One fish two fish red fish blue fish

Riley is finally swimming all by herself, and with great confidence and excitement. It really was a progressions from last week when I lowered her in from the side of a pool and let go. She did kick to the surface. Then at the lake the next day she was swimming under water all day. I think this is partially because if she was going under water she doesn't have to wear a hat!

We then took a week off from swimming because Dev got sick then the weekend happened. This Monday I didn't even bring her swimmy (chest flotation thing) and I had her practice kicking over the stairs w face in. Then I walked backwards and told her to do the same thing. It was a bit rough at first but then she got the hang if it thanks to a dum dum treat :) after a lil bit she swam to a love seat then was jumping off the side and just swimming around. So proud of her! Dev thought she was struggling at one point so swam out to swim her back to the side...why he can't be nice like that always? But it was nice to see :)

Devin was only down for the count for that day. I cloroxed the bathroom since that's where he stayed for the day and noone else got sick. After speaking to a friend it apparently is running through kids in ML so he must had found it there? Who knows, it was very strange though.

Rileys room is definitely shaping up to be adorable. I will upload before and afters once I get her closet complete. She had metal bifold doors that we replaced with 6 panel sliding. I still need to put in a closet organizer fir her before the doors get hung. One straight bar is def not ok for lil miss, actually for any kid! They'd be 9 before they can reach anything! That's this weekends project...we are def getting there though.

making a house a home

Frankie and I keep talking about different ways to make our new house fit us. We both come up with great ideas on how to improve it....and essentially make it ours. Make it our new home.

 As I had said before, we moved around-A LOT! We did not really make anything "ours" until our last address.....9130 Horizon Mist Ave. Sigh....it was our first real home. We lived in apartments for the first three addresses, then our house in NJ for 15 months before Vegas, rental in Vegas for a year then bought 9130. We were there for two weeks shy of 4 years. When we bought it we painted the entire house, re floored entire house, took the back yard from construction rocks to a great yard, put blinds and treatments in every room......it was ours. We filled up every wall with fantastic pictures of family memories... Devin was 8 months old when we settled. He took his first steps in that house. Riley was brought home to it...conceived too...Kids celebrated their first real Christmas' and their first birthdays...Riley's room was a store all until I got pregnant and then Frankie painted it sage green for me to match her beautiful crib bedding. Both potty trained there, both learned stairs on our open concept stairwell...I cannot tell you how many laughs and wonderful family memories we had in it-all the days playing out front around our street and around the island on their bikes/scooters/powerwheels, Devin memorizing the 4 turns street name by street name to our house...and now it belongs to a single guy named Matt.

I love this new house we are in. I love that Frankie and I get to start all over and do it again together and find new ways to personalize a boring basic house. Furniture is being swapped out, bedding has all been changed along with window treatments in our bedrooms and paint is going up in the first room this coming weekend. I love that we are creating new memories together and that the kids will have a great place to call home. We toss ideas back and forth about how to make it better and flow nicer...what plan we will go with, who knows but they are all good in their own ways. People always say a house is just a house until filled with laughter and love and then it becomes a home. I completely agree. I will upload some before and afters once we get there...but for now we need the creative juices to continue to flow.

Riley is wtih my mother right now hanging out while Devin sleeps away his sickness. I have no idea what is wrong with him. Played fine at the beach yesterday, was fine before dinner...ate a great dinner. Slept through the night (not waking or crying) then woke up and had to throw up. He went back to sleep on the bathroom floor until 8:30, came down and snuggled until 10 and went back up. Had a fever at this point of 102.1 and went back to sleep on the make shift bed on the floor. Threw up again at 1...still had fever. He is still up there now at 5 with a fever. Just gave him more motrin and he is drinking lots of water. Poor kid is miserable and uncomfortable, but is thankfully sleeping whatever he has off.

My goal for the last few weeks was to have Riley swimming and by George I think we have it! I am a tough love kind of mom and that method worked. Well of course it did bc I do not entertain whining and crying when I know what she is capable of. I would never just throw her in the pool and hope she comes back up, but I did little steps to continue her confidence with not having her chest pad swimmie thing. Two days ago I did drop her off the side to see what happened and although she was screaming when I did it, she came back up and kicked a few feet to the side. I did this a few times (she stopped screaming after the first) and first thing she did when we went to the beach yesterday was swim underwater by herself. She continued to hold her breathe longer and longer and the playtime went by. YAY!

Summa time and the living is easy.....



this am



It is very odd how boys and girls innately play with gender designated things. For example, Devin loved cars from the very beginning. I babysat a lil girl from when he was 4 mo old and he chose cars/trucks over her dollies and what not. Riley had all of Devin's cool trucks and men to play with but chose dollies and barbies? It's so odd. Riley got into Strawberry shortcake dolls in Las Vegas because her friend Olivia had them and she played with Olivia every week at least once and sometimes more. She has continued to play with them and now she dresses them up and takes off their clothes. Up until a few weeks ago she did not have the dexterity to do so. Today she lined them up next to one another with the 3 inch version next to the 5 inch version of the same doll. We are missing 3 in Blueberry muffin which is not good in her mind!



Saturday!



Over the last week or so the temps have been (in other words) F-ing HOT. I can handle 100 days-remember I lived in the Mohave for 5 years....but man alive that humidity kills you. I feel like my body is refusing to acclimate to NJ weather. It is dying for the dry heat in Vegas and saying-you dummy get back to the desert! I guess by next summer I will be more used to it and maybe sweat less? I am definitely NOT a sweater but here I break a sweat just watering the flowers at 7am. 

I went running today for the first time in way too long. Besides Tough Mudder I have only ran, umm well about 5 times since the half marathon I ran in December. Frankie and I will be doing another Tough Mudder in Oct and although we both did well this past May-we want to rock the next one. I despise running-really do. Yes I trained for months running a half and no it was not hard but YES I loathed every run....even my shorties that were done in 25-30 min. Am I done yet is all I can think about. Honestly it is nice when you hit the 4-5 mile mark and you get a second wind and a lil more pep in your step....but for today I set out to do 3 since it was my first time out in a few months. I wanted to die. I woke up and went at 6:30 this am and had to get back by 7 for Frankie to go to work. I was worried about time so I cut through my division and by the time I hit my driveway I was 2.83 miles. Oh well-Wednesday I will run a 5 k to make up for the missed mileage. I wanted to quit at .5 miles then really wanted to at 1.75 and thank God I was about 8 houses away when I wanted to die. Still made it and in good time since mediocrity and I do not mix. Yes it was over and done with at the beginning of the day----but getting up and running with out allowing your body to wake up and eat sucks. Done complaining....

Today we will hit up the beach at the lake and wear the kids out. Summer is in full swing and 90 something days are really all the 10 day say. My kids are both beach kids-(not like they have a choice) but I am glad they enjoy going since it is where we will spend our summers from here on out. Frankie was not raised at the beach so he gets a tad bored, but the older the kids get the more they will be able to play with Frankie and keep one another entertained. We got a new game on Friday and took that with us to OC. Its a suction cup paddle ball. Really cool, esp for the little guys. One side is flat and the other is covered with lil suction cups. So you hit the ball on the flat side and accept the ball on the suction side. Good for hand eye coordination.

I am still doing my homework for preschools here for Riley. I really loved Devin's in NV...Boo! I want a preschool, not day care-structured learning not play group....with professionals teaching-not boobs. I actually had a lady at one school tell me that socialization at 3 is way more important than a structured learning curriculum. Yes, I told her I stay home and we go to playdates almost daily...and that I wanted a formal learning setting. She said 3 was too young for that....ok on to the next! We have another meeting tomorrow-fingers crossed this one is a better fit.