Riley Dean the Drama Queen!

Let me begin this post by saying that I am completely content with two children. Count them, TWO. Three would be too many and one would not be enough. Two is perfect; one for me and one for Alex, therefore we are never outnumbered. I've got two arms and two legs, one for each if need be. I have the blessing of having one of each, a boy and a girl, thus I don't feel like I'm missing out on raising a different gender. My kids are both beautiful and healthy, great sleepers, and very well tempered. One might raise the question, "Why rock the boat in trying for a third child when life right now is seemingly perfect?"

I found out tonight that one of my friends is pregnant.

What is it about seeing a pregnant woman that makes you yourself want to be pregnant, also? Seriously, I don't want a third child but I would definitely become pregnant again if the outcome wasn't another baby. I loved being pregnant and for a brief moment tonight I thought, "maybe another one wouldn't be so bad? I could handle it...right?"

Wrong!

Hopefully by putting this in writing will help me to realize that I'm completely insane and I indeed lost my mind for a few moments. Two kids is enough. Two kids is ENOUGH.

The goal of this post was to update you all on my little Miss Riley but I thought that putting out the idea of a third child to you would hopefully spawn a slap in the face or something greater to snap my mind back into reality.

Okay, back to Riley. She is a DRAMA QUEEN! Raising a girl is so much different than raising a boy. Cale loves to get messy and smear food around in his hands but the other night Riley FREAKED out when her plate tipped over and her dinner fell off the plate and onto her high chair tray. A full blown fit ensued for the next fifteen or twenty minutes. She carries her blanket everywhere she goes and if she's not carrying that she is almost always carrying a spoon, her toothbrush, a sippy cup, or some sort of toy. She carries things everywhere! She's getting more brave, climbing onto anything and everything, going up and down the stairs constantly, and just the other day I found her wandering around in the middle of our cul-de-sac. Yikes! I guess leaving the front door open to let her play on our porch is no longer an option. She loves playing hide and seek from Cale, reading books, and going to the park. She has also become quite the social butterfly. She'll pretty much walk up to just about anyone and asked to be picked up and she's started to "play" and run around with her peers. Fun, fun!!! Her hair just recently got long enough for me to put into little ponytails, which based on the fits she throws if I even get near her hair makes me wonder if it's even worth it. Regardless, I've had fun trying to do it. :) She used to love eating but it seems more and more that it's often a battle to get her to eat anything. She would much rather play than stop to sit down and have a meal. When she does eat, she loves hot dogs, string cheese, and fruit snacks. Yummy? She has also started to talk which has been so much fun! She can only say a few words including "mama", "dada", "kitty", "dog", "ball", "cheese", and "moo". What's been ever more fun than hearing her first words, though, is watching her pick up sign language from Cale. We've definitely encouraged her to sign but haven't put a lot of effort into teaching her, therefore all she knows is what she's learned from Cale. She can sign "please", "more", "I'm sorry", "thank you", "you're welcome", "work", "fish", "eat", "drink", "light", "train", "yes", "horse", "cheese", "open", and probably a few more that I'm forgetting. She's pretty cute and Cale's speech therapist has even asked me if she can film Riley for a children's signing video. She continues to make me laugh all day long and I never get tired of seeing her walk around and just figure things out on her own. It truly is amazing to watch a normal developing child. I hope and pray that I never lose my gratitude and appreciation for all that she can do. Watching her walk is simply amazing! I often find myself sitting back and just watching her play, all the while my heart swells up for the enormous amount of love I have for this child. I didn't think it was possible to love someone else as much as Cale but Riley sure has made it easy for me. I can't wait to watch her grow in the upcoming years!

All that said, Cale is still my first love. For whatever reason he has become quite the affectionate little man as of late. He has never been one to cuddle or snuggle but the last few weeks he has reached out his arms for me to just hold him. He'll wrap his arms around me, nestle his head into my shoulder, and just hug me for minutes on end. It's so sweet and I've found myself sitting on the couch a lot more. :)

I have a lot to update on Cale but I'll save that for another time. Remember, two kids is ENOUGH.