Terrible Team

I want to pay tribute to those mothers who are able to discreetly nurse their baby in public.
Riley and I are terrible at it.

First of all, I'm not sure how people get good at figuring things out under a blanket. One word: Complicated.

Secondly, once everything is ready and ship shape, Riley swipes away the covering and gives me a perplexed look as if to say, "Mom, do you realize this blanket is covering me up?!"
Yes, dear. One day you, too, will have a sense of modesty.
But that day apparently isn't today.

Thank goodness for bottles

Dad Time

Being goofballs together

C watches R while I go to work, and I'm glad they have been able to have one-on-one time. As hard as it was to leave R, C is such a good dad, and I'm glad to know that while I'm gone, R is loving life with this handsome dude.

Comfortably reclined in her La-Z-Boy position as they read together

C still has a very calming effect when he is around R, and is able to get R asleep better than anyone else. She is so comfortable with him that sometimes she just melts away to slumberland in his arms while he is talking.

Recently, R has taken a somewhat cannibalistic turn and has decided Dads are for chewing on.

The resulting hickey

"What?"

We have this cute owl that one of the therapists at work kindly gifted to R. However, the eye balls are a bit creepy when they are staring you down. So C had the owl in a bunch of different places around R to see if it would creep her out.

 She barely even noticed it...

She just can't seem to leave him alone!

I love these two so much! C is such a great Dad!

Move

And the moving begins...!

New Toys and New Developments

Momma M gave R this bumbo, and R has immediately taken to it. She much prefers to be put down if she is able to be sitting up rather than lying down. She doesn't play with the tray objects much, but if we hand her one of her blocks, she goes to town :)

R with her cute daddy

R used to have very little interest in toys, and even when she did notice them, she would talk to them rather than try to touch them or even attempt to reach out to grab/swat them. Then all of a sudden she has realized she can hold these blocks (!) and it has opened the intriguing idea of self-entertainment to her life. She doesn't grab yet-more like she sandwiches the desired object between her hands and immediately tries to eat it-but it is a huge leap from where she was!

Thanksgiving Fun Continues...

The day after Thanksgiving, everyone congregated at our place before heading over to the racquetball courts.

While they played, Momma M and I watched the babies. They were very good, and it was a little taste of what mothers of multiples go through. Whew! It was great to have time to talk to Momma M one-on-one. It is a rarity to be able to get to talk to her so personally when there are so many things going on during their trips.

When everyone returned, we had Chinese and Mexican food (because who said chow mein and hard-shell tacos don't go together?) and played Scum/relaxed.

The Scummies

Momma M rocking a grandbaby (surprise surprise)

Comfortable...? Apparently he was, because he fell asleep a few times like this

In the evening we went to the movie theaters and saw three different movies: The Martian, Mocking Jay Part 2 and The Good Dinosaur. Like the animation freaks we truly are, we went to see The Good Dinosaur while Momma M and R&J watched R. I love that girl, but it is an amazing feeling to go on dates with C!! I always look forward to hearing his critique and insights afterward too. 


Saturday we took family pictures at the JCPenny studio. It seems like it has been so long since we have done that! It was a lot of fun though.

Afterward we commandeered the hotel lobby almost the entire day. Yep, we are one of those obnoxious families that stake out a public area. It was a good idea though-it had more space than our place and R&J's place combined.


While N, M and K went to the temple, we played games like Spaz Uno (I failed miserably) and saved the world yet again with Pandemic.

The BYU vs Utah State game was on so we watched BYU kick trash. (As in we won-they did not kick trash out in the field. Such a weird saying.) Mom and Dad provided lunch and dinner, and we stayed in that lobby until we had our fill of loitering. (10pm) Then we brought our tired little baby home.

We couldn't just say goodbye on Saturday night, so we met up with the fam on Sunday morning as well. We were tasked with driving A,K and M up to SLC, so they could get back up to Idaho for the last few weeks of the semester. It is always sad to say goodbye, but it isn't so bad once you consider we will see them again in less than a month!! :) They have come up almost every month since July, and we are LOVING it! :) :)

At church Riley was held mostly by the grandpas of the ward-high counselors and bishopric counselors-and she fell asleep in almost all of their arms. There is something about a grandpa's touch ...and being completely worn out with all the partying. We were so tired-we need a vacation from our vacation!! But it has been so worth it!

Thanksgiving

Wednesday night the party started! The kids came down from Idaho and we had R&J over for dinner. They brought orange chicken from WinCo, and it was excellent! We played Phase 10 and passed around babies.

Conspiring Buddies

R's expert mom skills paying off with a fussy Riley

We were happy when we heard the family would be coming up from Arizona! But the realization that we would be responsible for the Thanksgiving dinner slowly sunk in, which was accompanied by the feeling of impending doom. I am no cook by any stretch of the imagination, and the thought of poisoning the family with salmonella wasn't comforting. By the time Thursday came around, I had coworkers and friends praying that my family would make it through this experience alive.

...and they did!

Only one person got sick, and it sounds like he had more of a cold.
That's the story and I am sticking to it!

In fact, the food was really, really good! Rachel made half of the dinner, and I made the other half. Admittedly, C and I used cans and pre-prepared crusts to make the cooking as simple as possible. Rather than the hurry and bustle expected from Thanksgiving preparations, we had a slow morning and afternoon, slowly getting everything ready so that the food was still warm when my family got into town. The morning was punctuated every once and awhile with updates of which cities the family was going through while M watched the extended edition of LOTR as Riley fell in and out of naps. Finally, the turkey came out of the oven, the family was half an hour away, and we were on our way to R&Js!

R&Js place isn't that big, but it is cute and they did a great job fitting in a table and having enough room besides to sit after dinner to talk. Against all my expectations, the food was WONDERFUL! I was amazed at how good everything ended up, and I will admit, it has fueled my culinary curiosity. I think I have a block against cooking because I don't like how it takes time and I don't want to expect too much out of my food-lower expectations creates more satisfaction, you know? But if this good of food was that easy... it might be worth trying out more...

Rs amazing rolls

We had some fun additions to our celebrations this year-cousin K and brother-in-law N. I kept forgetting that they usually didn't have Thanksgiving dinner with us, because they blended in so well! It was great having them.

It was particularly heart-warming to see the grandbabies with their grandparents once again. It is so fun that the grandparents on both sides are so excited to see their grandchildren and make such an effort to be a part of their lives. Momma M. is so good with babies, and so when she went out into the frigid air in an attempt to calm Riley, we knew it wasn't an act of unkindness. Rather an innocent lapse of thought on Utah vs Arizona weather. However strange the gesture, it worked! Riley's gasping for air in the freezing cold got her to stop crying! So, that is one method to stop a fussy baby! ;) It didn't take them long to come back inside. :)

That night I found myself enlivened by the constant laughter and cozied up to the wonderful feeling of familiarity. It is amazing how we had been apart for weeks and still once we all get together, it is like we never left. I kept gaining satisfaction by looking around and seeing all the conversations and smiles as everyone interacted. I love family and the holidays!

Lip Sucker

What Riley has been up to these past few weeks...

This is her smolder

We've begun using the vacuum as a tool of distraction.

Riley upon her pink throne

 So...we know it is still November. And it isn't even close to Thanksgiving... but Riley really wanted to see the Christmas lights! So we put them up for her. Riley even wants us to play Christmas music all the time! Its not like Chris and I are super excited for Christmas or anything... But what are good, selfless parents to do?

Cute outfit all the way from New York!

Headband from Aunt M is really cute!

She is still extremely lady-like as she eats. Not sure where she learned that one from...?

Momma M gave Riley some toys, and she has been loving their noises and colors

Lately Riley has been really good about finding her fist or her lower lip to suck on to self-soothe. 

Lip-sucker video:

First bath in an official baby bath! Ok, it is actually the second, but the first one was a crazy impulsive consequence to a blow out. This was more of a calm, soothing bath because she got her first shots. She was a trooper!

Sorry-I wasn't sure how to orient the movie properly. Don't get motion sickness!