Long Weekends

Oh how I love long weekends! I kicked off the long weekend with a girl's night out with a couple of other mommies from our neighborhood, Riley is about the same age as their boys so we often go for Saturday morning walks with the kids, but sometimes mommies need some mommy time so we headed out to dinner, drinks and Sex And the City 2! We had a blast, we're all working moms so we all "get" each other and the conflicts we go through being the perfect mom, wife, and employee so we had a great time cutting loose, having martini's and watching a total chick flick! A perfect start to the long weekend!

Saturday Marc and I decided to check out the Vacaville outlets so we headed out early and drove up north to the outlets, for some reason we never knew about these outlets until recently. The outlet mall was huge and they had some great stores. We got some great deals, mostly for Riley of course!

But before we headed out, Riley decided that she needed to have a tea party!

And she picked out a DVD! (Her favorite activity but it usually involves Hurricane Riley taking out all of our DVDs!)

The rest of the weekend to come!

Rainy Afternoon

We have not had a very nice spring. It's been chock full of cold days and lots of rain. So what's one to do on a rainy afternoon.....throw on your jammers and blow BUBBLES!

Idol

Marc and I got invited to the Easter Seals Spring Gala in San Francisco with my work Saturday night. My mom was kind enough to fly up and watch Riley while we were at the event. Since she was up, we decided we might as well stay in the city that night and make a little mini-getaway out of it. We went in at about lunchtime, had some lunch (during which Marc burned his hand by spilling my hot soup on him) and then did some shopping. We stayed at the Hyatt in Union Square which was a great location, not one of their nicer properties (we like the one on Embarcadero much better but a great location). We headed back after shopping, got ready and headed to the Silent Auction part of the Gala. We haven't had a weekend in the city in years, we used to do it a lot but really haven't since we bought our house so it was a really fun treat!


Me in my fun new dress (I get to wear it again in July at my cousin's wedding!):

























We had fun at the Silent Auction even though we got out bid on the item we wanted (a gift certificate to the Silverado Resort in Napa) but we had some good drinks and appetizers before heading up to the actual Gala. My company always buys two tables at the Gala and I am usually in the back table but this year I got to sit at the front table (because I am switching over to the Frozen side of our business and my customer contacts were at that table) so we had a great view of the stage. Dinner was great and the cause was better! Every year they bring in American Idol contestants from previous seasons to perform. This year's line up was awesome! Alana Whitaker kicked off the night, then a guy we had never heard of who was kind of creepy, followed by Blake Lewis (we actually own his CD!), Matt Girard, and Alison Iraheta! Blake did a little Beat Boxing which was super cool and Alison was fantastic! She had such great energy and came out and interacted with the crowd, she even gave Marc a high-five! So of course I forgot my camera (or didn't think to bring it since I generally end up watching the show on the TV screen from the back table!) so all of our photos were on my iPhone so they are a little dark but it did it's job.



Blake Lewis:

Alison Iraheta:

And here are some videos...

First, Blake Lewis singing Maroon 5:

Blake Lewis and Matt Girard Beat Boxing!

Alison Iraheta rocking out!

The song she sang right before she got kicked off American Idol, we thought she was AWESOME!

After the show was over, all of the ConAgrians headed over to Lefty O'Doulls for some drinks! We had a ton of fun and haven't stayed out that long in forever! While we had a great time we missed Riley terribly so we headed home Sunday morning. Riley was napping when we got home but as soon as she woke up we ran up there and Riley's reaction to seeing us for the first time was priceless. She was dancing all around and clapping her hands and smiling from ear to ear. It was priceless!

Raggamuffin No More!

Friday was a big day, I was so excited about Riley's orthopedic report that I post-poned blogging abour our morning activity. Marc and I worked at home on Friday so that we could take Riley to Dr. Hoffinger so we decided it was a good time to {gasp} take Riley for her first haircut. Her hair has been a hot mess for a few weeks now and I finally decided that it might actually look better and fuller if we evened it out a bit in the back, even though it is still pretty thin in the front. You got a sneak peak of it in the Dr Hoffinger post but here's how her first haircut went down!


This is the hot mess that we called her hair prior to the haircut.


















Riley was pretty good for a 16 month old, she sat on Dadda's lap while Sunny (the lady who cuts Marc's hair - insert bald jokes here) cut Riley's locks!


First snip (sniff sniff!)

The final do! Marc and I love it! We think she looks adorable, even though she looks even less like a baby and more like a little girl with it. She just looks stinkin' adorable and her hair looks fuller and less raggamuffin like!

What We've Been Waiting for For a Long Time

Well today we finally were able to say that Riley walked herself into Dr. Hoffinger's office. We've been waiting for this day for a very long time!

She was a little timid in this video but it wasn't too long until she was walking around like she owned the place. (Which she sort of does!) Here she is with Beverly. Beverly is Dr Hoffinger's assistant and to say that she absolutely LOVES Riley would be an understatement. And we love Beverly! On days that Marc couldn't make it to casting changes she would take a hysterical Riley from me and rock her and walk her around the office to give me a break and let me gather myself. Dr Hoffinger even said that he hasn't seen Beverly this gaga over a baby in years. She really made the casting process so much easier and bearable knowing that she was there. Every visit she would scoop Riley up and walk her around and say "see my baby Riley?" and show her off to everyone in the office.




To say they all know and love Riley is really an understatement, they are like family to us and we have been so excited to share Riley walking with them. Today they were shocked at how big and mature she has gotten!
And then there is Dr Hoffinger, who was equally as excited to see Riley walking as all of the women of the office. Marc and I couldn't thank him enough today for giving our beautiful daughter fully functional feet. He walked out of an exam room and saw Riley and said "I told you she'd be walking." I was so much calmer and less neurotic this appointment knowing that she's walking (a big feat for me - no pun intended). I really caught myself this week from over analyzing Riley's feet, the last thing I want is for Riley to have a complex about her feet and I realize that starts with me.
And Dr. Hoffinger's assessment: She's completely perfect, she's walking beautifully and he doesn't see much risk going forward. Marc and I feel so fortunate to have found Dr Hoffinger and, really, words can not thank him enough for giving our daughter a normal life, really how do you thank someone who has done so much for our family? So business as usual with the brace, Dr Hoffinger said we could probably stop at age 2 and I told him that he knows that we will go longer and he said of course, he knows me all to well. We have no issues with the brace and lately most nights, Riley sits on my lap when I tell her it's time for "night night shoes" and waits patiently while I put them on. Last week she even brought them to me because she knows that once she gets her shoes on it's dinner time. He was very impressed and told us that was a sign of compliant parents. (Yay us!) The hard thing about clubfeet is that the first several months are in the Drs hands and after that it's all about the parents. But the brace is part of our life, at least for another 3 or 4 years, and that's how it is for us. I still wish I could buy the cute footy PJs, and I still get sad when we're with my friends and their kids don't need their "night night shoes" or when we are at someone else's house and we have to worry about Riley's shoes beating up their floors or baseboards. But "night night shoes" are a part of our life and I'm ok with that. Oh and we graduated from going every 3 months for check-ups to every 4 months!
So we feel great! We feel like all of our hard work in Riley's first year of life has come to fruition and we feel very thankful that we have a great Dr like Dr Hoffinger who has given us the gift of fully functional feet and genuinely cares about our family!!! I know a lot of other clubfoot families read our blog and I just want to tell the ones who are starting out, stick to it! There will be hard days and there will be days where you are down but it's all worth it in the end!
Here's to chasing our beautiful Riley and her perfect (very expensive) feet all over the place!

My Husband Ladies and Gentlemen

Marc's been getting pink eye a lot! Like at least once a month. So Tuesday when he started to get it again he called his Dr immediately hoping to get a referral to the eye doctor for Tuesday or early Wednesday. Well he left a message at 9:30AM and didn't get a call back until 5:30PM! So much for going to work on Wednesday! He was understandably peeved at his Dr so when he went to the regular Dr at 11:15AM on Wednesday he let them know. They called over the office manager and had a conversation about how upset he was and how the ladies at the front desk hung up on him, etc, etc. So Marc told me the story and it went something like this.



Office Manager: Sir, how can I help you?

Marc: Do you have any idea what type of place this is, I called at 9:30AM and no one returned my call until 5:30PM, when I am sick and I call I expect to have a call back the same day so I don't have to miss more work.

Office Manager: Sir, I am very sorry, we are aware of the situation and it has been escalated to the CEO of the hospital.

Marc: I'm very upset about this and when I was asking questions and trying to get a referral the woman I was talking to hung up on me.

Office Manager: Sir, I am very sorry, do you remember the name of the person that you were talking to?

Marc: I think it was Robin

Office Manager: She's usually very nice

Marc: Well she hung up on me and do you see my eye, now you know why I am so upset. (Marc then jams his eye in her face, something like this)



















Office Manager: Sir, I can see there is something wrong with your eye.

I was rolling on the floor as he told me this story.


My husband, ladies and gentlemen!


In the end, it all worked out, Marc saw the Dr who sent him to an eye Dr. who determined that the infection was not really going away and it was just being suppressed. So he's on the mend and the Office Manager gave him her personal phone number so that he could by pass the switchboard and get into the Dr when he needed to.

Can You Show Me Your Nose?

I was testing Riley on her body parts this weekend, she knows where her nose is, unfortunately every time you ask her to show you her nose she sticks her finger up her nose! Her ears kind of go in the same direction as the nose, she jams her finger in her ear when asked where it is. Riley also loves her "bee bo" (that's the tiny hippo way of saying belly button for those of you who do not know). It's from Riley absolutely favorite book "The Belly Button" book by Sandra Boynton, it's a really cute book! She loves to grab her "bee bo" and also look for ours.

Always A Lady...

I don't see anything wrong with licking the plate, except that it leads to licking Cheerios off of the carpet...Riley is always a lady! ;)

First Game of the Season

Today we went to our first Giant's game of the season as a family (Marc went to his first game while Riley and I were in Chicago a few weeks ago). Marc asked me a few days ago what I wanted to do that was fun this weekend and a Giants game was the last thing on my mind. He talked me into going yesterday and I must admit that I had absolutely zero expectations for the day, I figured it was going to be an huge disaster. I was sure that Riley was going to be an absolute terror and she would want to spend the entire game walking around and would not sit still at all. In anticipation of this, I made Marc promise that if Riley acted up that he would not get frustrated and mad and that if we had to leave early, we would. He also insisted that we bring Riley in the Baby Bjorn, despite that fact that she is 16 months (and looks absolutely ridiculous in it), she spent the entire walk down to the stadium whining.

But, boy was I surprised with how the day worked out! First of all, the day could not have been more gorgeous! Our seats were awesome, we were up high up but we were in the handicap row so there were no seats in front of us or behind us and we were on the end so we had a TON of room. And Riley only threw food over the railing and onto the people below us once, luckily they had a 13 month old daughter with them so they know how it goes. Riley was totally into the game and did great, I really expected to spend the entire game walking with her in the concession area but we only got up once and that was to go try to buy her a new Giant's t-shirt for the season and not because she was misbehaving. She was perfectly happy looking over the rail and was into watching the game and everyone else around her. She had zero meltdowns, and only whined a few times which she quickly got over. She was actually way better today then she was as an infant! The usher for our section blew bubbles when the Giants got up to bat so of course that was a huge hit. Marc even termed today "as the best day ever!"

Our view:

Riley-Roo checking out the game!

Go Giants!

And the photo of the day:

Oh and Marc's favorite, Tim Lincecum pitched and the Giants beat the Astros (sorry Anne) 2-1.

And just for Marc: "Happy Father's Day baby, I love you!" (He had such a great day that he said it counted as a Father's Day present.) Score one for me!

Dadda, I want a dog!

Riley LOVES dogs, she sees them and points and waves and gets super excited. She's even gotten pretty good at being gentle with them when petting them. Leah and her family have a dog, Ralf, and Riley loved playing with him. (I'm not so sure how much Ralf loved having Riley around). Somewhere Riley picked up playing fetch with him, she would throw the ball hoping that Ralf would play fetch with her. Sometimes he went for it, sometimes he didn't. This time he was not so into it!



See Dadda, I will play with a doggie and love it and take good care of it! (We're working on "Dadda, I want a doggie!") ;)

I'm Really Sad...

because Riley is growing up too fast! Today she is 16 months and again and I can't believe where another month has gone. I looked at the photo of Riley and I from Mother's Day and realized that she looks more like a little girl than a baby now! Today I picked her up from day care and her class was on the playground and she slid down the slide all by herself!!! All by herself! When did she learn to do this!?! She also has learned how to blow her own nose and does so if you ask her too! Tonight we were singing songs and she did the hand motions for the "Itsy Bitsy Spider!" I am not ok with this! In the last two weeks when I tell her it's time for "night night shoes" she grabs a toy and walks over and sits on my lap. The last two nights she has handed me her shoes and sat down to have them put on (this I am ok with!). Where did my baby go???

She is growing too fast and I don't like it one bit!!!

Just Like Momma!

So the other day I was talking to my friend Anne when I got home from work, I put Riley down and continued my conversation in the kitchen while Riley went into the family room to play. 30 seconds later she walks in with her Elmo cell phone to her ear and she's saying "yayayaya" and walking around the kitchen just like I do when I am on my phone! What a crack up!

Business Trip

Wednesday morning Riley and I left for a business trip to Chicago, more specifically Naperville. My girlfriend from college, Leah, happens to live about 3 miles from our Naperville office so she told me to bring Riley out and she would watch Riley while I was at my meetings, a VERY nice offer, she's probably still catching up on her sleep and regretting the offer! Leah has a 2 1/2 year-old daughter and a 4 1/2 month old son too so it was a full house of kiddos! Riley was fairly decent on the flight out, she fell asleep during take off and slept about 2 hours and then two couples sitting across and behind us kept her entertained as did walking up and down the aisles. Riley had a blast playing with Maggie and just loved her Auntie Leah. There was one point where I came back to get Riley ready for bed and put on her brace before going to dinner and Riley reached for Leah while I was holding her. Leah has a dog and so Riley had fun trying to play with him, and I will say Ralf was a good sport with Riley. Riley also started saying "doggie" while we were there. Now we need to add, "Daddy, I want a..." and we will be good to go! Friday night, our friend Woody came up with her daughter Annabel, who is 2, so it was fun seeing all of the girls together, I think Riley was feeling a little left out with the big girls but she held her own. Maggie and Annabel played great with Riley but there is a huge developmental difference between a 15 month old and a 2 year old and a 2 1/2 year old. Even between Annabel and Riley there is a huge developmental difference and they are only 9 months apart. Riley did love watching them use the big girl potty and I got a glimpse of our future! :)

Riley and Maggie checking out the pond behind their house for duckies:

Riley and Annabel playing at the sand table:

Somehow, I missed a picture of all of the kids together, including baby Rylan.

Riley did well on our flight home, I must say traveling with her isn't too bad once I dropped off her car seat and our suitcase at the ticket counter. She did well in the terminal and Southwest rocks as far as being kid friendly, they had a little kiddie table with the Cartoon Network on and Riley made friends with a bunch of little girls who were sitting near us. She just walked right up and started playing with them. She fell asleep about an hour into the flight despite it being a VERY loud flight, it seems there was a very disruptive passenger on our flight whom they ended up arresting after we landed. Before he was arrested though he got stuck in the aisle next to me while trying to get off of the flight, he made a comment about having a gun and shooting off every one's legs if they didn't get out of his way so I freaked out since I was with Riley and he was in arms distance from us. I picked up Riley, which woke her up and put her between myself and the seat as the police came on to arrest him. Long story short, I had to give a police statement and since I was traveling by myself they walked me to my car since i was so shaken up. I will say I am amazed at how I instinctively put myself between Riley and harms way, I didn't think about it. I just knew this guy was crazy, unpredictable, and obviously volatile so I did what I could to shield Riley from what could happen with this guy. I had a few nights where I had a hard time sleeping because I kept seeing and hearing the guy but hopefully it's in the past now! If I don't see another airplane again, it will be too soon! (Oh wait, I have another business trip scheduled for June!)

Happy Mother's Day

I must say this Mother's Day was more fun than last year, even though last year was very special as it was my very first. Riley is just so much fun and way more interactive this year so it was so fun watching her involvement this year. I love being a mommy and I feel extremely privileged to be mommy to Riley. What a special girl she is and she has taught me so much in the last 16 months (eek, how did that happen!), that I almost feel guilty celebrating me on Mother's Day when I should really be celebrating her, after all, without her, I wouldn't be a mommy.

Riley started off our celebration by making me a card at day care, I think it is the cutest and sweetest card, I pretty much started bawling when I read it Friday at day care when I picked her up. Fortunately, she was on the playground, so her mushy mom didn't embarrass her! ;)

Riley also got me some beautiful flowers....

This morning we woke up and Riley helped me open my cards and presents and then we headed to Walnut Creek for my massage, a gift from Marc. Unfortunately, it was a little rainy today so we didn't get to go for our walk but after my massage we went to lunch at The Counter and then were able to walk around Walnut Creek for a few hours.

After Walnut Creek we came home so that Riley could play some. We bought her some outdoor toys yesterday, but since it was rainy we still have them in the house. Riley decided she needed to test everything out anyway.

Marc and I both saw this Sit and Spin at Toys R Us yesterday and decided Riley had to have it since we both loved it when we were little!

Riley also got her first boo-boo requiring a band-aid today. We were outside looking at our grape vine and I went to help her walk on the grass and noticed that there was something on her finger, well that something was blood! We're not sure how it happened but we brought her in and cleaned it up and put a band-aid on it. She wasn't a fan of the band-aid!

And to be fair, I had a Marcism tonight. I was opening up hummus to five to Riley for dinner and it went something like this:

Me: "This hummus expires August 2010 and we just bought it."

Marc: "So"

Me: "Should I take it back, we just bought it"

Marc: "This is going on blog!"

I have no idea why I thought it was past August!

The Faces of a Road Trip

Homeward Bound

Monday (Marc's birthday) we headed home on a 6:20AM flight, yes, that means it was 3:20AM in CA and it means we woke up at 11:30PM CA time! We were exhausted, especially after our debacle day but Riley was really good on the flight, we ended up having the whole row to ourselves so she had a bit more room to move around and I let her run around the terminal so she passed out before we even got to the runway to take off and ended up sleeping a good portion of the flight. We even landed an hour early in San Francisco and were at our house by 10:30AM with the whole day left to enjoy. I will say while it was a rough early morning and we all went to bed early, it was very nice to be home and have the day. We even got in a walk down to Peet's and Safeway!

Tuesday it was back to work and day care for a day before Riley and I headed to Chicago for a business trip...do you see why I am glad April is over!

While we were away Riley's birthday present arrived (don't worry, I ordered it a few weeks ago):

New Jersey Pizza

After leaving Jenn and Alex's we made one more stop in New Jersey...

We had to have one last cup of coffee (why is DD coffee soooo good and why isn't there any in CA, that's my next big business idea, open a DD in Dublin, CA! Now if only I had the funding for a franchise!) and decided to splurge on some donuts for the car ride and for the plane the next morning. We headed up to Newark to check into our hotel and have dinner with another one of Marc's friends, Randy. He and his wife Courtney met us at the hotel and Marc and Randy went to return our rental while Courtney and I hung out with Riley. Riley LOVED Courtney and Courtney was fantastic with Riley.



Riley decided to try on my shoes, as if I didn't have a complex about how big my feet were before she decided to try on my shoes! I don't think the girl will EVER be able to borrow my shoes!

























Playing with Randy and Courtney!

































Trying out some New Jersey pizza! Riley LOVES her pizza!

































Snuggling with Senior Frog, a gift from Randy and Courtney: