Battle of the Bumbos

Jacob has been holding his head up very well lately and wanting to sit up so I decided to try out the Bumbo the other day.  Jacob loved it, he was all grins.  After I sent this photo of him to Marc:

he asked me to do a side by side of Riley and Jacob in the Bumbo:

Riley was 3 months in this picture and Jacob is not quite 2 1/2 months in his picture, believe me that he is huge now?  And I definitely see a resemblance between them looking at their baby pictures side by side.

She Did It!

When it comes to being daring, Riley's a bit of a big talker but lately we've convinced her to be braver.  At the end of January she actually got brave enough to go on the rope swing at gymnastics but she was too afraid to drop into the foam pit.  2 weeks ago she wouldn't even touch the swing and last week she said she wanted to go on and drop but they didn't let the kids go in the pit because they were set up for a competition.  But today at gymnastics she was super brave and she did the entire kit and caboodle, twice!  So proud of my big girl!  Riley is doing fantastic in her non-parent participation class better than she did with us there by her side!  Poor girl is still too short for a lot of the stuff but she manages to figure out how to participate on her own, even if it means standing on her tip-toes and stretching to grab onto the bar.  So proud of her persistence! 

Big Boy

Jacob is huge, I don't know any other way to describe him.  His arms and legs aren't fat, he's just a stocky boy (with a bit of a belly).  I put him in his car seat today and he just looked huge in it.  I remember when he looked like this in his car seat and we had to stuff blankets around him to keep him stable:

Now he looks long here because his little snuggly (size Newborn) is so big on him but his legs are no where near the end of his outfit. 

Today he looked like this in his car seat:

His 0-3 month clothes are getting too small on him, I've actually had to retire two 0-3 month outfits already because they were capri pants on him, which came in handy this week since it was 75 degrees out and the poor kid has no warm weather clothes in 0-3 months, but I'm not a fan of "man"pris.  And this outfit was big on him 2 weeks ago and today it fit perfectly, if not getting a little small on him.  I know I shouldn't compare them but when Riley was 2 months she was just starting to wear newborn clothes and was still in some preemie clothes!  He's one big boy and he definitely wants to start sitting up and observe what's going on around him!

R-I-L-E-Y

We've been working (and so has school) on teaching Riley how to spell her name.  For a long time she was R-I-L-B-Y (maybe because a B looks like an E sort of???) but she seems to have gotten her first name down.

We're still working on Zimmerman, that's a little bit harder for her, so far she haz Z-I-M-M down but it gets a little lost after that. 

Watch Out Kristi Yamaguchi

there's a new ice skater in town!  Marc was off on Monday so we decided to take Riley to the ice skating rink in Dublin.  They had open skate from 11-4:30 so we headed over.  It took Riley a little convincing to try out the ice but she was super excited about going on the "snow" with daddy.  Poor Marc had to carry Riley around the rink a lot but she did get down and try ice skating quite a bit and did fantastic for her first time on the ice!  She's already asking to go back!

Clubfoot Check-Up

Friday was Dr day, in addition to Jacob's 2 month check-up Riley had her check-up at Dr H to check her progress.  We're 6 weeks brace free so it was time to go in and see how her feet were progressing.  I've noticed that pesky left foot turning in some but everyone thought I was crazy so I tried not to think about it much.  Marc worked at home and we headed up early for a nice lunch together.  We went to McCovey's which is a Giants-themed restaurant in Walnut Creek.  Riley yelled "Go Giants" the whole lunch and she really loved having a meal with the both of us.  They gave her lots of goodies such as these:

After lunch we headed to Dr H where I am proud to say, unfortunately I have the eye of a well-trained orthopedic surgeon because her left foot is indeed turning in on occasion.  The good news is, it isn't as bad as last time and when she stands on her tip-toes her correction is perfect but it is indeed turning in.  The more good news is, we are still brace-free for 7 more weeks and then we go back for another check-up but Dr H did tell us not to get rid of her "night-night" shoes yet.  While we were there she told Dr H (or the "bossy-man" as Riley calls him) that she wanted to wear her "night-nights."  She was practically begging to wear them.  He said he has never had a kid ask to wear them and that we should be enlisted to train other parents.  So all in all a good visit and right now he wouldn't even consider doing surgery on her so I guess that is great news as well!  We'll just have to wait and see what April 6 brings, we're not in the clear yet!

2 Months Old

I can't believe it but Jacob turned 2 months old on Sunday.  Seriously, where does the time go!?!  Other than his little respiratory virus that he was fighting last week he is doing great!  I took him for his 2 month appointment on Friday and we were able to stop the albuterol treatments, thank goodness, they made him crazy!  They made him very restless and he barely slept last week.  Thank goodness my mom was able to fly up on Monday and help out with feedings, Riley and stuff around the house.  I seriously don't think I would have made it through the week without her!  Anyway, the Dr thought Jacob looked great, he weighed 10lbs 3oz (10th percentile) and was 21.5 inches long (4th percentile) and she said he was really strong when she put him on his belly, he was able to lift his neck and back very well and for quite a while so she was very happy with his progress.  He's a little butterball compared to Riley (she was 7lbs 7oz at 2 months), he's going to be bigger than her in no time!  He's smiling and cooing up a storm and I have many "conversations" with him.  I've even gotten a few giggles from him here and there.  Unfortunately, he's also in a needy stage and wants to be held non-stop and is very hard to settle to go to sleep.  I transitioned him to his crib this week and he seems to be much more comfortable in there than in the snuggle nest in our bed.  I'm hoping this needy phase is very short-lived, I am one tired momma and am really wanting my energy back so that I can work out and get back into shape. 
Here are his monthly pictures:

My little helper posing with her baby brother.  Note that she has a purse with her, she's been leaving the house with a purse of some sort and there is always a "phone" in it.  While we are driving she says "wait, I need to check my email on my phone."  Pretty funny!  She also gets calls from Nana and Poppy all the time, it's pretty cute watching her role play and make believe.

This photo epitomizes how our week was.  Notice Riley's concern, it's her chair so she has a vested interest in who pukes on it.  :)  Bad lesson for her after she shared her chair with brother so very nicely only to have him puke on it. :)

Official 2 Month Photo post-puke wardrobe change

Somebody has beefed up in the last month!

And in case you are curious, a link to Riley's 2 month chair picture.

Whew, where does the time go???

These past few weeks have been a blur.  After Riley's birthday party Riley and I both got sick, Riley had a bad cold with a low grade fever and I got the stomach flu.  I was so out of commission I couldn't even sit up to pump and poor Marc had to work at home and take care of Riley, Jacob and I.  On top of all of the sickness, Riley fell out of her chair at dinner and hit her head on the tile and had a nasty bump so we had to keep her awake for 2 hours and then wake her up after 2 hours.  We were pretty much a hot mess!   Now Jacob has what Riley had and is actually on a nebulizer treatment every 4 hours.  I am actually feeling pretty overwhelmed and am really hoping that my mom is able to fly up tonight to help.   Between, pumping, breathing treatments and feedings plus Riley in the mix I have no idea how I can handle everything so hopefully mommy can come to the rescue.  Luckily, Jacob does not have RSV, that came back negative and at 8 weeks he weighed 9lbs 11oz, my little beefcake.  Jacob is at that awesome age.  He has started to smile and light up when he sees us and it is awesome.  He's taken a particular liking to Riley's old fishy play mat and a green plush frog rattle.  He's cooing and bunch and is overall a super happy guy (minus this respiratory virus that he has right now).

Riley is a total trip, I am super happy to say she seems to have gotten past her extreme jealousy and is seriously in love with her brother.  Her Riley-isms get more funny with each day.  Right now, our favorites are when she calls her Crocs, her "crotches."  She even asked me where my "crotches" were and when I told her I didn't have any she told me I should get some "crotches just like her."  Marc and I can't help but laugh.  She also calls the bank the "piggy bank."  I really need to write down all of the Riley-isms when she says them because they are really hilarious.  All Riley can talk about right now is when Brother is older and he goes to school with her, all she has to do is ask her teacher and she can go visit her brother whenever she wants.  She is VERY excited!  And she loves to help with anything and everything.  When you say you need to do something out loud she chimes in "I can help you" and gets to work at the task at hand.  It's actually very sweet!

So here's some pictures from the last few weeks.

One of Riley's favorite birthday presents!  Roller skates just like the Care Bears have in their movie.  She's actually pretty good at them!

First smiles from my handsome pants!  I can't get enough of them!  Fortunately there are no shortages on Jacob-pants smiles, he has plenty, especially for Riley and I.  He's definitely a Mamma's boy! :)