Happy Birthday!

Today is Grandma Shanni's Birthday! (Shelly's Mom) Happy Birthday Grandma!!! Grandma has taken the day off work to play with Riley. They're just going to hang out at Grandma's house. I'm sure they'll both have a ball.

Today is also Riley's conception birthday. Happy Birthday to you Riley! One year ago today my eggs were retrieved and fertilized. It seems like yesterday I was walking around with grapefruit sized ovaries. Not a comfortable thing but oh so worth it!!! One year later and here we are with the sunshine of your lives. I know this might seem strange to some, acknowledging this milestone, but it is in fact a huge milestone to us.

In honor of their birthdays below is picture of Grandma Shanni and her three beautiful Grandkids at the big birthday bash we had for her on Saturday.

Our Little Mini Vacation

Last week Shelly, Riley and I set off for a few relaxing, and fun filled, days in Park City. We rented a Condo right on Main Street so that we had complete access to shopping, food, and fun without ever having to get in our car. It was wonderful!!!

This was our first get away with Riley and we were anxious to see how she would handle being outside of her routine and every day surroundings. She did fantastic! She was such a happy baby! She slept good, she ate good, and she smiled a lot. She also LOVED being in her stroller and seemed to get a little mad when it wasn't moving. She slept in her Moses Basket next to our bed, just as if she was in her bassinet at home, and slept through the night as always. Through the night usually consists of about 8:30 pm to 5:00 am.

I so needed a get away with my girls. During the week I don't get to spend much time with them because of a little thing called work gets in the way. Once the weekend comes I feel like I have to spend time reconnecting with them and just as I feel reconnected Monday hits again. So this mini vacation was needed!

Below are some pics from our trip. You'll notice there was a party crasher. We realized every picture we took Day 1 had Lambie (one of Riley's favorite toys) in it. So, we continued the theme and made sure Lambie was in EVERY picture. Enjoy!

Oh, wait, one last thing, we weighed Riley yesterday. 12 lbs on the dot!

"Mom, I love Lambie."

"Seriously Mom, are you sure these are 3 Month jeans because I'm feeling a little self conscious about my waist line right now."

How cute is Riley's butt in these jeans!

Riley and Lambie ignoring Mommy Shelly as she enjoys her Adult Beverage.

MMMM, Margarita

"Lambie, the Mom's are acting a little funny. I think there's something in those cactus shaped cups they're drinking from."

"Lambie watching over Miss Riley while the Mom's enjoy their Mexican Fiesta."

"Hey Mom, watch this dance move, I can do the Sprinkler!"

"I'm tired, too much dancing."

Lambie watching over the princess as she sleeps.

Lambie thought this sign at Cisero's was funny. We did too. Sorry Riley, no puppies or espresso for you this trip!

"Oh Lambie, I love you."

Lambie watching over Riley as we have a wonderful dinner and wine at our favorite restaurant in Park City, Cisero's.

"Hey Moms, this trip was AWESOME, let's do it again soon!"

Football Sunday!!!

Sunday was our annual Football Draft. This is I think the 5th year we've done this. We get everyone who plays together for a BBQ and more importantly the draft. The draft consists of everyone making a small "donation" to play. Then we randomly draw names. When you're name is drawn you get to pick the team you want for the season. Then, whatever team wins the Super B.owl their "owner" wins the donation jar. It's fun because every one gets a different team each year and you never know what N.FL team is going to go all the way. I ended up with Pittsburgh!!!! My boys!!! Yeah!!! Shelly got the Bears and Riley got Cincinnati.

Of course Riley had to dress up for this event. The problem was I couldn't find a jersey for her anywhere that wasn't Denver. Just because we live in Utah, and Denver is the closest NFL team to us, does not mean the whole state loves Denver!!! The only team I DID NOT want her wearing was Denver. I finally had to just break down and buy the dang Denver jersey for her. Here's pictures of the big event. Enjoy!

"Mom, I'm so ashamed, how could you put me in a Denver jersey? You know Pittsburgh is my team."

Maybe if I just sleep I won't have to deal with this Denver thing.

"God Mommy Amy, please help me, can you see what my Mom's have me wearing?"

Baby Talor cheering for Pittsburgh! Tate was too busy running around with the boys for me to catch any pictures of her with her baby sister.

Shelly with Syd giving baby Riley kisses. Syd loves baby Riley!

K, Syd and Cameron from Role Playing with Kids

After the rain the kids found digging in the mud too much fun! Glad Riley's still too little to play in the mud because there were some dirty kids after this! From left to right, Beau, Aiden, Brady, Tate, and Sydney.

An Image I'll Never Forget

Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in my office, chatting with a co-worker on the phone. I happened to look out my window to see a family sitting outside my window having lunch. Unfortunately this family looked like maybe they were struggling financially and the concept of family may not be first in their minds. The looked pretty dirty, unkempt, and were smoking the entire time with there three young kids (ages 2-5 maybe) present. (Please don't mistake me. I'm not judgmental about smoking. I just don't think you should smoke around children.)

As I was chatting away with my co-worker I looked out just in time to watch the father pull back his left hand and slap one of the little boys hard across the face. I had just witnessed a father hitting his son. All of sudden my heart felt empty, hopeless. What on earth could cause a parent to slap their child so violently, while looking them in the eyes, and in public. It made me physically ill and I was having a hard time getting a grip.

I didn't know what to do or how to react. I had to end my conversation with my co-worker because I couldn't get past it. My choices for action consisted of 1) Do nothing; 2) Ask security to talk to them, but in reality, they were doing nothing wrong; or 3) Go talk to them myself and tell them what I witnessed. I so wanted to choose 3 but what would it do but possibly put myself in danger. The father was scary looking. I didn't want to put myself in a risky situation. And security couldn't do anything. They weren't breaking any rules. In the end I decided to do nothing. I just packed up my bag and went home to hold my baby girl.

The rest of the evening I was very melancholy. I don't think I've ever held Riley so tight. Today, sitting in the office, looking out my window, I can't shake yesterday's image from my head. I know I'll move past it but I just keep second guessing myself. Is there anything I could have done differently? Could I have made a difference? A small part of my heart is broken for that little boy. I can't even imagine how his life must be.

Because this hasn't been my usual, cheery, happy, everything is great post, I'll at least leave you with a picture of me and the princess. You may also notice I've cut my hair OFF and dyed it brown. BIG change! I'm getting it used to it but I miss my long, highlighted hair. I've also included a picture of me and the princess from the day we brought her home.

Happy 3 Month Birthday Riley!

Riley is 3 months today! And yes, we even sang Happy Birthday to her this morning!

I can't believe our baby girl is three months old. Wow! It's hard to believe that a year ago this month we were in the middle of our IVF cycle. Now, a year later, we have a 3 months old little miracle. What a blessing!

Little Miss is getting so big. This weekend I packed up her newborn clothes and sent them off to someone else to use. She's now solidly wearing her 3 month clothes, some 0-3, and is almost ready for 3-6.

At 3 months Miss Riley...

• is drinking from a 3 month nipple (demands it if we slip a 1 in there)
• has found her hands and is sucking on her hands like crazy
• loves to sit and stand, still with help of course
• rolls from her stomach to her back, both ways, especially when you're trying to do tummy time
• holds her head up on her own, though it still gets a little wobbly when she's tired
• blows lots of spit bubbles
• imitates certain hand gestures like waving and pointing her index finger (for those that think I'm crazy Twins and Two Moms can verify)
• squeals, and yells, when she's happy or mad (no giggling but she's so close)
• has lots of smiles for everyone
• loves watching the Baby Channel (though we try to limit this, but it sure helps when laundry needs to be done or bottles need to be sterilized)

There are some things we're working on.

• She still favors her right side because of the Hygroma and her surgery. She's going to Physical Therapy and we have lots of exercises and stretches we do with her every day. She's slowly doing better. She can move her head to the left, but she favors looking to her right, especially when she's tired. We also make sure when she's in her bassinet, crib, swing, chair, etc. that she has to look to the left to look at us, her toys, etc.
• She still has a flat spot on the right side of the back of her head from laying on the Hygroma as she was growing in the womb. Because of this we try to always hold her towards the left, feed her to the left, and she is now sleeping on her left side. We're hoping to correct it without her having to wear a reshaping helmet.
• Her right ear sticks out and is slightly larger than her left due to being folded in half all those months in the womb. We tape it down, or have her wear headbands, around the house to help. She sees her Plastic Surgeon again at six months. At that time he'll decide if he wants to tack her ear back and fix her scar in the front. Her scar looks fantastic and is hardly noticeable except for one little place in the front. He told us after the surgery that they may have to fix this after six months.
• Little Miss sometimes has issues with bowel movements. She can go more than week without a BM. Right now she's on day seven. She's got a little bit of stinky gas, ok, maybe a lot, and gets a little fussy when trying to pass gas. We HATE her having gas pains and being constipated so any experience on this one is appreciated. Her pediatrician did tell us to start giving her apple or pear juice everyday. This helped for awhile but for some reason she's on another dry spell.

We took her for her three month pictures on Friday but she was pretty grumpy, because she needs to poop, and wouldn't really smile. So, as soon as she goes we'll take her back for pictures.

Until then here are some of my favorite pictures from Riley's third month of life.

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New Pics

All is well! Everyone is doing great. I'm super busy this week but at least wanted to post some updated pics of Miss Riley. Enjoy!

Freshly Bathed and Super Sweet

Hi Uncle Steve

Hanging in my chair

Mom, I'm done hanging in my chair. Pick me up!

Posing with Lambie in an Aunt Sarah Photo Shoot

2 Months - Come and Gone

Can you believe Riley hit her 2 Month Milestone and I didn't even blog about it! Bad Mom! Although I have been out of town.

We took Riley for her 2 month check-up and shots on 7/27. She was such a trooper! She cried as the nurse was giving her the shots but was quickly comforted when she was done. She weighed in at 10 lbs 9 0z and 22 inches. She's in the 30th percentile for both height and weight. She's grown like a weed, Doctor's words, since her 1 month appointment. Way to go Riley!

She is pretty much sleeping through the night, at least most of the time. She typically falls asleep around 8:30 and will sleep until 4:00 or 5:00 am. Last night she slept from 8:00 until 5:00. Good girl!!! Too bad the dogs had us up NUMEROUS times. Sometimes the dogs are worse then the baby.

She's starting to imitate certain things we do. We can get her to imitate us sticking our tongue out. It's the cutest thing to see that little tongue sticking out. And, she waves at us! Now that really is the cutest thing. About 80% of the time when we wave at her she'll bring her cute little arm up to the side of her head and you see her little fingers trying to wave. It's the cutest thing! I have to get it on video.

I was in Denver last week with my girlfriends at Stam.pin' Up's national convention. We had a BLAST! We saw lots of great tips, tricks and trends for paper crafting, stamping, card making, scrapbooking, etc. We got to play with lots of new product and even won a few things. But, just hanging with the girls was by far the best. Sometimes you need to just get away from all responsibilities and be a girl.

Even thought I had a blast in Denver it was SO HARD being away from my girls. But, it was wonderful coming home to them.

Oh, my new craft room flooded this weekend! Damn rain!!! Just when I was getting so close to getting it done! We've now got the carpet pulled up trying to dry. I HOPE, hope, hope we don't have to put in new carpet and paint since it just got redone! But, we'll deal with whatever needs to be done.

I leave you with a few pictures of the princess. These aren't the most recent pics but they should help those needing a "Riley Fix". I PROMISE to download the recent pics tonight and get them posted tomorrow!!!

"Mom, can you turn the dang TV down?!"

Major Milk Mouth

Riley with Great Grandma Helen