Saturday Extravaganze

Saturday was a Zimmerman Shenanigan type of day. It started with a trip into the city to help celebrate our friend's Matt and Kristen's twin boys' 1st birthday. It was a beautiful day in the city, though with the breeze it was a little chilly (which would have been nice today since it was 100 out at our house!). Riley of course had a blast- it was at a park, it was a party, there were dogs at the park, there were a ton of kids, strawberries, and a playground, not to mention Mimosas for Momma and Dadda, what's not fun about any of those things!

Riley took one of the twins' new bikes out for a spin!

I'm a little worried about Riley getting her license, any time she's riding something she can steer, she gets this crazy look on her face! I think she's going to be T-rouble!

The parents attempt at getting a picture with all of the kids, there were more twins there than I have ever seen!

After the party we headed to Palo Alto and walked around the Stanford Mall and then picked up some Chef Chu's Chinese food (our favorite when we lived down there) and Sprinkles cupcakes! Yum! It was a fun day but without a proper nap for Riley we learned our lesson in the late afternoon and evening!

MMMM Pizza...

Father's Day...

Ok, so I'm way behind on blogging. I had every intention of busting out a few blogs this week but for lack of better words, this week sucked, but now it's Friday and I've got a glass of wine and I am officially on a week's worth of vacation so let the catch up begin!

We had a very low key Father's Day this year. The Giant's were out of town this year so we couldn't go to a game, Happy Father's Day to Momma, so we just went for our usual morning walk and then after Riley napped we headed up to Walnut Creek for lunch and what else, shopping!

First with started the morning off with our holiday ritual, cuddle time in bed with card and present opening. Riley's becoming quite the expert card and present opener.

Riley got this book for her Dadda....

We even stamped her hand in the book so Dadda will remember how small she was...

Goofing around with her teddy bears

Mystery Solved

So Riley took another spill (ok 2 spills) at day care this week, when they called to tell me about the second one they made it sound like it was really bad. She was running after a ball and triped and got rug burn on her wrist and forehead, they told me her wrist was bleeding and made it seem like it was really bad so Marc asked me to run over and check on her. I got there just before lunch and checked on Riley and it was pretty much nothing. I actually felt like a big idiot dropping in on her, but explained that the person who called made it sound like she was bleeding profusely (see ketchup pictures below) and that her forehead was pretty banged up. I think the band-aid on her wrist was upsetting her more than her actual spill. There was hardly a mark on her forehead and her wrist had three little scraps that probably just had a few beads of blood coming from them. Well once I was there, Riley would not let me leave. The minute she saw me "uppa, uppa, uppa. Momma, uppa." So I got stuck holding her for a half hour while they waited for lunch. While all of the kids were sitting around their tables waiting patiently for lunch (one kid actually fell asleep waiting which was pretty funny), the teachers were all singing to keep the kids occupied and in their seats. They started to sing a fish song and all of a sudden, they all put there hands to their faces and very dramatically said "Oh-no!" It clicked, that's where Riley got her "oh-no" phrase from, I knew it wasn't me that she got the drama from!!! :)

OMG!

I turned my back for 1 minute to do the dishes and Riley's ketchup was no longer just a dipping sauce for her nuggets. After I turned around and saw her she said "All done." I said "You think"

Need I say more???

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day to the best Dadda in the world!!!!

Love, Momma and Riley!

Kisses for Momma

I had another business trip this week, boo! As usual I was not looking forward to going. I called home every night to say good night to Riley and it was amazing how much different this trip was than the one I took a year ago. We have this meeting annually, so a year ago I had just returned from maternity leave and Riley had no idea that I was really gone. This trip, way different, I called and said hi to her and she said "Momma!" I asked her questions and she responded, with baby talk, but then I would ask her another and she would respond some more, then I would say kisses, I'm blowing you kisses and she would blow me kisses and kiss the phone. Marc got this picture the second night of her kissing the phone while we talked. At the end of the conversation "buh bye," complete with a wave (which I obviously couldn't see but Marc said was there). Marc was even shocked at how interactive she was. Of course all of this made me miss her and Marc much more than I already was but it was so wonderful to hear her say my name when I said hi to her.

I was able to take today off since I worked late almost every night finishing up something that was due today so we are having a fun girl's day. We had lunch at Panera (she actually behaved) and hit up Target and the Mall! I love our time together!

Priceless

3 Tickets to Sesame Street Live - $120
2 BART Tickets - $14.40
1 Giant Elmo Balloon - $10
Look on daughter's face seeing all of her Sesame Street friends live - Priceless

Monday afternoon I worked at home since my entire office was either off golfing or working at home. I always turn the TV on in the background when I work at home to use as white noise. Now I happen to have Sesame Street radar these days so when I heard a commercial for Sesame Street Live I looked it up on-line. I found out that they were going to be in Oakland this weekend so I talked to Marc about it. We didn't have anything planned so we decided to check it out and since we were able to get seats on the floor we decided to go for it. So Saturday we got on BART and headed to Oakland to see Elmo (or in the words of Riley E-mo) live!

We had a great time, Marc and I got super sappy and got teary eyed looking at Riley as the show started and seeing her excitement and joy at seeing her favorite characters live! Riley did great during the show. There were a few moments when she wanted to run up to the stage and didn't understand why she had to stay in her seat but other than that she was great! It was a great family day.

On BART with Dadda:

Waiting for the show to start!

Whoa!

All of her friends from the Street! (Minus Zoey who wasnt in the show)

A sea of Elmo balloons, the guy literally came out with 100 balloons at least and pretty much sold all of them (last I looked he had 6 balloons left!)

Riley and her Elmo boon!

Elmo and Abby ROCK!

Another Month Older

I can't believe that Riley is yet another month older, that gives her 17 months of life experience, and puts us that much closer to her 2nd birthday. How is that happening? I guess it really is true that time flies when you're having fun!

Marc and I continue to enjoy watching Riley grow and develop and watch her personality blossom. And Riley has lots of personality. We can do without the temper tantrums which are in full swing now but other than that and throwing her food on the ground she is an absolute blast. We feel like Riley adds a new word to her vocabulary almost daily and between all of her new words and the few sign language signs that she knows we are really loving be able to communicate with her. I've lost count of all of the words that she is saying but her favorites right now are "dog dog" (she even says "woof" when I ask her what a dog dog says) and "oh-no" (complete with her hands to her cheeks, and said very dramatically). Riley also LOVES to dance! Another love - dogs, anytime she sees a dog in any form, picture, statue, real life she goes nuts. She even pulled a DVD cover out the other day and was pointing to the picture of the dog and saying, "Momma, dog dog," over and over until I finally realized that she was showing me a dog. I am super glad she got my love of dogs and I'm thinking a dog might be in our future! ;) We also think that she has hit a massive growth spurt and sprouted up big time so we are excited to see how tall she is at her 18 month well check next month! I think she really sprouted because she can finally climb up onto the couch by herself, which is another new favorite, finally she's tall enough. Riley continues to be a rock star about her brace and she's currently focusing on figuring out how to put it on herself (as long as she doesn't learn how to take it off!) and she sits nicely and helps me put it on most nights, sometimes she even brings me the brace when she's ready for it to go on. I've even caught her on occasion trying to figure out how to stand by herself (without pulling up) and take a few steps with her brace on. We really are very lucky to have such a good natured child, she makes "night night shoe" time so much easier with her awesome attitude!

She's just starting to look like such a big girl these days!

I took this one the other day when she was having a snack and watching Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse. She just looked so mature to me in this photo:

Fun Visitor

When I first moved to the Bay Area after college I was working for ACNielsen. I met a woman there who basically became my surrogate mom up here in the Bay Area. Roxanne was great, we would carpool to work together, she would have me over to their house for dinners and BBQ and she would take me to her club with her and we would work out and then go for a yummy lunch. I even remember going out to dinner with her and her family after 9/11 when I was away from my family for the first time and all alone and scared. Some where along the way we lost touch, which is too bad. This week I was working on a project for Safeway with ACNielsen and it totally made me think of Roxanne because this project is essentially what we did when we worked for Nielsen. I decided to try Facebook since Roxanne has always been super hip and she also has two boys that I figured were about college age now and so I figured she might be on Facebook. So I searched her name and a woman whom I thought was Roxanne popped up. I emailed her and asked her if she used to work for Nielsen and told her who I was. Within 5 minutes she had responded that she knew exactly who I was and that she had searched me a zillion times. It turns out Roxanne moved to Spain a year ago with her husband, her oldest has graduated college and her youngest has one more year! Where has time gone! But it also turns out she happens to be in the Bay Area for the first time in a year for a few weddings right now, how random is that!!! She had trouble finding me because I had gotten married and changed my name and for some reason my maiden name wasn't popping up. She was equally surprised to find out that I had a baby! So today we arranged to meet up. I worked at home and kept Riley with me and had her nap early so that noon when we met she would be nice and rested (and not a terror) for Roxanne. It was like 9 years had never elapsed! We had a blast catching up, chatting, walking to Peet's and Riley took to Roxanne immediately! Of course Roxanne came with Elmo in hand so anyone who brings Elmo is pretty cool in Riley's book. Riley had a blast with Roxanne and so did I! I'm so sad she lives all the way in Barcelona! I think a trip is in order! You have to love Facebook for bringing us back together!

Riley checking out her new Elmo Vet Kinex!

Oh-No!

Riley's new favorite expression is "Oh-no!" She doesn't just say it, she makes it very dramatic by putting both of her hands on her face and says it, it's hilarious!

She does it at the end of this video too but her back is turned, I just think this video is funny, I gave her some stickers that we got as a favor from Jake's party and for the first time she was really into have stickers. I might have to get some to keep up my sleeve as a bargaining tool!

Dance Party!

Nothing like a good Sunday afternoon dance party!





Riley has mad moves!

Sunday Funday

The weather was nice and warm this weekend so Sunday we moved out back for the afternoon for another Zimmerman Family Fun Day. We BBQ some kabobs, put Riley in her bathing suit and took out her pool and sprinkler toy again. While Riley loved being outside, the water didn't go over quite as well this time. She insisted that I hold her, in her wet bathing suit, so I soon became wet.

Not so sure about the water -

Finally warming up to the water, it only lasted a second:

After getting out of the pool, Riley decided she just had to sit on my lap so as she was trying to climb on, she pushed me onto the ground, I got SOAKED! She thought it was hilarious, and since I was already wet, I decided it was time to have some fun in the water with her!

Celebrate

Saturday we headed into the city for our friends, Jenny and Josh's son's first birthday party. I can hardly believe Jake is a year old, he was born my first week back at work from maternity leave so I can hardly believe that I have been back at work a year also, though I do have more grey hairs than I did a year ago! It was a beautiful day in the city, we were actually hot which I was not expecting and of course since Jenny is SO creative the party was adorable! Of course Riley had a blast, because Riley loves a good party!

Riley and the birthday boy!

Who doesn't enjoy some chocolate cake!

Riley loves a good party! (It was really hot so Marc cooled her off with the melted ice from the coolers)

Pinata time!

Ooooooo!

We parked on the bay and when we got there a layer of fog was covering the Golden Gate Bridge, it quickly burned away and it left a gorgeous view! A picture perfect San Francisco day!

Dining

On our weekly trip to Target Monday I made my usual stop at the dollar bin, I swear those bargains end up costing me more money than if they didn't have them. Anyway, Marc was getting our popcorn/soda combo for $1.50 (yes we are creatures of habit) and I was checking out my dollar bins and I came across some dining sets for Riley - first I saw the ladybug one, then I saw the Elmo, and then I saw the Abby. So Riley and I convinced Dadda to get them and $12 later we left with a full set (placemat, plate, bowl, and cup) of each. Riley has not been a great eater lately, she's been taking her plate, telling me she's "all done" and then proceeding to dump the plate (full of food) on the ground. Last time she was fiesty like this she was ready for a utensil so I figured maybe setting her up at the table like a big girl would end our "all done" dumping routine. Indeed so far it has seemed to work. Of course her Elmo set was the first to be tested. So far we've gone three nights without a plate being dumped on the floor. Tonight she said "all done" and handed me her plate! Hooray for big girls!!! That makes Momma very very happy!

I also got this video, the beginning is pretty funny, I know we shouldn't be encouraging this behavior, especially because we've had a rough week at day care and don't want to be on the other end in the future! (Long story short. A couple of kids in Riley's class are a bit aggressive and have been pushing and hitting some of the other kids, Riley included. After a big fall on her head - she's fine - we're working with day care on fixing the problem in the class. We've had a lot of incident reports lately and it turns out it's because Riley is being pushed by other kids so we were really concerned yesterday. Riley is not the problem but she seems to be a target, which shocks us because she doesn't give up her toy so easily, i.e. she's not a pushover so we're surprised, as is day care these kids are going after a harder target. I've been going to observe behaviors and make sure they get back on track with discipline and that Riley is safe. Moral of the story, don't encourage behavior that you would be embarassed to explain in the office at day care. I would hate to be the parents of the children doing the pushing! But I digress...). Anyway, the beginning second is kind of funny, the rest you will see her lack of proficiency with the fork. I'm not worried, she's still pretty young for a utensil but she's funny to watch and she really does try so I give her a big A+ for effort! She tends to get the food on but it rarely makes it from the plate to the mouth on the fork!

Riley got a little confused between her Dadda and her banana! Fingers crossed that sitting like a big girl continues to work and I don't get plates of food on the ground!

Family Fun Day

Marc and I declared Monday Family Fun Day, we made no plans with anyone and had no intentions of getting together with anyone. We went for our walk in the morning and only ran one errand to Target (because G-d forbid we go a weekend without visiting Target) but other than that we hung around the house. The weather was warmish (Saturday and Sunday were warmer) but we took out a new sprinkler toy that Marc picked up for Riley and her kiddie pool and headed to the backyard. Marc and I poured ourselves some margaritas and settled in for some family fun day! Riley had a blast, I was worried that she wouldn't want to walk on the grass barefoot but she was loving being out back, running around and being in her bathing suit! (And luckily she still fits into the same package of swim diapers as she did last summer!)

Checking out the squirting water!

Up close and personal:

"Mo?" Riley signing for more:

"I put the ball down the tube Momma!"

We had a ladybug visitor! She must have liked Riley's ladybug bathing suit!

"How'm I lookin'?"

Gosh I love long weekends!

The Zoo

I've been wanting to take Riley to the San Francisco zoo for a while and I finally talked Marc into going since I conceded and went to the Giants game a few weeks ago. Since it was a long weekend we decided Sunday was a good day to check out the SF Zoo. Plus the weather was beautiful! So Sunday morning we headed out to the SF Zoo which is pretty much right on the water. I had never been out that way and I must say it was beautiful on the way out there! The SF Zoo, not so much. We weren't so impressed. First of all they didn't have Riley's favorite animals - an elephant nor a hippopotamus. Can you even be a zoo without an elephant??? It also seemed very run down and not a good use of space, there was a ton of land but it didn't feel like a lot of animals so that was disappointing. Now, I grew up with the San Diego Zoo so I am a little spoiled but even Marc wasn't so impressed. But we had a good family day. Our friend Kristen even met up with us for a bit with her twin boys. Riley had fun and she seemed to catch on a little faster that the animals were fun to watch. The hit was the Howler Monkey, he was howling so much we thought it was a recording, and the Grizzly Bear who went for a swim for us. I think we will stick to the Oakland Zoo for now on though, it's closer and seems more updated!

Riley in the Children's Zoo:

Riley and Dadda:

Checking out the Girafalafs! (This was Riley's main mode of transportation)

The zoo had a cool little park so we spent a bit of time there:

Playing in the field at the park:

The Grizzly Bear giving us a good show:

My Buggy and I with the only hippopotamus in the entire zoo. Riley saw it, ran up, said "bee bo," gave it a kiss and then looked for it's "bee bo!" I think we read her "Belly Button" book too much.

Riley fell asleep the minute she got in her car seat.

Bonus Picture: I saw this license plate and couldn't resist, it's so random and yet so funny!

It was a shenanigan type of day, after the zoo we headed down to Palo Alto and walked around the Stanford Mall and then stopped at our old favorite Chinese restaurant and got some Sprinkles cupcakes! Yum!

We were all exhausted but it was a very fun day!