The Pumpkin Patch

Last week started out exhausting. Not only was Chad working 16 hour days in Dallas and I was on solo Riley duty (minus 20 minutes or so each morning before Chad left for work), but I woke up on Monday in a lot of pain and it lasted until Sunday. I am not sure what it was, but it felt like I had ridden a horse for a week. I was very sore. It hurt to walk, get up out of bed, lift one leg…unfortunately, all things you do every day. At first I thought the time had come to stop picking Riley up. Then on Friday I decided to call the doctor since it had been hurting for 5 days straight. Of course the nurse asked if I was having contractions or bleeding, both things I was thankfully not having. She then just said the baby is growing a lot right now and it might just be extra painful, but there was not much they could do except check it out next time I came in, if I was still in pain. She suggested taking Tylenol, which I had tried a couple of times, and it had not even touched the pain, so I just decided I would muscle through. On Saturday night, I decided to switch around the way I had been laying on my maternity body pillow and I am not sure if it was that or if the pain would have subsided on its own, but I woke up Sunday in a lot less pain. Now I wonder if maybe Carter had settled on a nerve or something and finally, after 5 days decided to move around and it released the pain I was having. I have no idea, but I am glad it is not hurting as bad now. I definitely have that pregnant “waddle” going on and I can’t wait for Carter to be born and start getting back to feeling like myself.

On Wednesday night my Dad went with me to Bedford to pick up a bookshelf that I was buying off of Craigslist. I realized earlier in the week that Riley’s bookshelf in his room was falling apart. It was a cheap bookshelf that I had gotten either in late high school or early college, so it definitely lasted a good while, but I was worried that at any moment one of the shelves might come crashing down as they were separating from their pegs, etc. I found a bookshelf that costs about half what I could buy a brand-new bookshelf for at Target and so I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and buy it. I was very nervous that it would not look good and the color when I saw it in person, was not exactly what it looked like online, but on Saturday my dad helped me bracket it to the wall (so Riley wouldn’t pull it over) and once I got all the books in it, I realized I also had room to put one of Riley’s toy bins in it too. It looks so good and it is made of all wood, with no particle board on the back so it should last a bit longer. Overall, I am proud of my semi-impulse buy and I think it was a good purchase for Riley’s room.

I am also currently OBSESSED with designing Carter’s room. I guess you could say I am nesting! I am constantly coming up with new ideas and finding new things online that I like. I really hope to get some things going soon, so I can stop obsessing and start doing!

This past weekend was a fun one for Riley. On Saturday afternoon we met up with my parents, my cousin Jill, her husband Rich and their son, Riley Scott, as well as Jill’s parents, Scott & Renee at the pumpkin patch. Last year Jill & I took the Rileys to this same pumpkin patch and we had a great time. They were a little young for it last year, but this year it was pretty much perfect! It was funny to watch the two Rileys and see how different they are. Riley Scott ran everywhere and I am sure his parents must be exhausted keeping up with him. Riley Aaron was much calmer! Watch Carter be my rambunctious child! The boys looked at pumpkins, went down the slide, sat on big tractors, rode on little tractors, looked at farm animals and picked out pumpkins to take home. The only thing we missed doing was the hay ride as when we went to buy tickets they were only available for an hour from then and we had already looked at everything and didn’t want to wait another hour just to ride the hay ride. We’ll try to plan it better for next year! Instead we left early and went to dinner at La Hacienda Ranch. My mom was great with both the boys at dinner. She gave Riley Scott her iPhone to play games on and my Aunt Renee gave Riley Aaron hers so both the boys would behave. At one point I had Riley Aaron in his chair next to me and Riley Scott on my lap and when the food came he did not want to go back to his chair. Even later, when he was in his chair, he held his arms up to me over the table wanting to sit with me again! Here are our photos of the pumpkin patch:

(This was just after we arrived. You can see my mom, Aunt Renee and Uncle Scott in the background on the right.)

(Riley checking out the pumpkins...and yes, he has serious naptime bedhead!)


(The sun was bright!)

(Both Rileys searching for the perfect pumpkin!)

(Riley Scott found one!)

(We tried to get the Rileys to pose for a shot on this bench. It is really hard to get two 2 year olds to both say 'cheese' at the same time.)

(We finally gave them pumpkins to hold and this was the best shot of them both looking at the camera!)

(This picture cracks me up! Riley shot off this slide sooo fast! I was not ready for it!)

(Both the boys on the red tractor together! Riley Aaron had a blast, Riley Scott wanted down right away!)

(My mom loves this photo with all the green cornstalks behind Riley's head!)

(Riley insisted on also riding the green tractor. It was way high up and he needed our help to get up there. I think he could have stayed up there all day, but there were a lot of people waiting in line behind us!)

(To entice him off the green tractor we took him to ride these little tractors. He was too small to pedal them himself so I had to push him around the track. It was exhausting! And he didn't want to get off these either!)

(So to entice him off the little tractor, we went to look at the farm animals. There were goats, pigs, chickens, and bunnies. Riley wanted to see horses, but he had to settle for some cows that were far off across the pasture!)

(Riley's little pumpkin that he picked out all by himself!)

(And here he is helping pick out our big pumpkin. We ended up getting the one that he has his hands on.)

(In order to get our pumpkins to the car, we put them and Riley in a wagon. He loved riding in the wagon and I realized how much he has changed since the pumpin patch last year as I could not get him to stay in a wagon last year!)

That night my parents came over and helped me get Riley bathed as he had really been giving me trouble in the bath department this past week. He would act ready to get in the bath, I would draw the water and get him undressed and the moment I would stick him in the water he would scream and cry and cling to me wanting to get back out. It wasn’t that the water was too hot or cold, so I am not sure what the problem was, but boy was it tiring! Just before my Dad headed to the bath with Riley he got this picture of Riley kissing my stomach! How cute!

(Riley kissing his little brother, Carter.)

Saturday night was Chad’s last night of work in Dallas and so I was thrilled to have him home on Sunday! Sunday morning Riley ran around in his diaper refusing to let us a dress him for a bit and during this time, he decided that his little pumpkin that he picked out was a perfect fit for his little wagon, so he loaded it up and trucked it all over the house:

Sunday after Riley’s nap, his Grandmommy came and picked him up and took him to the Touch A Truck event at the Fort Worth Academy. Chad & I relaxed and then met up with my parents and Grammy for dinner at Red Lobster. After dinner we went to pick Riley up from Grandmommy and Haha’s and were told that he had a great time at the truck event, even though the loud air horns on some of the trucks scared him. He told us that he saw a fire truck and an ice cream truck and that the trucks were loud! It was so cute!

On Monday morning Riley woke up with red blotches all over his face and one of his hands. We were not sure what they were as we couldn’t tell if there was an insect bite mark in the center of it or not. Chad bought some Benadryl cream to take to daycare and that afternoon, just before we would have picked him up we got a call from daycare that the spots had swelled and were the size of quarters. Chad picked him up and we debated whether he needed to see the doctor. We decided to give it overnight and see what happened and this morning when he woke up they were less swollen and we were able to see that they were indeed insect bites of some sort. Not sure if a mosquito got into his room and bit him all night or what, but it looks pretty ugly! I am hoping that goes away soon.

I am so happy to have Chad back at night this week and we have some fun events planned with friends this weekend that I am REALLY looking forward to.