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Stories
October 15, 2007
Ok, so I just wanted to get on here and post our latest and very exciting news. Saturday night (October 13) before we gave Riley her bath we sat her on her new potty chair (which we bought her for her birthday). We bought it just to let her see it, get used to it, and get her to start thinking about it. Basically just to get her interested. And when we sat her down on it...she peed! So we made this big deal about her sitting on the potty and praised her and thought ok...that probably won't happen again very soon, but at least she isn't afraid of it and she knows she can do it. BUT THEN SOMETHING EVEN MORE EXCITING HAPPENED! Monday night I went into Riley's room at almost 11:30 to put some clean laundry away and when I opened her closet door I realized she was not sleeping. She started to say "diaper, diaper" because we keep her diapers in the closet and so I went over to her to get her settled back down and she took her pacifier out of her mouth and said "potty". It wasn't completely clear but I walked out of her room and realized what she had said so I told Travis, who told me to go put her on the potty. Her diaper was dry and so I sat her on her potty chair and within 30 seconds...she peed in the potty AGAIN! So we are feeling optimistic that maybe she is ready and able to tell us if she needs to go. Or she's a brilliant child! ;) I know it will likely be a long process and take months and months but she is getting a really good and succesful start if you ask me. Plus having the new baby arrive in only two months may be a setback. Just wanted to share since the experience makes us feel like we are not doing so bad in the parenting department...
Then again tomorrow she will probably have a typical one-year-old tantrum and we will feel frustrated with our parenting abilities .... oh well. That's how it goes.
October 4, 2007
Well we have been in Idaho Falls for a month already! We really like our new place and Riley adjusted really well. She has a nice big bedroom that she will play in all by herself for at least an hour without fussing. It is nice that she can entertain herself. She has been such a good little girl. We keep wondering if we are in for it with this next one.
My due date is December 20th, but my doctor's say they will induce me one week early. So hopefully around the 13th or 14th we will have a new baby! We talk about her with Riley but we also know she doesn't understand. I am worried about the transition and how she will deal with it. It will either be really tough or she will handle it well and not be too jealous...time will tell!
Riley is talking so much now. She can tell you what animals say (duck, cow, cat, dog, owl, sheep, etc.). Among some of the most commonly heard things are: Cheerios, eat, juice-juice, wa-wa (water), book, Amen (which she will say right in the middle of a prayer when we are trying to have one), tubby (for bath tub), okay...the list would go on and on. She will repeat ANYTHING we ask her to try. Sometimes it comes out pretty well and others not so much but its so impressive. We have her first birthday pictures framed and hanging in a couple rooms and she will point to them and say "Ri-Ri" only once has she said Riley perfectly clear. Her newest thing is putting a cell phone up to her ear and going "hel-lo" and will imitate with just her hand if she has no phone but sees someone else on a phone. We are glad she communicates so well because we think that will be really helpful when the baby comes that we won't have to guess what she still wants too. We have 10 weeks to get her talking more. She knows how to say "diaper" but won't tell us if she needs changed which is one thing I would like to see happen.
Travis is back to playing soccer and is really happy about that but he has been having trouble with his wrist which he broke almost 3 years ago now. He has 2 plates and 11 screws in there that are going to need to be removed...so I think we are having that done in November. I am glad to be back down here seeing my old OB's. In just a month I have seen them 3 times already. This pregnancy has been no fun! My latest problem: I have shingles. The good thing is they aren't contagious to anyone who has had chicken pox before and people who haven't had chicken pox can only get chicken pox by touching one of my open blisters...and since my clothing covers them, we shouldn't have to worry about Riley. She has been vaccinated, which helps. And since I am still 10 weeks out from delivering the other baby, they are not harmful to her either. Better this happens now than a few weeks down the road!
Anyway, that is what is new with us. My belly is getting bigger and the baby is very active. A little too active sometimes. Even more active than Riley which is hard to believe. It is quite nauseating but I am trying to remind myself how lucky we are. I will try to put up new pics sometime soon...I just haven't taken many since the move.
August 23, 2007
Riley turned ONE today! Well, technically she isn't a year until 11:52 pm but still...I can't believe it. We had her pictures taken for the first time ever and it was so frustrating! It took her awhile to warm up and be cute. I don't think we got GREAT pics, but they will be cute. I put up some pics from her cake eating experience. Sorry that they are not in order. Aunt Maria decorated her Elmo cake but Riley actually had a little personal size cake to dig into. What a fun mess! Enjoy.
August 20, 2007
Riley's first birthday is only 3 days away! I cannot believe she was born a year ago...but I also can't remember life without her! We have had a busy summer. We were in Las Vegas for a week at the end of July for vacation and it was great fun...tiring and a little difficult to fully enjoy with an infant...but still it was fun. Riley is not just walking, she's practcally running. Though she still falls frequently. She is so vocal and learning new words daily. Her vocabulary is fairly large and I am not sure I could even begin to list the words she knows. She isn't speaking in full sentences or anything but she is just really smart and is getting pretty good at letting us know what she wants or means when she says something. She loves to dance. And she loves her new shoes. She loves shoes, period...so I guess she is a typical girl. She amazes us everyday at the new things she tries and absorbs. We even have to be careful what we say now because she will imitate ANY and every word. For example: Travis likes to joke and I usually will say to him "shut up" not in a mean way, but just casually. And TWICE Riley has repeated "shut up" after she hears Travis and I joking. So now I am practicing holding my tongue. Grandpa Gary will be here for Riley's first birthday and then Grandma Debbie will spend a week with us just after her birthday. We are really excited to see them! (And show off all of Riley's new tricks). Riley's famvorite TV show is Little Eintsteins and she goes crazy when the opening song starts. We love to see her get excited about it and imitate the things she sees.
Also, for anyone who didn't know Riley is getting a baby sister for Christmas. Yep, another girl! We are all very excited. This baby is very active just like Riley was and I am in the best part of pregnancy (the middle) so I am not as sick anymore and not too uncomfortable yet. I am trying to enjoy it but am still having trouble believing we are having another baby. I just told Travis the other day that this is why they give you nine months! It still doesn't seem real to me that soon there will be two little girls to love and teach and play with and share my time! It's pretty scary.
As for what's new with us: we are leaving Coeur d'Alene in September. After only 8 months here we decided we miss southern Idaho. Travis has been really unhappy at his job and there are a lot of reasons we have decided to go down to Idaho Falls. We are really looking forward to this new adventure. We don't have a job yet but Travis has been looking and even had a job interview...so we are just hoping and praying that something will work out. Pray for us! I have faith that a good job will be found. We just need to be patient and keep looking. We love southern Idaho and it will be really good for us to be back down there.
July 24, 2007
Riley is 11 months old! I can hardly believe it has been almost a year since she was born! She is at a most fun and exciting age. Everyday she learns something new and she is so smart! I am not saying this because I am partial and she is my baby, I am just comparing her to others her age. Okay, maybe I am a little proud :) She is taking a lot more steps now, though she is quite unsteady. She should be walking really well by the time her birthday rolls around though. Her vocabulary is growing so much. She knows sign language for the word "more" and uses it constantly...she loves to eat! Some words she can say are outside, thank you, no no no, yeah yeah yeah, stop, santa, fish, keys, kitty cat, dog, bath tub, and good girl. She likes to point and say "whassat?" which translates to WHAT'S THAT? She tries to repeat things that we say to her which is really good. She babbles constantly. Her conversations are so amusing. She is never quiet unless her pacifier is in or she is getting into trouble. I seriously mean that she is talking constantly. To us, her toys, even to herself. She just likes to be verbal. Just last week she was being quiet and had been for about ten minutes. I went to find her and found her in our bedroom covered head to toe in chocolate. It was also on our bed, on our wall, windowsill, and carpet. What a mess! She is funny though and such a joy to be around. Her bottom two teeth are very visible and so cute. We are waiting for those top ones to come through now. Riley has become very attached to one of her blanets. It is a light pink one with white poka dots on it and around the edge it has a very thin border of silk. We noticed she liked feeling the silky part so I went out and bought her a brand new blanket that has a thicker edge of silk and the whole back is silk as well but she just doesn't care for it like she does her original one. She will go into her bedroom and stand up to her crib and pull her blanket out through the bars so she can crawl around with it! It's so cute.
We are doing fine and I have an ultrasound to find out the sex of the new baby this week. As much as everyone is hoping for a boy, I think most of us feel it will be another girl. We don't care either way. Travis likes having a daughter and says another one would be fine as long as he gets ONE son eventually. We have started to feel the baby kick which is probably the only fun thing about being pregnant if you ask me!
June 24 2007
Riley is 10 months and is starting to get teeth in! The bottom two are just thinking about coming up and we can see tiny specs of them! It is exciting but I am sure not very fun. She is also starting to stand on her own and is getting pretty good...standing for 30-45 seconds at a time. Before it was for about 5 seconds. This week we took a trip to Silverwood Amusement park/water park with some friends of ours that were visiting. It was Riley's first experience in a swimming pool and she loved it. It was really fun and she was also really interested in the Hickley's (our friends) baby girl, Kamri who is 4 months old. She just wanted to touch her and was so curious. I am not sure if that is a good sign or not. She definitely doesn't understand what it means to "be soft" yet so I guess we will be working on that before baby #2 gets here for Christmas. Some of her other new tricks are clicking her tongue and clapping her hands. She can even clap WHILE standing on her own. It's very cute. Anyway, just wanted to give an update and post some new pics! Enjoy.
June 4, 2007
Riley is almost 10 months old now and she is getting big! She weighs 18 pounds and is 28 inches tall. She has been crawling around since the beginning of April and is so fast we can barely keep up with her. She will pull herself to standing position and has even started to let go so she is standing on her own! She still hasn't attempted to take any steps yet but it probably won't be too long. She is very vocal and likes to dance and sing along with music. She still doesn't say many words but her favorite is da-dad. She also says mum-mum. She is eating anything and everything we give her. If we have food, she is in our face begging us to share. She still has NO teeth. Her gummy grins are so cute though so that's okay.
We moved into our own apartment the first of April and it is nice to have our own space and I am sure Barb and John like having some of their house back to themselves. We got to see some of Mommy's family at the beginning of May and Riley met her Uncle Brad for the first time. It was really neat. Aunt Maria visited in May and we are looking forward to her move out here later in the summer. Riley loves her grandma and grandpa Anderson and we are glad they are so close. It is fun for her to get to play with them and see them so much.
The only new news around here is that Riley will be a big sister in December. We were a little suprised in April when we found out we were expecting again...but we are thrilled. Our house down in Rexburg sold and so with the money we made on that we bought some new couches, Travis got his 47" HD TV he has been wanting and he is also planning a trip to visit his mission in Venezuela this September. Other than that all is well. I just was called to be the Primary Pianist in our ward and I am enjoying the opportunity to develop my talent (I guess). I am a little rusty but it has been a good experience so far.
Febuary 12, 2007
Things are going well here in Coeur d'Alene. Daddy is deep in work for tax season and has been told its time to start working 50-60 hour weeks. Thats okay though because he can either bank his time and a half pay or save it for a paid vacation (although if he uses it for vacation he will only get his salary). Both are good options though.
Mommy is starting to meet some people here and get some friends but we still don't go out much. Riley is loving food still. Her favorites are sweet potatoes, green beans, applesauce, pears, and bananas. She doesn't care for peas...and the one time I gave her peaches she didn't seem to like those either. Then she got her first real bad diaper rash... so I am wondering if it was an allergic reaction to the peaches or if it was just a rash...we haven't had peaches again since...but will try again soon. She also just ate carrots for the first time and enjoyed those. But man, her diapers are gross and she is one messy eater!
Next week will be 6 months...so crazy! Riley now says "da-da" and "poop"...not sure that she really makes the connection that Travis is daddy, but it won't be long. She sits alone but still likes to lean forward. She will roll front to back and back to front but she likes being on her back so well that it is rare to see her roll to her front. She likes attention but also her alone time. Daddy bought her a rattle a couple weeks ago and she loves to shake it. She is reaching for everything! It won't be too long before she will start to scoot around and crawl...that will be a not so fun adventure. Thinking about Riley crawling around on a floor makes me sick... I am such a germaphobe! I just worry about everything because people's shoes have been heaven-knows-where and we all wear them in the house. Oh well... what can you do? She will be seeing her pediatrician the first week of March for another set of immunizations. Fun fun.
January 23, 2007
Riley is 5 months old today! It is amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun (and taking care of a baby 24/7!) The past five months have flown by and have been so amazing! We are settling in here at Grandma's house and it is starting to feel more like home. Riley has adjusted well. In the past couple weeks we have started to introduce fruits and veggies into her diet. She loved sweet potatoes but man, her diapers sure stunk! We have also added pears in with her rice cereal and she can't get enough! Later today we are going to try green beans...I bet those diapers will be wonderful too. : P
Trav's cousin Zack and his wife Lizzie had their little boy on Saturday and they brought him home today. His name is Austin and we are excited that before too long he and Riley will be playmates. It sure made me sad to see how little he was...I think I was jealous! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY TINY NEWBORN?!??
Riley is so fun though. She babbles and coos constantly and even screams at you if you aren't giving her attention. She likes to compete with all the other noise going on in this busy and people-packed house. She does like her own time though and is content to have alone time in her bed..she will just lay, play, and talk to her feet for quite awhile. Her hair is really starting to grow and it shouldn't be too long before we can put it in little pigtails. Grandma Barb wants us to go have her picture taken so I think next month for her 6 month birthday we will. I hope we can get her to smile her big gummy grin...it just melts my heart! Soon teeth should be poking through though. She just gnaws on her fists constantly and the drool drips from her mouth in a steady stream. She sleeps so well that I am spoiled...I usually sleep in as late as she does and Travis is probably jealous because he is up at 7 am to get ready for work. Riley is really starting to get good at using her hands to reach and grab for anything we dangle in front of her and she is almost ready to set up on her own. She can do it for a short while but she leans really far forward to brace herself. Overall, she is still a pleasant and happy baby that just has her moments now and again. We miss you all!
January 10, 2007
Riley got to meet her new pediatrician this week! We are settled in Coeur d'Alene now and Riley had her 4 month dr. appointment. I really like her new doctor he was so nice and very thorough. He also gave us free formula so I was excited about that since its so expensive!! Riley now weighs 13 pounds, 11.5 ounces. She is in the 50th percentile for her wieght. She is 25.25 inches long (85th percentile), and her head is in the 75th percentile (it was around 42 cm.) So she is still growing good. She had to have shots which was no fun and they made her fussy for a few days and really hurt her apetite but I think she is getting over it. Daddy started his new job on Monday and so it is new to us not seeing him as often.
December 26, 2006
Sorry! It has been forever since we updated everybody on the exciting life of Riley :) Things have been hectic. We flew to Pennsylvania on the 20th and Riley got to meet Aunt Adrienne for the first time and also her new husband James (Uncle James!) so that was exciting to be able to see them while they were back in the USA for a couple weeks. We are heading back to Coeur d'Alene tomorrow for Mommy's birthday and New Years. Then we will officially move around the 3rd-4th of January.
Riley is getting so big that we can hardly believe she was ever as little as she was! She has started to laugh at us as well and it has been so fun and cute! She babbles and coos constantly and even begins to almost yell at us if we haven't been paying her enough attention! She has such personality!
Everyone that saw her in PA just kept telling her "You look like your Daddy" and boy is that the truth. She just loves daddy, too. He can always get a smile out of her.
She hasn't been weighed lately but we will be taking her to see a new pediatrician on the 8th and we will let you know how big she has gotten. She should have had a doctor's appointment right before Christmas since she is already 4 months but with traveling and the holidays we thought her 4 month shots might make her miserable. It is just putting off the inevitable though! She also started to eat rice cereal a few days ago so that has been a new experience. THe first night it didn't go so well she just cried. The next day she handled it much better though and she has her moments but seems to be doing well. I can tell she is going through a growth spurt though because she CONSTANTLY wants to eat!
Riley is happy and healthy and we will try to put some new Christmas pictures up real soon. We even have some of her with Santa. She didn't even fuss. Hopefully she remains pleasant when we give her to other people, it is wonderful. She loves to study new faces and already seems very inquisitive and smart! Of course, we are partial so maybe its just me!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a Happy New Year!
November 18, 2006
Things have been so busy the past few weeks! First, Riley and Mommy flew to Pennsylvania to suprise Grandma Debbie for her birthday! Yep, Riley had her first airplane ride and she was only 10 weeks old! She did pretty well and slept on most of our flights. Mommy has no desire to fly without Daddy's help again. We got to meet so many new people who have been waiting to see Riley and I think it is safe to say that Grandma was suprised and that it was the best gift she got this year...
Aunts Maria and Alyce, along with Grandpa Gary will be coming on Wednesday for Riley's first Thanksgiving. It will be nice to see her aunts again (as they just adore Riley) and especially nice to see Grandpa, consdering Riley was less than 2 weeks old the last time he saw her! We are so excited!!!
Right now we are in Coeur d'Alene visiting the Anderson Grandparents! This is another first as Riley has never been to Coeur d'Alene. Hopefully she will be here a lot in the future though...one reason we came up here was so Daddy could interview with an accounting firm. We feel he has a fairly good chance of getting hired and if he does, we will be living here in January! It's also nice that Riley has gotten to meet more of her extended family while here.
Only about 5 more weeks and we will be back in Pennsylvania for Christmas (Daddy, too, this time!) We can't wait to see everyone and to meet more relatives and friends!
Also, Riley was weighed this week... 11 pounds, 2 ounces. She also has had her first cold which she is still trying to get over. It must be from the traveling and it has made her a little more fussy that usual, but she is fairly pleasant. Still, we hope she feels better soon so mommy can quit being so paranoid.
October 25, 2006
Riley saw her pediatrician today! She is still growing like a weed but at least she is healthy. She is 9 weeks old and weighs 10 pounds, 6 ounces...this puts her in the 50th percentile when compared with other baby girls her age! She is 24.25 inches tall...and in the 100th percentile! Mommy still can't believe her height but hopes she keeps it! Mommy never liked being short. The nurses had to give Riley three shots today and Mommy and Daddy felt so bad listening to her scream! At least they didn't have to hold her down, the nurses did it all.
We are looking forward to seeing our family in the upcoming holiday season. Grandpa Gary, Aunt Maria and Aunt Alyce will be visiting us in Rexburg for Thanksgiving and we are going to Pennsylvania for Christmas to see Grandma Debbie and the rest of Mommy's family. Aunt Adrienne will be home from England so we will even get to see her and her fiance James! We are excited about that! Then for New Years we will be in Coeur d'Alene to meet all of Daddy's family that Riley hasn't met yet. (And the family we have seen already, too). We look forward to seeing you all and will try to put new pictures up very soon! Love you all!
October 13, 2006
Riley got weighed and measured yesterday! She is now 22 inches long and 9 pounds 9 ounces. In two weeks she has to go get 4 shots at the doctor's office! Mommy is not looking forward to that!
She is smiling at us now and has even started to babble...or talk, as mommy says. It is so fun.
October 7, 2006
Riley is still growing like a weed and changing everyday. We went to St. George, Utah for the weekend because Daddy had soccer games in Cedar City. We stayed with Rich Potter and his wife. Daddy and Rich are friends from the mission. Riley was so good in the car! She loves her car seat, it puts her right to sleep. We also visited one of mommy's friends that she grew up with in Pennsylvania...but Riley was kind of grumpy so we didn't stay long--sorry Lauren!
Riley also started to sleep through the night. Not every night, but there have been a few nights...which is really nice for Mommy! The best night we have had Riley slept 7.5 hours! Pretty good for a 6 week old baby huh? We are so lucky to have such a happy baby.
Anyway, Riley gets to meet Aunt Darcy this weekend for the first time so we are excited about that! We will put new pictures up this week...sorry that we haven't updated them lately!
September 18, 2006
Riley is growing so quickly that we can hardly believe it! At her two week check-up she had grown 3.25 inches and gained about a pound. She was 6 pounds 9 oz. at birth and was 7 pounds 6 oz. when they weighed her which puts her in the 50th percentile for baby girls her age. Length: 18 inches at birth, 21.25 at two weeks-95th percentile! and head circumfrence: 12.75 inches at birth and 13.5 inches at two weeks-25th percentile. Now she is almost four weeks old though so she has grown even more. Her next check-up will be at the end of October when she is eight weeks old so we will see how that goes. Unfortunately at two months old she will also have to get 5 different vaccinations which will be scary for mom and Riley. Mom dreads that appointment! She may have to take Dad along for emotional support!
Riley is getting blessed Sunday in church and we will be excited to have Grandma and Grandpa Anderson here! We will also be sure to put a picture on here of her in her new blessing dress.
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