It's Official - She's ONE!

Yesterday was Miss Riley's first birthday! I can't believe it's come and gone already. I'm having many mixed emotions over her first birthday but I'll save that for a later post. More importantly is how the birthday girl celebrated her big O-N-E!

If anyone knows me they know that I'm a birthday FREAK! I love birthdays, birthday celebrations, presents, anything birthday - I LOVE IT! So, Miss Riley's first birthday had to be all sorts of special and it all started a week ago when Grandma and Grandpa Las Vegas came to see her. We played, we ate, we spent time together. Unfortunately, I didn't take a lot of pictures. The only picture worth sharing is of me and Miss Riley at our families favorite mexican restaraunt. Riley looks like she may have had too many Marghartia's at this point.

This past weekend was actually Riley's weekend extravaganze. Friday night was the family birthday party with Shelly's family. Saturday was a small birthday party with a few of her/our friends. Sunday was a birthday visit with Grandma Connie (my Mom) and Sunday was birthday with her Mommies at the petting zoo. This little girl is loved, and spoiled, by so many people.

Below I've created a slide show of pictures from her Birthday Weekend Extravaganza. And I promise I'll be back soon with LOTS of updates because there is a lot to catch you up on.

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Happy Heart Day!

Happy Valentines Day from our little Valentine to yours! AND BIG Happy 1st Birthday Riley Elizabeth!!!

We've had a major grumpster for the past two days. Miss Riley is GRUMPY! Nothing makes her happy for very long. Not even Roxi or her round-a-bout make her happy. She's waking every 3 to 4 hours during the night. Usually she'll wake for a bottle and go right back to bed. She's typically not too cuddly during the night either. It's the same thing, night after night, bottle and then back in the crib with her bunny and a binky and she goes back to sleep. But not the last two nights. She cries when we put her back in her crib so we've been rocking and holding her, for up to an hour, before she's ready to go back to bed. The only thing I can think of is teething but I can't see anything trying to work it's way up. Maybe since today is Valentines Day she'll find love in her heart and start being happy again. Oh where, oh where, has my happy baby gone, oh where, oh where can she be???

My Life in Pictures

Hi everyone. This is Riley. I'm taking over our blog today and giving you a little update myself.

This is me at 5:30 am Wednesday morning. I look happy, and for the most part I was, but my Mom's wouldn't give me a bottle AND I didn't sleep good the night before. I came down with this nasty cold and couldn't breath through my nose so I didn't sleep well. Can you believe my Mom's had me up at 5:30 in the morning and wouldn't feed me! Next thing I know they bundled me up and took me for a ride, in ANOTHER snow storm, first thing in the morning. We never leave the house that early so I knew something was up.



They tooke me to Primary Children's Hospital where I sat in a room with lots of other kids. Pretty soon they called my name and took us into an exam room where my Mom's put me in these silly hospital jammies.





After a couple of different nurses poked at me my Momma Shelly took me for a ride in this super cool giant red wagon! I loved riding in the wagon up and down the hall of the hospital.




Before too long another nurse came out and talked to my Mom's. They took me out of the wagon and we walked down this long hall. I started getting a little scared for some reason. At the end of the hall we stopped and my Mom's started giving me lots of kisses AND they were crying! Then they gave me to this strange man! I started crying hard. I didn't understand why they gave me to a stranger and left. He took me into a room where he gave me some medicine that made me go to sleep.

Next thing I know I woke up with no jammies on and Momma Shelly was holding me. Boy, I sure didn't feel good. For about a half an hour I cried a lot because my head was spinning and my stomach felt wobbly, like I needed to throw up. But I never did!

After taking a little nap I woke up and felt MUCH better! My Mom's got me dressed and we headed home. Of course it was still snowing!





I was so happy to be home! I felt great expect for my cold. I hate having a cold!

Here's a picture of me "Home and Happy". Everyone was treating me extra special. You can see my sore in this picture. I doesn't bother me at all. I guess we leave this tape on there until it falls off.

I felt so good my Mom's put me in my favorite toy. I played for awhile and even got a kiss from Roxi. She was really glad I was home too. Then my Mom's finally gave me a bottle and I took a super long nap. So did Momma Dee.




Last night Mommy Shelly decided to give me a Faux Hawk. Having all this new hair is crazy. I just like to pull it. My Mom's keep trying to do crazy things with it.























This is my favorite picture. It's my "Girl Power" pic!

Finally, today is Andrew's first birthday! Happy B-day Andrew!!!

Bye bye everybody!

We're home!!!

It's 11:15 and WE ARE HOME! The surgery and recovery went great. No problems. She did amazingly well. We're home feeding and cuddling the little princess. I'll post more when we get settled and she's down for a nap.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day. Riley's surgery. We have to be at the hospital at 6:45 am. Surgery is at 8:15. We should be home around noon. I'll post an update then. I know it's minor but still, someone is taking my baby, and they'll have control of her precious little life. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Also challenging will be the fasting. Seriously, how do you have an eight month old fast?! She can have regular diet up until midnight. Then clear liquids until 5:15. Then nothing. I think it may be the longest ride to the hospital ever. She's going to want that morning bottle when she gets up. I might have to drink wine for breakfast.

Above, a picture of Miss Riley sticking out her tongue. Or at least an attempt. And, a picture of what we dealt with on Super Bowl Sunday. 25 inches of snow in our driveway! I called it "Super SNOW Sunday".

2 Teeth & Weekend Update

First, thank you to those of your who responded to my post on the Fluoride Debate. I decided to buy the Water Purifier but am still doing research. Problem is there are so many differing opinions.

Now, on to fun stuff. I told you last week that Miss Riley got her first tooth. Well, she's now the proud owner of two bottom teeth!

These two little opaque jewels must have been the culprit behind our three hour cuddle marathon last night. And if today is any indication (non stop chewing and fingers in her mouth) we could have a repeat performance tonight.

Here's pictures of the beauties (Never mind the soaking wet shirt in the middle of winter. I was cleaning out email and let her go a little too crazy with the sippy cup of water. Bad, neglectful Mom. These are the things that happen when I'm on baby duty and Shelly leaves the house.) Also I think she looks a little bit sassy in the first picture. There's some mischievousness behind those eyes.

Saturday was an eventful day for our family. First the three of us went to lunch at a nice restaurant. We were prepared with snacks, toys, and lunch for the little one. It couldn't have gone better! It was so much fun sitting in the restaurant as a family. This was our first restaurant outing in several months and she did amazingly well. Pictured here is little Miss enjoying lunch with her Mama's.

After lunch we went to meet my friend Shelly's new baby boy Sawyer. What a beautiful little boy. Riley had fun seeing the baby. Really she enjoyed watching/playing with Shelly's dogs the most. We enjoyed holding a newborn and that amazingly wonderful new born baby smell. Here's a pic of Riley being a big girl and waving while at Shelly's house and a few pics of baby Sawyer.

Sunday was a lazy day! Shelly and I took turns letting each other nap!!! It was wonderful!

The Fluoride Debate

We are in the process of getting a water purifier installed because the water in our area is horrible, or at least that's what the salesman has told us. We know we have extremly hard water and are getting a water softener. But we are still up in the air on a water purifier. The salesman has me sold because supposedly our area has a higher level of contaminants (lead, sediment, chlorine, dissolved solids/mineral salts, cysts, radium & arsenic) than what the EPA recommends. Fact is, I think the water tastes fine and I can't really find anything that confirms his case besides what he can provide me with.

Then there is the fluoride debate. Our water is fluoridated. Some people have stated babies must have fluoridated water for their teeth. The dentist confirmed this for me and said if you don't use the fluoridated water you'll need to use fluoride supplements. Then I start digging around on the Internet and am now more confused. Some sites say not to rely on fluoridated water because you can't control how much fluoride your child is getting. Others scare you that you could be giving too much fluoride to your child.

So I was all set to cancel the purifier (saves us $800) in favor of fluoridated water. I called the salesman and he does his job on selling about how contaminated our water is and now has me on the fence again.

I'm looking for opinions on fluoride! Help!!!