple months ago Brett thought that we needed 18 tomato plants (no typo there, you read that right), almost as many pepper plants, lettuce, onion, and zucchini. We weren't smart enough to put cages around the tomatoes so we staked them all up and cut half the branches off to make room for the rest of the plants. It looks much better and hopefully we'll be picking some ripe, red tomatoes! We went to the Augusts' in the afternoon for a slip n' slide party. We didn't slip or slide, but Riley loved playing in the water even if there were sprinkles falling from the sky. During Riley's afternoon nap we planted flowers in our flower baskets as it rained. We had planned to go to the parade, but the rain kept us home (minus one small trip to Target). We hung some pictures in our front room and it really turned out nice.

We woke up on the 4th of July to a dreary day. We cleaned the house and prepared to have people over most of the day. Several of Brett's friends were home for the weekend so we had them all over for some food, fun, and beers. Our friends, Steve and Amy, and their daughter, Maddy, also joined the party. Riley and Maddy are only a 1 1/2 months apart. They had fun playing together and I'm so disappointed I didn't get any pictures of the two of them together. They are literally identical in size. We had a couple little power struggles over the walker, but we made it through the night with no crying babies! Riley was a trooper and stayed up for fireworks. She was exhausted and had seen enough about half way through. We thought for sure Riley would want to sleep in on Sunday after her busy weekend. Nope; 6:45 am she was in our bed watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. What a stinker. Here is Riley on the 4th of July:

Sunday, the weather was perfect again! We had breakfast out on the deck and enjoyed the relaxing morning. We visited Grandma and Grandpa Burch and checked out their garden. Then we had Grandma and Grandpa Murphy and Uncle John over for dinner. All in all it was a great weekend and it went by way too fast!

Some new things with Riley:

• She now runs with her walker. We are waiting for the day that she takes off on her own without the walker. She can walk while holding on to one finger, but will not take any steps on her own.
• She has found the cat door in the basement door. We were waiting for this day and had put off purchasing any baby gates until now. We bought the gates last night and they will be installed tonight. She would crawl headfirst down it if we let her. "No Fear" is her motto.
• Out of nowhere she has become a screamer. I don't know what's going on here. Maybe she likes the sound of her own voice. I'm at a loss. We tried eating out last night and it was a disaster. Thankfully we were at Jason's Deli and there were plenty of other children making noise, but screaming between peas really is way too much to handle!
• Temper tantrums have begun. Really, no explanation needed here. She'll be learning the word "no" real quick. And what's with the puppy dog eyes after being told "no?" Do all babies do this, or just my little bugger? It's too cute and most of the time I start laughing...so maybe she won't be learning the word no after all.
• She's climbing stairs. She's made it up all 22 of our stairs. Thankfully we don't spend much time in the room that lead to the upstairs.
• She loves swinging. We've been using the neighbor's jungle gym (which was stolen out of our yard sometime between purchasing the house and moving in). Thankfully the not-so-friendly neighbors have moved to Florida with the house still for sale.
• Looking out the window on the door. If the backdoor is open Riley is standing up looking out the window. She loves being outside.
• No more teeth yet. Hopefully they will come soon because 1 1/2 weeks (and counting) of smelly diarrhea is way too much for anyone to handle.