The Lodatos have been busy busy bees, so much going on then other times nothing!
Since May let me see, Andy has officially finished his first semester of his PhD program. WOOO HOO! now only 3-4 years left to go :) Riley and I are so proud of him.
We had a lull on the house projects and decided that we are finally getting in drywall guys to come in and finish the laundry room and our bedroom closet; finally going to get this project checked off! once the drywall is done, i get to paint and THEN we are moving on to tiling! Hopefully Jack will come over and teach Andy and I how to do this as we really want to learn.
The next project would be the master bathroom. It needs a bit of an overhaul. Jack installed the new shower and tile in a few years ago which is great but the sink/vanity and vinyl floor look like poo. So we are going to tear that all up and replace it all... eventually. looking for volunteers. :) TEE HEE
Andy's practice is going very well, he is always busy and working OT so that is a good thing for a life of a small business owner. We just need to somehow fix the commute issues we have and we are golden.
My work is a different story. Unfortunately they chose to eliminate my job so I get to train contractors to replace me on a job I love. ugh :( I still have a job, just not the one I like. Anyways on to more exciting things.....
Ok on to Riley since she is the fun part and the reason most of you read this blog. :) Riley is getting huge! she is 27lbs and we are not sure how tall, but she is getting taller all the time. She is fully in 2T sizes but there are a few brands and clothing styles she is in 3T.
There have been a ton of changes at her daycare, a lot of teachers have left and her boyfriend Alex left. :( she brings him up all the time and I know she is sad and not sure where he went. She "talks" to him over her fake phone and nods and says: "Alex all gone", so I know she knows he is gone.
She still has Chase and Ethan her other friends but the rest of them have left the daycare.
Dropoff has been a hit or miss in the morning at daycare, once in a while she does great and runs off to play and other times she clings to me and tries to climb up me like a tree.
She is making a calendar for us as her yearly project so i am excited to see what that looks like.
We put up the Christmas tree the first week in December and she was very excited in decorating. She handed Andy decorations and helped pointing out where to put them. There are a few presents already under the tree and the ones from Santa are there too since this is the last year we can do that. We have the "plate" where santa's cookies will go and we cannot wait for her to start her own Christmas memories. :)
I am so excited for the morning of Christmas and she gets to learn this year after year here at home.
Ruth made her a matching stocking sock that matches all of hers and we have a few items that we will stuff in there, including the traditional banana. :)
We got her a few Christmas gifts this year including a new cabbage patch doll that Grandma Ruth made a dress and a slumber bag/pillow for, her kitchen set that we are going to have to put together at some point, a new "big poppy" puppy dog since the one we have I had in HS thought she could use a new one and a few other used toys that I found at my baby sales that she may like.
Yesterday we celebrated Christmas at my parents house with my brother John, Melissa and Case. Riley had a great time chasing and watching Case all night. She was just staring at him and watching his every move it was cute.
She got all sorts of fun presents yesterday; ton of new clothes for future use in 3T and 4T sizes and a very cute doll bathtub with play toothbrush/rubber duck/washcloth and soap. Though the hit of the night was one of the gifts she got from Grandma and Grandpa which was a "doggy medical kit". It was a doggy carrier with a little puppy and all the tools you need to get it better - she loves it! she did not want to put it down yesterday and she demanded to take the puppy in the car with us on the ride up to daycare. It was cute :)
Last week Andy and I took Friday off and took Riley to the Seattle Aquarium for her first visit. We started out first though dropping off the gifts that we purchased for our "adopt a family" for the Holidays. Andy and I decided instead of spending $ on each other that we adopt a family and show Riley what we do with this. We took her shopping the week before the kids and she helped us put them in bags.
The visit to the aquarium was fun and interesting to see what she wanted to see and do. She kept running right back to the touch tank and wanted to touch the starfish and sea urchin things. We tried to take her around to the sea otters and seals but she was more interested in running around and away from us then seeing the animals.
We are going to hold off on the zoo visit until spring time where we hope she will have more fun with it then.
Hmm what else? We sent out an invite for our yearly baby new years party like we did last year, but we maybe canceling it after all. Only 3 people have accepted so we may just cancel it and have the 3 people over just for a low key get together earlier. Not that i can blame anyone; its tough to be out around midnight or earlier with a toddler that you have to wake up and drive home with. So no worries - whatever we do will be fun.
Well that is about all i can think of for right now. I am sure I am missing more but this give me an excuse to blog after Christmas.
If I don't talk to you before: MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)
