Riley's 17 Month Update

Almost 1 1/2 years old! My baby is getting so big. Nothing too big has happened this past month. We've been enjoying the summer as much as we can. I don't like being hot, so we tend to go outside during the evening. All three kids LOVE running through the sprinkler. We strip them down naked and they have a blast. Riley gets right in there. It's hilarious to watch. Her little chubby legs get going fast when she runs through the water and she giggles when it hits her.

Riley's personality is still in between Ethan and Mia's. Riley can be very sweet, cuddly, and kissy like Mia, but she can be very mischievous and curious, like Ethan. Riley has no problem sticking up for herself. She'll go after Mia if Mia makes her mad, but tends to be a little more reserved about going after Ethan. Ethan will push her or hit her back, and Mia tends not to do that, so I guess that's the reason why.

She is still a major mama's girl. She is a pain to get to sleep at night, but she goes to bed just fine when I'm at work. Riley doesn't know it yet, but tonight will be the last night she gets to nurse. I'm kind of sad about it, but at the same time, I'm ready to be done. Mike and I fly out to Washington DC tomorrow morning. This will be the best time to wean her!

Riley loves almost every kind of food. She is always the first one at the table when I say it's time to eat. She likes sitting at the little kids' table with Ethan and Mia. They all get along, for the most part!

Riley has a couple of molars coming in, but hasn't been too crabby. She's definitely clingy though! She has her 18 month check-up next month (if I don't forget to make the appointment!) It'll be interesting to see if she's grown any. I hope she gets a little taller! Mia is supposed to be 5 feet 2 inches, so I hope Riley is at least that as well! I'm just happy that Ethan is going to be somewhat tall. Wouldn't it be weird if Ethan was really short and my girls were tall?

Sitting naked in their hummer.

I love how chubby her legs are. Nothing is cuter than a chubby baby!

Riley has to do everything Ethan does.

She makes this face a lot. My dad does the same face!

Weekly Recap

-Ethan stuck his hand in the toilet water and then shook the water off and it hit me in the face. Yuck. I haven't figured out yet if he did it on purpose.

-Mia peed on the potty chair the other day. Hey, it's the small things that get me excited. She gets one M&M for sitting on the potty chair and two M&M's for peeing or pooping. Riley caught on fast. She thinks that every time Mia gets an M&M, she gets one. She says, "num" over and over until I give in. Ethan caught on to this too. I told him he has to sit on the potty chair to get one. He sat on the potty chair for one second so I did give him one. He wanted another and I told him no. He climbed back on the potty chair and looked at me. Nice try, bud!

-My poor Mia is sick. She threw-up at lunch and then threw-up all over her bed during nap time. I can tell she doesn't feel well. Mike doesn't deal well with strong smells so this should be a fun night for him. (I have to work.)

-Riley's molar finally broke through. This explains why she's been so whiny and clingy!

-I let the kids run through the sprinkler yesterday. We strip all their clothes off and they go wild. They love it. It might be their most favorite thing to do. Riley got bit up by mosquitoes. I feel awful. Her back looks horrible. Stupid bugs!

-I've started keeping track of my Weight Watchers points again. I've been loosely doing it but haven't been too strict about keeping track. It really makes me think twice when I have to write down everything I eat. I've lost all of Riley's baby weight but I'm still down to those same 12 pounds. (I had 12 pounds to lose from the twins when I got pregnant with Riley.) I'd like to lose 5 pounds beyond that, so a total of 17 pounds. That's depressing to think about!

-My sister, Amber, and her fiance, Shayne, have set a wedding date! Yey! It's April 30th, which explains why I'm going to be strict about keeping track of my points!

-My dad's surgery went well. They got the stone out. I hope he heals fast because I'm stealing my mom on Tuesday for when we go to DC.

-Mia just came over, crawled up onto my lap, and puked on me. Yuck. The poor thing. Nothing's worse than when your baby is sick!

Random Pictures

Mike and I leave for Washington DC in a week. I am literally counting down the days. I can't wait to get away for awhile. God knows Mike and I definitely could use some time to ourselves. We're planning on going to the Holocaust Museum, one of the Smithsonian Museums, the major monuments, and hopefully the Ford Theater. There is so much to do there. We had to come up with a list and Mike told me that it's my job to make an itinerary. That's a lot of pressure! My parents are going to watch the kids from Wednesday to Friday, and Mike's parents are going to watch them from Friday to Sunday. They'll be in good hands!

I've been reading a ton on potty training. A lot of people suggest letting them either run around naked or put them in underwear. I let Mia run around naked yesterday and she pooped in the potty chair. Yey! It was actually quite funny to watch. She sat down for about 2 seconds, pooped, and then got up right away. She didn't want to be anywhere near her poop. Ethan, on the other hand, was obsessed. We waved and said, "good-bye poop" as I flushed the toiled. (The things you do when you have kids. If you asked me 5 years ago if I would be waving to poop and saying bye, I'd have called you crazy.) I left to go grocery shopping and Mike had put her in underwear. When I returned, Mia was wearing a diaper. I knew this was a bad sign. She peed all over the couch and Mike had to get the steam-cleaner out. He wasn't in a very good mood at all!

They all have a "deer in the headlights" look. I'm not really sure what was going on. It was kind of a weird picture that I had to include it.

It's weird to me that our kids are going to grow up texting and playing on the internet. This kind of makes me sad in a way!

He always looks so surprised when I take his picture. Not sure why. He's done this same look since he was a baby!

Woa! So surprised!

Riley stands at the top of the stairs and yells, "Dad?", all of the time.

Mike calls these her "Grandma pajamas." I think she looks really cute in them, although a little grandmotherly!

Trying to Burn the House Down

Mia is obsessed with the microwave. She is always putting stuff in the microwave and turning it on. Well, today, she put a magnet in the microwave. The said magnet started on fire. It smelled HORRIBLE! It took a few hours for the smell to leave my house. The funny part was that when Riley saw the fire in the microwave, she kept saying, "hot, hot, hot."

Weekly Recap

-I had to work last weekend. It went well. Mike's parents came down for the weekend to help out with the kids.

-My kids are always little monsters the Monday and Tuesday after I work. I guess they're paying me back for being gone!

-I wanted to give Ethan away several times this week. He was in quite the mood on Monday and Tuesday. He knows how to push my buttons!

-Ethan put a half bottle of lotion on his head. Meanwhile, Mia was squirting soap all over the counter. Do other peoples' kids do this?

-Riley has started hitting, biting, and pinching me if I don't do what she wants me to do.

-Riley now refers to herself as, "Ri-Ri." It's really cute. When she wants a bite or something to drink, she says, "a Ri-Ri bite" or "a Ri-Ri drink."

-I'm still working on potty-training with Mia. This is going to be a long process!

-Ethan took his diaper off yesterday during nap time and peed all over his bed.

-Ethan and Mia love it when we lay down and cuddle with them before they go to bed.

-Ethan had his speech session yesterday. He's a lot more comfortable with Laura! In fact, when she was leaving, he said, "bye Rora." Too cute! She always blows bubbles for him. This time, he tried eating all of the bubbles. I let Mia stay upstairs for the majority of his session. She had a lot of fun playing with the new toys.

-My dad goes to the Mayo Clinic every so often to get his kidneys checked out. They found little tumors on them several years ago. His tumors are fine, but they found a huge kidney stone. He had to have surgery yesterday to get it out. Except, they couldn't get it out and now he has to go back next week.

Riley Praying

Here's a short video of Riley saying her prayers before we eat. It's funny how they catch on to these types of things!

Random Pictures

He gets so sick of me taking his picture.

Hey look, a monster wearing a monster shirt.

Trying to antagonize me with the remote. She's a tease!

This might be my new favorite picture of Mia. She looks like a little girl here!