Dallas Baby Shower

Saturday was the baby shower in Dallas for Will (see I haven't forgotten.) Mary and Gaylie went ALL OUT. The food was especially amazing! The day was so special spending the whole day talking about a this baby boy! It was so relaxed and fun. All the McCord aunts were there and cousins and friends! All the boy stuff was just outrageous! You'll notice someone is missing from this party...that certain someone had a busy morning including but not limited to the following: breakfast tacos, Mountain Dew, trip to the vet, peanut M&Ms, chicken nuggets, and dog training...all in "too tight" jeans. Can anyone guess who accompanied her?

Food!

Whitney, Aunt Petie, and Julia

Minta, Korrin, and Adeline

Quannah and myself (me looking a little ragged)

Jessica and her sweet baby London

Aunt Helen and Antonia

Mary!

McCord sisters

This will make you smile.

This "little" guy makes me smile. He's our new grandson but DOES NOT LIVE AT OUR HOUSE. haha!! Mason obviously make very large puppies. Cisco is already taller than Shelby. He's 8 weeks old in this picture. Hee hee... so cute.

How much longer is this going to take?

That question enters my head about 4 million times a day. The days are getting longer and harder to move through. To bed at 1am most nights since tossing and turning with throbbing back and hips isn't really something I look forward to and wide awake at 4:30am is getting old. Poor Billy is so tired of my complaining- and just to think I've even cut that in half!! ha ha ha! I bought some tiny things for the baby yesterday and some amazing PJs for myself since we'll be camping out at the McCord's for the next two weeks. Ah how a great pair of PJs can turn your day around. Riley Jane spent the night with BMamama and although I like the time to rest, I miss my girl when she's not with me. As busy as she is, there's a peace she brought with her the day she arrived two years ago. It's such a pain-killer just seeing her little smiley face. It will be fun to see what the future holds with...Baby Will. Ok, I think I'm there. It's been hard for me to accept it and I know I've taken you down this road before, but I think I'm there. He will make a great "Will." That's what we're going with. No more discussion about it! And, I don't want anyone giving me a hard time for being indecisive either! This is a big decision you know. Kind of sad that today was my last day for Bible Study. I really only caught half of the study but will finish the rest on my own. I also wanted to do MOPS in Flower Mound, the Village Mommies Playgroup, and join a Home Group but that will all have to wait until January. (It will take me that long to get settled with Baby Will.) Just so you know, my camera is still broken and I haven't replaced it yet so the next pictures you see will probably be of Baby WILL!!! YAY!!! Doctor Gunby said he is VERY low in a VERY surprising tone. (Hence the pain with every move he makes.) So I better research this camera thing a bit before we just jump into it! Sorry for my stream of conciousness today and thank you for listening!

Camera's Broken

Ok so I found my camera but now it won't shoot a picture. Uh. I like that camera. I don't want a new one...ok a Nikon wouldn't be awful but anyways. That's why I haven't been posting pics or I've been pirating them from other sites. So I just had to post this happening about our sweet little Doodles. Last night Bill and Gayle came for dinner. Sometimes Riley Jane is in a very spiritual mood and expects everyone at the table to bless the food with a separate prayer. Well, during one the five prayers said, she prayed with her eyes closed and she held Gayle's hand and fumbled around her plate with the other hand searching for a tasty bite of steak fries or pinto beans. It was just the funniest site. Just watching her fumbling around on that plate for another bite with her eyes closed. It reminded me of the time she requested a prayer and proceeded to steal food off my plate while I closed my eyes. Now you know why we call her the 'Bandit.' Here's a flashback pic just for fun...

A Tribute to Oatmeal

Check out my recipe blog for some new dinner ideas and a Tribute to Oatmeal. You won' t be disappointed...unless you don't like oatmeal.

Today

What a great day today. We had to roll out of bed early and head out to our new Bible study at Valley Creek. We both look forward to Wednesdays :). It's good for Riley Jane to get some socialization with other kids. Plus, the Pricilla Shirer study we're doing is great. After Bible Study, we headed out to Southlake to make some returns and grab some lunch. One of my fav. restaurants in Dallas in Penne Pomodoro. They also own Bravo! in Arlington that I love and Brio in Southlake. So we tried Brio for the first time today. So yummy! Riley wanted to eat at Rockfish but I promised her she wouldn't be dissapointed at Brio. Anyway, we started out with calamari which is a favorite for us both. Then finished up with this huge lettuce wedge topped with crumbled bacon, fresh roma tomatoes, and creamy parmesan dressing. Big hit. The waitor even brought Riley Jane some pizza dough to play with while we waited for our food. We drew pictures of the food we were eating on the table and snacked on flatbread. There was a big table of Red Hat Ladies sitting next to us. Riley really liked their hats. They all waved and smiled at her. She smiled and hollered back "Mommy! Hats!" :) Riley Jane is fun to take out to eat as long as you order an appetizer of some kind. I always think about how much fun my mom and I have going out to eat when she comes to town. I have just as much fun with my Doodles. My camera is broken or I would have taken some pics.

Tomorrow we're going to a kick-off get together at a park in Flower Mound for a Mom's group at The Village. There should be lots of kids Riley's age there and moms for me to meet. Not sure how I'm going to keep her from running all over the place. Hard to keep up with her these days. I can only move so fast!

Here's RJ from a few days ago talking to Pawpaw on the phone. He must have said bye-bye. Very sad face :( Sometimes she talks to him for 10 or 15 minutes. I tried to explain to her that he can't talk to her ALL day.

Here are some shots I finally got of the pups. That's Mason on the left and Cisco our newish yellow puppy.

Getting so big, Cisco!

That's Shelby sitting by Cisco. Shelby and Mason are 1/2 brother and sister and Cisco is Mason's son. It's a family affair. Cisco likes to destroy things and jump on the trampoline. They are both sweet, happy dogs like Mason. Riley loves all three of them. She tells them to "Be Nice!" when she goes outside and they listen. I stopped buying her a snowcone on the way home because she just feeds it to Cisco and cries when he takes her spoon. I imagine 4 will also love them.

Check-up!

Riley Jane had her 2 year check-up today! She is as healthy and happy as can be. Our new pediatrician's office is great. We saw the PA today and both loved her! She told Riley she was listening for bunnies when she used her stethoscope. Riley told her all about her "I am a Bunny" book and how Nicholas eats the strawberries with the birds. So funny. Then, she had two viles of blood drawn to check for anemia and lead (i think?). She didn't cry a single tear. The nurses looked at me and I looked back at them like...really??? She is so tough. She just woke up from her nap crying (v. unusual). Arm probably hurts. I just gave her some Tylenol and some fruit snacks. That should do the trick.

Yesterday morning we dropped her off at the nursery for church. She had been to that nursery three days earlier for Bible study but it was a different classroom. Anyway, she usually just runs in and joins in on whatever is going on. Well, we let her in, walked past the door and stood in the one-way window to watch her for a second. That's when my heart broke into a million trillion pieces! She stood in the middle of the room by herself and covered her mouth with her hand trying not to cry! Her face got all red like she was about to burst, then tears came gushing out!!!! She was trying so hard not to cry!!!! I ran back in, gave her the paci, and told the lady to pick her up or something!! Geez lady. I went back to check on her later and she was fine. It was just so weird because I have never felt so terrible. Even all those awful mornings of dropping her off at daycare were nothing compared to that. The older they are, the harder it is to hear them cry. Maybe it's because she hardly ever cries? Who knows? Maybe it's the hormones. Seems like we're blaming everything on that lately!

Ok a few more things... The other night before putting her in bed we were talking to her and reading books. So we started saying "things that Riley likes..." puppies, George, cookies, Vicki, bubbles, Mommy, Daddy, etc... she quietly added "fruit snacks" in the same intonation. Halarious. We both laughed so hard we cried. She totally understood the category thing. The next day we did people on tv. So she named all the people on Sesame Street, including Alan? Who's Alan?

Here are some pictures of her coloring. Favorite activity right now.

Hmmm...which color next? Check out the pickle snack in her hand.

On the way to church...

Pics at the doctor's office. She was running around all crazy, moving the furniture around, washing her hands, wheeling around on the doctor's seat! Driving me absolutely batty.

Putting the pen in her "pocket" (like B)

I told you.

Hotslings Giveaway!

There's a Hotslings Giveaway on http://www.theclothdiaperreport.com/! Check it out!

Tea Party

Here's what's happening at our house today. I was pumped about not having to leave and well, Riley Jane is enjoying some quality time with her friends. Some of the friends may be familiar to you. Some had to share but didn't mind. Riley even shared her tea with Elmo and Barbie. The item sitting next to the puppy "Cisco" is a duck dummy Billy and Riley Jane use to train the dogs. Why and How did it get in the house? Not sure. Not to change the subject but she is calling Billy on her grilled cheese sandwich as I type.

These two already know each other.

4

We had another good doctor's appointment this week. Baby Billy's heartbeat was bustin' the speakers out of the heartbeat monitor as always. I did unintentionally lose three pounds, to which my response was, "I'll fix that." I figure this will be the last long-term opportunity to over eat guilt-free for like....ever. I return for one more 2 week appointment and then my 1 week visits begin!! I'm still working on Billy4's 'W' for his room. It's a big one! Not sure how I will cover it yet, fabric, paint, paper, combination of these?? I'm getting worn out again very easily although the temperatures have dropped several degrees (for which I am eternally grateful.) It's just so hard to slow down. There are so many fun things going on right now. Dr. Gunby said there's a good chance this baby will be a little early since Riley Jane was 8 days early. So, you COULD say I only have 5 weeks left and... that actually rounds down to 1 month. YES! I'm finally down to 1 of something. I've also started to drop the "Baby" and the "Billy" when talking about him. Like, sometimes I'll say, 4 is going crazy in there! or 4's room is almost done! Halarious. Think of all the crazies in this world that want a unique name for their child... Well, how about a number? We're so hip.

The Mouse

Riley Jane had her first trip to Chuckie Cheese today. I didn't know this, but the code for Chuckie Cheese is "The Mouse." So when moms are talking about it in front of their kids, you can say "The Mouse" instead of Chuckie Cheese so they don't freak out. It turns out Sarah may have accidently slipped on Friday while talking to me about it. So, Brandon had been asked about it ever since. Can you guess if Riley Jane had any fun at all??? Let's just say she and Chuckie were on a first name basis by the time we left. We stayed for two fun-filled hours before we had to head home for a nap. We ate pizza and she got a birthday girl sticker. Why not? It's her birthday week, right? No they didn't have any Anniversary stickers or I would have gotten one (7 years today!). The Crains joined (invited) us and brought Riley a ton of birthday gifts. She's got the whole present thing down now and loved them! She got several REALLY cute outfits, some pjs and a BUBBLE MACHINE!!! She talked about it the whole way home. We will bust out the bubbles today after nap. First pic is with cutie Brandon :)

Riley asking for ice cream.

Ah yes, the telephone. We spent all (40) tokens on this feature.

Yelling at Chuckie.

Pizza!

Ok this horse is really high off the ground (for a two year old) but she loved it! There's a video at the end of this post.

Getting a little crazy with the presents.

So brave! Watch out- I'm talking kind of loud because of all the noise!

Birthday Lunch

We finally made it to Riley Jane's ACTUAL birthday!! So fun! She was so embarrassed this morning when I sang Happy Birthday to her. She just laughed at me. When I asked her what she wanted for breakfast she immediately said "POPCICLE !" Well, it's your birthday, why not? After breakfast I asked her what she wanted to do on her birthday and she said "I want to bounce." So we bounced. Bounce video will be posted in the near future. Mimi and Papa are here for the weekend and Mamama came by for lunch. Riley opened her presents from Mimi and Papa, another from Mamama, and a few more from family and friends. They were all a big hit. She loved all the toys and especially the books! Everytime she opened a book, she said "BOOK!!!" and smiled really big. We made a yummy lunch and Riley Jane went down for a nap after she read all of her new books. She loves her grandparents so much and looked so cute in her birthday dress. What a special day. It's so crazy to think just two years ago today she arrived all tiny and cute. Each birthday is more special because it's so fun to see how much she's grown and changed.

Not actually sleeping. Just pretending.

Book!

This was one of my favorite books when I was little. Anyone else recognize it? Grover!

We lost the small board book version of Goodnight Moon so Mimi fixed that problem. She gave RJ the super-duper sized board book for her bday. She was so happy. She had been asking for it everynight for over a week.

Yay! A tin tea set! Nicer than plastic and less breakable than porcelain!

Going bye-bye now that she's got a purse.

There's the face again- another book!

Big smiles for yet another book.