Bawoooon?!

We experienced our first balloon festival a couple weeks ago.  We knew we would be able to see the balloons in the air from our house, what we didn't know was, they would fly over our neighborhood!  I know what your thinking "air balloons, who cares!"  Wait till one lands on your sidewalk!  I thought we were be invaded, it was very cool and Riley loved it!  Bear even enjoy the view!

2 Years

Riley had his 2 year checkup today and it was extra challenging because my stupid prego-minded self forgot I would have Reese and Caleigh today also.  So, once again I dipped into the future and saw what it would be like to have 3 kids at a 2 year checkup...not fun!  I did start the trip out with a small yet tempting bribe of McDonald's and ice cream if they were good, Riley doesn't quite understand bribes yet so he was going to be the challenge.  When we arrive at the office they hand me a stack of papers to fill out because we are new clients, so as I fill out the paper work, I keep glancing up to make sure all are accounted for and behaving.  Frequently I was forced to say "Riley don't touch that... Reese sit up...Caleigh sit down...Riley inside voice"  Thankfully we got in quickly, however Riley was not a fan of the doctor that day and between his screaming and Reese and Caleigh quietly arguing over the one seat and the video game (Reese's battery died so there was only one game) I couldn't hear what the doctor was saying, what I did gather was this.  Riley is 37.5 inches tall and 35 pounds, the doctor said he thought Riley's weight was a little high and now is the time to really stick to healthy eating habits, because kids that struggle with obesity now will more than likely struggle with it their whole life.  Needless to say, Reese and Caleigh tried their best to stay quite during the appointment and Riley's screaming (he got 2 shots and blood taken for hemoglobin testing) So we had McDonald's and ice cream...we all deserved it!


Some facts about Riley now that he has hit this 2 year milestone:

weight: 35 pounds
height: 37.5 inches
can name at least 10 body parts
jumps (with both feet), runs, walks up (alternating feet) and down stairs, throws and kicks, balances on one foot, gallops
memorizes songs or phrases after hearing them 3-4 times
uses 50-70 words...still working on speaking english though
opens doors
says a-e and 1-10
pulls pants up and down
washes hands and brushes teeth
sleeps in a big boy bed successfully as of 8/3/2010 (long story, which calls for it's own blog)
follows 2 and sometimes 3 part commands
is scared of the dark
remembers family he has seen in the last 6 months
Drinks from a cup...no more sippy
Has to eat everything with a "daddy" fork
Goes to bed @ 8pm wakes @ 7-8am Nap @ 1-3pm
Wears 3T-4T clothing and size 9 shoe (for the width)
Loves transportation and animals
still loves to snuggle, he always welcomes company with hugs and send you home with a kiss...on the lips :)

Things we are working on....
Tantrums
Potty Training starts the 2nd week in Sept.
Talking clearly and in english (he says full sentences and conversations in a Japanese-Pig Latin language)
Good Eating Habits
Being Gentle
Saying Names of People

Riley's 2nd Birthday

Well a month worth of planning, a weeks worth of cleaning, and a day of preparing was worth a great day spent with wonderful family.  We are so blessed that so much of our family could enjoy Riley's birthday with us.  We first opened presents, then lit the 2 candles and sang happy birthday, then Ryan fired up the grill and made fantastic burgers and brats!  There was a whole spread of pasta salad, baked beans, snicker salad (thanks to Deb), cucumber pasta salad (thanks to Deb again!) and chips.  I decided not to make a cake but mini cupcakes, Riley likes them and when it's that hot out, no one wants sweets!  Present opening didn't go how I had planned it, Ryan sat with Riley to guide him, but Riley wanted to watch Ryan open the gifts, so it was kind of like Daddy's birthday too!  Riley loved all his gifts, the big gifts from us was a motorcycle hot wheels tri-cycle.  Below is a sample of birthday pictures:

by the way...Riley is going to be a big brother!

A Movie Event

For my birthday, we went to see Toy Story 3 in the theaters, as a family.  We weren't sure how Riley would react to the movie theater, it was either going to be really good or really bad.  We got a bag of peanut butter m&ms and his sippy cup of milk and sat him in his own seat between us.  He was a little antsy during the advertisements, but once the previews started he was hooked.  A couple of times he would yell "whaaaatisthaaaat?"  But no one cared, everyone else was dealing with whining kids.  He sat there the whole movie in his seat, with his m&ms between his legs chomping and watching the movie.  It was so cute!  It was a great birthday present to have him enjoy the movie so much!

Watching the previews

He really liked this movie poster!  

Imagination Movers

I found out from any early point in Riley's life (around 9 months)  that he had quite the imagination, it wasn't a vast imagination from the start, but quickly becoming very creative with play.  First off, everything is a potential phone...you never know when that important call from Elmo will come.  It could be a shoe, a pen, a wallet....the latest, was a rock as a phone :)  Secondly, he sits right in front of the cat and has a conversation with her...even turkey looks at me like "I don't understand a single word coming from his mouth!?"  At night he has musical theater performances in his bed with all his stuffed friends, mickey, elmo, kitty. puppy...they all sing along. 

But this one tops them all...can you guess what Riley is pretending to do?   

Riley's Birthday Wish List

Here are a list of items that we want you to get Riley wants for his birthday.  Everything is sold at Wal- Mart, Target or Toys R Us and if you can find a good garage sale or get lucky at a Goodwill, more power to ya!  :) More than anything Riley will need fall clothes, he wears 4T or 35 pounds 37 inches tall.  The Birthday party is August 14th, hope to see you there!  :)

big trucks!

Mega Blocks Building Table

Sing-Along CD Player

T-Ball

Work Bench

Red Bird, Red Bird....where did you go?

We are officially moved into our new house and there were a few "traditions" I wanted to bring over from our old house.  One BIG "tradition"  was every morning I would drink my coffee and Riley would sip his juice and we would watch all the birds out the window.  If you remember, our old house had floor to ceiling windows, this new house does not.  However, I was determined to continue this, since Riley enjoyed it so much.  I went and bought cardinal RED BIRD seed and Riley helped me put up the bird feeders so we could see them from the deck.  Lastly I had him fill up the bird feeders with cardinal RED BIRD.  We went  inside and sat at the kitchen window and waited...waited...waited...and all of a sudden a flock of birds come!  there were pigeons & sparrows...no red birds.  4 days later we still get pigeons and sparrows...no red birds. 

Speaking of the new house!  Here are downstairs pictures of the living room, kitchen and the studio in the basement.  Upstairs isn't quite settled yet but I will post pictures soon!

The things kids do when you leave them alone with grandparents!

Riley spent a couple days with Grandma and Grandpa Schaller, when we were closing on our old house and I had a wedding to shoot.  When I left him, they were excited to have him and when I picked him up they were exhausted!  My mom kept saying "did you know he can do this!?"  "did you know he does that!?" 

 I said "yes...that is why I am exhausted! " 

Here are some pictures from Riley's adventures with the Schaller Grandparents 

The things kids do when you leave them alone with grandparents!

Riley-pressing his face on the shower door

Riding in the golf cart with Grandpa...and Sophie

Watch out Mickey!!!!!!

Hard at work...

representing

Wordless Wednesday...

                                 

Sweet Corn

Riley had his first taste of Good Ole Iowa Sweet Corn.  He didn't actually take any chunks out of the cob, but he did lick off the butter and salt...it's all about the experience...right?

Wednesday Fun!

Every Wednesday, Reese and Caleigh come over for the day to play with Riley.  We do have a lot of fun!  A Typical day goes like this:

breakfast-a little TV-outside play(swimming, park, backyard fun)-inside play(coloring, playing with toys, dress up)-lunch time-naps (Riley and CJ sleep and Reese gets her "me time")-movie! (with popcorn, of coarse)-

This experience has really given me a glimpse of what having 3 kids would be like, I have definitely had to spread myself evenly, listening to Reese's stories, watching Caleigh possibly plunging to her death and Riley touching something he's not suppose to.  Ahh, it's been fun!  Below are pictures from today!

     click image to enlarge

boat?

Riley's first experience on a boat was dreadful!  For 5 hours, I held a screaming toddler on my lap.  He didn't want down, he didn't even want to look at the water.  It wasn't good. 

So this weekend we went to Grandma and Grandpa Schaller's to visit (Jen and Jesse are back too)  and we decide to go on the boat.  It took a little while, at first he wanted to sit on my lap, but would look at the water.  Then he got his sea legs and was running all around the boat, honking the horn, dumping water, he even ate lunch on the boat. 

Needless to say, the rest of the weekend consisted of questions like...boat? outside? ride? boat? boat?

And, every time we pass a body of water, even a flooded corn field...BOAT?

click on the image to see it full size...

Cover Your Mouth...

Riley has had a bad cough for a week now, we started to get concerned, so I took him to the doctor today and they thought he was pretty congested in his longs.  They did a chest x-ray, to check for pneumonia.  And his o2 levels were low, so they put him on a nebulizer, twice.  Each time took about 30 minutes and Riley cried and cried and screamed and kicked.  I tried everything to get him to calm down {in that moment I found it hard to think of any songs or stories he likes}  Finally {dumb mommy} I started tickling his back and legs and that calmed him down.   They ended up sending us home with the nebulizer that releases medicine to help Riley breath and he is also on a steroid to help with the inflammation in his lungs.  Poor guy...doesn't he look like the saddest little boy :(  At least he got to watch Mickey Mouse during his treatment...he did get a little frustrated that he couldn't get up and do the hot dog dance!  (follow up doctors appointment on 6/24)

Play Ball!

Riley went to his first baseball game!  My brother's team (FSU) went to the College World Series in Omaha, NE and he was able to get all the family tickets to watch!  Riley was so excited when we got in the stadium, he kept raising his arms and yelling "PLAY BALL!"  The weather was nice for the first 5 innings, then the sun came out and it got hot and Riley got tired.  We had to park about 2 miles away, so Riley rode on Ryan's shoulders.  Riley held on to Ryan's ears to steer :)

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

Riley loves Toy Story...about a month ago, while watching the movie, out of no where he stands up in front of the tv, lifts arms up to the sky and says "EEEEEEYYYYAAAAWWWW! "  which we now know means that ever popular phrase that Buzz Lightyear says.  Riley has a little Buzz and carries him everywhere and says EEEEEYYYYOOOOOWWWW.  Here you see Riley making Buzz fly into the bucket of water while saying "EEEEEEEYYYYOOOOOWWWW"

New House & A New Haircut

Sunday @ 2pm we put in an offer on a house and by 7 pm that night it was ours!!!!!!  It couldn't be better timing, with intrest rates as low as they are.  We got a great deal on a great house!  We close and get posession on the 20th of July.  We fell in love with this house the first time we walked through it.  For our second house we new what to look for, water in the basement, mold on the windows, cat poop under the dryer, look IN in the cabinets, flush the toilets, walk in the yard to find soft spots, open ALL windows and last but not least understanding the bargining power of a buyer!  This is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath home, with studio space, this will be our home for many years.  Check out more photos of the house on our family site. 

I am excited that Riley will have his 2nd Birthday in the new house! 

Speaking of new things!  Mr. Riley got a hair cut, I let it grow out pretty long, so it was time for a nice summer butch. 

Flash Back Friday?

Okay I know it's Saturday...but I got a little busy yesterday.  Riley is 9 days old in this picture!

Ketchup!

Well....I haven't posted anything in a while.  Here's what's up!

We moved.

And everything that goes along with that. 


UGH!

So now it's time to play ketchup, with the business, with cleaning the house for closing, with settling into the in-laws, with finding a new house...time to play ketchup with life. 

Riley supervising on moving day

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's day use to be just another day of the year when I  pick dandelions and hand made a card that read "best mom in the world!" I never really understood Mother's Day, until I became a mother. I truly believe that everyone, at some point in their life, has a light bulb turn on in their head. A point in their life where things start to make sense and you look back on your life and reevaluate.  I had to reevaluate mother's day on 8/15/2008. Because of Riley, Mother's Day now made sense! After 41 hours and pushing out a watermelon...it makes sense! 

Well kind of...

Then I held him

Then I smiled at him

Then I looked into my husband's eyes

Then I fed him

Then I bathed him

Then I changed him

Then rocked him

Then I payed the hospital bill

Then I sang to him

Then he smiled at me

Then he crawled, walked, ran...

After all that it makes sense!

Well Kinda....

MY point is, being a mother never stops, and I learn something new about being a mother every day.  And every time I have that feeling, I think of my mother and that

she held me

she smiled at me

she looked into my dad's eyes

she fed me

she changed me

she rocked me

she paid the hospital bill

she sang to me

she watched me grow

Being a mother is the most important and full filling job I do and I couldn't do it without a great husband and father by my side...but his day will come in about a month :)

Below are the flowers I received from Riley!  Stargazers and Roses!  muah!

Red Bird, Red Bird, What Do You See?

Red Bird, Red Bird...What Do You See?

"I see a little boy looking at me"

Every morning, mommy gets her coffee and Riley gets his milk.  We sit on the couch and watch the birds out the window.  Last month, Riley and I set up bird feeders outside the window, and now we have quite the variety of birds that come visit.  But Riley's favorite bird that comes is the red bird.  Maybe because his favorite baseball team is the Cardinals...or maybe because one of his favorite books is "Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?"  which goes through different animals and one of them is a red bird " Red Bird Red Bird, What Do You See?" 

This particular morning Riley found puppy a front  row seat to watch the birdies! 

Indecent Exposure

  Riley loves to be naked, I think most little boys do.  And he is getting to the age where he still wants to be naked but he is probably to old to do so in public.  So our nightly ritual (and has been for a very long time) has been to go naked for 30 minutes before getting ready for bed.  And since the weather has been so nice, I have had the windows and curtains open.  Well, Riley likes to, how do I say...show off the "goods" to all the neighbors, birds, chipmunks and walkers that stroll by our house.  He stands on the window ledge and presents himself in the window, does a little jig and jumps up and down.  Most kids don't have the privilege of floor to ceiling windows, so please don't compare and contrast.  Every night I think "what are the neighbors thinking...they must be just laughing"  either that or we force our neighbors to close their windows.  Oh well, one of these day his self-disclosure will catch up with him...

McDonald Wishes and Milk Shake Dreams

This will be the 9th year we have celebrated a birthday, without the guest of honor, at McDonald's.  It has kind of become a bitter sweet tradition since Ryan and I have started our own family.   Bitter because it marks another year of a life we missed & sweet because it's always fun to try and order {and eat} what the birthday boy would have ordered.  We always make a family trip out of it, like going out for a night on the town to a fancy restaurant {that is how, I think, dad saw it}  I couldn't help but think this year how much Micky D's has changed since dad has gone...Salads on the menu!?  the Angus Burgers! {which I think he would have liked} and No more super sizing?! {this would have just given him the excuse to add another apple pie to his meal}  Below are the items you should order today and  this year, I think,  you should get the extra apple pie :)

Newborn Hats

We are going to have a new addition to the family in a couple days!  Tim & Kristin {schaller} Felderman are going to have their second baby.  And I get to take their newborn pics!  So in honor of this newborn session I have made 3 new very chic hats!  I can't wait to try them out!

3 More Hats! This is too much fun!

An Aspiring Newborn Photographer

My time in Monticello has taught me that I want to be an exclusive newborn and baby photographer.  I would like to think I have mastered the baby photography part however, I am no where up to par on  newborn photography skills, but I am working hard on it.  I have only taken a handful of newborns since I started the studio, most clients start with me when their babies are 3 months.  My niece was my first newborn shoot back in 2007 and after that I fell in love.  The problem only was...getting newborns!  Apparently they are hard to come by?????  By 2009 I still hadn't gotten any newborns, so in the summer of 2009, I did what anyone would do to get customers in...give something for free.  All newborn sessions get 25 free birth announcements!  IT WORKED! :)  And with each session I learned something new and came up with a better idea for the next session. 

After Ava's [2007]  I learned the importance on camera angles and lighting

After Riley, my son, [2008]  I learned the importance of posing, and that for my next session I would make the poses more interesting and not just a sleeping baby on a black blanket

for Meghan [5/2009] I decided to make things more interesting.  I ordered a scale off ebay.  I wanted to make the pictures more like wall art instead of just another picture that could have been taken anywhere.

This was my first time using the scale and hadn't perfected it yet!  What I learned from this session was the importance of taking the baby's pictures within the first week, Meghan was almost 2 weeks and stayed awake most of the time.

you can see the progression of this prop, from the first picture to the last picture there is a 6 month time spanned.  I perfected the scale by making sure baby was completely relaxed and by using arms and legs for posing, rather than just laying the baby down. 

The next three session [8/09-9/09] I made sure the parents knew to schedule within the first week, one was a little over a week old and the other 2 were right at.  What I learned from these session was the importance of keeping the studio very very warm, like 80 degrees.  These babies either cried or had a hard time staying asleep becuz the studio was cold and the babies were naked...brrrrr!    And although these babies are beautiful with their eyes open, if the babies don't sleep, I can't do the neat poses.

After I figured out the secret to keeping a baby asleep (you think that warmth would have been a no brainer!)  I was anxious to get another newborn.  So I sent out a model call and got little Madelyn.  I got a wooden bowl I was dying to put a baby in and I did!  I did learn that baby's arms are key to posing the head, I should have placed her arms under her head, rather than bunching the fabric.  [10/6/09]

Next I was inspired by past sessions...how a mother can calm a baby.  SO I thought how natural is it to pose baby on or with the mother and father...tada!  In the past I was using this posing technique as a last resort, when baby wasn't cooperating and we just needed a picture.  This time I wanted to show how a newborn just melts on mamas chest and melts in Dada's arms. [2010]

Now that I have figured out all the secrets: warm studio, noise maker, 3 hour session (plenty of time for feedings and cuddling)  I want to master posing and  really show casing just how pliable and peaceful a newborn is.  I found out from one of my sessions that I really must do all the handling of  the baby myself, not the mother (whose purpose if to feed and comfort).  Which is hard to tell the new mom, but it really comes down to not disturbing the baby anymore than we have to (it's one less person touching the baby) .  The sessions where I was able to handle the baby and pose him/her, were 100% more successful than otherwise.  I love parents that are just willing to hand their newborn over to someone who is going to hang them in a hammock :)

So I am currently mastering these baby poses, here are some of my favorites from sessions I have had so far this year.

Hot Day & A Healthy Snack

Although Riley, like most kids, LOVES to be outdoors, he doesn't handle heat well.  The other day it was 84 degrees and after about an hour outside, I took his hat off and he was sweating, his cheeks were red and he was in dire need of some juice and a snack.  We normally try and have a healthy snack, but I was feeling "wild" that day, so we had m&ms and Reese's PB cups cereal.  Needless to say Riley loved the treat!

Just like Dad

Since Ryan has been gone the last 2 months {long time!} Riley has been missing the "manly" stuff him and daddy normally do, like wrestle and  pick up sticks.  This week Ryan left the truck here and he took the back to Des Moines,  and I made the mistake of leaving the truck out in the driveway where Riley could see it from inside the house.  ALLL morning he kept saying "Daddeee Daddeee!  HUHUH!   BRRUUUMM!  Dadeee! "  Riley loves Daddy's truck and when he sees Daddy's truck, he expects Daddy to be close by.  Well...no such luck!  It is truly a guy bond that these 2 have! 

This afternoon, Riley was throwing Bear's frisbee and these pictures of him looked quite familiar to me :)

Below is a picture of Ryan throwing disc in High School (which he went to state for)