Your Opinion

I think that most of the people that read this blog are people that are moms with kids older than mine.  So I would like your suggestions/ advice on a couple of topics.  Yes, I know I could research these things on the internet (and I'll probably do that too), but I know you all are real and have valid opinions.

#1- When did you go from your baby sleeping in a crib to a "toddler bed"?  We have the toddler bed conversion kit for Riley's bed and I'm just wondering when to transition?  I don't want to transition close to Jude's arrival and her blame all of her life changes on him (which she might do anyway).  I'm not sure how I feel about her being able to get out of bed whenever she wants to be done with her nap or her night of sleep.  But you know how I like to be in control of things.  :)

#2- When did you start potty training?  And how did you do it?  I'm just asking!  Riley is only 15 months old and I KNOW it's too early, but it would be nice for her to be out of diapers before Jude is a year old- she'll be 2 1/2 by then.  I really would like for them to both be in diapers for a short amount of time.  Yes, I should have thought about that before I got pregnant so soon, but hey, we're more fertile than we realized.

Thank you for commenting and giving me your parental advice.  I trust you girls.  You are all great mommies.

Kitty

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but we have a new 'can't leave home without her' family member.  Her name is simply Kitty.  She has plastic feet and a chest that says "I love daddy".  She is the perfect size for Riley's hands.  Riley does not ride in the car without Kitty, nor does she want to suck her thumb without Kitty either.  And I don't know how, but this is the only picture we have of Kitty.  You can see, Kitty in hand, thumb in mouth.  This is how it goes with Riley and her Kitty.

Of course, Kitty has seen the world right along side Riley.  She went to Florida with us and never left Riley's side (except at the beach, as I never would have been able to de-sand her). And my favorite part of Kitty (beside the comfort aspect) is that she is machine washable!  I am so glad that Riley finds comfort in her.  And all of those people who want to warn me not to let her have a toy she can't live without, much like those that want to warn me not to let Riley suck her thumb, can kiss it. (Feisty much today? Yep.  It's baseball season, don't mess with me.) I guess those people aren't fazed by a crying baby/child.  It if makes her happy and she's not in danger, she can have it.  This includes thumbs, Kittys, sippy cups full of juice, and bubbles.  I think I have opened myself up for nasty comments.  Again, let me say, it is baseball season.  Riley and I are spending A LOT of time together, just the two of us, without Daddy.  And I can get a bit edgy when it comes to that.  So if there is someone out there in blogger land that wants to diss (that means disrespect mom) Kitty or the thumb, bring it.

Weather

Did I mention the weather in Florida?  Sunny and in the upper 60s and lower 70s for the majority of the trip.  I love how Riley's sweet little hands are positioned here.

No comments on the lack of make-up please.  While we were sunning on the beach, it was snowing back here.  On the day we left, the front moved in.  That night and the next day, northwest Arkansas got between 6 and 12 inches (depending on your location).  I felt a little guilty for enjoying myself in the sun while it was snowing back home, but I quickly got over it.  :o)

I wish I had gotten pictures of our afternoons at the pool.  When Riley went down for her afternoon nap, I turned on her baby monitor and spent a couple of hours getting my own sun. (our house was right next to the pool, so the monitor reached out there.  Such a nice break for me!)  I didn't think I needed to take pictures of that.  Then when she woke up, it was usually time to get ready and go to the game or to dinner.

Apparently, I'm not really good at thinking "Hey, what a great picture opportunity."  Because now that we are home, there are so many things I wish I had pictures of.  This last picture is of us at the Twisted Palm.  Wouldn't recommend it.  Why in the world would a restaurant assign one server for a party of 35 people?  In what world does that make sense?  I felt sorry for that guy.  I'm sure he went home and iced his feet after we were done with him.  We ended up leaving early because Riley was way past her bedtime and very unhappy about it.  Restaurants I would recommend: The Back Porch and Hog's Breath Saloon.

Consequences of Beach Games

Woody's team lost the beach version of HomeRun Derby.  Consequently, they were all buried in the sand.  Woody was kind enough to point out to me that sand does not know the definition of personal space as all his crevices were full of it.

So helpful, everyone on the team (coaches included) helped bury these boys in the sand.

Doesn't that just look warm and cozy?  I think they were all pretty warm until they had to jump in the ocean to get the sand off.  I was told the water was very chilly.  I took their word for it.

The boys wanted to give Woody breasts.  But they gave him inverted nipples.  I think they may need a refresher in anatomy... or maybe not.  :-)

One of the coaches snuck away and filled a bucket with cold sea water.  The boys were not very happy to be showered with it.  Fortunately (maybe) for Woody, he was spared.

Spring Break 2010

Like last year, this year's spring break was spent in Destin, Florida for a baseball tournament.  But unlike last year, I personally had a great time this year.  The weather was perfect and Riley was old enough that she didn't sleep through the whole thing.  We stayed in houses this year instead of a hotel on the beach.  Even though we weren't on the beach, I LOVED the accomodations that the baseball parents organized for us.  We stayed in a neighborhood of vacation homes, complete with a large pool in the center of the community.  The three story homes houses us, another coach, and 8 baseball players.  It gave me a chance to really get to know those players, AND there was a place for all of our stuff this year, unlike last year when we lived out of our suitcases.  What kind of hotel doesn't have drawers for your stuff?  Moving on...

The boys met at the beach at 10:30 each morning for some fun games just to get their blood moving.  They all had fun and we enjoyed watching them.  Riley hated the sand.  She spent all of our beach time either clinging to one of us or sitting on the towel.  Notice her sand toys.  It's hard to play with your sand toys when you refuse to get off mom's lap.  And yes, that's me in a bathing suit.  A normal bathing suit.  8 months pregnant.  And a normal cover up.  No, the cover up did not come off... although I may have missed a great "birth control: don't let this happen to you" opportunity for the boys.

This is the only moment she stood on the sand. She immediately reached for me after I snapped this picture, despite the efforts of her dad to help her play in the sand.

Abdominal control at it's height.  Any time we tried to put her down, this is what she did.  That girl is going to have abs of steel.

She did love to watch the surf.  She giggled every time a wave came in.

Catching bubbles is quickly becoming a favorite activity in our world.  This is outside the house we stayed in.  Bubbles is now my secret weapon in keeping her in the area I want her in during baseball games.  They keep her attention span better than anything I've ever seen.  She has yet to get bored with them before I put them away... maybe that's the secret, I always put them away before she is ready for me to.

Personality much?

Riley definitely has a large personality.  Luckily, we've been able to capture a couple of moments within the past week of her showing her true colors.  This is Riley in Florida (more posts about Florida to come).  She loved her new shirt (complete with a long sleeved shirt underneath it because it was a bit nippy outside).  Whenever she saw Glenna (Coach Yarrington's wife), she would point to her new shirt.

This is the day after we got home from Florida.  I hesitated to post these pictures because (obviously) she is running around topless.  Make no mistake, this is not our norm, but she just had a 'healthy' dinner of corndogs with ketchup.  All moms will understand as they all know what ketchup can do to a shirt.  Anyway, she was full of very passionate words and very strong emotions. Fortunately, they were all excited and happy words and emotions.  I think she was just overjoyed to A) be back at home with her plethora of toys and B) to not be in her carseat, which she had spent 14 hours in the day before.

This could be construed as an unhappy face, but she was in the middle of singing.  I love this large personality in this little girl.  I am so lucky to not only be her mommy, but to be able to stay at home with her and never miss one of these moments.  I only wish Woody was as lucky.  (I keep reminding him to come up with a million dollar idea to make us independently wealthy...)  If you look closely, you can see a small remnant of ketchup on her left cheek.  I swear that stuff multiplies on contact.  I can never seem to get it all off without a bath.

Run Forrest Run!

Last weekend, my brother did something I don't ever see myself doing.  He ran the half marathon in Bentonville.  He trained hard for it for several weeks and, of course, on the day of the event, it was in the upper 30s and rainy.  Great weather for running.  It hurts my lungs just thinking about it. This is before the race, do you see that he is wearing shorts?  Crazy.  What was more crazy, there were a few men there who ran in just shorts and shoes.  They must be low on nerve endings in their bodies, or must run really high temperatures like the werewolves in New Moon (countdown for DVD release: 40 hours).

Mom came up and took Alex to the race start.  She stayed for the 2 hours that it took Alex to run it.  Two hours flat, well 2 hours and 12 seconds or something like that.  Very impressive.  Riley and I didn't see him off at the start line, but we were there at the finish line. I didn't get pictures of him crossing the finish line because I held the camera for too long without using it, so it shut off.  DRAT!  If you notice, he looks great for just having finished the 13.1 mile race.  If I had run it, this picture would have been of me laying on the asphalt in the parking lot with an oxygen mask covering my face.  Riley was very excited to run around.  It was a little (no, a lot) alarming to me that she would take off running to where ever she pleased without looking back at us.  Luckily, we 3-on-1-ed her and followed her during her field trips.  You can tell she really wants to get down as the picture was being taken.

And this one... She was very upset with us when she was put back in her stroller and strolled back to the car.  But she was fine once she was in the warmth of the car with her sippy cup and her kitty.  (Cannot believe I haven't posted about Kitty.  Note to self:  Create a post about Kitty)

How many days?!

Looking at the baby counter at the top of this page evokes stress in my body.  8 weeks seems a lot longer than 50-something days.  Still to do:  put Jude's crib together and put the bedding on when mom finishes it.  Oh, and the mural on the wall.  But the walls are painted and look great!  And the furniture is in the room, it just needs to be set up.  If I get a large dose of motivation, I may even clean the carpets before he gets here.  Right.  Who am I kidding?  In the middle of baseball season (not to mention 8 months pregnant), I feel like I'm in my top game if we all get out the door with clean outfits on! 

Stack Attack

Since Riley has learned to stack boxes (and is sure that she has mastered that skill), she is on to other "stackable" items, such as cups, bowls, you name it.  We were pretty impressed with these stacking skills yesterday.

Please ignore the dirty fridge.  I don't really want to clean it since A) I'll have to bend down for a long time, and B) she'll get it dirty within 15 minutes anyway.  I love when she squats down to pick things up.  Her little behind is just centimeters away from the ground.

Masterpiece.

She gets a kick out of knocking her stack over.  This is her laughing at herself.

And you can't leave out a picture of that sweet smile! 

Stacker

Riley has a set of alphabet blocks that can be stacked, then they nest inside of each other for easy storage.  When I first bought them, I was a little disappointed because she didn't care about them AT ALL.  Things have changed and I am pretty happy about that!

She has recently taken to stacking them as high as she can get them...then knocking them all down.  After she gets a tough one stacked, she puts her hands above her head and cheers for herself.  So cute.

When all stacked up, they are actually taller than she is, so she needs help with the XY, and Z blocks.  Then they all come tumbling down.  We have been entertained by these blocks for several minutes at a time in the past week or so.  And you know that's a record amount of time for a 14 month old!

Such a reader

Riley was really excited to read the paper with her Daddy last Saturday morning.  Actually, I think she loves to look at the pictures, she doesn't like the pages without them.  She sat still like this for a record of about 90 seconds before squirming to get down and run around.  She is a ball of energy.  She never stops.  I love it.

The same, but different

That's how I like to describe my two pregnancies.  I catch myself telling people that they've pretty much been the same except for...  How?  Let me tell ya.

With Riley.... With Jude.
No sickness...sick once (took my vitamins on an empty stomach).
Taught school....not working (this plays into the list, promise).
Stressed out...not so much stress.
NO problems sleeping....lucky to only wake up twice to go to the restroom, and then go right back to sleep.  Very lucky.
LOTS of water weight....not so much on the water weight.  I'm actually staying in the "you should gain this much during your pregnancy" guidelines.  Woo hoo me...or Riley who I constantly chase around.
Went through 2 fake rings, then stopped wearing rings all together....still wearing my real wedding ring.
No back pain...terrible tailbone/back pain through the whole pregnancy.  This could have something to do with the 20ish pounder, called Riley, I'm carrying around.
Great skin...still waiting on the great skin.
Heartburn ALL THE TIME...heartburn only when I eat copious amount of tomato sauce or garlic.
Great head of hair...Uuughh on the hair.  After Riley was born (and after it all fell out) it started growing back lighter and straighter.  It's a very weird look.  This will be remedied tomorrow when I get it cut to shoulder length.  Hopefully those curls will return.
Good amounts of movement...exponentially more movement.  This boy is either having the time of his life in there, or is trying his hardest to fight his way out.  He NEVER STOPS MOVING.  I do not exaggerate.  He is in constant activity.  I'm afraid we'll never be able to swaddle him because those little legs just don't stop.  I only felt Riley's little feet sticking out a couple of times.  With Jude, I feel the bottoms of his little feet against my belly mulitple times everyday.  Such a difference between the girl and the boy.

I've gotta say, I have really enjoyed both pregnancies.  I've been very blessed with two easy pregnancies, and one easy baby.  I hope my blessed-ness continues on the easy baby front!  Could I be so lucky?  I have a theory...I slept so well when pregnant with Riley.  Then she was born and we worked really hard to get on a schedule and get her sleeping through the night.  With Jude, I haven't slept very well.  So I'm thinking (and hoping) that he will not have trouble sleeping when he arrives and we can get on a good sleep schedule quickly.  God knows I'm going to need it with double the kids I have now!