2 years and 2 weeks

I didn't believe people when they told me to enjoy the newborn stage. "Don't rush it," they'd say, "It goes by too quickly." This time, I get it. Too soon, they are two and walking around in underwear with boxes on their heads doing some serious alphabet work on the fridge.Now, we are rememebring to savor the newborn smell and her little cries. We are remembering to snuggle in bed past bedtime (and pretend to sleep...ahem, Riley).This morning, before heading out to Reese's two week appointment, I remembered to take a quick snapshot of my girls. Riley is absolutely in love with her little sister. At the doctor's office, Riley insisted that the good Doc do to her whatever he was doing to Reese. "Check Riley's ears," she would say.

Reese is growing well, exceeding her birth weight now by 12 ounces.
So for now, we are enjoying our spunky 2 year old and our sweet 2 week old, loving them each and every day.

Fourth of July: Babies, Balloons & Bottle Rockets

Oh yes, add one more to the mix. Reese, only 4 days old, enjoyed her first Fourth of July festivities. Even the rain couldn't stop us.

Daddy and Uncle Kyle filled up water balloons and Riley went to town, in the rain, throwing and catching them. We enjoyed some good food and the fireworks were handled by again, Dan and Kyle. It was a great time.

Sisters: The Meet and Greet

A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.

~Isadora James

I have imagined this day just as much as I imagined the birth of our second daughter. We have been reading "big sister" books, talking about the "baby", and prepping Riley for the changes that were coming. However, when Riley's rash seemed to mysteriously spread, their actual first meeting was behind glass at the hospital's nursery. So, their first official meeting happened at home, in our little room, while Reese slumbered in the pack-n-play. Riley walked into the room and the scene both melted my heart and filled my soul with pride. Our little girl, now huge in comparison to the tiny creature nestled in the blanket, welcomed her little sister with a warm smile and a gentle voice. The transition since we have been home has been remarkably easy and filled with memories.



Here is a video of Riley and Reese's first meeting.

Hello World!

Hello World!
My name is Reese Bowen and I came into the world on June 30th, 2010. I weighed 7 pounds and was 20 inches in length. Here is the pictorial story of my world-premiere! Enjoy.

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I am ready.

(Photo taken on Father's Day at the Botanical Gardens.

It was so damn hot I thought I was going to give birth on the sidewalk.)

We are prepared as we are going to get for Baby2.

The room is ready, the smell of Dreft has saturated her pre-loved clothes. Riley is anxiously awaiting her baby sister, practicing the fine art of baby holding and bottle feeding with her baby dolls. House is cleaned, courtesy of Rockstar Roxanne and I am now officially a minivan Mom thanks to my fabulous husband. I am ready to feed our sweet little girl and drink in her baby smell as I kiss her neck and sing silly songs like I did with Riley. I am ready to get my body back to (semi) normal and to have our two girls love and care for each other while sharing inside jokes and giggling into the night about boys and bras. I can't wait.

See you soon.

There is a new Mommy and Daddy in town.

Riley loves her little animals. I think if I took out all of the toys in her playroom, she wouldn't care as long as her little buddies remained.

Case in point.

She has begun assigning the animals roles during play. Before nap yesterday, she was frantically searching for "Mommy and Daddy." I was confused until she triumphantly pulled from the couch cushion, two of her beloved animals.

I asked her which one was Mommy and which one was Daddy.

Mommy is the deer with a missing foot and a chewed ear, courtesy of Barkley, Kyle's dog.

And who, you may ask, was Daddy?

Daddy is the ass...I mean, the donkey.

She clutched "Mommy and Daddy" during nap time.

A Grand Tour

Riley and yours truly invite you on a grand tour of Riley's big girl room and little sister's new room. Enjoy!

PS. A big shout out to Uncle Kyle for painting the tree in Riley's room as well as perfectly positioning the little birds!

Catching up

I have lots of things to catch up on, like the unveiling of the girls' new rooms or how Riley sweetly swings her baby doll in the newly recovered baby swing from the attic. Or, how she is bound and determined to hang out in the baby's Moses basket or accumulate all of the scrabble letter cards into a haphazard pile and move them around sporadically around the house.

But instead, I want to remember the crazy things that come out of this, often crazier, two year old's mouth.

For example...

Yesterday, Riley informed the Truly Nolen man, "Grasshoppers are a menace...Daddy hits them." I have informed Daddy that maybe we shouldn't slaughter the grasshoppers in front of Riley so we now use a relocation program --- to the pond.

Murphy was barking (again) at a a car coming down or street. Riley stopped dead in her tracks and said," Uh oh, Baby Reese is here." I guess she thinks her baby sister will be arriving via car transport.

She also informed Dan the other night at dinner that "Baby kicks Mommy. Baby hurts Mommy."

We have been stuck inside lately and in an effort to break our cabin fever, we jumped in the car and grabbed a milkshake a 4 in the afternoon. She says, "Riley likes milkshakes." The third person thing cracks me up. "Riley likes cookies....Riley likes pancakes..."

That's another thing, she wants breakfast food at all times. For lunch, she almost always requests french toast.

We have been working on the letter, number, and color thing. Her favorites, the letter Q, the number 2, and the color blue. These are her usual answers when we ask her to identify something.

Potty training is going well. She is also mastering the fine art of pulling up her underwear over her baby booty. It's pretty cute actually.

Our days are numbered as a little family of three and I have been busy soaking up time with my special girl... and still trying to conquer the nap-time beast.

Sunny Days

It has been blazing hot here lately. Like so hot I don't want to leave my house, let alone walk/waddle around or jump in and out of the car running errands. The other day, I took this photo when I got into my car. In case you can't read it or think your eyes are deceiving you, it says 102. Yes, 102.Needless to say, we have been spending a lot of time inside and in the air conditioning. We do occasionally venture out onto the patio to play in the ball pit. On one occasion, Riley convinced me to climb into the ball pit as well. Then I realized I couldn't get out. Riley was trying her hardest to rescue me by pulling on one of my legs. I also debated on waiting in there until Dan got home but realized I would have to pee and/or eat at some point so I eventually rolled my way out. It was a very lady-like exit.We sometimes have lunch on the back patio (with the three fans on full blast) on the chair set that Grandma and Grandpa got Riley for her birthday.But most days we amuse ourselves inside. Here, you can see Riley paying with her animals on my ever-growing belly. While reclining on her pink beanbag, she carefully positioned her little plastic friends on my boobs and belly. It keeps her busy and I get to sit, it's a win-win really.Sometimes she gets really wild and crazy and manages to squeeze her little body into an even smaller space - the IKEA barn set. She's gifted.I'm worried that it's only May and we may run out of indoor activities and/or places to hide.

The Potty Training Saga continues...

Today marks the two week mark of the potty training bonanza. Some days are awesome. No accidents, going on the potty, and alerting me before it happens.

Here is an example of a success story - potty training in the back of my car before the splash park.




Some days...not so awesome. Take for example, today.

The scene: The kitchen during lunch time meal prep.
The players: Mommy and Riley, who is playing quietly on the floor with some fridge magnet letters.

"Riley, do you have to potty?"

She mischievously shakes her head and smiles.

"Riley, do you have to potty?"

Splashing....

"No, Mommy."

"What the..."

She was splashing in her own urine folks. I grabbed her and picked her up in the air as she is kicking her urine soaked feet mid-flight. It sprays everywhere. I throw her in the bathtub (well, not literally) and wash her bottom and feet off, take her out an instruct her to sit on the potty and to NOT MOVE. (That was me using me mean Mommy voice).

I head back into the kitchen to wipe, mop, and sanitize the tile floor and the urine soaked letters. Still in the bathroom, I head back in to dress her, and move her to a secure location - the couch. Then I proceed to dry the floor and finish making our lunch!

Who knew that I had it in me? I'm not patting myself on the back here (well, a little bit) but I remained calm, cleaned up the mess, and even managed to feed us a hot meal. So, I guess it wasn't totally an un-awesome day after all...

Potty Training

While this big-girl-underwear clad two year old looks pretty cute, don't let her fool you. This picture does not accurately portray the craziness that is potty training.
"Do you have to go potty?"
"How about now?"
"Do you want to sit on the froggy potty?"
"Do you need to go pee-pee in the potty?"

I forget to pee because I am concentrating so much on her urination frequency...which is pretty hard to do for a pregnant lady.

I think someone could become a millionaire if they start a business where they come live with you, potty train your kid, and leave you stress and clean-up free. Just throwing it out there.

Dan's Birthday

I am a sucker for a themed party. And, as long as I was planning a birthday, it might as well be for my hubby. His 32nd birthday, 9 days before Riley's, fell on a Wednesday. So, I took advantage of his ignorance and planned a surprise dinner party, complete with a medley of his favorite foods. The theme was golf and the work was well worth it - the look on his face was priceless!

Busch Gardens

It's April - near 90 degree temperatures and we decided it would be fun to meet up with some friends at Busch Gardens to experience Elmo Safari and to also give Riley an early birthday gift. Did I mention I'm about 8 months pregnant?

We enjoyed breakfast with the characters...

While Cookie Monster touched my belly, a little inappropriately I might add...ha ha.

Riley got up close and personal with her favorite - a monkey (or is it an ape?)

The two big girls rode a ride all by themselves... (A ride that Dan didn't think she would do but I knew better....)

We got a bird's eye view of the safari animals, while cooling off a bit.

And then around 1pm, she hit a wall. Going....going....

Gone!

It was a great day!

Riley's Second Birthday

Riley's second birthday has come and gone. We celebrated with her two favorite things - Curious George and a Pancake Breakfast, modeled after her favorite book. It was the hottest day of the season but we made the best of it --- fans turned on full blast and a ball pit carefully located in the shade. Riley, complete with her birthday bruises, another birthday tradition, had a blast and enjoyed sending time with her little friends...even if it stressed her out that her toys were being used by other people! We love you, Riley Belle! Another free digital slideshow by Smilebox