(If any one picture sums up a day in our house...this is the one)
Well it has been a while now so I figured it was time for a new post. I still don't see how those with two or more kids have time to keep a regular blog. My hat is off to anyone who manages that. By the time we are done in the evenings, the last thing on either of our minds is sitting down to write a blog post. But then after months go by we realize it has been too long since the last one and now we'll have a lot of ground to cover.
Jackson's teeth have been the story for a while now. It took Riley forever just to get one or two teeth, right around her first birthday. With him, he got his front four earlier than she did...but then he stopped. That is until about a month ago. Since then it has been teething hell, with teeth coming in all over the place, and in groups. The good news is that at this pace we will be done with the teething soon. Eight more to go.
He has picked up a few more words as well. The ones we have counted most frequently are: dada, mama, light, that (while pointing to anything and yelling "THAT!!!!!!"), uh-oh, uh-uh (for no), dog, and he gives sign language for "more" and "please". One of his favorite things is to wrestle around in the floor, and we do quite a lot of that. He is like a little tank. It amazes me how tough he is for such a (big) little guy. He also is quite fond of mommy...hanging on to her with a death-grip most of the time, and screaming like a madman if she puts him down even for a minute.
As for Riley, she seems to grow up a little bit more with each passing day. The things that come out of her mouth never cease to amaze and amuse us. Recently her favorite song has been "Ghostbusters". Yes. The theme song from the movie. Months ago that movie was on and we just barely caught the end of it, but just enough to catch the song. She loved it. After I got my ipod (one of the last on earth to do so I think), I finally downloaded it for her. It always cracks me up when she sings the "I ain't 'fraid of no ghost" line...and then sings louder toward the end when prompted to do so.
A few weeks ago we decided to venture out solo. As in solo without the kids. We had never done that before. Heck we have never even had a babysitter so that we could go out to dinner. So we headed down to Nana and Granddaddy's house on Thursday and spent the night there. Friday morning we drove down to San Antonio without the kids. It was surreal to say the least. I have spent nights away before due to traveling with work or for the football road trips with Ralph, but Melissa never had. Of course the waterworks started before we were even out of the driveway, but they did not last long. We had a great time, but we talked and thought about them a lot of course. We stayed right on the River Walk, and even though our balcony did not provide the most romantic of views (hello huge water tower) it was still nice to be right in the heart of everything. Though next time we will stay at La Mansion for sure. One of the culinary highlights was the stuffed avacado from the Iron Cactus. A huge avacado stuffed with shredded chicken and cheese, rolled into a ball, battered, and then fried. Unbelievably good. I can still taste it. On a side note, I took a tour of the Alamo while Melissa caught up on some much-needed sleep.
As for the kids, they handled the time away remarkably well, and much better than we had ever thought that they would. Nana and Granddaddy no doubt had their hands full, but it still went off well enough to let us know the kids could get by for a couple of days without us. Unfortunately the reunion on Sunday morning was followed by the second-worst trip back...ever. The worst still would have to be the December trip back when Riley was just over a month old. Never have we both been at the end of our ropes as we were that night, almost willing to get a hotel just an hour or so shy of Dallas. It was almost as bad as that, but I don't think I could say it was worse. Riley was a mess, screaming and fussing about every little thing. Jackson had very little sleep on the ride back, so that didn't help. So our relaxing weekend came to a grinding halt very quiclkly!
(One of my favorites. Despite how it looks, no one was hit!)
This past weekend we had a visit from Nana and Papa from South Carolina. Unfortunately due to some medical issues our visits had a greater span in between than usual, with the last coming on our trip there in November for Thanksgiving. It was nice to have them out for several days to catch up on missed time. The most surprising part of the trip was how easily Jackson went to my dad. He really doesn't go to anyone very easily (even me sometimes), but he went to him fairly quickly, which I think had to make Papa feel like a million dollars and then some.
(We have got to get this boy his own bike soon)
After being away for a few days in Chicago, I came back late Friday evening to a huge smile and hug from Riley and a big hug and kiss from Melissa. As much as it stinks being away, it is almost worth it to get that on the return trip home. It should be twice as good then when I have to go away for a week in August. Among my highlights on this trip to Chicago was the chance to have pizza from Lou Malnatti's. Every bit as good as I had heard it was.
Finally, yesterday we had the end-of-season Blastball ceremony. Not to be cliche', but Blastball was a blast. Overall I'd say Riley picked up the idea pretty quickly. She has a fairly solid swing for her age (and she bats lefty like Dad). I am looking forward to seeing if she develops an interest in baseball/softball when she gets older. But back to the ceremony. She received her first-ever trophy and was quite proud of and happy about that. Needless to say we were quite proud and happy as well.
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