Girls Day Out!

Sunday I took Riley to Disney on Ice "Dare to Dream" with Jen and Bella, it was so much fun and such an awesome girl's day with Riley.  We drove down to San Jose, grabbed some souvenirs, lunch and headed down to our seats which were front and center.  Probably the best seats in the house, thanks to Jen who was able to get advance purchase with her credit card.  I didn't take into count how chilly it would be on the ice, it didn't even dawn on me that it could be cold.  Duh, ice, of course it would be cold, but it was an awesome time none-the-less.  Now I just have to get it out there that Disney is a total racket, everything is so overpriced and really how can you say no to cute little, excite 4 year olds in princess dresses that tell you over and over how much they love you!?!  Within 15 minutes of being at the HP Pavilion, I had dropped at least $80.  Now that I got the financial elephant in the room out there, I will say that it was worth every penny to see Riley so happy and have the quality time with her.  Riley was so well behaved and spent the entire time pressed up against me just savoring the time with me.  I forgot how awesome she could be since I'm constantly correcting her bad behavior but today was a glimpse of my sweet girl and I loved the one on one time with her!  Riley sat in her seat the whole time and was totally into it, except for the time she turned to me and told me there was too much ice skating.  Um, yeah Ri, that's why it's called Disney on Ice.  It was pretty cute, but I did catch her dancing in her seat to the princess songs!  Love that girl!

Who's ready for a girl's day out!?!

Sassy McSassy!

My girl!

Riley just about on the ice

Two princesses

Princess Tiana!

Riley picked Flounder as a souvenir of course!  Anything to do with The Little Mermaid!

Earning His Keep

Jacob's walking picked up a bit Friday night and Saturday.  He even got himself into a standing position without pulling up on anything Friday night, Marc and I were like "what!?!" because again, day care tells us he does it there and he walks all day but at home he crawls.  Friday he was walking the length of the house, turning corners to go the play room, the works.  The nurse at the Dr office Friday asked me if I really wanted him walking because it would get a lot harder.  I told her at 14 months I figured it was time and I had really gotten lucky going this long without him walking, I was giving in and hoping he would start walking so he could keep up with the "big" boys in his class.  Saturday he was on the move some more on his 2 feet so I gave him his vacuum which he thought was hilarious.  Then he realized he could dump the vacuum and make his way over to the DVDs, trouble maker!

The Little Mermaid

Ariel is by far Riley's favorite princess and she is beyond obsessed with her so when I found a website on Pinterest that streams Disney movies for FREE, I had to check it out since The Little Mermaid is in the vault and I was dying for Riley to actually see it.  (I do believe it's being released this fall but that seems so far away).  We set up the movie on our iPad and streamed it to our Apple TV and Riley was besides her self with excitement, she couldn't believe that she could finally watch Ariel!  Her favorite song is "Look at this stuff" and she walks around singing it everywhere so when it came on during the movie she couldn't help but get up and sing and dance to it.  We all actually walk around singing it since she loves it so much, I actually wake up in the middle of the night with it stuck in my head, seriously, that's how obsessed she is with it!

Subliminal Messages?

After this week of craziness I truly believe that Yo Gabba Gabba has subliminal messages that make kids sit down, sit still and actually watch the show.  My kids never sit still but on a whim I decided to turn on Yo Gabba Gabba Thursday night.  I've been crazy busy at work, my parents were here for 4 days, and the kids have had colds and coughs and were beyond spent on Thursday night.  I turned on Yo Gabba Gabba and Jacob climbed into his chair, laid down and sat still for 15 minutes to watch his show, Riley also sat and watched.  I turned it on again Saturday morning and he sat on my lap for a few minutes to watch but Riley laid down on the chair and watched the show!

Whatever it takes to survive!!!

Passing the Time

I've been trying to get Jacob in to see an ENT for over a week now and FINALLY on Thursday night an ENT from their pediatricians medical practice called and asked if I could bring him in on Friday morning sometime between 8-11 and he would take a look at his ears for me.  I was so excited, I actually sort of wanted tubes for Jacob just to put an end to these constant ear infections and sicknesses.  I remember what a difference they did for Riley and just want to put this behind us, I am so sick of him being sick and I have been having to leave work so much that it's starting to look bad.  The ENT called me again Friday morning at like 7:40 (love the follow-up!) to see if I could bring him in at 10:15, that I might have to wait a few minutes but the Dr would squeeze him into the schedule.  It was like all of the stars aligned because Riley had an 11:30 appointment with their pediatrician to check the fluid in her ears from 3 weeks ago at her 4 year well check.  So I scooped them both up from day care and brought them over to the Dr office.  I thought I was well stocked on snacks but I was apparently wrong because the snacks were pretty wiped out before we even got called back to the exam room, that left whatever Jacob could dig out of the diaper bag (Riley has my old iPhone full of apps to keep her entertained).  Jake-o found these:

I know that Marc is so mad I let him wear pink shades but I think he' rocking them!  And it gave me a good 10 minutes of entertainment while waiting for the Dr.  There are no rules when you are juggling two hungry and tired kids who are antsy from waiting and an exam room full of ENT machines with "cool" knobs and buttons.

The Dr finally came in and I really liked him (we saw a different one than we saw with Riley as I didn't particularly care for him).  He took one look in Jacob's ears and said he needed tubes, he said he had a lot of fluid behind his ears and it's supposed to be silvery but Jacob's was milky white and full.  He was a straighter shooter which I loved and didn't want to play around with drops or antibiotics because the only real fix is the tubes.  We are on the surgery schedule for Thursday morning, I am so relieved to get this done and really hope that this helps our cause and our illnesses are reduced significantly and that it also helps Jacob with his balance and walking.  He seems to have regressed the past week and we really have to force him to walk plus I've been worried that since he's starting to communicate with us that he's speech will be off from not hearing properly.  I'm hoping once he's not "under water" that he gets the hang of it because really at 14 months, he should be walking!

And the icing on the cake, Riley's fluid in her ears cleared up on it's own so she is in the clear!  Phew!

Almost a Full Time Walker

I finally got a good video of Mr Man strutting his stuff.  When I picked him up from day care Friday his teachers told me that he doesn't crawl there anymore, he only walks and he doesn't need to hold a finger anymore.  At home he crawls and when he sees me at day care he crawls to me so I didn't fully believe them but then the teachers in Riley's room stopped me and told me they have seen him walking the past few days and they all love how he walks.  He definitely toddles around, it's pretty cute and he is walking more and more though his preferred mode of transportation is still crawling.  I can't blame the little guy, he is much faster crawling still. 

He only went down here because Riley's friend Bella plowed him down!  He was going for the gold here! 

Jacob had another asthma attack so I took him in just to get his lungs listened to and his oxygen levels measured, it was a mild one but we're on pulmicort two times a day and albuterol every 4 hours, have I mentioned how over the nebulizer I am?  Anyway he had a ton of fluid behind both ears so we got a referral to the ENT, I remember Riley went from zero walking to 100% walking when we got her ears resolved so hopefully this will make him more stable and confident.  The Dr was also nice enough to write me a paper prescription (what's that???  I haven't had a paper script in years! :) ) in case he spikes a fever so that I don't have to bring him back in.  She just said assume the fever is an ear infection and fill it.  SOOOO NICE!  The receptionist at their office said I shouldn't have to stand in line anymore since I'm there so much, she said that they should just see me and automatically check me in.  That's how often I am there!  I told her I'd rather have a VIP parking spot because that lot can get kind of crowded.  So that's our current saga, hopefully the ENT can get us in soon and we can get the ears resolved pronto, poor guy has had a rough winter!

Without further adieu, the Big Man's stroll!

4 Year Well Check

Well I finally got Riley to her 4 Year Well check.  The good news is there was no ear infection this time though she still has fluid behind her ears so we go back in a few weeks to make sure it clears up and she doesn't develop an ear infection.  Jacob was also infection free though Saturday he developed a fever (still on antibiotics) and we were sidelined Sunday as well with him.  Small miracle in itself, I sat and watched the Super Bowl by myself since Marc took Riley to the party that we were supposed to go to as a family.  (I hate football!)

Riley checked out great, she passed her hearing test so now I know that her not listening is selective hearing and not hearing loss, she passed her vision test and developmentally she's right on track if not a little ahead.  Unfortunately, her pediatrician recommended surgery on her left foot.  It was noticeably stiffer, turning in and overall in not as good of shape as her right foot which is absolutely perfect.  She felt like she would need it long term and it's better to do it now while she is young than later, not only for all of the reasons that Dr H recommended but also because from a pain perspective after 5 they remember the pain more than before 5, we wouldn't do it until next February or so, so she would be just 5 but I think it's in our cards.  Fingers are still crossed that we get a miracle and it loosens up on it's own (and with stretches) but I am bracing (no pun intended) myself for a surgery next winter. 

So her stats:

Weight: 30.5lbs (~12th percentile)
Height: 38.3" (~18th percentile)

She's still a squirt but since she has always been on those trend lines (since she got on a chart) she's maintained those percentiles so the Dr is not worried about her growth. 

And she got 3 shots and that went over oh so well (note the sarcasm).  Best idea of the day was putting Jacob in the stroller because I had to carry her out of the Dr screaming in pain, yelling "I can not even walk!"  She's a bit dramatic.  Jacob was screaming because she was screaming.  I had to laugh so I wouldn't cry, especially when the nurse yelled from the back of the office "Have a glass, or 2 of wine, Mom!  You deserve it, you're doing great!!!" 

Cooking Up A Storm

I've been baking and cooking up a storm these days.  First off we're in a huge eating rut, I feel like we always eat the same thing and I am trying to spice things up and second of all Marc has been doing this boot camp at work and we've been trying healthy, lower carb recipes (don't get me wrong, he still eats pizza 3 times a week but we've been trying the other nights to do some healthier alternatives).  I've been getting a lot of my recipes from Pinterest of course! 

These cookies are from the student union at Indiana University.  They are made with Special K and I used to LOVE these when I was in college!  Who knew that 10 years later I would be working for Kellogg's, kind of crazy.  We got a ton, I mean 100s, literally, of boxes of  cereal into work and we all took trunkfuls home.  I decided to do something with the Special K and remembered the delicious cookies from school, all of the IU basketall craze this season has made me nostalgic for my IU days so I decided to look for this recipe on Pinterest and viola!  It counts as part of my diet because it's Special K, right!?! ;)

One of Marc's co-workers sent him this recipe from his Paleo cookbook.  It turned out to be awesomely delicious (yeah, not Lucky Charms, that's not a Kellogg's cereal :) )  These lettuce wraps were amazing and so light but so filling because of all of the delicious veggies.  Marc and I basically had to negotiate who got the 2 leftover wraps for lunch the next day. :)

This last one the kids and I loved (as you can see from the pictures, they basically shoved their faces in the bowl).  Even Riley told me "this is really good!" in between shoving food into her mouth.  This was a Pinterest pin as well, chicken with artichokes and tomatoes served over pasta.  Oh and Jacob does not have a bottle of Advil, it's an empty bottle with dry pasta in it, he likes to shake it. :)

These 2 Make Me Smile