HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

This post is a little late...but whatever :) Riley turned 2 on Saturday!!! I can't believe it! He is so much fun. I love love love being a stay at home mom (which is a recent occurrence- the staying home and the loving it part). Riley is so stinkin' cute. He loves to play with cars, trucks, motorcycles, and anything that "goes" or that he can push. He loves hotdogs, chicken nuggets, tater tot casserole, hawaiian haystacks, green beans, fruit, applesauce, anything sweet (thats my boy!) and KETCHUP! We must put ketchup on EVERYTHING these days...he even eats it on his cookies (disgusting...I know!) He still babbles a lot but is talking a little...he says ma, da, shoe, hi, bye, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, car, go, no, yes, wow, uh-oh, nose, eye, ear, head, ball, balloon, and probably a million other things I can't remember right now. His new thing is to roar like a lion and mooooo like a cow! He loves "Little Einsteins" and does all the little activities on the show when they tell him to. His new favorite thing is to watch Jeff and I play Mario Kart on the Wii. He is a cuddly little ball of spunk and I love him so much! Thanks for being my crazy little man Riley...we love you!!!

(PS...I'll add pictures later once I figure out where Jeff has hidden them on the computer!)

Boot Camp For Me!

On Tuesday I decided to join Boot Camp 4 U in Clearfield. After I had to go off the HCG (because it was making me sick) I still lost about 5 lbs. Well then my mom came to visit and we ate really bad and while I didn't gain anything I just kinda got into a funk. I stopped doing Turbo Jam and wanted to loose weight and be healthy but I didn't have anything to jump start me. Anyway, there was a coupon for this Bootcamp 4 u place in The HomeTown Values catalog and I decided to look into it. There were some good success stories on their website and I knew it would kick my butt. I asked Jeff if I could sign up (because it's wicked expensive) and he agreed! I started on Wednesday and HOLY CRAP! They kicked my trash...hard. The first 5 workouts you have to wear a 20 lb. vest because it helps train your body. You use more energy, burn more calories, and jump start your metabolism with it. It also teaches you endurance and stamina. Anyway, the first day was hard. We focused on lower body stuff. We walked on a 3.5 incline for 3 min then ran for 10 then did front lunges then side lunges, then burpies (it's a football drill where you jump up then go down into like a push up position bring your legs in and jump up again...kinda confusing but they suck) jumping jax, etc etc (all while wearing this 20 lb vest mind you)...you get the point. Anyway, it's an hour long and I am going 3x per week for 6 weeks. I'm really hoping to get in really good shape from it. I feel awesome...wicked sore...but awesome! It's totally worth the $$. I highly recommend it for anyone who is out of shape and needs a really intense workout.

KSL

With Riley not being able to walk for 4-6 weeks we needed to find some activities to keep him occupied. I really want to get him the Fisher Price "Little People" Noah's Ark set but they don't make it anymore. I looked on KSL and found it in West Valley for a steal of a deal! There were 4 sets included (Noah's Ark, Airport, Carwash/Parking Garage, and a Carnival) There were also 2 cars included- a garbage truck with trash and a driver, and a dump truck. All of these were only $35! One set retails for $35-$40 by itself, so we really got a deal! The toys are used, but you can hardly tell! Riley has been in heaven since we bought them and spends hours playing! He is able to scoot around on his little bum and get to all the things he needs to...it's perfect!

(Noah's Ark)

(Airport)

(Carwash/Parking Garage) Please ignore my messy house in the background...

(Carnival)

No More Monkey's Jumping On The Bed!

As many of you know, Riley broke his leg on Tuesday! I figured I'd give you a run down as to what exactly happened because many of you don't know and have been wondering. I was at work on Tuesday and a friend up the road was watching Riley for me. She has 3 children of her own, all boys, an 8/9 year old (I'm not sure his exact age) and twin boys that are 5. Anyway, the older boy was at school and Riley, the twins, and Marie were playing cars in the twins room. Well she needed to run downstairs real quick and figured since they were all occupied and having fun and she would only be a second she would quick run down. So she left and like 2 seconds later Riley thought to himself..."This is my opportunity!" He ran out of the room into the older boys room, climbed the ladder to his loft bed, and ended up 6 feet off the ground. The twins went to investigate and saw Riley on top of the bed, but they figured he was fine and went back to playing cards (mind you this has been like a matter of only like 1 minute!) Marie is now on her way upstairs and Riley is doing who knows what, the next thing she knows she hears a thud and Riley is SCREAMING. She goes in and finds him laying on the floor next to the bed. She tries to console him and finally gets him to calm down but he is acting very lethargic and doesn't want to move or do anything. She calls me and I rush over there not sure what exactly is going on. Marie is clearly upset and so is Riley...he was happy to see me but not like smiling and stuff he just knew I would get him the help he needed. I decided to rush him over to the ER at Mckay-Dee Hospital because it was just a few minutes away. So we get there and I'm pretty sure EVERYONE in Ogden is in the ER. A nice man lets us take his seat but I'm thinking to myself, "I'm not just going to sit here quietly and wait for all these people to be helped before me!" All the registrars were busy with patients but as soon as one finished she asked everyone what they were there to be seen for. She finally got to us, I told her what happened, and she said you come with me. We went into her office for like .2 seconds, I told her what happened in a little more detail and we were off. She started running and said into her little walkie talkie "Trauma level 2, Trauma level 2"! We get into the back and into our room and there are 3 nurses waiting for us and a doctor running down the hall towards us. They took Riley's clothes off, swaddled him, and started an IV. By this time he is screaming his head off for a few reasons: 1. They made me take the lollipop he had away from him 2. He just had a needle shoved in his arm 3. He is hurt...anyway, they take some blood from him and then send us back to have a CT Scan! He is still freaking out and they aren't sure if there are going to be able to do it because you have to lay very still for the scan to be accurate. So they get him all set up and I am singing to him to get him to calm down...he finally does and they do the CT scan. We get to go back to the room and by this time Jeff is there. Like 10 minutes pass and the Dr. comes back. I'm thinking he is going to say everything looks good. Well he says I want to talk to you guys about what is going on. We found a 4 mm bleed in his brain and he needs to be life-flighted to Primary Children's Hospital. I FREAK OUT! I start balling my eyes out. I'm like HELLO ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!?! The dr says they are working out transport and that they have sent the films down to Primary's and he'll keep in touch with us so we know whats going on. By this time Riley has not had a nap and is so tired but they won't let us let him sleep because of the bleed. I also mention to the Dr. a few times I think something is wrong with the left side of his body...he is being really sensitive when we get near his arm and leg. The Dr is like well he is moving them and I don't see any deformities so I think he's just sore. I really didn't feel like that was the right answer, but we were obviously more concerned about his brain at this point. Well a few minutes later the Dr. comes back and says the neurosurgeon at Primary Children's doesn't think that there is a bleed in Riley's head, but what they call an artifact. (I'm not 100% sure what that means, but it's kinda like a shadow) So anyway, they are going to transport him by ambulance instead of by helicopter. I mention to the Dr. again about Riley's left side and that he won't stand or anything and he still thinks nothing is wrong but told us we could mention it at Primary's (I was a little annoyed with this). Anyway, Riley and I go in the ambulance and Jeff follows us. We get to Primary's and meet Riley's nurse Tia. I tell her about his arm and leg and she does a little exam and everything is good on both sides until she gets to his left leg. She touches it in a few places and he starts screaming. She says she'll have the Dr. look at it and leaves. The Dr. comes in and does pretty much the same exam and the same thing happens. So he sends us to get an x-ray. While in radiology Riley's exam pops up on the screen and his leg is obviously broken, I'm not a trained professional but it was blatantly obvious. Both bones in his lower left leg were broken- the tibia (the small one) was snapped in 2 and then fibula (the big one) was split half way through. So the next step is a splint, morphine, and IV fluids....the rest of the story is just a lot of waiting for clearance to leave the hospital and stress for the next couple of days. We had an amazing outpouring of love from both family and friends and couldn't have done it without you! We love you all and are so grateful for the outcome and that there wasn't a bleed in his brain. It is such a blessing! While a broken leg definitely puts a damper on life it is no where near what a brain injury could have done to our little family! Riley will get his permanent cast next Weds at will have it for 4-6 weeks!


(Ambulance Ride)

(The finished product)

(McKay Dee)