New Camera

I was just looking at the blog and realizing that I haven't written anything for a week now.  I'm blaming this on the fact that we just got a new camera which I'm IN LOVE WITH! 

I think I've taken about 100 pictures in the last three days.  I can't stop.  Brett keeps asking me why I keep taking pictures of the table and all of our decorations.  I don't know, I just can't help it.  I love the thing.  So anyway, I'm still trying to figure out how to hook the thing up to the computer and download pictures to the blog.  Hopefully I'll have some time over the next couple days with the blizzard coming.

One quick thing about Riley...last night I got out her A, B, C books:

I put them all on the floor and picked up two books and asked her to point to the "a" or point to the "b."  To my surprise she was able to identify the alphabet up to about "g"  when she lost interest.  Who knows, may it was just a fluke?  But, she got every one right.  What a smart little thing. 

Hopefully I'll have a couple more posts by the end of the week with some pictures!

And The Countdown Begins

Riley with her advent calendar from Grandma and Grandpa Burch:

It's Beginning To Look A Bit Like Christmas

We started to get out all of our decorations for Christmas.  Here is our little girl "helping" Mom and Dad:

We are going to finish decorating this week and hopefully I'll have some more pictures!

Disney On Ice

All of the Burch and Murphy girls went to see Disney On Ice Wednesday night.  I was a bit worried that Riley wouldn't hold up for the whole show, but she did great.  To my surprise she wanted to stand up, dance, and clap for most of the show.  I think that she thought the music and audience claps were all for her.  She had the biggest grin all night and was dancing like a fool.  She only kicked the lady next to us once so that was good.  I'm surprised she didn't get slapped in the face by Riley's flailing arms!  Riley's cousin, Addie, was also very entertaining. 

Some memorable quotes from Addie Burch: "Mommy, where's her head?" - There was a dress sitting on a headless stand. "Where's her shirt?" One of the princesses had a bra top on. "Who's in that crab?" 

Here is a picture of the girls and a pretty princess:

Medicine, Rashes, and Marshmallows

It's been a fight to get Riley to take her medicine the last couple of days so we started giving it to her in a little juice.  We ran out of apple so we gave her some grape juice yesterday with the medicine mixed in and this is what happened:

That's a rash on her face!  She's had grape juice (very diluted) before so we were a bit confused by this.  So, of course we bribed her with a few marshmallows.  To our surprise this worked and she took all of the medicine without spitting out one drop.

Who knew that bribery began at such a young age!

H1N1 Scare

We took Riley to the doctor Friday to get some immunizations and ended up leaving with a fever (101), bacterial infection, H1N1 scare, and antibiotics.  Brett picked Riley up from daycare and she had a fever and woke up from her nap crying so we figured she wouldn't end up getting her shots.  Her original RSV and flu tests came back negative so they drew some blood to test for any infection.  Dr. Fred came back with a script for a bacterial infection in her throat.  While we were finishing up with Dr. Fred the nurse came back in with Riley's POSITIVE flu test.  Apparently they call it a "late positive."  So, Dr. Fred said that he would prescribe tamiflu if her symptoms worsened over the weekend otherwise she would probably be just fine - not counting the bacterial infection. I may have overreacted a bit and took this news as she definitely has H1N1, most likely will get worse and called her daycare right away in case she felt the need to go get tamiflu for herself since she was exposed to the virus. But, fortunately she was only out of it Friday night and her fever was gone before she even went to bed. (DISCLAIMER: No, Riley did not just get finished drinking a bottle of wine! Her dad swears that she loves to play with wine corks - so that is why she's holding the cork! Blame her Dad, it's his fault!!)

We kept her home all day Saturday and were really hoping that she would be well enough Sunday to take her to Chuck E. Cheese for her cousin, Addie's, 4th Birthday party.  Brett and I made a late (like, 1 hour before the party) executive decision that she was fine and couldn't miss out on her cousin's party.  Needless to say, she had a blast at the party and thought that she owned the place.  Addie was super cute with her "Superstar Birthday Girl" sticker and Chuck E. Cheese crown.  Here are a few pictures of Riley at the party.   

Warming up to Chuck E. Cheese and his rides.

Watching the band play with cousin, Kennedy. Surprisingly, Riley loved the big puppets and wanted to be right up front to see the action.  Unfortunately, she didn't like getting too close to Chuck E.

Running from Chuck E.

Riding in the jeep with Addie!

One last thing...Riley weighed in at 20 lb 8 oz and was 30 inches tall.  I could have sworn that she had grown more, but 10 ounces and one inch is pretty good for 6 weeks! 

Decisions, Decisions

I've been looking everywhere to find the perfect hat for Riley this winter.  Her hat from last year is a bit small and doesn't match either of her coats.  I really would like to find one that will velcro under her chin because, like any other toddler, she likes to pull hats off.  So after looking at Target, K Mart, Children's Place, Burlington Coat Factory, Younkers, and Old Navy I stopped in at Walmart.  I found one that will work until I can find one with velcro.  Which one would you have chosen???...

#1

#2

#3

I had to nix #1 to save my child's self confidence and Brett had to put his foot down with #2.  So, I guess that means that she is now sporting this lovely $2 stocking cap!  She looks so excited to be playing dress-up, doesn't she??