outfits today

Well today has been one of those days already...as some of you know Riley spits up quite often, so we usually go through many outfits during the day, although some days not so bad. Today Riley is currently in her fourth outfit of the day and it's only 1pm! This morning she spit up all over her clothes she was wearing and since she was due for a bath, I decided to just give her a good scrub down. After I made her nice and beautiful, lotion and all, I sat her in her little Bumbo chair so I could fix myself some lunch. No more than a few minutes passed by before she upchucked all over herself. I decided to just wipe it off and not change her clothes just yet. And sure enough, a few more minutes pass by and she does it again. So I change her into another cute little outfit and set her back in her chair so I can finish my lunch. Then once again, all over her clothes. Again, I just wipe it off and finish my lunch. I take her out of the chair and decide to sit down and read her some books. I am turning her around and wonder why her leg is so wet and what is that smell...yep, she pooped and it leaked through her diaper and onto her clothes. I look down at my white long-sleeve that I'm wearing, and yes, there is poop all over that too. So back to the changing table we go and put on the 4Th outfit of the day. Just as I'm snapping the buttons on her clean clothes, she opens up her mouth and spit up drools down the side of her face, making her shirt wet as well as the back of her head and hair. So much for a clean baby!

I had to chuckle through all of this because it truly was comical. And the wise words of my dear mother (mother of 5 as well as therapist) kept ringing through my head..."Oh Elizabeth, these are not the important things in life"...commenting on my frustration regarding Riley's spit-up problem a few months ago. She has always told me to pick my battles and reminded me in this case that the clothes can be washed and stains removed and life will go on. So today I will just roll with it and enjoy motherhood for the important things - like this picture below of Riley and her friend Abbey.

easter weekend

We spent this past weekend in Seattle and had a very full weekend. For as busy as it was, it was very relaxing and felt like we got to spend some good quality time with everyone. Here is a little run down of what we did: It was Bjorn's 2ND birthday (our nephew) so we went to Tacoma Saturday morning and had breakfast with Jon & Bjorn, played at the park then went to Bjorn's birthday party.

After the party we zoomed back up to Seattle and then made a birthday dinner for my Mom. The dinner turned out awesome - some tasty salmon, asparagus, mashed potatoes and bread - and Martha made the most beautiful cake for her as well. In case you didn't know, my sister Martha is VERY talented in many aspects of life - some of them being cooking, baking, gardening, and of course always looking good :) Anyway, I had to take a picture of the cake...

As if that day wasn't busy enough...we then went to Martha's baptism. Martha was baptized in the Catholic church, so the baptism was a 3 hour mass from 8-11pm at the Easter Vigil service. I had never been to a mass, let alone a 3 hour one! It went by pretty quickly and was very beautiful to see Martha baptized. And to top it off, Riley slept the entire time! Afterwards Mike's family hosted drinks and dessert at a nearby restaurant, so this mommy was partying it up until midnight or so...big time! And Riley continued to sleep in her car seat, sitting atop one of the tables. It was a fun evening and we are so proud of you Martha!

And then of course the next day was Easter, which consisted of church then a great day of good food and family. Hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter. This week I'm busy with babysitting, appointments, walks with friends and getting ready for some upcoming baby showers. And also running. My training has been going well, although I've missed my long runs these past two weekends due to the weekends being full. That is very unlike me, but I'm trying to just roll with it and just hope and pray I can make it those 13 miles!

kiss me i'm irish

first visit

Riley & I got to meet Cora, Kristen's baby, for the first time last Friday. It was so wonderful to see Kristen & DJ, as well as meet & hold their precious little one. Riley is only a month older than Cora, so we figure they will be the best of friends and will spend their days gabbing away like their mommy's do! We look forward to more visits Kristen!

7 random facts

Some fellow bloggers have been "tagging" e/o to post 7 random facts about themselves. And although Kristen didn't tag me, she said she'd like to see my list, so here you go! A list of 7 random facts about Elizabeth...

1. I have 3 piercings in my left ear, two of which were pierced by a friend at summer camp with a thumb tack.
2. I love hot hot showers. Who doesn't, right? But my true obsession with a scalding hot shower began the day after I gave birth to Riley. After a very long and intense labor and then surgery, my body was tired and achy and nothing could cure that besides the hot water. Now my hot showers offer a small escape every day, (well more like every other day) from the daily task of motherhood and allow me to just stand there and relax amongst the steam.
3. Both of my little toes posses the tiniest toenail you've ever seen. Not only is there hardly a nail, the nail that is there sticks straight up. And by straight up I mean straight up towards the sky straight up. Tyler loves to point this out on a daily basis, but it truly does cause a girl some trouble when trying to paint her toes. I don't mind feet at all and have always wanted to have really pretty feet, but I just don't think it's going to happen (no matter how many coats of polish I apply!) Luckily for her, Riley has beautiful feet and super long toes and nails. Let's hope they stay that way!
4. I often find myself straightening items in stores. For example, I was in the fabric store today and was looking at the bargain book shelf and before I knew it I realized I was stacking all the books and making neat piles out of them. I will do this in the grocery store, restaurants...really anywhere I go I find myself doing this. And I always feel like I'm being so helpful. As if a manager were to see me, he/she would think to themselves, "Wow, I should really hire that girl, she seems like a great worker".
5. I have a thing for maps. I love to study them and figure them out, and read all the names of the towns, cities and roads. I take great pride in the fact that I can understand maps well and if in a random city, I'd be able to navigate my way around with ease.
6. I backpacked around Europe when I was 20 years old with my friend Claire. We had many adventures, but one night more memorable than others. We arrived in Amsterdam late at night, assuming we'd find a place to stay with ease. After a few hours of wandering the city looking for a place with an empty bed at a reasonable price, we were forced to spend the night in the city park. Claire and I huddled up and pulled out every piece of clothing we had for pillows, blankets and warmth. It was one of the longest nights of my life, even though we were probably there for just 3-4 hours. We were cold, scared and a bit defeated come early morning, so we left before the sun came up and got on the train and kept riding and getting off at different stops, trying to sleep either on the train or at the stop. Lesson learned: best to book your first night in a city, especially when you arrive after 10pm!!!
7. Currently Tyler and I are sleeping in the living room. We pulled our mattress into our living room because we discovered mold under our bedroom window and Tyler is in the midst of repairing it. It is really quite comical and makes us laugh each time we've come home to our now disorganized living room with our huge mattress in the middle of it. It also reminds me of when we lived on Maui. We lived in a condo that had an a.c. unit in the living room and our room was down the hallway, therefore making our room very hot. It was so hot that some nights we couldn't stand it any longer and would drag the mattress down the hallway and sleep in the living room for a few nights before we felt like we could deal with the hot bedroom once again. The mold is gone and Tyler is almost done with the repairs, but until then, no guests are allowed to come over!

Ten on Ten (3/10)

I had a lot of fun with the 10 on 10 photo project - it helped make the day fly by. Here are my ten photos for the 10th day of March...

Granola & coffee for breakfast

Feeding Riley


Tea w/a friend

Grocery shopping for dinner

Doc sleeping while I'm feeding Riley

Lunch


2 mile afternoon jog



Pottery Barn decorations in the mail for Riley's room

Used bookstore looking for this month's book club selection

Dinner

happy birthday tyler!

Today Tyler turns 28. I have known Tyler for almost 10 years now, which is a lot of birthdays that we have celebrated together! Every year on his birthday I always try to remember what we have done in the years past to celebrate. It's getting harder and harder to remember everything, especially the years when it was just a small and simple celebration. I'm not sure if Tyler has a favorite birthday memory, but one that pops in my head was when he turned 24 and we were living on Maui. He surfed in the morning and caught a very memorable wave, making it quite a lovely experience. I then picked him up and we hung out for the afternoon then met some friends at the beach in Kihei and had a bbq dinner and watched the sunset. It was a simple day, but full of many of Tyler's favorites: surfing, friends, good food and of course me :) Last year was a memorable one as well. We had two different sets of visitors for the weekends before and after Tyler's birthday. Brian and his girlfriend Erin came for a visit and we went snowshoeing at Mt. Baker. I love this series of pictures:

Then Andy and Erin came the next weekend and we spent the weekend eating out, playing with the dogs and just hanging out. Oh, and also apparently a push-up contest:

Just a few memories of many. Thank you Tyler for being so fun, full of so much joy and confidence and for desiring a simple life full of good friends, adventures and lots of lovin'! I love you Tyler!