Riley-isms

Like her father, Riley is full of all sorts of Riley-isms.   See Daddy's ism's here.  Marc's current classic Marcism is when he told me that part of the kitchen sink wasn't waterproof...


Here are some current Riley-ism's:

"Oh no Riley tooshie!" (After passing gas - lovely right?)
"Riley fahted!" (I know we shouldn't laugh but it sounds so cute coming out of her, the Riley-ism, not the toot!)
"Riley medicine (which sounds like Madison) ear."  (When she gets an ear ache she tells us she needs her medicine)
"I'm here in strolleh!" (She's not necessarily in her stroller)
"Outshide? no!"
"Where ah you!?!"
"Riley did did do it"

And my current favorite: "No thank you please"

Weeknight Fun

The other night when Marc got home Riley decided that she needed to tuck us in and get us ready for bed, I have ice on my lip because Riley wanted YaYa to go to sleep with us and threw her down and YaYa's head hit me in the mouth.  I instantly got a fat lip, with my boss' boss' boss coming into town, lovely.  Luckily my Cookie Monster ice pack worked and I just have a little cut now.  Good thing Riley is so stinkin' cute and said she's sorry and ran to the freezer to get me some ice.

Just Like Mommy

I was making breakfast on Sunday morning and it was WAY TOO quiet in the family room where Riley was and I found her like this...

Riley was trying to get some work done before we headed to Xavier's party

Work on a pink and purple laptop is FUN!

She wasn't getting into trouble after all!

Pump It Up!

Sunday we headed out to Pump It Up in Oakland for Xavier's 3rd birthday party!  I can hardly believe that he is 3 since I remember holding him in the hospital.  Riley was asking for gymnastics on Sunday morning so I tried to explain to her that we were going to go bounce and it was going to be WAY more fun than gymnastics.  For those of you who don't know, Pump It Up is basically a warehouse with a bunce of rooms and there are bouncy houses in each of the rooms, it's pretty cool!  I think Riley was a little young for it, and she was definitely too short (the minimum height requirement was 34" and she's 33") but we let her go on everything, mostly because she wanted to.  Marc and I (mostly Marc) had to help her through everything but her favorite by far was the slide!  I must say it was pretty fun! :)

Not quite sure what to make of it all

Starting to realize this is pretty fun!

Up and over the obstacle course

Here I come!

Group photo

More CA Fun in the Sun

Sunday was about as gorgeous as Saturday so after lunch I let Riley go outback to play.  We have a running joke between Marc, Riley and myself about how I always say no to outside.  Marc will ask Riley what a dog says and she says "woof" and a kitty cat and she says "meow" and when he asks her what Mommy says she'll say "outside no."  Apparently I say no a lot to going outside but to my defense it's dark outside now when we get home from work/school and it's been cold and rainy.  So while we were eating lunch I suggested that when Riley was done eating that we go play outside for a bit since Daddy was watching football.  She looked stunned and then answered with an enthusiastic "Yesh!"  So we headed outside, it was quite warm out, I had to take off my sweater and I was still warm in a t-shirt!  Riley had fun playing outside!  Marc bought her a pink tee and bat this weekend so we took it out to play, she's a natural!

Riley loves her new tee  and bat, it appears that Riley is right handed which is interesting because Marc and I are both left handed. 

Marc was pretty excited that Riley took to her batting like a natural, now we need a mitt!

My future softball star!

A CA Winter Day

We have been having AMAZING weather here the last week or so, like high 60s, low 70s, not a cloud in sight.  Sorry mid-west and east coast friends who have been getting a ton of snow, but feel better knowing that while you've been having snow days, I've been at working itching to get out into the gorgeous weather!  After Riley's nap today we decided to head up to Blackhawk Plaza for an outdoor lunch, yep, an outdoor lunch in the middle of January.  That my friends is why we pay so much to live in this beautiful state.  We headed to a Mexican restaurant with a bagful of bread so Riley could feed the ducks while Marc and I enjoyed a drink on the patio before lunch.  The best part, the weather is supposed to stick around at least for another week.  Go to love Cali!!!

"Riley did did do it" opening the bag to feed the duckies.  Poor girl got bit twice by a duck, maybe now that she knows that biting hurts, she'll stop biting!  A mom can dream!

Hello darling!  (Seriously, is there anything cuter than a toddler in sunglasses?  I think not!)

Cheese!

Riley opted to eat the bread herself after the "mean duck" bit her twice.  His loss!

Apparently the bread was quite delicious!

Posing with "Riley daddy!"

Girl's Night Out!

A few of my girlfriend's took me out on Friday night to celebrate my birthday.  On a side note it feels like my actual birthday was forever ago!  They took me to Simply Fondue for dinner and drinks and it was a BLAST!  Cheese, chocolate, friends, what's not fun about that???  I had so much fun and it totally make me look forward to my college reunion girl's weekend coming up in June!

What's a girl's night out without some martini's!?!

Mmmmm, pom martini!

Lori and Elisabeth

Shari and I

Chocolate Reese's peanut butter fondue and Campfire fondue (chocolate with marshmallows) = YUM!

Group shot, super fun times!

Nastics!

We enrolled Riley in gymnastics again, we even got Dr H's blessing this time.  Oops, forgot to run it by him last time but all is good, he's ok with her doing it.  Anyway, Riley loves "nastics,"  she chants "nastics" the whole way there and is super eager to get on the balance beam.  She's gotten really good at it too and just needs to confidence to let go of my finger and I think she will be able to walk it by herself.  Marc came with us to the first class so he got Riley in action!

My Turn

With all of the excitement of Riley's birthday, mine gets lost!  But it's true, my birthday is 5 days after Riley's so yesterday I celebrated my 32nd birthday!  Wow!  How did I get so old!  :)  We mostly celebrated on Sunday since both Marc and I had to work on Monday and we really needed to get Riley back into her day care routine (she's been having a hard time with transitioning to the 2s room).  Sunday started off with me sleeping past 8AM for the the first time in probably 2 1/2 years, then I got up and went for a run for the first time since before I was pregnant with Riley!  Clearly I am extremely sore this week but it felt great to get running again and I am so looking forward to my jeans fitting better!  After we all got dressed went up to Walnut Creek since this weekend was beautiful, Saturday it was in the mid-60s here.  We did some shopping, had lunch, picked up dinner and headed home to get ready for the week.  My actual birthday (Monday) was good, my whole office went out to lunch for my birthday and then I took the afternoon off, worked out, made some cookies, got Riley early and had some sushi for dinner!  I'm looking forward to 32 being a better, luckier year for us! 

Here's a video of Riley singing me Happy Birthday, she loves to sing Happy Birthday!  Usually she sings it to herself, lots of times to Nate, and every so often to me.  This is her generic version!

Riley being silly!

They opened a Kara's Cupcakes in Walnut Creek so of course we stopped!

Salted Chocolate Caramel, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Java and Vanilla!

Flowers from Riley and Marc.  Marc had Riley go with him to the garage and had Riley carry them in and say "Happy Birthday Mommy!"  It was so cute, she followed the instructions perfectly!

At lunch in Walnut Creek



Love my pink flowers!



Say cheese Mommy!  Riley loves to take pictures!

Daddy's turn for the "Rileyrazzi!"

Peek-A-Boo, I see you!  She was supposed to be napping!

Birthday Fun

I was supposed to be traveling this week but my boss let me postpone my training so that I wouldn't miss Riley's birthday so I took Wednesday off for Riley's birthday so we could have a good girl's day.  Of course as motherhood seems to go, it didn't turn out how I had planned, Riley has had an awful cold all week with a cough that sounds like she's a 90 year old man who has smoked his whole life.  It's lovely.  I took her to the Dr on Monday and they told me it was bronchialitis and that we just have to let it pass.  Well Wednesday she seemed a bit better so we ventured to the mall to spend our Gymbucks and walked around a bit.  When we headed into Nordstrom to grab some lunch to bring home she barfed all over herself, there goes the cute little "2" t-shirt that Riley was wearing!  Lovely!  So we cleaned her up, grabbed lunch and then headed home.  After a nice nap she seemed to be feeling better so she had a snack, we played and then I made her Mac & Cheese from scratch for dinner, it was quite delicious.  Marc came home so we went for a little walk and then had dinner, opened presents and had some cake.  She them puked 4 times on my carpet, fun times!  But it was wonderful spending the day with her, I can hardly believe that she's 2 years old now!

Mmmm, mac and cheese!

Princess cake!

Cake time!

Make a wish!

Tada!  It's the birthday girl!

Official 2 Year Photo

My how she's grown over the year!

From birth to 2 years old!

Riley had her 2 Year Well Check today and all went well!  She is now up to 22lbs 4oz (4th percentile) and 33 inches (15th percentile!), she grew nearly 3 inches over the last 6 months!!!

On the Wonderful Marvelous Night You Were Born

"On the night you were born,

the moon smiled with such wonder

that the stars peeked in to see you

and the night wind whispered,

'Life will never be the same.'

Because there had never been anyone like you...

ever in the world."

-Nancy Tillman "On the Night You Were Born"

My Riley Girl

Happy 2nd Birthday!  Our favorite night time story pretty much sums up what your birth two years ago means to your Daddy and I.

I started this post several months ago because I knew that I would have a hard time putting down perfectly how your Daddy and I feel about you and how to best communicate my birthday wishes for you. How can you really write what it feels like to truly unconditionally love a child? The complete joy of watching you learn and grow and discover new things, the full heart from seeing pure joy on your face, and the pure agonoy of seeing you upset, hurt, or sad - there aren't the right or enough words for any of it.

Two years ago you surprised us by coming nearly a month early and deciding that today (January 12th) was your birthday, and it truly was the "wonderful, marvellous night you were born." Riley, you have come a long way from that 4lbs of Fury with crooked feet that wowed all of the Doctors with your strength, you're now our 20lbs of Terror, you're chatty, wicked smart and you continue to bring unprecendented happiness to us every single day. It's hard to even think back to those first few days when you were so small and we had no idea what to do which such a little girl!  The one thing has stayed constant as you have grown and transformed from our tiny baby to our spunky little girl - you still know what you want and anything less is just unacceptable to you!

These past two years have been the most blissful whirlwind, I hardly remember life before you. Daddy and I could never imagine loving you as much as we do - how could you possibly love someone beyond measure? - but we do. You never cease to amaze us, we often look at each other and wonder how we could have made someone so vibrant, outgoing, and full of life. You truly have been an inspiration your whole two years of life. From conquering clubfoot to lighting up a room with your smile and your sweet little voice saying "hi," you are truly an amazing little girl. I know that today is your day to make wishes and I am sure, knowing you, that they will have something to do with Elmo, Mickey, the Muppets, or a doggy but I want to share some of my wishes for you, because after all today is a birthday for me in a sense too. Today is the day that you made me a mother, the very best gift of all. So here goes, my wishes for you my Birthday Girl:

My first wish for you is for you is to never change, not ever, you are perfect in every which way (ok, you can be super rotten sometimes but you usually follow it up with something utterly sweet and adorable and all is forgiven). I know every parent thinks their child is perfect but we want you to know, we love you just the way you are, and when you are older and begin to doubt that, I hope you look back at this and remember how much Daddy and I love you, no matter what. What I mean is, you have a way of lighting up the world around you and I hope you keep that innocence and unbias your entire life. My best example is our daily trips to Peet's together, every morning we go in and you say hello to everyone in Peet's. Most people are tired and grumpy and just want their coffee so that they can get on the road and go to work, but then they get hit with a "RiRi hi" (or 20 depending on how quickly they acknowledge you) and their whole demeanor changes. The poor person who gets in line behind us doesn't know that they are going to get a million "hi's" while they wait for their coffee. You don't discriminate who gets hit with a "RiRi hi" either; the police officers, your "BFF Chrissy" who works at Peet's, the old man that we see every morning, sitting alone, reading his paper, the guy who drives the porta-potty truck, the Doctor waiting in line in his scrubs heading to the hospital for his rounds; they all get the same enthusiastic "hi." My first wish for you is to always say "hi," you have a way of drawing people to you and brightening their day. It's magical and a trait that very few people posses.  Daddy and I marvel at your ability to engage people.

My second wish for you is to always remain a fighter. I've seen you recently get frustrated with things that you can't do right away. Never forget that people told you that you would be grossly delayed and that quite possibly you wouldn't be able to run and play like other kids on the playground because of your clubfeet. There was even a time when we questioned if you would ever be able to walk normal but you proved, at a very young age, that you are tough and you are a fighter and you can do anything any other kid can do and you can do it darn well. One of the happiest moments this year was when your Day Care Director told me that she saw you playing on the playground with your friends and that she could never tell that you had clubfeet, you were keeping up with all of the other kids, in fact, she said that you were leading the pack.  The happiest moment this year; last Friday when we went to Dr. H and he graduated you from your brace, you owned clubfeet and you achieved this because you never gave up.  You're a fighter Riley, sure it may have taken you longer to do everything but you still managed to hit every milestone well within normal range, both in a brace and without it, you learned everything two ways. You, my love, can do anything you want and set out to do and you can do it well, better than well, you can excel!  Never forget that you can and you will!

I don't want to get too greedy on your day so this is my final wish for you, I wish that you always remain the happy, go-lucky girl that you are now. It's no secret that your Daddy and I are pretty high strung, we marvel at your ability to adjust so easily and go with the flow. Your have the ability to dance like no one is watching (though I know you hope that everyone is watching you), you are no wallflower my love and I admire you for that.  In fact, this is one of your traits that I admire most about you, you express you emotions so freely and dance when you are happy, no matter who's watching. When things get tough in our life, I remind myself of how well you carry yourself and how you adjust to all of the situations that you have been faced with in your two years of life. You adjust so well to different situations and are hardly ever phased by change. This is another valuable trait that many people lack and so I wish for you that you stay happy and that you stay flexible with whatever life brings you.

One more of my favorite passages from our favorite nighttime story before my letter to you ends:

"Never before, in story or rhyme

(Not even once upon a time)

Has the world ever known a you my friend,

and it never will, not ever again...

You are the one and only ever you."

Happy Birthday my Riley Madison. We love you more than words can express and we wish you nothing but health, happiness and good in your many years ahead. You have taught us what unconditional love truly means, you made us a family, and you have given us more joy than we could have ever imagined.

"Love you forever, like you for always"
Mommy and Daddy

1 Day old

1 year old

On the eve of her 2nd birthday





They Say It's Your Birthday...

So let's have a PARTY!  Saturday we had Little Miss Riley's 2nd Birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's and it was a blast!  We invited a bunch of Riley's friends from school and she was beyond excited to see all of her friends over the weekend!  I'll let the pictures tell the story!  Brace yourselves, there's a lot, and I didn't include a lot of pictures of her friends because there were already a ton of pictures!

Licking the frosting can...

A close up of the owl cupcakes

Best balloon ever!  Marc surprise Riley (and I) with it before the party!

Other balln that he bought

Party favors

Mr Jake!

The birthday girl

Riley and her friend Amelia

Riley having fun at her party

Ryan having fun

Riley's friend Isabella (Riley almost wore the same shirt!)

The Nate (in red) and his brother Tristan.  They were very excited to see each other and hugged right away.  The next morning Riley asked to call Nate.

The whole gang, we had 17 kids and their parents!

Give me my cupcake!

Amela likes to dance as much as Riley does

Getting ready for Chuck E Cheese to come out!

A birthday princess!

Dancing with Amelia

Rocking her cupcake!

Family photo with Chuck E

Ticket Blaster with Daddy

Little Leo (1 1/2 weeks old) with his party favor

Opening presents after her nap.  I put the footy on her (which she's never worn before) and she grabed her foot and said "Oh no stuck!"  I had to explain to her that it was supposed be and would keep her feet toasty.  She very much enjoyed her sleeper.  We changed her before bed so as not to risk blister with her brace but I think she going to love footy pj's when she does graduate from her brace!

Watching the muppets with her crown!

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