Artsy Fartsy

Riley has SO many toys so for Hanukkah this year I tried to get a bit creative and get her more arts and crafts presents since she seems to be able to sit longer and concentrate.  Fisher Price just came out with the "Made by Me" products and thought they would be fun for her.  So one night she got this painting set which proved to be a huge hit and not that huge of a mess.  Double bonus!  She sat at the table for more than an hour painting pictures.

Such concentration!

She painted a rainbow!

Continuing the Tradition

I decided to continue the chair tradition with Jacob since it's hard to see how much he is growing when you are with him all of the time.  Of course, since he's the second child, he doesn't have his own chair (I really hope we don't create a complex in him!) so we had to cover Riley's pink chair with his blue blanket.  Hopefully we get the same effect as he grows!  So here's Little Dude's first chair picture at 11 days (I was lazy and never got one the first week we were home).

Jacob - 11 Days

Riley - 10 days

He's clearly WAY bigger than Riley was and yet he seems so much smaller than she ever did!

First Bath

We gave Jacob his first bath since birth a few days after we got home.  Of course, Big Sister wanted to help so we tried getting them both in our tub at the same time.  Jacob peed on Marc and Riley was totally grossed out.  Second bath yielded Jacob pooping in the bath tub, sister grossed out again, and Jacob then peeing on me as I got him wrapped up in his towel.  Still getting used to this whole boy thing!

RiRi helping daddy out

Clearly Jacob is not a fan!

Ah, that's better, all wrapped up in my new Hippo towel

Forgot...

Somehow I left out this picture from our homecoming post, I don't know how because I absolutely love it.  We got home from the hospital and Riley rushed right past us to Jacob.  She ABSOLUTELY adores her baby brother, don't get me wrong, we've had our jealous tantrums, particularly at night when I'm trying to feed Jacob and we're trying to get Riley in bed, but for the most part she can't get enough of her brother.  She even made up a song which she sings on the way to school about how much she loves her brother.  It's super sweet!

Homecoming

Jacob and I both got released on Tuesday night, we could have stayed another night but my Dr and the peditrician felt we were both ready to go home and the thought of another night being poked and proded by the nurses was not appealing!  Plus I missed Riley terribly and the idea of spending the first night of Hanukkah together as a family of four sounded awesome!

Dressed and ready to go home

Jacob was so quiet on the way home that we thought he fell out

When we got home Riley was SO excited she literally was jumping for joy.  Here I thought she was excited to see me, but no, she began running around in circles singing "My brother is home, my brother is home!"  Of course she wanted to hold him. 

Jacob was less than impressed with Hanukkah this year

Riley posing with Jacob, how big does she look!?!

Deja Vu

So we are home and Riley is at day care and Jacob is sleeping and so now I have a minute before our next feeding to recap the story of Jacob's arrival.  Let's start out with Saturday, I had been feeling crummy a lot of the day and was busy wrapping Hanukkah presents and folding laundry when I got a frantic plea from Marc to come downstairs, he said he had cut his finger off.  Now we all know Marc could be a little dramatic but I humored him because of the tone of his voice, I ran downstairs and saw blood EVERYWHERE!  I was like, "Holy crap, we're going to the ER."  Riley was napping so I ran upstairs, scooped her out of bed (9 months pregnant), threw her in the car and drove us to the hospital where we spent 2 hours in the ER while Marc got patched up.  He cut his pointer finger from halfway up the nail off and it could not be reattached.  Riley was a rockstar, she was so brave and listened so well in the ER waiting room.  So the moral of the story was, I never got a nap Saturday while Riley was napping.  After our ER ordeal we headed to a birthday party for one of Riley's friends, I was feeling super tired and just not right but I wasn't having contractions so I attributed it to being almost 38 weeks pregnant.  Saturday night I was sick as a dog, I was nauseous and had major tummy troubles.  I even woke Marc up to tell him I thought that he might be coming but since I wasn't have contractions we just waited and tried to sleep.

Sunday I spent pretty much all day on the couch resting, I still didn't feel great but again no contractions.  We ran out to get some Chinese food from a new Chinese restaurant around 4PM and then came home, fed Riley, I watched Smurfs with Riley in bed and then we put her to bed a little early since she had a cold.  At 6:45 I heated up my wonton soup, went to sit down and write a thank you note for Riley and whoosh!  Water broke!!!  Now if you remember from Riley's debute, at 6:30PM on a Sunday night I went to sit down to eat dinner after cooking a big fajita meal dinner and pop, water broken.  So Marc called our friends who were taking Riley for the night, I called my Dr (who again was not on call), and then spoke to the hospital who said to come in even though I wasn't having contractions but they would make sure that it was my amniotic fluid. I told her I was pretty sure my water had broken and not peed myself as this was my second baby.  We dropped Ri off and made our 30 minute drive to John Muir Medical Center.  I managed to stay much more dry this time and we were so calm that they knew this was not our first baby.

I got checked in, they swabbed and confirmed indeed that it was my fluid and got me set up on monitors.  My contractions had started to get pretty intense on the car ride up and they were getting stronger and harder as the minutes progressed.  The nurse said there was no need to wait to get the epidural, it wouldn't slow labor down and if I knew I was going to get it, I might as well get it and be comfortable and try to rest.  She also came in to tell me that my Dr had called and even though she was not on call she would be coming in to deliver Jacob, we were shocked and so excited to have our own Dr deliver him.  Jacob dropped super fast and it caused his heart rate to drop so 2 nurses came rushing in and it kind of put Marc and I on edge for the rest of the night because we were nervous hearing the heartbeat on the monitor. I was sure they were going to have to rush me into an emergency c-section.  It dropped one more time but not as bad later on during labor.  I was very nervous, I was not mentally prepared to be in labor and push as I was convinced that we had time, especially since we had just scheduled an induction.  I got the epidural around 8:30 and was super comfortable until around midnight when I started to really feel my contractions to the point where I wanted to yell "Get him out of me!!!"  The anethesiologist came in and gave me more medicine and I was so comfortable.  At 2:00AM the nurse checked me and I was 10cm, fully effaced and Jacob was in a +2 position.  He was coming fast.  She called my Dr who strolled in around 2:20AM, not believing that he was coming fast, she took one look and was like, ok let's get this going.  At 2:30 I started pushing and pushed 2 big pushes and there was Jacob at 2:35AM!  Riley arrived at 3:26AM so his labor was only an hour shorter than Riley's.  I must say the labor part was more intense this time around but delivery and recovery has been a lot easier. 

There were only 2 of us delivering that night so we didn't have to be rushed into our post-partum room so we got to hold Jacob and cuddle with him in the delivery room.  Because he was full term and didn't have any birth defects there were a lot less people in the delivery room, just my Dr, a nurse for me, and a nurse for Jacob.  Riley had 2 pediatric nurses, the on-call Dr, and I had the dr and 2 nurses for me.  Jacob's APGAR scores were great so we got to keep him for a while before they took him to measure him and weigh him.  I will say I did sneak a peak at his feek to ensure that there was no clubfeet.  When they weighed him, I yelled, "I did it!  He's over 6lbs!" 

Jacob has been truly a delight, he's been pretty mellow so far, he loves to be swaddled, he loves to do skin to skin cuddling.  When we do it he presses so close into me that he leaves ear imprints on my skin.  He's been a good sleeper, which is good and bad.  He sleeps great but he also will not wake up to feed so we're on a supplement plan until he perks up.  It's the same plan that we had with Riley but we're hoping that he's able to pick up nursing and we're able to avoid the incubator and billy lights since he's full term and almost a pound and a half bigger than Riley was at birth.  In fact, he came home 5lbs 13oz, almost a full pound bigger than Riley was at birth.   He's definitely perked up a bunch since we've come home and is starting to really want to eat so we are encouraged that he's going to be a good eater.

Getting ready to have a baby!

 Jacob is here!

Facebooking that Jacob had arrived!

Daddy and his kiddos

Big Sister holding Baby Brother

Getting a wash at the hospital

Welcome

Jacob Liam Zimmerman
December 19, 2011
6lbs 3oz, 18 inches

PERFECT!

More to come on his delivery and his first day! And of course pictures!

Stay Tuned

Water broke, we're at the hospital, epidural is in and the little guy us on his way!

Like His Father

I have a feeling that this kid is going to be pokey like his father, which will no doubt drive me absolutely bonkers!  I just had an appointment and I'm still only 2cm and while he's dropped some more, I have a feeling he's not going anywhere soon, damn progesterone worked too well!  My Dr did schedule me for an induction on the 29th!  So if nothing else, we know he will be here in 2011!  Now, I just hope he a) comes soon and b) doesn't come on Christmas.  The poor kid will be stuck eating Chinese food and going to movies with his parents his entire life!  Other than that things are good, I'm starting to actually lose weight so my Dr wasn't happy with that but I feel like I have morning sickness again, I guess that's a good excuse to go get a cheeseburger for lunch! :) 

This My Friends...

is a full-term, 37 week, baby bump!  We did it, we made it full term this time around, huge relief.  Now if he just hangs out for a few more days until Marc is on shutdown (and isn't over an hour away in Santa Clara when my water breaks) for 2 weeks I will be one happy Momma!  I'm now officially working at home as I was almost 2 cm dilated as of Friday.  We go for our last ultrasound at 10AM today to get one last look at his weight so stay tuned!

Update: Jacob currently weighs 5lbs 14oz so he's a full pound bigger than Riley was.  So we are very pleased, he's a little small for his gestational age (21st percentile) but the Dr was not concerned at all.  She said we just have small babies and all looked good around him, the amniotic fluid was right where it should be and he's head down, facing back (so no pictures of his cute mug) so he's ready to go.  She didn't seem to think I would make it to 40 weeks since I was almost 2 cm last week but we'll see if I've progressed when I go back on Friday for my weekly check-up. 

Canonball!!!!

We had a bit of excitement in our neighborhood yesterday, of course I was oblivious to it all.  I was working at home yesterday and at around 4:00 PM I heard some sirens, I didn't think anything of it because we back up to a pretty busy road and there are often accidents on it.  Then I heard some helicopters and thought, wow, that must be a big accident.  Yikes. Then about 15 minutes later I saw a fire truck drive past our house, thought to myself, "Hmmm, I still hear helicopters, perhaps I should go outside and see what's going on."  I opened my front door to find a street full of neighbors and half of our street was taped off as a crime scene like there had been a full on massacre.  I ran inside to call Marc and tell him that something was going on and I wasn't sure what I should do.  It was just about 5:00 so I had to go get Riley so I ventured out and asked a neighbor what happened, they said the police wouldn't say but that it was non-violent.  Phew!  So I got in my car and headed to get Riley. 

When I returned there were 3 helicopters circling our neighborhood, about 10 police cars were still there, a fire truck and one left as we were pulling in, as well as news trucks, and an investigator from Alameda county.  We were standing by him as he was setting up and he was finally able to tell us that they were filming an episode of "Mythbusters" at Camp Parks and they misfired a cannonball that ricocheted off of the mountain that separates our neighborhood from the training facility.  It traveled over 700 yards over 2 neighborhoods, hit the pavement in the cul-de-sac one down from us and went through a house's front door, up their stairs, out the backside of their house and then traveled across a 6 lane busy street, hit the roof of the house in the housing development across from ours before landing in some guy's mini-van.  If I wasn't there to witness all of the crazy, I would not believe it.  And how does one not hear a cannonball hitting a house 6 doors down from them is another question, I guess I was really into my projects!  I texted Marc to tell him a cannonball went through someone's house. I honestly think he thought I was exaggerating all of this because he didn't respond to any of my texts.  When he got home the neighborhood was still taped off, there were more news vans, still 3 helicopters circling and loads of police officers in our quiet little neighborhood.  His first words to me were "A cannonball?  Like the kind pirates use?"  Yep, a cannonball, like the kind pirates use.  Pretty crazy!  Miraculously, no body was hurt!  It's a pretty crazy story!

Don't believe me, check out the story on Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/san-francisco/mythbusters-stunt-sends-cannonball-flying-dublin-home-160650105.html?bouchon=807,ca

Of course Riley LOVED all of the action, she loved seeing the helicopters, loved all of the police cars, loved the fire trucks and begged to go outside one more time to see the helicopters again.  Oh and yesterday she decided not to nap at school so between no nap and being over stimulated, it was a recipe for disaster!  This morning she was equally excited to see more news trucks on our streets.  

It seems our little Dublin has made the maps, now the question is, does a cannonball going through your neighbors house increase or decrease your property value?

Memory

I personally suffer from CRS, also known as "Can't Remember Shit," I'd like to say it's pregnancy brain but let's face it, I couldn't remember anything before I had Riley, got pregnant, and it's just getting worse.  My daughter on the other hand, nothing gets by her and she remembers EVERYTHING!  When we took her to see The Muppets for instance she asked if they were going to come out the sides, a reference to The Muppets 3D vision that visited at California Adventure in Disneyland a year ago! 

Today I took Riley for her flu shot, I've learned it's better to warn Riley about these sort of things rather than trick her into going.  I told her last night that we were going to go to the Dr tomorrow and she had to get an "owie" to keep her from getting sick and from getting baby brother sick.  I reminded her again this morning when she woke up that we were going and that she was going to get a shot and it would hurt but not too bad and if she was super brave she would get a lollipop and a sticker.  She said back to me: "We not go see Beverly, Beverly doesn't give owies, just lollipops and stickers."  (Beverly is her orthopedics office administrator) I said "No, we're not going to see Beverly and Dr H today.  And you're very right, they just look at your feet and give you lollipops and stickers for showing up."  She then says "When we go see Beverly again?"  Not til January my dear, though we don't even have an appointment! 

How on earth does this girl remember stuff!?!  We haven't been to Dr H since early August!  I wonder if Riley has some brain cells that she wants to share with me!

Nesting

We're in full nesting mode here, T-34 days until the little man's due date.  Marc finished painting the baby's room, we hung his letters with care, we rearranged the the living room, we washed pacifiers, bottles, blankets, and baby clothes (we even bought a few more NB outfits in case he's small), the infant seat has been installed, and we packed our hospital bag.  Riley arrived in 1 short week so we are prepared for an early arrival even though I am still on the progesterone until 36 weeks (T-6 days on that one!).  So here's some of the final products, including an almost 35 week baby belly!  My clothes are definitely getting snug.  I had a check-up last Tuesday and my Dr gave me the green light to complain (got to love that) since I've never been this big before.   I'm feeling pretty good, I just get very tired but I've been sleeping pretty well, still waking up every 2 hours to go to the bathroom but I am able to fall back to sleep so I will take that over the sleepless nights any day!

Riley testing out Baby Brother's car seat

Our new living room arrangement, we love all of the extra room in the middle of the living room, it makes our house feel so much bigger

The bar/dining area

Riley even got her own little play nook out of the deal

At long last, his nursery is done and his name is revealed. :)

Changing area, poor 2nd kid gets no new furniture and the bed is for my sleeping comfort.  We still need to find something to hang above his changing table

Almost 35 week baby belly

Don't Feed the Wild Animal!

Apparently Marc didn't get the memo that the "Wild Animal" shouldn't be fed M&Ms before bed time!

Epic Fail

Ri has been a Muppets fan for over a year now so when we heard that a new Muppets movie was coming out we knew that we had to go.  I found a Muppets sweatshirt and t-shirt set at Target that Riley planned on wearing to the movie, she kept telling us that she told Miss Delores (her teacher) that she was going to go see The Muppets in the movies, she was pretty dang excited.  So Friday after our carpets were cleaned we decided to take Riley since we needed to get out of the house to let them dry anyway.  We missed the earlier shows so we went to a 4:40 show, pretty optimistic of us since that's pretty much still the beginning of Riley's witching hour but she was so excited we couldn't bare to push it out a day so we risked it.  Riley was so excited, she woke up from her nap and the first thing she said to us was "we go see Muppets now?", she brought Kermit and Fozzie Bear with her and sang and cheered the whole way there.  Unfortunately, we got to the theater super early.  We went to a restaurant, had a snack, then let Riley play on the play structure but we were still at the theater about an hour before the show time, probably our bad.  Once the show started Riley couldn't sit still, not even with her snack pack that we bought her.  She kept telling us that she had to go potty and we had to take her out like 4 times between the 2 of us and she was up and down between the two of us and she talked way too much! We ended up leaving about 15 minutes before the movie was over because she was so disruptive. It was basically and epic fail.  She did much better during Winnie the Pooh six months ago than she did at The Muppets and she's way more into The Muppets than Winnie the Pooh.  So we missed most of the movie, we were super embarrassed but somehow Riley is still excited about seeing The Muppets and told me today that she's going to tell Miss Delores that she went to the movies to see The Muppets and insisted on wearing her Muppets sweatshirt and t-shirt for the second day in a row.  Maybe we'll try again and aim for earlier in the day!

At lunch before the movie

Waiting to go into the theater

This girl is ready for The Muppets!

Out of Control

We had our carpets cleaned Friday so we had to move everything out of our living room, rather poor Marc had to move everything out of our living room since I can't even bend over enough to get my shoes on (can we say Tom's are my best friends right now!).  Saturday when we were putting everything back we decided to reorganize so in order to move our bar we had to take everything out and realized for the first time how many glasses we really had, out of control!  Since we are in major reduce mode as we try to move all of the baby stuff plus Riley's stuff plus trying to live back into our living room we are packing some of these bad boys away for storage. Now if only we could find some storage in our house, do you think the HOA would care if we dug ourselves a basement???

And this doesn't even include the stuff that we use every day!

Gobble Gobble

I tried to take it easy this year preparing Thanksgiving dinner since I was about 5 1/2 weeks out from my due date on Thanksgiving, we had turkey, mashed potatoes or as Riley calls them smashed totatoes (thank you Ore Ida Steam & Mash), green bean casserole, stuffing, and apple pie.  In retrospect, I should have just ordered the pre-made meal from Safeway.  Even with the limited menu I was exhausted.  We kept it super casual since it was just the three of us and since we were getting our carpets cleaned the next day we decided to just eat in the family room.  Riley thought it was the best thing since sliced bread!

Our spread...

Mmm, smashed totatoes!  And yes, she's already using her Hanukkah cup!

 

Thankful

We are having a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year, in a normal pregnancy I would be borderline cut off from travel this week but since I have a history of pre-term labor we were most definitely not going anywhere this year.  So this year, the first thing that I am thankful for is a nice quiet holiday home with my family.  Don't get me wrong, it will be a little weird and little sad not being in San Diego this year with my family like we always do but I am very happy to be spending the holiday with Marc and Riley as our nice little family of three before the baby joins us shortly.  We are finishing up the baby's room, adding some big girl decorations to Riley's room and have plans to all go see the Muppets on Friday.  So I am extremely thankful for this precious quality family time before we expand to a family of four.

Thankful #2 - Riley.  Of course I am thankful for my sweet (although lately also, devilish) Riley.  With her in it, my life is a whole lot brighter, happier, and funnier.  And while we've hit a difficult stage in her growing up, I wouldn't trade it for the world, because she is the reason I was put on this earth, to be her mommy and I am thankful that she is mine.  For all the times she pushes our buttons, it just takes one sweet little smile, one sweet little hug and kiss of my belly, one sweet little "I love you mom.  You my friend?", one sweet little Riley comment to make all of those trying times disappear.  I am thankful for the confidence that Riley has, that I have always lacked.  I am thankful that Riley feels comfortable enough and loved enough to tell me when she's done something wrong, to tell me when she is scared, and to come to me when she needs comfort.  I hope that she always feels that close to me as she continues to grow.

Thankful #3 - Marc.  He's been a pain in the butt lately and is completely unsympathetic this pregnancy but I can't imagine my life without him.  We somehow seem to get through all the madness in our life together and I am thankful that I have such a strong, resilient partner in him.  I am also thankful that he finally realized that there is a baby in me and he has painted his room and helped get it ready for his arrival!  (I had to throw that one in there just to bust his chops).

Thankful #4 - A healthy pregnancy and the team of doctors who are keeping an eye on our little guy and assuring me that all is well in there and that despite him being small like his sister was that he's perfectly healthy.  After 18 months of trying and lots of heartbroken months, despite my current misery, I am so thankful for this pregnancy and the healthy baby boy taking over my body and rearranging all of my insides.  A am thankful we get to see the same team of top Doctors that diagnosed Riley's clubfeet and I am so thankful for their technology that gives us a little extra piece of mind so we can have one less thing to worry about as we expand our family.

Thankful #5 - My clubfoot group.  I haven't had much to say recently about Riley's clubfeet, we are sort of in a holding pattern with that.  But I am thankful for the group I joined when Riley was diagnosed because without that group I would not have "met" a group of women who have all gone through the journey and lived the ups and downs of clubfeet.  And particularly the group led me to my dear friend Amber.  What started out as advice on treatment and pep talks from Amber (her son Brody is about 6 months older than Riley) has turned into a truly amazing friendship.  And though we have only met in person once we are in constant contact through email even though clubfoot seems to be a thing of the past for both of us, and have developed a truly one of kind friendship.  I know that I can always go to Amber and vent, complain, cry, share wonderful news and no matter what she is always supportive, never judging and always there.  So I am truly thankful for the clubfoot group for bringing us together.

Thankful #6 - Clubfeet.  In many ways we have a love hate relationship.  I love what clubfeet has taught us about strength, resilience, defying the odds, looking past imperfections to see the beauty in something, not judging something by it's appearance because behind a defect, an abnormality may lie the strongest, smartest, sweetest, most beautiful of creatures.  I also hate it though, I hate that I am constantly worrying about Riley's feet, will she need surgery, will she be self conscience when she's older, I hate putting the brace on every night, especially when she's "grumpy grumpy grumpy."  I hate that I am going to have to explain that her feet were born a little different than her brother and that's why she has to wear her "night nights" and he won't have to.  But mostly, I love that it's made Riley (and us) stronger, more determined, and more compassionate of those who aren't as lucky as us. 

Thankful #7 - Family and friends.  Old and new that are continually there to support us and be a positive source of love in Riley and our lives.  I am so thankful for the amazing group of friends that I have from college, they like Amber, are always there, never judging, and always ready to have a good time.  I'm so fortunate that 10 years later despite being spread across the country we are all so tight, thank you Facebook for helping with that!  And I am thankful for all of the new friends that we have made in the past year, mostly through Riley's day care.  We have been so lucky to have met such an awesome group of families.  I am also thankful that my grandfather is still with us at 99 and that Riley and hopefully the new baby will get to know him.  He is a remarkable man who loves his family like no other and I love that Riley loves her Poppa Jack, she even asked to sing him happy birthday on his birthday last week and pretends to talk to him on the phone.  It warms my heart to hear her say "I remember Poppa Jack." 

Thankful #8 - My job.  I am so lucky to be in a new job that values family, that encourages you to spend time with your family, and that realizes that family comes first.  I was at a dinner last week with Sr Leadership and the Sr VP of my group told me that I should take as much time off from work when the baby comes as I want, that I will have a job waiting (despite not being covered by FMLA) and that I should take the opportunity to bond with my new baby but also my daughter because it is time that you will never have again.  How did I land in such a wonderful company?  I keep waiting for the floor to fall out from beneath me but the message is always the same, don't worry about it, you're job will be here, take the time off, work at home if you're not feeling well.  I am so thankful to be in such a positive environment now.

Baby Brother

Today I had my monthly ultrasound check-up and since it was at 8:15 in the morning and didn't interfere with nap time we decided to take Riley to see if it helped her understand that her baby brother is on his way.  Riley has been acting up lately and we think it's partly because she's feeling the pinch of baby brother's arrival since we've been getting his room ready.  We hoped that getting her involved would help her grasp that baby brother was coming.  Riley wasn't quite sure what was going on but when the Dr came in she got totally into in.  The Dr went straight to his face so that she could see and we got some great pictures of his face.  The Dr even printed off a couple so that Riley could take them to school for show and tell during circle time.  Riley clung to the pictures the entire way.  When we got to school Riley ran into her class and straight to her teacher yelling "Look at my baby brother!"  All of the kids crowded around and Riley showed the picture of her brother who is "in mommy's tummy!" 

Our little man posing for us

Riley asked baby brother to move his hands so she could see his face

Proud big sister showing all of her friends at school her baby brother

All went well at the ultrasound, I've been having contractions so they checked to make sure I wasn't progressing and all looks good so they are just Braxton-Hicks so that's a good thing.  The baby is actually on the small side for the first time all pregnancy.   I was worried at first that we were headed down the same path as we did with Riley but the Dr said he looks great, he's only measuring 2 days behind his due date and that we probably just have small babies and that's ok.  He's currently weighing in at 4lbs 7oz (at 33 1/2 weeks) which is what Riley weighed when we brought her home from the hospital so he'll be bigger than she was, just not 8lbs, which I suppose isn't a bad thing for me! 

And our little adventure seems to have worked because for the first time Riley referred to her brother as her brother and not her sister and called him by his correct name!

Cute Conversation

I absolutely love that I can have full on conversations with Riley now.  Today on the way to school I asked her if she wanted to come with Daddy and I on Friday to see baby brother (I have an ultrasound scheduled).  At first she said "Maybe not, we might have to go home."  A reference to the fact that last Friday she was supposed to go with me to the Dr for my monthly appointment, only for us to get up there and have them call and cancel, TWICE!  Yes, 2 trips to Walnut Creek (about 30-40 minutes away) only to be called as I was pulling off the freeway to tell me that the Dr had to go to the hospital and couldn't see me.  I was one unhappy pregnant lady.  Since the ultrasound is at a different Dr and he generally does not have to go to deliveries (knock on wood), I told her we'd probably be ok.  So then I started telling her about the ultrasound so she wouldn't be scared, I told her they have a special wand and they put it to my stomach and then we all watch the TV in front of us and we can see baby brother.  So our conversation evolved from there:

Riley: "I help hold your shirt?"
Me: "Absolutely, you can definitely help by holding my shirt."  Way back at the beginning of my 2nd trimester she had to come with me to the Dr and the nurse had her hold my shirt while she listened to the heart beat, how she remembers this stuff I have no idea.
Riley: "Once upon a time, Riley was in mommy's tummy."  Again, no idea how she knows this stuff.
Me:  "That's absolutely right, you were in my tummy a long time ago!"
Riley: "I go back?"
Me: "No, I like you better on the outside, besides I don't think you would fit anymore, you're such a big girl and baby brother barely fits now and he's much smaller."
Riley: "Why?"
Me: "Well  I like you on the outside because we can do all sorts of stuff together, like coloring, and puzzles, and going to the park, and singing songs, and tickling, and going to Disneyland."
Riley: "When baby brother is born we take him to Disneyland!?!"
Me:  "Yes, we'll try to go to Disneyland when baby brother is born."
Riley: "And we go on the dumbo ride lots, I love the Dumbo ride.  I not scared of the dumbo ride"

Oh the precious early morning conversations with an almost 3 year old!

East Coast Visitor

This weekend my good friend from college, Sara, aka Herman, came out to visit.  She was visiting from NYC for work so we drove up to Napa to see her and spend the afternoon with her.  We went to lunch in Yountville and then headed to the outlets.  Riley was so excited to meet Mommy's friend Sara.  She made up the "Sara" song and told everyone who would listen in Starbucks that we were going to Napa to see "mommy's friend Sara."   We had a yummy Napa lunch and then hit up the outlets where we got some smoking bargains.  Sara scored at Cole Haan, Marc bought me a pair of sunglasses, and we got tons of clothes for Riley and the new baby at Gymboree, including a polo shirt for $0.99, you can't even get a shirt that cheap at Wal-Mart!!!  I had a great time catching up with an old friend! 

Adorable

My co-worker made me this adorable "diaper cake" as a thank you for a bunch of Riley's hand-me downs.  I had never gotten a diaper cake before and thought it was adorable! 

Busy Bees

I seriously don't know where the time has gone but somehow the weekends are slipping away!  Two weekends ago we had a very busy social Saturday.  We started the day off with our weekly trek to gymnastics and then we headed to Super Franks (like Chuck E Cheese) for a play date with Riley's friend Joey from school.  When I told Riley we were going to a play date with Joey, she said "But I didn't bring my bathing suit!"  She associated playing with Joey outside of school with his birthday party which was a pool party.  Too funny!  We had lots of fun at Super Franks with Joey and his parents and his baby brother Alex.  Joey and Riley get along so well!

Then on the way home, Marc said to me, "why don't we invite Bella and her parents over for dinner and to watch the Stanford game?"  I was like, "Who are you and what have you done with my husband, Mr Social Butterfly."  So we got in touch with Bella's parents and sure enough, they were free so they came over for some pizza and wine while the girls played. 

Spooky Scary!

Well it's official, Halloween is Riley's favorite holiday.  She woke up Monday and was SO excited about Halloween. I told her I would get her early and we would come home, put on her costume, and then go over to her friend Ryan's for dinner and then trick or treating.  I got her home around 4:00 and she was rip roaring ready to go, never mind that the party didn't start until 5:00 and Marc was not yet home.  Once it was time to start the fun, Riley was all over it.  She had a blast playing with Ryan, Owen and her new friends, our new neighbors Clay and Connor.  And as soon as it turned dark: "Let's go trick or treating guys!"  Riley led the pack the entire night, she outlasted the boys and was running ahead of everyone yelling "Let's go to the next house guys!"  Marc and I couldn't believe how big of a girl she looked when she marched up to each house and rang the doorbell all by herself.  She exerted an air of confidence well beyond her age!  She really is growing up too fast!  And, her Halloween costume, the negotiation was SO worth it!  She could have gotten the pick of the next two or three birthday parties and the rest of her Halloween costumes for life in that negotiation! But shhh, don't tell her, this mommy needs to hold onto some of her cards!  I absolutely LOVED her costume and as she walked down the street you could see the sass in her little owl body as she shook her toosh down the street.  She did a great job of keeping the hood on the entire night!  It was so adorable on her that I didn't want her to take it off!  (I wonder/hope if it will fit her next year!)

Hanging with her best buddy Ryan

All dressed and ready to go Trick or Treating

The gang - Owen, Ri, Clay, Connor, and Ryan

Yep, the little owl is leading the charge.

This was a typical reaction, after each house she came running down the driveway with whatever she got so excited to show us  the new piece of candy!

Posing with daddy, and yes, that is a cooler full of adult beverages (don't worry, none for me this year), it's a block tradition!

Such good friends!