Summer Photos

 Water Fun

 Water and Sand Table

 Zoo with cousins

 Children's Museum with Macy

Bug Catchin' and Inspectin'

Baby Chillin' (check out that hair!)

First Smiles

Giant Slide at the Iowa State Fair

First big girl ride on her own.

Harper's first Fair experience.

First carousel ride.

Snow White!

Better Late Than Never

Harper's newborn photos:

Riley Nicole: 3 Years Old

Today Riley turned 3 years old.  She's officially old enough for preschool and organized sports.  She is no longer free everywhere we go.  She is getting sooo big.  Being home with her this summer has been a blast and she truly is such a sweet, kind hearted little big girl.  Here is what she's up to:

• She is the best big sister to HER baby.  She is always comforting her and trying to make her smile.
• She is tall and lean.  I'm not sure what her stats are.  She had a physical a couple weeks ago, but refused to be measured and made it really difficult to get her weight.
• She is very independent and often sneaks off to the basement where she puts in her own DVDs to watch.
• She is not afraid of the dark or being in the basement by herself.
• She says her favorite color is yellow, but we notice that she prefers blue and purple.
• She is in love with the Disney princesses.  Belle is number one and Snow White comes in second.  She also loves the beast as much, if not more, than Belle.  She calls Sleeping Beauty "the beast" because she thinks she looks like the beast after he turns into the prince.
• She has a wild imagination and loves to pretend that there are monsters chasing her.
• She loves to catch fireflies after her bath.  Usually we end up catching moths, crickets, and even dead locusts.  She will always let them go before bed or the next day so they can go back to their mommy.
• She has very sensitive and fare skin and almost always breaks out after being in the sun with sunscreen. 
• She loves books.
• She loves to paint, color, and do anything involving artsy stuff. She will usually choose to draw snowmen.
• She is like her mommy and LOVES the fair.  She even loved riding the rides...by herself.
• She will always say that something hurts or she doesn't know how to do it if she doesn't want to do something.
• She still loves to taker her baths.  She always requests "just one pony" when I do her hair.  I attempted to do french braid piggy tails the other day.  She cried almost the whole way through and I had to quit.  They were so cute too!
• She loves to pose for pictures.
• She has a memory like a steal trap.  She seems to remember things for months that Daddy I have long forgotten.
• She loves her cousins and all of her friends.  She still loves to go to Hedy's every day.
• Piggy and Bunny are still must-haves.  But she now knows that they must stay in the car when we go into stores.
• She thinks that she is going to be buying a baby pig here soon.  She says that she wants to buy everything.
• She hides things...important things...like my glasses, bottles of breast milk, our wallets...and doesn't tell us.  If we can't find something we just ask her where she hid it.  Thankfully she can usually lead us to the hidden items...except poor Suzy the Fox who was hidden under a bunch of pillows for over a month.
• She still wants Mommy and Daddy to "lay down by me" at bedtime.  She loves to read books before bedtime.
• She has memorized most movies and books that she's seen.  So much so that she repeats either whole lines or the last word of each sentence of every book.  She has Snow White, Beauty and The Beast, and Little Mermaid on CD and she will mimic the narrator's tone and laughs.  It's pretty funny.
• She loves to sing and likes to make up her own songs.  They usually go like this: "la, la, la, la, here I am, here I am. la, la, la, la, la."
• She talks LOUD, and ALL.THE.TIME!
• She just started actually hugging us back.  Instead of just putting her arms around us she will actually squeeze.  So cute. 
• If you ask her is she's a stinker or call her "silly girl" or anything she will always protest and say "no, I'm Riley Murphy!"

Harper Grace: 2 Months

Harper is 2 months old today.  It feels just like yesterday we were bringing her home.  She is truly an easy baby and fits into our family perfectly.  Here's a glimpse into her budding personality.

• She weighs 10 pounds 7 oz and is 22 inches long.  She is about the 40th percentile for both.
• She is wearing size 0-3 month clothes.
• She has to see an orthopedist tomorrow because Dr. Fred noticed that she has an extra fold on her leg/butt which could be a sign that her hip could be displaced or be displaced easily.
• Her neck is doing much better and she seems to favor her right side a little less now.
• She can hold her head up on her own and loves to look around. Her favorite position is to be held facing out so she can see what is going on.
• She is smiling non-stop.  She loves to do pat-a-cake and she will always smile.  She also loves when you make her legs "kick, kick, kick."
• She has also found her voice.  She is cooing all the time.  She seems to mimic us when we talk to her.
• She rarely cries unless she's starving or has a gas pain.
• Her hair continues to grow.  It has thinned out some and some has rubbed off  on the sides, but it has gotten really long on top.  I could probably put in a tiny pony if I wanted.
• She is a great sleeper.  Just this past week we got her on a pretty good sleep schedule.  She usually goes to bed between 8-9 pm and is (usually) sleeping until 5:00-6:00 am.  Riley still gets up more than Harper at night.  During the day she'll usually take cat naps.  I haven't figured out the daytime schedule yet.
• She loves her baths.  She goes crazy in the water and splashes everywhere!
• She's starting to pick her head up when she does tummy time.
• She will look for her sister if she hears her voice.
• She loves to stare at the TV.
• She doesn't really show any interest in any toys yet. 
• Overall, she is very easy going and our little snuggle bug.

Maternity Leave: What We've Been Up To

It's been a busy summer. Here's what we've been up to while I've been home:

1. Figuring out life with two kids is a lot of work, but super fun! 
2. Mommy took Riley and Harper to see Winnie the Pooh at the theatre.  Riley loved everything about it.  Being only an hour long it was the perfect movie to take both girls to.  Harper was perfect through the whole movie too.  When she was awake her eyes were fixated on the screen.
3. Trips to the mall play place, Auntie Ann pretzels, snacks at Panera, and feeding the ducks.
4. Story time at the library.
5. Backyard Adventures with Carter and Brynn.  Riley thinks we're going back every day that she wakes up.
6. Endless talks about Riley's upcoming 3rd birthday party.  She wants a beast party from Beauty and the Beast.  It can't just be princesses, it must include the beast.  Or, she wants a witch party from Snow White.  Or she wants Halloween at our party.  What's this say about our little girl?????  Needless to say, we're having a Beauty and the Beast theme.
7. Lots of trips to Target, Walmart, and Costco.
8. Trips to Mommy's work
9. Trips to Yo2Go.  If you haven't tried this new yogurt shop, you must try it.  All the self-serve toppings you can imagine and pay by the ounce.
10. Walks
11. Wii Fit.  We've rediscovered the Wii since (almost) finishing the basement.  I've found a new favorite game: Marching Band. Ha!  It's so much fun and I can always use some help with my rhythm.
12. Building tents in the living room.
13. Playing with Riley's water and sand table, water hopscotch, sprinkler, and pool.
14. Playing with the neighbors.
15. Trip to LaCrosse, Wisconsin to visit the Donnenwerth's.  We all had fun catching up and Riley loved playing with Macy and Drew.  She came home talking about "that sleeping place" where Daddy let her go "way down to the bottom of the pool," and the shadows she made at the Children's Museum.

I feel like it has been harder to get out of the house than I had planned.  But when we do make it out, the days seem to go much smoother.  I'm finally comfortable with taking both girls out on my own and seem to have found my routine of getting them in and out of the car.  We've made a pretty good habit of getting out of the house for an hour or two each day that Riley is home with us (she's still going to Hedy's 2 days a week).  but, this July heat has made it more difficult.  I only have 3 1/2 weeks of maternity leave left, and we've packed it full of fun.  I'm looking forward to all of the things that we have planned, and even kinda-sorta looking forward to going back to work.

Riley Nicole: 2 Years 11 Months

As hard as it has been to adjust to having two kids home with me, it has been so much fun spending time with Riley.  In the past couple months we have really noticed that she's come out of her shell and is truly a funny little girl.  Here's what I love about her:

• She continues to grow.  She's somewhere between the 25th and 50th percentile for both height and weight.  I think she stands just over three feet.
• She is still wearing some of her 2T shorts, but is wearing 3T shirts.  She wears a size 5/6 shoe.
• She has a sense for fashion and usually picks acceptable outfits.  She usually tries to match colors.
• She had her second hair cut that sits just about even with her jaw line.  We're hoping that it will now grow in thicker.  The Nizoral shampoo is working.  Her dry scalp is almost completely gone after just a few weeks.
• Her skin is still pale and doesn't seem to tan.  She still has very sensitive skin and seems to break out in a rash on her neck every time she puts sunscreen on.  She has eczema and we can never seem to get it to go away completely.
• She is really funny and loves to tell stories.  Not all of her stories are true.  She likes to tell a story about her cat running away to the neighbors' (false) and Daddy dropping her in the pool all the way to the bottom (false).
• She will talk non-stop if you let her.
• She has started to wave at everyone.  If she sees kids playing outside she always says hi and tries to join them.  This is a major change in the past couple of months.
• She loves going to the library, feeding the ducks, going for walks, playing in the water, coloring, and playing with the neighbor boys.  If she sees them outside she will yell "Gabin is out, Gabin is out.  I need to play with him" until we take her outside.
• She loves her little sister who she tells everyone is her baby.  She loves to help out Mommy, talk to Harper, give her her paci, and is just genuinely happy to have her here.  She always wants to help with her baths which usually consists of her playing in the water and making a mess.
• She likes to have someone to play with her or she always thinks she needs to watch a movie.
• She has a bad habit of playing with her food which drives Mommy and Daddy nuts!  She still loves the same foods, but is less of a fruit fanatic.  She has a new summer favorite: watermelon.
• She has a better memory than Mommy or Daddy.  She will remember something that we said several weeks ago and remind us about it.  She loves to tell everyone about what she does during the day.
• She has a slight obsession with band-aids and likes to keep them on for days.  Gross, I know.
• She has had a skinned knee most of the summer.
• She is always saying "that sounds like a good idea," "you know what I think?," or "that sounds like that's a deal."
• She is animated...very animated.  All of her stories get better the more she tells them. They include hand movements and lots of facial expressions.
• She is going to play soccer this fall through the i9 sports league.  We already bought her shin guards, socks, and shorts.  Unfortunately, they don't make cleats her size. She's very excited for her soccer game!
• She still usually wakes up 1-2 times during the night to go to the bathroom or ask Daddy to lay with her. 
• She is pretty good at taking things and hiding them.  Usually she will remember where they are, except for Suzy the Fox. she's been missing for a couple weeks now and we have no idea where she's gone.
• Riley still loves her Bunny and Piggy.  She sleeps with them every night.  We almost lost Bunny at Costco so now she will leave them in the car when we go out.
• She knows more bible stories than Brett and I and is always telling us about them.  Every time we pass a church with three big crosses she will cover her eyes and say "I don't like those big things."  Never fails. 

Harper Update

We took Harper in to see Dr. Fred for her 1 month check up.  Here's what we learned:

• She's weighing in at 8 lb 13 oz.  About the 25th percentile. That is a 2 pound weight gain in one month! I thought for sure she was at least 9 lbs.
• She is 20 1/4 inches long. About the 10th percentile. She grew one inch over the past month.
• She was diagnosed with Congenital Muscular Torticollis.  Basically she prefers to turn her head to only one side. It is fairly common and occurs during the birthing process where her neck muscle was damaged. We had noticed this over the past couple of weeks and even noticed that it was causing a small flat spot on that side of her head.  We now have to do neck and head exercises with her 4 times a day.
• She also has a clogged tear duct in her left eye which causes her to tear up through most of the day.  Hopefully that will clear up with the eye ointment that was prescribed.  This is also common in newborns and can potentially stay clogged on and off for the next year.
• She had her hep b booster shot.  Poor baby.
• Overall, she looks great and is as healthy as can be!