Happy 2nd Birthday Riley!

Last week was a whirlwind of a week prepping for Riley’s birthday, although Chad & I each got a little “me” time in so that was nice. Chad went golfing on Monday with his brother and on Wednesday night Chad had to work and Riley was spending the night with his Grandmommy & Haha and so I went to see a movie and had some unexpected, yet awesome alone time. I didn’t work out all last week and was a total slacker in that department, but I have gotten back on the horse this week.

On Thursday I bought cookies for Riley’s class to share at daycare on Friday to celebrate his birthday. I went to j rae’s bakery, which I had never been to before. It is on Foch Street over by La Familia off of West 7th Street. I bought a dozen iced sugar cookies for the class and they had samples out so I got to taste one. They were so good! I also bought a strawberry cupcake for myself and I ate it that afternoon at the office. I had a bad day at work that day, so it was nice to get a little something sweet in the afternoon, even though I shouldn’t have eaten the entire thing because it was really rich and I ended up with a bit of a tummy ache after.

On Friday Grandmommy and Haha left for vacation in Colorado and so their dog, Rose, came to stay with us. It has been quite an adventure having her over. I think she might be going either blind, deaf or both because the first and second nights she stayed over we had to go find her in the backyard to come in for the night. The first night she had quite a restless night of sleep and at one point Chad found her in our bathroom standing in our bathtub! She has settled down more each day it seems and she does seem to be sleeping better so that is good.

Saturday was the day of Riley’s party and we had such a great day! We got to Nana & Papa’s house, where the party was being held, just in time to eat a quick lunch and then for Riley to go down for a nap. While he was sleeping the Elmo bounce house was delivered and it was AMAZING!!! We were all shocked at how big it was. Riley woke up at 2:30 and had about 30 minutes to wake up all the way and see his bounce house before the party guests started arriving. The party was from 3-6 and we had such a great time! The kids (and some of the parents) bounced in the bounce house and when the kids got hot, they came out of the bounce house and played in kiddie pools my mom had set up in the backyard. My dad grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and then we had cake. We didn’t have a chance to open presents while everyone was there because we wanted to spend as much time in the bounce house as possible before they came to pick it up, so we opened presents after everyone left and the bounce house was gone. It was long day, but the weather was fabulous (warm with a breeze) and the backyard was nicely shaded. Riley had a great time, I hope, and it will be a party I won’t soon forget. Not sure how I’m gonna top it next year, but I’ll figure something out! Here are the pictures from the party:

(the gigantic Elmo's World bounce house)

(Riley in the bounce house for the first time - I would say he's happy!)

(Smiling in the bounce house!)

(Peeking around the corner in the bounce house!)

(First party guest to arrive! - Ethan enjoying the bounce house!)

(Riley in his party hat!)

(Enjoying the kiddie pools!)

(Riley and his cousin, Riley Scott, about to have some cake - Riley just tasted some icing!)

(Riley wanted to take Elmo's nose off. When I did he licked it and said "Back on?" so I put it back on.)

(The amazing cake my Aunt Tami made. She is a GENIUS!!!)

(Riley and his piece of cake!)

(After the guests had left - opening the first of many presents!

(Oooo! What's in here?)

(Opening another one!)

(Playing with his favorite toy of the evening - a remote control train set)

(Playing with the remote control train and also some bath trains)

(Still playing with the train....)

(Time to go home - the crankiness set in)

On Sunday we woke up and got in the car to head to Dallas and meet Hillary, Jarrett and Aidan at the Dallas World Aquarium. We had all never been there and so we were excited to see what it was all about. It was a bit pricey for the tickets, but once we got inside we understood why: It was amazing! There were so many different animals and some even so close you could stand right next to them. We spent almost 2 hours there and then we walked to the West End to have some lunch. Riley fell asleep on the way home and wouldn’t really go back to sleep after we got home. This made for a volatile afternoon, but we made sure to get him in bed as early as we could. Here are the pictures from the aquarium:

(At the house, about to get in the car. Riley insisted on taking his new bath trains with him. ps - I love his shoes! He got them for his birthday from his Aunt Rebecca)

(Fell asleep in the car on the way to the aquarium - but still didn't let go of those trains!)

(This was crazy! There was a sloth in a tree and you could just stand right next to it! He looked like sad little old man!)

(Aidan, Jarrett, Riley & Daddy watching the seals swim)

(Walking through the aquarium)

(Looking at an anaconda in the same cage/tank as some small monkeys! Crazy!)

(Checking out the turtles, ducks, and stingrays)

(We used MANY Finding Nemo references throughout the day)

(Riley REALLY wanted to get down where the small penguins were!)

(Somehow we kept him on this side of the railing!)

Yesterday was officially Riley’s birthday! I honestly cannot believe he is already two years old! Where did the time go? Riley’s godparents Kate & Jason were not in town the day of Riley’s party, so they asked if Riley could spend his birthday with them. They spent the day watching movies and then they went swimming in the afternoon. Last night they invited Chad & me to join them for dinner and Jason made hamburgers and we had a lovely time. Kate requested that Riley bathe at their house because her birthday present to him was bathtub finger-paints and tablets that change the color of the bath water. Riley had a great time bathing and did not want to get out of the tub. When he finally got out he told me he had to go poopy. I set him on Kate’s toilet, not expecting him to do anything and a minute later he said “All done” and I pulled him off and stood him on my lap, when I noticed that he had pee running down his leg. If I had arranged him right it would have gone right in the toilet!!! So we praised him and hugged him and told him good job for peeing in the potty! Who knows where it will go from here, but I guess he let me know when he was ready!

Riley has also been very sweet to my baby belly lately. Although he does ask for me to open my tummy, when I tell him I can’t he does seem to accept me just pulling my shirt up over my belly to see my tummy and he has twice kissed my belly when I ask him if he will give the baby a kiss. Such a sweet little boy!

Overall, I am feeling pretty good still in the pregnancy. I am 11 and a half weeks now and just counting down the days until I can say “goodbye” to the first trimester. With Riley I felt like I got a lot of energy back in the second trimester so I’m hoping that happens again. These pregnancies have been totally different so far though, so I am not crossing my fingers or anything! Chad told me the other day that I was dealing with this pregnancy better than the first one and I guess I have to say I agree. I don’t know if it’s that I know it’s the last time I have to do this since we’re only planning on having two kids, or if it’s that I know the yucky feelings will end eventually, even if that eventually is in February! Who knows, but I am overall glad that this pregnancy is being nicer to both of us so far!