Last Game of the Season

Marc, Riley and I went to our last Giant's game of the season on Sunday. It was HOT! Who would have ever expected it in late September in the city but it was HOT!?! I thought for sure we would need fleeces, shoes and pants but it was opposite of that, we had Riley in a onesie and shorts and ended up losing the shorts after a while. For a real perspective we ended up leaving early, at Marc's request, it was that HOT! (Anyone who knows Marc, knows he does not leave games early, for anything! In fact we used to joke that if Riley was due during baseball season and I went into labor at a game we would have to wait for it to be over). We had a good time, before the game we met up with Jenny, Josh and Jake. Baby Jake has gotten so big since the last time we saw him and is just about the size of Riley now (and 4 1/2 months younger!). Riley was fascinated by him and it was good to catch up with Jenny and Josh. The game, besides being HOT (have I mentioned it was really hot in the city on Sunday) :), was fun and the Giants pulled out a win over the Cubs.

Here are Riley and Jake (Riley really liked the lights at Acme Chophouse)

Them sitting, we tried everything to get them both to look at the camera at the same time - notice Riley has her hand on Jake's shoulder, so cute, she wasn't even trying to use him to stand, she just had it resting there:

One last family photo at the ball park:

Marc gets to take in one more game this weekend in San Diego but that's it for me and Riley! Here's to another season being over!

A Year Ago Today...

It's very hard to believe that a year ago today we had our 21 week ultrasound. Not only did we find out Riley was a girl (yay for pink and brown!) but we also found out about her clubfeet that day. I don't think I will ever forget hearing the Dr say that she had "birth defects that have me concerned" and embarking on what was probably the worst weekend of our lives while I was on bed rest and we waited for our preliminary amnio results to come back that Monday. Thanks to everyone who has been supportive to us on this clubfoot journey, it's long from over but 12 months later it doesn't seem so scary. We have really learned who our true friends are and are so appreciative of all the support they have given to us during the really hard times! But it is amazing what 12 months and seeing your baby thrive will do for perspective! (That and having a baby full of personality and spunk!)

L'Shana Tova

I always post a Happy New Years blog so I thought I would do one for the Jewish New Year this year. Today we celebrate Rosh Hashanah by going to synagogue. I thought a lot about what this Rosh Hashanah meant for our family this year. I also thought how neat it is that all over the world, for the however many years, Jews everywhere are doing the same service. Ancestors who were in Concentration Camps during the Holocaust read the same service in secret, our family on the East coast read the same service today, and one day (hopefully) Riley will sit in services on Rosh Hashanah with our grandkids and read the same service.

Last year we didn't go to synagogue for Rosh Hashanah. It fell later in Sepetember and happened to be a week or so after Riley was diagnosed with clubfeet and after we went through the emotional roller coaster of the amnio. I was mad at G-d for putting us through that and for giving me a child that had clubfoot and at that time, that I thought was less than "perfect." I have a whole new perspective this year and so I decided that our family would embrace religion and begin creating traditions and introducing Riley to Judiasm. Deep down I have always truly believed everything happens for a reason and Riley having clubfeet is no different. G-d gave us this very special girl for a reason, though now I wonder what we did to deserve her! And so this year and going forward I embrace what life has in store for our family (although I do reserve the right to lose perspective now and then!). I won't go on and on about what Marc and I think of Riley because all you faithful readers know how wonderful we think she is (even though she's turning into quite the little trouble maker at day care - seems our girl is a hair puller and a pacifier stealer) but I will say that this year I am thankful for what G-d has given us, yes the last 8 months have at times been hard and have been trying on us and we often wonder when we will get a break as we see other people around us have everything come so easy to them but in the end we are truly blessed with a wonderful child who is perfect in every way, including those now straight feet, and the life we have.

Last night we went to services, it was a very nice service. The same Rabbi that did Riley's Hebrew naming ran the service and we have decided we really like him. The congregation is a lot smaller than I grew up with but there are a ton of families and it feels very comfortable there. After services, the temple had challah, grape juice, and honey bread to welcome in Shabbat, called an Oneg Shabbat, since Rosh Hashanah happens to fall on Shabbat this year. After the Hamotzi, when everyone was saying Amen, Riley let out one of her "words" that sounded like Amen, everyone loved it. She was in my arms smiling away, always the charmer. Riley had another right of passage in the Jewish religion, she tried challah. Of course she loved it, who doesn't love challah??? (If you have never had it, you MUST try it, it's the best bread ever, great for French toast, almost like a brioche bread but better! I love to toast it and put peanut butter on it. YUM! Panera makes a decent Challah, as does Noah's Bagels.). I wasn't going to give her any but I had a piece and she was grabbing at it so I gave her a tiny piece and let's just say I didn't have any after it. We put Riley in day care during last night's service and today's service because she gets quite antsy these days but we were able to go get her today at the end of services for the blowing of the shofar. Growing up, this was my favorite part of the High Holidays. People blow rams horns in different sounds to help ring in the new year, it's just fun and the sounds are amazing as they echo through the congregation. Riley LOVED the shofars. She was cooing during the blowing. She got a bit antsy during the final prayers and was growling and screaming a bit (fortunately she wasn't the only one). She was asleep before I even had her completely strapped into her car seat.

So this was our first of many Rosh Hashanahs as family. L'shana tova - may it be a good year!

Eating!

Riley loves to eat her "big" girl food. Puffs have been quite the hit lately and I've noticed her chewing (with no teeth!) so I thought I would see how she liked egg yolks. They are a bigger hit than Puffs. She's a little better at getting the Puffs in her mouth but you can see her enthusiasm for feeding herself in this video.

AKA Ruchel Miriam

Yesterday Riley was officially welcomed into the Jewish faith by receiving her Hebrew name. This is something we have wanted to do for some time but it just kept getting pushed off as we got Riley through her clubfoot treatment, I went back to work, and life happened. We're not very religious but I really want Riley to grow up with a sense of tradition so I found a local Rabbi who came to our house and performed a beautiful ceremony officially welcoming Riley into the Jewish faith. Riley's Hebrew name is Ruchel (Yiddish for Rachel) Miriam after her great-grandmothers. My parents, brother and sister-in-law, and Marc's Aunt and Uncle all flew in from San Diego to attend the ceremony. My mom's cousin lives local and she also came and then we had some good friends over to observe this special day in Riley's life. It was a really special day for us and Riley did great, she loved having everyone look at her and was entranced by the Rabbi's guitar playing. My friend Lori's daughter, Taylor, also kept her attention by playing peek-a-boo with her, it was so cute.

As you all know we think the world of Riley and are just completely and utterly in love with this little girl (who is definitely more like a little girl these days than a baby) so to introduce this custom and introduce our faith to Riley was wonderful and it couldn't have come on a better day. Not only does she now hold the ultimate gift, helping her great-grandmothers' memories live on by receiving their Hebrew names but it occurred on her 8 month birthday and also on the day we began night time brace wear only. All you clubfoot mommies know that this day is very monumental and something we all look forward to. The best part is not having to plan her outfit the night before so that her socks match! We couldn't be prouder of the little girl that we have, she is the strongest, happiest little girl and has taught us so much in her 8 months with us. We used to think of clubfoot as punishment for something we could have done but now I truly see it not as a punishment but as a gift (yes, there are days where I hate her brace and I hate everything she has been through) but overall I truly believe we were given Riley and her clubfeet for a reason. It has made us really appreciate every milestone Riley has reached and helped us realize what a truly wonderful girl she is. It's hard to explain but the important thing is, I don't think we are being punished for something because Riley is such a gift. She has faced every obstacle with a braveness and tenacity that I hope stays with her for her entire life. Since the day she was born she has wowed the Doctors with her strength and proves that good things really do come in small packages and I hope that her strength and determination stays with her forever.

I took Thursday and Friday off to help prepare for Riley's day, I baked and shopped and cooked. It was exhausting but wonderful at the same time. Saturday morning it rained here for the first time in I don't know, maybe 6 months. I would like to think it was her great-grandmothers crying because they couldn't be here on this very special day in Riley's life. By the time it was time for Riley's ceremony and party the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. The same thing happened the night before our wedding, it poured in San Diego, like it's never poured before but by the time it was time for our wedding, the sun was shining and the view of San Diego Bay was breathtaking. Riley even cooperated and took a 2 hour nap and woke up about a 1/2 hour before her ceremony began. Family members explained to Riley the meaning of her names and what the three wonderful women she is named after were all about and how they are all looking down on her and smiling and watching over her. The Rabbi officially gave her her name and then did a prayer for her. Of course afterwards, there was tons of food because what's a Jewish get together without tons of food. All in all it was a great day and I'm excited to enter the High Holidays with Riley properly named!

Here's some pictures of the day!

The Edible Arrangement my Aunt sent for the day:

The desserts - yum!

Our special girl posing for her 8 month photo:

Our wonderful family:

Washing her feet - an imagery I loved considering how far her feet have come, a symbol of Riley's covenant with the Jewish faith:

Riley receiving her final blessing:

Cuddling with Pepe:

With Nanna:

Family:

With GrAunt Sandy & GrUncle Michael:

Riley has started to growl, this is her growling face (notice she's wearing real shoes!)

"Wait, I have shoes on but I can move both of my legs? I don't get it!"

Busy Day...

Little girl had a busy day, not only did she turn 8 months but she also got her Hebrew name and today marked the beginning of only night wear for her brace. Waahoo! She has really blossomed this month! But more on all that later...here's her monthly growth trend!

Road Trip

Today we decided to do a day trip up to Napa, we hadn't been there since probably late December so I felt we were due. I skipped my workout this morning (Marc really had to twist my arm on that one) so that we could get an early start up to the wineries. We hit the road around 9:30, not bad for us and timed it perfectly so Riley slept pretty much the entire way up. She fell asleep the minute we started moving, that doesn't happen too often these days so score for us! We got to Yountville around 10:30 and stopped at the Visitors Center to find out where the Kosher Winery was (more on that in a minute). While we were there we saw Jessup Winery and we decided to check it out since Marc said it was really good. Was he right! It was amazing wine and they were so nice there, even when Riley was practicing her screaming voice (not upset, just excited about all the stuff around her), they were very nice. Here's a family photo of us at Jessup:

After that we decided to find the Kosher winery in search of a bottle of wine for Riley's Hebrew naming ceremony that we are having next weekend. The Rabbi told me to just get a bottle of Manescheweitz but I haven't had it since I was like 13 and thought it was great so I know how gross it would be now that I have developed a wine palate. We wanted something we could enjoy. So we show up all excited to get something special and the lady helping us was just plain rude, she started out by saying, oh a baby, I hope she doesn't have any toys that make noise and then proceeded to tell us that she never wanted kids but has two. Now Riley was extremely well behaved here because she had a bottle in her mouth pretty much the whole time. They lady was just a kvetch! We ended up buying a bottle but I was tempted to walk out! Note to self, never go back to Hagafen!! After that interesting experience we headed to Dean & Delucca to grab some lunch for a picnic. We took our lunch to Alpha Omega, our next planned stop, to have a picnic there. Their grounds are absolutely gorgeous, they just remodeled and it's amazing. We actually went there in December but since I was pregnant I didn't get to try any wine, their wines are great, though a little pricey but their grounds are so worth it. Here's some photos from Alpha Omega:

My Ri-bug and I!

Daddy and Daughter!

Riley enjoyed standing on the grass (her first time!)

It was a beautiful day in Napa! We did learn that Riley is definitely getting a bit fidgety for wine tasting, she was definitely voicing the fact that she just wanted to come home and crawl around and play by the end of the day. And forget about her car seat, she wants nothing to do with it after while! After Alpha Omega, we headed to the Napa Premium Outlets for some shopping, of course! Riley scored some cute stuff at the Gymboree Outlet and Marc and I got some shoes at Kenneth Cole, there were some good deals out there. I think our wine tasting days are numbered with Riley, which is sad because this was her 11th trip wine tasting (split between, Napa, Sonoma, and Livermore).

Moving Along and Other Updates

Riley is really getting around these days, she's crawling all over the place and all over us and all she wants to do is stand. She loves her new found freedom and has learned what "come here" means, so much fun. She's also figured out that if she wants to get to me and I'm not coming to her she can crawl her way over to me. Yesterday I picked her up at day care and she saw me, smiled, crawled her way over to a low play area they have, pulled herself to a standing position and stood there beaming at me and smiling. I absolutely love this girl, she is so full of personality and just cracks me up. She was so proud of herself and when I went over to pick her up she nearly jumped into my arms and threw herself around me like she was hugging me. Riley has also become quite the little monkey and loves climbing all over us all in the pursuit of standing. She has also figured out that her brace eventually comes off and day care tells me she now holds out on moving around until her brace comes off! Little stinker realizes that it eventually comes off and I guess she thinks it's not worth the effort of trying to crawl with it on. Her feet are looking great and we are on target to go to nights (12 hour wear) next Saturday. So here she is crawling across the family room to me, I was in the kitchen, sorry for the rocky camera, it's getting harder to capture the moving target and we use our cameras to record videos!

Marc was out last night so I rented the new "Bring It On" movie (I love the original so I check out all the new ones), I started it while Riley was still awake. Here's Riley trying to stand using her Bumbo and watching "Bring It On" at the same time, that's my girl! I think Riley would be standing a lot more if she wasn't so short, she can't reach the couch to help pull up on. We need to stretch her out a bit! She's definitely growing but at 8 months is still wearing 3-6 month clothes! (Note how big her sleeper is, it's 0-9 months!)

I also cooked her up a real sweet potato this weekend since those seem to be her favorite. It was a huge hit, she loved eating it and since I am trying to promote her feeding herself she thought it was the greatest that I put chunks on her tray and let her use her hands. This is the end result:

She really did eat some and she really did love it, I've noticed her starting to make chewing motions, they are very exaggerated which makes it extra cute. She just squished it threw her hands but ate wonderfully off of the spoon. This whole letting her feed herself thing is hard on an anal type like me but she loved it so I dealt with the mess, I do keep finding sweet potato in my carpet though. At least I don't have new carpets but I think we will be candidates for a carpet cleaning real soon!

We're definitely looking forward to the long weekend, I'm sure we'll get into some shenanigans along the way!

Harvest Time

Harvest is in the air around here, Livermore is gearing up for their Harvest Festival this weekend and it's harvest time in Napa and Sonoma. It's also harvest time in our backyard! Here are the cabernet grapes we took off of our vine tonight, we were going to try to let the grapes get a little bigger and sweeter but the birds were starting to enjoy them! We're not sure what we're going to do with them yet, we might just eat them or we might try to squeeze the juice out of them.