Riley's 2yr. Check -Up

I took Riley for her 2 year check-up today.  Riley has never been a fan of going to the doctor.  Ever since she was a little baby she has always thrown a fit during all of her doctors visits.  Riley has actually only been to the doctor for her check-ups.  I am so thankful that she's not been sick and had to see the doctor.  Riley's name got called and we went back to have her weighed and measured.  The screaming game began.  I asked Riley to take off her shoes, which normally she has no issue with.  Well not today.  She screamed when I took her shoes off since she wouldn't do it on her own.  She continued to scream as I put her up on the scale.  After 3 tries to weigh her the nurse finally got her weight.  Then it was time to see how tall Riley is.  All she had to do was stand up against the wall.  That wasn't happening.  Riley was screaming bloody murder so I had to pin her to the wall by pressing my body up against her.  Riley still was wiggling all around and trying to climb out under my arms.  It was one of the worst experiences of my life!  Getting your child weighed and measured should not be such a hassle.  I don't even think the nurse got an accurate height measurement.  Going by what the nurse said, Riley is 27.5lbs and 34.5in tall.  But who really knows about the height! 

After all that drama we head back to wait for the doctor to come and check out Riley.  Riley was just fine sitting in the room looking at all the fish on the wall.  And then in walks the doctor.  After asking me a few questions about Riley it was time for Riley to sit up on the bed.  I'm sure you know this isn't going to go well.  I had to sit Riley on my lap so that the doctor could complete Riley's check-up.  Dr. Chan checked Riley's eyes and ears and mouth.  Then all the sudden the doctor goes to take Riley's pants off.  I had no idea she was going to do this.  Apparently Riley didn't either and she kicked the doctor.  Oh yes, my little angel, kicked the doctor.  I guess in a way that might be a good thing because she doesn't want strangers taking her pants off.  I understand that the doctor was just completing Riley's check-up, but it sure would've been nice to know what the hell she was doing before she did it.  I mean with infants the doctor always asks you to undress your child, they've never done it themselves.  I guess Riley and I were both caught off guard when the doctor decided to undress Riley herself.  Poor Hadley was just sitting in her carseat probably wondering what all the kicking and screaming was about!  The good new is that Riley is up to date on her immunizations and didn't have to get any shots.  Praise the Lord!!  Riley is still a healthy little girl and on target.  Dr. Chan did inform me that I shouldn't be giving Riley so much milk to drink.  Riley drinks about 3-4 cups of milk a day.  She likes it, just like her father.  Apparently it's too much.  Whatever.  It's not like she's drinking soda or some other sugary drink.  I think I'll just keep doing what I do!

After the Beach

I forgot to mention that after we got home from the beach on Sunday, Riley spotted one of her sprinklers in the garage and wanted to play with it before going inside.  Trey hooked it up for Riley and away she went running through the sprinkler.  The best part was the fact she was wearing her bathing suit top, a pull-up and her cha-cha's.  This girl no longer plays outside in her crocs.  She's all about her cha-cha's all the time.  It was too funny to watch her run through the sprinkler in those shoes.  She had a blast and didn't fall.  Perhaps we have a little diva in the making!

Correction

So I was looking at my blog entry about Riley turning 2 years old and happened to notice I put a picture of Hadley when she was born.  Oops!!  So I thought I should share a correct picture of Riley just hours after she was born.  They seriously looked like twins at birth!! 

Beach Fun

Sunday we decided to head to the beach for the day.  Trey & I both agree that we don't take advantage of this island like we should.  It's been tough to get to the beach though since Hadley arrived.  I didn't want to expose her to all of the sun while she was a newborn.  Not to mention it had been pretty cold here, so the weather was preventing us from hitting the beach too.  Now that Hadley is 5 months old and the weather has been gorgeous we decided it was a perfect day to hit the beach.  We, well Trey, packed up the Tahoe and off we went.  We headed to the Bellows which is our favorite spot.  Trey set up the canopy so that Hadley would have shade, Riley got her beach toys out and our day at the beach began.  Riley has no fear of the ocean.  She sat with her daddy and let the wave just splash right into her.  She got knocked over more than once and just laughed about it. Trey and Riley played in the water and sand for hours.  However, when Riley was trying to dig in the sand and the water would come up to her she'd yell at the water, "stop water, no, no, no."  It was the cutest and funniest thing ever!  Riley could have stayed at the beach all day long.  We were out of the swim diapers so I decided to just take Riley's diaper off and let her be free!  Trey was concerned about her pooping, but she had gone already in the morning so I figured we'd be ok.  I told Riley to tell me if she had to pee so I could make sure she was in the water.  Riley of course replied "yeah mama."  A couple of hours later, as Trey and I were sitting in our beach chairs, Riley was digging in the sand and yells "mama, mama, mama" with her legs spread apart.  I see pee running down her legs and just start to laugh.  Trey took her down to the water and rinsed her off and then she went right back to digging in the sand.  Hadley did really well with her first time at the beach.  Of course when it was time for her to eat she kept refusing to and screaming bloody murder.  So I decided to walk back to the car and try to feed her there.  She still screamed when I tried.  I was getting a little frustrated so I took my sunglasses off and then Hadley got the biggest smile.  I tried to feed her again and she latched right on.  I think my sunglasses freaked her out when I tried to feed her.  Lesson learned!  I was really upset because I forgot my camera for this trip to the beach.  Of all things to forget!  So I took some pictures on my camera which will have to do for now.  Don't worry though.  Trey & I made a deal that we will hit the beach one day out of the weekend every weekend.  I'm super stoked about that!!

Riley's Birthday Par-tay

Trey & I threw Riley a little birthday party this afternoon.  We just had our good friends over to help celebrate Riley turning 2.  We all enjoyed some scrumptious Boston's Pizza and then the kids had a little water play.  We set up a slip-n-slide for the kids to play on.  It was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon and perfect to have the kiddos play in some water. 

After the kids were done playing in the water we decided it was pinata time.  We had a cute Dora the Explorer pinata filled with goodies for the kids to bust open. Trey rigged up his Jeep so that the pinata would be low enough for the kids to hit.  Riley got to go first since she was the birthday girl.  She wasn't really sure about holding a baseball bat and then having to swing the bat.  Both Trey and our friend Erika tried to help Riley.  After two swings she decided she'd rather finish eating her apple and watch all the other kids take a turn trying to break open the pinata.  Once the pinata mess was cleaned up it was time for birthday cake!! 

As we all sang Happy Birthday to Riley she sat there staring at us like we had all lost our minds.  It was hysterical.  She didn't get shy or bashful, she just stared very intensely.  Daddy helped Riley blow out her candles and then Riley stuck her fingers right into the cake to get a tast of the yummy chocolate frosting.  I did my best making Riley's birthday cake, but I'm far from a cake decorator.  Oh well, it's the love that went into the cake decorating that made it beautiful.  At least that's what I keep telling myself.  Then Riley got to open some presents.  Her favorite was the package of new disney princess cha-cha's!!  I am so thankful that we have such good friends that helped us celebrate my baby's second birthday!

My Baby is 2!!!

My, oh, my how time passes you by.  Riley turned two years old today.  I couldn't help but get a little teary eyed thinking about how it seems like just yesterday that I was in the hospital delivering her after 19hrs of labor!  I'm so proud of Riley.  She is becoming quite the little girl with the way she plays and the things she says.  Riley is picking up new words left and right and putting them together to make sentences(or phrases for that matter).  Riley is getting quite bossy these days.  She likes to tell me and Trey where to sit or what to play with.  She especially likes to tell Hadley what toy she can play with and if Hadley grabs another toy Riley is sure to tell her "no, no, no sister!"  It's the cutestes thing, Riley doesn't call Hadley by her name.  She'll only call Hadley sister and she'll tell you her name is sister!!  I'm sure the next year is going to go by just as quickly so I'm trying to savor every moment.  I'm crossing my fingers that this year of Riley being 2 doesn't bring too much of the terrible attitude.  She's already got her fair share of being that little devil so hopefully it won't get too much worse.

We are having a little party for Riley on Saturday with some friends, but Riley recieved a few birthday packages in the mail so she got a bunch of presents to open.  Nana sent Riley some new cha-cha's, a pack-n-play for her babydolls, a bathing suit, and a cute little outfit.  Uncle Justin, Aunt Sara, Addie & Bella sent Riley a cool flower sprinkler, a watering pot for outside and a cool dvd to help Riley learn her letters.  And then Poppy, Grandma Kathy & Uncle Tyler sent Riley a check.  I'm thinking about getting a pedicure with it since it's made out in my name!!  Ha ha, just kidding.  I'll take Riley shopping on Monday so she can pick something out she'd like.  Riley had a blast opening her presents.  She's at that age where as soon as she rips one open she's on to the next.  It was pretty funny to watch her.  Then once they were all unwrapped she actually looked at what she got.  Thank you to everyone for making Riley's birthday special!

Eating Some Cereal

My sweet little Hadley is 5 months old today!!  What??  Already!!  This morning Hadley got her first taste of cereal.  I decided to use the oatmeal cereal instead of the rice because Riley wouldn't eat the rice cereal unless I mixed it with baby food.  And since Hadley isn't eating the baby food yet, I went with the oatmeal.  Hadley was analyzing the spoon as I was bringing it toward her mouth.  Of course she wanted to grab the spoon because she grabs anything and everything that is in her reach.  Once the spoon hit her mouth she wasn't exactly sure what was going on.  She didn't know if she liked it or what.  Half the time she'd smile afterwards and the other half she would get fussy.  I remembered to just be patient and not try to shovel it all down her throat!  I have to say that all in all Hadley did a really good job eating her cereal for the first time.  When Riley ate her cereal for the first time it all came back out of her mouth. 

I know with Riley I had started cereal when she was 4 months old and baby food when she was 5 months old, but the doctor told me that I shouldn't start cereal until 5 months and wait until 6 months with Hadley.  It's funny how the rules change in such a short period of time.  I think once Hadley gets the cereal thing down I'll go ahead and introduce some baby food.  I'm sure Hadley is getting tired of just breastmilk all of the time.  It's time to add some variety in her life!! 

Hadley is doing really well.  She's been rolling over like a crazy woman for awhile now.  Everytime I lay her on the floor and walk away, when I come back she's rolled over.  She's a mover and a shaker.  She turns herself all around during tummy time.  Hadley isn't quite sitting up on her own yet, she still slouches over and holds herself up with her arms.  I'm not even sure when babies are suppose to be able to sit up on their own.  Trey and I keep going by when Riley did things and she was sitting up at 5 months like nobody's business!!  All in due time though.  I'm not rushing Hadley to grow up.

Potty Training

And so it begins.  For about the past two weeks I've started to introduce the potty to Riley.  The first step taken was to put her in pull-ups instead of her regular diaper.  Phew, that was a hassle and a half.  Riley wanted nothing to do with the pull-ups.  And when I say nothing, I really mean NOTHING!!  I wasn't even putting her on the potty yet, just trying to get her use to wearing something similar to underwear.  Everytime I'd go to change her diaper(pull-up) she'd scream bloody murder when I'd try to put a new one on.  It was awful.  I just thought to myself that Riley is definitely not ready for this potty training thing. 

Just a couple of days ago Riley has come to like her pull-ups.  She even takes them off and puts them on herself.  To me this was a major milestone in the potty training adventure.  Riley even wipes herself during the diaper change and then throws the wipe in the toilet.  But she still wasn't wanting to sit on the potty.

Last night Riley was a big girl and actually sat on the potty.  About a minute later she was ready to get off!  She didn't go potty, but the fact that she was willing to sit on the potty was yet another milestone to me!!  Trey and I told her what a good girl she was for doing that.  Trey shared some ice cream with her as a reward!  Of course now she'll probably go sit on the potty, get off and want some treats!  I figure she'll go pee on the potty when she's ready.  I'm not going to push it.  It's a gradual process and I think Riley is doing great thus far!! 

Waking Up Happy...Or Not

This little ray of light always wakes up in the morning and from naps with a smile on her face!  Riley was the same way up until last week.  I love walking in to a smiling baby.  It makes me feel like I'm going to have a good day.  Hadley just jibber jabbers away in her crib until I get in there to get her.  I love to hear her baby talk.  Then we have Riley who either screams at the top of her lungs when she wakes up or yells "Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama" until I get into her room.  For about the past week Riley has been waking up way too early.  It's been anywhere from 5:30-6am and she doesn't go back to sleep if I put her in my bed.  I'm not sure why she's becoming such an early riser.  All I know is that I'm not a fan.  As soon as we get downstairs and I give her some milk she's a load of energy.  The picture below is Riley at 6:15am.  Already busy playing with toys and making a mess of the house!  The only perk to her waking up so early is that she has been sleeping for over 2 hours during naptime.  I'm hoping this early bird girl is just going through a phase and will start sleeping until 7:30 again.  But I guess it doesn't really matter since Hadley is normally up by 6:30am.  I sure hope this early morning nonsense doesn't stop my visitors in September!!

Easter Treats

Yesterday we got a special delivery from Kiki and Po.  It was our Easter package!  Yeah!  This box was loaded full of goodies for the girls and contained Christmas cards for all of us!  I know where I get my late gift giving from!!  Riley & Hadley both got a bathing suit which are absolutely adorable.  I'm sure you'll be seeing the girls sporting their new suits when we hit the beach this weekend.  They also got some new movies..."UP" (which was Riley's first movie she saw in the theater) and "The Princess and the Frog."  I had rented that one from netflix for Riley, but Riley likes to have the dvd case with her when she watches a movie so she can point to the characters on the case when she sees them on the tv.  She is now in love with The Princess and the Frog!  We got some yummy cookies from Trader Joes which I had never had before.  Riley definitely enjoys them.  And we all got our pretty hand made Easter cards.  Sorry, I don't have a picture, but they were beautiful Mom!!  Thanks for all the special treats for the girls!!

I got the best treat of all!!!!!!

Oh yes, Mom & Mr. Kev sent me some Fisher's pop corn.  It's been so long since I've gotten to taste a little bit of Ocean City.  Yes, I know I live in paradise, but sometimes you just crave those sweet things from your childhood.  Oh my, am I old enough to say things like that??  It's such a delicious treat I'm not quite sure that I wanted Trey to have any.  He took a few bites last night and I didn't feel the excitement from him that I myself had when I took my first bite.  But he's never had it before, nor has he been to O.C!!  This was a heavenly treat for me!  Thanks Mom & Mr. Kev for thinking of me!

Morning Fun

It's totally apparent that summer is arriving here in Hawaii.  As the afternoon comes so does that nice summer Hawaii heat.  It's been getting nice and hot during the afternoon.  So hot that Riley is standing at the door with her shoes off ready to go back inside.  I can tell that it's time to get a pool out for Riley so we can enjoy the afternoons outdoors with some fun in the water! 

To beat the heat I've been taking the girls outside in the morning.  Riley likes to push her baby around in her stroller and take a walk around the block.  This walk takes forever because Riley likes to point out every rock on the sidewalk, every bird that flies by, and every place that she's fallen off of her bike!  This girl likes to talk!!  After a few strolls around the block with her baby she then likes to take a few cruises around on her bike.  Riley is a huge fan of her bike.  Her little legs go super fast.  As tall as Riley is she still isn't able to reach the pedals.  But that doesn't stop her from getting around.  Riley just rides Flinstone style!

Little sister Hadley just sits in her seat and watches her big sister ride her bike all around.  Hadley is thoroughly entertained by Riley all of the time.  Riley makes Hadley belly laugh like nobody's business.  It's hysterical!  I look forward to the day that Hadley is able to just follow Riley around wherever she goes.  Hopefully it won't annoy Riley too much!

Hoppy Easter!

Our Easter morning started out with Trey at work.  Unfortunately Trey had duty from 0800-1600.  So while daddy was at work Riley opened Easter gifts that Nana had sent for the girls.  Riley's favorite things were an Easter cup that lights up and Hadley's little musical butterfly light up toy.  Riley always seems to enjoy Hadley's toys more than her own. Riley did let Hadley play with her new toy for a little bit!  Nana also sent a little wind up jumping bunny and chick that freaked Riley out at first!  It was funny to watch.  

 I was planning on going to an Easter party that our friends were having outside for a load of people that don't have family here to celebrate with.  However, it had rained all night long and was continuing to rain throughout the day.  The party started at 1pm but due to the rain the party was moved inside.  The idea of this made me cringe a little.  I don't like being in a house with a ton of people and not having anywhere to move.  Hadley was still napping when the party started so Riley went to the party with our neighbor Erika.  I thought I would be following behind shortly after but Hadley wound up taking a 3 hour nap!  I did run down to Abbey's to pick Riley up because she definitely wasn't missing her nap because she didn't get one on Saturday and I wasn't about to deal with a no nap girl two days in a row!  When I got Riley she was snuggled up on Erika because she was tired and completely overwhelmed with the massive crowd of people crammed into Abbey's house.  I was honestly glad Hadley was taking a long nap.  I don't deal well with lots of people in a confined area.  Riley came home and went down for her nap and slept for 2 hours.  I actually woke her up because I didn't want her sleeping past 4:30pm or else she'd never go to bed.  I made Trey a yummy dinner...chicken, asparagus, and alfredo.  To top it off he had a nice warm brownie with vanilla ice cream for dessert!  Yes, I'm Betty Crocker!  After dinner our friends Adam and Monica stopped by to drop off some Easter gifts for the girls.  They got Riley enough candy to last until Halloween!  I definitely put the candy away for potty training rewards!  Riley also got some play-doh & a beach ball.  Hadley got a couple of teething rings which she really enjoyed. 

I had taken the girls on Friday to get their pictures with the Easter bunny.  It didn't work due to the fact that Riley wouldn't get out of the stroller and Hadley was looking in every direction but at the camera.  So needless to say I don't have any pictures of either of the girls with the Easter bunny.  I do have this one of Hadley sporting the bunny ears that Nana sent.  Riley refused to wear them.  She ripped them off as soon as I put them on her and threw them on the floor.  I don't think Hadley even knew she had anything on her head which made it easy to get her picture!!  I was going to attempt letting Riley dye Easter eggs this year but I just never got around to it.  I'm vowing that next year we will dye eggs and have an egg hunt in the house just like mom & Mr. Kevin did for Justin and me every year(and I won every year too)!

Nice Afternoon

Saturday Trey had the idea for us to go out to lunch and spend the afternoon in Waikiki.  We don't really go to Waikiki very often because it's so touristy and full of traffic!  We went to lunch at The Yard House.  Trey and I first ate there right before his jaw surgery.  It was delicious!  Easter Bunny Madeleine sent Trey and I some "date money" so we decided to enjoy lunch with our girls at The Yard House.  Whenever we go out to eat Trey has to have an appetizer, so we ordered the same thing that we got the last time: spinich cheese dip.  I know many of you are wondering why we'd order something that I wouldn't eat, but actually I do love this dip!  Trey and I knew Riley would enjoy the chips the dip came with, but much to our surprise and delight Riley LOVED the dip!!  It was hysterical to watch her dip the chips.  Once we got our lunch Riley continued eating the spinich dip.  She dipped her fries and her grilled cheese in the dip.  My picky eater Riley wouldn't eat her grilled cheese though because it was made with cheddar cheese.  She only eats American.  I wonder where she gets her pickiness from!!  Oops!

Our lunch was cut a little short because Riley had enough of sitting at the table and it was time for Hadley to eat.  I stayed inside to pay the bill and feed Hadley and Trey took Riley outside.  As I came walking outside of the restaurant I see Riley running around in this foutain.  I'm not really sure that you're suppose to run around in it, but there weren't any signs saying not to.  Leave it to daddy to let Riley run through water and get soaking wet with no change of clothes.  Riley was having a blast though.  She didn't want to leave.  The only way to convince her was to tell her we were going to walk by the ocean and see more water.  Riley definitely has a love for the water.  Our walk by the ocean was cut short because the rain clouds started coming in plus we had two tired girls.  We enjoyed our nice afternoon with an extra special thanks to Madeleine for treating us to lunch!!