5 Months Old

We are 5 months old today. What a great month...two birthdays in one month! We had a very busy month with lots of family and friends visiting from Illinois and Wisconsin. We have no idea where those places are, but we heard it is cold there - yuck! We also had some new friends enter the world. Welcome again to Braden Rivero and Troy Hostetter. It seems as if something new and exciting is always happening around here. We are continuing to grow like weeds. Lily is in 3-6 month clothes and also fits into a few of her 6-9 month outfits. I am mainly in 6-9 month clothes, although like I've told you before, mom is refusing to get rid of some of my 3-6 month outfits. This month Lily and I both started standing for short periods with some help from mom and dad. We are both sitting up too, although after a while our tummies get tired and we just crash. All of this exercise is tough work if you ask us. We have both started talking a lot. Mom and dad keep saying that it sounds like we are having a conversation with them. Hello...we are, but for some reason they don't get it!?! We have also discovered that we can blow raspberries. It is quite messy, but A LOT of fun! Lily and I are still eating lots of rice cereal and oatmeal. We both prefer the oatmeal, but we aren't picky and will take whatever mom and dad put in our mouths. This month was also fun because we finally got to see our beloved Chicago Cubs and they won! Dad said today was a special day not only because it is our birthday, but it is also opening day for baseball. Hopefully we'll get excited about that someday too. We did discover that March is great due to a little event called March Madness! Basketball is so fun to watch, but our favorite team, Marquette, lost in overtime to Stanford. Hopefully they'll do better next year. Well, we hope all of you had as great of a March as we did. Stay tuned for more adventures as we continue on our journey called life!

Lily's Cool Shades

Mommy told me that a lot of people have requested pictures of me in my cool sunglasses so here they are. They are still a little big on me, but in my opinion I still look good.

Ryan and Grandpa Rivera

Our Grandpa and Grandma Rivera have been in Arizona visiting since last Wednesday. We spent a lot of time hanging out with them at their townhouse. Grandpa sure knows how to make us laugh.

Easter

We celebrated our first Easter today with mommy, daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Rivera, and Titi Molly. Titi Molly cooked all sorts of good food, but we couldn't eat any of it so we told her she has to come back next year. Mommy bought us some cute outfits even though we had no place to go, and Grandma Rivera bought us cute shirts. Everyone said Lily was beautiful and I was handsome, but I think I'm handsome everyday. We also got to play with some new toys that dad pulled out of our closet, although I think grandma liked the toys more than we did. We hope all of you had a very happy Easter!

Mommy and Daddy's 5 Year Anniversary

Today mommy and daddy celebrated their 5 year anniversary. Daddy surprised mommy and had a Excursion limo waiting to bring them to Ruth's Chris Steak House and Kazimierz. Their friend's JD and Tonia joined them as well to celebrate the big day. Mommy told us they were supposed to be in Hawaii for their anniversary, but we put a kink in their plans and may end up being their 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th anniversary gifts as well. We think that sounds like a great gift! Happy anniversary mom and dad!!!

Meet Baby Braden

Meet Braden Orlando Rivero born on March 21, 2008, at 11:25 a.m. He was 6 lbs. 8oz. and 20 inches long. We are so excited for Uncle Larry and Aunt Pam, and now we have a new friend to play with!!! Mom and dad got to meet him yesterday and told us he was really cute, but we have to wait a few weeks before we can meet him since he is so little. They also told us that Uncle Larry and Aunt Pam were doing good. We can't wait to teach him all sorts of fun stuff like how to eat lots of cereal and keep Uncle Larry and Aunt Pam up all night! Braden was also born on our cousin Benjamin's birthday so we want to wish him a happy 9th birthday!

Visitors

Alice and Dave Wilson, along with their daughter Julie, stopped by our house to visit. Alice works with Grandma Rivera and was in Arizona visiting her daughter, but said she just had to come and visit us too. You would think we are famous!?! We enjoyed all of the attention though, and hope they have fun while in Arizona!

Laundry

Who knew a laundry basket could be so much fun!

Our First Cubs Game!

Hey Chicago what do you say, the Cubs are going to win today! Go Cubs go! We took in our first Chicago Cubs Spring Training game with mom, dad, Grandma Williams, and Grandma Betty today. The weather was a beautiful 76 degrees and sunny. We got all decked out in our official Cubs gear, lathered up with sunscreen, and spent the afternoon in the grass at Hohokam Stadium cheering our Cubs to a 6-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Dad said he was preparing me for my future as a lefty for the Cubs and Lily would come along for the ride. We decided that would be a pretty good deal. See you in about 20 years!

St. Patrick's Day

We may be Puerto Rican, but we sure love St. Patrick's Day. After all, who wouldn't love a holiday where you get to dress up in cool shirts and have fun! We loved our shirts mom and dad found us, but mom had to put a bow on Lily because otherwise people ask if we are both boys. Last time I checked Lily was a girl, but people often ask that question?!?

Brown Velour

The grandmas decided it would be cool if we all wore our matching brown velour jogging suits and took a picture. I think we all look pretty cute.

The Grandmas

Grandma Williams and her friend Betty VanDreel (aka "Grandma Betty") came to visit us for 3 weeks. Good thing because we heard it is pretty cold in Green Bay, and I bet our 80 degree temperatures feel good. They keep telling us about this stuff called snow too, but we have no clue what they are talking about. We have done some fun stuff and we still have a few days left to enjoy. Hopefully they'll get to come back and visit again soon, or maybe we'll have to go find out what this snow thing is all about!

The Coffee Shop

This afternoon we enjoyed the wonderful weather at The Coffee Shop in Gilbert. We were able to sit out on the patio and take in all of the sights, or I should say I was able to take in all of the sights- Lily slept through the entire excursion. Silly Lily!

Liz and Lou

Today we got to meet our second cousin, Liz, and her husband, Lou. They spent a long weekend in Arizona and said they had to come meet us. Liz is our first cousin we have met, and the first cousin to make the blog...way to go Liz! It was a beautiful day so we were able to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine, and Liz was able to take time with both of us which was nice. She even brought us some cool new shirts. Thanks!

It's a Beautiful Day

Daddy said I look like Bono in this picture. I have no idea who that is,

but hopefully he is as good looking as I am.

Rice Cereal

The doctor gave us the go ahead to start with rice cereal and oatmeal so mom and dad gave it a shot. We both did well opening our mouths for the spoon, but neither of us would turn down food so this wasn't much of a surprise. I caught on to the swallowing thing quickly, but Lily wasn't quite sure what to do with the cereal once she got it on her tongue. Unfortunately Lily spit most of hers out on the first try even though I tried to convince her it was pretty good stuff. I am holding true to my favorite saying - "Feed Me" - and have finished my last two bowls and plan to keep eating more.

4 Month Check-up

We headed to see Dr. Mike today for our 4 month check-up. Dr. Mike said all looks good and we must definitely be starving babies from the looks of things...he's so funny! Here are our stats:

Ryan
Weight: 15.6 pounds (62%)
Height: 25 inches (50%)
Head Circumference: 16.7 inches (51%)

Lily
Weight: 13.9 pounds (52%)
Height: 24.1 inches (41%)
Head Circumference: 16.2 inches (52%)

We both got the okay to start eating rice cereal and oatmeal which sounds yummy if you ask us. We're getting a little tired of the same old formula. The doctor also said we started teething, although we may not see teeth for a little while. We've been drooling a lot lately and chewing on everything which is driving mom nuts, but she better get used to it. The doctor said we need to start wearing sunscreen when we are outside. Dad said we can go to a Cubs spring training game now, and he was pretty excited about this. Dr. Mike said I also need to keep working on stretching my neck. My head got a little crooked when I was in mommy's tummy because Lily was sitting on top of me which caused my neck to get tight on one side. Our check-up ended with those dreaded immunizations - 1 drink and 4 shots again. We tried to figure a way out before getting the shots, but no matter how much we moved our legs we couldn't seem to get anywhere. If anyone has any suggestions for next time we sure would appreciate them.

4 Months Old

2/29/08

It is our birthday again! We are 4 months old today, and it has been another month of exciting changes. We decided that since there was no 30th in February we got to celebrate on the 29th and the 1st, hence all of the pictures for you to enjoy. We are still growing (refer to January 30th post) and can no longer even attempt to sit in the chair together. Lily is still wearing 0-3 month clothes, but does fit into her 3-6 month shirts. Her legs are pretty short though and seem to be having a hard time catching up with her body. I am currently in 3-6 month clothes, but mom is still squeezing me into some 0-3 month clothes. I've found that mom has a hard time retiring some of our outfits, and sometimes dad has to point out that we look like we are "waiting for a flood" (that means our pants are too short). Our big accomplishments for the month include sleeping through the night, Lily really rolling over, and both Lily and I tripod sitting. As of February 16th we officially have our own cribs. My crib rocks because I got to keep the mobile, but mom is teaching me that I need to share with Lily by letting Lily join me in the morning for a little Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. We have been sleeping for a minimum of 6 hours per night, but often go longer with me making it 11 1/2 hours one night (pat myself on the back for that one!). Lily has been rolling over since mid-January, but she is more consistent now and mom even got video of it. We've also been working a lot on our six packs and can now sit up with support from our arms. We can't sit up for long, but we are getting stronger every day. Mom and dad continue to take us on field trips which is always exciting. We were introduced to golf, basketball, and football this month. Basketball is definitely our favorite which daddy seems excited about...he keeps mentioning March madness?!? The weather here has also been warming up which means we've been spending more time outside. We've been on lots of walks, and we really enjoy chilling in the backyard with mom and Wrigley. Lily and I both agree that we had a great month and we can't wait to continue on our adventure. We hope you can join us!!!

3/1/08