Ears are for hearing, not for aching

Another weekend, another 48 hours on the couch/bed being human pillows for a sick little guy. Yup, the ear infection returned- or did it ever leave? Who knows. Anyway, appointment for a ear-nose-& throat doc is made so I suppose we will know soon (well, by the end of the month) whether or not Riley will be getting his ears tubed or not. We've tried to avoid it, but the constant ear infections and Riley's seemingly new found understanding of pain has changed our mind. So, he missed out on his first AgField Day- which is turds in our book. We were all bummed, but of course, moreso b/c he was miserable. Anyway, we're hoping he keeps up with feeling good so we can hit up Mia's 1st bday party on Saturday and then Riley's cousin Tommy's Big 1-0 party on Sunday! Maybe we'll even get to meet Luca...I'm still not convinced he's real, ha ha ha.

Haircuts and fun...

This weekend was a blur..here's some highlights in reverse order:

"happy" banana cupcakes (hey, we do what we can to get fruits and veggies into this kid!) and some leftover "red pepper dipping sauce" on his cheek:

Blake in his exersaucer


Cheese, Olivia!


We were all eating dessert and we left Olivia and Riley to their own devices and this is what strolled past the dinner table shortly after:



Hugs..this is shortly after Olivia came to help with Riley's diaper- she held her nose and made him laugh by playing peek-a-boo


Oh, and check out Riley's new do (don't mind the milk-mouth)...he has whole sections of his head that isn't growing any hair, so it's kinda jacked up, but hey, what can you do?

Kentucky

...Ok, so Riley really needs a haircut (see pics below- we were trying to see if his hair would do something "cool" once it got a bit longer but unfortunately he just kinda looks like he's from the back woods of Kentucky) and is getting one this morning at this kid's place where he gets to sit on a motorcycle or truck! Wish me luck as I'm going solo!

Pics of his new fab do' upon my return..or at least tomorrow since we should have a few pics to upload tonight/tomorrow since we're hanging out with the Catalano Crew tonight..woot!

Double down

Sorry for the lack of posts, but last weekend was a whirlwind of high fevers and general Riley lethargy, and unfortunately, this weekend is no different as Riley woke up(and by waking up I mean at 12am screaming for pretty much 2 1/2 hrs straight)with a nasty double ear infection. Damn nice weather and pollen!!...Our ped. thinks he's got some kickin' allergies which leads to his love of getting ear infections- he's been on allergy meds. for a several weeks now and it seemed to helping, but I guess Riley lost this particular battle. Anyway, so dealing with Sir-Sick-A-Lot and then work (*school is extra busy as the summer approaches and all the teachers scramble to pack in as much info as possible- not to mention, all of the extra-curricular crap that I'm expected to chaperone/attend b/c the weather is gettin' all nicey nice) has deterred our postings about what's going on down here in Brick.

On a side note, we were all in the car last night and were exploring our 'hood a bit and we found out that Brick has a pretty nice "beach" park (complete with sand & river access) nearby- not in walking distance, but the playgrounds looked pretty awesome, so we can't wait to check it out. We knew this place existed and we knew it was close b/c in the summer it is where everyone goes for fireworks as we can hear '
em every time.

In other news...Riley went to his first high school softball game this week (he loved it)and he's been talking up a storm lately. He also ate his first scallop..and he loved it. Food has been a trying issue lately as he seems to be refusing many of his favorites so sometimes we get to the point where as long as he eats SOMETHING, we're happy. Pretzels and cookies for breakfast- why not? We're hoping he's feeling better by tomorrow (The antibiotic usually kicks in pretty good!) as Riley's Cousin Joey turned 5 this week and his big "Tony Hawk" party is tomorrow! yay!

Some recent pics will be up soon as the camera is in Riley's room and he's busy catching some much needed Zzzzz's right now (Wild horses couldn't drag me in his room as I am hoping that he'll sleep through the night tonight)

Anyway, here's a few "old" pics that I never posted..just to tide the 3 people who read this blog over, ha ha ha.

Philly, a few weeks ago:


A few months ago...like 6? Riley's Little Gym Graduation:

Welcome Baby Luca!

We were trying to get up to Hoboken today to see the new & improved Palaitis crew...but I've had a terrible head cold for over a week now and Jim's got it too, so we're bailing. I'm bummed as I really wanted to meet baby Luca in person (and of course, post some pics), but I suppose the two I stole from Karen's blog will just have to suffice.


The one good part is now that we can practice saying "Luca" with Riley since he calls him "dookie".

We're off to see the Wizard...

Well, not the Wizard, exactly, but we are off to AC for the night. Wooo hoooo! As I type, Riley has just hit the road for a couple of days with my p's in Cranny! Wooo hooo. So, for Jim (currently at the bank cashing in our change jar)and I, it's The Tropicana or BUST! In other exciting Spring Break news, we had a visit with Auntie Michelle, Dylan and Mia yesterday (Thanks for driving up to see us!!!). Since I have been home or Spring Break this week I've realized that although I do love teaching I have been missing seeing our friends and their kiddies during the week for playdates. I also took Riley to his gym class this week and I'm looking forward to swapping the role as "Little Gym" parent with Jim for the summer. Summer can't come quick enough- I'm ready, even if it means having to wear a bathing suit, hee hee.

Anyway, here's some pics of our playdate yesterday:


Riley hugs...


Couch "fun"...the next set is all trying to get the three kids to look halfway decent in one picture (it didn't happen)

Here comes Riley Cottontail..

Since Riley is sleeping in, I might as well double post it on up! So, we hit up the annual Point Pleasant Easter Egg Hunt last Sunday (we tried to go the year before but it rained) and it was kinda 'bleh'. There was a HUGE line, which wasn't really an issue as all the parents and kiddies get on the sand before the egg huntin' begins, but seriously, Jenkinson's needs to get on the ball and hide more eggs. There were at least 50 or so people walking around wondering if they hid any eggs in our digging section. We never found one, nope, not one egg. We did wrangle two from the sidelines (there was a guy with a trashbag handing out eggs) and then some lady begged us to hide one for Riley so he could "find" at least one- it was nice of her and her kids to give up one of their eggs. She said it's like that every year, never enough eggs so they're smart and pack a few on their pockets to hide when their kids aren't looking so they can eliminate the "I didn't find any eggs" tantrums! I'm not saying we wouldn't go back, but I would've been irritated had a driven a great distance for it...since, we live 10 mins away, it's a good free, fun activity. Plus, Riley just thought it was fun to walk around with all the people and dig in the sand, so he was none the wiser that the Egg hunt kinda, um, sucked.

Here's some pics (*and a video!!) of the fun:

This was how long the line was for 0-4 hunting eggs set:


The Countdown:








Okay Mom, can we just go and get some Khor's custard now? This is kinda lame.

Oh, we did win a "free spin" on the Candy Wheel in the egg, so that was kinda fun. The other two eggs we scored had some little plastic toys in it, which we had to chuck since they were choke-worthy...but Riley LOVES playing with the plastic eggs so again, he didn't miss the prizes!