Ride 'Em Cowgirl

Please disregard:

The bra hanging on my staircase, Lebron on the big screen, and the squeaking sound of Matt bouncing up and down on the couch trying to get her to bounce for the camera.

Ride 'em cowgirl! from Lindsay Vinson on Vimeo.

Natural Born Swimmer

Her first swim, May 2008

Swimming at Gigi and Papa's last summer

I think athletic genes can run in a family and given equal opportunity I think all family members can excel at the same sport. Peyton and Eli, Bobby and Barry, Venus and Serena, and the Griffeys are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.

Which leads me to the point of this post. If there is in fact a swimmer gene, my baby has it. Swimming runs on both sides of the family, though a little deeper on my side. My sister and I both swam competitively from the time we were in elementary school and on into college on scholarships. I have big feet, long toes, strong arms and a very long torso. I float easily and I have loved the pool for as long as I can remember.

Riley clearly has big feet. She has definitely inherited my long toes and long torso and most importantly, she LOVES the water. Yesterday I took her to the pool for the first time in quite a while. She squealed with delight as I supported her baby belly with my hands and she tried to swim to the wall. She giggled with glee as I helped her float on her back. She was a fish.

Towards the end of our little trip I was sitting with her in the shallow end and I started blowing bubbles in the water to make her laugh. Then much to my surprise, after watching me a few times she fearlessly plunged her own sweet little face down into the water and blew her first bubbles! I cheered for her like a crazy person proud Mommy as I watched her practice this new skill. For a moment, I even envisioned R.B. in her Speedo, cap and goggles waiting behind the blocks.

Honestly, whatever my sweet baby chooses to do with her life I will be a proud, crazy, screaming Mommy on the sidelines for her, but just an eensy part of me hopes she got my swimming genes. That is as long as T.G. will drive her to those early morning practices... :)

Driving Mr. Duke

Meet Mr. Duke, the bigger half of our Double D. Mr. Duke is the sweetest and most lovable dog you will ever meet, but he's also the laziest. This weekend Mr. Duke discovered that he doesn't have to walk around our house because his little sister is more than happy to be his chaffeur. She just loves driving Mr. Duke.

Not Me! Monday

I'm so excited to Not Me! I'm almost giddy with glee! This is the first time that I have been able to participate in the weekly fun since the hiatus when sweet Stellan was in the hospital. If you want to get in on the fun or you're just wanting to read the hilarious confessions of complete strangers head on over to MckMama's place!

My child does NOT leave food and toys all over the house in random places. I have NOT discovered her Mickey Mouse car keys in the deli drawer of our refrigerator, her shoe in the pantry, and an old sippy of milk in my lazy Susan cabinet. I also did NOT go to get a drink the other day and realize that my sweet baby had already been there, decided she was done with her snack and put it up for later. Do you know what it is?

Speaking of being able to reach really tall areas I do not have an almost 16 month old that looks like a 2 1/2 year old. We do NOT get concerned looks that our "2 1/2 year old" can't speak clearly yet. We do NOT then get asked if she's 24 months old and we do NOT get looks of astonishment when I inform them she's only 15 months old. I did NOT actually have a woman tell me at the park last week that my child's feet are "enormous" and that R.B.'s size 6 shoes are what her "3 year old wears".

I did NOT photograph my child bending over in a dress as she climbed up the curb just so I could capture her sweet pink bloomers underneath her adorable green dress. I also do NOT let my child play on curbs, but we were at school in the bus lane obviously after school hours.

My baby does NOT love to shriek, yell, shout, and laugh at the top of her lungs. She does NOT get the biggest kick out of making so much noise in public places. Her mama does NOT give a rip when people give us disapproving stares because my child is loving life and letting everyone know about it.

Riley LOVES THE PARK and we go to the two awesome parks near us every chance we can get. Last week I did NOT leave her in this adorable one piece outfit that Tata gave her and take her to the park where she did NOT run about like a wild animal uncaged and Linds did NOT capture these two adorable pictures of her having the time of her life.

A Wanna Be Coupon Goddess

I'm not a math genius and I never have been, but the art of couponing fascinates me. I remember the first time I saw couponing in action on Jon and Kate Plus 8 a few years ago. I was in awe that a woman with a family of 10 spent less at the grocery store than I did for my family of 2. However, back then we were what is referred to as DINKYPOPS: Dual Income No Kids Yet Plenty of Pets. We didn't give a rip about coupons because we had plenty of money and generally purchased whatever we wanted; all name brands and to satisfy whatever cravings we had.

Fast forward 2 years and we are now OHIOKSPOPS: One and a Half Income One Kid Still Plenty of Pets. Combine that with the state of our economy, and my eagerness to save as much as I can for our princess and couponing has become more than a fascination. It is a goal to be conquered and to do so I have to get more than my math brain going.

Clearly I'm not an expert on this, but I'm giving myself 5 weeks to get our grocery bills down by 50%. Seems lofty, but I observed a woman who purchased $34 worth of grocery items today and paid $4 for the whole lot after her coupons were scanned. So I'll reach for the moon and at the very least land among the reduced grocery spending stars. From what I've read on blogs and observed in the stores so far this is what I have figured:

1) I will have to shop at multiple stores for our daily groceries to take advantage of store sales and specific store coupons.
2) I will have to become adept at searching for and finding coupons online.
3) I will have to pay CLOSE attention to the store circulars for sales and awesome couponing deals like Triple Coupon Weekends up to 99 cents.
4) I will have to learn to only buy if we have a coupon or if it's on sale.

Sound easy? I hope it is while simultaneously doubting that it will be, but I will keep you updated. Motivated to join me on my adventure? I'd love to hear about it and swap deals with you!

Riley at almost 16 months

My sweet baby you are 15 months + 22 days today and more and more I see a big girl in place of my baby when I look at you! You fill our house with laughter whether it's you laughing or you making us laugh. I can't wait to see what the next few months bring as you become more and more independent and aware of this big world around you.

You are Miss Independent, no doubt about it. You rarely want our help these days and you let us hear it when we try to help you with a loud "AHHH!" which we take to mean that "I'll do it thank you".

In that same note, you are feeding yourself with a spoon and fork (quite messily), but still. You started that at Gigi and Papa's over Spring Break, but you've definitely become more successful at it.

You LOVE to climb things and gave us a scare a few weeks ago when you scaled your highchair all by yourself. We weren't sure how you did it, but I observed it with my own eyes last night as you stood on the bottom rail, grabbed the foot rest and pulled your self up to it one knee at a time. From the foot rest it was easy, you just had to stand up and crawl into your seat. You wanted to do it over and over again, but once was enough for me to see and your highchair is now folded down after every meal.

Speaking of the highchair you still love eating and yogurt, pretzels, tomatoes and cheese sticks are your favorite. You've also discovered Horizon Organic Vanilla Milk and while Mommy has her Starbucks iced coffee you enjoy your milk box.

As our best good friend Linds says, you are quite verbal. You are trying so hard to talk and you really like to babble and everyday your babbles are sounding more and more like words. This month you've picked up "Shoooor" for sure (which you use instead of yes) and you can say "doh" for go when we're going bye bye. You call trains "choooooo" and the little train at Wegmans delights you to no end. You have also started bringing me your shoes when you want to wear them and saying "shoooooooo". You love saying "doooon" when you go down steps and "pppp" when you go up. You can count to three, say I did it, and got it; but I think Daddy and I are the only ones who know when you're trying to say those things. You still say thank you all the time which I've grown to love and I'll be so sad when you dont' do that anymore.

Although your speech isn't always that clear you understand us very well. You can sit down if we tell you to and point to your belly when we ask where it is. This past week you started jumping when we asked if you can jump. You also learned how to spin around in a circle while you're standing and it is TOO CUTE.

You can communicate with us non-verbally too. You have been known to start heading up the stairs yourself if you decide that you are ready for your nap and if we're already up there you will try to climb into your crib if you're tired. These days you will also ahem grab your little diaper area and come running to one of us if you have left us a surprise. If you're hungry or thirsty you stand and fuss at the fridge. You love pointing at things and saying "id ooooh eee at" or "id oooh rrr at" for did you see that and did you hear that.

You've got a little temper and lately if we tell you no you'll throw whatever you're holding on the ground as you let out a shriek. We're working with you on that. However, you are almost always happy and smiling and you love coming up to us and burying your face into our legs and giving us a little squeeze. Just this afternoon you came over and laid your head in my lap for a second which of course melts my heart.

You are starting to recognize familiar places. When we pull into our neighborhood you start to clap and you squeal when we hit our street and start to turn into the driveway. Everyday when we go to pick up Daddy I'll tell you we are going and you will just screech his name over and over again until I've got you in the car. You know exactly where we're going and everytime the school comes into view you start to wiggle, giggle and squeal.

Mickey is still your main man, but you appreciate Handy Manny too. My sweet classroom mother donated all her old cds to us this month and you really like listening to Barney and The Wiggles cds when we're in the car. Music makes you laugh and smile and when it stops, even just as it's switching between songs you always say "Uh Oh".

You don't have stranger anxiety these days, just man anxiety. Men that aren't your Daddy will send you running and crying for one of us. This makes Daddy a little embarassed especially when we bring you into work and you run screaming from the men there.

Imitaton is still your most sincere from of flattery and you love pushing the mop and broom around the house. You take loving care of your baby doll and have been known to try and share your bottle and paci with her from time to time.

No doctor check up lately, but we do know that you weighed 28.8 lbs at your sick visit over a month ago. I'd guess you're probably hovering near 30 lbs by now since size 2T clothes fit you perfectly.

6 more days to go until we reach the big 16! There's never a dull moment around here and we're loving every minute of it. We love you Riley!

Why I Haven't Blogged

UPDATE: IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH DO NOT READ THIS POST

So you know it's bad when the opthamologist won't even touch what you've got and after 15 minutes of ******** painful observation and pressing on my eyelid rolls back his little wheely chair and says...

"I don't feel comfortable handling something of this size."

Excuse me????? You are the 4th white coat that I've seen in 5 days that has said "they are not comfortable dealing with this". I begged and implored him COMPLETE WITH ALLIGATOR TEARS (I am past the point of feeling shame) to fix it, but he wouldn't. I have been upgraded to a plastic surgeon whom I will not be seeing until 9:30 tomorrow which will officially make it over a week since this has started.

Please pray for me. Please pray that they will be able to fix it (and if they can't pray for the poor doctor who tells me so) and that I won't sob like a big baby when they cut my eye open.

Til then, here is a picture of my eye complete with the scab from where my skin split open due to the swelling.

Cellulitis. Infection. In. My. Eye. Swollen. Painful. Miserable. For 7 days already. Getting. It. CUT. Open. Tomorrow. To. Drain. Infection. Out.