A Video Self Portrait

Riley videos herself while her dad watches hockey and while I'm rocking her sister to sleep. The angle and seriousness both crack me up!

A Neglected Floor Sleeper

It isn't easy trying to make food for Riley, bathe her and feed and keep Ali happy at the same time. I was tending to Ali when I heard the familiar splash of "Lastings Spillage" (Riley's long-standing tub persona).

The sound of water being dumped by the teapot-load, from the tub was worrisome. Knowing that our flood policy probably doesn't cover bathtub-toddler-angst and that I just re-caulked the tub surround, I had to abandon a needy Ali and rush to grab towels, lots of towels.

I mopped up the floor, picked up toys and was getting big sister dressed, when I realized my little fusser had quickly fallen asleep, tummy down on her pile of blankets and toys. Reminding me of the old days when we first tried tummy time, only to realize that a lazy baby is happy to sleep in any position and she wasn't going to be fooled into exercising.

Like most cute things, this nap was a short-lived 15 minutes.

The Party's Tiny Wallflower

Here Ali is at Sunday's party:

This is a first

I've seen those incredible videos of kids falling asleep while playing and eating, and I've seen the videos on cutethingsfallingasleep.org. But I know my kiddo is not one of those kinds of kids. She takes staying awake into an art form. What to do when you missed your nap and had an overstimulating day?! Dig through your toys, throw things, build things, clean things, do anything, keep going!

Then yesterday she crashed for a late nap and slept for 16 hours. I was so worried about her, and had her dad check in on her several times. Yes, she was fine, just sleeping. This morning she'd been up for two hours when dad decided to offer her lunch.

A sleepy, visibly sleepy - not fighting it - sleepy Mitt. Maybe a first and last time.

Mitt, Rattle and Roll

Riley was invited to a 50's ice cream social party to celebrate Bee's 10th birthday. We had fun getting her dressed up for the occasion. She was by far the youngest girl at the party, but the other kids were very sweet and patient with her, and we were able to successfully dissuade her from opening the gifts.

It was a fun time had by all!

Big Sis knows best

So a very tired Ali was overwhelmed by a long day made longer by a saturday night birthday outing.

I carried her in from the car, set her in her swing and she was about to unravel, when her quick thinking sis, turned on the swing, found a paci and put it in her mouth and gave the swing a gentle push. I really didn't think it'd work, but sure enough, instant bliss. What a great smart and thoughtful sister.

Our Little Giant

Alison got to experience Opening Day yesterday! She was our little good luck charm, born during the World Series and has had to wait nearly her whole life, 5 months for her first baseball game.

Well we got our money's worth! We arrived early and saw Train perform, we got to see the enormous flag unfurled, the World Championship flag was raised and we experienced the fly over from two F16s (I forgot they were so loud and barely covered B'dah's ears in time). Jonathan Sanchez was the starting pitcher against the St. Louis Cardinals. We had a great view to enjoy seeing all TWELVE innings of the game. Very exciting, ups and downs and a win at the last second, our good luck charm worked again!








Ali took it all in, enjoyed the birds, noise, took naps and begged garlic fries (unsuccessfully). We enjoyed a nice walk along the bay after the game, and ate dinner at the same place as the starting pitcher. All-in-all a successful first game!

Chilly April Evening

Leaving the house last night was surprisingly cold. It was a great excuse to enjoy wearing our winter clothes while enjoying the sights of Spring.

The neighborhood trees are starting to sprout leaves and things are generally getting gorgeous.

A tiny stroll

Ali has ridden in he stroller, so Riley thought, why not me?!