Happy Baby and Conor's Boo-Boos

Mommy and her 2 precious angels!! Man, I just love these kids.

We can't stop taking pictures of our happy, smiley Riley.

Here are some pictures of Conor in the same chair at the same age. What do you think?? Do they look alike?? We would love to hear your vote.

We have had an adventurous few weeks of learning what it's like to be the parents of an active toddler boy. First, Conor was playing basketball and was so excited to make a basket that he turned around and did a full face-plant scraping up his forehead and nose pretty bad. Then a couple days later, he got his finger stuck in the hole of a wiffle ball. Adam had to cut the ball, then use butter to grease up Conor's finger, and it still got all swollen and pulled quite a bit of skin off when they finally got it out. Then he seems to have scratched his eye, or possibly gotten an infection in it--pinkeye or something, though it only lasted a day. Poor kid!Looked worse in person

Horse Ride

We went to visit some friends' horse farm to celebrate a birthday and Conor and Riley both got to ride a miniature horse. Conor also fun playing on the playground equipment.

More Conorisms

As we were playing around, I was trying to get Conor to do something silly he didn't want to do so I said: "You're a party pooper."
To which he replied, "No, you're a party pooper."
Mom: "You're a party pooper."
Conor: "You're a party pooper."
Mom: "You're a party pooper."
Conor: "You're a party pooper."
Mom: "You're a party pooper."
Conor: "You're a puppy pooter."
Gotta love a little tongue-twister!

Conor didn't take a nap today, so we were singing Old McDonald Had a Farm on the way to the store while trying to keep him awake so he would go to bed at a decent time when we got home. As we were trying to think of more creative animals, I said "Old McDonald had a lion..." and Conor said, "Or how about a tiger?" Thinking they make the same sound so it doesn't really matter, I said, "Ok, let's do both...and on that farm he had a lion and a tiger..." And Conor chimed right in, "With 2 roars here, and 2 roars there..." Guess he was thinking a little deeper than I was!

Odds and Ends

Conor still adores his little sister and is such a proud, helpful, and protective big brother. He loves to help make Riley smile and laugh by repeating silly baby talk phrases and making funny faces.
Riley is getting so very strong. She is growing up so fast!

Conor loves to play right alongside her. Conor is also very much into doing art projects right now. He loves to color with crayons or markers, paint, use a glue stick, use safety scissors and come up with some wonderful creations!

This day he put some stickers on the buttons on Mickey's pants, but then he told me, "Look Mom, Mickey has boobs. Why does Mickey have boobs?"

Smiling and moving. Riley is soooo happy and loves to be flailing her arms and legs, dancing and bouncing all the time.

Our sleeping beautyThought we would never see this since Conor is one of those kids that will stay awake no matter how little sleep he's had and how much energy he has exerted throughout the day. But I guess this one time, we just wore him out too much to make it through dinner.

Daddy Turns 30!

On July 17th, Adam turned the big 3-0!! Although he threw me a nice surprise party this year, I wasn't quite up to returning the favor what with the new baby, going back to work, recent graduation and baptism parties, and so on...so it ended up pretty low-key. We woke up early and let him sleep in a little. The kids and I went to get him a donut and his favorite Dunkin Donuts coffee, plus some pretzel rolls that he likes. Then he spent all day helping our friends move. In the evening, one of the other "mover-helpers" made a fancy dinner at the new house and we all celebrated together. I brought over a cake that Conor and I had made earlier that morning while they were working hard in the 90-degree heat!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!!

4th of July Weekend--Part 1

After Riley's baptism, we were able to make it home in time to cross the neighborhood to see the local community Fourth of July parade at 10am. This was the 2nd year we have been to the parade and my family was here last year as well (while Adam was in Ireland). It is becoming quite a fun tradition and though it was hot and we arrived close to starting time, we were lucky enough to find a shady spot. Conor loved picking up all the candy that was thrown out, but he also wanted to eat it all right away!

We made it home in time to pull out the little pool for a swim. Funny how perfect that pool seemed last year, yet how it seems so small already--he can barely lay down and spread out anymore to practice "swimming". But he sure loves the pool toys we bought while on vacation last month!
Grandpa brought along a box of about 500 flags (or so it seemed) and had Conor help him line them up along our sidewalk. We are happy to see that Conor is as patriotic as we are.Teaching Riley how to wave the flags.She'll probably have it figured out by next year.This is one of my favorite pictures. Could be an ad or a magazine cover huh?

4th of July Weekend--Part 2

After a yummy meal of steak and potatoes, and a good nap for Conor (and some others, who will remain unnamed), we hung out and played for a while before heading to a local park near the Fox River to watch the fireworks. We arrived early enough to get a great spot and were able to play soccer and enjoy the playground before it got dark.

Me, my mom, and my baby sister proudly sporting part of our red, white, and BLUE.

My dad, Adam, Conor, and Riley kicking around a soccer ball waiting for it to get dark.

Staking out his spot

Despite the fact that it was past her bedtime, Riley stayed awake for the whole display and was simply mesmerized.
Conor, on the other hand, enjoyed the pretty colors, but was not a big fan of the loud noise. He seems to have been very sensitive to loud sounds lately--firetruck and police car sirens, trains, thunderstorms, fireworks, etc.--and covers his ears. So this is how he watched the 20 minute fireworks show.

4th of July Weekend--Part 3

How to cool off on the dog days of summer. . .

Lay around lazily inside playing with your sibling. Conor is always happy to tell me he will "pretect" Riley and even promises to do so when they get older.

Go to the local splash park. If you have never seen the primetime TV show, Wipeout, it is basically like an obstacle course over water. Conor refers to that as the "silly silly water show" and as he got wet in the dancing fountains, he kept saying it was just like he was on the silly silly water show. Ha ha

Don't Worry, Mom...and Dad's Melons

Last week, we had my annual company picnic at the local minor league baseball game. When I took a bite of my cookie, it was crunchier than I expected and some large crumbs fell to the ground. Conor was right next to me and said, "Don't worry Mom. The bugs will eat it."

A few days ago, Adam did some grocery shopping and came home with some fruit. He had some on the counter waiting to be cut up and Conor walked by and said, "Dad, what are those?" Adam replied, "A cantaloupe, a watermelon, and a honeydew melon." So Conor asked, "Dad, can I touch your melons?"



Oh yeah...and it's official. Conor is POTTY-TRAINED!! We learned that it is definitely a process and there is not necessarily one day where you say, ok this is it. You can only look back and say, well, as of such and such a day, I think we've accomplished this milestone. It is so great to only have one kid in diapers! We have now had at least a month of wearing big-kid underpants and Conor is proud to be such a big boy.

Riley's latest milestones involve rolling over both directions and smiling, giggling, and cooing...some of the sweetest sounds to a parent's ears! She is truly a very happy and carefree baby, such a relief compared to Conor's colicky early months. Hopefully she will remain this easygoing and joyful!

Riley's Baptism

On Sunday, July 4th, Riley was baptized into the Catholic church. She wore the christening gown that Mommy wore for her own baptism 30 years ago and she looked beautiful. It was a special day. She was surrounded by her godparents Turk and Kari, big brother Conor, Mom and Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, Aunt Laura, and about 20 other people who came to the 8am (!) mass to see her special day. Father Linster carried her around during his homily, just as he did with Conor; and Conor even got to go join him for a few minutes. Riley had just fallen asleep when it was time to pour the water over her head, so that woke her up, but otherwise she did quite well overall.

Conor and Grandpa celebrating Riley's special day! Happy buddies.

Riley and Aunt Laura, who has promised to help if and when Riley gets into a "girly" stage since that will not be a strong point for me.

Proud Grandparents and their two grandkids!

The girl of the hour...

...and her proud and loving big brother, who was happy to be told he looks "spiffy"!

After the baptism, we had a family-only celebration, combined with a Fourth of July celebration...see future posts for pictures.

However, the following weekend, we had a brunch at our house to celebrate the occasion with friends. Riley got some very special gifts, we had some great food (thanks to the help of friends), and we were able to enjoy the company of some wonderful people.
Riley and Noah, who is 6 months older than her.

Riley and Noah with older siblings Conor and Madelyn who are only about 5 months apart and very good friends.