PINK is the New Green

That's right, ladies and gents! Riley's going to have a little sister! We're so excited. And it looks like my Mommy instincts are right-on. Yay for baby girls!

big, BIG day

Today, we have two hugely exciting events happening. First, at 1:00, my parents and little bro land at O'Hare! It's been a LONG time since they've come out this way, and even though I saw them in June, I just can't wait for them to get here. We won't get to see Brandon until Sunday, as he's heading off to a friend's wedding, but my parents are driving straight from the airport to BIG EVENT #2...

Our 20-week ultrasound!!! If Baby's cooperative, we're going to find out if we're having a little boy or girl. Whoa. It's a strange feeling to me. For Riley, we didn't know she was a girl until she arrived in the world. The idea of knowing before the baby comes is really foreign to me. I guess that's a silly and an obvious comment at the same time. Either way, though, I'm extremely pumped. Actually, if I had my druthers, I'd get the third bedroom cleared out and start painting pink or blue as soon as we got home. :) I'll try to show some restraint, though.

My feeling is that this one's a girl, too, though in the past couple days, I've had some random thoughts/daydreams about a little boy arriving on the scene. I'm going to stick with the girl instinct, however. We'll see how good I am at this instinctual thing.

Goodness... this afternoon can't come soon enough!

Pigtails and Fun times

Riley decided to sport some pigtails this past Sunday. She was workin' it.

One of our few Mommy/Daughter pictures. Is she looking a little more like me? I tend to think so...

Contemplating

Sporting Daddy's shoes

Post-do hair is always the best. :)

Poor Choice... Paying for It

Yesterday morning, I was scrounging around for something to eat for breakfast. I often scrounge. It's one of the main disadvantages of having celiac. No easy bagel for breakfast. Not even a Dunkin' Donut splurge every now and then. Mike tossed me a gluten-free Starbucks pastry that I had picked up Saturday morning. I had finished half of it, but I had left the other half in a Ziploc on the counter. Now, I can't say this with 100% certainty, but after the past two days, I'm thinking that it's not a good idea to eat a warm pastry which has it's first ingredient listed as "whole eggs." If you refrigerate it, it's probably fine, but otherwise... watch out.

Within, I'd say, 20 minutes of eating said pastry, I was sprinting to the bathroom to lose whatever minimal food and liquid was in my stomach. Then, about half an hour later, I repeated the event. I think that's enough said about that episode.

The rest of the day, I was up and down. As long as I laid low, I was pretty good. However, some time in the evening, the pastry punished me again, this time from the other end. Again, I think brevity is called for, but let's just say that-- since my stomach is just now feeling somewhat normal-- lesson learned.

Don't let this happen to you.

Look at this... four days without a post. See, this is the kind of dangerous back-sliding that corrupted my other blog attempts. I have to jump on this lax behavior before it goes too far.

With that said, here goes...

Today is an exciting day. At 9:30, Michael, Riley and I will be sitting in the first row of Wheaton Bible Church, ready to walk onto the stage for family dedication. I would normally call it baby dedication, but after our prep class, family dedication is much more fitting. After all, the congregation will be pledging to uplift all of us and support us as we promise to do our best to give our family and our parenting to God. I can't wait to be up there with those four other couples, holding our baby girl, remembering that she is a gift from God and God's own child.

Mike's parents and our nephew, Benjamin, are coming to the service. Jeff and Sarah will join us after the service as they are finishing their weekend celebration of FIVE WHOLE YEARS of marriage! Woohoo! It should be a wonderful family event. I'm just sad that my family can't be here. We will, however, get to see them soon. Even Brandon will be coming out at the end of July! It'll be a packed house here in Wheaton!

In preparation for their coming, Mike spent yesterday, painting our basement guest bedroom. We picked out the paint color in the morning, and off he went! I wandered down there just a little while ago, and it dried really nicely. We have some prints ready to frame and put on the walls and-- tada!-- ready to be lived in. Other than that, life hasn't been horribly exciting. Riley is getting a few more teeth in. It's about time; she only has five! She had a little fever and is obviously not her normal cheery self, but overall, she's been a trooper.

It's nearing 7:00, and I should dry my hair and get ready for the lazy bums to roll out of bed, too. This was a boring post, but at least it was a post... right? :)

Here's a new cute picture, just for fun. :)

Pink Hippo

If you have a little girl, and you're a sucker for adorable little girl stuff, you should definitely visit Pink Hippo in Glen Ellyn. My goodness, it's Cute Heaven. Of course, I gave in and purchased Riley one headband and an adorable bow. Here she is, modeling her new items.

This is our initial attempt at getting the headband in place. Since she had ripped it off at the store, I wanted her to get accustomed to it before we decked her out with the bow. Thus, she's sporting her hippie/rocker chick look.


Headband plus bow... Oh, so beautiful. Love it. Repeat: love it.

WE HAVE FIRST STEPS!!!

I mean, it still counts if she only takes two steps, right? We're counting it.

I just got back from a trip to Riley's doctor, and, inspired by her exceptional, one-hand-supported walking when she was getting a little stir crazy (and by the fact that I had to answer a few of those is-she-on-schedule questions with a "no"), we practiced walking in the living room. We started with playing the Standing Game (one-two-three... standing girl!!), and I held her at arm's length. Then, after she was on her own two feet, I asked excitedly, "Can you walk to Mommy?" Apparently, she could because, twice, she took two faltering steps to me. On the second time, she nuzzled into me, and I asked her if she wanted to take a nap. She nodded yes (her new thing), so that's why we stopped at two steps. That's also why I'm currently able to record this moment in blog form. I'm hopeful that we may even get up to three steps today. Can you imagine? :)

Either way, I'm so proud of our little girl.

The Many Faces of Riley-Girl

Just thought I'd post a few pictures that I uploaded this morning. She's pretty darn cute. :)

Riley rocks the pony-tail. Too bad it didn't make it long enough to get to church.

Our neighbors gave Riley a family of ducks (one of her favorite animals), just because. How sweet is that?

We call this little activity "spelunking." Riley does it all day long.

Are moms supposed to laugh and snap pictures of tantrums? This one does. :)

Feeling cool in Mommy's hat.

Ahhh!!! I LOVE KONA!!!

We get ready to watch Roger win number 15!!

Hanging in the ball pit at Robbie's place

disaster

Two posts in one day. Whoa. This one will be short, and it will revolve around a question.

Can I blame pregnancy for being an utter disaster this morning, even if I'm not really showing, am no longer horrifically tired, and am not really nauseous?

In other words, getting ready this morning was quite a task. I tried on a dress that I had gotten shortly after Riley was born. I guess it's nice that it was too big-- so big that it was revealing in almost every possible place it could reveal-- but it still left me looking for another outfit. I threw on a button-down shirt, which is tugging quite a bit at the buttons due to the growth of some... uh... baby-feeding parts. I then slipped on the jeans that I wore last night to the movie. I looked in the mirror, and, oh, for the love... My jeans had a huge stain, I'm assuming from the popcorn topping that we loaded onto our large popcorn at the flick last night. Hmmm... somehow that didn't make it into the last post. Funny. I guess the truth will out. :) My eyes scanned upward and saw that I had a matching, though smaller and lighter, stain on my shirt. As Pooh would say, "Oh bother..." I abandoned the pants but stuck with the shirt. I'm only going to go through so many outfit changes. I wasn't up for thinking through what I'd put on my lower half, so I went the delay-the-inevitable route. I pulled on some comfy black shorts that I purchased from Target yesterday (these shorts... seriously, I'm going to be living in them. Thank goodness I got two pairs) and went to the living room to hang out with Riley while Mike showered. When he was done primping (hehe... this is a test to see if he ever reads these), it was time to decide. I pulled on some brown capris that I really do like but that are, admittedly, probably seeing their last few wears for quite some time. I squeezed the buttons into their slots, and off we went!

It wasn't till after church that I realized I must have neglected the zipper.

abundant blessings

The Lord is simply raining blessings down on us, as of late.

It began, for me, at our family dedication class. Riley will be dedicated at Wheaton Bible on July 19th, so we attended the prep class this past Thursday night. It was not, in the least, what I expected, not that I had put thought enough into it to expect much. I suppose I thought that Rob Rienow would talk a little about parenting and would walk us through why we were dedicating our little ones. He did do that; however, he also inspired us to fervently pursue God, which-- really-- is the only way we are going to effectively minister to Riley.

Mike and I have prayed together before bed the last few nights, and it's been wonderful. But beyond that, I've been waking up, both throughout the night and early in the morning, in a spirit of prayer and thankfulness. I never thought I'd be excited over a restless night!

God has also allowed us to see, once again, the amazing community of believers and loved ones who surround us. Yesterday, we spent the day at the Greens' house while the men-folk gave Dad G. his birthday present, a day of work in the backyard. Sarah, Mom G. and I went out to Target and Jewel, and we later played with bubbles and balls (and, of course, Kona) in the backyard.

As we were getting ready to leave the Greens', my roommate and wonderful friend, Becky, called me. She informed me that she and her husband, Seth, thought that it was a good night for them to come over and watch Riley. Would Mike and I be up for that?

Would Mike and I be up for that?!? I asked Mike, and his response was more than appropriate: "Are you serious? Ummm... absolutely!" Thus, Mike and I had our first non-special-occasion date night since Riley was born... and all thanks to Becky and Seth. Really... how many people have friends who call them up to request that they babysit? Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was so wonderful, getting to spend some time, just Michael and me.

For our, ha, romantic date, we went to dinner at Corner Bakery (chopped salads-- mmmmm!). Then we walked over to the AMC 30 and watched Transformers 2. Really, I wanted to see UP or (dirty little secret) Star Trek (but only because of Zachary Quinto). However, these two films weren't showing until 8:10 and 8:40. Seriously, I was already pushing way past my bedtime, being out past 8, so Transformers it was. I hardly remember the last time we saw a movie in the theater, and if you're going to see one with special effects, this is a winner. Mike's assessment was that the actors probably put in about two weeks time, and the rest of the movie was guys sitting in front of computers for nine more months. The acting was better than I recall from the first Transformers, but that could have been for two reasons. First, I quite obviously have very little memory of the first movie. I didn't recognize the girl, and another character from the first one made an appearance later in the film. I laughed because I recognized the actor; others laughed because he was a recurring character. I'm still at a loss for his role in the first flick. Second, I think my focus on the acting may have been a little distracted by the awesome and complex "plot" and the editing holes that I usually don't notice or care about. But whatever... it was a great mindless film. We were entertained. And it was a GREAT date night. :)

junk sales and dear friends

I've never taken part in a garage sale (although I do love perusing them). After this morning, however, I can no longer make that claim (the former, not the latter). At 7:30 am, I had Michael throw two boxes of... uh... treasures in my car, and I headed over to 1503 Washington to drop off our goods at a neighborhood garage sale. Granted, it wasn't my neighborhood; it was my friend Leah's neighborhood, though. Not her house, but apparently I have little shame.

See, I first found out about the sale yesterday, when Leah emailed a group of us, kindly informing us that her neighborhood was holding previously-mentioned garage sale. She told us that she knew some of us were the rummaging types, so we may well be interested. It seems as though Leah didn't know that some (or one, I guess) of us was also the Ooo-opportunity-to-unload-my-crap types, too. I immediately called Leah and (again, shamelessly) asked her if I could not only attend the sale but also participate. I'm so glad Leah's so darn nice. :) She vigorously agreed, and I set to sorting through my stuff.

This didn't take all that long because we recently had our basement carpeted, and during the clean-out process, I had filled two boxes of stuff that wasn't horribly awful but that we definitely didn't need filling up space in our house. I did have to price things which, I have to say, is hard-- especially for a novice garage saler. Honestly, though, I figured that I would take whatever people offered since I'm set on throwing the leftovers straight into the trash.

Since I'm writing this post now, at 11:41 in the morning, you may be able to guess that I didn't stay at the sale the entire time. Leah is, overall, a very trustworthy person. :) I think I can count on her not to stiff me. I did stay for almost two hours, and I was reminded, again, of how blessed I am to have dear friends. Leah, I believe, embodies joy and kindness. She and her husband Ben are one of a kind. Sadly, even though we live just minutes away, Leah and I don't see each other nearly as often as we should. (I plan to rectify this.) However, Leah's friendliness and grace make it so easy to connect and enjoy her company.

(Not so) secretly, I'm hoping there's a little Bowen on the way that will allow for many a playdate. :) No pressure, you two.

God is so gracious in what He gives us every day. Garage sales are great places to find treasure.

True Blue

I can't believe it's taken me even a couple days to write about one of the most exciting new events in our lives, but there you have it...

Michael started his NEW JOB this past Monday. He will be a salesman for ADT. I could be wrong about this, so don't quote me, but I think that ADT is the largest security company in the USA by a long shot, biggest then the next six combined. Needless to say, this is the largest company Mike has ever worked for. So far, it's been a lot of paperwork, training and boredom. He's spent almost his entire first days in front of a computer, doing online training. Sounds like a good time to me. However, this should be over by the end of this week, and then onward and upward! Actually, we're not quite sure what even next week will look like, considering he's supposed to, at some point, fly out to Colorado for two weeks for additional training. Apparently, the only scheduled training session started this past Monday, and they don't have the next one on the calendar yet, so we're kind of in waiting mode. We're used to that position by now, but that doesn't make it much easier. Plus, I want to fly out to Pasadena while he's gone, so I've got to get a ticket. :) I know... selfish.

However, we're so grateful that Mike's back to work. And it's been pretty fun here on the homefront, too, getting back to "normal." Riley and I are enjoying our time together. We've gone grocery shopping and outlet mall shopping for some schnazzy new shirts and ties for Daddy; we played in the sand with Robbie, and today, we think we might head over to Borders to check out the children's books section. What an exciting life we lead!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers as we've been on the job hunt. God has provided richly for us, as He always does.

Sansala

The Green family sponsors three "little guys" from Compassion International and World Vision (one from the former, two from the latter). First, a shout-out to those organizations. Wow, they're amazing. If you have the means, consider getting a "little guy" for yourself. We just got a letter from Sansala, a little girl who we sponsor in Sri Lanka. We started supporting her when Riley was born, so when Riley gets to be old enough, they can write each other. I've received a couple letters from Sansala's dad, but this was our first from her. I started crying when I read what she said. Here's the contents of her letter:

Dear Heather,
With love writing you this letter to you. Thank you very much for your introductory letter. I got to [know] many things about you. Your likes. I know you love me a lot. I also love you. You love your husband and daughter, I also love them. Please do convey my regards to them. I am very sad to say that my mother is not alive. She ate poisonous fruit and left my father, my elder brother and me. Can I call you Heather mother if you like only? I am going to school. I love to study. I can also dance well. My preschool teachers Nisha and Geetha taught me to dance well. I love my teachers they are very kind. My village is very beautiful. Now this is the dry season. It is very difficult to tolerate the hot climate. I also love pets, there is a pet cat, and a pet dog at my house. I love to see your family photo. Please send me a photo. When I grow up, I will do a good job and will visit you. You can wait and see that I grow and come to visit you. I wish you and your family protection and prosperity! God bless you!

From ever-loving

Sansala daughter and family

I just want to hug this little girl. Hopefully, with God's help, someday I will.

lovely day

What a lovely and relaxing morning we've had so far!

Riley and I both got out of bed a little after 7:00 (though I was awake at 5:00. I just lay and read. Beautiful). Since Michael didn't have to be at work till 9, we spent some time with him, and I was even able to get myself looking somewhat presentable while Riley watched him make breakfast. After Mike left, Riley and I laughed and shouted with glee through almost the entire bath time. Everything was hilarious, from banging cups on the tub ledge to clapping the water, so it splashed out onto Mommy's legs. Oh, I love that little girl. Then we strapped Kona up and took a nice little stroll on an absolutely gorgeous day. We spent half our time going through the neighborhood and half our time on the Prairie Path. The Prairie Path is a luxury I had been avoiding while it was just me with the two girls. Last spring, when I attempted the walk, Kona was a disaster-- sniffing at people's nether-regions and leaping excitedly at bikers. This does not work when you also have a baby in a stroller and your dog is, undoubtedly, stronger than you. However, these past couple weeks, I decided to give Kona another chance, and it's paid off big time. She's mellowed out and adjusted to other passing gambolers. Besides the occassional distraction of a particularly interesting leaf or stick, she's perfectly well-behaved. I'm so grateful because I've realized, in our last few walks, what I've been missing. This morning, as we made our way along the path, it was so peaceful and soothing, I was tempted to curl up and take a nap right then and there. Plus, one of my favorite parts (near our house, at least) is a little "bridge" that is open on both sides, though large wild flowers try their hardest to block one's view. The smell is intoxicating. It's a little lilac-y, even though I don't think lilacs are present. However, I'm not a botanist or even a gardener, so I could be wrong. Either way, it's delicious. The whole event puts me in such good spirits. In fact, we've been making a couple trips to the Prairie Path each day, just because it's so absolutely wonderful.

Today, when we returned from our stroll, we played a little in the living room. Kona rushed after Cheerios that Riley dropped; Riley demonstrated her outstanding ability to push her cute little pink toy stroller. She's showing a great affinity for walking, even if it is still supported. In fact, she likes pushing things so much that when the stroller isn't available, she'll maneuver herself behind her high chair and start giving it a nice shove.

Riley now is waking up from her nap, singing to herself in her crib. The day is just getting better and better.

A Step Closer

I was going to compose this post yesterday morning, but now I'm very glad I waited. My original attempt was to answer the much-asked question: "Is Riley walking yet?" The answer, both yesterday and today, is no. However, we did get a tiny step closer yesterday afternoon.

We went to the Rosens' house for Breakfast at Wimbledon-- delicious breakfast burritos that Robb cooked up. We supplied the strawberries and cream. :) As we were sitting on the couch, watching Roger and Andy battle it out, Riley crawled up to Mike with two little, metal bowls in her hands. While leaning again Mike and the couch, Riley proudly banged the bowls together. Then, after a few moments, I noticed that she was no longer leaning but was, indeed, standing unsupported and drumming to her heart's content. "Michael!" I yelled. "Look at her! She's standing!"

I know... she's fifteen-months-old; this should not be a huge deal. But when your child has shown the ability but absolutely no desire to try some non-crawling movement, you take what you get. So, periodically yesterday, we played the "standing game." I held Riley's hands and said, "Ready? One... two... three!" Then I let go and cheered with GREAT enthusiasm as she stood on her own. When she's making an effort, she can hold it for 10-15 seconds or so. Oh, we're so proud!

Next step... a step!

Lovin' the Parade

I've never been a parade person. They usually affect me with this strange feeling of strangling claustrophobia and, of course, a good dose of boredom. After today, I think the reason for that is that I never have done a parade quite the right way. In order to enjoy a parade, I learned, you must bring your adorable doll of a child AND-- very important-- good friends. With these additions, I guess I'd have to say I've been converted to one of the parade-types. I actually don't quite remember the floats and paraders all that much, quite honestly, but I do remember the laughs and fellowship. And that matters more. Much more.

Since I have very minimal details on actual parade events, here are some adorable pictures of Riley, Robbie, the totally decked out wagon (nice job, Ashley!), and the events of the day.

Robbie and Riley, picking stars and stuffing faces, respectively


Robbie and Ashley

Riley and Daddy

Riley was allowed to indulge in cheese popcorn; therefore, 4th of July is now her favorite holiday.

Oh my goodness... These two are HILARIOUS together!

Someday, oh someday, I'll learn to walk on my own.

Eyes to the Skies

Sadly, we didn't watch the skies all that much when we went to Lisle's "Eyes to the Skies" festival last night. Apparently, there was "weather" headed our way, which put a wrench in the hot air balloon event. We did get to see a couple balloons blown up, but none left the ground. Bummer. Here are the two token balloons we were able to view...


The evening was most definitely not a bust, though. We had an absolute BLAST, meandering the very... uh... cultural festival. Among the "crafts" we viewed (from a safe distance)-- incense, hippie-style dresses, even a booth with about a thousand different outfits for those goose lawn ornaments.

Yet again, Riley got to see some fantastic farm animals, up close and personal. This time, we got pictures!

Riley hangs out with, quite possibly, one of the fattest bunnies in the world.


Mom tries to keep Riley from ripping the ears off one of the fattest bunnies in the world.

Having an 80-lb. lab = fearless baby

Believe it or not, the petting zoo wasn't even the best part of the evening. That award goes to the hanging-out-with-the-Livingstons part. Gosh, we love this family. Riley and Robbie are so freakin' adorable together, and-- as is obvious to all who know them-- Rob and Ashley are kind, funny and just plain wonderful. Plus, the newest addition to their family, Ellie, is the cutest little peanut and, I have to add, one of the best sleepers on the planet. I mean, wow. Here's a sampling of our fun...

"Seriously, Mom? More pictures?"


Riley loves her Daddy so much... and rightfully so.


Two GREAT dads and their cute kiddos


Sweet little Ellie, sleeper extraordinaire

barking at the llamas

Riley has grown to be quite the experienced barker. She barks at Kona, and, as she stares out our front screen door, she beckons other dogs who happen to be strolling through our neighborhood. The only glitch in her expertise is that she also barks at every other animal on the face of this earth. Thus, when we made our way to Cosley Zoo yesterday, the pigs, the llamas, and even the ducks were greeted with her "Woof woof woof!" I do feel that I should add, though, that we've been working on the elephant noise (complete with trunk hand gesture), so when Cosley adds a 'phant to their farm animal collection-- well, watch out!

The Cosley animals, however, weren't our favorite creatures of the day yesterday. Early in the evening, we headed down to Naperville to meander around Ribfest. Would you believe it? In their family area, they had a free petting zoo! There were little tiny pigs, goats galore, and baby cow and even two little llamas (And aren't llamas supposed to be mean? That's what I had heard.). Riley was in seventh heaven. Kona's 80-lb. mass has obviously helped her adjust to mammals of all sizes because she was more than excited when the goats, thinking she had food, came up and nibbled at her little fingers. The cutest moment, in my opinion, was when she reached out her tiny index finger to stroke one of the little baby pigs. Ah... so cute. The least cutest moment-- leaving. She wasn't pleased. But really, when your 15-month-old refuses to walk, especially when she can be crawling with friendly (if not somewhat stinky) animals, you can only watch out for poop for so long. Even though the kid who was on poop duty was doing his job well, it's hard to keep up with a few dozen extremely well-fed animals.

All that said, I'm kind of hoping Lisle's "Eyes to the Skies" has a petting zoo. Fingers crossed!

Riley and her favorite toy, Kona

bath time gets even better

Riley and I have had the same bath time routine since she was able to crawl. I strip her down in her room, place her on the floor, and allow her to crawl after me while I go to the tub to get the water warming up. She then hoists herself up, holding onto the side of the tub, and attempts to splash the water coming from the faucet. Yesterday, however, was a first in bath time. We went through the normal strip-crawl-and-hoist routine, but I'm guessing it's the running water that did it because as Riley reached out to splash the small waterfall from the faucet, she duplicated it with one of her own. I almost wet myself, laughing about it, but I figured that-- at that point-- there was enough liquid on the floor. I picked her up, dropped her in the tub, turned off the water, pulled the plug, washed her legs, let the water drain, then re-plugged the tub, let in the fresh water, and off we went. It was actually pretty nice; at least I was reasonably certain that we had a pee-free bath. :)