Shot Time!

Off to the doctors we went on Tuesday for Riley's swine flu shot part 2. She was suprisingly happy when we went in there...talking, laughing and hiding under the chair. I was pleasantly suprised! And then IN came the nurse. And then OUT came the needle. And then JAB/JAM/BLOW/PUNCH/STAB/THRUST/DIG/PROD/BASH/SHOVE (I felt every one of these words as the nurse stuck her) that needle into her leg and the face of shock that registered on Riley's face in about point five seconds was enough to make my skin crawl! It was almost the face of betrayal she leveled on me and I was ALL about hightailing it out of there with my daughter! As much as I couldn't literally FEEL the needle, I felt the pain and I wanted to get out of there faster than she did! And RUN is what we did! We bipassed the sticker, the friendly receptionist wave and the slamming of the door that Riley usually does as we walk out. Today we were running cause she was a-screamin! OOooooh the fun things we get to do as moms!

Peek-a-Boo!

Riley is at such a cute and fun age right now. I am really enjoying 19 months because so much of her fun-loving and adorable personality is coming out. She giggles and squeals and laughs and says, "WOW" at just about everything! She is such a joy and makes me laugh so much :-) The other day we were sitting and eating lunch together and she was just being such a ham. So I snapped a few pictures of her while we were playing peek-a-boo.

And then after lunch, ready to go outside and expend some energy!

Completely Random Thoughts

Just a totally random, interesting day today! I don't know why but I decided to do random things today that I don't normally do. Ever have one of those days? I'm warning you that everything you are about to read is prolly a little wacky. But I'm just feeling so incredibly wacky right now. Ever had one of those moments? You just have to get used to them in my life and then as Meg Ryan would say,..."Swim in them until your fingers get all pruny."

So for starters, I woke up, walked out into the living room, stepped on a Lego (screamed cause it about killed my foot) and then furiously grabbed Riley's Lego bucket to hurl her random Lego pieces in it. THAT'S when I saw the dirt/scum...whatever you want to call it...on the bottom of the Lego bucket. So I was like, "Um...gross? When has this thing been cleaned?" The next thing you know, I'm thinking, "When is the last time ANY of her toys have been cleaned?" I mean, I suppose it depends on your personality type. You could totally go from one extreme to the other here. You could be to the far right, a complete narotic washing toys every single day (kill me now) OR you could go to the far left and NEVER clean your toys (ahem...not admitting this). Sooooo, I decided that I should PROLLY fall somewhere in the middle and clean Riley's toys. Does this mean I cleaned them ALL today? Heh-heh....no. I just cleaned SOME of them. But I do have this as a small goal in my head now and will invest in some sort of Clorox wipe...or maybe...maybe get a bucket and sponge out. But who wants to do the old fashioned water/soap thing when you have wonderful, fantastic, and EASY Clorox wipes?!! Can I just PU-LEAZE say here that I LOVE Clorox wipes? Bob, if you're reading this, you can just fill my stocking next year with Clorox wipes. Every mother's DREAM!

Okay, so onto my next weird thing. I decided to make sausage cheese balls. SUCH a random thing that doesn't go with ANY meal and I have NO party, event or anything coming up. So why make these? And why make these today? I don't know. I really don't. They just sounded interesting and I guess they had my curiosity peaked. So when I went to the grocery store, the butcher guy actually cut me exactly 1 pound of sausage for these bad boys...exactly! He was really helpful and I didn't have to pay a penny over for extra sausage that would sit around and I'd stare at daily in the frig. Let me just tell you that these things were AMAZING! Yum! Bob was gonna eat a steak for dinner tonight and would you believe he actually didn't touch the steak cause he was so stoked about the sausage/cheese balls? He ate those for dinner alone...with ketchup I might add. Bob says everything tastes better with ketchup. On a side note here, doesn't that sound like the title of a really good book?..."Everything Tastes Better with Ketchup?" And then the subject could be some random, totally off the wall thing that had nothing to do with ketchup? :-) I'm in SUCH a funk tonight, let me tell you.

Then I read this thing while Riley was sleeping about having a deep soul-like satisfaction. Not like, satifaction that comes from the latest outfit, the coolest gadget, the next best movie/dvd, the yummiest meal, a fun-filled event, etc. It was talking about a satisfaction which I'm working on. You'll have to ask me about this one to find out more ;-)

Next, I, well we (ahem...Bob), killed a HUGE spider in the kitchen. That was amazing and freakishly scary. That is the 3rd piece of NASTINESS-YUCK-VOMIT that we have found in our house in the last 2 days! It goes something like...roach, palmetto bug (BIG roach) and now spider. We cancelled Terminix 2 years ago and NOW they (the vermin) are starting to move in! I think they've figured out it's "safe" or something. Only the occassional phone book comes around knocking out their 6th stepsister on their mom's side so they have no fear anymore! I saw the neighbors the other day that used to live behind us and she told me that she used to have a constant roach problem in that house. Well hello, they lived RIGHT behind us! So now since there is no food in the house behind us, they are encroaching on us! I hate that word "encroaching." I mean, for goodness sakes, it has the word ROACH in it! Yuck! Just thinking about it right now gives me the eebee-jeebees! (shudder-shudder)

Oh yeah, I decided to get the mail today (not out of the ordinary) by taking the entire family with me in the wagon! It was hillarious :-) Elmo did NOT last in the wagon though so he got out. We also happened to get a HUGE box from Poppy and Mimi so Riley looked hillarious all bunkered down with an enormous box. I barely saw her head as I turned to periodically check to see that she was still IN the wagon. I know...weird but you never know! Maybe she could bounce out or something? I dunno.

Lastly, I just met my neighbor Marianne in the middle of the cul-de-sac at like 9pm for some cinammon/sugar bisquit twists. 2 things here...I LOVE friendly neighbors (Marianne is SO SWEET) and I LOVE bisquit twists. If you don't have a friendly baking buddy neighbor, you have to find one! I told you I made these sausage/cheese bisquits so when she called to say, "I've got these things fresh out of the oven!",...I responded with, "Mine are about 3 hours out of the oven but yay! Let's exchange bisquits!" How funny sounding..."Let's exchange bisquits." Wouldn't that be totally random and fun to have a bisquit party? Have everyone bring some exotic bisquits or something? Or you could CALL it, "Let's Exchange Bisquits" but have the party be about something else entirely.

Did I mention I think the thing in our wall died? I haven't heard it in these last couple of weeks. Either that or he/it is hibernating for the winter. I'll keep ya posted.

Well I'm off to study/prepare/freak out some more about my class that I'm teaching tomorrow night. It's from 6-8:45pm and I'm SOOOO nervous! I've never taught adults before so we'll see how it goes. My first instinct was, "Okay I'll make little folders with all the handouts in them and tape a piece of chocolate to each folder." And then when I told my new boss this, she laughed and said, "Erica they are adults. You don't have to do that. Just lay the handouts by the door." I thought that would be rather boring BUT I am listening except I did add a small flare...the chocolates will be in a small basket BY the door ;-) I'm sure that I will either be so nervous that I will talk up a storm tomorrow night OR I will be so sick to my stomach that I won't talk hardly at all. I'm sure it will be the first though. The latter rarely happens thank goodness. And of course, in my class, bathroom breaks will be ABUNDANT, ha-ha :-) I'll let you know how it goes. For now, I'm off to study-study-study and prepare some more! Wish me luck! May be no blog tomorrow until Wednesday because I'll be too busy pacing the house and having deep conversations with the dog and Riley where I try to validate myself as an adult education teacher (that they won't understand).

Sorry this blog was so weird! I'm in SUCH a freakishly WEIRD mood tonight! But seeing as I have few blog followers and maybe even fewer after this post, I figure I only have a few to scare with my insane thoughts :-)

Okey dokey, have a happy day! (I seriously need to come up with a cooler sign off sentence than THAT, ha-ha)

Bowl on the Head! Bowl on the Head!

The other morning I was emptying the dishwasher and Riley came in and grabbed this red bowl and then took off! She walked into the living room and the next thing she did was attempt to put this red bowl on her head! I quickly grabbed the camera as she picked it up and tried again and then I pretty much got a succession of bowl pictures as she managed to get it on her head, hold it there and watch her video. So funny :-) The greatest part is that the bowl actually matched her pj's too! How ironic!

Just Because I Can...

VERY SOON I won't be able to post these adorable lil photos of Riley running around the house being silly and half naked, so I figured while she was still young AND can't defend herself, I'd post them cause as soon as you see them, they will make you smile :-)

I was getting her bathtub water ready and she ran out of the bathroom, into my room and immediately attacked my jewelry dresser. This is what she came out wearing :-) Hey, at least the big fat necklace sort of KIND of matches the diapers, right?!

Bathtime with Auntie Katie and Nana!

These are from a few weeks ago but I forgot to post them. This was one of the first times Riley tried out her new ducky towel. She LOVES it! She quacks every single time Bob or I use it now and it's hillarious :-) I actually saw these same towels in Virginia at this place called, "Old Time Pottery" I think. They had monkey ones, frog ones, etc. They are actually big kid size and so cute! Riley just loves using them :-)

Nana was the one that actually gave Riley the bath and then Auntie Katie came in at the end. I don't think Auntie Katie would actually be looking quite as beautiful had SHE been the one doing the bath :-) I only say that because usually when you're done doing Riley's bath, you're soaking wet, sweaty and TIRED! It's fun but whew!

I had to get pictures of these lil piggies all pruny looking! Hee-hee :-)

Teeth time!

Day 6/7 in Virginia...and home

Hi everyone! Sorry for no post yesterday. As you might have guessed, things were a little crazy busy between Sunday and Monday!

On Sunday Riley and I got up to go to church with my dad and Jen. Let me just say that Mimi bought the CUTEST OUTFIT for Riley to wear on Sunday. It was a little Mickey Mouse dress from the Disney Store and it had matching tights to go with. Mimi did Riley's hair adorable (as she did the entire trip!) and Riley looked so darn cute! Now if I could just possess the hair styling talent that Jen has when she does Riley's hair! Thank you Mimi for all the amazing and cute hairstyles!

I was really worried as to how Riley would do in Sunday School, but WOW did she impress me! She was a champ! I think part of the reason is because they had her in one room for Sunday School and another room for the church service. She LOVED it and didn't cry once for me! They said she did fabulous. I on the other hand was sitting in the service constantly looking at my pager and thinking, "It's going to go off at any second." To my surprise and joy though, it didn't! Yay!

Afterwards we left church in this icky, wet sleet/rain and we went to Red Robin! I so love this place and wish they had one in Florida. They seriously have the best burgers in the world and since I rarely eat burgers anymore, I decided to treat myself. YUM was it good!

Riley went straight down for a nap after that because by then it was 2pm. Jen, Emily and I went out and after that and did some serious shopping. We hit a bunch of stores including DSW (my favorite), World Market (this location was going out of business) and Target. We filled every bit of those 3 hours with go-go-go shopping! I picked up a few cute things here and there but the most important was a new "Key-key" (blankey) for Riley! Yay! I have been looking everywhere for a replacement blankey for Riley and when I went to the Disney store, they said the one we had was no longer made...that Disney comes out with a new one each year and the one we had was discontinued. I was so bummed! However at Target, they had it! Woo-hoo! I couldn't believe it. I took it home to Riley and she immediately was carrying the new one around with the old. It was cute. She looked like a walking blanket.

That evening we bought TONS of junk food and pretty much pigged out on brownies, ice cream, peppermint/chocolate bark and a teeny tiny bit of dad's chocolate (stashed in the basement). I felt like a WHALE when I was done but that's okay! It's a vacay, right?! :-)

I then had to pack-pack-pack for our trip home the next morning. It didn't take me that long surprisingly, and then Jen, Dad and I watched some tv together. I think I went to bed around 10:30ish and since I had a cold coming on (currently have one), I was fighting with the green goo monster all night..yuck!

The next morning I got up at 5am and started throwing stuff together for the EARLY flight out of D.C. I woke up Riley at about 5:45 and I think we left the house at about 6:15. We arrived at the airport around 7ish (a bit of traffic and LONG lights) and my dad and Jennifer parked and came in with me.

I have to say that if there is one thing I totally don't like in this life, it's goodbyes. I really have a hard time with them! No matter how strong I say I'm going to be, I always end up breaking down and crying. When I was little and used to fly to see my dad, I would cry leaving my mom in Florida and then again when I had to leave my dad in Virginia. It was so difficult for me! My whole life I've had this awful time with goodbyes and now with Riley, I find it even HARDER to say goodbye to someone.

I think this time it was even more difficult because Riley has been calling for her "Mimi" and "Poppy" ever since we left. She was asking for them through security, looking around for them and then on the plane, looking out the window for them. It was so sad and hard for me! I think it's because she is little too and doesn't understand what's going on. She just knows that she wants to see them and doesn't get why she can't. She even asked for them first thing this morning when she woke up!

I think I would have been an emotional basketcase if it weren't for having to go through security and all the stress that comes with that. I mean, it's hard enough going through security with just my stuff and having to worry about my shoes, my boarding pass and my bags. Now I had to worry about Riley's shoes, both of our boarding passes, the stroller, the bags, her blankey, AND both of our jackets. It was insanity. The good news was that it was totally empty going through security so there were no people waiting behind me while I threw everything on the moving beltway. Gotta jump ahead here and say that in Orlando, WOW was security crazy! The line to get through that was backed up way beyond the point where security starts. So weird cause it was packed in Orlando but dead in D.C. I did read the arrival times for both airports online though and it did say that Orlando was 2 hours and D.C. was an hour and a half. Maybe OIA is like that cause of the tourist stuff. Who knows.

Anyways, the flight was terrific because the plane was completely empty! There were 40-something people on it so Riley and I had the entire back half of the plane to ourselves...again! It was great :-) She spread out on 2 seats, watched videos, ate snacks, colored, played with toys I got from the dollar store, etc. Riley did fantastic and I'm SO GLAD. Definitely feel my confidence is up with flying by myself with her. I totally feel like I could do it again!

When we arrived, Nana was there to pick us up and bring us home. Thank you Nana! She got us

some lunch and then a few things to aid in my taco making last night. Riley, by afternoon yesterday, was so completely exhausted from being woken up so early and she slept like a CHAMP! I tried to sleep too but I think the sudafed I'm taking kept me awake and jittery. So I ended up getting up to delve into the suitcases and begin the huge process of laundry and putting things away.

When Bob came home, it was, "Daaaadaaay!" over and over again :-) Riley and Bob got some great playtime in last night and I could tell she was so happy to see her daddy. Elmo of course wanted to be the center of attention and was in the middle of everything.

Overall it was an awesome trip and Riley and I had SUCH a wonderful time. She was really well behaved the entire trip and didn't fuss or cry on the plane at all! Thanks Mimi and Poppy for everything! We had SUCH a wonderful time and miss you already. Hope we get to see you again soon! Love you both!

Here is a picture of Riley headed to church:

These were taken at Red Robin when we were waiting for our food. She was sitting in Mimi's lap coloring :-)