Funny pics

I guess the 345th of watching Baby Einstein's "Neighborhood Animals" is finally getting to this kid...ha ha



Michelle took this pic of the boys taking some sips between their wrecking of Dylan's playroom!

LBI fun!

We visited Aunt Heather and Olivia yesterday in LBI...beautiful day at the beach with ice cream to boot!

Another week, Another Cousin!

Well, word on the street is that Riley's new cousin was born this morning! No details except that mama and baby are doing fine and her name is Sierra Rose. Pics to follow soon, hopefully!

UPDATE: Here's a pic of the little whopper! She was 8.15 oz and 20.5 inches, beating out Riley by an ounce!

Hittin' the boards..

Jim and I have been trying to take Riley to Point Pleasant once a week after Jim gets home from work (We bust out dinner super quick and jump in the car by 6pm). We take a good stroll on the boardwalk, mesmerize him with all the lights and sounds coming from the rides, gawk for a bit at the all bad beach fashion, and then gorge ourselves on Kohr's before heading back home. Last night (we usually go on Tuesday nights), Riley had his first taste of ice cream as we learned that the soft serve Kohr's is egg-free- Yippeeeee!

Oh, and I won (don't get too excited, it was the magnetic fishing pond where every player is a winner!) a blow-up Nemo doll for Riley that he was freaking out over, even before it was blown up, he was wrigglin' away in his stroller. The funny part about "Nemo" is that the air doesn't reach into one of his flippers so he's all gimpy like the real Nemo, haw!

Mmmmm, Orange & Vanilla Kohr's...

So cold, so cold, so cold...

Mmm, I think I kinda like this ice cream stuff!

ACK, BRAIN FREEZE!

For me?

"Graduation"

Riley "graduated" from the Spring Semester at the Little Gym yesterday. It was pretty cute, although hectic since our class of about 8 usual suspects became 20+ with various family members in attendance. There was much crying from all the babies and Riley took the opportunity to barf (not spit up, but a total puke) on the gym mat- I think he got stage fright (tee hee)! Thanks Grammy & Poppy for making the trip!

Here's some pics of the fun: (the two boys pictured are Riley's best buds)

BBQs, sand, & Miso soup

Riley had an awesome time (as did his parents) at the BBQ on Saturday! Thanks to everyone who entertained him while Jim and I ran around doing all the party schtuff! Father's Day (and my birthday) was nice- we hit up Manasquan for some beach action (cold water but the waves were good so we braved the water) with my brothers and then Jim and I went out for Japanese. The restaurant we go to LOVES Riley...the owner even fed him his bottle and held him for a little bit! Riley had an interesting food weekend...he tried oranges (which he LOVES), turkey (in puree form, gross), and miso soup, tofu, and eel*. *Dave and Karen told us that most Japanese babies have eel as one of their first foods...well, Riley loved it.


Welcome to my BBQ!

I call this picture "Orange Rage" b/c once he got one taste, he was like a little piranha with that orange section!


Do you know how hard it is to get 3 kids to sit still and take a picture? Thanks Aunt Michelle!

At the beach on Father's Day!

I want that camera, MAMA!!


MMmm, salt water formula

hey there new cousin

Welcome the newest member of the family!
Baby Mamo was born 6/15/07 @6:45ish in the AM. Aunt Kristen, Uncle John, and of course Baby are all doing fine.
Riley can't wait to meet him and to teach him all his bad habits.

Sleep you WILL, Sleep you MUST!
Fussiness leads to Lack of Sleep, Lack of sleep leads to SUFFERING.....

Yeah, unfortunately the suffering is of the parents, not of the baby! Riley became enthralled with a yoda doll that sits above Jim's computer (Jim totally would cry in delight if Riley's first word is Yoda) this morning and we were making Yoda talk to him (I do a pretty good Yoda, for a girl!). The above is Jim's take on what advice Yoda should be giving Riley.

Hmmm, Riley is doing good- moving around at warp speed (and with heavy breathing to boot)when he sees something he wants. He's able to stand and get down by sitting on his bum rather than his face which is good, although he does take face plants like a pro! He knows "mama" and "dada" and says "baby", but we're pretty sure that he doesn't know what he's saying when he says baby. We've been working on waving hello and goodbye but he kinda does it whenever he wants, so I'm not so sure he gets "it" yet. He's been really interested in Maggie lately, much to her dismay, but she's starting to realize that there are many hiding spots around the house that she can skulk off to when Riley is annoying her. He started eating again solids with reckless abandon again, which is good b/c he was losing weight. Jim read somewhere on the internerd that babies just refuse solids for a period of time for no real reason and then just pick up where they left off without any rhyme or reason. That's pretty much what happened...he just started eating the same foods he would throw a hissy fit over only days before.

The eating is great, but the sleeping has not been good, which is slowly destroying our ability to be the normal, upstanding citizens we are (stop laughing)..he's up 1-3x a night and often screams in terror (often complete with hyperventilating fits!) without actually waking up but will only stop when we pick him up and cuddle him. I'm trying to stop nursing but he still wakes up 1-2x a night to nurse- I know all the books and people say to just put him back in the crib but this kid will cry and scream for up to a 1/2 hour (we bet he would go the hour if we let him) and we just can't bear it. If Riley never started sleeping through the night, I guess we'd be used to this, but since he slept through for months and just starting waking up a ton again, it's really tough on all of us.

Hmmm, We're having our first BBQ with Riley this weekend, so that should be fun! Plus, Riley will be getting two new cousins within the month's end, so that's pretty exciting!

Happy 8 monther!

Hope this month is a helluva lot smoother than last month! Happy 8 Month birthday love buns! P.s.- As you can see, he's feeling TONS better!

Hospital Days

Well, we've been home for a full day and Riley is basically adjusting to his normal scheduled program. He's still not really eating solid food (he's anti for some reason) but has been sucking down liquids awesome-ly so we're not that concerned about it, I guess. He's pretty needy (I guess he got used to our undivided attention in the hospital, especially mine) which has given him a new nickname, Mr. Needy McNeederson, but we're happy to be giving him some extra snugs and whatnot.

Here's some hospital pics:



Man, on top of this virus, I have to have a stuffed up nose too? I can't catch a break!


Jim and I would wheel Riley around the pediatric wing in this wagon..he loved it.



This crib was so big that Jim could fit in with Riley. He only looks like he's loving it..the longest he slept in it without waking up was a whopping 3 hours, then it was the mommy mattress.


Yay...I'm finally ready to eat some solids!

We're home!

Yay, we're home! Riley spent 3 1/2 days in the hospital with some crazy virus (and a double ear infection to boot)that gave him some pretty awful fevers. I'm so happy that all of the nasty procedures he had to go through are over...b/c it was very tough on us to watch him deal with all the poking and prodding. He still freaks out when he goes on his back to get his diaper changed b/c I'm sure he thinks someone is going is going to come at him with a syringe full of medicine or worse, the rectal thermometer! It was not fun and I know understand a bit better now when people talk about how hard it is to see your children in pain. Anyway...it seemed like a few more of the patients in the pediatric unit had something similar so I guess it's "going around". Anyway, we're all happy to be home and we'll post some "hospital pics" later. Yup, we really did take a few of 'em...and apparently, it's not abnormal to do so even though Jim and I felt like a**holes for doing so

P.s.- he just woke up from a little napper and he was all smiles. Yay!