Riley Nicole At 2 Years Old

At 2 years old...

• Riley has such a fun personality.  She has so much spunk and sass.  I've never seen a little girl roll her eyes or Hmm and Ha over things.  It's so funny.
• She is talking up a storm, but is still in the toddler mumble stage.  I understand about 70% of what she says.  Daddy understands about 50% of what she says.
• She loves Toy Story.  Buzz and  Woddy (Wuwee) are her favorite characters.  She still loves to watch Tinker Bell, Backyardigans, and Special Agent Oso.
• She is still in her 2T clothes and size 5 shoes.  Her legs just keep thinning out.  The older she gets the more they look like her dad's.  Her size 18 mth jeans fit perfectly.  We picked up a winter coat that is size 2T.  It's a good 2-3 inches too long in the sleeves right now.  We're hoping for a growth spurt sometime this winter.
• She has become a bit of a picky eater.  If you ask her what she wants to eat she'll always say macaroni and cheese, noodles ("noonels"), soup, or apple juice.  Funny thing is she hardly ever drinks apple juice. She refers to all juices as "apple juice."
• She loves to play with toys, her zhu zhu pet, any stuffed animal, books, her toy farm and doll house, balls, her stroller/shopping cart, and toy kitchen.
• She often calls Sam "Samm-o."  I sometimes call Sam "Sam-bo" for fun, and she's followed suite.
• Her hair is finally growing!!  I think it keeps getting blonder.  She now has the best mullet ever - with the cutest curls.
• She now has 2 more molars.  I'll be glad when they are all in.  She's much happier when she doesn't have her fingers jammed in her mouth!
• I think she's going to be a lefty like her mommy.  She uses her left hand the most and Daddy swears that she does everything better with her left hand.

Guess Who's Two?

Riley celebrated her second birthday yesterday.  What a perfect day for a birthday!  She started it off in style by watching Toy Story 1 (and possibly 2) while Mommy and Daddy cleaned the house for her party.  What a lucky girl! 

After lunch and a nap we had all of the family over for Riley's Tinker Bell Party.  Riley had SO much fun.  She loved playing with her cousins and running around like a two year old. 

She was so spoiled this year and had a ton of gifts to open - all of which she loved. 

Grandpa and Grandma Murphy bought Riley her very own fish which stole the show.

Wow! Thanks Grandma!

It's my party and I'll pout if I want to! (Riley's reaction after Daddy said that she needed to put the fish down and open the rest of her gifts!

Riley loved her Tinker Bell Cake. She thought it was kind of weird to have everyone sing Happy Birthday to her, but she sure did love blowing out her candle!

After everyone went home we set up Riley's new fish tank.  She LOVES the fish and everything about the fish tank.  It's all purple (Riley's favorite color).  The tank is purple, this fish is purple, the rocks are purple, and the little rock house is purple and pink.  It's just perfect!  Oh, and what did Riley decide to name her fish?  "Ice-a-wa-wa" aka: Ice Water.  We're going with "Ice" for short. 

One problem:

Riley's Trip To La Crosse

We had a great time in La Crosse over the weekend.  Friday we headed north to visit our friends, The Donnenwerth's.  Mike and Amy moved with their little girl, Macy, to La Crosse in June for Mike's residency at Gunderson Lutheran Hospital.  Shortly after moving the welcomed Drew Michael into the family.  We, along with the Coppola's, decided that a road trip was in store.  Friday night we had a small shower for Drew and a couple birthday gifts for Macy, who turns three in a couple weeks.  

Riley just LOVES playing with Macy and Carter.  She also liked watching baby Drew!  Saturday we hung around the Donnenwerth house and enjoyed coffee, breakfast, and watching the kids play together again.  We then headed out to the top of a bluff that overlooked the city.  It was very neat. 

After lunch we all headed back to the house to get in some much needed naps.  Saturday evening we ate pizza in and then headed down to a local ice cream shop and for a walk down by the river.  The weather was perfect and the kids loved seeing the water and running and dancing.  Riley especially loved seeing the fountain, and throwing all of our change into the water.

Sunday morning we headed down to a local favorite for breakfast and then hit the road for our 4 hour drive home.  It was great to get all of us together again, and hopefully we'll be able to road trip some more in the near future!    Riley came home with some new favorites...zhu,zhu pets (thanks to Macy for the great birthday gift!), and Toy Story dolls.  She loves Buzz.  Maybe she'll get a Buzz doll wrapped in Tinker Bell paper this weekend.  I came home with a couple new favorite family photos...

Catch-Up Post

I've been missing for a few weeks.  Sorry!  It's been crazy around our house (and mommy's work) so I put blogging to the bottom of my to-do list.  BUT...I think I'm back!  Lets start with Riley's HIVES:

Sunday the 25th I put Riley in her chair to eat breakfast and within 2 minutes she was hitting her foot on the chair saying "owie" over and over.  I automatically thought (and said) "well, quit kicking the chair."  I took her out of her chair to check her foot and noticed that it was bright red.  Then looked at her leg...bright red with red splotches.  Took her diaper and shirt off; same thing.  Imagine this...everywhere.

Her tush was the worst.  Poor baby.  Brett and I automatically went into panic mode.  Like debating on whether or not we needed to take her to the ER.  Thankfully Brett has the doctor (his Godfather) on speed dial. After talking with him and wracking our brain for anything new that she could have been exposed to I put Riley in a baking soda filled bath while Brett ran to the store to pick up some Benadryl  and calamine lotion.  Don't tell the doc, but in the panic of things, Brett accidentally gave Riley TWO doses of Benadryl.  Oops.  Just one more thing, right?   After the bath we covered her in calamine lotion.

She was happy to watch "toy stoey" and eventually the bumps started to clear.  About every 3-4 hours they would reappear and we would go through the bath, calamine, Benadryl routine again. 

The only way she would take her medicine

Sam wasn't scared of the hives.

We kept her home on Monday and by that evening she was doing much better with only a couple outbreaks.  She did have them pop up once each day for the next couple days.  We still have no idea what caused the hives which leads us to believe that it was just a virus.  I'm really thankful we didn't totally overreact and take her to the ER! 

So what else have we been up to?

We've been gardening. 

My favorite of the season: fresh green beans!

Lots of gardening going on at the Murphy house.  Riley loves to help out.  Usually that consists of picking 8 sun gold "tomoes" straight from the vine and popping in her mouth.  She absolutely loves them.  She also likes to help with the weeding...usually by picking leaves off of the plants or pulling the onions from the ground.  But most of all, she loves to carry around her bucket with all of the fresh produce in it.

What's in here?

Oh, wait...not the jalapenos, Riley!  (don't worry, I made it there in time to stop her from biting in)

Oops...Caught in the act.

Riley's been learning to put her shoes on all by herself

Look Momma, I did it!

All by herself.  She wanted to go outside really bad!

Now things are back to normal...

Wearing Daddy's socks! I love this picture because it looks like my little girl is ready to run outside and play soccer!

Look at how crazy her hair is these days!

Oh, and I almost forgot...we're busy planning her 2nd Birthday Party.  This year's party has been scaled down to just her immediate family.  She's very excited and every time I ask her what she wants for her birthday she responds with "apple juice."  So easy to please.  We're going with a Tinker Bell theme.  Think this picture mixed with Tinker Bell for the invites:

Next week, we'll be talking about birthday number 2 and our trip to Wisconson!

I'm Awesome

Riley's shirt explains it all...

If you can't tell, it says "I'm Awesome."  Look at her fashion sense at just 1 year old! What a personality!

Gone Fishin

Riley went fishing at Great Grandpa Melvin's farm in Carlisle. 

We met up with my brother and his family, and Grandpa and Grandpa Burch.  It was suppose to be "Gone Campin," but Riley didn't allow for us to stay all night long.  We ended up leaving around 11:20 pm because she was bouncing off the walls and being a holy terror!  She did LOVE Uncle Nick and Aunt Casey's camper though. 

 She could have cared less about the fishing and would have much rather been swimming. 

 But, I'm proud to announce that she did catch her very first fish with her pink Barbie pole. 

Even though we weren't able to stay overnight we did enjoy the sunset and a camp fire!

Riley Nicole at 1 Year, 11 Months Old

Riley is nearing her 2nd birthday.  I can't believe how time continues to keep racing by!  Ugghh, slow down already!  Riley is so full of personality she is really keeping us on our toes these days.  I thought it'd be fun to compare her to where she was exactly one year ago today.  Here's how she stacked up (last year's info in Pink):


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.
Riley now knows all of her body parts and can say them and point to them.


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).
Riley now has something like 16 teeth.  Is that bad that I can't remember for sure?  I sort of lost count!  I do know that she is now working on getting her 2 year molars.  I can see the white dots under the gums, but they haven't made their appearance yet.


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!
Riley is running around everywhere like a crazy kid.  She loves to walk backwards and will do this through the entire house with a mischievous  look on her face.  She loves to run which is usually more like a gallop.  She loves to stomp her feet when "following the leader."


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.
I couldn't even tell you the number of words she is saying now.  Probably 100 times as many words as exactly 1 year ago.  She now talks in sentences that usually make sense, although may not be understood by many people.  She loves to say: carry, carry;  let's eat; oh no; Kiss Me.  Riley's sentence structure is a bit backwards.  Instead of saying "I kiss Dino" or "Me kiss Dino," She said "kiss dino me."  She understand most everything we say.  Last night I may have told Brett under my breath that she was "a little shit" while driving home from Costco.  From the back seat Riley begins yelling "not-ta me, not-ta me, not-ta me."  First, how in the world she heard me, I have no clue.  Second, how in the world she knew I what I was saying, I have no clue.  But after a little questioning she said something that Brett swears was like "not-ta me...inaudible...shit."  So, I guess we will be keeping the cuss words and under the breath talk to a minimal now!


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.
Riley is wearing her size 5 shoes.  Her sandals fit perfectly and she has some room to grow in her tennis shoes.  Slowly, but surely, she's catching up!


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. Riley is still wearing size 2T clothes.  Most of her shorts hang off her little booty with a couple inches of diaper hanging out the top...and go down to her knees.  She didn't luck out in the leg department; she's destined for short legs.  All of her 2T tops fit her perfectly. 


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.
Riley still loves to swing.  She loves to lay with her belly on the big swing and hang her legs in the air.  She can't seem to go high enough and most people would probably think we're trying to flip her over because she just wants "high, high, high."  She loves to look up at the sky with her head back and say "high in the sky."


Favorite foods: banana pancakes, cheese, bread, grilled chicken, blueberries, peas, cheerios, and really anything else you put in front of her!
She still loves pancakes, cheese (all kinds), blueberries, strawberries, apples, and peas.  She also loves cooked carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, quesadillas, mac and cheese, pasta, and much more.  She loves being able to pick her own tomatoes out of the garden.  If we're lucky she'll only steal 4 or 5 of the small sun gold tomatoes while we're outside playing.


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.
She's still drinking whole milk from her sippy.  Her favorite sippies are the ones with Tinkerbell on them.  She still loves milk and asks for it quite often throughout the day.  She also likes to drink water, and sometimes juice.  She's not usually a fan of chocolate milk.


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!
She really loves all books.  She loves books that allow her to move things or uncover pictures.  She loves her Thomas the Train book that makes noise.  She still loves any book with animals in it.


Her favorite toy: by far her swing is number one. She also loves her lion walker and good old pots and pans!
Bunny, Piggy, baby stroller, balls, bubbles, dino, Mr. Potato head, bus/truck/cars, Little People.  She has really started enjoying imaginary play and likes to make her little people do things, especially sit in chairs in a line.


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.
This has not changed...

Some new things...

• Riley loves to swim.  She likes to lie down in the bathtub or be outside in her pool. 
• She loves sit on the potty and always says she has to "poop."  And actually, some of the time she truly does.  She has gone poop a handful of times on the potty and usually pees in the potty at least once a day.  Here pretty soon I'm going to take potty training head on!
• She usually lays in her bed quietly for a half hour before she actually falls asleep.
• She loves her dino and loves to sit on him or make bunny sit on him.  She always puts a pair of shoes under dino.  Usually daddy's or her own.
• She loves playing with Lucy at Hedy's house.  They have so much fun together.
• She loves to run away from you as fast as she can.  Usually in places like Costco.  She likes to sit in the cart part of the shopping cart or walk.  We can usually keep her in the child part of the cart for a good 20 minutes before she starts squirming.  She likes to have bunny sit next to her in the cart.
• She recognizes certain neighborhoods.  When we get close (like within 5 blocks) to Hedy's house she starts yelling "Hedy's house." She knows if we don't go the same way home in the evenings because she counts on seeing the fountains on our way home.  We often drive past Grandma and Papa Burch's house to go places and she always recognizes where we should turn to go to their house.  She usually yells for "Dixie Do Do" (Dixie Doodle).  She recognizes both routes that we usually take to get home.  She always yells that she's going to see the "BUS" that is always parked in the church parking lot by our house.  It's crazy how observant she is!
• We are still holding out on her first hair cut.  We are hoping by next month's pictures it's a little more even.  The back just continues to get longer and longer. And she's not a big fan of letting mommy pull her hair back in pony.  She really wants me to do it and then frowns and says "hurt, owie, hurt" and pulls away.

Next month I'll be writing about how I can't believe my little Ri Babe is 2! 

Oh, and a quick shout out to Riley's friend, Maxx, in WV who turns 2 today!! Happy Birthday, Maxx!!! xoxo - Riley