Olympic Fever

I love the Olympics.  They've been advertising for months at Riley's gymnastics place for the gymnastics trials down in San Jose.  I looked into getting tickets but they were super pricey and I wasn't sure how into it Riley would be, especially since the only prices that I would even consider paying would be up in the nose bleed section.  But then I got an email at work that we had some tickets that had been opened up for private use.  Score!  I jumped on it.  Kellogg's is an official sponsor of the Olympics and we have a gymnast as one of our athletes, Jordyn Wieber, so I was totally excited to jump on these and take Riley.  I called Marc up to tell him I was going to get tickets for Riley and I and he wanted to go to so I was able to score 3 tickets for us and we made it a family of four outing.  I picked the kids up just after lunch, took Riley to the Dr so her peditrician could chekc her out after her illness (we need to recheck her liver in a month but the Dr wasn't concerned) then we ran home quickly and headed down to Marc's office to pick him up and introduce Jacob to his co-workers.  Then we headed to HP Pavillon in San Jose to spend some time in the Hospitality Suite before headed to our seats.  Our seats were awesome!  We were in row 10, row 8 was the first row, and were right by the beam but had a great view of the vault and could see floor routines, the only thing that was far away was the uneven bars but we could either watch it from a distance or watch it on the videotron.  Not a biggie!  It was an awesome experience!  We didn't get home until close to 10 which meant for 2 hot messes we call children in the car but it was totally worth it, it really was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Riley was totally in it, she was clapping along with the crowd and was in awe of the flips that the girls were doing.  As was I, I can barely touch my toes so to see the girls move through the air the way they do is crazy to me!  Oh and I was watching the DVR of last nights events and I saw Riley and I on TV today!  So here are some pictures that I got!  I'm super excited to watch these girls in London now!

Enjoying the VIP Hospitality Suite

Our view, floor routine in the middle, vault at the bottom of the picture, uneven bars in the top left

Prime view of the beam

Road to London

The gymnasts!

Warming up for the beam rotation

Mary Lou Retton and Kari Strugg, Shawn Johnson was there also

Pantsomist enjoying a bottle

Riley nd the beam

Loving watching all of the cool moves the gymnasts have!

Sickness

Well Tuesday Riley took a turn for the worse.  Monday night/Tuesday morning was rough.  She woke up at about 1:30 with the runs, then Jacob was up at 2:30 and then Riley was up again at 3:30 throwing up in her bed.  When she woke up in the morning she complained of leg pain again and stomach ache.  I brought her downstairs and tried to get her to eat and drink.  She drank a bit but then threw up, then she rested, then threw up, and so on until about Noon.  There was a point where she was laying on the ground in her make-shift bed and she hadn't spoken in over an hour, I texted Marc to tell him and he said to take her to the Doctor.  I had already called in the morning and there were no appointments at all with any of the Doctors so I had to take her to Urgent Care.  This is how she looked most of the day:

When she woke up she was really slurring her words and wasn't making sense so I scooped her up and pack Jacob up and brought her to Urgent Care.  It was one of the worst experiences of my life.  She was so out of it and so hysterical that nothing would calm her down.  She was crying but no tears were coming out, she wouldn't let the doctor examine her, she wouldn't let the nurse give her an anti-nausea  medicine, all she wanted to do was go home. 

Well the Doctor did his exam and decided we should go to the ER, they had better equipment to deal with her.  I personally agreed, Riley was not herself and something was seriously wrong and I was getting kind of scared and just wanted her in a place where they could take care of her properly.  While they were getting the discharge papers together they were able to get an anti-nausea medicine in her and she fell asleep on my lap.  When she woke up she was perkier, she was making sense and she wasn't slurring her words.  I was able to get her to take some water and she asked to go potty.  The nurses were encouraged so they got a urine sample and got Riley to agree to giving blood which they sent over to the hospital.  They decided that Riley would be better off waiting for the results at home so we were able to go home and wait for the results.  I still couldn't get her to drink, she got home, laid down in the family room and fell asleep.  She refused to sleep in her bed yesterday, I think she was scared and wanted to be near me.  So we were there a total of 3 1/2 hours and she was diagnosed with dehydration.  After she woke up at home we had her drinking Gatorade and Pedialyte and were able to get her to drink enough to pee so we didn't have to go to the hospital.  Her tests results showed low sodium levels and an abnormality in one of her liver tests so I have to take her back on Friday for a recheck and to see if we need to recheck it or if her Dr thinks it's just from being dehydrated.

Wednesday she was much better!  She ate well, drank well, and was pretty much back to her old self.

I Like To Eat

So I have one kid who barely eats, fruits and veggies, mac and cheese, soup, pizza, that's pretty much it (Riley).  My other kid, he likes to eat everything, even if he doesn't particularly love it (green beans) he'll pretty much chow it down.  Jacob is happy as long as he's fed, seriously, he doesn't even really have to be rested, as long as his belly is full, he's all smiles.  He bounces with excitement when he sees a bottle and if it's not for him (like at day care) he freaks out if it passes him and goes to another child.  I bought one of those mesh feeders for him, normally they gross me out but this one had a teether attachment that came with it so I thought I'd give it a shot.  Riley was eating a banana on Monday and it looked like Jacob was going to jump her for it so I cut off a piece and gave him the feeder, it took him a bit to figure it out but once he did, he LOVED it!

My little ham

My little monkey

Heading for his mouth

We have contact

Getting the hang of it!

All done!

Day Off

I took Monday off because my parents had a later flight and figured it would be a fun day to spend with the kids.  I had all sorts of things planned out, Target run, a walk to the park and some quality time with them.  Well, Riley came down with the stomach flu and it looks like Jacob is on his way to having it so I spent my day off cleaning poop and puke but I did get to spend the day with the kids.  Poor Riley spent the day laying on the ground in a makeshift bed that she had me make and Jacob napped a lot.  I did sneak out to Target while my parents were still here because I desperately needed some stuff from there.  While I was there I saw this Fisher Price toy on clearance for $20 and the ages were 6-36 months so I figured both kids would like it.  Riley and Jacob have been playing SO well lately.  Now that Jacob is sitting up and is able to reach for stuff and interact with Riley, she is loving him.  Well this toy ended up being my savior for the day because it pretty much kept them busy all day long.  We had a few episodes of Jacob trying to get involved and Riley getting annoyed and grabbing stuff from him but overall they played beautifully together and both loved this toy!  Best $20 spent at Target in a long time!

Excuse Riley's crazy hair, she hadn't had a bath since before her recital and she still had all of the hair gunk in it.  And Jacob really is having fun, I think he's mid-"word" in this photo! :)

First Recital

Sunday was Riley's first dance recital.  It was quite the production and Riley was so excited about it all week.  Her Nana and Poppy came up for it and it's about all that she could talk about for weeks.  Wednesday we had her dress rehearsal and she did great, she followed her teacher Miss Jessica and did all the moves and loved being on stage.  When she was done she wanted to do it again.  Of course me being the hot mess of a mom of two that I am forgot my good camera and my video camera nd just had my iPhone.  Big miss on my part!  But I was highly optimistic for Sunday.  Well, the actual recital was a huge fail.  About 3 or 4 acts into the show, which was held in a huge auditorium, I got the "Will Riley Zimmerman's mom please report backstage."  I took off, I don't remember my feet hitting the floor, all I remember was turning around and seeing Jacob's bottle roll down the aisle (Marc was holding him thank goodness).  I sprinted, like seriously, I don't know how because I haven't run since before I was pregnant with Riley so if you do the math that's about 4 years ago and ran backstage.  She'd been complaining all weekend about a tummy ache so I seriously thought she had an accident and I had no idea how I was going to fix that situation.  Turns out Riley had a case of good old fashioned stage fright, which I think was magnified by the fact that she was coming down with the stomach flu.  She had been crying for me before they went on stage so they wanted me to calm her down.  I calmed her down enough that we went to the side of the stage with the other girls but she still wouldn't go out there.  They told me I could go dance with her.  Um, big fat no chance!  I didn't need to be on stage with three 3 year olds doing ballerina bear with about 100 people watching me stand there!  Then Miss Jessica said she would dance with Riley.  Nope, Riley didn't want that either.  I finally convinced Riley that it was ok to be scared but she needed to go try it and if she still didn't like it she could run off stage and I would be waiting for her.  So she lined up, looked up, started crying and ran off stage to the sound of the entire audience going "aw" and the show went on without her.  They held it for a few minutes but there was no way I was getting her out there.  It took a good 1/2 hour to calm her down.  She went on stage for the finale but in the arms of a teenage girl.  The dance place was so nice (she does dance through her school so I've never really met them) and they held her CD in the machine and had the girls do the dance after everyone left for just the families which of course Riley had no issues doing.  They video taped it so it would be on the DVD, which was so nice of them.  And her Marc thought he was getting out of the $40 DVD!  But despite the performance fail, Riley looked darn cute!!!  I missed the whole show but Marc and my parents said Jacob did great!  He watched the whole show and barely fussed, he loved watching all of the girls dance!

At rehearsal on Wednesday

Rehearsing

Loving being on stage

Ballerina Bear

A bun for the ballerina!

Riley and her teacher Miss Jessica

Riley and her bestie Bella

With Nana and Poppy

Handsome Pants got dressed up for the even

Brother/Sister post-show love

So proud of her flowers from Mommy and Daddy

6 Months Post

Friday Jacob had his 6 month well check and it went great.  Marc worked at home and was able to go with me, thank goodness because Jacob ended up with 4 vaccines!  (no vaccines at his next visit, thank goodness!)  He did great, he even laughed hysterically when the doctor was checking his hips, she said she doesn't get too many babies who laugh during that part of the exam.

Here are his stats:

Weight: 16lbs even (21st percentile) - not sure I believe this since everyone tells us how big he is
Height: 25.5" (9.95 percentile) - basically he's short and fat :)  Don't believe this either since he's filling out his 9 month clothes and they start at 26.5"
Head circumference: 17.3" (66th percentile!) - can we say bobble head!?!

We had a different nurse than we normally have, that's why I am skeptical of his stats. 

But Jacob checked out great, the Dr said he's super strong, super social and she had no concerns at all with his development.  She did say he does not need an 8oz bottle at night so that I should be giving him solids twice a day, which I've started in the last week.  He literally bounces up and down with excitement when he sees a bottle, it doesn't have to be his own, he's non-discriminatory.  He's still consuming mass quantities of milk, 21 ounces of breast milk and 12-14 ounces of formula.  I think Riley maxed out at 24 ounces so he's a bit of an oinker.  I suspect it's going to be difficult to break this kid of his bottle, he LOVES it!

My happy 6 month old after a Baby Mum Mum

The Days Are Long but the Months Are Short

Yesterday was big man's 1/2 birthday, 6 months, already!  The time has flown by, I really can't believe that Jacob is 6 months old!  He is so fun right now!  He's sitting on his own and loves to just sit in the middle of the room and play with his toys, we got a bunch of 6+ month boy toys when he was born so we've taken them out and he loves them, the boy loves his toys, even at day care he loves to sit and play and watch the older kids.  He's a rolling fool these days and as of about a week and a half ago, he sleeps most nights on his tummy.  This is still not helping his sleep cause as he's up for about an hour a night crying, I think he's teething because he's been extra drooly and desperate to get everything and anything in his mouth these days.  Last week he slept through the night every night so I'm at a loss as to why this week we don't have the same luxury.  We started solids and he's tried a sippy cup.  And he's partially weaned from his swaddle.  It's been a big month for big man!

Jacob likes:
Toys
Avocado
Bananas
Peaches
Pears
Raspberry noises
Daddy
Riley
Baby Mum Mums

Jacob Doesn't Like:
Sleep!
Sleep!
Sleep!

Seriously, he's a pretty happy dude, he's always smiling!  We just need to get the sleeping in check!

He's getting so big!  Sniff, sniff! :(



My big man!



Jacob saw Daddy and got super excited



My loves!

A very happy boy after a big bowl of cereal and bananas and a Baby Mum Mum

Better Late Than Never

I'm a little late, story of my life these days (have I mentioned how crazy 2 kids is!?!), so my Father's Day post is a bit late.  But better late than never I say!!!  We had an action packed Father's Day.  Marc and I were up at 4AM, compliments of Mr Jacob Pants whose new trick is to wake up at 4AM and cry for an hour and then pass out and sleep another 2-4 hours, fine on the weekends but not so cool on weekdays if you ask me.  Thank goodness for coffee!  Anyway, at 5AM we decided to just start the day so I got up and worked out, paid for that one later, then we got showered and dressed so that when the kids did wake up we were ready to roll.  Marc wanted to go up to Walnut Creek and walk around and have some lunch up there.  So we headed up around 10:30 after a stop at Peet's for Marc's free Father's Day coffee and hit up Nordstrom's and some other shops before having lunch.  Marc wanted to go to McCovey's which is a Giant's themed restaurant but they were reservation only (who would have thought since I didn't even think they took reservations ever!) so we settled on Pyramid Brewery, another favorite of ours.  While we were up there our friends Pat and Jen invited us to this winery Tenuta, Jen and I went there with some other mom's from our playgroup on our Mommy's Day out, and it's a lot of fun!  So we napped the kids in the car and headed over there in the afternoon.  We didn't get home until after 6, it was a long day! 

Here's this year's Father's Day photo, both kids were surprisingly cooperative.  Riley was so excited about the picture with Jacob, she's really starting to love her brother!  I originally was going to do the picture with Jacob on her lap but she wanted him next to her and that picture actually turned out the best!  I love the pictures of her hugging him!  So sweet!

Funny story about this picture, Marc took it to work and his co-worker (who has a daughter a few months older than Jacob) asked why I cropped his head and put it on another baby's body (I will admit his head looks ginormous in these photos, like bigger than his 3 1/2 year old sister's head ginormous) and Marc was like, "what are you talking about?"  Well she said "He has no neck, it looks like she put his head on another baby's body."  Marc said "No that's how he looks!"  Ha!  Mr Bobble Head, we take him Friday for his 6 month appointment so I am very curious to see how much he weighs and how long he has gotten!

Starships

So Riley's new song request is Nicki Minaj's "Starships," I know probably not entirely appropriate for a 3 year old but it's always on the radio when we go to and from day care.  The other day we were driving home and it was on the radio and I look in my rear view mirror and I see Riley with her hands in the air, bopping her head and singing along.  At first I thought she was waving so I asked who she was waving to and she said "I'm not waving, I'm dancing."  Well that was enough for me to egg her on the rest of the night so she walked around singing "Starships are meant to fly, hands up now touch the sky." Thus the hands in the air.  She's not singing in this video but the dancing is the best, I couldn't resist the dancing.

Multitasking

Friday was a fun day with the kids, I picked them up a little early from day care and took them to the park.  We came home first and Riley changed into her bathing suit so that she could play in the water area that they just opened up for the season.  Riley was so excited and I became her best friend for the weekend, it's the little things that make her happy.  Well got home and she wanted to play "going to Disneyland" which is her new favorite game.  She rolls around an ice chest that is on wheels that she refers to as her suitcase and we sit on the steps where she pretends to drive the bus to Disneyland.  Well Friday she decided that she was going on a "business trip to India."  Where she got this from I have no idea, one of her friends at school must be going to India for the summer and Marc just got back from a business trip a few weeks ago so maybe that's where she got it from but it was pretty funny none the less. 

Multitasking with her 2 computers, notice the "suitcase" in the background.  And yes, I often look like that on my business trips as well

My Handsome Boy

Do they get any more handsome than this boy?

 I think not! 

So I've really been trying to savor and enjoy each and every moment of Jacob's infancy.  With Riley we were so excited to see her hit her next milestone that we, or I, sort of pushed her through these fun and exciting times.  I think part of me probably wanted to see Riley hit her milestones because of her clubfeet and I wanted proof that she was ok and that her feet wouldn't hold her back, but she was also our first so everything was SO exciting.  Jacob's our last and I want to keep him a baby as long as possible, and I really want to enjoy each moment.  Ironically, it seems to be going way faster than it did with Riley and also ironically, he's huge where as Riley was tiny and I probably could have stretched her infancy into her 2nd year, especially since I was doing her laundry last week and realized that she's been wearing a pair of 18-24 month jeans at almost 3 1/2, and while they looked a big snug on her, she could totally get away with wearing them.  Out of principle I put them in the give away pile!

Anyway, I was driving home from a birthday party with Jacob on Saturday thinking about how I can't believe he's already 6 months old next week and before long I'll be planning his first birthday party and Riley is going to be moving to Pre-K, yes Pre-K, how is it possible that my 4lbs of Fury is ready for Pre-K, in the fall.  This song by Trace Adkins came on my IPod, I love this song, he sang it on Celebrity Apprentice a few seasons ago and I just fell in love with it. It goes through the life events of a girl starting when she's a teenager and into her having kids and she's rushing to each next phase of her life.  I love the chorus though because it's really the truth.  I'm really trying to live this these days:

"You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These Are Some Good Times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this"

Because before long after school is going to mean Riley going up to her room, closing the door, and turning on her music or texting her friends, instead of asking me to play "going to Disneyland" (or India which is where we traveled by "bus" to last week) and Jacob is going to be one of the boys going to whatever sports practice he has and I'm really going to miss these days.  As hard and as sleepless as the past 6 month have been with 2 kids, I'm going to miss this age where I am the center of their worlds.  I love watching Jacob's face light up when he sees me, I love seeing the joy in Riley's face when I take her to the park or when I just sit down and play pretend with her.  I love watching Jacob sit and reach for toys, I love watching him find his feet and try to figure out how to put it in his mouth.  I love watching Riley love on her brother, tell me I'm her best friend and ask me if she's my friend.  Because I know how I was as a teenager and before long she's going to be telling me that she hates me and I've ruined her life, I want her to want to be my friend forever.  Life is going way to fast, I just want to freeze time and enjoy each moment but life moves so fast.

I bet you didn't expect such a deep post from the title of this!

Sitting Like the Best of Them

Pantsomist is now sitting for very short periods of time unassisted.  Last night I moved his playmat into the sitting position (have I ever mentioned this particular mat is the best $40 I ever spent?) and he loved sitting at the piano and pushing the buttons. 

Liking his new perspective on life

Look Ma, one hand!

Some hugs from big sister

Allowance

Day care recommended us giving Riley more responsibility at home as they've noticed her behaving better in class when they give her leadership responsibilties so we decided to give her chores to do at home.  She needs to pick up her toys and take out the trash and for that she gets $1.  Riley loves "monies" she is so excited to have allowance.  Her first allowance she wanted to buy her friends James and Bella bagels with her monies and this week she told me she had some monies to give me so that I could go to Target and buy wine.  Unfortunately, all I could afford with her monies is "2 buck chuck!"  But sweet and thoughtful none the less!

Very proud of her monies!

 

Surgery Was a Success

Well I'll start with Riley's ear surgery and work backwards in time.  Everything went great, she was a total trooper and though she was a little scared we worked through it.  We got to Fremont at 6:30 with both kids in tow and all of the nurses immediately loved Riley.  Back in pre-op she was a little scared and wouldn't wear the hair net and wouldn't take the oral sedative that they gave her but other than that she did fantastic and cooperated fully.  We got enough sedative in her that she didn't fight going back to the OR, she was able to take her favorite stuffed animal "Birthday," her froggy lovie, and they gave her a stuffed dog so she felt secure.  She was also hilarious drugged.  The Dr and nurses told us to video it and use it as blackmail.  So go ahead and have yourselves a good laugh:, we sure did

The procedure was all of maybe 20 minutes, the Dr came out and said everything went great, the tubes had come out and were stuck in the wax that was in her ear canals.  He said we could have shot the ear canals with a squirt gun of drops and it would have never dissolved the wax so he was glad that we did the cleaning and removal now because it was inevitable.  Luckily the tubes were out so Riley has no restrictions and he said her ears look so great that he doesn't need to see her for a post-op appointment.  I may still keep the hearing test but cancel her appointment with him.  She came out of anesthesia SUPER easy this time.  Last time she was screaming and was hysterical and nothing would calm her down.  Today we walked in and she was laying on the bed super mellow, eating an Otter Pop.  She did keep asking me the same questions over and over which the nurse said was normal with the sedative.  She was totally normal when we got home. 

Post Surgery bagel and Dora

Here are the tubes, they are hard to see but they are right there in the middle

 Now I get to enjoy my day off, Marc dropped Jacob at day care and I'm spending some time with Riley before we get him in the early afternoon.  Per the big girl's request we'll head down to the park and Farmer's Market later this afternoon. 

Where Does the Time Go?

Lot's of blog updates but so little time to do them!  I have an entire list of subjects to blog about.  I seriously don't know where the time goes, work has been extemely busy since I returned and our weekends have been jammed packed with excitement.  The kids are doing well, Riley seems to have turned a corner for the most part and Mr. Jacob is an eating machine but is still such a love! 

Riley is going in for surgery on Thursday to clean out her ears and remove the tubes if they are still in there, the Dr can't see them because of all of the "smashed totatoes" in her ears.  It's kind of crazy how fast he got us in, I was expecting at least a month leadtime since it takes about 6 weeks to get in and see her ENT but we went last Wednesday and he got us on the schedule for this week for the surgery.  I guess he really wants to get them out if they are still in there.  So we have to report to the surgery center in Fremont at 6:30AM for a 7:30AM surgery.  Ouch!  I'm taking Thursday off and Marc is working at home so it will be nice to have some one on one time with her, I know she is craving it.  I'll get Jacob early from day care but plan to at least have one on one time with Riley until her nap.  The procedure should be quick, just like getting them in so hopefully by the afternoon she will be back to her normal self. 

Jacob is just getting over his first fever. :(  Poor little man woke up at 5:45AM on Sunday morning burning up with a 101.7 fever.  Not sure what it was but he was throwing up all day Sunday and was super fussy.  Fortunately it just lasted a day and he's back at day care today.  He was so excited to see his teacher Miss Michelle.  He absolutely adores her (all of the kids do!)!

Any who, more updates to come, when life hands me the gift of time!  Perhaps Thursday or Friday when I have summer hours to dedicate to personal stuff, but I'm sure something else will pop up by then!