Riley Nicole At 2 1/2

Today is Riley's half birthday.  She has no clue, but I'll celebrate for her by writing about her today.  As Brett said last night "I think that she just keeps getting cuter every day!"

• She is still wearing the same size clothes and shoes.  It seems that she has grown some and her jeans are fitting here perfectly in length.
• She has found a couple new favorite shows...Max and Ruby and her Leap Frog videos (Especially Numbers Ahoy).  I will say that she seems to recognize her letters better and is counting much better as well!  She likes to watch them in "Mommy's bed." 
• Her new favorite line that she says with a nod and a finger in the air: "Just one more ____ Mom." Insert movie, book, or show.
• We've officially experienced the scariest moment in Riley's life.  Riley flipped head first out of a shopping cart while at Costco a week ago.  Literally head first onto her back on the concrete outside of Costco.  Lesson to all the parents out there...never let your kid stand/sit in the back of the cart...even if they scream and cry.  We thought we were avoiding a meltdown, but I drove away thanking God we weren't leaving with a brain injured toddler.
• We've officially experienced the grosses moments in Riley's life.  Riley came down with the flu last Thursday...while we were in a Mexican restaurant.  Our food had just come and Riley asked me to hold her.  While I was getting her out of her chair she tossed her cookies. Thankfully it was mostly on the floor and me.  We took our meals home and apologized several times to the poor waitress who had to clean up our mess.  She went on to puke another 7 times at home.  Not fun!  Thankfully it was over at 1 am and we have cleaned every floor, couch, and bed in the house.
• She is very opinionated about what her baby's name is going to be.  She likes one specific name (which happens to be the name we are going with) and can't for the life of her pronounce it.  I'll reveal the name when we have finally picked a middle name.  Hopefully soon.  I'm getting anxious to get everything ready for her...including her name.  So, here's a sneak peak: Riley's little sister will be called "Popper" by her big sister until she can finally pronounce it right.
• Last night I commented on her tummy being full.  She stuck her tummy out and said "there's my baby in there."
• Favorite toy: balls, dolls, books, paint, play doh, silly putty.
• Favorite veggie: Red/Yellow Peppers, cucumber, broccoli.
• Favorite fruit: Mandarin oranges, apple sauce, blue berries, bananas (only if she can have a whole one).
• Favorite snack: String cheese, popcorn, marshmallows
• Favorite meal: Pizza, mac and cheese, soup, pasta
• Favorite color: blue, purple
• My favorite things she says..."Come here little buddy (to Sam, toys, or balls)" "Just one more Mom!" "Um...I don't think so..."

She is so full of personality and we love her to pieces!  Brett and I agree that she may be trouble in a few years.  She is so quick on her feet and always has something funny to say!

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!

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