Video of Riley's first Cartwheels - and Taylor being her cute self

Please Deposit my Paycheck please

I should have known something was wrong when after our dr's visit last night (yes you read right we were just at the doctor yesterday afternoon) when Riley wouldn't eat pizza, or even the pepperoni off her pizza. I should have clued in to the fact that her throat must have been hurting when my girl who loves food, especially pizza, would wait until we got home and then ask for "Daddy's Special Noodles" (ramen). When we got up this morning, I looked in Riley's throat and I'm telling you I've never seen tonsils so swollen - one side was completely to the middle of her throat and the other side was pretty good sized too. Thank goodness the dr's office is open on Saturday's now or we'd have been headed to urgent care or the ER.

The rapid strep was negative, they are sending it off to be sure, and thankfully started us on antibiotics, hopefully they'll do the trick (quickly) because my girl is miserable.

And yes, I'm thinking that the dr's office and pharmacy should start receiving their allotment from my paycheck next pay period :)
Edit: Big strep was negative too, but whatever it is, the antibiotics seem to be helping, thank goodness!!!

Growing Pains aren't actually from Growing - who knew

For a couple of weeks now Riley has been saying her legs and knees hurt. Usually at night (or naptime) and we assumed that they were growing pains. I never had them growing up, but I had friends that did, and I remember them talking about how horrible they were and how uncomfortable they would be at times. Sometimes it was bad enough that Riley wanted tylenol or motrin or something and we were fine with giving it to her, no reason to be that uncomfortable. I didn't think much about it but called the pediatrician just to be sure there was nothing else we could be doing and they wanted to see her.

That always makes a Mommy (and Daddy) just a little nervous, especially when the words "blood work" were mentioned as a possibility. Yikes, I didn't want to think about that!!

Thankfully - no blood work was required and we learned that growing pains aren't actually caused by growing at all. They are overtired or overstimulated muscles and so stretching is one of the best things to do, especially before naptime and bedtime.........so we'll be doing some stretches, and making sure we get enough Vitamin D (by the way the new recommendation is 400 iu's if you want to check your kiddos vitamins - most only have 200 iu's).

Double Ear Infection

Poor Riley, fine this morning, by 9:30 saying her ear hurt, by 10:00 when I picked her up in tears because it hurt so bad - thankfully in to the doctor at 10:30 and a double ear infection. Boy that girl must have a high tolerance for pain because surely it hurt, at least a little before 9:30. Thank goodness for Motrin, and snuggles with Mommy to make the pain a little better.

Good-Bye 2009

Since I haven't been good about downloading pictures and blogging lately, I decided I am going to have to at least record what's going on and maybe someday later I'll be able to add the pictures back in to the stories. Someday, I know I will have time to look at all the pics I've been taking :)

So today marks the end of the year, what a crazy year it's been - we went from a family of three to a family of four. Riley learned to let Daddy put her to bed because Mommy was too sick and was in bed herself by 7pm most nights when I was pregnant. Riley learned to write her name and started dance class. She had her first dance recital, performance at a basketball game and was even a mascot at a Mighty Might football game this fall. We went from having one, nearly self-sufficient child who was three, to having a big girl and a tiny baby, overnight. We learned that children are different - very different. We took a tiny baby to the chiropractor, which seemed crazy at the time, but something I would totally recommend to anyone. Taylor had her first Walnut Festival, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, teeth (yeah we got two at once), trip to urgent care, shots, food - rice cereal, learned to roll and so many other things I can't even list them all.

Now we sit holding a nearly 4.5 month old baby and a four year told, all in the blink of an eye. I wouldn't trade this year for anything, but it is exciting to see what the next year holds - all the new and exciting things Taylor will be learning and seeing and doing for the first time, how grown-up Riley is becoming - sigh............2010 we're ready.

Guess What's Coming Up

First off - a BIG thank you to Emily Rose for giving Riley the matching jeans to this shirt - she thought that was fantastic!!! I thought it was pretty cool I got the shirt on clearance for a mere $1.99 last spring, I love end of season clearance sales!

Secondly, guess who has a birthday coming up and is very excited!!! We can't wait to share the details, but all we can say for now, is it might get a bit messy.........and it will be lots and lots of fun!

All is Calm..........

When I tip-toed into Riley's room this is what I saw this morning - soooo sweet!