Weekly Recap

-Today marks 9 days that Riley has not nursed. The first few days I was back from DC was kind of rough. She wanted to "nur nur" all day! I keep telling her that they're all gone. She is easy to distract, so she never cries for long. The past couple of days have gone much better. She's only asked to nurse once each day. I'm not sure if I've ever shared Mike's predictions of the kids. He thinks Ethan is going to be a football player, Mia is going to be a cheerleader, and Riley is going to be breastfeeding in the stands. Haha very funny! It looks like he's going to have to come up with something new.

-Mike is taking the kids to Chamberlain this weekend because I have to work. I'm sure they'll have a great time! They might do some boating if it's not too windy.

-Ethan's speech therapy session went really well. Laura said he did awesome last week. He was saying complete sentences and difficult two word phrases. He also did well this week. I think he does a little better when I'm not in the room. I overheard him saying his colors and pointing out different animals. When I tell him Laura is coming, he always says, "no Rora" but when she gets here, he waits for her at the door with the biggest smile on his face. This last time, he didn't want her to leave. Too cute. I wonder if she babysits? All three kids love her.

-Riley has gotten 3 molars in the past two weeks and she's working on a couple of more teeth. Poor thing! She's taking it like a champ. She always tries to bite me when I try and feel her gums. She bit me really hard today! She just laughs and laughs when she does it.

-Mia is still working on potty training. Some days she does better than others. I let her run around bare bottomed and that works better for her than pull-ups. I think she's sick of the whole process! The past couple of days, she has started bringing me diapers when she has to go to the bathroom. Smart girl!

Our Trip to DC

We had a good time in Washington DC! We walked all over the place. In fact, my feet still hurt! We went to all of the main museums--Smithsonian Museums of Natural History, American History, Space & Air, National Gallery of Art, and the Holocaust Museum. The amazing part is, we didn't even go to half of the museums in DC. We probably didn't relax as much as I was hoping, but there was just too much to see. I didn't get my massage from the hotel spa because it was insanely expensive.

Mike had a conference the first day, so I went to all of the little shops around our hotel. The hotel was amazing! It was really fancy. The hotel was right on the Potomac River, and it had the prettiest views. It had four restaurants inside the hotel, along with an atrium, fountains, and shops. It had over 2000 rooms. The shops I went to were within walking distance from the hotel. Most of them were pretty expensive, but I did find a few shops that were within my price range!

We did a bus tour which was awesome. It drove us by all the main tourist attractions. You could get out and walk up to the Monuments or stop at a museum. We drove by the Pentagon. Did you know it is illegal to take pictures of it? I thought that's kind of weird. They said it was for national security. You could see where they repaired the building after 09/11.

We met up with Mike's cousin, Jessica, a couple of the nights we were there. We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant which was neat. They brought the food out on a big platter and you used a thin piece of bread to grab the food. The second night, we ate at a Thai restaurant. The food there was good as well. There's an Ethiopian restaurant here in Sioux Falls that I now want to try.

One thing we noticed about DC is how expensive everything is. Dining out is almost twice as much as here in the midwest. You can't find a beer that is under $6 and a coffee drink is also at least $6. Jessica told us that they pay $1500 a month for a one bedroom apartment. Yikes!

We had a lot of fun away from home and DC was a great place to visit. I can't wait to take the kids there when they get older. It was good to get back home though! The kids were pretty excited to see us. Ethan was mad at me at first! He would give Mike a kiss and hug, but he wouldn't give me one. It took him half the day to give me a kiss! Mia had a big smile on her face when she saw us. There was no grudge from her! Riley has been glued to me since we've come home. I thought she would forget about nursing. Yeah right! The first time she sat on my lap, she started tugging on my shirt saying, "a nur nur, a boobie, a nur nur." She's easily distracted, so I've been trying to keep her busy. She doesn't cry for very long when she wants to nurse, just as long as I keep her focused on something else.

A mosasaur. They found a mosasaur in Chamberlain, SD, so Mike had to get a picture. The skeleton wasn't in this museum though.

Mike wanted to take my picture with a grizzly bear. Not sure why.

The Hope Diamond. There's supposedly a curse to whomever owns the diamond. Most of the owners died in tragic ways.

Union Station. It's a huge amtrak station. It also has tons of little shops inside. I wish we could have spent more time here!

The Capitol Building. No building in DC is taller than Lady Liberty on top of the Capitol Building. Nothing is above liberty.

The Lincoln Memorial. This was our favorite memorial.

The Washington Monument.

This statue was in front of the Vietnam War Memorial.

The Vietnam War Memorial. It was so sad to see all of those names.

Inside Arlington Cemetary. There were so many gravestones.

JFK's grave site. Jackie O'Nassis was to the right and there were two infants on either side of them.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

My Grandpa was invited to be buried here. He's not going to do it, but it's quite an honor to be considered!

The Jefferson Memorial. This is as close as we got to it. We didn't have time to walk up to it. Maybe we'll get there on our next trip!

The White House. I would have loved to get tickets to go inside. We'll have to do that our next trip as well. You can either stand in line for hours or write your congressman and ask him/her for tickets. Mike had to point out that their lawn didn't look very good!

Apollo 11 Command Modeul. Part of the first flight to the moon on July 20, 1969.

The Wright Brothers' first plane.

Genevra de' Benci. The only Leonardo DaVinci painting in the United States.

First Movie

I took Ethan and Mia to their first movie in the movie theater in July. We went and saw Toy Story 3. It was such a cute movie. It was in 3D, but Ethan and Mia wouldn't keep the glasses on. It was pretty blurry if you didn't have the glasses on. I kept wondering what they were thinking of the blurry movie. We bought popcorn, pop, and some candy. They were in heaven! They sat really still and watched almost all of it. Towards the end, they started walking up and down the stairs. We definitely will be going to more movies!

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."