Friday, July 17, 2009

Happy 4 Months, Riley!

Riley is four months today! She can now roll over from her stomach to her back. She doesn't like tummy time a whole lot though. Riley loves to kick on the floor. Her floor time is limited because of her big brother and sister. They pester her relentlessly when she's on the floor. Riley gets floor time when they are napping. She is starting to drool! I remember when Mia went through this stage. It seems that Riley is progressing faster than the twins. The twins were always a couple months behind because of their prematurity. It's amazing to see the differences between the three of them. She's been holding her head up for the past month and occasionally gets to sit in the bumbo. Again, it depends on Ethan and Mia. Anytime she's on the floor, they're right there.

Riley has been sleeping through the night for the past few weeks. She usually goes to bed around 11:00pm and wakes up around 6:00am to eat. She'll go back to bed for a couple of hours and is up for good around 9:00am. There's no complaints here, but it'll be nice when she skips the 6am feeding! She still takes little 30 minute cat naps throughout the day. Though, for the past few days, she's been taking one long 1 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon. I hope this continues!

She absolutely LOVES to watch Ethan and Mia run around. She sits on my lap and watches them forever! She smiles at both of them. I love watching them interact. Mia loves her baby sister. She kisses her and hugs her constantly. Ethan is still jealous of her and will hit her any chance he gets. He's starting to try and poke her in the eyes, too. I've seen him kiss her a few times, so I think he's warming up to her. I still have to watch the twins like a hawk when they are around her. They're always trying to stick stuff in her mouth. They've put mulch, plastic baby doll pacifiers & bottles, real pacifiers & bottles, the end of a medicine dropper etc in her mouth. I don't know where this fascination comes from! All I can say is Riley is going to be one tough little girl!

Riley is still a big mama's girl. She has a rough time when I leave for work. I'm hoping it gets easier and easier. She's taking the bottle much better, so that's a load off my mind! I think she's starting to notice strangers, which seems early for that. As long as she can see me, she's usually content with someone else holding her. But if she happens to see the person holding her, she starts screaming. It makes it challenging when we're at family gatherings. People want to hold her, but she screams bloody murder! The twins went to anyone, and they really didn't go through the stranger phase until around 15 months.



Playing nice with Riley!

Mike's probably going to kill me for this one! I remember when we got the baby bjorn. Mike said he wouldn't be caught dead using it! He used it all the time with the twins.

Loving on Riley.

Hanging out on the couch.

On the slide at the park. I don't know if you can tell, but her hair is sticking straight up due to the static electricity. She laughed when Mike took her down the slide.

Having fun on the slide.

Long day at the park. I drool everywhere!

Happy and in a good mood!

Look at my pretty dress!

Hanging out.

Trying to show off my cute legs.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Eating Some Cereal

Riley turns four months tomorrow, but we decided to give her some rice cereal tonight because I have to work the next three nights. She seemed to like it. Though, I think she had more on her bib than she ate! It was cute to watch her try and swallow it! Mike thought he'd be funny and gave Ethan a bite of the rice cereal. Ethan tried spitting it out the second it hit his tongue and then proceeded to gag and gag on it. I've never seen him gag before! And then, since we gave Ethan a bite, we decided to give Mia one. She also spit it out instantly and started crying. What mean parents we are! Mike and I had a good laugh!


Mmm

Yummy

Give me more!

This isn't too bad.

Eating some more. That's Mia's hand in the picture. She's always checking Riley out.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Rolling Riley

Riley rolled over from her stomach to her back today. I thought it might be a fluke, but she did it the next day too! She's getting so big!




Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy Belated 4th of July


I hope everyone had a good fourth of July! We spent it with Mike's side of the family in Chamberlain, SD. The kids had a blast seeing everyone and playing outside! We took them boating and fishing. Ethan and Mia rode big bertha for the first time, which is an enormous inner tube. Both of them liked it. I figured Ethan would, but I was surprised that Mia liked it! I had to work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so I headed back to Sioux Falls on Friday. I was pretty bummed out that I missed the entire weekend of fun! Can I just say it sucks being a nurse sometimes!
Mike said that Mia liked the fireworks, but Ethan was kind of scared of the noise. I totally thought it would have been the opposite. I guess Riley was one tough cookie after I left on Friday. She's such a mama's girl. All of Mike's aunts helped take care of her. Thank you everybody for that!
Ethan was put in time-out over that weekend. His pack and play was right next to Grandpa Schmidt's dresser. Ethan was so ticked off that he pulled out all of Grandpa Schmidt's underwear and socks and threw them all over the place. He is such a stinker!
Riley napping on the couch.

Ethan and Mia with Grandpa Schmidt. They're riding the lawn mower. Both kids LOVE the lawn mower.

Fishing for the first time. We didn't catch a thing!

Fishing...not even a bite.

Still fishing. Ethan wasn't quite himself that weekend. I don't think he was feeling very well. He was in a somber mood and not his usualy smiley self.

Ethan on the boat.

Riley on the boat.

Mike, Ethan, Mia, and Elsa on big bertha.

Riding big bertha.

Ethan swimming in the river for the first time. He kind of liked it!

Having a great time.

Mia swimming in the river for the first time. She didn't like it! The water was kind of cold.

Ethan on big bertha. He had a blast!

Having fun!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

18 Month Check-up

Mike took Ethan and Mia to their 18 month visit, but he forgot all of the kids' stats. I've been patiently waiting for the clinic to send me the info, and I've finally gotten it.

Ethan: His head circumference is 19.7 inches, which puts him in the 95th percentile (hey, we've made it back on the charts!) His length is 33 inches, which puts him in the 70th percentile. His weight is 26 lb 8 oz, which puts him in the 55th percentile.

Mia: Her head circumference is 18.5 inches, which puts her in the 55th percentile. Her length is 30 inches, which puts her in the 10th percentile. Her weight is 19 lb 14 oz, which puts her in the 3rd percentile.

Both kids lost weight. Ethan lost 5 ounces and Mia lost a pound. The doctor didn't mention anything about them losing weight. They're both so active, and they're both getting so picky! It looks like Ethan's head is starting to catch up a little bit to his body. Mia's head actually got a little smaller. I'm guessing they measured it wrong last time.

The doctor said we needed to start working on words with them. When they want something, they point and go "uh, uh, uh." We need to teach them the word for whatever they're pointing at. They had the dreaded MMR vaccine. All doctors will tell you there is no correlation between the MMR and autism, but most parents that have kids with autism will tell you there's a connection. He did an autism screen before the vaccine. I asked Mike about the autism screen (the doctor told me about it at the 15 month check-up.) Mike had no idea that he did it. He needs to start asking more questions!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Poop Balls

Ethan decided to take his diaper off when he was in his crib. Not a huge deal except that there were poop balls in his diaper. (It's pretty self-explanatory, but they're hard little balls of poop.) He had them all over his crib and he chucked a couple of them by Mia's crib. Thank God I caught it almost as soon as he took off his diaper. Who knows what he would have done? Little kids are so gross sometimes!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Random Pictures


I thought I would post some more pictures of the kids. Enjoy!


Being good for the picture!

Chilling.

Sitting with Dad.

Sitting with Dad.

Watching Ethan and Mia.

Sitting in the bumbo for the first time.

Mia playing with one of my dolls I had when I was little.

She LOVES my coffee cups.

Wearing Dad's gardening hat.

Happy kids...for the moment!

Being goofy.

They look guilty.
Hi!

Being goofy.

Mia loves to sit on your lap.

Being good...for the moment.

Chilling on the couch.

Photo shoot on the couch.