Riley's Baptism

We had Riley baptized on Sunday. The Deacon that baptized Ethan and Mia also baptized Riley. It went pretty well. There was a silver shiny cup that the Deacon used to pour water over Riley's head. She saw it and went mad trying to get it. I kept pulling her back, but Deacon Roger gave it to her to look at. It immediately went into her mouth and then she tried banging it on the wood baptism table (or whatever it's called!) She had it for 5 seconds before he took it away from her. She wasn't too impressed. She then spit up on the baptism table. Deacon Roger was nice enough to give us his handkerchief to wipe it up. Yuck! She actually didn't mind the water being poured over her head.

Look at this body!

Her cake.

Family picture. It didn't turn out too bad! One of the kids is looking at the camera!

Another try.

Riley and her Godparents, Mark and Jenna.

Deacon Roger. We tried having him hold Riley, but you can probably tell how well it went!

Jenna and Riley.

Jenna and Riley.

Cheese!

Pretty dress.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! My sister, Sarah, decided to host this year's events. I was very thankful that she did it because I had to work Wednesday and Thursday night. I woke up early and headed over to her house for a great meal. We had all the traditional foods and Sarah made my Grandpa's rice. It's a family tradition and we have it at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is made with saffron and tons of cheese. It takes quite a while to make but it's SO good. After we ate, it was off to work for me. Got to love being a nurse!

The kids had a blast with their cousins. They really like playing with Janai, Noah, and their uncle Nathan. Sarah has all these little trinkets everywhere, so you can imagine how much fun Ethan and Mia have playing with all of her stuff. One of their favorite things is her Tiffany lamp. It has a chain that you pull to turn it on and off. They click it on and off over and over again. It drives Sarah crazy!

The newest member of the family, Jude.

My sister, Jenna.

My sister, Kelly. Riley really likes Kelly. She usually stops crying if Kelly is holding her. Maybe it's because we look alike?

Hi there!

My sister, Sarah.

Half of our family!

Hanging out.

Having fun together.

Oh Where Oh Where is My Camera?

I can't find my camera anywhere. I have a feeling that two little people here know where it is. I've looked in every conceivable hiding spot of theirs. I've looked in the floor vents, in their toy box, in the cars, in their dresser drawers and closets, in my cupboards. I'm kind of freaking out about this because of their new hobby. What is their new hobby, you ask? Throwing stuff in the garbage. I've found Riley's bottle in there (which I promptly blamed Mike for and he looked at me like I was crazy), various toys (which I blamed Mike for), a sippee cup (which I also blamed Mike for) among other things. Now I know it's not Mike throwing these things away but Ethan and Mia. I really think they threw my camera away, which makes me sick to my stomach! PLEASE let it be somewhere in the house!?!

Almost Better

Ethan is feeling much better. I think he's almost back to his old self, energy level and all! Mia is still feeling under the weather. I hope she's better by Thanksgiving. She has been very whiny and clingy. I know she feels miserable! I haven't been feeling the best either and actually called in sick on Saturday. I'm supposed to work on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm hoping that I feel up to it!

I wanted to wish everyone an early Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels!

My Twinkies are 23 Months!

One more month until the big 0-2! The kids have gone forever without getting sick, but at the moment, all three are sick. Ethan and Mia both have had a fever within the past couple of days and feel miserable. Riley has a boogery stuffed up nose. Three whiny clingy kids = one frazzled mama! I hope this passes quickly!

We haven't started potty training them yet. I don't think they are ready. They will sit on the potty chair on occasion but have never peed in it. I guess the time will come soon enough! It's going to be a challenge!

Both Ethan and Mia are picky eaters. I've noticed they eat more now that they are in their booster seats. Mia out eats Ethan at almost every meal. They both love peanut butter sandwiches. Ethan eats the peanut butter off the top of the bread. Mia will eat the entire thing, but she is a very slow eater. Ethan chows his food down. They also like crackers, chocolate, donuts, sweets, milk, juice. Mia continues to be a huge fruit eater. Ethan is getting a little strange about his food. He will no longer eat small chunks of things. For example, he wants an entire banana. If I break a chunk off, he will not eat it. That goes for other food items too. Mia isn't picky like that yet.

Ethan is learning to get into new things each day. His newest accomplishments are being able to open the refrigerator door (which is LOADS of fun for me) and pushing his chair up to the sunroom door, unlocking the dead bolt and running outside. He figured this out while I was in the bathroom. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find him. I quickly found a door lock at Target, which was almost $15 (expensive if you ask me) but it works. He gets super mad when he tries to open the door and can't. We also bought locks for our bi-fold doors, which are AWESOME! Before, he would mess with my Dyson vacuum cleaner and drag out all of the brooms, mops, and dust pans, among other things. He still can't figure out why the doors don't open. Hahahahaha

He's starting to say a few more words. He can say "ra" for rock, "pretty", "woa". Ethan still says a lot of jibberish type words. It's cute, though, because he says it in a really quiet voice which is pretty atypical for him. He is starting to give us "looks". If something confuses him, he gives us the funniest look. It makes me laugh all the time. I can give him "the look" if he does something naughty and it totally works on him. Not so for Mia. She's a toughie.

Ethan still carries his blankie and puppy everywhere. I think this bothers Mike, but I keep telling him it's normal! Mia will occasionally carry hers around but not like Ethan. In fact, I'd say Ethan is more obsessed with Mia having her blankie and bunny than she is. He is always tracking her down to hand her her blankie. If she doesn't want it, he gets kind of upset. It's so cute! Mike took the kids to Chamberlain last weekend and Mia was crying. Ethan went and found her blankie and bunny and brought it to her. He also brought her a fiber one granola bar! What a nice brother!

Mia is still the follower of the two, but by no means innocent! Ethan usually starts something and she jumps right in. She is still my little sweetie and loves to sit on my lap. She's very affectionate and gives lots of kisses and hugs. She loves my sister, Sarah, and sits on her lap whenever she's around. Sarah taught her to dance and probably other things I don't want to know!

Mia has also picked up a few new words. She can say, "cute", "woa", "pretty", "cool". I've also started working on numbers with them. Mia will occasionally repeat them to me. It's a work in progress! She talks more than Ethan but still isn't saying many two word phrases. They have their 2-year baby check in December, so I'll be interested to see what the doctor says about their speech. I hope they don't need speech therapy!

We can tell the kids to go get their coats and shoes, and they do it! This is so cool! I told Uncle Mark the other day that, "the kids are kind of starting to listen to us a little bit." Mike and Mark busted out laughing and I guess it was kind of funny when I thought about what I had said, but it's true. It doesn't always work. When Ethan knows we're going outside, he'll grab his coat, his shoes, Mia's coat, Mia's shoes, Riley's coat, and Riley's shoes. He absolutely loves it out there. He'll do anything to go outside. I'll ask Mia to grab Riley a toy, and she almost does it every time. It's interesting to see what she brings her. A lot of the time, it's random objects.

Sitting in her booster seat for the first time. They love them!

Sitting in his booster seat.

Having a snack.

Playing in the toy box.

Quit taking pictures!

Yes?!?!?

Playing in our greenhouse. He loves being in there. Lots of stuff to get into!

Waiting to go outside in his pajamas.

Playing with some binkies they had when they were babies.

LOVE the sunglasses, Mia!

Doing what they do best, get into stuff!

Happy Boy

I love this picture! Do you want to know what was so funny? I took Ethan's shoes off after being outside. We were sitting on the floor and I smelled this awful odor. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I was smelling everything. I finally smelled his shoes. They smelled HORRIBLE. Foot odor. YUCK! I smelled his feet and they smelled just as bad. How can my 2 year old have nasty food odor all ready? After I smelled his feet, he smelled his feet and started laughing. I snapped this picture right after that.

Happy 8 Months, Darling!

Happy 8 Months, sweetie! Where has the time gone? Riley hasn't started crawling yet. I'm excited for her to do so. It'll be fun to watch her interact with Ethan and Mia when she's mobile. I'm guessing that Mia is going to pester her a lot! Riley has been babbling a lot lately. Mike swears that he heard "dada" but I don't think so. She's been saying "bababababa" a lot. I'm still waiting to hear her first words!

Ethan and Mia love giving Riley random things to eat, especially when I'm not watching. My sister, Sarah, brought over some lunch and we were sitting at the kitchen table talking. Sarah was holding Riley and when I looked down at her, Riley was sucking on a french fry. I didn't say anything, but I was thinking, "geez, Sarah, do you really think she needs a french fry?" Sarah then looks down and sees her with the fry and asked me if I had given it to her. I told her "no, I thought you did." We both busted out laughing and we realized that Mia, who was standing right there, was the one who gave her the fry. Ethan, being so nice, put peanut butter bread on Riley's tray. Riley was going to town eating it when I walked back in the kitchen! Thankfully, she didn't have a reaction! They've also given her cocoa puffs, lucky charms, cinnamon toast crunch and cheese crackers.

Riley absolutely loves watching Ethan and Mia run around. She'll sit on my lap for quite awhile just watching them. They can bring her out of a grumpy mood. Ethan still pretty much ignores Riley. Every once in awhile, he'll pat her on the head. Ethan did something to make Riley cry. I gave him "the look" and said in a very stern voice, "you give her a kiss right now." He looked at me and saw how serious I was. He leaned over and gave her a kiss. It was so cute. I had to hold back my laughter! Mia continues to love Riley. She is constantly kissing her but does pester her quite a bit. If Riley is sitting up, Mia will purposely knock her over and pat her belly. Riley HATES this and starts screaming immediately.

Riley still is not a fan of sleep. She wants to sleep with me and this is where the problem starts. I'm a very light sleeper and every movement wakes me up. Riley won't lay next to me. She wants me to cradle her while she's laying on her side. I can tell her neck starts hurting because she starts squirming all over the place. Then, I have to flop over to the other side. I try to lay her in her crib, but she wakes up within an hour. I just bought a book on how to get your baby to sleep without crying themselves to sleep. I hope I'll have some good news to report in a few weeks! Riley's naps are touch and go. She loves to be held while she naps. This isn't always possible, so I try to put her in her crib. She must sense when I do this because her eyes open immediately and she looks at me like, "I know what you're trying to do. Pick me up right now!"

I started to wean Riley from the boob. Mike was pretty insistent on this. I know she's hard to take care of when I'm working, so he thinks this will help. She's been getting a bottle for the two evening feedings, and I still breastfeed her for the morning and afternoon feedings. It's going to be hard to get her to stop breastfeeding all together. She especially wants to do it when she's tired. She'll grab my shirt and put her head on my chest and then she'll arch her back so she's laying like she does when she breastfeeds. Poor thing! The good thing is is that she takes the bottle with no issues now. She gets fruit in the mornings, vegetables for lunch, and a baby dinner for supper. Her favorites are: bananas, pears, squash, sweet potatoes, beef with gravy, and turkey with sweet potatoes.

Ethan is smelling his feet. Riley is extremely interested!

I was out of cheerio's, so I gave her puffed wheat. She liked it!

Hanging with bro and sis.

Playing with Ethan.

Having fun outside.

Hanging out in the green house.

Eating leaves.

Still eating leaves.

Pretty girl.

Happy being outside.

Hanging on the floor.

Halloween Pictures

Here are some pictures of the kids from Halloween. Our friend is a photographer and she took some pictures of them for us! Ethan and Mia were pretty serious, but we got some smiles from Riley! Enjoy!