Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

How long do you think I have until new divided plates, a teddy bear, a sucker, and marshmallows no longer make my Riley happy?  It's true, I bought my candy-hating toddler new plates for Valentine's Day...and she loves them!  Her response this morning was a huge smile and "oh, yes!" She loved them so much that she wanted to take them to Hedy's house with her.  She especially loved the bulldog (aka "hippo") one with the "roses."

Oh, and how long until I can't take her to Target with me and hide the gifts that I buy her in the cart?

Static!

Is it spring yet???  With winter here our house is shock central and poor Riley's hair suffers terribly!  Here's proof:

Not so bad...

 Bad...

 Worse...

Winter Fun

Riley was able to play in the snow some last weekend before we had highs of -10!  We really wanted to take her sledding, but haven't been able to find a sled anywhere in town.  We plan to check Toys R Us this weekend, but seriously, how does Iowa not have sleds for sale through the entire winter season??  We were able to find her some really nice new boots 60% off. Still on the lookout for some new snowpants and gloves! Since we couldn't make it out sledding we did have a little fun in our yard at home. Here's a few pictures...

 Snow Angels!

 Going down the "upslide" - thanks Mickey Mouse!

 Right about now she started yelling: "Dad, get me up!"  And inside we went.

24 Week Update

I'm officially 24 weeks along in this pregnancy today.  Here's a few things to note:

• I'm tired.  Really, really tired.  I haven't been feeling the greatest, even though I've been lucky enough to steer clear of all the winter sickness floating around.  I'm not sure what it is.
• Brett gave me my first at-home progesterone shot.  Since my insurance isn't covering the cost of the injections at the doctor's office and they are $25 a pop, it's a must.  Surprisingly he did great and it wasn't much different than the nurse.  It's nice to not have to fit in one more appointment each week!
• Everything seems to be just about the same as when I was pregnant with Riley.
• We are having a much harder time naming this little girl than we did with Riley. We had Riley's name picked out super early.  This time around we can't seem to find the perfect name. I think it's harder picking out a second girl name.  We were pretty certain on a boy's name, but hadn't spent much time on deciding on a girl's name.  Riley is very open about telling us if she likes or dislikes certain names.  Right now she likes one of the names we like and doesn't like the other.
• The swelling has started already.  Not very bad, but I can see the swelling immediately when I take my socks off.  With Riley I was super swollen around 30 weeks.
• I lost my motivation to work out.  It's been two weeks.  Hopefully motivation will come back soon!
• My weight gain is about the same as with Riley, only 5 pounds less.
• My next appointment is on the 10th and I have to do my glucose screening.  Hopefully my daily intake of chocolate hasn't effected me!
• We haven't made any progress on the nursery.  We are thinking about doing pink and brown.  But, we haven't even really looked into it yet.  We're hoping to get started on that in the next few weeks.
• I have felt a couple braxton hicks contractions, which I don't remember feeling this early with Riley.
• Overall, things are going well.  Now I'm just trying to find the energy to make it through the next 3-3/12 months! 

Basement Update

Electrical 90% complete...

Light switches hooked up...

TV cable strung...

Drywall 75% complete...

Lighting purchased...

1 eager little helper...

Anticipation high!

Riley's First Haircut

I decided that Riley had spent enough time with her mullet and took her to see her Great Aunt Bev for her very first haircut.  Riley was unsure about it for awhile, but after a week of talking about it she was ready for her "snip, snip, snip."  Since Aunt Bev is super hard to get into we decided to go when Grandma Sheryl was getting her hair done.  Riley sat and watched Aunt Bev "paint" Grandma's hair and played with the mannequin's hair until it was her turn.  I think it turned out great and so glad that we finally cut her hair!

 The "before" shot with Aunt Bev

 Such a good girl!

 Almost done. "someone hind me, mom."

 Getting her curls.

 So cute!

The back

Riley Nicole At 2 Years, 5 Months Old

Here's the run down:

• She has grown 2 inches since her birthday.  She is now 35 inches tall!  In inch shy of 3 foot tall.  I'm not sure how much she weighs, it's been awhile since I've had her stand on the scale at home.
• She is still wearing her size 5 and 6 shoes.
• She is wearing Size 2T pants and size 3T
• Favorite colors are blue and purple
• She is saying the funniest things.  My favorite is "um..I don't think so" or "Not yet."  This is usually her response to any potty questions. "Just one more."  This is usually her response to wanting to watch another show, sing another song before bed, or read another book.
• She loves play doh.
• She loves reading books and has them memorized in no time.
• I have been upgraded to "Mom" and Daddy is now "Dad."
• She has full conversations with her stuffed animals now.  She likes to have pretend conversations with her phones which usually end in "Mom, Dixie (Grandma's doggie) wants to talk to you."
• She is scared by any noise that she doesn't recognize.  She usually says "the monkey's comin!" and jumps in my lap.
• She went to her first movie in the theatre and loved it.
• When she wants her dad to get something for her she yells (at the top of her lungs!...with Dad in the same room) "BETTTTTTT! BETTTTTT!"  Hmmm, wonder where she's picked that one up from?  I blame it on the fact that our house is two stories.  Sometimes yelling is appropriate. :)
• The past two nights she's broken out in hives during her bath.  Who knows what from.  We started the Benedryl routine again.
• She loves to give Sam his "wude" (food)...really it's his treats.
• She has a hard time pronouncing Fs, Rs, and Ls.
• She always remembers who gave her what toy and makes sure to tell everyone.
• She never forgets something at Hedy's.
• She loves her preschool work books.  Tracing, counting, and colors are her favorite.  She's finally remember to add 5 in when counting from 1-10.
• She loves hidden picture puzzles.
• She love her Hi Lights magazine from Grandma and Grandpa Burch.
• She says "what" for "who."
• Her hair is growing like crazy and she looks like a mad woman most days.