Wow

Wow, how can it be that 2 years ago today we were forced to say good-bye to my first baby, my furry four-legged Homer.  Marc and I were texting about it this morning and it seems a different lifetime ago that Homer was physically a part of our lives - Riley was just about 2 1/2 months old, a week prior she had had her tenotomy and she was in her hot pink casts, I was an unsure new mother and beyond stressed about whether my little girl's feet would ever be normal.  My how times have changed, if only Homer knew how much attention Riley would be giving him right now I wonder if he wouldn't have let his congestive heart failure get the best of him.  I do know that he clung to life when I needed him most and for that I will be forever grateful to him.  Tonight we're having chicken burgers in your honor little buddy.  You may not be physically with us anymore but you are forever in our hearts!  Miss you Love Bug!

Daddy, I Want a Doggy

And so does Mommy! :)

San Diego Bound

Sunday Riley and I left for a week of fun in San Diego, Marc's joining us on Thursday morning since he couldn't take off of work, it's been a whole year since we've been down so I was excited to show her more "San Diego stuff" now that she's older. So Marc dropped us off at Oakland Airport which to my surprise was PACKED! I was already nervous about flying with Riley alone again since our horrible Buffalo return trip and I was really hoping for an empty flight so that Riley could have her own seat, Marc kept telling me, "it's only an hour." Unfortunately an hour on a plane with a cranky toddler can seem like 4 hours. I had a different strategy, I was going to take a window seat and hope that having Riley trapped in the row would make her more tolerant. But as luck would have it, Riley met a 17 month old little girl in the terminal who was on our flight and her mom was flying alone with her too. Phew! Lila and Riley because fast friends, and her mom and I bonded, we even tried to sit together but there weren't enough oxygen masks in the row. Darn pesky FAA rules, don't they know entertained toddlers are more important! But Riley was GREAT on the flight and she and Lila said hi to each other from across the row. We stopped for lunch at one of my favs, Pt Loma Seafood and Riley devoured 1/2 of a shrimp sandwich, then it was off for a late nap before heading to Uncle Ed and Aunt Lauren's for dinner and to play with their doggies.

Riley had a blast at her Aunt and Uncle's house, she loved bossing the dogs around (especially in the arms of my bro who is over 6ft tall, who isn't brave from that high up!?!) From way up there she would tell the dogs to "get down" and "sit." It was pretty funny. Uncle Ed also turned on some Wiggles for Riley, her first experience with them, and she LOVED it, she started dancing immediately. Oh and Riley decided to skip the pizza for dinner and dined on arugula salad. She has the oddest palate!

Dancing to the Wiggles!

"Come on Uncle Ed, dance with me!"

Story time with Aunt Lauren (it lasted all of 2 minutes maybe)

Yes, she bossed these two around (one's a boxer and the other is a Shepard mix)