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!

Pumpkin Carving

Well we held out on carving pumpkins until the very last minute because it's been so dang hot here.  Even on Sunday it was close to 80 degrees near us (have I mentioned how over it I am???).  We pretty much had the opposite situation of the snow covered east coast out here, I was worried that Riley's costume would be too hot for trick or treating.  And there's one thing I learned growing up in San Diego about Halloween, is that if you carve your pumpkins too early and it's hot, they get moldy and are gross before Halloween.  So Sunday afternoon after Riley's nap we decided to carve our pumpkins.  Riley definitely tried to help which was super cute but it made the process last much longer than it needed to.  My back was killing me Sunday after making cupcakes for our get together on Monday and making a couple of baked zitis to stick in the freezer to help me out during the week so I wanted to get it done so I could relax but also make it fun and enjoyable for her.  I do feel quite guilty that I can't seem to keep up with Riley these days so I really wanted to try to make Halloween special for her since I have to tell her so many times throughout the day/week that we can't do something because mommy doesn't feel well or her back is hurting.  It's really hard being 7 months pregnant with no family help around us and Marc commuting!  Poor Riley is taking it all in stride though, it's just my mommy guilt getting the best of me.  So I really tried hard to suck it up and make it fun for Riley and keep her involved, luckily her attention span is still pretty short so by the time we go to the big pumpkin she was over the "icky guts" and ran off to play with her dolls which allowed me to speed it along.  We went old school with Riley's pumpkin since it was too small for the pumpkin carving kit that I bought plus it made it easy and speedy.  She didn't seem to mind and I think she had fun doing it!  Next year we will definitely make a bigger deal out of it all for her!

We got the top off!

Scooping the guts out, it's so yucky!

Riley's pumpkin!

Who is this girl???

Riley is quite the character.  At our last ultrasound the Dr asked about her to get a gauge for how big she was and if she ever caught up.  When I told him she was still 10th percentile on weight and 12th on height he asked if she was meeting all of her milestones.  I said yes and that's she actually ahead on many of her developments (speech and fine motor skills) and he said "well good things come in small packages."  I told him that "what Riley lacks in size, she certainly makes up for in personality."  I think this photo pretty much sums up how big her personality really is:

Riley is very excited about her birthday that is coming up (it's been coming up for about 9 months now!) but she is beyond ecstatic and put on her shades and got her cupcakes ready as we were getting ready to go to the pumpkin patch and was singing happy birthday to herself and then making us sing her happy birthday!  This girl is too much!

Wordless Wednesday

Happiness...

is having your almost 3 year old say in the middle of Target unaided, "I love my baby brother."  And then leaning over to kiss you belly. 

I don't know if we were more shocked that she said this unaided, we weren't even talking about him, or if she actually got it right that it's her brother and not sister!  Now we just need to work on her getting his name correct! :)