Christmas

I finally have a moment to post the highlights from christmas. both marc and i had to work on christmas this year so we had to split up family stuff. we had his family over on christmas eve for dinner and presents. his brother is on a mission and was able to call that night so everyone was there to talk to him.after dinner riley had to show off his wheelchair skills for the fam and we couldn't press the stop button fast enough and he ran into grandma twice! later that night marc and i opened our presents and riley's presents too. Riley got a little piano that he loves to play along with a movie and some more clothes but his favorite present was the chapstick that came in his stocking. the best present of the night was mine from marc. he got me a guitar! i started to tear up when he brought it in the room. i've always wanted to learn how to play and it caught me by surprise that he would even think to get me one. way to go marc!

taking elmo for a ride






we always have breakfast at my mom's house on christmas morning so we headed over there for the traditional jenny mcmuffin breakfast. all the grand kids tore through all their presents and were so excited to play with what they got. the favorites of the day were the batman action figures and laurne's barbie doll to which she proceeded to sing the barbie girl song to. my mom went to africa in october and brought the kids back some neat gifts. these are the africa beads she brought riley.

Riley Turned Two!

Riley turned two years old on Saturday December 19. I don't even know how to describe the excitement I have been feeling these last few days about being able to see my little boy turn 2. With everything that was happening with in that first year of his life our thoughts of him being here as healthy as he is for his second birthday were far from our minds. He has grown into such an amazing little boy with a personality all his own. I try to imagine what he would be like if he were able to be up and about as a regular 2 year old. I see him following daddy around wanting to do everything that he is doing. I see him climbing up on my lap with one of his favorite books. I see him talking with his papa and cuddling with grama. I see him shooting some hoops with cousin Nick. I see him getting into things he knows he's not suppose to. The funny thing about all this is though is that riley does all of these things with out having to walk. He always wants what daddy has and he wants to be doing what daddy is doing. He loves to sit on my lap with a good story to read. He loves to talk to his papa and watch sports with him. Although he can't physically shoot the hoops with nick he is there to cheer him on. And for a kid who can't get up and move around he always finds a way to get a hold of something he's not suppose to have. These are fun reminders for me that I do have a regular 2 year old boy! Now enough of the sentimental side note let's get down to why we are all here...pictures of the party! First off the best part of Riley's birthday was that santa clause came to the house to see him. I was a little worried that Riley would be scared of santa but he just cuddled right up to him and told him all about what he wanted for christmas.





later that afternoon we had lots of friends and family come over to celebrate. Thanks to everyone for all the great gifts.
This is the dinosaur cake I made. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Riley had fun opening his presents. He seemed to know what the present thing was all about and was excited to see what was inside








Carly, Kyle and Juliet came too. I don't know what I would do with out these people in my life. I don't know what Riley would do either. He thinks they are just the greatest. Especially kyle, Riley thinks he is just so funny!

four peas in a pod

 
These four kids definatly came from the same gene pool!

two year pictures

Riley is going to be turning 2 next week. I can't even believe it. 2 years ago at this time I was on the phone with my doctor begging her to just take him out already! Last week Carly took some awesome pics of Riley and our little family. She's so talented and I've received so many responses to her amazing talent. Thanks again Carly for this great gift.

trimming the tree

riley and i put the tree up yesterday. well, i put it up while he closely supervised. i love decorating our christmas tree. i love pulling out the ornaments and trying to remember when and where they came from. most of mine our new but i do have a few from when i was little. my aunt mary made all the kids an ornament every year and i still have all of them. i really wasn't too excited for christmas this year due to a long and hard year we have had but now that the tree is up and a wreath is hanging outside my door i'm excited for the season to start.

Turkey Turkey Big and Fat

We had a great time at grama jenny's for thanksgiving. there was lots of yummy food and the turkey was excellent! my mom cooks an amazing turkey. one day i will have to learn. i was in charge of the pies and they were just as pretty as a pie can be. Riley had some mash potatoes and thought they were pretty tasty. his favorite is the pumpkin pie. here are a few pics of Riley all dressed up for the big day.

all dressed up




Too much turkey...now it's nap time

to grandmother's house we go

this year we are spending thanksgiving at my mom's house. it took us an hour and a half to pack up our car to make the 15 minute trip. the contents of the car included.

one bipap machine with mask
one feeding pump with power cord
two feed bags
three cans of formula
three bottles of meds
two syringes
six diapers (you never know what's going to happen)
one package wipes
one pair of pajamas
one pair of pants with matching sweater
one pair of socks and shoes
one pair of leg braces
one wheelchair
(and that's just riley's list!)

six pie shells
two cans pumpkin pie mix
one dozen eggs
one quart whipping cream
one bag chocolate chips
one pound of butter...

i'm exhausted I can't list anymore...you get the picture

cruisin for a bruisin

Riley's New Car

Riley got his power chair on wednesday. I'm calling it his new car because it cost more than my car did when I bought it. I was a little worried that he would have troubles with it as far as holding the joystick but he did great for his first time. He can't hold his head up so they gave us this cool collar for him to wear. When we first put him in it his reaction was "wow!" and he kept going around in circles. Check out the video for a closer look.
 
 
 
 

I DID IT!

Riley has a new phrase..."I DID IT!" He's so proud of himself when he does something all by his self. He also shortens the phrase so when you ask him something he says "I did." He is also starting to put other letter sounds together to form phrases. We don't know what the phrases are but he seems to know what he's talking about. Here is a list of all the words he can say.
1. Hi
2. Umm
3. I did it
4. Mom
5. Dad
6. Papa
7. Puppy
8. Kitty
9. Baby

Our goal with speech therapy is to to have his vocabulary at 15 words with in the next 6 months when he's up for evaluation again. He truly is growing up to be a little boy.

Happy Halloween

We made it to Halloween despite a few bumps in the road during the week. I was glad that we were all healthy to go trick or treating. We went to my brother's house this year and had lots of fun. We carved pumpkins and made pizzas and then headed out to trick or treat. We actually got Riley to say trick or treat...well it came out "teetaatee" but close enough. He had lots of fun being out with the cousins and got quite the stash of candy.