Dad's Day

Riley spent all day with her Daddy today while Mom recovered from an encounter with ricotta cheese. They had a pretty good day. Watched Riley's favorite movie (The Grinch), went to Best Buy, and even had dinner Dad style. Hot dogs ON Riley's new activity table. At least she was using a fork! :) See how sturdy it is Gram and Gramp? It will be even cooler once the paper roll is attached!

Omaha Cont.

Riley especially loved chasing the train around the tree at Union Pacific!

In her little snow suit.

Riley chases the train and Grandpa chases the Riley.

Awww.

Pictures from Omaha

There sure was a lot to do at Gram and Grapm Hasty's in Omaha. Bowling...

Coloring with Dad...

Hanging around with Grandpa...

Playing piano with mom...

Playing on my own... shoe shopping with Grandma... and so much more!

Christmas!

I've started some Christmas lists for Riley. She will of course be happy with anything (or nothing) but a list has been requested and I have had soooo much fun making it. There is a registry at LandOfNod.com (Registry #4407568) Both mine and Riley's names are on it. Also there is a Wish List under Riley's name at Toys R Us.com. I just love Christmas! It's so much more fun with kids! Tyler and I already have Rileys Christmas from us and Santa all picked out.

ATC

Since I was able to get my car back last Friday Tyler and I made last minute arrangements for me to join him in Decatur for his Annual Training Conference. We got to dress up, sit through a ton of speeches, have a few drinks and converse with ladies (and gents) over the age of 18 months. Not so bad for a last minute trip!

Me and the hubby

Evansville Recruiting Station

Fall

Riley helping Dad rake leaves

Check out those boots!

Riley and Dotty :)

A not so happy little witch...

The Simmons family had a pretty great Halloween season! We carved pumpkins, baked pumpkin seeds and went trick or treating! The weekend before Halloween Tyler and I took Riley to the zoo here in Evansville for the anual trick or treating event. It was pretty awesome and Riley had such a good time. There's nothing like thousands of little kids in costume to keep each other entertained. We also went to a Halloween parade, but Riley was much less interested in that. Unfortunately our car met with a deer last weekend. It's out of commission starting Monday for an entire week. Because of this Riley and I are going to have to miss a birthday party and Tyler's training conference. I guess a quiet girls weekend at home (with a rental car) won't be so bad. Maybe we can catch up on some sleep before we head out to Omaha! We get to go visit Mom and Dad Hasty for four days starting November 24th and can't wait! It's very likely Riley will have five teeth by then! We had one come through last weekend and two more are very close. It took a while for her to start getting those teeth, but once she did it happened all at once.

New Camera!

Waking up

What a doll!

Playing

Okay Mom... enough with the camera

Riley is learning so many new things and doing all sorts of cute stuff, but I, her mother, have lost my camera. I keep thinking it will show up somewhere. I'm going to have to do a top to bottom search of the house after we get back from Jackson's birthday party this weekend. I'm missing out on capturing too much great stuff!

New Skills

Riley mastered a new skill yesterday. She already had the velcro on the diapers down. Yesterday she learned how to take off her pants and shirt. I now have a streaker.

Up to Speed

It's been so long since I've updated this blog! Tyler, Riley and I are all moved in to our new house. Only after moving in did we discover it's a wolf spider habitat. EWWW! We had our first inside one yesterday. It was very scary, but I managed to wage an epic battle without waking Riley from her afternoon nap. She needed her sleep. The poor little thing is sick :(. We all love the new place (except for the spider thing). There's a swing set in the back yard for the munchkin and, though we were worried at first, plenty of storage space. Now we get to start with the home improvements. The first step will be to take down the awful wall paper throughout the house. Then we'll have to cover the even more hideous paint color under the paper in the kitchen. After that we'll just hang a few new blinds and it will feel so much more like us. The landlords are great. Our only problem now is remembering to put the trash out on Sunday nights. Seems simple enough, but we've already forgotten two weeks in a row. Now that we're settled in we'll start planning a trip back home for a visit and one out to Mom and Dad. It's been too long since we've been out to Omaha.

Bad words...

Evansville Zoo

Monkey at the Grand Ole Opry

Nashville Zoo

These are some pictures from our last couple of family outings. We love to go to the Evansville Zoo and the Friday before my birthday we took Riley to the Nashville zoo and the Rainforest Cafe. This weekend we took her to the County Fair. She got to see lots of farm animals and tractors up close and is now the proud owner of three gold fish. She's learning so much every day! Riley can now point out the parts of the face when asked and, thanks to my bad day, say 'shit'. You work for weeks on words like 'grandpa' and 'puff' without it sticking. One spilled soda and one slip up later she repeats perfectly a word I didn't want her to learn. Go figure.

Riley as a One Year Old

We went to Riley's one year appointment yesterday. She is growing and thinning out all at the same time, but completely healthy. 20+ pounds and 30 inches! Today she learned how to work the child latches on her dresser drawer. From there she figured out how to open all the drawers in the house. I've re-arranged all my drawers and cabinets. The lower shelves are nearly empty and the top ones are full! I'll be going out to find another solution to the latch problem next week. We've decided to take a family day trip on Friday to the Nashville Zoo and dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. I'm so excited! Thanks to everyone who helped make Riley's first birthday special! We have more stuff than that girl will ever need, but we were so glad to share that day with so many friends and family. Now we just have to decide which new outfit to wear to the zoo on Friday.

Pictures

During story time Riley stole the book and ran off on her own. Instead of me reading to her she decided to read to Monkey. It was very cute!

What a month!

A lot has happened since the last post. The biggest news was my beautiful sister getting married! Right now she's sitting on a beach in Mexico with a fruity drink in one hand. She's found a great guy in Jeremy. He will be a wonderful addition to the family. Riley behaved pretty well on our trip to St. Louis. We were away from home for almost two weeks so she was a bit thrown off, but we pulled through. Even though she was teething she made it down the aisle with me at the wedding. No socks, no shoes, no flower in her hair, but my girl looked perfect when she walked down aisle. I'll tell you all a secret. I pulled the pacifier out of her mouth just before we came into view of the crowd. There are no pockets in bridesmaid dresses so down the front of the dress it went! I even managed to pull it out and toss it to her dad while everyone was turned around waiting for the bride. The things moms do... Even with all the wedding prep we managed to squeeze in a play day with Riley's friends Jackson and Aubrey. Having the three babies together gets more and more interesting with every month! Riley also got to go to her first Cardinals baseball game. I sure wish the could have played better for her first game, but she found plenty of interesting things to look at in the crowd.
Next weekend that very same Riley Brooke will be turning ONE! We are having a party in Edwardsville on the 11th. If you haven't gotten an Ivette it's because they were sent out via email. I hoped for everyone to forward them to the people we left off the list (only because we don't have everyone's contact information). Everyone we know is invited to help us celebrate! Please come out for some grilled food and birthday cake! I can't believe almost a year has gone by. I'll be posting pictures of all these firsts very soon. Hope to see everyone at the party!

Yes... Riley is in the entertainment center

Our little girl is a toddler! She's just one month away from her first birthday and walking alllll over the place. What comes with the walking is the climbing. That's not quite as exciting. She regularly attempts to climb up the entertainment center. AND if we leave her alone in her crib with hard toys she pushes them up to the edge and stands on them. Good thing she's short. :) Tyler and Riley and I have decided to come back to town for Riley's first birthday so that we can include anyone who wants to come. There are no definite plans, but leave Saturday the 11th of July open.

Here we go!

Riley took a step with no hands! So far she can only do one step before she has to either grab on to something or sit down for fear of falling, but she's gonna get up the courage any day now. I can feel it! Tyler even re-arranged the furniture in the living room so she'd have more space to move once she gets going. What a dad.

Riley's Day

I only left the room for a moment. She was gated in and when I left the wipes were sitting on her dresser. When I came back they were on the floor... all around her. She was having so much fun taking them out of the container I decided to take time for a picture before I took them away. Guess she's getting taller than I thought!

On The Road...

... to recovery that is! It is 8:30pm and I am taking my first pain pill of the day! What a long way from where I was just a few days ago. One week and one day ago was the big day. I am minus one gall bladder. The surgery went well. Took less than 30 minutes. I have three small incisions in my stomach. Sure doesn't look like much. After getting home I slept for about a day. Then I was just miserable. I hate the way I feel after taking the percocet. I was dizzy and nauseous and felt like my head was swimming. After a few days the nausea turned into vomiting (extra painful when you have holes in your stomach) and the doc called me in some pills to settle my stomach. They worked great! The day after I got them I felt like a different person. Still sore but so much better. The only down fall to those is they make me tired but offset that because having my stomach settled meant I could eat. And eating means energy for recovery (and cookies)! I was able to start taking my pain pill only at night which means I need less of the nausea meds.

Today I didn't even need tylenol. I was able to keep up with Riley all day! Of course I still have some help. Gram Miller has been a God send. She stayed with Riley the day of my surgery so Tyler could be there with me and she's stayed after to take care of Riley so I could focus on getting better. I couldn't have done it without her. We are so thankful! Riley has enjoyed really getting to know her Great-Grandma Miller and I have enjoyed having her around. She does such a great job keeping up with the very mobile Riley. That gym membership is sure paying off.

Riley is so close to walking. It's a scary thing to let her try on her own, but we have to do it. She walks around effortlessly while holding on to something, but she's just not quite confident enough to let go. When she is she's got a great pair of shoes waiting for her. They squeak when she steps down! Too cute. I don't know where her Grandma Hasty finds these things. We can't wait for Memorial day weekend. It's always nice to have Dad off work for a long weekend. Maybe I'll be up to going to the zoo (probably not but one can hope). After that it's Tyler's birthday weekend (and Aunt Barbs.. and Jeremys). Then we get into the wedding countdown! June 27th will be here before we know it!

Over the river and the mountains...

Riley and Mommy at the Ouray Hot Springs with the Rockies in the background

My little swimmer

Riley's first time on the swings!

Riley building with Uncle Jeremey

The shirt says it all.

Riley and I just got home from visiting Aunt Tawnya and Uncle Jeremey in Ouray, CO. Even though I managed to get ahold of some milk (and subsequently Tawnya had to spend her weekend and Monday taking care of Riley for me) we had a great time! My little traveler did wonderful in the air. I was a little nervous during the beginning of our first flight. She was all over the place (which is hard in the tiny seats of an airplane)! We managed to sit next to very nice travelers on every flight. Tawnya and Jeremey met us in Montrose when we arrived. We took a quick trip into Wal-mart for supplies and the headed to their house. I'm very glad that they have a mostly straight highway through the mountains instead of those hair pin turns I remember from our road trips. On the way we got to see elk, giant (and mangy) deer, and long haired cows. I'm talking hair down to the ground cows. Weird. During the week Riley and I did a little exploring in Ouray. Tawnya took us to the hot springs where Riley got to do her first swimming and take her first ride on the swings! She looked so cute in her swim suit. We did some wedding planning and flower shopping, Tawnya and Jeremey made us some great meals, and Riley and I even got to see the Black Canyon from the air on our way out. What a beautiful area! My little milk problem didn't get serious enough to send me to the hospital (I was keeping soup down less than 24 hours after) but it did keep us in the house. I guess we'll just have to go
back again to see Telluride. Darn... ; )

One of those days...

Getting surgery to remove gall bladder May 11th.

Tyler's work made him wake Riley up while he was watching her so he could come in and then called to say... never mind.

Riley screamed bloody murder for two hours. We were skyping with Aunt Tawnya and it came out of no where. Never heard anything like it before. Tried everything.

Called the doctor and eventually took her to the emergency room. As soon as we got there she started smiling at the people in the lobby. (Such a ham). While we were waiting (over an hour) she let out some HUGE burps. Turns out the problem was just gas and a little heart burn. Now we know how people can mistake gas for a heart attack. Guess we are the quintessential first time parents.

Blues are in the playoffs. Down 2-1 in the third. I just can't stay up any longer.

What a day...

Easter

We had a great time with the visiting grandparents this weekend!
Riley got to "hunt" Easter eggs in the living room.


Each one had a surprise in it... Puffs!!!

We did a number of wardrobe changes. I must say she looked cute in every one.
Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Hasty for flying in from Omaha and to Great Gram Miller for picking them up at the airport! Riley loves all her new toys... including the Easter hippo. We'll see everyone soon!

Riley loves her headbands Miss Katie made for her and she looks soooo cute in them!
This is our "jungle" gym...hehehe
What a pretty girl. Add a little hair and subtract the paci and she'll be a heart breaker for sure.

Pictures

Good morning!

These are some of my pretty flowers. Guess my thumbs have a tint of green after all!

Growing

Riley is getting to be such a big girl! It seems like every time I turn around she's doing something new. She's learned to crawl on hands and knees, she's eating chunkier foods, she's drinking from a sippy full time, and now she's started pulling up on furniture! That last one's pretty scary. She got a number of bumps and bruises over the weekend. Tyler and I walked into her room this morning to find her standing with her little eyes peeking over the bed rail. I'm glad we decided to lower her crib all the way.

Riley and I are coming to town for the Lung Walk on April 18th! I emailed Tina Barnard with the American Lung Association in Collinsville. She's in charge again this year and I volunteered to help out. I'll go in at 6:30 and Riley will join me later for the walk. Our family has been touched by asthma and lung disease and I'm excited to once again be working with an organization that's fighting back. After all, these are the same people who sent me to Camp Superkids (yes, I went to asthma camp) and it was an awesome summer!

Key West

Tyler and I had a great time on vacation! We were in Key West for three days and it was just enough time to see the sights, relax, and try some new things before we started missing Riley too much. The aquarium in Key West has a touch tank where we got to hold star fish, sea cucumbers, conch and horseshoe crabs. We even got to pet a shark (just a baby one)! We tried real Cuban food (yes even me) and Key West's specialty... Conch fritters. It's a little strange eating something after you were just playing with a live one in the aquarium. Our second day there we rented bikes to get around. The island is only 4 miles by 2 miles so we were able to get anywhere we wanted to go. We took a "Rum and Rege" cruise out to the reef the evening of the second day. We snorkeled for an hour (amazing) and then slowly sailed back to shore with some music, free beer, and a beautiful sunset. Every night we went down to Mallory Square. It's right on the water. Thousands of people gather there for the sunset and every night there were at least twenty street performers. You've got fire breathers, musicians, contortionists, and even a guy laying on a bed of nails! The rest of the time we spent visiting the street vendors, doing museums and tours, and just relaxing by the pool.

Riley and Howie spent five days with Grandma Simmons. They had a great time, but I'm pretty sure Grandma was ready to get back to work. That Riley is a handful now that she's on the move! She is army crawling all over the place! We've had a lot of fun being back home. She got to spend some time at Daddy's work on Monday and yesterday we went to the zoo. Now that we're members we can go whenever we want! We also went and bought a mesh baby bumper. The night before last there was an incident with a certain someones chubby little knee getting stuck in the bed rails. After a generous amount of baby oil (and quite a bit of crying) we were able to get her free, but Tyler and I put her to sleep in her pack'n play after that until we found something to keep her arms and legs in at bedtime. The mesh seems to be working great so far!