"Milestones"

1. Riley's new favorite thing to do is pray. We always pray before we eat and pray with her before bedtime, but now she loves to pray ALL the time. We will sit down to eat dinner and she folds her hands, to "remind us" to pray for the meal, then she'll take a couple of bites and folds her hands again and will refuse to eat until we pray again. This usually happens at least 3 or 4 times a meal. Then she loves putting her babies to bed in their "crib" at least 5 times a day and she folds her hands again and will wait until I pray for her baby too! It's so cute to see her growing up and I always hope that Ty and I can be Godly examples for her. It's hard to believe that kiddos pick up what we do and how we act so quickly, what a reminder.

2. She has figured out how to open all the doors now, so we've had to put "childproof locks" on all of the doors (except hers) otherwise she ransacks our room and plays in the toilet when we're not looking.

3. She can show you all her body parts, from her head to her toes and knows all of her animals and the sounds they make.

4. She doesn't talk much (at all) but can do about 25-30 sign language signs. It will be exciting when she can actually communicate with us by talking.

5. Babies are her favorite "toys". She rocks them, holds them, feeds them, burbs them, gives them pacifiers, dresses them, etc. She's not very interested in other toys. Maybe she'll be my little helper when the "real thing" comes along very soon!!

6. She's getting her own personality and attitude already! She can be so defiant, but she's also so sweet and loving (and all at the SAME TIME). She loves climbing on the coffee table (which we don't allow). I tell her I'm going to count to five and if she doesn't get down she's getting a time-out. I'll count to five, she'll be looking at me the whole time, then when she doesn't get off I will go get her and when I pick her up she'll give me a big hug and a kiss just so I won't put her in time-out. How manipulative she is already :)!

7. She loves to help me cook. But she hates the blender and the mixer--they scare her.

8. She loves playing in my purse and wallet, but she especially likes taking out my credit cards and putting them down the vents in the apartment. No wonder I can never find them...

9. She will tell me when she has to go potty so we run to the "potty room", take off her pants and diaper and sit on the potty. Then (after she won't go) she'll stand up walk a foot away from me and pee on the bathroom floor...this happens almost every time, it never fails!! Thank goodness for tile floors.

10. She loves playing with our cell phones and calls Uncle Corey usually at least once a week, most of the time when it's 6 am (their time) and wakes him up.

11. Riley doesn't like it when Ty shaves--his "shaving cream face" scares her. She always shakes her head "no" when she sees him.

12. The first thing Riley does in the morning when I get her out of her crib is pat my belly and says "baby"-she loves her brother already! :)

13. When Ri eats cereal for breakfast she always drinks the milk from her bowl first and then eats her cereal! :)

I could probably go on forever and ever...but these are just a few of the precious things about Ri that I never want to forget or take for granted. Even though I feel overwhelmed at times I can't imagine my life any other way. I am so thankful for our family and can't wait to see what she does next!

Dr. appointments...

This week has already been full of doctor appointments for both Riley and I. Riley had her 18 month well-baby appointment (even though she is 19 months old) and thankfully she was completely up-to-date with her shots so she didn' have to get any!! That made my life (and I'm sure her's as well) so much easier! She is now 22 lbs. (20th percentile) and 32 inches (40th percentile)...she must have had a growth spurt since her last appointment! I also had them look at her infection again and even though it is getting better each day they still prescribed more meds. to help it clear up quicker!

I had my weekly appointment on Monday and everything looks great...once you get to the bi-weekly and weekly appointments it kind of seems like they're all the same. I am now 38 weeks and I put on 1 lb. since last week but am finding that it's still way harder to get around. I'll try to post belly pictures later tonight, I am now off to clean the house and do laundry while Riley is taking a nap!

Ty says I look abnormally gigantic :)! Me at 38 weeks...

A big boy?? What do you think ;)!!?

I was scrubbing the floor the other morning and sweet little Riley had to help me off the floor because I was so exhausted and so huge...she's so funny because she'll pretend like she's helping me up and grab my hand to pull me up and then say "ugh..." when trying to help. It's really funny!

Oh yeah...I almost forgot to mention that I have officially grown out of almost all of my maternity clothes :)!