Yabba Dabba Doo!

Happy Halloween!  We have been looking forward to celebrating for weeks and the day has finally arrived!  Our costumes were ready, the candy was at the door and... it was raining.

We made the best of the situation though.  Riley and I went to about 5 houses to trick-or-treat but it was a challenge holding him, the umbrella and the candy bag so we gave up quickly and decided to just watch the parade of costumes that came to our door.

Riley took his role very seriously and whenever someone came to the door, he came to check out their costume and then helped us keep track of the candy as we went through the night.  He even tried a Kit Kat and of course, he loved it!

Our costumes were well received and everyone knew that we were the Rubbles!  I have been trying to teach Riley how to say "bam bam" but everything still comes out either "daddy" or "uh oh".  Maybe we can start working on the phrase for next year's costume, whatever that may be.

Hope everyone enjoys their candy!

Furry friends

This afternoon, the South Hills JCC had a Family Open House that Riley and I decided to check out.  They had a balloon artist, an obstacle course, toys and best of all - a petting zoo!  Riley was quick to make friends with all of the animals and was soon lunging for the llama, laughing at the goats and clucking with the chick.  He was having such a great time and it was even more fun for us to watch him making new friends!

Weekend warriors

Yesterday, Riley and I spent the afternoon with BiBi and Zee.  We loaded up the car and headed over to the nearest state park for a fall hike.  The leaves were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and even though we never found the actual trail, we had a great time strolling through the park.  

Along the way, we stopped to play on the playground, take some pictures and roll in the leaves.  Riley was walking all around the playground and kept trying to climb up the slides - a new favorite activity.  Here is one of the leaves pictures that Zee took:

After the park, we headed over to Costco to pick up a few things.  The trip took a little longer than normal but that's because Riley wanted to do a lot of the walking on his own.  He is getting so good at standing up on his own and taking very deliberate, albeit wobbly steps.  I know we will be running through the aisles before we know it.

Useful utensils

This evening at dinner, Riley had a fight with the lasagna.  It was cut up in little pieces and ready to be picked up and enjoyed, but Riley decided to swipe his hand back and forth across the highchair, sending noodles and sauce flying just about everywhere.  Luckily, Addison was on clean up patrol so the floor was lasagna-free in no time.  At the end of the ordeal, Riley looked like an Indian with war paint all over his face.

Using utensils would make the process much easier, more efficient and and a hell of a lot cleaner, but I think we still need some time to practice:

He said "Mommy"!

This week, while Chris is out of town, we have been taking every opportunity we have to say "Mommy".  Granted, I will answer to just about anything at this point including Daddy, Big Bob, Hey You and Eahhhh, but there is some satisfaction in actually hearing Mommy.

I think it is still going to take some work, and will definitely take some time to perfect greeting me appropriately when I walk in the room, but for now, I'll take what I can get.

So take a look, listen closely and let me know if you hear "Mommy", along with a lot of other interesting words and noises!

Quack quack quack

This morning, Riley and I had an adventure waiting for us!  The Federation had an event for new families in Pittsburgh and we were to meet in Station Square for brunch and a ducky tour.

We made our way to the meeting spot and were greeted by lots of other families who were joining in on the festivities.  We had bagels and muffins and met a few people and then it was time for our tour.

What is a ducky tour, you may ask?  Well, its a cool boat/bus that can go both on land and in water.  You take a tour around the downtown area and then literally drive down a ramp into the water and see the city from the river.  It was pretty cool and Riley and I had a great time.

It was a little warm and close to nap time but Riley enjoyed looking out the window, making friends along the way and even taking his turn to drive!

All we have to say now is Quack Quack Quack!

Excited for Ear Tubes

Today hopefully marks the end of the Era of the Ear Infection.  It has been over 6 weeks of ear pain, fevers, runny noses and doctor's visits and now, we are wishful that we are in the clear moving forward.

We had a practice run on Monday but the surgery center that we went to didn't feel comfortable doing the procedure with Riley's heart murmur so this morning, we arrived at the hospital at 6am and were ready to get the ear tube procedure over with.

The whole process wasn't terrible, but asking a 1-year-old to lay still while you take vitals and wait around just isn't realistic.  After we checked in, put Riley in his gown and met with a few nurses, we were able to move to the playroom and wait our turn.  Because we were at Children's Hospital, there were plenty of fun toys to keep us entertained and we took turns pulling Riley down the hall in a wagon that he loved.  The toys were great but it was quite a challenge for Riley to crawl around in his hospital gown!

When they called our name, it was time to meet with the anesthesiologist and head down the hall towards the operating room.  I covered up and was able not only to bring Riley into the operating room but was there when they got him ready and put him to sleep for the surgery.  Again, he wasn't the happiest camper but who can blame him for being scared?

Chris and I then waited together in the family room and in no time at all, the ENT was headed towards us with the news that Riley did a great job and was headed to Recovery.  Less than 10 minutes later, we were brought to Riley who was waking up and was ready for some familiar faces.  He was pretty unhappy at first but everything was very normal as far as waking up from anesthesia goes.

Less than 30 minutes later, we had packed up, received our instructions and were in the car back home.  We are so glad to have this procedure in the past and are keeping our fingers crossed that Riley starts to feel better quickly and this will all just be a memory very soon.