The Party...

Don't Start til Riley walks in!

Ok, I know that Kesha is probably not the best role model for Riley but we love listening to TikTok on the way to day care/work every morning, it's sort of become our theme song and if I start singing it, Riley will add in a little "woowooowooo."

This weekend we were in Maryland for my cousin Morgyn's Bat Mitzvah, not only was this Riley's first Bat Mitzah but it was also her first night party. We kept her up late not knowing what to expect and as you can see below she had a blast! I'm so glad she started walking before the Bat Mitzvah because she had a blast!

I've put a few different clips together into one video, we felt bad pulling her away from the dance floor and bringing her back to the hotel to sleep!

And yes, that's Riley dancing on the stage!

More on our vacation extravaganze to come!

3 Glorious Years

Today is our 3 year anniversary, I can't believe how time has flown by! We'll be spending this year's anniversary on a non-stop flight from San Francisco to Newark with a toddler, how romantic! ;) Marc's just happy thay I'm not going to make him watch our wedding video again this year!

To my wonderful husband - Thank you for our wonderful life and beautiful daughter!

Dreaming

Down the street from us is a huge, amazing park with a ginormous (yes, that's a Zimmerman word) field leading to the playground. We walk past the park almost every weekend on our way to get our coffee. For as long as I can remember, even before we knew Riley was Riley, Marc has said that he can't wait for the day that he can put Riley on the grass and let her run across it and tire herself out. Throughout what seemed like endless casts and 23 hours a day of bracing, seeing Riley run across the grass seemed like a very wild dream. Well, we decided to give it a try on Saturday on our way past the park. She's a ways off from running across the field, I think the uneven ground threw her for a loop, but Saturday was a good start to Marc's dream!

Safe to Say...

I think it's safe to say that not only is Riley officially a walker but also that she's officially a toddler! :) Excuse the shaking camera, I had to stop Riley from, well, being a toddler!

Destroyed

Riley's brace has many advantages, like keeping her feet fully corrected, but it also has many disadvantages, like the fact that it destroys anything that it comes into contact with. At our last appointment with Dr. H we actually were joking about the damage the brace does to cribs, chairs, etc. As everyone knows the brace does not slow Riley down one bit and she loves whacking it around, we used to hear her thumping it on her mattress from downstairs and now we hear it whacking the wood in her crib. Our kitchen chair has become the latest victim.




Riley's crib is probably the biggest victim (so glad we got the dark wood instead of white because you really can't see the gouges from the brace) and then there are my legs, I'm pretty much accustomed to the permanent bruises on my legs and the fact that they will most likely be there for the next 3-4 years!

The price we pay for perfect feet!

So Stinkin Cute!

Work

Now that Riley is walking and is an able body we decided that she should start earning her keep!

15 Months Going on 15

I can't believe Riley is 15 Months already! We're loving seeing her personality coming out more and more each day. She's a total crack up right now and it's so much fun watching her develop each day. I feel like she adds a new word everyday to her vocabulary, yesterday was "shoe" after we took off her brace and today was finally "bye," I think she's up to like 10 or 11 words. She has also started taking her shoes and socks and putting it to her foot which I think is just stinkin adorable. She can also point to her "bee bo" (belly button) and knows her feet. Her hair is really starting come in and she's definitely starting to look like a little girl (and me!) :)

This months trend photo was even more difficult than last month, Riley would sit on her chair and then climb off and walk across the room to me and then I got a dirty look while trying to capture her...

With a dirty look like that I might mistake her for 15 rather than 15 months. Our girl is growing up so fast!

15 Month Check-Up

Riley had her 15 month check-up on Friday. I was actually quite impressed that she started walking the day before her appointment because Riley generally rolls by meeting milestones a few days after Doctors appointment. I was really excited about this appointment because our regular ped was back from maternity leave so no more getting passed around to the available Dr for us! Dr. A is the only Dr in the practice that Riley does not pitch a massive fit for! So here are the stats!

Weight: 18lbs 14oz (shhh, don't tell that she's turned around in her car seat!)
Height: 29 inches

This keeps her in the 4th percentile on weight and she moved up slightly to the 12th percentile on height. We've been worried about Riley's weight and the fact that she's so little particularly because she's so super active and the brace does not slow her down, we just feel like she's burning so many calories. Riley basically has a six pack and her thigh muscles are very defined from toting around the brace but the Dr reassured me that she's following her trend lines perfectly and that she's obviously petite (and even said thin, who would have ever thought that Marc and I would have a thin kid) and she's meeting all of her developmental milestones. She also checked out her feet and I have never seen Riley's feet so flexible and she couldn't get over how great Riley's feet looked and how flexible they both were (left one included!). She even said Riley should be the poster child for clubfeet treatment! And Riley showed off her her new walking skills for the Dr. Riley also got the clearance to try peanut butter and shellfish. I absolutely LOVE shrimp and can't wait to introduce her to some shrimp and broccoli!

Walking!

Well this morning when I left Riley at day care she was a crawler. As I was putting my shoes on to leave I saw her take 5 steps to the Associate Director who said she's been working with Riley on walking. Today when I got her home with my mom who came into visit today, Riley was doing this all over the house!




I wouldn't quite call her a 100% walker because her preferred mode of transportation is still crawling with her butt straight up in the air but she is definitely more confident and more into walking, if you stand her up she will walk! She even stood herself up a few times and walked down the hall. We also got to go outside and Riley got to walk around with her friend Ryan because our neighbors Alex and Shari have been excited to see Riley walk as well. To celebrate the occasion we even left her shoes off a little bit later so that Dadda could see her walking when he got home from work. Riley was very proud to show off her new skill to her Dadda!
What a wide range of emotions, seeing Riley walking is so bittersweet. About a year and a half ago when we got Riley's clubfoot diagnosis everything seemed so hopeless, then we met Dr Hoffinger and we had a glimmer of hope, and now seeing her walk I know that Riley is going to live a perfectly normal, happy life with her beautiful two little feet carrying her everywhere she goes. I will never be able to thank Dr Hoffinger enough for giving Riley the ability to walk and I will never be more proud of our Riley for all that she has overcome!
I'm so proud of you my Riley-Roo, the world is now your oyster! (And I can't wait to chase after you!)

Sadie Dey's

This morning we had a play date at SadieDey's with the Koch's and Rampe's and their kiddos. Lyndsay suggested Sadie Dey's and I am so glad she did, what a great place, it's half cafe and half play area for kiddos, kind of like a Gymboree and coffee shop met and created the best of both worlds! It was a great time, of course RileyRoo had a blast. It was great to see Lyndsay and Greg and their kids Xavier and Clara, it's been since Riley's birthday party, TOO LONG! Matt and Kristen also came with their twin boys Max and Kennedy and those are two cute boys. The place was great because it had a nice mix of stuff for crawlers and non-crawlers to do, Riley falls right in the middle. Though when her giant ball rolled away Marc and I saw her take 3 steps all by herself and without me tricking her to get her ball back. Riley spent a lot of time following Xavier around and loved the ball pit! This was her first time in a ball pit and it was a hit! Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the Rampe twins but I did get some cute ones of the Koch's and the Rooster!

Riley and Sweet Clara playing in the ball pit together. Riley enjoyed having a girlfriend to play with!

Xavier, Riley, and Clara playing in the ball pit:

Riley and Clara posing, how cute are they???

Rooster driving the truck!

I so wish we had one of these by our house!!!

Dirty Looks

Riley has started giving me dirty looks which has me very worried about what the teenage years have in store for us. Marc got a couple this weekend but she mostly reserves them for me. Lucky Momma! Unfortunately, I think I make the same face when she does something that I disapprove of (like purposely throw her food on the ground) so I only have myself to blame! But still, isn't 14 1/2 months a little early for dirty looks!?!