Hello Goodbye Tuesday

The quick version of today...
Day off. Sleeping in. Good morning kisses. AM smoothies. Smiles. Playing. Sunshine. Advocare. DMV. Family. Thrift store shopping. Great deals. Photos Driving and more driving. Home. Phone calls. False alarms. Jammies. Puppies. Storytime. Full House. Crockpot chicken cooking. Blogging...

to elaborate on one of these. How about false alarms! So we were shopping with the fam, including my parents in law, and RR (Rocky Riley) and I had left and when we got home we got a call from the fam saying someone had stolen my mil's (mother-in-law's) purse from her cart. We felt so bad for her, because even though we had warned her to not leave any valuables just in the cart or with anyone, it is still such a hassle and horrible when something like this happens! However...about an hour later we got another call saying they had found her purse...in the car where she had left it! We got a good laugh...mostly out of relief!

I will also elaborate on crockpot chicken cooking...as in cooking right now at 10:45pm. It is for tomorrow (with some taste testing from me tonight) because I am trying to be better about prepping meals/foods for RR to have while I am at work. Riley is really into food and so it helps to have something ready for lunch to just warm up! I looked at some recipes but in the end I just took chicken breasts we had in the feezer, cut them up and added some "tuscany" seasoning which is a mix of garlic, basil, sun dried tomatoes, parsley..plus a few others spices. I also added a little chicken seasoning and cloves of garlic because we love garlic! Tomorrow Riley will probably eat it with buttered pasta or mac n cheese.

I will just end with saying I love spending time with my family!!

October Riley update

Riley went in for his huge checkup the end of September. Because he was born premature we had the option of enrolling him in various studies that will track his progress until he turns 3. We decided to do it because the research will help with other preeemies and also because it gives us a chance to see how he is developing. He has these checkups every 6 months and he does a regular physical plus a psychological evaluation where they play a bunch of games with him that have to do with his coordination, he also meets with a dietitian, and has a hearing test. Each checkup is at least 3 hours and this time we were there for four...whew...a long morning but we found out a lot and were able to ask the doctors various questions, especially about his diet because Riley is such a yo-yo eater.
 Overall Riley is doing really great, he is excelling in all the psychological evaluations and is willing to try new things and doesn't give up! He was on the go throughout and the doctor said to not expect him to slow down! Babies born as early as he was are very busy and have a fast metabolism as well. That wasn't really a surprise to us because Riley is very busy and active all day (except while he is asleep!).
 His dietitian said we need to focus on mealtimes with him and to not allow him to snack. She said preemies are used to eating just until they feel full and then don't care to eat more until a short time later they are hungry again, from not eating very much at mealtime. We have been working on this with Riley, although I do want him to eat more so when he asks for food while it is not mealtime I give him a snack! He love the fridge and we are lucky he cannot open it on his own! ;) He does love a variety of food and loves trying new foods.
 We feel so blessed in how Riley is progressing in so many ways! He loves to play, especially with his puppies and especially outdoors. He loves to feed himself, say "amen" at the end of prayers, and is very social! So that is just a little update on our Riley! He is 22 months (from his birthday) and 19 months (from his original due date).