Happy Belated Birthday Dad!

My mom sucks....(well, she's sometimes a little slow on the uptake!) Anyway, Happy Birthday Daddy! We think you're the BOMB. Lovies, RILEY and Mommy

There's Gold in them Hills

Yes, Riley has discovered his nostrils. He sure knows how to make a dad proud.

First haircut!

Thanks Shalena!

Riley had his first haircut tonight, so for now, his mullet-y rattail (Jim likes to call it "hockey hair") is GONE! He was a total champ too, barely fussed at all!

Sir Pukes-A-Lot

Yup, Jim and I have inherited (or, I guess, produced?) THAT kid...ya know, the one that rides the vomit comet without warning? We've been puked on so many times at this point that what happened on Friday night ended up being just another day in the life of the Cook Crew. What happened, might you wonder? Well, Riley decided to unleash a fury of belly chud all over me in Target...that's right, I was covered from neck to toe in Riley's unwanted stomach contents. Needless to say, it was AWESOME...awesome in the sense that people around us just shuddered and gave us the "oh god, your life is sucking pretty hard, right about now, huh?" face. We were mid-checkout when the puke-fest began and when it happened, Jim just stood there with complete panic on his face and asked me what to do?...My response, well, he's not crying so let's just checkout and we'll take it from there. I mean Cmon', time is of the essence with me back to work and we might as well buy all of the crap we came in here for...even if Riley and I are covered in puke at the moment! So, after a very quick checkout and few heartfelt (and mortified) apologies to the Target Crew..I stripped down to what I could legally (and comfortably, since it was mighty cold out that night) get away with and then Jim whisked us and our bulging Target cart into the bathroom where we wiped down and changed Riley. I changed in to Jim's thermal while Riley got a new blanket of Jim's sweatshirt so, in true family fashion, the Dad guy is the one who gets the short end of the stick! Jim put all the pukey clothes in a target baggie AND gave up all his warm clothes so he could walk to the car in 40 degree weather in a thin t-shirt. I shudder to think how I would have dealt with this happening without Jim there- seriously, who's going to help a woman covered in vomit holding a kid who's covered in vomit and likely to spew forth like Mt. Vesuvius any minute again? After all was said and done, Jim and I just laughed...what else can you do?..and then realized that hey, he didn't puke in the car nor did he unleash the belly beast at home, so the minimal clean-up was nice change of pace.

Anyway, turns out Riley wasn't sick (a shocking change of events since he's been privy to every single cold/flu out there it seems lately!) as he passed out in the car and after a short night of a low-grade fever, he woke up ready to party on Saturday morning! He even let us sleep until 6:30...which for us, felt like we slept until noon! Good weekend...he played with his cousins in Nutley on Saturday and spent some time with Grandma and Granpda Cook and his aunt and uncles! Sunday, we just chilled out at home and Poppy came over to pick something up and take us out to lunch! Riley had his first sip of Manhattan Clam Chowder and loved it!

..This week, we're off to Florida on Thanksgiving for a short visit with my bros and my mom! Should be fun...especially since the weather is supposed to be in the 80's and my mom has a pool! Yeah! Pics of the fun (well, you can bet your sweet ass that any bathing suit pics of me will NOT be posted, tee hee) upon our return!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING in the meantime...

A few more recent pics for ya'll!

Playdate with DD! Aunt Karen visited last weekend and the boys had a blast eating oatmeal cookies and generally being crazy little guys.






This is a funny pic...simply b/c we were playing pre-bedtime and I mentioned to Jim that Riley was going to learn how to get in his toy box soon and within mere seconds of me saying it, this picture was taken.

Better Late Than Never....

Pics from Halloween!

Update, Schmupdate

Needless to say, The Cook Crew has been very busy...me with work, and Jim with picking up my parenting slack. Riley has also been busy REALLY learning to walk- he's getting good! We'll try and post some video of his steppin' later! He enjoyed his second Halloween despite the fact that Jim and I didn't decorate this year- didn't even have time to carve our pumpkin! I know, I know, what happened to my favorite Holiday? Well, 85 14-15 year olds happened with me going back to work, and an administration that "doesn't require" you to do anything extra-curricular which is exactly why I'm the new co-advisor to Student Council. Ugh. Plus, I was in Boston last weekend on my FIRST Non-Riley mini-vacation! See, it's NOT all work, work, work!

A few congrats are in order....BLAKE PETER CATALANO was born last week (Well, almost 2 weeks ago at this point) and he's adorable! GO TEAM CATALANO! We can't wait to meet him in person!

Somewhat quiet weekend this weekend, which is nice since we've either been dealing with a sick baby for the past several weekends or with a packed schedule! We did have a semi-surprise visit from Aunt Karen and Deville yesterday, which was great! I'll try and post some pics of the debauchery later! Those two are going to be the next generation of WWE fighters of they keep it up!

Later Skaters...