4 Year Stats

Riley went to the doctor for her yearly check up this morning and just as we suspected...she's a healthy 4 year old!  She has grown by 3lbs and 3 1/2 inches this past year and she now weighs 30 1/2 lbs and is 38 1/2 inches tall.  She's at about the 10th percentile for her weight and has moved up from the 15th to the 25th percentile for her height...evidence of the recent spurt we have seen in our girl.  We also had a weight check for Piper today, after her 4 month visit the doctor was thinking it would be a good idea to keep a close eye on her weight just to make sure that she's gaining enough.  She is 9lbs 14oz, which means that she has pretty consistently been putting on about a 1/2oz per day since she was born which is not a lot, but still healthy.  Even though she's little, she is an active and happy baby who is hitting all of her milestones so we know that she is getting everything that she needs and we are happy to watch her grow along at her own pace just as we have her big sis!

Riley's 4th Birthday Bash!

There has been no question in Riley's mind about what theme she would like for her birthday party this year...it had to be the Little Mermaid.  Yesterday we had Roo's birthday bash at Gigi and Pop's house and invited her friends to come and celebrate! 

She had decided that swimming would be the perfect activity for her mermaid party, but since April in Colorado is always unpredictable, we also borrowed a bounce castle.  While we were relieved that it was sunny and not snowing, it wasn't quite wasn't quite as warm as we had hoped, so most of the kids decided to stay mostly dry and just put their feet and legs in the warm water. 

Our little mermaid got could not resist though and lucky for her, her friend James put on his suit and joined her and Gigi. 

 Riley and her new Ariel doll from James and James with his pig "pinky"

After the clouds rolled in, it started to get a little chilly outside so we moved the party inside for some presents and cake.

 And then they were back outside to jump out all of the sugar!

 After the kids cleared out, Bunky Ryan, Daddy and Gigi all crashed the bounce castle to jump with Roo.

 Riley is one lucky little miss to have so many great friends who made her birthday very special! 



4 Years Old!

It is hard for me to believe that 4 years have passed since we first laid eyes on our sweet Riley Roo!  I'm pretty sure that we did have fun before our girls came into our lives, but it's impossible for me to remember a happier time than these past 4 years. 

I have been pretty sure of Riley's personality from the moment I met her and I love to see it evolve with each new year.  As she reaches her 4th birthday, there are so many things that make her the special little person that she is, but here are a few of things I want to remember about this place in her life.  She is very sweet, sensitive, thoughtful and the best big sister to our baby.  Miss R is still a very extroverted kid who is rarely shy, but doesn't like being the center of attention.  She is happy to play by herself, but really loves when she has her friends to play with and has no problems whatsoever with approaching new kids.  Riley is extremely independent and wants to do EVERYTHING for herself.  She is easily frustrated when things don't come to her on the first try, but she is determined and will work at it whatever it is until she masters it.  She can now fully buckle and unbuckle from her carseat (a huge help to me now that I have 2 carseats to deal with) and while I was nursing Piper the other day she decided that she didn't need my help in reheating some chicken nuggets in the microwave. She even got out a 2nd plate so that the carrots and ketchup wouldn't get hot.  While her independence is a blessing, I am very thankful that she hasn't completely lost the need for me at 4, she still loves to be snuggled, read to and is always my eager little helper.  She is what I would call a chicken nugget eating vegetarian, a chocoholic and a lover of pasta!  Her favorite breakfast food is cinnamon rolls, but most mornings she has cottage cheese pancakes with peanut butter.  Even though she has been a talker from what seems like the minute she opened her eyes, she still surprises us with her vocabulary and her use of some pretty big words like incidentally.  There is rarely a quiet moment with Roo, from the minutet she opens her eyes in the morning, she is talking or singing.  Her favorite songs are the ones that she makes up and most of her other faves are Christmas songs, particularly Jingle Bells.  She loves dress-up, pretend play, reading and is still all about anything princess!   We have loved watching the growth and changes that each year brings and we are loving everything about the little person our Riley is becoming!

Her big birthday bash with her friends will be on Saturday, but we had a little celebration with our family today.  Riley woke up to a special birthday breakfast and I'm pretty sure that when you get to start off with a cherry turnover chances are it's going to be a good day!  Tuesdays are usually a school day for Roo, but today was an in-service day so she got to hang out at the park with her friend Zoe instead.  She was a little bit bummed to miss school today because they get to bring in a special treat for snack time, but she'll get to do that on Thursday instead...this way we don't have all our birthday fun on just one day.

Grandma, Grandpa, Gigi, Popdaddy, Bunky Ry and Auntie Kelly came over to shower the birthday girl with gifts and attention.  Riley had decided on pizza for dinner (hers had mandarin oranges and pineapple) and chocolate cake with pink vanilla frosting. 

We had such an awesome day celebrating our birthday girl!

We love you Riley Roo, Happy Birthday!!!

Easter

To kick off our Easter weekend, our friends the Nichols came over on Friday night for dinner and some egg dying.  Riley and her buddy James had a great time coloring their eggs together and then even more fun chasing each other around the house like maniacs. 

 James brother Mac tried to get in on the action too, but gave up once he realized that actually eating his favorite food (eggs) was not on the agenda.

 On Saturday, the family coop in our neighborhood gathered for their annual Easter egg hunt near our pond and playground.  The weather was perfect and Riley Roo had fun hunting eggs with her friends. 

 And gathering a basketful of goodies!

On Easter morning, we met Gigi and Popdaddy for church bright and early so we waited until we came home to see what goodies the Easter Bunny had left.  E.B. was good pretty good to both of our girls and he must have known that we have a Florida trip coming up, because he left some beachy things in their baskets!  Riley got the zebra that she has been looking for, a Fancy Nancy book, a beach ball, a new beach towel and an outfit.  Piper got some sunglasses, a sun hat, beach towel, purple bunny and 'Pat the Bunny'. 

 

There were also some fun surprises that the bunny left hidden around our house for Riley Roo

Riley and Piper also got some really great Easter surprises in their baskets from Gigi and Pop and Grandma and Grandpa 

After our breakfast and egg hunt, we headed to the Urban's house for our annual family gathering.  Riley and her cousin Isabella were inseparable for the rest of the day and I'm pretty sure that Piper enjoyed her taste of our family Easter traditions...from the competition for the head from the lamb cake to the smashing of confetti eggs on each other's heads. 

Okay, so the confetti thing may have freaked her out a little....

But not Roo...she loved every second of it!

More eggs with Isabella!

We had such a fabulous Easter with our family and friends, enjoying the sunshine, the food, the egg hunts, and of course indulging in lots of Easter treats!

4 Month Stats

We had Piper's 4 month well baby check this morning and here are her new stats:
Weight: 9 lbs 2oz (below the 3rd percentile)
Height: 23 inches (10th percentile)
Head Circumference: 15 1/4 inches (7th percentile)
She is definitely still a little peanut, but she's a very healthy girl! 

4 Months!

Piper is 4 months old today!!!!!! Our little miss is growing and changing so much!  Okay, so she's still pretty bitsy but we can tell that she is getting bigger. We are pretty used to strangers marveling at the neck control and alertness of our newborn...then we tell them that she is actually just a tiny 4 month old and they are then less amazed at her development and more amazed by her size.

This month our little miss has had some pretty exciting firsts. She has mastered not only rolling over from her tummy to her back, but she can also go from her back onto her tummy. I was a very stunned mommy when I laid her in her crib one morning and went to start some laundry,  when I came back up to her room, I found her on her tummy and sound asleep. She has repeated this same thing for us a few times now at both naptime and bedtime and as far as I'm concerned this is huge, because I never managed to get Riley to fall asleep without nursing, rocking or cuddling.  I am still amazed and excited about this.  She can't let us have it too easy though, her night time sleep has been worse this past month than it was when we first brought her home.  We've gone back to an up every 1.5 to 2 hours during the night and after she wakes for the first time she wants only to stay asleep if she's nestled in my arms.  With her being so small, I realize that sleeping through the night isn't going to happen anytime soon and I'm happy to feed her when she needs it, but this is making for a tired momma so I'm hoping I can coax her into getting her calories during the day so that we can return to her previous 4-6 hour streches of sleep at night.

Ready to show off her new trick to her big sis!

Piper thinks that her hands are pretty interesting and are absolutely perfect for chewing and when she is not busy cramming them into her mouth, she has figured out how to use them grabbing.  Hair, glasses and jewelery are her main targets, but she also is starting to like her toys and teethers and she loves to grab her toes and stretch them up to her mouth too!  This month, she has decided that she doesn't mind hanging out on her back as much as she did at first.  She is completely content to lay in her bassinet and look at her mobile or roll around on a blanket with some toys to chew on.  In a complete change from the first couple of months where she wanted nothing to do with being put down for any reason, she now actually craves a little independent time and is cranky when she doesn't get it.  She is still a momma's girl  though and not afraid to let anyone know it.

Piper is such a happy little girl. She loves to talk to us and her whole faces lights up in a great big baby grin when we talk back to her. She is always eager to share her smiles and she has also started to laugh. I'm betting you can guess who got the very first laughs out of her. Piper finds just about everything that a Riley Roo does wildly entertaining and when Roo is particularly hilarious Piper busts out in laughter, the kind that make her little belly shake. These little girls make my heart happy!